God Has Not Given Us a Spirit of Fear Pt. 2

Carter Conlon from the historic Times Square Church in New York City. Nothing is going to separate me from the love of God in Christ Jesus. Nothing is going to stop me from doing what God has called me to do and this is my story. I shared part one last week about coming out of bondage and tonight I want to share about going into the place of promise. We're so glad you've joined us this week for A Call to the Nation with Carter Conlon as he continues his message titled, God has not given us a spirit of fear. Today Carter will talk about part two of this very important message taken from Psalm 40. Now let's join Carter as he reminds us that God has a marvelous plan for your life.

God's not given us a spirit of fear. Part two, last week I shared with you how after coming to Christ as a police officer the Lord delivered me from nine years of panic attacks, nine years of a deep inset fear in my life that I could not get free from, but by the mercy and the power of God, reading the word of God, going into prayer, the Lord touched me and in about 30 seconds I was set free from nine years of hell on this earth. Nine years of having to take Valium tranquilizers to go to class in college.

Nine years of if the attention of people focused on me I would only have two options, pass out or run out of the room. Nine years of being in a prison that I couldn't get out of. By the mercy and by the grace of God he touched my life and set me free. But there's a second part, the first part is the freedom. I want to talk about the second part of being set free from fear.

If you go with me to Psalm 40 in the Old Testament, Psalm 40 verse 1, the Psalm of King David, he says, I waited patiently for the Lord and he inclined to me and heard my cry and he also brought me up out of a horrible pit. I know what that is. Out of the miry clay, out of a, remember I shared with you last week, when you have a panic attack it's like somebody's pouring a bucket of sand on your head. If you feel like your heart's going to explode out of your chest there's this foreboding sense of darkness comes over you. You know it's irrational but you have no control over it and you feel like you're sinking never to rise again. That's what my life was for nine years and these things could come without a moment's notice.

Generally in moments of quietness which is why a lot of times that people suffer with this keep themselves active all the time. He took me out of a horrible pit, out of this miry clay and set my feet upon a rock and established my steps and he's put a new song in my mouth, praise to our God and many will see it and fear and trust in the Lord. Blessed is that man who makes the Lord his trust and does not respect the proud nor such as turn aside to lies. Many oh Lord my God are your wonderful works which you have done and your thoughts towards us cannot be recounted to you in order.

If I would declare and speak of them there more than can be numbered. Now David is speaking an amazing truth. He says God you are thinking things about me that I've never thought about myself. You have a plan for me that hasn't occurred to me. It's not entered into my consciousness yet. You want to do things through my life that are are too wonderful in a sense for me to even entertain in my own ability to think. Sacrifice and offering you did so in other words David's saying after you took me out of this horrible place and after you you put this new song in my heart and I began to understand that you are thinking things about my life that I've never thought for myself.

For all the students here in our bible school and those that are visiting from the community that is a reality. God is thinking something about you that you've not yet thought about for yourself. He has a plan for your life. He has something that he has ordained your life to do and you don't yet know what it is but the hope that I have for you is that you'll have this courage in your heart that say God whatever it is I want that that you have for my life. I thank you for setting me free from the past.

I thank you for giving me a new song. I thank you for giving me an understanding that you have a plan for my life but oh God just as you did to the church of Philadelphia I have a little strength and I've not denied your name and I've kept your word and you told Philadelphia you said behold I set before you an open door that no man can close. We need the supernatural power of God again in every life. We need a testimony of the greatness of our God. We need as as we heard from our brother Serge tonight he says those who know their God and this perhaps in our day that Daniel was speaking about will be strong and they will do exploits. Exploits being things that only God can do through us.

We haven't even thought of doing them. Only God can do these things. David said sacrifice an offering you did not desire.

My ears you have opened. Burnt offering and sin offering you do not require. Then I said behold I come in the scroll of the book it is written of me I delight to do your will oh my God and your law is within my heart. So David said what do you want me to do? Just just come to church in a sense and and just sing this new song the rest of my life that's good you should do that.

What what am I to do? I might I might spend the rest of my life talking about what you did in the past and that's good and we need to do that for the sake of others who need to know what God can do but David says no it's written there's something in the book written about me this is what he's saying and here's what it says I delight to do your will oh my God your law is within my heart. In other words David is saying God there's something in the future for me and would you give me a delight to do what you've asked me to do?

