Freedom Fights Back — Carter Conlon

Worship, God's Presence, and a Living Relationship with Christ

I'll never cease to be amazed at the incredible songs that God is giving the young people at this Bible school. As a generation of young people take time to spend time in his presence, spend time studying his word, and spend time just getting to know Jesus Christ in a living relationship.

As the psalmist David once said, he lifts us out of all of these places where we have a tendency to be overcome by our circumstances and puts a new song in our mouths, even praise unto our God. And the scripture tells us that many will see it and fear and begin to trust in God.

And as we just see Ja 'karri and just see the wonderful worship team that you're seeing in studio here, recording these beautiful videos and these songs. And most of these young people work all day with kids here at our summer camp and such like things.

And yet this beautiful song, and I can see it on the countenance of these young people. It's not just a song, you can actually see it on their countenance. And there's something that stirs in every heart and says, God, you're so real.

Prayer Requests and a Cry for Freedom

Oh God, I was looking today through some of the prayer requests that are coming in from believers in Christ from all over the world. Let me share a few just before we go to the word of God this evening.

From the US, our 46 year old marriage needs a miracle. The enemy is trying to take us out. Our seven children were raised for Christ and are watching Jesus glorify your name. Do what only you can. Roland from Austin, Texas says, I need the courage to face life.

I must let go of the past and move forward with my life. Please pray for the souls of my children and my grandchildren, pray. From Reading, California, Joseph says, Lord Jesus, forgive me for my past sins and abuse of my body.

Now in disability and pain, degenerative spine discs and spiritual health, please Lord, help me. Jessica from Moosonee, Canada says, I feel ashamed as a Christian to be struggling with fear. I don't understand why I've been going through this.

Lord, please heal me and deliver me. Shelly from the US says, may God help me not to be afraid and to panic at work. Help me to remember that God is with me and he'll give me strength and he will help me.

And from Albuquerque, New Mexico, I'm at a bad point. The pain I've been enduring is overwhelming. Addiction, rejection, fear, please tell me that I can be well again. From the US, I'm broken and I'm lost.

I don't feel that I can go on. Please pray. And from Ceylon, India, please pray for me. I'm confused and full of fear as a teenager. I don't know what to do. My past sins bother me. Please pray for my family too.

Thank you. And the list just goes on and on and on of God's people all over the world crying out for freedom, crying out for victory, crying out for wholeness in their homes, their bodies, their families, their minds, for a reason to live, for a purpose on the earth.

When Freedom Fights Back: A Prayer for Deliverance

And so I wanna share this evening a message with you called, the title I've given it is, When Freedom Fights Back. When Freedom Fights Back. Father, God, in Jesus' name, Lord, when your people were captivated in Egypt, they couldn't get out by themselves.

You had to come and get them. And so Lord, tonight I'm asking you, Father, in Jesus' name, come and get your people. Redeem your people again, God, of all places of oppression and bondage. Let there be a glorious visitation again of the Holy Spirit and quicken, oh God, the hearts and minds of those that are called by your name.

The honor of your name is intertwined with your people. And so Lord, we do pray, glorify your name, Father. And you did say to your son, I have glorified it and I will glorify it again. So God, I pray that this might be one of those, I will glorify it again moments in history.

Lord, that you'd heal marriages, give people a reason to live, set free the oppressed, open prison doors, give people who can't see a way forward spiritual eyes again. Strengthen the weak, oh God. Lord, let the poor have the treasure of heaven, the power of God opened up to them once again.

Jesus, I speak on behalf of your church in this generation and I say, Lord, come and get us again. Come and get us out of every place that we shouldn't be and places that have taken us captive, places where we're endlessly in labors.

God, with no joy left and no hope for the future. Have mercy on your people, oh God. Have mercy on your church. Have mercy on our teenagers, God, in this generation. Have mercy on our children. Have mercy on your people, God.

Forgive us, Lord, for our backsliding ways and for the foolishness of taking so lightly the call and the charge that you placed upon us, God, to be an ambassador of you in our nation. Oh God, we recognize that we've sinned against you, Lord, and we've fallen so far short of the glory that you desired to be released through us.

