Mike Bickle emphasizes the significance of betrayal in God's end-time plan, highlighting how it serves as a catalyst for spiritual growth and deeper intimacy with God. He explains that betrayal, particularly within the church, is a painful yet transformative experience that can lead believers to a greater understanding of Jesus' leadership and love. Bickle warns that many will face betrayal, fueled by offense, but encourages the church to respond with grace and compassion, reflecting the love of Christ even towards those who betray them. He draws parallels with the life of David, illustrating how betrayal can lead to spiritual maturity and a deeper relationship with God. Ultimately, Bickle calls for the church to prepare for these challenges, ensuring that they remain anchored in faith and love amidst the trials of the end times.

Thank you, well let's go ahead and open up in our Bibles to John chapter 16 and 17 we're going to be looking at. I'm enthusiastic or that might not be the right word, I'm energized to begin this fifth series, the fifth semester on John 13 to 17. This is session one and we're going to review a little bit of my last series that I did together with Stuart. We're going to look at betrayal and the significance of it and how Jesus emphasized the importance and even the prominence of betrayal in the end time church. It's a surprising, disturbing, perplexing reality but it's emphasized by Jesus and he wants us to know its importance and its benefit to the end time church. Father I thank you in the name of Jesus that your beloved Son unpacked this truth, declared it on that final week of his ministry. We ask you Holy Spirit even now come and testify of him as you said in John 15 verse 26. The Spirit would tell us more about his leadership and context to being persecuted and even betrayed. Testify of him to us and through us. We ask in the name of Jesus, Amen. Again session one of this fifth semester, betrayal, its importance and prominence in God's end time purpose. It's surprising for us to understand, to think on the optimum environment, I mean the actual best environment for the end time church to be transformed, obviously is related to an unprecedented outpouring of the Spirit but it's also related to facing persecution, specifically probably the most painful kind of persecution is betrayal because it causes a spiritual dynamic in our heart like any other context to make us go deep in God if we're going to respond right. It has the deepest penetration because it grabs our heart at the deepest level but between the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in the end times that especially that final three and a half years, we're not waiting for that, it's actually increasing even now the ministry of the Spirit around the world. The harvest is growing quickly right now but there's going to be an intense acceleration of that in the final three and a half years. In that time, it says John 17 verse 22, Jesus says the glory Father, He's praying to the Father on that Thursday night at the last supper, right after the last supper, the glory which you gave me I have given to them so that they would walk in supernatural unity which I call the international family of affection. There's going to be a supernatural unprecedented unity and affection of the body of Christ beyond any time of history. Now when Jesus says the glory which you gave me I've given to them, it was just those initial installments in the early days of the book of Acts and that measure of glory did not continue for decades and decades but you find real powerful demonstrations of it in the first couple chapters, the first five six chapters of the book of Acts but that glory is going to be fully manifest at the end. In verse 23, that's the context that all the nations are going to see not just that Jesus was sent by the Father but the bigger thing, I mean that's big, they're going to see the excellence of Jesus' leadership and who He is. That He's actually God sent by God more than a man. The whole world will see it because it's going to be displayed through the lives of the end time church in an unprecedented way. I have here in paragraph A, multitudes in the end time church, I want you to really catch this, are going to be progressively moving towards this deep love, this unprecedented measure of love that's going to come to fullness and at the very same time many believers will be progressing in a negative sense being overcome by offense and by bitterness and betrayal. Both directions are going to be happening in the church, moving towards a supernatural unity and moving into a culture of betrayal. I'm talking about within the body of Christ and we're seeing that even now. Matthew chapter 24 on Tuesday of the final week, I want you to notice the word many. Verse 10, Jesus said many will be offended and many will betray one another. Many, their love will grow cold but this is the context to where many come to the saving knowledge of Jesus. All the world knows the gospel is preached in power. So many are being offended and I want you to see the relationship. The offense is what creates this heightened vulnerability to betray. People don't betray in a vacuum. They often betray energized by offense and then they betray the one that offended them. I'm talking about in the body of Christ. We can talk about this at other levels in the secular society but that's not what we're aiming at right now. My real point tonight is not to talk you out of trying to exhort you not to betray somebody. I believe that the vast majority that's not in your heart at all to do that. I'm here so that you're aware that you will be betrayed and the enemy wants to catch you there. Catch you unaware that when you are betrayed by, I'm talking about a friend or family member, that you understand there's a divine purpose in it and the enemy wants you then to get offended. That's the point I'm talking about right now. I'm not trying to tell you how bad it is to betray you. That's pretty self-evident. I don't want us caught unaware the betrayal is really going to touch all of us and not once or twice and there's a divine purpose to it because there's a deep interaction with God that happens to a billion believers in the end time and they go deep in God and they become the vessels of where the whole world sees the glory and the beauty of who Jesus is because of these transformed lives from the combination of the outpouring of the Spirit, persecution, betrayal, all these things working together. Luke 21 is also spoken on the Tuesday of a final week. Luke 21 and Matthew 24 is actually the same conversation. Luke just adds a little more detail that Matthew doesn't. This is so intense. He's talking about the end time church actually and this did happen in the early church but the fullness of this is yet to come because the fullness of the glory and the fullness of the global witness of the beauty of Jesus is in the end time church. Luke 21 verse 16 it's a passage we don't really think about much but we're going to before it's over and my real passion is obviously I mean is for you of course our spiritual family but