Transcript: 12/31/07 INTRODUCTION It was twenty-five years ago when I first moved to Kansas City. I had been church-planting for seven years in St. Louis. There rose up a young adult church with approximately 500 young adults. I was twenty-seven years old at the time; I had been pastoring there since I was twenty years old. The Lord spoke in a very dramatic way. He interrupted us and said to go to Kansas City. When I heard this, I was very sad about it because I didn t want to go to Kansas City; however, the Lord interrupted and said to go. So I move here and realize that there were a number of prophetic people whom the Lord was gathering together in Kansas City. The number one thing on their hearts was the end-time worship movement. The Lord is speaking this to a number of prophets who were gathering in Kansas City. I m not telling the whole story right now, but the important part that I want you to see is that God is stirring up prophets to talk about the end-time worship movement. Most of you know the name Bob Jones. By the way, we have the twelve-part series. For twelve nights in a row, I took the whole IHOP KC staff through our prophetic history for one hour a night. I told them stories of prophetic experiences, angelic appearances, the audible voice of the Lord, heavenly experiences, and stories from about six or eight prophets. I brought our spiritual family all together for twelve nights in a row, and it s called the Encountering Jesus series if you ve heard of it. It gave us a lot of insight into what s going to happen in the move of God in the coming generation. So if that interests you, you want to know more about these stories. Over the years, this has been the most commented-about teaching series. It isn t really a teaching series; it s really a series of testimonies. Thousands of people from all around the world have sent us emails saying that this series has encouraged them and convinced them that this is really the hour the Lord is preparing His end-time Church. So again, it s called the Encountering Jesus series. It includes twelve one-hour testimonies about prophetic events. I m just tapping into one of them here today. MEETING BOB JONES FOR THE FIRST TIME Twenty-five years ago, I meet Bob Jones for the first time. Bob Jones says to me, The Lord tells me that I will tell you about your future, and it will be confirmed in your heart. Now, the truth is that it didn t confirm because what he told me was so odd. It was beyond what I had dreamed of. He said, The Lord tells me you re a youth pastor. Of course I didn t like that. When you re twenty-seven years old, you want to be a senior pastor. You don t like to be a little, dorky youth pastor. I had a bad attitude. Bob said, God is going to raise up a worldwide young adult worship movement. I thought, OK. That s kind of cool. He said, God is going to use Kansas City. He s going to use many cities of the earth. He s going to use Kansas City in a key way to raise up a young adult worldwide worship movement; they re going to pray for Israel. Do you sing or an play instrument? I answered, No. He said, Do you ever pray for Israel?
Transcript: 12/31/07 Page 2 I said, No. He said, You don t know anything about what I m telling you? I said, No. I don t even know what you re talking about. Then Bob says, Well, I tell you that this movement is going to affect so many people, but the people who will be most affected and influenced in the prayer movement are in Asia. Imagine this: here I am, I m talking to him for the first time, and I m thinking to myself, OK. Bob said he saw them in the rice paddies with a television set in their hands. This was twenty-five years ago in March 1983. Bob Jones went on, This was a strange thing, as the television set wasn t even plugged in. They re out there in the rice paddies, and they were watching worship. I call them songbirds the heavenly songbirds. God is going to raise up heavenly song birds which means prophetic singers. I was looking at Bob thinking, Heavenly songbirds? This man is weird; get him out of here. He s crazy. It s funny now looking back, as I was the one who didn t know what was going on. He said, They ll be standing in the rice paddies in Asia, with a television set in their hands that s not plugged in. They ll even have television sets on their watches, and they ll be watching what s going on in Kansas City. WHAT HAPPENS HERE IS GOING TO HAPPEN THERE GLOBALLY What s important to me is the interest level in the multitudes in the rice paddies for the prayer movement. Now that s what interests me. The interest level in Asia will be so great that even some of the peasants in the rice paddies will be paying attention to live worship while they re working hours a day. They will be singing and worshiping. Here s the part that excites me because we re all in this thing together; I m talking a little about Kansas City because that s our own story. But we must realize that the story of Kansas City is only one little microcosm of the big story, because if it s true here, it s true there. I m not interested in Kansas City; mostly, I m interested in the move of God in the earth. But the only part of the story that I will take a really in-depth look into is this one; beloved, what happens here is going to happen there globally. What happens there is going to happen here because God doesn t change, and He s impartial. I think, I want that for my city. The Lord says, That s what you should be saying. GOD IS RAISING UP AN INTERNATIONAL FAMILY OF AFFECTION I say, Not only do I want that for my city, but I want to be friends with them. The Lord says, That s exactly right. God is raising up an international family of affection. Part of my inheritance is in your hands, and part of your inheritance is in my hands. The thing we were talking about the other night was for the African-Americans. The Lord is raising up African-American prophetic singers and musician in a place of leadership. The Lord says, I ve put your inheritance partially in their hands; you must go there and serve them in love to receive from Me. You must do this to get all that I have for you. But it s true of the Latinos, Asians, Caucasians, and everyone. Beloved, there s going to be a mighty worship movement in the Arab world, too. Let us remember the Arab
