Mike Bickle emphasizes how Jesus prepared His disciples to overcome offense, particularly in the context of unexpected sorrows and challenges. He highlights the urgency of Jesus' teachings in John 16, where He warns the apostles not to stumble or fall away amidst persecution and trials. Bickle draws parallels between the early church's experiences and the challenges faced by the end-time church, urging believers to cultivate intimacy with God and maintain an eternal perspective. He stresses the importance of asking the right questions during times of sorrow and understanding God's perfect leadership, which ultimately leads to spiritual growth and resilience.

Okay, let's go ahead and grab a seat. Thank you, ushers, for making these notes available. Father, we come before your presence in the name of the Lord Jesus. Father, I ask you that you would shine the light of your countenance upon us, upon our hearts and our minds, even now. And Holy Spirit, inspire our hearts and enlighten our understanding. Come and mark us. We ask you, Holy Spirit, to mark us and teach us tonight. In the name of Jesus, amen. Well, we are on session four of this series on John 16. For those of you that are new with us, our plan is to do seven series, each 15 parts. John 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, so almost 100 messages, just taking it line by line, phrase by phrase, and just really camping out and marinating on it and not getting in a hurry. Because my premise is John 13 to 17 is the greatest teaching given by the greatest teacher in human history. And I believe it's his preparation even for the end-time church, for the mature bride. So I think it's really critical to take time line by line. And this one, we're talking about how Jesus prepares us to overcome offense. Now, paragraph A, my premise in John 16, verse 5 to 7 is that the way that Jesus prepared the early church, particularly the apostles, on that Tuesday of the final week and Thursday at the Last Supper, two teachings, one's on Tuesday and two days later on Thursday, and then he dies on Friday. I believe that the way he taught the apostles, prepared the early church, it's the prototype for how he's preparing the end-time church. He taught them how to overcome. In chapter 14, he said, don't let trouble and fear dominate your heart. Chapter 16, verse 1, he says, don't stumble or fall away. He's really saying the same sort of thing. He says in verse 19, just to get a review of chapter 15, the world hates you. This was a couple sessions ago. They are going to persecute you. These things I've told you. Now, here's the key phrase, so that you should not be made to stumble. But now I go away to him who sent me. The point I want you to see here is that the urgency that Jesus had to train the apostles so they would not stumble. Stumble is a vanilla word. It's too vanilla. Most translations use the fall away or be offended. The New King James, that's because you say stumble. Oh, you know, we have a hard week. I stumbled a little bit. This is a really a big thing he's saying. Now, imagine the urgency Jesus has that the apostles would not fall away. Like the apostles after three years would not be offended at his leadership. Now, the reason I'm stressing that is that many believers today, they don't take this John 16 1 seriously. They don't take John 13 to 17, the teaching that they would not stumble. I'm talking about his original apostles. We want to take it personally. I mean, we take it seriously in our personal life, but also in our ministry life as a shepherd. And many of you are teachers and disciple makers. Take this seriously. People you know and love will be tempted to stumble, to literally fall away from the faith. But John 13 to 17 gives us key truths to equip us along with Matthew chapter 24 and 25. Now, remember these apostles, their names are on the foundation stones of the New Jerusalem. I go, and you're concerned they would stumble? Like, yes. He reminded them they would encounter persecution. That's what we find in chapter 15 verse 19 and some many verses actually. But here's the next thing that you might not catch. But he also is teaching them that God's purposes unfold in ways that are radically different than they expect. For instance, verse 5, he says, I don't want you to stumble. Then verse 5, he says, because I go away to him who sent me. And every one of those words has meaning. But the point I want you to see goes, I'm going away, which he means I'm going to die. This is Thursday night. He dies Friday afternoon. They don't know he's going to die. He's told them numerous times, or three or four times in the gospels at different months apart. They still do not grasp it. And the idea is God's purposes unfold in surprising ways. I mean, in ways that are very different than what we're imagining. There are going to be some shocking new developments. The reason we care about that in their life, because it's a prototype of the end time church. There are going to be surprising developments that will cause temporary sorrow. And the Lord says, don't be offended at me. Understand my leadership. And of course, John 15 before John 16, two thirds of the first two thirds of John 15 is the cultivate an intimate relationship with me. That's critical to this whole training and preparation. Paragraph B, it's important that we see paragraph B, the, what I mentioned here, there's a great difference between what actually happened compared to what the apostles thought were going to happen. And the reason I care about pointing out this great difference, because I believe there's parallels in the end time church. We have this idealism, natural idealism about a great revival. And we believe in a great revival, but the revival is going to have difficulties associated with it that are not really grasped by much of the idealism in the Western church about revival. And these early apostles, they had this same idealism and it, it really disrupted them, but they got through it. And I believe God will have a victorious church that gets through it, but we need to be braced and paying attention. We need to be growing in our intimacy with God and we need to be training the next generation in these things. They believe, for example, some of the differences, they believe that Jesus was the Messiah. And of course that was the term he used the most about himself, son of man, but the son of man, Daniel seven, the famous son of man prophecy. And by the way, every time Jesus talks about himself as the son of man, he's referring to Daniel seven, verse 13 and 14. Everybody agrees with that. This is the premier son of man prophecy. And he tells the apostles, I am that man. Well, that, that man overcomes all the