The First and Great Commandment | Mike Bickle | Sunday Night Service

[Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] good evening jesus image church how is everyone doing i feel the expectancy of the lord deep in my stomach i feel so giddy and joyful jesus is in the room jesus is in the room i want to read a scripture to you all that we know very well it is matthew 6 9 our father who is in heaven hallowed be your name your kingdom come and your will be done on earth as it is in heaven give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we have forgiven our debtors do not lead us into temptation but deliver us from evil for yours god is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever yours jesus it's yours so let's just praise him for a moment lift up your shout lift up your praise to jesus it is yours tonight jesus the glory is yours the praise is let us don't yours tired don't grow tired [Music] we love you jesus we praise you jesus we thank you jesus oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] let us lift up to the lord [Music] [Music] [Music] jesus [Music] [Applause] he's coming on the clouds kings and kingdoms will bow down [Music] and every chain will play it's broken hearts declare his praise who can stop the lord [Music] [Applause] [Music] and [Music] [Applause] for the sins of the world his blood breaks the chains and every knee will bow before [Music] midway before the keys [Music] is [Music] is [Music] his blood [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] man [Music] [Music] who can stop the lord [Music] who can stop the [Music] who can lord the lord [Music] oh [Music] oh [Music] is [Music] [Music] oh [Music] and he shall reign and he shall reign [Music] he forever reign forever [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] yes [Music] [Music] i is [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign [Applause] [Music] and he shall reign [Music] and he shall reign forever [Music] and he pray forever [Music] so [Music] so [Music] is [Music] [Music] me [Music] is [Applause] is [Applause] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] oh [Music] so [Music] sing it out worthy is the king who conquered yeah lift your voice worthy is the king who conquered [Music] [Applause] worthy god worthy [Music] is [Music] worthy is a king worthy to live worthy is [Music] worthy [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Music] worthy is [Music] [Music] you are worthy [Music] [Music] lift a song to the lord you are worthy lord of every voice of every heart you are worthy lord [Music] you are worthy of our praise yes you are forever worthy of our [Music] [Applause] are praise [Music] [Music] worthy is the king who conquered the grave worthiest [Music] the king who conquered [Music] [Laughter] [Music] [Music] unto him all glory and power be unto him be unto him blessing and honor [Music] [Music] him beyond to him blessing and honor blessing and honor be up to him be up to him [Music] glory and power be unto him beyond to him blessing and honor blessing and honor up to him be up to him all glory and power be unto him [Music] [Music] all glory and power [Music] blessings oh [Music] [Applause] to him blessings [Applause] blessings unto [Applause] [Music] unto [Music] and him be unto him to him [Music] blessing [Music] oh [Music] [Music] here [Music] me [Applause] [Music] huh [Music] blessings [Music] me [Music] we can praises to the lord [Music] the only one that we adore [Music] let's sing praise to him oh let's sing praise to him from your heart you sing a new song to the lord lift a song from your heart from your heart from your heart [Music] oh he's worthy [Music] [Music] that's it come all over this room let's just lift a song to him [Music] [Music] jesus [Music] your savior is in the room tonight [Music] oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] jesus jesus jesus [Music] [Music] one [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] how great how great you are [Music] my god how great you are [Music] my god [Music] my god [Music] [Applause] [Music] i thought [Music] oh [Music] [Applause] foreign [Music] you are [Music] you're okay great [Music] let's just sing to him sing a song you are a great lord [Music] his presence makes us whole [Music] just this morning i woke up and i heard pastor benny singing in my head i've been hearing it all week but i woke up this morning and i just keep hearing this even now as we sing this song i just keep hearing jesus oh jesus jesus oh jesus [Music] jesus oh jesus your presence makes me jesus [Music] jesus [Music] jesus [Music] jesus jesus oh jesus [Music] jesus [Music] jesus [Music] oh jesus [Music] jesus oh jesus your prayers [Music] jesus oh jesus [Music] jesus [Music] your prayers makes me [Music] even now his presence is making you even now his presence is making you all there is healing in the presence of the lord and there joy [Music] [Music] in the presence of the lord be made in the presence of the lord [Music] of the lord [Music] in the presence of the lord lord [Music] of the lord of the lord [Music] [Music] your presence makes me hope [Music] your presence your dress [Music] so [Music] yes jesus [Music] oh [Applause] [Music] he's [Music] is [Music] jesus [Music] jesus [Music] is [Music] your presence [Music] your presence is [Music] [Music] your presence [Music] [Music] find everything you need right here your presence there's nothing more than this [Music] there's nothing more nothing more your presence is [Music] your presence me [Applause] [Music] is [Music] oh [Applause] tv away and i will my [Music] oh [Music] [Applause] oh [Applause] [Music] you are [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] is me [Applause] me [Music] [Applause] me [Music] my [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] you are [Music] and i will give you me [Music] you [Music] here [Music] [Music] you are [Music] i will give you all my words [Music] worship [Music] i'll give you all my [Music] you love i love [Music] your grace has found me [Music] singing [Music] forever [Music] sing it to him [Music] [Music] man [Music] [Music] in the presence of your man the lord [Music] [Music] your graces found me just as i am [Music] who is [Music] [Music] forever i am changed by [Music] always [Music] your graceless [Music] [Applause] [Music] of your majesty [Music] majesty [Music] [Applause] is [Applause] [Music] [Applause] forever [Music] just as i am my [Music] forever i'm changed by your love [Music] for the next minute would you just sing a new song to the lord come on from the depths of your beings [Music] wonderful jesus wonderful holy land that's it that's it lift your voice [Music] worthy worthy worthy is the lamb holy are you forever [Music] just keep singing just a little more just a little more [Music] oh holy holy worthier worthy worthy is the lamb of his life wonderful jesus let's lift our hands to heaven i'm going to ask everyone just to stand in honor of the lord's presence if you're able unless you're on your knees or on your face just stay where you are but let's just lift our hands to heaven holy spirit a wonderful holy spirit almighty god we yield this meeting to you completely we are your people the sheep of your pastor [Music] so have us tonight lord be glorified so deeply i pray that you would intensify the work you've been doing in us pray that guys just i want you just to ask the lord for yourself intensify the work lord go deeper reach deep deep deep within us tonight and capture our hearts [Music] that we would love jesus like we never ever could have dreamed of that the vision of jesus in our hearts would be so clear so beautiful [Music] all in all holy spirit glorify jesus tonight greatly lift him high in our midst change lives i need your agreement here save the lost tonight in the mighty name of jesus save the lost in the mighty name of jesus [Music] [Applause] for the next 15 seconds i just want you to pray that that people who need to be set free would be set free tonight just start praying come on start praying they may be right next to you [Music] maybe at home maybe you're watching online maybe you don't know the lord tonight's your night maybe you have family members in the home right now in the home you're watching it the presence of god can fall right there in that bedroom right there and the lord can save us to the uttermost i thank you for souls tonight i thank you father for miracles tonight by the stripes of jesus we are healed [Music] and lord let our hearts burn with a holy fiery love for jesus let it be in jesus name say amen now give the lord praise come on [Applause] thank you lord thank you lord hallelujah give the lord praise one more time come on [Applause] thank you lord [Applause] yes jesus i won wow keep going keep going [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] so [Music] [Applause] so [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] thank you thank you jesus wow my lord thank you lord thank you lord isn't he wonderful [Music] isn't he wonderful i want everyone here to please grab a seat quickly the gospel is about to be preached and people are going to be redeemed forever so quickly grab a seat i'm going to ask that nobody moves around while the gospel is being preached so quickly grab your seat and stay there i want to welcome ryan let ryan know you love him would you do that so proud of the way the lord is using ryan so position your hearts remember the gospel is the power of god the preacher is not the power of god the gospel is the power of god unto salvation and this is what i'm going to ask everyone to do tonight this is all i'm going to ask is that if you're moved in your heart by the holy spirit purpose that you will respond regardless of your upbringing whether or not you've been in church i say this all the time church does not save jesus saves jesus saves maybe you maybe you have never heard the gospel maybe you think you have it's possible that you think you have and you really haven't heard the gospel just to respond tonight to the move of the holy spirit amen welcome ryan would you do that please love you proud of you oh man this is why we're alive right here you know i was sitting in my chair as we were worshiping and oh man i would pray for this growing up for my children for my wife that one day i can live in the presence of jesus and what what an amazing opportunity that we have a house that he is number one priority on all fronts on everything it's him uh and what's crazy about that is it cost him everything for us to sit in here cost us nothing but it cost him everything you know i was sitting in a parking lot the other day and as my wife was shopping like a good husband i was tending to the car and making sure nobody took the car so i was sitting in there but as i was sitting in there i was looking out in the parking lot and i could see people coming in and out of the store and people getting in their cars shopping and just going about life knowing that most of the people that i was looking at don't know him that they don't know jesus they don't know why they're actually alive they've never experienced the presence of jesus they've never encountered the king of kings and the lord of lords and i could see the frustration on their on their faces and in their eyes that they didn't know why they were on this planet and knowing that the gospel was within me that i've encountered him it just encouraged me god i just want to tell everybody about you because i know how good you are i heard michael talk about this before that that conversation that had to take place before jesus became a seed in a woman like can you imagine what that looked like father son and holy spirit and jesus christ himself knowing he's about to become a seed in a woman for all humanity we get to be in his presence tonight it cost him everything everything and to think about becoming a seed in a woman learning how to talk growing up learning how to walk the god of the universe having to bathe and go to sleep at night actually sleep the one that created the cosmos you know i could take a journey in my mind sometimes just of what jesus has truly done like really what it cost him for us to stand right here in his presence and say yes to him oh it's so huge you know colossians chapter 2 verse 14 and 15 says that he canceled the record that was set against us by nailing it to the cross he disarmed the principalities and powers and spiritual authorities shaming them by victory on the cross first peter chapter 1 verse 17 and 18 it says we were not bought with mere silver or gold that fades away but we were bloc bought with the precious blood of jesus that it cost him so much and to think of jesus having to grow up as a young boy and then all of a sudden we get word of him at a as a 12 year old boy getting you know