Mike Bickle introduces the concept of the Bridegroom God in the New Testament, emphasizing John the Baptist's declaration of Jesus as the Bridegroom and the implications of this revelation for believers. He explains how John viewed his role as a friend of the Bridegroom, focusing on preparing others to receive the love of Christ. Bickle highlights the importance of understanding God as a passionate lover, which transforms our identity and purpose. He encourages believers to pursue intimacy with God, which leads to a deeper understanding of their own worth and calling. Ultimately, the sermon calls for a generation to embrace the Bridegroom revelation and live as forerunners in preparation for Christ's return.

Thank you for listening to this teaching from the International House of Prayer in Kansas City. For additional teachings, resources, and podcasts, as well as information on who we are and our upcoming events, please visit our website, ihop.org. Well, on Friday nights I teach a Bible school course, for those that are visiting, called The Bride of Christ. We're beginning a new series called Studies in the New Testament, and this is our first class. And we're talking about the two primary passages, though I'm not sure we'll cover them both tonight, introducing the Bridegroom God in the New Testament. The first passage is John the Baptist, where he declares Jesus as the Bridegroom God in John chapter 3, verse 29. He was the first one in the New Testament. He declared himself a friend of the Bridegroom, and therefore pointing to a new revelation of the Messiah as a Bridegroom God. Now, that's a revelation that's been established in the Old Testament, but had never been emphasized by the Holy Spirit. Meaning, John could point to Isaiah and Hosea and Jeremiah and Ezekiel, and he could say, this is an Old Testament doctrine, but though the prophets proclaimed that in the generation that the Lord would return, they would view the Messiah as a Bridegroom God. And John came on the scene with that biblical background, but no one in the community of God had really understood it. It had never really been emphasized in Israel. It was something that was there, but not really something alive in the hearts of even the believing community. So he comes on the scene, and the central verse here in verse 29 that we're going to focus in on, he declares Jesus as the man, as the one who has a bride, and who is a Bridegroom. And he's talking about the Messiah, and in verse 29 he says, he has the bride. It's a little bit cryptic. They were not exactly sure what John was talking about. He has a bride, and he is a Bridegroom. This is a new revelation. Again, it's in the Old Testament, but it was new in terms of that the people of Israel had not really grappled with this reality in a serious way. And they were a bit perplexed by this. And it was clear as John developed this passage, he was talking about the Messiah. And then John declared himself, in the light of this revelation of the Messiah as a Bridegroom, he declared himself a friend of the Bridegroom. The term pointing to a familiar role that we would understand in a wedding, the best man in the wedding. He goes, I'm a friend of the Bridegroom. My goal, my function, is to get the Bride ready for the Bridegroom. And that put a very different angle, lens, view upon ministry. And I believe it's that view of ministry that the Holy Spirit's going to put his focus on. Men and women that see themselves as their primary role, whether it's the five years old or the 50 years old, it doesn't make any difference. They're getting them ready to receive the Messiah initially, or in a deep way, as a Bridegroom God. A God with burning desire in his heart for them. The second passage on the back side of the notes, it's interesting, it's the same phrase, but it's not John the Baptist speaking, it's Jesus speaking. He's declaring the function of the Apostles, they were to function as friends of the Bridegroom. This is several months after John used the statement. Undoubtedly, some of the disciples that were with John are now, had heard John, undoubtedly had heard John say this, they're now with Jesus, and Jesus is saying to them, you are friends of the Bridegroom. And some of them are saying, we heard John talk about this. We have a little understanding, but we never saw ourself in this way. And so it's interesting, in the New Testament, God introduces the revelation of God as a Bridegroom. He introduces this idea first through John, declaring himself as a friend of the Bridegroom, and Jesus as the one possessing a Bride, and being a Bridegroom himself. And then a few months later, Jesus uses that same phrase. It's the only two times in the Bible it's used. First by John, and second by Jesus. But it's the first two passages in the New Testament of which the theme of the Bridegroom is declared. And I find it interesting that he's speaking, it relates to the leadership, the preachers, the proclaimers of the Word, to grasp this reality. Because if the preachers, if the proclaimers, and it's more than preachers, it's the teachers, the writers, the disciples, if those that are communicating the Word to others, if they grasp it, because it's focused on that group first, first by John the Baptist, second by Jesus, but it's on the group of the proclaimers, then the Lord knows that the rest of the body will be ushered into this reality. And so imitating and reflecting that wisdom of the Scriptures, I focus, I want to reflect this pattern of Scripture, I want to focus on training up teachers of the Word, again whether they teach through psalm, maybe they teach through art, the arts, maybe they teach through public ministry, maybe they teach through writing, maybe they discipling small groups, but I want to focus on the teachers of the Word getting this message, because if they get it, multitudes will get it. Okay, let's read the passage. It says, now John was baptizing at Enon, near Salem. Verse 24, we're on the front page, John chapter 3, for John had not yet been thrown into prison. Then, this is important, there arose a dispute between some of John's disciples and some of the Jews about purification. And in our context, you could put the word, holiness, the way to holiness. They were talking about ritual purification through the Mosaic law, but the idea is, what is really dedication and cleanness before God? And so we're gonna, in our own context, there's a debate in the body of Christ, there's different views, there's different postures on the way to holiness and the way to purity. I don't think it's an accident that this was the context of which John the