Mike Bickle emphasizes the call to love others as God loves us, rooted in John 15:12. He explains that God's love is wholehearted and should inspire us to express that love to others, particularly those who feel unnoticed or unvalued. Bickle challenges the spirit of entitlement that often arises when discussing love within the church, urging believers to take the initiative to love and support one another. He highlights the importance of community and belonging in the body of Christ, encouraging a shift from seeking to be loved to actively loving others. Ultimately, the sermon calls for a commitment to embody God's love in our relationships, fostering a spiritual family that reflects the heart of the Father.

You missed the Edwards Turn to John chapter 15 If you do that and follow along in the notes, we won't cover all these notes today Just the first part of them mostly Father we thank you in the name of Jesus for your word We thank you for your heart for us the way that you love us And Holy Spirit, I ask you to inspire our understanding inspire our heart to receive and to express your love The name of Jesus. Amen well, I'm continuing on a series that I'm calling abiding in love and I'm Using the phrase in John chapter 15 verse 9 Where Jesus calls us to abide in love and just a quick review paragraph a from the last four sessions That the premise of the kingdom is the fact that God is love And when I say God is love, I like to add the phrase wholehearted. He is wholehearted love That the only way that God loves in the context of his family is with all of his heart That the father loves the son and the spirit and the father loves his children with all of his heart all of his strength all of his mind, that's just a Dynamic concept that we'll be thinking on for all the ages Wholehearted love is not just the only way that God loves in the context of his family, but it's the most important Attribute in his personality in all of his kingdom relationships Loving with all the heart is primary and I have the five distinct expressions of the way God's love is Expressed that we've been covering week by week and we're gonna stay on this first for some sessions even in the future number one that the Source and the model of this love is the way that God loves God the way the father loves the son He loves Jesus with all of his strength and all of his might But it doesn't stop there God the father son and spirit. They love us in the way. They love each other Doesn't stop there they inspire That kind of love in us back to them that we would love God with all of our heart The first commandment to love God with all of our heart doesn't start with us It starts in a reality long before us in the fellowship of the Godhead But it goes on to loving ourselves and this is so important Jesus said you would love your neighbor as yourself And one of the reasons we don't love our neighbor Well is because of the emotional traffic we have that we don't see who we are in God's sight And we don't love who God has made us in the grace of God Well today we're gonna focus on just a little bit because it's a vast subject I'm just gonna barely Introduce the subject it's this fifth expression of Loving one another in the overflow of the way that God loves us paragraph B Jesus puts these two ideas together Verse 9 which is the premise of this series. We're really the premise of the whole way the kingdom operates That Jesus said in John chapter 15 verse 9 and I paraphrase in The same intensity that I love you. I mean in the same intensity that the father loves me. That's the way I love you I mean what a remarkable statement John chapter 15 verse 9 Jesus said in the same way the father loves me. That's the quality of the intensity of how I love you and Then he gives the phrase that I am making the seer the title of the series abide in this love focus on it Experience it, but don't just experience it from God express it to others as well Take initiative with this love and walk it out verse 12 In John 15 Jesus gives us a practical But very necessary response that he wants us to have to the way God loves us He says so you're moved by the way that I love you. Well. Here's what I want you to do. I want you to be a Vessel of my glory a joint of supply in my body to express the same quality of love to other people He says in John 15 verse 12. I want you to express the way. I love you I want you to love other people that way and here's the reason because God loves those people in the same way that he loves us, which is the same way he loves Jesus and The father is saying I have such an investment in those people I have such a passion for them that I'm ordaining The members of the body of Christ to be my joints of supply to express that love to those other people in the body of Christ The reason I'm saying this is that when some folks hear about the mandate of the kingdom to love they automatically hear it through a a Paradigm of a spirit of entitlement when they hear about the body of Christ is called to love each other They instantly go to how come people don't pursue me and love me and value me the way they're supposed to That's a very natural response But what I'm saying is that I want to take this in a different direction Instead of a spirit of entitlement of how come I don't get treated that way I'm taking in a different direction a spirit of empowerment that the Lord saying I want you to take the initiative to Supply that to somebody else that they have a sense of belonging to my kingdom And the Lord will take care of you in the process That our concern is to be focused on Expressing this love to others in our loyalty for having received it from the Lord himself We are grateful that in our brokenness. He is that committed to us and The Lord says okay if you're grateful for the way I've loved you, and I pursued you and how much you mattered to me when you didn't deserve it Then in your loyalty to me I want you to go