Carter Conlon from the historic Times Square Church in New York City. As we begin to grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ, something comes into the heart. And says, hey. Hey! I'm running from something I don't need to run from anymore.
I have the power. to turn and face the devil himself. And I'm not going to spend my life fleeing thinking the devil is two steps behind me. We're glad you've joined us this week for A Call to the Nation with Carter Conlon. the psalmist in psalm 18.
was at a point in his life where he could not see a way out of his trouble. Have you ever been in a place where it feels hell is all around your mind? You thought there's no point to your life and it may not be worth living? You looked for comfort, but none could be found. We'll discover in today's message, when you call out to the Lord in your time of distress, you can find the power to stand up and fight back against those pernicious thoughts.
God has a wonderful plan for your life. Let's join Carter right now for more. It's my prayer, as always, standing here. That God gave me The ability that only he can give to reach into the most Difficult situations. difficult hearts, darkened places, that some who are here to think you're never going to get out of it.
You think you're never going to be free, and even if there's a marginal chance of freedom. You have a sense that your life is never going to amount to anything. I want to talk to you about somebody in the scriptures who shared your sentiment at one time in his life. This was a person that God actually had a great plan for. But at this point in his life he had no sense.
In his heart, of what God was about to do. He was being swallowed and overwhelmed, and this is what I'd like to share. Father, I thank you, Lord. I thank you for the anointing of your Holy Spirit. Lord, there's nothing else that can break through.
to the dungeons and dark places of the human heart. The places where the enemy has captivated us, where lies have literally interwoven themselves in our minds. And we don't know how we're going to get out. And even your voice seems like a faint whisper in the midst of the roar of evil that comes against us. I ask you, Lord Jesus Christ, to open prison doors, let captives go free.
I ask you, Lord, for a vision to be given to the hearts of the hearers. Lord, that is the vision you give. It's not just even our good wishes for ourselves. It's deeper than that. It comes from God.
It comes from the one who created us, who had the power to make a universe by his spoken word. Speak to us like you did to Lazarus in the grave. Call us, Lord, out of this place of captivity. And Father, I thank you, Lord. Let nobody die in their sin who's here.
Lord, we stand against the devil and all the works of hell. that are trying to steal men and women created in the image of God. That are trying to destroy people's minds and their hearts and their hope for the future. We stand against these things in Jesus' name. And the psalmist in this particular psalm, it's in the Bible, in the Old Testament, it's Psalm 18.
Was at a point in his life where he couldn't really see a way out. In verse 4, he says it this way: The sorrows of death compassed me, that means surrounded me. And the floods of ungodly men made me afraid. I was surrounded I was surrounded by ungodliness. It seemed to me that ungodliness had the upper hand everywhere I looked.
It seemed that kindness was taken away from me and everyone seemed to be in agreement that I was a hopeless case. The sorrows of hell compassed me about. I was Bound with the cords of death. I just simply didn't know how I was going to go forward. And I know there are people here As this psalmist David was at this moment in his life, he was in the temple.
And even being in the temple, he simply just didn't see a way out. He didn't know how he was going to go forward. It seemed so impossible. Have you ever been in a place like that?
Now he had a knowledge of God, just like many here do. But somehow, that knowledge of God and the ways of God became obscured by the depth of the battle he was in. Have you ever been in a place where hell is just all around your mind? Where you get up in the morning, and there's this thought that life is not worth living. There's no point to your life.
Why should you even go on living? What's the purpose to it anyway? Where's it going to end? You look for comfort. There was a season in David's life where he looked for comfort on his left hand and on his right, and he said, No man cared for my soul.
Most everybody is too busy with their own struggles to even care to go into the depths of my pain. And he says In this verse 6, he said, In my distress I called upon the Lord and I cried to my God. It's all I had left. Probably wasn't even much of a cry. Probably was something like, oh Jesus.
I don't think it's sometimes deeper than that. In the house of God, it says sometimes it's just a sigh.
Sometimes it's just You're walking down the street and it's just a... A deep breath in and exhaling, and it somehow has a cry to God in the midst of it. And you can't even vocalize the words.
Sometimes people don't want to pray to God in the event that He doesn't answer, and that takes away their last hope. Did you know that?
Sometimes people won't pray because they're afraid if God fails them, then there is no hope in life.
