City Central Church Podcast
Dwayne Roberts at City Central
(audience cheering) Let's welcome this. (audience cheering) Hey man, thank you, you may be seated. (laughs) (audience cheering) (audience cheering) Hey man, you may be seated. Thank you, it is without a doubt that you guys have an unbelievable hospitality gift. And I mean that, we have a new guy that joined us. He's kind of taking over the operations of one thing. And this was his first trip. And I had to say to him, "Tom, this is not normal." (audience laughing) I said, "We do not usually get treated like this. "This is just FYI." So thank you so much for hosting us this weekend. It's been an honor and a privilege to be a part of you. And to come and join with you this weekend and your story is being told in different parts of the earth. And we're hearing about you in Kansas City. And I've been watching you from afar and I've been hearing some of, some of your teams have been coming down to us. And so we're watching you. And so that's actually why I wanted to come and hang out with you guys tonight. It's an honor for Jennifer and I to be with you. And it's a real pleasure. I like people that love Jesus. And I know, amen, and I truly, truly, truly believe that you guys love Jesus. And I wanna talk to you tonight as leaders. I think what is in Brian's leadership is that he is a man that is aggressively, aggressively going after the mandate over you as a congregation. And those that are now running with Brian are the ones that are saying, "I'm in all the way." And I think that's who this group of people is. And so I wanna address you as leaders, ministry leaders, business leaders, whatever, leadership. I'm looking at you as leaders tonight. And that's the context. I want you to turn to Matthew chapter 25. But that's the context of, I want you to view yourself as one who's in a place of influence in the days to come in this next season. As you're doing that, I want you to take a vote. Who believes that you can wear brown shoes with a black T-shirt, raise your hands? Okay. I feel a little, it just goes against my grain. My wife said, "Dwayne, absolutely." She's right again. She's right again. There you go. All right, I will keep, I will keep my shirt on. Yeah, we're not going to power teams. Sorry, bro. Maybe six months ago, but not now. I enjoyed Christmas too much. All right. Matthew chapter 25, verse one, first word then. For those of you who are semi-bright then, speaks of the context that Jesus is addressing here. Matthew 24, he's coming out of sharing on what it is going to happen when he returns in the end time. And so he's speaking about the season of his return. Here is what is going to happen. So Matthew chapter 25 follows Matthew chapter 24. Then, so this is in the context of the end of the age of Jesus' returns. Then, the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to 10 virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. So there's these 10 ministries. There's these 10 individuals. There's these 10 lamps that Jesus is using a parable. And he's speaking about ministries, people, individuals in the time of his return. Now five of them were wise and five of them were foolish. Those who were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them. But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. But while the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered in sleep, slept. At midnight hour, at midnight a cry was heard. Behold, the bridegroom is coming. Let's go out to meet him. There's a time in history where the midnight hour is going to break in upon human history. And that's what Jesus is referring to. Verse seven, then all of those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the wise, would you please give us some of your oil for our lamps are going out. But the wise answered saying no, lest there should not be enough for us, end you. Go rather to those who sell and buy for yourself. And while they went out to buy, the bridegroom came and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding and shut the door. Afterward, the other virgins came. Lord, Lord, open to us. But he answered, "Aha." (congregation laughing) I can now read. And said, "Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you." He says, "I do not recognize you." I believe that there is an outrageous grace that is going to be poured out in the coming season. Outrageous revival is coming, a global reality. It's being prophesied. It's being spoken of on every continent of the earth. I believe there's a move of God. It's coming to planet earth. It's going to touch the nations. I really believe that. The Northwest, where they say it's impossible, it is possible when Jesus visits. It's coming, it's coming. And in that context, there's these vessels, these lamps. And often there's a prophecy, and then there's a delay. It's really true. 1983 Kansas City. Outrageous prophecies were given. We're now in 2008, 2009. They haven't come to pass yet. But I still believe that every word that is in the, everything that is in God's heart for Kansas City is coming. It's coming, but there's a season of delay often. And we're living in, I believe, that season in the nation. And there's individuals and there's ministries who are now operating today. They're giving themselves to the ministry. They're giving themselves to moving forward. You as leaders, you are now operating, giving yourself in these, in ministry and in life, in business, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. And the question I want to lay before you, are you in this season? Are you going to be one that would pursue wisdom? Or are you going to be one that would pursue and live a life of foolishness? It's plain to see. Jesus was saying, in this season that is in, for his return, there's going to be individuals that live a life of foolishness. And they will not be invited to an end-time revival. They will see the power. They will see the authority on some of the church. They will go and say, "Give us the grace that is on your life." They're saying it's impossible for the grace that I now carry, I've cultivated over years in my own life. Through the journey, I've cultivated this. I can't give you. I would love to. I can't give it to you. To the ones that have chosen to live a life of wisdom. To the ones that have lived in the mundaneness of the hour. But they've still pursued wisdom. There is coming a power and authority that will rest on the church. A grace that will rest on the church. I want to tell you a story. It's part of our prophetic history. It's talking Adam earlier, it just popped into my mind. Mike Pickle's living in St. Louis. He's holding prayer meetings all the time. Lots of prayer meetings. One Saturday night, he's holding his prayer meeting. Hardly anybody there, I think there was like five or six people there. And he comes to the end, and about 30 minutes before the ending of this prayer meeting, the Spirit of God begins to fall on him. And he begins to, it's like he said, it was actually an exhausting prayer. And he begins to labor in prayer. And it was nothing contrived. It was the Spirit of God resting on him. And he kind of kept it to himself, he said. And he just, it was like a gripping him in intercession. He actually dismissed the prayer meeting and stayed there. And he said, he wouldn't lift. It was like it would come upon me. And it was like a laboring type of intercession. He said, find the lifted, never experienced it before. So he goes to church the next morning, he begins to preach. And he said, there was a most