It Is What God Says It Is! — Carter Conlon

God's Word Defines What Is Possible

My message this morning for you from the gospel of Luke chapter one, if you'll go there, it is what God says it is. It doesn't matter what you say it is. It is what God says it is. Now, Father, I just thank you with all of my heart for the touch of your Holy Spirit today, for the strength and the truth of your word.

I thank you, God, for speaking to our hearts at this time as your people, gathering us together in such a critical hour as the one that we're now living in. Lord, we need to hear from you. We need to grow in grace.

We need to understand the promises that you are speaking to each of our hearts. Give us the grace, Lord, to move from where we are to the place that you've called us to be. Every life, every heart, every person, everyone who's hearing the sound of my voice today, Lord, move us forward in you.

May it be said at the end of this service today that we are different from when we came in. Our eyes are open. We see something we didn't see before. Let that be our testimony. God, we thank you with all of our heart in Jesus' name.

Luke chapter one, it is what God says it is, beginning at verse five. There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judea, a certain priest named Zacharias of the division of Abijah. His wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth.

And they were both righteous before God, walking on all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless. But they had no child because Elizabeth was barren, and they were both well advanced in years.

And so it was that while he was serving as priest before God in the order of his division, according to the custom of the priesthood, his lot fell to burn incense when he went into the temple of the Lord.

And the whole multitude of the people was praying outside at the hour of incense. Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him standing on the right side of the altar of incense. And when Zacharias saw him, he was troubled, and fear fell upon him.

But the angel said to him, Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your prayer is heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John. And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth.

For he will be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink. He will also be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb, and he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God.

He will also go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.

And Zacharias said to the angel, How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is well advanced in years. And the angel answered and said to him, I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God, and was sent to speak to you and to bring you these good tidings.

But behold, you will be mute and not able to speak until the day these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their own time. Paul the Apostle says in the book of Ephesians, in chapter three, verses 20 and 21.

Now to him who was able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever.

Amen. To him who is able to do more in us because of the power of God inside of us than we ask or think. How long has it been since you thought about that verses of scripture? No matter what we're asking for, God is able to do more.

Sometimes when we think about the things that we're asking God to do, our thoughts are confined by certain borders. We believe that God will answer for a season at least. And we believe that the answer will look like a certain thing and it will manifest in a certain way.

But that's not what the Bible says. The Bible says when we ask him for something, he's able to do more, exceedingly more than all we've asked him for or thought he would do according to the power that's at work in us.

To him, Paul says, be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. May we be, Paul said, the people who allow God to bring his own name to glory and reputation in every generation.

By allowing him to do inside of us what he is determined to do, not what we think he should do, not according to our limitations of God when we pray, but according to God's ability to go far beyond the borders we might put around ourselves, the work of God, our future, something maybe we're hoping for or believing that God's going to do.

And I wonder sometimes, do we not recognize the answer to the prayer because we've so limited what God is able to do? And we don't recognize that God has answered our prayer, but in a much bigger way because his ways are not our ways.

His thoughts are not our thoughts. Remember when you pray, he's able to do exceedingly above all that you ask or think according to the working of his power that is inside of us. Now, we believe this.

We believe it. We're reading it. If I were to ask you to believe that, most everybody here would say, yes, we believe this until often and ironically, it comes to ourselves. I believe it for the person on my right.

I believe it for the person on my left. I believe it for pastors. I believe it for elders. I believe it for so-and-so. But for me, that's where it gets hard, isn't it? It gets hard to believe for me because we live with ourselves every day, all day.

We live with our thoughts. We have to look at ourselves in the mirror every morning. And we find it hard to believe that these words spoken by God through the apostle Paul could actually apply to us, that he could actually take us and make us far more than we think we could be and take us much farther than we think we could go and give us much, much more than we think that God is willing to give us.

We place limitations as it is on our prayers. Many of us find ourselves very much in the place of Zacharias and Elizabeth. The scripture tells us that they were righteous before God and they were walking as best as they knew how in the things that God had set before them.

