Ambassadors of the Power of God — Carter Conlon

The Call to Be Ambassadors of God's Power

I want to speak this morning from the gospel of Mark chapter nine, and it would be a message that would be an introduction, perhaps to the fast that we're going to undertake at the end of the month. It's a message entitled Ambassadors of the Power of God.

Now, Father, I thank you, God, with all my heart. Jesus, Son of God, I praise you. I bless you for who you are. I thank you, Lord, for the deep, deep sense of expectancy that you have planted in each of our hearts, that no matter what it looks like in the world today, you are still God.

Nothing has changed with you. Your hand is not short. Your eye is not dim. Your power has not abated. Lord Jesus Christ, would you help us to be ambassadors of your power? Would you help us, God, to walk among the men and women of this generation?

As true and definitive representatives of what was truly won on the cross two thousand years ago. Help us to walk in this power and to be ambassadors to others of it. Give us grace and strength to hear your word.

Give me the courage to speak this today in the clarity of thought. Deliver me, O God, from the frailties of this flesh, and let me walk in the strength of your spirit. I thank you for this with all my heart.

Bless the people that have gathered today to hear this word. Here in the sanctuary, on the Internet, at Roxbury, and all around this world, God Almighty, bless your people. I ask it in Jesus' name. Mark chapter 9, beginning at verse 14.

And when he came to his disciples, he saw a great multitude about them and the scribes questioning with them. And straightway all the people, when they beheld him, were greatly amazed, and running to him, saluted him.

And he asked the scribes, What question ye with them? And one of the multitude answered and said, Master, I have brought unto thee my son, which hath a dumb spirit. And wheresoever he taketh him, he teareth him, and he foameth and gnashes with his teeth, and pines away.

And I spoke to your disciples that they should cast him out, and they could not. He answered them and said, O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I suffer you? Bring him to me.

And they brought him unto him, and when he saw him, straightway the spirit tear him, and he fell on the ground and wallowed, foaming. And he asked his father, How long is it ago since this came to him?

And he said, Of a child. And oft times it has cast him into the fire and into the waters to destroy him. But if thou canst do anything, have compassion on us and help us. Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.

And straightway the father of the child cried out and said with tears, Lord, I believe. Help thou mine unbelief. When Jesus saw that the people came running together, he rebuked the foul spirit, saying unto him, Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I charge thee, come out of him and enter no more into him.

And the spirit cried and rent him sore and came out of him, and he was as one dead, insomuch that many said he is dead. But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose. And when he was come into the house, his disciples asked him privately, Why could not we cast him out?

And he said unto them, This kind can come forth by nothing but by prayer and fasting. Now the scene that we're discussing today in the scripture opens with a large public gathering and it's centered around what I believe to be a discussion about the reality of the power of God.

In the center of this discussion was a young man. He was born into the lineage of God's promise through Abraham, but seemingly he was captivated, directionless, weak, and holding out little or no promise for the future.

The Debate Over the Reality of God's Power

It was a debate about God, the reality of God, and the power of God. I think a debate very much like you and I are facing in our society today, a debate that allows atheists to put Christ on the cross up on a billboard in the middle of Times Square and call the greatest event in all of history a myth.

It's a discussion. And I believe that what will put an end to the debate and the discussion is a fresh and renewed demonstration in our time of the power of God, God's power to save, God's power through Jesus Christ to heal, to deliver, to change, to transform, to take that which is weak and make it strong, to take that which is captivated and bring it into freedom, to give giftings that only God can give, and to make a people into other than anything we could ever even hope to be in our own strength and abilities and accomplishments.

There was a debate at that time as much as there's a debate in our generation. On one side of the argument were the scribes. Now the scribes were the self-appointed guardians of the law. According to Jesus in Matthew chapter 23, they loved the prestige, they loved the advantage that this gave them over others.

They loved their position. They would be familiar with the history of God's power but they themselves rarely if ever had been touched by it. It's a type of a religion that has all of its T's crossed and all of its I's dotted.

It knows it can argue theology with you on any point and virtually in any language. But it's untouched by the power of God. It offers only human solutions to divine and spiritual situations. And the only way the scribes could justify their position was to put the day of God's power to some future time and under certain terms and conditions.