it's those ten-year-olds that in one minute they're going to be thirty-year-olds and they're going to be the leaders of the church. I'm thinking of us having a whole company of spiritual moms and dads that are training them and modeling them to them what it looks like to interact with God and to walk in love even in the face of believers that betray us, believers that we formerly trusted. He says you will be betrayed. Luke 21 verse 16 this is particularly the end times but it happened in their day too. By parents. What? Parents. I mean can you imagine betraying your own children? I mean it's inconceivable to me. Betrayed by brothers, betrayed by relatives, that's aunts and uncles. Betrayed by friends. Now by definition betrayal means you trusted them and your heart was open to them. A stranger can't betray you, they can accuse you, they can attack you but it's not betrayal. It's only betrayal because your heart is open, your guard's down. But that's what has the deepest work in our heart because you don't just shake that off and say well you know a few minutes we're gonna be the resurrection anyway. No that gets us like nothing else does. Brother Yoon, the man who wrote the book that was famous years ago called The Heavenly Man, he was persecuted in the underground, he was in the underground church in China and went to prison a number of times. The story, it was like a bestseller for some years I think 15, 20 years ago I can't remember and he had incredible miracles. Prison doors opened and he came and visited here a couple times and I was really interested to talk to him and he said I want to tell you this because I was beaten with rods, my bones were broken but nothing hurt me compared to what happened after I got out of prison and I was betrayed by my own fellow Christian friends and co-workers. He said that was far more painful than being hit by a rod. I said not really. He said really. I said that's intense statement. Anyway you can check that out on The Heavenly Man. It's quite a quite a story. Paragraph B. Again on Tuesday he talks about betrayal and again betrayal by definition means there's a close relationship. There will be a global culture of betrayal in the nations but it will make its way to millions in the church and we think of betrayal in the nations okay probably but most of us don't really probably spend much time thinking of it coming to our family and into our company of friendships, our people that we work with or used to work with or closely relating to. Well in Nazi Germany there was incredible I mean terrible but many many examples of people who grew up in the church together, worked together and pastors and the church in the hour in the 1930s and 40s when Nazi Germany was really going forward and they betrayed each other. We find tremendous, I mean tremendous is a horrible word, many examples of that in Russia and China when communist tyranny took over pastors betrayed pastors, co-workers betrayed co-workers. Paragraph C. Betrayal is both a demonic attack to hinder our spiritual growth but it's a big subject. Being betrayed when it's all said and done and we look back at it, it's a divine gift. It's going to enhance our spiritual life and transformation because again it will it will be that pressure that pushes us into that deeper interaction with God or we won't make it our heart will just implode with pain and bitterness. Paul talks about this in Philippians 1. He says it's been granted to you to suffer on behalf of Christ granted that's the language of a gift. He says in Thessalonians it was appointed by God for you to suffer persecution because God knows the benefit that would come to the body of Christ in the dynamics that happen when persecution and bitterness and persecution has a number of different facets to it. Bitterness is the one that I'm looking at later. Now that's a big subject. That's why I have on my notes there, Roman numeral 2, we'll get there in a minute. I have seven different messages I've given mostly recently, last year or two, and my point isn't to get a bunch of people to hear another Mike Bickle teaching, that's not my deal. I worked on these messages to give language, to give you language to talk to your family or your friends or your teaching or your small group or your home Bible study. To help give you some language and some verses that maybe you've not navigated through before. We need to fill our community, spiritual family and the young ones particularly, with the understanding that persecution is granted as a gift for our benefit. But we've got to understand that from a biblical point of view. And we have to understand it's inevitable. We're not going to miss it. And this, well we're going to be raptured any minute, that's not going to happen. Yes we will be raptured, but after we're transformed through the fires of what happens in the final years of this age before the Lord returns. A lot of believers are kind of happy, go lucky, thinking we're going to be gone anyway, that trumpet's going to blast, we're going to be out of here and everybody else, I hope they do good. Significant air that's going to leave millions unprepared for the suffering and the betrayal that literally will touch them. But if we're anchored and rooted with understanding, and we've been talking to the Lord and to each other, and we're little by little processing it and understanding its benefit more, then we're not taken by surprise. My fear is that there's a whole generation of young people that are believers. In that 15 to 25 year old group now, they say so many in the college campuses are, you know, turning away from the Lord and they're deconstructing their faith. There's millions of young people that are going to be hit blindsided by persecution and betrayal, and they're not going to understand what's going on. But I say not in this house. For me in my house, we're going to be in the conversation together with the Lord and with each other and with our children and with our young new disciples. Paragraph D, Paul rejoiced in the opportunity to suffer. I don't want to develop this here, but I have this on those other teachings that I have there, Roman numeral two. And the thing that he was excited about, rejoicing, gave him the opportunity to publicly display to other people how much he trusted Jesus's leadership and how attractive Jesus was to him. He goes, did I get to be a display of that in a dark world, even in the midst of believers that are stumbling and dullness and compromise, to show them that I'm enjoying Him, enjoying me, even while I'm being persecuted? Paul says, I so rejoice to be able to participate in something that glorious. I develop that more on some of these other teachings that I have referenced in Roman numeral two. Paragraph E, many, many believers. I'm just going to use the word a billion because we believe there's a billion so harvest. That's kind of just a generic number that a lot of people use, meaning it's really big. It's not a small harvest. Could be two billion. Nobody knows the number, but it's a lot. But the church is going to get transformed before the Lord adds a billion to them, because those