Honoring Eric and Candace Johnson | Bethel Church

[Applause] well what an extraordinary day the favor of god that he places on us is most of the time unmerited amen there's there's moments of life where it's like oh my goodness god why did you favor us so much why did you care for us so much and i believe our community here has been favored by god in an extraordinary way john 15 says this no greater gift or no greater love has no man or that no man could give is this i butchered that that's all right but you know the one no greater love can any man give is this that he laid down his life for a friend and we've had two people in our environment who have for the last 10 years continually laid down their life in servant leadership and been a model of what true godly treasure can look like and god in his divine wisdom in his grace and his divine generosity actually poured out his glory in two people and we got to enjoy that glory for a time and i love them so much and there's really no words or even shout of energy or anything that we could give that would actually meet up to the sacrifice and the gift that they've given us but we're gonna try anyway so we have thousands of people joining us all over the world and and i want you to join us as well and so i want everyone to first stand to your feet first stand to your feet because i want you ready i want you positioned because it feels like we should give a certain gift of celebration to these two and and i want even everyone who's joining us online pretend like everyone can hear it coming through the screen i want you yell at your screen scream at your screen and just just celebrate as much as you can these two please welcome eric and candice johnson thank you thank you thank you we love you guys so much i'm so thankful we have a group of people here in the room and i'm thankful for everybody online who's watching it is very interesting to be in this moment right now in the middle of covid where we are making one of the biggest transitions in our life with the people that we love most in our lives and i'm so thankful at least to be able to see some faces in person and i'm looking through that camera and just thinking of all the people that i just dearly love through all of our time here um gosh this is such a moment in our lives this is a tremendous day for us because pastoring bethel in the last 10 years has been one of the biggest privileges and honors of our entire life and i just want to say thank you for trusting us for inviting us into this space it's truly been incredible we have grown a lot yep yep a ton and i just want to take a moment just to even thank uh bill chris the senior team for trusting us in this space it's a it's such a big thing to be invited into and you know we we've learned so much in this uh in this journey and um you know it's a big risk as well for everybody to to invite people into spaces and so i just want to thank you for that thank you um for being who you are thank you for um bill first one of the things that i find delightful about you and that i'm that we all benefit is uh you are a man who is obsessed you have this obsessive nature it actually flows through your whole family i enjoy it in your son right now besides the lord and golf i mean there's always there's things and whatever it is you don't just do it a little bit but like you just go all in and it's just it's it's delightful and i just find a lot of um first time i've heard you say it with delightful entertainment but do i not laugh do not it's entertaining so i laugh but this one trait as well is why we're enjoying a lot of what we enjoy here is because bill your love for the lord your love for his presence for his kingdom to come heaven on earth i it's just a sound it's a decision it's a direction that i'm forever grateful for and thank you for allowing me to come underneath and inviting us into this space it's been such an honor to be able to run with you and we will continue always we are for your children but in this space thank you for allowing us to come in and then chris when we stepped into this role i didn't realize what there's bill and benny and you're covering you guys what you've decided and then there's chris who you've really been the architect of this environment and we are enjoying what we have is a lot of your work it's your heart it's your hands it's what you've been able to build you're one of the most incredible builders that i know and i'm so thankful for your heart for your wisdom and what you choose to invite people into and what you choose to give away and so thanks for being a leader that thinks of other generations thanks for being a leader that engages you engage with us as staff i also see you engage with the city the things that we've built in the city came out of your heart and your hand and so thank you so much chris and kathy we just love you very much and dan there's no more words like i've been in so many meetings this week in the last few weeks and dan i don't know who is listening out there if you do not go ah when you hear dan's name it's just because you don't know him but he's we call him the glue in our environment but he is um just a wonder he you've been grace you've been wisdom and you've been um just covering to us so thank you so much we love you dearly you know candace said we've had so many final staff meetings final meeting until we've been sharing you know every everyone the whole another set of emotions so there's so many people we have been thanking over the last couple weeks specifically but today um you know because i've i am a lot like my family obviously because i am my family but are blatted or close to her eyes and so it doesn't take much for tears to flow so i do best if i write it out so i'm just gonna uh it's just best if i read what i wrote just trust me on that or else we'd be here till late this afternoon i'm gonna start with my dab i said no eye contact today so i'm intentionally not looking so you are my hero thanks