Bill Johnson Sermons [September 19, 2021] | Start Trusing God

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 this is the second week of uh i think we're doing is it three weeks or four three or four weeks on the subject prayer i think it's a three or four anyway there's more coming my wife started last week with uh a message on prayer wonderful word and uh they asked if i'd do the second one and i i love uh i love so many subjects i perhaps the one that rocks me the most in some ways is the subject of prayer i when i was growing up in my uh coming into early adulthood uh late teens i i hated reading and i read one book my whole life through school i've i faked every book report i oh i did and i just i hated to read i read one book in the eighth grade how about a hot rod go figure i still remember details of that book that marked my life but i i remember um when i i said that abandoning all for jesus yes i became an avid reader immediately and which was a miracle by itself i remember i would consume books especially on prayer i remember reading i think it was seven or eight books back to back to back just just continuously read about prayer so prayer the whole issue of prayer the privilege of communing with god of praying making a difference in the course of history is a huge part of life so i have many things that i've taught on through the years some that i i kind of had three different things chosen to do this morning to see flip flip a three-sided coin to see which one to do um but when it came time to speak in the first service here i my heart was just just turning towards one thing and it's it's not a teaching as much as it is just a conversation it's almost in fact it feels like a fireside chat if we go outside it'll be absolutely like a fire site it is hot out there um i had an interesting experience here about a week or two ago and another experience a week or so before that let me just take you through them about a week or so ago i i i woke up in the middle of the night i don't remember now use a restroom or something i woke up but i began to ponder and think about a particular problem that concerned me and and if you're anything like me uh the wheels get going it's really hard to get back to sleep and so i was i was locked in awake mode and the crazy thing is when you start when you function like that all you're doing is messing with problems you can't fix you know it's just it's got to be the worst waste of time ever but anyway i i i was contemplating thinking about that i just couldn't get back to sleep and finally it was maybe 20 minutes before it was time for me to get up i dozed off and and it's when i woke at that moment i was to wake up when i woke up i immediately had this thought that my worship was replaced by worry worship was replaced by worry let me give you a context something that i learned to do uh quite a few years ago was um if i were to i've been asked like by our students and stuff what's the strength of my life if i were to reduce everything that i am and do down to one thing i would say probably the strength of my life is my affection for him it's my adoration because it it uh what happens is you find your heart just burning for him in ways that don't need works although i'm not going to say anything correctly so just get used to it now and sort out my words and make it make sense all right just help me out here uh it's it's not a song that i sing it's not my hands raised it's not kneeling it's just a burning heart for him and and the the king uh king solomon made this statement in a song of solomon he said in the song of songs he said though i sleep yet my heart is awake and a number of years ago i i learned that i could as i was going to sleep at night i would just lay there and turn my heart of my affection towards the lord and in that moment there would just be this engagement with him as just the sensing of presence and and there would just be then this engagement with him and i began to discover that you have a better day if you have a better night and uh and in genesis it says on creation it says there was night and day which made up the first day so biblically our day actually begins the night before that's when it starts as is that night so i i've been learning that um i just turned my affection towards him and in that place of a presence of such presence and peace comes over me it's just very easy for me to go to sleep and in that place it doesn't matter if i'm on an airplane or or if i'm at home in bed or you know a hotel somewhere that's what i do is i turn my affection towards him and just as soon as that presence begins to settle on me um just great peace i just go to sleep if i wake up in the night for whatever reason uh it's been i don't want to say it's 100 because i don't think i do anything 100 successful um but the majority of the time by far the majority of the time if i wake up in the night i instinctively instantly turn my affection back towards him and this particular night i didn't and when i got up in the morning i felt like the lord spoke to me and he said worry replace worship now i'd probably done that a thousand times in my life but it was the only time i had him actually speak into the situation that i recall worry replace worship it'd be like sitting at a table and sitting at a table of worship and instead i chose to give seat to fear to anxiety to worry all that stuff and it it you know when you have the lord speak to you things become clear that have been cloudy for ever and suddenly in that moment i knew and it helped me to understand something that happened a week or two before that if if you can imagine with me again i've already said i don't do this 100 percent of time but but it's it is dominant it's predominant part feature of my life is this a sense of of affection for the lord in the middle of day just driving down the street sitting in my office it doesn't matter when i just consciously will turn my affection towards him and he's such a lover he's just drawn to that and i don't know if he comes or if i go or if i just become aware i don't care i'll let the theologians figure it out right now i just enjoy turning my affection towards him and he will come and he'll he'll just rest upon me in it and make such a huge it's such a huge part of my life that burning affection for him i love that song by uh martin smith delirious my heart burns for you that's just that phrase is actually one of my favorite phrases in all literally in all of church history of of music that i've heard and if you can imagine doing that day after day after day for an extended season and then i remember i i woke up one day and it's very hard to explain to you how many of you remember when you were children uh small kids and you the first time you spent the night at somebody else's house and you felt homesick or you went to summer camp and you were just dying with homes i remember that maybe some of you are probably just glad to get out of the house but there was a few of us that struggled with homes chris was glad to get out of the house i was homesick so he never felt homesick all right well i have i woke up that morning this is hard to explain but let me do my best i woke up that morning and i felt homesick and i wasn't sure why in that initial moment i felt homesick just empty and i woke up and i began to ponder and think and i realized oh last night i didn't turn my affection towards him hard to describe were abiding presence actually becomes home abiding presence actually is like a room that you're in it's like it's like the place where you live i woke up with that homesickness feeling thankfully i could see it clearly so i knew what to do but the