Living With Open Hands and An Open Heart | Carter Conlon

I want to talk to you today about living with open hands and an open heart living with open hands and an open heart Matthew chapter 7 if you'll turn there with me and that's where we'll start today father thank you God Almighty there are places in your word that we can't go unless you take us there it simply is not possible we don't have in ourselves the resource to do the things you're asking us to do it's the Lord we yield to you and you told us that if we would ask you would give us the strength of your Holy Spirit you would give us the power to be a people Lord that you are asking us to be in this time in which we now live and so lord help us God to go into the pages of your word help us Lord to let the pages of your word find a resting place inside of our lives in our hearts God help us not to push away the truths we're about to hear this day Lord for it is the key to being a witness for you in these last days god I thank you with all of my heart that you will speak to us in a special way today in Jesus name living with open hands and an open heart how many think you're already doing that today I see your hands yeah the slow real slow going up because some of you are saying I sense a trap I feel a trap well it very well might be actually Matthew chapter 7 beginning at verse 7 ask and it will be given to you seek and you will find knock and it will be open to you for everyone who asks receives how many receive who ask everyone and he who seeks finds and to him who knocks it will be opened or what man is there among you who if his son asks for bread will he give him a stone or if he asks for a fish will he give him a serpent if you then being evil that's in contrast to God know how to give good gifts to your children how much more will your father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him therefore verse 12 that means in summation or leading to this conclusion whatever you want men to do to you do also to them for this is the law and the prophets now you and I must recognize that we need a strength beyond our own natural strength to become the people that God is asking us to be especially in this present and the soon-to-come time the Apostle Paul said to Timothy in 2nd Timothy chapter 4 verses 2 & 3 part of verse 2 he said preach the word be ready in season and out of season be ready to preach the Word of God when it's a favorable time in society when people are interested in the Word of God when it's fashionable maybe to be called a Christian I remember that when I first came here 25 years ago to New York City everybody was a born-again Christian do you anybody remember that athletes were born-again politicians were born-again everybody and it was a fashionable thing to be a born-again believer in Christ so the Word of God was in season and now we're living at a time in verse 3 says for the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine in other words a time will come has come in previous societies and we are entering into that time in our world today where people are no longer interested in truth they're not interested in the Word of God they're not interested in the truth of God they do not want any restrictions on their behavior they want no borders no boundaries they want to call everything evil good and everything good evil and it becomes very difficult for somebody like you and I in the I'm not in the place that many of you are and you're in a work environment where it's very difficult to have even a biblical worldview now the people around you will not endure I mean that one of the most loaded questions in the lunchroom right now or in the in the school system whatever it is is what's your viewpoint on traditional marriage and you find yourself in a place where if you just even share your opinion it's no longer people are no longer willing to endure a biblical opinion on any topic especially when it concerns morality or behaviors now if the time comes where people around will no longer listen and it's probably very close to here or already here in some cases the question you ask is then how do I share Christ with them how do I preach you know Apostle Paul said preach the word be ready in season and out of season in other words there's there's a way to preach truth when one that when it's a favorable moment in time and there's a way to preach when it's not favorable and so you would ask me well so how do I do that how do I do that when it's going to cost me just even have a biblical worldview and my answer to you is by living with open hands in an open heart therefore therefore verse 12 whatever you want men to do to you do also to them for this is the law and the prophets how you would like them to treat you if they were in your position and you were in theirs do that to them if you were the one presenting contrary arguments to truth if you were the one pushing the boundaries of behavior to the point where your behaviors are putting you in jeopardy of your own eternity with God if you were in that position how would you want a genuine believer to respond to you or to treat you you see this is the context of asking that's what I says ask and it will be given you seek you'll find not good shall be open to you you know when we look at those verses of Scripture and we're all thinking about ourselves aren't we we're all thinking about well about me ask for more resources