Please God, Don't Ask Me to Do One More Thing! — Carter Conlon

When We Feel Unable to Do More

My message this morning is a prayer that many of you prayed this week. Please God, don't ask me to do one more thing. Anybody here pray that recently? Thank you for being an honest person, thank God. I just wanna go to church.

I just wanna get warmed by the fire. I want to go to heaven when it's all over. I wanna be happy on the earth. Don't knock on my door, just leave me alone. I've got all I can handle. My job, my struggles, my kids in some cases, my marriage, my desire for marriage, whatever it is, it's all I can handle right now.

I can't take on anymore, so please God, I'll come to church, just don't ask me to do one more thing. Psalm 61, please, if you'll turn there, Psalm 61. Now Father, I thank you Lord with all my heart for your presence here today.

I thank you Lord Jesus Christ that you have set the pattern of this house and it's under your guidance that we're going to do what you call us to do. I thank you Lord that when you call us to do something, you give us the resource, you give us the energy, you give us the passion.

It all comes from you, for your word says that you work in us the will to even do your will. It all comes from you Lord. I thank you God for strength this morning. I thank you for the joy of the Lord, which is our strength.

I thank you for the passion, for your word, your kingdom, your truth. Anoint me, oh God, and anoint the heroes in this sanctuary that I can speak this and we can all hear it. And I ask it in Jesus' name.

Psalm 61, beginning at verse one. Hear my cry, oh God. Attend to my prayer. From the end of the earth I will cry to you. In other words, when I've come to the end of my strength and my resources, when it just looks like it's all over.

When my heart is overwhelmed, lead me to the rock that is higher than I. For you have been a shelter for me, a strong tower from the enemy. I will abide in your tabernacle forever. I trust in the shelter of your wings.

David’s Weariness and God’s Calling

Most agree that the song was written by King David at some particular point in his life, where he'd come to places where there was little or no inner resource left to go forward. I don't know if you've ever been there, I have been there.

When you've just gotten to that place where you don't know how you're gonna make it through another day. And when you come to church, you just say, God, would you just be kind to me today? Don't ask me to do anything more, I can't.

We can only imagine how difficult it must have been for David to be the king to be hiding in a cave from an enraged King Saul, seemingly on the run, overpowered, marginalized, ridiculed. And yet still feeling God's presence there, calling him to something and somewhere, which he knew that in the natural, he had no power to go there.

Even though it was a cave and there's just an entrance, still Christ was there, still knocking on the door, still asking something of his servant. We can get so overwhelmed on these moments in life and say, God, look, I've walked with you, I've done what I know to do, but I'm on the run now.

And this is not the time for you to be asking me to do something more. I can't fathom the thought of it. I don't know where I'm gonna find the strength. So please, don't ask me to do anything more. Then what I've already done.

Or you think of him later on when he's in a place of defeat and when he went over to the side of the Philistines and the enemy came in and burnt down the town that he had built, captivated his family, as well as the families of the soldiers that were with him.

And the scripture says he was weeping until there was no more power to weep. I don't know if you've ever been there where you just can't cry anymore. You've cried so much, you just can't cry anymore. There's no more tears, everything has gone dry.

And yet even in this place, somehow feeling God knocking at the door of his heart, whispering to him about things that he's asking him to do and God was giving or willing to give him the power to do when his natural strength is gone, his natural zeal has departed.

You know, we all get there, folks, we all get there. We start out with such great passion in this walk with God. No task is too great, no journey is too far, no missions trip is too expensive. But then life sets in, struggles come, battles we didn't anticipate, trials.

We become even discouraged with our own lack of inner resource to win the battles that we fight even within our own heart. And we start coming to church and saying, God, I just need a kind word today.

I just need you to tell me you love me. But don't, if you want to show me a plan that you have for my life of escape, but don't ask me to do anything in this condition I'm in right now because my strength is gone.

Lord, you understand, just let me come into the house of God and be warmed by the fire. But don't challenge me from that fire. Don't ask me to go where I can't go or do what I can't do. It's our natural human state, rather, to want to find comfort and stability in life.

