Bill Johnson Sermons [September 07, 2021] | Get God Involved

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 bless you i hope that the quarantine time for all of you and whatever part of the world you're at is is going good and it really is uh we've i've heard from so many different uh streams and parts of the body of christ that they feel that this is a time of reset global reset where we are literally resetting the values that we live by and i know that many who are watching would say you know there's no values that i need to change i was doing it all right before and amen to that but even even when i'm at my best i find that in times of crisis or difficulty it's a time for me to refine my focus and anytime we refine our focus we're able to give ourselves even more completely to the things that are truly important and so what i want to talk to you today out of the book of romans maybe a little different uh portion uh concerning easter but but then again it isn't romans chapter 8 is where i want to go we're going to end the message today with communion so if you haven't already got the bread and the wine or the juice do so quickly because i i want to uh i want to end with this i believe that many people are going to come to jesus today we have found that tens of thousands of people are watching this gathering and i really do pray that uh that jesus would bring life to people and uh that's that's really why we're here um jesus is called in fact the scripture declares that jesus was crucified before the foundations of the world think about this jesus christ was crucified before the foundations of the world so just think with me jesus christ was crucified he was so committed to this thing called the cross that he was he was all in before time was made before all of creation that we know was made before people were created which means before there was sin jesus had already given himself to be the solution god created us and he gave people this priceless priceless gift called a free will and when he did so he did so taking risk knowing that there would be a point in time when people humanity would choose not to serve him but it was worth the risk because he was willing to give his son to restore those who would believe in his son to restore them to the family to a place of faith and that in that relationship it was literally worth the suffering it was worth the pain no pain no gain if anybody could say that it would be the heavenly father the father of life the one who spoke all things into being the one who is the father of our faith determined that before sin ever entered the world he was willing to give the sacrifice that was necessary to restore us such an extraordinary father such a great father and the verse that is so well known that even people who don't know the lord may can quote this verse because it is it stands out for this reason it is the absolute cornerstone of our faith and it's john 3 16. for god so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son his only beloved son that whoever would believe on him would not perish but have everlasting life eternal life and that is the gift that is the reason for the season so to speak that is the reason for this uh gathering that we do today and really for the celebration that we have all across the world of the resurrection of jesus jesus gave himself to die in my place so that i can receive the life that he deserves jesus became a man interesting thing he took on flesh he became a human being one of the great mysteries in scriptures is he is 100 god while at the same time being a 100 man and in his humanity he gave himself to live life with absolute purity and he did so the bible says he faced every temptation the same as we are except he was without sin which qualified him then to be a lamb that was spotless in the old testament the israelites were to give them uh were to sacrifice a sheep a sacrifice a lamb that had no spot or blemish and it would postpone the penalty of sin for one more year but it never dealt with the the reality of sin only the blood of the son of god could take care of that if there were another way believe me god would have chosen another way but the only possible way was we were lost in sin and so he sent his son to be one of us and to endure what we endure except no sin which qualifies him to be the offering in our place so as we like to say it he died as us he died in our place taking on himself what he deserved so that we could receive what he deserved which is eternal life in romans chapter 8 there's this most really most astonishing portion of scripture many of you will recognize romans 8 because of verse 28 and it says we know all things work together for good to those who love god to those who are called according to his purpose this is something that we hold on to excuse me every time we're in difficulty the only reason a verse like this needs to be stated is because not everything is going to go perfect the first time we address a problem or position ourselves for victory we have to have an assurance that that takes us into uh creates in us a willingness to endure because god is going to reverse the effects of something into a place of personal victory we know that all things work together for good for those who love god and are called according to his purpose if everything worked perfect the first time we tried something we wouldn't need a promise like this but we need it because we need to know that endurance is worth it because it always ends for his glory and for our benefit for our strength but i want you to start with me actually in verse 31. we're going to read quite a few verses so if you would follow along please it's such a it's such a declaration about the resurrection of christ and there's a couple things that i want to make sure that we pick up from this uh portion of scripture that can help us all right so verse 31 what then shall we say to these things if god is for us who can be against us he who did not spare his own son but delivered him up for us all how shall he not with him also freely give us all things who shall bring a charge against god's elect it is god who justifies who is he condem who condemns it is christ who died and furthermore is also risen so that even at the right hand who is even at the right hand of god who also makes intercession for us who shall separate us from the love of christ shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword or can we add or pandemic as it is written for your sake we are killed all day long we are counted sheep for the slaughter yet in all these things we are more than conquerors for i am persuaded that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any created thing shall be able to separate us from the love of god which is in christ jesus our lord but an extraordinary portion of scripture i want us to walk through these verses but i want to first just declare something over you all of this is about the love of god all of this all of this the resurrection the fact that he made us members of one another that he gave us the promise of eternity all of this is about the demonstration the experience the realization of the love of god in our lives but we sing songs and excuse me make declarations like it's all about you and it's in its right uh we talk about worshiping for the audience of one it's an appropriate response but it might be interesting to know that he says it's all about you he was so completely enthralled captivated focused on saving the individual he didn't just do a group project he didn't just buy us by the dozen what he did was so intimate and so personal that you can see him face to face with you saying you're worth dying for and that's the reality of the cross and the reality of the resurrection it says here if god can be for us who can be against us in verse 31 he's not saying nobody can be against us he's just saying anyone who's against us doesn't get to vote they don't have a say in the outcome of things if god is for us who can be