Mike Bickle emphasizes the significance of David's vow in Psalm 132, which he believes is pivotal for the church's current season leading up to the Lord's return. He discusses breakthrough theology, highlighting that while Jesus accomplished a complete breakthrough on the cross, believers are called to pursue a breakthrough lifestyle that manifests God's presence in their communities. Bickle encourages the congregation, especially the youth, to make or renew their commitment to seek a dwelling place for God's glory, emphasizing the need for unity and dedication among believers to inspire a greater outpouring of the Spirit. He reflects on historical revivals and the potential for a new awakening, urging believers to contend for a deeper experience of God's power in their lives and communities.

Well, Psalm 132 may be a new passage to some of you, but it's, so I believe one of the most significant passages for this hour of church history, leading up to the coming of the Lord, if I had to, uh, uh, summarize it, well, I call it the valve that changed history. It's David, King David made a vow that is captured, uh, in this Psalm 132. But if I had to summarize it in another way, I would call it a, one of the key passages on breakthrough theology. There's a breakthrough theology that's in the word that isn't always clear or popular, even among on fire believers, but a breakthrough theology leads to break through a vision for a breakthrough lifestyle. Now what I mean breakthrough, there's a twofold breakthrough. What Jesus did for us on the cross is breakthrough. Number one, what he accomplished for us in the spirit has been fully accomplished and 100% breakthrough has occurred in the realm of the spirit. And that's an, that's a very, very important doctrinal truth that we must be grounded in. But that's not the end of the gospel message. What he did for us on the cross. It's what he wants to do in us and through us because of the cross. That's breakthrough theology. Number that's part two. Anyway, we'll look, let's, let's look at this. Now I know many of you in this room are, are in your twenties and I was 25 years old, so I'm 58 now, so that was a long, that was over 30 years ago. I ran into this verse and I had a, a very powerful time with the Lord where he marked me with Psalm 132. I talked about it everywhere I went, didn't really understand it, but it gripped me, it gave me a vision that my, the, my horizon of my understanding was lifted by this passage. When I was again, 25 years old, I was living in St. Louis at the time I was church plant. I was doing a church plant. Young David made a vow. He made a vow in his youth. And I'm going to ask the Holy spirit to mark many of you in this room to make that vow in your youth. Those of you that you're past your youth to renew the vow or to make it for the first time, David, the Psalmist says, Lord, remember David, what the vow David made was so powerful that after David's life, they appealed to it. And they said, God, we know you're moved by that vow. So we're going to remind you of it because we know how dear that vow is to you. Remember David, remember what he walked through related to this vow. And there's a number of different troubles that this vow brings or afflictions or pressures, some positive, some negative, and these were dear to God. So much so the Psalmist knew to appeal to God based on the vow David made verse two, David swore to you, God, as the mighty, as the mighty one of Jacob. Now reason he said Jacob, because Jacob Genesis 28 had the open heaven of Bethel. Remember Genesis 28, Jacob Genesis 32 wrestled with the angel and got the breakthrough says, Oh God of the open heaven. And the God who wrestles and releases the breakthrough. That's the God of Jacob. Here's what David vowed verse three. Surely he said, I will not go into the chamber of my house. I won't go to the comfort of my bed. I won't give sleep to my eyes until I see a place on the earth where the full manifestation of your presence is happening to the degree that you've ordained it in my generation. That was the spirit of this vow. I want to find a place for the Lord. And he didn't mean go look for a city. He meant to create an environment where believers respond to the Lord in a way where God would respond back in an open manifestation of his presence. He called it a dwelling place, a place where God's presence was manifest in a way that was discernible to others, believers and unbelievers alike, an unusual manifestation of his glory, a place, a city. And David was aiming at Jerusalem. That was his city that he was going to. Verse six, he says, we heard of it and Ephratah, Ephratah is the area of Bethlehem. The reason this is significant, we won't really develop this much because David grew up in Bethlehem and the it, it says, we heard of it. That was the ark of the covenant. And some for some strange set of circumstances, the ark of the covenant laid dormant out of place just outside of David's little rule town of Bethlehem. And as a boy, he heard stories of it and he began to get a vision because the ark of the covenant spoke of the presence of God, the authority of God, the glory of God, and it wasn't in its rightful place. And David is a boy, even in Bethlehem, just down the road. He heard stories of it and it marked him in his youth. And here's the cry verse eight. Here's the intercessory cry that summarized that implies so much arise. Oh God, manifest your power, release the fullness of your glory, Lord. This is what we ask you. Now notice in verse five, the psalmist calls it a dwelling place in verse eight. It's called a resting place. And it's two key phrases highlighting the same truth, the resting place, the place where the spirit rest. Here's why the spirits resting, because he's not striving and arguing with the people, the people are in agreement with him. He's resting. He's not wrestling. He's not striving. He's not chasing them down to talk them in to obeying him. Talk them into it. Plus up. And it's also called a dwelling place, a dwelling place, a resting place. You can use those terms interchangeably in Psalm 132 paragraph B in this Psalm. And these few verses, we see David's life work summarized and captured his life work, beloved. It's your life work. You got ears to hears with the spirit of saying to see a dwelling place, a place where believers together in unity respond to the Lord in such faith and obedience and such agreement with the word that God has an unusual, a heightened measure of his