September 17, 2017 - Carter Conlon - Can You Be Reasoned With?

if you'll turn with me this morning to the Book of Isaiah chapter 1 I want to share with you message this morning called can you be reasoned with can you be reasoned with Isaiah chapter 1 now father I thank you God with all of my heart I praise you and bless you for the presence of your Holy Spirit Lord I thank you for strength when our strength has failed for wisdom when our wisdom has fallen short for courage Lord when fear would want to wrap itself around the edges of our hearts and minds I thank you God for doing what only you can do in this and in every other generation Almighty God in Jesus name let this word this morning find a deep lodging place in every one of our hearts those of us gathered here today in Times Square and those that would be listening in the future online oh god oh god oh god oh god the time for games is over Lord were coming to the end of all things and we asked Lord that we may have the privilege the great great privilege of seeing another spiritual awakening in our time perhaps the last before you return have mercy lord have mercy God on the people of this city have mercy Lord on the people of this country have mercy Lord and the people in Europe have mercy God all over the world as people are beginning to rise up and pray again Oh God Almighty have mercy have mercy Lord we thank you for this with all of our heart today in Jesus name amen as it chapter one beginning at verse 15 when you spread out your hands I will hide my eyes from you even though you make many prayers I will not hear your hands are full of blood wash yourselves make yourselves clean put away the evil of your doings from before my eyes cease to do evil learn to do good seek justice rebuke the oppressor defend the fatherless plead for the widow come now and let us reason together says the Lord though your sins are like scarlet they shall be as white as snow though they are red like crimson they shall be as wool if you are willing and obedient you shall eat the good of the land but if you refuse and rebel you shall be devoured by the sword for the mouth of the Lord has spoken you know we use this verse let us reason together though your sins are like scarlet they shall be as white as snow though they're red like crimson they shall be as wool and we use it evangelistically but yet when you look in the context of this verse of scripture this is not an evangelistic verse this is a word written to the people of God of that time who already had a relationship or should have had a relationship with the Living God but it was a a perilous moment in the nation of Israel as they prophesied during the threatening expansion of the Assyrian Empire now Assyria was an empire characterized by aggression by dominance by violence and by assimilation in other words you agree with us and you accept our worldview or you suffer the consequences that was essentially Assyria in the latter part of his ministry a good portion of God's people had already fallen prey to this violent spirit the Northern Kingdom which was ten tribes of Israel had already been overrun by Assyria and they were already being dissipated and assimilated into the Assyrian viewpoint way of thinking lifestyle etc and all that remained was the southern kingdom of Israel Judah and Benjamin two tribes and any remnants from the ten who had escaped the North and came south because of the their understanding and love of truth but there were in danger as well of succumbing to this spirit of that time and it's to these people and at such a time that God says come now and let us reason together they were right on the edge literally of being overrun by a dominant social power the days they were living in perhaps very much our clothes are very much in league with what you and I are facing today Isaiah saw that the pathway that many were on would eventually leave them without spiritual blessing without protection without influence and without the authority that God had always decreed that his people should have we are called to be a living a vibrant and an arguable indisputable testimony of life a protection of blessing this is the portion that is yours in mind as the Church of Jesus Christ but something had gotten ahold of the people of this time and it was first of all rendering their prayers powerless he said when you spread forth your hands in verse 15 I'll hide my eyes from you and even though you make many prayers I will not hear your hands are full of blood now what did he mean by that what kind of blood was on the hands of God's people and they would draw back in horror and say how could you accuse us of this we've not murdered anybody we're not what are you trying to tell us that they would be so offended by the words of God through the prophet Isaiah which is the reason why that only about 1 in 10 or so were able to receive and to listen to his ministry God was trying to reason with his own people don't forget the southern kingdom was also going to be taken captive most of the people that Isaiah spoke to were not able to hear even though the captivity was right on the border and God had sent in his mercy a very loving word to his own people saying I want to be your protection I want to be your guide don't want to be your God I want to do I want to push back