Baptist revealed Jesus as the Bridegroom God. Because I believe that the key to purification, though in context, it's the ritual purification and the Mosaic law they're debating about, but the idea is, when is dedication really dedication? That's the point, and they're arguing. And this is the context of which God introduces, through the anointing on John the Baptist, he introduces his son as the Bridegroom God. And I believe it's a very, very appropriate context today. Both old and young, there's such a struggle, there's such a defeat, and even a despair about purification. It's this very context that we need clarity and authority on the subject of the one who has the Bride, who is the Bridegroom. Verse 26, so they come to John, and they said to him, it's very ironic, this is very, the contrast is unmistakable, and I'll point, I'll elaborate on it in a minute, they came to John and said, Rabbi, he who is with you beyond the Jordan, that's Jesus, to whom you have testified, behold, he is baptizing and everyone is coming to him. They said, John, we got bad news, sit down. This guy that you've been bragging on, this guy you've been promoting, he's stealing all of your crowd. You've been promoting him, and the people are actually turning from you to him. Now what's so interesting, they're in this heated debate on the way to purification of holiness, but they have this jealousy to protect John's fame and fortune. We are totally fanatical about purity, but we want to make sure you get your rights, and we want to make sure that the attention's on you, John. John undoubtedly looked at that and goes, you guys don't even see the contradiction in your arguments. How could you be lost in a pursuit of purity and be all concerned about me, and who's getting the attention? The two, it's an oxymoron, they're opposites. I think one of the greatest signs of really connecting with genuine purity in our hearts is our, I'm not going to say absence, but our lessening preoccupation with who gets the attention for real. Not just as a public kind of preacher statement, but for real. I find one of the acid tests in my life, when the attention goes another direction, and my heart is less moved, I am more confident I'm making progress in the right direction. It's really a litmus test. When my heart is stirred, when the attention is focused, and the honor that's meant from the Lord to say, Mike, that's a tip-off, you're not supposed to be preoccupied with the fact that the attention is shifting from you, you're supposed to be preoccupied and tipped off by the fact your heart isn't where you think it is. Verse 27, John answers, and he's, I have the phrase, a phrase I always say on this verse, he's resting in sovereignty. John is so at peace with this, his spirit is so free, he says, a man can receive nothing unless it's been given to him from heaven. He goes, even this new preacher from Nazareth, if God has given me a sphere, if God has given me a sphere, he goes, the principle is that the sphere that I've been given in God, nobody can remove it from me. He goes, what I have in God is secure in God. You know, Saul can never, ever take the kingdom from David. Never. And we get, in our natural framework, we get so afraid of the emerging souls in our life. They cannot wrench the kingdom from David. The only person that can take the kingdom from David is David. David's the only one who could forfeit the kingdom by unfaithfulness with God. Whether an old Saul, when David was young, or a young Absalom, when David is old, it's the same spirit. The kingdom cannot be taken by any of the enemies. What God has given you can never be taken from you by another that has evil motives or a greater sphere of influence or gifting. And that's not my main message right now, but I can't resist looking at that for just a moment here. John looks at them, he goes, you guys don't have to protect me. They go, John, the attention shifting to the new preacher from the north, from up Nazareth. John says, guys, you don't have to protect me from losing a little bit of attention. Really, I'm resting in a place you don't know anything about. And of course, you can't rest in sovereignty very well except we rest in intimacy, which is what verse 29 is all about in the bridegroom. Because he said, he gives the tip off, he goes, I've heard the voice of the bridegroom. He goes, my core reality, my core identity comes from the fact I've heard the voice of the bridegroom and I know his heart for me. And his heart for me and who I am before him is bigger than who I am before the crowds. And when we rest in intimacy, when we begin to live in a genuine reality, this transfer of affection of our heart and his heart, this the anointing to receive love and the anointing to give it back, when our core reality is rooted in this experience, it's the anointing to love, this transfer of holy affection back and forth, to feel love from him and to supernaturally be empowered to feel love back to him. Beloved, that is the place of our destiny and our primary reward. That's who we are. That's what we're made to do. That's when we are at our very best as a person. And John in verse 29, he talks about that. He says, I've heard the voice. I'm connected. I'm settled. I'm resting in intimacy. That's why I'm resting in sovereignty. He goes, the crowds can grow. The crowds can increase and decrease. But my inner man does not move when my profile in the sight of man moves. When it goes up, my inner man is solid and steady. When it goes down and it all goes away, my inner man is solid and steady. Because the reality of who I am is rooted in the voice of this God who is lovesick for me. I've heard his voice. I know who I am because I know who he is. It has nothing to do with how many people are gathering when I have a meeting. And of course, they're arguing about purification. And they have this carnal stirring about John's public honor. John says, don't worry about me. I'm fine. He says, matter of fact, he's going to make the point. I'm getting ahead of myself. But in verse 30, he tells him, he goes, I'm going to totally decrease. It's all going away. I already know it. And I'm totally at peace about it because I'm living somewhere else. I'm living internally somewhere that you don't understand because you're living externally mostly. Well, they were perplexed by John. Who is this guy? Well, let's get back to this. I'm trying to read the verse here. Verse 27, John answered and said, a man can receive nothing unless it's given him from heaven anyway. If I receive it from heaven, there's no demon or there's no man that can take it from me on the earth. Not