 So, there's a great advantage in being an intercessor because you actually get to see a session, and at the end of the session you might have a few minutes to dialogue with the leader just about what you're learning. So I want to encourage you to, and Father Hicks talked tonight. It's on our website. He gave it at our leaders conference, so you can pick it up. And most of the sessions, at least two of the sessions tomorrow, they will be made available as well. So I want to encourage you to be available to be an intercessor with somebody because it's part of the training. Receiving, watching, praying, participating is really how you learn. So the other thing I wanted to say about that is if you have an appointment and please be on time, and especially if you're an intercessor, if you don't show up, that's going to delay or maybe even cancel that person's appointment. So we really want to encourage you to get that worked out well ahead of time. So I realized I'm looking at the schedule, and I realized that there's a few things that I wanted to share with you. I'm going to speak to you about the Father's blessing today, and I'm going to pray for you and we're going to enter into the Father's blessing. So this is a talk which is really, you know, in some ways a lot of the messages have been, I want to learn and take it away, and I also want to receive. This message I want you to receive. You can pick up the information another time. I just really want you to have your heart open to the Lord ministering to you through this session. But I've mentioned several times about angels and demons, and we believe in them, and I want to give you some examples of how angels work during an unbound session. And now I can't guarantee you that these are angels. It may be the Holy Spirit. It's very hard to distinguish sometimes between a messenger and the messenger and the messenger and the messenger. Yeah. Yes, I can't even distinguish the words. But so as Janet described to you, we take people through the interview. The interview is like the center of everything we do. And when you come for an interview in the next two days, those who have sessions assigned, we want you to come with what's coming up. So don't come with, we have about an hour for each of you. And if you come with your whole everything, there won't be time to minister to you. And so what you want to do is say, Lord, what is coming up in me during this conference? What are you doing today, Father? And then just come and bring it. Share your story, but let the leader guide you. If they need more information, they will ask. But you don't need to give them too many details. The focus of it is like, what happened? How I responded, even if you don't have words for it, just to describe it. And what's going on now in your life? I'm having trouble with this in my life. This is some of the traumatic events in my life and tell your story. The leader will help you to do it and the Holy Spirit is leading it, so it's just no concern at all. Just come be open to the Lord. And so the leader will take some notes and then lead you through the five keys. So as Janet described, that after the fourth key, after the third key, we will ask you to be quiet. Just don't pray. Just pay attention to anything that comes to your mind. And then we give an expression of faith in the command. And then we wait about five seconds and say, is there anything coming to your mind? And now this is the point where I think angels are really active. So I'm going to give you three little stories of how it went. So this actually didn't happen to me, but it was just we trained some people and this person came up front, took us through the first four keys, gave the command. And the man said, is there anything coming to your mind? And she says, wings. Wings are coming to my mind. And of course the leader's like wings, you know, and the person's standing there with this confused look. I'm thinking about wings. And then about 10 or 12 seconds later, she begins to weep and the leader says, what's going on? She said, when I was a little girl, there was such chaos in my family that I used to climb up onto the roof. And I used to ask the Lord for wings so I could fly away. The father heard her prayer. And like 40 years later, she got her wings. It was this young man I was leading. I was going to do my sessions and this father was coming with me and he realized he had me. I was taking him. And he said, no, no, no, no. Let me give you my son. Take my son. And his son was about 16 years old. And kind of heavy guy and a little awkward. And so we sat down, we started the interview and took my notes. I had a picture of what his life was like a little bit. And so I took him through the first three keys and then I gave the command. And I said, is there anything coming to your mind? And he says, a rabbit. I'm thinking, oh my goodness, a rabbit. What do I do with a, Lord, what do I do with a rabbit? But I really believe, I really believe, whatever comes to somebody's mind at that point is important. It's important. And I'm going to seek the Lord. So I say, so I'm thinking and I'm looking at the paper. I say, I said, well, well, is it more, more like a, is it a rabbit or is it more like a bunny? They said, oh, it's a bunny. Okay, that's progress. And the, and the reason I asked that is because when I envision or imagine a bunny, I'm thinking a bunny is something that either wants to be held or something you want to hold. And I knew from this story that he was kind of isolated and his mother and father separated and I knew his