Faith and the Renewed Mind | Bill Johnson Sermon | Live at BSSM Online Gather Event

that's so cool to be uh in an online school and then have an online presence you don't even have your computers in front of you it's beautiful so i will be torn between talking just to you and to you but uh i am honestly thankful for the opportunity i don't know what you've been doing the last half hour hour but uh i've been drinking [Laughter] and it's good it's good there's nothing like it um yeah best wine ever exactly my dad used to say it's better felt than tilt i agree i agree it is it is just better are you you're ready to get to work two of you now i've worked with less but not much less it's probably not even fair to get everybody drunk and then make them go to work you know that's probably there's probably some cruel thing in that but uh anyway all right uh let's let's just jump right in go to matthew chapter 6 and i'm going to i actually took our first year through a lot of this yesterday and i'm going to do the same today with all of you in that i want to i want to lay out um in in greater sequence this message that we have of the kingdom of god and so go to matthew chapter 6. and we're going to in fact go to matthew 6 but also go to romans chapter 14. just put a piece of paper in romans 14. one of the most important things that i have seen in the word in the last um 15 years was actually out of john chapter 6 i'm not going to have you turn there but i do want to mention the concept to you in john chapter 1 verse 14 jesus is introduced excuse me he is introduced as the word of god made flesh word of god made oh good lights oh keep them up whoever did that bless you reward them openly lord yes sorry i just got excited i can actually see there's humans in the room with me it's beautiful i uh we we went for like 12 months without humans and it's i've discovered i'm addicted to humans so actually it wasn't quite 12 months but it was way too long it was more than the 15 days they promised [Laughter] i'm not bitter i'm just factual all right jesus is introduced as the word of god made flesh if you just look at this where he's the word of god made flesh but by the time we get to john chapter 6 he says whatever i say to you is spirit and life so the word made flesh became the word made spirit the word made flesh whatever he spoke he was doing more than releasing ideas and concepts and principles he was actually speaking and those words became presence it's important for us to realize that or we cut ourselves off in our capacity to learn because whenever the lord is speaking a word sometimes it's just us doing the talking but whenever we say what he is saying words actually become presence and in that presence is the enablement to perform and to become all that he just said [Music] amen bill good point in luke chapter one it says uh nothing is impossible oh that's right that the online school does this they are now here doing this so i i didn't connect it at first but i'm i'm a little slow but it's it's nice seeing such exuberance in the room all right all right yeah but don't you dare say anything don't utter a noise or anything all right [Music] in luke chapter 1 it says he says nothing will be impossible with god jack taylor one of the great baptist pastors who helped us with this concept goodness 20 years ago probably almost he came and he taught us on that verse nothing shall be impossible with god and he broke it down to its original language and i was stunned to find out what was in there nothing the word nothing's actually two words it's the word no and it's the word rhema rhema is that freshly spoken word of god so no freshly spoken word of god will be impossible the word impossible means without ability and it can actually be translated this way no freshly spoken word of god will ever come to you that does not contain its own ability to perform itself you're too late i i beat you too on that one no freshly spoken word of god will ever come to you that does not contain its own ability to perform itself in james chapter 1 in james chapter 1 it says in humility so that's humility is is heart condition it's tenderness of soil in humility receive the word implanted and then it uses this phrase which is able to save your soul where's the ability it's in the seed soil is important water is important sunlight is important but none of that contains the power the power is in the seed the condition of the heart for what god is saying is huge but the power is not in my ability to claim it and to declare it and anything else it is in the power of the seed it's in the power of what god has said so no freshly spoken word of god will ever come to you does not contain its own ability to perform itself so when i talk to you today about the kingdom of god i'm going to as best i know how pick up a subject that was absolutely dear and precious to jesus himself we see when he started his ministry [Music] [Applause] in matthew chapter 4 verse 17 it's where he makes this initial announcement repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand don't get confused by matthew's were use of the word kingdom of heaven instead of kingdom of god they're the same thing matthew was just writing to jews and in writing to jews he respected their restraint on overusing the name god in print or in speech and and so he would use that because he had to repeat it so many times that it was out of a respect for the people he was writing to so he says repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand repent we uh depending on our i know we have such diverse backgrounds which i really love so much um but our repentance often is weeping at an altar it's confessing sin it's dealing with things that the lord pinpoints in our life and we're turning away from that life and we're following after him it's a beautiful illustration of repentance but repentance actually means something quite different it means to change the way you think so jesus comes along and he says repent change the way you think because i brought my world with me