Opening Prayer
I want to speak to you this morning about the inner groanings of Jesus, the inner groanings of Jesus. John chapter 11, please if you go there in your Bibles. John chapter 11. Father I pray God with all my heart, I thank you Lord for the anointing of Your Holy Spirit, You are the only One that can make this word live otherwise it's just more knowledge that we accumulate without power, but You can make it live, You can make it burn in our hearts, You can give power to Your Word to the point where we get up out of death and walk into life. Oh Jesus, Son of God I ask You for an anointing which can only come from heaven, it has nothing to do with humanness, it has nothing to do with how I feel it has everything to do with what happens in the hearts of those that are listening to this word today. Jesus blessed this word, give it life oh God. Give us life especially at this time in which we're living. We thank You for mercy. Thank You God. Jesus Son of God be with this nation. govern us, and guide us in the coming days. We ask You for mercy above and beyond what we deserve. Lord give us mercy, we ask You Lord for a season of grace where all men, women, and children may have an opportunity to hear the saving gospel of Jesus Christ. Father, we stand in the gap and we intercede for a land and Father we thank you with all of our heart that we've seen Your heart in the Scriptures and we know that You want to show mercy at this time. We bless You for it. Bless this word today to our hearts O God and we thank You for it in Jesus name. Amen.
Jesus groans in the Spirit
John chapter 11 beginning at verse 32, the inner groanings of Jesus.
John 11:32-35 “The Jews then which were with her in the house, and comforted her, when they saw Mary, that she rose up hastily and went out, followed her, saying, She goeth unto the grave to weep there. Then when Mary was come where Jesus was, and saw him, she fell down at his feet, saying unto him, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died. When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled. And said, Where have ye laid him? They said unto him, Lord, come and see. Jesus wept.
Now here we see the groanings of Jesus, because He longs to do something which those about him even though they're encompassed in religion they can't bring themselves to agree verbally with what He's clearly telling them He's about to do. Mary who sat at His feet and truly did love Him, there's no doubt about that. When He saw her and He saw those that were given the testimony of honoring Him in the earth and they were weeping, they couldn't believe that He could do anything. And when He saw all of the weeping and the unbelief that was all around Him, He groaned in the spirit and of course He did it so demonstrably that John took notice of it. It must have been a very evident groaning, a physical manifestation of an inner troubling in the heart of the Son of God. And then when they brought Him to where Lazarus was He began to weep. I believe with all my heart He began to weep for, of course He has the mind of God and looking deep into the future until the day that He returns to bring us home to be with Him. He sees every situation, where this scene is going to play itself out again, where people just simply cannot believe that He's able to bring life out of death. Every family, every heart, every practice, every person who'd ever professed, these people did love Him, they did know Him. He went to their house, He sat at their table, He spoke clearly the things of His kingdom, but yet when it came time to believe that He could do something that was outside of the realm of human possibility they couldn't bring themselves to agree with Him. Look at verse 22, rather verse 21.
John 11:21,22 “Now Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You.”
Martha’s unbelief
That's a phenomenal statement of faith. It's like you and I saying “I believe that with God all things are possible.” If I asked you today “do you believe that?” Most here ,most would say “yes I do believe that, I believe with God all things are possible.” And she says that. It's a phenomenal pronouncement of faith. Jesus said to her, so He immediately responds to this profession, He says “thy brother shall rise again.” Now watch what happens, Martha immediately puts it off into the future, she can't believe for the present. It's the type of a believer says “I believe Jesus is coming again one day, I believe that the trumpet is going to sound the dead in Christ are going to rise and we who are alive and remain, be gathered together with them and so shall we ever be with the Lord.” I believe as Isaiah said “that all tears are going to be wiped away from every eye there'll be no more sorrow no more sighing that I believe but it's coming it's not here today it's coming in the future.” See Jesus is speaking in the present tense and if you'll notice the progression here. Martha's relegating it to the future.
John 11:23 - 26 “Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” Martha said to Him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.” Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?”
