Contending for the Fullness of God's Power

2/09/06

Mike Bickle

Jude 3, "Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it
necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all
delivered to the saints."

I. Contending or fighting for God's highest. Fighting for the faith that the apostles gave us because
already a few decades had passed and already the Church was beginning to lose its way in some of the
apostolic doctrine. Jude the Lord's brother, an apostle was saying, "I want you to fight for the original
doctrine."

It was more than that. Today you will see different movements across the Body of Christ, which are very
conservative in the good sense of wanting to maintain the truth of God's word. We are contending for
the apostolic faith by having purity in the things we believe. But we contend for the apostolic faith not
just in doctrine and ideas but in experience.

The apostles in the days of old operated in power as did the early Church, which the Church in the west
today is content not to operate in. The Church in the third world countries contend for this. They want
the full measure of power as well as doctrine. We want both of them here as well.

We want to contend for the apostolic lifestyle too of obedience. It is what I call the Sermon on the
Mount Life style. It is not just that we want the doctrine right and are contending for that but we want
the power and are going to fight and take our stand till the full measure of power is in our midst.

We are also going to contend for the apostolic life style. How the leaders lived in the days of old and the
meekness and the simplicity; the way they viewed time and money and honor was very powerful and
deliberately given to them by God. We need to contend for those things as well. In this session I am
looking more at the power dimension we are fighting for although I strongly contend for the other two
dimensions as well.
B. To contend for the fullness of God's power to be released in our lives requires contending for a
kingdom life style. They are all joined together. We have to contend without any time qualifiers meaning
some people will say, "I am going hard and ask you for the full release of signs and wonders. I am going
to give you three months or three years and if there is not a breakthrough I am going to draw back."

We have to throw away the time qualifiers we are in this thing to the end. We are burning the bridges;
we are burning the boats; there is no way back. We are on a path; on a journey of which there is not out;
there is no escape clause.

We are going to contend until and if we die before that happens we have raised up a generation that
will keep contending until the fullness of God's power breaks forth. I talk about five components that are
necessary contending for the fullness of God's power. We are not going to look at them all today but I
wanted to list them here.

Number one we have to establish a high vision; a vision to have the fullness of all that God will give the
human spirit in our generation. This is actually the most neglected of the five. In some ways you would
think this is the easiest one as the others seem pretty challenging. I find it rare to find people who are
actually have a solid vision to break forth into a realm of power that is actually beyond the book of Acts,
which is the inheritance of the End-time Church.

We want to establish a vision for all that God will give the human spirit. We mean in gifts fruit and
wisdom not just in the gifts of the Spirit, the power and the fruit of the Spirit; character as well but also
wisdom in the Spirit. We want the fullness in gifts fruits and wisdom; power; character and
understanding or wisdom. We want it in all areas but we are looking at power right now that is the point
of this conference.

Number two...we have to have life styles of fasting and prayer...Sermon on the Mount life styles. Fasting
and prayer is what I want to lock into at this point in time. We can have a high vision and I have known
some people who have had it; they maintain the high vision; they talk about it and read books about it
but they do not live very differently. They do not actually take that vision into the place of battle or
contending, which is fasting and prayer.

Number three...we have to walk in the tension of being faithful and grateful in the days of small
beginnings. Sometimes when people get a big vision not numerical right now-I am talking about in terms
of the measure of the presence of God He will release. When the few get the vision and it is millions
who get the vision but out of a billion believers it is a small percent yet it is millions.

You do not want to get the Elijah syndrome that I am the only one left. No the Lord says He has seven
thousands other groups seeking the Me as hard as you are. Of those small numbers I find it common if
they are really going for the fullness they end up despising the day of small beginnings right now. It is
like disconnecting from today and believing for tomorrow. The Lord says not only does He want us
faithful in the days of smallness and that is what we are doing today but we are grateful as well.

As a matter of fact you will never be faithful if you are not grateful. If you are not thanking the Lord for
what happens today with a genuine excitement in your Spirit you will not be faithful in the day of
smallness if you despise the small measure of power. I would rather say Lord if ten percent of the
headache is gone that is ten percent more than was gone a minute ago. I will take ten percent over zero.

I would like to sea a hundred percent of that headache but ten percent is a lot more than zero. I love
what John Wimber said. Many of you know his name and although he has gone on to be with the Lord
he so impacted my life in the realm of healing. He led the Vineyard movement, one of the strongest
healing graces on a people in the Western world that I know of in the 20th Century.

It was one of the real highlighted ministries of healing in the 20th Century. John Wimber said he would
pray for a thousand people and get ten healings in the early days but ten healings out of a thousand is
way better than zero out of zero. The one thing I really appreciated about him was his genuine gratitude
in the days of smallness.

Number four...we have to live without compromise. Prayer and fasting is not substitute for obedience. I
know some folks who will go for the high vision. We are going to have the Greater Works than These
Ministry. They will do the fasting and prayer and join IHOP-KC but then they live in deliberate areas of
compromise in their life thinking if they live in the shadows the can go to IHOP-KC and somehow bargain
with God.

Beloved there is no substitute for obedience. In our weakness the Lord's mercy is there and that is one
of our major emphases of the Lord's mercy in time of weakness but that is for those who are intending
to walk in full obedience and are serious about it. So do not imagine we can pray and fast and bargain
with God and have a little bit of the darkness over here in a deliberate way. The darkness we are not
warring against; the darkness we make peace with.

