Episode Transcript
[00:00:07] I'm ready for him to do whatever he wants today, as always. Because if he is not here, and he is. But if he were not here, we could all go home.
[00:00:17] Why?
[00:00:18] Otherwise, we're just talking about Him.
[00:00:21] We're just talking about Jesus. We're talking about something that he did sometime. We're reading stories about someone that someone else wrote down. But was it. But until we actually know him for ourself, it's stories.
[00:00:33] It's secondhand, and it leads us to him, hopefully prayerfully.
[00:00:37] But until then, if he's not here, let's just find out where he is and let's go be with him.
[00:00:42] Right?
[00:00:44] Oh, I feel it. I feel the warmth in the room. I feel the relax in the room. Doesn't that happen sometimes when we get in the warm? For those of you who are new to km, I didn't know if I saw you raise your hand, but I'm so glad that you're here.
[00:00:57] Why? Because I think that this is specifically designed for you as you are receiving some kind of invitation from someone or a prompting in your heart and that you followed that and you showed up today. I know he has things specifically on his heart for this house, but I know that it extends past these walls. And every person who is here today is specifically handpicked by him to be here.
[00:01:19] So I would just ask you to be all ears, not to me, but to Him.
[00:01:23] And our hunger and our appetite in this room completely determines what comes out in this place.
[00:01:29] Why do I say that? Because Jesus himself could be in one place where everybody in the town got healed.
[00:01:37] Everybody got completely overwhelmed by his presence and by what God was doing in their midst. And yet he goes into his hometown.
[00:01:47] His hometown. Hometown advantage, right?
[00:01:50] No disadvantage in this case. Why? Because he was familiar to them. They knew him in another way, and they reduced him to the flesh.
[00:01:59] What happened in that place was he was not able to do any mighty work there. Isn't that wild? He could be in one place, and everybody, even who knew him and who were excited about him being there, could be hanging on every word. Meanwhile, the roof rips off and this guy's lowered down through the roof by his friends. And. And one person in the room receives the power of God that was present to heal all.
[00:02:23] One got that encounter. Not everybody in the room needed healing. But the word actually says the power of the Lord was present to heal them all.
[00:02:30] Hmm.
[00:02:32] Was he just going, ha ha ha? No, I don't think so. Anyway, we're not even talking about healing or even really power today, though, that might come out.
[00:02:40] Oh, what do you want, Lord, right now we're gonna definitely be in a different place today. You know what? You can't live on yesterday's manna, right? You also can't live on first service manna.
[00:02:51] So if he fed you first service, it's another meal. I'm not sure where we're going to, but I trust him to feed everybody who's in this room fully. Trust him to feed me again. I'm going to feast with him. I ask you to just pull up a chair at his table. We just had communion, but I have an idea in my heart that that's where we're going to land again today by the end of this service.
[00:03:12] There's revelation in that.
[00:03:14] Okay, so much. There's so much been going on. As you just heard.
[00:03:22] Bogdan, he's our youth pastor and he's been sharing about what's going on with crew.
[00:03:27] There's so many encounters happening, but they're in this extended encounter right now. It's really pure and it's really holy. And there are so many different experiences of him. Specifically, joy. Why?
[00:03:39] The Lord said it in his word, in his presence is fullness of joy. Not like, hey, he'll make you happy for today. Like, fullness of joy. Like joy unspeakable and full of glory.
[00:03:52] Right? So that's happening, but there's just this extended encounter that's taking place right now. And I love encounters. And when I get around encounters, and I mean, like, we just come with this expectant heart. Like, what is he gonna do today? What part of himself is he going to reveal today which name is gonna be released? Why do I say that? Because every name that he actually not even written, I'm not talking about past the name of Jesus, by the way. He's Jesus. Jesus is Lord. But we have Jehovah, Jireh, Rafa, Shama, Sid, Canu, all these different things. And by the way, God didn't say, I am. All these names. People encountered him and named him, didn't change who he was. Just received the revelation of who he was and said, that's who you are.
[00:04:34] Abram actually named him Jehovah Jireh.
[00:04:40] Isn't that wild? Why? Because God revealed himself as the one who went ahead and made provision.
[00:04:44] Why am I talking about it? Because we just are. We're talking about encounters. And my heart is stirred when I see that he is encountering people in new ways, in a new season. We're in a season of encounter. It's funny. I was just getting ready to come up here, and I walked up here without the mic. My husband tapped me and handed me a mic. But it was to remind me that the Lord, I believe, was prompting me during worship just now that he's about to put the mic and in hands of people that have no idea it's coming.
[00:05:10] And why. Why he's going to do it is because they're so caught up with him, walking with him, like Enoch style.
[00:05:17] Enoch wasn't concerned with anything being written down.
[00:05:20] Enoch walked with God, and he was not. And he's the only one. When it goes generation six to number seven, it's Enoch. Boom. Everybody else lived and died. Enoch walked with God and he talked with God and he received revelation from God.
[00:05:34] But there are Enochs in the room. What do I mean? You love him so much, you don't care if you ever get on a platform. You don't care if you have a microphone. You're gonna be out walking with him. Someone's gonna stick one in your hand, and they're gonna pick up your conversation with the Lord.
[00:05:48] I really do believe that's gonna happen. I'm excited, actually. I'm excited for this season. I believe there will be no schedule.
[00:05:56] I don't mean that you can't come and you can't go, but I believe that we can't even put it on paper. I know. In trying to even prep when I was asked if I could share today, this is the absolute most discombobulated I think I've ever been.
[00:06:08] Like, what do I mean? I mean, I sat at the table for, like, the last weeks, and I would sit down and I would go, where do you want to go, Lord? And I would just sit and dine with him. And when I tell you I couldn't write fast enough, my hand hurt. And I would write, not just type hurts, because I felt like there was so much on his heart and so much that he was sharing with me. And I can't. I don't like to keep stuff to myself.
