Push Back the Darkness — Carter Conlon

Psalm 140, please if you'll turn their Message that the Lord's put on my heart for this morning is called push back the darkness. Push back the darkness. Some of you may or may not be aware of this but a couple of weeks ago in the province of Ontario, Canada a New law was passed That if your child at the age of eight comes home from school one day and Your little boy decides that he's a girl.

And you refuse to let that child Go to school and address. Then the government has the right now to take that child out of your home. You see folks you got to understand. We're living in a perilous time we're living in an age of lawlessness that the scriptures have spoken about a Darkness That you and I never imagined would ever touch Our generation.

The Peril of Lawlessness in the Last Days

We read it in the Bible, and we knew it was going to come. We knew that there would be an unspeakable lawlessness and a great falling away in the last day before Christ returns. But most of us never thought we'd ever live to see a day like this and if you think this is bad without God intervening folks I Fear for what kind of a generation we're leaving for our sons and daughters ahead of us.

There's a concerted effort to de-masculinize Men and it's worldwide now. That's why as men we have to stand up and be men again. We have to stand up and be counted. We need to push back the darkness, and I want to speak about that this morning and Pray for me too in the days ahead because every Sunday morning message.

I speak Gets now condensed into 28 minutes and put across the country on radio. So keep that in mind every Sunday. We're on Europe live on television even right now. We're on television in Europe in all across the continent and God has opened a huge door to this pulpit and so big please be in prayer because the headwinds are very strong against it and There will probably be a cost to the words that God's gonna give me in the next year or two.

But I am prepared for it, and I trust as and I speak to the men that are listening today. We must be prepared. We must be prepared to push the darkness back. Father I thank you With all my heart Lord.

Prayer for Strength Against Darkness

Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory throughout scriptural history. You have taken your people when the odds Seemed against them when it looked like they were on the edge of being overpowered and when they turned and began to pray.

Then once again your sovereign power came back into view and you push the darkness outside of the borders of your people. You give strength to those that were weak. Even in David's day you took 400 men who had lost hope and heart and They became mighty for the rest of their lives.

And they did great exploits in the name of their God. You've proven conclusively throughout scriptural history That no matter how dark the days become you are still God. Every name that is named every power every principality in heaven and on earth In existence and yet to come are all in subjection to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Lord Jesus forgive us for not understanding your power. Forgive us Lord for living in such a low currency when the treasure of heaven has been art at our disposal. Forgive us Lord for self-focus and the weakness it has brought into your church and the Depravity it is allowed to be manifested within our borders.

Lord we ask you for spiritual strength now to pray. To believe you for the supernatural to stand up and to do Lord. What only can be done with your power. Radiating and working through each of our lives.

We yield our bodies to this purpose. Lord give us the courage to put away childish things. And to become men and women of God. May our children be able to say of us. Our grandfathers our fathers our mothers our grandmothers.

Were men and women of God. May that be what is written of us in the next generation. Deliver us from evil. And keep us. O God give me the touch of heaven. I need to speak these words this day and the words that you will put on my heart in the future.

It's time to fight. It's time to pray Lord we thank you for it in Jesus name. Amen. Psalm 140 a psalm written by King David before he was king in a season where His own nation was in a fearful spiritual decline.

David's Prayer in Psalm 140

Self will and spiritism under King Saul was on full display and Was leading the nation towards what would inevitably without divine intervention become a certain defeat. David was being pursued by an army and David of course is our Christ type.

The army was hoping as it always has been that a backsliding society could finally cast off that which represented God and Threatened its own godless advance. We are living in that kind of a day again.

Godlessness is on parade. Godlessness believes it has the upper hand and only recently are we starting to see how vulgar and vile it really is that spirit and Those over whom it gains dominion. That's why you hear such cursing happening now.

Even among politicians, it's such it's so tragic. What's happening now? Here is the prayer of a man who made a difference? May that be our prayer. Deliver me O Lord from evil men. Preserve me from violent men who plan evil things in their hearts.

They continually gather together for war. They sharpen their tongues like a serpent. The poison of asps is under their lips. Keep me O Lord from the hands of the wicked. Preserve me from violent men who have purposed to make my steps stumble.