Many believers have those one or two issues in their lives that they have settled down to make peace
with and it grieves the Holy Spirit. They will go to prayer meetings and fast here and there. We have to
live determined to have a hundred percent obedience. In the realm of our eyes...Job said I have made a
covenant with my eyes.

Beloved we may not fulfill that a hundred percent obedience on a daily basis but the four biggies are the
realm of our eyes, speech, time and money. We get our eyes under control and our speech under
control and our time and money I tell you a whole lot of other things are going to fall into place in due
time. There are other issues but those are four major ones that we intrinsically are loose with if we are
just normal humans.

Number five, which we can sometimes forget is a real big one. We have to bear the reproach for walking
in God's power. We do not have to work at creating the reproach. I am not calling people to go and
create enemies. If you walk in the power of God a little bit you will have so many enemies. It is really
true and I call to bear the stigma of the anointing.

There is a God orchestrated stigma of moving in the power of God and I have that on page four and
probably we will not get to it. I have seen ministries who cry out for the power of God. They get a little
breakthrough of power and in a month or two turns into a year or two and all of a sudden it is not
politically correct.

The denominational headquarters or the Charismatic Network headquarters of Churches or just the
Churches in the area start going, "Hey what about this?" A very common mark at the two, three or four
year mark is to draw back in the fear of man and not to understand there is a God orchestrated stigma
on the anointing.

A guy says, "I want to move in signs and wonders and I want to operate in the prophetic anointing." I
said if you are doing it so you can prove to Mom you really will be rich and famous one day you are
doing it for all the wrong reasons because God will exhibit you like He did the apostles in the days of old.
Paul said in 1 Cor. 4:9, God exhibited us apostles last of all. We are a spectacle to angels. The angels look
at us and say, "Oh my goodness!" Paul said they were a spectacle to men and angels. The things that the
Lord will allow to happen there will be more trouble even within the Body of Christ. Every time there is a
little breakout of the Holy Spirit's power the Body of Christ is the first one on the scene to attack it.

Normally the vessels in which the power of God is operating in give them enough legitimate material to
attack...they make it easy to get attacked. They make themselves a big target in their lack of character,
wisdom, humility and discretion. The entire thing works just right to humble the vessels God wants to
visit.

Jesus appeared to Paul in 2 Cor. 12 and said, "Paul the power of God is on you but the problem is when
the power of God and revelation is on you...you tend to exalt yourself." Now if a mature apostle who
wrote the word of God when he had the power on him tended to exalted himself where are you and I
going to fit in? Jesus said, "You tend to exalt yourself therefore I have allowed a messenger of Satan to
buffer you. You can resist him and he is our enemy but he can buffet you. I want you resisting this attack
because if you do not in a vacuum you will exalt yourself."

I look at Paul and say, "Paul would...I do not have a chance!"

I do not have a chance of operating in the anointing without exalting myself but the Lord says, "Do not
worry I will take care of it! I have already thought that through and it is called the stigma of the
anointing. I will make sure it happens to you." We would love to get this thing of the power of God,
honor, and everybody happy but it is never going to go down that way. Never! It is not biblical!

There will be trouble within the family of God and outside the family of God against the vessels and
again the vessels themselves add enough lack of wisdom, character and humility they make the target
big. We do not want that we want to walk in meekness and wisdom but the trouble will still be there
because it is a God orchestrated stigma.

C. We must contend because the Christian life is a cooperation of the Grace of God. We have to fight for
this because it really is cooperation with the grace of God. God will not do our part and we cannot do
His part. God will not do our part...He will not. We have a role it is a partnership. The Lord in His zeal for
intimate partnership with His Church says we have a part that He will not do.
D. Some people trust the sovereignty of God in a non-biblical way by "trusting" God to do the role that
He has assigned us to do. This is not trusting God, but is negligence and presumption. It is like the
preacher going to the farmer's house and they are driving down the driveway by all his manicured
beautiful acres.

The preacher says, "Man did God bless you!"

The farmer says, "What? When God had this farm it was a mess!"

God will not water and weed the gardens. He will produce the rain and the sun in the process of life. If
God has the farm and only God it will be a mess. He will not water or weed the garden by divine design
and wisdom. We have a role; there is a pressing in; there is a contending and obedience. There is a
stigma we bear...there is a gratitude in the days of small beginnings...there is a place we have.

I have seen folks for many years to draw back and trust God for the breakthrough of power when they
are not doing their part. That is called negligence and presumption; it is not trusting God. It is a self-
flattering view of laziness. We are trusting God. If He wants power He will send power.

God says, "No I actually want to send power but I am not going to do it outside the boundaries of what I
say in My Word."

There are a lot of self-justified laziness and spiritual passivity under the title or banner of trusting the
sovereignty of God. If God wants revival He will begin to woo the people. The people will begin to rise
up and in the midst of the people that rise up He will send tokens of His Presence then others will be
awakened and rise up and then He will send greater tokens of His Presence.

Yes God is on the front end of it to stir and to woo but many times people will not respond and the
opportunity of the Lord in a geographic area is passed by. It comes back in another time cycle later. So
the idea that if God wants it...it will happen is not true. That is true in the broad strokes of history.
God wants the Second Coming and I tell you the Second Coming is going to happen. God wants to
establish His kingdom on earth as it is in heaven and it is going to happen. God wants the devil in the
Lake of Fire and that is going to happen no matter what you and I do those things are going to take place.
The broad strokes of history are secure and set by God.