[00:06:31] When you start to see things, even from his word, you can't stop speaking what you've seen and heard. And when you taste and see that he's that good, how dare we keep it to ourself? So I'm going off this direction and off this direction and off this direction and off this direction. I've got, like, 16 pages of completely different messages stemming from the same source. Him, he's like, want me to break some more bread?
[00:06:51] Yeah. But I don't know if I can keep up. I don't know if I can digest it all. Do you know that in this last week he gave me an answer to a question I have carried in my heart for 35 years. I've walked with him for 36 and 35 years. I'm sure of it. I have asked this question. I'm not going to answer it with you all today. But he's answered a question I. I've asked him for 35 years from his word made no sense to me. I don't get this. Why I didn't understand his heart in the situation. I didn't get the revelation till this week. Why do I say it? If you're not reading your word and his word, ultimately you're missing out.
[00:07:25] He's got stuff for you, reserved secret things for you that you will never share with anybody else. You don't need to. It's for you. So that you know that you're precious to him, that you, you know how he loves to feed you. You'll know the face to face and nothing will take that away. And that appetite being wet for him will keep you at the table, not come and go.
[00:07:49] He actually doesn't want to be a visitation either. And he doesn't want us just walking out of visitation. Hey, I come and see you on Sunday. Lord.
[00:07:58] That would be an encounter. It would be in some cases feel like, wow, that, that's enough. If he just encounters me, if I just touch the fringe, if I just hear somebody say, call me out and give me a word, whatever that is all secondhand revelation, secondhand knowledge again. If he's not in the room, we're telling stories.
[00:08:16] It should drive us to our secret place to receive the revelation he has for us individually.
[00:08:21] Amen. Amen. Encounters. I love encounters. I encountered him, encountered him first in November 12, 1989. I will never forget it. That day, my life completely turned inside out and upside down and I was not expecting it. What is an encounter? An encounter is actually a surprise meeting.
[00:08:41] It's an unexpected meeting. It's something we don't plan.
[00:08:45] He snuck up on me. I was trying to find myself.
[00:08:48] I'm out there in the world trying to find myself. Went to the University of Minnesota a couple years and then I went down to Florida to find myself.
[00:08:57] Like I knew where I was.
[00:08:59] He found me first.
[00:09:01] He introduced himself to me in a way I'll never forget. It was through a testimony of another person.
[00:09:07] Specifically. It's kind of like the woman at the well, if you're familiar with the story. There's a woman at the well who encounters the Lord. She goes back to her town and says, come see a man. He told me everything I ever did. This might be the one. The entire town gets stirred. They have a secondhand story that was me hearing someone's testimony.
[00:09:25] I was the hometown. I was this town from this woman.
[00:09:28] She tells me the story and I go, I need to know him for myself. I am running to an altar that no one was giving an altar call for. I am weeping, and I'm on my face thinking I'm the only person, person there. Only to get up off the carpet, seeing it flooded with people, turn around, grab onto some guy I've never seen before and never saw since. Hugged him to the point of probably cracking his ribs. Because that was the first thing that was redeemed in my life.
[00:09:52] It's my hug. I hugged everybody that moved when I was growing up.
[00:09:56] Everybody come to the door. I just would hang on, almost not let go. I loved hugs, you know? And then I walk through life, I get a little bit older. Some things happen in life. My cousin's like, you're kind of standoffish, you know, you're not the same as you used to be. And I'm like, I don't know. I never knew the Lord, you know? And I also didn't know the love of God. And my family was broken. And I just probably started taking care of me, you know, I didn't notice it till that day when I turned around and grabbed onto somebody. Never saw again. I realized something shifted in my heart. I came up off the carpet a different person. And I could tell my encounter. And some people in here might be curious, but I can't share the encounter to where you have it. Why? Because you're not supposed to have my encounter.
[00:10:39] You're not supposed to have my encounter. He started walking with me 10 years. I ended up in a Bible school. Just to know him. I wanted nothing to do with. I wasn't going to be on a platform. I wasn't looking to go minister in any kind of formal sense. I wanted to know him. I didn't know him for 20 years. Where had I been my whole life? You know? Meanwhile, he's like, hey, follow me. And we started taking a walk.
[00:11:02] We start taking a walk. I end up at Bible school. I end up ingesting the word for 10 years. I'm reading the Word of God. I'm feasting on it. I'm sitting outside in between classes. After classes, I'M devouring the word and people are walking by me going, what's your problem? Are you okay? I'm like, yeah. Have you read this? Have you. Have you seen this? Have you heard this? They're like, did you, like, how long you been saved? I'm like, wow, seven, eight, nine. Nine months.
[00:11:27] And they're like, oh, oh, I get it. I get what's going on.
[00:11:33] Nine months. I mean, that makes sense. That makes sense why you're so excited.
[00:11:37] And I was like, what?
[00:11:38] This better not wear off.
[00:11:40] Meanwhile, I'm having encounter after encounter after encounter. I'm with my husband. We're in, praying in the spirit. Just us. Just us two people in a house just praying.
[00:11:51] The presence of God came in that house so strong.
[00:11:54] Ask him. I flipped the door open and I sprinted around the entire block. I don't even know if I put my shoes on. Two Olympic level speeds. I don't even know what happened. I got back in the room. I wasn't winded.
[00:12:06] Don't let this ever end. Don't let this ever stop. Does this ever go away? Does it ever go. I don't want it to stop. Don't let it stop.
[00:12:13] Hold on to this. Hold on to this. No one started it. God started it. I was invited into it. I participated.
[00:12:20] But it was so funny because what he said to me is, he goes, you're not going to be able to just run in circles.
