NOW with Mike Bickle | Episode 17 | Cultivating the Oil of Intimacy with Jesus

well i want to welcome you to another episode of now with mike bickel i really appreciate these short little sessions we aim at about 25 30 minutes and i like to highlight a theme that i believe the holy spirit once emphasized in the body of christ to equip us for the hour the unique time frame we're living in and i say this every episode probably that in the generation the lord returns the escalating darkness many aspects of that but the escalating release of the glory of god the two of them are increasing in the same generation to an all-time high creating very unique dynamics that have never been navigated before in human history well in this episode i want to look at a very important well-known passage in matthew chapter 25. so i want to encourage you to open your bibles matthew chapter 25 and i typically will have teaching notes most of you that are familiar with my ministry for many years i give teaching notes and you can go to mikebickle.org where my library my teaching library is there and my notes are there under the now with mike bickle and several other categories of teaching as well well matthew 25 i'm i'm looking at my notes and so you can get them if you want to follow along with it the context of matthew 25 verse one actually begins in matthew 24 verse one and now the reason i say that because i've taught on matthew 25 it's the it's the famous passage of getting oil the oil of intimacy it's so well known everybody knows it they go oh yeah i got it okay matthew 25. i've taught on this passage for 40 years but for most of those years i began matthew 25 verse 1 in matthew 25 1. i wasn't even thinking that often well actually for years i never put it together it's in the middle of a conversation matthew 25 verse 1 is in the middle of a teaching that begins in matthew 24. and if you don't understand or you don't grasp the matthew 24 message you lose some of the urgency of what this exhortation is about the need to prioritize getting oil the oil of intimacy in our relationship with the lord well matthew 24 so let's go back for just a minute i'm not going to give a big teaching on it but uh matthew 24. most of you are aware it is the passage where jesus gives the most details uh about the generation that he returns matthew 24 is the famous end time chapter although jesus taught on the end times recorded in other chapters but that's the big one matthew 24 and mostly matthew 24 uh gives details of the negative relational dynamics and the negative events there's a little bit of positive a couple real big positives but most of the chapter is the negative negative relational dynamics that are happening in the generation the lord returns and then some negative events and trends and in the context of those negatives matthew 24 verse 14 is the great harvest the gospel of the kingdom goes to every nation on the earth in power whoa i mean now that's a positive one that is like fantastic but it's interesting that the kingdom opportunity of the greatest revival in history happens in context to these intense negative relational dynamics happening in the culture sometimes i mean even in the church not all the church but part of the church is buying into the negative relational dynamics and then the these disturbing events happening and the culture and trends so matthew 24 let's go back for just a second i have here on the notes verse 9 to 14 and i'm not going to break this down most of you that are tracking with with me in in in these episodes you've you're very familiar with these passages but he's talking about verse 10 people offended and betraying one another verse 11 false prophets verse 12 lawlessness and the culture abounding the need for endurance like this doesn't sound very encouraging but then verse 14 this great light of hope the gospel goes to every nation in power right now there's about 200 nations in the earth can you imagine there being a spirit of revival released in every single one of those nations i mean that is a glorious high point of matthew 24. of course the ultimate high points verse 29 to 31 when jesus comes and every i sees him i mean that's the ultimate high point but most of the chapter is negative negative relational uh uh relational conflicts betrayal offense lawlessness people standing against each other now this betrayal culture now by the way betrayal you realize isn't a stranger accusing you even in a false way horrible things betrayal means there's a previous relationship that's important that's being betrayed you know you can have a lot of folks on social media or wherever say negative things about you but if they don't know you you know you don't like it but it's like oh well but when you have a friend or family member where there's a previous relationship and they do it that's called betrayal betrayal's far more stinging than just accusation by itself well in the midst of this betrayal and accusation it's been all these negative things the gospel goes forth great kingdom opportunity it's paragraph b in my notes that's when jesus says right in the middle of his sermon matthew 24 and 25 is one message right in the middle he goes oh i want you to know something and i'll give you the takeaway which you've already surmised it already he says you need to get oil when that negativity is increasing and the kingdom opportunity and power is increasing it is a huge mistake to get too busy and then neglect the oil of intimacy it will be common for believers