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The Most Difficult Journey of All
Carter Conlon

Carter Conlon (1953 - ). Canadian-American pastor, author, and speaker born in Noranda, Quebec. Raised in a secular home, he became a police officer after earning a bachelor’s degree in law and sociology from Carleton University. Converted in 1978 after a spiritual encounter, he left policing in 1987 to enter ministry, founding a church, Christian school, and food bank in Riceville, Canada, while operating a sheep farm. In 1994, he joined Times Square Church in New York City at David Wilkerson’s invitation, serving as senior pastor from 2001 to 2020, growing it to over 10,000 members from 100 nationalities. Conlon authored books like It’s Time to Pray (2018), with proceeds supporting the Compassion Fund. Known for his prayer initiatives, he launched the Worldwide Prayer Meeting in 2015, reaching 200 countries, and “For Pastors Only,” mentoring thousands globally. Married to Teresa, an associate pastor and Summit International School president, they have three children and nine grandchildren. His preaching, aired on 320 radio stations, emphasizes repentance and hope. Conlon remains general overseer, speaking at global conferences.
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Sermon Summary
This sermon from Luke chapter 15 focuses on the story of the prodigal son, highlighting the journey of coming back to God, the mercy and forgiveness available, and the joy in heaven over one sinner who repents. It emphasizes the importance of accepting God's mercy, forgiveness, and the transformation that comes from returning to Him.
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Luke chapter 15 please in the New Testament. I want to speak to you this morning about the most difficult journey of all. Now some here today you think you're on a difficult journey and most likely there's great truth in that but I think there's a journey we're going to see it in this story that might be more difficult than any other that you'll have to undertake and some of you this morning are on it right now. Let's pray. Father I thank you God with all my heart for the anointing of the Holy Spirit. Now Holy Spirit if you don't come we waste our time. Lord you've got to quicken this word, you've got to cause hearts to burn, you've got to give me the power to speak it, you have to give me the authority. Lord it all has to come from your hand. I stand only as a vessel in your hand. Lord I don't have anything unless you choose to give it to me. I'm asking O God for an anointing to unlock prison doors and to see people set free all through this sanctuary and through this annex. I pray God not there not be a person left in distress today, a person without hope, anyone unsaved, anyone O God who would not know the depths of your love. I thank you for this anointing. I thank you God that you will vanquish every enemy. I give you praise and glory for this in Jesus mighty name. Luke chapter 15 beginning at verse 11, a story that Jesus had to tell publicans and sinners and Pharisees that were gathering around. A certain man had two sons and the younger of them said to his father, Father give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living. Not many days after the younger son gathered all together and took his journey into a far country where he wasted his substance with riotous living. And when he had spent all there arose a mighty famine in that land and he began to be in want. And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat and no man gave unto him. When he came to himself he said how many hired servants in my fathers have bread enough to spare and I perish with hunger. I will arise and go to my father and will say unto him, Father I've sinned against heaven and before thee and I'm no more worthy to be called thy son. Make me as one of thy hired servants. Now the concept of home evokes memories in all of us. If I were to just speak of home and everything that home embodies today, some memories are pleasant and some aren't. You can think of things that were or things that you wish had been. Things that were pleasant, things that were unpleasant to recall. Things that we would love to relive when we talk about home or wish with all our might that it had never happened. And I don't know really what get into the heart of this young boy but one day in the father's house and in the father's house he was aware of the goodness of his father because at the end of his journey it came back into his mind again. And he knew his father was good but for a particular reason he said father I'm I've had it with this place. I'm tired of this of being here and I want what you have given me. I want what you provide for me. Now that the goods that God gives to all people yourself myself included is life. First of all Acts 17 25 Paul says he gives to all life and breath and all things. We are here today because God created us in his own image. He gave us life. He gave us the power to reason. There are certain qualities that only come from God. God said in Genesis let us make man in our image and in our likeness. We have the capacity folks to make choices. We can love or we can choose to hate. We can do right or do wrong. We can give or we can take for ourselves. And these are things that are not found in a free will choice anywhere but in human life. These are the goods. We have the knowledge as it is of our father being good. Romans tells us Paul says that nature itself declares the glory of God and the majesty of God so that