Principles of Consecration from the Lives of Jesus and John the Baptist

We're in a season of consecration. The word consecration

means to be dedicated to a sacred purpose. We're

in a season as a church where we're asking God,

set us apart. Purify us. We're opening up our

hearts and saying, God, we're no longer satisfied

with where we used to be in You. We want to go

to a place that we've never known in You, be

more effective for Your kingdom than we've ever

been. And so we're opening up our lives and saying,

consecrate us. Purify us. Set us apart. And I'm

just so proud of you. Weeks ago, we started off

our consecration season, September 27. This whole

altar here was filled with gifts that you brought

God. Things that were competing for your affection

for God that you committed to give up during

this season. I'm so proud of you. And I just

want to encourage you not to give up in the process

of consecration. I want to wet your spiritual

appetite that there's coming in the days ahead,

and I'm so excited about 2027. in my own life

and in this church. There's coming days ahead

where we're going to be operating in the kingdom

like we didn't think possible. The Scripture

says more than we can ask or imagine, doesn't

it? Well, who wants that? Okay. I was telling

them last night, I was sharing at the worship

night, I've been meditating on this passage in

the Old Testament on the consecration of the

temple. where Solomon built a temple on the earth

for God to dwell in. And it started with a desire

in David and his father David and Solomon's heart.

They desired to give God a dwelling place on

the earth. They wanted to build Him a house.

It says where He could put His name, right? And

they wanted to commune with God. That was the

initial desire. They wanted to have a communing

relationship with God in that He was not just

in the heavens. And that's what Solomon prayed

in the consecration of the temple. God, we know

that You can dwell anywhere in the heavens, but

we want to provide a place for You. And I want

to encourage you because I believe you as a church,

you're one of the most hungry, desirous group

of people. to commune with God, and for him to

have a place to dwell, and for his kingdom to

come to the earth. And that's the foundation

that we've been building for years now. And then

I want to fast forward to the end of the story

in Saul's consecration of the temple, in that

he consecrates the temple, he prays a prayer,

he invites the presence of God, and if you read

in the events, Fire literally comes down from

heaven in their midst and consumes the sacrifice.

And then the cloud of God's glory envelops the

entire gathering place to the extent that the

weight of His glory makes it impossible for the

priest to carry out their priestly duties. I

absolutely believe that that's where we're going

as a church. We're going to be experiencing and

operating in the glory and in the presence of

the Lord that it's going to radically change

everything in our lives, in our purpose. We're

going to be operating in the fullness of God

like we never have before. Does anybody want

to go there? Here's what I was encouraging them

last night. You got the first of the story, the

end of the story, but in the middle, How does

Solomon consecrate the temple? Sacrifices. Lots

of them. In one record of the story, we read

it last night, it's in 2 Chronicles 6 and 7.

I think it said, we read it last night, it's

22 ,000 head of cattle and 120 ,000 sheep and

goats were sacrificed. And the sacrifice... was

so intense, so lengthy, that Solomon had built

a bronze altar for sacrifice, but it wasn't big

enough for all the sacrifices that were being

made. So Solomon went out to the courtyard of

the new temple. The courtyard, the gathering

place. And it says he consecrated the courtyard

as the place of sacrifice. and this is what I

encouraged them last night, and I feel it strong

in my heart to encourage you today. Do not give

up in the season of sacrificing. God may call

you to more sacrifice than you thought He would.

More sacrifice than you thought you were willing

to give up. Do not quit. Do not go back. It may

take longer than you think. It turned out from

this one event into a festival of days and days.

of sacrificing your season of consecration in

which god is purifying you asking you to live

a surrendered sacrificial lifestyle it may take

longer than you thought persevere don't give

up and also it may take more space in your heart

than what you originally thought they had to

move from the altar to the courtyard because

more sacrifices had to be made you may have to

give god more space in your heart, your mind,

your life, your solitude, than you thought you

were going to. But I just want you to be so excited

about the outcome. The outcome of His glory,

of His presence, of His power. The reward is

the fullness of Christ and operating in the kingdom

of heaven on the earth. But there is a period

of consecration that we're currently in. Do not

give up. Do not pull out. Do not hold back. Keep

going. I want to look at some principles of consecration

from the lives of Jesus and John the Baptist.

