Hello and thank you so much for tuning in to Carter Conlon's National Day of Prayer special. Are you sick of powerless prayer? Let's join Carter in studio now. This is Carter Conlon. I want to thank you for joining.
With me today, as we start to look at again the National Day of Prayer here. in America. And today I want to suggest That we need to take prayer to a whole new place if the prayers that we pray are going to have any kind of an effect. on the society that we're now living in. We're living at a perilous time in history.
We're living at a time when the cornerstone of our very country has been rejected. The name of Jesus Christ is cast out as a cursed word. It he's refused to be spoken about in Schools and colleges and such like, even sports teams are not allowed to pray anymore. And I could just go on and on of what's happening in this country. As a result of rejecting the cornerstone, We're in a place now where we're spiraling down morally, we're spiraling down financially, socially, civilly, almost everything you can think of.
We're starting to circle the drain, may I put it this way? And the only hope that we have for the future now is a spiritual awakening in the country. And so a spiritual awakening is going to require a new level. Of dedication, may I put it this way, to the things of God. Past just the perfunctory coming together once a year, Lord bless us, have mercy on us.
Everybody who goes home then and carries on with their everyday life and the things that they've been doing. It has to go way, way beyond. The normative and the things that we have experienced in the past. I want to use a passage of scripture today. And I'm going to pray before we begin that God would make this very, very real to all of our hearts because this is a perilous time.
Father, we just want to thank you. God Almighty, that our hearts are open, many of us, and we ask you to speak to us. Help us to understand our role in this pivotal time in history that we're now in. Give us the grace, O God, to pray in the way that we should. for the future of this country.
God help us, Lord, not to live to preserve ourselves any longer, but to live for a cause that's higher than our own comforts, our own successes as we see it. And such like. Give us the grace, my God, that we now need to make a difference in this generation. And Father, we thank you for it and praise you. In Jesus' name.
Now Jesus Christ has risen from the dead. There have been incredible outpourings of the Holy Spirit. We saw that in Acts chapter 2. Where the Spirit of God came down on the 120 in the upper room. They stepped out into the marketplace, and in doing so, many, many people bent their knee to the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
And as we look at the history of America, for example, We go back to 1620 when they People from Plymouth landed on the, or they landed on the shores of Plymouth, Massachusetts, and They dedicated the nation to bringing glory to God through his Son, Jesus Christ. That was the cornerstone, actually, of America. And any serious student of history knows this. Even though there is attempts to deny it today, you still can't escape the reality. That is the history of this country.
And as the gospel began to be preached, many, many people have, throughout history in this country, bent their knee to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. And as such, This nation was given the power of God to accomplish certain feats in only a few hundred years that other societies and cultures from which this country was comprised now were not able to accomplish in many, many more years than that. And so there's no doubt that the hand of God has been on this nation. But now we're following the same pattern as others have. before us and we're moving away from our roots were rejecting the cornerstone.
as Israel once did, and now is starting to suffer the consequences. In the midst of this, there's still a people who are Willing to pray, they still go to prayer meeting. We find this in Acts chapter 3 as a type, for example. where it says Peter and John went together to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour.
Now, in spite of the history, In spite of all that had happened up to this point, they still knew that prayer. was the key to what God would have Them to do and what God would desire to do through their lives in the future. And I do hope you know that today. As hopeless as it may seem. to some of you that are listening today.
You still are key in the plan of God. for the future. And the plan of God can't be materialized or can't be fully understood or known or revealed until you and I. Come to the understanding. That It's time to pray.
It's through prayer that God always has moved. It was through prayer in the upper room. It's through prayer in Acts chapter 3 that something is about to be unleashed. In a deeper sense, is going to bring the name of Jesus Christ even to greater reputation than it. already was.
The Scripture tells us that there was a certain man. lame from his mother's womb, He was carried and he was laid daily at the gate of the temple, which is called beautiful, to beg or to ask alms from those who entered the temple. learn elsewhere in the scriptures this man was 40 years old And for his whole life, he'd been at the door of the temple just begging for something from somebody entering in. And finally one day these two men, Peter and John, coming into the temple to pray. You see the Holy Spirit starts to move upon them.
Peter looks at them and says, Look at us. and the man gave them attention, the Scripture says, expecting to receive something from them.
Now Peter says these words, Silver and gold I do not have. It doesn't mean they were broke. It just means that this is not what I have for you right now. You need something more than what you've been expecting from people going into the temple. The people going into the temple have been relatively powerless to help you.