So they just put prayer over here and they just don't touch it for that season. But he said these words, God heard my voice. out of his temple, and my cry came before him. Even to his ears. Just a whimper sometimes, that's all we can get out.
Oh God. If you're out there, we heard this afternoon from Mike in the midst of all of his addictions. In the midst of his confusion, in the midst of His arrest in the midst of his hospitalization, in the midst of his imprisonment to drugs and everything else he was imprisoned to. He laid down on the floor and began to cry. And you and I know from the psalm that the cry that came from his heart came to the ears of God because suddenly he became aware of the presence of God in the room.
His mother thought he'd lost his mind. But in fact he was just getting his mind. It's amazing. You can be on drugs and everybody thinks you're okay. The moment you talk about God, you've lost your mind.
Have you ever noticed that? David says, Then the earth shook and trembled. The foundations of the hills moved and were shaken because. He was wroth. And in the New Testament, it talks about when Jesus Christ died on the cross.
on Calvary. It said, when he had cried again with a loud voice, he yielded up the ghost. That means his spirit. And behold, the veil of the temple was torn from the top to the bottom, and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent, or that means the rocks. We're torn in two.
When David's cry came up to God, it said it produced something of an anger in the heart of God. And anger against Those things that had captivated us. An anger that so moved him that he became a man 2,000 years ago, walked among us and went to a cross where God the Father poured out his entire wrath. against sin and all of its captivation upon his own son. And when that son died, You see this expression actually of God's anger against everything that had captivated that which is dearest to his heart.
It literally split the rocks in two, and the scripture tells us in Matthew that many who slept in their graves awoke. It was almost as if God passing by said, I'm just going to show you what I can do and what I intend on doing for those who turn to me and cry out to me. God hates your captors more than you do. And these powers and these cords that try to bind you and tell you that. Life is not worth living.
These things are lies. And Jesus defeated them on the cross 2,000 years ago. The scripture says that when he ascended up on high, he took captivity captive and gave gifts unto men. Verse 14, David said, He sent out his arrows and scattered them. He shot out lightnings and discomfited them.
There was a war in heaven over your soul. Because God loved you. and was not willing to lose you. Had a wonderful plan for your life that the devil came in and tried to steal and kill and destroy. But the Lord said, no, I'm not going to let you have that person.
I want you to note that Jesus is not willing for darkness to have you. He fought against the devil and won. over you on Calvary 2,000 years ago. He sent from above, David said. He took me, he drew me out of many waters, he drew me out of the swirl.
of contrary arguments to truth that were literally swirling around my mind. and causing me to spiral down. And he drew me out of these waters, and he delivered me from my strong enemy, and from them which hated me, because they were too strong for me. Thank God. Thank God, thank God.
For the deliverance of Christ. He doesn't just deliver us. Verse 19, he says, He brought me into a large place or an abundant place. He delivered me because he delighted in me. He brought me into an abundant place.
It reminds me of the story that we shared of the four lepers that were dying outside the city. And the enemy's armies had encamped against the city of the people of God, and they said, Well, there's no point staying here, we're going to starve.
So they walked down. into the enemy camp. And as they headed into the enemy camp, the Lord turned up the sound system in heaven. And made their feet sound like a multiplicity of armies riding at full gallop towards them. And struck such fear in the hearts of tens, if not hundreds of thousands, of Syrian soldiers that they fled so fast they didn't take their horses.
They didn't take their clothes, they didn't take their food, they left it all there. He brought me, David said, into an abundant place. He brought me into a place of provision. He brought me into something deeper, more powerful, more full of resource. Like our sister shared, time to ask, the door seems to be open.
Start asking for stuff. That is theologically correct. The door is open. Did you know that?
The door to the life of God is open. It's time to start asking. He brought me into an abundant place. He delivered me because he loves me. He came to you because he loves you.
He died for you because he loves you. Jesus Christ was not filling. out some kind of a moral obligation he felt he had to his fallen creation. Oh no, it was passion that sent him to the cross. Because he loves you.
Knows you by name. has a wonderful plan for your life. Hates your captivity more than you do. was willing to fight against it and defeat it. Opened, in a sense, the channel.
to this life an abundant place in God. and now sits in the place of all authority and all power. And says to you, and I ask. And you shall receive Seeking you shall find, knocking, it shall be opened to you. Everyone that asks receives, and everyone that seeks is going to find.