to people I love and I'm invested in and I want you to show that love to them in my Name because I love them that much now the The focus is not just to love people that are exactly like us that have the same Taste and desires and a similar type of personality Because our tendency as humans is we find a couple of cool people that like what we like And we bond around liking the same kind of entertainments and hobbies and things and there's nothing actually wrong with that But Jesus is calling us to something far beyond that we don't want to limit our Vision of the second commandment to love one another to people that we like being with But he says no no again. It's the people. I'm invested in it's not just the people you like the father saying It's the guy out there nobody values and nobody pursues But I value them and I pursue them and I want you to be the vessel that does it for me Doesn't matter if you fell drawn to them because I feel drawn to them I've had people over the years say well I don't really have a connect with them But the father has a connect with them and he wants us to express that connect to them and give them a sense And a place of how to connect and to receive that love and value and pursuit that the father has for them People that you invest in and give to they can't enrich your profile They can't enrich your resource base at all Then you love them simply out of loyalty because the father loves them and you want to show your loyalty to the father It's like a paragraph C It's where this thing hold this whole thing begins Back in the desire that burning desire in the father's heart even before the foundation of the world He desired to have a family. Well, he was already dwelling in a family father son and Holy Spirit He was father long before the creation of the world. He didn't become father when Jesus became a man He was the father within the context of the Trinity in ages past He had a family, but he wanted to extend that family he wanted a family of human beings and a vast family that would participate in the joy of the way they love within the Godhead and they would receive it and they would Express it and dwell together in joy This is part of the why behind the what What God did he created what God did he redeems Why does God create and why did God create? I mean? I'm trying to say why did he create and why did he redeem the why is he's a father that desires a family? That's one of the why's there's several why's that if I was good if I would answer the that question in a full way Now it's interesting that or significant more than interesting that the name that Jesus emphasized most and the Attribute that Jesus emphasized most of God the transcendent God of Israel was the fact that he is father Jesus didn't say pray our Transcendent God who art in heaven he said pray our father who art in heaven That Jesus is the one that revealed the relational dimension of God's heart in a way far beyond the Old Testament prophets He said the transcendent God is in fact a father, and that's not just a symbolic name That's the way he thinks that's the way he feels. That's the nature of his heart. He is a father he acts like a father he feels like a father and Jesus came to reveal that the transcendent God of Israel was in fact this deeply relational being That wanted that relationship to spread out and to include many others He cares about the other members in the body his family that we don't naturally care about or we don't actually have a connection He is deeply connected to them, and he has a plan for them but the good news is that he has a plan for them, but you're part of that plan of pursuing and Valuing and pulling them in closer to the father's heart I Am a father and I tell you there's few things That I enjoy more in life than when my sons love one another they're both in their early 30s and over the years I have had such joy Watching them love each other. I mean I want him to love God. I want him to love me and mom I want him to love, but when they love each other just oh I love that when they love each other and I've seen so many snapshots of that over the last 30 plus years So in a very small way I look up to heaven say father I understand a little bit how you feel when we pursue and invest and go after other people that you feel that way about God fashioned the human heart I have here in paragraph C, and he created the human heart With a deep desire to know and be known He created and fashioned us with a desire to have a sense of belonging to other human beings Not just belonging to God in an individual sense, which is of the highest importance but he had he created us with a sense of This need of belonging to one another because remember it's the father who designed the creation He put right into our spirit our DNA our emotional and spiritual DNA this longing to connect with one another Now the problem is is that though were created that way because sin entered into the picture Most people I mean even believers they live their life unnoticed unpursued uncelebrated and misunderstood God created us to be pursued to be known to be celebrated to be partnered with but most people live without that Original ideal of God that he created with them in mind Henry David Thoreau a well-known author and poet and in America's history about 1840s 50s 60s He described this dilemma in a very clear way. I just love this quote I've referenced it over the years He said most men lead lives of quiet Desperation. I mean what a sentence His observation he goes most men the powerful men of the earth the weak men of the earth the unnoticed men of the earth Most of them live lives of quiet desperation. They feel lonely. They feel like a failure They feel inadequate to the thing that's before them. Even if they're very powerful and famous people. They still feel lonely They feel desperate and they feel inadequate to what's before them He went on to add they go to their grave With