and if you don't change your perception of reality you can coexist with the superior reality called the kingdom of god your entire lifetime and never see it repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand it's within reach it's in the here and it's in now but as paul would say what you can see is temporal what you can't see is eternal what you can't what you can see is temporal what you can see is temporal it cannot hold the weightiness of faith faith is a is a superior reality faith is a knowing but it is a knowing on a different level it is not reckless it is not careless faith does not draw attention to itself faith is actually superior to common knowledge you all right all right so let's just go for it then all right we're in too deep now now we got to go for it all right so here's the deal faith comes from the heart we know it doesn't come from the mind it says it's with the heart man believes unto righteousness but revelation knowledge and the whole concept of the renewed mind is works in tandem with faith faith doesn't come from the mind it comes from the heart but the renewed mind creates the context for faith much like the banks of a river create the context for a river to flow in the renewed mind cooperates with faith in hebrews 11 it says by faith we understand that the worlds were made out of nothing by faith we understand in the kingdom faith precedes understanding faith precedes understanding it um [Music] do you remember the centurion in uh in oh goodness was it matthew you know it's in the bible somewhere it's matthew chapter 8 i believe sorry it's on the left side of the page i know that much i believe it's matthew chapter 8 where the centurion talks to jesus and said i'm a man under authority i say to one he goes and he does this i recognize you're under authority if you just say the word and jesus makes this comet he's absolutely stunned by this man's faith but how did he recognize his faith he recognized his faith through the renewed mind let me rephrase it he recognized the man's faith by his understanding remember faith doesn't come from the mind but when it has that deep of an impact it will alter your perception of reality and that was what revealed to jesus this man had extraordinary faith in fact he said he said nobody in israel has this kind of faith all right let's get going or i'll be stuck there all day long let's uh are you matthew 6 everybody in matthew 6 how many of you love your bibles i love my bible i love my bible all right matthew 6 we'll just jump right down to verse 33 it's a verse that probably most everybody in the room can quote but i want you to see it on the page of your bible anyway all right matthew 6 33 but seek first the kingdom of god and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you all these things is referring to the previous verses most of our problem is that we seek first the kingdom and god begins to reward us with the things and then we turn our attention from seeking the kingdom to seeking the things and whenever you seek the things you tend to you tend to lose both the kingdom is a kingdom of protocol and priorities sequence is important seek first the kingdom of god and his righteousness and all these things will be added unto you seek first the kingdom of god so what is the kingdom take the word king dumb king's domain it's the realm of his dominion it's the realm of god's dominion now remember the scripture in corinthians it says wherever the spirit of the lord is there is what freedom there's freedom there's liberty where the spirit of the lord is now think through this with me i have seen the holy spirit powerfully manifest in a meeting and yet people in great bondage so they weren't experiencing freedom so it's not that where the spirit is present there's freedom let me rephrase it let me put it into what i think it means and i'll i'll let you you you ponder it on your own where the spirit of the lord is maybe is saying wherever the holy spirit demonstrates the lordship of jesus freedom is the evidence whenever that lordship comes upon a person that's bound addicted whatever it might be then suddenly freedom comes into their life because his lordship can i say kingship kingdom see the evidence of life in the kingdom is freedom freedom isn't the ability to do what i want it's the ability to do what's right it's the enablement of god to live as jesus lives it's the most freeing and liberating thing in the world because we actually become all that we were designed to become the most liberating thing in the world for any of us is to become all that god intended us to become i like to tell our folks over and over again so when you discover who god made you to be you never want to be anyone else i admire what god's doing in other people but i don't want to become them i want them to be them if that makes sense and part of what we do in life is learn to settle into you know enjoying life in our own skin the assignment that we've been given all right so seek first the kingdom of god and his righteousness now look at romans chapter 14 verse 17. says for the kingdom of god is not eating and drinking but it's righteousness peace and joy in the holy spirit look at it again the kingdom of god is not eating and drinking but it's righteousness peace and joy in the holy spirit the kingdom of god is righteousness peace and joy two-thirds of the kingdom are felt realities there's righteousness but then there's peace and a joy peace and joy are both felt realities so be careful with any individual or group of people that want to dumb down the importance of your emotional experience we don't we don't follow our emotions i mean our life isn't governed or controlled by emotions you understand but they're still there and they're still there designed to be able to perceive and recognize god it's an important tool it's a canvas that he paints on and the more healed we become that i personally think the the pathway to great emotional health and healing is to be able to rejoice always and sometimes it just starts with a choice it doesn't