So He's talking about two things: those who have come to this place of hopelessness will be brought back to life again and those who continue to believe in walk with Christ will never suffer any kind of a spiritual death, but will live with God for all of eternity. In other words, He's saying you'll live now and you'll live forever. You'll be a partaker of supernatural life beginning now and it will never end. That's technically what He's saying and then He says “do you believe this?” Now look at what Martha does.
John 11:27 “She said to Him, “Yes, Lord, I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.”
So she basically just quotes Scripture back at Him. She's now going way off with what He's speaking about, she cannot bring herself to agree with Him. This is the dilemma of the ages. God speaks and to a certain point we agree, but when He starts speaking about things that we put in the grave, when He starts speaking about things that we've long ago buried and given up on. And we believe in our hearts that it will never be on this side of eternity and when He begins to speak to you and to me about these things we have a tendency to do what Martha did and Mary did. We just weep at His feet or we quote Scripture that has nothing to do with what He's trying to tell us. Somehow convince ourselves and convinced the Son of God that our faith is intact.
Having little strength to go through an open door
Now what's happening here is that Martha has only a little bit of strength and just like the Church in Philadelphia. She is standing in an open doorway of invitation to something so supernatural that it will literally ignite a spiritual awakening in others. I believe we're there today again. I believe that you and I are standing at a doorway of something that God wants to do in our generation. It's an invitation. Listen to what He said to the Church of Philadelphia.
Revelation 3:8 “I know your works, behold I've set before you an open door and no man can shut it for you have a little strength, you've kept My word, and you've not denied My name.”
That's about all Martha had, a little bit of strength as much as she could she believed and she did not deny that Jesus, remember she says I believe you are the Christ, I believe that with all my heart, I believe that you are the fulfillment of everything the prophets have spoken about in the Scriptures. The problem is she just didn't believe it for her day.
Revelation 3:9 “Indeed I will make those of the synagogue of Satan, who say they are Jews and are not, but lie—indeed I will make them come and worship before your feet, and to know that I have loved you”
I'm going to do something God says to this church that is so profound, so powerful, so incredibly supernatural that those who profess to know God, but really don't are going to come to where you are and they're going to worship there. And they're going to say “whoever your God is is God, whatever kind of a relationship you have with God that's the kind of a relationship that I want.” And you remember after Lazarus was raised from the dead that he sat at the table with Jesus and the Scripture tells us that people came not just to see Jesus, but Lazarus who was raised from the dead. And because of Lazarus many believed in Jesus. That's been your mandate and mine. We ought to be a city set on a hill that cannot be hidden, we ought to be an undeniable testimony of the fact that Jesus Christ died, paid the price for sin, rose from the grave on the third day, and sits in a place of all power. He is the head and we're the body, He is the fullness that fills all in all. We ought to be changed as we simply behold Him and agree with the words He speaks to our hearts from image to image and glory to glory by the Spirit of the Lord. Were to become new creations undeniable evidence of the fact that Jesus Christ is alive, that is your call and that is my call.
