Bill Johnson Sermons [May 28, 2021] | God In My Room

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 why don't you grab your bibles if you would to end open to philippians chapter four i've had two reoccurring themes in uh in my heart for the last um at least six months in fact i wrote out uh we're going to read verse 8 a little bit but i i wrote out a whole study on that that i did maybe maybe as much as a year ago at least six eight months ago just for myself just just because i could feel what was happening in the air so to speak i've been very very much aware of the battle that has been going on for many people in their thought life in the mind and i i don't like talking about anything negative in a way that fuels it uh sometimes uh we have the ability to talk about problems and we act we actually make the problems grow and so i'm not interested in that of obviously but i do want to address a couple things um the two items that have been on my mind a lot are going to merge today in today's talk one is the issue of prayer the whole thing of first love relationship with jesus and the second is the whole issue of the of the mind and what god has uh assigned for us to do with with the mind the enemy is is very very nervous about several things about your life and mine one is that he works to keep keep us exposed to anxiety stress those kinds of things because that undermines our creative expression it's very difficult to operate out of a place of health when you're anxious and stressful when you're filled with anxiety and stress the goal is survival not creative expression and and the lord really desires longs to express who he is through his people his own nature his the way he functions his beauty the glory the creative all that stuff flows through a yielded believer when they are free from the issues of anxiety and stress and it is possible to live free of anxiety and stress jesus illustrates it he's headed to the cross and he's giving thanks we'll look at that a little bit more later but the point is as both paul and jesus illustrate something that's almost scary profound and how they modeled life going into the most difficult situation possible but they did it not just as survivors not just to stay positive and you know stiff upper lip that whole thing but as an overcomer they went into a hellish situation it came out absolutely glorious because there was a way to think i'm not talking about mind over men i'm not talking about just mental exercise i'm talking about a perception that comes when we see what jesus sees we see the way he sees so the enemy has several things that he's very very i believe nervous about uh three i'll mention uh to you today the first is is this issue of uh of creativity and i'm not putting these in in perhaps the right order but i'm just gonna randomly mention them the first is the creative expression no one who knows who god made them to be would ever want to be anyone else the uniqueness of every individual is so beautiful and so profound that stepping fully into who god made us to be is the greatest privilege in life and there is no comparison when you look at another person as to what you could actually become by god's design so the creative expression is very rich and very real the second thing is that the enemy uh is very very nervous about um the whole issue of of of our first love relationship with the lord that's been on my mind a lot lately and the lord is just kind of restoring my own heart stirring the pot so to speak about this intimate relationship with god because what happens is anxiety infects love you can't be anxious and keep the kind of fervent relationship with the lord that all of us long for i don't mean that we've rejected him he's rejected us i i'm not saying that i'm just saying anxiety is exalting another ideal over what he has promised i am actually giving my heart my thoughts to that which is inferior to the word of the lord it is true that love annihilates fear but it's also true if i embrace anxiety fear any of that stuff that i have allowed something into my life that will infect love and the first thing to be addressed is my is my first love relationship with jesus i remind you of the passage in revelation chapter 2 where jesus is addressing the church at ephesus a great church and he honors them for so many things but then he says i have this against you you've left your first love that that you used to burn with you don't burn with anymore you've got the structure down you've got the skill down you're functioning the gifts well but this first love this burning affection that we are to carry for jesus is not like it used to be and then he gives specific instruction so we've got the creative expression we've got the first love and the third thing i would mention is that the attack on uh the the fear let me back i'm sorry every thought comes from fear or love every word out of my mouth comes from fear or love so what does what does the enemy want to undermine then he's working if he can if he can get me to compromise my first love then he can get me to lose my sense of identity and that's what fear and anxiety does it causes me to lose track of the tools he's given me the authority he's given me peace is is a huge part of god's economy for us as a believer um i've talked to you even in recent weeks and months about this issue for me whenever i you know i i let's just say let's take a uh it's eleven o'clock in the morning and i'm feeling all anxious and stressful and i go man what happened and i just i i i asked myself the question where did you leave your piece because i had it it's mine it's my possession so i just got to find out where i dropped it so i back up and i go okay oh yeah i was feeling stressful there there oh it was that phone call i got this morning and it might not even been a bad one but my reaction to information or to a situation was for me to become anxious and i embraced a lie i embraced inferior information over the word of the lord over my life it wasn't a conscious decision but it happened nonetheless and so what i have to do is always have to repent my way back to where i left my peace repent confess my sin pick it up and just realize it's my permanent possession peace in the kingdom is is very very uh profound because peace is not the absence of something it's the presence of someone peace is actually a person it's the abiding presence of the spirit of god in my life i'm not saying i can drop it or leave it in the sense that he abandons me but my my the the felt awareness of him gets laid aside in the world peace is always the absence of something it's the absence of noise or war or conflict in the kingdom you can be in the middle of all those and have peace because peace is a person so i repent my way back embrace peace