FORERUNNER CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP MIKE BICKLE THE BOOK OF JOEL Transcript: 08/23/03. Session 15 End-Time Outpouring of the Spirit

Transcription

1 FORERUNNER CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP MIKE BICKLE THE BOOK OF JOEL Transcript: 08/23/03 INTRODUCTION I have a handout. We re going to be looking at Joel 2 tonight. For those who are new with us tonight, who are visiting, this is our fourteenth session on the book of Joel. Joel is, I believe, the most significant prophetic book in the Old Testament in terms of getting the Church prepared for what s coming, in terms of calling us to the position of wholeheartedness with a clear understanding of the essentials of what s going to be happening in the generation in which the Lord returns. It s a very, very relevant book for the Church today. I m sad to say that it s a very neglected book in the Church today. We need revelation from the Holy Spirit to understand it. Of course, that s true of every book of the Bible. It really takes that illuminating of the Holy Spirit, that living understanding touching our spirit, in order to see the relevance of this book. Line upon line, it s relevant for It s preparing the Church for what s around the corner. JOEL 2 IS ESSENTIAL TO A RIGHT UNDERSTANDING OF OUR TIMES The Lord spoke to us nearly twenty years ago about Joel 2 being really significant in our foundation, and really significant in our future. I didn t really understand that at the time; I read Joel 2 and saw the fasting-and-prayer verses and thought that was really important, but I had no idea in that day that we were going to be doing all the things that we re doing now. Joel 2 is the centerpiece of what we re about. Of course, the more I focus on it and experience it and become alive with it, the more aware I am of the centrality of the message of the book of Joel, particularly Joel 2. But you hardly hear it being proclaimed anywhere. I m not trying to say, Aren t we special? That s not my point. I m burdened by it, not proud of it. It s only preached a little, here and there. But this message is so important for the Church today. I want to encourage you to live in it yourself, and sow it wherever you go, and stir people up, and awaken them to the relevance of this book. It s a burden that I have. Again, I don t have any sense of, Well, aren t we special? We re focusing on it and we know that it s right us four and no more. It s nothing like that. It s more like, Lord, this is what You re saying to the Church. The divine agenda described in this book is on its way to the earth, both good and bad, and it s only going to be good news to people who are prepared. The good and the bad are only good news to the people who are prepared, as the book of Joel describes. I know many sincere believers, but they re almost completely clueless to the things that the Lord is shouting from on high through the book of Joel. They re almost completely unaware of it almost universally, throughout the Western world. That s why I love IHOP-KC, because we can make a difference. We cry out, Lord, do something about this! It s amazing; if we cry out, the Lord says, That s all I ve been waiting for, to heart the cry of My people, and I ll do it. THE END-TIME OUTPOURING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT I ll give a lengthy introduction before we get to the notes. I ll lay out the notes, and then when we go through them, line upon line, it will be really fast and really easy. Joel 2:28-32 is the most well-known passage in Joel. It s a very significant passage. I m calling this, The Endtime Outpouring of the Holy Spirit. It s what His promise is, but it s more than that. It s more than the

2 Transcript: 08/23/03 Page 2 outpouring of the Holy Spirit in the sense that we think of: We re going to have dreams and visions so that we can have a lively ministry. No, this outpouring is going to create a context for a lively ministry, but it s essential in the hour of judgment. The prophetic anointing is especially essential because of the crisis and the judgment and the chaos that s about to strike the planet. The prophetic anointing is promised in that context. When we separate it from its context in the end-time drama, sometimes we reduce this passage (Joel 2:28-32) to something that will make our meetings a little livelier and our ministry a little more popular, with a bit of Holy Ghost activity thrown in. It s so much more than making our meetings lively and our ministries look a little more popular because we have a small amount of the flow of the Holy Spirit. No, it s an issue of life and death. It s an issue of the great harvest coming in, the people of God being protected, understanding what God is doing, and being supernaturally empowered in a time of unprecedented visitation and crisis. The Holy Spirit is the Helper in the ultimate sense of the word in this passage here. He s the Helper. This is our inheritance. That s what this passage is about. AND IT SHALL COME TO PASS AFTERWARDS THAT I WILL POUR OUT MY SPIRIT Let s go ahead and read it. I know that you know it already, but let s read it anyway. And it shall come to pass afterward that s a key word that I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh. Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions. And also on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days (Joel 2:28-29). Then in Joel 2:30, He goes on to say, And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth: blood and fire and pillars of smoke (Joel 2:30). The wonders in the heavens and the earth in Joel 2:30 are related to the prophetic anointing in Joel 2: The signs and wonders in Joel 2:30 go hand-in-hand with the prophetic anointing the dreams and visions of Joel 2: We ll get to that in a few minutes. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, and this is a key timing phrase before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord (Joel 2:31). All this is going to happen before the second coming. It s very important to understand that this outpouring is scheduled on the divine calendar before the second coming. It s in the generation in which the Lord returns. I believe that we re in that generation. IN MOUNT ZION AND IN JERUSALEM THERE SHALL BE DELIVERANCE Now it takes a different twist here In Joel 2:32. This is the real context of the promise of the prophetic anointing in an unprecedented way in the end times. And it shall come to pass that whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved (Joel 2:32, paraphrased). That s evangelism. This is where it takes the unexpected turn: For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be deliverance (Joel 2:32b, NKJV). The key word there is protection. It s talking about protection in the military crisis that s coming, both from this world leader commonly known as the Antichrist and the judgments of God shaking everything that can be shaken. There will be deliverance in the most vulnerable spot in the earth Jerusalem. Of course in our context the logic is, Then how much more so in other places? Jerusalem is the center of the bulls-eye of all the chaotic activity. Jerusalem is going to be surrounded by armies, and the judgment of God and the wrath of Satan are going to shake Jerusalem. Both of them will shake Jerusalem to its core. The Lord says, In the most vulnerable spot in the earth, there will be deliverance. The reason that He puts this verse in here is because the people in

