The War in Your Head - Bill Johnson (Full Sermon) | Bethel Church

yeah yeah nice to see you glad you guys showed up it had a real full week my my wife she's written a new book and it will be out later this year and I think November I don't know I I lose track but it's on health and I I have strong convictions for health about 50% of my heart is fanatical towards health I'm about 90% count me in and then I got about 10% that this says you know just eat whatever you want because cuz it'll all work out you know so but but they are Bethel TV crew with our publisher destiny house publishing was at the house this week doing a number of DVDs getting ready for curriculum in this area and you know it's really fascinating I am unusually excited for this book to come out and curriculum because I've watched as people who don't know anything about us or don't know her at all well prophesy that she has a book in her about health and as she used to write it and I just believe that God wants us healthy and so it's been real fun journey so that's coming out we did that this week I had a class I took my book strengthen yourself in the Lord and we made a curriculum out of that as well and excited for that to come out we I spent a couple days here with our crew and a whole bunch of you showed up and and we did eight sessions I think we almost overdosed people I almost got overdosed but that's a good way to die you know overdose on description on how to be strong and stable and all that so anyway I'm very very fun good week which brings me to the subject for this morning I I felt like I was just pondering this earlier that there are certain subjects that probably ought to be reviewed somewhat regularly and I was I was just thinking about our loss I've been we've been here 19 years and I've been thinking about the nineteen years how often the Lord has brought either from one of our own staff or frequently from a guest speaker will come in and speak on forgiveness on walking in forgiveness and it's just been astonishing to me how often the Lord brings that subject up again and again which only reminds me of the absolute need of us to continually stay current with that walking forgiveness walking and forgiveness forgiving people living in the forgiveness of the Lord and the second area I I did the curriculum on this week is on brain strength to yourself it basically what to do with loss and disappointments really what it comes down to and so I Chris led us in prayer in this morning and I think those two things disappointment and the area of resentment or bitterness of the two greatest Crippler in the body of Christ and to be able to hit those two well consistently repeatedly I think it's a pretty big deal so we've done that I'm gonna do a third area today in other words I'm going to repeat something that we've done a number of times through the years only because I feel feel very strong that we need to review this go through it again I found out after the first service this morning that Chris had done the exact same thing earlier this week and of course we we don't compare notes because I don't have them so but we didn't talk ahead of time but it's it's it's always an encouragement to me when that happens because it just means this is what the Lord is writing it so here's what I want to talk to you about I'm talking about spiritual warfare specifically the mind how many of you have learned that the battleground is the mind in in spiritual warfare the Bible instructs us very specifically what to do in spiritual warfare in the area of the mind taking captive thoughts those kinds of things so I've got three areas of Scripture we may only read one of them and then I'll quote the others just to see if we can save some time on this one so go to second Corinthians chapter 10 we're going to read a couple verses out of there and we'll well just get started the basic premise for what we're going to study is in these verses the Apostle Paul talks about pulling down strongholds if you would picture a stronghold a like in biblical days Old Testament times would be a walled city or perhaps a castle comes to mind and maybe I've watched too much TV but a big place where an army or a battalion can hide within this castle and these castles these walls of cities are made of huge stones and the Bible talks about tearing down these strongholds and these stones basically according to this passage these stones are basically thought patterns that war against the knowledge of God these are ideas and ideals that are in conflict with what God says and and the enemy actually inhabits these realms of thought a stronghold is where an army will rest so that they can go out from there and do exploits so it's a resting place for so the enemy hides safely in the thought life not the imagination in a sense that you're imagining this but the reality is in the in the broken thoughts of people inconsistent with the knowledge of God it's where the enemy is concealed and is safe to hide and from there he works to kill steal and destroy so let's take these passages and then all we'll just start talking all right I should probably turn to that chapter myself here it is second Corinthians not chronicles Corinthians chapter 10 verse 3 though we walk in the flesh we do not war according to the flesh the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ look at verse 4 and 5 again the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds casting down arguments some of the translations will say reasonings or imaginations in casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ so here is this picture of dealing with ideas thoughts that are completely separate from the ideas of God the thoughts of God the plans of God let me back up we can't afford to entertain thoughts about us that he doesn't think about us the moment we do we entertain a lie and we actually war against the very purposes of God in our life when we dwell on feed those things that are contrary to his word over us we actually war against that's why the Bible says the flesh set on excuse me the mind set on the flesh is death it cannot obey God it cannot obey God so the mind that is contrary to the purposes of God actually sets us up for failure sets us up to be incapable of doing the very commanded direction that the Lord has given us so here this scripture gives us this picture the picture of strongholds being pulled down by taking thoughts captive and specifically casting down it's a violent term casting down thoughts imaginations reasonings that are inconsistent with God it's the target of the Lord for you and for me every single day of our life he is looking for you and me to know the mind of Christ and to live as a model or an illustration of the mind of Christ it's not just that we think happy moral thoughts that's up that's that's a no-brainer that's absolutely true but he thinks completely different completely different when he warned the disciples not warned scuse me when he began to teach them about the influences the potential influences in their life that were negative he warned them in mark 8 he said be careful of the leaven of Herod and the leaven of the Pharisees be careful of the religious system where God is at the center but he's impersonal and perilous and be careful for Herod the political system were humanism its humanistic in nature be careful for these influences over the way you think and so he began to talk to them with this analogy about 11 and the disciples responded in fear because they didn't have enough food for lunch so they only slightly missed the subject it was talking about influence on the mind they thought he was talking about did you bring food for lunch so they completely missed the lesson entirely and they started doing fear now every response we have in life is is either out of love or it's out of fear see their lover for your lover fear is the source of our words our responses our directives in life the things that we pursue the things we choose not to pursue it's either because of love hurts because of fear some in some way one of those two realms have influenced how we think and see so when Jesus talks just disciples they're now in fear mode because they don't have enough food for lunch Jesus asks the question and the New King James it says why do you reason that you have no bread new American Standard why do you discuss that you have no bread that word reason or discuss comes from the root word that's found here in this passage in 2nd Corinthians imaginations speculations high things that have been raised up against the knowledge of God so here he's saying why is your reasoning at war with my world you are considering and dwelling on a reality that violates how I live how I think and what I've assigned you to do with your life a man bill that was a very good point all right so Jesus is challenging their thinking when you first get saved the first thing we start dealing with is what we think about if we find ourselves thinking with hatred or with greed or lust or envy or whatever it might be we those things get exposed to us but after a while we start finding out God is not just interested in the individual thoughts is interested in the process of thinking the way we think the way we view things around us the disciples are in a boat with no more than one loaf of bread they don't have enough food for lunch they go into fear mode Jesus says why do you reason that you have no bread and then he reminded them they were with him when he multiplied food for thousands and thousands of people twice why do you reason that you have no bread why does your imagination start with what you don't have how many of you have been in a financial crisis before how many of you have had God do a miracle and provide for you how many of you after that financial crisis you had another one even though God answered the first one how many of you were nervous the second time as you were the first time all right that's the point that's his question why do you reason why didn't you change the way you think because you saw my nature see we tend to think that the miracles of God are temporary interventions instead there are revelations of nature the nature of a God who makes covenant with his children now there are always two trees in the garden there's always when you eat from and there's always one you don't eat from and the reason is because of the nature of God it's not punishment he just sets us up to be rewarded if there's not two trees one good one bad in your garden of life then you can't be rewarded for making the right choice and if you have no choice no options we can't say you have a free will one of the most priceless creations of God is when he gave humanity free will and he he lives and dies if you will to protect that mountain to protect the reality of free will given to