to do that now not all believers are going to do it because there's a great revival and a transformation of the end time church as a prepared bride millions are staying on the right path and they're getting oil but a lot of others who start off even good in that hour of conflict that hours some years by the way they drift away from their intimacy and jesus's point here in matthew 25 is it's more common and the tendency is greater than you might think so he starts matthew 25 verse 1. he says then that's a key word then i'm reading from the new king james the kingdom of heaven shall be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom now there's four points i want to make in this one verse here and i've got them all on the teaching notes but i'll be brief right here first of all he says then of course the question is when is then well if you were there that afternoon that tuesday afternoon jesus dies on friday that tuesday afternoon you knew he was right in the middle of a message and he goes then in the context of the matthew 24 escalating negativity and then matthew 24 gospel revival going to the nation's billion soul harvest then that is the context he's talking about now of course matthew 25 has been relevant for 2000 years but it has a particular urgency and relevancy in the hour when the intensity good and bad is increasing then that's the first point i wanted to make he says the kingdom of god will be like this this is how it will function this is a description of it it will be like 10 virgins who took their lamps to go meet the bridegroom so it starts off well now the 10 virgins in the new testament born-again believers are described because of the greatness of the gift of righteousness and the free salvation paul says it the clearest in second corinthians 11 verse 2 we are like pure virgins before the lord i don't care how messed up your life is how perverse how angry how defiled how dirty the power of the gift of righteousness that jesus gives us of his heart of mercy and his goodness cleanses us and we're all like pure virgins i mean that that we should just stop and talk on that point the rest of the session this episode but i'm not going to but that's a big one like whoa i want to point out here all 10 of these ministries are born again believers they're virgins before the lord they're going strong so far so good they have lamps it says in verse 1. lamps in the new testament clearly speaks of ministries shining light to others now that lamp you might be shining light to ones and twos that light might be mostly to your family or your neighborhood or uh to your homeschooling children and the group that meets with them it could be to the soccer league that lamp might be a small number maybe a big number but it's every minister every person has a lamp a ministry assignment and they're shining to ones and twos tens and twenties hundreds or thousands it doesn't matter the size your shining is the point you're bringing the truth of jesus and the gospel of the kingdom to other people believers and unbelievers you're strengthening believers and you're winning unnew believers to the kingdom so again so far so good they're all born again they're like virgins before the lord made clean and their lamps are shining like wow how could it get better well it gets better and they go out to meet the bridegroom now that's a very big statement because jesus the bridegroom god he is the holy spirit is going to reveal that aspect of his identity and the generation he returns way beyond any time in history now jesus has always been a bridegroom king i like to say he's a king with power but a bridegroom with desire for relationship in the gospels matthew chapter 9 particularly and other places jesus identifies himself as the bridegroom so he doesn't begin to be the bridegroom at the end of the age he always he has been the bridegroom since back then the old testament talks about the god of israel even the messiah being a bridegroom god so it's biblical it's recorded in the word of god it's solid it's sure it's a long-term truth it's a you know it's not a new idea but since jesus's generation the the first generation for 2 000 years the holy spirit has not emphasized that part of his identity the for 2 000 years 99.9 of the church i don't know the real number of course has seen jesus as king savior maybe healer shepherd provider protector many of these glorious facets of his function and identity but very few in history have seen his identities of bridegroom as a king a savior a healer yes but not bridegroom he's always been one but the spirit has not universally emphasized that aspect of him but we find out particularly in revelation 22 the end time church is in the identity of a cherished bride wow well the church only sees herself as a cherished bride when she sees her leader her king as a bridegroom when we see him different we see ourselves different so there's one generation in history where the holy spirit across the planet is going to shine the light in emphasis on this aspect of jesus's jesus's identity a bridegroom and the corresponding spiritual identity of the church a cherished bride the spirit and the bride say come never in history was the church crying out in a bridal identity from the understanding of the saints i mean even 20 30 years ago you hardly ever heard it mentioned a hundred years ago i've done a lot of research on teaching on the bride of christ almost not mentioned in history a little bit by this one guy a little bit every now and then