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The Wisdom and Privilege of Embracing Our Sacred Trust
Mike Bickle

Mike Bickle (1955 - ). American evangelical pastor, author, and founder of the International House of Prayer (IHOPKC), born in Kansas City, Missouri. Converted at 15 after hearing Dallas Cowboys quarterback Roger Staubach at a 1970 Fellowship of Christian Athletes conference, he pastored several St. Louis churches before founding Kansas City Fellowship in 1982, later Metro Christian Fellowship. In 1999, he launched IHOPKC, pioneering 24/7 prayer and worship, growing to 2,500 staff and including a Bible college until its closure in 2024. Bickle authored books like Passion for Jesus (1994), emphasizing intimacy with God, eschatology, and Israel’s spiritual role. Associated with the Kansas City Prophets in the 1980s, he briefly aligned with John Wimber’s Vineyard movement until 1996. Married to Diane since 1973, they have two sons. His teachings, broadcast globally, focused on prayer and prophecy but faced criticism for controversial prophetic claims. In 2023, Bickle was dismissed from IHOPKC following allegations of misconduct, leading to his withdrawal from public ministry. His influence persists through archived sermons despite ongoing debates about his legacy
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Sermon Summary
Mike Bickle emphasizes the significance of embracing our sacred trust in the context of God's prophetic history, urging believers to remain faithful amidst the mundane and challenging aspects of life. He reflects on the prophetic words received 30 years ago regarding the establishment of 24-hour prayer and the rise of intercessory missionaries, highlighting the importance of commitment to this divine mandate. Bickle encourages the congregation to grow in revelation and understanding of their roles, asserting that true fulfillment comes from engaging deeply with God's purpose rather than merely fulfilling duties. He stresses that the sacred trust is a serious vocation, not a casual commitment, and calls for a collective effort to fulfill God's global mandate through prayer and worship. Ultimately, he reminds the audience that their faithfulness in this calling is crucial for the unfolding of God's plans in the earth.
Sermon Transcription
Turn the page over It's gonna cover a couple verses won't take a lot of time on it but first Before we look at a couple of these verses Let's just go back 30 years ago I'm thinking of the zeal of the Lord. I mean the fact he was zealous to set this up When the Lord does things Decades ahead of time or in the Bible sense centuries ahead of time He's showing his zeal for a certain for various points things. He really really cares about So I meet Bob Jones 30 years ago and here's what he tells me on the first day I meet him we're over in Overland Park You're gonna have 24-hour prayer with singers and musicians that that's inconceivable. I've never heard of that before He tells me They're gonna be watching all over Asia on unplugged TV sets on their watches He tells me you're gonna move from Overland Park and you're gonna be next to Truman's property We own Truman's property now. It was given to us as a gift He went on to say at that time. They're gonna perfect the abortion pill It's gonna be around the whole world this abortion pill He said at that time the homosexuals are coming out of the closet parading in the streets and they'll be supported by the government's Those things were so bizarre. He said when you see these things happen, they're all going to converge together He told me when we were over in Overland Park. He said you're gonna be on an intersection Grandview Road and Blue Ridge I'd never seen the intersection heard of it or seen this building ever before or heard of this building Well, it's 30 years later There's many more things. Here's my point. The Lord is saying to us. I made a point That you would understand how important this was to my heart now. We can tell the prophetic story people get excited man what a great story, but What a privilege to have a prophetic history, but beloved the point of the prophetic history is the Responsibility to be faithful to what the story is about But the problem is that the faithfulness is in the midst of the mundane and the routine and the difficult The story is amazing But the faithfulness the walking it out. It feels like this 30 years ago. I would have thought when all of those things converged and many many more I Would have thought it would have felt just Remarkably dynamic all the time, but let me tell you what it feels like When a global in time purpose is Unfolding even in a rapid way. It feels like you feel today That's what it feels like a lot of us just our natural Idealism would have thought it different and that by itself is a stumbling block Well, I thought it would have been more kind of gripping more Compelling more and the Lord says if it was all of those things, I wouldn't have had to give you a prophetic history The prophetic history is to bolster you in the mundane and routine and To persevere in the conflict so