Miracles and the Coming Revival — Carter Conlon

The Open Door and the Coming Revival

Good morning, Times Square Church. Revelation chapter 3, that's the last book in the New Testament for those that are new here this morning. Revelation chapter 3, I want to speak to you this morning about miracles and the coming revival.

Miracles and the coming revival. Now, Father, I thank you for the weight of glory in this service today. Lord, you're always the one who bears witness to truth. Where truth is, there you are. I thank you for a quickening of the Holy Spirit.

I thank you for the strength to speak this word today. I thank you for the strength to hear it. Lord, help us this morning not to allow any contrary argument to what we're about to hear. Push us away from the greatness of our God and what he desires to do in his church.

Help us to hear this, Father. Help me to speak it in Jesus' mighty name. Miracles and the coming revival. Revelation chapter 3, beginning at verse 7. And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia, write, these things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shuts, and shutteth, and no man openeth.

I know thy works. Behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it. For thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name. Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews and are not, but do lie.

Behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee. Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I will also keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.

Behold, I come quickly. Hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown. Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out. And I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is New Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God.

And I will write upon him my new name. He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says unto the churches. Psalm 42 verse 7, the psalmist writes these words, Deep calleth unto deep, at the noise of thy water spouts.

All thy waves and thy billows are gone over me. Yet the Lord will command his loving kindness in the daytime, and in the night his song shall be with me in my prayer unto the God of my life. It's a type of the person who says, Lord, I have heard your voice, and I am aware fully of the deep need of this generation.

All I have to do is go outside the doors of my house, and I see needs that are deeper than I'm able to do anything about. Yet I hear your voice calling me. I hear the pages of your word keep washing over me, calling me to something that I have no skill to do.

I have no power to perform. And it causes a despair to come into my heart, because I know I should be more than I am. I should be able to do more than I'm doing. But yet you will command your loving kindness in the daytime, and your song will be with me in the night, and I will turn to you in prayer.

It's the type of a person that says, God, the need is so far beyond me, yet it's not beyond you. And I know somehow you're going to speak to me. Somehow you're going to gladden my heart. Somehow you're going to turn me to prayer.

Somehow you're going to give me a song in the midst of all this incredible need and depravity that's all around me. There is a time where God will start to draw again from his deep resources to meet an ever deepening need in a fallen world.

These resources of God are deposited in great measure in you and I. Remember he told us a parable of a man who went home and he gave talents, which is a deposit of his life into his people. If you belong to Jesus Christ, you have a deposit of the life of God within you for a specific purpose that will glorify his name.

And that deposit is much greater than you and I sometimes in our own frailty believe that it really is. There's a time when God himself will call you and I to walk with him in accomplishing what will be, will have to be a miracle.

There's no other way to describe it. And I am gladdened to know that God wants to do a miracle through your life and through my life. That is the standard of God. We're not called to walk in the normative.

We're not called to walk in what is achievable to the natural reasoning and the natural strength of man. If that were the case, it would simply be a natural kingdom. But there would have been no need of a Pentecost, no need of a filling with the Holy Ghost, no need of a seeking of God.

We could have just been given the instruction to win the world. Now go out and with your own strength and reasoning, do it. But I thank God that isn't the kingdom of God. Think about it for a moment. The Bible talks about a man called Elijah.

Elijah, Moses, Peter, and Paul: Ordinary People in Miraculous Callings

Now James says he was a man of just like frailties, like passions, like you and I. He had the same struggles that we do, but he was called to bring the people of his day back to true worship against what would have been overwhelming religious opposition and indifference among the people.

There was a false religiousness that had gripped the hearts of almost all of the people, save for about 7 ,000 in the nation. And in 1 Kings 18, 21, Elijah came to the people and he said, how long will you stand or halt between two opinions?

If the Lord be God, follow him. But if Baal, then follow him. And the scripture says, and the people answered him not a word. Society and the religious society had come to the place where they weren't sure maybe who God was.

And even if they were sure, they weren't sure they wanted to follow him. Think about Moses for a moment. He's called to bring an entire people group out of captivity. He has no army. He has no natural power.

