December 31, 2017 - Pastor Carter Conlon - 2018 - The Year That We Flourish

please give me your best ear today I think the best days are just ahead of us if we can lay hold of that truth if we're willing to embrace what God has for us I believe that 2018 will be the year that we flourish as a people 2018 that's what I've called this message today before we go to prayer of the year that we flourish if you turn with me in the book of first Corinthians chapter 1 please if you will and father I thank you with all of my heart for your presence here today I thank you for the evident and powerful anointing of your Holy Spirit I thank you Lord for the strength God that you are more than willing to give us as we are willing to embrace your calling for our purpose on the earth at this time I ask Lord for an anointing to be able to speak this word and I ask God that you would give your people all of us gathered here today the ears to hear what the Holy Spirit is speaking to this church and I thank you for it in Jesus name Amen 1st Corinthians chapter 1 beginning at verse 3 Paul addresses a church very very much like ours they were a church that lived in the midst of a central and self-focused City and time and he issues he writes a letter to them to encourage these believers and to make a heartfelt plea which we're going to see today the book of 1st Corinthians is really a heartfelt plea from the heart of God through the Apostle Paul for this church that lived at a specific time in history that they might fully realize why they had been planted there and what was the calling of God upon them if you've attended this church for any amount of time you realize this morning that we've been placed here in Times Square potentially for such a time as this people would be gathered in our streets this afternoon and this evening they will endure the freezing cold with an optimism in their heart that as a as a glass ball drops down that somehow it will usher in a bed time it might for some thank God for that but many many people will be disillusioned they will walk away and all things will continue to be as they have been or even start to decline we have been placed here in the middle of Times Square as a testimony of who God is what God is able to do and what God desires to do in this generation and I hope that you and I can fully realize and appreciate that and understand that this morning Paul 1st Corinthians chapter 1 beginning at verse 3 he says grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ in other words let's your heart be at rest and let the strength of God be your portion now I thank my god always concerning you for the grace of God which was given to you by Christ Jesus the grace that was given to this church to be established in a place where all of the critics said it couldn't be they said there's no chance David Wilkerson as a dreamer at church cannot be established in the middle of Times Square there's no parking there the real estate is too expensive and too hard to come by that whole area is is is literally under lockdown in one sense and nobody can move in there with the church there's no possibility that you can bring over a hundred nations together and live in harmony and unity in one church etc etc then when when the church was established then they told us that well you'll not make it past 15 years when we made it past 15 they said you'll not make it to 30 we made it to 30 I thank God I thank God always Paul said concerning you for the grace of God which was given to you by Christ Jesus it has been the divine hand of God that has planted this church and sustained this church and kept this church we've gone through trial we've gone through flood we've gone through fire we've gone through some difficult places but we have stayed together we are here together this house is full over a hundred and foreign nationalities gathered together for what I personally believe is a divine purpose given to us by God through the grace of Jesus Christ verse five says that you were enriched in everything by him in all other ins and knowledge there was a word that was given here starting back in 1987 a word that spoke about the future a word that caused us to want to leave old patterns and ways of living and to embrace something new that God had for us a word that gave us a sense of purpose from the beginning from the inception of this church pastor David Wilkerson knew that God had established this church as a lighthouse for a darkened time he believed that as it got darker throughout the world the beam of this lighthouse was going to shine farther and farther and farther and we're living in a time now where where our permitting is now in a hundred and ninety nine countries the radio program is going across the nation all throughout America today the Word of God that was given to his heart is in measure already being fulfilled we were enriched by him in utterance and knowledge God gave a word from this pulpit the one thing that we cherish in this house is that when we stand in this pulpit that we have heard from God we are bringing you not thoughts about God but a word from God there's a huge difference between those two thank God for the word I shake hands with people at the door Sunday night and I can't tell you how many people have told me that their lives have been transformed uh turley transformed in this house I thank God for that that's their testimony I will never negate that or marginalize that or make light of that even verse six as the testimony of confront of Christ was confirmed in you so that we come