Carter Conlon from the historic Times Square Church in New York City. When the best answer God can give is no, and that's where it all begins. It begins with no being an acceptable answer from God. Hallelujah, because I don't know about you, but we can come up with dozens of good ideas, but only one is a God idea.
So don't be in a hurry. Wait on the Lord. We're glad you found us this week for A Call to the Nation with Carter Conlon. In 2 Corinthians chapter 12, we find the apostle Paul pleading with God three times to take away the thorn in his flesh. Paul would learn that God's answer of no was teaching him the important value of depending on God.
Because Paul couldn't do the things that he would like to do, he had to do the things God called him to do. Here's Carter with his message, How do you handle it when no is God's best answer? I want to speak a message entitled, How do you handle it when no is God's best answer?
How do you handle it when no is God's best answer? 2 Corinthians chapter 12, beginning at verse 7. This is the apostle Paul. Unless I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations.
Let me stop there. Paul says, I was given an understanding. I was allowed to partake of some things, of spiritual things that are not really normative.
Like it means rank and file people don't know these. I was drawn into a place of understanding. Unless I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me or beat me is another word of translation. Lest I be exalted above measure.
Concerning this thing, I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. And he said to me, my grace is sufficient for you for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Therefore, most gladly, I will rather boast in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
Therefore, I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong. Paul got to the place of saying, I have come to an understanding that when I don't have the strength to get through what I'm facing, there's another strength within me that will take over and carry me through. So Paul said, lest I become strong in myself, I actually, I appreciate the struggles that I have to go into where I don't have the strength to get through because it's God's strength that now has to carry me. And I thank God for that understanding that God gave into Paul's life. He had an evident and a most likely visible weakness in his life that protected him according to scripture from exalting either himself or being exalted by others. God gave him this thorn in the flesh. Now, God wanted to give this man understanding of spiritual things far beyond those of his generation. And he knew that something would have to be added to his life to protect him from pride and from living independently from the strength and the leading of God.
That's always a weakness in the human flesh. When God chooses to use a human vessel, there's a tendency that we can lose an understanding of our dependence on him. And we begin to be not only to exalt ourselves, but we begin to, because it is in the sin nature to be exalted by people and to be, don't forget, you know, humankind in itself wants to be as God is.
And part of wanting to be as God is wanting to be worshiped as God. And so there's an inherent weakness in the human heart. And God saw that in the life of the apostle Paul, just as he sees wherever our frailty is and our weaknesses, God knows it and God sees it and he will allow something into each of our lives to keep us dependent on him. That's the love of God. That's the mercy of God. That's the strength of God.
And Paul began to appreciate this, this know of God in his life. Three times he went back. I know he got the answer the first time. He got the answer the second time and he got the answer the third time. So don't feel bad if you keep going back and asking for the same thing and God says no.
His best answer is no. He foreknew what was going to be needed in the apostle Paul's life, just as he foreknows what will be needed in my life and in your life. And he will allow those things in our lives that will keep us dependent on him. Yet it's counterbalanced by the scripture that says there'll be no trial that he allows to come into our lives that will overwhelm us. He will give us the grace that we need to get through the trial. He will not let us ever be overwhelmed, but because he loves us he will keep us. Praise be to God. I thank God for the caring power of Christ with all my heart. I don't know what this thorn was.
There's a lot of speculation about it and I'm not going to get into any of that. I just know that Paul said this thing beats on me, all right? This is tough. I think he went the first time and God says, no, Paul, you need this in your life and my strength will be perfected in your weakness. And he said, okay, Lord, and he left.
And then he got beaten up a little bit by this thing in his life and he went back and said, God, seriously now, I really don't think I need this in my life. I am loyal. I am faithful. I'm zealous. I'll serve you. I will be the best disciple you ever had. I will stand in the marketplace. I will withstand everything the devil sends against me. Just take this out of my life. And the Lord says, no, my strength is going to be made perfect in your weakness. And Paul heads out again.
And shortly after that, I don't know how long after he gets beat on again. I don't know if anybody's ever been there, but I have. I remember walking down 8th Avenue in New York City one time, seven years of breathing difficulty because I breathed in a toxic substance. It scarred my bronchial tubes and I was always on the verge of passing out, especially after I'd preach. I'd walk down the street coming from church and I'd see black flecks. You know when you're about to pass out?
Anybody ever had that happen and black flecks appear in there? Well, I saw them all the time. And I'd be going down the street and I'm trying to draw air. And one time, just in exasperation, I just yelled out, is this really necessary? You know, you can do that in New York and they won't lock you up.