In my mind, when I think about all the heroes

of the faith, and there are many, both in the

Scriptures and in the history of the church fathers,

so many heroes, but I can't think of two more

consecrated people than Jesus and John the Baptist,

who literally... lived all the days of their

life on purpose for the kingdom of heaven. And

so I'd like to just take a look at their lives

for the next few moments. And we'll go as far

as time allows. We're not in a hurry. And I'm

also very aware of the time. And so we'll go

as far into these principles as the Lord wants

us to today. And then we'll pick it up next week

and next week and next week until Jesus comes

back. It would be great. We're in no hurry. Principles

of consecration from the lives of Jesus and John

the Baptist. Number one, I think we have these.

Number one, thank you Valerie for putting these

in for us. And all the other million things you

do to make this place run on a weekly basis.

We're so blessed to have Valerie on our team.

Thank you. Number one, consecration should be

generational. It's never too late to establish

a consecrated lifestyle for the next generation.

Consecration should be generational. It's never

too late to establish a consecrated lifestyle

for the next generation. Don't be discouraged.

There's good truth for you. If you're saying,

Jesse, I was not... consecrated as a child I

was not given a childhood of consecration if

you knew where I came from you would consider

it a miracle that I'm even sitting here okay

don't leave me because just because that's what

you experience does not mean that God doesn't

want something better for the kingdom when we

look at the lives of what I believe the two most

consecrated people recorded in history as they

live their lives. What's interesting is it starts

with a family that's consecrated to God. John

the Baptist. We have Zachariah and Elizabeth.

Jesus. We have Mary and Joseph. These people

that are just normal people. Normal people, but

that God encountered them. God reached into their

life and called them out to be separate, to be

consecrated. And these parents wrestled with

consecration. You remember, right? When Zachariah

was doing his priestly duties and the angel of

the Lord came and said, I know your wife's barren,

but you're going to have a baby. And he begins

to prophesy about who John the Baptist is. You

remember, Zachariah questions God in such a way

that God strikes him dumb. He's not able to talk

until after. John is born. And there's a struggle

there. And of course, we know Mary even had her

questions. How can this possibly be? I'm a virgin.

I've never been with a man. And there was a struggle

in them. Of course, Mary being rejected for being

pregnant and not yet married. And there's a process

that was consecration for the family. But I want

to read. these beautiful passages. Let's turn

in Luke 1. If you want to read the first three

chapters of Luke this week, I think it will encourage

you in this concept of consecrating our lives.

Because we're not just consecrating ourselves

for ourselves, we're consecrating ourselves so

that God can do more than we ever thought possible

in the future generation. Luke 1, verse 76. Just

Luke 1:76

focusing on a few passages here out of time,

but I encourage you to read the whole thing.

This is verse 76 in the midst of Zechariah's

prophetic song. He's filled with the Holy Spirit

and begins to prophesy over his son. In verse

76 he says, And you, my child, speaking of John

the Baptist, will be called a prophet of the

Most High. For you will go on before the Lord

to prepare the way for Him, to give His people

the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness

of their sins because of the tender mercy of

our God, by which the rising sun will come to

us from heaven. to shine on those living in darkness

and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet

into the path of peace. In verse 80, speaking

of John the Baptist, and the child grew and became

strong in spirit, and he lived in the desert

until he appeared publicly to Israel. And then

if we look over at chapter 2, verse 39, through

42, we see Joseph and Mary doing their part,

walking in obedience, walking in their own consecration

to prepare the way for Jesus to walk in His.

Verse 39 -42, And when Joseph and Mary had done

everything required by the law of the Lord, they

returned to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth.

And the child grew, the child being Jesus, the

child grew and became strong. and he was filled

with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon him.