the song still in them meaning the dream of their heart they go to their grave with nobody Celebrating the dream that was in their heart all their days Well, the father says I want to correct that I have a plan that's exactly opposite of where man finds himself naturally Genesis chapter 2 Notice it was God's observation. This is a divine insight He said it's not good for men to be alone Now this this means much more than the context of marriage. It was given in This is an observation a divine observation about the design of the human spirit It is not good that we are disconnected even horizontally Now we need to be connected vertically with the Lord, but being connected vertically with the Lord is not enough This is before Adam sinned this isn't the fruit of Adam sin now He's a needy man and he needs people When Adam before there was any sin even in his righteousness and perfection God said Adam I designed you to need other human beings. It's not because you're fallen It's because I'm a father and I built you that way I designed you that way Now when Adam and Eve fell into sin that longing did not go away. It was tainted It was obscured. It was made more difficult to fulfill But still that longing is in us I've heard people well-meaning people say this over the years. I just need the Lord and that's enough Well, that's not a biblical statement it isn't enough you actually need more than the Lord's like Yes, that's Bible God's a father with the family and he built and designed you to function in a family and Though everybody doesn't have a nuclear family they can function in Because of just the they're separated for one reason or another But God has designed the local church the body of Christ in the earth to be that family in a spiritual way that I don't mean as a replacement of the natural family because our natural family is our first assignment and our first priority in our lives But it's not enough to just connect with the Lord because there's there's a lot that God gives me but he put in your mouth and in your heart and I get it from God when I receive it from you and There's another part of God's heart that I only get when I give to you That if it's just me and the Lord, I don't receive God's heart from you And there's many things I don't get from the Lord if I don't give them It's in the giving to you that my own heart expands we discover him in this dynamic pursuit of relationships within the family of God and And I'm not talking about we don't go outside the family of God because we have our joy is to bring others into the family But right now I'm talking about loving one another within the kingdom community In no way minimizing of the the glory and the mandate to reach outside of the kingdom community as well Paragraph D the father's plan. He says I'm gonna reverse this whole thing this loneliness that man lives in God's answer to this longing is to raise up spiritual families That are committed to the first and second commandment Now when I make that point again that I made earlier They're committed to the first and second commandment meaning to take the initiative themselves to walk in those two great commandments Not committed to wait for somebody to show the first second commandment to love them with all their heart But they're actually committed to be the end to take the initiative to do it to others Again I don't want to I don't want to Stir up a spirit of entitlement. There's so much of that already Spirit of entitlement I've been around in the kingdom of God people who say all over the earth. It's the same It's the same a heartache. I've been around and nobody's pursued me Nobody's valued me, but the the Word of God takes a very different approach It doesn't and it doesn't stir up and inspire our entitlement But rather it empowers us to take the initiative to be that joint of supply to others Paragraph II I Have good news for you the Lord has a plan That everybody could walk out this sense of belonging Everybody could have this Affirmation of their value and their destiny and the glory of who they are spoken to them not just by the Lord directly but through The Lord's people through the lips of other people One child was was talking about they said I need God with skin on I need God I need to hear the Word of the Lord through another person God with skin Well Matthew chapter 16 Is one of the great prophecies of Jesus? I mean this is a dynamic prophecy He says I will build my church But he goes on I mean he that's has started 2,000 years ago, but here's the prophecy It's it goes beyond just an intention to build he said let me tell you that the measure I'm going to take my commitment to my church He says the gates of Hades will not prevail Against this spiritual family and he has spiritual families all over the earth called local churches Now what Jesus is prophesying here That the gates of Hades Hades is hell the gates of hell the word gates you could put the use the word the authority of hell The idea is he says I'm gonna raise up a church in whom Demonic depression is completely driven outside of it Can you imagine? Companies of people all over the earth in whom none of their members are being oppressed by the devil Not the people or their families none of them the gates of hell are Completely driven out of the lifestyle of the people talking about there's no demonic oppression in their life Now that is such a glorious thing. It's 2,000 years later We're still waiting to see that walked out in flesh and blood life But I want to assure you that before the Lord returns He will have a glorious church across the whole earth and this glorious church They will love one another the way that Jesus loves them and there will not be demonic prescient in the midst of the members of the body of Christ and he will have an Expression of his this family and every tribe and tongue in every place of the earth before Jesus returns In our own city, there's a thousand