you don't draw back when it's difficult It's like a paragraph a Second Chronicles 29 Hezekiah said in prophetic singers. He's 300 years after King David Why did Hezekiah the king 300 years later said in prophetic singers? because David Commanded all the Kings to do it. Why? Because God commanded David to command the Kings Here's my point There was something in God's heart that David was the first one to catch God said David I command you to command them. This is really important to me Well that command of the Lord has been extended to us as a people May 1983 30 years ago. He spoke audibly and Confirmed it Supernaturally, he's saying in essence that command back in 2nd Chronicles 29 I've extended it to you in the spiritual family that will raise up out of this seed We call it intercessory missionaries. It's an occupation This occupation is critical to our mandate The majority of the people that will be a part of this spiritual family won't be Occupational intercessory missionaries, they won't be the majority won't be but there will be 5,000 that will be doing this full-time and I love what Alan said some will do it for a season and then in the will Of God God will send them to another city to do it there for a season or They'll do it for a season and then the Lord will assign them to the marketplace and the perfect will of God and there is No failure if you do the will of God And you can engage equally as Much you won't be in the prayer room as much but you can engage in the will of God Regardless if it's here on the staff in the marketplace in this city in a far far away country Doesn't matter the will of God is what we're after Well, it's the intercessory missionaries. It's an occupation Beloved it's not a voluntary thing. I said that last time This is a real job with a real stewardship from heaven, that's real It's not well, we raised some money. And so we're volunteering at church camp. That's not what's happening And as long as things kind of go pretty good We're gonna keep volunteering if it doesn't get in our schedule and get in our way Now the vast majority of you understand what I'm saying This is a divine mandate God Commanded David to command the Kings to establish this office We call it the intercessory missionary because the Great Commission Broadens it beyond what they understood in David's day took a paragraph B Isaiah describes the end-time prayer Movement and worship movement beyond anybody else in the Old and New Testament. I mean he describes it the most He says in Isaiah 42 we all know the passage we go through it well often He says sing to the Lord a new song this phrase new song in there is prophetic songs and prophetic music The the the idea of the new song implies prophetic Beloved I believe that the generation that sings these particular new songs They will which is the generation of the Lord returns God I believe Jesus will give them the best songs of his heart from all of history. I Believe the greatest love songs in his heart Up throughout all of history are being reserved for one generation in time Now these new songs that the people of God will sing. There's a human process involved Meaning he doesn't wave his hand and all of a sudden somebody starts prophesying. There's a human process They've been faithful in small before God gives them the greater And before the nations are singing the new song there's by implications some decades of this paradigm this mandate this vision being cast and the nation's working at it and Engaging themselves all over the earth for some time before it comes to fullness And that's the season that we're in right now, let's look at paragraph C We know this passage. Well I've set watchmen on your wall. Now. This is the Lord speaking He says these intercessors the watchmen are intercessors They'll never be silent they'll go 24 7 look at verse 7 they'll never be silent until Jerusalem's appraised in the earth now Jerusalem doesn't become appraised in the earth till the second coming So Jerusalem becoming appraised in the earth and the second coming of Jesus that happens the same time What Isaiah is saying is that the Lord is going to set? intercessors in place and There's one particular generation of intercessors That are in view in this passage now Intercessors throughout history can can borrow this passage and apply it but this passage is only fulfilled by one generation It's those that are set in place and don't discontinue until the second coming they stay faithful to the second coming This is an end time passage This is talking about the decades leading up to the second coming of Christ when Jerusalem's appraised in the earth Here's what this passage tells us The Lord is going to be sovereignly active all over the earth in Setting intercessors again. We call them intercessory missionaries a full-time occupation he's going to be putting them in place and The reason we consider our sacred trust sacred is because it's the Lord that's setting us in place Again, it's a serious vocation. It's not a volunteer kind of church camp sort of thing this is a setting and a sending of the Lord Now the Lord sent