the darkness through you but first we're going to have to reason together because you've allowed things you've allowed something to come into your life and because of it you stretch out your hands and I can't hear you anymore in verse 9 if Isaiah 58 we get an answer to what some of this was about anyway he says then you will call and the Lord will answer you will cry and he will say Here I am if you take away the yoke from your midst the pointing of the finger and speaking wickedness you see there was a spirit going on in the nation at that time and God's people had opened the door to it and had become part of their culture in the sense that become part of the of how they lived out their day and they were pointing the finger looking to blame somebody I guess for the dilemma they were in it's it's their fault it's his fault it's her fault somebody always ever since the Garden of Eden when Adam and he fell it's always somebody else's fault it's never my fault it's it's never it's very rarely you find a man like Daniel who will fall on his knees before God open his windows towards Jerusalem and say Lord we have sinned against you even though Daniel as a young man was taken into captivity and he was not he was not part of that which caused the captivity into Babylon in the first place but he identified with the weakness of and frailty of all humanity and he said God to to us belongs shame of face this day but to you belongs righteousness Lord because your ways are right in ours or not and there comes a point in the Christian life that and that the pointing of the finger and speaking wickedness must stop and and that's what is that's the very dominant spirit that's characterizing this generation folks do you understand that we are a generation everywhere everybody somebody is pointing to somebody else very rare that anybody points to themselves anymore and say I'm part of the problem everyone else is part of the problem it's because of what somebody else is doing how somebody else's is thinking and it's becoming it's becoming so dominant that it's getting a hold the Assyrian value system is getting a hold of the people of God and the people of God are coming into the house of God stretching forth their hands but the same blood-guiltiness of of cursing our brother of blaming somebody else for the dilemma that's in the nation is is now encroaching itself into the very fabric of the people of God and rendering us powerless taking down our defenses it's it's difficult today to even suggest that we should pray for our leaders you wouldn't believe the bounce-back when you even make the suggestion that we should pray for our leaders can you imagine the Apostle Paul writing to Timothy as he did and say Timothy pray for kings and all that are in authority that you may live a godly and a peaceable life on this earth for this is the will of God concerning you do you imagine Timothy writing back to Paul are you suggesting that I should pray for Caesar don't you know that Caesar is hetero phobic is Christ Oh phobic he's anti-immigrant he doesn't care about the feelings or freedoms of others he's all just about Rome and about himself Paulie you're not even aware that Caesar thinks he's God you know the season of that generation thought he was God and and Paul as that escaped your attention that he's the one that's got you and changed because of his dominant world view and and etc etc and all these things and you can you picture Paul writing back to Timothy Timothy where did you get these words from they're not in the scriptures they didn't come from the teaching of the Holy Spirit where are you getting this how was this getting into your spirit why is this becoming part of your vocabulary Timothy do you forget that I was once Paul would say a leader of the people and I did everything that Caesar did but I also hauled people out of their houses and I tortured them and I was there when Steven was murdered and I was holding the people's coats that threw the stones and I consented to his death but God called an ordinary man called Ananias who came to me he was just an ordinary man and he put his hands on me and he prayed for me and Timothy when he prayed for me scales fell off of my ize Timothy I understand the power of prayer and I know what can happen through the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man so Timothy pray for your leaders Timothy pray for those in authority the Bible is not calling you to agree with their agenda the Bible is calling you to agree with God that he says pray pray that they may find salvation through Christ that they may govern in the righteous way that they may lay hold of God's value system Timothy there's no power Ananias could have walked in the room with Paul and pointed at him and said you murderer you god hater could have pointed at him and and there was truth in that but there's a higher truth than all of that it's the truth of God it's the power of God's kingdom that's why Isaiah could say to the people you're coming into my house with many prayers and I could see with a lot of the prayers were they all knew the history they knew what was unfolding into Assyria was swallowing the whole known world as they knew it they knew that the Assyrian army was almost unstoppable apart from God so they're coming in and I have no doubt