February 1, 2015 - Carter Conlon - A Sure Path Through the Coming Storm

if you turn your Bibles please to Matthew chapter 26 Matthew chapter 26 this is part 2 a word that I believe that the Lord has given me for this time of fasting and prayer that we are entering into as a church we're praying for the future of times for a church we're praying for the testimony of this church we're praying that as I said earlier last week God told Pastor David Wilkerson when this church was founded in 1987 that it was founded by God to be a lighthouse in the coming storm the storm is here and it is really time for us to polish the windows to make sure the light is strong to check every part of this lighthouse that's why the Lord is asking us to let him deal with the small issues of character not things that will take us away from heaven but things that will cause our testimony to be dull in this generation and he's asking us all of us all the leadership everyone and I do believe because this is a sovereign moment there really is no escaping this you're suddenly where if you're sensitive Christian you're suddenly aware of issues in your character that you've just so used to being there you didn't you've never really seen anything wrong with them other than they're a smudge and the window of the lighthouse and the hand of God has come with a cloth of cleansing and saying let me just clean that it's not affecting your eternal destiny but it is affecting the testimony of the life of God through us and as I said earlier I've been chasing foxes all week to the point where I just last night laid down in bed and said Lord God catch the foxes for me and he's going to be faithful to do that says the little things in your character little things that hinder him today I want to talk about a sure path through the coming storm Matthew chapter 26 and a father I thank you God for the anointing of your Holy Spirit god I praise you for your presence I thank you Lord that you've allowed us to be born into this world at this time and you brought us here to this house for this testimony for this season help us God Lord we acknowledge we need your power for there is no light without your power there's no testimony there's nothing without your Lord there's just a bunch of noise in a building calling itself to church without you Lord we don't really have the power we need but we do ask you Almighty God to shape the place where we are as you did for your early church and come upon us with power give us boldness to speak your word and through us stretch out your hand to heal this sin sick generation we live in let the light of Christ so shine that people will see it from miles away and walk towards the light that offers life and strength and eternity god help us now help me this morning Lord Jesus help us to reach the full potential of what our lives are called to be not what we think they should be but what you've called them to be there's a huge difference I pray Lord God for the courage to go through every door I asked me for the courage to speak every word you put upon our hearts ask your Lord for the ability to do everything you call us to do sing every song you call us to sing no matter where or under what circumstance Jesus anoint your word if you don't anoint it it's only just an accumulation of more knowledge even if it's good knowledge it has no power if you don't touch it and make it live in our hearts God Almighty let your word live in our hearts let your kingdom become our most prized possession let your will be that which we embrace more than life help me God help me Lord Jesus Christ to fulfill your call in my life help me God not to drawback help me Lord Jesus Christ I pray in your precious name amen a sure path through the coming storm Matthew chapter 26 beginning at verse 39 and he went this is Jesus he went a little farther and fell on his face and prayed saying O my father if it be possible let this cup pass from me nevertheless not as I will but as you will then he came to the disciples and found them sleeping and said to Peter what could you not watch with me one hour watch and pray lest you enter into temptation the spirit indeed is willing but the flesh is weak and again the second time he went away and prayed saying O my father if this cup cannot pass away from me unless I drink it your will be done and he came and found them asleep again for their eyes were heavy so he left them and went away again and prayed the third time saying the same words now the author of the book of Hebrews in chapter 4 verses 15 and 16 says we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses but he was in all points tempted as we are yet without sin let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need you know we can we can grasp sometimes this erroneous view that Jesus Christ never struggled as we do we forget that he was not only fully God but he was fully man and the fact that he was touched he's touched with our weaknesses and he's touched with him because he also struggled with some of these things that we struggle with and so he understands because he was fully man what you and I fight and that's why the invitation is to come boldly to the throne of grace when when we pray this week God says come boldly to the throne of grace I understand your weaknesses I understand your fears I understand your reluctance in Matthew 26 and 39 verse 39 he said not as I will but as you will now it's an interesting thing here's the son of God he knows from birth that the purpose of his life is to go to a cross that's never hidden from him he knows that knows it from his youth and yet when it comes time when the actual moment comes that the the full expression have gone through