It's Time for the Weak to Rise — Carter Conlon

The Need for God’s Power in a Time of Darkness

Father, one more time, we gather in your name. One more generation, one more group of people 400 years later, we recognize that there are forces at work to take away this incredible testimony of freedom that we have known as a people.

We recognize that there are enemies who would want to silence the voice of Christ in our time and the influence of Christianity in our borders. And Lord, we don't have a plan. The best laid plans of men have already failed.

And there are no new ones that are going to meet the battle that we face in this hour. And so we stand before you today, Lord, just as they did. We stand in weakness and not in strength. And we have no plan apart from you.

You're the only one who can give the victory. You're the only one who can turn the tide of this dark moment in our history. God Almighty, in the name of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, we ask you to rebuke the powers of darkness that would swallow the testimony of Christ in our time.

We ask you to push back the enemies of righteousness. We ask you to dispel the plans of evil. We ask you, Lord, to speak, oh God, to the every principality and power of hell and every wickedness in high places and command it to recede into the sea.

We ask you, Lord, again, for a spiritual awakening in the borders of this country, which you founded, Lord. We recognize that you founded this nation. Nobody else did this, Lord, you did it. You led the first settlers here, God.

You caused the native peoples to make peace with them. Lord, you propagated the gospel throughout this nation. You raised this country to a place of prominence where it became the envy of the known world.

You gave intelligence and wisdom, God, far beyond the abilities and reasonings of man. You gave us a system of government that's for the people and by the people. Lord God, we ask you to consider the threatenings of darkness, oh God, that are against this generation.

Prayer for Revival and a Fresh Outpouring

And one more time, stretch out your hand to heal and let mighty signs and wonders be done in the name of your holy child, Jesus. We ask you to shake the place where we are gathered, each of us, my God, shake the place where we are gathered.

Take us deeper, take us farther than we've ever gone before. Give us boldness, Lord. Let the giftings of your Holy Spirit begin to abound again in your house and among your people. Lord God, have mercy for your holy namesake.

Not for our sakes, Lord, but for your holy namesake. We realize, Lord, that as a people we have failed you. We recognize, Lord, that we've dealt deceitfully with the great grace you gave us as a nation.

But Lord, we're not coming in our merit. We're coming to you, Lord, who went to a cross. We're coming to the one who said, Father, forgive them. They don't know what they are doing. And we ask you for one more outpouring of mercy in our generation from coast to coast and from sea to sea.

Father, we thank you with all of our heart. Oh, God almighty, God almighty, God almighty. Years ago, I went to an altar. I felt like I had nothing to give you, but you took it, Lord, and you multiplied it.

And so here I am again, Lord. I don't have any more than I had then, but I have you, Lord, and in you I have all things. So God, raise up a voice. Raise your voice up in this generation through your church and through your people.

Bring your people back to life, oh God, and cause those that are weak to be raised up one more time in our generation, Lord. And we thank you, God, with all of our heart and praise you for it in Jesus' name, amen and amen.

Psalm 59 and the Weakness of God’s People

The title of the thought the Lord's given me this morning is it's time for the weak to rise. It's time for the weak to rise. Psalm 59, please, if you go there in your Bibles. Psalm 59. Now, Psalm 59 was written at a time in David, the future king of Israel, in his life, when the anointing was no longer held in awe.

You recognize that there was a season in David's life where the anointing on his life was obviously held in awe. As he would walk by, people would speak of him, the presence of God that would come into his life, the fact that his worship alone could drive devils away from the king of Israel at that time, that he could stand against a giant when nobody in the whole nation had the courage to do that.

And his name would be sung, and the scripture tells us that his name was being proclaimed everywhere. But a season came when this anointing, this former anointing or present anointing, was no longer held in awe, and his public presence was no longer appreciated.

Very much like the church of Jesus Christ in America today, where the former anointings, the presence, the glory, the awakenings, the great history, the beautiful songs that have been sung in our coasts, the wonderful, wonderful, wonderful presence of God and blessing and prosperity of God that came because of the honoring of Christ and the honoring of the word of God is no longer held in esteem in much of the country anymore.

And the public presence of Christ and his people is no longer appreciated. You know that because you work in this world. Most of you here today, you work today, and you understand how dangerous it can be to even have a biblical worldview now.

It's not appreciated. What used to be the glory of God is now called bigotry and hate and indifference, et cetera, et cetera, labeled with names that have no basis in reality. Let me just set the stage for Psalm 59.

