Welcome to From the Pulpit.
Each week we bring you a different message
from some of history's greatest speakers in the
Christian faith and powerful sermons from modern preachers
too.
This week we have Carter Collin with his
message A Short Path to the Coming Storm.
A word that I believe that the Lord
has given me for this time of fasting
and prayer that we are entering into as
a church.
We're praying for the future of Times Square
Church.
We're praying for the testimony of this church.
We're praying that, as I said earlier last
week, God told Pastor David Wilkerson when this
church was founded in 1987 that it was
founded by God to be a lighthouse in
the coming storm.
The storm is here and it is really
time for us to polish the windows, to
make sure the light is strong, to check
every part of this lighthouse.
That's why the Lord is asking us to
let him deal with the small issues of
character.
Not things that will take us away from
heaven, but things that will cause our testimony
to be dull in this generation.
And he's asking us, all of us, all
the leadership, everyone.
And I do believe because this is a
sovereign moment, there really is no escaping this.
You're suddenly aware, if you're a sensitive Christian,
you're suddenly aware of issues in your character
that you're just so used to being there.
You've never really seen anything wrong with them,
other than they're a smudge on the window
of the lighthouse.
And the hand of God has come with
a cloth of cleansing and saying, let me
just clean that.
It's not affecting your eternal destiny, but it
is affecting the testimony of the life of
God through us.
And as I said earlier, I've been chasing
foxes all week, to the point where I
just, last night, laid down in bed and
said, Lord, God, catch the foxes for me.
And he's going to be faithful to do
that.
It's just the little things in your character,
little things that hinder him.
Today, I want to talk about a sure
path through the coming storm.
Matthew chapter 26.
Now, Father, I thank you, God, for the
anointing of your Holy Spirit.
God, I praise you for your presence.
I thank you, Lord, that you've allowed us
to be born into this world at this
time.
And you brought us here to this house
for this testimony for this season.
Help us, God.
Lord, we acknowledge we need your power, for
there is no light without your power.
There's no testimony.
There's nothing without you, Lord.
There's just a bunch of noise in a
building calling itself the church.
Without you, Lord, we don't really have the
power we need.
But we do ask you, Almighty God, to
shake the place where we are, as you
did for your early church.
And come upon us with power.
Give us boldness to speak your word.
And through us, stretch out your hand to
heal this sin-sick generation we live in.
Let the light of Christ so shine that
people will see it from miles away.
And walk towards the light that offers life
and strength and eternity.
God, help us now.
Help me this morning.
Lord Jesus, help us to reach the full
potential of what our lives are called to
be.
Not what we think they should be, but
what you've called them to be.
There's a huge difference.
I pray, Lord God, for the courage to
go through every door.
I ask you for the courage to speak
every word you put upon our hearts.
I ask you, Lord, for the ability to
do everything you call us to do.
Sing every song you call us to sing,
no matter where or under what circumstance.
Jesus, anoint your word.
If you don't anoint it, it's only just
an accumulation of more knowledge.
Even if it's good knowledge, it has no
power if you don't touch it and make
it live in our hearts.
God Almighty, let your word live in our
hearts.
Let your kingdom become our most prized possession.
Let your will be that which we embrace
more than life.
Help me, God.
Help me, Lord Jesus Christ, to fulfill your
call on my life.
Help me, God, not to draw back.
Help me, Lord Jesus Christ.
I pray in your precious name.
Amen.
It's your path through the coming storm.
Matthew chapter 26, beginning at verse 39.
And he went, this is Jesus, he went
a little farther and fell on his face
and prayed, saying, oh my father, if it
be possible, let this cup pass from me.
Nevertheless, not as I will, but as you
will.
Then he came to the disciples and found
them sleeping and said to Peter, what could
you not watch with me one hour?
Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation.
The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh
is weak.
And again, the second time he went away
and prayed, saying, oh my father, if this
cup cannot pass away from me unless I
drink it, your will be done.
And he came and found them asleep again,
for their eyes were heavy.
So he left them and went away again
and prayed the third time, saying the same
words.
Now the author of the book of Hebrews
in chapter 4 and verses 15 and 16
says, we do not have a high priest
who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but he
was in all points tempted as we are,
yet without sin.
