Bill Johnson Sermons [September 15, 2021] | Fall In Love With God First

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 all of us have opinions about everything and i have i have discovered that uh the spirit of offense is on discount right now and uh you can get 12 of those demons for the price of one if you want them um it's the most common thing i have seen in in the last year has been that rampage of the spirit of offense and so i just may add to it i don't know i'm just going to make a couple comments and i'll let you just kind of sort it out and uh but i i want to talk about we've been closed shut down in our corporate meetings we've not been closed as a ministry we've been goodness gracious i've been as busy as any season of my life and at home especially because of so little travel and which i'm thankful for i'm so glad to be able to have my time at home but i want to make just a couple comments these are not official comments these are just just the opinion of bill we are not closed on my part because we fear a disease it is real and i don't want to create any disrespect towards that because i have two friends that died they had pre-existing conditions but but uh but but it's real it's real i have friends that have suffered horribly i i i don't it's like a hot stove i'm just not going to put my hand on it but but it doesn't mean i'm not going to have a stove if that makes sense so we're not closed down because i don't i don't fear that disease at all just me personally i'm not requiring that of anyone we're not shut down because of government restrictions this one may be the one that causes the offense i i honor i love i pray for i serve but they approve abortion they're not always right they're not always right they're humans and uh i am going to obey the lord over government restrictions so we're not we're not closed down for that we're closed down because we love our city that's why 100 that's why we love our city and um to close down corporate gatherings in a local church for nine months is is an unusual sacrifice but it is because we've loved our city not because we have thought that meeting would hurt the city but because it's interpreted by our city as a love gift and even those who would disagree with us it makes no difference it's not public opinion that directs this movement it is literally it's our offering to the city that we love period it's been nine months nine months of gestation is about to come to an end i don't know how i don't know when but when it does there'll be a birthing of something fresh and something powerful the lord is going to honor the most unusual offering some of you it's been forced on you others of you have been wholeheartedly supporting uh the the corporate decision that we've made as a leadership and and i get the mixed feeling i've got mixed feelings goodness ask me in the morning i may think different than i did the night before you know i'm i'm i'm like every everybody around here i have my thoughts and opinions on all of it but sitting you know your opinion in mind they really don't matter the only thing that really matters is what is god saying and that's what we're working hard to discover is the heartbeat of god to honor him in everything we do and uh one person one person eats meat the other person doesn't eat meat in their efforts to honor god so we have to create a little bit of flexibility uh in the way that we approach our honor to the lord so this is uh this is the stand we've taken i do have a sense i'm feeling the labor pains and we're about to end uh nine months that's up i am prophesying but i'm not giving dates i'm not i'm not doing dates mates you know all that stuff all right all right that's that's enough there i i created just a big enough hole to crawl out of all right here's what i want to do i want to talk to you about one of my most favorite parts of the christmas story this has actually been on my mind for a couple weeks and uh sometimes i don't have that kind of clarity in a direction very far in advance but this has really been in my in my heart on my mind for four weeks and i'm going to talk to you about a part of the story it's in the gospel of luke we're going to be reading out of luke chapter 2. and i'm going to talk to you about anna and simeon those are two sometimes unsung heroes of this incredible christmas story but there's something about their story that really rocks my world i i don't talk about it often but you know how you have we all have history with god in the word and there are certain things that i they're they're kind of like like on a compass we have due north there are certain things that you that the lord has shown you in your stories and examples teachings whatever that they are they're kind of like due north they're a reference point that you use to measure your own response to your life and sometimes we sanitize the story because they're in scripture and we we rob ourselves of the of the wonder and the adventure of what it would have been like to be in their shoes and to be in the shoes of anna and simeon and we'll go over their story in just a moment but i i need to set the stage i need to create a context and it'll sound a little strange to you to set it in the way i'm going to but hopefully by the time i'm through it'll make sense and if it doesn't it's still the bible and it's good all right here's what i want to do i want to read out of the gospel of matthew in the sermon on the mount i want to read out of the sixth chapter and this is a verse that i actually make reference to you know probably a couple times a year and have for quite a while because it it rocked me so deeply when i when i saw what the lord was saying the context uh in the sermon on the mount has to do with our our uh our response to money let me make this this statement fear worry anxiety that whole uh theme of emotions is released at our lives to distract us from our purpose and eventually reestablish our affection on something that's inferior fear anxiety where all those things are are the enemy's attempt to distract me and then once i'm distracted to re-engage my affection on something that's inferior but so is greed lust it's the other side of the same problem jesus deals with the whole thing of lust and greed here in the sermon on the mount quite heavily and in this portion he talks about where your heart is your tray your where your where your treasure is or will your heart be also and he's not talking against money he's talking about heart he's talking about the focus of our heart so fear is as wrong as greed greed is as wrong as fear and the reason is because both of them are attempts to distract or pull away my focus my attention on the one thing i'm called to and if the enemy can't get me to to um to accept something let's just go raw immoral if he can't get me to accept something to shift from being moral to immoral if you can't do that then what he'll at least try to do is add to my moral conviction too many issues in life so that i spread myself so thin i'm ineffective and then his desire is to pull me to defend my position outside of the spirit of christ abortion is wrong it's wrong it's it's as wrong as the sacrificing of children to molech in the old testament it's just simply wrong there's nothing about it that's right and the enemy cannot get me off that bandwagon so to speak so what does he try to do he tries to get me to operate in soulish flesh carnality accusation bitterness all those other things to defend my position on abortion does that make sense to you in other words he can't get me to compromise my value so what he tries to do is to get me to overextend my value to where i operate outside of the spirit of christ these issues of distraction are huge and right now we have more distractions than we've ever had in our life and i let me just tell you i'm in the middle i feel the distraction i'm not just talking about the obvious things the political stuff the the racial stuff the economic stuff you know we can we can just add a big list i'm talking about the nature of our culture in our country where where we