Mike Bickle emphasizes the significance of the Gideon story, illustrating how God often calls many but chooses only a few who are willing to respond wholeheartedly to His invitation. He reflects on the current spiritual climate in America, urging believers to engage in fasting and prayer as a means to prepare for God's purposes. Bickle highlights that true power and authority come from a dedicated response to God's call, rather than sheer numbers. He encourages the church to focus on quality over quantity, as God can accomplish great things through a small, committed group of intercessors. Ultimately, the sermon calls for a radical dedication to God's mission, reminiscent of Gideon's 300 warriors.

I thank you, even now as we come before you as a spiritual family. Lord, I thank you for this season that we're in, and the unfolding of the promises and the purposes that you've given this people. Lord, I thank you for grace. I thank you for your eyes watching us, that your eye is always on us. You're calling us to yourself time and time again, and we thank you in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, as Matt said, we're watching and participating in two different storylines, so to speak. I'm sure there's a better way to describe it than that, but two stories are unfolding that have a dynamic overlap with one another. The first one is our local story. It began in May of 1983 when we went on a 21-day fast, about a thousand young people, and we cried out to the Lord for his purposes to be released to the city, and the Lord spoke some very dramatic thing on several different supernatural experiences that we've been reviewing. We've looked at those the last couple weeks. And it's 24 years later, and in the summer of 2007, we believe that the Lord is going to release the next installment in terms of the unfolding of this purpose that's related particularly to IHOP. We'll look at that again in a few more moments. Then the second story is the one that's going on in our nation, and Lou Engel, who is the director of The Call, is the one that's been entrusted with telling the story, and millions of people are listening to it. And it's the story that began in the summer of 1967, in the summer of love, when so much negative was sown into the culture of our nation. Negative seeds of immorality and rebellion and resistance to God were sown, and the summer of love turned into the launching of the hippie movement, which turned into all kinds of negative things sown into our nation. It's 40 years later, and we're asking the Lord in this summer to do the true summer of love, to call our nation before him at a whole nother level. And there's hundreds of thousands of believers on this 40-day fast. Many of them on a juice fast. Many of them on a Daniel fast. I'm on a Daniel fast. Others are on a water fast. And they're fasting in various different ways. 40 days. I received an email from Lou just yesterday that he sent it to the leadership of The Call, and he said that we've received reports from ministries in 20 different nations and different networks of ministry, estimating over a million people are participating in this fast right now. There's no way we'll really know the number, but it's an unusual thing. He called it, and the Lord just began to breathe on it, and people began to respond to it. We're halfway through. We're about day 20. We have about 20 days to go. And if it's new, just jump in right now and give yourself to the Lord in a special way and join in with hundreds of thousands, possibly a million or so, in our own nation as well as in the other 20 nations that I mentioned. And we're crying out to the Lord that this would be a turning point for America, for the church in America. Because if the church in America changes, then America as a whole will be touched. I'm not as nearly concerned with the political processes as I am the people that are in covenant with Jesus. And as we turn, then we have an authority and a power in our relationship with the Lord to turn the nation. So I'm focused on us. And so we're fasting and praying because the Lord is unfolding his own purposes here at IHOP and in our nations. And so there's two different purposes that are coming together. I'm going to read just a brief part here in Judges chapter 7, because Gideon is a special, the story of Gideon, the testimony of Gideon has a special relevance to us as a spiritual family and as a ministry here at IHOP. I'll tell the story briefly and then I'll give the the relevance in a few moments after I tell a few other stories. But this is just to establish the understanding of Judges chapter 6, 7, and 8. But chapter 7 is at the heart of it. Judges 6, 7, and 8. God's way of leading his kingdom, he, Jesus stated it in Matthew 22 verse 14. And you all know the passage well. In Matthew 22 verse 14, Jesus said, many are called and few are chosen. And that's really the story of what happens in Gideon's military exploits. That God called the many but chose the few. Many are chosen, it says in Matthew chapter 22 verse 14. Many are, I mean, many are called but few are chosen. Many are called and the word, in the place of the word called, put the word invited. The multitudes are invited to participate with God. But only the people that respond in the way that God requires, they move from the invited ones to the chosen ones or to those that are commissioned and empowered to complete the task. Let me say that again. It starts off that the multitudes are called. The multitudes are invited, even in the body of Christ in our nation. They estimate there might be as many as 50 million believers in America. It seems a little high, but that's what the, that's what the stats say. 50 million people who confess Jesus. Some relationship with Jesus in America. 50 million out of 300 million. And so the Lord is to his church. He says many of you are called. You are invited to participate in my, I'll just call them my revival purposes, my purposes to release my power. The many are called. All of you in this room are called. You are invited. But in order for the invitation or the calling to result in a choosing or put the word a commissioning, because it's they're chosen to be commissioned, they're chosen to be used. It's not an issue that God chooses to like them. He already loves them. It's not about his heart for them. It's about his use of them, not his heart for them. It's not many are invited, but only a few are chosen for God to like. It's not, it's not referring to God's emotions or God's heart towards the people. Many are invited and God likes the many. The Lord longs for the many, but the chosen is not related to his heart for him, but rather his use of them. The fact that he has chosen to use them, or you can put the word he commissions them, but they have to respond according to his standards in order to be chosen to be used in the next level of his purpose. And so the way the kingdom of God works is God invites the many, but only a few respond. And those that respond are chosen to be entrusted with power and commissioned to go to the next level. And as a spiritual family, we want to be among many different groups around the earth that are responding to God. And we want to be chosen. We want to be chosen to be entrusted with power. Now we all have a little bit of power just by virtue of being born again. We want to be chosen to be entrusted with a, the next dimension of, of, of involvement in God's purposes. It's really clear in the scripture that the majority are not chosen. They don't go the next step. I'm talking about the majority of the body of Christ. They do not go to the next step. They're happy to be invited. They're happy to be, to be in the kingdom, to be forgiven on their way to heaven. They don't want a whole lot more. If it was, if it didn't require they change anything, they would love to be anointed. I'd love to be anointed. If I don't have to change