Welcome to the Jesus Image Podcast.
SPEAKER_01Well, I have a word on my heart today. It's one that I feel like the Lord has actually had me sharing with the body of Christ. And I realize what I'm going to say to you today is not really new to this house, but I pray that there will be some different frequencies in this voice this morning of the Holy Spirit that will even further cause us to see and to know what the Lord is doing in our hour. Amen. And that what we're called to do is the body of Christ and the bride of Christ. So I'm going to bring a little bit of a message looking towards the coming of the Lord. Now, I don't know when the Lord's coming, but I know the early church carried a heart that was expecting the Lord to come. I believe it's healthy, and I'll talk a little bit more about this in a minute. I believe it's healthy for Christians to know that the Lord may come. Or one thing for sure, he's either coming or I'm going. But we're going to meet each other, and I've been on this earth long enough to know that it may not be that much longer. And I get to be, and so will I ever, and so will you ever be with the Lord. Amen. And listen, guys, you don't have to wait for heaven, for heaven. We get to walk and step with heaven. You are a part of the kingdom of God. The Holy Spirit is in you if you're born again. And you and I get to begin to experience the glory of the world to come, even in this day and in this hour. And I just want to add my voice to, I know that you've heard some of this in other messages because I listened to a lot of the messages that come out of this house. And I'm so I'm so thankful. And it's not that I think I can say it any better, or you've had the best say it to you, but I just want to add what the Lord is stirring in my heart. So look with me in Matthew 25, because Jesus spoke a parable, and he says in the end of this parable, that he spoke about the coming of the Son of Man. So Matthew 25, you've probably heard a lot of messages about this, but I've been stuck in Matthew 25 for a couple of months now, at least, and I've been pondering what it has been speaking to me and what the Lord's having me share with the body of Christ. So Matthew chapter 25 and verse 1 says, The kingdom of heaven shall be likened unto ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. And now five of them were wise and five were foolish. And those who were foolish took their lamps but took no oil with them. So you got the wise and you got the foolish. And the distinguishing factor is the foolish took no oil. And we know it's the oil of intimacy, it's the oil of first love, it's the oil of oneness with Christ. And so it says they were foolish because they took no oil with them. Verse 6, and this is what I has kind of leaped in my heart. It says, and at midnight a cry was heard. Behold, the bridegroom is coming. Go out to meet him. And then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps, and the foolish said to the wise, Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out. But the wise answered, saying, No, least there there should be not enough for us and you, but go rather to those who sell and buy for yourselves. And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came. And those who were ready went out to meet him to the wedding, and the door was shut, and afterwards the other virgins also came, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But he answered and said, Assuredly, I say to you, I don't know you. So this is an amazing thing. And it's these are sobering words, but he's saying that the distinguishing thing is here is I was never intimate with you. And there's a lot of times that people get a casual knowledge of the Lord, a casual um uh walk, and and that there's a lot of mystery in this, and I am not uh I am not the theologian that is gonna explain every mystery in this, but there are some things that we can see that Jesus was giving us this example. And I said before, I think the early church had a healthy aspect, is that they expected the Lord to come. How many of you, if you knew he was coming soon, it would kind of change your perspective on a few things. You know what I'm talking about? Like, like suddenly, church is an optional. It's like suddenly let's let's be there because he's coming, he's in our midst, and and it shifts our value system and all of these things I'll talk more about in just a moment. But I want you to see here that this is talking about a bride and a bridegroom coming together. And I have heard uh many teachings. Uh, in my over 50 years of walking with the Lord, I've heard many teachings on the coming of the Lord. And most of the time they're talking about the Antichrist or they're talking about the mark of the beast. I remember we used to try to figure out where the beast was, and it was some at the advent of computers, it was some computer somewhere hidden in a building, somewhere, in a basement, somewhere. And it just gets kind of weird. Do you know