one day all men will stand before God and be without excuse. Just observing the heavens as it is and the way things are throughout the world all men if they and women if they had had an honest heart could have said God if you are there please reveal yourself to me and the Lord makes it very clear that he would have revealed himself. And we ask ourselves why knowing the goodness of his father did this boy want to leave? What is it today that causes so many young people to vacate the house of God? I used to travel as a revivalist I guess of sorts years ago and the one thing that troubled me above all else is going into all these churches and many of them a history of revival. Many of them a great legacy in years gone by but now you look at the church and there's hardly a young face in the congregation. I remember one time I was about to preach and the Lord just changed my topic right in the pulpit and I stood up there and I said where are your children? Where have they gone? Why are they no longer in the house of God? What is it about the practice of this house that is causing these young ones to vacate the house of the Lord? Now I thank God with all my heart here at Times Square Church that really as I look out even this morning now this is this is the the Sunday morning service so there's there's there's more of a broad base of all ages but three o'clock on Sunday the median age is probably under 30 years of age. I thank God for it with all my heart. Thank God that on Friday night 750 high schoolers now and young adults are coming out to a Friday evening service to have an encounter with God. I praise God. We have to ask ourselves the question why then did he want to leave? Now I've always believed that it was because of his older brother. You see the father was good but the older brother was to be the inheritor of the house when the father was gone and the younger son looked at this older brother and the older brother when you look in the scriptures tells us that in verses 29 and 30 it tells us that he was a worker a hard worker that he was joyless and that he was angry when things didn't go his way. Those are the three adjectives that describe this older brother a hard worker remember Ephesus how hard they worked but they were losing their first love that he was joyless he said to his father when the his younger brother finally came home he said listen I've worked all these years and served all these hours in the field and you've never even given me a goat that I might have some form of merriment with my friends and he was angry because of the mercy of his father. These are the characteristics of this older brother and I do believe that because he was about to inherit the house as it is the younger son looked and says I can't live here yeah I love my father but I can't live here and folks I can't help but think of all of the young people who have left the house of the Lord because of those who have inherited it those who work hard but have so little mercy there's so little joy you ever been in a place like that where there's just a little joy everything is labor it's come in son welcome to the house of God grab your broom and enjoy your Christian life it's all about service it's all about work and it's all about rules and it's all about if you if you don't look like this if you don't keep this standard if you don't walk this certain way if you don't speak this way if you if you don't embrace as it is the image of what we think is godliness we'll push you to the sides of the temple and we'll keep you marginalized until you finally realize what holiness really is and this younger brother looked at his older brother and said I can't live there and that's why so many young people are leaving the house of the Lord we would like to we'd like to say well it's you know it's because of the media it's because of the airwaves it's because of the testimony of all these ungodly things that are but they've always been there folks all throughout history in various forms you just happen to have the media in our generation no no no no if it's the house of God there's got to be something in our fellowship there's got to be something in our worship of God in our service to God there's got to be something in us and you and me that makes this an attractive house for young people he was in a hard place he loved his father but I can't live in your house dad that's really what he was saying I love you I know you're good but I can't I can't live here so give me my goods and let me go and I think of all the young people who have been trained in the Lord they have they know the difference between right and wrong there's been a decency of the character of God embedded in their very nature and they take these goods and just like this young man they head out down the road into a place of riotous living the scripture says it actually means self-consumption into the land of self into the land of all I'm gonna live for myself I'm gonna find out what's in this for me I can't live in this narrow place I can't live in this place where there's so little joy there's so little laughter there's so little reason to want to even stay there and he went out into this place and the scripture tells us that suddenly one day he had spent all in other words all of the goodness that was in it was starting to leave and folks you can leave the house of God a good person and start walking along you can go a long way on what you learn but eventually the fallen nature in your heart and in mine will begin to take over and everything that you once