Mike Bickle emphasizes the importance of understanding Jesus as the Bridegroom, King, and Judge, highlighting the need for a forerunner message that prepares the church for His return. He shares personal experiences and prophetic encounters that shaped this revelation, stressing that the church must embrace all three aspects of Christ's nature to fully comprehend His love and authority. Bickle encourages believers to engage in prayer and intercession, aligning their hearts with God's desires and judgments, as they prepare for the coming of the Lord.

Again, as we stand before your glorious throne, on the sea of crystal, sapphire sea before you, in the midst of all the holy angels, we speak into your heart and we say, we love you, Father. And by faith, we're seated in heavenly places before your glorious throne. I ask you for the light of your presence to shine upon us even now. We thank you in the name of Jesus. Amen. Well, this is the sixth session of the eight sessions that we're going to do in this series on the prophetic history of IHOP, looking at all the prophetic testimonies and how the Lord has emphasized from heaven the things that he promised us to do. But in promising us certain things, there's a message in those promises. It's not only, wow, isn't it going to be great? But the Lord's saying, I want you to do something. There's a message in the promise. There's a mandate. And it's not just that we're to do it. We're to do it in a certain way with the right spirit before him. And sometimes when we hear the message, the prophetic history, we're more focused on the dynamic events. And I just feel just continually urgent to stress that the events are glorious and they speak of great things and great power and great events and great finance and supply and many things. But there's a message. There's a mandate. There's a work to do. And there's a work to do in a right spirit, in a right way. And we have to save the message according to the word. And in the last session, session five, we looked at the conviction of the spirit, the gift of anointed intercession and where God's going to bring apostolic preaching and prophetic singing and drama and these things for the power of conviction to supernaturally touch the heart. In this session, I want to continue on the subject of the message. Last night, yesterday, last session was the message. This is the message again. But here we're going to focus on how the Lord established the forerunner message in our midst. And he emphasized this, that we were to be forerunners. And he established this in our midst in a process over years. And, of course, he used the written word of God and he used the prophetic dreams and visions to highlight and emphasize that which is clearly in the written word, but things that we were neglecting and overlooking. And so dreams and visions are not to add anything to the written word, but they're to bring a focus and a new insight into old truths. And that's what the Lord did. And he called us at one of our primary callings, I'll say, is that of the forerunner spirit, the forerunner message. Now, when I think of the forerunner message, I think of three things. Jesus as bridegroom, king and judge. Jesus is bridegroom, king and judge. As bridegroom, he has great emotion and desire for his people. As king, he has great power and he's going to take over all the nations. He will transform all society and shift all the finance and raise the dead. I mean, the rapture of the church, everybody is raised from the dead. He's king. His power over money, over nations, over the great harvest, the end time prayer movement, he is king. But he's not only bridegroom and king, he's judge. And he is going to confront everything that hinders love. Now, the message of Jesus is bridegroom, king and judge. At first glance, seems contradictory. And people initially, they tend to pick one of the three. And the third one is always Jesus the judge. That's always the last, it's the last one that's in focus. People typically pick, I like the king, you know, the power dimension, the transfer of indescribable wealth, the transformation of cities and nations, revival, the king. Others go, oh, I love you, I love you, I love you. You love me, you love me. I love Jesus the bridegroom. I don't know about the revival thing. I love him, he loves me. Well, the Jesus, the king who's taking over the nations is doing it for love. And Jesus, the bridegroom who loves, he says, hey, I want to take over the nations so that I can establish my love throughout the entire earth. But Jesus, the judge says, I'm going to confront everything that hinders my love. I'm going to move it out of the way. So in reality, there is no difference. And at the core of these three truths, they are the same truth. They're different faces of one diamond. They're different facets of one glorious man. Fully God, fully man, the God man, Jesus. And in the generation, the Lord returns. And I believe we're in the early days of that generation. That's a personal opinion, a personal conviction. And I have that conviction, not because of a dream or a vision or a personal revelation. I have the conviction because of the biblical signs of the times. There's so many of them that are increasing in intensity. I mean, from biblical witness of what would happen in society and in the church and in the nations and in the created order with earthquakes and floods and signs in the heavens. By just the observation, using the biblical signs of the times, I have an increasing conviction. We're in the early days of that generation. And I believe there's people alive on the earth right now that will actually see the coming of the Lord with their eyes. It may not be for some decades. I don't know. It may three, four, five, six decades, maybe longer, maybe shorter. Nobody knows the day or the hour. But because of the signs of the times, I believe there will be a people all over the earth that will know as we get closer to that time, they will know that generation. And I believe that there's signs in the word of God, biblical signs that create in us a confidence and awareness. We're getting close to that hour. Well, if that be true, that we're in that hour and those final decades, and I believe it to be true. Again, it's a personal conviction, personal opinion. The Holy Spirit is going to emphasize Jesus as bridegroom, king and judge with a great focus. A lot of folks have been content with Jesus, the forgiver of sins. And then another group came along, you know, about 100 years ago in the Pentecostal movement said, hey, he doesn't only forgive, he heals. So Jesus, the healer. And so Jesus, the forgiver and Jesus, the healer in the last, you know, 10 or 20 years, Jesus has all the money. Hey, he gives us money too. He not only forgives us, he heals us, he gives us money. But there's more to what's on his heart and the forerunner message than just he forgives us, he heals us and he gives us money. He has a global purpose, a global purpose. And he's raising up forerunners that prepare that get prepared first to prepare others to cooperate with Jesus as bridegroom, king and judge. Three faces of one heart, three facets of one diamond. And when we first came to Kansas City 27 years ago, we were into Jesus, the king a little bit. I mean, we love Jesus, the king. We didn't realize how big that message was. It was the revival. We wanted to see a great harvest. We wanted to see soul saved, anything to see soul saved. That's what it was about. It was Jesus who had power to release the harvest. And the Lord came along and we got established and said, OK, he strengthened our intercession. He gave us words and promises about intercession. So he had more confidence to pray with more focus and more ardent way and greater commitment. He strengthened our intercessory because the intercessors must cry out for Jesus, the king to show his power to manifest his provision. Well, a few years go by and he says, I'm going to add to it now. I want you to know Jesus, the bridegroom, not Jesus, the one with power only. But Jesus, the one whose heart is filled with desire. And so he captured us. I mean, it was an ambush. None of us were thinking of it. I mean, we thought of intimacy with God a little bit. I mean, we all thought of intimacy, God of God with God a little bit, but not the kind of focus the Bible makes clear. And he began to say, preach on Jesus, the bridegroom encountered the bridegroom. And it was like, this is interesting because we knew the king a little bit, the God of revival, the God of healing, the God of provision, a little bit of his kingship. Again, that's just that's only the outer edges of his kingship. There's a lot more to his kingship than that. But then he began to say the God, the king with the burning heart, the bridegroom king. And that kind of threw us off for a few years. We as a people, we were grappling with it. We didn't have language. We didn't couldn't connect with it. It was it seemed contradictory, like we either had to pick Jesus, the revival. The Jesus of revival or the Jesus who loved us. And obviously it's the same thing. But we were struggling and we had revival people and we had intimacy people. They were kind of in conflict. And a few years passed and the Lord says, I'm going to add more to your foundation. Jesus, the judge. He not only is a king with power and a bridegroom with love and desire and emotion, he is going to, in his judgments, remove everything that gets in