Let us therefore come boldly to the throne
of grace that we may obtain mercy and
find grace to help in time of need.
You know, we can we can grasp sometimes
this erroneous view that Jesus Christ never struggled
as we do.
We forget that he was not only fully
God, but he was fully man.
And the fact that he was touched, he's
touched with our weaknesses, and he's touched with
them because he also struggled with some of
these things that we struggle with.
And so he understands, because he was fully
man, what you and I fight.
And that's why the invitation is to come
boldly to the throne of grace.
When we pray this week, God says, come
boldly to the throne of grace.
I understand your weaknesses.
I understand your fears.
I understand your reluctance.
In Matthew 26 and 39, verse 39, he
said, not as I will, but as you
will.
Now it's an interesting thing.
Here's the Son of God.
He knows from birth that the purpose of
his life is to go to a cross.
That's never hidden from him.
He knows that.
He knows it from his youth.
And yet when it comes time, when the
actual moment comes, that the full expression of
God through his life is about to happen,
something of his human will starts fighting against
what he knows.
He goes into the garden and he says,
not as I want it to happen, not
as I will, but as you will, became
the essence of his prayer.
And I started thinking about this, and I
asked God this question.
I said, what was the will of Christ
that had to be overcome so that his
life, through his life, God might introduce to
us the salvation that God was willing to
offer humanity?
But there was something in the heart of
Jesus that he had to overcome, the human
side of him, which is common to all
of us.
So I simply asked the question, what was
it?
And here's what I feel in my heart
that the Lord has spoken to me.
Firstly, it was the will to have nothing
change.
Jesus had forever enjoyed a pattern of fellowship
with his Father, the Father whose will would
cause interruption to that pattern even though it
was only for a moment.
You ever had some moments in your life?
I've had them.
I said, oh God, I wish that would
never change.
You ever had, even just after a Sunday
service sometime or a Sunday night, you just,
you just jump it up and down, you're
so happy, and you just in your heart
say, oh God, I wish this would never
change.
Peter was like that.
When Jesus appeared with Moses and Elijah on
the top of the Mount of Transfiguration, he
wanted to build houses there, basically, dwellings.
He just never wanted to leave that place.
He wanted to stay there forever.
I understand that.
You understand that.
We all grasp for a place in life
that makes us feel happy and fulfilled.
We search for it.
We go to school for it.
We study for it.
We work for it.
This kind of elusive place that we're always
looking for on this earth that is going
to so satisfy us, that career, that recognition,
that whatever it is that we're looking for,
it's going to so satisfy us that we
will be able to more or less camp
there and never leave there.
And our life will be complete, and we'll
come to church, and we'll sing songs to
God, and we'll believe Him for our salvation,
and we'll be just so happy there.
Listen to the words of Proverbs chapter 8.
I'm going to read it to you from
verse 22 to 30, but think about Jesus
Christ.
Remember that He is God.
There's never a time He was without His
Father.
There's never a time the fellowship between He
and His Father and the Holy Spirit was
broken.
The Lord possessed me at the beginning of
His way, before His works of old.
I have been established from everlasting.
From the beginning, before there ever was an
earth, when there were no depths, I was
brought forth.
When there were no fountains abounding with water,
before the mountains were settled, before the hills
I was brought forth.
While as yet He had not made the
earth, or the fields, or the primal dust
of the world, when He prepared the heavens,
I was there.
When He drew a circle on the face
of the deep, when He established the clouds
above, when He strengthened the fountains of the
deep, when He assigned to the sea its
limits, so that the waters could not transgress
His command, when He marked out the foundations
of the earth, then I was beside Him
as a master craftsman.
I was daily His delight, rejoicing always before
Him.
Jesus spoke these very words.
John spoke these very words about Jesus Christ
in the beginning of his gospel, when he
said, in the beginning was the Word, and
the Word was with God, and the Word
was God.
He was in the beginning with God, all
things were made through Him, and without Him
nothing was made that was made.
He had enjoyed this eternal fellowship.
There was no beginning to it, it had
always been.
It was a delightful place, I have no
doubt.
It was a place of communion, it was
a place of intimacy, it was a place
of wonderment, it was a place that brings
satisfaction to the heart, that you and I
can't and won't fully understand until we get
to heaven one day, and we too become
partakers of it.