had begins to drain out of your life until there's so very very little left and suddenly there was a famine the scripture tells us in this particular land that he was in and he began to be in want there was a famine folks like there's a famine in the days of Amos a famine of hearing the words of God and sad to say there's a encroaching famine I believe throughout the world that we're living in today a famine for truth the famine for where are we going why were we created what is the purpose of life where is the future taking us why am I here why should I care how do I find meaning and purpose in my life and there was a famine but he had spent his resources there was so little left in him now and he began to be in want and the scripture says he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country and he sent him into his fields to feed swine now he went headlong now into this place that is far away from the heart of his father and in this place now he's a Jewish boy now he's been trained in Judaic law and he knows that pigs as it is are the lowest form of life on the earth that would he would know that and now this boy that once lived in his father's house finds himself out in this place of selfishness and he's now feeding as it is the lowest forms of living and he knows it and how it must have bothered him he's giving his strength as it is and that's exactly where you will go when you walk away from the house of the Lord you will find yourself feeding the lost form of your fallen nature and you'll be powerless to turn away from it powerless to change it you don't want to do it as the Apostle Paul says I know I shouldn't do these things and I don't want to do these things but I don't know how to change I find myself encased in a body of death and I don't know how to get out of this and that's exactly where this young boy must have been what a tragedy to be feeding the very thing that you've been taught all your life is the lowest form I think of the young people in our generation who are and men and women created in the image of God and feasting now feeding the pornographers because you see they wouldn't have an industry if you didn't watch it and feeding just simply by virtue of the fact that you're paying fees for certain things that you watch and fill your mind with and buying books that should never have been written in the first place and in a sense enabling this low form of life to exist because you are now out there feeding it and the scripture says that he he got so hungry that he would have filled his belly with the husks that the pigs swine did eat but no man gave to him he got so hungry that he started to go lower not just enabling it but now wanting to participate in what it was eating I think of years ago here in New York City when at a parade some women were thrown to the ground and strangers began to assault them and men who were there of every walk of life and from different states not even knowing one another joined in the fray instead of helping these women who are terrorized joined in the fray you see because they were they have been feeding something and now they were going to the lower part of where that feeding is going to lead people to the Bible speaks of an outbreak of lawlessness that is almost unimaginable in the last days of time a rebellion against God that will stagger the natural mind and folks I don't think it's that far away I think people are out there now and they're not only just feeding this lower nature but they're now wanting to partake of it what you set your eyes upon you will become what you think like that's what you will do where you're focusing that's where you're going to turn eventually so many people commit horrendous crimes for example and when they finally get under oath and they're standing in the witness box they say I never imagined I ever would have done something like this it was the farthest thing from my mind but it was a gradual slide and the story is always the same you see this young man now he's so hungry he's so low now that he would have he was spiraling down that he found himself wanting to partake of this lower lower nature that was all around him but suddenly just hit a wall you see because he was a son of God he was raised by a good father he was made in the image of God and it's it's as if he could go only so far and when he started to reach out to go that last step the scripture says strangely no man would give to him now why wouldn't anybody give to him well why could he not just say listen I want I want to eat some of that that that slough I want to partake of that that refuse that is being fed this lower nature that is all around me and suddenly everyone seems to be happy with this boy in their midst but when it comes to that point all of a sudden nobody will give it to him I want to tell you what I believe is because it was a divine hand that was saying to Satan and every power of hell this far and no farther this far and no farther this is my son this is my daughter this one is created in my image this one was raised in my house and I envision a day that we're now living in when God Almighty is going to bring his sons and daughters home to his house one more time I can see a day when young people from every walk of life yes they're going to look like they're a mess they're gonna pins and needles stuck almost every place imaginable their hair will be every color under the Sun but you and I had better get prepared to rejoice you and I had better get prepared to dance because I want to tell you something when they