they're praying protect us O Lord we know what happened to our northern brothers and there's just a few of us left in our armies can't match their army and God saying I want to answer your prayer but your hands are filled with blood you're pointing your finger you're cursing out of one side you're blessing me but you're cursing those created my image out of the other side of your mouth and you can't have blessing and cursing come out of the same fountain these things ought not to be the Lord says they ought not to be and then secondly unknown to the people of God at that time their rejection of reason may I put it that way was going to seal their own fate in verse 20 it says but if you refuse and rebel you'll be devoured by the sword for the mouth of the Lord has spoken in other words the violence that you're letting get ahold of your spirit actually become your portion in the end it will consume you you know the scripture says whoever lives by the sword dies by the sword proverbs 18:21 says death and life are in the power of the tongue and those who love it will eat its fruit death and life are in the power of the tongue it matters what we speak you understand it matters it matters before God it matters it can take away the victory of Christ from his people it can take the power of God out of the church it can allow the enemies of righteousness spiritual wickedness in high places to literally overpower a nation when God's people are here and we have been given the power and the authority to make a difference most of Isaiah's generation wouldn't listen to him by the time God called and commissioned him they were so entrenched in their worldview that they wouldn't hear him but if they could speak to us today here's what they would say is from proverbs 5 and you mourn at last when your flesh and body are consumed and say how I have hated instruction and my heart despised correction I've not obeyed the voice of my teachers nor inclined my ear to those who instructed me I was on the verge of total ruin in the midst of the assembly and the congregation if they could speak to us today in New York City they would say we were where you are a dominant force that was ungodly was threatening to swallow the testimony of God's people was threatening to take away our security as it is and God sent a voice to us but we wouldn't listen to that voice we pushed it away we we had created our own reasonings and God couldn't reason with us he even said to us come and let us reason together but we felt that our arguments were higher than his and our thoughts were better than the thoughts of God we succumbed to that fallen nature of all of humanity that wants to be as God is and declares something that is evil good and something that is good evil we became entrenched in our position and didn't know the peril of the moment until we ourselves were conquered we ourselves were brought into subjection we ourselves were taken into a foreign place that we never wanted to be while Isaiah was speaking to us we were on the verge of total ruin in the midst of the congregation and the assembly but yet we were thoroughly convinced that our ways were right and what we were being told by the voice of God was wrong so important today for you and I to be able to say God you can and I ask you to reason with me reason with my heart Oh God if I built iron barriers in my heart if I have entrenched my mind in something that's destructive and yet I'm trying to call it truth God help me God help me God help me to put away the ways of this world and help me Lord to have that new mind and that new heart in that new spirit that you say is the portion it's what belongs to your people help me O God to be a man a woman whatever the cases that can go into the closet of prayer and command the mountain to be moved help me God to be a person who can go into your presence no matter how dark no matter how vile no matter how distance from God the Society might be that I might plead for them and you may hear my voice so God might not have a microphone might be in a prayer closet all by myself but God you will hear my voice and there's a certain voice that God can't resist himself that you will hear me crying out before the throne of God does that cry out for the children's eye crowd for marriages as I crowd for families is that crowd for righteousness as I crowd for our leaders as that crowd God that my voice will count among those that you have historically used at moments like this to push back the forces of dark your word says that when the enemy comes in like a flood the Spirit of the Lord will raise up a standard against it God may my voice be counted among them I want you to just think about this with me for a moment in John chapter 11 and verse 43 Jesus called a man called Lazarus out of the grave and the scripture says when he said these things he cried with a loud voice Lazarus come forth and in a similar way the voice of God has called you and I out of darkness and into a life of light a different life a new life we're born again by the Spirit of God we're called to be not who we think we should be but who God has destined and created us to be it requires a yielding to God it requires a humility the proud will never understand the ways of God it requires a humility it requires a heart and a life that can be