Pushing Back This Present Darkness | Carter Conlon

I want to talk a little bit about that today if you'll turn with me to the book of Acts chapter 2 in a message that I've entitled pushing back this present darkness pushing back in this present darkness so father I thank you Lord God for your evident presence here today with us thank you Lord for your word God which is truth Lord there's no truth outside of your word our thoughts and ideas my God can only lead to weakness and off times even eternal separation from you but your word is a lamp and it's a light for our paths and your Bible tells us that the entrance of your words gives light and so God open our hearts to you today help us Lord to receive truth let us not be stubborn God about these things or try to set our judgment above the word of God help us not to make this grievous error which leads so many into a place of powerlessness give us the grace that we need Lord at this time to push back the darkness which would swallow a whole generation if given the opportunity your word tells us that when the enemy comes in like a flood the Spirit of the Lord will raise up a standard against it and so God we invite you Holy Spirit we invite you to invade our minds our hearts our physical lives our bodies this temple that you've established on the earth we invite you Lord Jesus to turn on the lights and make us a visible testimony in our generation we thank you for it with all of our heart give me the ability of God to convey this word today and give each of us beginning with my own heart the ability to receive it and we thank you for it in Jesus name Acts chapter 2 I want you to keep in mind in the context of this particular verse of scripture that generation had just put Jesus cry to death they were not in the mood for him they're not in the mood for his followers that there'd be a lot of people and they've gone back to religion as usual they they more or less wipe their hands clean of this man he was there's a debate I guess at whether or not he was a deceiver or a good man we're at the point probably were a great deal of the people don't really care they're just glad to be rid of the controversy and of course that has repeated itself again and again throughout history God found at this time 120 people ordinary people like you and I we just said Lord I want to make a difference and this encroaching darkness that it doesn't get any darker they've just killed the son of God I mean can it get any darker than that in any society at any time and there's a blood lust among the people and they're in no mood to endure his followers and of course that repeats itself again in our day they gathered together and they began to pray verse one says when the day of Pentecost had fully come they were all with one Accord in one place there was no strong there no mighty no royal no noble of birth they all knew that without the power of God they were going nowhere they knew they were insufficient many in that room had made great promises to God but they were unable to keep them Peter for example had promised that he would die with the Lord Jesus Christ yet when this turn came Edwards for his words to be put to the test he cursed himself with an old saying I don't know the men but they were in that one place of saying God we believe that we're set apart to be a testimony for you and the earth and you promised to give us power to become that testimony so we throw our lives in to this purpose on the earth and we recognize that without your power none of this is going to happen but you promised power you told us that if we would tarry if we would pray if we would seek you if we would find ourselves in one accord with you and with one another in other words if we would be back in unity with the purposes of God the thoughts of God and we would wreck as the importance of unity with one another that you would meet astera and make us a testimony and suddenly verse 2 there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind and filled the whole house where they were sitting then there appeared to them divided tongues as a fire and sat upon each of them they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance and there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews devout men from every nation under heaven and when this sound occurred the multitude came together and were confused because everyone heard them speak in his own language they were all amazed and marvelled saying to one another look are not all these who speak galilaeans how is it that we hear each in our own language in which we were born parth ian's and Medes Elamites those dwelling in Mesopotamia Judea Cappadocia Pontus and Asia Phrygia Pamphylia Egypt and parts of Libya adjoining Cyrene visitors from Rome both Jews and proselytes creats and Arabs we hear them speaking in our own tongues the wonderful works of God verse 38 then Peter said to them repent that means turn from trying to do things your own way turn from your own thoughts turn from your own reasonings turn from your own practices and that every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins turn to God with all your heart and be willing to be immersed in God may I put it that way call out to him and say Lord I want all of you and none of me I want to be literally immersed I want this temple that you call the temple of the Holy Spirit to be filled with light filled with your love filled with your wisdom filled with your power filled with your purpose and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit for the promise is to you and to your children and to all who are far off as many as the Lord our God will call so that verse of scripture includes us today here in New York City and with many other words he testified and exhorted them saying be saved from this perverse generation then those who gladly received his word were baptized and that day about three thousand souls were added to them now the history of man's relationship with God began with a perfect unity Almighty God governed and humankind moved in perfect unity with his will