Mike Bickle emphasizes King David's vow to establish a dwelling place for God in Jerusalem, highlighting David's intense commitment to seek God's glory above personal comfort and domestic life. David's vow, which he made as a young man, reflects his understanding of the significance of God's presence and the need for a resting place where God's glory can be manifest. Bickle draws parallels between David's dedication and the call for believers today to contend for God's fullness in their generation, urging them to remain steadfast in prayer and intercession until they see God's promises fulfilled. He encourages the congregation to be part of a larger movement seeking revival, emphasizing that the pursuit of God's glory should be their life work, regardless of the challenges faced. Ultimately, Bickle calls for a collective effort to create a culture of prayer and dedication to God, echoing David's heart for a dwelling place for the Lord.

The notes, a bit of review, which we're not going to go through, but I like to put them on the notes for folks that end up with the handout, but they didn't hear the session before because it creates the context in paragraph A that David just conquered the city, secured it. This epic event of bringing the Ark in 30,000 men gathered. I mean, this national event. Paragraph B, David wants the Ark to have its rightful place in Israel's life at the very center of Jerusalem. Paragraph C, that David, I believe, understood the significance of Jerusalem even from his youth. Paragraph D, we're going to go through this a couple of times, but David, the vow that he makes as a young man, verse two, he vowed to the mighty one of Jacob, surely I will not go to the chamber of my house or to the comfort of my bed until, verse five, until I find a place. And I think that David had insight on where the place was. It was Jerusalem, and it was a temple, and it was an Ark in the temple in Jerusalem or even more specifically, the city of David, right up there on Mount Moriah. I'm going to see a dwelling place. I'm going to see a place where the manifest glory, where the Ark, because remember, the Ark, when it was in place and established in the temple, had the manifest glory. I mean, it had like the burning bush, the Shekinah glory of God resting on it, day and night, night and day. I mean, if somebody would have opened the curtain in the Holy of Holies, they would have seen something close to what, I'm assuming, what Moses saw when he looked at the burning bush. I mean, it was the very presence of God in the Ark in Jerusalem, I mean, resting on the Ark. So David's vow, here in paragraph D, it includes building a place, getting a place in Jerusalem for the Ark to be, for that glory to be manifest. Paragraph E. Now, as you read over this on your own and kind of get familiar with it if you're not, he calls it, verse 4, a dwelling place for the Lord, and in verse 8 he calls it a resting place. So a dwelling place, a resting place, for God to rest. And it's two different terms that is referring to the same idea, the same reality, but from two different angles, that God wants a place where He rests, where He's, a place where He dwells. Dwells means His manifest glory. Rest means He's not arguing with His people. He's not striving with them. He's at peace, in agreement with them, or rather they're in agreement with Him. So when God's not resting, He's resisting and striving, and He says, I want to be with a people. David says, I want to have a people in whom they're in agreement with God's leadership and not resting, I mean resisting and wrestling against God all the time. And the dwelling place idea means manifest glory, miracles, signs and wonders, the power and presence of God. Now paragraph E, in principle for us, because you know back in David's day that was the Ark in Jerusalem. This refers to a place, I don't mean a place, but places all over the world. When I think of places, I don't think of a building, like a local church, like a lot of folks have the idea that let's have a revival in this building and have the whole world come to our building and get the revival and take the revival back home. I've heard that kind of logic for lots of years. But I think the revival I'm contending for is like the first and second great awakening in America where the Spirit of God was resting on a region, I mean hundreds of miles and thousands of ministries are being impacted. That's the resting place that I'm imagining. So the spirit of revival that I'm asking God for isn't where we see the glory in our building and everybody comes to our building, but it's rather the whole Midwest, the glory of God and millions of people are responding to the Lord, believers and unbelievers and coming fully to the Lord. Because in the great awakenings, there was whole geographic areas in which the glory of God was being manifested in an unusual way. But what this means in principle for us, a resting place where people aren't striving against God and God's not striving against Him. It speaks of places where the fullness, that's the key phrase, the fullness of God's purpose is released. Now the fullness of God's purpose in 1910 is not the same as the fullness of His purpose in 1970, which is not the same as 2015, meaning in every season, every generation, God has a measure He wants to release. So I'm not saying that any generation can surpass the book of Acts, that's not my goal. My goal is to enter into all that God ordained for that generation. And we don't always know