Mike Bickle emphasizes that loving others is central to God's plan for the local church, as illustrated in John 15. He highlights that Jesus loves us with the same intensity as the Father loves Him, and this love compels us to extend it to others, especially those who may not enhance our lives in any way. Bickle encourages believers to see their pastoral calling as a responsibility to love and include those who are often neglected within the church community. He asserts that true fellowship goes beyond comfort zones and requires intentional outreach to the weaker members of the body of Christ. Ultimately, the church is called to be a family that reflects the Father's love, demonstrating it to the world.

John chapter 15. John chapter 15. Father, we thank you for your word. Lord, we ask you for living understanding. And Holy Spirit, we acknowledge your presence, even in this place right now. We ask you to teach us. We ask you to lead us into the truth, even now, in the name of Jesus. Amen. Well, in paragraph A, John chapter 15, verse 9, is the verse we've been focusing on in this series. It is one of the most remarkable, dramatic statements in the whole of the Bible. Verse 9, Jesus, I'll paraphrase it. He's saying, in the same intensity that the Father loves me, I love you in that same intensity. This statement, dramatic, I mean remarkable. It is the ultimate statement of our worth, that Jesus feels about us like the Father feels about Him. But it's not only a statement of our worth, it's a statement of the worth of every believer in the body of Christ. Even the ones that bother you and annoy you, this is how God feels about them. But this changes the way we view them when we see this. Of course, we'll never see it about another if we don't see it as true about ourself. Then he goes on in verse 12, and he connects verse 9 and verse 12 in a very strategic way. He joins these two truths. He says, in light of the fact that I love you in this intensity, I command you to be a vessel of this love to other people. He's saying, I've loved you this way, and in the overflow and the gratitude of receiving it, I want you to be part of my plan to express this kind of intensity to other people. Now verse 12 is a commission from the Lord. Every single believer is commissioned to operate in a pastoral way. Now that might be a new idea to some people. I'm not saying that you quit your job and you take the occupation of a full-time pastor. That's not what I'm saying. But the very command to love is a commission to take responsibility for others, even outside of our four or five good friends. He wants us to see people differently through this commandment. Now Jesus understands in giving these two truths and connecting them together. Verse 9, the intensity of how He loves us and the command to express that to others in His name and on His behalf. He understands that we receive the love of God in three distinct ways. And I believe that's one reason He connected these two verses together. We discover the intensity of verse 9, or we experience the intensity of verse 9 in three distinct ways. Number one is obvious. By the Holy Spirit and the Word of God in a direct way, God communicates that He loves us. Now of course we want more of that, but we understand the concept. The Spirit stirs our heart. He inspires us through the Word that God loves us. That's the direct way that we experience and discover this love. But the second way is indirect. By receiving it from another member of the body of Christ, that it's part of God's plan that He would reveal that He loves you the way God loves God. He would reveal it through the words and deeds and, and the hands and the kindness of other believers. Now here's the point. The full revelation of the love of God for your life, you cannot get alone. Directly by the Word and the Spirit, part of it has been strategically placed in other people to communicate to you, and God designed it this way. So we can be radically devoted to the Lord in an individual way, but we can't have all that He wants us to have in the love of God without being vitally connected in others showing and expressing a facet of that love to us. So that's the second way we discover the love of God is through the words and the deeds of others. But the third way is also indirect. It's by us being a vessel to communicate it to others. Not receiving it from others, but communicating it to others. I have found over the years that I have received significant things and insights into the love of God by sharing the love of God with other people. That there's a certain muscle that we work, a spiritual muscle as an analogy, and we work that muscle when we are communicating the kindness and the goodness and the love of God to others, it returns back to us. I have gained more understanding by giving love than even by receiving it from other people on some occasions. In the very act of serving others, you gain understanding of God's love for you. God's designed it this way. So let me say these three again. We understand that Jesus loves us like the Father loves Him, directly by the Spirit. Secondly, by receiving it from others, that's pretty obvious. And thirdly, by sowing this love into