The Sovereignty of God - Bill Johnson | Rediscover Bethel Series

god is in he's absolutely sovereign and that he's in charge of everything but i don't credit him with hitler i don't i don't credit him with uh the disasters that take place in the earth [Music] so let's talk about uh god's sovereignty and how we understand god's sovereignty uh does he control everything is he in charge of everything but doesn't control everything what are some of the ways you think about that and understand scripture probably my understanding in this area uh creates the greatest challenges for me in the body of christ among friends and i have dear friends that we have wonderful conversations again but my approach uh is that is that god doesn't control everything he's in charge of everything and uh uh the way i'd illustrated say well okay you're a parent or you're in charge of your household but you're not in control of everything that happens you know something additional breaks something will happen somebody will say something that was unkind those things aren't because of your influence they're they're they're they just happen because you have a household of free will so that's my approach is that god is in he's absolutely sovereign and that he's in charge of everything but i don't credit him with hitler i don't i don't credit him with uh the disasters that take place uh in the earth i don't i don't look at these and go well this is the plan of god who's devised wickedness so that his glory could be seen for me that's absolute nonsense and so i look at his at his sovereignty scene in that he work he's written you and me into a sovereign plan and for for example uh god is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance god is not willing so is it god's will for people to perish no are they perishing yes yeah why because there's there's a wiggle room in there somewhere yeah where where we have some measure of influence on the outcome if if for example we decide let's just say you and i represented the entire church we decide we're not going to evangelize one nation well then there's a whole bunch of people that don't come to know christ now i have friends who would say well that was god's will that i struggle with i started with that because he has imparted an understanding of his heart and to grace to do what what he assigned us to do and that is to go into all the world preach the gospel that's our responsibility and wherever prayer goes into a missions effort and then missionaries go in or evangelists or whatever go into that effort there's a harvest of souls that you don't get yeah you know angels are not assigned to preach the gospel we are you know jesus could do it better himself you just show up you know and preach and angels could do it better i'm sure you know that show up in their magnificence oh of of course they got a lot of static too sometimes from people like samson's parents or chris gideon gave a lot of static to the agent but the point is we've been given the assignment so we've been somehow written into that sovereign plan yeah it's probably it is probably an area that's easiest to misunderstand but i can't ignore it i have to i have to live responsibly that's the whole point is what scripture says you've been we're supposed to live like we have real authority and real responsibility that we'll be held accountable for so it's like that in some ways to not live like that it's very uh unscriptural yeah and to blame it on god's sovereignty well it's just god's will no yeah no well and and like you said he's he's transcended he's the creator in him we live and move and have our being so like if he doesn't want if he's not uh in charge of everything it doesn't happen it doesn't exist so there's a level at where he is ultimately responsible for everything that exists because he's the creator yes but if if he's created a system where he's he's empowered other beings other than himself who actually have the ability to make decisions who's whose actions matter on the planet then in some ways within his sovereignty he's creating other people who have the capacity to make decisions other than he would make and i think that's the world view of scripture you see a lot of powerful um decision makers in the angelic and demonic realm as well as the human realm as well and in in the lord's sovereignty sometimes i'll say to the students he's so sovereign he's decided to be in control of what he wants to be and not in control of things he doesn't want to be it's good that's how that's how big he is yeah and yet um for his his purposes he's decided this is the way like i'm going to actually empower these beings i've created with real authority they they're they matter yeah yeah the level of trust uh in that is just incredible in that moment it is and we're called co-laborers you know i mean only the holy spirit in us the grace of god working in us could qualify me to co-labor to work alongside the lord it's it's a grace one of the words that oh when i'm talking about this it's just that god's not omni causal in other words he's omnipotent he's all powerful and you know and and um but he's not the one who's causing everything to happen that his in his um the beauty of creation he's empowered um these these people made in his image to to defile the garden or to abandon the connection you know um and and our choices are powerful and one of i think it's gk chesterson he was talking about how the lord in some ways is um he's trying to create people to destroy evil not by destroying people so you can't you can't destroy evil by destroying creation but god's opted to not do that right but he's trying to destroy evil by creating people who know what it is and don't find it interesting excellent who don't love it and who have learned to love righteousness justice and mercy and walk humbly with the lord and so that's like for his purposes um of who we're becoming this is the way he's decided to to create to give human beings and angelic beings authority yeah and yeah to have our our decisions matter yeah somehow he is he is more glorified by it happening that way i mean obviously everything we're assigned to do he can do better quicker everything yeah but for some reason it's been written into the into the code that we get to be a part of what he's doing on the earth i mean the whole the whole beginning uh genesis 1 be fruitful multiply subdue the earth he he he planted people humanity in an adverse climate and told them to bring change and he's he's just he's commissioned us to represent him well and now because earlier i mentioned jesus modeled what life could be like with no sin and completely empowered by the holy spirit now because i've been forgiven and the holy spirit is in me it's actually possible to follow the example that jesus said so i get to now be a co-laborer in living in purity and living in in in kindness affection love for people living in power we get to co-labor with him and demonstrate his authority on the earth and he's glorified through that i mean that that brings him glory uh in a way that he wouldn't get otherwise yeah all becoming like him in relationship with him yeah beautiful and the thing we we like to remind uh the folks here often is that this is a relational journey it's it's not it's not achievement-centered it's it's uh yeah um we like outcomes you know like we got to heaven i like the outcome the person got healed i saved enough money to buy the car you know it's the outcomes he likes the journey he likes he likes the moment that uh i couldn't sleep so i got up and prayed you know he he likes the journey where i didn't know what to do so i just poured over the scripture for insight and what his heart was his mind was he values the journey and he rewards me with the outcome [Music]

Channel: Bill Johnson Teaching (Official)

Views: 7,022

Rating: 4.9189191 out of 5

Keywords: dann farrelly, bethel rediscover, misconceptions about bethel, christian theology, theology, bill johnson 2020, bill johnson, bill johnson sermons, bethel church, bethel.tv, miracles, bethel miracles, bill johnson ministry, BSSM, bethel, jesus christ, church, holy spirit, bill johnson ministries, bill johnson bethel, bethel tv, bethel church redding, Christian, God is good, god's sovereignty, is god sovereign over my free will, does god make me sin, does god cause suffering

Id: JkvfJ0ZVvY0

Length: 8min 46sec (526 seconds)

Published: Tue Sep 14 2021