But even as a man on this earth,
Luke says in his gospel chapter 6 verse
12, it came to pass in those days,
and you'll see this frequently in the life
of Jesus, that he went out into the
mountain to pray, and he continued all night
in prayer to God.
The fellowship he'd always enjoyed, the wondrousness of
what that must mean to be one and
completely in union with God.
In our humanity we want nothing to change.
You and I want to find a place
where we feel the most secure, and we
want to feel happy, and we want to
stay there.
I often feel that way.
I feel that way every time my wife
comes home from the school.
I say, God, I don't want her to
go again.
I have to fight that.
It's within my power to tell her to
stay home, and she would.
But the God, the call of God involves
change.
The call of God leads on a journey
into the unknown, and often into the uncomfortable.
Many claim to love God, but will not
take this journey.
Paul said of a certain man in 2nd
Timothy chapter 4 verse 10, he said, Demas
has forsaken me, having loved this present world.
In other words, this man called Demas found
a place, and he was just simply unwilling
to let it go.
No matter where the plan of God was
leading him, or the call of God was
taking him, he just had a comfortable place,
and he fought that battle that everyone fights.
Why can't I have both?
Why can't I have this comfortable place, and
a relationship with God at the same time?
In measure, I suppose, Jesus was praying that.
Father, why does it have to be this
way?
Why does what the call that you placed
on my life have to involve this separation
from you, even though it's only for a
moment in time?
Why does this have to be?
Can't there be some other way this can
be done?
And that's a legitimate cry in your heart
and in mine.
God, is there not some other way this
can be done?
Does it have to be this lonely?
Does it have to be this painful?
The second thing that I'm convinced that Jesus
had to fight was the will to live
and preserve oneself.
It's the strongest inner planting of the DNA
of God in your life and in mine,
is the will to survive, the will to
live, the will to be preserved.
It's John chapter 12 verse 27.
I found this so interesting.
Jesus is teaching his disciples, and he's getting
close to the point where the cross is
going to come, and he says these words,
now my soul is troubled, and what shall
I say?
Father, save me from this hour, but for
this purpose I came to this hour.
So he knows this thing.
He knows the scripture.
He knows this is the purpose for his
life.
And he says, in a sense, in teaching
the people around him, what do you expect?
What am I supposed to say?
Father, save me from this hour.
But what did he say when he went
to Gethsemane?
He said, Father, save me from this hour.
He was in all points tempted like we
are.
He was tested like we are.
The knowledge of what to do often finds
the will to live to be its fiercest
enemy.
I know the Bible says, if any man
will be my disciple, let him deny himself
and take up his cross and follow me.
I know that.
I preach that.
But there are times in my life when
God tells me, take up the cross and
follow me.
And I find myself, even though I know
the truth, I find myself saying, is there
any other way this could happen?
And you do too.
You pray the same way that I do.
Or you put your fingers in yours like
they do in the schoolyard.
You go la la la la while you
pray.
I don't want to hear this.
I have a plan, you know, Lord, and
I'm asking you to help me to fulfill
this plan that I have for my life.
And this will to live, this will for
self-preservation can be our fiercest enemy.
The disciples were all, they all knew.
He made it clear he's going to the
cross.
He made it clear he's going to be
rejected.
He made it clear that on the third
day he's going to be raised from the
dead.
He didn't hide anything.
He said it all to them.
And then in bravado, they all said, we
will fight with you.
We will go all the way with you.
And all they were able to do is
cut off one ear and then run.
That's what the human spirit will do.
We'll come to church and we'll take out
our sword of the spirit and we'll cut
off an ear somewhere and then we'll flee.
And that's exactly what they did.
Matthew 26, 56 says that all the disciples
forsook him and fled because that that inner
will to live and preserve ourselves is is
arguably one of the strongest inner desires that
those of us who follow Christ will have
to overcome.
It's the fuel source of fear, that will
to live.
It causes us just as Peter did at
the fire.
Remember, Jesus is now taken into the place
where his his trial is about to begin,
where he's being examined, where he's been arrested,
where he seemingly is captivated.
