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  IT IS WHAT GOD SAYS IT IS!
  by Carter Conlon
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Summary: This sermon emphasizes the importance of trusting in God's
promises, even when circumstances seem impossible. It highlights the
need to agree with God's declarations over our lives, to let go of
doubts and accusations, and to embrace the supernatural work that only
God can do. The message encourages believers to believe in God's ability
to exceed our expectations and fulfill His purposes in our lives,
bringing glory to His name.

Topics: "Trusting God's Promises", "Embracing the Supernatural"
Scripture References: Luke 1:13, Ephesians 3:20, Psalm 78:19, Malachi 4:1, Joel 2:28, Revelation 2:17, Psalm 23:5, Isaiah 43:19, Philippians 2:9

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DESCRIPTION
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This sermon emphasizes the importance of trusting in God's promises,
even when circumstances seem impossible. It highlights the need to agree
with God's declarations over our lives, to let go of doubts and
accusations, and to embrace the supernatural work that only God can do.
The message encourages believers to believe in God's ability to exceed
our expectations and fulfill His purposes in our lives, bringing glory
to His name.

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CONTENT
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My message this morning for you from the Gospel of Luke chapter 1, 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 1, it is what God says it is, beginning at verse 5. 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 3, 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 verse of scripture? No matter what we're asking for,
God is able to do more.

No matter, 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, a 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, we believe this.

We believe it. We're reading it. If I were to ask you, do you 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 live, 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, actually apply to us. That he could
actually take us and make, 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, I know I'm
righteous because I believe for my salvation through the shed blood of
Jesus Christ.

The I'm not a hypocrite. I'm 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, in the ways of God.

I'm, I'm trying to speak the truth. I'm, 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, 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
have, actually begin to even somewhat accuse him, and we can say, Lord,
you, you should have answered my prayer.

I saw it in your word, and it was, 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, this man is serving God. His wife is serving
God.

He's serving with all of 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, is a type of, of prayer.

Outside, outside of where he is, people are praying. The whole
congregation is praying, and the incense he's offering is, is a type of
the sweet aroma to God of, of that prayer, but it's, in other words,
he's leading the prayer meeting. Let me put it that way.

He's, he's, 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, you're in a, a ministry, but,
and even though you're rising to some form of leadership, there's
various levels and forms, yet the, 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, and he, and fear fell
upon him.

Maybe he was troubled because of his own thoughts. Maybe he had. I'm,
I'm only suggesting, I'm, 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 a prayer meeting, or going to a prayer meeting,
and I, I'm, 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, Zach, 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 a, 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, 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 of, 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 were 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, 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 than 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 will 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 a people, 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 4. 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 leave them neither root nor branch. In other words, the
godless are going to lose their confidence that they have. Their manmade
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. There 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 bears 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. 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 in 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 and 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, 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 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 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 have 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 effort,
it's 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 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 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, he's 40 years old and he's got a
sword, he's got military training, he's got influence in Pharaoh's court
and he probably feels vulnerable, not invulnerable at this time.

He's got access to all kinds of things. And so he takes it upon himself
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's no longer as 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 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 has 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 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 Lord 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 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 pondering things, a season of
wondering where has God been? Why didn't he answer my prayer? The pastor
of this church says it 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 yea 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 have 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' house sitting at the table every day.

Can you imagine? Can you just imagine it? Oh, Elizabeth, Mary says to
Elizabeth, 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 1 beginning at
verse 56. It says, 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 is no one among your relatives
who is 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 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 loose 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. 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 have given you a new heart. I have given you a new mind. I have 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.

Father I thank you with all my heart. 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.

This is the cry of my heart. You have promised that you would have a
testimony when the world seems to be setting itself on fire. You
promised Lord that our voices would be heard, that strength would be
given.

Even those who seem to be past age the promise that you gave through the
prophet Joel is that we would still bear fruit in old age. And so God I
thank you with all my heart for my brothers and my sisters here today. I
thank you Lord that you have reserved us for a dark day in history, a
confused time, a lawless a rebellious season, a highly immoral moment in
the world.

You reserved us for this moment. And so now today as we come to an altar
of prayer we will not turn back in unbelief. We will believe that you
are able to use us and will use us, each of us sovereignly and
supernaturally for your glory.