people and so he places two trees in the garden so that you have a choice so how many of you you were challenged financially sometime in your life will use money is a good example here it could have been an offering could have been helping the poor could have been caring for a neighbor that was in crisis it could be any of those things some missions support somebody on the other side of the planet and you took a risk you you you took that risk you gave some money and got quickly returns it to you to you and you were stunned at how fast he did a miracle financially in your life I mean you've had that happen all right how many of you after that happened you took another risk and the answer wasn't as quick the second time is that is that right or what I mean I I see it all - Perry with new believers they come in they can they can take any risk they want and it's like bang the answer is they're you know it's like they could give their last hundred dollars and they walk out of the room and find a thousand on the ground it's just like the Lord is so quick to answer these folks what is he doing he's revealing his nature he's not just revealing an act of God and part of the problem with Israel's failure and most Moses's maturity is found in this phrase Israel was acquainted with the acts of God Moses was acquainted with his ways Moses took the acts of God and discovered his nature to make covenant with that God that's why he was stable during the shifting seasons in Israel was not so that first answer to prayer you take the risk you give the hundred dollars to your neighbor that's in crisis and you know a week later he returns to you ten times over and you just are so thankful you come running to your friends to tell the testimony a month later you do the same and it's two weeks three weeks four weeks five weeks go by and you wonder where is this God who made covenant with you to always care for you what is he doing he just put a second tree in your garden are you going to let the AB sense of an immediate breakthrough change your revelation of God's nature are you going to allow it to change your perception of who he is because this is the issue it is reasoning that it's contrary to the knowledge of God the Bible says these imaginations are high things there are things that the demonic realm exalts to be in competition with what God knows to be true so every lie that you and I have ever believed is actually something that comes from the demonic realm that the enemy wants to put in competition to what God knows to be true now how many of you know the devil is no competition for God it is not God and the devil it's not like you know God is good and the devil is bad and they're their opposites the devil is a created being he's the opposite of Michael not God he's no competition for God as we speak the Lord himself uses the devil as a chess piece on the on a game board it was absolutely true he has already been defeated here's no feat defeat No defeated sorry bad bad sense of humor bad something he's already been defeated the Bible says you'll see him on the last day and you'll look at him and you'll say you're kidding it was you so what makes the lie that is in competition if you will against the knowledge of God what God knows what makes it powerful it's our yes see our vote to believe a lie is what makes the lie powerful because it has no power at all that can compete with the beauty the Wonder and the power of truth a strength to that because the interesting interesting statement made in Matthew 16 and I'll just give you the story the background and you can you can read it the reference dance verse 20 23 in that area and it's it's the place where Jesus comes to disciples and he says up who do people say I am and the guys are there and they're talking about you know some think you're Elijah something you know you're this guy and Jesus finally pops the question he says but who do you think I am and Peter goes you're the Christ you're the Son of the Living God and Jesus said yeah you know you didn't get that on your own Peter my father showed you that a moment later Jesus is talking about the fact that he's going to die he's going to be crucified and Peter stops that conversation right away because why he's on a roll it stops act and he starts to correct Jesus how many of you have discovered out of your own experience it's not smart to correct God he's just he's just kind of an immovable person he's right period and so he corrects Jesus and Jesus changes his tune a moment earlier flesh and blood did not reveal that to you that came to you from my heavenly father the next moment he looks at Peter he says get behind me Satan because your mind is not set on the interests of God your mind is set on the interests of man so here's this here's this crazy picture Peter is rebuked by Jesus and Jesus says get behind me Satan because your mind is not set on the things of God your mind is fixed on the things of man get behind me Satan your mind is fixed on the things of man humanity without Christ at the center is demonic in nature try the Sun humanity without Christ at the center is demonic in nature Jesus truly is the center of everything in him all things consist everything was made by him and for him he is the absolute center of everything when you move Jesus out of the picture you end up with something that's a good try but it can never become what God intended and so here