once again and use that as my lifestyle we're going to look at why now um one more one more two more comments before we open the scripture although you already have it open right philippians 4 you're so good i'm in your life to teach you patience that's why i'm here the other side of this issue that we'll read about in a moment is the amazing purpose in prayer prayerlessness is costly it probably would be worth a study sometime just to look at the cost of pearlescent prayerlessness but let me give you two things right now in scripture it says you have not because you ask not so the implication in that verse is prayerlessness creates lack we often think in terms of lack being god's sovereign will for our life and it's not it's just lack fills in where perilous prayerlessness exists amen bill it's very good point amen keep it up stay encouraged and the second price that i will mention to you about prayerlessness is jesus taught he said pray so that you will enter temptation pray make sure you maintain prayer in your life so that you don't enter temptation so the implication is if i am prayerless i will face temptation i have no grace for and it doesn't mean i am prone to sin i may resist the temptation but the problem is prayerlessness created a battle i didn't need to fight prayerlessness put me into a conflict of a war of wills of decision and let's just say i win i make it through i don't do what i was tempted to do the problem is is because i was prayerless i actually attracted the situation into my life that was completely unnecessary if god designs for us to face a battle it's only because he's already given us the tools to win and he wants to punish the powers of darkness it's never so that we would fall or falter if he allows the battle it's only that we get to enforce his purposes in the earth but there's many battles that people face that were brought on by prayerlessness i'm just here to encourage philippians 4 philippians 4 let's read some scripture together we'll start with verse 4 rejoice in the lord always again i will say rejoice i remind you paul writes this from prison he's giving us tried and tested truths out of his own experience rejoice in the lord always i don't know if you've ever looked it up but that word always means always again i will say rejoice let your gentleness be known to all men the lord is at hand be anxious for nothing that's one commandment i have obeyed 100 of the time [Laughter] because everything i've ever been anxious over came to nothing maybe that's not what he meant all right be anxious for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to god and the peace of god which surpasses all understanding will guard your heart and mind through christ jesus be anxious for nothing but everything with prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to god and the peace of god which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds through christ jesus there's a picture painted for us in this part of philippians 4 of a military guard protecting a person's heart and mind heart the place where thoughts come from the mind itself and that military guard is there because of the previous verse pray over everything with thankfulness if you look at the nature of thankfulness it is i don't think we could over emphasize it i'm not sure that it's possible to exaggerate the power of thankfulness jesus on the night in which he was betrayed he took bread he broke it and he gave thanks he's about to be betrayed by judas and he's about to be forsaken by all 11 disciples that he is now breaking bread with he's about to experience the most gruesome death anybody's ever faced not only because of the crucifixion the scourging all that he went through but because of the weight of sin itself that came upon him you know what it is to sin and feel guilty and shameful multiply that by billions of people with millions of sins on one particular individual when the soldiers came to kill the three on the cross they didn't have to kill jesus because he was already dead why because the weightiness of sin that's why he said god why'd you forsake me because in that moment he became sin when was forsaken by the father the two thieves had to be killed because theirs was just a crucifixion i don't mean to make light of it i'm just saying the weightiness of sin he became that which the father despised which was sin but he did that so that we could become what the father delighted in and that was the righteousness of god it was an exchange so in that moment which was his most difficult moment most difficult moment in all of human history in that moment he broke bread and he gave thanks i'd like to suggest that these difficult moments throughout scripture are the moments where he sets an example a model for us that can and must be followed the thankfulness regardless of circumstances to maintain maintain thankfulness in those circumstances keeps us like attached to life source in a sense in a very practical way maintaining thankfulness keeps us sane when things are not going right keeps us connected to the to the right thing so we've got this interesting passage i want you to look at it again 6 7 and this time we'll read eight be anxious for nothing verse 6 but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to god now here's the result and the peace of god which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds through christ jesus verse 8 finally brethren whatever things are true whatever things are noble whatever things are just whatever things are pure whatever things are lovely whatever things are of good report if there's any virtue if there's anything worthy praiseworthy meditate on these things what do we have here we've got we've got two two verses that give us instruction the first one is pray over everything with thankfulness verse 8 says think on these things sandwiched those two verses sandwich the promise and the promise is his peace will protect you but it has responsibility given to you and me on both sides the first has to do with prayer and the second has to do with what we choose to think about jesus gave an illustration a kind of a parable he he talked about the human being like a house and in this illustration he said if a house has all this junk in it and it's clean and it's swept but the owner doesn't refill the house with correct things the enemy that once dwelled in the house comes back seven times worse but the house in this in this example is actually a human being and so here jesus says pray over everything i'll guard your heart and mine now fill the house with the right things do you understand that you can think about anything you want nobody has control over your mind i can think about pink elephants right now if i want to and i just helped you to do the same you're