the way. He's going to intervene to remove the hindrances so that as a bridegroom king, he can have his way with his people. So when we begin to emphasize the judgment message, oh, this was like created a whole kind of conflict. And we had three different groups in our midst, the bridegroom God people, the Jesus, the king people, and Jesus, the judge. Of course, they were in the minority and they were kind of like, he's a judge too. And and I saw, you know, all kinds of, you know, dialogues and we'll call it intense fellowship. But it was really intense. Some of it of which is the truth. And and it took years for this to come together and to be integrated in our thinking as one seamless revelation of one God, man, Jesus Christ. And we don't have to pick between the three. Well, it's the forerunner message. I'm going to give you just a few of the prophetic experiences we had as the Lord took us on our journey. I already told you last night in the fifth session about how we emphasize the gift of prayer and the gift of revival. And again, that's Jesus, the king. That's just dimensions of his kingship. He has power. He's going to show his power and we're going to get healed and we're going to get saved. And we're going to have provision and there's going to be power. Jesus, the king. Now, in this session, I want to talk about how we convinced us. I mean, the Bible is good enough, but we were so dull of hearing and and and we couldn't see the obvious that was in the Bible. So he gives us dreams and visions and he brings a particular focus. He gives us a focused gaze on the old truths of the word. Some folks have said, wow, you have some new stuff. I says, no, no, we just have a new look at an old truth. It's new to us. It's been in the word the whole time. It's just new to us. But it's an old truth. It started, I mean, this was the first shocker was in July 88. I mean, I can't imagine a person. I mean, I'm a little overstating this, but more on. I mean, that I would I can't imagine God picking me for this truth. I'm trying to say the truth of the song of Solomon. I mean, I just wasn't a song of Solomon guy. Or at least I didn't know that I was. Let's put it that way. Well, it's July 1988 and I'm in my office after a morning prayer meeting and I'm reading a wedding card. And on this wedding card, it has Song of Solomon 86. I have the text right there on the notes. Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm. For my love is as strong as death. In other words, my love, nothing can overcome my love if it's yielded to. And I'm reading this on a wedding card. I went, wow, I've I've ran. I've seen that on wedding cards before, but it never really, you know, grabbed my attention. It's kind of a neat verse. And it struck me. I said, set me as a seal. And I just just came out of a prayer meeting and I was real focused on the Lord. I was going through my mail and I stopped and I said, Lord. I said, be the seal. Oh, Jesus, seal my heart with your love. I just stopped for a second. And I mean, the spirit of the Lord came on me and I just begin to weep. And I just said, Lord, fill my heart. Father, I pray. John 17, 26, fill my heart, father, with the love you have for your son. Seal me with supernatural power. And it was really just a surprise of tenderness. And I began to weep. And so I picked up the phone, called the receptionist and said, you know, something's just unusual is happening right now. And if somebody calls or comes by, just don't let them in no matter what. It's really a special moment. And I hung the phone up. Now, I have never in 30 plus years of ministry ever called the receptionist and said, don't for any reason let somebody call me because God's visiting me. I mean, I wish that I'd had many times, but I've never done that just this one day. And I'm there and I'm just weeping and it's tender. And I'm saying, Lord, set yourself, be the seal upon my heart. Touch me. And I just cannot think of anything sweeter and more tender than when God is revealing God to the human spirit. I mean, there's nothing more dynamic than when God reveals God to the human spirit, especially when he's revealing his love. Ten minutes later, the phone rings. Now, I can't believe how quick I can go from the heights of tenderness to instantaneously in the flesh. I went, what? I mean, how can you go from there to there that fast? Well, I'm good at it. I've had a lot of practice. I pick the phone up and I go, hello. And the receptionist says, I really apologize. But Bob Jones just called. And because, you know, Bob Jones, by 1988, he's been with us for five years. He has quite a testimony in our midst because the stories are now well known. And the receptionist says, he said he's heard the audible voice of God for you right now. He said, I figured I should let God in. I mean, if God was to say so. He goes, is that good? I go, yeah, that's good. That's good. That's right. That's right. He always let God in if he's, and it wasn't, you know, you know what I mean? It's Bob Jones on the phone, but with a testimony straight from God. So I go, hello, Bob. Bob says, Mike, I have one minute. I'm on my way to the airport. They're out in the car coming to pick me up. He goes, I've had a powerful encounter just now. I heard the audible voice of God awake. I mean, just now, just moments ago. It's early in the morning and I get ready to go to the airport and he was running late and cars outside going, hurry up, hurry up, Bob. He says, the Lord just spoke to me. Song of Solomon chapter eight, verse six. I mean, I can't believe this. I'm, you know, I'm still kneeling. I got the phone in my hand, the Bible on the other hand, looking at Song of Solomon eight, six, and he goes, the Lord gave me Song of Solomon eight, six audibly just now. And he told me, I must call you right now. He says, I'll check in with you when I get back. He said, but in town, but I want you to know this two things. He says, this is going to be a primary focus of your ministry all the days of your life. And number two, whatever is in Song of Solomon eight, six, you didn't even look it up yet. He said, whatever is this verse is. God's going to do it in the body of Christ worldwide. He says, got to go. And he hangs the phone up. And the spirit of the Lord just continued to minister to me. So I am so excited. I mean, to get a divine mandate, a clarity for your whole life. Now I've had one before that five years earlier in the solemn assembly of May 83. The Lord said, do 24 hour prayer in the spirit of the tabernacle of David. So now I have a second mandate. Do Song of Solomon eight, six, focus on it. So this seems so strange to me now, but in that day, that was a conflict. I thought, which is it? Is it the 24 hour prayer or is it the Song of Solomon? I mean, it is the same thing. But in that day, that was a, that was completely a dichotomy. I go, how am I going to do the prayer thing? If I do the intimacy thing, I know it just sounds absurd in 2009. Because we had prayer meetings for years and I mean, they were Rambo prayer meetings. It was devil come out or we're coming in after you. They were not. Oh, how I love you. And oh, how you love me. Jesus break in with power. I mean, we were militant and strong and going after the devil. And we still are militant. And there's still a strong resolve to bring the name of Jesus against the works of darkness. I mean, that's a resolve still. But we only had the militant outward mode. We did not know that the king who was going to overthrow the works of darkness in society in an open way was not just a king, but he was a lovesick God as well. He was the bridegroom king. And so this seemed like a dichotomy at first. I thought I have two life mandates. Now I look back and say it's one. It's two sides of one coin or different facets on that glorious diamond. So I remember I called Diane. Diane, most amazing thing happened. She said, what? I said, Bob Jones heard the audible voice of the Lord and said, I have this mandate the rest of my life. And he's going to do this to the body of Christ throughout the whole world. I don't mean do it through me, but he's going to raise that many messengers that have this song of Solomon focus. Which is really the first commandment focus. Because some people say, well, I don't really study the song of Solomon. I go, I don't know that the song of Solomon per se is the main point. It's really the message of the first commandment. It's the bridegroom God. Raising, touching a people with his desire, awakening in them desire back for him to where the Holy Spirit restores the first commandment to first place. He's going to do that. It's the first commandment mandate really what it is to receive the love of God and to return it to love God with all of our heart because he loves us with all of his heart. Imagine we're to love God with all of our heart and all of our mind because he loves us with all of his heart, all of his mind. So it's the message. I love you with all of my mind and all of my heart. That's the bridegroom message. God speaking to us. Imagine the message that God loves us with all of his mind. He loves us with all of his heart, with all of his strength and all of his soul. And we love him in return. So it's, there's a mutual we're, we're walking together in wholehearted love. Now our love is a lot smaller than his love, but it's our all. It's the all in our heart and the all of his heart. That's the bridegroom message. So I called Diane. I said, I have this