Quietness And Confidence In Your Storm | Carter Conlon

special greetings to everyone online with us today too TSC summit and to the Bronx and to North Jersey campus and all of our TSE congregants online god bless you today and I trust that this service has already been a blessing to you and will continue to give you courage and strength for the coming days praise God well I hope I can encourage you this morning as most of you say God knows we could all use a little bit of encouragement at this time now couldn't we I mean these days are tough and we need to come into the house of God then from time to time as the scripture says the Lord will confirm his inheritance when it gets weary turn to Psalm 95 please if you will before I begin to share on this message so father I just thank you Lord for the truth of your word I thank you for your very present help in time of need I thank you God that you cannot fail your promises are true your power is sure and Lord your presence is constant and everlasting so I pray today God that you would unlock something from your word that would encourage every heart that's gathered here those with us online throughout the world God our campus churches everywhere Lord that you would encourage us give me the grace to speak this give me the wisdom give me the anointing of your spirit God I thank you with all of my heart in Jesus name Amen praise God how many have had a tough week when you see your hands look at they come on how many are not sure but you think you had a tough [Applause] well I'm going to start with a little bit of a testimony before I speak today and it has a touch of irony in it I suppose when we get to last night but this past week has been one of the toughest I can remember it's been a hard hard week and yes pastors do have those we don't wake up wearing a suit with our hair all in place and we don't walk around we do a lot of the day but we don't walk around saying praise God is good all day I mean we should but we lid lead normal lives like everybody else we go through our struggles and our trials and this week has been one of the toughest I can remember in years I've dealt with disappointments it seems like frustration after frustration started piling into my spirit I've been through personal trials suffered from fatigue I felt in the middle of this week like a car that ran out of gas but you just have to keep going because other people are dependent on you to get where they need to go I felt like the leader of a band whose run out of songs but the parade still has ten blocks to go and on top of all of this six of my family members four grandchildren my son my oldest son and his wife were caught in the hurricane in Atlantic Canada yesterday hurricane durian for those are not aware of it was still a category two storm when it hit in Nova Scotia so trees are falling all over the place power is out so I'm on I'm on the my cell phone talking to my son almost all day back and forth and when we couldn't talk we were texting and while I was sitting at the table at home and putting the final touches on the message that God gave to me a week ago called quietness and confidence in your storm now does God have a sense of humor or not now I'm writing this down and I've got the secret chuckle in my heart because as I'm trying to make sense of what he's given me to speak I'm worried I'm honestly worried about my grandchildren and my son and my daughter-in-law because this is not a lightweight hurricane I mean trees are down everywhere roofs are coming off of houses and power's out for almost everybody and you know plus you just add all the things that have been compounding throughout the week and you just get to the point where you are everything but quiet and confident inside like I know it theologically right but inside I felt like at ten sticks of dynamite were going off about every minute and but I started to read the Word of God then I started to study this at the end of one of the worst weeks in years and suddenly the Word of God started grabbing a hold of my heart again and that's what I'm hoping will happen for you and for me today that because we all have to go through stuff I know you've you've got a lot of situations going on in your lives you've got things in your family or home on the job just general fears maybe in malaise about the future a lot of young people are really scared when you start talking to young people they're really afraid to the future because they don't see one some in some cases in their particular experience and yet the Bible calls us to be quiet and confident in the midst of our storm so what are the elements of that and I started looking at Psalm 95 which is what the Lord had given me early in the week and started asking him show me God show me what's the root of quietness and confidence in your heart when you yourself are in the midst of a storm and it can be a storm of just these storms that life seems to bring everyone's way so let's start reading that verse one Psalm 95 before I speak today oh come let us sing to the Lord let us shout joyfully to the rock of our salvation let us come before his presence with Thanksgiving let us shout joyfully to him with songs for the Lord is the great God and the great king above all gods in his hand are the deep places of the earth the heights of the hills are his also the sea is his for he made it and his hands formed the dry land oh come let us worship and bow down let us kneel before the Lord our maker for he is our God and we are the people of his pasture in the Sheep of his hand today if you will hear his voice do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion as in the day of trial in the wilderness when your fathers tested me they tried me they saw my work for 40 years I was grieved with that generation and said it