September 12, 2021 | Sunday AM Service | Bethel Church

good morning bethel church we love you so much we're so excited about service today we are good morning bethel online oh my voice i need water um tell us where you're from i see lots of you signing on right now it's amazing hi from denmark oh you have good alaska my dream i want to go hunting in alaska and timothy i i'm praying for your uncle and your pastors friends sister we that just really stood out to me just standing here so we just released complete and total healing to both of them in jesus name yeah and it is a season where the injustice of a pandemic and a disease i i really want it to stir us as the body of christ stir us to prayer stir us to action stir us to no not on my watch we're gonna fight with each other and and for each other in in this whole time because i believe god wants to move in a powerful way for his glory and make himself shown in a way that almost makes a spectacle of the enemy yeah and and we're excited about that yeah thanks baby what's god speaking to you oh well let's just talk about our weekend how your weekend was we had a really fun weekend yesterday our daughter turned 19 our youngest one crazy yes wild and then one of our best friends he opened up a new tattoo shop and so we got to celebrate that it was oh oh my goodness that's right oh and guess who's speaking today brian johnson her husband come on are you ready to worship it's going to be johnson takeover oh all day long you've got you've got coffee breath jen we both do we're in it together i have gum breath yes we love you yes so fun right so we had a fun day yesterday but my our daughter she decided to stay here instead of going to college and so sometimes when you make really hard decisions that you the holy spirit's telling you there is some weight with it so she's just it's been she's been down like she's just had yeah she made a beautiful decision that was a hard one i'm not gonna go to a four-year school right now i'm actually gonna stay and go to a junior college and save money because i'm looking at a bigger picture than what's going on and sometimes that's not can i say this online that maybe isn't the greatest or most sexy decision right or glamorous glamorous there you go sorry just strike that that was online no but it's yeah it's not the flashiest always so easy and so yesterday being her birthday she was not she really didn't want to have a birthday yeah like she was like but it was so amazing how god came through and literally all day she was celebrated in such special ways it was it was so beautiful yeah to see in her she works at dutch brothers here in reading and they celebrated her they threw her surprise party they i mean she got to keep all the cash tips from the all the customers 425 dollars i'm like literally god showed up in a huge way and i really feel like people that have made made decisions out of just okay this is risky has been closed out last week some of those decisions when you know you know you're supposed to do it but it it cost you yeah but god's going to come through so incredibly for you and i just really feel that i feel like this morning is just going to be the best morning yeah surprise blessings we really feel like that we really feel like there's breakthrough in finances as well and we've been really standing for our community and you can stand with us as well bssm has started it's awesome when the students come back here and join us but hey we would say this can you pray for our students in housing and we're believing for you as well if you're looking for housing if you're looking for a new home god has that on his heart for you and we just believe as we worship god today as we lift him up god's gonna work on our behalf to do things that we can't do on our own so bless you we're excited yeah yeah get excited tell us something you're excited about in the chat right now come on anything you're excited about go one two three and go next time i'm doing this i'm gonna give away a prize to whoever responds really fast because i oh i'm getting hearts come on where are you guys okay it's okay well that's good enough let's just go all out and worship today don't just sit back in your couch and listen to worship let's actually stand up and engage with worship if you're driving down the road singing screaming out loud be that crazy lady hands out with you worshiping god that's right we love you guys [Music] thank you [Music] good morning everyone hey good morning everyone are you guys arise and shine are you are you awake you're here hey good morning hey why don't you stand up and find someone you don't know and greet them find someone you don't know and greet them good wedding hi how are you all right you have a bible you can open your bible stay standing if you will you guys got going okay well you guys are i guess when you've been locked down and covered for months and months and then you're free all of a sudden it's like i have a friend there's humans to talk to so exciting well um i had this word this morning i woke up and i heard the word prepare for fusion prepare for fusion so i want to read you this these verses i think that i think the lord's going to do well the lord's always doing something special but i want to read you these verses if your hand tells you oh no that's the wrong verse here it is truly i say to you whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven again i say to you that if two of you agree on earth about anything they may ask it will be done for them by my father who's in heaven where two or three are gathered together in my name there i am in the midst i'd like to just read this last part again i say to you if two of you agree on earth about anything that they may ask it shall be done for them by my father who's in heaven in my mind you know i feel like the power of the lord is always here but there are certain seasons where i think the lord is highlighting his power and in this case you know fusion when two become one there's something about the agreement of believers there's something about the gathering together of believers listen i love we have online church right now lots of people watching online i love that i love when we together as a community whether you're in the building or whether you're in the movement when you're making agreement together there's a powerful fusion that happens that releases the power of god and so today i believe there's people here and i know many of you because i prayed for you often but that you've had you know you have a financial issue you have a health issue you have you have a relational issue and it goes on and on and on and it's been going on for a long time it's kind of the luke 18 the judge and the widow and i feel like today's a day uh it's a day of breakthrough it's a day of fusion it's a day to make agreement over these things i think we'll go after them in prayer today for sure but we just want to open with this sense of community and this whole sense of harmony moving together as one so if you let's just stand and worship lord we bless your people today we bless this day this is the day that you made this is a new day every day is a new day in you amen [Music] people come together strangers neighbors our blood is one [Music] [Music] [Laughter] fix your eyes on this one god is [Music] wow [Music] jesus [Music] and our salvation is in his blood [Music] and jesus [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] wow [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] is [Music] is [Music] all creations [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] oh [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] come down [Music] is [Music] salvation is [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] come on every voice in this room [Music] is [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] calm down [Applause] [Music] us [Applause] [Music] wow [Music] [Music] wow [Music] and our salvation [Music] and is the light of heaven friend forever his kingdom comes [Music] [Applause] [Music] my hope is built on nothing less [Music] than jesus blood and righteousness [Music] [Applause] in jesus name [Music] and in christ [Music] is [Music] when darkness seems to hide his face [Music] oh [Music] [Music] [Applause] is [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Applause] oh [Applause] [Applause] [Applause] [Music] and he shall come with trumpet [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Music] shall come with trump's son [Applause] [Music] is [Music] come on sing christ the lord [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh [Music] you lord [Applause] [Applause] [Music] oh [Applause] [Applause] is [Applause] [Music] in a world filled with fear we'll be people of faith in a world filled with fear people of faith [Music] people of faith [Music] you're calling us to come up higher [Music] god our provider and our friend or people of faith or we have never walked alone well we're people of faith yes you lead us and guide us we're people of faith they're just a spirit just lift your hands this morning there's such a spirit of faith in this room for no fear no doubt but people filled walking by faith and not by sight in a wild climate of fear people of faith and father we pray right now for a spirit of faith a spirit of faith of no turning lord a spirit of faith we received [Music] people love things [Music] [Music] there was another in the fire standing next to me there was another in the water [Music] [Music] there is [Music] [Applause] [Music] and i'm no longer [Music] is [Music] set me free there is a grave [Music] [Applause] another [Music] another [Music] [Music] [Applause] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] nothing stands between us any longer [Music] there is no other name but the name that is jesus he was and still is and he'll be through it all so come remain the space between all the things i've seen and this reckoning i know i will never be alone come on listen again there's no other name [Music] there is no other name but the name that is [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Applause] [Music] i can see [Music] standing next to me [Music] everybody [Music] everybody [Music] cause and i lift my eyes up to where my help comes from i lift my eyes up to where my help comes from and i lift my eyes up to where my health comes from my help comes from the lord come only sing that out this morning [Music] my [Music] comes from [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] is [Applause] [Music] between [Applause] [Music] stands between us any longer [Music] i lift my eyes up to the lord you're where my help comes from [Music] standing next to me there'll be another in the waters holding back this year and should i ever need reminding how good you've been to me i'll count the joy come everybody cause i know that's where i count the joy come every battle cause i know that's where you me [Music] in the darkness we were [Music] [Music] to fulfill the law and prophets to a virgin came the word from a throne of endless glory to a cradle and praise the father praise [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] the lost to redeem the whole creation you did not despise the cross over even in your sufferings knowing this was our salvation jesus [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] foreign [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] till the stone was moved for good for the land had conquered [Music] [Music] and the church of christ was born [Applause] [Music] [Applause] of is [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] god [Applause] foreign [Applause] [Music] [Applause] is [Applause] [Music] foreign [Applause] [Music] the king of kings [Music] king of kings [Music] yes [Music] and [Music] we're waiting here for you we're waiting here for you you're the lord of all creation and still you know my heart the author of salvation you love [Music] we're waiting [Music] with our here [Music] we adore singing [Music] your faithfulness is all we need is [Music] oh [Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Music] is [Applause] oh [Music] [Music] singing [Music] [Applause] with is [Music] singing [Music] [Applause] [Music] and it's you king jesus we adore [Music] singing [Music] [Music] and our god rings [Music] in our garden forever your kingdom [Music] our god [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] foreign [Music] is [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] hello [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] forever [Laughter] [Applause] [Music] foreign [Music] in our gods [Music] your kingdom rests [Music] there's a an interesting um lesson that jesus taught in the gospel of luke he said if a house is clean and swept and it's referring to a person's life or family whatever it might be that has a strong demonic influence if that house is clean there's deliverance clean and swept but it's not reoccupied the enemy comes back seven times worse it's a real bizarre story throughout history every time you find where there's been a place of great revival great outpouring when it's not sustained the enemy actually moves in worse than before the revival came william seymour was greatly used by god in the azusa street revival a hundred plus years ago they say church historians tell us that up to 60 million people have been directly influenced by that outpouring of the holy spirit a hundred plus years ago 60 million people amy semple mcpherson she kept los angeles fed during the great depression her miracle realm her theatrics and the sense of display of creativity hollywood came to learn from her so she was a creative force the miracles the signs and wonders in some of her meetings they would have rows of people that just had no hope at all they were dying all of them were dying and one by one they would come up get up completely completely healed there were times where she would come into a city and it would be like the hospital would be empty or there would be such a dramatic influence and that was southern california [Music] dennis bennett van nuys california episcopal priest helped to spearhead and to lead what historians now call the charismatic renewal something that literally spread around the globe because one man an episcopal priest in southern california said yes to the holy spirit chuck smith wonderful man of god to help to spearhead jesus people movement that again spread around the world california the jesus people movement in haiti asbury we have some of our own team that were there at the very foundation of that they said it couldn't happen in san francisco but he did and it became a spearhead spear point of a mighty mighty move of god but those are all yesterday and today california is known for everything but that it is time for that to change it's time for that to change we have responsibility as believers to not take these issues and to lead those to the politically minded but instead to carry conviction this time changes are made not because of protest banners not because of revolt but because we humble ourselves and pray and we become responsible this week we have a chance to be responsible we've got to see something change in this state and it starts with prayer it starts with you and with me the scripture says if my people it doesn't say if my politicians it doesn't say if the actors and athletes and the elites it says if my people will humble themselves humble themselves and pray and seek my face [Music] and turn from their wicked ways then i'll hear from heaven i'll forgive their sin and i'll hear their land i will heal their land we have a chance to stand in that place of absolute humility i'm going to ask you to take a posture before the lord right now that you literally maintain for days for several days i want us to come before the lord and pray if physically you're able to stand stand with us we're going to pray together i'm going to ask you to pray on your own right now i'm going to lead in prayer at the end but i want you to pray god forgive us forgive us not don't point a finger it is us this has all happened on our shift it's all happened on our shift there's no fingers to point there's no blame to give this is where we stand before the lord and we say father please forgive us as people i'm going to ask you to lift your voices and let's pray for the healing of our land the restoration of the state of california lift your voices with mine please [Music] oh [Music] yes [Music] smooth [Music] [Music] it's it's true that california is an apostolic state it's i believe that that is true and there's a lot of things i could point to that are wrong it won't do us any good but it's beyond human repair there isn't one person that can come into place to fix it but jesus can so father we come for the sake of our