We are supposed to be a people that are wondered at by the people of this world.
We're supposed to be a marvel. We're supposed to be a demonstration of what God is able to do in a human life. That's our calling in the Kingdom of God. Carter will explain that Jesus was sent by God to bring a message to those whose strength and resort has run out. They are broken-hearted, their dreams have been taken away, and they have unmet expectations, no hope for their future. But Jesus will show them that he is the one mentioned in the scriptures, the one who will give them their purpose again. Let's join Carter now in his message titled, It's Time to Cry Out. I'm going to start in Luke chapter 4.
And if I were to give this a title, I just changed the title as I was sitting here. It's Time to Cry Out. It's Time to Cry Out. Father, I thank you for the touch of heaven in this sanctuary tonight.
I thank you, Lord God. We expect a fight against this truth. We expect that all of our life's experience will fight against it. Every voice of unbelief in our heart will rise up against it. Every demonic spirit will try to shout it down in our ears. But God, there is a truth here that can make such a difference in every life.
Lord, help me to expound on this. Holy Spirit, come upon me one more time. And Lord, I'm asking you to come upon this audience as well, the people that will be hearing this in the future.
Lord, come upon us and give us the ears to hear what the Spirit is speaking to the church. And Father, we thank you for it and we praise you for it. In Jesus' name. Now I'm going to start in Luke chapter 4 and then we're going to move from there to Luke chapter 18. Luke chapter 4 beginning at verse 16. This is about Jesus Christ. So he came to Nazareth where he had been brought up. And as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood up to read. And he was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah.
And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written. The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because that because is really important because what he's saying is the Spirit of the Lord is upon me for this reason. This is why the Spirit of the Lord is upon me. Because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor.
In other words, he sent me to bring a message to those whose strength and resource have run out. They don't have the resource to change. They don't know how they're ever going to become anything different than what they are at present.
He sent me to heal the broken hearted. People with broken dreams. People with unmet expectations. People who even loathed what they were and who they were. And there are many people like that in this society, especially in a city like New York City where whether you were raised here or you came to the city.
And many people who do come here, they have a vision of what their future is going to be. And very, very rarely does that future play out the way you thought it was going to play out. And because of it, you're sitting here broken hearted. Like my life is not turning out the way I thought it was going to be. My dreams are broken.
My expectations are unmet. And I don't like the person that I'm becoming. I don't like what I'm doing.
I don't like who I am. He sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives, to those whose behaviors or addictions or even captivated by memories of things that were said or weren't said or things that were done or weren't done in our lives. And so it's very easy to be captivated not just by addictions but by memories as well. He says, I came to recover sight to the blind. Now this is the only thing that he said the Spirit of the Lord was upon him for that could be ascribed to something physical. We know there are people who are physically blind. But I don't, and it may apply in part, but I really do feel that the blindness was in great measure a spiritual blindness where I can't see myself the way God sees me. I don't see the future that God has for my life.
I don't understand how anything of this life is ever going to amount to anything. And I came to set free or set at liberty those who are oppressed. In other words, there are voices now speaking into your head and into your heart. It could be your own voice. It could be the voice of your heart.
It could be past or present voices that keep coming back into the fore. It could be voices of spiritual darkness coming against you and to set at liberty those who are oppressed and to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. Now people would be stunned that somebody would be reading this scripture because they knew this could only be ascribed to the Messiah. They spent their whole existence waiting, their religious existence waiting for the coming of the Messiah. Now somebody that they're familiar with who lives in a familiar town who has as a family is suddenly standing there and he's making the claim, or he hasn't yet but he's about to make the claim that he is the fulfillment of the scripture and the scripture is being fulfilled in their hearing.
Then he closed the book and gave it back to the attendant and sat down and all the eyes of them who are in the synagogue were fixed on him. And he began to say to them, today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing. There is a day in everyone's life where the promises of God come to the fore. Now you would think that the people would say, oh this is amazing, this is awesome, the Messiah has come. You would think there would be a rush in a sense to the front of that sanctuary at that particular time and people would be crying out in a sense for their oppressions, their broken heartedness, their captivity, their inability to see a way forward, their oppressions.