what I'm talking about? And so I've never really wanted to teach on the uh all of that because some of it's mysteries. And Jesus said, no man will know the day or the hour, but my father knows it. And yet people still write books and they put a date on it. I personally have lived through five comings of the Lord. Like all these books come and every one of them, they're wrong. So if somebody else writes a book, don't buy it because it's a mystery, right? And and so I submit to you that the end time story is not about us finding out about the Antichrist. It is a story of this bride of Christ who's awakening to the beauty of a bridegroom who is gonna come for her. And that's why you feel around the body of Christ we're waking up to the first love that's beginning to burn, the oil of first love burning in our hearts for Christ. For the end times is the ultimate love story. It is the ultimate coming of Christ for his beloved that love will not keep us apart, that his love is here with us. And it's actually the story of a Jewish betrothal where there was actually a legal wedding, a legal marriage, even though they were betrothed. It was like Joseph with Mary. They were betrothed. And when she was with child, he was gonna put her away. He was gonna divorce her. And God visited him and said, don't do that. This is the plan of God. She's with child. And so it's a legal thing, but what would happen in Jewish times is that the the bride, uh the bridegroom would leave and go and prepare a place. And the father would be the one to determine when it was time to go get your bride because all things are prepared and all things are ready. Amen. Does that excite anybody? To me, it it makes me very excited about the day we're living in. To me, it doesn't make me afraid. To me, it makes sense that I understand I've got a different song playing in my heart than the things in this world. And, you know, at the same time, it says it got very dark. And they got tired. I don't know if you've ever gotten tired before, but they got tired. And what shocked me in the story is it said they all slumbered and they all slept. And I I think there's probably been times, there's degrees, there's probably been times in my life where I wasn't as awake as I should be. Is that fair to say? There were times in my life I wasn't as awake to the scriptures as I should be. There was a times in my life that I was uh a little bit content and satisfied and I wasn't pursuing him. And and God would have to, by the Holy Spirit, kind of come and wake me up and realize the hour that we're living in. And if nothing more, I just want to release a cry of the Holy Spirit in our hearts today. Wake up, wake up, bride of Christ, because uh whether it's just waking up for our generation or it's waking up for the ultimate return of Christ, I don't know. I'm not gonna sit here and speculate on that. I just know that every generation needs to be awake to why they are on the earth and the purpose that God's put within us. Amen. Does that excite anybody to like be in the forefront of what Christ is doing in the earth today? And so it says that before the bridegroom came, there's this friend of the bridegroom, this forerunner, that at midnight released a cry, released a midnight cry that woke up the bride. I feel that the Holy Spirit is shouting over the body of Christ and stirring our hearts to a cry that wakes us up to who we are. We are not just a people, we are the bride of Christ on planet earth, and he's coming for us, and it's time to step into first love. This is a this is uh your walk with Christ is a love story. I think I say this every time I come, but I'm amazed. I was sitting here thinking about one of the first times I encountered the love of Christ. I was saved, I was born again, um, and I had been successful in business as a young man. I was in my early 20s and I saw God work in my life, and it was in business at the time, and then all of a sudden the industry collapsed, and I was suddenly unable to pay my bills. And the shame of that moment in my life, as a young married man, I can't pay our bills, and I feel like a failure. And I'm there was no job to be had, and I sat on my couch for a month with my Bible. Because Jesus found me with nothing, here I am again. And suddenly I'm reading my Bible, feeling so low, feeling like what did I do wrong? Feeling like I didn't, I'm not good enough. Maybe I'm the only one who's dealt with those kind of feelings. But suddenly I didn't see him. I didn't see him, but suddenly I knew the Lord stepped in the room. And I accidentally threw my Bible and I fell on my knees with what I felt like was his feet. And I said, I said, Jesus, Jesus, how can you love me? I'm a failure. And it's as if a second didn't pass. It's as if he took his hands and he didn't want to hear what I just said. It didn't matter. It's as if he batted it out of the way and he embraced me with the divine, unfailing love of Christ. And in that moment, I was loved, not