Carter Conlon from the historic Times Square Church in New York City. The Bible does say all things work together for good to those who love God and are the called according to his purpose. Not some things or just the things that I like. All things work together for good. the things I like and the things I don't.
Thank you for joining us today for A Call to the Nation with Carter Conlon. Today Carter will teach from Galatians chapter 6. And from verse 9, the question is asked, why do people grow weary and why do people lose heart? In other words, why do Christians give up?
Well, there might be a billion reasons why, but in this week's message, Carter won't give you a billion, but he will give you five great reasons not to give up. Let's join Carter now. I want to bring to you a message I've entitled A Billion Reasons to Not Give Up. A billion reasons to not give up. Galatians chapter 6 and verse 9.
Now, Father, I just ask you for the anointing. of your Holy Spirit, I recognized as I do every time I step in the pulpit. God without your Holy Spirit. I have nothing to say. There is no power in my speech.
Lord, it's only that which is in your heart that makes a difference. Help us, God. Let your kingdom come. Let your will be done. Move us as your people forward, God, into what you have.
For each of our lives, especially at this critical hour in history that we're now living in. God, thank you. that there's grace, there's strength, there's endurance. You tell us that everything that we need, you will supply.
So God, thank you, Lord, as we seek first your kingdom and your righteousness. You said you would add all the things to us that we need.
So Father, put it in our hearts tonight to seek you above all. All else above everything, God. Everything, even our own comfort. God, put it in our hearts to seek you. for somebody's sake.
We ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.
Now Galatians chapter 6 and verse 9, just one verse. Where the Apostle Paul says, and let us not grow weary. while doing good. For in due season We shall reap. If We do not lose heart.
Or the original King James says, if we don't faint. It carries the connotation of somebody running a race, perhaps, and they get halfway, two-thirds of the way in this long-distance race, and then they just. They just stop. Maybe it's pressing through the the exhaustion or the pain. There are times that we feel pain and we're exhausted.
And we have a tendency to want to draw back from the work that God has entrusted into our hands. But there's an incredible promise given to us. First of all, there's an admonition, don't grow weary in doing good. for in due season or in the proper time. Or in God's timing.
We will reap. If we don't Lose heart.
So the question arises, why do people lose heart? Why do they faint? Why do they quit? People who knew the redemption of Christ, people who have been given the Spirit of God. People who know the truth of God's word, people who have at least a sense of what our commission is on the earth.
We're not here to live for ourselves any longer. As we teach here in our Bible school, that That the purest expression of the Christian life is found in living for the benefit of others. That's what our Savior did for us. And we've been commissioned to do that. For the sake of others.
And while we are on that journey, Jesus Christ promises that He will give us. All that we need. He'll give us comfort in times of sorrow. He'll give us his strength in times of weakness. He'll give us his encouragement in times of our discouragement.
He'll keep us going, he'll keep us running. For a divine reason. of reaching those that are lost. Because that is the mission of Jesus Christ on the earth. People lose heart because they have no vision for life in the future.
Proverbs 29, 18 says, where there is no vision, the people Paris, the King James says, they cast off restraint, they turn to self-focus, or they become disillusioned, where there's no vision of what is my life. What is the purpose of my life? What is the purpose of God? Help me to understand why I'm here, what I'm. And when we lose the vision of God for the future of our own lives.
it is evident or inevitable that we are going to lose heart. People lose heart when they fall into constant complaining about the present. Psalm 77 verse 3, this psalmist says, I complained and my spirit was overwhelmed. If you want to sink your own boat, if you want to drill a hole in the bottom of your own boat in the middle of the ocean, start complaining, and your boat's going to fill and you're going to go down. We have to learn not to complain.
Listen, it might be tough, but you're not going to hell. I'm talking to the Christians, it might be tough. I used to say to the choir in New York City, if you're going through hell, just be thankful you're not staying there. You're going through. You're going to go through, and heaven is your eternal home.
And there is no guarantee in the word of God that everything is going to be easy. You're going to be opposed. You have an enemy in this world. There's going to be things said, there's going to be things done. There's going to be exhaustion.
There's going to be all kinds of things that are coming your way. But don't fall into complaining. A complainer not only sinks his or her own boat, but they sink everybody else's boat around them. It's wonderful, isn't it, when you go out for dinner and the person across the table just complains the whole time, and you walk out of the restaurant, you feel like the life has been sucked out of you just by having dinner with somebody who just. has no faith.
To me, complaint is the opposite of faith. Complaint is the absence of seeing God. I would rather be an optimist. I would rather live on the side of. It's going to work out because that's what God says is going to happen.
