The Last Days Wilderness Church

I believe God is calling His church out of dry places and into a season of awakening — but it requires wholehearted seeking, not comfortable Christianity. In this message, I explore what it means to carry the mark of God in the last days: a deep, unrelenting hunger for His presence and a willingness to go a little farther than everyone else.

Show Notes

A Vision for the Last Days Church

I want to speak to you this morning from the Song of Solomon. I'm going to begin in Song of Solomon 8:5, about the last days wilderness church. I happen to believe with all of my heart that in the last days before Christ returns — in the last days before judgment starts to fall on this nation and other nations like it that have vacated truth and embraced perversion and lies — mercy still triumphs over judgment. It doesn't mean judgment doesn't come. It means mercy still triumphs. In essence, anybody who wants to come to Christ is able to do so. Anybody who desires to be free can be free. I personally believe that there's going to be a church in this last day that's going to be a victorious church, a God-filled people, a people with a mind that is similar to that which Christ would have them to have, a people on a mission to bring redemption — which is the only mission of Christ in the earth — the redemption of the lost, the saving of the lost, and the discipling of those who are new to Christ. That is the mission of the church. The mission of the church is not to be personally comfortable. It's not to gather wealth to ourselves. It's not to dig some bunker somewhere and fill it with cans of beans so we can survive the coming days. The church's mission is to be empowered by the Spirit of God and to go into this world and make a difference. And by the grace of God, this last day will have a church.

Coming Out of the Wilderness

In the Song of Solomon, the writer records these words in Song of Solomon 8:5: Who is this coming up from the wilderness, leaning on her beloved? The writer saw something. He saw a bride coming out of a dry place, a wilderness place, leaning on the bridegroom. And this is a pictorial type of what we're going to see in these last days. We're going to see a church coming out of dry places, coming out of a wilderness place, leaning on Jesus Christ — a victorious church, a worshiping church, a church with life and joy, a church with a message, a church with an empowerment of the Holy Spirit to do things that can only be done by the Spirit of God. I am speaking prophetically today. I know when the Holy Spirit is upon me. I know when God's Spirit is flowing through me and speaking a message to His people. Now, not everyone who goes to church is going to be part of the awakening that we're about to experience. But those who belong to Christ will see it and know it.

What the Wilderness Is

The wilderness is a place in between where we used to be and where we're called to be. That's where Israel was for a season — a long season they weren't supposed to be in, but ended up in. They were set free by the sovereign power of God from that which was determined to hold them captive and make them slaves to its power. And that's where many of you were. I was a slave to alcohol. I was a slave to lust. I was a slave to fear — whatever it was in your life. But God sovereignly came and touched your life and set you free. And it was because of the blood of Jesus Christ. It wasn't by any work of righteousness that you or I have done. It's the blood and the mercy of God that brought us out of where we used to be. What was supposed to be a short season ended up being 40 years for a whole generation because they would not go into the place that was promised them. Now, you and I are promised life. We're promised eternal life. We're promised an abundant life. We're promised a reason to live. We're promised that our lives are supposed to bring glory to God — how? By God indwelling us by His Holy Spirit, giving us His Word, taking us where we can't go, making us into what we could never be, and giving us what we could never naturally possess. That people look at us and they see the reality of God — not an argument about God, but the actual reality of God's willingness to show mercy in every generation. The wilderness is that place between our past and our promised future. One time somebody gave me a picture of what I used to look like before I got saved. I had lost all of those pictures when our house burned down, but somebody had one and they were just kind enough to hand it to me. I looked into the eyes of that man and the first thing out of my mouth was, "God, thank you that that man died and another man was born." I don't like what I saw in those eyes. But I was given a promised future. I had no ability to achieve it, no ability to attain it — only a heart to desire it. God, whatever you have for me, that's what I want for my future. The wilderness is the place in between self-focus and an others-focus. We all come to Christ focused on ourselves, and for a short season we're still self-focused after salvation. But that's a point of immaturity. When we come to maturity in Christ, everything inside shifts and we move into that place of promise, which is about others. The whole reason we live is about other people. It's that place in between poverty and provision — when we lived in spiritual poverty and had no ability to do anything, but God brings us out and gives us the provision to become all that He's called us to be. The wilderness is the place we live in between fear and faith, between things old and things new, between human effort and divine enablement. I don't know about you, but I am hungrier for God than I have been in a long, long time. I want everything that God has for my life. I want the full pathway that He has set for my feet, and I don't care what I have to give up to get there. I prayed even this morning: "God, you can have anything you want. I just want you. I want your will. I want your way. I want your pathway. I want your power. I want power in my speech. I don't want to just be an argument about your existence. I want you to be able to prove your existence — in spite of age, in spite of the fact that my own abilities are limited, but yours are not."

