Mercy Spoke for Me — Michael Koulianos

You know sometimes you just got to get through the crowd to the hem of the Lord's garment, and I don't know what that looks like for you tonight, but it looks different than the norm, I'll just say that.

Touching Jesus with Faith and Desperation

It just takes a couple of you to break through and pull on Jesus. Jesus said, I felt power, virtue come out of me. Not everybody's touch is the same, not everyone's touch is the same. Some of us touch Jesus for different reasons and in different ways with a different heart, but Lydia, most people think her name was, she touched Jesus in a different way.

She touched him in faith and desperation. She saw something about him that wasn't normal. That's for everybody tonight, refuse to leave the same, refuse to be the same way. Just everyone begin singing in the spirit all over the room.

Worship as Personal Encounter

Come on, worship team, court, you play your instrument. Emma, I want the team to just prophesy with their instrument, sing in the spirit. Come on, lift your voice church, lift your voice. Come on, lift your voice, sing in the spirit, sing in the spirit.

Everyone in the house tonight to forget about everybody here, to forget about our worship team, forget about me. Let this place become your prayer closet tonight. Just forget about everything, everything.

Forget about the person to your right, to your left. Forget about Jesus' image and look to Jesus himself. If you need to get out of the aisle or out of your seat, if you need to get down on your knees, if you need to get on your face, just refuse the ordinary tonight.

Refuse the ordinary, be flammable tonight. Jones, keep blessing the Lord, don't stop, don't stop. You'll hit a gear in this spirit, you'll hit a gear and the Lord will just take over. Pick this girl up for me, you and Brian, gently, gently.

Thanks Lord for the fresh and filling of the Holy Ghost, Holy Ghost, this girl here. Guys, don't watch me, just look at the Lord. Lord, send her back with fresh fire. Where are you from? Send her to Texas, fresh fire.

Keep singing in the spirit, the Lord's moving. Fire of the Holy Spirit upon our young people, baptize her tonight. Be ye filled with the Holy Spirit. Clothed, it's not by might, it's not by power, it's by my spirit, says the Lord.

Keep blessing the Lord. Come on, let's have a Holy Ghost meeting tonight, from head to toe, filled with glory. Keep singing, keep singing. All you have to do is close your eyes, lift your hands and begin to love on the Lord, that's all you have to do.

Just you and Jesus in this whole room, there's no one else. Keep blessing her, keep blessing her, filled, filled, filled, filled, filled with the power of the Holy Spirit. Never the same, never the same, never the same, never the same, ever, ever, ever again.

You just forget about everything. Even forget about your needs right now. Just worship. The Lord will do it. The Lord will do it. He'll do more than you ever dreamed of. That goes for everyone, everyone in the house, our team, everyone.

Just worship the Lord. Just worship the Lord. No one can do it for you. Sing it again, Judy. I'm telling you, if you're hungry tonight, there's joy in speaking. Don't be a spectator. Worship. That's all you gotta do is worship.

Says your song, Joey. Again, again. Flow rivers, rivers of living. Again, again. What's not gonna happen, I'm just saying, I can tell, but what will not happen is that you'll sit in your seat and watch a man preach.

You're gonna have to touch him because he's so available tonight. You're gonna have to connect with Jesus tonight. And if that's not interesting enough for you, you should go now because what I'm not gonna do tonight is entertain you.

Life in the Spirit and the Living Christ

We are children of the wind, birthed by the wind, birthed in the wind. That's what Jesus said. The flesh profits nothing. That which is of the flesh is flesh and that which is of the spirit is spirit.

If the wind is foreign to you, God is foreign to you. This is our home. His presence is our home. And if you're lost right now, I'd repent. I'd repent. If you're a pastor in the room and you're lost right now, I would repent.

If you don't know his movement, how to hear him and how to move along with him and how to let him hold your hand and you walk with him step by step, for his word is a lamp and a light. If you don't know that, you need to repent tonight and ask the Lord to be your wind, the strength, the cloud that leads you, the cloud that is your rear guard.