congregations there's more than that, but that's just a kind of a round number There's a thousand spiritual families and plus more that make up the larger family of God in our city well, he says I'm gonna build a church and The gates of hell the oppression of Satan will not prevail in their midst Verse 19 now he tells us how he's going to one of the key points He says I'm gonna give you the keys of the kingdom. That's the authority in prayer right here He says you're gonna have the ability to bind the demonic works Then you're gonna have the authority to loose the blessing in the favor of God Or the activity of the Holy Spirit unto other people Now People get excited by this binding of the negative and loosing of the positive. They go. Wow. This is so exciting And they get excited about a picture of the church in such victory. There's no demonic oppression, but here's the thing that's often overlooked that this promise that excites us of power is Deeply connected to the first phrase of verse 18 It's connected to his people dwelling together as the local church It's not a promise of power separated from the family functioning together and Again, it's not just everybody having a few friends. It's bigger than that It's that everybody that names the name of Jesus The Lord has stirred up the stronger members to go pursue the weaker members to show them the value They have to the father Let's say it's a startling reality To the unbelieving community Jesus said it a number of times. He said when the unbelievers see that you do this That you are pursuing those that cannot give anything back to you in the natural You are valuing them. You're pursuing them. They can't enhance your profile. They can't enhance your resource base They can't do anything for you in the natural But you so value them because do you see how the father values you and how the father Values them and the unbelievers conclude that the God of Jesus must be this way Because he's inspired so many people to do this That the strongest pursue the weakest. It's not an issue of the coolest pursue the coolest It's not the rich and the famous and the beautiful Hang out with the rich and the famous and the beautiful But the stronger ones pursue the weaker ones who are all by themselves in this deep Desperation of loneliness though they've received the salvation of God and the father says I've promised you you belong But that promise can't come to pass if the stronger ones aren't stirred up to be the vessels the joints of my supply so many people in the body of Christ They dwell in loneliness in their weakness and their brokenness and they they conclude God's not real They said well, you know, I've been in the kingdom for years Maybe you're not real and the Lord's saying I'm trying to stir the strong ones to be that joint of supply to you Beloved it's our time and it's an hour in our life where we're saying. Yes, Lord We want to be that joint of supply to others. We're not that strong. But whatever we have we will do that under your leadership Paragraph F Now the type of church That manifests the fullness of power now There's dimensions of power here and there outside of the church functioning as a spiritual family But the fullness of power is what I'm talking about. I don't want a little bit of deliverance from oppression I want to see the day where the entire spiritual family. I'm a part of everyone is free from this demonic oppression That's it. That's a vision and beloved. It's gonna happen all over the world in every tribe and tongue before Jesus returns there's going to be an acceleration of pressure and acceleration of the glory of God and Acceleration of a few other things and it's going to end up with a glow a church filled with glory Prepared as a bride before the Lord actually returns in the second coming Well, the question we're asking is we want to walk in that power We want to be loyal We want to be loyal to you Jesus and we want to go after the people that you're invested in and you care for Even if we're not that connected to them We want to show our love for you and our gratitude for the way you love us by being that joint of supply to them We want to see the fullness of power well, the key is is a paragraph F is that this kind of New Testament community is the result of people that have Common vision and they have common values But that those that vision and values are rooted in the written Word of God Meaning it's not values that we kind of pull out of the culture Secular values we have values that are clearly enunciated in the Word of God Now there's a corporate dimension to Being the people of God. Yes We have that individual connection that we want to grow and grow and grow that he loves me the way the father loves him Wow There's the gathering of twos and threes where so much of the work of the kingdom happens in twos and threes There's the gatherings of the tens and twenties and so much happens in that regard as well but there's a picture of the father's heart that he wants to show every Single city that his church dwells in he wants to use that Collective group of people to give a picture of what the father's heart is like so the unbelievers see the church functioning and they get a glimpse that the God of Israel is Actually a God with a father's heart They conclude it by looking at the church Beloved you can be the most dedicated man or woman of God and the most Dedicated man or woman of God with the power of God second to no one on the earth But there's a bigger picture of God you can't give even in your radical dedication and total power in the anointing There's a picture that God wants to give in our context South Kansas City that he can only show when spiritual families I've done about congregations all over the South Kansas City area when we dwell together and we express the father's heart There's a view of God that can only be seen as we do that together What kind of people are they they value