The proud have hidden a snare for me and cords. They have spread a net by the wayside. They have set traps for me. I Said to the Lord you are my God. Hear the voice of my supplications O Lord. Oh God the Lord the strength of my salvation.

You have covered my head in the day of battle. Do not grant O Lord the desires of the wicked. Do not further his wicked scheme lest they be exalted as. For the head of those who surround me. Let the evil of their lips cover them.

Let burning coals fall upon them. Let them be cast into the fire into deep pits that they rise not up again. Let not a slanderer be established in the earth. Let evil hunt the violent man to overthrow him.

I Know that the Lord will maintain the cause of the afflicted and justice for the poor. Surely the righteous shall give thanks to your name. The upright shall dwell in your presence. Psalm 2 verses 1 to 3 Says why do the nation's rage and the people plot a vain thing?

The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together Against the Lord and against his anointed saying let us break their bonds in pieces and cast away their cords from us. The discourse in our nation and I think everybody here has to be aware of it this morning.

The division the bitter speech the escalating. Encouragement towards people actually to do things that ought not to be done. It's following the pattern of history. The battle is now about Christ and his restrictions on behaviors of those who in themselves.

They want no restrictions and they want to be their own judges of what is right and wrong. This is the battle. It always has been the battle of a fallen humanity. When Satan came into the Garden of Eden, he sowed a seed of his own fallen nature into humankind.

That you don't need to follow the ways of God you can be as God in yourself and you can determine what is right and what is wrong and have we not fallen prey as a generation to that Evil logic may I put it that way the casting off.

This is why the heathen are raging. This is why the nation's are coming together and banding together around a common cause. Which is shocking to those of us who know Christ. Casting offices let let us cast off their cords from us all of the restrictions that Christ has brought upon our behaviors and They as his representatives.

Let us stand against the Lord and against his anointed those that have the Spirit of God on them and let us break their bonds And pieces and cast away their cords from us. That's exactly what we're facing today.

That is the battle it's not it's not Democrat versus Republican versus Libertarian, etc, etc. It's godlessness versus Christ. That's what we are fighting in this generation a Lawlessness that has risen up in this and other societies.

Exactly as the Bible foretold it would be in the last days a sudden Infusion of lawlessness that will culminate in the words of Jesus where he said you shall be hated of all nations for my namesake. We're heading there folks, but thanks be to God throughout history.

We see that if we will stand up if We will begin to pray If we will yield our bodies to the purposes of God God can extend in any society a season of mercy. Where multitudes sometimes too numerous to count are drawn into his kingdom in Rwanda there were there were for example years ago There were two competing factions in society the the Hutu and the Tutsi two different tribes both fighting for control of the nation.

One tribe became dominant over another and they started to Publicly vilify the other people on the radio and actually reduce them to the level of inanimate objects Sowing the seeds of an unspeakable violence that you and I know about even today.

Tragedy but God Preceded this tragedy and many don't realize this but there was a great spiritual awakening in Rwanda before the genocide and Many many many countless numbers of people came into the kingdom of God and so Mercy will always triumph over judgment even though our societies and our world may go into difficult days.

Mercy triumphs. We must never lose sight of the fact that the battle we fight is about eternity. It's not just preserving a society. It's not just keeping our sandcastles from getting blown over. One day it will all be folded away the scripture says like a scroll and the heavens and the earth will be Recreated and brought back to right order the the Word of God tells us that it's not about just preserving that or preserving our lifestyle folks the the mission of Christ was about people and Thank God it was or you and I wouldn't be here today.

We would have no hope he didn't come down across to just preserve our self-image or our Steady future or our money in the bank or our retirement plan. He didn't die for that he died that we might be redeemed and left us as ambassadors of that incredible mercy on the earth and the beauty of it all is that we have power and Access to the throne of God that he can extend his mercy one more time.

He can flood our streets. He can be bring the conviction of sin where we never believed it could come. Jonah didn't believe that God could well he feared he would be but the odds were against God ever showing mercy to the Assyrians and their capital city of Nineveh who were so violent and vile that they had a reputation for cruelty in the world and Yet God showed the mercy for a whole generation.