point i want to make is is something about this affection for the lord the subject for today is prayer so we'll get there but what i have found in my own personal life is that being a worshiper is what positions me to pray effectively i uh how many of you remember back in the caveman days when there was this thing called cassette tapes remember that and even before that eight-track and yeah all right but we'll just go to cassette tapes just i remember getting a cassette tape of a teaching by a great man of god named derek prince anybody remember derek friends great bible teacher especially from the 70s and um i remember listening to this this tape and in this tape he was talking about worship and prayer and he made this statement he said if you have if you only have 10 minutes to pray take seven or eight of them to worship and then he said you can pray for a lot of things in two minutes it's as crazy as it may seem that statement changed my life because it marked me it marked me with a value that if i have 10 minutes or i have an hour or two hours whatever it is if i at least have an hour that i'm going to take time to pray i'll take 40 or 45 minutes to this day just to worship because you can pray for a lot of stuff in a short period of time and i'd rather i would rather live from that connection of presence because something happens in in that in that moment something happens where you i don't know you subconsciously become aware of the heart of god it's not um i don't know i does anybody know what i mean when he's about striving in prayer you you strive to pray you strive praying and he's you know it's not that it's you just pick up the heart of god you find yourself instinctively praying his heart with insight on what he wants in this matter and sometimes our prayers are even shorter and briefer i i remember years ago i had i had purpose my aunt uh helen uh talked to me once and she said you should study the prayers of nehemiah and um and she called them rifle shots and if you go through nehemiah you'll find quite a few prayers in there but they were all one-liners you know when you're outside of that bubble of presence you pray along when you're inside a few words changes everything it's the effect of your prayer often times is the place that you pray from complaining is prayer in reverse complaining actually reveals that i'm losing the battle over my thoughts complaining criticism resentment all that kind of stuff it just reveals i'm losing the battle over my own thought life say this with me rejoice always pray without ceasing in everything give thanks for this is god's will say it again rejoice always pray without ceasing in everything give thanks for this is god's will that's first thessalonians um chapter 5 verses 16 17 18. let me read it to you the passion translation let joy be your continual feast make your life a prayer in the midst of everything be always giving thanks for this is god's perfect plan for you in christ jesus rejoice always pray without ceasing and everything give thanks any situation that i cannot rejoice in or give thanks in i'm losing the battle over my thoughts see one of the problems for us is that the angel comes to us as an angel of light okay look up here the angel of light what does that mean that means he will always come to us different than what he's trying to accomplish in other words he never comes with a red rubber suit horns and a pitchfork he comes for example a fence will come into a person's life because they think they're functioning in discernment many times people in prophetic ministry will be angry and bitter but they'll call it the burden of the prophetic it's true i'm so thankful for our team because they don't function enough but we have we have history been exposed to that for years and it's justified because the enemy has come in like an angel of light what happens for every one of us our gift will determine what we're most susceptible to but for every one of us the enemy comes as an angel of light trying to sneak something in to our our our place or our hearts sneak something into our heart that actually works in opposite of what we are buying into so this whole notion of being discerning i actually opened myself up for a spirit of offense and resentment and all those things are actually outcroppings of of receiving this angel of light so to speak what rejoicing and thanksgiving do is they completely dismantle that mindset they expose truly for once and for all the root system that the enemy has the the lie that he has used to persuade people to buy into a lie and rejoicing being able to choose joy what does it say rejoicing always pray without ceasing never think of things so we have joy and thankfulness sandwiches and effective prayer life rejoice rejoicing and thankfulness are absolute pure expressions of faith it's what sets us up to pray effectively is the fact that i'm in the middle of a conflict a situation i don't like i wish i could change but until i can honestly move into a place of absolute surrender and celebrate with joy and give thanks in the middle of what i don't like i am losing the battle over my thoughts amen bill that was a very very good point very good point [Applause] what happens to the person who who learns a lifestyle uh a man named a catholic priest from many many years ago called father lawrence wrote a book called practicing the presence and and his whole ambition was to stay conscious of god 24 7. he never claimed to have arrived to that but his point was is that whether he was washing pots of pans or he was in the prayer house praying his awareness of the presence didn't change and there's something about the the presence if you can look at it this way there's nothing in heaven that is separate from the presence of god yes so in essence god himself is the person of heaven and we are seated in christ it is a foretaste of eternity it is a foretaste i'm not saying he leaves us i'm not saying we leave him i'm just saying there are times where my affection my thoughts are anchored in things that are very inferior and it doesn't mean he's left me it just means i have i have i'm it seems that all the things that i am born for are out of reach in this moment until i repent and deal with these wayward thoughts and these wayward affections stepping back into that place it's not it's not guilt and shame that doesn't get me there in fact i i had a thought this last week that i've got to work on but um the thought is this we experience guilt and shame in the same measure that we over emphasize our role in our own conversion [Applause] we are susceptible to guilt and shame in the same measure that we overemphasize our role in our own conversion well i found god yeah yeah you actually didn't he found you first but i put my faith in christ that's right but he gave you the faith to believe him with everything the stager said he called my name i responded to his invitation he initiated i love god yes i do but he loved me first right and anytime we over emphasize our role in this equation we are much more susceptible to guilt and shame because it's a product of not being enough doing enough but this will sound kind of dumb but i i just in some way wish that that we were just known as the church of the burning hearts it's a dumb name but i sure like the meaning [Laughter] i'm already in trouble i don't want to change the name burning burning hurts but the burning ones the the people who who know how to just in that place of deep affection i remember back uh how many of you remember the energy crisis of the 70s when there's the long gas lines and all that well before that so it's this goes way back um i remember uh listening to a man