Mike Bickle emphasizes the importance of encountering the magnificence of Jesus, urging believers to pursue a deeper relationship with Him beyond mere forgiveness and healing. He highlights that true Christianity is about actively seeking a personal connection with Jesus, who is fully God and fully man, rather than just seeking benefits like salvation or provision. Bickle challenges the audience to recognize the neglected glory of Jesus and to cultivate a hunger for a more profound understanding of His nature, which will transform their spiritual lives. He encourages believers to be messengers of this revelation, emphasizing that the pursuit of knowing God is the most powerful and pleasurable experience one can have. Ultimately, he calls for a commitment to seek the deep things of God, promising that those who hunger will be filled.

Page one on the notes and Again, those that are joining with us through God TV. If you want to follow the notes, they're on the website ihop.org, they'll be right there on the front page Now we don't cover all the notes. I just give you extra verses to read on your own time and we're only going to Get about halfway through the syllabus and the rest of the notes are just for Some personal Bible study time now, you know, our copyright is the right to copy So any of these notes you want you get them electronically you can Take them change them put your name on them. Put your mother's name on them anything you want to do I'm just giving you a moment to get seated before we get started father. We come to you in the name of Jesus Father I ask you By the Holy Spirit that you would reveal Jesus the Magnificent One to our hearts That you would give us a vision to know the magnificence of the man Christ Jesus And his name we pray. Amen Well, my life goal is to be obsessed with Jesus Christ And I know that's the life goal of many of you in this room as the I hope community We want to have a ministry obsessed With the glory of the man Christ Jesus He's fully God and fully man paragraph a page 1 To know Jesus is our magnificent obsession. That's the theme of this conference The afternoon sessions we're going to devote to this theme in a real specific way as the other sessions will as well Now for Jesus to be our magnificent obsession That's an oxymoron. That's a contradiction of terms Because an obsession is almost always destructive, but there's one obsession That is liberating That will bring us into our destiny It will fill us with spiritual pleasure it will make our spirit fascinated Paragraph B the basic premise of The series that I will be giving in the afternoon six sessions in the three afternoons So make sure you bring your notebook You're teaching notes. The basic premise is this There is no aspect in the grace of God That Morse that more powerfully transforms the emotions and satisfies the heart Then when God reveals God to our spirit I'll say that again there's no aspect of the grace of God that more powerfully transforms us and Satisfies us then when God reveals God to our spirit that is God the Holy Spirit Revealing God the Son to our spirit that our spirit would be exhilarated with this man Christianity It's much more Than an escape from hell It's much more than obeying a code of conduct I Often hear people they talk about Christianity and they they just they present it as a way to get out of hell That's it is true But Jesus is far more than fire insurance. He's more than a code of conduct Christianity is more Than a ministry assignment other people say you follow Jesus. You'll have something relevant in your life. That's true But there's more It's more than receiving kingdom benefits Christianity is actively Pursuing a person that's what the core of Christianity is Not just escaping trouble. Not just having a successful life. It's actively pursuing and Encountering a person who's fully God and fully man. I Want to give you a vision For the revelation of Jesus the Magnificent One Not just the Savior that forgives I love forgiveness Not just the healer. I love healing Not just the one that provides. I love economic provision. I love it when the Lord supernaturally provides But there's more He is the Magnificent One Many believers do not know this facet of him They have no vision to encounter him in this way. They want forgiveness. They want healing they want money They want direction they want anointing for ministry. Those are good. I love those things But beloved I want to give you a vision tonight The Son of God the Son of Man as the Magnificent One that will exhilarate your spirit in this age and forever in the age to come. I want to be lost in the splendor of this man, I want to be lost in Encountering the majesty in the splendor of this man the best-kept secret in the church today in my opinion Is the magnificence of Jesus we don't want that to be a secret that's kept but it's the most Neglected glory of the kingdom is the magnificence of this man who he is to us Yes, I love forgiveness I love healing I love provision I love a Ministry that makes an impact that changes others but beloved I'm not satisfied with any of those though. I love all of those subjects I want more My spirit longs for more than power for ministry though. I want more power in ministry I don't neglect those but I want more and I have good news There is more. I Don't mean just more power There's more encounter Philippians 3 8 Paul understood this He gave up everything Not just so he could have a better ministry Look what he said his own words Philippians 3 8 Why For the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus Paul said I want to experience the Magnificence the excellence of this man. I will remove everything that gets in the way that I could encounter more of him It was this