Mike Bickle emphasizes the significance of wholeheartedness in the forerunner ministry, calling for a generation of young people to embrace their prophetic calling through prayer, fasting, and intimacy with God. He describes forerunners as those who are deeply rooted in the truths of Scripture and are prepared to proclaim God's heart in the face of impending challenges, including the end times. Bickle highlights the necessity of rending one's heart and turning fully to God, as this is essential for receiving the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and becoming effective vessels for His glory. He encourages the audience to recognize their calling as forerunners and to engage in a lifestyle of radical devotion and intercession. Ultimately, Bickle's message is a call to action for believers to prepare themselves for the coming revival and judgments by living lives of integrity and passion for Christ.

It's a proclaimer. A forerunner may proclaim through singing worship songs. A forerunner may proclaim through writing books and articles and children's church curriculum. We have a growing number of men and women that are called by the Lord to the children, but not to babysit them, but to bring the forerunner message to the children. And so when I talk about writing children's church curriculum, I'm not talking about something that's cute. I'm talking about something that's very serious to the Lord's heart. There are 5 and 10 and 15 year olds being raised up as forerunners by those that are 20 and 30 and older who have a heart to bring them forth into the prophetic burden of the Lord for the coming hour. A forerunner maybe will proclaim their message through a life of intercession, maybe through one-on-one discipleship. You may be called to the marketplace, but in the marketplace you are a forerunner bringing this message to those that have ears to hear. What is a forerunner? We talk a lot at the International House of Prayer, IHOP, we talk a lot at IHOP about forerunners, about the forerunner calling. Because one of the main reasons of night and day prayer, not the only reason, one of the main reasons for night and day prayer is to raise up forerunners. I think of the House of Prayer, we've been going now just over 5 years for 24 hours a day, worshiping 24 hours a day with worship teams, and I think of the 24-hour day House of Prayer as a greenhouse. I think of it as a greenhouse and all of these young people are like young tender shoots, young tender plants in this very intense environment, this Holy Spirit greenhouse. And they're young, and their root system is not very developed yet. Their roots do not go very deep, but they're going to in the days to come. And they're in this greenhouse, and it's 24 hours a day of worship and intercession, and there's an emphasis on intimacy, being lovesick for Jesus, who is the great lover of all the ages. We emphasize our hearts becoming exhilarated in love before Him, our hearts becoming fascinated with His beauty. And these 20-year-olds, 25, 15, 30, whatever, they are receiving the message of the beauty of the man Christ Jesus, of His burning desire as a bridegroom. But that's not all they're receiving. They're receiving a little bit of understanding about the great and the awesome things that are just around the corner on God's agenda, things that will lead to the second coming of Christ. And in this little greenhouse called IHOP, and God has His little greenhouses all over the earth, and many of them are called by different names of different ministries. It's just a word picture, that's all that I'm talking about. And they're feeding on the beauty of Jesus in this intense atmosphere. They're fasting, they're praying, they're studying the end times, or eschatology. Eschatology, we use that word a lot, and so we may use it too much. It just means end times. It's a fancy word that means end times, eschatology. Look to your neighbor and say, eschatology. Say, OK, now I know how to say it. Eschatology just means end times. So if one of them just say, we're studying eschatology, you know, just say, I know what that means. It's better to say end times, but sometimes we just get going and forget. But anyway, they feed their spirit on end times and on intimacy with the Lord. And what happens in this little greenhouse, these plants begin to grow and blossom with beautiful fruit, and the root system goes deeper and deeper and deeper, and these plants are forerunners. That's what they're calling them, is in the spirit, they are forerunners. There are many young people in this auditorium that are forerunners. Some of you are very clear that is what you're calling is, it's a prophetic ministry. But it's not just a prophetic ministry where you, you know, tell people the secrets of their heart. A little bit of that will happen for sure. But it's speaking the secrets of God's heart for the unfolding and then the culmination of human history with the coming of the Lord. Forerunners are speaking the secrets of God's heart. I mean, those secrets are in the Word of God. I don't mean they're secret in the one sense. They're only secrets because the body of Christ hasn't taken time to search them out. And these forerunners, as they're growing in an atmosphere of fasting and prayer, because let me tell you this, forerunners can only grow in an atmosphere of fasting and prayer. I want to say that unashamedly. Fasting and prayer and intimacy with God and the study of the end times is critical for forerunners. It is fuel that they live on. Obviously, the primary fuel that we live on is the grace of God and the cross of Jesus and His death and resurrection and exaltation to the right hand of the Father and His choosing of us to be His redeemed. That's obviously the primary fuel that we live off of. But second to those primary truths that are so grand and glorious, the forerunners feed their spirit on intimacy with God, end times, and they cultivate this thing we call the grace of fasting and prayer. Now, you don't have to do it at IHOP in Kansas City. You don't have to go to a particular city to do it, but it must be done if you're going to be a forerunner. There is no forerunner anointing apart from the grace of fasting and prayer, intimacy with God, and revelation of the end times. The reason I say that is because there's a bunch of you in this room right now. You know you are forerunners. But there's another group of people in this room right now. God has called you as forerunners, but you don't have language for it yet. It burns in