children and our grandchildren the generations to come we pray father honor the lives that were poured out by our forefathers for this state to see the mighty outpouring of young people of children the miracles the things that took place god we pray that you would heal us as a state you restore us to a place of purity integrity integrity and that family life would be restored i pray in jesus mighty name help us to be a people of great faith courage and boldness great courage and boldness i pray in jesus name chris started the service today by just declaring that this was a place of great faith and power i tangibly this doesn't always happen but i could feel the tangible power of god literally come and settle upon me i believe the lord is here to do great miracles and uh we oftentimes will call out specific things i'm not going to do that today i want you just to turn to a person next to you just put a hand on their shoulder grab their hand do something and i want you just to pray release miracles into their family miracles into their body financial miracles relational miracles divine health to be their portion we declare no to covet over this city over this region over this people would declare divine health cancer free zone the cancer itself would disappear in jesus mighty name the abundance of provision would be released relationships families would be healed we declare there is nothing impossible for jesus there's nothing impossible for those who believe thank you we thank you thank you thank you all right it was brief but it was powerful you did good hug somebody's neck shake their hand give them a fist pump do something and then be seated if you would [Music] hey bethel family we've got some updates for you here's this week's church news [Music] if you're new to our environment here at bethel church we want to invite you to intro to bethel life this week it really is a foundational course for membership not just that it's for getting to know the heart of who we are what our faith is all about get to learn more of our senior leadership team and our mission and our vision as a church come and join us there's still time to apply for this year's bethel school of supernatural ministry come and be empowered to follow jesus you'll learn about your noble character you'll groan your spiritual gifts we invite you to join you can still apply applications close this week so do it today come on today [Music] september 23rd at 6 30 we have bethel's church life fair this is going to be wild crazy incredible meet leaders and ministries get connected grow and serve in our community we want to see you there join us for this year's open heavens conference where we're going to encounter the living presence of god together one encounter can change everything about your world from your personal life your life at school and work and the world so come encounter the presence of god together register today at the link below ladies and gentlemen this is the moment we've been waiting for stewarding encounter seminar i love this event i get to put it on yes that's true but it's october 2nd this year it's an all-day seminar about stewarding this thing called encounter with god how many hungry for an encounter come and learn the theology of encounter in old testament and the new testament and then walk through a guided experience of encountering god and his presence yourself this is something we can create for not just ourselves but our whole family come and join us that's it for this week's church news if you missed any of these announcements or want more information you can go to bethelredding.com forward slash announcements have an amazing week [Music] [Applause] [Music] you just come up and hug in front of you demonstrate what community looks like [Laughter] uh well good morning you can say good morning back that's awesome thank you i'm christy tillman and i am your community life pastor and this is actually um i've gotten to be in front of you two weeks the last three weeks so i feel so privileged um but this is my final week up here so sorry everybody can go oh yeah i know so um i we've been talking through the last three weeks about connect grow and serve and connect grow and serve are are the local church ways to kind of get in pathways doorways to make bethel your home church and so a couple of weeks ago we talked about connecting and ways that you could get connected last week kim was up here and she was talking about serving and how you could serve in this house and become part of building what bethel is building and today is the final week we're talking about growing and so if you missed any of those previous weeks you know this week you again got a little rack card like that that has all the information those cards if you missed connect or serve are still out in the info booth and so you can get one this morning when bill was leading us through that prayer time which was so impactful for me i actually had this spontaneous question come into my heart which was connected to what i was going to just share with you a little bit this morning and then the question was how does somebody like christy tillman become someone like amy simple mcpherson where where i walk into hospitals and clear them out because of the power and authority of god in my life and so i was like oh well i think i might know a little piece of that and it happens to be that paul talks about it in romans 2 when he talks about the transformation that happens by renewing your mind and and really that's what we're pressing into in the area of of grow of offering the classes the trainings the conferences you heard about several in the announcements it's not just fill your mind with knowledge unless of course maybe you're going to be on jeopardy so you know like that there you want to want to have a lot of facts um but when you're walking with the power and authority of christ you actually want to look and be transformed as christ and we have that promise and it it it happens you know in romans the first 11 chapters of that that book paul's giving this pretty profound like here's what christ did for you like 11 chapters of all the things that christ did and and then in chapter 12 it changes and he's like so he actually the word there is therefore in light of all that i just told you about what christ has done how then should you live and it says that we should live as a sacrifice a living sacrifice and it goes on to kind of tell us how that happens be transformed by the renewing of your mind don't be conformed to this world because this world was how we were conformed to before christ it says that we were living in a kingdom of darkness and when we met christ we were translated into the kingdom of god's son the kingdom of light and that is how christie tillman becomes somebody like amy simple mcpherson by the power and authority of christ in me i'm transformed and made into his likeness so here's my challenge to you be a lifelong learner keep on pursuing don't just be content to show up and fill your head with knowledge let it transform your whole being and the classes that we're offering the teachers that are teaching them they've actually had experiences they've had their own encounters with this truth that they're teaching and they have an impartation to give you so get involved like there's all sorts of classes coming up you heard about one of them next week intro to bethel life it's not really a teaching class it's more of like who is bethel vision mission meet our leaders find out about our ministries but the week after that we have some classes love after marriage we were just hearing testimonies this morning about some of the amazing breakthroughs that couples received just in this last time session out in i think carolina but we get it here too and so if you you've been looking for transformation in your marriage get involved in that class love after marriage i have a list of some of the others redeeming the end times how many have had questions in this season how this going on affects like what we understand in times in the bible to be about so we've got that class deeper life our own dan fairley fire starters nice over here in the east west destiny labs small group leader training prophetic training how many want to be more trained in the prophetic so you feel confident and comfortable to walk out yeah but i love it ben vin's the teacher and he's like i want more see that's hunger