nations, overthrows every empire, every opposing force. These apostles, they think he's going to overthrow the Roman empire. He will and does, but they think it's coming soon. They think he's going to establish his global kingdom, physical political kingdom. That's going to happen, but they thought it would happen soon. I believe I have the end of paragraph B my, I assume they felt the final revolution against evil had started. I mean, outwardly expressed driving evil off the planet, like in the millennial kingdom, they thought they were going to rule Israel with him really soon. For instance, number one, only a month earlier, only a month earlier, Peter had asked them, asked Jesus, Jesus, we left everything. What do we get? And Jesus in Matthew 19, verse 28, again, this is a month before he dies in April, AD 30. This is March. Jesus said, you that have followed me, you're going to sit on thrones with me. You can read the whole passage. They're going, wow, this is a month earlier. Number two, this is only two days earlier. In Matthew chapter 25, he said, I'm going to rule all the nations sitting on my throne of glory. They are so excited on Tuesday. Paragraph C, I'm outlining seven principles that I think are important to equip, that was important to equip them, but also important to equip the, the end time church. Now these principles at a quick read, you might not catch them, but I think if you look at it a little bit, you say, yeah, these principles really are there. Now there could be 10 or 12 principles in these passages. I like the number seven, plus I only have four pages to work with. So I just put them out there. I'm not pretending or claiming this is comprehensive, but I think these seven are critical. First in verse one of chapter 16, verse one, he says it again. He says this several times, actually, I'm teaching these things so that you, the apostles would not stumble. You'd not fall away. Okay. Verse four, he said, I've told you all these things, John 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, these five chapters, so that you would remember you're going to be persecuted. I want you to remember. Verse five, this phrase in verse five has so, has about four or five significant applications. He goes, I'm going to go away to him who sent me. And none of you ask, where are you going? There's, you see, you'll see it in the notes, the implications, but I'll say right now, first point, he goes, I go away. I'm going to die. They don't get that, but I'm going away to him, to the revelation, one God, the God and the royal throne and revelation. I'm going to him who has all power in victory. I'm going in victory with joy in my heart, because I'm going to him. I'm not going to prison. The Romans are taking me away. I'm going back to my father in victory, but it's also saying I'm going to him who sent me because the God I'm going to isn't just the God of power. He God so loved the world. He sent me to you. That's how much he thought of you. God so loved the world. He sent the Holy Spirit. The God I'm going to is deeply committed to you enough to send me and the Holy Spirit, his entire divine family. He sent to the mission because he loved his people that much. That's what he means by him who sent me big statements. He goes to none of you are asking me the right questions. You're all asking me the wrong questions and the sorrow that's about to confront you. And if you don't ask me the right questions, we're not going to be in the right conversation. I'll tease this out when we get to it. He goes verse six, but I've said these things to you and I've told you some of what's going to happen. His sorrows filled your heart. I mean, they all, he also told them about the glory, but he says in verse seven, nevertheless, I told you the truth. Now you look at verse six and seven. Now I don't like something here. Well, good for you, Mike. I would like verse the beginning of verse seven to go with verse six. He's saying, I told you things that will make you sorrowful, but I told you the truth. Then verse seven is, but it's to your advantage. Because when you read this at a quick read, it sounds like he's saying, I told you the truth about the advantage. Nobody's troubled with being offended because they're going to go to heaven. Nobody's troubled. There's the glory of God in our future. They're troubled because of the sorrowful things they did not expect. So when he says, I told you the sorrowful things that filled your heart, I told you the truth, meaning I care enough about you to tell you things that you would not necessarily appreciate when I told you. The reason I say that because God's shepherds in this hour have to tell the whole truth, not just the glory. And then he ends with this phrase, he goes, if I depart, I will send him a Holy Spirit to you. Now this is something they did not grasp. And again, I'm getting ahead of myself. They thought, why do you have to die to send the Holy Spirit? Why don't you just send the Holy Spirit? There are things in God's heavenly government that were not clear to them, the way God runs things. And in the end time church, there are things that are not clear to his end time leadership that are going to come. They're going to be surprises. But if we're growing in our intimacy with God and we're developing an eternal perspective about our life and we're in kingdom relationships with other believers of like heart, like spirit, we're going to be prepared and ready to go. The end time church will be victorious. Many will fall away, but the great ingathering I believe will be far greater. So you can, I'm going to, those seven principles, I've got them written there and you can go over them slowly, but we're going to take them one by one. Top of page two. And again, why do I care about teaching these seven principles? Because they were trained by them, so we're trained by them. And some of these are new ideas that are not immediately obvious to us. So we're going, oh, note to self, good to know. Okay. Didn't think about that. And of course, that's why we have John 13 and 17. Paragraph D. We're starting off with the reason for him teaching that you should not stumble. Again, the word stumble. Most Bible translations don't use the word stumble. They use the word that you would not be offended or fall away is the most, most translations use the phrase so you would not fall away. The word stumble is just too vanilla. Jesus is not wanting to create fear, but he wants to create urgency in them to be prepared spiritually. Urgency to go deep in their relationship with him. Remember John 15, the first two thirds is intimacy with him. Be urgent, because to so many, intimacy with God is a cool phrase, but it ends up just kind