Pray to Escape Your These — Carter Conlon

Thank you for those memories from the past and I know that I speak for everybody here tonight that we're just so thankful for the future too as well because Jesus Christ is already in the future. He's already got a plan and through the prophet, one of the Old Testament prophets, he said, I know the thoughts or the plans that I have for you, thoughts and plans for good and not for evil to bring you to an expected end.

So you and I, just like Star Chen who shared tonight, how could she ever have thought that getting COVID -19 and she was very, very sick because we were praying with her to the point of fearing for life.

How could she ever have thought that something as awful as that situation would bring about a bigger healing than COVID -19, a bigger ache in her heart, something that had been there since she was a little girl when her dad left and she didn't see him again from the age of nine to the age of 20 and longed all her life to hear those words, I love you.

What a healing that brought into her life. And so I want to encourage you, as the Bible says, all things do work together for good to those who love God and are called according to his purpose. Now, either you believe it's all things or you don't.

It has to be all things. God didn't say some things work together for good, it's all things. So if you will ask for the eyes of the spirit, there is something of God in everything that God allows into your life.

And there's always a reason. An older pastor told me years ago when I was a young minister, Carter, if God allows it into your life, there's a reason. So don't ask, what are you doing? Say, Lord, what is it that you're showing me?

God, help me to understand what you're teaching me. How are you building me? What are you putting into my life that is going to cause me to better understand you and to be a better representative of your kingdom?

Praying Beyond the “These” in Our Lives

Now, tonight, I want to pray or speak a word that's entitled being delivered or praying beyond your these, T-H-E-S-E. Everyone has a these in their life, so I'm gonna talk about praying beyond your these.

Father, thank you, Lord, for this few moments to encourage people to pray and to believe. God, I am doing the same thing in my life right now. I'm praying to get beyond the theses in my life and to get to this place, Lord, where, Lord, I love you so much that I can be used for the sake of your people in a deeper way.

Thank you, Lord, that your ways are not our ways and your thoughts are not our thoughts. They are higher than the heavens are from the earth. So God, give me the grace quick in my body and mind tonight to speak this to somebody and let it chart lives tonight on a different course, a course of power and glory for the name of Jesus.

And in Jesus' name, we ask this, amen. Now, this is a scripture I shared on Sunday morning from Philippians chapter two, beginning at verse five. I woke up on Sunday morning and the Lord began to speak something into my heart.

And he began to talk to me about a place that he wanted to take me that I hadn't even maybe fully considered. I suppose I had in some measure. We all do, but I'd never really fully considered what God was actually trying to speak to my heart.

But Sunday morning, it became real. You ever have those moments in the scripture where the pool just clears and all of a sudden, you've read this thing hundreds of times and you've never seen it this way?

That's why I know the word of God lives. That's why I know that God speaks through his word. It's as if you've been telling your child something over and over and over and over and over and then one day, they just suddenly get it.

You haven't really changed your words. It's just suddenly their understanding was open and they now understand in a deeper way what you've been trying to tell them. Let this mind, Philippians 2, five.

Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. This mind. In other words, let these thoughts become your thoughts. Remember, as his thoughts are higher than our thoughts, let these thoughts, let this way of thinking come into your mind.

Christ’s Humility and the Power of Servanthood

Who being in the form of God did not consider robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.

Therefore, God also has highly exalted him and given him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow of those in heaven and those on the earth and those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

We had a prayer request come in tonight from Bethpage, New York, and it's Josephine. And here's what she said. I was delivering food to the families of people who died with a note, the Lord is with you and so are we.

Now, this is what she was doing. This is what she felt God leading her to do, okay? It's real simple, delivering food to families of people who died with a note, the Lord is with you and so are we. She got a call from somebody in one of those families who because of her act of kindness was delivered from alcohol addiction.

And she finishes her prayer request, her praise report by saying, only Jesus could do this. That's an incredible thought. Now, I wanna go back. Now, keep that story in mind. We'll go back to Philippians now.

Jesus Christ is at the right hand of God. It just doesn't get any better than that, right? He is God, he's the son of God, he is God. He's the third person of the triune God. He's equal with God. There's nowhere to go beyond where he is.

If there were such a thing as a spiritual ladder, you can't go any higher than where he is. There's no rung above him. And you would think that in that place that the power of God in a sense would be fully realized there.