that's a lifelong learner that's somebody who's pursuing revival and i know i know this room is filled with people who came to be revivalists let's go get it let's go get it together so last class born for significance the wonderful thing about our tuesday and wednesday classes is that we have nursery ministry and we have children's ministry and on wednesday night we have our full children's ministry so if you've got kids make sure that they're here on wednesday night my nephew came home this last week and he was like oh it was so good i loved it it was his first time in destiny kids so fifth and sixth grade so encoura i encourage you like get your family involved in learning and growing together with born for significance if you're not in a home group and you just want to come and bring your kids to children's ministry on wednesday night you can show up in the sanctuary we're going to meet as a large group and we're going to go through the study together and then we're going to break up into small groups and let you guys minister to each other activation encourage each other so if you don't have one of those they're also in the back love getting to be with you guys this is such a privilege that we get to run together have a great week can we all give our love towards christy tillman and her team bringing beautiful connection to our church also we would love to welcome our first time guests who who are among us so if you're visiting for the first time go ahead and raise your hands we'd love to welcome you we'd love to get some information oh wonderful wonderful thank you so much for coming our ushers have a packet they'd love to get into your hands we just pray that today you'll receive everything that the lord has for you and then tonight we have a special sunday night service at 6 00 p.m we are having baptisms tonight we're setting up a huge baptism tank at five o'clock uh whether you're watching online and you can join us tonight or you're here in the congregation and maybe you just given your life to christ or you've never followed the lord in water baptism meet at five o'clock over here in the great room and you dark clothes dining room excuse me dark clothes a towel and the power of god is gonna touch your life join us for our prayer slash encounter slash preaching service it's just filled with power amen so go ahead and stand with me once again we're going to receive today's offering we're going to worship the lord in giving and we made so many powerful declarations in worship of faith today and how many know that when we give we give with faith we give with faith and something that we were singing we were singing that when we're in the fire he is with us right and i love the part in daniel 3 when it talks about when nebuchadnezzar saw shadrach meshach and abednego he said that these men have not been touched they did not smell of smoke their clothes were not burned basically nothing touched them even though they walked through the fire the flame of the lord jesus christ protected them so how many you need that right now in your finances where you're you're up against some fiery situations and you just need a gift of faith to know that i'm going to come out of this and i'm not going to smell like smoke i'm not going to be burned this is not going to have an eternal effect on me amen so go ahead and put your hands out in front of you and we're going to declare this together offering number one i like to put our hands out because it's like you're receiving faith as you're declaring something with the lord you ready as we receive today's offering we are believing the lord for jobs and better jobs raises and bonuses benefits sales and commissions favorable settlements estates and inheritances interesting income rebates and returns checks in the mail gifts and surprises finding money debts paid off expenses decrease blessing and increase thank you lord for meeting all of my financial needs that i may have more than enough to give into the kingdom of god and promote the gospel of jesus christ hallelujah thank you god lord i thank you for every person every family represented every business represented every health care worker represented every doctor and nurse and firefighter and and anybody god that we just asked that you would increase the level of faith to believe you for our finances in this season and we ask for radical blessing that the bethel house the bethel family will be the most blessed and as a result our whole city would prosper in jesus name amen as you are giving today we have an incredible privilege we get to receive from brian johnson will you please welcome brian as he comes we on all right i had it on off i thought it was mute was on it's good to be here really good to be here um we've been i've actually been gone for a month at least a month i don't think that's ever happened um in 20 what 25 years we've been here i'm a church church boy and sometimes you don't know what you have until you until it's gone and then you realize oh wow grass is not greener on the other side and then you really realize um you know it's the things you learn i guess as you get older you know um but we went on a tour for like it we were gone for a month in um august 10th or 11th we flew out to join the team that was on a tour with chris tomlin carrie and cody carrie joe of cody corns they're married but yeah she kept her maiden name because she was famous before they got married and so now they have separate last names and it's yeah so then and then bethel music um and we went out on tour and it was it was just awesome and the first night we were on we had um our middle kids with us in in iowa and my son at the end of the night after we led one night he goes i don't feel well and i'm like oh gosh so he tested positive for kovitz so jen stayed on the tour with the other middle child taia and then i took braden um i'll just get in the little kia rental car and we'll just drive around the united states for a couple weeks and quarantined so we got i got him a playstation and he had kova but he's a 13 and he had like a little headache and a sore throat and that's it like there's it was like kind of when you're home sick from school but you're not really that sick and it's kind of awesome because you get to eat food and watch tv all day well we ate food and watched tv he played video games for almost two weeks and i binge watched netflix till three in the morning every night it's kind of awesome and uh we drove around and jen did the tour with the with the team and um and then i uh i drive from yeah this this is the way it goes so you're facing the united states i drove from iowa to cheyenne wyoming over a couple days been to shine wyoming yeah not really amazing um and uh and um then i get call from jen she's getting sick being here with the smoke and getting an ear infection and so she has to get out of smoke because she's got to go on tour for the last leg and so she goes i'm bringing the kids in a nanny to nashville so i drove all the way back i was like three hours away from where they're going to be so i drove back and and when we drove we drove because i didn't want to get sick i've had covered but i just didn't want to get sick and so i had the windows down we're 80 to 85 miles an hour for 50 hours driving down the freeway corn corn for like 20 hours straight you ever driven through nebraska in iowa and it's like it's incredible um so we did that and then in the middle of that i was supposed to speak um at the conference here at braveco conference jason valden's brave co which man i i and i told him this after being there you know i feel like i feel like it's two things i had a great one of my favorite times of ever speaking or being with a group of people was at the braveco conference and i feel like there's it's for two reasons because it's it's surrounded by men but also i feel like the favor of god and the importance for the hour that we live in you could feel god's favor and his hand is in like his pleasure on what was happening in the room it was almost like you when that happens you kind of can't go wrong you do anything and it works it's like when that happens that's a sweet spot it's kind of like when you're leading worship and it's like you start out leading worship but halfway to the set god takes over and you're not leading is leading anymore he's leading that's a sweet spot you can tell when god's favor is on something when