It's found in 1 Samuel 19, eight to 12. I'll just read it to you. And there was war again, and David went out and fought with the Philistines and struck them with a mighty blow, and they fled from him.

So there's a season in David's life where the anointing is still on his life. It's always been there, the power of God. In other words, in the church of Jesus Christ, we may have lost sight of it, but there is no diminishing of the anointing of God.

Presence of God is still with you, still with me, still with us as a people. Coast to coast, church to church, place to place, we may have lost sight of it, but it's still there. Now the distressing spirit from the Lord came upon Saul as he sat in his house with his spear in his hand, and David was playing music with his hand.

Then Saul sought to pin David to the wall with the spear, but he slipped away from Saul's presence and he drove the spear into the wall. So David fled and escaped that night. Saul also sent messengers to David's house to watch him and to kill him in the morning.

And Michael, David's wife, told him, saying, if you do not save your life tonight, tomorrow you will be killed. So Michael let David down through a window, and he went, and he fled, and he escaped. And it's in that context that he wrote the words to Psalm 59.

David’s Prayer for Deliverance in Psalm 59

Deliver me from my enemies, O my God. Defend me from those who rise up against me. Deliver me from the workers of iniquity, and save me from bloodthirsty men. For look, they lie in wait for my life. The mighty gather against me, not for my transgression or for my sin, O Lord.

They run and prepare themselves through no fault of mine. In other words, there's a sudden rising up of a society in David's time, looking to find fault, looking to take his life, not because of any wrong he had done, but just the fact that he was the anointed of God.

Awake to help me, and behold, you therefore, O Lord, God of hosts, the God of Israel, awake to punish all the nations. Do not be merciful to any wicked transgressors. At evening they return, they growl like a dog.

They go all around the city. Indeed, they belch with their mouth. Swords are in their lips, for they say, who hears? But you, O Lord, shall laugh at them. You shall have all the nations in derision. I will wait for you, O His strength, for God is my defense.

My God of mercy shall come to me. God shall let me see my desire on my enemies. Do not slay them, lest my people forget. Scatter them by your power, and bring them down, O Lord, our shield. For the sin of their mouth and the words of their lips, let them be even taken in their pride, and for the cursing and lying which they speak.

Consume them in wrath, consume them, that they may not be, and let them know that God rules in Jacob to the ends of the earth. And at evening they return, they growl like a dog, and go all around the city.

They wander up and down for food, and howl if they are not satisfied. But I will sing of your power. I will sing aloud of your mercy in the morning. For you have been my defense and refuge in the day of my trouble.

To you, O my strength, I will sing praises. For God is my defense, my God of mercy. If you could possibly turn that fan off, somebody here that's, I appreciate that very much. It's cold, I'm old and it's cold, okay, all right?

Thank you. America has been a nation of religious freedom. Our laws have been based on the laws of God. We've not been perfect, but we've had a willingness to hear and to be corrected when needed. We've had a great history of spiritual awakenings, and I can't help but think of the beautiful songs and the prayers that have been uttered in this nation for 400 years.

Cultural Opposition and the Need for Spiritual Courage

Now today, you and I are living in a generation where the testimony of Christ through his church is surrounded by those who would take the life of Christ from us if they could. That's not even debatable.

It's getting worse every day. It's getting more evil every day. And we find ourselves in a place of wondering, God, what can we do? How can we fight against this pervading thought that's come in like a flood, attempting to swallow everything of God, everything that is godly, from the institution of marriage to the definition of family to, we are finding ourselves in a generation very similar to that which the children of Israel were in in Egypt.

Our children, our firstborn, are being thrown into the rivers of confusion. Gender confusion, deliberately might I add. Confusion about the existence of God. Our high school students are being forbidden to pray in a nation that was founded on the right of every man, woman, and child to worship God according to conscience.

Our university students are being radicalized against both God and their own country, right before us. And we recognize that we're on the precipice of tipping from what this nation has been for 400 years into a place of unrecognizable godlessness.

We're at the tipping point. It's not that it's coming a few years down the road. We're at the tipping point. God in his mercy has given us a refuge for just a very, very short time. I believe to consider our ways.

I believe that to turn back and begin to pray again and begin to seek him, to recognize, to stop all of our boasting and bragging and start calling ourselves what we are not and start agreeing with God and say, Lord, we have, we have fallen, we've failed.

We are not as strong as we'd like to pretend we are. And all of our boasting and all of our bravado and all of the big voices that are being raised up in the church and yet our whole nation is sliding quickly into darkness.