is a people to go astray in their hearts and they've not known my ways so I swore in my wrath they shall not enter my rest verse 2 Psalm 95 says let us come before his presence with Thanksgiving and let us shout joyfully to him with songs and we actually sing a song like that today about the shouts of joy let the people of God let them shout for joy let them shout for victory and and I started thinking last night well what is it that we're supposed to shout when we come into the presence of about what should we be seeing he saw uproariously what should we be declaring and the it's obvious sometimes we just miss it but we are shouting back to him our confidence in his promises that he has made to us that's what it is it's not we're not shouting because we've had a great week we're not sounding because everything is going right we're not shouting because there are no storms going on in our lives we are shouting because the God who cannot fail the God whose word created the universe out of nothing the God that we have learned to love and trust that God who has made his abode inside these earthen vessels has made promises to us so in the midst of our storm instead of questioning his integrity instead of questioning his faithfulness we make the choice to shout his promises back to him you have said Lord that no weapon formed against us is going to prosper you've told us at every tongue that rises against us in judgment we have the right to condemn you told us that we can tread on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy and nothing would by any means hurt us you told us we can speak to mountains and they have to move and be cast into this you told us that even though we have to go through flood and fire we will not drown and the flame will not burn us you promised us these things you told us that we are kept in your hand God until the day we are deposited by your grace at the throne of Almighty God so we come in not necessarily living in the reality of being without trouble but we come in in the midst of our trouble and declare God to be good and declare God to be faithful and say God no matter what comes my way no matter what I have to face no matter what trials that we have to endure you remain faithful you do not change you are God and you cannot deny who you are and you will not deny who you are verse 3 says the Lord is a great God the great God and the great king above all gods he is I love pastor William every time he preaches her when he gets excited you ever notice he always says that he's a great God you know and it just vibrates from because that that concept has gotten ahold of him he's not just God he's the great God there is no other God besides him he holds all power in his hand he is the one who makes the Sun to rise in the morning and makes it go down at night he holds everything in the palm of his hand he makes promises which cannot fail thank God for his greatness listen to what Moses said in Deuteronomy chapter 32 give ear o heavens and I will speak and hear o earth the words of my mouth let my teaching drop as the rain in my speech distill as the do as raindrops on the tender herb and as the showers upon the grass in other words Moses are saying to the people I'm about to say something let it fall upon you like the dew falls upon the mountains let let your let your whole being be touched by it let let your heart be open to it then he goes on to say ascribe for I will proclaim the name of the Lord ascribe greatness to our God he is the rock his work is perfect all of his ways are justice he is a God of truth and without injustice he is righteous and upright that's who God is praise be to God in other words you can trust him is a great God if he said he's gonna keep you he's gonna keep you if he said he's gonna make away he's gonna make away you don't have to you don't have to pick up your own bootstraps you don't have to craft your own plan you walk with Him because the steps of the righteous are ordered by the Lord that's what the Bible says God says I will direct your path I will be that voice behind you that says this is the way walk in it I will be your strength when your strength is gone I will be the clarity of your thinking when confusion wants to come in like a swirl just get around your heart and get around your mind he is a great God not only do his promises not fail but he's a great God remember in Acts chapter 4 when the Christians were being threatened and when they turned to prayer that's the first thing they turn to because they had that understanding they said Lord you are God that's how they started their prayer who made the heavens and the earth who by the mouth of your servant David has said why do the heathen rage why do the kings of the earth imagine a vain thing thinking that can cast away the chords in a sense of who you are and what your people represented the earth they began to pray with knowledge of who God is how great God is that he does hold everything in the palm of his hands and verses 4 & 5 the scripture says in his hand are the deep places of the earth the heights of the hills are his also the sea is his for he made it and his hands formed the dry land in other words he holds all things in the palm of his hands he made everything by him all things consist and are held in place by the word of his mouth the day you came to Christ as your Savior my Bible tells me that you were planted in the hand of God and there is nobody there is nothing there's no circumstance there's no opposition there's no devil of hell there's no valley there's no Mountain there's no trial there's no difficulty that can take you out of the hand of God you are secure in the hand of God and maybe there's going to be turbulence just like you're in an airplane that's not going to crash you might have to go through