An Important Update from Bethel Leadership | Bethel Church, Redding

well good morning bethel family local family and then all across the world it's good to be with you this morning there's a smattering of amazing people in the room right now we've had a we've had a precious time in the presence of the lord so hey i if you don't know me i'm dan fairley and um i've been on staff since 1991 so i'm an old timer uh when you put it all together bill might have been here longer than me we've never quite done the math but uh because he was here before and then he was called a pastor up in weaverville and then he's he's back and of course whenever we talk about in longevity dave runyon's name must be mentioned and honored so if you don't know who he is internationally he's one of the pillars of the house of the house of the lord here so we deeply love him but we have like important news we realize when we have family news it kind of it turns out to be global family news and so um we want to talk with you about an important transition that's happening in our environment and um we it's so important we want to get it right so we recorded it and we have it here for you now and just ask you to kind of settle in and watch this and then i'll be back at the end of the video hi everyone this is dan fairley from bethel church in reading california we have an important family announcement about our leadership team and some transitions happening there so i encourage you to watch the video in its entirety i'm here at the senior leadership team of bethel church in reading california you recognize these folks i'm i'm dan fairley chris valatin bill johnson candace and eric johnson and we have some important news some news that we're having a tough time getting out this morning as we're processing together but i want to turn it over to eric and candace to for them to talk about what's ahead for them and so eric would you start yeah thanks dan uh good morning everyone um we have some news we want to share with you you know candice and i've been reflecting a lot lately in regards to just faith and faith journey and i think you look at this team and you look at just our house and in fact every believer has a faith journey and we've just been talking a little bit lately about our own personal faith journey there have been times where taking a step of faith is almost easy to do and then other times it's like it's not as easy and some actually to be to be frank with you very challenging and we're in one of those right now and we are we're on a journey and a process right now i've taken a massive step of faith and what makes this one interesting it feels like we're stepping into really the unknown and we don't know what's happening just yet but the last several months we've been just feeling the stirring inside in regards to is the lord pulling us somewhere or pushing us somewhere other than bethel and we've uh as you can imagine that that would never it really would never in our radar in 2011 we've been on staff for about 18 years total a couple different stints here 18 years total and about almost 10 years as senior pastors and when we said yes to this in 2011 we literally did it with this is forever the rest of our life is this that's literally with our mindset uh we put our roots in deep in just about everywhere spiritually practically emotionally and mentally and then think things start changing in our hearts and we're you know hearts meaning we feel a push and a pull but we're so deeply committed and connected here so we had we had never had any plan of ever planning to leave at all and this year we've been feeling this stirring like we think there's something else waiting for us so we've been on this face journey where it would be really nice to know this is where we're going but we actually don't know yet but we just feel like our time here is coming to a close and so yeah we deeply love you guys and being a part of this has been the most humbling thing for us because just the courage that you live with the level of passion pursuit of god and your generosity all of who you are calls us to be better people and so we have loved every moment of pastoring here and it is um sad it is a grieving and a little bit of sadness as we transition because we just have such deep love for everybody here and we know that regardless of where we end up this is home this is family and that we will always be connected and cheering you on um but we are looking forward at this moment of just what god has for us next and we're praying into it and it was unexpected as eric mentioned um but in the midst of it as we have been praying we do feel god involved and we've received some prophetic words that have meant a lot and helped us to look forward and even for bethel what god has for bethel and what god has for us you know we've done this to a lot of other people like send them out and i mean we go for it i mean and now we're like oh that's us and so it's really it's a really unique place to be and if i can just bring something up that i i think might be helpful at least it helps me in this moment before i lose it and that is we've never said goodbye to people we just say see you later and um i wish i could talk when i cry it's a gift i've been praying for so as you can see this is something that we've wrestled with for a number of months and we we turned in a letter of resignation a little over uh six seven weeks ago so we've been processing this for a month and a half at least as far as the decision that we made and as you can imagine it's been a process and a journey but i think what's important is to realize for us you should know for us if we feel a real odd piece in this odd meaning it was surprising it was like oh my goodness what we're literally being pulled into we don't really know where yet but they're but we're familiar with the piece and i think that's what we want you guys to be aware even in the midst of just navigating all of this like i know what that piece feels