The Bible does say all things work together for good to those who love God and are called according to His purpose. Not some things or just the things that I like. All things work together for good. The things I like and the things I don't. The day I get up and my I feel twenty years old.
Get up, and I feel 200 years old. All things are still working together for good because I love God and I'm called according to His purpose. People lose heart because of pain. Psalm 55, verse 6. The psalmist says, Oh, that I had wings like a dove, I would fly away and be at rest.
Pain, the pain of betrayal, the pain of constant enemies, the pain of Of just the difficulties of life in general, of living life, and something can come into the heart and just say, God, I want out. I don't want to do this anymore. And we end up on the sidelines. And as Paul says to the Galatians, we lose heart. And because we lose heart, we don't reap.
You know, it's pretty hard to bring a savior to somebody else that you don't necessarily want yourself. People lose heart because they faint because of regret. Psalm 42 verse 3, the psalmist says, My tears have been my food. Day and night. They regret the life choices they made.
They regret things that were done to them or things that they did to others or the way they lived or what they did. I just thank God for the testimony of this young lady that there's no regret there at all. It's just like I'm going on with God. My sins are washed away. My past is buried in the sea.
And God put a sign on the shore and it says, no fishing. Nobody can come there. Nobody can dig it up. Nobody can drag me through it. It's gone.
It's dead. It's buried. It's over. And I walked out of that grave as we sang. And I'm living a new life now in Jesus Christ.
Yes, we've all made mistakes. I've made mistakes. You've made mistakes. And if I if I choose to live there in my mind, If I choose to live with the regrets of the things I did say or didn't say or did do or didn't do, whatever the case might be, then I'm going to lose heart eventually. I'm not called to live there.
I am a new creation in Christ Jesus. I have a new birthright. I have new life. I have a new future. I have the presence of God dwelling inside this earthly body.
I refuse to live in regret for the past. I will not. I did for a season as a young believer before you understand that we don't have to live there anymore. As a matter of fact, I used to make Daily crying a part of my prayer. You get to feel it is holy after a while.
Going in and just hanging your head and talking about all the things you did or didn't do. Until one day. The Lord told me I was going through my regular crying. And the Lord told me, He said, Stand up. And I stood up and he says, Your tears are an accusation against my faithfulness.
Amazing. I knew it was the voice of God because it wasn't in my mind to think that way. He said, I'm going to show you some things in the future. And he says, if you get on your knees and weep one more time, he said, I'm going to take that as an accusation against my faithfulness to you. You're not called to live in regret.
You're not called to live in the past. You have a new future. You have a new hope. You have a new life.
So people would say, What can you tell me that would give me a reason? to not give up.
Well, I have a billion reasons.
So as I said earlier, I hope you have a lot of time because it's going to take a while to get through all. I'm not going to tell you the whole billion, but I'm going to just give you five and you can fill in the rest. How's that? Here's why you shouldn't give up. Because you know the truth.
John chapter 8, verse 32, Jesus said, and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. You know the truth.
Now, I'm speaking to people online that are believers as well. You know the truth.
And the truth Yes, the freedom might come, not come in one hour, it might not come in one week or even one year, but it's coming your way. You know the truth and the truth will make you free. But there's a guy called Michael. who sended a prayer request this week. And it says, I need an encounter with Jesus.
I need to be filled with the Holy Spirit and to be delivered from besetting sins.
So you know the truth. And for the sake of Michael and every other Michael in this world who needs to encounter Jesus, be filled with the Holy Spirit and to be delivered from things he can't get free from, you have a reason not to give up. You have a reason to keep going for Michael's sake and for everybody like him.
Next, you know the healing and restoring power of God. 2 Corinthians 5:17. which is probably one of my favorite verses in the Bible. But if anyone is in Christ, he or she is a new creation. The old things, behold, are passed away, and all things are become new.
That's the verse that actually won me to Christ. That's the verse that changed my heart and changed my mind. If it were possible to have a new life, If it were possible to get out of this way of thinking and living and doing, God, if that's possible. then I would be a fool to turn this down.
Somebody wrote in a prayer request. Today. Anonymously and said, My son hates me and doesn't care about me. He thinks I don't love him. I love my son dearly.
Pray for his salvation. and the restoration of our relationship. You see, you know. You know the healing and restoring power. If you've been walking with God any amount of time, you know it.
And in due season, You will reap in bringing that freedom to others if you do not lose heart. If you do not let The oppositions of this life. In this world. and your mind, and everything else that comes against you. You have to determine in your heart.
That no matter what comes against me. Not for my sake, but for somebody else's sake out there. Who needs to be saved? Their family is fragmented. They need to find forgiveness.