We get weary of the day and the battles and we just want to be happy. And honestly, in our hearts, we all say it. Is there anything wrong with that? Is there anything wrong with just wanting to be happy in such an unhappy time?

When there just seems to be this tide of unhappiness, this tide of discontent, this tide of evil speech, this tide of division and immorality and everything else that's going on in our society, I just want to be happy.

I just want to find a place where I can get through life and have heaven at the end. I think this is one of the factors that caused the church, the last church in Revelation that Jesus spoke to is called the Church of Laodicea.

And many who study this believe that there are types of all the seven churches of Revelation in every generation. But there's a common thread of thought that Laodicea will probably be the spiritual state of much of this world just prior to Christ's return.

The letters of Paul to the Thessalonians, for example, gives us an indication and to Timothy that this very well might be the case. He says, in the last days, there's gonna be a form of godliness without power.

People will be always learning, but the learning is not leading them to a place where the truth of God is being made known. And this particular church called Laodicea closed the door to Jesus Christ. And they settled into what they believed would offer happiness on earth and heaven at the end.

And when you think about it, is that not a great portion of the theological focus of America at this time? Churches that talk about how to make everybody happy on earth, we more or less get it all here, and we get heaven at the end.

Theology that eliminates trial and suffering and difficulty and impossibility, all that stuff is gone, and everything's just about making everybody happy. Tell the people whatever they want, just make them happy.

The Lukewarm Church and the Closed Door

Jesus talked to this group of people. He said, you're neither warm or cold, or hot or cold. You're just warm. I wish you were one or the other. But here's what you've done. You've gathered to a source of what you think is wealth.

You've settled into something that you think is going to give you a future. I honestly believe it was a ride out the storm mentality. They didn't mind going to church and could even be warm to the work of God, but they could not rouse themselves to actually move forward into what they knew to do.

It's an amazing thought when you look at it. He said, you've settled for a form of wealth, and you don't think you need anything, but you don't realize that you really are miserable in comparison to what I would give you.

You have a form of righteousness, but you don't realize how deficient it is in actuality. You think you can see, but I want to give you a vision for something that you've lost. And then he told this group of people, I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire that you may be rich, and white garments that you may be clothed, and anoint your eyes with eyes that you may see.

Behold, I stand at the door and knock, and if anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come into him and dine with him and he with me. I can just see these people coming to church, warmed as it is to the things of God.

Not cold, if they were, they would have stayed home. Not hot, if they were, they would be signing up for missions trips. No, I'm not trying to bring condemnation on anybody, please, I'm just trying to give you an example.

But just warmed, they knew what to do, but they could not rouse themselves to move forward into what they knew to do, because inside they were overwhelmed. Please, God, please don't ask me to do one more thing.

I can't. I don't have the strength to do it. I don't have the passion to do it. I don't have the power to do it. I don't have the resources to do it. I don't have the vision, I don't have the direction.

Jesus was offering these people true spiritual wealth, the fruit of real purity and real vision for the future. And so the question is, why would they hesitate to move forward to the place that he was calling them to?

The Door in Bethlehem and the Door in Revelation

Now, I believe in order to understand this, we have to go back to the first time in the New Testament that Jesus knocked at the door of his own people. I find it really interesting, at least in my study, in the New Testament, there's only two times that God asks the people just to get up and open the door.

It's not like with the Church of Philadelphia. He says, if I set before you an open door, so the inference is if you get up and go through the door, this time he's not asking the people to go through anything, just open the door.

That was the only thing he was asking for. He asks it at the beginning, when he comes as a child into this world, and at the end, when he speaks to the last church in the book of Revelation. Here's the same Christ knocking at the same door to those that are supposed to be his people on the earth.

In Luke chapter two, think now of the social condition these people were living in. They were a nation occupied by another power. It had come suddenly to them. This power was not more numerous. The people of Rome were not more numerous than the people of Israel, but they held the keys to power.

They occupied the nation. They taxed the people to the point where they were able to even shift the population around for the purpose of counting for more taxes. They were living at a time of personal humiliation.

Their religion was marginalized. The value system was portrayed as inferior, and above all else, their God was set up for open mockery, for the Romans would have been laughing at the Jewish God and say, this is the God that opened the Red Sea?