of being rhetoric. It's a cool phrase. It's cool phrases and songs and make posters and, you know, and blogs about it, but not really do it. It's critical or urgent to do that. And we're urgent to develop an eternal perspective. Well, later that night, because John 16, they're still in the upper room at the last supper. Later that night, or they're in proximity to the upper room, right actually next to it. They actually stepped outside of the upper room, but they're on the temple premises. But another hour or two later, Matthew 26, he goes, I want you to know all of you are going to stumble. You're going to fall away from me, not permanently. You're going to abandon me. All of you will tonight. And they're looking and going, Peter goes, I'm not. He goes, Peter, take this seriously. And many in the end time church today across the earth, this is not even on their mind. I think I'm not going to stumble. I'm okay. I'm got a nice job. I'm in a nice church and a home group. We're doing fine. And the Lord saying thing, something was about to come to planet earth, an intensity of trouble, but an intensity of glory that's beyond anything that any of us are truly picturing with clarity. It's going to be more intense than we imagined, more glorious than we imagined. And the end time church will succeed. They really will. Said Matthew 24. That's on, on Tuesday. He goes, many are going to fall away. Many are. Paragraph one. Jesus spoke of the blessing some months, some many months earlier. He spoke of the blessing of not being offended or not stumbling or falling away when events unfold that cause sorrow that the disciples didn't expect. Let me say that again. Jesus is telling his disciples, but also the disciples of John the Baptist, you're blessed. If you don't get offended at me, when sorrowful things happen, that surprise you because that's going to happen to everyone. Let's look at John Matthew chapter 11. Now this is a really a passage I put lots of times in. So I'm going to, Lord, make me be restrained to do this in 90 seconds. Because I really love Matthew 11. John's in prison. He sends two disciples to Jesus and they say, are you the coming one? John is not questioning if Jesus is the Messiah, like many people preach it. It's not at all what John's doing. John's doing a, being a faithful shepherd and pastor. He knows that he's going to die. He already said in John three, he goes, I'm a friend of the bridegroom, but I'm going to decrease. He's increasing. He knew his time was over. His disciples didn't understand this. So he's in prison. He goes, hey, go ask him. I mean, I know who he is, but he didn't say, just go ask him. And he's saying, Jesus, you know what to do when they come, you get what I'm doing. So they come to Jesus. Are you the one? Of course, every one of them knew Isaiah 61, the prophecies of the Messiah. Heal the blind eyes, the deaf ears, open all these things. He does it right in front of them. Isaiah 61. He did it. You are the one. They all knew those messianic prophecies. I mean, all the Jewish community knew it, especially the disciples of John the Baptist. They go, yeah, amazing. Jesus goes, wait, before you go, I want to give you a proverb. Blessed are you if you don't get offended at me. Well, why would we be offended at you? Just remember that. Be blessed. People get offended at Jesus because of what he does. But they get offended at Jesus far more by what he doesn't do. He's not going to deliver John because in the very passage, he quotes, blind eyes, deaf ears. He opens prison doors. John's in prison. You're the Messiah. Jesus is not going to open the prison door, but he could. So he goes back to John, to apostles, I mean, to disciples. John goes, what did he say? Oh, it's amazing. He did the prophecies. John goes, good. So you know it's him. Yes. Did he say anything else? I know my cousin Jesus. Did he say anything else? Well, some little proverb that didn't really mean anything. Well, tell me what it was. We'd be blessed if we don't get offended at him. John goes, good. Remember that. Let that get a hold of your heart. Because Jesus cared about this. Now, my passion and as many of you, I believe in this room here, I want to equip. I don't mean singly, but I want to be a part of thousands of shepherds, millions, whatever the number, I don't care to equip the next generation, not to be offended at Jesus's leadership. Because we've, we've called them and taught them how to cultivate intimacy. We've helped them establish an eternal perspective. We've taught them the biblical, the biblical perspective of persecution and why it benefits us and why it happens. We've taught the end time storyline. So we don't catch it all, but we know this, and we're braced and okay, and we're growing in love. And so when Jesus doesn't open the prison doors for the John, the baptist is, but an evil king kills him and seems to prevail. We don't, we say, Jesus, your leadership is perfect. We're not offended at you. Jesus was good. Good. You're learning what I'm teaching my, my disciples. Paragraph two, the most tragic reality in all of human history is the end time falling away from the faith. It's one of the great profit. I mean, not great. One of the most clear prophecies about what happens in the end times is negative. There's 10 or 15 categories of negative in the end time storyline with 10 or 15 categories of positive to Paul prophesied of an end time falling away. Look at this here. I'll just give you a bunch of verses and just look at one second Thessalonians chapter two, verse three. I want you to grasp this. Paul says, let no one deceive you no matter how they present it. Don't let anyone trick you. The second coming, the day of the Lord, when I return, it won't happen till the falling away comes first until the antichrist is revealed and established on a global level. That's what it means. The son of, uh, the man of sin is, uh, revealed, established in his evil empire. Two of these, these massive things. Now think of the antichrist established on a global level in government. That's big, right? That's really obvious who he is. The end time falling away will be that big and that obvious. Meaning I was taught in my early years that the end time falling away was something progressively over 2000 years and it's been going and it's not a big deal. Paul says, no, I will put the two main signs that will be alarming will be those two. There's others besides those two, but those are the two he picked. Somebody says, well, is there going to be an end time falling away or a billion soul harvest? I think both. I believe simultaneous with the falling away is a massive end gathering. I believe well over a billion people, but I believe millions who have