A Lion in a Pit on a Snowy Day — Carter Conlon

Well, I wanna just say thank you and God bless you for those who came out to pray tonight. I know this is a snowy night with freezing rain and we have all of the advice even that people have been told not to go out, not to drive, but here you are, you're just so faithful, I can't get over it sometimes, you know, that you come out to pray.

And I thank God for that with all my heart. It means you understand the depth of the fight that we're in now for this present culture that we're living in. This little section called thoughts on faith and prayer, I have only a small thought, but it's ironic that I woke up with it this morning.

David’s Mighty Men and the Cave of Adullam

God gave me this thought before I even heard of the weather report. And I wanna call it a lion in a pit on a snowy day. Now, in 1 Chronicles chapter 11, verse 10 says, it speaks about mighty men. I'm sure there were mighty women involved in this too as well.

People that went into a cave with David, the king, the soon to be king, when he was being pursued in a society that seemed to be against the anointing of God. And the scripture says that these people went into that place where David was and they were distressed, they were in debt and they were discontent.

A lot of people come to church like that. They come to church even to a meeting like this because you are distressed. You feel like all hell is against you. You are discontent and you're in debt. There's no doubt if you live in New York, you're probably in debt.

There's not much doubt about that. Credit card debt is mounting, the rent needs to be paid. And sometimes just in desperation, you say, I'm just going to where God is. I don't care if I gotta walk through rain and sleet and snow and I don't care if the subway shuts down, I can't get home.

I'm going to the house of God. That's exactly the way this people were feeling. We're going where the anointing is. And we don't care if the whole of society is pursuing us. We don't care if a madman is out to kill King David.

We're just going, we know the anointing, the spirit of God is on this man and in this place. So that's where we're going. You know, the scripture tells us that it's never the mighty that God chooses or the noble or the royal.

Once in a while one might sneak in, but generally speaking, it's the people who are weak and they're nothings, they're nobodies, they have no resume, but they know that without God, they have nothing and they are nothing.

And they come to where God is. And with a little bit of resource that they have, they say, Lord, would you take my life and would you give it meaning? And would you use me for something a little more than just hoveling about day to day, worried about my own situation, my own circumstance, my own family, my own life, my own future.

There's something more to life than this. And so these ordinary people went in where there was an extraordinary anointing of God. And I don't know what happened in that cave. I don't know. I know that when I get to heaven, if there's a video section, there's certain ones that I want to watch.

Number one, I want to see the cross. Number two, I want to see the day of Pentecost. Number three, I want to see this cave where David was. And I want to listen to the audio. What went on in that cave?

I know they went in distressed, in debt and discontent. They were wanting vengeance. Remember, they tried to get David to kill King Saul when the Lord brought him into the cave. But they came out of that cave as mad as hornets.

And they came out of there filled with fire for the glory of God, for the honor and for the souls of men. And something transpired in these people in that place. There was a shift, the old value system.

As the scripture says, if anyone is in Christ, he or she becomes a new creation. The old things pass away. Behold, all things become new. Something happened to that old way of thinking. In that cave, was it because of the worship of King David?

Was it because of the God focus of the words that they heard? Was there a willingness in their heart to let go of what had never satisfied and to grab hold of what could never fail? I don't know what fully happened in that cave, but I do know that history records they came out determined to honor God, determined to fight against darkness and determined that there would be a new king in town.

Praise be to God. I hope that's in your heart tonight. I hope it's in your heart to fight for the honor of God. I hope it's in your heart to fight for those who have no voice to fight for themselves. I hope it's in your heart to live outside of the concerns of your own life, in your own death, in your own trials.

And to say, God, there's a bigger reason to live than just for these things, because these things have never satisfied me. I sought them, but they left me high and dry. And so I'm willing tonight to exchange them in this old pursuit, in this old way of living for something that's much bigger than what I thought would bring me happiness in the past.

God Turns Weakness into Strength

And they strengthened themselves, the scripture tells us. And they came out of that cave. And they were the ones that God used to bring a new leadership to the nation at that time. God always has a church.

He always has a testimony. He always has a people who rise up out of mediocrity and become mighty. And I hope with all my heart, that's in your heart tonight. I hope after all the time you spend in this church, you finally learned that God can take me in my weakness and make me strong.

He can take me in my confusion and give me clarity of thought. He can open every prison door and set me free. He can take me in my weakness and make me mighty in his word and with the giftings of his spirit and in the victory that he won for me on the cross.