many of you here Undoubtedly's refuges kind of showed up and you thought hey I don't know if I was sent or not Maybe you were but I believe the majority of you the vast majority of you were sent here by the Lord and you were set in place and again, the Offense is this is what it feels like to be set in place in A move of God that has an end time global purpose It feels like it feels today and yesterday and Saturday and last Thursday and last Tuesday That's what it feels like to be set in place and Again, that's stumbling block causes many to lose their way Well, the Lord sent you here, but let me tell you something, you know But let me remind you if you don't grow in revelation I mean understanding of the Word and encounter with the Lord in the Word if you don't grow Progressively in your revelation of the the revelation of what worship is about what intercessions about the end time move of God I mean obviously the beauty of the majesty of Jesus if you're not growing in revelation This setting of the Lord will be boring and burdensome to you I've talked to a number over the 14 years and they're burnt out The burnout doesn't come from the long hours The burnout comes from the duty without the connectedness in the growing revelation three years of doing this without growing in Your understanding of the Word you will be so wearisome and restless. It won't take three years. They'll take three months Well, probably three months the novelty will keep you going Some of you've been here eight years ten years some of you 14 years. I'm gonna say to you If you're feeling burnout, that's a normal human feeling Some of you feel I understand it. It's not because the work is hard Although the work is hard, but that's not where burnout comes from It comes from doing the duty without our spirit growing because we can't live in 2013 Simply on the fresh revelation that we had in 2007 8 or 9 or even 2010 if you're not growing in revelation You're growing in burnout You can rebuke the devil, but the burnout won't go away if you rebuke the devil I help a little bit rebuke the devil What are you doing now? Some of you and I'm not even saying this as a rebuke. I'm saying this with a shepherd's heart. I really am you've come here You were real engaged for six months or six years, whatever But in the last few years you've been on the edges You're on the peripheral Doing whatever you need to do to keep your missionary stipend beloved. That is the guaranteed place of burnout Stay on the edges Lord says I didn't call you to the edges I'm raising up intercessors. I'm raising up a global worship movement across the earth I spoke audibly to initiate this thing and the way I Commanded David in a very secondary way because I mean that's in its class of its own He's been giving men and women all over the earth dreams and visions commanding them to do this sort of thing He's extending this commandment to us He's called you he interrupted you he set you here He says I'm the one that set you get your mind off of what the requirements are I Sent you and I set you It's about you and me and If you're not growing in revelation or understanding is what I mean, you are growing in burnout. I assure you You're growing one way or the other Look at a man, I mean paragraph D Amos chapter 9 The Lord says I will raise up the tabernacle of David Now I want you to follow this. We don't spend much time on Amos 9 over. We did a little bit in the first years This is a remarkable prophecy. This is a prophecy as dramatic as Isaiah 62 One the one we just looked at that God's going to be calling intercessors in the generation The Lord returns until Jerusalem becomes a praise in the earth. They won't back down. They won't lose their Commission but look at here it says I'm going to raise up the tabernacle of David and the purpose of raising it up verse 12 is that My people would possess The remnant of Edom beloved that's Islam That my people would bring the kingdom to Islam. That's what he's talking about right here He goes not just Islam all the nations when it says Gentiles a Lot of translations use the word Gentile and nations interchangeably because it's the same. It's the same word Now look at what he says in verse 14 verse 14 and 15 Verse 14 and 15 give us the timing indicator of when he's going to begin to release the spirit of the tabernacle of David He says here's when you know, I'm releasing it in a way where I'm going to begin to Bring in Islam and the nations at a whole nother level Now he's been doing it all through church history But there's even a more specific timing indicator because it's been going for 2,000 years But there's something more intense in that final generation He says in verse 15 It's going to be the timing indicator when I plant Israel in the land But when I plant them in the land in a way where they're never ever uprooted again Now there's been three times God has planted Israel in the land of Israel God planted them in the in the land in the generation of Joshua right after Moses Maybe about 1400 BC He planted them in the land in the generation of Joshua Then again, he planted them