Jesus rebukes fetus's get behind me why because your mind has been set on the interest of man without Christ at the center your interests are not set on God what's the point there well there's something that I've heard referred to as practical atheism I don't think a theum is very practical but anyway practical atheism if I have a financial crisis in my life and let's say I have a neighbor that's an atheist and we both have the exact same crisis goes on and I'm talking to him one day and he bought this book and he talked with this banker and got advice from this financial counselor and I'm a believer and I don't open the word to find out directions from Scripture I don't pray I don't do any of the things that the Bible would direct me to do but instead I follow the exact same tools that my atheist neighbor would follow which may even be decent tools the problem is what is missing from my life is seeking the heart of God the mind of God over my circumstance so let's say that I ignore all the things that I would normally do as a believer and I do what my atheist neighbor would do what is the outcome that's practical atheism even though I believe in the existence of God he wasn't brought into the center of my situation and while I can on the outside say yes I'm born again yes I'm going to spend eternity with God in that particular part of my life I am practicing atheism because Jesus is not at the center get behind me Satan your mind is set on the interests of man without Christ at the center the Apostle Paul in in the book of Ephesians chapter 4 uses this phrase there are many people who have mistakenly believed that if you're a Christian you can't have a problem with the demon it's not the subject that I have for you this morning but the Apostle Paul taught to a very mature church he said don't give place to the devil about three verses before that phrase don't give place to the devil is the exhortation to be renewed in the spirit of your mind in consistent thoughts thoughts that violate the purposes of God over our life they they are they're like the blocks in a wall and the enemy doesn't inhabit a thought in the same way he habits a pattern of thinking a pattern of thinking that wars against the purposes of God actually create a realm of safety for him to hide in and dwell in and to attack from this whole issue that I am have had on my heart to talk to you about today is not devil focused at all in fact you know that whenever we teach on the subject we never make it about chasing the devil he's not worthy of my attention only long enough to get the crosshairs on him and pulled the trigger [Applause] is not worthy of our discussion or infatuation I have zero interest but when it gets in the way when there's a problem that has been created because I've given myself to believe something that is in violation to what God knows to be true then I must repent and deal with that pattern of thought I mean oh it's one thing to just confess the sin it's another to change the way you think about that subject it's the reason the word repentance doesn't mean cry at the altar even though that may be a legitimate expression the word repentance means to change the way you think so to truly repent about something that he deals with me on means that that sorrow for sin has to be deep enough that it changes my perspective on what's true and what's a lie every lie that the enemy has ever presented to you and to me throughout our entire life has always been something he has raised up in fact the word here is it is an exalted thought an exalted idea I've never seen a time when there's been more intentional raising up of exalted ideas that undermine the work of the gospel I've never seen it in my life I'm happy to rejoice and say I've never seen such breakthrough as I see right now the extraordinary miracles of of addictions broken off literally in mopin moments 10 20 30 years of heroin addiction or whatever it might be just broken off literally in moments seeing cancers healed we had testimony this morning of a lymphoma that was healed we have we have constantly we have we have the breakthrough in the physical realm we have the mental illness that gets healed over 60 cases that I know of of bipolar that have been completely healed and restored it just doesn't matter i I talked with the gentleman the power of God went through is like lightning literally his schizophrenic lightning went through my saw my year later and it's completely in his right mind and he has brought deliverance to a great great number of other people because Jesus actually put him in order put him together so we're seeing breakthroughs on high levels with see and political leaders in the low levels we just had a individual converted I believe it was this week who has been guilty of the worst crimes you can imagine and the Lord saved him and brought deliverance to him just this this past week so here's the point we're seeing extraordinary breakthrough but don't think for a moment that those breakthroughs come without the enemy trying to exalt ideas that war against the knowledge of God what God knows to be true what's vital for you and for me is to realize that in every situation of our life every time we get a breakthrough there's another two trees planted in the garden every time there's a breakthrough you get an economic breakthrough guess what a second tree just got planted in your garden it has to be