Unbelief of the Shunammite woman
We find ourselves though, like the Shunammite woman in 2 Kings chapter 4, remember she made a room in her house for the prophet Elijah to pass by and to dwell there when he was in the vicinity. And one day Elijah sends his servant he said “go ask the Shunammite woman what we can do for her. Can we speak to the king on your behalf? Can we speak to the captain of the guard? And she comes back and stands in the doorway and says to Elijah “I dwell among my own people”, basically what you're saying “it is what it is, I've made the best of a bad situation, I found my comfort where I can find it.” You see, but what really was deep down in her heart and she was childless and she was past the age most likely of bearing a child and she was barren. And he told her according to the time of life according to the time it takes for this new life to be formed in a very short while, of course it'd be nine months, you're going to embrace a son. And she stood in the doorway and all she couldn't say “praise God oh thank God this is true I believe it”, she knew this man was a prophet of God, but all she could say is “oh my lord don't lie to your handmaiden, don't tell me things that can't be, don't get my hopes up again I buried that long gone and I have found solace among my people, I found comfort in my job, I found comfort with the little family that I have, I found comfort in the house of God, I found comfort even having you in my house, but don't lie to me and don't start telling me that things are impossible have now become possible, don't put a false hope in my heart.” That's all she can utter and when God begins to speak even as I'm speaking now certain things that come to people's minds things that you buried, you put it away, you gave up on it's long dead, it's gone it's four days in the grave it stinks don't try to do anything with it. We quote scripture at the Son of God, but we really don't believe that He can bring back to life that which we've long buried. We don't believe it, we don't believe that all things are possible to Him, we don't believe that Christ truly is a very present help in our time of trouble. That He can bring life into our barrenness even though we read it in the scriptures time and again, how He chooses the weak and the nobodies and the nothing's in the barren wombs brings forth life and gives that which can honestly glorify Him in the earth. We simply cannot bring ourselves to believe it. Just like Martha and the Shunammite woman we welcomed Jesus into our home and into our heart we didn't have a problem with that part of it. Some came Sunday night for example and you heard about what Jesus did on the cross and you got out of your seat and came forward. You really don't have a problem with that, you don't have a problem with having Him at your table at home and opening His word and then letting Him speak the wondrous things that He does. And we don't have a problem with any of that until He begins to speak to us about those things which we put away as forever lost or out of our reach, the thought of ever doing certain things.
The Spirit makes intercession according to the will of God
But listen to what the Word of God tells us in Romans chapter eight verses 26,27. I want you to just give me your best ear on this. Now Paul says likewise “the Spirit helps our infirmities for we know not what we should pray for as we ought.” In other words, there are certain things that we should be praying for, but we dare not, may I put it that way, it's almost like we don't dare utter these things. “But the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings that cannot be uttered and He that searches the hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because He makes intercession for the Saints according to the will of God.” This is an incredible truth, God in the third person of the Holy Spirit has come to take up residence inside these earthly temples, my body and yours we are the temple of the Holy Spirit. He no longer lives in Solomon's Temple. He now lives in this earthly physical temple now, we don't have just a theory about God, just an opinion about God, we it's not that we've just embraced an opinion although that's where it began most likely. No when we turn to Christ as our Lord and Savior, God Himself in the third person of the Godhead the Holy Spirit came and took up residence in these earthly bodies. It's not a debatable topic, if you are a believer you know this if you've been reading the scriptures you know this. We have God living inside these earthen bodies and He begins to make intercession for us, just as Jesus groaned audibly outside the tomb of Lazarus. There's a groaning inside, it's not ours it's the groaning of the Son of God within us and making intercession according to the will of God. And essentially speaking that means God has a purpose for you and generally that purpose is outside of our realm of being able to accomplish it in our own strength. God has a divine purpose, it's not a life that we are supposed to live under the enablement of our own abilities, no God takes us into supernatural ability, that's the testimony of Christ inside of us. The same God who created the universe by the words of His mouth lives in you, lives inside of your physical body, and there's a groaning inside the heart of God for you and I to come into agreement with His will. To come into agreement with His word the things that He is speaking to us which are preposterous to our natural mind and we often find ourselves fighting against the voice of God within us trying to push it out of the realm of possibility. Quoting scripture at Christ Himself, because we don't want Him for a moment to think that we really don't believe Him. “I am the resurrection and the life”, He said, “whoever believes in Me though he were dead yet shall he live. Do you believe this?” Oh she says “I believe you're the Christ the Son of God which is to come into the world. She's rattled at this point, she doesn't quite know. He's talking about raising somebody from the dead and giving life where life cannot be ever accomplished in any kind of human effort. She simply can't bring herself to agree with it and so she quotes scripture. Wonder how much of that we do. Christ longing to raise us from all the sin and death that once held us captive and bring us to the doorway through the doorway into such life that it will cause others to find Him as we have come to know Him. We are to be a compelling testimony my sister, my brother here today, we are to be evidence of the reality of God. Were not relegated just to arguing His existence. We’re to be evidence, we’re to be taken from image to image and glory to glory is by the Spirit of God. We’re to get into this book and read it and promises begin to jump off the pages. God's Holy Spirit begins to say “this is what I'm going to do in your life, this is where I'm going to take you, this is where we're going to walk together, this is the depth I'm going to bring you out of, this to life I'm going to put within you.” If we can't bring ourselves to agree with the groanings of the Spirit within us for the supernatural life He wants to give us we'll do exactly what Martha did we will fill our lives with the clang and clutter of religious busyness and talk until the temple of our body becomes a noisy commercial place filled with the natural and devoid of the supernatural. And that's what Martha did, I'm not saying that serving in the church is the wrong thing obviously it's a good thing, but it is a deficient thing if it takes the place of the Living Word of God. And you can see Martha in the kitchen bang clang, bang clang, bang clang with all our pots and pans coming out accusing Mary of being lazy, because Mary made a better choice to sit and listen to the words of God. You imagine and all she can do now is probably while she's gonna bang clang, bang clang in the kitchen has probably got the texts of the Old Testament open before and she's memorizing Scripture at the same time, but doesn't believe it. All it's doing is quoting it back at the Son of God. What a powerless passionless pitiful existence that can be when all we're doing is accumulating knowledge with no power.