in the land because they were driven out in the generation of Zerubbabel about 536 BC and The third time he plant but those two times they were uprooted from the land, but there's a third Planting of Israel in the land of which the Bible's clear They will never ever be uprooted and all of them driven out of the land Beloved that generation began in 1948 we are in a time frame a timing indicator of a generation of which this prophecy could never be fulfilled in another generation until they were planted in the land the spirit of the tabernacle of David is Increasing among God's people it comes to its fullness when Jesus returns but that spirit of the tabernacle of David is Increasing in that generation and that's the thing that we're seeing across the nations right now Now you can read just a little bit on the notes there But when I think of the spirit of the tabernacle of David, I think of the truths all Coming together that we connect with the Friends of the Bridegroom The Tabern Spirit of the tabernacle of David. There's the intimacy with God the love of God the beauty of God We call it the bridal paradigm, but those are all David type revelations The spirit of the tabernacle of David is the end time unique dynamics those truths Oh, but how the Lord is going to take possession of all the nations of the earth and bring Israel to fullness Those are also Captured in this thing called the spirit of the tabernacle David those truths are all coming together right now All around the world they're growing and they've been growing if I had to pick a date from this passage when God set Israel in the land 1948 This there began to be an acceleration of this purpose So good paragraph II Just three Fillings so to speak in our first year The first ten years we were challenged to fill the schedule 24-7 and keep the fire on the altar But that that's not it This is the context to fill our schedule for God to give us five thousand full-time Intercessory missionaries and there'll be many thousands more in our spiritual family of FCF. It's not enough to fulfill the schedule 24-7 the Lord said by an angel and he confirmed it supernaturally. I'm gonna send you 5,000 why? So we can have a like a great time with even more people know because it will be necessary for 5,000 full-time intercessors to be all engaged in order to birth the purposes God spoke to us over the city Some folks say going to the prayer room. There's a couple hundred people. There's plenty on the stage. They are not needed here The schedules were keeping the fire on the altar and the Lord says now that was only the beginning part of the first stage I'm sending the 5,000 Because there's no way you can enter into all that. I've promised you as a city without 5,000 strong Occupational full-time intercessors. Here's my point when the rooms full and the stage is full You are still needed by the Lord because we're not even close to that 5,000 the Lord says there's yet a greater increase that I require to release the greater promises You're all needed There's a bigger vision than keeping the schedule full paragraph F Well, there's something else going on He wants to fill the earth with it every tribe and every tongue and he's given us a role in it It says I want to see 5,000 full-time. You're going to need that to birth my purposes in the city Which by the way your individual family purposes are connected even to the purposes of the city of God's placed you here So it's not like Individually, you're going to enter into fullness while the city's put you into the kingdom of God in that city is not the two are dynamically connected together But he said I didn't just call you to touch your city I gave you a global mandate together with many others I'm going to fill the earth with this thing That's the season that we're entering into even in these days and that's I'm just saying I don't really know Just throw the next 10 or 20 years on that. It could be longer could be shorter But there's something else that he wants to do when the earth has 24-7 and every tribe in every town He wants to fill the bowls Because when the bowls in heaven are filled That means the prayer movement on the earth is in unity with the prayer movement in heaven When the bowls are filled and that's when Isaiah described all the nations of the earth with singers and musicians Revelation 19 describes all the nations singing just before the second coming of Christ in heaven Beloved what the Lord's after all the saints and angels in heaven singing The book of Isaiah says all the saints on the earth are singing. There's a convergence together of the two realms Isaiah focuses on the earthly John focuses on the heavenly But the two choirs and symphonies come together at the coming of the Lord When the bowls are full the church is filled with glory When the bowls are full the bowls of wrath are poured out against the Antichrist and injustice is cut off in the earth Oppression is driven off the planet when the bowls are released The Lord's telling us 30 years ago. He goes. I'm calling you to a big picture. You don't even understand You're gonna do 24-7 