a testimony of loving and believing Jesus will deny him and step away. Millions. I think hundreds of millions will come into the faith. Nobody knows the numbers, but I know it's massive and it's, I believe it's already started. We're at the beginning of it. I've been, you know, preaching the word right now. I'm I'm just past 50 years and in the last five years, I've seen more people with the testimony for years of walking with the Lord, backing away more in the last five years than the 45 years before that many guys, my age and gals say the same thing. They go, well, what's going on? It's only beginning, but a great end gathering is coming to paragraph three. I want to say this with a shepherd's heart. Number three, I don't have any interest to argue with anybody about this passage, but I believe so many are going to be offended believers when they actually find out they're facing the pressures of the great tribulation. They're going to say, wait a second. So many godly, sincere, brilliant, spiritually deep men and women of God for a hundred years have taught millions. They will never ever see these things, but they're going to see them and millions are going to be unprepared. Now, I've had people over the years because I am really sure the church will go through the tribulation in the glory of God. It's our church's greatest hour. It's when the great harvest comes. A lot of people say, let's have a debate. I don't want to argue with anybody. If you, if you think you're going to escape it, you want to meet, let's just talk and love Jesus and worship, pray for each other and share testimonies. I want to argue with you and see if you can get some little word to trick somebody to win an argument and everybody claps like, no, this is way too serious for that way. It's a crisis of massive proportion, the millions and millions from different camps, not just the pre-trib rapture, but and several other camps to the, even some of the revival streams of their idealism. This is going to be glorious. It's going to be amazing. It will be, but it's going to be more challenging than we imagine. A lot of idealism going on. Jesus said, verse 21, this is on Tuesday because he's preparing them again on Thursday. He goes, there will be a great tribulation. Verse 29, after it, immediately after this, everyone will see him in the clouds. Verse 31, the great sound of the trumpet and the saints from one end of heaven to the other will be captured and caught up to meet the Lord in the air. That's the rapture. Nothing could be more clear than this. And again, I've believed this for many years. I started in the other way, my earlier years. And again, I'm not interested to argue with anybody. I love so many people who have a different view of this and I believe in their sincerity and they're smarter than me and they know the Bible better than me, but it is a air of significant implications to millions of people. But the Lord says, hey, little guy, that's me. The end time church, they're my people. I got a plan. I'm going to, it's going to work. It's not your deal. Yes, I want you engaged. It's my deal. It's going to work. My apostles were not ready, but I got them ready. So I have a spirit of optimism, but I still want to do my part. And I still want to speak clearly and plainly because of love. Not, not, I don't want to argue, but I want to win hearts. I want to win hearts, not arguments. That's why I've refused every panel. We've had guys want to come here on zoom calls. No, that's wrong guy. Other guys want to debate with me of the gifts of the spirit. I go, no, no, let's talk about the beauty of Jesus. And I promise you, your wife's going to have a prophetic dream anyway. It's going to take care of itself. I've said that to several pastors that want to argue about it. And I go, no, no, let's not do that. Okay. Principle number one, paragraph eight. He says, remember, we must remember the biblical teaching about persecution. Now again, and the Western idealism about the future revival, they don't need to remember the biblical teaching about persecution. They've never heard it. It's not in the conversation. I mean, maybe 1%. We've got a lot of work to do before we get to the stage of, Hey, make sure you don't forget it. We got to establish it first. Why God allows it, what the benefits are, what his commitments are. We got to remember those number two principle. This is in reference to the phrase when he said, I will go away. I have it written here again on just so you can see John 16, five, because every phrase is so important. I will go away. Phrase one to him. Phrase two, who sent me? Phrase three. You're asking me the wrong question. Phrase phase, phrase, phrase four. That's it. Sometimes I wicks my words up, but, um, we can't be offended. Jesus said, I'm going away. I'm going to die tomorrow. None of them are expecting this at all. They did not expect to hear him speak of going away in death. Here's my point. We are far more vulnerable to be offended by sorrowful events. If we don't expect any of them and it's just not on, I mean, people, maybe a little bit, it's going to get rough. We need to have a clear biblical view. And I don't have a clear biblical view. I mean, a fullness, I've got a view and I'm growing in it. And I'm saying, Lord, cause the fog to lift. I want to see this more clearly. I want to see what you see and feel what you feel about this hour of human history on the planet. Number one, the surprising sorrows, Jesus, what he's saying, I will go away. He's highlighting the fact that there will be circumstances that change suddenly that creates sorrow. Now, why do we care about that happening 2000 years ago? Because it's the prototype of the end time church to there. It won't be the Messiah dying. That's not an issue. Things will happen that will surprise us. Paragraph two, Jesus said, if you really listen to me, here's he's in John 16, back in John 14. I told you I'm going to the father in victory and triumph. I'm coming home with a successful mission and he's pleased and all heaven's rejoicing. And I've secured the way for you to be in the family forever with resurrected bodies, with the father forever, with no devil, no sin. This is awesome that I'm going away. Of course, all they saw was the sorrow. We'll get to that in a minute. He said in John 14, if you loved me, you would rejoice in what where I'm going to be real soon. But so much sorrows in your mind, you can't even go there right now. Top of page three. The third principle was to focus on God's eternal purposes. Now, again, he says, I go away. That's he's going to die, but I'm going to the father. That's big stuff. He's saying to them, think it through, guys. I'm returning to the revelation