Bill Johnson Sermons [May 26, 2021] | Do This Before You Sleep

welcome to the bethel church sermon of the week we hope you enjoy this message by pastor bill johnson for more information about this podcast and other resources visit ibethel.org grab your bibles if you would and open to uh psalms 16 the 16th psalm and i'm going to do something a little bit different today in that i want to take a psalm and actually read through verse verse by verse and talk i do have a specific theme that we'll anchor into there's a couple verses that really highlight a theme that's on my heart here's what's on my heart we were praying earlier today in our our staff gathering at seven this morning praying for um we we recognize acknowledge that the lord declared over this year be a year of breakthrough and we've seen so many wonderful things happen but the conviction that we've had is that in the last four weeks of the year the last month that we would see more breakthroughs in the last month than we've seen in the previous 11. we've had that sense of accumulation of uh that the lord would would just multiply the effect of that spirit of breakthrough in these last four weeks so that's kind of what we've been praying into and talking about sometimes we uh we miss our chance to see breakthrough because we don't pray with the prophecy we don't pray with the promise sometimes we make we make the mistake of thinking that everything is supposed to happen while we stand in silence and it's the great com not conflict it's the great paradox of the christian life is that we have some moments where the lord says stand still see the salvation of the lord which i will accomplish for you today your role is to do nothing but observe and when he does that he's simply revealing our place in him he's revealing our identity as sons as daughters of god these are moments of unveiled inheritance but there are other moments where he declares a matter but it won't happen unless this cooperation unless this partnership unless there's prayer unless there's radical obedience something is genuinely required to see a breakthrough happen larry randolph made a statement years ago that helped me out a lot he said while god will always fulfill all of his promises he's not obligated to fulfill your potential and sometimes the lord gives us a word that is actually connected to who he's making us to be and here's the implication is that he will not release over me any promise that is premature because the weight of the blessing would work the opposite work that he intended you we see it all the time in the natural we see people who win the lottery perhaps somebody who got this ginormous contract for their athletic skills and they get enormous amount of money and how many times we see these people actually end up in poverty after they've had everything the world could ever want it's because they weren't as big in here as they were out here their internal world their prosperity of soul did not keep up with their external blessing so what the lord does so well as a father is he's constantly measuring us to see what we can carry what we can handle responsibly he wants to put the weight of blessing on an established life because then it strengthens the established life but the fractured life it actually increases the fracture if you can get that metaphor the weightiness of blessing actually increases the size of brokenness in a broken life and so the lord measures us and he measures us sometimes by the way we pray probably everybody in the room has prayed out of fear out of anxiety out of stress you know what he's such a wonderful father he just receives us any way we come if you're in a mess come in a mess just don't leave in a mess you know when you get into the presence you know it's no sense driving through a car wash and not have your car washed you know don't don't leave the way you drove it in you know leave better off than the way you got in there and so if you come with fear and anxiety all that junk you know i get it i have done that so many times it's not a problem but prayers out of anxiety are not prayers of authority they are prayers of a servant not a son prayers of a servant not a daughter prayers of a daughter and a son are prayers out of identity they are confident in who they are but even more confident in who he is anxiety will sometimes drive us to the lord but for me i have found the absolute key for my life is when i come in out of fear anxiety all the stress all the stuff i get into that time of talking with the lord praying about things there's a lot of things that are worth doing the worship the thankfulness the reading prophecy scripture all of that but let's just take the prayer at them i come into the presence of the lord i don't want to leave the same way i came in if i did then i wasn't praying i was complaining if you leave in the same condition you went in then you didn't go in to have an impact you went in to release to vent your frustrations when we come before the lord it's supposed to be the moments of encounter are to bring personal transformation that's where we are changed my my favorite illustration of this he says um come to me all you who are weary heavy laden i will give you rest what is the deal it's a deal of exchange come to me you are carrying junk and i will give you rest in other words you give me your junk i'll give you my rest let's make an exchange all prayer is supposed to be in exchange how do you know when you've prayed you started in fear you started to worry anxiety maybe started in complacency you're only praying because you know you're supposed to you how do you know when you've come into a place of faith you know because thankfulness for the answer is effortless there's already the thankfulness i can see the answer i can tell the answer has been released i don't see it yet i don't have the check in my hand i don't have the the you know the healing of the relationship i don't have i don't have anything external nothing's changed but what i've seen is in my heart of hearts i i feel such a confidence in the presence that i know i can just thank him right now for the answer even before it's come so you always want to pray in the places of faith because then what happens is in that place of faith decrees are made requests are made decisions are made that are made out of authority not out of pity trying to get attention yep so here's uh here's what i want to do a little different we're going to take this psalm and i want to just talk to you out of uh out of this psalm and we're going to go verse by verse we'll stop most every verse and i'll talk to you so make sure you've got a bible or you're sitting next to someone uh with the bible and let's begin with verse one the psalm is entitled the hope of the faithful and the messiah's victory verse one preserve me o god for in you i put my trust o my soul you have said to the lord you are my god my lord my goodness is nothing apart from you look at that phrase again you are my lord this is what we say to god you are my lord my goodness is nothing apart from you i don't know i don't think we can over emphasize the need to recognize everything good that happens in us is by his grace i'm not sure you can overemphasize that thought everything good happens by his grace yeah but bill you you radically obeyed i did but even the act of obedience was by grace yeah but your faith was so strong yeah but even that faith was a gift see everything always goes back to a father that enabled or empowered us