your heart, but you haven't put the words together. And I believe that at the end of this four-day conference, there's going to be a number of you that are going to say, this is what I am in the Spirit. I am a forerunner. Now I understand why my heart burns the way it burns. Now I know why what I'm feeling seems so strange to some others. And I'm not trying to give people permission to be weird, that's not what I'm doing. But I want to say this, the forerunner calling is real, and the forerunner calling is costly, and the forerunner calling will cause trouble. And there will be trouble to those that are called to be forerunners, because they are carrying a message, and they're living a lifestyle that is offensive to carnal believers. The body of Christ in our nation is absolutely filled with carnal believers. It's not going to end that way, the Lord's got a plan to change many things. But for a while, the forerunners will not be accepted by many, even within the body of Christ. Again, I'm not trying to give you permission to be weird, I'm not trying to get you to get a martyr's complex, so that you can, you know, start prophesying you're going to be persecuted, so then you fulfill your own prophecy, that's not what I'm trying to do. I'm trying to gird you, to prepare you, that if the Lord calls you to this, and you say yes to it, and many of you have, and many of you will, even at the end of this four days, and others of you will in the years to come, it will be a life of glory, but it will be a life of trouble. Settle it, even now. What is a forerunner? A forerunner, it's those men and women. And I tell you, most of them, most of them are young people. Right now, God's raising up forerunners across the earth, and most of them are 15, and 20, and 25, or whatever. There's a few old guys that kind of get in by the grace of God, but mostly it's young people. Just for the record, at IHOP, if you're over 30, you're old. So don't start getting me over in some strange category. They're old from 30 on. I'm 50, going to be in a minute anyway. I've been old for a while. What is a forerunner? A forerunner are those men and women, and these, again, many of them, most of them, not all of them, most of them are young people. They are living and wrestling and feeding their spirit on truths that the Holy Spirit is going to emphasize just around the corner, but He's not yet emphasized them to the body of Christ in a universal way just yet. Let me say that again. There are truths like the book of Revelation, like the bridal paradigm. What I mean by the bridal paradigm is the truth that Jesus is a bridegroom God with a heart of burning desire and exhilarating beauty, that Jesus, the bridegroom God, is in love. He's lovesick. The beautiful God is lovesick with His people. That is a truth that is not being emphasized by the spirit worldwide. It's going to be in a minute. Now, just to define my terms, when I say a minute, I mean in the next 10 or 20 or 30 years. That's what I mean when I say in a minute. Because to the Lord, it's a minute. It really is in a minute. A forerunner are those men and women, mostly, most of them are young. They are living right now in the reality of truth, even the beginning of it, just even though they might be young in it, they're living in the reality of truths. They're wrestling with these truths. They're feeding their spirit on these truths. They're going after these truths. Truths that are clearly established in the Word of God. We don't accept anything if it's not established in the written Word of God. But they are taking these truths and living on them, feeding on them, nurturing their spirit. And these are truths that in a minute, 10, 20, 30 years, I don't know, the Holy Spirit will universally emphasize these truths worldwide. But He's raising up maybe a million, maybe 10 million, I don't know. I have the number. I have the sense it's millions, not hundreds of millions, but a million or two or five or ten million, I don't know, worldwide. Doesn't matter what the number is. It's a large number. It's not just a few of us over here in the corner. God is raising up forerunners in every nation of the earth in which there is a witness to Jesus Christ. Not all the nations have that testimony yet, but they're going to before this thing is over. And these forerunners are living with these truths today. And in 10, 20, 30 years, these truths will be clearly made known and not made known, more than that, emphasized by the Holy Spirit. And the reason God is raising up forerunners today is so they will be the vehicle, these million or 10 million or whatever the number is, but it's a small number compared to the billions of the planet. It's a very small percentage. And God's raising up these men and women as messengers. And as messengers, they will begin to proclaim it. They will begin to sing it. They will begin to teach it. And millions and millions will receive it as the Holy Spirit shines His light on it. And beloved, there's many of you in this room right now that are forerunners, that you're calling, and you're one brief step ahead of the Holy Spirit's universal emphasis on these themes, like intimacy with God, the bridal paradigm of the kingdom, which again, when I say the bridal paradigm of the kingdom, it's the message of Jesus as a bridegroom God, a beautiful God with burning desire for His people. We talk a lot about the bridal paradigm. Whatever seminar that you go to, you'll hear the teachers talk about the bridal paradigm. We're talking about our hearts being fascinated with the unveiling of beauty of the man Christ Jesus, the most powerful motivational force in the universe is when the beauty of Jesus touches the human spirit. It makes us lovesick. It ravishes us for Christ Jesus. And the Bible makes it clear that the revelation of the beauty of Jesus will be a primary emphasis of the Holy Spirit and the body of Christ as a cherished bride will be lovesick before the beautiful man Christ Jesus and his ravishing love for us. Well, the bridal paradigm isn't all that the Forerunner ministry is about. That's a very important part. The Forerunner ministry is preparing people for the end times. I don't mean preparing them to go build a house out on the mountaintop and store up guns and food. That's not what I mean by prepare. I mean prepare that we get filled with revelation of what God's doing. We get prepared with the spirit of understanding from the Scripture so that we walk boldly into the glory and into the crisis that's coming and we're absolutely