so that you come sort in no gift eagerly awaiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ in other words we have been divinely planted divinely spoken - divinely enabled and now may we not fall short of the fullness of what God has for us not only are we longing for the soon return of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ but we are longing for the manifestation of his presence upon a city and upon a nation that so desperately needs to know that Christ died for them their sins can be forgiven and heaven can be their eternal home who will also confirm you to the end that you may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ now this is the promise of God this is the this is God's commitment to his church he will confirm you to the end I will keep you I will sustain you I will be God to you I'll be God in you I'll be God through you right to the end that you may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ God is faithful by whom you were called into the Fellowship of his son Jesus Christ our Lord now Paul says at the end of this book in chapter 16 and verse 9 for a great and effective door has been opened to me and there are many adversaries if God is going to open the door to his own testimony through this church there will be things that will oppose it we will be opposed from without but will also be opposed from within will be opposed by our own hearts will be opposed if God has ordained something bigger than we fully understand this coming year an organization called the Pentecostal charismatic churches of North America an organization that encompasses 30 to 35 denominations and over 40,000 churches has asked permission to have this church as their prototype their MA of what a pre insurance should look like they are launching a three-year initiative to bring the Pentecostal charismatic churches of North America back in to the fullness of what prayer should be in the house of God what compassion for the lost should look like and what evangelization should be it's a three-year initiative they have asked us to be part of the leadership of that initiative some of their leaders have been in here Tuesday night they've been looking at our permitting and they see a house filled with people praying believing for others prayer requests coming in from all over the world and there's a recognition among these leaders that this is what we want our churches to be this is an incredible responsibility that God has given to you and I it is a huge door that God is opening to this church not only worldwide but countrywide people will be coming in you imagine they're going to be distributing the thoughts on faith and prayer radio programs a call to the nation to all of these churches throughout North America they're going to be encouraging their leaders and the people in their congregations to come in on Tuesday night to pray with us to see what a prayer meeting should look like we could look like in this generation now God has done this we know God has done this there's no program here we've followed the leading of the Holy Spirit it is a huge door it's the door bigger than you and I can even think or imagine it's an opportunity folks listen to me to see the awakening in the nation that we've been praying for do you understand that this is what this is all about it's an opportunity if the churches begin to pray how many times on Tuesday night have we prayed from this pulpit and in this century god revived your churches let prayer come into the house of God many times have we prayed that and suddenly a huge door is being opened to this congregation to encourage churches and leaders to pray not everyone will pray the way we do because the cultures are different the circumstances the towns are different the congregations are different but there's little bits and pieces that people will be able to pull and the greatest peace of all is the passion to pray the faith to pray the belief that God is able to answer when we pray and take us out of smallness the the new vision in a sense that our nation can turn back to God for a season and receive incredible mercy could you imagine if every church every Pentecostal church in America began to pray you imagine what could happen in our communities and so God is opening this year a huge door into this local church congregation my question to you is when the people come in from all over the country and perhaps around the world what will they see and if you were the church if you were the only church if you were the only person here would it be worth them coming in to see what your life is like how you're living as a Christian what kind of passion in faith is in your prayers you see Paul confirms the church in the beginning of this epistle to the Corinthians and he says God will confirm you God will keep you God will be faithful God will do all of these things for you but in verse 10 he begins by saying now I plead with you brethren in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and if you want to follow the thread that I'm going to speak on for a little while this morning you're gonna see that almost the rest of the whole book is a plea from the heart of God through the Apostle Paul for those things which could diminish the testimony that this church was supposed to be and we are supposed to be in our generation the first thing that Paul the Apostle God through Paul pleads for is unity for it is declared to me verse 11 chapter one concerning you my brethren by those of khloe's household that there are contentions among you in other words people