Transcript: 12/31/07 Page 3 world. I believe that Asia is going to stir up and impart this to the Arab world more than anyone. I think that there will be a great army in the East; this army is going to march right across the land and go right into Israel. Obviously, you know a lot more about that, which is obvious. But, this army is in the rice paddies; they re looking at this unplugged television that s set in their hands or on their watch. When Bob said this, I thought, Well, I m not singer. I m not a musician. I m definitely not a youth pastor. I don t ever pray for Israel. There s no such thing as an unplugged television set in a rice paddy. Get this wild man out of my office! He s making me crazy right now! He was totally wrong! What I realize now is that every single one of those points will come to pass. What are they going to see in Kansas City when they see the worship movement? Are they going to see a bunch of white guys singing? I don t think so. I don t think so. TWENTY-FOUR-HOUR PRAYER IN ASIAN LANGUAGES Our vision is to have twenty-four hour prayer going on in the languages of Asia. We want Asians who are singing in their native Asian languages, as the guys in the rice paddy aren t listening to English. They re white guys singing. They re listening to the language of their own heart. So in that, the Lord was saying, Do you realize that there are going to be more Asians at IHOP KC than you can imagine? He will send them here because the Lord wants the connection between this part of the world and that part of the world. THE FATHER S DESIRE TO CONNECT ASIA AND IHOP KC The Father desires an international family of affection. Now, my point in saying that isn t to tell you to get connected; that isn t my point, because all of that will take care of itself. My point in saying that is to say that the IHOP KC leadership team understands how vital Asia is in its end-time purpose. It s a high priority to us to get connected. We want to be connected to Asia. We re not waiting for Asia to be connected to Kansas City. We have the revelation of the role of Asia on a global level. On a global level, the Asians will have massive numbers who are walking in the revelation of dedication that God is putting in Asians. The Asians will have a place of leadership on a global level. I realize there are many different types of Asians; this is generic. There s a revelation of the lordship of Jesus. There s a revelation of the wisdom and the glory of dedication that God will feed the entire Church from our Asian brothers and sisters. He s simply revealing Himself in a unique way as Lord and as the One who is worthy to be obeyed. That s why, when you look on the global level, the fasting, the praying, the giving of money, it s extreme. In God s eyes, there s only one Church on the earth: we all black, white, male, female, Greek, Hebrew, Jews and Gentiles we re all one. So there s no such thing as Asian churches; there s only one Church. I m talking here about Asian believers. I hear their stories of dedication, generosity in finance, and the sacrifices that come from Asian believers; it s remarkable. When I hear a story of someone, a group of people, fasting, praying, and giving millions, I say, That s an Asian group. How did you know? I say, I just knew it was Asians. I m not always right; sometimes it s another group. However, more often than not, it s Asians. Our vision is that part of our Kansas City inheritance and part of the leadership of the Body of Christ across the globe is in the hands of Asians. God has put something in the Asian related to
Transcript: 12/31/07 Page 4 dedication and the revelation of His lordship. I mean, what s dearer to God s heart than the revelation of the lordship of His Son to His people? This is so dear to God, and I believe that this is one of the chief revelations that you ll be proclaiming. There will be many things, of course, but I mean, what s more exciting than this? This Holy Spirit says, Yes, this is My favorite one. Jesus is Lord, and He s worthy to be obeyed. HEAVEN COMES DOWN TO EARTH I say this in Kansas City every now and then. I say it as a joke, but it isn t really a joke. I said it with a smile. Let s put it that way, not as a joke, but everyone laughs when I say it; but it s true. In heaven and in the eternal family, you see heaven coming down to the earth. In the second coming, heaven is down here. We re on the earth with resurrected, material, physical bodies with the properties of the anointing of the resurrection. We re on the earth, but God s eternal family is amazing; there are more Asians in God s eternal family than any other group of people. Just do the math. Look around: no, I mean on the earth, there s not a question about it. I like to push the joke a little further: I say God s favorite group of people in the earth is Chinese women. There are more Chinese women than any other people group. People always laugh when I say that. I m having fun, but it s kind of true. There are more Chinese women in the eternal family than any other group of people. That isn t an accident. I think in the age to come, we re all going to speak Hebrew; but most of the earth will speak with a Chinese accent. I don t know how to speak Hebrew with a Chinese accent, but I m excited because the Father from the beginning of the ages set up the nations to go this way. The great battle for Jerusalem is a big statement, and I m not going to take the time to break that down. I just want to put that statement in your spirit. I believe that one of the most significant battles in the spirit is the battle for Jerusalem. It s a natural battle, affecting politics and armies, and it s a spiritual battle for prayer and proclamation of the Word of God. Jesus isn t going to return at the second coming except when He s accepted by the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem. Again, to some of you this might be a new subject. I m not going to take time to prove it. We have lots of handouts on the website; you can have lots of teaching on this. It s a vast, very clear subject in the Scripture. He bound Himself by His own prophecy. He knew what He was doing. MATTHEW 23:37-39: JERUSALEM WILL CRY OUT FOR HIS RETURN Jesus told Jerusalem in the last week of His public ministry: O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! See! Your house is left to you desolate; for I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! (Mt. 23:37-39). In Matthew 23:37-39, He s preaching before the Sanhedrin. So the Sadducees are there and hated Him, because in Matthew 23, He gave the seven woes. It s His final word to them. In Matthew 23, they re so angry that in the natural, they kill Him. It s the next thing they did. They hate Him after He gives them the seven woes. He s not trying to provoke them; He s speaking the truth because He s a man of perfect justice. JESUS MUST FIRST GIVE THEM A CHANCE TO REPENT If Jesus would judge them in the age to come without having first warned them of the truth and giving them a chance to repent, Jesus might be charged with injustice; but that s impossible. He had to warn them to give