are inundated with the opinions of other people oh goodness i'm gonna i'm gonna dump and jump into a deep hole that i can't climb out of and i do i don't want to do that and i i actually like social media i i'm i do i like i like i like the fact i can go on instagram i can look up fly fishing pictures and find them it's like the magazines i used to buy you know i can look up deer hunting i can look up fountain pens i can look up anything hot sauce they're all in in here i i look at them i have a good time i say oh that hot sauce looks good and i will order it and i can do it in just a heartbeat i love that this is just christian recreation in in my con but here's the problem is we are often measured by likes how many people like what are we creating creating a system where we look for approval of other people to make our decisions it's subtle but it's there and we have a generation that's being weaned on that value system so i i i i don't want to go there anymore i'm done with social media talk for this morning actually it could creep up again but i'll try not to all right let's let's get to the scripture here because i want to talk to you about this i'm going to take one verse and i just try to emphasize the fact it's in the context of money all right the principle oftentimes jesus will reveal a principle that he applies to a subject but the principle is applicable across the board it is what i just said was very important and true all right verse 22 of matthew chapter 6. the lamp of the body is the eye if therefore your eye is good your whole body will be full of light the lamp of the body is the eye if therefore your eye is good your whole body will be full of light this this deserves much more attention than i'm going to give here because i actually want to take you into the christmas story and show you something that that i hope will encourage you i hope we'll we'll add fuel to what god's called us to be and to do but look at this again one of the translations says if your eye is single another one says if your eye is clean the word there for good is actually two words it's the word alpha and then it's a word that means voyage alpha would be uh alpha and omega the beginning and the end the number one and the eternal eternal future that's that's the lord so here's here's what i want you to look at this is a very interesting word it says if your eye is good let's break it down in this way two words number one is the word single or one and the second word is voyage if your eye is set on one voyage the one thing your entire body will be full of light this is important we don't have time for it now but i do think there's something in this verse that is that will connect us to divine health i think being diversified outside of where god has called us actually affects us emotionally it affects us in in areas of greed and lust it affects us in areas of fear and anxiety and all those things war at the affections of the soul that are supposed to be anchored in the lord himself all of these things war against our focus and our devotion to the one thing they are subtle but the end result is a people who over time diversify their affection from the lord to the many other things and it may even be in jesus name all right if the body if the lamp of the blood the lamp of the body is the eye if therefore your eye is set on one voyage this one thing i have desired the scripture says this one thing to see him to be in his temple forever to be one who glorifies him this one thing i have desired the song of the redeemed is this one thing i have desired it's critical to fuel that one fire in my soul so much so that nothing else matters everything else is attended to through that one theme i don't have a confusing life of serving god and serving the city and serving you and serving my family and serving i have one thing him and in that affection and adoration an absolute passion for him i become more fully equipped as a husband more fully equipped as a dad as a grandpa as a pastor whatever other label we we share the point is it is the one thing one of my heroes in scripture is solomon and uh i'm i'm moved by the fact we studied this some years ago but i'm moved by the fact that here is a young man he becomes king and he goes to bed at night and he sleeps and he has this dream now dreams are extremely subjective i've had people that were opposed to the revival have a dream i believe they had a dream but our dreams are often shaped by our own values we sow into our dream life we contribute to our dreams what happened with solomon is he was so overwhelmingly aware of his need for god that that's how he went to bed this he says in song of saul he says he says though i sleep yet my heart is awake in other words he would come into this place where he would rest but it would be before the lord and he had this ongoing passion i don't know what i'm doing i'm reading into the story but i believe i have reason to i don't know what i'm doing i need god's input to be a successful and godly king he goes to sleep god appears to him in a dream and has a dialogue now this this is profound to me god talks with solomon while solomon is sleeping and and solomon responds so much so that god trusts solomon to make a decision he says what's what's the one thing you want he says more than anything i i want to to have wisdom i want to be able to lead your people well and god says because he best for that and not long life and fame and money and all these other things you get at all what's the point the point is is that in his sleep his agendas were set aside so much that he could trust the dream that he had and god could trust him to make a godly decision he made a decision to shape the course of history in his sleep in his sleep that's that's being focused not focused anxiously focused in this is why i'm alive now go to luke chapter 2. luke chapter 2 in uh verse 25 is where we'll start we're going to read quite a few verses so please have your bibles in front of you and follow along verse 25 behold there was a man in jerusalem whose name was simeon and this man was just and devout waiting for the consolation of israel and the holy spirit was upon him and it had been revealed to him by the holy spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the lord's christ so he came by the spirit into the temple and when the parents brought in the child jesus to do for him according to the custom of the law he took him up in his arms and he blessed god and he said lord now you are letting your servant depart in peace according to your word for my eyes have seen your salvation which you have prepared before the face of all the peoples a light to bring revelation to the gentiles this is an extraordinary prayer he's playing in the temple because he's prophesying in his prayer that this infant this child is what will bring hope rest restore israel and will bring light and salvation to the gentiles he said um and the glory excuse me a light to bring revelation to the gentiles and the glory of your people israel and joseph and his mother marveled at those things which were spoken of him then simeon blessed them and he said to his to mary his mother both this child is destined for the fall and rising of many in israel and for a sign which will be spoken against it's not the first sign to be spoken against just because you experience a miracle and people criticize you for it doesn't mean you're not biblical you're actually right in the middle of scripture sometimes you experience something that god does and the critics mount up against you welcome to the family of god let me read that again just in case you missed it and he'll be for a sign which will be spoken against yes a sword will pierce through your own soul that the thoughts of many hearts would be revealed and then there's one more we'll do uh three three more verses now there was one anna a prophetess the daughter of however you say that name the tribe of asher who was of great age and had lived with a husband seven years from her virginity and this woman was a widow of about 84 years now some say she was 84 