Carter Conlon | A Call to the Nation: Daily Summaries Delivered

Why Do We Fast When We Pray?

Prison Opening Prayer

It's Not Too Late To Build Your Foundation

New Covenant: Plain and Simple Part 1

The Covenant and the Sacrifice When a covenant was made in the Old Testament, a sacrifice was made. And generally the sacrifice was divided into two parts, and the two people making the covenant would walk through those parts.

Becoming a Prisoner

Waiting for the Moving of the Water

The Question That Changes Everything This man in John 5 — when Jesus saw him lying there and knew he had been there in that condition a long time, He said to him, "Do you want to be made well?"

Don’t Stop When Tears Start

Don't Stop When Tears Start Don't stop when tears start, because tears, sorrow, disappointments, and difficulties are part of the Christian life and part of the Christian journey. A lot of people start into this journey thinking that the presence of God means the absence of trouble, and that isn't true. Jesus Christ himself said, In this world you will have tribulation. You'll have difficulty, there will be trouble, but be of good cheer, for I have overcome this world. In other words, I have overcome this world's power to overcome you. When you opened your heart to Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit of God took up residence inside your physical body, and the Christ who won that victory on the cross — defeated the power of hell and darkness — lives inside of you now and will carry you to the finish line in this journey. You will be opposed, there will be difficulties along the way. For those who are in the middle of the journey, I remember those days so clearly in my life. I told my wife Teresa one time, I said, "I feel like if I wasn't sighing, I wouldn't be breathing." There was a season — a long season — where it was difficult. There are individual moments, but then there's a long season where long-suffering has got to come into your life, and God gives you the power. The Joy of First Salvation — Psalm 126:1–3 Psalm 126, we're going to start there, verses 1 to 3: When the Lord brought back the captivity of Zion, we were like those who dream. Then our mouth was filled with laughter and our tongue with singing. Then they said among the nations, "The Lord has done great things for them." The Lord has done great things for us, and we are glad. I remember those first days of salvation. I remember when I sat in church the first time and the person who led me to Christ shared the verse of Scripture that if anyone be in Christ, he is a new creation. The old things are passed away, and behold, all things have become new. I remember sitting and wondering, is that reality, or is that just a pipe dream? Can it actually happen? God, can you come and give me a future that I could never find in my own strength? No matter how much I would try, it would always escape me because I wasn't capable of fulfilling it. And then one day you begin to realize that you've been forgiven your sin, and the Holy Spirit has come and indwelt your human body. It's like a dream. Life begins to change line upon line, precept upon precept. From place to place, God begins to work a work that only the Holy Spirit can do, and you become aware of it. I remember the first time I ever went to a Christian police officer's conference in Speculator, upstate New York. For the first time ever in my life, I saw grown men weep before God for joy — Texas Rangers, people from all over the country, tough guys too, a lot of them, tenderized by the presence of God. I cried for three days. I couldn't stop crying. I don't know how many boxes of tissue I went through. I actually felt foolish at one point because I simply couldn't stop crying — it was like a dream. I know many of you remember those days, especially if you're in the middle of your journey now. Your mouth is filled with laughter. Your tongue is filled with singing. When I first started going to church, I'd open a hymn book — I wasn't raised on the hymns, so they were brand new to me. "It Is Well with My Soul." "Blessed Assurance, Jesus Is Mine." I would stand there and the tears would come down my face. I remember one time my wife said to me, "You have to stop laughing when the preacher is preaching. He's going to think that you're mocking him." I said, "I'm not. I can't stop." I was just so filled with joy that I had this new life that God had promised. I had a hope. I had a future. I had now laid hold of the possibility of becoming the person that God intended my life to be. It would bubble out of me like a river. And then people among the nations — as Psalm 126 says — began to say, "The Lord has done great things for them." People around you started to say, "Wow, you are changing." Now, some things change quickly, don't they? Some things, the very day you come to Christ — maybe your vocabulary changes. You stop using the words you used to use, or if one slips, you're quick to apologize for it. And then there are certain things that change, and other things don't change quite as fast. I speak from experience. There were some things I was able to put away almost day one, and other things that took forever. Have you ever watched one of those old Western movies on television? They get in a gunfight in a saloon, and one guy gets shot and falls over the table. Then he climbs the stairway, falls over the balcony, stumbles behind the bar, gets up, falls over the bar, stumbles out through the swinging doors, and falls over the hitching post — and you're watching the movie saying, "Is this guy ever going to die?" Well, I don't know about you, but some

Will You Be Made Whole?