Somebody out there who needs to know that if they come to Christ, they become a new creation. The old way of living, the old divisions. The old bitterness has passed away, and all things become new. And for their sakes, I'm not going to give up. For their sakes, you must not give up.
Because in due season You shall reap if you faint not.
Next, you know the love of a father. John chapter 3 verse 16, God so Love the world. That he gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. You know the love. of a father.
Whether or not you had it In this world, in a natural father, you now know the love. of God and your heart is growing in the grace and knowledge of that love. And that perfect love is casting out fear. And that perfect love has placed you in the hand. of a caring heavenly father who Jesus Christ said will not release you to anything of this world, any power of hell or darkness, and will hold you there until the day he deposits you at the throne of eternity.
You and I know the love of a father, but a little girl, a little six-year-old girl called Ruth. A prayer request came in just yesterday. Ruth needs to know the love of Jesus and to feel love from those who are in her life. A little six-year-old girl basically says, I need to know that somebody loves me. Isn't that amazing?
I need to know that there are people who love me. I need to understand this. I can't even fathom a six-year-old writing or putting in a prayer request like that. If it was her or somebody else on her behalf, it's hard to fathom. That kind of a prayer crest, but I'm telling you, I'm telling you, for the sake of every ruth in this world, I'm going to go forward.
I'm not giving up. I'm going to run this race that God has set before me. And I'm going to bring the understanding, not just the understanding, not just from my mouth, but from the way I live. From stopping to talk to a child, from caring for these little ones that maybe we think sometimes in the church are just there to be babysat. They're here for much more than that.
There's so many children coming into the church of Jesus Christ that are desperate to know: does anybody love me? In due season, We shall reap if we don't faint. The next reason is that you know Jesus has the power to break addictions. Luke chapter 4 verse 18. He said, I came.
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me. to proclaim liberty to the captives, you know he has that power. You know he can break every chain. You know he can open every prison door. Oh yes, there's struggles here and there, but that doesn't change what you know.
You know it, and I know it. The power of God sets free from every captivity that can come your way in this world. A man called Jerry wrote in this Yesterday, I believe it is, and he said, please pray for me. I'm bound by pornography and lust. It's happening every day, and it has gotten inside of me.
So, Jerry is now in a place. of addiction in his mind. And in his life, and he can't get out. But we know there's freedom in Jesus Christ. We know it, and for the sake of every Jerry and everyone else in this world is captivated by the things of darkness of this life.
We shall reap if we don't faint. If we bring them that message. That there's forgiveness and there's power to be free from everything this world sets against you. There's power. I remember when I was a young police officer.
They started asking me to go out and share my testimony. And I was asked to go to this prison one time, and I wasn't given much detail. About the prison I was supposed to go to. And when I got there, I found myself in a room with 700 sex offenders. And it was a place that I didn't naturally want to be.
There was a personal revulsion for some of these things. And yet I told them, I brought the message. That there's freedom in Jesus Christ. That all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. There's not one righteous, not even one.
And I told the men in that room, I said, listen, what you've done is not right. And I'm not trying to make light of anything that you've done that has brought you into this place, but I'm telling you that your hell is my, if I hadn't found Christ, we all go to the same hell. Because all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. And I was able to share that as Christ has forgiven me, so too can you be forgiven. I gave an altar call, and I can't even count the numbers of men that came forward to receive Christ as Savior.
sobbing, shaking, crying. Beginning to rejoice, there's a way out, there's a freedom, there's hope for my life. I don't have to live this way. I don't have to. Sit in this shame.
In this captivity. For the rest of my life. Because Jesus Send me in to a place to proclaim liberty to the captives. You know. That the sufferings of this life are not worthy to be compared.
to the glory that will soon be revealed in us. According to Romans chapter 8 and verse 18. The sufferings of this present time, Paul says, not worthy. to be compared. Think about it for a moment, shipwrecked, beaten.
It's flogged three times to the point almost of death. Betrayed. Swimming in the ocean, all for the gospel of Jesus, bit by a snake, betrayed by friends, imprisoned. and chain between guards. Ah.
Oh. for the cause of bringing you and I. The freedom that we have today. Thank God he didn't faint. Thank God Paul the Apostle kept on going.
Thank God he wasn't somebody who would just drop the baton two-thirds of the way through the race and say, I've had enough of this. Let the people find their own way. Thank God, even in prison, and all he had maybe is one free hand and a parchment and a quill and some ink, and he started writing to his friends. And thank God, I'm reading his words. I'm reading the truths that will set us free.
I'm reading the truth. I know the truth. I have The benefit of escaping self-focus and living for the sake of others. That is the key to victory, folks. It's when we escape ourselves.