anything, really anything that really matters, I'll change a few things as long as it didn't matter. Lord says, no, it will matter. It will touch your heart. Joel chapter two, verse 13 says it will tear your heart. But I require that you do it if you want to be the chosen and the most powerful it's, it's, it's terrifying and glorious. The choice is in our hand to respond and then to be chosen to be used in the, in the greater purposes of God. Well, the story of Gideon is that story. And most of you know the story of Gideon, at least a little bit. What's happening is the enemies of Israel, the Midianites, which is today the, would be the modern day nation of Jordan. The Midianites are troubling the Israelites or just say the enemy nation, a nation next door to them militarily. They're coming in and they're destroying the nation of Israel. It's the same old story going on again. And every time that the Israelites would go to their fields to reap their crops, they would do all the work. They would get all the, the harvest, uh, in their carts, so to speak, to bring to the barns. And then the enemy would come after they did all the labor and they would steal it from them. It would take their water, their livestock. And so Israel's crying out to God and the angel of the Lord appears to Gideon and judges chapter seven, verse two. And the Lord said to Gideon, the people who are with you are too many. They're too many for me to give your enemies into your hand. Unless Israel, you claim glory for yourself and you claim glory for yourself against me. The Lord says, if I use you with the multitude, you will claim glory for yourself. And it will actually be against my heart and it will go contrary to my purposes. Then I will have to judge you instead of deliver you. It's interesting that phrase, then it will, they will claim glory for itself. And this will turn out to be against the Lord. So the Lord tells Gideon, you have too many. I want to pair the army down. He has 32,000 men that he's rallied for war against the Midianites. The Lord says 32,000 is way too many. Verse three. Now, therefore proclaim in the hearing of the people say this, whoever is afraid, whoever is fearful, let that guy go home, go at once, go home. So Gideon gets in front of 32,000. He says, if you have hesitation at all, you think the cost is too high. Instead of him saying, you know, dig deep and rise up and it's for the nation. He said, no, the opposite, just go home. If you think it costs too much and it's not worth it, go home. This is how Jesus preaches. He does, he has the same kind of rationale when he's calling the people to himself at the higher level. He goes, if it's too much of a hassle with you, for you, to involve yourself with me and my higher purposes, well then don't do it. That's okay, don't do it. I will find the people who will. People talk, often talk about paying the price. We only talk about paying the price on the front end of the relationship where we don't have understanding. We pay a price. We give up our pride and our lust and our comfort to be involved with the eternal God and that which is eternal and powerful. We give up lust and pride and death that is attached to our physical comfort and what we get in exchange is involvement with the eternal God and his radiant glory and the rewards that last forever and involvement in his kingdom and partnership with him. How could that possibly be thought of as giving something up except our minds are unrenewed? It is true. Jesus told those who were coming into his kingdom in Luke 14, he says, count the cost before you build the tower. But the count the cost message is really only to beginners. Because to a beginner, what they give up is so big because they don't know what they're gaining. It's only so big because what they're gaining seems so little. But to those that have been with the Lord for a while, and some people catch this real quick in their journey with the Lord, what they're receiving is so great what they gave up is nothing. That's the real truth of it. And so though the Lord beckons people to come to him and he urges them to come to him in the initial way with the eternal destiny at stake, once they come to him he says, if you don't want to go to the higher dimensions of my purpose, then don't do it. Jesus never was anxious. He was never nervous when the crowds turned away from him. He talked to the rich young ruler and the rich young ruler said he was very wealthy young man, Matthew chapter 19. And the rich young ruler, he had lots of money and he said he loved God, he wanted to obey God and Jesus says, this is good, you're doing great. He says, now just give up all your money and come follow me. And the rich young ruler was sorry. He was sorrowful. He said, no, I can't do that. And the scripture tells us that Jesus loved the rich young ruler, but Jesus wouldn't rescind the requirement. He wouldn't take it back. When the rich young ruler came, was walking away, this cool young man that it says Jesus loved him, Jesus didn't say, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, give him half of it. Let's start with half and work our way up. Jesus looked at the man and says, goodbye. If it's too much of a hassle for you to be involved in my kingdom of this level, then that's okay. Goodbye. Didn't mean the man was not saved or didn't end up saved. My theory is on the rich young ruler is that he was being called to be one of the 12 apostles because the only time Jesus ever used the word, follow me, it was to the apostles and the rich young ruler. My guess is the rich young ruler would have been the 12th apostle. He said, follow me. That's just a theory. I can't prove it. He said, follow me because they're right at the end. They're about to, he's about to go into Jerusalem, not far away. I mean, to go to the cross and they're going to need a 12th apostle soon. And this young, rich, young ruler said, nah, I can't. Nah, I can't. Jesus says, okay. He didn't chase him down. Now, if it was for his salvation, I have no doubt that the heart of God is to chase them to the ends of the earth, to box them in, to ambush them, the cornered them to awaken them to their senses. But when it, when someone's in the kingdom and it's a matter of going to the next level, the Lord says, I put the decision in your hand. I will not make you choose me to go higher in my purposes. And sometimes we wish he would, but he doesn't. Well, he says in verse three, who's ever fearful, who's ever afraid. Don't dig deep and rise up, be heroic. Think of the nation. He said, go home. In other words, God wants to use you, but he doesn't need you. He doesn't need you. He wants you. There's a difference. The God doesn't need 10 million intercessors. He wants 10 million intercessors in our nation. He can deliver by a small amount. This is, uh, the statement in first Samuel 14, verse six, where the word of the Lord is clear that the Lord can deliver. He can save by few, not just by many. Let's continue here in judges chapter seven. Well, for let's go ahead. You got the verse up there for nothing restrains the Lord from saving by many or by few. The Lord is not limited in saving the nation by just using a few matter of fact, that's his preferred method. And it's not because he doesn't want to involve the many, but when there's many, then they end up getting proud and they end up being against the Lord, even though they're used to bring the Lord's purposes to pass, they end up turning at the pride level against the Lord's higher purposes. So what happens in judges chapter seven, verse three, that 22,000 out of the 32,000 22,000 said, well, now that you mentioned it, the cost is too great. And I am fearful. I don't want to bother with it is what that translates with. So now we go from the army goes from 32,000 down to 10,000 verse four, the Lord speaks to Gideon. He says, the people are still too many. 10,000 is still too many. I