ask for a better job ask for peace in my mind and there's a sure of that of course I agree that's necessary in every life but the actual context of this is summed up in verse 12 ask for what you need the giftings of God the heart of God the hands of God and have put it that way to be able to do to others in the treat others in the way you'd want them to treat you if you were in their position and of course you and I both know this requires a strength beyond our own I can't do it neither can you let's be honest about it we can't do it we can't do it just think of that neighbor across the hall in your apartment building and put it in the context of the scripture you're you're you're there praying God get them out of here my life would be so much better if you just get them out of here with their music and all the stuff that goes on in that how wonderful my life would be if these people did not live across the hall or in the workplace if that person was not at that desk beside get her get him out of here my life would be so much simpler if that person wasn't here you see it requires a strength to be given for people when the gospel is out of season and it requires a strength that we don't have it has to be Christ in us the hope of glory I don't know about you but when I first came to Christ loving my enemies was not high on my priority list I thought if I if I just let them continue walking down the street without bleeding all the way down the street then somehow I was winning a victory yet God was wanting to take it a whole lot farther than that take me into the pages of Scripture and at all it all begins with a new way of praying a different kind of prayer you know when we're in our youthful stages of living as a Christian we're like children and you know those of you who have raised children you understand this it's all me mine give me it's mine it's mine it's mine it's mine it's mine it's not yours it's mine and and there's a measure of that when we are young in the Lord where it's just about my health and my future my mind and my freedom and I get that but there is a point where Christ is calling us into something a little deeper than being focused on ourselves now James the Apostle James he says in chapter 4 verses 2 & 3 he says though actually 3 and 4 he says you ask and do not receive because you ask amiss that you may spend it on your pleasures in other words there's a point where God's gonna start saying no when we go to prayer but it's just all about ourselves it's it's all about my life my future my provision my happiness in other words I want the resource of God and I wanted to spend it on myself and I want I want to feel good even coming to church on Sunday morning don't ask anything of me just tell me how wonderful I am don't ask me to give anything tell me today what I can get and that's what James is talking about it's a kind of a light that seeking God but it's not it's not in the truest sense for the ultimate objective of what our life is supposed to be we're asking even today we're asking God give me this do this for me I'm asking you for this but it's really just for my pleasure it's so that I can feel better and know and feel secure about my own future and James goes on and says something phenomenally powerful even offensive if we didn't understand the heart of God he says adulterers and adulteresses do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God in other words this is the way the world lives the world lives it's all about me I don't care about you it's about me if I can use you for my benefit I will use you for my benefit but don't ask me to be given for you and he calls it adultery in the sense because we are we are betrothed as the Bride of Christ to the bridegroom and it betrays his heart his heart was not to come and take from us but to give God so loved the world wot that He gave His only begotten Son the son of man did not to be served but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many and he told his own disciples he said as the father has sent me now I'm sending you as the representatives of that heart as the bride in a sense of the bridegroom as ambassadors of another Kingdom called heaven that's why he says if if your whole prayer life and I'm talking about prayer again today if your whole prayer life is just about my future my safety my security my provision my freedom all of these things that's where your prayer life ends then you end up with a heart that's not in line with the one who called you and saved you and betrothed you now Luke chapter 11 let me show you where this kind of prayer begins Luke chapter 11 beginning at verse 5 he said to them that's Jesus which of you shall have a friend and go to him at midnight and say friend lend me three loaves for a friend of mine has come to be on his journey and I have nothing to set before him and he will answer from within and say do not trouble me the door is now shut and my children are with me in bed I cannot rise to give to you I say to you though he will not rise to give to him because he is his friend yet because of his persistence he will rise and give him as not as many as he needs so I say to you ask and it will be given you seek and you will find knock and it will be opened remember it's the same thing same scripture we opened with everyone who asks receives he who seeks finds that the hippo knocks it will be opened if a son asks for bread from any