turbulence you might get bounced around but you're still in the hand of God you're not outside at the hand of God and one day one day not too far from now that hand of God's coming in for a landing at the throne of the Father and that has going to open and there you are you were safe you were secure you were kept by the power of God and don't let the devil ever succeed in convincing you that somehow you're going to be overpowered by your circumstance why because God said you won't why because he's a great God he's not just God he's a great God why because he holds you in the palm of his hand listen to the words of Jesus in John chapter 10 beginning at verse 27 my sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me and I give them eternal life and they shall never perish neither shall any one snatch them out of my hand now keep in mind this is God speaking this is God this is God who formed the worlds by the words of his mouth this is God he is the beginning he's the end he's the final authority this is God who determines the boundaries of everything that exists how long they will exist and where they will spend eternity this is God nobody is higher than him and he says I will give them eternal life they shall never perish and neither shall anyone snatch them out of my hand my father has given them to me is greater than all and no one is able to snatch them out of my father's hand I and my father are one praise be to God so this is how this is how we come before God with Thanksgiving this is how we shout joyfully even though we might be in the midst of a storm three reasons remember he's a great God there's no God greater than him he is the great God he has made promises to us that cannot fail and we are secure in the hands of God of the Father in the son and no one jesus said no one can take you out of my father's hand so that means no one I means no circumstance no situation no trial no heartache no broken relationship whatever it is that's come your way no dream that you think you might have lost anything that's come your way to try to convince you that all is lost and all is hopeless and all is vain not none of those things have the power to take you out of the hand of God praise be to God and one day when you and I are deposited at the throne of the Father would we ever be thankful that we kept our confidence in him and we didn't let our confidence be weakened or cast away as the writer of Hebrews says in our time of trial and difficulty verses 8 to 11 the psalmist says don't harden your hearts as in the rebellion as in that day of trial in the wilderness in other words there were people who knew the power of God in history but they came into a wilderness trial that came into a dry place a difficult place a place of fear place of frustration a place of enemies and they never could bring themselves to that place of quietness and confidence in him he so longed even jesus said over Jerusalem I've so long to bring you all Jerusalem Jerusalem close to my heart and cover you speak to you that you come to know who I am but you wouldn't come and it's just that that's something in humankind that we want the knowledge of God but we resist in a sense where that knowledge is going to quite often and ultimately lead us to as of the day of the trial and the wilderness when your father's tested me they tried me and they saw my work for 40 years I was grieved with that generation and I said it's a people that go astray in their hearts they've not known my ways in other words they they they've refused to believe that I am who I say I am and so I swore at my route they shall not enter my rest they failed to enter his rest folks and I'm telling you you and I you and I have got to be in a place now where we're going to find our quietness and confidence in Christ because if we don't find it the days ahead are going to be rough folks we're going to go through storms this this this world as it is today could go into any kind of upheaval almost at any moment and things that seem to be secured today can be taken out from underneath us then we're going to find out that by have I allowed the Spirit of God and the Word of God to to lead me to that place where I believe that God is great he is there's no one greater than him that his promises are true and I am secure in his hand or have I let myself be brought to that place of confidence in him in mark chapter 4 there's a classic textbook case of of this particular scenario when Jesus said to his own disciples it said evening had come beginning at verse 35 and he said let's cross over to the other side so who's speaking these words God Jesus Christ is the son of God fully man fully God now he's speaking to these 12 disciples saying let's go to the other side that should settle it shouldn't it when God says we're going to go somewhere that's where we're gonna go when he tells you and I'm when he makes promises in his word to us that's that should settle it in every heart that's who God is that's where we're going to go now when they left the multitude they took him along in the boat as he was and other little boats were also with him that's a type I suppose of we leave church on Sunday and we get in our boat and we head home and here's what happened to them and a great wind storm arose and the waves beat into the boat so that it was already filling but he was in the stern asleep on a pillow and they woke him and said teacher do you not care that we are perishing you ever said that to God where are you do you not care what what's going on in my life right now then he arose and he rebuked the wind remember who he is right his words have all power all authority he's the Great God not just a great God V Great God he holds everything and everyone in the palm of his hands remember those three things he roles that he