Eight Words That Change Everything by Carter Conlon

thing to be here in the sanctuary at summit international school of ministry with young people from all over the country and those that were able to get visas and come in from other parts of the world we thank god for those open doors to study to prepare to be a generation that's going to make a difference uh in the days ahead and if you knew some of the young people that i'm meeting here at this school at this time you know that we have some chain breakers here in our mets that are going to go into their home towns their home countries their home their neighborhoods they're going to make a huge difference for the kingdom of god and for that i am personally eternally grateful pastor tim dalina on sunday morning preached a powerful powerful message that really just began with a thought that stirred something in me and the thought was from psalm 119 verse 100 where the psalmist says i understand more than the ancients because i keep your precepts in other words i have made the choice to obey the word of god and the obedience in my heart has given me more understanding than those who actually know more than i do as a matter of fact they might know more scripture than i do they may have studied longer than i have but the obedience that you have placed in my heart has opened an understanding to me that gives me a greater wisdom than those who have selectively man put it that way decided to obey god so i want to talk to you today i want to speak specifically to people who have come to the end you're at home and you you just don't see a way forward you thought one point in your life you had a pathway like pastor ryan spoke about earlier but suddenly your pathway came to a a blinding halt may i call it that and you just don't see a way forward for yourself you don't see it for your marriage your mind your children your community you don't think that god can use you you just don't see a way forward i am reading the prayer requests on on the tablets that we have of that you're sending in from all over the world and i don't think i've ever seen such a hopelessness as today like so many people it's the the prayer quest is so deep it's just i've lost the will to live i don't see a future for my family my marriage is there's no there's no way out of the situation and many many people are are asking for prayer because they're losing their minds under the the tension and the pressures of this present time now i'm going to share with you today uh a thought that i've entitled eight words that change everything can i have somebody bring me my glasses over there please i forgot them at uh when you get to be my age you're fortunate to wind up anywhere with everything that you brought with you that's just the way things are right now thank you so much i can't see a thing here without them eight words that change everything father thank you god for the touch of heaven that has been on this meeting this this evening thank you lord for the hope that is rising in so many hearts around the world that god this is a desperate hour and quite often in a desperate hour you choose to use desperate people in a way that we never anticipated that you would so help me god to go into the inner prisons the living rooms the darkened places of hearts and minds tonight and to shine a light in these darkened places like paul and silas once did in the inner prison break these doors that the devil would try to place in people's minds off of their hinges tonight let people come out and begin to be a living testimony of the power and the reality of god thank you for what you're about to do in this generation and help me to explain tonight these eight words that if we will pray them with a sincere heart it can change everything now in your bible in the book of acts chapter 9 we see the story of the apostle paul now in acts chapter 9 he started out as a man called saul a man who had a very definitive objective in life a man who thought that he knew the way forward he thought he understood what truth was only to come to literally a blinding finish he was on the road to damascus you know the story he was persecuting the church of jesus christ and suddenly a blinding light from heaven he encountered the living christ it caused him to be thrown to the ground and actually blinded him the scripture tells us for three days he was blind physically blind he couldn't see his journey had come to an end everything he thought he was all that he was attempting to do every purpose he thought he had in life came to an end just like many that i'm speaking to tonight you're 20 years old you're 30 you're 40 or 50. whatever your situation is and you thought you knew what your life was going to be and just whether it was gradually or suddenly like the apostle paul suddenly you've just come to an end you hit a wall it's it's over you can't see a way forward neither could the apostle paul in this particular passage of scripture now paul was about to pray a prayer and actually it's an amazing prayer because it's the very first prayer he prayed as a converted man now he had had repetitious prayers he had had prayers that no doubt he had learned from some of the old testament practices but he'd never really prayed a new testament prayer a prayer of faith and obedience it's the first thing out of his heart and i do believe in many regards it ought to be the first prayer out of the heart of every man woman or child who comes to christ and has an actual conversion experience conversion means change conversion means new life source conversion means new relationship with god conversion means new direction new hope new future it means everything has become new because the old things have passed away now paul who is now praying he started out as saul but now he's become paul and it's interesting because when you do have a living encounter with god you do get a new nature you and i get a new heart