because I earned it or deserved it. I found the love of a Savior. And guys, forever, our faith will never stand in how much we can prove to him we love him. Forever, our faith will be alive because we stand in how much he loves us, and his love will never fail us, and his love will never leave us like he found us. His love will finish the good work that he started in us. Amen. And that day something shifted. Before that time, I sang worship songs, I clapped with the best of them, I did all the stuff. I went to church, I was faithful, I was a witness, I loved Jesus, but that day, that day, I became a worshiper. I wasn't a song singer anymore. I was a worshiper. I was captured by love and I started pursuing him, and I'm glad to stay now over 50 years, and I am still pursuing this wonderful bridegroom. Paul said in 2 Timothy chapter 4, he said, I'm about to depart. I've run my race, I've finished my course. There's a crown of righteousness. Folks, there's a lot in store for your future. You have a bright future. Paul said, I'm a drink offering. Like I love him, just pour me out as an offering. I'm a drink offering. These shouldn't be weird or far instements to the body of Christ today. Like, pour me out, Lord. I'm created for you. Oneness with you. Pour us out, Lord. Pour us out in the earth, pour us out for the lost, pour us out for the sick, pour us out for the hurting, the broken, the widow, and the orphan. Pour us out around the world. And he said, he said, and he spoke in that verse, and he said, and to all those who love his appearing. All those who love his appearing. And I know we're talking about his appearing on that day where we'll see him face to face. But anybody thankful, just like that day, he appeared to me. I didn't see him. I'm not saying you see him with these eyes. I just love when I know the Lord comes. I know. And I love when he's in the room. That's his first or second snort. It goes downhill from there. I'm just warning you. Listen, folks, I don't want to get fixed. I wanna, I whatever this is, don't try to fix me. I'm not, I'm not gonna be fixable. But it says, I mean, you know, and our world's crazy. I mean, I'm just gonna say it. The world's crazy. The moment you don't think it gets any more crazy, or we hear more crazy stuff, or you know, that's not where our hope is. Our hope is not in the newspaper headlines. Our hope is in this love letter. Our hope is in him, in Christ alone. And uh there there is uh, before he comes, there is a forerunner cry. If I had to title this today, I just call it the midnight cry. And I don't know if it's midnight like for his return. I want to be real straightforward with that. But I know for me, I know I'm it won't be long. I get to be with him. I was having a conversation with my wife a few years ago in our kitchen. And you know, as I I'm none of your business years old right now, but anyway, I it's you can probably see, I just didn't graduate from college, but uh, but um I we were talking, and you know, we've just been pouring it out, like going after Jesus, like putting it, and what a way to live. Like, because you say, why would you do that? Because I meet him. I see him over and over again. And I I I don't care where he leads, just reveal himself. Just follow the Lamb, and you find him over and over again, and you get a new glimpse of who he is. And we were we were in our kitchen talking, and I had this kind of a thought that's not normal. I'm I'm usually the guy, like, let's go, let's give it away, you know. And my poor wife, she's just followed us everywhere. And we're in our kitchen, though, this day, and finally some some comfort, you know, and some things in life, and a little security, and all of those kind of natural things. And and I I had this temptation come up in my heart, to be honest with you. And I looked at her and I said, Hey babe, should we uh should we maybe be a little more conservative as we've gotten older? You know, should we like maybe not like just a hundred percent just like always just, and I'm not trying to brag or anything like that. It's not that's not my point. It's just like it's just my your heart fully engaged, like here it is, whatever you ask, we'll follow. And she spun around in the kitchen. I mean, faster, I got an immediate answer from my wife. She spun around and she goes, babe. I love my wife, she loves me. 47 years last week together, 40, 40, 49 years, girlfriend and boyfriend. And she spun around in the kitchen and she goes, babe. She goes, it's just a few more breaths, and we'll be with him. Let's go for it, let's go for it. And I said, I repent, I repent, I repent. Yes, of course, because you cannot live for him and lose. You cannot live for him and not be walking in the greatest grace and blessing there is in life. And this midnight cry comes and says, wake up, wake up. And I feel like God's releasing a cry in the church that we awaken, that we are the bride of Christ. And we were created for first love, and we are created