that happens and so speaking at that was like uh did more for my heart than what i shared even for me personally so um i'm gonna share today a bit about what i talked about at that conference um the first half of what i shared there i'm going to share today um but back to coming home after being gone i i you really realized like what you have when when you don't have it for a month and it's so good to come back to reading we came back on the day that it was clear skies and it just felt like it was so good to be home and not just because of redding because like if you just look outside sometimes it looks like kind of like pretty dead out there but what we have here what we have in church what we have in community what god has done and it is doing in this environment like you really don't get it until you don't have it and so i and i also have so much respect for those of you who come in week in week out and you've committed to this and the leadership who've built this and you just you just really realize what's really important and um i spend my a lot of my life being a critic for the right reasons you know because i'm i like excellence and you know i hear every little wrong note i hear i see everything that's wrong you know i'm a professional critic [Laughter] but eventually you get tired of being a critic and you just want to be where there's real life you know what i mean and we've got five kids and it's why it's crazy it's really wild with with life with five kids two babies running around like it's a it's a lot it's but i wouldn't trade it for the world because it's alive and it's real and it's something you can grab onto um in in our line of work we have a record label which is the business side of what we do and then the worship side is the spiritual side so it's like business and spiritual combined in one thing and it's really complicated and one thing that we've seen in over two decades of doing this is it's almost like clockwork when an artist becomes big and they let go of this the local church and they go off and they do their thing and they disconnect from the local church it's almost a ticking time bomb every single time in their life and so losing this when you lose this you lose everything and no matter how big you get how much better you think it is on the other side or how perfect it is god's favor is on his people and is on his church and it will always be that way so today i want to talk about um this is geared more towards men but i think every wife and woman in here will enjoy this because your us men will become better hopefully from hearing this message and actually some of our really great new friends are here glenn and phyllis hill who really life-changing there's a few things that come along in your life that are actually life-changing and they do connection codes at connection codes follow them on instagram they run a ministry that is life-changing and i actually got some of what i'm going to say today from glenn sharing a story with us about lazarus and um so follow them they're here with our teams they're also with our teams in nashville and they've done surgery on a lot of us and it's just really been amazing so glad to have you guys here um okay the role model above all other role models for what it looks like to be a man is jesus um the typical role models for being a man in our culture today um you know like the ones you found instagram i follow like some guys that like do um 41 pull up 4 100 pull-ups in 24 hours and they run 500 miles and they can bench press this and they've have big trucks and the monster sticker actually i make fun of those guys but uh you know like the guys that do like all these crazy manly things right and now don't jen would prefer that i have a six-pack of muscles but that's not what makes me a man that's not what makes me mad and culture has this interesting way of trying to tell us what being a man is and how we should be a man and jesus is our true north he's the actual role model what it's like to be a man um and it's not wrong to follow the instagram accounts that were there bench pressing 500 pounds and doing all this amazing inspiring stuff but if jesus isn't the actual role model our true north then we will we will go off in our journey um well i think we have a distorted jesus and not predominantly the church is filled with women which is not a bad thing it's a good thing in this house there's it looks about equal so we're a healthy church but historically it feels like there's more women drawn to jesus or the church and i think part of that is because um i don't know if you've seen a painting of jesus where he looks like he's got silky long hair and um he's glowing like he's got makeup on and he's seriously though he's holding a nice teddy bear lamb thing and he's he's this i don't know this like i'm gonna say it girl guy kind of thing jesus so it's let's just be real let's just be real open sometimes it's hard as a man to connect with that right and i feel like it's just been a distorted nothing wrong with long silky hair nothing wrong with that but i feel like there's been a distorted picture of what jesus is as a man and i feel like men haven't totally been able to connect to jesus as the role model of what it's like to be a man um jesus wasn't just this guy picking flowers um in a field and putting him in his hair and dancing and you know like ballet dancing or whatever he wasn't this wasn't that and so we have a house on the coast in trinidad and there's um there's a town near our house called arcata and on saturdays they have this open thing where all the hippies come and they have music and it's like crazy and there's like to each his own there's like 70 year old man with hula hoops and and that's it's this is a lot going on there and so when i think of when and i have to be careful because i'm really not trying to be mean but when i think of a distorted picture of jesus sometimes from dysfunction in life it's just a reality we have a distorted view of what jesus is as a man jesus was the most courageous jesus was the toughest he was also the honest the most compassionate brave bold enduring patient forgiving you can fill in the blanks here understanding committed self-controlled fearless wise loving authentic and faithful man that ever lived and um just in case you want to clip that out for youtube he was fully god and fully man not just bad right that ever lived he was the toughest but he was also most self-controlled and the most loving and authentic and faithful and compassionate human that ever walked the earth culture is trying to force us into conforming what they want us to be and i don't know about you but there's about a million genders right now and i just like can we just have two man and woman jesus wasn't soft you know he was compassionate and tender but he wasn't soft he wasn't passive and sometimes we view this this this mild passive what you humble tender guy that didn't have an opinion that was everyone's friend that didn't that they didn't say anything that was that was harsh he you know he wasn't harsh he was fierce and committed and convicted in what he said he wasn't mean he wasn't a bully but he wasn't passive he was fully alive he was the perfect role model uh if you have your bibles you can turn here otherwise just listen it's i have a passion translation i'm going to read uh the story of lazarus it's in john 11. and i want to highlight the main thing i want to highlight in the story as we're reading it is what jesus did in this situation not just the outcome now i'm outcome driven i'm a builder i like to get something done and then move on to the next thing right got how many guys in here like like let's get it done and move on to the next thing and then at the end of my life i've accomplished all these things right jesus wasn't like that so i'm going to start in verse 32 and i'm reading the passion translation because it doesn't just say jesus wept because sometimes we have this when we when we hear the words jesus wept we think jesus this tough guy just cried a little tear and that's it no no no the passion translation goes into actually what happened for him when mary finally found jesus outside the village she fell at his feet in tears and said lord if only you had been here my brother would not have died when jesus looked at mary and saw her weeping at his feet and all her friends who were with her grieving it says as he shuddered with