verse some years ago. I Began to pray a prayer Lord if I can see What Paul saw I could live dedicated like Paul lived. Let me see What he saw about Jesus and I know I can live dedicated like he was There's a direct Correspondence Between what we see in Jesus and how we respond in our dedication Many believers They're content to live with compromise in their spiritual life When I look at those believers, I don't say oh how terrible I Look at those believers and I say they see so little of Jesus. That's why compromise makes sense to them. I have Mercy, I understand Because without seeing more there's no way I would give myself more to him They don't have a problem with sin Just in and of itself, of course they do that's but there's a bigger issue they have a problem with revelation It's a lack of revelation They don't even have an idea That this man is this magnificent first Corinthians chapter 2 Paul knew about the ministry of the Holy Spirit Here's how he described the Holy Spirit First Corinthians 2 verse 10 for the Spirit Searches the deep things of God's heart That's an interesting concept but the Holy Spirit searches or deserves The deep things of the Father in the Son of their heart why? To give them to you Beloved the one who lives inside of you The Holy Spirit he knows more about Jesus than you can imagine He loves Christ Jesus and He knows him so well, and he wants to reveal him to your spirit in a greater way John 6 Jesus said the same thing in essence verse 13 John 16, I mean verse 13 He said the Holy Spirit He will guide you he will escort you into the truth about me verse 14 He will glorify me Now Here's Jesus he knows the Holy Spirit so well, he says trust me He will take the things that are mine and he will reveal them to you he loves it. I know him so well and He knows me so well Beloved We need this guide This escort and the Holy Spirit has been given to us as an escort to lead us To take us hand in hand into the deep things of the heart of God But he will only reveal as much of God as you're hungry for Are you hungry I'm not looking for an answer right now Are you hungry for more for real? To where you would make time for it Because the Spirit gives us more of Jesus based on hunger Not based on gifting Somebody may have a far greater intellect than you, but you have a far greater Capacity to encounter God if you're hungry for God But he will not force feed you Jesus is too precious For him to force feed you even as the body of Christ a lot of believers If I'm forgiven get a little bit of healing a little bit of money Little bit of direction a little anointing on ministry. I'm set. That's all I need The Holy Spirit says I won't force feed you but I have so much more to give you than that paragraph H my goals for this series Again that we'll do six sessions in the afternoon To go along with this one tonight making seven total and then the other speakers will address some of these themes as well Here's my goal to convince people if you leave convinced of these things and You set your heart in a new way then this has been a successful conference Number one thing to convince people of and some of you are already convinced, but some of you are not yet Number one the most powerful the most Pleasurable reality anyone can experience is the knowledge of God the magnificence of Jesus Now that's a cool thing to say But I want to assure you it's real. I'm speaking soberly the most powerful Pleasurable thing that will ever touch your heart is the excellence the magnificence The knowledge of this man given to you by the Holy Spirit in this age in the age to come I am basing my life on that point There's nothing more powerful or more pleasurable. I've committed my life to that truth And I challenge you to settle it tonight I'm going for that for the rest of my days number two I Want to convince you it's not only powerful and pleasurable It is the most costly thing you will ever do it will cost you everything. I Mean it literally Salvation is free You can receive the gift of righteousness as a free gift in one moment Because of what he did not because what you did but to go Pursuing the deep things of his heart the excellence of The knowledge of Christ Jesus it will cost you everything Paul said I gave up Everything for the excellence the magnificence to know it to get more of it number three I Want you to be convinced of this? It's the most neglected issue in the kingdom. Why would you care? Why would I want you to know that? Here's why and in the kingdom of God We teach many things We teach relationship skills good We teach ministry skills good We teach economic principles. That's good The most neglected subject in the kingdom of God is God It's serious God is talked about less than any other subject in the kingdom. I don't mean a reference to him I mean talking about him with clarity in depth The reason you need to know it's the most neglected subject Because when you begin to go after it One year two years five ten you will be surprised if you don't believe this how many people Who love Jesus will roll their eyes and shake their head at you and say poor thing Why is he wasting his life after this and if you don't know that that will trip you Because it's not common in the kingdom to pursue Jesus this way The people of the kingdom will wag their heads at you more than the people in the world but if you know It's neglected by so many you won't be tripped when they criticize you Number four It's the most emphasized truth of the Holy Spirit in the generation the Lord returns And I believe it's very possible. We're in the early days of that generation. I don't know By revelation. Nobody knows the day or the hour But I believe it's possible there are people alive today, maybe it's the two-year-olds, I