And out loud. And how surprised I was when the Lord said, yes, Carter, it is necessary in your life. I didn't know at that point that I was going to be the senior pastor of Times Square Church, not too far into the future. But the Holy Spirit spoke to me and says, I'm creating in you a dependence on me so that you can't do the things that you would like to do, but you can only do the things that I call you to do. Amazing. And it was amazing because if I accepted an invitation to go somewhere and speak and it wasn't from God, it might've been a good invitation, might've been an attractive invitation. I would go there, I'd speak and Pastor Theresa knows it would take me anywhere from three days to three weeks to recover when I got back. If I went somewhere where I was called of God, I came back stronger than I went out.
Very, very unique and interesting thing. God says, I'm creating in you a dependence on me. I've allowed this. You know, he could have healed at day one. It didn't have to go on for seven years. He could have healed it right away, but chose not to. And through that created a dependence and an understanding that it's not my will, but his that advances the kingdom of God. It's not my will, but his will that takes me into the places where my life is going to be the things that God has destined it to be. And Paul came to appreciate this weakness.
It's amazing. Most everybody, we just prayed to get rid of all weakness, whatever that weakness might be in our lives. We just pray, God, I don't need this.
Get this out of my life. And how surprised we are when the Lord says, no, you do need this and you need it more than you understand because I'm going to do something through you. This is what he was saying to Paul. I'm going to do something through you that if I don't put this in your life, you're going to be exalted by people around you. Remember Paul said, I didn't come to you with eloquence and preaching. I stood before you with fear and trembling. And elsewhere he says that the people say his bodily presence is contemptible.
Can you understand? But his word is powerful. Whatever was in Paul's life, it was noticeable. People noticed it and they must've come to the conclusion that only God could be sustaining this man. He doesn't seem to have the natural eloquence.
He doesn't seem to have the natural presence. He doesn't have the natural strength, but there's something in this man when he speaks, the devil start fleeing, bodies start getting healed. There's a revelation of God that's in this man like we've never seen before, but yet there was something in his life that kept the people from exalting this man and also kept him from being exalted in the sight of the people.
I don't know if you've ever seen God that way. He loves you and I so much that he will protect us. He will guard us. He will guide us.
He will cause us not to become something that will take our feet away from him in the long run. And so Paul said, I take pleasure in infirmities. In infirmities meant my physical struggles, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses. For when I am weak, then I am strong. In other words, Paul came to appreciate the needs in his life because it was the needs in his life that brought him to another source of strength that is not part of his natural existence, his natural body. It was supernatural.
It was God lifting him, carrying him and becoming his strength. Now, what about when God says no to good ideas? Think about it. This is a bad thing. Paul says, take this bad thing.
He thought it was a bad thing initially. Take this bad thing out of my life and God says, no, I'm going to leave it there and my strength is going to become your strength and it's going to be perfected in your weakness because you will know it's all me and it's not you. But what about when we come up with a good idea and it's something good in our sight and you know, Jesus Christ did say, go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.
Did he not say that? Paul probably was aware of that in discussing with some of the disciples that were there and knew Jesus when he lived on the earth and they would have known and Paul would have known the command that before he ascended into heaven when he told us, he said, go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. So, suddenly in Acts chapter 16, they get an idea. The churches are being strengthened, it says in verse 5, in faith and increased in number every day.
And when they'd gone through Phrygia in the region of Galatia, they were forbidden by the Spirit to preach the word in Asia. They must have just made a plan. Let's go to Asia.
Lots of need there. Certainly a lot of people there need to understand Christ made, there's probably little or no knowledge of God there, so this is a good idea. Let's pack up and let's go. And then they probably decided to do it and then went to prayer. Isn't that funny? We quite often decide to do something, then we go to prayer. And we say, God, bless my plan.
How many are doing that here in this Bible? You got a life plan. Be honest now. You got a life plan already. You already know or you think you know what your life is going to be. Then you go to your knees and say, oh God, it's going to be so good. Just bless this plan that I've come up with. And your name is going to be spoken. Your kingdom is going to be advanced. And it's going to be wonderful when I go to Asia with the gospel. And the Holy Spirit says, no. The thing is, how do you deal with it when God says no?
No. So, they come up with another plan. After that, after they come to Mysia, they tried to go to Bithynia, but the Spirit did not permit them.
So, okay, God, we're not going to Asia, but Bithynia, surely you can't have a problem with that. This is a good thing. My cousin lives there. He needs God. His family needs God.