really. They can rattle the cage for a minute. They can cause some disruption for a few months. Beloved, it is absolutely rock solid if God gave it to you from heaven. Men can rattle the cages, so can the demons. But this, they cannot be taken from your hand. Whatever sphere God has given you, the only person that can cause it to be lost is you or me. We can forfeit it by our unfaithfulness in God. But even then, if we repent, God restores. I mean, this is so amazing. Verse 29, John's going to now give them the secret to this resting in sovereignty. They go like, what's the deal with you? Do you really not care? He goes, I really don't care. I live somewhere else that you don't know. I live in the inside, in a reality that you don't know anything about. He said, he that has the bride, this cryptic statement. Here's the first, the grand introductory statement of the glory of God as a bridegroom God. Here's the great intro statement in the New Testament. He who has the bride, he is the bridegroom. But the friend of the bridegroom who stands and hears him, and he's talking about himself, he rejoices greatly. He goes, I'm not nervous. I'm not anxious with my diminished crowds. The crowds really were getting smaller. He goes, I'm fully alive with the supernatural ability to enjoy God, even when my crowds are going away. I have a supernatural ability to enjoy God when my crowds are going away. He goes, I'm full of joy. I'm greatly rejoicing. My spirit's alive. I have a free spirit. I have a happy spirit, even when the outside, the thing is diminishing and getting smaller and smaller. My spirit is getting larger and larger when my crowds are getting smaller and smaller. Beloved, that's supernatural. That's not the way of man. It's a supernatural reality, but beloved, this is within the reach of every person in this room. And they go, you know why I greatly rejoice? I've heard the voice of God as a bridegroom. A God, and when we talk about God as a bridegroom, there's many implications to it, but I'm going to reduce it in the most simplistic sentence so you can run with this, but there's certainly more to it than this. But the God who is a bridegroom means is a God who has burning desire and affection for you. The bridegroom God, it's more than this, but the essence of it in one sentence, when we talk about the bridegroom God, it's the God who burns with desire for you, even in your weakness. And John says, my crowd may be getting smaller, but my spirit and my capacity in my spirit is getting larger to experience this supernatural anointing to love, to feel it from him and to feel it back to him. This transfer of affection, my heart's flowing like a river. I love it. That's where I live. That's the power of my being, my heart, my inner man. He goes, oh, when I hear God's voice as a bridegroom, when I hear the voice of God as a God who loves me and desires me, when I hear that communication of his heart, he goes, oh, my joy is full. He goes, it's, I'm busting on the inside. And here they were, you know, hoping John would really give them all these accolades for standing up and defending his honor in public. John says, you just got the wrong guy. I was never really about the crowd. I'm about the man who speaks to my heart. He goes, I was into the crowd so I could get them connected to the man, not so I could get them connected to me. And the reason it hurt, it excites us when the crowd grows, it hurts us when the crowd diminishes, because the crowd is mostly about being connected to us. But when the, when the group, whether it's 10 or 10,000, if it's mostly about connecting them to this other man, it doesn't matter if the pay is the same, if it's big or small, the pay is the same before God. And then John says, I'll let you know, it's going to get a whole lot more intense than it is right now. He goes, not only are they going to him, they go, he is going to increase some of his prominence in his sphere of ministry. He goes, and I am going to totally decrease. And I am convinced I'm not going to take time now, but I've been a pretty energetic student on the life of John the Baptist. And that doesn't mean that all my opinions are right on it, but it's something that I've thought about a bit and put a lot of verses together. I am convinced John the Baptist, when he said, I am decreasing, he knew he was going to die soon. When he said, I am decreasing, he knew what that meant. And that to me is clear from Matthew chapter 11, but I don't want to go there. That's all, that's a, you know, we'll get off the track there. And then he goes on in verse 31 to 36 and talks, he talks more about this man who comes from above, is above everyone. He goes, the magnificence of this man. He goes, he ought to increase. Well, why? You've been fasting and praying for all these years in the wilderness. Oh, beloved, John could say, he comes from above. He is the king. He is the transcendent one. We're going, whoa, he comes from heaven. He's above everyone. John is beginning to function in that Isaiah chapter 40, because, you know, the voice in the wilderness that cries out, behold your God, and describes the power and the majesty of God. That's what John's touching, the Isaiah 40 revelation. Because Isaiah 40 is prophesied, the forerunner John would come and talk about the majesty and the transcendence of God at Christ Jesus, the second person of the Trinity. So John's touching that right here. And then he goes on in verse 35. I'll skip a few phrases here. And he says, let me tell you something about this one that's increasing. He goes, the father is absolutely lovesick over this man, and so am I. He goes, I want him to increase. The father loves him. He goes, do you know who it is that's increasing? You have no need to comfort me because my crowd is turning to him in reality. Well, I believe that God is raising up men and women today, young and old. I really believe the youth, I mean the youth, youth. The Lord is releasing this Malachi 4, verse 5 and 6, the spirit of Elijah. That's the John the Baptist spirit, the spirit of Elijah of Malachi chapter 4, verse 5 and 6. And the spirit of Elijah, Luke 1 17, is the same calling and anointing. And I believe as that spirit, that anointing, that calling was released at the first coming, it will also be released at the second coming of Christ. And I believe that that John the Baptist anointing, that spirit of Elijah anointing, is operating upon young and old today, right now. And if we cooperate with it and give ourselves to it, it will be enriched and increased in our lives. Because the fullness of the forerunner calling did not, was not fulfilled