emotion and was deeply moved with tenderness and compassion he said to them where did you bury him and they said lord come with us and we'll show you they replied then tears again streamed down the face of jesus seeing jesus weep caused many of the mourners to stay look how much he loved lazarus yet others said isn't this the one who opened blind eyes why didn't he do something to keep lazarus from dying then jesus again with intense emotions came to the tomb a cave with a stone place over its entrance jesus told them roll away the stone and we know what this what happens in the story he he he in a loud voice yells out lazarus come forth and lazarus raises from the dead and you can imagine the emotion then what happens but the thing i want to highlight in this story is what happened before lazarus being raised from the dead and how jesus handled his surroundings in this situation um it's pretty mind-blowing to me because earlier in the chapter he actually prophesized what's going to happen he says i'm going to go and lazarus is going to he's the first voice as he's sleeping and the disciples can't figure it out and he finally says actually he's not sleeping he's dead and i'm going to go and we're he's going to be raised from the dead so he already knew it was going to happen so if he already knew what was going to happen why in the world did he allow himself to feel the pain that they were feeling it's crazy and he always did this in the bible whenever he encountered an individual he allowed himself to feel what they were feeling even though jesus was fully confident in his resolve which he said at the beginning of the chapter i'm going to raise him from the dead he allowed himself to feel the pain it's pretty amazing it goes against everything in me it's crazy why would he do that if if if he didn't have to why why wouldn't he if he didn't have to do that why would he do that faith doesn't avoid emotions i really feel like faith doesn't avoid emotions the very thing that which is so weird like since we've been doing even the connection code thing with my wife connection codes sorry thing with my wife is the very thing that i thought was going to spin me out of control emotionally and sink me and get me so stuck in a swirl of emotions which good lord uh you know what i mean is the very thing that has built my faith and helped me get out of some of this this when i process to my wife i uh you know i have fear about and she leans in into me it's miraculous how on all of a sudden like i don't have fear wait so you're telling me if i vocalize or show my emotion that actually is part of the answer to getting better what the very thing that i thought was gonna sink both of us has actually brought us more life and faith it's been really amazing um and as we grow and we get older we learn to sometimes we call it faith and i realize that there's those verses and it's important that we we choose to focus and think on the things that are good true loving all those things 100 percent i think that by following the example jesus showed us is is a really healthy path he didn't avoid anything he jumped right into the middle of it and turned it for his good and get launched him into the miracle every time it's really amazing so uh before the service i was kind of preparing and i'm gonna go somewhere with this a little deeper i was preparing in the bathroom there's a pastor's bathroom right here and um so it's connected right to the the kid the baby infant room and then it was during worship so jen and john fajuk and everyone they're leading and we're all singing out here and then i'm in there listening in there in that room there's a little baby screaming it's head off for like 15 minutes straight and then you guys are all in here just worshiping and these guys talk a lot about as a two-year-old as babies they have no problem telling you what they feel or what they think in any given circumstance they're so attuned with their their emotion and what's happening and then the rest of us are in here just doing our thing but how many of you inside are that baby and you just don't know how to get it out you know jesus knew how to get it out and perform the miracles and had more faith and all of those things so it wasn't weakness and it wasn't lack of faith that he showed emotion on that day it's amazing to me he didn't ignore it he didn't avoid it he felt it and then he passed through it i think that's the key for us he passed through it he used it to his advantage um you know when you buy a car and then all of a sudden everyone around you has the same car it's like you know what i mean because you just didn't know well i feel like they do that to us on instagram where you have a thought and then everything you see is that it's kind of i think there's part of that conspiracy that's kind of real but but so i was thinking about this whole idea of what i was going to share today and i i stumbled upon a post from a friend of mine and he said this in his post a lot of you've probably heard this but it says if you never heal from what hurt you you'll bleed on people who didn't cut you which oh it's so deep right let's say it again oh my goodness you never you know if you if you never heal from what hurt you you'll bleed on people who didn't cut you and that's true and so part of the fear that i have had is if i give myself over to that to the feelings to the emotions i'm going to get stuck in it but part of healing is feeling it and then passing through it people fear that by feeling it they will get stuck in it so they stuff it um jesus did not stop in the pain he never stopped in the pain um so contrary to a certain belief he felt the emotion he he connected with the people there and then what did he do he said he shuddered with emotion and he stepped up to the tomb with tears running down his face and he yells lazarus come forth it's pretty incredible that pain launched him into that resolve into that miracle he didn't just dwindle with everyone and just they didn't just all day for an eternity share their things he used that and he's just like i think that we have two fighting cultures that need to become one and we have the culture that's like the military dad that's the shut up stuff it'd be tough their version of tough that's we already know that's not toughness i'm tough i can handle any pain i don't show emotion and then we have the other culture over here that doesn't do anything else but share their emotions and their feelings and i lead artists for two decades that's what i've done i've let artists and poets and and and i have a lot of fear how's this a lot of fear by opening up the can of worms of emotion because i know what it's like to be blamed for all your emotions i have a lot of fear however this world and this world need to get married and we need to learn how to be tough how to stand back and see the whole picture and realize lazarus is going to raise from the dead we know this but also connect with our families and our wives and sit with them in their pain even if they don't know that's going to happen so how jesus handled this before the resurrection with the sisters is just incredible his connection to the people around him was amazing in the midst of doubt in the midst of unbelief how he handled that and i don't know about you but i guess a lot of us maybe i'm just talking to men a lot of us men in here who are like me probably would have handled that different than jesus handled it and this is what i would have done for sure i would have walked on the scene and i would have said it's okay guys you don't need to feel this way i've got this i'm going to fix this i'm going to raise him up and then i'm going to move on to the next miracle and the next thing to conquer and you don't need to waste your emotions if all of you knew what i was about to do you wouldn't feel this way and i've done that forever now what's crazy is it it's never worked in my relationship with my wife [Applause] not once so so like like she she might have a thing that she's going through and i'm just like eyes rolled in my head like why would you feel this way why why do you feel this way why would you think that if you only knew like if you only knew the truth if you only knew what i know if in fact if you were like me you would handle this different so man one way to fix your marriage is to do exactly what jesus did um if you want to become a strong man i wrote this