City Lepers — Carter Conlon

God's Unique Calling and Spiritual Enablement

Now, for many, many years, a lot of people, they sit in the house of God and don't really understand that there's a calling on your life that is much bigger than just being a part, in a sense, of somebody else's ministry, that you have a calling.

You have a unique calling given to you by God. As a matter of fact, it was given to you before you were even formed in your mother's womb. The Lord knew you. And he called you to a specific thing that only can be achieved through you.

It's a unique calling to you. And the calling of God comes with an enablement of God's Holy Spirit. In other words, what it means is that God takes us beyond our natural ability. He takes us into places that we can't naturally go, and he gives us giftings we don't naturally have.

Becoming a New Creation in Christ

And we become a supernatural being. That's what the scripture tells us. If anyone is in Christ, they become a what? A new creation. Behold, the old things are passed away. All things are become new. Paul the apostle said, as we behold this incredible victory of Christ, as we begin to ponder these things, as we look into the word of God, we are changed from image to image and glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.

Now, what that means is as we behold the promises of God, the things that he is destined for our lives to be, God sovereignly begins to change us from the inside out. He gives us giftings that we didn't have.

He gives us desires of the heart, maybe that weren't there before, courage that wasn't part of our natural character, and takes us into a place where he alone is glorified. When we get to the end of the journey, we can say, God, only you could have done this.

I came to Christ at 24 years of age, and it's been an amazing journey. It's been an absolutely miraculous journey. It's taken me throughout most of the world, and God has given me over the years abilities to do things that I didn't naturally have the ability to do, all for his glory.

And when you get to the end, the one desire of your heart is, oh God, I wish I could do more. Let the glory of the latter house be greater than the former, and let the wine be sweeter at the end of the wedding feast than at the beginning.

Oh Jesus, Jesus, somehow give me an ability to convey to people that what you did in my life, and you've done for others, you can do for them. You see, you are now sitting, many of you are sitting where I sat.

Learning That All Things Are Possible With God

I was 24 years of age, and I remember I was sitting in church for the first time. I wasn't a church kid, I wasn't raised in the church. And I remember I was a police officer, and I'm sitting in church, I'm 24, I've come to Christ, and I begin to hear these words, with God, all things are possible.

And I remember sitting on the edge of my seat one day, I said, could that be true? Is it possible that God can do more through my life than I can even ask or think? Is it possible he can take me places that only he can?

Can he do something through me that would bring his own name to glory? I remember at the age of 26, I was visiting a church, I was two years saved now. It was a Pentecostal church, and the pastor gave an impassioned message on the topic of yielding your all for the purposes of God, which I'm going to actually give to you today at the end of this message.

And at the end of the message, everybody stood up, about 700 people or so, about roughly the size of the crowd that's here in the Lord's sanctuary today. And everybody stood up. I'm the only guy there that's not raised in the church.

Everyone else has got nice clothes, they got a big Bible, they look good, at least on the outside. I got jeans and a jean jacket, most likely haven't shaved for a couple of days. I'm a cop, my whole world is crime and blood and guts, and I don't live where these people live.

My experience is not the same. But I remember he gave an altar call to give your all to Jesus, to give your future to God for the purposes of God. And to my surprise, nobody moved. I'm the guy in the back.

I felt like Isaiah in Isaiah chapter six. You know, in Isaiah six, when he's the only guy that's needed redemption there. Everything around the throne of God is in absolute perfection. Everything moves in unison with God, and they all really look good.

You know, there's a thing with six wings flying around, there's cherubim, there's seraphim, then of course there's God, and then there's Isaiah. He's the only guy there that feels totally undone. And then suddenly he starts hearing the voice of God.

When the mercy of God has touched his life, as it has touched yours, he starts to hear, she starts to hear the voice of God. Who will I send and who will go for us? I feel in my heart that there was a silence in heaven for a season.

As Isaiah's standing there incredulously, wondering why doesn't anybody here want to go? I mean, surely if this thing with six wings appeared in the sanctuary, we would listen to it. I mean, if I was Isaiah, I'd say send that thing.