come through the door of this house or any other church that has the name of Jesus Christ on it they have a Heavenly Father that has met them long long down the road and he's been walking with them all the way home praise be to God I don't know but you but I shall not be found in the shoes of the older brother with arms folded angry and judging everything around thanks be to God I don't care what they look like as long as they come home into the house of God this boy had been in a hard place that hard place was leaving the father's house in the beginning then he got into a harder place and that's in the field feeding swine but now he's in the hardest place of all and the hardest place of all was coming home and it's hard for some of these young ones to come home because they don't look like we do they don't there's there's there have been some things that they've been doing there's there's a certain sense of death that has tried to grip them but because God is merciful he's not allowed it to happen and he's bringing them home and this boy the Bible says he was a long way off and he said I even in my father's house even the slaves the servants have a lot to eat and he said I'm perishing out here with hunger and as distasteful as it was to him he got up and I don't think he was all enamored with coming home I think he thought well I'm just gonna go home and what's that prayer my brother always prayed oh yes I'm unworthy that's my brother's prayer he thinks that's holy he thinks it's holy to come into the prayer closet every day and just just declare his total complete unworthiness even though he slaves out in the field all day he's he's joyless but he said at least that's what he prays the father seems to accept that so he gets up and he he gets his prayer mantra as it is I'm unworthy make me a servant or a slave actually the original translation is probably closer to make me a slave and I feel he's saying make me like my brother it's it's at least it's better than being out here and he gets up and starts heading home and the Bible says he was in a long way off amazing when all of a sudden his father saw him now he's so far off he can't even see the house and the very first thing sees this figure coming running down the road and suddenly it would dawn on him that's my father and he sees his father has left the house and his older brother is still out there his older brother is still sweating his older brother still joyless but his father has left the house and he sees this old man come running down the road as fast as those old feet could carry him and he watches him running towards him and how this must have shocked him I've made such a mess of the family name I've lived out in a field with pigs I've partaken of things that a son of God should not be part of but he sees this father coming towards him and the Bible says the father fell on his neck and kissed him how shocking it must have been how confusing it must have been for this boy at this time and then I can see the father just putting his arm around his son and the two of them start heading on their journey home back to the house and he doesn't know what to do the father's not saying anything to him he's not talking about the messy mate he's not talking about his sin he's not talking about how badly he must have smelled he's not saying anything about it he's got his arm around his shoulder he's walking him back into the house and the house is a long way off because the scripture says he was a long way off when his father met him I don't know how long this journey took and the boy starts praying Oh father I've sinned I'm no longer worthy to be called your son make me as one of your servants and there's no response father I've sinned I'm no longer worthy to be called your son make me one of your servants no response they walk for another half hour father I've sinned I'm no longer worthy to be called your son make me as one of your servants and there's no response and there's a reason the father saying that's I'm not meeting you on that ground I'm not meeting you there I'm meeting on the ground of redemption I'm meeting you on the ground of mercy I'm meeting you on the ground of covering I'm meeting you in the place of empowerment you want to go on like that you go on like that but I'm not meeting you there God says the devil will try to tell you you're unworthy he will try to tell you this is how you got to pray this is what holiness is all about but God says you pray it every morning pray it all day if you want but I'm not meeting you I'm not talking to you on that ground because that's not what I do that's not where I am that's not how I feel in my heart towards you I am your father you were created in the image of God and so the boy is walking with his father I don't know how many times he must have repeated this prayer and then finally the father's lips begin to move finally the son must have thought well now he's going to start we're getting closer now and so my brother's going to meet me so now at least he's got to talk to me about my sin or something he's got to at least chastise me talk to me about what I should or shouldn't have done and the very first thing out of the father's mouth as soon as he gets close to the house where the servants can hear him he claps his hands and says bring the finest robe that is in the house and put it on my son the finest robe not just any robe the finest robe the one that's reserved for royalty for special guests the one that we keep for that special occasion bring the finest robe and put it on my