This week on A Call to the Nation, a word from Carter Conlon from the Pray Vote Stands Summit in Leesburg, Virginia. We can't hate people and worship God, because listen, we are ambassadors of the one who went to a cross.
And on that cross, he had nails in his wrists and nails in his feet, put there by Roman soldiers. Let's join Carter now for a powerful message from the Pray Vote Stands Summit. It's so good to be with you this evening, and I've really sought the Lord for something for you, as you have heard statistics, you've heard about the situation as it exists in our country. You've had a plethora of information on various causes, and some of you, I have no doubt, God is speaking to your heart about the things that he's calling you to do. And by his grace, may it surely be done, and bring honor and glory to his name. I feel in my heart that I'd like to speak to you as a pastor tonight.
This message actually is for you, it's not about the country, it's not about some of the issues that you've heard about. It's really just a word for you, it's a word for me, it's a word for us as the body of Jesus Christ. Now the Apostle Paul in the New Testament spoke a word to the Corinthian believers, and he shared some behaviors of the people of God in the Old Testament. He said about these behaviors, he said, all the things that came upon them, and they weren't good things actually, he said, happened to them for examples to us, upon whom the end of the ages actually has come. And then he finishes the statement with a warning, he said, therefore, let the person who thinks they stand take heed unless they fall. And we are a wise people if we're able to look into the history of God's dealing with his people, the history of people's dealings with God, where the relationship found its strength, and then ultimately where the relationship broke down. And if anything in this generation, you and I need to find the strength of God again.
We need to know him in strength. Our words have to be more than just another argument in a society that's just inundated with arguments and opinions. Paul the Apostle himself said, your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.
And I don't know about you, but I want power in my speech. When I say something that God has put on my heart, I want that word to go right through my heart first and touch the hearts of the hearers. And as the scripture tells us in the New Testament that as we behold Christ, we are changed from what we are into the person or the image of God that God has destined us to be.
And we are changed by the power of God's Holy Spirit. I want to look in the Old Testament just for a moment tonight and then we're going to pray. There was a particular time in the history of the people of Israel where there was a young king. He was only 16 years of age when he came into power. His name was Isaiah. He reigned for 52 years and under his reign, Israel rose to an unprecedented place of prosperity and power and fame and recognition throughout most of the known world of that particular time. The scripture says he did right in the sight of God and he sought God in the days of Zechariah, who had understanding in the visions of God. And as long as he sought the Lord, God made him to prosper.
I want you to think about that for a moment. As long as he sought the Lord, God made him to prosper. Now, the government in a sense of America throughout its history and the church have had kind of like a parallel path. It's not been a perfect path, but the one characteristic that I've discovered about this nation is that there always was a willingness among the people, even though there was a stubbornness or deviations and some of them quite serious.
But nevertheless, there was an ability. Most everybody went to church. Most everybody, at least the majority, I think, of years gone by had a biblical worldview and they were able to eventually be reckoned with or reasoned with and their behaviors were brought in line with the word of God.
And that is the history in a sense of much of this country. And I recognize, I'm not trying to make a blanket statement for I know that there were grave injustices committed even in the name of God. But nevertheless, there always was this willingness. As long as he sought the Lord, God made him to prosper. And how many here can bear witness to that in your own life tonight? You sought him.
You know, I can tell you from my life, I was a cop for 12 years and I was a cop when I came to Christ and I sought him. And as I became a believer in Jesus Christ, I began to seek the Lord and he made me to prosper. He changed my character. He made me a better father. He made me a better husband.
He changed my heart. I started to care for people. I was not a very good candidate for the ministry when I first got saved.
I didn't like myself and I honestly didn't like anybody else either. One day I went to an altar. I responded to an altar call and I said, God, I have nothing. If you need a bad temper, I got that. I'm your man. You need a lousy husband, that's me. If you need a father that doesn't know how to be a father, I got that down pretty good. If you need a person, I said, God, I was on my knees at an altar in a church.
I don't even like people. But I somehow hear you calling me. I responded to the call of God and like happened to you, Zion, the nation, as we sought God, God made us to prosper. You are what you are tonight because you are seekers of God. Can you imagine what you would be had you not spent time seeking? Some of you would be dead. Others would be alcoholics. Others would be drug addicts. Others would be bank robbers. Who knows what you would be?
Or just at home depressed, having sought all these things in the world only to find out they don't satisfy. You would have lost your families, your kids. There'd be such death and destruction, but you sought the Lord and God made you to prosper. The scripture tells us that he built cities and established garrisons in the places of his former enemies, actually went in, conquered enemy nations or societies that were coming against the people of God at that time. And he established military garrisons there. And America did that over the years, went into places and conquered those that would have risen up and caused heartache in the nation and set up military bases.
