Bill Johnson Sermons [September 15, 2021] | Waiting on God's Timing

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 right i want you to open your bibles to uh matthew chapter 16. uh last week i i had uh the chance to talk uh to you and talked about uh prayer and some things that are pretty critical for us and um and i postponed something that i'm going to uh begin to try to crack open today uh for those of you that did uh are are study our small group study on my book way of life you will have touched upon this subject in that book i think one of the most important books of this era is a book by a dear friend ed so so called ecclesia e-k-k-l-e-s-i-a ecclesia and it's it's a profound insight in scripture and a profound strategy for bringing transformation to this world i i i in some ways i feel like it's the most important book of this era of this particular period of time and uh and he's stirred up some stuff we we have i think most of us have grown up in an environment where we knew that the church was not a building we knew that church was much bigger and different than that we knew i grew up my dad sang all the time the church is in the building it's not a denomination it's it's none of that it is actually the people of god that have gathered together in his name but there are some very specific things that if we have them in mind as we do life uh it changes everything for example the great commission go into all the world preach the gospel did you know that the active verb in that verse is not go it's actually to disciple the word actually the act the word actually means as you go in other words you're going to be going here and there throughout life as you go do this it's already determined you're going to travel on vacation to the city it's already been determined as you do business you'll be dealing here and dealing there it's already determined that your life is one of going so as you go do this and when you see the weight of authority and responsibility that god puts upon the people of god i don't know what happens to you when i realized oh this is my responsibility suddenly i become very sober minded about what i the opportunity that is before me um i i live with a i think a fairly heightened sense of responsibility and um and i i pray that over every one of us that not the burdensome kind but the challenging kind the invi the invitational kind that says here god says this belongs to you now go occupied go take care of this and and that's kind of the mandate we've been trying to live for goodness 20 some years now and uh and we we keep uh trying again and learning another lesson and coming coming from different staff members another layer of this truth upon another and so anyway um this is uh this is what's on my heart today i believe that the lord is uh i'm going to use the word force it may not be the kindest word but work with me he's forcing us to learn the strength of the church he's forcing us to learn where the strength is i love the large gatherings i do i've i've been you know i've i've ministered in groups up to goodness i think sixty or seventy thousand that's fun i love when we get together just getting a thousand crammed into this room and overflow and i mean i love it i just love that i love i love all those kinds of things but what's happening right now is the lord is forcing us to discover the strength of the church is actually the two or three gathered in his name the strength of the church the large gathering i believe is critical i believe it's very important it creates identity which is huge we belong to something that is bigger and more significant than our little world of influence that's important there's also a prophetic sense of direction that is given in the corporate setting that i never hear in the smaller setting i'm not saying it can't happen it's just there's something about people coming together in large groups with that prevailing word over a group of people that there is that there's that prophetic sense if you will of this is the mandate of the lord upon us i know for me since i was um since i first started in ministry i i remember going to to weaverville in 1979 i remember we had a little business card i was on staff here with my dad here for five years and i remember when i went up there i wrote a little note on the back of my business card from bethel i just put this note and i kept it on my desk for i i think just about all of the 17 years that i was there i kept it on my desk and it said whatever feeds me feeds them so the responsibility was for me to we be well fed into the things of god and then give away whatever he gives me but make sure that process is through through my lifestyle first through my own experience through my own devotion to christ let it filter through that and then offer that to the people that you love and care for and serve matthew chapter 16 we're going to actually read a little bit out of here and we'll jump over to chapter 18 and we'll i think we'll end up in john 15 just to keep you busy matthew 16 verse 13. when jesus came into the region of caesarea philippi he asked his disciples saying who do men say that i the son of man m so they said some say john the baptist some say elijah others jeremiah or one of the prophets and he said to them but who do you say that i am simon peter answered and said you are the christ excuse me you are the christ the son of the living god jesus answered and said to him blessed are you simon barjona for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you but my father who is in heaven i also say to you that you are peter and on this rock i will build my church and the gates of hades shall not prevail against it and i will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven let me take verse 19 again the new american standard says this so much better and it's a footnote in my bible it says whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven a much more consistent translation with the way jesus taught and lived is whatever you bind on earth will have been bound in heaven whatever you loose on earth will have been loosed in heaven it's it's it's it's mirroring that reality here and that is the overall theme of jesus when you pray your will be done on earth as it is in heaven your kingdom come you will be done on earth as it is in heaven so the backbone of the commission for every believer is learning how to partner with god to bring the reality of his reign his dominion into the specific areas of our human experience and so um let's go back through through this uh particular portion of scripture so i'm going to read that verse again but i'm going to read it the way uh i think it should be written how's that um let's go right to verse 15 who do you say that i am peter answered and said you are the christ the son of the living god jesus answered and said in blessed are you simon barjona for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you but my father who is in heaven this wasn't a slap or a put down jesus was acknowledging that he just heard well from the father he was pointing out i used to do this with with my kids my my kids would be playing on the floor and one of them would treat the other one with unusual kindness kindness and i would stop and say hey guys stop stop say eric do you know what that was and he would look at me like he was in trouble you know and i said son that was a fruit of the spirit that was kindness and that's what jesus is doing here he's he's stopping the procession and he's saying peter you just heard from the father that's what it sounds like when you're hearing from the father blessed are you simon bird john for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you but my father who is in heaven and i say to you that you are peter peter is actually a word that means rock but it's a small rock and upon this rock that word is the massive rock i will build my church i personally i do not believe that peter was the rock that the church was founded on it was an illustration the rock it was founded on is verse 16 you are the christ the son of the living god it's the revelation of jesus as the messiah the son of the living god that is what the church is actually built on it's built think about this the church is built upon revelation the essence of your