son praise be to God the finest robe in the house of God is the blood of Jesus Christ the cleansing blood God says bring the finest robe in the house bring the finest robe and put it on my son you can see the servants coming and putting this robe that is reserved for only the most special of royalty and guests and putting it on covering him covering the smell covering the stain covering all that he had done covering all the wrong covering him he's not coming in as a slave he's walking into the house as a son of God he's walking in fully covered fully forgiven that's what the cross is all about that's what you've got to know this morning the cross is not something that God did so he could judicially forgive you and then sit back on a throne and point his finger at your mistakes the cross is God's mercy to pour his wrath on his own son that so that you might be covered in the righteousness of Jesus Christ praise be to God now the son must be overwhelmed he's covered he's coming down the cart the pathways it is not as a slave but as royalty fully received by his father fully enabled to walk in clean into the house and now the father speaks again bring the ring and put it on his hand this must have stunned this boy beyond measure the ring as in Roman times was a symbol of authority for example a Roman ruler if he wanted to make a law or decree and of course he found it in Judaism as well he would take the ring of the highest authority he would press and seal the document with the insignia of that ring and that made it law and he's saying put the righteousness of the house upon my son and now put a ring of authority upon his hand praise be to God Jesus said I give you power to tread on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy and nothing shall by any means hurt you he said every tongue that rises against you in judgment you will condemn it this is your heritage you have a cleanness we call it a righteousness and God says I gave you the cleanness and nobody has a right to call you unclean once I have cleansed you when I have received you you are received when I have covered you you are covered and I give you power not as a slave but as a son and then he gives a third commandment he says now bring out the shoes and put them on his feet and the symbolism of that is that son you and I have a journey to undertake together now you didn't know anything about me you judged me by the older brother you didn't know who I was but now you know my kingdom is all about mercy and we have it we have so many places we need to go can you see that boy going back into the fields can you see him going back into the land of selfishness in the days ahead saying listen I got to tell you about my father I've got to tell you the message my life was I've got to tell you how far I was from everything that I was created to be but I've got to tell you what happened to me on the road one day I walked into Times Square Church it was June 2008 I walked into the church and suddenly in the midst of it all there was this vision of God that was open to me and I began to understand that God is good and his mercy endures forever he covered my sin and not only did he cover my sin but he gave me authority over powers of evil and darkness he unlocked prison doors and set my mind free he gave me a new heart he gave me a new spirit he gave me a new mind he gave me a new life he put things inside of me that I've never known were there before he gave me words he gave me power to tread on everything that it once treaded upon me and it was all done through the mercy of God the mercy of my father has rewritten my life praise be to God we're about to have in this facility a teen challenge conference this week now it's not times where church doing it it's the organization teen challenge but there is the very epitome of everything God's given me to speak on this morning where hundreds and perhaps thousands of people whose lives have been irrevocably changed by the mercy of God praise be to God that's the testimony of God that's the glory of God that's the purpose of God that's where the life of God is found that's where the church becomes the church again when we open our doors and say come you lame you halt you maimed you blind come without money come without price come and find what we have found come and find cleansing come and find hope come and find life in this house where God is good and his mercy endures forever then the father says come into the house son he's a strike up the band I don't know if you've ever seen a Jewish celebration I have in Jerusalem but I can picture this father that is that it wouldn't for his son and now I see him dancing because that's what a Jewish celebration is all about there's no getting around it folks it's very lively it's wonderful to see it I was at a Jewish wedding one time in Jerusalem and it's I was stood in the doorway just amazed at the pure and exuberant joy of that celebration praise be to God and I I can hear the Jewish music starting to play and I see the father starting to dance in the middle of the room and the son is standing inside the door and he's stunned he's empowered he is a journey he's cleansed and the joy of the Lord now is becoming his strength he sees the joy in his father and begins to understand it's been the father's work all along to give me life it's been the father's work to cleanse me the father's work that I might know his heart and the joy he sees the joy this incredible joy in the father's house over him over him and it's all over him the fatted calf is killed that