Pressing for the Prize: Laying Hold of the Fullness of Our Destiny | Mike Bickle

well go ahead and open in your bibles to matthew chapter 5. and then after that we're going right to philippians chapter 3. but i have it right here on the notes for those of you that are following along father we come before you we ask you god for strength strength to hear your word we ask you for inspiration holy spirit we acknowledge you as our teacher our escort we want to know what you see and what you feel and what you're saying in this hour we want to agree with you so i ask you to touch us even now in the name of jesus amen well i'm titling this pressing in for the prize that's a phrase we'll look at in a few moments that paul the apostle said in philippians 3 verse 14. paul said i press in for the prize and the prize is to be is to walk in everything that god laid hold of him for he said lord you laid hold of me now i want to lay hold of that for which you laid hold of me i want fullness of everything you've ordained for me in this life and in the age to come so if i had to pick which i don't have to but if i had to one verse that i would want to brand this family with i mean like with a hot iron in the positive sense branded on our heart it'd be philippians 3 14 for 2021 that as a community we would press into the lord i foresee tremendous disturbances and upheaval the enemy wants us to draw back to isolate ourselves to drop our hands so to speak and just kind of wait out a storm the lord says no the only safe response is press in and as a community and i know many of you already have that on your heart but i just wanted to say it real clear we need to rise up press in for everything god has promised us that he's ordained for us in this life we there may there will there are delays there are hindrances we're not going to measure how far we get we're just going to keep reaching and reaching and reaching delays and setbacks and troubles reaching reaching that is our safety that is our wisdom so if i had one verse that the lord would like burn in our hearts for 2021 it would be this one philippians 3 14. we'd press in as a individually but as a community even if we don't get what we want we're not going to measure we're going to keep reaching keep reaching whatever breakthrough we're getting we're going for the double anointing after that we get that breakthrough we're going for the double again clear to the very last day roman number one i might give a little review i believe i said this last uh sunday i see the roaring 20s i mean the next 10 years as the most dramatic and significant transitional decade in human history that's a big statement but i really thought that through i think it's true i think it will be the most transitional decade both dangerous troublesome and glorious you've heard everyone say this for the last 12 months things will never be the same but it's way more radical than that i remember when i first met bob jones 38 years ago march 1983 he told me one of the first things he told me i mean in that first conversation i mean something so strange and i've said it over the years a little bit but always like whatever he said the day's coming he goes i won't be here he goes i'll be with the lord he went to be with the lord about seven or eight years ago in his 80s he goes but you'll be an older man he said there's going to be a great revival he said there's going to be a third world war i assure you of that okay he said the national government of america will be disrupted temporarily there'll actually be regional governments for a season i looked at him i thought he's been watching too many mad max movies or something i said what on earth are you talking about and then he talked about unplugged tv sets in china and all these other things just get this guy out of my office but we're looking at a time where a disruption is right around the corner i don't know what it's going to look like he said it will seem like a civil war he said it will seem like it that's something i just really never took to heart too much but i'm looking at this next year and thinking disruption i don't know to what degree i don't know how accurate what bob saul was but i think it's time to pay attention so i was just preparing for this just before going away to several weeks to do this 150 chapters just really eager to just dive into that and see the divine narrative for the generation the lord returns in a more clear way i did uh well i've done the last year we all have but a lot of personal reflection and i'm going to share a few of uh things in my personal life as i'm reflecting for the future but i had a three-month period where i had three of the most dramatic things happen in july august september 1984. in those three months three dramatic things plus a few more but three dramatic things that i've drawn on for 37 38 years and right now i'm looking at them right now it was in july 84 he spoke so powerfully in a supernatural way the zechariah forward zechariah 3 and 4 and then ephesians 4. the next month august i had that chariot encounter where i had that heavily visitation the lord warned me be patient and said i've ordained these things for you and i'm like what the next month september was the black horse the clarity of a specific demonic assignment that's highly energized that would touch us but it would touch me personally would come after me all my days that was july august september it was like what was that 37 38 years later it makes so much more sense going to just talk a little bit about that if i get around to it it's cut at the end if i do i don't know let me stop and make a just a little pastoral point here before i go on this surprises people when i tell them this most of you do not know your story in god most everyone i know most people do not know their story yeah they know the biographical i got saved you know in 1970 well i started this business i got married this day they know those sketch points but that's not mostly your story it takes long and purposeful reflection to understand your own story in god one thing i found over the years i tell bits and pieces and i'm always discovering more dots connecting in my god story and i didn't know that the lord i could imagine whispering saying you don't know most of your story every year that goes by more and more dots connect from the past i go oh oh oh my goodness you knew all along he goes you only got the beginning of it here's why i'm saying that i would encourage you to take time and ask the lord to show you your story your testimony not how you the day you became born again i'm talking about the divine story for your life and he will connect dots if you ask him and even as you say with your mouth it will come together more and more and you you know when david said in psalm 27 4 and then i got to get back to this he said this one thing i do all the days of my life i behold his beauty sometimes we think we behold his beauty looking up in the grandeur of his beauty and creation yes sometimes we look at the bible the beauty of the salvation story yes but there's another dimension david was talking about in his own life with troubled breakthroughs and setbacks he was discovering the beauty narrative of god's leadership in his life when he said i discovered i looked at your beauty he was talking about the way he interpreted his own life as it unfolded because the enemy wants to give you a dark narrative or an accusation narrative or a failure narrative the lord says like david there's a beauty narrative of your life not just my beauty and creation and salvation story actually your own life if you would go behold it if you would ask for it i'll give you more insights anyway