When Lust is the Reason People Reach for the Promise by Carter Conlon

I want to talk to you this morning about when lust is the reason people reach for the promise it's a long title and you'll understand why in a moment Genesis chapter 12 Genesis chapter 12 that's the first book of the Bible Genesis and some people don't know that they're brand new with many new Christians here brand new Christians and thank God for that now father thank you was on my heart for the anointing of your Holy Spirit you're the only one that can make this word live Lord if we live by just our own reasonings alone it's not sufficient strength you have to take the word and make it live in us you have to cause it to burn in our hearts and quicken us so that we can move in line with truth it's a father I thank you this morning that you will anoint me and those of us have come to hear and give us the strength and the grace Lord to acknowledge that your ways are the ways that we should follow thank you Lord that you've not left this generation without a testimony a powerful testimony and Lord we're about to know it I pray that you open every heart to it and I thank you for it in Jesus name Genesis chapter 12 when lust is the reason people reach for the promise and that would be beginning at verse 10 now there was a famine in the land and Abram went down to Egypt to dwell there for the famine was severe in the land and it came to pass when he was close to entering Egypt that he said to Sarai his wife indeed I know that you're a woman of beautiful countenance therefore it will happen when the Egyptians see you that they will say this is his wife and they will kill me but they will let you live please say you're my sister that it may be well with me for your sake and that I may live because of you and so it was when Abram came into Egypt that the Egyptians saw the woman that she was very beautiful the princes of Pharaoh also saw her and commended her to Ferrell and the woman was taken to Pharaoh's house he treated Abraham well for her sake he had cheap oxen mail donkeys male and female servants female donkeys and camels but the Lord plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai Abrams wife and Pharaoh called abram and said what is this that you've done to me why did you not tell me that she was your wife why did you say she is my sister I might have taken her as my wife now therefore here's your wife take her and go your way so Pharaoh commanded his men concerning him and they sent him away with his wife and all that they had now Genesis chapter 12 the beginning of this chapters starts with an incredible and a supernatural promise that God made to Abraham I'm going to call it we know him as Abraham so I'll call him that from now on now the Lord said Abraham get out of your country from your family from your father's house to a land that I will show you I will make you a great nation I will bless you and make your name great and you shall be a blessing and I will bless those who bless you and I will curse him who curses you and then you all the families of the earth shall be blessed now this this is the promise that could only be fulfilled in entirety through Jesus Christ you and I know that today and through his church that we're part of Abraham the scripture describes him technically as the father of faith through him of course came a son Isaac came the patriarchs of Egypt and ultimately Jesus Christ and through Jesus Christ came the Church of Jesus Christ which we are so technically we're the fulfillment of this promise that God made to Abraham that he's going to be a blessing he's going to have descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and through you and through the blessing that will that will travel through your lineage all the families of the earth shall be blessed thank God for that knowledge today that you and I are called to be this blessing in the earth now Galatians chapter 3 verses 8 & 9 says the scripture foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand saying in you all the nations shall be blessed so then those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham so we have an incredible heritage in Christ I am called to be a blessing to this world and so are you I'm called to be more than just somebody who just muddles through society looking for a better job and a better life and a better self-image and all the rest of the things that we search for but I'm called to allow Christ to be in me that what she promised through Abraham that I would be that I would be a blessing that you would be a blessing that where we travel the scripture says we would bring this sweet savour of Christ this the sweet fragrance as it is of mercy Grace and power and hope in a future everywhere we travel this should be traveling with us there should be our legacy as the people of God but Abraham made a mistake and it's very similar to the one that many have made in our generation Sarah his wife was the human vessel through whom this incredible promise would begin Abraham could not do this on his own just as you and I can't be this blessing on our own but Abraham through even though he knew this he feared for his own well-being and what he did he redefined the very person through whom the promise was to come and thus he created a situation where people could take her into their home through lust the Genesis chapter 12 verses 12 and 13 says when the Egyptians see you that they will say this is his wife and they will kill me but they will let you live please say you're