You're About to Have an Earthquake — Carter Conlon

Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Lord. What a wonderful wonderful Wonderful day. This has been in the house of God. Oh God, thank you so much Lord. I just pray that in these next few minutes Lord that you would come as a light into every darkened place Where people live in despair?

And a sense of hopelessness an absence of a future. God Almighty, I pray that you bring light into these darkened places. That you would use my voice as you have used the testimonies tonight and the songs that we've sung in the praise of your people.

God Almighty, I plead with you for every person that's here who doesn't know you as Lord and Savior. I Stand at your throne Lord, and I ask you for mercy God mercy Lord. God move every obstacle out of the way That stands in the way of those that you died for because you loved them.

God give us courage. Give each man every woman here Courage to step into the light. I Thank you for this in Jesus mighty name. Let me just tell you a story that's in the Bible. It's it's not fiction. It's a real story.

Paul and Silas in the Inner Prison

It actually did happen Almost 2 ,000 years ago. It's been recorded. And it's a story that took place in an inner prison now. There's a prison, but then there's an inner prison. The inner prison is a place where you generally those who are the greatest Offenders the people who are most likely to hurt themselves or others.

Those that are Captivated and the people who captivated them don't want them to get out. So they put them in this inner prison. It's a place of hopelessness. Where there is no escape. Not only is it a physical place for some people but it's also a place in the heart that caused them to get in this Physical place, you know some people here tonight you are in two prisons really in one place.

But in two prisons number one, you're in a circumstance that you don't know how to get out of it. You're in you're in a place where the the walls are closing in and darkness seems to be all around you and it's it's such A hopeless place, but even if you were able to escape that physical place, you still have another prison inside your own heart.

Something in your character. There's something in your nature that you can't stop doing what you're doing. You want to but you can't stop. Paul the Apostle spoke about that in another book called the book to the Church of the Romans and He wrote in this book.

He said I know what to do and Even inside I have a delight of wanting to do it, but I can't find the power to do it. It's like the man who goes home and says I'm going to be a good father. I I need to be a good father and I need to be a good husband and and Has the best of intentions all the way home on the subway then then walks down the block and says this is what I'm going.

To be walks up the stairs or into his apartment and and the first thing that happens is not to his liking. It turns him and he starts yelling and screaming and threatening again. Only to go to bed at night hating himself said I feel like I'm in a prison.

How do I get out of the place that I'm in and in that inner prison? There was a jailer as well. And this man was a man who was given to cruelty. I think he hated himself to be honest with you. You know people who are in law enforcement that have a tendency to be cruel generally are dealing with a self-hatred.

It's not really the people they arrest that they hate. It's a it's themselves deep down that they hate. I know it because I've worked there. I know what this is all about and This man sees two suffering men come in now.

They Paul the Apostle and his friend Silas they they were preaching the gospel and People got upset about it. They brought them before the law because they were affecting their society and they they really didn't want their society to be affected.

It was affecting their earnings. They were given to all kinds of Wickedness and when Paul and Silas preached Christ it changed things and when it changed things They started to lose their influence and their income on top of that.

And so they brought them before the judges who commanded them to be beaten they hadn't committed a crime. All they had done is Talked about the fact that there was a God who loved people who he sent his son and his son Died on a cross which is a two pieces of wood put together in the shape of a T.

He was nailed to that To pay the price for the wrong things that people had done so they could be free free from the penalty of that wrong, which we call sin and brought back into a Living in a right relationship with God.

So for this crime. These two men are beaten their backs are bloody. They were beaten scripture says with with many stripes, which means rods. They they were they were beaten on the back with sticks and they were Thrown into prison and the prisoner Sees them come in they're suffering men.

They've really not criminals. They're not going to run anywhere. They're they're gentlemen. They're believers in Christ and. But he has no sympathy for them and he actually increases their suffering. It says he put their feet in stocks, which means that they couldn't move to get comfortable.

They'd be laying on their backs that are bleeding and bruised probably on cold stone. And so this man has no sympathy for anybody hates himself. He hates what he does he hates his job and it ultimately hates people as well.

What a terrific and a horrific situation for two godly men to find themselves in and For the Christian people here tonight. I want to share something with you that you need to consider for the sake of others.