someone rises up in history that emphasized it like uh bernard of clairvaux someone like that the 12th 1200s very few have ever even hardly mentioned it so when jesus says the kingdom will be like born-again believers with lamps that are burning and they're encountering the bridegroom clearly that's the end time generation it's never happened before the last five or ten years a little bit longer this bridal this bridal paradigm this bridegroom revelation of jesus our king bridegroom king is growing so fast still many don't see it yet but the numbers millions are getting it it's in worship songs it's in sermons it's in blogs it's in media presentations i mean yes but the holy spirit could whisper and say you've only seen the beginning i'm gonna show him as a beautiful bridegroom king to the earth well anyway it starts off great in the middle in the midst of the end time conflict when the gospels go into the kingdom i mean the gospel the kingdom's going to the nations the born-again believers he picks 10 of them jesus does 10 ministries their lights are shining they're encountering the bridegroom it couldn't be better it's going great the nations are hearing ah well let's go to roman numeral 2 of the notes verse 2 of matthew 25 he says wait something has developed a new development a negative development these 10 ministries of course representing millions of ministries half of them only continued in a spirit of wisdom the other half sincere born-again ministries with functioning lamps good ministries they have drifted into what jesus called being foolish only half of them stayed the course of what jesus called wise like oh and i don't i'm not making a big point of 50 or 50 i don't know what the percent is but a big number continuing wisdom and a big number drift from wisdom i'm talking about anointed ministries who are encountering the bridegroom i mean these are ten ministries that they either went to the bridegroom conference or they were the teachers or the worship leaders and or the singers i mean they were all involved but something happens and there's a shift and they get busy these five that are drifting jesus calls foolish and they drift away from the bridegroom connection now the problem with this is that you know the folks that i interact with and a number of you that are the follow these episodes we are familiar with the language of the bridegroom and we're familiar with this next negative point i'm going to say but i want to highlight it again that the language it's so easy for just become rhetoric that we all got it you know uh he loves us even in our weakness he delights in me he's the beautiful bridegroom we can say those phrases and it's good to say the phrases but it's easy to mistake the ability to say the phrases and to say them often with interacting with reality from the heart level with him in that way the language becomes what we have confidence in and we can drift away from the actual interaction now the reason i know this because i've done it and i know how easy it is it's it's it happens easy and jesus knew that so he's not uh giving like a railing rebuke he's giving a shepherd's warning and an alert he's giving a bridegroom passionate like my beloved don't drift from my heart in that day that is the most critical hour of history because with all the negative things uh escalating you won't be able to stay the course right if you're not interacting with me the negative will engulf your thinking and your emotions the negative will grow in you unless you've got a counter balancing reality i i mean a a a counter reality that's resisting that negative growing in you called encountering the bridegroom god and i want to anoint my servants to bring the gospel to the nations but i want the new believers the billion soul harvest is what has commonly been called recently i think it's over a billion but jesus wants them brought into the bridegroom reality he wants people that are alive in the message to bring the new ones into it so jesus as a jealous bridegroom jealousy might sound negative but i mean a passionate a committed like hey bring them into the message and if you drift from how can you do it because this is not a message you can be an echo you have to be a voice not an echo it has to resonate in your being in order to communicate it to others now we don't have to be that deep in it but it's got to be something we're contending for in our private life on an ongoing way not something we were contending for two years ago five years ago we taught that seminar on it we've moved on when i cease to contend for this at the heart level in my private life my authority to impart it to others goes down a little bit it's not like we're earning the authority it's that this is such a real and vibrant reality it can't be imparted if it's not real in the vessel wanting to impart it well anyway he goes on matthew 25 verse 3 and 4 and he breaks down he defines what being wise is and what being foolish is now at first glance and again you all know this passage so well half of you listening to this episode you've taught it before or you've sang it or you put it on your social media so i mean i'm talking to the right group but if you're like me we got to be double alert because we can think because we say it that we live it and it's tricky it's easy to drift from it i've already made that point over and over but verse three and four seems even a little simplistic he says the foolish they took their lamps but they took no no oil but the wise they took their oils