imagine Gideon going, well, Lord, you know, the Midianites are the really, really a large amount. Those of you that have your Bible open, we won't put it on the screen, but in verse 12, it says the Midianites were as numerous as the locusts. Their camels were without number as the sand by the seashore in multiple in the multitude there, the people were a multitude of people. And so Gideon thought the 32,000 was really, you know, against the all odds. So to speak 32,000, it was going to be a miracle. Lord says, get rid of 22,000. Well, the Lord says, get rid of the fearful. Tell me to go home. Now it's 10,000 verse a multitude. And the Lord says still too many. It says, uh, I want a smaller number. So here's the test verse five. So Gideon brought the people down to the water and the Lord said to Gideon, the Lord whispers, he goes, so now there's 10,000. They're down at the water. They go, what's next. He says, I want everybody to bow down and get a drink. And Gideon says, Lord, are you sure this is it? He goes, yeah, just tell me to get a drink. Okay. So one group, they stood up, they put their hands on the ground and they bowed down like a dog. It says their hands were holding them. They're on their feet and they, and they lapped the water up just by with their mouth. The second group, they knelt down and they took a hand and they put it up to their mouth as though they were being watchful because a true soldier, if they, if a true soldier was going to drink water in battle, they would keep their eyes up and they would drink it this way. But the other guys, they were unprepared. They were not paying attention to the details. That was the way they would do it. The Lord says, you see that group? 9,700 of them drank water the way a soldier would not drink water. Tell them to all go home. They're unprepared. They're not paying attention to the details. I don't mean this was the big charge, but in the military language, that, that was a bad move. So Gideon says, all I have is 300 left. Only 300 drank water the right way. Like a soldier would Lord says, that's okay. Remember the passage we just looked at in first Samuel 14 verse six, the Lord is not constrained at all. In other words, the Lord doesn't, it doesn't, he doesn't need to a multitude to save. He doesn't need, it doesn't matter if it's a lot or a few, it's the Lord's hand that's, that's active. So now there's 300. He put the number of verse six, the number of those who lapped putting their hand to their mouth was 300 men. Verse seven, the Lord said to Gideon, by the 300 men, I will save you. And the operative word is, I will do it. I do need human beings because I'm committed to relationship. I'm committed to doing this in partnership. Let all the other people go home. Verse eight. And so the people took their provision and their trumpets in their hands. The 300, they were given a trumpet. So the 300, their weapon is a trumpet. When we find out later in the story, they don't even have a sword. They go into battle with a trumpet in their hand. So now the 300 are against the multitude and it's not 300 with swords. It's 300 with instruments. Gideon saying, Lord, are you sure? Are you sure? And Lord says, I'm sure. Send them into the battle with an instrument. Of course, in our context here, we can understand that because the Lord is going to rout the enemy through the song of the Lord and through prophetic intercession with worship and the combination of this reality. That's what's happening in Gideon's day, the instruments. In John chapter six, verse 66 and 67, Jesus had a multitude. John six, verse 66 and 67, there are a multitude were gathered from that time. Many of his disciples went back and walked with him no more. So Jesus gives this really hard sermon and many of his disciples, they draw back the disciples. These are people that are really excited about Jesus. At the beginning of the day, they've been following him for months. Everywhere he goes, they've been going, they are disciples. They're not just the crowd. They are disciples. And Jesus gave this heavy duty message and the disciples that had been following him for months, some even years, they drew back and would not follow him anymore. And in verse 67, true to his, true to his own heart, Jesus looked at the 12. He goes, do you guys need to go? There's the door. If my standards are too high and I'm not worth it, there's the door. They would still be saved if they went. Because I'm not interested at this point in time with just people who want to be saved and live with me forever. He's always interested in that. But in this particular discussion, he was looking for the people that he would use to bring power to release his kingdom and change all of history. That's what was happening here in Gideon's. And Jesus is never nervous if the number becomes smaller and smaller because the Lord is not constrained to save by many or by few. It's the same to him. Because even the few of Gideon, all they received was a trumpet in one hand and they end up having a pitcher with a torch in it in the other hand. So they had a fire in one hand. We're not going to go there because all the symbolism. And they had a instrument in the other hand, but they had no sword. 300 of them went to battle. And look what it says in verse 13. Gideon is really nervous. And the Lord tells Gideon, hey, if you're, are you nervous? He goes, yeah, I'm nervous. A couple verses earlier. Well, let's just look at verse nine. It happened on the same night. The Lord said to Gideon, arise, go down to the camp for I've delivered it into your hand. And Gideon has 300 guys from 32,000 down to 300, no swords and all they have is trumpets. And the Lord says in verse nine, arise, go down. I will deliver you. And it doesn't tell us what Gideon says, but verse 10 gives us insight. The Lord says, oh, if you're afraid to go down, Gideon's going, go down with 300 men with no instrument. I mean, with no weapons. Again, we're reading, we're filling in the gaps here, but the Lord says, oh, you look like you're afraid, Gideon. You can only guess what Gideon was doing. Probably trembling. He says, well, okay. If you're afraid to go down to the camp, here's what you should do. Go down in a secret way with one of your servants and just put a disguise on and sneak into the camp and see what happens. So the Lord is really helping Gideon out here. He says, just go see how powerful I am. So Gideon takes his servant and he says in verse seven, go down into the camp, like sneak into the camp with a disguise on the two of you. And afterwards you'll be strengthened when this happens. Verse 12, verse 13. Now Gideon had come down to the camp and he was listening to a man and a man was telling a dream. And in this dream, he says, oh my, I had a dream last night and the barley, a loaf of barley bread, which spoke of Israel because they, because the Midianites know they're going to attack Israel real soon. This barley bread loaf, this picture of Israel tumbled into our entire mass army and destroyed us. Gideon's listening to this dream. It was, you know, oh wow. Here's the enemy telling prophetic dreams about God's supernaturally defeating them by Gideon. Verse 14, then the Midianite friend, he answers his command. He goes, this could be nothing else, but the sword of Gideon, we will be defeated. They will destroy us. This is what the dream means. Well, the problem is Gideon doesn't even have a sword. They cried out the sword of the Lord and the sword of Gideon. Gideon had a trumpet and a torch. He had a trumpet and a flashlight. I mean, he went into the battle with a trumpet and a torch, but the enemy can only see a sword in his hand because it's the Lord's sword. So verse 16, so I mean, Gideon is really excited. He comes back and says, guys, let me tell you our prophetic history. It's awesome. Even the enemy is receiving prophetic dreams that we're going to win supernaturally. The oddest thing