And the Word of the Lord Came — Carter Conlon

The Word of the Lord Came Through Scripture

John chapter 1 please if you'll go there the gospel of John chapter 1 and the word of the Lord came. That's the title of my message and the word of the Lord came now father. I thank you with all my heart for the anointing of your Holy Spirit,.

I Thank you Lord and invite you to do your work. Lord this is not our church. It is yours. This is not our testimony, it's your testimony that you have chosen To make alive and real through us as your people.

We yield to you Lord Jesus Christ. We ask you to give us hearts to believe you and ears to hear you. Guide us and govern our steps in the days ahead. Keep us from lagging too far behind and For the sake of Christ.

Don't let us walk ahead of you Father I pray God That you give us hearts so filled with faith That will not be moved by any report of anything that comes our way. Lord, I thank you for the anointing on my physical body and my mind Lord to give me the strength that I need and The clarity of thought to convey this as you've given it to me.

Lord, let your kingdom come and let your will be done. As it is in heaven in Jesus name. John chapter 1 verses 1 to 5 and then verse 10 to 13. In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.

The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life and the life was the light of men and the light shined in the darkness and the darkness Comprehended it not.

Verse 10. He was in the world and the world was made by him and the world knew him not. He came unto his own and his own received him not. But as many as received him. To them gave he power to become the sons of God.

Even to them that believe on his name. Which were born not of blood. Nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man. But of God now verse 13 means they were they were given this this power of life that God offers.

That's that's what it means when which were born they were born again in effect not of any nobility not of any Any blood lineage as it is? Not of any amount of human strength or will. Not of any collective effort.

But they were born again of God. Now history teaches us that there's specific moments Where the Word of the Lord comes to a people to carry out a divine purpose which God himself intends to do. I personally believe that we are living at such a moment a specific word from God Has come to our hearts and I have lived much of my life Cherishing these moments of God.

Hearing God’s Voice Through the Scriptures

I remember the day that I sat in my office in in the church. I formerly pastored and Suddenly everything around me was heightened. I can't explain it but there's there's just an awareness that God has come into the room and as in a sovereign way to speak to my heart and I felt the Holy Spirit telling me go into the scriptures because God has always spoken to me Through the scriptures when he speaks it can be confirmed in the scriptures.

That's our protection. Those are our borders as it is and I went into the scripture. He said read where you're reading and I went into the Old Testament and I was in the book of 1st Chronicles I believe chapter 28 and I began to read where Solomon was given the pattern Of a temple by David his father and shown the pattern of the mercy seat and so shown the pattern of the inner Courts and the treasuries and the outer courts of the house of God and he was given it by the Spirit and David made the preparation as it was for this house of God and when it was made he gave his son Solomon The command to build the house and of course that was the house where the glory of the Lord came down in that generation.

And the Lord spoke to my heart that he was sending me somewhere to help a man who had begun to work and to walk alongside of him and To help bring to completion the work that had begun through another man's hand and he told me this man will give you the pattern of the house some of the things that you've not seen before nor understood this man will put it into your hand and give you the ability to do what I'm calling you to do and then he led me to the book of Joshua and To chapter 1 where he said do not be afraid do not fear.

Do not be afraid or do not be dismayed. You will stand up against incredible forces will come against you to stop you Forces from the outside forces in your own mind, but don't be dismayed because the battle is not yours.

It's mine. Walk with me and I will do through you everything and he said I'll not fail you. Until the work that I've called you to do has been brought to completion. Now. That's an example of a specific moment Where the Word of the Lord from the text of Scripture comes to life.

Have you ever been reading your Bible and suddenly just a verse just Seems to lift off the page and it warms and gladdens your heart. And you know you and I have to realize this word lives. We can read the Bible and there's a lot of there's history in it.

You see up to these divine moments. There are probably many words that we're learning about God many words are being spoken about God. Their words that describe his character his faithfulness his justice and Good things that tell us how to live and God says how and life should be lived.