Would you give me a delight to go where you've asked me to go? Paul says in Philippians chapter 4 verse 13 he says I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Aren't you thankful it doesn't say some things most things through Christ who strengthens me? I can do all things. In other words if God's called me to do it it can be done whatever it is he's God he's God so if he's called me to do something it's going to be done because he's God. Settle it in your heart I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Now Paul is speaking in the context of of abounding and suffering need and such like but it has a greater context because it is the truth of the word of God that whatever Christ has asked me to do whatever mountain I have to climb or valley I've got to go through whatever it is I can do it because of Christ who strengthens me. Think about the children of Israel in Exodus chapter 15 they were in bondage 400 years I was only nine years in bondage they were 400 years in bond you talk about a generational hopelessness they couldn't get out and then they cried unto the Lord the Lord heard their cry and he sent a marvelous deliverance to the children of Israel and and by his hand and by his hand alone he brought them out of captivity how many can say that here it's by the hand of God that that I am what I am that I'm not doing what I used to do it's by the hand of God that the cords that were holding me were broken and I was brought out of captivity and into this this this new life that I have now in Christ and and as they passed through the sea there was a sea of impossibility before them God opened the waters they passed through and their enemies that were pursuing them were drowned in the same sea that they had just walked through on dry land the water came in and swallowed their enemies and as they looked back and they saw the Egyptians and their horses and their chariots and their armies all dead literally on the on the shore side that's what it says they they took out the tambourines that they had and they began to sing and they begin and you read about it next to this 15 it's an amazing song that they began to sing the horse and the riders are thrown into the sea etc etc speaking about the marvelous works of God and they they sang this incredible song of victory remember David said God brought me out heard my cry and he set my feet in a solid place established my goings and put a new song in my mouth but the song of Exodus 15 soon turned into the weeping of Numbers chapter 14 isn't it amazing we forget sometimes who God is he he brought them out of this captivity from which they couldn't escape they didn't have the strength or the power to come out so God brought them out and then he brought them to the shore out of captivity and then to the shore of a place of promise or the border may I say that of the place of promise this new life I remember David said it's written about me a delight to do your will and he said this is my will for you my people I want to bring you into this place yes this place that I'm bringing you into is occupied by some enemies at this time of your your enemies but I'm going to give you the power to overcome them now they should have thought they should have realized that we have just seen our enemies drowned on the seashore and but they sent in 12 spies and 10 of them came back and they they they said I'm sorry we just can't do this we're too small they're too big we don't have weapons they've got you know 10-foot spears whatever it is that they had and the hearts of the people were not singing anymore but they turned to weeping and you know sometimes that happens to us as the people of God we come out of the sentence of death because of sin we come into life in Christ we start singing the new songs in church and then what happens is that our our song of joys at some point turns to weeping because God begins to put before us something and we come to the wrong conclusion I talked last week I used the illustration of a football team putting on their all their armor that they put on the helmet and the pads and the jersey and all of the stuff that they put on and they they come running as a rura down the the the corridor the tunnel we call it a tunnel Mark Gastineau called me one time and said it's not a corridor it's a tunnel it's not a sweater it's a jersey and I forget there was a third thing involved in that as well and so they come down the the the tunnel and the the first thing they have to go through is a paper wall before you get into the game you've seen that in football games they got to bust through this paper wall that a couple of people with banners are holding up and and I shared last week about how the the devil writes all kinds of stuff on your paper wall words maybe that were spoken over your life years ago about you're you're always going to be a drunk your dad was a drunk you'll be a drunk you'll never amount to anything you're stupid you're not going to achieve just things that were spoken over your life the devil will even draw fake bricks on the wall to make it look stronger than it is but it's only a paper wall and could you see the how ludicrous it would be for a football team to go through all this preparation you know they've come out of high school may put it that way they've come out of the the struggling and fighting to get recruited now they're in the NFL they put on their equipment they run down the the tunnel and they stop at the paper wall and they say well we we better go back and go to another spiritual warfare conference or another conference on how to put on your armor and they don't go through what's only a paper wall you see if God's called you to do something there should be a delight in your heart to go it's to say nothing is going to separate me from the love of God in Christ Jesus nothing is going to stop me from doing what God has called me to do and this is my story I shared part one last week about coming out of bondage and tonight I want to share about going into the place of promise Jesus said in mark chapter 9 verse 23 if you can believe all things are possible to him who believes I didn't grow up with a lot of positivity and I just remember the first time I heard this sitting in church with God all things are possible if you can believe all things are possible to him who believes truly I say to you whoever says to this mountain be removed and cast into the sea and doesn't doubt in his heart but believes those things that he says will come to pass he will have whatever he says and I'm starting to listen to this stuff and I'm