But oh God, you're a God of mercy. For one of the Psalms says, your mercy endures forever. So let this be one of those moments, oh God, where your mercy endures one more time. It's not that you need another testimony of how good you are, but it's because you are good, you will send another testimony again of your goodness.

And so Jesus Christ, come and get us, Lord. Come as you sent Moses to your people. God, we don't care who you send, we don't care how you do it, but just come and get us out of every place of weakness and darkness and bondage, oh God.

This is no honor. As I read these prayer requests through the day, it's no honor to you to have a bride that is captivated and making bricks and living in joyless existence. God almighty, God almighty, God almighty.

God almighty, you destined us to be a people of freedom. You destined us to be a blessing in the earth. So give us the grace to fight back, oh God. Give us the strength to get up and get out. Give us the strength, oh God, to trust you and believe you one more time for the things that only you can do.

Oh Jesus, Son of God, Son of God, Son of God, we cry out to you tonight, not just here in this sanctuary, but all over the world, everyone who's listening to this prayer meeting, and part of it, oh God, we lift our voices to you and we ask you for mercy.

Our homes, our families, our communities, my God, our own lives, our work environments, everywhere we travel, everywhere we go. Oh God, as we saw your countenance, Lord, upon these young people in this song tonight, put your countenance upon us, oh God.

Let us not be lifting our hands in despair, oh God, day after day after day, wondering where you are. Father, we thank you, Lord, that you will give us grace, my God, to get up and to worship you, even if it's in the wilderness.

Lord, we say thank you for these things, my God. Now tonight, I ask you, Lord, to use my life again one more time. If you can use a pebble in David's hand, you can use me, Lord, to take down something of darkness tonight, oh God, and to see liberty and freedom and victory come into somebody's life.

God, I do cry out for somebody tonight who's listening online, somebody who's here in this sanctuary, somebody who's got a secret or an unknown battle that they can't get out of, they can't get free. My God, I pray for the words that you put in my heart to be that pebble that goes into the forehead of the devil one more time.

Tear down this power of darkness, tear down these demonic assaults against your people, oh God. Bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. You tell us the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but they're mighty in God, to the pulling down of strongholds, casting down imaginations and bringing every thought into the obedience and subjection of Christ.

So God, this is our portion, this is our heritage. Oh God, let it be a reality, Lord, in this generation. Let it be, Lord, that there be a cry come up from this nation to you, God, that will cause freedom to reign one more time.

And Lord, we thank you for it and we praise you for it. In Jesus' name, amen and amen. We're gonna go to the communion table when I'm done sharing from the word of God, so please, folks that are online tonight, prepare for that.

Abiding in Christ's Word Brings Freedom

You just need some juice and some crackers or cookies and you can share the victory of the cross, the celebration of that victory with us this evening. John chapter eight, two verses, 31 and 32. The scripture says, Jesus said to those Jews who believed him, if you abide in my word, you are my disciples indeed, and you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.

If you will allow the word of God to correct your thinking, if you will allow the word of God to come and find a deep lodging place in every heart. You know, the word abide, it has a connotation of this is now my life, this is where I want to live.

I want to live in the word of God. I want to be the person that God calls me to be. I want to think the way that God says I should think. I want a new mind, I want a new heart, I want a new spirit, I want a new character, I want a new future, I want new power, I want a new song, I want a new testimony, I want everything that God says he has for me in his word.

I don't want to be sold short. I don't want to live in defeat when I'm promised victory because he said I would know the truth and the truth will make me free. Now the connotation of know is in the context of an intimate relationship as in with a husband and a wife.

This union where the two become one, you shall know, it's not head knowledge, it's a heart knowledge, it's a heart embracing of what the head knows as we read the word of God. You shall know, you shall embrace, the two of you shall become intertwined and shall become one as a husband does with his wife and a wife with her husband.