that's the way it was in the beginning when God created Adam and Eve and he would come down in the garden and the cool of the day there was a cooperation God set the boundaries Adam and Eve walked inside of those boundaries and there was wonderment at that time there was a fellowship between God and man and God's Word says that everything that God created everything he did he looked upon it and said it is good can you just imagine being there at this time but Almighty God had an avowed sworn enemy who hated him he did the the fact that he was exalted less than God was and he was described in Genesis chapter 3 as a cunning serpent not only hating God but hating mankind created in the image of God given a mind given a heart given his spirit given the power to reason the ability to say yes the ability to say no and he came down in that garden with a seething hatred in his heart for humankind created in the image of God with a purpose Jesus said in John 10:10 he came to steal to kill and to destroy that was his purpose that was his mission in the garden that's what the devil is here for that's what he does thank God one day he's going to be bound and thrown into a bottomless pit forever but in order to accomplish his purpose he knew he would have to separate that bond of unity between God and man and to ruin you to bring you an eye into spiritual rule and to render our lives ineffective and actually to have us partakers of evil all he has to do is to separate you from God to bring about a disunity all you can even go to church but you can be separated from God you can study the Bible and be separated from God just to destroy that unity and this he did in Genesis chapter 3 and verse 5 he convinced the first men and the first woman that they could ignore the boundaries which God had set around them and determined by themselves what were acceptable standards of right and wrong it's exactly how he broke the unity between Adam Eve and God you don't have to live inside of God's rules you're made in the image of God therefore you can determine in yourself you can be a judge of what is right and the judge of what is wrong in yourself and doing this no harm will come to you and he succeeded in breaking that unity in the garden and in Genesis 3:7 the first thing that is introduced into the world when that unity is broken is an awareness and a preoccupation with nakedness they had a covering of God in the garden and when humankind sinned against God the first thing they knew is that they were naked and thus we have the introduction with the preoccupation of nakedness and by extension the origin of sexual sin and who can debate that sexual sin doesn't plague this and every generation before it this preoccupation with nakedness that has spawned a multi-billion dollar industry called pornography all of these things that have come just from the separation in a sense from God the disunity from God in the very next chapter we see the introduction of envy hatred and Berger remember the thief came to what steal kill and destroy now Adam and Eve had two sons Cain and Abel the next thing you see is one son sacrifice is accepted with God and the other ones isn't and Cain a seething envy in his heart got ahold of him a hatred for his brother and subsequently he actually murdered his brother without conscience when the Lord came to him and said where's your brother and he said how do I know am I my brother's keeper there's just a nonchalance you know humankind can start to murder without conscience folks that's what separation from God produces jesus said to the religious around him in John chapter 8 verse 44 who claimed to be the children of Abraham he said no you are of your father the devil and the desires of your father you want to do for he was a murderer from the beginning you want your own way you want your own rules you want no boundaries and you will kill to get it that's exactly what happened it's why they killed the son of God even in the name of religion this was the beginning of mankind wanting his in her own way up to the point of taking the life of anyone who got in the way of their objectives and do we have a more glaring example than the recent law that was just passed in New York State on abortion not only passing a law but looking at our state legislators and the people around literally patting each other on the back and smiling as they sign a law of slaughter of the innocence and lighting up a building here in New York City sticking your finger in the eye of God daring God to judge the city might I add all folks there's a line you can't cross God Himself said you enter into the fields of the fatherless I will rise and defend them and remember remember the skipper says do not be deceived whatever you sow you're going to reap and there are three immutable laws of the harvest you saw what you reap you sow it later than you reaped it and you sow more than you reaped a license to murder for convenience sake in many cases not all I understand that but in many cases just a license to murder unthinkable unfathomable that a society could become so barbaric after signing this ungodly law they should have hidden their closets and in shame instead of lighting up a building here and celebrating murder you know we read in the Old Testament about the abomination of the nations Moloch how they took their children and they put them on this red hot Idol well tell me what makes us any different now in this generation how do we claim any moral ground in every society that starts to distance itself from God and moves into the utter depravity starts to sacrifice their children in the name of convenience not too far down the road in Genesis chapter 11 people at this time we're still able to communicate with one another but they decided to build a tower you see in keep they're still moving on this quest to be as God is without God and they ended up in their pride losing the ability to communicate with each other you can check it out yourself in Genesis chapter 11 they said let's make a tower up into the heavens that's it speaks of of humanity