back to here because i'm i write journal this i got different friends that said hey send us some of your thoughts about your own life and that might spur us on and so i'm doing that in these days it's a wonderful thing it's like wow it's beautiful to behold the true god story but most of us don't see it in our own life okay mike back to the notes many people are going to be hurting after january 6 this wednesday and after january 20th 320 million people in america a hundred million want this to happen and a hundred million want that to happen and they're diametrically opposed here's the point both groups are real humans they're real humans like the right was might say yes there'll be a hundred million people hurting over here the left might say glory there's a hundred million hurting over there the lord has appointed the body of christ to be the vessels of his grace and tenderness to humanity we're here in our nation in our neighborhoods as ambassadors of the kingdom not political activists and you might be political activists that's okay but that's step two three four that's down the level you are an ambassador first and that guy might be living next door to you or in your family on the opposite end of what you want to happen and what you want might happen but that person can be hurting we don't want to throw stones at the left or the right we are not stone throwers we're peacemakers and i don't mean we just abdicate and we're just passive vanilla i have no opinion we do have an opinion there's a king and he loves them and we're going to be vessels of his glory in their life we've got to humble ourselves no matter what happens whether we things go our way or the other way or in between probably could be in between we're going to speak god's narrative we're going to speak what he's saying and thinking about that person that's bothering us even that family member that work person in the workplace that team member on your ministry team your worship team like i said last week we don't need to speak our opinions just because somebody asks us i had a little fun with that but that's real we don't want to speak accusations we wanna we don't need to speak and answer everyone that says something negative about us that's when it gets personal you think you're so you are the well you are no no no that's not what we're gonna do millions will do that without our help i mean that the body of christ is so clouded with dark clouds of wrong speech the body of christ and we're the ambassadors of the kingdom to the other hundreds of millions that don't know the lord and i can't impact everyone out there but for me and my house that would be you for me and my house we're going to press into the lord and we're going to be peacemakers and we're going to humble ourselves and we're going to walk in tenderness and be vessels of the kingdom in this next 12 months way and beyond [Applause] we only want to speak what's redemptive got something to say is it going to help somebody touch god or help them to get that wind in their cell a little bit a little bit don't have to be awesome a little bit redemptive well no but i just wanted to know what i think no no no is it redemptive well it's negative there's one point okay is it somebody within your jurisdiction that you're speaking that negative to now i'm just putting them on social media no go to them in private and speak it but make sure they're under your authority or in your jurisdiction just because you know it and think it doesn't mean you say it the lord says i didn't even appoint you to be a part of that just pray and i showed you this to pray it not to speak it to others well my prayer and i've said it over and over lord i want to see what you see you look at america when you look at fc when you look at ihop when you look at my neighbors when you look at my family members you look at my children i want to see what you see i want to feel what you feel and i want to say what you say i mean to the po people that oppose where i stand i still want to say what god says about them and it's much kinder than what we would naturally say well 2016 i was a miracle hillary did not get elected and trump like what a surprise really honestly i did not vote for trump i voted against hillary i looked at trump and i said what mean about this anyway the lord says i didn't ask your opinion he gave us a reprieve is my point a reprieve in terms of our social uh our religious liberties and uh uh uh uh holding the tied back of socialism and global globalization and these things and loss of of religious liberties it was a reprieve lord wow okay but you know what i believe many people on the left they gloated instead of bowed down and i believe and i always say this terribly because i'm a part of it too that is a for the most part we squandered the four-year reprieve one pastor said this on one of those big zoom calls i mean big lots of folks on it is what i mean by big he said we got a reprieve and 10 or 12 negatives were increasing in our nation troublesome things and the prayer rooms mostly stayed empty the body of christ was so glad they got their man they thought the prayer rooms were empty but the negative was increasing and we squandered the four-year reprieve oh we're in a real tough situation right now because right now today as in sunday the left is gloating because the right was gloating four years ago gloating is never the answer ever humility is tenderness is but if this thing flips around january 6th and january 20th i'm going to take it well it won't but there's so much evidence that it might really flip around and there's so much evidence it really might not flip around i've got some connections with some guys on the inside in different places i mean there's lots of evidence and i don't have an opinion really i'm just saying my focus is the body of christ getting restored and renewed and the body of christ shaking off the laodicean spirit rising up and being a conduit of power and blessing and seeing 50 million new souls come into the kingdom but into an environment of a body of christ walking in the serpent on the mount that's what i'm locked into i'm saying lord give us the optimum environment for the church to get restored and to shake off this laodicean spirit because we are the darling of your heart the body of christ is in the earth and he's coming after our hearts but if this thing flips around it really could and i'm i'm not doing some rhetoric thing here then the right will gloat again oh oh i hope not i hope if that happens they bow down in humility and serve kindly because there'll be a lot of hurting people or it can go the other way but if it flips and trump is in and there's again there's lots of pieces of evidence like that could really happen oh my gosh there will be so much violence released in this nation like lord if you wanted trump and why didn't you just put him in november 3rd and kind of well because millions of you prayed for the church to get renewed so i created a scenario to renew the church the optimum environment if he's in violence will break out but it will actually wake up the church biden's in socialism and religious liberty lost that will be and that will wake up the church there'll be sanctions and penalties for saying different things it'll be let me say one more thing about president trump if he gets in if he gets in those of you that be real excited the bow is pulled back further and in four years when they release it that arrow will go further of rage against the right so i don't look and go yeah i go every both options are like okay okay philippians 3 14 we're going to press in we're going to press in when i look at the the uh situation 20 million people infected