billion new ones will actually receive the values and the DNA, spiritual DNA, and the messaging of that church. So the Lord's going to revive the church before the full number of the billion soul comes in. Although, again, the numbers are coming in quite large even now. This is a strange sentence here, paragraph E. Betrayal is an accelerant. What? Betrayal makes us go deeper, faster, deeper in love, or betrayal sets us on the path to bitterness and offense. It speeds up the process, either direction that we choose to move in. And that betrayal's escalating, it's growing now. But again, it's such an overlooked subject that most the body of Christ isn't talking about it. I haven't talked about it that much. I'm not saying that, bah, humbug, aren't they all dumb. That's not my point. My point is I haven't talked that much about it, but the Lord's saying it's time to start getting people into this conversation in a very intentional way. Paragraph F, it's normal to be tempted to be offended at somebody that you see as responsible for mistreating you. If a believer, I'm talking believers now, let's not talk about the unsaved politician or, I mean, legal process that put you in jail because of a hate crime in society and they cancel you. That's a whole other subject. It's a very important subject. I'm talking about within the body of Christ because the pain of betrayal, that's where betrayal happens, in trusted relationships. It's normal to feel, to be tempted to be offended when somebody mistreats you, a believer. Or, let's say it not overtly mistreats you, but they're blocking your ministry goals or your agenda. They're standing in the way of it or giving your role to someone else that you should be having. At least you feel entitled, it should be yours. And you could say this several ways, but when somebody's blocking your goals or actually mistreating you or bypassing you or rejecting you or whatever, you know, there's a half a dozen ways to say that. It's very normal to be tempted to be offended. But here's the problem. Paragraph F, when we get offended, believers I'm talking about, it's much easier to betray that believer. And we betray them and then we justify it biblically. That we're contending for justice and righteousness. And we set our case that we're undermining them and putting them down and hurting and damaging them, but it's justice and righteousness. And they believe that everybody buys it. But one of the easiest things to discern is bitterness in a believer. All they can do is listen to their words. It shouts out. And my point being is that the self-justifying of it gives that believer more boldness to keep on betraying. Now just for, paragraph G, clarity's sake, not all persecution is betrayal. There's a lot of persecution that's outside that's not limited to betrayal. And all betrayal is a persecution for our faith. Most betrayal is because that believer has offended you or whoever's doing the betraying somewhere down the line. And that offense grew and grew and grew. Paragraph H, one of Satan's most important weapons through history but particularly in the final years of this age. We see it in Revelation 12. Revelation 12 was about the final three and a half years of this age. The truths of Revelation 12 are true throughout history, but the fullness of Revelation 12 is the final three and a half years of this age. I don't want to spend time on that. But in that final three and a half years, Satan's most important weapon, or certainly one of his most important weapons, is accusation. Revelation 12 verse 10, and the power of Christ is manifest. That final three and a half years, the glory of God, the John 17 glory that Jesus talked about, or the power here, or the witness of the gospel to all the nations. There's many verses that come together in that final three and a half years. The power is openly manifest. That's when Satan is accusing. But he's not just accusing the brethren directly to their mind with shame. He's accusing the brethren using the mouth of the other brethren. He's breaking relationships. That's when he is the most intensified in his accusation at that time. But John, who wrote Revelation 12, who wrote John 16 and 17 that we're looking at right now, John says, I got good news for you. There's going to be a company of believers. They overcome him. Him is Satan. Him in Revelation 12 is the dragon in Revelation 12, breathing the fire of accusation, brother against brother, putting it in their mouths, stirring them up with dark ideas, and then it comes out of their mouth. Satan is really energized in that time. But the power of God is such that there's a billion, I'm going to just say a billion, overcome him. Because they're so grateful for the blood of Jesus forgiving them, and they're empowered to love, even if it cost them everything. They even love the betrayers, because that's what Jesus did. He loved his betrayers. There's going to be a company of overcomers. Great victory. Now, this is one of the reasons why this accusation, in the final three and a half years, that's happening now, but it's really going to intensify in the church. I look back over the last 40 years, but I've been here in Kansas City, being a part of this prophetic purpose from 1983 till now, 40 years ago. The most prophetically emphasized passage in supernatural encounters by more people is Zechariah 3 and 4. More than any others. You know, we would think it should be Psalm of Solomon, chapter 8, verse 6, the seal of love. That's once or twice. Zechariah 3 and 4 is overcoming the accuser while building the end-time prayer movement. That's really the message of Zechariah 3 and 4. And over and over, over 40 years, I've been encountered by it, she's been encountered by it, he's been encountered by it, they've been encountered by it. The story keeps coming up in dreams and encounters and experiences. In my early days, I was a little perplexed. What is so big about Zechariah 3 and 4? I thought of a lot of other chapters that I thought could be more important, but when you understand, it's actually the divine response to Revelation 12, the spirit of accusation at the end of the age. Again, I have some of these messages here, top of page 2. Romans number 2, I have seven of these messages. And again, I don't want to like shamelessly, you ought to hear my teaching. That's not really what I'm doing here. But some of this about Zechariah 3 and 4, the term that many of us know, a phrase, the black horse, was a very significant encounter. The black horse. And some of you are new, you go, well, what's that? Well, if you want to hear about it, it's a very important part of our prophetic story here. And Michael the Archangel literally appeared and said that it's really that dragon of Revelation 12, with fire, but it was in the vision of a black horse, not a dragon. Particularly, when you go to the east, he will strike with rage. And beloved, we just went to the east in May 2023. We're involved in five million Gentiles for the first time in history, praying for Israel. About April, about a month before this started, it dawned on me, we're going to the east right now. And now I'm