my sister that it may be well with me for your sake that I may live because of you now keep in mind when when Pharaoh saw a beautiful woman that's happened in this situation he would take that woman into his harem and it was for no other reason but to satisfy his own lust that's fairly obvious and what Abraham did is when when he redefined his wife as his sister and not as his wife he opened up the way for people to take this vessel Sarah through whom the lineage of Christ was going to come but he opened the way for people to take Sarah into their home through lust and in our generation Paul describes in Galatians chapter 6 verse 12 people in the New Testament who were modifying the message of blessing and grace for the sole purpose of not suffering persecution for the cross of Christ just like Abraham many in our generation have done something very very similar they've they've looked and they've seen they've traveled and in their heart they said if I if I am if this relationship is clearly identified then what's going to happen is that I'm going to be persecuted I'm going to be ridiculed I'm going to be marked I'm going to be left and so they they modify the person of Christ and it's a tremendous error to modify the person of Christ it's an error which much of this church age has actually done in our generation Paul said to Timothy in 2nd Timothy chapter 3 not to just read it to you talked about the last days that there would be people who have a form of godliness but denying its power just like Abraham they they would suffer from this deep-set unbelief that God is able to perfectly keep us as his purposes through us are being made known and Paul goes on to say from such turn away these ones creep into households and they take gullible people captive who are still led by Unser endured sin and Unser entered in its internal lusts always learning but never coming to the full knowledge of the truth they resist the truth just as spíritus resisted one time Moses but they will go no further and their foolishness will become known just as people previously have come to a place where their foolishness was made known how you say is this going to happen and folks it's not even it's not even debatable that in much of the Church of Jesus Christ Christ himself has been redefined as this cosmic Santa Claus who calls nobody to follow him and take up their cross asked for no sacrifice does not speak of the denial of self it's all about some everything's been redefined just like Abraham fearing for his own skin he redefined Sarah as his sister not as his wife and when he redefined her allowed her to be taken in to Farrell's court because of human lust and when we have allowed Christ to be redefined in our generation we've opened the door to people receiving an alternate Christ McCall attack into their house and into their heart and they're still able to hold on to their lusts there's no challenge it's just oh I want this Jesus I want this Jesus that promises me a hundred thousand dollars for every thousand dollars I give I want this Jesus that's going to make me successful in life I want this Jesus that's attractive to me while I'm still living in my lusts I want this Jesus in my house and when we redefine Jesus now Abraham was paid well for this redefinition just as many preachers are paid well for their redefinition oh they can have their own airports they can have their own jets they can have huge buildings and tremendous all cuz the Society will pay you well when you redefine the promise and you open their the doorway to bringing in this other Christ that requires nothing you don't have to go the mission field you don't have to sacrifice you don't have to be rejected your had you're not the tail all the rest of this stuff what a tragic mistake he made but the scripture says their folly will become evident in the last days now Paul speaking about the last days in 2nd Timothy and he says their foolishness will become known just as it always has become known and so the question is how will it become known in Genesis chapter 12 again verse 17 it says the Lord plagued Pharaoh and his house in the same way trouble has been loosed upon this nation and its present handling of the knowledge of God just the way Pharaoh was plagued we're now plagued in America with divorce to the point where recent news articles said his marriage itself a farce certain maybe we should just do away with marriage altogether why is it even necessary if 50 to 60 percent of it is ending up in divorce so why we've been bothering with it incredible addictions there's a plague of addictions in America addictions to pornography addictions to all kinds of drugs even legalizing it there was a manufacturing place in Colorado Springs a couple of a few weeks ago I don't feel anybody read that the news but they they move to another state because their workers were so stoned all the time they weren't getting any productivity out of them addicted to he's addicted to entertainment addicted to stupidity on television addicted my wife said to me recently said never in the history of the world have people done less and documented it more on Facebook imagines just doing nothing here's the coffee I had this morning a picture of it here's here's the flower on my table there's the stone stuck in the tire of my car you know never never have people done less and documented it more and then not only documented it but everybody else is documenting they're doing nothing and everybody is just enthralled with everybody else is doing nothing