Mike Bickle emphasizes the importance of stepping out of our comfort zones in his sermon on the Song of Solomon, illustrating how the bride's journey reflects our own spiritual growth and the call to partner with Jesus in the mission of discipling nations. He highlights the need for radical obedience and the dangers of complacency, urging believers to confront their fears and the 'little foxes' that undermine their relationship with God. Bickle reassures that even in moments of hesitation, Jesus desires to see our faces and hear our voices, inviting us to seek His help in overcoming our struggles. The sermon culminates in a call for the church, particularly in South Korea, to rise up with renewed dedication and commitment to prayer and missions as the harvest is ripe.

축복합니다. Turn to page 139, this is our teaching number 5, but the session notes number 13 and 14. So page 139. I just want to comment on this notebook here. We're going to use this notebook. And so it will be free for you to download if you want it electronically. And our copyright is the right to copy. So you can copy it electronically. And you can change it if you want and use it for your own Bible studies and put your name on as much of it as you want. We have young people all around the world that are taking the Bible studies and they're making it their own and they're changing it the way they want to and they make it their own Bible study. So you're free to do that. But if you change it, take my name off of it. That's all I ask. Let's pray. Father we thank you in the name of Jesus. For this glorious book about the heart of your son. We ask you to teach us anew in a fresh way this morning. In Jesus name, Amen. Now just to repeat what I've said earlier, the song of Solomon is written as a love story between a man and a woman. It talks about the glory and the beauty of married love. And that's the natural interpretation of this book. That's very good. I don't teach it that way but I believe in that teaching that's very valuable. I focus on the spiritual interpretation. But both of them are appropriate. I have a high view of scripture that Jesus is exalted in every book of the Bible, Old and New Testament. But the centrality of Christ is found in every book of the Bible if we ask the Holy Spirit for understanding. Okay let's begin. Session A. From the last session we understand that the bride now understands her spiritual identity. She understands her life purpose. Let's turn to the rest of the pages just review. Let's turn to page 140 for a quick overview of this next passage. This passage marks a significant turning point in the maiden's life. Jesus comes to her and shows himself as the sovereign king over all the nations. This is a new revelation for her. She now sees a different part of Jesus' personality and his mission. Paragraph C. Jesus is calling her to come out of the comfort zone. He longs that she would partner with him in the discipling of the nations. The issue is, is Jesus' leadership safe? If she obeys him fully, will she be safe? Even when it's costly and when it's difficult, will her heart and her relationship in Jesus be safe? And of course the answer is yes. Our body may be persecuted when we obey the Lord in different areas of the earth. But our heart will be vibrant in love. Our heart will be safe in the spirit. Page 141. Chapter 2, verse 8. The voice of my beloved suddenly she hears the voice of Jesus calling her. Suddenly she sees him coming, approaching her. He's leaping on the mountains and skipping on the hill. She said, my beloved looks like a gazelle or a deer leaping on mountains. Now remember, she's under the shade tree, at the table, enjoying fresh apples and enjoying the Lord. And the last thing the Spirit said about her in verse 7 was, don't disturb her, I'll do it in my own timing. Now he is disturbing her. He's approaching her very fast. Effortlessly leaping over mountains, nothing can stop him. He has power over every difficulty, every hindrance, he just leaps over it. This is a picture of Jesus having authority over everything that can hinder him. There are many mountains that try to hinder the increase of the Gospel. Paragraph B, Jesus has triumphed over all demons, all difficulties, all resistance. Page 142, Roman numeral 4. Behold, he stands behind our wall, looking through the window. So he's on the outside of the house, or the outside of the garden, and he's standing, and he's looking through the window at her as she's sitting at the table. Now in the Scripture, Jesus is normally pictured as sitting at the right hand of the Father. But here, he's leaping on hills and standing, ready for action. Paragraph C, she rightly describes it as our wall. She said, the wall between us isn't mine, we built it together. Up to that time, she was in full obedience, remaining undisturbed behind the wall under the shade tree at the table. She's in the