And Peter still follows him, but he is
in the outer court as it is, warming
himself by a fire.
And it causes us to associate with Jesus,
but only from a self-preserving distance.
And when they asked him, do you know
this man, Jesus?
Peter says, no.
And he's actually telling in measure the truth.
In measure, he's actually speaking the truth.
He says, I know a Jesus that heals.
I know a Jesus that prospers.
I know a Jesus that blesses.
I know a Jesus that does miracles.
I know a Jesus that caused my heart
to burn with passion for his kingdom coming
to the earth.
I know this Jesus, but the Jesus that's
been captivated and being despised and is on
the road to suffering, I really don't know
that Jesus.
He was actually telling the truth.
And there's many people today who worship him
and they come to conferences.
They want to warm themselves by the fire
of God as it is, but they don't
want to go any closer to him than
a self-preserving distance.
I don't want to suffer.
I don't want to even think about what
you might have for my life.
I want you as healer.
I want you as provider.
I want you as husband.
I want you as father.
I want you as deliverer, but I don't
want you as the one who calls me
to follow you into suffering or rejection in
a dark time.
We're living in a dark time, my brother,
my sister.
We're living at a time in this society
when Christ is being rejected again.
And those who follow him, it's not going
to be a popular time to follow him.
I believe we'll have a season of awakening.
I believe we'll have a moment where many
are going to consider their eternity.
But the testimony of the word of God
tells us that there's a day coming that
the whole world is going to turn in
an unimaginable lawless rebellion against the ways of
God.
And it will not be popular to be
a follower of Christ.
The only way through these things is by
the power of God.
And part of our strength rests in a
God-given embracing of the real, true, and
lasting purpose of our lives.
It's coming to that point of saying, God,
what do you want my life to be?
Not what I think it should be, not
me trying to cram my agenda into your
kingdom and asking you to bless it, but
what do you want my life to be?
That's a fearful prayer to pray, because you
and I don't know where that's going to
lead us.
But I tell you what the source of
your strength will be.
Hebrews chapter 12 verse 2 says, who for
the joy that was set before him endured
the cross.
It was the joy of you and me
finding salvation through him that sent him to
a cross.
If we are living for ourselves, we're not
going to get through this.
But if we are living for others, if
we are willing to live, that men and
women may come to that saving knowledge of
Jesus Christ.
If we are willing to be poured out
that others may drink, if we are willing
to be broken that others may be made
whole, if we're willing even to lose our
freedom that others may gain theirs.
Then there's a joy, there's a strength that
comes only from God.
Paul said in Philippians chapter 4 verse 1,
therefore my beloved, my longed for brethren, my
joy and my crown.
That's what gave this man such incredible strength.
It wasn't about him, it wasn't about preserving
himself, it wasn't about his own agenda.
When he came to Christ he let all
that go.
He let it go by the power of
God.
It was about you, it was about me,
it was about others.
Paul had a vision of the divine purpose
of his life and it centered around the
work of God and bringing home the lost.
That is the work of God, bringing home
the lost.
Everything else is going to perish folks, everything
else is going to be gone.
There will be no Wall Street soon, there
there will be no towers in New York
City.
Everything, even the heavens are going to be
folded together one day as a scroll and
all is going to be remade by the
hand of God.
All of this is going to be gone,
all our sandcastles are going to wash into
the oceans of time.
They're all going to be gone.
It comes down to the point of saying
in my heart, why do I want to
live?
What do I want my life to be?
How do I want my life to finish?
How do I want it to play out?
Do I want to warm myself with the
fire and say no, I'm not familiar with
that Jesus.
But let me tell you about the Jesus
I do know.
But I'm not familiar with that Jesus.
I'm not familiar with the Jesus that a
society, it was a darkened moment in history
when society was not in the mood for
him any longer.
They wanted him out of their culture.
We're living in a very real and similar
moment in this nation when there's a strong
push to eradicate the name of Jesus from
everything in this culture.
They're not in the mood for him and
they're not in the mood for his followers.
And so we have a choice.
Do we do we live in the past?
Do we do we hold to the Jesus
that perhaps we knew in our infancy in
those first years of walking with him?
Or do we embrace the Jesus that this
culture is rejecting and walk with him outside
of the city being willing to bear his
shame and to suffer his rejection?