Denying the Power of God
Paul the Apostle said that's going to be the dilemma of those who profess to know God in the last days ever learning, but never able to come to the knowledge of the truth having a form of godliness. but denying the power (2 Timothy 3:5). Denying the power! Not able to agree with God, not able to say “Lord this is impossible, but nevertheless if you said it it's going to happen.” God if you could you have only given his own people the faith of a Gentile centurion he said “Lord, you don't have to come under my roof all you have to do is speak and my servant is going to be healed.” Every once in a while throughout history God finds the people, God finds an individual, God finds a young person, God finds an old person, finds somebody who just believes Him, because the kingdom of God has never been any deeper than faith. Without faith it's impossible to please Him for he that comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. There will be life, there will be supernatural wonders and works in your life and your testimony won't be going out on the street and just quoting scripture at somebody. You'll say “I've got to tell you what God has done for me. This has been an amazing journey.” Oh my brother, my sister, if ever we needed the supernatural power of God we need it now. If ever you and I begin to even cry out, “Lord have mercy on me I believe help my unbelief, God just bring me to a place of honesty before you, bring me to a place God where I can embrace what you say and I can begin to walk for this day as dark, this generation is dark, perilous times are upon us. Many are going to be found without oil in these last days, but by the grace of God it shall not be I. I'm going to have a living relationship with You, I'm going to be salt that has to be reckoned with, I'm going to be a light that is set upon a hill that is not hidden. God Almighty by the grace of Christ my life is going to count, because you're gonna make it count, not because I'm going to determine to make it count, but you're gonna make it count. Because I'm gonna choose to believe You when You speak to my heart. Hallelujah to the Lamb of God. Thank You Lord. Thank You Jesus. So what do we do is the next question.
Cleansing the Temple of God
The only thing I can suggest is invite Jesus to do what He did in the Gospel of Matthew chapter 21 verses 12 -14.
Matthew 21:12 - 14 “And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves, and said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves. And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple; and he healed them.”