is they saw the sword in our hand, but we don't have any swords. So that's okay. We're going to go to battle because God's with us. So verse 16, they divided the 300 men into three companies. Imagine three companies of 100, you know, this section, this section, this thing, that's it. Like it's thousands of people and you have a trumpet and you have a torch. And it says that when they gathered, verse 21, let's get right to the end of the story. Every man stood in his place all around the camp and the whole enemy army ran. When these 300 men came, they blew the trumpet, you know, and they, you know, showed the, they probably had a different song, but they played, they showed the, raised the torch and the 300 blew their trumpets and the Lord set the Midianites against one another. They were so panic-stricken that the Midianites over here in one troop, they were running crazy through the, through the camp and they didn't recognize the guys over there and they go, ah, the enemy. And they started fighting each other, were killing each other. And Gideon, his 300 guys with trumpets were watching them and they slew each other and the rest of them fled. And Gideon walked in and picked up all the spoil and said, now that is the way to win a victory. It's an amazing thing. I remember, I've only preached this to, this is really not good. I've only preached this message one time in all the years. And, but it's interesting. And the one time I preached it, it was back in 1982. It was our first Sunday morning in Kansas city. I remember that we gathered together in a house, maybe 50 of us, I don't know the number, actually 40, 50 of us to have our first Sunday morning before our public service, which would be December 5th, which was the first official one. But this was the one before we'd been praying every night for a couple of weeks or something like that. I don't, I can't remember. And, uh, we'd, you know, just preparing for this new church plant. We had just had moved from St. Louis, a hand, a small number of us, a 20, 30, 40 of us, something like that. And so we, I remember gathering for our first service, you know, 30, 40, 50 in a, in a, in a house. I'll never forget this because it struck me as, as strange what happened as the meeting was beginning to start. The Lord spoke to my heart and he said, clearly speak on Gideon. I didn't know the Gideon story very well. I knew the numbers, the 32,000 down to 10,000 to 300. I did know those numbers. And the meeting was starting in a minute. And I had a real nice message prepared. And there's only, you know, there's just a small number. I know about half of them. They came with us from St. Louis. The other half, they were just strangers. Like, how did you find your way in this room? But I remember getting up. I didn't mention it to anybody, but I took my notes. I put them aside. And this is back in those days. It's not like I'm great at that now, but I had never done that. I mean, I was frozen to 10 pages of notes when I gave a message. I remember, I remember the first message I gave. I can remember it vividly. I said, hello, my name is Mike Bickle. I really did. I said, I am doing really good. Absolute is true. And so I remember how my very first message, putting these notes aside, it was 27 years old. I've been preached a few years. It was awkward to make because I didn't quite know what to do. And I said, turn to judges seven. And it was, you know, it's a lengthy chapter and I just, I didn't really hardly go through it. I just told the story, but here's what happened when I told the story, the story of Gideon. I just was without all the details, people in the room started weeping. I started weeping. The room started weeping. I stopped early, which was good because I didn't have that much to say. And we just sat quietly and wept in the room just gently. And after the meeting, my worship leader came to me and says, what was that? I've never been in a meeting like that. I said, neither have I, I don't know what that was. He goes, man, where'd you get that message? I don't have a clue how it worked and what happened there. But I remember how important that struck my heart because that's the first time I'd ever done that. And I thought that from now on, we had turned the corner and every single meeting was going to be like this. I didn't realize there wouldn't be another one like it for 20 years. I thought this was the new order of the kingdom. Well, I was wrong about that. But what the Lord was doing, he was emphasizing this point of Gideon. And through the years, I'm not going to give all the details, but through the years, the Lord has on key occasions, he has referenced the Gideon story that he wanted to gather people. The Lord was never concerned with the number of the people. He was concerned by the quality of their response. And from that first day, it's not like I always stayed focused on it. I don't want to exaggerate, but I remember that the message of Gideon is that the Lord was not interested in rallying everybody. The Lord was interested not in the in the quantity that gathered, but in the quality of the heart response. And the Lord began to press me, don't lower the standard of the heart response because I can save through few and I can pull off this whole purpose with only a small number, but they must be radically dedicated. It won't be the multitude even of my people that are radically dedicated. It won't be, won't be that way. It'll always be a smaller number. And every city has has a number of groups. There might be 20, 30, 40, 50, or 100, 200 groups in our city that the Lord is raising up with this really focused Gideon response. Maybe a couple hundred different groups. I don't know. It's none of my business to know that number. But one thing I'm sure it's not one or two groups. And of the cities around our nation and the cities of the earth where there's a thousand, two thousand congregations, there's always a hundred or two of them that are going with a clear focus for the fullness of all that they understand. And my point isn't to try to guess the number. It's just to know this. The number is percentage-wise. But what the Lord was telling me back then, Mike, you must focus. You must focus on the people responding with all of your heart. Don't you dare lower the standards to help the people. I never did it when I was raising up leadership. I let the the rich young ruler go and I let the multitudes in John 6 depart from me and I even allowed the 12 to depart if they wanted to. You must never, never lower the standards of leadership to accommodate the common response of the people. Never ever do that because if men do it, God won't own it. God won't do it. He will just bypass that group. It must be built on night and day prayer. It's what he told us in those early days. It must be built on holiness of heart. It must be built on extravagant giving to the poor. And it must be built on faith or the prophetic, the prophetic intervention of God. Confidence in God's invisible intervention. The acronym that God gave us some years before we ever started IHOP was the acronym IHOP. Matter of fact, it's because we had that acronym for several years that we called IHOP IHOP because we were using the term IHOP for some years before we ever began IHOP. And I stood for intercession, night and day prayer, and the Lord spoke it many times. The leaders of this movement, I don't just mean the big decision makers, anybody that was going to be a leader from God's point of view and talking about they would be, they would carry the weight of this movement. They might not have a bunch of people following them, but their pillars in the house is what I mean by leaders. Those are ones the Lord puts weight on. And many of these leaders, I'm using that word now in a, in a, in a generic sense, they are ones that they're really the faithful is what I'm talking about. The ones the Lord puts the weight of his