3 Transcript: 08/23/03 Page 3 Jerusalem, in that hour, need assurance that there s deliverance, even in Jerusalem and in Mount Zion. Of course, Mt. Zion is Jerusalem. As the Lord has said, among the remnant whom the Lord calls (Joel 2:32c). The other translation says, The survivors whom the Lord calls. The context of this passage of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in Joel 2:28-29 is related to the crisis of Joel 2:32. The glory of Joel 2:32 is world evangelism in the first half of the verse. The second half of Joel 2:32 is supernatural protection of the survivors in the midst of the global crisis. You don t want to separate Joel 2:28 from Joel 2:32; you have to put it in context. One person says, Man, I m really concerned about the crisis. I want to operate in the anointing and get ready. Another person says, Well, I don t much think about the crisis; I want to get prepared for world harvest and evangelism so that whosoever calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved. Let me tell you, you re going to need the prophetic anointing to enter into what God is doing in the end-time harvest. The Lord will always use the fishing poles, the one on one, but He s about to throw out the fishing nets in such a way that millions will come in through power evangelism millions and millions. There will be many, many gatherings where a million people come to the Lord. Reinhardt Bonke has already had a meeting where over one million answered the altar call and said, I want to be saved. This happened in Nigeria about a year ago. It s staggering, but we re going to hear more and more stories of the large net being cast out. It won t be done one on one although that will always happen until the day the Lord appears. The Lord is into that in a really major way, but there s going to come a time of massive harvest through the power of God power evangelism. IT S OUR INHERITANCE AND DESTINY TO OPERATE IN THE PROPHETIC ANOINTING It s our inheritance, our destiny, to operate in the prophetic anointing, in the power of the Holy Spirit. It s our inheritance; it s our destiny. But it s more than that: it s a matter of life and death. It s not only a positive: it s essential; it s crucial. Now, the prophetic anointing is God s way of choosing how He s going to dwell in the midst of His people, and how He s going to honor His people. This will sound negative, but I m not trying to sound negative; I m more burdened than I am negative about it. As I ve traveled a bit, I hear people say constantly, Well, we re just not into the prophetic. Of course, what rings in my spirit is the book of Joel. I say, Not into the prophetic? If you re into the harvest, and you love human life, and you want to bring comfort to your part of the earth, whether your family, your neighborhood, or your ministry, you have to be into the prophetic. It s absolutely inconceivable that you can say, I m not into the prophetic, and be ready for the good and the bad that s around the corner. I ve heard that statement so many times, and it s burdensome. I can t imagine what kind of wrong teaching, or what kind of bad experience they ve had, that has brought them to the conclusion that they have no interest in cultivating the prophetic anointing in their midst. I know that in the early days of this outpouring of the Holy Spirit and we re in the early days of what Joel is promising there s a lot of mess, a lot of immaturity, but I tell you, it s worth the price to press in. Some people have bad doctrine; they think that it s not for today. I have mercy on that and I understand that. The Lord is going to awaken the Church. That s what He s doing. A lot of

4 Transcript: 08/23/03 Page 4 people who know better might believe in it, might have had a few bad experiences, but they got a little disappointed, and they ve said, I m just not into the prophetic. We re not going there anymore. I ve heard this so many times in the last five years. I think to myself, It s inconceivable that you want to be prepared for life and for the anointing and the protection of the Lord, and for the harvest, but you re so casual and disconnected from pursuing a life in the Holy Spirit called the prophetic anointing. It s absolutely critical. It s non-negotiable. No one can cut out that part of the Bible and still be prepared for what s around the corner. I just wanted to say that. CONTENDING FOR THE OPERATION OF THE PROPHETIC ANOINTING The prophetic anointing and operating in the prophetic is something that we contend for. Yes, there s a sovereign dimension where the Lord meets us and we get jumpstarted, so to speak. We say, Wow, I had a prophetic dream or vision and I never though much about it. Or, I had an encounter with a person and the Holy Spirit did something powerful in my life through that prophet or that person. There s that sovereign dimension where you never thought about it and it s suddenly there. The larger context of the Word of God tells us that we actually need to seek for an increase of the prophetic anointing. 1 Corinthians 12:31 says that we seek earnestly the greater gifts (1 Cor. 12:31, paraphrased). We seek earnestly. I have in the notes here 1 Corinthians 14:1; it says, Pursue love, and desire spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy (1 Cor. 14:1). When you enter the realm of hearing from God, when you begin to hear God in a precise way, all the realm of the gifts of the Spirit will open up to you. Paul said, But especially that you would prophesy. He knew that when you receive those impressions, when you receive that divine information, all the other dimensions of the gifts of the Spirit are based on receiving those impressions or information from the Lord. That s why he says, Especially that you would prophesy. WE SEEK BOTH HIS FACE AND HIS HAND You ve heard the unbiblical phrase that I used for a long time; I haven t used it for years, but I said it for some time before I was corrected: We seek His face and not His hand. No; we seek His face and we seek His hand. We seek them both in proper sequence, but we seek them with earnestness. DON T LIMIT YOUR THINKING TO YOUR LIMITED EXPERIENCE OF PROPHECY It s not enough to know about the prophetic; it s not enough to operate in it a little. We must seek it. We must earnestly seek it (1 Cor.12:31; Jude 3). We must earnestly contend for the faith that the apostles lived in and preached. It must be fought for. We must press into it in the manner the Word of God commands. It s absolutely critical. And what Joel 2 does is to give us confidence from the Scriptures that there s a promised outpouring of the Holy Spirit, with prophecy as the very centerpiece. Don t limit yourself to your own experience of prophecy, which may be just one man on a platform calling out a few people. That s one of a hundred ways that prophecy can manifest. Don t limit your thinking to your very limited experience of the prophetic anointing. Every one of us me, you, every one of us is very limited and very inexperienced in our experience of the prophetic.