unusual revival anointing in the service. He preached a simple message. And souls got saved that Sunday morning. And so he goes, what was that all about? A couple, a little bit while later, the same thing on a Saturday night happens to him again. So he gives himself to this prayer. He's observing, he gets up next Sunday morning, he preaches again, there's revival power and souls get saved. Happens twice to him. Doesn't happen the rest of the time he lives in St. Louis. He moves to Kansas City starting a church there. So he's in Kansas City. One Sunday morning he gets up early to prepare. And as he's preparing this same spirit of intercession falls on him. And he's gripped in intercession and praying. This grace to cry out for souls comes on him. So he totally just gets rid of, he just doesn't even study. He just goes with this in intercession. His wife says, "Hey, we gotta go." He says, "I will catch up to you." He stays, it stays on him. So the point that he's running late so he showers, gets ready. He goes to the church and he goes straight to his office. They say, "Hey, are we ready?" He goes, "Yeah, go ahead, start the service. "I'll be out there." And it won't lift this intercession, this cry for revivals resting on him. It won't lift. So he's actually somewhat excited. He goes, "This has happened twice before." He's a young man. He's breathing, eating, sleeping, revival. His goal is to see mass revival. He wants power on the gospel. He wants lives changed. That's what is still in his heart today. It won't lift this intercessory cry, this prayer meeting. It will not, this prayer won't lift off of him. They come to him and say, "Hey, we're done singing. "We're done with worship." He says, "Keep going. "I can't, this won't lift off of me." So he stays in prayer a little longer. Finally, he gets himself up and he said, "I was physically exhausted." And he's also though excited, anticipated. It's happened twice before. There was a revival grace. He goes, "This is the beginning of the revival "that I've been living for." So he gets up on the platform and he launches into his message. And he said, "It was dry as dry." And he's preaching. He's going, "What is going on?" So he actually stops his message, backs out, rebukes the enemy, and launches back in. And he goes, "It was worse." (congregation laughing) He's pretty good with math. And he's going, "What is going on?" It happened twice before. It's the same thing that came on me and he can't shake it. What is going on? So he actually ends up ending the service early and he's just completely perplexed. And he can't figure out what's going on. So he says, "Well, if there's anybody that wants prayer, "you're welcome to come forward." And he ends the service. Boom. He says, "Three people come forward." It's the right thing to do for the pastor to go pray for him. So he gets down, he goes and pray for them. And he walks up to one of them and he says, "What do you need prayer for?" He said, "Okay." He puts his hand on the forehead and hits the ground. Boom. And she begins to cry. And she says, "I need mercy, God. "I need mercy." And he goes, "He was shocked." He goes, "What was that?" He steps over. Boom. Hits the ground. The same cry comes forth. The third person, he walks up. Hits, boom. Hits the ground. And he's going, "What is going on? "What is this about?" He's perplexed. He can't figure it out. So as things are being finished in the morning, he's over and he's talking to a group of people. And a prophetic gentleman was in his church at the time by the name of Bob Jones and he comes up to him. And he's talking with a group of people and he goes, "You went fishing today, didn't you?" He goes, "What are you talking about?" He goes, "You went fishing today. "You were laboring and crying out for souls today, weren't you?" He goes, "As a matter of fact, I was." And he goes, "You went to throw the net "and the Lord grabbed your arm, "but he allowed you to pierce three through the heart today." But he said, "There's a coming revival in a movement "that will be a thousand times stronger "than what you saw today. "I believe it." I believe that there's going to be a time where people will stand on a platform. You know, say isn't Jesus amazing and a whole room will cry out, "I need him. "It's a revival spirit." I just recently picked up a book that I've read several times on George Whitfield. That guy was an animal. He preached 30,000 messages in his lifetime and they would say that he would preach with such power that rooms would reverberate, the fear of God would hit a room and souls would be converted that would never go back and they would follow Jesus all the days of their lives. I have no interest in talking and wooing people in to following Jesus, but their souls are not being converted coming under the conviction of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so the idea that there's coming a grace and authority and a revival spirit that will rest on young men and young women who have given themselves in the area of pursuing and crying out for this reality. I believe it's coming. There's a grace that's coming. And I believe that in the waiting and in the tearing, the people that get invited to the party are the people that have lived and chose to walk a life of wisdom. Those that have taken time to get oil within their lives, those that have given themselves to the place of wisdom to actually acquire oil in their lamps. To me, oil speaks of the inward management of your inner life, how you manage your inner life and what you feed it and what provokes you and what you feed yourself on, developing oil in your lamp, in my opinion, is the thing that is needed in this hour. Because you go look at most ministries today, I'm just going to be blatantly honest with you. There's not much happening. We're pretty much seen as irrelevant with no power, no influence. So why keep on doing what's not working? So in this season, where are the ones that are going to live a life of wisdom and actually acquire oil in their lamp? Those that are going to actually acquire oil and have a certain amount of grace and a reservoir resting on their lives? Because we are entering into a season in this nation where what has worked in the past is not going to work in this next decade. The darkness that is coming into America, the ministries that have done it in the past and have success, I'm telling you, it is not going to work in this next decade. And those that have not, do not have oil, I promise you are going to be irrelevant. They're irrelevant now. I tell you darkness is growing so fast in this nation. It's terrifying. They're pushing a bill right now, a treaty, that is essentially going to give all power to the government in regards to parenting. The only nations that haven't signed it is Somalia, and it's because they're such a mess they don't have anybody to sign it, and America. And right now it's sitting at Hillary Clinton's desk and she's waiting for the opportunity to push it through the Senate. And it will take out most authority where I cannot sit down and talk to my children and say this is where you're going to go to church. Literally, if they say I want to go to the prom and you say no they can't, they can go and say my parents won't let me go to the prom and boom, they're going to the prom. That's where we're headed. I want to see a vibrant church with authority and power on her. And it's going to come as young men and young women will give themselves to the place of acquiring oil in their lamps. The inward management of your life is