Bill Johnson Sermons [September 02, 2021] | Trusting the Trustworthy One

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 [Music] open your bibles if you would we've got three portions of scripture we're going to read we'll start with judges chapter 6. so if you'd go there first we'll take a little bit of time there then we're going to jump over to psalms 115 and then from there to proverbs 3. so if you want to put a piece of paper or something at least one of those that be helpful there's a an unusual connection kind of a seamless connection between three subjects in scripture fear worship and trust fear worship and trust what you fear will influence what you worship and what you worship will be proven by what you trust worship isn't merely an act a song kneeling raising hands or whatever it is actually something it's kind of like two-part epoxy it's the second part that proves and establishes what real worship is in our heart of hearts and that is trust god is continuously looking for trust in his people because our trust mirrors who he is the most reliable thing in existence is god himself he's more trustworthy than the sun rising tomorrow morning that could end that's temp temperate temporal that could end but he cannot he cannot change he's perfectly faithful so our entire life is learning this expression and learning this lifestyle of absolute trust in god delayed answers seem to dial up all kinds of stuff in us on where we actually mistrust god and it's never punishment it's never for humiliation it's always to expose where i have need to fully confess of weakness because when i confess in agreement with god i step into a grace where i can forsake something that has perhaps plagued my life for my entire life god is looking for people who trust him the bible says that he um that he looks for worshipers interestingly he doesn't look for worship he's not an egotist in need of affirmation he look looks for worshipers because we always become like whatever we worship come on we'll see this more illustrated in a moment but you always become light whatever you worship and whatever you worship will determine what you trust i can sing the right songs down here on sunday morning raise my hands sing loudly give the shout of praise but if when i face a difficulty i turn to something other than god then my trust area is being challenged it doesn't mean that i can't use counsel it means it all has to be in accordance to what god says and what he thinks what is purpose for my life people say well we're entitled to our own opinion well you can have yours i don't want mine it's only got me in trouble i don't want to have thoughts or values that are inconsistent with his thoughts and values i want to think creatively within the confines of his lordship because there's more liberty in the lordship than there is liberty outside doing what i want it's crazy but there's more room in the house and there is out of the house it's the logic of a kingdom where you go low to go high where you empty yourself to be full yes indeed all right so here we have the two absolutes of scripture once again this faith open love the greatest of these islam and the second is we cannot do anything to please him apart from faith love and there's faith paul in galatians talked about these two subjects as though they were one i look at them as two sides of the same coin where he says faith works through love one is the expression of the other reality the other influence and so the lord from day one has been working to build a community of trust a community of faith because that rep best represents who he is in the earth and it best connects us to who he is in the earth so we've got this passage in the book of judges chapter 6 in verse 10 the lord speaks and he says i said to you i am the lord your god do not fear the gods of the amorites in whose land you dwell but you have not obeyed my voice interesting verse look at it again i said to you do not fear the gods of the amorites but you have not obeyed what did israel do when they feared other gods they would almost always worship other gods and turn to those gods in difficulty for example baal was considered the god of abundance and so israel if things were shaky in their relationship with god if things weren't going correctly they would turn to baal and they would worship this false god strangely throughout history there were times they would try to worship god on the sabbath day and on other days or other experiences they would turn to another god they tried to have this dual devotion to multiple gods plus the real god it was always a point of downfall for israel it was always a point of disintegration of who they were who they were and their identity and so the lord looked at israel and he said i told you not to fear the other gods but you didn't obey what was the evidence they worshipped other gods the point is what you fear determines what you worship that's the point look at psalms 115 psalms 150 honey could you i've got a bottle of water down there i forgot to bring him it's summer oh there it is thanks thank you psalms 150 i love this psalm i i remember in in the early days when we'd have so many unusual things happen in a gathering and people's it seems like people's favorite question was well where is that in the bible i tell them psalms 115 because verse 3 says he does whatever he pleases where is that in the bible the bible is not a book of lists or let me let me put a better way the lists in the bible don't confine god they reveal him the nine gifts of the spirit don't limit god they reveal how he works a couple of my family members when they were baptized in the holy spirit wrote in perfect chinese well that's the devil yeah except it was all praise to god when it was translated by a chinese missionary the devil's not knowing for worshiping jesus well it's not on the list yeah but it's consistent with the list it's consistent with the list why because those who speak in an unknown tongue speak to god not to men and it says in acts 2 verse 11 says they are speaking of the mighty deeds of god in these other languages which is what praise that prayer language we'd call it the secret language with our children that secret language is a language of prayer intercession and a language of worship of praise so the list that exists in the bible are not to restrict or confine god they are lists that reveal god so chapter uh psalms 115 verse 3 says but our god is in heaven he does whatever he pleases that's like my favorite verse he does whatever he pleases verse 4 their idols are silver and gold the work of men's hands they have mouths but they do not speak eyes they have but they do not see they have ears but they do not hear noses they have but they do not smell they have hands but they do not handle feet they have but they do not walk nor do they mutter through their throats those who make them are like them so is everyone who trusts in them what you fear determines what you trust what you trust is what you become like in this case it's a strange story of molded images it may be out of stone it could be out of wood or rock but the point was is they would worship these these idols and we don't have that type of thing today but the apostle paul said that greed is idolatry greed is the worship of other gods strangely you'll see greed you'll see idolatry warned against and adultery in the same phrase throughout the bible those two because idolatry is in the spirit realm what adultery and immorality is in the natural physical realm they are they're the same sin expressed in two different realities greed then is idolatry according to scripture the worshiping of other gods what i fear affects what i worship what i worship affects what i trust if i fear going broke i will turn my heart of affection towards money and obtaining to try to create a security for myself i may sing the right songs in the morning i may raise my hands even