He has no influence with the captors of the day. He doesn't even have youth on his side. The only thing God gives him is a stick and an 83-year-old brother and a one-line sermon. How'd you like to bring 3 million people out of captivity with that?

A stick, a one-line sermon, and an 83-year-old brother. I think Pharaoh was so humored by this seemingly pitiful weak display that was supposed to represent God that it probably founded humorous. Probably everybody in his court started to laugh at this.

I think it's the only reason he didn't kill him. I think he just found it charming, interesting, laughable. You're representing who? I am. And he wants you to do what? Tell me to let 3 million people go to serve him in the wilderness?

And he sent you. He sent me and my brother Aaron. I want you to think about Peter for a moment. He's a man who's in a storm, and he's called in the midst of that storm to get out of the boat and walk on water.

It's a feat impossible to man, but it's within his sight possible to God. He looks and he sees this man standing on the water, standing above the storm, standing in a miraculous place, and he said, Lord, if it is you, bid me come.

Now, that's something that I'm believing that God has planted in your heart this morning. That maybe today in this service, you're that person that says, God, there's a storm brewing in all of the world, and the only one who stands above it is you.

And if you want me to walk where you are, if you want me to walk in the places that only those with supernatural empowerment can walk, then bid me come. I'm willing, God. I'm willing. Think about Paul.

The apostle called to see something positive in prison, to believe God that something miraculous somehow would flow from a place that was seemingly confining and helpless in the natural. I think it's so many people here today who say, well, listen, I'm just little me, and I have my little apartment, and I have my little job, and I have my little family, and I have my little education, and I have my little ability to speak.

And you're calling me to see something positive in it. You're calling me, Lord, to believe that in my littleness that something great can be accomplished. Are you sure, Lord, that you have the right person?

Didn't people say that throughout? Didn't Moses say that? Lord, are you sure? Are you sure? It's a great plan, Moses said. God's speed to whoever you send to do it. That's actually what he said in the beginning.

It's an awesome plan. All the best to whoever has the courage to get up and do it. What if God is calling you to something beyond yourself? What if he's calling you to see something positive in your circumstance?

What if he's calling you to believe for the miraculous, to walk on water, to see people delivered through your life, not through somebody else's life? What if it is you that God is calling to bring people back to the worship of the true God again?

Now, the common factor of all those that were miraculously used of God is that when they heard his voice, they didn't back away from what he was calling them to do, but rather they moved towards it. That's the common factor.

You know, it's a sad thing to say, but probably for every hundred that God calls, maybe only a few actually move towards what God is calling them to do while many stand still and others actually go backwards.

Just simply failing through unbelief that God is able to take the little that I have and the little I am and actually do something with it. Think of Nehemiah for a moment. When the burden of the fallen condition of his own people came to his heart, he boldly asked for the supply that he would need.

In chapter 1 and verse 11, he asked the Lord, he said, please, God, give me mercy in the sight of the king. For it was certain death to appear to be sad in the presence of the kings of his time that were being served by him.

In chapter 2, verses 7 and 8, he asked for the king's authority and sufficient supply to get the work done. And you and I have the right to do that. God, thank you for mercy in your sight. Thank you for authority and thank you for the supply to get the work done.

Would you be surprised to know that he may already have given you the supply and the authority? Perhaps you're just not aware of it yet. Esther went into the king believing there was a divine purpose that was worth risking all for.

Elijah's determination was met by the fire of God and the turning back of many of the people of that generation. It was that initial group of people that we know to be the church of Jesus Christ who went into an upper room and their determination to be witnesses for Jesus Christ in our time was met with the fire of God.

Moses' willingness unleashed supernatural power and strength through his weakness. He didn't go in strength, he went in weakness. Elijah didn't build the altar in strength, he built it knowing that unless God responded nothing was going to happen.

As a matter of fact, he backed away from it and essentially said, Lord, I've just simply done this at your bidding and now it's really up to you to turn the people back because there's no way he knew he couldn't turn them back.