like um and i can trust that and so that's kind of our our journey right now and we will always forever be connected here this is family literally family um if it's not blood then it's 40 years 20 years 10 i mean there's just so much history here so this is not a good buy but this is they see you later and we don't know quite know where we're going yet our plan right now is we want to we want to stay in the environment until the end of january especially in light of we're not doing this in person which is just a whole nother which is just uh it's like where this year had already been it is what it is but we just knew that because of the end of the year coming and it's important for the house to be able to begin to dream about the future and just the timing of all of our planning and strategies we felt like we needed to do this even the fact that we couldn't do this in person that we wanted to at least communicate to you guys but we want to be around for the next couple months to meet with people talk and just process and just walk through i mean we've been in this for a number of months and we're a few months down our own journey of emotions and process and we know that for many of you you're just starting right now and so there's going to be a series of emotions and questions and all that so our hearts will be here for the next couple of months and then we plan on taking kind of a mini sabbatical after at the end of january we're thinking a few months we're not really sure just yet and that'll give us time to just rest and give us time to just refresh as well as um our antennas as we say in this culture our antennas are going to go up and all right god where uh what's the next assignment and we got some prophetic words that candace mentioned that have been really helpful in the midst of all of this and i was listening to one of them again yesterday and they were departing there they were just like i think this is where we're at right now it says once your sail goes up on the mast then the wind will blow and you'll know exactly where where you go that okay that feels that feels really important for this very moment but we just want to say we love you guys and we can't wait to see you in person to do more proper hugs and not goodbye but see you laters but that's kind of where we're at we're in this like we're taking a major step of faith and we're letting go of things that are we're so proud of um really grateful but we also know that the lord has something for us and we want we want you guys to be a part of that with us at to any capacity in regard to just praying for us covering us and you know whatever it looks like in the future so in short we are stepping down as senior pastors of bethel church and we will no longer be on staff and then we'll kind of get ready to step into the next season to see what the lord has for us yeah we're so appreciative i know years ago bill you had mentioned that how when you stepped into pastorates you just kind of stepped in for a lifetime even if the lord didn't you didn't know or whatever but i think you and i were talking you're like this thing where you're i'm going to be there five years then they're five years you weren't super fan of so but so you're stepping in and totally loving this congregation and being fully present and so we have just seen that from them so it does catch you off guard it's unexpected because you're fully committed you're fully engaged when the lord starts speaking to you and then so you've you've been thinking and praying about this and then you gave a letter of resignation to us we've been thinking and praying and wrestling as well kind of just listening and so i've come to just be really genuinely appreciative of the faith journey you guys are on the bravery and just taking the risk of moving after the things the lord has for you it's very powerful it models the best of who we are and so deeply appreciative and then i would just say for them i'm sorry to talk all the time but uh we're so appreciative of what you've built in this house we know that we were kind of a local church that was had a movement going but you two came with your gifts and your skills and the congregation has just thrived and just been so seen and heard by you we've seen a growth in maturity in numbers as well into your leadership and we find ourselves i know i speak for everybody deeply appreciative of all you've contributed and all you will that's the beauty we just there does feel like there's you guys are going to be ambassadors of a different sort of you know way for the kingdom of god and and we're just going to i'm going to keep my keys you're keeping your keys to the buildings for some reason so i just really want to thank you guys because our church has grown under your leadership i think more than 4 000 people in the last nine and a half years and you guys have just done an amazing job at creating community creating a pastoral care um making sure everyone feels like they have a place to belong which has just been really beautiful i mean what you guys have done here is it's it's it's world class and i think the challenge going forward with the teams that you've created is for us to continue to reproduce that same that same sense of belonging that same sense of tribe and family and so i just want to say publicly i've said it to you privately but just thank you for what you've poured in here and eric i've known you i think since you were three years old and watching you in your element and watching you guys as a couple just uh just create such a beautiful place to come and not just see signs and wonders and miracles and not just be trained in school ministry but also be a part of a family and so i know you'll continue to be part of the family because you've yeah you've been part of my family since yeah we were since we were both young and you were younger but we just really pray for your future and know that uh because of the way you guys serve the lord with not just zeal but with faithfulness yes that it's ex there is an excitement on the other side for you guys just thinking about what's next and and how god's blessed you in every single place you've ever been in yeah and so anyway i want to say it's um what's what's happened here i think will be reproduced over and over again because you guys just draw the faithfulness and favor of the lord on your lives so yeah thank you thank you very much for what you've poured into this place yeah yeah it's been beautiful you've kind of an artist's soul where you've been involved in the conferences and taking them to the next level as well and so instrumental there i keep we keep you know we're i think we're not going to realize all the weight you were carrying until you're not in this role we're like oh that was something they were carrying eloquently or elegantly and beautifully and you both have such high level responsibility for your environment like you come in as as responsible people and it's just such a just been such a blessing such a strength to us yeah thanks so much just for your kind words one of the things that gives me hope and excitement as we look forward is we have incredible teams here this place has some of the most quality people um as pastors on staff and in the church and so i just know that whatever god has for us it's just gonna take us to the next level and our teams are really just set to continue and um i know that the lord will just lead us to a new place absolutely that the momentum is going to continue and that you guys have set at us set us up well with our senior uh sorry our church leadership team uh wonderful leadership there as well so again thank you for just you know really setting us up for the future success that we're going to head into sometimes sometimes you just you get brought back to the bottom line what what matters most and the goodness of god the faithfulness of god is is that for me um i know that this will work beautifully for you guys and for us because that's the way he is and his and his uh hand on your life your lives are as obvious and and wonderful and so i celebrate that part of the journey it's a real challenging one for me for so many reasons but um but i i am confident in his faithfulness and his goodness and i'm i am excited for you to see what unusual new thing god is going to do that we will all celebrate together that that's beautiful um i'm kind of excited for us not a whole lot but a little bit to see what he's going to do here because i he's he didn't bring us this far to drop us off you know he he he he takes us from glory to glory and so to see what that looks like in the coming months and years is is uh has has me very curious but i am so thankful i'm so thankful to watch your faithfulness your vision your excellence the wisdom that you have lived with for years i mean i i saw that eric wisdom functioning in you just as a as a child as a young person i i saw you function differently and and it's just been so beautiful to watch so i'm i'm really thankful i'm thankful to to to be able to watch the hand of god on two people's lives knowing that god is about to do something yet again more glorious than before and uh so i celebrate that for you guys i celebrate i'm trying not to be mad about it but i'm celebrating that for you so i know um we have our privilege to experience so much love and loyalty from just our congregation and from from folks around the world and so we've it's been a tremendous blessing to carry that and i know i i know bill as you uh just shared from your heart that folks are there's that thing where there's excited for eric and candace but kind of help grieving with you about this you know this transition and also that this is not easy for you um uh either in this not easy for any of us so thank you for your yeah just your tears this this is this has been family he's knit us together and uh so this this we've had other departures from our leadership team never you know very far they're still connected uh but in different places and so we navigate this every once in a while but this one was like as you said kansas unexpected you know unexpected and so there is a sense of of just still grieving and yet celebrating you know in that i think the other thing that is interesting i think for all of us is the word inheritance uh and just what does that look like and i think you know there is a we were talking before that there's an experiment aspect to this environment that's been here for decades i mean every every value every you know pillar in this environment was an experiment that oh that worked that's now a pillar and i think the one inheritance uh this isn't the end of it and i think that's important i want to at least mention that it's not like well that one didn't work no it's not that it's like it just looked about to look very different than what we thought it was going to be and i know in our conversation dan last couple weeks talked about inheritance is about the dna it's like the dna being handed being passed on and it continues it may may take different shapes and forms and contexts as far as geographical locations and you know there's so many and i think this will be this is the second at least the second phase of that experiment you know because i think what makes this so interesting for us is you know inheritance means being here for the rest of our life and obviously that change so now it's like okay well this will be exciting and so i think it's important like this isn't the end of inheritance at least i think for all of us this is just oh it's about to take on a different shape so i would love for the church and our movement really to know that this is not this is not like well that one didn't work until we're going to can it no it's like this is just going to take on a different shape and we're all if you want to know what it looks like we have no clue at the moment and but we will in time we'll look and be able to look back and say oh wow the lord's hand was in all of it i think to what dad what dad said as far as the faithfulness of god i think that's the thing that's like yeah we just know god's faithful and we don't know what it looks like just yet but there is the faithfulness aspect to this and then the inheritance aspect the dna i think that'll be fun to see how this looks in the coming months and years and so absolutely yeah i looked to people like danny silk and banning and paul manwaring and obviously they weren't our senior pastors but they were with us like danny's been with us since weberville so you know when those folks moved out all within i think i think paul was last but that was like i think we all felt very similar in like oh my gosh this is like these are these people are speaking into our lives every day and helping them hold our culture and what what i look to is all of those guys are still really connected danny speaks into our our lives on a very regular basis banning is very connected to us and paul still speaks into our lives and joins us and so when i and i start thinking about like you know where where this is going i think about our history in relationship and it's like you may check out but you never well that was really you quoting the eagles hotel california check that out this being funny but i mean i mean it's it is like we are tribal in that we stay connected and you know i expect you guys to continue to speak into what we're doing and that's just our history like the people that have helped build what we have continue to speak in to what we're doing and i think uh danny especially in the last couple of years have been speaking so into our into what we're building and i think it's i think you guys will do the same as you as you're on your adventure you'll still be connected to the adventure that that's here and that you're a part of so it gives me some peace when i look at the way other people and our important team members have have been sent out that still stay connected and so this assignment of being the senior leaders is over like you've run through the tape head high you know chest out and uh wonderfully successful in all that you've done here and and 10 years of leading you know a mega church inside a smallish city uh i mean well done congratulations and well done and we just know that the lord's got amazing things ahead for you awesome thank you guys so much for trusting us and loving us i mean this was a really big thing to be invited into so thank you church for loving us and trusting us as well it has been the biggest privilege and honor for us to steward we love you guys so much so just to be clear in case people are wondering there's no moral failure um that's inciting this incident there's no inciting incident around here there's no diminished capacity your marriage is fabulous and in fact i love that as you've been telling the story you kind of hand the mic back and forth like this expert dancing team and um and there's no there's no covid fatigue or pandemic fatigue or any of those things there's just this inner knowing that the lord is in this um and um and that there's something else ahead okay one thing that stands out to me that this has been the most unusual season in our in all of our lives i mean do you think phil that's that's being kind yeah but uh but it has been fascinating for me to watch you guys lead with with such uh such a wisdom on what we're to do every movement because we're in a we're in a strange place as a church in a community um and you've navigated this challenging season with such wisdom on the pulse of the church the the pulse of the city the pulse of the mandate on our life and and i have celebrated the unique expression in other churches that's very different than ours and yet you've been willing to lead this house in the unique hall and while it doesn't look the same as some other churches that i admire and i'm glad they're doing what they're doing i think we're doing the right thing and it's been under your leadership and to see you rise with such wisdom at such a perilous time emotionally perilous time in community you've led with such wisdom and i'm so thankful i'm so thankful i've i've admired your leadership in always but in this season i feel like you know i feel like you have the lord has had you exercise a muscle of wisdom that's going to really pay off in the years to come and i'm very thankful thank you so as far as our local church we're not rushing into a new strategy or or you know kind of trying to plan the future really quickly this is like a sacred tender moment and we're gonna get quiet and get together get before the lord and feel like the lord will begin to unfold what's ahead for us and we expect after the new year sometime in january to have like you know some more traction on some ideas but right now we're going to focus on the lord and each other in this time of of praying and strategizing you've led us into your life and you're preaching and teaching over the years and we're just we are in your life again at this kind of transition point and then look forward to being in your lives in the future as well so i appreciate you guys being with us for this announcement and again they're going to stick around uh we're just going to as smoothly as possible which there's going to be some bumps but because you're carrying so much weight but as smoothly as possible be heading into the future together so thank you for taking the time this is an important and tender family moment and you can find a statement about this transition on our website if you're interested well if you haven't heard by now i'm dan fairley [Laughter] i'm sorry if we don't laugh we'll cry so uh um my phone's blowing up so you're damn fairly the focus is supposed to be on eric and candace so again tender times like we said we've just uh if we've seen a little distracted we have been we've had big fish that we were frying you know over these last couple of months and in the season addition to everything else that's going on and again it always