dance but if the heart is anchored in the affection for things other than god then what happens is it actually defiles my trust my authentic worship is exposed when a difficulty comes because that's when you discover what and who i trust jesus when he talked about this subject of god and mammon he said in the gospel of matthew says you can't serve two gods you can't serve god and mammon and in that passage he actually spoke of mammon as though it was a spiritual being he wasn't talking about dollars in the pocket he's talking about a principality that actually has influence over the economies of the world says you can't serve god and mammon and when he went to illustrate that he said you will either love the one and hate the other or you will hold to the one and despise the other love hate hold despise love hate your love for god is actually in many ways revealed by what you hate you don't can't hate people it's just stupid but we've got to hate evil this whole thing of having no emotion where we become like spock unmoved by circumstances around us that is not kingdom peace that is some eastern religion but it's not kingdom and that kind of peace only exists where that person is in charge it's never where there's chaos so jesus said you either love the one hate the other which i remember when my kids were small when they finally had permission to hate something i remember brian walking around the house and i hate the devil i hate the devil he was he had been freed to hate once again this way i told him ken hates son you can't say i hate this i hate that we told him we could hate the devil and i remember eric and brian leah walking around the house going i hate the devil i hate the devil and they just had a whole new liberty in life so it will it says you can love the one and hate the other when you're devoted to god your love for god will be seen in what you hate but when mammon is what i serve it says i will hold to the one and despise any time money is talked about in church the very fact that i become aggravated over a subject of that nature being brought up in church only reveals that there is a measure of trust and worship that is misdirected proverbs 3 is the verse i honestly have been looking forward to talking to you about so why don't you oh i i forgot i forgot a key verse here in verse psalms 115. sorry about that verse 8 says those who make them are like them so is everyone who trusts in the lord their very next phrase oh israel trust the lord what is the implication the implication is that those who worship false idols become like the idols they worship they make an idol that's blind they lose their ability to perceive they make an idol that can't speak they lose their voice in the world they make an idol they can't touch they lose their own sensitivities their own perception they make an owl that can't hear they lose track of the voice of god in their life because we become like whatever it is that we trust and so at this point god steps into the middle of the equation he says all right now israel trust the lord why because you become hearing perceiving sensitive to touch you become like him in your capacity inability to live life trust is what opens up the supernatural grace the ability to live like jesus it's trust amen bill good point all right proverbs chapter three my my mom's parents lived with us for a good part of our life most of my life i was i went to grade school in sacramento they lived with us there we moved to los angeles where my parents pastored and and uh and they lived with us there when we came to reading my parents actually built an apartment on the back of the house and they moved in there and i would go over and uh and visit and i this is the this is the grandma that i'd go over and visit her and she'd say billy joe's call me billy billy would you like some pie and i said no thanks grandma i'm full and her next question was would you like ice cream on it because it she had no comprehension of anyone not wanting a piece of pie it was just it didn't register and so it was just automatic i was going to be eating pie the only question was with or without ice cream so that was grandma she was losing her sight at the end of her life she died when she was in her upper 80s and so i would go over not read to her and i remember reading a book by corey ten boom for and and uh and she she loved to memorize scripture she would always encourage us to memorize scripture and uh it really worked with her son david my uncle because he would memorize books of the bible entire books you know he memorized like hebrews gospel of john romans so you know lighthearted stuff we're not talking we're not talking ephesians and philippians we're talking about john the gospel and so he would he would visit us you know and he'd retire in the middle of the afternoon go back to his bedroom and what's what's what's uncle david doing well he's going through the book of hebrews all this week and he'd take an hour in the middle of his day and he'd have the book in front of him he just began to quote hebrews because he wanted to stay current in the memory of hebrews me for god so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son you know i get that stuff down but the books of the bible man i i tried but failed miserably anyway grandma was a great proponent for memorizing scripture and she would quote scripture to me and this was one of the verses she wanted me to memorize which i now know grandma i got it i got it all right i'm not talking to the dead [Applause] i can see the emails now all right proverbs 3 verses 5 and 6 trust in the lord with all your heart lean not on your own understanding in all your ways acknowledge him and he shall direct your paths look at it again trust in the lord with all your heart lean not on your own understanding in all your ways acknowledge him and he will direct your paths i can still hear grandma quoting that verse trust in the lord with all your heart lean not on your own understanding and all your ways acknowledge him he will direct your paths look at verse 5. trust in the lord with all your heart do not lean on your own understanding why are those two phrases back to back because if i truly want to trust in god completely my perception of things will undermine my trust perception has to be given to us by god so that we see the way he sees and we see what he sees we see what his promise before it comes to pass that way our mental creative energies are directed towards the will of god and not warring against the will of god trust in the lord with all your heart all your heart is a place of absolute surrender i have no personal interest in my own opinion as i've stated well bill we need to be free to think for ourselves i i get that and i and i want to always be free in my thinking but there's more freedom in his will than outside of his will and so i want to think consistent with his liberty in me i want to think consistent with his promise over me i'm not a robot that is to be programmed by commands but in a relationship your fault life is the offspring of who you commune with and i want to tap into the offspring so to speak god's inspired ideas over my life so he says trust in the world with all your heart so it's a place of absolute surrender lean not on your own understanding why because your own perception of things is weak and misguided and it will undermine what you've said you want from your life that's the absolute trust and abandonment in christ trust in the lord with all your heart lead not on your own understanding in all your ways acknowledge him always acknowledge it it's interesting for us the word acknowledge means chris is in the front row i walk in the room and go hey chris nice to see you i haven't seen you all week good to see you glad you're home what have i done i've acknowledged but that's not this word this word is the word that means to come to know in an irish experiential and or