David said, He gave me power to escape. All my captors. Did you know that?
Did you know that in Christ Those things that are overpowering you You're going to be able to outrun them. And it gets even better than that. Just hang in there with me. He's going to give you the power. He said, For by thee I have run through a troop.
And by my God, I've leaped over A wall. Verse 33, he said, He makes my feet like hinds feet and sets me upon my high places. He teaches my hands to war so that a bow of steel is broken by mine arms. In other words, he gave me the power. to outrun my enemies.
And he gave me the power to climb over every obstacle that is set before me. And to climb every difficulty that the enemy of my soul tells me I can't climb. He gave me the power to overcome. Everything that's set before me to tell me that I'm never going to amount to anything in my life, He gave me the power. But it gets even better than that.
Not only to outrun my enemies. Not only to climb over the weaponry and the embattlements that are built against me. but also the power to turn back. Is there point? Where we stop running.
And we turn back to fight. That's right. Hear me on this. In the beginning, sometimes we just, it's all we can handle just to get up and get out of our prisons, get up and get away from our former enemies. Get up and get out of our former woundings that want to drag us down and drag our faces into our past.
He gives us the power to get up and outrun these things. But at one point, as we begin to grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ, something comes into the heart. And says, hey, Hey! I'm running from something I don't need to run from anymore. I have the power.
to turn and face the devil himself. And I'm not going to spend my life fleeing thinking the devil is two steps behind me. If this guy thinks I'm going to run my whole life, he's got another thing coming. Because God has given me the power. To turn around and fight.
And I found that as a young Christian. You know my story, many of you. For those who don't, you're going to hear it for the first time. For those who do, you're going to hear it for the hundredth time. But I suffered from fear and panic attacks, literally crippling fear, for nine years of my life.
And when I came to Christ, I began, I tried my whole. Life apart from God to outrun my fears. And when I came to Christ, I began to realize that escaping these fears that controlled my life was a possibility. For the first time ever, I saw a way out of the prison. I saw a light as it is at the end of the tunnel.
And I started running and heading towards that light. But one night in my home, this fear started to come upon me again. It was debilitating, it was crippling. It would paralyze you, it would give you a sense that there was no hope, there was no future, there was no tomorrow. I'd get out of my bed, and I'd been reading my Bible that day.
I had read a promise in the Word of God. It wasn't even a whole verse, it was only a half a verse I remembered. But it was this, Paul wrote, if God before us, who can be against us? I began to realize, hey. I don't have to run from this devil of fear any longer.
I have the power in God to stand up and fight back. God has given me. Power. He said in the word, I've given you power over serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you. And I went down into my living room and I said, Devil, You can only kill me if God allows you to kill me.
And if he does, I'm going to heaven.
So I win either way. Because if he praised God, And with a little bit of faith. and fight that I had inside of me, I said these words. Satan is In the name of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, I resist you. That's all I said, that's all I knew to say.
And at that very moment, it's like a white hot fire. touched me from my feet, went through my legs, my loins, and through the upper part of my body and right to the top of my head. Thirty-five years ago, I was set free from fear. I have preached all over the world now. No, no, no.
Not just the power to escape your enemies, but the power to turn back and fight. The power to fight against that which cripples and destroys the lives of people all over the world. The power to stand in nations and say, Powers of evil that have dominated and even brought people to the point of murdering one another on a massive scale to see that power brought down by the Word of God and by the Spirit of God. God has a marvelous plan for many here. The devil would swirl around you and tell you it's hopeless.
Your life is going to amount to nothing. But I want to remind you: the devil is a liar. He can't speak the truth. And what he says to you, the opposite is true. If he tells you you can't, you can.
If he tells you you won't, you will. If he tells you your life is not going to amount to anything, it's going to amount to something that's going to do great damage to his kingdom. I can promise you that on the authority of the word of God. David said, I pursued my enemies, I overtook them, and I didn't turn back until they were consumed. I wounded them that they were not able to rise, and they fell under my feet.
I beat them as small as the dust before the wind. I cast them out as dirt in the streets. I tell you on the authority of God's word, The depression. the the wanting to commit suicide, the captivity to substance, the bondage to the things of this world. The darkness that wants to keep your mind.