garden, enjoying the Lord, undisturbed. But now, the season's changing, and he's disturbing the very season she was in. In verse 10, she said, verse 10, my beloved spoke, and he said to me, rise up, the season has changed. Come away with me, I'm discipling the nations, be involved with me. She doesn't like this new season. Jesus has been commissioned by the Father to disciple all the nations with his church. Page 143, paragraph C, she doesn't like this challenge to risky faith. She doesn't want to go to the mountaintop. She wants to stay in the garden. She doesn't want the struggles of spiritual warfare and the resistance against her. Paragraph E, but she must arise and obey if she's going to enter into deep partnership with him. Many believers refuse these challenges to leave the comfort zone. You can still go to heaven and live in comfort zone Christianity if you want. Many believers are comfortable in their comfort zone Christianity. They won't experience intimacy with the Lord. They won't know the joy of deep partnership with him. But they can still go to heaven. When I think of my 35 years of pastoring, there were several very significant times when the Lord disturbed me. He gave me a new assignment. And what I was doing was going so well. I was comfortable. I was enjoying the presence of the Lord. But the word of the Lord comes and says, I want you to do something different than what you're doing. And in my flesh, I take a big sigh, I don't want to do something new. I've been working hard at the last assignment. I remember very well in 1999, when the Lord disturbed me. He said, resign the church that you're pastoring and start IHOP. Now, I always had a vision to start IHOP many years from now. And as long as the vision was just something I was going to do in five or ten years, the vision did not disturb me. But when the Lord said, begin now, I did not like that. It seemed like so much work. It was new territory. It was doing something I was not comfortable because I couldn't fully understand what it was like. I was going to recruit thousands of young people to sing songs in a room to Jesus 24-7. Now, I'm not a singer or a musician. I said, Lord, how is this going to work? And they have to raise their own support. I have no money to give them. It sounds exciting theoretically, but practically it sounds terrible. Each of us in our life, we have those times when the Lord says, move out and take the challenge. It's not something that happens every week or every month or even every year. But this is speaking of those strategic times in your life. Maybe a few times in your entire life this will happen. And I remember the fears I had. What if it doesn't work? What if there's no money? And then the reality of the hard labor. And then the criticism people would have. Where is this in the Bible? Why are you doing this? And I said, oh Lord, maybe in a few years I'll do it. And the Lord says, no, this very passage, I want you to rise and come now and obey me in this. And I'm sure we all relate to this story, but just in our own practical ways. Roman numeral 6, verse 11 to 13. This is the Lord speaking to her. He's encouraging her as to the season of history that she's in. In verse 11, He said, the winter is past. The cold rains are over. Verse 12, the springtime is now before us. Can't you see the signs? The flowers are budding on the vines. Because when the flowers came forth, the next thing that came after the flowers was the apples or the grapes or the fruit. The fruit ready for harvest wasn't there yet, but the flowers just before the harvest were now on the vine. It's the time to get ready to sing. The harvest time has come, just around the corner. The voice of the turtle dove. You can hear the voice of the turtle dove singing. Now this would happen at the harvest time in Israel's calendar. Verse 13, the fig trees putting forth the green figs. Which means in just a moment, the mature figs would follow very quickly. Then He says it again, rise up! Can't you see all the signs of the harvest coming quickly are right before us? Page 144, paragraph B. He appeals to the signs of the times. He's using the agricultural language that the young maiden would understand because she worked on the farm. He says, look around, pay attention. Everywhere you look, you can see signs that the harvest is coming quickly. And if you want to be with Me in the harvest, if you want to partner with Me in the great harvest of the nations, if you want to be with Me in the great harvest of the nations, you need to face your fears and obey My challenges and learn to connect with Me now in these early days. Our choices to obey the Lord in the early days prepare us for the future days. Some people imagine, well, I'll just live in the comfort zone for now. And when the time comes, I will live in total obedience, but I'll just wait till then. The Lord says, no, you need to be