encounter with the Lord at Bob Jones's song of Solomon. And, you know, I got the, that other thing, five years ago, we got the sign on the wall, 24 hour prayer. We're going to do that. But I, you know, I, you know, just over the months and years, I would talk to her about it and say, I think I got two, two mandates. I got the prayer mandate and the song of Solomon mandate. Hey, that works for me. There's two mandates is fine. I didn't realize it was one. So I'm excited. So I decided since I'm called the song of Solomon, I ought to read it once. I'd never read the song of Solomon in a serious way. Now, you know, I'd read it in the early days to make some jokes in the youth groups, but I'd never read it in a series. I mean, in a, I love you, God. What are you saying? Wait, I mean, the whole book had never read it. One verse here, one verse there I'd highlighted. So I go, great song of Solomon, you know, let's start it. You know, I'm reading through it. Okay. Perfume, kisses, flowers, fragrance by chapter eight. I mean, I'm, this is not a joke. I am depressed. I said, I can't do this. I mean, really, I said, I can't, I can't do this. And I told the Lord, I said, you know, I'm the son of a world champion boxer in the amateur arena. My father was a world champion in the army. And he boxed professionally too, for a number of years. And I grew up in a boxing home and lots of his friends were boxers. And we, I grew up in the bars and in the taverns. And he had mafia friends and boxing friends. It sounds like a movie, but it was real. It was just tough guys and drinking and language and rough and tough. Everybody beat everybody up if they were the best. And so I said, Lord, I'm the son of a boxer. This, I don't know. And I didn't think it was for men. And I said, Lord, you know, give it to the women's ministry. They like stuff like this. No, I did. I said, just the ladies love it. I'm a, I'm more of a coach, not a poet. So I asked the Lord, I said, give me the life of David or the book of Romans or the book of Revelation. Give me one of those books. I'll run with it with all of my heart. So I come home that night. Diane goes, what a great day. I said, no, no. She goes, well, this morning you called it. I said, have you ever read the book? She goes, yeah, it's awesome. Oh, I go, this is, I really said this. I said, this is, I'm in a prison. This is like a prison sentence. No, this is a prison sentence. I, I got to do this. You know, I'm what? 32, 33 years old that time. I go, I'm going to do this the rest of my life. Well, I gave myself to the book just by raw faith. I mean, raw faith, audible voice of God highlighted raw faith. This is what I mean. It's what the prophetic does because the song of Solomon has been in the Bible a long time. It wouldn't a new truth. It was an old truth. I just never had the spirit highlighted and push me in that direction. And boy, this was an ambush. This was, I think the biggest ambush of my life. Theologically. I mean, the biggest, the biggest extreme movement. And when the Lord began to focus on Jesus, the judge, we'll look at in a minute in 1997 for this movement, we would focus. That was not near as radical as Jesus, the bridegroom. I mean, Jesus, the king, man, I grew up on Jesus, the king, the revival and the healing and the power and the economic shift and the takeover of nations. I love that message. The boy, this bridegroom radical, the judge message was a shift. It was, it was a tough one too. But the bridegroom internally, that was the one that jolted me the most. And I'm saying that just as those that are in this, as we're hearing our history, I'm telling my journey because many of you were on the same journey. And again, some of you have picked bridegroom, king and judge, and you don't have to pick. You don't have to pick your heart, your liver or your kidney. You can have all of them. You really can. You don't have to pick father, son, Holy Spirit. You get to worship God in all three persons. The one God in three persons. We don't have to pick the three faces. We want Jesus in his fullness. Whoever he is, not the Jesus of our denomination, not the Jesus of our background tradition. The Jesus of the Bible is the one we want. Well, I gave myself to for a couple of years. And suddenly it began to really change my heart. And I tell you, it is, I look, I say to the Lord through the years. Oh, Lord, thank you. Thank you. Oh, thank you for the song of Solomon. I'm glad you don't listen to me in my first prayers. You know, you let me pray that a couple of years later and undo what I said in the early days. And I could just imagine the Lord smiling, going, I just knew this would suit you well. I didn't hear him say that, but I just imagined he did. Okay, let's go to Roman numeral two. We'll kind of go fast through these. It's November 1995. So it's about seven years later. I have a prophetic dream about seven years later. And in this dream, I'm on this large platform in a big room. It's a big auditorium and I'm preaching and I got a microphone, but the voice of God, like thunder comes over the whole room. And the voice of God, like thunder is speaking to me in front of this mass arena, this huge auditorium. And he says this, call them Hefzabah. Tell them the Lord delights in them. Call them Hefzabah. Tell them the Lord delights in them. And the people in the auditorium, all their hearts were so shifted and changed. I mean, there's such a shift in their emotional chemistry when this truth hits them. I mean, it just changed their countenance. It changed the very nature of their inner life. And so I was to call them that. It's a Sunday morning, so I get up. Now here, I'm going to tell you just a moment of the story, just the details so that you could relate to it in your own story. I am excited. Sunday morning. So I'm going to speak on Sunday morning. I'm going to get up at church and say, you're Hefzabah. I mean, I heard it in the thunderous voice in a dream. Why not do it today? Why not tell the people I'm ministering to this message, not just wait to some big conference down the road. So I'm looking for Hefzabah. Where's it at? Where's it at? You know, I've studied the Bible a lot over the years. I think, hey, I know that verse somewhere. And it's in Isaiah, Jeremiah, one of those. It's one of the prophets. Well, there's the 16 prophets in the Old Testament. You start with Isaiah. So, you know, it's early Sunday morning. So I still got time before the church service. So I'm going to just go look for it. So Isaiah 1, 2, 3. I'm just looking. I got lots of things marked, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. I'm going real fast. I know that. I read that Hefzabah. I get to Isaiah 62, where it's at. Isaiah 62. But because I know Isaiah 62 so well, so I think. And I know it so well. Why? Because right there, you'll see on the notes, verse 6, God says, I've set watchmen on your wall. They'll pray night and day. I preached on Isaiah 62, 6. I think more times than any passage in my entire 30 years of ministry. I think I preached on this passage. I have said Isaiah 62, 6 probably more times in a message because I've had this mandate to call people to prayer and conferences. That's what I would talk on Isaiah 62, 6. So I get to Isaiah 60. No, 61. I get to Isaiah 62. And here's what I say. I know Isaiah 62. So and I'm in a hurry because I'm waiting. Got to get ready for Sunday morning. So I just turn the page to save the time. It's on Isaiah 62. It's in that chapter. It's on that page. 63, 64, 65, 66. Okay, Jeremiah 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. Ezekiel 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. Daniel 1, 2, 3, 4. Hosea, Joel, Amos, Malachi. Man, it took me like 30 minutes or an hour. I thought, ah. I go, I know it. I've seen it. Well, look, it's still early. I think, well, I got the message. I'm going to call him Hephzibah and just see what happens, you know, on that Sunday morning. So I said, I'll do it again. Isaiah 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. Isaiah 60, 61. Same thing. I skip over Isaiah 62. Why? I know Isaiah 62. 