Not for your sake but for the sake of others. God will let you be put into places that you would rather not be. Have you ever thought that the apartment building you live in the family you belong to the neighbors you have.

You ever thought that the place that you're working in or the the unemployment line that you're standing in every day. Whatever your situation is that you are in that place For somebody else's sake that God died for that the Son of God died for.

It's something we need to think about because in the in the Christian Church we've fallen into the trap in our generation of thinking that coming to Jesus Christ is just all about getting out of all suffering and All trouble and living on a castle on a hill until Jesus comes to take us home, but that isn't biblical Christianity.

God will allow us to go through the same sufferings as other people have to go through but for a reason. Now here are Paul and Silas they're beaten their backs are bloody the jailer is Vicious, they're in the inner prison.

Worship in the Midst of Suffering

It's dark. It's damp. It's cold. It's a miserable place. There's hopelessness folks. I preached in prisons, especially in maximum security prisons that Wardens have told me different times that when the lights go out at night men howl like wolves for pain and for anguish they howl.

They don't know what else to do. They cry and they said it sounds like wolves. Their cry is so deep thing that that cry that was in their hearts when they were children. And it was never answered. The cry for protection the cry to be loved the cry to have security the cry to be given direction the cry to have a father's Arm around their shoulder saying I'm proud of you my daughter.

I'm proud of you. My son was never there all that was there was abuse and abandonment. Now now they're in a prison and they cry like wolves. That's why we have a prison ministry at Times Square Church.

And I thank God for those of you who are involved in prison ministry. And in this darkest hour when they're laying in their prison cells the scripture says. Now Paul and Silas could have could have been yelling out.

We don't belong here. We didn't commit a crime. We demand a lawyer. Call if there was a lawyer such a thing back then for them. Call a lawyer. We're gonna sue you. I'm telling you when we get out of here.

We're gonna sue you. You're gonna regret what you've done to us. We're gonna Stand we're gonna claim our rights. We're gonna get a bunch of Christians. We're gonna protest outside this prison. I mean they could have been doing all this stuff, but instead the scripture says at midnight, which is the darkest time.

It's the most hopeless time. They started to pray and they started to sing. Just like you did tonight now many here. You've come in here this evening and you live in prison you know that but you've come into this place and You hear people singing and you hear people praying and you wonder how in the world could they do this?

These people live in my neighborhood. They work in my job. But where do they get the power to sing and to pray and to praise God and to and. And and to prance all over this platform like they they're in a victory parade of some sort.

Somebody helped me to understand this and it says as Paul and Silas Prayed and sang praise is saying hymns. The prisoners were listening to them. You know some of you tonight are prisoners and as we've worshipped tonight, you've been listening.

And there's a thought comes into your heart. Oh my god. Could this be true? Could I be free like this young lady shared? Could I become a new person? She said I walked out of a stadium. Heard this message only one time walked into the same old house same old music same old people but different response.

Something had changed it's like the light went on inside and You can see from that point onward the leading of God to the point where she is here today with us speaking. So articulately. About what God has done in her life.

The prisoners were listening and tonight you've been listening and Something has begun to stir in your heart. Could it be? Could it be these people haven't these these two guys are in the same prison, but yet they're not.

They're in the physical prison. Yes, but they're not in the spiritual prison. We're in. They're free and even though the circumstances around them Are as bad as ours. They can sing and they can praise and they can pray and they're full of faith and they're thanking God For what he has done in their lives.

You see Paul and Silas were all about living for the glory of God and for the souls of men. That gives us the power as Christian people to praise God no matter where we find ourselves and As hope began to come into their hearts.

The scripture says suddenly there was a great earthquake. Suddenly some people here right now you're having an earthquake. Inside. I'm not kidding you. I'm serious. You're shaking inside. Your whole body is shaking.

Something is happening to you. It says suddenly there was a great earthquake in the foundations of the prison were shaken in other words that Which the devil has built into your life is being shaken because you're in a place of truth.

It's being shaken. You have been told by darkness that you're never going to get out. You're never going to change. You're never going to amount to anything. You're never going to be a good friend. You're never going to have a worthwhile life.