years at this point others say this actually indicates she was a widow for 84 years after marriage which would make her over 100 years old she did not depart from the temple but she served god with fastings and prayer night and day and coming in that instant she gave thanks to the lord and spoke of him to all who look for the redemption of israel all right here's here's the deal i want to talk to you about simeon and anna i i think i mean i can't prove this just an opinion but i think are two of the most honored people in heaven they lived in a time without the prophets they lived in a time without the thundering displays of god's power and yet they lived for one thing anna says she never left the temple i don't know if people brought food to her i don't know how that works but the point is she was extremely devoted to one thing which was what that israel would have a redeemer that israel would have vindication and restoration the salvation would come to her people she lived for that one thing she got married she was married for seven years her husband died she's a widow she spends the rest of her life serving god at the temple with fastings in prayer simeon his entire life it was a friend of god the bible says the holy spirit was upon him they weren't born again yet so the holy spirit didn't live inside but lived upon him rested upon him he was a prophet in a sense that he could see he heard the word of the lord he had that he had that promise given to him that he would see the consolation of israel he would see the redeemer he would see the vindicator he would see the deliverer the point that i have in this message today is really it's really only one the more focused you are on why you're alive the less it takes to encourage you the more focused the more all-in for one thing the less it takes to encourage you i read a story i i read a very interesting article some years ago i've not wanted to talk about it only because i i hate war so much but um i read this very interesting article about and i believe it was by a sniper in the military and they are an unusual breed of people i don't know how many of you have ever ever read about them and if i can just put aside the moral issues of war and all i'm glad i'm not a national leader that has to make that decision but i i admired so much what this gentleman wrote picture this a sniper have all this sometimes plant life and everything hooked to his body there are times where they will actually take several days to crawl from here to there because none of their movements can be noticed they do everything physically in their clothing they at times were on an ant hill and they're being bitten by these ants and they are so focused on their assignment they show no pain and they make no noticeable movement and what the guy said he says in this place you are so focused that you notice when a blade of grass is different there's something about focus there's something about purpose there's something about refining what is going to excite me refining what i'm going to feed my soul on refining my understanding my conscious awareness of why i am on planet earth i get to be a grandpa i get to be a dad i love being a husband all these things i get to be with you guys i love this this part of life but all of these are expressions of why i'm alive i am alive to represent jesus and to bring him glory i'm alive i live i live for that anything that doesn't fit into that assignment it may be good it may be moral it may be upright but it's there to divert attention and eventually to draw away my affection you see the anointing is actually released through affection when we diversify all the things you know the getting keeping 20 plates spinning on a stick you know that picture of of the complicated christian life i i believe in being involved in a lot of stuff but it has to all fit under one thing one thing how is it you can be so focused as a man picture yourself as a guy who intercedes who prays for the nation of israel who prays for the nations of the world who prays for the messiah to come and one day in your prayer the lord shows up and he says before you die you will see this great deliverer before you die you will see the mighty one who comes to save why is he alive the one thing and it says the spirit of the lord moved him direct him to go to the temple he went to the temple and he saw an infant he saw an infa he didn't see a mighty deliverer he didn't see a man with a sword he didn't see a man with an army he didn't see somebody with a great pedigree and great wealth he saw an infant a baby yes eternally god but he saw in the baby the deliverance of israel and salvation of gentiles he sought in the baby he saw it in the child see when you live for one thing it doesn't take a lot to encourage you because you notice the movement of that blade of grass you notice the slight little indication oh that neighbor i've been talking to they warmed up just a little bit today that i didn't get the raise yet but i i can tell something is happening because there's more business at work it's it's just the little things it's the fact that it's the fact that we live for one thing and when you do you're constantly filled with encouragement because god is doing all kinds of bringing all kinds of babies seed of the thing you've been praying for the seed of what you've been praying for and i look at this and anna and simeon both and they they both moved me so much because they they recognized the king of glory was there in an infant that couldn't do a thing couldn't do anything they they saw see this is what we need right now because we're we're in the middle of swirling stuff and we need people that just just dial down why am i alive why am i where i am in this season why am i here and we lean into the one thing and all of a sudden we get this little word of encouragement we see this testimony over here we see these things happen around us that are just indicators of a much bigger deliverance a much bigger thing that god is doing and right now we need encouragement in our lives maybe more than any other season of our life and it's foolish to live within reach of a feast of encouragement and not apprehended not take hold of it it's foolish to live this far away from the ultimate internal strength of faith a focus of living with divine purpose it's foolish to be this far away from it and not take hold of it and i'd like to suggest that the lord is releasing an anna and simeon anointing it's it's the it's the matthew 6 anointing it's the eye the eye that has settled on one journey the reason my whole body is full of light the reason my entire life is under the visible manifestation of the glory of god is because i have determined i am alive for one thing i'm alive for one reason and that one reason god has illuminated everything in my life i i think often of uh elijah and his uh his deal when he was praying for rain it's interesting because he prophesied the drought you know sometimes you cause something by the hand of the lord on you that's supposed to come to an end and he knew it but he also knew there was some sort of intercessory role that he had he just didn't assume it's just going to happen it's so it's it's irresponsible to not take responsibility there are just moments where it's it's it's upon us to know god is about to do something but i'm going to take my place before him you know if ever there was an example of that it would have to be with the coming of the messiah let's be honest if there's anything god can pull off on his own without any of our assistance or help is the fact that jesus would come to earth and yet it was the spirit of god upon anna and simeon to stir them to intercessory prayers why he wanted them to be a part of the process what's happening today see we we scrub these stories so clean we lose the wonder of the moment the mystery of the moment we sanitize these things and yet they're they're they're living day after day after day hannah for 60 years cries prayers intercessions fasting how long do i need to fast and then one day was the day and she saw the christ child