All they can do is give you a coin in your hand. But we have something more. Than silver and gold. We have something that you need. And he said, In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.
Then he took him by the right hand. The scripture says his feet and ankle bones received strength. He leapt up, stood, and walked, and entering into the temple, walking, leaping, and praising God while hanging on to Peter. And John, keep in mind, he'd never walked before, so he had to have somebody, even though his legs are moving now and there's strength in his legs. He has to walk into the temple holding on to somebody.
You know, I think of... The willingness in a sense to reach out to people that don't have a helper And as we go to prayer, as we go into the house of God, maybe just let them hang on to us for a little while until they learn to walk on their own. And not expect them as newborn babes in Christ to be able to do the things that they've never learned to do throughout their history. And the scripture says, All the people saw him walking and praising God, and they knew it was the person who had been sitting at the gate begging. They also knew that even though they were in the temple to pray, that their prayers really had no power.
There was a difference between these two men. and the rest of the crowd coming into the temple that day. And so most likely out of envy. They called together the religious leaders came together and they basically said. we want to know how you did this, and we want to know by what name is this miracle done.
We're now in Acts chapter 4 and verse 7. It said when they'd set them in the midst, they said, By what power Or by what name have you done this? Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, Rulers of the people of Israel, and elders this day, if we this day are judged for a good deed done to a helpless man, and by what means he has been made well, Let it be known to you and all the people of Israel. That by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified. whom God raised from the dead, by him this man stands here before you whole.
This is the stone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the chief cornerstone. nor is there salvation in any other. for there's no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.
Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men. They marveled, and and they realized that they had been With Jesus, and seeing the man who had been healed standing with them, they could say nothing. against it. You see, there was a boldness in these men. They want to pray, but they want to pray for a specific reason.
And I do believe in this National Day of Prayer that we've got to get back to the reasoning of Scripture as to why we pray in the first place. Many of the prayers of God's people in our generation have been self-focused. We go to pray and it's about It's about my finances, it's about my health, it's about my future, it's about my children, it's about and those are good things, I suppose. We need to pray for these, but our prayers need to go beyond that. as a you think of the numbers of people that were going into the temple to pray, but they're passing by a man who's been there begging them for help for forty years.
He's been sitting there. We I want to I want to suggest today As we go to the National Day of Prayer, I want you to think about the numbers of people in America today that are begging for help from somebody. They're sitting at some gate of some place where others who seem to have more advantage are going into these places, and there's this inner cry, would you help us? Would you help us? I think of all the cries that are going up every day that God is aware of, but many of us who go to the temple to pray can be just oblivious.
To the cry of others all around us. You see, what made the difference with Peter and John is that their focus in going to the temple was not about preserving themselves. Their focus was about others, and that's what allowed them to see this man. You know, it's a prayer that I've been praying. In the last year or so, said, God, would you give me the eyes to see the people that nobody else sees?
The people that everybody else walks by, would you give me the ears to hear their cry? And on top of that, would you give me the faith to believe that you want to raise these people up? You don't want them sitting there begging when there's a holy God who died for them. who has given power, as the Scripture says, to his people. Who gave this incredible promise to you and I that whatever we ask in prayer believing.
We shall receive. Can you imagine if we actually believe that? Or. If our focus was shifted off of ourselves, And on to others. And I do believe that's the key to knowing the power of God again in our generation.
We serve the one who went to a cross and gave himself for us so that we might not perish but have everlasting life. And so so many people today, they come to the cross. And may I just say it honestly? They're not much different than the soldiers at the foot of the cross who are simply gambling for the garments of Jesus Christ. They come to the cross to get a covering.
They come to the cross to get what they can get from God. It's not about giving anything to the kingdom of God. It's not about standing out from a perishing society. You're standing in virtue when everyone else is celebrating vice. It's not about any of these.
It's not about actually willfully going into conflict in the spiritual sense. but living, in a sense, just to preserve oneself. You know, Jesus himself said, if you seek to save your life, you will lose it. You know, I think of the numbers of people who go to prayer meetings, but their whole raison d'être, may I call it, is just to save themselves. And God says, I have a life for you.
I have a life that I want to display through you. I have something I want to do through you that you will lose if your whole reason for prayer is about preserving yourself. May God help us. in this generation to get out of this doldrum. Of self-focus that so gripped so much of the Christian population in America, where it all became about me, my life, my liberty.