his life is about to happen something of his human will starts fighting against what he knows he goes into the garden and he says not as I wanted to happen not as I will but as you will became the essence of his prayer and I started thinking about this and I asked God this question he said what was what was the will of Christ that had to be overcome so that his life through his life God might introduce to us the salvation that God was willing to offer humanity but there's something in the Heart of Jesus that he had to overcome the the human side of him which is common to all of us so as simply ask the question what was it and here's what I feel in my heart that the Lord has spoken to me firstly it was the will to have nothing change Jesus had forever enjoyed a pattern of fellowship with his father the father whose will would cause interruption to that pattern even though it was only for a moment you had some moments in your life I've had them I said God I wished it would never change you ever had given just after a Sunday service sometime for a Sunday night you just you'll just jump it up and down you're so happy and it's just in your heart say Oh God I wish this would never change Peter was like that when when Jesus appeared with Moses and Elijah on the top of the Mount of Transfiguration he wanted to build houses they're basically dwellings he just never wanted to leave that place he wanted to stay there forever I understand that you understand that we all grasp for a place in life that makes us feel happy and fulfilled we search for it we we go to school for it we study for it we work for it we this this kind of elusive place that we're always looking for on this earth that that is going to satisfy us that career that recognition that that whatever it is that we're looking for it's going to so satisfy us that we will be able to more or less camp there never leave there and our life would be complete and we'll come to church and we'll sing songs to God and we're believing for our salvation and would be just so happy there in listen to the words at proverbs chapter 8 I'm gonna read it to you from verse 22 to 30 but think about Jesus Christ remember that he's God there's never a time he was without his father there's never a time the fellowship between he and his father and the Holy Spirit was broken the Lord possessed me at the beginning of his way before his works evolved I have been established from everlasting from the beginning before there ever was an earth when there were no depths I was brought forth when there were no fountains abounding with water before the mountains were settled before the hills I was brought forth well as yet II had not made the earth or the fields or the primal dust of the world when he prepared the heavens I was there when he drew a circle in the face of the deep when he established the clouds above when he strengthened the fountains of the deep when he assigned to the sea its limits so that the waters could not transgress his command when he marked out the foundations of the earth then I was beside him as a master craftsman I was daily his delight rejoicing always before him Jesus spoke these very words John spoke these very words about Jesus Christ in the beginning of his gospel when he said in the beginning was the word and the Word was with God and the Word was God he was in the beginning with God all things were made through him and without him nothing was made that was made he had enjoyed this eternal fellowship there was no beginning to it it had always been it was a delightful place I have no doubt it was a place of communion it was a place of intimacy it was in place of wonderment it was a place that brings satisfaction to the heart that you and I can't and won't fully understand until we get to heaven one day and we too become partakers of it but even as a man on this earth Luke says in his gospel chapter 6 verse 12 it came to pass in those days and you'll see this frequently in the life of Jesus that he went out into the mountain to pray and he continued all night in prayer to God the fellowship he'd always enjoyed the wondrousness of what that must mean to be one and completely in union with God in our humanity we want nothing to change you and I want to find a place where we feel the most secure and we want to feel happy and we want to stay there I often feel that way I feel that way every time my wife comes home from a school it's a god I don't want her to go again I have to fight that it's within my power to tell her to stay home and she would but the God the call of God involves change the call of God leads on the journey into the unknown and often into the uncomfortable many claim to love God but will not take this journey Paul said of a certain men in 2nd Timothy chapter 4 verse 10 he said demas has forsaken me having loved this present world in other words this man called Dimas found a place and he was just simply unwilling to let it go no matter where the plan of God was leading him or the call of God was taking him he just had a comfortable place and he fought that battle that everyone fights I said why can't have both what can it have this comfortable place and a relationship with God at the same time in measure I suppose Jesus was praying that father why does it have to be this way what why does what the call that you placed in my life have to involve this separation from you even though it's only for a moment in time why does this have to be can't there be some other way this can be done in and that's a legitimate crime in your heart and in mind God is there not some other way this can be done does it have to be this lonely does it have to be this painful the second thing that I'm