63, okay. Daniel, Micah, Malachi. Ah, I've wasted an hour. So I do the unthinkable. I break down. Use the concordance. It's come to that. You know, the men that don't want to look at the map. I'll find my way. I decide, okay, I'm running out of time. I look up the concordance. Hephzibah 1, Hephzibah. One reference I see, and it goes, Isaiah 62. I go, impossible. True to my manly weight. The concordance is wrong. How could that be? On a day like today, the concordance is wrong. I thought, well, Isaiah 62. I look at it. I turn to it out of desperation. I go, it's the two verses before my favorite passage. You shall be called Hephzibah, Isaiah 62, verse 4, because the Lord delights in you. For the bridegroom rejoices over a bride. So as a bridegroom rejoices over a bride in the same way, God rejoices over you. I have set watchmen on your walls. I went, this cannot be. The I delighted you message is the message that sets up and gives us the ability to pray night and day. I go, I've been trying to do this night and day thing for years with no Hephzibah. I said, this is, I said, Lord, do you understand the implications of this? Of where this will bring the prayer movement? Lord, this is going to change everything. I mean, the Rambos of the world. And I mean, these tough guy intercessor warriors. Well, the bride has army boots. That's for true. That's for sure. But these warrior guys are going to be lovesick intercessors. I mean, David, the great warrior, king of Israel was the lovesick worshiper. John, the apostle, the son of thunder called by Jesus himself, son of thunder, this powerful man. He lays his head on the Lord's breast. John the Baptist. I mean, the prophet in the wilderness. He says, I've heard the voice of the bridegroom, the revelation of the bridegroom. God, these powerful men. And the Lord began to really put in my heart that the intimacy message doesn't undermine our masculinity. It establishes and gives us the ability to come to the fullness of our masculinity. The great men of God in the Bible touch the burning heart of God's desire. Beloved, I want to tell you this, Isaiah 62, the intimacy message, verse one to five, and I have this in the notes, is essential to the night and day prayer message, which is the next couple of verses, which is essential to the foot, to the judgment message that comes right afterwards. So it's right in order, bridegroom, king and judge. The intimacy message, the king, the intercessor revival message. And after that, the judge, bridegroom, king and judge, Isaiah 62 in order, right in order there. The forerunner message laid out, Isaiah 62 and 63. Top of page two. Well, a year goes by. And the Lord really wants this to continue to build. And I'm right here in this very auditorium. Matter of fact, this is the auditorium where our church was for years. And then when I started IHOP, I resigned from the church. And Floyd McClung came and took over the leadership of the church. And then one day he got ahold of me and said, hey, we're buying a new church building. How would you like to buy your old church back for IHOP? Because we need a down payment or we need some money. And I said, for our new building, I'd love to. And so they blessed us and let us buy it back. So here, you know, the joke around the city was Mike Bickle bought the same church twice. I was happy to. Because I wanted to sew into the church I pastored in their new building. I was excited about that. So it was this very church. So now it's the IHOP. But back in the day, it was the church I'd pastored for 17 years. So I'm right here. We're having a Friday night prayer meeting. It's very building. And it comes, it becomes midnight. I mean, at midnight, it goes all night till 5 a.m. in the morning. We did that for a year or two. And so at midnight, I'm just walking right over here. I remember it like it was yesterday, over 10 years ago. I said this sentence, I just said it. Because I'd been thinking and meditating on a song, a song, I go, Jesus, you're so beautiful. And when I said, Jesus, you're so beautiful. The Holy Spirit surge of his presence came upon me. The Holy Spirit's presence, a surge. I went, wow, I'm gonna say that again. I said, Jesus, I just walk it up back and forth. You're so beautiful. I went, whoa, I love this feeling. Jesus, you're so beautiful. It was like I was being washed. And I went, wow. Then I started, that was mostly what I said. I went on till 5 a.m. for five hours. The Holy Spirit wouldn't stop. And I said, if you keep touching me, I'm gonna keep saying it. And he has a lot more strength and a lot more zeal than I have. So it's 3 a.m. Jesus, you're beautiful. Jesus, you're beautiful. What's happening? 4 a.m., yeah, I'm starting to get tired. This is all I prayed. 5 o'clock, Jesus, you're so beautiful. I go, my goodness. They say that prayer meeting's over, I'm dead. I go, Holy Spirit, you win, okay, I'm dead. But I love this. And I would say things like, every now and then I said another sentence, but that's mostly what I said for five hours. I remember when I said a lot of times, I go, body of Christ, open up your gates. To the beautiful God, I would say that. I was prophesying to the body of Christ. Open up your gates to the beautiful God. Not just the God that forgives you, heals you, and gives you money. I'm saying the beautiful God. The God that will ravish you. The God that will exhilarate you. Not just the God that gives you stuff. He will exhilarate you. Open up your gates. Swish, swoosh, swoosh. And I go to bed. 5 o'clock, I get home, go to bed. I wake up at 8. I just, you know, in a couple hours. I wake up and I say in my bed, oh, that was so wonderful. Oh, you're so beautiful. Swish. I went, whoa. I go, oh, he's here again. So I got in my car. Got a big old cup of coffee. Came back to this auditorium. Of course, it's empty now. It's Saturday morning. The Friday night, all night prayer meeting, or, you know, that goes clear to Saturday morning is gone. Just by itself. I went to the same place. I walked it for two more hours. You're beautiful. Swish, swoosh. I said, this is remarkable. Well, a week goes by. I get a letter in the mail. And the lady says, Mike, paragraph B, I had a dream about you. And it was last Saturday night. And in this dream, the very time I'm doing this for five hours, and then after I go to sleep, then I come back and do it two more. He said it in this dream. Here's what the Lord said. He would open up to you the revelation of his beauty. And you were to call the church to the beauty of God, to the beautiful God. She said, I want you to consider this. I know it's from the Lord. And I told the lady, I said, trust me, that was totally from the Lord. And so the Lord was saying Song of Solomon. Hefzabah. I delighted them. But more than I delighted them, I am the beautiful God. I am the beautiful God. Of course, paragraph C, that was a, we received the down payment of this truth in the Song of Solomon of 80. I mean, the Song of Solomon, the solemn assembly of 1983. When the, when I was praying the Psalm 27, for this one thing, all the days of my life, I will gaze on the beauty of the Lord. I was quoting King David from Psalm 27. Back 25 years ago, I didn't really think about me being captured with the beauty of God. David was captured with the beauty of God. And I want to be like David, but I want to be more of a warrior, not a gazer on the beauty of God. I was thinking of the warrior, David, not the lover of God, David. And I looked at Psalm 27. I go, I guess that was always in the calling of this place. Always. God birthed IHOP on this revelation. I just never connected it with beauty. I connected it more with the night and dayness of what David did. Not the focus of David's heart, but the external activity of the singers going night and day. And as I began to read the passage again, I go, it was there all along. Beloved, it's not just the night and dayness of 24-7. People come and say, how do you do 24-7? They want to know the schedule. I go, I can give you the schedule. I can give you our simple motto. I can give you a layout. There's a few principles. I can give it to you in an hour or two. I go, it's not the structure that makes IHOP. It's the person. It's the man, Jesus, that we're looking at and encountering. That's why we don't quit. It's not just the vision of revival. That's what gets us going. But we encounter him and we get renewed while we're laboring for revival. And this theme is not much emphasized in the church today. But I want to tell you this. Before the Lord returns, the church will be captured with the beauty of God. Middle page two. May 7th, 1997. So it's a few months later. I'm in Assisi, Italy at St. Francis of Assisi's monastery. It's a St. Francis monastery. And just by some circumstances, I'm in that monastery. And I don't think that much about St. Francis. I know he's like a really devoted man. I didn't know much about his life. And here I am and all these Catholic monks and they're, oh God, we love you. You know, and they're going for it. I mean, they're the real deal. Going, wow. They all spoke Italian. So the spirit stirs me one night. And I'm there and I, I mean, I'm stirred and provoked in my spirit. I'm really provoked. And I stay up all night. Now, they don't really have like foyers and they don't have recreation rooms and monasteries. I mean, okay, hey, where's the TV? Where's the, they don't have places like that in monasteries, you know, just there were bricks. And, you know, you sit down at a stone. I thought, wow, this is kind of cool to read about. It's kind of another thing to be there. So I'm up all night just, and I'm out there in a room, kind of a foyer type room, not exactly. And it has three, four books in Italian. One book in English, St. Francis of Assisi. It's his biography. I thought, well, right away, I don't know who this guy is anyway, really. I mean, I've heard of him. So I read this whole biography and I am so stirred by this man and his abandonment to God and commitment to the poor. And it's in the context where the Holy Spirit touches me. And he gives me a verse, a verse I knew a little bit. I had referenced at a time or two, but I really hadn't developed it. It was always like a 92nd point in a sermon on the bride of Christ. And John the Baptist was a friend of the bridegroom, John 3, 29. I mentioned it a little bit here or there, but I wasn't really connected to this. And I won't go through the details, but the Lord made clear. He said that this movement, your life, Mike, and this movement, this young adult movement, of course, IHOP was about still two years. As a matter of fact, two years to the day, that was May 7th, two years from the day from IHOP being started in 1999. This is 1997. And he says, I'm going to, I want, in essence, I'm giving you not a quote, but the summary of it that I want. I'm