No Hope Apart From God

Carter Conlon from the historic Times Square Church in New York City. There's only one voice left, and from time to time throughout history, we get to this same place over and over again, where there is no hope apart from the voice of God.

There's no hope apart from the voice of the one who said, it is finished. Thank you for being with us for A Call to the Nation with Carter Conlon. Today's insightful message will begin in Luke chapter 7 verse 11. In a town called Nain, the disciples, along with a large crowd, followed Jesus to the entrance gate to the city.

They watched as a man who had died was being carried out. He was the only son of a widowed mother, and Jesus had compassion on her. The only thing that could help her was the voice of God.

Let's join Carter for more right now. I don't honestly think there can ever be a spiritual awakening without forgiveness and without compassion, one for another. And here at Times Square Church, we have had the privilege of fellowshipping together for years now with people from over a hundred nations, and it has truly been a blessing, has it not, to dwell together in unity.

It's been an incredible blessing. And I believe that one of the reasons why we know such a powerful presence of God, and there's even an abiding presence. People testify they feel an abiding presence of the Holy Spirit in this sanctuary even when there's nobody here. And I believe the reason for that is because we've chosen to walk together in unity, and having made that choice, God has commanded the blessing of life. And pray with your brothers and sisters here that what we have come to know in this house will become something that will just literally invade our society, that there will be forgiveness, there will be a coming together, there will be a reconciliation that can only be produced by the Spirit of Almighty God, but there will be that which has turned this society into something that it was never intended by God to be. And that may be the case for your community.

There's people with us online that you are in communities that are at war with one another. And if there's going to be reconciliation, if there's going to be a gathering together and a full understanding of the blessing of God, it will have to come through you and your neighbor making the choice to come together. Even if in the context of your culture, there's division, you'll have to make the choice to come together as believers in Christ. And in some cases, it's going to be your hand that's going to reach out first. And whether or not it's reciprocated, you have to make that determination that I'm going to be an ambassador for Jesus Christ. God stretched his hand out from heaven and into this sinful earth for me. And if God can do that for me, I can do that for my neighbor.

I can do that with the power of God within me. And we're praying with all of our heart that there be reconciliation that God alone can produce. We need a miracle in America. We need a miracle in New York City.

We need a miracle on Wall Street, where a lot of this present turmoil even had its beginnings that people knew their history. Be reconciled and be ambassadors of the one who stretched his hand out from the throne of heaven for us and called us friends, called us brothers and sisters when we didn't deserve it. All we had ever done is curse his name and spit in his face, and yet he reached down to us. And we are ambassadors for one another, to one another of that kind of love. And so I want to encourage you with all my heart, we are praying for a spiritual awakening in a very, very dark time.

Not only here in America, but all throughout the world. And I think any intelligent person knows that this world is spinning into a place where only God now can make a difference. And here's what I want to share with you. It's just a little bit of a story from the Gospel of Luke Chapter 7. It says, Now it happened the day after that he went into a city called Nain, and many of his disciples went with him and a large crowd. And when he came near the gate of the city, behold, a dead man was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. And a large crowd from the city was with her.

So here is Jesus. He's approaching a city, and as he gets close to its borders, there's a certain hopelessness in that city. Not only this woman is carrying out her hope, she's carrying out her future, and a son, and of course she was a widow, so her son would be her, basically her retirement, would be her security, it would be her sense of identity, it would be her accomplishment, it would be almost, it's a type of of somebody carrying out of the city everything they'd ever hoped for. And it seems to have just fallen through their fingers.

It's gone. And she wasn't alone in this sorrow. It says a huge crowd from the city was with her. And I can't help but think as I read this, that the numbers of people now who just feel that it's hopeless for the future, the numbers of young people who feel like everything is gone, God was taken away from them in their schools, their fathers in many cases, their families are broken apart, now the future seems to be gone. There's no jobs, and unemployment is high, and difficulty is running. And so there's a large crowd feeling this hopelessness. And it's even something that's tugging at the hearts of people who know God through Jesus Christ, the sense of hopelessness. I know people here have felt that, this foreboding sense that there is no real tangible future that you can lay hold of that's going to bring joy to the heart, that's going to give a sense of well-being.

Seems like everything around us is spinning out of control. And when the Lord saw her, the scripture says he had compassion on her. I'm so encouraged to be able to see her, to be able to encourage that God sees us before we see him. God knows what our needs are before we've even made them known to him. He's not aloof from our struggle and from our suffering and from our trials. He knows, we know a little bit, he knows everything.

He hears every groan at night, every sigh, every tear is counted. If Christ himself were to be in this room, he could tell you exactly how many tears were shed in New York City last night. He knows and the scripture says he had compassion on her. You'd think with the knowledge that God has, he'd be angry, but that's not who God is. If he was an angry God, we'd all be in oblivion now.

This world would have been folded up long ago and a new heavens and a new earth would have been created. No, he's a God of compassion. God so loved the world, he gave his only begotten son. The son of man did not come into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved.

He's a God of mercy, he's a God of compassion. And he said to her, don't weep. Now everything around her would have been reason to weep.