our productivity is dying as a nation we're falling behind educationally and at an alarming rate our industries are failing largely not totally but largely we're living in a season of social and political confusion that's not even deniable anymore nobody in the right mind could deny that we're spiraling down so quickly and so so deeply there's a breakdown of order and there's a the potential of increased lawlessness and violence in our streets and that's only just naming a few things and it's all happening because we redefined Christ in America there's no other reason it's inexcusable with churches on every corner in this country that this society is in the shape it's in and there's nowhere that God lays the blame now we want to blame politicians we want to blame all kinds of things but God puts the blame in the pulpits in America that's where the blame belongs there's a pretty weak clap on your part for that point now in the Church of Jesus Christ our prayers are going to remain ineffective until we realize that the promise of life within us in Christ as is for others first and for ourselves second there's a promise the promise is that we will be a blessing but the blessing is for others first and I always believe that in the measure we give to others God says I'll give it back to you I believe that with all my heart but it's not our motivation for why we live and move and have our being in him it's for the sake of others and with all my heart I'd say it's time for the church to be the church again it's time for us to rise up and be the blessing that God has called us to be in the earth it's time for you and I again to say like the Apostle Paul Lord what would you have me to do it's not how can I use you from my own pleasure but God what do you want me to do what is it that you would like to do through my life that will become a blessing God speak to my heart don't let me be afraid don't let me live this life to save my own skin is Abraham once did Lord Jesus Christ give me the courage to be the man to be the woman the young person whoever it is that I'm called to be because God this world is good at parish if somebody doesn't stand up and say this is who the Lord is and I'm not ashamed to call him my Lord I'm not ashamed of his cross I'm not ashamed of his Redemption this society will perish if somebody doesn't go into the prayer closet again and say God consider the threatenings of evil against this generation and for your holy name's sake I ask you to shake the place where I am and fill me again with your Holy Spirit and let me speak the Word of God with boldness by stretching forth your hand through my life bringing healing to minds freedom to people addicted wholeness to homes that are fab fraying and breaking apart a sense of direction to young people who are wandering aimlessly in our streets eternities been taken away from them the president looks hopeless they have no future no wonder they're angry in our streets looking for someone looking for something someone who'll just tell them what the truth is god help us again that's why James says in chapter 4 of the book of James you ask and do not receive because you ask amiss that you may spend it on yourself the King James the original version this is the New King James I'm reading from says you may you may consume it on your own lusts you ask but it's all about yourself and because of it there's a point where God says no more of this this is not the purpose of my church and the mercy of God will send a famine into the nation mercy if God will send a famine into your soul and into mine until finally in desperation we simply cry out Lord God what are you trying to speak to me what are you asking me to do what do you want from my life and then James goes on he is much stronger he calls it adultery to have this friendship with the world in other words to have the same value system as the world has just adding Jesus to it that's why half the churches in this country are empty now because people pass by said well they got the same I know these guys in my workplace they did they're after the same thing I they just have added the name of Jesus to it I don't really need what they have that's why it calls it adultery he said if you have this self focus in your heart you become an enemy of God now that's strong language but I can't apologize for it that's what it says in the Word of God and he goes on says do you think the scripture says in vain the Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously well what's the earning for God says the Holy Spirit within us is saying I have created you for more than this I've created you for more than in the case of the prodigal son just hanging out with unregenerate people doing what they do seeking what they seek eating what they eat feeding what they feed I called you to more than this and to get him home me send a famine into the land and sometimes to get you in our home God will send a famine into our soul nothing satisfies the scripture says he puts you in a place where the the bed is too short and the cover doesn't keep you warm any longer we'll let you sleep at night take away your sense of peace because it's not true peace it's a false peace and bring you and I to the place where I'm sure Abraham you imagine what he had done you imagined his wife he knows that God's promised that his life is to be a blessing he knows that promise has to come through Sarah that can't be fulfilled without her and there he is outside the gate of Pharaoh's compound wringing his hands