Michael Koulianos emphasizes the importance of knowing Jesus as our great teacher, highlighting that God can write incredible stories with broken lives and that He is not done with us as long as our hearts remain soft. He discusses the significance of beholding the Lord and how our maturity in faith is linked to our relationship with Him, rather than our age or time spent in church. Koulianos encourages the congregation to invite Jesus into their lives and to value His presence, as it is through this relationship that we can truly understand His nature and purpose for us. He reminds us that the ultimate goal is to be conformed to the image of Christ, and that even in pain, we can find purpose and growth in our faith.

Isn't he a mighty God? He's just incredible. I want to know him more. I want to know his mysteries. I want to know what he's thinking. I want to know his ways. Because God writes incredible stories with the most broken lives. And some of you this morning might feel so far from the Lord. You may feel like he's done with you and that he's done taking your life and using it to glorify his name. He's not done with you. As long as your heart is soft, the Lord can do anything with you. Amen? He can redeem wasted time. Gosh, that's what happened to me. So I'm going to try my best to preach this morning. I'm just kind of stuck in wonder and awe of the Lord's goodness. But I want to continue our teaching on Jesus in the Old Testament. Is that good? So let's begin with... Oh gosh, it's loaded. I love the Scriptures. We're going to receive communion at the end of service. Actually, I want to go back to Luke 24 just for a quick review. You've heard me preach on this before, but I was actually having a conversation with Francis in the back regarding opening the eyes of our hearts. How the Lord deals with our blindness. Even if you're born again, the Scripture teaches that we all see through a glass dimly or darkly. So how many of you know that there's a direct correlation, according to Matthew 5, between the purity of the heart and the beholding of God? Does that make sense? The reason the beholding of the Lord is so vital is number one, there's nobody else worth staring at, except your spouse. I'm going to keep it moving. It's in that beholding that Romans 8 becomes a reality. It's in that beholding that we are conformed into the image of the Lord. So maturity is not so much about time that you've been born again or your actual physical age. Maturity has more to do with your beholding of the Lord in His presence via the Scriptures, and to be honest with you, breaking the body and blood of Jesus. That is the Lord's way of doing it. That's maturity. So you can have a mature 12-year-old, a more mature 12-year-old than a 60-year-old who's been born again for 40 years. I actually know them. Now without using names, I know people whose lives were transformed in this building with me, who were older than me. I didn't even own a Bible, I don't think, when I was brought here by my parents and family. But those people, some of them who were here, who fell into the power of God here, who were healed here, who received Jesus here, I don't see much progress in their lives, and I know them well. They're very, very close to us. So some are kind of at that same spot in their progression in the Lord as they were that night 32, 33 years ago. So maturity is not about age. You can be old and smelly and immature. And you can be 15 and lock away with Jesus for extended periods of time and God's maturity can erupt within you. Now here's what I want to say. God's ultimate ambition for us is not so that we would have big meetings or start kingdom businesses or fill stadiums and catalyze movements. Those are peripheral and they are fruits of a natural flow that should take place. Now God's ultimate ambition, according to Romans 8, is to conform us into the image of His Son. Are you getting that? So once you realize that is the ultimate ambition, you will begin to welcome what you once rebuked. You realize that you actually need what you once dreaded. You'll find yourself being more quiet when in the past you would defend yourself. When you're misunderstood, you'll no longer go on a campaign to prove your character to each and every person who misunderstands you or misrepresents you because you realize you actually need what's coming your way so that you can be broken and be more like Jesus. That's the goal. Now I'm not saying that everything that opposes us is sent by the Lord. What I am saying is according to the Word that God causes all things to work together for the good for those who love Him are called according to His purpose. So when you understand that that's the goal, then you're actually going to thank the Lord in the midst of pain. You say, why are you even going there? Because pain is promised. You can be a