They're always talking about some time when God is going to come and some time when God is going to display his power. For example, in chapter 9 verse 11 the scribes, the disciples said to Jesus, they said, why do the scribes say that Elias must first come?

Now they must have been talking about the day of redemption, the day of the Messiah, the day of God's power, the day of this incredible victory that the scriptures promised clearly and conclusively through the Old Testament.

But you see the scribes had to put that to a future event. And it was the only way they could justify their powerlessness. In other words, God's deliverance, they could say according to Malachi chapter 4, will come but first the hearts of the fathers must be turned to their children and the children to their fathers.

Now this is the type of religion that would turn to this father who brought his son for healing. He literally brought him to the church. He came to that which is supposed to represent the power of God.

And it's a type of the religion that would say if you had loved your son, if you'd looked over him as God says you should, this wouldn't have happened. It's a type of a religion that justifies its own lack of power by condemning others and pronouncing blame.

Somebody has to blame for this because you see we can't do anything about it. All we have is Hebrew and Greek theories about God but we really don't have any power so we must blame somebody for this situation.

We surely, the scribes would say, can't blame ourselves. On the other side of the argument are the disciples of Jesus. Now the disciples are laying claim to a deeper and a more intimate and personal association with the person and the power of God.

But they too seem incapable of laying hold of the power of the one who's in their midst. You know we can easily point the finger at the legalists in our generation and say well it's obvious that they have no power.

It's obvious because they've rejected the power of God in themselves and their form of religion is a denial of the power of God. But what about you and I? How is the power of God being manifested through your life and through my life?

Spiritual Ambition and the Failure of the Disciples

Now there's a clue to this powerlessness later on in verse 34. It says, Jesus asked them, he said, what is it that you disputed among yourselves by the way? Now this is after all of these things happened that we read in this opening passage of scripture.

After this young man is set free by the power of God. It says in verse 34, they held their peace for by the way they had disputed among themselves who should be the greatest. In other words, they were using their proximity to Christ for personal reputation.

And the bottom line is simply this, if you and I are in this fight for the wrong reasons, don't expect to be able to make a difference in this generation. There are so many people who use the pulpit and use their association with God for some personal advantage, personal reputation.

To be able to be called teacher, teacher among men. To be held in high esteem among the people. They had this debate, who among us is going to be the greatest? But they had asked a similar question not too far before this.

And the question was, why couldn't we cast this demonic power out of this young man? Why couldn't we make a difference? We know you, we know who you are. We know that you can calm the storm. We've watched you do the miraculous.

We know that you've given great and exceeding promises to us. But why is it that our lives can't seemingly make a difference? You see, I believe in my heart that a great multitude is coming our way. I believe it with everything in my being.

And they're going to be looking to us for help in the days ahead for themselves and for their families. This generation is falling apart and it's happening very, very quickly. Society is unraveling quickly.

Things that were unimaginable are beginning to happen on a daily basis. So that in some cases, vile murders are not even being reported anymore because space is reserved for the more vile ones. We're in a society that's imploding.

You start taking away the future from this generation. You take away the hope. You take away all of what this country has leaned upon and become apart from God. And you're going to see an implosion like you and I never believed was possible in our generation.

And I can see mothers and fathers coming with their children. Teenagers showing up, looking for help, looking for hope, captivated. Their speech is taken away. Their strength is gone. They're being led into the fires of unbridled passion.

They're being drowned in the waters of secular and foolish reasonings. And they're going to be coming here looking for help. What an opportunity you and I are going to have to be ambassadors of the power of God to this generation.

I give God praise for the day that is coming when the doors of this church won't close. Because of the numbers of people coming in. And it's the constant cry of my heart. God Almighty, no matter what happens on a financial level, a political level in this country, let the church of Jesus Christ come back to life again.

Every town, every hamlet, every street corner, every denomination. Even those that are nothing more than museums today. I know from the scripture that God can breathe on bones and bring them back to life again.

He can show up when a man is four days in the grave and say to the people standing around, did I not tell you that if you would believe, you would see the glory of God. You would see that God can come and do something that only God can do when all else has failed.

When human reasoning is gone. When our strength has failed us. Our arguments have been proven to be foolish. Our direction has been proven to be calamitous. When we're in a storm that we don't know how to get out of, one more time, one more time, one more time, the church of Jesus Christ will arise in the power of Almighty God.

