In Season and Out of Season

Guest (Male): This is In Season and Out of Season, a Bible teaching ministry with Father Tom DiLorenzo.

Father Tom DiLorenzo: Good day, it's Father Tom, and I am glad to be with you today. Yesterday, I spoke about Isaiah 35 and that the wilderness and the desert would shout with joy and bring forth flowers. Remember? And then we left here, and the showers were pouring down upon us. It was pouring rain, and I said, "Hallelujah, this is what we need in the Holy Spirit."

This is what we need in the Holy Spirit, that there would be showers and poured out rain because we are in absolute need of the Holy Spirit. One of the symbols of the Spirit of God is rain. Rain, water is life in the Holy Land. Water is life for us. We cannot live without water. I want to tell you, in these hot days, you better be drinking water because you will get dehydrated.

You better be drinking water because you will get dehydrated, because you will be sweating and perspiring. Water is so important. When we left here yesterday, the heavens opened. I said, "Oh yes, Lord, we're having revival glory. This is what we need, that it would continue to pelt, it would continue to pour out upon us at the Holy Rosary, to go to the ends of the earth."

Not only to the Holy Rosary, because Jesus said, "Go ye therefore, make disciples of all nations," that from this little place, God would send out missionaries to preach the gospel of Jesus, to preach the power of God. Not only "Jesus loves you," but the power of God, that God is not impotent. He heals the sick, he raises the dead, he opens the eyes of the blind, he hears and answers prayer.

Let me tell you this. This is our God. We're doing the 35th chapter of Isaiah. "The wilderness and the empty place shall be glad and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose." Why? Because of water. "It shall blossom abundantly and rejoice with joy and it will sing. The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it and the excellency of Carmel and Sharon and they shall see the glory of the Lord and the excellency of our God."

Remember what I said? Lebanon and Carmel and Sharon were lush gardens. This is what's going to happen in the wilderness. Then it says, "Strengthen your weak hands and confirm your feeble knees." How is this rain going to fall on us, this rain of the Holy Spirit? How is it going to happen?

In the midst of the drought, we raised our hands unto God in worship. We raised our hands unto God in prayer. We get on our knees and say, "Oh God, I need you." When I'm on my knees, I am humbling myself. Oh yes, strengthen your weak hands, confirm your feeble knees, and say to those that are of a fearful heart, "Be strong, fear not, behold your God will come with vengeance. Your God will come with recompense. He will come and save you."

Do you have a weak heart today? Is your faith so weak that you couldn't even lift up an ounce? I'm telling you what the Bible says today. Be strong, not in your own power, but in the power of God. As it says in the sixth chapter of Ephesians, "Draw your strength and your power from the living God." You do not have to be strong in yourself. I'm not strong. I'm broken, I'm weak, but I draw my strength from the living God.

There's nothing that I have that I can give you other than what he gives me. Sometimes I know what it meant. Somebody said, "Fear not," and the only thing I had was fear. Someone said, "Be strong," and the only thing I had was weakness. But then there comes a point that you're either going to break or have faith. There comes a point in your life that you're either going to break or have faith.

Why should we break when the living God is with us? Why should we break when he who said, "I will never leave you nor desert you" is there? Why should we break when his word says, "When you are the weakest, then you are the strongest because you depend upon me"? I know what it is to fear. I know what it is to be weak, but I know what it is to trust God too.

I'm not going to tell you I'm an expert on trusting God because I'd be a liar. I have to keep on relearning that. I have to keep on relearning that trust in God. I have to relearn that he's always, always faithful. It's not always easy, especially as I said when there are no stars in your sky and it is dark and the moon is gone and the only thing you see is the black abyss.

It's very difficult to trust God, but you either break or trust. Breaking is not an issue. I must trust him. Even as I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for thou art with me. So what do you do? Strengthen your weak hands, confirm your feeble knees. Get on your knees and raise your hands and start worshipping him.

Worship him. But I don't feel like it. That's right, that's why you've got to do it, because your praise and your worship will get you out of this ditch. Your praise and your worship will get you out of this fear. Your praise and your worship will get you out of this weakness. Your praise and your worship will get you out of the nervous breakdown that you don't need to take.

Even if it's a whispered "I praise you, I bless you, I worship you." Better for you to go, "Hallelujah! I thank you, Lord! Oh God, things are so dark, but I'm going to praise you in the darkness. Hallelujah!" Because does not the Bible say in Psalm 139, "Darkness is not dark to thee"? Does not the scripture tell us that?

I will tell you this, my friends, no one has the patent on trusting God. At every bend in the road when we have to trust him, it's always the same. It's an experience that I have to trust, and sometimes it's very difficult because all odds seem to be against me. Notice what I said, seem to be against me. I know what it is to be between trapezes.