Transcript: 12/31/07 Page 5 them an opportunity to repent. Probably, some of them repented under the weight of the word, but the majority did not didn t. He says woe with seven woes. They re thinking, We hate You. Then Jesus kicks into a spirit of prophecy. He gives one of the most important end-time prophecies. He says, By the way, thus says the Lord here I m putting my own words in I m not coming back to Jerusalem again until you say to Me, Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord. The implications of that prophecy are vast. They re saying, You re not coming to Jerusalem again until we the Jewish leadership recognize and say, You re the Messiah. Over in the spirit realm, the devil is watching this prophecy. THE JEWISH LEADERSHIP MUST WELCOME THE LORD S RETURN The devil loves that prophecy, because now Jesus can t come back until the Jewish leadership officially invites Him back. He thinks, It won t be hard to so offend the Jews, or to totally kill them. If I do this, there will be no one in Jerusalem to invite Jesus back by their own free will. Therefore, the devil s agenda is to kill the Jews so that they can t cry out for His return. The second coming won t happen until the Jews invite Him back. If Jesus isn t the King of earthly Jerusalem, He doesn t call down the New Jerusalem to the earth. Until Jesus is the King of the New Jerusalem, the devil isn t bound in prison for 1,000 years. The devil wants to keep this from happening. There are so many implications of Jesus as a man being King. Now, He s fully God; but He s also fully Man. As the son of David, He ll be received by the legitimate government of Israel as their King and Messiah. He won t force their hand. He ll make them voluntarily invite Him; then, the devil says, Jesus, if You fail in that prophecy, then You can t judge me as a liar because You re a liar. You can t judge it as a false prophecy. If there s one error in You Jesus, You can t judge me. You can be sure the primary thing on Satan s mind is to make sure that there are no Jews left on the earth. There s coming a massive genocide and extermination of Jewish people, a holocaust far beyond the one in World War II. Anti-Semitism is going to break out again far beyond Nazi Germany. The devil wants no Jews alive, or if they re alive, he wants them terminally offended at Jesus. And the Lord says, That s fine. I won t worry about it because I have a plan. ROMANS 11:12-15: LIFE FROM THE DEAD Now if their fall is riches for the world, and their failure riches for the Gentiles, how much more their fullness! For I speak to you Gentiles; inasmuch as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry, if by any means I may provoke to jealousy those who are my flesh and save some of them. For if their being cast away is the reconciling of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead (Rom. 11:12-15)? It s as if the Lord says, I will raise up a Gentile church so full of the Holy Spirit that they will provoke Israel to such a jealousy for God that they will say to the Gentiles, Hey, we want what you have in God, And then, they will say yes to Jesus.
Transcript: 12/31/07 Page 6 The Lord says, I will do this. In the overflow of this dynamic, Jews and Gentiles will fall hopelessly in love with each other and embrace each other. They will be one forever. Not because I force them at gunpoint to love each other; not because I make them robots in the resurrection when they don t really have a free choice. Not because I program them. No; they will be one in the overflow of the memory of what happens in the end times. So Jesus boxed Himself in. He pinned Himself in a corner. He can t get out of this prophecy. He s in divine checkmate. It s as if the devil is thinking, I love this prophecy, because if the Jews don t invite You back, than You can t come back. Then, if You can t come back, You re not King of Jerusalem. You can t call the New Jerusalem down, the millennial kingdom doesn t start, and I won t be sent prison. I love this! Thank You, Jesus, for that prophecy. I m sure he didn t say that, but that gave him something to work with. It s as if the Lord looks at the devil, smiles, and says, I will do something so dynamic, and I won t violate the free will of anyone. He will raise up a worship movement at the end of the age with Gentiles operating in the power of God and the spirit of revelation. They will minister to the Jewish people while the Jews are in flight like in the Holocaust. God will release the miracles, signs, and wonders through the Gentile believers. Now, here s the part I really want you to grasp. I m absolutely convinced that the majority not 100 percent, but I m talking about millions and millions the majority of those Gentiles will have Asian faces. You know, many think of Gentiles, and they think of one thing or the other. When I think of the Gentiles provoking the Jews, I see Asian faces. I believe God is going to raise up such a movement in Asia that they will come across that great land and march right into the Arab nations; they will confront Islam fiercely. Many will die, but it will be their reward to die. They will give millions of dollars. They will love not their lives even unto death. They will be lovesick for Jesus. CORRIE TEN BOOM: A FORERUNNER OF THE END-TIME GENTILES Many of you know the story of Corrie Ten Boom; many of you have read The Hiding Place story. If you don t have it, you need to read it. There was a video made in the 1970s. It s timely. You really want to watch The Hiding Place about Corrie Ten Boom. Her family lived in the Netherlands and took Jews into their home. They were a righteous, godly family. When the Nazis came in, it was illegal to hide Jews; her whole family went to the death camp. They were all killed in the death camp because they loved Jesus and stood for the people who were oppressed. Her whole family went to the death camp. She was the little girl; she went there herself, but she was the one who survived. She went on to be almost ninety years old; she traveled the world to tell them about the love of Jesus and how she loves the very Germans who killed her family. She was an amazing woman. God is going to raise up Corrie Ten Booms people at the end of the age. The Jews will be in flight; I m talking about the Jews who don t love Jesus as well as those who do love Him. The devil wants them dead because if they re dead, they can t invite Jesus back. They will be offended because of the historical injustices which have been done in the name of Christianity for 2,000 years. They will be offended because of how the Jews were killed in Nazi Germany through the name of Christianity. That isn t an accident; that s a demon-inspired strategy. So they will be in flight. That s how I picture this: the Jews are in flight, they re in trouble, and they re taken in by this Christian family. Now there are twenty people, but there are only ten potatoes. The man lays hands on them. Instantly, the food multiplies in the name of Jesus. These Jews say, Wait a second. The multiplying of food, that s what our guys did like the Old Testament prophets. Hey! Elijah is our guy.