David’s Compromise and the Call to Stand for Truth

Now, David knew his own history and he knew the power of God, just as we do. We know the power of God. We know that in New York City, there was a great spiritual awakening in 1857 that virtually swept the country with tens, if not hundreds of thousands, swept into the kingdom of God.

Started by just one little group of people who began to pray, who were concerned about the future that was before them. We know our history. We know that in New York City, there were great, great men and women of God that have preached here.

We know that there's a history of godliness in our nation and the power of God. But in spite of knowing all of this, when the threatening came against him, he went into a season of seeking to hide and to preserve himself.

And this is what much of the church of Jesus Christ is actually facing today. Many, many, many of God's choices servants, I believe, they're into or going into hiding. They're starting to cave under the social pressure of the day.

They're afraid for their own futures. They're afraid because we've not had to be a warrior church in our generation. We've been soft. We've been raised on marshmallows in the house of God. And suddenly we find ourselves fighting against darkness and we've forgotten that there's an armor that's available for us through Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit.

And many, many preachers are caving under the social pressure of this day to redefine things that God is not willing to redefine, to call evil things good and to call good things evil. God help you if you're a pastor out there and you are caving in to the godlessness of this day.

God help you if you are defying the word of God. Answer me this question. How will you fare when you stand one day at the throne of Christ? How will you get by the absolute one who does, he says, if you add anything to the word of God or you take anything out of it, he will remove your place from eternal life.

So tell me, how will you get around that? It was in this place of compromise that David, the king, the future king eventually ended up standing on the wrong side of the battle. I've preached about it here before.

He affiliated himself, he ended up running. He wanted to preserve himself. He made an affiliation with the Philistines and he ends up on the wrong side of the battle against the armies of Israel, of God.

I mean, I can't even fathom what was in his mind. Standing and opposing the side on which he once stood. It's like a preacher who just knows what the word of God says, but ends up standing on the other side of what the word of God says, actually opposing the kingdom of God.

How did David get there other than he was attempting to preserve himself? There's a point coming, folks, and I thought about it as I prayed in that house founded, built by the first settlers of America.

How far are we willing to go for the sake of truth? Are we going to live to preserve ourselves in this generation or are we going to rise up and fight for something a little higher than just living a comfortable life?

Are our children worth standing up or may I put it this way, are our children worth going to our knees for and petitioning God to do something that only God can do? The children in our high schools, are they worth fighting for?

The children in our colleges, are we willing to escape our comfort zone and begin to stand having studied the word of God, not ashamed before those who stand with shameful opinions about what truth should be or shouldn't be?

But it was in that place, in the place where David found himself, that suddenly the hand of God came on him again, firstly causing the leaders of the Philistines to reject him. This darkened generation, for those who are compromising truth for the sake of preserving yourself, this darkened generation will only endure you as long as they have to, then they will reject you.

That's exactly what happened to King David and the men with him, they endured him, they endured his presence. And then eventually, because the grace of God was still on him, he was rejected by the Philistine lords and he went back to that which was his hometown to find out that it had been swallowed up, destroyed, captivated by the enemies of God.

David, the great king to be, David, the sweet psalmist of Israel, David that could drive demons out with the songs that God would give him, David who could take a sling and face a giant, David who could defeat a bear and a lion, now finds himself in a place of weakness.

He finds himself because of his own compromise in a place where he has no strength to go forward. The men around him have no strength to go forward. They talk actually of stoning him because they're blaming him for the trouble that's come into their lives and into their homes.

God Meets His People in Weakness

But it was in this place of weakness that David turned to prayer again, only to find out that God had already answered the prayer that he prayed in Psalm 59. It's amazing when you think of it. And what I'm trying to tell you this morning is that there are some prayers that you prayed a long time ago that you've forgotten about, but God's answering them today.

You may think that he forgot. You may think that that thing is a long time ago, but David prays virtually this prayer in Psalm 59 at the precipice actually of going in to the season of trial and difficulty and being intermixed in a sense with that which he should have fought against.

And it's really when he comes to the end of himself in this place that he begins to pray again, only to find out that God really has answered his prayer all along. You know, there's some people here today, you feel so weak, you feel like you have no future, you have no hope, and you forget that five, 10 years ago, you said, God, lead me, I'll follow you.

God, use my life for your glory. And he said, okay. Now there's been a journey after that. And somehow you can get it into your mind and into your head that God's forgotten me. God's fed up with me. I'm not usable in the kingdom of God.