The honest believer listens to these day-to-day words recorded and taught from Scripture and We try to live inside of the blessings and boundaries of the ways of God as we understand them. This is called a belief system.

It could be called the sum total of what we believe and how we relate to God. If we are honest believers in Christ, we want to do right as Is the case with most Christian belief systems we want to honor God, but I think the tragedy of perhaps our generation is.

Many of God's people have just been sitting in seminar after seminar after seminar after seminar. Listening to tape after tape and study after study. Which is good in itself about the character of God the faithfulness of God the justice of God the goodness of God the ways Of God the judgments of God the history of God's we study these things.

But it should be bringing us to a point where God can speak to us both individually and collectively and but I think there's there's a lot of people today are Living in that place where the scripture says there was no open vision from the Lord.

There's a lot of words about God. And no shortage of it think of when Jesus Christ came into Israel or into the land of his own people. This was the word of God. He was the one in the beginning. He was with God.

He was God. He created all things everything That exists was created by the word of his mouth. And he came to his own but his own had established a a belief system with with boundaries around it. We all want to do right we all want to live in the truth we we we all want to know God and Our human tendency is we want our knowledge to be complete.

We we want to be the people who have all of the truth. And then so we form a system of belief and we we put walls up to keep the enemy out and and sadly. Sometimes to limit the way God can speak to us and the way God can work.

For example, there are there are whole denominations that don't believe that God does miracles anymore. I mean, that's that's tragic because you get what you believe. And so there's there's whole systems of religion that Just study about God and and the whole the whole denomination is just an argument about God.

It's just a constant argument. That's all it is. About how many angels can dance on the head of a pin? That's what it gets down to. And there's no miraculous the people are picked off like Like weak sheep marriages break down.

They're seemingly defenseless against their enemies because we we we have we have relegated God to a figure of history. That is is more than willing to tell us all about how wonderful and and great he is but doesn't work in the present.

I was saved in a denomination that didn't believe that there's such a thing as the Secondary infilling of the holy spirit and I believed that until I was Filled with the holy spirit then I had a problem on my hands.

Because the What God had done wouldn't go away just stayed with me and I remember thinking well How come these people what is it that caused? All of these people to push this knowledge of God out of their borders.

Martha’s Faith and the Limits of Religious Understanding

So powerfully look at john chapter 11 just go ahead to chapter 11. I want to look at a type Of of what i'm talking about this morning. Now this is a lady called martha. Now I want you and I To be transported back into history and we're going to do a sociological study this morning on what the church looked like.

That that first those first people who had their first encounter with jesus christ. What were they like did they have more faith than we have were they different than we are? Having jesus in their midst physically did it make a huge difference for for these people now, there's a lady called martha and verse 20 Tells us that martha as soon as she heard that jesus was coming went and met him.

Mary sat still in the house, so there are people who just simply don't have the The urge even to go to worship corporately. But martha was the type of of many people who attend church regularly and they are diligent to meet with jesus.

I see people on the street here sunday morning who? I I know you're happy to be at the house of the lord. You got your bible under your arm. In many cases you're dragging three and four kids that don't want to be here.

But they're coming anyway, because you're not letting them stay home. And you're you're coming in and you're excited about meeting with god. You you you you trust him you believe in him. Verse 21 tells us that She carried within herself a deep sorrow About something that was either out of reach or had been lost and deep down.

She felt she could neither get it Nor regain it. So many people come to the house of the lord that way. Oh god, where were you when I needed you? I mean there was a time you could have worked. There was a time a difference could have been made.

There was a time You where you could have called me. It was a time where you could have freed me. There was a time Where I was open to you. And I really believed. But what I believed in didn't materialize.

She said if you'd been here, my brother Wouldn't have died. Now listen to her words. Listen to her. Her words are true. And they're. Listen to way her actual scriptural view of of jesus. That's what the point that i'm trying to make and it matches many of us today.

She said but I know that even now whatsoever that will ask of god god will give it to thee. Verse 22. And so she's adequately she she holds to a theological perspective that jesus christ has access to god the father.