This is the God that sent plagues on Egypt? This is the God that you served that did miracles? And look at you, you have no power? We're not more than you are, but you have no power against us. Old history does repeat itself, folks.

They were being culturally overpowered. Romans had this idyllic view of what the world should look like, of how the world should think, how the world should act, what society should be, and they were coming in and they were dominating that culture, which was the culture of the people of God, marginalizing it, probably deriding it as well.

And so there'd be this occupation, taxation, humiliation, mockery of God, and this overpowering of everything that they felt and held dear. They couldn't even protect their own children. Keep in mind, in Bethlehem, they were only two years away from a madman from Rome, authorized by Rome, killing all of the children two years old and under.

This is the moment they were living in. This is the time. They were being shifted around the nation for the purposes to be counted so they could be taxed even more. Roman government didn't care what kind of hardship it brought to the people.

It was all about doing things our way, for we are superior in thinking. And your way is inferior, your God is inferior. Your culture is inferior. And if you don't do it our way, there's gonna be penalties involved in this.

And so here we have an inn in Bethlehem, where people who had gathered enough for today and a few days or weeks into the future were together. I, in my mind, I can see it. In the central dining area of this particular inn, which historians say was the only one really at the time in Bethlehem, there would be, it was cold outside, there would be a fire.

They had some food on the table. They were comfortable. And the people were getting just close enough to the fire that they didn't get too hot and not far enough away that they got cold. But they were just semi-warm, just like Peter was when Jesus was taken into the beginnings of his trial.

And the scripture tells us that Peter stood in the outer court warming himself by the fire. Still within visual distance of Jesus, not close enough to be associated with his suffering and not far enough away that he loses sight of him altogether.

He's neither hot nor cold. He's just lukewarm to the things of God. He's confused and he'd be praying, I'm sure if he could pray at that time, oh Jesus, don't ask me to do one more thing. God, you know I've tried as hard as I can.

I can't. I can't, I don't have the power to step forward and be identified with you. Can't you see society is turning against you? You have the power to overthrow this whole godless system and for some particular reason you choose not to do it.

And you're asking me to be a partaker of the mockery and the trials, the difficulty, potential imprisonment even. I can't do it. I can't do it, but I'll stay where you can see me and I'll follow you sort of.

And I'll stay warm, but I'm not willing. I can't, you can't ask me to do this. I can't. I tried once and I failed. I drew my sword and all I did was cut the ear off of a servant of the high priest. And God, please don't ask me to do one more thing.

I just can't do it. I see people in the inn, they've got food on the table. They've got scriptures. They had to be, they were trying to gather the scraps of their dignity. No doubt, they're reading the scriptures.

They've got friends and they've got a little bit of hope for tomorrow. Most likely, I've often believed they're reading the scriptures. Maybe they talk about this is the fast that I've chosen. Undo heavy burdens.

You set the oppressed free. You bring the stranger that's cast out to your house. You feed the hungry. You clothe the naked. You visit those that are in prison. They might be reading it and they're warm to it, but not hot enough to actually do it and not cold enough.

It's an awful place to be when the heart is lukewarm. Not hot enough to really go for God and not cold enough to not go to church or read the scriptures. When suddenly, a knock comes on the door. I believe it was just a soft knocking.

And instinctively, they all knew that they were called to represent God on the earth. I hear, I hear Jesus knocking again. We are called to represent him on the earth. It will require a measure of discomfort.

We will be stretched beyond our natural ability. I know that and you know that. They couldn't, I can feel the thoughts of their hearts. Oh God, enough is enough. Don't ask me to do one more thing. I know what I'm supposed to do, but God Almighty, is there anything wrong with just being happy?

Is there anything wrong with just gathering enough for myself and having friends and fellowship and a bit of hope for tomorrow? It's taken all my strength to get here and it takes all my strength to stay here.

I'm fighting not to be bitter at this society. I'm even fighting not to be bitter with God. There had to be people in that inn who would say, God, why would you allow this to happen? Why would you allow the godless to take over our society?

