The Day the Sun Stood Still — Carter Conlon

This message is one of the Times Square Church pulpit series. It was recorded in the sanctuary of Times Square Church in Manhattan, New York City. Other tapes are available by writing World Challenge, PO Box 260, Lindale, Texas 75771, or calling 903 -963 -8626.

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Father, thank you so much for your presence. God, I thank you for your word, which truly is a lamp for our feet and a light for our path. Thank you for the abundance of your mercy. Lord, I thank you for the quickening power of the Holy Spirit.

God, you've never called me ever to stand in my own strength or my own wisdom. And God, I ask you now for a quickening and an empowerment from on high that I may clearly convey your heart to those that you've gathered in this house today.

Lord, we ask that your kingdom come, that your will be done in us and through us individually and then collectively as a church. Lord, it's not coincidence that you've given me this message today. I'm asking that you give us ears to hear.

Give me the heart to preach it. And Father, I thank you for it. In Jesus name, Joshua, chapter 10, please, in the Old Testament, the day the sun stood still. Joshua, chapter 10, and I'm going to begin reading from verse 12 through to verse 14.

Joshua’s Prayer for the Sun to Stand Still

Incredible day. Then spake Joshua, excuse me, to the Lord in the day when the Lord delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel. And he said in the sight of Israel, Son, stand thou still upon Gibeon and thou moon in the valley of Ajalon.

And the sun stood still and the moon stayed and the people until the people had avenged themselves upon their enemies is not this written in the book of Jasher. So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven and hasted not to go down about a whole day.

And there was no day like that before it or after it, that the Lord hearkened unto the voice of a man, for the Lord fought for Israel. Now, beloved, the Bible tells us very, very clearly that when we pray, that we are to expect mighty things to happen.

Now, if it were not so, then we would be a very we would. It would be a dismal hope for our future. Like Paul says, if all we had is hope just in the here and now, God says, no, I want you to ask of me mighty things.

It's all through the scripture calling to me, says, I'll show you great and mighty things beyond anything you've ever seen before. He said in the book, in the Gospel of Mark, he said, Have faith in God, for I say to you that whoever shall say to this mountain, be thou removed and be thou cast into the sea and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he says shall come to pass.

He shall have whatsoever he said. Now, therefore, I say to you, what things whoever you desire when you pray, believe that you receive them and you shall have them. Now, of course, this the context of this particular verse is about fruit.

This is about the fig tree. This is about Christ commanding a fig tree that had a pretense of having fruit, but it had no fruit on it to die. And he said, no man eat of this fruit anymore forever. And right from that particular illustration, he turns to his disciples and says, have faith in God.

In other words, we are all on the journey and we are given the power in prayer to command any obstruction on the journey to our inheritance in Christ to be removed. This is the essence of why we pray.

It's what we pray about. There are all kinds of people who are misguided today and are out there casting mountains and binding and loosing, but they've not yet embraced the heart of God. This is not about self-betterment, self-improvement.

This is about finding the fulfillment that is truly ours, finding the promises that are truly ours in Christ, finding the life that Christ wants for us and as such, becoming his ambassadors to a fallen world, to a very, very darkened generation.

It's about having the power to yield our lives for the purposes of God. This is what the inheritance is all about. The inheritance is not just so that we can go somewhere in God and become happy. As wonderful as that may be, quite often, if you look throughout biblical history and just the regular church history, the inheritance is so that those who knew him the most intimately might have the power and the desire to lay their lives down for the purposes of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

And many have, many have gone before us. They paid a tremendous price for the knowledge that God gave them of his son. James encourages us to pray in chapter five, verses 16 to 18, and he uses Elijah as our model of prayer.

He calls him a man of like passions as we are. And James says, you're to pray, remembering Elijah. Elijah was a man, obviously, whose prayer opened and closed the the physical as well as the spiritual heavens of his generation.

And James is telling us, listen, he was not some superstar in the kingdom of God. He was a man. He was an ordinary person like you and I who suffered from all of the like struggles that you and I have.

And yet he tapped into something of God. His heart became so set apart for the purposes of God. He so found the inheritance that God had for him in his generation that he could pray and God Almighty would literally shut up the heavens.