already in this church were becoming separated and weakened by differences of opinion now we can be separated politically we can end up separated doctrinally even people can be separated by the preference of preachers because real realistically what they were doing is one was saying well I believe what Paul believes somebody else is I believe what if I love Apollo's is preaching I'm a Peter and then somebody else would say I'm of Christ and even in in good things they were allowing a division to come into the body in chapter 3 verses 1 to 3 Paul says I brethren could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal and as to babe's in Christ I fed you with milk and not with solid food for until now you were not able to receive it and even now you're still not able for you're still carnal for where there are Envy strife and divisions among you are you not carnal and behaving like mere men are you not when you allow division to come into the body or are you not living the same as those who are not empowered by the Holy Spirit are you not cutting yourselves out of something do you not yet understand that unity in the body of Christ is not negotiable it's absolutely essential it's in the power of unity read it in Psalm 133 that the anointing of God and the blessing of God comes is the power of unity that you and I add together where we're not going to agree on every single thing and we don't have to but we do have to agree that we are the body of Jesus Christ we are brothers and sisters in Christ forever we gathered together at the cross and say our mandate in this world is to glorify Christ to see him honored and to see the desire of his heart in reaching the lost around us fulfilled and to achieve that purpose we will not let disunity get into the body of Christ by the grace of Almighty God we will not let division come in to this church not even theological division if you get to the point where you're arguing a truth then you've you've fallen into a place of weakness you don't have to argue if you're standing on truth and arguments not necessary and don't forget none of us are right all the time in everything we learn as we grow in grace we begin to learn thank God for that secondly Paul puts out a plea for faith and he encourages the people to escape the trap of reasonings which exclude the power of God in first Corinthians chapter 2 beginning at verse 1 he says I brethren when I came to you did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified I was with you in weakness in fear and in much trembling and my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God verse 12 he says now we have received not the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God in other words God has given to us things that we need to fulfill his purpose for us in the earth verse 14 he says the natural man that man who walks by his own strength and by his own reasonings does not receive the things of the Spirit of God their foolishness to him nor can he know them because they're spiritually discerned you remember in numbers chapter 13 that 10 of the 12 spies of the children of Israel went into the promised land and and instead of believing in the power of God they condescended to their own reasonings and they came back and they considered the report of the place of promise to be sound and reasonable based on judgment and observation and all of these things but God called it evil because it negated the power of God you see our faith is not to rest in the wisdom event our faith is not to rest in some new clever presentation of some truth that we already know but our faith is to rest in the power of God that God is able to make be everything that he desires me to be I don't know how to become a person of love you might say but God knows how to make me that kind of person so I yield my future and my life and my heart into his hands and I'm asking him to do and I believe that he will I believe there's no wall there's no valley there's no power of hell that can separate me from this love of God which is mine belongs in me and God deserves to radiate through me in Jesus Christ I I will not be separated from the power of God I will not fall I will not succumb just too clever speakers who don't lead me to believe that God can use me for his glory God can change me for his glory God can speak through me for his glory God can push back darkness through me for his glory I will not let the faith that I have in Christ be somehow supplanted just by clever reasonings and clever speech the next thing Paul pleads for is purity in first Corinthians chapter 5 and verse 1 he says it is actually reported there is sexual immorality among you you know the interesting thing about the immorality in this case is nobody seemed to be bothered by it it was known it was going on clearly in the body and it didn't seem to bother anybody and Paul was pleading with this church don't let this kind of immorality be found among you don't you know it will weaken you don't you understand when the children of Israel were coming into the place it promised there was a king called Baylock who hired a false prophet who had the power he believed to curse the people of God this prophet stood from various vantage points and as he saw the people of God on their journey the Spirit of the Lord overrode his evil heart and began to speak through him and talk about the blessing the fact that this descendancy that God had established in the earth can't be stopped from its purpose can't be stopped from its eject objective can't be hindered can't be overcome he