The pursuit of my happiness, my future, my health, My bank account, my secured well-being, and all these other things when people around us are. Begging for life. And they don't look to us for any more than a coin. Can you imagine? Or just flipping a coin in their direction, walking by somebody on the street that's begging, for example, and all they're looking for from the church is like 25 cents or 50 cents in a cup when we can pray for them and see them actually set free from what is captivating them and keeping them.
Bound and keeping them down. I'll tell you a story. One day I was busy. I was heading down 51st to the office in New York City when I was the senior pastor of Times Square Church. And there was a young girl standing in the doorway, and she looked pretty disheveled.
She'd be about 18 years old. And I still remember her reddish-brown hair, kind of matted, looked like she's not doing well. She had a cup in her hand, and as I walked by, Um just this this I don't remember the exact words, but there was obviously d mister, do you have something for me? I'm I'm I'm making the words up. I don't remember what she said, but there was something.
And I passed by because I was busy. You see, I'm I'm about I'm about the father's business. I got to the corner. And the Lord it was almost like a bungee cord was stuck on my back, and the Lord pulled me back and said, Go back to that girl. and talk to her.
So I stopped, as no matter how busy I was. You see, we have to be sensitive now to the voice of God. when you start speaking to us and I walked back to her and I said I asked her a question. I said Why are you begging? for money.
And she said to me, I'm trying to make peace with God. I've done a lot of things in my life that I'm ashamed of. And I'm hoping that if I can raise some money to perhaps buy some food for some hungry people, that God will forgive me. How surprised she was to find out that the forgiveness she longed for It was already given to her on the cross 2,000 years ago if she'd opened her heart to it. You talk about a girl.
I walked away, and there's a young girl that was just set free from. A place of paralysis. She's in the hallway, in a sense, of the building that is the church with a cup in her hand. And passing her by, What makes me any different than the hundreds and hundreds that pass by this lame man? on the way into the temple to go to the prayer meeting.
on whatever night it is, the prayer meeting happens. And so We see in this situation that Peter and John Are standing and now having to defend themselves because the religious system of the day has no. Problem with prayer as long as there's no power in it. Isn't it amazing? If Peter and John had just gone there and chanted along with the rest of them, everybody'd be okay with it.
But the fact that the power of God Was flowing through their lives, brought them into conflict with a powerless, self-seeking religion. of its day. It'll do the same in our generation when God begins to do through us, through you and I, what only God can do.
So they called them in, they saw their boldness. And by boldness, I mean it comes as a result of guilt being set aside. I looked at the definition. It means that you know you're forgiven. You know the devil can't condemn you.
You're not going to be driven into a corner. When the power of God is in your life. It means unwavering, fearless. Confidence in God, undoubting confidence in prayer. God can bring us into a place where we begin to understand that it's in His heart to heal.
Remember when he stood in the temple in Luke chapter 4, verse 18, and he said, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me. And then he gave the reasons why the Spirit of the Lord was upon him. It was for the poor, it was for the blind, it was for the addicted, it was for the imprisoned, it was for the captivated in their minds or lives or whatever it is. This is the reason the Spirit of God was upon him. And then, after the cross, he gave us of his Holy Spirit, and he said these words to his own disciples: As the Father has sent me, even now, I send you.
So, what are we doing with that commission? Do we actually believe that God can answer prayer today? And realistically, I don't know about you, but I'm very tired of powerless prayer. I'm very tired of prayer that just does its thing and brings no relief or deliverance to anybody around it. I'm tired of it.
And I really hope that you're tired of it too today. I hope you're tired of all the rituals, all the powerlessness, going and making a big display of our devotion to God in this National Day of Prayer in the nation and everything carrying on in its downward spiral down the drain, just as it always has. I would rather the power of God be made known through us, through you and I, one more time, even if it brings us into conflict with a godless society. in a godless nation. And that's exactly what happened.
to these men. Then, after being brought in, in verse 17, it says, But so that it spreads no further among the people, let us severely threaten them that from now on they speak to no man in this name. You see, this is: if the power of God begins to operate through your life, you will be brought into this place of severe threatening. This society does not want, they don't mind powerless prayer. but not prayer with power in it.