that way you have to have options besides what God says you have to have the option why because it's the only way you break into reward he's a rewarder his own nature's described as a reward those who come to God must believe that he is and that he is the reward of those who seek Him because he is a father who loves to reward and to bless and to give honor and to celebrate people because he is that way he must give you an option so that he has a reason for reward that's up telling you the truth yep [Applause] in the mark 8 passage where I talk to you about Jesus asking a question of why do you reason that you have no bread his next question is is your heart still hard what what's the lesson the lesson was they saw miracles of provision and now they're fearful of not having enough whenever we've seen the miracle of provision we lost the right to begin any thought process with what we don't have that's the expense of the miracle realm is every time there's a miracle he reveals as nature and that nature is always carries with the invitation for encounter for covenant making covenant with a God who never fails so the next question is is your heart still hard what's the point a hardened heart poisons the mind let me give one more illustration for this it's out of the the other spiritual warfare chapter it's a fusion six and in this particular passage Paul does something very similar to here except he starts to describe what has been given to us to keep us safe and then what has been given to us to give us advancement and he starts by saying in Ephesians sixty says you have the helmet of salvation think saved eventually you're going to have to believe you're born again that's that's kind of what it comes down to eventually that's what's going to have to happen I'm joking with you you already do but you understand the point the point is think saved the helmet of salvation protects the mind breastplate of righteousness your vitals are protected by the righteousness of God Himself loins girded with truth the strength is the fact that we are firmly established in the truth of the gospel our feet are covered with the preparation of the gospel of peace these boots that these soldiers have where these were Roman a Roman soldier analogy they have spikes in them so that they would position themselves in the ground and in opposition they couldn't be driven back because they were too stable in their footing there was no armor on their back because never does the believer turn and run because the believer is fighting from the victory of Christ towards an express victory in the earth we're not fighting for the defeat of the enemy he's already been defeated and then it talks about the shield of faith and the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God what is the tool now of the enemy it's a fiery dart I'd like to suggest to you that the target is the mind the target is thought processes now that are exalted or raised up against what God knows to be true what do we use to quench those fiery darts those suggestions of the enemy it's the shield of faith what happens if you get hit by a fiery dart gets past your faith you have the sword of the Spirit what you may not realize is this sword was not a long sword to do a sword fight with this was a small Roman dagger that was used to dig arrows out of himself so an arrow gets past the shield of faith and gets you what do you do you take the word of God did you get it you take the Word of God to minister to yourself I don't believe the enemy ever got an arrow past Jesus's shield of faith but he didn't model what it was like to minister to himself with the Word of God the enemies has turned this stone into bread man shall not live by bread alone so you find him ministering to him soft with the word of God friend of mine was in a debate several years ago at a university campus the professor had done everything he could to mock my friend who was a fire-breathing evangelist this is the only kind to have it's a fire fire-breathing fire-breathing evangelist and he did everything he could to not only mock him but to tear down the scripture one great philosopher Voltaire announced that within 50 years the Bible would be non-existent non used by the public today his house is used for the distribution of Bibles and so my friend that was being assaulted at debate with this professor and my friend just stood up very simply at the end of this discussion and he said everything that this man has written will be forgotten in 20 years armies bigger than him have been raised up to destroy this book and he went on to talk about the Word of God stands forever and this is to be what shapes how we think about us about one another this book reveals him one last thought I think I already said one last thought but that was actually a part of this one last thought I think I'm allowed three before I start lying jesus said you study the Scriptures because you think in them you have eternal life he's speaking to the Pharisees whose life was around the study of Scripture it wasn't putting down the study of Scripture he was just exalting what the study of Scripture is supposed to lead to so he brought this word a correction to them and he said in John 5 he says you study the scripture because you think in them is eternal life he said these testify of me and you're not willing to come to me in other words the Word of God is to lead to an encounter