purpose on. It's not just the decision makers in the organizational chart. It's the faithful ones. I stands for intercession. It must be birthed on night and day prayer. Again, this was some years before IHOP started, we had this acronym IHOP. But way back in the beginning, even in this message of judges, I had just had the Cairo Egypt experience a couple, a month or two before this. And the Lord said it must be built on I, intercession, night and day prayer. IH, it must be holiness of heart. We call it intimacy with God, passion for Jesus. It must be radical obedience from the heart. We can never reduce that in a different, some kind of, of hybrid mutated doctrine of the grace of God. That's false. So much as I say, there's like a broken record. So much of the preaching of grace is some really mutated doctrine that has it's, it's changed so many times. It isn't what the word of God calls grace. It must be holiness. People don't like the word holiness. It's kind of old fashioned. Call it what you want, but it must be holiness. God requires the tearing of the heart, obedience from the heart with all the heart. He requires it for his leadership. It must be H, holiness of heart. O, offering to the poor. He told us, I'm going to give you the wealth of the nations. You must, you must, you must use it for the poor of the earth. You must use it for my purposes in the earth. You must not take it to yourself. I will give indescribable wealth to you. You must be found faithful in the realm of finance. You must embrace this simple life. And when I give the wealth of the nations to you, you must use it with an eye for my kingdom, not with an eye upon yourself. It must be built on a conviction of offering for the poor. And then P stands for the prophetic or the whole realm of faith, the confidence in the invisible unseen hand of God, breaking in with power, believing in the supernatural realm and counting on it that our enemies must be answered by the power of God breaking in. Our provision must come by the power of God breaking in. Our supply must come by the power of God suddenly making a supply for us. Our people must come by the power of God. The Lord's stirring it must be built on confidence in the Holy Spirit's activity, which you could call the prophetic realm. And the Lord would much rather have 300 people who live this way than 32,000 who think that's a little bit fanatical and not really for them. And when you look at the Lord's purposes through his kingdom, he's always paring down the numbers. He gets a big number and the Lord on purpose, he does things to make the number smaller. You talk to people in our nation and when they talk about a ministry that's blessed by God, they always, almost always, not all, not 100%. I'm thinking of some people at different exceptions. I mean, there are exceptions, but most people, when they talk about a ministry blessed by God, they talk about how big the numbers are and how nice their buildings are that God provided. They always, almost always talk about size and wealth. I tell you, the way God looks at IHOP is not by size and wealth. And we will have tremendous size and tremendous wealth. The Lord is looking. He wants 300 and whatever the number is, he wants people that say yes to IHOP, intercession, holiness, radical giving to the poor, which is, oh, offering for the poor, and prophetic, or the realm of the supernatural. We believe in it. We count on it. We contend for it. It's our only way forward, even with the God-orchestrated stigma that comes with the anointing of the Holy Spirit. When the Lord releases the anointing of the Holy Spirit, I promise you, he will release it in a way that will humble and even more, it will humiliate us. Humble is one word, humiliates another word. He will on purpose, that's my favorite word on the subject, Lord, you did this on purpose. I look stupid. I try to avoid it. You did it on purpose. I can imagine the Lord saying, and there's more where that came from. You know, it's the, it's the joke I make, but it's true. The Lord's not out to hurt our pride. He's out to kill it. It's true though. When God releases the move of his Spirit, I promise you, it won't be so we look cool. He will allow what I call a God-orchestrated stigma in the midst of the anointing. He will allow a setup. We don't have to help him out by doing dumb things. I mean, some people go out of their way to do dumb things to kind of, they're really, it's just drawing attention to themselves. It's all about pride. That's what they're doing. We don't have to orchestrate it. It will be God-orchestrated. We will be in a dilemma. We'll say, Lord, that's not how it is. And say, that's fine. It's good enough. Just go forward. My Spirit's with you. Yeah, but I'm just like a little bit of honor in the process. He says, don't worry about that. The honor will be there in its day. He's looking for 300 and that's not the number. He's looking for the 300 out of the 32,000. Well, we gathered together in May, 1983. We had 21-day fast. And then that fast, most of you are aware, we have a few visitors here today. I'm not going to take time to go through it. We talked about it two weeks in a row, a couple weeks back. And so we gathered together and the Lord sent a comet across the sky on May 7th, on the day that we gathered. Most of you are aware of that. And the Lord told Bob Jones, you know, about a month earlier, he said, on the day that you gather, God will send a sign to the heavens. It will be a comet unpredicted by man. And on the day that we gathered on May 7th, about 700 of us gathered in a room. There was about a thousand total who were involved in this 21-day fast, but 700, 800 of us gathered in this room and the paper said, comet comes across America unpredicted by scientists. Bob Jones brought the paper and he goes, there it is. And I remember going, huh, that's, that's, huh. I wasn't overly moved by it because, you know, it takes a few years to look back at it and go, oh my goodness. But in the moment I went, huh. I go, Bob, that's really awesome, but I'm more nervous about not eating for 21 days. That's kind of what's really on my mind right now. We were calling this fast and so we got together and the angel Gabriel, his appearance, and we're not going to go through that and all the things that happened. Then at the end of the 21-day fast, well, in the middle of it, the Lord spoke audibly and said, this is my mandate to you. You will do 24-hour prayer in the spirit of the tabernacle of David. The Lord spoke it audibly. You will do 24-hour prayer in the spirit of the tabernacle of David. In other words, led by prophetic singers and musicians. And when you get to 500, you will grow to 5,000 overnight by multiplication. But he said more than that. I've said this over the years, the 5,000 is so big. 5,000 full-time intercessors. There's no point in even talking beyond that number. But the angel that visited said, when you get to 500 full-time, you will go to 5,000 overnight by multiplication. And when you get to 5,000, you will go to 10,000 by addition, not by multiplication. And when you get to 10, you will go to 15 and then you will go to 20 and you will go to 25,000. Now, 25,000 sounds like a big number. If you're thinking of 25,000 people in a city, that's a big number. But if you're thinking of a global mandate, that's much smaller than Gideon's 300. The Lord spoke to Bob Jones. This is, I'm not going to go into this, and my point isn't to prove this, but those of you that have been tracking with us, it's just, I've not mentioned this much. We used to talk about it a lot in the early days. But a number the Lord spoke to Bob is that worldwide, the Lord is raising up a Gideon army worldwide of 300,000 faithful intercessors that will be laboring together as just a, you know, a portion of a percent of the body of Christ. A very, very small number, the 300,000 on a global level. That number is really