faith is that you heard god speak and you responded there is no salvation apart from hearing god speak people say i just don't hear from god well well you must have heard something because that's how you got born again it's the only way you can get in is there's an acknowledgement that god has spoken i am convicted of sin i i am he's given me a gift to turn from this way of life to follow after him and it's that invitation if you will or compelling exhortation by god that enabled us to turn in faith to him every every part of our life is hinged upon that willingness and ability to hear from god and every time we say i just don't hear well we're shooting ourselves in the foot instead of acknowledging what we do well we point to what we don't do well i don't hear as good as this person this person has open visions this person has the slightest impression i just don't hear that well well you must have heard something because you're alive man does not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of god there is life continuously flowing in us and through us because we hear from god it would be much wiser for us to say i hear from god but i'm but not as good as i want to i'm improving i'm on a journey to increase my capacity my ability to perceive when god is speaking it's a whole other subject but his first language is not english or spanish or whatever else other language you speak there's this whole world of impression and and pictures and and things that are that are otherworldly which is his language and it's how he actually teaches us how his world works another subject but you get the point so here this revelation of jesus as the messiah is the foundation for the church but look at verse 18 again he says upon this rock i will build my church and the gates of hades shall not prevail against it i never heard anybody say that the gates here were the gates of the church that kept us protected from the devil but somehow when i grew up that's how i saw the verse i i saw that god is going to keep our gates strong and keep us protected from that big bad devil that's outside trying to break inside the church and steal and kill and plunder and do all the stuff that he does and that's not it at all it's the gates of hades that will not prevail in other words the demonic kingdom and gates in scripture refers to positions of authority so we're not just talking about gates like to a city or something that get torn down so we take the enemy's possession that's uh that's figurative but it's it's in the picture but it's the gates of a city is where the authorities of the city would be seated they would be sitting there to make decisions so when we talk about the gates of hades we're talking about the hierarchy the ephesians 6 principalities and powers we're talking about the hierarchy of this of the world of darkness will not be able to stand against what against this prevailing group of people i'm just going to throw in here something that is probably worthy of studying at another time please notice it doesn't say gates of hell we actually talk about hell as a place where the devil reigns from or rules from or or has influence from hell is his place of eternal punishment it's his place of eternal punishment it's technically it's not it's not you know the gates of hell will not prevail it's it's this realm of darkness that cannot withstand against a church that responds to the assignment and the call that god has given and where we function as he has assigned us to function and in these verses he gives us the beginning strategy if you will on bringing transformation to the world around us so here we have will not prevail against at verse 19 i will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven and whatever you bind on earth will have been bound in heaven whatever you loose on earth will have been loosed in heaven this is a very significant assignment that jesus now gives to every single one of us as individuals now jump over to chapter 18 and the subject matter in chapter 18 is actually correction for people who will not repent and it's actually given in that light but there are principles in these verses that i would like for you to grab hold of because they are they are they go far beyond the immediate application he says in verse 18 again i say to you whatever you bind on or shall have been bound in heaven whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven again i say to you and here's our verse if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask it will be done for them by my father in heaven verse 2 20 for where two or three are gathered in my name i am there in the midst all right so here's the deal when the lord said i will build my church he did not use a term that would have been very uh commonplace for the jewish culture that this was taking place in it was not a synagogue nor was it a temple the word is ecclesia it's very important boring for a moment but stick with me ecclesia is a group of two or three people that are citizens of a particular country or government and whenever they gather together they actually represent the government of that country they are from so if you have roman citizens that are in greece and uh they get together and they are they work together say at a bakery and they get together at lunch and they talk together they are actually representing the government of rome that's actually the term that is used here jesus used a secular term he was he was known for using secular concepts i don't think he was borrowing from the secular world i think he was taking back what he inspired them to think and to do in the first place and he he did this by using the term apostle which was a greek and eventually a roman term he did the same with ecclesia these are secular terms these are secular terms that refer to a gathering of two or three people that have the authority to make governmental type decisions and so when jesus uses this term ecclesia he's actually using a secular term that everyone in that known world would be aware of because it was a part of their culture so he says when two or three of you gather i am there in the midst so here's the deal the presence of god is the mark of divine authority the presence of god the manifested presence of god upon a couple a married couple the presence of god that rests upon that couple in unity before christ they carry a governmental responsibility to represent him and to bind here what is not free to rule there and to lose here what is already loosed there it is a god-given mandate and responsibility it is it is the backbone of our dis of our assignment to disciple nations it is a very specific responsibility it is not this is not peripheral this is not uh you know extra you know like you you buy a car and you you want something extra on it why i want the one with the sunroof this is not this is not extra this is the heart and soul of how you and i were designed we were designed and assigned by god to be on this planet as citizens of another world and as citizens of that world i'm to look for the one or the two others with whom i can meet and come into a place of agreement so that the manifested presence of god would settle upon our gathering together and then in that position we make decisions that actually shape the course of history now in john 15 this i i've been messing with these verses for so long i i don't know if you're tired of hearing me talk about them but john 15 is uh provokes me because i do you ever do this do you ever read a portion of scripture that blesses you so much but you know you don't get it yet yeah that's that's kind of how i approach the subject of abiding in christ is i i know i get it and i know i don't know what i'm talking about i i know that i have experience there and i'm so thrilled with what i've experienced but i also know i'm in preschool and i have barely started this journey and that's how that's kind of how i feel with this whole subject so just take one verse the entire 15th chapter is worth the read but we're just going to take the one verse if you verse 7 if you abide in me my words abide in you you will ask what you desire and it shall be done for you goes on to say by this my father's glorified you bear much fruit the fruit in this context i believe is answers to prayer so i owe god