that's a good word right there that's a way to start a conference right there um Once you turn in first Samuel chapter 10 I want to share encounters have great purpose I'm going to tell you most of the story because I have several scriptures and I I want to actually get to the um some of the prayer time in first Samuel 10 it's the story of Samuel and Saul and if you don't know the story Samuel's the prophet and Saul is a young man who is serving his father and looking for donkeys and they can't find the donkeys so his servant says to Saul's servant says to him I think there is a prophet at the next city up here maybe he'll know where our donkeys are and I just want to say sometimes you're looking for your donkeys and you find your destiny it's people all the time like how do I find my destiny do what you're called to do and he'll catch you along the way and so he finds uh Saul I'm sorry Saul finds Samuel he doesn't know he's the prophet he says hey can you tell Miss where the prophet's house is and he says I am the prophet and then Samuel who's already had an encounter the day before with the Lord who says to him Samuel Tomorrow there's a young man coming he's looking for donkeys and you're going to anoint him King and so he says to Samuel says to Saul hey you're he says hey I'm looking for the prophet he says I'm the prophet and by the way your donkeys have been found but I want you to stay with me for tomorrow tomorrow morning I'm going to tell you all that's in your heart I'm going to tell you all this in your heart I want to I want to point out that he said I'm going to tell you what's already in your heart for aren't you the one that all of Israel is waiting on and Saul seems to have no idea what's in his heart and he says to him I don't know why you're talking to me like this for I am from the smallest tribe and I am from the smallest family in the smallest tribe why are you speaking to me like this and I want to stop for just a minute I feel an emphasis right now I want you to know that Saul was actually the son of The Greatest Warrior in Israel's history at that time and I'd like to point out that when you live in a famous family it either reduces you to a grasshopper or you stand on the shoulders of that of those fathers and mothers and you become where no one's ever gone before and the difference is how you relate to the people that raised you and in Saul's life it reduced him he's like I could never be that great so I am nothing so now it's tomorrow morning chapter 10 verse 1. he anoints Samuel anoints him King in fact let's just read part of it then Samuel took the flaccid of oil poured over his head kissed him said has not the Lord anointed you over the rule or over his inheritance when you go down for me today you will find two men close to Rachel's Tomb in the territory of Benjamin is zillag and they will say to you the donkeys which you've been look that you went to look for have been found Now Behold your father has ceased to be concerned about the donkeys and he's anxious for you saying what shall I do about my son then you go on further from there and you'll come as far as the okato bar and there will be three men going up to God at Bethel at Bethel and they will meet you won't be carrying three goats that's Brian Johnson one carrying three loaves of bread and one carrying a jug of wine we will not mention who that is and they will greet you with two loaves of bread which you accept from the hand and afterwards you'll come to the hill of God where the Philistine Garrison is and it shall be as soon as you've come there to that city that you will meet a group of prophets coming down from the high place with a harp tambourine flute and liar before them and they will be prophesying and the spirit of the Lord will come upon you mightily and you shall prophesy with them and be changed into another man and it shall be when these signs come to you that you shall do what the occasion requires for God is with you and it goes on to say that it happened verse 10 it happened that when he turned his back to leave Samuel God changed his heart and all these signs came about that day and when he came to the Hill Country there Behold a group of prophets met him and the spirit of God came on him mightily so that he prophesied among them and it came about when all who knew him previously saw that he prophesied now with the prophets that the people said to one another what has happened to the son of Kish is Saul also among the prophets and a man there said now who is their father therefore it shall become a proverb is Saul among the Proverbs I'm sorry among the prophets when he had finished prophesying he came to the high place and I I just um there's a few things that I want to show you in this in this encounter because tonight we're talking about encounters that change you saw has this prophetic word that he's going to be king there's only one problem he's he's got the right word but he's the wrong guy and Samuel says to Saul listen I need you to go down to these prophets they're going to be coming down the mountain and when you encounter them you're going to be changed into another man and I I want to say that there are a lot of people carrying prophetic words that never come to pass because you haven't come into the community that