in jerusalem with his family and then his mom and his dad take off and jesus is left behind and in scripture it says that he was about his father's business for three days it sounds so familiar you know asking questions and gleaning from these religious leaders learning and growing the bible says he grew up in all you know stature favor with god and with man and in all wisdom and then jesus coming on the scene at the the river jordan getting baptized by john the baptist and go going into the world in his wilderness by the holy spirit fasting and praying actually becoming hungry actually thirsting i could think of calluses on his feet while he's in the desert and burns on his back i mean i stand outside in florida for 15 minutes and i'm dying it's the truth i could just imagine what it did to him for me a sinner for you a sinner it cost him everything thinking about his beard being plucked and the nails in his hands and being punched in the face you know a crown of thorns on his head bleeding profusely the bible says he bled tears for you and for me you know we can't outlove the lord i promise you that's why scripture says he first loved us we can't out continually love the lord he first loved us and we get to stand in his presence tonight and by grace through faith we just say yes that's what that's our part is to come to him and to follow him all the days of our lives he loves us and we love him he loves us and we loved him but it cost him everything you know i lived a life full of regret and sin and shame and you know of sins that just entangled my life and to know all i did was in my shower one day say yes to him that's it that was my part yes to you jesus forgive me of all my sins i repent and he hung naked for that moment for me just to say yes to him and sometimes we're so ashamed just to say yes to him and come to the altar but he bled naked on a cross he was not ashamed of us at all and sometimes we're so worried about what our friends think or what our our family thinks or about whatever it may be we're so worried about people around us and jesus hung naked for us for us so he can remove the shame so he can remove the guilt now scripture says goodness and mercy follow me all the days of my life that's what we get in return that's what he gives us for a life full of sin his goodness and his mercy so when i look back at my past i don't see regrets and i don't see shame i don't see yesterday's mistake i see his mercy and his goodness because he did it it's him and us it's christ in us the hope of glory we can't do it friends we can't do it so i pray if you're in this building and you're in this place and you live the life and you could you can look around and you see mistake after mistake bondage after bondage sin after sin cycles that you weren't created for because you were created to live in his presence what we are and where we are now if that's you and you've come into this place or maybe you left the lord and maybe you knew him all that your life but maybe you just come to church on sunday and you want to get right but then monday through saturday you're living like hell thursday you're living for a weekend thursday friday and saturday maybe that's you in this place maybe alcohol has gripped you maybe lust has gripped you maybe eating has gripped you maybe anger has gripped you maybe an unforgiving heart has for gripped your life well i promise you the one who frees you in a moment is here it's jesus christ so if i could have every head bow in this place and every i know in this place and if you're out there in the lobby or in the overflow and you feel like you need to say yes to jesus you say yes that's me one of two people you've never encountered the lord you've never come to him you've never given him your past you've never given him yourself or maybe you have and maybe you've left them maybe you've got into religion maybe you've got into repetition and the mundane in the living cold maybe that's you well the holy spirit is here today jesus is not ashamed of you don't be ashamed of him on the count of three i would ask that you raise your hand one two three you say yes that is me thank you jesus for all those hands i'm gonna ask everybody to stand up in this building if that was you and you said yes that is me i'm gonna ask you to do one more thing to come out of the aisle and to find a place right here in front of the stage thank you jesus come on let's let's welcome them father we thank you for every life thank you mighty king come on he wasn't ashamed of you you don't have to be ashamed of him he's the same yesterday today and forever and he loves you friend he loves you maybe you brought somebody and they're not saved or someone's sitting next to you you could look him in the eyes and say do you need to go down there do you need to get right with jesus thank you jesus it's the greatest moment of your guys's life the love of god is here it's his kindness and his goodness that brought you guys to this place it's the love of jesus thank you father in a moment the bible says he takes your sins and removes it as far as the east is from the west that now yours now your history and now when you guys look behind you you'll see his goodness and his mercy over your life so we're going to pray our prayer right now we're going to pray it as a family and you guys are just going to repeat after me and when i say this prayer you guys by faith look at jesus every single one of you guys just look at him because he's the only one that saves like michael saves he's the one that saves he's the savior that saves so let's say this together as a church family say jesus i give you my life i give you all of my life today i deny myself pick up my cross and follow you jesus today i believe that you truly died on the cross for me that while i was yet a sinner you died for me i believed jesus that she rose again on the third day that you're a true and living king that one day you will come back for me i give you everything today i renounce my past every sin the world and i receive you in jesus mighty name amen amen thank you jesus thank you jesus come on let's thank the lord father we thank you for every life thank you jesus thank you father oh thank you lord [Music] [Applause] in this moment god replaced you with him it's the greatest transaction to ever take place in the face of the earth him for you and you for him you know every day this this this life lived of jesus is talking to him every day it's sitting with him every single day it looks like prayer and prayer is a conversation with the king it's getting alone with him and talking with him and number two it's reading this every single day the holy scriptures jesus himself this is him it's true in living bread this will sustain you this will fill you when the world tries to speak lies and confusion this is truth this is a solid foundation it's jesus christ himself and number three scripture says don't forsake the assembly of god join a local church a body of believers it's what it's who we are here the bible says we are to gather ourselves together to stir each other up in love and in good works come on there's people here that want to stir you up day after day as you come into these these walls and these buildings for jesus for him and number four is to get baptized in water we do that this is dion he leads our new believers booth an amazing amazing man of god a humble man of god he has a booth right outside these doors as soon as this service is over come see dion he can get you guys a bible if you need one and i was just talking about baptism if you guys want to sign up you could talk to him the bible says that we get to be baptized into him the death burial and resurrection of jesus and those waters the waters which speak of him the holy spirit sever our lives from the old man and we literally get to be baptized into him and goodness and mercy will follow you all the days of your life and number five is is the baptism of the holy spirit we pray for it here all the time there is in feelings of the spirit and the bible says that he wants to clothe himself with you with himself over you to be a power to give you power and to be a witness unto him you guys got to witness him today and now you guys get to be a witness of him you've witnessed the man so now you have something to talk about it's him the substance of jesus and so we're all going to pray together as a family over you guys right now so if you guys just want to place your hands and if you guys want to stretch your hands towards these people up here we're going to all believe and pray that come on let's holy spirit faith the lord will touch them go ahead ryan jesus we thank you that you are here tonight holy spirit we thank you we say we want you come you said ask and we shall receive holy spirit so we ask that you come holy spirit you breathe the breath of life over every single one of them up here in jesus name us included jesus i pray fill them with yourself clothe them in power in jesus name i pray your love be shed abroad in each and every one of their hearts let them know how much you love them today let that be a reality and real to them today by grace the supernatural empowerment of you jesus rest on every single one of them let them see you let them know you let them feel you as they leave tonight as they sit in your presence tonight as they go home tonight let them see you and let them know you jesus we thank you for every life in your precious name we pray amen amen let's thank the lord for every comment [Music] before you go back before you go back i want i want somebody from our team to at least escort them back to their row their seat would be difficult nobody going back alone church welcome them to the family of god come on god bless you this is awesome come on give the lord praise good job ryan [Applause] oh they're having a moment help them back would you guys walk with them come on this is awesome jess come on babe welcome jesse isn't the lord good we have uh before jesse receives the offering you are in for a special night mike bickle is going to join us on zoom and i i said mike maybe i'm not sure if we're going to have time to get into a dream i recently had i'm going to leave that to mike and see how the holy spirit leads but the lord is doing something and i told you guys that this season would be pivotal and catalytic and mike has been so gracious really on a last-minute request to join us and so when jesse is through mike bickle will join us and he's going to minister to you and we are all going to be filled with the love of jesus may our hearts be run through and wounded with the love of god amen so get ready get ready you are in for an amazing amazing night babe it's all yours hey guys how are you it's so awesome to have our students back in the room tonight i can feel your hungry hearts for jesus in the room love you so much we're gonna go to proverbs 3 9-10 i'll be reading from the new living translation it says honor the lord with your wealth and with the best part of everything you produce another version reads your first fruits then he will fill your barns with grain and your vats will overflow with good wine see we always teach you guys here you have to give god your best your first fruits as i shared this morning that's the first of your increase that's the first of your paycheck that's the first of anything you receive it belongs to jesus as my husband has always told me first fruits don't only mean your finances it means your time it means your prayer time with the lord the best of your day everything you have belongs to him everything he's given us as ryan said so much already he gave us his life and it's our joy and honor to give to him and when we are obedient it says he will fill your barns with grain and your vats will overflow with good wine that means you'll have more than enough and we don't give to get we give because we are obedient children to the lord but he is such a faithful father that it's his joy to give to his children let's pray lord we just thank you thank you holy spirit just for being with us right now we welcome you holy spirit into this place lord thank you for your faithfulness just thank him for a moment for his faithfulness just think of what he's done all his goodness what he's brought you through we just thank you god lord for for a car to drive and close to where jesus and that we can gather in your name tonight jesus and love you we thank you god for all you've done jesus we thank you jesus and it's our joy to give to you lord and i ask that you'll just fill our hearts with overflowing joy tonight in jesus name amen amen you can text give to the number on your screen if you are watching online we are so thankful for our online family if jesus image has blessed you we also invite you to give and you can text give to the