And you know the ironic thing is that Jonah wasn't even offering the mercy his whole message was repent. You're finished in 40 days. It's all over. But they humbled themselves under the mighty hand of God and a great great spiritual awakening came to a very very wicked city.

Because the aims of the people cannot be achieved peaceably. Just as with Saul the people always have to resort to vulgarity. To accusations and to even violence and this is what we are witnessing today.

Sad to say it, but we are watching a great nation unravel right before our eyes. Many voices and you'll read them in the media. You can you can find them if you're looking for the voices are there secular and sacred they're warning that we're becoming so uncivil that we're rapidly approaching an increased unrest and even potential violence in our major cities.

This is where we're heading. But you and I as believers in Christ just as David was. The only ones who can bring a spiritual awakening back to the nation. Do you fully understand that yet? We have power with God To bring back a moment of mercy.

We have power with God to push back the darkness that wants to swallow our society. Cause violence to permeate our streets and literally overthrow Everything of God and everything of Christ. Every restriction to people's behavior to literally throw it out of our borders and have this new social order where there are no boundaries.

No borders, no rules. Everyone does what is right in his own sight. Perversion is paraded and Morality is degraded. So the question is what are we now to do? You have to make it practical because I know I Can keep it on a level where nobody can really grasp it.

But I know that if you're as I am and I were sitting here in your seat and someone were preaching to me I'd say preacher tell me now. What do I do? And how do I do it? Well, let's look at what David did in Psalm 140.

Praying for Deliverance From the Spirit of the Age

Now, he's in a cave a Madman is pursuing him. He's got an army behind him there. There's talk of violence everywhere. Not only are the people that are trying to find him and kill him literally talking of violence.

But the people surrounding him inside the cave are also talking of violence. Do you understand the people outside want to kill him. The people inside want him to kill somebody else? They want him to kill King Saul.

But David recognizes something because he's a Christ type that this is not how the kingdom of God is going to advance. This is not what God is calling us to do as a people and In Psalm 140, he says deliver me O Lord from evil men.

He's not talking about just the people outside. He's also talking about the people inside those whose speech is given to other than godliness those who are looking for a solution in Physical or human terms that which the natural mind only can understand.

He says preserve me from violent men. God don't let the spirit of violence get a hold of me. Don't let me be don't let it be in my mouth. Don't let it touch my hands. Don't don't let me be a partaker of this spirit.

That's become so prevalent in this time who plan evil things in their hearts. They gather together for war. They sharpen their tongues like a serpent and the poison of snakes is under their lips. And so what David did and this is what you and I have to do.

Pray for deliverance from the spirit of this age. Pray for deliverance say God deliver me. I Don't want to be part of the problem. I want to be part of the solution. Get my mind back on spiritual things.

Get me away from the media get me away from all of these things that want to poison my spirit and Cause my speech to lose its effect and be exactly the way they are. I told my wife this morning coming in.

I don't listen to the news. I can't listen to it anymore. I can't it's so poisonous. I can't listen to it. I'll go in once a day and read the headlines and that's it and then I'm out. I'm out. I'll listen to something else.

Give me anything but what's going on in the public sphere today. Pray for deliverance from all of these things. David said in Psalm 142 when he was in the cave, he cried out. He said I cry out to the Lord with my voice and with my voice to the Lord.

I make supplication. I pour out my complaint before him. I declare before him my trouble you see turn to prayer. That's always been the key when my spirit was overwhelmed within me. Then you knew my path in the way, which I walk they have secretly set a snare for me.

Look on my right hand and see and there's no one who acknowledges me. Refuges failed me. No one cares for my soul. In other words David is saying I feel called to something higher than the petty Violence and grievance of this generation and nobody seems to understand it around me.

David's saying outside they want to kill me inside. They want me to kill. But Oh God help me. David had no way of understanding. He was the Christ type of his generation. He was the type of somebody who was governed and guided and empowered by the Spirit of God.

Lord there has to be another way. I Cried out to you. Oh Lord. I said you are my refuge my portion in the land of the living. Attend to my cry for I'm brought very low. Deliver me from my persecutors for they are stronger than I.