intimate way this word is actually used to describe as the verse in genesis and adam knew eve and she conceived and brought forth the sun i mean you understand adam didn't walk into the room and acknowledge wave eddie hey good to see you let's get together and move on it wasn't that kind of acknowledgement it was an experiential it was an acquaintance it was a coming together this is interesting because god is actually giving everybody in this room an invitation to come to know him in all the different ways of our life we have so many ways it'd be we would take all day to even try to listen but let me give you a few family life that's one of the ways that we have in our life it's our relationships our friends that's a way it's our financial life that's that's a part of our life it's our ministry it's our church life it's our mental health it's our emotional health it's our area of faith it's our area of business our work gifting we have all these things all these are ways in our life and what happens is we may have an area of maturity let's say that you just have a grace on your life where you just know how to raise children and your children are thriving they're doing good your spouse is happy your family doesn't mean we never have problems just you know how to weather them you have a grace for that because you've come to know god in that part of your life but when it comes to money there's just constant fear constant constant worry and anxiety you know worry and anxiety gives us the false sense of being responsible it gives us a false sense that we're being we're being responsible people no that's counterfeit responsibility because we're taking on a responsibility he didn't give us it doesn't mean i don't take ownership of my decisions and my my my issues financially it just means that worry anxiety all that stuff actually gives place to for me to actually put my trust in something else it's the holding to or despising that's what happens in the life that goes down that road so here we've got this issue the issue of in all your ways acknowledge him so what is he saying here let's say that let's say that your family life is good finances are good but when something happens that's just out of the ordinary the car breaks down uh maybe a dear friend just betrayed you and just made up lies they really hurt you those things are always going to hurt they're always going to challenge our faith but they devastate some and it's never it's never supposed to devastate a person's life and so let's just say that in this situation i go man you know i do so good for so long and then something happens somebody says a lie about me they post something online and i just get this emotional nose dive and i don't like this emotional instability god i want to know you as the one who is emotionally stable because you are the creator of my emotions and you yourself are emotional it says his anger lasts for the night but his favor lasts for a lifetime there's emotion involved there god i want to know you as the creator of emotions i want to come to know you in this area so that i can actually manage this part of my life this is what he says he says in all your ways acknowledge come to know him and he will direct your paths he's not just saying here i'll give you the direction that you seek for in your life that's not it at all there's two things number one the word here for direct paths is to make straight i'm going to take a crooked crazy path that you're on a horrendous life-threatening past nerve-wracking journey and i'm just gonna straighten that road out we're gonna take a treacherous trail and going to turn it into a four-lane highway that's what we're going to do and that's what the lord is saying says i'm going to make it straight i'm going to make it straight so pedal to the metal you can go where you're supposed to go but the second thing is what is the path of the direction of the lord he would always work to take israel into their inheritance into their promised land so when the lord says we say god i want to know you in my emotions i want to know you in my finances i want to know you i don't want to just have ideas and run with them i want to experientially encounter you as the god who provides you're the one who with a word sustains all of life you're the source of life you're the sustainer of life i want you to be the sustainer of my economic well-being i want to know you there what happens he says awesome let's talk and he begins to work with us and encounter us things begin to expand in our thinking our expectations what's happening we're coming to know him as the god of finance what happens then he makes what was crooked straight and it takes us right into inheritance it's the shortcut to breakthrough in all your ways come to know it may be that there's a child that is just different than all the other kids which we all have kids who there's a they're all different than the other and uh i heard one comedian say i have two wonderful children and then there's a third one that's a bad joke i just thought it was funny we have three wonderful children but they're they're so unique that you may have a your personality your gifting your insight may be prone to succeed better with one over the other it's not that you prefer one over the other it's just your own makeup fits well for with this individual and so what happens is we need to encounter god in that way of life in that part of our life i need to have more than concepts and thoughts and be able to quote verses and and principles i need to know the god of child rearing with somebody that has that creative of that creative of a mind i need to know how to work with that because i i think so much differently do you understand what i'm saying so we come to know god so what does that mean it means i have to set my heart to know him who is lord over that expression in life god i'm so weak in this area i would love to be you know more in tune artistically or musically or whatever he's the creator of it all so we take time to seek his face we set our heart on knowing him in that way and what happens that encounter transforms who we are and what we're capable of doing so here's the verse trust in the lord with all your heart absolute surrender don't lean on your own understanding it'll undermine your faith romans 8 says the mindset on the flesh is hostile to god it is not even capable of obeying god that amazing so the mind separate from the holy spirit's direction and influence is actually at war with god so that's why he says trust in the lord with all your heart don't lean on your own understanding don't feed into that which will undermine your faith and eventually rob you of your destiny but instead in every part of your life every area of your life acknowledge the way that you have in your life i have a financial part of my life i have a business part of my life i have a relationship with friend part of my life i have all these different aspects of life god i'm acknowledging you i want to know you here so that out of my relationship with you financially there is the offspring of a prosperity that i will know what to do with because you are my absolute lord and king and always acknowledge him and he'll make you pass straight and he'll take you right into your promise i love in the prayer we just had on the screen of that five-year-old from t.d jake's church that child knows how to pray i i watched it yesterday a number of times and today already a bunch of times i love it i love the i love the prayer i love the prayer for promised land breakthrough i love his prayer god they are fully qualified for the inheritance of jesus come along fully qualified jesus qualified me for his inheritance that's amazing well here's the deal that idea excites me but i want to see measured answers the concept is nice but none of the concepts are merely for eternity faith is always to have a measured effect on now and one of the great