convinced that Jesus had the fun it was the will to live and preserve oneself it's it's the strongest inner planting of the DNA of God in your life and in mine is the will to survive the will to live the will to be preserved it's John chapter 12 verse 27 that's I've found this so interesting Jesus is teaching his disciples and he's getting close to the point where the cross is going to come and he says these words now my soul is troubled and what shall I say father save me from this hour but for this purpose I came to this hour so he knows this thing he knows the scripture he knows this is the purpose for his life and he says in the sense in teaching the people around him what what do you expect what am I supposed to say father save me from this hour but what did he say when he went to go cemani he said father save me from this hour he was in all points tempted like we are he was tested like we are the knowledge of what to do often finds the will to live to be its fiercest enemy I know the Bible says if any man will be my disciple let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me I know that I preach that but there are times in my life when God tells me take up the cross and follow me and I find myself even though I know the truth I find myself saying is there any other way this could happen and you do too you pray the same way that I do or you put your fingers in yours like they do in the schoolyard you go lalalala while you pray I don't want to hear this I don't want to hear this I have a plan you know I'm asking you to help me to fulfill this plan that I have for my life and this this this will to live this will for self-preservation can be our fiercest enemy the disciples were all they all knew he made it clear he's going to the cross he made it clear he's going to be rejected he made it clear that on the third day he's gonna raise be raised from the dead he didn't hide anything he he said it he said it all to them and then in bravado they all said we will fight with you we will go all the way with you and all they were able to do is is cut off in one ear and then run that's what the human spirit will do we'll come to church and would take out our sword of the Spirit and we'll cut off an ear somewhere and then we'll flee and that's exactly what they did in Matthew 26 56 says then all the disciples forsook him and fled because that that inner will to live and preserve ourselves is is arguably one of the strongest inner desires that those of us who follow Christ will have to overcome it's the fuel source of fear that will to live it causes us just as Peter did at the fire remember Jesus has now taken into the place where his his trial is about to begin where he's being examined where he's been arrested where he seemingly is captivated and Peter still follows him but he is out in the outer court as it is warming himself by a fire and it causes us to associate with Jesus but only from a self-preserving distance and when they asked him do you know this man Jesus Peter says no and he's actually telling in measure the true in measure he's actually speaking the truth he says I know Jesus that heals I know Jesus that prospers I know it Jesus that blesses I know it's Jesus that does miracles I know it Jesus that caused my heart to burn with passion for his kingdom coming to the earth I know this Jesus but the Jesus that's been captivated and being despised and is on the road to suffering I really don't know that Jesus he was actually telling the truth and there's many people today who worship Him and they come and conferences they they want to warm themselves by the fire of God as it is but they don't want to go any closer to him than a self preserving distance I don't want to suffer I don't want to even think about what you might have from my life I want you as healer I want you as provider I want yours husband I want you as father I want you as deliverer but I don't want you as the one who calls me to follow you into suffering or rejection in a dark time we're living in a dark time my brother my sister we're living at a time in this society when Christ is being rejected again and those who follow him it's not going to be a popular time to follow him I believe we'll have a season of awakening I believe we'll have a moment where many are going to consider their eternity but the testimony of the the Word of God tells us that there's a day coming that the whole world is going to turn in an unimaginable lawless rebellion against the ways of God and it will not be popular to be a follower of Christ the only way through these things is by the power of God and part of our strength rests in a god-given embracing of the real true and lasting purpose of our lives it's coming to that point of saying God what do you want my life to be not what I think it should be not me trying to cram my agenda into your kingdom and asking you to bless it but what do you want my life to be that's a fearful prayer to pray because you and I don't know where that's going to lead us but I tell you what the source of your strength will be hebrews chapter 12 verse 2 says who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross it was the joy of you and me finding salvation through him that sent him to a cross if we are living for ourselves we're not going to get through this but if we are living for others if we are willing to live that men and women may come to that saving knowledge of Jesus Christ if we are willing to be poured out that others may drink if we are willing to be broken that others may be made whole if we're willing even to lose our freedom that others may gain theirs then there's a joy there's a strength that comes only from God Paul said in Philippians