Invite Jesus to cleanse your temple, say “Lord where ever I have substituted clang and clatter, all of the things I've allowed into my life, all of the pretenses of holiness that aren't grounded in truth, all the activities that are taking me out of the prayer closet, everything that is stealing my faith and blinding me to the reality of Who You are. You already live in this temple so make a scourge of cords again and throw this thing over, throw out the money changing tables and the little religious things that I've started doing. The Dove selling is a cute little religious service. May I call it that, throw this stuff out of this temple, and let this temple become a house of prayer again. A house where I begin to pray, You begin to answer. I begin to pray, You begin to answer. You begin to speak and I begin to pray. I begin to rejoice, I begin to give You thanks, I begin to say ‘God, Lord I give my life as a living sacrifice for You and for Your purposes, do with me what you please, take me God where You want me to go, make me what You want me to be, but all I ask is that Your Name be glorified and men and women find You as Lord and Savior in this generation.’” The moment that the temple was cleansed the scripture says the blind and the lame came to Him immediately sight comes. When this stuff gets out of our lives, when all the clutter gets out of our lives, all that we've substituted for the power of God is removed then suddenly vision comes again. Suddenly we can see, suddenly there's a way forward, suddenly what Christ's desire to give those people on that hilltop is vision of who He is and what He can do. Suddenly where we are lame, where we are weak, where we are weary, where we've given up, we find renewed strength and we start to stand again, but not in our power in the power of God within us. Praise be to the Holy name of Jesus. Thank God for these things. It's a constant prayer of my heart, take me deeper, take me farther, thank you Lord for the past 35 years, but that's in the past. Now thank You for what you've done. I'm not going to lean on that, I'm not going to go back there, I'm not going to spend the rest of my life talking about yesterday. I want to go forward to the end of my life. I want to keep going forward. To the Galatian Church the Apostle Paul said “O foolish Galatians having begun in the Spirit are you going to be perfected down on the flesh.” You knew when you came to Christ you couldn't be free from drugs and depression and all the things that were trappings and you know you couldn't get free of. God in the Spirit set you free. Are you now gonna walk in the flesh and you're now going to start in the Spirit and begin to finish out doubting God at the end of your journey. Heaven forbid is the cry of my heart. Heaven forbid to take me deeper, farther, let there be a greater revelation of Who You are, let the glory of the Lord be more pronounced, let more and more men and women and children come to the saving knowledge of God. We don't have time in this nation to get this right.
Carter’s Testimony: If God be for us who can be against us
Many of you know my story of coming to Christ at the age of 24 filled with anger and panic attacks since the age of 15, afraid of crowds, go into a crowd of 6 people if they focused on me I'd have to run out of the room. Suffering panic attacks that were the closest thing to hell on earth that you will ever experience in your lifetime. Moments of fear, I can't go into all the reasons other than to say expectations were put on my life that I felt I couldn't fulfill and I was this carrot was held up before me. But on the other hand if you don't achieve this goal you're going to be a loser in life and I didn't think I could achieve it. And so that the prophecy as it was over my life began to be fulfilled and I started to feel like a loser. I started to fear going out even in my own house. I fear traveling, I fear getting on a bus, I was afraid of going to school, I went to college, I took so many valium I lived underwater. I felt like I was in a bubble. When a panic attack would come on me I'd take valium with a straight glass of whiskey and just try to get myself through it. I worked out like a fiend, I ran miles, I worked out with weights forever and ever try to keep the fear inside of me and subjection keep myself exhausted so the fear wouldn't overpower me again. But then I came to Jesus. Thank God. Thank God. Thank God and I was reading my Bible and I read a verse and I couldn't remember the whole verse. I don't remember half of it, “if God be for us who can be against us.” And remember going home one night and I was in bed, it was about midnight, and I felt one of these panic attacks now coming on me again. I'm now a new believer in Christ, I'm reading the Word of God and folks when I got saved I said to my wife pastor Teresa “if this is real I want the whole thing or nothing I don't want just part of this I want the life that is promised, the redemption, the life, the future, everything that's in this book I want it to be mine.” And so I was simplistic enough just to believe it. When I read it I believed it. And I remember reading that verse “if God be for us, who can be against us?” And when you have a panic attack it's like somebody pours a bucket of sand on your head and suddenly darkness and hell is all around