Carter Conlon from the historic Times Square Church in New York City. To this day I believe that I met an angel. God sends the answer in ways that we don't anticipate. If we have the eyes to see it and if we have the ears to want to hear it, God will answer our prayers in ways we didn't anticipate. He was going to answer us.
and he will always do it for his glory. Welcome to the weekly program, A Call to the Nation with Carter Conlon. We're so glad you've joined us, and we hope to make this your place each week for a powerful insight from God's Word.
Now, let's join Carter with today's message. Yeah. I had a message all prepared. But as I'm sitting in my seat and I'm listening to the testimonies, first of all, from our brother Serge, who talked about the healing of his daughter, when after five years of incredible distress, it must be very difficult to have a child that can't eat without an allergic reaction. But after five years of that, to simply submit a prayer request, when I believe they were in the Ukraine at the time, and to see God's healing hand come upon their daughter, and then for Ross and Sarah to.
To believe, as the Holy Spirit has spoken into their hearts, that this is the year that Sarah gets out of the wheelchair. And Sarah, I know there's a day coming that you're going to run the aisles of this church, and we're going to have to have our cameras in place because we're all going to run with you. All of us are going to get up and we're going to march around with you and celebrate. The victory in your life. I feel the Lord telling me to share a story with you.
The context of it is that God answers prayer, but not always in the way that we think He's going to. Remember Naaman the Syrian, he was a great commander, but he was a leper, and he was told that there was a prophet of God in Israel, and so he came down to the house of the prophet, and he had this assumption in his mind. Perhaps we all do. We get these assumptions about how God is going to do things: that this great prophet of God was going to come out and he was going to kind of wave his hand. Over him and bring healing into his body, but And the prophet of God didn't even come out of the house.
He just sent word to him and said, Just go and dip yourself in the Jordan River seven times. And he says, You'll be healed. And he was offended by that. He was offended because he had it. During the whole journey, he probably had it all worked out in his mind what this was going to look like and how glorious it was going to be, and he was going to be able to retain his dignity.
and all of these things. But the way that God answers prayer is not always the way we think He's going to answer prayer. And I want to share with you a specific scripture and then tell you a story. It's from Isaiah chapter 55, beginning at verse 6.
Now, Father, as As I'm just standing here in obedience to you, Lord, it's really up to you to cause this truth to live in people's hearts. To cause your word to come alive, to cause our hearts to be gripped with faith. There are so many online that need healing. God Almighty, there's hundreds of prayer requests of people that are suffering in their mind, they're suffering in their body, somebody in their family is suffering. Lord, this is your church, these are your people reaching out to you.
So many are like the lame man laid at the gate of a beautiful temple, but God, they don't have the strength to get up and go in. They don't have the strength to enter into the beauty of worship, the beauty of understanding you and the way you work in your kingdom. Help us, Lord, to move them forward. Help all of us to begin to believe you in this last of last days, where we so desperately need your power again in operation. in all of us as the body of Christ.
Lord, glorify your name again in this generation. Lord, let Sarah walk. Let Sarah run the aisles of this church. Let children be healed. Let marriages be restored.
Let sickened bodies, Lord, be brought back to health again. Lord, we ask you to simply do things, Lord, in a way that only you can. Answer our prayer as we call out to you, as we cry out to you, Lord. We think of the numbers of moms and dads in desperation for their children, the numbers of marriages that are falling apart, and husbands and wives crying out for a miracle. God, you are the God of the miraculous, and we believe that, or we wouldn't be here.
We wouldn't waste your time, and you wouldn't waste ours. We know who you are. We know what you can do, we know what you have done. We know your heart, Lord, for the cross clearly reveals your heart for all of humanity, Lord. God Almighty, we ask, according to what we know of your heart and what you've spoken from your word, that you would stretch out your hand and do the miraculous God in the ways that only you can.
And Father, we thank you and we praise you. In Jesus' name.
Now, as Serge shared, he and his wife Leslie, they just submitted a prayer request.