for living with so much conviction in the endless pursuit of the goodness of god you've kept and you keep the main thing the main thing you are just like your dad my grandpa the same man off the stage as you are on the stage this had been one of life's greatest gifts to me i didn't have to reconcile what so many pastors kids also known as pks had to reconcile and that was having a different dad in public and in private i didn't have to reconcile that so thank you for that thank you for being such an encourager in creating space for us to lead dream practice and create stuff which within our heart i'm looking forward to this next season of our lives as we don't often know what we have until we actually go and i love you and this isn't a goodbye by any means it's a rather talk soon i love you chris thanks for setting an example of being given something and stewarding it to the point where it touches the world you are one of the prime examples of having all the cards stacked against you and allowing the grace of god to touch you in such a way that you somehow turned your life into one of the most beautiful offerings back to the lord you are a living example of ephesians chapter 2 verses 1 through 10 specifically verses 7 and 8. and it talks about the grace of god god wants to use his grace to touch people to reveal how good he is and when i look at your life i see that you're one of the prime examples of that you were not given a great hand in life so where you started and where you are is just remarkable so thank you for being a prime example in that thanks for being this unique blend of visionary and builder we have seen countless times where you take an idea from the intangible realm all the way from rocket ships we haven't seen that one inside joke rocket ships and i mean honestly what candace said the architect of this environment environment you've taken it from an idea and you brought it to reality and that's been an incredible example to the both of us and thanks for leading that here and we know that you've been part of something into us related to that it has been an honor to run alongside you and to be able to accomplish what we were all able to accomplish and thank you chris i love you yeah we just want to also take a moment just to thank the church for the same thing for trusting us for inviting us in we have felt from the moment that we said yes uh complete care love and belief and that's just not something that you just give people just anybody and yet when we said yes i felt it from the staff and i felt it from our church and i just want to thank you so much for your love and belief in us the entire almost decade now this week what we've got the privilege to do is just sit with people who we really love who we've really who we journeyed with over the last 10 years and just tell them how much we love them and how much they mean to us because that's really the gift in life is what we get to do together and the exchange and the connection and i say that i feel like i know god so much more because of who you are it's because of what we've done together i get to see different parts of him and i'm so thankful for that so i just want to go over a couple things of what i love about you bethel just so you know my heart it is it is um the emotional part of transitioning is that you i have fully given my heart to you so all of you guys live inside of here so whether you're in this room or not like you are fully in here so as we transition just know how much we deeply deeply love you and we're forever marked and changed by you by who each of you are first what i love about you bethel is you are an unreserved passionate people for the lord like it's undoing from the moment i met you back in 1996 even before we got married we came to visit and we see it in the leadership but you see it in the people you'll see it in every nook and cranny of this place just the unreserved means you just live without limits you live into the unknown the risk-taking the stuff that you um you just move forward without any reservation i'm just so thankful for that i'm i'm completely challenged by it often challenged and even as we transition i tell you that i'm amongst we are amongst good friends and good company in the sense that now we are in a season we are stepping into the unknown and it feels like we're just jumping off a cliff and yet i've seen many of you have done that many of you are here at bethel because that's what you did you followed god to this place called reading this little place called reading with a little airport like what could god do in reading but yet you all followed where he's leading and so just know that we are following you as you follow the lord and we're just saying yes to the future and yes to what he has for us but know that we're forever marked by you and we're so thankful for you secondly thank you for bethel being a place that has a deep heritage of passionate committed lovers of god there are so many people that have come before us that we you don't see on the stage we have grandma johnson the room i saw papi nana there are countless others who have given their lives and laid down such a strong foundation that we all enjoy and the thing about foundations is you don't see them you don't see them very often and they are we have some of the strongest foundations here it has been one of the things i've been most proud of when we get to talk about who we are as bethel like let me tell you about some people you might not hear on the stage all the time but they're people that can always said yes even when it was uncomfortable even when it got painful they are fully committed and it's their joy and delight and even what we're experiencing today they are delighted and they have grabbed on to the new and to grab onto new you have to let go of old and change it's easy to talk about it's another thing to live out and so i just want to honor those who have gone before us for their um following the lord but also