not afraid to lose our lives at all knowing that many of us will lose our lives in the process. That's what I mean by prepared. We said goodbye to living in the spirit of this world years ago. It's what these Forerunners' testimony will be. They've been living in fasting, prayer, they've been feeding their spirit on the beauty of Jesus and they are willing to call fire down from heaven, release the power of the Holy Spirit on a nation or to go into prison and be a martyr. It's all the same to them. They have no agenda. Because a man or a woman that is lovesick, they left their agenda long ago in pursuit of the one that loves them. That's where these people are going, these Forerunners. So what's a Forerunner? Because Joel is one of the strongest pictures of the Forerunner ministry. It's only three chapters. And we're going to look at the book of Joel. We're going to emphasize the book of Joel for four days and if it's new to you, just kind of hang in there. I like how Alan Hood says it. You'll hear Alan a number of times. Alan Hood's the director of our Bible school. Man, the Lord has really given a tremendous amount of revelation and anointing and fire to. I love it how Alan Hood says it. Alan says, if it's a little confusing, just stay with it. In a short amount of time, the fog begins to lift and the truths that were so foggy, like, I don't get it, I don't get it, I don't understand the book of Joel. All of a sudden, the fog will lift and it will become clear. A lot of you, 18, 19, 21, 22, in the book of Joel, you might go home and to the apartment, to the hotel tonight and read it and go, you know, you might have two responses, cool and, ugh. You might have two complete different responses. Like, wow, I can't wait to understand this book and like, what on earth is that talking about? Just hang in there. The book of Joel is a very, very important book for forerunners and it will make sense. It all makes sense, it really, really does. And it's one of the most important books for the forerunners. Those 20-year-olds. Now, when I say 20, I mean those that are younger and those that are older. Just say 20 and go up a few years and go down a few years, that's who I'm talking to. Because that's whom the Lord is targeting right now. He's aiming at all of us. I mean, all of us. Anybody that will say yes, the Lord will say, here I am. But He is, the Holy Spirit is going after a young adult movement, raising it up in all the nations of the earth. There are going to come forth, I mean, hundreds of millions of young adults in the next decades. They get on fire. I'm talking about hundreds of millions. They found the fire in those early years. And they are going to be anointed, filled with revelation. They are going to be fearless, but not reckless in the carnal sense, fearless with lives of holiness, integrity, and discipline, and understanding, but still reckless in the holy sense. I'm not looking to raise up or to pray for the Lord to raise up, you know, just a bunch of counterculture people who are mad at everything and they throw Jesus at the end of the paragraph. That's not what I'm interested in. I'm all for being different than what the culture is, but so much of the counterculture is just anger and bitterness and disillusionment, and they throw a little Jesus on and maybe throw a worship song on and go, there you go. That's not going to move angels and demons. Deep lives rooted in the Word of God, holy, anointed, disciplined, ravished with love, and the authority of the Spirit is what's going to move devils and angels when we speak. Being cool is okay, but it will never ever shift things in the Spirit. And I don't care if they're cool or uncool, as long as they're disciplined, godly, and radical about the things of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God. So when I say the young adult movement, don't get an image as that we're just trying to go out there and do this and that over on the side and just kind of, you know, do something counterculture. We want to do something mainstream, heart of God, book of Acts, prophetic anointing, spirit of Elijah. That's what we're talking about. And we got some really cool people at IHOP, and then we got the guys like me and Alan Hood and a few of the others. Sorry, Alan, he's one of the younger ones, but he's kind of funny. He's kind of like me. He's kind of like getting old. So we got both kinds. I don't care about that. I care about radical Christianity. That's what we're after. So what is a forerunner? A forerunner are these people that are grappling with these truths. They are these people that are feeding on these truths. They are these people that are cultivating. They don't have it yet, but they're cultivating the spirit of fasting and prayer. It's foreign to them, but it's not always going to be foreign to them. It's strange, but it's going to become familiar to them in the days to come. So if you're saying, oh, I like everything that guy's saying except for the fasting and prayer part. Beloved, that's exactly my response. Some years ago, I said, Lord, I'll do everything. I'll even do the prayer thing. The prayer was so boring and so hard. I'll do everything but the fasting thing. I'll even go to prison. Just don't make me fast. And I got the shock of my life some time ago. I began to find the grace of God and find a place of exhilaration with prayer and fasting. I said, this cannot be me. This has to be God. I don't have an ounce of this in my natural personality. So some of you, the 20s plus or minus some years, you're going, huh. And I like all this, but that fasting and prayer part. Beloved, you just ask the Holy Spirit, Lord, if you'll make a way and you will anoint me, I'll say yes to it. And you might be surprised like I have been over the years because this thing became powerful and anointed and real in my life. And I didn't have an ounce of desire or acclimation for it in my early years, though I was radical for the Lord since my teenage years. I'll be 50 in my next birthday. And I met the Lord when I was 15 in a group of on fire believers. And I just want to say, by the grace of God, I have sought the Lord and a lifestyle of seeking to live in prayer and radical Christianity ever since those early days of age 15 and 16. So I know what it means to be radical for the Lord, but not like the fasting and prayer part. I tried it. It was hard. I stayed with it. No, I don't know. And then the Lord started talking to me about fasting. And I said anything but that. And I had no idea it would be one of the