number on your screen if you need an envelope can you just wave your hands at us and i know there's people i believe tonight in the overflow in the lobby so if you need an envelope in there you should have some ushers that will bring you some envelopes and just keep your hands up and we'll get them to you and we will be right back you can come up and rush the buckets and we will see you in a moment [Music] glory for you [Music] forever [Music] yours is the glory yours is is [Music] is [Music] again come on [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Music] come on [Music] [Music] [Music] updates uh let's throw the building up on the screen so we can keep our faith connected there you go and um also the uh we had a great meeting with the city the first meeting went wonderful that's awesome please give a little more praise than that because that is a big deal it's been a long ago and uh we've been working at it for over a year and the first meeting with the city went wonderful again we do own the land outright the lord that's the lord's land and so let's just stretch our hands in faith father we thank you in the name of jesus that that place will be filled with your presence that it will be a true bethany and that the nations will descend to know and love jesus their lives would be transformed and saved and healed forever in jesus name amen and every dollar will come in debt free in jesus name amen amen also i want to give you the reason i'm sitting is because i tweaked my back i preached in nashville last night with with a bunch of friends heidi was there i preached a legacy there and heidi was there and allowed phillips the pastor and they're doing a great great work up there the upper room crew was there oh my gosh the the minions were there uh austin was there i thought i'd throw austin he was really there and a bunch a bunch of amazing people steph was supposed to be there but she didn't make it and it's just really special but i i we drove up and and i'm just kind of tired of flying for a little bit as i said and i guess i sat too long so i got up the next morning to throw a little piece of paper away in the trash in the hotel i didn't even bend over to grab the trash can i just bent over like this much and heard a little click and i don't know if you ever had that before i've never had that like that usually it's from doing something really stupid but anyhow i made it through this morning's service and i'm here tonight by faith believing that the lord will heal me say amen so uh one more update before we bring mike in just one more uh we were able andy byrd reached out to me andy byrd reached out well actually the whole world discovered what was going on in afghanistan obviously our hearts were and are broken for everybody who's suffering our hearts were deeply moved for the local church there that is growing like a wildfire by the thousands and the persecuted church there was just impressed upon my heart in a way that it never has been i was in tears on and off for days and i began to ask the lord where can we how who can we help that has integrity and that would ensure that the funds actually get to the believers there on the ground and as you know andy bird is a dear friend he's a wyom leader he's been to this house many times we helped lead the send together he's actually a dear friend of mike who you're going to hear from in just a second so andy posted it was this was the lord hey if you want to help wyom can help get the money to the local church so i s to the church leaders and to the church and help them get out of the nation and help get food and shelter and clothing i felt the holy spirit say to me i am trusting you to get in get involved and if you don't you'll give an account at the throne that was for me i'm not saying that was for you but for me i felt like this was so important and it would be an eternal memorial before the lord similar to cornelius's experience before he heard the gospel so i came to you guys on the sunday morning service just a week ago and eighty thousand dollars came in onto sunday morning service now yeah yeah you can give the lord praise on that is that sunday morning service is how many months old four or five four months i don't know how old it is but between services without anybody asking another 20 000 came in then last sunday night you guys gave 80 000 additional to the persecuted church it goes further this and i'm not sharing this so that i hope you know my heart this is a testimony the pastor started calling me a pastor from dallas said can i give 20. additional another pastor from nigeria said can i give 20 000. the entire need was 610. the entire need that wyoming at the time was believing for was 6 10. we gave somewhere i don't know julie the numbers but between 250 and 260 like in a day and a half that that is miraculous and i'm getting i'm getting reports back from andy and the team that that money the first installment actually made its way to afghanistan and lives are being touched and saved and children are being i'm telling you this is awesome so may jesus receive all the glory i have never been more proud to pastor this church i am so proud of you i am so proud of you and the church is growing at a rapid speed jesus is king he is coming back and the gospel will be preached throughout the world the knowledge of the glory of god will cover the earth as the waters cover the sea amen well mike is ready i need to use this mike i've been told it is such an honor to have mike bickle with us tonight by zoom who is going to pour into us who has lived a life that is so beautiful before the lord a life of integrity a life of love for jesus a life of honor a life of devotion and commitment god has used mike to literally trigger intimacy with god in the hearts of a generation and i am so glad that the lord has supernaturally connected us and i believe that this is the first step of uh i don't know we're just going to follow the lord so i don't know if mike's going to be able to hear this but i want us to honor mike let's stand and thank god for mike mike welcome to jesus image we love you so mike we have our our printouts if you have your printout i want you to lift it up we are ready mike and thank you for being with us it's an honor to have you it's all yours thank you michael you mentioned earlier that the lord had given some dreams there's a couple dreams the lord has given in the last month about our connection together and i won't go into the details but i shared that with our team here and they were excited the team here at ihop the international house of prayer here in kansas city and we'll talk about those dreams later but when the lord does that just it seems random but it's really strategic prophetic and it's important and so we're paying attention to it you're paying attention to it and we're rejoicing and of course i've known you a little bit over the years and i've known of jesus mhm many of the ihop people here we we have a local church of maybe three or four thousand here in kansas city and our ihop staffs up about 600 it's their full-time job to do the prayer room here et cetera et cetera but they know about you and they know about uh of course andy byrd's a great friend of ihop and on this community he's been here many times and uh what a privilege michael to be with you and to watch this service i got to watch the whole thing like wow this is for real i mean my goodness and i say this uh in an honorary way it feels like i'm at home this feels so much like what i'm used to i went lord this is my people we're of the same tribe together it's beautiful let me just watching it but i could go on and on well one of the things that i've done for over 30 years is i always give teaching notes a lot of folks don't really care about them but i'm a teaching note fanatic i love teaching notes and so i told people that's my love language so if you give me a christmas present don't get me a shirt give me notes give me something to read i love it so i always make notes and i and i i'll go through them so go ahead and pull them out and they're on electronically available as well on the website and i'm just going to go through it skip some of the paragraphs but i got the main principles and the main bible verses here to save you time so you don't have to look them up we're going to start in paragraph a and of course we're talking about the first commandment and let me give you a prophecy first it's a really easy one the holy spirit is going to establish the first commandment in first place in the global body of christ before the lord returns i assure you the holy spirit is going to do this among weak and broken people in the flesh people like me people that don't have strength to do it he's going to establish the first commandment in first place globally i mean to a billion people before jesus returns so i just put a big old target on my heart and i say here i am i want to make it easy for you to get me and i can tell by the well the reputation that you have but the culture of just tonight's meeting you've got big bull's-eyes on your heart so many of you do in that room and uh we're not going to be disappointed when this thing when the lord returns we're going to be people love sick god's raising up a prepared bride for a worthy son or love's sick for jesus it's it means it means nothing for us to give everything for love because love that's what love is that's what love's about love the reward of love is the ability to love more that's the reward of love it's that we feel it more and give it more and so we're going to start in paragraph a here on my teaching notes in matthew chapter 22 a very familiar verse and but it's so familiar people overlook it it is one of the most significant declarations in the scripture matthew 22 verse 37 and then verse 38 as well don't overlook it because it's so familiar so holy spirit we ask you to teach us teach me while i'm talking holy spirit be our escort teach us things inspire us thank you holy spirit for your teaching ministry i want you to note almost every single word is significant jesus says it's his last public sermon by the way matthew 22. if you want to know what jesus would preach last read matthew 22. i know what it is it's right there in terms of his public message to to the people then he rebuked the pharisees but that was a private issue but this is his last public message and he ends it with this declaration and we're going to see in a minute it's more than an exhortation it's actually a prophecy he is prophesying over israel he's prophesying over the redeemed community through history you shall love the lord your god these are his final words of his earthly ministry in terms of a public uh format i want you to pay attention to almost every word significant he says you shall love the lord with all your heart number one all your soul number two all your mind number three in mark 12 he says all your strength so there's four dimensions of the human makeup that jesus addresses now these four dimensions of the human makeup they overlap some but they have distinctions and jesus wants us and he's going to anoint us that's the key part to love him in these four dimensions of our human makeup and they're very significant and i want to stir up some of you where this is new to begin to ask the holy spirit to go on a journey show me how to love you with my strength my soul how do i love you with my mind show me this because if you commanding me to do it that's the same thing as the promise that you're going to enable me to do it if you're going to enable me to do it i'm going to do it and so i don't want to be general with this passage i want to like be really specific every phrase verse 38 don't miss verse 38 jesus says something that no one in history has ever said before because i want you to know from my father's presence this is the number one priority to my father this is first this is not peripheral it's number one to my father like wow i mean who could give us that kind of quality information i want to know what is number one to god i don't want to get there stand before him and be shocked i tell the lord shock me now don't shock me i want to know and he says i've graciously told you what is number one like thank you like wow i don't feel pressured by this i feel directed by it and then he goes it's not only the number one commandment to god the father it's the commandment that the father calls great it's the life choices that god calls great my goodness you mean a weak man like me weak in my flesh i mean we're strong in grace but weak in our flesh i can do things make choices that the revelation for god on the throne with that emerald rainbow says great choices like really i'm in i can do that i'm in well i call this statement uh matthew 22 37 god's mission statement for the human race