Jesus-loving, fiery-hearted, Bible-reading, communion-receiving, people-loving, faithful to your date nights. You can do it all. You will be persecuted and hated. It's actually a privilege. According to Jesus, blessed are you, He said, when they revile you and persecute you and speak all types of evil against you for my name's sake. So why does it come our way? Because we're in love with Jesus. So the reason I'm sharing this is because there is a place in the Spirit when this lands in your soul. You become a more formidable opponent against the enemy and a greater witness of the resurrected Christ who still has wounds by the way. It's very important. We realize that. You've heard me say this before. He is not Thor. He is the Lamb of God. We need the tenderness of Jesus again. We're oftentimes too loud. The world knows us for everything we're against and we should be against things. But we shouldn't be known for everything we're against more than we're known for the nature of the Lamb within us. So if we're going to do one, we must be soft in heart. If we're going to catalyze movements and make our voices known, we must be washing feet. That's Jesus. The narrative of the Bible, yes, he's mentioned as the Lion, but the narrative of the entire text is a Lamb is coming to bleed. Genesis 3. He's going to crush the head of Satan by the bruising of his heel. Our God advances through the bruising. Oh, Lord. God, the Scripture says, let God arise and let his enemies be scattered. It's actually a prophetic utterance regarding the resurrection. You understand? It's not like God just sits up and bows up in a circumstance. The Lord's greatness is invisible to the ways of the world because he comes as the lowly one. And because he's so lowly, the Scripture says, had they known they would never crucified the Lord of glory. He went too low for the enemy's lofty vision. The enemy exalts himself, I will ascend to the hill of the north. I will be like the most high. Jesus says, I have come, nevertheless not my will, but thine be done. That's his nature. That's greatness. The Calvary, or Calvary I should say, is greatness. The tree is greatness. Lowliness is greatness. The humble heart of Jesus, humility, is greatness. That's why he kept the wounds. It's a reminder that this is what glory looks like. Yes, I'm shining like the sun, but I kept my wounds to remind you I'm the pierced one. And there's a vacuum. There's a vacuum in the church and a vacuum in the nation that's ready to be filled by the lamb-like ones. It's there. I don't know if you've noticed, but it's there. May the Lord use us. It's like this puzzle piece that's just there for the taking, for those who'd rather bleed than scream. You know, I'll get into the text in a moment, but I just felt the Lord lead us this way. The other morning I was coming out of my sleep, like in a dream-type state, and I, in the dream, saw the back of the Lord standing before the Sanhedrin in His trial. And in the dream you could see that the Lord was quiet, not prideful, but standing strong and meek. And there was just a vitriol throughout the hearts. You could see the shadows of the priests and the accusations, and the Lord just stood there. And then I heard in my heart, not audibly to the ear, but audibly to the heart in the dream, I heard this, Jesus stood silently before those judges because He knew a greater judge was in the room. And they thought He was on trial on their terms. They didn't understand they were actually on trial. They were on trial on His terms. Nobody takes my life, He said. I lay it down. That's Jesus. Okay, I'm done with that. Luke 24. Road to Emmaus. We know what happened. Just for the sake of time, I'm not going to read verses 13 through 21. But what's going on basically here is there are disciples walking from Jerusalem to Emmaus. It's post-resurrection. Jesus shows up and they don't know it's Him because the scripture says that they had been blinded. And what you'll see here is the Lord's desire to eventually open their eyes. Now, as I mentioned earlier, you become who or what you behold. That's what the scripture teaches. We become like who we worship. How many of you want to be more like Jesus? I'm not saying you're God. Don't get me wrong. Don't misquote me. We know you're not. We know I'm not. But the goal of the Christian life is to be like the Lord. Again, the psalmist says, they looked unto Him and their faces were radiant. So we see the connection here between the eyes opening and Jesus crafting and forming His likeness in nature, in us, so that we become a greater and greater reflection of Him. This is bridal language. This is His desire as the age comes to a close that a people would emerge who are bridal, who have picked up His fragrance like Esther in her baths, and now she comes before the King smelling like what the King enjoys. And the King loves, listen carefully, in this context, the