He can take me out of my self-focus and give me the ability to live for the sake of others. And he can take me out of my cowardice and put a love in me that gives me courage and causes me to fight. And the scripture goes through, this whole chapter goes through all of the exploits of all of these men of God, the phenomenal things they did.

I hope it stirs something in your heart tonight. I hope it stirs something because it stirs mine. I've had the privilege of seeing God do many things throughout the world for several years, but I'm just longing for more.

I feel like Caleb now. I'm getting older. Give me the mountain now. Give me the giants, oh God. Lord, that which only you can do. I know a lot of the elders here feel the same way in this church. We're getting older, but we're not giving up the fight yet.

By God's grace, we're not giving up the fight. And there's a lot of people that talk to you about the victories they won and how they took mountains, they took hills, they took valleys, but there's one particular man that has always intrigued me.

Benaiah Fights the Lion in the Pit

Verse 22 says, Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, the son of a valiant man from Kabziel, who had done many deeds. He killed two lion-like heroes of Moab. Now here's the lion. He also went down and killed a lion in the midst of a pit on a snowy day.

Now there's a lot in that one sentence. Number one, it was a lion. Now you gotta know what you're doing to fight a lion. You gotta know that God is with you. The lion is in a pit and it's a snowy day.

Now first of all, the lion is a devourer and he knew that. First of all, you gotta know who you're fighting. You gotta know your enemy. The devil walks about as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour.

There's gotta be something in your heart that as this man walked by, he looked down, this lion is in this pit, and he just knew he was a devourer. And I don't know what get in his heart, but he said, this thing is not gonna devour anybody on my watch.

I'm not letting him come out of there. I'm not letting him devour another child. I'm not letting him take another family. I'm not letting him destroy another life. The spirit of God is on me. I'm not gonna cower, I'm going after this lion.

Now the lion's already in a pit. A lot of people would say, well, just leave him there. He's already in a pit, just leave him there. But the scripture doesn't tell us who that lion already had in that pit with him.

I mean, there's a few details we're gonna see when we get to heaven. The lion was in a pit and it was a snowy day like today, which means it's slippery down there. And tells me something about this man, that he was more concerned about protecting those that this lion would devour than he was concerned about his own safety and security.

And there's a point in life where we've got to get more concerned about others than we are about ourselves. There's a point in life where we have to be willing to risk whatever God asks us to for the sake of somebody that will not have the strength that we have.

For the sake of a child that might fall down in there thinking that's just a pretty kitty that he can pet, not knowing that he's going to be devoured. For the sake of a family that will have no defense.

The Church’s Call to Sacrificial Courage

The willingness to risk it all. You see, we've been a church age in America that have largely lived for self and for comfort. We've not known the pain of other societies. For example, I remember back in the late 80s, when the authorities in Vietnam came and took all the children of the pastors away because they felt they were being falsely taught and they took them into government indoctrination schools.

And the pastors had to flee for their lives into the jungle. I had a friend who was involved in feeding many of those pastors in that place until the times and seasons passed away. And people who went into that jungle to feed these pastors had to risk their lives to do it because it was a penalty of death to even help them.

You see, we've not had to go through that yet. We've lived in relative ease and we've been able to open the scriptures and more or less focus on ourselves. Our lives, our grandeur, our self image, our homes, our colleges, our kids, our families.

We've even cultivated our own doctrines that really focus largely just on me, myself and I. But things are changing. It's a snowy day now in America. And there's a lion in the pit. And God is looking for men and women who fully understand what the fight is that we're facing today.

And are willing to give themselves, as the Bible says in Romans chapter 12, as a living sacrifice for the kingdom of God, which the scripture says is our reasonable service. It's not unreasonable. There's a lot of things that I would like to do with my life.

If I've got 15 more years to live, I'd be 80 if I survived 15 more years. A lot of things that I would like to do, but that's not what matters. It's what God asks me to do that now matters. And so tonight we represent the one who went to a cross, gave his life, endured a beating and ridicule to the shedding of the last drop of water and blood, even in his own heart, so that you and I could be here tonight.

We were in a pit and we were being devoured. And so the son of God came and he fought that fight on that cross so that we could be free. And he said, now, as my father has sent me, now I send you. Now we're not able to die on a cross for the sins of the world, because obviously we're not the son of God, but we're called to bring people out of darkness and into the light of Christ.