with the disease the covet this year 350 000 deaths experts say there's another search coming after the holiday i don't know the so many false reports i don't know covered passports are being purdue i mean are being promoted everywhere i mean around the world not everywhere but many places to prove your vaccine status oh the rage and the conflict that's gonna cause like oh no you can't get in a plane go to a grocery store go to your school go to a hotel if you don't have a passport talk about control talking about intents talking about rage in the society over that issue then i look at the economics i'm thinking of 2021 i'm thinking of we're going to be a people pressing in with our eyes on him speaking his narrative walking in the revelation of his beauty of our life and our nation even though we see all kinds of negatives around us that's who we are that's what i'm trying to say over and over the economic the devastating inflation in a minute 30 trillion dollars in a minute it was 10 trillion just about 12 years ago it's 30 trillion in a minute 52 of americans 320 million 52 percent of them are on government entitlements they get a monthly check that inflation and that rubber band breaks and those entitlements go down 10 or 20 percent of people don't get them the rage will break out because the poor will be hit first and it won't be pretty 70 million claims this year for unemployment 12 million renters are five thousand dollars behind on their rent right now 12 that they're poor most of them are poor or they're low income 12 000 12 million and the rule is up where their the owner of that the place they rent can now kick them out because there's been a you can't touch them until january 1st and i i'm assuming the government will put another band-aid on that because 12 million people as of january first the laws are lifted unless they're moving in to say give us three more months they can kick the renters out because the guy says i own the apartment and i paid 30 000 a month to the bank i got to get the rent because if they'll take my apartment and my house if i don't kick that guy out i mean it's turmoil is right around the corner then i look at the left the socialism that's exploding the globalism that's the agenda the censorship of christian values they'll put economic sanctions on them i just read a couple emails yesterday where pelosi is pushing for the congress to honor the this new uh a law she's establishing with others that all agender identities are welcomed and they're going to modify using personal pronouns in the congress they won't say he and she they won't use personal programs because it's not inclusive they're pushing for that law then on the other side the right 11 senators are now rising up to say we're going to oppose the election and then to really confuse it trump is called voted the most admired man in america i'm not talking right or left right now i'm talking tension that we are going to be ambassadors of peace in but if we're in the storm we can't be an answer to others in the storm well paragraph b i gotta speed this thing up a little bit hey but i'm gonna catch a plane if i go long you can't even yell at me i'll be over there somewhere just having fun it was a year ago right about this time i came back from vacation from florida and i had a word of the lord it was on february 2nd i really clear the lord spoke he said so clearly oh the privilege of being among the people of whom the world is not worthy i came back and said that i said he didn't say we were that people but he said he'd give grace i had no idea how appropriate and meaningful that would be a year later we can be a people of whom the world is not worthy i mean us and millions of others i don't mean us and only us and the way we're going to do that is by being the hebrews 11 type of person they pressed on in the face of incredible resistance they kept believing god reaching for god communicating with god resistance persecution whipping scourging all kinds of prison and death they pressed on we believe we're reaching for what you said what you said we're never done many of them died and they didn't get the fullness but they walked in all that god ordained for them in their life that's a people of whom the world is not worthy it's clear to me now he's going to change the understanding of christianity we said that last week i've said that many times over the years he the expression is what i'm locked into now the way we live our life together under the spiritual leadership paragraph d i said last week the greatest corporate miracle it's for sure it's going to happen that the greatest corporate miracle in human history is the transformation of the end time church from the laodicean spirit of compromise to a prepared bride and a unified family walking one heart with one another with the lord this is in the midst of escalating darkness and a betrayal culture even in the church this is so intense the greatest miracle in human history corporate miracle is the transformation of the end time church hundreds of millions walking in a spirit of compromise they'll be able to see not good enough um whatever it's good grace grace grace cool you know and they just go on with their life and jesus is a little asterick in their life the lord says no i'm gonna make you a family even more there's a betrayal culture i'm going to make you a family that enters into my narrative you're going to be a prepared bride even in the context of escalating pressures now here's matthew 5. we know it settle it now i mean really settle it this isn't a sermon this is a cry from heaven matthew 5. jesus said love bless do good and pray for the people standing against you and if you do that look at verse 45 matthew 5 you will be like my heavenly father and that's what i'm coming back for a church like my heavenly father well i want to be christ-like i want to be like the father but that's not the only way but that's the litmus test the people that are standing against us that we don't agree with they don't appreciate us they're saying negative about us we're speaking to god into people in a way that's redemptive we're not lying about saying how amazing they are in ways that aren't true but we're speaking blessing to god into people here's the thing if we speak right about people that are bothering us people in this room people in your family people in your neighborhood people in the marketplace people in different political positions if we speak right about them even whisper to god and to people a redemptive statement instead of jumping in on the other like yeah i'll tell you if we speak right we'll do right our our deeds will follow our whispers i've found that over the years and i don't like that i i've never liked praying for my enemies to be honest and my enemies enemies is too big of a word call it your adversaries because many of them are are you're in relationship with who you're related to so enemies is such a big word we think oh i don't have that many like people who bug you who you bug them and they say it oh i got a long list of them okay now we're talking adversaries people that don't appreciate you people that speak negative about you even in the body of christ even in your family if we go in the opposite spirit and ask and we say it back to god god bless them and touch them and help them somebody else points them out we don't go yeah i'll tell you i know stuff about i know they're trying hard that killed me to say that but when we do that that realigns our spirit we face our weakness when we're in that when we're saying the god narrative it changes our spirit it's supernatural what happens in us the verse i've used over the years the first samuel 24 