I mean, they'll listen to him. But nobody speaks, nobody moves. And suddenly Isaiah, he just, I don't see him jumping up and down. He just, like you feel today, you're just kind of unworthy, but he raises his hand and says, well, if nobody will go, you're mine.

Send me, I'll go. And that's what happened to me that day in that service. I was sitting in the back and nobody moved. And so I get out of my seat, part under conviction and part feeling bad for the preacher.

He'd really preached his heart out and nobody responded. I thought, well, I mean, somebody's got to do this thing. And it was only me and a guy in a green suit on the other side. Two people of 700 that came forward.

One, I was on this side, he was on that side. And I'll never forget it as long as I live. I said, God almighty. I got on my knees and I was not a weeper. I got on my knees and I started to cry. Just a weeping came over me and I said, Lord, I have nothing to give you, nothing.

If you want a bad, if you need a bad temper, I got that. I got that down pretty good. You need a selfish man, that's me. You need a lousy husband and father, I got that down pretty good too as well. And God almighty, I just got so many problems in my life.

I'm just trying to get over my own stuff. And yet I hear you calling me. And I remember the prayer I prayed. I said, Lord, the kid in the Bible, at least he had a loaves and fish. And you took it and you multiplied it and you used it for your glory.

But I have nothing, nothing. And then I said, God, if you can use nothing, here am I, send me. I've been all over the world. I've preached the crowds of a half a million people in the attendance in Africa.

I've been in the houses of presidents and kings and governments. And I've just been everywhere, not qualified to be anywhere that I've been ever. You see, it's the Lord that makes us more than we are.

God Uses the Weak and Unqualified

Let me start here today, 1 Corinthians chapter one, and beginning at 20, verse 26. 1 Corinthians chapter one, beginning at verse 26. He says, Paul says, for you see your calling brethren, not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called.

Therefore there are a few, I suppose, that are naturally wise, naturally mighty or naturally noble, but not many. But God has chosen the foolish things of this world to put to shame the wise. And God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty.

And the base things, that means things at the bottom of the world and things which are despised. You know, you might hate yourself today. You might look in the mirror and you say, I just hate what I look at.

I hate who I am. I hate the way I think. I hate the way I live. I hate the way I speak. But you see, God doesn't hate you. God didn't make a mistake when he created you. God has not written you off because you write yourself off.

But things which are despised, God has chosen. And things which are not, in other words, things which are nothing. Men and women that look at themselves and say, God, I don't have anything to give you.

But even in that condition, the Bible tells us that God has chosen us to bring to nothing the things that are. In other words, God has chosen us in our nothingness to bring things who stand in themselves thinking they're something to nothing.

He's going to do something so powerful in a sense in the man or woman who knows that they're nothing that the whole of this world that thinks they're something is going to have to acknowledge that there is a God.

And the purpose is that no flesh should glory in his presence. But of him are you and Christ Jesus who became for us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption that as it is written, hear glories, let him glory in the Lord.

So in other words, Christ is our wisdom. He becomes our thought life. Christ is our right standing in the sight of a holy God. Christ is our power to change as I shared with you from image to image and glory to glory.

And ultimately Christ is our whole story. He's the one who saved us. He's the one who's called us. He's the one who's given us these incredible giftings of God. And so the point being, have you considered your calling?

You know, we have a tendency in the church to live by the world's resume as it is. We think that if we have six certificates on the wall or we have the accolades of a hundred people, then suddenly we're usable in the kingdom of God, but that's not the case.

God does not see the way we see. You know, if you were God, you wouldn't use you, would you? Would you? You know, there's an old saying, I forget who it was that said it. He said, I'd never join any club that would have somebody like me as a member.

You know, and we look and we look at ourselves and say, God, you can't use me. But you see, we're living in a generation now where our cities are under siege. Our homes are under siege. Our families are under siege.

Our entire society is now under siege. There's a psychological survey that was published just a little while ago. And in this particular publication, which is a secular publication, they said in America today, 100 million people go to bed suffering from depression now at night.

Almost a third of the population. You take New York City, for example, if there's 8 million people in the city, it's well over 2 million people, almost 3 million people that are going to bed now every night suffering from depression because they don't see a future.