And seemingly these nations were incapable in a sense of evicting them. And the presence in a sense of the victory of God was established in these places that perhaps were once enemies of this nation. And if you're honest tonight, God did that for you too. He gave us the power in a sense to go into places that were enemies against our minds and against our souls. And he gave us a bulwark against it. And we were no longer dominated by the things that used to dominate our lives. But now he gave us the power to go in and establish beachheads in these areas.
And they no longer control us, but by the power and grace of God, we control them. The scripture says his fame spread as far as the entrance of Egypt and he became exceedingly strong. So he became to be famous. Now some of us tonight are legends in our own mind.
That's okay. If that's what you are, I'm okay with that, you know, somebody's got to know exactly who and what you are. But all of us in some measure came into fame because of the presence of God.
I'm not talking about national or international name recognition. Now some may have that, but I'm talking about your kids looking at you or me and saying my dad or my mom is a man or woman of God. I'm talking about neighbors. I'm talking about coworkers.
I'm talking about people you meet on the street. When you have walked with God, there's a measure of fame that God puts inside your heart that even just walking away from an interaction, people look and say, wow, that is really a nice person. Not because of anything we have done, but because of who Christ is in us and what he's making us into and what he's doing through our lives. He was able to fortify the cities that God allowed him to build. The scripture says he dug many wells, he had much livestock, he had farmers and vine dressers and mountains and for he loved the soil. And we look at the history of America and I've traveled a good part of the world now and I've seen societies that are starving, they're hungry, there's a lack of food and supply, but hasn't God been good to this nation? Hasn't God been good to this country?
Yes, you go ahead. There has been no shortage of basket and store and we've had fields of wheat and we've had all kinds of herds of cattle and it seems everything we touched and put our hands to as a nation prospered and in that sense we became, because of the provision, the envy of the world and that's why a lot of people risk their lives to get here. It's not just the freedom, which is great, but it's the provision.
It's the opportunity in a sense to eat three times a day when a lot of people around the world are lucky if they get to eat once. The scripture said he had an army of fighting men and they were men of valor and under their authority there was 375,000 men in this army and they made war with mighty power to help the king against the enemy and this is in a sense what we became as a nation. God gave us an incredible army, an incredible military to be able to fight the wars of this nation as we heard so well articulated yesterday and all of these things, you look in our own lives, Jesus said, behold I give you power to tread on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy and nothing shall by any means hurt you.
And so whether you realize it or not, you have an army at your disposal. You have the presence of God, you have the power of God, you have the promises of God to stand and to believe God for great, great victories in your life. The scripture says he was marvelously helped until he became strong. I can honestly say that, I've been marvelously helped most of my life. I've been in places I should not be.
I've spoken in places I'm not qualified to speak in. He's made me more than I could ever hope to be in myself. He's taken me places I could never go in any amount of natural strength and given me what I could never possess. I am eternally grateful. If I were to die tonight before this message is done, God owes me nothing and I still owe him everything for all he has done in my life.
Thank God. Marvelously helped until he was strong, but then something happens. There's a turning in this man, as I believe there has been, somewhat of a turning in this nation. When he was strong, the scripture says his heart was lifted up to his destruction, for he transgressed against the Lord his God by entering the temple of the Lord to burn incense on the altar of incense. So here's what he actually did. He became so used to the victory and so used to the provision that he fell to that Adamic nature, that indwelling power of sin that was sown in the hearts of humanity in the Garden of Eden to be as God, to become his own judge of what's good and evil. And what this man did is he went into the house of God.
He was so used to victory. He went into the house of God and somehow got into his head that he can change the laws of God without consequence. He could still go in and worship as he saw it.
And you think about what this nation has done, how we've redefined marriage. You think about how we've changed things that are clearly defined in the word of God and still go into the house of God and somehow think this is acceptable in the sight of a holy God. The scripture tells us that there were 80 valiant men that went in and resisted him.
And immediately as they went in and they said, Uzziah, it's not for you to do this. This is not what the word of God says. You've deviated from the word of God and you've brought another spirit into the house of God.
You've brought the rebellion of the human heart. You're not worshiping according to the prescribed manner that God has clearly revealed and clearly written in his word. And the scripture says, Uzziah became furious with these 80 men, furious at being challenged, furious at the audacity as it is of these 81 actually valiant priests that went in and said, this is not for you.