prayer I'm gonna bring you to 5,000 full-time and many thousands beyond that that aren't full-time all part of one family You're going to be connected to the global picture The global picture has to mature over years it will come into a convergence with the heavenly symphony and My son his work will be declared on heaven and heaven in heaven and on earth in Unity together and when the worthiness of the Lamb is declared in that kind of unity then he's coming back to the earth That's the only time the earth will be worthy of him the psalm 91 Protection we all know about Psalm 91 in the time of trouble The only place that protection will be fully in place Globally in the body of Christ as as the bowls are full and the prayer movements in unity on earth with the prayer movement in heaven My point is this we're at the beginning of the beginning This is dynamic. It's it there's life and death issues at stake in The prayer movement growing this isn't a practice game. It's the real deal God spoke audibly He sent comments. He sent Gabriel. He sent tremendous. I he goes I mean for you to do this Well, I don't get my turn forget your turn. There's a way bigger storyline and you're in it And again, you might do it on the staff and then you do it in the marketplace stay engaged faithful You can be as faithful in the marketplace is on staff because it's the will of God that's faithful You can do it in this city. You can do it in that city stay connected because it's one reality together Let's look at the sacred trust recommitment form. I'm gonna ask John Thurlow and Cory to come up and misty They're just gonna share four or five minutes apiece Just a little bit as to why they're doing it. I asked him I said, why are you doing this? I'm gonna have John share and then misty and then Cory all three of you come on up to the stage Most of you are familiar with this and this is on the Internet on our website I mean, so if you haven't had time to just study it through and we want you to hand it in today But if you say no, I need a little bit more time We have till June 1st you can bring it to the sacred trust office or if you're an intern bring it to your core leader or if you're a Student bring it to your discipleship coordinators, etc The reason this sacred trust is sacred because God put us here again, this wasn't just a Voluntary church camp sign up. This was a setting of the Lord in the generation I believe that will escalate until the coming of the Lord. It's sacred number two because God spoke it audibly Beloved there's not that many audible voice commissions that I know about that. I'm a part of It's this and the Lord's saying do you think I did that for your entertainment? I Did it so you would know how zealous I was So when you face the mundane and the boredom and the offenses you would press through them and state keep this thing sacred the bottom of the page We want you to mark full-time Part-time whatever I So appreciate the the night watch there the unsung heroes of this whole mandate and movement Beloved this entire movement that we're a part of that has global ramifications That are gonna unfold in the decades to come. It's built upon humans keeping the sacred truck trust secret when the sacred trust is not sacred the whole thing breaks down as simple as sitting in a chair and Agreeing with what's being said on the microphone as simple as that is the entire thing. God has called us to it is Connected to being faithful in that reality Go ahead and turn the page over You're making three commitments Number one that you'll keep your twelve sets of your six sets or whatever the number is number two you're committing to your service commitments and Number three you're committing to be a part of these team meetings the all-staff meetings and to be in our family gathering We gathers a family on the weekend. This is essential This is not optional when you say take your sacred trust. You're committing to all three of these Again says at the bottom of that box June 1st if they we don't receive it by then we're taking it as Hearing it you're making a change in your life. In other words if it's not serious enough to you To attend to this then we're thinking this isn't really something that you're taking seriously And so I imagine the vast majority will give us a day in the rest of you within the next week You'll have us in prayer room over on the bottom on the left Put just the 12 we don't want 18 if you put 18 that I mean if you go to 18 I commit to 18 prayer meetings a week, but only 12 of them are my sacred trust We only want your 12 we don't want the other six that's between you and God I can skip them when I want to Something comes up, but my 12 I can't skip Put the location over in the this left box prayer room the right side of the left left box Put the location whether you're in because the FCF counts as one of the sacred trust sets Or a Hope City or all nations prayer room or justice prayer room all of those prayer rooms put that Indicate where it's at Then over your service hours, that's pretty obvious, and if you're making any changes Put a big C. So the sacred