King loves to see His nature in His bride. So this is the issue here. Vision is vital. Our vision of the Lord. And so, in verse 28, we see that the disciples' eyes are opened, but something happens. And I don't want to read it because I don't want to get stuck here. We've already gone through this. But the Lord opens their eyes in two ways. He uses two methods. It's very shallow. We'll just use that just for the sake of the message. Two methods to alleviate their blindness. One is, He opens the Scriptures. Say, I need to read my Bible. Now here's the issue. If Jesus doesn't open the Scriptures, the book is closed. This is so important. Anybody ever meet a mean theologian? Alright. This is how you get there. You get there when you stop realizing that it is the Lord who opens the book. He is still the only qualified book opener. Alright. He is still the only one who can break the seal and open the scroll. It's what He does. He's the book opener. And so you can quote chapter and verse. Even that carries power. But if your heart is not turned toward the Lord Jesus Himself, you can actually use to oppose His purposes. For instance, listen carefully. You can take a position that denies what the Bible promises and your reasoning for denying what the Bible promises is because you have a Bible. There's actually that thought process. I don't believe in that because I have a Bible. So you actually oppose what the Scripture teaches and use the very presence of the Scripture to justify that opposition. That's what happens when you don't realize the Scripture reveals a person and can only be opened by that person. So if you're taking notes, write this down. Jesus is my teacher who opens His word to point me to Himself by the Holy Spirit for the glory of the Father. So who opens the book? Now, who is the book about? Let's talk about two weeks ago. Last week I wasn't here. Thank you for sharing me with our Dallas family. I was at Upper Room and at Create. I heard Jesse and Pastor Benny did amazing. So thank you all for letting me do that. But let's be more clear. I want to be more clear. I know the Bible is about Jesus. We know that. According to who? Say, Jesus. So we take His word regarding what His word is about. If the author tells you, the Scriptures speak of me, they speak of Him. You don't get to go, well, you're getting close, Lord. You're getting hotter. No, no. If He says, the Scriptures speak of me, that means they speak of Him. What Scriptures is He talking about? The Law, the Psalms and the Prophets. That's the entire Old Covenant. So when He announces that in the Gospels, there were no Gospel leaflets prior to the announcement. The church needs to fall in love with the whole Bible again. Rather than I say, rather than running from the genealogies, when you understand that it's all about Jesus, you'll be looking for Him in the passages that you used to run from. And then a divine romance is birthed in your heart. You open your Bible and discover that you're actually seeking the Lord. The devil does not want you to read the Bible. He wants you to fight him with your experience. And even Jesus knew better than to do that. You may have a great resume in God. I promise you, it's not greater than the King of Glory. Than the Messiah who came. And when the devil came His way, even Jesus refused to rebuke Him based on His experience. As Pastor Benny said, He could have just said, did you not hear the Father just say I am His beloved Son at the Jordan? He didn't do that. He answered with, it is written. So the entire Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, is about Jesus. And the entire Old Covenant, by the way, Paul didn't even call the Old Covenant. He called them the Scriptures in 1 Corinthians 15. From Genesis to Malachi, it is all about Jesus. It's more than just a type and shadow. In my opinion, it's more. I would call it an allegory, which is actually the spiritual meaning of the text. It means that Christ Jesus was bursting forth and speaking through David in Psalm 22. They pierced my hands and feet. Speaking through David. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. What? David walked through death? What's happening there? What is the Lord saying? Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of my enemies. When was that fulfilled? Was it not fulfilled at the Last Supper? When an entire city had turned on Him and one of His disciples turned on Him? So Jesus is not just, in my opinion, yes, He's hidden to a degree because the layers are always being removed, but He's the point loud and clear. Don't you see Him in Adam and Eve? Don't you see Adam laying down to rest, signifying Jesus laying down in the tomb, sleeping, as the early church called it, the Holy Sabbath of the Lord, that Jesus Himself is the Sabbath? And from the Lord's side, on the cross, water and blood comes to wash and purify the church and birth her in the Spirit, just like Eve is born from Adam's side, and someone is found who's suitable for Him, who can be with Him, who can look at Him, who can listen to Him, who can feel Him, touch Him, hear Him. This is all a picture of the Lord's ambition for His church and His worthy Son, the Holy Bridegroom. So Jesus opens the Word in Luke 24, just go back and read it this morning, via the Scriptures. He opens the Scriptures, but let's be more clear because we've got to get the right Jesus. That's what's at stake right now. That's what's at stake. Who is the real Jesus here? In our generation, even in our missional movements, in our church movements, who is the real one? Because there's a lot of people representing the Lord, whether you look at the church or politics, and some of it I go, I don't know that Jesus. I don't know that. If that's the one you say is the Lord, I'm not rolling with you. Don't know that one. So which Jesus are we talking about? Where does Jesus start? Let me hear you. Say the cross. That's it. And in Luke 24, again it's there, He tells the disciples who are blind, He opens the Scriptures and says, Ought not the Christ to have suffered and died before entering His glory? So what is the Lord's starting point? Christ crucified. Christ crucified is not a segment in the experience. The revelation of Jesus and Him crucified is not a part of the timeline. Jesus starts there, and by the way, He ends there. The book of Revelation says there was a lamb who was being worshipped who had been slain. So He's the cruciform Son. He's the cross-shaped God. He's the one who gives His life away. It's His nature. Christ crucified is not just something that was accomplished. It's the greatest revelation of who God is. And that's why no other God can touch Him. No other religion can touch Him. He's so grand He can go so low. He doesn't have this identity crisis. Do you understand? What did Jesus reach for? Do you remember the Scripture says in John's Gospel, He says, Everything has been placed in My hands by the Father. Everything has been placed in My hands by the Father. You've got to read the Scriptures with the Holy Spirit. What's the first thing He reaches for? The feet of the disciples to wash. He goes, Everything is Mine. Everything. All authority in heaven is Mine. All authority on earth is Mine. I saw Satan cast down like lightning. Everything is Mine. The Father has placed it all in My hands. Should I reach for kingdom and riches or for your dirty feet? I'll go for the feet. That's Jesus. That's the Lord. So number one, He points from the Christ crucified and risen via the Scriptures. Number two, and this is what we're going to do today, is He breaks the bread. But listen carefully. Before our greatest breakthroughs He will give you the opportunity to go your own way. Because He is not a robotic monarch. He's the bridegroom king who loves to be loved. So in the Road to Emmaus account, the Bible says they come to a fork in the road and Jesus says, It's getting dark. I'm going on. How many of you think the Lord of Light is afraid of the dark? Do you think the one who dwells in unapproachable light can't handle the sunset? What's He doing? He's wanting to be wanted. He's wanting to be wanted. You see this paralleled in Elijah and Elisha. Elijah goes, Hey Elisha, why don't you go and go stay on the side of the Jordan? Elisha goes, No, no. As my soul liveth, I'm not leaving you. He gives him another shot. Why don't you stay back? I'm not leaving you. Another shot. Why don't you stay back? I'm not leaving you. Why? He knew something was at stake. And so something happens when Jesus implies that He's going on. He did this when He walked on water. Did He not? Was He not going to pass the boat? See, there's something of the... Don't think for a moment that you are irreplaceable regarding God's kingdom. God can raise up... There's always a Samuel in the shadows. There's always a Samuel. A hungry young one who maybe doesn't have it all figured out, but he dwells in the secret place of the Most High. And God can take that shepherd boy and craft him and use him and teach that shepherd boy like David to learn his presence with a harp all alone on a pasture. And that's what David did. He'd play a little chord and feel the measure of God come. He'd feel the Lord's presence descend. He'd go, I like that. I feel better now. Now I have peace. I'm not afraid of bears and lions. And he'd do it again. And the Lord taught him His ways. And that's what He does with us in the secret place. The Lord always has somebody waiting because the Lord is a phenomenal King. So don't think for a second that God's purposes are about us. I've seen that happen in atmospheres like this. All over the world. I've seen it happen in atmospheres like this where God is with the people. And when God's with the people, He makes the average look