weak and broken people that should be irritating them They value weak and broken people that can't give them anything in the natural What kind of God are they serving? How are they energized in this kind of patient? Tenderness towards people they should be writing off because I would have written that guy off a long time ago we're being motivated by the God who loves us the way that God loves God and that God's Invested in us and invested in those other people that might bother us and trouble us and we're not drawn to but God's drawn to them Now there's no amount of prayer and Bible study. There's no amount of ministry that substitutes From a biblical point of view from an integral connection to the local church Because that is what enhances The opportunity for the larger people in our midst to have that sense of belonging Another again a lot of folks. They think well what's in it for me? But there's a lot in it for us as we give to others but there's a bigger question the Lord says I'm using you because I've got an investment in them and they won't get that if you don't obey me in this regard and Obeying me together as a family is the context as a father. I have ordained to be the supply for my people God wants every single born-again believer to play a role They have a God-ordained role in the local church in the city or the region that they live in Says in Hebrews chapter 10 verse 25 It says don't forsake the assembling of yourself together. Now. It's talking in context to the local church here Don't forsake the gathering together as Is the manner of some it's the habit of some one translation says But rather go in the opposite direction Exhorting one another to be faithful to God and to God's purposes So much the more even as you see the second coming of Christ approaching closer and closer What the writer of Hebrews is saying as you can see The time frame that we're getting closer to the coming of the Lord the day of the Lord He says even with more urgency don't forsake gathering together There are many dimensions of what happens in gathering together Don't forsake it. There's great. There's escalating evil and there's an escalating manifestation of glory But that glory is only going to be in context to the larger family of God dwelling together valuing pursuing Connecting one to another bigger than even their little sphere of three or four friends many embrace a churchless Christianity Which encourages an isolated anything-goes Christian lifestyle? in an isolated Christianity over months and years our Tendency all of us is to drift away from Essentials that were once dear to us a year goes by five years go by ten years go by and in isolation things that were dear and Assumed as valuable are now very minimized or out of our life and it happens in such a slow process Our safety our fullness is in functioning together in that sense of belonging one to another in the body of Christ Says in Proverbs 18 verse 1 a man who isolates himself seeks his own desire he rages against all wise judgment and The Lord's even saying that it's so there's blessings for all of us that we can't even fully measure that we get by just being in the life of the body not that it's always exciting or dynamic, but just the Everyday life of belonging together there is safety their supply There's increase of grace that comes in that Not to mention the fact we are the joint of supply of that to others who are in great need top of page two So we want to be a church in whom the gates of hell do not prevail against we want to be a church We want to be a spiritual family Not just our congregation of FCF one of you know hundreds of congregations in South, Kansas City but even in in in some kind of relationship with many other congregations and I have relationship with many pastors in the Kansas City area have for many years and Others of our leadership team have connections, so it's not Just an issue of all the churches get together and have a big outreach once a year It's far more in depth of a connection than things like that those things are nice But that's not the measure of the connection But that we see the value and we celebrate one another in different local spiritual families or congregations knowing that even together is Necessary that we function together even the congregations in order to give the right picture of the father's heart to this Region of our city this south part of our city that God has strategically placed us in And God strategically places every congregation and whatever part of the city or region that he wants the man And he gives them an assignment to reveal the father to the unbelievers, but they can only reveal the father as they dwell together But again the radical one-off a dedicated isolated man or woman of God with greater miracle power than anybody They cannot show the face of God in that city or region that God wants to be shown it takes a collective body valuing one another Particularly when the stronger ones value the weaker ones and give their resource their time their energy their money to make the weaker ones Stronger that that is a glorious supernatural reality. They're really shocks unbelievers when they see it consistently happening Not not a one-time Event doesn't all I mean one time kind of extravagant love maybe doesn't move them But when they see it persistently they go what is moving you to? Use your resources your strength your time your energy in this kind of way I mean, it's common sense you give to people who give back But you guys give to people who can't give back in the natural sense What a glorious reality because that's the way God loves us We can't give anything back to him in the natural sense that enhances his profile. It doesn't work that way He loves us because he is loved that's why he loves us well, we want to be a spiritual family that has this sense of belonging to one another of all the different maturity levels and and profiles and resource