don't know That will see the Lord with their eyes If that's true I Can assure you one thing in that generation the Lord returns whether it's now or a little bit down the road The Holy Spirit is going to emphasize Jesus more than any other subject more than ministry More than any other kind of topic in the kingdom. He's gonna put a spotlight on Jesus and right now Again Jesus is referred to as the way to get saved the way to get healed the way to get happy the way to get money The way to get power, but not really to encounter him as a man in a relational way. I Believe this is the most relevant subject The knowledge of God the revelation of Jesus now today Everybody wants to be relevant Which is good It's kind of a buzzword in ministry be relevant Let me tell you this and I say this with great respect There are a million voices in our nation That are preaching on evangelism how to get saved that's good. We need two million. I don't know the real number There are a million voices Telling us about healing. I like that. I'm one of them There are a million voices telling us That we can transform society. There's a million voices talking about how Jesus will give us more money Believing for prosperity And I like those thieves let's believe for another million But let me tell you there are very few voices in the land talking about the deep things of his heart So speak those other things But don't stop there go on Set your heart to be a voice to be a messenger that says what the millions say But beloved if you want to be relevant those subjects are relevant for sure But the great vacuum the great need in the body of Christ is to encounter Jesus in his magnificence So much of the body of Christ is living spiritually bored with a dull defiled spirit They love him The Bible's boring Prayers boring they'll do ministry But they're bored with Jesus. I understand that I've experienced that It's easy to happen I'm basking God raise up ten thousand messengers Lord That will evangelize heal the sick transform society believe for supernatural economics But they won't stop there They're gonna go deep into the deep things of God's heart and they're gonna speak of the treasures of Jesus to their generation I'm calling you to be one of those voices. I Don't mean something that you decide for a summer. I mean something that you will be going after for decades top of page 2 Jesus emphasized this truth Now Matthew 16 Is one of the I mean, it's such a significant teaching of Jesus Matthew 16 verse 13 to 19. Now. This is the first teaching and the first prophecy in the New Testament about the church and it's through the lips of Jesus How the church would function? How the church would have victory the foundations of the church now, this is from the lips of Jesus Pay very close Attention to what Jesus is saying here He's talking about how the church will move in victory He's talking about how the church will move in power Notice what he emphasizes Now he's talking to the Apostles who he knew would be the first leaders of the church and he asked them a very very important question and It's the same question The Holy Spirit is speaking to the leaders of the church today. He starts off in verse 13 He's kind of leading them up to the main point. I picture them Standing around the campfire one night. Jesus says verse 13 Matthew 16 Hey Who do the people? Who do they say that I am I Am the Son of Man, who do they say that I am? What do they think about me? One guy speaks up verse 14. They think you're John the Baptist Jesus says I can understand that why well they hear you preach and You're a fiery holiness preacher like John and you are so Fiercely dedicated to God like John was they think you're John they think you're a holiness preacher They think you preach on dedication to God Jesus says I do But I'm more than John One guy interrupts Still verse 14. No, they don't think you're John a holiness preacher. They think you're Elijah They think you're the prophet with supernatural power to raise the dead they saw you raise the dead They think you're Elijah with power healings miracles Because I do that I Raised the dead, but I'm more than Elijah One guy says no They don't think you're a holiness preacher and they don't think you're a signs and wonders prophet They think you're Jeremiah Now Jeremiah was known as the weeping prophet with tender compassion They see the way you deal with people in their sin and your tenderness you're so kind Surely you're Jeremiah now verse 15 the critical moment Says, okay This is the foundation of the church that Jesus is wanting to be Laid in a proper way He says verse 15 Who do you say I am not the people in The secrecy of your heart What do you think about me? Beloved That's the number one question Jesus asked the Apostles and that's the same question. The Spirit is emphasizing the day Not is he just a Savior who forgives? What do you think about him in his entirety of who he is? Is he only a forgiver? only a healer only a provider Only one that gives direction what else is he to you for 16 Peter said you're the Christ That's the word Messiah or the word anointed one. I have that written in the notes a little bit more on that You're the anointed one from the Old Testament You're the Son of the Living God Jesus answered Peter You did not learn that from a Bible study somewhere No man taught that to you. My father in heaven taught that to you what Peter was saying You are the fulfillment of the Son of Man prophecies from the Old Testament fully God fully man king of the nations transcendent God The God of eminence who condescends to come near us you're all of those things is what Peter saying Some people read verse 16 and they see that they think Peter said you're the one that forgives us