what that is, but I'm just saying Lord, that's what a resting place in principle means to me. I want to be a part of a people, I mean a local family, spiritual family like this, but in a region where there's many spiritual families, where the glory of God is resting on this part of the earth, and of course we want to see it all over the earth, not just in our little area, in our region, but it's where God's will is done to the fullness of what He ordained. Now the generation the Lord returns is the ultimate measure. And again, I believe we're in the early days of that, so I think that some of you very likely will see that fullness before you meet the Lord. I think that's possible, if not, then your children or their children, but I think some of you could very, very possibly see where there is this glory of God being manifest in whole regions of the earth. Ephrata, David says we heard of it in Ephrata, I mean the psalmist says we heard of it in Ephrata, and again we mentioned that in the last session, Ephrata is Bethlehem. So it's when David grew up in Ephrata, he grew up in Bethlehem, the stories of the ark were being told. They heard of the glory stories and the power that was manifest on the ark. And in our terminology, the revival stories, because remember the ark was just hiding away in that little forest place, just ten miles away, and David says, oh man, we've heard the stories of the power of the ark, but I want to, I mean the power of God manifested through the ark. Okay, let's go to paragraph H. David, I mean the psalmist cries out, I mean David says in verse 5, I want to find a place for the Lord, a dwelling place for the mighty one of Jacob. So the God of Jacob, what does that mean? Why does he, why does David say, oh I want the God of Jacob to be manifest? Well because Jacob is the one that had the open heaven encounter with the Lord in Genesis 28, and Jacob was the one that wrestled with the angel and was blessed. And so what David's saying in essence, I'm going to contend, I'm going to believe, I'm going to respond to God until the God of the open heaven is manifest. Until the God that wrestles with His people and gives greater blessing is manifest. That's the God, I'm coming to you, I know you want to give the open heaven, and we know that Jesus died on the cross and made a way, so in that spiritual sense, the grace of God is fully available, but I'm talking about in a practical sense, in geographic areas where the glory is manifest, not by the eyes of faith, where unbelievers see the glory of God like they did in the book of Acts, I mean, and like they do in the great revivals in history where multitudes of unbelievers come in. So when I talk about an open heaven, I don't mean just in the spirit, because in the spirit we already have an open heaven in the sense that Jesus already paid the price and He's at the right hand of the Father. But I want to see an open heaven, the glory of God manifest where millions of unbelievers see it and come to the Lord. That's the kind of open heaven that I'm talking about. Now the key word is the word until. That's what makes this vow so intense. David says, I'm not going to go to the comfort of my bed, I'm not going to go to the sleep, give sleep to my eyes, now obviously he went to sleep every night, but what he means is when he says I'm not going to give sleep to my eyes, he means I'm going to give, it's a poetic way, I'm going to give all of my strength to this. It's not going to be a casual approach, I'm not going to, you know, just kind of casually see if God will pour out His Spirit in a greater way, if He doesn't, well I'll move on to the next thing. He goes, no, there's no second option, there's no escape hatch, there's no second plan. I have no other vision in life but to see the fullness for my generation. That's all that I, whatever you've ordained for my generation, I want to see the fullness of it. So David said, I'm going to keep talking to you, contending, believing for you, working together with you until, until is the big word, until it happens. You know that's the word I love in Isaiah chapter 62, where the intercessors cry night and day, until, until, until Jerusalem is a praise in the earth. Now Jerusalem is only going to be a praise in the earth when Jesus returns. Right now Jerusalem is not praised by all the earth, matter of fact most of the earth doesn't like Jerusalem. But when Jesus returns, and He sets His throne up in Jerusalem, the whole earth will praise that city. The whole earth will say, oh to go to Jerusalem, oh I love Jerusalem, but that's not at this point in time. But that's what we're believing God for. So Isaiah 62, God says, I'm going to raise up intercessors that are going to go night and day until, until the Lord returns. Beloved, I want to be one of these intercessors. I want to be night and day until. I don't want to be night and day until, well kind of the revival didn't happen like I thought, and it's been five years, and I think I'll just move on to the next thing. No. No. I've been doing this thing for almost 40 years, I'm going to go another 40 years if the Lord would give me strength. I don't really want to do it for 40 more years if you know what I mean, but, but my point is I've had guys, I remember I was pressing into this using Psalm 132 when I was 22, 23 years old. I've had friends over the years say, well don't we, I mean after 10 or 20, 30 years, I go no, no, I'm not even thinking of drawing back, it's not even an option, I have no interest