The Miricale Of Rebuilding — Carter Conlon

For those that are with us online this evening, remember that at the end of this short sharing of God's word, that we're going to go to the communion table, and we're gonna celebrate the victory of Christ together.

And as we did last week, we're gonna celebrate the victory of God in your life tonight. Now I'm speaking to different people. These are just categories of struggle that we're finding on this prayer request that are coming in both by email and by text into Times Square Church.

And I just wanna give you a sample of who it is that I'm speaking to tonight. And I wanna say that I'm very thankful that you have invited us into your living room this evening, or your bedroom, or your park bench, or your car, wherever it is that you are.

It's a great, great privilege for us to be with you tonight. And I'm trusting that what God's given me to say to you will be the beginning of a brand new life. And I mean that with all of my heart. I wanna speak to people that are struggling tonight.

The Day of Freedom and New Life in Christ

And if I were to give another title to this message than the one I've given it, I would call it This Is Your Day. This is the day that the word of God is coming to you, telling you that you can be free.

That you can have a new life in Christ Jesus, and it's attainable, it's within your reach. God has made the provision for you. We're gonna talk about that this evening in a message called The Miracle Provision of God, a freedom.

From the U .S., pray for deliverance from anxiety, medication now in the category of opiate that has destroyed my nervous system. I am desperate. From Washington, pray for my husband to surrender everything to Jesus, and for my marriage that needs a breakthrough of healing and restoration.

Only Jesus can. From the Bronx, pray for my family. We're going through a lot of anger towards one another. May God heal us from this, and return us back to love. From Richmond Hill, New York, I wish I were dead.

I've been in the shelter since November with my special needs son. I've wasted the last two years with a man who just doesn't care. And lastly, from the U .S., the Lord answered our prayers. He restored my son to us.

Hallelujah. Those waiting, be encouraged. God will restore your children to you. So for all of those out there that are believing for healing, believing for deliverance, this is your day. That's the message that God has put on my heart, and I mean this with all my heart.

I am in your living room right now. I am wherever you are. By God's grace, through the internet, I'm there with you. And the Lord has given me a message for you. If you'll turn in your Bibles, or any device you have, that you can follow the word of God, I'm reading from a version called the New King James Version, Psalm 126.

Psalm 126 and the Restoration of Captivity

And it begins in verse one with these words. When the Lord brought back the captivity of Zion, we were like those who dream. And it was a moment in the history of God's people. It had been 70 years they had been in captivity.

Now most of the people that this particular psalm is about were born into captivity. In those days, if you lived to be 50, you were considered an old man or an old person. And so it's been 70 years they're in captivity.

These people had a dream, a dream that one day we could be free, one day perhaps our lives could be like our history was. It's like somebody tonight that's reading that you're a believer in Christ, and you've been reading the Bible, and you know the history of the people of God.

You know the history of the Gadarene demoniac who was set free from 1 ,000 devils. And you know the history of Mary Magdalene who was set free from demonic oppression. You know the history in the book of Acts chapter two of 120 people who were all failures really in their own sight.

That the power of God came upon and not only changed them, but they became changers of the environment, the society all around them, and brought to us this incredible story, this miracle story of the forgiveness of God through his son Jesus Christ.

Now a lot of you are reading the Bible, but you're in captivity, okay? You're here in the prayer meeting because you really do want to walk with God. But everything is almost like the miracle power of God is like a history lesson.

It's something that happened in the past. You are in captivity. And some could say, just like these people, I was born into captivity. They were 70 years in this place of captivity. And as far as I know, I was born into a home that was captivated by depression, alcohol, drugs, anger, violence, separation, selfishness, divorce, whatever the case might be.

You're listening to me tonight and saying, well, it's just this captivity has been in my life so long that it's the only thing I know. And being free for me or being the person God's designed me to be is just a dream.

But suddenly one day, the dream is fulfilled. Can you imagine? Let me read to you the rest of the psalm before we go back to the beginning line. When the Lord brought back the captivity of Zion, we were like those who dream.