No, I want to tell you something. You're as strong now as you were then. You just thought you were strong then. You see, every one of us that God uses, it's all grace. It's all grace. He does not want, he does not need our natural ability, does not want or need our natural zeal, does not need our certificates, does not need anything we have, just needs a willing vessel, an open heart, empty hands that come to the throne of God and say, Lord, I don't have a plan, and I don't have any strength, but my God, you've got a plan.

My God, you've got the strength of the universe in your hand. And so I offer my body one more time as a living sacrifice for your purposes, and I'm asking you to give me your Holy Spirit again. Raise me up again, God.

Put power in my voice again. Put healing in my hands again. Put light in my eyes. My God, put sound thinking in my mind, and most importantly, put courage in my heart. Psalm 59, verse 10, he says, my God of mercy shall come to meet me.

My God of mercy shall come to meet me. He didn't know when he penned those words it was gonna be a long journey before he sees the fulfillment, but in his weakness, in our weakness as a church age, in our time of compromise, in our softness in the American religion, in our wrong theological focus, where we turned away from being given for the sake of others to using everything in the kingdom of God for ourselves, to preserving ourselves as opposed to yielding our bodies as a sacrifice for the sake of others.

In that place of weakness, God shall meet us again. I am overwhelmed at the mercy of God. All I have to do to get overwhelmed is look in the mirror in the morning and recognize how merciful God is. You will meet me, Lord, one more time.

Verse 11, he tells us, it's not in my strength, but in my weakness, he will scatter my enemies by his power. Don't slay them. Now here's David's prayer about his enemies. He says, don't slay them, scatter them by your power and bring them down, oh Lord, our shield for the sin of their mouth and the words of their lips, let them be taken in their pride and for the cursing and lying which they speak.

Praying for Deliverance Rather Than Fighting People

I don't know about you, but I'm tired of Hollywood. I'm tired of the media. I'm tired of these people. I'm tired of them, I'm wearied by their pride. I'm wearied by their cursing. They can't speak without cursing anymore.

I'm weary with their lying. It's so wearisome when you're looking at people that they have no concept of truth. Truth doesn't matter. They don't even care about truth anymore. There's no right, there's no wrong.

You say whatever you have to to reach whatever dark objective you might have in your heart. And David says, God, don't slay them, but scatter them. Scatter them, bring them down because they have raised their voices against you.

They're filled with pride and they just live their day to curse and lie. Now he's talking about the people that have gathered to take away his life. People that have gathered to take away the testimony of the church.

They've gathered so that you and I can't gather in the future. Do you understand that? Do you know how dangerous this moment now is that we're living in? I hope you realize that. This darkened agenda is going after the voice of the church now.

David goes on in verses 14 and 15. He tells us, he says, they will not prosper against your anointed. And at the end of the day, they will be completely defeated. At evening, he says in verse 14, they return, they growl like a dog and go all around the city.

They wander up and down for food and howl if they're not satisfied. Let the wicked not reach their objective, oh God, and let them not find any satisfaction in their sin any longer. We are not here to stand against people.

In Christ, you and I fight for the souls of all men, all women, and all children. Whatever their persuasion, whatever their entrapment is at the present time. We recognize that many people's hearts have been opened to the powers of darkness.

And because of that, we fight the age old battle now of darkness attempting to swallow the testimony of Christ. This is where we stand. At this particular moment. But I pray God send a spiritual awakening so all encompassing.

Let those that have been gripped by wickedness not reach their objectives. Let their hearts be empty. Let them not be satisfied. Cause them to come to your house. Cause them to begin to pray. Cause them to begin to turn from their wickedness and turn to truth.

Send a mighty deliverance, oh God, to your nation. Send a mighty deliverance to your city. Lord Jesus Christ, do what only you can do. You will defeat every purpose, every power, everything of hell. You will God, because we're calling out to you again.

Singing of God’s Power and Mercy

Now, what will I do? David said, but I will sing of your power. I will sing aloud of your mercy in the morning. For you've been my defense and my refuge in my day of trouble. Weeping may endure for a night, but joy is coming again in the morning.

And let them growl and let them parade and let them do their debauchery wherever they wanna do it. But I will sing of your power. I will sing aloud of your mercy. I will sing about it every morning. I will gather with the people of God.

We will raise our voices in a shout of praise in the house of God until the day that victory is won. Until the day you bring us home. To you, oh my strength, I will sing praises for God is my defense, the God of my mercy.