with the Word of God the black and white leads to the person and without the encounter with the person the process is incomplete if you have only an encounter with the printed page you become equipped enough to debate with people who disagree but when we have encounters with the person we walk away with nothing but supreme value for people with affection love and devotion for people not compromising truth but realizing love is what changes the life the Lord is raising up an army of people who can say like Jesus did Satan has nothing in me there's no part of my history there's no part of my history my history declares the effectiveness of the blood of Jesus anytime we visit the events of our past apart from the blood of Jesus we visit a lie because it no longer exists my history shouts the power of the blood of Jesus my presence demonstrates the absolute love and affection and purpose of God for my life my future is drawing me into a fulfilled hope-filled wife that has purpose of seeing on earth as it is in heaven I get to be a part of a team that daily fights for and pours our life out to see this very thing happened that broken people get mended that addicted get free that those who need forgiveness gift forgiven those who are dying get healed that the Lord demonstrates in and through us what he demonstrated on the pages of Scripture it's not meant to be a historical book it's meant to be the living testimony of what God is like because every time we see that thing raised up against the knowledge of God we anchor ourselves into the revelation of a perfect father who loves us so much that he gave us the life of his own son this perfect father Woo's us into relationship so that we get to model and demonstrate the very heart of God in the earth that's spiritual warfare 101 that's what it is why don't you stand [Applause] Romans chapter 6 gives us such an incredible picture of conversion the book of Romans is the book on salvation it is the book that deals with the theology of conversion more profoundly more deeply than any of the book probably more than all the others combined chapter 6 it's interesting because he the Apostle Paul's taking us through this picture of Jesus dying raising from the dead and his resurrection actually being our resurrection it's an incredible picture and he uses baptism to illustrate it this is all right you go under the water that's your grave you come out of the water that's resurrection life and that's the life of Christ in you and he takes us through this picture he he takes us through this dialogue for about 10 verses and the eleventh verse is the prize he said all right you've been just as Jesus has been raised from the dead so you have been raised in newness of life and then here's the conclusion even so or consistently without reality consider yourself dead to sin that word consider yourself that's the same word as the words for imagination speculations watch for the things have been raised up against the knowledge wasn't God knows to be true the knowledge of God and what does God know to be true you're dead to sin [Applause] think of yourself this way I'm dead yep I'm dead dead Dada Dada Dada Dada dead I'm dead dad - sin it's like a third shoe have no use for it dad dead sin it's not mental gymnastics it is what God knows to be true adjust this to his this what he says what he thinks that was the third and final ending I just realized I ended it again oh goodness alright Jesus help us it's half the ministry team come on down real quick if you would we're gonna pray together before I release you so hang on just a moment ministry team come on down these folks are trained for your breakthrough and I tell you at least 95 percent probably more but at least 95 percent of the thousands of miracles we've seen have been done through the hands of people in the church not through the pastoral team so we've got a team here that would love to serve you and pray for you so as soon as I'm done if you need to know the Lord you maybe don't know the Lord you know what today is a day just to know what it is to be not only forgiven of sin but given eternal life today's a day let's put your hand on your heart let me pray for you father I asked for the honor of the name Jesus that you'd continue to launch us into the mind of Christ how you think how you think how you see how you perceive there's no hardness there there's just tenderness you don't extinguish a candle that's about to go out you protect it so that the flame gets higher you just have that way about you that just protects the good things in us and I pray that there are thoughts this week would come out of that understanding of what you're like as the ultimate father I pray this in Jesus name that today also would be a day where addictions are broken people come to Christ let it continue and Jesus name Amen amen

Channel: Bill Johnson Teaching (Official)

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Keywords: bethel church, church at home, bill johnson, bethel sermons, holy spirit, bill johnson sermons, bethel, bethel.tv, jesus, bethel tv, signs and wonders, sermons, christian sermons, bethel redding, bill johnson ministry, how to overcome fear, bill johnson bethel, sermon, church, the war in your head, preaching, god, presence of god, christian, relationship with god, spiritual warfare, peace

Id: OWXxVSDqI4U

Length: 43min 10sec (2590 seconds)

Published: Thu Apr 02 2020