And he has an unlimited supply Of heaven's power and authority through him that is available to him. She has it right just as you and I do. We we read ephesians one and we realize that jesus christ rose from the dead sits at the right hand of all power.

And all authority the whole kingdom is given to him. We don't deny that we believe that. Then verse 24 now, this is just we're just looking at martha now Martha said to him. I know That he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.

She she believes That jesus christ is able to keep everything that is committed into his hand as the apostle paul said. She believes that there's a one day victory coming. Not today, but one day verse 27.

She said lord, I believe you are the christ the son of god, which should come into the world. She believes that jesus is the messiah. Jesus is the promised one of god. Jesus is the one who opens the way into this the sovereignty of god.

She believes everything about jesus. He's at he has a power. He has authority. He's faithful. She believes all of these things that she has been taught and when she had so said verse 28 says she went her way.

Now it's amazing if you and I were looking at this first century believer. We'd say now there's a lady who's got her theology, right? There's a lady who's learned about god. There's a lady who has embraced proper scriptural thinking.

Jesus has access to the father. Jesus will keep that which is committed into his hand. Jesus is the fullness of the godhead bodily. Jesus christ is the son of god. Come into the world. He is the messiah.

He is our hope. He is our he is the door to life. He is everything that we've ever wanted and then she goes her way. And how many people are like that today? Coming to the house of the lord and all your theological ducks are all lined up in a row and you have Correct theology you have embraced right thought about who christ is the only problem with this.

Is that in between her statements somebody else is trying to speak and she cannot hear him. Jesus said verse 23 your brother will rise again. Verse 25. I am the resurrection in the life. He that believes in me though we were dead yet shall he live.

And whoever lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you. Believe this there are words coming directly to her from the mouth of god, but she doesn't believe it. She can't hear it even in the book of revelation.

Jesus is speaking to the seven churches of revelation some some profound corrections and wonderful promises. But even he acknowledges that not everybody in those churches can hear him speaking. Because people have embraced way their their theological boundaries are are up and and sad to say.

We're all prone to it that we get to a point where god can't speak to us outside of our perception of him. We perceive him a certain way because of our experiences. And and he tries to speak. And I wonder How many people miss amazing moments in god?

Because they quote scripture but cling to the natural way of looking at things. Amazing moments. I can't help but think about how in in a sanctuary this size. There's 1880 people here. I happen to know that and plus those that were standing.

There's another 1500 or so perhaps in overflow this morning, and I don't know how many listening on online. But how many people here? God wants to do something supernatural through your life. Something amazing something that brings his his name to reputation something that you can't possibly do yourself.

I mean martha could not raise her brother from the dead. Something that is profound something that brings glory to his name something that that breaks all the boundaries and borders that you have Theologically even placed around yourself.

Something that brings his name to to such glory to such reputation. Something of god that he wants to plant within you a gifting of the spirit perhaps to speak words of knowledge or wisdom. And how many of those moments are lost?

Lost. Because we just simply cannot will not Let him speak to our hearts. I've had to plow through this all of my christian life in my own heart. I've had to plow through it folks. I was just a young christian.

I was just Saved and I remember my wife and I were out for dinner one night and I was standing Waiting for her after the meal was finished and I was in this vestibule and I was looking out the window and an airplane went over.

Head now. I I wasn't very I didn't fly very much at that time. I was actually afraid of flying. I wasn't very keen on it. And I remember the lord speaking to my heart. Carter much of your life is going to be spent traveling.

You're going to go to many places and you're going to testify about me. And I looked up at the and it was incredulous. I wasn't even a preacher then. And I remember looking at it and in that moment with that whisper of god coming into my heart.

I had a choice. To say yes or to say no To god and you just imagine if I had said no lord. No, that will not be me I. Or I just said no that's just a that's just a longing in my heart. But folks there's a moment when god speaks and you know, it's not the longing of your own heart.

You're not trying to you're not trying to manufacture god's voice. You actually know it's god speaking because he's leading in a way. That's not really your first inclination. And he's whispering these whispers of god that he's.