Praise be to God. We have an incredible opportunity ahead of us. Beloved, if we will pray, if we will pray, if we will throw our lives in with our prayers, if we will believe that God is still willing to be merciful, we have an incredible opportunity again ahead of us.

A Vision for Souls and National Revival

I was walking down Broadway several weeks ago, one particular evening, and I was just appalled, absolutely appalled at the debauchery out in the streets. I'm not gonna say it, there's things I can't talk about, but I've just, you don't think you're ever gonna live to see these things happening in public.

And the conversation, which is just idiotic, you start listening to the conversation. I was so overwhelmed by it, I just started praying out loud. So God have mercy on the people. I started pointing to people and different activities.

Have mercy on these people, have mercy on these people. And as I was walking and as I was praying, I felt the Lord ask me, how many souls would you like? Once, years ago, years ago as a young police officer, I'd never preached a sermon.

I had no speaking ability. I was not a candidate for the ministry, but I was walking the beat and I felt the same voice ask me the same question. And I said, God, I ask you for 100 ,000 souls before I die.

100 ,000 people to come to you, not just people, and I begin to be specific in my prayer, not just people who will raise their hand. I've never preached anywhere, raise their hands in a service, but people will actually walk with you, live for you, and end up at your throne, not bankrupt, but with souls in their basket.

I begin to be very, very specific. Fast forward years and years and years later, I'm on a field in a war zone in Africa, in Jos, Nigeria. 500 ,000 people have come out to what is a very dangerous situation.

It's in civil war. I remember preaching that night on the bankruptcy of all religion that has no compassion for its neighbor and asked people that night, if you want to live for God, if you want your sins forgiven, if you wanna forgive your enemies, if you wanna start living a righteous life, I said, if you don't, don't raise your hand, but if you do, if you want to know that heaven is your home at the end of your days, you wanna live your life for God, raise your hand, and over 100 ,000 hands that night were raised in the air.

I tell you, God is able to do exceedingly above and beyond all we ask or think. So walking down Broadway several weeks ago when I heard again the voice of God ask me that question, I remembered immediately that when Elisha was dying, he said to the king of that time, he said, smite the arrow on the ground, and he only hit it a few times because his faith was lacking.

And Elisha said, you should have hit it five or six times on the ground. You would have had a marvelous victory. Now your victory's only gonna be like a more or less a minimal one and a temporary one.

And I said, Lord, based on that story, I'm asking you for 60 million souls in America, 60 million. A little bit less than 20 of the population of America to be revived, to turn back to God, to turn away from sin, to turn to righteousness.

I'm asking Lord God for a sweeping of your mercy across the land that you would find every lost coin, you'd find every lost sheep on every hill, everyone who can still hear. I'm asking God for the single moms who are crying at night in their houses over their children.

I'm asking for their children, no matter where they are. I'm asking for people in prisons. I'm asking my God that you would send a sweeping awakening to this nation. You give me one reason why I shouldn't believe God.

You can show me all your statistics. You can quote everything that's going on in society around us. But I have one question to answer you with. Have you forgotten who God is? Have you forgotten that heaven is his throne and the earth is his footstool?

Have you considered your calling? Have you forgotten that God chooses the weak? God chooses those that are nothing. God chooses the poor. God chooses the marginalized. God chooses those things that are nothing to bring to nothing everything that stands in its own strength.

Have you forgotten who God is? Do you think he needs your strength? No, he needs nothing but your heart. Nothing but an openness to let him be God. So put away your resume. Put away your bad feelings about yourself.

None of these things matter. Put away your failure. Put away your past. Do what David did. Call for the garment of prayer and let God begin to speak to your heart again. And when David rose up from that place of prayer, that old time strength came back into his life.

The Whole Church Rising in the Power of the Spirit

Oh, that old time Holy Spirit that's always been the strength of the Church of Jesus Christ. Those old time prayer meetings. Those old time revival meetings. Those old time preachers that would leave their plow in the field and get up and they didn't know much of the King's English but they knew the power of God.

Men and women walking through their society with the power of God in their hands. The power of God in their voice. The power of God in their eyes. The power of God in their heart. The compassion of Christ in their being.

Reaching and reaching and reaching and reaching the power of God flowing through their lives. Glory to God. This last day move of God is going to be the whole church. Not some select few superstars any longer.

Those days are over. It's going to be the whole church. It's going to be you. It's going to be me. Every one of us. There are a weak people. There's a weak people that are going to rise again in this last day.