speak he said his home he lived in a second his he and his wife their master bedroom was in the second floor uh second story of a home that they lived in and he said it just took forever to get the hot water from downstairs water hot water heater up to their bathroom and so what he finally learned to do was right before going to bed he would just turn the hot water on just a little bit so that it would just constantly stream water just very little bit all night long so that when he got up in the morning he could just turn that thing on and he had hot water instantly that's what a burning heart of affection is like you don't have to work your way into the presence to pray effective prayers you're you're there you're there why because you carry a burning heart of affection there's this there's this continuous stream of presence continuous stream of being one that burns for the lord it's it's not it's not a works thing although works come from it it's it's not performance thing it's it's not just singing the right songs and all that stuff it's just being conscious it's it's you do that for a week and you're homesick when you miss a day that's all that's all i know to say is you can tell you can tell because things aren't as clear in your mind things aren't as clear in your heart your understanding of scripture is not as sharp why because it's not something you did wrong it's not punishment it's not sin it's just we were born for the glory we were born for heaven that's what we're designed for [Applause] and all these little things that come in the offenses and questions and you know what if you have a problem with an individual get a breakthrough in thanksgiving you have a problem with somebody if you can't give thanks you're losing the battle and here's the cool thing you don't have to you were designed to win you're designed to win to give thanks in that situation the job you have is troubling to you you know what you can either be the victim of bad circumstances or you can be the victor you can be the person who turns it around literally through the simplicity of rejoicing and thankfulness just to give thanks consciously bringing someone to mind that you've had conflict with and giving thanks that god causes all things to work for good the lord i do i celebrate i honestly celebrate the fact that you're able to use anything that comes my way what i'll do is i'll actually look into that person's life especially when it has to do with believers i'll look into that person's life and find the gift or that thing that they were called to do that has made such a difference in my life or such an impact on this church or whatever it might be and just truly become thankful sometimes we're not thankful for people because we haven't stopped long enough to consider who they are in christ the bible actually says we're supposed to fear one another in the fear of christ uh to celebrate the value of a person my dad would have this statement that's honestly probably one of the most important things i've ever heard anyone say he said wash a person's feet until you know why they walk the way they do i remember being in a service not here it was somewhere else and i'm not going to tell you where but far away i remember being in the service and it was worship and it was the worship was great but there was just somebody close to me physically close it was just making all kinds of noise i found it quite annoying because they didn't seem to be singing the same song in fact i had this happen once in another country where the the gal would only sing in between the lines and would not sing the words and she had one of them piercing falsetto soprano voices and there were two teenage girls standing in front of her that were trying so hard to worship and then they would break down and laugh and then they would i watched the entire meeting they would fight their way back and they would worship god and then she was right behind her singing this false son of just piercing they would find themselves laughing and then they i mean they fought so hard i mean it was a well-fought battle they fought so hard when the worship was over i walked up to him i gave him both twenty dollars i said here you earned this one i did [Applause] [Music] [Applause] well it was one of those meetings and there was somebody over here that was just doing that doing that stuff and and i i i've been around this mountain enough i know it's stupid for me to think critical so i'm not going to think critical i'm going to press into worship i and i didn't have hard feelings i just wish she would stop absolutely true worship came to a close heidi baker standing standing uh just a few feet away she comes over she points to this woman she goes isn't that amazing and then she said 35 years as a prostitute and now she's free [Applause] all of a sudden all that noise that was annoying was a symphony [Applause] heidi took the time to wash her feet find out why she walks the way she does and that limp became beauty you know see it's it's that it's that heart of tenderness towards presence that that makes us more prone to that conclusion than all the others that we that we run into there's this crazy idea that the church is made up of mary and martha's and nothing would ever get done if it wasn't for martha's i mean remember that story mary sat at the feet of jesus martha was angry with mirror because she wasn't helping with the work so i've heard people say nothing would get done if it wasn't for martha's and i'm pretty confident it was a martha that made that up [Applause] i'm pretty confident a martha made up that statement to justify their reasoning for making sandwiches jesus never ordered see something happens in the glory this is absolutely true in the glory things happen at such a higher level and a higher pace and greater efficiency and effectiveness that you get done in one hour what might have taken days otherwise outside of the glory there's something about being a people that cultivate awareness of presence this glorious one that changes everything i know of situations where that glory has shown up without presence because of the affection the adoration of worshipers that affection just comes crashing in around a crowd of people that are literally surrounded by friends to kill them they are there to kill them and then that glory comes because there's these yielded surrendered hearts of lovers of god and that glory comes and this army that is surrounding them to kill them fall on their faces every one of them get up born again every one of them get up healed every one of them get up speaking in tongues every single person in this group why because something happened they could preach for 20 years and not get that conclusion but when the presence comes and that measure everything changes and it's the ambition should be the ambition of the burning heart the church of the burning hearts changing the name here it is right now just that's just between you and me church of the burning hearts [Applause] saint burning hearts no no something happens in the hearts of those who anchor themselves in that glorious presence i want to read a couple verses and then we'll wrap this up open to matthew 14. i've literally got just a couple minutes but matthew 14. it might be good to take a look at what impresses jesus do you remember the story of the centurion in the bible he has such clear understanding of kingdom authority and unusual faith that jesus stopped in his tracks and acknowledged his wisdom and his faith remember the syrophenician woman who was refused to be offended at jesus's comment that he couldn't give the children's bread to dogs she overcame offense and stepped into