Why would you allow us to be mocked and marginalized and pushed around? I've taken all my strength to get to this point. I've come to Times Square Church this morning. It's taken all my strength to get here.

I've got enough for today and tomorrow and I'm your child. Isn't that good enough? Isn't that good enough, oh God? Can't I just be happy on earth and have heaven when it's all over? Is there a problem with that?

Opening the Door to God’s Provision

The irony of it all, the irony of it all, and I want you to really hear me on this, is that all they were being asked to do was open the door. That's all they were being asked to do in the inn. That's all they were being asked to do in the last church in Revelation.

It says, if any man hears my voice and opens the door, Revelation chapter three, verse 20. Can you imagine with me if in this inn in Bethlehem at this critical point in history, they had opened the door?

Can you just imagine, let your mind go there. If they had just opened the door, that's all they had to do. There would be a measure of discomfort, no doubt. Somebody would have to share their meal. Somebody would have to share their bed.

I know those things would have come. But listen, what else? It wouldn't be just human need that would have come through the door. If they had opened the door, angels would have come into that room. And those same angels that appeared on a mountaintop in the heavens calling out glory to God on the earth, on earth, peace toward men and goodwill.

Oh, the same angels that appeared out in this field of shepherds would have appeared in that inn. I don't know if they would have been walking on the floor or floating in the ceiling. It doesn't really matter.

But angels would have come into that room. The cry of new life would have filled the inn. New life, it's never an easy thing when God chooses to send to the door new life. When God begins to send people into this church in the days ahead, in a season of crisis, there's gonna be inconvenience.

It's gonna be hard. It's not gonna be nine to five anymore. We're not gonna be looking at our watch on Sunday morning. There may come a day the doors of this church don't close. I hope to God that happens.

But for that to happen, you and I have to be willing to break out of the box. You and I have to be willing to say, oh God, I am willing to let you use my life in whatever way you would use it. And the cry of new life would have filled the inn.

And it's a cry of my heart, oh Jesus, let the tears of the newly converted fill this house. Oh God, let them come and begin to seek you and find you. And the rest of us have to choose. Do we go to our bedroom and hide?

Or do we stay here and help where we can? They would have filled the inn, this cry of new life. Jesus Christ would have been there at the table in the arms of his mother, Mary. The son of God would have been at that table.

Remember to the church in Laodicea, he says these words, if any man hears my voice and opens the door, I'll come into him and dine with him. And he with me. They would have had vision in the inn, wisdom, revelation.

It would have literally caused them to weep for joy. Their eyes, remember he said to the church in Laodicea, anoint your eyes with eye salve that you may see. I have gold for you that you've not really understood.

I have garments, I have power, I have strength that you've not even touched yet. They would have wept for joy. There would have been vision. They would have understood that God had come to the earth in the form of a man.

And all of this would have happened and how differently we would be speaking of them today. Remember he said to the church in Laodicea, if this condition doesn't change, he said, and the King James says, I will spew you out of my mouth.

In other words, I won't testify of you anymore. And when we think back of the people who were at the inn of Bethlehem, what is the testimony today that you have in your heart of them? Selfish, self-focused.

Self-consumed. All of these things there, the son of God himself, let alone if it were just a young couple that were about to have a baby, that should be good enough. But it was God himself in the flesh and his own people would not open the door.

How fitting the scripture in John chapter one says, he came to his own, but his own received him not. But to as many as received him, he gave them the power to become the children of God, even to those who believe on his name.

Hallelujah to the Lamb of God. The irony of all of this, of Luke chapter two and Revelation chapter three is that all he was asking his people to do was open the door. That's all he was asking. Get up and open the door.

And if they would have opened the door, all the resource, he was going to bring it all in. Everything that was needed. The strength, the vision, the joy, the compassion, the revelation, the hope, the direction, everything would come in the door with him.

Trusting God for Strength and Direction

All he was asking them to do in Bethlehem and in Revelation was open the door. You see, that's the message that comes to a people who've come to the place of saying, God, don't ask me to do anything more, I can't do it.

