God Will Move Heaven and Earth to Answer You

Carter Conlon from the historic Times Square Church in New York City. I want to finish the fight, and God, please help me to make it to the other side. You know, God has not left us here on this earth to fight our battles alone. The Bible tells us he is in the battle with us. He hears our prayers.

Let's join Carter now. Chapter 20 of 2 Kings, God will move heaven and earth to answer you. In those days, Hezekiah was sick and near death. Now Hezekiah was a leader, a ruler in Israel. And Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, went to him and said, Thus says the Lord, set your house in order, for you shall die and not live. Then he turned his face towards the wall and he prayed to the Lord, saying, Remember now, O Lord, I pray, how I have walked before you in truth and with a loyal heart. In other words, Hezekiah was obviously not perfect, but he said, God, I've served you as best as I know how, and I've done it in honesty.

And I've done what was good in your sight. And Hezekiah wept bitterly. And it happened before Isaiah had gone out into the middle court that the word of the Lord came to him, saying, Return and tell Hezekiah, the leader of my people. Thus says the Lord God, the Lord the God of David, your father, I've heard your prayer and I've seen your tears.

Surely I will heal you. On the third day you should go up to the house of the Lord. And I will add to your days 15 years and I will deliver you in this city from the hand of the king of Assyria. And I will defend this city for my own sake and for the sake of my servant David. Then Isaiah said, Take a lump of figs.

So they took and laid it upon the boil and he recovered. And Hezekiah said to Isaiah, What is the sign that the Lord will heal me and that I will go up to the house of the Lord on the third day? Then Isaiah said, This is the sign to you from the Lord that the Lord will do the thing which he has spoken. Shall the shadow go forward 10 degrees or go backward 10 degrees? And Hezekiah answered, It's an easy thing for the shadow to go down 10 degrees.

No, but let the shadow go backwards 10 degrees. So Isaiah the prophet cried out to the Lord and he brought the shadow 10 degrees backwards by which it had gone down on the sundial of Ahaz. This is an absolutely incredible story where God gives a word to this man and he says, You're going to be healed on the third day and you're going to go back into the house of the Lord and you're going to worship there.

You're going to sacrifice there. And then Hezekiah says to Isaiah the prophet, Well, what is the sign that this is going to happen? And if I were God, I don't know about you that are here. I would just say your sign will be in three days, you'll be healed and you'll be in the temple. That's good enough for you.

You don't need anything beyond that. But in the absolute graciousness of God, not just for Hezekiah's sake, but probably for us too as well, who are learning from our study of the scriptures something about the very heart of God. He says, So which do you want God to do to actually move the sun forward, move time forward or move the sundial backwards? And Hezekiah says, Well, it just more or less naturally goes down 10 degrees as the day progresses, but the sundial never reverses itself. So if God's going to do this thing in my life, then let him reverse the sun. And so the scripture tells us that God brought the shadow 10 degrees backwards to which it had already gone down on the sundial of Ahaz. Now, I've done some study on this and it's just a fascinating study because you get opinions from theologians, skeptics, physicists, people, astronomers, people who study the stars, they understand the workings of the universe. And there are some astounding theories on what actually happened here.

One of the ones that stood out, I'm going to just share with you three that really stood out. And and one of the persons suggested that that God actually turned time backwards 20 minutes because turning the sundial, this is an agreed upon thing, at least to those who study it, turning the sundial back 10 degrees means actually reversing time by by 20 minutes. So in other words, if it was 320 in the afternoon, now it becomes three o'clock time wise. I mean, that's a phenomenal thought just in itself that essentially what it means is that everybody just reversed 20 minutes and weren't even aware of it. You know, you were 20 minutes younger than you were 20 minutes ago.

May I put it that way? And God did that sovereignly, which which shows me and shows you that he is the God over time. There is no time with God. God dwells in eternity. He always was.

He always will be. We are bound by time because our lives are determined by time. We have an appointed time. When we come into the world, we have a time that we live and we have a time that we die. But when we die, time will be no more. There'll be no more concept of time.

It will be in a place where God is, where a day is like a thousand years and a thousand years is like a day. Time is no more. And if in fact he turned time backwards, God is actually showing us I am in charge of all things. I control the heavens. Even time is in my hand. Isn't that amazing?

When you begin to realize it. Others have suggested he simply turned the earth itself backwards. He just he just took the earth and kind of moved it backwards.