great faith jesus stopped and acknowledged that faith do you remember when jesus was ascending to the father his resurrection he was ascending to the right hand of the father to be forever with the lord on his way saw mary out of whom seven demons had been cast was at the tomb weeping and jesus was on his way to the father and he was so moved by her love that he stopped the procession and went and communicated with her for moments before he went to the father what moved him that love in john the baptist jesus was moved by the faithfulness of a man that would pour out his life for jesus to come on the scene and he said is the greatest of all the prophets when john the baptist is killed it's in chapter 14 of matthew it says herod sent in verse 10 and had john beheaded in prison verse 12 his disciples came took away the body buried it and they went and told jesus look at the next phrase when jesus heard it he departed from there by a boat to a deserted place we don't know what jesus is processing but we do know he had the same emotional framework that we have the bible says he was tempted in all points as we are yet without sin so there must have been some sort of a challenge emotionally mentally to this that he was facing that he saw this man that he had just praised three chapters earlier as the greatest prophet greater than all of them in the old testament he acknowledges his significance and now he hears that john the baptist has been beheaded it was so challenging that jesus the son of god sought for a place to get by himself the very next scene he's with a multitude and he multiplies the food they are all fed what does he do after that it says in verse 23 when he sent the multitude away he went up on a mountain by himself to pray what's the point in crisis get along with god in victory get along with god the very next story is it says every person that came to jesus that was able to touch his clothing was healed the very last verse of this chapter what's the point stewarding our moments we all know how to pray when we're in trouble we pray instinctively when there's a problem people that don't believe in god pray instinctively when there's a problem if you're up there right but not all of us get alone after a great victory and it's it's in those moments the metal that we are made of so to speak is formed and the great breakthrough came following that second time praying get along wonders victory it was in that next moment now anybody in the crowd that just touches cloth is healed it was such an extraordinary anointing that anyone that just bumped against him had access to a miracle it followed not prayer and trouble it followed prayer in victory i believe this heart of adoration that the lord is i believe wanting to impart for us today as a church family i know i've made reference to this uh for years so i i understand it's not new but i do believe there's an impartation uh today i i believe he he brought this to my mind because in declaring it there would be burning hearts all over this room that would find would find it easy to just turn affection towards him to anchor into that place of glory of presence in that place to draw from this wonderful wonderful god and from that place see effective prayers i want to shape the course of history with my prayers like you do but sometimes the strength of our prayer is actually determined by the place i pray from so father my cry for us as a church family my cries that you would impart a grace for this right now that we would find our hearts burning for you at the most unusual and sometimes awkward times sitting on the plane in the hotel at our neighbor's home wherever driving to get groceries just that we would be a people that just knew how to cultivate the burning heart of affection that refuses to be offended that refuses to embrace resentment all the stuff that just a people teflon people because our hearts are burning for you nothing sticks nothing of the inferior sticks to a burning heart nothing of the inferior sticks to a burning heart god i pray that you impart this grace to us today 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] welcome to the bethel church sermon of the week we hope you enjoy this message by pastor bill johnson for more information about this podcast and other resources visit bethel.com well uh this is uh i i just look forward you know we have eight regularly we have eight meetings a weekend and now it's reduced down to one and uh and we have the privilege of rotating uh as we always do but when you rotate one it's different than rotating eight so i i've gotta grab my moment here and uh and i am very thankful i get a chance to talk to you i actually had something that i was gonna bring today that i feel like is going to be key for us for the next probably 10 years it's a specific thing that i believe the lord is speaking into our lives and and i'll but i'll do that another time because i i really felt strong yesterday that i was to talk to you out of uh concerning the devil's strategies the devil is not one i talk about much and generally only long enough to put my crosshairs on him and pull the trigger he's not he doesn't fascinate me at all i don't study him i don't just i don't study his thoughts or ideas but uh but paul did say i speaking of the of the devil he says i don't want you to be unaware of him i don't want you to be ignorant to his devices and uh and so it's i think it's wisdom for us just to consider the devices the cool thing about this hour now this this hour that we're in is weird it's chaotic it's all the above but if you remember that the devil's strong suit is sitting in the back row of the church his last card if you will is to expose himself and right now he's fully exposed it's not his best card it's his last card remembering that will help us we know that the way the enemy dealt with adam and eve yes the temptation was to for partake of forbidden fruit but the real temptation came before that was to question what god said he started the conversation with has god said and then the way he um worked with jesus in the wilderness with his temptation uh the devil came to him and said if you're the son of god so the first thing was to cause people to question what god has said and the second has caused people to question their identity and if the enemy can get us to be weakened in either of those two things all the other tactics and tricks that he uses we become very vulnerable to now christ in us is more than sufficient to withstand any opposition persecution temptation anything but when we draw on strength other than christ then we make ourselves an open target and vulnerable it's the reason the apostle paul actually exhorted what i think is probably the strongest new testament church in the bible as the as the church at ephesus he warns them in chapter four don't give place to the devil so he's saying this to the most mature he's saying this to the most insightful and discerning their their record in revival their record uh in impacting culture i believe surpasses every other church in in the uh recorded in scripture and to them he says don't give the devil an opportunity don't give him a place don't open a door because he will take possession of that which you open the door to it's interesting we're going to look in nehemiah so if you turn to nehemiah chapter 4 we're going to start there we're going to read quite a few scriptures today so just to keep it open because i'm going to teach as we read but it's interesting in the story of nehemiah in the storyline there's a time in here towards the end of this incredible story let me give you a context ezra was all about rebuilding the temple nehemiah is