in total obedience now, and that will prepare you for greater obedience then. Paragraph C. He says, remember the winter's past. I brought you through the hard times of former days. He goes, think about it. We made it through those difficult times. If I was with you in the winter and the cold rains, won't I be with you in the spring and the harvest as well? Paragraph D. Jesus says, remember I helped you in the former winter times. That is proof that I will help you in the challenges of the spring and the harvest that are soon coming. Paragraph E. Jesus now points to the spring, to the future. He points to the prophetic signs of the coming harvest. He points out the early stages of the harvest are already before her. The early stages are the guarantee that the full stage is coming soon. Paragraph F. Jesus did the same thing. He told them, look around, can't you see the signs of a great harvest coming? Here I am, fully God, fully man, I'm on the earth, I'm with you face to face. John the Baptist, the greatest man ever born of a woman, was just with us. Great signs and wonders are taking place through my hands as the Messiah. I have called you, I have trained you, can't you see there is a big story about to happen? Page 145. Paragraph I. The time of singing associated with the harvest is already beginning. Now, to talk practically about where we are in history right now. Beloved, the greatest harvest in human history is right now breaking forth across the nations. There are more people being saved day by day than any other time in history right now. It's not just the great harvest is going to come, it's already begun. It's before us in these years, right now. And the Lord of the harvest is stirring up his church all over the earth. Because many of them are stuck in comfort zone Christianity. They cannot see the signs of the harvest in this generation of history. They're so focused on their own difficulties and their own struggles that they can't hear his voice to arise. Beloved, this is the hour for radical obedience. This is an hour for radical decisions. This is an hour for extravagant giving of our time, our energy, our money to the Gospel. This is not the time of history to trawl back and play it safe and to make sure everything goes okay in your life. When I look across the nations, houses of prayer are springing up so fast across the earth. I don't mean houses of prayer connected to us, they're not connected to us at all. Many different applications, many different styles and models are springing up in the earth. We are in communication with leaders all over the earth. All over South America, people are saying, Yes, we've got to build prayer ministries in our nation. To combine it with the harvest and evangelism and missions. The missions movement has been going strong, but now God's joining it to the prayer movement. All over Africa, this is happening. Many places in Europe, people are beginning to build prayer ministries. All over Asia, people are being challenged by the Lord to build prayer ministries in their churches and in their college outreaches, etc. And when prayer joins together with missions, then there's a whole new dynamic. I mean, I think of your own nation, South Korea. You are the second largest missionary nation in the earth. And you're much smaller than America. But you're gaining quickly having the same number of missionaries. Percentage-wise, the Koreans are leading the whole world with missionaries being sent forth. America has more missionaries on the field, but percentage-wise, it's much smaller than South Korea. How could this little broken nation in 1950 be leading the world in missions and prayer? It's because of the prayer ministry in the 60s and the 70s and the 80s that the missionary movement goes forth across the earth. But you have combined prayer and missions like no other nation in history. And the economic recovery is totally miraculous in the last 50 years. Why am I saying this? Because the last 50 years is only a down payment to the next 50 years of what's going to happen far more intense. Not only is the greatest prayer movement and missions movement and harvest breaking forth in the earth, this is happening all over the earth. People are combining missions and prayer together in a way beyond any time in history. But the Lord has called the Koreans, I believe, to be the very point of the arrow and lead the world in this. So I would apply this passage to the church in South Korea. I would say, arise even in greater dedication than the past. More radical, more extravagant than even the last 50 years. Because the signs of harvest are right before us on a global level. Roman numeral 7. Now he gives her a real important personal exhortation. And verse 14 is a very important truth for the church in South Korea. Well, for the church in the whole earth. But because of this special leadership calling to combine