But instead they took them out and they wanted to throw them off of a cliff for making this kind of a bold statement. And quite often, let's just be honest, that's what we do in our heart, in our mind at least. Somebody, a preacher gets up and says this is your day, this is the day of your freedom, this is the day when God's hand is coming upon you, this is the day when the anointing of the Spirit is going to be transferred to you and you're going to be, as the scripture says, the same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead is going to quicken your mortal body. You're going to become another person, you're going to be a new creation, you're going to have a new plan, you're going to have a new future, you're going to have a new story, you're going to have a new mind, you're going to have a new heart, you're going to have a new spirit. This day the scripture is fulfilled in your hearing. And the people sat there stunned. They acknowledged that these were gracious words that came out of his mouth, but then they said, well, is this not Joseph's son? And they heard these things, they were filled with anger and they rose up to thrust him out of the city and they led him to the brow of a hill on which the city was built that they might throw him down over the cliff, but he just passed through the midst of them and went on his way. You see, you can't throw Christ off of anything. He created everything.
You can't throw him off of anything. He's Almighty God. And it's such a stunning response, but I'm afraid that I've seen this too many times throughout my life when somebody gets up who has received a word from God and tells the people, this day you can be free, this day your heart can be healed, this day your captivity can be broken, this day you can start a new journey and have a new future. And they draw back and they want to take the whole message and spiritually speaking throw it off a cliff.
Oh, not for me, not today. Is this not Joseph's son? Do we not know his family? And they're angered by the thought that their lives in a sense could be more than what they've assumed it was always going to be. So I want to go to Luke chapter 18 beginning at verse 35. This is again about Jesus. And then it happened as he was coming near Jericho that a certain blind man sat by the road begging.
And hearing a multitude passing by, he asked what it meant. So they told him that Jesus of Nazareth was passing by. And he cried out saying, Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me.
He didn't even ask to be given his sight. He just said, God, have mercy on me. Look upon me. Look upon my affliction. Look at what life has dealt to me.
Look at where I am. Oh God, have mercy on me. Then those who went before warned him that he should be quiet.
Isn't it amazing? He said, they're at Jericho. And they've forgotten that it was at Jericho when they shouted that the walls came down. The impenetrable walls that was a type of a stronghold in their place of promise. The walls didn't come down when they were quiet. The walls came down when they shouted. They shouted on the seventh day. And when they shouted, the walls collapsed. I think it's inwardly they collapsed.
And they went in and took a spoil. And now, years later, they're telling a man who's shouting in the same place called Jericho for his walls to come down. The walls that are surrounding his life. The walls that have built themselves around him. The walls of hopelessness that are part of his life.
The blindness that doesn't allow him to see a way forward into the future now. He's crying out the way they shouted out. And now the people are telling him to be quiet. Isn't it amazing what religion can become over time? Where we somehow think that it's reverent to never shout out, to never cry out, to never just get desperate with God.
Everything has to be measured. And we must never lose our integrity as we see it by admitting our need. But this man didn't care. He was so surrounded by walls that he did what they had done many, many years before. And you see, because he was willing to cry out to the Son of God, his wall was about to come down. His life was about to be transformed. So Jesus stood still after he cried out, David, Son of David, have mercy on me. Jesus stood still and commanded him to be brought to him. And when he had come near, he asked him something.
And when you start, when Jesus draws near to you, he's not going to tell you what you need necessarily. But as in this case, in many times he's going to ask you, what do you want me to do for you? And this is what he asked.
He said, what do you want me to do for you? Wasn't it obvious? I mean, the man is blind. I mean, why would he ask him that?
We're reading this story in retrospect and we are aware that the man was blind. We are aware that he's begging on the side of the road. We are aware that he has a great need in his life. But the question I guess I have in my heart is, is he aware of what he needs? And I believe that's why Jesus asked him, what do you want me to do? He could have said, I need a new coat.
And that's what he would have left with. I need a new coat. My old one is stinky and it's a bit ratty.
And he could have said, I need a better begging spot. I've worn this one out like a fisherman. I've worn this one out. There's no more fish here. People are too used to seeing me here. I need a friend. Maybe he was just all alone because it seems there was nobody there to encourage him. Everybody's just telling him to be quiet.
I need a job. There's all kinds of things he could have asked for, but his greatest need was vision. He needed his sight. He needed to be able to see a way forward.
He needed to be able to see a future in his life. He needed to be able to see by the power of God that he believed was available as Christ was passing by. Listen to what Paul the Apostle says in the book of Ephesians chapter 1 beginning at verse 17.
Now listen to that in the context of this blind man. That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him. The eyes of your understanding being enlightened.
Paul is essentially saying to the church of Ephesus, you need spiritual sight. You need to understand who Jesus Christ is. That you may know what is the hope of his calling. What are the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints that you might know. You need your eyes of understanding open to know that God hasn't called you just to sit on the side of the road and talk about things of the past and live as a beggar in the present.
Always spiritually speaking with your cop looking for somebody to throw in a coin of encouragement or something. When you're called to be so much more than that as you are and I am. The hope of his calling and what are the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints. I came, the spirit of the Lord is upon me to preach the gospel to the poor. I came to tell you, Jesus said, that there's a treasure of heaven.
When I rose from the dead, I took your captivity captive and it released giftings of God for you. For everyone, not just for a select few, not just for the elite. Not just for the gifted and talented, etc, etc. In a natural sense, but for the whole church of Jesus Christ. We are supposed to be a people that are wondered at by the people of this world.
We're supposed to be a marvel. We're supposed to be a demonstration of what God is able to do in a human life. That's our calling in the kingdom of God.
I don't know about you, but I'm not willing to sit on the side of the road and beg. I'm not willing just to talk about what they did in Acts chapter two. I want to live in Acts chapter two. I want to be part of that prayer meeting. I want to come out of the upper room with abilities given of God to do things that only God can do. I want my life to be a challenge to those who live in darkness in this world all around us.
I want people to be able to look at you and say, only God could have done that. Only God could have changed that man, that woman, the way they are changed. I knew that man when he couldn't put two sentences together. Now he's preaching like an orator. I knew that woman when she's so selfish.
She never had a kind word for a single person. Now she's giving food away to the poor. She's constantly speaking to people in her neighborhood about the goodness of her God. That you may know what is the hope of his calling and what are the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints and what is the exceeding greatness of his power towards us who believe according to the working of his mighty power. You see, there will be no spiritual awakening until we agree with this. Or we'll get excited in the house of God. But there's no real awakening in the heart until I come into agreement with the word of God and I say, God, if this is true, I want the whole thing.
I want all of it. I'm not going to live sticking my toe in the water every Sunday morning and I'm going off the high diving board into this world. Do you understand? I'm going all the way with God. If this is what God says about me, then I'm going to agree with God. Which he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in heavenly places. He's far above all principality, power, might and dominion. I came to set the captives free.
Do you remember that? And every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in that which is to come, and has put all things under his feet and gave him to be head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all. In other words, he sits in total victory. Every name that is named in this world and in the world to come is underneath him. He has all power. He has all authority.
He is the head. We are the body. It is through you and I that he demonstrates who he is on this earth. And so when the people of Israel came into the promised land, they encountered this place called Jericho. And it was impossible and it was impassable, just like many of us tonight are or maybe were in the past.
You know it and I know it. There were places in my life when I came to Christ I could not get through without the power of God. There were aspects of character that would never have changed apart from the promise that in Christ I become a new creation. And the old things passed away and all things become new. How many times when God says to us, what do you need?
What do you want me to do? We ask for something less than what we actually need. Now God knows what we need, but do we know what we need?
We bring it down to groceries, which is great. You need groceries. The blind man needed a new cup. He needed a new friend.
There is no doubt he needed a new coat. He probably needed a new lots of everything after years and years and years of begging. But how many times do we ask God and why do we go for less? Are we afraid that God won't answer us? Are we going to be the one exception to his promises? Is it going to be written in the Bible about all the power except for, at the bottom of the page, a little asterisk with your name except for so and so in New York City in 2024, the above does not apply? Are we going to be disappointed if he doesn't answer us the way we want to? Or are we unaware of our deepest need?