And every year his parents went to Jerusalem

to the feast of the Passover. And when he was

12 years old, they went up to the feast according

to the custom. And what I want you to see is

that both Zachariah and Elizabeth and Joseph

and Mary lived a life of consecration to prepare

the way for their children who would live more

consecrated lives than they would. But they prepared

the way. And here's the challenge of the consecrated

lifestyle this morning. Don't give up. Press

into the purification. Press into the time of

sacrifice. Because you are preparing the way.

For your physical children, your grandchildren,

your spiritual children to walk in a consecration

that you never thought possible. These parents

raised their children in the fear of the Lord

and the ways of God and set them in a place for

them to experience their own consecration in

miraculous and wonderful ways. Now, with that

said, I would like to speak to those of you who

did inherit a kingdom environment. You inherited,

maybe not perfect, but you inherited a consecrated

lifestyle. Your parents devoted themselves to

the Lord. They loved God the best they could.

They followed God. They served God. And they

gave you the generational gift of knowing God

and His ways. If that's you, why don't you just

raise your hand. You say, my parents gave me

the gift of consecration. Wow. Wow! First of

all, let's just thank God. Thank You, God. Thank

You, God. And here's what I want to encourage

you. Do not waste it on the things of this world.

Steward the consecration that you were given

for the generations to come. It is not yours

to give away. It was a gift given to you. Don't

you dare waste it on the ways of this world.

Press into consecration. Steward it well so that

the generation after you can receive what you

received with increase. You understand God is

a God of stewardship. And when He returns, just

like all the parables, He returns and demands

interest on what He's given. Some people don't

like that. I'm sorry. Read the New Testament.

Parable after parable that Jesus spoke. He said,

and when the Father returns with His angels,

and then the parable. He's talking about the

return. And how God expects interest. If you

received an inheritance of faith and consecration,

do not waste it. Steward it. Steward it. Steward

it. Press into more so that you give the next

generation with increase in interest. They ought

to be operating in more than you were given.

because of your own consecration lifestyle. Amen?

You receive that? For those of you that did not

inherit a consecrated lifestyle, you've come

from places of brokenness, hurt, wounded, selfishness.

We're not saying that your parents weren't good

people, but they weren't kingdom people. And

you did not inherit a lifestyle of consecration.

Here's what I want to tell you. You are cycle

breakers. You are cycle breakers. The blood has

been spilt. The body has been torn so that you

can move past what you were given into your inheritance

so that your children and your grandchildren

and your spiritual children can have what you

did not. And I want to say, I am so proud of

you. Jill and I were talking about this week,

just between the two of us, we were talking about

we know several families in our church that came

from horrible, broken lives. And now they are

living the consecrated lifestyle and they're

pressing into it and their children are already

walking in things that they never had. And I

just want to say, good job. Well done, good and

faithful servant. You received something that

was broken and you were faithful to let God redeem

it, and now you're operating and giving them

a gift that you never had. It's miraculous. It's

miraculous. God, we thank You for redeeming the

brokenness. I just want to say, don't give up.

Keep going. It's not easy to live a consecrated

lifestyle. especially in the area of parenting.

Hallelujah. I mean, you can't make this up. I

walk up to church this morning. I see a man in

our church I know serious about the kingdom.

I said, hey man, how you doing? He said, man,

me and my kid, we're just at it. I'm having to

correct them over and over. I just told him,

don't give up, brother. What you're doing...

It's producing a life of consecration. Don't

give up. Especially to you fathers. It's so easy

on top of all of our other responsibilities that

we feel like we have. It's so easy that when

it comes to the family and the children to check

out and let that be our spouse's job or our spouse's

area. No, it's yours. You are the spiritual leader.

You are the place. that God has used and intended

to use to bring about a consecration for generations

to come. Don't give up. Keep going. And I want

to encourage you with this. It's not too late.

If you're like, Jesse, man, my kids are grown,

and man, I look back and I don't think I did

a really great job of living consecrated or giving

them a generational consecration lifestyle. Or

you say, whatever it is, or I never even had

kids, or whatever it is that the devil wants

to try to use any kind of shame or guilt to disqualify

you, I want to say to you, it's never too late.