trying to be God in itself because that was the sin that they embrace we can be God we can be as God is so so let's build a tower to prove to the whole world that we we are godly we can get into the heavens by our own strength the Lord came down and we see the introduction of another consequence of being dis unified with God a level of division among people got into this world where suddenly they couldn't communicate with one another and let's take a look at our society today we see a preoccupation with neck nakedness and sexual sin we see Envy hatred murder division evil speech lying has become the order of the day now we see the killing of innocents coming our way and don't anybody try to suggest there's any ability to communicate anymore we see the vision coming into our society on almost every level and so the question arises who is behind the obvious degenerating social condition of our day I don't care what people call themselves it's not flesh and blood worth fighting against you understand we're fighting spiritual wickedness in heavenly places the people are signing these laws are just unwitting dupes that's all they are they're being influenced by powers of darkness they have no defense because they're not in relationship with God so they're open to the suggestions of evil and there's simply pawns of darkness that's all they are I feel nothing but sorry for them there's a day coming everybody around that death signing this ungodly law is going to stand at the throne of God one day and answer for what they have done and so the question arises what can you and I do about this now there's three things I want to talk about in just a few moments number one recognize that the cross is God's invitation for you and I to come back to him again in the garden when they ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil the Bible tells us they God said now lest humankind mankind men and woman less unless they touch the tree of life and eat of it and live forever they have to be banished from the garden and so the scripture says they they lost access to eternal life in God at that point they lost access to to the favor the promise of God the hope of God everything of God was lost death began to reign but at the cross it's no coincidence that Jesus was crucified on the tree do you understand the cross is the tree of life regained the cross is that opportunity to come back to God remember Jesus himself said lest you while eating my flesh and drink my blood you have no life in you the cross is the tree of life regain everyone who wants to come to him now can the way has been made back to God back to unity was God back to life in God just like in Luke 15 with the prodigal son who recognized he'd been far away from his father there's a voice of God calling us as the people of God back home to him again my son my daughter get up you can come home bring just come as you are come with your shame come with your trials come with whatever even with murder in your heart whatever's going on in your life just get up and come home and as you met his father he found life he found a covering for his shame today I want you to know that your shame can be covered no matter what you've been doing or how you've been behaving if you're willing to get up and come back and live God's Way there's a covering for your shame there's a hope for your future there's life that God offers you the thief comes to steal kill and destroy John 10:10 but the second half of that verse is but I have come that they may have life and that they may have it more abundantly life life that can only come from God life that can't be found anywhere else but in Christ life that is offered us at the cross where we can go and say god I don't have the love I need for this generation and there's a tree there and on that tree a victory was one captivity was taken captive and gift forgiven unto men and God says no you don't but partake of me I have all the love you will ever need to love the unlovable and make a difference in your time Ephesians 4:8 says when he ascended on high he led captivity captive and gave gifts unto men Jesus himself in mark chapter three verse 27 he said no one can enter a strong Mans house and plunder his Goods unless he first binds the strong man and that he will plunder his Goods I want you to know that when he was crucified and when he was buried and when he rose from the dead the scripture says when he ascended on high he led captivity captive and gave gifts unto men all the depth of the triumph of God on that cross all the depth of the mercy of God oh the invitation of God back into his presence again back into the purpose for our lives all this incredible mercy of God that is available to you to me he says if you open the door to your heart your house as it is I've already bound the strongman I've already taken captivity captive I've already stepped on the head of the devil I've already destroyed his power and his works he's defeated it is finished the victory is won we're more than conquerors now through Christ who loves us now he says invite me in and let me plunder your house let me plunder the things that disunity from God that planted in your heart the preoccupation with nakedness the envy the murder the deceit the lies the duplicity it's stepping on other people for a personal advantage whatever it is it's gotten into your heart Lord says let me come in and let me plunder it not by might not by power not yours not your might not your wisdom not your power but by my spirit says the Lord let me come in and let the temple become mine and that's got to be your prayer because it's mine Oh God you know every corner of this physical temple you know everything that's in my mind you know everything it's in my heart you know my future you know the days ahead of me my god my god plunder this temple of everything of hell everything that was sown in this human body because of sin that got into the human race and we've all inherited it by nature so let your captivity be taken captive come back with a desire to walk in unity with God and