Transcript: 12/31/07 Page 7 Then we will answer, Yes. Elijah is your guy. We re grafted in to the olive tree, to the tree of Abraham, and he s your guy. That s the point. We re living in that olive tree reality. We re living in your faith. It s the faith of David, the son of David, and we re sons of David. They will answer, What are you talking about? We answer, Jesus is your guy. Thank you for letting us get grafted in. They will ask, What do you mean about this? What are you talking about? The point is that the Jews will understand when we stand with them in persecution. Now they begin to feel provoked to jealousy. We will tell them, We re standing with you because we ve submitted ourselves to your Messiah; now He s our Messiah. They will ask, Why are you not afraid to die? We will ask them, Oh, are you kidding? We re going to live with physical, material bodies on the earth and resurrected glory in the New Jerusalem. We will be in the Jerusalem that Abraham saw. Do you remember Hebrews 11 when Abraham saw the Architect Builder was God and saw the New Jerusalem coming down? That s the city. We re going to live in that city; we re going to live in the city that Abraham, your father saw the father of faith. That s your city, by the way. We so believe in this that it s our joy to die. They re saying, Are you guys not afraid of death? You multiply food. You have angelic visitations, dreams, and visions. What is the deal? We will answer, Your Messiah is the One we worship; He s our Messiah. He s the King of the nations. He s a Jew. I tell you, in the process of this, the Church will be purified. Many will fall away, but many will be added. The Jews will be provoked to jealousy, and the Jews will say, Jesus, We want You. Jesus will say it. Jesus waited for the leaders of Israel to invite Him to be their King. He didn t come in and say, Hey, I m the Man, so just move over. On several occasions, Jesus waited until the legitimate, legal leadership of Israel said, We want you. JESUS REIGN IS BASED IN LOVE He says, OK. Here I am. Jesus has far more dignity than David. He says, I m not forcing My reign upon you because My reign over you is a reign based in love. It s a reign that flows from love. I won t reign over you if you don t want Me to; but, if you don t want Me to, there s only one other that will. It s the devil, the Antichrist, who is the devil s servant. Darkness will reign. There are only two options. If you don t want Me, you can have the other one the Antichrist. Israel is going to completely reverse their stand because of the Gentiles. Beloved, I believe a majority 51 percent is the majority, I don t know, but I believe that there will be a majority of Gentiles who have Asian
Transcript: 12/31/07 Page 8 faces. There will be people who are lovesick worshipers. God is raising them up now, but the whole Body of Christ will be one big, international family of affection. We re dynamically connected to each other right now. OUR ROLE IS TO SERVE ONE ANOTHER We re serving each other; that s why they re going to be watching IHOP KC Kansas City in the rice paddies. They ll be singing the language that they speak in the rice paddies on the microphone in Kansas City. Again, do we want to be a part? I want to be a part of that great move. The Lord says, I let you be a part of it, but you ll have to serve the purposes with the Asians. I say, Yes, Lord, anything. God might answer, Listen, I want you to pray for these Chinese women; there are going to be more of them. I ve already done the math. I know which group to get in good with forever Chinese women. Here in Revelation 16, I m just going to share a verse or two, a thought or two here, and you can look at it on your own. We re in a long-term relationship, as the Body of Christ, with Asian believers leading worship. I think of how significant Hong Kong is; I think of how significant is Seoul, South Korea. I believe that there are many key cities like Hong Kong and Seoul, which are gateway cities into Asia. There are many other key cities. I m not trying to give the whole list. I m stirred up about Hong Kong and about Seoul, South Korea. We cry out, Lord, Lord, we have to see a whole new dimension. Again, God will give us a new dimension. None of us will make it happen. We want to see a whole new dimension in intimacy with God, prophetic music, confidence in love, and revelation of the end times. We need boldness about what s going to happen because we need to be bold about the end-time plan. THERE ARE OVER 150 CHAPTERS ON THE END TIMES IN THE BIBLE Most of you know because you ve heard it said before by several of us here that there are over 100 chapters in the Bible about Jesus, the second coming, and the end times. Most Christians don t know that. One of our leaders gave me the word the other day, or a couple of months ago, that there are 130 chapters because he counted them up. We share a list of the chapters whose primary subject is the end times. If you add up the four gospels Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John there will get eighty-nine chapters total; there are almost ninety chapters on Jesus in the power of God at the first coming to accomplish redemption. Beloved, there are more chapters about Jesus at the second coming. It s the same Bible, same Jesus, same Holy Spirit, same power of God, but instead of accomplishing redemption, it s world dominion. It s taking over the nations. Why is the vast majority of the Body of Christ totally illiterate of those 100 chapters? It isn t another Jesus; it s the same One that we love. It isn t another Holy Spirit; it isn t another power of God. The subject isn t accomplishing redemption on the cross; it s world dominion. Why are we so illiterate about the Jesus we love? Beloved, if you begin to focus a bit on the end times, you ll have so many portraits of Jesus as Bridegroom, King, and Judge. You ll find no contradiction between any one of those functions. DON T BE OBSESSED WITH THE PLAN, BUT THE MAN BEHIND THE PLAN I want to call you as intercessors to become diligent students of the end times. I don t mean charts. I m not talking about reading charts about the end times. It s OK to have a chart; a chart isn t what I m talking about.