Help us Lord God to agree with you. Help us Lord Jesus Christ to erase
the tablet of anything that shouldn't be on there. And help us Lord to
agree with who you have said we are and what you have ordained for each
life.

God break us out of the boundaries we've placed around ourselves. Break
us out of the accusations we may even have formed against you in our
hearts. And Lord speak to us again and let us know the miracle of God,
the reality of your presence in our lives.

I thank you with all my heart in Jesus name. I'm going to give an altar
call and it's real simple today. For those in North Jersey, for those in
the annex at home, as well online in the sanctuary.

I am what God says I am. I want you to throw that old tablet down and
put it under your feet. The accusations that you have formed against
your own life, against the promises of God.

I want you to throw it all away. Come forward and meet me here in just a
moment with this one testimony. It is what God says it is.

His promise, even those promises to you might be 20 years ago. His
promises are just as true now as they always were. He will not fail you.

He will not forsake you. This is a moment for the church to rise folks
and become the church in our generation. Thank you Lord.

Thank you God. Thank you Jesus. It's so important to settle it in your
heart today.

God has not forgotten you. He hasn't turned away your prayer, but he's
reserved the answer for a time that's bigger than you can understand.
That's the basis of a heart that trusts God.

I don't have to understand everything, but I just need to know that you
are for me and that you reward those who diligently seek you. That's
what your word says. I'm not going to be called by anybody else's name.

I'm not going to be called by the names I've given myself. I'm not even
going to allow myself to be called by the names that I think that you
have called me. You know some people think that God looks down and says
you're unfaithful, you're unworthy.

They even attribute these names which are just an accusation to God
where he's not looking at you that way at all. He's called you
something. He's called you something supernatural.

He's called you something that only he can perform. He's called you to
do something unique that nobody else is going to do. It's strictly for
you.

And he's called you to do it in the ability which he gives to do it so
that you will know that only God could have done this in my life. Nobody
else but God. We're going to close with that song today.

This is something that only God could do. And that's going to be your
testimony. I want to tell you this is something that only God could do.

He waited until I had no strength. What do you think Zacharias' song
was? This is something that only God could do. Because the time of
childbearing had passed.

And they knew it was God. And they had to know just as Mary knew there's
something really really special about this new life that God's given to
us. And when he gives you a new life, there's a special purpose for it.

A new heart, new giftings, new ministry, new abilities. And when those
things come into your life, it's not just an add-on to your resume. It's
for a divine purpose.

It's for something that God has set you apart for. So Father today,
Lord, I want to thank you for my brothers and sisters at this altar
today, God, and in this sanctuary who have agreed in their heart with
you. We will not accuse you, Lord, of being unable to furnish a table in
the wilderness.

As a matter of fact, it was the psalmist David who said, in the midst of
my enemies, that's where God sets a banquet table. And that's where my
cup overflows. That's where I find goodness and mercy following me all
the days of my life.

And so Father, I ask that from these people at this altar that you begin
to do miracles. You begin to do exploits. You begin to speak things
through them that only you can do.

God, I pray for that song that can only come from the Holy Spirit, that
song of praise that burst into Zacharias' mouth the moment he agreed
with you, Lord. He was not only able to worship, but he was brought into
a whole realm of prophecy and understanding of the scriptures. And so
God, I thank you with all my heart for what you're going to do.

You are the same yesterday. You're the same today. You're the same
forever.

You don't change. And the Apostle Paul's prayer was that glory would be
brought to your name, Jesus, age to age, forever and ever. And so here
we are, Lord.

Here we are. As empty as we might feel, but God, we have your promise to
us, Lord. We have the future that you have designated for us, Lord, and
the gifts that you've given to accomplish it.

In everything, let the name of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, be lifted
up and held in the highest esteem. Let his name be the name on our lips.
And God, I come against every weapon of the devil, everything sent
against these men and women of God, and I bind it in the name of the
Lord Jesus Christ.

I tread under my feet every demonic thought, every demonic reasoning
that's tried to rob these people of the presence of God. I thank you,
Lord Jesus Christ, that you're planting a new song inside of our hearts,
and you're going to give us a harvest in our generation. We are going to
rob hell in this generation.

We're going to rob hell. God Almighty. I thank you for it with all my
heart, with all my heart, in Jesus' name.

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Video: https://sermonindex2.b-cdn.net/F8cPJJSQ15g.mp4
Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/carter-conlon/it-is-what-god-says-it-is/
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