And when he prayed, God would open the heavens. And James uses this and the Holy Spirit is inspiring. The writer uses his life as an illustration of how we should pray and not ever become discouraged.

Joshua’s Calling to Possess God’s Inheritance

Now, Joshua had a purpose on his life, and the purpose of his life was to inherit the promises of God. God had a place of promise, a land that land is a type of Jesus Christ. It's an Old Testament type of the New Testament.

We don't inherit a land as the children of Israel did in the Old Testament. We inherit the God whose glory made that land special. That's our inheritance. Everything that we long for and everything that we want is ours.

And it's found in Jesus Christ. Now, Joshua had a calling on his life, just like I have a calling and you have a calling. Every person who comes to Christ has a calling on their life. The Bible says it very, very clearly.

I don't have to redefine it. It's very much there. There are gifts and callings that are placed upon you. The day you came to Christ, God called you for something. You are called first and foremost to glorify him.

You are called to go in and to fight in the power of God. The only weapon really that we have today is faith. And that was the weapon, of course, that they had in Joshua's day, too, as well. And we're to go in and by faith, we're to claim everything that was bought for us on Calvary.

Everything that is our inheritance in Jesus Christ is to become ours. But it's ours for a purpose, not just to go in and just eat the fat of the land, but that we may live lives that bring true honor and glory to God.

And Joshua was his purpose in life was to inherit this blessing and this particular place that God had set apart for his people and to lead others into it. And this is exactly what. Your call and mine is it's that I am to seek God, and as he speaks to me through the promises of his word, I'm to lay hold of these promises, I'm to trust God for the power to vanquish every enemy in my life, every enemy that comes against my mind and my heart.

Every devil of hell that tries to say you can't. I am called of God to lay hold of his promises and having found them and having understood that they are they are appropriated as it is by faith, I'm to bring these promises to another generation, to a generation after me, just like you are.

I'm called to bring you into the inheritance of God as one of your pastors here at Times Square Church. But you are also called to bring your families into the inheritance of God. If you are mothers and fathers, you are called to bring that family into that inheritance.

If you are the head of your home, you're called to bring those under your headship into that inheritance. And by virtue of the calling of God on your life, you're called for those who can hear it to bring every young Christian that comes across your path into that inheritance, to bring those that are outside of the kingdom of God into Christ and subsequently into that inheritance.

You and I are called to make a difference in our world and in our generation. We're not called just to gather and sing songs as wonderful as that is and be happy all the days of our lives. We are called to make a difference.

We're called to tear down strongholds. We're called to vanquish the plans of the devil. We're called to break the strongholds and the dominions of sin and death and hell and darkness and see God's creation.

Those that he loves set free into the glorious liberty of Jesus Christ. This is the call that's on your life. It's not just for a select few. It's not just for the preachers or those that have had theological training or all these other wonderful things that prepare men and women for ministry.

It's you and me. The moment the Holy Ghost came upon you, you had a calling of God to claim your inheritance and to see the power of the devil broken and others brought into the inheritance of God. This is the call of God on his church.

This is the call of God on your life. Now, Joshua's life obviously began with a season of teaching and training under the hand of Moses, and this training eventually led him into times of his own intimacy with God.

It has to. It's not enough to listen to tapes. It's not enough even just to read your Bible as wonderful as that is. It's not enough just to go to church once or even two or three times during the week.

All of the training that we receive, all of the instruction and counsel is for the purpose of leading you and me into our own time of intimacy with Jesus Christ. It's in that time of intimacy that God begins to speak to our hearts.

It's in that time that the plan of God begins to be unfolded. It's in that time of intimacy that the word of God takes on a new life and promises that God has wants us to obtain our are softly spoken into our hearts.

Even things that are impossibilities are spoken by the spirit of God into our hearts. And God says, this is yours. I want you to have this. I want you to go and claim this. I've given this to you. It was this intimacy that gave Joshua in the end his final victory.

And it was this intimacy that gave him his initial victory. The Bible says that as Moses prepared the transition, Moses was left the terminal, but Joshua began to carry long in the presence of God. There's no leader who's worth anything, who doesn't carry in the presence of God.

We've got to carry if we're going to lead. We've got to carry. We've got to get our instructions from heaven. We've got to get our promises from God. We've got to get our courage from the Holy Spirit.