we get a new direction we get a new way of seeing things we get a new future and so now it says in chapter 9 of the book of acts in verse 6 so he that's saul or paul now trembling and astonished he had an encounter now with the living god said lord what do you want me to do that was the first prayer out of his mouth it is a prayer that changed everything now who can debate but that saul who was a religious fanatic really lacking in any wisdom who can who can debate with me legitimately today or tonight that he did not become one of the wisest men in the history of the kingdom of god you just have to read his epistles his letters he was given a wisdom that could only be given a man by god himself and it all started as pastor tim shared on sunday morning with this this this heart that gave up in a sense its own agenda immediately having encountered the living god saul saul knew that saul was over and paul had begun it was it was a new birth he was born again by the presence of god in his life and he prayed this prayer and he said and it was the first prayer as i call it of a converted man it's it's the prayer that i believe that everyone who wants a living relationship with god at some point in our lives we have to pray this prayer and it began it's eight words and it changed everything not just for him it changed everything for millions of people around the world can you imagine if you and i could pray a prayer like that tonight that would change the lives of millions of people you see jesus christ is still the same yesterday today and forever i don't know if it'll change millions if you pray it but it'll change you and it will probably change your marriage and most likely change your children most likely change your grandchildren most likely change the trajectory of your whole family most likely will have an impact in your workplace most likely will lead you to a pathway of surrender and usability in the kingdom of god that you never personally believed was ever possible in your life and it started with the word lord i love that the first word of the eight words was just simply lord in luke chapter 6 and verse 46 jesus said to the religious leaders of the day he said why do you call me lord lord and do not the things which i say but you see paul meant it when he called him lord it was an admission that there's a new boss in my life i'm no longer in charge of my life you know it's it's amazing because when i came to christ i personally came to christ by reading the gospel of john and nobody ever told me this but when i read the gospel of john i realized that i wasn't just coming to be healed of this condition called sin in my life which which was very obvious and i knew i was a sinner i wasn't coming just to have an assurance that when i die i'm going to go to heaven but just reading with an honest heart the gospel of john with a desire to actually obey it if it was true i saw that to come to christ meant that i would have to yield the rights to the rest of my life to him in other words i'm not the boss anymore of my life i'm not i'm not in charge of bringing my plan to god and saying would you bless my plan i'm called to lay down my plans i'm called to lay down my thoughts about myself the good ones and the bad ones all of the things that i thought my life was going to be and my prayer is to start with the words lord you are now the lord of my life you are my new boss your word is supreme your thoughts are above my thoughts your ways are above my ways if your word says it's wrong even though i might think it's right it becomes wrong i yield to the word of god pastor tim spoke at length about that part of the reason that a lot of this generation are so powerless and their testimony is they've never come to that place of saying lord your lord now not just a word in my mouth i'm not going to be among those who call you lord lord and don't do the things which you say but i'm going to yield the rights to my life the second word that paul said in his very first prayer is what implying that god had a will for his life which now had priority now the will of god is not always pleasant we want to craft some pleasant thing in our heart and we want to bring this pleasant thing to god and say okay here here's your will for my life obviously you're going to agree with this you know jesus himself in matthew chapter 26 and verse 39 said o my father if it is possible take this cup from me nevertheless not my will but thine be done so the first two words were lord what and then the next two were do you in other words jesus you now have the right to my life what do you want me now that implies that there's a divine purpose in for my life everyone who's here today everyone who's listening to me online tonight there's a divine purpose that god has for your life he doesn't want your plans doesn't need your strength you don't need to be any part of this it's just a matter as you can just imagine this this formerly enraged man called saul who's hauling people out of their homes he's torturing people he's by his own admission he's torturing them to the point where they're blaspheming god just to save just to get out of the pain he's an enraged man when stephen the the the precious young a servant of god was martyred paul was there holding their coats consenting to his death he considered it one of his great sins of his life and now he is realizing that there's a divine purpose for my life god doesn't want my strength he doesn't need my ideas and no doubt saul was a man full of ideas his whole life was governed by his own ideas his own will his own agenda but now he said lord what do you want me what do you want me you have a divine purpose for my life let me just suggest something to you the divine purpose of god for your life is so far out of your thinking you've never thought about it he says i'm thinking thoughts about you that you have not even considered yet i'm able to do more for