We won't be able to do it if
our focus is not on people.
It's about fighting for the lost.
It's about fighting for people who fight against
their own salvation.
It's about standing as lights in the dark
in time for the sake of even people
who hate us that one day will be
drowning and looking for a safe harbor.
That's what it's all about.
If it's about me, I'm gonna run.
I'm not going into the garden.
I'm gonna I'm gonna pray that prayer.
Not my, not thy will Lord, but mine.
That will be my prayer.
That will be mine.
I'll run.
I will flee.
But if it's about other people, God will
give me the courage that I need.
God himself, I can come to that throne
boldly the scripture says.
I can come there because I have a
Savior who understands my struggle.
Because he went into a garden and he
himself, though knowing the purpose of his life,
said, Father, if it be possible, take this
from me.
He not only went in once, he went
in three times and prayed the same prayer.
And that's in measure, in great measure, why
I believe that he's touched with the feelings
of our weaknesses.
He understands why we struggle and how we
struggle.
But by the power of God's Holy Spirit
and by his willingness to do the will
of his Father, he walked through that valley
of the shadow of death.
He did it victoriously for the joy that
was set before him.
The Apostle Paul became a partaker of this
joy in yielding his life for the sake
of others.
God gave him joy in the storm.
In Acts chapter 27, as the ship is
going down, Paul standing on the deck of
that ship with a loaf of bread in
his hand giving thanks to God for the
privilege of his life being poured out as
a testimony of the reality of who God
is and the wonderfulness of God giving him
the 276 people that sailed with him on
that ship that they might have an opportunity
to receive Christ as Savior.
Paul had vision in darkness even though his
freedom was taken away momentarily and eventually at
the end of his life he ended up
in prison.
But he and Silas at the midnight hour
were able to sing.
They had vision in the darkness and you
and I are going to need vision in
the darkness my friend.
It's a dark hour we're living in and
everything can change in a moment of time
now.
God gave Paul clarity in confusion.
That's why he could say I'm convinced all
things work together for good to those who
love God and are the called according to
his purpose.
Yielding to the will of God took Jesus
to a cross, took Paul to a prison,
yet both of them finished their journey in
victory.
Both of them found a sure path through
the storm.
Father be possible let this cup pass from
me nevertheless not as I will but as
you will.
We do not have a high priest who
cannot sympathize with our weaknesses but was in
all points tempted as we are yet without
sin.
Let us therefore come boldly to the throne
of grace that we may obtain mercy and
find grace to help in time of need.
You see we don't have to play games.
We can come boldly and say God I
I don't have it in me to do
this.
I'm a coward.
I can't even handle it if I'm snickered
at at work.
I know what the truth is.
I know what the scripture says but I
can't do it.
But the writer of Hebrews says come boldly
to the throne of grace.
Come walking into that throne and openly openly
tell him the struggles in your heart and
that's what we're going to be doing this
week.
God I want to be a witness at
work but I can't.
I'm afraid.
I'm trying to preserve myself.
I'm scared that people are going to reject
me.
I want oh God to do your will
but deep inside I found a comfortable place
and I don't want anything to change.
I live my life to get out of
hardship and now I've found this comfortable place
and I don't want to leave there and
I have a deep inner sense that if
I if I pray that prayer if I
ask you what you would have me to
do you're going to take me to a
place that I really don't want to go.
And so it's safer for me just not
to pray it.
Safer for me just to come to church.
It's safer for me to warm myself by
the fire but I just so I can
keep you within visual distance but I really
don't have to stand beside you and I
really don't have to suffer the rejection that
you're suffering and endure the societal beating that's
about to come upon you.
No I can I can just stay at
a distance and warm myself every Sunday morning
and I can even come Tuesday night and
warm myself by the fire but I don't
have to go where you are.
Oh the it's the strength of the human
will and I do thank God that the
scripture reveals to us the human side of
Jesus that he struggled as well.
I always find it so humorous that his
first public miracle he was pushed he was
a son of God and he was pushed
into doing his first public miracle by his
mother.
Don't you love that about him?
There's a humanness there.
We always want and we always want to
see Jesus as if he walked through with
some kind of a an aura around him
where he never struggled.