to do what was humanly impossible what we've never been able to accomplish on our own keeping that in mind i think is one of the most crucial things for a victorious christian life as i've said before you can't discover your significance until you've come face to face with your insignificance first is the discovery my righteousness is as filthy rags there is nothing i can do to help me in my situation and then the redeemer comes and says i paid it for you in that moment this exchange where the grace takes place so he's saying in this in this verse he says my goodness is nothing apart from you in other words goodness that flows through me is only because of the goodness i receive from you all right next verse verse three as for the saints who are in the earth they are the excellent ones in whom is all my delight i love this verse i have underlined excellent ones in my bible as for the saints believers they are the excellent ones and whom is all my delight it wouldn't be hard to spend the morning just on this one theme on this one thought it takes it takes eyes of faith and a discerning of the spiritual to recognize the excellence that is in the individuals around you parents it's so easy to get into the mode where you're correcting this correcting that and not actually see the excellence that god has already put into the heart of that child it doesn't mean we don't correct we do we're supposed to but we're supposed to feed from the beauty of what we see paul talks about us knowing one another after the spirit not just in the natural not just five foot eight 160 pounds went to university has this job not just that it's recognizing there is something of the brilliance and the beauty of god himself that radiates from that life and what is so significant for us as we actually have the privilege of calling that out the prophetic culture that chris has been so strongly championing for these 20 years has been to call out the golden people all that is is recognizing the excellence that god has already written into the spiritual dna of that individual it's reading the poetry the work of our the masterpiece that god is writing over that person's life and here's the phrase he says the saints the excellent ones in whom is all my delight that would be a forbidden thing to write if we're not in the bible because all of our delight is supposed to be in god not in people when you love people let me put it this way you can love people and not love god but you can't love god and not love people first john says if you say you love god but you hate your brother you're a liar you can't claim an unseen spiritual reality that is not that cannot be measured in the natural if i say i love god with all of my heart then you have to be able to see my love for people it's measurable my claimed unseen reality i love god with all of my heart has to be measured by how i treat people but this is not just treating people in the sense of serving which i i believe in we are servants of the lord we serve and we love people this one is a different perspective it's a person recognizing the brilliance the beauty the excellence the divine design in the people around you that's really what the prophetic is is to call to the surface the divine design some people in fact many people would never become what god intended if somebody close to them didn't believe in them and speak to what they saw this is a lifestyle confession this is a lifestyle prayer the saints are the excellent ones in whom is all my delight i actually express joy over those that god has connected me to next verse verse 4 their sorrows shall be multiplied who hasten after another god their drink offerings of blood i will not offer nor take up their names on my lips i have that last phrase underlined in my bible nor take up their names on my lips this one also is worthy of much longer discussion paul warns about having conversation about the sins and the misdeeds of other people of including that in our conversation here and elsewhere is the statement to not even take up the names of false gods and put them on your lips that's interesting certain things are beneath you to talk about wow you have to to talk about those inferior things you have to actually lower who you are to dabble in that conversation which is a huge challenge right now because we are inundated with information through media and there it is possible to have zeal and conviction about any given subject and you can be 100 right but completely separate from truth [Applause] the lord has us designed to be people of truth life and death is in the power of the tongue to be contributors to what god is doing in the earth and not just be accusers against what he's not doing in the earth some things are beneath the dignity of the believer to put in conversation more than once i've just walked out of a conversation not because it was dirty not because it was um evil it just wasn't worthy of my involvement and sometimes you just make those decisions verse five you guys still alive all right now now we're going to get into the inheritance so this is where you get stuff all right so get happy i'm teasing verse 5 oh lord you are the portion of my inheritance and my cup you maintain my lot the lines have fallen to me in pleasant places yes i have a good inheritance i love this theme so much i don't think there's a better illustration of the christian life growing in the christian life life in the kingdom of god i don't think there's a better illustration in all of the bible than there is of israel entering the promised land to me it is the most graphic thing you could i feel like you could probably put it up on a chart and you can watch your christian life develop and evolve through that chart of watching israel enter the promised land if you could picture this they leave egypt which we know is symbolic of sin the blood was shed put on the doorpost when the blood is shed over our life we leave sin we come into a a a time where the dealings of god get us ready to inherit promises the promised land is just that it's a land of fulfillment and that's on the other side of every conflict on the other side of every problem is promised land that's why you have you have the reasonable ability to rejoice before you get the answer because when you're in the middle of a conflict by design promise land is on the other side that was a better point than your response but sorry so you go through difficulty promised land awaits so israel the lord looks shows them the promised land this entire territory they're going to inherit as a nation and he says it's all yours all of it everything you can see belongs to you he said now good news and there's bad news the good news is it's all yours the bad news is i'm going to give it to you little by little but the reason he gave it to them little by little is if he gave that to them all at once he said the beasts would become too numerous and would actually defeat them which is a bizarre picture they get everything all at once they don't have the population or the systems of economy or social justice or any of the things that are needed to maintaining healthy environments healthy communities they don't have any of that intact yet and if he gives them all these cities cities all at once the beasts of the field would become too numerous and will actually drive them out of their own inheritance why they don't have the maturity to maintain the inheritance and that's what the lord is constantly work on working on in you and in me is building