He is a living, breathing Christ who still walks through the aisles and looks at people still today and says, will thou be made whole? Like he walked up to that man at the pool of Bethesda, this hospital outside, thousands sick, walks up to a man and says, do you want to be made whole?

Would you like me to heal you? That's who Jesus is and he's alive among us tonight. I've said he's alive among us. There is no plan. I have no plan for this service, but what he does next, you have a few options.

Watch and be bored or dip your toe in the river. I dare you. You say, how do I do that? Just close your eyes and love him. Just shake off, refuse, refuse, refuse repetition, refuse monotony tonight, refuse the figuring God out and truly be children of the spirit.

Those that are led of the spirit, these, these, these are the sons of God. He can do a lot with someone who will just hold on. I said he can do a lot with somebody who will just hold on. I'm sure that's why you came.

Hopefully he's not boring and he's not predictable at all. And we all need him more than we think. Mercy spoke for me. Yep. Sing it. Sing it. Every voice. Mercy spoke for me. Many of you being set free tonight from bondage, but you've been struggling with for years.

Keep singing, Judy. You're prophesying. It's our story, isn't it? Everyone's singing the spirit right now. Can you play Emma? Everyone out loud. I want to hear you sing in the spirit. You keep singing in the spirit.

Keep singing. You sing in the spirit, Judy, you sing the song. Keep singing. God's going to clothe them tonight. Who is death brought liberty? Just come here. Sing it. Lift it a little bit. Mercy spoke for me.

Mercy, Healing, and Christ Crucified

See, as you sing that precious anointing of the Holy Spirit, it thickens, it thickens. Anything's possible. Keep singing. Mercy spoke for me. Lift the instruments. Again. It's the only message worth preaching.

Christ is crucified. Again, lift it. About another 30 seconds. Oh, that's it. That's it. Sing it. Come on. Just pray for him. Mercy spoke for me. The fire of the Holy Ghost come upon you. It's the only message.

It's your story. He saved you both from the deepest pit. Don't stop, don't stop. Out of the grip of the devil. Oh, sing it, sing it, sing it. The fruit of the Holy Ghost tonight. Both of you receive a fresh anointing tonight.

Possess them with the message of Christ crucified. You know the desperation in her soul. You know the pain. You heal the brokenhearted and you bind up all. Fill her tonight with the blessed presence of the Holy Spirit.

Make the crooked path straight and make life simple. It's just about Jesus. It's just about Jesus. I'm declaring that over you. It is just about Jesus. It's just about Jesus. I'm saying that, Judy, because of Christ.

Worship and the Glory of God's Presence

Fill the temple with his glory. Not when the temple was perfectly built with the hands of people. But he chose to fill the house with glory when the people worshiped. That's what your Bible says. When they worshiped in one accord, he'd rather fill songs than buildings, guys.

I said he would rather fill songs than buildings. Just gotta let go and get out of the way. Trust the shepherd tonight. Yeah, it might be a little different for you, but he still leads us to green pastures and still waters.

It's all about Jesus. Trust him tonight. You see, worship carries that anointing, carries it. Just lift your hands, begin to love him. Come on, lift your hands, begin to love him. Lord, release the oil of the Holy Ghost tonight.

Every seed sown in prayer, release it. We're in a house right now. I refuse to just watch this tonight. It's the worship, guys. Mercy spoke. Some of you haven't had an encounter in years. He spoke, he spoke.

That's right. His death brought limb. His death brought limb. ...tonight, close to being done. His death brought limb. The more you heal, the less you care about those around you and what they're thinking.

You're limited. He is not. If you want to stand, you can stand right now. If you want to sit, you can sit. Just don't lose your connection to Jesus. Listen to Moses's words. I read this to you a few weeks back.

