A Midnight Cry That God Answers — Carter Conlon

The Midnight Cry That God Answers

Now Luke chapter 11, if you'll go there, Luke chapter 11, I have a word tonight that is for you, for everyone who's listening, for everyone who's here in the sanctuary, for those that are listening online, this word is for you and it's not for you at the same time.

And you'll understand that in just a moment. I want to speak to you about a midnight cry that God answers, a midnight cry that God answers. Father, I want to thank you tonight, God, for your word. It is indeed a lamp for our feet and a light for our path.

I want to thank you, Lord Jesus Christ, that this world is so spiraling out of control that people are now contemplating their future, their eternity, are willing to consider prayer, are willing to consider turning to you, God.

I want to thank you, Lord, that you're going to raise your church in this last hour of time and give us an empowerment of your Holy Spirit. God, that our voices might have weight in this darkness, that our lives might bring light into every darkened room, that our conversation might bring healing in places where there's only bitterness and division and despair.

God, thank you, Lord Jesus Christ. Just as the apostle Paul appeared on the deck of a sinking boat and was able to lead 275 people to safety, Lord Jesus Christ, we're asking you for that same anointing to come on each one of our lives, that every one of us would be used of you to bring many to safety in this time of storms, in this time of upheavals, this time of war, this time of potential shortages, this time, God, that's so uncertain in every aspect of life.

We thank you, God, that you will give us the anointing that we need, the empowerment that we need to make a difference in our generation. And so, Lord Jesus Christ, we thank you, God. Give me the ability to convey this truth tonight.

Deliver me, God, from my own thoughts. Override this frail physical body and mind. And speak to your people, God. Speak to your church. Speak to the addicted, the bruised, the afflicted tonight, those that don't think they have any purpose in life.

God, there's a much deeper purpose than most, almost all ever realize that you have for them. God, let it be unveiled tonight. And let every heart begin to burn like the men on the road to Emmaus with a passion for your work, God.

And you would turn them from the way they're walking and turn them around and head them to the course and the purpose that you have for their lives. Oh, Jesus Christ, thank you that you don't wait till we have it all together to use us for your glory.

You call us in our frailty and our weakness. You call us, God, in our confusions and struggles that you alone might be glorified, oh God. Father, thank you for this and I praise you for it with all my heart in Jesus' name.

Persistent Prayer at Midnight

A midnight cry that God answers. Luke chapter 11, beginning at verse five. This is all about prayer, by the way. And he said to them, which of you shall have a friend and go to him at midnight and say to him, friend, lend me three loaves.

For a friend of mine has come to be on his journey and I have nothing to set before him. And he will answer him from within and say, do not trouble me. The door is now shut and my children are with me in bed.

I cannot rise and give to you. I say to you, though he will not rise and give to him because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence, he will rise and give him as many as he needs. So I say to you, ask and it will be given you.

Seek and you will find. Knock and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives and he who seeks finds and to him who knocks it will be opened. If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone?

Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish? Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If you then being evil, that is of course in comparison to God, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?

Midnight as a Time of Crisis and Crying Out

The midnight cry that God answers. Now there's a lot in the scripture about midnight. It has a particular connotation in the scripture. Generally speaking, midnight is about a calamitous time. It can be a difficult time.

It could be a time, for example, as in Matthew chapter 25, when there was a cry. There's always a cry involved. There was a cry, behold, the bridegroom is coming. Go out to meet him. Exodus chapter 12 verses 29 and 30, the scripture tells us this.

It was a time where it came to pass at midnight that the Lord struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of livestock.

So Pharaoh arose in the night, he and all his servants and all the Egyptians, and there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where there was not one dead. And we're living in a time where there's a lot of families losing loved ones, a lot of turmoil in homes and marriages, a lot of children that are confused, and moms and dads don't know what to do about this confusion that's coming into so many lives.

And there is this cry. Whether we can hear it or not, God does hear it. A cry in the hearts of many people. There's a cry tonight online from many, many. We see your prayer requests coming in. There's a cry in your heart for deliverance from torment.

There's a cry for your families, your sons, your daughters, your husbands, your wives, and your families. In the book of Jonah in chapter one and verse five, there was a cry that came up from people who were afraid on the journey.

It says, the Lord sent a great wind on the sea and there was a mighty tempest on the sea so that the ship was about to be broken up. Then the mariners were afraid. Every man cried out to his God and threw the cargo that was in the ship into the sea to lighten the load.