now most the human race do not accept it but it is the mission statement i've made this the mission statement for my life for my marriage for my ministry and everybody can make this the mission statement i mean you can add more words to it it doesn't have to be just the spray of those phrases why is it an important mission statement to adopt because it's the most reliable measurement of success when you stand before god when i stand before god one day he's not going to ask me how big my conferences were how big my church was how many books i sold he's going to ask me how big my heart responds to him was this is the most reliable measurement of success now again one guy might feel pressured by that i feel directed i love clarity i go look thank you i know what i'm doing now i know what to focus on this verse and i could spend an hour on the next uh line or two but only it's been a minute but i could spend an hour and i'm sure others of you could do there's so many implications to this statement that it's love god is the first a great commandment it reveals the nature of god's personality i mean what kind of king who has all power makes sharing mutual affection the number one thing of his empire what king has ever done that why would you make this then what kings want obedience and workers kings want people that will work for them the king with all power says the number one thing i want is this mutual affection between me and my people i go why that's because that reveals who he is it gives and you could go on and on about that this commandment gives insight into our value why would a glorious totally satisfied happy god care if i like him i mean i don't really bring much to the table you know i look at the stars and all the neha's and the power and then i bring my little personality why and the lord says it's because you're more valuable to me than you have any understanding like lord if i was you i wouldn't really care if mike pickle liked you i mean honestly i don't bring that much to the relationship yes you do you don't know the value you have to make this verse actually gives incredible insight to our value it's not only that it's how we function it's the design of the human spirit this is one of the great secrets of the human makeup and design we were created for love we only thrive if we pursue this a lot of ministries and i'm not like trying to put them down on all this they dumb this down to make it a salvation of the relationship where their people don't pour themselves into it like oh by grace just you know just do what you want to do it's grace it's grace and i say oh that's the wrong message yes it is grace but they will never thrive in their spirit without being wholehearted they were made for love it's like tires stuck in the mud we don't want to give them a deluded grace message a biblical grace message of whole heartedness is what makes the heart alive we're lying and injuring people by dumbing this down anyway we could go on and on about the implications there's about 25 of them actually i just wanted to kind of stir your mind up that this commandment's more than a commandment it has many implications about god and life and the kingdom in the future paragraph b john 15 9. now i have two favorite verses in the bible you don't need to have a favorite verse but i got two of them then i got a hundred verses that are my second favorite verses but i got two favorite ones and if you don't have one i want to suggest these two verses for you again you don't really have to do this i'm kind of having a little bit of fun but it really is my favorite verse john 15 verse 9. i've been preaching now on a weekly basis i'm celebrating i'm on my 50th year i began in 1972. and so i've preached a lot of years and i love preaching but and my point is at that my point is is what i'm going to say this is the verse over 50 years i didn't start it 50 years ago but this is the verse i have preached on more than any one verse in the entire bible ten times more than any other one verse i have used this one why am i telling you that i want you to go wow that's kind of weird like what is this first i'm trying to stir your curiosity up can we go really you would i don't mean i preach a whole sermon on it but i reference it two minutes three minutes eight minutes one minute nine minutes more times than any other verse in 50 years and i want that to make you take a second look at the verse that's the only reason i'm saying that to kind of stir your curiosity like why would somebody make that their favorite verse good question i got your attention that's what i'm trying to do and have a little fun too i love to have fun by the way jesus makes two i mean monumental statements of truth and then he gives a commandment which i consider to be the most important commandment in the new testament statement here it is i'll say it to you and then we'll break it down for just a minute and then we'll move on but i'm tempted to camp out here for a long time but i just want that i want to stir you with this verse he says i'll paraphrase it first he says i love you in the same intensity that the father loves me now i want you to engage in this truth all of your days that's what he says in essence he makes two declarations and one command command declaration number one which is a mountain truth i mean it's so big as the father loves me the subject of how god loves god how the father son and holy spirit one god and three persons the mystery of the trinity how god loves god how god has infinite pleasure in relationship with god the father and the son the son and the spirit the spirit of the father every combination the big big big subject jesus is only whispering he said i'm going to tell you there's a reality that you guys don't know about it's the way we interact it's deep it's intense it is actually the security of the entire eternal kingdom is the way god loves god if this was not true everything would eventually fall apart this is a giant truth that we could deserves a lot of time to spend on i spend a lot of time in my personal life and studying teaching in the interaction of the godhead and you find more in the gospel of john than anywhere in the bible but anyway i just want to throw that out there the way god loves god like okay and like jesus is all but saying go search out that truth i'm just whispering it because as god loves me that would be just like a title in a big book in the divine library that's just a phrase ahem go search it out in the bible there's much more in the bible than you would think at a quick glance about how god loves god he goes that's the same way i love you this is indescribably glorious i mean this is so big it bounces right off our natural mind without holy spirit escort and holy spirit help this is bigger than our natural mind to grasp and we'll never grasp it fully in this age anyway but we can grasp it a whole lot more than we do now and incidentally this is at the last supper which you know it's right before he go to the cross the next day he told them like an hour later and by the way every one of you are going to stumble tonight and fall away i mean you're going to trip and deny me or you're going to abandon me every one of you but i want you to know i'm going to recover you because i love you even in your weakness the way god loves me like my now they don't believe they're going to stumble that night but the next day i think verse 9 was the verse they hung onto more than anything he said how could that be true he knew we wouldn't follow through the way we thought we would and he already declared our recovery on the front end this is i think the most dynamic truth in the bible the way god loves god is the way god loves us like those are so big that when i read this phrase i'm going to do it for a second i like to pause and talk to the lord about this my favorite prayer i mean this is my favorite verse and the one i'm going to read in a second in john 17. they they and they go together by the way it's my favorite prayer too my favorite verse is my favorite prayer i have a sermon my two favorite verses and my two favorite prayers and it's these all go together and here's the prayer i like and i want to lead you in prayer for just 30 seconds thank you father for the way you love jesus show me more thank you jesus that you love me and the intensity the father loves you show me more holy spirit holy spirit show me more of god's love for me and impart more of love for god in me holy spirit i'm hungry for this in jesus name well every time you read this not every time i just exaggerate it i don't do this every time i just overstated it but i do a lot i pause and i say thank you jesus that you love me this way show me more and then i throw in a few more phrases because you want to turn this into conversation you don't want to just underline it and you know and put it on social media wow you want to turn this into conversation with them and you do that by saying thank you show me more and then more you say more phrases here and there but i always start with those two thank you show me more and then whatever comes after and sometimes nothing more comes sometimes i don't do that but mostly i do because i want this is i want this to be in my conversation with the one who has eyes of fire who's looking at me who loves me well those are the two greatest uh statements mountainous truths mountain truth that's just my own term what i mean is the truth of so many levels it's so deep it's so high there's so many dimensions to those two truths then he gives i consider it the greatest the most important commandment in the bible he says in the new king james what i'm reading he says abide in these truths or another verse says live in them one truth says you know dwell in them but here's the point what does it mean stay engaged in these two truths that's what it means and so how do you do that because i've taken that abide in love in these two dimensions of love i've taken it like literal as can be like okay how do i stay engaged study it okay so over for some decades i don't know how long does it matter but for some decades i study everything i can study on how god loves god or how god loves me i've read in the article i don't care if i have to read like 20 pages to get three new paragraphs i want to find three new paragraphs i want to study it number one i want to keep it in my conversation with god number two number three i want to talk about it i have preached more on the first commandment than any one subject but on this verse and the reason is because he said stay in this like okay that seems pretty simple if if that's what you call great cool i i know where i'm going i'm going to do this and so let's go to paragraph c this is the second number favorite verse and it goes together you really can't make them separate it's a few moments later in john 17. now jesus turns this into prayer he's talking to the father and he says father that's right is this very last verse in john 17 the very end of his prayer before he would go to the garden of gethsemane at the mount of olives the very last thing is father the love with which you love me put it in them supernaturally like are you kidding me jesus asked the father that a weak man like me could love him with the father the way the father died the way the father does you mean the way the apostles did no the way you love me father beloved if you want to be you know we've talked over the years you know for the last 50 years there's been a lot of conversation about the faith movement in the 70s when i first became a pastor in the 80s the 90s i'm in my 60s now i'm 66 years old so i'm an old guy but anyway so 70s 80s 90s faith movement fake movement and there's a lot of good things in the faith movement but here's the point i want to make exercise your faith to get this verse operating in your life make your the prayer of faith locked into this yeah we want money power ministry influence favor make those number two make the prayer faith focus number one on john 17 26 say well if jesus prayed it he all but prophesied if he prayed it oh my goodness all he's waiting for is a co-signature on the earth he's already signed it once he signed the check the i make this prayer 17 26 and 59 the number one prayer of my life and and i don't always do it again i don't want to exaggerate but because sometimes i'll go for some weeks and i don't even do it but i have committed lord if you will remind me i will always make this the number one focus of my life and and i'm you know i've been doing ihop here i i told you i've been preaching for 50 years by doing ihop for 22. 