against us think about this with me anyone who sees you the way the father sees you would never be against you anyone who is in opposition to you anyone who for whatever reason has picked you out as a target to insult or to reject or hurt or whatever none of them see you the way the father does because everyone who sees you through the eyes of the father is for you so he says if god is for us who can be against us no one no one he who did not spare his own son but delivered him up for us how shall he not with him also freely give us all things i'll be honest with you that verse is the reason i felt i was to bring this portion of scripture to us today that verse if god went to such an extreme by giving us his son how could we ever question him to not delightfully willingly joyfully provide everything else we will ever need not only now in this life but throughout all of eternity he will he set the extreme standard in the sacrifice of his son then everything else is automatically included it's important that you and i think that way it's important that we realize that in this love of god that you could never exhaust you could never explore in its entirety it will be continuously opened up to us in new levels throughout all eternity and never will we exhausted that love of god is 100 focused on you on your family on your situation on me right now he goes on he says who will bring a charge against god's elect do you understand there was no one who has authority to stand before the father to accuse you the devil is called the accuser of the brethren but he doesn't have a hall pass there he doesn't have the legal right to bring any kind of accusation against you and the reason is your lawyer is jesus and he himself has already taken care of every legitimate indictment against you god's forgiveness is so complete is so complete we'll look at it a little bit further in this chapter but it is so absolute and so complete that he actually changes how he sees us the blood of jesus has made me clean the blood of jesus not only not only deals with the record of sin the blood of jesus goes to the root and changes the nature that that sin grew out of it is that complete so when the father looks at you every one of you who have surrendered your life to jesus you have put your faith in christ and have declared him to be your absolute lord and master every one of you the father looks at you and he sees his son jesus no one can accuse jesus therefore no one has the right to accuse you verse 34 who is he who condemns it's christ who died and furthermore is risen who is at the right hand of god who also makes intercession for us i had a conversation with my who's now at home in heaven he was such a wonderful man wonderful man of god david morgan and i had a conversation with him quite a few years ago and he was point he was talking to me about this chapter he he would memorize entire books of the bible and so when we had conversation he he had you know such depth of understanding of these portions of scripture but we were talking about romans 8 once and he said i found out why verse 28 is real what does it say it says all things work together for good why can we say all things work together for good well take a quick look at the last part of verse 26 it says the holy spirit himself makes intercession for us and then jump over here to the end of verse 34. it says jesus also makes intercession for us so here we have the holy spirit and we have the son of god interceding before the father on our behalf sandwiched between these two realities these two great intercessors is the promise everything works together for good our confidence in god resolving every situation for his glory has nothing to do with our you know great faith or skill or gifts or ministry or whatever you want to add to it has enough it has to do with the holy spirit intercedes jesus intercedes no wonder all things work together for good i sometimes will have jokingly talk about praying in the spirit praying in times which is such a wonderful privilege all the gifts of the spirit are are to enable us to serve others except for that one that one particular gift is brings edification to us but i i have jokingly talked about praying to god and i say oh god i need i need a 700 horsepower corvette that's really what i need and then i follow that prayer by praying in tongues and the holy spirit prays to him and says man don't give him that corvette he'll kill himself if he has a car like that and the holy spirit always prays with such precision and such accuracy that it's a glorious thing to join our faith in the praying in the holy spirit he intercedes for us and here jesus also intercedes for us and then from that place of those two interceding for us he moves into this these a decrees of what is there in existence that can separate us from the love of god and look at it here in verse 35 who shall separate us from the love of christ shall tribulation distress persecution famine nakedness peril perhaps we could call pandemic peril a sword as it is written for your sake we're killed all day long we're counted as sleep sheep for slaughter yet in all these things we are more than conquerors do you remember in in joel it says let the weak say i am strong it's really important that we manage what comes out of our mouth it's important that we don't that we don't talk out of the flimsiness of our emotional life which is up and down it's important that we don't craft our conversation according to circumstances that one day are extraordinary and the next day are very challenging and difficult it's important that we design our decree out of what god says let the weak say i'm strong so in in our greatest point of frustration or difficulty or weakness we we make this bold confession i am strong i am strong because i am in christ i am strong because christ is in me and we make these confessions here's another one we are more than conquerors i am more than a conqueror i'm not just victorious i'm a happy victorious person i'm more i'm above and beyond a conqueror why because we are riding alone on the absolute victory of christ in his death and in his resurrection his resurrection becomes my resurrection no wonder i'm more than a conqueror i would encourage you say that even over yourself even right now i'm more than a conqueror i'm a conqueror beyond i am above and beyond what a conqueror looks like i'm a victor in the victory of christ for i am persuaded verse 38 neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any created thing shall be able to separate us from the love of christ from the love of jesus our lord two things i want to talk about here before we wrap this up and share in communion first is the very end of verse 38. it says things present and things to come there's another place in first corinthians 3 i believe it is where he talks about things present and things to come there's an intentional omission by god in those two verses things present and things to come what didn't he mention he didn't mention the past why because the past has been purchased it's covered in blood and we have no legal access to it apart from the blood of jesus think about that i have no legal right to yesterday because it's been bought i have a right for tomorrow to pray into tomorrow what i expect what i believe for i own today the bible talks about us as as being very present and and timely and stewards of this moment i believe in that but yesterday has been purchased and it is under the blood of jesus atonement means to cover it is under it is out of reach is out of reach so for me to dwell on difficulties failures of yesterday for me to do that apart from the blood of jesus if there's anything in the past that i have truly repented for given over to jesus it then becomes out of my reach with the exception of and yet here is another testimony of the grace of god he forgave me for this he delivered me from this he calls me to triumph even as a result of failure he turned it into success in the breakthrough i want to