story. So that came to my mind. And then so, so I said, okay, why don't you just say this. In the name of Jesus, I renounced the lie that no one is ever going to hold me. And this 16 year old boy broke down and wept. Now I think that's a miracle that a 16 year old boy who is shy, who's not real connected to people finds a way for his heart to be revealed in a few minutes for him to identify and to renounce the lie that's been holding him bondage. Is that the work of angels, the work of Holy Spirit? I kind of lean towards the angels with the impressions of the mind because we don't say, tell me what you're seeing. I say, tell me what's coming to your mind. So it could be a thought or it could be an image. A lot of times it's images. I'll tell you one more story. So I was ministering to this young man and I took him through the first keys and I gave the command and he said, I just have this picture of me up in an empty place looking through this portal on a beautiful field. Now years ago I would have just prayed him through that portal into the field. But our approach is a little different and I'm thinking differently and I'm just thinking about it a little differently. And he used the word empty. So I know from experience that many times people grow up with a sense of emptiness. It's not the kind of emptiness that we have before the Lord, but just a sense, a negative sense of emptiness. And I know that's often connected to nothingness. So I just went for it. I said, okay, well if it's okay with you just say in the name of Jesus I renounce emptiness and I renounce nothingness. And as soon as he said nothingness he started to laugh. He started just laughing and laughing. I said, what's going on? He said, in college I was really into Nietzsche's nothingness. Now it wasn't that he got demonized in the class, but you can see that if you have a sense of nothingness in you and emptiness you're going to be attracted to that and it's going to reinforce it and create the bondage. Sometimes when we give the command and because we're not, we're not, we're just dismissing the spirits. We're still dealing with the person's heart. So sometimes they'll say, well nothing's coming to my mind. And what's really coming to their mind is this isn't working. And nothing's going to change. And you have to create a safe atmosphere for them to say whatever it is that comes to your mind. And you're always doing this with your eyes open so you're perceiving and you're helping them maybe to express what it is. And if they say nothing is going to change, that's what came to my mind. You're really happy. That's great. OK, so would you renounce doubt and unbelief? Would you renounce the lie that I can never change? And maybe discouragement, disappointment? You know, so you just help them process whatever is coming to their mind. And so that's what the leaders will be doing with those of you who have a chance for unbound ministry or if in the future you have a chance to, maybe you'll have a chance to minister to one another before you leave here as well as come to a ministry team. And there's also ministry teams in many different cities that you can connect to on our website, heartofthefather.com. So this, I think I covered everything. So now I'd like to speak to you about the Father's blessing in many of the countries we've gone to and for many people, even some of you. Everything up to this point is nice. But for some people, this is what it's all about. See, and I'll probably repeat this in the talk, but we know that Jesus died for us. He saved us so that we could come home to the Father. So I'm going to speak about it today with the Father's blessing because that's what we do. That's the fifth key. And on Friday morning, I'm going to speak about Abba's heart. I'm going to speak about coming home to the Father because it's in the Father that we find our true identity and our purpose. So let's pray. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Heavenly Father, we come to you in your Son Jesus and we ask you to bless us today. I ask you to restore and begin to restore and further restore everyone's heart that's been damaged and held back from you and find it difficult to trust you, to know you, to release themselves to you. Father, I ask that your spirit would be working in our midst today and release the significance of what it means to hear the words and receive the blessing of the Father. And Father, we come to you in the name of your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. So all blessing traces back to the heart of God. We sing the song, Praise God, from whom all blessings flow. Whether it's major blessing or small blessings. If you live in a city, you get small blessings all the time. Lord, please give me a parking spot. And there it is, you know. My wife gets blessed all the time. She comes home from the store and she says, you wouldn't believe it. There was a sale at Talbot's and not only was there a sale, but I had a 40% coupon. I was blessed. And then there's big blessings like my son just returned. He gave his heart to the Lord. Family life has changed because of today, the blessing of today. All blessing flows from God and we give and praise for it all. In Genesis chapter 1, verse 28, it says, and God blessed them after he created. He said, God bless them and God said to them, be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth. And in verse 31, it says that God saw everything he had made and behold, it was very good. Now, you've probably preached on it every other day. It was good. But the day that he made