in anything but until. I wanted to get a bumper sticker, never did, I've talked about it for years, and it's night and day until dot, dot, dot, dot, and so I never did get it, but I've talked about it. Top of page two. When the Bible talks about a resting place, paragraph J, when God talks about a resting place, again, the premise, the idea, is based on Genesis 6, verse 3, where God says my spirit, at that time, He's striving, He's wrestling, He's trying to convince people to obey Him, but when God is at rest, it means the people are in agreement with Him. When God's resting, and what He means, I mean God's already at rest in heaven on His throne, that's not what He's talking about, He's talking about in terms of the earthly, the plan, His leadership over the nations, what's happening in the natural world. When God is stated to be at rest in a geographic area, it means there's a significant number of people that are in agreement with His leadership, they're not resisting Him, they're not contending with Him, and I want to be a part of a people who are like that, that are seeing the glory of God and not looking for Bible verses to escape pressing into God, but we're looking for Bible verses to embolden us to press into God. I'm not looking to give less of my strength, I'm looking to give more of my strength. He's worthy, He gave us His all, we want to give our all, we want to do this thing until. Paragraph K, the great revivals through history, I mean there's a lot of books out there on the history of revivals, they're fantastic, they build your faith, I've read a lot of them over the years. The great revivals through history can often be traced back to various groups, not one group. Some people try to find the one group behind the Azusa Street Revival, well don't worry about the one group, there's thousands of intercessors crying out all over the land. I'm not interested in finding the group, I want to just be in a company of people that's in a nation that's got thousands of companies of people contending for a great awakening in our nation, and of course for our generation. I'm not just interested in America, I want to see the fame of His name in the earth. This is the part of the earth He's put me in, so I want to be faithful to my stewardship over the part of the earth I'm in in this season of my life, and so whatever season of your life you're in, contend for the fullness of God in that geographic area. Paragraph L, I love this verse, Acts 13, David served the purpose of God in his generation. I'm not encouraging people to believe for that which is more than God wants to give in their generation, but I don't want to come up short of my generation. And someone says, how do you know? And I go, I don't know. Whatever measure we have, I'm always going for a double measure, and if the Lord gives a double portion, I'm going to go for a double portion again. I'm just going to, on my deathbed, I'm going to be crying out, oh Lord, I want a double portion. That's how I plan to do this thing to the end, and if the Lord comes before that, well then we'll get more than a double portion. We'll get more than we even imagined. But that's David's life work, and I want you to put your name on this idea, his life work. I mean, he was king, but that wasn't the number one thing he was about. He was a warrior, but that wasn't his number one thing, to be a mighty warrior or to be a successful king. He goes, I want to see, I want to be together with people, and I want to establish something where God has a dwelling on the earth in my generation. That was his life work. Being king and being a warrior was second, I mean, it was important, but it was second to him. And I want to call you to make it your life work, to see a dwelling place, meaning a place where God's manifest glory is in your city or region, again, in relationship to the whole body of Christ. I'm not, again, I can't say this too many times, we're not looking for, you know, one little group in a building and God visits and everybody comes to that building and we're the center of revival and they come get it and they go bring it back home and that's how it works. No, we're looking for the breath of God coming across nations. We want to be one of many, many groups in the earth that are agreeing with this and contending for the Lord to break it in this kind of way. But this is our life work. Now you may have an assignment in the marketplace, you have an assignment in your home, you might have an assignment in a church ministry, but beloved, we have a bigger assignment to whatever our specific assignment is. And that's to see God having a manifestation of His glory in our generation to the full measure that He determined. Paragraph M, you've heard it said over and over, but I never hesitate to say it again, find out what God's doing in your generation and throw yourself into it. I've heard that quote for 40 years, I mean, when I was in my early 20s I heard that quote. And I said, Lord, I want to find out what You're doing in my generation. And I know what He's doing in our generation. He's pouring out His Spirit, He's raising up a culture of prayer, He's restoring the first commandment to first place, He's bringing the salvation of Israel, He's pouring out His Spirit. I go, I want to be a part of that. Now you don't have to be in quote full time vocational ministry to make that your life passion. You can do that from any position in society, any assignment in the marketplace, but you're giving yourself to that