You say, well, maybe it is. Are you a barren

lady laughing at God? Then it's not too late

for you either. Some of you are like, Jesse,

if you're prophesying kids, you can get on out

of here. That's not what I'm talking about. I'm

talking about it's never too late for you to

start now providing generational consecration.

Whether you're a grandfather, a great -grandfather,

a spiritual father to two people, whether you're

a disciple maker to one disciple, it's never

too late. Don't stop. Don't give up. Press in.

Because it is your job to make disciples. Not

the preacher's job. It's not the church's job.

Yes, it is the preacher's job, you know what

I'm saying, in my own personal life. But it can't

be skated off on anybody else. It's your job

to make disciples. Moms, grandmothers, spiritual

mothers. It's your job to create the consecrated

lifestyle and give it to the next generation.

Does that make sense? There is absolutely no

limit to what God can do in you and in the generation

that you're pressing in for. Limitless. Could

we just pause right here? Let's just take a moment

to repent if we need to. If we've relinquished

our task of consecration, preparing the way for

the next generation. If we've failed, if we laid

it down, if we've ignored it, let's just repent

right now. Just go to God honestly. Say, God,

I'm sorry. I'm not thinking about it the way

You've been thinking about it. I'm sorry. I want

to change my mindset. I want to come back to

this place You called me. Just repent right now.

Isn't He gracious? So good to give the gift of

repentance. Receive it. Receive the gift. Now

let's commit. To be generational consecration

people. What you do right here in this next five

seconds can change generations until Jesus returns.

Will you commit? Commit to Him. Good job. God,

I too commit. And we're thankful that You will

empower us by Your Spirit with everything we

need for life and godliness. We're not fearful.

About the task You've given us because we know

You've given us everything we need in the moment

that we need it. We trust You. And we have ears

to hear what the Spirit says. Amen. Principles

of consecration. Jesus and John. Number two,

consecration is shaped and fortified by the difficulty

of the wilderness. Isn't it interesting that

the most powerful people we can find in the Scriptures

all spent their time in the wilderness. Think

about it. Moses, David, Elijah, the Apostle Paul,

Jesus, John the Baptist. These people that have

rocked eternity with the faithfulness of their

lives. They were all forged and fortified in

wilderness. Luke 1, verse 80, And the child grew,

Luke 1:80

speaking of John, And the child grew and became

strong in spirit. And he lived in the desert,

some of your versions say wilderness, until he

appeared publicly to Israel. Of course, we flip

over the page. Luke 3, verse 2. And during the

Luke 3:2

high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the Word

of God came to John, son of Zechariah, in the

wilderness. Just look across the page. Luke 4,

Luke 4:1

verse 1 and 2 there. And Jesus, full of the Holy

Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led

by the Spirit into the desert or wilderness where

for 40 days He was tempted by the devil and He

ate nothing during those days and at the end

of them, He was hungry. The word for desert or

wilderness here in the Greek, eromos, when you

look at both... Strong's definition and Thayer's

definition, they're listed out here, means lonesome,

desolate, solitary, this is interesting, deprived

of the aid and protection of others or friends.

God often uses times of hardship and desolation

to draw our hearts to Him and teach us to be

completely dependent on Him alone. Listen, I...

I can only imagine that for John growing up in

the wilderness in isolation, eating locusts and

wild honey, wearing camel's hair, I can only

imagine that that's not an extremely comfortable

way to come into the kingdom. Of course, Jesus,

40 days in this battle with the devil, of course,

completely thrashing Him with the Word of God

and being victorious as He is. but also not feeding

His flesh, not eating for those 40 days in the

wilderness, in those places of isolation and

desolation. It was in those hardships that God

forged them and many other great people of God

into understanding that He was enough for them.

And I want to encourage and challenge you. As

you say yes, To this season of consecration.

The glory season is coming. We're going to study

through the book of Acts as a church. And we're

going to read through the book. And everything

that's available in the book of Acts. We're going

to pray for God to do in us. It's going to be

glorious next year. I'm so thrilled. But now.