manifest glory in the midst of those people. You know, a famous preacher once said, and this, and this phrase has been quoted by many, many preachers over the years, find out what God's doing in your generation, throw yourself into it a hundred fold, find out what the spirit is doing in your generation and just lay a bunch of other things to the side. Don't stand on the edges, throw yourself into it with abandoned. I heard that when I was in my twenties, some preacher, I heard that saying many times. And I said, Lord, I want to know. And I could tell you what the Lord's into. He's into raising up communities of believers, even in this hour, all around the world that will get a breakthrough in order to be a vessel, to inspire others, to get the full breakthrough. Now the breakthrough in the spirit on the cross has already happened. That's breakthrough. We that's our confidence is that breakthrough that we can contend for the full measure in experience in corporate communities of believers right now, all over the world, the body of Christ, that much of it, not all of it by any means, because there's an on fire element that's increasing, but much of the body of Christ, particularly in the world, Western world is in this spirit of lethargy and compromise. And God's raising up these catalytic communities of believers, even small groups of 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, two, three, four, 500, whatever. They have a vision for what God would do if a people would fully give themselves to it, a breakthrough for their city, where Jesus, the fame of Jesus would go forward in a way that's worthy of his name. I remember, uh, one prophetic man had an open vision and the Lord spoke to him in the open vision. He said, God will give the spirit without mixture to a P I mean the spirit without measure to a people without mixture. We don't earn the move of the spirit by our dedication. What God's looking for is weak and broken people that will come intentionally into unity, not just with ideas that he wants to manifest his glory in a greater way. That idea is very important, but it's more than idea. It's a lifestyle. It's a breakthrough theology that leads to a breakthrough lifestyle coming together in unity and believing for what the breakthrough in the spirit that happened at the cross would happen in our city and our region. And we would stir up others and inspire them to pursue that breakthrough in their own area. And I believe God's raising up communities like this, these catalytic communities, forerunner communities, thousands of them all over the earth that have a vision to go above and beyond what past generations have ever experienced. Paragraph C, this vow father, I vow I'll not rest. I'll not take comfort. Now David's using poetic language. He obviously did sleep. He does not like he stayed up for 17 straight years. That's not what it's saying. He's saying, I'm going to attend to this and I'm not going to leave it as the primary focus of my life to go build my own house, my own ministry, my own calling. I'm going to lock into this and wherever I end up in pursuing this is where I end up. Paragraph C, this vow is at the heart of the end time revival. It's the heart of the end time prayer movement. And I believe we're in the early days of that. No one knows the day of the hour, but I believe it's possible we're in the early days of that generation. It might, well, maybe we're not. Maybe it's your children or their children. But I think it's my opinion that there's believers alive on the earth that are that will actually see it. And maybe the two-year-olds, I don't know. Maybe the old guys will see it. I don't know. But I believe we're in the early days of that acceleration of dedication and faith and the manifestation of the glory of God, the purity of God, the love of God, all escalating together in communities across the earth that will inspire the larger body of Christ. Because God's principle is always he raises up a few, and that might be a few hundred, maybe it's a few thousand. He always raises up a few. And the few stir up the majority. And I believe there's thousands of communities out of millions. There's thousands. They're hearing the call. They're moving in. And my vision is for my own city here. But, beloved, I'm not a Kansas City guy. I'm a kingdom of God guy. I care about Jesus's fame in the earth. I love my city. But we're raising up a Bible school so that people get a vision for breakthrough, so we see it in the cities of the earth. And other Bible schools are doing the same thing. But in the midst of the Spirit stirring up people, there's another voice coming out of the pits of hell, even being mouthed through the body of Christ, calling the body of Christ to be comfortable, and content, and superficial Christianity, powerless Christianity, even though they have a name that they operate in power. That's what the Bible said. They'll have a name they move in power, but they don't. They'll claim to love the power, but it's not real at the core of their heart in terms of them giving themselves to the Lord in unity with the Lord of the power. Now, paragraph D, God seeks a resting place. Now, I have eight verses here in paragraph D you can look at later. There's more besides. But where this idea of rest, of God resting, because it's a strange idea, because God is obviously already resting on His throne in total security and confidence in His sovereignty. We're not talking about Him resting there. We're talking about in His experience with His people on the earth, the resting is in context to His believers on the earth. One of the key verses to this idea is found in Genesis chapter 6, verse 3. The Lord said, my spirit is arguing with my people in essence. He's striving. He's saying, do this, and my people are saying, no, I want to do that. And the Lord says, I don't want to strive. I want us in unity. I want a people that love the word and walk out the vision of the word. They have confidence in the breakthrough in the spirit that Jesus accomplished at the cross, and it gives them courage to contend with confidence for the breakthrough in cities and in regions, and even in their own soul. Well, I got a few other verses there. My point is, this is a biblical theology, though often neglected. God wants a resting place on the earth, not in one city. In David's generation, it was Jerusalem, because that's where the Ark of the Covenant was going. But in our generation, beloved, we're in that hour where there's going to be an