Transcript: 12/31/07 Page 9 I m not talking about just a curiosity where we study a few key events on the chart. I m talking about something far more important than that. The book of Revelation says it s the revelation of Jesus that God gave His servants (Rev. 1:1). The book of Revelation isn t a book about events. It s mostly about events, but it s a book that reveals a man. I m into the end times because I love the Man, and the end-times reveal His heart. I m into the Man who is fully God and fully Man. I m into the Messiah. I m a diligent student of the end times because I want know what He s thinking, what He s doing, and why He s doing it. I m excited, and more than excited; I have resolution in my spirit about Asia. I mean Asians are awesome no matter what. Even if there were no Bible verses, that s good enough; but I tell you, it s more than just the fact that Asians are cool. You re in the Book with a significant role in the end times. Beloved, you need to know it because it will fuel your spirit up; it will give you a bigger view of Jesus. Don t write off the end times as irrelevant. Many teach on this; it s really a serious error, actually. We re not going up any minute or any day in the rapture. Absolutely, that is not biblical. We will be raptured. We re raptured at the end of the Great Tribulation not before it. Because it s at the time that the great revival is released across the earth and the great trouble is released. THE CHURCH WILL RESIST THE ANTICHRIST EVEN TO THE POINT OF DEATH Beloved, the Church isn t going to be gone before the Great Tribulation. The Church is causing the Great Tribulation. Obviously, it s Jesus causing it, but the Church in the prayer movement in the Moses position will rise up in the end times against the modern-day Pharaoh called the Antichrist. As Moses stood before Pharaoh, the end-time Church will stand before the Antichrist. As Moses reached forth his rod, and the plagues of God hit Egypt, we will stretch forth the rod called the songs of the Lord, the oracles of God, and prophetic worship with the anointing of David. We will stretch forth the rod of intercession and the judgments will crash down upon the great end-time Pharaoh called the Antichrist. The man says, Does the prayer movement stop the judgments, or start the judgments? I answer, Both just like Moses did. Moses stretched forth his hand and prayed: the judgment came. The next day, he stretched out his hand, prayed with his rod, and the judgments stopped. The nations will know that God has a people on the earth in sync with His heart. So it s God who is releasing the Great Tribulation. I mean, the devil has a role, but I want to tell you this: the devil s role is secondary in the book of Revelation. It isn t mostly about the devil. THE END-TIME CHURCH WILL RELEASE THE JUDGMENTS The devil is coming with rage against the people with God s anointing. The book of Revelation is about the Moses people, the end-time church bringing judgment, the plagues of Egypt, on the Antichrist system. You read Revelation 16; you read Revelation 8-9. They re the same things as the plagues of Egypt. Revelation 16 describes how the seven bowls are nearly identical to the ten plagues of Egypt. The parallel is not accidental. It s meant to point us back to Egypt. God is going to remove everything that hinders love. You want to be students of the end times. You really want to decide: I m not going to be ignorant for the next ten years about this subject. Not because you don t want to be ignorant, although that s good in itself. I want to know more about the Man I love the Man I love.