answers to prayer the lack of answers to prayer is not on his end of the equation the lack of answers to prayer are on my end of the equation and it is connected to my ability and willingness to abide the felt presence of god is the absolute key to continuous answers to prayer and living apart from that doing our best to mimic god's will doing our best to pray for things that we think ought to happen it's not that the prayers are wrong it's not that what we have requested is is against his will it's just we're we're missing the strength of abiding when you have the manifested presence of god upon you on jesus and you come before the father with request there is this clout if you will that we have been invited into abide in me let my words abide in you what is that it's the acknowledged felt presence of god and it's not just a recognition of the almighty god being here but is it is my engagement with him abiding is an engaged participation with a person there is this there is this encounter there is this exchange there is this fellowship there is this intimacy there's a connection that is otherworldly and in that connection i am positioned to think different to feel different to see different and i'm sitting here with another brother a sister family member whoever whoever and he says in that context the weight of the government of my world is upon your shoulders and for that reason you can bind anything here that's already bound there in that position we're much more prone to see discern the reality of that world we do okay with binding here what's already bound there we do because we know for example that somebody demonized we know that that that doesn't exist in heaven we know that uh somebody addicted to alcohol or or drugs or whatever we know that doesn't exist there so so we we know the devils work well we know what it is to bind we know that if there's death lost destruction we know that's the devil's fingerprints and so we know all right this addiction has to end so you pray for your cousin or whatever that that is addicted to drugs you pray we bind hear what is already bound their addiction does not exist in heaven and we pray i remember one sunday night we had this uh it was a fairly quick altar call about 20 people as i recall came forward and they stood right here and we just prayed uh they responded to an invitation to get rid of addictions and we prayed this corporate prayer over them i don't recall i don't think there was any laying out of hands we just prayed over the group six months later one of the indian individuals came to me and said do you do you remember when you had that uh invitation for uh for for prayer concerning addiction i said yeah i do he said well me and another person both have been addicted to heroin for over 20 years and we were both instantly set free that night in a corporate prayer we sometimes we have degrees of difficulty in our mind that he doesn't have in his you know this this one's easy this one's hard it wasn't any harder for god to set two people free of heroin addiction in a moment probably a five-minute moment of prayer wasn't any more challenging for him than it would be to bring encouragement to somebody who was discouraged it's all in his wheelhouse so to speak so what we do is we bind here so you're praying for that relative of yours or or a close friend or whatever that has that addiction we're binding here what has already been there we're familiar with that responsibility in measure our problem is on the other side of the responsibility we're supposed to lose here what is already loose there and without heavenly encounters and heavenly experiences and heavenly perception we have no idea what we're supposed to release in the place of what we just bound the whole concept is i'm removing something and i'm replacing it jesus taught this in the gospel of luke when he said when a house is clean and swept it's got to be filled with something or the enemy comes back seven times worse so sometimes we we have this we have a perpetual problem because we bind but we don't replace how do we know what to replace it's you know it's not uh forgive me for the hunting analogy but a flock of ducks go by a lot of hunters just shoot at the flock you don't get anything that way you have to pick one out it's not it's not guesswork it's very specific very strategic addressing an issue replacing it there has to be ongoing increased understanding of how his world works and what our responsibility is we are not leisurely coasting downstream we are aggressively going upstream against the tide because we represent another world and we continuously run into things that he has nothing to do with they don't exist in heaven and sometimes you'll see a dear friend of yours a part of the very thing that doesn't belong here sometimes i'll see a well-meaning believer a part of something and they have no clue most of the time i feel that my responsibility is just to go behind the scenes and pray and try to break that thing because if they saw the spirit that was behind what they said yes to they would never participate but generally a debate doesn't convince anybody it's better that if you see there's a demonic power behind something love the person but get behind the scenes before god and bind and lose if you can see with me i i don't think it's uh uh i don't think it's a careless joining of unique scriptures matthew 16 matthew 18. both carry the theme whatever you bind here has to already have been bound there but then the loosing the increased heavenly perception where does that come from well i think there are unique experiences that people have before the lord i'm actually reading a book right now in heaven that it's just mind-boggling that i i love so much when i'm when i'm finished i'll tell you what it was maybe if i remember i i love seeing glimpses of how he works how he thinks how his world works because every glimpse of his world of his ways and then his world equips me to release his influence in the earth see there's a lot of people that think his influence in the earth is going to be when he returns and it'll be this military invasion who knows what that's going to look like all i do know is that i have the assignment now he didn't give us authority to keep us busy till he returned he gave us authority to make a difference in the world we live in and most of the stuff is not dealt with face to face with an individual i'm not saying avoid conversation all of that i'm just saying so often the powers that be are demonic realities that are surrounding an issue and that's where we go to battle that's where we get on our knees that's where we make prophetic decrees we are not fighting against people every one of us have had a bad idea at some time and we actually partnered with the enemy and not with god every single one of us and probably most of us more than once or twice and somebody was merciful to me so let's let's let's show the same mercy the enemy is not people the enemy there are powers behind realms of thought there are powers behind they're behind even geographical areas i don't want to get weird and spooky on you but i'm just telling you there are certain places they are dark in that area because there is an individual that has partnered with the demonic realm at such a level that that thing has to be broken over that person's life you see it with the man of the gadarenes jesus brought deliverance to this one guy actually some of the gospels say there was two the point was they got free jesus brought deliverance to the one the people were so freaked out it says it says that this demoniac you know he had so many demons that his demons were possessed you know he was he was set free it says he was clothed and in his right mind and the city was afraid as long as the guy's writhing you know and breaking chains and running around naked everybody's fine but somehow when he gets freed people get concerned you know it must be that cult it must be that church down the road [Laughter] and it says the people they were afraid because there was a power that operated outside listen every people around you don't mind a god who looks like them they will try to reduce the nature of god to their nature instead of having a god you must give an account to and the responsibility in this moment as