to know him, and we are created to forever be one with the Savior. Not just He's He's far away somewhere, not just intellectually, but we are bone of His bone and flesh of his flesh. And we are one with the Lord. Does that excite anybody? That's what I want to know. I want to know why he went to that cross. I want to know what he did on that cross. That's why Paul said, I count everything else as lost that I might know him and why he died for me and why he rose for me. I want to know it all. I want to experience it. Amen. And I feel like the Holy Spirit is releasing a cry. Guys, I go back far enough. I mean, I got saved in the 70s. Right after Noah came off the ark. Not quite that bad. But we didn't talk about the body of Christ. We didn't, I mean, we excuse me, we didn't talk about the bride of Christ. We didn't talk about those things. It was like far. In fact, for a guy, it was a little weird. You know, it's just like I'm being honest. We couldn't like wrap our brains about it. I have a friend who became a medical doctor and a surgeon. He was a published author. And the Lord, he he was captured by the Lord. And this is 1984. And the the Lord said to him, He said, Do you belong to me? He said, Yes, Lord. He said, if you belong to me, does your book belong to me? He said, Yes, Lord. He said, Throw your book in the trash. He says, Lord, it's my book. I'm a doctor. He said, I didn't call you to be a doctor. He said, Did you have to wait till I was a doctor and wrote a book to tell me I'm not a I'm not a doctor? He said, No, you're not a doctor. I called you to go and prepare the bride of Christ for my return back in 1984. I'm telling you, God's releasing a cry of oneness and first love in the earth. How many remember when you got saved? Romans chapter 8 tells us that when you got born again, the Holy Spirit came in you, bearing witness that you are sons of God, and we cry, Abba, Father. The Holy Spirit put a cry in us that we're saved. Does it amaze anybody that you're saved? Does it amaze anybody that nobody can convince you you're not saved? That's awesome, right? The devil can't convince you you're not saved. Why? Because when the Holy Spirit came in you, he woke you up with a cry of sonship. And there's it natural for you to cry, Ah, but Father, I want to meet you. I want to know you. He came in our hearts with a cry of sonship. Amen. And how many of you are also grateful before you got saved? There was an opposite cry. You're not a child of God. Don't run from that. Listen to it. Yield to it. And say, I want to know Jesus, Holy Spirit, introduce me to Jesus. Amen. It's a cry. The Bible says, even the earth has a cry in it. Even the earth is groaning for the manifestation of the sons of God to come forth. Like there's a groan in the earth. I realize that when God begins to speak to us, he releases a cry, an eternal cry in our heart. I want to tell you a beautiful scripture. It is Ecclesiastes chapter 3, verse 11. I don't know if they're putting scriptures up on the screen or not, but if they have it, it's very beautiful. I'll read it to you. It says, He has made everything beautiful in its time, and he has also put eternity in their hearts. Except no one can find out that the work that God does from the beginning to the end. He has made everything beautiful in his time. Everything beautiful in his time. Listen, look at me a moment. If it's not beautiful yet, don't give up. Because he's going to make it beautiful. Your story's not beautiful yet. Don't give up. He's going to make it beautiful. And it will be a testimony. And can I tell you another thing? Don't ever be ashamed of your testimony of what Jesus Christ has done in your life. Don't be ashamed. He said, Oh, he saved me from the darkest of the dark. I know. And people need to know that. So share your testimony with people so that they know the miracle-working power of God with your testimony. Amen. The world needs to know. And so he tells us that he has put eternity in our hearts. You know, when God first deals with this in prayer, some of the time we don't know what it is. It's just like a, oh, it's almost like a groan. It's almost like a, and I'm not saying we got to be weird when we pray, but I'm just saying it's almost like, like, what is this? I know there's more. Something is waking up in your heart when the Holy Spirit comes in you with a cry, and the Holy Spirit comes in you and begins to awaken you. What he's doing is actually putting eternity in your heart. He's putting something, a longing of God in your heart. And that's how God deals with this. Is some of the time we don't know the fullness of it, but you've got a longing in your heart. I have to obey God. You've got a longing in your heart. I want to serve God. I want to be a missionary. I want to go to Bible school. God awakens you with a longing in your heart. You don't know the detail of it, but it's like a midnight cry. It's a cry, a forerunner cry. Just like Jesus came the first time. John the