chapter 4 verse 1 therefore my beloved my longed for brethren my joy and my crown that's what gave this man such incredible strength it wasn't about him it wasn't about preserving himself it wasn't about his own agenda when he came to Christ he let all that go he let it go by the power of God it was about you it was about me it was about others Paul had a vision of the divine purpose of his life and it centered around the work of God and bringing home the lost that is the work of God bringing home the lost everything else is going to perish folks everything else is going to be gone there will be no Wall Street soon there there will be no towers in New York City everything even the heavens are going to be folded together one day as a scroll and all is going to be remade by the hand of God all of this is going to be gone all our sandcastles are going to wash into the oceans of time they're all going to be gone it comes down to the point is saying in my heart why do I want to live what do I want my life to be how do I want my life to finish how do I want it to play out do I want to warm myself with the fire and say no I I'm not familiar with that Jesus but let me tell you about the Jesus I do know but I'm not familiar with that Jesus I'm not familiar with the Jesus that a society was a darkened moment in history when society was not in the mood for him any longer they wanted him out of their culture we're living in a very real and similar moment in this nation when there's a strong push to eradicate the name of Jesus from everything in this culture they're not in the mood for him and they're not in the mood for his followers and so we have a choice do we do we live in the past do we do we hold to the Jesus that perhaps we knew in our infancy in those first years of walking with Him or do we embrace the Jesus that this culture is rejecting and walk with him outside of the city being willing to bare his shame and to suffer his rejection we won't be able to do it if our focus is not on people it's about fighting for the Lost it's about fighting for people to fight against their own salvation it's about standing as lights in the darkened time for the sake of even people who hate us that one day we'll be drowning and looking for a safe harbor that's what it's all about if it's about me I'm going to run I'm not going into the garden I'm gonna I'm gonna pray that prayer not my not thy will Lord but mine that will be my prayer that would be mine I run I will flee but if it's about other people God will give me the courage that I need God himself I can come to that throne boldly the scripture says I can come there because I have a Savior who understands my struggle because he went into a garden and he himself though knowing the purpose of his life said father if it be possible take this from me he not only went in once he went in three times and prayed the same prayer and that's in measure in great measure why I believe that he's touched with the feelings of our weaknesses he understands why we struggle in how we struggle but by the power of God's Holy Spirit and by his willingness to do the will of his father he walked through that valley of the shadow of death he did it victoriously for the joy that was set before him the Apostle Paul became a partaker of this joy in yielding his life for the sake of others God gave him joy in the storm in Acts chapter 27 as the ship is going down Paul's standing on the deck of that ship with a loaf of bread in his hand giving thanks to God for the privilege of his life being poured out as a testimony of the reality of who God is and the wonderfulness of God giving him the 276 people that sailed with him on that ship that they might have an opportunity to receive Christ as Savior Paul had vision and darkness even though his freedom was taken away momentarily and eventually at the end of his life he ended up in prison but he and Silas at the midnight hour were able to sing they had vision in the darkness and you and I are going to need vision in the darkness my friend this is a dark hour we're living in and everything can change in a moment of time now God gave Paul clarity and confusion that's why you could say unconvinced all things work together for good to those who love God and are the called according to his purpose yielding to the will of God took Jesus to a cross took Paul to a prison yet both of them finished their journey in victory both of them found a sure path through the storm father be possible let this cup pass from me nevertheless not as I will but as you will we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses but was in all points tempted as we are yet without sin let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need you see we don't have to play games we can come boldly I said God I I don't have it in me to do this I'm a coward I can't even handle it if I'm snickered at at work I know what the truth is I know what the scripture says but I can't do it but the writer of Hebrews says come boldly to the throne of grace come walking into that throne and openly openly tell him the struggles in your heart and that's what we're going to be doing this week God I want to be a witness at work but I can't I'm afraid I'm trying to preserve myself I'm scared the people are going to reject me I want or God to do your will but deep inside I've found a comfortable place and I don't want anything to change I live my life to get out of hardship and now I've found this comfortable place and I don't want to leave there and I have a deep inner sense that if I if I pray that prayer if I ask you what you would have me to do you're gonna take me to a place that I really don't want to go it's so safer for