5 Transcript: 08/23/03 Page 5 THESE TESTIMONIES WON T EVEN BE MENTIONED IN THAT DAY I remember the Lord gave Paul Cain a word some years ago. He said, The level of the prophetic that the Lord is going to establish in the days to come is so far above what we re used to in our little prophetic swirl here in Kansas City, He said, The stories that you re telling now won t even make the top ten list. There will be so many people operating in an authority and in an encounter with the Lord of divine information surpassing anything that Bob Jones or Paul Cain has ever operated in. He said, These stories, these testimonies, won t even be mentioned in that day. We hardly even know what the prophetic anointing is about when the Lord fully manifests it. Don t imagine that you re really seasoned in it: Oh yeah, I have a lot of information about that. The most seasoned are beginners compared to what s about to be poured out. This thing is massive and it s essential and it s for the people of God. My desire is to use the Scriptures to create confidence that this global outpouring of an unprecedented measure of revelation is something that s your inheritance, your destiny, and, even more than that, an issue of life and death. It s not only an issue of your meetings becoming a little livelier and your ministry becoming a little more popular. It s an issue of life and death for you and your people. This is really true for you and those to whom the Lord has connected you. I don t want to get into the heavy stuff that s around the corner without hearing from God in precise ways. And we can. THE HEARTBEAT OF THE BOOK OF JOEL: JOEL 2:12-17 The main passage, the heartbeat of the book of Joel, is Joel 2: It s the answer for what comes before it in Joel 1 and Joel 2, and it s God s answer for what comes after it in Joel 3. That s the centerpiece of the book. It s at the very center of the book. It s always God s answer, both for the first chapter and a half and the last chapter and a half. It s always God s answer for crisis and blessing. The main burden on Joel s heart is to get them into wholeheartedness and the ardent, fervent seeking of the face of God, of the release of the hand of God. That s the only divine solution whether we re looking for the breakthrough of the power for salvation or looking for the breakthrough of power for protection in the crisis and for divine information as to what s going on. The Lord says, It s a very simple solution. It s always the same solution. Whether it s the good dimension of revival, or the negative dimension of crisis whether it s the first half of Joel or the second half of Joel, it s the centerpiece of Joel s message. CULTIVATING WHOLEHEARTEDNESS THROUGH FASTING AND PRAYER That s what this book is really about. After the fasting and prayer that happens in Joel 2:18, God says, OK, I ve seen your fasting and prayer, by which He really means, I ve seen your wholeheartedness. Wholeheartedness is what it s about. Wholeheartedness requires fasting and prayer. God isn t into fasting and prayer; God is into wholeheartedness. But wholeheartedness must involve the grace of fasting and prayer. Some folks imagine that there s a type of wholeheartedness devoid of the spirit of fasting and prayer. It s just not true; it s not biblical, and it s not historically true, either. It s a Western pipe dream that we can be wholehearted and not cultivate this profoundly biblical reality of fasting and prayer. Wholeheartedness doesn t exist apart from this grace. That s true from Genesis to Revelation with all the great prophets and intercessors Jesus, Paul, and the apostles emphasizing it more than anyone. It s absolutely a part of wholeheartedness. We need to get a paradigm in which this is central to wholeheartedness. It s a lifestyle.