He flies through the air with the greatest of ease, that daring young man on the flying trapeze. It's so easy to hold onto the bars of the trapeze as you fly through the air. But when you let go of the trapeze and you've got to wait for the next one and you're in mid-air and there's no net, I know the feeling. I didn't read about it. I didn't study about it. I've lived it.

Trapeze, I tell you, I've been in the middle of the air. I don't know how long, and then I'm waiting for the trapeze. It's so, but God is never late. He's just not on my time. He is never late. He's just not on my time, you see. He knows how to bring us through. But you've got to strengthen those weak hands and make firm those feeble knees.

Got to raise your hands. Never mind the Red Sox, you've got to raise your hands for Jesus. You've got to strengthen those knees for Jesus. He'll see you through. Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then the lame shall leap as a deer and the tongue of the dumb will sing in the wilderness, and the wilderness shall break forth with waters and streams in the desert.

There we go again, the wilderness, the desert breaking forth with life. But you see, your heart is a desert. My heart is a desert. My heart is the wilderness, your heart is the wilderness. What we need is the streams of living water. As I said yesterday, we left this place and the rain was pouring down. I love that kind of rain. People say it's so hard to drive in, then pull over.

I love when that rain's falling, it's so beautiful because I always think that this is what we need in the Holy Spirit. We left here yesterday and there was a cloud. There was a cloud. I said, "Oh, we need the cloud of glory. That's what we need, the cloud of glory. The cloud that led them by day and the pillar of fire by night."

We need that cloud of his holy presence. We need to be filled with that rain from heaven. That's the only thing that's going to make the desert jump and bring forth fruit. The church is in a hard place. Last week, the Catholic Church, they threw over 100 or 200 tombstones. This week, they stole the relic of the true cross. I wonder what's going to happen next week.

I wonder what God's trying to tell us and we don't want to listen. The week before, there was a priest that got caught in a stop zone supposedly indicted about sexual misconduct. The week before there was something else. I tell you the church is in the desert. I tell you the church is in the desert in Boston, and what we need is the rain.

We need the unction of the Spirit. We need the Holy Ghost. We need to walk by faith. I'm not gloating over these things, but I know they will continue to happen because God is trying to get the church's attention. When things keep on happening to me, God tries to get my attention. There's something he wants to teach us. He just doesn't allow these things to happen without us learning something.

He allows it to happen so that we would repent and that we would learn and our hearts would be changed. That's why he does it, at least allows it. I believe that. You read Hebrews, it talks about the discipline of the Lord, that the Lord disciplines those whom he loves. Now, this week they stole the relic of the true cross. I wonder what's going to happen next week.

Because what the church needs is what I need: the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. We don't need church as usual. We need God to do something, opening the eyes of the blind and the ears of the deaf, unstopping the ears of the deaf, doing great signs and wonders and miracles. Not only forgiving sins, but we had confession last night.

We don't wait for the Archdiocese to say you're going to do confessions during the week. We do them. Last night, lots of people went to confession because there's a need to go to confession. No one has to tell me we need to have confession because that's the way it is. You go see a Father Jim in Lynn, he has confession before every Mass.

I don't need the Archdiocese to tell me we need an extra day for confession. Do you want to know why? Because I'm a priest and I'm a sinner, and I know I need confession. I need to go to confession, and if I need it, the people need it. It's like, what's God trying to teach us? I'm telling you, the Catholic Church, the Protestant Church, the Orthodox Church, we're all in dryness. We're all in the desert.

Strengthen your knees, raise your hands, worship him. We need to see the eyes of the blind being opened. I've seen it. I've prayed with people blind and they see. I've seen it. Hallelujah! I pray for multiplication. I've seen and heard the deaf hear. I've seen it in front of me. I've seen the lame walk and jump and hop. I've seen it, but not without the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, not without the rain of the Spirit of God, not without the showers that drench us and that happen through worship.

I've seen it and I'm not satisfied. I want to see more. I want people to rejoice, I want people to be healed. I want people to come and say, "I had cancer and my operation was canceled because my cancer is gone and it's no longer my cancer, he took it on the cross." I've seen it. That's why we're having this revival glory.

We want to see, but there's no seeing anything without the rejoicing and the praising of God and the strengthening of our knees and the raising of our hands and praising God in the midst of our darkness. I tell you, in the midst of our darkness, we praise God, not in the midst of the light. I told you what happened with the Israelites.

The Israelites, they're on one side of the Red Sea. They hear the Egyptians coming. They're in the desert. You can hear them coming. The chariots are coming. The Egyptians are coming and the Israelites are before the sea and the sea is before them. They're saying to Moses, "We hate you. We hate you, Moses. You brought us here and we hate you. We ate in Egypt. We had three square meals in Egypt."