jesus brings a deliverance to this guy the city gets afraid and it says they chased jesus and his disciples out of the area sometime later it says that when jesus came back to that area every person from every village came to hear him speak what happened there was one credible witness one person upon whom the kingdom had come something was bound something was loosed he was a living illustration of what that world looks like he had sanity he had engagement with people he was a different person and when that leaven was put into the lump of dough that entire region that had rejected christ when that leaven was put into that lump of dough when jesus came back they all wanted to hear what he had to say because something was bound and something was loosed david made this statement he said he said daily i set the lord before me it's a strange statement daily i set the lord before me well just so you understand you can't grab a hold of god and put it where you want he wasn't saying that i believe what he is saying is since you can't imagine a place where he isn't you might as well imagine him with you is he everywhere yes that means he's here what is abiding in christ it's acknowledging the presence of god who is with you to a point of engagement relationship awareness something happens in that heartfelt connection with the presence of god the spirit of god who is with me and will never leave me something happens in that heartfelt connection where i i live more aware of what he wants i live more conscious of his will the way i like to describe it as i live more aware of his mood and i don't mean he's he's moody in some temperamental way i mean i just mean i i live more conscious of his mood of how he feels about a given subject about a given person we've talked before about i i remember years ago somewhere as not that long ago maybe three years ago now i i was looking through a magazine it had all these different conferences in this magazine and i don't it was horrible when i got to the end of the magazine i realized that i had skimmed over every conference because i just i looked at the speakers that were in the conference with almost a disregard and i thought that kind of um complacency of heart towards another brother in the lord is not healthy so i actually went back to the beginning of the magazine and i slowly turned the pages until i came to a conference i looked at each speaker just took me a while i took i looked at each speaker until i could feel the pleasure of the lord for that individual when i could feel the pleasure of the lord for that person then i turn the page and go to the next one feel the pleasure of the lord when i did something changed in my perception i found that i was can i say it this way i was careless i'm embarrassed to even say it i was careless in my attitude towards those who were not a part of our stream it wasn't it wasn't a conscious thing that was i didn't know it was there tell it until it surfaced as i was looking at these speakers and i felt so embarrassed and ashamed in a sense i knew enough to not think critically but the answer to not being critical was just to ignore and that's not kingdom see the opposite of love is not hate it's complacency finding that that pleasure if you feel you can sense that that heart of god for any given issue it may be a politician it may be somebody who's completely opposed to anything you think and and their decisions or whatever you take just that extra moment to realize here is someone made in the image of god i have the responsibility to treat them as one made in the image of god policy issues those are other issues they cannot color my approach or value prayer felt value for an individual it's a deception the religious spirit the political spirit are both vying to capture our emotional condition or both vying for influence to to influence my perception of people of groups of people to discolor so because if if a person if there's a person i find repulsive to me or i want nothing to do with then we've just cut off my ability to demonstrate the love of christ and and he didn't say bill you're assigned to a few and you can be mad at the rest you know you love this person love that person but you can hate everyone else it's just silly it's the fact that whoever he puts me before i have to be able to honor and to celebrate so here we have this responsibility jesus said the ecclesia the two or three people the work down here at such and such a grocery store they take their lunch break together when they come together in jesus name in that lunch room and they have this predetermined idea we will partner together for the invasion of god's blessing and presence upon this business that i don't own a business that i am here is a representative of another world the government of god is resting upon the two or three but not just the government the governor the one who runs the government is with us as we gather if we had just a heightened awareness of purpose and the reality of presence we would live think and pray differently our decrees would be much more intentional our decrees our pronouncements our prophetic uh words that we release would be much more anchored in a faith that sees a possible outcome paul in romans 12 talks about talks about people who would prophesy according to their faith faith is supposed to be the guiding the guiding power if you will behind the prophetic faith by faith i see what isn't naturally visible so i'm perceiving something that isn't yet but it's about to be because i'm about to speak it i'm about to declare it so you take the ecclesia you take the two or three and maybe a husband or wife in our homes i would encourage you that has a facebook page it's actually it's not about his ministry it's just the ecclesia everywhere i think it's called ecclesia everywhere and then there's going to be a website and you just sign up and say you know what my house is in ecclesia my place of business isn't ecclesia you just sign up let them know that there are thousands upon thousands and i hope eventually we get well over a million all scattered all over this nation and says you know what we're tired of letting the enemy have his way we are here representing another world god himself the governor of that world is here present with me and he says if i'll just connect my heart to him and i'll live aware of him and i'll let his the words that he breathes infect my soul until i think what he thinks i want what he wants i dream what he dreams and as that abiding presence becomes that kind of an influence in my conscious and unconscious mind i can ask anything anything anything god and you as a majority and in that gathering he says the gates of hades all the powers of health that are known for killing stealing and destroying they are no contest no contest we get so overwhelmed and impressed by the success of the powers of darkness not realizing that all it takes is two or three but look at the movements that are destroying this yeah yeah thousands and sometimes millions of people yeah but two or three god's there god's there and when god is there anything can happen to shift the focus the direction the flow of the life of an entire nation i i think we've probably known or thought or talked about some of these things for quite a few years so today what i'm wanting to do is have an altar call not where you come forward but where you just acknowledge my house is an altar my house is an altar my wife and i are kids we are in ecclesia we have made a covenant before god that we will learn to recognize his presence we will learn to flow from that presence my dream is to dream what he dreams my passion is to think what he thinks do you remember that passage in romans 8 it says all things work together for good yes shake your head yeah if you don't read your bible all things work together for good those who love god called according to his purpose great passage right before that the holy spirit intercedes for us right after that jesus intercedes for us that's why all things work and learning what they are praying is the key to our ongoing continuous breakthrough in prayer it is supposed to be that the will of god invades earth because we prayed why don't you stand i i know there are people that participate with us online i love this fact there are so