elijah prophesied though the drought and it was time for the drought to end and he he knew it but he didn't just assume it would happen he prayed for it to happen and he said to his servant while he put his head between his knees and he just interceded he prayed sometimes sometimes powerful prayer is not pretty there's nothing there's nothing appealing about there's nothing appealing about it sometimes the groanings the weepings the declarations the snotty nose the it's just not it's not pretty those things aren't to be flaunted as some sign they're just you know they just happen they happen when you when you're gripped in your soul for something that's got to be birthed into the earth that is not yet here it must be it must be it must be it's not for show it's not for anything but the friend of god is making history with god and that was elijah he's he's there he's got his head between his knees he's praying he can't he doesn't want to look he tells the servant what's the sky like he's praying for rain he said there's no clouds all right keep spraying sometimes you just don't want to look at the absence of an answer it'll it'll affect your praying so too many people measure the lack of an answer the lack of breakthrough i've prayed 100 times for this this never happened stop it stop it stop measuring stop measuring your prayer life by what hasn't happened stop it he wouldn't even look himself this is what's it like now six times in a row five the seven times well there's a cloud that's the size of a man's hand elijah says let's run it's about to rain and that's the moment that we're at hears anna and simeon saw the cloud the size of a man's hand they saw the seed of god in a child that was about to shape and change the course of world history run it's time to take cover i've told you the story before i think when benny and i first came here this part of the stage was near just stairs one of the first sunday nights we invited everyone to the front so there's hundreds of people all along the front and we had just gotten here and benny and i were standing right about third step or so right here and we just talked to encourage everybody for what we believe god was doing and about to do and we invited the holy spirit to come that simple prayer and the holy spirit came he came in power he felt powerfully on one person one person right in front of us right here i don't know what everyone's thinking it may be they were amused maybe they were being touched by god in a more subtle way i i don't know i didn't ask but all i know is the power fell on one right there right there benny and i looked at each other and we said we've got it it is now unstoppable it's not unstoppable see if you're not all in you miss the seeds you miss the subtle signs of god's working because he doesn't just always come and just show himself boldly and strongly sometimes it's in an infant that everybody else in the city didn't see except as a baby everyone else but these two they looked and they saw the salvation of israel they sought in seed form because they're all in the best way to be encouraged is to be all in all in because then you'll see you'll hear the subtle subtle anointing of god on the lyrics of a song as you walk into a restaurant the subtle the subtle storyline behind a tv show that you realize there's something prophetic in that storyline it's just when you're leaning when you're all in i don't mean you and you interpret every number and every thing that happens it just means god speaks why because he has a listener he has somebody who's all in he's got somebody who has one reason for being alive the single voyage therefore everything about them will be under the influence of the light of god i realize that might be a little abstract kind of a talk today for some of you but my my prayer is is that is that in this unusual season it is unusual i'm going to quit criticizing 2020 i saw meme the other day that says before i agree to go to 2021 i want to see the conditions and the terms you know it's like i think one of the funniest ones i saw was somebody said all right let's be honest five years ago when we said what we thought we'd be doing in five years none of us got it right none of us got it the gestation period is soon coming to an end a conclusion and there will be a birthing of something very powerful and very new in the earth specifically in you and in me and i believe the lord is wooing us into the one thing simplify the one thing god forgive me everywhere i've been distracted i've allowed i've voluntarily submitted myself to distractions that have wore ward over my heart fought over my heart to redirect affections and values and attention heal us as a people god heal us as the people that come out of this season simplified refined focused and madly in love i ask that in jesus name i sense that there are some i felt it earlier this morning that there are some who have been suffering from covet symptoms put your hand on your lungs put your hand on your lungs i rebuke right now the curse of the enemy to steal and to take life from you i don't care if there's precondition preconditioned uh your preconditioning situations we stand against that and covet in the name of jesus i declare the healing word of your body there's somebody who has issues in the actual bones there's some sort of a bone disease and i rebuke that disease and declare the life of christ the light of god over your whole body to restore uh what the enemy has stolen in the actual structure and health of your bones the blood supply i believe the lord is healing people that have had various kinds of infections and disease in the blood so lord we just pray for the healing grace of jesus to be released over every single person that watches this this celebration i want to encourage you if you don't have a personal relationship with jesus talk with somebody in the chat line if you're on bethel tv or youtube or one of the other who knows how many uh different ways to to engage with us uh ch talk with somebody on the chat line if you need prayer for something talk with somebody in the chat line just say listen i need a miracle in my body he identified something i have or maybe he didn't identify what i have but i really still need a miracle and uh and have somebody just pray with you and we'll just agree with you massive massive breakthrough all right and finally merry christmas i pray that this would be simply the most joyful season of your life uh see i think it was c.s lewis who wrote a book called surprised by joy so i pray that you are surprised by joy merry christmas love you love you love you so much 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 discipling 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 i don't remember the year it was somewhere back in the 70s my parents my mom is here wave your hand my my parents pastored here at bethel 1968 until i think 1982 and during that time i was on staff for five of those years 73-78 and i think it was somewhere around 1974 somewhere in that area my dad began to teach out of the book of ezekiel and he talked about uh all believers being priests under the lord and uh of course many of us when we think of priests we think of you know the the white little caller it's not that kind of a priest it's a priest priesthood of the believer that has three basic areas of ministry and this is this is christianity 101 for us this goes way back into our roots but it'll set the stage for what i want to do today he began to talk to us about the three areas of ministry that every believer has we have first of all our ministry to the lord himself he is not an egotist in need of our encouragement he's not an egotist in need of our flattery he's the almighty god and we become transformed as we worship we always become like the one we worship and so this ministry to the lord is first and most important and second to that is our love for the people of god for the church not organizations but for people and third is our ministry to the world it's a right and true list of priorities but if we're not careful it would cause us to