Mike Bickle emphasizes the power of our testimony in helping others overcome the accusations of the devil. He explains that our testimony should not only reflect our personal experiences but also acknowledge what God is doing in the lives of others. By speaking truth and encouragement into the lives of those around us, we can help them resist the lies of the accuser and strengthen their faith. Bickle highlights the importance of daily encouragement and the responsibility we have to uplift those closest to us, fostering a culture of honor and support within our families and communities.

So I'm talking about helping others overcome by our own testimony. And I'm not referring to so much the testimony of what's happened in us, but it's our testimony about what we see God's doing in them. Because our testimony isn't limited to just what we do and who we are. Our testimony includes our confession as to what God's doing in the earth, what God's doing in other ministries, what God's doing in others. And that's the point I want to give focus on this morning. Let's read the verse, Revelation 12, verse 10. The accuser, who is the devil, and the Greek word accuser is the word from which the name devil comes from. The devil is the accuser because that's what the word accuser means. It's devil. The accuser of our brethren, that's Satan, obviously. He accuses us night and day. Verse 11, but the saints, they overcame the accuser. And they overcame the accuser by three activities of faith. Number one, by the blood of the lamb. Number two, by the word of their testimony. And number three, they did not love their lives even to death. There's three different activities of the heart that are critical to overcome the accuser. Paragraph B, I'm just going to give the first two very simple. We all know these truths. They're well known, established in our understanding. B, it's by the blood of the lamb. We can never overemphasize this. We never outgrow our need to come back to the reality that the accuser has no authority to accuse us because of what Jesus did. Our basis of victory is the fact of Jesus' death and resurrection. That Jesus paid the debt. No matter what we're feeling like, when the devil comes and accuses us and we feel bad, we often are tempted to go by our feelings. But the blood of the lamb, the fact of what he accomplished, is why we have a new beginning. It's why we can stand bold without shame in God's presence. It's a legal transaction. God will not charge to our account that which he charged to his account. He will not do it. We will not pay for that which he paid for. We have confidence to stand every day before him with full access. It says in 2 Corinthians 5, if anyone is in Christ, even if you're in a bad mood or a spiritual funk, you're still in Christ, anyone, you are a new creation. The old things, the judgments against you in God's court, they've passed away. All things are new. Your standing is new. Verse 21, for he, the father, made him who knew no sin, the son, to be sin for us, so that we have become the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. This is our confession. Of course, this is part of the confession we are going to help establish in the mouths of others as well. We are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. It's a fact that happened in one moment of time. When you were born again, you received the righteousness of God. It gives us confident access to stand in our brokenness and in our failure before God with confidence. Paragraph C, the second point of these three activities of the heart. First one, our confidence in the blood of the lamb. The next one, we did not love our lives even unto death. It's the spirit of abandonment, the spirit that pursues obedience. Now, when I think of the IHOP community of the three, I think that is our biggest point of emphasis. But the truth is we want all three of them to be the big point of emphasis. When I think of these three, I think that we're strongest in the pursuit to seek to obey. Our confidence in the blood of the lamb, that if I had to rate those, that would be second. But our confession, the word of our confession, I believe is an area that we continually need to strengthen because it is just as essential as the other two. You cannot remove any one of these three activities of our heart and of faith in our heart before the Lord. The spirit of abandonment, there must be a setting of the heart to obey. Paragraph D, now I want to focus in on where I'm going this morning. We overcome the accuser. We don't just overcome just the devil in the generic sense, but the devil as the accuser. I mean, he does many things. He's the thief. But in this context, it is the devil's attack against us, particularly telling lies to our heart. And we must overcome those lies, not by just simply thinking the truth. We actually have to give expression to it with our mouth. We have to say what the truth is. And when we say it, it takes a deeper root, a deeper rootedness in our heart. Now, the word of our testimony is not just the story of how we were initially born again. That's part of our testimony. It's a very important part, but actually it's a very small part of your testimony is how you gained the entrance into the kingdom of God. Your testimony, the word of your testimony or the confession of your faith, as the scripture uses that term in other places, it's what you believe about who he is. Now, a lot of folks just by, it's just by the natural darkness of our mind and religious teaching, our presupposition is that he's mostly mad or mostly sad when he relates to us. So it's a, it's our confession is what kind of God he is, his disposition, his personality. He is a God with passion and joy and