Mike Bickle emphasizes the urgency of proclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom amidst escalating hostility and chaos in society, as described in Matthew 24. He highlights that the Gospel is not merely about personal salvation but encompasses a comprehensive understanding of God's Kingdom, which includes community, societal impact, and the power of the Holy Spirit. Bickle calls for believers to recognize their identity as the Bride of Christ, actively participating in the proclamation and demonstration of the Kingdom in every nation. He stresses the importance of unity and the role of the church in showcasing God's leadership during these tumultuous times. Ultimately, he encourages the church to prepare for the return of the King by embodying all facets of the Gospel of the Kingdom.

Matthew chapter 24, Jesus is describing one generation of human history. He's describing the generation in which He returns. And in it, verse 9 to 12, He describes this escalating hostility and conflict that will be taking place in the cities of the earth. Let's read it in verse 9, and then after that He gives His answer. He says, in the midst of this conflict I want to tell you what I'm about, what I'll be doing and focusing on, and what I want you to be focused on with me. Verse 9, He's describing the growing hostility and conflict in the cities of the earth. He said, then you will be hated by all nations for my sake. And so we can see we're in the beginning of that. It's at a new level of hostility, even in the cultural wars, as governments are standing against the truths of God's Word in a new way, with a new intentionality, even in the last few years. Verse 10, it's going to go beyond the secular society persecuting Christians. Verse 10 is talking about the secular society itself. There'll be many in the social order that will be offended with one another, betray one another, hate one another, hatred, betrayal, hostility, conflict between old, young, between races, male, female, family members, churches, all kinds of social conflict. And again that social conflict being exasperated by economic pressures, by limited nuclear exchanges that I certainly imagine are not far away, and just creating chaos in society. But it's in the midst of that chaos, God's answer comes to light in a global way. And He says it in such a precise and concise way in verse 14. He says, here's what I'm doing, and here's what I want you focused on, and this will be the answer in the midst of an escalating darkness all around you. The gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world. It'll be a witness to all the nations about the King. The gospel of the kingdom will be a witness about the King who leads the kingdom. And then the end will come, of which a few verses later, Jesus describes the end in verse 29 to 31. He goes, I'm going to return personally in the clouds. That's what the end looks like. The King is coming back, but only after there's a witness to who I am, and to what my kingdom is like in every nation of the earth. And a witness isn't just a proclamation, it's a proclamation and a demonstration. A coveted community of people walking it out with a spirit of revival on them and power in every single nation of the earth. Now the word nation is ethnos. It's where we get the word ethnic. And there are 12,000 people groups in the earth. And that's what he's talking about when he says every nation. He doesn't mean simply the 200 nations that are identified by the United Nations. He's talking about the 12,000 ethnos, people groups all over the earth. You know it's amazing that top mission leaders today are predicting there will be at least an introduction to the gospel in all 12,000 groups by the year 2020. First time in human history that a at least an introduction to the gospel will be in every single people group. It's moving. Things are moving forward right now. But the point I want to mention is that God's answer to the escalating lawlessness, to the social chaos, to the uncertainty of those times, the fear, the hatred, the betrayal. He's going to showcase the glory of his leadership as king. He's going to demonstrate what his kingdom looks like when people are loyal to him. And there will be a proclamation and a demonstration through people walking it out together in power in every nation of the earth. And this covenant community will understand they are more than servants of the Lord, but they are literally his bride. And they'll be crying out in every nation, the spirit of the bride, come Lord Jesus. We read that at the end of Revelation chapter 22. And the king says, I will only come when I'm beckoned by a covenant community in every nation of the earth. When they know who they are as my bride, and I am their bridegroom king, they beckon me to come. They've given a demonstration of the glory of my leadership by walking it out as my people. Then and only then will I come. But in the midst of that, he's also giving a way of salvation and a way of deliverance. He's giving the pathway to the answer in the most chaotic generation of human history. Now I believe that we're in the early days of that generation. And I believe that the chaos is going to increase far more rapidly than it even has in the last 10 and 15 years. Jesus is saying the gospel of the kingdom. This is what I'm about. I want to give a demonstration, a witness to it. This is what the Holy Spirit is going to highlight. This is what the Holy Spirit