Encountering Jesus - Session Four

Encountering Jesus

Lord, we invite you here. Come, Jesus, come and visit us tonight.

The Priority of Jesus

It's always good when Jesus shows up—it's always easier to preach when Jesus shows up. We've just been through a season, and we're still in it, when God has been showing us how irrelevant our programs are in the church. The reason he's doing that is because he's trying to emphasize his priority, and his priority is Jesus. He's pointing us back to Jesus—to know Jesus, to encounter Jesus.

You know, the vision you have of Jesus is going to really determine the direction of your life. How you see him will determine how you see yourself. When you encounter him in all of his brilliance, his majesty, his greatness, his glory, we begin to limit him whenever we don't see him as he really is.

Who Jesus Is

He is the only way to the Father. He's the direct representative of the Father. When Jesus came, he came to destroy the works of the enemy—not to embrace them. He became a curse for us and in our behalf, and traded our sinful stuff for his righteousness.

He's come to us as:

• Savior
• Deliverer
• Conqueror

He leads us into mercy that triumphs over judgment. He is our Advocate and our Intercessor. He is the heir of all things. He is the Creator. He is the Sustainer. He is the radiance of our God. He is the exact imprint of the nature of our God and the face of God. He is perfect in all of his ways, and he holds everything together by the power of His word.

There's no one like him. And when you talk about him, he shows up.

The "I Am" Statements

When you go through the Book of John, you see these incredible "I am" statements. Jesus said:

• "I am the bread of life"
• "I am the light of the world"
• "I am the door"
• "I am the Good Shepherd"
• "I am the resurrection and the life"
• "I am the way, the truth, and the life"
• "I am the True Vine"

As we get to know the Lord, we begin to understand a little bit about our true identity. But to be able to understand our true identity, you're going to have to articulate who Jesus is. You're going to have to know who he is because you've encountered him.

We get to know God at first because we learn about him, but we need to know him because we've spent time with him. First John 5:20 says: "We know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding so that we may know him who is true, and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life."

Philippians 3:10 says: "That I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings, being conformed into his death."

We need to know who he is. I mean, we need to know who we are, but if you can say more about who you are than who he is, you may not be walking in who you are. As we get to know him, we start off by knowing him. Knowing him leads us into knowing who we are. But learning who we are always points back to him.

He is the beginning. He is the end. He is the Alpha. He is the Omega. Everything is about him and leads us back to him.

Limiting Jesus

Any ideology that limits who Jesus is is demonic in nature—it's Antichrist, religion, philosophy of humanism. When Jesus was having a conversation with his disciples, he said, "Who do men say that I am?" And they all gave what other people were saying. But then he said, "I want to know: who do you say that I am?" That's the question Jesus asks us.

Any doctrine that limits what you can contend for is also demonic in nature. There are no limitations for what you can run after and go after. People around you would want to put the lid on you, but if we look at the people of faith—those who contended for great things and saw amazing things—the people around them tried to shut them down, thought they were nuts. But they just ran after God, and God just honored their extravagant faith and extravagant pursuit.

In Luke 18:8, Jesus said: "When the Son of Man returns, will he find faith on the earth?" That question raises another question: Are you believing a lesser narrative than what the Bible says about Jesus?

The Bible describes Jesus as triumphant. It describes him as the Victor. It describes him as the King. And something happens when Jesus is lifted up. John 12:32 says: "If I be lifted up, I will draw all men to myself."

The world is looking for the real Jesus, and we're supposed to be lifting up the true Jesus.

In John 8:28, Jesus said: "When the Son of Man is lifted up, you will know that I am he, and that I do nothing on my own initiative. I only speak what I hear the Father saying."

What Causes Us to Limit Jesus?

What causes a person to limit Jesus—to limit who he is?

One thing is our disappointment. We have expectations of God, and he didn't meet our expectations. Because of that, we simply limit him. Or it could be that we've embraced some false beliefs. Or maybe we've just had a lack of encounters—we haven't had very many encounters with him. Or it could be that we only know him as Savior, but we've never encountered him as a King.

Jesus is wanting to encounter his people. There's a fresh wind that's blowing. I don't know if you can feel it, but I'm feeling the presence of Jesus. I'm feeling this fresh wind for the last few months, and things are just beginning to happen.