So it's time to pray back when the prayer meeting was in Times Square Church in New York City. And just within a short few days, literally a miracle happened in this little girl's body. She was delivered from these life-threatening allergies, is really what it sounds like they were. And we very, very much thank God for that. In in the case of Ross and Sarah, We see that the Lord in their prayer and faith has led them to a physician.
who's a Christian, who's also a man of prayer. who also believes that there's a way that God would show him that Sarah could be brought back to health and regain the use of her legs again. And so we see that God's taking a different Route, but still answering their prayer. And it still is a miracle, no matter what anyone says, it's still a miracle after somebody's been in a wheelchair for that long to. Be able to stand up and walk again.
I want to talk to you about the night that I believe I met an angel.
Now, lest you think I've lost my mind, let me read the scripture first. Isaiah 55 verse 6. Seek the Lord while he may be found. Call upon him while he is near. In other words, if there's a shred of faith in your heart, If you believe that God is still God, if you believe that He cares about you and He can do miracles, seek Him now.
Seek Him with all your heart while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts. In other words, Turn from sin. And don't presume upon God that He has to do things your way because He doesn't. And let him return to the Lord, for he will have mercy on him and to our God.
for he will abundantly pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts. Nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord, as the heavens are higher than the earth.
So are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. For as the rain comes down and the snow from heaven, they do not return there, but water the earth and make it. bring forth in bud, that he may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater.
So shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth. it shall not return to me void. but it shall accomplish what I please. and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it. For you shall go out with joy.
And be let out with peace. The mountains and the hills shall break forth into singing before you, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress tree. and instead of the briar shall come up the myrtle tree. And it shall be to the LORD for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.
God says, I'm going to do things my way. And if you will. Allow my word to touch your heart. It will do the thing for which I sent it to you. I sent my word to heal you, not to hurt you, not to harm you.
I sent my word to guide you. I sent my word to strengthen you. I sent my word to lead you. And if you will follow my word, if you let my ways lead you, you will go out with joy. You will be led through this valley of the shadow of death that's coming over this whole world with peace.
The mountains and the hills will break forth into singing before you. You'll be able to see praise in places that others can't. You'll be able to see hope. where people around you can only see hopelessness. Everything before you will break forth into singing.
Even the trees of the field will clap their hands. Instead of the thorn will come up the cypress tree. In other words, instead of that which causes pain, there will be fruitfulness. And instead of emptiness, will come up fruitfulness again. And it will be something that God will do for his own name and for his own reputation.
And for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off. God will work in ways that you and I. I'm not familiar with. And I believe this is what we're going to experience in great measure in our generation. Many years ago when we first came to New York City, We moved into a home in a town in New Jersey, and we weren't aware.
That this particular home had been in, it was only 12 years old, but we didn't know it was improperly constructed. And being improperly constructed, it became infested with toxic black mold. As a matter of fact, when they discovered it about seven years later, The workers said there was no visible wood left in the attic. The entire attic was black with toxic mold. The workers that went in to discover this, both of them got sick, and it took them about six months to recover, one with a cough and the other with a skin rash.
So that's how toxic this mold was. And we were living in this house. I began to have breathing issues almost immediately after moving there. Our son Jared developed a hu hugely almost debilitating migraine headaches, and our daughter Kate developed exercise induced asthma, very quite serious asthma attacks. And it was one night It was about 2, 2:30 in the morning.
We were in New York City in an apartment on 51st Street. Street. And Kate came into the room and she said to me, Dad, I can't breathe. And so I immediately got out of bed. I picked her up.
I took her into the couch in the living room, and I saw not only she couldn't breathe, but she was turning blue. Because she was breathing through a hole about the size of a straw. She could barely draw in. Any air and could barely exhale. That's the problem with asthma.
Sometimes it's not the breathing in, it's the actual breathing out that's the problem with people that sometimes suffer from asthma. And I told my wife, Pastor Teresa, I said, call 911. And so I was beside the couch, and I could see she's not going to make it. I knew it. She was turning a deeper blue, and she wasn't breathing.
And I just prayed. I said, Jesus, help me. What do I do? What do I do? And I felt a strong impression on my heart.
We're on the seventh floor in this apartment building, go down to the street. It was that. Clear. Go down to the street.
So I took the elevator and I told my wife, I said, do what you can. I said, there's not time enough for an ambulance.
So I went down to the street and I ran out into the street in a taxi. There was no traffic. There was absolutely no traffic. By now it's pretty close to 3 o'clock in the morning.