I could quote scripture. I was learning john 3 16 ephesians 2 8 and 9 and I was learning about the romans road and I was In new believers class and such other classes and I was studying All these attributes of god and suddenly this whisper from heaven comes in the midst of it all and says i'm going to take your life.

And use it for my glory. And the choice is mine. Do I do I receive that do I do I believe that do I follow that now? Some people live their lives trying to manufacture something of god trying pushing through.

I've never done that. I've just I've just learned to abide in him. I've learned to rest in christ. I I've learned that I don't want to do anything that god doesn't want me to do. There's no point because there's no power in it.

There's no reward for it. So why would you even want to go there and it's like taking on a job? And they say you're not going to get paid. We expect you to work 40 hours a week, but there's no paycheck.

But that's what people do try to push and make something supernatural happen. I i'm talking about just abiding in him. He knows where I live. He knows how to get a hold of me. Knows how to speak to my heart and just being open in those quiet moments.

That in the text of scripture because that's where god always speaks to me. He can he can suddenly start to speak to my heart. About something that he wants to do. I remember the day that I first climbed into this abandoned church in a little town called riceville, ontario.

I climbed in the back window. There were holes in the ceiling and water stains there were pigeons in it. The windows were largely broken out it hadn't been used for years and years and years. And I I stood on the platform of that church and suddenly the word of the lord came to me and he spoke to my heart and said carter i'm going to.

I'm going to give you this church and it's going to be restored and i'm going to bring people from a 100 mile radius To this place to hear the gospel of jesus christ. It was a word to my heart. And i've never felt obliged to make anybody believe it because it's a word to my heart.

And I remember having to push through the doubt and the unbelief of of some who have a difficulty Hearing from god when they can't see it with their natural eyes. I remember walking into the that building.

The day after we bought it for one dollar. From a town council. It wasn't really in favor of what we were doing. Folks i've learned over the years the heart of the king is in the hand of god. He moves it where there's whoever he will.

I remember walking into that into that place and There's one there's board members that was with me and he looked he said it can't be done. It can't be done there's too much money to spend on the ceiling and there's the walls are bowed out a bit on the sides and the building has been unoccupied too long and these those windows are.

They they are they are archaic. They're back from the 1830s. And there's nobody around that can build windows like that anymore and the frames are broken. And I remember looking at him and saying it will be done.

God said it will be done. It will be done. And folks we just moved we just started to move. I've never felt the burden to make anything happen. We just simply moved forward and I watched god do the miraculous.

One day a man came to that church as we started the renovation. He came in the door and I know this man hated what we stood for and who we were. And it shocked me that he was there and he walked in and he was a woodworker.

And he looked around he said I can fix those windows and I can build those frames. And none of us dared say anything to him. He said sure you're welcome. That man never attended our church not even one time.

I pray god had mercy on his soul. But he worked for days and weeks and he rebuilt those windows like brand new and cut the glass to fit it. You know, it was very difficult to fit glass. I remember another man who never attended the church.

He walked in and he said i'm an iron worker and I know how to fix those walls. And they require thus and thus and i'll bring in the rods and tighten the rods and pull the walls in. Another man walked in said i'm an engineer.

You're going to need plans. You're going to need approval from councils. I'm willing to do it for free. I'll do all the plans. I'll get all the approvals for you and within two months. That building looked like it did when it was built in 1862.

I believe it was when it was built. It looked exactly like it was it was refurbished restored. It was it looked almost like a museum piece. And to make a long story short In just a few years people were coming from the farthest away was a hundred miles.

They're coming from a hundred mile radius. The place was filled. We're sending people outside at the end before I came to new york city to hear the gospel of jesus christ. We launched a missions program that put the gospel of mark in the russian school system when the iron curtain collapsed.

We were sending containers with motorcycles and bicycles and such like into south america for pastors missions trips. Were going out constantly. We started a food bank that fed 237 families full-time.