is going to emphasize. This is what the Holy Spirit is going to fund financially. This is what the Holy Spirit is going to mobilize people about, or mobilize them into. The reason I'm saying all this is that as the distress is increasing, it's time for every ministry, ourselves as well, every spiritual family to take a moment and pause and consciously reconnect to what Jesus wants to happen in that time of history and what the Holy Spirit will be emphasizing. And that is the proclamation and demonstration of the gospel of the kingdom. What does this phrase mean, the gospel of the kingdom? Well I'm going to identify five different aspects to it. Though others might use different terminology, these aspects are well attested to by leaders throughout the body of Christ, throughout history. Again they might use different terms, but these five aspects are pretty basic and standard dimensions of the gospel. Now the phrase, the gospel of the kingdom, is the same thing as just the phrase, the word, the gospel. Someone said what's the difference? There is none. Or the gospel of grace. Or the gospel of the glory of God. Those are various terms that are used in the New Testament. But the gospel of the kingdom is the most definitive term. It's the most descriptive one. And that more elaborate descriptive term of the gospel, it beckons us to understand more of what's behind it. Because if you say gospel, you might be tempted to just reduce it to one or two aspects of what it really means. Or the gospel of grace, you might just think it means getting forgiveness. Gospel of grace, gospel, gospel of the glory of God, gospel of the kingdom, all identically, all are identical, speaking of the same thing. Well my point today is to remind us of these five facets. Again different people might say it in a different way. I have found over the years, and even myself, that most ministries focus on one or two of these five facets. But one or two of the five is not the whole counsel of God. It's not the whole gospel. I just want to go through them quite briefly and just give a snapshot kind of look at them. But I want to tell kind of my own story of how the Lord highlighted each one of these. In about a five-year season, when I look over 40 years of ministry, those first 20 years, I identify very, very clearly my journey. I've thought of it many times, how the Lord has highlighted each one of these and built this tapestry of understanding, and in my heart, as to what the gospel of the kingdom is. But I want us, I want to be focused on it in a really intentional way in our spiritual family, in the IHOP missions base, really locked in, and in our whole FCF spiritual family, this is our mandate. This is what God is calling all of His people to. Again there's various specific assignments that are given in context to this, but this is really what it's about. It's not enough to emphasize one or two of these aspects and leave the others, because it's not fully the gospel of the kingdom, unless all five of them are embodied in some degree, and everybody will do it differently, in different emphases, in different percentages, etc. Well it's time to really focus in on this and realign our hearts to it. Paragraph B. Jesus' primary ministry to all believers is to proclaim the gospel of the kingdom. It's your family calling, it's your individual calling, it's the ministry calling, to proclaim it and demonstrate it by living it out together. Now God's called us to do this to the nations. You know a lot of times when people read this verse, the gospel of the kingdom will be preached to all the nations, they focus on the word all the nations, the effectiveness of the preaching of the gospel. Now I like that point. That's a great point. It will reach all the nations, but they often overlook that there's a very specific message that is to be the focus point, the gospel of the kingdom. They overlook that, or they don't really go into any depth as to what the implications are of that. So it's not just we're going to reach all nations, but there's a specific message that is God's answer in the time of increasing distress in the nations. Now all nations. Now every city outside of Jerusalem is the nations. Like some people think the nations is anywhere besides where they live. I talked to people over the years, they go, I'm going to the nations. I want to tip you off, you're in the nations right now. Whatever city you're in, if you're not Jerusalem, you're in the nations. So going to the nations isn't just something you do if you get on an airplane. Because even if you get on an airplane and go, eventually you got to get up the next day, walk across the street and talk to your neighbor. And so whether you do it after a plane trip far away, or you do it right now, you're in the nations and we have to do it. And we have to do it now. This is all hands on deck. Every believer engaged. There's a mandate to bring the gospel of the kingdom by proclamation and demonstration in a time of growing distress, and to do it in your city, in the marketplace assignment you have, wherever he's put you, with a view of even helping to do it in other cities of the earth outside of your own city. Well the gospel, we know the word means good news. It's, so we could say the good news of the kingdom, or the gospel of the kingdom. You could say it any way that you want. But it's first good news about a king. It's not good news mostly about we got out of hell for free. That is good