Then our mouth was filled with laughter and our tongue with singing. It's like you're getting a present maybe on your birthday or Christmas that you never anticipated anybody would ever get you. And there's this sudden joy that just rises in your heart as you look at it and say, oh, wow, you didn't have to do this.

And there's a sudden burst of joy and inner singing, may I call it that, in your heart. Then they said, among the nations, the Lord has done great things for them. In other words, there was something so powerfully done for these people that people who lived outside of the realm of God's kingdom saw it and had to comment on it.

The Lord has done great things for us whereof we are glad. Bring back our captivity, O Lord, as streams in the south. Those who sow in tears shall reap in joy. And he who continually goes forth weeping, bearing seed for sowing, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.

So the psalmist is talking about a day of freedom that did come to the people of God when they least expected it. And his prayer is, God, do it again. That's my prayer, do it again. We find ourselves in a similar place and we're in a place of weeping, but yet we have this seed of promise in us that you've made to us.

There's something inside that tells us that we are indeed called to be new creations in Christ Jesus, and maybe you're at a place tonight where all you have is that little seed of promise, but yet you live in captivity.

But the Bible promises that if you hold on to that little bit of faith that you have, one day you will walk out of captivity into freedom and the fruit, in a sense, of your faith will become evident, not just to you, but to everyone around you.

Leaving Captivity and Choosing to Go Home

Now, come with me for just a moment back thousands of years into Babylon, which became also known as Medo-Persia. It's been 70 years. You've been there so long that I think a lot of these people would have just said, you know, to their captors, please, just don't make my life hell and I'll serve God here.

And some of you tonight online are just like that. You're saying to your captivity, just don't make my life hell. You speak it to alcoholism or drugs or pornography or depression or anger or disappointment or whatever it is that holds you captive.

Just don't, if you just leave me alone, if you don't make it too hard for me, I will serve God here. And that's what God's people had come to. They'd come to a place of making peace, in a sense, with their captors.

And then suddenly one day, can you imagine being there? It's been 70 years. Maybe you're 80 years old and you remember you would be just a kid when you went with your mom and dad into captivity or maybe you're a young person that's just been born there.

You've never known anything else other than you've been reading and hearing the stories about what you really are called to be as a son or daughter of God. And then suddenly, one day, somebody visits your home, like me tonight, and says to you, we can go home.

We're free. The king said we can go home. Can you just imagine? I mean, there would be a lot of people who just didn't believe the report. Some people tonight, you're having a hard time just as I speak these words to you.

Oh no, can't be. This can't be for me, for somebody else. No, the king said it's for everybody. Everybody called by the name of Jehovah God of that time can get up and go home and you can rebuild what you lost.

And you know, there would be this, it would be incredulous. It would be, picture yourself sitting there because you are sitting there. You don't have to picture it. You are there. I am the guy that's just come to your door and I'm saying to you, you can go home.

The king said you can go home. The first question that comes into your heart is, well, how do I do this? I mean, I've lost so much. I've lost credibility. I've lost resources. My addictions have cost me my confidence.

It's cost me my family in some cases. You can say my family's gone. I mean, so much has fallen through my fingers and you're telling me to get up and go home and I'm telling you, yes, you can get up and you can go home.

Now, not everybody of that time took the journey. Now, history tells us there was roughly about 50 ,000 people that got up and said, okay, we're going. Now, there was a whole lot more than that in captivity, probably 10 times that amount, if not more, but yet 50 ,000 got up and said, we're gonna take the king at his offer and my prayer today has been, oh God, oh God, let 50 ,000 people tonight get up and go home.

Let them make the choice in their house. Let Ralph on his couch and let Alice on her kitchen table and whoever else is out there just say, I'm in, I'm in. I don't get how this is gonna work, but I'm going.

If the king said I can go home, I'm going home and I don't know how I'm gonna do this, but the king said I can go, so I'm gonna go and I'm gonna trust God and it is a journey of faith. It is a mustard seed of faith.

It does require leaving behind some things that maybe we've grown accustomed to. A lot of people had made peace with their captivity. Do you understand? They planted there, they had a business there, they had a community there around them and they had to get up and make the choice, I'm going with God.