what have I done why did I do this why did I redefine my wife and put her in this vulnerable position where she was taken into this this leaders court because of the lust in his heart why did I allow her to be put into this place and he's wringing his hands that's why the scripture says God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble when we finally get to the point of saying God my life is intended for more than this my life is intended I'm not in I'm not destined on the earth now you'll give me a job I know that and you'll give me a roof over I had you'll give me provision that's those things you yourself said I'm not to worry about these things you provide for all of these but I'm to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness before that provision will come from the hand of God therefore submit to God resist the devil you will flee from you you know you resist him through humility draw near to God kneel draw near to you cleanse your hands and purify your hearts you double-minded lament and mourn and weep and let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord and He will lift you up Abraham eventually realized though God you gave me this promise tonight I modified it but Lord I'm going to trust you from my provision my protection I'm going to trust you for my future I'm going to trust your Lord that you're gonna fulfill this through my life no matter how I have thought it should be done if it doesn't come from your hand it's worthless anyway I can see Abraham I see him in my mind outside of Pharaoh's gate sick at heart what have I done with the promise of God what have I done with my own future what have I done by modifying the one that you gave me just to save my own skin so I wouldn't be laughed at at work so I wouldn't run the risk of some personal loss what have I done how have I lived this life what have I done to bring Gloria to live to see this promise fulfilled you know when we walk humbly before God when we do like Daniel did in the Babylonian captivity when he opened his window towards Jerusalem and said O God we have sinned confusion of face is ours rightfully because of what we've done and how we have portrayed you in the earth Daniel wasn't necessarily involved in what brought the captivity about because he was taken just as a young man into the Babylonian court but nevertheless he didn't eliminate himself from the prog the problem and neither do i and neither should you if this nation is spiraling into darkness then we bear the responsibility for it and I'm not trying to put a heavy thing on you just the reality of it before God will lift us up we've got to humble ourselves now before him said Lord than the nations a mess and it's partly and a great measure because of what your people have done and how we have portrayed your name in this society we've run after the same things and we've redefined you and made you palatable so that people could take you into their homes to last God forgive us for what we've done there's a Christ there's a cross there's a cost there's a blood there's a Holy Spirit there's a purpose we ought not to back away from that there's a divine power that comes from God there's healing there's words of wisdom there's words of knowledge there's a supernatural kingdom and we ought not to have shied away from it don't expect to be well spoken of by a perishing world but remember that we're not fighting against these people were fighting for every man's soul every woman saw and they will never know the difference if you and I don't stand up and so how did God deliver Abraham the Genesis 12 verse 82 tells us Pharaoh called Abraham and said what is this that you've done to me why didn't you tell me she was your wife why did you say she's my sister I might have taken her as my wife now therefore here's your wife take her and go your way so Pharaoh commanded his men concerning him and they sent him away and his wife and all that he had and so - in our society society is now rejecting the testimony that we have placed before them thank God thank God that they are don't mourn this moment in history rejoice rejoice that finally this world is saying we've had enough of you and your redefine Christ take your stuff and get out we're now at a low point in the testimony of the Christian Church in America but it's the best thing that could ever have happened to us because now the prayer meetings are going to start to be filled again now people are going to open their Bibles one more time they're going to begin to say I'd like to know the real Jesus sir if you don't mind showing me what he really looks like they're gonna see who Christ really is and say God please forgive me for redefining the Jesus that I presented to this society but by the grace of God you told me that if I will humble myself you will lift me up and so lord god I'm asking you to raise me up let this society laughs let them up but let the power of God emanate through my life one more time and everywhere I travel everywhere I go let the miracles of God begin to float through my life let healing flow through my voice in my eyes in my hands God Almighty let young people find hope and direction in the future let darkness return to light let the evil be turned to good let hell's gates have to open and release their captives oh God we're going back to where the power of heaven really is the power of the Cross is really found just like the prodigal son I see something in my heart we're coming home folks the Church of Jesus Christ is coming home yes we've