didn't understand what he was saying but you and I know this that God's hand was on these people and when God's hand is on you you can't be overcome but he gave this King some advice he said they can't be overcome but there is a way to stop them seduce them so there's them into sexual relationships with the unsaved so there's them into living immorally and if you can do that you can greatly hinder their purpose you can actually make them weak like the rest of the nations all around them Paul was pleading Paul was pleading sex outside of marriage as defined by God between one man and one woman is sin and the wages of sin is still death death to dreams death division death to strength there's no way to solve peddle out there's no way to make it go away it doesn't matter if everybody here disagrees with that truth it doesn't matter it's an absolute in the kingdom of God it is sin and the wage of sin still pays what it always has death weakness lack of vision lack of strength Paul said don't let your closest friends be the sexually immoral there are people who choose to live that way in the body of Christ but you don't have to be their best friend do you understand me you can reach out to these people you can talk to them about the love of God you can talk to them about how forgiveness can come into their hearts and how their lives can change but if they choose to live in immorality that's where the fellowship ends you can read it yourself in 1st Corinthians chapter 5 god forbid that we should ever give somebody living in fornication in this church the false assurance that heaven is one day going to be their home god forbid Paul next pleads for forgiveness in 1st Corinthians chapter 6 and verse 7 he says now therefore it is already an utter failure for you that you go to law against one another why do not rather accept wrong why do you not rather let yourself be cheated in this church there were grudges coming to the surface and the longer we're together the more chance that is that that's going to happen some of you might know that already the longer we fellowship the more you get to know people there's a chance that grudges come into the heart now the Corinthian church couldn't go to the Word of God for justifying these grievances they were holding on to so they had to go to the court of secular opinion some people want to hold on to grudges but they know the Word of God will not back them so they have to go to those outside the kingdom of God to get some kind of reinforcement and that's what these people were doing why don't you rather just accept the wrong and pray for that person and believe that God can change their heart and he takes it even a step farther why don't you rather let yourselves be cheated forgiveness and lastly there's a plea in the heart of the Apostle Paul for selflessness you see they were living in a city and a society that was completely self focused and selfishness was in the air and so this is a radical departure for this church to embrace the selflessness of Christ the one who denied himself took up his cross and became obedient even unto death and went to the cross not for his own but he went to the cross for you and he went to the cross for me because selflessness was at the core of the heart of the Son of God in Chapter 7 he encourages the Corinthian church to be selfless in marriage now I could talk a lot about this today a lot from from beginning to end I mean this is Paul says a lot about it but to be selfless you know why a lot of people in this congregation she can't get married is because you're not selfless still on the foundation of self still looking around the church for somebody to enhance your resume wondering what can this person do for me how can this person satisfy my need how will this person look hanging on to my arm that's a totally wrong foundation for marriage if you're gonna look around say God would you show me somebody that I can be given for so that person that that woman that man could reach their full potential in you that's the foundation of marriage if you get into marriage and selfishness is at the core of your marriage you're going to run into trouble when your needs are not met when you feel like that person is not the person like the person you thought they were when you married them if you're if the foundation of getting into that relationship in the first place is looking for only what that person can give to you you're going to run into trouble be fortunate if your marriage lasts a year and we do have that that happens people are just so enamored so in love but they're so selfish and eventually comes to the surface oh I thank God that if we're willing if we're willing he gives us the power not to be self as if we're willing he gives us the power to be given husband's love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her wives see that you respect your husbands lastly being submission one to another it's a partnership of marriage it it is the type on the earth of Christ in His Church when people encounter you as a married couple it should be to them as if they've just gone to church do you understand they've seen Christ in his church they've understood something there is no closer type to Christ in his church on the earth than a marriage of the Christian marriage that's what the devil is so after marriage to destroy it and redefine it selflessness in marriage to make yourself to being selfless and watch what will happen this year watch what will happen I'm continuously astounded that in this church I venture a guess there's two three