Right now. We're in the season. of wilderness,

of consecration, of going into the place where

you're not comforted by all the stuff and all

the people, and it's you in him, and you've opened

up your heart to him, and you've said, God, do

the things in me that only you can do in me so

that I can be the person in you that I dream

of being. Be willing. I've heard from so many

people that as we've said yes to the season of

consecration, that it brought more hardship than

you thought. And listen, some of that's just

the devil getting mad that so many people are

getting powerful in the kingdom. And just start

kicking them in the teeth, in the name of Jesus,

taking authority. Some of that is your own flesh

raging against consecration. Does anybody else's

flesh hate consecration? Mine does. Yesterday

I had two beautiful parties that I went to, full

of beautiful food. But I had already committed

the day to fasting to the Lord, to consecrate

my heart. So I watched people eat this glorious

barbecue. And my wife said, you're not eating

anything? Jerk. She knew I was fasting. My flesh

hates consecration. But there's something on

the other side that I'm going to. And I'm not

going to let the dream of whom I'm becoming rob

me of the season of consecration now. I'm going

to press in. I'm going to let God put His finger

on anything He wants to put His finger on. There's

not one thing off limits to God right now. I've

never lived in such a consecrated mindset that

I am right now. And nothing is off limits. And

He keeps touching stuff that I didn't know He

needed to touch. Does this make sense? These

seasons of wilderness are where we learn to hear

His voice for ourselves. Oh, it's so good. Press

into your desert or wilderness because you've

got to learn to hear His voice for yourself.

You've got to go to the place where the only

voice you hear is the devil's and God's, and

you determine which is which and which you're

going to follow. We're in a Christendom where

there's so many voices, and if we're not careful,

we can live our life. off the overflow of our

favorite preacher or our podcast or our favorite

worship band or our favorite worship leader.

But there's something that happens in the wilderness.

If you won't get out too early, you begin to

hear His voice and know it. And once you've come

to that place, like Jesus said, the voice of

another you'll never follow. These seasons are

when we learn to have victory over the devil.

Hallelujah. When we're fat and happy and too

busy for our own good and the ways of this world,

the devil's just feeding the fat and happy and

the busyness so we don't think about it. But

when we go into the wilderness, we meet our own

flesh and we meet the devil and it's there in

the power of God, in the consecration, in the

communion of desolation with God. It's in that

place that we have total victory over our enemies.

I'm not trying to be... a downer here but i want

to tell you i want to encourage you because i've

done it i've done it don't short circuit your

own maturity and consecration by refusing the

wilderness or getting yourself out of it too

early by your own efforts and the spirit will

lead you the spirit will lead you It was the

Spirit that led Jesus into the wilderness. The

Spirit that led Him all through the wilderness.

And the Spirit that led Him out of the wilderness.

And He'll do it for you too. You say, Jesse,

I don't know if this is a wilderness that God

wants me to go to or if this is the devil trying

to beat me up. Get alone with God. The Spirit

will lead you. He'll lead you in. He'll lead

you out. He'll lead you through. He knows exactly

what you need and when you need it. And here,

I want to encourage you in this. Now with Jesus,

He didn't have any failures that we know of in

the wilderness. John, when he walked through

the wilderness of prison, he began to say, is

this really Jesus the one we've been waiting

for or should we look for somebody else? That's

honesty in the wilderness. The guy who when the

pregnant bellies came close, The Spirit of God

jumped in Elizabeth's body. The Bible says that

John the Baptist was filled with the Holy Spirit

from before birth. And that guy walks through

the wilderness and doubts God. Maybe you and

I, we have some failures in the wilderness. It's

okay. It's okay. I know I've failed in so many

wilderness. I literally went to the desert when

I was deployed. And I thought I was strong for

the Lord, and I crumpled into a little spiritual

baby. My wife and I look back at those times,

and we had some best friends that were deployed

with us, and they thrived. They became stronger.