you, see, because when he created Adam, you were in Adam and he knew you that day, he knew you in that moment. And his heart was filled with delight and he saw you and he saw this is very good, increase, multiply. I want more. Jesus tells us in the gospel that it's out of the heart that the mouth speaks. So imagine what was in God's heart that day. Great pleasure, great delight when he looked upon you. Now, you can see that by meditating in Genesis. You can see that delight of the father who he loved to spend time with his children in the cool of the day and walking with them. But you can see it later when the blessing of the father is restored. Jesus went into the Jordan, identified with our sins, and the heavens opened up and the father spoke. Jesus at that moment restored to us the father's blessing that we ran away from, that was hidden from us because of sin. The Greek word for blessing literally means a good word. A blessing is a good word that finds its source in the heart of God and words have power. The Hebrew sense of blessing has to do with speaking well about a person. A blessing imparts something. A blessing empowers someone to prosper, to thrive, to succeed, to have a pleasant journey. It's shalom. Take my peace with you. It's giving something. So when we speak about blessing, it's maybe a little different than some of the blessings you were trained to give. It has to do with speaking about imparting to someone the thoughts of God and speaking them or releasing them into someone else's heart. And what I want to say is the thoughts that God has for you is the treasure you've been seeking for all your life, and you're still seeking. Now, you've found that treasure, but there's more. There's more of what is in God's heart for you that needs to expose the lie and wipe out the darkness as he reveals to you his delight and pleasure over you. And God's plan is that the family and the church would learn to speak blessings in this Hebrew sense than parting something from God. Everyone needs to hear the whispers of the Father. And I would like to reflect on the life of Jesus and special moments when the Father broke into the life of His Son to speak in this Hebrew sense of blessing. These special blessings have to do with His identity and His destiny, or you could call it His mission or His life's purpose. So first, at the conception. In the sixth month, God sent an angel Gabriel to Nazareth to a virgin, pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin's name was Mary. And the angel went to her and said, greetings, you who are highly favored. The Lord is with you. Mary was greatly troubled with these words and wondered what kind of greeting this could be. But the angel said to her, do not be afraid, Mary. You have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son and you're to give Him the name Jesus. Imagine that moment. This young girl is visited by an angel and the angel says you're gonna be with child, you found favor with God, you're gonna conceive. And then the angel said, you're gonna name Him Jesus, which means the Lord saves. She might have immediately thought, could this be the one? The savior, the one we've waited for? And that would have been enough just to kind of knock her over, wouldn't it? But then the angel goes on. He will be great and he will be called the son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father, David and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever. His kingdom will never end. God is revealing the identity of his son and he's blessing Mary and Jesus in this encounter with the angel. And during the pregnancy, at that time, Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea where she entered Zachariah's home and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby leapt in her womb and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. Now, all scripture is inspired by the Holy Spirit, but when scripture itself says someone's filled with the Holy Spirit, then it's time to get ready for prophecy. And Elizabeth doesn't just deliver a message. You know, I think the Lord's saying, doesn't say I have this impression. She says, in a loud voice, she exclaimed, blessed are you among women and blessed is a child you will bear. For why am I so favored that the mother of my Lord should come to me? As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb left for joy. Blessed is she who has believed that what the Lord has said will be accomplished. Why am I so favored that the mother of my Lord should come to me? His identity is being revealed, affirmed by the Father. And Mary is being blessed. Then the shepherds, God provides shepherds and kings to honor Jesus and confirm his identity and his destiny. And it says, the angel revealed the glory of God to the shepherds and announced that today, a savior has been born. And they witnessed the heavenly host praising God. So we have revelation, introducing Jesus as savior, Lord and Son. And in Luke chapter two, verse 19, it says that Mary treasured up all these things. She pondered them in her heart, she took them in and they were going to be stories to be told. Blessings to be repeated in the life of her son. Now here's my, here's a favorite one I like to tell. In Luke chapter two, 25, it says there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel and the Holy Spirit was upon him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord's Christ. Now I picture Simeon as a very old man. And the reason I do is because I know this about God. He never comes early. You have a promise from God? Where