small. But I'm telling you right now, there will be 300,000 ardent, focused, prophetic intercessors that will have some semblance of unity going in a direction together from different streams and different movements. And that number is not that important right now. I'm not focused on that number. No one's going to make that number happen. My point is, is how small that number is, actually. Not how big it is. It's how small it is. That was just a little bunny trail. I'm not going to develop that story right now because it doesn't really matter. But I just wanted, I just wanted in your heart, the Lord's raising up a Gideon band of intercessors, those that will blow the trumpet. The blow of the trumpet speaks of the music in the tabernacle and blow the trumpet speaks of the messenger anointing. They will be messengers and they will be in the temple involved in the prayer ministry of the temple. There'll be 300,000 of them. There could be hopefully there's 300 million. That's what I'm believing for. Lord, give us 300 million. He didn't say it was stopped at that number, but the Lord spoke and said that we are to contend for that. But it's just, it's so out there. It's never been a point. It's still down the road enough. I said, when we get to the 5,000, then we'll concern ourselves with the 300,000 beginning to pray for it to come forth. But that day is going to come. That day is going to come sooner than we probably think it is. I don't know. I don't really care when that day comes because it's in the Lord's hands. My goal is never to make the day come faster. My goal is to be faithful and let the day come when it comes. Well, at the end of this 21 day fast, as I told you a couple of weeks ago, Bob Jones got up and said, I have good news and I have bad news. He said, the bad news is that the Lord says there's a, the drought, the spiritual drought that's over this nation is going to continue for a season. I mean, we've been 21 days fast. We gather 18 hours a day from six in the morning to 12 at night. And just a whole bunch of young people. We have the whole, we just took three, four naps through the day. We just, the whole gang, a lot of them just stayed there the whole time. No music except for seven o'clock at night. It just horrifies me. Every time I say that I, I lose my inner healing. I just lost it again. You know, like why did we do that? But get over it, we did it. Bob gets up and he tells us, he says, I just heard the Lord in a dream last night. And he said, the bad news is the drought that's over this nation, the drought that's over this young adult movement, this little movement, it's it's the Lord's not going to send the rains yet. There's going to be a drought for three months over this city. And he said on August 23rd, he says this on May 28th, he goes on August 23rd, you know, that's a few months out. The rains will come. I thought on August 23rd, like, where did you get that day? Because I heard it directly from the Lord. He said, the Lord is what he goes. I'm as disappointed as you are. The Lord says this 21 day fast isn't going to end up in a release of power. He said, because if you end up, if it ends up in a release of power, it won't end up well right now, it will end up bad for you. But the Lord says there's years of maturity that is needed many things to be put into place before I'm ready to release my power in this young adult movement. Of course, you know, it seems being a human today is always a great day to release the power. You know, in my book today is as good as day is, you know, this is the best day is now, you know, it's never in 10 or 20 years. Never. It's always today. Of course, the Lord knows we think that way. So he, he doesn't let us vote on it. So the Lord says, August 23rd, the rains will come. And the point of that, that point of that kind of random bizarre date, August, I remember like, what is that about? Here it is May 28th. And the drought is in the summer of 1983, the second worst drought in a hundred years. The worst one was like 100, 100th of an inch or 200th of an inch less rain. So virtually the worst drought in Kansas city's history with that, you know, that other one nearly synonymous equal and, and the drought status. So it's a hot, long summer. And on August 23rd, the rains come, we gather on a Tuesday night and the rains come. I mean, hard rains come just, you know, I don't know how much, but just tremendous. It poured for 30 minutes. It was so, the rain was so aggressive, so hard that people could not get out of their car and get into the, to the building. It was pouring so hard for 10 or 15 of those minutes that people waited till the, you know, there's a little bit of break because we were gathering in the inside, screaming and hollering and, you know, yay, God, you were right. You were right. You know, that kind of deal. And the reason that mattered to us, because when the Lord said there's a drought coming, but as surely as I have appointed August 23rd to send the rains, there is yet an appointed hour in this nation, as surely as they will come on August 23rd, there is an appointed time. It's on my calendar. I will release it on America. I will not be a day late. It will come. And the Lord gave us that little token in the summer of 83 to illustrate that the Lord has the times and seasons in his hands. He has attention to detail at the minute level. And I assure you on that day, when we rejoiced on August 23rd, the Lord was saying to us, the Lord saying, I assure you, as surely as the rains came here, you know, we didn't know how, what timeframe would be, but 20 years, 25 years, whatever the amount is, 30 years, the day will come when the drought in America spiritually will be lifted and the rains from heaven will come on America. I tell you, it's true. It's really going to happen. You don't need a drought with a supernatural prophetic sign a couple of months ahead of time to believe that God is going to visit when he's going to visit. But like Gideon, he went down and he heard that prophetic dream. It's strengthened his heart. That's what the Lord told him here in verse 11. He said, after you hear this, your hands will be strengthened when you hear this dream. And so I'm strengthening your hands by telling you that, I mean, hundreds of people heard on May 28th, the rains will come on August 23rd and a terrible drought will come on the city. And surely the drought in America and North America will be lifted and the rains will come to that all of North America. And of course, it's the nations of the earth. It's the same principle. We were so excited on August 23rd, 1983, the rains came. I mean, a bunch of people went out and danced in the rain and yeah, you know, it's rain is coming. We were so sure we would be steadfast to the end. Well, it's, it's, it's a September. It's a month later, nothing's happening. It's a great rainstorm, but okay. Now it's September 23rd. It's a month later. Okay. Same old, same old oppressed, boring prayer meetings. They were oppressed and boring. I want to assure you, I'm going to say it again. So there's no mistake. They were oppressed and they were boring. Not all of them, but most of them, 10 or 12 people would be there. No instruments sitting around three hours. We'd start at seven Oh one and go to 10 Oh one. We didn't start up. We didn't go to 10 Oh two ever. And we had the countdown, you know, 60 to 59, 58. We're done. I don't ever remember going to 10 Oh two ever once in all those years. And I remember a month later and we were so excited. I mean, you know, within the six months before September, you know, we had the comet Gabriel, the rains that came on August 23rd, the snow that melded the whole thing. It's like, you wouldn't think we would have been the most resolute people. We're just like, it's so discouraging. You know, people were saying, what do you think that fast was about back in may that may 7th comment and Gabriel, what was all