life work. I want to throw myself into that. And so, I want to be a part of a revival company, it's like I have it written here, be a revivalist or be a part of a company. And people that are going hard for God. The reason I'm saying that in this context, many of you are Bible school students and you'll be back home in your own city. Get involved with a company of people going all the way for God. And they may not be the most exciting people and the meetings might not be the most dynamic, but see if they've got the heart. If they're going for everything, then just be in with them with patience and glory. Because some folks, they want to be a part of people that are real cool and real this and real that. I go, forget all that real stuff, make sure they're real committed and everything else will fall into place. And stay with them and go deep and be committed and don't just show up when it gets exciting. Labor in the gaps, because there's those ebbs and flows often of times of renewal and seasons of refreshing, but stay steady in between those seasons. Paragraph N, not all over the earth, God is raising up groups that will be a catalyst. God's raising up that will be a catalyst to inspire others to love God more, will inspire others to be abandoned to God. I want to be a part of a group that's a catalyst. Now Elijah, he stumbled in pride. In 1 Kings 19, he told the Lord, he goes, I'm the only one. The Lord says, no you're not. There's 7,000 dedicated people besides you, Elijah, that you don't know about. Elijah goes, oh, I thought I was the only dedicated one. And there's this mindset some folks get, they want to imagine that their little group is the only group. I've heard this over the years, it's actually really ridiculous, but I don't like using words like that, but it is ridiculous. It's our little group, it starts here. I go, really? It starts there? Really? The whole earth and it starts with your little group? Why would you even want that? We want to see the glory of God in the earth. Beloved, there's 7,000 groups, way more than that actually, that you don't know anything about pressing in hard after God, way more than 7,000. So my point is, when people get into this spirit of dedication, sometimes they get into that elite spirit, us four or no more, and we're it, and it starts with us. That is just, that's the surest way to quench the Holy Spirit. So be dedicated and be with a group going hard, but don't imagine you're the only one, like Elijah did. But also know that God has His 7,000, and hopefully 7 million, all over the earth, groups I'm talking about, pressing after God together. Let's look at Roman numeral two. Let's look at the vow for just a moment. Now it's interesting, it starts off, the psalmist, David is, again, it's past his life, it's after David has died, and the psalmist is saying, Lord, remember David. Now this is interesting, because we are called to remember God, but here, the psalmist is telling God, remember a person, it's like that's a, it's kind of backwards. Remember David, no, no, it's, no, remember the Lord's promises, and that's biblical, we do that. But what the psalmist understood is that God was moved by David's dedication. By the Spirit of God, the man writing this psalm, he goes, I know that you're moved by the way this man lived before you. And because you're moved by him, I'm appealing to his dedication, and his labor in prayer, and his labors in the gospel, using New Testament language, I'm appealing to it, that there would be continuity between his labors in his generation, and our labors in this generation. But the bigger point I want to look at, besides the continuity point, is the fact that God is moved, and God does remember your dedication. He really does. Our dedication's weak, but it's sincere, and he remembers it, and it moves him. Well, here's what David said, he vowed to the mighty one of Jacob, the God of the breakthrough, the God that wrestles and gives more, the God of Jacob. David said, I'll not go to the chamber of my house, to the comfort of my bed, I'll not give sleep to my eyes, until, I love that word until again, I just can't get off of it, until, and this until, David refused to quit. You know, the enemy has a lot of ways to get us to quit. Gets us into disappointment, things didn't work out right, so we quit, we draw back, we quit, I mean, we don't give up Jesus, but we quit pressing in and believing for that dwelling place, I mean, that manifestation of the glory of God, where God is honored in a wholehearted way, in a whole region, until, we don't, things don't work out, we're going to keep pressing in, we're not going to quit with discouragement, we're not going to quit with bitterness, we're not going to quit with compromise, if you got stuck in an area of compromise, break free of it, repent of it, get cleansed by the blood of Jesus and get on the front line and get into that until spirit, get that thing strengthened again in your heart, it's never too late to begin. Paragraph C, it says, I mean, the psalmist said in verse 1, Lord, remember David's afflictions, remember his afflictions, that's an interesting thing to ask God to remember, the afflictions that David went through, and what this is referring to is the afflictions related to his obedience, it's not just he had a hard time, you know, that, you know, things that, you know, his car broke down and the neighbors caused trouble, but talking about afflictions related to his obedience, that's specifically, David made costly