changes you into the person you need to be so you can fulfill that word there are people standing outside the church angry with Community not realizing that it takes Community to catalyze prophetic declarations that that Community when you find your people those people will will be the Catalyst that change you into the person you need to be so that word can be fulfilled in you and I want to tell you the difference between prophetic words and prophetic culture is the prophetic prophetic word will tell you what your destiny is but a prophetic culture will change you into the person you need to be so you can fulfill that prophetic word this is a beautiful word and it's a beautiful start and Saul starts beautifully in fact the Bible goes on to say that he rips his clothes off and he prophesies with the prophets and that all the people are so stunned and they're they're literally this became a proverb they would say if you would say you know you know how we say well God can do anything they would say is Saul among the prophets their point is is that Saul is was so far from a prophet the fact that he hung out with the prophets and prophesied with the prophets was the biggest Miracle they'd ever seen so when you'd say man I'm having a hard day they would say is Saul among the prophets in other words if God could make Saul a prophet he can solve whatever problem you have he was so far from a prophet they would go he saw among the prophets in other words God can do anything for you and it became a bye word it became the way people encouraged one another man I'm having a tough day Saul among the prophets but unfortunately something happened to Saul they you know the story of David Goliath first Samuel 17 and David as a 15 16 year old boy kills Goliath they have this long battle probably months long I would guess they drive the Philistines out of their land and after this long bloody battle they come home and the women are lining the streets and they began to sing a song and let me just say that it wasn't on Saul's top 40 list it was Saul has killed his thousands and David has killed his ten thousands yeah yeah and from that moment on this great man whose father was one of the greatest warriors of all time who was so humble when they went to anoint him he literally hid in the luggage he was so humble that when they went to anoint him Saul anoints him King here when the people go to anoint him King he so doesn't want leadership that he hides in the luggage they literally find their King hiding in the luggage this is a man who started with great humility but when they start when he begins to be jealous of David it says he was suspicious of David he was jealous of David and after that song he says what else can they do what else can he do except take my kingdom and it says and an evil spirit from the Lord came on him and he begins this satanic schizophrenic Crazy Life of fearing David to the place where he finally decided that his only his only move was to kill this kid who actually was making him look like a freaking genius how many know if you are a leader and you are not a father or a mother and you begin to compete with the people you're supposed to be leading I mean no you got an elder brother leadership style and when you can't celebrate that the people who work for you do greater things than you you are lost and Saul begins to be jealous and bitter and hateful and for the next 14 years he finally drives David completely out as a matter of fact he does things to David he says well listen um you want to marry my daughter give me a hundred philistine foreskins and the reason he does that is because he thinks surely those hundred Philistines will kill him but instead he comes back with 200. don't don't picture that it's all good he puts David was over all the armies then he puts David over a small part of just a thousand troops and those thousands troops they're the fierce they're like the Green Berets they're like go out and wipe everybody out everything he does to try to reduce David God just keeps exalting him and David keeps saying to him I don't know why you're trying to kill me I'm loyal to you and there's this whole journey of 14 years 15 maybe 16 years where he takes the whole armies of Israel to chase one guy in the wilderness and God continually hides David but it's it's a it's it'd make a great movie I'm shocked no one has made a movie out of that story and three times he actually traps David three times he traps David and it looks like David is dead and then God sends the prophet down from the mountains and what happens is is that this crazy demonized schizophrenic King encounters the prophets and he's changed back into the man he's supposed to be he tears all his clothes off I'm so glad we live in the New Covenant yes the prophets were naked about half the time and I'm I'm like you know for me when I was in my 20s you know I want to look good without a shirt and when you're in the 40s you want to look good in a shirt and when you're in your 60s you're like just easier to turn the light off before you go to bed you know what I mean literally Saul rips his clothes off and for days he prophesies with the prophets and he turns around and goes back home and he's in his right mind for apparently several weeks until that bitterness begins to