They don't see a tomorrow. They don't see hope for tomorrow. Mothers don't know how they're gonna feed their children. People are concerned about the incivility in society, the divisions that are erupting on almost every corner.

It's a very, very difficult moment in society that you and I are now living in. Would it surprise you to know that you are plan A for this generation? Would it surprise you to know that there is no plan B?

Believers as God's Plan for a Troubled Generation

There's no secondary plan. You are the plan of God. You are the plan of God. You are the light of the world. You are the city that's set upon a hill. You are the church of the living God. You are the church of Jesus Christ in the world.

You have the oil of his life and his light within you. You have the words of eternal life. You have the message that can bring people out of captivity and darkness into the life and light of Jesus Christ.

It's through you that God wants to heal the bruised in heart to have the treasure of heaven open to those that know that they're poor and have no resources. It's through you that God wants to give sight to the blind and open the prison doors and set the prisoner free.

Not in your strength, but in your weakness. Not in your everything, but in your nothingness, in the willingness to say, God, I am just an empty vessel, but if you can use me, I invite you to use my life for your glory.

I will go into your word. I will read your promises to me, and I will trust that by the power of your indwelling Holy Spirit, that I will become the man or woman that you have destined me to be. I trust, God, that you will give me the giftings I need to do what I'm called to do when I get to where I'm called to go.

I trust, God, that you will open the doors before me that need to be opened so that your name can be brought to reputation and people around me can be set free. We really are, you really are God's plan A for this generation, this generation of liars, this generation of incivility, this generation of moral confusion, this generation of where everything seems to be turned upside down, and the cities now, our cities are under siege.

We have entire towns now in America that have been declared emergency zones. People are so addicted to opiates. Grandmas and grandpas are unconscious in their cars, and it's just unbelievable what's going on in this society.

We are quickly degenerating into absolute decadence and confusion. There is no plan B. You, you are plan A. Now go with me to 2 Kings chapter seven, and I'm gonna show you a story that is a type of where we live today and what God's calling is on each of our lives.

The Four Lepers and the City Under Siege

The city was surrounded, 2 Kings chapter seven. An enemy army had come in. They had surrounded the city where the people of God of that time were, and their military strategy was to starve the people to death or starve them until they would surrender.

Now it says in verse three of 2 Kings chapter seven, there were four leprous men at the entrance of the gate, and they said to one another, why do we sit here till we die? If we say we will enter the city, the famine is in the city and we shall die there.

And if we sit here, we die also. Now therefore, come, let us surrender to the army of the Syrians. If they keep us alive, we shall live, and if they kill us, we shall only die. So here is God's choice to bring deliverance to the city.

He didn't raise an army. It wasn't a military general with a tin hat and a sword and a chariot and a horse. It was four lepers. You know, the ways of God are not our ways. I love that fact that his thoughts are not our thoughts, his ways are not our thoughts, and you'll see it all throughout scripture.

When you grow in Greece and you study the scriptures, you will find that God waits until there's no possibility we can do this in our own strength, to do something through us. He waits until the womb is barren and then brings forth a voice, a prophet into the nation.

He waits until Moses is too old, and then when he's too old, then he calls on to deliver three million people out of bondage. He sends David in when he's too young. He sends Esther to the king when she feels unloved and unwanted.

You see it all the way through the scriptures. The pattern is the same. It's not by might, it's not by power, it's by my spirit, says the Lord. Hallelujah. It's not by my ability. It's not by my intellect or your intellect.

It's not by my diplomas or lack thereof. It's by the spirit of Almighty God. And most often he waits until we know that it could never be done. You know, a strong man goes a long way until before he figures this out.

And actually the weak man is at an advantage because when the strong man's trying to figure everything out theologically, the weak man is saying, Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me. And he's just crawling through the crowd to touch the hem of his garment.

Oh, I love it. I love the ways of God. And so here are four people at the city gate. Now I want you to think of it as a type maybe of you and I here today. They have this condition called leprosy. Now leprosy produces a numbness.