Moses, God's Glory, and the Promise of Rest

Please show me your glory. Then he said, I'll make all my goodness pass before you and I'll proclaim the name of the Lord before you. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious. Thank you, Lord. And I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.

But he said, you cannot see my face for no man shall see me and live. The Lord said, here is a place by me. You shall stand on the rock. It's a picture of Jesus. So it shall be while my glory passes by that I will put you in the cleft of the rock and I will cover you with my hand and I will pass by.

Then I will take away my hand and you shall see my back, but my face shall not be seen. Oh, Jesus. And the Lord said in verse 14, my presence will go with you and I will give you rest. I will give you rest.

If you're looking for rest tonight, it's only found in Jesus, in him, the actual, literal him, not the idea of him, not a historical figure and the living him, the living Christ. Some of you are running from things that don't even exist tonight.

Fears that make no sense, worries that make no sense. And you know, they make no sense because you just can't get free from them. You need rest, a deep rest of this. It's not calm. It's beyond the mind.

It's a deep internal rest that gives you a confidence, a confidence that sounds like this, though he slay me, yea, shall I trust him? A confidence that reminds you of these words, heaven and earth may pass away, but my words, they remain forever, forever.

Just lift your hands, begin to love him. Just love him. You can sit, you can stand, you can get on your knees, on your face, but whatever, whatever, it doesn't matter. Just love him. You have to get fed up.

Rejecting Complacency and Pursuing Jesus

You got to get fed up. You have to hate some things. Some of us just go with the flow and go through the motions. He doesn't know how to work with that. He doesn't understand that because he knows who he is.

I'm just over, over what so much of the church thinks is wonderful. What so much of the church thinks it means to have arrived, I'm over it, to be a slave to it. Who cares how many people know you? Who cares?

I want to know him and I want him to know me. Got to refuse some things that no one else refuses. He's not fair. It's not fair. You have to touch him in a different way. You have to refuse the average stuff.

You've got to push it away to get through the crowd to the hem of his garment. Oh, I want revival. Sure. I don't believe you. I'm not sure you know what you're asking for because he'll come in and murder every other desire.

Most worship teams would yell at me for having them up there that long. You see, there's a price to it all. You'll never remove your ability to desire him or not. And if you don't look at him, you'll never see him.

You've got to look first. That's what happened to Moses. He looked to see that bush that was burning but not consumed. And then the Bible says after he looked, he saw. We all want to see Jesus. But the question is, is he worth that second look?

Gracious, more gracious than you could ever imagine. But he is not cheap. He is not cheap. And I am growing more and more with what is normal. Less and less connected to what 99 .9 of pastors burn for.

Who cares how many campuses we have? Who cares if he's not in the camp? See, there's a few people. God wants to raise them up from this crowd tonight. There's a few people with the heart cry that Moses had.

If you don't go with us, don't take us up from here. A few people, just a few, take the grace God has given them to get more of God. Typically God gives grace and then we take that grace and use it for what we want.

What we think he wants and don't take the time to ask him what he really wants. John Kilpatrick said before the Lord poured out his spirit in Pensacola, he said, I don't want a new church. I don't want a new ministry.

I don't want a new sermon. I don't want a new Bible. I want you. I want you. And I'm just not sure we know what we're asking for when we say that. Have you ever contemplated him? Him? Have you ever thought of him for so long that your heart burns?

I mean, have you ever thought of him until you can't stop thinking about him? See, it's in this atmosphere where everything you've been praying for can happen in a second. Proximity is everything. That woman with the issue of blood spent all her money on doctors, all her resources, on trying to get well.

The Woman Who Reached for Jesus

And then someone must have said something to her that sounded like this. The man from Galilee, Jesus, the one we've been hearing about, the one who's been healing the blind, the one who we heard calm storms, that one who took those unlearned fishermen and he just sent them out two by two.

And it seems that they're doing the same thing. This one who, when he speaks, he speaks as one having authority. He's coming to our village, Lydia. You may have emptied your bank account, but do you have one more request in your soul?