Those Who Died in the Wilderness

Unfortunately, many people choose to die in the wilderness. They come out of captivity and end up in this in-between place, which can become very dry after a while. You start coming to church — and it's a great thing to come to church — you sing the songs and you get momentarily stirred, but there's a dryness that has become part of your life, especially for those who have been saved for some time and haven't moved from the wilderness into the fullness of what God has for them. In Joshua 5:4 it says: All the people who came out of Egypt who were males, all the men of war, had died in the wilderness on the way after they had come out of Egypt. I'm going to be bold in saying this: I think the majority — not all, thank God — but the majority of people in America in the last two or three decades in some measure died in the wilderness. Started coming to church, stayed there in church, and never really moved into what God had for them. And because of that, the evidence is all around us. Because of that, immorality abounds. Because of that, confusion is in society at almost every level. We abdicated the role that God had given to us as the body of Christ — to be that voice, to be that living testimony in the marketplace, in the workplace, on the job. Everywhere we go, we were supposed to be salt and light in this world. But many chose to die in the wilderness. They lived there and they died there.

God Is Raising Another Generation

But God found another generation. This is my hope now. This is what He showed me 44 years ago. Many of you weren't even born when the Lord spoke to me about you and about what God was going to do in this time that we're now living in. This is another Joshua moment. This is another moment where people are going to come out of the wilderness and go into the place of promise, but they have to be prepared. There's got to be a mark on you — that separates you and me from the people of this world, separates us from the pursuits of those who choose to live only in what this world has provided them. In Ezekiel 9:4, the society in Ezekiel's day was coming under judgment. And make no mistake about it — America is under the judgment of God right now. God gave this nation an incredible freedom to worship according to the Word of God, to walk in truth. We haven't always walked in truth as a nation — that's a fact. But there's always been an ability to reason with the populace. I don't think that ability is there anymore. I think the society has tipped into godlessness. When the society of Ezekiel's day was about to be judged, God sent an angel. And He said to him: Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and cry over all the abominations that are done within it. Put a mark on those who are not part of this present apostasy. Put a mark on the forehead — which represents the mind — of the man or woman who walks through their day sighing, "Oh God." The news, the things they see, the things we hear — "I can't be part of this." And you know why you can't be part of it? Maybe you feel powerless against it at the moment, but you can't be part of it because the mark of God is upon you. The touch of God has come into your life. If you can be part of this — if you can be part of the immorality, if you can be part of the apostasy — God help you, that's all I can say. But if you're sighing and crying, as I do — I can't walk down the street without sighing and crying anymore. When you look and see the debauchery at every level, I can't read the news without sighing and crying. And my sigh and my cry is not, "God, get me out of here." It's, "God, use me to make a difference. God, use my life for your glory. Jesus Christ, I want your name to be glorified again. I'm tired of hearing your name as a curse word." Even in G-rated movies now, the name of Christ is the standard mark of Hollywood — to curse His name at least once in every movie. God help us as a nation. Lord, you've got to raise your church. You've got to lift your people up again. You've got to empower us with the Holy Spirit.