Lepers, they can burn themselves and not even feel the heat. They're in their hands, their tendons begin to restrict. And in the case of a leper, it becomes hard to receive things if you're a leper. It's hard for you today to believe that God actually wants to use your life.

You're finding it hard to receive this. I'm sharing with you something from the word of God. I'm sharing with you a living experience, but there are people here today that are finding it hard to receive it.

God, this can't be me. It can't be for me. And you want to reach out, but you find your hands are kind of curved as a leper's hands. And it's very difficult to embrace or to receive things. A leper lives in isolation, feels alone, feels like a standout in a crowd.

Like a leper hides. A leper is living with continual shame. There's people here today that you wonder, could God ever use me after the things that I have done or the things that have been done to me or the things that I'm involved in now or the way that I think?

I mean, you can't mean me, pastor, because God obviously knows what I do behind the scenes. And this is the way the lepers would have felt at the gate. It was a condition where you would not think that God could ever, ever consider using you.

Facing Fear and Entering the Enemy's Camp

And in chapter 20, in the chapter seven, beginning at verse five, it says, they rose at twilight to go to the camp of the Syrians. And when they came to the outskirts of the Syrian camp, to their surprise, no one was there.

They just simply decided to get up and go into the camp of the enemy. This is the decision you have to make today. If you're going to be used of God, you've got to make this choice. Say, I'm not going to run from my enemies any longer.

I'm not going to run from the fear in my life. I'm not going to run from the addictions. I'm not going to run from the self-loathing. I'm not going to run from my feeling of lostness or whatever it is that wants to grip your life.

I'm going into the camp of my enemies. I'm not going to flee any longer. I'm not staying where I am because I'm just, if I stay here, I just know I'm going to amount to nothing. That's what they said.

If we, we're just going to die if we stay here. So we're getting up and we're going into the camp of our enemies, which is what they did, which is what I did at the age of 26. I used to suffer from terrible, terrible panic attacks years ago.

And these attacks came into my life because a lot of pressure was put on me as a young person. And when I was about 15 years of age, I just imploded inside. And I didn't feel I could live up to others' expectations of me.

I couldn't live up to my own expectations either. And so I started having panic attacks. And if you don't know what that is, it's the closest thing to hell I've ever experienced on this earth. You suddenly have, it feels like somebody is pouring a bucket of sand on your head.

Your heart starts pounding out of your chest. You're having a meltdown like a computer, but it's in a human body. You feel like there's no hope. You feel like your future is taken away. You're overwhelmed with a sense of hopelessness and you feel like you're going to die.

I suffered these things for nine years and twice it put me in the hospital. One time the nurse in the hospital put the blood pressure device on my arm and my blood pressure was so high, she dropped it on the floor, ran out to get a doctor, fearing that I was going to have a heart attack or a stroke right on the table.

I was 19 years old at the time. So I know what fear can do to a person's life. I went through college literally underwater. I had to take so many Valium. I hardly remember it. I went through college in a bubble and only went to college because of the pressure of other people that were on me, that was on me to achieve.

So I understand what fear is all about. Then at the age of 26, I was now 24, I came to Christ and I was reading my Bible and I remember reading this one verse and I only remembered half of the verse. If God be for us, who can be against us?

Now the verse is longer, but you don't need a whole, you know, David didn't need a gravel truck to bring down Goliath. He only needed one pebble. You know, so you don't need all of this stuff. You just need to believe what you know.

So I knew half a verse. If God be for us, who could be against us? So I was up in my room at night and I was going to bed and I felt one of these attacks about midnight coming on my life and I went downstairs into my living room and I said, I'm not living.

I'm not taking pills anymore and I'm not drinking whiskey any longer either. I'm not gonna do that. I'm a Christian now. So I said, I went into the living room and this is what I said. I said, Satan, you can only kill me if God allows you to.

And if you do kill me tonight, I'm going to heaven. So I win. Either way, it's a win-win for me. I said, so you throw at me everything you've got, but I throw back at you what I now have. And I said these words, in the name of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, I stand against you.

That was it. I resist you actually. I said, I resist you. And as I said those words, a heat, not a fuzzy, warm feeling, an actual heat hit my feet, went through my calves, through my legs, through the center core of my body, through my chest, through my head and out the top of my head.