[00:12:26] This wisdom that kind of came out like this feeling, this feeling of running doesn't have to stay for him to stay.
[00:12:34] It's called an encounter.
[00:12:36] It's an invitation for more.
[00:12:39] It's not the end.
[00:12:41] So I had this question. Keep stirring in my heart whenever I think about encounters, and you'll see it on the screen. It's really the. I ended up titling the message this because I couldn't think of anything for you to take home with you. But are encounters enough?
[00:12:53] Even if he stops me after Bible School, after 10 years of walking with him, stops me and says, hey, how's my restless girl?
[00:13:02] And I don't realize I'm Martha. After 10 years of knowing him, knowing his word, even sitting at his feet, he's calling me restless girl. You know, I didn't hear restless.
[00:13:12] I only heard girl.
[00:13:15] How's my girl?
[00:13:18] He said, restless, but it didn't hit me till later. And we had to have a burial for Martha and a resurrection of Mary. And for those of you who don't know the story, but you might not get it, but even if it goes over your Head a little bit, pull up a chair to his table, sit and feast on his word. And you'll find her. You'll find yourself in this today. By the way, we're gonna go to Scripture. I love his. His written word. And he has encountered me more time in the written word than I've ever been encountered. I'm by myself at the table, feasting, blown away, screaming, crying, talking to him.
[00:13:53] I can't get away from his goodness.
[00:13:55] Just between the lines. And in the lines, everything in it points to him. He himself. Jesus, by the way, had an encounter.
[00:14:03] The skies open up.
[00:14:05] Matthew, right? Matthew 3, Matthew 4, Matthew 3. Heavens, open up. This is my beloved Son, in whom I'm well pleased. Before Jesus does a miracle.
[00:14:15] Before Jesus is someone that anybody even knows who he is.
[00:14:19] The heavens open up. This is my beloved Son, in whom I'm well pleased. And everybody around it hears it.
[00:14:24] Some heard thunder, probably, yeah.
[00:14:26] His voice is distinct to those with ears. But Jesus heard it. Those heard him testify. And what did he do? He went into the wilderness, led by the spirit. After an encounter, can you imagine going into a wilderness to go and defeat the temptation and the devil?
[00:14:42] Led by the Spirit. By the way, why we pray, lead us not into temptation. He went into for us.
[00:14:49] He ends up in the wilderness. And guess what he does. If you're God's son, the devil comes up. If you're God's son, first thing that's challenged is his encounter.
[00:14:59] If you're God's son, turn these stones to bread.
[00:15:05] You're hungry. You can eat your God. Eat.
[00:15:09] What does he do?
[00:15:11] Didn't you hear about my encounter?
[00:15:17] Don't you know who I am? Didn't you just hear who I am? I'm the Son of God.
[00:15:22] That's not what he said. The devil comes to him and says, hey, if you're God's son, turn these stones to bread. Do you know what he said?
[00:15:31] It is written.
[00:15:33] The living word standing before them went to the written word.
[00:15:41] He didn't fight with his encounter.
[00:15:44] He fought with something that's not going anywhere.
[00:15:48] He fought with the word of God. It is written. And guess what else he said. Man shall not live on bread alone. Wait a second. I thought you were the Son of God. Man shall not live. Guess who's going to win right now? The Son of Man.
[00:16:05] God didn't have to defeat him. God already defeated him.
[00:16:08] The Son of Man had to defeat him for us so we could walk in that victory.
[00:16:13] Encounters are encounters enough though, Are encounters enough? No encounters. Ultimately, I Believe are a beautiful invitation, even a door to more, which is intimate relationship, one on one, face to face, table time with him. And if you've gotten sluggish in this house, I encourage you because that. That fire in you is about to be fanned by him.
[00:16:36] By him inviting you back to the table, inviting you back into communion, that you never have to leave.
[00:16:45] None of us have to leave.
[00:16:48] Father, I just pray right now that you would open every person's eyes, including mine, in this place, to the next revelation of who you are. Not that we need even more because we have so much that you've already shown, that we could feast on it for eternity. But we're asking you, Lord, as you desire to dine with us, as you desire to reveal yourself, that you just give us eyes to see what we need to see today, where we are, where you want us to be, where you want to go, that we would be completely yielded surrendered vessels.
[00:17:20] Thank you, Lord. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for having your way.
[00:17:24] Yeah, I remember, like, not even understanding where he was taking me after I had the encounter where we buried Martha and resurrected Mary. By the way, he loves Martha. This is not a chide on Martha. It says it verbatim in the word. Jesus loved Martha, and her sister doesn't even name Mary There. Why Marthas need to know.
[00:17:44] Thank you, Lord. Right, right. They needed to know. Meanwhile, he's tapping me. He's like, we're gonna go someplace.
[00:17:51] I find myself as I'm walking with him. He's, like, carried away back to the garden. What?
[00:17:59] Walking with you in the cool of the day covered by grace I found full pardon.
[00:18:11] I am naked and unashamed. I get carried away back into Eden Eating the fruit you have ordained.
[00:18:26] I am so amazed as I taste for freedom in the light of your glorious face I get carried away.
[00:18:39] He takes me back and he takes me to Genesis. One, two, three. And when I tell you I can't get out, I mean it. I end up stuck there.
[00:18:47] I'm running with him, running with him, running with him. He's like, hey, I know you've been to Bible school. Hey, I know you've been in ministry. Hey, I know you've been a youth pastor. Hey, I know all the things you're doing. Come here. Let's just sit down. I'm like, what? I want to go. Let me show you how much I love you.
[00:19:00] Let me do this. Pull the levers and do all this stuff. He's like, would you be with me? That's so easy, though.
[00:19:05] Is it?