And a lot of those folks had really given their all to their captivity and may I challenge you, those of you who have given your all to drugs and you've given your all to unforgiveness and you've given your all to whatever your all is, would you just turn and give your all to God now and leave that behind and just get up and say I'm going, but I don't know how.

How am I gonna build this? How am I gonna go back and rebuild what was lost? Maybe rebuild what you've never, it wasn't lost, you've never seen it. It was lost to somebody else. Maybe your parents lost it or your grandparents and they kind of brought you into Babylon and Medo-Persia.

You've never really been in the place that's called the land of promise. But you say I've read about it and I see it in the Bible and other people talk about it and now I'm being given an opportunity to get up and actually go there so I'm just gonna go.

I'm just gonna get up and I'm gonna go. I don't know about you but that's what happened to me back in 1978. I just said I'm just going. I'm just getting up and I'm going. I'm not content just to read about what happened to somebody else in some other time.

I want it to be my story. I'm going and I don't know what it's gonna look like but I know that if God's given me the invitation then it's gonna prosper. Now imagine the surprise of the people who arose to go.

It says in, I'm just gonna read it to you from the book of Ezra. It's chapter one beginning at verse five. It says the people got up whose spirits God had moved. They rose to go and build the house of the Lord which is in Jerusalem.

Ezra 1 and the Provision to Rebuild

Now then all those who were around them encouraged them with articles of silver and gold and goods and livestock and precious things. Besides all that was willingly offered. Suddenly when you get up and you decide to go there's going to be people around you who are part of the body of Jesus Christ, the church of Jesus Christ, the true church, the real church and they'll help you.

They will encourage you. They will share the strength that God's given to them with you so that you can get up and make this journey back. Now not everybody gave. There's obviously stingy people then as there are today.

Some, a lot of people are really stingy with their love and their encouragement but there are people who aren't. And so turn away from the stingy ones and turn towards the ones who have the spirit of God.

And they care about you and they care about your journey enough to part with their strength or their resource, whatever it is God's given them to help you on your journey so you can go home and you can begin to rebuild.

Then something really, really miraculous happens. A lot of people read these Old Testament books and they don't even see this. It says King Cyrus also brought out the articles of the house of the Lord which Nebuchadnezzar had taken from Jerusalem and put in the temple of his God.

So Jerusalem was captivated 70 years before and all the instruments and all the vessels and the knives and the spoons and the forks and the bowls and everything that was required for the worship of God had been taken captive.

It was all, they were vessels of pure gold and pure silver. And Cyrus the king of Persia brought them out by the hand of Midrathath the treasurer and counted them out to Shezbazar the prince of Judah.

This is the number of them. 30 gold platters, 1 ,000 silver platters, 29 knives, 30 gold basins, 410 silver basins of a similar kind, 1 ,000 other articles. All the articles of gold and silver were 5 ,400.

70 years before, heathen kings had conquered Jerusalem, taken all of these vessels out of the temple of God and they didn't melt them down. They didn't sell them. They stored them. They stored them for 70 years.

What heathen king would do that? All of these things taken from the temple were brought into captivity and put in storage until the people of God decided to go home. I really want you to think about that.

Everything you need is in storage for you until you make the decision to get up and go home, then suddenly the king says, okay, bring all the things that they will need. All the vessels that are required, all the instruments for worship, everything that they're going to need to rebuild that which was lost because of the carelessness of previous generations.

And this is the people of the province came back from captivity and they went back and they returned to Jerusalem and Judah, everyone to his own city. Now, they were corporately working on the temple, but they were also at the same time working on their own houses.

See, you don't, God just says, I'm gonna bring you back to a place where you once again restore true worship of me. You learn again who I am, but also I'm going to enable you to rebuild your own house in your own town, your own family.

And you say to me, well, how does that work? I mean, pastor, you have no idea how much I've lost. Well, I do have an idea. We've all lost something over the years and we could either focus on our loss or we can focus on the God that promises to give it all back to us.