other people, we discover it ourselves about our own lives. So in verse 12, when Jesus commands us to love, He knows that the very action of doing it will change us and make us recipients of the very love we're communicating to others. Now all three of these dimensions of the love of God, or all three of these ways of discovering and experiencing the love of God are critical. We can't live without one of them. Now a lot of people focus all their attention on trying to understand the love of God directly by the Spirit and the Word. That's good to do that. Focus a lot of attention on that. But they cannot get the fullness of it in isolation. I mean they can be around other believers, but they have to be vitally interacting with them on a regular basis for the fuller revelation of the love of God to actually connect with their heart. Now every single one of us by this commandment have received a pastoral assignment. There's a pastoral anointing, a pastoral grace in every single believer in the body of Christ by virtue of the command, the commission to be vessels to share His love with others. Now again, the reason this matters, it changes the way we view people. Instead of thinking of Christian fellowship as three or four friends that are Christians that all like the same movies, they like the same music, they like the same sports. It's us four or no more. We have a good time together. There's a greater dimension of the love of God to be experienced only when we step out of that circle of the familiar. Paragraph B. Our commission to love extends beyond the familiar comfort zone of a few Christian friends who like what we like. Matter of fact, we would be friends with them if we were not in the kingdom of God. We like them even without the Holy Spirit's inspiration. They like what we like. We like what they like. Again, we like the same entertainment. We like the same sports. We like the same music. We like the same whatever, whatever. It doesn't take the Holy Spirit in order for those two to engage. Unbelievers all around the world do that. Jesus is talking about something more than that. He's talking about the spiritually stronger believers investing in an intentional way in the weaker ones with the understanding, I have written here in B, they cannot, they invest in those that can't enhance the stronger ones in any way in the natural sense. Meaning by investing in these weaker ones, they don't get more money. They don't gain more influence. They don't have more fun. They don't gain anything in the natural by investing in them. That's the kind of love of God that Jesus is talking about here. Now it's good that we have three or four friends and we have fun together. There's nothing wrong with that. That's, I'm not putting that down. But what I'm saying is the commission to love goes far beyond the comfort zone of our familiar few friends who like what we like and do what we do. It goes beyond what I call the cool zone of being with people that would seem like it would be fun to be with. Now there's nothing wrong with that, but that's not exactly what he's talking about. Try to get with as many cool people as you can and spend as much time as you can. And if they're Christians, it's fellowship and isn't that awesome? Now again, I think that has its place, but that's not what Jesus is talking about here. There is a spiritual dynamic that takes place that's very powerful in us when we're investing in sheer gratitude by having received the love of God. We're investing in those that cannot enhance our natural profile in any sense whatsoever. I'm talking about those that are weak in many ways, but spiritually is the point I'm focused on right now. Maybe they're in their character. They're moody. They're grouchy. They complain when you relate to them. They're negative. They got a huge rejection spirit. They resist everything you say. They don't answer back. They don't respond in a good way. Jesus says, that's the group I'm talking about right there. Now he knows that when we intentionally go after these folks and love them, something dynamic in us changes and we actually discover the love of God ourselves. And that outside of that tension, that reach, something inside of us does not mature and something inside of us is not strengthened apart from that lifestyle. But many believers don't think of love in those terms. They go, that guy, he bothers me. I don't like him. Again, I don't like the movies he likes, the music he likes, the sports he likes. I don't talk the way he talks. I don't like anything about him. Therefore, he's not under my purview of loving. And the Lord says, no, exactly the opposite. For that's the way I loved you. You didn't bring anything back to enhance my natural profile or my influence when you loved me. And I loved you because I loved you because I'm loved. And the Lord's telling us, I love that guy as much as I love you. And I love you as much as I love my son, Jesus. And I want you to be my part of my plan to share with that guy how I feel about him. And I don't mean just in a few words. Words are important though. Not minimizing words, but in action, by relating to them, by giving them a sense of belonging, by including them in the sphere of