[00:19:08] We started having something called be as a result. Be. Beautiful encounter. We started having this. What to do. Why? To host his people. Specifically leaders who were on the verge of burnout. To come back and just sit and be and let him refill them. Fuel them, if you will. No running on fumes.
[00:19:28] No running on fumes.
[00:19:31] No running on fumes. So I love Genesis. I'm always in the garden. I'm not going to actually go there today, but I just wanted to let you know where he takes us. He takes us where he wants to take us. If we go with him.
[00:19:41] I've learned more in Genesis 1 through 3. I could just share about that probably the rest of my earthly life if I live to 120.
[00:19:49] I mean, it sounds ridiculous, right? But for real, why? Because every time I open the word, there's more.
[00:19:54] There's more in the garden.
[00:19:56] There's more in that walk in the cool of the day.
[00:20:00] You know that when it. When it. When it says that they heard the sound of him walking in the garden. Do you know the word sound is voice?
[00:20:07] The same voice they had heard every single day.
[00:20:10] And it was beautiful. Oh, I hear. You mean you sense him come in the room. Like we're in worship. Like, you know, everything in us just opens up to him. You sense. But they heard his voice and suddenly it was like that sound scared him.
[00:20:23] He didn't turn them away. He didn't come in here. One. Where are you? Where? Adam. No, it was the same voice. Hey, Adam.
[00:20:29] Adam.
[00:20:31] They couldn't hear it.
[00:20:33] The heart. They were ashamed.
[00:20:36] He had to bring them back and realize that they were loved. Loved back to life. He made every provision if encounters. The reason I have this question are encounters enough? I believe it's unto something. And I think it's so important that we don't enshrine anything I love. I mean, we need to testify. We. Why? Because it whets the appetite for people to go out and realize there's more, there's more, there's more, there's more.
[00:20:58] But that we don't share things so that people feel estranged. Somebody in this room today might go, you know what? I experienced everything that or not experienced. I saw everything that took place today in worship. And I just feel a little bit out of sorts, like I'm not comfortable in this environment or I don't understand it, or if I have to do that, I don't think I want to get around this bunch.
[00:21:18] That's a little wild, right?
[00:21:20] He never said the specifics on what the Encounter looks like, right?
[00:21:26] So when we start to magnify something, like, this is what he's doing. Were you there last night? If not, you missed it. Can I just set you free right now? You did not miss it.
[00:21:36] Why he's here.
[00:21:39] Presence night ended, and it went into the glory cloud for, like, ever, right? And I mean, I saw the video and I was like.
[00:21:45] I was so excited that they were like, wow. Did you see that? It was beautiful, by the way. It was amazing.
[00:21:50] Yes. Lord, wreck us, undo us. All the stuff, right? But it was like, this was at the end of presence night. Anybody who's gone, like, probably missed out. I'm like, actually, I didn't leave his presence there, though.
[00:22:05] I didn't leave his presence there. That was for them.
[00:22:09] Why? Because he had something in my heart, and I walk with him and it's okay for me to take his presence home with me and me to meet with him at my table. Doesn't mean there wasn't something potentially there. And I could have also eaten.
[00:22:19] But he doesn't want just that. He doesn't want it to stop somewhere. When we stop somewhere, we start comparing encounters.
[00:22:27] We are to sing to the Lord a new song. Did you hear this? Beautiful. And I say this beautiful. I'm pointing at. No one's on the platform. But this new song that rolled off today, the reason it caught, I believe so heavily in this house is because it was born in this house.
[00:22:42] And why I say that because in his presence, corporately, we're hearing his voice corporately, we're hearing the good shepherd corporately. And suddenly song is birthed out, and we all can sing it as if it's ours. Why? Because we heard it in the same environment.
[00:22:54] We're not going to be using somebody else's song. Because we don't need a middleman for our worship.
[00:23:00] Doesn't mean we don't use other people's songs. They're beautiful. There's so many staple songs in worship. There's so many being put out every day. You could literally, because of AI, choose your singer, choose your topic, choose your verse, how many choruses you want. If you want bridges, make your own song.
[00:23:17] And the word's anointed.
[00:23:18] But do you know what I mean? You can, and you probably could pick voices.
[00:23:24] He's not looking for that. He's looking for you to offer a new song to the Lord.
[00:23:28] Now, if encounters were enough, I feel like I wanted to go there. I think we will.
[00:23:33] Oh, how do. How.
[00:23:37] Okay, I'll roll through these for Those of you who are.
[00:23:43] And then we're going to jump into the Word itself so that we can find ourselves in the Word.
[00:23:47] You know, Jesus found himself in the Word.
[00:23:50] I mean, he is the Word, but you know, he found himself in the Word also.
[00:23:54] He's all over the Word.
[00:23:57] John the Baptist found himself in the Word.
[00:23:59] He encountered the Word and found himself. How do I know that? Because when he was asked who he is, he said, no, I'm not the Christ. No, I'm not this and that. He said, I'm the voice of one crying in the wilderness. Prepare the way of the Lord. That's that was in the Word.
[00:24:13] And he said, that's who he was.
[00:24:16] You're in the Word.
[00:24:18] You're in there. You're in His Word.
[00:24:21] Maybe not by name, but you can find yourself in there. There's an encounter waiting for you there. That's just an invitation. So if encounters were enough, think about it. Cain, the brother of Abel, had a face to face encounter with the Lord in the beginning. He would not have killed his brother.
[00:24:36] He was with the Lord. He wouldn't have killed his brother. If encounters were enough, Solomon, who saw the Lord twice, would not have wandered from God.
[00:24:46] He encountered him twice. He saw the Lord. He would not have left King Saul. If you don't know who that is, I really encourage a study there. He would have remained. King David would not have to replace him. If he had obeyed God and he had already encountered God and the power of God more than once. To the point where, and I won't go into it, I went into it first service. He literally had an encounter unlike any other I see in the Word. He was encountered by the power of God. He was against the power of God and the Word of God and God himself. He was encountered by the power of God and literally prophesied for 24 hours, all night and all day straight. Couldn't stop. He couldn't resist the encounter.