They were so indifferent, they were so captivated in prosperity, they were so given to a spiritual nothingness that he was aware that nothing could turn it but God himself. Peter's first step of faith out of that boat and onto the water found the power of God's hand waiting to hold him up.

He's not going to let you down when you take a step of faith, folks. When you move out in that first initial response to the voice and the calling of God, he's not going to let you down. Your faith may waver as you see the depth of the storm and as the criticisms of fallen men come against you who oppose their own salvation, you may become afraid for a moment.

But in that step of faith, you will find a divine hand suddenly holding you up. Hallelujah. Paul's trust in God's divine leading and purpose brought more people out of captivity potentially than possibly all of the others together.

Paul's simple belief that all things work together for good to those who love God and are called according to his purpose. Paul's belief that even though I am in prison, the word of God that flows through me cannot be bound, it cannot be chained, it cannot be contained.

And he started putting it on paper. And through the last 2000 years, more people have been brought out of captivity through the apostle Paul than any of the others. Jesus was telling the church of Philadelphia that he's able to multiply that which we willingly let him draw from his deposit in our lives.

And to make everything man-centered, bend its knee and acknowledge his lordship. He said to this church, I've opened the door before you and no one can shut it. You have a little strength, you've kept my word, you've not denied my name.

And how many does that describe today? Myself included, that we stand before God and say, Lord, I don't have a lot, I have a little strength, but as much as I know, I've obeyed your word and I have not denied your name.

I trust today that your life has not been a denial of the reality of God in Christ, where you travel. The tragedy if it is, and if it is God's mercy calls you to get right with him today. Don't speak his name and live like he doesn't exist.

He says, I'll make those of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews and are not, I'll make them to come and worship before your feet and to know that I've loved you. He said to this church, I'm going to do something so profound through you that those who claim to know intimacy, have intimacy with God, but it really isn't true.

I'll make them to bow at your feet and to know that I have loved you. I'm going to show you how God's going to do this in this generation. Go to John chapter six, please, with me, if you will. Miracles in the coming revival.

The Feeding of the Multitude and the Necessity of Faith

John chapter six, verse four, it's the season of the Passover. It was the time when many people were brought out of captivity. And I want you to, it's, they're celebrating this time. The time when by the miraculous hand of God, millions of people were released from captivity.

Now I happen to believe we're living at a time like that again. I happen to personally believe that I'm going to live to see churches filled in New York city with seeking people, with people praying there, there will be a sovereign touch of God come into the lives of many people.

Now it was a season of Passover and Jesus lifted up his eyes, verse five, and he saw a great company come to him. And he said to Philip, when shall we buy bread that these may eat? And this, he said to prove him for, he knew what he would do.

Now you and I know that the kingdom of God does not work without faith. And Jesus always needs somebody of faith. Look through history, look at where revivals have come from. There always has to be somebody on the earth who believes him, somebody of faith, somebody that just takes him at his word, somebody who just does not see the impossibility of the situation.

How Jesus knew what he was going to do. He already knew he already had in that crowd, a person of faith. So he knew, remember in the, in the new Testament, there was one town where he could not do very many miracles because there was nobody of faith in the town.

Remember through Ezekiel, he wanted to not judge the land, but couldn't find anybody of faith to stand in the gap. But here he's got a hungry crowd on his hands and he's, he's already spotted. He already knows there's a person of faith in the crowd.

And so he says to Philip, now Philip represents the inner circle, the disciples, the leaders, those that are apparently the closest to him. And he said, where will we get bread to feed these people? And he said this to prove him and Philip, now I have a feeling that there had to be a conference take place at that moment.

Philip perhaps gathered some of the disciples and said, all right, we've got to, we've got to figure out how to feed this crowd. There's 5 ,000 men and then there's women and children. So there's got to be at least 10 ,000 or so people there, perhaps even more.

And so everybody starts digging in their pockets. What have you got, Andrew? What do you got, Bartholomew? What do you got, Peter? And they, they start putting their coins together and perhaps they, they thought, well, maybe we'll, we'll make a survey and pass it out among the crowd and, and look for some ideas about how we might meet the magnitude of the need here.