And many could say that today. I know I'm righteous because I believe for my salvation through the shed blood of Jesus Christ. The Bible tells me that I am the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. And I'm not a hypocrite and not perfect, but I'm not a hypocrite.

God can speak to me. And as much as God is enabling me, I'm trying to walk in the ways of God. I'm trying to speak the truth. I'm trying to stay clean in my relationships. I'm trying to be trustworthy.

And you can point to a lot of things. None of us are perfect, but we're allowing God to to work out his nature and his character inside of us. So we're very much similar to this couple. We've walked with God in sincerity as they did.

We've kept serving even though some of our deepest desires have gone unanswered. That's where it gets hard sometimes. Where we come to the Lord and we're asking God for something that we think is reasonable.

We see it in his word. And we wonder, why has God not answered my prayer? He could answer my prayer. And in our hearts, we can actually begin to even somewhat accuse him. And we can say, Lord, you should have answered my prayer.

I saw it in your word and it was reasonable. It was the desire of my heart. And the worst case scenario is when God calls us to lead others. And yet we're deeply aware of our own emptiness and perhaps even disappointed and even grieved with God because of an empty area in our own heart, in our own life.

Something we saw clearly. You can just imagine, this man is serving God. His wife is serving God. He's serving with all his heart. He's a spiritual leader among the people of God at that time when he goes in to offer the incense.

Incense, of course, is a type of prayer. Outside of where he is, people are praying. The whole congregation is praying. And the incense he's offering is a type of the sweet aroma to God of that prayer.

But in other words, he's leading the prayer meeting. Let me put it that way. He's risen in the ranks of those who walk with God as you might be. You might have more influence that God's given you, maybe in your home, your family, your workplace, your community.

Maybe you lead a Bible study. You got involved in the church. You're in a ministry. And even though you're rising to some form of leadership, there's various levels and forms, yet there's still this inner emptiness in your own heart.

And that nagging question, God, why haven't you answered my prayer? Why didn't you do this when I asked you to do this? And then suddenly, in verse 11, it says, the angel of the Lord, a messenger of God, appears to him standing on the right side of the altar.

The right side represents the side of power, authority. That's where Christ rose. He sits at the right hand of all authority. The angel appears in that place of power, that place of God's authority. And when Zacharias saw him, he was troubled and fear fell upon him.

Maybe he was troubled because of his own thoughts. Maybe he had. I'm only suggesting, I'm only conjecturing. I don't know for sure, but maybe there was a grievance in his heart, even against God. And maybe he thought, well, the Lord's found me out now.

He sent a messenger down to me. And here I am offering up prayer. Here I am going, leading the prayer meeting or going through a prayer meeting. And I'm disappointed in God. I don't even know why I'm praying anymore.

And the angel comes to him with a message and says, do not be afraid for your prayer is heard. And your wife, Elizabeth will bear a son and you will call his name, John. I can just imagine because in verse 18, Zacharias says to the angel, how is this going to happen?

For I'm an old man and my wife is well-advanced in years. Are you talking to me about the prayer I prayed 40 years ago? When I was, you know, when I was maybe 30 years old and it was the desire of my heart and I was, Elizabeth and I were serving you with all of our heart.

And, but we, I had no son and I wanted to, I wanted a son to raise. I wanted a son to just hold my hand and maybe go down, walk through the streets or go to the park together. I wanted to be a father.

It was the deepest desire of my heart. And it was a reasonable request because your word tells me that you will not withhold the desires. If I delight myself in you, you said you wouldn't withhold the desires of my heart.

And this was the greatest desire of my heart and my wife, Elizabeth. And, but it's, but we prayed this a long time ago, Gabriel, in case you're on holidays or something and you weren't aware of it. This, this prayer was prayed 40 years ago and we've long given up.

We've long given up. We're, we're, we're now past the childbearing age in case it's escaped your attention. I'm an old man. He would say, and my wife is not able to have children. She wasn't able then and now she's really not able now.