seethe in him again and Brew in his Spirit until he goes back to that schizophrenic spirit that Spirit comes back on him again and he begins to chase David and two more times as he's about to capture David the prophets come down from the mountain and he's changed back in to The Man He's supposed to be and I I made a couple of obvious observations you know a god encounter can change your heart but it will take the exercise of your will for your heart to stay humble every time Saul lost connection with the prophets he changed back into the insecure man that was natural for him Saul lacked the capacity of soul to manage his own gift by himself he only prospered when he was in the company of other prophets Saul's encounter was catalyzing Community but but it all fell apart in isolation jealousy and offense with a Kryptonite of Saul's life the Kryptonite of Saul's life this man could have been one of the greatest Kings who ever lived and yet jealousy and offense and bitterness destroyed his life I think you know we have uh Bill and I've been together 45 years and we've seen so many people touched by the Lord so many people I can tell you that in Weaverville in our youth group we carried out kids in trances it was common for us to carry them out to the car and for them to be in trances for six eight ten hours in heaven and I can tell you half of those kids don't walk with God today like encounters can change you but you must manage your heart encounter will not take the place of you managing you it will not take the place of you of unforgiveness it will not take the place of bitterness my youth pastor who was our Junior High youth pastor who I led to the Lord whose own daughter we carried out who was in a trance for eight hours him and I took her to his car and she was in trance till the next morning in heaven and told him about Heavenly experiences he doesn't believe in God anymore I'm just pointing out that encounters are beautiful they open up opportunities but you still have to manage your heart you still have to stay in community there's something that happens in community listen you were never designed to live an isolated life neither was I I don't care how great you are I don't care what your last name is or how amazing you are or how big your encounter is if you don't stay in community you can't you were never designed to manage you by yourself well the church hurt me I get it I've heard it all I've had it all I've been here a long time and I understand that people are people and that there are hurts that's why there's forgiveness because there are hurts and you know I I think you know that iron sharpens iron thing sometimes I think God's like these guys will hurt each other I'll put them together and that way they'll learn about forgiveness [Music] I wanna share a a few more things in haboca chapter 2 verse 1. let me read it to you I'll stand on my guard post and station myself on the rampart that I will keep watch to see what he'll speak to me and how I'll reply when I'm reproved then the Lord answered me and said record the vision inscribe it on tablets that the one who reads it may run for the vision is yet for an appointed time it hastens towards the goal and it will not fail and though it carries wait for it for it's certainly will come and it will not delay isn't interesting the Lord says the Visions for a long time and it surely will come a long time from now it won't delay I don't know about you but when God says it's not for a long time and then he says it won't delay I'm like it feels like a delay when it's not for a long time and I'd like to point out that there are encounters that you have that aren't for you they're actually for a generation after you that you're having encounters today and you're like I don't I don't know about you have you ever had an encounter it was powerful but it wasn't profound to you and you're like that was cool people are like that was amazing you're like yeah yeah it was and not realizing that what happened to you is actually for the generation to come and God deposited something in you that they're actually going to inherit yeah yeah are you with me I remember I've shared this many times when I was layering on the prayer Chapel that prayer Chapel that comes in we used to pray there in the mornings uh a couple of mornings a week and I was laying in the prayer Chapel just praying and it wasn't an extraordinary morning or anything but suddenly I was taken 100 years into the future and you're like how do you know you're 100 years in the future I have no idea like I actually had no idea like I just knew I was 100 years in the future and I was in a I don't know it was a mansion or a castle or a palace this beautiful ornate huge house and it was like I don't know it was like Thanksgiving it was like a family reunion but there was children and there was teenagers and there was you know men and women as I don't know I mean just to guess but maybe like 70 people like a fairly large family and they were doing what families do you know kids are playing women in the kitchen men in the front room they're just everybody was just mealing around and there was an old man standing in a front room in front of this huge fireplace made out of rock that went probably this tall like 30 40 feet in the ceiling to the