Bring my soul out of prison that I may praise your name. The righteous shall surround me for you shall deal bountifully with me. Here's one David says deliver me from the spirit of the sage. But he in verse 7, he says I believe that I will have a different spirit.

That your life inside of me will have a great effect on others around me. And that's got to be the cry of my heart and yours God. Give me a different spirit than this age. Give me your Holy Spirit. Give me your thoughts.

Give me your mind. Give me what you are saying about this time. Give me your compassion for the multitudes even those who don't know their left hand from the right hand. Spiritually speaking help me to love even my enemies.

God Almighty. Give me a different spirit and bring people around me that will become mighty. You will deal bountifully. David says the righteous shall surround me. This was a prayer. It was a prayer of faith because around him were discontented men.

They were in dress distress. They were in debt. They wanted him to become violent. They wanted him to fight physically, but David knew the fight that he was called to fight was so much deeper than this and He said God I see a day the righteous will surround me those whose hearts are right those who make right choices.

Because you will deal Bountifully with me they will see your hand on me and that had to be what made these men Mighty or with they changed something changed the men that were with David you understand they were advocating Violence, but they came out of that cave and they were mighty and they became changers in their generation and they took on battles that only God could have given them the strength to win.

Trusting God to Make a Difference

And in Psalm 140 again verse 6 the second thing we must do firstly pray for deliverance from the spirit of this age and Believe that your life can and will make a difference. Verses 6 to 8 I Said to the Lord you are my God.

Hear the voice of my supplications. Oh Lord. Oh God the Lord the strength of my salvation. You've covered my head in the day of battle. Do not grant the Lord the desires of the wicked. Do not further his wicked scheme lest they be exalted.

Here's what David is praying God through my life push back the darkness. Cover my head in the day of battle and help me not to listen to the voice of the enemy. Help me not to succumb to the threats of the wicked.

For David would have remembered when he was young that every morning a voice arose on the opposite side of a valley and challenged the armies of Israel Into a one-on-one conflict. And that voice in a sense Indicating you don't have the power to overcome what's against you.

So yield to it now rather than be humiliated. And David remembered the day that he refused. Refused the armor of Saul because he had never proven it. But God covered his head so that he was not listening to the taunts.

He was not listening to the voice of that particular generation. But he had a word from God and you remember when he ran into that valley. He said you come to me with armor and a sword and a spear. But I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts the God of the armies of Israel.

The God that you have defied. David understood it's not implied. It's not written, but he understood. This is the God who made a promise to my forefather Abraham. That he was going to bless the people that are going to be multiplied by the strength of God.

They were going to be a blessing in the earth and all people in the world would come to understand who God is through these People. He spoke to Abraham and said whoever blesses you will be blessed and whoever curses you will be cursed.

So I come against you with that which God has placed in my hand a Weaponry that looks foolish to those who walk in the natural. But you and I know that the weapons are of warfare are not carnal. But they are mighty in God to the pulling down of strongholds.

Casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. Every high thing that exalts itself against the Word of God the will of God the boundaries of God. God has given us power to bring these things down into captivity to the obedience of Christ.

And David knew yes, he's in a cave when he wrote these Psalms. Yes, there's only 400 with him and there's thousands against him. He didn't know who he could trust anymore because when this kind of a situation arises suddenly There's a division that happens and he didn't know who could be trusted.

But David knew the one he could trust was still with him. The one who still does miracles the one who had given him victory. Over a lion and a bear and a giant was still his God no matter how difficult his life looked.

He knew that when he turned to prayer miracles still happened. And folks you and I have to learn the lesson of history. We're on the weaker side in the natural. There's no doubt about that. But in the spiritual we are already more than conquerors.

We already are seated at the right hand of Almighty God. We are connected to the one who already destroyed the power of darkness and sits in all power and all authority. Every name that is named in this world and in the world to come is in subjection to him.

He is the head we are the body. We have direct access to the throne of God. We must pray now. We must go to the throne of God and Push back the darkness. This is not an hour for cowards. This is not an hour for the self-seeking.

This is not an hour for those who pray the foolish prayer of Hezekiah when he was told after a great history. With God after God had given him great victory in the past when he laid his concerns out before the Lord.