explosion of the glory of God surpassing the book of Acts, but it's not going to be in context to a people who don't have the dedication of the people in the book of Acts. Some people think, well, it's going to happen no matter what. And it is going to happen, but your involvement in it is connected to your response to the Holy Spirit. Paragraph E. Well, I want you to see the big picture here for a moment. Just so you kind of get the big picture, then we're going to focus back into the here and now. Now, there's three measures that, in terms of when I discuss this or think about this, there's the partial measure of the breakthrough. I'm talking about in the outward experience where even the unbelievers can see it. That's what I'm talking about, the breakthrough. Breakthrough in the Spirit's 100 percent. The breakthrough in the natural is what we're talking about. Well, there's a partial measure. Wherever the church is, there's the anointing of the Spirit happening. The anointing of the Spirit is on everyone that's a born-again believer, because the anointing is on the new birth. It's the Holy Spirit and on the Word of God. But, beloved, we're talking about the measure of the breakthrough that we're walking in. Everybody can heal the sick. Even carnal believers can, because it's the authority of the name of Jesus. I don't want to just heal the sick here and there. I want to operate in a new measure of power, a new measure of the first commandment, a new experience of the heart of God, not just the introductory experience. Well, in this age, there's a partial breakthrough, a partial measure, and I appreciate it. I love it that I'm born again and you're born again and we're saved and we're seeing stuff and it's real. But there's something more. There's what I call the substantial breakthrough, the substantial measure. That's after Jesus returns and sets up His kingdom in Jerusalem, His throne, all over the earth for a thousand years. That's a substantial breakthrough, far beyond the breakthrough we'll see in this age. So the earth is filled with the glory of God. But then there's the ultimate breakthrough, because after the millennial kingdom, a thousand years, Jesus, right now we're crying, Come, Lord Jesus. At the end of a thousand years, we'll be crying, Come, Father. And the Father is going to bring His throne down to the earth. Beloved, can you even comprehend, I certainly can't, what it would mean, not for Jesus to have His throne, I mean, that's so awesome, but Jesus and the Father together having their throne on the earth in the natural realm. That's what Revelation 21 is talking about. Verse 3, when it says, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, it's not saying the throne of God is in heaven. That's not what it's talking about. The throne of the Father is coming to the earth. And for billions and billions of years, the ultimate measure will be all over the earth. Well, right now we're in the partial measure, and I love the partial measure. But even within the partial measure, I mean, people are getting saved, people are getting healed. I mean, great things are happening, but still 90% of the earth, 80% of the earth, 70%. I don't know the number. They're saying no to Jesus. So it's still partial, though I love it. It's significant. It's real. I love it. It's my inheritance in this generation. It's yours. But there's seasons of revival where there's a heightened breakthrough, even in this season of the partial, the church age. Top of page 2. Well, this is a review. You already know this. So I'm going to do this real fast. If you don't know it, then just ask your neighbor afterwards, what was he talking about? They'll be able to just break it down for you better than I can. We looked at that just last week. Paul made a dramatic declaration. If anyone's in Christ, he's a new creation. Our spirit man has received the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus as a gift. Beloved, that is remarkable. That's the breakthrough in the spirit that we're talking about. All things have become new. Paragraph C. We're fully accepted by God. We have the authority of the name of Jesus. We have the indwelling spirit. I mean, we have an anointing to lead people to the Lord and heal the sick and prophesy. Even believers that are living in a superficial life in the spirit, they can do that by virtue of the breakthrough that happened in the spirit at the cross. But beloved, I want more than just the breakthrough on the cross, what he did for me. I want it in me and through me so unbelievers see it. And Jesus is glorified openly on the earth by what I do with a company of believers in connection with other believers all over the earth. Paragraph D. Our relationship with the Lord is described in two different terms that are often used. They're not biblical terms, but they are biblical ideas. It's our legal position and our living condition. Very, very, I mean, very different truths. Both of them are critical parts of our relationship with the Lord. Our legal position is how God sees us in Christ. All things are ours. Breakthrough is complete. We've inherited everything. We have the full glory of God in our spirit, man. But there's another issue in the gospel besides the legal position. It's our living condition. It's how much we experience in our mind and emotions. It's how much that's manifest in our community where even unbelievers can see it. As I said last week, it's possible to have the full grace of God in your spirit, but live in defeat in your soul, in your mind and emotions. Many people do. They have the full breakthrough, the full grace in their spirit, the fullness of God, but in their mind and emotions, in their ministry, they live in defeat. Paragraph F. What Jesus freely worked for us, He progressively works in us and through us. What He did for us is final. What He does in us and through us to touch others is progressively increasing. Paragraph G. I talked last week and actually a number of times about the message of the gospel is the message of the good news of receiving salvation and grace in three tenses. The gospel isn't limited to the first tense to justification. The gospel message, the message of the cross, is all three dimensions of the righteousness of God through the work of the cross. The reason I say that, I know some folks that go, I love the gospel and what they mean is the truth of their legal position, but they're really, really negligent on their living condition. Beloved, that's the gospel. What He