they're grabbing on to new we love you we're so thankful for you thirdly i just want to tell you bethel one things i love about you the most is that we have all generations almost equal equally represented here in our church we did a survey and looked at all of our demographics and every age from birth all the way up until you go me to jesus we have every age represented here and that makes this place so dynamic we were just at a church a couple weeks ago and it was beautiful i thought the average age was probably 28 years old in the room i thought gosh you guys must not have enough room to hold your children's ministry and my guess is you don't have any high school youth group because they had one demographic in the room and it was passionate and it was cool but i realized oh that's not like our church our church has all the different just because of what god is doing here and i'm so proud of that and it has made us very wealthy because we have each other i know in the school of ministry they have a mamas and papa's group that it's our diamond fellowship our 55 and up go in and they just make themselves available to the younger people i'm like oh thank you that you just don't go on and and let go and leave our space as family we are so rich because of everyone who's represented so i'm so thankful um for you no matter what age you are here you add so much to who we are thirdly this one i'm um completely undone often is the generosity of heart i i've actually come just to expect it but every single time even though i know it's coming it's just undoing like you live open-handed and the things that i've seen you so into intentionally or just gum even not just let go of but sometimes i feel like you can't give stuff away fast enough i know years ago bill did a series on generosity and then there was um i think it was like a repentance type offering that we did and it felt like and i felt it too i just felt in the room you can't just give fast enough like let me give you this i just want to invest i want to partner with what god is doing and i will not stay where i am and i will live completely open and give everything i have that's who you are bethel and i am forever marked by that and i want to comply i want to always live at that standard and i actually believe it's that one it's that one trait specifically has been a big part of what god is has released here at bethel thank you for being the people of generosity of heart you've always even even now as we've transitioned on i felt more covered by your kindness than anything else the thing that's made this transition just be super sweet is your kindness so thank you for that and it really comes out of your generosity of heart bethel you're a beautiful people and the bible talks about trees of righteousness we're in reading and when i ask god who is bethel he told me bethel is full of trees they are oaks of righteousness because we have a lot of oaks here oaks of righteousness and not just oaks that bethel is a grove of oaks of righteousness and in a grove that has really deep root system that's intertwined in interlock which provide allows the trees to grow really big and provide a good covering and it's become a place of refuge for people where the broken can come and it's actually an attribute of the lord that is in this house it's in the people and i just want to thank you because it's your lives it's your history it's your intimacy with god it's your yes to god and your yes to each other so thank you for being who you are i love you deeply and hold you in my heart yeah yeah bethel we love you and i don't have enough words to thank you for everything i and we are a better person because of you uh you helped candace and i become better leaders better people you played a huge part in shaping us i shared a few weeks ago i said and weaverville is where i grew up as a kid but bethel being here helped me to become a man and that's because of this house thank you our kids grew up here and both of our daughters are here they've seen a lot and i'm grateful that my daughters got a front row seat to the constant display of the power of god and experience firsthand a community of believers that were fully abandoned to god they've been marked by that candace says often love is what makes you beautiful we are beautiful because of bethel good of this community so thank you for loving us well we look forward to the days ahead and we will champion you from wherever we are at and we look forward to bringing back the spoils from another land to show you what god and where god is taking us and i've said this as well i'm looking forward to being crazy uncle as well i have to tell you dan sat me down he's a little nervous about me being crazy uncle so i had to assure him it'll be good it'll be good we are so gutted that we couldn't do this of the whole church on all of our services and all of our campuses so for bethel that you're watching on camera today please know that once our sabbatical's over we're gonna pop back in and give and get as many hugs as possible on all of our services hopefully they're all going by then dan and dad and make sure make sure but we will come back and get all of our hugs and goodbyes that we are somewhat robbed of today as far as the whole church and so we love you bethel and we're forever grateful for you and we will we will be back for sure we will be back yeah and as we are in this moment of great transition i recognize it's not just us but it's numerous people are just this has just been a year of shaking and what i love about shaking is you get down to what's true and what's right and i wanted to read proverbs 3 5 and 6 5 six and seven and it's a scripture that we all know i'm gonna read the passion translation because it's something that just keeps um it keeps helping me navigate and it because it all anchors around trust and in this season as one chapter closes and we say yes to a new chapter it's just that walk of trust that we all say yes to we're getting