start with what you've learned to do it's just willfully choosing i'm going to celebrate and rejoice and that's really a key to to emotional health so but back to this this verse here it says for the kingdom of god is righteousness and yet jesus said seek first the kingdom and his righteousness do you do you see this like is this in your bible too or is this just in mine the point i'm trying to make is when jesus said seek first the kingdom and his righteousness he was not adding something to the subject he was emphasizing something and he says seek first the kingdom of god and his righteousness another special emphasis on this righteousness it's like when jesus said tell my disciples and peter he wasn't saying peter wasn't a disciple he was emphasizing the fact that peter needed special attention in this moment so when he says seek first the kingdom and his righteousness he's saying make sure you put extra effort on the issue of righteousness why because there are many people that settle back and they say well i'm i am uh i am in christ and he sees me as righteous and that is true but his intent is for me to become in conduct what i am in my position and any definition of grace that doesn't change my lifestyle into a lifestyle of jesus is not an accurate description of grace grace empowers and enables us to live like jesus grace doesn't give you permission to be stupid of course many of us don't need permission but anyway we'll just leave that right there grace doesn't give us permission to violate what god requires of us thankfully he covers us because of grace so all right so seek first the kingdom of god and his righteousness and all these things will be added unto you it's interesting in uh in the passage in romans let's quote that walk through it together so for the the kingdom of god is not meat or drink it's not eating and drinking but it is righteousness peace and joy in the holy spirit let's boil it down to this the kingdom of god is in the holy spirit the kingdom of god is in the realm of the spirit that's why saying what the father is saying is so critical because our words become spirit and that spirit contains the reality of the kingdom of god that's why jesus could say repent because the kingdom is that hand because any time he spoke you release the reality of the kingdom into their midst it was within reach that's why any any time any time we're in an environment where we hear what the father is saying there's an atmospheric shift why because he just made other things available to us and it's not available because i understand it believe it or not some truths were never meant to be understood they're only meant to be admired some some truths some concept in the scripture were never meant to be comprehended maybe it's a better better term we're never meant to be comprehended they're only designed to be adored because in the adoration of who he is and what he has said it slowly begins to filter into my life where i function out of a renewed mind a divine understanding but it doesn't start with my ability to explain something to you it starts by my all my awe of who he is and what he has said this book is alive the kingdom of god isn't me to drink it's not this it's it's not this it's righteousness it's his nature that has become my nature it's peace if you want the peace that passes understanding you have to give up your right to understand that's not anti-understanding it's just first things first surrender here then understanding here some people will obey god if they understand it's better to learn to obey god just because he spoke and let the understanding come through the journey all right i'm i'm dragging this on as long as i possibly can all right seek first the kingdom of god now go to matthew oh here here's a here's an important part of this so the kingdom of god is not meat or drink it's not this it's righteousness peace and joy something tragic happened way back in the reformation and that is to to help the protestants now i don't have a bone to pick with with protestants or catholics so forgive me i just need to use the illustration to to show you something luther and his group were separating themselves protestants protesters from the catholic movement the catholics believed in miracles signs and wonders to distinguish themselves they had salvation as forgiveness of sin and yet the word sozo actually means deliverance healing and forgiveness it's all three things were meant to be incorporated in one message it was never meant to be dissected and separated it was never meant to be categorized that first you get born again and then you kind of work your way into where you're free and you're delivered and then who knows you may get lucky and actually get healed you know it's it's that's not the way the kingdom works the message of salvation is the message of healing and deliverance as well as forgiveness of sin so look at romans chapter 14 verse 17 look at the verse again the kingdom of god is not me to drink but what is it it's righteousness peace enjoy the kingdom of god is righteousness which is what that's god's answer to the sin problem peace is god's answer to the torment problem and joy is his answer to the sickness problem laughter is good medicine it was always intended that the kingdom of god was the complete message for the salvation of the triune being all right that went over well let's keep going go to matthew chapter 12. yeah good good good good good let's go matthew chapter 12. matthew 12 we just got some things we i just want us to wade through in matthew 12. verse 28 but if i cast out demons by the spirit of god look at that phrase if i cast out demons by the spirit of god now jesus is the eternal son of god he can cast out a demon because of who he is but because he chose to live as a man dependent on god to give us an example that could be followed he restricted his own capacity to deal with the devil according to the anointing of the spirit upon him if i cast out demons by the spirit of god surely the kingdom of god has come upon you are you thinking