welcome no one controls that part of our life so what's the issue is that when we begin to submit ourselves to the inferior we allow anxiety stress to fill our minds with although the what-ifs that have no life to them there's no promise to them and the enemy again is working to undermine identity first love relationship and this whole thing of being an authentic representation of jesus he fears that he fears it so much that in the book of zechariah when zechariah was talking about these four beings rose up in the earth to destroy the people of god they're illustrated with the term horns horns are figurative for authority for powers and so the lord says these four horns were raised up in the earth to just to wipe out the people of god and god's answer was to raise up four artisans the creatives in other words the authentic expression of who jesus is in a human being he was gonna in the four corners of the earth he was going to do the same thing in the four corners of the earth have an honest authentic representation of who jesus is released through his people and that authentic expression would be the very thing that would defeat the four horns that authentic expression of people who reign remain in first love and find that is their identity that is what the enemy works at every time he tries to stir up the stress the anxiety all the junk because when i am anxious i have bought into something that's inferior i love this verse verse 8. i i like it because i like really practical things because i need practical things he says i this is just some of the study that i did for myself this last year sometime but he said look at verse 8 again finally brethren whatever things are true things that are true are absolute and they're liberating remember truth sets you free so think about that which is absolute and liberating whatever things are true whatever things are noble that word noble is honorable revered whatever things are just that is righteous correct innocent whatever things are pure that's holy and sacred whatever things are lovely that's pleasing and agreeable whatever things are good report that's well reported of it's attractive whatever things are if there's any virtue this word virtue is moral goodness but it's also excellence and if there's anything praiseworthy this i don't know if if this will make sense to you but sometimes i'm having i'll have been having a real battle maybe somebody you know just did something that really really was against what they should have done i'll be nice somebody just really steps outside the line of what they're doing and maybe representing me or us as a house whatever it might be and you know like anybody else i got this mind thing going on where i've got to make sure that i stay i i can't ignore a problem if i'm responsible but i also don't have to fuel it with my own stress and anxiety because then i will come to wrong conclusions and i will misapply truth for my sake and not theirs that was more true than you realize and the scripture says i'm supposed to fill my mind with certain things and if i'm struggling with that here's what i do i will think about my wife because she is everything in verse 8. she is she is so true so absolute so life-giving she is so lovely and praiseworthy and virtuous she is so excellent all those things i honestly will just stop if i'm having a difficult day go okay i've got to recalibrate what is it that i love about my wife and i start to think specifically about those things and it's hard to be mad at anybody when you start thinking of those kinds of things are you catching my drift here it's hard if i'm filling my heart and mind recalibrating what's important recalibrating my heart my mind my thought life to what's valuable as soon as i do that something takes place in in me where i'm at a place where i maybe i have a responsibility with this individual that is just betrayed or done something dumb maybe i have a responsibility there but when i recalibrate my thoughts as to what is righteous and good i don't come to that person that i need to work with abusively i come to them in grace does that make any sense to you you know this thing has to be practical and jesus illustrated it the best i want you to look at one more portion of scripture and then we'll uh we'll wrap this up go to john 13. john 13. this is something we studied here i think a couple years ago now but it very very meaningful passage to me jesus is soon to go to the cross i've already described a little bit just the suffering that he was to go through the abandonment by all of his disciples the betrayal by judas himself all of this that he was that he knew about that he was just stepping into in this moment it tells us what he was thinking in that moment which is this was this is what floors me he he was doing what we were instructed to do in philippians 4. so this is what he is conscious of in verse 3. jesus knowing that the father had given all things into his hands and that he had come from god and was going to god rose from supper laid aside his garments took a towel girded himself the next couple verses he washes the disciples feet there's three things that are very specific for any person in this room let me let me announce to you why i'm talking about this today i felt this morning in praying that god was actually going to end a mental battle for a number of people and it will end in here today i i really sense that this morning i felt like i had a word of promise from the lord regarding this if you've been here any length of time you know i don't throw that kind of a statement out very often but i felt this morning that the lord was going to bring peace to a chaotic anxious thing for a number of folks and i i've not seen uh a season like this in fact there's been a number of suicides across our nation of high-profile people even in ministry and it's just one of the most horrible things bitterness is immature murder self-condemnation and self-hatred is immature suicide in other words it's just undeveloped and it's the reason we have to stay so far away from those kinds of patterns of thought it's not that i'm going to go kill myself it's just that it is already killing me life and death is in the power of the time we even people who don't murder still speak unkindly and release death into a given situation so in this passage it tells us this jesus knowing so that tells me what jesus was conscious of as he was about to head into this betrayal cross situation what does it say it says jesus knowing all things had been given to him by the father there's an interesting twist you're about to lose your life and what you're thinking about is that everything is yours you're about to suffer the greatest loss anyone has ever experienced and what's on your mind is i've already re-inherited