The Mark of Those Who Want More

The mark that's set upon the people who are despairing about the degeneracy of their generation is the mark of those who are longing to see God glorified again. They're longing to see a spiritual awakening in their time. Now, going back to Song of Solomon, chapter 5, verses 2, 4, and 6 — it's the mark of those who are no longer content with just an infrequent or casual relationship with Jesus. It's the mark of people who are saying, "I'm tired of just being stirred in church. I want more." Were you stirred today? If you weren't, you're probably dead. But if you can still hear, still think, still breathe — you were stirred by something. You were stirred by the worship. You were stirred by the presence of God. But the mark that comes upon those in a time such as we're living in — Ezekiel's pattern is a type — it's the mark of the person who says, "I don't want to just feel this way in church. I don't want to leave the stirring of God at the doorway and have to go through my week the same way that I have for years on end. I want the stirring of God that I have felt in my heart in this church to walk with me Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday." The bride says in Song of Solomon 5:2: I sleep, but my heart is awake. It is the voice of my beloved! He knocks, saying, "Open for me, my sister, my love, my dove, my perfect one." "Yes, I agree — in measure I'm spiritually asleep compared to where I need to be. But my heart has woken up, and I hear him calling me. I hear his voice." Verse 4: My beloved put his hand by the latch of the door, and my heart yearned for him. Verse 6: I opened for my beloved, but my beloved had turned away and was gone. Oh God, I don't want to just hear your voice and feel your presence in little bits here and there — because you said you came to abide with me. You told me that if I abide in you, my life will bear fruit for your kingdom's sake and for your glory. God, I am not content just to go to church and hear about you and experience you only on Sunday or Tuesday or Wednesday noon prayer. God, I want you in my apartment on Thursday. I want you in my heart when I'm sitting at my kitchen table on Friday. I want you when I'm brushing my teeth on Saturday. I want your presence with me, God. I'm not satisfied living without you.

Seeking Him with Everything

The mark that God puts on those — in Song of Solomon 3:1–4 — it's the mark of those who want more. As a matter of fact, they want all that He has for them, and they start searching everywhere for it. That's why this is happening to you now. That's why you've got this groaning in your heart. Many of you here, you know what I'm talking about. Why am I perpetually discontent? Why do I go about groaning all day? Am I not supposed to be happy? Am I not supposed to be at rest? Because that's what happens when God is about to bring His church out of the wilderness. That's what happens before a spiritual awakening comes into a nation. He will awaken His people first, then He will awaken the nation. By night on my bed I sought the one I love. I sought him, but I did not find him. "I will rise now," I said, "and go about the city; in the streets and in the squares I will seek the one I love." I sought him, but I did not find him. The watchmen who go about the city found me; I said, "Have you seen the one I love?" Scarcely had I passed by them, when I found the one I love. I held him and would not let him go. (Song of Solomon 3:1–4) It's the mark of those who cannot cease seeking until they have everything God has for them. It starts at home. It starts with a yearning. It starts with a groaning. It starts with the understanding: "I've been seeking him but I have not found him yet the way he wants me to find him." She gets up and goes about the city, the streets, the squares — constantly seeking the one she loves. Monday to Friday, this yearning — when you sit on the subway, when you sit on a bus, when you go to work, when you're going for groceries, when you're walking down the street, when you're in the hallway of your apartment building — there's a stirring in your heart. There's a seeking going on. "God, what are you doing in my life, and where are you? Where are you, Lord?" Some people are here today and that is the question on your heart: "Where is Jesus? I can't seem to lay hold of him the way I feel like he wants to lay hold of me." But didn't God say through Jeremiah — You will seek me and find me when you search for me with all of your heart (Jeremiah 29:13)? All of your heart, not part of your heart. When we want all of the will of God, all of the pathway He's laid out before us, all of what our lives are intended to be — then He said, you will find me. You can go from church to church to church. You can go online, listen to message after message, and the watchmen who seem to know Him will preach about Him — but you can't seem to find Him yourself. Because He wants to be found at the center core of your heart and your affections. Scarcely had I passed by them when I found the one I love. I held him and would not let him go.

The Pearl of Great Price

In Matthew 13:44–46, Jesus speaks about a person like this: Again, the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and hid; and for joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls, who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it. Up to that point, he's probably been going to the synagogue, being told, "Don't do this, let go of that" — every week some new thing he's got to get rid of in his life. But when you find the pearl of great price, suddenly there's a desire in the heart: "I don't need this. I don't want this. I don't want this part of my life anymore." He went home and sold it all — poured it down the drain if necessary. He got rid of everything that was an encumbrance to him that he might possess what he had been looking for all of his days. It's the mark of those who let go of everything except Christ and His calling on their lives.