news. How many know that's good news? I love getting out of hell for free. That's amazing. I love the assurance of heaven. But the good news isn't the good news about free forgiveness. The free forgiveness is the entrance into the covenant community with the king. The good news is focused on a man. He's a king. A king is at the right hand of the Father right now. A human being with a resurrected body who has been declared king by God the Father is already sitting at the right hand of the Father, and he's ruling right now through his people. That man with a physical resurrected body is going to appear in the clouds and come down to the earth soon. And he's going to transition planet earth to the age to come. I think it's very possible this will happen within the lifetime of people that are even in this room right now. Maybe it's the two-year-olds. I don't know. Maybe it's the older ones. I don't know. But I think it's very possible. Can you fathom the earth being transitioned to the age to come? What an amazing generation. It will be the most hostile. It will be the most dangerous. It will be the darkest, most demonic generation. But at the same time, it will be the generation where the church is moving in more power, more unity, and greater effectiveness and purity than any time in history. The two extremes will coexist in one generation, thus creating very unique dynamics in one generation of history. And that's the generation Jesus is talking about. But the good news is the good news about a king. And it is a good news about his covenant community, his kingdom community. And this king, Isaiah talks about him in Isaiah 4. And it's talking about the generation the Lord returns. It's prophesying about that hour of history. Look what it says. Isaiah chapter 4 verse 2. In that day, that's in the end of the age, the branch of the Lord, that's a Old Testament term for the Messiah. It was a well-known term, the branch of the Lord. I won't go into why, but it's used many times in the Old Testament. The Messiah shall be seen as beautiful and glorious. There's one generation of history, and it's in the hour we're talking about here in Matthew 24. The Holy Spirit is going to highlight and magnify the beauty of a man, of the king. And the body of Christ will be captured by the beauty of this man. The way he loves, the way he plans, his wisdom, his power, the very glory of his being will capture the church. And in that generation, and it's already beginning, the church will discover who they are as his bride, not just his servants. They will understand something very, very dear and glorious about them. They are more than the servants of the Lord. Yes, we'll always be the servants of the Lord. But he has declared that his people will be his bride, his eternal companion. Because he's more than a king, he's a bridegroom king. He's a king with power. But he's a bridegroom with desire. So this king is filled with desire, and power, and beauty. And the prophet Isaiah says the Holy Spirit's going to let his beauty capture the nations. And, and it's seeing the king. Now some people, when they think about the gospel, they think about it as mostly a task. We've got to win our neighborhood. That's a good thing to be captured with. We're going to win the nations. We got to send out teams. That's good. I don't want to in any way shed a negative light on that. But beloved, the gospel, the kingdom, is more than a task. It's a man. It's a king. It's his covenant community. It's a people. And it's that king and his rules spreading out through the nations. And his beauty will come to the forefront of that generation. And again, I believe we're in the early days of that generation. Now the idea that the gospel, or the gospel of the kingdom, more accurately said, or a more descriptive term, gospel of the kingdom. Again, they all mean the same. The fact it was about a king was well established in the New Testament Church. You can read in Acts chapter 17 in Greece. Paul went to Greece and there was a great revival. Thessalonica, the city of Thessalonica in Greece, or Macedonia, the same area of modern day Greece today. And great revival broke out. And then the society was troubled by the revival. And their complaint, they had a riot in the city. And they were beating up the Christians. And here was their complaint when the magistrates of the city said, what are you doing? These people claim there's another king. That's why we have a hostile response. Now the unbelievers were not complaining that the Christians were claiming forgiveness. They go, good for you. You're forgiven. I hope it's true. Nobody's troubled when somebody proclaims free forgiveness. Or you're going to heaven. That's cool. You're going to get healed. That's pretty neat. But that's not what caused trouble in the book of Acts. Because they understood the gospel of the kingdom was a king was reigning at the right hand of the father right then. And he was making his claim of his leadership over the cities and the nations of the earth right then through them. And that king was going to come physically and permanently back to the earth. And set up his throne in Jerusalem. And he was going to assert his authority and claim his rightful government over all the nations of the earth. That was a very hostile message. Many people when they talk about the gospel, they're not thinking of a king asserting his power. And a community that's loyal to the king. They're thinking about getting