many that join with us who are not a part of the bethel family we're just we're just glad you're here we we've got people all over the world that consider themselves we consider you part of the bethel tribe of the bethel family we're we're honored to join with you in any way we can but there are many who just for whatever reason maybe stumbled across us on a youtube channel or bethel tv whatever it might be and you are in this moment very much aware of your need for god and i believe that the lord jesus himself set the stage for you today to be able to step into life for the simple faith to measure faith that every person has been given according to scripture that that faith would be placed in jesus christ as lord as absolute savior and we've got pastors that are online ready to talk and to pray with anyone who would just simply express just write it in the chat box just say i want to know jesus i want to be forgiven of sin i want to be a disciple a follower of jesus because you were born for something much more significant than what you have known up to this point i remember many years ago one of our dear friends in weaverville chris and i were still in weaverville and one of our dear friends buck steele he's a what what a great man such such an unusual grace and gift on his life but i remember he prophesied once that there would be an individual from a particular city in our county trinity county that would be saved and that he would become a key to reaching many people in that city and he prophesied this word well he was at the office one day and we got a phone call from the sheriff's department and there was someone in the the cell the padded room who had just tried to kill himself and so buck was there i said buck you want to go down and pray for well buck never resisted a chance to go pray for somebody and to you know lead someone to christ or whatever so he went down there he did the most unusual thing he went down there and he found out this man is from the city i just prophesied about and that there was a key person about to be saved that would be key for touching that entire city and he came in with this word that this individual was chosen for such a time as this and all of a sudden a guy who wanted to kill himself suddenly realized i have purpose i have a reason for being alive i've got a reason for being alive i have a chance to have a relationship with god and that he would actually use me to impact an entire city that i live in how many know when you find purpose you don't want to end your life you want to start your life and that's exactly what anybody watching right now and everybody in this room this is it it's engaging with divine purpose there is nothing greater there is nothing greater so i encourage you online please just uh in the chat box do whatever but get help because there are people that would love you and care for you father i ask that there would be an impartation first for the realization of the presence of god second that in that discovery of your manifest presence upon us we would come to know more and more your thoughts your heart your mood what you feel about different things that this partnership with the almighty god and the two or three gathered in his name that we would see in this abiding presence the will of god being manifested on the earth in ways that have been thought to be impossible impossible until now incorporate us in this last days plan to demonstrate the presence and power and government of god into every aspect of society i pray this jesus wonderful and mighty name amen thanks for listening to the sermon of the week this weekly podcast can be heard in multiple languages on our betheltv 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] there we go well good morning nice to see you it is still morning beautiful when you are dead you do not know you're dead all the pain is felt by others the same thing happens when you're stupid [Applause] that was good [Applause] the flat earth society has members all around the globe first woman in space houston we have a problem what never mind what's the problem nothing please tell us i'm fine [Laughter] i asked my grandpa after 65 years you still call grandma darling beautiful and honey what's the secret grandpa responds i forgot her name five years ago i'm scared to ask all right last one last one pastor had dinner at the home of a couple in his church after he left the wife said to the husband i think he stole our spoon that bothered her for a whole year a year later the couple had the pastor for dinner again unable to resist the wife asked did you steal our spoon last year the pastor replied no i put it inside your bible [Applause] [Laughter] [Applause] well that just felt good to read i just i mattified just reading that one anyone who has what seems to be appears to be in a possible health condition financial condition or relational condition stand appears to be an impossible health situation financial or relational church family you guys know what to do by now these people need your prayer find out if it's one of the three all three whatever it might be and then just begin to pray and i want you to ask the lord to release a spirit of breakthrough upon them if you're sitting down those who are standing i want you to go to them lay a hand on them and begin to pray that a spirit of breakthrough would come upon them please don't leave anyone standing by themselves those of you who are watching our bethel family at home just make agreement with us for the ones here in the room but also your household your entire family line we just call right now for a great harvest of souls in family members the revival would spread from family to family as people are restored to jesus the financial breakthrough would come supernatural supply but also wisdom and favor for increase of income god we call for a spirit of breakthrough in the whole area of health just declare over them divine health is your portion divine health is your portion divine health is your portion now i want you just to confess this over over them as we pray i bless you in the name of the lord i call for a spirit of breakthrough to rest upon you your health your family your money in jesus name amen amen hug him do something nice then be seated love love love it all right if you'd grab your bibles please and open to the gospel of john chapter 15. the gospel of john chapter 15. this chapter is famous for two primary reasons one is this is the chapter where jesus says to his disciples i no longer call you servants i call you friends this is the chapter where he unveils that but the other is the first eight verses deal with a parable a metaphor an illustration not a parable an illustration of the nature of a believer in our relationship with god and he uses this terminology the vine dresser the vine the branches and fruit he uses those four things we'll read it in a moment but the vine dresser the one who owns the vineyard is the heavenly father jesus himself is the vine the people you and me we are the branches and the fruit is that which is naturally produced because of our connection to jesus no fruit tree no vegetable garden no vineyard groans and travails to bring forth fruit it bears fruit naturally if it is fed well watered well and pruned correctly god rewards all growth with pruning he rewards all growth with pruning pruning in the kingdom is not punishment people look at the discipline of god and they often assume that the discipline of the lord the pruning of the lord has to do with punishment and i say no that's not really right that's not really true well what about jonah in the whale jonah ran into the whale when he was running from the word of god the word of god is what prunes us the voice of the lord is what prunes let's go and read all eight verses and then we'll back up and and just try to go a verse at a time all right verse one i am the true vine my father is the vine dresser every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away every branch that bears fruit he prunes that it may bear more fruit he rewards all growth with pruning you are clean already because of the word which i have spoken to you abide in me and i in you as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine neither can you unless you abide in me i am the vine you