encourage you the present and the past you own he owns excuse me the president and the future you own we own he owns the past don't touch it don't touch it trust him with your past and then we come down to this last part neither height nor depth nor any created thing shall be able to separate us from the love of god this entire story is about this concluding statement the whole dialogue here is about our awareness and our experience in the love of god there's a passage here that has been very very important for me personal importance for a lot of years and it's actually found in the book of jude and i want you to hear this verse it says keep yourself in the love of god looking for the mercy of our lord jesus christ unto eternal life keep yourself in the love of god three verses later it says now unto him who is able to keep you from stumbling keep yourself and the love of god now to him who is able to keep you me from stumbling there is a connection there keep yourself in the love of god everything that the enemy throws at us whether it's a pandemic it's a job loss it's any kind of difficulty a conflict in the home doesn't matter what it is somebody who doesn't like you anymore or whatever all these things that come our way every single one of them are attempts to disengage us from the love of god to somehow shut off our awareness of this one who loves us so completely so fully so 100 the father the enemy works through difficulty through accusations through temptation through all kinds of stuff to disengage us from the love of god and so here he says keep yourself in the love of god listen to this the greatest reality in your life usually i say us but let's just pretend you and i are in my office and i'm talking head to head here nose to nose i want to get something across the greatest reality in your life is the love of god and if you're not aware of it you're aware of too many other things the single greatest reality in every single person's life the greatest reality in every person's life is this unimaginable uncomprehendable extreme expression of the love of god that is reserved just for you and to not live aware of it is to live aware of the inferior in its place everything in life is to be measured by the most important thing what did he say earlier he says if he gave you a son if he went to that kind of an extreme certainly he would provide everything else for you that is less than that if you went that far well here we are if the love of god is that extreme and it's just for you and it's just for me then that greatest reality of everything in existence needs to be dwelt on otherwise i will fall for things that are inferior the greatest things redefine everything else this says keep yourself from the love of god let me tell you it is possible for you to keep yourself in the love of god as much as it is possible for you to keep yourself in the kitchen or keep yourself from the bedroom or keep yourself in the living room it truly is a choice why because this word is living we're not looking at just ink on paper we're looking at something that flowed from the heart of a father a loving father who gave us the gift of scriptures that come alive and feed our soul one only needs to prioritize the things that are more true than every other problem the accusations they mean nothing because there's no one who has the right to accuse me there is no one who has the right to steal from me no one and so everything else becomes subject to this one primary truth and so we keep ourself in the bedroom or keep ourself in this case in the love of god what does it mean that means i stop and i ponder and i think for god my heavenly father the father of life the father of all creation was so in love with me so infatuated with me was so hopeful in what i could become he was so caught up in his imagination his planning for me that he was willing to go through the pain of the loss of his own son his own beloved son his only beloved son he was willing to do that because of the hope he had for me and he laid down the life of his own son knowing that he would in fact raise him from the dead also for our benefit this wonderful father did all of that so that i could do one simple thing believe so that everyone i would believe in him and in the moment i believe i'm given eternity everlasting life and you take moments in your day you just stop you just stop sometimes we go so fast it's hard for the love of god to catch up with us we've got to stop being anxious we've got to stop being divided we've got to stop being distracted reduce things this is a reset that god is gifting us with a reset i remember brian wrote my son brian wrote in his book that never never feel bad in fact he put it this way consider it a gift when all you have when your only option is god and many of you are in that point right now where you're face to face with the realization the only one that can turn this situation around for you is god that's not a bad thing that's a gift considered a gift so here we are in this moment that god has chosen to use for his glory and for our benefit to position us for the true advancement of the gospel the advancement of the strength of every single household that is watching those of you that have lost jobs we pray and decree a better one would come along those of you that have lost various uh things throughout this process businesses or whatever that it would be even better as the economy is restored the resurrection power would actually hit the economy of the nations of the world we pray this for the glory of god that we can be even better suited this time not driven this time not anxious to perform this time not driven by the need to succeed but instead driven by the love of god the infatuation of keeping ourselves in the love of god because he keeps us in a place of continued victory and triumph i pray that for you i prophesy that to you keep yourself in the love of god now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy with hilarity and absolute extreme delight to our god and savior who alone is wise be glory majesty dominion and power both now and forever wow this entire day is about this one thought the resurrection of jesus was for you it was for you had there been only one human being on the planet the sin and that one person was you everything jesus went through he would have gone through for you for me every one of us we're going to share in communion which is um is becoming more important to me all the time so if you could uh grab the elements please i know that in in various traditions the elements are to be passed out by uh certain qualified leaders but join with us anyway this time we'll ask jesus to bless this in your hands jesus on that passover night he took bread and he and he broke it he took the love and he broke it and he made this statement i i don't understand this but i love the stuff i don't understand i i don't i don't want to too quickly explain it away because i know i'll get it wrong he said he broke the bread and he gave peace to his disciples and he said take eat this is my body he didn't say this represents my body now a lot of people are trying to figure out what that looks like i don't know what it looks like all i know is he said take this it's my body later he says a number get sick die have all kinds of weakness struggles because they don't discern the body correctly so what if we did this if we took that bread and we held it some of you your your own tradition has taught you well in this and you already approached the bread in the cup as the body and blood of jesus but many of us have come out of a tradition that says it represents i'll let the theologians figure it out i just want to run with what jesus said he said take eat this is my body so what does it mean to judge the body correctly well it can mean one of two things i personally think it means both one is that i come to this moment with the same respect as this as though this were the body of jesus that i hold in my hand number two i come to