And the truth that you begin to embrace will make you free. It doesn't mean you'll be free in a day, folks. And a lot of people get discouraged when that doesn't happen. It's like coming home and your mom, for example, or your wife or whoever it is in the house has got something in a bowl and they're stirring it up and somebody says, well, what's mom doing?

And the person says, well, mom is making a cake. And then you say, well, why is the cake not made yet? It's not made because she's making the cake, there's a procedure involved in this. It just doesn't fall out of the box and you have a cake.

There's things that have to be added. There's heat that's got to be put to it. It's got to be put in a proper container. There's so many things that have to be done while the ingredients are there, but the ingredients have to be made into the final product.

And it's very much like that in the truth. When we know the truth, the truth will make you free. The truth will lead you into freedom. The truth will change your character. The truth, there'll be some stirring and there'll be some heat.

There'll be some things added that need to be added to your character, some things taken away that don't belong there anymore. But you shall embrace, you shall embrace the truth of God and the truth shall make you free.

So this is the promise of God to his people. Jesus said, the devil comes, the thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy. That's his mission on the earth, to steal your freedom, to kill your joy, and to destroy you, to destroy your family, to ultimately destroy you for eternity.

But I have come that you may have life and that you may have it more abundantly. And so this is the promise of God. The promise of God is freedom from the penalty and power of sin and the entrance by faith through the shed blood of Jesus Christ into this newness of life that is promised by God.

Now, you won't really, some people do but others don't know how much the devil really hates you until you set out on this quest to become the person that God desires you to be. You'll find yourself violently opposed and that's been the history of the people of God all throughout the ages.

You know, from the Garden of Eden to Egypt to the times and seasons where the enemies of God's own people that he set apart in the Old Testament and the Promised Land would constantly come to their borders, constantly surround their cities, constantly try to take away their freedom.

That's the battle that you and I will fight. We have an enemy that wants to take away our freedom, wants to take away our song, wants to take away our effectiveness because ultimately our enemy hates God and does not want his image to be ever portrayed or be made known through those that are created in his image on the earth.

He wants to mar that image. He wants to hide that image. He wants to oppress that image. I think about in the Old Testament in the book of First Samuel when the nation of Israel one more time found that the Philistine army, let's say the Philistines represent that which is outside the kingdom of God that is always attempting because don't forget this is a spiritual war we fight in this world, not a physical war.

We don't fight against flesh and blood. We fight against powers and principalities and forces of spiritual wickedness as the scripture says in high places. So one more time, the Philistine army gathers on this one side of this large valley and this giant comes out every morning and he says these words.

This is his time, you shall be our servants and you shall serve us. In other words, you are not as powerful as we are. Now he's challenging the armies of Israel to look at the size of their enemies, to look at the equipment their enemies have in comparison to what they naturally don't have and there's a taunt.

You're going to serve us because you can't defeat us and if you can defeat us, send somebody out. He says, Goliath says send somebody out and I'll fight with him and if he beats me, we will serve you.

But if we win, if I win, you will serve us and so that's the taunt. Now, God, one more time, comes into the picture and as the scripture tells us so clearly in the book of 1 Corinthians, he doesn't come in with the mighty or the noble, doesn't come in with an army, it's not a military general in a chariot with thousands of soldiers behind him.

It's a young boy bringing cheese and other things and cakes to his brothers who are in the army of Israel at the time. David doesn't know that he's the plan of God at this particular time to bring freedom in a sense that freedom is gonna fight back.

Freedom is gonna fight back against the taunting of the enemy at this time and one more time, God is going to bring somebody who has no ability in the natural to win this battle. Just like you and just like me.

Just like everybody that I read about on this tablet and I could read hundreds of them tonight that are in similar situations. We all recognize that the battle is too great for us. We don't have the natural strength to defeat our enemies.

We can't get out of the prisons of despair on our own. We can't bring healing into marriages that are falling apart because there's too much bad water under the bridge and every morning, every morning, the devil gets up and says, you will serve me.

You will serve me. You are not as strong as I am but David comes into the camp and something gets into the heart of this young man which needs to get into the hearts of God's people in this generation.