recalling the words that Michael the Archangel literally said, when you go to the east. And there's been a few installments of this, but the intense installments are yet future. And anything after May 2023, it's game on. We went to the east as a people. And as Stuart mentioned just in the announcement, we've got ministries talking to us, and hey, will we be a part of helping to mobilize other situations to pray for Israel, pray for Israel, pray for Israel? And I'm thinking, yeah, I was thinking more, let's talk about the beauty of Jesus. Well, we love that, but we want you to help us with Israel. Okay, I will. That's really important to Jesus. But just kind of suddenly, we're thrust into the middle of this going to the east. And it was 40 years ago, 1984, 39 years, technically, when Michael appeared and said this, that when you go to the east, and again, I've got those stories in the handouts, right, there are seven of them. And I want to give you language to encourage the young people in your world, and even your own teachings, or blogs, or social media, little sound bites, things you want to say. You might not have these verses clear yet. Roman number three. Well, we're in John 15 and 16. This was last semester. Jesus talked on Tuesday. Again, I've said it over and over. The Matthew 24, betrayal's coming. Luke 21, betrayal's coming. The end of the age, that's on Tuesday. Now he's on Thursday at the Last Supper, and he's telling them, bracing them. He keeps saying, I'm going to die in various ways. They don't get it, though. He died the next day. They were completely shocked. He's been telling them over and over, but he's preparing them. And he gives them two shocking pieces of information on that Thursday night at the Last Supper that I don't think they grasp. He tells them, they're going to, I have it right there in John 16, verse 2, they're going to kick you out of the synagogues. Now we think, okay, that's, who wants to be kicked out of the synagogues? But you got to remember, most of these apostles from up north, and Galilee, and all around, they're in rural, small towns, and the synagogue is their spiritual family, the people they've been relating to for decades. It's not just, quote, the synagogue, it's their synagogue they get kicked out of. The people they grew up with, it was some of the young men that wanted to throw Jesus off the cliff when he was at Nazareth at his synagogue. The guys he grew up with in the youth group, they wanted to kill him. This, when he said, kick you out of the synagogue, these guys were going, okay, let's imagine somebody's been here, some have, 30, 40 years in this community, and this community rises up and kicks you out, and betrays you. That's what they're talking about, like, whoa, it's pretty intense. Look at paragraph B. No, no, no, actually, I got to read John 15, verse 26 first. He goes, I want to tell you, I'm gonna die, but the Spirit's coming. They're not getting it, but the Spirit's gonna talk to you about me. He's gonna tell you about me in the most intense hour of, not just one hour, but I mean, the season of persecution, betrayal. He's gonna talk to you about me. If you will talk to him about me, he'll talk to you. He'll tell you about me, and then, look at verse 27, chapter 15, you're gonna bear witness, you're gonna tell other people about my excellence and my beautiful leadership, and then the very next verse is, they're gonna kick you out, and you make sure you don't stumble. I mean, what an intense progression here, but he goes, but you're gonna have a testimony, because in the middle of it, you're gonna be a shining light, a public portrait of what it means to enjoy and trust my leadership, though I will be invisible to you, but the Spirit will be talking about me to you, and about me through you. So just read that, and kind of really get a hold of it. I'm going, this is, that's exciting. Paragraph B, the Spirit will testify of me in the context of betrayal and persecution, and I have, it's gonna show them Jesus's leadership. You can read that on your own, if you want to. Paragraph C, but I didn't actually read it, but Jesus said, I'm telling you this, so you don't stumble. John 16, verse 1, I should have read the whole passage, and not one to do this too long tonight, but he told them in paragraph C, I highlight the phrase from John 16, he goes, I'm telling you all these things, so you don't stumble. One of the greatest dangers is not in being betrayed by others in the body of Christ, it's by responding to that betrayal in a wrong way. That's the point I'm talking about tonight. Again, I'm not urging you, hey, make sure you're not a betrayer. I'm just really kind of thinking you've already settled that. But the real danger isn't being betrayed, and being have doors shut, and people talk about you bad, it's you not responding to betrayal in a way, in a way like Jesus does, I mean taught us, leading to your spiritual failure. Hebrews 12 talks about this, says in verse 14 and 15, look at this, pursue peace. You're only gonna be able to pursue peace with people that are putting you down, and maligning you, and trying to hurt you. You can only pursue peace with them if you're talking to the Holy Spirit. You can only pursue peace if you're doing the John 13 to 17 interaction with the Lord. That pursue peace, that's a giant statement. And all through John 15 and 16, Jesus said, I'll give you peace if you'll talk to me about the things I'm teaching you here in John 13 to 17. I'll give you that peace. But look at verse 15, he's talking to believers now. Be very careful. They betray you, they come against you, you can't fall short of the grace of God by, meaning by not responding in grace to your betrayers. You must not come up short in this. I mean, surely we do here and there, but then we sign back up to bless our enemies, and even to bless those who curse us. To do it Jesus style. The writer of Hebrews says, make sure when they come against you, that you don't become like them, and become offended, and then you start betraying them. Don't get into that cycle. He goes, because if that bitterness gets into you, it will cause trouble. That betrayal bitterness causes trouble for the person doing the betraying, and it causes trouble for the person being betrayed, if they yield to it. But if they see it for what it's at, what it is, it's an opportunity. I'm going to go deep in God. Then you get transformed by it. The writer of Hebrews says, be very careful. You don't get defiled by it. Paragraph D. An offended believer becomes a stumbling block. I'm talking about a believer. They've been together with other believers. The guy gets offended because somebody blocked his goals, or said something wrong, or even mistreated him. So then he says, I'm not going to do kingdom anymore towards this guy. I'm going to bring him down, like as he hurt me. We can't lay the kingdom aside when somebody hurts us. So that offended believer, the enemy says, ah good, I need you, offended believer, to put you in the middle of the community of God, and maybe you can get some of the people you're betraying, you get them offended. Then they'll