You know, a lot of people when we pray and we say, Lord, use me, we always get this vision of being used of God has to somehow take us to a high place. Maybe I'll put it this way, a place higher than we are.

There has to be something more than what we're given to do. Our thought is for God to use me, it's gotta be bigger crowds, gotta be better places, it's gotta be more attentive people, it's gotta be larger responses.

Everything in the natural, the way we think, has gotta be bigger and bigger and better and better. And somehow we think it brings glory to God. And it can, but it's not generally the way that God chooses to do things.

So he was already there and already at the pinnacle. Now, it was in the heart before the creation of the world to break the penalty and power of sin and to redeem humankind. That was in God's heart. The Bible tells us that Christ was foreordained to die for our sins even before the foundation of the world.

So that's in the heart of God, it's in the thinking of God. God's in the place of all power. So how now is that power of God about to be exercised? How is that power gonna be put into gear? May I put it that way?

How is the power of God gonna be taken to the place where the power of darkness is destroyed, the penalty of sin is forgiven, the power of sin is vanquished, the devil himself is destroyed, God retains or regathers his people and brings them home for all of eternity.

How is that going to happen? And so now we see the Son of God, and reasonably it could be argued that he could just do as the king did in Esther's day and just kind of move the scepter and forgive the whole world.

He was God. I mean, obviously he could do whatever he wants to do. He's God, he created everything. He makes all the rules. So he could actually redeem us any way that he chooses to. So how does he choose then to show his power?

He shows his power by making himself of no reputation. I don't know, I don't have a word for it when I see it. This is how he shows his power. He comes down to this world, and the Bible says that Isaiah has no form about him.

There's nothing about him. There's no comeliness. As a matter of fact, it's really saying he's not even good-looking in many regards. There's nothing that draws us to him whatsoever. He comes down in the form of an ordinary-looking man raised in an ordinary family, doing an ordinary job, but yet it's the power of God in motion to redeem the world.

It's just a picture that God's been giving, and it's like it's getting bigger and bigger and bigger in my heart literally every day. And not only does he come down and he makes himself of no reputation, but he takes on himself the form of a bondservant and comes in the likeness of man.

So he comes down not as a 10-foot bronze warrior in a chariot with flaming horses and everything else, which he could do, and cherubim and seraphim flying all around him and the hosts of heaven visible.

No, he comes down in the form of a servant and in the likeness of the people that he had come to redeem. You know, sometimes we try to make ourselves just a little too big and a little too bright and a little too visible, and we can actually unwittingly in our desire for a higher place lose the power of God.

It's an amazing thought when you begin to realize it. Now, in John chapter 21, Jesus Christ is now risen from the dead. He's gone to the cross. He's shed his blood. He's now risen from the dead. His disciples are gone fishing.

It's a tumultuous time. It's a difficult time to understand, but they've gone fishing. Now, they know he's risen from the dead. They're not fully sure of what that's going to mean in each one of their lives or how it's going to lead them to follow him.

They know they're called to follow, but they're not quite sure what that's going to look like, and so they fish all night. Of course, they catch nothing, and in the morning, Jesus Christ is standing on the shore, and he calls out to them, have you caught anything?

And they said no, and he tells them, of course, he says throw the net on the other side of the boat. They do it in obedience. They haul in this incredible haul of fish, and Peter, in his love for the Lord, because John says it's the Lord, and Peter just leaps out of the boat, swims to shore, and Jesus, now, what is the risen Christ doing?

He's gone to the cross. He's raised from the dead by the power of God. He can walk through doors. He can walk into rooms. He can appear in any form he wants to, and again, he just looks like an ordinary person because there was a measure of doubt just looking at him as to who it was.

The scripture bears witness to that. It says none of the disciples dared ask him who are you because inside they knew it was the Lord, although he looked to be, again, ordinary, and what is he doing? What is the risen Christ doing for people?

He's baking fish and biscuits. It's really that simple. While they're out fishing and while they're catching this final catch, I don't know how he did it. I suspect it wasn't much more than a clap of his hands, and there it was, but that's only what I think, but they come to shore.

He's got biscuits, and he's got fish on the fire, and he starts feeding them, and then he turns to Peter, and three times he asks the disciple, Peter, do you love me? Simon, Peter, Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me?

Loving Christ More Than “These”

Now, some interpreters get this so wrong. They say he asked him three times because Peter denied him three times. Now, that would make Jesus Christ so vindictive. Do you love me? Yes, okay, that's one.