father among you will he give him a stone or if he asks for a fish will he give him a serpent instead of a fish or if he asked for an egg will he offer him a scorpion if you then being evil know how to give good gifts to your children how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him so here's the context of asking the context of asking begins when we choose to do something for someone else when it is no longer personally convenient for us that's where it all starts it's midnight that's not convenient where a friend comes to your house at midnight I don't know about you but I've been trying to say call me in the morning we'll go for breakfast we'll go down to Cracker Barrell and I'll buy you breakfast but you see the context is it's midnight it's a dark time it's a difficult time it's a hard time and this particular man has a friend that comes to him and he himself has nothing to eat he himself is probably hungry he has no bread in his house and it's midnight and a friend has come to him and he recognizes that not it's not about his own need he knocks at the door of the man with the supply not for his sake but for the sake of the man that came to him at midnight we have so many people living in the midnight hour now who are hungry they are starving for direction they're starving for life hope in the future and the fact that it's not being satisfied is driving them to anger it's driving them to division it's driving them to look to blame somebody but you and I have in our Christ the resource that God's willing to give us to feed the need of this hour praise be to God but it means that we have to go to the throne of grace and it's not about us anymore it's about them this is my prayer I'm on the radio now every week I'm across the country on up to 600 plus stations and I pray if we would God help me god help me for their sakes I'm not I'm not looking to sound good in the radio I'm looking to have something from heaven that causes people in their cars to begin to pray it causes people in their offices to begin to pray it causes people at home to begin to pray I'm asking you Lord for bread I'm asking you God for those three loaves they the compassion of the father who send son the power of the Holy Spirit to give life and the courage of the Sun to go to the cross if necessary as it was of course that those who believed might have eternal life God helped me God helped me not for my sake but for their sakes this is the kind of prayer this is where it all begins this is how we start to be a people who are living with open hands and an open heart and it goes even deeper than that and Luke chapter 6 if you go there with me I wanted to show you now this is the place none of us can go none of us we can start to pray we can say God give me some bread give me some truth for others give me provision Lord so that I may pass it on to others but there's there are certain places that without the Holy Spirit without what God promises to give us we're never going to go there remember he said therefore whatever you want men to do to you do to them for this is the law and the prophets in other words everything that I've taught you to this point he's saying to his disciples is summed up in this one statement now I say to you verse 27 Luke chapter 6 I say do you love your enemies do you do it's not easy is it I don't know about you I can't do it I can't do it apart from the Holy Spirit I can't do it apart from the resource that God God has to love them through me I can't do it the Holy Spirit has to love them through me I know it's not possible you know the best I can do in myself is maybe just turn my back and walk away and just just don't do harm or don't don't respond in like kind but that's not what he's called he's calling me to something deeper remember Christ came and died for us when we were not even seeking Him He gave His life when we were still enemies of righteousness he's actually asking us to do what he did but we recognize that only he can do it through us love your enemies do good to those who hate you too good in the office go out and get a coffee for the person that's talking about you behind your back all the time lying about you do good to those across the hall may take them a cake if or do something just do good speak good words when they curse you bless those who curse you bless in New York City bless those who curse you you know it's not hard to get cursed on the streets here you can't walk from here to Penn Station without somebody courage to me on the street and the but Jesus said nice just read letter bless them bless them can I pray for you or bless you and really mean it really mean it not just like not just one of the syrupy you know if bless you the I hope hope you get run over by a bus as you go by kind of thing and pray for those who spitefully use you pray for them when you go home at night those that are are backstabbing you in the workplace those that are doing things to you that are not right the script says pray for them so here's two verses of Scripture and I know I can't go there without the Holy Spirit I can't and to him who strikes you on the one cheek offer the other also think about Christ think about the Son of God letting people slap his face and he's not asking us to do something he didn't do you understand the king of glory the God of all power he could have killed the whole bunch of them right on the spot he didn't even have