His friends need God. It's a good thing, God. Let's go to Bithynia. And I can just see the room coming together and say, Bithynia, Bithynia, Bithynia. Everybody's getting excited about, just like we did the other day for bring back the King, bring back the King. Everybody gets excited about going to Bithynia. Then we go to prayer.
Lord, Bithynia, no. What do you do when no is God's best answer? So, passing by, they came down to Troas and the vision appeared to Paul in the night. And a man of Macedonia stood and pleaded with him saying, come over to Macedonia and help us. Now, after he'd seen the vision, immediately we sought to go to Macedonia, concluding that the Lord had called us to preach the gospel to them. It goes to Macedonia. This is the yes of God. Remember, no to Asia, no to Bithynia, yes to Macedonia.
And I would venture a guess that Macedonia might have been the least desirable of all the destinations. And it was only like one man who appears in the vision and says, come and help us. There's only one person in this vision. And Paul says, okay, this must be, this has to be the will of God. No doubt they went to prayer. And the Lord said, yes, this is my will for you. And when they get there, he ends up having to go down to the river where the women are during the day and ends up sharing the gospel. And some of the women there believed in, there was a lady called Lydia and a church is now established in her house, the first fruits of obedience to God. And a pathway now opens before the apostle Paul that will result in the writing of the scriptures that will guide and govern the lives of countless millions of souls. I've always wondered who it was, that man that appeared in the vision represented, come and help us.
But I want to take you on a journey right now, just for a second, just that God made me expand our thinking a little bit. I believe the us might've been the women on the shore who needed to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ. It might've been the people who came to Lydia's house and heard Paul preach and believe. Most likely it was the jailer and the prisoners in that prison. We're in a place of darkness and hopelessness because it was here when they went to Macedonia that Paul and Silas were arrested and put in prison.
And you and I know the story of at midnight. They sang, what was their song? I don't know what they sang, but I know for sure it wasn't. I wish we'd gone to Asia. I wish we'd gone to Asia. That's probably what we would be inclined to sing. We should have gone to Asia.
We should have gone to Bithynia because here we are lying in a cold slab in the inner prison in a dark despairing dungeon. And so they decided we're just going to pray. This is the will of God. And sometimes the will of God is not the most desirable place that we would like to be, but in that place, they knew they're in the will of God. So they began to praise God. I don't know what they said or sang, but most likely thank you Lord for bringing us here. Thank you Lord for the women who heard the gospel. Thank you for Lydia.
That's all they had so far on this journey. And as they began to praise God, the scripture said the place began to shake and the prison doors opened and all the prisoners were set free and the jailer was brought into a living relationship with God. And not only were those prison doors opened, but Paul continued on this journey. And in Acts 17, one, we find him in Thessalonica. Acts 18, one, we find him in Corinth. Acts 18, 19, he's in Ephesus. Acts 18, 23, he's in Galatia. Acts 20, verse 6, he's in Philippi. And Acts 28, verse 16, we find Paul in Rome. And it's in a prison in Rome that Paul begins to write to the people he's encountered along his journey. And because God's know took him to Macedonia initially, eventually Paul crafted letters that we read from today that have given us our doctrine, our governance, have given us hope and counsel in the church of Jesus Christ. He began to write to the churches and the friends he left behind on this journey, which began in Macedonia.
We have 1 and 2 Thessalonians, 1 and 2 Corinthians, the book to the Ephesians, Galatians, Philippians, and ultimately in Rome. And I believe, now here's my belief, that this is what that man represented. Come and help us. You think of the hundreds and hundreds of millions of people throughout the world who have been helped because Paul was willing to accept the know of God and wait for God's yes. Hallelujah.
We are part of the us. Come and help us, Paul. Come and help us because of this obedience of this one man. I don't know, what would the Bible look like today if Paul had overridden the know of God and he had gone to Asia instead or gone to Bithynia? And I think of the numbers of people who just override God. When God says no, they override it and they've got all their good reasons why their ideas are better than God's ideas.
And they go where they're not called to go. And I'm no doubt do some good, but not the degree of good that God was about to do through Paul's life. Oh, obedience is an amazing thing. When we begin to walk with God, he begins to do something that only God can do. He gives us revelation that only God can give. He gives us fruit and results that only can come from the hand of God.
I believe the us was the Thessalonians, the Corinthians, the people in Ephesus, the people in Galatia and Philippi and Rome and here in Grantville, Pennsylvania because Paul said yes to God's yes. And he also said yes to God's no first. When the best answer God can give is no. And that's where it all begins. It begins with no being an acceptable answer from God. Hallelujah to the Lamb of God. Hallelujah.