God Honors Prayer

God never does anything without the people of God praying. If you look at all the moves of God—the awakenings and the revivals—you'll find that there are people who prayed that thing in.

In 1857, a guy named Jeremiah Lamphere started a prayer meeting—a noon prayer meeting in New York City. That began to burst open in the next year. In 1858, they actually called it The Prayer Revival. All they did was pray. The presence of God came—even ships that would come into the harbor, people would fall under conviction just on the ships coming in. That's how powerful the presence of God was.

Looking around the world now, you would find probably more houses of prayer than the world has ever seen. It's a phenomenon. There are lots of houses of prayer right here in England, I'm sure in London—places that have simply devoted themselves, many of them 24/7, praying and interceding before God, calling on God to come. And God is going to honor all the prayer that has been coming up.

A Global Prayer Movement

There's a group—the website is like 110cities.com—that has been gathering 130 million intercessors to focus on a part of the world on one day. Last January they focused on China. Five days ago, 130 million intercessors focused on the Middle East. On May 31st, that 130 million intercessors are going to be focusing on Israel. And then sometime in September or October, they're going to focus on India.

Mike Bickle is jumping on this thing. He started the Kansas City Vineyard and then the IHOP—the International House of Prayer. Forty years ago, Mike Bickle had some encounters where the prophet Bob Jones showed up and began to prophesy. He had 21 days of just encounters where all the things this prophet said began to happen. The 40th anniversary of that is coming up in May.

What he's doing, he's gathering people to pray and intercede for 21 days. He already has 300,000 intercessors signed up and expects by the time they start around May 7th that they will have probably a million intercessors who've given themselves to 21 days of fasting and prayer, culminating in praying for Israel.

Do you really realize how significant this is in this day? If God doesn't show up, he's just a liar. But he's not, and he's going to honor the prayers of his people.

The Billion Soul Harvest Prophecies

There have been a lot of prophets over the years who've been prophesying about a billion-soul harvest. You can see some of these prophecies going back to the 1940s, 50s, and 60s. Bob Jones prophesied about this, and one of his prophecies was that when the Kansas City Chiefs won the Super Bowl, you'd know it's starting. Well, that happened a couple of years ago.

But he also said three other things would be happening around the time that the billion-soul harvest begins. When he said these things, it was back in the early 1980s.

First, he said abortion would be perfected in a pill—which has happened.

Second, he said people in Asia in rice paddies could actually watch television on their wrist and be able to watch prayer meetings. Did you notice there are certain things we have now that can actually do YouTube?

Third, in the context of our country, the USA, he said homosexuality will be made legal in the United States. On December 13th, they repealed the Defense of Marriage Act and replaced it with the Respect for Marriage Act, which legalized homosexual unions across the nation. And then a few weeks later, Kansas City won the Super Bowl.

Asbury Revival and Recent Movements

Something is beginning. On February 8th in Wilmore, Kentucky, at Asbury University, an assistant coach gave a message for chapel. He talked about the love of God, and something happened. Some people skipped class and stayed there—maybe 15 to 16 people who just got caught up in it. They were there for a period of time, and then they went to lunch. But when they came back, they found that God was moving in the chapel. Students had gone to their professors asking if they could go back to the chapel. God began to visit that place.

With Facebook and YouTube, people started streaming this thing. Pretty soon everybody goes, "God's moving at Asbury!" And there is a hunger for the move of God.

It's a small town. Can you imagine what would happen if 20,000 people decided to descend on Chorleywood in one day?

I had some friends show up. They drove down from Washington DC, got one of the last Airbnbs in town, and spent eight hours in the rain waiting to get in. They said, "We didn't want to leave." It wasn't the program—there wasn't really a program. It was the presence. There was a little bit of music going on, somebody on the piano, somebody on the guitar, just singing some songs. But the presence of God was there, and they didn't want to leave.

The second week, 20,000 people showed up in town. The sewage system backed up. They had already planned two years before to have a simulcast from that university. The 200th anniversary of the college and a Day of Prayer, planned two years before. Was that a coincidence, or was God planting something?

When the simulcast started, about 5,000 campuses and places began to tune in on the National College Day of Prayer. Five days after that started, the Kansas City Chiefs won the Super Bowl.

Historical Revivals

This isn't the first time Asbury has had a visitation from God. One of the first times we have record of happens in the early 1900s. There was a move of God that went around the world.