did for us gives us confidence to lay hold of what He wants to do in us and through us. It's all one message. It's all one reality. It's one message of the cross. Roman number three. Well, revival. We're honing in now. We're in the church age where the partial manifestation is happening. Again, 10, 20, 30 percent of the earth is saved, will be saved. I don't know what the numbers are. I don't really know. They all got, all the guys got different numbers, just whatever it is, it is. But my point is the majority of the earth is saying no. It's partial. But something very remarkable is going to happen. Ephesians 5, verse 27. This is pre-second coming. Paul said, prophesied by the Holy Spirit. He said there's going to be a manifestation of glory in the church. He's not talking about in heaven. You don't need a prophecy to declare that in heaven we're going to all live righteous. They understood that. This was radical. There's going to be a time through the context of a great outpouring and a great shaking. There's going to be the intense negative and the intense positive happen simultaneous on a global level. And the fruit is going to be a church walking with no compromise. When it says blameless, put the word, no, no blemish, no compromise. This is talking about the church's living condition. This is not a statement about their legal position. Well, it is. It has to be. But it's more than that. This is the church on this side living with no compromise globally. When I look at that promise, I get excited. But then I look at the condition of the church. I go, what is between now and then? And you might say something like, put your seatbelt on. Because between now and then, it's going to be radical, negative and radical positive coming together in a way that's going to create the environment for this prophecy to come to pass. We're talking about beyond the book of Acts. We're talking about a heightened manifestation of the glory of God. Well, John picked up on the very same theme, Revelation 19, the church will make herself ready. This is pre-second coming. This isn't getting up to heaven with our, you know, with our, in the presence of God with a resurrected body and then we get ready. That's not what he's talking about. This is a dramatic statement. Well, this isn't going to happen in a vacuum. God's not going to wave his hands and of all sudden a billion believers are on fire. The Lord's going to do it step by step using believers to stir up believers. And the principle throughout church history, he always uses small number, lay hold of the promise of God, throw their self into abandonment and they inspire the others to do the same. And again, that small number could be in a thousand kingdom communities across the earth. There are tens of thousands. I don't know the number. I don't care what the number is, but it's a small number compared to the number of people on the earth. I want to be one of those communities, but that's not enough for me. I want to be connected to you in your city and you be one of those communities too. He's not going to wave his hand and out pops this perfectly mature bride. It's not going to happen that way. It's going to be step by step decision by decision is how this thing is going to happen. It's going to go far beyond the book of Acts. God's raising up forerunner communities that have a catalytic impact, inspiring others to go after the vision, resourcing, inspiring, supporting. I want us to be one of those. I want you to be one of those back home. I want the other ministries to be one of those. I want everybody to be one of those because the fame of his name is worthy of it. I mean, the name is worthy Jesus, but his fame must goes forth to the nations. It's like a top of page three. Well, the last great revival before the Lord is going to be the church spotless without any blemish. That's the last great revival. What about the first revival in the New Testament times? Look what happened. I mean, there's only 120 believers. The number's small, but my guess is that it's every on fire believer on the earth. Maybe there's a few that didn't make it to the upper room. I can't imagine an on fire guy. Jesus is raised from the dead and they're too busy at work that day. I just can't imagine that. You know, Mary comes back. I saw him risen from the dead. All the apostles, a human with a physical body came from heaven, came out of the grave and ascended to heaven, beloved, or he sent it to heaven after that. But my point being the 120 showed up, but sometimes we get locked into the smallness. I think it's the whole body of Christ. I mean, again, they're not quite the body of Christ yet until the spirit come poured out on them, but it's probably every on fire believer in Israel gathered in that little room. Well, if that happened at the first revival, I believe that every on fire believer in the earth or really close to that is going to be a part of this kind of thing. Look, the wind broke out. The fire rested on everyone. You know, we talk about tongues of fire, but the part that I like that, but the part that blows my mind is they saw it. They go, Peter, look, because boy, I just feel so hot. What? Ah, it's all on you. Peter goes, what's on me? A fire. He goes, he goes, was on you too. I mean, they all saw. Could you imagine seeing with your eyes the fire on the other guy? What if everybody in the room fire rested on you? And it's not just you and I got fire. You saw it with somebody else. Wind's blowing. You know what happens when wind blows, when a fire, that fire starts spreading. Well, there's seasons of revival. Paragraph D throughout church history. Peter told him about it. See times of refreshing. Revival is those, those geographic areas where there's a heightened manifestation of the glory of God. Again, still partial. It's not the substantial of the millennial. It's not the ultimate of the new heavens and new earth. It's a, but it is a heightened manifestation of the glory. That's what David was contending for in his generation. A heightened manifestation that never has been seen before up to that time in history. Paragraph E. Beloved, we need to be students of the first and second great awakening. First great awakening in America. I'm just going to give you like a central date. 1750. I mean, it lasted several decades. So that's 1750. Some time before, time after the second great awakening, 1850. Again, a decade or two before and after. What a great awakening is. A great awakening is the manifest glory of God on