me just not to pray it safer for me just to come to church since it's safer for me to warm myself by the fire but I just so I can keep you within visual distance but I really don't have to stand beside you and I really don't have to suffer the rejection that you're suffering and endure the societal beating that's about to come upon you now I can I can just stay at a distance and warm myself every Sunday morning and I can even come Tuesday night warm myself by the fire but I don't have to go where you are all the it's the strength of the human will and I do thank God that the scripture reveals to us the human side of Jesus that he struggled as well I always find it so humorous that his first public miracle he was pushed he was the son of God and he was pushed into doing his first public miracle by his mother don't you love that about him there's a humaneness there we always want and we always want to see Jesus as if he walked through with some kind of a an aura around him where he never struggled no he was fully human keep that in mind as well so he experienced our struggles but it was the power of God that of course he was that gave him the ability to overcome this frailty of humanity but he understands your struggle he understands my struggling he knows why we're afraid to pray that prayer he knows why that we're going into a time of prayer and fasting this is a dark hour the society is rejecting Christ evils becoming good Goods becoming evil it seems like society is being turned upside down well that's what it must have seemed like for the people of that time I mean such an incredulous thing to have had these miracles for this long happening in their society and then suddenly there's this turning and suddenly people are yelling crucify him crucify him I can see how those that loved him would have been so perplexed by this saying are you insane this is everything we've ever prayed for this is all we've ever longed for this is our promise of provision and strength and hope for the future in your account calling for his crucifixion let us come boldly and what are the things that cross the strength of our own will number one is just to be willing to say what would you have me to do that's a fearful prayer if you really don't want the answer what would you have because most everybody here you you have a plan most everybody has a plan and the plan is always centered around self-preservation and now remember when Paul had his moment of meeting God face to face the first thing he said after that divine moment is what would you have me to do what do you want me to do I prayed that prayer when I was a young Christian God what do you want my life to be you know I'm so thankful he didn't show me the whole thing I wouldn't be able to handle it you know there's been mountaintops but there's been deep valleys there's been lovely fellowship and deep betrayal there's been good times there's been hard times there's been times when I felt like I'm breathing in the breath of God and there's other times where I felt like I couldn't breathe anymore it's not always been easy but it was a prayer that I prayed Lord what would you have me to do what do you want my life to be where do you want to take me what how do you want to glorify your name through my life and now after this long long journey all these years have been 37 years or so now maybe longer and I've come to this point now in life and I find myself praying that same prayer again what would you have me to do it's so easy to settle in when you you you get to the pinnacle of ministry as it is you get a public profile you you arrive at a place that everybody looks and says well success success but success is not in the things that we do success is in the fact that we keep following him right to the end what would you have me to do I mean when you think of it in the natural Paul has a ministry people are being healed by handkerchiefs he's working as his tent making craftsmanship and he's sending pieces of cloth that are left over and people are touching them and getting healed he's got a phenomenal ministry going but God calls him to testify before Caesar an insane ruler who thinks he's God and Paul sends him there to testify that's the call on his life what if he didn't have the courage to pray it he wouldn't have undertaken the journey he wouldn't have had the joy on a sinking ship he wouldn't have been able to endure the beatings in the rejection if he had not prayed Lord what would you have me to do what do you want my life to be not my will but thine not my plan but yours not my future but the one you have outlined for me you'd be amazed at what could happen in this very sanctuary if if even 50 people prayed that person's searly the missionaries that would be born the preachers that would rise up the voices that would go into government yeah I'm not kidding you God would take you and take you on a journey that you have no idea where it would lead to but it starts with the prayer what would you have me to do or just to let go we need the strength to let go of our own vision of happiness and embrace the will of God for our lives I had a vision of happiness I was going to reach my late 50s I get invitations all over the world to preach in conferences I was going to spend more time with my family I was going to be there for my grandkids at all their high school and grade school recitals and their sports games and do some of the things that I neglected to do when I was young because I was too driven and then suddenly I had it all planned and it all mapped out the longer you think about it the more that you paint this picture it's amazing how idyllic and wonderful your life is going to be and of course I'm