betray you back. Then you'll betray them, then it will spread. That's what he's about. Luke chapter 17, Jesus talked about, he says, the temptations to sin, or the other translations say the stumbling blocks. They're definitely coming. And there's many types of stumbling blocks, but tonight I'm talking about betrayal. Meaning I'm talking about you're the one betrayed, and that's an opportunity for you to stumble now. He says, it's inevitable that it's going to touch your life. Don't yield to it. He goes, he's talking to the betrayer, woe to you, it's not good for you to get into a spirit of betrayal and then to just self-justify it. It's not good for you. It's not, everyone who does it doesn't end up in hell, but bad things happen in our spiritual lives. When we get into that vortex, when we get stuck into that negative conversation, paragraph E, I've often witnessed what I call the offense-betrayal cycle. That cycle breaks kingdom relationships. That cycle ruins families. The betrayal offense. The offended person, they're in the kingdom, they're vulnerable now to start betraying, haven't done it, but they're being pushed. The enemy's breathing on their mind, giving them ideas why it's justice and why it's righteousness to become a betrayer. It's not betrayer, I'm just fighting for the kingdom. And the reason I said that, I've heard this for 40 years. I look at it and I appreciate actually that I've had a front-row seat to it, because it's saving my own soul, because I'm watching the dynamics, and I'm making it personal, going, okay, okay, okay, don't go there. Ooh, I almost went there, ouch. And it happens year by year, all around the body of Christ. I'm involved in many conversations, I don't want to exaggerate to many, not millions, but of pastors and leaders, and the big issue in their ministry is the conflict of betrayal among the leadership team, or some of their primary members in their congregation in the ministry against each other. Like, what do we do with this? I said, well, it's only the beginning of the beginning. They didn't, they don't want to hear that, but then the offended person is vulnerable to betray those that offend them. Okay, we got that. Then the betrayed guy that gets betrayed, he gets offended, then he betrays him back. And it spreads on and on and on, and the enemy is rejoicing. Paragraph F. We were given a promise in July 1988. The Lord says, I'll put a seal of love on your heart. End-time church. I don't mean just us, but to the end-time church. And this love, it's gonna empower you to love Jesus. You're gonna love Jesus for who He is, you're gonna love the way Jesus loves you, but listen, you're gonna love the person who betrays you because Jesus loves that person. I've got a couple examples, I'm not gonna go into them, where the Lord's touched my heart over the years, and I began to have tender emotions towards people who came against me. And it's not like, oh, I'm amazing, but I went, wait, this stuff is real, this is supernatural. I actually feel tender towards them. What? The Lord goes, that's what I'm going to do. He'll talk to me more and more, I'll do this. And I go, wow. Man, the potential of where this could go, globally, if we really have that seal of love touching our heart. I have written here, the oil of intimacy with God is cultivated best through the fires of persecution. I don't like that truth, but it is true. Because when persecution betrayal happens, it's not business as usual, and our sincere love for Jesus, all of a sudden, it's life and death. Like, my heart is hurting, I've got to get some answers, I've got to get grace. Moments from bitterness, and then my tongue will get loose if I get bitter. And the Lord says, come on, come on, come on, talk to me more, talk to me more. It's in the oils of intimacy. It's cultivated best in the fires of persecution. We talk in a deep way, in a new way to the Lord. Well, I've gone through this a bunch of times over the years, and I got some of these teachings that I, the seven I put on Roman numeral two. I break this down a lot more, so I'm gonna be really fast on this. The scripture gives far more information in the life of David, how to respond when betrayed, than any other person in the Bible. Far more on David. And then Isaiah, chapter 54, 55, God says to Isaiah, I have caused David to be a witness, a model of what leadership, how to respond to me. If they want to be a leader after God's own heart, David's the model. Why David? Why not Peter, James, and John? Certainly they are. Because David is pre-Pentecost. I mean, if David could respond this way, in old covenant level of grace, this is doable. It really is. I don't know if that's the reason, but the Lord called him a man after God's own heart, and said I've made him a model, a witness. See what David did, and respond like David responded. And of course, that's been a passion in my life, but many of you, a lot of us, are lovers of what God calls a man, a woman, after God's own heart. Paragraph B. This is like, because I know some of the details here, I look at paragraph B, and go ugh. I look at David's life, I've maybe taught it through, straight through, you know, for 10 or 20 sessions at a time, probably 10 times in 40 years, 50 years, I don't know. Did it a couple times in St. Louis before I moved here 40 years ago. And so I'm familiar with David's life a bit, and these stories, if you count, and I don't want to do it tonight, but there's over 15 different situations where David was betrayed, over in a 50-year period of time. Family members, I mean look at the number of family members that betrayed him. His family betrayed him. Happened a number of times. Happened when David was young, and happened when David was old. His own team at Ziklag wanted to take up stones to stone him and kill him. They didn't like his leadership, they were going to kill him. His own team, the 400, yeah 600, mighty men of David that were traveling around in the wilderness. They were not all the mighty men, but they were going to kill him. I look at that, I go, my goodness. The top political leaders, top military leaders, his countrymen in these different cities of Israel, and he was actually protecting these cities. They turned on him, and on and on. My goodness. Nobody has more data, more material about being betrayed in the Bible as an example than the life of David. Paragraph C. That's why we want to focus on it. We don't all have to be experts on David's life. It's like, okay, a couple of the key points. If it's that big a deal, I need to pay attention. God raised up David as a king after his own heart. God taught David how to align himself with him. And I got some 1, 2, 3's there. Paragraph C. I like this phrase, I've used it for many years. God trained David in the seminary of the Holy Spirit, or I say the seminary of a jealous King Saul. He was trained as a young man in his early 20's under the tutelage. The seminary of the Spirit was an angry, jealous king that had 3,000 soldiers focused on killing David for about seven or eight years. It was pretty intense. But David, his life was transformed in that what he did with God, as this