And in one minute, I was set free from nine years of hell in that room. Nine years. Now, when these lepers got up and headed into the camp of the Syrians, chapter seven, verse six says, the Lord caused the army of the Syrians to hear the noise of chariots and the noise of horses and the noise of a great army.

So they said to one another, look, the King of Israel has hired against us the kings of the Hittites and the kings of the Egyptians to attack us. Therefore, they rose and fled at twilight, left the camp intact, their tents, the horses, the donkeys, and they fled for their lives.

Spiritual Warfare and the Power of God

And see, I didn't realize that what had happened to me in that farmhouse living room that night was way beyond just setting me free from fear. There was a shudder sent through hell one more time because somebody had gotten up again and went into the camp of the enemy.

Somebody had rediscovered the power of God. There was another vessel that God could begin to use that was willing to say, I'm not staying here any longer. I'm not living like this anymore. I'm not going to live a mediocre life because I have the God of the universe now resident within this earthly body.

And when I prayed, just like when these lepers got up and they headed into the camp of the enemy, the scripture tells us that God caused them to sound like an approaching army. It's only four sets of lepers' feet heading into the camp of the enemy and suddenly they hear chariots, they hear horses.

You see, this is a spiritual war that we're fighting. We don't fight against flesh and blood. Our war is against powers, principalities, high things that exalt themselves above the knowledge of God. But in the Bible, we are told we have power to bring down these things.

We have power to stand against those thoughts that stand against the ways of God. And that night, something was released. Even the area that we lived in was 40 square miles with no Christian testimony for over 100 years.

But even that area, suddenly the power of that area was broken. Churches are there now. A food bank was established there. Now God began to do what only God could do. When one man and his wife got up in the living room and said, enough of this, we're not living here anymore.

We're going with God. And we're going to go into the camp of the enemy. And if we die there, we die there, but I'd rather die there than live as a coward. And so they went in, these lepers, and they came to the outskirts of the camp and they went into one tent and they found horses and they found donkeys and they found tents and they found food and drink and silver and gold and clothing.

Sharing the Victory With Those in Need

And then of course, their first inclination was to hide it and keep it to themselves. You know, when we get free, we just want to enjoy our freedom. And we forget that our freedom is for a divine purpose.

We forget that our freedom is for the benefit and for the sake of others, by the grace of Almighty God. And we can enjoy our freedom for a season. You know, when you come to Christ, when you become part of the church, the whole thing in the beginning is all about me.

I get that. You get that. You know, we are babes in Christ, as the scripture says, and the baby is just about me. Give me the bottle, give me this, give me the spoon, give me, give me, give me, give me.

And that's what they did. And you could just see them. They had taken a bite of something, then hiding it, putting on a garment and then hiding it, finding some gold and hiding it. And it's like, it's for me, it's for me, it's for me, it's for me.

And then finally, somebody gets the idea, this is not right. The people in the city are starving and we're remaining silent. We've found this incredible treasure of God. We found this, the power of God.

I mean, can you imagine the four lepers and say, did you see them run? Look, I mean, just they left a trail of clothing. They're in such a panic and it's just us. They knew they were nothing, but God had used them to drive away an entire army.

You're talking probably in the tens, if not hundreds of thousands of people surrounding the city. And the Lord had used four lepers to drive them away. Initially, they wanted to keep the victory to themselves.

Initially, salvation is just about me. And we're all like that. But eventually, the thought comes into our heart. It's not good that we're keeping this to ourselves. This is a great day. And it's a day of good news.

And it's not right that we remain silent. And so what did they do? They came back to the city, the city that had caused them pain, the city that had left them outside the gate, the city that was not really a pleasant place.

But they came back to the city and they shouted over the wall and said, hey, the power of your enemies has been broken. And you know what you need? Folks, you're hungry, you need food, you need sustenance, you need clothing, you need covering.

We found it all. We found the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. We found the garment of forgiveness for sin. We found the provision of God's power. We found transportation from one place to another.

We found everything that you will ever need. And it's all just, it's all here. And they shouted over the wall to the city and the king said, no, it's a trap, it can't be. Because people, when you first tell them about Christ, they'll say, nah, it can't be that easy.