are the branches he who abides in me and i in him bears much fruit for without me you can do nothing if anyone does not abide in me he is cast out as a branch and is withered and they gather them and throw them into the fire they are burned if you abide in me and my words abide in you you will ask what you desire and it will be done for you by this my father is glorified that you bear much fruit so you will be my disciples i don't know if this is just a portion of scripture i never ever ever get tired of because it's it seems to be this invitation into fruitfulness do you remember the story jesus used a parable actually of the landowner who gave his ten servants each a minor a minor is a sum of money then there's another story of three servants that received talents talent is not an ability to play the piano a talent also was a sum of money and in each case they were to invest that money to make a profit to give back to the landowner what i want you to see is that from the beginning to the end god created everything to be productive everything is to bear fruit by nature everything about our life is to be lives is to be productive and fruit bearing god is actually glorified by a system he created where a peach tree will grow peaches you eat the fruit you plant the seed and it grows another tree that brings more peaches that cycle of life of seed of fruit bearing of increase of productivity is the cycle in which god made everything his economy is linked directly to his voice which is not only all-powerful it is creative in nature and god spoke let there be light and there was light he spoke things into being we know that excuse me when he speaks to us today faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of god so his design is that everything would happen through the voice of his word in john 16 the very next chapter jesus describes how he has re-inherited everything the father has given everything back into his hands which is fascinating because he forfeited everything as god to become a man now he's still 100 god so some people misunderstand me at this point he's entirely god but he takes on flesh and chooses to live with the restrictions of a human being of a of a person although he's eternally god but in that position as a man now he re-inherits everything he already had everything as god but now he inherits everything as man why because he's our elder brother and he now gets to include us in the inheritance and in john 16 he says jesus announces all that the father has is mine now listen carefully and the holy spirit will take what is mine and declare it to you he's not merely making an announcement he's not just merely showing off what he owns he is transferring resource from a heavenly account into an earthly account and the transfer takes place whenever he speaks not only does god create not only does he transfer resource through his decree through his declaration but the bible says every molecule is held in place by his voice by his word everything is defined everything is empowered everything is created everything is sustained through his word so when we come to this story this illustration of us being a vine we have the father god as the vine dresser verse one verse two every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away every branch that bears fruit he prunes that it may bear more fruit once again he rewards all of our growth with pruning you are already clean verse 3 because of the word i have spoken to you can i think through this you are already clean so he's announcing to the guys he said listen when you bear fruit i got to prune it and i'm going to prune it because that way we'll get more fruit so you've got to see that the lord does everything for the purpose of increase the father is extremely focused on increase the story of the talents and the minors it was always about increase the minimum level of profit allowed in those two stories was 100 percent per year i'm just quoting scripture now two stories the prophet the two people in each story the one person in each story that stood before the lord in judgment was the one who buried what they have and the lord said if they only would have put it in the bank they would have at least gotten interest the whole point was i want you to see how god thinks he thinks in terms of increase he thinks in terms of things working to better to better life to bring increase to be productive the sun gives light gives heat the leaves of the trees give oxygen plants give seed to reproduce over and over animals the same thing god has created this cycle of increase in productivity and he has brought you and me into that life cycle of god himself with supernatural increase in supernatural supply so he has positioned us he requires us to bring increase but not increase that somehow we have to drum up it's simply increase that comes by staying attached to the vine it's normal he'll do the pruning you just stay attached you don't have to groan you don't have to climb i claim grapes i claim grapes i'm i'm confessing grapes right now grapes grapes are now going to grow i claim the grapes you don't have to do it you just have to stay connected it's the natural product he'll do the pruning you stay connected you will bear fruit or we're going to look at part of what that fruit is so he says you are clean already because the word i spoke to you the word clean there and the word prune of the basic same word so when he says to his disciples but you are clean already he is saying i've already pruned you how did he prune them by the word i have spoken to you the pruning wasn't with a hand it was with the mouth it wasn't yelling and screaming it was adjusting values so they could be more fruitful pruning their value system their interpretation of things for example luke chapter 9 is one of my favorite chapters for many reasons jesus sends the disciples out in ministry and they are very very productive they come back with with stories stories of of breakthroughs they saw miracles happen they had never seen except with jesus but never with them and now they actually saw through their hands through their words and they're beside themselves with excitement so they come back and they're very very enthused the very next moment you find them in a group without jesus there he walks upon the group and he says what are you guys talking about he already knew what they were talking about they were arguing as to who was the greatest some things that are in your heart will not be dialed up with failure and weakness it will only be dialed up through success i remind you that the hardest place to minister is at home and so jesus sent them home to minister because a prophet is not without honor except in his hometown if you can minister at home you'll learn to do ministry out of obedience instead of for applause [Applause] so jesus sends them home and they got breakthrough and they bring their reports back and the very next scene they're arguing is who is the greatest why because of their success it wasn't failure in ministry that caused that problem it was the fact that they were fruitful they had stuff happen they didn't think it happened to any other disciple because it was so significant through them it was hard for them to imagine john going i have my doubts peter saw what i saw happen in my town because they had this success it dialed something up so what does jesus do he talks to them about what greatness is what's the point people who hung out with jesus began to dream of personal significance in ways they never thought of before there's something about being with people that believe in you and jesus how much did he trust them he trusted them enough to turn them loose on their own cities having somebody believe in them stirred something up that was powerful and right it was a sense of personal significance and what happened they bore fruit what was the fruit they had the miracles they had the healings the deliverances they had these things there was accurate represent representation of jesus in those towns even though jesus didn't go there that's good fruit they came back together and argued as to who's the greatest that's not so good fruit what have you got you've got a big bunch of grapes here and you've got a branch and this branch is starting to grow where only leaves