For our sins, that's not what Peter was saying when he said you're the Christ the Son of the Living God He was saying you're the fulfillment of all of those descriptions of the Messiah in the Old Testament Fully God fully man and everything that's involved Verse 18 Here's what he gives the application Jesus does Peter on this rock of truth on The rock of the truth of who I am in my fullness Not one facet of my ministry, but who I am in my fullness This is the foundation of a church that the gates of hell will not prevail against Now we preach a lot on the victorious church But the gates of hell the authority of hell won't win against the church many preach on the victorious church It's good The church will be a full victory before the Lord returns, I believe that but here's the point I want to make The church is not going to walk in victory in a vacuum the church is going to walk in victory verse 18 as It builds upon the rock of the truth of who Jesus is in his entirety As revealed in the Word of God Jesus the forgiver will never produce a victorious church You get a lot of people going to heaven Living spiritually bored with a dull spirit between now and then Jesus the healer will not produce a victorious church by itself Jesus the one that gives supernatural wealth For the increase of the kingdom that's not enough But the entirety What the word says about him that was what must be in place for the church to walk in victory we need preachers teachers singers Musicians that are going deep in the revelation of the majesty of who this man is And it won't happen on the run And I won't happen with a cheap false grace message That Empowers us to live in compromise and feel good about it. We'll never have the kind of revelation and Understanding of the rock of truth for which the church will be built on in victory without going deep. I Want to be a person? That goes deep. I Want to be a part of the answer not a part of the problem of the compromising church in our nation verse 19 It goes I'll give you the keys of the kingdom I'll give you the power to operate in Supernatural power the keys of the kingdom that means to operate in the power of the Holy Spirit, but beloved That isn't in a vacuum that's related to knowing that Jesus is the rock of truth Now we can have a little bit of ministry a little bit of power A little bit of victory without going deep. I See it all the time The grace of God is so abundant People can live spiritually superficial and still need people to the Lord Get a little blessing of God have a little favor of God heal a few of the sick and they're happy, but I'm not happy I want more That's never going to be the answer to change the church in our nation to where we walk in victory It must be built upon the issue of who? Do you say I really am? paragraph II the most important question in our life Your life right now your young life Most of you in this room are in your early 20s 21 22 23 The most important issue of your question of your life now in your 20s Will be the same issue when you're in your 50s in your 80s the same question. What do you think about him? Not what will he do for you that's important too. I'm not minimizing that that's important But that's not enough When you stop and think about him, what do you really think about? I'm not asking you Do you like him? I know you like him You wouldn't come to this conference if you didn't like him, but what do you imagine him to be like in? His majesty in his humanity in his splendor What kind of being is he really Yes, he's fully God fully man, but what does that mean our thoughts of him are too few and they're too low a Low view of Jesus Simply because we haven't gone deep will keep us in bondage to a dull spirit We will be trapped in Spiritual boredom There's more believers who love Jesus that are spiritually bored with Jesus. They're doing their best To serve him and I appreciate that. I don't criticize that But I want to tell them Christianity is more Than a ministry assignment. It's aggressively pursuing and interacting with a person forever It begins in this age He's a glorious person But so few of his people enjoy interacting with him in any kind of deep way. He's so exciting He's so interesting. He's so intriguing but most of his people don't find him enjoyable to be with long periods of time I'm not saying that as a criticism I'm Not saying oh, you're bad. If you don't enjoy I'm saying it takes time to develop a spiritual Capacity and it takes time to grow in understanding and it takes a tenacity to go after it He won't force feed you He will only give you more on the basis of hunger paragraph G I'm gonna tell a my own story in the journey To know the excellence of Christ Jesus. I know so little of it But I'm addicted to the pursuit of more I am obsessed with getting more There's no big ministry. There's no amount of money There's no power in ministry that can satisfy my hunger for more of this this man Began when I was about 18 years old I'm 56 now, so that's almost 40 years ago Go ahead 20 year old say 40 years. Whoa Guys old Okay, my youth pastor Name was Richard He came to me On my way to college Bound 18 could have been 17 something like that He said you'll never mature as a Christian Without growing in the knowledge of God. I Said okay What do you mean grow in the knowledge of God that was the weirdest term I'd ever heard grow in the knowledge of God. I Love Jesus because I know you do he said but you're never gonna be a mature man of God If you don't grow in the knowledge of God and that struck me like an arrow that bothered me. I didn't even know what he meant He said here's a book it's called the knowledge of the holy by a W Tozer Only about a hundred pages real little book. I Kind of thumbed through it. I