you as members of the body of christ with the same respect as i would the bread that is the broken body of jesus there's a divine health in that equation now when i take the bread and benny and i do it often many times throughout the week and when i take the bread out this little wafer i like to break it because i remind myself that his flesh was torn his body was broken we sang it today his body was broken i like to take the bread and i break it and i make this confession over my life over benny over my immediate family over people that i know and care for that are really struggling and i this is what i do the torn flesh of jesus represents the stripes that he bore the scripture says by his stripes we were healed by his stripes the payment was made then for what i get to experience now in the same way my sin was atoned for 2 000 years ago today i get to experience the liberty and the freedom of forgiveness today so when i take this cup this bread and i encourage you to do so just make this confession with me by the stripes of jesus i was healed and then i want you just to take a moment just declare divine health some of you are struggling with this pandemic you've been hit with this disease i've got a couple of friends that almost lost their lives but the lord had mercy on them and there they are thriving today i'm so thankful um and i i just i just announced that over you this is a divine moment take the bread and declare over your own body over your own flesh by the stripes of jesus i was you and then just put on your lips the name of a friend someone that you know that you care for for me kathy valentin allen ray divine healing into their bodies restoration of what the enemy has stolen mark cooper by the stripes of jesus mark cooper you are healed and i take this bread and make that proclamation do it yourself just for a moment take the bread and say jesus i know that the price you paid was more than enough i declare healing right now in jesus name and they mention your name now let's receive this bread with the same majesty and honor and respect and reverend that we would if we were holding in our hands the body of jesus another cup the blood i know that eric earlier i encouraged people to uh write on the chat um that you want to receive christ if there's anyone in this moment that has you've never surrendered your life to jesus do it right now do it now this moment is for you today is the beginning of eternity for you a life of forgiveness a life of freedom a life of learning to walk with jesus for his honor for his glory you hold in your hand a cup that jesus looked at and said this is my blood here's the deal without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin no forgiveness it required this this covers sin so i like to make several confessions as i pray over my household my family i like to just make the decree the blood of jesus sets me free i like to make that just throughout the day at any given time just walking around my property the blood of jesus sets me free it's important that we say these truths it's important that we hear ourselves saying but it's also important that we speak it into the cities the neighborhoods that we live in the blood of jesus sets me free but here's what i also like to do i like to plead the blood of jesus see the blood of jesus poured out over every single family member of mine i pray for my children their amazing spouses their children my grandchildren i bring them all before the lord by name and i pray that god would protect them inside and out the spirit soul and body they would be safe that they would have deep encounters with him that god would give them a hunger to know him that that gift would be given it's mentioned in jeremiah 24 that god would give them a heart to know him i pray for every single family member that way i want to ask you to do that right now just take the cup hold it before the lord and just declare over your family the blood of jesus sets us free bring their names before the lord i just plead the blood of jesus over my life some of you have children who have wandered away from the lord some of you have children parents maybe who have never walked with the lord but today is your day today is the day i want you to make the decree we just i just joined the name of john with the lord jesus christ and i say father bring him home bring him to faith hold that cup before the lord i'll give you just just a few seconds mention the names of your family members i make that decree i plead the blood of jesus over them the blood of jesus over them thank you father so this is my my big confession that i make when i hold the cup before the lord as for me and my house we will serve the lord that's my decree i prophesy i prophesied in my house in my bedroom in my kitchen wherever i'm at i prophesied if i'm out on the property sometimes i'll take communion as i walk on our land and i just prophesied declared as for me in my house we will serve the lord every single family member has been set aside by the grace of god to serve him well i want you to do that right now as for me in my house we will serve the lord amen let's receive the blood of jesus now wow it's the meal of absolute victory it's the meal of absolute triumph i pray that today would be a day where god initiates a series of encounters some of you have been tormented by stuff you've given place to fear and that fear has been robbing you and i believe jesus wants to set you free from that fear it was talked about in romans 8 all these things that are trying to separate us from the love of god they don't have the authority to unless you and i agree with them in fear and we just say no to that right now there are some of you watching that have hidden addictions and you have this hearts desire to be free listen just take it bring it before the lord and say i want liberty i want to be free from this bring it before the lord i believe there's going to be a mighty mighty deliverance for you as just a note chris valentin has made his book spirit wars he and the publisher has made his book spirit wars which is about spiritual warfare describing this climate that we are in right now they've made it free available as an e-book i want to encourage you we have tens of thousands of believers all over the world that watch this this this service i want to encourage you take advantage of this moment because there is such insight there about your own freedom your own deliverance your own liberty let me pray for you and then we'll end this all right father i thank you for the power of deliverance the power of salvation i thank you for the blood of jesus the broken body of jesus we just give you thanks and i ask right now that liberty and freedom would be the testimony of the day and we celebrate together the resurrection of jesus amen amen thanks for listening to the sermon of the week this weekly podcast can be heard in multiple languages on our bethel tv website if you'd like to partner with us in discipline nations and fueling personal revival you have the opportunity to give at bethel dot tv slash podcast slash donate [Music] [Applause] 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 well welcome welcome welcome to uh god of revival uh is the album that uh bethel music released just not too long ago and actually we had uh planned to unveil this series and then this uh pandemic hit so we delayed a little bit because we we felt that we obviously needed to speak into to that issue um i'm really happy to be able to talk to you about revival my my problem is i've got about a thousand things running through my brain that i want to say and that could actually torture you and i don't want to do that so we'll try to keep it simple and focused the heart of god is for use any term you want renewal revival awakening all those things are similar they're similar but they are unique revival historically has been a time where there's an outpouring of the holy spirit his presence and his works become very pronounced in a in a dominant