helps me i love being anchored in history sometimes we act like this has never happened before but bethel's a congregation that started in the late 50s or so been going for about 60 years been a lampstand church been um just after the lord hard for 60 plus years we've had transitions before bill was here for a season and left to go past her in weaverville so this one feels deep but we gotta remember we were part of a long a long history of faithfulness in this city and like i said i got here in 91 and this place had already been percolating along for 30 30 plus years before i got here so we know god's got this god's got us and he has good things for us uh in the future i'm going to pray of course we're going to do a lot more praying continue praying but i just do want to pray for some of you right now and and just for the comfort of the holy spirit holy spirit we just again declare our absolute dependence on you can you feel that where you are right now we are dependent upon the lord i we prayed this this morning we're not we're not just sitting back on our own leadership gifts or our past experience we are leaning in for something supernatural from the lord that only he can give so we ask for that grace to be upon this house and this body of christ we uh father i just we just thank you for eric and candace we celebrate all that they've accomplished and how important they are to the body of christ locally and then internationally as well we lose a blessing and then pray that just as they said they've raised the sale now would you blow them into the things that you have for them and the season that is ahead for them and we absolutely trust you with their destiny their ministry and their life we ask for great grace to cover all of us in the name of jesus amen and just before bill comes again it's been wonderful to celebrate a transition without a disaster without a crisis but to be able to say hey well done well done and so we're absolutely deeply grateful for their ministry with us and then would you welcome bill bill's going to try to preach after all this so god's been my brother remember this happened thanks thankful both of family blessings to you and uh much love and ongoing blessings to eric and candace i'm just so thankful this is uh more challenging than you may be able to imagine but we're going to do well i want you to notice the picture behind me and they're beautiful all those orange trees are evergreens so either they were photoshopped or they're dying actually either they're photoshopped or they're dead it's beautiful color contrast all the dark green trees in the middle those are actually the kind that turn orange but they are green i just thought it would help me to communicate that to you because it's so important uh all right help me out here open your bibles that's that's uh helps me just trust me work with me here open your bibles if you would until jeremiah chapter 29 jeremiah 29 we will as has probably been said well enough already i i think we are not going to be quick to be making plans we want to savor the moment in a sense because we want to make sure that we give honor where it's due and express our our absolute thanks and and uh gratefulness and celebration for uh who eric and candace are and all that they've done and so this will be a very tender season we will be uh very open and up front with you about what's going on and when but we're gonna we're gonna be carefully communicating this next season uh for you um this is uh i i don't for me there's not been a weirder season in my life um the the most challenging in many ways and to be honest with you the pandemic has nothing to do with it it's just this kind of a nuisance and forgive me i know it's more than a nuisance to so many that have suffered so deeply um but for my own personal experience it's not been the cause of most challenging season uh instead it is just there as a a constant reminder that's a it's a it's a strange thing the political climate of the nation is going to settle here soon but uh we got that swirling and now we've got our own world and it's like the perfect storm in which jesus himself will show up and only he will get glory uh it's not going to be through gifting through wisdom nowhere that we have succeeded has it been because anybody was smart or unusually anointed it's just absolutely the grace of god the grace of god and so i'm i'm i'm very thankful for that i i've actually had this chapter on my mind for months and um so i'm going to talk to you out of jeremiah chapter 29 and um try to uh reaffirm uh a phrase that's been used a lot uh benny i i think she started it for us several years ago god's got this others have picked it up and there's t-shirts and there's mugs and all kinds of paraphernalia to remind us that god's got this and but here's what i i want to do we're going to read the verse that probably most of you know by heart and many of you would know by heart will be able to quote and that's verse 11. i want to read that but then we're going to go back and look at the context i do want to give you a brief but uh important teaching or decree about this season that we're in verse 11 is the verse that most people know for i know the thoughts that i think toward you says the lord thoughts of peace and not evil to give you a future into hope i want you to look at it again i know the thoughts that i think towards you says the lord thoughts of peace not evil to give you a future and a hope and that verse is such a broad-reaching promise of the lord it's quoted often by you know preachers that i hear through the years and rightfully so it's just one of those it's one of those gems that's just tucked away in a very difficult setting and uh and i'm so thankful for this decree that the lord makes i know the thoughts that i think about you they're not thoughts for your calamity they're for your blessing they're for your welfare interestingly this word peace in this passage is also translated prosperity it's translated health it's