22 years it's our anniversary in about a week where we had 27 worship 24-hour worship seven days a week for 22 years it's never stopped even one minute the music has never stopped one minute 22 years and so i'm here at ihop and worship and doing all this stuff and i get so caught up sometimes in the opportunities because big opportunities of ministry or problems i mean all kinds of problems i'm not going to bore you with my problems every day like oh and they're worse than my back getting hurt when i bend over but that actually happened to me too that was funny you said that my back's hurting today for the first time i went what what is it right here anyway forget all that but i get caught up in my opportunities and i get caught up in my pressures and i forget to make this my number one pray more about those things and the lord says could pray those but don't pray about them as number one i go oh yes of course bring me back to abide in these truths okay let's look at paragraph d let's go back to the very first time in in human history where god says it out loud that we know of and turn biblically the biblical record love the lord your god first time ever it's ever declared in human history from the biblical record deuteronomy 6 5. deuteronomy through moses god speaks it audibly to moses now first time ever deuteronomy 6. now this i think was shocking to israel why is it shocking to israel because israel was in slavery in egypt you all know the story of the exodus and the ten commandments and the ten you know you know whatever you know i've freed egypt yeah oh the tim flags of eden so i'm trying to say it's been a long day anyway uh we all know the story they come to the red sea but it's easy to miss this amazing thing i'm gonna tell you next is that they go through the red sea and they meet god their first meeting with god exodus 19. you don't want to miss exodus 19. it's real easy to kind of go past that 2 to 3 million jewish slaves freed from egypt are standing before a mountain two to three million all of them were there exodus 19 and moses and they're saying moses we don't really know you i mean you're new here you know and we saw the miracles but wow like tell us about your god we know he's the god of abraham but we don't we've been in egypt for 400 years we've kind of lost some of the story here tell us about your god and moses goes great he says he's going to talk to you face to face i mean nearly face to face at on this mountain mount sinai exodus 19. you really want to read it they go okay good so they all show there show up six hundred thousand men so that means two or three million all the women children everyone's there the glory of god comes on a mountain fire not natural fire the mountain shakes not an earthquake a super lightning and thunder not natural lightning thunder trumpets it is the most glorious it's actually a down payment of what the second coming is going to look like it's a first installment on one mountain what's going to be seen across the whole earth when it comes back that would stand it's the most dramatic supernatural encounter in human history of a public group where two to seven to three million people saw it they were so terrified they drew back i mean terrified thunder lightning fire quaking mountain i mean like oh my god who are you and they drove back so now they this is my read you can't there's nothing that says it in the bible but there moses what does he want what is your god what he terrified us deuteronomy 6 the lord says tell them this i want them to love me tenderly they're going that's what he wants are you kidding well it seemed like he wanted something different seemed like he wanted us afraid tell them moses what i want is they would love me tenderly i think israel was shocked by this statement this is one of the greatest statements imaginable that a god that appeared like that wants this wow i mean i really am i if this is real it is of course we know it is we're in man i'm all the way into this all the way in for this no matter what it costs so in chapter six i want you to catch i'm gonna give you a nuance that you don't miss the nuance deuteronomy 6 it's an exhortation i want you to love me tenderly i mean those are my terms but notice chapter 30 it's not an exhortation he says the same thing but it's a prophecy it's a prophecy deuteronomy 30 is a prophecy and then by the way it's an end time prophecy you read deuteronomy 30 i've studied it a little bit over the years and it is clearly if you read the details a prophecy of the generation the lord returns and moses prophesied the lord is going to touch your heart to cause you and your descendants you read the whole thing on your own he says you and your descendants will love him with all your heart he is going to circumcise your heart he's going to touch your heart by the spirit that's what that means he's going to touch your heart by the power of god so matthew 33 let's go back let's go back to the first we started with i mean just in our mind jesus stands there in matthew 22 and says you shall love the lord your god what he's doing he's he's giving the exhortation what israel ought to do but it's also giving a prophecy what the spirit of god is going to do in them he stands because they're saying hey what's the deal he said the exhortation is a prophecy i'm bringing both of the things i told moses together in one declaration and it's jesus's final public declaration over the over his people who were listening to him i mean the people that had a heart to hear him i mean that's remarkable now paragraph e i don't want to take a lot of time on this because i know you already have this in your spirit but it's got to be said jesus defined loving god is rooted in a spirit of obedience not i didn't say attaining to mature obedience because i don't even know for sure what that is you know how mature is mature like someone says how mature is your love like oh i don't know if i'll scale one to ten i'm a three or an eight or six or four i don't know i just know that i have a spirit of obedience i've committed to obey i don't measure how far i got i don't even know and i tell a young believer a week old in the lord you can have the same spirit of obedience an older believer has even though your love isn't as mature but the spirit of obedience is in place and jesus said he connected loving god he says if god will love god on my terms because out in the culture today many young adults they're wanting to love god they're using their own authority their own imaginations but there's enough of them doing it they believe each other they're wanting to love god on their terms and you cannot do that we have to love god on god's terms not because god's mean because god's the only one who knows what love is and how love is awakened in the heart and so we cannot shift we cannot shift the definitions and i mean our ihub world was very similar to what you do when we worship for long hours say in the spirit and i tell our people affection in a worship service is beautiful but love is way more than singing for an hour on a sunday meeting i mean that is part of love but love is way more than that so some people think if they are real intense for an hour they love god they well i mean that's real it's genuine but if love is bigger than that so i want to just i already know you know this but we to anchor the loving jesus in a spirit of obedience in the grace of god the biblical message of grace not the distorted message that's getting so popular today paragraph f now notice in we're going back to the first verse i started with matthew 22 he said love god all your heart is soul strength then he says then he says this is the first and the great commandment i already covered that for a moment but i'm going to take one more moment on it he's all but saying hey i didn't tell moses it was the first of great i just told moses to love god i'm telling you what no one else has ever heard and i've come from my father's presence and i'm telling you something very important so you know it this is what god counts number one when he looks at your life like good to know and this is what god considers great decisions based on this awesome i really want to know that i don't want to guess i thought what god called great is how i touch more people than you did and the lord well not that many people touch lots of people i'm guessing 99.9 of the body of christ they don't touch thousands of people they touch the people around them you know there's a there's a only one or two reinhardt bonkeys you know there's reinhard banky billy graham and a few others there's not that many touching millions and millions and of course with social media there's more but still it's a fraction one percent so greatness can't be how many people listen to you that can't be what greatness is it's the choices we make that god calls great the impact it gives us i want a big impact i really do but that's not the essence of if my life is great and a lot of guys are confused so they're looking for bigness when they ought to be searching for greatness and greatness and bigness in the eyes of men are not the same thing i want something god's gonna call great when i meet him eye to eye so he he uh he identifies this is top priority this is not peripheral i've had a couple friends over the years pastor friends we all have different emphasis they go well you know you do that first commandment thing i go i i wouldn't be nice this is the jesus thing i stole it from him i know this is not peripheral the first commandment is first and i go i'm saying it to be nice to you you don't want to preach 30 40 50 years and then find it out on your deathbed that's first like find it out now and so i say that with kindness now i don't want to be a know-it-all i want to be helpful and this is i'm going to give you a thought that the only thing that god wants is something he does not have the only thing he wants the only one thing he wants the most is something he does not have he will not take it by force all of your love because that's what i want most but i don't have it yet i'm talking larger you know i'm not saying some of you aren't doing that he says what i want most i don't have it yet and i'm not going to take it by force i'm going to woo you and wow you to give it to me that's what i want most of and that's what jesus image ministry you guys are really locked into this i know i i know you're you're the spirit you have i know you're you're messaging it's really stay with it because there's going to be an onslaught of pressure to back away from this but we're not backing away because the thing he wants most is the thing he doesn't yet have and he won't take it he'll wow us and woo us till he gets it well paragraph g it's the first priorities the first episodes you know we have uh beard ihop in the 22 years we've been doing it we have healing rooms we you know got the idea from santa maria from other ministries and we've got prophecy teams so we got a whole bunch of i don't know you know like thousands of people a year they come and they we get two three people they probably over they make an appointment we got lots of teams doing healing and promising and and so therefore people come and visit and they think you guys got lots of props i go well we give lots of little prophecies to people to encourage them i don't know how great all of our prophecies are but but i get asked all the time what's the lord saying and i i kind of like trick them a little bit but i but i say this kind of tongue-in-cheek i say i know what the lord's saying the most they go really you know they're thinking you know asia israel iran you know the money market what what gold i go i know what he's saying number one who's gonna win the election i don't know that's not what i'm talking about i know what's the number one he's calling us to the first commandment that's what he's saying first i go oh come on i know that i go i don't really think we all know that a lot of prophetic ministries i tell prophetic ministries if you're not hearing that first i mean you're off go back and ask for more info that's what he is saying first i have it from the lips of jesus this is first and this is what he calls great this is this commandment the word great i could apply it 10 different ways i'm going to do one or two for time's sake think about this this is the commandment that has the greatest impact on god what yeah people like us and our weakness our weakness in our humanity by the spirit of grace can respond because god's so filled with love we impact him this moves him the greatest wow this is what moves us the greatest if we go for it like i tell people i'm not gonna dumb this down because this is what will make you feel the strongest inside if you'll stay with it maybe you won't feel it in the first few months or so maybe longer i don't know but this is has the greatest impact on your heart more than that this is the lifestyle that god calls great when you stand before him on the last day you know when billy graham you know stands before