rebuked the wind and said to the sea peace be still and the wind ceased and there was a great calm but he said to them why are you so fearful how is it that you have no faith and they feared exceedingly and said to one another who can this be that even the wind and the sea obey Him now here's the point I've never seen it quite this way until just recently it was that one statement they had been walking with Jesus for quite a while now they knew he could do the miraculous he made claim to being sent by God to having the power of God to being the Son of God they're in the boat with him going to the other side they see that he has the power to stop the wind and the storm and the waves and they said to him who can this be and what that speaks to my heart is it folks we can go to church for years we can read the Bible we can study the Bible we can we can be ever learning but maybe never brought to the truth of who it is we're walking with they still didn't know they were there were three feet away from them physically but probably 3,000 miles away spiritually at this point because they still didn't know who he was even though it was plain it was clear he was the son of God he was the Jehovah God that they had prayed to as a people group all through the Old Testament they knew his power they knew what he could do and so what happens to you and I is that when we get into a crisis and sometimes it like a storm it hits us from every conceivable side now we end up in a place like the disciples were we can either say Lord is there enough room on that pillow for me to as well and say your words going to bring me through so I'm just going to be quiet and calm I don't care how much water is getting in my boat I'm gonna trust you and I'm gonna believe you praise be to God or we can wake him up and say don't you care and hook in this beat and not really know who he is I challenge you with all my heart you and I in this art we've got to let the truth of who Jesus Christ is get so deep inside of us so deep in every one of our hearts that we are going to go to the other side now in our case the other side is the throne of God it's heaven itself we are going when you receive Christ as your Savior he looked at you and said let's go to the other side he didn't promise that there would be no storms on the way now he could have stopped the storm before it even started but he chose not to do you understand he's teaching us something through this he could stop every storm in your life if he wanted to but if he did you'd probably forget about him and just go your own way and so he said let's go to the other side they get in as we are and we're gonna have to go through some rough waters there's gonna be different here today you're sailing smoothly like they were in the book of Acts chapter 27 but your euroclydon is coming that storm that broke the ship in pieces and everybody's hanging onto wood just to get to shore it comes to everybody at some point in your life but till that day comes or maybe you're in that day we must you and I have to say you are God I put my life into your hands I put my family into your hands I put my children into your hands I put my grandchildren into your hands I put my health into your hands I put my future into your hands everything is in your hand and though we may get bounced around and though there may be no shortage of voices attacking the credibility of our God yet your speech cannot be stood against when you speak it has to happen you are the greatest God there is no God greater than you you are the Great God and we are in the hand of the father and of the son and Jesus if we could even just get a hold of this thought who can open the hand of God when he decides to close it who what devil of Hell what power of Darkness can open the hand of God what trial can come our way what tribulation what trouble that's why Paul the Apostle could say the words I no matter what comes our way no matter trial or tribulation or all these things that are going to come Mountain Valley difficulty I am convinced that we are more than conquerors through Christ who loves us we will never be overcome and by the grace of God as God's people we will not cast away our confidence though the seas roar though the winds howl though the mountains shake though governments collapse though economies fail though it seems that our society is going mad we are in the hand of God hallelujah o come let us sing to the Lord let us stop joyfully to the rock of our salvation let us come before his presence with Thanksgiving and let us shout joyfully to him in Psalms hallelujah hallelujah we did that today you say why are you shouting I feel like it I feel like it I feel like declaring that God is good I feel like shouting the name Jesus into the heaven hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah glory glory glory to your name glory glory to your name glory to your name glory to your name Jesus now I'm going to conclude with these two verses verse 6 and 7 one more time o come let us worship and bow down let us kneel before the Lord our maker for he is our God and we are the people of his pasture and the Sheep of his hand oh come and let us worship and bow down let us kneel before the Lord our maker he is our God let us be there with Thanksgiving let us be there with the shout of praise let us give God the glory that is due unto his name [Applause] when this whole world is running around wringing its hands and ever-increasing measure it's time for you and I to get into the hand of God it's time for you and I to rediscover the goodness of our God the faithfulness of our God the righteousness of our God the justness of our God that everything he does is in justice and in truth hallelujah to the lamb of God hallelujah and so if we never had a storm we wouldn't learn how