thousands single young people in their 30s who want to get married and somehow these can't seem to get together there's only so much we can do from our side selflessness self less Ness at the core God would you show me somebody that I can be given for in sickness and in health for richer or poorer for better or worse till death do us part would you show me somebody God that I can be given for in Chapter eight Paul the Apostle makes it an appeal to selflessness in supporting the weak verses eleven to thirteen and because of your knowledge shall the weak brother perish for whom Christ died but when you thus sinned against the Brethren your wound their weak conscience and your sin against Christ therefore if food makes my brother stumble I will never again eat meat lest I make my brother to stumble in chapter 8 Paul was making a plea I plead with your brethren support the weak don't judge them don't criticize them don't push them to the sides of the temple and look for people that just make you feel good but be given to those that need help be given to those that may be not as strong as you are at the moment remember that you one day might be weak and you might be in this house in a place of leading the support of others you might fail faltered fall fall into a valley of despair you might go through a season of darkness through the valley of the shadow of death and you're gonna find out that nobody in the body of Christ stands alone we all need one another we're strong Monday but we might be weak the following Monday so remember the support the weak among you chapter nine Paul encourages these believers he pleads with them to consider giving financially to the work of God there obviously if you read chapter nine was an opinion being propagated by some in that fellowship that supporting financially the work of the ministry was no was not necessary anymore under the New Testament that is not true and if you read chapter 9 at least half or more of it you'll see that Paul is encouraging the people to consider giving to the work of God again in Chapter 11 encourages pleased with the people to live for the benefit of others it is the theme of our Bible school true ministry is living for the benefit of others it's so hard when society is not telling you that so hard with everything that is on the airwaves is the opposite of this chapter 11 is about learning to care for each other in community remember he said when you come to the communion table and if you're pushing the poor that have nothing to the sides of the temple and you're taking this communion saying I'm of Christ and crisis of me you're bringing a spiritual dullness into your own life failing to understand what it means to be part of the body of Jesus Christ chapter 12 is about recognizing and appreciating the contributing of others there's nobody here that can say to any other person here I have no need of you know every member of the body is necessary and every member needs to be valued you need to be able to look at one another in this house without judging one another I said oh I don't know you but I know you're valuable if if you are believer in Christ you're valuable to the body of Jesus Christ you have something to contribute to the church and I recognize that contribution chapter 13 of Corinthians is Paul pleads again to that we be committed to unselfishly loving each other bearing believing hoping enduring he said all these other giftings they're all going to pass away but love is going to remain and it is the gray of all we have on our marquee written outside for 30 years the church that love is building that was prophetic I believe that with all my heart and may we by God's grace be committed to unselfishly loving each other that means we have to bear we have to believe we have to go through difficult times together we have to resolve our difficulties and our conflicts that do arise in the body of Christ love will conquer it folks love will conquer it if I care about you I will care enough to bridge the difference that sometimes may try to make itself between you and I will do everything I can to meet you on that bridge that the fellowship that we know will not be broken in the body of Jesus Christ and chapter 14 about spiritual giftings the Apostle Paul pleads that we would use the giftings we have to lift others up not to exalt ourselves not to be known as somebody who prophesize with somebody who has this or does that or it lays hands on the sick Oh God that we could just use everything that we've got everything God's given us for the sake of others that's what true ministry is all about that was the you'll see that plea all the way through the book of first Corinthians Paul knew this because he was actually a man who was living this way he knew that's where the power of God was and the strength of God was the revelation of Christ was there how else could he know he said there's a great and effectual door open to me you say you knew that only in the spirit because in the natural he's in Chains in the natural it looks like he's going to spend the rest of his days in jail but somehow in his heart he knew from the Spirit of God that there was a door that was opening how could he know that we would be speaking his words today 2,000 years later this was the door the door was through the church world fro all the time until the return of Christ he couldn't fully have understood it but he said I know there's a huge door that's been open to me and there are many adversaries and Paul was trying to encourage this church to come in behind him walk together