just overall well-being and it is the it is what is on the mind of god about us in the middle of this situation that we're in and we can describe it through the political climate of the country we could do it through the pandemic we can do it just in the bethel world with uh with the very for me extremely sad uh departure and transition change uh we can look at a lot of different things some of you in your own personal lives have things complete completely unrelated to anything that i have mentioned going on in your own life in your own home it may be a business that is uh it's just it's just dying it may be other things so the point is we're going to read a context here that i think long term can give us a wonderful wonderful hope and for me if you know anything about how i function in my life whenever something comes up i run i don't walk i run to the promises of the lord i run to what has god spoken to me what has he said to me last what is it that he has deposited in my heart about this season most people could you would do well if you just return to the last thing god told you but sometimes because of anxiety and fear and all the junk that goes on in our lives we we tend to drop the things that god has given us and we can't afford to do that right now we've got too many things swirling and i'm going to ask you as i mentioned in this video we've got to return to the strongest absolutes in our life and that is this right here i know the thoughts i have towards you thoughts of a father a perfect father a perfect father who is wonderfully good and it was that one theme that one thought that brought jesus to earth to take on flesh to take on the cross and to raise again everything that he did was to reveal the father and so this is not a side issue this is the core issue it's all about the fatherhood of god in your life and in mind and right now i'm in a place where i'm going to emphasize being a son a child not the leader that never stops but hopefully you understand what i'm saying right now is where i take that hat off i'll put it down and i'm i'm i'm wearing the hat of a child that really needs the father so here's what i'm going to ask you to do we're going to read about 10 verses so hang in there i'm going to make uh three kind of concluding thoughts and then we'll wrap this this day up together we're going to start with verse 4 thus says the lord of hosts the god of israel to all who were carried away captive whom i have caused to be carried away captive from jerusalem to babylon stop right there please notice this wonderful promise where god says i know the thoughts i have towards you was towards a group of people that were in captivity they were held prisoner in another nation build houses verse 5 build houses and dwell in them plant gardens and eat their fruit take wives and beget sons and daughters take wives for your sons and give your daughters to husbands so that they may bear sons and daughters that you may increase there and not diminish so that the the word of the lord was you're in captivity but if you'll do this my way you'll thrive there you'll thrive there what what you think is destroying your life is actually going to be the platform for your greatest promotion and so we've got to repent and shift change the way we think and perceive situations that you may be increased there and not diminished verse seven and seek the peace of the city this is one of my favorite verses in the whole bible because it i'll never forget when it hit me oh goodness 30 35 years ago in weaverville when we we began to focus on the prayer for the benefit of our city and not thinking it's us and them and this word peace this is one of the places i think it's in the new american standard where it says seek for the prosperity of the city so let me read it with that word prosperity verse 7 seek the prosperity of the city where i have caused you to be carried away captive and pray to the lord for it for in its peace or in its prosperity you will have prosperity there's something profound about this in fact if you're writing notes down write down first timothy chapter two verses one through four because in that passage is a directive in prayer that was to bring the people of god into the abundance of peace and impact on culture itself it's the most unusual parallel between this chapter and that one all right so for uh for in its peace you will have peace verse 8 for thus says the lord of hosts the god of israel do not let your prophets or your diviners who are in your midst deceive you here's an interesting phrase nor listen to your dreams which you cause to be dreamed it's a profound lesson by itself i believe very much that the lord speaks to us through dreams i have i've had so many critical times in my life where the lord has has has inspired a dream that's given me insight of what to do things i didn't know what to do and i woke up understanding because of a dream i've had the lord affirm me in dreams very unusual unusually but when we hold to our agenda and there's an unwillingness to yield to the purposes of god that bent or that desire in us will actually create its own dream in the night it will actually cause there to be a dream that appears to be a prophetic dream when in fact it's not from the lord at all it's the offspring of your own unyielded desires i believe strongly in the dream life and the lord speaks all through scripture and in my own experience but just understand walking with a yielded heart to the purposes of the lord song of solomon though i sleep yet my heart is awake that posture positions us to have divine dreams all right look at it again the last part of verse 8 nor listen to your dreams which you cause to be dreamed for they prophesy falsely to you in my name i have not sent them says the lord thus says the lord after 70 years i completed at babylon i will visit you and perform my good word toward you cause you to return to this place for i know the thoughts that i think toward you says the lord thoughts of