Maybe it began to spread to the men that were there thinking about Jesus wants to know how we're going to feed the crowd. And so suddenly they come up with an answer and he says, 200 penny worth of bread is not sufficient for them that everyone may take a little.

Now we have enough to buy X amount of bread, but there's a problem with this. First of all, it's not enough for everybody in the, in the crowd. And secondly, where do you find a bakery? That's got 10 ,000 loaves of bread.

Even in New York city, you look at the magnitude of the need in New York city and you say, well, even if we had the money, where do you find enough bread to feed a city this size? We're in the same dilemma that these people were in.

And one of his disciples, Andrew Simon's Peter's brother said to him, here's a lad which has five barley loaves and two small fishes, but, but what are they among so many? I can, I can just picture my mind's eye, this little boy on the way home and he stops and he's listening to this.

He's got his bag lunch. He's got five little loaves, little, almost like a Dunkin' Donuts, little things. And he's got a couple of small fishes and he's on his way home and he stops and maybe he's listening and says, what a nice man this is.

And he does such powerful things and he wants to feed the people. And you know, remember Jesus said, unless you have the faith of a child, you cannot see the kingdom of God. The word see in the Greek means to not only intellectually inspect, but it means to experience the kingdom of God.

Unless you and I have the faith of a child, all the men are trying to figure it out. They've got, given time, they would have formed committees. Given time, they, they would have sent out surveys. They would have built, donate for bread programs would have been launched and all of this stuff, just like we do today.

And much of the church of Jesus Christ would have been launched. But here's this little boy and he's, you know how a child thinks, I don't know if you've ever had an interaction like they don't see impossibility.

And he says, well, here, this should do it. That should do it. I'm Jesus here. I can just see him tugging on Andrews. I can help. I can help. I know what he needs. I've got what he needs. Now he already knew what he would do.

And so finally this, this little boy shows up and he says, now here's a lad with five barley loaves and two small fishes. Here's somebody who was actually pushed through the crowd. And he's, he's just got a little bit.

He doesn't have very much. He doesn't have resources. He hasn't got a tandem trailer full of bread. He doesn't own a, a delicatessen or a bakery. He has no connections. Sounds a lot like Moses, doesn't it?

Sounds a lot like Peter. Sounds a lot like Paul. Sounds a lot like Elijah. But he presses through the crowd. And this voice says, but what are they among so many? You know, there's, there's that voice whenever somebody tries to rise up and starts to believe that God can do something through your life.

Do you ever find that voice as well? What are you among so many? I mean, who are you to think that God can use your life? Who are you to think that you can make a difference in the workplace or the work environment?

You and your little bag lunch of scripture, your little bag lunch life. What do you think you can do for the kingdom of God? Now there are whole denominations that can't do anything in this generation.

There are, committees, there are all types of big players in the kingdom of God, yet they can't do anything. So who are you to think that you can do something? And Jesus said in verse 10, make the men sit down.

I believe that we're living in a generation where Jesus is going to say the same thing again. Make the men sit down. Make all the movers and shakers in the church world, all the strategists, all the committees, all the people who've tried to advance the kingdom of God in their own strength and by their own natural mind, sit down, sit down.

All the committees, all across the country, all through Europe, through Canada, everywhere, sit down in this generation, make the men sit down. Now there was in that place about 5 ,000 men. And then of course we gather the inference that there was women and children there as well.

What did he say to Philadelphia? Behold, he said, I'll make them come and worship before your feet and know I've loved you. So what's left? But all the men sit down, all the women sit down, all the whole company sits down.

The only one left standing is the fairest among 10 ,000. And his church. That's all that's left standing. In that moment of hunger, in that hour of hunger, nothing else is standing but Jesus Christ and that which he needs to do the miraculous.

Somebody like you or somebody like me that has just a little bag lunch of a life, that everything around you tries to tell you that there's no point, there's no purpose, there's no power in it, there's nothing can happen.