where you develop the oil in your lamp. There's a certain season in my life that I saw, I had all the prophetic words over my life, I saw them, and I ran after them, just blatantly just threw everything aside, and I just pursued them and ran after them. Did very little with the spiritual disciplines in my life, but I ran after my prophetic calling over my life. I'm getting out there now, I'm doing my ministry, I preach the gospel and it dribbles off my tongue. I'm ministering to people in Bosnia, been in the midst of a war, they're incredibly racked with pain, women had horrible atrocities, a young man took my finger and said here, I stuck in his leg, went right down into where a sniper had shot him. I'm ministering to broken people, and I have nothing to say that will deliver their souls. I'm frustrated, I ended up leaving the mission field because of barrenness in my own life. I went this is not working, and I thought it was the model, I thought it was my approach, so I left and I said I'm gonna go try something different in regards to the model and the approach. But the reality was, the model and the approach can happen 50 different ways, it is is the vessel approved from heaven to release power through it. Has this one been living a life of wisdom that when you stand up and you mention the name of Jesus, heaven goes yes and endorses you, that when you actually walk up to a cancer ridden body and you say in the name of Jesus, in meekness, humility, cancer goes and that one arises heals. It is through a life that has been prepared and found worthy before the Lord. And as a leader, as one who is saying in this next decade, in the next two decades ahead, I want my life to count. When I stand before the Lord, I want to have eternal rewards that I can lay down at His feet. That is what a vision that I've got for my personal life. I do not want to stand before my God with regret on that day. I cannot think anything, truly I have focused and meditated on the judgment seat often because I want it to provoke me today to live a life of wisdom that when I stand before Him, I will not be ashamed, but I will be excited to be able to stand before Him and have offered things that count in eternity. That's how I want to manage my life today. A life of wisdom. A life where you walk before the Lord in such a manner that you will be a part of the coming revival on the earth. Jesus in Sermon on the Mount, here's what He said. Chapter 6, Sermon on the Mount. Sermon on the Mount, I love it. Jesus, He has in front of Him a massive crowd. And He takes and He begins to speak and He goes, "Here is what you as believers, as Christians, are supposed to do." It's 101 Christianity. That's what Sermon on the Mount is. And He gets to chapter 6. And He says this, chapter 6. He says, "Take heed that you do not do charitable deeds before men to be seen by them, otherwise you have no reward from your Father in heaven. Therefore, when you do a charitable deed, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do, as in the synagogues in the streets, that they may have their glory from men. Assuredly assayed to you, they have their reward. But when you do a charitable deed, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, that your charitable deed may be seen in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly." He says, "I want there to be charity, generosity within the heart of my church." And then He goes and He says, "I don't want you to do it, that you'll be seen before men." But He says, "I want you to do it in the secret place, where nobody else will see you do it." So what I want you to do is I want you to sneak into the house of a widow who has three children. I want you to clean her house. I want you to leave $100 on the table, and I want you to sneak out the back door. And He said, "Nobody's going to see you, but the eyes of eternal God are upon you." And He says, "If you develop charity within your life, I am going to reward you openly." Now, charity has a funny thing. It begins to break down so many concepts in your mind. Generosity goes against everything in your being. It really does. You really sit down and think about it. But as a leader, as one who is wanting to have power and influence, I believe that generosity is vital, is so important to you as a leader, generosity. Because there is coming a day when actually you are going to acquire the honor of man, money, influence, and power. And if you have actually worked through the muscle of generosity, you're free. You can have whatever you want in mind. I don't care. Take it. If that muscle has been worked through in your life, when things come your way, you won't take them. And as a leader today, I want to provoke you and invite you to do outrageous acts of charity. Financially, with your own money, also though with your time and your resources, and do it in such a manner that the Father in Heaven is watching what you do. You work that muscle. It will bring great benefit to your internal life. And there will be a grace on your life. One of the things that actually caused me to move to Kansas City, we came from the mission field, went to a church in a certain city. Jennifer and I were trying to figure out what the Lord was doing with us. We went into the parking lot of this church, and I'm sure every car was six months old or less. And, you know, you're coming from Budapest, Hungary, and you arrive and you just look... I mean, it's just a culture shot, okay? You go into the church and I was like, "Oh, my gosh." You know, it's just money everywhere, and it was just kind of a little bit too much for me to take. And there was not even so much money, but there was just so much... It was just hard on us. So we're like going... We've been in Budapest, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, these cities. So then we go down to Kansas City to check it out. And then I find out where Mike Bickle lives, and I'm going, "You're kidding." No. Are you serious? He has chosen to live in a duplex, in a rather low-income area in our city, and I'm like, "No." And then somebody points out, "It's true, now look at his car." And he drives a Honda Civic, and he's the senior pastor of a 3,000-member church. And I'm telling you that story because he is chosen to live like this, so actually he can work this muscle of generosity. He's not poverty, he doesn't have a poverty mentality. He's actually not opposed to people having money. There's nothing about that. I like new cars. Wish I had one, do you know what I mean? Okay. But the point of that, I'm telling you that is he has chosen to work this muscle of generosity. So you're going to tell me, "Well, I don't have any money. That's not true. You have a dollar. Give 50 cents away. That's where you start. It's really where you start. We live in a community of missionaries. I know what we're talking about. You know what I mean? But if you will take this muscle and work it, I promise you. I mean, Jesus says, "I will reward you openly." Then he goes on and he says, "Now listen. And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets that they may be seen before men. Assuredly I say to you, they have the reward. But when you pray, go into your room and when you have shut your door, pray to your father who is in the secret place. And when he sees you in the secret place, he will reward you openly." And here, Jesus is again dressing. Why do you do what you do? Is it to be deceived before men or is it to be seen in the secret place? But the reality is, is that most believers, because Jesus is assuming most