We're both advanced and old in years. And it, it was a reasonable request, but it was denied. I wanted to be a father and now I'm old enough to be a grandfather. So why now? Why have you, why have you not answered?

These are all thoughts that could have gone through his heart and been going through his mind. Have you ever thought like that? God, I prayed sometimes years ago and I asked you to do something in my life and for my life.

And it's hard for me to even keep going to church. It's hard for me to even think about going to a prayer meeting because I don't really trust you're going to answer me. And this was the desire of my heart.

And it was not an unrighteous desire. And you know that God, but you didn't answer me. And now remember, we started with the scripture. God is able to do more than we ask or think. You're going to understand when we go through this story, that God was doing something way beyond what he had asked for.

He just wanted a son. That's all he wanted. A son to carry on in some of the family traditions, maybe to carry on his family name, maybe to give him a lineage and a future and grandchildren, all these things.

But God is able to do exceedingly above and beyond all we ask or think. When we pray for something, when we ask God for something, quite often he's got something much bigger in mind. In the answer he's sending to us, then we are able to understand.

Now the angel speaks this promise. He said, don't be afraid, Zacharias. Your prayer is heard and your wife, Elizabeth, will bear a son and you will call his name John. Now this is interesting. We'll get into this in just a moment.

And you will have joy and gladness and many will rejoice at his birth. He will be great in the sight of the Lord. He will drink neither wine nor strong drink. In other words, he will be separated unto God from his birth.

He'll be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb. And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord, their God. And he will also go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just and to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.

Now Zacharias wouldn't be ignorant of what the Lord was now saying through this angel. This was a promise that was made to the nation of Israel, a promise that was going to find its fulfillment at the coming of the Messiah, which was their entire hope.

And it also had a meaning for the last days. Let me just read to you from Malachi chapter four. Let me just share it with you. The last chapter of the Old Testament for behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven and all the proud and yes, all who do wickedly will be stubble.

In other words, there's going to be a trial hit this earth in the last days that is so severe. It's so powerful. It's so fearful that nobody will be able to stand. Nobody fear is going to grip every heart.

Just as Jesus told us in the book of Matthew, men's hearts will fail them for fear for the things that are coming upon the earth. And the day which is coming will burn them up, says the Lord of hosts that will lead them neither root nor branch.

In other words, the godless are going to lose their confidence that they have. Their man-made confidence is going to be taken away as this world begins to shake like it has never shaken before. Now listen to the promise to the people of God, but to you who fear my name, the son of righteousness will arise with healing in his wings and you will go out and grow fat like stall fed calves.

There will be a blessing and a prosperity of God, a spiritual prosperity come upon the people of God in the last days that only God himself can give at the appointed time. You will trample the wicked.

They will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day that I do this, says the Lord of hosts. There will be a spiritual authority. There'll be vision. There'll be power. There'll be grace given to the people of God in the last days of this world, as we know it, in the difficult times that you and I may face in the days ahead of us.

And just as Christ put his foot on the head of the serpent, God will restore his church. I believe with all my heart and give us power again over serpents and scorpions, over all the power of the enemy.

He will give us authority to cast down vain imaginations and thoughts that have exalted themselves above the knowledge of God. We will stand as heralds in a marketplace. We will be a city that's set upon a hill that cannot be hidden.

We'll be men and women with lamps that have oil, and we will be able to point multitudes to the coming bridegroom by the grace of our God. You and I, and the scripture bearers, witness all through the test of scripture.

We will not be found terrified in the streets. There'll be an empowerment of God comes into the heart. There'll be a boldness that only God, a boldness to stand, a boldness to believe, a boldness to pray, a boldness, giftings of God that could only come from heaven itself.

And Jesus himself promised that this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all nations, and then the end shall come. I thank God for that with all my heart. I see two things happening in Malachi chapter four.

I see a day of calamity coming into the world, but I see a people of God rising up out of the ashes and out of obscurity and out of weakness and coming into strength at a time at the appointed time of God.