for royal court of heaven with a completed plan that is going to secure your eternal glory forever. Something big is happening. Lock into that or you'll only you'll swallow, be swallowed in sorrow. Paragraph H, the fourth principle. I call it confidence in God's good leadership. Again, this is the third phrase of this passage. He goes, I go away. Let's die to him. It's victory. It's glory to the one who sent me. I said this earlier. I'm not just going away to the God of all power. I'm going away to the God that loved you so much. He sent his entire divine family down here, me and the Holy Spirit, to invest in the mission, to make sure that you would succeed. He's thought of everything. His leadership is perfect. God so loved the world. He said, there's only begotten son. We know that. Let me say it again differently. God so loved the world. He sent the Holy Spirit. God so loved the world. He thought of everything to make us succeed. Jesus is saying, my disciples, you're in the hands of a God who sent me. Think about what that means about he thinks about you, about what he thinks about you. Do the math. He's got an excellent resume of goodness. His banner over me is love. That's our confession. His leadership is perfect. Look at the very end of paragraph H. Thinking rightly about God's leadership is essential in being prepared to overcome offense in this hour of history. We have to think rightly because the devil is going to lie. And it's not going to, everything won't appear immediately like we think it should. But he goes, remember my leadership. My resume is perfect. If I sent the son and the spirit, do you think I forgot? I'm deeply invested in your success because I love you that much. Middle page three. Let's look at paragraph I, the fifth principle. We got to ask the right questions. When we talk to God, when it comes to things that create sorrow in our heart, individual sorrow, or I mean, in our individual life or just collectively in society, there's, there are 10 things in the global or just the national, you know, a conversation and, and experience a lot of crisis, a lot of sorrow, like, oh my goodness, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, some of them will change and some of them will not change and some new ones will appear and some of them will go away. We don't know all this. The Lord says, I don't necessarily want you to know everything I'm going to do. I want to give you the broad strokes. I want you to trust my leadership, not just know what's going to happen with details. I've given you plenty of details of these 150 chapters on the end times, given many details. I don't want to give you all the details. I didn't give the early apostles all the details. I gave them many, but not all. I want them to cultivate their intimacy with me, have an eternal perspective, develop that have godly kingdom friendships are tied in together and commit themselves to obey. And when they send rise up, push, delete, and jump right back into the relationship with confidence. He goes, but your problem is you're asking the wrong questions. You know, sorrow's coming. Don't complain about the sorrow. Ask me the right questions. Now that doesn't, you might not catch that right off the bat, but in times of intense, unexpected events that cause sorrow, as we engage in the right conversation with God, by asking the right questions, we receive more from God, more insight, more grace. Here's the normal questions we ask when we have sorrow. How can I avoid it? How can I get out of this sorrow? I asked that question. I'm going to keep asking it, but it's not the main question is the point. It's not a bad question, but it's not the main one. It's not the question we ask first. How can I get out of this? The other question, and you can put 10 of these, say different ways. Where's a God of love in all this crisis? Where are you? Where were you? It's more of a complaint. God can handle that. He's got big shoulders, so to speak. He says, I can handle that. I've dealt with people for years. I love them, but the right questions, the sorrow comes, the sorrowful events. Father, what are the kingdom advantages for your people? Where are the kingdom advantages for the advancement of the gospel in other places? Show me what's not obvious in this sorrow. The Lord goes, ah, that's the question. We want to train a generation to identify the right questions. We could ask the ouch questions. Those are legitimate. We're human. We don't want to make those the number one question, though. Number one, he says, none of you asked me where are you going? He had already made it clear to them in John chapter 14 verse 27 and other times. I'm going to the Father, which is to the glory of God in victory. They're asking the wrong questions, and here Jesus is tipping them off by showing them the wrong approach to handling the sorrow so they don't get offended. That's what's going on right here in Pastor Jesus. Look at number two. This John 16 and 5 at a quick read seems to contradict because Peter chapter 13, he asked. He goes, Lord, why can't I follow you? He said, I'm going. Why can't I follow you? Peter thinks Jesus is going to another city because remember, this is Thursday two days earlier. He told him the temple. I've abandoned it and every stone will be torn down. Okay, that's Tuesday. Now we're at the last supper because I'm going to prepare a place for you to be in the Father's house. They're thinking Jesus is going to go to another city. Surely at Israel, no one knows, but to establish a new temple set up because he abandoned that one with those wicked Pharisees that were full of demons. So Peter goes, I'll go with you. Where? Jesus is going, no, I'm going to heaven through death. Well, he doesn't say that just yet. So Peter thinks he's asked the question, then Thomas, I have it here in chapter 14, he asked the same thing. How could we know, like what city is it? How can we go? They were asking questions, but they were so preoccupied and what they were losing, they couldn't grasp any of the implications of the glory of what he was talking about. So they didn't ask him about what he said. I'm going to the Father. They asked how they could go to the new city with him and don't leave us here. I mean, if we're gone, if you might be gone for a few months, we're going to, we don't even like each other that much. I mean, we argue all the time. Please don't leave us here. We want to go with you. Jesus says, you're not asking the right questions and the sorrow you're about to face. Matter of fact, their questions were actually subtle protests of Jesus departing. We want to teach a generation to ask the right questions. We want to find them ourselves, do it ourself, and then