They became what I want to be. And Jill and I

wilted in the desert. But even through that failure,

God redeemed it. He matured me. He changed me.

He taught me. And now I have a testimony. So,

just because you're in the wilderness, or have

been in the wilderness, and you failed, or you

wussed out, or you tapped out early, or you crawled

into a little ball and cried like a spiritual

baby, repent. Get back up. He'll redeem it. Even

your failures are for your good. Even your failures

He will use for your good to those who love Him

and are called according to His purpose. Okay?

Consecration is shaped and fortified by the difficulty

of the wilderness. If you're in a wilderness,

or if you're not, there's a high probability

that you might in some time in your life. In

this world, you will have troubles. Let us commit

now. Let's commit now. God, I will not whine

in the wilderness. I will not take a shortcut.

I submit to You. Can we just do that? Just right

now, you and the Lord, I submit to what you want

to do in the wilderness. It's okay to tell them,

if it's the devil, I don't want any part of it.

And you shouldn't. Take authority, kick him in

the teeth, walk in victory. But if it's something

God, the Spirit of God's leading you into, walk

with confidence. Lord, we commit the time of

wilderness to you. We will draw near to you,

not run away from you. We will cling to your

voice, not reject it. This is our commitment

to You. Lord, I know You see our commitments

and it probably causes You to want to chuckle

a little bit. You're like, Son, if You only knew.

So would You release the grace necessary for

us to be true to our commitment? Our hearts are

right. We want to commit to walk through difficult

seasons and victory and immaturity and letting

You do it. Our flesh is weak, God. Release Your

power for us to be faithful in the wilderness.

Just like Your Son was. We want to be just like

Him. Just like Him. We receive it by faith. Amen?

1150. I'll be quick with this one. We'll close.

It's pretty straightforward anyway. Consecrated

lifestyle is maintained through intentional times

of solitude. There are times when the Spirit

of God puts you into a wilderness. that creates

a foundation of consecration in your life. But

the consecrated lifestyle is maintained through

your own choice to have times of solitude with

God. You see all those verses. I mean, it's just

a few of them. When we look at John the Baptist

and Jesus, it was their nature to want to get

away from the crowds, get away from the busyness,

and go up on the mountain, go into the place

of solitude, and spend time with God. And don't

you know, with all the demands that were on their

life, I just fully believe the only way that

they were able to maintain that day -in and day

-out consecrated lifestyle is they made the better

choice to sit at God's feet. They made the choice,

the intentional effort to get away. You know

what Jesus was doing before He chose twelve beautiful...

knuckleheads to be His disciples. He stayed up

all night by Himself just Him and God praying.

Receiving wisdom. Receiving revelation. Can I

encourage you that you're not that special. That

you can rock the consecrated lifestyle without

spending time with God. You're not that great.

If the greatest man ever born of woman needed

times of isolation, if the Son of the living

God had to get away from busyness and be alone

with God, we need it. Because in these times,

and I'm not, can I push you a little bit? I'm

not talking about just your 15 to 30 minute devotional

in the morning. That's not what Jesus was doing.

He woke up in an attitude of prayer, absolutely.

But there are times when he said, these crowds

are too much. I'm going away. And then they would

follow him and he would go away further somewhere

else. He was very intentional about times of

solitude. We need them because it's in those

times in which we have whined to ourselves and

cried until we're quiet before Him that He begins

to shape us. That He begins to purge. The ways

of the world. The thinking of the world out of

our hearts and our mind. And He begins to infuse

in us the Spirit of God. He reminds us of our

purpose. He reminds us of the reason why we live

consecrated. And those times are very important.