to be quiet and confident in the midst of it just to be able to walk through our day not having to rehearse all our troubles with anyone who will listen but just keeping it inside and saying God I trust you I trust you matter of fact Greg if you could come to the piano I wrote a song based on one of the Psalms of David a few years ago and it was just a song that came into my heart one day I was reading one of the Psalms and I saw this this confidence and trust that was in the heart of David and I think that's what made him a not only a great songwriter but a great king yes yes he had his thorns obviously he had his storms like we all do but that that confidence in God was an abiding factor in his mind his heart his life that made him a man after God's own heart that we still talk about today with reverence and what seems that we don't even we're not even aware of his mistakes anymore he made mistakes and he had storms but he would always return to that place of confidence in God it's called I will trust in God I'd like to sing it for you maybe they'll put the words on the screen hallelujah [Music] I will trust in God all of my days [Music] though the seas may roar and mountains leave their place the hearts of men may face tears alone every phase safely I will stand in God's Amazing Grace I will trust in God I will trust in God come what may in Christ I say I will trust in God Oh I will trust in God I'm what day in Christ I say I will trust in God and I will sing it again let it be your song now I will trust in God [Music] day though the seas may grow [Music] and mountains lead their play the hearts of men may face [Music] to zone everything safely we'll stay in God's image hi I will trust come what may Christ I say I will trust in God ah I will trust in God come what may in Christ I say [Music] I'd like to just give an altar call just gonna sing it again one more time but just I want to just give an over call for people going through a storm it's just a story you don't have to explain it to anybody you know what it is you know and sometimes you don't even have words to explain sister monic how else can you explain it it's just there and you're going through a storm that's trying to it just eat away at your confidence in God eat away at the promises of God and sometimes we defeat it by something as simple as just saying God I trust you God I choose to believe that your words are true I choose to believe that you're great and you operate only in integrity with me and I believe that I I'm safe in your hand I believe that you're gonna you're gonna take me through this turbulence and you're gonna bring me one day to your throne I believe that everything Paul said everything I've put into his hand I believe he's able to keep until that day that I appear in his presence let that be your reality and if you're going through a storm let's just pray together let's I just want to pray with you nothing deeper than that let's stand up in the balcony good either exit the main sanctuary in the Annex - we'll wait for you and you just make your way here - as well you know what weeks like this teach me again is that there's no big people as no little people in the kingdom of God you can walk with God for 50 years and you still need him as much as the guy was walking with in five days none of that ever changes it's only in his strength it's only by his promises it's only in his faithfulness not ours thank God for the experience that some of us have had over the years but we still need him as much today as we did when we first got saved and I thank God for that I'm only in the pulpit because I'm called to do this no different than you are same struggles same battles same trials we're not on this platform because we're any more spiritual than anybody else we're all in need of a savior all in need of God's grace and so by God's grace I think we're just gonna pray that we can all get in his hands now and all trust him to get through whatever we have to get through and go where we ever have to go because he's going to be faithful to us it's gonna be faithful to you who's gonna be faithful to me to everybody in this church today he's going to be faithful he can't be other than what he is he's faithful so father I want to thank you today God for reminding us about who you are I want to thank you for just opening your word to me this week not in a hammock but in a storm god when I had to dig deep I had to look and say Lord show me show me show me where are you in this word and God you did you brought your character out just like when a pond clears and suddenly you can see deep you showed me Lord where you are and you showed me God your character again you showed me that everything that I placed in your hands you are faithful to keep so thank you lord thank you and I do thank you for bringing my family through the hurricane more than keeping them safe this morning god I thank you thank you thank you for everything that's going on in this church thank you for our Bible School thank you for our campus churches Lord all that you're doing God all that you're doing Lord we put it all in your hands and Lord we ask that we might be a people who could give you a shout of glory in this house always and it wouldn't become just a religious thing it would come from our hearts it would be something deep in each of us that we can all sing that song I trust and you know what I trust you God no matter what my eyes see or my ears hear I trust you lord I trust you God as her father I thank you and I praise you for all of this in Jesus name Amen [Music]

Channel: Times Square Church

Views: 67,405

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Keywords: Pastor Carter Conlon, Sermon, Times Square Church

Id: TACIu9vFvlg

Length: 34min 44sec (2084 seconds)

Published: Wed Sep 11 2019