that was an easy question you should have been able to answer that one now you think is are you guys thinking all right so we got a tormented person here you can't see them but they're here so here's a tormented person horribly demonized and i'm talking with them what is my responsibility my responsibility is to seek first the kingdom right see seek first the kingdom i grew up thinking nobody i never heard anybody say this but i grew up thinking to seek first the kingdom was basically pray to pray to go to heaven first the kingdom of heaven it's like our goal is to is to spend eternity with him well that's a that's a wonderful ambition and goal it's a right desire but it's not what he said seek first the kingdom has an immediate practical application seeking first the kingdom has to have a measurable outcome and so jesus illustrates what it is to seek first the kingdom he says if i cast a demon out of you by the spirit of god then the kingdom of god came upon you so what was that he was seeking first the kingdom he was seeking first the kingdom he has someone here that's under the influence of the kingdom of darkness and he comes with the power of the spirit of god to set them free and jesus let us know this is what you couldn't see you saw the tormented person you saw their deliverance you saw the countenance changed but what you didn't see is there was a superior kingdom that came and collided with an inferior kingdom called the kingdom of darkness and to seek first the kingdom has to have practical application there's torment what's god's answer well the kingdom of god is peace there's sickness what is god's answer it's not just healing it's joy there's addiction there are sin issues what is god's answer it's his righteousness would become their nature to seek first the kingdom has to have measurable outcome and measurable uh values yes yes yes amen bill that's a very good point all right let's go to acts chapter um let's go to matthew 16. um are you there like i didn't hear pages turned you guys like have how many of you have actual bibles with pages oh good good how many of you have the electronic it's it's legal it's good hold them up be proud be proud all right as long as you have your bibles i'm happy i keep threatening to have some some person who works with apps to develop an app that when they open people open their bibles i can hear the pages turning you know through the through their phone or something because i i miss hearing that all right matthew 16 go back to verse [Music] 16 excuse me 15. jesus asked the guys a question he says who do you say that i am simon peter answered and said you are the christ the son of the living god jesus answered and said to him blessed are you simon burjona for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you but my father who is in heaven stop right there i've always i've always thought i've always kind of thought you know peter finally got it right and jesus didn't give him credit you know it's like it's like he finally got it right and jesus goes yeah that wasn't you peter that was the father that was and it just hit me just the other day honestly that jesus was affirming peter because he heard from the father likes he like he hears from the father because remember he only says what he hears the father say and now peter stepped into that into that position that posture and he is saying what he hears the father say and jesus is honestly blessing blessed are you simon virgil i'm blessed are you peter that was awesome you did good you heard from the father keep it up because just a few minutes a few minutes later he gets really stupid and he rebukes jesus so he was on a roll and he over he overextended his confidence but uh we'll we'll leave that for an another time but just take a look at it again flesh and blood has not revealed this to you but my father who is in heaven verse 18 and 19 especially 19 is key for us i say to you that you are peter on this rock i will build my church now it's just my conviction but i don't think peter is the rock on which the new testament church is built my personal conviction is the rock is the revelation that jesus is the son of god the christ the son of the living god upon this rock referring to what peter just said from the father upon this rock i will build my church and the gates of hades shall not prevail against it i grew up thinking that the church had gates walls and gates around us and they were so strong that the devil couldn't beat him down i don't know how i got that out of what jesus just said because it's not even close he said the hell is the place with the gates and those gates won't prevail gates in the scripture are authorities it's the place of authority in any given city the elders the leaders of the city would would sit at the gates and they would make decisions judgments for on behalf of the city and so when jesus says the gates of hades the the gates of the powers of darkness will not prevail it means they're the ones hiding and we're the ones advancing and those gates will not prevail they will not be able to withstand a believing group of people and here's the key verse 19 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 now uh let me just tell you at the get-go here um i have a real problem i i love this translation but i don't like that verse the way it's translated i don't like i i don't like and it seems to be split about 50 50. you have some translations that say whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven and then the original new american standard says whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven in other words you can only bind here what's already bound there and you can only lose here what's already loosed here there which my personal conviction i'm convinced that's the right translation i i i will argue on this i don't argue on many things but i will on this one because why the bible doesn't say pray in this way in heaven as it is on earth that's actually a very good point bill that's a excellent excellent point the way he taught the