spoken to in verse 44 he said and he who had died came out bound hand and foot with grave clothes and his face was wrapped with a cloth and Jesus said to them loose him and let him go in a similar way Jesus has called those of us who are around you to unwrap the garments of death that this world has bound you in you come into the kingdom of God you are bound with grave clothes this world has wrapped itself all around your mind your eyes your mouth your heart your loins your feet you are totally bound by the things of this world when you come into the kingdom of God just as Lazarus was bound inside these wrappings are some sweet spices and you know we live in death without Christ we walk in death we we think like dead people we act we live in a way that the Bible describes as a way of death which which is the eternal inheritance of those who choose to live that way but we wrap it up with some sweet spices many people even in the house of God wrap it up with some nice clothes on Sunday morning a change of vocabulary instead of cursing everything around this praise God good to see you god bless you so we put a few little spices around the the death that's all wrapped around us and try to masquerade what's really going on inside I was a cop folks if you've never smelled death there's nothing in this world that smells worse than a decaying human body the smell of it permeates the whole room it gets into the carpets if if somebody has been long dead in any place you have to rip the carpets out you have to paint the walls I've gone in and uniform and had to take my clothes and you can't even get the smell out of your clothes through a dry cleaning it so permeates everything death permeates its environment all the smell of it can't be masqueraded by a few sweet little things that we try to put around it because ultimately it overpowers those sweet things it is an incredible thing I've never smelled anything in my life worse than a decaying human body and when Lazarus came out of that grave he was wrapped in these grave clothes like many of us were when we came into the kingdom of God we come into the kingdom of God with wrong thinking with wrong speech with wrong focus with the wrong heart and it's it starts with an initial euphoria that we can actually hear God calling us and we step out and we walk into the light as much as we know it and then the immediate thing is you know what I love about this is Jesus could have snapped his fingers and all the great clothes would have disappeared all the spices everything would have disappeared but instead of doing that he called those who were close to him and said loose him and let him go that's the purpose of the ministry that's my job here on Sunday more listen Ephesians 4 verses 10 to 15 you could read it later but I'll read it to you here's what it says he who descended is also the one who ascended far above all the heavens that he might fill all things and he gave some to be apostles some prophets some evangelists some pastors and teachers for the equipping of the Saints for the work of the ministry for the edifying the helping of the body of Christ till we all come to the unity of faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God to a perfect man to the measure of the stature of fullness of Christ so this is the purpose of the ministry is the purpose of preachers and teachers in the but if they are righteous people if they truly care about you now if they don't care they'll just tell you how lovely is to know when you're filled with death if they don't care but if they do care they'll get try to get closer to try to unwrap wrong thinking wrong speech that we should no longer be children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine or every thing that comes along down the pike everything that purports to be truth apart from the kingdom of God by the trickery of men in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting in other words that we would not be a people who are carried by false reasonings false arguments it would not wrap itself around us and lead us away from life and back into death but speaking the truth in love may grow up in all things unto him who is the head even Christ it all comes down to speaking is not amazing all the ministry all that God sends for you and I ultimately comes down to our speech because out of the abundance of the heart the mouth will speak those who approach Lazarus were not his enemies but his friends I'm not your enemy tomorrow today I mean as uncomfortable as you may seem feel at the moment I'm not your enemy I'm not here to hurt you God sent me to unwrap the close of death from your mind from your heart all that Lazarus was called to do it at this point was to let them do what Jesus called them to do all he was called to do is yield he could have resisted it now the scripture tells us later on that he was sitting at a banquet table of cheeses in John chapter 12 verses 9 and 11 it says now great many of the Jews knew that he was there that's Lazarus and they came not for Jesus sake only but they might also see Lazarus whom he raised from the dead and verse 11 says and because of Lazarus many people believed you know folks many people come to see Jesus because of you is that amazing they come to see Jesus because of you I want you to think that one through