still serving God until his hand came out of the clouds one day and said give me the final time of your life give me your plan give me your future give me what you think your life should be we all get to the point in life where we think hey I've worked hard all my life I personally have worked since I'm 13 years old I've worked hard for many many years and you get to the point of thinking don't I get to smell the roses for a little while and God says eventually I but not here give me your future I didn't know it wouldn't involve being separated from my wife and she leads summit international school of ministry and we're not separated we're just apart from each other quite a bit almost 50% of the time I didn't know that that wasn't my plan for the future that wasn't how I saw my life panning out and now I feel that hand coming down deeper and saying I want all of it I want your brush and I want your canvas I want all of it let go of your own vision of happiness and what you think your life should be and let me guide you now or maybe we need to come boldly to the throne of grace to ask for the strength to do what we already know he has told us it's that thought that won't go away when you pray it keeps coming back it may start with just forgiving somebody may start with just a first step into the unknown but you already know because I don't know the plan for your life and no one can tell you because nobody but God and you know what that plan is don't be running to some meeting looking for some prophet to tell you because they don't know you know and God knows and sometimes it can be so preposterous it doesn't it's just so out of the realm of what you think your life should be that it's it borders on ridiculous of God's not in it remember one time I was out for dinner with my wife and Canada and I was still police officer and I was just delivered from fear and she was off somewhere and I was standing in the lobby and I was just looking out the window and a plane went overhead and the Lord spoke to my heart said much your life is going to be traveling on airplanes telling people what I've done for you I remember sitting well if that's gonna happen is sure gonna be you it's not going to be me I'd never preached the sermon my whole life no ability to stand before people no ability to testify but the key is the key is there was a willingness in my heart to say if that's you God I'll go if it is you I'll go and if it's not I'm not gonna try to make it happen it's pointless I can't do this but if it is you I'll go and I would venture a guess and everybody here there's you've had a whisper of God into your heart he's already spoken to you it's not a secret to you you already know and in this time of prayer and fasting for this next three days let's go boldly that's the cry of my heart let's go boldly to the throne of grace let's walk into the throne of grace let's go there let's just speak honestly to God let's just let's just ask him what would you have me to do or if we know say God I know but I'm so full of fear I'm so reluctant to let go of what I think my life should be my image my canvas had painted of my life I'm so reluctant to let it go I've found the comfortable place and I don't wanna I don't want to let it go and others are sound I lived my life to feel accepted and you're asking me to walk into willful rejection you're asking me to be a one who partakes of your sufferings and and suffers the rejection of a society turning away from you I don't know if I want to do that and you can be honest with God he himself was honest with his father that's my point this morning he went in three times it's not like he didn't have the answer the first time or the second time but he understands our struggles he went in three times and said if it's possible take this from me if it can be done another way Oh God do it another way but nevertheless not my will but thine be done that was the key that resolve in the heart that says I want my life to play out a certain way and I feel there must be a way it can play out but if it can't let me not be driven by my own will let it be your well that guides me oh god help me in this we're being called of the Lord to come boldly there's never going to be an awakening in this country if somebody doesn't come boldly to the throne of grace religion as we have known it is not going to do it religion as it has been in America over the last thirty years as leading this country into the spiritual and moral poverty it's in now there has to be an awakening in the house of God it must start with the people of God and I don't know how many churches God is speaking to but I know he's speaking to this one I know he's calling us into something he's speaking to my heart first and I wish I could say it's easy I wish I could say I just hop skip and jump to do the will of God it's never been easy for me it's always been a fight I fought against God for six months to even come into the ministry in the first place even when I knew he what he was speaking I would say no I'm not doing that but eventually he's merciful it's kind the call of God doesn't go away the gifts and callings are without repentance he doesn't go away he doesn't forget he says okay talk to you again in six months see how you feel that here's my altar call what would you have me to do and in folks he doesn't show us the end we wouldn't be able to handle it it starts with just the first step what would you have me to do he'll whisper something do this and you just walk in obedience and then another door opens then another one then another one and you'd have to push them you don't have to search for them you don't have to kick them open your they open and suddenly they're