greatest glories of the things I desired in my life. So don't write it off just yet like I did in my early days. I didn't fully write it off. I just complained about it. I just threatened the Lord with it. Lord, you start talking that way, I have a thing or two, I'm gonna, well, I don't know what I'm gonna do, but I'm gonna do something if you talk that way. It ended up that the Lord surprised me because it's a lot, it's not what you think if you don't have that grace on your life. And God wants to give that grace to many people. But the fasting and prayer calling is critical. And you find that right through the book of Joel. The forerunners are these people. They are living in the truths now or they're trying to. They're not fully living in but they're trying to. They're feeding their spirit. They're grappling with them. They're studying them. They're connected with other young people that are going in the same direction. And these truths are going to be emphasized by the Spirit in a few decades. In just a minute, the Spirit of God's gonna emphasize it worldwide. He's whispering to some millions right now. A small number of millions. But He's whispering to them so that they will touch billions in the decades that are coming. And you're gonna live in these truths of intimacy with God. The bridegroom God. The beautiful God who's ravished with love. And it's gonna be more than an idea or a doctrine or a song. It's gonna be a burning reality in your spirit. You're gonna be alive with it. It's gonna just grip you by revelation and change the way you think and feel inside. That's what this bridal paradigm or this bridal message of the Kingdom of God will do to you. Then on top of the bridal paradigm, you're gonna say yes to the message of the end times. There is coming the greatest revival ever seen in history. Far surpassing the book of Acts is just around the corner. But it's not only a great revival. There's coming the most terrifying judgments that have ever touched the planet are about to be loosed. And those judgments are going to be stopped and started by the end time prayer movement. The prayer movement will stop the judgments in one place and the prayer movement will release the judgments in the other place. Say what? Read the book of Exodus. Moses went to the nation of Egypt to Pharaoh. He lifted up his rod in intercession and the judgment was released through Moses and then the next day Moses prayed and stopped the very judgment he released a couple days earlier. The end time church is gonna release judgment and the end time church is gonna stop judgment. But the end time church the forerunner calling it's a prophetic calling it's fasting and prayer is all around it. These are people that are going to understand and be involved not just in the bridegroom God in intimacy they're gonna be involved in the releasing and the stopping of judgment on cities, regions and whole nations. And that's what the Lord is raising up forerunners for right now. And they may not be released in their fullness for some decades. It's my opinion it's my opinion that it's several decades out. But beloved all of those in the room that are my age I'll tell you those decades come and go in a minute. I remember a minute ago I was 20 years old I'm 50 now nearly. I was 20 years old in groups of people and we were praying and fasting and now I'm 50 where do those 30 years come and go? The old people always told me I was gonna get up there and I said ah not me I'm only 20 I'll never be 30 definitely never 40 and I can't even imagine what 50 is gonna be like. Those decades will come and go and either you will have a root system in the forerunner calling if God's called you to it or you will have just squandered years away. Now not everybody here is called to the forerunner ministry but if you're not called to it I believe many of you are that's why you were attracted we put it on the brochure. On the brochure we put fasting, prayer, end time judgment we were trying to keep people away from this conference. I mean we jazzed it up the opposite direction come and fast, pray, be a martyr get involved in the judgment of God we thought that's the guaranteed way to have an empty auditorium. We look around and find out we have right at 15,000 people registered saying we want to do that! Maybe somebody else sitting next to you says I just got on the bus I never knew anything about this. How on earth did I? What? I didn't read the brochure. This is the time to look at the guy that brought you and say you knew this? They'll wink at you and go yeah, that's cool stuff. Martyrdom, fasting and prayer intimacy with God a beautiful God becoming a bride I'm a man I don't want to be a bride and the end time judgment? What? I would like anyone in the room that you feel I don't mean that you know that you know that you know but you feel that you have already it seems in your spirit that there's something about the forerunner ministry already clear to you you say I don't know exactly what it's going to look like but I feel like I'm going to be a part of this if any of that is on you any sense of that is in your understanding I want you to stand up right now. That's what I said you guys, you guys are fanatics well I definitely came to the right conference give yourself a hand I mean you're all standing but just clap for the guys over there you clap for the guys over there this is fantastic now some of you are sitting you go wait what about me? now the Lord has something for everybody in these four days he has something for everybody the Lord wants to touch everyone God has a calling for everyone who says yes to Jesus everybody who says yes they have a place in the body of Christ and we value that we care about that but I want to say this unapologetically we value all the ministries of the body of Christ and all the streams but there has to be a few places we're not the only one there's several others we have, there have to be a few places that unapologetically raise up forerunners we talk about fasting and prayer every meeting we talk about the end times every meeting we talk about judgment every meeting we talk about intimacy in the bridegroom God, every meeting and we're unapologetic about our intensity we don't need to apologize for our intensity there's a need for forerunners to be raised up in the earth and multitudes of you in this room have already said yes to that calling and you need to go home I don't mean next week or next month to start this but in the next years you need to raise up prayer networks and