We escape the desire for our own comforts, the desire for our own pleasures, the desire for our own aggrandizement, the desire for our own sense of success. When we finally escape ourselves, that's when we can begin to live for the sake of others. That's when the power of God comes into your life. It's not about you anymore. It's about the people.
It's about the Jerrys. It's about the Ruths. It's about the people in captivity. And it's about Jeremiah, who the last person says, I am displaced from my son. I'm homeless and I need healing in my body.
And I've given up hope and I fear that I might not have much time left. It's for every Jeremiah in this world who's out on the streets somewhere. Whether he looks like he's homeless or not, and has no hope without you. Coming across his path. I pray every morning now.
Oh, God, make me sensitive to the Holy Spirit. Oh God, don't let me live my days concerned about myself only. Help me to hear your voice. God, you know what people were crying in their beds last night. You know the tears.
You hear the sigh. You know those who are turning to drugs and alcohol for some kind of sense of peace in their lives. You know those who are crying out for help and hope. God, I don't, but you do. Would you help me to cooperate with you?
Would you make me sensitive? I don't think we can know that voice until we get out of the realm of thinking about ourselves all the time. It is the dilemma. It's a human dilemma. It's yours and it's mine.
It's all about me, myself, and mine, and I. And I want to challenge you one day to. Just count the numbers of times that the word I. Is in your day. And count the number of times the word others is in your conversation.
Just go ahead and do it one day. Every time you say your I, me, mine, I, or I, me, mine, or I, put a check mark somewhere. Take a little pad out and put a check mark. You might as well keep it out. You're gonna need it a lot.
Every time. And put a check mark every time your conversation is about somebody else other than yourself. It's truly, truly amazing.
Now, I've given you I've given you five.
Now you have to fill in the 999,999, and 995 other names that are waiting for you to bring the light of salvation into their darkness. Those are the billion reasons why you should never give up. Those are the billion reasons. And we're part of a church where our senior pastor Tim Delina has spoken to his heart that the gospel is going to reach 1 billion people in our generation. That's the goal that God has given to him.
And let me tell you. Let me tell you, the church is well on the way to achieving that. And for those who think it's impossible, Billy Graham preached to one billion people, it is estimated in his lifetime without the technology that we have today and the capability of reaching the world all at one time that we now have. There's a billion reasons. not to give up.
There's a billion souls that are waiting for you and waiting for me. And I'm speaking to those online too as well, that you're writing in prayer requests. And I know you have needs, and I don't make light of those needs, but you have a higher calling than just being focused on getting out of your dilemma every week and every day. You have a dilemma. I know that.
We all of us do. You have an ache in your body. Maybe you have a financial situation. You have a family situation. But don't let your mind be narrowed to the point where you're looking through a spiritual keyhole.
When God has an abundance of things that He wants to do through your life. One of the ways that you get out of captivity is to escape self-focus. And when you get away from being focused on yourself all day, then suddenly. The world opens up. The spiritual world opens up and you start seeing people.
all around you that have needs. It's no longer about you. And I want to challenge you with all my heart. Don't give up. Don't faint.
In due season you shall reap if you faint not. In due season. That means at the proper time. In God's time. Your grandmother was praying for you, I don't know how many years, and when you went into your lifestyle, she probably continued praying for you.
And I'm assuming, did your grandmother die before you came to Christ?
Well She died believing that God was going to answer her prayer. I have no doubt about that whatsoever. And. In due season. Your grandmother reaped because she did not faint.
and believed that one day the seed she had sown and the prayers she had prayed would turn you to God. Hallelujah. And it did. And it did. Don't give up.
Don't give up. There's a There's something has to come into the human heart. It just says, God, I'm not going to quit. I'm not asking for a life of ease, and I know that some things may come my way that are difficult. But God I'm not gonna quit.
For the sake of others. For the sake of a billion people that need to hear that Jesus Christ died for their sin. For the sake of a billion people that don't have to face an eternity in hell without God. I'm going to go forward. And the promise I have from the Bible is that I'm going to reap.
in the appropriate time if I don't give up. Don't give up. Don't ever give up. Don't ever give in. We have a high calling of God in our lives on this earth.
If you just want that determination in your heart. Coming forward doesn't mean that you are on the edge of giving up. But you will face it one day. If you're not facing it now, you will face it one day. There will come that temptation to drop the baton, quit the race.
Just Fold in and try to survive to the end of your days. And yes, you'll make it home, you'll get to heaven. But I guess the sad part of that is others won't. That could have. Because realistically it's not just about us, it's about others.
Don't give up. Don't fade. The message today has been brought to you by Carter Conlon from Times Square Church. For more information, log on to tsc.nyc. That's tsc.nyc.
Plan to be with us next week for A Call to the Nation with Carter Conlon.