Baptist was in the wilderness with a cry of that that the Lamb of God is coming who will take, who was slain from the foundation of the world. There was a cry put in the earth before Jesus came the first time. And now there's going to be a cry in the bride of Christ before He comes or for this generation, whatever his purpose is. There's a cry, and that longing awakens in us. Part of the destiny of God that he called us to that maybe we don't see or fully understand. There's a lot of things that I'm doing now around the world that all began with this cry of the Holy Spirit that became a longing. And I'll tell you what I think. I think the cry of heaven is going to awaken a cry in the earth. And a cry in its people. And the cry of heaven and earth are going to become one. Look, if you will, in your Bibles. Look real quickly at Revelation 22, 17. I hate to tell you, but this is just my introduction. I'm laying a groundwork. I'm tricking you. I'm laying a groundwork because I believe God is sending a new cry for his bride. Revelation 22, 17 says this, and the Spirit and the bride say, What? Come. Now it's not just the testimony of heaven. Now it's not just the cry of the Holy Spirit. It is the cry of the Holy Spirit that has awakened a bride, and now heaven and earth become the same song. And we are crying out from the earth and from heaven. Whoever desires, let him take of the waters of life freely. And suddenly there is a new anthem that is crying out. Heaven and earth are crying out together with the same wake-up cry of the bride of Christ in the earth. And discovering the longing of God. You know, I don't have time to say it, but for several years, God's been dealing with me about his master longing. The master longing. Have you ever thought about it? What is the master longing of God? Why did God do all this? Because he always wanted a family. He always wanted his creation. So you see the longing of God's heart, the cry of the Holy Spirit in our midst. And you see that cry even back in the garden when God created man and he walked with him in the cool of the day, all the way to the end of Revelation, where man will forever be with the Lord and He will wipe all tears from our eyes. And so will we ever be with the Lord. The longing cry of the Father's heart is for his bride and family to dwell with him and for him to dwell in our midst. That we literally do life around the presence of God, and God is dwelling in our very midst. God wants to be a father and he wants to dwell with us and he's putting that cry in our heart. Anybody crying out like for the presence of the Lord in your life, not just a tool of ministry, not just a tool of anointing, but for the presence of the Lord. I remember back in the early 90s. Sure I'm giving a lot of old dates in here this morning, but wow. But I remember, I remember I'd experienced the anointing and praying for people and prayer lines, and I'd been pastoring for about seven years at that time. And I remember all of that, but it was kind of like it was all a tool of ministry. And then one day, I guess it was the cry of the Holy Spirit for his family awakened me. And I realized, God, I just don't want to use your anointing. God, I want your presence. Because I'm in love with you, and you're in love with me. And I don't ever want to stand and speak again without your presence. I don't want to pray without your presence. I don't want to walk without your presence. I want your presence in my life. And from that day, as much as I could, I've honored that commitment to the Lord. So let me let me wrap this up. And we'll go real fast. But I think there's a cry that even though there's darkness and even though there is crazy stuff happening around us, I encourage you to go back and read Hebrews chapter 12. It tells you about the end times and it tells you that you've received a kingdom that cannot be shaken. Is that good news to anybody? That you've received a kingdom that cannot shaken, and yet God will speak in the last days, and everything that can be shaken will be shaken. That's actually good news. They asked Michelangelo one time, how did you create such a beautiful angel out of marble? And he said, Well, I took a hammer and a chisel and I just chipped away everything that didn't look like an angel. And I just have this sense that God's taking his word and chipping away from his body everything that doesn't look like Jesus. Everything that doesn't look and reflect and talk. The glorious church will walk like Jesus, talk like Jesus, act like Jesus, do the works of Jesus, be in love with Jesus, carry the love of Jesus. It will all be Jesus. It will all be Jesus. But at the end of all the shaking and all the chipping away and everything that happens in Hebrews chapter 12, when you make a note, read this later. It's Hebrews chapter 12, verse 28, 29. I'll just read it to you real quickly. It says this therefore, since we're receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us have grace