going to raise up. He said, I'm going to raise up 10,000 forerunners in the spirit of John the Baptist. And what I mean by spirit of John the Baptist, I mean his dedication. I'm not talking about people that go get a tent and live out in the desert. I'm not talking about where they live and if they use electricity or not. That's not what we're talking about. I'm talking about the dedication of John the Baptist, but not just this dedication. John the Baptist was the voice preparing for the coming of the Lord. And the Lord was saying to me, I'm going to raise up people with a dedication like John and they're going to not prepare for the first coming, but they're going to prepare for the second coming. They're going to prepare the way of the Lord. And so the Lord spoke to me there and he said, I'm calling you to be a friend of the bridegroom. And I'm raising up a movement for the bridegroom. And again, IHOP wasn't really on my mind. It was still a sign in a building, 24 hour prayer in the spirit of the Tabernacle of David. The sign was still up. It was two years away. But I knew that that young adult movement would be a friend of the bridegroom in the spirit of John the Baptist, prayer and fasting, preparing for the coming of the Lord, but not just preparing for the Lord's coming through the paradigm of connecting with Jesus as a bridegroom. And so the Lord was establishing that truth in our midst. And we need to constantly call people back to this truth of the bridegroom heart and the forerunner message. Roman number five, Noel Alexander, I'll just put this in real fast, was we were, he was in one of our congregations. We had six congregations across the city for about five years. And I was there with him and we were dedicating our congregation in the East. And when we were dedicating this congregation in the East and Lee Summit area on October 29th, 89, Noel said, here's my dedication passage. And he picked out Deuteronomy chapter six, verse four, you shall love the Lord your God. The Old Testament statement about loving God with all your heart, the one that Jesus quoted, the Shema Israel. And he said, you shall love the Lord your God. And he repeated it the second time. He says, I tell you hero Israel. And when he says, you shall love the Lord your God, you shall a bolt of lightning struck two thunderbolts struck the building and a fireball went rolling across the building. The congregation screamed. It was terrifying. He says, I tell you, God wants you to know you shall love them. Boom, boom, ball of fire. I saw fire rolling. What the sound system screamed. I don't know why, but or some sound did something real loud. Fire rolled. I went, what is that? The place was completely silent. The Lord was saying, I am serious about my people loving me. All of it was a lightning strike. The Lord was emphasizing intimacy, because see at this time, this is 1989. This is only a year after I get this song of Solomon call in 88. This is 89. And at this time, I'm not into it yet. I got the mandate in 88. It's a year later, year plus 18 months later, but I'm not preaching it yet. I'm still trying to figure out what the lilies and the flowers and I'm trying to figure out what this thing means. I hadn't preached on it. And so our whole, all of our pastors, you know, our 20, 30, 40 pastors, we had a bunch of traveling ministries based here. So I don't know what the number was, but a bunch of them, we were all king focused power revival. I mean, the harvest, and we're still very focused on that. This intimacy thing, you know, was, I don't know about that. I love you. Oh, God, everything. I love you. We were, that wasn't in our culture. And when the lightning struck this building, we begin to talk. You know what? We have got to really focus on this first commandment thing. This was a lightning strike from heaven. It was a lightning strike from heaven. And so now I'm just looking at it, at the notes here and just remembering how we were captured. We have to emphasize this. And there's ministries all over the world that they got, they've been tugged by the Lord on this, but they haven't gone there yet. They've been tugged. The Lord sent a lightning strike from heaven. He says, I really want you to do this. Love me with all of your heart thing. That's in essence what he was saying. Go there, go there. And I've had a lot of folks visit IHOP and they go, do we have to do the intimacy thing? Can't we just do the revival? I mean, bless God. I want to see power. I mean, let's do it. And I kind of like those guys because I'm one of them. I get it. I get when they say that. Do I have to do this intimacy? It doesn't offend me at all because I was so there for so long, but I feel sad because they don't have any idea what they're missing. And now, you know, the most recent thing over the last 10 or 12 years is people would now say, OK, I do the intimacy and I got the revival and the prayer of the intimacy. Do I have to do that judgment thing now? And beloved, let me tell you, judgment is just removing the things that hinder love. That's what the judgment message is. I'm at the top of page three. Well, the Lord wants me to know that a season of transitions coming. In July of for our movement, it's not just a transition for me, it's a transition for our movement. This is a remarkable series of events that took place with the Holy Spirit orchestrating them. But these are movement forming realities. They formed our history. It was July 1993. I have this very powerful dream. And in this dream, I'm on a platform with Benny Hinn. Now, I don't know Benny Hinn. I know of him, but I don't know him. And me and Benny Hinn are on this platform. And there's like 20,000 people, this big arena. And I'm standing right to his right and he's standing next to me and I have a microphone in my hand. And in this dream, the Lord makes it clear when you're on this platform, you're in a season of transition. I'm going to transition you. So I come out of this dream very aware. I've heard from God. I tell all of our leaders, you know, these 20, 30 guys, 40 guys and gals. We have a big leadership meeting. And again, we've got a bunch of them are pastors on the inside. A bunch of them are traveling outside and we've got this kind of large number of folks that were in this thing together, coming and going. And so I tell them, hey, I'm on a platform with Benny Hinn. One of these days, it's going to be transition. And that it was exciting. I probably told it four or five times. And, you know, they love this because it was so dynamic. Paragraph B, I describe what a trans a transition means when you when we are transition as a movement, because it was a transition as a movement, as well as as a man. When you go through a transition, there's three things that happen. At least we transition the way we carry our heart with God. We transition the way we function in our ministry and we transition. There's new doors of opportunity, brand new fields of service, brand new relationships. There's a transition of opportunity. It's all three of those. And a lot of times when people think of transition, they think mostly a function, a new doors. But a transition is also the way we carry our heart, the way we relate to God transitions, too. So if you've been transitioned, don't just say, what do I do? Say, how do I relate to you differently now? Paragraph C now transitions. So, you know, they take years, not months. People think I'm in transition in October. So it's I'm going to be ready in November. No, if you're in transition in October and the next two, three, four, five years, the transition will be complete. David's transition was seven years. Joseph's was 12. Moses was 40. Transitions don't happen in a week or a month. They happen over a period of time, a couple of seven years. Who knows? Because God rewires the way we carry our heart and he gives us a new message, a new focus in a transition. And a lot of you in the body. I mean, a lot of people in the body of Christ. I'm thinking of people that are some that are here, but some that are listening to this. They're in a season of transition right now. They're thinking, what am I going to do differently? And the Lord saying, I want you to talk to me differently, not just do things differently. I want you to carry your heart different. So three years go by. Paragraph D on the notes here. And these notes are on our website for anybody that hears this DVD in the future. And they say, hey, where's the notes? They will keep them up there for years. October 96, I go to Toronto. John Arnett is having a big conference, catch the fire. So I'm invited to come speak. And I'm going, I go there. And so a guy comes to me on the one of the mornings and says, hey, Benny Hinn's in town. Toronto to having a big meeting at the big convention center, you know, 20,000 people. And here's a note. He would like to know if you could come over there and just fellowship with him for a while before the meeting. I said, OK, because I'm going to not speak to the next day. I don't have to speak that day. That's it. I go, yeah. So I go over there. Hi, Benny. How are you doing? He goes, I got my meeting in an hour or so. And just wanted to just connect with you. And we talk. And he had heard about some things here and was kind of interested. And so we just spend maybe an hour talking. It's cool. And so he says, hey, I got a seat for you in the front row. Just if you want to stay around. I know you're at a conference. I go, yeah, I'll