sitting there thinking could this be true is it possible if you can believe all things are possible to him who believes I was a police officer at the time now now I'm just free I'm experiencing this brand new freedom from fear I don't I'm not running out of classrooms anymore and and God has given me this this new song he's given me this new heart I am at this point leading a lot of other police officers to Christ and a lot of people because my heart is just filled with joy and with gladness then a circumstance arose in the city in which I was in where they needed somebody quickly in in a public relations capacity to do radio television to speak to civic groups and they chose me of all people they chose me I remember being brought into a supervisor's office and he said we need somebody to speak to the public we need somebody to be on radio on television to go out to civic groups to do all this stuff and then he asks me a question I'm standing in the office he says are you afraid of speaking in front of people now you he's talking to a guy that would run out of a classroom to somebody who suffered panic attacks is somebody who suffered panic attacks is somebody who is uncomfortable in a crowded room and he says to me are you now are you afraid of speaking in front of people and I looked at him I said no and I'm wondering like there's this there's this war this voice and said what in heaven's name are you talking about you know you can't speak publicly you know that you don't have the power to do this but I had been sitting in church and I've been hearing the word of God that if you can believe all things are are possible to him who believes now on my part it was part faith and part lunacy I wish it was completely faith but it wasn't because there was this voice inside saying what are you doing you know you can't do this I couldn't put two words together if you printed them on a paper and held them up here I wouldn't be able to do it I would be completely paralyzed and here I am selected by the police department to be a public relations speaker at a time when it was needed he says good to me he says we're going to send you to a college police college and they're going to train you how to speak publicly now I didn't know that God's preparing me for the ministry I remember leaving there saying heaven's name what have I done I'm going to be exposed as a fraud I mean but but yet there's a promise of God and if God if you're doing this and I want to go through this door but oh God I can't do this without you so I remember I went to police college and I got into this class and it got even worse the first day in the class everybody in this class is a seasoned speaker they're all of high ranking people in police departments right across the country they do this for a living they're just there to hone up their skills you know so they don't play with their change in their pocket and stuff while they're speaking they don't use word whiskers they they learn intonation stuff like that so they're all there to polish I have never spoken anywhere ever at any time to anybody and I'm standing here and thinking oh God so they're there to polish and and the part of the course is you had to do a one minute a three minute a five minute a 10 minute and a 15 minute and a 30 minute presentation and the 30 minute presentation was your your pass or fail exam at the end of this course you could fail this course and so they would they would give us a course during the day on technique and all the stuff and we were learning how to use illustrations examples and word whiskers and all the rest of it and then you had to do your one minute so one minute for these guys was nothing they'd just get up and they just you know talk about something for one minute for me at night so they'd all be playing shuffleboard down the lounge or doing their thing whatever they did and I'd be on my face and I still remember the carpet to this day it was a kind of pinky brown carpet and I would be down on every day on my face face down every night oh God I can't do this without you you know I can't do this oh Jesus help me Jesus that was my prayer that's the prayer God's always answered by the way in my life help me Jesus oh Jesus help me God you know I can't do this and I remember the first time I got up my very first so he would give me a thought it was it was the precursor I guess to preaching years later but he would give me a thought and I could just stand up with it it was always a biblical thought the very first message I spoke is the coming collapse of western society and you know anyways that's what I spoke on based on on the biblical truth and and so I I every night every night the one minute the three the five the ten the 50 and I was just on my face oh God and I would get up and God would give me a word from the bible I would get up and I would actually preach because the anointing would come I didn't know what else to do and I would stand and just suddenly this flood would come and it surprised me as much as anybody else and I would be graded on it after and then finally at the end of the course it comes exam time and it's a 30-minute presentation and they called me in the leaders of this course and they said cardi you're you're you're a great guy we really like you etc etc and they said but this we are not an evangelistic association this is a police college and in order to pass your course you're going to have to speak on a police related topic or you won't pass and I remember okay I said thank you so I remember thinking oh God what am I gonna do now I mean there's no anointing talking about a murder scene and stuff like that you know it's like God almighty what am I gonna do so I went back that night and I prayed oh Jesus you gotta help me Jesus you gotta help me so the next day I got up and that was my 30-minute presentation and you're going to be graded by the whole room they're going to grade you all the officers there and the instructors are going to grade you after you're done speaking so I get up and I said a gentleman I said today I'm going to speak on a police related topic the bible I said because every time we get into a court of law back in those days we did a book is presented to us and we place our hand on this book and we say essentially I swear to God that the evidence I'm about to give is the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help me God and we swear based on what this book says and our word we're saying is to be believed because we're declaring that we believe this book to be holy I said do you not think that maybe it would be