to speak he just had to think it and he's asking us to do what he did but you and I know that without the power of the Holy Spirit we can't do that I can't do that you can't do that and him who takes away your cloak do not withhold your tunic either in other words don't run after him down the street yelling police police help give to everyone who asks of you and to him who takes away your goods do not ask them back just and just as you want men to do to you remember that scripture remember at the end of ass seek knock and just as you want men to do to you you also do to them likewise if you love those who love you what credit is that to you for even sinners love those who love them if you do good to those who do good to you what credit is that to you for even sinners do the same if you lend to those from whom you hope to receive back what credit is that to you for even sinners lend to sinners and receive as much back but love your enemies do good and lend hoping for nothing in return and your reward will be great and you will be sons of the Most High for his kind to the unthankful and the evil he is kind to the unthankful and the evil he is kind to the unthankful and evil therefore be merciful just as your father also was merciful verse 37 judge not and you will not be judged condemn not and you will not be condemned forgive and you will be forgiven give and it will be given to you good measure pressed down shaken together and running over will be put into your bosom for with the same measure that you use it will be measured back to you so let me just let me just encapsulate what we've just read he says love your enemies do good to those who hate you bless those who curse you pray for those who spitefully use you somebody strikes you on the cheek offer him the other one give to him of asks of you do to others as you'd have them do unto you love your enemies do good lend hoping for nothing in return in other words you could you can lend kindness you can lend good words you can just just land be a giver and not a taker be merciful as your father also is merciful don't judge don't condemn but forgive and you will be forgiven then he says give and it will be given you give these things give this kindness of God let the kindness of God be expressed through your life and it will be given to you good measure pressed down shaken together and running over will be put into your bosom in other words God says if you're willing to give these things out to others I will give them to you in measure in such a measure you can't even contain it I will pour back into you if you're willing if you squeak out mercy I'll squeak mercy back into you if you generously give it you will generously receive that's what he's saying give and it will be given to you praise be to God press down shaken together running over put into your bosom in your heart that's your bosom it'll be put into your heart the more you choose to give and that God be give God's be God God says I will pour into you I will pour through you I will take you into places you can't even hope to go in your own strength I will make you a vessel through whom I God says I to him I can preach the gospel in this last hour of time you don't even need to use words it will be me preaching through you it will be me reaching out through you and be me forgiving through you the beauty of this whole thing is that God's not asking us to do anything on our own he says if you ask me I'll pour into you and I will pour out through you the same grace that sent me to a cross for you I will do it through your life and so now we go back to where we open ask and it will be given you seek and you will find knock and it shall be opened to you everyone who asks everyone you and me receives and he who seeks finds and to him who knocks it will be opened folks we have to ask now we've got to prepare for the day we're now in and moving into a day of hostility towards the things of God a day when God's people are going to be called revilers and bigots and pagers and dividers a day when you will be vilified a day when it's going to be very difficult and we are going to need this incredible grace of God pouring through our lives and it will be a testimony of Christ remember it can't get any worse than when Jesus walked here 2,000 years ago when it seemed the whole of society is crying out crucify him take him away we will not have this man to reign over us that's that's the thanks he got for healing the sick delivering the oppressed even raising the dead for speak doing nothing but kindness to people everywhere he went that's the thanks this society gave him but yet when he went to a cross some of the most powerful words recorded in scripture is when he said Father forgive them they don't know what they do we have an availability through the Holy Spirit to operate in the same spirit in our day and I remind you that going to the cross changed the course of history we don't remember a lot of names back then but we do remember the name of Jesus Christ the Son of God a lot of people in this generation may not remember your name but they will remember your kindness they will remember your forgiveness they will remember your good deeds they will remember that you were the one who blessed them when they were cursing you and who knows but the God will turn in some of these people's lives and leave a blessing behind him and lead them to the saving knowledge of