training schools and train forerunners in your geographic area maybe fives and tens maybe you won't train thousands and maybe some of you will beloved, we need to see forerunners be encouraged with one another and go after this stuff and not apologize for it I find constantly people all the body of Christ I'm talking to them they go, you really believe that? I go, unashamedly, yes they go, for real? I go, absolutely for real it's my story and I'm sticking with it and they kind of, you know I guess that's kind of neat, Mike I guess that's your personality I go, it's not my personality it's a sovereign call of God the truth is I don't even answer it I just say thank you and I love you and that's it but in my heart I don't need I don't need to be defensive about it I don't need to answer to other people about it I don't need this or that I just need to go for it but I know this there's so many of you you're in twos and threes and fours out there and you need more encouragement of people going after this kind of reality and my prayer is that God will raise up little clusters all over the land of people going after this kind of reality together we need the encouragement of each other well, let's look at the book of Joel for just a few minutes this is just kind of an introductory session many more will be coming tonight and then tomorrow morning and so tonight we let everybody in the larger auditorium by the way, this is not the main auditorium there is no main auditorium this whole premise is the Lord wants to make it a sanctuary of the Holy Spirit this is not the main room and then we got the overflow rooms this is the larger auditorium and then we have the overflow rooms and the Holy Spirit is going to be moving in every one of them we're excited we don't have it just absolutely guaranteed but we just got real good feelings that we're going to be able to work out in the very near future I don't want to say too much that we're going to be able to be over there next door that's a 40,000 seater right next door I'm not saying when or how or where or anything I got a few ideas but the Lord's helping us in that arena so we don't have to be split up all over everywhere because the Lord's breathing on this reality this idea of calling forth forerunners that are lovesick that are going for this thing well, let's look at the book of Joel I just want to get you a little bit familiar with it just a little bit in this session a little bit more tonight a little bit more tomorrow and you don't have to be a forerunner for this book to matter to you because these events are going to happen whether you're one of the proclaimers of it or not it's going to happen regardless there might have been a whole bunch of the children of Israel and Egypt who didn't believe in the miracles that God was going to do through Moses guess what? God still did them through Moses whether they believed him or not God has his servants and he's going to visit the nations in glory and so some believe it some don't believe it it doesn't really matter it's coming anyway we want to cooperate and we want to be a part of it and we want to participate with the Lord in it well, the central message of the book of Joel and I'm going to say this just repetitively over and over you can hear it tonight, again and tomorrow it's okay you need to hear it over and over just so you get it the central message of the book of Joel is chapter 2, verse 11 to 14 if I had to pick out the heart of the book I said you can only get 3 or 4 verses to explain the book of Joel what would they be? I would say, oh man 3 or 4, that's it 3 or 4 verses they got to explain the book of Joel I would pick Joel chapter 2, 11 Joel 2, verse 11 to verse 14 if I absolutely could pick no other verses that would be the center of what I would pick let's read it Joel 2, 11 let's read in the middle of verse 11 for the day of the Lord is great and the day of the Lord is very terrible who can endure it? verse 12 Joel chapter 2, verse 12 now therefore, says the Lord turn to me with all of your heart that's the key line right there turn to me with all of your heart turn to me with fasting turn to me with weeping turn to me with mourning rend your heart not your garments I love this song that the Lord gave us through Esau of God rending the heavens and us rending our hearts and God rending the heavens it says rend your hearts and not your garments return to the Lord your God why? why? because He's gracious because He's merciful He's slow to anger He is of great kindness and He will relent He will draw back from doing harm the harm that was going to happen He's going to stop it He will relent from the judgments He will draw them back He will withhold them He's saying, the book of Joel and then verse 14 oh what a statement who knows if He will turn and relent which means take the judgment back or restrain the judgment that was on its way who knows there's a certain mystery to it but there's a lot of biblical principles as well we're going to look at who knows He may turn and relent He may withhold He may restrain His hand of judgment He may take it back and say no I'm not going to lose judgment on that geographic area and look at this and He will leave a blessing behind instead He takes a disaster zone of judgment He turns it into a revival center Beloved God is raising up forerunners who will stand in the gap of intercession they will stand between a sin ridden city and nation and they will stand as intercessors and they will call out for mercy and they will preach God's heart to the people and God in many places of the earth God will relent and release a spirit of revival instead of a spirit of judgment on that area and other places they will not turn and then the Lord will not turn His judgment back and there will be utter destruction and the balance of the whole thing will be in the intercessors and the prophetic ministry of the forerunner ministry at the end of the age and you know what that's the most amazing part about it the whole thing is in the balance I mean it's under the sovereignty of God of course but it's in the balance in terms of human response of weak and broken people like you and me Beloved when I look at the young adult movement God's raising up across the earth I go Lord this generation is as broken as my generation and the Lord's answer is that's right but I use broken and weak people they are as fragile and they are as this and this and this and this and the Lord might say yes but they are chosen and I'm going to put my spirit on them and I