peace not evil to give you a future and a hope then you will call upon me and go and pray to me and i will listen to you and you will seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart and i will be found by you says the lord look at verse 13 again what we'll wrap up the reading up with this you will seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart i will be found by you it's interesting jesus used a very similar um uh a language in the gospel of john where he said he said i will be found by you and he uses a word that says i will make myself conspicuous in other words you're going to be going down the road looking and i'm going to jump in the middle of your path and do something like this that you can't miss me and we have that kind of a father who wants to be known and discovered by his own and every person watching this whether you're part of the bethel family or tribe and this news is uh this morning as devastating to you as it is to me uh it rattles us deeply or you're a guest and you're watching and and uh and you don't have quite the history to feel some of what we're feeling regardless of what position you're in the lord makes a covenantal promise to you and he says if you search for me with all your heart you'll find me i will make sure that i'm in the middle of whatever road you're walking down and you will discover me there will be that encounter that changes everything our life as disciples of jesus our our life as followers of the lord is hinged upon us encountering him it's not peripheral it's not an addition to it is life his voice brings us life we live because he talks this word is the living word of god he speaks in it and through it and he enhances and adds strength and life to us to carry out his purposes but this story this great grand promise that god gives i know the thoughts that i think towards you the thoughts i have for you there are thoughts of your welfare not your calamity they uh to give you a future to give you a hope that pristine promise came at the most unexpected and awkward time and it's the mercy of the lord that regardless of whatever hell hole you think you're in right now whatever the situation might be if you'll calm your heart just a bit turn to the word of god god will speak to you and bring a promise that is so opposite to your surroundings that it will shock you it will stun you imagine being carried away captive not willingly unwillingly bound taken to another nation you are now subservient to this ruling class of people you are prisoners there and the lord comes to you and all you can see is the restrictions the restraints the problems all you remember is what you left behind what you lost how it could have been the promises you had over your life and they didn't come to pass you got all this stuff swirling around you and the lord steps into the middle of that absolute chaos and he says i want you to know what i'm thinking about i'm thinking really good thoughts about you and it's about your it's about your welfare it's actually about your prosperity i've got a lot of plans i i daydream about you and i think about these moments that are so difficult for you but if you'll take just a moment you'll rediscover the promise of the lord and i remind you of that psalm that is so important to all of us the 23rd psalm he says i prepare a table before you in the presence of your enemies think through that i prepare tape what's the table the table is a place of exchange the table is a place of fellowship the table is a place to eat it's a place of nourishment and strengthening so the lord says i prepare this place of personal strength and personal encounter in the midst of your enemies and oftentimes we're overly mindful of what's not right and we've lost sight of the very fact that the lord put a table right in the middle of the most unexpected place and we find it again in jeremiah 29 i know the thoughts that i have towards you their thoughts of your of your blessing of your your prosperity i'm gonna bring you into wholeness i'm gonna i'm gonna bring you into why you're on the planet in the first place you'll not miss a thing i'm bringing you back and then he says be careful don't listen to those who announced to you that uh that god is not in this he has arranged us and i don't care he's not the god of calamity uh he's not the god who creates viruses and all this junk that's going on but i tell you what he is still god in the midst of it and what's important for us is to not fight it's going to sound awkward don't fight the restraints the restrictions uh masks pandemic we're gonna have a mass burning party someday but until then there are some of you that believe it's the absolute key to remaining healthy as as a as a community fine promote it in the spirit of christ do your best to hold up that standard and i will support you there are others of you that believe that it is from the pit of hell and you will have nothing to do with it fine just do so in the spirit of christ the point is is we've got to hold to what we're doing realizing we are a diverse family we never require you to think this way what i want you to do is i want you to learn how to think how to respond not give you our prescription on how to you know make it through this pandemic that's not important to me i i know the lord has convictions about stuff but sometimes there are some issues that we face in our life i don't the devil doesn't care what your opinion is as long as you leave the spirit of christ to promote it if you sacrifice this so that you you promote i don't care what noble cause you have i watch i watch right now it's at a heightened level in our nation where people leave and forsake the spirit of christ to promote their agenda and i'll tell you what it is that drive in here to promote an agenda apart from the pro the spirit of christ that actually creates in us the capacity to dream things that are not from god so look at these verses number one we're in a situation we can't get out of you you