We're called to fight for those who have no voice, to fight for themselves. Called to fight for the children of this generation who are being indoctrinated in perversion in our schools. We're called to fight for those in our high schools who are being told there is no God and threatened if they even dare to pray.

We're called to fight for our college students who are being radicalized against both God and country in our colleges. We're called to fight for the unborn who are being slaughtered even to the point of coming out of the womb now.

It's not a day to be living for self. It's a day to fight a lion in a pit on a snowy day. I don't want this man in the scripture to be the only great man of God who dared do such a thing. I don't know what my battle is and I don't know what yours is going to be, but I know I can't walk by this devourer any longer.

I know that I have to do what God calls me to do. Now I've been given a national voice. I'm on radio, so please pray for me. Today, I went out on radio here in New York City calling this late term abortion bill murder on 1010 wins.

It is what it is and whatever price we have to pay, we pay. But we can't walk by and do nothing any longer. By the grace of God, I have confidence in you. I feel like David tonight giving a speech to these guys and girls before they left that cave.

Confidence in God’s Power to Use His People

I have confidence in you that you will trust in the spirit of God and knowing he can make you a thousand times more than you are. I have confidence in you that you will not back away from any roaring voice.

You'll not back away from any prison door. I've confidence in you that because of you, a new king will sit upon the throne and glory will be brought to God. Because of you, they'll be dancing in the streets again and rejoicing.

I have confidence in you that because of you, families will be saved from the devourer. I have confidence that because of you, the power of drugs will be destroyed in your neighborhood. I have confidence in you that you will lay hold of the power of God and you will believe God with all of your heart that God is well able to take me in my nothingness and become everything through me.

God is able to give me strength that I don't have. Courage that is not my own. Wisdom that is not in me apart from him. God is able. God is able. God is able. And for the sake of God, for the honor of the name of Christ, for the glory of the almighty God who created this universe, for the sake of the one who died on the cross for me and loves all of humanity, I will not walk by one more lion.

Praise be to God. I have confidence in you. I believe God for you. If I didn't, I'd go somewhere else and speak to some other people. But the Lord planted me here for your sake. I have confidence in you that you will rise up.

You will speak. You will be a voice. You will pray. You will take spiritual authority in your communities. You will believe that you have power to tread on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the devil and nothing shall by any means hurt you.

You will believe that you have authority to speak to this mountain and command it to be moved into the sea and it shall obey you. You will believe. You will go into that place where the anointing is and say, I'm not coming out until God, you are everything to me and through me.

Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Oh, folks, we got some mountains. We've got some mountains now, but we've got some mountain movers in this house tonight. We've got some people that are gonna take authority. I'm telling you, you might not be the strongest person in this sanctuary.

Maybe you're 89 years old. You're a grandmother or a great-grandmother, but I'm telling you, you can go in your prayer closet and hell will shake when you start to pray. You can break the power of evil.

You can break that dominant darkness that wants to destroy the children in your neighborhood. You have power in the name of Jesus. Praise be to God. We're not gonna lie down and lick our wounds any longer as the church of Jesus Christ.

We are gonna rise in this last generation and be a voice to be reckoned with in our society by the grace of almighty God. Let the lions roar. Let the giants shout all they want to. We are the church of the living God.

Glory to the name of Jesus. Glory, glory, glory to the name of Jesus. Glory. You start to pray and you watch what God will do. Start to pray. If you're a teacher, when you go into your school in the morning, take time to pray and watch what God will do.

If you're a hospital worker, take time to pray and watch what God will do. If you have a broom in your hand, take time to pray and watch what God will do. Watch what God will do through your life. Thank you, Lord.

Thank you, mighty God. Thank you, mighty God. Thank you, mighty God. Thank you, mighty God. Hallelujah. We have all the power that we need to be everything that God's called us to be. Thank you, Lord Jesus Christ.

Passing Beyond Mediocrity Through the Cross

I have lived this, all of my Christian life. We have all the power to be everything God has called us to be. And there's a point where you pass through the veil of unbelief and you believe it. There's a point where you say, enough living on the side of mediocrity.

I'm going to believe this. And as Paul said, if it costs me my freedom that somebody else might be free, then so be it. So be it. So be it. So be it. I'm not going to live to preserve myself by the grace of God and by the strength of God, because none of us could do this in our own strength.

And that's what the cross is all about.