your life. And Jesus says, when you do that, it gives a tremendous signal, a message of what the Father is really like when we love people that can't in any way enhance our world in the natural way. That is so God-like. It's so opposite of how people naturally love, especially when they don't respond well, and they're not very interesting in the natural. People say, well, I don't really have any connection. I'm not really drawn to them. The Lord says, but I'm drawn to them. And the fact that I'm drawn to them should excite your heart because you love me. So be a vessel, a joint of supply that I will use to touch them. Now I'm guessing, this is a purely guess number. I can't prove it. But I'm guessing about 30% of the body of Christ, I mean genuine born-again believers. They're in the kingdom for decades. I'm just, again, I'm just totally pulling a number out of the hat. I'm just being honest about it. But I'm guessing about 30%. Nobody ever pursues them, ever. Nobody notices them. I mean, somebody might wave at them in a church service. Somebody might pass them in the hallway in an appliant way, say hello. I'm not talking about that. Nobody pursues them, includes them, goes after them. And the Lord says, I have a plan to fix that. And the Lord's saying to the stronger ones, I'll actually reveal my love to you while you're revealing my love to them. I'll surprise you with revelations of my love and how I feel about you. And again, there's a spiritual muscle, there's a dynamic that happens in our life when we live in that value system that creates strength in us that actually causes us to stand in greater ways in the future, in ways that we can't fully calculate. I mean, our muscles get strong, spiritually speaking, by living in that lifestyle together. I'm guessing 30% of the body of Christ, they are so trapped in the pain of loneliness. They live in the tyranny of lies about how worthless they are. They feel utterly like a failure in all that they do. And none of it is true. They can't connect with the truth I'm talking about, but they love God. But in a practical way, they can't connect with that. And the Lord says, I have a plan. And that plan is you. You and two or three of your friends, understanding your pastoral calling and responsibility together, intentionally go after Him and show Him how I feel about Him. Again, not just by a few casual words, meeting Him once and prophesying over Him. I'm talking about something far more than that. I'm talking about walking in love. Let's look at paragraph C. I have good news. Jesus is returning for a church that's filled with the glory of God. Ephesians 5. Now we know that the gospel has to be preached in every nation before the Lord returns. He said that in Matthew 24, 14. But Jesus has more than the gospel preached in every nation, so that there's, people get saved and they escape hell. That's good. I think escaping hell is awesome. But there's more on God's heart than people having the gospel being preached in every nation before He returns and having people in every nation escape hell. He wants more. He wants spiritual families dwelling together, called local churches, that give a witness about the truth of His fatherhood in every tribe and every tongue before He returns. So it's more than people get saved. He wants a witness of the Father. And the way the Father loves His people, by congregations of, you know, a hundred to several hundred to several thousands of all different types of people, there's always a smaller number of stronger ones that are pursuing the weaker ones. Now that isn't normal that the stronger ones pursue the weaker ones. Normally the stronger ones hang out with the stronger ones. But He's going to turn this thing around and Jesus says, I'm not coming back till my church in every tribe and tongue of the earth is actually walking in the glory of God. Witnessing the truth about My Father's love by the way the stronger ones actually include and pursue those that cannot enhance anything in their life in the natural. He's going to fill the earth with this witness of the Father. Paragraph D. Paul talks in Ephesians 4, 16, he describes the body of Christ. He said the whole body, Ephesians 4, 16, will be joined and knit together. Now here's the phrase, by what every joint supplies. God has ordained that every born-again believer be a joint of supply. And what I mean by that is that a joint of supply means we're a vessel that supplies a demonstration of the love of God to other people. Sometimes a large demonstration, usually a small demonstration, but it's a valid and important demonstration. Every born-again believer is a joint of supply. Meaning Christian fellowship is not four or five guys who again would be buddies if they were not even in the kingdom because they all like the same stuff. It's bigger than four or five Christian guys hanging out together playing video games and watching movies and listen to music. He says, no, I want you to take on this responsibility I've given you in the geographic area that you live in and I want you to express this pastoral anointing and give witness of what the Father's like in whatever part of the earth I've put you in for that season of your life. And