In 1 Samuel chapter 17, it tells us that he heard one morning the taunts of this giant and suddenly out of his mouth, he says, who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?

In other words, David was going to be what God used to fight back against those things that would try to take away freedom because in his heart, the honor of God was at stake. I want to say that again.

The honor of God was at stake. I pray that prayer consistently now for myself. I pray it for you. I pray it for others. I say, God, I prayed it tonight. Don't forget, Lord, your honor is at stake here.

Your honor because you are the one who died. You are the one who said it is finished. You are the one who defeated the power of the devil. You are the one who promised your people new, abundant, and eternal life.

You are the God of all power. You are the one who sits at the right hand of all authority. You are the one who said that you are the head, we are the church, and you are that indwelling power of God that fills all in all.

You are the one who said that every knee will bow and every tongue will confess one day that Jesus Christ is Lord. And so, God, I want to remind you tonight, as David said, the honor of God is at stake here.

Why doesn't anybody realize that? This is what David was saying, and his brothers were getting offended by him, telling him, who do you think you are? Go back home with those few sheep you have in the wilderness.

You're not trained to fight this kind of a war. We have been trained, but you're not trained. And David would say, then why is nobody fighting? Why are you sitting back? Why are you cowering? Why are you letting the enemies take away your freedom?

You've been promised freedom. You've been promised new life. You've been promised abundant life. So why are you letting this giant taunt you and causing you to draw back and taking away your freedom? Is there not a cause?

Is the honor of God not at stake? I want you to pray that when you pray. I want you to pray it when you pray when you're going through a struggle and a battle and say, God, I want to remind you, your honor is at stake here because your word says this.

You promised me this. This is written clearly in your word. So your honor is at stake here. I can't get out. I can't get out in my own strength, but you promised that you would come and get me. You promised that when I cried out, you would hear me.

You hurt the blind man on the side of the road. You touched the leper when there was no other way he could be healed. Your honor is at stake. And David said, is there not a cause? They told him to go home.

He said, why should I go home? What have I done that has offended you? Is there not a cause? There's gotta be something that gets into the heart of all of us that says, God, there's a cause here. The cause is much bigger than I can even understand.

But the one thing I do know is I can't let this loudmouth giant dominate my life. And I can't let it dominate the lives of my family and my friends and the armies of Israel. I need to do something about this.

God's Weaponry for Spiritual Warfare

The second thing is that freedom fights back with the weaponry that is provided by God. I love the scripture in 1 Corinthians chapter one. Let me just read it to you. 1 Corinthians chapter one, verses 23 to 27.

We preach Christ crucified to the Jews, a stumbling block, and to the Greeks, foolishness. But to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

For you see your calling, brethren, not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of this world to put to shame the wise. And God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty.

Goliath was so offended as David runs down into the valley. And he's just a boy, probably 13, 14 years old. He's skinny, he's got a shepherd's staff in his hand. And Goliath says, what am I, a dog? You've come to chase me with a stick?

He says, come on over here. He says, in other words, I'm gonna tear you to pieces and I'm gonna feed you to the birds and the beasts of the field. And the weaponry of God sometimes looks foolish. I mean, he's, Goliath was huge and he was armed from head to toe and he was a seasoned soldier.

And the scripture says the staff of his spear was like a weaver's beam. Some say that was about nine feet long, just his spear alone. You couldn't even get close to this guy, let alone fight him. And David had to pray and say, Lord, what would you have me do?

And where's my weaponry? And the Lord says, go down to the brook and pick up five pebbles out of the brook. You know, pebbles against swords. I mean, in the natural, it's ridiculous. You can just see, if David had been a carnal young man, he would have bent down to the brook and say, what a stupid battle plan this is.

Five pebbles against a nine foot giant with a nine foot sword or spear, who's a trained warrior. This is your battle plan? You see, this is why we have got to know again the word of God. To come back into, we've got to be realigned to understand that the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but they are mighty in God.

They are fashioned by God. They have been predetermined by God to give us strength that is not our own and victory that we can't get in any amount of our own ingenuity or strength. Those pebbles were fashioned in a stream, perhaps for thousands of years with water flowing over.