verse 15 i don't have it written here i've i've shared it over the years first samuel 24 15 david had saul at the end of his spear and david said i'm not going you're trying to kill me so you got 3 000 soldiers and i'm a guy running by myself you got me i could easily kill you and get rid of my problem but i'm not going to i'm going to let you go and i'm going to bless you and i'm going to let the lord decide i'm going to let the lord intervene that's the verse the lord has given me over and over and that is one of the most challenging verses i've ever lived tried to walk out that verse first samuel 24 15 it goes together with matthew 5 verse 44. but we got to settle it we got to settle it i remember the the turning point one of the main turning points in my life this is you know when i'm writing i mean i got lots of journals but again i'm going to give some to some folks that have asked for some a page or two or three or four of the most important years the most dramatic years the most difficult years the most important truths and because i've studied those to know my own story and i'm always learning my story better and better all the time it's really quite fascinating to learn your story but one of the great turning points in my life i shared this uh last summer was with a guy a former friend that betrayed me and slandered me all around the world and the lord said my heart is ravished for him and i went no that's not possible do you know what he's doing to me and then it hit me oh wait that's good because if god's ravaged for him he's a believer he's mistreated me that means that's what god's like that means i got it made he's ravished for me forever wow that's actually good news that you're that way well i want you to say that now to me talk to me about how i feel about him you're you're thinking about him no say it to me thank me that i my heart is ravished for him thank me that i'm using him how about bless his children that's good plus his children no no that's good too but bless him and then a couple years later when i met him when we got reconciled my heart was tender towards him i went wow this is not me and the lord would whisper you did the push-ups over and over and over by blessing him in secret and a thousand people ask me about him what about what about what about that one guy what about that boy guy no no just i know he's trying hard i did not know what was happening to me when i saw him face to face the first time two or three years later three years later tenderness was in my heart and i went this is like really real stuff first samuel 24 15. that's that that was my line lord over and over for many people not just in this one situation lord you intervene you vindicate me you deliver me my hand and my mouth won't do it and where we're going in 2020 one you're going to have family members friends ministry team members and they're going to bumbug you you can figure out what that means they're going about you and your opinions and your way and your self-righteousness your arrogance your shallow understanding your lack of love for justice your in lack of empathy no compassion you don't get it and you're yeah but how about you lord said no no no no no no don't talk that way go the opposite spirit well let's get to the verse i've been trying to get to roman numeral two here's what i want you to know about philippians 3 and i'm going to be very brief on this paul wrote philippians 3 when he was in prison at the end of his life he didn't write this as a new apostle you know the damascus world experience in acts 9 the glory of jesus okay i'm going to press in wow over the next 20 30 40 years it's going to be amazing this is at the end he's in prison he's got he's been beaten with rods he's been mistreated he's been betrayed by the body of christ time and time again by the body of christ i mean it's it's amazing like i remember in timothy paul said all in asia have left me the church of ephesus the great revival church turned against paul and turned away from him how could ephesus how could asia leave paul paul says yeah i'm in prison they just said it wasn't really working like it used to work with me in corinthians ii corinthians he wrote one time he goes i know to you i'm no longer approved however so the corinthian church that he birthed they said you know paul he's kind of lost his way they didn't approve of him at the end can you imagine that i think of jonathan edwards one of the principal leaders of the first great awakening his church kicked him out at the end i'm really glad because he wrote amazing books when he got kicked out he wrote the best stuff well paul wrote this he says i count everything's loss meaning i had all these open doors and all these privileges he goes i don't care i feed my heart on the excellency of this man the beauty of this man yeah i lost opportunities because i obeyed him i lost opportunities because i pressed in i don't even care because matter of fact they're rubbish i don't even put them in the same sentence that there's there's no comparison because paul had such a brilliant career if he would not have pressed into jesus he had a brilliant career before he said yes to jesus and then even after he said yes to jesus if he took his foot off the gas pedal a little bit some of these churches would not have rejected him but he kept moving on he goes verse three here it is the three things i want to know him i want to walk in his power and i'm going to fellowship in an intimate way with his sufferings meaning jesus was resisted because of his stand for righteousness and more i mean he offered himself as the atonement that's a unique thing but he was hated by his nation because of his stand for righteousness paul says i'm going to enter into intimacy with him i'm going to take some of the hits he took because i'm standing for what he stood for that's the intimate fellowship of persecution this isn't physical sickness here this is persecution for going all out for jesus then he said this verse 12 i'm getting to my my key verse here he goes i haven't attained what i'm after i don't have it all i'm moving in that direction and i've gained a lot of ground but i'm not perfected yet it's not it i still got maybe a few more years to go i don't know how long i'll be in this prison i just don't know i'm not there yet i'm not i don't attain until the last day and i didn't back down then i've attained i'm not there yet i might have a few months i might have a few years he was in prison in rome but he goes i know this verse 12. i'm going to press on how does a guy in prison that is former associates in judaism and the sanhedrin rejected him many believers have rejected him at this point in time he's in prison he goes on pressing in for the breakthrough like what paul is there a time you just kind of chill for a while just kind of like right on into glory no no no i want to lay hold of that for which he laid hold of me back when i was saved in acts 19. he called me for something there's something a measure of what he's ordained for me in this life i want to walk in all that's ordained for me in this age and the age to come i don't even know what it all is but i know i'm going to press that's the way to get it and he says in verse 14. he says it in one sentence i press towards the goal what's the goal he goes i got a prize there's a prize in front of me it's that upward call and in the next two passages first corinthians nine and second timothy iv we'll look at a moment he elaborates on the prize he's pressing in for now some people don't like this press in stuff i've talked about this for years and i always got i'm a truly well-meaning truly believer who explains to me that in the grace of