Opening Prayer "The sick man answered and said, I have no man to put me in the pool when the water is stirred up, but while I'm coming, another steps down before me. Jesus said to him, rise, take up your bed and walk." I am going to be sharing the word of God with you, and I do believe that you are going to experience a miracle. People are going to get set free, you're going to get delivered, you're going to see and begin to experience the miracle power of God that is available for you because of Jesus Christ, who died on a cross 2,000 years ago and paid the price for your sin. And because of his sacrifice, you can be reconnected to God. And being reconnected to God, there is a newness of life that is given to you. Jesus Christ himself said, "I came to give you life eternally, but I came also to give you life abundantly. I came to give you a reason to live. I came to give you a story of what I'm going to do in your life that only God can accomplish." And once the word of God is spoken and you've had an opportunity to respond, then you can celebrate that with us. Father God Almighty, I thank you for the anointing of your Holy Spirit. Lord, you told us years ago, cast the internet on the right side of the boat and I will bring in a harvest. And we obeyed you. And this prayer meeting is now in over 200 countries and dependencies around the world, and Lord, you're going to bring in a harvest. God, I thank you for the numbers of people who are going to come out of darkness and into light, out of captivity and into freedom, out of weakness and into strength, out of confusion into clarity of thought. God, you're going to send healing into homes, families, marriages, minds. God, you're going to deliver. Lord, we boast about you, we talk about you, but the work is all yours, and we acknowledge that. You have the power, and you proved your heart when you went to a cross. It wasn't just a vain display of your affection. Lord, there was power released when you were raised from the dead, and because of that, God, we have hope in this generation. Lord Jesus Christ, we ask you that the work that you came to do, you would do today. God, you would set free the oppressed, give sight to the blind. Let the poor have the treasure of heaven open to them, the strength of God revealed to them. Heal those that have been wounded so deeply they think they'll never recover. Bring healing into their lives. Lift up the weak. Set free, God, those that are captivated. And Lord, we ask you to do this for the glory of your name. Lord, it's time for you to work. God, the world is dark, the day is late, you're coming soon. We ask you, God, to move in miraculous power again in this generation. As you have done — we sing about it — do what you are famous for. Do what you have done, what you have displayed, what you've shown us, God. Clearly in the scriptures, we see your heart. You healed all who came to you. You never turned somebody away and said, come back some other time. You healed every person. We are here to declare your victory, your power, your heart, your cross, your work. And we do it in Jesus' name. Amen. The Pool of Bethesda — John 5 My message is called "Will You Be Made Whole?" John 5, beginning at verse 2: "Now there is in Jerusalem by the sheep gate a pool which is called in Hebrew Bethesda, having five porches. In these lay a great multitude of sick people, blind, lame, paralyzed, waiting for the moving of the water." I think of the numbers of people who are exactly like this — sick, blind. You don't see a way forward. You don't have the strength to get up and move into what God has. You're paralyzed by fear, perhaps, and you're waiting for your divine moment. The moving of the water symbolizes a divine moment. It was the stirring of God, and whoever got up and got into the stirring of this water first was healed of whatever disease or circumstance they had. "For an angel went down at a certain time into the pool and stirred up the water, that whoever stepped in first after the stirring of the water was made well of whatever disease he had. Now a certain man was there who had an infirmity thirty-eight years." I want you to picture that. Can you imagine what this man felt like? Thirty-eight years lying there, unable to move, can't see a way forward. The only way forward is if he can make it into a divine moment in his life. He somehow knows that only God can make a difference. Thirty-eight years of hopelessness. "When Jesus saw him lying there, he knew that he had already been there in that condition a long time. And he said to him, 'Do you want to be made whole?'" "The sick man answered him, 'Sir, I have no man to put me in the pool when the water is stirred up. But while I'm coming, another steps down before me.'" In other words, maybe there were people there at one point saying, "Hey, we're going to do this together. We're going to get you through