base and education and Giftedness of all the members because we so are moved by the love of God that we've received in our own individual life But how do we do this? How do we dwell together as a church like that? Well, we go to the book of Acts We go to the biblical pattern Because there is a Infiltration in this hour particularly in the Western world there's an infiltration of the Secular paradigm of community with the kingdom paradigm of community and they're very very different But the secular paradigm has so infiltrated the mindset of believers in our nation. I'm not trying to be critical I'm trying to alert us so we can be aware of it that many believers are pursuing a secular paradigm of community thinking that as long as it's community its kingdom and Even all the people can have a profession of faith in Jesus, but together they're not walking out kingdom community Though they're hanging out together in entertainment and recreation and pleasure But they're not being bonded in the spirit in the way the kingdom community talks about a lot of folks are very confused by this so we We go to the word to see what is essential for a kingdom community to function And I'm just gonna highlight five points and Most of him they're just self-evident right here in Acts chapter 2 verse 42 Then I'm adding one more point verse 45 It says that they continued steadfastly in other words not occasionally not when they were in the mood for it But it was a commitment of the routine of their lifestyle They would They were steadfast in the Apostles doctrine meaning. I'll just say it's simple. They valued the Word of God It wasn't just a book on a shelf that they dusted off every now and then they valued a daily Interaction with the word from hearing it from others reading it themselves secondly Thirdly Steadfastly they were in fellowship and again kingdom fellowship is Different than just the pet secular paradigm of hanging out together because kingdom fellowship is The goal of it is to connect with God and to build people up in the Holy Spirit to bring the grace of God to unbelievers and then believers to Strengthen them in their faith and to strengthen them in their faith that doesn't just mean they get happier on God but we help them to get useful so they can be a Vessel or a joint of supply to lead other people to the Lord and to strengthen other people as well Kingdom fellowship has a vibrancy in it where we're communicating the heart of God to one another not that every conversation is intrinsically spiritual But our goal in our connection is to build each other up in the spirit and to equip each other even in personal conversation And are just our times together Equip them and empower them and encourage them to be a person that leads others to the Lord and disciples And that's what kingdom fellowship is kingdom fellowship doesn't happen because four or five people that are involved in a church Go have a movie night together, and they hang out and they do four or five other things on top of it I'm against watching a movie. That's not my point, but some people think if we hang out together for entertainment We play we do video games all night We do recreation as long as we hang out together, and we profess Jesus. It must be fellowship beloved That's not fellowship most of that's a waste of time It diminishes our spiritual life It does not build up our spiritual life the kind of connection that actually dilutes and dulls our spirit is not fellowship But many Christians they get confused by that they go well I mean he loves Jesus or sort of or kind of or he says he does and we hang out together and isn't that fellowship No, no, that's hanging out together Number three they break bread now the point of breaking bread is that they would realign themselves to obey the leadership of the Holy Spirit and the breaking of bread is they recommitted themselves to repair Relationships that were injured and they committed to repair the injured relationships by taking the initiative in humility So here's what happened when they would break bread which we find out a verse later. They break bread every single day So the breaking of bread The point of it is people would stop is there anything I've done in my life. That's a compromise To the leadership to Holy Spirits leadership at my life and the guy goes yes, they confess it they get it, right They receive forgiveness. They push delete and the breaking of bread is the affirmation of that realignment under the Covenant and under his leadership But that's not the end of breaking of bread. It goes beyond that the breaking of bread is also saying I'm in an injured relationship And I'm committed. I'm not sure I can get it healed, but I'm committed to take initiative and humility to do my part So we take the bread in an affirmation of those two commitments if we take communion But we don't recommit ourself to his leadership to obey it and we don't recommit ourself to initiate humility to repair relationships All that breaking of bread is is a snack time in a church service It's like take a five-minute break. Have a little juice and crackers Or the wine and crackers if you're in those other churches and hey, you know Never mind But my point being It's a snack if we don't realign ourself, but in the early church Daily, they would recommit themselves to full obedience and repair relationships by initiating humility from their point of view That's radical. That's what's critical for Kingdom community the next prayer Beloved this is a remarkable thing and I'm saying this to so that you would feel a sense of gratitude We've done the hard work. It's not all done. But I mean I look back and I just was thinking of it this morning I mean, I'm just blown away the gratitude that God Showed his zeal 30 years ago. Many of you know the story and those that are new Maybe you don't know the story but 30 years ago the way that God Supernaturally confirmed his zeal that we