to live out once again trust in the lord completely this is who we are this is what we say yes to this is what we're all walking out and do not rely on your own opinions i'm so thankful that that's not anything that we rely on because they are blown in every direction these days and i even in myself with all your heart rely on him to guide you and he will lead you into every decision you make so i just release that just the grace in your decision making i know that all of us are in this place we're not the only ones become intimate with him in whatever you do and he will lead you wherever you go and it's this place of trust that i really feel god inviting me personally into the intimacy with him i've never seen so much humanity in myself and in other people in this last year you know it's just in the there's just been a season of uh things being exposed in myself and a lot of vulnerabilities lack brokenness but in each of those spaces that we would trust god enough to invite them in and let them know us so that we can be loved in those places and be healed in those places and that we could live out of overflow and whatever we do and it's out of that space that he's going to guide us and so why don't you just stand with me i want to pray over you guys too oh actually don't stand yet eric has another part i have another part she skipped over so we're gonna we're gonna do that i want to talk to the staff now last but not least to the staff in this room and those that are watching online we had a staff meeting this week but i wanted to say one more thing who we got to work with every day for so many years is what made the decision really really hard there's something special about doing what you love with the people you are so excited to do it with as i reflect on what we were able to accomplish build start and create i'm reminded of all the small meeting interactions where we we took an idea and made it happen and i think that's one for me it's one of the life's rewarding things not just having an idea but seeing i should come about none of that was possible without the staff without the team which was a very large team not only did it come about but it was done with excellence passion and beauty the countless hours in energy and going the extra mile was was so humbling for us and to experience it it won't it does it didn't and it won't go unnoticed in fact it's such an offering to the lord it'll be fun to see how the lord rewards you so thanks for living so committed to the college of the kingdom you hold the high watermark of a dream team thank you to the bethel staff and team we love you and again we're forever indebted to you as well so as we transition into our future our hearts are overflowing with gratitude for you that's why we love you and we aren't saying goodbye we're just transitioning into a new place of relating we will always be championing you and cheering you on we love you deeply if you're in the room if you want to stand with us and even online we just want to pray over you i thank you lord for our family here i thank you for every single person who is in this room and is watching online i thank you for history thank you for memories made and shared i thank you for the richness of your love that fills the last decade of our lives i so feel so rich because of the last 10 years so i bless everybody in this house i bless the house of bethel lord i thank you for your favor on bethel i pray that will only increase i pray that they would experience the wind at their backs and there just be a fresh grace as you step into the future i just call you blessed and highly favored bethel i pray that you'd have eyes to see him ears to hear him and tender hearts to know him god i pray that you would direct them in clarity god that their cups would overflow and i thank you god for meeting them in intimate places yeah we love you bethel yeah so we bless you eric and candace we bless you in the name of the lord and we pray that you would give back more than what you even came for or asked for and we just pray that as we venture out and explore what god has for us that you would be rewarded and the blessing would come right back to you even more and father we're we know that you're not done on earth we know that you have so much more of what you want to do and i just pray that this house as it steps into its future a shocking and a new one that we didn't expect that even at this place steps into its future that the clarity would be there the eyes to see that years to hear that there'd be such incredible clarity starting right now of what this house is moving into so we can continue to run with the drumbeat of seeing your kingdom come that heaven would be on earth just as it is there so i bless you in the name of the lord and the lord would keep you and that he would blow your socks off amen amen we love you guys eric and candace together you have been such a powerful force a family you have brought us together as a family thank you thank you for thinking about the youngest to the oldest and that we are all a part of this bethel family that we love [Music] eric and candace i don't know how i could be more proud or pleased with you than i am as a dad and as a spiritual leader and i can talk with you either head-on and have buttons bursting uh so thrilled with who you are i i love i love your stewardship of the presence of god that's really important to me and and you've championed that the presence of god the glory of the lord manifest upon us in us through us among us you've championed the need the necessity of miracles of signs and wonders it it's a gospel of power it's not just a theory it's not just something that we will enjoy the fruit of when we die but it's something that's here and now and you've modeled that just beautifully hey eric and candace steven windy here we just want to bless you and we love you guys so much i just wanted to say a big thank you for your faithfulness in this place and the way that you so