This is the amazing thing about it. God has his times. God has his seasons. There's so many that are here today. You've been praying for strength. Oh God, give me strength to stand. Oh God, give me strength to speak.

Oh God, put your love in my heart. And you've been praying it for years, and seemingly the answer has not come the way you think it should come. Has it ever occurred to you? The answer has come, but it's in God's appointed time, and it's for a purpose deeper and richer than you could ever understand.

You didn't need it when you prayed it, but you're going to need it in the days ahead. You're going to need it more, and others around you are going to need the strength that only God can bring into your life.

God's Appointed Time for a Greater Answer

Now, this is where it would have stunned Zacharias to hear these words spoken. Remember the law of Moses, my servant, which I commanded him in Horeb for all Israel with the statutes and judgments. Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord, and he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the earth with a curse.

This is Gabriel. He's standing at the altar. He's speaking to Zacharias saying, you prayed for a son, and God's answered your prayer in his time, and he's giving you much more than a son. This man is the fulfillment of this scripture that was spoken by the prophet Malachi.

This son of yours is the one sent by God to be an ambassador for the coming king, to be a herald, to tell the people, turn from your wicked ways. Turn from trying to be righteous according to the works of the law.

Be baptized and put away your old works, for behold, the Messiah is coming. The one that's been promised of God is coming. The one that's going to tread down our enemies is coming. The one that is fulfillment of every promise that God ever made to his people and the earth is coming.

And John the Baptist, this wonderful son of Zacharias and Elizabeth was the one that God had held in check and waited for the appointed time to come out of the wilderness in the strength and power of almighty God to declare to the people of Israel, behold, your king.

Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. To warn the people, turn from everything that is causing you to fall short of God's intended purpose for your eternity. Be baptized, put away your own self-effort and turn and look at the Lamb of God who's going to take away the sins of the world.

This man had to be separated. He was told he's going to be separated from the time of his birth. He's going to stay away from wine and strong drink. There will be nothing that alters the word that God puts in his heart and sense from his lips and all the days of his life.

He's going to turn many of Israel to the Lord, their God. He's going to be the one that is used to tell people, prepare a highway for God to come and dwell among his people and in the hearts of those that are called to walk with him.

This is the promise of God to Zacharias. Now his response, he would not be ignorant of this scripture. He would not be ignorant of what God is speaking to him. His response is, how will I know this? In other words, how will this be accomplished by human effort?

Don't you know that it ceased with my wife to be after the time where she can bear children and I'm old and now you're telling me this promise is going to be fulfilled. Folks, don't fall into the trap of thinking somehow that God's power is relegated to your past.

It's not. He may have withheld the answer, the manifestation of the answer from you so that when the answer comes, first of all, it's at God's appointed time. And secondly, you will know that it's God and it's God alone.

Nobody else could be doing this in your life. In Psalm 78 verse 19, the scripture says, yes, they spoke against God. And they said, can God prepare a table in the wilderness? This was the people of God after all he had done for them.

And he was making promises, but they spoke against him. And they, they looked at the barrenness of their own hearts, the barrenness of their own profession. They look at the emptiness of their own strength.

This is exactly what Zacharias was doing when Gabriel was speaking to him. And he looked suddenly at himself. He looked suddenly at his wife. And he said, he said the same words, essentially again, how is it possible that God could do this?

And the response was a rebuke where the angel said, I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God. It, it was an offense in a sense to this angel that these, this man would speak these words. Everything that you have been promised is going to happen to you.

I'm telling you today, everything that you've been promised is going, is going to happen to you. God is not unrighteous. Those whispers that God has spoken into your heart, those verses of scripture that jumped off the page, as you studied the word of God, those things that you believed God for, because you felt the Holy Spirit strongly speaking it into your heart.

Yet today, it just seems so long ago, doesn't it? So long ago. And all it leaves is that nagging question, God, why haven't you answered my prayer? And why didn't you answer it the way I think you should have?