you laughing. You feel there's no way out, there's no future, your heart begins to pound, your blood pressure goes up to skyrocketing heights and you feel like you're going to die. I went downstairs into my living room and now that I was a Christian I wasn't going to turn to valium and I wasn't going to turn to whiskey. Those things were gone out of my life. And I made a stand based on what I believe God was speaking to my heart. I had a half of a verse of Scripture, you don't have to know the whole Bible, I had a half of a verse, I didn't know the context, I didn't know there was a book called Ezekiel in the Old Testament back in those days. But I had half a verse and I believed it. “If God be for us, who can be against us?” I went into my living room and I said “Satan you can only kill me if God allows you and if He allows you to kill me then I'm going to heaven so I win either way, either way I win.” I went and I remember the words to this day, I said “you throw everything you've got I invited the devil himself you sent me the biggest panic attack I've ever had in my life you send me one so deep it could kill me, but I throw back at you what I now have in the name of Jesus Christ the Son of God I resist you. That's all I prayed in the name of Jesus the Son of God, I resist you and as God lives He knows my testimony is true. I felt a heat in my feet and it went up through my calves and through my legs and through my loins it up in my chest and out the top of my head then 35 years ago I was set free from panic attacks in one minute of time. Oh foolish galatians have you begun in the spirit are you now perfected by the flesh. God is the same as the scripture says “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday today and forever”, His kingdom is a kingdom of power, His kingdom is a kingdom of deliverance. I have preached all over the world, I've stood in front of audiences half a million strong, I've seen a hundred thousand people come to Christ in one service alone, I preached in prisons, I preached to Muslims, I preached to Hindus. I've been all over the place, never fear in my heart ever at any time. Whom the Son sets free is free indeed. This issue is an issue of faith. Did you begin to believe that God can put into your life what's never been there? I was never a public speaker, I was the worst candidate on the face of the earth to be a leader. When I was back in college to try to get a cut on my tuition I took a course on greeting people who come to the dorm. How difficult can that be? You know the new people come in the freshmen just greet them and just tell them what's going on. I failed, how difficult can that be? I was told that I wasn't leadership material. And as I said in Ireland in one service I might not be leadership material, but I know Somebody inside of me that is. I know Somebody inside. So the question that you and I have to ask ourselves is if God begins to speak will we believe Him? After He set me free, I was out for dinner one night with pastor Teresa and she was away somewhere and I was standing in the lobby of this hotel. I looked out the window and an airplane was flying overhead. Now I didn't like to travel, I had a fear of flying back in those days and the Lord spoke to my heart. I had a whisper from within. He said “you're gonna spend much of your life flying to various places throughout the world telling other people what God what I've done for you.” Now at that point I could have quoted Scripture, yeah believed that you're the Son of God and one day you're gonna come back and rule and reign forever. Now I believe. I could have quoted John 3:16 “God so loved the world He gave His only begotten Son”, while I'm looking at the airplane go by or I could have said “God I believe you” and I did that day I said “Lord I believe you, but one thing is you're gonna have to make it happen because I sure know that I can't do this.” But I agreed with Him, if that's where You want to take me then that's where we're gonna go. If that's what You want to do then I give my life to that purpose take me through every open door. I only have a little strength, I've kept your word as much as I know how and I've not denied your name, but God Almighty take me through an open door and when I get to take me through another one and then take me through another one and then take me through another one, all of my days all of my life. Don't let me limit You. That was the great sin of Israel is that they limited the Holy One of Israel and they said these words “can God furnish a table in this wilderness?” In other words, can God do what He said He can do in my life? Can God take my bankruptcy and my barrenness, can God take my death, can God take my nothingness and do something that will bring glory to His name? I certainly know He can. I surely know He can. I surely know He can. The irony of this whole thing is in this room today I know in my heart there are great evangelists here. There are men and women who travel the length and breadth of this city in this country, but you just don't know it yet. These whispers are coming into your heart, but you're pushing it away with Scripture, you're pushing it away with religious busyness, because you really don't believe that He's the resurrection and the life and that's the point that God's given me to speak to you today.