come back to unity both with God and with each other pray that your life might make a difference and watch what God will do it's an amazing thing because you remember when they built the Tower and tried to be God in a sense in themselves the end result is that they were confounded and couldn't communicate with each other any longer their speech was confounded they lost the ability to communicate and relate but what happened in Acts chapter 2 when there's a recognition that Christ is the only way to heaven the power of God is the only power that exists to live a victorious saved and abundant life suddenly God comes and fills the whole house Oh God Oh God I want to tell you something this generation needs you this generation needs a church again enough games enough religion enough goofiness in the name of God in his house we need to be filled with the Holy Spirit we need to do it God's Way for God's reasons and for God's purpose now you remember what happened when they tried to be God in themselves they lost the ability to communicate now what happens when God fills the temple and there's a recognition not by might not by power but by my spirit what's the immediate first evidence fruit they now what was lost at the Tower of Babel is now regained yes I hope you see it in the scriptures they now have the ability to communicate again with other people of other cultures of other tongues to see that this unity starts to be broken and unity starts coming back together in God and suddenly you find yourself with a desire and a divine ability to speak to people that you've never able been able to speak to before you're suddenly communicating you're communicating by the power of God you find yourself in foreign fields you find yourself in places neighborhoods that you're not familiar with and you find yourself speaking you find the people standing and Wonder say how does this person get the power to do what they're doing that's what happened when David Wilkerson a 1958 came in to some of the worst areas of New York City and started as a skinny Pennsylvania white preacher speaking to black and Latino gangs and he had nothing in common with them and they're wondering why how is it that these men's words this means words of touching my heart the way they are a sudden ability by the Holy Spirit an enablement by God to go where we've not gone before to speak to people we couldn't speak to before suddenly this inability to communicate because of sin is destroyed and we come back together and there's a compassion that's birthed of God in the heart of every man every woman every child and God gives us the ability to speak where we haven't had the ability to do it before we hear them speaking in our own tongues the wonderful works of God we hear them speaking in words that we can understand we recognize these people are not from our culture these people are not from our neighbor but they're and they're not from our environment they they don't share the value systems that we've learned to embrace but here they are speaking to us in a way we can understand about the wonderful works of God those things that only God can do and they're doing it in a way that we recognize this is supernatural they were confounded the script says animes and saying whatever could this mean you see they were brought out of the natural they were brought into the supernatural the new owner had invaded the temple and the power of God was now not only upon them but radiating through them and they were beginning to speak to other people of other cultures and nations about the wonderful things that God alone is able to do God sets the boundaries God gives freedom from bondage I don't know what they were speaking it just says in the Greek they were speaking the megali us of God which means this the marvelous supernatural works of God not only that he was doing but he was going to do Jesus said when the comforters comes he's going to take what his mind what I bought for you on that cross and he's going to show it to you and he's going to show you things to come so they're not only speaking about this moment of divine enablement but I'm convinced they're speaking about that which God is going to do in the future and none of their religion had ever given them any of this just a bunch of humdrum and trying to tangibly find some presence of God suddenly they encounter three thousand people at least encounter 120 you've been touched by the Spirit of God they're backed inside the boundaries as it is of God's Word the captivity is captive their mouths are open their hearts are large and they're starting to speak in a way they've never spoken before you see this is the heritage of the servants of the Lord Peter said turn from your sin put on Christ turn from your sin put on Christ turn from your sin turn from trying to be God turn from trying to be a judge of what is good and what is evil turn from the folly and the foolishness of your own reasoning get back in the Word of God turn and put on Christ put on God's purpose for your life put on God's plan for you like put on God's calling for your life and you will receive the gift of the Holy Ghost you will not you might a few of you might you will you will for the promises to you to your children to all who are afar off that would include New York City and as many as the Lord our God will call and that also includes New York City then those who gladly received his word were baptized and that they were about three thousand souls added to them I don't know about you but I want my life to make a difference I've made a bit of a difference I guess in the last 40 years or whatever and thank God for that but we're living in a new day there's a new darkness it's going to require more of God and less of me and less of you I want you to pray with me God let my life make a difference let me not be just a mediocre player in this incredible divine moment in history I want to walk in unity with God I want to walk inside of his boundaries his truth I don't want to set my thoughts above the thoughts of God I want to experience the full