You can't do this in the house of God. And as he became furious, the scripture tells us a leprosy appeared on his forehead, you see, because he was diseased in his mind and the disease manifested outside of his mind. He thought he could dictate to God. He thought he could bring something into the house of God that didn't belong there, which now comes down to you and I.
We live in a generation that is so vile, is so against the ways of God, is so prone to lying as easy as breathing. And the apostle Paul warned that in the last days, which we are now, I believe, living in, that because iniquity will abound, the love of many will grow cold. The love of, it's not so much the love of God, they will still love God, but they will not love the work of God. The work of God is the redemption of the lost. That is God's work.
The work of God is that none should perish, but all should come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. And you and I need to be careful as all the things around us begin to unfold and as it gets more vile day by day by day, that we don't allow hatred into our heart and try to make it part of our worship. We can't hate people and worship God, because listen, we are ambassadors of the one who went to a cross, and on that cross he had nails in his wrists and nails in his feet, put there by Roman soldiers. His friends were far off from him. One was even denying and cursing with the note that he even knew him.
The one who said he loved him the most ran out of the garden when he really needed him. The priests and religious leaders are mocking and wagging their heads and their tongues. They're cursing at him. They're saying, if you're the son of God, come down from the cross. Show us you're the son of God and we will believe.
There's mockery everywhere. And to add insult to injury, the Roman soldiers are gambling for his garments at the foot of the cross. And you know, of course, the Bible tells us that Jesus, drawing a last breath, what did he say? Oh, Father, I hate these people. I hope they all burn in hell, every last one of them. They deserve to burn. The Romans are trying to impose their worldview by force. They consider themselves superior to everyone else, even the people of God. And they're trying to impose this worldview by force. Let them burn, Father, every last one of them.
No, he drew his last breath. And according to one of the gospels, he said, Father, forgive them, for they don't know what they do. And we, as the people of God, are now the body of Christ. We are the people in whom the Spirit of God now dwells left on the earth to continue the work that he started on the cross, to bring this incredible love of the Savior to all of fallen humanity around us. And beware, this is the word that God put on my heart, with all the information we have and all that the heathen and the godless are doing, all that they're doing in the school system, all they're doing in government, all they're doing. Beware lest you allow bitterness into your heart and try to make it part of your worship experience. We are ambassadors of the one who sent his son to a cross because God so loved the world. And it's easy to hate.
And it's hard to love. You listen to the endless blathering of all of the newscasters and eventually you pick up their spirit. Eventually you start saying what they say. Eventually, as Uzziah did, we start leaving the precepts, as the previous speaker said, we leave the precepts of the word of God and we bring another spirit into the house of God, we add it to our worship. And then when a priest or somebody who stands, a minister of the gospel who stands to resist the spirit, challenges us, we become furious, just as Uzziah did. And Uzziah ended up in a back room the rest of his life with somebody else speaking for him and governing for him.
Wouldn't it be awful as a believer in Christ for you and me that if we ended up somewhere in the back room and somebody else has to take our place and do our speaking for us because we allowed another spirit to come into our worship. And so with all the knowledge that you've had and all the material and all the information that's been given to you, let one thing rise above all of it. Go home with this. God so loved the world. God so loved the world that He sent His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. I choose to love. I choose to love, I choose to pray for those, Jesus said, pray for those who despitefully use you. Bless those who curse you. Love your enemies. These are the commands of God.
This is what is written. We don't have the right to bring another spirit into the house of God. I'm not saying we don't run for office or join committees or do what we have to do to try to preserve our society, but do it with the right spirit. Do it with the spirit of God.
We are the people of the cross of Jesus Christ. I speak to you as one who understands what I'm talking about. I was so hard when I was a police officer.
I'd go to an accident scene, I would draw a chalk line around the bodies on the road and go and eat my lunch, I didn't care. And by the grace of God, I'm never going back there again. By the grace of God, I will never hate another man, another woman, another person.
I will pray for those in authority, no matter who they are. Think of Saul of Tarsus. Saul of Tarsus was a loon, an absolute radical. I don't care. From your perspective, you could call him extreme right or extreme left.
It doesn't matter. But he was an absolute maniac, not only hauling people out of their homes, but torturing them and forcing them to actually blaspheme God. Getting letters from authorities to go to cities and bring more people into captivity. And God chose him. God chose this. Think of it. Just think of the loon that's coming into your mind right now. And I know you're thinking of one right now.
You can start at the top and just work your way all the way down. There's no shortage of loons in our society right now, in places of even authority. But God chose him. His ways are not our ways.