No he was fully human keep that in
mind as well so he experienced our struggles
but it was the power of God that
of course he was that gave him the
ability to overcome this frailty of humanity but
he understands your struggle he understands my struggling
he knows why we're afraid to pray that
prayer he knows why that we're going into
a time of prayer and fasting this is
a dark hour the society is rejecting Christ
evils becoming good goods becoming evil it seems
like society is being turned upside down well
that's what it must have seemed like for
the people of that time.
I mean such an incredulous thing to have
had these miracles for this long happening in
their society and then suddenly there's this turning
and suddenly people are yelling crucify him crucify
him I can see how those that loved
him would have been so perplexed by this
saying are you insane this is everything we've
ever prayed for this is all we've ever
longed for this is our promise of provision
and strength and hope for the future and
you're calling calling for his crucifixion let us
come boldly and what are the things that
cross the strength of our own will number
one is just to be willing to say
what would you have me to do that's
a fearful prayer if you really don't want
the answer what would you have because most
everybody here you you have a plan most
everybody has a plan and the plans always
centered around self-preservation and now you remember
when Paul had his moment of meeting God
face-to-face the first thing he said
after that divine moment is what would you
have me to do what do you want
me to do I prayed that prayer when
I was a young Christian God what do
you want my to be you know I'm
so thankful he didn't show me the whole
thing I wouldn't be able to handle it
you know there's been mountaintops but there's been
deep valleys there's been lovely fellowship and deep
betrayal there's been good times there's been hard
times there's been times when I felt like
I'm breathing in the breath of God and
there's other times where I felt like I
couldn't breathe anymore it's not always been easy
but it was a prayer that I prayed
Lord what would you have me to do
what do you want my life to be
where do you want to take me what
how do you want to glorify your name
through my life and now after this long
long journey all these years have been 37
years or so now maybe longer and I've
come to this point now in life and
I find myself praying that same prayer again
what would you have me to do it's
so easy to settle in when you you
get to the pinnacle of ministry as it
is you get a public profile you you
arrive at a place that everybody looks and
says wow success success but success is not
in the things that we do success is
in the fact that we keep following him
right to the end what would you have
me to do I mean when you think
of it in the natural Paul has a
ministry people are being healed by handkerchiefs he's
working his tent making craftsmanship and he's sending
pieces of cloth that are left over and
people are touching them and getting healed he's
got a phenomenal ministry going but God calls
him to testify before Caesar an insane ruler
who thinks he's God and Paul sends him
there to testify that's the call in his
life what if he didn't have the courage
to pray it he wouldn't have undertaken the
journey he wouldn't have had the joy on
a sinking ship he wouldn't have been able
to endure the beatings and the rejection if
he had not prayed Lord what would you
have me to do what do you want
my life to be not my will but
thine not my plan but yours not my
future but the one you have outlined for
me you'd be amazed at what could happen
in this very sanctuary if if even 50
people prayed that person's surely the missionaries that
would be born the preachers that would rise
up the voices that would go into government
yeah I'm not kidding you God would take
you and take you on a journey that
you have no idea where it would lead
to but it starts with the prayer what
would you have me to do or just
to let go we need the strength to
let go of our own vision of happiness
and embrace the will of God for our
lives I had a vision of happiness I
was going to reach my late 50s I
get invitations all over the world to preach
in conferences I was going to spend more
time with my family I was going to
be there for my grandkids at all their
high school and grade school recitals and their
sports games and do some of the things
that I neglected to do when I was
young because I was too driven and then
suddenly I had it all planned had it
all mapped out I even I the longer
you think about it the more that you
paint this picture it's amazing how idyllic and
wonderful your life is going to be and
of course I'm still serving God until this
hand came out of the clouds one day
and said give me the final tithe of
your life give me your plan give me
your future give me what you think your
life should be we all get to the
point in life where we think hey I've
worked hard all my life I've personally have
worked since I'm 13 years old I've worked
hard for many many years and you get
to the point of thinking don't I get
to smell the roses for a little while
and God says eventually I would not hear
give me your future I didn't know it
would involve being separated from my wife as
she leads Summit International School of Ministry and
we're not separated we're just apart from each