And if the power of God begins to manifest through your life, you will be severely threatened and you will be told not to speak anymore. in this name. But Peter and John in verse nineteen said, Whether it's right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God you judge. For we cannot but speak the things which we've seen and heard. And so when they had further threatened them, further threatened them.
They let them go. finding no way of punishing them, because they all glorified God for what had been done. For the man was over forty years old on whom this miracle of healing had been performed. And being let go, they went to their own companions and reported all that the chief priests. and elders had said to them.
So they went guess where they went? After they went to the temple, after a lame man who had been lame for 40 years is raised up. After he walks into the temple, Leaping. And hanging on to them and praising God. After they're brought in by the religious order of the day and threatened not to speak in the name of Jesus Christ anymore, guess where they went?
They went to a perm meeting. And they went to their own companions and told them what the chief priests and elders had said to them. If you want to find out what's going to ha if you thought it was bad up to this point, just wait till the power of God starts flowing through your life. And when they heard that, they raised their voice to God with one accord. And they said, Lord, you are God who made heaven and earth and the sea.
and all that is in them. You are God. In other words, you're the ultimate creator. You hold all things in the palm of your hand. You are the beginning, you are the end.
Verse 25, Acts 4, Who by the mouth of your servant David have said, Why did the nations rage and the people plot vain things? The kings of the earth took their stand, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against his Christ. And isn't that the is doesn't history history just repeats itself over and over and over again with the obstinacy and the arrogance. of fallen man. Rises up and now challenges the God who created the entire.
universe by the word of his mouth. who sent his son to die on a cross.
So that people who are distant from God could be brought back into a living relationship with God, a promise of eternity in heaven when they die, and the promise of an abundant and fulfilling life while they live on the earth. and yet the nations rage. And people who want to be their own gods. They want to create their own rules. They want to have their own standards of right and wrong.
They don't mind religion as long as there's no power in it. They stand up. against the Lord and against His Christ. Verse 27, for truly against your holy servant Jesus, Whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel. Were gathered together to do whatever your hand and your purpose determined before to be done.
In other words, they said, God, you are in control of all things. They are not.
Now Lord, look on their threats. and grant to your servant that with all boldness they may speak your word by stretching out your hand to heal. and that signs and wonders may be done through the name of your holy servant Jesus. And when they had prayed, The place where they were assembled together was shaken. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit.
and they spoke the word of God. with boldness.
So here's what Peter and John were saying, and their companions. God, give us more of what got us into trouble in the first place. Give us more of what led these godless religious leaders to rise up and threaten us if we continue to speak in the name of Jesus. O Jesus Christ, Stretch out your hand to heal. And let signs and wonders be done through the name, through your name.
And when they had prayed, The scripture says the place where they were assembled together was shaken. Wouldn't that be amazing this year when we get together to pray as a nation if God would shake the places where we're gathered? That we would be filled with God's Holy Spirit and a new level of confidence. And boldness would come into each of our hearts that we would be able to look at people in our generation and say, silver and gold is not what you need, and I don't have what you need, silver and gold is not what you need. In the name of Jesus Christ, rise up and walk.
Step out of your addiction, step out of your poverty. Step out of your confusion. Step out of your sense of hopelessness. Step out of your place of death. In the name of Jesus, Rise up and walk.
And wouldn't it be something in our churches to see people coming in, hanging on to us, and leaping and dancing and praising God once again? Yes, it will get you in trouble with the religious authorities, but who cares? Peter and John said: we have to speak about what we know, and we have to continue doing what God has called us to do.
So Father, in Jesus' name. We are asking this day. that you would do something profound. You would do something deeper. You would do something, God, that is so far beyond us, that would bring your name to honor and reputation in our generation one more time.
Oh Jesus, Son of God, we ask you to stretch your hand out through each of us. And begin to bring healing to those that are bruised in heart, bruised in mind, addicted in body, captivated by darkness, unable to walk, unable to see a future. God, give us the grace and give us the strength. We are tired of powerless, perfunctory prayer. We're tired of it, Lord, and we want to see your hand move again in our generation.
Oh, God, if it brings us into conflict, With the godless, then so be it.
So be it, Lord. Jesus Christ, we want your name to be glorified in our generation. One more time. and we ask it with all faith, believing. In Jesus' name.
Amen. You've been listening to Carter Conlon and his National Day of Prayer special. Are you sick of powerless prayer? For more specials like this one, Visit the website. at www.carterconlon.com.
Mm-hmm. God bless.