beautifully built community raise people up eric and candace johnson are two of my most favorite people on the planet and i love them dearly i am not ready to say goodbye um but i know that it's time and you're worth it eric and candace my gosh well we already miss you i already miss you wow what a transition my goodness we love you guys so much and we're so thankful for you i still think what you guys did at bethel was some of the most vital vital leadership i've seen in our environment i just so appreciate your leadership your love your intentionality of drawing staff close to each other valuing one another as well as your leadership and love to local church and really being intentional with how you ran that just for you two and the last 10 years to have done what you have has been incredible god bless you guys we just wanted to give you our love and appreciation we're excited for this new season in your life and we thank you so much for just your friendship and your encouragement through the years and we love working with those guys yes in weaverville yes and we know god's going to do even greater things than you guys you guys are risk takers you model the kingdom so well and we're so appreciative for all you've poured into us and other people and just the culture that you created here for everybody to have a place and people to belong the home groups that you started the everything that you built here eric shortly after i came on staff you had brought me into a very sensitive and difficult meeting with a missionary and i was blown away by how well you handled that meeting full of love and grace but yet amazing wisdom firmness and strong leadership and i came home from that meeting and i told them i think eric's one of the best leaders i've ever seen and you've proven that over and over again the nine and a half years we've had the joy of working with you well first i just want to say thank you thanks for being such incredible leaders um role models just powerful people that that love the lord and lead well in your loving of the lord on behalf of being black's empowering and impacting the next generation life group i just want to say thank you for loving us covering us championing us making space and even entering into painful moments with us but it's the work of family and we're so so grateful for you and we feel the sting of your leaving when we first met when you first came into our life that was a long time ago and we i recognized a legacy in you eric and i've taught on it how legacy works and it was the first time i'd seen it in my life because i didn't really have an inheritance a spiritual inheritance from my father and i remember watching bill and of course in those days earl was around and so i saw it in earl and bill and then when i saw you and of course candace but um i was just really impressed and i wanted to thank you for that demonstration in my life it's it's part of my message now and i of course part of my life because i've since kind of dug that up and restored that with my father before he went to heaven and uh and then of course have it with my sons and now our first grandson so you know there's you you've impacted our life and it's it's been a beautiful thing we love you guys for that hey eric and candace i'm speaking on behalf of both lisa and myself she's ministering right now so i'm so sorry she's not sitting next to me but we talked about it we want to celebrate what god is getting ready to do in your lives you two have so much that he is entrusted to and i know this next season is going to see that unfold you are going to be so fruitful i see big smiles on your face as you see the harvest that god is about to bring into your life for the faithfulness that you have sown to him and his kingdom for years and years and years you're always going to be a part of the bethel family a part of our family because we're uncle john and aunt lisa we celebrate you and we love you so very much you guys came in and made this place feel so much like home and created such a connective atmosphere where there was ways for people to get involved and engaged and where people felt seen and heard and known and there's so many areas where you guys engaged people who had been passed over or looked over or people groups i love everything from like the moms groups that you've done to the celebrating volunteers nights that you've done to the tree lighting service and doing things like sermons series and the i mean the chris and the easter service there's been so many rich things that you have added to this culture but to me personally i just love you both so much i know that i'm so thankful for your belief your belief in people and your willingness to fight for people and champion them you've done it for me so many times in my earliest moments of being a young pastor to where i am right now you're still fighting to believe in me and champion me and take risks with me i'm so thankful for what you have fought for both for my life and for our church and for our team you guys have championed things and fought for things that needed to be fought for you pushed forward things that needed to have someone just being a champion for it and so i'm so grateful for the things that you guys have built here created and the culture that's been made by you you two are the most powerful 40ish couple that i know and i'm really proud of you i love who you are what you carry how you do life and you inspire me every time i'm around you and knowing you both since you were 25 years ago and watching you grow into leadership as a married couple has been a very beautiful thing and it makes my heart happy and i swell with pride for you hiring me at 21 years old to run the outreach department at bethel church you guys have believed in me and championed me so much i'm so pumped for you guys and i know that what's coming is going to be amazing in your life you guys are people that have seen a treasure and you're selling everything to go and buy the field