You know, sometimes we can just start focusing all the little stuff everywhere. I need a new car. I need a tire. I need, you know. You imagine, you imagine it's really, it's an amazing thing, but imagine if he appeared in your bedroom tonight when you went home as he did to Solomon one time and said, ask, what do you want?
I need a new tire for my car. It's God. He can give you anything. And sometimes we just set our expectations so low. I remember one person one time said, I set my expectations low because if I go big and God doesn't answer, then I feel like I've lost the last thread to sanity that I have. If he doesn't answer me, then, so I'm giving him a way out. May I put it that way? By going low when he asks me what I need.
So I give him an, I give him an out. But Jesus said these words in Matthew chapter seven, he said, ask and it will be given you. Seek and you will find.
Knock and it will be open to you. For some people who ask receive. Is that what your Bible says? Oh no. Mine says, oh, you can see it on the screen.
That's not fair. No one who asks receives and he who seeks finds that to him who knocks it will be open. Or what man is there among you whom if his son asked for bread, he would give him a stone? Or if he asked for a fish, would he give him a serpent?
If you then being evil, that is in comparison to God, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him? Ask and it will be given you. Seek you will find.
Knock and it will be open to you. And again, a little farther down in Mark chapter 11 verse 21, it says, Peter remembering said, Rabbi, look, the fig tree which you cursed is withered away. So Jesus answered and said to them, have faith in God. For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, be removed and cast into the sea, but does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done.
He will have whatever he says. Therefore, I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them and you will have them. Whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them and you will have them.
I'm going to say that again. Whatever things you ask for when you pray, believe that you receive them and you will have them. When you're asking for something that will bring God's name to glory, the name of Christ to glory, when you're not asking to consume it on your own loss, but you're asking for the kingdom of God's sake, you're asking for the reputation of Christ's sake, you're asking for the sake of people who need to know there is a living savior in the world, you're asking because you want your life to make a difference in your home, your family, your marriage, with your children, in your community, in your city, your town, your state, or your nation.
You're asking for the right reason, not for the wrong reason. That's why Jesus called the man to himself when he said, Son of David, have mercy on me. And he said, bring him to me. And he looked him in the eye and said, what do you want me to do for you? And the man said, I want to receive my sight.
I want to see. You see, the irony of it all is if he could see, he could find a new coat, he could find a better spot, he could find a new friend, he could find a job, and he could find a way out of begging for provision every day. But not only was God going to answer his cry and give him his vision, his physical vision, something else was about to be seen through this man and in this man because we're still talking about him over 2,000 years later. They talk about him in China, they talk about him in India, they talk about him in Africa, they talk about him in Asia, they talk about him in North America, they talk about him in Central America, they talk about him in every language known to humankind that this book is printed in.
They're talking about this man. And it all started when he said, Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me. You have no idea what God can do when you cry that out. God, help me, save me, change me, use me for your glory. You say there are giftings to heaven available for me. God, I want everything you've got. I just love my grandkids because if you ask them what do you want for Christmas, that's what you're going to get, everything.
I want everything. And I love that about a child. Remember Jesus said unless you become as a child, what? You can't see the kingdom of God.
You don't understand it. You're blind to the kingdom of God unless you become as a little child. But in your heart you begin to realize that Jesus actually wants to give me these things to bring his own name to glory and reputation in the earth. God, I want it all.
God, I want it all. The plan of God for your life is so much bigger than your plan. Your plan may have come to an end. Maybe you're at a place, as I shared earlier in the message, maybe you're at a place of brokenheartedness, of poverty in the spirit, of captivity to behaviors, that you're oppressed by voices and memories past or present and you don't see a way forward. You are a prime candidate for a miracle if that is you. Because as long as you're still trying to add to the formula, you're not going to cry out.
It's only when you get desperate you're going to cry out. God, God, I don't care what anybody says. I don't care what they think.
I don't care if they tell me to be quiet. Jesus, have mercy on me. The message today has been brought to you by Carter Conlon from Time 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.