will release my power through them Beloved that's where this thing's going so don't look at your weakness and go there's not a chance because God is in the business of calling people like you and me to stand in the gap as forerunners in this day it's absolutely amazing the vessels that He is choosing of the weakness and how fragile their lives are but God's choice is sure and their hearts become on fire for God and God uses them Beloved it's not how loud you raise your voice that's going to cause angels and demons to move it's by the authority on your spirit a whisper under the anointing will do a thousand times more than a shout in a stadium with no power on it I'll take one little feeble grandmother whispering oh Jesus break in with authority on her spirit than a stadium of people shouting even in a praise gathering but with no authority on it so don't look at yourself and go oh no you've got to be kidding see we can look at an auditorium like this and say they must be awesome but I'm not you kind of get lost in an auditorium and we kind of imagine everybody over on the other side of the room that you can't see because it's a little bit dark they must be awesome but I'm the one guy in the room that's so in bondage and so broken it's never going to work beloved that's a total lie because the guy on the other side is like you and the Lord says you say yes to me I will change that you say yes you run to me and not from me and I will take your feeble little way and I will anoint it with supernatural power because it's not about human personality it's not about how smart you are it's not about how good you sing how articulate you are when you preach it's one issue is there authority on your spirit when you whisper or shout it doesn't matter in Acts chapter 19 just stay here but in Acts chapter 19 you can look it up later in verse 15 there were these seven sons of a man called Sceva and these seven sons they wanted to cast demons out they were fascinated with the supernatural realm and these seven men said hey we want to get into this supernatural realm of casting demons out so they went to this demonized man and they said demon come out and the demon rose up and beat them up and tore their clothes off and these guys went oh my goodness what was that and the demons talked here's what the demons said Jesus we know well that's obvious but here's the next phrase they said Paul we know a broken man under the grace of God Paul the apostle a sinful man who was forgiven and redeemed Paul we know and then the demons said but who are you guys here's my point here's my point God's raising up a young adult movement that are going to be known in hell because they're going to have the authority of Jesus and I don't mean just the authority of Jesus where they're living kind of this superficial flighty little flitty life and they throw a few Jesus bonnets on it and little bouquets and Jesus Jesus that's not what I'm talking about I'm talking about weak and broken people but they're radical in their pursuit of Jesus I'm talking about they're going after it not throwing him on as a little add-on to their little Christian culture back home I'm talking about they're serious about Jesus for real weak and broken yes but they're serious and God will take a serious person no matter how weak you are He will break the bondage to the addiction He will set you free He will push to lead on your paths and He will give you fire and authority in your spirit but He does want all of you don't make any mistake about that He wants all of you as you're going to operate in this arena but He's going to have men and women I mean young people because remember the 12 apostles were all about 18 or 19 years old it was the first young people movement it was a young adult movement in the book of Acts they were just 18, 19, 20 year olds and the Holy Spirit said those are the ones I'm going to use they were filled with issues in their life but they were abandoned to God don't confuse the idea that because God is kind about forgiving us that it's okay with Him that we stay in our compromise it's not okay with Him a lot of people have confused God's forgiveness with His approval God will forgive us but He says I'm only going to release the fullness of my spirit in the midst of people who are totally mine I remember when the prophetic word came forth in a very, very powerful way the Holy Spirit spoke this in a very dramatic way that the Holy Spirit will give I mean God will give the Spirit without measure to the people without mixture and though we want to believe and we want to have confidence in God's forgiveness that's not the same thing as living a life of greasy grace where we're forgiven and we stay on the edge of darkness with a little immorality here a little drunkenness over there a little bitterness here and we go and we lead worship at the young adult meeting and claim forgiveness that is not the kind of Christianity I'm talking about when I say God uses weak people I mean He uses the guy that was addicted in the sexual arena and addicted in the alcohol and addicted in the bitterness and addicted to the finance and addicted, addicted, addicted but they repent and the Lord takes them and gives them supernatural ability but they walk away from it and God anoints them so I'm very, very strong on forgiveness but God's forgiveness must lead us to a life of abandonment if we have any thought of moving in the power of the Holy Spirit in the way I'm talking about some people claim forgiveness I just want to be forgiven and I want to stay in my darkness and I'm going to be a forerunner and I said that is serious deception to claim forgiveness stay in your compromise and wave the forerunner flag is deception we take the forgiveness of God oh God I'm a broken man I need forgiveness and we do it again and again and again but we cry out in real repentance and the Lord really forgives us but He says my forgiveness is unto freeing you in your inner man now pursue me and I will free you again and again and forgive you again and again but I don't want you to have a casual attitude about darkness and then you can wave the forerunner flag while you're still in the process of growing it's not like you wait 10 years and then you say I'm going for it it is true you're going for it now but we're serious about breaking all of our alliances with darkness we're very serious about this as the people of God it's just a lot of confusion in the body of Christ about I'm free and I'm in grace and so we stay in our immorality and we stay