the whole region. Like on all the east coast or a large portion of the east coast. It's not the stirring up of one ministry or one church. It's an awakening where the believers across an entire region of the nation are captured by the breaking in of the power of God. When I was in my twenties, I still do, but I really did it then. And I want to urge you to do this. I devoured the biographies of the men and women. I devoured them who were used in the first great awakening against 1750s plus and minus and the second great awakening, 1850s plus and minus. Some of you, I don't say it's critical at all. I say this to stir you up. Some of you don't even know about the first and second great awakening. And this, therefore, this is good news because these are some amazing stories, true testimonies of what happened because it's going to happen again in your lifetime. We have not seen a great awakening in the 20th century. We have Azusa Street. That was important, but it wasn't an awakening where millions were swept into the fear of God and radical devotion to the Lord. People got received to get the tongues. I'm not saying what I'm talking about. I'm talking about where regions came under the fear of the Lord. I mean, where all the churches, the people were crying out. There's always a few who don't, of course. I mean, something far bigger than the charismatic renewal. We've not seen it in the 20th century. I want to encourage you to, I want to stir up your holy imagination to go after these stories and read them. Well, the guy, two of the guys that really touched me in my 20s, well, I got Jonathan Edwards, John Wesley, Charles Finney, John G. Lake. Of course, he's, you know, like 1910, John G. Lake. I'm going to read a couple of stories, Charles Finney. Again, I'm 22, 23 years old. I'm devouring Charles Finney's book. I'm so captured by this. I thought, God, is that possible to happen again? And the answer is it will go far beyond this. Charles Finney was probably the most powerful in terms of number, numerical impact of any evangelist in the history of America. That's a guess. I'm talking about the raw power of God when he would speak the Word of God. He described and the others described, he would preach with such, I mean, he's a weak and broken man. It's not him. It's the measure of the spirit that will be released. Beloved, we're believing for it starting tonight, next week, and the week after. And if it doesn't, we're contending for the week after the week after. We're not waiting to do the work of the kingdom for this greater breakthrough in our region. We're doing the work of the kingdom with all of our heart now. But while we're working faithfully, we're contending for a historic breakthrough. It's not one or the other. I have some guys that go, we're praying for the revival. We're just going to stay in the prayer room until then. Other guys are doing the work and they won't spend a minute in prayer. No, it's not either or. We're faithful in the labor contending for the historic breakthrough. When I see a dwelling place, a resting place, using that phrase of David, that principle of where there's an unusual manifestation of his glory, where even unbelievers see it clearly, like in the book of Acts. Well, Charles Finney would speak with such power that he said that the word would go for him, through him, and it'd be like arrows striking people with such force. It was like an arrow struck them and they would fall out of their chair, not laughing, crying out in repentance to the fear of God. And they were soundly converted. Now, here's the thing that happened about Finney's miracle, I mean, revivals. The people stayed radical for decades, not for a summer, not for a semester, not till camp was over. They were radical for decades as converts, because they were born in the fire of conviction. And the fear of God and the reality of God touched their soul. Beloved, that's the kind of anointing I want on preaching and singing. Charles Finney, Charles Finney, again, he's so well known. He's all over the, you can Google Charles Finney and get more information than you'll, we got him in our bookstore. The winter of 1857, 1857, New York. Here's what he wrote in his biography. A great revival prevailed through all the northern states of America, because it swept the whole east coast. Up at the north is what he's talking about here, but over the decades throughout the, it swept over the land with such power. Listen, 50,000 converts were coming to the Lord every week. Not 50, 50,000 a week. And in an eight week period of time, an eight week period of time in the New York Revival, 1857, a half a million new converts in eight weeks, a half a million. Now remember, no microphones. So they're only talking as much as their voice can reach. No cars, no trains. So people only get to the meetings by walking or on horseback. No microphones, no electricity, no cars. How do 50,000 people get saved every week without some system in place? Because there was a manifest glory resting on the church all over the northeast. Because the revival had such carried on to such a large extent. It was carried on through the lay influence. Now, Finney was the lightning rod that stirred them up and they all became preachers. He said, the lay people, that means the non-full-time preachers because they had the lay and the full-time. Now we know everybody's in full-time ministry, whether they're on the church org chart or not. He said, the lay people were so gripped by the power of God, they were so involved that the ministers were just thrown to the shade. I like that phrase. They threw the preachers to the shade and let the people who the fire of God was touching, because they all became the preachers. Prayer meetings that had been going on for several years, because the prayer meetings had been going on for a number of years. Another famous statement that's often repeated, when God's about to do something in a nation, He sets the people to prayer. The beginning of prayer and enthusiasm for prayer is always the first sign of a breakthrough coming down the road. And this wholesale, global enthusiasm and conviction about prayer, beloved, it only means one thing. There's a breakthrough that's unprecedented, that like the prayer movement is unprecedented in numbers. What does that mean? That means a breakthrough is coming at a level beyond anything we've ever known. Here's another Charles Finney story. I love this one. I've used this many times over the years. He was in a cotton factory. He