missions and prayer that God has put on your nation, I believe verse 14 is especially important. So Jesus, who is leaping on mountains and hills, is now looking at her face to face. He says, arise, come with me now. He sees the look in her face and she's thinking, I don't want to leave the garden, no, not right now. Because in a minute we'll find in verse 17 she actually says no to the Lord. And he sees her struggle as he looks at her in the face. First he says, look around, harvest is breaking out everywhere, come on, arise, join me. She's still, I don't know if I'm ready for that kind of radical response. Then he says something very strategic. In verse 14, he says, oh my dove. He speaks with such tenderness to her, he knows she's afraid. He said, in the cleft of the rock and in the secret place of the cliff. Those are two very significant phrases. And you'll see as you read the notes later, in the cleft of the rock is speaking of the finished work of the cross. In the secret places of the cliff is talking about the mystery of the resurrection. He says, oh my fearful little one that's like a dove to me. Stand in the finished work of the cross and in the power of the resurrection. And I will help you to overcome your hesitations and fears. But here's what you should do right now as your heart is afraid. Let me see your face and let me hear your voice. What he's saying to her is, cry out for help and I will help you. Come before me and ask me to help. Don't draw back in fear or even condemnation because you're afraid right now. Brother, let me see your face, let me hear your voice. He's talking about in the place of worship and intercession and prayer. Ask me to help you and I actually will help you. And her heart is trembling and she's kind of looking at him. Because she already knows she doesn't want to rise up and go to mountains, she wants to stay in the garden. He says, for your voice is sweet and your face is lovely. What a surprising statement. Beloved, I ask you a question. Do you know that even now your face is very lovely and your voice is very sweet to God in prayer and intercession? You don't have to beg God to hear you. He loves your voice. He loves the sight of your face in prayer and intercession. He says, don't draw back, don't shut down. Let me hear your voice. Come before me in prayer and I will help you. And I believe the Lord is saying this very word to Korea right now. He's saying, rise up to another level of dedication even surpassing the last 50 years. Don't get comfortable with your great accomplishments in the last 50 years. Build more prayer ministries. Preach the gospel with greater zeal. Send out more missionaries. Raise up more young people. Give more money. Fast more. Don't get lazy and just complacent and comfortable with yesterday's victory. And I believe the church in Korea is the most dedicated church around the earth along with those of the Chinese believers. But the Lord is saying, I'm calling you to more dedication to believe me for more now. And some are drawing back and saying, Lord, I just don't have the energy to go for this again. And the Lord says, look at the harvest all around. And he says, don't you know that you are my dove, you are my precious one. And I want to see your face and I want to hear your voice. In the place of prayer. The place of worship. And don't say, no, I'm such a failure. Because your face is lovely to me and your voice is sweet to me. Page 146. Paragraph C. Jesus is the rock that the Bible and the Old Testament is symbolic of. Jesus is the rock in which the cleft or the wound came into his side. We see a picture of this in paragraph D. When God was about to reveal his glory to Moses in Exodus 33. He hid Moses in the cleft of the rock. And he covered Moses so that the judgment of God did not touch him when the full glory was manifest. Paragraph E. This is a picture of salvation. The cleft of the rock speaks of the wounds in the sides of Jesus that delivers us from the judgment of God. Like Moses was hidden in the cleft of the rock, so we are hidden in the finished work of the cross. He's telling the young maiden. Don't even consider your own accomplishments. Stand in the cleft of the rock. Stand in the place of the resurrection. And I will receive you and I will hear you. Paragraph G. He wants us to worship him and not draw back, even when we're afraid in times of weakness. He's calling her to ask him for help instead of drawing back and just settling down in compromise. Page 147. Paragraph H. I'm going to say it again. That the Lord sees your face. It's lovely when he sees you in prayer. Your voice is very sweet to him when you ask him for help. I told the Lord, if this is how you see me, then I will rise up and press into you. I won't draw back in fear. Paragraph I. We find a parallel of this when Jesus is talking to Peter. He said, Peter, you're about to enter temptation. Don't