There are many things that God wants that do not happen and it grieves God's heart as I have here in 2
Peter 3:9. God is not willing that any should perish but they perish anyway. He does not want any to
perish. God wills that none would perish but billions are in the Lake of Fire and God does not want them
in the Lake of Fire.

The idea that if God wants it...it will take place is a na"ive approach to the Scripture. God wants many
things but what He wants more is partnership with His people and He will use that as the primary
emphasis; if we are in partnership and we do our part under the leadership of the Spirit and God is doing
His part then all that God wants will happen but God will not sacrifice His dynamic partnership with His
people while they are disconnected with Him. He will not just by pass them and do what He wants.

D. God has chosen to give his people role in determining some of the measure (the key word is some) of
the quality of life that we experience in the natural and in the Spirit. We can have more power in our
midst or less power. Some of that measure God has allowed us to determine related to our response to
the wooing of grace. We do determine some of the measure of the quality of the life we live in.

II. I cannot say this enough...being grateful and faithful in the days of small beginnings. It is one of the
prominent biblical mandates for the people of God while contending for the fullness.

Zech. 4:10, came to Zerubbabel when they were restoring the city of Jerusalem and said, "For who has
despised the days of small beginnings." The people of Israel as they were restoring the city after
Babylonian captivity...there was rubble everywhere and they despised it. In our context the temple was
the house of prayer in Zech. 4.

Some of you are building prayer ministries or you are building the community of God in the bigger sense
where the Presence of God would dwell in the midst of your city in the midst of His people. They were
building the temple and there were big heaps of rock and Zerubbabel the leader was saying he was so
discouraged saying, "We are never going to get this job done."
The people of Israel were quitting and had decided to quit and go back and build their own homes. He
was there and Zechariah came up to him and said I want you to speak grace...grace to the top stone.
Speak grace...grace to the top stone because not by human power and not by human might but by my
Spirit I am going to do this thing.

"Zerubbabel do not yield to despising the day of small beginnings like the others have because the other
yielded to it and they quit."

They look at how little is happening and they thinking it is too small. I have done IHOP-KC now coming
onto seven years. Every week we get several hundred visitors a week from around the world. We had
more visitors in 1999 than we had people doing IHOP-KC. The news went out and they came to check it
out. I would tell them to give us a few years. They would say they were going home and do it.

The number one thing and probably many of you have been challenged by this...is the discouragement
of four and five member prayer meetings that do not seem like they are making any impact (the day of
small beginnings). The healing lines when the saints gather whether it is the home group, the
marketplace or the Church service or we pray for the sick ...very few things happen. So we quit praying
for the sick. We cannot draw back we have to be faithful in the days of small beginnings.

D. We must be faithful and grateful for God's presence in the "pre-revival small measure." Beloved there
is going to be a revival where the measure is going to be dynamic beyond the book of Acts. The measure
of what is released in power but we are in pre-revival and there are many things God wants to do now
that last forever in His book. Right now! God does not get excited because the manifest presence...God's
heart esteems faithfulness and meekness at the heart level.

What I do before revival and what I do after revival will not move God differently. What moves God is
meekness in the human Spirit in response to His grace. I am gaining as much ground if I have meekness
now than I will if I have stadiums filled and the dead are being raised. I am gaining as much ground in
God with very little happening.

We need to really lock into this and when the revival breaks out people say it will be a lot easier. If you
say that you have not been a student of revival. When the revival breaks out it actually becomes more
difficult. It really does in many ways. In some ways it is easier but in many ways it is more difficult. We
want to get locked into meekness and obedience and being lovesick worshippers of Jesus. We say the
pay is the same whether we raise the dead or take a nap if we do the will of God.

If you have that you can stay steady with no one getting healed in the prayer lines hardly and three
people or five people at the prayer meeting, a guitar with a broken string, and an off-key singer you can
still make it. God looks down and says, "I am not looking at how good the singer sings I am looking at the
meekness in the heart of My people.

You do not need to focus on how many people in the room focus on how many angels are in the room
for real. We need to be faithful and more than faithful; grateful. If you are not grateful you will never be
grateful. I am not faithful beyond my gratitude. My gratitude is higher than my faithfulness. You have to
have a higher gratitude portion in you.

The more grateful I get the more faithful I become but my gratitude is always just a little bit more
because it is making a way for faithfulness. Some folks in the pursuit of the fullness lose their way on this
point.

E. We must repent of despising the day of small beginnings. We need to repent of that. I have been in
ministry for three or four years now and have a number of season...three or four main season after
going hard for a period of time and then the Spirit whispers in my heart, "You are despising what is not
happening. All you can see is what is not happening...I want you to see what is happening."

Beloved we need eyes for both; not one or the other but both. Some groups are so excited about what is
happening they do not have any insight into what is not happening and they are not pressing in for more.
I want eyes for both...I want to see what is and say thank-you and see what is not and contend for more.
I want both and not either or. I want lines of insight.

III. Establishing a high vision to walk in God's fullness.

Jesus spoke a very important proverb in Mark 4:24, "Take heed what you hear." What you believe
about what God will give you and what you buy into because with the same measure that you apply; the
measure you use; the measure of what you hear determines the measure of what you apply.
The measure that you use...with that same measure it is going to be measured to you. You come to God
with a one ounce container you will get the one ounce. You come to God with a ten ounce container or
ten gallon whatever the numbers...whatever size the cup you come to God with determines somewhat
to what God is going to give you.