forgiven, praying the sinner's prayer, going to heaven when they die. Maybe get healed once or twice in between and a few financial blessings and hey, we're on the road. It's working. And I want to say I like all those things for sure. But the gospel of the kingdom is so much more than that. Paragraph C. Now the gospel of the kingdom was the central theme to Jesus' teaching. Look at Matthew chapter 4. Jesus went about all of Galilee. And what was Jesus preaching in all of Galilee? The same thing that the Holy Spirit is going to emphasize in the generation the Lord returns. It was the gospel of the kingdom. A king and a kingdom community asserting God's rightful power through a man named Jesus. Jesus was proclaiming this. And he was healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease. Because God's rule is not just over governmental leaders. He's not just king over other kings. He's king over death. He's king over sickness. He's king over the devil. He has power over everything that comes against him. And so he was healing the sick as a demonstration of his rule over satanic activity and oppression against human people, human beings. He says, I'm king over that. My rule is over the realm of death and Satan and I'm going to exert my rule. So healing, though it was showing God's compassion, it was demonstrating his rightful rule over Satan's oppression of human beings. Now what is the kingdom of God? A simple working definition. It's any sphere of life. The kingdom of God is any sphere of life where people agree with God's leadership. Meaning if the banker has policies in his bank or her bank that are in agreement with God's leadership, the kingdom is being manifested in that bank. If the doctor, the coach, the schoolteacher, the policeman, the accountant, the truck driver, the person over the warehouse, if they're walking in godly character and kingdom ways, the kingdom is being manifested in that warehouse. The church is the covenant community of the kingdom, but the kingdom is far beyond the organizational chart of the church. The kingdom is wherever believers are proclaiming and demonstrating God's rule in any sphere of society. Anytime somebody's healed, it's God's authority over darkness. Anytime there's blessing, it's God's power released in finance. So the kingdom is far bigger than the community of the church. It's wherever people agree and demonstrate and proclaim God's ways and God's leadership. Let's look at Roman Number One. I'm just going to take two or three minutes on each one of these. I'm going to tell my own story because probably each one of these for about a five year period, not exactly, the Lord highlighted these in my early days and has been building it in my understanding and in my heart since then. And when I look at each one of these five, I say, Lord I need to take hold of them in a greater tenacity. And we want to see them implemented in a greater way, but as a spiritual family, this is our focus and this is where we're going. Well the first aspect is the one we all start with. It's our personal benefits. That's always the beginning place. It was about 45 years ago, as a teenager, 15 years old, I committed my life to the Lord and I was really, I mean I was really energetic and really going hard after the Lord in high school. And my youth leaders at the Presbyterian church I was really involved in, they were talking about, you know, the personal encounter with the Lord. I was so captured by being forgiven for free forever and having confidence with God. I mean here I am, 18, 19, 20, in my weakness, my brokenness, in my sin, my loss, my failure, my pride, my anger, God's love and kindness was bigger than my failure and my weakness. And I could have confidence before Him, even while I'm growing in the Lord. I mean that's a glorious discovery. It's the place where we learn to have a vibrant heart. This is where the gospel starts. Intimacy with God. The first commandment emerging in our life. Walking out the Sermon on the Mount lifestyle. Those kind of character traits. Personal transformation. That's where the gospel starts. But beloved, the gospel is far more than forgiveness and personal transformation. Because it's not just a gospel for an individual, isolated. It is for an individual, but it's a king and a kingdom and how that individual interacts with that king and kingdom. It's about the king. It's about his kingdom community. Well in Luke chapter 17, for indeed the kingdom of God is within you. Starts like a small seed inside of us in our experience. And it grows. And look at Romans 14. The kingdom of God is transformation of our heart. Righteousness. I mean we have victory over dark emotions. Over lust and pride and anger. And we have the kingdom of God is peace. We have victory over fear. We triumph over fear. Or it's joy. We have liberty over depression and sorrow and grief. There's a joy that's bigger than our human ability to get through depression or difficulty or heaviness. Those are the kingdom demonstrations in our life. What a glorious reality. Paul called it in Romans 6, you're under grace. He says sin, look at Romans 6 14, sin shall not have dominion over you. Dark emotions will not hold you in slavery if you will interact with God understanding who you are in the grace of God. Beloved, we are not doomed to be slaves to dark emotions. There is power. If we know what the grace of God is, who we are in Christ, the personal benefits are real and this is part