gladness. That's part of our confession is what we believe about him. Part of our confession is about what we just talked about, what he accomplished on the cross. It's not enough that our confession is we are committed. We have to have a confession. He paid the price. We have legal access to drive the accuser out of our life. That's part of our confession. Part of our confession is who we are in him. The righteousness of God. That's who we are. We are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus, but it's not just our legal position. Who we are in him is bigger than that. It's our destiny. It's the way we carry our heart before him. We are a people who love him. I am a man who loves him. That's part of my testimony. You are a man or a woman who loves him. That's part of your confession before him. Not just the legal, but actually the, but also the living dimensions of the way you carry your life before God. But I want to extend this understanding of our confession and I could extend several more definitions to it or expressions to this. It's the word of our confession is a huge reality. It's not a small one, but it includes what we believe about others. I'm talking about in an individual way. I'm not just talking about people in general. It's what we believe about the person sitting next to us, about our family members. When you look at your spouse or your children or the people you work with in other words, those you're most familiar with are those were most tempted to lose connectedness with how God feels about them. But part of our testimony is what we believe God is thinking about them. And as we speak it, we actually help them overcome. But surprisingly, it helps us overcome as well. I use the word sanctified selfishness. Meaning there are divine dividends. There are blessings that come back on us when we bless others. We all understand that. When you speak the true testimony of the Lord to another, you help them overcome. But you actually anchor your heart more in the grace of God by doing that. Most believers, many believers, they live under a continual assault. Well, all believers do. Assault of accusation from the devil. But it's very common for a believer's spirit to be starved of truth. They love Jesus. They're very sincere, but their spirit is starved. It's beat down. It's like it's wilted instead of nourished with truth. They love him. Sincerity is in place. But the confession from their own lips as to how God sees them and the confession coming from the lips of others to them is absent. And their spirit is starved to be nourished in truth. And part of that nourishment for the five or 10 people that are closest to you, whether, you know, family members or just the neighbors or whatever. The truth of that nourishment for them is actually part of it is in your mouth. Philemon, verse six. Philemon, I mean, Paul prayed. He said, I pray that your faith may become effective through the knowledge of every good thing which is in you for Christ's sake. I pray that your faith would become effective through the knowledge of the good things that are in you. Now that is true of you as an individual. And you can obviously apply this and I want you to in your own life. But I'm taking this in a different application this morning. The faith of the folks that are closest to you is effective when they gain the knowledge of what is true about them. And part of that knowledge is in your mouth. You can help their faith become effective by you speaking what is true about them. Their faith becomes effective. Baragraph E, Romans 10. Now we know faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word. Now, a lot of folks, they ask for faith and it's biblical. But faith doesn't mostly come by praying for faith, the disciples did say help our faith. But faith mostly comes by hearing. And hearing the word, one of the most effective ways you will hear the word is through your own lips speaking the word. Matter of fact, the way that our spirit is made, the person that has the most impact on your spirit is you. The word of your mouth will affect you more than anybody else's. But the word of those closest to you will come in a close second. My point, think of your spouse. Think of your children, whether young or adult. Think of your, those that you work with. I'm talking about even the guy or gal that kind of tests your faith, wears you out a little bit. They will hear the word and grow in faith as it comes out of your mouth. Now you're not responsible for the whole of their faith. But you have a small portion of sacred responsibility in letting them hear the word. Particularly the word that's most difficult for an individual to grasp is the word about themselves. People find it far easier to understand what God thinks about the church or the nation or the ministry or some ministry assignment. The thing that is most difficult to lay hold of is actually in the inner recesses of their own heart, what God thinks about them. Not just that he loves them, but God has plans for good for their life. And that's what the devil, the accuser, because again, the word devil means accuser. The devil comes to accuse them in the most intimate way. He wants them to give up and give in. And most people cannot overcome simply by their own testimony. Now in theory, we can, but in actuality, we're part of a body. And part of our victory is in the mouths of others. And it only takes two or three others to speak and to change your heart and to change your life. Now don't take this word the opposite and say, how come nobody's talking to me? Don't take it as an entitlement passage. Go the other way. Who are you speaking the word of faith to? Particularly, I mean, in a really personal way. And it