You had the Welsh Revival over on this side in Wales, with Evan Roberts—right around that time period in the early 1900s. That move of God lasted about 11 months. A lot of times revivals don't die because God quits; usually, people get tired.

On our part of the world, you had Azusa Street in Southern California. That one lasted for quite a while and became the birthplace of many Pentecostal denominations.

But there were other places too where God was percolating his presence. There was a place in the state of Kansas where God was visiting, but you don't hear much about that one. And at that same time, Asbury—God came and showed up. It's a Methodist school, and the emphasis seemed to be the Holiness of God as he visited that place and changed many people's lives.

In 1970, eight days, God just showed up at Asbury.

The Jesus Movement

There was something going on in the 1970s that kind of started up in the San Francisco Bay Area in the summer of 1968—what they called the Summer of Love. And in all of these hippies, God showed up. There was a move of God in Haight-Ashbury where all these hippies were. God showed up there in 1968.

One of the men impacted by that move was Lonnie Frisbee, who then went down to Southern California and connected with Chuck Smith at Calvary Chapel. That was a part of what's called the Jesus Movement or the Jesus Revolution. A movie just came out called the Jesus Revolution. It's Greg Laurie's story as he was changed and transformed—he's still pastoring in Southern California. But it was Lonnie and Chuck Smith, and God showed up. They started baptizing thousands of people in the beaches.

When that movie came out, it came right as the Asbury stuff was breaking out. The movie had been scheduled to come out five or six months earlier but couldn't get released. When it finally came out, it was the highest-grossing movie that week. It exceeded expectations by about 10 times.

God starts something in Asbury, and all of a sudden we were reminded what God did back in the 1970s.

My Father's Experience with Revival

I remember that movement at Asbury—not because I was there, but because my dad invited somebody from that school to come and share what happened that week. My dad was a man who was hungry for revival. He had experienced revival himself.

When my dad pastored in West Texas, he invited a man named Dr. Seal Culpepper to come and preach. Dr. Culpepper was part of a revival in China called the Shantung Revival—the greatest Baptist revival that Baptists have ever experienced. It's crazy. You can read about it in a book from Global Awakening.

When Dr. Culpepper showed up at our church, the Spirit of God moved across the congregation. He's the only guy I ever asked to sign my Bible. I was so impacted as a young teenager by the presence of God in that church.

My dad became hungry for revival and ran after it. When he heard there was something going on at Asbury, he said, "I want somebody from there to come to our church." So we invited a man named David Perry to come and preach.

That morning, my dad didn't preach in our church. He had somebody else come and talk about how God moves. It created an interest. And this was the First Baptist Church in a county seat town in Oklahoma—the most extremely traditional Southern Baptist church you can get.

That night, everybody showed up. It filled the house. We started singing hymns because we're a good Baptist church. Then it was time for the message, but he wasn't there. We kept singing these hymns, singing and singing. Finally, he shows up and walks right into the pulpit.

He only preached for 20 minutes, and all he talked about was, "This happened because Jesus is Lord. That happened because Jesus is Lord." It wasn't even a polished message. Then he left.

We're all just sitting there like, "What do we do now?" And then a man on the back part of the auditorium stands up and yells at a man in the choir loft. He says, "Will you forgive me?" and begins to repent of his sin against this man. The man yells back, "Yes, I forgive you!" And they run and embrace in the middle. Then on the other side, another man stands up and is looking for someone. They find each other. They happen to be brothers who were at odds with each other. They embrace each other.

After that, all heaven broke loose in that house.

We didn't have cell phones to call people, but all of a sudden it grew. People went home, grabbed people, and brought them back. For hours, the presence of God was there, and people were changed. For years afterward, they all talked about that night when God came and changed us. He changed the church. He changed the direction of the church.

It just took one encounter with Jesus—one night—and it changed this entire church in our town.

My dad was one of the greatest pastors even though he was only there two and a half years. And that's because he happened to be there when God showed up. It wasn't even his doing. It was all God.

Jesus Is Here Now

This is not something Jesus just did back then. There's something that is going on in the now. Jesus is coming and showing his preeminence. Jesus is coming and visiting us as our first love, and he's calling us back into a relationship with him. He's inviting us to see him as he is—in the fullness of who he is—and to encounter him.

There's a fresh wind blowing. And whenever Jesus shows up, he elicits a response.