way they they eventually dominate church life and eventually culture itself i personally believe that god is has intended revivals to never end i know that the studies of revival that i've seen they all uh they basically declare that revivals are seasonal and that they are to give kind of a a boost to the church for in that particular season so they can go for a period of time without and uh and the reason the that conclusion has been made is because every revival has worked that way uh in other words we've we've come to the conclusion on god's heart for revival by studying revival and not studying god's heart god's heart is he moves from glory to glory everything is progressive so the scripture old testament teaches god lights the fire on the altar but it's the priests that keep it burning god lights the fire he's the one revival is in his heart the fire of god to burn in the heart of his people to impact the church eventually impacting society and that's the heart of god in every every great move of god but oftentimes revivals get cut short for so many reasons sometimes uh extraordinary things happen and miracles and supernatural encounters and whatever and the people of god start thinking uh it's a it's a badge of honor for them they start taking it to themselves if you will uh that they have brought this great move of god instead of giving him all the glory and any time we take the glory to ourself we cut short everything that he intended to do sometimes it gets cut short because of the competition that takes place between churches and ministries there's a lot of reasons i don't want to go into those so much right now i just want to say that i believe that god's heart is that a move of god would come into an individual that would affect a church that would affect a city that would impact the nation god's intention in every revival is to truly bring about a reformation where culture itself has changed and i'd like to say that the ingredients for transformation are in every move of god the ingredients for example i when we first benny and i and the kids first came here to reading one of the things that i did is i i went to argentina because i wanted to i had heard for so many years about the great move of god that was in that wonderful nation and i wanted to go see for myself so i joined with randy clark and we went down i think goodness i think it was like 19 day long trip it was a long one and we spent time in brazil then went over into argentina and i wanted to see what was happening there i wanted to i wanted to take a measurement if you will and see if it was similar to what was happening here and i when i a lot of experiences but we'll boil it down to this i realized that there was like if i could make this illustration it was like a ripe red apple and what was happening in redding was a apple that just started to grow it's not something you would want to eat it was very tart very bitter and taste but it was growing the point is both are 100 apple both are 100 apple and sometimes we abort moves of god because they aren't what we read in a book somewhere we measure this to that and we disqualify the lord warns us about despising the day of small beginnings oftentimes we pray great prayers and appropriate prayers we pray let me use a metaphor we pray for the oak tree god gives us an acorn there's an oak tree in the acorn and there's millions of acorns in that oak tree the point is stewarding the moment god gives us is what takes us into the breakthroughs that we've all read about that we all long for it starts very simple it starts with that tug on your heart that happens in your home it's not in a great meeting somewhere there's not uh miracles happening right left there's that there's that response to the person of the holy spirit where we become drawn into this place where we want to give everything for him to be glorified those moments are revival moments those are moments that usher us in to more extravagant breakthrough and the heart of god is to change the nations of the world the heart of god is twofold it's the the salvation of souls but also to change the culture in which generations are being raised that they would be raised in a culture that has a bent towards righteousness that has a bent towards depending on god seeking god calling about out for his intervention and that's what the lord is working in you and in me is this increased awareness of his heart revival is basically the heart of god made manifest it's where we see more clearly oh this is what's important to him and we find ourselves it was it was funny back in in in 1996 97 it was almost like you could tell what family was really in revival because their hair was messed up their clothes hadn't been washed in a while their their lawn had been grown because it was like every every moment we could we wanted to be in the house to see what god was doing i i love that i i love that but what what is important to remember is that we have to know how to take that which god does in the corporate setting and learn how to translate it practically into society so that we live as revivalists in society let me illustrate we've seen through the years we've seen so many unusual but powerful encounters that people have had with the lord and there are times where the presence of god becomes so manifest and an individual that sometimes they weren't even seeking the lord they just happen to be in the room where god shows up and i saw this happen with cal pierce or one of our elders many years ago and the lord literally chose him apprehended him and changed his life in about a 45-minute encounter where he knew nothing else but god he was aware of nothing else but god in his heart for him extraordinary but these moments there the heart of an individual is so arrested if you will for divine purpose that he he came out of that wanting nothing but to please god nothing but to honor god nothing but to celebrate god and what we've watched through the years is these encounters change us on the inside so let me just illustrate so we have let's say a woman who's just really struggling with life the power of god comes upon her she falls to the ground which sometimes happens and god has a habit of doing things that are offensive to our minds and she falls to the ground and she trembles under the power of god for two hours the problem is as we tend to think that manifestation is what's needed for revival now i'm not opposed to it i celebrate it because i've i've watched i've seen enough of that through the years to know that god is doing an internal work through an external manifestation the challenge is let's say she works down at costco the goal for many people would get people to fall in costco and shake for two hours on the ground that's not translating revival translating revival says i was so encountered by god that i have lost the fear of man i have an element of courage in me that i've never had before so now she where she works as a manager she no longer cowers to inferior decisions but she's able to stand strong and make bold decisions that's how you translate revival you translate what happens in the house in a way that is beneficial to culture beneficial to society it's vital that we protect what god is doing in the house we don't want to make the unusual experiences that's not the message the message is jesus but i will say this most every revival introduces a new a new reason to be offended just read just read you know it's it's easy to look back and say oh john wesley what a great man george whitfield what a great man to look through all these heroes of the faith you know and to champion smith warglesworth but all of them were very opposed in fact they had they had people that were as famous as they were in the day that they lived so you know in fact i've got a name here uh we know of charles finney how many of you know of charles finney do you know the name john nevin probably not but he was he was the opponent to charles finney we don't know john nevin today you could