believers here have a prayer life. But the reality is, is we're going to take a step back. I'm calling you to have a prayer life. You are deceived if you think that you will have eternal fruit and you don't have a prayer life. 101 Christianity right there. You're deceived. Do the math now. John 15, Jesus says, "Abide in me." If you don't abide in the vine, you will not do anything. You won't. And so I am now provoking you, calling you, inviting you to have a life where you speak to your Savior on a daily basis. It is an incredibly hard journey at times. It's a challenging journey, but to have a vibrant heart before a living God needs to be supreme priority within your life. To have a life of prayer, to be one that communes with a holy God on a regular basis. There is life feeding off of him. And actually, your spirit is being fed so that when you sit down somebody in a coffee shop and you begin to talk with them, life begins to flow from your mouth. And you begin to speak truth into the heart. And you bypass all their arguments, deception falls from their eyes and they're going, "I can't believe it's been sitting in front of me all these years. Jesus is real." You see, that type of insight, power and authority comes and is endorsed from a person who's given themselves in the area of prayer. You know what it's like to go sit down a cup of coffee? There's somebody who's got this intellectual attitude. "Yeah, well, I don't really believe in God." And you try and have this well. It started back in the Garden of Eden when he said, and the guy's like, "Give me a break." I mean, you're not going to win that one to Jesus. But what happens if he's broke his leg? You see, would you mind if I pray for you? Boom! You pray in the name of Jesus, I need him. See, that's how I am lining my life up to live. That's how I want to live my life. And it will come as I have an abiding relationship with him. Because you see, when I was on the mission field, I longed to see fruit. And a gentleman prophesied to Jennifer and I. It was quite a comical situation. He was in a towel every hour, shower. I won't go to the details. It was bizarre. What he said, he said, "You're moving." He gave all those details, and then he said, "And you're going to have much fruit." And I remember sitting there going, "Batch fruit, oh my gosh." And then I read John 15 to have eternal fruit that will glorify my Father. I went, "Oh my gosh, this would be amazing." And do you know the whole context of John 15? It's in the place of having a life-giving relationship that's flowing back and forth with Jesus. And so we've got a group of revivalists sitting in this room. Ones who have dreams that God has put into your heart. You all feel it is not somebody hyping you up. It's not Brian saying, "Come on, team, let's do it." No, it's resonating in your hearts. Some of you have moved here from different parts of the nation because you're buying into something that is God's dream over this congregation. And I'm inviting you, saying, and I'm telling you, this is the way forward is to have a life in God. People of action will not have authority on their lives. Avoid of a life in God. I've done action after action after action. I've been in over 35 countries. I've done lots of heroic, crazy things. And at the end of the day, I'm void in my inner man and I cannot cast out a demon, but to a life that has given themselves in the place of prayer. I know we've been harping on this all weekend, but I'm not going to let go because this is the only way to go forward. It is the only way to go forward. And I said this last night when I was giving the sacred charge, when I heard about a person that prayed two hours a day, I was like, you've got to be kidding me back in the day. Two hours? How can you do that? Two hours a day? But now my conviction of my belief is if you want to be a minister of the gospel, two hours a day is the beginning of where you need to go in the place of communing with God. We need leaders that will give themselves to three and four and five and six and seven hours in different seasons of the lives of day. Being before the Lord, so much happens when you live a life before the Lord. I'm going to hit the next one, verse 16. "When you fast, do not be like the hypocrites with the sad countenance, for they disfigure their faces that they may appear to be before men fasting. Assuredly I say to you, they have the reward. But when you fast anoint your head, wash your face, so that you do not appear to be fasting. But to your father who sees in the secret place, and your father who sees in the secret place, again, he will reward you openly. I want to invite you into a life of fasting." This is, again, addressing people who actually do fast. Jesus says, "When you're fasting, I don't want you to walk in the room and just about pass out. What's wrong with you? Don't worry about fasting." He says, "They have the reward." That's what Jesus was saying. But we, again, are a little behind the ball. We don't even fast now. But Jesus says, "If you will do a life of fasting in the secret place, I will reward you openly." And I am one. When I moved to Kansas City, they found out they were fasting. I was like, "Oh, man, Jennifer, she's an animal at fasting." Sorry, I hope you lost a little bit of your crown, but it's okay. No, my wife has a grace to lock in on fasting, and I'm getting there to lock in on fasting. She's just incredible at this stuff, but yeah, well, perfect. Exactly. But I get an invitation to go on a -- was it 30-day fast? I go on a 30-day fast. I never done one by myself. So I go on this fast. Yeah, I get tired telling the story of it. So I go on this fast. Day 25. And okay, I never dream. I learn -- there's angels ascending and descending over Jennifer. Me, there's nothing. I never dream. Just before I wake up, just before I wake up, a green snake comes at me and goes to bite my ankle. It's kind of a gory dream, so just stay home. I grab the snake, I bite its head, and I throw it in this garbage can, and it goes berserk, and I wake up. Now, I'm not super bright or discerning, so I'm like, I wake up and I go, "What was that?" A couple days later, I'm with a friend of mine. I go, "I had this bizarre dream." And I don't know what it was about. He goes, "Well, I don't know exact details." But he said, "This fast that you're on right now has massively broken assignment over your life." The enemy was bringing for you, and I went, "Oh, yeah, totally." Yeah. The fasting does so many things. Half the time, you're fasting, and there's not a whole lot going on. But six months later, a gush from heaven comes, and you're going, "Where in the world did this come from?" And it's going, "You gave yourself six months ago to this." Fasting tenderizes your heart. And you know what? I actually like the feeling now of fasting so much that I'm actually looking at doing some really bizarre, crazy things with my diet so that I can actually fast more. Because I hate the crashes when you fast, and it has all to do with what you eat. So we're looking at doing some crazy things because I want to enter into fasting in a deeper manner. Do you know that there's people that fast three days a week? You know, I saw all your eyes go. And it's the spirits. I mean, saints of old have done this all through the ages. And I believe that we are being invited to go into this place of voluntary weakness. And when you go to the place of voluntary weakness, what happens is there's an aspect that you are emptied of yourself. And in that context, that's where God begins to breathe on you and breathe on your life, give you revelation in the world, give you insight, give you authority on your life. Charles Finney, he used to say, "When I found myself beginning to preach like the average man, that is what I knew that I had to go to the place of fasting." And he would disappear until he came out with a bright spirit with authority on his life again. I want you to have a vision to go to the place of fasting aggressively going after it. Use wisdom, consult a doctor if you need to, but give yourself in the arena of prayer, in the arena of fasting, in the arena of charity. This is called acquiring oil in your lamp. For these that walk out these disciplines are the ones that the Lord is going to partner with. We are naive if we think that we can do ministry void of walking a life of wisdom. It's naivety, it won't work. Trust me, I've done it for some years. I know barrenness in my inner man. I know when I preach the gospel and nobody responds, I know the feeling. And I will not go down that road again. But I also know the feeling that when I do share, there's a little grace that I see things begin to move. I took up an offering. This is a completely bizarre story. I took up an offering. I don't know how much came in the offering. Over $800,000 one time. And I fell out, well, what? After it came in, I couldn't believe it. It came off of a season where I'd given myself to a 40 day fast with a group of people. And do you know what that was, that $800,000 that was sovereign activity of a holy God? You can't walk in to a room and go, "Thanks, we're going to take up an offering of $800,000 tonight." Everybody, start writing your checks. But when you give yourself to these disciplines, divine activity starts to happen. God starts to order, orchestrate things through your life. And all of a sudden, you walk into open doors and you go, "Where in the world did this come from?" When I was in Hong Kong, Taiwan this year, I'm just telling you these stories just to kind of provoke you. But I preached there, and I've never preached like that before. I couldn't believe it. The guys that travel with me on a regular basis? Dwayne, what's going on? I mean, truly, two of them. Marcus and Tim, both of them came up to me and said, "What's this about?" "No, I don't know." Really, I'm going, but I loved it. I enjoyed it. There was something when I would grab ahold of the microphone. It was like, it was me and God. And the reason I'm telling you this is not to exalt myself. I want to provoke you to going, "If we can go down these roads and live a life of wisdom, live a life of wisdom, God will breathe on us." And I see you right now in a season of where, I mean, this is not a prophetic insight. It's completely just asking questions. But God is really shifting you guys. Your foundations are being relayed again. And I want to invite you to lay these disciplines in your life during this season. Kansas City, we fast as a team every Tuesday. The first Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday of every month, we call it the bridegroom fast, and we do the least amount of business so that we can all enter into prayer, and then we all fast during those days. Come, join us, or do anything else on your own. It doesn't matter to me. Get yourself around these types of schedules to the point, and go on the journey. You're going to have some incredible days in fasting, and then on fast days, 859. I forget this. You're going to have some great days and some bad days, but it's all part of the journey. I know what it means to be 14 days into a fast and eat a ton of Mexican food. And about an hour later, I know that pain well. Some call it wisdom. This is really simple stuff that I'm sharing with you tonight. But I believe that it is what Jesus was referring to by acquiring oil in our lamps, because I want to see you as bright and shining lamps with an impact into coma where there's darkness. The gospel goes in, and the promises over your congregation are fulfilled because you went that way. And you see, prophetic promises I learned in my own life are not a guarantee. I just thought, I had some big-time prophets prophesied over my life. I wasn't even in there sometimes, and they prophesied over Dwayne Roberts. And I'm thinking, "Dude, it's done, deal, cool. I just got to go do it now." Really, that's what I -- most of my 20s, that's what I thought. So I ran hard, ran into a wall, actually. And I begin to do some math going. Those promises, those prophetic promises are not a guarantee until I align myself to walk into them on what the Lord has for me. These disciplines, they don't win the favor of God. Are they are as conduits to align yourself with what the Lord has for your life? And if we will align ourselves with these and begin to walk into them, that's the way forward. That is the way forward. So that encounter that Mike had with preachers that would come with an authority and a grace to preach the gospel, it's yours for the taking, it's laying in front of you, and it is an invitation that is offered to you. But the question is, is will you go the road less traveled to embrace it in this hour of history? We need men and women of God that will give themselves to these realities right now. It's in the hidden place. It's in the place of weakness. Many will look at you and call you fanatical. They'll despise you. They'll say, just eat and get rid of this thinking. It's called foolishness. But Jesus, He looked at and said, this is the weakness and the wisdom that I've laid out for those who are going to partner with me. And I'm inviting you into this journey. It's there and it's waiting for us. And to us that will walk this life, comrades in the faith, comrades in the faith, in the next four or five, six, seven years, to be a Christian is going to be easy, to be a Christian and say the name of Jesus is going to get harder and harder and harder, but to a life that is rooted in God and communion, you'll stand with a boldness and a confidence and a life will break forth from our lives. Amen? Just thinking if I want to say anything else. Just give me a second. Amen. Amen. Yeah, amen Jesus. Amen, let's just stand. Did Dave leave us only? Do you have anybody that can play the keyboard? Okay. Jesus. Amen. Thank you Jesus, amen. Yes, we love you Jesus. Jesus, we love you Lord Jesus, we love you Lord Jesus, we love you Lord Jesus, we love you Lord Jesus, we love you Lord Jesus, we love you Lord Jesus, we love you Lord Jesus, we love you Lord Jesus, we love you Lord Jesus, we love you Lord Jesus, we love you Lord Jesus, we love you Lord Jesus, we love you Lord Jesus, we love you Lord Jesus, we love you Lord Jesus, we love you Lord Jesus, we love you Lord Jesus, we love you Lord Jesus, we love you Lord Jesus, we love you Lord Jesus, we love you Lord Jesus, we love you Lord Jesus, we love you Lord Jesus, we love you Lord Jesus, we love you Lord Jesus, we love you Lord Jesus, we love you Lord Jesus, we love you Lord Jesus, we love you Lord Jesus, we love you Lord Jesus, we love you Lord Jesus, we love you Lord Jesus, we love you Lord Jesus, we love you Lord Jesus, we love you Lord Jesus, we love you Lord Jesus, we These ones have gathered around them and said, "Yes, this is a dream that they can do." These promises are all going to get you. Father, I ask you to fulfill everything that is in your heart and your hope. Father, you're speaking to the perfect. No believers are getting dreams. What is happening to this congregation? I'm asking you and I'm asking you and I promise over them. I'm asking you in