train a generation. Paragraph J. And verse six, he says, because I said these things, sorrow has filled your heart. That's the whole verse. He has said some pretty strong things. In verse five, the verse before, I'm going away. I'm going to die. Made him sorrowful. Verse two, you're going to die. And he said a number of other things that made them sorrowful. There's a betrayer in your midst. And Peter, you're going to deny me tonight. Like what? He had a number of things that made them sorrowful. They didn't believe any of them. There's a paradox I have in paragraph J between temporary sorrows and our ultimate advantage. Now, I don't like temporary sorrows. Humans, I don't like sorrow. I don't want it. I want out of it quick, quicker, the better. But I don't want to lose sight. There's a bigger story when I feel pain in my heart. Jesus knew they were only focused on their temporal sorrow. They had overlooked all the things he had told them over and over again. Paragraph K, principle six, they're going to focus on the ultimate advantages, not the temporary sorrows. Here's our default as believers, because God has such a great resume. I mean, he really does. His leadership is proven time and time again. It's perfect. When you doubt his leadership, and you don't even believe all these things, go outside. Do it tonight. Look up at the stars. What wisdom. You did all of this to make our lives on earth work. He says, I do it every single day. I show you my commitment to you. The sun shines every day. And look at the stars. I did that for you. Okay, it's pretty good. Pretty good. But more than that, but he's given a picture of his resume in the sky, says it in Psalm 19. Look at the heavens. They declare the glory of God to anyone that honestly looks up in the day or the night. And there's something so consistent, so perfectly for the human condition, for the 6,000 years of history, so we could survive. Plants grow. Fish grow. Animals grow. The population grows. The Lord says, I provide day by day. I feed the birds even every day. So whatever happens, our default is God's working for our ultimate advantage. He's proven it time and time again. Number one, it's to your advantage. Now, it didn't look like to their advantage. They go, you're going to go away like to a new city somewhere for some months or how long? Of course, he didn't address that. Then he dies. This is my advantage. What are you talking about? Jesus is saying to them, when I die, I'm going to send you the indwelling spirit. And I know you can't believe this. I will be closer to you than I am now. They're looking at him. And if that conversation happened, I don't know if it happened just that way. They would have said, we'll take this. We'll just take this. We're good. Just stay with us forever. Jesus goes, no, actually, I'll communicate with you at a far deeper level, more powerful with more clarity than I do right now. What do you mean? Look at Hebrews 10. When I said the spirit, the spirit's going to put my word into your emotions. He's going to stir your emotions. You're going to love the things I love. I'm going to put my law instead of law. I'll put my scripture, the word of God. I'm going to put it in your heart, your emotions, things that you hate. Initially, as you grow in God, you start loving the things you used to hate. Like, wow, you start hating the things you used to love. Like something happened to me. It doesn't happen overnight, instantly, slowly. He puts his word into our heart, our emotions, but more in addition, he writes it on our mind. Jesus told those apostles so many things they couldn't remember them. With the indwelling spirit, they remember them with understanding. Jesus says, I know you don't believe it. You'll remember and be moved by what I say. Right now, I've told you so many things. You argue with each other and you're all going to betray. You're all going to fall away tonight. You're not ready. My audible voice to you cannot get you ready. My truths are important. You need the indwelling spirit to remember it and to grasp it. That's why people, they're, they're confused because they, you know, a prophet type guy or girl, lady, whatever, over through many years, they have these audible voice encounters or heavenly encounters or an angel appears, and then they do things. You think, ah, why they do those things? An audible voice, an angel is not the same as an ongoing conversation with the indwelling spirit. An audible voice won't change. You might change your understanding, but without the spirit's help, you'll forget it in a month. I mean, you'll technically remember, but it won't be on your mind much. We need the indwelling spirit for this to grab us. A lot of folks go, just have an angel stand in front of me, telling me there's too many people that have seen angels, and it doesn't shift their mind or their emotions. Paragraph two, with the indwelling spirit, Ari, the benefits of the transformation in us and the benefits in this age and the age to come are dynamic, but only with the indwelling spirit. Jesus is saying, trust me, it will be way better. You'll be stronger. You'll be clear. You'll be anointed when you go out. Your dream life will be different. Your imaginations will be different. If you only hear me tell you, when you're over on the side, you'll argue with each other. You'll put each other down, but without indwelling spirit, I got you at a whole nother level. They don't believe it. Top of page four. Now, I'm going to repeat what I said a half hour ago. In verse six and seven, verse six, Jesus said, because I said these things, sorrow has filled your heart. And I believe this next phrase goes with verse six. Nevertheless, I'll tell you the truth. But somewhere, the people who organize the chapters and verses, they put, nevertheless, I tell you the truth with the phrase, your advantages are coming. Again, no one's troubled. Nobody's tempted with offense because of advantages. They're tempted with offense because of sorrowful things. And what Jesus is saying, I told you sorrowful things, but know this. I'm a true shepherd. I tell you the truth. I don't hold it back from you because you might be mad at me. I will tell you the truth about what's coming. Paragraph I. Same thing happened to John. This angel appears to John the apostle in the book of Revelation, Daniel, Revelation 10. This angel says, here's this book of prophetic truth of the end time storyline. He goes, eat it, devour it. It was a symbolic act. He takes this book of the end time, the end time story, the biblical narrative of the end times, the book of Revelation. And he takes it and he goes, eat it? He goes, yeah. So sweet. I love it. But a little while later, oh, I got a