find out about him but his name isn't promoted because history does not treat the critics of revival well tragically in the moment of a great move of god the critic is as popular as is the revivalist i found a quote actually it uh i found a quote here recently um by um a gentleman named blez pascal and he's a french mathematician inventor and catholic theologian and this guy made this statement that has really become meaningful for me because i've seen this played out in life he said there's enough light for those who only desire to see and enough obscurity for those who have a contrary disposition let me read it again there's enough light for those who only desire to see and enough obscurity for those who have a contrary disposition i've watched through the years that the lord will manifest in a unique way and for those who are hungry those who want nothing but him they're not destroyed by the offense the element of offense in the early 1900s it was praying in tongues and the catholic uh renewal it was the fact that god was moving powerfully and cut with catholics and episcopals and more traditional churches in the jesus culture jesus people movement it was the long hairs the the bare feet the that whole element brought a great offense to many people um in the toronto outpouring it was the laughter god forbid we actually find ourselves to be happy but that just brought great offense to so many people and every move of god has some element to cause the mind to be offended i believe it's paul cain that said god will offend your mind to reveal your heart he will offend your mind to reveal your heart and it's not as though the intellect is important it's just the mind will never lead you into revival you will never get there intellectually see we all love the concept of the peace that passes understanding i was looking at that word this morning because i became fascinated not for the message even but i became fascinated with this this it says the peace that surpasses understanding that word surpasses actually says it's elevated it's almost like in a governmental role it is so far superior peace is governmentally exalted and superior to all understanding it's superior it is it is intellectualism from god's perspective because it is a person and if you want the peace that passes understanding you have to give up your right to understand and it's not a message now against the mind against understanding against wisdom i believe in all those are some of my most favorite things is to understand stuff but i know by experience and i know as i read through history the heart takes you where you need to go it's the surrender of the heart it's the yieldedness to the work of the holy spirit saying god i don't know what this is but i am so hungry i remember when i flew back to toronto i we had a wonderful visitation of the lord in 1987 in weaverville and it followed a trip that i made with a number of our leaders uh made to anaheim to the vineyard there and john wimber and his team blaine cook and brent rue and a bunch of others they had this conference there on signs and wonders and i was so deeply impacted because they were equipping everybody to do it and uh and i knew i couldn't be the the stadium person to to do that didn't didn't fit my my gift mix or my personality and so i was so hungry and i saw how practical it was for that group of people and the teaching was the same but their their their willingness to take risk was different and i came home and miracles started right away but i have to be honest with you that visitation of god that was so extraordinary in 1987 it would come and it would lift it would land and it would lift it would come and it would go over the next seven or eight years and i remember flying back to toronto and i was praying because i heard there was a great move of god there and i remember praying on the way i said god if you'll touch me again i'll never change the subject i'll never take what you're doing and add it to what we're doing i will make what you're doing the only thing we do that was my commitment then that was my covenant with the lord then i went to toronto i was there for i don't remember now five six days and i didn't have any unique experiences uh many great stories uh people that i know people all around that their lives were so dramatically changed mine was too but it wasn't through uh some power encounter with god it was the fact that i i was immersed in in a presence in a glory realm of god that i knew this helped define the rest of my life and i prayed i said god i give you the rest of my life for this one thing the move of god is something that is unnatural to not hunger for once you see it once you see it everything of christ in you rises awakens to say that's why i'm alive i was born for this this is what i was born for i remember that started in my heart i i i i've been tender to the lord my whole life i remember receiving christ as a child and uh and i was always tender to the lord but i didn't have this passion for him i didn't i didn't have this this heart to seek him and to abandon everything but there was a tenderness there and i remember back in the days i was probably 19 years old 18 19 years old and chip worthington who used to be a youth pastor here and winky pratty his he didn't come here but we heard his teachings and i would hear them talk about revival and i didn't know what revival was but something awakened in me in my late teen years that i could tell this this is why i'm alive and when i would hear the preaching of mario marillo and the exhortation that he brought to a generation to give everything for jesus i did i threw my hat in the ring said i just i give you everything from that moment on i knew i am alive for revival i am alive for the outpouring of the holy spirit i i don't want to settle for what so many people have settled for i don't want to settle i don't want to think and say well let's just learn to manage what we have one of the scariest stories in the bible is the story of the talents that were given out talents of course are sums of money and there was one uh somebody was given five talents another two and another one the scary part of the story is the guy that was given the one talent didn't use that money to make more money in other words what he did was he took what he was given by god in this metaphor what god gave him and he took it and he protected it i don't want to be found living in a place of trying to protect in a stationary position in life instead of moving on seeing where this that god has given me could take me i want to use what he's given me so that i step fully into what god says is possible in my lifetime i had a yesterday benny and i were watching um a documentary which i don't want i probably should watch more documentaries but but i don't i i tend to watch you know spy movies and stuff like that but anyway i we were watching this documentary and i had my ipad which i usually do two things at once i'm not a good multitasker but i fake it you know i uh we were watching this documentary on the migration of animals and insects and there there came this moment where where i i put the ipad down because something so captured my heart and i i don't understand yet but i feel it's deeply prophetic i can feel it in my soul as i was watching they begin to show these monarch butterflies that are in this forest i guess in mexico they are there by the millions they migrate from mexico to canada but it takes four generations to get to canada a multi-generational migration oh goodness how about lost at a multi-generational migration what that means the butterfly that hangs on that tree in mexico that begins the migration to canada starts flying and then they lay eggs and they have their you know their what do you call the little worm and the cocoon and the butterfly loss for words here and there's another generation that takes on the journey and they go as far as they can go and they pass it on to the next one they die the next generation takes it until