god you rest and you don't press i said yeah i i understand that because we're not pressing to motivate god to like us we're pressing against the darkness in our own mind and our emotions and in the culture that's resisting us that's what we're pressing against we're not trying to talk god into liking us but i've been told many times over the years as believers we rested grace we don't press anymore i said yeah that's true when we're talking about motivating god to like us yes he likes us even in our brokenness that's not what paul's talking he's running a race is what he's talking about because i'm pressing towards the run i'm running hard i see the end goal here paul is i have here in paragraph a he's the premier teacher on the grace of god and he's in prison at the end of his life pressing and striving and reaching because there's darkness that touches his mind his emotions his body the culture things are against him but he's pressing the other way for fullness of breakthrough for his life and again you don't ever know what it looks like at any given season i don't have to know what i'm going to walk into 2021 all i have to know is i'm pressing for fullness then in 2022 by the grace of god i won't do it again and i want to be amongst the community who do this don't measure the breakthrough just keep pressing because if you measure the breakthrough you might quit pressing because everybody most people have an image of what the breakthrough looks like and it almost never looks like that they go well it never happened so forget it they're saying oh no no no no things are changing in your soul keep stay after me stand for me you're going to be glad you stayed after me i don't mean just stay in the faith i want more than sting in the faith i want to press for the prize i want the fullness of what god's ordained for me in this life and the power and the presence and the and the favor may increase this much or that much i'm not going to measure it but i'm not going to stop pressing by the grace of god then in the age to come i want the prize of the lord saying you went all the way to the end reaching for what i had it for you in your life and i don't mean just outward blessings i'm talking about breakthrough of the heart breakthrough of my understanding breakthrough of effectiveness to touch others just breakthrough in every level i don't want to give the 10 categories paragraph b now he's going to talk about this prize thing he's already talked about it corinthians before philippians so it was already clear what the prize was he had wrote corinthians some years before philippians he goes everybody that runs in a race they're all running so it's the marathon they're all in the marathon pace they're all running but only one person in the physical athletic sense receives the prize only one person gets the gold medal well he's not talking about a spiritual race here i mean a physical race he's talking about a spiritual race we're not running with our legs in this race we're running with our heart and there's only one response that wins the price that's to press all the way to the end for fullness that's the only way to run to win the prize i don't want to go these years in the last few years well you know i worked hard i i poured myself out i'm going to just take the next couple years and just enjoy i'm never going to retire i want to re-fire i mean i won't have the same role in the same job description same title the same list of that i don't care about that i am going on my deathbed on my last day i'm going to be asking for a double anointing no for real like lord double it maybe you'll give me 12 more hours and something else will happen now i should say that by the grace of god but my point is we might shift different things and responsibilities but you're never ever going to let go of pressing to the end i'm here 94 keep going for the breakthrough a greater breakthrough no matter what level you have today get the double for tomorrow he goes verse 25 everyone competes for the prize talk about a natural athlete they win a perishable trophy we are reaching for an imperishable crown that's the prize the crown on the other side but the crown's only given to the people who go clear to the in reaching say oh man i've messed up the last year too push delete jump back in reach and go to the end i want to break through my family i want to break through my heart i want to break through my city i'm going to stay in intercession i'm going to stay in blessing i'm going to stay in serving my service isn't that effective but i'm going to keep doing it keep doing it the lord says that's all i asked of you to do i didn't ask you to be amazing i asked you to keep reaching keep reaching he says verse 26 here's how i run not with uncertainty i i have total clear focus what i'm running for and he said it in philippians 3 to know him the power of the resurrection and to engage in the intimacy with him in the fellowship of suffering for standing for righteousness i'm that's the three things i'm doing i want to know him deeply i want to move in greater power and i want to the privilege of being with him and standing for righteousness and getting the kickback because the apostles in acts 5 said it's a privilege that we got to suffer for him because we get it wow we got to be in that intimate place with him standing for righteousness those are the three things he says i'm not uncertain what i'm pressing for those three things philippians 3 10. he goes i don't fight as one beating the air some of you know that my father was a an international champion boxing champion and then he went on a box professionally for you so i got trained in boxing and i'll tell you i'm not very good at it so don't come hit me okay but one thing i did in those early years is that there's man there's all kinds of drills you don't ever shoot into the dark you're always aiming at a clear target with precision and all of your strength behind that punch paul says i'm not boxing hitting the air i'm not doing this i'm straight in i know exactly what i'm aiming for with all of my energy behind it what is it to know the power of the resurrection the fellowship of his self reason to know him philippians 3 10. verse 27 i discipline my body i bring it into subjection lest i become disqualified from that prize he wasn't talking about losing his salvation he goes i don't i want the prize i went i went all of my strength all of my strength paul talked about in romans 7 i did that which i wish i didn't do and i didn't do what i wish i did do paul knew that struggle in his early days but he goes i've moved on and i'm reaching i'm reaching that's where the prize is running to receive the prize it requires self-denial but he had he he focused in on the physical impulses there's the immorality and the pornography explosion there's the drunkenness the drugs the opioids the legal drugs the illegal drugs i'll say this everybody hang on there's the culture in america in the body of christ the refusing to ask the lord for the grace of fasting just no interest in that beloved i remember talking about fasting once in the sermon on the mount the guy goes man that's radical christianity i go no that's christianity 101. giving blessing serving praying fasting that's 101 ask for the grace there's no superhumans don't try to be superhuman fasting is a part of it there's seasons yes i just had a baby last month don't fast this month okay just let it go for a while there are times not to and seasons but i want to urge you as an american christian most of us hear others from other nations i'm not buying into american christianity fasting and prayer and giving and serving and blessing our enemies is