stomachache. It's bitter because when we nourish and feast on the truth of Jesus's leadership, the beauty of Jesus, bridegroom, king and judge, his masterful plan, he's got every detail in place. We love your leadership. We love you. We love this story. But when some of the events happen, ouch, there's sorrow in it. And then the angel said, verse 11, but you do have to prophesy it, John. Oh, I have a bellyache. You still have to say the negative stuff. Say it with a broken heart, but you have to say it. And he did, which is the book of Revelation, which is drawing from the 150 chapters, you know, mostly from the Old Testament. Paul said it in Acts chapter 20. He's leaving the city of Ephesus. The greatest revival of the book of Acts was in Ephesus, which is Turkey, modern day Turkey. In Acts 19 and 20, it was a revival far stronger than even Jerusalem and Antioch. He was there for three years. I mean, Paul was not anywhere for three years, you know, as an apostle under the anointing being released by God. And he left and he goes to the elders. He goes, I'm going. But know this. I didn't hold back anything. I told you everything. I told you the whole counsel. The blood of men are not on me. I've told you everything. The idea is that I did well. He's told the elders, you better do the same. That's his message. He's not just bragging about himself. He's saying what I did to you, you do to them. Because the whole council, everyone loves the popular truths, but the unpopular truths, a lot of really good ministries, they, I mean, sincere is what I mean by good. And they know the Bible. They won't touch the unpopular themes. Paul had lived in the tension of the sorrow with the rejoicing, like John, the honey, the sweet message, because we love the beauty of Jesus, but ouch, the pain in the stomach, but we still say it. Paul said in second Corinthians six, he goes talking about him and other apostles. We are sorrowful, but we have rejoicing. It's not one instead of the other. It's the two together. Principle seven. This is a little different, but it's important to understand. They must seek to understand. They must seek understanding of aspects of God's heavenly government that are not yet clear. It's like, what? What is that being? Okay, glad you asked. Jesus said the phrase, he said, if I depart, I will send the spirit. Because the spirit wasn't sent till Jesus paid the price for sin on the cross, rose from the dead, and ascended to the father's right hand. And they're thinking, they don't even know what that means. And Jesus says, no, Acts two, Peter gets it. He goes, oh, look at verse 33. He goes, I get it. Jesus was exalted to the right hand. The father gave the spirit to Jesus and Jesus sent the spirit. Well, that was a new development. Jesus would say, no, it was always the plan. God wanted a human to pay the price for sin. He wanted a human to raise from the dead and break the power of death. He wanted a human to ascend and sit at the right hand of God in heaven with a human body. He wanted a human to release the spirit to the human race. The apostles would go, we didn't know that. Well, it's a really important part of God's heavenly government. Oh, well, Elijah got the spirit and the Messiah didn't die. Spirit came on David, but this indwelling spirit wasn't released to the earth until a man did all of that. Oh, that's weird. Maybe. Interesting. Here's my point. Paragraph M in the middle. In a similar way, God's in time church. God has plans. I don't think there's thousands, but there's some, there's some things, some developments and breakthroughs we don't understand yet. They will surprise us just like this one. When he said, I have to go to give you the spirit. They were going, no, you don't. Elijah got the spirit without you. The Messiah died. He goes, yeah, no, no. It's, it's part of God's government. You don't know it yet, but you'll get it. And in revelation 10, well, that's the same passage that I just talked about, eating the scroll that was sweet as honey. The angel said, John, the seven thunder revelations, seven prophetic words. But he goes, John goes wall. The angel said, no, seal them up. You can't write them. These seven things are going to happen. They'll happen in their time and they may surprise a lot of people. So as a end time believer, I'm looking at the early church. I go, oh, there's things in your government that were not that clear. I don't mean everything, but some things here and there. So I'm an eager student is the point. It leaves us in humility. It leaves us urgent to go deep in intimacy. It wants us to stay in kingdom relationships. We learn from each other versus I got surprises just like I did to the early church. And I told them, the angel said to John, seal up those seven thunder prophecies. Roman numeral two. Why are these principles so important? Because Hebrews 12, God is going to shake everything that can be shaken in the final generation. And it says here only is going to remove everything that's not built upon his plan and his values. Now, that's so intense. We go, whatever. He goes, no, I'm going to remove everything in the shaking and that removal is going to have sorrow. I'm going to remove them. But there are things built in agreement with my leadership. They will remain. They will not be shaken. So we need to build our lives around things that won't be shaken because things that can be will be removal. That will be sorrow. Only that which is rooted in Jesus will remain in his end time shakings. Paragraph B. I have the worship team come on up. Paragraph B. Some months earlier when Jesus, Matthew 13, the parable, he said there's four types of C. I mean, I throw the seed of the word of God, four types of responses. I'm on highlight one. He says this one response, they hear the word of God, the plant grows fast, but it has no root. So it only endures for a while, a few months, a few years. When the trouble, that's tribulation or persecution comes, they'll fall away. He uses the word new King James stumble, but it's fall away. It's the same word. It's the word scandalized that we get the English word scandalized from this word. You could kind of see it there. Jesus said, you need to be rooted in me. Final thing I want to say here, intimacy and eschatology. They're essential foundation to overcoming the troubled heart. Remember Matthew and Luke and John 41, let not your heart be troubled. I'm going to my father's house. I'm making a place in my father's house. Intimacy, the first two thirds of John 15 intimacy, an ongoing conversation. None of us are great at intimacy with God, but we need to take it seriously. And when I say eschatology, I mean the end time storyline, at least a little familiarity, but more