And what a great and glorious opportunity God will give to his people to be an ambassador of the power of God that is not available. It's not available by human reasoning nor by human might. It's not by power.

It's not by might. It's by my spirit, says the Lord God of hosts. Mark chapter 9. They said, why can't we cast him out? And he said to them, this kind can come forth by nothing but by prayer and fasting.

Prayer, Fasting, and a Generation in Crisis

This entrenched evil that we're facing now. Now, I've made a point recently of going out on the street later at night sometimes and walking around and just observing the youth lined up around the corners not far from here.

Folks, I'm telling you, the vileness now alarms me. I'm an ex-cop and I can't see too much that shocks me anymore. But there's a vileness in this generation that shocks me. There's young men and young, the things they're speaking about, the things they're saying, the anger going in and the excessive anger coming out of many of these clubs.

And you combine that with the taking away of the hope for the future. When the economy begins to fail, when there are no jobs in society, and we tell this generation there is no God, we are creating a formula for disaster in our generation.

This kind of entrenched evil is not going to be broken by debate or by the casual seeking of God. In other words, church as it has been is simply not going to do. They're not going to come to church for three nice little hymns and cookies after the service is over.

No, this generation are going to have to have an encounter with the living Christ. They're going to have to be filled with the power of God. They're going to have to know that they can be set free, they can be released, they can be gifted, they can be given sight, they can be given speech, a reason, a future, and a hope for life.

And it can come through Jesus Christ. And you and I are called to be the ambassadors of this power of God. Casual seeking cannot be the order of the day. This kind, Jesus said, don't come out but by prayer and fasting.

No, it's a self-sacrificing and sincere seeking of God that will make the difference now. There's only two reasons I believe that we should pray and fast and believe God to do what only God can do. Number one, firstly and foremostly, that Jesus Christ be glorified in this generation.

Not my name, not your name, not the church's name, nobody's name, no church's name, no organization's name, but the name of Jesus Christ be lifted up and glorified one more time in our generation. His name and His name alone is the only name that needs to be heard, vocalized, loved, appreciated, talked about, or seen.

I've often said it in this church, if you leave this sanctuary talking about me or any of the pastors in this church, then we have failed you. If we have truly stood in this pulpit and represented God, the name of Jesus should be the only name on your lips when you walk out the door of this church.

When you go into your workplace, it's not to talk about Times Square Church. You can invite people here if you want, but the church doesn't make any difference in your life. The church is simply where we meet with Christ, and Christ is the one who makes a difference.

He is the one who sets people free. His is the only name. I'm not here to say anything other than this about these things. And secondly, that people be set free. That Christ be glorified, and He be glorified in doing the work He came to do on the cross.

That people are set free. We're living in a generation very much like this generation in Mark chapter 9 that we read about. In verse 17, he said, Master, I brought to thee my son which has a dumb spirit.

It's, in other words, a generation that has lost the voice of spiritual reason. My son has no voice. My son can't speak anything that has life in it. My son has lost the power of reason, of godly reason.

Doesn't see, doesn't speak the way young people should. In verse 18, he said,. And wherever he takes him, he tears him. And he foams and gnashes with his teeth and pines away. And I spoke to your disciples, and they should cast him out, and they could not.

In other words, this man is saying, My son is wounded. My son is angry. My son is losing hope for the future. Verse 22, it says,. Enough times it has cast him into the fire and into the waters to destroy him.

In other words, he's cast into the fire of unrestrained behavior and passion. And the waters of wrong thinking. Jesus asked the father, How long has this been? And he said, Since he was a child. And you see, everything about this presents itself as hopeless.

Can't be touched. It's too entrenched. It's gone on too long. We've raised a whole generation and told them there is no God. We've sat them in godless schools. We've banned the name of Jesus. We've refused to teach them anything about God.

We've literally baptized them in immorality and immoral thinking. And it's gone on for too long. That's what the devil would try to say. It's too long it's gone on for. And they brought him, verse 20,.

And when he saw him, it says, Straightway the spirit tore him, and he fell on the ground and wallowed, forming. In other words, there seemed, even in this young man, To be a deep resistance to God, to the things of God and the ways of God.