It is not like you can say you are going to take a thousand level cup and it guarantees that you will get
that. I can assure you of this; though we may come with a big container and say fill the entire cup the
Lord may say, "No in your generation it is not appointed." But I can assure you that if you come with a
small cup that is all you are going to get. It is very important what we take heed to.

When I was younger this was the verse we always used to get people not to listen to the radio to the
secular music. We would tell them, "Take heed to what you listen to...secular music." Actually there is a
lot of truth to that to be honest. Most of what is out there is not helping people's Spirits in God.

That is a misapplication of that verse...there is another verse for that. Some time later I began to
understand that He is not talking about what music you listen to like be careful what station you listen
to on the radio you listen to. That verse was in my original handouts when I was sixteen and I gave them
the stations that were good and the stations that were bad. How is that?

Beloved I want to say this sober if you must take heed what we buy into. Most of us talking about the
Body of Christ at large are far too content with little. We are contented with far too little. We buy into a
small measure and the Lord says, "Is that what you will settle for?"

"Yes!"

"You will settle for a growing Church?"

"Yeah! We are growing!"

"No miracle? No power? No Holy Spirit presence that is discernable as long as you grow and your Church
gets well known?"

"Yes!"

"Okay that is what you get then."

We cry, "No! No!"

According to what you hear that determines the measure you use and the measure you use that you
actually apply determines the measure of what you receive. When I have a high vision I use it. I build my
life around prayer and fasting and praying for the sick and prophesying in the days of small beginning. I
use it because I want more. The truth is I sometimes do not use in the way I need to be more faithful
and grateful.

In theory I try to use it in all those seasons because I know if I use it; if I live a lifestyle based on believing
big things I get more in the end. He tells them, "To you who hear...I promise you...thus says the Lord
more will be given. If you hear and buy into it and build your life around it (that is the key) you actually
use it.

You do not go to a prophetic conference or read a book about the great miracles somebody in the past
operated in and think yes you like it but go on like business as usual because you are hearing but not
using. It is hearing, using and then receiving. We have to build our lifestyle soberly around what we are
hearing and believing in.

Number one exhortation of Jesus in the Bible clearly not a close second, "To Him who has ears let him
hear." There are more exhortations on that than anything else...from the lips of Jesus. You had better
not just listen carefully. It is not just listen carefully but to the full measure. Make sure you receive the
full measure. They go together. Jesus said that more times than anything else.
Yet in this hour of history the Church is so satisfied with such small measure that we are not hearing. I
want to say it again in Mark 4:24, 'You who hear more will be given."

I am going to give you a couple of names that I should have put on the notes. Marie Woodworth Etter. I
only have five of her books. I asked in the book store ...I would get them if I were you. It is about three
or hundred page books. She had probably the greatest signs and wonders of anyone in Church history
outside the apostles. Maybe more than the apostles; it is just staggering. I lived on Marie Woodworth
Etters book and testimony. She died I guess in 1910 or something like that. Before I moved to Kansas
City I and my wife were Church planting for seven years in St. Louis. We were involved in pasturing and
that kind of thing.

Those last couple of years I lived on Marie Woodworth Etter and J. G. Lake. That is the stuff the lord was
feeding my spirit before to get me ready to come to Kansas City and then jump into IHOP-KC. I filled my
mind with a vision of where this thing could go. Get that it will absolutely boggle your mind.

Not everything could be validated and proved but there is plenty of newspaper articles about her pro
and con. She spoke to massive crowds. She even built a denomination around her, which I ma not saying
is a negative. Entire movements came after; she did not organize anything and that is why she faded off
the radar screen in the Body of Christ. If you cannot get it here put it in your browser and go buy it
somewhere. We are going to get restocked. I am sad we did not have the entire stock because you really
want to get it.

John G. Lake was inspired dynamically by Marie Woodworth Etter. I am going to read a little bit about
him in a minute. We have a handful of books like this. He was one of the most well like Marie
Woodworth Etter in the same categories. He had one of the greatest healing ministries in Church history.

He was very wealthy business man in Chicago. He had what would be today multiplied millions of dollars
related to today's economy. In 1906 he was making $50,000 a year with his annual salary plus benefits.
That was a lot of money in 1906 but the Lord began to draw his spirit into the healing ministry.

He began to give himself to healing. The thing I love about John G. Lake is that his passion for Jesus was
absolutely remarkable and his diligence when there was only a little bit happening. He had power
breaking out but he was seeking for a greater power because so often when the little bit of power
breaks out...a little notoriety happens people give up pushing for the next level. Even when he had
miracles second to none he was pressing for even a greater dimension of intimacy with God and power
with God. Absolutely astounding!

Amie Simple McPherson of the Four Square Church that rose up in the wake of the power of God that
broke through that woman's life.

John Alexander Dowie died about 1910 as well and raised the dead on a number of occasions. John
Alexander Dowie and Marie Woodworth Etter were ones who ones who inspired John G. Lake and he is
my total favorite.

These are the lives I was reading, fasting and praying and reading in my early days in 1979, 1980 and
1982 and have read them ever since. I do not mean every day since but they have impacted my spirit
and helped me when things were bad and good. When things seemed like Hey we are turning a corner
and good things were happening I was grateful but I was absolutely discontent because of the testimony
of God through those lives. I want to urge you to read those life stories.

Some of these people got off...they got off ...they got into error but that does not change the fact that
God used them powerfully in miracles. As a matter of fact one of the biggest problems with power
ministry is often, and I am not saying always or mostly but often, the vessel under the power realm gets
off because their spirit gets puffed up in pride.