6 Transcript: 08/23/03 Page 6 GOD BEGINS IT, BUT IS MOVED BY THAT WHICH HE BEGINS IN US When God sees the wholeheartedness described Joel 2:12-17, says, He is zealous for the land, and He has pity or compassion on the people (Joel 2:18, paraphrased). When God sees wholeheartedness, He feels something. When people s hearts are moved, God s heart is moved by people in their weakness who want Him. It moves Him in a certain way. God first moves us to stir us up, and then when we re stirred it comes back around and moves God. There s a relational dynamic that s very, very powerful. God in His mercy moves us and wakes us up; and then as we re awakened, we re moved, and then He gets moved on the back end of it. He s the mover and the One who is moved. He starts it, but then He s moved by that which He begins in us. It s very powerful. GOD RENEWS THE LAND BY THE OUTPOURING OF RAIN In the last session we looked at Joel 2:21-26, and the result of seeking God with wholeheartedness: His zeal and compassion; His natural blessing in the land. He renews the land by the outpouring of rain. He renews the land supernaturally. God is zealous and compassionate; He renews the land. This is a critical reality. It doesn t seem that critical to us in the Western world, because when the land is messed up, well, we just go our refrigerated storehouses and everything is fine. We don t miss a step. The days are coming when a renewed land is a critical biblical doctrine and reality which we will need to understand. That s what we looked at last week; I don t want to get into that. Now he moves from God being stirred in compassion and zeal to give natural blessing (Joel 2:21-27) and describes His zeal to bring spiritual blessing (Joel 2:28-32). He moves right into that. Whereas in the last session He renewed the land, now here He s renewing the people. This is what will be going on. A RELEASE OF GLORY AND CONFLICT THAT SHAKES THE WHOLE EARTH Let s look at the themes. We ll go through the outline here in just a moment. There are five main themes here. The number one theme is, The Day of the Lord. There s a global conflict and a global revival; there s a release of glory and conflict around the corner that s going to touch the whole earth. That s what the Day of the Lord is all about. It s an unprecedented release of glory and an unprecedented crisis and conflict that s going to shake everything that can be shaken. That s theme number one: The Day of The Lord. It s interesting that from Joel 2:28 on through Joel 3, the theme is that the nations have sought to destroy Israel. Now God is going to seek to destroy the nations. And in this destroying of the enemies of Israel, God s own enemies, He s going to use the prophetic anointing and the power of the Holy Spirit, like the anointing that was upon David. The anointing of the Old Testament and the New Testament will be used together in the release of God s judgments and God s shaking and destroying His enemies. The most powerful prophet in the Old Testament was Moses. Moses looked at the Nile River and said, Blood! and it turned into blood. The judgments in the book of Revelation aren t going to happen in a vacuum. The judgments in the book of the Revelation that stop the enemies of God will be spoken by the end-time Mosestype people. They re going to speak and the judgments will be released in response to the prophetic anointing upon intercessors and prophets on the earth. It s not like God is suddenly going to change His plan; He always releases His power to vindicate His people, to protect them, and to release blessing, through the prophetic anointing upon intercessors and prophets crying out. THE OUTPOURING OF THE SPIRIT: THE FULLNESS OF THE NEW COVENANT IDEAL

7 Transcript: 08/23/03 Page 7 That s theme number one: The Day of the Lord. Theme number two is specifically Joel 2:28: the great outpouring that s on all flesh. It s inclusive; it s worldwide. It s all-inclusive. Now, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in Joel 2:28 is one of the great, inevitable manifestations of the New Covenant. The New Covenant in its highest ideal has people walking in obedience and anointing. And though the New Covenant was established at the cross and resurrection of Jesus, the New Covenant isn t yet operating in its highest ideal in the midst of the people of God. We have the first fruits, the down payment, the beginning of experience; our sins are forgiven, we have the indwelling Spirit, but the manifest power of God the very ideal of the New Covenant in God s mind is the outpouring of the Spirit, the manifest anointing in a full measure. This New Covenant ideal is going to be experienced before the Lord returns. It s more than just being introduced into the grace of God in the New Covenant. We re going to be experiencing the fullness of what the New Covenant was always meant to be for the people of God. There s this emphases on prophecy, but it s more than prophecy; it s a whole realm of Holy Spirit activity. There s this energetic, divine Presence in our midst this energetic divine Presence, this manifestation of the unction of God in our midst. It s what we call love. That s what we all want. This direct encounter, this direct communication, is what will be talking place in the midst of the people of God. THE LORD DOESN T WANT ANYONE TO MISUNDERSTAND WHAT HOUR WE RE IN The third theme is the cosmic signs (Joel 2:30) signs in the heavens and on the earth. There are a number of reasons for these cosmic signs, because we re in the midst of the global conflict when it takes place. The Lord doesn t want anyone to misunderstand what hour of history they re in. I mean, when the lights go on and off a few times in the heavens, when stars are falling, in the midst of all this strange phenomena, the Lord says, I ve recorded it many times in the Word of God. No unbeliever can say that they didn t know what was going on. The Lord says, I didn t sneak up on you. I was turning the lights on and off in the sky saying, It s Me! It s Me! It s in the Word of God numerous times, Old and New Testament. It s Me! It s a warning to the unbelieving world, and possibly even a way of saying, Hello, Church! It really is Me this time! Hello, it s Me! It s a very important part of the end-time strategy. THE SAINTS ARE ENCOURAGED THROUGH FULFILLED PROPHETIC VISIONS Not only that, but it s encouraging the saints, and the signs in the heavens are actually going to happen related to the prophetic anointing on intercessors on the earth. I remember the first time I met Bob Jones. He came in and said, Do you know this thing in Acts 2:17? which is this same passage in the New Testament. He said, You know, when the prophet has a vision, how do you know if the vision is true or false? I said, I don t know. I ve never met a prophet; I ve never had a vision. I don t really think much about it. He said, How do you know if the vision is true or false? I said, You tell me.