by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. For God is a consuming fire. God says, at the end of everything, what will be left is grace. And that grace will release in our midst a fear of God, an awe of God. I think God is waking up his bride, and there is a supernatural fear of the Lord that is coming upon our hearts that causes our eyes to be open and see everything in this life differently than we've seen it or known it in the past. You know, I and I know you've had great teaching on the fear of the Lord, but I just want to add my voice because I think the fear of the Lord, the grace of God, is going to be the help we need in the last days. I believe the fear of the Lord is going to strengthen his body. I always thought the fear of the Lord was kind of like, whoop, I'm in trouble. I always thought I thought it was like it was difficult. I mean, in any teaching I heard on it other than recent things, it just did it didn't light my heart. And recently the Lord's put a cry in me about the fear of the Lord and the need for the fear of the Lord in the body of Christ. Do you know in Isaiah 11 in verse 2, it says, Jesus was anointed. We see the seven spirits of God. And the very last one that the Holy Spirit came upon Jesus with the fear of the Lord, and he delighted in the fear of the Lord. I find myself praying pretty much daily, saying, Lord, uh, Holy Spirit, minister to me the Spirit of Christ with the fear of the Lord. And it says, as a result of that, he did not judge by the seeing of the eye. And he did not judge by the natural circumstances. He judged by the fear of the Lord. So I want to tell you something. The fear of the Lord is beautiful. I want to tell you something, the spirit, the fear of the Lord is precious. I want to tell you we need the fear of the Lord like a wake-up cry in our spirit to release the longing of God in our hearts and to sustain us in the midst of a crazy world. And I'm going to just try to unpack it in the nine minutes I have here. I want to just unpack it for you real quickly because I think it's part of that wake-up cry to first love, that wake-up cry to how great our God is. The fear of the Lord is the awesome glory of God and his greatness unveiled in our very midst. It filters everything we see and everything we believe and everything we think. It's filtered by the fear of the Lord. The fear of the Lord actually changes our value system. Does it make sense to you if evil fear, wicked fear, demonic fear came as a result of the fall? That God would redeem that with the new creation into a holy fear, into a glorious fear. I think it gets a little lost when we use the word fear. And so I want to unpack it for you just a few moments. Ezekiel 33, I mean, excuse me, Isaiah 33, verse 6. It says this. It says the fear of the Lord is God's treasure. The fear of the Lord is a treasure God has for his bride. The fear of the Lord is a treasure he has for his people. The fear of the Lord. Everything in our life. It wakes us up to the hour that's at hand. The fear of the Lord opens my eyes so I don't judge by what I see. I walk by the fear of the Lord. So let me just for a couple of moments kind of go on this track of the fear of the Lord. Because it's coming in great measure. My friends, I for some reason I was thinking of this, my friends in Bulgaria, when the wall came down, and they were so poor, they had one frozen loaf of bread that they would just cut off pieces daily to eat. And they would come, they got born again, and they would go to this place that they would meet as their church every night. And they would sit with no heating in the frozen cold in that building with the warmth of their breath, sitting in the presence of God day after day after day, captured by the beauty of the Lord. There's something about the fear of the Lord that captures me. And the first thing it tells me is God is bigger than anything I will face in this life. It opens my eyes to the greatness, the grandeur, the perfection, the magnificence, the holiness of this God that I have the privilege of being one with. It opens to my eyes, who I'm actually betrothed to. It opens my eyes so that nothing in this world intimidates me. When the fear of the Lord is upon you, I'm more impressed with him than I am with darkness. Do you understand? When the fear of the Lord is upon my heart, it's natural to pray great prayers because I know who I'm praying to. When the fear of the Lord is upon my heart, it changes my value system. And now suddenly all I want is Him because I see Him. I see Him. I don't see a world clouded by sin and darkness. I see a holy, righteous one, and that's what I long for. That's what I run after. It changes my value system. Suddenly, sin is not an option. It's an option, but it's stupid. It's like, why? Sin is S-T-U-P-I-D. It's stupid. Like, I why would I do that? Look at his call. Why would I lay down my call? Why would I lay down my journey? It's the fear of the Lord protects my heart. The fear