When they get puffed up in pride and they would not think it was pride because pride is so powerful
that we do not see our own pride. We see our friends pride but not our own...that is the nature of
pride...we do not see it.

So none of them felt proud but when you get proud you know what happens? You justify bitterness.
That is the giant problem of pride on our anointed vessels. You justify bitterness and therefore you no
longer have to live in meekness and servanthood because you are the anointed and how dare them and
that brings you down a whole road of destruction.

You become vulnerable to wrong ideas, demonic influences because when we are proud and anointed
our attitude is, "How dare you mistreat the Prophet of God?" Instead of, "Lord you know I have need of
greater exposure of what is really in my heart." That is where Paul the Apostle was.
Because of that it is not uncommon for the anointed vessel to have ten, fifteen or twenty years and then
they are way off and some people have the idea that is they get anointed they will not get off. That is an
absolutely a false concept.

"Well if I am anointed I will stay steady! God will talk to me!" No our safety is in the Body of Christ and in
the word and when you get anointed they quit spending time in the word and they do not listen to other
people and the safety net is gone because they have crowds gathering. Then they relate to their
bitterness wrong and then they get wrong ideas about how they are supposed to respond.

So do not ever have the equation that because the guy got off therefore everything he did was invalid.
That is absolutely wrong. Because the guy got off he got into pride because of the power on him and he
did not take seriously His fallen ness and he did not stay within the boundary lines of safety, which is in
the Word of God and relationship in the Body of Christ and humbling our self and serving and doing the
mundane things of life in the Kingdom under the anointing of our life.

E. One way to build a vision for the fullness of God is not just the men and women from history but the
men and women from the Bible. Look at the book of Acts. You do not have to go any further than the
book of Acts. The Old Testament examples are for us today and I encourage that as well but the book of
Acts has so many dynamic examples of broken and weak men who God anointed beyond anything they
ever deserved.

Those who stayed within the safety net of God; they stayed in the word; they stayed in servanthood;
they stayed in blessing their enemies; they stayed in community and relationship one to another. That is
the safety net I am talking about.

Acts 19:11-20, "God worded unusual miracles by the hands of Paul, so that even as handkerchief and
aprons were brought from his body to the sick."

You all know the story but it is worth hearing again. They took the handkerchief off of Paul's body, he
prayed for it; they put it on the sick and the disease left and demons went out of people. They put the
handkerchief and said, "In the name of Jesus." That is like, "What?" If that were not in the Bible I would
not go for it but it is and I do.
Acts 19:11-13 Now God worked unusual miracles by the hands of Paul, so that even handkerchiefs or
aprons were brought from his body to the sick, and the diseases left them and the evil spirits went out
of them. Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists took it upon themselves to call the name of the
Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, "We exorcise you by the Jesus whom Paul preaches."

These guys were off the wall but at least they had enough discernment to know that people had demons.
They were off to think they could exercise the demons without living in relationship with Jesus but at
least they knew people had demons. Give them credit for that -much of the Church today in the West
does not even know there are demons and if there is they are somewhere else...not in the Church. I
guarantee there are lots of people in the chairs with demons in them. Some in this room for real!

Acts 19:14 Also there were seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, who did so."

These seven sons did this they went around casting demons out so they were at least taught by some
degree by their father about Spiritual warfare the reality of the spirit realm. They had a little bit of
foundation there.

Acts 19:15

And the evil spirit answered and said, "Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are you?" Then the man
in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, overpowered them, and prevailed against them, so that
they fled out of that house naked and wounded. This became known both to all Jews and Greeks
dwelling in Ephesus; (the third largest city in the world) and fear fell on them all, and the name of the
Lord Jesus was magnified."

New York is the third largest city in the world today. Can you imagine the third largest city of the world
that day? It was noised abroad everybody knew and great fear fell on an entire city and the name of
Jesus was magnified. It had such an impact on an entire metropolitan area.

Acts 19:18
And many who had believed came confessing and telling their deeds. Also, many of those who had
practiced magic brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. And they counted up
the value of them, and it totaled fifty thousand pieces of silver. So the word of the Lord grew mightily
and prevailed. (NKJ)

Can you imagine the Word of God prevailing in New York City, the third largest city of the earth? It does
not mean that everybody was saved but it does mean the word confronted everybody in power. Many
said no but many said yes but everybody was confronted by the claims of the word with power on it.

This is what we need not Church growth. I like Church growth but Church growth in the paradigm we
have right now is we do some wise things and some of them are wise and cool things and needed to be
done a long time ago. Not sinful in themselves and the Church doubles. I like that and a few things
including wisdom and a few cool things could help a lot of us but you know our vision is not to double.

Our vision here in Kansas City is for the word to prevail; we want to see three or four hundred thousand
converts by a tornado of the Spirit breaking in upon our city. We want to see it in all the cities of the
earth...we want to see it in your city. It is not the city I care about; it is the name of Jesus. This city is just
our first assignment. Your city is your first assignment. I do not want to see Jesus magnified here more
than there I just want to be faithful in my sphere. We want a whirlwind of God breaking in with power. It
is not enough to grow from 1,000 to 5,000. We want to see 300,000. Beloved we need two or three
million seized by the power of the Spirit...we need breakthrough ministries to raise up in the cities of the
earth.