would have a prayer room. I mean he I'm saying this tongue-in-cheek He went out of his way to make it happen and We have a prayer room going 14 years now he Gave us the wherewithal by his the way he intervened in order to establish it but to sustain it for 14 years And I have good news for you. He is going to answer Every single one of the prayers that have been offered from that prayer room hundreds of Thousands of man-hours. I'm talking about a hundred people in a room praying for an hour. That's a hundred hours hundreds of Thousands of prayers for the fullness of the spirit to hit the church in Kansas City Beloved do you think one of those prayers have gone unnoticed by God my Bible tells me no God's answered a few of them but I tell you there is going to be a deluge of the breaking in of God and answer to 14 years and I don't know when the timing of a Huge breakthrough, but I know this Jesus went out of his way to see that we did this and he talked about having a grand view of a kingdom walking out a Community together based on this kind of history beloved That's a glorious thing that he's given us, but it's not enough to have a prayer furnace It's not enough for a few individuals to have power God wants more than a prayer furnace and more than a few anointed people Few more than a few good worship teams and a few good preachers. He wants a community with a sense of belonging Where the stronger ones in the Lord value the weaker ones and pursue them and give them a sense of belonging and Call them forth and partner with them. He wants a demonstration of his heart as a father to this city Not just through us through every single church that will say yes to him every congregation It's a glorious thing I look at that prayer for a second Oh my goodness when though when the Lord pours out that bowl of prayer related to this city I mean thousands and thousands of prayer Your children and grandchildren are going to be the recipients of a deluge of blessing But even now we're in days where the Lord's like I want the spiritual family dimension to be not only Strengthened but to be massively strengthened in your midst the Ephesians 4 Zechariah 4 Thing I told you about in the fall for those of you that were that heard that I spoke at several weeks in a row number five He tells them this I mean one of the values of the early church now these five Things I'm highlighting are not comprehensive. There's another 20 I could I could list from acts, you know from the book of Acts, but they were focused on meeting the needs of the people in need It's not enough for us. Just enjoy one another Part of us enjoying one another and receiving from God is being a vessel that gives The grace of God and we're a joint of supply to others by the giving to others we actually encounter more It's a church with a missional dimension that we want to Strengthen the needy believers or unbelievers and we want to win the lost and we want to disciple them. That's what we're about I've heard, you know, I had a conversation with some guys some months ago and and I've but I've heard these conversations Over the years of I hop it says well, you know, we take two or three nights a week We're just kind of hanging out together We you know watch movies play video games play cards together just kind of hang and just seeing what happens You know joking around and little Bible discussions Bible debates Mostly debates about why the Bible doesn't call them to be wholehearted. Most of the debates are affirming that false concept And I talked to the guy and I says, you know what two three nights a week playing cards video games movies Kansas City's going to hell. Why are you doing that? Why don't you throw your movies away? I'm not against movies against a lot of them, but not all of them Throw your card games away. I don't even know anything about cards. But anyway, maybe they're good. Maybe they're bad. I don't even know Why don't you get together four or five of you and go decide to disciple Four-or-five thirteen year old young boys and then make them disciples Why don't you do that with those three nights a week? Well, I don't know. We're just hanging out beloved. You're not doesn't you're not in community You're in a counterfeit. You're in a delusion a distortion. That's not the kingdom of God That's deleting you're diluting delete Diminishing and dulling your spirit. You're not being built up in the Holy Spirit. I Said you're not You're not being bonded in the spirit to each other by those times You're not changing anybody in the Holy Spirit outside of your group and you're not doing anything That's going to be remembered at the judgment seat of Christ at the end of your life. I go get rid of that thing Throw yourself into the kingdom. I mean, you know Jesus you're born again. You got the Holy Spirit here What are you doing? Well, I don't know just kind of hanging out chilling in the grace of God I said get rid of that rubbish thinking You only got a minute on the earth and the city is going to hell right now and we're vessels of his glory Don't you see who you are? I'll just end with this short story. I I just so grateful 40 years ago, whatever was 1971 I met the Lord in June 1971 it's five weeks later. I'm 15 years old. I know the Lord five weeks I don't know anything except for I love him. He loves me and I hardly understand that but And all my friends are unbelievers. I don't have one Christian friend and We're playing basketball one night. It's midnight and We stumbled into the Presbyterian Church Colonial Presbyterian Church down at 95th of Warnell. We heard they had a basketball court So we're playing at midnight. We got kicked off the one guys The parents go get out of here. So we had to leave side. I saw a court once so we went there They had a discipleship house where some guys lived together and there was a light on is midnight. I go. Hey, where's the court? I don't know the lights are off. Let's see. They'll