than that, being rooted in eternal values, the end time storyline rooted in eternal values. We need a paradigm shift today, particularly not even the West. It's the whole world almost. There's a few exceptions. We've got to shift from the temporal paradigm. I call it the Christi gospel of the American dream. That basically the gospel is about our circumstances getting happier in this age and better. And I like that. I like good circumstances, but that wasn't the gospel of the kingdom. It was built on the eternal values. We got to shift our primary focus, not our entire focus, but I still want good circumstances. I like good blessing. I like more money, more comfort, less conflict, more happy people, more energy, and about five more things. I like all those things, but I don't want them more than the kingdom of God in eternity. So I'm not putting those down, but we've got to intentionally raise up disciples who make choices on purpose, knowing there's eternal benefits to it. They choose it knowing there's temporary loss, but there's eternal gain. That's the eternal mindset. You know, in John 14, I said it already. I'll end with this statement when he says, let not your heart be overcome with trouble. The first thing he says is I'm making a place in my father's house for you, eternity, the new Jerusalem. What pastor? I mean, I don't, to be honest. What pastor beats somebody with a troubled heart and talks about the glory of eternity? You'll get fired. You won't have a job. You won't have a church. You meet someone with a troubled heart. We do this, this, this, and this, and probably don't ever mention eternity. Jesus started with eternity. He goes, I know something you don't know. That's where the root is, the anchor. Well, amen and amen. Let's stand before the Lord. Me. His leadership is perfect. His banner over me as well. That is our confession. That is our confidence. Yeah. Only you will know. I will stay in your name. Does you keep me Lord? I know I will stay. As long as you hold on to my heart. As long as you keep me forever. I know in this room there's many of you that you know you're called to be a messenger to prepare a generation. I'm thinking of the 10 and 15 year olds. You know, I said this the other day to our worship team. I said, a bunch of you that are 20 and 30, you're going to be 50 or 60 in a minute. I really mean that. I'm not even being funny or cute. You're going to be 40, 50, 60 in a minute. And what we're concerned with, certainly your generation, but I'm really concerned with the generation that's 5 to 15 right now. They're counting on you telling them the truth, helping them navigate this. I believe this is my opinion. That's the company of people that will see the fullness. That's my opinion. That's not a prophecy. I think the people that will see the full glory, a lot of them are 5 and 10 years old now, maybe not born, maybe 12. And these 20, 30 year olds, you are the generation that will shepherd them. So I want to invite anyone who wants to come forward for prayer. You're saying, I know I'm called to be a shepherd and a faithful witness of these things. You can know that and not come forward, but you're saying, but I would like prayer tonight at any age. Come on up here. Come and stand on the dark carpet up here. And then when this line's full, we'll have the line behind you. Again, many of you have this calling, you say, no, I'm good. But you want prayer tonight. We got more room over here. I feel passion to get a generation ready, to get a generation ready. You guys are the shepherds after God's own heart. You give it 10 or 15, 20 years, you'll be surprised the place you will be in, in good, in the kingdom. Lord, raise up 400 messengers. Lord, I ask you to mark messengers. Come and mark messengers now. John the Baptist said, I'm a friend of the bridegroom. Lord, raise up friends of the bridegroom for the end time church. Anybody that wants to come and help us pray, just come and put your hand on a few shoulders. Pray for four or five people for a moment or two. Lord, I ask for the fire of the Holy Spirit, old or young. Some of the Lord's shepherds are in their 60s and 70s. Some are in their 20s. You're not too old, you're not too young to be prepared to prepare others. Come like fire, Lord. Come like wind. Shepherds like David after your own heart. Like John the Apostle. Lord, come like fire. Come like wind. Release fire on these people, Lord, and those watching by the internet. Even those on the archive months from now. Release the fire of God on them as they sit before you. Come and raise up your messengers even tonight. Lord, I ask for prophetic dreams. I ask for prophetic dreams that you would give them. In this next month or two, a prophetic dream to seal this calling. Even throughout this year, 2023, give them one. Prophetic spirit, Lord, for 2023. Let them see who they are 10 and 20 and 30 years from now in your purpose. The love of those 5 and 10 year olds are counting on you. Going deep in God. Prophetic dreams and visions. I ask for a spirit of tenderness on their heart. A spirit of tenderness on their heart, Lord. I ask for living understanding to touch their mind. More and more. Come fire of Holy Spirit. Lord, messengers after your own heart. Friends of the bridegroom. That's what John the Baptist said. I am a friend of the bridegroom. John chapter 3, you look it up. Make us messengers. Make us friends of the bridegroom. Come like wind, Lord. Come like fire. Power, Lord. Release power on their heart. On their mind tonight. Make us lanterns of fire for you. Make us friends. Make us messengers. Make us lanterns of fire for you. Make us foreigners. Make us messengers. Make us friends of the bridegroom. Lord, I ask that you would surprise them. Many say, I don't even know if the Lord's watching. He's watching. Right now, He's watching your heart. This is how it happens day by day. Inch by inch. This is how it happens. I remember when I was in my early 20s. It all seemed confusing. I didn't seem to work. Intimacy with God was hard. The Bible was confusing. The Lord just said, keep staying with it. Inch by inch. Day by day. Year by year. 22, 23, 24. I don't know. This isn't working. My ministry just seems stuck all the time. Stay with it. Stay with it. In a minute, it'll be 10 years from now. Another minute, it'll be 20 years from now. Trust me, you'll still be around. Yes, God. Mark them right now. Mark them. That they would prepare themselves to prepare others, God. Mark them to prepare a generation. Break in right now. Holy Spirit. All over this room. Come and touch hearts. Those that feel disqualified. Fresh strength. Engage with your heart. Say yes to you, Jesus. Your leadership is good. Come, Holy Spirit.