christianity 101 and the jesus is coming back for a beautiful glorious church and it's the glory and the beauty of the church that's in front of our eyes probably page two now he's going to talk a little bit more about this pressing getting the prize getting the crown now he's at the very end in second timothy iv it's some time after philippians 3. he was in prison in rome in philippians 3 that's a little bit later and there's different theories three years two years i don't want to go into that right now it's a little bit later probably a couple years later two three years later hard to say there's big debates but everyone agrees this is his last thing he says second timothy 4. do you want to know what paul's last words were read 2nd timothy 4 oh my god it's so emotional he says here in verse 6. he's in prison i've been poured out i've poured out all of my strength not just in serving and seeking and in serving in enduring i've poured it all out i didn't keep any back for a a rainy day i poured it all out the time of my departure is now his death he goes i know from the lord i'm gonna die very soon i'm throwing this and within the next week or two it's over i know i've already got the sentence from the roman you know the roman guard said your execution is next week whatever whatever i'm just adding that part in myself he goes i fought all the way to the end i threw very focused punches with all my energy i wasn't boxing in the wind swinging wildly i knew what i was after to know him the power of the resurrection and to enter into the glory of fellowship of suffering for righteousness with him i finished the race i've ran the marathon i'm at the end there's laid up for me a crown of glory that's the prize the lord will give it to me on that day that's the prize he wanted for the lord to look him in the eye and say you pressed on to the this is not the crown of glory you know at every funeral well he's got his crown now no this is not what he's talking about it's not not talking about the automatic thing that every believer gets this is the victor's crown he fought against resistance of darkness hitting his body his mind his heart his relationship darkness hitting him hitting him and he kept going he got the crown that's the victor's crown he didn't quit the race he stayed pressing in until the end that's a unique crown in the bible there's several verses about it it's a glorious subject he says the lord will give that to all who loved his appearing that's one of the most misunderstood verses about the second coming they go hey i love it as a fairy i wish the rapture would come today that's what it's talking about it's not about everyone who loves the escape instantaneously hopefully today everyone would like that loving his appearing is engaging in the divine narrative and it's a pretty graphic and intense narrative it's engaging in the narrative for which his appearing is at the end of it those who will engage with me in my appearing leadership and drama they and they will stay true to me i will give them the crown paul said he will give you the crown he's giving me that loving his appearing is engaging in his heart through all of the challenges of the end time narrative paragraph d blessed are those who hunger i spoke on that last year when i came back from vacation the february 2nd this was the key verse hunger we've got to press in we're hungry hunger is the one the most important signs of life lack of hunger is one of the major signs of sickness when there's no hunger for a sustained period you die so many believers have opted out to be content with such a minimal minimal spiritual hunger they're in spiritual icu and they don't even know it they have a chronic sickness in their spiritual life they're not hungry they're not oh that i would know you i want to enter into more power and i would gladly bear the intimate sufferings of fellowship of sufferings with you for standing for you if i lose everything that's not even on their mind the word is boring his presence is boring his kingdom is boring heaven is a great idea but everything between now and then is mostly like ah kind of a drag but i'll do it if i have to and i get that i'm not saying that bah humbug you're horrible i'm just saying this blessed are you if you have hunger say i don't have it ask him for hunger say lord increase my hunger increase my hunger i don't want to be spiritually and i see a spiritual icu unit dying of malnutrition and not even knowing it paragraph e we hunger for the gap here's the gap i talked about last year what's available what he's willing to give us and what we're experiencing there's a gap he says come after me be hungry how far will i close the gap the lord says you don't have to know just press into me well we've been pressing it for a year we didn't get that far just don't worry about that don't measure it press in that the gap would be closed between what i've made available what i've ordained for you in this life and what you're walking in and i look at my life there's more that he has ordained for me than i'm walking in and i'm gonna i want to enter into it it may not be what i'm thinking it is it may look different but i want to press in and close that gap paragraph f we hold these two truths in tension we rejoice but we press it's not morbid pressing jesus i love my access to your presence i love what you've done in my life thank you i love what's happening in the body of christ you've touched a lot of people but i want more thank you but i want more it's not i want more so i'm just going to go into self you know isolation i'm going to coast until more happens when more happens i'll jump in i've had people talk hey when the powers manifest i'll pray for people every meeting i go no we're going to pray for people every meeting and when the power will increase when it increases we're not going to wait till then we're going to press in while we're contending for fullness and we're going to say thank you every step of the way i am so grateful for what god's done in kansas city in the last hundred years last 200 years i looked at the history of kansas city i mean we got missionaries churches people born again church planting people got healed people got touched thank you but i want more for kansas city i'm not putting down where we are i just want more thank you for the last hundred years 200 years thank you for the last 50 years but we want more we want the double paragraph g now this gets real personal for me and for you i hope the common obstacles now you could put ten obstacles here but i tried to get right down to the right down to the the most intense so there's not only three i could have made that less a lot longer of fervent godly believers i have watched fervent godly believers for 40 plus years going after god and myself and i know the uh i know what those moments are i've watched many people go hard for five or ten years going for a revival going for the fullness of bright righteousness to break through their heart contending for all that god said and if they get disappointed and the promises and the resources are delayed after five or ten years many drop out of the race i don't mean they deny the lord they go i'll just take my chances when i stand before the lord i know he's gracious delayed promises resources promises of power when it goes five years 10 years 15 years and you've been reaching now i'll go five the 20 years that's it after 20 years i'm coasting for been on end i've seen more godly consumed people give up the press because the promises are delayed the resources are delayed well lord i thought by now i would be moving in a higher level lord says don't measure just keep pressing the level's coming just