and then their laps say okay break that down verse three the foolish he defines not being wicked not evil not repulsive not how dare you nothing like that but i i fee i hear longing as hard he goes you started off with a ministry flowing out of encountering me as a bridegroom the years have gone for i mean a few years have gone by the great revival is exploding the kingdom opportunities opened up so many of them that you gave yourself you gave your ministry such a high priority that you did not prioritize getting oil in your heart in your intimacy with me look at verse three again the food lease they took their lamps not the oil they prioritized their ministry not the oil of intimacy heart connect it's subtle but it's a very important statement jesus is making here beloved when the revival which in the global sense it's already emerging has been for some years there are more people coming to the lord than any hour of human history right now not so much in the western world but around the nations in asia and africa and latin america many are coming to the lord in many places but it's going to be global when those increased opportunities come a lot of folks not paying attention to this incredible exhortation of jesus incredibly important one and they're going to end up over prioritizing ministry because the opportunity is so many of them and they'll think well i'm doing it for the kingdom i'm doing it for love i'm doing it i'm doing it i'm trying to be helpful and their hearts will get smaller and smaller while their ministry footprint is maybe getting bigger and bigger but there's something bad happening sooner or later because uh well i'm gonna say this negatively instead of just because there there's a sincerity in it but it's called when we're networking our ministry and putting most of our time and seeing our ministry footprint our sphere of influence increase whether it's a kingdom marketplace assignment whether it's a bible study assignment whether it's a media missionary assignment it doesn't matter what kingdom assignment when our growing our footprint our influence becomes a bigger priority than growing our heart intimacy encounter that's what jesus calls foolish again he's not saying you're wicked he's not saying you're evil it's not like i'm done with you he's saying this is the essence of a foolish mindset because what happens the foolishness is in this and i've well no let me go to verse four first and put the two together wise and foolish and then give a few applications and i'm not gonna go a whole lot further than even these couple verses just right here even though my notes i have a little bit more on it in my notes and on my website at the mikebeckle.org i've got probably 10 or 15 teachings on this all of them a bit different emphasizing different aspects with handouts and videos and all that stuff and my copyright is the right to copy you can have it you can put your name on it i always joke and say put your mother's name on it you can do anything with it you want as far as i'm concerned just get the message out but uh here it says verse 4 the wise notice they took oil first that's the priority and their ministry lamps are second so verse 3 foolish ministry first no oil wise oil is first priority ministry still there still going hard but it's second and it takes an intentional regular not everyday but regular decision to realign for our ministry priority to be second in our intimacy cultivating intimacy to be first now it is it's not automatic to keep that focus matter of fact it's the tendency is to go in the foolish direction that's why jesus gave this very very important teaching now how do i know when i've allowed my ministry to have the higher priority in my inner life than my ministry here's why here's how you know here's how i know and i'm sad to say but i know because i've done it a number of times and so i'm i'm not proud of that but i know what i'm talking about on this subject it's that well in our ministry we have kingdom opportunities prophetic promises open doors new relationships networking exciting meetings even twos and three meetings they don't have to be big ones we feel as presence it's happening so we have kingdom opportunities then we have on the other side uh opposition pressures setbacks the money didn't come through the people didn't respond i got betrayed by a friend in the kingdom i got accused i didn't feel his presence you know there's 20 things you could put on the negative what i am talking to the lord in my personal conversation more about my kingdom opportunities or my kingdom setbacks my pressures more than my interaction with him as a king a bridegroom king when i talk to him less about who he is to me and my adoration and my desire to see him more clearly to love him more dearly to give myself to him to when that conversation is second i want to tell you you flip the order and we're in verse three we're the we're on the pathway of the foolish virgins we know the bridegroom message we preach it we sing it we write it we we capture it in media we blog it but we're not interacting with it because it's now become a ministry opportunity to increase our footprint the lord says that's good to do that but make it second because the times are gonna get bad and the betrayal and the accusation and the lawlessness and the the propensity to get offended and to get fearful and to get just tweaked tweaked software is big you're going to need that oil to protect your heart you're going to need that oil to line back up