decisions, he made costly commitments, and he had pushback, he had stigma, he had a counterattack of the enemy, it stirred up people, even God's people stood against him when he made his commitments, and it says here in paragraph D, that David said, I'll not go into the chamber of my house, now when it talks about I won't go to my house, his house meant his domestic life and his personal resources, now again, David's not saying he's never going to his house because he wouldn't go to his house every day, but he's saying my house, my personal resource, my domestic life, I'm going to attend to that for sure, and I'm going to be responsible in that area, but I'm not going to let that have a preeminent place, it's not going to put the flames of revival out in my heart. A lot of, I've seen a lot of folks over the years, they'll go hard after God for five years, ten years, and they have God on a timetable, and they say if I don't see it in ten years, I'm going to do like all my friends are doing, I'm going back to business as usual, no, David said, I'm not going to make my house my own personal thing, my number one thing, it's going to be you having a dwelling place in the city that you put me in, that's what I'm going for, that's what I'm going, my house will be second, my house is important, but it will be second, then he goes, I'll not go to my bed, that meant personal comfort, that doesn't mean David never went on a vacation, that doesn't mean David never had an off day, that's not what it's talking about, but I'm not going to get into that routine of life that is mostly about just getting more comfort for my life, I'm not going to do that, not until God has a dwelling place in the city He's put me in, in the region that He's put me in, unless there's a manifestation of the glory of God until then, I'm not going to just do business as usual, then he makes the third thing, I'll not give sleep to my eyes, and he's saying, I'm going to, again it doesn't mean he never goes to bed, this is all poetic speech here, but he's saying I'm going to exert all of my strength, you know I know some believers, they're so afraid of being tired, I mean they have this like a phobia about being tired, so they're always measuring everything because they might be tired if they overdo it. I said so what if you're tired, pour your strength down into this thing, this is the glory of God, this is the only generation you're on the earth before the Lord returns, here you are, I mean you only got one life on the earth, I mean when the Lord returns we all come back with resurrected bodies and you're on the earth forever, but I'm saying let's give this thing a hundred percent. Top of page three. Now let's look at the spirit of David's vow, which is Psalm 69, because see this Psalm 132, this vow David made in Psalm 67 really breaks it down more, this gives us the heart behind David bringing the ark to Jerusalem. In our last session, 2 Samuel 6, he brought the ark to Jerusalem and established it. Psalm 132 and Psalm 69 gives us the passion, the resolve, the costly commitment behind the epic event of bringing the ark in. You know we read about revivals in history and we love the glorious historic stories of revival, but behind the story of revival there's always long term dedicated people crying out to God. There's believers that are cried out for their whole life and revival comes the next decade after they're with the Lord, but beloved their time was not wasted. You may labor for some decades in intercession proclaiming the word and the Lord says it's a continuity, you don't lose any of it, it's my purpose will come to pass and you will be grateful you gave yourself to it with all of your heart. Well here we don't actually see David's actual vow recorded anywhere in scripture, you know Psalm 132 this psalmist is recording or he's reporting on the vow, it's obviously a well known vow that he made, but you know I wish there was some place where David said here is my vow, but Psalm 69 is as close as we can get to it. In this Psalm 69 he describes some of the afflictions that he went through because of his zeal, because remember verse 1 of Psalm 132 the passage we're looking at remember David and his afflictions, look at the cost, look at the some of the stigma, the reproach he bore for the decisions he made and the perseverance that David stuck with it. I mean it's 70 years old at the very end on his death bed. First Chronicles 28 and 29 at the very end he's still planning for the temple and the glory of God exhorting everybody beloved that's the way to end well, I mean David ended well. He was as zealous at the end as he was at the beginning. And over the years I've said this many times but I've seen many people go hard for five or ten years and they kind of tell God after five or ten years if I don't see what I'm after, you know I'll give you my 20s, maybe a little bit of my 30s, but if I don't see something big I'm going to kick into the gear like everyone else. I want to urge you just buy into that intel. I'm going to do this thing intel and if the intel is the decade after I die, well I'm going to do it until I die and there you have it. I'm going to do it until my last breath. That's the heart of David. That's the kind of heart behind being a man or a woman after God's own heart. Look at Psalm 69. Now this is intense stuff here. Psalm 69. It says this. David's speaking here. He says, For your sake, O God, I have borne reproach. Shame has covered my face. I have become a stranger to my