I chose years ago to focus on the God who gives it all back. And I have found in my lifetime, God is faithful. It is absolutely amazing what God can do. Let me just conclude with a short story, a true story in the book of Acts of a situation where the two saints of God, Paul and Silas, were in a prison and at the darkest time of the night, they chose to worship God in this prison.

Paul and Silas: Worship in the Philippian Prison

And as they began to worship God, the scripture says all the prison doors fell off their hinges, literally. They all opened. And this was the inner prison. So these are people more or less, in most cases, condemned.

They're in a place, they're in the darkest, dankest place you could ever want to be on this earth. And suddenly the doors all fly off. The Philippian jailer, he's in charge of looking after this jail.

He's in charge of the prisoners. Maybe this is, it's all speculation on my part, but maybe this is his whole sense of identity. I think this man, I think this man maybe felt like he blew it with his family.

You know, I can't see a Philippian jailer going home and being kind to his wife and his kids. These guys were mean. This was the inner prison. This is where the worst of the worst criminals are kept. These are where people condemned to death and to be crucified in some cases are kept before their judgment or before they go to trial.

These are the worst of the worst, at least according to the people, the Romans at that time. And so maybe his whole sense of identity now, maybe this is all he's got control of in his whole life is this prison.

And it's his job and it's his sense of worth and whatever else he's got going for him. And suddenly he becomes aware that all the doors have fallen off all the prison cells and he assumes as you would that all these prisoners are gone, like wouldn't you?

If you were there, I'd be out of there. And then suddenly he draws his sword and he intends to kill himself. Like it's just over. We're hearing that online tonight. Some of the prayer requests, people have just lost the will to live.

You feel like you've lost everything. Well, that's what this man felt like. I've lost my home. I've lost maybe his marriage is a shambles. His kids are, who knows? They probably have no respect for him other than they fear him.

And then he's lost his sense of self-worth. It's just all gone. Everything is gone. He's gonna fall out of favor with the authorities because he's given these people to keep and he's lost them. And it's just over as far as he's concerned.

He's just gonna take a sword and probably just run it through his throat or his heart, whatever he would do to end his life. And suddenly a voice, which is the voice of the apostle Paul says do yourself no harm, we're all here.

In other words, you haven't, now Paul could only know that by the spirit. This place is dark. There's a lot of people in there. But Paul knows there's something divine going on here. And it makes no sense to this man's mind that everything he thought was lost is still there.

It just makes no sense. It should all be gone. Everything should have fled. Everything should have fallen through his fingers. Just like it would have made no sense to the people of God in Medo-Persia at this time that all the vessels of the temple are still there.

Those things should be long gone. They should have been melted down and made into coins. There should have been all kinds of leaders and rulers that used them to pad their own pockets and build their own houses.

And what a surprise when suddenly all these thousands of vessels are coming out and gold and silver and being restored to the people of God. Do yourself no harm, we're all here. You see, nothing is lost in God.

God knows where everything is. God knows how to give it all back. God knows how to keep it for the day when you decide to go home. God knows where your strength and your resource is. And so this jailer comes in and Paul says, do yourself no harm for we're all here.

And then he called for a light and he fell down trembling before Paul and Silas. Not that he was afraid of Paul and Silas, but he knew this was a miracle of God. He knew that this is not normal. This is not natural.

Something is happening in this jail that is outside of my control. It's outside of my influence. Everything that I thought was lost is still here. Everything that should be gone is standing still. And then he said, what must I do to be saved?

You see, this man was just saying, whatever you've got, I want. Whoever your God is, I want him to be my God. Whoever this God is that can knock prison doors off of their hinges and yet preserve those things that are kept inside, I want to know who this God is.

And then Paul says to him, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved and your household. You see, Paul knew something, not only about God, but also about this man. He knew that God will be faithful.

When we turn to him, he will be faithful, not just to you, but everyone who's under your influence will be touched by the presence of God in your life. Now, Paul knew this, but he also knew that this man will give his whole heart to whatever he's doing.

If it's evil, he gives his heart to it. If it's abusing people, he gives his heart to it. If it's being mean, he gives his heart. This guy is all in. That's why he was gonna kill himself when he felt like he had lost everything.