Maybe they started up jagged or much bigger, I don't know. But by the time David picked them up, they were just right for the job that was ahead of him. You know, we have been given weaponry by God. Behold, he said, I give you power to tread on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you.

The weaponry that we have has been formed for thousands and thousands of years by the hand of God, for the purposes of God, for the seasons we find ourselves living in, for the enemies that come against us.

I give you power. I give you the authority to tread on serpents and scorpions. Now, serpents are things that are sent to poison our minds, to poison our bodies. They're words that are spoken over our lives, wounds that have been inflicted upon us, substances that we're allowed to gain control of our bodies and our minds and our futures.

And scorpions are known for their infliction of pain in things that maybe we think are incurable, places of pain in our lives and that the enemy uses in his argument daily against us. But God says, I give you authority.

I give you power. We either believe that or we don't. It's time for the church to rise up again. It's time for the weak to become strong in their God. It's time to go down to the brook and get five stones one more time.

It's time to let the ridiculous weaponry of God, may I put it that way, come back into the fore one more time. We've spent too many decades arguing scripture. Spent too many decades trying to entertain people or trying to convince ourselves or trying to strengthen ourselves to win our battles and win our fights only to find out that we are now in a place where only God can get us out of where we are and into where we need to go.

Have faith in God, Jesus said. For truly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, be removed and be cast into the sea and shall not doubt in his heart but believes that the things he says will come to pass.

He will have whatever he says. Therefore I say to you, when you pray, whatever you ask for believing, you shall receive it. It's amazing. I think it's time to go back and pick these stones up again. I think it's time to go back and throw these stones into the minds of everything of darkness that believes that it can keep the people of God in bondage any longer.

Faith, Praise, and a Vision of Victory

And lastly, I wanna say that freedom fights back with faith, with praise and with vision of a victorious God-honoring future. Faith belongs to those who know we are more than conquerors who Christ loves us.

Faith, I often say it's like a team going into a game and the score is already on the board before the game even starts and we win. Before we even go into play, we win. Faith has that kind of vision. Faith walks, David, it says ran into the valley to face the giant.

He ran into what would be certain death if he did not have a spiritual mind, if he did not have a vision of the future, if his heart was not filled with praise. Now listen to the final words that David spoke before Goliath met his maker.

In 1 Samuel 17, verses 45 and onward. Suddenly the spirit of God comes upon him and he says to the Philistine, you come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel whom you have defied.

You come to me with everything this world can produce and everything hell can put into this devil's hand to come against my life and to come against the freedom that's been promised me of God. But I'm coming to you.

I don't have a sword, I don't have a javelin, I don't have military training, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel whom you have defied. In his name, I come against you.

The battle is not mine, David was saying, the battle belongs to God. He sent me here with my five little stones in my bag, my stick in my hand, and David was probably all of about maybe 110 pounds coming against this giant.

In the natural, it looked ridiculous, but a marvelous victory was about to be won. I think it's time to rediscover who we are in the body of Jesus Christ. I really do, with all my heart. It's time for the weak to rise up.

It's time for the nobodies and nothing to get back into the battle again. It's time to pick up our weaponry and stand up against every enemy that tries to take away our future and our freedom. He says, this day, now he's prophesying now, the spirit of God has come upon him.

He says, this day, the Lord will deliver you into my hand and I will strike you and I will take your head from you. He's prophesying now everything that's about to happen. And this day, I will give the carcasses of the camp of the Philistines to the birds of the air and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel.

Now, you have to understand, he's speaking on God's behalf in the first person at this point. It's not David, it's not giving the armies of the Philistines to the carcass, to the birds of the air and the wild beasts of the earth.

It's God now speaking through David. When he says, this day, I will give. It's not David doing it, it's God doing it. And David is now walking in unison with God. He's speaking what God is speaking. He has a vision of the presence and power of God that's now in his life.

Then all this assembly shall know that the Lord does not save with sword and spear, for the battle is the Lord's and he will give you into our hands. And so it was when the Philistine arose and came and drew near to meet David, that David hurried and ran toward the army to meet the Philistine.