misdiagnose or miss the conviction of the lord regarding our third ministry it's not that it's least and important in fact let's look at it this way in worship i will worship god throughout eternity i will be with you for all eternity and i will love you well throughout eternity but the only thing that is urgent in pressing in time is evangelism because that's only now and so while the other two are are superior in the sense of their order of priority they actually enhance and set the stage for us to be more effective in our heart for evangelism it can be said that evangelism in its purest form is an overflow of worship there are those who have this notion that if they really get locked into worship they'll not want to do anything else and that's not that's not what the scripture teaches in isaiah 6 you see isaiah before the lord and he says i see the lord and here's this stunning moment where he sees and he is before almighty god and then he hears father son holy spirit converse together and they say there's this particular assignment they said who shall we send and isaiah says send me so in other words anyone who truly worships to her they see the heart of the father they don't want to stay there they want to take their out to the people they want to take that moment to many others it's it's it's causing people to taste and see the goodness of the lord and that's the great privilege so worship is this great privilege and so my dad would teach on this out of uh ezekiel i think 47 if i remember right and he talked about the ministry of the inner court that's in the actual presence of god and the outer court that's where you're with people and i remember after i think it was the first meeting there was a syria it was a series but i remember uh the old bethel church was over on pacelli lane and there was the sanctuary was long this way and there were two sections like this and then there was a balcony up way in the back and i remember i was sitting over here probably three four five rows back right on the outside edge and i remember when he was through with uh with that message it wasn't it wasn't a response time there was no altar call there was there was nothing of that nature but i i just remember when we came to the end of the message i remember sitting right over here i remember just bowing my head and i prayed this prayer i said god i give you the rest of my life to teach me this one thing i knew i had just heard the word that was to define the rest of my life since that day uh the lord has has been instilling in us his heart for worship again he actually doesn't even look for worship he looks for worshipers because worshipers are transformed people and that's that's what he longs to draw us into the scripture says he looks for worship with those those who were worshiping spirit and truth so since that day uh that has become a standard for this church family and today uh things are very normal for us that in that day were fought for worked after very very hard to teach line upon line and to restructure the priority system of the church but if we're not careful there is a misunderstanding on this sense of urgency for evangelism and uh and and get this list all messed up if you will in uh in isaiah 60 for example it says it says um your walls will be called salvation your gates pray so it's describing the church it's describing the people of god as a city as a community so that's the metaphor that's the illustration and he basically says the salvation of god is what protects you it's the walls around the city that's what keeps you safe and then he says your gates are praised and so he's actually describing this place through which god enters to engage and to mingle with his people and it's called praise and so we know biblically that we enter his his gates with thanksgiving in our heart we enter his courts with praise so there's this progression into the presence into the glory and it should be the the ambition of every believer we have service after service they typically are called worship services in the bulletins all over the nations and and very seldom does worship actually happen because worship is this very tender intimate place of interaction with god i don't say that for the purpose of shame i'm just saying it's it's uh it's it's so deep and so long into this thing called divine encounter so here's this picture i'm trying to draw for he says um he says your walls are salvation and your gates the place for which there's this entrance in the presence is praise and it's something like 15 verses later he says it's now in isaiah 62 he says go through go through the gates clear the way for the people all right in the context what are gates praise so now he's exhorting go through go through the gates clear the way for the people you've got to catch a picture of this something happens when the people of god become a worshiping people there's something that happens with an atmospheric shift over cities over regions of the of the nation because there are worship worshiping people in that environment you just becoming a worshiper one who just stands before the lord to worship in your home i i don't know how to explain it i don't i don't understand it but i know this is a reality you stand on a regular basis just to exalt the name of the lord jesus you have neighbors around you that facing a problem a year ago never would have considered god as a possible solution but because you're a worshiper something has changed in what they get to draw on because of the influence of your life in that environment worship worshiping god is is central to who we are so i like to break it down this way i don't care for formulas in the presence but it helps me to to kind of put a hand on things there's thanksgiving this praise and his worship thanksgiving is our response to the acts of god um i don't know if he shared testimony this morning i know chris uh chris gore shared with us the other night about this great miracle of healing candace shared a great great story uh earlier of somebody with four stage cancers being completely healed we hear these stories and and we just celebrate the goodness the kindness of god and and there's this thankfulness and we express it we we cheer we raise our voices we we become we become amazed at this father who is so kind and so good to us but thanksgiving is our response to what he's done whereas praise is our response to who he is and there's this it's almost like an indictment on the nation of israel in the days of moses it says and israel was acquainted with the acts of god but moses was acquainted with his ways in other words they took the action and they followed it until they discovered his nature they followed this that he had done they weren't just satisfied with water out of a rock so to speak they weren't just satisfied with provision or or protection or deliverance they wanted to find this one who authored that very action that very uh deliverance or protection provision whatever it might have been so we've got thanksgiving is our response to the acts of god praise our response to his ways worship i i always think in terms of worship is my response to his presence it doesn't mean just emotionally discerned because sometimes worship comes at a very very low point so it's not it's not this overwhelming sense always of of presence but it's it's worship by nature the word worship actually means one of the words for worship actually means that it's the word to kiss that by implication it's this tenderness it's this it's this uh it's this profound interaction between you and the one you worship something powerful happens to a group of people that that live in that kind of atmosphere their authority their awareness of the heart of god increases so dramatically that when they get into an evangelistic environment or into an environment to serve and help people they're much more clear much more precise much much greater confidence in the heart of god for a given situation so here's what i want to do i want you to read with we're going to read out of matthew chapter 9 we're going to read several