[00:25:27] Has anybody ever been encountered to the point where you could not resist for like, but like for hours where you couldn't stop prophesying?
[00:25:35] No, it's serious. But, but why I say our encounters enough. King Saul turned around and became hardened even more after that encounter. And it was the mercy of God to say, hey, I'm God and you're not.
[00:25:49] 24 hours. Let's just keep on staying there. Let's keep dousing you. Let's just keep. And it wasn't enough.
[00:25:54] It wasn't enough. Encounters are not enough, not by themselves. Our heart and our participation in it is everything. Peter would not have fallen asleep and denied Jesus. If encounters were enough, the rich young ruler would have become a disciple.
[00:26:10] When he came to Jesus, what do I have to do to get in the kingdom? He would have realized. When Jesus said, follow the king and you can have the kingdom, he turned around. Encounters weren't enough.
[00:26:21] Ultimately, we would really just all be back in Eden.
[00:26:24] If encounters were enough, Adam and Eve would have never fallen. They walked with God in the cool of the day.
[00:26:30] I mean, is he enough? Yes, he is. But our heart and our response, think about it. We think we would have done something different. Stop and think about this. What does he need to do to prove himself that he has not already done?
[00:26:44] And this is not actually a correction. This isn't like a shame on us moment. This is actually an invitation.
[00:26:51] We don't want to just have an encounter and go, oh, I can't wait till he comes back next year. That's like a sacrificial system.
[00:26:58] We're free from having to wait to meet with him. We're free from having to have a go between a high priest, a preacher, any of this stuff. We're free from having to have somebody else tell us who we are, aside from him. Who do people say that I am? Jesus says, oh, some say, Others say, oh, good, yeah, they said the right thing. You're good.
[00:27:20] No, but who do you say that I am?
[00:27:23] Peter said, you're the Son of God. You're the Christ, the son of the living God. He said, blessed are you. Why? Flesh and blood didn't reveal it, but an encounter.
[00:27:31] It's the spirit. My father revealed it. It had to have been an encounter. He had to got that by an encounter. Did it look like this radical lightning in the. No. He had an encounter with the voice of God, but it wasn't enough because the next moment he turns around and rebukes Jesus.
[00:27:48] Jesus, like, get behind me, Satan. He's like, I thought I knew you.
[00:27:51] I thought, I thought I knew you.
[00:27:55] Who Anybody ever, like, be surprised by him when you think you know him because you know all about him? You, you know the scriptures, you know, because you've been in church your whole life, you were raised, you know, you know that you know that you know. And then when you see something you don't know, Uh, I don't think so. I don't know that. I don't know that side of him. Is it unscriptural, is my question, or is it an area that we just don't know him?
[00:28:21] He's got A great sense of humor, by the way. And some people don't know that, but he's hysterical.
[00:28:28] He's very funny. He will. He will make me laugh almost every time he's making me cry because of correction or something like that. But it'll make me laugh. I'm like, you're so good. How do you do that?
[00:28:38] It's like laughing gas or something. I don't even know how he does it.
[00:28:42] Okay, so we're gonna take a walk through the scripture. And I definitely want to go here. Let's go to Luke 24.
[00:28:47] Why we say that encounters are more of an invitation than they are the end.
[00:28:54] Luke 24, 13, 35. I'm gonna set the stage. There are two disciples who are not named among the 12, who are just completely distraught. Why?
[00:29:04] They've already just. They've come up to the point where they have walked with the rest of the disciples and followers. And there has been a last supper of sorts. Jesus with his 12. These two, I don't think are in the room because they're not named there, but. And it doesn't mention them, but they are among them, close enough that they've been and heard everything that was taking place. They walked through the crucifixion. Everything that they have believed about him up to now, they're seeing him be crucified. They don't understand this. They're completely beside themselves. Where did he go?
[00:29:33] I thought the one we believed in was going to stay here.
[00:29:37] Where is God?
[00:29:39] Has anybody ever been through something where you're, like, wondering, where is God?
[00:29:43] I thought I knew him.
[00:29:44] I thought I knew what he meant, and this happened. I didn't understand it. Where did he go?
[00:29:52] He wants to come back in your life. He's already come back as a whole.
[00:29:57] He was raised from the dead three days later. But there's three days of this silence that I think every believer goes through in some time in their life.
[00:30:04] It doesn't mean it's three days specifically, but there are times when you can't figure it out.
[00:30:08] You don't know where you are in this path. You don't know because you thought you knew Him. But then he has to reopen your eyes.
[00:30:14] Same thing in this path here. Luke 24. That very day, the day that he was raised, two of them were going to a village named Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, and they were talking with each other about all these things. And that had happened while they were talking and discussing together. Notice they're talking about him. Jesus himself drew near and went with them. But their eyes were kept from recognizing him.
[00:30:36] They didn't know who he was. Can you imagine Jesus walking physically next to you?
[00:30:41] We can hear in the Word that there are angels that do this. We don't know they're angels. Scripturally it says this. You might be entertaining angels. Unaware, like a physical being next to you. Like, oh, we were just out. I saw this person. No, it wasn't. It was an angel. You don't even know.
[00:30:52] Unaware. Jesus was walking with them, talking with them. They had no idea who this guy is.
[00:30:57] They were talking, discussing together. And Jesus drew near, but their eyes were kept from recognizing them or recognizing him. And he said to them, what is this conversation that you're holding with each other as you walk? And they stood still, looking sad.
[00:31:10] Then one of them named Cleopas answered him, Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?
[00:31:19] And he said to them, what things?