Because I don't know about you, but we can come up with dozens of good ideas, but only one is a God idea. I want you to think about that. So don't be in a hurry. Wait on the Lord. In all your ways, acknowledge him. And the scripture says he will direct your pass. Don't lean on your own understanding. Acknowledge him.
Wait on him. And you might come up with a good idea and you might go into your room and you might say, God, would you please bless this? And he says, no, that's not my will at this time for your life.
Maybe sometime in the future, but not now. The ironic thing is that Paul eventually did go into Asia and Bithynia through the scriptures that God was he's there today through the scriptures that God used his hand to write. Isn't that ironic? The word of God went all over the world. I have a trepidation in my heart to think of what would have happened had he not obeyed God and he'd gone with his own ideas. I want to suggest the revelation would be severely diminished if it was even inspired. You understand when we don't wait for the yes of God, when God can't say no to us in something that we think is good, we so lose something supernatural that could affect the lives of countless people in the future. What if getting what you want would lead you astray or cause your future effectiveness for God to be less than it should be? What if God's best answer to your part is no? What if what you have in your life needs to be in your life for a reason that only God fully understands, but yet as Paul did, one day you will understand it.
One day you will appreciate it. One day the need that's in your life, yes, God will meet some of your needs, but there might be one or two things that he will leave there for a divine purpose for a reason that you and I don't understand. It is unwise for you and I to set terms and conditions on the living God. It's unwise for me to say, if you take this out of my life, I'll serve you. Some of you are here for, it's the third time you've come into this prayer meeting.
It's the third time you've submitted the same prayer request. Are you open to God saying, no, I'm going to show you strength in the midst of your struggle, in the midst of your situation. I'm not necessarily going to take you out of that job, out of that neighborhood, out of that apartment or out of that marriage. I'm going to show you my strength in the midst of it.
I'm going to show you my strength in the midst of your family and your situation and whatever it is you're facing, whatever trial, whatever distress, whatever necessity has come into your life, I'm going to show you a source of strength that has nothing to do with your situation and everything to do with the presence of Christ inside of your life. You see, the point is that God knows best. He knows our real need and he knows our best future. And the question I'm asking you is, will you trust him right now? Will you take away the terms and conditions that you've placed between you and him?
And a lot of people are aligned. And I know I'm speaking to somebody tonight who's been saying, if you'll do this for me, then I'll live for you. No, no, no.
That's not the way it works. He went to a cross. He doesn't have to do anything more for you than what he did 2000 years ago. He was bruised. He was rejected. He was lied about. He was falsely tried. He was falsely convicted. He was falsely condemned. He was humiliated in front of all of the soldiers and people around.
He was nailed to a cross and died a terrible death. He doesn't have to do anything more for you than what he's already done. Now, if he chooses to do more, it's all grace. It's all the goodness of God.
But if he chooses not to, if he chooses to do like he did with Paul and say, my strength will be made perfect in your weakness, in your struggle, in your trial, people will look at you and they will say, where does she or he get that strength to go on, to carry on, to stand strong, to stand firm? Because I know their situation. I know his family.
I know the job he has to go to every day. I know the struggle he's had in his mind, but yet he stands. And yet there's a power in his speech that is otherworldly.
I don't even know where it comes from. But I know when he speaks or she speaks, it moves my heart to believe in God. I think the best thing we can do is take away the terms and conditions that we've placed between ourselves and God and just receive the offer of forgiveness in Jesus Christ and the new life which he offers us. He says he will give us a meaningful life, a full life, an abundant life, a reason to live. There's no word that he guarantees it will all be easy. Oh, his yoke is easy and his burden is light. That's what he calls us to do. He'll carry us in doing it. But as with the Apostle Paul, there will be difficulties and he had his share of them throughout his life.
I don't know anybody here in their right mind who would want the testimony of the Apostle Paul. Lest I should be exalted. Lest I should be lifted up.
Lest pride should get ahold of my heart. Because of what God was revealing to me, the messenger of Satan was allowed into my life to buffet me. Three times I said, God, please take this from me. And three times the Lord said, no, you need this, Paul, in your life. If Paul would have known, could he have understood? But you're actually going to end up in jail, Paul, and all you're going to have is a scroll and a quill and some ink and you're going to have time to write letters to the people you've left behind.
But how could he have known that he was writing to hundreds and hundreds and thousands of millions of people, including us? Hallelujah. Hallelujah. You've been listening to Carter Conlon from Times Square Church in New York City. For more information and resources to help you in your walk in Christ, log on to tsc.nyc. Be sure to be with us next week for A Call to the Nation with Carter Conlon.