trust office. I see C Big C. I've changed this so they don't have to go through every single 12 Sets for every person so they can see instantly which ones you've changed And as I say every year, I've said this for 14 years. Our greatest need is Saturday mornings and Sunday mornings If you say I'll do anything to be helpful. We need about a hundred of you between that 6 a.m. And Noon on Saturday and Sunday. I don't mean you have to do the whole six hours, but pick two hours of those six or more That's our greatest need I just went that's where our greatest need for intercessors on the wall worshipers John Coming over here so you can hear that Tell us you bet how long you've been doing this nine years nine years Tell us why and what's going on in your heart? Yeah, so nine years ago. I came to Kansas City Previously I'd you know gone into college fiery came out not fiery But knew it showed up at IHOP in that condition Got drawn in by the music because I had a degree in music and that's what I wanted to do with my life So I came to the music didn't care so much about the prayer part but in order to be on staff in order to do music I have to do a sacred trust and I have to If you do music you have to do Jesus. Okay, I'll do the whole thing. That's right So I did But my heart was still just dull and just different areas of compromise and whatever just just a mess But in that room, you know doing my sacred trust and and somewhere in the middle of that I Just started to hear the Lord's voice again. Just speak to me like he had in my early days when I was a teen and Just Really got a hold of my heart again Really? I'd say the two When I look over the last nine years at my life at IHOP the two big things that have made the difference in terms of just being steady would be the Just that reality of the Revelation 4 throne room that's That reminds me that what we're doing is real if I'm on the stage if I'm in the chair Regardless of whatever whatever my role is at that moment. The bigger point to me is that there is One sitting on the throne with the appearance of a Jasper stone and sir I mean, he's holy he's full of love and he's watching and that makes it all real. I'm all and it's that's not automatic I walk in, you know tired at 6 a.m And that it it up, but then I just I'll get up and pace to kind of wake myself up and I'll just start saying those Phrases, but Lord, I thank you that you're seated upon the throne this morning and boom not every time but many times It's like okay. This is real That's why I'm doing this. It's real. He's up there. I'm down here He sees it it matters. It touches my heart So that's that's the first thing The second thing is just taking the Word of God and speaking it or singing it back to him That's what's I mean the just the power of that the impact of that I can remember being on Lisa Gottschall steam as a as an associate worship leader and and And John O'Hall's worship team as an associate and we're going through Psalm 16 and I can remember one night Some weeks after having done this scripture passage. I'm in my bed. I can't fall asleep. I'm unsettled There's a lot of just traffic inside and a phrase from Psalm 16 just comes to my mind It's the first time that had really happened in my life Like the scripture just coming out of nowhere and it was the preserved me Oh God, and and I just I just I was like, what is this and I was I was realizing oh my gosh Yeah, we've been studying these passages and for our outlines and it made it more it was like this is real It has power it has power to touch my heart my emotions to make a difference anyway, so those those two things just The Word of God seeing speaking it and then and then just that revelation for reality You know people ask me what do you do in the prayer room? I just say take about every other phrase that something with the intercessor says or the worship team says and just whisper it with Back to the Lord when the worship team says you are worthy or you're good or this that I just whisper about every third One back even if I'm doing my Bible study time and personal prayer journaling every third or fourth phrase I'll whisper it back or or when the intercessors praying beloved if you do that one simple thing You will stay connected in that room If you just sit and listen to the music and tap your foot and kind of daydream you won't feel connected You just say a few phrases every not everyone just every other one every fourth one every fifth one It will change what that two hours is like in terms of your experience So the questions why I do this and I think that you and Alan have laid it out the reasons But personally I was really gripped in 97 98 with the whole The whole message of The forerunner message the John the Baptist message I remember exactly where I was sitting I heard the call for the 10,000 John the Baptist and the knowledge of God then I went home to my little town in Texas and I thought I'm gonna know God, I'm gonna know God and I had no idea how to know God I would have my prayer time for like five minutes. I was bored. I was distracted I didn't know how to pray the