Midnight Bread 1986

The basic change which has been going on among us, especially during the last year, has been that the Spirit of God has been concentrating His attention, and no doubt our attention as well, on our corporate life, our body life, our life together. I believe that He's been stirring us up and opening our eyes to see the purpose of our being together in this particular location, at this particular hour in history. From many, many sources, the word coming to us has been, and is, that this assembly is to be a prophetic church, and only that.

Not a club for respectable do-gooders, not a meeting house for the doctrinally sound, not an agency where people whose lives appear to be somewhat together, condescendingly meet the needs of people whose lives are a mess. But a prophetic church, an assembly of believers who are under an anointing from the Spirit of God, whose lives are ignited and enlightened and ruled, you might say even driven by a living word from God, for reasons of His own. God has chosen each one of us, called us out of our own darkness, and has been joining us together in this body so that His word might rule us, direct us, empower us, and then go forth from us to a world which absolutely will hear that word whether it wants to or not.

Now, for that word to go forth from us with power, we have to know what it means, clearly what it means, to be a prophetic church. We have to know that being a prophetic church is actually the top priority, the ultimate purpose of our individual and our corporate life. So what's a prophetic church? I've talked about it before, but perhaps a good way to do it would be to look at some examples in Scripture.

And one that we have is in Revelation chapter 3, verse 7. It's a description of a congregation of believers in a place called Philadelphia 20 centuries ago in what is now Turkey. And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write, the words of the Holy One, the True One, who has the key of David, who opens and no one shall shut, who shuts and no one opens, I know your works. Behold, I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut.

I know that you have but little power, and yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name. Behold, I will make those of the synagogue of Satan, who say that they are Jews and are not, but lie. Behold, I will make them come and bow down before you and learn that I have loved you, because you have kept my word of patient endurance.

I will keep you from the hour of trial, which is coming on the whole world, to try those who dwell upon the earth. I am coming soon. Hold fast what you have, so that no one may seize your crown.

Okay, this is a description of a church that has an open door into the presence of God, through which it receives a continuous word from God. It keeps that word. It's faithful to the name of Jesus.

It endures in season and out of season, when things are going well and when they're going tough. It's ongoing. And for that reason, the word goes forth from that church.

Now, that's really the kind of church the Spirit of the Lord is calling for and raising up all over the earth. And that's the kind of church the Spirit of the Lord is calling for and raising up at whatever cost in this place. If we hear that call, and if we are beginning to see that vision, then this is because we're arriving at a time when it's now important for us to go into that vision, enter into it all the way.

It's not enough to stand and look at it or grasp it with our minds. We have to enter it with our lives. And then in Luke chapter 11, our Lord gives us a picture of a prophetic church.

And a picture which is given to us in extremely simple language, which is really what our Lord uses always. Very, very simple language, simple images, but extremely profound and clear. The 11th chapter of Luke begins with the disciples watching from a distance as Jesus is at prayer.

Now, they know that Jesus is all the time at prayer. This is extremely important, that prayer is actually the foundation of his marvelous trust in the Father. And also that his prayer life is the source of this tremendous word that keeps pouring out of him.

The disciples already understand that to be a prophet of God is to be a man or woman of prayer. John the Baptist, the last of the old covenant prophets, was a man of prayer. He taught his disciples to pray.

And so these disciples of Jesus say, Lord, teach us to pray the way John taught his disciples to pray. Jesus responds by giving them the words of what we call the Lord's Prayer. Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.

Then he gives them a teaching which is really the foundation of his ministry and is also the foundation of the work of the body of Christ on earth down to this day. Luke 11 5 goes like this. Jesus said to them, which of you who has a friend will go to him at midnight and say to him, friend, lend me three loaves for a friend of mine has arrived on a journey and I have nothing to set before him.

And they will answer from within. Do not bother me. The door is now shut.

My children are with me in bed. I cannot get up and give you anything. I tell you, though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his opportunity, his persistence, he will rise and give him whatever he needs.

And I tell you, ask and it will be given you. Seek and you will find. Knock and it will be open to you.

For everyone who asks receives and he who seeks finds and to him who knocks it is open. What father among you, if his son asked for a loaf, will give him a stone or if he asked for a fish, will instead of a fish, give him a serpent or if he asks for an egg and give him a scorpion. You then who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children.

How much more will the heavenly father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him? Now, if we look at this passage, we can break it down in this way. We can see that a prophetic church against the background of these words of Jesus is four basic things. First of all, a prophetic church knows what time it is, knows that it's midnight.

Second, a prophetic church draws a midnight travelers to itself. Third, a prophetic church gets the midnight bread. And fourth, a prophetic church gives what it receives from God.

First of all, a prophetic church knows what time it is, knows that it's midnight. Two weeks ago yesterday, it was a nice warm Saturday afternoon. And I got talking to a with a man who was sitting on a bench in Clark Park.

He was drunk and he said to me, I was a preacher once, but I backslid. And I said to him, so what are you going to do about it? He said to me, I'll come back when I'm ready. So I answered, don't you know that it's the 11th hour? And he shot back profound words.

He said, no, it's not. It's 12 o'clock midnight. And he was right on.

He was absolutely right. And when this man's heart grabs hold of the truth, which he clearly understands already in his mind, he won't be ever anymore wallowing in any kind of despair. He will be awake.

And we can sit and watch somebody else's house burn down on the 11 o'clock news and keep sipping our Pepsi Cola and say, what a shame. But when our smoke alarm goes off and the flames start shooting up at our stairway, we got to move. 12 o'clock means that the end is near.