when we see ourselves in this pastoral anointing, when we see ourselves as a joint of supply, we look at our neighbors differently. The Lord says, I want to reach them and not just so they'll get saved, I want to include them in a family when they get saved. Beloved, we have neighbors that are born-again believers and they're living in isolation. I mean the guy down the road. The Lord says, I love him and I want you to be a part of reaching him with the love of the Father. Well, he's already saved, he's going to heaven, but he doesn't feel like he's part of the family and I'm a father and I want that changed. Well, Lord, he goes to another church and the Lord says, I only recognize one church, it's the worldwide born-again body of Christ. Go love them. Paragraph E. Now, before Genesis 1, before the heavens and the earth were created, God the Father dwelt in a dynamic family relationship with the with Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Within the Trinity, Father, Son, and Spirit, the Father was functioning as the Father to the Son and the Spirit. So the family was always functioning in great joy and love. But there was a time when the Father declared, we are going to take the family life that we share and we're going to bring human beings into that family life with us. I mean, it's the most remarkable reality that we are actually participating in the family dynamics of what the Godhead experiences. We join their family as sons and daughters of God. I mean, we can be so used to the term sons of God, we lose the fact of what this really means. We're in the family that they have shared from eternity past. Now when Jesus came in His ministry, He revealed to the nation of Israel that the God of Israel was in fact a Father. This was His primary emphasis. Now the nation of Israel was aware of the Old Testament God with transcendent power. And what I mean by transcendent awesome power, majesty. Israel was familiar with the God of the prophets, the transcendent God. Jesus came and He said, let me tell you, the transcendent God with all power, majesty, and splendor is in fact a Father. And He has been a Father from eternity past. It's not a symbolic title. It's a name that describes how His personality functions. He thinks like a Father. He acts like a Father. He plans like a Father. And His desire is to raise up a family across the earth, all over the earth, in every tribe and tongue. It's called the Body of Christ. Local churches all over the earth that connect together as spiritual families. Not just the strong with the strong. Not just a few friends that like the same stuff hanging out together once a week. Far beyond that. But actually displaying the nature of the Father by the way we value those that can't give us anything back in the natural. That's the way the Father loves. And again, not only do some of them not give anything back in the natural, they're moody, they're negative, they repel the love you give them, they criticize you, they resist you, but they're in the Body of Christ. And the Lord says, I want them. I love them like I love you. And I love you like I love my son. That's what Jesus announced. Jesus taught us to pray. Our Father who art in heaven, not our God who art in heaven. He is God. There's no question. But He's more than just a God of power. He is a Father God. That was the revelation that Jesus came to bring us. Paragraph F. At the very end of Jesus's earthly ministry, right before the cross, the very last sentence that Jesus, that's recorded in the upper room before He went to the garden and then on to the cross, the very last sentence is John 17, 26. And we know that He was in the upper room where they had the Last Supper. And there's five chapters that represent that time frame. That evening, John 13, 14, 15, 16, and 17. Here we are, the final statement of John 17. And there's much understanding to be gained by understanding His final statement. He's in prayer to the Father. And we see His plan in this prayer. Jesus's plan is to awaken love in the body of Christ by revealing the Father's love. In essence, His plan was this. His ministry was this. I will reveal what the Father's like, and those that receive it, they'll love God and they'll love one another more. When they see what God's like, they will love more. That's His plan. So I'll tell them what the Father's like. I'll communicate the Father's love. When they hear of the truth, it touches them. They'll love God. They'll love people. Love will be awakened when the Father's revealed. He declares this in John 17, verse 26. He's talking to the Father and He says, Father, I've declared to them Your name. He's talking, the last three and a half year ministry, He says, by my lifestyle of love, by my teaching, by my miracles, I was always letting the people know what You're like. So when we see Jesus's lifestyle of love, His miracles and teaching, if we interpret them right, we understand, we get a picture of what the Father's like. He said, I made You known. That's what I was all about. Yes, I helped a lot of people. I lessened the burden of their life and I did a lot of other things, but primarily I was giving them a picture as to what You're like. But notice the next