everything this is this is this is practical he says jesus knowing all things had been given to him by the father just a little insert here jesus as god already owned everything but he laid that down if you will to become a man and he now re-inherits everything as a man it's mentioned in john 16. so here it's identified he says jesus knowing all things have been given to him by the father number one and number two he came from the father and he was about to go home in other words he's going to step into eternal purpose and eternal destiny so what was he thinking about when he was about to be betrayed that unlimited resource and a destiny that can't be challenged or changed that's that's about as practical as it gets facing betrayal crucifixion all the stuff is thinking about i've just inherited everything now as the son of man and i'm about to ascend to the father into eternal destiny eternal purpose and the third thing he did was he washed his disciples feet what's the point come back next week and i'll tell you it's an overused joke sorry to me the serving is but this will be a weird illustration jesus mindful everything was his he was going to the father two-part epoxy it was the serving that brought him together it was what makes practical his own confidence in his own destiny is the fact that he lost nothing by going low many people can't go low because their identity is wrapped up in a title or a position when jesus illustrates going low is actually revealed his security watch your stand now i'm in a moment i'm going to give people an opportunity to meet jesus it's the most important thing that could happen today so i'm going to ask everybody to not walk around because i don't want anyone's restlessness to affect anybody else's opportunity to respond to an invitation i want you to respect that there's always a chance when we have this amount of people in a room that there are folks here who have never had a personal relationship with jesus the bible calls it being born again it's simply faith that we put in christ to follow him alone that brings a transformation to the heart of a person born again from the inside out changed and that is made available to everybody here and i want to give the opportunity if you would be one who would say bill i don't want to leave the room i don't want to leave the building till i know that god has forgiven me of sin and that i've been brought into his family i want to follow jesus if that's you then i just want more yards just put a hand up in the air and i'll just acknowledge you where you are if that's you just put a hand up right here yep see you bless you for that wonderful everybody else is there another one back over here there's another one back over here a bless you yeah wonderful beautiful another one where over here okay oh excellent beautiful wonderful is another one over here thank you it's the greatest greatest thing ever it's the greatest miracle ever anyone else real real quick we have three that i could see responded to this invitation here's what i want to ask we have people that we know and trust and i want to pray with you and talk with you it's not about bethel or membership it's about your walk with jesus because we want you to experience his love in a way that changes everything from this moment on so i'm going to ask two things to happen at the same time i want to ask the ministry team to come to the front and i want to ask the three people that raised your hand and any others that i missed just walk right up here to this team where this banner is and these folks here will talk with you and pray with you so if you would just leave your seat wherever you're at come down here right now ministry team come quickly [Applause] yeah those those who raise their hand come on come on down here i want to make sure yeah bless you bless you bless you right here all right all right well i love that here now i want to pray over you because i i really i really felt strong this morning that the lord was going to end for many many many people he was going to end a mental battle that has been going on for a long time in fact i just i feel like i just should announce this is this is the end of that of that season of anguish anxiety nothing ends circumstances don't always immediately end sometimes it's me who need to change so that they can change and i just i really believe that the is releasing your grace for this right now so let's pray together and then i'll turn it over to tom and we'll wrap it up all right so father i thank you for the the fact that you give us tools that work and that we can expect and anticipate things to be different simply because we have anchored our hearts into the superior not to be influenced by the inferior i'm asking now for a grace over the heart and the mind of the people of god that our thought life would accurately represent who you are and the resource you've made available for us i ask all of this in the wonderful name of jesus thanks for listening to the sermon of the week this weekly podcast is now being translated to several languages visit podcasts.ibethel.org [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 welcome it is so wonderful to have so many people in the room and we're slowly opening up and it's it's been a lot of fun for us i'd like for you to grab your bibles we're going to read three portions of scripture uh this morning and what what i want you to do is open to second chronicles chapter 10. ii corinthians not chronicles thank you but if you go to chronicles it's good it just won't be the same as what i'm reading second corinthians sorry chapter 10 and then proverbs chapter 21. ii corinthians 10 proverbs 21 and then the last verse we'll read will be in nahum n-a-h-u-m nahum chapter one all right so let's take a look at these verses let's go ahead and get started we'll start with verse three of second corinthians chapter 10 verse 3 for though we walk in the flesh we do not war according to the flesh for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in god for pulling down strongholds casting down arguments in every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of god bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of christ i want us to read verses four and five again which we will do a number of times throughout the morning verse four for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in god for pulling down strongholds casting down arguments in every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of god bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of christ now i'd like for you to take a look at this passage in proverbs 21 and then i'll talk to you for a few minutes before we open to nahim proverbs 21 verse 22 a wise man scales the city of the mighty and brings down the