are you Lord? Did I hear you right? You're going through all the trouble and then when he comes, oh Lord, perfect timing. Just in time. This is the right moment, but we go through a lot. So he had a promise from God. So I imagine him being fairly old and I don't know if Mary and Joseph would have known he was a prophet or they just thought he was an old man that was muttering around the temple. But on this particular day, he's moved by the Spirit to go into the temple courts. And I imagine he's wondering, why today? Is this the day? And I kind of imagine him looking around and wondering, is this the day? And then he sees across the courtyard, he sees this couple carrying something and he's compelled to go over. And when he gets here, he sees the baby and he takes the baby in his arms. And he says, sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you may now dismiss your servant in peace. My eyes have seen your salvation, which you've prepared in the sight of all people, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people, Israel. Simeon did not witness the miracles. He did not hear the preaching of the kingdom of God. He did not witness the death and the resurrection of Jesus. He wasn't there at Pentecost to receive the Holy Spirit. But when he looked into the face of this child, he received it all and said, now you can dismiss your servant in peace. It's prophecies that came to Mary and Joseph to confirm what they already knew. Can you imagine Mary and Joseph going back home that day? How did he know? Did you hear what he said? It's everything that's in our hearts, he knew. He must be a prophet. Oh, thank you, Lord. God was bringing revelation and encouragement to help them to firmly hold to what is true. And when we speak blessing and we prophesy to one another, the thoughts, the treasures that are in the heart of God for one another, that's what we're doing, we're bringing encouragement and revelation to help you to hold firmly to what you already know is true. And these were the stories that Joseph and Mary would have told when I wrote on down, I wrote a meditation on blessing. And as Janet told you, it later became a book called Will You Bless Me? And it's about Joseph and Mary blessing Jesus. And after I wrote it, I found out that a lot of people were surprised to realize that the first person to ever hear the Christmas story was Jesus. Mary and Joseph told them the stories over and over again. And sometimes I wonder if Jesus told the disciples or he said, oh, go ask my mom. So the book, I'm gonna read most of it to you. And I found out that whenever I wear my Mr. Rogers sweater, I have a great anointing to read. So I'm ready if you are. So the book begins with dad talking to Anna in the bed and she sneezes and her stuffed animals go flying around the room and dad says, bless you, Anna. As he picks up the stuffed animals. And she says, why do you say bless you? Now I wrote the book, but I don't know what she was in her heart when she asked that question. So I know a couple of things about kids. Sometimes they ask questions because they want the answer. Sometimes they ask questions because they don't want the next thing to happen. I used to teach religion in high school and they figured me out. Save all the best questions for the last 10 minutes. Oh, get him talking and he won't get to give us the assignment. So maybe Anna wanted to know the answer to that. Maybe she just didn't want dad to turn the light off. But her father was a good father. He knew this was a teachable moment. So he went over to the shelf and he picked out a book that grandma had given her about Jesus. And he snuggles up beside her on the bed and begins to read. A long time ago in a place called Nazareth, a little boy played with a wooden chest that his father had made. There were treasures in that chest. Treasures given to his family not long after his birth. Mom, the boy called out, could you tell me about the wise men again? His fingers toyed with something shiny inside the chest. Mary said aside her sewing and pulled her son Jesus onto her lap. It was after you were born, she said. Three wise men came to see us from far away. They were beautifully dressed and carrying gifts just for you. One brought gold, another frankincense, and I said, one more. And God told them a very special child had been born. It was a star, wasn't it, Mom? Jesus interrupted. That's how they found us. That's right, Mary told them. God put an amazing star in the sky and the wise men followed it. Joseph put down his tools and leaned closer to hear his wife and son. He loved these moments when Mary talked to Jesus about his birth, telling her son all the thoughts and plans God had just for him. Joseph could feel the presence of God. Jesus, his true father, reaching down to bless his only son through Mary's simple words. Now tell me about the angel Jesus begged. The one who told the shepherds about me, Mary smiled. Well, the shepherds were watching this sheep late at night when the whole sky suddenly lit up with God's glory. At first, the shepherds were frightened, but the angel said to them, shepherds, don't be afraid. The news I bring you is wonderful. Today in the town of David, a savior has been born for you and here's proof of what I'm saying is true. You'll find this baby snuggled in warm clothes and lying in a manger. Mary touched her eager son's face. The shepherds came, she said, and told us all the angel had said about you. God has such a special plan for your life, Jesus. The little boy grew quiet now. Joseph could tell he was