8 Transcript: 08/23/03 Page 8 He said, Look at the next verse. God will give signs in the heavens. He said, The prophet will prophesy and declare something that s going to happen in the created order that no one can manipulate, and it will happen precisely on the time and day that they prophesied. Then you know that that vision is true. It s a tremendous source of encouragement for the saints. I ve seen it happen maybe eight to ten times in twenty years, where the prophecy was given, the exact day was named, and the weather patterns or the earthquake would hit exactly that day I mean exactly, precisely. I said, Wow, tell me that vision again. I m really interested in the vision that was validated by that sign and wonder. That s not the whole reason for it, but it s given to encourage the saints. It s given to warn the unbelieving world. EVEN THE HEAVENLY BODIES WILL DO THAT WHICH IS UNNATURAL Al of creation is being shaken when the Lord is about to manifest His full salvation in the glory of His Son s name. The whole created order is going to bow down, if you will, or stand up and take notice, because God is about to make a change so dramatic, so radical, that even the bodies in the solar system will be altered in deference. By what they do, they will be lining up and saying, The Lord is coming! This isn t business as usual; this is a whole new order. Even the heavenly bodies will do that which is unnatural. This is around the corner. THE REASON EVANGELISM EXISTS IS FOR THE WORSHIP MOVEMENT IN THE EARTH The fourth theme is the harvest: those who call upon the name of the Lord. But it s more than the harvest in the sense of the people who get saved for the first time; it s also a worship movement. It s calling upon the name of the Lord. Throughout the Old Testament, when the prophets and writers spoke of calling upon the name of the Lord, it was synonymous with worship. Calling on the name of the Lord is what for the unbeliever we call evangelism, and for the believer we call worship. Of course, as John Piper says so beautifully, The reason missions exist is for worship. The reason there s evangelism is to create the worship movement in the earth. Calling on the name of the Lord: there s a great result of evangelism and the Holy Spirit worship movement that s going to break out across the earth. It s all about evangelism and worship. FOR IN MOUNT ZION AND IN JERUSALEM WILL BE DELIVERANCE Then the fifth theme is down in Joel 2:32: For there will be deliverance in Mount Zion (Joel 2:32, paraphrased). It s protection, supernatural protection, amid the global conflict, because particularly in Jerusalem, in Mount Zion, they re going to need to know that it s in the Word that protection is there. WHEN IS THE OUTPOURING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT? This outpouring of the Holy Spirit: when is it? When is the timing? Well, there are four key timing phrases in this passage. These four phrases establish timing, because we want to know when the outpouring is. I ve read so many commentaries, more than my fair share, on the book of Joel, and it s amazing what can be written in a commentary. Left and right, there are so many conflicting ideas as to when this is going to happen. It was symbolic. It was never going to happen. Whatever. I don t even want to go through it all; I just want to say what I believe. It s going to happen. The first word is in Joel 2:28: Afterwards (Joel 2:28). Of course the question is: after what? That s the key phrase: after what? It s after something very, very specific. It s interesting that when Peter quotes this passage

9 Transcript: 08/23/03 Page 9 in Acts 2:17-21, instead of using the word afterward, he says, It shall come to pass in the last days (Acts 2:17). He doesn t say afterward; he says, In the last days. I find that interesting. He s clearly making this an end-of-the-age promise. We know that the last days began on the day of Pentecost. It began 2,000 years ago. We know that it s going to happen in natural time and space, although some commentators say that it s only going to happen in the millennium. If you take Peter s apostolic interpretation, it happens in natural time and space before the coming of the Lord. Of course, this is made very, very clear in Joel 2:31: The sun will be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood (Joel 2:31). And everything described here all this prophetic anointing, these signs in the heavens, all of it will happen before the second coming. Beloved, know this: it s all going to happen before the second coming. So it s after something, but it s before the second coming. Joel 2:29 says, In those days (Joel 2:29). He s tying all these events together in the same time frame, in the same generation. BEHOLD, IN THOSE DAYS AND AT THAT TIME Joel 3:1 is helpful, because there should be no chapter division; it s all one subject. Joel 3:1 flows right along out of Joel 2:32. Joel says, Behold, in those days and at that time, when I bring back the captives of Judah and Jerusalem, I will also gather all nations, and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat; and I will enter into judgment with them there (Joel 3:1-2). We know that whatever the time frame is, it s the time when the Lord gathers all the captives, the prisoners of the nations, and brings them back to Jerusalem, and gathers all the nations to Jerusalem to crush them. Whenever the Lord releases the captives of Israel, and whenever He gathers the nations of the earth to crush them as they surround nation of Israel, that s the timing of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. That s the generation. We know that it s before the second coming of the Lord. We know that it s in the context of military conflict in the end times before the second coming. We know that all the events flow together, because in Joel 2:29, when Joel says, In those days, he s tying all those events together. It s the same time frame, but it s after something. AND MY PEOPLE SHALL NEVER BE PUT TO SHAME In our last session, we looked at Joel 2:21-27, and some commentators think the promise of the Spirit is meant for after that. That s not possible, because Joel 2:21-27 is clearly talking about after the Lord comes, and it s clearly talking about millennial blessing. The reason you know that is because in Joel 2:26-27, God says, All of these things will be happening, and Israel will never be put to shame again (Joel 2:27, paraphrased). The only time it s true that Israel will never be put to shame, never dishonored again, is after the coming of the Lord. There are many passages that make that very clear. Joel 2:21-27 is clearly in the time when Israel will never be put to shame again. It s after the Lord has come. It s after the supernatural vegetation, supernatural rain, supernatural blessing in the agriculture and on the animals; it s where this abundant blessing is happening all over the created order, after the coming of the Lord. AND IT SHALL COME TO PASS AFTERWARD We know that the afterward of Joel 2:28 isn t referring to Joel 2:21-27, because Joel 2:21-27 is after the coming of the Lord and this outpouring of the Spirit is before the second coming, when the nations of the earth are gathering around Israel to destroy it by the judgments of God.