trusted stronghold a wise man scales the city of the mighty and brings down the trusted stronghold proverbs 22 gives us a tremendous insight as we think and pray and plan towards seeing entire cities family lines first of all then cities and nations discipled to the lord our ambition has always been for as long as i can remember to see not only the conversion of souls but to see the conversion of culture itself a lifestyle that accommodates the work of god in a given place and this particular passage in proverbs gives us i think a wonderful insight to help us he said a wise man so wisdom is involved here a wise man is able to scale a city so in other words there's walls that surround the city wisdom enables a person to to rise against an insurmountable object wisdom enables a person to rise against an insurmountable object and pull down strongholds in which they trust so it gives us a second clue strongholds are whatever people trust in other than god it's always been a trust issue everywhere you go throughout scripture there is a target of the lord and in fact i made a statement this week to some of our team that i'll make with you take whatever you know about trust amplify it by about a thousand and that's how much it's on the heart of god it's it is central to our relationship with god the scripture says that without faith it is impossible to please him it doesn't say without worship it doesn't say without prayer it doesn't say without fasting it doesn't describe any of the other essential parts of our walk with the lord it doesn't say without bible reading as critical as that is it says without faith why because the element of trust is the focus of the lord why because he is the most trustworthy individual in the universe and it is a violation of creation to not trust the one who is worthy of trust it is uh it is a debt that i owe him i am indebted to him to reflect his faithfulness through my trust when you look at um there's a there's a great warning passage i i love the scripture i i like the warning passages in scripture because they they help to clean me they're important because they purge and clean and it's in mark chapter 10 where the lord says it is impossible for a wealthy man to get into the it's very hard for a wealthy man to get into the kingdom of heaven and the disciples are stunned by his statement because they considered themselves blessed so they're stunned by the statement it says they wondered then who can make it so jesus adds a word to give definition to the statement he just made he said it is very hard for a man who trusts enriches to make it into the kingdom the element the issue is trust i've asked you the question before there are different political groups and parties and movements in the earth that are trying to define how much money a person should make or should have i'll leave the subject alone because it makes me irate but let me just say let me give you a kingdom answer instead of a bill answer which is always better anyway how much money is too much money there's not an amount it's whatever amount replaces trust trust is always the issue always the issue to the rich young ruler he had to sell everything to follow jesus but mary martha and lazarus were very wealthy they did not have to wipe because their heart issue was somewhere else jesus always deals with heart because heart is where trust comes from the heart is where trust comes from trust faith does not come from the mind it doesn't say what the mind man believes unto righteousness it says with the heart so god is always dealing with the heart because there must be the reunification of a people made in his image that reflect his faithfulness through faith through trust that complete cycle must be recreated in the earth and so the lord looks for those who believe those who have faith those who trust trust is the issue so in proverbs we have this statement a wise man scales the city of the city and pulls down strongholds in which they trust you look in any culture you can go to any city in our nation or any nation and through a short amount of time you'd be able to study that city and find out what people trust in other than god for some it's uh it's abuse of alcohol or drugs or those kinds of things that's that's where they trust when they're in trouble when they begin to panic when they become fearful they reach for whatever it might be it has the place of god in their life they may believe in the existence of god but their lifestyle testifies they do not depend on god it's a trust issue and so you can study that city it may be sports it may be a recreational activity it could be any number of things it can be many things that are wonderful blessings and additions to our life but when that's what i turn to and that's what i trust then it takes the place of my dependency on the lord so the lord now is targeting this issue of stronghold what is a stronghold if you go back to medieval times and the walled cities or the castles the the place of these huge stones that are carved out stones that are put on top of each other and uh and and what a stronghold is is it's a hiding place in this case for the demonic it's a hiding place that is created in a person's life through their thoughts corinthians 10 the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but they're mighty for pulling down strongholds casting down arguments and thoughts raised up against the knowledge of god bringing every thought into captivity here's the deal thinking incorrectly not only empowers the enemy it gives him a safe place to hide in our patterns of thought incorrect patterns of thought are dwelling places for the demonic a bad thought is not a hiding place but a lifestyle of a bad thought creates a hiding place a stronghold is a place where they're not if recognized if you could imagine a royal family hiding in the cows you can't see them behind the castle wall they are hiding they are safe they can go out when they want to at will the demonic hides in the thought patterns and processes of people's lives when they are anchored when those thoughts reflect the anchor of the soul that trusts in something else other than god the weapons of our warfare are not human in origin they are not skills they are not talents they are they are literally the the weaponry of god himself to deal with the hiding place of the enemy in the thought processes of a person's life what is it about those thoughts that gives the enemy a place to hide these are things that are raised up against the knowledge of god not the existence of god the knowledge of god the enemy knows he cannot get me to deny the existence of god i'm too far in i i couldn't fall for that one that's you know that's the devil wearing a red rubber suit carrying a pitchfork he's really easy to spot that one's