that meal that they they say for royalty he's got the garment of royalty he's got the ring of authority he's got the shoes of an ambassador of the house and there's a party a massive party going on people are shouting and dancing and clapping and singing and he's standing there saying it's all because of me doesn't the Bible say there's joy in the presence of the angels of heaven over one sinner that repents there's joy did you know this morning that you can cause a party in heaven before noon today you can cause the angels to begin to rejoice did you know today that there are instruments most likely that we've never seen before and right now they're tuning the strings and right now they're getting all tuned up and ready to go just because of you just because of you because somewhere somebody is going to understand this is a kingdom of mercy it's all mercy it started in mercy it progresses in mercy it continues in mercy it will finish in mercy it's all mercy it's all goodness it's all the glory of God being revealed in the hearts of men praise be to God maybe at home maybe nobody ever threw a party for you maybe you never had a birthday party maybe the sound of music makes you sick but I'm telling you there's a party in heaven about to break out over you and you say today well surely there I must have a part in all of this what must I do I must have to do something it can't be that easy I can't just walk on this road and have it all done to me what do I do well here let me give it put it to you simply don't do this to God don't put your hands out and say no wait a minute now can't be that easy no you can't put that coat on me don't do that to God put your hands down and let him put that coat of righteousness on you so many people think that's holy oh no I'm not worthy I'm not worthy no I'm not worthy and they put their hands out and push the father way and push his servants away you might even be hearing this and pushing me away right now but I tell you in God's name put your hands down let Christ put that coat of righteousness on you let your sin be covered let your sin be forgiven I don't have to tell you to turn away from sin if you're like this boy he's already on the way home already wanting to come back already sick of the way he's been living that's all that God requires is an honest heart saying Lord I'm tired of this I don't even understand your house but I'm heading back to it you say what else can I do what else is my part well you can't have a ring put on your finger with your fist closed you got to forgive God you got to forgive your older brother you got to forgive everybody that wronged you and open your hands in praise to God that's when God can slip the ring on your finger when you lift your hands and begin to praise and you can see he's got the coat on oh he's overwhelmed and all of a sudden they come and they slip that ring of authority on his hand praise be to God praise be to God praise be to God what else do I do well the other thing I can see is lift your foot and let them put the shoes on it Proverbs 3 5 says trust in the Lord with all your heart don't lead on your own understanding in all your ways acknowledge him and he shall direct your paths all you can do is lift your foot and say well wherever you want to send me I'm gonna go I've got a clean this I've got authority I'm going I'm going to talk about the mercy of my father praise be to God the message is mercy folks it never has been anything but mercy it's mercy mercy mercy mercy mercy praise be to God hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah I want to give an altar call this morning for every prodigal son and daughter they can hear my voice in the annex overflow rooms in the sanctuary in the balcony you've been walking away from God you've been afraid to come back you don't even know what you're coming back to but today something of heaven has been open to you and I want to challenge you don't you let any voice of the devil stop you from coming back to your heavenly father don't you let the enemy rob you of this incredible life that God wants to give you and it is an incredible life it's a life of the most incredible glory and power and grace that you will ever know on this side of eternity there's no life that will ever match it I don't it doesn't matter what you've gone to or how deep you've fallen Corey ten boom said there's no pits so deep there's no night so dark that God is not deeper still that he can't reach down and pull you out there's nothing that's gripped your mind that Christ can't set you free from there's no words that have been spoken over you know curse if anybody that told you you're stupid you'll never amount to anything or any of these other things that have authority over you when God touches you praise be to God he says I'll make you a new creation the old things in your life will pass away and all things will become new that's the gospel of Jesus Christ that's what makes it good news praise be to God and I promise you when you're done praying here today there's going to be joy in this house over you over you if the Holy Spirit is speaking to you today and you're willing to say pastor I'm coming home you may have been raised in the church that may not have been a good experience and there are a lot of people in our generation like that but it doesn't change God the older brother may have made a mess of that testimony but it doesn't change God it doesn't change who he is it doesn't change the fact that he died for you and promises to give you life you're not coming home to