they get all the way to canada four generations to make that several thousand mile journey and then they're there in canada i guess must be during the summer and then they make the migration back back to mexico for generations multi-generational migration where we are going not one generation can reach man this is so strong in my heart right now not one generation can reach i must go as far as i can go i must enter into everything that is possible for me to enter into and then pass it off so that the next generation could go as far as they can possibly go knowing that they've got another generation that they'll have to pass it on to multi-generational what god is doing in the earth right now is going to take a multi-generational migration into the things of god into the things of the kingdom unlike any time we've ever seen it's where every child grows up knowing they were born with divine purpose and there is more there is more and it's not an insult to my forefathers to discover more i'm only able because i stand on the platform of their breakthrough i stand on the platform of their success this may sound a little strange too but my my two favorite verses they're at the top of the list anyway favorite verses on revival are actually out of the book of proverbs i want to read them to you real quick the first one is proverbs 14 4 and it says where there's no oxen the manger is clean but much increase comes by the strength of the ox that's revival where there's no revival the manger's clean but when you have a great move of god get a shovel because it's always messy there's no such thing as a squeaky clean revival you only have that when you read it in history and they cleaned up the text and they removed all the offenses and all the problems people have done that through the years the shantung revival a tremendous baptist outpouring of the holy spirit in china when they reprinted the story of that they cleaned up all the messes so it was squeaky clean to the point it's boring if you want the real thing go to randy clark's website and get the story on the shantung revival because it's extraordinary god didn't remove the offensive parts of people's lives from the book the difficult parts the failures but not just the failures the things that actually cause problems for the people of god the second verse that i find so intriguing is out of proverbs 27 and another book that i that i i consider a revival passage it's a chapter 27 and it's verse 7. a satisfied soul lows the honeycomb but to a hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet to a person who is full they become the restaurant critic and they despise even the sweetness of the honeycomb but a person who is hungry who is really hungry every bitter thing becomes sweet it's extraordinary because i've watched this through the years where people come into a move of god and they begin to critique it as though they were a restaurant cook a critic instead of coming because they were hungry i'm not here to analyze the move of god i'm here to be wrecked by the move of god i'm here to be rearranged by the move of god what happened in wales in the early 1900s 1904 oh my goodness what a story it's one of my favorite parts of all of human history is what happened in that era evan roberts a bunch of young people the outpouring of the spirit became so strong some of the major great godly men and women from england came into wales to to not analyze that i don't want to critique criticize them they came in to see what god was doing and this is their own testimony it was such a holy movement they felt they needed to leave to let the young people run with it in other words they would contaminate it with their expertise wow what wisdom what wisdom to realize sometimes we need to just back off sometimes we need to back up jesus gave a warning about this he said don't try to pick the tares out from among the wheat lest you destroy the wheat think about that when god does a move we oftentimes especially us as leaders we want to protect the people from errors which we should that's part of our job we want to protect them from this this ex this extreme this exaggeration and while we always have our defenses up to make sure that we protect the people jesus also gives a warning and he says here's the thing about wheat and tears they look the same the only time you can tell a difference is when it's time to harvest because the weight of the grains of wheat on the stem cause it to bow and then the terrors stand up straight so jesus warns he says don't over concern yourself for the tares trying to pick out the wrong things because you'll pick up the wheat you'll pick out the right things this is a warning concerning i believe moves of god be careful that you don't become so controlling of your environment that you don't give room for god to step outside of what you approve of many people reject the move of god because they see god touch somebody else in a way they've never touched he's never touched them so in other words i become the standard my experience becomes the standard for how god can touch you and it's one of the great mistakes one of the great mistakes is that i i judge what's happening in a room by my own experience which is an arrogant posture to take because it comes with a notion saying i've experienced everything first and then he'll touch you according to how he's touched me it's just not the way it works it comes to people that are poor in spirit that are hungry like children that just want more of god they're not asking for everything to be explained they come simply asking for a father to come to show up and to do what only he can do of course there are souls saved of course there are miracles and people's bodies deliverances i've seen it in this room where the power of god comes upon a person i remember when the outpouring first started just an unbeliever would come into the room and the power of god would literally capture them capture them they didn't know what was happening to them but they would lay there and weep and weep and weep and just turn their heart toward the lord not knowing what was going on but knowing that god had chosen them i think sometimes we get accustomed to a gospel that we understand fully which means a gospel that we can control it's about control people say well this wouldn't happen uh when the holy spirit in a move of god because he teaches self-control self-control is a manifestation of the holy spirit's control first you have to have the holy spirit's control before you learn self-control it's giving yourself to the great great work of god i uh i want to read to you out of the book of joel i'm i'm i'm i'm torn because there's so many places to go here but let me let me at least let's let's do this i'm going to reach out to joel i'm going to read you out of chapter 2 and then we're going to jump to acts all right so if you've got your bible before you which i hope you do um get those two places ready i was gonna go to acts 19 because it's outrageous and wonderful but i just don't think i have time for it so let's just uh let's just do this today uh we'll go to joel 2 and then we're going to go to acts 2 and i want to show you something let's start in joel 2 verse 23 be glad then you children of zion rejoice in the lord your god for he has given you the former reign faithfully i think new american standard says the former reign in vindication which is interesting that the lord would vindicate us with his outpouring vindicate us in our own personal wrong decisions in life that the areas where the enemy has stolen from us the outpouring comes to fully vindicate us to display his faithfulness he will cause the rain to come down for you the former rain and the latter rain rain in in the scripture represents the outpouring of the holy spirit which we see a little later in this chapter so when you see rivers of water you see pools of water talked about you see rivers in the desert you have rain those are all symbols of of the work of the holy spirit and