verses there and and then we'll we'll talk for a little bit all right matthew chapter 9 verse 35. then jesus went about all the cities and villages teaching in their synagogues preaching the gospel of the kingdom healing every sickness every disease among the people but when he saw the multitudes he was moved with compassion for them because they were weary and scattered like sheep having no shepherd then he said to his disciples the harvest truly is plentiful but the laborers are few therefore pray the lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest verse 37 the harvest truly is plentiful but the laborers are few therefore pray the lord of his harvest of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest i i've i've always been fascinated by this uh this verse for this reason he didn't say pray for the harvest i think there are other scriptures that that would lend itself to that and so i think it's a legitimate thing to do i know just driving out of my driveway this morning certain people that i've become friends with through the last number of years who don't yet know the lord i i just i bring them up before the lord just on a on a regular basis and just pray god let them know the goodness of god let them taste of the kindness of god and i think praying for people to come to crisis is is a no-brainer that's obviously legitimate but when jesus wanted to give instruction that was about to affect the course of history he didn't say pray for the harvest he said pray for harvesters pray for the harvesters so i have to ask the question is it possible that the size of the harvest is actually determined by the amount of laborers in other words the harvest is there but there has to be harvesters there are people and i it's it's a deeper theological conversation that we can have in this environment but there are a lot of people that say over and over again that you know god god is in control and whatever he wants is going to happen well he's god anything he wants to pull off he can pull off period there's find no argument from me but there's a number of things that he has put in front of us that without response without embracing responsibility there's actually unfulfilled potential this unfulfilled promise in other words it requires our involvement the nation of israel is a great example they were they were spoken to about this promised land and god says it is yours i give it to you now it's all yours and uh and he gives them this incredible promise of the promised land but that generation didn't enter into it god promised them but they didn't enter into it but it wasn't god's fault it was they they failed to co-labor with him his way to bring about his purposes and so now we have we have commandments like this we have directions in prayer that are supposed to be taken seriously because it actually has the an effect on the outcome of things how many understand jesus doesn't give us spiritual assignments to keep us busy you know he he doesn't say here dig this hole as soon as you get it done he says now fill it back in he's not trying to keep us active in christian you know christian busyness quite the opposite he's trying to lead us into fruitfulness into effectiveness and so he gives this assignment and he gives the assignment because there's something in his heart that has to be touched by somebody made in his image that will bring that case or that need before him there's something he longs to do but he's actually looking for agreement before it can be done because it will not be forced on the will of humanity it must come out of the will of humanity so he says here's my heart the harvest field is rich with harvest but you've got to ask the lord of the harvest to send out laborers now that word to send out laborers here is verse 38 to send out is a word that actually means to forcefully thrust it's the word used in the very next chapter when jesus talks about casting out demons he casts this demon there's this demon in this afflicted individual and jesus comes and he thrusts he throws that thing out that's what he that's the same word to throw out harvard harvesters in other words it's a military term almost of like of like forcefully throwing us into the middle of this incredible rich harvest field where we're in over our heads and we can't help but do anything but bring the harvest in for the king bring the harvest into the king the moravians have this statement i don't i don't have it down perfect but it's basically to win for the lamb the reward of his suffering to win for the lamb the reward of his suffering there was this there was this thing that they would pray and and quote and they may have even sung it but it was this it was this this whole thing we've got to win for the lamb the reward of his suffering and so we've got this passage look at verse 37 again it says the harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few therefore pray the lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest what was he doing when he came into this moment of burden uh he he if if you can imagine uh jesus standing on the edge of his promised land and that's this massive harvest and he catches a glimpse of something what was he doing when he saw that he was healing the sick he was casting out devils he was preaching declaring the gospel of the kingdom so he he was in that context when he was moved with compassion and he then turned to the twelve and he said listen you've gotta pray you've got to you've got to pray and contend for the father to throw out harvard's to cast forth harvesters into his harvest field but look at verse 1 because there's no chapter breaks in the original manuscript of scripture verse 1 of chapter 10 and when he called his 12 disciples to him he gave them power over unclean spirits to cast them out to heal all kinds of sickness all kinds of disease verse 7. as you go preach saying the kingdom of heaven is at hand heal the sick cleanse lepers raise the dead cast out demons freely you receive freely give this entire 10th chapter is to equip these 12 disciples if you will to become the very harvesters jesus told them to pray into i have a pastor friend of mine years ago he he put flags of the nations all around the sanctuary and then would be the name of the missionaries the people that that they that were part of their church that were in these various countries and then if they didn't have a missionary in that country where they would normally have names they would put a mirror and they would say go pray go pray for laborers and he would stand before that flag of that nation with a mirror with a question am i the one am i the one to be the harvest am i the one to go forth in jesus name i was reading this passage today earlier today out of the passion translation says jesus walked throughout the region with a joyful message of god's kingdom realm he taught in their meeting houses wherever he went he demonstrated god's power by healing every kind of disease and illness when he saw the vast crowds of people jesus's heart was deeply moved with compassion because they seemed weary and helpless like wandering sheep without a shepherd he turned to his disciples and he said the harvest is huge and ripe but there are not enough harvesters to bring it all in as you go plead with the owner of the harvest to thrust out many more reapers into uh to harvest his grain plead pray with the lord of the harvest to send out that's that's you and that's me so we have this we have this mandate to minister to god as the most important thing but there's something that happens in that environment as worshipers where actually it sets the stage for evangelism this is 62 passage forgive me for just making reference to it and hit and run but uh but i need to do that today you can look at it on your own it says this go through the gates clear the way for the people remove the stones remove the dusty rubble what is it describing it's describing worshipers who in their worship caught up in the presence the glory of god completely infatuated with him expressing their love devotion to him not realizing that what