other quite a bit almost 50% of
the time I didn't know that that wasn't
my plan for the future that wasn't how
I saw my life panning out and now
I feel that hand coming down deeper and
saying I want all of it I want
your brush and I want your canvas I
want all of it let go of your
own vision of happiness and what you think
your life should be and let me guide
you now or maybe we need to come
boldly to the throne of grace to ask
for the strength to do what we already
know he has told us it's that thought
that won't go away when you pray it
keeps coming back it may start with just
forgiving somebody may start with just a first
step into the unknown but you already know
because I don't know the plan for your
life and no one can tell you because
nobody but God and you know what that
plan is don't be running to some meeting
looking for some prophet to tell you because
they don't know you know and God knows
and sometimes it can be so preposterous it
doesn't it's just so out of the realm
of what you think your life should be
that it's it borders on ridiculous of God's
not in it remember one time I was
out for dinner with my wife in Canada
and I was still a police officer and
I was just delivered from fear and she
was off somewhere and I was standing in
the lobby and I was just looking out
the window and a plane went overhead and
the Lord spoke to my heart said much
of your life is going to be traveling
on airplanes telling people what I've done for
you I remember saying well if that's going
to happen it's sure going to be you
it's not going to be me I'd never
preached a sermon my whole life no ability
to stand before people no ability to testify
but the key is the key is there
was a willingness in my heart to say
if that's you God I'll go if it
is you I'll go and if it's not
I'm not going to try to make it
happen it's pointless I can't do this but
if it is you I'll go and I
would venture guess that everybody here there's you've
had a whisper of God into your heart
he's already spoken to you it's not a
secret to you you already know and in
this time of prayer and fasting for this
next three days let's go boldly that's the
cry of my heart let's go boldly to
the throne of grace let's walk into the
throne of grace let's go there let's just
speak honestly to God let's just let's just
ask him what would you have me to
do or if we know say God I
know but I'm so full of fear I'm
so reluctant to let go of what I
think my life should be my image my
canvas I've painted of my life I'm so
reluctant to let it go I've found a
comfortable place and I don't want to I
don't want to let it go and others
are gonna sound I live my life to
feel accepted and you're asking me to walk
into willful rejection you're asking me to be
a one who partakes of your sufferings and
and suffers the rejection of a society turning
away from you I don't know if I
want to do that and you can be
honest with God he himself was honest with
his father that's my point this morning he
went in three times it's not like he
didn't have the answer the first time or
the second time but he understands our struggles
he went in three times and said if
it's possible take this from me if it
can be done another way Oh God do
it another way but nevertheless not my will
but thine be done that was the key
that resolve in the heart that says I
want my life to play out a certain
way and I feel there must be a
way it can play out but if it
can't let me not be driven by my
own will let it be your well that
guides me Oh God help me in this
we're being called of the Lord to come
boldly there's never going to be an awakening
in this country if somebody doesn't come boldly
to the throne of grace religion as we
have known it is not going to do
it religion as it has been in America
over the last 30 years as leading this
country into the spiritual and moral poverty it's
in now there has to be an awakening
in the house of God it must start
with the people of God and I don't
know how many churches God is speaking to
but I know he's speaking to this one
I know he's calling us into something he's
speaking to my heart first and I wish
I could say it's easy I wish I
could say I just hop skip and jump
to do the will of God it's never
been easy for me it's always been a
fight I fought against God for six months
to even come into the ministry in the
first place even when I knew what he
was speaking I would say no I'm not
doing that but eventually he's merciful he's kind
the call of God doesn't go away the
gifts and callings are without repentance he doesn't
go away doesn't forget he says okay talk
to you again in six months see how
you feel then here's my
altar call what would you have me to
do and and folks he doesn't show us
the end we wouldn't be able to handle
it it starts with just the first step
what would you have me to do he'll
whisper something do this and you just walk
in obedience and then another door opens then
another one then another one and you don't
have to push them you don't have to
search for them you don't have to kick
them open you they open and suddenly they're
right before you and you just walk through
and you just keep walking through and you
just keep walking through what would you have
me to do it's not going to be
you're you're sitting at your office you're sitting
at a desk and he's not going to
say I want you to go to Africa
and preach to 500,000 people it's not
going to happen that way it doesn't go