made a mess in this country we have as the body of Christ is no doubt it's not even arguable anymore anybody argues it is God sitting on the side of the road and their eyesight is gone but I'm not downcast by it I have a rejoicing in my heart because I see so many coming down the road yes we've been in the wrong place and yes we've been doing the wrong thing and yes the smell of it is still all over us but I see a holy God coming down the road running towards us hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah glory glory to the name of Jesus I see him coming I see him running I see the tears on his cheeks I see the garment in his arms I see the ring in his hand I see the shoes for our feet and not enough strength but in our failure he's inviting his own church one more time to be his sons and daughters his representatives in this generation glory to God our empty churches will be filled again the bands are gonna strike up their cards and it's going to be singing and dancing again in the house of God and the joy of the Lord is going to become our strength one more time praise be to God hallelujah to the lamb of God glory to the name of Jesus glory to the name of Jesus hallelujah I don't even have an altar call I don't even know where to go from here I was just going to get up and go and do exactly what I've been preaching to you this morning I God has shown me this and my heart I'm just rejoicing sing Lord you see what I've just spoken to you is not neither a condemnation of the nation or the church it's an understanding once again of how God will be merciful to a generation that maybe doesn't deserve it but he will show his mercy one more time and first he will bring his people home because if he doesn't bring us home and if it doesn't bring us back to the right definition of salvation and our Christ then what will the people coming into the house get if the definition is not right and so God in His mercy is going to do this some people will be offended by it because they love their Jesus they've created so be it there's nothing I can do about that but the Christ of Calvary will be the Christ of his church one more time the beauty of it all is in the midst of your failure whatever you've been doing however you've been living you can come home and you're not coming home to an angry god you're not coming home to somebody's gonna point his finger in your face and yell at you you're coming home to the Christ who died for you coming home to the one who so loved you he gave His only begotten Son you're coming home to cleansing power and a purpose on the earth a divine purpose because you and I really can't fully represent the kingdom of God until we understand mercy and we can't understand mercy till we know we've needed it I don't know about you but I need mercy now every day every day hallelujah to the lamb of God this is good news Pharaoh and his house are about to kick us out and I love it when he said to take her and go your way and so we're gonna take our savior go his way the way that he would have us go is his people everybody's turning against the church and even in the news they're talking about this this unprecedented anti-christian sentiment I'm not alarmed by it I see something it's the mercy of God it's the mercy of God for those who are rejecting the church as well as for the church by God's grace the cry of my heart is Oh God one more time may we live to see a massive turning to you numbers sold to numerous that we can even count them in a way that not even a fool would attempt to touch the glory knowing it's you you have arisen to defend your own name you have arisen because you're a God of mercy and justice oh thank God for His mercy thank God for this moment in history you know there was a church in Revelation it was the last church in the book of Revelation and there were people who become content with wealth and status and power that was their God they had redefined Christ and yet he said to these people he said anoint your eyes that you may see what you need to and I pray for you today that God give all of us in I 7:19 that we would start seeing the way heaven declares it to be that we would start seeing the way Jesus sees that we would we would see people as precious as they are to God that God would give us the eyes to see the potential and even what looks to be the worst off in society God would give us his eyes and we begin to walk in that realm as they did in the book of Acts when they came out of the upper room and they saw something that was not visible to the natural eye religion couldn't produce it and the Pharisees definition of God left them blind to it but a hundred and twenty people who knew they needed to savior who knew they were failures came out and they were given the vision to see something and it wasn't given to them in their strength that was given in their weakness and in their humility that's the cry of my heart now God give us the eyes to see our purpose on the earth and what you fully intend to do through the your church and through your people and don't let me be left out of it there's no reason anybody here should be left out he's not limited by your weakness your struggle your trial your education your lack of education your culture your upbringing none of that limits God it's a level playing field when you come to the cross the hungry heart gets the victory thank God for that here's what I feel the Holy Spirit speaking to me as Lord show me the purpose for my life show me he will he'll answer that prayer now you might