[00:31:23] What happened? I just can't imagine. He makes me laugh. He's there. What things? Like, he doesn't know.
[00:31:31] And they said to him, concerning Jesus of Nazareth, a man who was a prophet, he's finding out who they say he is.
[00:31:40] A man who was a prophet, mighty indeed. And word before God and the people. And how our chief priests and rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death and crucified him. But we had hoped he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes. And besides all this, it is now the third day since these things happened.
[00:31:58] Moreover, some women of our company amazed us. It was the Marys. And then I don't remember her name, but there were three women that went out to the tomb. By the way, the women went to the tomb first in the morning. They're fearless.
[00:32:09] The other guys are holed up. They're locked behind closed doors.
[00:32:13] I just want to mention that the doors are locked where the disciples are, and these women are out at the tomb.
[00:32:20] I. I just saw that. This is new. He's just telling me, hey, you can be fearless. Okay? Okay. All right. Lord, some women of our company amazed us. They. They were at the tomb early in the morning, and when they did not find his body, they came back saying they had seen a vision of angels who was. Or who said that he was alive. So they had an encounter with angels, not the Lord angels. And that's exciting.
[00:32:43] Anybody seen an angel? A lot of arms are gonna go up. I have not. And I think it's so cool. I think it would be amazing. But, you know, What I don't do, I don't go to the Lord and say, I want to see an angel.
[00:32:54] Please let me see an angel.
[00:32:57] You know why I don't want to limit him?
[00:33:02] He can encounter me however he wants.
[00:33:05] He has my encounters with him specifically carved. It's personal to him and certainly personal to me. I'll see one if he wants to show me, show me many.
[00:33:15] But I'm not shutting the door on any encounter. I'm just not asking him. He has to work through a certain channel. We sing Come like fire, Come like oil, Come like the wind. Right? That's awesome.
[00:33:25] Come, come however you want to come.
[00:33:29] When our heart is that we're not limiting him into certain ways that we think, he did this last time, let's do that again. It's so easy to camp on encounter.
[00:33:38] Peter, James and John were invited by Jesus to go up into the mount, where another encounter happened.
[00:33:43] Their eyes were opened and saw Jesus standing there, not alone, but with Moses and Elijah. What?
[00:33:49] Literally on, like right here, Like Moses and Elijah and Jesus, their eyes are open. They did what we would have done. Peter's like, contain it, Build tents, quick. Let's just house this right now. Let's just all stay right here.
[00:34:06] Just stay here. Let's just stay here. Let's just stay here. Let's just stay here in this encounter. Let's all stay here. I know nobody else is here, but it's good for us, which is why you guys are rolling into the streets.
[00:34:18] It's not enough for us and it's not enough to end there and have that be the one we keep going back to. But there was this encounter.
[00:34:26] But there was this encounter.
[00:34:29] Yes. We use it to share so that people can know that there's more. But we're not supposed to stay there. I'm actually not satisfied with touching the fringe.
[00:34:38] I saw the woman with Yeshua blood do that. We're like, if we could just get a glance. I get it. The crumbs will even heal us. I get it. But, but, but he's available if it's a crumb he wants to give me today.
[00:34:52] Ah, I'm that bird.
[00:34:55] Fill me, Lord.
[00:34:57] But what if he wants to do something else? What if he wants to introduce himself another way? So they have a vision of angels. They said he was alive. Some of those who were with us, these are still the guys talking. Went to the tomb and found it, as the woman had said. But him, they.
[00:35:09] So Jesus is out of sight, but they're talking about him. And there's a buzz. And he said to them, jesus is talking with these two that haven't seen him yet and are very confused.
[00:35:19] He's raised from the dead. By the way, this is a post resurrection encounter with the Lord.
[00:35:27] All of us need a post resurrection encounter with the Lord.
[00:35:33] He said, oh, foolish one, slow of heart to believe all the prophets has spoken. Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his Glo?
[00:35:40] And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he inter he interpreted to them in all the scriptures going back to the Word.
[00:35:48] Jesus went to the Word post resurrection.
[00:35:51] He went back to the written word and said, this is not dead.
[00:35:56] I'm using this to reveal me.
[00:36:00] It's waiting for us to open it up.
[00:36:03] When we say, I just can't get into the Word, we're missing something. Ask the teacher to sit down. Ask him to sit with you, please, Lord, I don't understand this. I'm telling you, this week, 35 years I have asked a question, he answered this week, and it blew my mind. And I'm back for more, beginning with Moses and the prophets, by the way, seven mile walk. This is about two hours of a firsthand preaching from the Lord himself, disclosing the scripture.
[00:36:34] We've never heard this sermon.
[00:36:36] We've never heard this sermon. And he gave it to these two guys who didn't know if they believed him.
[00:36:44] It wasn't wasted.
[00:36:47] There's more. Why does. Why is this in here? Because there's more.
[00:36:51] Lord, what did you share about the Scriptures, about yourself, to hear that from your lips? Are you kidding me right now? Are you kidding me?
[00:36:58] We get excited about the anointing on somebody else. We're trying to pass mantles off to other people from people.
[00:37:07] Let's just get some golden calves.
[00:37:12] Nah, you guys, it's okay. Sorry.
[00:37:18] So they drew near to the village where they were going. He acted like he would. He was going to go further. The Lord is not going to push himself into your house. But they urged him strongly, saying, stay with us. For it's toward evening and the day is now far, far spent. So he went in to stay with them. Are we willing when we get to the place where he has just fully revealed himself through his word, that we actually are hungry enough to say, I know it's night, I know we're tired. I know we just went seven miles. I know that this man was crucified. We don't know, but come in.
[00:37:47] I know our house isn't ready for you. We've not cleaned it I'm sure we've not cleaned it. There's been a lot going on. Come in.