The Lord would say to you today, I didn't answer it your way. And in your time, because your vision was so small, I intended to do much more than you asked for. And you thought that I could do. And quite often in God's government, he has to wait until we know that there is no possibility we could do this in our own strength.

We know our own weakness. We know our own inability. We, no doubt Zacharias and Elizabeth spent a lot of time trying to have children and it just never happened. And when the time to have children passed, then Zacharias knew while we gave it our best try, but we were not able to have a child.

And do you ever notice that when we, the end of ourselves, I always say is the beginning of God, because it's not by might, it's not by power, it's not by human efforts, not by human strategy. It's by the Holy Spirit of almighty God.

It's by the presence of almighty God in our lives. It's by the one who says, I'll never fail you. I'll never forsake you. I'll never leave you. It's by the one who promises to give the Holy Spirit to those who ask.

It's by the one who says that you knock, you knock and the door will be open. You seek, you shall find. You ask and you're going to receive everyone that asks, receives, but he never once says that he's doing, he's going to do any of it on our timetable.

None of it. You think of Moses when he knows that he's called to deliver the children of Israel and he's young and he's 40 years old and he's, he's got a sword. He's got military training. He's got influence in Pharaoh's court and he probably feels vulnerable, not unvulnerable at this time.

He's got access to all kinds of things. And so he takes it upon himself to bring, to start the deliverance process as it is by killing one Egyptian and burying him in the sand only to be driven out of Egypt and into the wilderness for 40 years.

And 40 years later, when he no longer has a sword, he just has a stick. He no longer is young. He's now 80 years of age when he no longer, the promise was made to him. You remember the promise was given that he would deliver his people and he knew that's what the calling on his life was.

But God says, well, I'm just going to have to take you out of the way so that I can do the work that needs to be done through you. So you're, you're going to feel like I've forsaken you, but I've not forsaken you.

You're going to feel like your day has passed, but your day is not passed. You're going to feel like you've lost ability and power, but all you've lost is your ability and your power. You've lost none of my ability and none of my power.

And when I call you back with nothing more than a confidence in your heart and a stick in your hand, you're going to see the power of heaven operate through your life. You're going to watch Pharaoh have to let the children of Israel go.

And you're going to see the, the waters of the red sea part in two. And you're going to go through on dry land, not by might, not by power, but by my spirit says the because God is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or even think.

Do you believe that this morning in verse 19, he says, I am Gabriel who stands in the presence of God. And I was sent to speak to you and to bring you these glad tidings, but behold, you will be mute and not able to speak until the day these things take place because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their own time.

In other words, when unbelief gets into the heart, you lose your testimony. You lose your song. You lose your ability to see that into the future. You go into a season of pondering and silence. And that's where many of God's people are a season of, of pondering things, a season of wondering where has God been?

Why didn't he answer my prayer? The pastor of this church says that always tells us that God answers prayer. Have I got a hold of the right God? Why is my prayer not being answered? Why is it not unfolding the way that I think it should?

So you come to church, maybe even here this morning, you can barely lift your voice to worship, barely lift your hands in confidence to God. That's what happened to Zacharias. You will be mute until the day these things happen because God will not fail you.

God will not forsake you. God is not a man that he should lie. Every promise that God has given to you is yay and amen and will be fulfilled in its new season, in its proper time, not by our will, but by the will of almighty God, every promise that he's made to you will be fulfilled.

Every promise sit in silence. If you want, I'm telling you, every promise that God has made to you, he will fulfill in your life must've been tough for Zacharias. Elizabeth is six months pregnant. A miracle baby is in her womb.

Mary shows up. She's pregnant. The baby in Elizabeth's womb leaps for joy. Mary is prophesying. Elizabeth starts prophesying. Mary stays for months in Elizabeth and Zacharias's house, sitting at the table every day.

Can you imagine? Can you just imagine it? Oh, Elizabeth, Mary says to her, isn't that amazing? This angel called Gabriel appeared to me, the same Gabriel that appeared to Zacharias. And he spoke into my heart that I was going to have a child and this child was going to redeem Israel from all of her sins.