now why is it called foolish because i'll tell you my story okay and then you can apply it to yourself is that here's why it's foolish is that you get the priority you get away from the kingdom priority and our ministry is first opportunities and pressures that's what we talk to god most about and the interaction becomes second and that can happen for a month or two or three in my experience and i don't even know it and but i am so grateful to the lord and i don't it's not like i'm clocking it like okay it's been two months it's a month or two or three and the order got reversed in a negative sense and the holy spirit reminds me hey line back up i go oh my goodness i did it again will i ever not do this and the answer is the holy spirit if you keep talking to me i'll keep helping you realign you'll never on your own pull this off okay good to know now when you get into that two three months and it's a little backwards and so far it's not so bad but then it becomes two or three years here's what the foolishness is here's the folly the foolish it seems it doesn't seem wise anymore to be radically dedicated it used to be now we're buying into foolish mindsets like yeah you know i've been going hard and i've seen the power like i thought and people aren't receiving me like i thought and it was going harder than i thought that it's called foolish that mindset is what it's talking about but it takes a little while before that mindset you know here i am in the midst of a difficult situation do i persevere do i resist the temptation do i bless the enemies do i overcome the setback or do i just go i don't know i don't know if i can take it anymore that's folly speaking and that's all over the body of christ that's people that were even really connected to the bridegroom reality but a few months went by and they didn't catch it now a couple years went by and now a new mindset sets in and new emotions are returning those negative emotions that they had some victory over for a while and those negative mindsets they had victory over they're setting back in that's the foolishness he's talking about because then it goes another two three years bad things happen on that trajectory now the good news is if we ask the holy spirit and this is what i've done over the years like holy spirit i'm not good at staying focused i'm not good at this if you will remind me and help me i'll sign back up i'll admit it i won't make up excuses i'll say yes i'm off now here's the i don't know if this is good or bad encouraging or discouraging but for 40 years probably a little bit more than 40 years probably at least 40 years i've been teaching on matthew 25. so i know better that's that's the point but i have drifted i don't know if it's two or three times a year once or twice a year it's not like i'm you know putting it on the calendar or measuring it but when i look back over the years i go wow does it happen i know better i say it all the time not to do it but i still drift and the holy spirit is so gracious he's saying yeah but if you'll keep returning you know it's a couple weeks later a couple months later whatever and there's not that much lost in a short amount of time it's when it becomes a couple years later that the foolish mindset sets in it doesn't seem worth it anymore like it used to doesn't seem i'm not energized like i used to be that's the foolish now the wise now i think that we could be call considered in the lord's generous he's so generous his evaluations are so kind i think we could have those drifts moments weeks or months and we recover and the lord over the years looks down and says yeah you're staying in the path of the wise you know well lord through the editing process of grace you're very generous no here's how you know you're staying in the in the wise because it still seems wise to you to be radically committed or to try to be it still seems wise to you to contend for the full breakthrough it still seems wise to you to bless your enemies and not cave into your accusers it still seems wise to you to keep going when the resources are are not like you thought the delays that's the wisdom it's not that your track record of staying connected every day all day is that deep and great but the wise mindset stayed intact i recovered you before you lost it whoa well i have on the notes here the oil symbolizes the ministry of the holy spirit i have five different ways it tenderizes us it illuminates us etc then look at top of page two i'll go page two look at what happens here and we're just gonna go a couple more moments here that in verse five it says the bridegroom delayed now nobody when jesus taught this thought it would be 2 000 years oh my and they all slept the wise and the foolish slept so sleeping in this parable is not negative you know sleeping in some parable means spiritual dullness but here it doesn't it means that they're living in context to the natural processes and the routine and the mundanes of life you know there's natural processes we we sleep we rest we overwork we we refresh our strength there's he says in the midst of the natural processes at midnight a cry was heard the midnight hour of human history i believe we're in that beginning of the midnight hour i mean the midnight hours right before the lord returns and it's not so far out in the my mind an hour a cry has heard the lord's gonna release a forerunner cry to the nations and you can hear that cry emerging in the land it's not real strong but it's getting stronger and stronger all over the earth