In verse fifteen it says, "Jesus I know, Paul I know. Who are you?" there are so many points in that. Point
number one is the demons know Jesus. That is easy. That is obvious. "I know Paul!" You mean a man on
the earth could live such a life in God that they man is known in the regions of darkness? Can you
imagine such a statement?

This demon said in effect, "We have been pushed around by this Paul guy. Where he goes we get
troubled!" but the demon did not know, "He said, "I do not even know who you guys are. I have never
heard of you guys. You were never ever on the wanted list in hell. You were never ever there in the
regions of darkness. The demons did not even know who they were. They were not known in the regions
of darkness.
I remember the man of prayer: Leonard Ravenhill. I am sure many of you have heard the name; he went
to be with the Lord some years ago while he was in his eighties and lived sixty years devoted to prayer
and fasting. He was a Godly man of prayer. I remember as a young man I heard a tape of his and I will
never forget it.

I was about twenty-two years old and he was preaching on this verse. He was from England and they
had this big statue of John Wesley who was a revivalist who preached on the streets and led many
people to the Lord. This guy looked at Leonard and said, "Brother Ravenhill wouldn't it be awesome to
have a statue after you die because of the great impact of your life?"

"No that is not what I am looking for. I would like to see my name...not a statue in big fifteen foot bold
letters in red, "Ravenhill" down in hell...that is what I would like to see because I am living on the earth
in a way that troubles hell. For real!"

I cried, "Forget the statues!"

I guess I was kind of going for the statutes back in those days and decided to shift over and move my
vote to the other thing. A plague in hell, which is not even a biblical concept but that, really jolted me
and I have never forgotten it. It is a great pep rally kind of story to get the crowd excited.

Jesus said if you take this and use this and build your life around what you have just heard then you will
receive more. I determined in those days to be known in hell before I leave the earth; for real I want to
be known. I do not mind that the hierarchies in the Body of Christ or the religious communities know my
name but I want to be known in hell. I want to say words so that angels and demons move when I say
them. Whether I whisper them in a prayer closet or prison cell or I sing them or preach them I want
demons and angels to move when words are uttered either loud or soft.

This is what we need. I am going to end with a few minutes of stories from John G. Lake. They did
something really cool; they put all of John G. Lakes books into one big book about five hundred pages.
They just did that a few years ago...read them over and over and over again.

I am going to read one from John G. Lake the apostle to Africa. He was a very wealthy man in Chicago
who was worth millions and millions in his day. The reason I like that is because that did not throw him
off...that is the point I am trying to make. He was not distracted; his goal was not his money. He used his
money; his goal was he wanted to move in the power of God.

Eight years passed and God revealed Jesus the healer to me. I had been practicing the ministry of
healing for some years. So for eight years he has been healing the sick. Every answer to prayer created
within me a more intense longing for intimacy and the consciousness of God.

Every healing said to me there is more to do. I love that and I have to admit I got that mindset from him
as a young man in my twenties I thought I wanted to be grateful and follow this man's example. Shortly
after my entrance in the ministry of healing an anointing in the Spirit came up on me. Waves of glory
passed through my being as I was lifted into a new realm of God's Presence and power.

After this answers to prayer were frequent and miracles of healing occurred from time to time. I felt
myself on the boarder line of a great Spiritual realm but I was unable to get into that next level. My
nature was not satisfied at all with the ........?

So healings are happening; waves of glory have touched him; he is grateful but he is not satisfied. Finally
I sat aside hours of the day I dedicated to God...now remember he had a lot going on in the business
community. I am sure there were some unhappy people and missed opportunities in his business world.

Hours a day for a wealthy man...there are lots of missed opportunities there that he could have seized
there. It is the idea that we will take the opportunity now and of course do it all for the Kingdom but so
often the Kingdom never ever gets the money. So many are going to take this opportunity but tomorrow
never comes in terms of the Kingdom getting it. He was one of those guys where today was the day.

I sat aside hours a day and dedicated myself to God, prayer and meditation on His word. A number of
months passed and Spirit spoke within my Spirit and said, "Be patient until autumn." I continued in the
word and prayer as formerly. I was engaged as manager of agents for a life insurance company during
this period. I preached practically every night. After the services I was in the habit of joining...

Remember that the preaching in 1906-1908 the services were fifty people in small rooms with no
microphones or air-conditioning and just kind of little out of the way places more times than not. After
the services I was in the habit of joining a few friends and we would determine to pray through into God
after the services were over so that we could receive the baptism of the Spirit.

We wanted to receive what the early disciples received. I said, "God if you baptize me in the Spirit like
them nothing will stand between me and a hundred fold obedience." I prayed for nine more months
until the autumn came. I was about to throw my hands up and quit. I said, "Lord maybe it is really not
for me. I did not blame God!

One night a gentleman by the name of Pierce came to me and said, "Mr. Lake I have been wishing for a
long time to come over and pray with you; spend a night in prayer with you."

We had been praying for the baptism of the Holy Spirit for a whole year and none of us had been
baptized yet. Let me say that the baptism of the Spirit is a whole lot more than getting your devotional
prayer language and the gift of tongues. I was so hungry to pray that I had not prayed but five minutes
that night and the light of God begin to shine around me. I found myself in the center of an arch of light
ten feet in diameter. It was the lightest light in all the universe.

The voice of God began to speak to me...there was not form. The voice began to remind me of incidence
of disobedience in my life even from times past. Then he pauses and says when the Lord comes He
opens up your soul to depths you have never touched in your life before.