your life and through your life than you can even ask or think in other words you are you are confined in your mind by experience you're confined by by the heights of of your thinking the depths of your struggle you're confined by the parameters of what other people have said about your life and what you even feel about yourself but the christ who comes to live inside of your life when you finally yield to him is not confined by these things he's the god of the universe he he he can do things that you can't even imagine that he can do there's a day coming the bible says when we stand in his presence we will know things even as we are known till then we just see the scripture says through a glass darkly and and maybe just even under my voice tonight you're getting maybe just a a a feeling in your heart it's it's very dim that god has something way more for you than you've ever imagined for your life and the last two words he says of the eight words is to do now let me complete the sentence lord what do you want me to do in other words he's the lord of my life he now has priority he has the right to my future he has a divine purpose for my life and now his plan requires my active cooperation in other words god starts to open the doors and we're just required simply to walk through remember to the church of philadelphia i said it here a few weeks ago that he said behold i set before you an open door you have a little strength you have not denied my word and you've in my name and you've kept my word as best as you can he said now behold i sat before you an open door now the open door is set there by god all that he requires now is our cooperation the willingness to walk through the willingness to go where we've never gone the willingness to do what we know we can't do without god the willingness to speak when we don't know what's going to come out of our mouth the willingness to to be put in places where we are so physically uncomfortable imagine saul from from enraged persecution of the church and torturing people to to suddenly finding himself in the midst of followers of jesus christ just looking for acceptance and trying to convince them that i'm not on your side i'm not against you i'm not for you and and and having to go through that door it must have been so initially uncomfortable for him put yourself in his place you could imagine how hard that must have been and you and i know that from that initial prayer where saul prayed those words or paul prayed those words god did things through his life that you and i are talking about right now 2 000 years later he took him to places established churches through his life used his hand even in prison to write much in the text of what we know as the governing principles and ideologies of the church of jesus christ today and when he prayed that prayer lord what do you want me to do so i know some of you are going to pray it tonight some of you are going to pray it in this in the sanctuary who are here with me as students at summit international school of ministry and we we expect you know we expect that god would say to paul while paul get up and start writing the bible and establish churches and we want the whole package we want the whole answer but the first answer to that prayer that paul prayed was just go into the city that's all god told them just go into the city you know sometimes we want the whole pathway laid out before us and god says no just take the first step just do the first thing he doesn't lay it all before us because we wouldn't be able to handle it none of us in this in this room could handle it i think if if i would have been told by jesus christ in those first few weeks of my salvation what the plan he had for me i think i would have collapsed into the sidewalk i wasn't free from fear yet i had a lot of struggles in my life i couldn't speak publicly i mean everything that he would laid out before me would have seemed like an absolute impossibility and so in his mercy and in his gentleness he just tells us to do the first thing first i'll set the doors before you you just go through them just do the first thing and so the first thing that god says in response to this prayer that's going to change the world i mean realistically it's going to change the world and so the first thing that god says in response to this prayer is go into the city so the point is don't despise the day of small beginnings don't think that that initial answer to your prayer is nothing for for you who are listening at home tonight he might just say get up and as you heard pastor ryan speak about tonight get a word and speak it into the heart of your of your wayward son or daughter whether they they scoff or scorn or curse you out whatever they do just just by faith go through that first door and start speaking maybe god will say just get up and open your bible you haven't read it for three months maybe you just tell you go to the cupboard and pour that bottle of liquor down the sink or flush those drugs down the toilet that'll be your first step when you say lord what do you want me to do it all starts with small beginnings and paul's case he was told to go into the city the second answer that came to him is in chapter 9 verse 15 when god sent a man called ananias to go to him and lay his hands on him that he might receive the spirit of god and receive his sight because he was still blind at this point and the lord said to ananias he said go for he's a chosen vessel of mine to bear my name before gentiles kings and the children of israel so ananias would have come in would have come into saul or paul at this time and saying i'm here god sent me here and this is what god told me about you your ministry is going to be far-reaching it's going to go bigger it's going to be farther than anything you could ever imagine it is going to be it's not big to god it's just big to you god's going to use you because you've chosen to you are an