You're never going to be a good mother never going to be a good son never going to be a good daughter. You've been told these things and and the devil has built this foundation of a prison around you.

But suddenly it's starting to shake. And immediately the scripture says all the doors were open and everyone's chains fell off. The doors were open. Jesus Christ when he died on that cross for your sin for your wrong that you've done.

The scripture says he he took captivity captive. He took captive everything that would keep you captive. He took it captive. He broke the power of sin. He broke the penalty of death. He destroyed the kingdom of darkness and Promises life and light to those that will turn to him.

That's what the gospel of Jesus Christ is all about forgiveness and Being brought back into a right and living relationship with God. Who created you? Loved you in the womb and created you for a specific person though.

Circumstances took you somewhere else. God says I'm not gonna leave you there. That's why you're here tonight. You're not here by chance. God brought you here. He says I'm not leaving you there. I'm gonna show you that I'm God and I'm gonna shake the foundations of all these lies of hell that have been planted in your Life, I'm gonna shake the foundation and I'm gonna open your prison door and the chains that hold you're gonna fall off your hands.

And I'm going to give you an opportunity to be a brand new creation in Christ Jesus this keeper of the prison it says. He ran in. And he took a light. And he fell down at the feet of Paul and Silas and said sirs.

What must I do to be saved? He recognized something. He saw the power of God. The shaking was in the very core of his being. He saw something in these people that he didn't have nothing of. Clamoring for his position which he probably did given it to him.

Nothing of the the power or abuse of it that he was going through his hands was giving it to him. Nothing in his family nothing about going home. Could he can rival what he saw and heard in these two men and he fell down this mean guy That just had a delight in causing pain to other people fell down on his knees and said what must I do?

To have this kind of a song In my heart and this kind of prayer coming from my lips. Oh God, what must I do? The Paul and Silas said believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Turn to him believe that he died for your sin.

Believe that he paid the penalty for the wrong that you have done and open your heart and invite him. It was that simple invite him to come into your life. Just as you brought light into this darkened room, let God bring the light of his life inside of you and set you free.

And he said to him not only will you be saved but your whole house will come to God. My mother-in-law at the age of 60 years of age was in a mental institution because of bitterness somebody put into her hand in that hospital a Copy of the cross and the switchblade talk about irony of ironies.

She read the book and got saved. Of course, we all thought she was crazy. She came out talking about Jesus and talking about the Holy Spirit. She had she had been in the mental institution. She comes out starting to tell us that we are captive and in the sense that we're all nuts that she's found a living relationship with God.

She prayed the whole family she prayed her whole family into the kingdom of God. Oh Oliver children all of her grandchildren. She prayed her whole family. She just became a woman of prayer. She prayed everybody into the kingdom of God.

It's truly amazing. Truly truly amazing and in the next 20 years became the most beautiful Radiant lady. It was amazing to see what God did in her life. Saved at 60 years of age in a mental hospital reading the cross and the switchblade.

Hallelujah, we would think everybody there was crazy. But somebody had a copy of the cross and the switchblade and gave it to her and the scripture says that he this man. This mean man, you know, God changes your nature quickly if anyone be in Christ.

He or she becomes a new person. The the Bible Jesus called it being born again, he's the one who used that term. He said to a religious man unless you're born again, you can't see the kingdom of God. You've had a natural birth, but now you need a spiritual birth he told him and so the same night.

This man who let the light of Jesus come into his heart. He obviously didn't understand it all. But he just knew it was true. Just like you here tonight. You don't understand it all. You don't know how many books you're in the Bible.

You don't know what the prophets say. Neither did I but you know in your heart that it's true. He knew in his heart that it was true and he opened his heart to it and you see this immediate transformation.

It says he took them home and he began to wash their backs. Paul and Silas. It's amazing that his family are looking at this this mean man. I'm sure he's just as mean at home as he was on the job. And he and suddenly he's bringing these two guys and we're prisoners in and he's got a bucket of water and he's putting soap in.

He's tenderly just patting their backs and his kids are looking at this and his wife is looking at this and it says and Immediately all his family were baptized his whole family Came to Christ. I Don't know what kind of family you got our sister here shared tonight, but her family being a mess.