You don't have the education. You don't have the strategy. You don't have the committees. You don't have the army. You don't have the money. I remember when Pastor Teresa and I, before we were pastors and we're in a community of about, I don't know how many people, but it was 40 square miles as far as we knew with no testimony of God.

Prayer, Obedience, and the Breaking of Darkness

And we were left in that area and we began to meet. I was a cop. My wife was a house wife and a bus driver joined us. And the three of us every Tuesday night began to pray. No degrees, no religious degrees, no influence, no authority, no provision.

We had no money to do anything with, but we started to pray every Tuesday night. And we would come into the living room and each of us would take a corner in the living room and we would start to petition God to move in the darkness.

And we didn't have anything to give. We didn't have any mechanism. We didn't have any machinery behind us. We didn't have a program. There was no strategy. All we did is pray, Lord, break the darkness, bring the gospel of Jesus Christ to these people, set them free.

We would turn to the North and command the North to set them free. We'd turn to the South and the East and the West and we would pray. And I still remember the night when we broke through. After weeks and weeks and weeks and weeks and weeks of prayer, one night we broke through and we knew God had answered our prayer.

Seven years later, two churches later, one Christian school later, $700 ,000 in real estate, all paid for, a food bank feeding 237 people. Seven years later, God had broken through. We didn't even have a bag lunch to bring to him.

We had no skill set, nothing, but hearts that believed him. We were willing to go through whatever door he opened before us. We were willing to go through it. As ridiculous as we might have seemed or looked, we just simply went through the door and God did the miraculous.

Praise be to God. Bless his holy name. Behold, I have set before you an open door and no man can close it. What he opens, no man can close. You have a little strength. You've kept my word. You've not denied my name.

I'll make every strategist. I'll make everyone who walks in the flesh. I'll make everyone who's tried to advance the kingdom of God in their own strength, come and bow before your feet to know that I have loved you because it's not by might.

It's not by power. It's by my spirit, saith the Lord, that this kingdom advances. Praise be to God. Praise be to God. Praise be to God. Behold, he says, I come quickly. Hold fast what you have and let no man take your crown.

Let no one take this victory from you. Let no one convince you that your life has nothing to offer the kingdom of God. Praise be to God. Would be to God there could be at least 10 people here today would get a hold of this.

It could change New York City. Folks, you have Christ inside of you. You have the living Christ of the universe. You have the God who spoke and the stars in heaven were put in their place and everything moves and is held by the word of his power.

You don't have a concept of God inside of you. You have the living Christ inside of you. Whatever he calls you to do, you will do and you will do it in the power of the Holy Spirit. I see in my heart, churches filled in the coming days and out of these churches are coming evangelists, pastors, teachers.

They've never been to seminary and I'm not discounting that. I thank God for these places of learning, but there is something coming our way that's far beyond all of this. They're coming out in the power of the Holy Ghost.

They're coming out and they're not foolish. They're coming out and their heart is burning for the glory of God and for the souls of men. I know I will live to see this day. Praise be to God. People simply going into church.

Nobody's leading the meetings. They come into the presence of God. They begin to seek God and they walk out with a mandate from heaven. They walk in with just a bag lunch of faith, but walk out with enough to feed 10 ,000 people.

Overcoming Unbelief and Becoming a Pillar in God's House

Praise be to God. Verse 12, he says, he that overcomes, I'll make a pillar in the temple of my God. He that overcomes unbelief. He that overcomes the sense of his own littleness. He that overcomes these voices that try to tell you and I that we will never amount to anything nor accomplish that which God has called us to do in our generation.

He that overcomes. He said, I will make a pillar in the temple of my God. I will show you this has always been where the strength of God's house has been. Praise be to God. Praise be to God. Praise be to God.

Praise be to God. Praise be to God. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. And I will write upon you. He says, the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven.

In other words, you will be identified by that which is not of the earth, but it's supernatural. It doesn't come from anything in the heart of man. It comes from everything in the heart of God. Praise be to God.