must start in the sphere of those that we're most familiar with, which is the group that we're most apt to neglect in this regard. Because we know them so well and they know us so well. And it's just kind of easy to get in the humdrum of life and to have that absence in our relationships of speaking the word of our confession, what we see as what God thinks about them. And it needs to be a regular, ongoing part of our relationship with the two to three to four or five folks that we're closest to and our family friends that we work with. You wanna break it down to a small number, meaning it's not just people in general. If you say, wow, this is really right, I'm just gonna do this to everyone, then you might end up doing it to no one. But I'm wanting to encourage you to really break it down to get three, four, five, six people that you're really gonna focus on. Of course, you're not gonna be bound to that small number, but you're going to be faithful to that small number and then let it break out from there. Because it's easy to love the unbeliever that we're gonna go witness to in the Outreach Tuesday that we don't know. They don't have a name and a face to us. They are just the poor unbeliever that we love. But it's when we get to know them that it's like, ah, and it's easy to buy into what I'm saying for just the body. We just love the body. And the Lord says, yeah, but it's the woman you live with, the man you live with, it's the children that are troubling your heart or causing pain to your heart or the in-laws or the brothers and sisters or the aunts and uncles. It's like, oh, yeah, we have to lock in. It must be applied and expressed at that level. And then of course, we can reach out to as many as we can with this, but we have to anchor this in a real practical way in the routine, everyday routine of life to those that the Lord has set us next to. Paragraph F, Proverbs 18, Solomon said, life and death are in the power of the tongue. Our words release life. We understand that. Our words release death. It's not enough to know the potential to give life. We actually have to say the words. It's not enough to know that, it's not enough to just neglect or to withhold speaking death. Say, I don't speak death to them. I don't. Well, that's good. It's good that we don't feed our children poison, but we actually got to feed them nutrients as well though. It's not enough just to say, I don't ever put poison in their diet. I don't speak evil. That's halfway there. That's very effective. But do you go the next step? Do you actually do the positive sowing the nutrients into their spirit? Life and death are in the power of the tongue. This is a marvelous, mysterious reality. You can say simple words to that person that you live with, those people you live with, simple words. And it brings life to them, but it also brings life back to you when you speak it. It's not like it's the biggest jolt of power you'll ever experience, but it does. The accumulative effect brings life back to you in several different ways, actually. The way that the kingdom runs is that even when we sacrifice and serve, God always works it to where it comes back. Sanctified selfishness always is a part of the equation. It always comes back to bless you, and it's okay that you understand that. So I want you to stop and think for a moment. Who are the two or three people, not that you just share the information of life with, you know, you just share kind of what's on your heart that's good or just what's happening in life, that you actually have a vision to speak life to them from a biblical point of view. I'm talking about to speak the word to them. I don't mean just Bible verses. That's not what I'm talking about. Just talk about the simple little phrases about how you feel, very important about them, but how you think God feels about them. Because the devil accuses them night and day, just like he does you and me. And the Lord is, his desire is to raise up a body that counters night and day with encouragement. It's amazing that simply by speaking, we can make an impact. We help people come into agreement with what God thinks about them. Because again, the devil does not want them to agree with what God thinks about them. Paragraph G, if we agree with Satan's accusations, and if they agree with Satan's accusations, we give power to Satan when we agree with his accusations. When we agree with the devil in our own personal life, that it just, it's never going to be different. God's probably mad anyway. I have no real purpose. Everything is futile. Everything is bad. He's not really concerned. When we agree with those accusations, we give power to the enemy in our life. But the same is true with the people, and I'm really locked in with the people in our family. Because I think that is the easiest place to neglect this truth and the, you know, the two, three, four, five, six people that you live with or you work closest with. That if they agree with the devil's words, even though they may not even be aware they are agreeing, they are giving room for him to injure their hearts. A lot of folks, they end up having more faith in the devil's words than they do God's words. They don't think of it that way, but it's true. They hear the devil's words more through their own word. I mean, they speak it, they put themselves down, and the people closest put them down or just neglect them. And the devil's coming to whisper constantly in them. They hear the devil's words to such a degree they have more faith in those than they do God's words. The war of words. Who is going to have dominion in your heart and their heart? We are part of God's strategy to see that the devil does not have dominion in those that God has set