statement. The next statement is a future statement, whereas the first statement was a past tense statement. He goes, and Father, I'm going to continue to make Your name known. Now He does it in the cross, in the resurrection, but more. That's glorious. He makes the Father known to the cross of resurrection. That's a massive, glorious subject. But when He rose from the dead, ascended to heaven, set at the right hand of the Father, poured out the Spirit on the body of Christ throughout 2,000 years of church history, He's saying, through the church, I'm going to anoint them to declare what God's like. And as they are faithful to make God known, the Father known, people will love God and love people more. He says, I'm going to stay with the same program. And He goes on in the rest of the passage. He says, the divine love that You have for me will operate in them when they see what You're like. When they encounter Your love, the very love of God will be awakened in them. They'll love God more. They'll love people more. He says, that's my plan in my ministry on the earth for three and a half years, and that is my plan through the body of Christ to give a witness of what the Father's like. God wants us to make Him known in South Kansas City, along with hundreds of other churches. We all have the same mandate, and we're to do it together in a gracious cooperation. Our mandate is not just to get people out of hell, but it's to reveal the Father and have people function in a family under the Father's leadership, magnifying what He's like. That's what's on His mind, and to do this in every tribe and every tongue of the earth. Paragraph H, the well-known promise of John 13, verse 35. He says, by this, everybody will know that You are my disciples. You are my representatives. They will know You represent me when You love this way. And again, it's not just four or five friends having fun and entertainment together, and they all happen to be Christians. Fellowship is so much more than that, though it sounds like I'm down on that. I'm not. But I don't want to limit love and fellowship to four or five buddies hanging out together, and they all happen to be born again, but they don't really move forward in God, and together they don't bring other people forward. Beloved, if you've got three or four friends you hang out with a lot, you need to take seriously that you have a mandate, if He puts you in South Kansas City for three months or three years or whatever, to help make the Father known in this city. And that means loving people that you would not naturally hang out with if you were not inspired by the Holy Spirit. Jesus said, when you love this way, not only will it work a certain spiritual dynamic in you that will change you and make you strong, when you love this way, you will discover more about me. I will surprise you by revealing how I love you when you, when you set your heart to love this way. But He says in verse 35, unbelievers will conclude that the God of Jesus is actually a Father. Unbelievers will take a step back and they'll witness the way the stronger ones intentionally, consistently honor the weaker ones who can't help them. They'll say, why, you know, I can understand a one-time outreach where you were nice one afternoon and great, good for you. I'm not talking about a one-time, three-hour act of kindness and that's it. I'm talking about a people that dwell together where everyone in their midst is pursued and honored because the stronger ones see the glory and the value of this as giving testimony to the Father in our city and in our neighborhoods. The unbelievers will look at it and they'll go, wow, that's not natural to live, to love this way. They're not very fun to be with, those people you're reaching out to. How can they help you? They're not entertaining. They're not fun. They don't bring you money. They don't bring you influence. They don't open doors for you. They don't do anything. Why are you doing this so consistently? Because the Father has inspired me. He said, Jesus said, when people see this, they will conclude that God is a Father, that God is real, but He's more than real. He's actually a Father, is what He's saying. They will know you are my representatives, that you represent what, what I stand for and that's to make the Father known. They will say there's only one answer, the unbelievers will conclude there must be a supernatural being with the Father's heart inspiring them because they would never stay steady for so many years doing this. Now there's nothing notable about friends being nice to friends. He says in Matthew chapter 5 verse 46, He goes, even the sinners are nice to sinners when they like the same stuff and they hang out together. He goes, that's not bad, but He's saying there's nothing, there's no message in that. Nobody stops when four guys who all like the same, again, sports, music, hobbies, whatever, whatever, whatever. They all like the same thing. They hang out together. They wouldn't in the kingdom. They would still be hanging out together. There's no message in that. Nobody looks at it and they go, wow, that's awesome. Jesus said, the tax gatherers do that. He said, but what has a message in it is when