was preaching one night. Some people in the cotton factory were touched. They said, well, you come to our factory tomorrow. Because he didn't know him, he walked up to the factory. He says, it was owned by an unconverted man. He goes, well, I walked into the place, and I could see as I walked in the power of God begin to take effect on the people. I hadn't said a word yet. He said, when I went into the factory, I looked around. And as I observed, there was agitation in all the people. They began to tremble and be agitated. And I hadn't said a word yet. I could see they were a good deal agitated. I went slowly towards them. They saw me coming. One of the ladies began to mend at this cotton factory. A broken thread in her hands trembled so bad she couldn't. I slowly approached closer. Another lady did the same. I came within 10 feet of them. They began to burst out in tears and repent. The unsaved, the unconverted factory owner, the owner of the establishment came into the room when he heard the noise. He saw the state of things. He said, stop the mill. Let the people attend to religion. It's more important that they get attend to religion than we run the factory. He said, I have scarcely seen a more powerful meeting that went on in that factory by the power of God. The building was large. The revival swept through the factory in such astonishing power that within a few days, every single person in the factory was hopefully converted. Beloved, that's the power of God. I like one-on-one witnessing, and we're going to do it. I like one person getting saved. I love it. Angels rejoice. We're not going to put down one person getting saved, but we're contending. The Lord gave one brother an open vision here years ago, Noel Alexander, that there'll be a season in Kansas City where we'll see 7,000 converts every single week coming to the Lord, and it will go on and on and on, seemingly without end to it. Well, that will break the nets. So there's got to be apostolic order and wisdom in play. Well, I don't know how the Lord's got to figure all that out. It's not, you know, whatever. I'm going to move on to John G. Lake. John G. Lake, about 1910. The testimonies I've read from very credible men and women of God, Andrew Murray is probably the most credible testimony. He's probably one of the most godly men in, you know, the early 1900s in the body of Christ of the earth. He wrote all the books on prayer. Wrote about 50 books. Famous for his books on prayer, about 50 of them. And he had a very large ministry in South Africa, very established, like a scholar, but a man of deep devotion. He said, John G. Lake, who came to South Africa from Chicago. The Lord said, go to South Africa. He said he had a ministry more powerful and miracles than the early apostles. This is Andrew Murray, probably the most credible man in the body of Christ in South Africa, said this. He said, I've never seen anything like it. Well, let me read a little bit about John G. Lake. He's in Chicago. He's a businessman in Chicago. He says, well, the ministry of healing was opened up to me. I ministered for 10 years in the power of God. Beloved, there's an anointing the day we're born again to minister in the power of God. I mean, even live in a superficial spiritual life because of what Jesus did on the cross. He goes, hundreds of people were healed through my ministry, hundreds and hundreds. I could feel the power of God through my hands sometimes when I prayed for it. But at the end of that 10 years, I became the hungriest man of God that ever lived. My friends would say, Mr. Lake, why are you so troubled? You have a beautiful baptism of the Holy Spirit. He said, yes, that's nice as far as it goes, but it didn't answer the cry of my heart. There was growing up in me a deeper understanding and a greater hunger for what could happen if I would give myself fully to God. Prayers, answers to prayers were more frequent. Healings happened more often. I felt myself on the borderland of a great spiritual breakthrough. But I was unable to fully enter in. My spirit was not satisfied. I kept pressing in. I went into more fasting and more prayer, more waiting on God because I had the vision there was more. I laid aside hours a day, certain hours a day for prayer. Again, he was a successful businessman in Chicago. He had a full-time job. I was determined to pray through, here it is, to receive the measure of the baptism of the Spirit that the early apostles had. They said, Mr. Lake, you have a nice baptism of the Spirit. He goes, it's nice as far as it goes. I love that answer. He goes, one day we went to pray for a lady in a wheelchair. She had inflammatory something. It's too big of a word. Rheumatism. That's it. She had been in the condition for 10 years. My friend was talking to her, preparing to pray for her. This is when a breakthrough happened for him in terms of his ministry. My soul was crying out to God. I was sitting across the room. Suddenly, it seemed like I had passed under a warm tropical rain shower. It was not falling on me. It was falling through me. The awe of God rested on me. I didn't know what was happening. The Holy Spirit said, I've heard your prayers. I've seen your tears. You are now filled, baptized in the Holy Spirit. Currents of power began to rush through my being instantly. The shock of power increased in power as the moments went on. As these currents of power passed through me, they came on my head, rushed through my body to my feet. The power was so great, my body began to vibrate intensely. Now, some people fake that, but this was a real one. At that moment, my friend said, John, come on over and pray for the lady, because the friend didn't get what was happening. At that instance, my hand touched her. A flash of power went through me, and the shock of power went through me and hit him, and they both were touched by the power of God. He fell to the floor. He looked up. He said, praise God, John. I think you're baptized in the Holy Spirit. The woman's clenched hands that had been there for so many years instantly began to work. I found from that day forward, I moved in a varied range of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Healings were of a far greater order. My nature became so sensitized, I could lay hands on any man or woman, tell what organ was diseased and to what extent. I tested it. I went into hospitals where physicians could not diagnose a case. I would touch a person, and I could tell what was happening in them. And he goes on and on and