they hear that you're a Christian and so they come into the lunchroom they visit you in your apartment or they they pay special attention to your vocabulary and mannerisms as you go to the local store to maybe buy some bread on the way home and they believe that you're associated with Jesus and Jesus has given you new life and so technically it's similar to Lazarus they come to see Jesus because of you now what if Lazarus had resisted the unwrapping of the grave clothes what if the smell of death was still on him what if his lips were still wrapped up in the clothing of death you know what would people think at that moment the scripture would people would be sitting at that table going wow is that the best that Jesus can do is that all he can do is leave people in their old condition but yet somehow claiming that they have a living relationship with God well what does he got that I don't have what does she got that I don't have they lived they speak the same way I do their heart is just as dark as mine there's there's their objectives in life seem to be in line with my but yet they've just added Jesus to it but all I can hear is death and all I see is death you see there's something about people of God when we are walking in righteousness we are willing to be set apart for the kingdom of God we're willing to speak healing when everyone else is speaking we're willing to we are led to preach reconciliation when everyone else is around in the world is preaching division and vengeance what do people think that ponder Jesus because of you it's the question I have to ask and I'm going back to our opening text let us reason together what do people think in it I want you to think about it honestly now in your home your work colleagues that you work what do they think about Jesus because of you are you a peacemaker or a divider what do they think because of you are you advocating that we should pray for our leaders as the scripture says or are you tearing them down with everybody else what do people think of Jesus because of you do you speak for God or are you being assimilated by the violent culture all around us today and this is a question that has to be asked now because that violent culture is finding a place in the house of God and I tell you today it has no place among God's people it has no place here Isaiah chapter 1 verse 16 where we started he says wash yourselves make yourselves clean put away the evil of your doings from before your eyes cease to do evil learn to do good seek justice rebuke the oppressor defend the fatherless and plead for the widow seek justice that by God's definition not the world's definition the Justice of God speaks about is having people reconciled with God and each other that's the justice ultimately that Christ died to bring into this world that humankind one with another would be reconciled first with God and then subsequently reconciled with one another there are only two great Commandments the two greatest of all love God with all your heart soul mind and strength a means of personally yielding to him a love for him and the second is like unto it you shall love your neighbor as yourself seek justice in the world seek justice seek forgiveness seek reconciliation be of what you might you might be feel like a salmon swimming upstream on five hundred or going the other way but let your voice be the one voice that speaks for God rebuke the oppressor rebuke those whose voices do not speak for Christ and let the rebuke be just you you understand doesn't mean you have to point out everybody's mistake no that's wrong that's not biblical that's not the rebuke he's talking about let who you are become a rebuke everywhere you are just as I told you the smell of death will permeate a room it will get into people's nostrils it would get into clothing it can't be taken out in a similar way this the smell of life is more powerful the smell of life can also permeate a room the smell of life can dissipate darkness the smell of life that one voice that speaks for God can put to flight a thousand enemies of truth that one voice is there's no folks I recognize maybe that some of our leaders are some of the things that you are saying but can we take a moment just to pray for this person or these people right now can can we would you join with me in prayer would would you that's that's rebuking the oppressor would you pray with me right now and then pray God would you help this person would you help this group of people would you help them to see that they need a Savior would you help them to know God that you are a loving God and willing to forgive them it takes courage but if you're willing just to step out of the crowd and say I'm not gonna let death permeate this environment any longer I'm gonna let the freight doesn't the Bible said we are a fragrance of Christ everywhere we go I thank God for that I really do with all my heart a fragrance for Christ don't let that thought escape you that when we walk into a room there's a sweet perfume the of life that comes in with us and if we make the choice to just let that that life emanate from everything we are all we say and all we do suddenly darkness begins to dissipate suddenly darkened hearts begin to start to think there might be another way forward maybe there's a better way than the way that