Don't ask me to be what I can't be in my own strength. Don't ask me to go where I can't go. God says, you can't come to me, but I'm coming to you. And I'm going to knock on the door of your heart and all I'm asking you to do is open the door, that's all.

It's no deeper than that. And you don't have to make it deeper. You just open the door and say, Jesus, come in. I don't know what this is going to look like, but God Almighty, you said you'll come in and sit down at the table with me.

And suddenly you find yourself at home, in your kitchen, opening your Bible. And there's this banquet of truth is suddenly unveiled and you see it. Vision is given to your heart. A new song comes into your mouth.

The song, the scripture says that people will see it before they even hear it, amazing. Could you imagine the people who come out of that inn, if they had opened the door, how their lives would have been transformed, how they would have gone home to their towns and say, yes, it was hard, the place that we had to travel to.

And yes, it's been difficult, but let me tell you what God showed me. Let me tell you what I've got and tell you what happened. I got to tell you what I've seen. I've got to tell you what came into my heart.

You might see Romans and Texas and all you might hear is bad news, but I heard something, I heard angels in that room. Angels were floating around, shouting out to God. It was amazing, you had to be there to see it.

Suddenly, it's as if heaven and earth, the separation was gone and I was lifted into a heavenly place and I heard singing like I'd never heard before and it caused me to enter in. It caused me to lift my voice.

It caused me to want to sing. It caused me to want to glorify God. It caused me to want to be kind. It caused me to want to give up my place at the table to this young couple and their new baby. It caused me to want to give up my bed for the sake of God and for the sake of the work of God.

All of a sudden, my troubles flew to the wind and I realized God is still in control of everything. God is still on the throne. The nations are only doing what he's already foreordained that they should do.

God has not been taken by surprise. He is still all-powerful, he's still all-knowing. He can still open the heavens. He can still send angels and he chooses it to do, to do these things in a secretive way that those who are self-focused and proud in heart will never see it.

Those who trust in their might to transform their societies will never see it. But to those who are humble, to those who will just simply say, God, I don't have anything, but what I do have, I open the door and I invite you to come in.

It's like a poor man at home in his apartment and knock comes on the door and he says, oh God, don't ask me to do one more thing. You know, I don't even have a half of peanut butter sandwich left in my refrigerator.

And there's somebody at my door and they're just gonna want something. And he reasons, he barters with it. Oh Lord, should I do this? But finally, knowing he has no resources, he gets up and opens the door only to find out that a friend somewhere has hired a caterer to come into his house and spread a table and a banquet with candles and everything.

A banquet like he's never believed. And all he had to do is open the door. That's all he had to do, nothing else. Just open the door. My friend, my brother, my sister, we're living at a time very, very much like the days of Bethlehem and the days of this final church in Revelation.

And I hear Jesus knocking one more time at the door of his house. People are going to come. It's going to be difficult. A lot are going to be afraid. And you don't know where you're gonna find the strength to meet any of the need because you're struggling just to survive yourself and to be happy.

But he says, if you will open the door, heaven has a caterer just for you. It's all coming through that door. It's all coming your way. You just have to sit at the table and you're gonna get so naturally excited for the work of God when he opens your eyes with eyes seven, you begin to see.

David said, hear my cry, oh God, and attend to my prayer. From the ends of the earth, I will cry to you. When my heart is overwhelmed, lead me, lead me, oh God, to the place, to the rock that is higher than I am.

When my heart is overwhelmed, God, you're not a taskmaster. You are not a slave driver. You are not somebody who requires more from us than we're able to give. And God, I might not be able to do some of the things that I feel tugging in my heart, but there's one thing I can do.

I can open the door and I can let you come in. You've been a shelter for me, David says. You've been a strong tower. You've always provided. You've given me strength. You've promised that I will abide in your tabernacle forever.

David says, I will trust in the shelter of your wings. I will trust, oh God, that heaven has a plan. And even though I don't understand it, when I step out of this cave, I do believe that you are still leading me to something more wonderful, more magnificent than I could ever dream that you would ever do through my life.

Encouragement Through David’s Recovery

I'm gonna get up from the ground where I'm crying and all I can see is the loss of all of my things that have been in my life and somehow, through my carelessness, I let them slip away and I've wept till there's no more weeping.