10 Transcript: 08/23/03 Page 10 The afterward is clearly talking about after the wholeheartedness of Joel 2: God says, When you cry out to Me, cry out with fasting and prayer. In Joel 2:13-14, He says, Maybe I ll give you a blessing in place of judgment if you lift your voice and cry out. Maybe I ll heal you and leave a blessing behind in the place of judgment (Joel 2:13-14, paraphrased). Then in Joel 2:15 He says, Blow the trumpet in Zion (Joel 2:15)! And He goes on to say, Call everyone together! Cry out to God (v , paraphrased)! And then the Lord will be zealous, and afterwards the power of the Spirit is released. GOD WILL GIVE THAT WHICH HE S HOLDING BACK UNTIL HE HEARS YOUR CRY The afterward of Joel 2:28 is clearly before the second coming of Christ. You get that in Joel 2:31. It s before the nations gather around Jerusalem (Joel 3:1). This blessing is long before the millennial blessings of Joel 2: What Joel is saying, the heart cry of the book of Joel is, Cry out to God! Cry out to God! He will heal you! He will be zealous! He will visit you with blessing! The afterward is a key phrase. When you study all the different options, to me there s only one possible option: the afterward is talking about what the whole book of Joel is about. If you cry out to God, He will give that which He s holding back until He hears the sound of your cry. When Peter quotes this passage, he s living in the same divine pattern of Joel 2. What s happening in Joel 2 is that they re fasting and praying; they have the promise of the Holy Spirit, and then they have manifestations of power. That s the pattern of Joel 2. If you remember Acts 2, what happens is that there s the manifestation of power remember, the wind and the fire break in (Acts 2:1-4); the power manifestations break in massively. But do you remember what preceded the power manifestations breaking in, in Acts 2? Two very critical things that exactly followed the divine pattern of Joel 2. Two things took place before the manifestation of power that are very, very relevant for us. OTHERS HAVE LABORED, AND YOU HAVE ENTERED INTO THEIR LABORS In Acts 1:8, Jesus said, I promise you, if you wait in prayer, I will pour out My Spirit (Acts 1:8, paraphrased). There s the promise that it s going to happen. Then, in Acts 1:14, we read that they pressed in for ten days. Of course they were in that kairos time; they were in that prophetic timing of the Lord, so ten days got the job done. Remember, that ten days of night-and-day prayer was backed up by Anna s sixty years, by John the Baptist s lifetime out in the wilderness, by Jesus fasting and prayer. Jesus even told the apostles in John 4, You re going to enter into the labors of those who have labored before you (Jn. 4:37-38, paraphrased). There is no better example of this than that ten days of prayer in which the whole power realm breaks in. That s what you call, entering into the labors of those who came before you. The fiery intercessors, like Anna, and John the Baptist, and Jesus, and many others maybe I should put them in a different order. The apostles entered into the intercession of Jesus, and Anna, and John the Baptist, and others like them. Jesus told the apostles this would happen. He said, You ll be on the fast track. You re going to be entering into the labors of those who have labored before you. You re going to have a quick work in righteousness. I think that we re going to see the same thing in our day the divine pattern in Acts 1:8. God promises Jesus, I will anoint You! I will endue You! We know from Acts 1:14 that they spent ten days in the upper room, crying out night and day, and, boom! the Lord broke in with power, with signs and wonders and miracles. It s