the lord i've said this kind of like a joke i've said this for years but now he has gone to be the lord but i said this many years ago too i said jesus isn't going to say father i think that's billy graham like that's amazing you know and there's billy graham you know billy how many stadiums did you fill oh lord hundreds they're not going to ask billy graham how many stadiums they feel they're going to ask billy graham the same thing they're going to ask me the same they're going to ask you what was not the size of your impact what's the size of your heart response to my leadership into my heart that's what billy graham's going to be asked that's what everybody is going to be asked when i meet the lord eye to eye that's our first thing point of definition i mean he'll say he loves us and all that but in terms of my life it's measured by this and it's really good to know that on this end i don't want to discover this on my deathbed let's go top of page two and i'm just gonna i'll take a couple more minutes on the first love god of all your heart and then this rapid fire i'll text the other ones then i'm going to pray for you and have a short little ministry time first thing he says love god with all your heart that means we're going to engage with our affections i'm not talking about ex expressions in worship service styles because there's i'm talking way more than an hour worship service because some people think engage means this and that for the hour it's bigger than that again i'm not commenting on that because some do it this way somebody's that way that's not my point my point is monday to friday monday to monday monday we want to set our heart to engage with enthusiasm and affection we don't want to serve dutifully disconnected and i'm not looking for bible verses where i can give less of my heart to god i want to go all the way jesus is saying all your heart figure out ways to give me more not give me less here's your question not here's the question you should ask lord how can you strengthen me to give you more how far will you let me go how abandoned will you let me be and i don't mean you've got to get on a plane and go to a foreign mission field and die as a martyr you might but that's not what i mean i mean just whatever your assignment is the question isn't let's find bible verses where we can do a little bit of immorality a little bit drunkenness a little bit of covetousness a little bit of bitterness and we got grace we're covered i'm like trying to find bible verses to feel comfortable with a compromising dull heart that's not what i'm going for i want to be all the way in i want to love with all my heart with zeal not dutifully serving i'm serving in all the ministries somebody might say the lord says but you don't ever talk to me you're like the church of ephesus in revelation 2 you've lost your first love you're serving hard but you're i went i want your heart come on i'm in this for the heart connection and then we'll work together paragraph b it's this phrase i i love this phrase i i get it from psalm 91 verse 14. there's a very important passage for uh to me for many many decades we're talking about the psalmist says the person who set his love upon god what's the lord speaking he says the guy the man the woman they set it's the phrase set their love on me like wow that phrase grabbed me in my 20s i'm in my 60s now that phrase grabbed me i went to set what oh what's that mean and this is the lord that moved the lord so i said okay lord i don't even know what that means set my love on you huh okay and what it became clear to me is that i would make the primary dream of my life let me say this really careful because we have a primary dream and then we have secondary dreams my primary dream when i was a new pastor in my early 20s my primary dream of life was i wanted a godly wife which i have with i wanted a godly family which i have by the grace of god i wanted kingdom friendships meaningful ones which i do and i wanted a ministry that impacted others in a deep way so i want and i wanted financial blessing so i could do it so i want godly family kingdom friendships impact and financial resources where i could do it lord goes that's great make those dreams keep them make them number two well they're number one i mean that's what i pray about that's what i dream about because here's what i want he whispered in my heart i won't go the whole story make walking in the anointing of the first commandment the number one dream of your life and then make those other very important subjects number two it was so clear go in okay i don't even know what that means the anointing the great call it grace grace and anointing the same thing the grace of god the anointing on my heart to actually walk out the first commandment over the next many decades that'd be my well i'd like to have a big church one no i'm gonna make that number two and with the godly family kingdom for chips and i want money i want a billion dollars i want to give money to the kingdom i want to go for it because no no go for that go for that go for that but make that number two talk to me more about growing in the anointing in the first commandment and talk to me about those others but make those second and i remember that the day i did it and i didn't feel anything to be honest but i look back 40 years plus later about 40 years later i don't know the exact date i was in my early 20s and then my mid 60s now i remember vividly i was a little perplexed because what i did i had done is when i got radically saved was 15 and i was 16 17 18 and i was at a real fiery youth group in the early 70s 1971 72 and uh we all read christian biographies of missionaries radical men and women of god i mean we read them all and when i would i started preaching on a weekly basis about 16 years old to the 12 and 14 year olds but you know that's it ronald known still crazy as that is so i would tell them about j hudson taylor and ct stud and all these kind of missionary guys and these 13 didn't really care and then i got to go to the university when i was 18 i had led a bible study at the campus and told stories about men who knew god and women who knew god but and i could tell the stories i love the books i didn't i didn't really like the bible that much i mean i loved the bible theory but it was so boring to me and i didn't really like prayer i liked meetings and i like i love to go to meetings and i love stories but the bible itself and prayer myself reading it i'm like ah it was really boring i was because you're lord i got a real problem because i i love you as long as i talk to you in a meeting but alone it's not really working if an angel would have appeared to me back in my college days and said yeah young man of god you're gonna have 24 hour prayer and worship i would have died of pain that would be horrible i didn't like prayerful deeps at all i loved outreaches and i loved meetings when i got together and singing here teaching and but same way i would always tell when it was my turn because i would teach on a weekly basis and then i go to other media types but meeting fanatic by 17 18 i love to go to christian meetings and uh so one day i don't know how old i was 22 23 something like that i said this most important sentence in my life and i slammed my hand on the table i said why not me be one of these guys he never dawned on me i was so happy to talk about a man who knew god i was happy to know a person who knew god i didn't overly was not that troubled that i didn't know god very well i mean i was born again and i was on fire and i witnessed a lot of people but i said what if i remember it was like what if i know god like really i mean what if i'm one of them i don't mean i have their ministry but their dedication and i slam my hand on the table i'll remember i remember vividly 40 years ago plus i went why not me and this this concept i'm going to set my heart on you today okay i'm going to make a life choice 40 plus years later the most significant decision i've ever made in my life was that decision that day after becoming born again of course i determined that walking in the first commandment would be my primary dream i would study it more than anything talk to god about it preach about it try to walk it out now i stumbled so many times i mean you know i got lots of stories if it makes you feel better about how i didn't do it anyway but i talked about this and i set my heart and i and i'm going to need you in that prayer to make that your primary dream i didn't feel a thing i prayed it yes it balanced oh well okay woke up the next morning felt the same as the day before and i thought well i don't think it took and just a little whisper in my heart says it did start studying it so i started reading books on how to love god i'd never read any before you know i read stories of biographies of missionaries but i started studying bible verses i started talking to the holy spirit how can i love god and the holy spirit i'm joking he didn't really say this but i thought you would never ask you know that's what i'm here for to teach you how to love jesus like oh a good plan i never i thought you were here to i could have power in my ministry yeah that too but i i'm here first to guide you to escort you into truth that he is the truth the truth is a man i'm going to escort you into him i'm gonna take you by the hand and that day i said okay how are you gonna do it and the answer is just keep talking to me search out books ask other people stay in the conversation and little by little it will connect and i look back and it really the most important decision i ever made my life to make that the primary dream and i deviate from it many times since that many i'll go some weeks sometimes months to be honest without making that the number one thing that i'm talking to the god about because i get into my ministry opportunities i get lots of great opportunities and so i talk to god about them which i should or i got many many pressures and problems i talked about about them which i should but sometimes i go weeks and months at a time where i talk to god about them more than revelation of how to walk in the first commandment and and i told the holy spirit way back then if you will remind me which is many many times i will re-line back up i really will because i'm not smart enough or good enough or dedicated enough to do it myself and probably in these 40 years or whatever the number is three or four times a year i'm not a hundred times a year and now and more than once i have to stop and go i did it again i drifted from this as my primary focus and and i feel like the lord's pleasure he says if you keep coming back i'll keep letting you know and one of the reasons i preach on the first commandment so much because like tonight when we're done i go home and drive oh my god what i mean at this time i'm in again i preach on election it pulls my heart into it and i study it and i get everybody else studying it because then they ask me questions and then we talk about it we talk and we sing about it and it keeps pulling me into the conversation so part of the way i do it is i call it sanctified selfishness because it keeps me in the conversation and so let's go to uh the second one loving god with all your mind it's just ever so fast did you know you can express love for god with your mind by what you put in your mind it can just inspire or diminish your ability to feel love from god and give love to god i will say that again what you put in your mind can inspire and enhance your ability to feel the love of god i mean i love feeling i don't always feel like but i love feeling the word of god and the lord says you love me with your mind it will enhance your ability to fill it more not all the time sometimes i don't feel it at all sometimes i feel rotten i just go ah you know just so you know but if i can put things in my mind intentionally that inspire and enhance and increase my ability to feel it and to give it back to god and so what you do with your mind is really important and i got a very important verse here i'm not going to take time on it joe 31 we are in the most pornified culture and there's an explosion of pornography that is happening in the next five to 10 years beyond anything we've ever imagined with all the technology and all the things it is critical that we even if we blow it we sign back up bullet sign back and make a covenant with your eyes the love of god with your mind and make a covenant with your eyes joke 31 critical critical make you blow it sincerely repent and you can blow something a number of times to keep repenting and it's sincere stay in the conversation and he'll help you because many young sincere believers that they weep when they worship but they're they're they go home and they do pornography stuff and the lord