be complacent right now. Ask me to help you. He said, I see your willing spirit. Your heart is right. But because of the great challenge that's right before you, you need to be asking me to give you help. And that's really what Jesus is saying in verse 14. That stand in the place of prayer and ask the Lord for help. Romans 8. Now he specifically describes the prayer for help. Here's what you should be praying for when I hear your voice and see your face. Ask me to help you catch the little foxes. Because the little foxes are destroying your vine or destroying your walk with God. Page 148. Paragraph B. The foxes are cunning animals. They destroy the vineyard at night when nobody can see. The foxes are small. They're very fast. Very hard to catch. But they destroy the vineyard when nobody looks. Paragraph C. This speaks of the small compromises in our life. The fears that the young maiden has is the little fox that's ruining her vineyard right there. She refuses the Lord not because of rebellion but because of fear of immaturity. We all have little foxes, little areas of compromise that undermine our walk with God. Paragraph D. Our vine speaks of our walk with God, our fellowship with God. It's the little foxes that are destroying our ability to go deeper. We've said no to the big sins, the scandalous sins. We're walking in victory on the big areas. But the Lord tells her, ask me to help you catch the little areas, the little foxes, and then you'll have the ability to obey me. Paragraph G. She prayed, catch us, the little foxes. Now that's an interesting phrase. Catch us, the foxes. In other words, she's saying, I can't catch them by myself, but us working together, Lord, we can catch them. What the Lord is highlighting here, I want to see your face and hear your voice. I want to hear you cry out to me for help to overcome the little areas of compromise in your garden. And if you will do that, well, it's seemingly Peter did not do it. Because the Lord said, pray, Peter, you're going to be challenged, and maybe Peter didn't pray so much. Because he fell to the temptation. The Lord is urging the maiden, pray, catch the little foxes, I'll help you, but you need to do that right now. Stand before me in the finished work of the cross. Let me see you in the cleft of the rock. Stand in fellowship and in inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Don't draw back in shame because of your past failures. Don't get too busy that you don't ask me to help you catch the little foxes. He says, let me hear your voice. I love to hear your voice. Your voice does not offend me. My cross and resurrection made it such that I love to hear your voice. Ask me to help you to conquer the little foxes. Many people pray for deliverance when they have a big bondage, a big scandal of sin in their life. But she's not struggling with some big sin, she's struggling with fear, so she's going to draw back. Page 149. Then she says to the Lord, I just want to say again, Lord, I love you, and I know that you love me. Paragraph A. She restates her identity, I know that I love you and I know that you love me. Page 150. Verse 17. She says, until the day breaks, until the shadows flee away, I'm sorry Lord, but I'm going to have to say, turn and go jump on the mountains by yourself, not with me, I'm not ready to go. And so in verse 17, our heart goes, oh! This is a sad verse. The Lord says, let me hear your voice, cry out that we could catch this little fox of fear in your life. She goes, I'm not ready Lord, you go jump on the mountains without me. She's not being rebellious. She loves him. He is my beloved and I am his. But she's afraid. She's immature. The Lord says, now don't draw back in shame, I want to hear your voice, I love to hear your voice. And don't try to catch the fox without me, together we can catch that little fox in your life. Page 153. Now I'm just going to spend about 5 minutes on this session here. Session notes, number 14. Page 153. And we're still on teaching number 5. And I just want to point this out to you without going through it in detail. Because it's so deeply connected to the last set of notes. The Lord disciplines her because she drew back and said no to him. Page 154. Paragraph A. We see the Lord's response to her refusing to rise up and go to the mountains with him. He lifts his manifest presence off of her heart. He's not mad at her. He loves her so much, he said I'm going to cause you to arise, I know how to get your attention. Paragraph B. He loves us too much to leave us in compromise in the comfort zone. Yes, the cost of obedience is high. But the cost of disobedience is even higher. People say it costs so much to obey. And I say it costs far more not to obey. It's far more costly. Romans 3. God's discipline of us is not the same thing as his rejection of us. Paragraph A. The message of the Song of Solomon. One of the messages. He