And this is a cry that we're experiencing in our generation, the cry of so many people who just don't think they're gonna make it. They don't think they have the strength. They don't know what to do. They can't see a way forward.

It is indeed a very, very dark day that you and I are now living in. Now, again, in Acts chapter 27, when the apostle Paul was on a ship that was about to go down, it says in verse 27, when the 14th night had come and we were driven up and down in the Adriatic Sea, it was at midnight.

The sailors sensed that they were drawing near to some land and they took soundings and found it to be 20 fathoms. And when they'd gone a little farther, they took soundings again and found it to be 15 fathoms.

Then fearing lest we should run aground on the rocks, they dropped four anchors out of the stern and prayed for the day to come. There's a midnight cry happening all throughout the world right now. We are in stormy times, stormy seasons.

We don't know what tomorrow is going to bring. We sense that we're drawing close to some unfamiliar place, just as they did in the book of Acts chapter 27. And we are fearing as a society, as many people are throughout the world today, that we're about to land on some rocks.

We're about to go into a very unfamiliar and a very, very difficult place. And so what is the response as the church of Jesus Christ? Where do we fit in all of this? Do we draw back and just try to survive and kind of find our own comfort and ride through the storm and hope that Christ comes and gets us out of the world?

Or is there a deeper purpose for every life? Am I born for something greater than maybe I'm knowing in my present season or my present time in life? Now, this is where this parable becomes very, very interesting for everybody who's listening tonight.

The Believer’s Cry for Spiritual Provision

He said to them, which of you shall have a friend and go to him at midnight and say, friend, lend me three loaves for a friend of mine has come to me on his journey and I have nothing to set before him.

It's the cry of the believer. It's a type of the cry of the believer who recognizes the seriousness of this hour, the darkness of this hour, the fear of this hour. And it's the person that says, God, I don't have what I need to meet the need that's all around me right now.

I don't have the compassion of the father. I don't have the compassion of God. God so loved the world he gave his only begotten son. I don't have the message of salvation on my lips to the degree that it should be.

And I don't have the power of the Holy Spirit. I don't have what God says I can have. I'm not that stand up witness for Christ. My words are not compelling. I'm afraid to speak. And if I do speak, I don't know what to say.

I feel so inadequate for the need that is now before me. And he goes to his friend at midnight and says, friend, give me three loaves. I always thought that was interesting because how many people can eat three loaves of bread?

I mean, that's a lot of bread for just one friend that comes at midnight. Of course, Jesus is teaching us on prayer. And I do believe the three loaves are everything that is provided by the Trinity, by the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

I need God. In other words, I need everything you have for me. Not just a measure. I need the fullness of what you have for me because it's midnight. And a friend has come to me on his journey and I don't have what it takes to sit before him.

Now, it says he will answer from within and say, do not trouble me. The door is now shut and my children are with me in bed and I cannot rise and give to you. And I say to you, though he will not rise and give to him because he's his friend, yet because of his persistence, he will rise and give him as many as he needs.

You see, the persistent prayer of this man is not for himself. And here's the message I have tonight, I think, for people that are online. This evening, and you're very, very self-focused and there's a measure of that that is necessary.

But there's something that God wants to give you, not just for yourself, not just to consume it, not just for your own freedom, as wonderful as that is going to be. But it's that he might flow through you for the sake of others around you.

You do know who Christ is, or you wouldn't be here in this prayer meeting. You have at least some kind of knowledge of the salvation of Christ. You may not be living in the full freedom of that yet, but you do have a knowledge.

And you're the type of a person that says, God, I don't have, I'm such a mess, I've got nothing to give to anybody else. But Jesus said, if you come to me, and your request and your knocking is not about yourself, it's about somebody else.

You want what I have for you, but you want it for a deeper reason than just yourself, than just your own freedom, as wonderful as that is, or your own provision, or your own healing, whatever it is that you need.

You say, God, I want what you have for me for the sake of somebody else that has nothing. And I recognize that I don't have what is necessary to set before them. I am so self-focused. I am so struggling myself, God, I don't have, you've got to give me something that's of you, Lord, that I might have it to set before this midnight generation that is now set before me.