not going to work but what does work at times is when i find myself thinking about a problem without the hope of a redemptive solution what idea am i thinking i'm thinking something that wars against the knowledge of god there's not a problem that i face that he not only doesn't have the answer for he is prepared to release the solution does that make sense so anytime i entertain or perhaps it's it's a person let me let me let me back up and say this i i've i've mentioned this a few times in a in this whatever strange season we are in fear will always attract whatever information is needed to legitimize its existence fear will always attract whatever information is needed to legitimize existence here's the crazy thing so does jealousy and resentment jealousy and resentment also attract whatever information is necessary to legitimize to validate the existence of jealousy and resentment but also comes with it the ability or capacity because we know so much spiritually we give it a virtuous name and when you give a dysfunction a virtuous name you not only give it permission to remain you give it permission to set that roots and tell it until it begins to shape personality this is where this is where extreme tenderness to the lord is vital the farther you go with god the farther you go with god the more you are capable of giving a virtuous name to a problem because you know more knowledge puffs up knowledge puffs up bible doesn't say carnal knowledge it just says knowledge pops up so the answer isn't to ignore learning knowledge understanding wisdom the requirement of the lord for us is that what we learn is to take us to the person because it's in encountering the person of the lord jesus christ we don't walk away strutting about all the great things we're about to do with our life there's something very significant that the lord is wanting to work into the heart of the church right now and i i feel like it's there's so many things i was torn in so many directions for this morning first of all just over overjoyed happy we'd be together and uh and i'm i'm in a very good mood even though i maybe maybe you need to think i need to read some more jokes i'm not sure what what the story is here but um i i i feel strongly that we are about to witness both the the goodness the kindness of the lord and the severity of the lord and and this whole first love issue of absolute sensitivity to the work of the holy spirit is is so central in my life so central to who we are and there's the reminder that it's the lamb of god who sits on the throne for eternity why the lamb why not the lion because we we will live with a continuous remembrance not of our sin but of our need for grace our need for constant dependency on god so throughout all eternity a hundred billion years from now the lamb will still be on the throne and we will be celebrating the fact that we are saved celebrating that we are new creation we are we are absolutely new and we continuously live in that overwhelming joy of having been redeemed back to the subject here at hand the weapons of our warfare are not carnal they're not natural they are mighty in god for pulling down strongholds what are the strongholds they're the places of trust in us and or others casting down arguments i'm glad there's none of that going on right now [Laughter] listen to me once you get the victory of pulling down strong worlds here you're positioned to pull it in culture but you have to do it here first what you win here positions you to read to influence there because there is a demonic power behind so much if i could say all the lies that war against the knowledge of god there's a demonic power it's the fiery darts it's the fiery darts of scripture when a person has dealt well with their own thought life and and won the battle so to speak in an area you become positioned to recognize it in others but not to point it out you know it's not that it's that's a prayer job now there seems to be in my neighborhood there seems to be this this bent for example i remember in the house we moved in in weaverville uh as soon as we moved in a lady across the street came over she said just to let you know everybody on your side of the street gets a divorce when they move in here good to be in your neighborhood yeah yeah they just it wasn't that everybody but it's this house that house that house they move into this neighborhood they move an essay of the street they get divorced i said well it stops here it stops here this this this this whatever whatever power has been behind that it doesn't have an ear here it doesn't have a voice here and so when you have when you have personal victory in an area it positions you not to point or yell at people or accuse to do any of that stuff it's in prayer we say god we ask right now that the spirit of revelation be released to counter that lie that our community or my neighborhood has actually believed in that there is a solution by leaving our spouse what do you think why do you think praise is a weapon of warfare praise is a weapon of war i know for me if we're if there's a struggle in health i'm going to exalt him for being the healer what's happening the battle is first here and once i engage in praise with declaring who he is the knowledge of god casting down thoughts and ideas raised up against the knowledge of god i deal with it first here and then i become positioned to bring about transformation in the location where i live i declare his greatness there's there's presence and power that is exercised against the lies that have been raised up against the knowledge of god the battle you in here positioned you to win the same battle out here this passage in nahum is a personal favorite naam chapter 1 verse 7 the lord is good a stronghold in the day of trouble and he knows those who trust in him look at it again the lord is good a stronghold in the day of trouble he knows those who trust in him i want you to make mental note once again that stronghold this time it's a stronghold of the revelation of the goodness of god uh another place in scripture says that the name of the lord is a hiding place it's a tower of strength it's where we hide ourselves so if you can picture it this way a people who understand truly heartfelt understanding of the goodness of god automatically have a hiding place a stronghold in which they dwell and it's evidenced by what we trust in when problems come up it's very easy to think of an individual or a repeated problem with hopelessness and blame it on the lack of character in the individual which basically is declaring father this one is out of your reach and what happens when i do that and i have what happens when i do that i create a stronghold of thinking that removes me from being a part of a redemptive solution because i have