who he is and what he has done for them so I say to you ask and it will be given you seek and you will find knock and it will be open every one who asked receives and he who seeks finds and to him who knocks it will be opened what man is there among you if his son asks for bread will he give him a stone or if he asks for a fish will he give him a serpent if you then being evil know how to give good gifts to your children how much more will your father who is in heaven good things to those who ask him and of course the other passage dealing with the same this course says how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him my cry is the same as yours Lord Jesus Christ through us extend your hands and extend your heart to your enemies into ours as you once did for me when I was your enemy praise be to God I'm so thankful that people who were Christians in the early days before I came to Christ didn't treat me the way I treated them I'm so thankful he cared what I mocked they stayed forgiving and consistent went out of fear I remember in the lunchroom there was a Christian police officer and I felt ashamed of myself in the early stages when they would mock him for reading his Bible at lunchtime and out of fear I would join them and I'm so thankful that even though my words probably stung every time he spoke to me it was with the law of kindness in his heart the law of entreating didn't treat me as I treated him never once said you falsely accused me why don't you stand up and defend me I'm so thankful because it brought conviction into my heart I'm so thankful that the man who finally came to my house another police officer and started talking to my wife and I about Christ never quit when I wasn't necessarily kind and when my responses were altogether other than what perhaps he had hoped that they would be but he both of these men were an example of the scripture that's written here they found something of God that enabled them to be kind when I wasn't and ultimately it led me to Christ ultimately it caused me to read the Word of God I know that everybody here is probably thinking of somebody right now somebody in your family you know especially with Thanksgiving you know nothing tests your spirit more than family gatherings when you get together and you're hoping in your heart it's going to be a a nice time for once to find yourself mocked because you're a believer in Christ laughed at ridiculed vilified even and it's getting worse as time progresses because of the political and moral divisions in our nation it's now much worse than it used to be find yourself yelled out the only way to preach the gospel in those environments is the way we just read it to love to reach out turn the cheek forgive if somebody takes your way let them have what if they're taking away your sense of dignity at the moment let them have it you see in that way we are letting Christ preached through us and it's might very well might be folks listen to me very well might be the last time for many I believe in my heart we're entering into the last season of this world as it has been known I don't know how long the season will be but this moment of lawlessness warned about in the scripture is now on us you know that if you're if you're even connected to society at all you know that that there's a sudden unleashing of lawlessness unheard of perhaps in in this society anyway since its inception and it's getting worse by the day now and it seems to be going around the world I believe that Christ is coming soon and so we have to yes I do so you and I have to go into the pages of Scripture and say holy spirit you got to take me now where I can't go you've got to give me now what I don't have you've got to make me into what you have destined me to be because I can't do it in myself and you watch if you pray that according to what I read in the Bible and Jesus Christ cannot lie he says you ask and you'll be it'll be given you seek you will find you knock and it will be opened and he says you do what I asking you to do and I'll do for you what you're asking me to do I'll pour into you in such incredible measure that it will be a delight yes it can actually be a delight to go through a darkened time in society I believe that with all my heart and so father I thank you God with all my heart today I thank you Lord that you are leading us now as a church age into some of the harder sayings of Scripture places that we just skim over or maybe don't even stop to ponder what is it that you're asking of us but God it's so clear and now that we're living in a day where the gospel is out of season this is the only way it can be preached now because people are no longer willing to endure truth so would you help us to be those incredible ambassadors of the cross of Christ would you plant your heart deep within us Lord would you pour into us in the measure we're willing to give out you said that you would pour back into us until it overflows press down shaken together and running over that's your promise to us so we hold to it Lord God and we thank you Lord that we can take you at your word you're not a deceiver you don't say one thing and do another and you don't have this little little caveats at the bottom of the page with all these qualifiers this is what you said and so father I ask Lord from my heart and this church give us the grace to walk this pathway that you clearly lay out before us help us