stay around. This is great. So I'm on the front row. And then, you know, they worship it. You know, about an hour into it, Benny Hinn says, I would like to introduce a friend of mine. And he's talking about me, but I don't know he's talking about me. And I'm just kind of, you know, he goes, Mike Bickle. You know, every time that's happened to me a few times. And I said, I'm never going to do that to my friends. I mean, that's just terrifying because you just instantly goes, Mike Bickle. And he points, he goes, come on up here real quick. And I stand there and he hands me the microphone. And I'm going to say, I'm only going to say something 30 seconds because, you know, those guys, you give them a microphone, they go for 20 minutes. And I'm going to say something like, isn't it something that on the other side of town, John Arnett's having a meeting where they're honoring the ministry of the Holy Spirit. Here you're honoring the Holy Spirit. This is good. Because he exalts Jesus what he's honored. That's what I'm going to say. But I don't say that. I'm going to say, isn't it good? And I prophesy. It's just a 30 second prophecy, but it just kind of bypassed the brain. And when people tell me that the prophecy bypassed the brain, I don't go for that when they do that on my platform, because I want to, I want to weigh the word before it's given. But I did it. I said, the Holy Spirit is raising up intercessors all over the earth. I prophesied about IHOP without knowing. And it took me a while to connect the dots. I mean, it took me, I think, a couple of years before I even figured it out. I said, the Holy Spirit's raising up intercessors all over North America. That's what he's doing. It was like a 30 second burst. I handed the microphone and sat back down. So I'm in transition. And the first guy to prophesy my transition is me. But of course, I don't know that right then. That isn't even, I thought, what was that? So I'm sitting on the front row and I'm going, huh. I go, I've been here. I've never met Benny Hinn. See, I went to his meeting. No, no, I have never been to his meeting. That was Kathryn Kuhlman's meeting. I went to Benny Hinn. I'm going through my mind because I went to a big meeting like that once. Where? Oh, my goodness. It's the dream from 1993. I'm on Benny Hinn's platform. And I was right standing at his right side. He handed me the mic. And when he called me out, he pointed to the stairs. I came right exactly where I was in the dream. He handed me the mic. And I said, I'm in transition. Wow. Huh. Yeah, I really loved my church and loved all the guys I was working with. And I thought, huh. I had this dream. They've all heard it five times for the last three years. I've been telling this dream. So then I go back to the conference. I don't tell anybody that, you know, I just go back to the conference, go to the afternoon session. They have, you know, and I'm just really preoccupied with what is what mean is now this. So then the night meeting happens and Frank Damasio is preaching. And I mean, the place is packed. I don't know, four or five, six, seven thousand. The place is packed. I can't remember how big the building is. And they've had so many big conferences there. And so they're excited. I mean, Frank Damasio gives this fiery prayer and he has everybody stand up for ministry time. If you ever been to a Toronto conference in those days, when ministry time happened, I mean, it really happened. So when they said stand up for ministry type, there was so much enthusiasm. I mean, yeah, I mean, you can hear it. Just it was alive. I mean, four or five, six thousand people. Oh, you know, there's this excitement. Then the head, the main prophet in this movement, prophetic man, Mark DuPont gets up. He says, everybody sit down. I thought, oh, boy, that's a bad move. They are so excited. Who would have the nerve to sit down someone after that message? And they are ready to sit down because I got to do something really important. And I know he's the main prophetic guy in their movement. I've met him a few times and he has incredible prophetic history, the Toronto ministry, the stories, how God set up the revival beforehand. And John Arnott's with him. He says, me and John want to do something. We have to do it right now. Now, they know nothing. They don't know I've been to Benny Hanna. Nobody knows in Toronto. I've had this dream and it's come clear to me what's happening. It's a private dream. The guys in Kansas City know, but nobody in Toronto knows. None of our team are there except for me. And so John Arnott and Mark DuPont, the two that are leading this revival in Toronto, they say, Mike Bickle, come up. I went, ah, two times in one day. So I come up and I'm going, OK, and they said, we got to prophesy to you. They lay hands on me. They said, you are in transition. Thus says the Lord. And so some more happened and that's good for, that's enough for now. And so I thought, OK, I'm in transition. So some of our leaders, I come back, I go, something is happening, not just to Mike Bickle, our movement. We're in transition. It's more than just the Bridegroom God and Jesus, the King, who has power and healing and money and is going to take over nations and transform society. It's more. There's more to it than this. Of course, IHOP's coming. IHOP's just about two years away, two and a half years away. I don't know that. But the Lord wants to set me up. He wants to get me clear about this forerunner message. And so what happens after that transition? I go into a two year period of 1997 and 1998 of the most extended fasting I've ever done in my life. Now, I don't want to go into details. It doesn't really matter. But that two years, I had a grace for fasting like no other time in my life. And in that time of fasting, the Lord was downloading so much because fasting with fasting does it doesn't enter. It doesn't cause you to earn anything. It tenderizes your spirit to receive more and to receive it faster. Fasting tenderizes you so that your receptivity is greater. You have a greater receptivity to what the Lord is saying to you. So I was doing a lot of it for this two years. And in this two year time, that's when the Lord gave me this a Sissy Italy, Friends of the Bridegroom. They're going to be fasting, praying, lovesick, bridegroom focused forerunners preparing the way of the Lord. And so the Lord, in this two year period, started saying, add the judgment message. So in this two year period, you have the king message. He heals, forgives, revival, power, money, transformation, takeover nations. You have the king concept, at least the foundations. You got the bridegroom foundations, but you're missing one in this two years. This kind of intensity fasting. He said it over and over. And I'm only going to tell you two of them. You have to add the judge message because it's not complete with only bridegroom and king. That is very powerful, but not complete. Some camps are happy to just stay with King. Others are camping out at bridegroom. Some camp out a bridegroom king. But the Lord was saying, I want you to camp out or whatever at bridegroom, king and judge the whole, the three together is what I'm trying to say. And that's what was happening during this transition time. Let's go to Roman numeral. When I mentioned this one, F on the bottom, in the middle of page three, F, Rick Joyner comes and I'm in six months of this fasting going on. Lots of it. And Rick Joyner comes. And he says he gets a word, visits here, and he says paragraph F. He says the Lord's in a few weeks, he's going to visit you about your life mandate. You're in transition. He says this too. And a couple of weeks later, I have this dream. And this is one of the critical first dreams where I begin to see the forerunner. Now, really, the forerunner is bridegroom, king and judge. But sometimes people, when they say forerunner, they think of only the judgment in time message. But really, the forerunner is the bridegroom, king and judge. Technically, that's the forerunner message as we reference it. But some again, they kind of abbreviate it. They go, well, we have the intimacy message and we have the forerunner, which they mean the judgment message. And I like to keep the forerunner as the three and not reduce it just to the judgment message. For those of you that are tracking with me here. I have this dream on August 27th after Rick Joyner tells me I'm in transition and I'm going to receive my life commission. And the Lord says your commission is Isaiah 40, verse three in a dream. He says it's to build up the highways, prepare the way of the Lord, build the highways. In other words, prepare the people's thinking to receive the Lord as bridegroom, king and judge, because the Lord will come to us. But if we understand and cooperate with him, we could receive more from him in all of those ways. But if he comes to us as bridegroom, king and judge, but we don't have faith for him as bridegroom or judge, we receive the king message, but we repel the other ones. And therefore we don't receive as much. Or if we receive the judgment message, but not the king message, we will understand his judgments a little bit, but we won't understand his kingship. So preparing the way of the Lord means getting people to understand the broader message. So when the Lord touches them in the word, they go, yes, I'm with you. And they cooperate instead of resist the Lord in those areas. So the Lord was saying, I want you to build