thinking, tell me again about the first angel, mom. Jesus pleaded, the one who told you I was coming, that's my favorite part. Mary drew a deep breath, remembering the wonder of the moment. As a young girl, I was pledged to be married to your father. I was so excited, thinking about it day and night. And then, she paused, the angel appeared. It was Gabriel, wasn't it? The boy chimed in. Yes, it was. And he said, you didn't need to be afraid. That's right. Then he told you about me and you should name me Jesus. Mary looked deeply into her son's eyes. The angel told me that you would be great, Jesus. You will be called the son of the most high. As Jesus took in these words, he rested his head against his mother and heard the soft beat of her heart. Somehow, Jesus sensed there were many treasures kept there for him to know someday. Joseph wiped his eyes. He treasured moments like these when he and Mary had the joy of unfolding the heart of the father to God's own precious son. Just then, the boy's head popped up. He said, so what happened to the gold? He asked. When he can get married, Joseph said, I guess God knew we needed it for our vacation in Egypt. By now, Jesus has hopped off Mary's lap and ran outside to play. The moment was over, but the blessing was eternal. Anna's father closed the book. So Anna, he said, that's a blessing. The special thoughts and plans God has for you shared by someone who loves you very much. Will you bless me, she asked. And that's the purpose of the book that children will say will you bless me and parents will see how to do it. And so Anna's dad goes on. Oh Anna, he said, you're my precious daughter, but you're also the daughter of a king. God loves you and is already whispering what a treasure you are. Every time I tell you a story about how we prayed for a child like you or how we picked out your name, I'm blessing you. And God is whispering his own quiet words into your heart. Do you want to hear one of the stories again? He asked. How about the day we found that you were coming or the day we brought you home or tell me about the whisper and interrupted. God is always whispering words of love to you, Anna. If you listen closely, you'll hear him. Anna said quietly and listened. Leopold, Simon and the doll with the feather boa seemed to listen too, although Leopold might have been sleeping, tenderly touching his daughter's cheek and his daddy's break. Heavenly Father, you love Anna so much. Thank you that I'm her dad. I know you have special plans for her. As she rests tonight, let her feel how close you are and help her to know your thoughts and hear your quiet whispers of love deep in her heart. A moment later, Anna was fast asleep. The moment was over, but the blessing was eternal. Jesus was told stories. We need to remember the stories about our families and about our children and the stories need to be told. The stories are a form of blessing. So I was learning about blessing when my oldest grandson was born, Matt's son. And so when we heard he was born, we got in our car and we were driving five hours to Virginia to meet my grandson. And on the way down, I said, Lord, would you, would you show me something about my grandson so that I would have a story even from the beginning to tell him about some of your whispers or what you think of him or who he is? And so as we drove down, I prayed, I wondered if the Lord was gonna show up. So of course, when we got there, Janet got the first hold and I was standing there patiently wondering. And then I sat down and they carefully put Stephen in my arms and this is what I said in my head. Hello, Stephen, I'm your grandpa and I'm a Christian. And sometimes God gives me pictures. And then I paused just like it would have with anybody hoping that God was gonna show up that I wasn't gonna be left empty. And immediately I had this picture in my mind of a man walking up a sand dune. And the man looked like he had been alone with God, kind of like a Moses figure, but thinner than Charlton Heston. And he was just, you know, someone that had been alone with God, he's coming out of the desert. And I thought, thank you, Lord, my grandson is gonna know what it means to be alone with you. And then I thought, I said, but Lord, why is he at the beach? So when you get an image, it's complete. God has purpose in the whole thing. So I said, but Lord, why is he at the beach? And immediately I felt the response in my heart. It's because he's gonna be there when the tide turns. Now it's private interpretation. But I'll tell you what it means to me. It means that the things that we've labored for in our life and worked for and wanted to see the kingdom advance and the church advance, we're gonna see the fulfillment of that or it's gonna be fulfillment in his generation, in his lifetime. And so I held that and I've told that story many, many times. And looking back over the years of having told that, I just didn't realize that the tide was going out. And it hadn't turned yet. But there is a turning of the tide. It may be right now. We certainly see evidence of it in places like Steubenville and Michigan and different places we go. There is a turning taking place and the kingdom and the world and the church is going to overtake the world. And I believe it's gonna be in his generation the fulfillment of the promise. So back to the, yeah, back to the scriptures. It's debating whether to tell you another story. Put it off. In Mark chapter one, verse nine. It says, at that time, Jesus came from Nazareth and Galilee and was baptized by John and Jordan. And as Jesus was coming out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the spirit descending on him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven. You are my son whom I love. With you I am well pleased. Present in these words is a blessing of his identity and his destiny, his purpose. And along with it is the empowering of the Holy Spirit. And the spirit would drive him out into the wilderness as he prepared for his ministry. One more time, we have this Hebrew sense of blessing coming from heaven. Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem. He's going to suffer and die. He's transfigured with Moses and Elijah and from the cloud of voice speaks. This is my son whom I love. With him I am well pleased. Listen to him. The father is empowering him to go to the cross. Satan's attack is always two things. He attacks our identity and he attacks our destiny. Evangelism 101, God loved you and he has a plan for your life. What is the enemy's design? It's to rob you of that awareness and knowledge of God's love for you and that you have purpose and meaning. You have a destiny to fulfill. So every attempt by the enemy is to rob us of those two things and we have recorded in scripture two attacks of the enemy upon the life of Jesus. The first one is when he comes out of the desert. So he's baptized in the river Jordan and he goes into the desert. He's praying and fasting. He's thirsty. He's hungry and the tempter comes to him and says, if you are God's son, tell these stones to become bread. If you are God's son. And the three temptations echo that same sentiment. If you are God's son, deny your sonship, throw yourself down. When we receive revelation from God, we can expect it to be tested. It was tested with Jesus. Jesus withstood the temptation by quoting the scriptures and it's interesting that he allowed it to happen three times before he dismissed the enemy and said, away from me, Satan. Going through the testing allows the truth to take hold deeply in our hearts. So it's not just a word that we heard but it's a word that we can live. And so sometimes all of you have gone through testing and there's a process by which God forms you as a man of God through the times of testing and the times of testing do end as it did with Jesus when he said, away from me, Satan. For his written worship the Lord your God and serve him alone. The second temptation is about his destiny or his life's purpose, his mission. Before Jesus was to go to Jerusalem, Peter speaks the very temptation of Satan, Matthew 1621. From that time on, Jesus began to explain to his disciples he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life. Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. Never Lord, this should never happen to you. Jesus turned and said to Peter, get behind me, Satan. You are a stumbling block to me. You do not have in mind the things of God but the things of men. His closest companions walking with him to his destiny and they speak the enemy's temptation. Jesus was not concerned with Peter's feelings that day. He had his eye on what he was destined to do. He was gonna fulfill the Father's plan whether anybody walked with him or not. He knew where he was going. A little side note that I'd like to reflect upon with this scripture is I kinda imagine the disciples in heaven sitting around the table, talking about old times, telling stories and then somebody says, hey Peter, remember the day you rebuked the Lord? You rebuked the Lord. How could you rebuke the Lord? Parents have a difficult job. They need the correct behavior and honor the child. Many of us were dishonored when our parents were making sincere efforts to correct us. Correction has to do with performance. Rejection has to do with identity. And all parents get it mixed up and it was mixed up for them as well. If we're not blessed, we don't know our true identity and then we think that anytime someone corrects us, they're rejecting us. Now you, if you've worked in a parish, you've had people work for you, you know. Try to correct as gently as you could. You said it the best you could and they go away crying and in tears, feeling rejected. If we're not blessed, we do not know that we have what it takes to fulfill the purposes of God in our life. And I know we only have what it takes by God's grace, but it's like, do we have confidence? Do we believe? If our identity and destiny is not blessed and valued, we basically have two choices in life. And Jesus described those choices when he told the story of the two sons. The older brother, try harder, earn it. If I can't be accepted, at least I can be right. There's rules, self-righteousness, self-reliance. And your other basic choice is the younger brother. It's hopeless. I'll never be good enough, why try? Self-condemnation, worthlessness. Imagine the younger brother saying, I'll never be like my older brother. As a matter of fact, I never even wanna be like my older brother. I'll never be like my dad. Why bother? Give up. God wants us to learn to bless. The blessings we receive from God are incomplete until they're given away. The blessings you received are gonna go much deeper in you. The more you learn how to speak the blessing into the heart of somebody else. The more you learn that, the more you'll get caught up in it. You will receive as much delight and pleasure over speaking it as the person receiving it. Parents need to be taught to bless their children. A family blessing consists of meaningful touch, a hug, a spoken word, attaching a high value to the one being blessed or picturing a special future