way he practiced what he did what he described was to reveal the reality of another world that was to shape this one and so he said pray like this our father who art in heaven hallowed be your name your kingdom come your the king's dominion the realm of your dominion come and you will be done on earth as it is in heaven heaven is the model for what's done here so when we bind here it's got to be something that's already bound there and the bigger challenge is losing here what's loose there because you don't know to lose if you've not been there we know a little bit of what to lose because we we know you know we know what death loss and destruction looks like the devil comes to kill steal destroy we get that so when we see somebody tormented we see addiction we see disease you know we see loss you know the brokenness of a marriage or a a business or whatever it might be i mean we see the the evidence of the enemy's work and so we know what to bind what does it mean to bind it means if you go down and you buy a car and you agree to make 300 a month payments and after a year you decide ah i'm really bored with making these payments i'm not going to make them anymore the bank will call you and say you either make the payments or we're going to get the car it's a binding contract i am going to hold you bind you to your agreement to pay 300 a month what is it to bind it's to hold your contract and the bible says that he gave us the authority to trample on all the powers of hell and so when we bind the enemy we're holding him not to our significance but to the significance of our assignment and our commission we function in his name not our name we function with his message not our message so we whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven and here's the challenge what you loose on it i don't teach on this part very often but i'll just throw it out and you can do what you want it's hard to know what to lose [Music] i know it to bind because i'm familiar with death loss and destruction it's hard to know what to lose unless you've been there paul taught on what about being seated in heavenly places in christ which is beautiful but unfortunately it's been reduced to a doctrine it's not often an experience it's supposed to be a place from which we live the reality of the presence of the spirit of god is a taste of eternity and it is now and living in that abiding presence is that abiding presence that abiding in christ that is the taste of of of heaven i'm not saying there's no more that would be ridiculous but the point is is in this atmosphere of presence learning to live in this atmosphere with a person actually conditions our heart more than you realize for eternity but in that reality there are perceptions there are things that we begin to see and learn and understand that we couldn't learn any other way and in that place we start seeing what we're supposed to release here on earth that's already released there all right let's take it just a little step farther i want to make sure that i confuse as many people as possible in john chapter 3 jesus makes this statement that's quite bizarre he says if i talk to you about earthly things you don't get it i'm putting it in my own language now if i talk to you about earthly things then you don't make the connection how can i talk to you about heavenly things and then he goes on to say no one has ascended to heaven except he that first descended that is the son of man who is in heaven those are the kind of verses you just read over fast and keep going you know just give me the john 3 16. i'm good with that one for god so loved the world i'm there count me in but here he gives us an insight as to how he lived and how he functions so we know that when jesus died he was resurrected after he was resurrected he ascended to the right hand of the father after he ascended he was glorified okay resurrected ascended glorified so now jesus this is early in the journey this is john chapter 3 towards the beginning and he's talking to a group of people and he says nobody has ascended to heaven except he who first descended referring to himself that is the son of man and then my translation adds the phrase who is in heaven now imagine being one of the disciples going [Laughter] you're aware it looks to me like you're right here but he gives us a clue about his life and how he functioned nobody ascend no one has ascended to heaven except for the one who first descended what does that tell us well he descended so it means that he's been ascending [Music] you remember the amount of transfiguration where he becomes different in appearance and then his clothing was white like no launderer could white them one one of the gospels actually uses a term for his clothing says it's he is clothed with lightning lightning flashes imagine being peter james john you're dozing off because it's an all-nighter prayer meeting again jesus likes these all-night prayer meetings you're having a hard time staying awake and all of a sudden jesus becomes transfigured and he's clothed in lightning how many think you might you might wake up in that prayer meeting you might suddenly get inspired so here here is jesus wearing lightning communing with the father i'm not asking anyone to uh you know somehow imagine i'm not asking you to get there by your imagination i don't care if you do but it's too real to pretend and learning to feed from and to be directed by this person the holy spirit who rested upon jesus and remained he he initiated he he somehow brought jesus into this continuous place of ongoing affection and awareness of the heart of the father because he ascended and descended he ascended and descended while standing on planet earth i don't understand it i'm just saying he said it for a reason i think paul later found language for when he said we're seated in heavenly places and it was never meant to be a doctrine or a concept it was supposed to be a way where we learn to do life let me let me illustrate it and then we'll move on my uh brian and jen their oldest daughter just got