Moving Beyond Self-Focused Prayer

And he comes there and he won't be turned back. So this is a type of prayer that's no longer just focused on me. I'm not suggesting prayer that is self-focused is a bad thing. What I'm suggesting, that prayer that is self-focused consistently falls short of what God wants to reveal through your life.

He wants to take you and I farther than just being concerned about our own needs. Trust me, I'm 69 now. I'm gonna be 70 next September and I have enough aches and pains that I could focus on that all day.

Nobody ever told me it would hurt so bad to get old, but it does, it hurts. It hurts to put on my socks in the morning. I have headaches quite frequently. I got a lot of stuff going on in this body, but I find myself coming to the door of God saying, Lord, you've got to give me more than I have to meet the needs of this generation.

I don't want to spend the rest of my life just focused on my own struggles and my own ills and my own concerns. I want to go beyond that because it's midnight. People are crying, they're losing their families.

People are in a storm, they're going down, they don't know what to do. People are struggling everywhere. God, and I need what you have. I want you to put weight behind my speech. I want compassion in my heart as the love of so many is starting to grow cold because iniquity is abounding.

I want the love of God in my heart for this generation. I want the salvation of Christ on my lips. I want to be willing and able to speak it wherever I go, and I want the wisdom which God is willing to give that I can speak it with.

Not just ramming a pile of scripture at somebody, but speaking with the wisdom of God and causing their hearts to be stirred. God, I need the wisdom that you have for me, and I need the power of your Holy Spirit to live this life in a victorious way that people can see that you're a God who keeps us above the storm.

Persevering for the Sake of Others

Now he said, I say to you, even though he will not rise to give him because he's his friend, yet because of his persistence, he will rise and give him as much as he needs. Not just three, but as much as he needs.

He will rise and give it to him. The persistence of somebody that says, I need what you have for the sake of somebody else. That to me, that's what we teach here. The true Christianity is living for the benefit of others.

There is a measure, there's a measure where we seek God for ourselves, but then there's a season where we must move beyond that and say, Lord, even if you don't heal me, I will serve you. Even if this is part of my life, even if the pains don't go away, I will serve you.

I will look beyond my own need and I will look to the needs of those who are going to die. They're going to drown, as with Paul in Acts 27. If I don't appear on that deck, and if I'm not able to thank God for being in this place, and if I don't have a word in my heart, these people will all die.

And I want them to survive this journey so they can have an opportunity to hear about Jesus Christ and to receive him as Lord and Savior of their lives. If there's any reluctance in God's heart to release his power through us and his spirit through us, it's overcome when our cry is for those who are hungry at the midnight hour.

So I say to you, in the context of perseverance, in the context of asking for somebody else, I say to you, ask and it will be given you. Seek and you will find. Knock and it will be opened to you. Everyone who asks receives.

He who seeks finds, and to him who knocks, it will be opened. I don't know about you, but that is red letter in my Bible. That means it came right from the mouth of Jesus Christ. It was recorded by those who heard it.

And God cannot lie. And he says, if I ask, I will be given it. If I seek, I will find it. If I knock, in the context of persevering for the sake of those who need something at midnight, it will be given to me.

The Father’s Willingness to Give the Holy Spirit

If a son asks for bread from a father, will he give him a stone? If, in other words, God says, if you ask me for these things, for something that is good, will I withhold from you or give you something you don't need?

If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him? How much more? Phenomenal. I have nine grandchildren, and Christmas is coming up, and I delight in giving them things, generally speaking, that they don't need.

But I delight in giving them things, whether it's a shiny pair of shoes, or a new jacket, or a bicycle, or whatever it is. There's a delight in my heart, as a grandfather, to give them what I think will bring them the most pleasure, to give them things that maybe they can use, or maybe it'll make them stand out at school.

Who knows, whatever. I always tell one of my grandsons, if you're gonna be my grandson, you're gonna look good. You're gonna look good. That's why we make constant trips to Under Armour to get new stuff over there for him.

You gotta look good. You see, that's God, how much more? If I'm concerned that my grandchildren are happy, if I'm concerned that they have what they need, if I'm concerned, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?

How much more? I mean, those three words have gotta get into our heart. How much more? How much more? We don't have to beg God for what he wants to give us. It's in his heart. He didn't go to the cross so that he could win a marvelous victory over sin and the power of death, go back to heaven and fold his arms and say, well, if they pray long enough or if they get the right words, then maybe I'll consider giving them what they need.