tells more. We've got all the John G. Lake books in the bookstore, too, and they're all over the internet. I'm going to tell you a couple more. 1908, I'm in South Africa. He's now, he's in 1908. He's there for five years. Saw 500,000 documented healings in five years, 500,000. He goes, one night, the power of God came over me in such power, it was like streams of liquid glory flowing consciously off my hands like streams of electricity. I'd point my finger at a man, the stream would strike him. One man stood up to interrupt me. I said, I pointed at him. He struck as if dead and lay there for three hours. And he, when he became normal, that's what he says, he goes, he said, what happened? He says, it felt like something shot, somebody shot me. I ministered to the sick with streams of power flowing through my hands. With such power, people would fall violently 10 and 15 feet away. I would just hold my hand up and the power of God would hit them. And there were heaps all over the floor and almost everyone was healed instantly when they hit the floor. It came within 10 feet of me and the power of God would hit them. In 18 months, we birthed 100 new churches in 18 months. 100 churches in 18 months, 500,000 healings. At that time, my heart said, there's more. He said, there's more. And I begin to seek God. I abandoned my soul to God. I said, I will discard everything in my life and pray for the full breakthrough. Oh, God, come. He said, he will come in power. Don't back up and don't draw, don't draw back. It goes on to say, one time in South Africa, a fever epidemic struck for about a 300-mile area. Many were dying in their beds. Wives, children, whole families died in the night with this fever struck. For one month, one-fourth of the entire population of that 300 miles died. One-fourth of them. There was no answer. I had a man in my company, on my team, who had an anointing to pray like I did. I've never seen any man with an anointing. He remained under a thorn tree as we were ministering to the sick. I would pass by him in the morning and I'd hear him crying out to God. I'd come by in the evening. I'd bring a meal to him. I'd arouse him enough just to get him to eat. He went on for days. I said, brother, are you getting through? He said, not yet, not yet. He said, it's soon. I know it's soon. He said, brother Lake, would you kneel down and join with me? I knelt down to him on my knees as we prayed. The Spirit of God overwhelmed both of us. I found myself no longer kneeling under the tree. But somehow, I'm in an open vision. I'm moving out from there somehow about 100 feet. My eyes opened up. I saw a scene as I've never seen before. I saw a multitude of demons in the Spirit. And the Spirit came on that man and He rushed after them, cursing them in the name of Jesus. The next morning, the epidemic fever was broken and it was gone out of the region. Well, I got to sneak one more in. I mean, there's John G. Lake books. There's about 10 of them. I mean, these things, you can't read them too much. He was a business guy that had a vision. He wasn't a preacher. He was a businessman that prayed for the sick all the time after work. And then he quit his job, went to South Africa, got the breakthrough and said, I'm getting a greater breakthrough. He said, in the mail, a request came to pray for an insane young man. The mother said, as far as I could tell, my son has a devil. He's been mad since the day he was born. He's like a wild animal. He won't wear clothes. He smashes everything that comes near him. You can't give him a dish to eat. They put him in a center of an enclosure of a stone hollowed out area and they would put the food in there like a wild animal. My friend and I went in that room. We tried to catch him. He was wild like a lion. We jumped. He jumped over us. As strange as all this sounds, I know, but I'll never forget what happened. I looked across to that young man. I felt the lightning of God go through my soul. And I knew if I got my hands on that man, the devil would come out. And I did. And in a moment, I commanded the devil to come out in two minutes. He was instantly sane and was for the rest of his days. He has more and more stories like that. Well, I'm going to go just a few more minutes. This is my time to quit, but I'm going to go another few more moments. Since I got you leaning forward, paragraph H, the Holy Spirit's raising up catalytic communities, forerunner communities. Again, we're believing God for thousands of them. Some guy says, is it you? No, it's not us. It's the body of Christ in the earth who will ever go deep, who will have the vision to say yes, and they won't take no for an answer. That's the group. It's all over the earth. Those are the ones that will stir others to join them. We're contending for the fullness of what God ordained in our generation, because our generation will go beyond the former one. But when the Lord comes, it's going to go up. The measure will go higher. Then when the Father comes, it goes up another measure higher. So we want the fullness of the measure that God has ordained for our generation. Now, some people, paragraph G, they don't know there's different measures of grace. They think that one size fits all. Yes, in our spirit, we all have the fullness. It's instant. It's free. And everything after that is free too. Seeking God doesn't mean we earn it. It means we position ourself to receive a greater measure. We don't earn anything. Top of page four, I'm coming down to the end of this. Verse two, David vowed to the mighty one. Verse three, I'll not go to the chamber of my house. I'll not go to the comfort of my bed. It's not going to be business as usual, because his house meant his own personal comfort and welfare, his own inheritance in the natural, his own whatever he could build and carve out. That meant that's what he meant by his house. He didn't mean just the building. He meant all that goes to who I am and all my resources. That's my house. Because I'm not going to buy into comfort. Not as long as there's not a breakthrough, because I'm going to give myself to this. Again, verse one, Lord, remember David, the psalmist knew that God was so moved by David's commitment that they appealed to David. Verse five, he said, I'm going to do this until, until, until beloved refused to be denied, refused to be denied. We're going to keep doing this. Someone says, well, the breakthrough hasn't happened. It says, I don't have a time limit. I'm going to do it to the end of my days. And when