all about rebuilding the walls of jerusalem israel had been taken captive their nations city of jerusalem had been destroyed they are now rebuilding under nehemiah's leadership nehemiah means the name means comforter so he's a tremendous picture of the holy spirit who leads us into restoration and they had been trying something for 70 years and failed and i forget 52 days or something like that under the holy spirit's leadership he brought them into wholeness so this is a very profound thing but one of the points of of a failure that the priesthood in israel had was at one point towards the end of nehemiah they there was a room where they kept all the sacrifices and they emptied that room out and they actually let one of the primary enemies of israel live in that room where did the enemy want to live where there used to be sacrifice anytime there is the absence of sacrifice there is an invitation for the enemy to occupy so we we look at these things through scripture and we find insights i i don't need to be devil conscious but i do need to be god conscious and remember the things that he values he values sacrifice he needs nothing that i have to offer him he doesn't need my skills he can do everything better than i can he doesn't need my money he doesn't need my time he doesn't need anything that i have to offer except my heart he wants that tremendously but out of that surrender to christ there is suddenly the discovery of purpose there's this interesting passage i just read this week i i may try to teach on it at some point because it really impacted me um uh while i was reading uh in proverbs chapter 24. in proverbs 24 it says this it says where there's wisdom there is a perception of the end of things the outcome okay where there's wisdom there is perception of outcome and when you have those ingredients you have hope now fear masquerades as wisdom but what is the fruit of fear it is not hope for the future the reason the prophets of the new testament romans 12 they were exhorted to prophesy according to their faith which tells me why there are so many destructive prophetic words released because of the smallness of faith i don't mean to be throwing stones i'm just saying let's draw a line here of understanding so we can see with greater clarity of thought and heart and mind to perceive what actually is coming to us from the lord and what isn't so nehemiah we're going to read out of two chapters that i haven't taught on for quite a while but i used to do every once in a while just because of the i love some of the old testament stories like david and goliath in these stories they are so clear they just you know they they help me they helped me by the way i read something from babylon b this week that goliath actually died from the coronavirus but i don't think it's true he came nauseated fell over and david cut his head off but i don't think that was true sorry that's a bad time for that joke sorry okay see if we can recover so here we are two chapters we're gonna read from chapter four in chapter six and these two chapters actually expose the devil's hand expose the devil's hand as clearly as any place i can find in scripture i don't know any story that more clearly unveils the cards the enemy is holding all right so let's quit talking and get into this all right so we have in this uh chapter we're going to go right towards the end and it says here in verse 15 it happened when our enemies heard that it was known to us that god had brought their plot to nothing that all of us returned to the wall everyone to his work previous to this nehemiah had given them an exhortation to fight the see the enemy was threatening to block them from building and to tear down what they built at the beginning of this chapter they mocked the people of god by saying even if a fox jumps on that wall it'll crumble down so this thing of intimidation through mockery is an ongoing tool if we become overly self-conscious we become overly sensitive to that mocking spirit because we will concern ourselves with how we appear to someone else even what you're building if a fox should jump on it it'll crumble down so nehemiah gets the people together and he tells them station yourself on the wall and he gives them this wise advice fight for your families in other words what is the one thing a person would be willing to take a bullet for so to speak it's it's that natural instinct i've got to lay my life down for the sake of my wife my children my grandchildren i've got to lay my life on the line for this and so that's what he did and so it says they returned to the wall everyone do his work verse 16. so it was from that time on that half of my servants worked at construction while the other half held spears shields bows and wore armor the leaders were behind the house of judah so the leadership was all in agreement to put these people half of them held spears and watched and waited to be able to block or prevent any kind of an assault the other half worked he goes on and it says everyone in verse 18 had every one of the builders had his sword girded at his side as he built so here's another picture there's a picture of half the group one with swords spears the shields the other with working tools the next picture is there's all another group of people they are working but they have a sword here what is that i believe it's a unique picture of praying without ceasing it's not kneeling in a chapel somewhere as much as i love that that is that is the creme de la creme that's the that's the ultimate time is just have that face to face time with the lord before him on my knees nothing better but the instruction to pray without ceasing is not that because that's not possible it is to keep that lifestyle of continual connection to the spirit of god where the sword is always ready the sword is always ready i remember a guy teaching us years ago because 40 some years ago he's teaching us about this is uh this is back in the 70s he lived in a second story of a of a home and uh and it took forever in the morning for his shower for the hot water to get from their hot water heater up to that up to that uh shower and so the night before he would turn the hot water on just a little bit and it would just kind of drip all night long now we wouldn't do that today because we're much more conscious about waste [Laughter] some of you aren't but some of you are we would that wouldn't be applauded today but he would just keep it on so that when he got up in the morning he turned it on it was always instant what does instant nc's in and out mean it means that you continuously keep that affectionate attachment to the spirit of god because you don't know when the hot water is needed you don't know when the enemy sneaks through that hole in the wall that you are working on presently areas that are destroyed or damaged because of life we've all got those blind spots and so we keep the sword to our side and i believe we do that through continuous worship and through praying in the spirit i think it's one of the most brilliant ways so i want to encourage you with that it says every one of the builders had the sword girded at his side go down to um let's go down to verse 22 at the same time i said let each man and a servant stay at night in jerusalem they may be our guard by night working by day the next verse says they didn't even take their clothes off at night so the point was is they in for a season how many know you can't work you can't work 18-hour days as a lifestyle but in an emergency i can do it for a short period of time the problem is is when we see that as productive as it is the failure of many ministries is they see the productivity of that 18 