they're, they're not those that you're naturally attracted to without the Spirit and they don't respond right, but you keep reaching out to them together. Twos and threes of you keep going after them. I believe one of the most neglected mission fields in the kingdom of God is the body of Christ. Now again, I'm operating off of this hypothetical number of 30 percent that I believe nobody pursues ever for decades. And these believers, though they started off zealous, you know, after five years, ten years, twenty years, they have lost so much ground in the Spirit. They feel filled with pain. They feel hopeless. They're in despair. They see no reason to even go forward. The Lord says, I want to recover them. Now there's a number of neglected mission fields out there, but I want to just draw attention today not to the only mission field, but actually the mission field of the neglected members of the body of Christ. Now what you must not do is hear this with a sense of entitlement. Like, well praise God, finally somebody's going to start loving me. I'm not telling you finally someone's going to start loving you. I'm telling you to start loving people. Well, I'm one of the weak ones. Well, you'll get stronger by starting the process. The strong will get stronger by doing this, and the weak will get stronger by doing this. So I'm not wanting to give a sense of entitlement. You're going to sit back on row eight and wait till somebody finally makes you feel important. No, you commit. You're going to start that pastoral function to people of the body of Christ outside as well. We'll get to the subject outside real soon. I mean witnessing to unbelievers. But there's a tremendous recovery that must happen on the inside of the church as well. Turn to page two, Matthew chapter 16. Jesus gives one of the greatest prophecies in the whole Bible. He says, I'm building a church. And He says, and I'm going to build a church that's going to prevail over the authority of Satan. That's what He's saying here in verse 16. The gates of Hades means the gates of hell, which means the authority of Satan. He says, I'm in a building program. I'm going to build spiritual families that will, you know, be a couple hundred here or a couple thousand over there. And among them, everybody will be pursued and honored. And the strong ones will feel the responsibility to bring the weak ones into a sense of belonging and importance. It will be so staggering that unbelievers will be struck by it. But it will also be the place of safety and power for the people of God in that dynamic. Jesus said, I'm building a church. Now in the last probably 20 years, I've been pastoring for 35 plus years, and the first 10 or 15 years, the church was pretty popular in the 70s and 80s. But in about the last 20 years, in the Western world, the church isn't popular no more. It's kind of went out of style. It's not cool to be deeply committed to a local church. But I have good news for you. Jesus is building a church, and He has a tremendous recovery program that's going to fully succeed. He's coming back for a church deeply connected with everybody pursued and valued. And the strong ones are taking the initiative. They're taking their four or five good friends, and instead of hanging out together, us four no more, they're taking the responsibility. Together, we're going to go get those other ones and bring them into the realization of the Father's heart. And we're going to do it with unbelievers too. Again, that's a big subject, a very important subject. Jesus said in verse 19, I'll give you the keys or the authority to bind the works of the devil and to release the works of God. So verse 19 is a very popular and famous verse. God gives the authority, the keys, to stop the bad things, to bind them, and to release the good things, to loose them. Now many people focus on verse 19, because it's glorious. It's the power of God. It's the favor of God. It's the blessing of God. But here's a part we must not neglect. Jesus promised the power in verse 19 in context to the building of the local church in verse, right before in verse 18, I will build my church. We cannot separate the power, the promise of power in verse 19 from the context of people being committed to one another. And again, not just the strong to the strong, not just the cool ones with the cool ones, but it's the strong ones reaching those that have no other way to make it. And he says, that's where my power will be manifest in that context. Some people, when they're training for ministry, they have a dream of a big ministry and great power. But let me tell you, the dream in Jesus's heart was not just to have a big ministry of great power, but it was to build a family under the Father. And the Holy Spirit wants us to use the power and the ministry to build a family, not to separate it. So I talk to young people and I say, you need to add to your dream to operate in power, a dream to help build spiritual families in whatever city God's put you in. Again, I might just talk about a small little cluster of four or five people that like the same things that hang out together and just have fun, which again, that is not bad at all. That's, that's a cool thing to do. I like