in purity walk together in you see walk together with faith knowing the kingdom of God is a supernatural kingdom what we can't accomplish God is well able to accomplish it's not a kingdom of advances by committee or by human ingenuity or by the cleverness of speakers it advances by the power of God's Holy Spirit creating and recreating a new life new giftings new power new hearts new minds new purpose new vision in the hearts and lives of those who open their heart to the fullness and the purpose that God has for them in Jesus Christ it's a kingdom of forgiveness after all it's all about the one who said Father forgive them they don't know what they do that's why we build bridges and forgive that's why we don't go to court with one another that's why we do everything we can to resolve and if we can't resolve it we take the hurt upon ourselves as Jesus did on the cross we follow him this is a kingdom of forgiveness and ultimately it's a kingdom of selflessness but we don't live for ourselves we don't use God his house or his people for ourselves we know he's given to us we know he's enabled us we know he's gonna keep us we know he's gonna confirm us we know he's gonna bring us home we know we have a mansion and glory already with our name on the door we know all of these things we know we will rule and reign with Christ forever but till that day we are a people called to be given for the benefit of others that is the call of our lives that is what we do that is our motivation that's the source of our prayers that's the leading of our heart that's why we don't lay down and die when this when we get to be old we keep going as long as God is still speaking we keep moving because we're not living for ourselves we're living for the benefit of others may God help us you see folks here's my point it's a great and effectual door being open to us now and we must learn from the mistakes of those who missed the moment there are others before us who missed the moment I mean it's it's not even debatable it's all through scripture they just they were given a divine moment but they didn't grasp it maybe they didn't take it seriously and they missed it for all of all the reasons that we find in Corinthians now first Corinthians chapter 10 I'm gonna close with this now beginning at verse 1 moreover brethren I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud and all passed through the sea in other words God's hand was on them and the miracle power that we have known was theirs as well they were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea and all ate the same spiritual food they all drank the same spiritual drink they drank of that spiritual rock that followed them and that rock was Christ they had the power of God they had the promises of God they're the provision of God that the pathway of God the purpose of God it was all theirs just as it is ours today but with most of them God was not well pleased for their bodies were scattered in the wilderness now these things became our examples to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted and to not become idolaters as were some of them as it is written the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play nor let us commit sexual immorality as some of them did and fell in one day 23,000 no let us tempt Christ as some of them also tempted and were destroyed by serpents the tempting of Christ means to say well is God able to do what he said that he would do nor complain that some of them also complained and were destroyed by the destroyer now all these things happened to them as examples and they were written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the ages have come therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall in other words if you are still practicing any of these things and yet you think you're gonna stand Paul the Apostle says you better listen again because you have no assurance you're going to stand if you're not willing to walk away from those things that God says you should not be partakers of any longer no temptation is over can you accept such as is common to man but God is faithful will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able but with the temptation will also make a way of escape that you might be able to bear it there's nothing come your way that others have not had to experience or get through God is faithful remember we started with that God is faithful he will confirm you to the end he won't allow you to be tested beyond what you can endure but will make a way for you to escape that you might be able to bear it and verse 14 he says therefore my beloved flee from idolatry the ultimate idolatry he speaks about here is setting up our own reasoning above the Word of God remember that's the sin nature of humanity that we can be as God as we can declare what is good and what is evil that's idolatry flee from setting yourself up as God in your own life flee from it God is faithful he will make away this generation fell in the wilderness I just read you about but another generation were coming in now to a place of promise under the leadership of Joshua but these people had to be identified as the people of God before they could know the victory that was set before them they had to have the reproach of Egypt rolled away from them they had to receive a new identity a new purpose individually and as a congregation I believe with all my heart that 2018 will be the year that we flourish and we will fulfill our calling I do Naz I'm as I've spoken this morning there are some things that have hit you