Transcript: 12/31/07 Page 10 You know the end of the book of Revelation? I need to make one little key point. At the end of the book of Revelation, there s a praying bride. There s a bride who welcomes His return. The Spirit and the bride say, Come. It s Revelation 22:17: And the Spirit and the bride say, Come! And let him who hears say, Come! And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely (Rev. 22:17). Most of you know that verse well. At the end of the book of Revelation is one of the great prophecies. The anointing of the Spirit is on the Church which is operating in the bridal identity crying, Come! It s a worship movement: Come! they re singing and they re praying. It s prayer and worship: Come, Lord Jesus! Come, Lord Jesus! The end-time prayer movement all across the earth is sending and proclaiming their desire for Him to come. JESUS RETURNS TO GLOBAL CONCERTS OF PRAYER That s how it ends. He doesn t come suddenly in a vacuum; He comes in response to global concerts of prayer where people are crying, Come, Lord Jesus. That coming is on many levels. First of all, Come in Your power that s revival. Secondly, Come near us that s intimacy. The eschatological coming is, Come for us that s the second coming. We will cry, Come in Your judgment that means to remove the Antichrist so that his kingdom is destroyed. We re asking Him to come on many levels. Right now, when we say, Come, Lord Jesus, we mean intimacy in our hearts, or revival for our city. But the day is coming in the next two, three, four, five decades I don t know how much time we have, but I think we have some times when we re going to cry, Come, meaning, Release Your power against the end-time Pharaoh, the Antichrist. This won t just be in Egypt. It s global at this time; ultimately, when we say, Come, He will come in the clouds, and the Father will say, Son, I m not going to have You go to the nations until they call; just as I won t have You go to Israel until the leaders of Israel call. You ll only come by the invitation of the love of Your people. So He waits. He says, You won t go to the earth until they know who You are as Bridegroom, King, and Judge. So Jesus always comes by invitation. I mean, don t you sometimes wish that Jesus would come on automatic pilot? But He doesn t. He waits until He s beckoned by love that s the end-time prayer movement. He ll come at the second coming. He waits until the Jewish leaders invite Him to be the Messiah over the city of Jerusalem; then He will come. Here s the point: I ve talked with people over the years. I remembered one lady said, Now I m confused about you doing this book of Revelation thing. Aren t you the Song of Solomon guy? That s what she said. I love that. I thought, Cool! Wow what a great statement! So I said, Yes. I m the Song of Solomon guy. There are millions of them; I m one of them. She said, I don t get it. I thought you were the Song of Solomon guy.
Transcript: 12/31/07 Page 11 I said, When is the bride mature? It isn t at the end of the book of Acts, because you would think the Spirit and the bride say, Come at the end of the book of Acts. Is it in the great theological book of Romans? Maybe that s where the praying bride should be pictured perfectly. Maybe the gospel of John that book of love. No. The praying bride appears at the end of the book about the end times because it s the end-time scenario that causes the bride to mature in love, in clarity about her identity, as to who she is in the end-time crisis. THE GLORY OF THE END-TIME PRAYER MOVEMENT Not only that, but the glory of the end-time prayer movement is this: when we speak, His heart moves. When He speaks, our heart moves. That s the bridal reality, and it comes to fullness in the prayer movement at the end of the age. We re praying, and the potatoes are multiplying; we re praying, and the angels are visiting with dreams and visions. We re praying, and the plaques of Egypt fall upon the end-time Pharaoh. When we speak, His heart moves. When He speaks, our heart moves. That s when the Bride understands what she s like, like no other time in history in the end-time crisis and revival. THE SUBJECT OF INTIMACY, THE END TIMES, AND THE PRAYER MOVEMENT ARE ONE Beloved, the subject of intimacy with God, the subject of the end times, and the subject of the prayer movement are one subject. It s one subject. Don t separate those subjects. I just wanted to point out these two passages. Most of you have been here before. You understand this in Revelation 16; read it on your own. But the kings of the east are an important part of it. At first glance, it s very negative, because it is negative, but it s very positive as well. The kings of the east are yielding to the Antichrist. That s bad. That s the bad news of this verse. The good news of this verse is that they re not yielding to the Antichrist until the final weeks before the Antichrist is defeated openly. The tribulation period is seven years; the Great Tribulation is the final half of the seven years, three and a half years. You can say Tribulation, but you mean both. The Bible will back up both of the definitions. One guy says, seven years, and another says, three and a half years. But the last three and half years are the great part of those seven years the intense part. So you can use the word tribulation to refer to either one: the period of seven years or the period of three and a half years. THE ANTICHRIST BECKONS ASIA But here s the point: the Antichrist has been beckoning the kings of the east, Join me; join me. I will make you leaders of the nations. Something will be happening in Asia for the whole seven years. They re saying, No. The Antichrist says, I don t think you know how powerful I am. I will make you leader of the nations. The Asians join him in the final days. During the last few weeks before the Antichrist is thrown into the lake of fire, they will yield. But during the whole seven years, Asia has stood. The Antichrist first tries seduction and then changes gears. He gives mighty miracles. The world is bowing down to the Antichrist. The Asians say as a block of nations, No. He says, Fine, you won t buy into my miracles. Let s kick into gear. Then he will bring threats: I shall come and smash you!