us next to. He doesn't have, now you don't have the full power to make all the difference in their life, but you can make a difference. You do have part responsibility. We are our brother's keeper. Paragraph F, when the devil came to Jesus, he resisted him by the word. But the same thing is true. It's not just that we resist the devil when he comes to us by the word. We resist the devil in our family and friends by speaking the word to them. We help them drive the devil's words away. The principle that works in our life, it actually works in encouragement in the lives of others. We can prophesy, we can decree the word of the Lord. And I'm talking about supernaturally, naturally prophesying. I'm not talking about revving up and kind of getting into the Pentecostal mode. And I am now going to prophesy to you. I'm talking about, they don't even know you're prophesying. You're decreeing it without getting into the decree tone. I'm just talking about just having a coffee with them or talking to them. We can prophesy and decree. They don't even know it. But we're still prophesying to them. You can do it in a supernaturally natural way without them being aware that you're aware you're doing it. Because again, some people hear decree and prophecy, they think microphone, stage, tone, revved up, going. And wow, if you do that to your spouse, they may go like, bah humbug. They may go, you know, no, no, just go somewhere else and do that. And you may say, well, I tried this encouragement thing. It didn't work. I'm talking about supernaturally natural. I'm not talking about kicking into, you know, the conference preaching gear. I'm talking about just while you're driving, just simple phrases, matter of factly stating the truth. Not even in Bible phrases, not even, sweetheart, you know you are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. That's not what I'm talking about. Now it's okay to speak the scripture some, but I'm talking about in a supernaturally natural way. Paragraph I, encouragement. Encouragement is speaking our confession about others. When we're encouraging people, it's our confession. It's what we see in truth. Now for encouragement to be real, I mean, for encouragement to be effective, it has to be real. It cannot be flattery. It cannot just be corny flattery. Where are you going to get the top five things that you know that, you know, worked on that one person. So I'm working on this. You just, it cannot be separated from truth. For encouragement, it has to be the true confession of your heart. It's what you really see is true in them. It's not memorized blessings, which that's, you know, that's maybe a good way to start, but eventually you want it to be the confession of your heart. What you see is true. Because if it's corny and flattery, it won't impact people. They'll say, oh, that's just what you always say. But we want to look for the golden seeds in their lives. Even in the midst of their profound weakness, there's seeds of virtue in them. And we look at those seeds and we water them by our words. It has to be true. That's very important. It cannot, it has to be our true confession of what we see and what we think in truth. Let's go to the top of page two. Encouragement is such a critical part of our mandate as believers. It's part of our kingdom mandate. It says in Hebrews 3 verse 13, encourage one another daily that none of you be hardened by sin's deceitfulness. Or you could say that none of you are hardened by the devil's accusations. Because the accusation of the devil and the deceitfulness of sin, which is naturally in us, those work together in tandem. They work together. There is a hardening process that is automatic, except it's resisted. There is a hardening process. There is an atrophy, so to speak, that if we do, I mean, it operates in our body, of course, you know, just in life in general. If you don't weed the garden, it'll be full of weeds in a minute. If you don't do something with your body, you're not going to appreciate where your body's going to go. If you don't take care of your heart, your heart will tend towards hardening. It takes overt, decisive actions to keep the heart from hardening. But part of the hardening, the answer to the hardening of the heart is in the lips of the people in the body of Christ next to you. Or so that you're not waiting for everybody to come encourage you, I'd rather make you the aggressive one. It's in your lips to the person next to you. Hear this exhortation not as something you deserve to get, but as something you're committed to give. It's important. Last thing I want to do is make victims out of you and, you know, kind of give you a sense of entitlement. I need to be encouraged. Nobody's encouraging me. What's the deal? Here it is, the body of Christ. No, no, don't go there. This is not a thing of entitlement. It's a commitment you're making to do to others. And the vast majority of you will hear it that way. But look at it. Hebrews 3, 13, encourage one another daily. Not every couple months. Well, I told her I loved her at Christmas time. No, no, no, that's not what we're talking about. Well, I told her last week I appreciated her. Well, let's break it down a little more specific than that. Daily, daily. That's why it can't be corny because corny just goes away real quick. It's impact. So I don't know what to say in a daily way. Then what we do is we ask the Lord, Lord, what do you think about this man or this woman I live with? What do you think about the parents? That I live with or the children or the others? What do you think? Asking the Lord his opinion. I don't mean all day, every day, but occasionally. That will give us an ongoing source of encouragement. And don't wait until the