scripture. I didn't know what to do Even in my worship that you know, the four worship songs I knew got boring really quick So then when the house of prayer started in 99 it clicked this can be my job I can actually get to know God and it not just get to know him in a personal way But interact with Jesus that man Literally is looking at us in that prayer room and he's looking at us in our our quiet times as well But I couldn't maintain it. I just couldn't on my own. I'm way too weak and I'm not that's not just cliche I'm way too weak and ADD I needed the structure of the prayer room to actually make me interact with him and then as I have grew and as I Have started to change I realized I want to get a whole congregation Interacting with him and now we want to get the whole nations Interacting with him. Can you imagine when all around the world? We're all looking at the same man at the same time having a conversation with him For real a real conversation what that's gonna do to the atmosphere of the earth and what that's gonna do to his heart So I I mean for me the structure I mean is so important because I could not do it without it If it was not my job as noble as I think I am. I just wouldn't do it. I would get busy. I'm preoccupied There's so many other things to do. So I'm Specifically grateful today that we get to do this as our prayer our occupation that we actually get to do this We get this sacred trust has saved my life in so many ways because I can say no to meetings I can say no to different events You know that I get opportunity to go to because I can't go I have a sacred trust And so it is brilliant. It's simple and I'm just I'm so full of gratitude This morning or this afternoon just so full. I feel like I will explode with gratitude 14 years That I mean, this is unbelievable unbelievable So will you? Go sing for a minute. So where we can bring these up Do you mind she didn't know what to do with the microphone? There you go Normally, we have that little stand right there I'm Grateful to be here Feel the same way that Alan did he said I'm just grateful to be here didn't know how in the world I got here and moved here at a 22 years old December 2000 Moved up here two days after graduating with a college degree and moved up here with a one-year-old and $500 of confirmed support we didn't know what in the world we were doing and Got marked in 97 with the knowledge of God got marked in 98 May of 98 with the forerunner message May of 99 15 doors into the beauty realm and hearing I got that picture of Mike on the day They started it, you know shouts of grace grace grace the establishment in the the building of the house of prayer and I just want a second what Mike was saying of the one is Just the calling and the glory. I mean you have to I'd treat it like it is just so holy. It's so holy I remember September 19th last year on our other anniversary And I just kept looking at the the three verses on our wall in the prayer room And I knew that the Lord wanted to really rewrite those verses breakthrough intercession keeping the charge out of Ezekiel 44 and never letting the fire go out and that the Lord has released a specific grace and a Specific calling on this house if the Lord's called you here He's called you to take your stand and to keep charge and to tend the flame All the voices together make one voice and we're tending the flame the morning watch the afternoon the night the night watch and Throughout the days we're showing up and we're tending the flame saying the fire is never going to go out And that's a specific calling in a specific reality I hear people tell me I wish I could sit in a room and listen to cool music and Drink coffee and listen to Misty Edwards and do it for many hours a week I'd said I would support you to come try it for a week Because when those people who say that try to come sit in that room after 30 minutes they start itching What am I going to do? What am I going to do? What I'm saying is it's a specific grace It's a specific calling if that makes sense to you The thing that drove me here was I knew I needed at least eight hours a day in prayer That's all I that makes no sense to anybody and if that is something in you of this longing For long hours in the place of prayer. We have Anna We have the Lord giving us the picture before the first coming of the Lord that he releases divine Employment when he's about to come to the earth. He releases divine employment and it's men and women graced with the grace of prayer long hours grace of fasting a prophetic anointing and there's this knowing on the inside of them that he's coming and that their lives and their agreement is actually Hastening and calling forth his coming I mean before the Virgin Mary's born Anna and Simeon are in the temple knowing it's that generation That's beloved that is clear sign that we're living in the generation of the Lord's return Is that this is making sense of long hours in the place of prayer some of you like I mean I've just what have you but Point is is that I just want to say to you I don't I got off on a couple of tangents trying to