of the declaration of the kingdom. Now some people are very content with this first part. And they go that's really all I care about in the kingdom. And those are glorious but beloved the kingdom message is far beyond assurance of forgiveness. Freedom from condemnation and a little bit of transformation. There's far more to the kingdom than that. Let's go to number two. Top of page two. Well that first emphasis was maybe the first five, six, seven years of my spiritual life. I mean you never outgrow any of these. I'm 45 years later still locked into that intimacy with God. I want a vibrant heart. I want greater freedom over dark emotions. I mean you never graduate from any of these. You just add the other dimensions to it. Well the second aspect of the kingdom. Now I'm in my early 20's. It's the late 1970's. I'm pastoring. I'm a young pastor in my early 20's in the St. Louis area. And there was the charismatic renewal. Some of you that are older remember it and the Jesus people movement was breaking out all over America. There were thousands of new non-denominational congregations called fellowships. Everybody almost everybody called them fellowships. You know there were the mainline churches and this new thing in the 70's called fellowships where people left the mainline churches in which I'm not advocating that. That's not my point. I'm just giving a historical account of what was happening. Thousands, I mean hundreds and hundreds of thousands of people were doing it. They were forming groups, one or two hundred, one or two thousand and they were walking out a new expression of the kingdom. Now there were many movements in the 70's. I mean they were everywhere you turned around you were reading about them in the Christian magazines and hearing reports. They were talking about the kingdom communities. And but they were always using the term, many of them, the leaders. Again I'm in my young 20's and they're saying the kingdom of God. And I said well no the kingdom of God is when you get forgiven for your sin and you get some transformation and you know you're going to heaven and you enjoy Jesus and He enjoys you. That's what the kingdom of God is. They go well yeah. But the kingdom of God is when God establishes covenant communities, communities of the King. And one of the ways that the Lord does this most effectively is that He raises up elders. He raises up and anoints leaders. And the point of these elders, look here in paragraph B, that the elders would rule. Now that's a very interesting word because if you're not thinking of Jesus and His kingdom the word rule is kind of like a threatening word. They rule. That seems like you know an oppressive term of you know kind of colonization and the westerners are coming to rule. Like I don't know if I really want all that. And no, and Paul's going no, no, no. The elders are manifesting the authority of the King's rule. And He's a King filled with love and His kingdom is like Him filled with covenant love. And the rule is that the ability to mobilize the people to love well and to work in unity so they can bring the kingdom influence to their city and the nations. The point of elders was to mobilize the body in unity. It's not that the elders were better than everybody else, but just the human dynamics. God anoints and appoints leaders and those leaders would be focused on mobilizing the community to love well and to reach out in focused action and unified efforts together so there was synergism and there was team spirit and camaraderie instead of fighting and divisive which is what the devil wants. So the whole point of elders this movement said is to bring the rule of God which is a word to identify with the kingdom. And I never thought of local churches as being part of the kingdom. I mean of course they are, but I thought you got the kingdom of God that means people get saved. You got local churches, that's the pastors, they do what they do. And this movement was saying no, no, God is raising up leaders that exhibit and demonstrate God's rule. The rule of a loving King who's filled with covenant love and it mobilizes and unifies the people to walk out covenant community together. Now look what it says in Hebrews 13. It says to the people, obey those who rule, those who rule over you. I mean that's, again, that's kind of, in our day that's kind of adversarial language. Obey? How dare you God? Rule over me? Like what? What elder is going to rule over me? No way. Then he says even a more kind of ominous term in our culture today, be submissive to those elders so they'll watch out for your soul. As those who will give an account. And if you respond in a cooperative way, they'll be able to mobilize the body with greater joy and that will be good for you, that will go good for you. Now the reason those were not threatening terms when Paul used them in the New Testament, because they were identifying with the gracious King who was filled with love, wanting to mobilize people to love well and serve well in unity together. That was the function of the elders in one sentence. But today we get a different view of it. But the Lord wants to restore the idea that the kingdom of God is not just an individual being saved and healed and blessed financially. They are a part of a kingdom. Their loyalty to the King is expressed by their commitment to His covenant community. To where God says, Jesus says, I want everyone to belong. And I want the more mature ones to take initiative