We bought a two-story brick school and established a christian school. 10 jewish lawyers gave us another building of just a not a very old school building with a huge yard for a tax receipt. For a christian church the miracles just kept happening over and over and over again.

Obeying God’s Leading in Extraordinary Circumstances

And and I share this only to say What would happen when I crawled in the window and god spoke that he whispered it to my heart if I had said no. No, it can't be. No, I don't think god could do that and you think of all that wouldn't have happened all that may not have been in a prayer meeting just a few years ago standing in the corner with maybe 40 pastors visiting from various Denominations god spoke something so preposterous to my heart.

I knew it either has to be the holy spirit. I'd better not even entertain this and I turned around to the pastors and I said I feel the holy spirit Has just spoken to my heart to gather as many churches as will.

To the place where the ball drops in times square and pray for the future of new york city. And I asked the pastors do you bear witness to this? I need to know do you bear witness to what i'm saying and there was a collective shout came into the room.

We set about that first year in order to To bring this about there are seven committees in the city of new york. Which i'm personally convinced are set there to stop anybody from doing anything like that.

We started moving forward. We had the companies coming the scaffolding coming and such like and folks. It was down to the wire just days before we were supposed to meet there. And we had not even the first permit from the first committee.

You can't go to committee two until you have the permit from committee one. I remember one of the leaders coming to me saying what are we going to do? This is going to be an illegal meeting. We can't meet there and I said no we're going to meet there.

God told us to meet there. We're going to meet there just a few days before Prayer in the square the first year was to happen. Mayor bloomberg's office called and said there's something here for you. If you'll be kind enough to come and get it, so we sent a courier down that came they brought it back.

We unfolded it and it was a shock. It was a decree from mayor bloomberg that prayer in the square was to take place and To this day. I don't fully understand how that happened. I don't know how fully except that the heart of the king is in the hand of the lord and he moves it.

And three years in a row mayor bloomberg Issued a decree. Saying prayer in the square is going to happen now. We didn't do year four because the holy spirit told us to do it for three years. That's why we didn't do year four.

But the year three there were 60 000 people for those of you who were there, you know In the streets of new york and if you've never seen it go to nyc prayer dot org. And you'll see a video event of that one hour of prayer at the end of that meeting I was approached by somebody representing 1010 winds.

The largest secular radio news station in america to do it. Spots one minute spot 13 one minute spots a week on the radio the first time in the history. Of that radio pastor david at that time said to me carter.

This has to be the hand of god. That's impossible. I've been new york most of my life. I've never heard of anything like it. Being approached by them not trying to push my way through the door. But being approached to do these radio spots, which have been on the radio for these several years from these radio spots 1010 wins came nyc prayer dot org.

Where we encourage people in the city to find a permittee. They're now 191 permittings in new york city listed on nyc prayer dot org. From nyc prayer dot org came our latest Leading of the lord is called feed new york to take a hundred of those churches.

And underwrite them for one year to start feeding programs in the city for this specific reason. Isaiah 58 says if you do not hide yourself from your own flesh. Then you call to me and I will answer you.

I will give you strength and even your darkest times will be like The noon day you'll be like a spring of water whose waters fail not and those that are raised up through you Will become those who repair the breach and restore pass to dwell in.

Thank god. Thank god that in that corner way back. Few years ago when when the holy spirit whispered into my heart Thank god I didn't say no and quote scripture and just keep on praying because I believe.

We are being led of the spirit into a divine moment in new york city. A divine moment of prayer a divine moment when churches are going to be filled. A divine moment. When the poor are going to find sustenance in the house of god.

A divine moment folks if I have the time I don't this morning, but the favor of god is pouring in from everywhere on. On these things that we're doing. The word of the lord will always come before god chooses to do something sovereign.

Biblical Examples of Divine Moments

The word of the lord jonah 1 1 it says the word of the lord came to jonah and god's word came because god had decided To be merciful to a godless and cruel people whom few if any felt deserved it. Joel 1 1 says the word of the lord came to joel.