really good. He makes average preachers sound like Charles Spurgeon. He makes average, not that you're average, but He can take an average worship team and they can touch the world because in His presence, He takes over. And He uses weak vessels. And the devil in those moments starts to whisper lies and starts to say things like this. You brought the glory. You brought the presence. It was your pursuit. That church wouldn't make it without you. That missions movement wouldn't make it without you. That stadium could never, never be effective or filled without you. And the devil in those moments becomes more and more successful causing us to believe that the kingdom isn't moving, friends. Jesus said, The kingdom suffereth violence. It's a moving kingdom. There's a procession. Do you understand there's a parade? There's a parade that's moving. That Jesus is leading this holy procession. We get in line behind Him. But if we fall out of step, the parade keeps moving. It's so important to understand that. Because the scripture says, Had the disciples not stopped Him on the Sea of Galilee, He was going to keep it moving. He had somewhere to go. Something to do. And here the Lord tells these disciples on the road to Emmaus, I'm going to go on. And they responded beautifully. And this is what the scripture says. They constrained Him. Constrained Him to do something. You ready? To stay. Forget my notes. I'm not going to get to them. Is that alright? Okay. No? Alright. Oh, I want you to grab this one. The same heart that invites Him is the same heart that causes Him to stay. Now, Martha knew how to get Him in. Mary knew how to keep Him. But it's the same request. Lord, come in. Martha's journey is proof that He can come in. How many churches have you been in? As soon as you feel the presence of God, or moments you've been in maybe, as soon as you feel the presence of God, the leadership turns the service on that dime. What's that indicative of? That the flowchart, maybe the guests that have been invited, the... sometimes too many guests invited. You craft this itinerary and say, Lord, live in it. Live in my construct. And then, here's what we need you to do. We need you to work for us. Lord, work for us. Will you, Lord, join our team? We're going to 1099 you, Lord, after this event. Really. Manifest yourself according to our construct. It starts pure, and then you start to call... It's Sunday morning. I don't know if Sunday morning is... Okay. You start to assume that you're leading the Lord without knowing you're doing that. That's what you're doing. And without knowing, you're saying, I am actually, in a sense, going to be the Lord of this moment. Because the word kirios, Lord, means the one who completely owns or is master over. So I build this structure, right? And here's what happens. It gets worse. The devil eventually seduces me to call that structure that I asked the Lord to work within wisdom. So I call my control wisdom. And then to deify it a little more, to make my own conscience feel better, I start to say, I do that for the sake of souls. It's for souls. Do you really think more people come to Jesus? You didn't really believe that more people would come to Jesus if he weren't there? We say he's everywhere. I know. He's everywhere in a gathering. Even that is conditional. If two or three gather in my name, I will be there in the midst of them. That means the body of Christ has to walk in with a conscientious awareness that they have come in the name of the Lord to be with the Lord and that it is his meeting. So every gathering is not a church gathering and every church building is not a church. What is the prerequisite? What's the condition? What's the ATM code that unlocks his desire to be himself among the people? Two or three gather in my name. I am there even in the midst of them. So here, Martha brings him in, but Mary keeps him. What does that tell me about him? He will respond to the slightest invitation. Martha goes, come in. He goes, okay. Fine. Don't you love that about him? I love that he'll enter to be with the people who don't have them all figured out. But then there's one, Mary, who sees something in him that the entire room cannot see. It's like she was ahead of her time. She sat at his feet. The Bible says, listen to the progression. She sat at his feet, step one, and heard his word. And he stayed. Presence, the awareness of his presence, and the yieldedness to hear what flows from him. That is a revelation of his heart. If you listen to his word, you are listening to his heart. And he feels valued. You'll never pick up your Bible the same way. That kept him. These disciples constrain him. What's the heart posture of their constraining? Don't go. There's something about you. You don't talk like ordinary people. We don't know exactly who you are. But when you showed up, things got a little different. We can't