where that treasure is so so pumped for you guys we're gonna miss you so much and uh can't wait to see what god does in your life i love the wisdom and discernment that you've both grown in over these past few years that i've got to run with you i'm always inspired by you and so impacted that even in a season of so much change you've done it with so much purity of heart and you've left me and those around me with our hearts positioned and pointed more to god than anything else candace it was such a joy to do ministry with you and the thing that touched my heart the most was the way you were so real the way you were so touchable and approachable with people people truly felt loved when you would talk with them and spend time with them and you truly always stopped for the one one of the things that you would always say to me and if you don't love doing this i don't want you to do it so it was just there was so much freedom and being able to share my gifts and be able to serve the lord with you and eric at bethel hey eric and candace it's nate here from the stirring the other church in reading we just want to tell you how much we love you it's been such an absolute honor to lead and champion our city these past 10 years together eric i'll never forget that day we wandered down the hallways of city hall looking for the mayor's office so giddy and expectant for what god might do and that moment we met up from the hearth and we dreamed years ago about gathering our city around the cross on good friday and more than anything i will miss our monthly sushi dates my wife has told me that i go on more sushi dates with you than i do with her and so as you guys step into this next adventure we bless you you've marked our lives you've marked our church you've marked our city and we just say well done and we bless you into this new adventure with god we love you guys we're to miss you so much there's so many things yeah that we could celebrate about your life uh you've been such an integral part of it thank you to our family you've believed in us so much so much no matter what in the good the bad the ugly obviously you know how much we love and adore both of you and just so grateful for our friendship and not just our time together at bethel but even beyond that as we've been down here candace you obviously know that i consider you to be my pastor and eric is my pastor and so together to both of our pastors we want to be able to just just really say that we are standing with you and praying and believing that this season ahead is going to be incredible and we have a prophetic word is that right yeah we were just we were going to say if you felt the lord moving you to sacramento i feel the lord on that yeah we feel some wind on that i that's a if you would have thrown a thus saith the lord in there this is so you know if you want to if you want to pray into that a little bit seek the lord on that no i really feel the lord on that i feel the wind on that yeah and so um so we wanted to not just say you know blessings on you guys in the new season ahead we're praying for you but also just give you a prophetic word publicly publicly in front of everybody that's watching right now um so yeah really but we honestly i mean we've we've made transitions in our life and we are excited we're gonna be good for what is ahead and you guys are some of the most genuine authentic loyal uh friends that we have and so we're just so cheering you on so so from us see you know bannon and cj and all of jesus culture we just want you to know that we're cheering you on excited for the season ahead and we're standing with you and believing really truly not just in some cheesy statement but really do believe that the best is ahead for you guys as a dad i feel like you've you've strengthened my life you've the psalms talk about the children will be an honor and a glory to a mom and to a dad and you you guys have done that you've been there and so i just want to say thank you thank you thank you i love you so much i'm so proud of you and i'm so excited to see what god's going to do for all of us in this next season thanks i love you hi we want to uh pray for eric and candace come on up and we've got uh slt and clt if you know what those are and you're on it come on up we have some other uh individuals who are invited to be a part of this so come on up we want to pray bless these guys all of you just uh join with us please and in uh in in great faith and blessing you know one of the things that's probably very very under valued in um in most church cultures is the unique ability that a person has to bless another uh it's more than just saying god bless you it's actually an impartation of grace and it is the privilege of disciples of jesus to actually declare over someone else in israel's history and their custom there would be people out harvesting a crop and the people walking past would yell out the lord bless you in the harvest there was this there was this process that was a part of their culture and so we're going to do that today we're going to have a few folks lay hands on them and pray for them but i just want to encourage all of you that are watching from around the world make this make this a real topic of your prayers for this week as we pray for this transition for them for us and but right now we just focus on where god is taking blessing them and uh so we've got several folks that are going to pray look at this this is this is family it's bittersweet actually it's just bitter i'm serious i was thinking earlier i like bittersweet chocolate but i may never eat it again because it'll remind me of something so we we honestly want to declare a great blessing of the lord over these so if you would extend your hands if you guys want to stand with us that are you you're in the room those uh are watching online just join your hearts with us because we want to declare the blessing of the lord over this household this family go ahead go ahead well lord we just