for the child. And as priests and deacons, you can do that. Seminarians, you can do it for one another. So many seminarians are struggling with their identity and like, do they belong and can I make it and comparing themselves to one another? And what would happen if you caught up in the thought hold of something of God for a brother seminarian and started speaking into their life and speaking into their heart, expressing confidence and filling those gaps there. Their father never blessed them. I remember praying for this one priest. I did the interview and he said, my father was the greatest man ever. I was so close to him all my life and he would come to me and he came. He said, I just feel like I'm dead. I feel like I'm not a priest. And I feel like I don't know what to do. I don't know if I should leave the priesthood and everybody around him was like, this is an amazing priest. But inside he was dead. And it happened to be a future bishop that was in the room with me and we were kind of stumped. We didn't know. I mean, he was talking about demons this and it must be that and it must be, he was searching, he was searching everywhere. And then finally by God's grace, I think it was, finally by God's grace, I asked him, did your father bless you when you became a priest? His faith's kind of sank. I don't know why this happened, but I asked my father advice about everything. Everything, we would talk and I asked his advice about everything, but I don't know why, but for some reason, I never asked him about joining the seminary and becoming a priest. It was a gap. He didn't know his father's blessing and there was a hole in his heart and he couldn't name it because he still had a great relationship with his dad, but there was something in him hungering for the father's blessing and there's gaps in all of your lives in my life. Jesus died to make the father's blessing real to you so you could receive it. And it's never too late. My father-in-law was over to our house when he was close to 90 at the time and he had been through unbound. He actually took it into the prisons and he knew it, but I didn't know actually what he got or what he didn't do, but he told me that he was using it with the prisoners. And so I was sitting at the end of the counter and he just kind of came into the kitchen real slow talking real slow. I didn't say a word and he just came up and he came beside me to put his arm across my shoulder. I didn't want to breathe. I didn't want the phone to ring. I didn't want anybody to say anything. I just wanted to take the blessing in. Touch is a way to communicate blessing. And sometimes they'll say, you know, some people were never touched and heads will go, that was me. I mean, somebody washed your hair and somebody scrubbed your face and somebody touched you, but whether it was your own hardness of heart to push people out or because nobody ever really touched you in a way to communicate that blessing and value, it's not too late. The father embraced the protocol. He kissed him. It's not too late. Some of us as some of us were born at times of great turmoil and stress, worry, divorce was being considered alcoholism. Abortion might have been considered for you or abortion was considered for a sibling. Maybe one died before you came and maybe your mother didn't want to bond with you because she was in such sorrow about the last child. We all have our stories because we're born into a broken world. Maybe there was no money and there was no time for celebration for you when you were born. But as Matt would have told you, that's the small story. The bigger story is the eternal story, the eternal love of the father and the son and the Holy Spirit. And we are interpreting our lives based on this limited perception of reality, the perception of our experiences and how we react and respond to them and how we interpret life based on it. But redemption is this. Jesus broke out of the bigger story into our smaller story and he's breaking us out so that we might enter in fully to the eternal story, the eternal love of the father and the son and the Holy Spirit. So we've been given a promise. Everything works to the good for those of us who love God. So it doesn't matter how bad your story was. Yes, you need to tell it. Yes, you need to mourn your loss. Yes, you need to renounce the lies that have come to you and repent of your sin and forgive those who wounded you. But as you love God through all that, it becomes something rich for others. I didn't learn about Unbound by reading a book. Now I read books and I particularly study everything that we teach so I know that I'm not teaching any heresy or misleading or doing any harm. But I learned it by living through it, by entering into it. And the best thing that you have for your parishioners is to enter into it and allow the redemption to take hold of you. So you have a firm testimony that no matter how bad it was in my life, God has turned it to good and now I have something to give and we have power. We have power from the cross. When Jesus said, Father, forgive them. They do not know what they're doing. We have the power to forgive the impossible. And so we can do as it says in Ephesians 6, take our stand against the devil's schemes. Jesus came to destroy the devil's works so we could hear the whisper of the Father. We're no longer living the small story we're living the eternal story. And that's why we call our conferences freedom in Christ. So now I'd like to pray for you to receive the blessing of the Father. So you can stand and you can stretch. Take a