You're forgiven for the first time. Do you love me? Yes, okay, you're forgiven for the second time. Do you love me? That's just a really shallow interpretation of this particular interaction that's about to happen because the first thing he says to Peter is Peter, now, keep in mind, okay, we're talking about the Christ who left the throne of heaven, made himself of no reputation, came down in the form of a servant.

Now, this is the Christ, okay, who said I'm sending you as the Father sent me. I'm asking you to follow me as I'm following the will of my Father. And he says, Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me more than these?

Now, the interesting thing is he never defines what the these is, and I think it's in purpose because every one of us have a these in our life. I don't know what the these, I don't know what the these is.

There's probably a lot of these's there. There's boats, there's nets, there's friends, there's fish, there's old ways of doing things, there's the sun, the moon, the stars, I don't know. There's the water that Peter obviously loved because he was raised as a fisherman.

And whatever, maybe it was an all-encompassing these. Do you love me more than these? In other words, is there something of this world that's got your heart? Is there something ahead of you? Is there something in your mind?

Is there something that you think is going to bring happiness to you apart from me and following me? Do you love me more than these? And Peter said, Lord, you know that I love you. And then he said, feed my lambs.

In other words, if these are not the most important thing to you, then there are children in my kingdom that I want you to look after. I want you to be given for the little ones who don't necessarily know how to give back and they need fathers and they need guidance and they need somebody just to rub the top of their head and say, I have faith in you, son, or my daughter, whatever it is.

You see, but if you are all consumed with the theses of your life, you're not even gonna see these little ones. Few years ago, I was in Kenya. I had an interaction with a little girl that just changed my perspective on some things, a lot of things, actually.

I was visiting this park in Kenya. And there was a little girl there with a group of kids. She was probably about five or six years old. And I kind of bent down on my hunches and I started talking to her.

And I said, so what's your name and where are you from? And do you love the Lord? And I was just talking to her about stuff. And she looks me right in the eye and she says, mister, she said, you have spiritual eyes.

And I said to her, what do you mean by that? She said, if you didn't have spiritual eyes, you wouldn't see me. Isn't that amazing? Out of the mouth of a babe, a child. Pastors get so busy. Spiritual leaders get so busy.

We got so much on the go. We got so many theses in our lives. We gotta fill these chairs. We gotta be on these cameras. There's just a lot of theses. And in all of our theses, we can actually forget the people and forget the lambs and forget the little ones.

And they can be just like little heads bobbing around, but we don't even see them unless we love them, we love Christ more than these. You see, he was offering Peter his heart. If you love me more than these, then you're gonna have my heart and you're gonna be able to see the things, the little ones that nobody else sees.

And he asked him again a second time, Simon said of Jonah, do you love me? That's the second time and it's so exasperating because I think he's asking Peter, can I speak to you? This is my impression for what it's worth.

Do you love me more than these? And the second thing is Peter, do you love me? Can I speak to you? Can I correct you when I need to? You remember, the Lord had to send the apostle Paul to correct Peter when he went into error in the book of Acts.

Do you love my word? Can you be corrected? Can you be straightened out when you start going on a crooked path? Do you love me? Do you love me? And Peter says, you know, Lord, I love you. And he says, tend my sheep then.

In other words, bring truth to my people. Walk in truth, Peter, and bring truth to my people because it's only the truth that will set them free. It's only the truth that will keep you in freedom and it's only the truth that will set them free.

And then he says to him, Simon, the third time, son of Jonah, do you love me? Now this is the one that I really love, of the three times he asks him because now Peter's now looking at an ordinary looking man.

He's resurrected from the grave. He's gone to the cross. He's won this great victory. Remember, he came down as a servant, made himself of no reputation, humbled himself and became obedient, left the throne and before his death, washed his disciples' feet.

This is the Christ now who's talking to Peter. And he says to Peter directly, do you love me? And this is the way I interpret this third question. Do you love the man you're looking at? Do you love the image of God?

The Ordinariness of God and the Display of His Power

I have not come to you as the resurrected Christ. I've not come to you at 10 feet tall. I've not come to you glowing. I've not come to you in any form or fashion that would cause you to be drawn to me.

I've come to you as an ordinary man. I've come to you feeding you in your hunger. I've come to you helping you in your confusion. And I've come to you in ordinariness. And I believe the question to Peter was, do you love the ordinariness of God?