[00:37:54] I know, I'm busy. I mean, I got piles of this and this and this. Come in. Are we willing to say stay because he's not pushing himself?
[00:38:00] We do see, in Revelation, he stands at the door and knocks, but in this case, he acts like he's going to go on. It was great to meet you guys.
[00:38:07] He's like, you know, they don't know who he is. They still don't know he is. Stay. He comes in. Guess what they do? Invite him. Where? To the table.
[00:38:15] To their table. They could have went to bed. They could have said, I'm so glad. Here, have a nice, nice sleep.
[00:38:21] No, no, no. Come here. Come to the table. Let's sit down now. Let's dine together. And guess what?
[00:38:26] Let's see what he does while he's at the table with them. Verse 30. He took the bread and blessed it and broke it and gave it to them. They've seen this before, and their eyes were opened and they recognized him.
[00:38:38] And he vanished from their sight, but they recognized him. Next level of Revelation. Stay.
[00:38:46] Yes, you can walk with us. Yes, we'll walk together.
[00:38:49] Okay. Oh, man, my heart's burning. Stay.
[00:38:55] Oh, now I see you. Now I don't. Oh, he was here. I know he was here. You saw him, right? He was just here. We just saw him. We're not our hearts burning. Next level, Revelation.
[00:39:05] What did they do? Who can't wait till tomorrow morning when we can go tell the guys they got up.
[00:39:13] Stay awake.
[00:39:15] Stay awake. When he's burning in your heart, when he's revealing himself, I don't mean you never sleep. Okay. He slept on a boat. Hard. They had to wake him up. I'm saying, when he's burning in your heart, you can't stop sharing it. Don't stop sharing what you've seen and heard. They got up and they went seven miles back, much more quickly than they came.
[00:39:37] When they were walking with him, they had to tell everybody. They come in the room and they're like, it's true what the women said. He is alive. We just saw him with our own eyes in the breaking of bread.
[00:39:48] What does bread represent? Not only his body, but also the word represents both. He's the word in the breaking of bread. He's revealed. Break open the word.
[00:39:59] Meet with him at the table. There's more?
[00:40:02] Yes. For the encounter. There's another person who actually knew the dead bread.
[00:40:08] Saul of Tarsus had an encounter with the Lord. He knew more of the dead bread. What am I talking about? I'm talking about the scripture than any of his peers.
[00:40:17] He knew it by heart. He had scripture upon scripture upon scripture. This is going to just show you the difference. Scriptures. He could quote it. He. He actually was taught under Gamaliel. He was.
[00:40:28] We would be wowed if he were here today.
[00:40:32] If he were here sharing the scripture. They would get up and be just shaken like, oh, my. I don't even know how to. I have nothing to say. I've never heard anything like that my entire life. That's how much of it he carried in him and how eloquent he would be if he were in his own flesh.
[00:40:47] But he. This dead letter, the Word says that, that the scripture, the Word is dead letter, when it's not actually infused with the spirit and the author.
[00:41:00] So you can have this, and you can take out this sword that's dead and not do any damage. But he's walking along this, carrying all this dead letter, and he encounters. Encounters the Lord and the one who should have known, who thought for sure. I know everything that I need to know.
[00:41:16] The first thing out of his mouth when he meets Jesus, the living word, who are you?
[00:41:24] That's literally what he says. The first thing, who are you, Lord, and what do you want me to do?
[00:41:31] Can you imagine the humility an encounter like that? What would that take for someone to say, I just spent my whole life prepping?
[00:41:40] I. I've already at the place where I'm about, by the way. You know, where he was going on his way to go ahead and, and bring some believers, some Christians and the heresy they carried to be executed.
[00:41:56] So he's going to go try to kill those actually carrying the living Word.
[00:42:01] He's carrying this dead letter. But God meets him on the road. Jesus meets him and says, I am Jesus, whom you're persecuting.
[00:42:08] What happens to him? He becomes blind. The humility, why am I bringing that up? Because we're. We're a house full of all kind of generations and all kind of backgrounds. We probably have some people in here who were brought up in the Word. You might have even read it cover to cover multiple times. But there might be some layers that you're missing. And you might not have sat with the author for a while and you might not have any fresh bread on the table with him, and he wants to share it with you, he wants to break it, and he wants to reveal himself to you.
[00:42:42] Praise God.
[00:42:44] So many places we could go. I Know, it's a, you know, it's. Yeah, thank you, Lord.
[00:42:55] There's more, there's more. And really it balls in our court.
[00:43:01] Don't compare encounters. Don't long for what somebody else has, no matter how much of him they have. You don't want it secondhand.
[00:43:10] You don't want it secondhand.
[00:43:12] Nothing means more to me than hearing from him first and having somebody else. Even some people I really honor in, admire in the faith say something that he's already showed me.
[00:43:22] It's the revelation that can't be taken away.
[00:43:25] It's what Mary got by sitting at his feet and having face to face.
[00:43:30] And she chose it. He didn't choose her to have it, she chose it. And we know this because Martha comes out after doing everything she thought that he wanted.
[00:43:40] I'm doing all this stuff that you want that's really important. Comes out and sees her sister out there. She's missing out because she's in the other room and she can't, not even within earshot, surely going to misinterpret something. Comes and sees sister comes over and is like, tell her to do something important.
[00:43:53] What is she doing? What is, what is Mary doing sitting at his feet face to face. Doesn't even notice what's going on over here. She's so enthralled. She's just listening so closely. She's getting first hand words from her Lord's mouth.
[00:44:11] And when he, when Jesus says Mary has chosen the good part, that can't be taken. Why, it's firsthand revelation.