His heart is quite often quite separate from ours. I don't know, but I wouldn't have chosen Saul of Tarsus. I would have prayed, God, kill that man on the Damascus road. And then he goes to a Christian called Ananias. And Ananias says, go to this street called Straight Street.
There's a man there. Lay your hands on him that he might receive the Holy Spirit. And Ananias comes into the house and calls him Brother Saul.
Can you imagine? Brother Saul. Brother Saul. And he became one of the greatest apostles of all time. The beautiful verse in the Battle Hymn of the Republic, it's the second verse.
And it says, in the beauty of the lilies, Christ was born across the sea with a glory in his bosom that transfigures you and me. As he died to make men holy, let us live to make men free. Our God is marching on. Praise be to God. I try in my mind to envision our president a believer in Christ before he dies. He's going to stand before God in the not too distant future. I try in my mind to see Chuck Schumer, Nancy Pelosi, and others as believers in Christ. And why would we think it's impossible that God can do that?
He can. And I pray to God he will. I don't want to see a single soul in hell when I could have had an opportunity to receive Christ as Savior. And so I want to challenge you tonight with everything that's in my heart that you choose to love, choose to love. My brother, my sister, choose to love. When you stand, it doesn't mean you give up on all of the causes maybe that God's put in your life, in your heart. But when you stand in the house of God, let it be a heart of love. Let it be hands and a heart and a voice that's in unison with God that you are raising before the throne of God. Ask for the empowerment of God's Holy Spirit because we can't love like this on our own.
It's not possible. We need the power of God to love those that are unlovable. And by God's grace, we can.
I wish I had time. I'd tell you some experiences of meeting people who had been in prison that I didn't possibly believe could be saved, but they were and are. God can save anyone. So Father, I pray tonight, God, I pray for my brothers and my sisters here. Lord, with with all that we know and all that remains to be done, may we bring a right spirit to your throne. May none of us be found there with anger in our hearts. May none of us ever be in our hearts, say, I wish this person was dead and in hell.
Let that not be in us. Give us a right spirit, O God. Send us from here, Lord, with the knowledge that we've received, but with the heart of God in Jesus Christ. Father, thank you.
Would you stand? I want to pray for you before I'm a little over time. I normally don't do that, but I'd like to pray for you, for everyone that's here. And would you do me a favor?
Many of you might not be familiar with this. Some might be, but would you lift your hands to the Lord? Would you just do it? And would you open your mouth now and just say, God, as David once prayed, created me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Don't take your Holy Spirit from me, God, but lead me in the way that's your way.
Lead me in the pathway of life everlasting. Would you lift your voice now? Just take a minute, please. Just go ahead and start speaking out loud. Just let it be your personal prayer. Don't be afraid.
Don't be ashamed. Just start now and just lift your voice to God. Just lift your voice to God. Ask for the Holy Spirit.
Ask God to give you an empowerment of the Holy Spirit. God, help us to love. God, help me, Lord.
Help me. It would be so easy to hate. It'd be so easy, Lord, with all the information, all the things that I know, just to be able to despise your creation. But, O God, you've called me to be an ambassador of your cross.
You had the right to despise me and you didn't. I used to curse your name, Lord, in the kingdom of God. I used to curse your name, Lord, in the lunchroom when I played cards.
I cursed your name nonstop, but you didn't turn your face from me. You were kind to me, Lord. You were kind to me in my folly. You were kind to me in my stupidity. You were kind to me in my arrogance, O God. And when I even understood you and resisted you, God, you remained kind to me.
When I was unkind to your people, you stayed kind to me. So, Father, I'm asking in Jesus' name, God, empower us. Empower us to love the unlovable. Empower us to believe, God, to the end for people that in the natural we would never believe could ever serve you.
But you are a God of the impossible. So we put it all in your hands and we just choose to love. We choose it, Lord, as a choice. We give you thanks and we give you praise in Jesus' name. Would you sing that verse with me just while Pastor Tony comes again? In the beauty of the lilies, Christ was born across the sea with a glory in His bosom that transfigures you and me.
As He died to make men holy, let us live to make men free. Our God is marching on, sing it now. Glory, glory, hallelujah, glory, glory, hallelujah. Glory, glory, hallelujah, His truth is marching on. One more time. Glory, glory, hallelujah, glory, glory, hallelujah, glory, glory, hallelujah. Thank you for joining us this week for A Call to the Nation with Carter Conglin. For more information, visit itstimetopray.org. You can count on a powerful message each week on A Call to the Nation with Carter Conglin.
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