passions for me this year for us is to see the measured impact of promises fulfilled we've got this thing this banner out i saw it there today hometown victories that's what we're contending for is more and more and more hometown victories the greatest hometown victory at all of all is for people that would come and spend time with us as you have here today to know what it is to be not only forgiven of sin but to know what it is to be a part of a family that's god's own personal family it's amazing to me that when i said yes to jesus he adopted me the interesting thing about being adopted is you're not an accident it was on purpose and when the father said i'll take you and he took me and he took you and you and you it was a deliberate choice to bring into his family to show what it's like to be a son and daughter of god to be forgiven of sin and to actually be empowered to become what he designed you to become that's the life in christ and there's always a chance when there's a crowd this side that there's people here who have not made that turning to put faith in christ and if that's you and you would say in your heart of hearts bill i don't want to leave the building until i know i'm at peace with god till i know what it is to be forgiven of sin and adopted brought into his family if that's you then i want you just to put a hand up say bill i don't want to leave till i know that's that's right right back here wonderful anyone else real quick yep it's beautiful right over here is another one you're saying i want to give my life to jesus i am putting my faith in christ you know he's the only one i see that he's the only one who has the right to run my life and yet he's the most gracious loving father he has the right and i have the privilege of surrender so i want you to stand if you would and we're going to pray together before we do we just had two people may have been more but i saw two that put your hands up saying i'm putting my faith in christ i want to know what it is to belong to the family of god i'm gonna ask please no one move around right now this is too precious a moment for anyone to be distracted by your movement all right i want to ask the two and if there's others to come right over here to my left the these folks have their hands up right here if you could just come right down here come right down over here to my left these are people that we know and trust that will just simply pray with you that's all we want if we want come right down here beautiful there's another one just come on down yeah come right over here and if you have a friend you can walk with him that's great yeah bless you beautiful greatest miracle of all is absolute the change that takes place in people's lives bless you wonderful right down here we've got yeah we've got right here all right we've got three or four that have come forward to saying yes to jesus and uh that's just the greatest miracle of all nothing compares with that right here the absolute destiny of people's lives listen to this not just their lives but their family line legacy their children their grandchildren entire family lines are being transformed right now as we speak so we just bless you guys in the name of the lord boy i just pray that he'd fill them with the holy spirit and power wow wow wow all right i better not get too distracted here i'm gonna i'm gonna do a i'm gonna jump into the middle of that crowd and i won't do that all right let's have uh let's have a ministry team come real quickly if you would to the front and i want to pray over you as a as a church family before we dismiss so ministry team come up real quick because i want you to be able to pray for anyone who needs a miracle in their body to pray for anyone who just has any kind of family crisis whatever it might be we have people here that we love and trust that are willing and able to pray for you no matter what the situation is all right now how about let's quote that verse together proverbs 3 verses 5 and 6. you ready if you if you don't know the verse just do watermelon watermelon water just keep your lips moving or just pretend like you know let's say to you trust in the lord with all your heart lean not on your own understanding in all your ways acknowledge him and he will direct your paths so father i pray that this year would be the year of unusual breakthroughs again that promised land of victories would take place on an increased level i'm asking that you'd help us to come to know you in all the different parts and ways of life we ask all of this in the honor of the name jesus amen amen thanks for listening to the sermon of the week this weekly podcast is now being translated in 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 ibethel.org grab your bibles and uh it'll take me a little while to get there so open to isaiah 61 it's it's kind of a hallmark passage for us and actually probably for the church in the last 2000 years we'll get to a little bit put a piece of paper in there or something unless you get bored with what i'm saying then you can just read it while i'm talking jesus jesus modeled what it looks like to be full of the holy spirit being filled with the spirit is actually commanded scripture it's a it's both an invitation and a command it's kind of like being invited to a birthday party somebody says you will be at my birthday party that's that's kind of the way this command came says be filled with the holy spirit don't be drunk with wine be filled with the holy spirit don't live under the influence of this live under the influence of this don't let this shape how you walk let this shape how you walk so jesus modeled what it looked like to be full of the holy spirit imagine this um thankfully we just got finished with a drought we got tired of it got rid of it last year and uh and it wasn't near as fun as they said it would be so we we got rid of it prayed it out of here and we enjoyed bountiful rain last year i've been here during three or excuse me two droughts one back in the 70s and then one that just finished last year both times the drought was so severe they said it would take like 10 years for our lake to recover and both times the lord restored the lake in one year one season a real a real miracle i'm thankful for but let's just imagine for example that you live in let's just say san diego i don't know what the rainfall is but let's just say they get 10 inches of rain a year and you move to reading during a drought and we get 20 inches and you move into this environment where there's 20 inches of rain droughts don't mean it doesn't rain it just means it doesn't rain enough but if you move from an area that has 10 inches and you move to an area where there's 20 you might think it's more than enough see a lot of people experience outpourings of the spirit and they think it's abundant but according to biblical standards it's a drought jesus models what the fullness of the holy spirit looks like and never to shame us never to ridicule look what i have what you don't have never it's always the invitation to pursue it's always it's always the invitation to to go after what he has made available it's interesting to me in scripture that sometimes he has just determined will be given to you and and sometimes that's what happens sometimes there's just you know you're just in the room and you you catch something other times you know he's he's unpredictable because he's a god to join in relationship he's not just philosophy he's not just a god of principles where you take one two and three steps and you end up with the equation point four or something he's not that way it's a relational journey and in this journey he's invited us to do things and some things just happen simply because you're in the room some sometimes it's a simple prayer i've i've watched some of the most extraordinary things happen to people who who weren't even asking for it god just literally just visited them we've