at the first coming, the bigger end of the forerunner promises are still yet to be fulfilled at the second coming. There is a forerunner company of people. I like how Lenny calls it. He goes, it's the Malachi 4 mission. It's the Joel 2 content. That's the forerunner message, Joel chapter 2. There's 10 key points in Joel 2. It's Daniel 9 lifestyle. I just love how we just coined that. It's the Malachi 4 mission. It's the Joel 2 content. That's the message. Because there's 10 really important principles for the forerunner ministry in Joel chapter 2. But it's a Daniel 9 lifestyle. It's the lifestyle of fasting and prayer. That's what Daniel 9 is about. I believe that God is raising up, the Holy Spirit is raising up people with this spirit on them right now. But this forerunner spirit is not just a fiery, confrontive spirit. It is confrontive and fiery. But if you only have Elijah in the Old Testament, you think of fiery and confrontive. But if you have John the Baptist, in whom Luke 117, the spirit of Elijah is on him, you have John's the only time in the Bible, John opens his heart and tells us what he thinks about his own life. It's right here. John says, I'm going to tell you something about the Elijah anointing. It's more than confrontive and fiery and zealous for righteousness. It is those things. But John could say, I'm going to tell you what's in my heart. He does it right here, only right here. It's the only time John reveals what's in his heart in a deep way. He goes, this spirit of Elijah is an anointing that causes me to encounter the lovesick God, the God who's filled with tenderness towards me and deep passion. John walked in something beyond Elijah at the first coming. I mean, when Elijah in 1 Kings 18, John was walking in a greater dimension than Elijah was in the Old Testament. But the Elijah anointing at the end of the age will go even beyond where John was. But beloved, central to this fiery, confrontive, zealous for righteousness anointing of Elijah is a forerunner calling that encounters the Messiah as a bridegroom God. It's critical that we understand that. Now, why do we care about studying John? Well, we care about studying John for two good reasons, and I'm sure there's more. Number one, John is the picture of the forerunner ministry at the first coming. No, John, as a forerunner at the first coming, is a picture of the forerunner ministry at the second coming. Whatever we can learn about John, the principles will be true of the forerunner spirit of Elijah before the Lord returns. And for those of you that have that calling, and many of you do, and one of the evidences of it is your passion for children. It really is an evidence of this forerunner calling. People go, I got the spirit of Elijah. I go, great. I'm called to be a forerunner. Great. What do you mean? And they talk about the confrontive element, which is critical. That's not small. They talk about the fiery, zealous love of righteousness. Great. They talk about dedication to prayer and fasting. Elijah, great. Let me ask you this, in your zeal to have the spirit of Elijah, do you know the Messiah as a bridegroom? Have you heard the voice of the bridegroom? Well, I've never gone there. That's critical. But let me take it beyond that, or in addition to that. It's a better way to say it. Do you have a heart for children? What? Children? No. I'm the man of God on the mountain. If you don't have a heart for children, you don't have the spirit of Elijah. That I assure you. If you're not growing in your understanding of Jesus as a tender bridegroom, and if it's that awakening of passion, and an understanding and a revelation as to how God sees the next generation, that's not the spirit of Elijah in fullness. I mean, it might be the beginning of it, but we want to grow into the whole thing, don't we? I don't want to just be confrontive of sin with the zeal for righteousness. I like that. I don't want to just be fiery in a manner of prayer. I do want that. But I want to be tenderized by the bridegroom revelation, and I want to be preoccupied by the vision God has for the youth that are raising up. Critical. They're all part of the forerunner calling. Well, I like John the Baptist, or not like him is not the right word. I focus on John the Baptist a bit in some of my study because he is a picture of the forerunner ministry at the end of the age, because he's the forerunner at the first coming, and so we get many insights about the forerunner at the second coming. But let me tell you something else. Here's another very important reason, Matthew 11, 11. Jesus called him the greatest man ever born of a woman. And any man, Jesus said, is the greatest man that ever lived. Beloved, why is the body of Christ all but totally ignored? John the Baptist, the greatest man that ever walked on the earth. He needs to be our role model. No, I'm serious. If Jesus said, that man is the greatest man that's ever walked the earth. It's like, well, that's cool. Let's not worry about him. Let's get into other stuff. Wait, let's rewind. What did you say? That man is the greatest man to ever walk. Okay, whoa, slow down the machine. Guys, we need to study the life of John the Baptist, because that is what God calls great. And he was a man of fiery righteousness, but a man of fasting and prayer, a man of deep contending for the, I mean, a life of contending for the deep things of God's heart. And he was a man, in Matthew 11, that the generation, I'm talking about the, the churchgoers. I'm talking about the ones that hung out the synagogue. You know what they said about John in Matthew 11, verse 17? They said he was demonized. They said, that man is dangerous. He's deceived and he's dangerous to the nation. Because that man is so gripped, he will take the nation off course. He is demonized. And Jesus said, let me tell you something about John the Baptist. In Matthew chapter 11, verse 17, when they say that, Jesus says, you say, you call him demonized. He goes, let me tell you this, his wisdom will be fully vindicated one day before God. You will see the full vindication of his wisdom. You wait and see of his lifestyle. He's the greatest man that's ever walked the earth. Beloved, we want to grapple with John the Baptist and his life and be challenged by it. Well, John now is beginning this fantastic first line. Here it is in the New Testament on Jesus the bridegroom. He begins with this phrase, he who has the bride. He that has the... What a, again, what a cryptic kind of unusual statement. Like, he that has the bride. And the, of course he's arguing with some of the Jews and John's disciples and some of the Pharisees