But it also can mean that the God of the universe has drawn near to us in judgment. That's also 12 o'clock. Jeremiah kept telling the people that it's 12 o'clock for Jerusalem and nobody listened.

And Jerusalem fell. The Jewish lady in the boxcar in the middle of the night starts screaming, the flames, the flames, I see the flames. And they almost choked this woman to get her to be quiet.

But when the train came to a stop and they slid open the side of the boxcar, there were the flames of Auschwitz. And at midnight, there was a cry raised, behold the bridegroom, go out to meet him. And all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps and they found that half of them were flickering out and it was too late to get oil and still get in.

Midnight. Midnight means that things are not going to keep going the way they're going now. Midnight means that the God of the universe, the God of all truth, the living God is calling in the outstanding debts.

He's calling us to account and we're going to answer. No church has anything to say to this age until it understands that it's not only midnight out there among the so-called heathen, but it's midnight first of all in here. That we are under the judgment of the living God.

We are. That the Son of God, the Messiah, the Lamb stands in our midst with eyes like flame of fire and a voice like the sound of many waters and a sharp two-edged sword issuing from his mouth. And if this is true, if it's midnight and if the Son of God is in our midst, there is no time for pettiness, no time for club politics, no time for compromise.

It's time to abandon ourselves and submit ourselves in absolute worship to God. To worship him in spirit and in truth. And to worship God in spirit and in truth means that we obey him, we do what he commands.

What does he command? He commands us to take care of the midnight travelers who are now coming our way. A prophetic church will draw the midnight travelers. People will come to us and say, what's going on? Things are happening in my life that I don't understand.

Help me to find the living God. And this has been going on among us more in the past ten months than any time in the history of this body, at least as far as I can remember. It's happening on our jobs, in our neighborhoods, among our relatives, our phone rings, and on the other end, somebody's crying out in some way for light from God.

And it will increase. If the body of Christ is answering its prophetic calling, the people who see the crisis, who feel it, who know that they must have living bread from a living God will come knocking at our door. And then it's our responsibility to get them the bread.

We've got to get it for them because we don't have it. Our cupboard is always bare. See, the midnight bread cannot be stored, hoarded, like money in the bank.

We have to go to the Father and get fresh bread all the time. And so they come knocking on our door, we've got to go knocking on the Father's door. So a prophetic church gets the midnight bread.

It pays the price of intercession. It takes no rest and gives God no rest until the bread comes. Which of you who has a friend will go to him at midnight and say to him, Friend, lend me three loaves, for a friend of mine has arrived on a journey, and I have nothing to set before him.

And he will answer from within, Don't bother me. The door is now shut. My children are with me in bed.

I cannot get up and give you anything. I tell you, though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence, he'll get up and give him as much as he needs. Now the midnight bread is free.

I mean, we don't have to earn it. It's already been bought and paid for by the blood of the Lamb. But we do have to ask.

Somebody ask for that bread for us. Somebody prayed it down into our lives. And now it's our turn to pray it down into somebody else's life.

We will have bread, living bread, bread that is spirit and life, is spirit and life of the living word from God that will bring healing to other people, when we will ask and seek and not. That's what Jesus did. Why was he up there all by himself early in the morning? Why, after he fed the 5,000, did he send the crowds away, his disciples away and go off into the hills in order to get a fresh supply of living bread from his Father? He had to get it all the time, fresh, just like we do.

And we're getting that bread, too, because we're beginning to understand that it's our responsibility to get that bread. And we're going to feed the midnight travelers who come to us because we're about the business of getting the bread for them. Which brings us to the final point.

A prophetic church gives what it receives from God. Acts chapter 3, verse 1. Now Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour, and a man lame from birth was being carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple, which is called Beautiful, to ask alms of those who entered the temple. Seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked for alms.

Peter directed his gaze at him and with John said, Look at us. And he fixed his attention upon them, expecting to receive something from them. But Peter said, I have no silver and gold, but I give you what I have.

In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk. And he took him by the right hand and raised him up. And immediately his feet and ankles were made strong.

And leaping up, he stood and walked and entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God. Now what was it that moved from Peter and John into this lame man that enabled him to walk? It was the midnight bread. It was the midnight bread of the Holy Spirit.

We don't have any silver and gold, but we got the midnight bread. We'll give you some. In the name of Jesus, get up and walk.

The Father of all glory is pouring out upon us, in this place, at this time, exactly the same Spirit. He's pouring out His Spirit upon us today, not only for our benefit, not only so that our eyes can open and see God's glory, not only so that our mouths can open and sing God's praise, but so that we can give the healing power of this gift of life to the midnight travelers who are going to be coming our way this week. So that their eyes can open and see God's glory, and their mouths can open and sing God's praise.

Freely you have received, freely give, churches that fail to give the gift of the Spirit, the life of God, that comes to them from God, to the midnight travelers who come, who just spend it all on themselves and never send it out, never give it forth, become stagnant, sour, ingrown clubs. And that possibility hangs over our heads all the time. Our heads.

But when we take the gift that God gives us, the life of His Spirit, the living word He pours out upon us, and give it out freely and generously and consistently, the Father keeps pouring in more and more. So may God help us to be free and generous, and giving forth the midnight bread to the travelers who are going to be coming our way today and in the days to come. Because that's why we're here.

And that's what it means to be a prophetic church. Let's take some time just in silence. Each of us, let's be asking for some of that bread.

For where we are.