thank you for what you're doing in this apostolic send me bless eric and candace their family and this journey this mission uh this morning when we're worshiping i actually had a vision in my mind for you guys and uh this is a new new for you to me and i was uh caught up in this idea of the macedonian man calling out to you the context is that they were forbidden to go to certain places i just read the scripture i had actually forgotten that that they had tried to go to three cities but it said the spirit of jesus forbid them to go there and then paul had a vision or a dream where a man from macedonia invited him to come in fact called him to help and i feel like the lord's going to open these vision doors to you it's going to be a kind of a a renewed or a new way that the lord's going to lead you and uh i was thinking about how the lord was leading paul and the the most famous prophet in the new testament is a man named agabus and he takes paul's belt and i think he binds himself for paul and he and he says don't go to jerusalem this is what's going to happen if you do and then paul said well that's where i'm called to be i'm going anyway and i i just felt that the lord was going to give you such a strong direction that even prophetic words won't keep you from the will of god now that sounds a little strange but in context of agabus and lord i just pray your blessing on this family that there would be the macedonian call that you would even forbid them to go to certain places and open other doors and that the doors that would be open would be so sure they would be so sure and i feel like this word a surety i feel like there's a there's a word coming for you that you won't be like i'm not maybe kind of well maybe we should try i feel like there's going to be a macedonian call that happens in the next two weeks where the lord opens the door and you even have other prophetic words like go here go there and go no i'm so sure we're supposed to go here i'm so sure of it and i i feel like there's a certainty coming a certainty coming that is going to uh it's it's going to uh uh like you know that that um phrase like set your mo like uh focus like flint or your mind like flint i feel like it's going to be so certain and then uh and then in that vision in that when paul actually went he meets uh lydia this businesswoman and she begins to fund their ministry and opens the doors to the gentiles and i just i pray for new doors to open that is actually in your heart and that it will it will solidify all the prophetic words and all the things you have in your heart and i bless that in jesus name amen yeah i saw um i actually feel so grateful to the lord for the pictures i saw today him sharing his heart about you guys and i feel like he told me it was flag day for you and i i felt like he was telling me like this season of your life has been your everest and um that the people who are called to hurt like who who it's in them to climb mountains that this isn't your first mountain but this was one of the big ones and i feel like there's four or five mountains ahead of you that you get to conquer and put a flag in but um can i just pray over you i saw him putting a flag in the ground and the flag said faithful and true and it had a heart in the bottom right corner and it would and it it was so beautiful because it was just that the heart was a whole heart and i feel like the lord is like everything you do will be with a whole heart and i in the other corner there was a lightning bolt and i and i i just asked the lord about it and he said nothing they'll do will ever be done without heaven touching what they're what they're doing and um it was so beautiful and honoring that this is where you learned how to put your stake in the ground i'm sure knowing eric he's watched documentaries about everest i'm sure probably but if you have it there that's where they like it's life or death all the way up and you have to learn how to adjust to the air and adjust to the environment and you have to keep attached to the people around you and i feel like you learned the way of mountain climbing while you were here and proudly your father stands and you put the flag in the ground today at the top at the summit you have summoned at the mountain and i feel like the beautiful thing is is in the in the future the people that will see it the flag boasts of him but between you and him i felt like it was an inside joke that he sees you as faithful and true and he knows you are wholehearted and you you will wait for lightning you will wait for that connection to heaven i bless you in jesus name and as a member of your congregation i want to say thank you on behalf of the people that can't be here today i want to say thank you for the families and the lives that you've loved and poured into and what a blessing to have raised my children so far under your care and to value church because of how you have put a stake in the ground and and made it um yeah you've been faithful and true to the things the lord has said so i bless you for in jesus name oh how we love you chris cruz and benny um there's a couple words that came to my mind um i felt like the lord said watch how history speaks of them differently than how they might think right now i felt like there's going to be this the the fruit of the seeds you've sown are going to speak a story that's remarkable and i felt that there's a verse in acts that was similar in the space where chris was sharing but this is a kind of an affirmation of you guys and paul's words as he's parting he says i consider my life worth nothing to me my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the lord has given me the task of testifying of the good news of god's grace and i felt like you guys are just modeled it over and over again that selfless leadership that says i'm not counting it about me i'm not making it about me i'm making it about god's grace i'm making it about who he is and so father i thank you that they have