I don't know what kind of family you have. I know my family could sure needed a lot of help. But I know who God is. I know what God's able to do. I know that he can't open prison doors. He can't give sight to blinded eyes.

He can't change hearts and when the children saw. When your family see you when your family see The change in you don't be surprised. When they begin to turn to God. All you have to do is just walk it.

Just let God be God in you just just get your bucket of water and your soap and just do what God calls you to do. It doesn't say he preached to them. It says when they they saw it. There was an immediate response.

They said whatever happened to dad that has to be God. Because we know him. We know him. Hallelujah. So he turns to kindness and leads his whole family to Jesus. I love the part where he Brought a light and he comes in and he falls on his knees before Paul and Silas and says sir Please tell me what must I do to be saved?

He doesn't care about his reputation. He doesn't care about what his superiors think. He doesn't care about what the people beside him think. He doesn't care about if the prisoners in the inner prison think that somehow he's become weak.

He doesn't care about any of this. He has seen something. He's heard something. And he's come in and he's fallen down say I don't care. I don't care who's beside me. What I've heard tonight is the truth that song that I heard sung those Testimonies of these two men that have obviously gone through a lot of pain.

Obviously are in a lot of pain, but they have a song that cannot be produced by any amount of human effort. It can't be drummed up by saying I'm just gonna make myself cheerful and sing. There is no way this could happen.

There has to be an inner power in these men that is nothing of this world. Nothing in this world can ever produce it. He'd been at this job for years. He'd seen multiples of people in prison, but never anybody like these two people and tonight.

Choosing Freedom Through Christ

Some of you are going to be surprised who gets up beside you. Who came in with you and says tonight, I'd really don't care what you think of me. I Know this is true. I Know what I'm hearing is right, and I don't know what you're gonna do.

At that moment the doors were all open. The scripture says everyone's bands were loosed, but everybody had to make a choice. Everybody could be free, but they had to choose to be free. Do you understand what I'm saying?

It doesn't say that angels came and carried them out. They had to make the choice. God opened the door. God broke the chains, but they had to make the choice to walk out. Jesus died on the cross. He he opened the doors of all the prisons that could hold you.

He broke the chains of all that could bind your hands from becoming a worshiper of God. But you have to make the choice to come out of the prison. Nobody will make it for you. It's your choice to make.

Scripture doesn't record but I wonder. I wonder how many prisoners when they saw this jailer on his knees came and came and followed him. I wonder how many prisoners Kneeled down in front of Paul and Silas beside their captor.

And said whatever he wants. I want that. Whatever you God give that to us. Because nothing has ever been able to set us free. All we have done has gotten worse and worse and worse and worse over the years.

But nobody could ever give a song like these men have unless God was with them. You see that's the choice you have to make. Tonight Jesus made the way. But you have to get up and go forward. You have to come out of the prison.

He made the way you have to let him come home with you tonight and Change your nature. He will change you. He'll change you from the inside out. Religion is man's attempt to change himself from the outside in it doesn't work.

Just creates a hypocrite. Christianity is God coming and living inside you and changing you from the inside out. It's like helium inside of a balloon. You can't see it. But you let the balloon go and it will rise.

Because something inside of it is different than what's around it and that's what God does. He says he comes to dwell inside and you and I begin to change and nobody has to tell us that God is real. We know God is real because he's inside of us and he's changing us and we start thinking.

Differently than we used to think our language begins to change because we don't want to say the things we used to say. We turn away from what we used to do just because we don't want to do it anymore.

There's a change. There's a change of heart. There's a change of nature. There's a there's a change of Direction a change of vision. There's everything changes Inside. I can tell you about it. I can tell you I've experienced it and Still do every day.

But I can't I've said it before in this church. I could take you to a fine restaurant around the corner that I've eaten at and We could read the menu in the window and I could tell you how good everything is.

But you don't really know until you taste it yourself. David the King the psalmist said Oh taste and see that the Lord is good taste. You have to get up. You have to go in you have to sit down and say I would like this.

Salvation Is More Than Filling Church Seats

Tonight, I want to give you an opportunity and folks listen to me carefully. This is not about Patting the seats of the church. We're already full. This is about you. It's about you. It's about the life that Jesus died to give you it's about your future.