I have been choosing in my heart and then the scripture says defend the fatherless and plead for the widow in other words stand up for those who have little or no resource and no strength to stand against the overwhelming spirit of this age stand up for them stand up for them in your speech stand up for them in the prayer closet stand up for them by standing up for Christ and allowing Christ to become the source of their strength you and I are called to stand against the hatred of this moment in this nation I make no apologies whatsoever for that statement we are called to be of a different spirit we are called to stand against it in the strength of our God we are called to be a voice for forgiveness and reconciliation among men and before God we are not called to foster division we are not called to deepen we're not called to pass it on to the next generation we are called to speak for God who said Father forgive them they don't know what they do that's who you and I are that's what we are called to do that is the calling of God on our lives and in verse 19 he says if you are willing and obedient you shall eat the good of the land they couldn't hear these words they fail to understand he's not talking about lemons and watermelons and lettuce the good of the land was the promise of God linked to Abraham and his descendants the promise of being supernaturally multiplied and blessed and becoming a force for good on the earth that was the good of the land that's what God through Isaiah was trying to get through to his people everything that you know in your history everything you've ever been taught from the time you're a child he was saying is still yours if we can still reason together if you would acknowledge that my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts are higher than your thoughts if you will do it my way God was trying to tell them I can push back the darkness of this moment there can be the voice of joy and celebration can be in your streets again instead of the voice of woe and mourning folks what we choose to do will make a huge difference in this city and at this time how we choose to live and how we choose to speak you will have this incredible supernatural provision of Christ's the supernatural infusion of life that takes us and makes us more than we could ever hope to be gives us more than we could ever hope to possess gives us wisdom that is not our own fills our hearts with compassion that we could never conjure in our deepest human effort we become free we become clean our bodies are filled with light we begin to see by the grace of Almighty God it's time to reason again it's time to say Lord I choose life and god I'm gonna have to trust you for the strength because there's so much death wrapped around me I've been listening to the news too long and I've been reading your Bible too little and the world is wrapping me up in death again and I find death coming out of my mouth I find that I'm unwilling to obey even the simplest of scriptures when it talks about forgiveness and reconciliation and right speech I find that as darkness has always done I'm setting my word above the Word of God it's the Lord I'm telling you today that my heart is still open and you can still reason with me and so what I'm asking you to make me a voice for you for your kingdom for your ways God I want to eat the good of the land which is the fullness of the redemption of the cross of Jesus Christ the immeasurable power of the Holy Spirit operating within my life the wisdom the character of God the ability in prayer to push back darkness for the sake of our children for the sake of the next generation who if we don't stand are going to be so dark it's almost unthinkable we recognize as they refused to do that we are at a pinnacle in our nation of being swallowed by godlessness and you are reasoning with your people perhaps one last time God Almighty in Jesus name give us a humility of heart give us the willingness to hear these words give us the strength to walk humbly Lord it has to come from your hand because we won't do it if we're left our own resources help us Lord to put away wrong thinking and to be a force for good and for you Lord everywhere we go give us the courage to fight for those who have no strength and no resource let our lives be a rebuke to darkness that our speech fill the room with life God deliver us from ourselves Lord and unwrap a sword from any death that's trying to get a hold of our minds our eyes our voice our heart every part of us Lord may we not join those who from heaven or hell today can say I was in total ruin in the midst of the congregation and assembly may that not be our testimony we ask you Lord that you would invade this city by your Holy Spirit we ask you Lord to flood our homes our offices our streets everywhere we travel Lord let it be like you've lit a lantern in a darkened City where there's a stake let the perfume of your presence Lord go with us down every Street into every room down every corridor let our children Lord God see you in us in desire to live for you all of the days of their lives give us a voice Lord to fight for the fatherless to fight for the widow those who are weak among us Lord and have no need of strength father God we yield our bodies to you for this purpose and we agreed today that this