that? I go, I don't know. It is oppressed. It is oppressed. It is oppressed. I remembered it is oppressed. I'm thinking this, this can't be what happens when you pray and fast and we're discouraged and it just was not going to break. So the September turns, October turns November. It's going to tell you one more story. We'll end with this story. So it's November 7th. Bob comes in November 7th. Remember the day and he says, well, he says, I have good news. He says, you're going to hear straight from the throne of God about this solemn assembly. We did back. This is November. This is November 7th. The solemn assembly back on may 7th, some months ago, he says, God is going to talk to you directly from heaven about how essential that solemn assembly was and how sure this movement, this young adult movement is that's going to be born out of this because the, you know, the over and over, he said a young adult movement that would go across the whole world of singers and musicians, and they would mobilize the nations to pray for Israel. The second coming would come. It was so grand, so big, so big, so big, so awesome, so important, but it was so boring and so mundane. And so like, what is this about? It didn't translate into everyday life. And the Lord was wanting a Gideon band that were not afraid to pay the price and they were going to be soldiers. They were going to be attentive to what the Lord was doing. And he didn't care if the number became really small. That didn't bother the Lord at all. He just wanted it to be true from the heart level. So he says on November 7th, he goes, the Lord's going to visit you and you're going to hear straight from heaven about this may 7th sovereign movement. I went, wow. And he says, and here's what the Lord says after this, you will never doubt again that may 7th, 1983 was the beginning of a sovereign movement that will touch the ends of the earth. I said, well, I'm not doubting right now. Bob says, the Lord says you are. And I said, well, what would you think with unannoyed and oppressed prayer meetings, nothing's happening. And then he goes, there you go. That's what I'm talking about. I go, well, I am a little bit. I said more mad than doubting, to be honest. He says, you'll never doubt again after may he goes on November 15th and eight days, the Lord's going to visit you in eight days. I said from the throne of God, he goes, yeah. I said, it sounds like somebody's going up or somebody's coming down. That's how it sounds like to me. And Bob says, that's right. I says, you mean I might go up? He goes, you might. I go, oh my goodness. He says, just pray that somebody comes down. He says, that's all the advice I have for you. He says, I've had a couple of those experiences and they're terrifying. So I said, my goodness, he says, it will come to you directly. He says, you'll never doubt again. I said, November 8th, I mean, November 15th, eight days from now. He goes, yes. So every day Bob would tell me that. So no, the great day comes eight days later. You know, I don't know why the Lord does that draw you out for eight days. Like I'm sick for eight days, you know, Lord, why don't you make it today? Why don't you tell me the day of it? Eight days. I'm in turmoil trying to figure out how to make this happen, how to help the Lord out, how to get positioned for it, how to take pictures of it. I mean, just anything recorded, you know, anything, how, how does this thing work? You're only laughing because that's what you would do. So, uh, November 15th comes. I mean, I get there early in the morning. I'm so excited. You know, here it is, Bob, I'm here. He goes, you there, how are you doing? You know, 10 in the morning, I'm doing fine. I said, no, one's come down. I haven't gone up, you know, making a little light of it, but I believe it's real because of all the things that have happened. It's ah, it's the seven o'clock prayer meeting. So we're seven o'clock. I mean, I'm just on ready to go launch mode all the way through. Just where's, where's the angel come? I'm going to see him before he sees me. You know, where's this angel coming from? I mean, I'm on launch mode for real. I'm so focused, you know, the, the 10 or 15 in the prayer room, they all know it. So we're all looking around like, what are you thinking? You know, the prayer meeting was really tough one to get through. It was just so curious, 10 o'clock. They said, let's go. I thought, Hey, Lord, it's only two hours to go. Everybody goes home. I called Diane. Oh, Diane's there. I said, go home without me. I said, I'm just going to stay here until midnight. I'm going to give the Lord till midnight. And then, you know, you wait till midnight and you find it some Jewish calendar thing. It's tomorrow or the day before, you know, it gets all mixed up with some, the prophetic guys. It's another day, like, Oh yeah, the Jewish same doesn't start till later. Like, Oh man, here we go again. You always have to worry about those kinds of things, you know? So it's 1115 in my office alone at, you know, Lord, hello. I have a stack of mail. And so I'm starting to give up on it. And I had, there's a stack, you know, the amount I'm looking through it and it says personal to Mike Bickle. So I go, what's that? This lady, I didn't know the lady opened it. And it had a picture of this really ugly little book, like a home publishing. It was like published in the garage. I'd be printed in the garage type book. And, uh, it was like kind of handwritten the cover of it. It was like, it said placebo, Howard Pittman, Baptist pastor dies and goes to heaven. 50 pages. Like I can read this. Got till midnight. Okay. Said, here I am Lord. I start reading a Baptist pastor, 35 years walking with the Lord has death experience. He was a policeman during the week and a preacher on the weekend, little country churches, little rural churches. And, and, uh, one of his arteries and his abdomen ruptured and he dies. They rushed him to the hospital on a Friday. He's in a coma state. I don't exactly know what happened medically, but from Friday to Monday, he's, you know, all but dead. I mean, he, he, uh, you know, again, I didn't get a medical report, but he said he died. They kept him alive, hooked up on machines and stuff. So his body's kept alive. His spirit leaves his body at about noon on Friday. And the angel comes and takes him to the Lord. Just like what happens when somebody dies. I'm totally fascinated by this. It's a little skinny book, big print. I know I can get through it. And I'm saying, wow, this is the most interesting thing. He says, and I stood before the Lord and he said, and when I stood before the Lord, I was on the outside of the gates of the city. And I said, Lord, and the angel brought me outside. And I stood before the Lord. I go here. I am Lord. I am your servant. I have been devoted to you. And he, and he makes a statement of himself and he hears nothing. And the angel standing next to him and the voice of God comes over the wall. He says, I never see, I never see God. I'm outside the gate. The voice comes over the wall and he says, your life is an abomination to me. And it strikes him. He says the, the, the very force of the word hit him in the chest and pushed him back. He says, I don't know how that worked, but I, I stepped back because I felt it. And I said, Lord, I have been devoted to you. He did street preaching, you know, passed out the tracks, took care of orphans, all these things. And he made his, he said, Lord, I have served you for 35 years. And the thing, the voice of God comes over the wall. Your life is an abomination to me. And it comes over the wall again. And he hits him and then he doesn't say anything. And he stands there and he's trembling and he's beginning to weep. And then the third time the voice of the Lord comes over the wall, your life was an abomination to me. And it hits him and he falls on the ground. He's completely reduced to no