they are doing is they're removing all the obstacles that have been raised up in culture and society removing the obstacles spiritual bulldozers that just create fact then it says to throw up a highway before god what is the highway it's a place of quick easy access it's the removing the obstacles what how much of the devil are we focused on in those moments zero we're focused on god but we're ministering to him but it has this effect i've watched this for years it has an effect on the evangelistic anointing of a group of people the second part of that story or this assignment is to minister to believers and and mistakenly there are there are many who are caught up to just care for people around them but never take it outside of that group and i'd like this i'd like to say this jesus said in john 13 verse 35 he says they'll know you're my disciples because of your love for one another in other words they will see how you compassionately walk through conflict they will watch you as you respond to the person who's in crisis need they will watch you care for them they will see how you practice community how you learn together to reign in life it's not competition with each other but it's a true communal community pursuit of glorifying god by reigning in life together they will see that and they will come to the conclusion you are my disciples let me put it in this language they will see your love for each other and they will be convinced that jesus is raised from the dead he is present in the midst of his people evangelism i uh quite a few years ago there was a one one of the one of you families in the church uh picked up a homeless man and brought him to church on a particular sunday sitting right back in there and um and there wasn't very many people in the sanctuary at the time and i was walking around just talking with people welcoming them and i i saw them so i i made a beeline for him and and i saw he had a cast on his arm and uh and he was obviously in pain and discomfort and really protecting protecting that arm and uh so i went back and and just was talking to him and talking to the family that brought them and see how they're doing you know just just being social and wanting them to feel welcome and um and so i i asked the guy with a broken arm the homeless guy said so what happened and he said oh he says i fell off a bridge i think it was like 35 feet or something crazy he fell under fell onto this wrist and and completely shattered that in the injury and it had just been done so he was very tender very very very much uh watching over and caring for this broken arm and so i asked him i said is you mind if we if i pray for that and he and he looked at the the people that brought him you know this is like is this normal for you guys and uh and they were good with it so i i just tenderly just prayed for him and prayed for the lord to to heal his arm and he began to he began to move it and it was i wish i had a video of this because his eyes went like this his jaw dropped and he looked at the people who brought him because now he has absolutely no pain and he's got full movement in the use of this arm well it's a wonderful wonderful thing to see happen we've we've seen that happen just countless numbers of times through the years soon after that prayer i came up and the people began to come in we started the service we worship the lord as we love to do we pray for each other we do the stuff we like to do we open the word when i was through i invited people to come to know jesus guess who was first the guy who had just tasted of the kindness of the lord see we want people to buy into a whole meal but we don't give them samples it says taste and see that the lord is good the bible says it's the kindness of the lord to lead to repentance it is in conflict with the goodness of god to think we can come to god without repentance there is this notion that well jesus is the door to the father but anyone who is sincere no no heaven is real hell is real eternity is a long time it's a long time and it helps nobody for us to dilute and and ruin this simple gospel message that out of the kindness of the father he laid down his own son as an offering to pay for to atone to cover the one issue that was destroying all of humanity and that sin only one possible solution there are not many roads to god if that were true then he was unusually cruel to his son jesus to require that death it was done because it was the only possible solution that is the message but because of that extravagance of a father to love people it means that broken arm is in his target zone and he would love to restore that it means the cancer that we heard about this morning fourth stage people dying setting up ready to die are prayed for and god completely heals and delivers him i spent some time yesterday with a friend who's actually in a coma but things haven't been going real good for for him life hasn't not not not doing real good and organs shutting down heart liver and uh had a wonderful chance to go in to be with him with his wife and hold his hand and just talk to him as though he were sitting up in bed i remember ray larson who pastored here before i did wonderful man of god wonderful friend he had such an unusual gift in evangelism i i brought him back after i pastored here i told him to preach on a sunday and he did and i said man make sure you give an altar call man he had so many people get saved that they just you know how many remember the jesus people movement you could you could just about sneeze and people would get snakes saved you know it was it's just one of those moments in history where people just where the fish were jumping into the boat you know and uh so i i was i was there next to his bed and talking to him ray larson story i was going to mention to he there was a young lady that was in a car automobile accident here in reading and he went down to the hospital to pray with us she was in a coma near death and he just talked with her as though she were awake because the spirit man is awake i remember that when you go into a hospital room and he shared the gospel with her and then he prayed with her to receive christ and when he was through he looked up there was a tear coming down the side of her face and then a short time later she died see i i want to make it hard to get to hell from reading we've done this in times past where we've we've prayed especially for the emergency room workers for the the people who are with the dying hospitals with the convalescent care uh places the ambulance drivers the policemen the firemen all these different folks who are more likely to be with somebody when they're dying i want them to be people that are mindful of god that are not timid in that moment because i i i stood on the edge on the edge of eternity with my friend on the edge of eternity began to remind him of his purpose in life i believe the lord's going to raise him up but but the but apart from that on the edge of eternity reminding him why he's alive what he was bought for what his assignment is affirming that that place in christ that he is to give all for his wife was there she told me that she knows he heard because what i was praying for me opened his eyes and looked at me the whole point is is eternity is a long time and it's not a position that's paranoid it's not fear-based it's it's my goodness we we love people we love people we love people it's it's it's the it's the lepers that that went into the enemy's camp if you remember the store in the old testament and the enemy god had driven the enemy away and there's all these riches there's all this food and they've been starving to death and the people the city they were from is literally starving to death and they're eating all this food and they said wait a minute this isn't right we can't enjoy this all for ourselves we have to go back and let the city know what we found and so they run back as old testament evangelists and they tell them that there is a meal waiting for them and they can go and have as much as they want and that's the gospel that's what we do we take