undoubtedly were hanging around in the fringes and they're going, oh, we suppose you mean the new preacher from Nazareth. We suppose you mean that. And yes, I do. John says, I do. Well, you haven't done your homework. He's a single man. John says, no, you haven't done your homework. He's not. He has a bride in the plan of God. It's already established in God's hand. No amount of demons or the armies of men can stop this from happening. He possesses a bride in the plan and in the mind of God's heart, in the mind of God. Now we know in Revelation chapter 19, the bride will be prepared for him. And John, with all of the conviction, he goes, this man has a bride. He is, he is peering at, he's pointing at God's view of history is to produce a people who have, who are voluntary lovers of the Messiah in a bridal relationship. John fast forwards to the end of the book of Revelation to the, to the second coming of Christ. And he says, it's all but finished because of the finality and the certainty and the zeal that God has about this subject. He has a bride. I love the finality of this. He hasn't gone to the cross yet, but John could might've said, you know, if we could, it would have had all the language. He hadn't paid the price. John might've said, if you know him, you know, one thing for sure, he will not be turned away. He will pay that price. Trust me. He had, it's all but done. That bride is in his hand. Oh, there's so many statements about John's insight about Jesus in that one statement. He's giving a view of, of redemptive history. He's giving, he's giving a view of what life is about to be the people possessed by God is voluntary lovers to be possessed as the very bride of the Messiah himself. That is what makes our life makes sense. And that will go on for billions of years. Yes. The ministry is not working so good. Yes. A few relationships aren't working like we wanted. Yes. Our body's not working like we wanted. Yes. A few, uh, uh, finances aren't working like we want let me tell you this. I'm not minimizing the pain and disappointment of those kinds of real issues, but let me tell you, he possesses a bride. And the only thing that makes your life makes sense is if you become one of those wholly possessed by him as a voluntary lover, that is what the whole pressure and even the prosperity, the positive and the negative is about producing this in that you would be a possessed bride by that man. And if I do that, my ministry to get real big or real small and it's unchanged in its success. If I do that, if I don't do this, if I don't become a man possessed by Jesus owned of God fully as a voluntary lover, as in a bridal relationship with him, if I don't grow in that, it does not matter how many people I might reach through various means. I end up standing before God without accomplishing the point of why I'm on the earth. Boy, what a powerful statement. He that has the bride, he's a man that already possesses a people who are fully his. I'm going to be one of those possessed people. Again, it hadn't happened in time and space yet, but John says, you take one look in that man's eyes, that Messiah, I guarantee you, he will not be turned back from paying the price. It's done. And his father is already declared it. He's a lamb slain before the foundations of the earth. He will not be turned back. Well, let's look at the next one. Uh, B, now he goes on. He's tough. First he talks about a view of history. Now, uh, he, he possesses a bride. Now he's going to talk about a new view of the Messiah. He says he is a bride groom. This is very interesting. He is a bride girl. This is John's view of the Messiah. Again, as I mentioned there, there are a handful of verses in the old Testament that John could have quoted, but there was never a time in Israel's history where those verses had a dominant hold on the redeemed community. The believers as a whole never really felt the power of this truth as a whole, maybe one here, one there. And John's proclaiming with the authority of heaven. He is a bride groom. He's not like a bride groom. He is one at the core of his being. It's pointing to the makeup of this man's personality. Jesus chances. Let me tell you about him. He has a bride groom's heart. He has a passionate burning heart for humans. He is a bride groom. He's not like one. It's not something he does as a kind of prophetic picture. And then when the prophetic picture is completed, then he goes back to how he really is. No, he is really at the core of his being. If you could see his heart, he is a bride groom forever. He is a bride groom. This, this one statement gives us more insight as to why he acted in Genesis one. Genesis one tells us what he did. This verse tells us why he did it, why he did this thing in Genesis one. He used all of his wisdom and power to establish his affection for people as a bride groom God. We know what he did in creation. Now we know why he did it. He wanted to possess you entirely in love before himself. That's what he was after. He is a bride groom. He is a king. He is a king that speaks of his authority. He is a judge that's a necessary action he takes. He is a king. That's his position. He is a judge. That's actions he takes to remove everything that hinders love. But let me tell you, he's more than a position, a king. He's more than actions, a judge. He is at the core of his being a bride groom. He is a passionate lover of his redeemed people. He is a lovesick God. He is a bride groom. Oh, I can imagine John. He's, he's gone. He's out there. He's just starting to smile. He's loving it. The bride groom God speaks of, again, this is so just brief. I don't want to go into it. I have, you know, times we've spent weeks on these subjects. I'm just going to say it's so brief that he's a bride groom. He has tender mercy. That's the introduction to the bride groom revelation. The God of tender mercy. He's gentle with us in our weakness. If we will repent, he's gentle with us in our weakness. If we repent, we have some in our midst that say he's gentle with us in our weakness. They end it there. No, if we repent, he'll be gentle with us. He's tender mercy, but that's not it. He's filled with gladness. He's a God of gladness. That's not it either. I mean, that's not all. He's a God of burning desire. He has passion, affection. He's in love with you. He doesn't just rule over you as a king in a position. He's not just a judge who, who releases the actions that remove everything that hinders love. He is a God of love. He is a bride groom. It's the core of his being beloved. This describes the greatest privilege in the gospel that we have to come