happened, I mean seven or eight years, 3,000 soldiers dedicated to finding him and killing him. Seven or eight years, are you kidding? He's already been anointed King of Israel by the prophet Samuel. He's running for his life. Everyone's against him. Except for this company of men, then they turn against him at Ziklag. I look at David, I go, David, my goodness. Paragraph D. He was betrayed many times. Again, 15, 17, 18, depends on how you count it. Different situations, and I'm sure those situations had multiple betrayals in each one of those situations. When I read his life, I lose all my self-pity. You know, I get a little self-pity going, and I read it like, ugh, ugh, ugh. Bickle, you got it easy, man. What are you talking about? If you take that stuff literally. Paragraph D. David was betrayed many times, yet he showed kindness. How do you show kindness when you're being betrayed by family members? And the key is, he looked to God to vindicate him in God's way, in God's time. He grew a history. He developed a history of believing God would vindicate David in God's own way, in God's own time. And it took years sometimes, but it always happened. So he began to develop this spiritual resume, this spiritual history. David's big statement that I've really locked into, kind of my go-to statement with David over the last 45, 48 years of whatever, how many years I've been teaching the life of David since I was 18, 19 years old, something like that. I heard it at a seminar once. I got so excited that I went and transcribed the guy's notes and just taught it to everyone in my Bible studies, because it was so exciting. But I didn't realize the Lord was setting me up. He goes, hey, no one's even listening to you, but you're listening to you, so that's good enough. I was learning it, but I was trying to be an amazing Bible teacher, you know, the high school kids. They were not even listening, but I listened. But anyway, my favorite kind of go-to statement was, David would get into trouble with somebody who's, I mean, under pressure. He would say, I'll let God decide. I'm not going to take vengeance. I'm not going to vindicate myself. I'm not going to answer for myself. I'm going to let God decide to vindicate me. And that just became a kind of a clarion call to my heart, and I see it as a call to the end-time church. The Lord says, the end-time church has to respond like David did. In paragraph E, I love these two examples when David had King Saul at the end of his sword. It could have killed him two different times and didn't. Freed him both times. Says, I'm not going to do it. God will answer for me, not me. Great stories. Don't want to take time on those. Paragraph F, then Psalm 31, the very Psalm that Jesus quotes on the cross, but it's a David Psalm. David says, into your hands I commit my spirit. He says, my times are in your hands, and Jesus quotes it. We know that from Jesus, but what David means, I'm going to commit my spirit, not meaning just when I die, I'll go to heaven. It's much more than that. Everything that's dear to me, God, everything that's in my spirit, that's in my heart and mind and destiny, that hasn't happened yet, I'm committing it to your time and your way. And that's what Jesus was saying on the cross. He wasn't saying, I commit my hands into your spirit, meaning I will go to heaven real soon and see you. He didn't mean that, but he meant, I've been promised to be king of the whole millennial earth. I commit that into your hands right now. And then David said, my time is in your hands. Now when you look at David's life, in his early years, he was betrayed by an older leader, King Saul. In his later years, he is betrayed by a young leader, Absalom. And the message we get from the life of David David was David in all those different seasons of his life. When he's under pressure, he stumbled. Sometimes he got fearful and caved in, but he recovered. He was a man after God's own heart as a young man under an old Saul. He was a man after God's own heart as an old man under a rebellious, betraying son, Absalom. This is a pattern for the end time church. This is a pattern for apostolic leadership. You know, the guy says, I heard dream or somebody told me I'm going to be apostle. I said, well, you should duck then. If you really mean, oh no, they're thinking business card and big conferences. If there's a, if that's 5% true, your life is over. Like you imagine it's going to be the way you imagine your life is going to be very, very different. Forget it. If that's a true word, the name of Jesus, I rebuke that word. No, no. I said, if you're really that go read the details of the life of the apostles. This is the pattern of David's life. I mean, 15, 17 different occasions I've heard over the years every now and then, because I had lots of attacks in the nineties and the Lord, a lot, a lot of them got answered. Not all of them. I can't even remember which ones did or didn't. But anyway, the point being I've had people say, boy, aren't you glad that's over It's not even close to over with. Go read the script at the end of his life. A young leader rose up, but that's the pattern. That's not particular to me. That's how it will be. It's to the end. We're interacting with Jesus this way. It's the final three and a half years. The accuser is coming after the brethren in the final three and a half years. And the brethren will overcome him. Not because the accuser's gone, because they interact with Jesus. The power of God's on their mind, but they've got to say yes to it because a whole nother company of believers are going in the culture of betrayal. Top of page four. My journey began in the seminary of the Holy Spirit's training, because I'm calling David was in the seminary of the Holy Spirit. You're all in the seminary of the Holy Spirit right now, whether you've identified it or not, you are, all of us are in that seminary right now. We all have different courses, different assignments, but we're all in the seminary. If we're going on to know the Lord in a deep way. In one of the critical verses, way back 45, whatever years ago, my very first prophetic encounter as a pastor, 1976, the Lord spoke and he says, God's gentleness will make you great. Like what? Said that you'll have many conflicts. Many people will come against you. And I thought, well, nobody's coming against me. Everybody liked me. I mean, all 10 of them, but I didn't have any enemies. What do you mean? I'm going to have many, many conflicts for all my life, but God's gentleness would make me great. Psalm 18, 35. I've quoted that verse so many times in 45 years because of that. I went, what does that mean? That didn't make any sense to me at all. Number one, that I would have enemies. I'm a nice guy. Why would somebody be mad? Oh, is that obvious? Okay, moving on, moving on. But the Lord unpacked it to me and just said, I will be gentle to you in your weaknesses, but your greatness will be is that when you see my gentleness towards you, it will empower you to be gentle towards others. That's where your greatness lies. It took me a while to understand that. I mean, it's kind of a strange thing for