are going to be produced not grapes they're about to develop only in the look good looking good look at me look at my leaves look how good i look on the outside kind of a ministry when jesus wants them to be productive and so he rewards the the growth with pruning but here's what he does he points to what is developing in them that's not healthy does it make sense to you that every one of us have gifts that under the lordship of jesus bring him great glory outside of the lordship of jesus that causes great problems to take peter his boldness foot in the mouth disease all the times talking at the wrong time interrupting god all kinds of rebuking jesus that was my favorite one rebuking jesus because he realized he thought for sure he should not be going to the cross this is a bad idea so he rebukes the son of god that's that's all time classic and yet that same peter when it's under the lordship of jesus he stands before a crowd of thousands mocking the outpouring of the spirit and the end result is 3 000 people come to christ that boldness outside of the lordship of jesus caused him problems that boldness in the lordship of jesus brought fruit so jesus says all right you've got a branch that's grown here way past your ability to bear fruit we're going to cut that back and he says you see this child that is significance that's greatness in the kingdom and he prunes the branch back the very next scene the disciples are talking to jesus and they said we saw this group over here and they were trying to cast out demons in your name we told them to knock it off huh you see our wisdom of course you see our loyalty to the group right right it's it's jesus it's us 12 and you will change the world just 14 of us right here just don't die and their loyalty to the group was healthy in the sense that it was right it was good that sense of loyalty but loyalty to one in the kingdom never requires disloyalty to another that's carnal and natural loyalty that is humanistic loyalty that is not kingdom and so when they said we told them to knock it off jesus says no guys listen if they're not against us they're for us well that was a whole new concept if they're not against us they're forced so what did jesus do this is all right this loyalty thing is good you borrow good fruit we got good grapes growing here but this this little branch deal you got going over here is going to draw a lot of attention to yourself and it's going to create an atmosphere of loyalty that is not kingdom of god at all so we're going to prune this thing right here and he says if they're not against us they're for us and he prunes the branch he sets them up to bring tremendous increase the next story is my favorite though james and john had a brilliant idea they uh they they and the guys try to pass through a certain town and city of the samaritan samaritans did not want these guys in their town and wouldn't let them come through and john comes to jesus and he says uh now you know john is coming to jesus because he thinks jesus is going to like the idea are you with me on this he's thinking he's going to be impressed with my zeal he's he's going to love my zeal and my intensity and my focus i'm about to bless jesus so it comes to jesus and he says some of us have been talking and if you just give us permission we would love to just call down fire on this entire city and kill everybody in jesus name of course we'll give you all the glory [Laughter] well it sounds so funny to say it that way but that's what they're asking they're actually calling down want to call down fire to kill the whole city so i've got to ask myself the question what kind of meetings did they have in their hometown to think they could pull this off i mean what in the world did they have happen when they preached in their own communities to think all jesus has to do is go good idea i'm with you that they thought they could actually call down fire and swallow up an entire city i don't know what kind of meetings they had but it must have been something but jesus looks at him and he says you don't get it i'm not here to take life i'm here to give life what is he doing here their sense of passion and zeal is good it's just misdirected so what does he do he says this branch has grown way too far in the wrong direction and he says here we're gonna need some real tight snippers on this one and he cuts it back by saying i didn't come to destroy life they came to give life he just positioned them for increase of fruit they had the right zeal they had a sense of significance they were committed to the journey they made a lot of mistakes but they're still saying yes a lot of leaders that see this kind of dilemma when they empower people and they make such messes just want to never empower anyone again the very first verse of chapter 10 that's the end of chapter nine the very first verse of chapter 10 it says and jesus gathered together 70 others also and empowered them to do the same now that's divine humor right there i don't know if you got it or not but that's divine humor that what would have made every one of us in the room nervous with the 12 jesus said man this is working so good let's add 70 more to the mix [Music] the whole point was is he was willing to make them successful to dial up issues that only he could take care of through pruning he didn't lower them he didn't belittle them he didn't punish them he instead spoke to the issue and as long as we are hearers of the word as long as we are willing for god to speak change into our life of course it's true he can add whatever circumstance to our life he wants to he's god but the point is is he puts us in position so that we'll listen in the belly of a well it was a good place to listen you don't have a lot to do but hang out wisdom just kicked in it's all right it happens every once in a while i just remembered a joke but i'm fighting i'm fighting the temptation but it's good [Laughter] uh yeah yeah well that's all right all right it's well what do you do if you're swallowed by an elephant you walk around till you're pooped all right wisdom just vanished it just vanished [Applause] you heard it first right here right here all right let's move on hurry before i lose it all together good on diverse five i am the vine you are the branches he abides in me i in him bears much fruit without me you can do nothing now jesus announces to you and to me that we can't do anything without him but ten chapters earlier he announced he can do nothing without the father all he's done is he's trying to bring us into the same place of dependency he lives in he has set the example he has modeled the lifestyle the value system and he's just working from day one to bring us into the same place of dependency because in the same way he could do nothing without the father that's how much he emptied himself he's still eternally god but he emptied himself to function as a human being dependent on the father in doing so he set an example and passed it off and announce this to you and me now you can do nothing what's that for he puts you in a position where you can do nothing and then he requires everything which means we're going to have to learn dependency to pull this off because he's expecting fruitfulness so what is my responsibility abide it stay connected just keep it protect the connection what about the fruit bearing don't worry about it he'll prune you you just listen listen to what he says the fruit bearing will be natural all right move on quickly and we'll try to wrap this up anyone does not abide in me verse six he's cast out as the branches withered they gather them throw them into the fire who is not abiding say it's a it's a branch all right when the branch is no longer connected it's just a stick it's no longer a fruit grump bearing branch so it has no value it's just put into a fire verse seven if you abide in me my words abide in you you will ask what you desire and it will be done for you when mary the mother of jesus heard of the angel's message over her son when the wise men came concerning what they had heard concerning the star in the east when they heard the prophetic words from anna and simeon she heard all these different words from god about her son the bible says she pondered these things in her heart what it means is she took these words