is good this is right this is true Lord we ask you for a deliverance and a miracle Lord in every one of our lives and we thank you for it in Jesus name Amen [Applause] you know the Lord's spoken to your heart today North Jersey and the annex and at home and here in the main sanctuary you say God I I want to be that person I want to be that person that speaks right I want to be a peacemaker and not a divider I want to bring healing into the world and not bitterness not further the bitterness I want to pray with fervency for our leadership because I heard today what it did in the life of Paul a literal madman who became the greatest apostle of all I want to be that Ananias that you can call to pray for somebody and we'll make heaven's difference in their life I don't want to be among those or filled with hate and trying to masquerade it with a little bit of perfume I want life I want life I want light I want oil I want to eat of the good of the land it's the Lord make my heart tender when I speak what I shouldn't convict me right away help me to draw back and even say I'm sorry I shouldn't have said that this is what I should have said let my life literally be a light in this darkened City now if that's the cry of your heart today and you know that God has to do something supernatural in your life for that to happen there has to be a supernatural forgiveness in some people's hearts I'm not saying the injustice 'iz weren't there what I'm saying is the law of God is higher and we need to let go of the one to embrace the other you can't have the two at the same time God will give us the grace God will let's stand together and if that's you and you want that in your life come and join me here at this altar today or stand between the screens in the Annex we're worship for a couple of minutes just come in the balcony slip out of your seat you know what you've been speaking you know the words that have come out of your mouth you know what's in your heart if you want to be on the Lord's side I feel like one of those Old Testament moments where a line is drawn in the sand and the words who is on the Lord's side are spoken who wants to speak for God in this generation I'm going to ask you to step out and join those that are coming move in close we'll worship for just a few moments then we'll take a moment to pray praise God thank you Lord you know the New Testament intimates at least there's a picture presented of a tongue that is under the control of God can steer a ship you know I was thinking as we're worshiping of another volatile period in the history of this nation when God raised up a man called Martin Luther King jr. and he chose to be of another spirit than the spirit that was wanting to manifest at that time and his words still move our hearts today and he brought a way that is not the way of man it's the way of God and may God give us that touch of heaven again in each of our lives that we would start speaking for heaven side Father we thank you Lord for the solemn moment that you brought into the sanctuary for this is indeed this is indeed a moment of reflection and truth would you help us Lord would you help me God too to be people of excellent speech excellent speech Lord this is always caused your kingdom to advance when a man or woman of excellent speech could be found Lord you could use them to unlock prisons you could use them to touch the hearts of kings you could set them on pinnacles so they could be heard throughout the whole city if they could be a person of excellent speech and so father we thank you Lord that you will anoint an ordained statesman and States women Lord in in this sanctuary today God that wherever we are we will speak for heaven we will speak for you Lord for your kingdom God Lord give us the right spirit help us Lord God to understand and to be able to navigate these waters so that we will represent you all we can do Lord has yield our bodies to you as a living sacrifice and you say it's a reasonable service but we have to trust you for the power Lord it isn't within us apart from you to do any of these things so we yield to you Holy Spirit ask you to govern us or governess governor voice is Lord govern our actions govern our thoughts govern us my god govern us and help us Lord to be agents of life everywhere we travel in all that we do may the sweetness Jesus of your presence follow us into every room into every conversation at every table may we bring the presence of God the reasoning of God into every situation I thank you Lord for the touch of heaven to Courage the many young people especially are going to need to face this time courage hard courage and balance speech that can't be spoken against God we see it in the scriptures it says they could not be spoken against nothing they said they could take an issue with it was pure truth God thank you lord god thank you God thank you send us into the city today and into our homes and communities wherever we're traveling make us keenly aware of what we've heard today we know in our hearts we've heard from you Lord God help us now god help us now we thank you for it in Jesus name amen and amen [Applause]

Channel: Times Square Church

Views: 15,747

Keywords: Carter Conlon, Sermon, Times Square Church

Id: HC_YF6agm5Y

Length: 44min 32sec (2672 seconds)

Published: Wed Sep 20 2017