encouragement is a stunning life changing prophecy. I'm talking about just those little simple phrases day in and day out in life. That not only talk about your affirmation of them, because that is part of your testimony, how you feel about them. That is a very important part of your testimony. It's a part of encouragement. But it's also I'm talking about how God thinks about them. God is for them. That God has a purpose for them. They're not disqualified because those are the lies that the devil tells us day in and day out. We're disqualified. There is no purpose. There is no point. I'm all alone. Nothing matters. Those are the same lies. The reason they sound familiar to you because those are the same lies for 6,000 years of human history that every human being is assaulted with. And the Lord is saying, I'm he said, I put you in a body. I put you in a family. I put you in a neighborhood. I put you in a worship team. And I want you to encourage one another to stay the tide of hardening that's growing in their life. God's answer to stopping the hardening. Part of his answer in the life of the one next to you is the words of your mouth. Now, notice Hebrews 3, 313 doesn't say confess the word to stop the hardening of your own heart. That's a true principle. And you could find that many places in the word. But here he's talking about the power of stopping the hardening process in another person by your words. Paragraph a encouragement means to put courage in their heart. That's what encouragement means. Put courage in them. Just little, little shots, like little vitamins, just little phrases here and there. And it's not like one phrase changes everything. Sometimes that's true, but I'm just talking about just a, just a culture of honor in our families and in our relationships. Paragraph B, it's our sacred responsibility in the kingdom to encourage those that God sits next to us. Again, it's not just, I'm going to become an encourager of the body of Christ and every new person I'm going to meet, I'm going to hug them and say, thank you. And I appreciate you. It's glad to have you here. That is good. I think that's a wonderful thing to have a spirit of hospitality, but that's easier than with the folks that you live with on a regular basis. I'm talking about really narrowing this thing in looking at your children, looking at your parents, looking at your brothers and sisters, your aunts and uncles, your nieces and nephews, your neighbors, your, the people that you work closest to and saying, Holy Spirit, give me some insight, just little phrases of what you think about them. And it will be things like, I like them. Okay, good. I have a purpose for them. Oh, good. That's good. I mean, they're not mostly going to be profound sentences. Every now and then there will be one. And you tell them that God sees the cry of their spirit. He sees the budding virtue in their heart and you see it and God sees it. And that virtue, that reach in their spirit is not wasted. It's not, they're not hypocrites because they don't have the fullness yet. It's not in vain because they haven't broken through after all these years. It still matters that they're reaching the budding virtues of their heart still matter to God. And you can see them and they matter to you as well. And to others, because the devil tells us those budding virtues, those seeds in our heart, they are not valid. Tell their mature fruit. So he's constantly telling us just to give up and give in to sin. It's not enough to think these thoughts. We actually have to say them. We have to say them. Notice it says here in Hebrews 10 verse 24, let us consider one another how to stir them up. And the way we do this, it says by not forsaking the assembling together. But exhorting or the other translation say encouraging. Most translations put the word encouraging there. Here's the point I want you to focus in on the word consider one another. In other words, ask the question, Lord, I am now considering, I am pondering. I now have that individual before me. What do you think about this individual? Consider them. Think on them. Search it out with God who they are. Consider doesn't just mean, by the way, acknowledge that they're by you. Consider them taken to account. This person search it out as to who they are. It's not like your life mission to everybody to search it out. But who are the people you are considering? Well, it's real obvious. It's a lot of them have your last name or they used to. Maybe they're married. They got a new name. But their family members, those that you're working with, not even the ones you necessarily like the most. Consider them and stir them to love because there's a hardening influence coming against them day in and day out, just like against you. Consider how to stir them, how to start to love God and how to love others. Consider how to stir them not to quit. To stir them, how to reach. For higher things in love towards people and towards God. And you do it by speaking, putting courage in their heart. You encourage them. Now, if you read the New King James is exhort, you might hear preach to them. That's not what it's saying. The word is encouraged to put courage in their heart. It's not enough just to think it. You actually have to say it to them. Say the obvious. The obvious about how the fact again, it's you don't need to give up. The virtue that you're reaching for is real. You're not a hypocrite. Your labors aren't for nothing. There's breakthrough is coming. I am with you. The Lord is with you. Others care about you. Nobody cares about me. That's a common lie that the whole human race struggles with at various times. I'm the only one. Elijah, one of the main guys in the prophetic ministry in