But in spite of all of this, the hopelessness of this situation, In verse 19, Jesus said, Bring him to me. Bring him to me. Bring him to me in his hopelessness. Bring him in his death. Bring him in his despair.

Folks, in the future, I want to challenge you,. You get a hold of every young person you can lay your hands on,. And bring them to the house of God. No explanation is necessary. Young man, young woman, I know that you need help, and I know that you need hope,.

And I know where you can find it. I have had an encounter with the Son of God,. And I want to bring you to the house of God. If you don't like it, get up. In 15 minutes, get up and walk out. But I guarantee you, you bring this young man or woman into the presence of God,.

And Jesus will touch their lives. Our message has to be the same as that of Jesus. Jesus said to the Father,. If you can believe, all things are possible to him that believes. If you can believe, If you can believe that Jesus came to open prison doors,.

To give sight to the blind,. To heal those that have been wounded in heart,. To give healing to those that have been bruised beyond human repair. If you can believe, as Paul said in Colossians chapter 2 and verse 15,.

That when Jesus rose from the dead, he spoiled principalities and powers,. He made a show of them openly and triumphed over them in it. If you can believe that Jesus is the Son of God,. If you can believe that his victory was complete,.

If you can believe that every drop of blood, As it hit the ground at the foot of that cross, Was like the sound of thunder in hell itself. If you can believe that the victory of Christ was complete,. That whosoever believes in him should not perish,.

But shall have everlasting life. If you can believe, all things are possible to him that believes. Verse 26 said,. The spirit cried and rended him sore,. It may look worse before it gets better,. And came out of him and he looked like somebody was dead,.

In so much that he said he is dead. I have watched people in this sanctuary, particularly Sunday night, During testimony meetings, look like they are dead. I've watched people come in and they just stare as if they're a mannequin, Straight off into space.

They don't clap their hands, they don't sing the songs, And it's as if they don't even dare lift their eyes. I've looked and I've watched people, And suddenly the altar call is given, And they incredulously, Without any kind of an exterior display whatsoever, They get up out of their seats, And come to the altar, And give their lives to Jesus Christ by the dozens now, And now by the hundreds every month, Coming to Christ.

There was a man sitting in the third row one night, One day actually, And he was sound asleep in his seat, And his mother was beside him, And I happened to catch his mother's eye, And she goes like this, Please pray.

She was grey haired, Lovely mother, Her son is just sitting there, He's sound asleep, And she said, Pray, pray for my son. So I took her up on it, And during worship I just began to raise my hands, And cry out for this sound asleep man, Sitting in the third row, In the center section of this church.

I got up and preached that day, And to my surprise, Gave an altar call, This man woke up, Came out of his seat, And came to the altar, Gave his life to Jesus Christ. He's been on the mission field, He's been all over the world, He's been in Israel serving, He's been living for God, Walked away from godlessness, And walked into the kingdom of God.

I was probably more surprised than anybody else, In that whole sanctuary that day, And I couldn't help but wonder, Did he hear anything today? How did he even hear anything? He was sound asleep. His mouth was open.

He was asleep. But yet he came to the altar, And cried, and cried, and cried, and cried. He only woke up for the altar call. The scripture says, If you can believe, Jesus said, If you can believe, All things are possible, To him that believes.

Faith That Acts and Takes People by the Hand

And the scripture says, Jesus took him by the hand, And lifted him up, And he arose. And it's one thing to believe, But belief must translate itself into action. We've got to do more. That's why we have a scholarship, For example, For inner city youth in particular, That have no chance of any advancement, If somebody doesn't take them by the hand, And help them.

It's one thing to say, Be warmed, and filled, or be healed, And God may even do something miraculous through that, But Jesus always took it a step further. He reached down, And grabbed him by the hand, And lifted him up, And by God's grace, That's what we're going to do for this generation.

We're going to do more than just tell them what they should be,. We're going to take them by the hand, And help them. Young people in this generation need fathers, They need mothers, They need brothers, They need sisters, They need family,.

They need somebody to put their arm around their shoulder, And say, I believe that God is going to do wonderful things in your life. They need the voice of fathers, They need the voice of those that are mothers, And those that God would enable in the body of Jesus Christ.