in all of our little again a little drunkenness here a little drugs there just a little cheating here and a little lying there but praise God for His mercy I look and I go brother you are in serious deception about the word of God that is not what Jesus died for He died for a broken and weak people to be wholly His and to take those weak young people and move and change and cleanse them and then put supernatural authority to where they're known in hell but they're walking with God with the whole heart in the process and that's what we're about none of us at IHOP we have 400 staff members at IHOP nearly anybody can be on staff people raise their own support to do it it's not like we got you know we went out and interviewed 400 people and hired them all it's not like that we just said whoever wants to be on staff you're missionaries you raise your own support so when we talk about staff it's a whomever the Lord calls and about 99% of the people who apply we accept them and at IHOP our 400 people our staff members we're not there by any means we have more brokenness and more this that and the other whatever but there is a pursuit there is a sincerity there's not a maturity yet but there is a sincerity that excites me we're on the right path we're nowhere close to arrive but we're on the right path but I teach them and I want them to be clear our confidence in forgiveness is not the same thing as confidence to live in compromise because Jesus is nice we don't want to fellowship with darkness we want no alliance with demons we don't want anything to do with darkness and we resist it and yet we'll stumble into compromise we rise up and we declare war on it and we run into the forgiveness of Jesus that's what we're talking about but beloved what we need we need authority to move angels and demons if I can whisper in a prison cell under persecution Jesus visit the city whatever city God puts on my heart if I can whisper a prayer and angels are loosed into that city beloved that is what I'm talking about you may never stand in front of a stadium or you may stand in front of a stadium standing in front of a crowd means nothing if demons and angels don't move when you speak in that crowd we're not looking for gatherings of people we're looking for spiritual power and authority God wants to give it on people like you and me He wants to release it on weak and broken people let's look at this Joel chapter 2 verse 11 it says for the day of the Lord it says two things it says the day of the Lord is great and it says the day of the Lord is very terrible there's a paradox there's a great dimension to the day of the Lord but there's a very terrible it doesn't say terrible it says very terrible it's very terrible the great dimension the day of the Lord is when the Lord manifests His power in an unusual way when God declares war against His enemies and when God wants to vindicate and bless and exalt His saints in the grace of God we call it revival plus some it's more than revival but that's just a good beginning to start with let me say that all over again the day of the Lord is the time frame when God declares open war against His enemies sin, satan, darkness the day of the Lord is those limited time frames in history when God breaks forth in power and He declares war against His enemies and He vindicates His people with power now the day of the Lord there have been a few of those time frames through history and I think we're safe in calling those revival or some of the day of the Lord has the positive end of revival other times the day of the Lord has the negative end of unusual severe judgments now the great day of the Lord is at the second coming of Christ the great day of the Lord I mean the capital D day of the Lord is at the second coming but the events leading up to the second coming are day of the Lord events and as we lead up as we get closer those years go by and we get closer and closer to the coming of the Lord the great, the power, the great dimension and the very terrible the judgment dimension will increase more and more and more and it's great and it's very terrible and I'm going to say all this again tonight for those, because many aren't with us yet and I want to get that clear in people's minds the day of the Lord is coming beloved we're not quite there it's a time frame where the great things of God, power, miracles signs and wonders happen and it's the time where the judgments the very terrible things happening and here's the question of the hour there's one great question that Joel says this question has to be answered everyone's going to ask it believers and unbelievers but this question has to be answered who can endure this day what man what woman will be on God's side what man and what woman will be under the anointing of the spirit instead of under the judgment of God when the time frame called the day of the Lord begins to break in beloved, that's the most important question, in my opinion, before all the nations of the earth because the nations of the earth are not aware the day of the Lord is coming because the forerunners are not proclaiming it yet, they're whispering there's a few thousand of them in the earth right now, they're whispering but we need a few million in the earth proclaiming boldly and we need to be telling the human race the day of the Lord is coming, there is coming a time frame and it may go on several decades who knows, it's not like it's an exact time frame, we know it began today and it ends tomorrow, it's a time frame it's a kairos hour it's a prophetic season when the power of God begins to increase and the judgments of God begin to increase and they come to a fiery boil on both sides and the question is, who can endure it, what man or woman can stand in the favor of God in the anointing on God's side when these things are breaking loose beloved, you need to answer that for yourself but then on top of that, we need to answer this question to the nations of the earth, and Joel's going to answer it right now in verse 12 he says, I'll tell you who can endure verse 12 he says, the people who come to God with all their heart and if there's one phrase that I believe is the phrase for this conference, there's one phrase, it's this phrase here, turn to me with all of your heart with all of your heart Jesus called this the great commandment you should love the Lord your God with all of your heart this is the most, I believe this is the phrase over this four day gathering, turn to me with all of your heart, and we're not just talking about