Opening the Door

In Revelation 3, there's a church that is rich and increased with goods, and had gotten in her heart that she had need of nothing, unaware of her spiritual condition. And to this particular group of people, He said: Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with me. To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with me on my throne, as I also overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. (Revelation 3:20–22) This mark that God is putting on this last day's church is the mark in the minds of those who will open the door of their hearts to Jesus Christ. They will overcome their reluctance and their fears. They will move beyond the lukewarmness of whatever church age happens to be around them. And they will open the door. You see, this is the people that the writer of Song of Solomon saw. She moved past them. You have to move past certain things, certain times, certain seasons. It's a decision you make. Jesus Christ himself brought three friends into the Garden of Gethsemane with him, but the Scripture says He went a little farther. That's the mark of those who will be used by God in the last days — the desire to go just a little farther. If other people are not willing to go there, I'm going to go there by the grace of Almighty God. Not because I'm any better than anybody, not because I have a deeper skill set, not because of anything — but I hear his voice calling me. I hear his knock on the door, so I'm going to get up. Everyone else might be content. As long as they've got money in the bank, resources, beautiful songs to sing — that's all they need. But I hear him knocking. I hear him knocking on the door of my heart. And it's the man, it's the woman who gets up and opens that door and says, "Jesus, come in and sit down with me in my house. Sit down with me every day of my life. Sit down with me at the breakfast table. Speak to me, oh God. Lead me, guide me, guard me, help me. Use my life for your glory." In the book of Revelation, they had to overcome the lukewarmness around them. Now, there is a great deal of lukewarmness in this nation that calls itself by the name of Christ — but thank God it's not all and everywhere. There are people who are hungry. I can see in my spiritual mind people getting up now. All of the variables are in place for a spiritual awakening.

What is Carter Conlon | A Call to the Nation?

Carter Conlon presents a weekly 24:55 program, encouraging and equipping a generation willing to pray, willing in God’s power to rise up and plead for mercy on behalf of others. Carter says: “As God’s people we have a responsibility to believe God for the power to find the full purpose that He has for our life!”

A Vision for the Last Days Church

I want to speak to you this morning from the Song of Solomon. I'm going to begin in Song of Solomon 8:5, about the last days wilderness church.

I happen to believe with all of my heart that in the last days before Christ returns — in the last days before judgment starts to fall on this nation and other nations like it that have vacated truth and embraced perversion and lies — mercy still triumphs over judgment. It doesn't mean judgment doesn't come. It means mercy still triumphs. In essence, anybody who wants to come to Christ is able to do so. Anybody who desires to be free can be free.

I personally believe that there's going to be a church in this last day that's going to be a victorious church, a God-filled people, a people with a mind that is similar to that which Christ would have them to have, a people on a mission to bring redemption — which is the only mission of Christ in the earth — the redemption of the lost, the saving of the lost, and the discipling of those who are new to Christ. That is the mission of the church.

The mission of the church is not to be personally comfortable. It's not to gather wealth to ourselves. It's not to dig some bunker somewhere and fill it with cans of beans so we can survive the coming days. The church's mission is to be empowered by the Spirit of God and to go into this world and make a difference. And by the grace of God, this last day will have a church.

Coming Out of the Wilderness

In the Song of Solomon, the writer records these words in Song of Solomon 8:5: Who is this coming up from the wilderness, leaning on her beloved?

The writer saw something. He saw a bride coming out of a dry place, a wilderness place, leaning on the bridegroom. And this is a pictorial type of what we're going to see in these last days. We're going to see a church coming out of dry places, coming out of a wilderness place, leaning on Jesus Christ — a victorious church, a worshiping church, a church with life and joy, a church with a message, a church with an empowerment of the Holy Spirit to do things that can only be done by the Spirit of God.

I am speaking prophetically today. I know when the Holy Spirit is upon me. I know when God's Spirit is flowing through me and speaking a message to His people.