me that, I mean, my passion is to talk the first commandment, the beauty of Jesus. You know, it was bridegroom, king and judge, 150 chapters. That's what I want to talk about. When I talk to leaders, like the last 20 years, this bothers me. Hey, can I talk to you? Yeah. I mean, I don't want to sound like a big hot shot, but leaders over networks and big churches and ministries, I want to talk to you. Okay, good. I got my verses already. People hate me. How do you respond to that? Like what? I don't want to talk about that. I got good stuff to say. That's the number one thing I get asked about. Like, what a strange life message. I don't want that to be the main conversation. I remember some years ago, maybe four or five years, I don't know when, five years ago, something like that. I got to spend a evening with a guy I so esteem named Jonathan Kahn. And some of you know him. He's written probably sold two or 3 million books in the last five or 10 years. I don't really know. Brilliant guy. He's got all these huge open doors to heads of state and dah, dah, dah, dah. So we get together. We got a couple hours. I want to hear all about A and B and C. He goes, tell me, how do you handle when people come against you? I don't want to talk about that. I got questions for you. He goes, no, I want to, that's what I want to talk about. We talked for like an hour or two. I don't remember. How do you respond when people attack you? That's kind of a boring subject. When you got one of the most brilliant minds of the kingdom of God right in front of you. I go, no, Jonathan, just, no. He goes, here, I'll give you my books. Talk to me about how maybe the last 40 years or so, I don't know. I've had, again, I had those seven messages I put in Roman number two. I give details and dates. I've had about five supernatural encounters. Really intense ones. One, which the chariot encounter, August 84. And then the other, the black horse encounter, September 84. So August, September 84, really big time on this subject. Plus about three or four other ones. And the Lord says over and over, do not answer. Let me vindicate you. He's like, well, I can answer a little bit. No, I will vindicate you in my time and my way. Be patient. Let me vindicate you. It's always later than I think, but it's surprising how real it is. It happens every time. I mean, the important times in my mind, I'm not going to go through them. I go, wow. And the Lord's whispered, I've given you a little bit of a resume. Spiritual history before me. You know that I'm true to my word. I promise I'll vindicate you. Just be quiet. I don't know that everyone has to be quiet, but I know that many of us have to. And I'm surprised at his vindication in his favor. It's real. That glorious, invisible king we talk about, he really is watching and paying attention. Paragraph H. Jesus spoke to John the Baptist's disciples. One of my favorite messages, Matthew 11 on spiritual violence. And he says this, he goes, go tell John this verse six, blessed are those that are not offended at me. Well, why would the disciples of John the Baptist be offended at Jesus? Because Jesus wasn't going to intervene in the way they thought he should, if he's really the Messiah. And the Lord says to the end time church, blessed are you. If you're not offended, let me vindicate you my way, my time. I know what I'm doing. I'm transforming you and joining you to others in ways you don't even know. I promise you, I will answer for you. Don't answer for yourself. And that might offend you a few times. I went, Lord, is it, are you going to help this one? Yes. And then when it happens, I go like, art is beautiful. You're real. But the real message is he's going to do this to the whole end time church. And my real passion tonight, I've said it three, four times. I'm going to say it again and come bring this thing to an end in just a moment here. Is this the young people they're going to get betrayed. If they're going to move on, go deep with the Lord, that dragon and revelation 12, that dragon's breathing fire, that black horse in our language is a dragon and John's language, fiery accusations through the mouths of saints. They're going to get attacked and betrayed by believers. And if they are not equipped and they're blindsided by this, it won't be good. But again, it's for me and my house and us as a company, we're going to say, Lord, help us. We're not good at equipping people in this, but we're going to give ourselves to it. We're going to go there as a community. Paragraph I, the Lord's leading that John 17 22, the verse we started that I'll give you my glory. You'll be one like I am the father of one. That's the end time glory and the supernatural unity. It's going to happen. That transformation right now, the vast majority of the church, hundreds of millions of believers are struggling under a spirit of spiritual dullness and boredom of Laodicean compromise. How is that church going to be the church walking as the international family of affection, the glory of God, the Lord says, I'm going to do it. Look at revelation 12 verse 10. There's a time my power will be openly displayed. Satan will be raging and millions of you will be responding in the right way and say, okay, I believe it, but here's, here's, here's the script or here's the assignment. Matthew five, you got it. Love your enemies. I'm talking about believers who betray you, bless them. Don't tell lies about them. Oh, they're so amazing. They're probably not amazing, but say what's true, but don't say anything negative about it. And here's what verse 45, Jesus said, you will be known as being one of the sons of my father. You'll make my father look good in the nations. He will use you as a picture of how glorious he is and how glorious I am. If you will do this, I love Micah seven. God, the reason God is like this. I mean, God is like this. He delights in mercy. Go Lord. I don't want to bless that guy. What if you actually bless him? The Lord goes, I really love that guy. Who's treating you wrong. I really love him. You just don't get the realm I live in, but I'll bring you into that room more. I'll let you interact in that realm. If you'll go with me there, I love mercy. I delighted. I'm raising up a company of people, all the earth. They delight in receiving it and giving it even to their enemies. They love mercy. Paragraph J God wants us to have compassion on the people that betray us. I've thought on this a bit over the years because I've watched it. The plight of a betrayer, a born again believer that betrays their world is hard. You may not be up close and personal. They're applying. It's hard. People who betray suffered in ways they don't anticipate. Watch it over and over and over. And I'm not happy about it. I don't go, I told you. No, it's like, I don't want to touch that. You delighted mercy. That's the only conversation I'm going to get in. You delighted mercy. I remember this one man was attacking me with so much energy. And I mean, it was going all around the world. And I mean, literally, it was going to lots of nations. And the Lord says, I, I was reading song of Solomon. He goes, I am