this this incredibly good news this joyful news of a king and a kingdom where there's true forgiveness of sin fresh start an empowerment to live entirely for him this living offering where we get the privilege of worshiping god and loving people and and and making a difference and and increasing the size of the harvest it's not about membership at bethel it's it's not even about you and me being able to put another notch on the back of our bible has nothing to do with that it has to do with he is worthy of a sizable harvest that moravian phrase to win for the lamb the reward of his suffering this is why we're alive if it wasn't for that one thing jesus easily could have just caused us to breathe our last the moment we received christ take us to heaven for our eternal reward he is looking to see the glory his own glory manifest on the earth with a harvest that is appropriate to him one last uh illustration how many of you remember where you were when you heard the iron curtain fell in the in the soviet union i was actually you know i was actually in reading but i was pastoring weaverville we were down here with a group of men we were doing a men's retreat staying at one of the local hotels and i remember going into into my my bedroom at the hotel and seeing on tv these people pouring by the thousands pouring through this place in the iron curtain in the the that wall but divided east and west germany there was a section of the wall that was taken down and they were pouring through by the hundreds and and actually by thousands uh through that through that gap in the wall and they were they were singing they were all singing this song this is the day that the lord has made let us rejoice and be glad in it they begin to sing this song these hundreds of people are pouring through this gate and they're singing they're singing this incredible song this is the day that the lord has made let us rejoice and be glad i come to find out sometime later that at that very place where that section of the wall was removed uh the the symbol of division between us east and west germany when that that was removed the night before there had actually been a very significant and powerful prayer meeting at that place that actual place in the wall there was a gathering of believers the night before and that's when it broke loose man you never know when your next prayer is going to be the prayer that brings breakthrough that's so these people who had probably gathered for who knows how many years but they prayed again and it was it was liberty came during that that period of time i remember myself i ministered a bit in in europe but i remember going through different parts of europe and i even remember making the announcement i believe the iron curtain is going to fall you know no ism can stand against christ and whether it's communism or socialism or any ism that people come up with nothing can stand against the power of the gospel and you know it's the kind of thing you say that's absolutely true and it gets a lot of amends but it doesn't always give preparation here's what happened this iron curtain fell and right previously a couple years before this removal of the iron curtain prophets prophetic communities had been announcing that the iron curtain was going to fall and that's the kind of thing everybody would say a man to but nobody was preparing for there was not money set aside there were not laborers ready to go in the moment the iron curtain fell it was none of that stuff it was it was all in concept yes we agree amen but but no one was ready to go as a result when it fell all the missions organizations began to put their reserves together their finances together started training people and of course flooded as much of the country as they could emit quickly with with the ministers of the gospel and it was wonderful it was beautiful but the problem was they had been reduced from prophetic timing be alert and ready to natural timing when the iron current fell so what's the result they prepared themselves and got ready so did the mafia so did the various cults they all got reduced to natural timing and not till the prophetic time do you understand what i mean what i'm saying by that that they weren't ready to go in the moment it fell they got ready the moment it fell which means so did every other lie every other cult every other group and the lord gave the advantage the insight to the to the church to be ready for this invasion of the gospel we have heard for 20 years 20 years ago it was first brought to us that there would be a 1 billion soul harvest and it's the kind of thing we say amen to it's kind of thing we're excited for us the kind of thing we go boy that's right that's what's going to happen but the point i want to make is i don't want to make the same mistake as was made all those years ago with the sergeant union when the word of the lord comes forth it means i must position myself for what god just said i must be about the father's business i must be in the harvest and pray for the harvesters what's happening right now in various places around the world i've never seen anything like it's it's been common in christian circles especially the or organizations that i work with around the world various ministries of streams of churches and missions organizations europe has has all but been given up by many of them is the dark continent now and yet something is exploding there that is so amazing they said it couldn't happen and it's happening just a couple of weeks ago ben fitzgerald one of our own and and but we're in austria and thousands of believers are on the streets sharing the gospel people are getting saved people run in this large literature and run from the back all the way to the front just to meet this jesus and to come to christ there is this thing they said it couldn't happen not in places like that in germany a few years ago nuremberg they they they chose that place because that's the place where hitler announced his his thing and they wanted to go right back to the root of that movement and and see a redemptive turnaround where a generation be raised up not to promote nazism but the gospel of jesus and something has happened in germany since that event something's happened and it's rippled through various parts of europe and it's what's happening right now is absolutely stunning it's the beginning of the billions of totally it's already started but let me tell you there's not enough room in all the churches in the nation to contain what god wants to do we've got to we've got to think different we've got to position ourselves better it's not just sending them to a discipleship class as much as i believe in those it's you the believer caring for the new believer discipling teaching them everything you've learned this is the privilege of the gospel and the billions old harvest has started and i don't want to stand in heaven looking at what could have been possible so many years ago wrote a song it was actually i think a part of a chapter in a book or a poem or something you know somebody else put a song to it but it basically came down to this said some people want to live within the sound of chapel bells but i want to run a mission a yard from the gate of hell yep right on the edge time eternity right there right there it's worth it pray this with me father god let's pray this together father god i receive the privilege i receive the opportunity i receive the assignment to be a harvester and to pray for harvesters give me your heart your eyes your touch to redemptively see the most broken situations in life turned around for the glory of god we say yes to the billion soul harvest increase our capacity to be in the middle of what you're doing that the lamb of god would receive the reward of his suffering [Music] amen amen amen thanks for listening to the sermon of the week this weekly podcast is being translated into multiple languages please visit podcasts.ibethel.org [Music] you

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Id: hn6T1XLNjz0

Length: 81min 52sec (4912 seconds)

Published: Wed Sep 15 2021