keep going well lord i've been in this kansas city thing i'm talking with me personally now i'm gonna for 38 years i mean how long am i going to do this just leave me home for a minute so how long am i going to do this i told the lord a couple years ago i said you know it was 35 years or whatever 35 years and most of these some of them have really happened but the lord says i said lord why so long and his answer is who said it would be short i remember it was like it's so long was so hard who said it would be short and easy read the bible read paul jesus joseph david moses who said it would be short and easy i remember where did you get that information i'm an american i mean short easy is what we do i mean what do you mean 38 years who said it would be short i don't know i just assumed it would be isn't that what those christian magazines say or something somebody said some testimony the breakthrough came the next week or something the next reason people quit they're alone they're pressing they don't have relationships they press it hard one year five years ten years they look around they have no key connections with other people and they drop out of the race i don't mean they deny the lord they just said i forget it i tried it hard loneliness is painful beyond measure even two or three i mean ecclesiastes four a chord of three strands if if one falls the other two will lift up three is enough but alone is devastating the third this might even be them i don't know i don't all three of these are really hard being spoken about in a negative way bearing that that might be the big one i remember when the heavenly man you know who wrote the book and he was persecuted in china and his body was beaten and had all these miracles and it was a bestseller in like what 2010 or eight or something like that he came and visited us i thought wow i said what was like he goes oh it was horrible they beat me and the presence was there and sometimes not there he goes but way worse like way worse what i couldn't believe what he's going to say after i got out of prison the brethren in china many like me but many are speaking against me i'm a fake i'm exaggerated it wasn't that great and he goes that hurts me more than my bones broken i go not really he goes that hurts more than the other because i go to bed night after night with pain in my heart over that and i look at believers they can have these five or ten blessings in their life and five people speak against them they are devastated and can't hardly stand up and run run again i go this is powerful it's the human makeup i'm not putting that down i'm saying the human makeup is wow a few believers speaking against you a few negatives feels like a thousand but it's only a few but it's how and the lord says let me answer bless get into the divine air get into the conversation with me and you'll have a way through this but if you get out of the conversation with me you're on your own to stand to take it and the answer is to matthew 5 44 get into the conversation of blessing praying doing good interacting with jesus about that person interact instead of you fighting that person i'm telling you you'll have strength in the battle let's look at paragraph h let me see i'm right at the end i need to bring this to an end you know when i look at my life and again i'm just always re-assessing my story and trying to find new things it is so it makes so much sense 40 years later but i've had three four supernatural encounters the first one was in december 76 the second one when the guy in st louis prophesied and said this the third one was when i met bob jones he said it the first time i met him the fourth one was that heavenly encounter all of them said do not answer let me answer for you what's that about nobody's even mad at me don't answer get into the conversation with me my first prophetic experience in 76 the prophetic guy in st louis you're going to kansas city great adversity the lord says don't answer he will answer for you i go who's gonna be mad at me i'm a nice guy i'm easy to like this would be the time amen okay no joking joking i meet bob jones the very first time i meet him he says great trouble don't answer the lord says he'll answer why am i keep hearing this what is it i don't know then that heavenly encounter he says be patient you must be patient and it became clear and it's a big story be patient it became real clear a few years later in the delay and be patient i will be your vindication please be patient not please be patient i remember one time oh this this is i hope i do this in 60 seconds i met a man it was a i've said this to many people they love it so some of you will love this some of you won't matter to you that much but it's 1990 and we have this raging controversy against this we're on the cover of many most christian magazines in the western world something about kansas city and the controversy is on the cover i mean it's gl it's global in the western world and everywhere i go with john wimber and all these conferences with thousands of pastors i do q and a's and they ask me all these horrible questions of did you really do this dude embarrassing so many times the lord said bless bless the people saying it don't ever answer and i never answered once by the grace of god i bless them and i was working on this muscle the lord says i'm ravished for them they're my beloved like you are so i meet this man his name's jamie buckingham some of you know his name he pro one of the most published authors probably in the 1970s and 80s i don't know like 50 60 books i guess i don't know someone told me more than anybody but maybe peter wagner but anyway so many books and he wants to meet me and he is a guy that his opinion is so important to the charismatic church in 1990 i mean he's like best friends with jack hayford reinhardt bonkey he wrote right her book his biography wrote catholic christmas biography all of these top leaders he's best friends with he's maybe 30 years older than me and he wants to meet me he said i heard about this controversy so i'm in a sub city and he comes and goes hey he says tell me what happened this guy he writes an article every week that's every month that's published in multitudes reading around the world he says what's right wrong and i'm looking at him i died going how did i get in this meeting with you because i want to hear what happened and i want to tell him how amazing the prophetic stories are and how amazing good things are but he only want to know one thing about the people speaking against me he goes tell me about i don't want to tell him man i would tell him how amazing everything is that he'll go wow this is amazing 35 years old he's i say well you know and i say these positive things they go they're trying hard this thing i've said over and over and all these these q and a's with wimber around the world with all i've practiced it so many times blessing blessing blessing and the lord loves him and 20 minutes later i thought i had two hours 20 minutes there he gets up and goes well gotta go i went ah i couldn't tell him anything good he goes gotta go and i my heart drops because he what he says millions of people listen to and he's gonna evaluate the controversy in kansas city which he did and my heart dropped and he walks out 20 minutes i thought i had like two hours maybe he walks out the door he goes oh oh by the way he goes your pr guy go get rid of him i go my p.r guy he goes yeah he's really good got to go i go i mean i'm hurting i'm embarrassed i go what he says the lord he's your pr man he goes i know the people that are coming against you i know what manner of men some of these guys are and you bless them he goes you know