said doesn't look like much Never heard of a W Tozer. He said read it Okay Understand it. They'll change your life now. I didn't realize This I was beginning one of the most significant journeys of my life. I did not know that at that time The reason I'm telling the story to you. I want this to be your story Even if you're 50, you don't have to be 18 or 20 to begin this journey. It's never too late So they're okay. I Read this hundred page book. We Promote I've promoted it for 30 years. I tell everybody about this book. I'm a satisfied customer. I read it 18 years old Honestly, it was boring. I read it. I Didn't get changed. I didn't even find it interesting That was part of the problem but I Like this guy Richard so much. I trusted him. He was about 10 years older than me I trusted him so his words Bothered me you will never mature without growing in the knowledge of God So I had this little book I read it again Here's what Tozer said Tozer went to be with the Lord I think 1960 something about that time So he's been he wrote this book I'm guessing in the 50s I guess Here's what Tozer taught in the in the introduction of the book This was interesting to me But almost 40 years later. I believe this even much more than I even did then Tozer said this What we think about God and the introduction he wrote this is the most important thing about our spiritual life I Remember I go I think about God Well, he saved me I got it what else am I supposed to he's powerful he saved me he's the boss He created the earth I think I got I think I have God down I got it I'm ready to now go change the world for God That sentence bothered me What you think about God in the deep place of your heart is the most important thing about your spiritual life This is the same thing Jesus said who do you really think I am? Really? He went on to say This is not a direct quote, but this is kind of bite from memory because I read it so many times He said the most revealing thing about the church Is found in her ideas about Jesus that will reveal more about the church what she says or left or leaves Unsaid about him a lot of big ministries Lot of giant growing ministries They don't talk too much about Jesus. That's none of my business. I'm not here criticizing those ministries. That's not my point My point is this the most revealing thing about any ministry It's what they say or leave Unsaid about Jesus He went on to say a hundred lesser evils are Caused by this one great lack of the knowledge of God meaning. There's a hundred lesser evils lost ambition bitterness complaint Competition lethargy passivity There's a hundred lesser evils that we struggle with because we don't have this one issue, right? top of page three Let's go down to be Ephesians 3 8 I Love this verse I'm gonna challenge you to make Ephesians 3 8 and Philippians 3 8 you can remember about 3 8 Some of your foundational verses for your life in your ministry Remember Philippians 3 8 Paul said I gave up everything because I wanted more of the excellency the magnificence of Jesus I wanted to feel more see more encounter more Understand more. It's what he meant Ephesians 3 To me grace was given That I should preach the unsearchable riches of Christ Let's read that verse again To me grace was given instead of the word grace put the word the anointing of the Holy Spirit I was anointed in ministry for this reason To preach to focus on to lock in to one great theme The unsearchable riches of this man Beloved God didn't anoint you or your future anointing It's not mostly just to grow a ministry. It's to proclaim the glory of a man and I determined I'm gonna seek to grow in the anointing Not to grow I hop big or to grow my church big because I pastored 25 years before I hop I'm gonna grow in the anointing That I could make the riches the splendor of this man clear to others We talk so little about Jesus. I mean we talk about forgiveness. We talk about healing we talk about money. We talk about transforming Cities we talk about prophetic direction. Those are all very good, but I'm talking about something more specific than that We talk so little about the splendor of Jesus We talk so little about it because we talk so little to him If we talked more to him, we would talk more about him. We study so little about him That's why we think so little about him we think of our ministry we think of networking We think of marketing We think of connecting We think of getting messages down writing new songs. All of those are good But we think so little about the splendor of this man. That's why we talk so little about him We talk about ministry Much more than we talk about Jesus. I Like ministry Roman numeral for Proverbs chapter 2 it was about 35 years ago. I had an encounter with the Lord where the Lord's surprised me From Proverbs chapter 2. I'm going to share it with you. Well My pastor youth pastor Richard he gave me this little book 18 years old the knowledge of the Holy You'll never grow deep in God if you don't understand the knowledge of God, okay? Which means the splendor of Jesus the magnificent disease. Okay read the book It's boring Read the book again Wasn't so bad It was a divine setup this whole conversation with me and my youth pastor so a year or two goes by I'm reading the book Trying to stay with it not because I like the book because I trusted my youth pastor I thought he was such a good guy. He was so smart. I'd better do what he said So I go to the University of Missouri You know the big State University about 30,000 students and he tells me when you go to college again about 18 19 years old Start a Bible study. I said start a Bible study of a freshman. He goes. Yeah Okay, how Well make a little flyer. I made a little flyer Tuesday night nine o'clock Bible study. I