Could this not be theoretical? And I'm asking

you to be serious. When is the last time you

scheduled two hours to be alone with God? Two

hours. Just you and God. alone somewhere when's

the last time when's the last time you did four

hours just press in five minutes in you may be

thinking this was the dumbest decision i ever

made but if you'll press in those four hours

will change your life does anybody know what

i'm talking about when's the last time you gave

him eight hours i said jesse eight hours you're

gonna live like 800 000 or something some crazy

number Eight's really not that big a deal. When's

the last time you gave Him 24 hours? Oh man,

this is where it starts getting good. I'm telling

you, you get 24 hours just you alone with God,

rent a hotel room and throw the TV in the hallway,

put down your phone, go to a friend's cabin.

beg a buddy's lake house, whatever it takes,

and give him 24 hours of solitude, and I promise

you that you will walk away a changed person.

You cannot encounter him in solitude and not

be changed. The problem is, Christendom is operating

on leftovers and not on solitude. We're not operating

in the overflow of spending that time with him.

Husbands, do it. schedule it, and then make time

for your wives and your children. Do whatever's

necessary to give your wife 24 hours. Whatever

it takes. Whatever you got to do. Nag her if

necessary. Do all the things. And if she takes

that 24 hours and goes shopping at TJ Maxx, that's

not on you. You create the 24 hours and say,

babe, this is what God has called me to do to

lead you into solitude. Challenge your children.

We'll do everything in the world to make sure

they're successful in finance, in the world,

in sports, in business. When's the last time

you created space and told them you're going

to spend this time in solitude with God and guided

them through the process? It's so important.

I can't tell you how crazy Our lives would be

adjusted for the kingdom of heaven if every person

in this room gave God four hours of solitude

this week. Try me. Let's do it. It's never going

to happen by accident. If you have to schedule

your dentist, you're probably going to have to

schedule God. As sad as it is. I'll be like,

well, one day the heavens will open up. I'll

have nothing to do with four hours. I'll feel

like fasting. It'll be glorious. No, it won't

be like that. Make a commitment. Schedule it

like you would priority for anything else in

your life and keep it. I don't think that takes

the passion out of meeting with God to schedule

time with Him. Is that good? Can we stand together?

I want to give you a moment to commit to time

alone with God whether it's one hour, two, four,

six, eight, twenty -four. Go on quest and give

Him five and a half days. It'll change your life

forever. I guarantee it. Guarantee it. So let's

just commit to the Lord for a moment. If you're

scared, just say, God, I'm scared about spending

an hour with You alone. I'm scared, but I still

say yes. Help me. We say yes, God. In closing,

we had a prophetic word from our ministry team

through Noah Walker this morning. He said, I

thought it was just for the mission team, but

I feel like it's for today. He said, I believe

that the Lord wants to pour out His Spirit on

those who are hungry. Tongues of fire, a wind

from heaven, just like Pentecost. So, because

here's the deal, a consecrated lifestyle is only

possible through the person of the Holy Spirit.

Moments of consecration you can do on your own

willful willpower, right? You're just making

a decision. But continuing a lifestyle of consecration

is only possible through the empowerment of the

Holy Spirit. If you're hungry for a fresh filling,

why don't you just put your hands out in front

of you in a receiving fashion. And I would like

to read these words of our King, Luke 11. And

so I say to you, ask and it will be given to

you. Seek and you will find. Knock and the door

will be opened to you. For everyone who asks,

receives. He who seeks, finds. And to him who

knocks, the door will be opened. Which of you

fathers, if your son asks him for a fish, will

give him a snake instead? Or if he asks for an

egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, though

you are evil, know how to give good gifts to

your children, how much more will your Father

in Heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask

Him? Father, on the authority of the prophetic

Word that You gave Noah, we just put ourselves

in receiving fashion. And on the authority of

the eternal Word of Your Son Jesus, we ask, seek,

and knock. And You, our good Father, would You

be pleased to pour out on us the gift of Your

Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit, come. Baptize us. Fill

us to overflow. Wind of heaven, come. Fire of

God, come. I'm honestly having to make myself

stay on my feet right now. We love you, Holy

Spirit. We honor you. Keep filling us. Keep filling

us, Holy Spirit. We just want to be more in love

with Jesus and useful for the Father's kingdom.

Fill us. We welcome you, Holy Spirit. We honor

you. We love you. And we always will. We receive

fresh baptism today. In Jesus' name, amen.