not see it at this altar but you'll begin to see it he'll lead you to show me the purpose I have an idea of what my life is supposed to be but show me your idea from my life if you find yourself wringing your hands outside the gate and thinking God I really I kind of feel like I've blown it but Lord your purpose for my life you're willing to open that gate and you're willing to release me into that purpose but just show me what it is don't let me live according to my own vision any longer but just show me what do you want me to do and quite often folks to tell you it's so out of the box that it has to be God which makes it all the more beautiful it has to be his robe his ring in his shoes because there's no other way it's gonna happen but it makes it an exciting life it makes it a vibrant life it makes it a worthwhile life that makes it a life that has the testimony of its power in it that's all this generation is looking for they're sick of the smoke and mirrors show in the house of God they want to see the real Jesus and I am convinced that if this generation sees the real Jesus they will turn many especially our young people they'll turn they're looking for a reason to live and our three little rhyming word sermons are not going to do it for them there's got to be people like you and me that have the the living reality of God inside of us you know it's ironic but it's usually the young Christians that win more people to Christ than the older ones I'll tell you why because when you're young you don't know anything you only know one thing I was lost but now I'm found I was blind but now I see I was bound but now i'm free and you go out with that simple story and people say oh I want that too I want that too then you get knowledge and you start knowing the Hebrew meanings of words instead of I was lost and I'm free and you're passing out tracts now hey read this instead of just read me read God through me read what God's doing in my life and father I just thank you Lord for I know I've delivered your heart and as a stumbling as it may be it's still true and so I'm asking God for every one of us here that you would just show us what your will is for our lives and give us the grace to say yes give us the grace to agree with you would you ask us to do something through us that we've not considered give us the courage not to be afraid of what people will say or what they will do help us not to try to redefine our salvation Lord anoint our eyes to see in Jesus name if that's the cry of your heart today we're going to worship for a few moments you just said God show me your will for my life just show me if it's not what I thought it should be then show me and if that's the cry of your heart I'm just going to ask as we stand the moment just join with me at the front of this auditorium between the screens and the annex or in North Jersey and those are at home maybe you just stand up in your living room and let's just pray that prayer together we're gonna pray and ask God to show us each one of us what our lives are supposed to be accorded is well pleased if you will god bless you I really really want to thank you for responding God's plan always has been to take that which is weak and let it become strong in history that which is nothing in itself and it becomes everything and who he is that's always been his plan we inverted the plan when we started just focusing on the the best spoken the most intelligent the the college crowd and made them in a sense the type of what the church should look like and we we inverted that search as well as the message no no no we're going to finish the way we started we're gonna finish with 120 people in an upper room who just knew they needed God [Applause] just 120 ordinary people that said just show me my future the future you have for me God not the one I think I should have or somebody else told me but what is your future for me and they came out in the supernatural power of God and began to declare that future and when they just that simple act of obedience and taking those first steps into being what God had called them to be everybody's religion everybody's even venom towards Christ everything just fell to the ground and 3,000 people said what do we have to do to get the life that you have so I just thank God with all my heart for you I really do don't sell yourself short and don't don't say God can't furnish the table in this wilderness don't make that mistake he's God he can do whatever he wants to do my father I just I thank you Lord for I thank you for these men and women gondii I do with all my heart because this is the hope for this nation there's no hope beyond this this is it Lord this is where it began and this is where it should end and if you are coming in this generation Jesus one more time we simply ask you just to be who you are and to make us blessing to this world a supernatural blessing a blessing that can't come from human effort it can only come for the life that you give us open our mouths with the song open our eyes with vision open our hands with compassion guide us guard us and above everything help us to never say no to you when you're asking us for something I thank you for it God with all my heart hallelujah in Jesus name praise God

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Keywords: Revival, Character Of God, Free Sermons, Video Sermons, Jesus Christ, What Is The Gospel, SermonIndex, What Is The Truth, Carter Conlon

Id: IOjr40SJM-8

Length: 40min 31sec (2431 seconds)

Published: Wed May 13 2015