had people join us here some some come very hungry others come to be honest with you they've told me just to check it off the list you know they had somebody say you need to go and and they come just to kind of get their friend to leave them alone for a while you know and i i get that i've i've done the same thing you know you just they won't get off my back till i do what they ask so i just do them a favor and some people literally have just come into the room that way and then jesus completely totally heals them of something that's impossible remember a pastor friend sitting right over here that almost didn't become a pastor because his dyslexia was so bad he just couldn't couldn't read and uh is it it would turn things around so bad he'd have to study the bible on on like cds and stuff and uh it was just so challenging he sat here and the spirit of god fell upon him in fire and and he's while it's happening he re he discovers his bad attitude he goes face to face with the fact i don't even want to be here and you're touching me anyway it's it's a it's a wonderful story he said god in his grace is just touching me and he says oh god please don't let me mess this up because he could tell something was happening and he went from someone who can't read to someone who then within just days is reading like six and eight hours a day he just can't get enough because he suddenly suddenly has no problem whatsoever with his uh with his eyes he's sitting right over here just the lord just healed and and so there are things like that that he just does the surprise thing and there are other things that just come to us in seed form or come to us as promises and he waits for us to pursue he waits for us to come hungry and there's so much of of so much of the kingdom is actually available for those who pursue and we pursue according to his invitation we pursue according to his command so anyway we have this concept of of jesus modeling fullness of the holy spirit another term that that i use often we use often is jesus christ is perfect theology there's i don't believe there's a problem with a phrase with a statement but what's highly possible is theology is is typically thought about that which we know about god and jesus was perfect theology in that he modeled perfect knowledge of god the burning conviction of what to do and the actions that followed that illustrated what he believed there was there wasn't a separation between idea and display there was no separation between the philosophy of healing the burden to heal and seeing people healed they were they were seamless in in the way they merged and jesus is perfect theology in that sense that he he not only had the perfect insight and knowledge of the father because he is the eternal son of god he is exactly like the father i love hebrews 1 maybe sometime will will take some time just to study because i i really love the i love hebrews 1 how it says that jesus is the exact representation of his nature he is that which emanates from the father in the same way that light comes from these light bulbs so jesus comes forth from the father so he is exactly like the father he represents him perfectly there's zero blemish there's zero difference between the father and him in nature in kind in action in the word everything is exactly the same so when jesus said it's better that i go and he would send the holy spirit he used a term to describe the holy spirit the word another he says i will send you another comforter and there's a couple words that could have been used as a word that for example behind the piano here is a chair and then you're sitting in a chair they're not the same kind of chair but they're both chairs would you agree so here's a chair that you're sitting and then there is another but they're not the same whereas in the chairs you're sitting in what tom is sitting in is exactly the same as what paul is sitting in there's another so when jesus describes sending the holy spirit he uses a a word that means exactly the same as me so here's jesus he emanates from the father he's exactly like the father and then he says i'm going to go and the holy spirit who is with you is going to be in you it's better that i go and he is another comforter he is exactly the same as me so now if you can imagine this perfect representation of the father now dwelling inside every born-again believer and his longing is that accurate expression of who god the father is would flow in and through us so he models the fullness of the holy spirit he models perfect theology he he contains illustrates demonstrates the knowledge of god and brings about the deliverance to healing etc jesus every situation he entered into he had a redemptive solution for in other words there wasn't like a problem that he walked into and he looked at it and walked out he goes i got to avoid this one there wasn't any of those he he um he he calmed storms he slept in a storm he would walk through a storm he just he was stormless he did it was unaffected by storms he affected storms he he he was carrying something that affected storms so every every situation he entered into he brought a redemptive touch into that situation so the dead child he raised the blind eyes he opened the storm he would calm or he would direct his disciples so the point was as he didn't avoid problems he always walked into them with redemptive solutions we know the bible says that the devil comes to kill steal and destroy that's not an assignment by god it's just what he does the devil is not the opposite of god he's the opposite of michael the devil is a created being who has zero zero authority don't want to talk about him but you get the point so the devil comes to kill steal destroy which means death loss and destruction are the fingerprints of his work it's the residue of him being present in a situation you find death you know you find something that's dying you find something that's broken then you know where the enemy's been that's his that's the what what he leaves behind but jesus comes in every situation with redemptive solutions and answers in first john 3 8 says that he came to destroy the works of the evil one elsewhere it says that he came to openly display the foolishness of darkness and all of that is is in measured way what the fullness of the holy spirit looks like when when the lord says be filled with the spirit it is literally enabling us to do exactly what jesus did illustrate the father and deal with the affirmative afflictions the issues of life there's not one that jesus bypassed i remember a passage that really messes with me a bit is out of mark nine and because it's very personal to me there's a there's a moment where a dad who's got a demonized child he he brings this child to the disciples to set him free and they they were so well experienced in the area of healing and deliverance that jesus actually trusted them to go on their own in pairs to their hometowns and they were they were so successful in their ministry in their home towns that when they regrouped with jesus they started arguing as to who was the greatest they only argued as to who was the greatest because they just had such a great week you know they just saw demons leave and they saw miracles happen they thought well peter's thinking there's no way john could have carried that kind of anointing i'm pretty sure i have the corner on what jesus just did and so they got back and they were arguing and jesus doesn't mind making you successful to the point ugly things come to the surface he's not afraid of the ugly things in fact he wants them to come to the surface so we can deal with them it's when we put religious names on them we actually we actually pretend we're broken we give it a virtuous name and it now has permission to stay and to grow so when you take things that are really marks of brokenness and you put a virtuous name on it then it now has permission to stay and set up camp