right before you and you just walk through and you just keep walking through and you just keep walking through what would you have me to do it's not going to be yours you're sitting in your office you're sitting in the desk and he's not going to say I want you to go to Africa and preach to 500,000 people it's not going to happen that way it doesn't go from zero to a hundred it goes from zero to one first step what would you have me to do and you just start obeying that then pray it again the next day what would you have me to do what would you have me to do not my will but thine not me trying to cram you into my program but you guiding my steps all the rest of my life if that's the cry of your heart today to be willing to say what would you have me to do give me the grace to not be afraid of what that will might mean you won't fail me you won't forsake me God give me the strength to do what I know you've already spoken because it's against my will but nevertheless not my will but yours be done now father I thank you Lord for this moment in this church I thank you for these women that you've gathered the young people you've gathered here in New York City at this time I know in my heart we would love an awakening in our generation but there never can be one without the cooperation of your people it must begin in the house of God give us the grace give us the strength Peter found it the rest of the disciples found it help us to find it give us the joy of living for others help us to put away all the things that hinder us and to be able to say not my will but thine be done in Jesus name we're going to stand in just a moment and here in the main sanctuary in the annex at North Jersey and those that are with us that from home this morning the Lord put on your heart just to pray that prayer with us with me without not my will but thine be done God show me what to do show me the pathway of my life if that's the cry of your heart as we stand just come please join me at the front of this auditorium and we'll pray together and we're gonna believe God we're gonna worship for a few moments then we'll pray together let's all stand balcony go to either exit in the main sanctuary to slip out of where you are just come please just come just come come with your struggles come with your trials come with your fear come with your questions just but just come and let's honestly stand before God today father we know that it's only by your presence that we can do the things that you call us to do it's only by your power it's only by your life being lived within us and so knowing that we're already covered of our sin we simply come to you Lord and say we are selfish we're so focused we're fearful we don't know how in ourselves to do these things Lord we live in a society that just simply lives for itself it's in the air around us we need your power to break free of it we need your power to be able to be given for the purpose of your work on the earth Lord we need your power we can't do it it's it's hopeless no amount of study can do this it doesn't matter how many diplomas we have we can't do this it has to be you it has to be your power Jesus you understand this and you told us to come boldly so I come boldly I'm not ashamed I can't do this without your power I'll never make it to the end of what you want from my life without you doing it through me and so Lord we come in our emptiness we come to your throne in our bankruptcy we com Lord and our nothingness and we ask you to be everything to us we ask you to be our life in our breath we ask you for the authority God that you will plant within us to make a difference in our generation we ask you for the heart to care we ask you God for the words to speak we ask you for the hands that to touch we ask your Lord God for the feet that will bring your gospel to those who need it the most we ask you for the absence of fear that would be cast away from us by the presence of your love for fallen people God we ask you for all of these things Lord and we know you won't turn us aside you won't say no to us and so we're not afraid to come to you honestly we're not afraid to come to you and just tell you the way it is because you already know anyway father we thank you lord and you'll give us the courage to say what would you have me to do you give us the courage to find your your plan for each of our lives and you give us the power that the glory could be of you and not of man for we will all know that only God could have done this I ask you Father to have mercy on this city have mercy Lord raise your people up God give us a testimony that can't be denied with a hundred and twenty people on day one of the spirit filled search you turn 3,000 people to you they want how much more Lord should that not be happening in our generation with all our knowledge and all our study in all the history we know but they went to you in an upper room and they went honestly and they went in as failures and they came out with the power of God and so Lord we ask you for nothing less than the mightiest baptism of the holy spirit we've ever known not for our sakes but for their sakes for the sake of the people outside the doors of this church and in our communities our neighborhoods for the sake of those that sit across the table in our homes we ask for the mightiest baptism we've ever known lead us to your throne as we pray this week Oh God lead us there and give us the grace give us the strength to say yes we thank you for it in Jesus name

Channel: Times Square Church

Views: 11,203

Rating: 4.8852458 out of 5

Keywords: Carter Conlon, Sermon, Times Square Church

Id: XD01CKxQ_jk

Length: 47min 53sec (2873 seconds)

Published: Thu Feb 05 2015