before him to encounter this God. Now we can, this view of God is what changes our view of ourself. When we see God different, only then can we see ourselves different. And that's something I've said for years. And those of you who've been around here, you've heard it over and over, but, and we get to the, we can get to the cliche of that and lose the reality of it. Beloved, I want to say this again. It's not enough to memorize the phrase. I'm saying that to the long-termers here. Well, that's cool. You know, we see ourselves different. We see him different, but then we live our life business as usual. We don't really see him different, but we know the phrase. That's not good enough. I only discover the glory and the dignity and the beauty of who I am. When I discover the glory and the dignity and beauty of him, then it reflects to the reality of who I am before him because of his redemptive power and grace. When I see him as a bridegroom, I begin to see myself as a cherished bride, as a man cherished by a lovesick God. It gives it a complete different meaning to my life that transcends how big the crowd is in the room. There's an anointing to love. There's an anointing to receive it and to give it back. There's a transfer of affection that is the defining reality at the core of our being as the redeemed. And when I see who he is, only then can I understand the beginning of who I am. And then I like me. I really like me more and more when I see who he is. You know, I share this all the time. You know, the woman prayed, Lord, I would love my neighbor as I love myself. The Lord whispered, you do. That's the problem. You hate yourself. That's why you hate your neighbor. You do love your neighbor at the level that you love yourself. That is the problem. And you'll never, ever love yourself. You'll never discover the glory of who you are by looking inward at yourself. You'll never find it in the pop psychology books. You'll never find it in your ministry, looking at others, what others say about you. The secret of the glory of who you are lies in the eyes of he that has a bride who is the bridegroom. And when I get more locked into that man, I find, I discover the truth of the glory of who I am. I can't get it from you. Oh, Mike, you're a great guy. Oh, Mike, you're a bad guy. Mike, you're good at this. Mike, you're better than that. I can't discover the mystery of the glory of who I am from your lips. Not a little bit possibly, but not that much. More times than not, we get distracted. I can't discover by looking in. What are my real passions? Well, I really like this and this. And people look inward to find the real me, the real, who am I really? The key to who you are lies in the eyes of a lovesick God. If you would gaze that direction, you would become fascinated with who God made you in him. You actually like yourself because God, we've heard it, God doesn't make any junk. There was no mistake. He made you precisely to touch an issue of his heart that no other human being could touch. It doesn't matter what your ministry is or isn't, your money is or isn't, your body is or isn't, your mind is or isn't, your intellect is or isn't, your personality is or isn't. It has nothing to do with that. He made you precisely to touch an issue of his heart that only you could touch. And when you tap into that, you begin to say, oh, I want these issues different in my life, but the core reality of who I am is solid. And it doesn't rest on what they say or how big the crowd is. Oh, what a place of freedom, what a place to live. And then John now switches gears and he says, I've told you, I've given you my view of history, who the bridegroom is. I mean, he has a bride. That's the right, that's God's view of history, a new view of history. I'm going to tell you who the Messiah is. He's a God with burning desire. Now I'm going to tell you who I am. I am a friend of the bridegroom. See, in John chapter one, a couple of chapters earlier, because we're John three now, they were asking, who are you? Who are you? Who are you? He would never tell him. He said, I'm going to tell you who I am now. I'm a friend of the bridegroom. I am absolutely gripped with this reality between my heart and his. So I've, I give my all my energy and strength to get others connected with this reality. I'm like the best man in the wedding. My meaning, there's many best men in the wedding. In this analogy, we are passionate about getting people who do not understand this connected in this embrace and getting out of the way of it. He says, I'm a friend of the bridegroom. I'm really interested if they enter into this new anointing to receive his love and give it back. If they get to this place where there's this transfer of affection flowing like a river between them, regardless what it looks like on my resume, I have connected and I have done well. I'm out of the way now. That's why prayer and fasting so critical. What we can do in prayer and fasting is to enhance this reality dynamically in a way we cannot achieve it without fasting and prayer, the spiritual dynamic of being released in the hearts of people. John now says, he goes, I stand and I hear him. He says, I'm the man that's not in the single sense, but he's describing again. John never talks about his heart, but this one passage, this is gold, the greatest man ever born of a woman. He opens his heart and he tells us about 15 issues about his heart. I mean, this is gold. This is, you know, whatever the guy is that gets all the great interviews. This would be the greatest interview you could get besides Jesus himself, the greatest man born of a woman. He goes, I'm going to tell you how I feel and why I do what I do right now. Beloved, we want to savor every single piece of revelation of this. I mean, every bit of revelation of this verse, John says, I stand and I hear him. When John says he stands, he's diligent. He takes a stand. Beloved, there's a human dynamic where we stand. It doesn't just come automatically. We go after this thing. He goes, I stand before him. That's the place of attentiveness. That's the place of it. He's exerting his own energy to go after this. It's a totally unnecessary new Testament principle, the grace of God. Some people have this passive deal. God has my address. If he wants to give me a revelation, he knows where I'm at. God says, you take a stand and you go after it. If you can live without it, you'll go without it. No, I'm going after this. There's a, there's a, there's a diligence, but there's a stand is more than an active diligence and exertion of our strength to go after something. Taking a stand is fearless because