brothers and an alien to my mother's children because of zeal. Because of my zeal for you it's eaten me up. The other translation says it consumes me. Zeal consumes me for your house. Now when he's consumed for God's house, he's talking about the temple. That's the house of God David has in mind. It was a tabernacle. It was a tent in David's day. But he says, I'm consumed with the ark of the covenant, the glory of God, the temple and all the promises and the Messiah connected. That's what I'm consumed with. That's what my life passion is. Now look what he says at the end of verse 9. The reproaches of the people that reproach you, O God, have come on me. He goes, For they're offended at you and they don't even know it. And all they talk about is their offense at me. The real issue is they're offended at you. They're disappointed at you God. They don't like your leadership in their life. And they don't like zeal. Everything that has zeal in it, it offends them and they're against zeal for your house. He goes, So they're actually reproaching me because they don't like this whole approach of zeal because it has disturbed their life in various and many different ways. He says in verse 10, I wept and I chastened my soul with fasting and I got rebuked for that. They reproached me. They made fun of me for my zeal in fasting. Verse 11, I became a byword to them. I mean a joke. They made jokes behind my back. Verse 12, Those that sit in the gate, that's the political and the spiritual leaders of the city. The people that sit in the gate are the top authorities of the city. They actually speak against me. They put the word out against me through the city. I'm the song of the drunkards. He goes in the taverns, in the bars, they get drunk and sing songs making fun of my devotion. I mean this is a remarkable passage where David's talking about the affliction he has because of zeal. Let's look at it again. Just make a couple comments. I wanted to read it through once and I'll make just a couple quick comments and leave the notes to you to look at later. But he goes, verse 7, For your sake I have borne reproach. Now many believers draw back when the reproach comes. Meaning when other people wag their head at them and say, Oh you're just too extreme, too intense. David says, I'm not drawing back. He goes, I'm not doing it to get their approval. I'm doing it because God your eyes are on me. Verse 8 he goes, I've become a stranger to my brothers. That's an interesting term. He goes, he had seven older brothers. He goes, my brothers don't understand me at all. He goes, I'm like an alien to them. They don't grasp my zeal and my vision. They think my vision to see a house in Jerusalem is a pipe dream. They think I'm wasting my time. My brothers, they wag their head. They go, David we don't get you. Matter of fact, if you read the text closely, the story of 1 Samuel, his older brothers mocked him. They rebuked him for being full of pride. They put him down. They left him out. They didn't really have room for David because David was a little bit weird because he had this idea that the glory of God was coming and his whole life was caught up in it. The brothers are going, well you know David, that's your thing but leave us alone. We don't really want to be a part of that. David said, I'm like an alien to my mother's children, my brothers. I'm like an alien. They don't know me at all. They don't agree with what I'm doing because zeal for your house has consumed me. Ok, let's go ahead and look at the bottom of page 3. There are various reasons why sincere believers draw back. Again, I've observed this over 40 years of watching it. Seen lots of people on fire for 5 years. And usually in their 20s. And I mean they're going for God no matter what. But by the time their, a lot of them get 30 or 40 and their ministry isn't as powerful as they were imagining that it would be because of their zeal of their 20s. They go, I was really in it so my ministry would get strong. I really wasn't in it for the other things. And they draw back. And I understand that. But if they might have been forewarned on the front end, there's a bigger vision, they might not have been tripped by the disappointment. But number one, I have watched people draw back because of fear of criticism. That when they're pressing in, believing God for revival, fasting, praying. And I don't want to make a, I don't want to make a overdue fasting. But fasting is an important part of seeking the Lord. Prayer is an important part. Turning off and turning away things. Self-denial. Those are critical dimensions of the grace of God. But in this hour is this, the people that are self-denying, that are restraining their pleasures and their way for the sense of the, for the glory of God. Many believers will kind of wag their head and just write them off. They're just legalistic. They don't get the cross. They don't understand Jesus. Just be free and relaxed. And just frolic around like we do the rest of our life. And just be like us. And that criticism, I've seen many believers over the years, that unsettles them. They can't bear the criticism of being written off by other believers. Because if they use the big word, legalism, they go, oh no, don't say anything besides call me legalistic. Beloved, I've, I'll tell you one thing. This is just to encourage you. Most believers don't even know what legalism is in reality. But it's the code word for quit pressing into God and disturbing my life. That's what that is typically code word