If you and I are ever going to make a difference in our generation. Finally, this intimacy led him to bring the people of God over the River Jordan. And when he had passed over the river and set up and established a monument to God's faithfulness to bring them through on dry land, he eventually had a face to face encounter with Jesus Christ himself.

The Bible calls the messenger the angel of the Lord, but he did find himself as God Almighty. This most agree that this is a pre. New Testament, the appearance of Jesus Christ in human form. Joshua was told to lose his shoe in this place, just as Moses had been told to lose his shoe.

In other words, there is no human effort that's ever going to win this battle. There's no human plan that will ever chart the course of this victory. Joshua, you're going to learn that I'm going to speak to you.

And when I speak, you're going to obey me. You're going to get your instructions from heaven and you're going to do what I tell you to do. And in that obedience, you're going to know incredible victory.

No enemy will be able to stand before you all the days of your life. God told him, as I was with Moses, I will be with you, too, as well. And that promise thanks be to God is for every Christian who's here today.

No enemy can stand before you all the days of your life. If you are in Christ and Christ is in you, if you are intimate with God, if you are spending time with God, if in your heart you're not attempting to use Christ for some self-induced purpose.

But you want the purposes of God to be established in your life. The promise of God applies to you today. There's no enemy can stand before you. Alcohol can't stand before you. Depression can't stand before you.

Suicide can't stand before you. There's no inherited weakness that can stand before you and stop you from fulfilling the plan that God has for your life. The Bible says clearly that God takes the foolish things of this world.

He takes the weak. He takes things that are nothing of no report, no reputation. Empowers them with the Holy Ghost, gives them a new mind, gives them a new heart, gives them a new life. And he brings to shame everything in this world that stands and glorifies its own strength.

He brings it all to shame by taking the weak. And that's your boast of God. And that is mine today. That's why Paul says, I won't boast in anything but the cross of Jesus Christ. Paul knew it was at the cross that his weakness became the strength of God.

His confusion became God's knowledge. His aimless, misguided direction took on now a very straight path as he began to acknowledge God in all of his ways. No human effort will ever win the battle. When we meet God, the very first thing that you and I are told to do is loose our shoe.

Loose your plans. In other words, the places that you've carried yourself, that you want to go, that the ideas you have, the things you think will advance your cause in the kingdom of God. Loose your shoe.

Take it off of your foot. In other words, there's no human plan that's ever going to win you the victory. Just obey me. And at the right time, the shout of victory will come into your heart. I've had seasons in my life where there has been no outward change.

There's been nothing. I've been praying about a certain circumstance, just being quiet, just walking, just praying, just like God told the children of Israel. Here is a huge city that is impregnable as it is.

You cannot get around it. There's nothing you can do about it. You cannot destroy this city. Just walk around it and obey me and be quiet. And as they walked around, God, I can see men's hearts beginning to stir because they had nothing but the word of God.

And I've had seasons like that in my own life where I've been standing up against some very vicious enemies with nothing but God's promise to me. And there's a season. It just comes when you just know you have the victory.

There's nothing outside that's changed. You see, the shout quite often comes before the wall comes down. That sense, God, you've given it to me. God, it's mine. Hallelujah. I am now the possessor of this.

You promised it to me. And yes, there's nothing about me that can make it happen. But God, you've given it to me. And the shout begins to come into your soul. You see that at this altar sometimes people respond to a message.

And yes, they're still struggling. Yes, they're still in a tremendous battle, locked literally head to head with the devil himself. But a shout of glory comes into their soul. Their circumstance hasn't changed, but in the spirit it has.

God says, I've given it to you. If you'll accept it by faith, I've given it to you. And the moment you know you have it, that shout of faith begins to come into your heart. And nothing can turn you from the victory that God has given to you.

Learning from Jericho and Ai

We've all had a Jericho. We didn't decide to be saved, folks. You didn't decide to be saved. Let's let's just forget that issue. No, we were confronted with the person of Jesus Christ, his mercy against our powerlessness.

He came and revealed himself when we were still yet sinners. That's how much God loves us. When we were still in sin, God gave his son for us. We obeyed and a shout of freedom came into our hearts. Isn't it amazing?