see you yet. And remember this. Listen. Until we learn to value his touch, our eyes will never open to the degree they are meant to. I'm going to give you a Bible. I'm going to give you a Bible. John the Baptist in John's Gospel says, He looks out. This massive crowd gathering at the Jordan. He goes, There's one standing among you. I've sensed his presence right now. There's one standing among you whose sandals I'm not even worthy to unloose. He will baptize you. I baptize you with water. One stands among you who will baptize you in the Holy Spirit and fire. It wasn't until the following day that John says, Behold the Lamb of God. What happened first? He sensed his touch. He valued the slightest shift. The slightest move in awareness. That constrains him. So how many of you want your eyes to open to behold the Lord more consistently, more beautifully? Start to value the slightest touch. Jess will tell you, when I first started preaching, my dad asked me to preach in a certain city in Florida. I don't want to give it away, because this church is the only place I preach in that city, and they'll know it's them. But my dad said, Come down and preach the morning service. And I drove a certain amount of hours. I don't want you all to get on your math. It's going to be one of these. And I got there, and the pastor was like, You're actually going to do two services this morning. And I was like, OK, great. My dad told me one. The first service was like preaching to statues. The exact opposite of all of you. This is the easiest place in the world to preach. You guys are all like, always shiny and hungry. This wasn't that. This was like, Who is this young idiot? And they were so Pentecostal that they had no Pentecost. It was one of those. All the language, the tone. You know? David's like, yeah, yeah, I totally get it. It was one of those. So I preached, got off the platform, I walked in the back. I had just started preaching, and I didn't know you're supposed to turn your mic off. But I was fresh out of the prayer closet for years Jess will tell you, I lived in that prayer closet. I was addicted. I mean addicted. The Lord did something in me. It was the happiest place on earth without paying $100 for admission. It was really the happiest place on earth. And so I go in the back, I go, on a live mic. It's live in the house, between services. Dad, what do you think in bringing me here? I go, this place is so dead. I couldn't understand it. I'm here talking about the one I loved and the one I had discovered, and they're just like, and I was like, I don't, please let me never see them again. I said, Dad, and you said one service, now I'm doing two. This is like double the torture. And my dad looks at me, he goes, so I look down, I just see a green light on the path. Now I have to walk out and preach. Oh man. I don't think I ever got to preach, I think I just like prayed and worshiped the whole time. Well that night, Jess came down with some friends, and they said, can you preach again tonight? And I thought, no. And, can you teach on the Lord and pray for the sick? I said, sure. And so I began to preach Jesus, pray for the sick, and then I felt like the Lord wanted to baptize people in the Holy Spirit. So I called a bunch of people forward, I said, if you're hungry for more of the Lord, come. Hopefully, you guys understand by now, being part of this church family, that I love the Word. So you know that about me. I have a high value for theology. I think it's important. I think it's at stake right now. I love to discover the Lord in the text. So you know that. So what I'm about to say may imply that I don't, and that I'm just super crazy. Alright, so I line everyone up, and I'm praying for everyone, and nothing's happening. And you could feel it. I mean, it was still dead. So I went to walk away, I went to walk to the other side of the platform, and I heard in my heart, I literally heard the Holy Spirit say, you're praying for them with your right hand. Pray with them with your left. Pray for them with your left hand. And I go, what does that have to do with anything? Do you have a chapter and verse on that one, Lord? But I was begging. I mean, I was empty. I was running on empty, and if he would have told me to do backflips, I would have done them. So I was like, okay, so I played it really cool. I went over to the altar, put the right hand down on the side, thinking I'm losing it, and I touched the first person with my left hand. And it was like, before that I prayed for dozens, nothing happening. When I switched to my left hand, you would have thought somebody got snipered. boom. I start speaking in tongues, glorifying the Lord in the spirit. I'm like, whoa. And then it hits the whole front of the altar, person after person, just rejoicing in the spirit, getting touched by the Lord. And so, you know, I'm going to play it cool. And I was