highways. Here it is in 1997. I just had the, the Assisi dream of the Friends of the Bridegroom in May 97. This is August 97. It's all forerunner mandates. The Lord saying forerunners prepare for the Lord's return. And again, I think it's some decades away. I don't know that it's in my lifetime, but I believe it's in the lifetime of the young people. That's again, that's a personal conviction I have. Well, I'm just gonna give you two more and then we're gonna finish with this. Because as the Lord has touched me, it's really not about Mike Bickle. This these are movement forming encounters, not just man forming. They did for me. But the Lord was thinking, I love you, Mike, but it's more than you. I'm not just talking to you about you. I'm talking to you about this movement that Bob Jones and so many others have been laboring for. And like I told you the other day, I was Bob Jones was 53 when I met him. Now his white hair threw me off. I thought he was about, you know, late 60. I didn't know how old he never kind of really thought how old he was. He just, you know, when you're in your 20s and some guys in his 50s with white hair, you just think he's older. But my point is I'm 54. I'm a year older than Bob Jones was when I met him. And Bob Jones is not here. And now the Lord's wanting me to keep the young people and others as well in the middle of the stream. So I'm in that kind of Bob Jones mode to the 20 somethings. And it's more about them than this is about me. These words, though, they touch me and I have to respond to them. I'm sharing these words in kind of a Bob Jones mode as an older guy to 20 year olds. So they stay in the middle of the stream. That's the purpose I'm sharing this. I'm not just having an hour with Mike Bickle. Hey, tell me about your life. I don't, I have no interest in just telling you my story. This is about the 20 year olds I'm aiming at. To make sense of this, where we're going to them. Well, it's after I have this forerunner dream in late August, it's the next week. I'm in our Wednesday morning prayer meeting. And the Holy Spirit rests on me. Now, it seems like the Holy Spirit is resting on me every day because I've told you all 10 times in my life it's happened or 20 times. It's happened 10 or 20 times in 30 years. But because I've told you all 20 of them, you could walk away from here going, man, every single day that guy prays, the Spirit falls on him. Well, 20 times in 30 plus years. Yeah. Remember, there's 364 more days. You know, because 20 times in 30 years, that's less than once a year. So I want you to get a right perspective as you hear this testimony. And you think you might think, wow, I want that to happen to me all the time. So do I. They don't happen all the time. I'm giving you a 25 year story plus in eight sessions. I have lots of dry times and lots of times like, Lord, what about two years ago when the fire was on me? Hey, how about one of those again? So I don't want you to get an exaggerated idea as to how it is, because it's we all do that day in and day outness with the Lord. We stay, we our goal is to be faithful. And these stories and other things, since I'm on this, these prophetic stories, some people have heard them and they want these prophetic stories. They go, I want God to tell me when to buy a car and I want an open vision and audible voice of who to marry, what house to buy. These aren't domestic decisions that I'm making with audible voice. These are movement forming decisions, not domestic. When I those issues of my life, I have to hear God like everybody else does. And it's just kind of like, well, Lord, is this how it works? And you don't get dreams and visions and audible voices about domestic issues as a rule. I mean, maybe one guy does here and there, but I've heard about that. But certainly I don't get them in my life. These are movement forming experiences. And so lots of young people through the years have heard these. And then they apply it for domestic decisions. They want an audible voice and a comment. And I go, no, no, no, no, no. I don't get those for my personal life. Those are about the movement for you. Actually, it's not even mostly for me. I mean, I was in my 20s and 30s, 40s, now my 50s. It's mostly for the 20 year olds now and their children that we're laboring for. It's really the people 20 and the children they're going to have in a few years. That's who I'm laboring for in a focused way. That's what these movement forming events are about. So don't misapply them. Don't, you know, exaggerate and think, well, I get fire and lightning every day. Mike Bickle gets it every day. I want it every day. And I want comets and thunder and lightning every day. No, no, no, no, no. That's not how it works. OK, that was just a little reality check. We're coming down to the last four or five minutes. I want to give you this, these two last experiences. They're very similar. So I can say them real quick. September 3rd. Now, remember, May 97. I get the Friends of the Bridegroom when I'm in Assisi, Italy. May 97. July 97. Rick Joyner says transition. August 97. I have a dream. Build up the highways. Prepare the way of the Lord. This is your mandate. Now it's the next week. A lot happens. It seems like just about every month, some divine indicator for a few months there in 97. Because remember, I'm in transition and the Lord's transitioning the way I'm relating to him and the way I'm focusing my ministry. He's putting the judgment message in alongside the Bridegroom and King message. So I'm there in the prayer room. September 3rd on a Wednesday. And I mean, the Spirit of the Lord's on me in this most unusual way. One of these, you know, 20 times in 30 plus years I'm talking about. And the wind and the fire. I mean, real wind and fire. I mean, I feel currents and I feel burning everywhere. And I'm going, my goodness, what's happening? I mean, I'm feeling wind. I've never felt wind. And I mean, I look at the fan. There's no fan. And I go, where is this wind coming from? Because I'm a, you know, I've got an analytical dementia to me. I'm, okay, actual wind. Okay, well, current. I'm looking at all the vents. Why is this wind hitting me and fire? But it's swirling around me and fire. And it goes on for like two or three hours. And I'm really captured by the Lord. And the Lord is speaking three verses. I'm giving the abbreviated version. Revelation, I've got them written here. You can read them on your own. Revelation 2, 17, 3, 12, and 19, 12. God's talking to me. Says, I'm going to tell you my name, the Lord's name. In other words, I'm going to reveal myself to you more. And I'm going to tell you your name, how you are to identify with me. I'm going to tell you my name. I'm going to give you new insights about me. And he's talking about, I'm going to tell you who I am as a judge. And it's not just a judge. I'm going to tell you who I am as bridegroom, king and judge. Because who God is. I mean, the idea of Jesus, the king, the bridegroom and the judge separate is one thing. But when they come together, that holy synergism of divine truth, the whole thing coming together, it's a different face. It's a different way for me to relate to God. And he's saying, I'm going to tell you a new dimension of me. Not just that I'm judge. That was the focal point in 97. He was saying it over and over. I am the judge, not just the bridegroom and king. This was a new message to me. I mean, technically, I knew he was judge, but it was never a point of emphasis. It was never something I wrestled with. It was never something I talked to him about. It was just a theological concept and a few Bible verses that we all know about. But I was talking to him as a king and a bridegroom. Now this, it got into the language of my heart. Now it's when I close my eyes and talk to him, I had a king and bridegroom I'm dialoguing with. And he was saying, I want you to know me as a judge too. I want you to talk to me this way. I want you to dream about me this way. Not just have a few verses that you technically relate to or can quote in a technical way. So he's saying in these three verses, Revelation 2, 17, 3, 12, and 19, 12, I'm going to show you more things about my name, about my nature. And I'm going to show you more things about your name and the way you're to relate to me, the way you're to carry your heart, the way I see you, the way you're supposed to see yourself. And I mean, I got fire and wind. It's burning. I'm on fire head to toe. This was like that fire I felt back in May 83, when the fire touched my hands and the healing anointing and the Jehovah Rapha, that no disease known to man. It was that kind of burning fire. And I thought, this is so intense. Wind. The meeting is over. The prayer meeting is over. Happened for hours, about two, three hours. This fire, this manifestation. I mean, that's a long time. I don't have a, you know, I get a manifestation for a minute or two here and there. But I mean, this is really long in terms of my experience. Guy comes up and gives me a note from a man named Terry Bennett, who I don't know, Terry Bennett. I'd met him, you know, high once type thing. I don't know him. I don't even know if I've met him at this moment. When I look back at it, maybe I met him afterwards. I can't remember right now. And it says from Terry Bennett, and it says, uh, Mike, I saw an angel standing over you pouring. I don't know how this works, but he said he was pouring fire over you. And he was moving his wings