obedient man that's one thing paul was he was an obedient man and remember we started with that scripture i understand more than the ancients because i've obeyed your precepts your ministry paul will be far-reaching but there's a caveat that comes with it in verse 16 of chapter 9 he said for i will show him how many things he must suffer from my name's sake the last part of that response to his prayer was yes your ministry is going to be far-reaching but it's not going to be easy it's going to be hard but it's going to be worth it you know in this generation that we're living in i would be a liar if i told you tonight that there's not going to be hardship ahead for many who are going to stand for christ this is an out of season for the gospel generation it will cost some of us to stand for christ in the coming days it will not be easy but it will still be far-reaching it will still reach people that could not be reached any other way but through the prayer of a man a woman a young person that just said this prayer tonight lord what do you want me to do i love that prayer because he didn't start by saying i have a hundred ideas about how to advance your kingdom god i have a strategy i'm going to pass out surveys we're going to ask people what would it take for you to come to our church no he didn't start with his own ideas he just said lord what do you want me to do and i want to suggest to you that god's plan for your life is so much bigger than even your best one that you can think about think about the best plan you could think about for your life the best plan his is bigger than that it its borders are so much farther to the north and the south east and the west than you can even imagine it is and it starts with the desire to get up go into the city and wait until i speak to you and if you will follow the leading of my voice it won't be easy but in paul's case it will reach the whole of the known world can you imagine being given a promise like that well my encouragement to you tonight is that you can be it will reach the whole of your known world of of the scope of your influence starting in your home your marriage your children your family your community and who knows where who knows where who knows what god will do through your life i'll tell you who knows god knows and if he can find an obedient heart it's amazing what he can do we're going to go to the communion table tonight so i'd like you to prepare at home and get some juice and get some bread and we're going to go to the communion table with this thought in our heart lord you obeyed even though at one point you said father if it be possible take this from me but then you concluded the thought by saying nevertheless not my will but your will be done so let that be the cry of our hearts as we partake of this table understanding that it was because of somebody who went beyond his natural desires we are here today with hope and heaven is our future give us the grace to say the words lord what do you want me to do in jesus name amen we'll be back in just a moment and it's hard to see [Music] is [Music] i know you were [Music] oh [Music] that we [Music] the ways [Music] did not fail [Music] hello you're the god who comes through [Music] and i'll testify [Music] i'll testify [Music] is [Music] my god this is well [Music] his [Music] [Music] thank you jesus for i've received from the lord that which i also delivered to you the lord jesus and the same night in which he was betrayed took bread and when he'd given thanks he broke it and said take eat this is my body which is broken for you do this in remembrance of me in the same manner he also took the cup after supper saying this cup is the new covenant in my blood this do as often as you drink it in remembrance of me for as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup you proclaim the lord's death until he comes so father tonight god i ask you in jesus name in jesus name raise up a generation the same way that you raised the apostle paul from that damascus road and give them back their sight and give them strength and give them a plan and a purpose and let it begin at the beginning god we need an army lord we need your church to rise and lord all throughout history you have taken the broken the bruise the nothings and nobodies your word declares it to bring everything that stands in its own strength to nothing that no flesh can be glorified in your presence and so god we're asking tonight i'm asking you lord that you would cause people who hear the sound of this prayer to rise up in their living rooms rise up in their bedrooms wherever they are that they would rise up and say lord what do you want me to do and to begin to do it as you begin to open the door oh god let this be a night of great deliverance let it be a moment of restoration let it be a season lord where testimony to the glory of god are born in the earth again all over this globe lord the prophet isaiah in a season of fires heard a shouting unto the lord he heard praises being lifted up from the four corners of this world so god let it begin let the voices of glory be raised lord lord rehome every life every place and father we thank you and we praise you for it with all our heart tonight in jesus name amen and amen we're going to go with a song of victory and a shot of victory and we'll see you tsc will be with us online on sunday a lot of different connect groups and things you can get involved in and we'll be back again next tuesday night here from our bible school in granville pennsylvania god bless you we love you stand strong get up let's all walk with god he needs a church now in jesus name

Channel: SermonIndex.net

Views: 13,850

Rating: 4.9645233 out of 5

Keywords: Revival, Character Of God, Free Sermons, Video Sermons, Jesus Christ, What Is The Gospel, SermonIndex, What Is The Truth, Carter Conlon

Id: X3dGfzoXUdI

Length: 31min 7sec (1867 seconds)

Published: Wed Nov 11 2020