Jesus took him by the hand. I believe, in great measure, That's why Peter and John did the same thing, When they went into the temple later on in the book of Acts, And they, remember, Peter looked at the man who was lame, And said, In the name of Jesus, Stand up and walk.

And it says, He raised up, He took him by the hand, And lifted him up, Because they had learned this. It's one thing to speak healing, But you and I must put ourselves into the process, That's part of that healing.

It involves a commitment. It involves going and knocking on a door, And taking a teenage young person by the hand as it is, And bringing them on the subway with your family, And bringing them to church, And taking them by the hand to McDonald's, Or something like this for lunch, After the ten o 'clock service.

It involves bringing them out Friday night, Helping them to get going, In their walk with God. We are not going to let this generation die in their sin. We are not going to roll over and play dead, When we have a living Savior, Walking in the midst of us, And living inside of us.

We are not going to yield this generation up to godlessness, To the five or eight percent of society that says, There is no God. We are not yielding this generation up to those voices any longer. You and I are going to reach out in the power of God.

We are going to pray. We are going to fast. We are going to believe. We are going to open this church up. We are going to believe God to fill this house, With teenagers on Friday night to overflowing.

We are going to believe God. We are going to pray believing. We are not just going to pray and say, Well we have prayed, we have done our duty. No, we are going to do more than that. We are going to look for every opportunity that we have, To bring young people to the house of God, And to help them experience, The life changing power of Jesus Christ.

You and I are ambassadors of the power of God. That's why I believe with all my heart, One of the reasons why many of us on this platform, Have found Christ as Savior. It's not that any of us here, Were learned or noble or mighty in ourselves.

No, we were as Paul said to the Corinthians, We were among the weak and the captivated. Many of you know my testimony. Nine years of panic attacks. Nine years of running out of rooms, If somebody focused their attention on me.

Nine years of having to take so many tranquilizers, That I lived almost under water. Nine years of trying to escape a hell, That I could never escape of fear in my own strength. Nine years of knowing what hell on earth is really like.

But when I came to Jesus, I had a sovereign encounter with the power of God. I stood my ground reading the word of God, And God came into my living room at midnight, And touched my physical body with a heat, From my feet right to the crown of my head.

And set me free from nine years of panic and hell. And has sent me all over the world, Into war torn countries, And some of the most difficult places in the earth, To ever preach the gospel. And has sent me there without any trepidation, And without any fear, Filled with the power and the love of God.

And he did it because he doesn't take the strong, Or I'd be giving you some kind of a formula, How to live the Christian life. No, he took us in our weakness, So that my message might be exactly the same as yours, Needs to be to this generation.

Personal Testimony and the Power of a Divine Encounter

No, it's not by might, it's not by power. It's by the spirit of almighty God. It's not by formula, it's not by degree on the wall. It's not by study, it's by a divine encounter, With the Christ who rose from the grave, And defeated the power of death and hell, And weakness and sin and depravity, And promises life eternal, And life abundant to those who will come to him.

That's my message, that's your message. It's this simple. What he has done for me, he can do for you. Everywhere he's taken me, he can take you. The gladness that Jesus Christ has put in my heart, Can be the gladness that he puts in your heart.

That's my message to this generation. Come and meet the Jesus that transformed my life. Come and meet the Jesus that released inside this frail human vessel his power, And taught me how to walk in love, And taught me how to be a husband, And taught me how to be a father, And gave me the power to care about other people, And taught me how to honor his name, And taught me how to have hope in the future, And gave vision to my eyes, Opened every prison door, And healed the woundings of my heart.

Come and meet this Jesus that transformed my life. That is the message. There is no other message. The rest of it is just theological debate and powerlessness. And by God's grace, I will never, And none of the pastors on this platform will ever use The name of Jesus for personal reputation or advantage.

Oh no, no, no. No, God forbid that should ever happen. No, we stand for one reason alone. That Jesus Christ be glorified. That men and women be set free. Lord, God is opening the doors to the miraculous to us in the city.

There are some things coming our way that I can't report on Yet until the full details are known. But God is opening a door. He's opening a door that we as brothers and sisters in Christ In his body can work together.