This is not the hour to draw back through unbelief. It's not the hour to die in the sense of your own littleness. This is the hour to be like that boy in that crowd and come and tug on the hem of Jesus' garment.

Go into the prayer closet and say, look, I've got what you need. I've got five loaves. I've got two fishes. I've got the power of God. I've got the ministry of God. I've got the Holy Spirit of God. I've got a voice that you've given me.

I got eyes that can see. I got feet that can walk. I got hands that can touch. I have what you need, God. Come and multiply this. Multiply this. Multiply my life. Multiply, oh God, everything that I have.

Make it larger than it is, oh God. Take it farther than it can go. Use my life for your glory, Jesus. Don't let people go to hell while I'm still willing to be used to feed them. Hallelujah to the Lamb of God.

Hallelujah. Let the strategist sit down. They've had their day and left the church in ruins in our time. Let them all sit down and let the little people now rise up. Let the ordinary, let the weak, let the foolish, let the poor, let the uneducated rise up in our generation in the church of Jesus Christ.

Hallelujah to the Lamb of God. Oh God, get glory. God, get glory. God, get glory again. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. All the big people have had their day. It's now time for the little people, the nobodies, the nothings, the people discounted, cast down, thought to be of little value, where the devil and even the church age has said, what is that amongst so many?

Folks, get up and get in the prayer closet like you never have before. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. I don't know about you, but I want a little less strategy and a whole lot more of the Holy Ghost in my time.

The church came out of an upper room. The church was born in an upper room. The church was not born in any strategy session. It was 120 people in their littleness and with their nothingness who went into the presence of God in obedience to God and said, Lord, here I am.

Take what I have and multiply it. And they burst out the doors of that room speaking about the wondrous works of God. Hallelujah. Our strategy today is not what will it take for you to come to the house of God, but our strategy is to go into the streets of the city and say, listen, I got to tell you what God has done in my life.

I simply have to declare it. The multitude of what he has planted within me and how he has increased and set me free and given me a heart of compassion to speak to you. Hallelujah to the Lamb of God. Hallelujah.

I know somebody here has got to be getting this today. What the Holy Spirit is speaking. He that has ears to hear let him hear, let him hear folks. We don't have a lot of time to get this right. This is, we have a season of mercy in New York city, a season, maybe a two year period if God would permit.

We have a season of mercy. Hallelujah. And there's a multitude of people out there that are starving. They have nothing. They have no physical, no spiritual food, no direction, no life, no hope, no future, no nothing.

What a fine hour for the church of Jesus Christ. I would rather hang out with that kid in that crowd than some of the biggest movers and shakers among the people. I'd rather be hanging onto the hem of his garment as he's heading with his bag lunch towards Jesus because that's where the miracle is about to happen.

Hallelujah to the Lamb of God. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. I bring in my bag lunch to Jesus every day now. Lord, I don't have much, but what I have is yours. And Lord, if you choose to, would you multiply it?

Would you feed people through it, Lord? Would you do something, God, that brings glory to your name and bring satisfaction to the inner craving of so many people in this hour that we're living in? Hallelujah.

Offering What We Have for Supernatural Multiplication

Bring him the little that you have. Jesus Christ is calling for miracles to flow through your life in this hour that we're living in. Don't settle for the natural when you can have the supernatural. Don't settle for little when God is able to do a lot.

Bring him what you have and don't bring it in unbelief. Bring it with faith. Come with the faith of a child and say, Lord, what I have, I bring it to you and I believe you can feed the crowd with it. I believe you can, Lord.

I believe it with all my heart. He said he tested them because he already knew what he was going to do. He already had a person of faith in the crowd. I love this story. He had somebody that had a heart to believe.

Hallelujah. Praise be to God. Praise be to God. Maybe that's you this morning. Maybe, maybe, maybe it's you. God's given a heart to believe. I remember hearing as a young Christian that with God all things are possible.

I was bound in fear. I couldn't speak at all. I didn't think I had much to offer the kingdom of God. But I remember going to an altar several times and say, Lord, I don't have very much, but I give you what I have.