married here about 10 days ago so fun such such a perfect wedding and haley when she was born she uh it was very very serious she was not she was healthy in the womb everything until the last moment and then the cord got wrapped or something and and uh it was very very serious i don't understand the numbering system but there's some sort of afghar numbering from zero to ten and she was a two and uh and that's not good things were pretty serious and of course the whole family all of us there's i don't know how many our our family shows up tribal we we show up in mass to anything you know birthday party sure we're there you know so we have a bunch of us in the waiting room and my wife when the news came out the seriousness of her condition she just separated herself we're all praying she separated herself and told me later what what she did she just went off to the side she got along with the father and she said she said this father what are we doing i see most of us we spend our life in the middle of difficulties crying out for god to come invade them and fix them and that's not illegal but the goal for us is to live with the father so that we implement his will on the earth from that heavenly position or posture i i can't prove it but i think the difference is servants to sons sermons to daughters so she um she just sat there quietly she said father what are we doing and the father spoke to her very clearly what to do by herself in that moment she just prayed it made the decree that needed to be made and within very very short period of time everything was turned around so there's it's it's one thing to pray and to get god to come and fix something that's not illegal that's the nature of prayer but what he's looking for is people that will learn to implement his heart say what he's saying do what he's doing so that we actually implement or help to enforce his will on the earth that was a much better point than your response but it's it's it's alright it's too late it's too late i i gave you a chance i gave you a chance now honestly let me illustrate it this way do you remember when uh jesus is sleeping in the boat and they come and they awaken and they they ask him don't you care that we're perishing which is a great question to ask the savior of the world and they're they're afraid of dying jesus wakes up goes to the edge of the boat he rebukes the wind and the waves and declares peace and the whole thing settles down here's what here's what strikes me in the story after jesus answers their prayer what what do you call conversation with god it's i know you don't trust me yet and i get that [Laughter] i wouldn't trust me if i were you either all right but what he called conversation with god we call a prayer who is jesus he's god what did they do they came to him with a petition what did he do he answered their prayer what did he say afterwards he turned to his disciples who just prayed the prayer and he says how come you don't have any faith what i thought my job was to pray and your job was to do stuff right and yet in that moment jesus turns and he says how come you don't have any faith what then was he looking for he was not looking for those who would petition him to do something here's the renewed mind the renewed mind lives with a realization that sometimes god would rather do something through you than for you and so in this in this moment in this moment is this desire for the father to release his will and purposes through you and me and uh and that's the ascended life if i can use that term uh teaching on things like the ascended life gives people permission to be weird it's going to happen it's just worth the risk because maybe somebody will get it yep so he says whatever you bind on earth will have been bound in heaven i remember years ago in weaverville weaverville is a city small mountain community an hour west of here and it's where my wife and i my kids where we lived and pastored for 17 years before coming here and i remember the the fourth of july in weaverville is like it's the event of the year i mean it's hard to describe it i mean i lived there for 17 years and i was still amazed every year i mean they would have this parade they'd have this pancake breakfast they would have this fair they would have all this stuff it's just the fourth of july it was just it was just amazing and i remember they would have this fair you know with hot dogs you know the little stands where you buy food and play games do all this stuff i remember one year we've been doing this forever and one year i get there and there's a fortune teller there i thought what this doesn't belong here there's i don't know if you know it but there's no fortune tellers in heaven none of them are there except the repented ones are there the redeemed ones are there but but anyway so i looked at this and i thought well this is just plain wrong and she's not you know the lady the witch isn't the problem it's the spirit she's given place to so i remember i remember thinking this just isn't right you know and and the last thing you need to do is get a protest banner and that'll just make people want to go see her you know so i'm not going to do that so i decided just to walk around her tent for a while just [Applause] a little little wall of jericho see if see if we can get some tent walls to fall you know i'm sad to say they did not fall but this fear that went on for several days when i came back the next morning she was gone and come to found find out she just couldn't get out of town fast enough whatever something had happened so what happens is they're they're empowered by demonic forces and when that influence is severed it's what happened with paul and the fortune teller in the scripture when that thing was broken she couldn't perform her stuff anymore and so we we we're supposed to recognize what exists there not just because we you know forgive me but sometimes we live a lot from principle and not from presence and principle is what you turn to when you can't discern presence it's it's it's not illegal sometimes