didn't put my name on it because nobody ever heard of me. I Made a couple thousand copies and I walked around the campus and I passed them out Pee-wee freshman. There's a Bible study. They didn't think I was the leader of it. I was too afraid to tell him He said go do that start a Bible study It's a little bit scary The reason it was scary. Well, there's a bunch of reasons. I Didn't have any messages. I Didn't have anything to teach But he told me to do this so I did it Well, it grew to about a hundred to two hundred students. I was Very impressed with my ministry till I found out I played on the college football team The University of Missouri and a bunch of the players came Then a bunch of the girls came Then a bunch of the guys came. I thought they were coming to hear me. They were coming to meet each other I figured that out later. But anyway, that's another story for another time So I have a hundred students and I'm sweating bullets Every Tuesday night at nine o'clock was the dreadful hour a Hundred would show up The guys on the football team I would give them a Bible study. I didn't know the Bible. I didn't read the Bible I didn't know anything the guy my youth pastor told me to do it. I didn't even want to do it So what did I do? I wrote on I Mean I took the book by a W Tozer. I figured if it's good for me if I need it they need it so I Didn't exactly memorize it, but I took chapter one broke it down almost memorized it not exactly But I mean I learned it ferociously Then I would get up at the Bible study 25 pages of notes because I didn't know it at all. I Remember my very first sermon. This is true. I said this Got my notes I go Hello My name is Mike Bickle. I am very glad to be here. That's how I did my first message. It was terrifying Notice I still got my notes. I Preached everybody else's messages. I had nothing to say of my own, but I made this horrible mistake Picking the Tozer book the hardest book in the world to preach because I trusted that youth pastor. Oh my So I gave these sermons week by week on the attributes of God Extremely boring The guy asked me afterwards What did you mean by this point? I said, I don't really know. I just read it in the book last night I don't really know what I meant by that point It's funny now wasn't funny then but it was a divine setup because by teaching this book I became confronted With the reality. I knew nothing about God. I thought I knew God I Had a real outgoing personality And I've talked a lot and evangelized a lot. I thought I knew God Preached on salvation a lot. I didn't have anything to say after five minutes. I Mean about God the person. I mean I talked about forgiveness He loves me He loves you Someone says what's that mean? You know, he loves you Okay What's that mean practically? Oh, you know just a lot of love Yeah, I got that point. But what's that mean? You know just really wants to be with you. I didn't even know what to say about it that's not so bad when you're young takes a while to Develop the understanding but I became aware. I knew nothing about God. I was an on-fire believer I mean, I was really a radical believer in the eyes of my friends, but I didn't know anything about God But I didn't know I didn't know anything about God. I assumed they did Preaching this book Tortured me I was desperate I would go talk to older believers And I would go How do I find the knowledge of God and these older believers? You know, I'm 19 years old. They're like 30 or so. They go like what do you mean? I go I want to know the knowledge of God That's kind of a weird question. Aren't you? I thought you were saved. I go. No. No, I know I'm saved I know the Savior. I mean, I want to know more. I Couldn't give get anybody to give me good answers. I was miserable. I read books on it. They all seem boring I read a lot of biographies And I would read these biographies of radical believers and I would teach in my Bible studies about the lives of other radical believers I Would tell other people Jay Hudson Taylor was my favorite I read three of his biographies when I was 17 and 18 the missionary to China the doctor Jay Hudson Taylor He married his wife Marie They went into the interior of China and they did this and they knew that I could talk hours about Jay Hudson Taylor Then I read Charles Finney Then John G. Lake Jonathan Edwards Whitfield Wesley Brainard. Oh, I love biographies I love the stories of Men and women who knew God, but then one day it hit me It's not enough For me to know the stories of men that knew God. I Want to know God myself It was a critical hour I I said I'm not content to know a man who knows God or to read about a man who knows God Here, I'm 19 years old 20. I remember the day I slammed my hand down on the table I'm gonna know God I'm going all the way. I'm not gonna be a biography reader. I'm gonna be one. I Don't mean I'm gonna be famous in ministry. That's not the point. I'm gonna go deep in God It's exciting But it was terrifying Because the books I read these guys gave everything up for real not make-believe great stories Hard lifestyle, that's how I'm going all the way I'm gonna know the knowledge of God and I asked everyone I met I Was so desperate for the knowledge of God because when I would read these books or read about God It would like hit my heart and bounce off. Nothing took The Bible was boring Prayer was boring. I Hated fasting. The only thing I really liked was meetings. I like to go to meetings. I Could go to meetings every night. I never got tired of meetings But when it was just me and God in the Bible I said God if your book was not so boring more people would read it And it was actually my lack of capacity To understand that was the problem paragraph B Well, we went on a college ski trip over