anyway back to the story so jesus brings the disciples into places of great success and they taste of heal uh miracles of healing deliverance and all the stuff and no doubt the the crowd that the disciples are in have they've been doing that because that's what they're assigned to do jesus told them to heal the sick raise the dead cast out devils etc so the the dad sees us going on with the disciples and he grabs his son because now there's hope and he brings the son to the disciples and they try everything they've tried they rebuke every way they've rebuked before they've bound they've loosed they've done everything they know to do they probably poured oil blew the shofar played the tambourine every christian toy that they had available to them i'm sure they used just to get rid of that demon but nothing happened i i had a similar situation i'll never forget it i happened to be in southern california i was i was in i was in some meetings there that quite honestly were extraordinary it was just one of those times where jesus just seemed to enter the room and there was so much stuff going on and i don't remember one situation besides the little boy that was brought to me a young mom brought her son to me probably five or six years old and he was just horribly horribly demonized i've seen jesus set people free it's a great privilege to bring liberty and freedom from that torment from that evil evil one i did everything i knew to do that i had done before i prayed i bound i you know i just tried to do exactly what the father was doing and and that child didn't get free and the mother looked at me after i spent a fair amount of time with them both and she said what do i do now because the child wasn't free i'll never forget it i'll never i'll never forget the look at her face she wasn't rude she wasn't she didn't point the finger at me and but but it seemed to me that when she said what do i do now she was really saying is that all you got you know and and it was it was you you're stuck realizing you've done your best and that child that you are so moved moved for is leaving in the same condition they came in with this is the same with the wheelchairs that come in week after week it's the same with various conditions i am thrilled with what we see happen i i've seen things i didn't know i'd ever get a chance to see we had more stuff happen this week just unusual invasions of god absolute raw miracles and i'm thankful i'm not ungrateful at all i he's already gone way beyond anything i'd see in my lifetime but he's he's touched me deep enough to ruin me to stay there and this father brought this child to jesus uh or to the disciples they couldn't they couldn't get him free and so um he saw jesus and he took the child to jesus and jesus uh drove the evil spirits out and the child was free the disciples watched this and they were stunned by his success they were stunned by him being able to do what they couldn't do because they were trained by him they they weren't careless uh rookies i mean they actually knew what they were doing and they couldn't get free and so they saw jesus bring deliverance to the child and it says they took jesus aside and they asked him how come we couldn't get the child free and there's that great very famous statement that jesus made he said well this kind only comes out with prayer and fasting and to come out of that story with that as a formula and i mean that in a good sense as a a principle to follow when you don't get breakthrough praying fast is really really huge it's it's something all of us can glean from that story but i think there's a bigger lesson from that story when there's not a breakthrough you take jesus aside because sometimes the breakthrough comes to prayer and fasting but sometimes it's a decree sometimes it's a radical act of obedience sometimes it's it's a giving sometimes it's it's the shout of praise i mean it's just any number of things that he brings us into i've watched all these we learn them as principles but we don't turn them on and turn them off at will to get what we want we are we are children that learn to respond to a father and do as he's leading us to do and that's our life's journey that's our life's goal is to say what the father is saying do what we see the father doing we've been invited into that kind of a relationship where we actually get to represent the father it was the command of jesus in john 20 when he after he had raised from the dead the disciples were hiding in a room they're scared to death jesus walks through the wall which really helped them with their fear issues [Laughter] i'm sure pampers were needed by everyone and he gives them there's this encounter that extends for several verses but the but the the conclusion or at the at the conclusion of this encounter jesus says as the father sent me i send you if you look at every verse that describes jesus's coming as sent from the father the overwhelming theme is he was sent by the father to reveal the father and so if we take that as jesus's primary function to reveal the father and then jesus turns to those who follow him and he says as the father sent me i send you then really what he's saying is your privilege in life is to reveal the father but i'd like to suggest you it's impossible to do adequately without being filled with the spirit i'm not trying to make this a doctrinal issue there are many who i i i think praying in tongues is glorious i can't imagine life without it i like what paul said i pray in tongues more than all of you the language he uses there he says i pray more in tongues and all of you combined in other words i'm a tongue talker and that's that's you know i i believe i believe in that breakthrough i know what it's like to be edified by just praying in the spirit and have the holy spirit pray through i i love but it would be like it would be like if that's the goal it's a worthy goal but if that's the geese about died right there i almost did crowd surfing right there that would have been fun to see if you caught yeah with no crowd down here that would plop yeah i'll be careful around that little hinge again all right i don't know what i was saying but it was really good help me out somebody tongues it would be like going through the the river jordan into the promised land and you cross the river and you've got houses built you've got lands vineyards planted you've got all this stuff to inherit you walk through this river on dry ground you stand on the banks of the river and you stand there for your entire life and never enter the purpose for going through the river yes tongues are valuable yes that shoreline is important but it's the beginning of a breakthrough in which the the lord almighty the god of the universe is represented and manifest through people that taste of his goodness and his provision isaiah chapter 61. i i fear that sometimes i become too familiar with the passage sometimes i'll read it a different translation sometimes i'll i'll read it out loud sometimes i'll stop after each phrase and think i need to jar myself from familiarity because some things are so huge some things are so weighty that it's easy to skim over the surface of something and not be impacted by its depth and this is one of those passages this is what jesus read in his hometown of nazareth i think we studied it a week or two ago a little bit this is what he read to announce the beginning of his ministry from nazareth and so it's in verse 1 he says the spirit of the lord god is upon me because the lord has anointed me to preach good tidings to the poor he has sent me to heal the brokenhearted to proclaim liberty to the captives the opening of the prison to those who are bound to proclaim the acceptable year of the lord the day of vengeance of our god to comfort all who mourn to console those who mourn in zion to give them beauty for ashes the oil of joy for mourning the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness that they may be called trees of righteousness the planting of the lord that he may be glorified such a such a wonderful wonderful verse and really what he's saying is he's saying listen the holy spirit is upon me i know the holy spirit lives in us as as we as i've stated countless times through the years the holy spirit is in me for my sake but he rests upon me for yours we have to understand that when the spirit of god comes upon us it's always for action it's always for impact it's always to change something we've been privileged to step into the middle of an impossibility we may not know what's supposed to happen we just know god doesn't want it left the way it is and we come in looking to him our hearts turned in for solutions we don't we don't come as the smart people we don't come with the people that always have the plan sometimes we know the least about a given situation but we step into the middle of an impossibility knowing that the god of the universe the creator of all lives in us and he has practical solutions for the situation and here we have this announcement that jesus makes over his own life and he basically is describing the broken the poor the blind the lame the you know the imprisoned the tormented all this stuff he says i'm here to fix that but then he comes to this the end of verse 3 talks about these people that are broken becoming oaks of righteousness i i remember we used to oh we would go uh get firewood in weaverville and uh and it it was it was a love-hate relationship it was fun to be outdoors but man it was work and we'd we'd go in in in areas you know where they had uh trees had fallen down because the wind windfall and we'd get in there and chop or cut them up and get the rounds put them into the truck and and it was always this very very interesting journey but we would get on these logging roads and sometimes we'd have a friend that'd have a key to a gate and we'd get on these logging roads and maybe the area hasn't been logged for you know like 20 years 30 years and there's these little pine trees about this big around that grow up in in the middle of right in the middle of the road well in your truck you just go right over them it doesn't it doesn't kill them they just bend over and they bounce back up after you go past them you run into an oak tree that size you got an issue because that thing isn't budging and you now have damaged your car and so we learned oh oak tree don't you go around the oak tree you know but we'd see the pines they just bounce down bounce back up oaks of righteousness are absolutely stable and that's the goal of the lord for the most broken of the world oaks of righteousness he's saying i will take the most broken among you remember he doesn't choose us because we're qualified he doesn't choose us because if we're gifted if we have anything it's only because he gave it to us it's not about that at all he chooses the least for a reason in this passage he champions the most broken why because that's where he receives the most glory and so here are the most broken of the world jesus steps into their life are you the anointed one you the one who carries the fullness the power of the holy spirit in your life step into that person's life to see that that individual restored they're now set free they sleep at night they're not tormented anymore those that were so bound with fear and anxiety are now free to think creatively they have an impact in their job they have an impact as an entrepreneur they influence other people's values they don't do the addiction the drug thing anymore they're now reaching out to the friends that are bound by those addictions and what happens is the person that were once the most broken the community community become the oaks of righteousness that which has such firm roots that you just can't budge them you can't move them well there's a reason for there's a purpose there's a there's an unto something in that great miracle it's verse 4 they shall rebuild old runes they shall raise up former desolation say they shall repair the ruined cities the desolations of many generations this is a this is one of the most beautiful pictures in the bible you've got the most broken become the most stable but they don't stop with their own personal stability they don't stop by saying i can now prosper they're saying all right let's rebuild the city let's rebuild this city here's the point that i want to share out of this you don't get the rebuilders if you don't get broken people healed if you don't get broken people healed you don't get rebuilt cities we keep crying out for our city to be healed and restored and you know all the stuff that's in our heart this only happens when you have people here that are filled with the spirit there's a cause and effect there's people that carry this fullness of the spirit that live under the influence of this outpouring this constantly changing ebb and flow and constantly moving from this to that because it's relational it's not it's not we memorize six principles and then change the world it's a relational it's a relational thing we had an interesting experience this last week i met with some leaders on monday tuesday and wednesday morning and uh tuesday was the 500 year anniversary of the of the reformation yeah it was pretty cool i i i didn't realize when i called these leaders together i didn't realize that we would actually be meeting on the actual day of the 500 year reformation we've been celebrating it all year praying into it talking about it but i didn't realize that be with these friends of mine on the day and they my team put name tags for everyone because they come from uh nations around the world about 40 of them so we met up at the summit by the lake and and we're in this uh lodge area for a couple days and on the name tags at the top of the name tag is is a is a skeleton key and uh that was above the name check well on uh it's a beautiful sunny day and we're outside during breaks we all stand outside so beautiful you can see shafts the dam and the lake and down into the valley it's just is just gorgeous and you know they're all out there taking pictures because the view is so pretty and come back in one of the guys is looking through his pictures and he looks it goes man he says look at this and they're clouds in the shape of a skeleton key do you guys have that i was told you guys actually had that i should have warned you don't have it okay maybe someday i'll show you until then you have to imagine i have people take pictures of clouds and they say do you see him i go who am i supposed to see he goes jesus oh is that it look at the top now if if i could show look at that you do have it presto all i have to do is dream and it happens it just can you see the top the circle that's exactly how the key looks on the name tag do you guys have a picture of that as long as i'm asking how about ferraris do you have any ferraris back there i really like ferraris no no furs okay all right so here's here's the point here here we've got this unusual thing there it is skeleton key it looks exactly like the one in the nape tag so we come aside we're kind of chuckling about it we're thinking this is so fascinating one of the guys turns around and in a vase is a beautifully decorated decorated lodge in advance the guy turns around and he looks in a vase and inside the vase is the skeleton key so we've got these clouds in the sky we've got the name tag we've got the skeleton key i i it came with a house i don't know why it's there but it was it was hiding in his face he pulls that out and someone had a prophetic word 500 years ago they nailed the 95 thesis to the door but the lord is now giving you a key to go through the door in this next reformation it's amen have people give me pictures of clouds and go do you see let me go man i'm trying um i'm trying i don't think my staff makes fun of me they hang up hung up one in my office