that sense of maturity that sense of our internal world is healthy and together so that he can trust us with influence in the external world that i become big in here so that no matter what he gives me out here i can manage it for his glory it doesn't work against me it works for me and more specifically for the purposes of the king and his kingdom and so he measures us and so the lord promises this this great promised land to israel well here is is language used for inheriting the promised land he says this my lines have fallen to me in pleasant places my lines what is that it's it's land its its boundaries for land uh they would go into the promised land and joshua had the responsibility of dividing all the land into sections for each tribe reuben would inherit one part ephraim and manasseh they'd all have different parts of inheritance and he would he would draw the lines and say this you know you get from this side of the river to the peak of that mountain you get from this mountain to the other side of the valley and and they've got these territories and they're written out as you would property lines excuse me and here he says my lines talking about inheritance my lines have fallen to me in pleasant places in other words god you gave me beachfront property i got a lake i got a river i got a mountain i got the whole deal i got the best land on on the face of the planet this you gave it to me and that's what he's saying but what's his inheritance he said you're my inheritance look at the first verse again verse 5 he says oh lord you are the portion of my inheritance and my cup this is bizarre because this again is referring back to an old testament reality there's 12 tribes 11 tribes and then two half tribes all right one was the tribe of levi levi had a different inheritance than everyone else everyone else got these big pieces of land to grow crops for uh for their for animals raising animals and it was to be involved in commerce it was to be involved in business it was so that they would have something to trade not only with other tribes but with other nations as the lord prospered them they would be a resource for multiple nations all right but levi the the lord gave them only enough land to keep them fed not for produce not for involved in the world's economy enough for themselves and then he said priests you inherit me he says i'm your inheritance so when he identifies this concept here he's identifying the fact that as we could put this in new testament context every new testament believer is a priest under the lord and the lord is saying your inheritance is me you get me there is no greater inheritance and that's why he could say god i got used my inheritance my lines have fallen to me in pleasant places i got the most significant inheritance in all of human history because i inherited god when you were born again the holy spirit your faith you put faith in christ by the grace of god the holy spirit came and took up residence inside of you your physical body is a body is a temple of the holy spirit paul says that when the holy spirit came to you and was given to you he came as a down payment the holy spirit is a down payment now if i go down and buy a car for ten thousand dollars and i take three thousand cash and i get along for the seven what i'm saying is here's three thousand dollars i still owe you seven i'm going to be giving you more of the same until you've received the whole thing when you were born again god said here is the holy spirit now keep making payments until you have the whole thing he's already declared that we are heirs of god now this is this i don't think there is a a concept in scripture that is more mind-boggling than god giving himself to you and to me as an inheritance there's nothing that stretches the imagination more what really becomes strange is in ephesians 1 17 he says i pray that god would give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of god and then he says that you may know what are the riches of the glory listen to this phrase of his inheritance in the saints so here's this foundational revelation that it's like paul is saying you know what do you give what do you give to the church who has everything the church at ephesus was like was like the best that's the onl the book of ephesians is the only epistle without a word of correction what do you what do you give to the people you know christmas is coming up my family says i'm hard to buy for just go shopping with me i'm the easiest person to buy for trust me i am the easiest one what do you buy for the person who is everything this is what paul prays he prays god give them a spirit of wisdom and the knowledge of god and in that context he says that you would know the riches of the glory of his inheritance in you so here's this bizarre picture god inherits you and you inherit god don't ask me to explain it it hurts my head to think about it but it is true verse 7 i will bless the lord who has given me counsel my heart also instructs me in the night seasons i love that that thought i actually i'd like to go to sleep i just like to go to sleep but i like to go to sleep at night believing that god's going to touch me while i sleep now what i don't do is wake up in the morning and try to measure it because some of what he deposits are like seeds that grow over time it's best just to believe what he says in job 33 he says that he visits us in the night and he seals up instruction in our heart that if he were to do it during the day we would become proud in other words the word he deposits in us reveals our significance to such a degree without the right maturity we would respond in arrogance look at who we are so god puts it in seed form so that in maturity it develops as we grow but it's in the night but this says my heart instructs me in the night don't expect your heart to instruct you if you're not feeding it if you're not putting this in there don't expect it to come out when you need it i think it was the quakers they developed this i forget the phrase it might have been this one uh we're gonna sleep on it it was that theme anyway the thought was is that we will just trust the lord with this problem and we'll just go to go to bed in rest just believing that god will instruct us in the night and i i i think it's i think it's one of the most important ways for us to learn to grow and to hear from god because we're not working and sometimes we associate breakthrough with our works with our efforts with our labors and we have to have certain parts of our life that just simply unfold without our efforts and this is one of those moments he says my heart instructs me in the night my heart instructs me in ninth seasons verse eight he says i have set the lord always before me because he is my right at my right hand i shall not be moved i have set the lord that's that's a i don't know what you do with that phrase but here's here's what i do this isn't the lord this is a bottle of water all right but i'm going to set the bottle of water before me the psalmist says i set the lord before me now can you actually grab god and put him in front of you or is it the determination of heart i'm good to discover who is already there god is not manipulated by us here's the way i like to put it since i can't imagine a place where he isn't i might as well imagine him with me what would it be like if when you got up tomorrow morning you became actually aware of the manifest presence of god right in front of you i have set i have set my heart on on the lord in such a way that the presence of god i i live with the awareness of the manifest presence of god before me verse 9 therefore my heart is glad my glory rejoices my flesh will also rest in hope i love that phrase my glory rejoices did you know that you can't give god glory unless you have some everything that god has made has glory the psalms psalmist talks about the planets each planet has a measure of glory upon them that god has given them everything that god has made has a measure of glory we are as far as i know the only part of creation that has the privilege of bringing the glory that god has put upon us and bringing it back to him giving him all the glory he's the source of the glory in the first place my goodness is nothing apart from him chris talks about moses when he laid hands on the elders where he was imparting that authority to take israel into that next season and the term that is used there is that he took of his own majesty and he put it on these elders there's a certain majesty a certain measure of glory that rests upon each person and to think inconsistent with him is to think below his design and our potential amen bill verse 10 you will not leave my soul and sheol shows the place of the dead and you will not allow your holy one to see corruption that verse right there is a prophecy about the resurrection of jesus the resurrection of the messiah you will not allow your holy one to see corruption in other words he will be raised from the dead before his body decays now let's take the last verse and this is one of the two verses i want to spend time on verse 11. you will show me the path of life in your presence this fullness of joy and at your right hand are pleasures forevermore look at it again you will show me the path of life and your presence is fullness of joy i love that phrase so much and at your right hand are pleasures forevermore benny would you come up here all right now verse 6 says the lord i had i had somebody prophesied to me much once and basically said the voice of the lord often sounds like the voice of your wife and i've discovered this to be true i i sometimes i cannot tell the difference between the two so this there says that the lord is at my right hand let's stand right over here the lord is at my right hand all right but then when we get to the end of the psalm it says that i am at his right hand so how can the lord be at my right hand and me be it his thank you thank you very much thanks thanks all right [Applause] she she made a good god chris is that what you said um i'm not going there but i i understand what you mean so the whole point was is is in the same psalm we have these unique themes that would appear to contradict but they don't they actually enhance the other that the lord puts himself in a place to influence on my behalf but he invites me into a relationship where i bring influence on his behalf here's the phrase in his presence this fullness of joy in his presence is fullness of joy i love the phrase fullness of joy to me that is a phrase that is synonymous with prosperity of soul fullness of joy i don't know how many times it's in the bible but there are two that stand out to me the other one is in john 16 where jesus speaks to his disciples and he says up until now you've asked nothing in my name but in that day you will ask the father in my name and anything you ask for will be done for you and here's the phrase that your joy may be full anything you ask for will be done that your joy may be full i would like to suggest that these this 16th psalm and john 16 are parallel passages in that you were designed to live in joy because the cries of your heart have been fulfilled people tell me i just i don't know i prayed i just nothing happens try talking to god about something he wants to talk about yeah well i thought he was my father he wanted to talk to me about anything yeah i'm all in but he's not listening apparently so talk to him about something that he wants to talk about that may sound silly to you but it's a different way of phrasing seek first the kingdom of god and his righteousness and all these things will be added it is so easy in this christian life to turn the affection towards the things that are added and not on the king and his kingdom this issue of breakthrough here in your presence is fullness of joy i'm going to make this just be silly uh say you need a car and so you pray hard you work hard you finally were able to get that car and uh and it's it's a good it's a good thing just because it happened in your life and it was a goal and the lord honored it but there are some times where the lord actually works at work in us where he releases in this case provision in such a way that it actually happened in the context of discovering the presence of god i don't want to over spiritualize prayer for a breakthrough for something but but i'm trying to paint this picture when this car comes into my life in the journey and the value of the presence the affection for the presence of god this car will never become greater in my affection than my affection for god why because because in the relationship it is the product of prayer and the product is never worshipped above the producer and so this life that we have in christ in the presence we're affectionately embracing enjoying the presence of god being a people of purpose something happens where where he's able to supply provide bring breakthrough open this door give increased anointing for this all all of these things though testify of his nature none of them have the place of being elevated above our affection for god himself it enhances my relationship with god some of you i hear stories of god's provision of a house and you just every time you drive into the driveway you're so grateful because you know this was a gift of grace what happens you're not worshiping a house you're not a materialistic person you're celebrating a material thing that god gave you but it testifies to you it prophesies to you it preaches to you about who god is and who you are it enhances this affection for god you could lose it tomorrow god forbid but but nothing has changed in the revelation of who he is there's something enhanced in their relationship with god because of this simple little item that he provided for you years years ago i i remember i was saving money for to buy a hunting rifle if uh if you're from another country i was buying photo equipment to go on a photographic safari yeah yeah and i was i was honestly i was saving money for this we were just newly married we were broke but i had birthday money this and that and i finally got enough where i thought i could i could buy uh go buy a camera you've heard a photographic shoot right yeah the photo photo shoot yeah um and i felt i felt of the lord i wasn't to buy i was to pay some bills off that we had so i did begrudgingly i did and it was like that sunday night one of the old timers here at bethel came up to me just i hadn't told anyone only benny knew i hadn't told anyone i come to church that sunday night he comes up to me says bill it was one of the old dear old saints of this place he had led so many people to christ in the church he said bill you need a hunting rifle i said yes yes i do he said come into my house after the service so i mean here here was this thing that nobody knew about i was going after but i wanted to obey the lord and what he said i laid it down and that sunday night he says come to my house i had this i had this gun this camera i had this camera my house was actually broken into several years later many years later i had three guns two were stolen they were all together it was the most valuable one and the thief didn't see it because in my possession yeah it's a gun but it's more than it this is a season this is a father this is from a father who knows the desires the intents of your heart this is from a father who celebrates sacrifice and hard choices and i have a physical reminder in my possession of what he's like it will never be exalted above him but it testifies of it and there's a breakthrough that god has designed for every person in this room and that breakthrough i believe is available to us in these next four weeks so i want you to stand all right hold your hands in front of you let's uh let's just pray together father i do ask that you release over this body of believers this church family a spirit of breakthrough an anointing for breakthrough that is greater than everything we've seen the first 11 months of this year i pray for those who are watching on bethel tv the same thing fulfill the promises fulfill the dreams let the joy become full because of presence and because of purpose i pray these things in the honor of the name jesus amen [Music] thanks for listening to the sermon of the week this weekly podcast is now being translated in several languages visit podcasts.ibethel [Music] welcome to the bethel church sermon of the week we hope you enjoy this message by pastor bill johnson for more information about this podcast and other resources visit bethel.com matthew chapter 11. i've got some stuff uh that's been stirring up in my heart for quite a while actually and just really finally felt delivery this morning to to talk with you about it we're going to look at at a very tender place in jesus's life and ministry jesus administered people differently there was no cookie cutter approach to people for one person sell everything give to the poor follow me to another person they just leave their nets to another person he responded completely different and uh was just uh um the the woman caught in adultery gone said no more so it's different it's not that the requirements are different for every person it's jesus had the ability to go right to the core of who a person was and speak to the supreme heart issue so he's always targeting the center of who we are and what's valuable and important to us so this is a passage that is known for one of those extreme tender moments and uh and has been a real standard for us i want you to read with me matthew chapter 11 we're going to start verse 25 at that time jesus answered and said i thank you father lord of heaven and earth that you have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to babes this um let me talk to you just a minute about this verse it's not our subject today but i i would like for you to get a bonus on on this passage uh because of its importance let's look at it again jesus said i thank you father lord of heaven and earth that you have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to babes oftentimes people ask how can i increase and and just my revelation knowledge of scripture and there's so many things you can do john chapter 7 teaches that one of the things is to obey what you already know that actually attracts revelation but this is very very profound because it's completely unexpected being a good steward of what you know makes common sense that would attract more but this is the key to revelation as being childlike he saved his best insights in revelation for babes it's important to see because babe has nothing to do with age it has to do with simplicity of her simplicity of devotion this is an upside down kingdom if you want to be exalted you have to go low if you want to receive you have to give if you want to live you've got to die it's an upside down kingdom and in this one where we would think the most complicated parts of the kingdom would be revealed to quote unquote the wise and the mature jesus is saying no the best is safe for the children the best is saved for those who have childlike heart as they approach the lord all right let's move on in the story verse 26 even so father for it seemed good in your sight all things have been delivered to me by my father and no one knows the son except the father nor does anyone know the father except the son and the one to whom the son wills to reveal him just good to make a mental note jesus is the continuous ongoing revelation of the father if you see him you see the father here's our three verses that i want us to look at today verse 28 come to me all you who labor and are heavy laden i will give you rest take my yoke upon you learn from me for i am gentle and lowly in heart for you will find rest for your souls my yoke is easy my burden is light the picture here is vital uh for us to catch or this will make no sense if you can picture a young oxen yoked to a larger bigger auction oxen you'll get the pictures these big heavy wood yokes that that harness the power of these two animals to plow a field accomplish whatever they're supposed to accomplish jesus says your yoke to me i'm going to carry the weight of this and because you're smaller you don't need to carry the weight you just need to walk alongside me and my yoke for you is going to be light it's going to be easy it's it's not going to be burdensome for you that's the life i have for you it's an amazing statement the problem is is many of us find we're in a lot of pain with the yoke that we're in now if i'm yoked to jesus and he is carrying the weight of this yoke and it's heavy for me why is it heavy if i'm feeling pain from the the weight of this yoke how could i possibly feel pain if he is carrying the weight the brunt of it it's only because i'm going in a different direction listen carefully there are many times the lord yokes us with other people and it causes pain to us but it's only because we're not going in the direction that is needed by being yoked with them i've seen good people in their marriages fall apart simply because they could not cooperate with the other one and the yoke became burdensome heavy and painful and the answer was to get rid of the person who causes the pain it may be in a personal relationship area it may be in ministry it might be where you work but is interested at something much more than our accomplishments and achievements now i for one believe that he is interested in us doing something accomplishing something we see the story uh the the servants were the miners sums of money the servants with talents they were to invest to bring increase god is interested in increase in all that he's given us all that we he's given us all that we are is to be invested for his honor for his glory to bring in a harvest for him that's important to him but there's one thing he has in his heart that is of greater value and that is me becoming like his son jesus all right let's let's make this practical from what i hear i am responsible around here that's what i've heard i don't think it's a rumor i think it's actually true i am responsible and because i'm responsible i have a lot of power i don't mean power of the holy spirit i mean power to make choices i can say no you're not going to do that yes you're going to do that and if somebody causes me pain i actually have the ability to organize them right out my right outside of my life which is sounding really inviting right now at the moment it's just sounding like wisdom perhaps here's what i want to get to as you increase in favor and power it becomes easier and easier to remove the people from your life that god has yoked you with to make you more like jesus the more powerful you become the more options you have in arranging who will be in your life and who won't i intentionally this is going to sound a little weird to you forgive me i intentionally keep people of pain in my life because i know i've not arrived you know how they put rocks in a rock tumbler and they knock all the sharp edges off and they all become smooth listen none of us have it all together and we actually need people that in relationship expose where we have sharp edges god's main ambition for you and me is to be like jesus and the problem with maturity let me let me rephrase it the problem with blessing is you can insulate yourself from your own need for change and so i can create around me if i want to an environment where no conflict no pain nothing will ever come to me i can create that environment because i have the power to do that the problem is is god has sovereignly yoked me with people that cause me pain and that [Applause] chris chris thinks i'm talking about him [Applause] i'm just not even going there also he puts us together with the people we need he sovereignly yokes us sometimes it's in ministry responsibility some sometimes it's in work you may volunteer to help at the hospital or or literally coach and and you have got a couple coaches that you work with that just irritates you to pieces it doesn't matter what context we apply this the point is is the more powerful you become the more tempting it is to remove from yourself anyone who exposes where you have weakness and we don't call it that we don't we don't say they're causing me pain which is exposing my weakness we say they have a huge weakness that is causing me problems anybody else with me on that one they have issues and i'm telling you they have serious issues and i don't know how much longer i can endure their issues so here's what happens people come they say bill i just i don't know what i'm going to do i just i can't handle this any longer i can't handle this any longer and of course i'm always trying to to bring comfort and encouragement change situations that i can change but here's the bottom line just between you and me absolutely raw gut level honest some of those situations are arranged by god because you're not quite who you think you are and having that person in your life will bring you to a place of absolute honesty and dependency here's what happens i have a a situation come up a conflict uh uh a betrayal whatever it might be and i'm just i'm so troubled by it and this has happened to me too many times to count i'm talking about i can't sleep at night i just ah this person is so important to me this happened that happened and i can't sleep i get up at night and i just i just go and pray and i i i i go and just walk and pray cry out to god i used to go down to the church in weaverville i just go in there and pray and just cry out to god and after a while some relief would come and i would and i would have this insight for example i would say well you know this person is a real gift to me or this person has such great strengths sometimes i'll say oh god thank you i never have to question their love for their family or god i never have to question their devotion to to be faithful and to be true and i look for the things that are right in their life and i begin to give thanks until there's a real faith that floods my heart suddenly that problem doesn't cause me pain anymore anymore why because i moved to fit the yoke i'm in i moved to fit the yoke i'm in i mean i'm in a yoke and it's a god assigned yoke and you you you find your place in that it may seem like punishment it's not it's it's the very gift of god to bring us into the likeness of christ and so he puts us in this context where we learn to walk in this environment we learn to walk in this friendship in this marriage in this workplace whatever it might be we learn to walk in this environment by continual thanksgiving and learning to rejoice paul said in thessalonians i mentioned it a few weeks ago rejoice always pray without ceasing in everything give thanks my inability to give thanks in a given situation only reveals i've not yet won the battle over my thoughts we're supposed to rule and reign with christ that doesn't mean dominate the planet that means effectively served bringing out the best in every environment so if if i can't rule over my thoughts what kind of influence am i going to have ruling and reigning with christ the battle is first right here secondly it's right here rejoice always my inability to find joy to choose joy in any given situation only reveals my inability to find victory over my emotions these two challenges are absolutely the key to yoke adjustment yep yoke adjustment happens through thankfulness sometimes i i sometimes in the middle of the day it just hits me oh just like us somebody just gut punched me and i just go i'll walk on the property i'll be at my house i'll walk around the house the point is is i just get along with god and i read until he speaks to me i take take the word of god and i just read and then you know events i can take you to places geographical locations where i met with god and i was there in tears i was there in pain wondering why this was happening why that was happening why this betrayal took place why this thing didn't happen the way i thought it should and crying out to the lord and i read on the pages of scripture his promise to me and suddenly his word gives me a yoke adjustment and suddenly this yoke that i thought was put on me by other people becomes the most liberating thing to carry because i'm now walking in tandem with the one who called me to walk with him and in doing so learning to be more christ-like in my behavior and my response [Applause] some some of us in this room would never pray if there was never a problem and even if you have the discipline of praying when there's no problems many find it hard to pray out of passion when there's no problem pain gives birth to passionate prayer hope is supposed to pain gives birth to passionate prayer as i heard someone say recently hope is supposed to hope is supposed to be that which possesses the heart if you will of a person to pray with great passion why prayers that move you move him present don't you move you don't move him it doesn't mean they have to be long or loud it just means they have to be honest authentic and involve all of us and passionate prayer is one of the things that brings the hand of god more forcefully into broken situations than anything else i can think of it's the passionate cry to the lord and when you're in pain because oh this job that i have is just listen let me just insert here if you're married and you're in an abusive situation this isn't for you just get out of it just get out this this this is a principle of working with other believers where the lord is adjusting our life by the values behaviors of people around us and quite frankly every time if i choose if i choose to honor the relationship with this partner even though i don't get to accomplish all that was in my heart to accomplish because this relationship came first something is brought before the lord in my value for unity that exalts him above everything else his celebration for my priority of unity that glorifies him over personal achievement over personal liberty over me having my own way speaks volumes to him in a way that is uh almost unparalleled i've tried to work with this philosophy for quite a while now that if you want to catch the attention of a king do so by treating his daughter well for me that's my wife and many others but it's the way that i care for her is the way i catch the attention of a king now let's take that down a level the scripture says we're to submit ourselves to one another in the fear of christ i actually if if i don't fear god in you then i do not see you for who you are let's have a drink to that one [Applause] you too can have one of these bottles [Applause] they won't let me bring brand names up here anymore because it's broadcast so now we have our own brand right shameless shameless promotions it's not a new water company just so you know just just the bottle anytime we have a spiritual dysfunction and we give it a virtuous name we give it permission to stay and increase and there are oftentimes in relationships where there will be suspicions jealousies resentments whatever it might be and of course hardly any believer i know would call it for what it is it's discernment it's just my prophetic uh gifting it's my personality which is a great way to hide dysfunction just call it a personality then then you just you you just create the capital city for dysfunction just call it my personality i believe that jesus is interested in our personality but he knows who we really are when he says shout for joy baron one he doesn't say shout for joy all of you that are extroverts and and all of you that are rather quiet and reserved you know just think happy thoughts i'm good i'm good he know who he knows who he's made us to be so when he gives us a directive of any kind it's always so that we can step fully into our design it's never to violate our identity it's always to step fully into our design so while he will not violate my personality in the sense of my true identity who he's made me to be he will oftentimes put me in situations to expose to me if i'm willing to learn expose to me what's in my thinking what's in my behavior that he has nothing to do with and he wants it gone he wants it changed and so he puts me together with people that rub the wrong way it's called god's gift dick mills used to tell us turn to the person next to you and tell them god loves you too much to leave you the way you are that was always an edifying encouraging word to us so the lord puts us in situations and sometimes you know we wake up in the middle of the night as i've already stated and i get up and i pray for an hour two hours i just can't get back to sleep i get along with the lord finally i hear that word that verse whatever it might be peace comes to my soul i'll go to bed and i think man this person is causing me so much problems not realizing maybe that was the goal maybe that's what he was looking for for a son to take very inconvenient time when it was very sacrificial and to cry out of true passion and get a kingdom solution a kingdom answer and the end result is that yolk that was causing so much pain actually i don't i don't feel it now why i don't know i i i stayed up for a couple hours and prayed and he spoke and i don't understand but i know it's going to be okay then three days later it happens again why because you're not perfect yet all of us are in this place of together choosing and preferring one another sometimes i have to sacrifice my personal dreams and agendas now i hope you take this in the right spirit when i say i'm a powerful person i'm trying to be lighthearted in my position i can make sure that every one of my dreams get fulfilled but that's not what i'm here for i'm i'm not in that position i'm not in this position for that i'm actually here to hear the dreams of the people around me i'm here to catch that's why that's why i don't give strong job descriptions is because i want to see a dream develop i want to see someone in motion that starts to burn for something so i'm i'm interested we have things that have to be done but i hope you understand i'm looking to see people explode in who god made them to be and to become something become something that god always intended for them to be and so we create this environment where that's a possibility but this environment also creates a lot of rubbing the wrong way because that's the nature of the game and it's the nature of my need i actually need people that don't think like me i need people that don't handle stuff the way i handle it i need i i love i love uh trav my favorite place in the whole planet is right here ready thank you jesus anybody else thankful for the firefighters this week thank you lord i'm very thank you i'm very glad to be here this is my favorite place but one of the privileges of travel is i i get to see churches all over the world that are so different from us and yet they are so anointed and blessed by god it's so important to realize man ah i need this group of people i need this leader in my life he thinks different than i do but i need it i need his voice i need his example i step into his congregation whenever i go somewhere i'm never there to to for my agenda i'm always there just to support the person who's in charge that invited me to support their dream their vision and i love just sitting there watching watching what they've done what they've accomplished it's it's beautiful because it's so easy to get dialed into our little world and think we're it and we're not it we're a spot on the map but at least we're a spot where we get to contribute you know randy clark says it best he says every stream thinks they're the river yeah that's that's sadly true but at least we're a stream at least we're we're a stream and i'm glad that we get to contribute to what god's doing i'm so thankful for that here's something that i want you to consider i i i fly a lot um and my airline likes me and i'm thankful it's certain privileges you get if uh when i land at certain airports uh there'll be somebody right outside the plane when i get off the office sign up says mr johnson and and i walk with them under the tarmac i don't go into the airport with the rest of the sheep that's bad that's bad that was a joke though i go down onto the tarmac into the mercedes and they drive me to my next gate hallelujah occasionally i've gotten off a plane and it's it's like a real tight connection there'll be somebody there saying mr johnson we've got to get you through this crowd quickly you're holding the plane and we'll we'll just run you know what happens when you're treated like that when you have a tech connection and they're not not there what's happening don't they know who i am [Laughter] don't they understand i've got 10 minutes to get to the other side of the airport what kind of organization is this it's true blessing here it is take your biggest problem put it right in front of you the biggest aggravation in your life put it right in front of you now listen to me don't ever forget this there are millions of people that would gladly take your biggest problem if they could also have your greatest privilege there's income and there's income tax in a good nation your income will always be greater than your income tax i'm not going to talk today about the rest but seriously he puts us in situations where there's extreme benefit but it's also painful there's a tax to pay if i only see the tax i pay i will be disgruntled complain i want to distance myself from the people that caused this pain not realizing i'm in development i'm in process this is income tax there are millions of people that would take your biggest problem if they could only have your greatest privilege there are millions that would love to sit right where you're sitting and that is true so what do we do we come face to face with the fact that we are blessed beyond reason we are favored by the lord and because i'm favored i have to use that favor for the welfare of others or it's misused favor if at any point the favor is used for self-promotion to insulate me from pain to insulate me from problems or challenges then i've misused the favor the favor is to be used for the promotion of the gospel number one the strength and empowerment of the people around me this is a mandate from the lord there is no option here if i choose to insulate me from [Music] from the people that god yoked me with then what happens i have delayed my own development my own maturing process i've put off far into the future my christ-like transformation what seems to me like a shortcut is actually the long route it seems like the shortcut off i just if this situation would be different i know i'd have so much greater faith i would i'd be so much more devoted i'd be so much more single focused i'd be you fill in the blanks i'd be so much better at what i do if this person or this situation were changed and it's just simply not true because what god has put in your heart is a vision to become something significant that is wrapped up entirely in a journey that you walk with jesus where you me become like him and that can only be done being yoked together with people it's sovereign the sovereign guy sometimes get accused lightly sometimes not lightly but sometimes lightly accused for not believing strongly in the sovereignty of god i feel like i do but i'm i'm accused of that because i emphasize so much our responsibility and i get it i get it the sovereignty of god is a huge thing and i i remember when our kids were small you know they'd be in little league or a school teacher that was you know kind of challenging or whatever and our approach was we're not going to fight to change their environment we're going to fight to equip them to thrive in that environment instead of insisting they have a different little league coach we just you know try to give them the tools the best we know how this is this is how you do this is how you deal with i'm not we're not bending our yellers you know we just don't holler and yell at each other anyone you know unless or somebody's on the other side of the yard we need their attention but you know we're just we don't have that kind of a makeup at all and yet our kids would be in literally you know with this coach that yells and screams and we just have to work with our kids give them the tools to thrive in that environment does this make any sense to you and so that's what we do is we we are not trying to change the environment so everybody is safe we're trying to change the everybody so they can influence their environment and that really is the heart of god for us in this situation so that's pretty much all i have to say today we'll we'll bring it up again when i can do it again more thoroughly [Applause] there are millions of people that would gladly take my biggest problem if they could also have my biggest privilege entitlement is a scary thing and that's what blessing does is it insulates us from the awareness that we carry of our need for one another and so i just pray that over everybody in this room i just pray that there's an unusual grace and a real clarity of sight clarity of thought so that there's a true true celebration for the gifts of god one of the things that i've i've been doing is is there'll be a a challenging situation and i i just take time to pray and to thank and to ponder on the gifts and the strengths in their life and uh and what i'll do is i'll just i'll start giving thanks for specific things where normally it might be tempting for me to try to figure out how to change them yeah a lot of times i'm the one that needs to change and so what i'll do is i'll just think about what is it that i can give thanks for what can i celebrate in that individual when i say this obviously all of us have people in our lives that are just out and out to get us and and i understand i i i'm not i'm not pretending all is well in that environment but most of us have conflict and problems with really good people it's a mystery to us i know how can they be that good and cause me that much pain and really it's the getting up in the middle of the night praying till there's a breakthrough and you'll find that the yoke has been readjusted and actually all that changed was you so father asset today would there be great grace for this a real great grace for this to celebrate to honor to value the privilege that we have of being family the privilege that we have of growing together and we really do bottom line is we want to honor you above everything we're where you're exalted by us becoming more like you and us truly caring for one another where it counts most i ask this in jesus name um also if you can hold your places that'll help me out here i got a couple minutes left so um there's always a chance there's people here that don't have a personal relationship with jesus a friend of mine started just walking up to people randomly and asking them the question are you a personal friend of jesus christ and it's just amazing how conversation starts at that point in how many people have come to the lord simply because that question so i ask you that question are your personal friend of jesus christ that friendship that intimacy that closeness with god actually brings you into a position of being forgiven brought into a family simply made new new from the inside out it's available for everybody here and if you are one that would say bill i don't want to leave the building i don't want to leave the property until i know that i'm at peace with god that i know that my friendship with jesus has started if that's anybody here i want you just to put a hand up real quickly and say bill that's me i don't want to leave until that thing is settled put your hand up real fast i want to make sure that i give ample time for and there's baffle tv as well yeah that over here is wonderful yep beautiful come on the best thing ever yeah and we so much love our bethel tv family my goodness i travel around the world and you guys greet me all the time and with thankfulness for this we honor you we bless you and i pray that there'd be the same breakthrough in household after house in fact when chris prayed earlier for prodigals to return home that it would come as a result of this invitation thanks for listening to the sermon of the week this weekly podcast is being translated into multiple languages please visit podcasts.ibethel.org no no no no no no no no [Music] um [Applause] [Music] do [Music] you

Channel: The Teachings Of GOD

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Keywords: bill johnson messages, sermon, church, bethel church, bill johnson sermons, bill johnson, supernatural, miracles, christian, bethel, holy spirit, revival, holy ghost, spiritual warfare, bethel.tv, presence of god, signs and wonders, bill johnson 2020, bethel redding, bill johnson bethel, bill johnson healing, healing, faith, Jesus, Bill Johnson 2019, best sermons, online church services, bethel moments, presence, sermons, church online

Id: c_4FBDoO9T0

Length: 79min 21sec (4761 seconds)

Published: Wed May 26 2021