He won incredible victories that could only have come from God, but at the end of his days. A prophet comes to him and says your sons are going to be taken captive. They're going to be castrated and they're going to serve a foreign king in his court and Hezekiah prays the most stupid prayer I've ever heard a man of God pray in the Old Testament.

And he says well as long as it doesn't happen in my day. Isn't that a good thing and there are people in this generation that are saying well as long as I'm dead before all this Evil comes on society.

Isn't that a good thing? No, it's not a good thing. It's never a good thing all our little children that sang in this choir this morning. Are we willing to give them over to darkness or are we going to stand up and fight for them?

It's only a good thing for the self-seeking. It's only a good thing for those whose entire Christianity is all about themselves. May God deliver us from this childish foolishness and make us men and women of God again.

May God cause us to understand that we have power to make a difference in our generation and we have to stand up now. We don't have a hundred tomorrows to get this right folks. We have to stand up and we stand up by going to our knees first.

And we go to the throne of God and say Lord, what would you have me to do? What do you want for my life? What are you calling me to do for your kingdom's sake? And thirdly Believe that God will give us the victory.

Believing God Will Give the Victory

David says in verse 12. I know that the Lord will maintain the cause of the afflicted and justice for the poor. Surely the righteous shall give thanks to your name and the upright shall dwell in your presence.

Believe that God will give us the victory and That worship and thanksgiving will become the portion of multitudes in the days just ahead. That was David's prayer in a cave and I remind you that David lived to see the victory.

He believed God for I remind you that David danced before the ark of God as the presence of God was being ushered back in to the center of where God's Government will one day be forever into Jerusalem as God's presence was being ushered as the heart and will of God are being fulfilled.

David could not contain himself any longer and he began to dance before the ark and I believe that Multitudes it doesn't witness it in Scripture. But no doubt there were people dancing with him. If you were one of the 400 persons who had been in that cave.

Wouldn't you be dancing with him as well? Knowing that only God could have given the victory. There's no other way this victory could have come. We're at a crossroads in the church of Jesus Christ now folks.

We press in. We fight. We don't fight with physical weaponry as the people of this world do we fight with spiritual weaponry? We fight with prayer. We fight with the Word of God. We fight with righteous living.

I was reminded this morning that when I was praying that Darkness can encompass a whole ocean. Storms can come and threaten to swallow sailors and travelers and make their passage impossible. All that God needs to counter it and bring multitudes to safety is a light bulb In a place that can be seen with reflection behind it.

That's why Jesus said you are the light of the world. When you consider I've been in Lighthouses all over the place and when you consider the ferocity of the storm when you consider The immensity of the darkness the power of the wind and the waves and all that seems to be against the travelers trying to make their way To the journey that's before them and you realize a bulb about this big Put in a proper place can diffuse it all.

Can send a beam for miles tens 20 30 50 miles can send a beam out and say this way to safety this way to safety. This way to safety and it can diffuse the power of the darkness. The darkness cannot hide the light.

No matter how hard it tries no matter how Much it tries to swallow the traveler and cannot hide the light. You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. You cannot be hidden if You and are willing to be given for the sake of others and that's really the key too long in America Christianity has focused on itself and has allowed this society to devolve into the darkness that is now Surrounding it and threatening to swallow multitudes.

But we are still a city set upon a hill if you are willing to make the journey. Said Lord Jesus as you were willing to die for me that I might have life. May I give my life For others that they too may live.

May I be delivered God from the light and treacherous preachers of this generation Who have led your church into self-focus and incredible weakness? God may I be found in the prayer closet and in the prayer meeting.

May I be found Lord yielding my life for the sake of others. May I be delivered From the stupid who say as long as it doesn't happen in my time. Isn't that a good thing? God deliver me from this spirit and let my life be used for your glory.

A Prayer for Spiritual Awakening and Courage

A Father we pray Lord with all of our heart today. For a sweeping spiritual awakening across this nation. We pray for a spiritual awakening in New York City. We're not asking for harm. To any person we're asking Lord for redemption for forgiveness for light to dispel the darkness.

For people who are given to evil suddenly realizing What they are doing? That their evil pursuit is not just in time. It's forever. Lord Jesus Christ, would you give us courage as your people to be light set upon a hill that cannot be hidden?

Would you give us the courage to put away our own desires and our own dreams? Our self plans and to be laid down. God Almighty for the children. To be laid down for the mothers to fathers those that don't have a voice to speak.

Would you deliver us from the spirit of cowardice and Have us come out from where we've been hiding in the holes in the rocks and caves and enjoying this battle. Father would you guide us for your plan is not ours and your ways are not ours and you have something selective.

For every person that's hearing my voice today. The one thing I do know it's for the saving of the lost and the banishing of darkness. God Almighty. God Almighty as you did for your people Lord when they were in Egypt.

Set us free. Set us free Lord from the captivity the cowardice the fact that we've forgotten. We are more and mightier than those who live in darkness. Help us Lord Jesus Christ Father to yield our lives.

For the sake of others and For the glory of your name. Father. I thank you with all my heart. And I praise you Lord. I Pray that we may dance one day outside this church in the street. I Pray Lord that we would have to dismiss the service and say let's go outside and let's dance for only God could have done this.

Only God Could have done this. It's time Lord for you to arise for they have made void your law. It's time for you to defend the honor of your own name. May we have the privilege of walking with you? Being counted Lord among the righteous Father.

I thank you with all my heart in Jesus name. I'd like to give an altar call this morning, and it's very very simple. God That I might care. This is an altar call that the Holy Spirit just put on my heart while I was praying.

Caring for the Next Generation

Listen to it carefully. God that I might care. You know you don't necessarily have to know what to do yet at this point he will show you. But it all starts with caring. It all starts in a heart that says Lord show me what I can do.

Show me Lord how my life can make a difference. Show me how? You can use my life to save this next generation from darkness. Show me how Lord to push back the darkness. And if that's the cry of your heart, I just want you to meet with me here, and we're gonna pray together.

If that's the cry of your heart in the balcony main sanctuary education annex. Let's just get out of our seats as we stand and just come we'll worship for a few minutes. And then we're gonna pray together.

Everybody could stand please in the balcony go to either exit and make your way down. Just come folks just come you know on the on the way into Church today. I told pastor Teresa I said Whatever happens to me.

I want you to tell our grandchildren that I fought for them. I I wasn't willing to let them be swallowed by a darkened time. I Don't know what my future is gonna hold, but tell them I fought for them.

And I pray that be the story of every man of every woman here. Tell the next generation I fought for them. I didn't live my Christian life just for myself. I Saw the wolf coming, and I didn't flee. I didn't flee.

I stood up. And I was counted among those that belong to God. A father I ask you. I Ask you God Almighty for the men and women that are here today. For the spirit of might to come upon them Lord that spirit that only God can give Lord you took ordinary people, and you've always done that throughout history you've made them extraordinary.

So I asked for that for every man every woman that's here. For a young person that you would take us Lord, and you would multiply us, and you would make us more than we are. You'll give us faith. That's beyond our natural ability to believe.

Give us words Lord that are deeper than anything we can speak. Give us thoughts Lord that come from heaven itself give us passion and power to fight for everybody. Even our enemies Lord to fight for their redemption as well to wish harm to no man.

Make us of a different spirit than this age. Oh God. That same spirit that sent your son father to a cross may we be it may that be the spirit that animates us. Give us a great victory Lord. Today we do ask you for the privilege of one day dancing out in the street outside this church.

That's what we ask you for. Father we just thank you for the courage that we will all need to do what we're called to do. Push back the darkness Lord. You said when darkness comes in like a flood the Spirit of the Lord will raise up a standard against it.

And so Lord here we are and it's only your Holy Spirit now that can make the difference. Raise us up Oh God. Raise us up Lord as lighthouses in our communities our homes our streets where we work Lord everywhere.

We are God even in our own dining room make us a lighthouse. Beginning with our own families Lord give us the courage and the strength to stand for you. Father we yield our bodies to this purpose and we recognize that you are the same Today as you were yesterday and will be forever.

Nothing about you has changed and when you find a people of prayer. When you find a people that are yielded you still are willing to do the miraculous in any generation. So we yield our bodies to it. Oh God.