And the word of god came to joel to tell us that no matter how dark and terrifying the last days of time May become though there be wonders in the heavens and in the earth blood fire and pillars of smoke.

Though the sun be turned to darkness and the moon into blood before the great and terrible day Of the lord come the word of the lord came to joel to tell us that god would have a people on the earth Who are supernaturally empowered by his life?

Being lived inside of them young and old of all races Of all cultures of all ways of life of all educational levels who would see the supernatural works of god. They would speak of them who would understand the times and have eyes to see the goodness of god in the midst of it.

Zechariah 1 1 tells us the word of the lord came to zechariah That to tell the workers trying to rebuild a testimony for the lord who had become discouraged. To tell them that what you have begun will be finished what you have set your hand to will be done.

Not by your might not by your power, but by my spirit says the lord. Praise god. In the beginning was the word the word was with god the word was god. The same was in the beginning with god everything was made by him and without him was not anything made.

That was made in him was life and this life was the light of men. He was in the world the world was made by him and the world knew him not. He came to his own and his own received him not let that not be said of you and I he came To times square church, but they couldn't hear him.

They wouldn't hear him. He wanted to sovereignly do something So powerful that even the world maybe in our time would have to stand up and take notice of what god Has chosen to do in new york city not by might nor by power.

But by my spirit. I make a choice today. I'm going to die on the side of faith rather than live in the place of unbelief. Let the pharisees scratch their beards. Let the skeptics scoff. Let the unbelievers stand in unbelief.

Let the scriptural quoters crock their scripture. Let those who have built their walls around their churches and say god can only go this far and no farther. Let them do what they choose to do. But as for me in my house.

Faith in God’s Calling and Supernatural Power

Know what god has spoken to my heart. There is a sovereign moment in history when god speaks. There's a sovereign moment and there's a witness of the holy spirit that comes into the hearts of the hearers.

Who would have listened to an 80 year old man and his 83 year old brother coming into egypt after 400 years of bondage. To the most mighty army and cruel people on the face of the earth an army that's throwing their newborn children into the river.

And destroying their heritage and crushing their future and burdening them with burdens. And suddenly an 80 year old man shows up with a stick. With his 83 year old brother and said god sent me to lead you out Into a place where you are going to give glory to him and worship him.

There is a season where the word of the lord comes. There's Gideon is threshing in his backyard. He's trying to eke out a living. He's the least in his house, which is the least among the people of israel.

And suddenly a messenger of god stands beside him and says god has come to you. You mighty man of resources or mighty men of value. It means resources. Gideon first looks and says oh god. Are you sure you found the right guy?

What a miracle would have been lost had gideon made the choice not to believe. As many as received him He gave them power to become the sons of god. Even to them that believe on his name He gave them power.

To become what only god could make them god. Who created the universe by the word of his mouth god. Who holds all things in the palm of his hand god? He gave them the power to become the children of god.

A visible demonstration of god in the earth. Our people who speak about god and people who breathe about god. Of people who live about god. Of people who walk with god. Of people who are not a natural people.

But a supernatural people by the power of god within them. They were born not of blood. Not by any earthly advantage or association. Not because you and I are smarter or not as smart as other people. Not because they have.

Any kind of a lineage of nobility or royal birth or collect connections to the political arena. Not by any amount of human strength reasoning or willpower. Not by any amount of collective human effort.

Born of god walking with god. Being a testimony of god's power. Being a testimony of god's grace. Not by anything else but of god. Hebrews the writer says today if you can hear his voice don't harden your heart.

What are the things that god is whispering to you? What is god speaking to you? What does god want to do through your life and don't say no. Don't say not me. Look away from yourself because it isn't about you.

It's about the christ inside of you. To say that god can't raise you up is like a balloon saying to helium. You can't cause me to rise. What is god speaking to you about? What. What. What is lifting off the pages.

What are those whispers coming to your heart? We heard cheryl testify that she was laying on her floor howling up to god and god spoke to her. And told her what to do and you see the result of the obedience to that moment.