sometimes he's limited our capacity to perceive and we just we adjust to that particular season or that day or that circumstance but whenever possible learn to see out of the presence learn to recognize into what the spirit of god is saying what he's doing in that moment so we we bind here here's luke 10 19 says behold i give you authority to trample on serpents and scorpions i mean he's not assigning us to walk on insects and reptiles they give you authority to trample on serpents and scorpions over all the powers of the enemy and nothing shall by any means hurt you but do not rejoice in this that the spirits are subject to you but rather rejoice that your names are written in heaven so all through the bible you'll notice you'll notice priorities priorities where here's your assignment trample on the powers of darkness don't get too excited that they obey you make your point of excitement that your name is in heaven that's a good adjustment all right so we bind here what's bound there but we're all supposed to supposed to learn how to loose here what's loose there and and uh i would encourage you learn in your times of worship to give yourselves completely to him um because he'll he'll teach your he'll teach your spirit man how his how he works and how his world works i know this is abstract so just work with me for a moment then i'll get real practically again i promise abstract is practical but we'll just leave it right there all right so what happens is we become all over and over again in a place of yieldedness and surrender you become exposed to the presence you start you start learning things that you don't know you know until you get put into a pressure situation and then the things that you experienced three weeks ago on sunday morning when that glory cloud just seemed to fall you didn't know what was going on you left you couldn't explain to anybody what you just experienced but somehow ever since then you have a perception that is different than before does that does that make any sense and so these encounters these experiences what happens is we learn on a spirit man level before we learn with understanding and so i remember years ago years ago i was praying with a friend of mine he was in a lawsuit and the lawsuit had been draining his income and it was a very very unjust lawsuit i don't say that because he was a friend of mine i say because it was absolutely unjust the people who were going after him had the money and literally just loved to torment him you know and so it was really an unjust lawsuit and we had prayed together a number of times in my office we prayed together as a leadership team and and prayed that this thing would end but one day i caught a glimpse of this verse to bind here and to lose so what do you lose you lose the opposite of what you bound so if he and i are praying which this is what we did and we've been doing this for months we met together my office we prayed and once again i bound the spirit of injustice but i loosed this time remember where the house was clean and swept but nothing replaced the enemy that was driven out and the enemy came back seven times first we do a lot of rebuking and binding but we don't replace and so in this moment we prayed together and i we prayed i said i bind the spirit of injustice and i loose the spirit of justice i loose revelation knowledge of truth into this situation i i don't think i've shared this story maybe three times in in the sense it happened 40 years ago we had prayed for months for this thing to break and it just didn't break but when finally we took time to bind and lose he called me within an hour or two hours the whole thing had been dropped cold case had been dropped [Applause] how many of you understand that's not us getting a newly loaded gun just shooting wherever we want to shoot you know forgive me for using an illustration that is very meaningful to me being a hunter it's not just doing what we want with power it's all of a sudden the fear of god enters my soul in a much deeper and more profound way why because i have a responsibility my responsibility is not to be fulfilled in my dreams my responsibility is not for me to discover who i am my responsibility is on earth as it is in heaven and to use whatever authority he's given me any insight wisdom anything he's given connections relationships people open doors opportunities those things are to be utilized to do what to seek first the kingdom of god what does it look like well when injustice is in charge justice has to take its place that's what a kingdom looks like when you see the torment on the person's mind that thing gets broken off and the peace of god is put in its place we learn how to if i can say it this way broker the reality of his world into this one all right um let's uh listen we'll take two more verses yeah i've got 10 minutes let's if i can't confuse you in 10 minutes i just don't know what i'm doing all right acts chapter one turn there we're going to take two more passages one out of acts one the first chapter and one out of acts 28 which is the last chapter of acts acts chapter 1 verse 1 the former account i made of theophilus of all that jesus began to do and teach i i i almost always stop whenever i come to a verse like this where it says jesus is giving an account of all that he or luke is giving an account of all that jesus did and what he taught and the reason is in the western culture that most of us grew up in this western rational culture we are very satisfied with concepts and principles and don't always require experience to match the concept you could go to a business school and be trained by somebody in business who never owned a business because we actually elevate concept and opinion above experience and that's not biblical education biblical education is experience oriented you say well brother we've got to be careful we can't interpret the bible by our experience yeah that's partially true partially would you want to be taught what it meant to be born again by somebody who wasn't born again no because we instinctively