You're a Times Square church and many of you here can remember that shout of freedom. I remember the time that it came into my heart, came in with a lot of tears, a shout of freedom that just as a father, we don't even know where it comes from, but we now know we are children of God.

There's an inner witness of the Holy Ghost. I've been born again by the spirit of God. I've been bought by the blood of one precious who shed his blood in his life on a cross for me. And I now belong to God.

And that shout of glory comes into your life and you begin to cry out, but father, you walk into your home, your office workers, your neighborhood, and you say, God is my father. They think you've lost your mind, but you know it in your heart.

You know, you're a child of God. No more works, no more lighting candles, no more doing religious things, no more of anything. I'm now a child of God. And you know it in your heart. And the moment we had that shout, that wall of sin and death that encompassed us and boxed us in falls down, falls down flat.

The moment you shouted out to God and knew that you'd given your life to Christ, that wall, that city, that strong city that cannot be defeated by anything but the promises of God fell down. And the promised land began to be yours.

And this was the testimony of Joshua and the children of Israel. It seemed they could do no wrong. The waters parted, they went through the sea, they set up a memorial, they went to Gilgal. And at Gilgal, Joshua had all the children of Israel had not been circumcised, who had been raised in the wilderness, circumcised so that the reproach of Egypt would be rolled away from them.

And the people knew they were set apart for God. They went in and they conquered Jericho, and it seemed like there was just no stopping them. These were a people set apart for God, but very much like I feel God's hand is on Times Square Church.

He's found the people in New York City who are set apart for him, a people who want to live for him, who when we say we need people in a certain part of the world, it's not just one or two quite often that volunteer.

Sometimes it's 10s, 20s and oft times in the hundreds. When we say that the Holy Spirit is leading us to do something to conquer someplace, then there's this desire to serve him that's in the hearts of the people.

But again, in Joshua, chapter seven, the children of Israel fell into the sin of presumption. Now, the sin of presumption is the feeling now that every victory will be just as easy as those in the past.

We went into Nigeria last year and saw thousands of people come to Christ. God moved in a phenomenal way. You've heard a testimony about it this morning and at last it's in the ministry. There were many converted to Jesus Christ.

And for those who were there, we knew we were fighting hell itself. It was a demonic battle. But the Lord came in incredible power and won a victory, I think, that forever settled in many hearts. Any issue that was there about whether or not Christ sits at the right hand of all power and all authority.

And you think you have to think of the history that come through all of these things. They've seen this wall come down and there's a sense in the hearts of the children of Israel that there's no stopping this.

God is with us and God is moving through us in incredible power. And then the men, Joshua, sent some men in to spy out this little town called Ai. And they came back and they said, no, it's just a little town.

There's only a little battle. Don't have to send the whole army. Just just send up a few thousand in and they'll go up and they'll just quickly mop this thing up. And folks, I want to warn you today against that kind of presumption.

It's an incredible thing. We've gone into Nigeria and seen wonderful victories. And Pastor David has traveled and spoken at conferences around the world and seen incredible victory. But that's yesterday.

Thank God for yesterday. We're in a brand new battle today. There are brand new fields to be won. There are there are brand new places that have to be conquered. And if we ever sit back and just begin to presume that tomorrow is going to be like yesterday without the same preparation.

Remember, before Jericho was a time of rolling away the reproach of Egypt, a time of soul searching, a time of being quiet before God, a time of intimacy. If we lose that and just begin to presume that every battle is going to be like the last one, we're in for very, very difficult times.

There are no longer in the sin of presumption begins to get a hold of a people. There's no longer these intense searches of heart, as have been previously done before. The people begin to come into the house of God very casually.

It's always the mark of a spiritual decline. You see, if people are coming in and they're they're storming. I remember when I first came here nine years ago now, I remember being so impressed by the people who are at this altar on Sunday morning, Sunday afternoon, Sunday evening, Tuesday night, just storming heaven for a word from God, storming heaven for the lonely, lost and despairing that would be coming through the door, storming heaven to see the powers of hell vanquished.

And yes, God has been here. And yes, God has given us marvelous victories over the years. And we've seen perhaps in the thousands of people who have come to Christ at these altars. But it's very dangerous when we begin to come into the house presumptuous that as he was here yesterday, he will also be here today and tomorrow.