and wind was encircling you. I said, wow. And I read it and he said, and he told me to tell you, he's, he wants to speak to you according to Revelation 2, 17, 3, 12 and 19, 12. The exact same three verses I had for three hours. And I thought, who is this Terry Bennett guy? But forget him for now. Who is the God with this name? Who are you, God? Because he's saying I am bridegroom King, but there's more, there's more. And when you put them all together, it will touch you in a way beyond. It became clear to me, the Lord is establishing new truths in the foundation of this movement. Bridegroom and King is not enough. We've got to move to the next. Top of page four. It's two weeks later. It's a Wednesday morning again. In the same prayer meeting, I would go there at six in the morning and stay there till noon. So I have this long period of time to sit there. Same thing. The fire comes again. It's amazing. Like it did two weeks ago. I've never had it that I can remember of this intensity, except for that time in the solemn assembly of 83, when the fire touched my hand, it touched my mouth and my stomach for 45 minutes. That was 25 years ago. But it happened again, two weeks before September 17, September 3rd. I just told you about it a moment ago. Now it's two weeks later. Same thing for two, three hours again. It's fire and wind. I'm going, what is happening? This is intense. I mean, I've two times in 30 plus years. This has happened two weeks in, I mean, within two weeks. And I'm reading Isaiah 63. And Isaiah 63, the Lord is revealing to himself as the Jesus in red, the Jesus who's red, his garments are red because he comes in judgment to touch the nations. And in this, the Lord was telling me, and you could read the passage on your own. In verse three, the Lord says, my garments are red because of judgment. But he goes, I stand alone. There's no one, no nation in the earth that agrees with my judgments. And the Lord was saying, will you agree with my judgments? Will you agree with my judgments? I said, yes, Lord. And the Lord said, if you would take a stand and agree with my judgments, even some of my people will resist you. And they will resist this. And I have it more described here in the paper, the whole encounter. And I was telling the Lord, I will agree. I will stand with your judgments. I will stand with your judgments. I said, the Jesus of Song of Solomon is in dazzling bright light in white garments because in Song of Solomon five, he's the dazzling one in white, radiant. I said, you're the Jesus in red. I will stand with the Jesus in red, not just the Jesus in dazzling white of Song of Solomon, the Jesus in red. And at that time, I made a fire in the wind. Terry Bennett taps me on the shoulder. And he says, hi, Mike. He says, I'm the one that gave you the word from two weeks ago. He says, the same angel I saw is pouring fire on you again. He goes, it's remarkable. I've, I've, this is strange. He's, he's pouring fire and wind. And I said, that's right. And I was reading Isaiah 63. And he said, he told me to tell you, he's going to reveal Isaiah 63 to you. He wants you to know the Jesus in red. And that's what I've been saying now for an hour. And I said, Lord, I will stand for the Jesus of judgment, not just the Jesus of intimacy and the Jesus of power, because his judgments remove everything that hinder love. Amen. Let's stand. We're going to show you a Wes Adams and Bob Jones video just for a few moments. Now, Wes Adams, let me tell you a moment about Wes Adams. I don't know if Wes is here by chance. Because he's here a lot. Wes is been, as far as I'm concerned, he was the first intercessor. He was praying in Kansas City for years before I got here. He was in the Nazarene Seminary, the Nazarene College. And he actually lost his job in the Nazarene College because he took a stand for the move of the Holy Spirit in terms of our language and our context and tongues and the healing. And I don't know the whole story. I don't want to make a big statement about that. But he took a stand for revival and he's broke his neck. Many years ago, he's been in a wheelchair, a quadriplegic for many years. But this guy is faithful in prayer and all night prayer meetings. And I mean, he is one of the true fathers. He was before me and he was before, no, crying out nightly prayer meeting. I mean, all night prayer meetings for Kansas City. So him and Bob Jones are going to talk for a few moments and then we'll dismiss you. Go ahead and be seated. When Mike came to the city and started his public services in the very end of December or January of 93, 83, he immediately began evening prayer meetings, seven to 10, every single night. Never seen a pastor do this. I'd wondered why churches hadn't done this, but never in my best dreams had I thought I would see a pastor that would put revival and prayer and intercession and worship at the forefront of the entire church vision. And so six nights a week, Mike and his family, his sons, his wife, his congregation would be there in the Fox Hill office building. And Mike said his sons never saw a sunset for X amount of years. It was a unusual devotion and revival of prayer. I've been a bit of a student of revival and oftentimes a revival of prayer precedes a revival of the church in a city and the release of salvation harvest and power and signs and miracles, so forth. And I think we've had an unusual history in Kansas City in terms of revival of prayer. Things that humanly are impossible have been set in motion in this city as a result of God's initiative in calling people to prayer. And Mike became such a clear voice of that. The fast itself was a clear proclamation by Mike, an invitation to the city, particularly leaders in Kansas City to join together in praying for revival for Kansas City. And I lived in Kansas City for three years, 65 to 68, and then have been here ever since 1977. And never before nor since have I seen any proclamation go forth in Kansas City to leaders and the church world in the Kansas City metropolis that was so focused and was so, so, so heard. Not everybody agreed with it, but everybody heard it. It was a clear word. It was a clear sound. And from the beginning, people lined up on one side or the other that this is God, this isn't God or indifference to it. But everybody almost had to have an opinion about it because it was such a clear proclamation and sound from the Lord. And pastors just were on the horns of a dilemma as to how to respond and what to do with this. I remember during the 21-day fast, there were Mennonite pastors showed up. There were pastors of various denominations at least made one appearance or more. It was a time of great, great stir. And so there was much controversy around this 21-day fast. And I've been involved in 21-day fast since, numerous ones, never seen anything like this one in terms of controversy, in terms of opinions, in terms of the whole spiritual atmosphere being in a stir. And I've made a remark before that anytime the angel Gabriel shows up and a comment comes as confirmation, what is happening is more than local significance. God doesn't do that apart from something that has global significance really. And the Solemn Assembly fast I believe has proven to be the launch of something of global significance. The Solemn Assembly fast, it launched things. I mean, I don't know how to explain it. I think it was the most significant single 21-day period in the history of Kansas City in terms of such a clear call of God's purpose and destiny for the city. And I think that's why it was so controversial. I think that's why there was such reaction. And my congregation by and large attended it with wholehearted excitement. We enjoyed the encounters with the Lord in scripture and in prayer and in worship that we experienced during that period of time. There was a heightened sense of God's presence. I know Mike's recollection of the period of time was dry, dead and boring. For us who were coming out of what we were coming out of into this 21-day fast, it was a spiritual adventure. And we didn't carry the disappointment that Mike's congregation carried when there was not complete breakthrough or revival during the fast or immediately afterward. In fact, instead of breakthrough, we got a spiritual drought and a physical drought for a considerable period of time. God tested everybody's hearts right up front. But for us, it was something none of us had ever done a 21-day fast up to that point. And the Lord was just so close. I remember the word of God was so alive. There were encounters with God that were extraordinary during that period of time and in the months that were to follow. So it sort of launched things for the city. It launched the prophetic history for Mike in Kansas City. It helped set the DNA, the spiritual DNA for our congregation in Kansas City. Certainly, the destiny of Kansas City has been a city of extraordinary prayer. I believe it's also been a city of extraordinary destiny for healing in years to come where when trouble is on the earth in an unprecedented way, there are going to be some cities that have been sanctified by prayer and fasting and the purposes of God that are cities of safety for the people of God. I believe Kansas City is marked in destiny for that purpose as well. Okay, that concludes our morning session. We will meet back up at 2 p.m. There will be a greeting from Bob Jones that will be shown later this evening. And so we'll see you at 2 p.m. Thank you.