that cry is going forth here's the cry it's a three threefold message the bridegroom is coming well first he has a bridegroom he's more than a king with power he's a bridegroom with desire and he wants intimate heart connect he's coming after your heart he's a bridegroom that's message one again that's in 2000 years of church history that's a new emphasis of the spirit revelation 22 we already quoted it when the spirit and the bride say come when the church in the end times is in our bridal identity so that's point one the voice at midnight a bridegroom number two he's coming he's about to intervene into human history and shift everything the coming will shift everything it will be the culmination of the most unique time frame of history of escalating darkness and escalating power revival he is stepping into human history to shift everything nothing like it greatest moment of history it's worth everything to be ready and connected he is coming this is not a well some people i'm not really into that well it doesn't matter who's into it he's coming and it will shift everything big message i'm not going to go on that more on that in the third part of the message first he is a bridegroom that's his personality and his nature secondly he's coming and everything is going to shift and it's going to be worth the trouble you put to stay connected in terms of the flesh number three message go out to meet him exert the energy put in the effort to meet him to interact with him to recover that to stay with that because the forces of trouble are gonna want to steal the narrative of our emotions and make our mind and emotions fearful so preoccupied with the negative no make it first about meeting him then we will be sustained in our ability to have a vibrant spirit we'll be able to thrive spiritually when the negativity comes well all the virgins they rose they said okay and the wise found out they had oil and they were meeting him they're doing it but the foodless said in verse 8 hey in this transitional hour we found out something we didn't know we don't have any oil you know the last few years we were shining our lamp so big our heart the oil of intimacy of our heart went way down and we didn't even notice it we were so excited about our ministry the opportunities it's overly burdened by the pressures and the pushbacks that we forgot about interacting hey we don't have any oil our lamps are going out that's a huge statement in essence i'm going to give the application of this jesus is saying jesus is making a statement that there's going to be ministry lamps that are going out ministry lamps all around the earth are going to be going out people even that had big ministries are going to lose some of their influence lamps are going out even in this hour of history paragraph d verse 9 and they said and verse 8 they go hey would you give us the foolish ones go you know we know this intimacy message we lived in it for years we got a little carried away for the last few years would you give us your oil in verse 9 the y says no it doesn't work that way they acknowledge their limitation they go i can't give you my history in god i can't lay hands on you and give you my intimacy history with god it doesn't work that way i can't impart spiritual preparation by laying out of hands you've got to get it yourself by interacting with him that's the only way it comes so they actually say no we can't give you our intimacy but rather go buy it yourself and buy it well that sounds like we're earning it and i'm going to bring this to an end with this jesus actually comments on this in revelation 3 18 he goes go buy gold refined by fire here in matthew 25 go by buy oil it doesn't mean earn it it means invest yourself in a costly way to be in the god-ordained process of acquiring it it's costly is the point invest yourself and the food foolish go no lay hands on us at the conference and just give us your oil he goes it doesn't oil isn't transferred that way i mean you can lay hands and bless somebody and kind of give them a little jump start you can't transf uh you can't impart your spiritual history or your preparation to another person well this is the hour for us to buy oil i don't want to wait till my lamp goes out then buy oil i want us to wait till it doesn't seem wise anymore depressing to the lord yeah i've lost my way you know a couple months here and there at a time sometimes a couple times a year for years but he helps keep recovering me thank you lord for real i don't have the ability to keep this thing straight if you don't interrupt but beloved many of you know the story he will intervene and interrupt us and he will whisper to us right now he's whispering to some of you go invest yourself in a costly way in the god-ordained means of a getting oil and that boils down talking to the lord those things we know to do open our bible making time for personal conversation talking to him at the heart level and making our ministry problems and opportunities secondary and acquiring oil primary father in the name of jesus i'm asking you to give your beloved people all over lord a courage for a new beginning it's time yet again to go get oil and i ask you that you would inspire and give confidence that this is doable even for weak and broken people like us in the name of jesus amen and amen

Channel: International House of Prayer

Views: 18,883

Keywords: IHOPKC, International, House, of, Prayer, mike bickle

Id: IZXuKUhOOok

Length: 38min 28sec (2308 seconds)

Published: Wed Feb 03 2021