You are going to take these things in the power of God and you're going to cast them into the street as dirt. They're going to have no power over you anymore whatsoever. God has a purpose for your life. And a wonderful plan for your life. David said, God, put a new song in my heart.
At the end of the psalm, Now he started out by saying, I was surrounded. I was afraid. Hell seemed to be getting the upper hand. Death. was all around me.
All I had in my life was distress. But I cried to the Lord. And he heard my voice. If all you have is a crit, that's all you need. You don't need any more than that.
If all your prayers don't have to be eloquent. As a matter of fact, here's what it has to sound like. Jesus. Help me. That's all you need to pray.
And you're going to find something of God come into your life like you never believed before was possible. You're going to find you don't have to beg God to love you, He already does. He loved you before you even knew he existed. He loved you when you were cursing his name on the street corner. He loved her, you when you were blaming him for all the wrong in your life and all of your heartache.
He loved you then. He loves you now. His love is constant. It doesn't change, it's not like yours, it's not like mine. He loved you so much, he went to a cross.
He took nails in his hands, scars on his back, thorns in his brow, spit in his face. tearing in his beard. kicking of his shins and punching of his face. He took all of that because he loved you. Took all your punishment upon him so that you might be free.
And he doesn't just set us free. and save us. As wonderful as that is, if that's all it was, then it would be fine for me. No, but he sets our feet... As he said to David upon a rock and puts a new song in our heart.
And in our mouth. A song that people begin to see. And here's the end. Of this psalm I started with David said, the Lord lives. Blessed be my rock.
Let the God of my salvation be exalted. It is God. that avenges me. and subdues under me. The people, he says, but it means those things, he destroys under me, those things that rose up against me.
He delivers me from my enemies. He lifts me up. above those that rise against me. And you have delivered me from the violent man. I don't know anyone more violent than the devil himself.
And David said, You delivered me from the violent man. Therefore will I give thanks to thee, O Lord, among the heathen. I will sing praises to thy name. Great deliverance you give to your king, and show mercy to your anointed, to David, and to his seed forevermore. David said, Oh God.
I will praise you as long as I live. I will sing about you, I will talk about you, I will tell about you to those who don't know you, because, God, there is no deliverance greater than the one that you can give. And the deliverance you gave to me. You will give to everyone who calls out to you. That is the promise of God.
The end result Is that you will not go out the way you came in? I promise you. In the name of Jesus Christ. You will not leave this house the way you came in. You come in in despair.
You'll go out with joy. You come into captivity. You will go out with the power to walk in freedom. You come in in weakness, you'll go out with strength. You come in in confusion, you'll go out with clarity.
You come in with purposelessness, you'll go out with a reason to live. You come in without a plan, you'll go out with the plan of God. You may not fully understand it, but it will unfold as you walk with him. Hallelujah to the Lamb of God. Jesus Christ.
is alive. His power is as real today as it always has been. And those he had set free. You heard from in these testimonies. It can be multiplied a thousandfold.
You can be free. You can be forgiven. If you will come to Christ and acknowledge That you can't save yourself. Most people here know that already. If you thought you could save yourself, you wouldn't be here.
You know you can't save yourself. You know that your best plans and all your resources have run out. Hell has won This round. And all you have left is a whisper, but that's all that God requires. If you can form the intent.
in your heart to say Jesus. I can't save myself. But I understand that you died for me. And if you will have me as your own, I will believe that your sacrifice was enough to pay the price for my wrong. And I will open my heart to you.
And I will let you become the Lord of my life. And I believe that you have a plan for me. You said in your word, Jesus, the thief comes to steal. Kill and destroy. But I have come that you might have life.
and that you might have it abundantly.
So Lord, you have a life for me. You have a purpose for me. You have a plan for me. You have something, O God. that you want to do and accomplish through me and it will bring joy to my heart.
and it will bring joy to others. You have a song for me to sing which I've never heard the verses of it. I've had a taste of it in this house, but it isn't my song. It belongs to others. But they're not content.
to let that song be sung by other people. If it can be mine. If that song of victory can belong to me. If I can be free. If I can't outrun my enemies, if I can't turn back and fight, and win victories not just for myself, but for others as well.
Said, oh god. Count me in. Count me into this battle. Count me in. as one of those who throughout history have been called followers of Jesus Christ.
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. That's tsc.nyc. And be sure to be with us next week for A Call to the Nation with Carter Conlon.