20 minutes. Realistically, if you do that, physicists would say if you do that, you have to literally stop the rest of the universe. At least the solar system anyway, because everything moves like a Swiss watch. And if one part of the watch is out of gear, the whole thing will stop. Everything everything rotates around the sun.

It all has a divine order. So to stop the earth itself and turn it back 20 minutes, you have to literally suspend at least the solar system. And also you have to suspend the laws of gravity because to stop the earth, the earth is rotating to stop it. The moment it stops everything, physicists say everything would fly off the surface of the earth.

You, me, some in international school of ministry, we would all be in space in a moment of time. The earth would literally fling us off of its surface if the world stops. So God not only stops or turns the world back, but he stops the very laws of nature, the laws of gravity. Everything stops. There's a there's a third category of skeptics and liberal theologians who say, well, God just created a shadow illusion, kind of moved.

One of them was funny to read. So in his opinion, God just kind of moved the cloud here and shifted the building over there and kind of created the illusion. The time was going backwards for 20 minutes. If that were true, then explain to me Joshua. Where Joshua is sent to protect the Gibeonites and the Gibeonites have made a league with the children of Israel. And five kings came together and said, let's let's go conquer the Gibeonites. They send a message to Joshua and say, please come and help us. There's five kings against us.

We're not going to be able to stand. So Joshua takes the armies of Israel into this battle and and he routes the five kings. But there's just so many of this opposing enemy that's coming against that which was put into his hand to protect that he can't defeat them totally.

There's not enough time. So the scripture says Joshua spoke to the Lord in the day when the Lord delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel. And he said in the sight.

So this is a prayer. He said to the Lord, Son, stand still over Gibeon and mooned in the valley of Agelon. So the sun stood still and the moon stopped till the people had revenge upon their enemies. So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven and did not hasten to go down for about a whole day.

And there has been no day like that before it or after it that the Lord heeded the voice of a man, for the Lord fought for Israel. In other words, here's a man who's just saying, God, give me time to fight against the enemies of your people. Give me time to finish the battle that you've set before me. I don't want to go home with the battle half done.

These people are trusting in me. Give me enough time to fight this battle. And the reality is that God literally for a whole day, not just for 20 minutes this time, but for an actual day, stop the universe for the prayer of one man.

See, this is here's the point that I'm trying to make today. All of this happened, the suspending of heaven and earth, literally, the impossible apart from God. It all happens firstly because a man says, what was his prayer? I want to live.

Isn't that amazing? It was just a prayer. I want to live.

God, I want to live. And so like all of a sudden the whole universe stops for God to answer that. Not just to answer it. He could answer it without doing this. He wanted to show Hezekiah and you and I his absolute willingness and his power to answer our prayers.

Isn't that amazing? Joshua says, don't let the sun go down. I've got the enemy on the run. And don't let the sun go down until I win this battle.

They're in flight in a sense. And it's like the mother that's praying. It's the father that's praying.

I feel like I'm winning this battle to reclaim my family or my marriage or my son or my whatever the situation is. God, just give me time. So that's the second prayer.

The first one was let me live. The second one is give me time to finish what you have set before me. And all heaven stops again. You see, God does this in the scripture to show us His heart. He does it to help us to understand that He's not reluctantly up in the heavens, leaving us here to fight these battles and hoping we can win them. That He is in the battle with us and He has all power. When Jesus said that, He wasn't kidding. It's not just a little bit of power.

He has all power. Now, in Luke Chapter 8, just follow me with this now. On a certain day, He got into a boat, beginning in verse 22, to go with His disciples and said, Let us cross over to the other side. And they launched out. But as they sailed, He fell asleep, and a windstorm came down on the lake, and they were filling with water and were in jeopardy. And they came to Him and awoke Him, saying, Master, Master, we are perishing. Then He rose and rebuked the wind and the raging of the water, and they ceased and there was a calm. But He said to them, Where is your faith? You know, in the light of Hezekiah and Joshua, I want to suggest to you that stopping the wind in the waves was just a small miracle. I want you to think about it just for a moment.

May I say it this way? It was just a small cheese miracle. Because He has the capability of stopping the universe.

He has the capability of stopping the solar system, of ceasing the laws of gravity. So to stand up in the boat and just stop the wind and the waves was no really big deal for God. And when He said to His disciples, Where is your faith?