And Paul knew that when you give your whole heart to evil, you'll also give your whole heart to good. Some of the best saints that I know were the best sinners before they got saved. They gave their all to drugs and their all to violence and their all to whatever it is that they were doing.

But when they came to Christ, that same, just like the apostle Paul himself, that same personality that drove Paul into this religious rage also drove him to serve God with all of his heart. And Paul recognized that in this man.

He said, you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ because you're not gonna be one of these kind of noodley Christians that kind of bends with the wind. You're gonna go for it. You see something. You've seen the power of God and you're gonna come out of the prison yourself and you're gonna go home and God's gonna touch your house.

The Philippian Jailer and Household Salvation

And so you try to imagine the shock in this man's family when he brings two prisoners home. This guy doesn't bring prisoners home. There's just no way. There's no way. There's murderers and thieves and rapists in this prison and insurrectionists.

He does not bring these people home. You can just see the shock on his wife and his kids. When he comes in the house, he's got two prisoners with him. They've been beaten pretty badly. Their backs are all bloody and scarred.

They've been whipped. They probably stink because obviously there's not a daily shower in this place. And this man, his wife and kids start watching him and the scripture says he bathed their backs. And they're just saying like, in heaven's name, what happened to my dad?

And she's looking and saying, what happened to my husband? This guy that comes home every day and he's rough and he's gruff and he's harsh and if the kids misbehave, all they get is a swat in the back of the head and suddenly they see this man coming in.

You see, because there was something about when he went, when he did something, he did it with all of his heart. That's why Paul could say, not only you will be saved but your house will be saved. And it says he took them the same hour and he washed the wounds on their backs and it says and immediately he and all his family were baptized.

I just love this story because it's, the Bible is telling us this man decided to get up and go home to God. And going home to God, when he went home to his family, the change in his life, suddenly the provision of mercy is there, the provision, everything that was in storage, it always was there for him but it was all in storage.

It had been taken captive by foreign kings. And suddenly when he made the decision to get up and go home, you'll find the tenderness of God that he didn't have most likely is suddenly in his life and the compassion for others he didn't have is suddenly in his life.

The hospitality, I have no doubt whatsoever, don't even have to stretch my imagination to imagine this man was not hospitable. And suddenly he's bringing two strangers home and he's not only feeding them and he's speaking tenderly to them, he's washing the wounds on their backs and his kids look and they say, and his wife looks and says, whatever happened to him, I want that to happen to me.

And immediately it says, he brought them into his house, he set food before them and he rejoiced, having believed in God with all his household. When the Lord turned our captivity, we were like those who dream.

Then our mouth was filled with laughter and our tongue with singing. And they said among the nations, the Lord has done great things for them. The Lord has done great things for us and we are glad. Bring back our captivity, O Lord, as streams in the south.

Those who sow in tears shall reap in joy. And he who continually goes forth weeping, bearing seed for sowing, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him. So my message to you tonight that are listening to me online is this is your day.

Responding to the Invitation of Salvation

This is your time. I am the messenger who has come to your house telling you the king has said you can get up and you can go home. And you can rebuild everything that you thought was lost. You can reclaim that which rightfully belongs to you.

And along the way, everything you need will be given to you to accomplish that which God has put in your heart to do. Everything. This is your day. This is not a positive confession speech I'm giving you tonight.

This is truth. The truth shall set you free. On your part, you have to get up. Just admit you need a savior. The Philippian jailer had to do that. He couldn't save himself. Just get up and admit that there's a wonderful opportunity that God's given you through his son, Jesus Christ, to be forgiven of your sin and to become the person that God designed you to be.

Captivity made you into another person. It took you into another place. You've been living where you shouldn't be living. You've been doing what you shouldn't be doing. And you became a person that God never intended you to be.

But the word comes to you tonight from the king saying you can get up and you can go home and you can rebuild. Back to your town, back to your city, you can rebuild the place of God's worship. And God speaks to your heart tonight and says, I will give you back things that you thought were lost forever.

I'll give you back things in your heart that you thought experience had taken from you and could never be regained. I'll give you back hope. I'll give you characteristics in your life, issues of character that you thought were lost forever.