for. Another reason people draw back. They give up their vision. Because of love of comfort. I mean they'll press in for four or five years. And then after a while they go, you know what? All the other Christians aren't doing it. Truth is millions of Christians worldwide are pressing into God hard. Millions are. Millions are. It's really true. The Western culture, we need more and more. And of course the Lord's stirring up a lot of the Western church. There's a, there's a stirring up to going hard after God in this, in these last few years, which is exciting. Encouraging. But some folks, it's just like, I just want my life easier. I don't, I'm not looking for a hard life in and of itself. But I'm not trying to get away with the least amount of effort and the least amount of self-denial. I want to enter into this thing and go with all of my heart. Others, number three, a lot of good guys. I've watched this over the years. They get fixated on growing their ministry. So they spend all of their energy networking and building their ministry profile and, and all the kinds of things. Nothing's wrong with networking. But I know a lot of guys, they pour all of their strength into it and they have no time to seek God hard. They have a doctrine of seeking God. They even have sermons on seeking God. But the reality is they don't really. It's something they did years ago, but they haven't done it for years because they spend all their time and energy building their profile. Beloved, it takes time to seek God. We can't seek God on the run. I've learned over the years there's many opportunities, good opportunities I have to say no to because if I say yes to them, I don't have strength to seek the Lord. I don't have time or strength. I mean I probably, I'm not putting this on any of you, but my guess is, because the Lord really spoke this to me about ten or fifteen years ago, maybe fifteen years ago, about not traveling. I've turned down probably ninety-five percent of all the speaking invitations I get every year. And I get lots of big five thousand, ten thousand member speaking engagements around the world and ninety-five percent I turn them down. The Lord says, I want you in the house of prayer. I want you in the Bible. I want you using your strength. I don't want you spending your strength. I'm not against traveling. I know a lot of guys travel and that's good. I'm not putting that down. But my point is, I know you can't do all of that and still do something in your life. You're just too tired. You're too worn out. You're too spent. And I know that in my own life as I look back over the years, there was a time I had to make serious decisions about turning down lots of good opportunities, or I didn't have time and strength to press into the Lord in the way the Lord's called me to. And everyone has their own assignment and it's different in every season and I don't have an opinion who should do it this way or who should do it that way. But I, as a shepherd, I want to at least give a sincere warning. A lot of guys get off track on that point right there and they don't even know it. And they've been like spun out for years and they got good sermons on revival, but they're not actually pursuing it in their private life because they're just simply too tired and too burnt out. Others, number four, they just want more money. Now I'm not talking about people that can't pay their bills and they need some more money. I think you need to go get some more money and pay your bills. That's not the group I'm talking about. But all kinds of folks have assignments, you know, whether in the marketplace or ministries. And again, when I look at my own life, I've turned down many lucrative opportunities because I just can't give the time and energy and still do what God's told me to do in terms of seeking Him in the prayer room, in the Word, going deep. You don't have strength to fast. You're too weary to do it. And you've got to have those things in our response to the grace of God. And so I just offer those to you as just a one, two, three just to look at. Look at page four. I'm just going to give you just two, three minutes on this. I'm going to pray for you. But it's important, this twofold breakthrough. A lot of folks get tripped up on this because the doctrine of breakthrough. It's very, very important. What does the Bible teach about breakthrough? A lot of confusion on this subject. Because there's a twofold breakthrough that a lot of folks confuse. Meaning, the ultimate breakthrough, the epic breakthrough, I'll use that term again, is the one Jesus did on the cross at the resurrection, at the ascension. The ultimate, final, complete breakthrough has happened two thousand years ago. But, God calls His people to participate in His partner so that the breakthrough that happened in fullness in the Spirit is manifest in the natural. Those are two different realities. And I've talked to believers over the years. They go, the breakthrough came. Jesus is at the right hand of the Father. I go, yeah, that's the spiritual breakthrough. But until it happens in the natural, the fullness of what God wants hasn't happened yet. And a lot of folks, they will back away from pressing in for a breakthrough in the natural because they go, the breakthrough already came in the Spirit so I'll just kind of live a real casual, passive life because the breakthrough came. They're confusing the two dimensions of the breakthrough because they don't understand the breakthrough theology from the Word of God. Look