It's about your family. It's about heaven. It's about where you go when you die. It's about forgiveness. It's about being made right with God. It's about living the life that God always intended you to live.

It's about being the person that God intended you to be. I know this for the man I used to be died in 1978 and a new man was born in God Coming into my life. I've shared it many times in this church, but I heard this truth.

I heard it from another policeman and I looked at him and I thought how could this be? This guy was telling me I used to be a womanizer I was a drunk and I was a gambler and I'm looking at this guy and he's everything other than what he said He was and I remember thinking how is that possible?

And if it is possible for him, is it possible for me? Could I have a new life? Could I be forgiven? Could I have a relationship with God? Is it possible I could get out of these panic attacks that have plagued my life and made it hell for nine years.

Could I escape the anger that's growing daily in my heart? Is it possible I could learn to be a good husband to my wife and a good father to my son? Could I've been taken out of this prison that I'm in could I be.

Is it possible that this is true? And so one day I pulled over in the side of the road on the way to work and I I just ran out of Discussions and arguments and I prayed a prayer. I said Oh God if this is true what my friend has told me if it's true.

Then I invite you to come into my life and be my Lord and Savior and he did come and What a journey this has been. If I could come to your house if you don't receive Christ tonight and I knew you and I could come to your house I would grab you and I would shake you until sense came into your head.

Unless of course you're bigger than me then I would negotiate with you. But that's how passionate I feel because this is true this is real. It's not a this is not some kind of a farce. It's not some kind of a religious game.

This is real. This is life. This is God. Wanting a living relationship with you. Don't argue away your own freedom. Don't formulate reasonings in your mind as to why you should stay in your prison. Get out.

Get out tonight brought you here. God brought you here and you you've heard singing you've heard prayers you've heard testimonies. But now the choice is yours to get out and come to God. It's no deeper than that.

That's where it starts. You heard this young lady testify. She just got up and got out and God has led her and God will lead you. You'll know he's real. You're gonna go home tonight to the same old house in the same old people, but you'll feel different in your heart.

If that's you tonight. See pastor this whole night's been about me. Right from the beginning. I've just heard something. I I recognize this is real and something inside of me is shaking and I Feel like I could be free.

I want to open my heart like this jailer did I? Want to open my heart to Jesus Christ. I want to be the person that God Designed me to be. I'm tired Of this downward spiral in my life. And I want this new life that God promises me and the eternal life he promises me in heaven through Jesus Christ.

Have courage tonight, please have courage. If this is you God speaking to you and you're shaking inside. You want to open your heart and give your life to Jesus Christ tonight? Just raise your hand right now wherever you are.

Just do it. God bless you. God bless you all over raise your hand. Now for those the many that did raise your hand and for those who should have raised your hand. You should have and you know, you should have please.

Get up and get out. God has a wonderful life for you. Doesn't mean your circumstances are going to necessarily change but you will change in the middle of your circumstances. We're going to stand we're going to worship for just a moment.

I'd like those who raised your hand to come and meet me here at the front of this Auditorium and I'm just going to lead you in a prayer. That's all we're going to do tonight. You don't have to we won't ask you to do anything that would make you uncomfortable.

We're just going to lead you in a prayer. You're going to open your heart and give your life to Jesus Christ. I'm going to ask you. There's a young lady already heading down here. I'm gonna ask you as we stand if you did raise your hand or you should have just come just come please.

Let's stand together. Balcony go to either exit. Just make your way down here. Give your life to Jesus now tonight open your heart. Thank you. Lord. Thank you. Almighty. God Almighty God slip out wherever you are.

If you brought a friend turn to your friend and just ask your friend if you want to go. I'll go with you do that now up in the balcony as well. If you're afraid to go I'll go with you husbands bring your wives come down here.

Give your life to Jesus Christ. Give your children a new mom and a new dad sons and daughters. Come down here and let God touch you. Thank you Lord slip out, please wherever you are do it now. Do it now.

You'll never have a better moment than you do right in this moment. Even if all you can manage is an if like I did. Oh God if this is true if and it was a sincere F and the Lord took me at that if. That's all you can manage.

Please don't stay in your seat. When you can have eternal life with God. Father I thank you Lord for These that are here and those that will be coming. Thank you God for giving courage to men and women children young people.