history. I'm the only one. It's a normal human process. I mean, thought that the devil comes. You're not the only one. There are others who care. You're not alone. Paragraph C, Acts 4, 36, Joseph was named Barnabas by the apostles. So here's this man. Joseph is his name in most translations. The apostle said, this guy is so encouraging. We're going to give him a new name. Can you imagine the apostles call you in a big meeting? We're going to rename you. And the guy goes, really? Like what? What's my new name? We're going to name you the son of encouragement because you encourage so many people. But again, the encouragement has to be true. It has to be the testimony of what you believe. It can't just be kind of flattery. And it can't just be, you know, uh, you understand. It has to be real. Don't come to me and encourage me to sing on the worship team. It needs to be real. Encouragement doesn't mean enforcing what they want in terms of their ministry assignment. A lot of folks want to be prophets and apostles. So they don't really know what's what the behind the scenes stuff is. So they want to be that. And so somebody said, well, I'll encourage him by telling them what they want to hear about their ministry assignment. I wouldn't go there. I wouldn't. I wouldn't. I wouldn't enforce in their thinking things that you don't know to be true about their ministry assignment because most folks want a big business with millions of dollars and a big crowd of ministers to minister to. And that's kind of how the human heart dreams one way or the other. Lots to say. So don't go there so much, but more virtues and how God sees them and how God esteems them. Now, if you happen to have a conviction about their assignment, that's a different thing, but not just, well, I want to be a singer. So, hey, you are a singer. Don't tell me to join the worship team. That is not good for me or you or the team. Let the reader understand. Roman numeral three, establishing a culture of honor. Now I'm talking about as families and I'm talking about as a ministry family, as well as individual families, a culture of honor within our individual families and a culture of honor within a ministry family. And by the way, your marketplace assignment is your ministry. When I think of ministry, I don't just think of a, a quote, church organization. I'm talking about whatever your assignment is in the kingdom is your ministry. It says that Ephesians three, that we are able to comprehend with the others, the love of God. We all know the verse, but the thing I want to point out is the phrase with the others, meaning part of my inheritance is in your hands. Part of the inheritance of IHOP. Now I'm going to talk about our ministry here are the same would be true of individual ministries or marketplace assignments. So you can apply it to all of those, but I'll talk personally here. Part of the IHOP inheritance is in the hands of other ministries that are not like IHOP at all. And the Lord wants us to comprehend love or to experience love together as we honor. Now, the only way we can do it together is in an atmosphere of honor together. Does it just mean you sit in the same room? It means there's a connectedness, which is a culture of honor. Now, it's interesting that our honor, I mean, our love for one another will actually increase our love increases for those ministries of those people. The more we speak to them who they are, the more our heart awakens in love towards them. You get a friend of yours or a family member and you tell them how you feel. You tell them who they are. Your actual love for them will increase your own feelings. Of all the ministries around, whether it's the church next door or the ministry on the other side of the road or wherever. If we speak those words of blessing to them and even about them when they're not around, our love actually increases for them by the words of our own mouth. Especially when their weakness is obvious. Everybody's profoundly weak, but when love is spoken and honor spoken, when the weakness is clear and evident, that is, it has a special powerful effect on them and on the one who speaks. Paragraph B, out of honor comes blessing. In the IHOP community, we want a huge value to God. And it is certainly to me and many in this room is that we would only honor ministries. We do not. We want no criticism of any ministry whatsoever. Well, that group doesn't even praise. Don't ever utter such words. Well, they prophesy, they do funny things. Don't say that. But a culture of honor is what we want in this spiritual family. We want it in our natural families as well. As a head of a natural family, one of my premier issues of raising our two sons together, me and Diane, was the fact that a huge issue I addressed many, many times. That we would not speak against other people. I would not speak in private and they would overhear and they would learn, have a culture of dishonor. As a spiritual father, I mean, as a natural father, I really fought for that value when our sons were two, three, four, five, six, seven years old all the way through. I was talking to a friend just the other day. I'm going to boast now for a moment because it blessed me so much. And they were talking about my sons. They've known them their whole life. And they said, the thing that really touches me about your sons is they never talk bad about people. Never. And I know them really well. I'm sure that's not 100% true. They never do. But that so touched me. I said, that's it. And I can say about my wife and 32 years of marriage, I've rarely ever heard her say a negative word in the privacy of our home about people. I'm occasionally, but not very many times in 32 years. So as a family, you want a family that