Do you have the guts to fight through those who've been mocking you, calling you unclean all these years? Are you willing to walk out your door and press through their shameful looks to get to this one who raises the dead?

This one whom the weather obeys. And there she came, weak, shameful, unclean. You know, if I had to bet tonight, there's people who've been in church all their life, sitting next to someone who hasn't been in church very long.

Sometimes it's the people who've been in church the longest, who are the most stuck, the most bound. And she pressed through those scornful looks, and she saw a man walking, a man of the likes she had never seen before.

And the crowds thronged him, pulled on him. You see, you can have an entire building singing the same song, but not everyone sings the same way. Not everyone touches him the same way. Her scenario was life or death.

And I hate to tell you, friends, actually, I'm happy to tell you, so is ours. Without Jesus, we die. We die inside. Without Jesus, this worship team is a bunch of performers. Without Jesus, Joel's just playing the song.

Just a bunch of performers. Without Jesus, I'm just a performer myself. She touched him differently. She knew he could do what no other man could do. There's something about Jesus, this one who is filled with the power of the Holy Spirit.

That touch of faith, that touch of faith released virtue. And that condition she spent everything on was gone in a moment. What have you walked in with tonight? Emptiness? Sorrow? Sickness? Refuse the common and look to Jesus tonight.

Look to Jesus tonight. I can't articulate what God is doing in his people perfectly, but you've got to refuse what most people settle for. You've got to live for another age, another day. See, sin is a satisfaction issue.

Repentance from Performance and Religious Success

We are in a very special moment right now with the Lord, but this touch that fills the soul. Him. The mixture is such a trap, such a trap. Church is built on personalities, strategy, alone, copying people.

You may be able to copy what you see, but you can't copy what you can't see. You can't copy the presence of God. As Bill would say, I can't give you my history with God. No. There is an anointing that tears down and builds back up.

And I'm telling you this, God is doing that in his church. Pastors, if you're listening to me, throw your playbook out the window. Repent. Repent for being a slave to the opinions of people. Repent for believing that filled seats means success.

No, no. God filling the house is success. This day and age of influence. It's an idol. I want to influence his heart and that's it. I've been doing this for a long time now. And I've peeked behind the curtain, you see.

I've been in the green rooms that most of you would love to be in. And sin is destroying people. Do you know why? They don't value moments like this. They want to keep it moving. My question is, keep it moving to what?

Where do you want to go? What sounds more desirable? Friend, you may not have an issue of physical blood, but if you're bound in sin, your heart is bleeding. And you don't have to be. I've peeked behind the curtain, as I told you.

The purity of Jesus is a rarity. It's a rarity. By numbers alone, porn is probably running rampant in this room. Lust, the inability to control your eyes, anger, selfishness, all playing this Christian thing, which is really just hypocrisy.

Healing the Bound and Brokenhearted

Your heart is bleeding. And you've spent everything you know to spend to get free, and it just hasn't worked. You have issues in your family that you've just come to believe that will never go away, because it's just always been that way.

Your parents and grandparents and their parents. If you'll touch Jesus tonight, that issue of blood will dry up in you. You say, Michael, I'm broken. I'm really broken. The people around me can't see it, but I am.

I'm broken. I'm broken on the inside. And I'm unclean. I want you to lift your hand tonight just in this well, this wonderful river. Just lift your hand. You say, Michael, I'm broken. I need Jesus, the healer, to heal my soul, to heal me.

If you raised your hand, or you wish you did, you can't come forward, because there's people. I want you to get out of your seat in boldness, as we are in the tangible presence of the Lord. You just get in the aisle right now.

Get down there on your knees, and don't care about anybody. It is in moments like this that miracles happen. And these are the greatest miracles. Let that bleeding heart get healed tonight. Maybe you're tired of being unclean.

Yeah, just get right down there in the aisle. The Bible says, though our sins be as scarlet, he shall make us whiter than snow.