I see it this way. He's saying to them, Have you not been reading the scriptures? Do you not yet understand who I am? Do you not recognize me as the God who literally suspended the heavens, turned back time for Hezekiah's prayer, who stopped the sun and stopped the moon and their places for a whole day so that Joshua could finish the battle? Do you not yet know who I am? Who's in the boat with you? Why would you be afraid knowing I was in the boat with you? Are you still blinded? Do you still not see?

Do you still not understand that when I say we're going somewhere, we're going somewhere? I have all power. You have a history. You are the people of God who saw when I delivered you out of Egypt that I have power over all the elements. I have power over nature. I have power over lightning and thunder and hail and wind and famine. I have all power. All power is in my hand. When Jesus said all power is given unto me, He wasn't kidding.

It's all power. Do you not know who I am? And so the reality is tonight, how many people out there online, you're saying, I want to live. I want to finish the fight that set before me. I want to make it to the other side through my storm. And God says, do you know who I am?

Do you know who it is you're talking to? And are you aware yet that I am willing to move heaven and earth to answer you? Which is why God sent his son into this world. Not to condemn you, but that through his son you might be saved. He did, in a sense, move heaven and earth when Jesus Christ came into this world and died on a cross to destroy the power of sin that was against you. And the penalty of sin that was determining the course of your future and brought you into a place where you and I begin to now move in unison with God. And as we move in unison with God, recognizing his heart, moving in power, then miracles begin to happen in and through each one of our lives. This is the reason I believe that when Jesus went into the temple in the New Testament, he made just a scourge of cords.

And it's really the only time you see the tangible anger of the Son of God in the New Testament when he went into that temple. And he said, it is written, my house shall be called a house of prayer, but you've made it a den of thieves. By ceasing to pray in my house, you have stolen the power of God from his people. That's the thievery. It wasn't the changing of money in the outer court and the goats and the doves and the rest.

The thievery was stealing the presence of God and the power of God and the understanding of who God is from his people. It's time now for you and I to rise up and understand who it is that's calling us to pray and what he is able to do when we respond to him. And our prayers don't have to be 15 miles long.

They don't have to be filled with the King James English. What were the prayers that stopped the heavens? Let me live. I want to live. I don't want to die. I want to live.

And that is your prayer. I want to live. I want a reason to live. I don't want to be addicted anymore. I don't want to be depressed anymore. I don't want to be staring at the wall of my room anymore. I don't want to sleep away my day anymore.

Oh, God, I want to live. And I'm telling you that God still moves heaven and earth to answer you. He will stop everything that's against you, everything that was set in motion when the enemy got a hold of your life and is leading you to a place you don't want to go. He will stop all of it and show you once more, be still and know that I am God. May I put it this way? Know that I am still God.

Nothing has changed with him. And there's others out there who say, God, I want to finish the fight. Oh, God, give me the give me the time. Give me the strength.

I'm praying that for my own life. I want to I want to spend my life fighting for this generation, fighting for our children, for our young people, for our marriages, for our homes, for ultimately the testimony of God among his people in his house. Give me the time, God. Let the daylight stay in my life. Give me the vision to see and give me the ability to pursue and God Almighty, let me finish the fight.

And one more time, the universe stops. Oh, God, would you give us a bigger vision of who you are? We live in such a little place in our understanding of God. We squeak out little we prayers and we expect little we answers.

How it must break the heart of God when his own people. He said to his disciples, where's your faith? You have a history. You've got the scriptures. Isn't it written that all these things are are written for your admonition, for your instruction and righteousness, so that you might be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works? Are you learning anything about me from what you study? Where's your faith?

How long will it be before you know my heart towards you? And we spend so much time just saying, God, help me to make it to the other side. It's almost like he wakes up and says, OK, if you insist, you still don't believe. But if you insist on one more time to show you who I am, when be still, waves stop.

And I don't believe it was a gradual calming of the waves. I think it just stopped because it says they said, who is this man that even the wind and the waves obey him? Well, if they had been reading their Bible, they would have known who he was.

They would have known what he can do. Nobody came to the conclusion at that time, at least that this is the God who stopped. The son. This is the God who gave his son. This is the God who loves us so much that he has engraved us on the palms of his hands. These are the same hands that can calm our storm, the same hands that can calm our seas and our winds. These are the same hands that can stop everything that's been set in motion against us.

These are the hands that can turn back time. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.