Make me a House of Prayer
Says “this is to be a house of prayer, but you've made it a den of thieves.” In other words, I've allowed my own busyness and my fears to rob me, like a man who goes out under the cover of dark and in the confusion of the night breaks into his own house. I've robbed myself if I don't believe God. When you don't pray, when you don't believe that God is speaking to your heart you end up robbing yourself of what God wants to do and not only yourself everyone who would have come to know Him, because of you. Everyone, the children in your family beginning in your own house to your neighbourhood to your block to your apartment building to your workplace. Multitudes could have come to Him, but when we make it a place of busyness and barrenness we rob ourselves and we rob others. My prayer is “oh God overthrow everything that I put into the place at prayer overthrow it all, everything everything that I've used as an excuse in the disguise, everything that leaves me weeping night after night with a sense of impossibility, everything that leaves me with a heart of unbelief just masquerading it with quotations of Scripture. Overthrow it oh God and I will utter with my lips the inner groanings of Jesus from my life.” In you today there's an inner groan of God that you would come into agreement with God's plan for your life not yours God's. The Holy Spirit intercedes within us with groanings that cannot be uttered, it's not that God can't utter them, it's that we have a hard time to speak them. He intercedes with these deep inner groanings the scripture says in Romans according to the will of God. This groaning that Jesus had at the tomb of Lazarus is going on inside of you today. This groaning of Christ, my son, my daughter, if you only knew the plans that I have for you, things that are good and not evil to bring your life to an expected end, not your expected end and God's expected end for your life and for mine. I don't know about you, but I want oil in my lamp, I want a testimony that has to be reckoned with in a wicked time, I want a joy so deep because every morning I wake up with new mercies abounding in my life and I want the power of God in my life like I've never known Him before. I want new faith to believe old promises that I've yet to claim as my own. I want to walk with God in the new way and that should be the cry of your heart. It is the cry of mine now. Jesus. Oh if Martha just would have said I believe you, if it would have been Martha that shouted “rolled the stone away.” Jesus is about to speak and bring my brother back to life. That's why he wept after sitting at that table and so clearly revealing Himself to be met with scripture out of context is a heartbreaker for the Son of God. There is so much for you my friend, there is so much for me. Don't sell yourself short. This generation needs you, your college needs you, your neighbourhood needs you, your work-place needs you, your family needs you. Don't sell yourself short of what God is able to do. Many of you know what I'm talking about, because I'm speaking today that voice has come back again, that voice that has promised you something and you just keep pushing it away with church attendance service, your own prayers, but you keep pushing away what God is speaking. But there is really no power in the Christian life until we come to the point of saying not my will but thine be done. Not my voice, but yours. Not my promises but Yours. God Almighty take my life and use me for your glory. O Jesus let it be here today, let it be that this be in Times Square Church just a place where we gather to shout and rejoice for what God has done all week. Not a place where we come to get pumped up so we can make it to Wednesday, but a place where we just come in to say thank you God, we come in to open our mouths and praise, we come in to say God Almighty it is amazing what You've done in my life. It's been an amazing week, I've woken up every day with new mercies and I've gone to bed with shouting in my heart for what I've seen you do in my life whether it be an obvious victory or You've just carried me through flood and fire either way God.
Chose to Believe God
The miraculous power of God has been in my life, Your promises have been more real than breath and Lord I've chosen to believe you in my barrenness, I've chosen to believe You, where I'm dead that You can bring me to life, I've chosen to believe that You can do things in me that I've not even considered could be done. I've chosen to believe it, that with God all things are possible. I've chosen to believe that no weapon formed against me can prosper, that I have the power to condemn every tongue that rises against me. I've chosen to believe it. That if God is for me nobody can be against me. I've chosen to believe that every door You've opened I can go through. Everything You called me to be, I can be in the strength of God. I've chosen to believe that I could walk out of captivity and walk into life, I can walk out a death and walk into life and a living testimony of God I've chosen to believe it. I'm not going to cower down under unbelief any longer, I'm not going to masquerade it with church attendance, I'm not going to cover it up with scripture memorization. I chose to believe God for my life. Hallelujah to the Lamb of God. Thank You Lord. Thank You God. Thank You Jesus. Thank You God. I'm going to believe Him all of my days. I'm gonna walk through every door, cross every threshold whatever God has, that's what I want. That's got to be the cry of your heart now, all of our gimmicks and stupidity in the house of God have left this generation the way it is. Now it's time to go back to Acts chapter 2 and find a hundred and twenty people filled with the Holy Ghost walking out in the power of God making a very clear declaration of what God is about to do and doing it at the initial evidence of the power of God. Oh Jesus, Jesus, Jesus Son of God we must finish the way we began, glory to God, in our weakness but He becoming our strength
Closing Prayer & Altar Call
Father, I thank You Lord for giving me the power to convey this message this morning. Thank You Lord God for the fire, the burning it puts in our hearts, we know this is true there is no argument against this. This is true, You are inside of us, You are groaning that we come into agreement with Your plan for our lives each of us or not our plan Yours. I pray God give us the courage to say “yes”, just give us the courage Lord to say “yes.” Yes I believe, I believe that within a year I will embrace the Son, I believe that You can roll away the stone and where I've died you can call me back to life. I believe that God, I believe that with all my heart, I believe that impossibility becomes possible. I believe God. I do. I do Lord and that will confess that with my mouth, I'll not try to divert it or deflect it. I choose to believe. Thank You Father. Thank You God. I condemn every tongue that has told me otherwise. Everything I've listened to including the voice of my own heart, even if my heart condemns me the scripture says “that God is greater than my heart.” And Lord I thank You for being merciful to us today in Jesus name.