moment and then we're gonna go for it. Heavenly Father, I'm gonna ask that you would, you would visit your sons tonight? And you'd open up heaven for them in a special way. So I'd like you to go in your imaginations to the River Jordan. I want you to see yourself standing on the banks and if you've been there, I want you to just perceive the sun and the clouds. It's kind of like a perfect day. It's a bright day, but it's not too bright. Like you just smell the moist breeze coming off the river. And as you look into the, as you look down the banks and you look into the river, you see the Baptist and he's preaching. He's preaching a message of repentance. But today you find it very hard to hear him because you've been coming there every day for a week. And every day you were saying, I think today's the day I'm going to be baptized. I think today's the day and every day you went home. And then yesterday something really unusual happened. The Baptist stopped preaching and he pointed his finger to the hillside. And he said, look, there's the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. And you looked and you saw him and you can't get him out of your mind. You've been thinking, how can a man be the lamb of God? How can a man take away sins? That's been going over and over in your heart. And on the way home yesterday, you asked about him and they said, oh, he's a Nazarene. His name is Jesus. I think he might be John's cousin, I'm not sure. And you can't stop thinking about him. So today's you're standing on the banks and there's a crowd around you and you're looking down at the Baptist. You're not really hearing him. And then behind you, you feel the crowd moving and you look over your shoulder and there he is, the lamb of God. And he's coming towards the water and he looks like he's headed right towards you and it looks like he's gonna walk right by you and as he comes to you, you find yourself walking with him. Step for step. First you're ankle deep and your knee deep and you're standing before the Baptist waist deep. You've never seen John like this, he's trembling and he says to Jesus, I can't baptize you, I'm not. And John and Jesus says, baptize me. For righteousness sake. John takes one trembling hand and puts it on the head of Jesus and he puts the other hand on your head. And in that moment, it's like lightning goes through you. It's like all the wheat and the chaff is being separated. All the darkness and light within you is being separated and you know you're never gonna be the same again. And then you're plunged into the water and it's like a wind comes by and blows all the chaff away and you're under the water for just a moment but it seems like a long time and you're smiling because you're thinking I'm clean. I'm really clean. And you come out of the water and you hear a rumbling in the clouds and a voice begins to speak. This is my son. You look to your left for Jesus. He's not there. And this voice, these words are echoing in your soul, deep in your soul. This is my son and you're looking for Jesus and he's not there and then you realize these words are for you. This is your blessing. This is what you've sought for all your life. Receive your blessing. This is my son in whom I take great pleasure. This is my son in whom I delight. I'm so proud of him. He's answered the call. He said, yes, this is my son whom I love. This is your blessing. Now let the Holy Spirit complete this blessing. Holy Spirit, we ask you to go deep within us and release the cry. The cry of the spirit is stirring and many of you right now just let it come up and then whisper in response to the Father's delight. Abba, my father. Abba, my father. Whisper to your father. If you've heard, if you've received his word, respond. You are my son, Abba, my father. Abba, father. Jesus dwells in you. You are identified with the Son and the Father's delight is an immeasurable. Now there's two more things I wanted you to have an opportunity for right now. The Father can speak your name like no one else ever did or could. So listen for his whisper. Listen for your name. Now the one thing that is really missing is touch. The Father embraced the prodigal and so we're ending with plenty of time today. I want this to be a time of extending the blessing. Some of you have prophetic gifts. Most of you have prophetic gifts. I'd like you to use them, but speak out of the Father's delight and pleasure. And if you have a brother to minister to, just form it this way. And the Father says, what is the treasure in the Father's heart that he wants to bring to the person that's standing before you? So there's a couple of things that you can do. You can turn to somebody, not yet, and you can say, will you bless me? Or you can turn to somebody and just look them in the face and pause. And then one of you will have to speak. The Father's blessing. But wait on the Spirit and wait until you really see the person in front of you. And the other thing you can do is you can touch someone in an appropriate way. You can touch them or embrace them, but don't go too quickly to that. I want you all to be touched before you leave today, but minister to one another from the heart. The Father is blessing every brother here. And now some of you just need someone else to speak the words. So I release you in Jesus' name to bless one another. Take your time and move to somebody else after you're finished. Move out and just say, I am a man who wants the bless and I'm carrying the blessing of God to give away. Go for it. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord.