======================================================================== I'M GOING WITH GOD by Carter Conlon ======================================================================== Summary: This sermon emphasizes the call to break through barriers and embrace God's power and mercy, highlighting the stories of individuals throughout history who chose to go with God despite their imperfections. The focus is on Acts chapter 3, where Peter and John, after past failures, demonstrate God's transformative power by healing a lame man. The message encourages listeners to step out in faith, overcome fear of failure, rejection, and unfamiliarity, and embrace the fullness of God's victory and glory in their lives. Topics: "Overcoming Barriers", "Embracing God's Power" Scripture References: Acts 3:1, Esther 4:14, Psalm 34:17, 1 Corinthians 1:27, James 4:7, 2 Corinthians 12:9, Isaiah 41:10, Romans 8:31, Ephesians 3:20, Hebrews 13:8 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ DESCRIPTION ------------------------------------------------------------------------ This sermon emphasizes the call to break through barriers and embrace God's power and mercy, highlighting the stories of individuals throughout history who chose to go with God despite their imperfections. The focus is on Acts chapter 3, where Peter and John, after past failures, demonstrate God's transformative power by healing a lame man. The message encourages listeners to step out in faith, overcome fear of failure, rejection, and unfamiliarity, and embrace the fullness of God's victory and glory in their lives. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CONTENT ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Worship team, praise God, praise God, praise God. I know at home tonight you're probably feeling a measure of what we are here lately at Times Square Church and in all of our campus churches. We're coming to you tonight from the Summit Community, Summit Campus Church, and we're feeling an amazing drawing, at least I am personally, of the Holy Spirit in a new way. And whenever God's done that in my life over the years, it means He's about to do something. It never has failed one time. And I trust that you're feeling that drawing, and I'm going to try to help you tonight to break through the barriers that life or experience or failure have placed in front of you, trying to convince you that somehow your life is not usable for the kingdom of God. Now, that is a lie. If the devil's speaking at you, that is a lie. Jesus Christ died to give you forgiveness. He died to give you a brand new life, and He died to give you the power of His Holy Spirit raising you up from the power of sin and death and weakness and bringing you into the power of His life being lived out inside of yours. I want to talk about that tonight. I want to talk about a few people throughout history that changed history by making a simple decision. The decision was this, I'm going with God. It wasn't that they were perfect. It wasn't that they were strong. It wasn't that they had not made mistakes along the way or the journey, but they felt in their heart this incredible mercy, this love, this drawing of God that enabled them to stand up and push back against darkness and bring others out of weakness and into the strength of Christ. So, I'll be speaking about that tonight from the book of Acts chapter 3. And then after we do this, then we're going to go to the communion table tonight. I'm going to give you an opportunity to pray and to open your heart to God. Then we're going to have communion together, and we're going to celebrate this incredible victory of God through His Son, Jesus Christ. So, you can get some crackers and some juice and such like at your home, if you will, and we would love to have you join with us all over the world to join with us in communion this evening. Now, Father, I thank You, God, with all my heart, Lord, for the anointing of Your Holy Spirit. I thank You for mercy. I thank You, Lord, that You have a divine time for everything You do in this earth and everything that You appoint to do through each of our lives. Thank You, Lord, that many times if You're going to use the people, You'll bring us down to feeling a sense of nothingness in and of ourselves so that You can become our healer, our life. You can become the life source that flows through each of us. And God, it's You, Lord, that people will see in us, not ourselves representing You, but You representing Yourself through us. So, Father, I thank You tonight for all that You're going to do. Thank You, Lord, that there are people that will rise up in their homes this evening, God, no matter where they are, in what circumstance, in whatever country, people will rise up. People will stand up in their heart tonight and say, I am going with God. Lord, this is Your plan for this last hour of time that we live in. This is our hope for this generation. This is You, Lord. And God, we thank You and we praise You for it in Jesus' name. Acts chapter 3. I was very stirred to turn to this passage after listening to a passage, a message from Pastor Pavel Mofty last Sunday here at the Summit Campus Church, and also from listening twice to Pastor Tim Delina from Times Square Church, the main church in New York City. It seems that we're all saying the same thing. Everyone's moving in the same direction. God is about to do something. It's new, but it's also old. He never does anything that He hasn't done before. May I put it that way? He just does the same thing with a new group of people, and we are brought off of the pages of just learning about God to actually walking with God and letting Christ do what only He can do through each of our lives. Acts chapter 3, beginning at verse 1, says, Now Peter and John went up together to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour. And a certain man, lame from his mother's womb, was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple, which is called Beautiful, to ask alms from those who entered the temple. Who seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, asked for alms. And fixing his eyes on him with John, Peter