God to step out tonight. But we don't know when you're coming. But oh god, we know one thing that life and light and grace is here now. We have a chance to be forgiven and to be free. Oh Jesus, please God move on every heart.

Move on every heart. Oh God. You're not too old. My mother-in-law was 60. She let all of us. She prayed us all in Hallelujah, we found out that she was saying that we were crazy and she led us all to the kingdom of God.

Thank you God. Just keep coming. Just just keep coming is the Holy Spirit's working on you. You wonder why your heart is pounding and you're shaking inside. That's God calling you. It's God. There's something inside of you.

Now don't give in to the fears in your heart. They would try to tell you all I don't know. It's not gonna work for you. Don't don't listen to that evil foundation any longer. Jesus broke the bondage of what could hold you.

You can be free tonight. Just follow these that are coming just slip out now and just follow these that are coming. We're gonna sing just for a moment. Don't be afraid. Just don't be afraid. Don't be afraid.

Just come just come. Now for those that are here At the front of this auditorium. You're about to open your heart to God and when you open your heart to God. Admitting that you You can't. You can't be godly in your own strength.

You can't change in your own strength. You can't get to heaven in your own strength, which is where God lives forever. When you open your heart to God He says I will come in and I will sit down with you and Begin to change you from the inside out.

It's just it's a spiritual moment that there will be never a moment in your life greater than this one and you begin to change. It's just that your mind changes your heart changes. When I was a cop. I Didn't feel anything for anybody.

I was stone-cold. I could go to an accident. I could draw chalk lines around bodies and just go eat my lunch. I Didn't care. I remember after becoming a Christian. I gave a guy a ticket and I felt bad.

That was that was it was a small change, but it was a change. It was a start. Usually I'd just listen to all the sob stories and just write the ticket and I didn't care. But this time I I felt for the guy, you know.

And that's how you know, I like a friend of mine BH Clendon and he's gone to heaven now. But he was an ex-soldier from World War two and when he came back He became a foreman on an oil rig. And he found a guy sleeping on his watch and sitting back on a chair and he slugged him.

Right in the forehead knocked him cold. And he says I looked at the guy laying unconscious and he says I felt bad and I knew I was saved. Said I'd never felt bad before. That that same man traveled the world traveled the world.

From 70 years of age to 86 years of age. He traveled the world after a year of living for God. God poured 25 million dollars through his hands for the sake of prisoners. It's an amazing. That's the kind of transformation the Lord will do if you will just let him just let him come in let him forgive you.

Let him change you. I Want you just to pray a simple prayer with me now. This is similar to what I prayed 37 years ago. And just lift your hands if you will to God and just pray this after me Lord Jesus Christ.

A Prayer for New Life in Christ

I believe That you are the Son of God. I believe That you died in my place. You took the punishment For the wrong things I've done. I believe your promises. That when I open my heart to you, I Will become a new person.

The person you designed me to be so tonight I open my heart and I say to you Jesus Son of God Come into my life. Forgive me for the wrongs I have done. Change me. And make me into the person that I have always longed to be and you have longed for me to be.

I trust you tonight. For forgiveness of my wrong and for a new life, I believe that when I die Heaven will be my home. Because you paid the price for my sin. I Want to thank you for loving me. For wanting me and coming to me tonight.

I believe That I will never be the same again. You will give me this chance to turn away from what is wrong and turn to what is right. And you'll give me a delight To do good and to do right. I believe that and I thank you for that.

Guide me now. Lead me and help me and I thank you for my freedom in Jesus name. Amen. And amen, I'll do one thing do one thing and promise me one thing. Don't turn back. Don't turn back. Don't listen to the lie.

The devil will try to rebuild his foundation. He's gonna try to take the rubble of his foundation and try to piece it back together and tell you this thing doesn't work. Maybe for other people but not for you, but don't go back.

You are free. You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free. I'm going to dismiss you in just a moment. There are people downstairs. If you want to only if you want to you can give them some contact information.

Or they'll help you get plugged into this church. If you'd like to attend here, you'd be more than welcome. And if not, we can tell you where there's a good church in your neighborhood. We know a lot of good churches in the city that have classes for brand-new Christians and you can you can learn you can be taught.