He said, "Do you know when you are baptized in the Spirit that opened up things in the depths of my
nature that had remained untouched all the days of my life until that time. I could see they were
shadowy, distant and hazy and now they became real and I confessed them and cried out to God about
them.

Shortly after this experience a brother invited me to join him. We found a lady in a wheelchair all of her
joints were set with inflammatory rheumatism. This lady had been in this wheelchair and in this
condition for ten years.

My friend was conversing with her and I was on the other side of the room. My soul was crying out to
God; I was yearning deeply, "Oh God!" Suddenly it seemed that I passed under a shower of a warm
tropical rain. It was not falling on me but seemed to be falling through me. I did not know what was
happening. The awe of God settled over me and the Spirit spoke to me clearly.

I have heard your prayers; I have seen your tears; you are now baptized in the Spirit. Currents of power
began to rush through my being from the crown of my head to the souls of my feet. The shocks of
power increased. The currents of power passed through me they seemed though they would throw me
to the floor and I walked to the room and at that moment my friend was praying for the lady and
motioned for me to join him.

At once the currents passed through my being to touch the woman who was sick. He said, "Let us pray
that the Lord will heal you." As he did he took hold of her hand and my hand touched her and a flash of
power went through my person into that sick woman's body and as my friend held her hand the shock
of power went through her and hit him. He fell to the ground and she rose up healed.

He said, "John I think you are baptized in the Holy Spirit!"

Her crippled hand opened; her clenched fist opened and all of her joints began to work perfectly. The
friend says, "I think you are baptized in the Spirit John."

He said these were the outward manifestations and that no one could describe the thrills of
inexpressible joy that was passing in my Spirit. Who could comprehend the peace that thrilled my soul
even at this late date the awe of that hour is still on my soul. I experience has truly been as Jesus said
that within you a well of water will spring up to life. That never ceasing fountain has flowed through my
hands and body and my soul through the years bringing salvation and healing to multitudes.

Shortly after that the great tenderness for mankind was deepened in my soul. I saw men through new
eyes. I saw them as wondering sheep straying far in total confusion groping and wondering hither and
thither; my heart was moved deeply for mankind.

One morning I went down to breakfast and I found my appetite had disappeared. I wanted to be alone
to pray. This was some later on in the story...many months later. Prayer began to flow through my soul
like a stream. I could not cease praying. I continued in fasting until the sixth day and in the act of
washing my hands the Spirit said to me once again, "Go pray." I knelt down and the Spirit said, 'How
long have you been praying to cast out demons."

I said, "For a long time." He said, "From hence forth you shall cast out demons."

I rose and praised God. The following night I was at a service a man came to me and pointed the large
red motto on the wall that said in My name you shall cast out devils. He asked me, "Sir, do you believe
that sign?"

I said, "Of course I do."

The man said, "Do not answer hastily for I have gone around the land seeking for somebody who can
give me real help."

He continued, "Two and a half years ago my brother who is a manager of a large elevator company
became violently insane. He was committed to the insane asylum and is there today. Somehow a demon
got hold of him. Physicians have examined him and they say every function of his body and his brain are
normal but no one can account for his total insanity."

I said, "Bring him here on Sunday night."

The man came with his brother and the attendants of the institution and some of his family. I stopped
preaching when I saw him come in and I gathered half a dozen people to join me in prayer. I stepped
down from the platform and laid my hands on him and said, "In the name of Jesus," and commanded
the demon to leave him.

The spirit went through me like a bolt of lightening. I knew in my soul that the evil Spirit was cast out
and I was not surprised at all. In one moment the man was of right mind and spoke intelligently for the
first time. A few days later he was discharged from the institution and returned home. He got his
former position back as manager of the grain elevator. Beloved I have seen hundreds of insane people
instantly delivered with one word since that day.
I am moving to another book and he is retelling some of what I have covered but I love to hear it. I love
to say it. I want to repeat a little of my own story. These are transcriptions so to speak...people are
transcribing his preaching. His messages are from people who heard it and wrote it down and published
them.

I am going to talk about the subject of the baptism of the Holy Spirit. I knelt under a tree when I was
sixteen years old and God came into my soul. I was saved from my sins. My friends said, "John you are
baptized with the Holy Spirit." Then a few years later the ministry of healing began to open up to me. I
was about twenty. I ministered for ten years in the power of God. Hundreds and hundreds of people
were healed by the power of God during these ten years. I could feel the conscious flow of God in my
hands and soul when I prayed.

At the end of those ten years I believe I became the hungriest man for God who ever lived. There was
such a hunger in my soul. I left my offices in Chicago. I would walk in the streets; I would break out
crying, "Oh God! I must have more!"

People would stop and look at me and wonder what is happening to this man. My soul was demanding a
greater entrance into the power of God. A few days later an old man strolled into my office. He sat down
and the next half hour that old man revealed more of the knowledge of God to my soul than I have ever
known in my life.

When he left I said, "God bless that old grey head. (I love to read that line). That man knows more of
God than any man I have ever met in my life by the grace of God if that is what the baptism of the Holy
Spirit with tongues does I am going to get it. Oh the wonder of God that was revealed to my heart
talking to that man.

Beloved what if you had a ministry of that? Just talking to the future John G. Lakes an unknown ministry
but the power of God on your soul just in talking.