ceiling ornate beautiful fireplace and he's standing in front of the fireplace and doing what old men do he was musing and there's just some children around him I don't know eight or ten of them young children half listening to him and he was telling them about his past telling stories and you know it was just kind of yeah just kind of what old men do and then suddenly the tone of his voice changed and his eyes got this look as if he was looking into eternity I'm standing right next to the old man I can see him perfectly but he can't see me and then he begins to talk about their Royal Legacy and their Royal lineage and when he began to talk everyone stopped what they were doing as if there was some kind of alarm went off and they all ran into the front room and sat some on the floor some on couches and you could hear a pin drop as the old man began to recount their Royal lineage and their and their princely Legacy and he's telling them his stories about how they received all this wealth all this honor all this prosperity and then as he finishes his talk he looks at the fireplace and the mantle of the fireplace and he points to it and he says this all began and when I looked with him to the fireplace there was this huge portrait of Kathy and I and he said this all began with your great great great grandmother and grandfather and when he finished that I was instantly back on the floor in the first house obviously in a puddle and the Lord said to me quit your ministry and build a legacy from this day on you shall live for a generation you will never see and I want to say that sometimes our encounters are not for us sometimes they're for the generation to come I want to tell you that you know we live in an instant gratification Generation by the way I'm not an anti you know these young Z Guys these I don't even know what they call them anymore we got to make up new names you got to change the alphabet and go the other way or use the Chinese alphabet or something yeah and we call them the Sears because like now we're in trouble there's no more letters and we're like and the end of the world the deer hope you have a vision for tomorrow you didn't get that in any way but we live in this generation that everything's so instant and and this is the most Innovative inventive imaginative generation I believe in the history of the world there are more things being invented in a year then were invented 100 years from now in an entire 100 years 100 years past but we are so used to everything we do has got to be now we've got to have it now you know there was a time I know you're not going to believe this you have to look it up Google this when people ran out of money they couldn't buy things think about that there wasn't no credit card I mean if you couldn't swap chickens or Hogs you pretty much were stuck with what you had and if there was a tough winner you you may not have three meals a day all of this just like this is not very long ago like this would be my great great this would be my grandparents story this would be most of your great grandparents story though there was no credit cards I'm pointing out that if you wanted something you want to save up for it it might take you months it might take you years and now it's like when put on the card and by the way if you can't pay it you just go to one of those credit places and you just make sure you don't have to pay for it just it's all wonderful I was going to say some other things but some people will get offended in that I've already offended some people but that was on purpose and what I'm getting at is that it's created a mentality that doesn't work in the Kingdom because in the Kingdom God goes I'll be right back into 2000 years and we're like [Applause] thank you Lord I need ten thousand dollars to go just a minute I know that trick I I have students all the time the team can tell you like they come up all the time like no I've been praying for this thing and you know I just I'm 22 I'm getting old I need a man how long you've been praying six weeks fasted twice for hours just don't know what's happening and what I'm getting at is this is that God wants us to think from eternity he wants us to live from eternity some of the things that have happened to you they're not even for you I took this job I don't know why I'm in this job I hate this job the Lord told me to take this job but I've never been happiest job and it's all about me it's all about making me happy needs to make me happy and God's like it isn't for you your great grandson is going to be the president of this company and you're Paving the way I just don't it's just like it's just it's not all about you it's not all about me I'm saying that we can find Great Joy by understanding that God thinks from eternity he thinks future present some of our encounters are actually for people who are yet to be born no see how it didn't go over very well she was like I did it now I need an encounter right now I need to be delivered from this pain and you know God oh God wants to deliver you from pain if you're in pain God wants to deliver you from my kids you should never be in any kind of pain laughs good boy Chris never mind let's just move on I'll do more and more then we'll do a little bit of ministry Acts chapter 10 why don't you turn there