hour a day week and they make it a lifestyle and they burn out and crash you know the illustration i like to use is i've heard of wheat farmers who who you know the wheat farms they've got their kids everybody's working to bring in the harvest and when that harvest is ready you have to bring it in in a certain period of time and they may have two weeks where they've got 18-hour days and the whole family does that and everybody works together but if you do that as a lifestyle you destroy your family you destroy your health you destroy everything you have to know when to unstring your bow so that it's not taut anymore it's not tight unstring it relax make up in the next season for the time you missed in this season and we're in one of those seasons where the sword has to be at our side we cannot afford to be found sleeping because there's there's too many demons dressed up like people amen that was a good word right there yes indeed all right jump over to chapter six chapter six there's a the the enemies of israel verses one and two there's a bunch of them there tobiah uh sambal geshem they said come verse two says come let us meet together among the villages in the plain of ono they thought to do me harm so i sent messengers to them saying i'm doing a great work so that i cannot come down why should the work cease while i leave it and go down to you they sent me this message four times and i answered them in the same manner here's here's the deal one of the first things the enemy does for every one of us is distract us from our assignment it's happened all through history where where somebody will come into this incredible place of breakthrough and then they'll start looking for something else to do to add on to their ministry and they start functioning outside of their anointing outside of their gift many ministries have ended on a downslide because they changed their focus from what their assignment to what they wanted where you are anointed where god has called you where he has assigned you regardless of the applause of people that assignment is your sweet spot that's where a sound is released into the earth that echoes the reality of heaven something is like hitting that tuning fork a sound is released because you're in your element and in that element you're actually releasing presence and power everything you do things cannot be measured through immediate we're an immediate culture everything is quick and and we just can't measure ministry that way we have to think in terms of not what kind of fruit am i going to get this week through this activity what am i going to get 10 years from now because i'm living a lifestyle that will earn me a place of influence to bring transformation within the system finding that sweet spot is vital for every person because we were all born with unique purpose unique gifting i personally think wisdom for life comes from understanding his nature understanding his promises and discovering his purpose those three things help to form in us the the heart of wisdom so that we do what scripture says he said teach us to number our days so we can present to your heart of wisdom teach us to put a limit on how much time we have so that we know we have to use the time well we've got to discover the reason why we're alive the purpose of god in and through us i i think all of for all of us it goes back to genesis 1 where he says be fruitful multiplicity the earth all of it has some sort of a transformational influence so he says four times now why does the enemy come repeatedly because he's hoping to change your confession there becomes fatigue over time where we shift in our focus from our assignment does this make sense to you where there's this um repeated temptation come meet with us come meet with us come meet us come meet with us is it over and over again at first time what comes he says i'm doing a great work why should this stop while i come down and talk to you tremendous i love that so much what i'm doing is awesome i don't have the time to talk to you and he just keeps it up and keeps it up why hoping to diminish the effect of his declaration i'm not sure that came across quite as significant as it is when the bible says let the weak say i am strong he's instructing us to declare enter our own soul into the atmosphere the opposite of what we perceive and if the repeated assault of the enemy uh shapes in some measure our perception then it's going to weaken our decree verse 5 saint valid sent his servant to me as before the fifth time with an open letter that means he posted it on facebook instagram and twitter open letter for everyone to read it was written it is reported among the nations and geshem says that you and the jews are planning to rebel therefore according to these rumors you are rebuilding the wall that you may be their king you have appointed prophets to proclaim concerning you at jerusalem saying there is a king in judah now those matters will be reported to the king so come therefore let us consult together the tactics are obvious when you're in the middle of the pressure they're not so obvious but it's easier to read it on the page when you're in the middle of the pressure we try to think of some ways to ease the pain of this kind of activity accusation is one of the primary tools an accusation is once again to get us to weaken our posture of faith and our confession our decree weaken through manipulation manipulation is the core um basis of witchcraft spirit of witchcraft manipulation and control is the essence it develops into horrible ugly things but it starts pretty ugly and it's actually used in parenting in sales and so much of the american culture the political system and the religious system both herod's leaven and the pharisees 11 are riddled with this way of thinking of using manipulation to get you to do what i want you to do years ago we were working to cover and to help restore a fallen believer i remember one of the letters that i received he he told me who he was uh his radio show his influence his following that he had and he basically said you need to do this this and this or i will expose you as actually being involved in this sin well there's got to be some other alternative there's got to be like like how can you if i don't do what you say how can you come to the conclusion that i'm involved in the sin i made a determination years ago that what i discuss in the back room one-on-one with a person i will not make public so that i look better in the eyes of the critics i'm not gonna i'm not gonna sacrifice the reputation of this individual who's confided in me and who i have locked horns with perhaps or rebuked or working on correcting i'm not bringing that into the open so that so that somebody who wants this guy thrown under the bus will think better about me i'm not going to do that you you cannot be trusted with the greater things in god if you're willing to sacrifice another person for your own appearance it's it's demonic i'm telling you it's demonic so i just told the guy go for it i said a little bit more than that i told him he had an inflated sense of self-importance that felt real good to say i'm not sure it was the lord but i felt better when it was done and as you can tell i probably still haven't repented come to think of himself seriously the the tool it's it it happens in homes raising kids if you don't do this i will do this there's this control thing and our our our approach to life has to be cleaner than that it can't have that attachment of manipulation we can't manipulate people to the desired outcome you know that went over well all right let's just keep going i um verse 8. then i sent him saying no such things as