pick pick whatever one you want i feel like i'm holding up a deck of cards just pick a card any card we've got enough things going on right now just pick one i don't care what your favorite or your least favorite is just pick one we're not in a position to change it what are we in a position to do we are in a position in the middle of whatever crisis you may be facing to find the word of the lord you're responsible for it i've told you before in these what i don't know how many hundreds of years it's been since we've met together but i've mentioned before if if you have more input from social media from mainstream media than you do the word of god then your discouragement is self-inflicted you're responsible you cannot have a garden and have a key to the gate and invite the enemy to come in and plant weeds and then moan to god about it you've got to repent for the fact you've entertained things that are in conflict with the will and purposes of god we've got to take ownership of this the the gate if you will to our own hearts the gate if you will to to our own assignment here in life as we guard well what god has said so number one stop fighting the restriction learn how to flourish in it amen bill i think you're on to something number one stop trying to fight where god put you number two be restored to the promise of the lord rediscover for yourself not just something you can quote flippantly but i mean the heart-to-heart connection with the father who honestly looks for your welfare he fights for your welfare he contends for your blessing not your calamity be restored to that face to face that mouth-to-mouth connection with the father who says this is how my heart burns for you my imagination runs wild of the things that i want to do for you get get back to that one the father and then the last one is set your heart to seek the face of the lord these are all things that are normal parts of the christian life but i feel like in this moment it would be critical for us to review and to renew it's kind of like when the lord spoke in revelation to the church at ephesus he corrected them he rebuked them because they had lost their first love but what was his prescription that he wrote out for them he says do the deeds he did at first be restored to what you used to do and i i'm coming to you right now not with the first love message but with just the overall message right now right now stop trying to fight a setting or a situation that you're in where god has placed you and you have to discern that one but where god has placed you stop trying to fight it number two instead of focusing on what isn't going right that enemy that surrounds you because he will he we all know from experience he torments us torments us by attacking us in our thought realm instead of being that where we anchor our souls and our thought life this is where we deliberately return to the promise of the lord the table of the lord and have the face-to-face fellowship with the king of kings our father and we get restored to that place of confidence god i don't know why this is happening i don't know what's going on i don't know the answer there's so many things i wish i would have done differently and i tell you i'm speaking out of experience so many things i wish i would have done differently but i'm here and i'm still in your mind i'm still in your heart and your intentions for me have never changed they are nothing but the best even when i feel so unqualified so undeserving for your best and yet you've set it aside for me so father i sit and i i return to that table where i refuse to be distracted by the circumstances of my life and i choose to be occupied with the face of the one who brought me to the table stop fighting the restriction rediscover the table and set your heart to seek the face of the lord because he's given us a promise i will be found by you i will be found by you it is impossible to hunger after the lord and not discover him it is the covenantal promise of the one who is more perfect than the rising of the sun tomorrow tomorrow morning it is more dependable than the rising of the sun in the morning he is that kind of a father now i realize that there are some watching this this service who don't have a personal relationship with jesus you know what put everything else everything that we've said put it aside this is what's important is that jesus suffered and died with you in mind he actually wanted to make it possible for you to know what eternal life is and we've got people on the youtube channel and the bethel tv and podcasts and other other forms of broadcasting that are available to talk and pray with you i want you just to put it on there and just say i i want to know jesus i want to know what it is to be forgiven i want to know what it is to be born again i want to i commit my life to follow this jesus let me pray for you and then we're going to wrap this up and i'll turn it over to our team that will close the service so father we just we just put on the child's hat and take off all the other significant hats and important hats and responsibility and position and title and all the other stuff and we just we just say father here we are we're we're kids we don't know what we're doing but we sure do love you and we sure do trust you and so we just turn our hearts to you we say father we trust you father we love you and we ask be glorified right now in our lives together this global family the local bethlehem family father be glorified in the individual members with eric and candace with us who remain here in this place most of all father be glorified i ask this in the honor of the name jesus amen amen

Channel: Bethel

Views: 109,805

Rating: 4.7933817 out of 5

Keywords: bethel church, bethel, bethel church redding, eric johnson, candace johnson, eric johnson resign, bethel church leadership, bill johnson, kris vallotton, dann farrelly, eric johnson bethel church

Id: jEoM0ONPicY

Length: 55min 28sec (3328 seconds)

Published: Mon Nov 23 2020