said, Look at us. So he gave them his attention, expecting to receive something from them. Then Peter said, Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk. And he took him by the right hand and lifted him up, and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. So he leaping up stood and walked and entered the temple with them, walking, leaping, and praising God. And all the people saw him walking and praising God. Now this is just the story of two men who decided to leave their past failures behind and go forward with God. It's no deeper than that. They had walked with Christ, as many have tried to do who are listening to my voice. Maybe some of you have tried to be a good person. You've tried to live for God. You've tried to do right. And just like John and Peter, John declared his love and loyalty to Jesus Christ, the Son of God. But when push came to shove in the Garden of Gethsemane, the Scripture says he fled away naked. He ran. Somebody grabbed his robe and he just left it behind and took off running. And I know some people may feel like that tonight. You know, I wasn't there. God was there for me, but I wasn't there for God when He needed me. I made this profession of bravado. I was going to stand. I was going to speak His name, but I cowered and I fled at the very time that I was needed the most for Him and for His kingdom's sake. And then Peter did something that under the Old Testament law would be virtually unpardonable. Peter had cursed with an oath and said, I don't know this man. And you know, when you brought yourself under an oath in the Old Testament, you were virtually bound by that oath. I mean, only the blood of Christ could have delivered Peter from what had come out of his mouth. I mean, it was the denial of denials, really, of the Son of God. And yet, here are these same two men coming into the temple, not too long after these failures, might I add, at the time of prayer. They were coming into the temple to pray. They were men who knew that they had failed. They knew that their forgiveness was all through Jesus Christ. They knew that the present strength that they possessed was all about God living His life out inside of theirs. And theirs was a story that has been a story throughout history, throughout biblical history. It is a long history. Moses was called of God at a time when he was, in a sense, past age, and it already had failed. So he was a man who understood, like, I had a chance one time, but I lost my chance, and now I'm too old, in his opinion. Esther was called at a time to go with God when she felt unlovely and undesired. Gideon was called to go with God when he felt like he and his family were all living in compromise. David was called of God at a time when he felt perhaps too young, untrained in the ways of warfare, the way that others were. But every one of these persons had something in common. In their heart, they said, I'm going with God. I feel that way today. I'm 67 years of age. I could easily retire and live a very comfortable life, but I'm choosing not to. Pastor Teresa could retire and live a comfortable life, and she's choosing not to. Pastor Pavel is going to go with God. Pastor Nick is going with God. Pastor Tim Delina is going to go with God. I could name names of people all throughout the sanctuary here tonight that I have this confidence that we are, in our hearts, are all saying, yes, we recognize our struggles as Pastor Nick talked about this evening, but we're choosing to go with God. And it was these people who got up and went with God that changed history. It always seems to be, when we get to the place where we understand who we are without Christ, that he suddenly becomes everything that he is in us and through us. When Peter and John said to this man, look on us, they were not speaking about themselves. They were, in essence, saying, we want you to see the mercy of God. We want you to see the power of God. We want you to see Christ in us, the hope of glory. We want you to see something that God has done for us and is willing to do for you through us simply by his grace. They were not asking this poor beggar at this gate to somehow look at them as if they were something great in the kingdom of God. They knew what they were, and they knew they needed the mercy of God. Knowing that Jesus Christ does still today choose the weak. He chooses the foolish. He chooses the nothings and the nobodies. I've spoken on this hundreds of times. Knowing these things, what holds so many of us back today? Why are so many people sitting on their hands in the house of God? Why are we not going forward into this mountain in the sense of darkness that human need? Believing that just as happened with Peter and John, God will use us to raise somebody up and bring in another testimony of glory to the power that is found in Jesus Christ. I think some of the times that people are called and don't respond is because we fear failure. We all fear failure at times, don't we? We don't want to get up and do something and look like a fool when we start to do it. We fear rejection. I find that really ironic. People are going to spend eternity in hell crying out for mercy. We fear their rejection if we stand up for Jesus Christ. Many people are afraid to be unfamiliar. We gravitate to what's comfortable. We gravitate to where we have kind of found our sweet spot spiritually, may I call it that, where we just say this is nice. This is where God is for me. This is going to give my life some kind of meaning and purpose, and we don't want to rise up and move into something that we're not familiar with. And even worse, there are many, many in our generation that have settled for what I call a partial victory and semi-glory of God. It's a partial victory, and it's a semi-glory. You know, you see this gate at the temple was called beautiful. And you know, there's people that are going in the temple, and they're probably putting their coins in this poor man's hand who's been crippled from his mother's womb. He's 40 years old. He's over 40 years old, the scripture tells us. And a lot of people passing by into the house of God, as it was then, and