freedom of God did you know you can be free today if you turn to Him with all your heart there's not a weapon of hell formed against you that can prosper you can be free you don't need years and years and years of count so you can be free from things that entangle your mind and your heart and your spirit you can be free and I want to be a testimony of his love his mercy and his miracle-working power that is the heritage that is the heritage of the children of God that is your heritage that is my heritage I want to walk in unity with God I want a heart to walk in unity with people I want a heart to push back this present darkness because it can only be done by the Spirit of God Israel at this time was conquered by the Roman Empire they have a different culture different value systems they're vile and violent the Caesar of that time is a lunatic he's immoral thinks he's God that's the season that the Apostle Paul was sent to speak to the society itself has its religion it's not much interested it's glad to be rid of Christ so what can 120 people do in the natural nothing but they just got together and said Lord we are in one accord with your word and your purpose for each of our lives and with one another and we're in one place that place is Lord we can't go forward until you give us your Holy Spirit but when you do we will step out and without fear begin to speak your name God always takes the foolish things of the world to confound the wise and the weak things of the world to bring to nothing those things that think they stand in their own strength and when I get to heaven I'm going to the video section and I want to see that 120 coming out of that upper room it was just a few moments in history that I want to see that's going to be one of my first after the cross I want to see that moment where they come out of that upper room and to the undiscerning I and they were there there was undiscerning people and said these people are all just drunk we get that but this was the hand of God came out of that room through 120 people who decided to come back to a place of unity was and each other and even mighty Rome in just a short season bent its knee to Christ 3,000 been thorny that day and the ideology that threatened to swallow the world at that time bent its knee that's why I believe that the godless ideologies of this moment in history can also be brought to a place of bending its knee to Christ I believe that with all my heart but it does depend on you and me what we choose to do we have a part in this so I want to give an altar call this morning at home in the annex in our campus fellowships and here in the main sanctuary for people to simply say God I heard you this morning and you visited us so powerfully during the worship time you bore witness Lord you bore witness that you were going to speak to us today so god help me wherever I am to come back into the boundaries of unity with you help me Lord to boldly approach the throne to find grace in my time of need is your word tells me I should help me not to be sold short of what you have for my life God when you have promised me eternal life and abundant life this is your promise to me help me Lord not to carry on creating my own value system with what's right and wrong help me God help me God help me God I was praying on this platform this morning and said God whatever it costs me I no longer care I throw my life in with this prayer if it saves one baby then it's worth it if it saves one marriage if it brings one prodigal son or daughter home it's not about the numbers it's about the fact that maybe just maybe if I throw my full life in with the kingdom of God and whatever that's going to cost that it will make a difference for somebody the rest is up to God so father I thank you Lord for speaking to us today I believe that most people here have ears to hear we recognize the darkness of this present moment god help us as your people Lord to rise up in the power of your Holy Spirit and make a difference in our generation take timidity out of our hearts and give us the courage to believe that it's worth living for the sake of God's kingdom and the souls of men and women and children push back this present darkness Lord through our lives bring us together to pray and to fast and to believe God we need your Holy Spirit more than we've ever needed you in our lifetime there can be no victory without you but we do see the precedent of how you have dealt and visited with other generations who called out to you it's the Lord we cast ourselves at the foot of mercy this day we lay hold of the promises of God and we believe Lord that we can as a people push back the darkness of this day god we thank you in Jesus name Lord you hear the cry of every heart you told us to ask and you said everyone who asks receives said he who seeks finds and to him who knocks it will be open if you know how to give good gifts to your children how much more will your holy your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him these are your words Lord so we've been before your word today God we bring our lives into the boundaries of what your word tells us Oh God and we ask and we expect to receive we expect O God that this door will open we expect O God that great fruit will be born for your kingdom sake we expect our timidity to be swallowed up of your love and your boldness we expect our powerlessness o God to give way to the presence of your Holy Spirit and father we thank you oh god oh god oh god oh god oh god send the Holy Spirit for Jesus sake Lord send the Holy Spirit God do the work that's in your heart are you long you long Lord for a church where you could send your spirit send your spirit in full measure to us Lord and raise us up God to be the people and you've called us to be father we thank you God with all of our heart this day hallelujah

Channel: Times Square Church

Views: 49,099

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Keywords: Pastor Carter Conlon, Sermon, Times Square Church

Id: R2-obSeHjTg

Length: 38min 18sec (2298 seconds)

Published: Wed Jan 30 2019