you say are being done but you've you invent them in your own heart they were trying to make us afraid saying their hands will be weakened in the work and it will not be done do you hear it trying to make them afraid so what the work will stop fear stops the building of the kingdom realities on planet earth you cannot build and embrace fear jump down to verse 13 it said for this reason he was hired that i should be afraid and act that way and sin psalms 37 i think it's verse 8 says don't fret it only leads to evil doing the only possible outcome of fear is sin the only possible outcome so fear that masquerades us wisdom has only one possible outcome and that is sin genuine wisdom has another outcome it is a hope-filled future because real wisdom has perception i i i want to be very careful here and respectful but honest too so let me see how i do this there's a verse in this story that says i'll just read you out of chapter 4 verse 12 it says so it was when the jews who dwelt near them this is now these are the enemies of israel think through this now the jews who dwelt near them they told us ten times from whatever place you turn they will be upon us what's the point the jews who lived close to the enemy heard ten times over and over and over and over again the threat that the enemy had for them why do you live near the devil move if you have the news on all day long you're living near the devil and i'm not saying the news is the devil i'm just saying the the sometimes the media would rather have a story than reveal truth i have this picture i actually wanted to show you today it shows prince charles you know uh one of them had his hand out like this let's see if i can get it on the there we go so what does it look like i do looks like i'm flipping somebody off but what he was really doing from another angle is he was holding up three fingers to let somebody know a number the way you project something you create an image i have a friend whose picture was on the front page of the newspaper right next to a horrible story and under the picture they had a little disclaimer that it had to do with another story but they were after this man to destroy his reputation and so they put him under the title of this horrible story i don't want to imply that all the media is like that but there is enough like that that all of us have become jaded and hesitant to receive so why invite that into my home day after day after day i i told you guys at the beginning of this thing four months ago i said if you have more input from main street mainstream media then you do the word of god then your discouragement is self-inflicted this thing of fear is a very serious issue so much so that is the number one command in scripture repeated more often than any other because the lord knew the enemy would use that continuously now there is a real virus so i don't want to make light of that at all our leaders we've got to pray for them because they are in a tough place to make really rough decisions i do not envy any of them in the decisions they have to make i have my own opinions but we all do and they probably differ so and and they're they're not important in this discussion what's important is that we pray i was reading this week in proverbs again that we that ungodly counsel in the chambers of the king will impact the nation in unrighteousness righteous counsel in the chambers of the king brings righteousness to a nation so that's one of our prayers does god remove the voice of the enemy from our leaders that you have put into place whether i voted for them or voted for somebody else these leaders father we ask that you would give them divine wisdom your perception on stuff and fear fear destroys that he said verse 12 he said chapter 6 then i perceived god had not sent him at all back up to verse 10 there is a prophet hired to prophesy bad stuff and he responds verse 11 should a man such as me flee verse 12 then i proceed god had not sent him this is important he sees somebody prophesying evil towards him he responds out of his identity not out of a word from the lord he did not see the situation clearly he just saw who he was and what he was trying to do and he he responded out of that he had no clarity on the on the moment except who he was and he said should a man like me flee and as soon as a word came out of his mouth he suddenly saw the whole strategy of the enemy the lord unveiled it for him to see clearly why he needed to make a decree first what do you think jesus did when he stood and said the spirit of the lord god is upon me it was before he had performed one miracle he made the decree out of isaiah the spirit of the lord god was upon me he made the decree of why he was sent to planet earth as the son of god to redeem man and to restore the broken situations of people's lives he made the decree and suddenly everything just begins to open up same thing happened for nehemiah he stands in that place he knows his purpose and he says should a man like me flee and then he sees the strategy of the enemy the lord lifts the veil on his eyes and he sees clearly then i perceive their end sometimes perception follows a confession of faith sometimes confess perception prophetic perception follows a confession of faith a decree that god has given us we rarely have been given the whole picture but we've all been given enough to obey we've all been given enough to obey we've all been given enough to do something to do something to make the decree to have that sword at our side where we're constantly in in the place of wanting to hear god's heartbeat and i'll tell you what in this moment unlike any season i've ever been in my in my life i have to know god's heart i don't want to say minute by minute because that would be an exaggeration for my my own lifestyle but i will say hour by hour i've got to have that touch that connection to his pulse to his heartbeat or i will think out of my own perception instead of his i cannot i cannot afford to come to conclusions about stuff out of my own experience it's a part of the picture it's just not the whole picture i need desperately to stay connected to the promises of god the word of god his view on stuff wisdom will give me hope because i perceive the end that's the word wisdom will give me hope because i have perception of the outcome of his intended outcome and it's worth fighting for we know that media whether it's news or sitcoms or whatever they're they like constantly or they deceive deceive means that they reveal certain amounts of truths but not enough to change your pers to alter your perception the goal is to control the narrative let me leave that so we know that lifestyles are projected in sitcoms movies whatever they're a deception of god's intent and plan we face it every single day every day of our life while i have concerns about the deception and the lies and all that stuff my biggest concern is not that my biggest concern is they are discipling a nation to their worldview they are disciplining a nation to their worldview paul says in colossians keep your mind set on things above where christ is seated for you and then he goes on to talk about your conversion you've been redeemed you are in christ seated in heavenly places what's the point my focus has to be on christ exalted above every name including viruses including political oppositions all these things if i don't have him at the center of my thoughts as the redemptive one then i will take an inferior perspective perspective on life perception of life i will think separate from the one who has a redemptive answer for every broken situation and the crazy thing is is it feels spiritual because you have a burden but the