I wouldn't want a whole lot of that, but maybe a little bit might help now and then. When I get up in the morning and I'm really creaky, sometimes I think it'd be nice to be 10 years younger, maybe not a whole lot more than that, but God can do that if he wants to. Actually, you can just kind of give us health and stretch us out just a little bit more so that we can win this battle that's before us. So here are the prayers. Here are the prayers that suspended the universe. Here are the prayers that stopped the moon and the sun. Here are the prayers that caused the wind to cease and the waves to subside. Here are the prayers.

Here it is. You want to hear them again? In succession. I want to live. I want to finish the fight.

Help me make it to the other side. Hallelujah. I bet you've all in this Bible school prayed all three of those. Just even in the last week, you prayed, Oh God, I want to live.

I want to finish the fight and I want to just make it to graduation. I want to make it to the other side of this present experience. So God shows you and God shows me that he will move heaven and earth to answer us. Hallelujah.

My prayer for you. We're like the blind man on the side of the road and saying, I want to see. What can I do for you? And the blind man said, I want to see.

God, I want to see. God, you've got to take me out of my limited view of who you are and bring me into a much larger place. So that I can pray with faith and I can pray with thanksgiving. Isaiah said, now after God gives him a word, he says, I'm going to deliver you. You're going to be healed. I'm going to raise you up the third day.

I'm going to defend this city. So he's giving him a whole bunch of promises. And then he says, take a lump of figs and lay it on the boil. And he recovered. It's amazing. The God who stopped the universe, in a sense, chooses something medicinal to heal him. You know, it's a great verse for people to say, I got faith.

I don't need doctors. I want you to think it through. Couldn't God have just said, OK, you're healed.

Get up. Of course he could. He could stop the universe. So why couldn't he say that?

But instead, somebody comes in with a lump of figs. I don't even understand the medicinal property behind it, but they did it and they put it on the festering sore that was on his body that was killing him. And he was healed. So the issue is really, God does things his way, not our way. We don't dictate to him. Do we even dare think we can dictate to the one who can stop the universe and suspend the laws of gravity? You know, I would have said, dump a truckload of figs on me. It's just like, it's amazing.

There's so much about him in these passages of scripture. And I want you to just go home and meditate on that today that, you know, you're praying for healing. Maybe you need to see a doctor.

Maybe you need some figs laid on that place of your body where you're sick. God chooses. The issue is the healing.

It's not about the methodology. It's about how he chooses to heal. Hallelujah. And so my prayer for you, you would call out and say, God, I want to live. I want to fight.

I want to finish. And there's got to be something in you that God can speak to and causes you to rise up. And the Lord says, OK, I'll answer your prayer, but I'll do it my way, not your way, not the way you think it should be done. I will answer you my way. Could he have raised them up on the spot?

Yes. Why three days? There's a lot of typology in this. I can't go into all of it. Why did he wait three days to heal him? He could have healed him right there. Why not just speak the word?

Why a lump of figs? There's just a lot of questions in there. But it just tells me that God will be God. And the one I'm not going to question, the one who stops the universe by a spoken word, he can do it whatever way he chooses to do it. His ways are not our ways. His thoughts are not our thoughts. He is God.

We're not. And the thing form cannot say to the one who formed it, why did you make me thus? Get up.

It's really that simple. Get up. You call out, say, Lord, I want to live. But then get up. Stand up and let that life come into you God's way.

Those that are losing their marriages, you're losing your families, you're losing your children. Get up like Joshua and say, I want to fight. I want to finish the fight. I want to vanquish the five kings that are coming against those who are given into my hand to protect. I'm not going to let them go and I'm not going to let the devil defeat them. Give me the give me the fight that I need to stand up in faith and to believe that you can do what only you can do to deliver them into my hand. And for those who are in a crisis moment in your life right now and your prayer is just, oh, God, I'm alive and I want to fight.

But God, I just got to get out of where I am now and make it to the other side. Just let him then just stand up and just speak to your wind and speak to the waves that are coming against you. And believe me, that's just a small miracle in the context of what God is able to do. He can do exceedingly above and beyond all we can even ask or think. That's who God is. Don't leave this meeting tonight with a little view of God. Let God expand your understanding. Let him expand your mind. Let him bring you to that place where your faith is like that of a child.

When you tell a child something, they just believe you. It's just absolutely amazing. 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. Be sure to be with us next week for A Call to the Nation with Carter Conlon.