Running After His Presence

After I got a taste of the moves of God, I ran after that myself. I ran after his presence. I ran after him. In the mid-1980s, I got introduced to John Wimber. I went to a Signs and Wonders conference where I met Blaine Cook for the very first time, and then I actually met John Wimber himself later that year.

For years and years, my wife and I drove down to Anaheim, California. It was a watering hole for us. When God began to move, I just wanted to be in on it. I encountered the Toronto stuff. I travel with the guy who lit that fire in Toronto. He's my good friend. I do conferences with him and Bill Johnson.

When I found out who Bill Johnson was, I lived in California and went and hung out because I want to be in on what God is doing.

Come and Drink

Jesus said: "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. And I'll pour living waters will flow out of his belly." He talked about the Spirit that is to come, but it hadn't yet been given because Jesus had not been glorified.

But Jesus has been glorified, so that is for us today.

"If anyone is thirsty"—that's in the present tense, continuous action. It's not just that you get thirsty once and you get filled. Because in the spirit, the more you drink, the thirstier you get. The more you eat, the hungrier you get.

When somebody says, "Well, I'm just quite full spiritually," I say, "Well, you haven't been eating. You haven't been drinking." Because once you taste and see that the Lord is good, it whets your appetite for something else and for more.

Once you begin to encounter and taste Jesus in the fullness of who he is, it's like, "Oh, I gotta have more of that. Got to get me more of that." It creates a hunger for more.

"If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me continually and drink continually." And you see what happens: you take a drink and a river flows from you because he changes your capacity.

Are you thirsty? Well, you just need to start drinking. You start pursuing it, and he shows up.

Recognizing God's Move

When God begins to move, not everybody recognizes that as God. We can all recognize it's God when we see it in its maturity, but we don't always recognize God when it shows up in its infancy.

But Jesus said: "The kingdom is like a seed that's planted, and as it begins to emerge, the first that comes up is a blade." In other words, you see something green sticking out of the ground, and you look at that and go, "Is that wheat or is that a weed? I can't tell because they look the same right now."

When it grows up in its maturity, sure, you can recognize it as God. But when God starts, he doesn't start with maturity. He starts with immaturity—with seeds that are planted and begin to emerge.

You could recognize Jesus as the Messiah when he was a baby if you had angels showing up with the shepherds. I mean, you go, "Oh, that's got to be the Messiah! Look at all the angelic hosts!" It doesn't take rocket science to figure that one out. But when he shows up at the temple, he probably looks like everybody else—just another baby. But two people, Anna and Simeon, looked at the infant and recognized him as the Messiah.

Because they had been praying for the Messiah, and when God shows up, you'll recognize him.

He Is Here

I don't know if you're sensing it, but he's here. I'm just sitting back in this room earlier, and all of a sudden, at the end of that last session, his presence just overwhelms me. I go, "Whoa, you showed up."

As people come up and get prayer, he was here, and I felt him, and I recognize him. He's here.

Just close your eyes. You may not recognize him, but he wants you to recognize him. You see, Jesus wants you to encounter him—and him alone. You don't need somebody praying for you to encounter Jesus. Just invite him right now. Just invite him to sit with you.

He's our friend. He's not coming to beat you up or condemn you. He's not coming here to tell you how bad you are. He's come here to tell you how much he loves you and that he likes hanging out with you.

Lord, we want nothing else but you. You said if we don't need to be afraid of an imitation when we're asking for you. If we ask for an egg, you're not going to give us a rock. If we ask for a fish, you're not going to give us a snake. You're going to give us you. He will protect that.

Don't be afraid of a counterfeit when you're asking for the real Jesus to show up.

Come, Lord Jesus, and just show up. Visit us now. We just want you. We just want you. Just give me Jesus. Just give me Jesus.

When he touches our heart, it comes out of our mouth, and we can't help talking about him. He's so glorious. He's so amazing. He's so beautiful. His majesty is so overwhelming.

Lord, we want to see you in your glory, in your fullness. We just want to encounter you, Jesus. You're no stranger to this room. You have been here, and you have poured yourself out here.

Just come and reveal who you are. Just come as our first love.

And there is no expectation of you to respond in any particular way. There is no expectation—only that you look face to face at your King and let him push aside any other desire in your life that would take his place.

We invite you, Lord, just to come and let us see you face to face.