Now, not everyone who goes to church is going to be part of the awakening that we're about to experience. But those who belong to Christ will see it and know it.

What the Wilderness Is

The wilderness is a place in between where we used to be and where we're called to be. That's where Israel was for a season — a long season they weren't supposed to be in, but ended up in. They were set free by the sovereign power of God from that which was determined to hold them captive and make them slaves to its power.

And that's where many of you were. I was a slave to alcohol. I was a slave to lust. I was a slave to fear — whatever it was in your life. But God sovereignly came and touched your life and set you free. And it was because of the blood of Jesus Christ. It wasn't by any work of righteousness that you or I have done. It's the blood and the mercy of God that brought us out of where we used to be.

What was supposed to be a short season ended up being 40 years for a whole generation because they would not go into the place that was promised them.

Now, you and I are promised life. We're promised eternal life. We're promised an abundant life. We're promised a reason to live. We're promised that our lives are supposed to bring glory to God — how? By God indwelling us by His Holy Spirit, giving us His Word, taking us where we can't go, making us into what we could never be, and giving us what we could never naturally possess. That people look at us and they see the reality of God — not an argument about God, but the actual reality of God's willingness to show mercy in every generation.

The wilderness is that place between our past and our promised future. One time somebody gave me a picture of what I used to look like before I got saved. I had lost all of those pictures when our house burned down, but somebody had one and they were just kind enough to hand it to me. I looked into the eyes of that man and the first thing out of my mouth was, "God, thank you that that man died and another man was born." I don't like what I saw in those eyes. But I was given a promised future. I had no ability to achieve it, no ability to attain it — only a heart to desire it. God, whatever you have for me, that's what I want for my future.

The wilderness is the place in between self-focus and an others-focus. We all come to Christ focused on ourselves, and for a short season we're still self-focused after salvation. But that's a point of immaturity. When we come to maturity in Christ, everything inside shifts and we move into that place of promise, which is about others. The whole reason we live is about other people.

It's that place in between poverty and provision — when we lived in spiritual poverty and had no ability to do anything, but God brings us out and gives us the provision to become all that He's called us to be. The wilderness is the place we live in between fear and faith, between things old and things new, between human effort and divine enablement.

I don't know about you, but I am hungrier for God than I have been in a long, long time. I want everything that God has for my life. I want the full pathway that He has set for my feet, and I don't care what I have to give up to get there. I prayed even this morning: "God, you can have anything you want. I just want you. I want your will. I want your way. I want your pathway. I want your power. I want power in my speech. I don't want to just be an argument about your existence. I want you to be able to prove your existence — in spite of age, in spite of the fact that my own abilities are limited, but yours are not."

Those Who Died in the Wilderness

Unfortunately, many people choose to die in the wilderness. They come out of captivity and end up in this in-between place, which can become very dry after a while. You start coming to church — and it's a great thing to come to church — you sing the songs and you get momentarily stirred, but there's a dryness that has become part of your life, especially for those who have been saved for some time and haven't moved from the wilderness into the fullness of what God has for them.

In Joshua 5:4 it says: All the people who came out of Egypt who were males, all the men of war, had died in the wilderness on the way after they had come out of Egypt.

I'm going to be bold in saying this: I think the majority — not all, thank God — but the majority of people in America in the last two or three decades in some measure died in the wilderness. Started coming to church, stayed there in church, and never really moved into what God had for them. And because of that, the evidence is all around us. Because of that, immorality abounds. Because of that, confusion is in society at almost every level.

We abdicated the role that God had given to us as the body of Christ — to be that voice, to be that living testimony in the marketplace, in the workplace, on the job. Everywhere we go, we were supposed to be salt and light in this world. But many chose to die in the wilderness. They lived there and they died there.

God Is Raising Another Generation

But God found another generation. This is my hope now. This is what He showed me 44 years ago. Many of you weren't even born when the Lord spoke to me about you and about what God was going to do in this time that we're now living in.

This is another Joshua moment. This is another moment where people are going to come out of the wilderness and go into the place of promise, but they have to be prepared. There's got to be a mark on you — that separates you and me from the people of this world, separates us from the pursuits of those who choose to live only in what this world has provided them.