as ravished for him as I am for you. And I remember I went, oh, then I went, wait, that's who you really are. I got made. That's how you really feel. Well, then I want to feel what you feel a little bit. I mean, Satan stirred Judas up. We've got the verses area. He said it as hard meaning that dragon of accusation was breathing on. It made sense to Judas for those few moments then. But the problem is after he betrayed Jesus, Judas couldn't get free from the dark dynamics that were operating in his soul. The trail happened, but the darkness kept moving and despaired hopeless as he hung himself in David's situation. One of his betrayers, a family member and top, uh, a government official betrayed him. He hung himself people who not everyone who betrays is going to hang himself. But my point is there's a dark dimension that happens. And if you know that you don't look at him and say, ha, well, it's about time. You don't woke up and we go, no, that's not good. That's not good. That plight is hard for you. I don't tell them that they'll get mad at you, but, but it's true. Look at John 13, verse 21 at the last supper, Jesus is betrayed. Jesus troubled. And he goes, one of you is going to betray me. Now I've thought, why was Jesus troubled? He's got his feelings hurt. No, Jesus knows they're both going to die in the next 24 hours. What's he troubled about? He's troubled. He has anguish over the fate of a man. He loved who refused God's kindness. He refused to be a part of that delight in mercy company because I'm not happy about that. I actually love this man. Paragraph L, the apostolic team, we're in John 13 again, was hurt by Jesus' betrayal, Judas' betrayal. He didn't just betray Judas, he betrayed them. They actually loved him too. People who betray don't understand the pain coming to them and they don't understand the pain that brings others. But if we take a step back, we have compassion on them. We say, Lord, help them for real. For real, help them. Break in, pray for them. Later on that night in the garden, Judas came up to Jesus. You know, the story betrays him, but look what Jesus says, verse 50. This is not an exaggeration. He gets kissed by Judas. He goes, friend, you're still my friend. It's still available to you. I've not written you off. That is one of the most powerful statements. And Peter's looking at this. You know, Peter pulls the sword out and cuts that guy's ear off, you know. Jesus puts his hand and heals that ear of that slave in the garden. But then later, Peter would write, look what Peter wrote later, while being reviled, Jesus didn't revile and return. Peter's reporting on that night. He didn't look at Judas and say, Judas, whatever, whatever, whatever. He didn't even look at the Sadducees. I mean, the Romans would say this and this and this to them. He didn't revile them back. What did he do? He did, well, he's the greater David. He did what David did. He committed his spirit. He entrusted himself to God. He says, God, you judge, you answer me and make me king of the earth. Give me all my promises and your timing. And, you know, the Lord could have whispered, it's 2,000 years from now before it happens. Are you good? I'm sure it didn't happen that way, but it's still 2,000 years later and it hasn't happened yet. He's not king of the nations, openly displayed for all the nations to see, but it's going to happen. He entrusted himself so he blessed even the people and forgave them on the cross. He forgave them. Peter, James, and John, we saw him call Judas friend. We saw him forgive us when we betrayed him. We saw him forgive everyone on the cross. Peter goes, this is where I'm going. And the last point I'll make, and I'll have the worship team not come up. I'm looking at the time. I want to just make one more point that in, this is a strange to us. In John six, I have it there in the notes there at the end there. In John six, Jesus tells them, Judas, I chose him to be in the company. Why would, and I knew he was a devil. God strategically allows Judas's in apostolic companies and nobody knew it, but Jesus, nobody discerned it by the spirit. Not that I'm not saying they should have, could have, would have. That's not my point. My point is Jesus puts Judas's in apostolic companies to prepare those apostolic leaders to go deep in God. I mean, if I was leading the end time harvest, I wouldn't put Judas on any tape. I'd check out his resume, you know, get some resource checks on him. I'd keep him far away. God puts Judas's on teams. And my feeling is maybe I'm wrong. There's a Judas that shows up here in there on every apostolic assignment in the earth right now, they show up a little bit here and there. I don't, maybe a lot, maybe a little, I don't know. But if it showed up in Jesus's company and he warned us that it's going to happen at the end of the age, but the glory would be manifest and we would be transformed. I said, Lord, I want to be like David. I want to bless. I'm going to be like your, your father. I'm going to live in that supernatural dynamic that your father lives in. Amen. Amen. Let's stand before the Lord. I appreciate the clap, but the others are thinking who's betraying me. They're looking around the room right now. They're going, we appreciate that Mike, but give me a minute here. What's going on here? I'm just having fun. Is that right, Benji? That's how that works, isn't it? Father, here we are before you. God, I want to raise up a company that trains a young generation to go deep in God, to understand the benefits, the transformation potential that happens when we're betrayed by people that we trust. Lord, I ask you to release the spirit of glory on us, in us and through us. Lord, we want to make the father look attractive to people by the way we respond to him. Even when we're being betrayed, we want the world to notice that Jesus was sent by God and he's fully God because of the way we act and respond even to our enemies. Father, I thank you for your perfect leadership and your wisdom. I ask you to mark our hearts. Holy Spirit, I just ask you to come across this room. Even uncertainty, unsettledness, this is a right theme to be unsettled about. That's okay. Go, wait, wait a second. You've been thinking on this for some years. Give me a minute here. This is unsettling. Help us. Help us. Help us, Lord. Holy Spirit, John 15 verse 26, right before the betrayal passage, testify of Jesus in us and then anoint us to testify about him to others, his glorious leadership. Testify of Jesus in us and anoint us to testify about Jesus so that others would not stumble when they're kicked out of the synagogue, their spiritual family. Lord, I ask you that you'd seal our hearts with love. You said I'll seal you with a seal of love, the fire of love. I ask for that seal of love on this community and our young people in Jesus' name. Amen and amen. Well, we have three minutes and we have the other team coming in. I think we have coffee. Do we have coffee back there? We used to. We still do. Does anybody know if we have coffee there? We do. We do, if you want some. That's something you do at this time of night. Bless you, bless you, bless you.