from zero to a hundred it goes from
zero to one first step what would you
have me to do and you just start
obeying that then pray it again the next
day what would you have me to do
what would you have me to do not
my will but thine not me trying to
cram you into my program but you guiding
my steps all the rest of my life
if that's the cry of your heart today
to be willing to say what would you
have me to do give me the grace
to not be afraid of what that will
might mean you won't fail me you won't
forsake me God give me the strength to
do what I know you've already spoken because
it's against my will but nevertheless not my
will but yours be done now father I
thank you Lord for this moment in this
church I thank you for these men and
women that you've gathered the young people you've
gathered here in New York City at this
time I know in my heart we would
love an awakening in our generation but there
never can be one without the cooperation of
your people it must begin in the house
of God give us the grace give us
the strength Peter found it the rest of
the disciples found it help us to find
it give us the joy of living for
others help us to put away all the
things that hinder us and to be able
to say not my will but thine be
done in Jesus name we're going to stand
in just a moment and here in the
main sanctuary the annex at North Jersey and
those that are with us at from home
this morning the Lord put on your heart
just to pray that prayer with us with
me without not my will but thine be
done God show me what to do show
me the pathway of my life if that's
the cry of your heart as we stand
just come please join me at the front
of this auditorium and we'll pray together and
we're going to believe God we're going to
worship for a few moments then we'll pray
together let's all stand balcony go to either
exit in the main sanctuary to slip out
of where you are just come please just
come just come come with your struggles come
with your trials come with your fear come
with your questions just but just come and
let's honestly stand before God today Father we
know that it's only by your presence that
we can do the things that you've called
us to do it's only by your power
it's only by your life being lived within
us and so knowing that we're already covered
of our sin we simply come to you
Lord and say we are selfish we're so
focused we're fearful we don't know how in
ourselves to do these things Lord we live
in a society that just simply lives for
itself it's in the air around us we
need your power to break free of it
we need your power to be able to
be given for the purpose of your work
on the earth Lord we need your power
we can't do it it's it's hopeless no
amount of study can do this it doesn't
matter how many diplomas we have we can't
do this it has to be you it
has to be your power Jesus you understand
this and you told us to come boldly
so I come boldly I'm not ashamed I
can't do this without your power I'll never
make it to the end of what you
want for my life without you doing it
through me and so Lord we come in
our emptiness we come to your throne in
our bankruptcy we come Lord in our nothingness
and we ask you to be everything to
us we ask you to be our life
in our breath we ask you for the
authority God that you will plant within us
to make a difference in our generation we
ask you for the heart to care we
ask you God for the words to speak
we ask you for the hands that to
touch we ask you Lord God for the
feet that will bring your gospel to those
who need it the most we ask you
for the absence of fear that will be
cast away from us by the presence of
your love for fallen people God we ask
you for all of these things Lord and
we know you won't turn us aside you
won't say no to us and so we're
not afraid to come to you honestly we're
not afraid to come to you and just
tell you the way it is because you
already know anyway father we thank you Lord
and you'll give us the courage to say
what would you have me to do you
give us the courage to find your your
plan for each of our lives and you
give us the power that the glory could
be of you and not of man for
we will all know that only God could
have done this I ask you father to
have mercy on this city have mercy Lord
raise your people up God give us a
testimony that can't be denied with a hundred
and twenty people on day one of the
Spirit-filled church you turn three thousand people
to you day one how much more Lord
should that not be happening in our generation
with all our knowledge and all our study
and all the history we know but they
went to you in an upper room and
they went honestly and they went in as
failures and they came out with the power
of God and so Lord we ask you
for nothing less than the mightiest baptism of
the Holy Spirit we've ever known not for
our sakes but for their sakes for the
sake of the people outside the doors of
this church and in our communities our neighborhoods
for the sake of those that sit across
the table in our homes we ask for
the mightiest baptism we've ever known lead us
to your throne as we pray this week
Oh God lead us there and give us
the grace give us the strength to say
yes we thank you for it in Jesus
name you've been listening to from the pulpit
this week you heard Carter Colin with his
message a sure path to the coming storm
tune in next week for another powerful message
from God's Word on from the pulpit