like, yeah, that worked well. I go back to the hotel, and Jess goes, I'll never forget it. She goes, hey, I meant to tell you, when you were praying for people in the beginning, when it was dead, because you can have the greatest service to people, your wife knows if you're having a bad one. People can be rejoicing, your wife will go, you struggled. And you know, and she's got that gift. Thank you, Lord. It's such an encouragement. So I get back to the hotel, and she goes, hey, I don't know if you noticed, but while you were praying for people, the Lord spoke to me, and said, Michael should switch hands and pray with his left hand. And I hadn't told her. Sometimes, these simple, childlike, yieldings, can carry a breakthrough that can change a person's life forever. That's the constraining I'm talking about. Whatever you do, Lord, stay with us. Now, when they constrain him, the Lord says, fine, I'll stay. They didn't even have to ask him twice. Now, I want the Lord to stay with us here. I want a generational, abiding glory here. For our children's children. So when the building's built, I don't want a glory in the bricks and mortar. I want it to be holy ground, because God is there. How do we follow the Lord? With such a holy, furious pursuit, that the next generation steps into a deeper glory than us. We must. Now, here's the challenge. Here's the challenge. I've yet to see it happen. I've yet to see it happen. I've yet to see someone hand something over, and there be a greater glory on the one who stepped in than the one who dug it out of the dirt. I don't have all the answers. But my heart will break if when the Lord is done with me, that precious, holy, beautiful fragrance of Jesus is no longer among us. Those of you who are young in this room, you'll be old in a while, trust me. This is where my mind is right now. I've never seen it happen, and I've known many of the greats. But when I look at the scripture, I only see one pattern. I see Joshua spending more time in the tabernacle than Moses. That's the only way, the only scriptural, foundational pattern that I can see. It's that the next generation must have more. The only way to keep what they have is by pursuing more. The only way. Listen. I feel this so strongly right now. I feel the pressure's anointing. The only way you will keep what God has done here is if you go after more. The only way to keep what you have is to go after what you don't have. Mark 4. He who has little, even what he has will be taken, and he who has much, more will be given. The only way to hear, listen, the only way to protect what God said to us is to yield to what God is saying to us. It's the current speaking, the current reception of His voice and presence that protects what He's spoken over my life and over your life. If you stop... Can I have five extra minutes? If you stop protecting like Mary did and treasuring in your heart and mulling through and meditating on the first and great commandment to love Him with all we are, with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. If you stop valuing what the Lord spoke to you and treasuring it in the depths of your being and you stop writing it down and you stop praying through it whether you feel great or not. That's what the word ponder means when it says that Mary pondered what Gabriel said to her. She protected it. She chewed on it. That's what the word meditate means. To chew, to partner with, to pray it through until it finds its way into your bone marrow, the substance of your spirit. The moment we stop doing that what He spoke in the past is in jeopardy. So the only way you keep what He said is to go after what He's saying now. There have to be these non-negotiables. Non-negotiables where you draw a line in the sand and you go, on this I don't move. I'm not moving on the cross. I'm not moving on Jesus. I'm not moving on this bloody one. I'm not moving on the glory of the resurrection. I'm not moving on the scriptures. I'm not moving on the secret place. I'm not budging. If you stop pursuing Him now you may squander all the breakthrough in the past. It's just the nature of the kingdom. Have you ever noticed when you drift from the Lord now you forget many of the prophetic words in the past that came your way? Have you noticed that? It's because in that moment you are living by the wayside. That's what Jesus said. It's by the wayside that the thief comes, the devil comes and steals the seat. It's only by the wayside. Where is the wayside? It's on the side of Him who is the way. You're away. You're out of the presence of God. The wayside is just where He isn't. The way is where He is. You get on the side of that, the word God is speaking to you is in jeopardy. The presence of God is everything. It's the distinguishing factor that protects everything He ever spoke to you. The word comes to life and bears fruit when you're with Him.