Christmas break That was back before they had one thing conferences over Christmas break It's a good time to say amen So over Christmas break went on the college ski trip Now we brought the hundred from the Bible study at University, Missouri We had Bible studies every night ski all day and have Bible study at night. It's kind of cool Not as cool as this So I'm there one morning before we go skiing and I'm having my Bible study time my quiet time and A young believer a young guy came up to me. I'm a young believer. I'm 18. I'm a young believer, too You know, but this guy brand new He says hey, would you show me how to read the Bible personally So I said, okay, I Didn't really like reading the Bible. I didn't want to tell him that but I did it every day So I said I'm going to read Proverbs 2 he goes why I go because it's January 2nd, and I read one proverb every day 31 proverbs 31 days of the month some guy told me to do that and so I did it he goes, okay How do you do this? I go sit down. I go. Let's do turn to Proverbs 2 So verse 1 I said if you receive my words and Treasure my commandments within you Here I am a very Skilled Bible teacher. That's a joke 18 years old 19. I said if notice the word if he goes Yeah, I said there's gonna come a then in a few minutes. He goes. Wow, you really know the Bible I go. Well, I've been around for a while. That's whenever you get an F go Oh good, because I've been is gonna come a promise verse 3 If you cry out for deserving, ooh, there's another F verse 4 if you seek first silver I go three F's I Go in all my years of reading the Bible couple months actually I've never seen three F's in a row First time I've ever seen it The then is going to be amazing He goes wow Verse 5 then I go there it is and I'm stopping every phrase to show him how much I knew about the Bible Verse 5 then I go here it is You will understand the fear of the Lord and you will find the knowledge of God I went oh my gosh The guy goes What's wrong? I begin to tear up and I went I never teared up reading the Bible. I went oh Oh My gosh, he goes what what what what I go Then you find The knowledge of God he goes. Yeah. Yeah, what's that man? Oh, oh my gosh. I Go I need to be alone. I said Something just happened. It was a huge encounter though. It was just that simple. I mean there was nothing no fireworks But it was like the arrow struck my heart. I Said God, this is it Praise God for that man that told me to read one proverb whatever day of the month it is read that proverb December 28th read problems 28. That was that simple. At least I knew where to start As I told you I didn't read the Bible many times. I didn't know where to start And that guy came along and told me read 10 chapters a day Six days a week You'll read the whole New Testament once a month do it for a year. I Said okay in those days when some leader told me to do something I just did it if it was something like that. I did it for a year changed my life. It was radical First month or two is pretty boring But I just said I'll do it because he that guy he seems like he knows God. I'll just do it. Anyway Let's go through these real fast Corey Russell, I have at the end of the note has a book on these five conditions if you receive my words We set our heart to fully obey to receive not reject heart of obedience paragraph II if you treasure my word We have to take time to meditate What I mean by meditate don't just read it and underline it Talk to Jesus as you read it Look at paragraph F We dialogue with a person Jesus When we read it we have conversation as I read just line by line I talked to him about that and I have more on the internet on how to do this in a practical way This is new to you The Bible gives us the conversation material You read it you commit yourself I will obey this or I read this about Jesus I go Thank you. This is true about you reveal more to me. I have a couple little ways to respond to different verses Again you can check out the I hop org if you want to know more about that I've got some teachings on that you can have for free Top of page 4 condition 3 if you incline your ear a teachable spirit We so easily pick up the biases of our Christian background We got to lay our biases down and commit to believe whatever it says Even if it's not what our Sunday school teacher taught us You got to incline your heart whatever it says I will say yes to even if it's unpopular incline your heart number four cry out for more discernment or more revelation We actually ask him Holy Spirit Give me the spirit of wisdom and revelation of the knowledge of Jesus. Look at down there Ephesians 1 Ephesians 1 7 is the prayer I've prayed more than any other prayer in 40 years It's the prayer that's prayed most at IHOP I mean we don't limit it to that But if we added them all up that would be number one over 12 years be number one on the list We want the revelation of the knowledge of Jesus condition 5 Seek for her a silver This is where a lot of people get off the journey pay any price turn things off Pull away from so much involvement in so many things Seek for it like silver if I told you there was a million dollars of silver Hidden in some house some mansion and you could tear every single wall down dig up the foundation Tear up the attic you can have the million if you can find it. It's there and it's yours I assure you most of you would not rest until you found that the fifth condition Seek for the revelation of God with that kind of zeal Turn off your video games turn off your this is in your that's Take your time Shut the phones down Take some hours and go after this like for silver I tell you this It won't just come automatic. God will give it to the hungry. I Remember a pastor told me asked me a question once This