to invest in the more, those that are immature. That's how my kingdom works. That's how I work as the King the Lord would say. And I want to raise up communities that exhibit this. And they're going to have a revival spirit on them. And they will be in every single one of the 12,000 ethnos, nations, people groups of the earth. And they will be a witness of my leadership as King. And they'll be a witness of my answer as they walk out kingdom community in the midst of a decaying society. That there's only one answer, the King and His community. Well in the 70's, leaders were saying this all over the place. And I remember, you know, again I'm in my 20's. I'm a little bit kind of taken back by it. But I didn't know the kingdom of God was about church services. Like what? And it's way more than church services. Right now the, that aspect of the gospel of the kingdom has kind of been lost. But the Holy Spirit's going to bring it back. I assure you. Because the Holy Spirit's going to anoint. And this is what we're committed to. The gospel of the kingdom. That is God's answer and that's His plan for the nations in the midst of the increasing chaos. Look at number three. Well a few years went by. I really end okay. The kingdom of God is covenant communities. Then in the, my late 20's, early 80's, there's another big move that comes across America. And that is the idea the kingdom of God, now they're saying it different now. They're saying the kingdom of God is bringing the rule of God or the ways of God. The power of God. The wisdom of God into every sphere of society. You had guys like Bill Bright with Campus Crusade saying it. Lauren Cunningham with YWAM, he was saying it in the 80's. They were saying this pretty bold. Jerry Falwell came out with the moral majority and mobilized the believers and said, hey, we have a place in the political sphere. Because before that, that was kind of like you were compromising if you did anything political. He goes, are you kidding? It's the kingdom of God. OK. And then guys like some, a name some of you would know, some of you are a little bit older, Earl Polk, they had, there's a movement called Kingdom Now. And thousands of churches were reaching out to the school systems, the political arenas, you know all the spheres of society. Today there's a new term some use, they call it Seven Mountains. But this movement of the kingdom touching every sphere of society was a movement that was strong in the 1980's. Now this is a message of the gospel of the kingdom. It's the good news about the king wanting to influence business world. He has a plan and a purpose for the educational institutions, the military, the penal systems. I mean he's got something going on in every sphere and he's telling his people, I want to be involved with you in each one of those spheres. Well I have here in paragraph A, Adam and Eve when they were first created, God gave them this mandate to bring his dominion to every sphere of life. And in the 80's it was a term that was used pretty, I heard it quite a few times by different people, they called it the Dominion Mandate. It was bringing God's leadership to every sphere of society. Now we will never succeed fully until the Lord returns. Because society is going to get worse and worse, but facets of it will get better and better, both and happening in contrast in the same generation that the Lord returns. So right in the midst some kingdom businesses will explode with supernatural wisdom and prosperity while there's economic chaos all around the world. There will be places where God shines light in various spheres of society where believers are releasing his presence and his wisdom and his ways. So the dark will get darker, the light will get lighter, the contrast will be intense, but there will be great aggression against the people of God as they're proclaiming God's ways. Well that movement I remember in the 80's, that was pretty exciting, I got real excited about it. So I started thinking, well Lord, what is it? Is the kingdom of God my forgiveness, transformation, and me enjoying you and you enjoying me? Yes. Is the kingdom of God, you know, is it about impacting society? Is it about covenant communities and your rule being manifest through leadership, mobilizing people to dwell together, to love well together? Because if there's leadership, it's mobilized, the mobilizing is far more effective than if the leadership's not in place. Well number four, a few years went by, now I'm in my early 30's, it's the late 80's, and John Wimberd, some of you know that name, and he was a man that God used mightily in the 80's and 90's, and he would have these leadership conferences of thousands of leaders, like he went to Germany and 7,000 Lutheran pastors, and went to England, had 7 or 8,000 pastors, and New Zealand and Australia and South Africa and Hong Kong, all over the world, and thousands of pastors would come, and his message was the kingdom of God. And the Lord connected me with him in a real special way, so now I'm in his world, and they're all talking about the kingdom of God. But they're not mostly talking about personal blessing and transformation, forgiveness a little bit, they're not talking so much about covenant communities, a little bit, but not much, not so much about impacting society, they were talking about demonstrating the power and the compassion of the king to his people, signs and wonders, the prophetic spirit, miracles, casting out demons. And