says no no that's this that's hurting your ability to receive from me it's not like i'm super i'm not like mad at you that's not the point the point is you were created for something different because pornography and immorality which is exploding in the generation of the lord returns is the counterfeit to the first commandment it's satan's attack on the first commandment let's go to the next one roman numeral four love god with your strength well your strength i believe it's your natural resources your your your your time your words your money like right now right now tonight you are giving time to learn how to love god you're loving god with your strength you're living with your mind too but with your strength you gave time tonight that person you talked to yesterday when they were discouraging you talk to them you loved god by putting it you were tired you had concerns you were late for something i mean that's you know happens all the time and you stop to talk to that guy pray for him you gave time you gained energy you gave words you loved god with your strength you gave money money is your strength anyway there's all those areas are that's enough on that let's go to the final one just take four or five minutes on this one i'm gonna pray for you loving god with your soul i find in my opinion and i i don't i'm not like the expert on all this but i have studied it for lots of years and so i've got opinions about it and i'm open always to learn more and to change my opinions but i think this is the most challenging of the four it's to love god with your soul this is how i understand this and i i think i'm uh that the lord's helping me to grasp this though i'm sure there's much more to it than what i get look let's read paragraphy i want you to read it with me just i mean just to watch it with your eyes we express loving god with our soul real careful language when we exert the emotional energy to realign our heart or mind to base our identity on our relationship with god instead of on our accomplishments of recognition etc let me say that all over again that's a big sentence and then i'm going to give you a couple examples and then you go okay because that's too weird of a sentence right now i love god with my soul when i do this it takes emotional energy to realign my heart to stop put my foot down say no that negative emotion i have right now is because i'm basing my identity on my recognition or what i'm achieving that's not my identity my identity is based on who we are together and people liking me are not liking me the money coming in the money coming down my impact increasing or decreasing that's not my identity but by nature i base my identity on what i accomplish or how i'm recognized or i base my identity on my failures or my deficiencies i can't do this i can't do that i said well my ministry is big so i'm amazing my mission oh people are mad people left it's little the money's coming in the money's not coming in people are happy people are mad by nature i base my identity my value on that and the lord says i understand you were born with that mindset i want you to exert the emotional energy to transition over when you have those negative emotions and to say what i say about you and base your identity upon our relationship okay now what do i mean by our identity paragraph b just one sentence all right this is simple i street level definition what do you mean by my identity it's the way you define your success and your value that's how you see yourself i am successful because my ministry is growing i am a failure because my ministry is decreasing i am successful because my marriage and family is doing good i am a failure because my family is doing bad well it says no not in the primary sense those are secondary definitions of success not the primary one you love me and i love you you're already successful line up there and then with that base go take on the challenges of the opportunities that are facing you paragraph c i've oh i love this one my favorite things to say i've said it a thousand i don't know thousands and thousands of times whenever i get pressure which is every other day i got pressure just like you do our primary success i don't mean secondary success because i believe in the secondary definitions of success you excel in your uh craft you are succeeding in your impact i mean there's lots of definitions of secondary success and i like those it was my secondary dream it's the same ones i want a godly family i want to advocate and friends i have an economic blessing i want mystery impact et cetera but all right so that's our secondary success our secondary identity sense of identity here's here's what i feel like my heart gets in pain and i go oh and when i get in pain or trouble troubles what i mean even more pain sometimes true but but i mean pressure discouragement obstacles i go you know i don't want to just keep pressing that because when you get discouraged or get burned by obstacles and push back by people you know people criticize you justly and unjustly all kinds of things we all have it you go like i don't know i don't do this anymore that's the most normal human reaction and the lord says uh wait a second i start no i stop and i think i go why am i pressing into going hard anyway i stopped and i've done this a thousand like wait a second you're the genesis one god and you love me oh my goodness that's awesome and by the grace of god i'm one of the minority of the of history who loves you you know there's seven or eight billion people on the earth whatever the number and less than a billion are believers and a lot lesser on fire but it's called a billion that's one out of seven one of eight that's a minority the minority of human history receives the grace of god loving back like wait a second you love me and somehow by the miracle of the grace of god i love you not that great but i do love you i'm already one of the most successful human beings in history i'm in the category of the mind the really small minority i went i'm already successful wow the thief on the cross jesus looks at him and goes today in paradise with me the thief steps over the line he dies he steps over that line he's in the realm of spirit goes i knew i was a king i never would have been a thief why didn't somebody tell me who i was i didn't know this is who i was i don't want to wait till then to find that way out um the king believe it or not the thief of the cross because he's in the kingdom he's in that whatever the percent of human history is in the kingdom i don't know but it's certainly the minority he's in that group he becomes one of the more success sexual successful people of human history because he's in that family because the majority is it like but what a disaster to wait to the last breath to get in it so i'll tell you a quick little story and i'll end with a story and so one more point then the story paragraph d i just looked at my notes that's what happened when we our identity is rooted in what we achieve or how many people like us or who's applauding or who's giving us likes or you know if the pastor likes you if the ceo likes you if they're promoting you if you your identity is therefore your happiness is based on that you get into an emotional storm when it goes the other way and when you're in an emotional storm this is why we love god with our soul i can't love him well when i'm in an emotional storm and he knows that so he goes if you want to love me with your soul you want to love me well i mean even in your weakness still love me to your capacity you've got to resist the emotional storm then if you want to love me well so love me by realigning to me realign to who you are to me so you love me well that's how you love me with your soul and so you know how to love me with your heart with your mind with your strength but this is the hardest one the most challenging when you get in that that funk no it's about loving god that i have to transition and realign my mind i mean it does make me feel better but it's bigger than that that's how i love him i committed to love him with all my soul so here's my final story here's the story that's going to tell you and i'll end with this afraid uh 38 years ago it's only been a three minute story 38 years ago i'm pastoring in kansas city i got a young little adult church and this guy walks in named bob jones his prophetic guy something for his name anyway i'm going to skip a story the lord speaks audibly 38 years ago in may 1983 i mean it's 38 that's a long time ago speaks audibly i mean you don't get an audible voice direction i mean maybe you get one in your life you know or maybe two or maybe not mostly audible voice direction he says you're gonna do 24-hour prayer with singers and musicians that's the essence that's not the exact sentence that's what made i didn't like that to be honest i went what i don't want to do 24 hours i want to be like reinhardt bonkey and charles finney and johnny lake i don't want to i want to be prayer meetings i want somebody else to be the prayer meetings i want to do reinhardt monkey stuff and he said no you're going to 24 hour with singers musicians i'm not a singer i'm not a musician i don't like prayer you know but it was audible so i put the sign on the wall it was a big story he confirmed it that's enough confirmation but it's a big story i'm going to skip it and saw the sign on the wall so for 16 years i'm pastoring this young adult church let me start into my 20s and now i'm in my early 40s 16 years later the signs on the wall 24 hour prayer we're saying musicians our church grows we were maybe 500 at the time we grew about 3 4 000 some number like that i don't know and all the new people not all bunch of new people would say what's that side for 16 years like i don't know to be honest honestly i don't even know it looks like it means 24 hour pair of singers and musicians it's kind of what it looks like they go when are you going to do it i don't know they go how are you going to do it i go i don't know i don't i don't even know and for 16 years i got used to saying i don't know you know i didn't overly worry about it and then in 1999 16 years after 1983 the lord made it clear resigned the church i turned it over go down the road start this new organization called ihop like we all raise our own support like why why we have 600 people staff members we raise our supporters like that's a bummer but anyway you understand and now we got a local church that grew out of it of the people that you know in the in the in the culture and the society around that aren't part of the staff but all of our staff is part of the church so so we start and so and so then we start having conferences and some of you are aware of our one thing conference we had it for 18 years some number like that i think 18 years one day conference and for the last 10 years we would many times have 20 25 000 sometimes sometimes more uh people coming to the young adult conference at the end of the year 2020 millions of hits on the website our staff grew one time to a thousand we had 20 000 full-time people over the last 22 years 20 000 full-time in our midst most of them stay three or four years and they go somewhere else and they do it nineteen thousand and we're out in malaysia somewhere so it's really cool so i run into my old church members because my church members didn't join i hug with me they stayed in the church with a new pastor but weddings and funerals i say that now we're old friends hey right yeah hey it was our pastor for 16 years and when they go hey man that big conference like 25 000 young people a couple million people coming to your website every year and and they go and this is oh i love this and i'm coming right to the punch line they go your dream your dream came true that happened oh my god it really happened and i like to say this i don't like to say this like some hottie way if i go no no i hope it's not my dream my house is my assignment it's not my dream primary dream of my heart nobody can touch it and if i falls apart my dream is intact no devil can touch it no man can take it no amount of increase or didn't decrease can touch the dream of my heart i go that's not my dream that's my assignment if i help was my dream i would have quit before the 22 year mark because there's so many pressures but every ministry so i'm not i mean all million ministries in the earth we've all got that but i come to ihop feeling i'm a success that's why i can handle the pressures in the ministry but if i get to ihop trying to be successful by high hop going good and people being happy i would be burned out with bitterness and weariness i have to i can't work to become successful i work because i am successful in the primary sense and i like the secondary senses of success i do appreciate them but i'm not going to let them