directly there's some arrows of God's love they hit you right in the spot or you needed to be hit and now the choice is yours the choice to say I commit to flourish in God's Way I admit that I will not flourish my way I can't change the ways of God I can't somehow get around truth and still know his blessing I'm not going to join the crowd that looks at a glass ball and thinks it's going to change their day in the future I'm not going to be among those who stand and their hope for the future is an illusion I have a sure hope I have a solid foundation I have the promises of the Word of God and he tells me he will do certain things he will keep me confirm me and as faithful as he has been he will continue to be but on my part he asked me to walk in unity faith purity forgiveness and selflessness that's my part yet I have to trust him for the power to do that and he promises to be the power that I need to be the person that I'm called to be is my heart is your pastor that after 30 years of preparing for this moment as the world the church world is going to come in this year and take a look at what God has done and is doing here that we will not be a fraud that we will not fall short of the glory that is deserving to his name that we will be a people who love one another we will be a people who are walking in purity I'm not suggesting there's not times when people fall or fail but we will get back up and we will determine and declare we are the people of God we're gonna walk as the people of God we're gonna walk together in unity we're gonna forgive but for wronged and we're gonna live one for another and let God bring the eyes of the church world into this sanctuary for a moment just a short moment in time to see what a prayer meeting and a people can look like I hope you recognize the great responsibility the Lord has given us now I do but the choice now is ours to flourish thank you lord thank you Lord for the sound of a people who are being humbled before you there's a soundboard there's a sound god thank you for it Lord Jesus Christ we dedicate this house to you our lives to you our families to your Lord our hope and our future to you we recognize Lord that in you we live and move and have our being it's not in our sword it's you in us that's our hope and so we thank you Lord that as Paul did we can be on our knee this morning with trembling and weakness even an insecurity inside our own heart but Lord you tell us that our faith is not to rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God your willingness to be God in US and through us to give us giftings that we could never hope to have without you to take us places we could never go if you didn't carry us there and so Lord we thank you God thank you Lord that you speak to us this morning because you love us you speak to us Lord because you want to take us into a place of incredible victory we lift up our city before you Lord and we ask for mercy mercy God mercy Lord as we have prayed in the past we pray again but every church in the city become a House of Prayer again god we believe that you are able to do exceedingly above and beyond all we ask for think we believe Lord that even when we pray our prayers fall short of what you're willing to do and will do we thank you Lord for the great report of what you're going to do across the nation but we ask you to do it Lord in this city no matter what name is on the door we ask that your Holy Spirit be inside that building God that you would meet with men women children you would simply meet them we ask Lord that park benches and Central Park become altars again we ask you Lord Jesus Christ for prayer meetings in our stores and our businesses Apartments on the streets God and Wall Street Everywhere Lord prayer meetings on the subway people begin to pray and others begin to join them Lord it's time to pray and Lord we just thank you that you will answer our prayers the city begins to pray you will answer the prayers of your people we Bend our knee before you Lord and acknowledge that you are God acknowledge that your ways are higher than our ways we ask Lord for this country Lord that you would send an awakening one more time maybe one last time before you return a spiritual awakening a great turning to You Lord numbers too great to be counted across the nation God city to city town to town Hamlet to Hamlet God borough to borough apartment to apartment there'd be a great great spiritual awakening in our time Lord we thank you for the part that we have been chosen to play in this we don't know the extent of it but give us the grace Lord to be faithful to what we're given to do help us Lord to be servants to the body of Christ and never be lords over anyone help us God to walk humbly before all men Lord acknowledging that Lord it's you it's only you it's all you Lord it's not us God we have no real strength or plan it's just you it's your mercy it's your grace that's all it is Oh God we heard it prayed this morning we will sound grace to this work when it's finished father thank you Lord thank you Jesus walked with us walk among us you are welcome here you are welcome here Lord you are welcome to do your work your way in each of our lives God give us the grace to be your people Lord and father we thank you for this with all of our heart with all of our heart in Jesus name Amen and they been praised God

Channel: Times Square Church

Views: 12,576

Rating: 4.875 out of 5

Keywords: Pastor Carter Conlon, Sermon, Times Square Church

Id: fNvca83p_9g

Length: 45min 17sec (2717 seconds)

Published: Wed Jan 03 2018