The crowd of witnesses she had around her would be sufficient to tell her, don't listen to him, keep on weeping. It's hopeless. Your future is gone. Your life is over. It's too dark.

There's never going to be light in your heart again. It says then he came and touched the open coffin. In other words, the death was on display, wasn't hidden. People all knew about it. It was a certain fact.

And there are certain facts in our culture, our society that are inescapable now. The coffin is open, may I call it that? And anybody who wants to can look in and see the depraved minds and the confusion, the hopelessness, the paralysis, the violence, the unforgiveness, the bitterness, the greed, the difficulty, the wounds that are just open and gaping and are never going to be healed. Anybody can look in the coffin now and say, don't listen to him.

It's over. But he says he came and touched the open coffin. And those who carried him stood still.

Oh, God help us to stop this insane parade. And he said, young man, I say to you arise, comes a point in history when only God's voice can bring life. Only God's voice.

Nobody else gave this young man any hope, I assure you of that. There's only one voice left. And from time to time throughout history, we get to the same place over and over again, where there is no hope apart from the voice of God. There's no hope apart from the voice of the one who said it is finished. This reign of death and hell and sin is over.

It's broken. And death can't reign any longer. And whosoever will may come and receive life. And suddenly in the midst of all this gloom and all this darkness, the voice of the Son of God rises up and he says, I say to you, young man, arise, get up and live. We need that voice of God again in this generation.

A lot of young people have lost their hope. And all we can do is carry them out in a sense and just put them away out of sight. But that's not the heart of God. He is the author and giver of life. In him was life. And this life was the light of men.

And I love this. So he who was dead, sat up and began to speak. And when you look that up in the original Greek, the word speak means to speak as God speaks. He got up and he began to speak what God speaks. I don't know if he knew where he'd been. Most likely he did. But I know that when he rose up, he began to speak what only God could have given him to speak.

His conversation was changed. You can be sure of that. If you've been dead, you don't get up and just ask for a ham sandwich.

I promise you that. Well, of course he was Jewish. He wouldn't have asked for a ham sandwich anyway. And it says that he presented him to his mother. And so for those who are hopeless, those that are struggling, those that are burdened down with trials and difficulties, Jesus is willing to give you back your hope. You give you your freedom.

You give you that which your heart has always longed for. If you'll stand still and see the salvation of God. If you'll stop trying to work it all out in your own strength and let God do what only God can do for you.

And he presented him to his mother, sons and daughters coming home, the hearts of fathers being turned back to their children and the hearts of children being turned back to their fathers. God doing in our society would only God can do or could do. And I thank God with all my heart. We finally come in our insane parade away from God. We finally come to the place where only God now can bring a healing into our society.

I thank God with all my heart. There is no scheme. There is no plan. There's no amount of money.

There is no new program. There's nothing can heal the wound of this nation apart from the voice of God speaking to it one more time. But Oh, thank God that we don't have a savior who's indifferent to our struggle. We don't have a God who draws back in vengeance, folds his arms and says, cry out to me all you will. I'm not going to answer your prayer. Thank God.

That's not who he is. Sometimes he waits till we're dead. Matter of fact, more time than one in the history of the scripture. He waited till there was no option. He waited till Jonah was in the belly of the whale. He waited till Lazarus was four days in the grave.

Could have come to the city of Nain earlier, but he waited until the whole city was coming out. A great crowd lamenting the hopelessness of their present situation, the loss of their next generation. I'll tell you something. While God is alive, the devil better never fold his hands and say, I've got the next generation because he doesn't, he doesn't have the next generation. So the dead men set up and began to speak. Oh God, the prayer of my heart. As I looked out on the news the other few days ago and I saw so many young people running through the streets of Baltimore, I said, Oh God, let these young people speak for you. The hope is dead.

The hearts, many are empty, not all, but many. But Oh Jesus, you can speak to them and you can cause them to rise up and become great evangelists, pastors, teachers, missionaries, statesmen for the kingdom of God. You can Lord, you can. And if you and I don't believe that were to be pitied, he can, he's God.

He can do whatever he wants to do. The scripture says, then fear came upon all and the glorified God saying, a great prophet has risen up among us and God has visited his people. Oh yes, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

And the report of him went throughout all Judea and all the surrounding region. And so we are asking God to do things that only he can do. We're asking God to be who he is. He is the one who created the universe by the word of his mouth. He's the one who created man out of the dust of the earth. He's the one who can walk on the water, calm the seas, raise people from the dead, give sight to the blind, heal those that have been wounded to the point where the wound can't be repaired by human effort.

That's who he is. That's who we pray to. That's what we believe for. Something is stirring in my heart deeper than I've ever known before. We're going to pray for people who need miracles.

People who are like this lady and her son. New York City, just pray for me. I just gave up. We're going to pray for you, Walter. Elizabeth from Connecticut, please, Jesus, deliver me from my hellish existence. Florida, Steve, my son, 26 years old, three years of heartache ended his life yesterday.

My wife left three years ago. The pain is crushing. We're going to pray for you, Steve. You need a miracle. You're in exactly the same place that this lady was in. Minnesota, I'm bound in sexual lust.