the older brother you're coming home to God he won't fail you he won't forsake you he won't disappoint you he won't make a promise to you then not fulfill it he'll prove to you you will know and today if God is speaking to you the Holy Spirit is gripping your heart especially young people older people too obviously but young people I'm going to ask you to have the courage as we stand in the annex you can make your way here too as well we'll wait for you but I'm talking to those who've gone far far away from God and this morning you're going to come home you're going to find a robe a ring and a celebration is waiting for you praise be God let's stand if the Holy Spirit is drawing you slip out of where you are make your way here if I could jump off the platform I'd hug each one of you as you come down the aisle just make your way join these that are coming every prodigal son now you might not understand the word prodigal means you've just gone far away from God just come make your way here don't be ashamed you have nothing to be ashamed of you are worthy to come praise God what do I do now you say well it's this simple accept the fact accept the fact in your heart that God came to the earth as a man 2,000 years ago his name was Jesus Christ the Son of God he went to a cross and was nailed there for all the wrong things that you've done and the he has sacrificed satisfied the full punishment that was deserved for everything that you and I have ever done was laid on him all that God asks of you is that you come to him with an honest heart wanting to live in his house wanting to be his son his daughter that's already happening what I spoke about today has already happened to you you've already if you have an honest heart there's no formula to this if you truly want God you believe that Christ died for you he's already put a robe on you and as you raise your hands in surrender he puts a ring and as you choose in your heart to know him he has a journey for your feet that is a marvelous journey it's an incredible journey he has for your life praise God I'm gonna lead you in a prayer but it's it's not a formula and you and I need to understand that today it's it's a heart decision and it begins with you accepting mercy are you willing to accept mercy will you you let him just let him forgive you you got to forgive yourself you know if God he said to Peter the Apostle he said what I've cleansed nobody has the right to call unclean anymore not even you you have no right how wonderful it is today to to walk out here clean and knowing that coming to God is not putting a broom in your hand and making you a slave you're a daughter you're a son of God your whole story is gonna be about mercy you're gonna sing you're gonna and if you do things it's going to be with a rejoicing heart praise God let's pray together Lord Jesus thank you for loving me for forgiving me and changing me I open my heart to you today and I receive your forgiveness and your mercy I lay down my resistance I accept the fact that because I've believed in you you call me clean I open my heart Lord I asked you to lead my steps turn me away from all sin turn me to the joy into the victory that comes from having life in you help me to understand that angels are rejoicing over me this very moment in heaven in Jesus name folks we need to give a shout of glory in this house for these praise God God loves you God loves you God loves you God loves you God loves you God loves you he loves you praise be to God you are free you are clean to be led of God to become the person that he intended you to be right from the beginning mercy mercy mercy rewrites everything if you have a church to go to make sure you get there if you're visiting from out of town make sure they teach and preach from this Bible and there'll be some the Holy Spirit will guide you you ask God to guide you say Lord help me if you don't have a church you're more than welcome to fellowship with us the new believers classes here downstairs in the lower lobby there are people there that will pray with you if you want prayer they'll they'll help you if you have questions they'll give you a Bible if you don't have one you don't have to join anything in this church we'll just help you because we want to praise God let's rejoice we have to rejoice we have to rejoice let's rejoice
The Most Difficult Journey of All
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Carter Conlon (1953 - ). Canadian-American pastor, author, and speaker born in Noranda, Quebec. Raised in a secular home, he became a police officer after earning a bachelor’s degree in law and sociology from Carleton University. Converted in 1978 after a spiritual encounter, he left policing in 1987 to enter ministry, founding a church, Christian school, and food bank in Riceville, Canada, while operating a sheep farm. In 1994, he joined Times Square Church in New York City at David Wilkerson’s invitation, serving as senior pastor from 2001 to 2020, growing it to over 10,000 members from 100 nationalities. Conlon authored books like It’s Time to Pray (2018), with proceeds supporting the Compassion Fund. Known for his prayer initiatives, he launched the Worldwide Prayer Meeting in 2015, reaching 200 countries, and “For Pastors Only,” mentoring thousands globally. Married to Teresa, an associate pastor and Summit International School president, they have three children and nine grandchildren. His preaching, aired on 320 radio stations, emphasizes repentance and hope. Conlon remains general overseer, speaking at global conferences.