intercession right now to make it to pass the Lord in the name of Jesus. In this season where you're asking them to walk the walk of faith, the promises out there and they have not yet seen the promises Lord. In this season of tearing, in this season of waiting, I'm asking now give them grace to live a life of wisdom, Lord Jesus. Pour it out on the young children. Pour it out on everyone in this congregation, Lord. I'm asking for a hunger, a longing, an ache, Lord, in their heart. Even now, I'm asking to posit it in their hearts right now. Lord, you've called this place to be ones who would preach the gospel evangelist, Lord. And I'm asking every evangelist that is in this room, I'm asking make them a woman and a man of prayer. George Whitfield, Lord, give us a George Whitfield out of this congregation, Father God, I ask you Lord. A Charles Finney, Lord, give us a Charles Finney out of this congregation, I ask you Lord Jesus. Father, I'm asking you anoint the evangelist with power today, Lord God. Touch them right now in the name of Jesus, Lord. Give them a desperate cry tonight, I'm asking you both a desperate cry. Lord, a cry that would move them forward, Lord Jesus, the ache, the cry that was in George Whitfield. When he hung around the Holy Club, I'm asking you, put that in the heart of the evangelist tonight in the name of Jesus. Father, right now, the leadership put a hunger and a cry that they must go the place of prayer and fasting, Lord Jesus. Let them follow Lord the tracks that the light, bright and christian, but lying, Lord God. Breathe on them, Lord. Holy Spirit, come on us. Come on this congregation, Lord, I ask you, Father. Every promise, Lord, every promise, Lord, bring it to pass. Tacoma, Lord, bring revival to Tacoma, I ask you Lord Jesus. ♪ Jesus, come. ♪ Jesus, come. I hate to say this. You ever felt like the Lord's telling you to say something, you don't want to say it? But I preface it that way so it's easier for me to say. But there's certain times where actually prophetic words can be delayed because of our response. And I want you to weigh heavily what I'm sharing with you tonight, and I'm sure there's other things that need to be put into the pie. But promises can be delayed if we do not give ourselves to the invitation of the Lord what He's given to us sometimes. And I'm sure there's other things, but I want you as a congregation to walk into the promises. So, Lord, breathe on them, Lord, I pray. Breathe on them, I ask you now, Lord Jesus. Breathe on them, Lord God. I ask for such a discomfort to come into this congregation, an ache, an irritation, Lord, a discomfort that will not leave until they are before you, Lord. Father, you do it in their midst, Lord. Such a discomfort that they cannot move forward until they find themselves before you, Lord, contending for the promises, Lord. Standing before you, fighting for the, contending for the promises, Lord. Lord Jesus, yes. Oh, man, Father, breathe on them, I pray. Supernaturally breathe on them, Lord, I ask you. Yes, even now, I can look out and I see the Lord on many of you. I can see the hunger on many of you. Get your eyes closed. I can see Him resting on you. I see the grace of God. You're calling, Stephen. So Holy Spirit, I ask you, bring it forth in the name of Jesus, Father. This band, this group of individuals, this congregation, Lord, I pray, bring forth their callings over them in the name of Jesus, I'm asking you, Father. Brewed amongst them, Lord Jesus. Release the prophetic in a greater measure that would aid them, that would encourage them on this journey, I ask you, Lord, for the promises have not yet come to pass, but I'm asking you, Lord, aid them to walk into them in the name of Jesus. I ask you, yes. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Lord Jesus. Thank you, Lord Jesus. Oh, man, Father, I thank you for the leadership you've brought here. Brian and Christi, they were bragging on you this afternoon, saying there's such talent, there's such giftedness here. Father, mark them in the name of Jesus with your power. Mark them in the name of Jesus with your power. Charity, charitable deeds, generosity, prayer, a life of prayer, based in a longing to know Jesus, fasting the grace of fasting, Lord. Mark them and breathe on them. Man, Acts 2, 17, I'm going to pray and then I'll pass it over to Brian. Said in these days, "Shall come to pass on the last days that I will pour out my spirit and all flesh. Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy. Your young men shall see visions and your old men shall dream dreams. On my men's servants and on my maid's servants I will pour out my spirit in those days and they shall prophesy. Father, I pray now for the children in this community that what you did to Samuel in days gone by, I ask you now do it amongst the children in this community, Father. I'm asking you raise up the prophets in this community, Lord. I'm asking you, Lord, for open visions in this community, Lord Jesus. And I'm asking for dreams to be released in the greater measure, Lord. I'm asking for the prophetic spirit to brood over them, to speak to them of the urgency of the hour, to awaken them to the coming, shaking to the earth, speak to them, Lord. And in the midst, raise up voices with power and authority in the name of Jesus, we pray. Oh God, you love this people. You love this people, God. Oh, you are dear to the heart of God. Yeah, Jesus, you love this people. Breathe on them. Oh, you have a place in the heart of God. Oh, man. Jesus, breathe on them, Lord. Vibrancy. Overwhelm them with the love of Christ. Yes, soften every heart, make them deep lovers of Jesus in this congregation, Lord. We love him because he first loved us. I'm asking the revelation of the heart of Jesus over this congregation, Lord. His affections over them, wash over them in the name of Jesus. Yes, Lord. Amen, Jesus, amen. We're going to respond to that message in just a minute, but let's take an offering real quick before we do that. Can I have the team come down real quickly and do that? We're going to pray over this. Amen. How many of you are blessed right now? Way of a hand. How many have you filled up tonight? Amen. Well, we just commit this offering to you, amen? And we just love the generosity of this house. So let's keep it running. Let's keep it going. Amen. Let's pour out tonight. God, just pour out on every one of us, and we believe it. Go ahead and pass that out, and we're going to stay before the Lord as that goes on. Amen. Just as you want to wind a night like this and a weekend like this all together, don't you? I don't know about you, but for me, I feel like I got so challenged this weekend. How many feel like you got at least five serious challenges to deal with? I feel like I just got told I was spiritually flabby and I got a serious diet coming my way. You know what I'm saying? It's a great feeling. I love it. But I know that for my life, there's times when I need to make a decision about a new direction that I want to go to and respond to this. And so we want to just have a few minutes here as we close this weekend out to respond to what's been challenged. You ready for that? We're just going to wait for the offering to be done. Let's just stay before the Lord. And Ryan will come up at the very end and let us know what's going on on the way out the door. [Music] [Music] Are we encouraged tonight? All right, is offering done? Where is that? Oh, there's Matt. He's still going. There's Evan. All right. Wait till they get that all done. Hey, next Saturday, this is just