My addiction started at a young age. Please pray for me. I have a need for a praying church and a pastor. Antonio, we're going to pray for you and believe God for a miracle. From Kathy in Boston, my husband passed away and I have a large family.

I'm overwhelmed. I pray that all my children would be saved and live for Jesus. Kathy, you need a miracle and we're going to pray that God give you a miracle. New York, please pray that God would take away this deep pain and internal struggle that I have.

I feel worthless and suicidal at times over my broken marriage. Dennis in Florida, I'm meth addicted. I'm HIV positive. Pray for my salvation, please. Dennis, we're going to pray that God save you.

You have to realize, Dennis, that he loves you with a love so deep your mind can't comprehend it. No matter your situation, he can set you free and give you a healing that's beyond anything you've ever known in your lifetime. From Plymouth, Massachusetts, I'm a single father with no work and no money. I'm crippled by anxiety and depression.

My daughter will be homeless in two weeks. And he ends by saying thank you. Stephen, it's a pleasure to pray for you. We're going to believe God for miracle and miracles in your life. So many people are hopeless.

So many situations are beyond repair. But the Lord saw her and he had compassion and he said to her, don't weep. And then he came and touched the place of death and death was turned to life. It's his choice as to how he chooses to do that. But he is the giver of life and he is the author of healing and he is the one who puts a song of hope where there's only despair. That's who God is.

That's what he does. God has to touch this generation because there's no hope if he doesn't touch it. God has to touch these situations that are listed because they can't be changed without him. But I believe that with God, all things are possible. Do you believe that? I'm done with death.

I believe mountains can be moved. I believe that whatever we ask believing, we shall receive. I believe that our joy will be filled as we see our children not rioting, but dancing in the streets for joy one more time before Christ returns. I believe that with all my heart.

I do. Praise God. Well, we're going to do something a little different. I feel to encourage those that are listening online to keep on praying after we go off off the air. Just keep on praying.

And you take the authority over that mountain in your life. You take you take the authority over that situation because there's so many that are emailing and texting in that have just literally impossible situations apart from the mercy and the power of God. But you've got to start believing that God will answer your prayer.

And I want to encourage you, specifically those online, to take the next 15 to 20 minutes after we go off the air when we wave goodbye to you and you continue praying and ask God to fill you with his Holy Spirit. Ask him. Ask him for his power. The reason I'm asking you to do this is because it's very important for you personally to know that God answers prayer. It doesn't just answer people in New York City praying for you. He will answer you. If you'll cry out to God, he will answer your prayer. And next week, I expect to see a flood of answered prayers, a literal flood.

God give you courage to believe that he will answer and he will answer with power and with mercy. Father, thank you so much. Thank you for the time that we've had together. Your presence has been as thick as an oil in this sanctuary. You have led us in a direction we didn't anticipate going. You've spoken to our hearts. We've clapped.

We've cried and we've laughed together. It's been so good to be in your presence, Lord. Now, God, we lift up every impossible situation to you. And we know that you're looking on us with compassion for your word tells us so. And we ask you now to speak life into death and freedom into captivity and healing into disease and clear thinking into confusion, power into powerlessness, the things, Lord, that can only come from your voice. You are the creator of the heavens and the earth.

And besides you, there is no God. There's only one name given under heaven, whereby men might be saved. And so we're asking you to glorify that name of Jesus. Glorify his name, God Almighty.

And bring healing in a way that could only be attributed to you. Father, we thank you for this with all of our heart. We've come to this point in history where we just stand at your throne and just cry mercy, O God. Mercy, Lord, mercy. And give us the grace to forgive. Give us the grace to walk away from old ways of thinking and old ways of living. Give us all the grace, Lord, and sweep this nation with mercy. Sweep it, God. As you say in the scriptures, light a candle and sweep under everybody else.

And sweep under every bed till every lost coin is found. Give us the grace to care. Break the bonds of indifference.

Break the arrogance of finger pointing. Don't let our children die in our streets, Lord. Forgive us for murdering our children in our wombs for convenience sake. Forgive us for calling a choice.

Forgive us, Lord Jesus Christ, for the confusion that's on every part of our society, which is the well-deserved fruit of what we have become as a people. But there's mercy with you. The scripture says that you may be feared. There's mercy with you. And so we come to the place where there's nothing else to pray. There's no other attribute of your heart to turn to, but your mercy. Your mercy, God.

Your mercy. We ask you to do what we could never do, and ask you to do what we've not done, and ask you to make us into what we could never be. We ask you to give us what we could never hope to possess, and as a nation take us where we could never go. We ask you for an awakening, oh God almighty.

Whatever we choose to call it, an absolute sweep of mercy. An absolute sweep of mercy from sea to sea, and from the river to the ends of the earth, God almighty. For your holy namesake, not for our sake, Lord, but for your holy namesake, which we indeed have blasphemed among the nations whether we travel, but for your holy namesake, oh Jesus, son of God. Oh Jesus, son of God. Awaken us. Awaken us, almighty God, in the precious name of Jesus. Hallelujah. 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.