He's opening a door to our youth to come to Christ. And I believe in God with all my heart. Of these 25 that may be come out of at-risk areas of the city. That God will put his spirit upon them. And my prayer is, oh Jesus, give us some of the finest Preachers of the gospel this generation has ever known.

Young men and women who are not ashamed. They will not cower down. They will not back away. They will make no excuse. They will stand up and believe for the power of God. May it be, Lord Jesus Christ.

God Almighty, that should be your cry and that should be mine. Lord Jesus, give us pastors and evangelists and teachers again. Oh God, after your heart that will stand and you can come And the glory of God will make such a difference for so many in our time.

We're ambassadors of this power of God. And Jesus Christ will never ask you and I to be ambassadors of something That we've not been made a partaker of. Remember Paul said to Timothy, Timothy, the husbandman that labors must be first partaker of the fruits.

The Lord give you understanding in the things that I say. It's very difficult to pronounce freedom to somebody else if you yourself are not free. And this is an opportunity now. We have a short season to win our secret battles.

We have a short season to touch and get tapped into the power of God. The church must be touched first by the power of God or we have no message. All we will do is blame other people for the situation.

We'll be caught in the whirlwind of evil speech that's all around us. We have a season. We have a moment. Where we can reach out in sincerity and in truth. And be touched by the sovereign power of almighty God through Jesus Christ.

We can't be ambassadors of a country we've never lived in. We can't represent a place we've never been. We can't talk about something we haven't experienced. All we can say the words but there's no power in it.

And we will have to always be putting it off to another day. Oh son, come to God and one day, someday, someplace, somewhere. No, the person who has been touched by the spirit of God and has known the power of God.

The message is simply this. Right now, Jesus will meet you. Right now, he'll set you free. Right now. Pastor Patrick and I have had lengthy discussion about this one thing. That the youth are coming into this church, 700 plus now, on Friday night.

They don't need theories about God. They need a living encounter with the risen Christ. They need to be filled with the Holy Spirit. They need to let God do the work that only God can do. So that their testimony to this generation is not about any formulas, any steps, any strategies to better Christian living.

It's about having come to the Christ who has done what only Jesus can do. Inside of a vessel who calls out to him. The father cried out, oh I believe. Help my unbelief. I believe as much as I can, but oh God, help me in that measure where I simply can't seem to attain to faith.

Many of us would say that kind of a prayer should have been rejected, but Jesus didn't reject it. It was sincere. It was honest. There was no pretense in it. There were no excuses. This man wanted freedom for his son.

His only son actually in one of the other accounts. Which would be his strength and his future. It would be the continuity of his own house. And he believed as much as he could. And Jesus took him and set his son free.

Invitation to Freedom and the Altar Call

As I said before, Jesus will never ask you to be an ambassador of something that you have not been a partaker of. And so the question in my heart today is, where is it that you have failed? You've fallen and you are laying powerless today.

What is it in your life that you can't get the victory over? What relationship can't you walk away from? What practice can't you stop doing? What place can't you stop going? What is it in your mind that is constantly attacking you and you wonder, will I ever, ever get free from this?

Where is it that you are fallen and laying powerless? Not only for your sake, but for the sake of so many who need to know the power of God. Will you let Jesus take you by the hand today and raise you up?

Will you let him take you by the hand? This young man had no strength, no power, no hope, no ability, no future. The only thing he probably could do is respond to the touch of Jesus. And as much as he could, grip that hand that was willing to grip his.

And everything else was done by the son of God. No matter where you are today or what you're struggling with. We are being called to be ambassadors of the power of God. And you and I must be the first partakers of that power.

I tell you today, Jesus Christ is willing to set you free. I got a call this week from a man who had lost hope. In another state, here in the United States, he had lost hope. He had lost the reason to live.

He didn't see any point in going on. And every day, all day, the thought of suicide was in his mind. Finish it. End your life. It's hopeless. There is no tomorrow. In this church, I gave an altar call.

People came forward and I felt the Holy Spirit come on me. And started to stand against the spirit of suicide. That is trying to destroy so many lives in this generation. We spoke by telephone this week.

And he said, I was just streaming into the service. And as you prayed, that spirit left me. It was weeping in gratitude to the Lord for what God had done. He said, a spirit I could not get away from. I could not escape it.