Lord God for we can't do this in our own strength and you thank you for it in Jesus name no no worship gonna worship just for a moment and we're gonna stand here in the annex and also in our satellite churches and I want to any campus churches rather and here's what I'm asking some people right now are facing a situation you say god I can't do this without you I can't be kind it might even be just coming Thanksgiving and say god I dread I dread being around the table with my family and I can't be kind and I can't not argue or I can't be in a place where I don't defend myself but Lord you can help me you said if I ask if I seek if I knock I will be given the ability to do to them as I would like them to do to me if the roles were reversed and so God I'm asking you for grace I'm asking you for strength and that's my altar call today for for those among us all of us say God we're not gonna run from this truth anymore we're gonna run to it and we're gonna take you at your word and trust you for strength college kids that are here today you know how you feel in the and your college campuses if you have a biblical worldview how you're marked and portrayed to be an idiot because you hold to God's view of society and of this world and you need the strength of God not to respond with a like spirit and I want to just encourage you with all my heart this is a divine moment for all of us to ask it just simply ask and seek and knock that's what he said to do or like the man go to the door it's midnight and just bang on that door until you get to bread to give to some it was hungry let's stand together and if that's you just come and join me here at this altar will you and we're gonna pray together thank you lord thank you God thank you God you know the key to the victory in this is a transference in a sense of living for ourselves and starting to live for the sake of others and it is a transference and it's something that only God can do God God has to put that in the heart because lift left to ourselves we will just live for ourselves live to preserve ourselves it will be all about my life and my happiness and my freedom instead of somebody else's and it requires a certain death through ourselves that only God can do we can't do it none of us can but he can that's the good news he can't and he will because he promised us if we would ask we would receive if we would seek we would find and if we would knock it would be open to us he will give us the bread he will give us the grace that we need to be the people that were called to be by the grace of God and so father today Lord would you help us as your people to have a transference of affection from ourselves and to others help us Lord to care about even our enemies help us to care for those who really don't fight against us they fight against you Lord love them through us Holy Spirit forgive them through us do good to them through us pray for them through us Lord you yourself said you would give the Holy Spirit to those who ask and so Lord we ask God I don't know what else to say but God we need your Holy Spirit we recognize that we need your Holy Spirit because we can't do this without your power doing it through us so we yield Lord we have the desire to do these things we see it in your word and Lord we recognize our inability but we also recognize your ability your great ability who for the joy that was set before him went to the cross and so Lord we thank you God give us a vision of the joy of seeing even our enemies come to you Lord of their lips praising you instead of cursing us God Almighty let it be Lord that you give us a new heart and a new mind in a new spirit which is the promise of Scripture we knock as the church is a times great church today we seek we ask we knock we ask you God Almighty for everything that you promised us and today help us to start giving out just help us to start giving out and you promised in the measure we do you will pour back into us even greater measure but help us to give out help us to give kind words when unkind words are spoken over us help us to be Lord just help us to forgive when others would want to hold grievances lord help us God to to be your hands and your heart speak to us live through us Lord Jesus Christ give us the Grace and God we will bring back the fruit of it to you our lips will glorify you we will give you thanks when we recognize a power emanating from that we recognize as you alone it's not us Lord it's you loving and forgiving through us so help us to live with open hands in an open heart god I praise you I pray for great strength for men and women at this altar today who have to face hard situations great strength supernatural strength God breathed strengthen and help them to walk out of whatever room it is that they have to go into saying only God could have done this who else but God could have done this who else but God could have let my heart be such at peace who else could have caused me not to speak because it wasn't the time only God could have done this so father help us lord help us we recognize there are poverty but we recognize the incredible generosity of your hand and father we thank you for it with all of our heart today in Jesus name Amen

Channel: Times Square Church

Views: 31,362

Rating: 4.9289718 out of 5

Keywords: Carter Conlon, Sermon, Times Square Church

Id: v7RnvfZzIbs

Length: 39min 38sec (2378 seconds)

Published: Fri Nov 08 2019