Okay. and a taxi's coming down the street and I stood in the middle of the road and I flagged it down. was an East Indian man. A taxi driver, and I said, Listen, my daughter is very sick, and I have to get her to the hospital right away. He said, Okay, I'll wait here.
So I ran back up into the apartment, I picked her up, got in the elevator, came down. Opened the back door of the taxi, jumped in with her, and I said, take me to such and such a hospital. It was up on 11th Avenue. And he looked at me and said, There's not enough time.
Now I don't know how he knew that because it never said a thing. I never even told him what was wrong. He said there's not enough time. He took off down fifty first, turned the wrong way on eighth, if you can believe that. A New York taxi driver, East Indian man, he turns the wrong way and it goes against traffic.
cuts in a block down to a church. Not a church rather, down to a hospital I didn't even know existed. I wasn't even aware it was still even operating. And as we pulled in in in the emergency entrance, there was a doctor standing outside a nurse just standing outside. I guess it was coffee break time, and they were there.
And when I pulled Kate out of the taxi, they. They saw her and they immediately rushed her in on a gurney and they took her into the rooms where they do what they do, and they filled her full of adrenaline and such like to get her breathing again and literally saved her life. I was there waiting in that room and outside that room for about 20 minutes. And suddenly, when the doctor came out and he said, Your daughter's going to be okay. And I thought that, oh, the taxi driver, I forgot all about the taxi driver.
He's still out in the entranceway to the emergency.
So I went out and he was still there. And he was still parked there. And so I said, oh, sir, I said, I can't thank you enough. I said, you've saved my daughter's life. And I said, how much do I owe you?
And he says, no, you don't owe me anything. He said, I just stayed here to make sure she was okay. And he drove away. And The next day. You know, I was sharing this story and I thought I've got to call the taxi company in New York City.
And I want to take this man, and I want to take his family out for dinner, and I just want us to thank this man. This man saved my daughter's life. I don't think she would have made it. And so I called the company because I had the description of the car and I had the description of the driver. He's East Indian.
He was wearing a turban. I mean, there can't be that many drivers out there at that time of night. And I remember they called me back and I said, this is great publicity for you guys. This guy really saved my daughter's life. And it was just what a credit it is to your company and everything.
And they got back to me and said, sir, we regret to inform you, but there was no car of that number. There was no driver of that description working midtown at that time. in New York City. And then it just dawned on me. I got in the car and I said, How How did he know there wasn't enough time?
He didn't even know what was wrong. and he went down the wrong way on a one way street. And he didn't take any money. There's not a single taxi driver in New York City that wouldn't take any money from me. I'll tell you that right now.
And to this day I believe that I met an angel. To this day, I believe that God just assigned somebody to do something lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow. Because he heard a cry. He heard a father's cry. You know, could he have healed her on the couch?
Of course he could have. He could have opened her air. He's God, he can do whatever he wants. But he he sends A word. He sends the answer in ways that we don't anticipate.
If we have the eyes to see it and if we have the ears to want to hear it, God will answer our prayers in ways we didn't anticipate. He was going to answer us. and he will always do it for his glory. He will always bring us out. And here I am today.
Quite a few years later, just testifying to you, and as the scripture says, going out with joy and being led out with peace. In my heart is still a song of praise for a moment where God sent either he was an angel, an angel is a messenger from God.
So, whether he was an actual human being on the earth driving a taxi, I don't know who he was, I know he was a messenger sent from God to meet me on the street. At that particular three o'clock in the morning, and go down the wrong way on a one-way street and bring my daughter to a hospital I didn't even know existed. For a doctor and a nurse that were already standing outside the emergency room doors. To save the life of my daughter, because God heard a father's cry and a mother's cry, oh God, help me. I didn't know what to do.
There was nothing I could do. God helped me. I knew it would be 20 minutes before an ambulance would arrive, and she wouldn't be alive in 20 minutes. And so All through life. Because of circumstances like this, I have learned that all things do work together for good.
to those who love God and are the called according to his purpose. They don't always happen the way we want them to happen. You know, we suffer too physically from being in that house. And if I had the time, I'd tell you the reasons why God allowed us to live in that house. Of all the houses we could have lived in, He allowed us to live in that house for reasons that we only understood after we had passed through this valley of the shadow of death.