And David put his hand in his bag, took out a stone and he slung it and struck the Philistine in his forehead. Some people say that was as deep as anything ever gotten into that man's head in his whole life.

So that the stone sank into his forehead and he fell on his face to the earth. It's time. It's time for freedom to fight back again. It's time for the weak, the nobodies, the nothings. It's time for you sitting at home tonight who you never believe that your life can amount to anything, but in God it can amount to so much more than you ever even believed was possible.

It's time now. We don't have a dozen tomorrows maybe. The time is now. You see, if David had not arisen to the battle at this particular time, I don't know if the armies of Israel had even a day or two left before they would be completely swallowed by this power of darkness that was before them.

But you see, God had a plan. And I don't want to offend you, but you are the plan of God. You are. You are the new Davids. You are the new Esthers. You are the new Deborahs. You are the new Mordecais.

You are the new battle plan of God for this last generation. By God's grace, you will rise up. David ran to the victory, towards the victory that God had promised him. And my question is, you know, you're gonna run one of two ways, right?

You're gonna run towards it or you're gonna run from it all of your life. I would rather run towards it, wouldn't you? I'd rather run into the middle of the battle. I think it's better to die in the battle than to live as a coward.

And he saw the victory before the battle even began. And you can have that tonight. I'm talking to people sitting at home. I'm talking to people, I've read your prayer request tonight. You don't see a reason to live and you're afraid of the past and you're afraid of the future.

I want to tell you something that you need to know tonight. The devil is afraid of you because he knows what happens when one person rises up. One person who says, I've had enough of this. I'm going with God.

Where he leads me, I'm gonna follow. And whatever battle he sets before me, I'm gonna believe that he's gonna win it for the honor of his name. For the honor of his name is at stake when a man or woman of faith rises up.

The Cross, Salvation, and a New Life in Christ

Tonight, do yourself a favor and admit you can't save yourself. Stop trying to get out of your situation on your own. Just admit that you need a savior. You know, something happened on that cross that was so powerful.

If you could have been standing there, the earth turned dark, the ground shook, graves opened. The veil of the temple was torn from the top to the bottom. Soldiers began to be afraid and terrified because God had come to get you.

God had destroyed the power of your enemies. He had erased the penalty and the separation that comes into every person's life because of sin. And all you have to do is believe that Jesus Christ died for you.

Invite him into your life as David was a type of. Just invite him to be the Lord of your life and say, God, this man tonight said that if I would abide in your word and your words abide in me, then I would know a truth that would set me free.

And so, Lord Jesus, I'm inviting you to come into my life tonight. And I am confessing you right now as my Lord and my Savior. I'm gonna ask you to pray this simple prayer with me and we're all gonna pray it here together in this sanctuary, just for the sake of those who need to pray it with us tonight online.

Lord Jesus Christ, I'm tired of running. I'm tired of living in fear. I'm weary of my enemies taunting me. By the grace of God, I'm getting up tonight and I'm going to go with God. Wherever he leads me, I will follow.

I begin tonight by opening my heart to you, Jesus. And I invite you into my life to be my Savior, the one who saves me from the penalty and power of sin. I want you to be the God of my life. I want you to govern my life.

I want you to lead my life. And I ask you to use me to make a difference so that others may know they too can be free. Help me never to back up, but by grace to always go forward. From this night onward, I am a child of God.

I am free from my sin. And Jesus Christ is my Savior. In Jesus' name, amen. If you prayed that prayer and you prayed it sincerely tonight with me, text the word decided to 51 ,000. Just go to your, just on your phone, just text decided to 51 ,000.

And somebody from Times Square Church will be in touch with you. Let us help you. That's the first thing you have to, this is your first journey of going down into that valley to face your giants. Let us encourage you and help you in your journey.

We're gonna share communion together in just a moment. We're gonna have one more song. This is your chance to get some juice and some bread so that we can celebrate this incredible victory together tonight.

I'll be right back in just a moment.