No, it makes the cross almost anticlimactic. When you think, if you could think of it that way. No, he went there because he wants to give us what we need. That his name through us might be glorified in the earth.

That people who live in darkness might find life and light in Jesus Christ. That we would look good, in a sense, in the sight of heaven. That we are allowing God to be God. That God could actually look at us and say, there's my son, doesn't he look good?

There's my daughter, doesn't she look good? With the presence of the Holy Spirit in her life. With the words that I have enabled her to speak, with the touch of heaven that is in her hands for others.

Just like we heard in that testimony, a healing massage, that sounds good to me. Somebody just put their hands on your shoulders and suddenly a seven week headache is gone. With prayers, of course, I understand that.

But thank God for the giftings of the Spirit. How much more, you know, so many people, so many people online, so many people even in Bible school just spend so much time begging God for what he wants to give them.

None of my grandchildren have to beg me for anything. If it's within my power, if they want it with all their heart, they're gonna get it. I'm gonna give it to them, as long as it's not illegal, immoral, or fat man, or they're gonna kill themselves with it, and God is the same.

They're gonna get what they want. They're gonna get what they need. I'll do anything. I'll move heaven and earth to get it for them. If I know how to do that, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit?

The Holy Spirit Given for Ministry, Not Self-Display

Now, a lot of people want the Holy Spirit just so they can walk around going yabba dabba doo and say, I've got the Holy Spirit. Well, that's not it. You want the Holy Spirit so that you can be a vessel bringing life, and light, and strength, and hope, and help to those who are perishing at midnight.

When the motive is right, even through James, the apostle, the word of God says, if you ask to consume it upon yourselves, you'll not receive anything. A lot of people just want the experience to say, hey, I've had the experience, but they don't want where the experience is going to lead them, into the work of God, for the glory of God.

Praise be to God, praise be to God, praise be to God. A midnight cry that God answers. Well, here's the bottom line, folks, it's midnight. It's time now. It's time for you, it's time for me to say, God, I need three loaves.

I need everything you've got for me. I need the compassion of your heart. I need your salvation on my lips, and I need the courage to speak it. I need the power to live a life that, even if it's in the middle of my own struggles, and I just still have a song of praise on my lips, that people look and say, well, maybe he's struggling like I am, but he's got the victory, and I want what he's got.

How much more, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him? See, this is why, every Wednesday night, we ask you at home to stay and pray. Stay and pray. Pray that God give you his Holy Spirit.

Pray that your life would, you'd not just get free, and that's a wonderful thing, or be healed, and that's a wonderful thing. Thank God for that. But that you would go beyond that to the very purpose that God has for your life, which is ultimately to glorify his own name by showing other people who he is and what he can do, and his strength, and his mercy, and his grace, and his goodness, and his kindness.

A Prayer for Salvation, Empowerment, and Restoration

Oh, God, I do pray, Lord Jesus Christ, that you would put a song of praise in people's hearts tonight that are listening online, a song of praise, my God, that comes from the gifting of your life being lived out inside of us and through us, each one of us, oh, God.

Lord Jesus Christ, I thank you, Lord, that we don't have to have it all together to receive everything you have for us. It's all about the cross. You paid the price, and you made the way that our hearts and lives can be open to what we need to be the people you've called us to be.

So tonight, I do ask, God, that people would stay and pray, stay and pray that they might know you as Savior, admitting that they can't save themselves, and believing that you died on a cross to pay the price for their sin, and confessing you as Lord and Savior.

I ask you, Lord, tonight, that people would stay in their homes and pray until they know they have been given what they need to be the people that you've called them to be. And all the way along, God, you will open prison doors, and you'll give sight to the blind, and you'll heal the wounded hearts, and you'll bring wholeness into families, God, as we just start living for you and serving you in spite of our circumstance, and put our circumstances into your hands.

So tonight, Lord Jesus Christ, let it be. God, let it be. Let there be a shout of victory and glory, God, in this generation that is so far beyond anything we could ever think or imagine. Jesus, we ask you, God, come to your church, Lord, come to your people, come to the maimed, and the bruised, and the broken, the nobodies, the nothings of this world, O God, and give us not only our salvation, but the power of your Holy Spirit to be the people that we're called to be.

Let it be, Lord Jesus Christ, that through us, these weakened vessels in this world, your name and your name alone will be glorified. God, we thank you for it, and we praise you for it. In Jesus' name.