turn the light on so we play our game. And so There's four guys. They're all in their 20s 21 22 years old They've been praying and fat. It's a Friday night They've been praying and fasting that they could impact a high school on their Friday nights What they would do gather to pray four of them and fast and say we got to find some high school kids You lead them to the Lord and teach them to disciple people. That's what they're doing with their Friday nights These four guys are 21 22 years old Beloved dad, that's a wise thing. So I come walking in with a few guys Hey, what's going on here? And they're sitting in a circle. We interrupted the prayer. We didn't know what they were doing I've never seen a prayer meeting. I didn't know that's what they were doing It's the end of the three-day fast and here we walk in right into the trap. I Go hi, and they look at me and they go. Ah, he's one of my guys. I'm I don't know. That's what their thing They go. Hey, we'll meet you tomorrow play basketball. These are busy guys. They said we're gonna invest in this kid Okay Next day we show up to play him. They were old guys in their 20s. We're 15. We know we can beat him They didn't tell us the youth pastor was a college all-american basketball player He had his best game ever that next day that's another story but it was I thought what is going on These guys said We are going to invest in they got me in their swirl I didn't have a clue what they were about or anything. Hey, so they we want to meet with you every week Okay for what? Well, we're gonna just teach you the Bible Okay, I guess I should learn it. I just said yes to Jesus. I don't even know anything about the Bible I don't know the difference between an epistle and a possible or the gospel or disciple. I don't know any of that stuff Okay, so guys said I'll meet with you like two or three of women with two or three every week I mean, this is time committed. I mean, I don't get to do that then then a few months later I mean the nerve of these guys. I'm it's only six months later. They say now it's time. I'm 16 now It's now time for you to go find some 13 year olds and do to them what we just did to you They convinced me to be a soul winner and a disciple maker in six months Well, they were all doing it. I said, I don't know how to do it. They said it's quite simple do these three things I was scared. I did it. Everybody was doing it My point is it's 40 years later a hell ever long later, and I'm still doing it It was a couple 21 year old guys Deciding instead of chilling out in the grace of God in some weird Secular way calling a community they decided we're gonna find the will of God and break into some high schools in this city Nobody told him to they just loved Jesus Well, I can go on and on I think I'm gonna end with that Amen, let's stand It's no good way to end that story I'm stirred up. I want us to be that community. I Don't want to be a spiritually bored people with the secular community paradigm That's the false imitation counterfeit thinking. We're in community again. They don't bond in their spirit They don't change anyone's life. I don't do anything that lasts at the judgment seat. That's not community that that's a derision. I Want to go for God book of Acts style? Devoted to the Word I've devoted to prayer devoted to fellowshipping in the Holy Spirit Devoted to reaching out devoted to sewing into young 15 year old boys like they did me That's What we want to be together I want the strongest among us To pursue the weakest among us and not to wait to be pursued but go pursue them Amen Well, let's I'm gonna just lead you in a 90-second prayer then we'll end with that And invite you for ministry if you want, but it's where you say yes again I know most of you said yes, but just to say yes again Holy Spirit, I want to Give myself to three or four young people You can do it in a friendship group get ten or twenty of you gang up together on three young guys and disciple them And teach them to be disciples So I don't know how to do it. Well a friendship group can do it together Go do it to the three or four people in your neighborhood go find some you'll find the unbelievers But all team up together to go lead those people the Lord and disciple them It's divine entertainment, that's what this is. Well, anyway back to the prayer Holy Spirit I ask you show me a Friendship group that I could connect with just give me a just a nudge Just make it help me to make it work Let us find three or four people we can focus on as a group Or as an individual I want to disciple them. I want to go after I Want to do to some 15 year old kid what they did to Mike 40 years ago That's what I want to do with my free time on my Friday and Saturday nights, I want to find out how to do this Just say yes to him Holy Spirit kid he can lead you he's really good at this Then ask him another question who in the body here Feels lonely and left out I can pursue them and show them some of the value they have Don't pick the strongest pick the weakest Jesus is so invested in them. He's waiting for you to say yes to show that to them Say Lord show me two or three people I can invest in in a regular ongoing way Now any of you that would like prayer For your physical body or a special need that you have you want something to pray with you or you want to pray about this Pastoral this little pastoral anointing is what it is. It's a shepherd anointing a shepherd calling If you would like that, I don't invite you to come up if you would like prayer I'm gonna ask the rest of you to come on pray for one or two people take one minute for two different one minute twice Pray for people. We want everybody prayed for a few times So a bunch of you come on up our district pastors will be back in the friendship group Do you want to say hey, I want to jump into this. I want to have that sense of belonging I want to be that joint of supply for others Go ahead and come on up You