And Elizabeth, again, the baby leaps in her womb. Oh yes, yes. Gabriel came to you and here am I, a miracle child that God spoke into my heart is going to announce as it is the coming of your child. When your child reaches the proper age to come into the fullness of ministry, isn't this amazing?

What do you think, Zacharias? Zacharias, have you ever heard of an angel called Gabriel? Months, months, mute, unable to speak. Then John, this promised child is born. In Luke chapter one, beginning at verse 56, says, and Mary remained with her about three months and returned to her house.

Now Elizabeth's full time came for her to be delivered and she brought forth a son. When her neighbors and relatives heard how the Lord had shown great mercy to her, they rejoiced with her. Now remember, remember the promise that was given.

You will have great joy and gladness and many will rejoice at his birth. And here it is. Her neighbors and relatives heard the Lord had shown great mercy and they rejoiced with her. And so it was on the eighth day that they came to circumcise the child and they would have called him by the name of his father, Zacharias.

Of course, that was the tradition. You called your children after either your name or your father's name or your grandfather, but you kept the name. You kept that lineage. It had to be somebody in your family.

There was no such a thing as going outside of somebody's name in your family by tradition. His mother answered and said, no, he shall be called John. But they said to her, there's no one among your relatives who's called by this name.

So they made signs to his father, what he would have him called. And he asked for a writing tablet and he wrote saying his name is John. It is what God says it is. His name is John. So they all marveled.

And the moment he agrees with God says immediately his mouth was open and his tongue loose and he spoke praising God God immediately. As soon as he agreed with God, his name is John. I don't know. I don't care what other people in my family were called.

I don't even care what my name is. His name is what God says his name is. His name is John. His name is John. You see, this is when your tongue gets loosed again. This is where fear begins to fall upon your family and your acquaintances.

As it says here in the scripture, when you finally agree with God, your father was called drunk. You were called depressed. Your grandfather was called thief. I don't know what was in your family, but God calls you by a new name.

Do you understand that? You have a new name. You have a new nature. You have new strength. You have new power. You have a new future. Now God says, I want you to agree with me. I don't care how long it's taking.

I have given you a new nature. I've given you a new heart. I've given you a new mind. I've given you a new future. It's time to agree with me. It's time to agree with who I say you are and what your name is.

Hallelujah to the lamb of God. Glory, glory, glory, glory. You call yourself weak. I call you strong. You call yourself fearful. I call you evangelist. It's time. It's time to agree with me. It's time to take your slate out and say, this is what my name is.

This is what God says I am. I am not going to be silent. I'm not going to accuse God. I'm not going to believe that somehow he's not answered my prayer. He heard me and he's doing something that's exceedingly above and beyond all I can ask or think.

That's why Paul says now to him who's able to do exceedingly abundantly, exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the power that works in us, according to God's presence inside of our lives, according to his purpose for us, according to what he has ordained our lives to be and the season in which he has ordained that we should shine for his glory.

According to that power, to him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations forever and forever. Paul says to him, be glory by having one more generation after one more generation, after one more generation of people who rise up and say, God, no matter what I think, no matter how I feel, even if I feel that you've somehow forgotten me, it is what it says it is.

And I am who you say I am. Your promises are true. And God, you have reserved my life for a moment in history, a divine moment. And I am going to start being called by the name that you've given me. And father, I thank you with all my heart.

Agreeing With God's Promise and Calling

You promised in the book of Malachi that a people would rise up with healing in their wings. A people would grow and come out of the stall with joy, with a bounce in their step, with a purpose in their life.

You promised that you would have a people who would be able to tread down the plans and devices and thoughts of the wicked one. You promised Lord. And you promised that you would send a messenger to speak of that coming victory.

So I thank you today that John was the forerunner of Christ and Jesus, you won the victory. You took captivity captive and gave gifts unto men. But I thank you, Lord, you left the testimony of your word and the witness of your Holy Spirit that in every generation, a new people arise, a new people with new strength, a new testimony, new grace and new glory.