taught us how to live selflessly how they have taught to not crave any kind of limelight how to not look for fame and accolades in life but they have sought to serve they have sought to serve and they have sought to serve god i thank you that they built that inside of us as a people that we've learned from them to lay our lives down for one another god i thank you for that and i pray the lord bless you and keep you and cause his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you the lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace amen amen yeah i uh when i was praying for you guys this morning i um i just saw a picture of it was this it was this it was this big bulldozer this big yellow bulldozer and then uh when you got up when you saw it from above it just had the word favor on it and uh i just saw favor clearing the path for you and i saw you and candace were walking behind it holding hands kind of looking at each other you weren't skipping but it felt like that like it was just giddy and you were out on a date night kind of deal like you were just really just enjoying the walk and having really not even uh knowing all like all that favor was clearing in front of you and uh and and we we know this and we know um all those watching all those in here that there really is authority in sending like there's really something released on the laying hands of sinning and so would you just stretch your hands out as you have been but we just send you with favor but we just send you with favor i'm talking about favor that makes the journey enjoyable and easy and and actually you don't even know what's going on all around you you're just enjoying one another on the journey and favor clearing the path and we pray favor with finances we pray favor with leaders we pray favor with cities we pray favor with buildings we pray favor with prophets we just pray that favor would be on you right now and that favor really would be that bulldozer that just you you just walk behind trusting the timing and the pace of the favor that's in front of you and just enjoying that journey amen amen so we bless you in the name of the lord jesus i bless you we declare the covering of the grace on this house over your lives all your days a covering that is not a ceiling a covering that is an invitation to great things for the glory of the name jesus we bless you we honor you everybody said amen amen amen we have some some gifts for even candace there it's inside the box thank you all for coming up on this stage kind of socially distance i know there was a great effort great effort you guys why don't you i'm so proud of you thank you thank you we have gifts in the card little pictures of gifts and things that couldn't fit in there and uh a very nice check to bless them with just a real love offering and then bethel family i know that so many of you were able to give again today and so we'll we'll add to that uh you know what let me just read a scripture and then that's probably the safest thing i can do the lord bless you and keep you the lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you the lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace what you guys have championed through these years is your value for the presence and i'm i'm thankful for your shout of amen for that value bethel family you've done the same and my prayer is that for every one of us the ever-increasing glory of god would actually manifest upon all that we are and all that we do and i pray that eric for you and candace and the girls that there would be ever-increasing glory upon your lives and on the bethel tribe the bethel family those that are local and those that are scattered abroad the i if i could choose anything that we would be known for it's the fact that he declares over us i'm not ashamed to be their god i'm not ashamed to be called their god and that the glory of the lord would actually manifest upon the countenance of his people let his face shine upon us i pray that over you i thank all of you who have joined us online for this very unusual but extremely important day for us as a family to honor people that we love and have uh just uh are so thankful for these uh these years that we've been able to run together in this way it changes now but it doesn't go away it's just just larger strides yeah i have something in mind i won't go there um because it won't make sense to anybody but me and i'll be the only one laughing so that's never any fun um thank you thank you all of you for joining us as awkward as it is i know there are people watching that have never known what it is to be born again you've never you've never experienced the love of god so deeply inside of your life that you became different from the inside out forgiven of sin literally adopted brought into the family of god and that's available for everybody that is watching this show right now and i would encourage you there are people in the chat rooms or people if you're watching betheltv or youtube or some of the way there's a way for you just to acknowledge i want to surrender my life to jesus i want jesus to be my absolute lord and if that's you please let it be known on the chat room right now because we want to we want to make sure that the most important thing done today is this and it's for you and it's for the glory of his name amen well i bless all of you thank you for joining us on this day banning thanks for driving up cj thanks for driving up and others of you that came some distance very cool to have you here and uh we will we will enjoy you being here bless you bye-bye

Channel: Bethel

Views: 13,374

Rating: 4.9622641 out of 5

Keywords: bethel church, bethel, bethel church redding, eric johnson, candace johnson, eric johnson resign, bethel church leadership, bill johnson, kris vallotton, dann farrelly, eric johnson bethel church, eric and candace johnson, eric and candace johnson celebration

Id: XLtZ5CCAUEE

Length: 55min 10sec (3310 seconds)

Published: Sun Jan 31 2021