Can't be that good. You know, that's your initial response, right? When you try to shout over somebody's wall, say, hey, I found what you're looking for. I know what it is that you need. As a matter of fact, if you'll come with me to Times Square Church next Sunday, Easter Sunday, I'll actually show it to you.

And you can get some for yourself. And the king says, nah, it's a trap, it's a trap. Don't listen. So they mustered the little bit of strength that they had and they sent a little embassage out of the city.

And the scripture says, the road was full of garments and weapons which the Syrians had thrown away in their haste. And the messengers returned and told the king and the people went out and plundered the tents of the Syrians.

They plundered the tents of their enemies is really what happened. And so, the good news is, you are God's plan for the city. You, I'm talking to you, not the person beside you. You are God's plan, not somebody else, not some new hotshot preacher that's gonna rise up or not some new ministry.

You are God's plan. Yes, the Lord will show you. He will show you the treasure. He will show you the fact that your enemies are defeated. He will just lay out in a sense, the spoils of victory. Remember in the New Testament, it says when Christ rose from the dead, he took our captivity captive and gave gifts unto men.

And so suddenly coming to Christ, you find your captivity is taken captive. Your sin is forgiven because of his sacrifice on the cross. And the giftings of God become your portion. You are a supernatural being now in Christ.

If you are in Christ, you have the God of the universe living in your physical body. You understand that? Not just a fuzzy feeling about God or just thoughts about God, the actual God, the actual third person of God called the Holy Spirit of God is indwelling your physical body.

You have God in this earthen body. There is no limit to what God can do except the limits you put on him. And when you begin to operate in communion with God and you begin to say, listen, I'm not living in poverty anymore.

I'm not living under the thumb of my enemies anymore. I'm not even going to let my, I'm not even going to let my struggles and trials and difficulties stop me from going where you're calling me to go.

What if I had, if I had waited to be perfect before getting into ministry, I still wouldn't be in it today. It's not about us, it's about him. And as we go on the journey, he gives us what we need so that the victory might be won for his glory first and for the sake of others second.

And then we come back like, here I am. I'm here in the city, I'm shouting over your wall. Hey, everything you need is in Jesus Christ. Everything you ever wanted is in Christ. All the provision, the covering.

He went to a cross, he paid the price for your sin and because of him, you can be forgiven. He gave you his Holy Spirit, which is all the power you will ever need to be everything that God has ever called you to be.

He gave you giftings of God to take you so far beyond your natural abilities and your natural borders. And he gave you a reason to live, to bring the good news of what he has done back to the city and shout it over the wall and say, listen, I have found what you need.

Don't make it complicated. It's really easy. Find the treasure, fight the camp of your enemy in the strength of God, find the treasure of God and bring the message of this good news back to those who need to know that there is a God who loves them.

Hallelujah, hallelujah. What a journey, what a journey this has been. I know from personal experience that God takes the nobodies and nothings of this life. I have no qualifications whatsoever. You know, once in college, I wanted to be a dorm proctor.

You know what a dorm proctor is? Like a res fellow, they call it back then. A dorm proctor is like when the new kids come to college, you just greet them, how hard is that? And you say, this is your room, that is the cafeteria.

If you have any problems, let me know. I took a course on being a dorm proctor and it failed it. And they called me in and said, you're not leadership material. Now, what if I had let that define my life?

I ended up leading a church of 10 ,000, by the way, in New York City, in case you wonder what the future held. But what if, what if I let what other people say define me? Or what I thought about myself, what if I let that define me and didn't go where God was calling me to go?

You see, I would have opted out of a supernatural journey. I would have no authority to tell you here today that Christ can do for you everything He's done for everybody else that's come before you. That He takes us in our barrenness, in our nothingness, in our weakness, and He makes us into much more than we could ever hope to be for His namesake.

Calling the City to Christ

So that we can come back to the city and say, hey, I know where you can find the provision you need. You have one week before Easter. I wanna give you an assignment. You have to shout over somebody's wall in New York City this week and say, hey, I found what you're looking for.