Transcript: 12/31/07 Page 12 The Asians will say, No. No. The Asians will be the only group of nations that will hold out as a group until the very end. I ll just end with this verse. News from the east troubles the Antichrist. When I talk about the news from the north, it s a different kind of thing. When I talk about the news from the east, something is happening in the east that troubles the Antichrist because they re not cooperating. The question of the hour is, Why are they not? What s happening in Asia that makes them the only block of the nations in the Bible that won t yield? I could tell you for sure what it is: it s the end-time prayer movement. Something is happening throughout all of Asia that s creating an angelic activity that s withstanding demonic powers and principality. Read Daniel 10. When Daniel prayed and fasted, the big angel pushed back the big demons that were fighting in the heavens. I m sure it doesn t just happen this way when demons are active; but I imagine them standing next to those world leaders like a dragon breathing fire on their spirit. That world leader is lying in bed; he wakes up and says, I will cause war! I will attack! I will do evil! He says this when demons are breathing that hot fire on their spirit on world leaders, like they did with Stalin, Hitler, and Mao. These ideas inflame them; but when angels hold them back, then these wicked, arrogant men aren t nearly so powerful without demonic help. They re far more manageable. The prayer movement is releasing angels. Many other leaders in the earth are fully demonized, but the Asians stand steady. There will be godly men and women in all levels of governing others. Then there will be wicked men; but their niece, nephew, or wife are godly people. They say, Man, I wanted to do wickedness, but every time, I come home I love you guys. Then I don t act like I love you, but I really do. Just within the family relationships, there are so many dynamics that will be in place. ASIA WITHSTANDS EVIL UNTIL THE FINAL FEW WEEKS BEFORE THE END Anyway, there s going to be so much godly influence coming out of Asia that creates a check to withstand the Antichrist. They withstand until the last few weeks; they withstand evil. I believe one of the big reasons for this is because the great end-time army of Gentiles that s going to provoke Israel together marching across the Middle East confronting Islam has Asian faces. Beloved, we want to be a part of this. We want to be in this thing together all the way. Even for some of us who study the subject matter often, at the end, we get disengaged. What I m saying is that we re so struck by the intensity of the end times, we disengage. We can stumble and go into cocoon mode trying to save ourselves, bail out our assets, our resources, our money, build some little retreat center somewhere and protect ourselves. We do all these things so that, in case the Antichrist does come, he doesn t touch any of our things. It s called the save ourselves mentality. The other way we try to escape is this: we imagine we ll be raptured before everything happens. That view of eschatology isn t theologically valid. It renders all the events of the book of Revelation irrelevant to us as believers. The Jews have to suffer for it themselves not us. Examine the Scriptures for yourself. When you fast, your heart gets tender. The spirit of prophecy comes upon you. Your eyes are open to these prophetic scriptures. We begin to understand the rightful attitude of studying
Transcript: 12/31/07 Page 13 the subject matter of Jesus, intimacy, and the end times together. He leads us into active engagement and preparation. The Church actually turns to posture itself in such a way that we not only have a passive role in waiting for the Lord s return, but everyday, the decision in our hearts and the expression of our faith counts. Every day, we can make decisions concerning the building-up of things going on in our individual life, our family, our neighborhood, our city, our government, our nation, and yea, even the end-time prophetic plan of God. I believe that by this gathering of Asian delegates in this room, God is sounding our trumpet call to say, Study Jesus and what He s about to do on the earth in this generation and the generation of the last day. Get engaged in your heart by getting enough oil to last through the night. MATTHEW 25: A WINDOW TO GET OIL IN YOUR LAMPS Matthew 25 warns us that the wise virgin and the foolish virgin both go out to wait for the bridegroom to come, but only the wise virgins have enough supply of oil to last through the midnight hour as a burning and shining lamp in the night. I believe the Asian church is called to that. I believe the Asian church is called to have oil in their lamps and to be a bright and shining lamp in the midst of great darkness. I m recognizing God s authority on you as a people, and I m just acknowledging that. I want to set forth one verse to you because it s very important. For from the rising of the sun, even to its going down, My name shall be great among the Gentiles; in every place incense shall be offered to My name, and a pure offering; For My name shall be great among the nations, says the Lord of hosts (Mal. 1:11). This is very important. It s the last book written in the Old Testament, and there s a verse written in there. It s the foundational way that we re going to provoke Jews to jealousy. That has to do with the Jews destiny. Their destiny was to be a kingdom of priests. They were brought out of slavery to form a worldwide worship movement, to be a priestly nation to the rest of the world of what God is like, what His name is, and what His ways are. That s why in Isaiah 2 and Micah 4 are so important. That s their primary call: to be a priestly nation, a nation that worships and a nation that proclaims and instructs about the One they worship. Well, in Malachi, they re brought out again from Babylon not from Egypt, but from Babylon. The first thing that Israel was commanded to do was to start worship ministry again. Zerubbabel was commanded to start a worship ministry. He tried for two years and he ended up giving up because of the struggle. Then, the next thing you know, sixteen years had passed. Zechariah and Haggai prophesied to him that they were not to build their own houses, but the house of prayer; they were to build the house of prayer, the temple ministry. The reason why it s hard for us to understand that is that we don t understand the role of worship, intercession, and bringing the government of God to earth to make known His name. We re a kingdom of priests. Within a few years, Nehemiah came to build the wall around the temple, to solidify the worship ministry, to protect it, and when he did that, after twelve years, he left to return to the king of Persia. Within one short year, the priesthood had already stumbled into compromise. So twice they had failed to bring forth the worship ministry. God then looks at them and Malachi, the last book of the Old Testament, and He prophesies, Why haven t you loved Me? Why haven t you given Me the honor due Me? Then He says to them in Malachi 1:10: Who is there even among you who would shut the doors, so