[00:44:20] As long as Martha stays in the kitchen. And I was Martha busy. I wanted, but, but Martha's heart's right, guys, if you're Martha, your heart is so right. You want to please him. You want to show him how much you love him because of how much he's done for you. That was me. He's like, just come be with me. Just come be with me. I'm like, let me show you. But I'm going to show you because you did this for me. I want to show you. I'm coming, coming. I'm listening. Mark and I are in the kitchen. I just have to say this one thing and then we're gonna, I think we're gonna land.
[00:44:50] We're having a conversation.
[00:44:52] I'm talking, talking, talking, talking. I'm just, I talk a little bit more than he does sometimes, sometimes, sometimes we both do this.
[00:45:02] So he's like doing something, he is getting something and, and I'm talking to him like, oh, I'm just sharing all the stuff. And he's like, huh, okay. And he goes, okay, I'm listening. I'm listening, I'm listening. And he goes in the other room, I'm listening.
[00:45:14] And I'm like, that's the best illustration I've ever heard.
[00:45:18] We do this with the Lord all the time without saying those words. He's talking, and we will be doing something else. We're on our phone or we're doing something else. I'm listening, though.
[00:45:29] I'm listening. I'm listening. Lord, I'm just getting in my car.
[00:45:32] I'll catch up. Oh, he says something. Middle of the night. I'm like, oh, I can't wait till tomorrow and wake up and write that down.
[00:45:39] Has anybody ever missed that?
[00:45:41] I'm like, I can't. I thought you can't even forget that revelation. If you try.
[00:45:46] You don't have to try. It goes if you don't capture it.
[00:45:50] But there's more.
[00:45:52] But there's more.
[00:45:54] There's more available. I just believe that this is an invitation today. I believe there are some of you who are going to say, like. Like Saul, who was converted into Paul, to say that. I mean. Oh, but I didn't even say this. Who are you, Lord? Right? This is his encounter. Who are you, Lord? Do you know what ended up happening? You see, he ends up the one who knew more scripture than anybody, has to unlearn, relearn it all with the author. And then guess what he does? He writes about half the New Testament, 13 to 14 books of the New Testament.
[00:46:23] What?
[00:46:24] Encounter, mystery, revelation, direct revelation. And you know what else? Those encounters, one of them, he actually was caught up to the third heaven. We get super excited about that. Whoa. Go, Paul. This is amazing. Can I do that?
[00:46:35] You know what he says his one determined purposes that I may know you and the power of your resurrection and the fellowship of your suffering, in that order, on purpose. Because if I know your power without knowing you, I'm gonna be like King Saul.
[00:46:57] He met the anointing first.
[00:47:00] He was even anointed first.
[00:47:02] Samson.
[00:47:05] Bunch of trouble there. Didn't even know when the presence of God left him.
[00:47:10] If you know the power first before you know the person, we're going to be in trouble.
[00:47:14] So. But if we know him first, then the power, then we're able to actually endure then the fellowship of his sufferings. But if we know the suffering first before the power of his resurrection, we also will never get up and out of that place.
[00:47:27] We'll live in a suffering that Was never ours.
[00:47:30] It wasn't intended for us.
[00:47:32] So knowing him first, knowing him face to face by name, where you can hear him call your name, by the way, that's how Mary, who was the first to see him after his resurrection, Jesus appeared to Mary first.
[00:47:46] A woman.
[00:47:48] Why? Because she went out to where he was last, where she saw him last, or where she knew he was last, wanted to just hold on to his body, be as close as she could to him. And she didn't recognize him either.
[00:48:00] He's there. Where have they put the Lord? She thinks he's a gardener. He is, but she thinks he's the gardener there.
[00:48:10] Guess when she recognizes him, when he says her name, why she knows his voice.
[00:48:21] I did not like my name Deborah.
[00:48:23] I didn't even use it. I would sign it, but I never used Deborah until I was in a season of undoing and rebuilding with him.
[00:48:33] About 30.
[00:48:36] I was 30.
[00:48:38] And I. He said, people are calling you Debbie, but I called you Deborah. I was like, okay.
[00:48:43] That day. I changed it that day. Why? Because when I heard him say that, it wasn't audible. But when I heard that, if it comes from him, it's everything. When you hear him say your name, you'll never change it.
[00:48:56] I think he's going to change names and identity in this place today.
[00:49:00] I do.
[00:49:02] He's waiting for us.
[00:49:05] We're not having to wait on him.
[00:49:08] He might look like he's gone on. He's not. He's asking for you to invite him in, to stay, to reveal more, to break bread, all the things. So we're gonna go into a time of worship.
[00:49:20] And I would just like to say that if you're in this place and you've not yet met him, and somehow in your heart stuff is burning, you're just like, I feel like something's happening right now. I don't know him, but I know the people in this room do or I see sense his presence or Something's unique to me. Jesus is real. He died for your sins.
[00:49:40] This was written in multiple, like over what, 300 plus prophecies throughout the Bible. It's impossible for it to have come to pass without him and him fulfill it. If he was not the Lord, he's risen and he appeared to over 500 witnesses.
[00:50:00] He appeared, encountered over 500 people. If we spent from Monday to Friday hearing their testimony, every 15 minutes you could rotate them through and you would be an entire week long hearing the testimony of people who actually saw him after he raised, we could encounter him or we can just settle back.
[00:50:21] So let's go ahead and press in. Let's go ahead and let's go ahead and stand up. Let some of invite him to reveal himself and come however he wants to.
[00:50:32] Lord, we just ask you to have your way.
[00:50:34] We want to know you for ourselves.
[00:50:37] We cannot take the word of anybody else. You desire to reveal yourself face to face, make yourself known in this time. Take us from glory to glory, encounter to counter, but teach us to walk and to be with you every step of the way.
[00:51:02] Thank you for joining Kingdom Movement Online. I pray and hope that that sermon impacted you deeply. I would love if you shared this with a few friends and family. And before you go, don't forget to subscribe. See you next week.