a quick one for you. Jerry's son Steve Fry will be here next weekend and he's going to be at five o'clock showing us demonstrating a prayer room thing that he wants to show us how to do. Playing the piano, worshiping, it's going to be off the deep river business again next Sunday night. My goodness. I can't believe this is back-to-back. But he is offered to give us next Saturday as a day to train us in prayer room, musicianship and prayer room prayer. And so that's one o'clock next Saturday at the academy. You just got to go on the website to get directions, but that's one o'clock next Saturday and there will be child care. So Steve Fry played the piano once at Urban Grace. And man, you and I went, I was in the other room and no one plays the piano. I don't care. You know, I'm biased. I don't care who you play, but no one's better than Aaron and me. That's just how it's always going to be, you know. It doesn't really matter what you say. He's number one. And but that night, I thought that Aaron's never played the piano like that before. I'd never heard anyone play those keys. And I come looking for you and you weren't there. It was Steve Fry. And you had the same face I had on. We were just like, "Oh, there's a man of God." There's so many preachers that are men of God, but it's hard to find piano players that can just lay it down, you know. And man, this hand is hitting those keys. What strength? It was impressive, my goodness. So that's what's coming next weekend and I pray for you and I that we can handle a double header like this. Can you handle this? Alright, here's what we're going to do. Are we done with the offering? Okay, Ryan's got his phone book. He's going to rip and a half. Hold on, Ryan. What we're going to do is, would you come out of your chairs now and come forward all around here? We're going to respond to this message and just make a, do some business with the Lord here. Amen. And those of us in the front, once you push the chairs back a little bit, get a little, uh, bossy with that. I don't know how to do that, but keep going. Tea, Tyler, keep kind of pushing on that. You're strong. Manimal. Use that college strength of yours. Man, those are new jeans. You looking good tonight, brother. Wow. My goodness. New shirt. There's handsome and then there's Tyler Connell. My goodness. Alright, let's keep, keep pushing back. Come on, get some other guys over there. Just kind of on the left side behind that projector. Let's get some more people back. Let's see if we can get everybody up here. This was a holy weekend. Amen. Let's milk the last few minutes of the weekend. There's any guys with great initiation, just keep pushing on those chairs. Hallelujah. Chrissy, would you join me? Fight your with? Oh, yeah. See, here we go. Darren's involved now. Okay. Darren was a rugby player and he actually was a professional wrestler with the UWDB. And so that's a, that was amazing time that he had with the UWDB Wrestling Federation. Praise God. Okay, we're almost fitting him and Daniel Lehman was there and other mighty men of God were there. It was a wonderful treat for me to be in the room. And I just got a, the presence I have, it was so heavy among these men that I said, I'm just going to go up to my office and rest, physically rest while these brothers continue. Nick comes up the stairs bounding with tears in his eyes. And I just remember all I can remember him saying, I've never heard a voice like that. A voice that loving. I heard the Lord's voice and I've never heard it like that. And if you and I could hear God's voice, his love in a prayer house, and we went out to the lost, and we preach with the reality of hell itself, the reality of all the love of God and the reality that it, it needs, it needs to be preached with the fishness of the love of God, the reality of that. But we knew the love of God and we pressed into the people, the love of God. There would be an explosion in this city, but we cannot run past the place of prayer and fasting. There's been a dullness in my life and there's been a dullness in all of our lives. I'm not trying to insult me and I'm not trying to insult you. It's just the reality when prayer, when fasting is too little, we just, I just go there right away. I get dull, I miss out. And I'm praying tonight that we would respond as one voice at City Central and say, "We will establish this prayer furnace." All of us, all of us, and we'll establish that the principles the Lord would give us, we'll establish it, and in that place it will no longer be just sitting there praying and hoping. But it will be a place of action and praying into action, praying into doing, praying into doing. And mighty deeds will be birthed in prayer and then we'll just go do them. There'll be a lot less emails, there'll be a lot less texting, and there'll be a whole lot more power in the glory of God. So I'm asking you today, will you join in the hard work ahead? The sacrificial work ahead of establishing a mission base in this city, a mission base called City Central in the heart of this city. It would involve a school, that would involve a school, can I get a witness, it would involve a school, it would involve an evangelistic arm of it going out. It would involve a sozo in the heart of everything God has said. It would involve the prayer room, it would involve international. Do you want to join with Kristina, and lay down your life and your agenda, and believe God that He would establish a movement in this city. I was with Pastor Dean Curry from Life Christian, we had a meeting, Darren was there. I was Wednesday, he began to share his heart with me, it was beautiful stuff. But I just felt my spirit that I needed, I said God give me a window, give me a window, and I'll run through it. And he opened just a crack in the door, I just said I'm going to put my head down, I don't care if it's a concrete door, I'm coming in, and it blew open. And he grabbed my hand, as God began to speak to him of the David that he is. And I'm telling you to begin to weep, and God began to meet us over this city. I was in a meeting with Kurt Snyder this week with Destiny. That whole thing is getting all resolved. We'll have that totally done. And the next 30 days that will be done. Are you willing, are you willing? I don't want to do this alone, I'm willing to, are you willing? You know, Christian, my health is not good, and we are laying it all on the table. Will you in this prayer room? I can't chase you, you're too strong, I can't convince you, you're too smart for me. Would you lay it down for the lost? That's what I'm waiting on. I long for this house to have a whale. I long for it. People are dying. I long for you to have a whale. And so are we bringing this before you, our hearts. Take this, don't miss. Take it, take it, take it, take it, take it, take it, take it, take it, take it, take it from me, take it from me, take it from me. And I just need you to pray. Please, pray out, cry out, cry out that God would break that doneness. God, Lord, break that doneness. Be right, be right, Lord, be right, Lord, be right, Lord, be right, Lord, be right, Lord. I want to just leave this with you as we pray one more prayer. Christia and I had a time to have a date and we'd gone up to our favorite place in Seattle, a little Mexican place, and we were waiting there. And we had this phone call from a man we barely knew. His son was dying of a key in the bedroom, down the hall. And sitting out there with that beeper in my hand, we lost it. We prayed every prayer we knew, cried out, we asked God for