they said, this is the kingdom, and I thought, wow, that's like my fourth definition of the kingdom, what is it? Is it casting out devils and healing the sick? And it is, I'm in the very words of Jesus. Matthew chapter 12, verse 28, he said, if I cast out demons by the Holy Spirit, the kingdom has come. That the king has power and he has compassion, and he wants that power manifest through his covenant community. Everybody is to be a person of the Holy Spirit, because the king is a man of the Holy Spirit, his kingdom is a kingdom of the Spirit, and all of us are to operate in the realm of healing, deliverance, prophetic. I mean, I had such a great time Saturday and Friday night, our IHOPU students came back from the one thing regionals, they went to five different cities and came back and gave the testimonies, and I mean, one after the other, they would say, I was there, you know, Atlanta or New York, Pasadena, I was far away, and I got out there, and they had me pray for this person, or, you know, speak an impression that God gave me in my heart, and I didn't know if the impression was even right, but I kind of eked it out, and the Lord touched the person, and the lady cried, and the guy got healed, and I went, oh my gosh, this really works. And it really does, it's for everybody. God gives us little soft impressions, very subtle impressions, mostly, not only, but mostly, and we give expression to those impressions, we say them, and the Lord moves in power. Maybe a little measure of power, maybe a big measure, but he moves in power when we say what he impresses us, and the kingdom works that way. And John Wimber was saying, we've got to activate everybody to believe this, and thousands, I mean, he probably talked to a couple hundred thousand pastors, I mean, he had so much impact, mostly mainline church pastors, and he was saying, it's impossible, it's unthinkable to the New Testament leaders, that if you had a right doctrine of forgiveness, but you didn't cast out devils, it was impossible to think you were doing the kingdom of God like it's supposed to be done. And he was normalizing the idea that the prophetic anointing signs and wonders, miracles, as much a part of the kingdom as the personal benefits of forgiveness. Well, then, in my 40s, in the 1990s, the Lord began to give me the fifth part of this, and I thought about the end times a bit over the years, actually, I put a little bit of time into it, but starting in the 90s, he began to really focus on this idea that the king is really coming back, physically, a man, to transition the earth to the age to come. And in the context of that, it will be the time in history when the kings of the earth and the governments of the earth are mobilized together against the word of God, like it says in Psalm 2. And we're seeing that happen, and there would be great resistance from the highest people in government with their resources to resist the kingdom of God. And again, we're still watching that happen, but the storyline unfolds that Jesus comes and confronts them. They declare war on him, real war, and he makes war back on them. And this is the most radical idea. He replaces every single king of the earth with new people at one time. I mean, a Jewish man is going to come back and remove every head of government and put a new head of government in, like in one short period of time. Like, wow, that's intense. And they don't like this message. They don't like a real king coming back. And the fact that it would be an hour where the unique dynamics of the greatest negativity and danger and darkness with the greatest increase of power and Holy Spirit power and obedience to the king and covenant communities functioning in full contrast and even opposition to one another. And the Lord is, you know, there's 150 chapters in the Bible, 150 chapters in the Bible of which the primary theme is that generation of time. It's the end times. And most of the body of Christ is pretty illiterate of those 150 chapters. I mean, think about it. If you add up Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, the four gospels, 89 chapters, so almost 90 chapters about Jesus' first coming, 150 chapters about the events related to His second coming. All through the Old Testament. And the Lord began to stir my heart and He says, the people have got to be prepared. A king is coming. And He's going to, and He's going to assert His authority before all the nations openly, remove all the governments, replace them all. It's a real king and kingdom. Preach the gospel of the kingdom. So there's a very clear forerunner end time dimension to the gospel of the kingdom. Now, the part that really blesses me, the whole message is going to be preached in power to every nation of the earth. The personal benefits is going to be preached. The transformation or the impact of society. The whole realm of healing and power. The covenant communities and the knowledge of the unique dynamics of that final generation. You know in the Bible, a generation can go 100 years, so you don't know how long that generation will go, but it's that one time frame. Jesus said, the clarity of that message, it will give hope, it will give understanding, it will transform hearts, it will mobilize my people into kingdom communities, it will impact society and be goodwill and unbelievers will be transformed by it, and it will demonstrate power. The whole thing is the gospel of the kingdom. And the end time message, the fifth