My altar call is so simple this morning, I will believe you, I will believe. Here in the main sanctuary and the balcony the moment will stand up and if you're just willing to believe you may have buried the voice of God so deep under activity that you don't even know what He's going to say to you, but at least today you can say “God if you speak to me I will believe you.” I'm not going to call, I'm not going to call possibility impossible with You. I'm not going to say any longer it can't be done. I'm going to believe You and I trust You'll guide my steps day after day to where You want me to go. Thank you for interceding for me Holy Spirit, bring me now in line with the will of God. I will believe you. I will believe. I will not stand in the doorway and accuse the man of God of lying to me. I will believe. I will believe. If that's the cry of your heart today in the Annex and North Jersey, at home as well. We're gonna stand and just go forward if you're in your living room watching this service today, just stand up where you are as a sign between you and God. Say “Lord, all I can give you is a heart of faith that's all I have. And believe it or not, that's all He's ever wanted, He doesn't want your abilities or talents or lack thereof. He just wants a heart that will believe Him, the plan is His not yours. If that's the cry of your heart, Lord I will, I will believe you, speak to me, speak Lord, speak and I will follow. If that's the cry of your heart as we stand please balcony, main sector just come forward and in a moment we'll pray together.
Now this morning this is not a prayer I can put in your mouth you know I've had it happen in this church and I've seen it in other places we get to the point where we say now you open your mouth and agree with what God has spoken to you only to be greeted with this silence even from those that have come to the altar. It's almost as if people are saying you lead me in what to say, because I dare not speak the deep things of my heart. But today if you'll take that step as a barrier that's broken when you finally begin to agree with God and say whatever You ask me to be I will be, where You call me to go I will go, what door You would open I will pass through it. And I will live the pathway that You have from my life and you pray like I did years ago the only thing I ask is “God, that your name get glorified Jesus and people come to know you as Lord and Savior.” And He answered that prayer we don't have much to bring to Him, but He doesn't need anything to do something with our lives He doesn't need anything He creates out of nothing. Remember Hebrews the first verse in Hebrews 11 says “by faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the Word of God.” In other words faith brings us to a place of understanding the worlds didn't exist and God simply spoke them into existence. Then we begin to realize I don't have to have anything in this area of my life. I can be dead but He can bring it to life or He can create it if it doesn't exist and He begins to do things in us that only God can do. But you have to be able to vocalize it. I will believe You I will go with You.
Be the first to react on this!
Carter Conlon ( - Present)
Carter Conlon is the Senior Pastor of Times Square Church. David Wilkerson is the Founding Pastor of Times Square Church. God called Brother Carter to full-time ministry in Canada by faith and He has been serving the Lord with the same faith till this day.God has used brother Carter Conlon to preach across the world at pastors conferences and evangelism crusades. He has also recently written 2 books with the newest title: "Fear Not" in which he is strengthening the body of Christ for what is coming upon the world in the end-times.