You say, oh, pastor, you don't know how weak I am. Well, I know one thing. You're not dead. Lazarus was dead and Christ raised him. Hallelujah, hallelujah. There comes a point, spiritual awakening. Doesn't happen until we wake up and recognize that God's still God.

We are no weaker than any saints of any era in the church have been. We're all the same. We stay the same, God stays the same. And here's the deal. God says, you open your mouth, I'll fill it. You open your heart, I'll become God to you.

You open your hands, I'll pour out through them. You need courage, I'll give you courage. But it's time for the weak to rise. It's time for the church to stand on her feet again. It's time for us to speak truth.

Let them call us names, that means nothing. It's time for the church to speak truth, unashamedly, uncompromisedly. God says, here's what you will do. You will sing of my power. You will sing of my mercy and you will give me praise because it will not be you, it will be all me.

Praise be to God. Thank you, Lord. I wanna give an altar call today, which is really unusual. But who's willing to believe with me for 60 million souls in the days ahead? Well, if you're not, then be it done to you according to your faith.

But I'm gonna stand on the side of believing that God is able to do exceedingly more, more than I can even ask or think. And it starts with me and it starts with you. Everybody wins somebody. Everybody shares Christ with somebody.

No longer silent, no longer trying to preserve ourselves, but we step into the right battle, open our hands and our hearts and our mouths, and with the compassion of the God who went to a cross, we start telling this generation that God still loves them, is still willing to forgive, and there is a truth, there is a right way, and there is a blessing.

The Altar Call to Rise in Weakness

If that's in your heart as we stand, I'm gonna ask you just to join me. We're gonna take a little time of prayer this morning before we dismiss. You wanna believe God with me? Let's stand together. And as we worship, just come.

Just make your way here, please, if you would. Let the weak rise. Don't stay in your seat because you're weak. If you're weak, you're a candidate for the power of God. Get up out of your seat and make your way here.

We're gonna pray together. If you feel compromised, David was compromised, just come, say, Lord, God, if you'll speak to me, I'll go. If you put something in my hand, I'll use it for your glory. I make no promises to you, Lord, I can't keep them.

I make no boast, but Lord, here I am, I'm weak. I'm in my weakness, God, and here I am. And I'm asking you to take my life and use it for your glory, in Jesus' name, amen. Here we are. We're not much, but we're all that God's ever had.

Emptiness, Dependence, and God’s Use of the Weak

I now know what it felt like for the 120 in the upper room. Most everybody there at that time were brought to a sense of their own weakness, and that has to happen before God can use us. When we're full of ourselves, we're boastful, we're proud, just like the people we're trying to win to Christ, we become just like them.

And we fail to recognize how infinitely distant we are from a holy God, until he, in his mercy, just shows us how distant we really are. And then in our emptiness, he comes, and he becomes everything, becomes our life, becomes our strength, becomes our song, it becomes our testimony, it's not about us, it's about him, it's about Jesus.

We just simply recognize, finally, that we're empty. He knew it all along. Just takes us a little while to get there. Look through history. Look through scriptural history. He waits till Moses is too old.

Waits till Esther feels unlovely. Waits till Zacharias and Elizabeth can't have a child. Waits till Abraham and Sarah can't bear children. And that's when his life comes. Waits till Lazarus is dead. And so here we are, one more time.

One more church age. I don't know what part we're gonna play in this last day, but let's play it well. Let's just do it well. We're not the whole deal in town, but we wanna play our part well, right? When you go to a game, any kind of a game, and one player's not playing, it stands out, right?

Let's just play our part well. So Father, here we are. Lord, here we are as your people. God, we have no boast of ourselves, nothing whatsoever, Lord. We recognize that if you dealt with us, as David the king once said, in the measure we deserve, no one could stand.

Our thoughts, our actions, our deeds, Lord, things we do and don't do, Lord, all fall so short of your glory. But yet it was at that place where Isaiah saw his unworthiness, that he was touched by your power.

So Lord, we just yield our bodies to you. We ask, Lord, from this day forward, that it be you, it be your Holy Spirit, that it would be your breath breathing in us and through us, be your hands reaching out through us, Lord, it be your voice speaking, it would be you, Lord, glorifying your own name.

We ask you for mercy on a backslidden nation, Lord, a foolish people, forgetting who their God is. Have mercy, Lord, have mercy, God, have mercy. Have mercy, Lord, on those who oppose their own salvation, and they don't know what they're doing.