he's walking the door you can have integrity for 20 years and get credibility but if you have integrity under pressure you get credibility instantly because you couldn't pay a million dollars to get the good favor you're getting out of this if you keep that testimony and i became good friends with all these major leaders in the body of christ 30 years older than me and they loved me and i go how did this happen and the lord whispered because you let me answer in my timing in my way and i became friends with reinhard bomke jack hayford all these guys i would why are these famous guys caring about me and then 10 years later ihop starts and i've got millions of people in my downline and lots of international leaders that like us and they're supporting us i go who would have figured this out the lord said i told you be patient let me psalm for samuel 24 15 let me do it and be patient with the resources and the promises just be patient which means don't quit which means press in press in so after that cherried encounter with the lord and i mean you know what i mean that's a too many phrases in one sentence without qualifying it after that encounter with the lord in august 84 most of you know what i'm talking about the next month is the black horse a demonic assignment that's going to accuse and attack this july 84 zechariah 3 and 4 august 84 the heavenly encounter and the and the be patient oh september 84 the black horse the three months lined up together and i looked back 37 38 years ago and i go lord it was perfect wisdom because the next 10 years is massively important in the body of christ i'll end with this i'm going to just give the 90 second version of this probably three minutes one of the passages paragraph i that has meant so much to me i know i'm out of time i've drawn straight from this passage it's the story of the shulamite the bride in the song of solomon and here in chapter five is where it's at in chapter six she's obedient and and those of you that know the storyline of song of solomon she's obedient here but her beloved the lord is going to test her in two ways the beloved turns away and he's gone the promises the presence the power it's been lifted for a moment she's confused she goes i want you but i've obeyed you but it's not happening like i thought the presence the promises the resources he's lifted it verse seven the leaders strike her they come against her and they wound her so what she loves most the presence and the power and the promises and then her place in the body of christ both of them are interrupted she's left by herself hurting wounded verse 8 the daughters of jerusalem come they go she goes help me find him and they go well we don't know him very well why she goes i'm love sick i'm not offended at him i love him i'm not in it just because there's power in my life i'm not in it because the elders like me i'm in it for him and they asked verse 9 look at this they said what is it that you know about him that we don't know about him why would you love him when he lets his presence and promises be delayed and lifted and he lets people strike you why do you love him what do you know that we don't know she breaks out in one of the most glorious statements of love in the book of the whole bible poetic form my beloved is radiant he's dazzling he's chief among ten thousand his leadership is like finest gold the works of his hands are like rod of god his countenance he's all together lovely this is my beloved this is the one i love worship team go ahead come on up she goes on i love him i'm in it for him i'm not in it for the presence of power so my ministry i want that of course but i've got something bigger going on a little time delays finally the lord breaks in and he speaks to her the king comes face to face to her and he breaks the silence and he could have said yes i did lift it for a season i did test your heart were you in it for me or were you in it for what i would just do through you and for you to bless you i'm in it for you lord i want the other things he looks at her right in the eyes verse 4 of chapter 6 he goes oh my love you are as beautiful as tirzah and i have all this on the website all the definitions of this i don't want to go to it right now you are as lovely as jerusalem you are as awesome as an army with banners because the army went out to war if it came back with banners it means victorious you are victorious in this hour it didn't happen like you thought they didn't treat you like you deserved you didn't back down you're coming out of this like an army with banners marching you're victorious you're in this for me then he says to her go ahead and start he tells the bride he goes turn your eyes away from me for your eyes have overcome me now he's not literally saying poetically he's not saying go away he's going the armies of hell the armies of the earth cannot overcome him there's only one thing that can overcome him that's the eyes of devotion of his bride when everything is hitting her she won't back down he goes please [Music] he will fade away [Music] the armies of hell cannot overcome him the armies of the earth can't [Music] the joy for which but the love of his bride even in difficulty [Music] beloved this is the way forward in 2021 we're pressing on we're pressing in [Music] is [Music] [Music] i am [Music] i am i am [Music] [Music] gotta be [Music] is [Music] [Music] you are his beloved beloved it's worth it it's worth it we'll do it his way i am [Music] is [Music] thank is for your love jesus [Music] this is this is [Music] [Music] tell him [Music] [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Music] upon my heart [Music] me [Music] [Music] is [Music] proclaim this passage over you i'm going to say we instead of i in the words of paul we count all things lost philippians 3 8 for the magnificence for the excellency of the knowledge of the beauty of christ jesus we count them rubbish what we gave up that we could gain greater encounter with his heart verse 10 all that we can know you better oh that we can operate in the power of the resurrection more oh that we can have the privilege of the fellowship of suffering for standing for what you stand for not that we're perfected not that we've attained verse 12. but lord as a community we set our heart even in our weakness before you that together as a community in this year we will press on we will press on in the turbulence and the trouble to lay hold on that which you laid hold of us for as individuals as families as a spiritual family we press for the goal verse 14. we press for the goal of receiving the prize of the fullness of everything you've ordained for us and we say we'll do it your way we will we will bless we will pray blessing we will be like your heavenly father jesus by the grace of god release the blessing of spiritual hunger release the blessing of spiritual hunger on our sons and daughters on our siblings on our spouse our parents release the blessing of spiritual hunger in the name of jesus [Music] this whole decade not a year this next 10 years [Music] [Music] what is [Music] [Music] never giving up [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] one more time right to the lord make it through confession as you release healing over bodies [Music] you're the god that heals our diseases in our sicknesses our family members joining us [Music] [Music] i am [Music] wash ups narrative of your leadership oh let me see your beauty all the ways [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Music] yes it's yours [Music] [Applause] [Music] yes [Music] through the violence [Music] through the valleys you

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Published: Wed Mar 03 2021