a breakthrough comes, I'm going to contend for a greater breakthrough even after the breakthrough. Beloved, by the grace of God on my deathbed, if I die before the Lord returns, I'm going to be asking God for a breakthrough even that final day. I want more. This is real. This is real. I'm not talking, I'm not cheerleading right now. I'm talking about your life and a vision for your city, whatever city God has you in, for whatever years he has you in. I saw, I read Finney. I saw, I read Lake. It gave me a vision. I saw David's vow. Again, I was about 20, I was 25 years old. I said, Lord, I couldn't let go of this verse. Started prayer meetings every day. By the grace of God, 30 plus years later, I haven't stopped them. We do them every day. We've had them every night since those days, every day. They're not very powerful, but the Lord says, it's not your powerful meetings. It's you before me agreeing with me. Let me measure where the breakthrough, how, when, where, what, and why. You just do your part. You contend for it. You seek it. I love this verse 6. We heard of it in Ephratah. Again, David grew up in Bethlehem. Ephratah speaks of Bethlehem just a couple miles over the hill. That's where the ark was. David is a boy. I believe he got the vision for this breakthrough in his youth. Paragraph B, he had a higher priority than his own house, his own calling. Beloved, there's something bigger than your music ministry, your preaching ministry, your business, your outreach. There's a bigger storyline going on in this generation. And I like my assignment, but I want to be with a company of people that are pressing in for that which is unprecedented, that it's the highest thing God will give in this generation. And it doesn't come by people just going, rah, rah, rah. Isn't that an awesome deal? I'm Psalm 132. Let's do it. It's talking about not breakthrough theology, but breakthrough theology that leads to breakthrough lifestyle. Psalm 69. David's vow was never recorded in Scripture, but here's what David says. We get insight into that vow he made. Look what he said in verse 7 to 12. Let this verse mark you. David's a young man. He says, verse 7, for your sake, he's talking to the Lord, I borne reproach. That's an interesting phrase. I bear shame. Verse 8, my brothers treat me like a foreigner. He had eight brothers. He goes, they treat me like I'm not even in the family because of the things I believe and where I'm going. I mean, they were of the house of faith of Israel. They were sons of Jesse. Why? Why does he have this reproach? Why does he have this tension, even with his own physical brothers, his eight older brothers? He tells you, verse 9, because zeal for God's house. He goes, it's got a hold of me, and I'm not backing down. I don't care what my eight older brothers tell me. The reproaches of those that reproach the Lord are on me. They're all mocking me because I have a vision for it. I'm going to see a breakthrough in my day. They said, Davey, Davey, you're so cute. He was the youngest of eight brothers. Verse 10, I wept. I chastened my soul with fasting. Now, don't get a negative. It's not a negative thing. He says, I gave myself fully. And I tell you, it said there was a rigor in it. That became my reproach. My brothers laughed at me for my vision and my lifestyle. Verse 11, I became a byword to them. They would tell jokes about me. All the family gatherings would laugh at me because of the way I was pressing in. Well, he ended up king, and he ended up with a dwelling place of God in Jerusalem. Verse 1, little Davey got the breakthrough. Look at verse 12. Those that sit at the gate, that's the elders of the city. These are men of God. They speak against me because I go to the tavern. The drunkards are making up songs about little crazy Davey who's praying and fasting. He believes God's going to break through in his generation. I believe that what David went through is what many people will go through as well. I believe that fear of criticism from the body of Christ takes the vision out of more believers that would press into God. They get a little criticism, and they give up their vision because they want everybody to like them. Someone says the L word, legalism. Ah, yeah, ah, I'll quit praying, fasting, believing, and I'll just live carnal and coast and be happy with superficial Christianity like you. So you'll think I'm in grace. Please don't say that. They don't even know what legalism is. They got it off of Google. They don't even know the definition. Honestly, I've talked to more young people that talk about legalism. I go, what is it? Well, you know, just, uh, I don't know, trying or something, something in it, something like that. This boldness with no understanding at all. But boy, you say that word. I've seen more on fire, 20-year-olds, 25-year-olds lose their vision because a few cool people looked at them and said, bah humbug, chill out. They went, ah, and they threw their vision away. David said, I bore reproach. My brothers mocked me. The elders of the gates cast me off. The drunkard sang against me because I had zeal. I chastened my soul with fasting. I had a vision to see a dwelling place of God. And little David got the breakthrough in his generation. End of the message. Paragraph D, David dies. God speaks audibly to his son, Solomon. Here's what he says. Solomon, verse 8, 2 Chronicles. The Lord said, this is Solomon speaking. He goes, the Lord told me that he spoke, he spoke about my father to me. He said to my father back in the day, whereas it was in your house to build a temple for my name, you did well that it was in your heart. Meaning David wanted the breakthrough of the Ark of the Covenant and the glory of God. And he saw that breakthrough, but he wanted even more. He wanted to build a temple. God said, no, he goes, we're going to put that presence. There's a kind of glory. Your son's going to build the temple. But then he told him, he says, but let me tell you something, David. You did well that you were contending for it. He goes, it moved me that you were so moved. But that was actually for your son's generation. But I loved that you wouldn't let go, David. Solomon said, God told me that my dad moved him. He did well. And the Psalmist after that, they would appeal to God. God, remember David. Remember he pressed in. Remember the vow he made. Remember the vision he had. Remember what he endured. Remember the mockery from the people of God because he wouldn't back down and wouldn't give in. Amen. Let's stand.