enjoys us even in our weakness. That does not mean he approves of everything we do. The Lord enjoys you as a person, but he might disapprove of various attitudes that you have. Page 155. Paragraph B. When he disciplines us, he shows his displeasure over an act or an attitude not over us as a person. In Proverbs 3, God loves the people he corrects. It says he delights in the very ones he's correcting. Some people mistake divine correction with divine rejection. His correction doesn't mean he's rejecting us. It's the proof that he loves us. So he has not changed his feeling of desire and delight in her in this season of correction. Page 156. Paragraph F. When we neglect to confront the fears and the compromises in our life, God doesn't love us less. That's not what's happening. But we do suffer loss, though it's not the loss of his love for us. We lose our ability to experience the joy of our salvation at the same level. And we lose other dimensions in our walk with God. But we don't lose his love and his delight and his interest in our life. Romans 4. Look at what her experience is. Verse 1. By night on my bed, I sought the one that I love. But something new just happened. I can't find him like I used to. I'm fasting and praying like I did before. But I can't find him. What happened in chapter 1 and 2? I could always find him when I prayed and fasted and worshipped. But his presence lifted off my heart. Oh no! I love him still. What's happening? I can't live like this. I love his presence. And the Lord smiles and says, I knew that's how you would respond. I know that you love me. Now let me hear your voice. And let me see your face in the place of prayer for help. And I will help you to arise. We will catch the little fox of fear. And you will arise and you will do what I asked you to do. So a little time passes by. Verse 2. Now I will arise. He smiles. He said, I knew that you would if I lifted my presence off of you. Page 158. Beloved, we can fast and pray and go through the normal spiritual disciplines. But it has to be combined with the spirit of obedience. Prayer is no substitute for obedience. So the man says, I will sin in this area, but I'll fast and pray more to make it up. Now, if we're fasting and praying so that we can catch the little foxes, that's good. But if we decide we're going to stay in those little compromises where the little foxes are ruining our heart, we're going to pray and fast for breakthrough of revival and breakthrough of finance, but we're going to continue in our compromise. The Lord says, no, no, don't pray for revival right now while you're in compromise. Pray that I would help you catch the little foxes. Because there's no amount of money or prayer or fasting you can give that substitutes for obedience. And so when I feel challenged in an area that I'm not ready to respond in, instead of just continuing like I did before, I'll go to the Lord, I'll say, Lord, help me catch the little fox that makes my heart afraid to obey you. And I go back to chapter 2, verses 15 and 16. I go, oh, I love you, and I know that you love me. I know that you don't despise me now because I have fear and compromise in my heart. I know that you want to see my face and hear my voice crying out for help to catch the foxes. And the Lord says, I do. Your face is lovely, and your voice is sweet when you ask me to help you. Well, Lord, I don't want to bother you with my little foxes and my areas of compromise. The Lord says, I really want you to cry out to me because I love you so much. You can read the rest of these notes in this session. The good news is that she did arise. She did obey. And she found him. And she says, I will never let go of you ever, ever again. That's what she says in verse 4. And we find out that throughout the rest of the Song of Solomon, she never lets go of him ever again. She said, I will never give myself to compromise again. I will hold on to you forever in obedience and love. Amen. We'll end with this. Let's stand. Lord, here we are before you. You're calling each of us to arise to a new challenge of obedience and faith. And in our flesh, we have fear and we say, no, I don't want to do that. But you know we love you. But you continue to say, no, I want you to arise and obey me in this. Can't you see that the harvest is breaking out all over the earth? Can't you see the signs of fruitfulness all around you? I'm about to do a special work. But you got little foxes in your heart. You're free of the big areas of scandalous sin. But Father, the foxes are ruining my heart right now. The little attitudes. The little compromises. That nobody sees on the outside. And Lord, I ask you, help me catch them. I will arise. I will obey you. My heart is afraid. Help me catch the little fox, oh you who I love. And when I break through, I will never let you go. I will hold on to you and never let you go. In Jesus' name, Amen.