part, without being in context to the other four, it doesn't work disconnected. The first part, without being connected to the last part, personal benefits, transformation of a heart, free forgiveness, intimacy with God, but with confusion about what's happening in the nations and the great hour of conflict and collision, those people that are blessed and forgiven are going to be just overwhelmed and confused and filled with fear if they don't get what the King is doing. So what the Lord is saying, He's saying, FCF, spiritual family, I want you to realign yourself to what the Holy Spirit is saying in the nations, the gospel of the kingdom. Not two of the five, not four of the five, all five. Not just the one or two that you grew up with, all five together. And as the leader of this community I'm saying, Lord, this is what we want to do. I want to see the leadership, the elders and deacons and the covenant community. I'm really stirred about that. I want to see the pastors come forth. The covenant community. But I want to see the people transformed and enjoying the Lord and confident in the Lord. And we want to impact South Kansas City. But we want to partner with people in touching the nations of the earth. The Lord is, as He's raising up this end time covenant community, they'll be in every nation of the earth. And they will understand who they are. They are the bride of Christ. Look what it says here in Revelation 22, 17. It's the Spirit and the body of Christ knowing who they are as the bride. Beloved, we're not just the servants of the Lord as I said earlier. We're His eternal companion. That everything that's His is ours. And everything that's ours is His. He says, Father, I want them with me where I am. I want them to rule with me. I want them with me. Beloved, we're more than servants doing a task. We're the dearly beloved of the beautiful King. And look at what the bride is doing. She's postured in this prophecy of Revelation 22 praying, Come Lord Jesus. She's praying. There's nothing more intimate in our partnership with Him than prayer. He's the great intercessor. We're partnering. We're telling Him. We're in conversation with Him. The things that delight His heart, the promises He made, we're speaking them back to Him. And He says, I want the conversation. I want the prayer culture to fill the body of Christ. I want them to know who they are. I want them to embrace the rigors of moving forward in their prayer life and understanding who He is and who they are as the King. And the Holy Spirit's giving a great gift to the body of Christ. Worldwide, that's hundreds of thousands of prophetic singers and musicians. And they are energizing the global prayer movement. And they're making prayer enjoyable and prayer sustainable. The Holy Spirit says, I'm going to raise up hundreds of thousands, maybe millions, singers and musicians all over the planet that will help the bride in partnership and prayer. Not only prayer. Our partnership is more than that. Talking to Him in dialogue, but by the energizing of prophetic singers and musicians. Musicians and singers, come on up with that note and get ready to lead us in ministry here. But I mean at such a time as this. Beloved, we are at a critical time of history. I mean the increase of the distress is apparent. The prayer movement is exploding across the earth. The church is beginning to understand that she's a cherished bride. Singers and musicians are emerging everywhere. And the Lord looks at our little community here. And the Lord could say to us, He goes, I was zealous to set you up to do this. I intervened in the 80s. I gave you prophecies. I set things in motion. I was zealous to establish you and to inform you and to get you connected to this reality. But as a spiritual family, I'm saying to the Lord, Lord, I want to say yes to you in all five of these dimensions. I don't want to be a partial gospel preacher. I want the full gospel. I want the full counsel of God. The gospel of the kingdom. Because that's Jesus' answer to a world in conflict and to a church that's being purified and enlarged in the nations even now. Amen. Let's stand before the Lord. The Lord wants all hands on deck. He wants every one of us involved in the gospel of the kingdom saying it, demonstrating it, living it out. Here in South Kansas City and other cities wherever God sends you, we're in this thing together, all hands on deck, till every nation is impacted. That's our mandate. And we're saying yes to the Lord in it. And I want to invite people to come forward and you're saying, Lord, I just know I have a role in this. I'm just not real clear where it is, but I'd like prayer. I think I might be one of those shepherd elders to help the community, the covenant community get mobilized to love well and serve well. Others of you, you're saying, man, I want to move more in that prophetic and dreams and visions at what John Wimber said, that kingdom of God is casting out devils. I want to do that. Others of you are saying, man, I want to get the whole message, the end time message, but I want to get the victory life message too. And you say, I want prayer. Maybe some of you are just saying, I need prayer because my body's sick or my heart's weary. For anything you want, I want to invite you to come up. We're going to wait on the Lord for a few moments. We're going to ask the Holy Spirit to just come and establish the gospel of the kingdom in a greater way in our lives and in our midst.