there's opposition. There's an opposition. There's a resolution. There's a, a resistance of everything that gets in the way. There's a willingness to, to confront all the small, uh, little foxes that destroy the vineyard. There's this resoluteness. He says, I'm standing. There's this fearlessness. He goes, I'm being opposed from where I'm moving, but I'm taking a stand. And there's this exertion of all the strength of his being to go after it. Those are the three ideas that come to me. When I look at this word, John stood before him. He exerted his strength. He was fearless against the opposition. And you take a stand for God, you'll get more opposition within the community of God than outside the community of God at first. And then he took a stand. He had a resolute desire to go to war against every compromise that got in between him and growing in love. He took a stand, but John didn't end it there. He stands and I hear there's, there's this supernatural ability to receive. John has a tenderized heart. His capacity to receive has been increased. He goes, I can hear. I'm not just going hard. I've actually could receive the anointing to receive the spirit of revelation. It's what we call that beloved. I want to take a stand, but I also want a spirit of revelation. I want to be able to hear the scripture says a hearing ear and a seeing eye is the gift of God. It's talking about the spirit, the ear that hears, that can receive what God's saying. I want to hear the voice of the bridegroom particularly. Well, I want to hear more than that, but that's the main thing I want to hear. Now he's going to go right to that. What is it that you hear, John? E, I'll tell you why my spirit is happy. And I know that it's almost over, he could tell him. I know that he's increasing. Not only are the crowds going down, I'm going to prison in a minute. I know it. This is remarkable because John had spent how long, let's say, I mean, you don't know when John really started the prayer and fasting thing, but he probably started 10, 12 years old. I don't know. You know, I don't know when he started 14. I don't know when he really went after maybe younger. I mean, he spent his life in the wilderness and fasting and prayer for so many years, 10 or 20 years. I, we don't know how 10 or 20 years for about now, some say six months, some say 18 months. It's a little debated how long before he's killed. How would you like to spend 20 years in fasting and prayer for a 12 month ministry? And to say it worked, it wasn't about my impact. Mostly I wanted an impact. I wanted to bring others into it. He goes, my heart heard his voice. I am totally alive in my spirit and I know where I'm going in a minute. You look at this guy, you go, man, I love the way this man lives. Don't you love it? It has this holy attractiveness to it. People talk a lot and I did it too. So I'm not picking on slogan. You know, there's slogans that go around and, and then you say them and then you don't say them anymore. And then now you pick on them, you know, but you used to say them. So bear with me if I'm hitting a soft spot on you, but there's a, in the prayer movement, I've heard it for years. I said it for years until I quit saying it. So we talked about paying the price in prayer. Throw that thing away. It's not even biblical. You know what paying the price in prayer really means? Endure a boring God, even in prayer, as long as you have to, sooner or later, God will break down and answer you. We don't pay a price by communing and pressing into a boring God. Maybe we pay a price because our mind's unrenewed and we have such crazy thinking and such a dull spirit. It's a hassle for a while, but we're not paying a price before God. He's not boring and we don't need to endure him. Nowhere in the Bible does it present prayer as enduring God for a season and finally the man of God breaks through and that's why he's a great revivalist now. No, it's, King David said this one thing, I gaze on his beauty. John was ravished with him. I think it takes wisdom to live a life of focus before God, but I don't think of it as paying a price because the implication is that God is boring and if we endure him, he finally rewards us. But he says, I greatly rejoice because I'm not hanging in there. My spirit is alive. Are you kidding me? Why is your spirit alive? What have you heard? You've been standing. What have you heard? I've heard the bridegroom's voice. Now, clearly John meant several things. He meant the man, Jesus, he actually heard his voice in reality, but it means more than that. John was not informed and fashioned in his entirety by hearing just the voice of Jesus. Many of his disciples even fell away even after they heard Jesus' voice. John is saying it's more than just a conversation with Jesus in the natural. He's, we hear the voice of the bridegroom by searching the word. You're doing it right now in the, in a very minute little way. You're hearing a couple little bullet points from me speaking and the Holy Spirit's registering a few little ideas in your mind. Maybe you're jotting a note down or hitting a phrase and you'll go out of here and you'll think on it and it will grow in you and in that way, in a very small way, but it builds over time. You're hearing the voice of the bridegroom by the searching and the hearing of the word, but not just the word of the general sense of, you know, just anything in the word. It's the word as it relates to the bridegroom's heart of passion and gladness and tenderness towards you. I mean, we could study the word and in that sense we hear God's voice in that general sense, but if I want to hear the voice of the bridegroom, I'm going to study the scriptures that pertain particularly to his heart of passion for me. That's why we do this every Friday night. I do it every Friday night. We've been doing it for years. I, as a, as a, just as a believer, not even as a leader, as a believer, I want to grapple with these truths. I want to study them. I want to dig them out. I want to say them. I want to do question and answers that we have a question and answer time with the Bible school students afterwards. I want to talk, think, prepare, say, feel, cry, meditate on these subjects all the time because I want to hear the voice of the bridegroom in them. And they're little whispers. They're just little incremental little nuggets of understanding that grow just a little bit at a time. Every now and then there's a great stroke of insight that comes to our spirits, but mostly it's very small and incremental, but we stay with it and by that lifestyle we hear the voice of the bridegroom. Well, we hear