Oh, folks, there have been many have fallen into that trap and they've let the presence of God slip through their fingers through that that type of spiritual laziness. Yes, there are the misguided notion that little sins will not hurt us in our quest to obtain the promises of God.

There was a huge army, an absolute enormous army that God had raised up through Israel. They went against this little town of Ai and only one man had disobeyed God. Now, you're talking in the in the in the perhaps hundreds of thousands of soldiers.

And you've got one man who disobeys and takes some spoil and puts it in his tent. And because of it, the armies of Israel suffer a tremendous defeat. When we ask ourselves about this man naked, we'd say, what would he be among so many and what harm could he possibly do?

Paul says in First Corinthians 10, all these things happen to them. For example, they are written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come. Wherefore, let him that thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.

Paul says in Galatians chapter five and verse nine, a little leaven leavens the whole lump. In other words, it only takes a little bit of poison to poison the whole the whole mixture. How many I'm thinking throughout history and today because of little things that have been undealt with have missed the pathway of God's promises in Christ and are leading others astray also.

How many have just allowed a little bit of pride to get into their hearts, not realizing how deadly this is in the battle to lead others into the provision of God? A little bit of lust, a little bit of unforgiveness, a little bit of ambition, a little bit of ambition in the ministry has turned into a whole lot of ambition today in many pulpits and churches across the nation because of it.

They've lost touch with God. They have all or sometimes at least some forms of right theology and the exterior trappings. But there's no presence of God. There's no power of God. There's no purpose of God in it.

There's no no sense of mission. There's no sense of burden. It's all about me, myself and and I, a little bit of ambition got in somewhere and it wasn't dealt with. God dealt severely with this. He said to Joshua, that little thing that's gotten into the camp, you've got to take it out.

You've got to isolate it and you've got to burn it with fire, not just send it out into the wilderness for the fear in a sense that it might come back. No, you've got to burn it with fire. And the same thing in you and I, when these little things are trying to get a hold of our hearts, these little compromises, these things that when we first came to God, we said we will have nothing to do with this.

We're holy unto the Lord. We're going to live with God. We're going to live for God. Then all of a sudden, these little compromises start coming back into the heart and we fail to realize what these things can do.

God says, no, I want to put the fire of my spirit to it one more time. I want you just to admit it. I'm going to put my hand on. I'm going to touch this area in your life. All you have to do is just admit that this is in you and I will touch it once again with the fire of my presence and I will burn it out of you.

I'll burn that ambition out of you. I'll burn that unforgiveness out of you. I'll burn that lust for whatever it is out of you. I'll burn that pride that's getting into your heart out of you. I'll take it out if you'll just acknowledge that it's there.

James says prior to exhorting us to pray the way Elijah did, he says, confess your faults one to another and pray for one another that you might be healed. Now, it's interesting because the Greek word for false means things that we have purposely stepped over in our journey with God, things that we have just we've just we've seen it.

But it seems so insignificant, we just stepped over it and ignored it, thinking, well, how could this harm me? How could this hurt my life? How could this bring any kind of spiritual ruin to me? I think of Solomon, for example, with the abundance of his revelation before he would become king.

The Bible says he had to take the law, he had to take the Old Testament law and he had to handwrite it out before he could become king. It was one of his duties. And Solomon, of course, you know, was given this incredible wisdom, this incredible revelation of God.

And perhaps the thought got into his heart. What harm could a few horses do? What harm could a little bit of silver do? After all, doesn't the scripture say the treasure of the heathen is laid up for the righteous?

What harm could an allegiance, a political allegiance with Egypt make, even though I have to take a wife from Egypt to solidify that allegiance? Won't it protect the people of God and the land of God?

Did Solomon really think, did he know that these little things that he was allowing into his life are going to cause him to build heathen temples in the end? To get in his chariot on the Sabbath morning and ride right by the temple of God and go to the temple of Ashtoreth?

Did he see it coming? Did he know what it was going to do in his life? And folks, I tell you, there are a lot of people today who are reprobate to the faith that didn't start out that way. They started out on fire for God, but little things began to get in, little compromises, these little things hidden under the tent.