at paragraph C. We can, because we have confidence in the breakthrough of Jesus at the cross, at the resurrection, at the ascension, at the right hand of the Father, because we have confidence in that breakthrough, we have confidence to contend for a historic breakthrough. I want a breakthrough that unbelievers see when they see the lame walk. I mean a massive number in the blind see in the power of God. I want, because of the breakthrough Jesus has in the Spirit, that gives me confidence to contend for a breakthrough in the natural. Paragraph D. There's the grace of God that's been fully given to us. But God says there's a greater grace. It doesn't mean more is available. It means we experience more. The fullness is fully available to every believer. But I want to experience what is fully available. And so the Bible talks about greater grace. Multiplied grace. That means in terms of our everyday experience. Now we don't earn anything by seeking God hard. We don't earn anything by pressing into God. We're not trying to get a breakthrough in the Spirit. Jesus already has it. But by seeking God and obeying what the Word says, we're actually positioning ourselves to receive greater experiences of the grace of God. We're not earning the grace of God. We're positioning ourselves. Paragraph E. Some people confuse these two dimensions. And it's important because if you don't have this clear, you'll have a Psalm 132, the vow of David, the spirit of that vow. And you'll go out and some guy will, you'll read something on Facebook or whatever, some of the social media, and they'll talk you right out of it. They'll say, don't you know the breakthrough already happened? Don't you know revival's already here? And you go, oh you're kidding. Oh, they didn't tell me that. Well if breakthrough happened and revival's here, then I might as well just kick back and just get on passive Christianity again. Beloved, I'm not content with the measure of breakthrough in the natural. Until the fullness of what God has promised and made available, we are going and continuing in this and God's raising up people all over the earth that are going for this. So don't buy into a confused, distorted definition of what revival is. You know the idea that some folks, some groups around are saying revival's already here in fullness. And I go that's, that's just not reality. It's not honest biblical reality. The breakthrough in the Spirit is clear. Jesus is on the throne. It's all available. But beloved, our city, we need to see three or four hundred thousand new converts in our city. Three or four hundred new, three or four hundred thousand new converts come to our city. I'll say hey, we're in a breakthrough mode. I mean that's what I'm talking about. Anything less than that, I am absolutely not content with. And I've been laboring for that for years. And I may see it in my lifetime. And you may see it in your lifetime and I labored for you or maybe, I don't know. At the end of the day, I'm going hard and leaving that with God so I don't have to renegotiate it every few years as to whether I'm in this thing or not. And I want to encourage you, I'm only saying that about me, just to have, giving you language so you're going yeah, yeah, ok. Let's do that. Let's not renegotiate it. Let's go all the way and let's not, let's not be confused by some of the, the grace rhetoric that's going around the body of Christ that's distorting the Bible, using the name grace. A lot of rhetoric that's not real, it's not biblically sound, but they're using biblical terms. And the reason I'm saying that, because I'm not trying, I'm not against any group out there trying to, lots of groups are doing that. I just don't want sincere, wholehearted young people getting the vision stolen out of their heart by some confused grace rhetoric that they buy into because they don't understand like wow, you know, what the Bible really says about these subjects. I'll end with this, paragraph H. I love this passage, 2 Chronicles chapter 6, verse 8. 2 Chronicles chapter 6, verse 8. David has already died. The Lord is now speaking to Solomon, saying, let me talk to you about your father. He says, verse 8, the Lord said to my father, Solomon's talking about it, and he goes, the Lord told me this. The Lord said to my father David, whereas it was in your heart to build a temple for me, you did well that it was in your heart. Here's why. Here's the point. David said, Lord, I want to build you a temple. And the Lord says, no, you can build me a tabernacle, a tent, and you can put the Ark of the Covenant. Your son will build the temple after your generation, after you die. And David said, no, Lord, I want to build a temple and put the Ark in it. The Lord says, no, that's not ordained for your generation. That's not the breakthrough you're going to get because that's for a later time. But let me tell you this, David, though the answer is no, you're not going to see that measure in your day. I want you to know this. You did well, David, that you're contending for it. I love that you're going for it, David. Good job. Well done, David. Solomon says, that's what the Lord, that's what the Lord told my father. And whether you see the fullness in your day, beloved, I want to leave you with this. You do well, from the Lord's point of view, to press in to everything the Word of God says. You do well not to draw back, not to give up, not to lower your vision, not to take any answer except for God, I'm going until dot, dot, dot. Amen and amen.