has a culture of honor, even when there's weakness that is apparent in the family and those that your family relates to. But as a spiritual family, it's the same. Now, lest we misunderstand this, there is a place. There is a place to expose errors in the body of Christ. I'm going to talk about that in one of the next messages, the value and the necessity of righteous judgment. Because the commitment to honor is not a contradiction to the value and necessity of righteous judgment. Some folks take one or the other. There is no contradiction, but we have to judge the right people in the right spirit, in the right process. And that's where the trouble comes. Because it takes a lot of effort to do judgment, right? But it's really bad if a people do not operate in righteous judgment. So it's not encouragement versus judgment or judgment versus encouragement. It's righteous judgment that you're judging the right people in the right spirit, in the right process, which takes a lot of spiritual vigor to do that right. And encouraging with no contradiction between them. So don't, when you hear encouragement, and I'm talking about honoring other ministers there, it's rare, but there are times to address issues in a nation or in the church or scandals that need to be addressed. But I'm talking about the 99% of our life in the body of Christ. I'm talking about ministries that are simply different, not that are propagating a heresy that's damaging to others. I don't know what I'm talking about. I'm talking about people, their ministry style is different. Their ministry focus is different. Their economic standards are different. They're just, it's all different. We don't focus on what is different. This is, I know we've all heard this. It's been very important. We call forth what is right without feeling the necessity to identify what is wrong in terms of verbalizing. You can be aware of what's wrong, but we cannot verbalize what they lack. We all lack. But we want a spiritual family in which there is a culture of honor for all the ministries. Well, they don't believe in the spirit. Well, that's between them and God. We honor them. They love Jesus. And they tell people about Jesus. Yeah, but they don't put the repentance thing in strong enough. They tell people about Jesus. That's our testimony about them. Yeah, but do you know how some of the way they live? I mean, it's surely that can't be honoring to the Lord. No, no, it's different, which is different than scandalous sin. So we will have different ministry styles, ministry focuses. We'll have different ministry standards. But we must honor. I don't want anyone ever, surely not a leader, but we don't want the newest one among us to ever have it said of us. We spoke negatively about other ministries, prophetic ministries, prayer ministries, evangelistic ministries, family council ministry. It doesn't matter what the ministry is. We honor, honor, honor. This is what God has called us to do. It's always called the whole body of Christ to do same in the workplace. Whatever place you work, don't look at the competitors and speak negatively. It's OK that the others around you do, but don't go there. Don't don't take it. Say, Lord, I am your ambassador and I'm your servant. I see the things they're doing wrong, but I'm not going to vocalize them. I'm not going to give voice to them. Again, there's a difference. There's a huge distinction between differences and there's quality of excellence in those differences. We don't identify the different levels of excellence and the differences in those ways. Scandalous sin that heart hurts the body, which is less than one percent of what we say about other ministries. I'm talking about in the course of years and years and years, any ministry, but we will be mandated to do that here in there. But you've got to go through the biblical process and it's rigorous that process is to do it right. Says in Romans chapter 12. In honor, verse 10, giving preference to one another. Now, it's interesting that phrase giving preference to one another. One translation, it's in the margin of the new American standard that the Greek says instead of giving preference to one another, it says outdo one another in showing honor. Instead of give preference, it says outdo. I love that phrase. I remember a man who shared that years ago and we all looked it up and there it was. That's what the Greek says. Outdo one another in showing honor. I want IHOP to outdo every ministry we know by honoring them, even if they don't appreciate what we're doing. The group we would be most aware of that would be different would be prayer ministries and prophetic ministries because those are the ones we're most tuned into. And the Lord says to IHOP, I want you to outdo all of them by honoring them more than they honor you. I don't mean just showy, flattery, corny ways. I'm talking about really behind the scenes with the words of our mouth. Bless, verse 14, and don't curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice. Now, this is actually kind of difficult. So there's the other ministry across town or across the nation. Rejoice with them. Yeah, but they're a little bit off the way they do that. The Lord says, I didn't say point out what they're off. I said rejoice with them. They're having a blessing. Enter into the joy of their increase. Yeah, but how can I enjoy that blessing when I'm so aware of the deficiency? The Lord says, no, rejoice with them. Rejoicing is tough. It's easier to weep with those who weep than it is rejoice with those who rejoice. Because when you rejoice, you are aware of the deficiencies, but you're celebrating the Lord touching them in their points of virtue. And it takes a spiritual maturity to do that. Be