the voice of the bridegroom in very dramatic ways, not just those more incremental routine ways. That is the real standard way we do it. But there, there's the dreams and the visions. There's the night you go to bed and the Lord visits you in a dream and He shows you His heart as a bridegroom is tenderness for you. And that's like a giant step. You know, normally we take the baby steps. Every now and then there's a real big step. Oh, how about what John the Apostle said? I mean, this is just in a whole nother order. In Revelation 21 verse 9, John said, the angel came to me and said to John, look at, listen to this. Oh, I love this. The angel says, John, Revelation 21, 9, I will show you the bride. I mean, what if an angel appeared to you and said, I will show you the bride. Yes. Well, John says, I'm already in my mid nineties. I'm going to see her in a minute anyway. But yeah. But yeah, I want to see her. I believe there's going to be angelic ministries revealing the glory and the splendor of the bridegroom God and the cherished bride, the community of God in our splendor before God. We're going to have revelations about this. I mean, our, our, our, our day-to-day diet is the word, but there are those occasional experiences, the dream and that one rare experience where something even more dramatic than that, we don't know. I'm going for all of it. I want to hear the voice of bridegroom. Beloved, I want to be a voice. You want to be a voice. John the Baptist said, I'm a voice crying in the wilderness. He said that John one, but here he's at John three. You know why he was a voice in John one, because he heard the voice. You want to be a voice, take time to stand and listen. They go cultivate the voice, study it, meditate, go after it. I'm I said, Lord, I want to go after this. I don't want to be an echo. I don't want to just repeat ideas from others. There's nothing wrong with that, but I want it to resound with authority in my spirit with reality. I don't care that it's original, but I want it to resound with authority in my spirit with truth. I want to be a voice and the Lord might whisper and say, it's not like I've heard this, but it's just the biblical principle. You want to be a voice that go hear the voice of the bridegroom, feed your spirit on it, study it, meditate, speak on it, get with people who live in this realm, give yourself to it with dedication and resolution, stand, go after it, stand. Remember, it's that aggressive exertion of yourself after it. And then John says, therefore, this joy of mine is full. We're just going to end here in a minute on the front page. He said, this joy of mine is full. Oh man. Now look, look at the guy's lifestyle. Look at the size of the house he lives in. He lives in the Judean wilderness by himself with locusts and honey. How could you be so happy? Do you fish? Nothing wrong with fishing because they're all fishermen. No. Do you do this? Do you do that? What do you do? Do you kick back and watch a little TV every now and then? He goes, not much of that. How come you're so happy? What is it? Why is your spirit so alive? He goes, I'm out in that hot desert. He goes, there is something going on in my spirit with God. He goes, and there's nothing wrong with those extra things, but he goes, my joy is not found in those things. It's not found in what I have. It's not found in what I've accomplished. It's not found in how many people gather. It's not found in my accumulation of possessions. I don't have, my joy is not rooted in my security in the future of things. He goes, my spirit is alive and I know I'm finished on this earth in a small amount of time. I know I'm going to die. I know I'm going to be a martyr. I believe that you could prove that, that he knew that even here. But he says this, my joy is full, no despair. I mean, this, this is amazing. What is it that you want most in life? Whatever it is you want most, I assure you, the devil will use that to strike at you to get you offended at God. What is it you want most, absolutely most? Doesn't mean the devil will win, but he will strike at this area. I have determined in the grace of God, the thing I want most is the anointing to love, to receive it and to give it back. And then of course it overflows to others. I want this transfer of affection, this flowing heart. That's what I want most. And devil, you can't ever take that from me. You may take the crowd away of the building. You may take my retirement away or whatever. You may take my ability to go recreation and entertainment. You may take health. You may take, you might strike me in many ways. And I will resist all the striking of, of the enemy. But I tell you, whatever you want most is what he's going to strike at to get you offended at God. And John says, you can't touch my inner man, Satan. What I want most, you can't touch because it's buried in the secret place of my heart. I want the anointing to flow in this bridegroom reality. You can take my life, but you can't touch my heart. Beloved, this happy dedication. I mean, when he says this joy of mine is fulfilled, let's not just get this out of context. Do you know the context of which this 30-year-old man who's fasted and prayed 10 or 20 years with a one-year ministry is about to be a martyr living in the wilderness? I mean, why 2k on steroids? I mean, the guy is like totally out there. And he says, my spirit is alive. Like where is this man living at that verse, that phrase challenges my spirit and beckons me to a place in God. I go, Oh my, I want to enter into this reality. When you really examine the situation of where John was living. So I asked you, what do you want most? I'm not saying the devil will get it, but I'm telling you, the devil will strike it. He will strike it with one thing in his mind to get you offended. I've just determined by the grace of God, I'm going to, I'm going to pick the one or two things he can't touch and put them on my most list and take the natural things I do like and want. And I'm going to make sure the grace of God, they're down a couple notches. So if he strikes them and I, and he won't win them, it's just going to strike them. But occasionally I might draw back and there may be some ebb and flow in the breakthrough and the, and the struggle, but he's never going to touch the core reality of my being because my core reality does not rest in those things. I mean, that's the purpose of my heart. I mean, I'm not claiming I'm there. I'm saying that's the purpose of my heart. Then he says, this man, he must increase. I will decrease. I know I'm decreasing. Oh man, what a spirit. Amen. We're just going to end with that.