into the time of prayer would say, oh, isn't this a beautiful temple? And isn't it beautiful that beggars feel welcomed here? Isn't it beautiful that people who are lame can sit at the door? And isn't it beautiful that we'll give them a nickel or a dime as we pass by into the house of God to pray? And I suppose it is a good thing. It is a good thing that people feel welcomed, at least in the proximity of the house of God. But the temple of God was for more than this. God's purpose in the earth was for more than to just throw coins at people who are suffering. The purpose of the church of Jesus Christ is not to just build beautiful temples filled with unhealed people. And this is what we have today, folks. I'm going to say it to you straight, because I get the prayer tablet every week, and I read the hundreds and hundreds of prayer requests coming in from all over the world from people who attend the house of God, who are unhealed, families that are broken, minds that are confused, bodies that are addicted and struggling, children that are wayward and straying. And I just happen to believe that if we choose to go with God, miracles are still possible in our generation. I believe that with all my heart. Where is somebody that says, I will go with God? I don't care what people say. When they said to this lame man, look upon us, and they said, silver and gold, we have none. You know, when you study that, it doesn't mean they were broke. What it means is that, technically it means, it's not biblical truth to say Peter and John had no money to buy bread or anything like that. They obviously had some resources. But the reality is, what they were saying to the man is, we don't have what you think you need. What you need is something else. And they said, in the name of Jesus of Nazareth, rise up and walk. Then they reached down, and they lifted him up. And the scripture says, they walked into the house of God together, and he was leaping and dancing and praising God. And he was holding on to them. A lot of times, we don't know the power of God in his house, because we don't want to be associated with the poor, and the struggling, and the lame, and the addicted, and the afflicted in our society. We want to walk in with our nice titles, and our clean clothes, and our beautiful Bibles. And we want to just fill the house with lame people, and just say, this is good enough. When God says, no, that's not the purpose of my house. That's not the testimony that brings glory to my name. By God's grace, I'm going with God. By God's grace, I want to challenge you tonight to go with God. I want to challenge you to get up and become everything God has called you to be. I challenge you not to be ashamed of the struggling, and the hungry, and the faint, and the confused, and even those who despise you, and despise what you stand for. Have the grace of God. Have that heart that says, God, would you literally just fill me with your Spirit, so that I can say to people, look upon me. But I'm not talking about myself anymore. I'm talking about the power of Christ that is within my life. I'm talking about the purpose of God that goes beyond my own dreams, and ambitions, and aspirations. I'm talking about a tenderness that comes from the heart of God Himself for His own creation. I'm talking about faith that only God can plant in the heart that says, it's not sufficient that in your house, your bride could be so beaten up, and so down, and so afflicted. Hallelujah. I don't care anymore if I look like a fool. None of that matters anymore. I want to see and know the presence of God for the sake of people. I want to see our children in this generation delivered from the hands and the voices of those that would poison them and confuse them. I want to see marriages healed in the nation. I want to see families put back together. I want to see drug addiction triumphed over. I want to see the house of God literally filled with people singing, and dancing, and praising God, because the Holy Spirit has come, and healing has come in the name of Jesus Christ. I feel that if I don't see a spiritual awakening in my lifetime, then my heart is going to break, is going to burst. I find myself praying every day, all day, throughout the day, whether I'm looking out the window, or I'm looking in my Bible, or I'm just drinking a coffee, I find myself praying for you, for you tonight, you sitting on your couch, you sitting in your car, you watching this on your cell phone, you who just simply don't believe that God loves you or can use your life. Well, I'm going to tell you tonight, as Peter and John said, look at me. I have no reason that I should even be standing here, no pedigree, no skills, no abilities, no righteousness. That means no virtue in my life. I was selfish to the core of my being. I was an angry man. I was a man who didn't care about anybody. I didn't even care about myself. I hated people at one time in my life, but here I am tonight saying to you, look at me. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, I stood up, I walked, I was set free from years of hell, and panic, and fear, and anger. And by the grace of God, I'm not ashamed to take your hand and lift you up. And we will walk together into the house of God in company. Praise be to God. Praise be to God. And so, my brother, my sister tonight, all it takes for you to escape your prison, all it takes for you to move from living outside to living inside the victory of Christ, that man had to have the courage to get up. I can reach through to you tonight on the internet, and I can figuratively grab your hand wherever you are, but you have to will to get up. And if you do, God will give you the strength, and God will do miracles in your life. God will do miracles in your home. And before you know it, you'll be in the temple dancing, and leaping, and praising God. Now, not everybody might like that, but I don't really care anymore. Some of us will. And we will glorify God with you. There's a lady in this campus church, and I told her, I said, this year, you're getting out of your wheelchair, and when you do, I'm going to jump, and run, and dance in the aisles with you. We're going to do a Jericho march in this church. I hope it's on a Tuesday night. It happens. I said, but this year, you are getting out of that wheelchair. This year, God is going to touch your life. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. I plead with you tonight, those that are listening, would you get up, and would you come into the house of God, and would you let God touch your life, give you a song, teach you how to dance in His presence, teach you how to shout and praise Him, because He's done something for you that only God can do. I want you to pray a simple prayer with me tonight, and it's a prayer where you simply admit that you need a Savior. For most that I'm talking to tonight, that's not hard. You say, oh, I got you on that one. I'm done. I can't save myself. I can't save my family. I can't stop drinking. I can't stop the thoughts in my mind. I can't stop the hatred of my own life. I don't see a way forward apart from God. But then after you admit that, then you simply have to believe that Jesus Christ came and died on a cross to pay the price for the wrong that you have done. He took your beating that you deserve for all you've done against the Holy God upon Himself. That's God. There's no other way He could display His love for you more profoundly than what His Son did on the cross 2,000 years ago. The Bible says He was so beaten that He wasn't even recognizable. His face, His body was so battered, so beaten. The nails through His wrists and through His feet into the cross, and the scars on His back. And He did it because He loves you. He did it because He wanted you to come back home to Him again. He doesn't want you sitting lame at the beautiful gate. He wants you in His house, among His people, dancing, leaping, and praising God. And He asks you to confess Him as Lord. Admit you need a Savior. Believe that Christ took your place on a cross. And simply confess Him with your mouth. Say, Jesus Christ, I'm going with you. You're my God, and for the rest of my life, I'm going with you. And I ask you, Lord God, to use my life in a way that brings glory to you and freedom to others. You see, the testimony of this man in the temple says everybody, everybody knew who it was. And the report of it started going all over the place. And I believe there's people listening tonight. The report of what God's going to do in your life is going to go through your family. It's going to go through your community to people who knew you and do know you. The report of what God has done in your life. And so, Father, tonight, before we pray this prayer, I'm asking you, I'm asking you for miracles tonight. Miracles, Lord. Nothing short of the miraculous in the lives of people all over the world, God, especially in this time when you are coming soon again. I'm asking, God, that you would set free the oppressed, heal the wounded and hard, give sight to the blind. Give those who can't walk the power to get up and start walking with you. Put a new song in every heart. Fill people with your Holy Spirit. Let them speak with new tongues. God Almighty, do the work that only you can do. We cry out to you tonight, not in our strength, but in our weakness. Not having done it all right, but most likely haven't done a lot of things short of what they should be. But we do cry out to you because you're a God of mercy. We do cry out to you, Lord, because you deserve to be praised in the earth. We do cry out because you did die on a cross and you showed us your heart for all of humanity. We don't have to guess at it. We know your heart. And so, Lord, we're just asking you to do what you came to do. And do it through us, Lord. Do it through me tonight, God, frail vessel as I am just speaking your words, God. But your words are not bound by my frailty. We're asking you, Lord Jesus Christ, tonight to heal. We're asking you to save. We're asking you to fill with the Spirit. We're asking you to raise up evangelists. We're asking you, my God, to heal families. We're asking you to do things so powerful, so profound, that everyone around will know that you are a God of miracles. Lord, it's of no glory to you to come for an emaciated church. You are going to come for a bride that's prepared for you, Lord. God, thank you that your bride has always consisted of the weak and the struggling and the lame, the Peters and the Johns and the Moses and the Gideons and the Esters. Oh, God, people who have made huge mistakes in their life, but yet, Lord, you used them and you used us, God, for your glory, for your glory, Lord. So I'm going to ask everyone here to pray this prayer with me as well as everyone online. Pray it right from your heart tonight. Lord Jesus Christ, thank you for loving me. I need you. I can't change myself. I can't save myself. And I'm sorry that my sin put you on a cross, but I'm glad that you so loved me that you went there willingly. Tonight, I open my heart. Oh, Jesus Christ, son of God, come into my life and be my Lord and my Savior. I'll go with you. I'll go all the days of my life. You will be my Lord and my God. I open my heart to the healing that you want to bring into my life that only you can do. And in your name, I'm going to get up and I'm going to walk. In Jesus' name, amen. If you prayed that and you meant that, I want you to text the word decided to 51,000. Decided to 51,000. You see the number on the screen. And let us know at Times Square Church that you've decided to go with God, to walk with Jesus. And somebody will contact you. There'll be a series of videos sent to you, and we'll help you. Remember that the lame man was leaning on Peter and John, so lean on us for just a little while, okay? We'd like to help get you walking and get you going in God. We love you. See you in just a moment. We'll have communion together. Get all your elements ready, the bread and the juice. ======================================================================== Video: https://sermonindex2.b-cdn.net/TSGaxDRaOa0.mp4 Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/carter-conlon/im-going-with-god/ ========================================================================