11 Transcript: 08/23/03 Page 11 exactly the pattern of Joel 2: fasting and prayer, claiming God for the promise, and then suddenly the power dimension breaks in. This is exactly what s going to be happening. One more point before we get through the notes. Again, I ve all but said it there in the notes, though some of them are useful for reference as well. We ll go through them quickly. THE OUTPOURING OF THE SPIRIT ON THE DAY OF PENTECOST Let s compare Acts 2 with Joel 2, because they re so intricately connected with one another. Most of you are quite familiar with Acts 2. This is the day of Pentecost, which is fifty days after Passover, right? That s what Pentecost means: it s fifty days after Passover. They ve been there ten days. They don t know what s going to happen; they don t know when the breakthrough is coming. They ve heard the promise of the Spirit from Jesus in Acts 1:8, they ve pressed in to the upper room for ten days, and now the manifestation breaks out. And then Peter gets up and speaks about this whole divine pattern, this whole setup. He says, This is what was spoken of by the prophet Joel (Acts 2:16). It s not only that the power manifestation was spoken of by Joel; there s also something more: the promise of the Spirit and the need to press in through fasting and prayer is spoken of by Joel as well. The whole context was spoken of by Joel, not just the manifestation. The way they sought the manifestation, the way they lived believing for the manifestation of the Spirit, was spoken of by Joel as well. JOEL 2 WAS NOT BY ANY MEANS EXHAUSTED ON THE DAY OF PENTECOST In the NKJV, Peter says, This is what was spoken of (Acts 2:16). Of course, the way we ve learned it over the years is in the King James: This is that which was spoken (ibid, KJV). The question is: how much of what Peter did in Acts 2 is that which was spoken of in Joel 2? Not everything that Joel prophesied in Joel 2 happened in Peter s experience. As a matter of fact, a lot didn t happen. Some did and some didn t. Here s my point: Joel 2 was not by any means exhausted or completely fulfilled on the day of Pentecost. Notice this: it s quoted all the time in a wrong way; you hear people all the time saying, And Peter said, This fulfills what Joel the prophet said. It didn t fulfill it; it s similar to what was spoken, but it s by no means the fullness of Joel 2. There are so many differences between Joel 2 and Acts 2. Joel 2 is still unfulfilled in the fullness of the divine ideal, the ideal that will be fulfilled before the second coming. Only a small portion of this was fulfilled in Peter s day. I ll give you some similarities and some differences. Number one: Joel said that there would be dreams and visions. There were no dreams and visions. There were tongues! Joel didn t say anything about tongues. Peter is saying, It s similar; it s manifestations of the Holy Spirit, but it s not fully what Joel said. We re not entering into all that Joel said, but we have a down payment of it. Joel said, The sun and the moon will be signs, and there will be blood, fire, and pillars of smoke (Joel 2:30-31, paraphrased). None of that happened. The wind blew in. The sun and moon didn t stop shining. So that didn t happen either. Joel said the Holy Spirit would come on all flesh (Joel 2:28). The Holy Spirit didn t come on all flesh; it came on 120 intercessors in an upper room hardly all the believers in the earth. Peter s experience was a local burst of power in the city of Jerusalem, in which 3,000 people were saved. The context is a global day of the Lord with the power of the Holy Spirit touching the earth. It s a day of the Lord event, not a

12 Transcript: 08/23/03 Page 12 local Jerusalem event that takes many years before it reaches even the rest of the Roman Empire and the Mediterranean area. It took years for this to reach other places. Of course, the most glaring difference is that Joel 2 involves the crisis and the deliverance that s going to happen around Jerusalem related to the military invasion of all the nations of the earth. Of course, Peter completely omits that. He doesn t even touch that part of it. He leaves that part of the quote out, because it had nothing to do with what he was about. PETER SAW THE BEGINNING AND JOEL SAW THE END OF THIS PROPHECY My point is, Peter didn t say in Acts 2, This fulfills Joel 2. He said, This is similar; the pattern is similar. In Joel 2 they had the promise of the power of God; they had the requirement of wholeheartedness, the grace of wholeheartedness, and then they had the manifestation touching the whole earth. Peter said, That s the best picture of what we re walking in, but hardly did they fulfill all that Joel said. There were some similarities. There were a number of similarities. I don t want to go into those; they re kind of obvious. You can look those up yourselves. In essence what happened is that Peter saw the beginning of this prophecy. Joel saw the end of it. Peter saw the first fruits, the down payment; he saw the installment of the New Covenant, and Joel saw the time when the full ideal of the New Covenant was being manifest openly in a global dimension. Joel saw the end; he saw the fullness. Peter saw the beginning, the down payment, the first fruits of the Holy Spirit blessing that was ideally promised for the New Covenant people. We re living so far beneath what God has promised us in the New Covenant. In the New Covenant, we re not only promised a new heart, a fascinated heart, and transformation inside; we re promised the ability to operate in the power of the Spirit, to partner with Jesus in a global way. We re at the beginnings of the beginnings of it. I don t want to undermine what we have. People really are getting saved. Some people are really getting healed. There s a real prophetic anointing. But it s all taking place at an introductory level. I m grateful for it, but I m not satisfied with it. I m saying, Thank You, but Lord, I know from the Word what our inheritance is. I know what our destiny is. I know the divine patterns, and I m going for this. And especially at this time of history, I won t be satisfied; I won t settle with the introductory dimension of grace when God has promised the book of Joel, Joel 2, for an hour of history preceding the coming of the Lord. THERE S A GOD-ORCHESTRATED STIGMA ON OPERATING IN THE ANOINTING Let s look at the notes here really briefly for the last five minutes. We already looked at the themes and the timing. Now the dilemma. There s a very, very important dilemma that needs to be emphasized. When God pours out the Holy Spirit, there s a dilemma. There s a God-orchestrated stigma on operating in the anointing. It s like the preacher said: God isn t out to hurt your pride; He s out to kill it. It s really true. Here is the principle: the greater the power manifestation, the greater God s jealousy to establish the name of Jesus. In other words, in the realm where the power is so far beyond anything we ve seen, God s jealousy that we would be humbled while being anointed will be released in equal measure. People imagine that the power of the Spirit is about making lively meetings, and about making their ministry popular. It s about delivering people in crisis in the earth. The crisis of eternal hell is a big crisis; as is, secondarily, the crisis of the judgments of God at the end of the age. It s about the fame of Jesus and delivering