I'll give it back to you. Sovereignly, supernaturally, it's all been in storage and it's been waiting for you to get up and go home and rebuild. Listen to me on this tonight. This is not some pie-in-the-sky religion I'm talking to you about.

This is life, it's real. It's an invitation. God will build your house better than it was before. God will give you peace in your heart. God will do the miraculous. It will, as a matter of fact, he'll do it so powerfully that people around you who are outside the kingdom of God will look and say, look what the Lord has done for him.

On your part, sir, ma 'am, young person, older person, you need to join the 50 ,000 in that generation who just simply got up and said, I'm going with God. And I'm gonna trust him. I'm going into that place of victory that my ancestors told me about, that I have read about in the scriptures.

I'm not living there and I'm done making peace with my enemies. If they say I can go, I'm going, I'm leaving. I'm outta here. And I'm going to be the person that God has designed my life to be. Admit you need a savior.

Believe that Jesus Christ died to make a way for you, not only to go into eternity with him, but as he said, to live a full and abundant life that brings glory to him on this earth. And then confess him with your mouth and commit your life to him.

Commit your life to him. Don't go halfway, go all the way. Go all the way with God, hallelujah. So Father, thank you tonight. Thank you. God almighty, I give you praise, Lord. I give you praise because I see an army rising up everywhere, my God.

Prayer for Restoration and Rebuilding

Oh, Jesus, I see people coming home to rebuild. I see the depressed singing a song of victory. I see the suicidal living life to the fullest in God. I see families restored. I see children coming home.

I see churches full of people giving praise to God. I see the heathen nations around us saying, look what God has done for them. The Lord has done great things for us. We are of, we are glad. I'm asking you again tonight, Lord, to fill our mouths with laughter and our tongues with singing.

God, to give us a song of praise that is not contingent on the notes that the band hits. It comes from so deep within that nothing in this world can produce it or assist it. Oh, God. Oh, God, oh, God.

Oh, God. I'm asking you to have people stand up in their homes tonight. Stand up in their homes. Stand up wherever they are. In their park bench, I don't care where it is, but just stand up and say, I'm going.

I'm going with God. I'm not staying here any longer. I'm not living in this place any longer. If the king says I can go home, I'm going home. I'm gonna go and I'm gonna trust him for everything I need to do, everything I'm called to do.

This is the word of God and I am the messenger of God to you tonight. And these young people who have been in this chapel praying for you are those that are saying to you, come, follow us, come. God won't disappoint you.

He won't let you down. He doesn't make a promise and then fail you. And suddenly all of the things you need will come out of the storehouse. The Bible says there's a great storehouse that God has and it's full of supply for everything you need to be everything that God's called you to be.

Hallelujah. We're going to go to the communion table this evening. Before we do, I'm gonna give you an opportunity just to pray this simple prayer with me. And I'm gonna ask those who are here in the sanctuary just to repeat it with me.

And so at home, pray this prayer. Do it right now, make it your own. Pray it from your heart. Lord Jesus Christ, if you're telling me I can get up and I can go home and I can be forgiven and I can be a brand new person and live a brand new life, then I'm in.

I'm going. I'm going with those that have gone before me. I'm going with those that are going with me. And I'm not going alone. I'm taking my family with me and I'm taking my friends with me, even a few of my enemies with me.

And we're gonna rebuild the testimony of God. And we're gonna give God glory. The heathen will point to us and say, look what God has done for them. Jesus, I'm in. You are my Lord and my Savior. Lead me forward for the rest of my days.

In Jesus' name. If you prayed that prayer, I'm gonna ask you right now to text the word decided. I think it's 51 ,000. It'll be on the screen behind me. Just text the word decided and there'll be somebody get in touch with you by video and tell you what are your next steps.

God bless you. We're gonna have communion together. We're gonna sing one song. Take a moment to get some juice, some crackers. And when we take communion tonight, just let this prayer be on your lips.

My God, I'm in, I'm going, I'm going. I'm done with this place. I'm outta here. I'm going, I'm going with God. In Jesus' name, amen.