God said to Moses, "Tell the people to be silent. Stretch out your hand and start walking." As he stretched out his hand with that rod and started to walk, the sea started to open. But isn't it funny? When they're on the other side, Miriam is playing her tambourine. They were praising God on the wrong side of the sea. They should have been praising God when the river was there, when the Red Sea was there and when the Egyptians were coming.

"We know you're faithful, Lord! We know you're faithful!" But they're just like us, aren't they? Let's be honest, how many of us praise God when the sea is in front of us and the Egyptians are in back of us, when the bill collectors are in back of us and they're going to take away our home? How many are jumping around praising God? No, we wait for God to take us out of the predicament. "Hallelujah, you're a faithful God!"

I tell you, those who praise him in the midst of the darkness see the light. Those who praise him when the Egyptians have come, they see the victory. It's time to strengthen your hands and your knees and start praising God the way he deserves to be praised because he is the Lord. He is our God. He is wonderful and he will get you through because he's the Lord.

Do you understand me? I know you might not have any hope, but your hope is not in me. Your hope is in Jesus alone and he will get you through. Do you hear me today? It's time to raise your hands, it's time to exalt in the Lord, it's time to praise his holy name. Today, the 13th of July, we'll be praising God at the Holy Rosary at 4:00.

Tonight we have Mass at 7:30 and then we continue with adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. 4:00 tonight, we'll be praising God. Yes, getting ready for the revival glory. I'm telling you, this is when we praise him. I'm just as to blame as you. Do you think I praise him when the sea is in front of me and the Egyptians are in back of me?

That's the hardest thing in the world to do. I need to do that, not only you. We're all so weak, and God has so much patience with us. Isn't he wonderful? His patience endures forever, his mercy endures forever. There's no one like the Lord. Oh, my Lord. I don't understand how we are so slow to learn. Today at 4:00, you want to join us at the Holy Rosary in Winthrop? It's the 13th of July. Come and join us as we worship him.

We'll be praising his name, strengthening our hands and our feeble knees, praying for the outpouring of rain, the rain of the Spirit. Oh, we need it in the church. I need it in my life. I cannot live without it. I have people coming to me from all around the world. They call me up, they are in the deepest of the deep depression because people are dying, people have cancer, babies are sick. What can I do but pray the prayer of faith in the name of Jesus?

I get calls at all times, these poor people. They have to come to me where they should be getting it in their own hometown. How much do you want the Holy Spirit? Baby, I am so desperate. Jesus said, and these are the last words of Jesus in the Acts of the Apostles, "You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you and you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, to all the ends of the earth."

Signs like these shall follow those who believe. They shall lay hands upon the sick and they shall be healed. They shall cast out demons. They shall handle snakes and they shall not be harmed. That happened to Saint Paul in Malta, the last chapter of the Acts of the Apostles. When you're on mission, you don't have to worry about snakes. But don't play around with snakes when you're not on mission because you will be dead.

Father, I ask for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. I ask that the Spirit of God would breathe upon your people. I ask God that those that are in the deepest pit, that you would let them know that Christ is deeper still. I ask you, Lord, to give them the grace to raise their hands and to strengthen their knees. I ask you, Lord, to give them grace to praise you, even if it's in a whisper.

I ask you, God, to bring them through. I ask for the showers, the showers of rain, rain, rain, rain. The Spirit of God would come upon them in a mighty way. I pray for the Archdiocese of Boston, that we would learn what God is trying to teach us because this week they stole the relic of the true cross. Let's see what's going to happen next week. God has his hands on the Archdiocese of Boston and he won't let us go. There's something he has to teach us and I believe it's about rain.

My theme song is not "Rain, rain, go away, come again some other day." No, my theme song is, "Let it rain, let it rain, let it rain." The former and the latter rains coming together. The angel of the Lord declared unto Mary and she conceived of the Holy Spirit. Behold the handmaid of the Lord, let it be done unto me according to thy word.

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen. And the word was made flesh and dwelt among us. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

I really need to hear from people because we have to pay our bills. So would you help us? Father Tom, PO Box 602, East Boston, Massachusetts, 02128. We're having revival glory. Don't miss it, heaven on earth. We need it because we're going to be strengthening our hands and our feeble knees and we're going to be worshipping God because God is worthy. Jesus is Lord! Hallelujah!

Guest (Male): This has been In Season and Out of Season with Father Tom DiLorenzo. Remember that this ministry is supported only by the donations of listeners. So please, help as the Lord leads you. Father Tom DiLorenzo, PO Box 602, East Boston, Massachusetts, 02128. In Season and Out of Season.