just so that i can look at it it doesn't look like jesus to me but that's all anyway so here's here's the point is we've got verse four we've got this beautiful beautiful declaration of god can i put it this way verse 4 rebuilding cities that was the target god began with when it began to fill people of the spirit it was the target he was saying all right all right so you've never dealt with addiction but guess what i'm going to put the spirit of god upon you in such a profound way i'm going to have you talk with somebody who's bound by addiction you're going to bring freedom that fullness of the spirit on you is to bring freedom to them and that person that becomes free they are going to become stable and as they become stable they will become the rebuilders of broken cities but it all starts with somebody saying holy spirit come baptize me anew baptize me afresh fill me with your spirit many people stop short of a divine encounter because they're satisfied with good theology they're happy with meeting whatever qualifications they may have for being filled with the spirit well i pray in tongues while i do this i do that listen the point is is there power coming forth from your life that sets captives free that's the issue it's the issue the holy spirit's in you to comfort you to bring peace to you to give you insight all that stuff that's for you but this spirit of god who comes upon us that is for us to bring about transformation in the events and and stuff around us that's the purpose it's measurable the fullness of the spirit is measured by impact in acts chapter 2 we know that they were filled with the holy spirit it's a extraordinary chapter it's a pentecostal's favorite chapter it's where there's this outpouring of the spirit it's extraordinary but in chapter four it happens again and it's anywhere from someone say two to maybe as many five years after the day of pentecost and so we've got some of the same people that are in acts 2 that are rocked where thousands are added daily they're in the same experience a couple years later what's the point is you're a broken vessel you leak old timers used to put this way they say stay under the spout where the glory comes out you know that's that's how that's the whole deal is just you just stay under in that place where the spirit of god comes upon you continuously my testimony yesterday is wonderful but it is no excuse for the absence of hunger today anytime yesterday's experience erases my hunger for today i've shown i've chosen where to level off when in fact the lord has invited us into this relationship where being filled with the holy spirit ongoing filling of the holy spirit actually becomes necessary for us to demonstrate who the father is yes i don't think it's possible but i'm confident it's not possible to adequately display the love of god without power i i love the practical stuff i mean i do i i love and i do mean i really love i love giving the sandwich to somebody that's hungry and giving the coat and the shoes and the stuff the people in need this we love to do this i love this but without power they're still bound their belly may be full which is important but the addiction that's that got them to that place of brokenness has got to be broken somebody's got to come in filled with the spirit of god that breaks that thing off and knows how to end this cycle maybe it's five generations of poverty just break it off god is given the ability to make wealth to every individual anyone who will just turn their hearts to him and say yes he gives the ability and then he reveals the purpose for wealth for prosperity for blessing it's unto something it's never about accumulation this this kingdom that we live in is so different so different to you you you you're exalted by going low you become filled by becoming empty you it's just it's just a different kingdom it's just a different kingdom but he welcomes us into this kingdom where there's conflict and understanding that enables us to understand it's just it's just it's a strangest thing where you realize abundance is measured by what you've given away not by what you have fullness give me those two water bottles down there thanks sir so we've got two one water bottle that's full the one that's almost full this is legal to sell because it's full this one has been tampered with ah this is legal to sell it's full but it's not really full in fact it's not full until it overflows it's overflow that's that's what reveals its fullness the fullness of the holy spirit is never measured by what you have it's measured by what overflows you it's what is measured what overflows see this kingdom is a different kingdom it completely functions differently it's not by what i contain it's not by what i keep it's what i release it's what i give away i almost threw this without the topper that would just yeah throw throw it on chris just throw it over like this i love the privilege of coming together any time we have the chance i i do love sunday mornings they're they're full uh the multiple gatherings but i i do i do love the chance to get together my only regret is that sunday night is the service without end so when we come to this point in the meeting we just say all right everybody come to the front we start laying hands on people and just going for it sunday morning if i do that to you we have a whole other group coming up the hill in just a few minutes and so i'm just going to say if you if you have the nerve come back come back come back to the gathering without end that's not a threat i do want to pray for you now i want you to understand i do want to pray that the spirit of god would come so powerfully upon you that he would so deeply expand our ability to represent him to carry presence is paul speaking tonight is that is that a rumor paul paul and sue are in the house and are wonderful back from from the uk for a short time so we're going to turn polish tonight i also want to have a testimony or two from robbie dawkins so we'll see how that works he my goodness he just rocked my world this week with some stories oh jesus you know when how many of you are parents how many of you remember when you would have a little child that just wasn't hungry and it was always a sign of something not right fever something's not right you remember that the absence of hunger actually revealed something that wasn't right [Applause] sometimes the beginning place for me through the years has been just the uh the invitation the willingness to become hungry if shame and guilt could get us there we'd all all of us would already be there we know he never shames us he's such a perfect father he never shames us but he's also not afraid of making me uncomfortable he's also not afraid of offending the way i think to show me how he thinks so i want you just to begin to pray i want you to ask the lord to completely fill you with his his spirit just put it on your lips i want you just to pray ask him to release the presence the power of god upon you in ways that are new just lift your voices and pray yes lord we are hungry we're so hungry for you to do of above and beyond all we could ask or think of we don't even know what we're asking for we just know it's available and we know it's good so we just ask for more father god let this be the beginning season of a fullness of the spirit that we've never yet known about let it be that which enables us to not just nail something to the door but actually go through the door at the beginning of this next reformation let it happen through people that are actually filled to fullness overflowing with the holy spirit thanks for listening to the sermon of the week this weekly podcast is now being translated in several languages visit podcasts.ibethel.org [Music]

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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: pEGcQNb8fpI

Length: 77min 0sec (4620 seconds)

Published: Thu Sep 02 2021