In Ezekiel 9:4, the society in Ezekiel's day was coming under judgment. And make no mistake about it — America is under the judgment of God right now. God gave this nation an incredible freedom to worship according to the Word of God, to walk in truth. We haven't always walked in truth as a nation — that's a fact. But there's always been an ability to reason with the populace. I don't think that ability is there anymore. I think the society has tipped into godlessness.

When the society of Ezekiel's day was about to be judged, God sent an angel. And He said to him: Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and cry over all the abominations that are done within it.

Put a mark on those who are not part of this present apostasy. Put a mark on the forehead — which represents the mind — of the man or woman who walks through their day sighing, "Oh God." The news, the things they see, the things we hear — "I can't be part of this."

And you know why you can't be part of it? Maybe you feel powerless against it at the moment, but you can't be part of it because the mark of God is upon you. The touch of God has come into your life. If you can be part of this — if you can be part of the immorality, if you can be part of the apostasy — God help you, that's all I can say.

But if you're sighing and crying, as I do — I can't walk down the street without sighing and crying anymore. When you look and see the debauchery at every level, I can't read the news without sighing and crying. And my sigh and my cry is not, "God, get me out of here." It's, "God, use me to make a difference. God, use my life for your glory. Jesus Christ, I want your name to be glorified again. I'm tired of hearing your name as a curse word." Even in G-rated movies now, the name of Christ is the standard mark of Hollywood — to curse His name at least once in every movie.

God help us as a nation. Lord, you've got to raise your church. You've got to lift your people up again. You've got to empower us with the Holy Spirit.

The Mark of Those Who Want More

The mark that's set upon the people who are despairing about the degeneracy of their generation is the mark of those who are longing to see God glorified again. They're longing to see a spiritual awakening in their time.

Now, going back to Song of Solomon, chapter 5, verses 2, 4, and 6 — it's the mark of those who are no longer content with just an infrequent or casual relationship with Jesus. It's the mark of people who are saying, "I'm tired of just being stirred in church. I want more."

Were you stirred today? If you weren't, you're probably dead. But if you can still hear, still think, still breathe — you were stirred by something. You were stirred by the worship. You were stirred by the presence of God.

But the mark that comes upon those in a time such as we're living in — Ezekiel's pattern is a type — it's the mark of the person who says, "I don't want to just feel this way in church. I don't want to leave the stirring of God at the doorway and have to go through my week the same way that I have for years on end. I want the stirring of God that I have felt in my heart in this church to walk with me Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday."

The bride says in Song of Solomon 5:2: I sleep, but my heart is awake. It is the voice of my beloved! He knocks, saying, "Open for me, my sister, my love, my dove, my perfect one."

"Yes, I agree — in measure I'm spiritually asleep compared to where I need to be. But my heart has woken up, and I hear him calling me. I hear his voice."

Verse 4: My beloved put his hand by the latch of the door, and my heart yearned for him.

Verse 6: I opened for my beloved, but my beloved had turned away and was gone.

Oh God, I don't want to just hear your voice and feel your presence in little bits here and there — because you said you came to abide with me. You told me that if I abide in you, my life will bear fruit for your kingdom's sake and for your glory. God, I am not content just to go to church and hear about you and experience you only on Sunday or Tuesday or Wednesday noon prayer. God, I want you in my apartment on Thursday. I want you in my heart when I'm sitting at my kitchen table on Friday. I want you when I'm brushing my teeth on Saturday. I want your presence with me, God. I'm not satisfied living without you.

Seeking Him with Everything

The mark that God puts on those — in Song of Solomon 3:1–4 — it's the mark of those who want more. As a matter of fact, they want all that He has for them, and they start searching everywhere for it.

That's why this is happening to you now. That's why you've got this groaning in your heart. Many of you here, you know what I'm talking about. Why am I perpetually discontent? Why do I go about groaning all day? Am I not supposed to be happy? Am I not supposed to be at rest?

Because that's what happens when God is about to bring His church out of the wilderness. That's what happens before a spiritual awakening comes into a nation. He will awaken His people first, then He will awaken the nation.