categorized that individual and in that particular place i have fallen into a trap believing things that are unredeemable nobody would ever say that because we know that god can do anything but it's not it's not your theology it's your lifestyle it's not your theology every believer says god can do anything everything anything and they've got a problem and they don't believe he'll fix it so the theology is right the lifestyle's wrong the lifestyle is fueled by thought life so the thought life is not just focused on finding the lie and removing it because he says take every every thought to the obedience of christ a thought pattern is not transformed until i am seeing a situation through the eyes of jesus thinking the redemptive solutions that he's thinking until then i'm still in that place of need i'm not in the place of bringing change the lord is good he is a stronghold he knows those who trust him wow do you ever wish you could read the bible for the first time again i love the simplicity of faith of a brand new believer like i just uh i got this bible this last week that was the bible wigglesworth smith wigglesworth carried with him his little pocket bible he wrote in the back of this bible he said never compare this book with other books comparisons are dangerous never think or say that this book contains the word of god it is the word of god it is supernatural in origin eternal in duration inexpressible in value infinite in scope regenerative empower infallible in authority universal in interest personal in application inspired in totality read it through write it down pray it in work it out and pass it on it is the word of god this is what he wrote in the back of his [Applause] bible it's not complicated if he said it it's true if he didn't it probably isn't it's not complicated if i have more input from social media than i do the word of god my discouragement is self-inflicted it's a calculated decision i find myself thinking of this person they will never change at what point do i stop the lie because i'm building a hiding place for the demonic that will actually help to fulfill the very live come to believe i would never say it but my approach to a problem oftentimes reflects that it's a stronghold and the lord is preparing us in this season to be able to address the impossible we've said this for 20 years so this is nothing new but i feel like he's heightening heightening our awareness of something today he's enabling us to be aware where we have fallen for the lie where where i have entertained the enemy's ideas in my personal castle so i believe that the lord is bringing this i actually had i've been struggling this week with i've been looking forward to being with you just basically so i get a 100 hugs you know i'm hug deprived i just want you to know that and someday we're going to have a mask burning party they're going to be right out in the parking lot bring all your mass we're going to burn them in jesus name [Laughter] i i i can't promise but that's what i would like to do it may be at my house you just come to my house we will burn the mouse and a few other things will burn yeah but i i have this this sense that through this strangest season of my life the lord has been training us for something that we're unaware of and i'm i'm i would assume all of us are not maybe not in the same boat but certainly similar i've never seen so much swirling in thought in ideas and you know arguments and stuff just just in the air as in recent days and i feel like the lord is allowing us to be exposed to the chaos so we have no mistake recognizing peace the peace of god is the complete absence of chaos that is the definition by nature the peace of god is the complete absence of chaos and he has allowed us if you will to be exposed to some of the craziest things ever not so that we walk through life being victims if you experience sorrow maybe a friend has fallen into some deception i i got news this week of a of a dear friend who is uh getting divorced and never would have expected never never never ever would have expected it i don't know what happened but when you have pain like that if you just feel sad and do nothing with it you're wasting your time god gave you a an ability to feel so that it would take you to him i don't know how to pray for this situation but i do know the enemy has had his way and so i pray the mercy of god to come upon this couple the mercy of god to touch each individual heart god i don't know what's happened or where this is where you pray in tongues a lot he always gets it right i mean i may pray this prayer oh god give me a ferrari with 700 horsepower and then i pray in tongues the holy spirit says man don't give him that car he'll kill himself that's what i'm praying in tongues i'm praying i don't even know he just canceled out my prayer so i'm praying that that's how this works to me so i don't know how it works to you but but he always he always refines mine refines my prayer he says no he'll kill himself if he has that card don't do that don't do it but if you feel grief or you feel pain or you feel troubled if it doesn't take you to him in prayer you're wasting your sensitivities it's a gifting it's like eyesight if you you know if you see something coming at you that's going to hit you and you don't duck your head then you're wasting your eyesight we perceive because he's positioned us to make a difference or react accordingly all right let's read this passage um one last time in first gra second corinthians or chronicles if you prefer chapter 10 verse 4 the weapons of our warfare are not carnal they are mighty in god for the purpose of pulling down strongholds casting down arguments every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of god to the point where we learn to bring every thought into captivity to the obedience of christ it's an interesting picture that last phrase bringing every thought captive i when i see uh bringing every thought captive i think of a like a soldier who was warring against us all right so let's just take that thought for a minute let's just say we're in an army and we have a soldier i take him captive but he becomes so captive that he becomes a soldier for us it's not putting him in restriction where he doesn't function it's seeing that thought process so transformed that it now works for us taking every thought captive to what the obedience of christ what is that it's the mind of christ taking this deceptive thought about your neighbor take it captive until it starts reflecting the mind of christ about your neighbor hostages taking our thoughts hostage until they are transformed in nature and they actually reflect the fact that there is nothing impossible he has a redemptive solution for every situation he will cause every situation that