You see, a lot of people have this idea that somehow to be used of God, they have to become almost like hyper-spiritual. They have to get to a place of understanding and speaking in a way that nobody can understand them.

Every time they wave their hand, they fall over. And just, if you can get this,.

If you can ever learn, and I learned to be content to be a servant, the power of God, God starts doing miracles through our lives. We don't have to worry about trying to make it look like a miracle's gonna happen.

We don't have to shake our hand and pretend the power of God is on us and all the rest of that stuff. We just take groceries to a hungry family and we say to them, as Josephine did, the Lord is with you and so are we.

And with that simple note, wasn't even a statement, the simple note, probably a knock on the door, leave a box of groceries. An alcoholic opens the door, brings it in the house, and the power of God sets him free.

Hallelujah. Oh God, thank you for pulling the plug on all of the stuff we do in your name. I just got this inner joy in me now that it's just bubbling over because I feel like the hand of God has reached down and just pulled the plug on his church in the Western world and turned off all the lights and all the waterfalls behind us and everything else that we do to make everybody think that, you know, whatever we want them to think.

And then suddenly, we're down to the place of saying, whoa, do I look like what God looks like? And if I do, am I willing to walk in the path that God lays out for me? Am I willing to be ordinary? And in the ordinariness of my life, am I willing to believe that the power of God will start flowing in ways that, you know, Josephine didn't even know when she walked away that an alcoholic was about to be set free by a simple act of kindness through a servant.

Peter, Peter, do you love me more than these? Peter, do you love me? Can I speak to you? Peter, do you love me? Are you offended at the image of the risen Christ? Are you offended at the ordinariness of God?

Are you offended that I choose, that I choose to display my power through servants and not kings? You see, I told you, Jesus would say today, if he was standing here, that the greatest among you would be the servant of all.

Did you believe it? And do you love it? And do you desire it? And I don't know about you tonight, but I wanna get past every these in my life. I don't know, I don't know how many theses I've got. God knows, but I feel, I feel he's got me by the hand.

I honestly do. And he's leading me into something that's producing this joy in my heart that I can't even begin to explain. The simplicity, the simplicity of knocking on my neighbor's door maybe and say, hey, you guys doing okay?

Anything I can get for you? I'm going to the store, can I get you some bread? Can I get you something? Can I, anything you need? The simplicity of being a servant, the simplicity of walking in the footsteps of my master and realizing that the way to the power of God is not up, it's down.

If that can get deep into your heart, you'd be amazed what God will be able to do for you. I am believing that in Times Square Church, as Pastor Tim Delina and I choose to serve each other and choose to serve the people of God, that there's going to be a release of God's power.

We are now in 208 countries throughout the world in this prayer meeting. I don't know how many of thousands of people that that means are listening right now online all over the world. Some of you, it's the middle of the night.

I know that there's pastors in Lithuania that get up in your pajamas with hot chocolate and you're part of this prayer meeting. I know there's girls in Kenya, it's two in the morning for you and you're praying with us right now.

I know there's people all over the world and I am believing that as we choose to be servants one to another and to the people around us, as we are willing to get off whatever throne that we happen to be on and lay aside whatever these is in our lives and just love Jesus Christ and love his word and love his work and love his calling and love just the fact if all we're given is a basin and a towel, that's good enough and we've got to believe the power of God is gonna flow through that.

We have to believe that because the ways of God are not our ways. The thoughts of God are not our thoughts. As the heavens are higher than the earth so the ways of God and the thoughts of God are higher than our ways and I am believing with all of my heart that as we serve one another in this church in New York City, that God can take this little lunch as he did with the little boy's lunch and he can cause it to just literally an explosion that can feed people in thousands of places.

I believe that with all of my heart. I am being led of God and Pastor Tim is being led of God into a lower place than we've ever known before. The ways of the world are to go higher. You keep climbing, you get more influence, you get a bigger name, you get more things that are attributed to you.

That's the way the world does stuff and then when you get to the top, you just kick everybody down on the ladder that tries to even get close. That's the secular way of thinking. That's the lost man's.

As a matter of fact, that's what Satan tried to do before he came into the Garden of Eden. He tried to be as God is, tried to elevate himself and Jesus, that was his way to power. Jesus showed him the way to power is exactly the opposite to what Satan did.

He was unwilling to serve. He was unwilling to be ordinary. He was unwilling to trust and believe that what he'd been given to do of God was sufficient for him and so,.