By night on my bed I sought the one I love. I sought him, but I did not find him. "I will rise now," I said, "and go about the city; in the streets and in the squares I will seek the one I love." I sought him, but I did not find him. The watchmen who go about the city found me; I said, "Have you seen the one I love?" Scarcely had I passed by them, when I found the one I love. I held him and would not let him go. (Song of Solomon 3:1–4)

It's the mark of those who cannot cease seeking until they have everything God has for them. It starts at home. It starts with a yearning. It starts with a groaning. It starts with the understanding: "I've been seeking him but I have not found him yet the way he wants me to find him."

She gets up and goes about the city, the streets, the squares — constantly seeking the one she loves. Monday to Friday, this yearning — when you sit on the subway, when you sit on a bus, when you go to work, when you're going for groceries, when you're walking down the street, when you're in the hallway of your apartment building — there's a stirring in your heart. There's a seeking going on. "God, what are you doing in my life, and where are you? Where are you, Lord?"

Some people are here today and that is the question on your heart: "Where is Jesus? I can't seem to lay hold of him the way I feel like he wants to lay hold of me."

But didn't God say through Jeremiah — You will seek me and find me when you search for me with all of your heart (Jeremiah 29:13)? All of your heart, not part of your heart. When we want all of the will of God, all of the pathway He's laid out before us, all of what our lives are intended to be — then He said, you will find me.

You can go from church to church to church. You can go online, listen to message after message, and the watchmen who seem to know Him will preach about Him — but you can't seem to find Him yourself. Because He wants to be found at the center core of your heart and your affections.

Scarcely had I passed by them when I found the one I love. I held him and would not let him go.

The Pearl of Great Price

In Matthew 13:44–46, Jesus speaks about a person like this: Again, the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and hid; and for joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls, who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it.

Up to that point, he's probably been going to the synagogue, being told, "Don't do this, let go of that" — every week some new thing he's got to get rid of in his life. But when you find the pearl of great price, suddenly there's a desire in the heart: "I don't need this. I don't want this. I don't want this part of my life anymore." He went home and sold it all — poured it down the drain if necessary. He got rid of everything that was an encumbrance to him that he might possess what he had been looking for all of his days.

It's the mark of those who let go of everything except Christ and His calling on their lives.

Opening the Door

In Revelation 3, there's a church that is rich and increased with goods, and had gotten in her heart that she had need of nothing, unaware of her spiritual condition. And to this particular group of people, He said: Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with me. To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with me on my throne, as I also overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. (Revelation 3:20–22)

This mark that God is putting on this last day's church is the mark in the minds of those who will open the door of their hearts to Jesus Christ. They will overcome their reluctance and their fears. They will move beyond the lukewarmness of whatever church age happens to be around them. And they will open the door.

You see, this is the people that the writer of Song of Solomon saw. She moved past them. You have to move past certain things, certain times, certain seasons. It's a decision you make.

Jesus Christ himself brought three friends into the Garden of Gethsemane with him, but the Scripture says He went a little farther. That's the mark of those who will be used by God in the last days — the desire to go just a little farther. If other people are not willing to go there, I'm going to go there by the grace of Almighty God. Not because I'm any better than anybody, not because I have a deeper skill set, not because of anything — but I hear his voice calling me. I hear his knock on the door, so I'm going to get up.

Everyone else might be content. As long as they've got money in the bank, resources, beautiful songs to sing — that's all they need. But I hear him knocking. I hear him knocking on the door of my heart. And it's the man, it's the woman who gets up and opens that door and says, "Jesus, come in and sit down with me in my house. Sit down with me every day of my life. Sit down with me at the breakfast table. Speak to me, oh God. Lead me, guide me, guard me, help me. Use my life for your glory."

In the book of Revelation, they had to overcome the lukewarmness around them. Now, there is a great deal of lukewarmness in this nation that calls itself by the name of Christ — but thank God it's not all and everywhere. There are people who are hungry.

I can see in my spiritual mind people getting up now. All of the variables are in place for a spiritual awakening.