of the same mind. What that means is work to be on their team mentally. Work mentally to get on their team. That doesn't mean go join their ministry per se. But many ministries around the nation. I remember I went to a ministry one time and it was really bizarre. The Lord was on them and it was just real bizarre. Diane and I were there. We're at the back. There's thousands of people. And she says, what do you think? I said, I'm working hard to get on his team first. I'm going to get on his team. Then I'm going to tell you what I think. I'm not on his team yet. I said, I'm going to get on his side and work my way back and find out what's good. And then take a deep breath and then I can relax a little bit. But I got to find the good first. That's what it means by being of the same mind. Work in your mindset to get on their team first. To be a cheerleader for their virtues before you are a identifier of their deficiencies. That's what it means to be of the same mind. And then it goes on and it says, don't be wise in your own opinion. Don't imagine your esteem is the final word about them. So that was this ministry and the power of God was moving. A lot of other things are happening, but a lot of it was, it was the power of God plus some. And the Lord was stirring my heart. Get on his team. Don't be wise in your own. Don't have all the answers. Don't be the one with the, with the most accurate evaluation. That's what it's saying here. Don't be wise in your own eyes. Don't have the, the best evaluation available about that guy's ministry. Because there's not a chance I would have the best evaluation. The Lord does. And many others that have sewn into that person's ministry would have a far greater insight as to what God thinks than a newcomer at first observation. So don't be wise in your own eyes. Don't go there. Don't assume you have more insight. Though you haven't sewn in love towards that person or ministry. You're just new with them. And as long as, as much as it depends on you, no matter what they do to you, you bless them and you're peaceable. We gain many things by other ministries simply by blessing them. We don't have to agree with all their deficiencies. We don't have to identify them. We see their virtues and maybe just budding virtues. And we see a little bit of how the Lord thinks about them. Now, one thing that let's go to paragraph D and we'll end with this. One thing that I've sought to do in everything I've sought to do. I don't do it consistently. I just like to always say that or try to say that often. What I seek to do, it means it's an ideal. And sometimes they only do it 10, 20, 30%. And I want to do it 70, 80, 90, a hundred percent. I just always like to put that little qualifier in. But, but I, when I meet a new ministry and I do this, uh, some kind of regularity before I meet them, I know I'm going to meet them tomorrow at two o'clock. Type thing. I begin to ask the Lord, what do you think about them? Before I meet them, I go, just give me a hint. Because then when I'm with them and our differences become apparent. And even sometimes there's negative attitudes. My heart is far more postured to be in the spirit. If I ask that question ahead of time, I've, uh, you know, had meetings and I'd come home and Diane will say, what do you think? And a question, an answer I've given over the years is I don't know what God thinks yet. And I don't mean, are they right or wrong? I don't understand the, the, the, the, the key point that God's given them. So I can celebrate it. I said, that's what I'm searching for. I want to find not the, I don't want a summary and an overview of all that they are to God. I want to find that key thing they are to God so I can celebrate it. It says in Romans 14 verse four, who are you to judge another man's servant? Now, again, this isn't talking, this is not negating the need for righteous judgment because many people are confused because it says judge not. And then there's 25 verses that tell you, you better judge. You know, the, the, the, uh, church of Thyatira, he says, you're not judging that false teacher, Jezebel and your myths and the people partaking. You better deal with this or you're in big trouble with me. There is a place for judgment. So again, we don't, we're not picking one or the other. We're wanting to do both of them in the spirit and there's no contradiction between them. So who are you to judge another man's servant? Who am I to know the whole of another ministry or even just a part of it? I don't even know a part of it, even though I might have a nugget of truth. It's only just a, it's less than 10% for sure. And Paul says to his own master, he stands or falls. Those other prayer streams, mission streams, prophetic streams, Bible school streams, outreach streams, counseling streams. They don't stand before you at the end. You didn't give them the assignment. God didn't ask your permission. God didn't fill you in with the, with the fill in the blanks. You just rejoice with them as much as you can understand and get on their side. And I end with this, that we're, we just want it to be off limits. I'm talking about the newest intern. Nobody at IHOP ever says negative words about other ministries locally or abroad or in the nations, just never. And if we do, because we're human, we will. We go back to the three or four or 10 people and we make it right. We just say, I apologize for saying that. I asked the Lord to forgive me. It was not right. If you do say it, just clean it up as soon as possible. Send them an email. So that was not right. The Lord was not pleased with that sentence. And with a culture of honor, blessing will flow in our families, in our lives and in our ministries. Amen. Let's stand.