And you want to know how if they are significant, you don't have if they're insignificant, you don't have to hide it. You can declare it openly. I have this in my life. I have this in my tent. It's when you begin to hide, there's an inner awareness in the conscience that this shouldn't be in my life.

And many, many people end up in ruin, churches end up in ruin because they let this little insignificant compromise begin to get in. Why should I go to church Sunday night? Nobody else does. Sunday morning should be good enough.

After all, we're not under the law. These little compromises come in, begin to draw back. We begin to draw back. God dealt with the sin of Achan. Then in Joshua, chapter nine, Joshua made another terrible mistake as he began to conquer the land.

There was a mighty city called Gibeah. And they knew they were doomed, so they began to send ambassadors to Joshua and the ambassadors disguised themselves. They brought with them old clothes and moldy bread.

And they said, we've come from a long distance. We're not really your neighbors. We're not occupying the land that God sent you to conquer. And Joshua, the Bible says, took the testimony of the Gibeonites and didn't inquire at them.

At the hand of God, the problem we face sometimes as Christians is we can become too smart. We know all the answers. We're everybody's counselor. And then something comes our way and wants to make an allegiance with us.

And we are so smart now that now we don't have to go to God anymore. And we begin to reason things and we say, well, and they took the testimony that was brought to them and didn't inquire at the mouth of the Lord.

It's amazing when you see the mistakes that Joshua made. Now, here's a man who was called of God to conquer and to bring the people into God's inheritance. But I'm looking here and I'm just seeing one mistake after another.

When Ai fell, Joshua fell on his face and accused God of the very same thing that people full of unbelief for generations before had accused him. He said, oh, Lord, would be to God you had left us in Egypt.

It was the very words that he'd stood against when the evil spies came back from the promised land years ago. Now, Joshua is now speaking. Oh, would have been better that we had died in Egypt. And unbelief is filling his heart.

The devil is there like a roaring lion trying to rob him of his faith in God. And God responds by just saying, stand up. Get off your face, there's sin in the camp. That's the only thing that God says to him.

He gets that right and then makes the mistake of not seeking God and taking another testimony. That's why the Bible says lay hands suddenly on no man. The context of that, of course, is launching somebody into ministry or blessing them in the name of the Lord.

Don't don't receive the testimony of man. It's the testimony of the Holy Spirit that counts. Very good Christians quite often do this. Just we get a lot of Bible knowledge and we know too much and we become very, very smart.

And we end up in places where we shouldn't be doing things we shouldn't do, making allegiances God never intended us to make. Good Christians marry the wrong people, folks. They do. But the fact is, if you did, you're married and there's no way out of it.

Think it through. Good Christians marry the wrong people. Good Christians get into bad business partnerships. Good Christian people commit themselves to the wrong church, the wrong cause. They tithe to the wrong ministries.

Good Christians do this. Because they don't inquire, they receive the moldy bread testimony that comes over the television and don't inquire from God. Don't ask. They just receive the testimony. But, folks, in spite of this, God reveals to us that through Joshua, that our greatest answers to prayer are still ahead of us, in spite of our past failures and our present circumstances.

God’s Faithfulness Despite Human Failure

It's amazing. When I look at this, I see a man who's called of God to lead the people into an inheritance. I see the mistakes he makes coming after Jericho and then allowing a defeat in the sense that they are getting on with their lives.

He's putting them on his face and accusing God of being unfaithful. Have you ever been there? Have you ever been confused about your direction? Now, the devil, the Bible says, is like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour.

And in these times of confusion, these times when you've made mistakes, the devil will be there. He will be accusing you, accusing you in a sense that your failure is so great that God cannot use you anymore, nor can he answer your prayer.

And also to Joshua, the devil would be right there choosing the very character of God. Now, God called you in to inherit promises and to become a conqueror of a place occupied by the enemy. But he can't do that anymore because he's displeased with you.

He's displeased with the mistakes that you've made. I'm just like the psalmist David. Oh, God, if you marked iniquities, who could stand? Folks, I want to tell you something. I've been in ministry. I guess about 15 or so years.

And there's been a lot of AIs and a lot of Gibeas in my life, a lot more than Joshua. And yet I still stand here. And God's been faithful to me. And I can tell you with an authority in my life that God will be faithful to you in spite of your mistakes, in spite of your allegiances.