May I put it that way? I want to tell you from experience that God is good. all the time. There is never a time he is not good. And it's time for us again to pray.
It's time for us to begin to believe that God will answer and let God answer His way. God will answer. Like the Hebrew boys once said, if he wants to, he can deliver us. And if he chooses not to, we're not bowing down to the statues. We're still going to put ourselves into his hands, and we're going to trust that there's a divine purpose to this.
But he does answer, and he sends his word, and his word accomplishes what he sent it for.
So, I want to encourage those that are online and you're facing heartbreaking situations, terrible, terrible situations. God will send you an answer. You might not always recognize it when you see it, you might not understand. That his ways are higher than our ways. Naaman the Syrian couldn't understand why he just come out and wave his hand.
Doesn't he have the power to do that? Why do I have to go down in this muddy river? and dip myself in it seven times. That's why he was offended. He said, aren't there cleaner rivers?
The Jordan is a dirty river. It's a muddy river. Aren't there cleaner rivers back in Egypt that I could do this? Why did I come all the way here? You see, the reason is that God's ways are not our ways.
If he brings a healing, he brings it his way, and he brings it for his purpose. And if he doesn't bring a healing, sometimes there's a reason way beyond anything that we can understand. But I do know after all these years, I do know that all things work together for good. We love God and are called according to His purpose. And so it's time again to believe God.
It's time to put away all our questions. It's time for the unrighteous to forsake his ways. It's time for you and I to say, God, help me to put away my thoughts about the way I think my life should go and the way I feel that you need to answer my prayer. And God, if you want to send an East Indian taxi driver, then do that. If you want to send an angel down to look like an East Indian taxi driver, then you do that.
If you want to take me down the wrong way on a one-way street, you do that. But God, I cried out to you for my little girl, and you heard my cry and you answered my prayer. And God, you did it your way and for your reasons and for your purposes. And maybe one of those purposes is the fact that I'm actually sharing this story. Maybe it's ministering to somebody who's out there crying for a wayward child or crying for a situation where you really need divine intervention.
God will do it His way. God will do it through a doctor. God will do it through a taxi driver. God will do it through a word that somebody speaks into your life. Or God will just do it the way God chooses to do it.
But the issue is that is a God of the miraculous. And when we let him Do what he wants to do. There'll always be something that brings his name to glory in the earth. Thanks be to God. Thanks be to God.
You know, if we have the sense. Just to hear from him. And to respond, I could have stayed by the couch that night, and I believe I would have lost my daughter. Or I could have responded to the voice that just said, go up and go into the street. That's all he told me.
Just get up and go into the street. That's exactly what I did. And just in obeying that voice of God. saved the life of my daughter.
Now, before we leave you today, here's Carter with his song, Calling My Name. I went back. To the last place. I don't hear To be Every promise he'd want spoken. Seemed only Before me.
I don't know. just how it happened. But in the midst of all my pain Softly sweet I heard Jesus. Colleague My day. Calling my name, calling my name.
Never I'd heard it with such sweet refrain through the tears, all darkness vanished. I'll never be the same since the morning I heard Jesus calling my name, touch me not. Till life ascended. To my father. said he.
Going tail. All others fearful. They've no need. Yeah. Be not faith.
Faithless but believing. He's coming. Mm-hmm. For I tell you. That I've heard you Yeah.
Yeah. My name, calling my name, calling my name never I'd heard it with such sweet refrain through the tears all darkness vanished I'll never be the same since the morning I heard Jesus calling my name my name Calling my name never I'd heard it With such sweet refrain through the tears, all darkness vanished. I'll never be the same since the morning. Morning, I heard Jesus calling my name since the morning. I heard Jesus calling my name pray this simple prayer with me.
Lord Jesus Christ. I trust you. I believe you. I believe. That you can use my life.
for your glory. That you can do something through me.
So much bigger. Than anything. that I could think about. for my own life. And so I yield to you.
So I can use it. Lift me out of where I am. And take me where you want me to go. And give me a message for other people. Use my life.
In such a way. That I will shout glory. To you. Everywhere. That I go.
I thank you for hearing me. You are going to take me. Out of my present weakness. and into your strength. In Jesus' name.
Amen. 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.