earlier i'll just throw this out there because i think it's so true if you want to become a strong man find a strong woman and hang on and don't let go because a strong woman will demand that you become a strong man um hey you you you have no other option you have no other option a a strong woman will demand that you become a strong man and it's god's design it's by god's design and g hidden in this story and you now you'll if you haven't thought of this before now when you read every time jesus interacts with people you'll find this key in every time he interacts with people and you can take these little keys and you can apply them to your life whether it's in your marriage your relationship with your kids or the people around you and it will be life-changing and the idea of a healthy godly man will be reestablished on the earth probably to the point where you don't have to get a lifted truck and put a monster sticker and have it be loud to try to prove that you're a man now i have nothing wrong with that because i've had a big truck before i have nothing wrong with any of that and in fact i'm going to go home to dang and i'm going to work out for my wife and for [Applause] jesus was a man so much so he didn't have to prove it and i think that's really the point being a strong man is being someone others can lean on for safety encouragement and security it's like if you picture this it's like how a roof the roof above us shelters us from the storm and that's what we're supposed to be to our wives our kids and our fam and the people around us we're supposed to be like a shelter like a roof not in lording over but but coming underneath and holding up both a covering of safety and shelter and a foundation to build on so a foundation to build on whether it's legacy family lineage uh godly principle whatever a foundation with no cracks in it and a roof with no leaks in it and that's what it's as men that's what we're supposed to be to our wives and people around us does that make sense strength in both protection and foundation um and i want to challenge every man in here today to read the stories of jesus differently now um with this in mind apply what it's like to be a man not in a chauvinistic bully dominating sense but in a safety foundation shepherding pastoral loving caring um fully authentic fully alive man specifically how he handled situations with confidence and compassion um one thing that i'm kind of well i'm really amazed by it is not just in what jesus told people but what he said to them when they responded to him after he told him something and i think this is where we go wrong a lot i know i have i will i will as god is my witness i will share with someone or on instagram here's what the lord here's what i think is true and then there's people out there that disagree sadly i know and then in that moment i become the devil and bite their heads off you know what i'm saying but i'm amazed at jesus how he was so fierce and he was so savage but he never lost his touch he never lost that sense of love and compassion and resolve because he knew the ending he knew the ending always and so i'm more impressed with that i'm more impressed when the soldier cuts no no peter cut slower no when the soldiers come to take jesus away and peter cuts his ear off because i would have done that all day i would have cut his head off and jesus you know what i'm saying i would have gladly cut his head off sorry he cuts his ear off and then jesus jesus responds with like this craziest compassion and resolve he also allowed judas to grow into the worst betrayer in human history for years for three years with him in his midst and he knew the amount of forgiveness that he extended the amount of inner strength he had from the father was incredible and we can learn a lot about how to be a man by the life of jesus so go ahead and stand up there's a verse later on in the in the book of john i like this stool man i just love i stood up last time i hate standing up when i'm speaking i'm just going to sit down from now on you guys can stand up you know those preachers that have you stand up and sit down the whole time drives me crazy i wish we could sit down for worship some of the time sorry just getting dead i know that's it dad that's against your um there's a verse later on in in john it's john 14 verse 30 and this to me this to me as men and as women but specifically men this is like that that manly ver manly aggressive verse that jesus said that's just incredible has such resolve and it goes like this this is the goal i think for all of us men to be able to say like at the end of our lives you know i remember the picture of billy graham sitting on his rocking chair outside his little cabin at the end of his life just feeling the pleasure of god and the resolve that he did what he was supposed to do throughout his life can you imagine that feeling that's a gift that god gives us to be able to feel that kind of resolve at the end of our lives and and i love this verse jesus says this to his disciples the devil has nothing in me and the passion translation says he has no power over me for he has nothing to use against me because i've done exactly what the father destined for me to accomplish now that's being a man right there because i've done exactly what the father destined for me to accomplish on this earth and my prayer is that every one of us men in this room would be able to say that and from this day on lean into the life of jesus to become a man so let's pray lord i pray that you would fuse us men together with this goal in mind to be like you and to be a safety and a shelter for our spouses and a foundation for our children to build upon and thank you for the the gift of like people like my dad and chris and the leadership that have just man they have just built through so many obstacles built a culture of freedom and a culture where people can grow and thrive and make messes and and get back up again and fall and get back up and in meanwhile we have a church that we can connect to and it's just incredible thank you for all these pillars that have done this and um i pray that every man in this room that we would be that as well in our own right that we'd be that in the business world that we would be fully honest fully authentic fully alive in business we'd be fully authentic fully alive in our home life that we wouldn't hide things from our spouses we wouldn't hide things from our family amen all right [Music] so good thank you so much brian bless you how many wives are thankful for brian right now [Laughter] you know actually i i want to take a moment for the women in here to pray for the men i think this is there's a there's a calling for both men and women to stand side by side and both be powerful you know genesis 1 27 says that god created us both male and female in his image and i think sometimes we think well for one to be powerful the other one has to be smaller and diminish but actually the truth is we both need to step forward and be fully who god's called us to be being a powerful man a powerful woman just means being fully who god has created you to be and i i feel this invitation to say you know when i'm around a powerful man as a woman i'm actually going to be powerful and show up and the same that men we need you to show up and it doesn't diminish or take away from us and so um women i'd love us to pray for the men around us if you just go ahead and lay a hand on them and actually want you to start saying we give you permission to be fully you we give you permission to be powerful we give you permission to feel we give you permission to not have to feel like you have to hold it all together i want you to start telling them i want to champion you i want to champion you to be all you can be wise stop praying over your husbands start praying over your husband's away and say i believe in you i am for you i'm gonna push you forward i want to see you fly and be all that god has called you to be i don't want to pull you down i want to respect you i want to lift you up god i just thank you i thank you for the men in this room and then men would you turn and actually pray for the women i want you to pray that they would be all that god has called them to be that they would step forward and be the powerful women that god has called them to be that they would step up and know they can stand side by side with you and be fully powerful fully