was the strangest question from a pastor. He said when I hear you teach It sounds like you make a correlation Between the amount of time you spend with Jesus and the measure of the encounter you have with him. I Says it seemed like I'm saying that he goes seems like it to me. I Said good I'm glad you're listening He goes. Well, that's heresy That's legalism. I Know it's all by the grace of God. I said you're living in a false doctrine of grace That was a shocking statement to him I Was more shocked than he was Then a pastor could not even understand the fundamental principles of the grace of God. I Know your salvation is for free You grow in Revelation to the degree you hunger for it He goes maybe that's why I don't have any I don't spend any time with the Lord except for to find a message for Sunday That hurt my heart when I heard that I went out What a miserable way to live Really the paragraph J? Look at Joe 22 verse 24 You will lay your gold in the dust Don't spend all your time making money Beloved I've drawn back from many opportunities To make money to increase my ministry and lots of things in order to go deeper in God I'm not saying that like some hero What I'm saying this is to 20 year olds you have to turn upside Opportunities to go deep Jesus is worth it. I'm a satisfied customer. I just want more. He says in verse 25 Yes, the Almighty will be your gold. I love what Corey Russell says There's gold in them their hills There's gold in them their hills. He said I Would say it a little different than that, but I like the feeling of it There's gold to be found in those hills called the knowledge of God paragraph K Paragraph I mean Proverbs 25. It's the glory of God to hide a matter Conceal a matter to hide it. It's how the worship team come up It's the glory of God to hide things But it's the glory of a king to search for them The Lord says I'm gonna hide the deepest things But those with a kingly spirit That can't live without them Search for them and I will give them to you. I will become your gold Proverbs 25 to verse 5 paragraph L. Yeah You will understand the fear of the Lord then You will find the magnificence of the excellence of the glory of Christ Jesus Amen, let's stand. I want you to make a transaction in your heart with God tonight I'm believing God. Let's see. You're getting ready, right? I'm get I'm believing God for 10,000 not from here a few from here whatever number But in our nation Lord raise up 10,000 messengers of the majesty of Jesus forerunners like John the Baptist But love it, is it possible that you're one of those I've been praying this for 20 years Lord gave me a He spoke to me about 10,000 messengers 10,000 would change this nation I mean that talked about the deep things of God you won't get it in an afternoon or a summer or a class at a Bible school Talking about going after this for decades Growing in a little by little I want you to respond to the Lord and say Lord Why not me like I when I slam my hand out Why not me? I'm not content to know a man who knows God I'm not content to know the story about a man who knew God. I'm gonna know God. Why not me? Yes, I'm gonna preach all the other subjects But I want more. I Get happy I want more than that Talk to the Lord right now the Lord. I this isn't something you solve in a weekend This decision you could look back 10 20 30 years from now like I look back 35 years ago It set me on a course when I determined to do this Talk to him now just for a few moments Misty just leave us But I want more Let it be that guy Doesn't mean you'll have a big famous ministry. You may not have no one may ever hear of you That's not I'm not talking about getting famous. I'm talking about going deep Lord, I want to do this On my back think The day I'll trade Always Waste my life Though his name is I'm always on this Dreams about I'm always I This is who I'll be and that settles it Completely I'm in love with God and God's in love with me. This is who I am. And this is who I'll be and that settles it Come I'm in love with God and God's in love with me. This is who I am. And this is who I'll be and that settles it Come This is who I am This is who I'll be Lord release your fire This room this is who I am and this is who I'll be and that settles it This is who I am and this is who I'll be and that settles it Oh I Want more Oh The Lord says I have so much more to give you I will fill you to the degree that you hunger I will open your eyes Little by little day by day I will fascinate your spirit Make time Cry out for understanding I will show you I love to show you more Will you seek for me a silver Oh Do not say I'm running you do not say I do not have a great intellect Can I not reveal myself to you by my spirit? I I'm raising up messengers Take the time You will not be disappointed I will meet you Want you to know Yourself I want you to know And I Give me your I'm raising up messengers Oh Oh Oh My portion Oh Will be my strength And The knowledge of you Where are the people Where Who are after me For my eyes Foundation of the world I wanted to be alone. I wanted to be alone Progress For my people Just about so many things We made it's more than And Cost you Is The question the spirit is asking is how Shall we What would I want before love? What would I want before love? Because love, love's too loud I know you know And love is loud Love's too loud Love's too loud I know you know And love is loud Love's too loud Got more doubts I know you know And love is loud Be the fire in my heart Be the fire in my soul Be the fire in my heart Immortal Be the fire in my heart Be the fire in my soul Be the fire in my heart Immortal Because love, love's too loud I know you know And love is loud Love's too loud Love's too loud Be the fire in my heart