a good thing that we know what we're swearing on and everybody in the room went yeah yeah yeah okay so I started in Genesis in the beginning God went through the whole bible and finished in revelation he's coming back as king of kings and lord of lords and when I was done when I was done I said so that is what you are swearing that you believe and based on that your testimony is to believe thank you God bless you and I sat down and everyone around the room not one person critiqued my presentation every officer in the room I remember one guy says man oh man I've never heard anything like that in my whole life another guy said wow have you ever given me something to think about I got a phone call in New York City just a few years back while I was still pastor there from one of the men who was in that room 30 years later he called me got a hold of me in New York he said I never forgot that moment I never forgot the feeling that he felt in that room because the word of God was being spoken it was a police related topic and the word of God not only did I pass the course when it was over the instructors called me in and they said Carter if we can get your department to give you a two-year release would you be willing to come back and be one of the instructors in this police college can you imagine from laying on the floor on the floor yes because God has not given us a spirit of fear but a power and of love and of a sound mind thanks be to God all things are possible to him who believes to her who believes you're taken from laying on my face day one saying I can't do this to being invited to be an instructor at the end of the course only God could have done that God is a miracle working God and whatever he has called us to do that's what we're going to do David said in the volume of your book it is written of me I delight to do thy will oh my God and you and I will never know what it is to be set free from fear until we break through that paper wall until we go into the battle that's before us and believe God that everything he's called us to be we are going to be and in my life I am at the place now where I'm 68 and a half I told you that last time told you halves count before 10 and after 65 Joshua chapter 14 Caleb said these words he said verses 10 and 12 he said now behold the Lord has kept me alive as he said these 45 years ever since the Lord spoke this word to Moses while Israel wandered in the wilderness and now here I am this day 85 years old and yet I am as strong this day as as on the day that Moses sent me just as my strength was in so now is my strength for war both for coming out and for going in now therefore give me this mountain of which the Lord spoke in that day for you heard in that day that the Anakim were there these are giants and that the cities were great and fortified it may be the Lord will be with me and I shall be able to drive them out as the Lord has said this is my prayer now at my age that God thank you for the past thank you for all that you've done but God I'm asking you for this mountain now I'm asking you for this this this giants that have come into the land this these voices that have been raised against this generation this captivity that's trying to take our a whole generation of young people captive into a godless ideology God give me the mountain at this age in my life I've seen what you can do I've walked with you through the world I've been in places that only you could have taken me into and now at this age now as as as Caleb said now that I'm 85 God I've waited a long time for this and I have too the Lord spoke to me that I would live to see a spiritual awakening when I was just in my 20s and I feel like Caleb I've waited a long time for this moment now God give me the mountain I'm not afraid of the giants I'm not afraid of any personal cost that's ahead of me by the grace of God there is something worth fighting for in this generation you are worth fighting for our children are worth fighting for our grandchildren are worth fighting for we are not going to leave them in the hands of the enemies of God in this generation we're going to stand here we're going to fight and we're going to win we're going through our paper wall into the battle and we're going to see Christ do what only he can do in this generation by the grace of almighty God hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah God has not given us a spirit of fear I'm not afraid of the future and I'm not defined by my physical limitations anymore I am what God says I am and I go or God says I go and what God says will happen will happen and that settles it it's not by might it's not by power it's by the spirit of almighty God in the volume of thy book it is written of me I delight to do thy will oh my God God give me the mountain God give me the mountain that's got to get in everybody's heart and everybody's gut in this generation give me the mountain give me that thing that things that can't be moved give me that entrenched position with these giants that say you will never conquer us you will never take us out of our place where we have established ourselves give me that mountain by the grace of almighty God by the power of almighty God because God has not given us a spirit of fear hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah I had an old friend of mine old pentecostal friend of mine and said every time I try to retire I get refired hallelujah spirit of God starts stirring inside of me again one of my sons said one time to me he said you can't retire you finally know something dad you can't retire now you finally know something hallelujah praise be to God praise praise be to God praise be to God praise be to God this is a fine day to be alive this is a fine day to be serving God and I speak to those that are online God has a plan for you He has a marvelous plan for your life and don't sell yourself short it's not about your resume it's not about your your success or your failure it's about a heart that says God I'm going to call out to you you're going to take me out of the sinking place that I'm in you're going to set my feet upon a rock you're going to give me a new song and you're going to put within me a delight to do your will I want to do what you want to do through my life hallelujah glory be to God glory be to God glory be to God Thank you for joining us this week for A Call to the Nation with Carter Conlon from Times Square Church in New York City for more information log on to tsc.nyc that's tsc.nyc you can count on a powerful message 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