present i want you to speak over them you have permission to be both weak and you have permission to be powerful around me you have permission to be strong you have permission to be soft you have permission to be fully who you are thank you jesus thank you jesus and now if you're married i just want you to grab hands with your spouse i want to pray for the marriages in this room god i thank you i thank you that that was a message of connection that there was actually a breakthrough in that of permission to know each other on a deeper level to know each other emotionally and so god i bless what you're doing there's something with having glenn and phil is here the connection codes of something he's calling us into as a body of saying we're going to understand and go deeper so bless the marriages jesus thank you god um really super important i want to give people an opportunity to get right with the lord today as as as brian was speaking throughout the message i kept thinking of the prodigal son and specifically in luke 15 20 where it says while he was still a great way off the father saw him and had compassion and ran and embraced him and i felt like the lord said there's people that feel like i'm still a great way off but the father is looking at you and he's saying i see you and i'm not just seeing you i'm running towards you where you think there's a gap for you to make up i've run towards you i've sent my son jesus to pay the price for your sin for all that's happened before and i heard him say my righteousness is a free gift it is not a reward and i i felt like he said you don't have to work your way back just like the prodigal when he came home he didn't he said like god father i'm not i'm not worthy to be called your son i have sinned and the father interrupts him says bring the robe bring the sandals bring the ring throw a party he's home and that's what i feel like he's saying today whether you whether you've been a christian and you feel like you've walked away or you've never known him no matter how far off you feel like you are there is nobody too far off from my jesus there is nobody too far off and so if you say today i need a fresh start i need a fresh doubt i want my sins to be forgiven i want a full life that jesus has paid for then i want you just to raise your hand if you're in the room there's nobody too far gone i see your hands back there just keep them raised for me over there thank you jesus says there's a party in heaven is there anybody else thank you jesus back that we see your hands thank you jesus if you oh god you're so good well you're so good if you're online go ahead and put i need jesus in the chat those of you that raised your hands we have some pastors up here that would be awesome i just there's a party in heaven when prodigals come home right so can we give jesus thanks for that god you're so good you are so good you're so good we love you jesus we love you jesus if you are online we have a really exciting opportunity for you an online discipleship course it's five weeks and it's just an opportunity if you learn more about what it is to to walk with jesus to have a power filled life and so our team have put a link for that in the chat we'd love you to join us you can jump in anytime it's five weeks but you can just come in whenever you're so welcome we'd love to see you on that zoom call guys if ministry team could come forward we would love that bless you all for being here so thankful that we got to be with you all this morning i hope you have a fantastic week ministry team if you could go ahead and make your way forward if you need prayer for anything that was mentioned today if you need a miracle in your body those of you that gave your life to jesus are coming home we want to pray with you we do uh want to give people freedom to make choices so if you would like to wear a mask as you receive ministry you're so welcome to or if you'd like the prayer team to wear a mask they're praying for you we have them available so great great yeah and just a reminder those that raised your hands if you could go ahead and come forward and just come over here we would love to to pray for you if i could have a couple of our pastors as well thank you jesus wow what an incredible service so good so powerful so encouraging you know um for those of you that that said yes to jesus today make sure uh you say that in the chat put that in in there i see quite a few of you in here saying i need jesus i need jesus oh come on hey welcome to the kingdom uh once again check out bethel.com start here and that'll get you really connected to us and connected to we want you connected to a local church a body a community to help support that relationship with god that you chose this morning it's awesome yes amen and guess what's happening tonight what baptisms at 6 00 p.m here at devil's church so good and some of you that just dedicated your life to jesus if you're here be here for that if not maybe just watch online and and enjoy that and grab a glass of water and throw it on yourself [Laughter] no during that i'm like baptism is a powerful powerful um prophetic act really that says hey i'm i'm dying to my old life and i'm being born again into a new life with jesus so check that out incredible man brian's word was super encouraging wasn't it though yeah what spoke to you the most ben well i i think as a man it's sometimes hard for me to connect with my emotions and do that stuff we've been doing connection codes for the last how long just about a year about a year and it's really been transformative for our family and for our own relationship and just sharing our emotions throughout the day and you know it's the idea of that your emotions should be a river not this damned up big thing a body of water that somehow the dam breaks and we explode on each other right and it's been so life-giving for us and our family and our marriage even our children we have the eight emotions it's a little wheel magnet on our fridge yeah and if we're feeling something we just process through our emotions oh i'm feeling sad today that you know i didn't see you all day i'm sorry baby or wow i'm feeling guilty that i wasn't kind to you yes all of those different things are really easy baby i'm feeling a little afraid today i've got this big deadline coming up and i'm feeling some fear and anxiety connected to that or i'm feeling so much joy because we're doing the chat with you guys online yeah so we're loving that i love seeing everybody their emotions even our daughter the other day we had an adult friend over and you could tell she was going through it and my my daughter went to the refrigerator jonathan grabbed the emotion wheel slapped it on the table and said you need to process your emotions with us and some of us you need to process your emotions even with god you're like god knows me he knows everything about me yeah but look at david's example god knew everything about david but david shared his emotions and god said this is a man after my own heart yes it doesn't i mean when i think about david i think about killing goliath and all those things but i also think this is a man who is in touch with his emotions and his masculinity in a real healthy way so we release that for all of you and i just see christy jesus is just going to come right now and just invade your heart yeah kirsty that's right kirsty williams i just i i just released more of more of jesus to you yeah you would just feel his presence as you're sitting wherever you're at right now yeah and we see uh quite a few of you online who need breakthrough in your body's and anxiety a lot of i've been seeing anxiety and we release healing right now in jesus name even suicidal thoughts this last week uh we're really ramping up and and uh and for all of you who've been facing those suicidal thoughts we release the breath of heaven over your life and over your mind and healing in jesus name in jesus name well hey it's great to be with you it is we love you so much such a happy thing join us for service again tonight it's going to be amazing baptisms and have the best week ever that you would just be filled with lots of joy and happiness i like your attitude baby and we love you we love you bless you so much [Music]

Channel: Bethel

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Id: 02NFOm_b7MY

Length: 116min 48sec (7008 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 12 2021