Transcript: 12/31/07 Page 14 that you would not kindle fire on My altar in vain? I have no pleasure in you, says the Lord of hosts, nor will I accept an offering from your hands (Mal. 1:10). It s as if God is saying, Oh that someone would just shut down this temple ministry and not offer Me lame offerings, instead of offering Me offerings that are less than worthy of My great name. This is the witness; this is the worship witness and the priestly witness you re giving to the nations, and I wish that one of you would just shut it down. THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL SHALL ABIDE MANY DAYS WITHOUT KING OR PRINCE So here s what God says to them: Because you wouldn t be faithful with the priesthood, I will shut it down. He sends His Son, and according to Hosea 3:4, The children of Israel shall abide many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred pillar, without ephod or teraphim. Afterward the children of Israel shall return and seek the Lord their God and David their king. They shall fear the Lord and His goodness in the latter days (Hos. 3:4-5). He shuts down the temple ministry when Titus comes in AD 70. He shuts it down for 2,000 years. Then He prophesies in Malachi 1:11. What s going to be the answer to bringing back the temple ministry in Jerusalem? Here s the answer Malachi 1:11: God is going to raise up a priestly people among the Gentiles to provoke them to walk in worship in every nation of the earth. From every shore, God will bring forth incense. They will declare His name in worship and prayer throughout the earth. Beloved, when every nation of the earth comes forth in twenty-four-hour prayer and worship making His name great, it will be the sign to Israel that He is who He says He is. Israel will turn to the Messiah. So beloved, the fact that you re here and the nations are here learning how to bring forth extravagant, worthy worship to our great God is significant. It s a sign that the nations are getting in place to release that last great witness to Israel. This was your calling, and we re going to fight for your destiny. THE CHARGE TO LEAD Join us. When Jesus returns, and He will, He will lead us all from Jerusalem. Beloved, I appeal to you. You ve been called by God to lead the charge. The nations are waiting for Korea, China, Japan, and all the nations of Asia to stand up and put your zeal in the right place for the right hour at the end of the age for Jesus return. America will follow you. Latin America will follow you. Africa will follow you. Europe will follow you. You lead us. We beg you to lead us in this day. You take the charge; we will follow you. PRAYER FOR INTERCESSION TO ARISE FROM ASIA Now I want to pray for you; I want to pray for you because you didn t come here to just be led, you came here so we can serve you to get in your place on the wall. Until you do, there are things we can t enter into because it s portioned for you. I m speaking to those right now who know that this is your calling, and what I just said is true over your life, and you know that s why you re here. You know that Malachi 1:11 is going to be written on your heart. You know that Zephaniah 2:11 says, The Lord will be awesome to them, For He will reduce to nothing all the gods of the earth; people shall worship Him, each one from his place, indeed all the shores of the nations (Zeph. 2:11). When you get in your place, and when the nations get into their place, He will show Himself awesome to Israel; He will reduce the gods of the earth to nothing, but we have to get into our place.
Transcript: 12/31/07 Page 15 If you know you need to get into your place, I want to you to stand up. In the worship movement, you know that what I ve said has struck your heart, and this is true. You want to give yourself for this in a wholehearted way. Beloved, if this was fifty years ago, no one in this room would have stood up. Maybe one lonely prophet whom everyone thought was crazy, but look at this. This is the word of the Lord. So Father, in the name of Jesus, we bless the works of Your hands. We bless what You re doing throughout all of Asia, bringing forth from the coastlands of the sea, from the dawning of the light, from the east, bringing forth songs and glory to the Righteous One. Bring it forth. Let it erupt in the heavenlies. Put them on the wall and let them lead the charge. We ask for an anointing to come upon them: in music, in singing, in musicianship let it come forth. God, let houses of prayer spring up from the ground all over Asia. God, bring them forth all over Asia; all over the Pacific realm, let it come forth like a ring of fire. In the Pacific, God, bring forth the fire of God on the worship ministry in Jesus name. Father, raise up Japan. We need Japan in her place, God; raise up Japan. Put Japan in her place. Bind Japan, China, and Korea like a three-strand cord as a witness to the earth, God. I ask you for China, Korea, and Japan to be like a three-strand cord that can t be broken in the coming hour. Bring them forward in Jesus name for Your glory. Amen. Go ahead and be seated. ASIA AND THE MIDDLE EAST Can you imagine what it would do to the nations when the Body of Christ in China, Korea, and Japan is walking arm and arm in love with full commitment? The same thing is going to happen in the Middle East: in Assyria in the north, Egypt in the south, and Israel. Isaiah 19 says those three nations who are archenemies will fall in love with each other. That certainly will happen in the Middle East; that s going to happen in the Asia as well. THE 10/500 VISION AND PROPHETIC PROMISE All of life is worship. Any time we obey God, that s worship, but I m talking about specifically the singing dimension of worship. I m talking about intercessors that will release the protection and the supernatural dimension to the market place, and then, the marketplace will bring supply and supernatural wisdom back to the prayer movement. The Lord has raised up a dynamic, relational network not an information network, but a dynamic, relational network of men and women who are being blessed dynamically in the marketplace. They love the prayer and worship movement and are joining them together. There s a vision that God gave this family in the 1980s called 10/ 500 that God will raise up 10,000 prophetic vessels who will be really intuitive with the Holy Spirit, and 500 strategic global businesses. These 10,000 messengers or prophetic vessels will all be functioning together. So I spent four days with these business guys. I almost never travel. The Lord just really made it clear: I m supposed to stay in Kansas City. I went for four days in Chicago. I sat with the core of this leadership team of about twenty-five or thirty for four days talking with strategic men and women in the marketplace who are connected to the worship movement. There s a dynamic connection between these groups. It s all over Asia and Kansas City.