strength at all. The angel picks him up, takes him back to his body, to the hospital room. And he sees his body hooked up to machines and he looks at it. He's about to, I guess, you know, I'm just assuming here, enter in his body there and just kind of like be sick and in pain. And he's looking at his body and he stops and he tells the angel, but God never answered me yes or no. I came to know Howard Pittman pretty well over the next couple of years. I was with him maybe five or six times for, you know, five a week at a time. He came to visit. We spoke many hours. So he told me a lot more about the story. And he said, I said, he said, I don't have a clue where I got that boldness. It just came in me. I said, stop. He never said yes or no. So the angel took him back to the outside the gates of the city. He stood there. He said, I got down on my knees. I said, Lord, I've lived my, my Christian service was so about my own attentive, getting attention. It was all for my glory. It was also that people would count me and view me as dedicated, that I would stick out as superior is pure. And I took care of the orphans. So I would get attention for it. I street preached so that people would think of me as my boldness. And he goes, I'm sorry. It was all about me. It was all about me. Please forgive me. Forgive me for my arrogance. It drove me for 35 years. And then the word of the Lord came over the, over the gate, over the wall. And he says, I love you. And I have forgiven you. And the angel picks him up and he says, I have a message for you to bring back to my people. And he gave him a five part message. He says, go, I'm only going to take a two and you get the book at our bookstore. It's just a little simple one, but he said, number one, he goes, go and tell them, go and tell them that the Laodicea, the spirit that was operating in the Laodicean church, I'm not sure I'm saying it exactly right, but the attitude or the lifestyle or the mindset, whatever of the Laodicean church is all across America right now. And it is an abomination to me and I will vomit it out of my mouth and bring them to open shame before my son returns. And he says, you've been a part of it. He says, go and tell them that the church in America and around the nations, but he's talking to America, the Western world. He didn't just point out America. He says, it's a Laodicean church and I will vomit them out of my mouth. I will bring them to open shame. If they do not repent before my son returns, he says, go tell them. He says, I will give you your life back. Tell them that he says, number two, tell them that the time is coming soon. Well, I will release such a spirit of power. They will do miracles greater than my servant Elijah did. And the Lord told him the father did tell them they will even do greater works than my son did. Before I return, before my son returns, go tell them that. And Howard Pittman grew up Baptist and he grew up in a part that didn't believe in the gifts of the spirit for the day. And he said in his mind, he goes, I did not say it with my mouth. He said, in my mind, I don't believe that the gifts of the spirit are for today. He goes, it just came out. My brain just thought it. He says, I didn't say it. And God spoke to me with thunder. You are greatly mistaken. And he says, I trembled and he goes, I didn't say anything, but the Lord read my thoughts. And he said, you are greatly mistaken and tell them that. Then I gave him, gave him a five point message, something about the devil and his schemes and what he's doing. And he says, now go back. So he comes back, enters his body, and then he tells a story, but there's one point I'm reading. It's at the very last page. It's like five minutes till 12. I mean, it's the most fascinating story. I read it fast, you know, I'm He tells a portion of it. He has this experience in August, 1979. He writes the books sometime after that. I don't know exactly when, but soon after that, he writes the book of his story, just to, you know, Prince it probably, it looks like he printed it in his basement. I mean, it was a self-help kind of printing deal. And it says the very last page or two, it says it's remember it's 79. And the Lord tells him there's a group of people and he puts the date in May 7th, 1983. They're gathering before me and they are a Gideon people. They are a people like Gideon. They're small in number. They're young people. And I will send a sign in the heavens to confirm who they are to me, go back and tell them this. I read this. I can't believe it. I look at the front of the book, you know, 79, 83, because six months afterwards with the books been in print for some time. May 7th, 1983, a sign in the heaven, a group of young people, they will be a Gideon people. And that's small in number, but I am raising that there'll be a mighty army in the earth and go and tell them, go strengthen them. I'm going, I look up at the clock. It's like one minute till 12. I call Bob Jones, Bob. He goes, did you go up or did somebody come down? I go, somebody came down. He goes, tell me all about it. I go, Bob, you're not going to believe it because I've been waiting up all day for this. I go, Bob, a Baptist guy went to heaven in 79. So yeah, the Lord uses the Baptist. I go, yeah, I know. I know. I remember he said, the Lord loses the Baptist. I said, I know, but let me tell you the story here. He saw a common and a sovereign move of God and a group of young people and the Gideon thing. He said, he saw this. He said, I told you, you would never doubt again after this day, after you see this thing come to pass. Beloved, I have no doubt in my mind. The Lord has a small number. I'm talking about thousands of groups, thousands, but beloved thousands is a really small number. Thousands of groups out of millions around the earth that he is calling them in this kind of direct way. And the Lord is telling us, because I believe we're coming into a season of 2007. He is telling us you cannot reduce and lower the standards of what I'm calling my people to. If they don't want it, tell them to go home. If they don't want to do what I have commissioned this group to do, tell them to go home. Judges chapter 7, John chapter 6, Jesus told them to go. He tells the twelve, you can go. I am not reducing anything that I am calling you to because my kingdom is worth it. I will have a wholehearted people. This 40-day fast, let's just stand. This 40-day fast, let's I mean, a fast helps us. The fast isn't for God. The fast is for us. The fast helps us focus and come to clarity about the issues in our life. Beloved, we're 20 days into it. We have 20 days to go. And the Lord's looking across our nation and the Lord's looking at us as a people. He says, I gave you another six weeks. I'm taking some of the demands off of you and some of the things that we could be doing. I mean, I know it seems like a really intense season now, but without fasting, there's more that we could be doing. We're drawing back on some things. He says, I'm letting you look at me in your own heart. Beloved, God is raising up a Gideon people. I wish I could tell you I had time. Obviously, we're ending now, but there are several other very significant things happened in our last 25 years where the Lord spoke about Gideon and the call of Gideon. But the call of Gideon in a sentence is he keeps paring down the number according to the people that will be dedicated to what he requires. And the Lord's not nervous if the number gets real small. And when the 300,000, which I am sure is going to happen someday, not that it won't be 3 million or 300 million. I don't know all those things. I don't even care. I just know the Lord spoke audibly about 300,000 dedicated intercessors around the earth that would be connected in a direction. I don't fully know what that means going in, in a somewhat in some kind of unity, going together with one heart around the nations. And I want to be