how manifestation of his presence jesus validates this in john chapter 7 where he refers to the holy spirit as a river but look at this again he will cause the rain to come down for you the former rain in the latter rain so the outpouring of the holy spirit in the book of acts and the outpouring of the holy spirit in the days that we live in the latter days the last days started in acts chapter 2. so if those were the last days these are really the last days then he goes into verse 28 it will come to pass afterward i will pour out my spirit on all flesh your sons and daughters will prophesy so it's both men male and female your old men will dream dreams young men will see visions so the age barrier is broken and also on my men's servants and maidservants i will pour out my spirit so the class barrier is broken so the outpouring of the holy spirit creates a level playing field for men women young old rich poor all of those boundaries are destroyed in the outboard of the holy spirit in acts chapter 2 after after joel 2 was fulfilled you see an interesting response from people and if you've got your bibles look at acts 2 it says in verse 6 this would be fun to study more at a later date but right now just look at verse 6 when this sound occurred this sound is not i want to tell you now just in advance this sound is not just a crowd of people praying in tongues it is a heavenly roar that has broken into the city of jerusalem where the entire city is hearing the open heaven over that's over that city it's a roar of god and everybody in the city hears it they all drop their tools their toys their whatever they're doing and thousands begin to flock to this group of believers that are praying in tongues praying in languages they don't understand it says verse six when this sound occurred the multitude came together said they were confused because everyone heard them speak in their own language then they were amazed and they marveled it says in verse 11 uh we hear them speaking in our own tongues of the wonderful works of god so what was confusing was still had divine purpose verse 12 they were all amazed they were perplexed and verse 13 others were mocking so here you got it this is a good revival right here they were amazed they marveled they were confused they were perplexed and there was mocking that's how you have a move of god you're not going to have a move of god without those elements present there's always opposition to the move and if you're a one who is bound by the fear of man get the heart of god over the issue don't do guilt and shame but let him touch you deep cry out for the more in the secret place in the private place we cry out for god in public we take risks we look for problems we look for places to serve in in cry in quiet along with god we cry out for the more but in public we look for opportunities for him to be displayed when i went to toronto i've already explained i i didn't have a dramatic experience at least my first time as so many around me did so many friends so many people that i now know their lives were changed it wasn't that it was the fact that the lord gave me a seed he gave me a seed he gave me the the acorn instead of the oak tree i prayed for and it would have been easy to put that aside and say this is not revival but i knew that in that seed there was enough of god to radically change the rest of my life i knew it i knew it i knew i was given a treasure having the pearl of great price i knew it had been given to me and it was small and it was nothing it was nothing extravagant enough that i could walk around and show people it wasn't that it was i knew that he had given me what i had asked for it was in seed form but i had to cultivate it and that began the season of day and night crying out for more that god would cause this seed to grow that he'd cause this that he entrusted to me that maybe others would reject this that he entrusted to me god that you would cause this to grow that you would impact our city you'd impact our church impact my life impact our nation i i prayed i prayed day and night i would wake up i'd wake up in the middle of the night praying in other words i was praying in my sleep and i would actually wake up myself up because my spirit man was so alive so contending for all that god had promised that i just i found myself unable to sleep i just wake up find myself praying don't have time for the full story here but that lasted for eight to nine months and then the lord met me i ran faithfully with the seed but then he met me at three in the morning and everything changed everything changed everything changed if i i think if you were to ask my friends from weaverville i think they would all tell you that i i didn't struggle with the fear of man because i i made courageous decisions i i was willing to go against the grain it wasn't a problem but the lord knew that there was still a seed of the fear of man in my heart and and he showed up in a way with such extreme power three o'clock in the morning that lasted all night and i i had no i had no control it was it was the raw power of god and and i knew that i knew that he wanted to know if i was if i meant it when i said god i want more of you at any cost any cost i'll panic price and he began to parade seeds see scenes in front of my eyes of me trying to communicate to the church realizing there's nobody going to believe that this that i'm experiencing is actually god the next scene i was standing in front of my favorite restaurant in town realizing not only am i going to be a laughing point of laughter for the church it's i'm going to be a a person that is mocked in our community and it was it was like the lord was asking me this question did you mean it when you said more at any cost and i laid there with the tears going down into my pillowcases after about 20 minutes of seeing these scenes and what it would cost me i said yes you can do anything you want with me if i get you in the exchange the increase the manifestation of your presence if i get that in the exchange you can do anything you want with me i just i just believe god is god is going to use this very strange season this pandemic now we have such prime opportunities to be alone with god we don't have the excuse of busy schedules we don't have the excuse of too many responsibilities we have we have who we are face to face with who he is and he wants to take you and he wants to take me and he's positioning us for an extreme mighty outpouring of the spirit something that will actually affect the course of history for nations it's been happening for a while but i tell you what it's on it's on the edge right now and it's about to break loose in a way we've never seen before having said all of that i i i know that there are many of you as believers just you just need to make the confession to the lord god i'm all in do whatever you want with me and there are some i know that are watching you've never given your life to jesus and this is probably the most awkward opportunity for me to ever say come to jesus give your life to him be forgiven brought into the family know what it is to walk as a child of god and truly give yourself that he would be glorified but i'm going to ask you do it right now just pray a simple prayer with me father i come to you as a sinner prayed out loud right where you are i come to you as a sinner i i need forgiveness please forgive me for all my sin i turn to jesus i declare jesus christ is the son of god my lord my master i give myself completely for his glory amen every believer just say god i give you everything i am to discover everything you are [Music] [Applause] thanks for listening to the sermon of the week this weekly podcast can be heard in multiple languages on our bethel tv website if you would 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] you

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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: q0AkHgf5hZw

Length: 84min 9sec (5049 seconds)

Published: Tue Sep 07 2021