throw everything into two minutes, but take three I Feel so much I just remember September 19th weeping and weeping saying thank you God. Thank you God. Thank you God And I hear people say I wish I could do it. You know, I wish I could go listen to good music I go go try it go try it I'll support you for a week to go set in that room Tell your supporters that when they have problems with this then I'd like to listen to good music We need a revelation of the reality of what we're doing This is a real job a real vocation and a real calling and there are devils that are attacking you There are lies that are attacking you that the enemy is attacking you of what is true Productivity of what's true impact and what's true success and we've got it And that's the need and Mike hit it and I just want to echo it strong. You need revelation You've got to feed in the Word of God to fortify to stabilize To ward off the lies of the enemy and to stay clear with why you're here and what's going to keep you here I mean I was thinking we need a revelation of intercession the majesty and the mystery of intercession that it's powerful That it's simple that when I speak God's words and sing God's words back to him his powers released and that I may not feel It but it's impacting God and touching places. I mean the Mary of Bethany the poured-out wasted life I'm talking about all these passages on the knowledge of God the worth of Christ the Eschatological reality the book of Isaiah the book of Revelation Mike said it in the early days song of Solomon Isaiah Revelation and we fed on these realities and that's the construct another thing and I just want to press on you Pushed in the early days. He says begin to push for six hours at each time I don't know about you. We're all 80 something and I just want to say to you It takes me two hours just to calm down It takes me two hours just to calm down and I don't know about you But that three and four and five and six hour block. That's the dullness breaks off of me I begin to Center in and the spirit of Revelation comes upon me and Many times just when we begin to knock on the door That's when we got to go and I want to encourage and exhort That's something we sold to in the early days was you sign up for sections 6 a.m To noon noon to six. I understand all the dynamics and the different things we got But I would call you because I just understood my own Issues of it took me to about two or three hours in to finally get in the place Where I can start encountering him push away the distractions and and I just I've been burning on this in September 19th feeling It's so strong beloved. It's time that we take a stand. I believe we're at 14 years old I'm just thinking about it's time that we begin to get rooted and grounded in our identity to get out of the identity crisis and begin to take a stand and When you get revelation I promise you the money will start coming when you get clarity on your own spirit of what you're doing when you talk to people You're not wishing they're going to help you out with your little side thing. You're doing No I am doing something a calling in the grace of God and when people sense that there's a magnet in the spirit and I and I Promise you that when they and we can only get clarity by sitting in that room getting verses and speaking them over our hearts So I bless you and that's what's kept me here for 13 years and me and Alan have done it many times We've made that can that a vow to the Lord or what have you that we want to die as Simeon's I want to walk in and that in my Walker or in my wheelchair or however when I'm 105 or however I get and I'm gonna do what I'm doing. Amen Amen, amen. Amen Okay, let's all stand Let's just take this sacred trust it's You know hold it before the Lord, I mean or whatever I Have yours Alan back there. Sorry, so
The Wisdom and Privilege of Embracing Our Sacred Trust
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Mike Bickle (1955 - ). American evangelical pastor, author, and founder of the International House of Prayer (IHOPKC), born in Kansas City, Missouri. Converted at 15 after hearing Dallas Cowboys quarterback Roger Staubach at a 1970 Fellowship of Christian Athletes conference, he pastored several St. Louis churches before founding Kansas City Fellowship in 1982, later Metro Christian Fellowship. In 1999, he launched IHOPKC, pioneering 24/7 prayer and worship, growing to 2,500 staff and including a Bible college until its closure in 2024. Bickle authored books like Passion for Jesus (1994), emphasizing intimacy with God, eschatology, and Israel’s spiritual role. Associated with the Kansas City Prophets in the 1980s, he briefly aligned with John Wimber’s Vineyard movement until 1996. Married to Diane since 1973, they have two sons. His teachings, broadcast globally, focused on prayer and prophecy but faced criticism for controversial prophetic claims. In 2023, Bickle was dismissed from IHOPKC following allegations of misconduct, leading to his withdrawal from public ministry. His influence persists through archived sermons despite ongoing debates about his legacy