people that I like. I mean, that's really fun. That's not negative at all, but beloved, our mandate is far beyond that. And again, there's spiritual dynamics that happen in us when we do that. Jesus's top priority is the building of the church. Number two, could you imagine a couple thousand people? I mean, it's going to happen all over the earth that are operating as a spiritual family, a couple hundred people, whatever. It doesn't matter what the number is, but it's, it's, it's, it's more than five or ten. And they're dwelling together and the gates of Hades, the oppression of Satan has no inroads in any of their lives. Could you imagine a couple thousand people where nobody is oppressed by the devil in the midst of them? Well, that's what verse 19 promises, but it's in context of the verse 18, the family of God. I have here number, paragraph three, the local church is the God ordained place for the greatest power, the greatest blessing and the greatest protection in the body of Christ. The greatest place of power and protection is when we dwell together intentionally building a family that loves in this way. It's, it's loving in the mundane, the routine. It's bigger than just hanging out and having fun. I'm talking about something far more powerful than that. Paragraph J. You can read this passage on your own, but here's what the point of it is. Ephesians 3, 18 and 19. He is telling us, Paul is telling us that the fullness of God, the full purpose of God can only be experienced, verse 18, when all the saints dwell together. We can't experience the fullness if the saints are separated from one another. So he says in verse 18, when all the saints are operating together, and that's talking about all the saints in different local congregations, not all the saints of the whole earth, but all those that he's put you together with, when they are dwelling together in love, that's verse 19 where the love is manifest. We'll end here in paragraph L. Hebrews 10 exhorts us not to forsake the assembling together. And again the last 20 years it's kind of become popular in the western world to forsake the gathering together where the church functions as a family together. And I want to urge our IHOPU students and our interns, these 20, 21, 22 year olds, not married, no children, I want them to get a dream that is according to what Jesus said, where they're going to raise their families in context and have their children grow up with the value of the local church, because it's God's plan, it's not man's plan. We messed it up, but Jesus is going to recover it. Beloved, it's critical, I'm talking to the students now, you're not even married, you don't have children, but one day, many of you will be, and those children, they're four or five, everything will be fine, but when those children are 18 and 19, they have to be in a dynamic relationship where they're giving in a costly way to other people besides a few of their friends, or they won't be spiritually strong and stable. They have to be receiving from people besides their three or four friends, or they won't have the love of God in the full way God wants. They'll know a few years ago by, they'll be 25, they'll be 35, they'll be 45, they won't be equipped to stand if they don't grasp what the church is. So I want to send our young folks back home with a revelation of the beauty of Jesus and the glory of His spiritual family. Amen and amen. Let's stand. I want to encourage you to do two things. The worship team's coming to say yes, Lord, to this pastoral calling on every single person's life by virtue of the command to love one another. That's a pastoral calling. You'd say, okay, it's more than us four, no more. A few of our friends, I'm actually going to take responsibility for some people in my neighborhood, on my campus. Okay, I got a mind to do that. I want all of you to say yes to the Lord to that in just a moment, if you want to, but it's biblical. And secondly, the young people, you're going to determine, I'm going to raise my family, build my family in the context of the church. I know it's not popular now, but it's going to have a comeback in a fierce way, and it's going to come back soon. But you're saying in your heart, I'm going to do what Jesus said. I'm going to lead you in prayer. Father, I say yes to the pastoral anointing. I want to take responsibility for the weak and broken ones that have no way forward. Just talk to him for 30 seconds. But I want to do that. I mean, there's plenty in this room right here. So I'm going to get two or three friends. We're going to start going after some folks and help them connect with the Father. Secondly, you're saying, I want to build my family, my spouse, my children into this reality. Regardless what the trend of the culture is right now, I'm going to go with the Bible. I'm going to do this. Now, anybody that would like prayer for this or for a physical need, you need healing, or for a personal request, I would invite you to come down to these lines. We're going to take a few minutes to pray for you as the worship team leads us. You're saying yes to the pastoral anointing. Or you're saying, Lord, I need somebody to join me in prayer to believe you for a breakthrough.