there was a man at caesarea named Cornelius a centurion of what was called an Italian cohort a devout man and one who feared god with his all of his household and he gave many alms to Jewish people and prayed to God continually about the ninth hour of the day he clearly saw in a vision an angel of God who had just come in and he said to Cornelius I'm fixing his Gaze on him and began much alarmed he said what is it Lord and he said to him your prayers and alms have ascended as a memorial before God now dispatch the men to Joppa and sin for a man named Simon who's also called Peter for he's staying at the Tanner's house a man named Simon whose house is by the sea when the angel who was speaking to him had left he summoned two of his servants and a devout Soldier of those who had been his personal attendance and after he had explained everything to them he sent them to Joppa so Cornelius is a Roman Centurion remember at this point there are no Gentiles saved but this man is giving he's giving he's giving offerings to Jewish people he's a Roman soldier he's giving offerings to Jewish people and he's praying are you getting like how at how anti-culture this is this man's giving he's not even saved which we're about to figure out he just has something in him that honors actually his enemies he's giving to the Jewish temple and he and he's praying for the Jewish people just out of his heart and the angel said you're building a memorial before God I shared this this morning but you know when they crossed the Jordan River or they cross the Red Sea God said to the Israelites I want you to set up stones like set up stones in the river when the rivers dry set up Stones well why am I supposed to set up Stones so that when the river is running again and your sons go wow dad who set up those stones in the middle of the river how did they do that then you'll go oh let me tell you the story of when God delivered us from the Egyptians any part of the river right there where those stones are in other words those are stones of testimony stones of remembrance of the acts of God in our lives but what's crazy is is that the angel says that in heaven God is setting up memorial stones for acts of righteous people and he says hey you're giving and your prayers for the Jews there's a monument in heaven I don't know does it say a monument to Cornelius but I imagine this is my imagination God looks out one day and he goes hey that Monument have we ever done anything for Cornelius no Lord he's still unsaved send an angel down there and get that fixed right away in the meantime Peter is hungry goes upstairs waiting for them to finish dinner because it wasn't McDonald's where you drive through and you know get your food in two minutes you're like calls fast food this is where you had to wait long enough you had to go into a trance and he's hungry so he has a trance about food just think it's all funny anyway and he sees you know like lobster and unclean things on this blanket and he hears kill and eat three times that happens and Peter every time says never has anything unclean ever come to my life no I will not kill a need and God says to him what I have cleansed no longer call Unholy now he wakes up from that trance right who knows how long that lasted and he let me see if I can find it quickly and it says yeah here it is verse 17. now well Peter was greatly perplexed in mind as to what the vision he might mean behold the men who'd seen who had been sent by Cornelius having asked directions from Simon's house appeared at the gate so Peter has no idea what the vision means this trance this Vision has no idea what it means and it says not only does he not no he isn't like a dream like oh I don't know what that meant it says he was perplexed and he's you can imagine he's up there thinking what was that and suddenly there's a knock at the gate and he opens the door and there's Gentiles there and they're they're asking Peter to go with them and if you hear the rest of the story you know that the Jews got mad that Peter even went with them because Jews and Gentiles were not supposed to cross-pollinate and Peter goes with him still doesn't know what the vision's about it gets to cornelius's house and Cornelius has his whole family assembled to hear the words of Peter because that's what the angel told him to do and he gets there and he sees this whole room full of gentiles and Cornelius just tells them to dream and he goes now I know what the vision was about and I want to point out that sometimes our encounters make no sense until we meet someone who's had a corresponding encounter sometimes the Lord gives us Collective encounters in which I have an encounter I can't figure out but someone else has an encounter he can't figure out and when we get together it makes total sense and what I'm getting at is some of you have encounters you have dreams you have no idea what they mean yeah but metaphorically speaking Cornelius is coming listen I'm prophesying this though Cornelius is coming and what you think is a ridiculous dream you're perplexed about it because you know it's something to do with the Divine you don't know what it is Cornelius is about to knock on your gate and you're about to have you're about to have your encounter mixed with his encounter or her encounter and