everything we could ask Him for. I hardly enjoyed anything. I didn't hear that. Father wrapped His arms around the sun as I told Him what to pray. And the sun went home, and I sat without a word. When will it end? And I have faith to die, but I don't believe in eleven-year-olds dying. I never will, but that's salvation. And when you're lost, you die a lot worse than that. And I want to wail as a place. That God would be every dullness. And then Eric had the same story this week, and on the phone were his tears. They're dying. And I don't want an intellectual prayer room. I don't want to be told what to pray. I don't want to slide, showing me every detail of what I'm supposed to cover in prayer. I want to come in so late with the burdens of God. It's melting in His presence. I don't want a chart telling me to fast and do all these tricks. I want to say God, I can't eat. Delay. We've got to end this desert. This Thursday night at 6.30, we all need to be there. At the academy, bring your kids, we'll figure it out. Everyone be there, prayer room, two hours, let's do it, let's get on with it. We've got to get our building, we've got to find the place. And so in faith tonight, you've got to clear your throat. Yes, that's right. Pushing down on a shutton, you've got to clear your throat. Yes, Lord. It's been too long since you were broken through the lost. [MUSIC] And even in the days of revival, the prayer room will be the furnace, the home. Because once you see the miracles of God, there is nothing close to Him and being with Him. I'm telling you, there's nothing like being with Him. So tonight, let's pray. Let's all pray as we close this house tonight, that God would establish us now. And delay would be behind us. And our own resistance to the call of God on our own individual life would be wiped away. Let's get rid of all that resistance. We don't want to resist any longer. No more, Jesus name. We want to hear it for you. We want to hear it for you. Shout out to the Lord. You have a song that you didn't listen to. You have a song that you didn't listen to. Yes, Lord. Deal with you, Lord. [MUSIC] I know we're going a few minutes over tomorrow's a holiday. Hear this. The road to the Tacoma Dome. Your Lord mentioned it on Friday night at one thing, the first time in seven years. He said, "I want to talk about the Tacoma Dome now." I said, "Okay. What do you want to talk about, Lord?" He said, "There's four stages to get there. One is failure. The first stages you must utterly fail." I said, "Lord, I feel like a failure, so did I fail yet?" He said, "Oh, yeah. You failed real good." I said, "Praise God." Because I didn't want it to be worse than I'd already experienced. It's discovering really your need. You know, when you fail, you just sever a man. I can't do this without him. I feel like I got that one down. But then he said, "You learn to agree with me in phase two." And in order to go to the dome, you got to follow my plan, not yours. The third was you make friends with the city. And you'll reach out to them on every level. And the fourth is the mystery of mass evangelism. And I said, "Well, where are we, King?" And he said, "Well, you're on their way to three. You're almost all the way into three." And I sold Jesus. That's a good thing. That's where the souls are going to pour out. And so, Father, tonight, we say, Lord, even in that day, the hottest place will be the room of prayer. Even in that day, when there's thousands and thousands getting saved, the only way to stay sane, the only way to stay sane is a married couple. The only way to stay sane is to get in the prayer room. Are you hearing me? Amen. And so, Father, we're crying out that you would be so nice to us and so gracious to us. That you would give us a house to pray in. That we could pray in it every day. Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. And so, let's let a loud cry. Come up to God, the God would give us a house. Give us the place! I have to pray for the nations, Lord. I have to pray for the city, Lord. I have to pray for God. Open up the doors. Give us a home. Give us a home. Give us a home. We want to work for you. Lord, we thank you for this beautiful weekend. We just... Yes, Lord. We've been to the filibuster in our spirit, the delay. We thank you for Duane and Jennifer. Amen. Amen. Amen. And we will not take the word tonight and waste it. We'll not take the word tonight and say, "Oh, that was great." But we will diligently understand it and apply it in our lives. Amen. So, let's do something special and go home. Sean, give me a hand. Come stand here, my brother. You know how much I love you. To see your faces, I get from you. I have loved you from the day I saw you. We love this man. You may not know him, but if you love him, you love him. We pray, mighty man of God, that you are, that doors would swing open now. And you, my brother, those unrealized dreams and the wisdom that is in your soul would come forth now in this day. And you would be an architect and a builder. And gone would be the days where your voice wasn't listened. Gone would be the days where your message was not heard. But the house would be built and it would be ready for the wave that is coming. And you would have a freedom to begin to see what is needed for that day. And gone would be any doubt in your mind that God has raised you up for this time. And you would see it, you would perceive the time that you were born into. And the missionary in you, and the evangelist in you, and the trainer in you, and the lover in you would come forth in this hour. And this house, we say, we pray, open the door, open the door, open the door, we kick it open, we kick it open in front of Jill. We kick it open in front of Shawn, and we say, open the door. Put your hands extended to them. Their house was flooded in Chehalis, and then the flood came back and flooded the back house. This is a rare, rare, a rare one. One of our kids that got saved went to this man's training house. And he went to Cambodia, and every day I believe there's, what is it, 500? At least 500 Buddhists in his base of operation. This is one of his disciples, Hallelujah. We put our hands out, come on, we're going to push. This door has got opened, this man is pestered by the demonic, they hate him. We pray now, God, this agreement in this house, open the door! We release him to run, to run, to run, to run, to run, to run! You know, I know that I need you. We can't do it without you. We need your counsel on this hour. And I just, I don't want to pressure you, but I am pressuring you. Sometimes in a battle, you know, you don't have time to be nice. And you just say, "Brother, come here, help me, help me up this hill." If you don't know how to ask sometimes, the church way. But for this next generation, we're going to need it. If you're willing to give us anything, we take it. So bless this man. Put your hand on each other's shoulder tonight, we're going home. Everyone put a hand on somebody. Just pray this simple prayer, I seal the work of God over this life. It will not be stolen, it will not be stolen, but it will grow in fruit. The Lord Jesus endorses this person. The Lord Jesus believes in this person. There is no doubt over your destiny. In the name of Jesus, in the name of Jesus, in the name of Jesus, I release the oil of joy, the oil of grace, the oil of hope for this hour, a rise, come alive, awaken, and stand strong. So Father, we thank you for this glorious weekend. It's all done now, it's all finished now. Our hearts are full, our hearts are overcome. [BLANK_AUDIO]