13 Transcript: 08/23/03 Page 13 the people with God s mercy. It s not about our ministries becoming lively and popular. It s about the fame of His name and the crisis being addressed by the power of God with compassion. That s what s going on. TWO WRONG RESPONSES TO THE ANOINTING OF THE SPIRIT Number one: there are two wrong responses to the anointing. The prevailing response of today is fear of man, because if you operate in the prophetic anointing, you re going to look foolish. The Lord is committed to you looking foolish. We have this idea that we re going to pray and fast, enter into a new dimension of the anointing, and somehow our life will turn out happy and powerful and everyone will say, Wow! What s it like being so close to God? It all but destroys the anointed vessels. It certainly destroys their pride. What happens is, people aren t calculating what it costs. When they look at this passage and say, I want the Holy Spirit, the truth is that we will be exhibited as foolish. Look at 1 Corinthians 4:9. I didn t put that verse in there, but it says that God exhibits His apostles last. He exhibits them as foolish. One reason a lot of people are backing off of the prophetic anointing is because of the fear of man. They don t want their ministries to be rocked. They don t want the rich and famous to be embarrassed, so they try and make it comfortable for them. They want everyone to be comfortable, and the Lord says, This isn t about comfort. It s about the Holy Spirit exalting Jesus and delivering people, and Me humbling the people whom I anoint the most. YOU LL LIMP MORE THE MORE YOU RE ANOINTED Not only are they humbled; God is the One who does the humbling. Paul the apostle in this verse cries out, Lord, the thorn of Satan, the thorn in the flesh! I mean, I m Your main man; I love You! I m committed! What s the deal? The Lord appears to him and says, Yes, I know you re committed. You re My main man. You re dear to Me, but you know what, Paul? Under so much anointing and revelation, you tend to exalt yourself (2 Cor. 12:7-9, paraphrased). Here we have a mature apostle who tends to exalt himself, and the Lord steps out of heaven and speaks to Him face to face and I assume that s what s happening in that passage and says, Even you, Paul, can t handle it, because that s the nature of the human heart, but don t worry, I can balance out the equation. You ll limp more the more you re anointed. What s happened is that the fear of man related to the realm of the Spirit, is, I believe, absolutely what s stopping so much of the Church today. They say, Well, I ve been trained this way and I don t believe it. At the very core, it s embarrassing to risk, it s embarrassing to endure the growth process of our immaturity, and it s embarrassing that when God really has His way, He humbles us at the end of the day. We don t like the risk process when we re in our infancy. We don t like all the immaturity around us when we re in our infancy. And when we re in our maturity we don t like God s determination to humble us. Taken all together, it makes for a bad résumé. It really, really does. There s a stigma on the anointing, and for us to present the anointing apart from the stigma isn t an accurate presentation of the Word of God. INTIMACY IS THE REMEDY FOR EXHIBITIONISM AND THE FEAR OF MAN On the other side of the spectrum is the exhibitionism. Both of them are trying to preserve or establish their reputation. They just go on and on with the Hamburger Helper, and the Lord isn t in it. They re making a big

14 Transcript: 08/23/03 Page 14 show about how anointed they are, and it goes on and on and it s all about them. But they say, Give glory to God, every few minutes in order to bring the Lord into it. The Lord is going cleanse both of those out of the Church. The fear of man is definitely the big one. And the remedy is the verse before Joel 2:28 Joel 2:27. It s intimacy. The Lord says, Then you will know Me. I will have intimate encounter with you (Joel 2:27, paraphrased). Intimacy is the remedy for this. THE PROPHETIC ANOINTING IS HERE TO STAY Roman numeral II. The outpouring of the Holy Spirit. This is our destiny and our inheritance. We re going into stadium Christianity. This was such a strange prophecy, because in the Old Testament the Holy Spirit was restricted to a few people. Now it s going to be upon everyone, literally. The prophetic anointing is here to stay. The reason God chose the prophetic is because the prophetic is filled with symbolism, and parables, and all the things you can t look good at, because you think it s this, and it ends up being that. If you have any other false motives in you, for honor, or trying to get the whole thing exactly right with respect to the parables, and the symbolism, and the mystery dimension of the prophetic, you end up leaning and limping leaning on the Lord and limping at the end of the day. The Lord says, You won t walk in honor according to the flesh. That s not what the anointing is about. He says, I ve even orchestrated the anointing to be filled with the mysterious realms of dreams and visions, symbolism and parables. That s the part where, when I first started getting into the prophetic, I said, Lord, if it was just straight, I could deal with it. But it s all this half-in, half-out, maybe this, maybe that. I said, What on earth am I supposed to do with this? The Lord said, Walk in uncertainty inch by inch, leaning carefully on Me, and don t go back. I said, Yuck! Isn t there a better way to do this? There has to be a better way to do this! I look stupid all the time! I like looking good! just like you. THE REALM OF PROPHECY IS GOING TO BE THE REALM OF REVELATION Look at this: the realm of prophecy is going to be the realm of revelation. It s going to be the spirit of revelation. It s going to be the spirit of Elijah. It s going to be the prophetic oracle of God. That verse in Micah 3:8 is awesome. I m just going to read it to you. Micah the prophet says this: Truly I am full of power by the Spirit of the Lord, and of justice and might, to declare to Jacob his transgression, and to Israel his sin (Mic. 3:8). There s this ability to be full of the power of God and the justice and might of God to declare sin to the human race. It s going to take the power of God. MIKE S CONVERSATION WITH A US SENATOR ABOUT THE END TIMES I m just going to go on a bunny trail; I wasn t going to share this until tomorrow, but I had a very interesting meeting yesterday. It was a surprise meeting, and I was surprised by how I felt.