But I hear your voice knocking again at the door of my heart. The scripture says David encouraged himself in the Lord. And when he opened his heart again to the voice of God and the presence of God, God began to speak to him about recovery.

He began to speak to him about supernatural victory. And he sent him with an inferior force against a superior enemy. And David says he fought them day and night and he recovered everything that had been taken away from him.

Praise be to God. God took him from that place of tears and made him a warrior. He took him from that place of running from a foolish king and made him a king. Oh folks, I hear Jesus knocking now. I hear him knocking.

I hear him knocking and I feel some days the same way that you do. I'm not aloof from this. I feel the same way that you do. Oh God, I can't do one more thing. And the Lord just keeps saying to me, let me be your strength.

Just open the door. Just open the door. That's all you have to do. All the resource, I'll send it to you. I have a caterer and angels on the way. Just open the door. That's all you have to do. And I will do the rest.

Opening the Heart to Christ

Thank God. Thank God. Thank God. The Lord is speaking to my heart so clearly. And I believe that for many here this morning, there's a witness in your heart as well. The Lord is asking us to open the door.

I don't fully know what that means. I don't fully know. David didn't know. He had no idea. That knock had to be there. There's so many throughout scripture who came to the end of themselves and suddenly God appears with a soft knocking on the heart.

Like when Elijah was depressed and the Lord just knocked on his heart and said, I've got much more for you to do. And I'm gonna give you a friend to walk with you along the way. How tender our God is.

How different than the kings of this world he is. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone will get up and open the door, I will come in and I'll sit down with you. Now this, we use this verse in evangelism all the time, but it was not written to the lost.

It was actually written to the saved. It was written to the church of Jesus Christ of that time. I stand at the door and knock. And if any man opens the door, I'll come in. He says, I'll sit down and I'll eat with you basically.

I'll feast with you. But thank God he doesn't come empty handed. Thank God he comes in with all the provision that we will ever need and sits down and says, let me show you what I'm able to do through your life.

Let me show you where I want to take you. Let me show you what I want to do that will glorify my name through you. It's never grievous. It's never vexing. It's always a delight to the heart. This message has been very, very real to me because I've just come through a place of being asked to do more than I've ever done before.

And there's something in the heart that says, couldn't you have asked me to do this when I was younger? Do I get to smell the roses? The Lord says, yes, but not here on earth. Just open the door. And that's what I want to challenge you with this morning.

Just open the door. In your struggle, your trial, your difficulty, your sense of hopelessness, maybe you're in a place where you just, you hate yourself, feel weak, you got all the struggles you can handle, and you don't want to go to a church where God's asking something more of you.

I get that. But he's asking us today, just open the door. That's all I'm asking of you. Just open the door of your heart. And you don't have to know what that means. It's just, Lord, here I am. And it's the only strength I have.

You're only asking me to open the door. You're not even telling me what to do. It's not like you're saying go to the mission field or give away your money or do anything like that. You're just asking me to open the door.

And you said you're gonna come in and sit down with me. The only thing I can say to you today that when you do, the testimony of your life will be incredible. Heaven will record it because it is birthed in God and it will be governed and led by God and empowered by God.

I have to trust today that the Holy Spirit is speaking to people's hearts and that you know it's God speaking to you. And it looks like a gamble to get up and open this door. So God, I can't do anymore.

I can't handle any more than I have. And the Lord says, you're right, you can't, but I can. I can. I can do it for you. So we're gonna take a moment, we're gonna worship. And it's just a symbolic thing.

But if it means something to you, I want to give an altar call here, which means invite you to come forward to the front of this auditorium. The same thing in the Annex and North Jersey. And those that are listening online today too as well.

It's just a symbolic gesture to get up and say, God, I don't fully understand this, but I feel you calling me. And I've been afraid to go farther with you. I've been afraid to go deeper with you. I've been afraid of what you would ask me to do.

But today I just hear you asking me just to open the door of my heart to you in a deeper way than I've known you. And to not hide from who you are and what you would want to do through my life. And so I'm just going to open that door and I'm gonna let you come in in that way.