she put them in a safe place and then would bring them out to re-examine and then return to a safe place it's a valuable thing to me when god speaks i don't paint it on the walls of my house i protect the word because it's got to be nurtured in a safe place it's got to be nurtured in the womb of my heart where i remember what god has said and i bring it out and look at it i have things that god has spoken to me 30 and 40 years ago i still bring out and re-examine them now put them in the safe place what did jesus say he says if you abide in me you maintain the connection and my words have a resting place in you then that combination of abiding the connection relationally and the connection with his heart and his mind you will naturally pray for things that the father will want to respond to and by those answers he is glorified because he created a system whereby you can be eternally productive he is glorified through fruit and in this particular verse the fruit is answers to prayer but he's not answering any whim because he refuses to answer any prayer that undermines my purpose i've also noticed the lord will actually answer the desire of an unbeliever before the carnal desire of a believer because the desire of an unbeliever can woo them into a relationship with him but if he emphasizes the carnality of a believer he emphasizes that which separates their heart from his he's looking for the relational journey where when he says amen to to the cry of our heart that relationship is strengthened it is enhanced what's supposed to happen in this walk with the lord is that desires are formed in us as the offspring of our walk with god that dreams and desires would form because of our time spent spent not just with a shopping list but spent with sharing the heart of god that's the context of friends he says i no longer call you servants i call your friends why because the servant doesn't know what the master is doing the servant doesn't get a picture of the behind the scenes this is what moves me this is what marks me this is my value system the servant doesn't get access to that stuff but the friend does the friend gets to see what moves him so we pray out of an understanding of his heart we we pray out of this great privilege to make cries in the earth that represent his heart well the word here anything you desire is two words in the new testament for will of god and one is uh that which is concrete it's established you can vote yes or no it doesn't matter it's gonna happen anyway it's like jesus is coming back well i don't believe it doesn't matter you don't get to vote [Laughter] your prayer has nothing to do with it your belief system has nothing to do with it he's just decided he's going to do it period is going to be done that's the will of god but there's another whole part of the will of god that is actually one of the ways it could be described is it's a dream or a desire a wish of god you say well he can pull off anything he wants he can force anything into being that he wants to but his dream is not the outcome his dream is the journey with yielded people that help to bring about the desired outcome he values the journey above the destination so he brings us into this relationship where we have the privilege privilege of lifting up the cry of our heart the will of god that which is set in concrete then there's the dream the wish you know in uh you remember what we call the lord's prayer really the disciples prayer because in it is the confession of sin and jesus didn't have any in that prayer our father who art in heaven hallowed be your name your kingdom come will be done that word will it's dream wish it's a prayer god we want your dreams yes we want your dreams to happen here just like they do in heaven there's no hindrance to your dream there but there is here it's called the will of man that you empowered and so it's a it's a mirroring of the heart of god i tell people half humorously all the time listen you tell me god doesn't hear you when you pray well talk to him about what he wants to talk about it's really good it's better than you thought it was it was really good [Applause] talking about he really loves the nations talk to him about it until his dream gets is your dream so that's the whole point is the interaction continues until we pick up his heart we begin to mirror back to him not as robots robots programmed to pray for specific things but as sons and daughters that learn what our destiny is all about and we lift up the cries of the heart representing his heart and there's something happening in that merging of hearts the marriage of hearts where the father becomes glorified because he delighted in your cry and he answers and it says all of creation celebrates that god created a system whereby a covenant people can make a difference in the course of world history a covenant people can have prayers answered and it is his delight to do so it's this by this my father's glorified that you bear much fruit and in this context the fruit is answers to prayer verse 16 says you didn't choose me i chose you appointed you that you should go and bear fruit interesting you've been appointed to bear fruit me too and that fruit should remain listen to this whatever you ask the father in my name he may give you what's the point the point is is he's trying to co create the relational connection between a yielded heart and a generous heart so that his purposes will be fully realized in the earth and all creation will celebrate his plan worked his plan worked broken destroyed hell-bent humanity redeemed and now they're making a difference in the course of world history we never thought it could work but it's working look they were forgiven and now they look so much like jesus this is amazing it's working all of creation groans and travails for the sons and daughters of god to release who they are and take their rightful place that is this purpose this prayer heaven is waiting to celebrate the answers to prayer but it's a result of not a request is the result of a yes to a journey may that increase on us a hundred fold beyond what we've ever imagined or thought ever heard of before i want to give one opportunity here if there's always a chance when there's a crowd this size that there are people here that don't know what it is to actually walk with god as a son or a daughter to god i don't know what it is to be forgiven don't know what it is to have said yes to follow jesus as lord as master you don't know what it is to be forgiven and yet i want to give you the opportunity before we do anything else if you'd say bill i don't want to leave till i know i'm at peace with god i'm right with god until i know that i've been forgiven i turn my life completely to jesus to follow him if that's you if you're in that place today and you'd say bill i don't want to leave until i know i'm right with god put a hand up right where you are because we're going to pray right down here wonderful anybody else right over here's another one beautiful over here anybody else wave your hand at me you see i don't want to leave till i know i'm right with god is that a hand back here [Music] we got so many worshipers i can't tell you know who's getting saved all right one one last crack at it anybody that i missed put a hand up because i want to make sure that every person you have i saw you right here so oh there's one right over here i missed you wonderful another one there thank you lord so wonderful i want to ask all of you to stand but hold your places please we've got a freedom banner over here all of you that raised your hand this is not about bethel it's not about joining any church in town it is about a personal relationship with jesus to know what it is to be forgiven i'm going to ask every person that just raised your hand please come quickly right now right over to my left to a trusted group of friends who want to talk and pray with you i would like ministry team people to come to the front quickly as well i want you to be able to come god bless you sir bless you bless you bless you right over here right over here right over here right over here right over here

Channel: The Teachings Of GOD

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

Id: O6V5IPDs070

Length: 85min 43sec (5143 seconds)

Published: Wed Sep 15 2021