know it's the experience that creates the context now that doesn't mean all experiences are right but authentic kingdom lifestyle is filled with experience in john chapter three it's uh nicodemus is talking to jesus and he says he said we know that you're a teacher that's the word a teacher come from god because no one can do these signs that you do unless god is with him so there's this constant mentioning of teaching of word and power demonstration of miracles in the same breath constantly throughout scripture and i like to draw attention to it because i want to make sure that we learn how to do what we teach and teach what we do i feel better about the whole day now since i said that all that jesus began to do and teach verse one verse two until that day he was taken up after he through the holy spirit had given commandments to the apostles whom he had chosen to whom he also presented himself alive after his suffering by many infallible proofs being seen by them during 40 days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of god now you know that from passover to pentecost is 50 days and the word pentecost actually means 50. very deep profound meaning means 50. it says 50 days from passover to pentecost jesus died and the day of pentecost came 50 days later are you with me all right for 40 of those days jesus appeared and reappeared to his disciples which left 10 days for them to have a prayer meeting in the upper room so they had 10 days to get their stuff sorted out so that on the day of pentecost the outpouring of the spirit could come but what i want you to notice here is what did jesus talk to his disciples about he kept appearing and reappearing to his disciples what did he talk to him about the kingdom of god how many of you are parents you have children how many of you have children either now or they were old enough that when you could leave them at the house by themselves for a couple hours it was risky i know we all we all prayed in tongues the entire two hours i i get it when you left the house what did you talk to them about last was it not what you wanted them to remember the most huh was it yeah yeah uh son no look at me look at me do not kill your brother and sister do do not right right we we bring up like the most important thing we want them to remember that's what we bring up last what did jesus bring up last before he left the house he talked to him again about the kingdom this is not peripheral this is not a sideline issue this this is not this is not um like when you buy a car you can get it with this add-on you can get it with that and these are not add-on issues this is the essence of what jesus came to do was to reveal and to manifest the kingdom of god why because from day one he assigned adam and eve be fruitful in other words have a productive life multiply have children who have children have children subdue the earth in other words this garden that you're in is limited in size and outside of the boundaries of that garden is chaos it's darkness i want you to take it over but do it as you grow in number and you grow in your capacity to rule why because his desire was to rule the entire earth through people created in his image that worshiped by choice so when adam and eve sinned they gave up the authority to do that so jesus became a man to regain the authority as a man so that he now he's eternally god but to regain the authority as a man crucified raised from the dead to come back to his brothers and sisters and to release that key of authority to pick up where we left off all right one more verse one more verse matthew i like matthew let's go to acts 28. okay acts chapter 28 this is towards the end towards the end of paul's life uh he's uh scheduled to see caesar uh whom he appealed to in his uh case and it says verse 29 when he said these words the jews departed had a great dispute among themselves then paul dwelt two whole years in his own rented quarters and received all who came to him preaching the kingdom of god and teaching the things which concern the lord jesus christ with all confidence no one forbidding him what did paul preach the kingdom of god all i want you to see is is that it's not it's not peripheral it's not an add-on it's not in addition to it's it's the essence of the message that when jesus said the kingdom of heaven is at hand it was announcing it's here it's now it's within reach so when we minister to people it's because we carry a message with solutions we carry a message that has practical application for right now regardless of the circumstances that we face or the people around us maintaining that sense of priority in in even urgency maintaining that sense of awareness for what god is saying and doing is just a huge part of being ministers of this kingdom so why don't you guys stand and you online you stand or sit i don't stand on your head i don't care what whatever not if you're driving your car don't do that all right i'll just take a moment i'm just going to wrap this up and pray together and pray for you and then yeah just i'm i'm just gonna end that's what i'm gonna do i'm just gonna i'm gonna i'm gonna be quiet that's my goal so father we're amazed that you would actually choose us we're overwhelmed with the privilege the privilege to serve you the privilege to carry your name the privilege to say what you're saying to do what you're doing we know there's nothing we could do to ever earn it we also don't want to take advantage of it and ignore the privilege so we thank you enable us with divine reasoning with the wisdom of god to perceive what you're saying and doing and then boldly declare that your kingdom is at hand i ask this in jesus name amen bless you guys [Applause]

Channel: BSSM Redding

Views: 514,016

Keywords: Bethel, Bethel School, Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry, BSSM, BSSM first year, bssm second year, miracles, signs and wonders, revival, kingdom culture, bill johnson, kris vallotton, God of love

Id: f7jnUt4mi54

Length: 69min 6sec (4146 seconds)

Published: Thu Nov 18 2021