turning from compromise, we're not just talking about saying no to the bad things we're talking about turning to God as extravagant lovers of the man Christ Jesus turn to him, wholehearted lovers is what we're talking about that's what the Holy Spirit is saying over this four day gathering, turn to me with all of your heart and rend your heart, and come to me, and I will release blessing, and I will make you a vehicle in the day of the Lord events, I will make you a vessel of glory, and the most dynamic hour of human history turn to me with all of your heart and then he goes on to say in verse 13, he goes, rend your heart, oh my goodness rend your heart, because turning to God with all of your heart will involve rending your heart to rend your heart means you rend a garment in the Old Testament they talk about rending a garment they would tear the garment, it's not like a garment that is, you know, they take the scissors and cut it along the lines neatly, a garment that was rend that was torn was just there's an element of violence to when a garment was rended rent and God says I want you to tear your heart, there are issues that you have a deep alliance with in your heart there are issues that are very dear to you that are the issues of darkness tear your heart in this regard, and come to me and my power will touch you and it's like oh my goodness, this is getting intensely personal because coming to God in verse 12 involves rending our heart, verse 13 but beloved, we're not interested in playing a gospel game we're not interested in having gospel concerts and music fests, I have no more interest and energy in organizing a worship fest, this is either a solemn assembly where we move angels and demons, or I have no interest in putting my time in this kind of gathering but beloved, it's not going to come with a guy here and a girl there and a guy there it's going to be when a people rend their hearts, they're serious about God, yes they know about their weakness and God has sufficiency of grace in their weakness, but they are serious about coming with all of their heart, and they will tear the issues that are keeping them in darkness Jesus said it in Matthew chapter 5 verse 30, he says if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off now he didn't mean literally cut off your right hand, because your right hand isn't the issue that makes you sin, it is your heart, but what he's saying is, it's just like rend your heart, is how Joel said it in verse 13, cut off your hand, cut it off Jesus said, it's taught in Matthew 5 verse 30, it's talking about a violent a violent, I don't mean a physically violent, I don't mean a cutting in the physical sense, but I mean a radical separation from the things that keep us ensnared in darkness the body of Christ has this real confused idea of grace, where they're real casual about the demons that they're petting and they're hosting and feeding in their life and they're claiming the grace of God while they're feeding their pet demons inside, and they're saying, well, God's grace, you know, praise God and the Lord says, tear that thing from your heart, cut your arm off ruthlessly deal with those issues and get into the flow of the Spirit and you will be exhilarated with power on the inside in the days to come so, we want to be forerunners he says the day of the Lord is coming it's going to be a very great day power, miracle, signs and wonders it's going to be a terrible day the judgments as seen in the book of Revelation, who can stand who can walk in the anointing who can walk in the power of God in those days I don't mean, I tell you who's not, it doesn't matter if you're the head worship leader, or the head youth leader or the head of the church planning network or the head of the campus ministry it means nothing, all that matters is that you've come with all of your heart you've torn your heart you've got into the flow of the Holy Spirit and you have power, and when you speak demons and angels move, even if you whisper that's what matters in the day of the Lord type events and beloved, those events are just a moment away, again it could be a few decades, but it's a moment away well, I'm coming right to the end of this look what happens if you tear your heart look what happens the Lord leaves it's a blessing, verse 14 the Lord takes what was going to be a disaster zone and turns it into a revival center look at verse 28 and it shall come to pass I'm going to end with this, I'm going to have Isa come up it shall come to pass afterwards and the afterwards in verse 28 is linked to verse 12 and 13 actually verse 12 to 17 to be technical but the afterwards of verse 28, if you study the book of Joel, specifically links to verse 12 to 17 beloved it's important that you understand that he said afterwards I will pour out my spirit, do you know what a lot of God's people in the charismatic world want to do, they want pour out your spirit, and the Lord says yes, yes I will and the people go yay, and the Lord says one more thing, I will pour out my spirit yay, yay God, he says afterwards, I will pour out my spirit after what Lord? after Joel verse 2 chapter 2 verse 12 and 13 and on to 17, after you come with all of your heart and after you even rend your heart afterwards I will pour out my spirit there are more prophecies going around the body of Christ yay, says the Lord I will pour out my spirit, but they need to listen more carefully, because if they were going to finish what the Lord was saying he says I will pour out my spirit afterwards beloved in the book of Acts Acts 2 we know Peter got a down payment of this, Peter got a down payment of the Holy Spirit poured out afterwards because Acts 1 they were 10 days in fasting and prayer in the upper room and dedication and afterwards the spirit came in Acts chapter 2 amen, that's enough for now let's stand, I am excited, I know we're really weak, I'm weak, you're weak, I don't have any confidence in you and I have none in me I really don't, but beloved the kind of sincerity that's in this room, I don't mean maturity I mean sincerity, and sincerity is a good beginning sincerity becomes maturity over time, with the kind of sincerity we have in this room and there's places like this all over the earth I'm not trying to put too much attention on this gathering, but here we are, so let's honor the Lord and what he's doing, we can see history shifted with a room of people who will do the before so they get the after amen, let's just offer ourselves to the Lord, Father we come to you and we