I went into fasting and prayer and waiting on God for nine months and then one day the glory of God
came; a new manifestation...a new incoming of God. I spoke in tongues by the power of God. Oh He
flowed in me. He lived in me. He revealed himself to me. A new wonder manifested and my nature
became so sensitized I can lay my hands on any man or woman and tell you what organ was diseased; to
what extent and all about it.

We tested it...we went into hospitals. The physician could not diagnose a case. I would lay touch a
patient and instantly I could tell the extent and what was happening and the healing would come. I want
to talk to you with the utmost frankness and I want to say to me tongues has been the making of my
ministry.

It is that peculiar communication with God where God reveals mysteries to my soul that I utter to you
day by day in my ministry. I would climb into bed many times and take my pencil and pad, pray in the
Spirit fall asleep and wake up and God would begin to speak things and I would jot them down and
preach them the next days.

He moved to South Africa and was there for five years and he saw 500,000 healings. The massive
number of people being healed! He says one night God came over my life in such power that streams of
liquid glory and power flowed consciously off my hands like electricity. I could point my finger at a
person and it would strike him. One man interrupted a meeting; I pointed my finger and said, "Sit
down." He fell struck as if shot and laid for three hours. When he came to he said something struck me
like I was shot with a gun."

Till two o'clock in the morning the people were gathering together. I was laying my hands on the people
with such power they fell with violence and they were healed at once almost every single one of them.
That was the outward manifestation but oh there was a tenderness in my soul. There was a new wonder
of God that touched my soul. I wept and cried over men in sin. For in that period of time men would
walk down the isle; they would come within ten feet of me and fall flat on the ground.

One preacher who was living in sin looked at me and fell prostrate; he got saved; baptized in Holy Spirit
and rose up and stirred the nation from that night. In eighteen months God used that one Church to
birth hundreds of Churches. He led hundreds of thousands of people to the Lord in one Church and
maybe three or four hundred churches were planted out of his one Church in eighteen months.

I have been to South Africa and they talk about the John G. Lake tabernacle where there were five and
ten thousand people and some of them are still there. There are big arenas, old broken down buildings.
Can you imagine in eighteen months planting three or four hundred churches and many of them three,
four and five thousand people? That is what you call the apostolic power of God.

I saw hundreds of thousands of people healed. The number they talked about after he left was 500,000
healings that were notable in five years. Five hundred thousand healings in five years! Oh beloved pray
through...pray through for your Church...pray through for your ministry God will come in time. He will
come and satisfy you with waves of heavenly love and power.

I would abandon my soul in those days to God. I disregarded all the selfishness of the world and said, "I
am going to enter into the fullness of Christ Jesus."

South Africa... we went into an area where a fever epidemic struck the country for three hundred miles.
I found men dead in their beds with their wives and children lying dead next to them; whole families
were stricken. In one month one fourth of the entire population both black and white were found dead.

We had to organize an army of men to dig graves and another army to make caskets. I had a man in my
company that was anointed like I had never seen anybody anointed to pray. He remained under a thorn
tree for days and I would pass by in the morning. When we were working I would hear him groaning in
prayer. I would return in the evening and he would still be groaning in prayer and I would carry a meal to
him and rouse him enough to eat.

I would ask, "Brother how is it going? Are you getting through?"

The brother would say, "Not yet John...not yet! Maybe tomorrow!"

One day he called me and said, "Mr. Lake I feel today is the day. If I had a little bit of help in my faith my
spirit would break through to God." So I went on my knees with him and joined him in prayer and
suddenly as we were praying the Lord overwhelmed out souls. I found myself not under the tree any
longer kneeling but I was moving somehow away from the tree maybe a hundred feet away. My eyes
were opening gradually and I witnessed a scene I had never witnessed before.
A multitude of demons like a flock of sheep...I was standing before them. The Spirit came upon this man
as well. He rushed ahead of me (they are in a full open vision-their bodies are still kneeling over there by
the tree and this is happening to them in real time and space).

This man rushed ahead of me cursing the army of demons. Beloved we woke up the next day and the
epidemic left the entire region. God destroyed Satan in that day. Just one more short testimony.

In the mail a woman made request for her insane son and said, "As far as I can tell my son has a devil.
Brother Lake would you please come?" He went and found the boy and he was mad from the day of his
birth. He was like a wild animal. He has never worn clothes his entire life. He would smash himself
against anything or anyone when they came near him. He could not even have a dish to eat from.

They put his food in the center of an enclosure that was a large stone hollowed out. They would put
food in it and he would eat it like an animal. He was very hard to catch; he was a wild as a lion. We went
in there and I know this all sounds strange but I will never forget that day as long as I live.

I looked at that young man and I could see the flash of fiends. I knew if I got my hands on him that devil
would come out in one moment. Presently he landed on one side of his bed and instantly a Brother Von
Shields sprang over to the other side; laid hands on him and grabbed him. We came and commanded
the devil out and in two minutes...that man was absolutely transformed and was sane for the first
moment of his life...totally of sound mind in two minutes.

We will end with that. Beloved we need a vision...not just to grow a little bit... I want to be grateful and
not lose the increase of today and the blessing of it but we need to get absolutely sick about what God
wants to give us that we cannot live. It is called Blessed are those who mourn. We cannot live business
as usual.

John G. Lake, Marie Woodworth Etter, Amie Simple McPherson, John Alexander Dowie, William Brannon;
some of them went off in the last days of his life. I believe a man goes off in his pride. I do not believe
that means they were not true but that they got smeared in pride.

Father we wait on you even now. Holy Spirit we wait on you even now. Our soul is desperate for God.