it's about to make total sense and I want to tell you this is a prophecy that prophecy I believe that the Lord is going to begin to release Collective encounters write this down Collective encounters I want to tell you they're all throughout the Bible when the lord gave me this word this morning he told me Collective encounters look up Collective encounters Collective encounters what's that mean Collective encounters would someone has an encounter another person has an encounter and they I'm like oh Collective encounters think about Joseph of the Old Testament Joseph has an encounter in a dream and by the way you talk about how important dreams are Joseph had an encounter that changed all of Egypt Nebuchadnezzar has a dream which interpretation changed all of Babylon thinking like I'm a dreamer it's like people take it casually like I don't know what the dream meant I'm just gonna go on to the next one it's like write it down yeah pray that God begins to give you interpretation of dreams dreams have shifted culture more often the Old Testament than any other single encounter Joseph has an encounter and in this encounter he sees his brothers bowing down to him you know I'm making it quick he sees his brothers bowing down to him he has a dream the next night his brothers are all mad about it next night he has another dream and he sees his parents bowing down to him and he interprets his own dream to the discontent of his family like he's the youngest all y'all gonna be bound down to me gonna be the leader that's with an L the eater mom and dad you're mad I got another dream I'm gonna be leading you too and they don't like it and obviously you know the story his brothers sell him into slavery but first they're going to kill him they're like we can make money off the kid they sell them into slavery becomes a Slave then it becomes goes from slavery to prison it just keeps getting worse but then something else happens the Pharaoh has a dream and the Pharaoh dreams of fat and skinny calves and where I'm going is this Pharaoh has a dream he has an encounter he has a dream he doesn't know what it means Joseph has a dream 15 years earlier he thinks he does know what it means but here's the point if Pharaoh doesn't have a dream Joseph dies in prison but if Joseph doesn't have a dream Pharaoh dies in a famine how many people are dead because we don't understand Collective encounters then our encounter isn't just for me it's not all about me because like I'm going to be a great leader God make you a great leader it ain't for you I'm just trying to say listen just figure this out it's not all about you it's not all about me when I have an encounter a guy was you're going to be a great leader I'm going I'm leading for the benefit of other people [Applause] Pharaoh has a dream it's crazy Pharaoh doesn't know God Pharaoh believes in multiple gods Pharaoh please and polytheism and yet he knows the dream is somehow divine a better example is Nebuchadnezzar has a dream Nebuchadnezzar is definitely a polytheist in fact he's his own God he sets statues up to me I'm God if you don't worship me you're all dead and he has a Dream from the god of Gods he doesn't know what it means but he knows it's divine and he is so plagued by the fact that it's divine that he's willing to kill all of his wise men if they can't interpret the dream and here comes Daniel and all I'm getting at is this is that God is giving us encounters I'm telling you encounters are going to be this is going to be the buzzword for the next three years have you had an encounter people aren't going to say did you get a word you're gonna have words but the buzzword is going to be encounters have you had an encounter because an encounter is a little different than a word because an encounter actually has the power to transform you but I want you to know that your encounter is collaborative with someone else's encounter and it's in the synergy of your encounter and my encounter or your encounter and her encounter you get the idea it's in the collective Synergy that comes from the other parts of the body that actually create the Nitro I think Bill said something funny than Nitro and glycerin like it takes it takes two they say to actually bring about the kind of outcomes that the Lord has for us and I believe that we're going to be talking about Collective encounters more and more and people are going to look I'll say that some of the greatest testimonies we're going to hear in the next four years are Johnny had a dream and Henry had a trance and something happened they got together and something crazy happened that they could never do by themselves I believe that something powerful is happening and the encounters that are happening in these universities they're going to spread because the keywords encounter but listen the encounter isn't to stay in the college these encounters they're going to spread into the streets it's going to be much different they're going to spread into the streets and people who don't even know God the Pharaohs the corneliuses people that wouldn't be included in the university in bethel's campus they're going to have encounters yeah the kings of the Earth are going to have encounters and God is raising up the Josephs the esters they're going to be there at the exact right time