pertains to my life to work for good which means for his glory and for my strength i like the phrase casting down that reminds me of wigglesworth my my grandfather told me he said not everybody liked wigglesworth because his faith was so abrasive you know act of faith offends inactive faith faith in action offends faith as a concept faith that is active in the moment offends faith that's waiting for something to happen someday wigglesworth would say don't treat the devil kindly so when he would rebuke a demon that demon knew he rebuked him some people suggest a demon leave as though they were making a suggestion it says casting down take that vile thing that just isolated that person into an unredemptive position in their life take that vile thought that just declared over your economics that there is no solution you've actually tried everything and there is no solution take that vile thought cast it at the feet of jesus who is himself jehovah jireh take that thought that says your marriage cannot be healed or restored take that thought captive because it is born in the pit of hell you take it captive and you cast it down and you bring into subjection all these things that you're thinking seeing and feeling until what you're seeing thinking and feeling reflects his heart and his nature it's not complicated it just means i've got to have more input from what he said instead of from everything else that's around me why don't you stand we're going to pray wrap this up i i believe i i believe the lord put this on my heart for today i do i believe i believe he directed my heart i'll be honest with you i had something else i was wanting to do just as of this morning we eric and i walked over to the offices i went into my office and boom it became clear completely off what i had prepared my heart to do i could i could feel the heart of the lord for the mental health of the body of christ it is for you but it is also through you and it's through you unto a culture that you will not convince through debate in some cases it's going to be your engagement in prayer that pulls out the rug from that spirit of deception that is influencing your neighbor the way he's influenced them they see no solution because they've locked into a covenantal agreement with the powers of darkness but your prayers not manipulation not pointing the finger not argument in debate but you going before god saying god i really care for this neighbor and they are trapped they don't see it i know i can't convince them but i know that you can we begin to pull down the strongholds of thought they think healing of a marriage is impossible i know god that's a lie so i pulled that thought down in the name of jesus right now that that has been raised up in their thinking as a god and it is not a god it is an inferior thought and we take that thing got from my friend who has a cycle of going bankrupt after bankruptcy after bankruptcy they are locked into thinking they can never be successful in their life and god i know that that's a lie from hell i know it's a lie from hell it's an absolute lie it's not in your promise you never promised us that we would never come out of cycles of pain you did the opposite so i take that thought captive that that has been raised up against the knowledge of god your very name is jehovah jireh and i take that lying spirit and i confront you in the name of jesus that lying devil that is about hopelessness into my friend who believes it's impossible for them to ever have an economic solution it's a lie from hell it's a lie from hell i pulled that thought down and in his place i released the revelation of jehovah jireh the god who always provides the god who is always more than enough you bind and you lose you bind and you lose you bind here what's bound there you loose here what's loose there if it's not in the mind of christ it's not worth releasing got to stop saying the stuff that he isn't thinking i'm so tired of my own opinion i'm serious it bores me to tears i must have the mind of christ i must have the word of the lord i have to when he speaks i live when i think without him i die i'm about to start over so i'm telling you better i don't know i'm just that was a threat that was a threat i'm just joking all right we're going to pray and i want you to put your hands in front of you just an act of faith to receive because i do believe that jesus has brought this to the forefront today because it is in his heart to repeat to release a grace a grace to deal with the lies have been raised up in our own our own lives the lies i look to your father father of truth you cannot lie you cannot deceive you who is faithful and true so completely trustworthy you are perfectly perfectly trustworthy we owe you absolute trust and together we look to you right now and i'm asking that you would give us as a gift a grace a heightened awareness of the things we've entertained the times we've welcomed the enemy of our soul into our homes and have made them comfortable with our thinking today we expel those lies and i pray that you would over these next seven to ten days there would be such a heightened awareness of what is true a heightened awareness of what is filled with hope a heightened awareness of what is on your heart for this hour help us to never again waste a painful moment let them always bring us to you always bring us to you i ask that a spirit of wisdom and revelation rest upon this body of people those who are watching online i bless this company of believers i bless you in the name of jesus and i pray for a wisdom to scale the walls of the city and to bring down strongholds that people have placed trust in other than the name of the lord that this company of people would be known by their neighbors they just trust god they simply trust him when push comes to shove they just trust god it makes no sense they just trust god let that be the living reality of this body of believers in fact i pray for the city of reading that reading would rise to a place of absolute trust that this city would love you well that this city would absolutely trust you [Applause] i pray this in jesus name thanks for listening to the sermon of the week this weekly podcast can be heard in multiple languages on our betheltv website if you'd like to partner with us in discipling nations and fueling personal revival you have the opportunity to give at bethel dot tv slash podcast slash donate [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh [Music] you [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh [Music] do [Music] you

Channel: Red De Intercesión

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Rating: 5 out of 5

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: Q5Rt0N4a5qE

Length: 80min 13sec (4813 seconds)

Published: Fri May 28 2021