of the Lord changes my appetite. The fear of the Lord changes the way I see the future. I am not afraid, I'm not afraid of the future. We will mark, march with our beloved by the power of the Holy Spirit into the future God has for us. Suddenly it doesn't matter. You know, before the fear of the Lord comes, I got options. I got good options. I got plans. I'm always telling God my plans. And I always tell him the ones I like the best. Please choose option A. Because I like that plan and I plan my life and I got detail. Any detail people in here? All right, don't raise your hand. But anyway, but anyway, suddenly, suddenly, it's like I got all these options. Suddenly, I the fear of the Lord. It's like, no, no, I want him. It doesn't matter. Lead me. Where are you going? I don't care. It's with him. It changes the way I see everything. It changes. It changes the way I look at life. It's a beautiful gift. Do you remember King Uzziah died in Isaiah chapter 6? Israel was in shame. He died a leper. They were hopeless. The prophet Isaiah wringing his hands, like, what are we going to do? Our nation is in shame. The king died with leprosy. Everything is wrong. Everything is wrong. And suddenly he walks in. And in the glory of God, there was a dimension of the fear of God that opened Isaiah's eyes. And suddenly he sees the truth. He sees God high and lifted up in his train, filling the temple. Suddenly he's not looking down in despair. Suddenly, he's not looking down in hopelessness. Suddenly he's looking up. And he said, My God. My God. And I'm here to tell you today, he's not limited to just this room. He's high and lifted up in his train. And his glory is filling the earth. It's filling the earth all around us. We have every reason for hope and expectation in our hearts because of who he is. God releases the cry to wake up our bride, to take the dross from our eyes, so that we might see clearly, and our hearts will embrace first love and we will walk in amazement of who you are. And suddenly he sees the holiness of God. Suddenly he wants it. Suddenly he hears the conversation in heaven and says, Who will go? Who will go first? He's like, I'm available. I mean, without the fear of the Lord, like we got to check our schedule. But suddenly the fear of the Lord comes and is like, whoo, nothing else matters. I get to walk with him. I want to do what he wants me to do. Are you hearing my heart? It's the most beautiful thing. The fear of the Lord is one of the most beautiful things, and I think it's something that's always been here, of course, but I think it's something he wants to awaken in our generation. He wants to awaken his bride even more so that we have eyes for one. Look, I'm old school, so maybe, you know, I go a little crazy. But I'm happy crazy. Beautiful Jesus. Stand up with me around the room. The fear of the Lord will melt away every fear. The fear of the Lord will bring us in amazement and pleasure with Him. The fear of the Lord will set you apart. The fear of the Lord causes you to walk different, talk different, think different, plan different, believe different, pray different. The fear of the Lord awakens me and my generation. So would you just make it a personal prayer right now? Lord, anoint me with the Spirit of Christ and the fear of the Lord, that my eyes will be open, that I might know you and respond to you. That I'll never be intimidated. That I'll know the beauty of the hour that you've let me live in. Father, I pray that you just release a cry, a cry of the Holy Spirit, the cry of this beautiful people and those watching online will awaken and rise up, and it'll be an anthem of heaven and earth crying out together. The song of the bride and the bridegroom coming together, waking us up. God, open our eyes so that we are not asleep. When we wake up, open our eyes, God, to see the hour of the day, the opportunity, the moment we're living in, and what we have in you. Just make it personal right here and let this be a journey. Father, release the grace that you spoke of in Hebrews chapter 12 and verse 28. That, Lord, that you will release a grace that cannot be shaken. You will release a dimension of your glory we've never known before. And I pray right now for burning ones. And just pray, Lord, give me oil, give me fresh oil, give me the oil of first love, give me the oil of intimacy with you so that weariness and tiredness, frustration, disappointment cannot cloud my heart or my judgment. I bless this house. I bless my brothers and sisters. I bless your people, refresh them. Pour out your love and grace upon them. Draw them near. Wash away all sorrow, disappointment, every lie of the enemy. Let it be broken by your voice. We bless you and honor you. Father, we don't know how to do this in our strength. Holy Spirit, come and minister to us and anoint us as your body with all that you have. In Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.
unknownAmen.
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