define if i'm successful ihop is my assignment it is not the dream of my heart nobody can touch the dream of my heart and that's why my heart can stay alive and stay vibrant well i'm going to end with that i love it and again i said such a kindred spirit i'm just watching you earlier i go oh my goodness i love these people michael i love you your wife is amazing anyway that's for another day but but let me pray first let's just come before the lord i think there's people in that room right now maybe some of the people that gave your heart to the lord an hour ago maybe somebody is on the staff and you've never intentionally made what i call the most important decision in my christian life i determine psalm 94 91-14 i'm going to set my heart to love you as the primary dream i already know how to do it the lord says you don't have to know set your heart i always bring literature to you i'll bring people to you i'll give you dreams i'll give you insights i'll whisper i'll help you i'll teach you through your failures i'll teach you through success i'll teach you through the lips of others i'll teach you through your own mouth when you're talking an idea will pop into your head for the first time i will show you if you will start your heart so lord here we are all over the room i'm gonna have the worship team go ahead and come on up for a minute they'll just come up and get ready just to leave and worship for a few minutes so people can talk to the lord this i believe there's a number of really sincere believers i'm talking to you never made this the intentional like it actually is going to be the primary dream i'm going to abide in love i may not do it well but i'm going to do it and if you will remind me i'll return to it 10 times this year if i get away from it and and you'll have to return less and less as the years go on but i still have to return to it because i get swept away by exciting things or by difficult things so lord here i am i say i thank you jesus that you love me the way the father loves you holy spirit holy spirit jesus prayed that the love with which the father loves him you holy spirit put it in me i'm asking you to mark me afresh with the vision to make this the primary dream of my life for the day i meet you face to face help me i'm weak in my flesh i easily get distracted i easily get discouraged help me i'm a weak human and that's what you excel hoping weak humans like me help me mark me psalm 786 put a seal a mark tonight in a new way on my heart even if it doesn't you don't feel anything mark them lord even if they don't feel it mark them with a new resolve it's a new resolve that tomorrow they'll still have to resolve in their heart though they might not feel different they'll have a new resolve i ask you song of solomon 8 6 fire mark the heart that results in a new result in jesus name amen and amen so worship team if you would just lead for a few minutes and then michael what a joy to be with you and then you can just close the service i know it's getting right there and i lift my [Music] rejoice [Music] [Music] let it be a sweet sweet sound in your [Music] my life my voice to worship [Music] [Music] rejoice [Music] take joy my king [Music] in [Music] [Applause] [Music] my [Music] i lift my voice to [Music] [Applause] worship you oh my soul rejoice [Music] take joy my king [Music] sweet [Music] i love you lord i love you i lift my voice to worship [Music] take joy my king [Music] in what you hear [Music] [Music] oh [Music] [Music] oh [Music] my oh [Music] me [Music] is there is [Music] [Music] search for all eternity [Music] [Music] no one else can touch my heart like you [Music] there is none like [Music] there is [Music] i could search for [Music] you know as mike was speaking this evening wasn't that just precious it's just amazing gosh how many of you feel like you were in the room for such a time as this i just feel like the lord gave a big amen to all we've been burning for and holding on to and that we what we need more of tonight i was reminded of the the day i walked on to the property at canaan just let the lord touch you i know he's touching many of you i see many of you weeping and you're under the lord's presence i went to canaan in the desert which was the property run by the evangelical sisterhood of mary a charismatic group of sisters who began as lutherans it was founded by mother vasiliya schlink as our students know they've read her material every year and i walked on the property and so filled with questions i shared this with mike actually and as i was sharing it with mike on the phone we were facetimed a couple weeks ago or zoomed i don't remember he kept saying bullseye bullseye but i remember walking up to the sisters saying how do i start a new ministry and sister rebecca who impacted my father-in-law when he was in his 20s he heard her speak and i said how do i how do i know where to live where should i move she said find the love of jesus and love him back and i said to myself what does that have to do with knowing where i should live i said i'm confused i'm not sure if i'm supposed to lay this church down in california and hit the evangelistic trail and she said find the love of jesus and love him back i said i'm not quite sure i'm thinking maybe dallas or florida she said find the love of jesus and love him back i think if i would have asked her what stocks should i invest in she would have said find the love of jesus and love him back but this is what happened to me that day her simplicity lovingly revealed my mixture and mixture in the scriptures i'm not trying to be harsh but i'm giving you the word of god mixture is adultery that's what hosea taught jesus and is adulterous and i engaged that day i met a people whose eyes glistened his tone was tender and bold i had never met a people like that in my life and rebecca said to me she said years ago and and something i'm telling you mike joining us tonight there's something connected here this is what she told me she said years ago decades ago mother basilia gave us a prophetic word she said one day a group of young people are going to come and they're going to come representing their generation asking how to love jesus more and she looked me in the eye and said today that day has come i had no idea what she meant and i had no idea what was ahead what i can tell you is that tonight we received a word from the lord and i want our hearts to cry a big amen yes lord yes yes this is the one thing it is the only thing it is the heart of bethany it is the one thing that if we gain we have everything jesus himself our bridegroom so father can we all stand just lift our hands to heaven i told you this would be a night of such depth listen church listen i believe that some of you in this room hopefully all but i believe that some of you in this room are going to experience exactly what i experienced that day at canaan this is your moment to discover the joy of simply knowing and loving jesus this is the secret to rest and strength as mike said david writes in psalm chapter 18 verse 1 i love you lord you are my strength strength to do great things does not come through motivation true strength comes from being in love with jesus and experiencing his love for you so father come on this would be the greatest most revival this will be the greatest revival your heart has ever known to fall deeply in love with jesus father we say amen tonight we thank you for mike we thank you for everything that you spoke through him your word and lord we take heed tonight we open our ear we hear your call that he who has ears to hear let him hear we we hear tonight the bridal call the the call of the bridegroom the love of the lord himself and we say yes lord yes lord jesus come and live with us come and burn in our hearts we long to love you more holy spirit so shed the love of god abroad in our hearts move us deeply that we would know you and love you now father we pray a blessing over mike in the ihop team we sense your hand in this we do we sense your hand in this night so father in jesus name church i want us to release a blessing come on bless mike bless the the leaders bless the team bless every musician every person there every person who's given their time in the secrets of the night to glorify your name release your glory there and in a measure they've never known in a measure they've never known i pray father that the manifest presence of the holy spirit that the power of the blood of jesus i plead the blood over their work and over our work in the mighty name of the lord jesus christ over your work this is your work i plead the blood the holy spirit have us capture our hearts release tears our eyes have grown dry let the scriptures pull our hearts in again your word is food and bread indeed we give you all the glory all the praise thank you holy spirit in jesus name amen can we give the lord praise just seal it thank you father thank you lord [Applause] thank you father [Music] mike mike mike thank you so much yes i love it i hope we can do this again but we can't for sure why not guys are you grateful for mike would you send some love maybe one day mike maybe what would be so exciting is if we could give some prophetic history and just greater context of some of the story love you so much mike thank you thank you so much god bless you we love you [Applause] let me pray a blessing before you go was are you grateful i don't know about you but i'm i am burning inside you know the lord would say things to me it's it's nice to hear from mike because you don't feel as crazy but i remember the first time the holy spirit said loving jesus is life's greatest achievement i thought oh that's good that's good let's write that down lift your hands father pour the oil of heaven upon them let the fire of the holy ghost erupt in them to know and love the lord protect them protect every home protect this church protect every business protect every guest minister every missionary who's come protect everyone who's come in from out of town for more i pray for more over you in jesus name i plead the blood of jesus and i need all of you to agree with me here i plead the blood of jesus over you and over this church and over your families over your churches businesses and homes in jesus name amen all right go home full if you need prayer tonight i don't know how we're going to do it with this new thing but by the way with this we didn't put this here so we're grateful but uh sorry that it's um you're gonna have to be more creative uh for for prayer we'll figure it out but if you've come in hungry for prayer form a line in the middle and now we've got a nice natural divider carla and come receive from the lord god bless you the night jesus died on the cross and descended into the underworld and the king of glory shall come in who is this [Applause] [Music] and mighty the lord mighty in battle lift up your heads oh ye gates ye everlasting doors and the king of glory sacrament who is this king of glory the lord of gost he is the king of glory jesus you have conquered death the grave has been plundered you are the king of glory [Music] god demonstrates his own love toward us in the while we were still sinners christ died for us jesus shed his blood he died on the cross he was buried he rose again from the dead on the third day to give you life and to prove that he is the son of god who he said he was today he is seated at the right hand of the father and for those who belong to him he is interceding for them eternally and that same jesus will return again he will craft the eastern sky like a whip and with ten thousands upon ten thousand he will return in glory [Music] [Music] you were created to experience the presence of god in a way that will transform your life family and the world we understand how difficult it can be to find time to attend a school where you study the word of god grow in your faith and build a community of believers and that's why we created jesus school online we believe that the holy spirit is unlimited in his reach no matter where you live or what stage of life you're in we invite you to take part in this amazing online opportunity you'll be led by world-renowned speakers and worship leaders you will be taught to seek jesus daily be activated in the power of the holy spirit learn to share the gospel and build community with jesus people from around the world at jesus school online we are passionate about seeing a jesus people raised up to shake the nations for the glory of god you were created for this moment in history the jesus people are emerging and we have one ambition [Music] jesus himself will you join us you

Channel: Jesus Image

Views: 65,143

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Id: UsK08dFfJx0

Length: 197min 32sec (11852 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 05 2021