burden is called fear the burden is not released in the presence the burden makes you feel discerning and spiritual because oh those are troubling times you're doing nothing till you pray you're doing nothing until you pray [Applause] a phone telephone pole can feel what's going on and don't quote me on that but you know it doesn't take a spiritual giant to discern what's happening in the world that's crazy to feel it the weightiness of it and to do nothing is to waste space why are you on planet earth we were given the ability to perceive that we might come on that paved that paved pathway paved with blood to give me legal and free access to come before the father because out of wisdom i perceive there is a redemptive solution and i will come in hope to the one who has already promised me ahead of time two or three of you agrees to touching anything it will be done for you anything he says and then he puts us in a place to perceive trouble why so that out of wisdom we might perceive the conclusion the world view the world view exposes you to pain without a redemptive solution the world view of the world system political herod religious pharisees their worldviews perceive pain but their solutions have nothing to do with christ the redeemer the fight is over world view the fight is over perception of what's happening i know we got a lot of things that we got to have wisdom on and answers and bold faith and i i get all that and i i don't want to diminish any of those but i'm telling you it is a distraction to give yourself to an issue that you lack divine perspective of i don't know if i said that well but i sure meant well for this reason verse 13 he was hired that i should be afraid there are people being paid to make you afraid and act that way and sin so they might have cause for an evil report that they might reproach me we'll end with this verse verse 16 and it happened verse 15 says the wall was completed so verse 16 and it happened when all our enemies heard of it and all the nations around us saw these things that they were very disheartened in their own eyes for they perceived that this work was done by our god did you hear what it said they weren't just discouraged they they were disheartened in their own eyes do you remember when the spies went into the promised land and they came back and they said we appear as grasshoppers in our own eyes our own perception of us is very insignificant and they are significant the tables just got turned because of a man guided by the holy spirit led them into redemptive solution after redemptive solution rejecting every opportunity for fear and something was accomplished that they had failed at for two generations and the wall was built and he said he said they were disheartened in their own eyes because they could see this work was done by god we need a miracle we need a miracle for the healing of our nation the healing of our state it's bigger than the things that come to mind all the things that are being reported to us those are those are obviously big concerns but there's about to be some exposure done in in our country of some very deeply rooted things that are not on hardly anybody's radar but they will be and the lord is exposing this to bring healing and what you and i have to do is stay together just stay together just stay linked stay members of one another the communion thing that chris led us in earlier did it was absolutely perfect and right the whole thing communion together family in this next season i want to encourage you in this prayer without ceasing staying close to the heart of god praying in the spirit just worshiping throughout the day i like to whether i'm in my office i'm here on the grounds or at my home i like i just have these moments of just inspired thought where i just realized this goodness and just just in the middle of what i'm doing god i give you thanks you are so good if your heart burns for him if it doesn't work at it until it does stay there till it does because what you want to do is you want to you want your heart to burn for him so that that fire never dies out you never have to worry about rekindling it again it's hard to get a fire started it's not hard to keep on burning i love us and i'm looking forward to us the bigger us getting together again but until that day i i just want to talk to the bethel family that is outside the room and just say thank you some of you are meeting at home some of you are perhaps watching it work but whatever thank you the strength of the church is the two or three gathered in his name that is the strength of the church the prophetic direction is set in the large corporate setting but the strength of the church is the two or three that agree as to touching anything history is shaped by that group that carries governmental influence kingdom influence to shape history that's who you are and i i just i bless you with renewed effort renewed focus to see the kingdom of god come to earth be unwilling to be moved when the enemy comes along there's another thing another bad report another thing to fear be a nehemiah who says why should the great work i'm doing stop while i pay attention to you i don't have the time give give yourself some credit for having influence just simply because you love people some of you that are watching and we have our bethel family local we have international bethel family we have others that are just guests maybe you stumbled onto this broadcast the most important thing that could happen today is that if you are outside of a personal relationship with jesus is that you take advantage of this moment that i believe god orchestrated just for you that you would be able to become a follower of jesus christ one who receives him jesus said or says of jesus in john chapter 1 to as many as have received him to them he gives the right or the authority to become children of god so we have pastors that are on the bethel tv program and zoom call or not zoom youtube we have pastors that are ready to talk to any one of you that would just say i want to know jesus i desire to be forgiven of sin i want a new beginning and regardless of what your history is that's the that's the thing that i'm talking about here today regardless of how big of a mess a person is in a city or a nation is in god has a redemptive solution and if i lose sight of the christ seated on the throne above every authority that i will fall and fall into fear and you have the opportunity for christ to be seated at the absolute throne of your life everything changes today i want you guys to stand i'm going to wrap this up in prayer [Applause] and then i will put my mask on because i'm a mask wearer [Applause] father i ask that you grace every person watching this in the room and abroad every person a grace a gift for wisdom that perceives the end that we would be hope filled because we see your purposes in the earth help us to never be distracted from what you have made clear in scripture your kingdom come your will be done on earth as it is in heaven i pray this for this church family all of our guests i pray that you mark them with blessing that our lives will be marked with presence in jesus wonderful name amen bless you thanks for joining us thanks thanks for listening to the sermon of the week this weekly podcast can be heard in multiple languages on our bethel tv website if you'd like to partner with us in discipline nations and fueling personal revival you have the opportunity to give at bethel dot tv slash podcast slash donate [Music] [Applause] you

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: IB6KPltPHPo

Length: 83min 50sec (5030 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 19 2021