Treasuring the Word - Bill Johnson (Full Sermon) | Bethel Church

thank you thanks [Applause] nice to see you nice to see us i was in houston and then phoenix last week and i had such an amazing privilege of speaking at maya morello had a conference to celebrate his 50th year of preaching the gospel 50 years i think he started when he was five but preaching the gospel for 50 years and his ministry is what just completely changed my life and uh so i whenever i introduce him i i introduce my i owe this man my life and uh anyways what an incredible honor to be there to celebrate his 50th year and do this conference is just just one of the highlights of my life a great treat then i was in phoenix at uh church for all nations with the dr michael mayton and they've got such an amazing amazing work there um he went through hell you know 30 years or so ago 20 some years ago and somebody ran off with the money and this is a horrible story and but the lord has so restored him in the church there multiple campuses that place is exploding and he's one of my favorite people everywhere anywhere both he and his wife mary just thankful for them so it was a great treat to be with them last week and now i'm at my favorite place on the planet right here they have a place i uh somebody gave me this this morning someone figured out my password now i have to rename my dog [Applause] i just think that is so funny the flat earth society has members all around the globe [Laughter] how many of you have had your coffee you should be getting these yes first woman in space women you have to forgive me are already at the beginning here first women in space houston we have a problem what kind of problem never mind what's the problem nothing please tell us i'm fine [Applause] that's funny that is fun i asked my grandpa after 65 years of marriage you still call grandma darling beautiful honey what's the secret he said i forgot her name five years ago and i'm afraid to ask [Applause] one more one more one more and then we're through for the day god promised men the good and obedient wives would be found in all corners of the earth then he made the earth round and he laughed and laughed [Applause] [Laughter] oh boy okay i had kind of an unusual thing happened uh yesterday it wasn't dramatic it was just it just caught me off guard the lord spoke to me and he told me to talk to you about isaiah chapter 30. which i don't get that kind of direction so it caught me completely off guard because i don't even think in those terms i have been reading isaiah in uh recent last several days and i had read isaiah 30 was one of the chapters that i read yesterday and and he spoke to me so clearly that i was to talk to you about isaiah 30. so i started pondering um what i was supposed to do i mean obviously i need to talk to you about isaiah 30. but it represented something for me that is what i'm going to talk to you about isaiah 30 is one of the maybe 100 places in the scripture where the lord has fed my soul when i've been in trouble fearful anxious whatever it might be um i've learned through the years that whenever i'm i'm going through something what i want to do is i want to meet with jesus and this book right here is jesus in print you know don't tell me you love jesus and you don't love his book because this is him in print and and what happens is i read this verse this morning actually it said the lord waters the seed that we plant so just think in the natural you take a seed you put it in the ground he's the one who brings the rain it's also true of the word we plant in our heart it's up to us to plant the seed of god's word into our heart he'll make sure he waters it once it's planted so the point is is we have responsibility to take what god is saying and make sure it gets planted safely into our heart where he can water and bring bring fruit from this from so i remember early on in my walk with the lord in fact i benny and i got married i was 21 she was 18. and uh we'd have an evangelist come to town he'd say how many of you have teenagers at home and i'd raise my hand and about that time i'd get the elbow and the ribs i think i'm still bruised here from from the elbow and the rims ribs oh yeah those teenagers are challenging yeah yeah amen i remember about that period of time i i went through just a very very difficult situation it's the absolute worst situation i'd ever gone through my life and it was a betrayal of sorts and it was just extremely painful and you know it's one thing it's one thing to determine in your heart i'm just i i forgive and i'm going to walk in forgiveness it's another to settle down the firestorm that's in your brain in your mind and i remember the fight i remember the fight goodness i remember i remember being at work one night i was a custodial engineer i cleaned the toilets and vacuumed the floors at the city hall and police department in santa rosa that's where i happened to be going to school and i remember just being in this fight over my mind and over my heart and i had already made the determination i'm gonna walk in forgiveness but it was just a horrendous personal experience and so i remember i remember being at work and goodness every three minutes i'd have to try to settle the firestorm in my brain and i just i'm going i walk in forgiveness i forgive this person i did find through the journey that if you can put forgiveness into an action it's like two-part epoxy you make the decision the termination the confession but then you put an action together and it solidifies the decision but i was in the process in the journey of discovering this so i remember being at work and i i don't recommend you doing this but i had my bible with me and uh and i would i would be so overwhelmed by this thing my my thoughts were going crazy i would just open the bible somewhere and point now don't get your direction from the lord doing this i'm telling you my story i'm not trying to give you an example but i did that's exactly what i did i i did it at least 20 times truth be known it's probably closer to 50 times in one night because i was i was i was i was in such pain and such turmoil and have forgiveness and three minutes later five minutes later 10 minutes later i would just take the bible i would open at that point every time i did that he spoke to me exactly what i needed every single time and it probably was closer to 50 times in one evening i don't recommend you doing that because you could go judas went and hung himself that's not good go thou and do likewise that's it's just a bad combination of verses so you got to be careful what you do but in that evening i in that night i was honestly i was in such pain in my heart the lord was so gracious that he used that as a method to talk to me that was a part of my journey to learn how to find safe places where i could retreat to and let me describe that my home has always been a home of peace always benny and i determined from the very beginning it's never been a house of conflict doesn't mean we don't have difficulties or challenges like anyone else but it is just a place of peace always is a place of peace i learned that when you you come home after a long day you never greet each other with difficulties or challenging things unless it's an emergency you always greet each other in peace excuse me if there's difficult things to talk about you schedule at a mutually convenient time so that you're both at your best to deal with whatever issue arises so anyway we we just learned we learned to maintain the house of peace and so my home has always been you know no matter what kind of craziness i i experienced out there and when i go home it's a place of peace well how many of you would like to have a little cabin by a lake somewhere up in the mountains yeah the little place of refuge yes jesus hear my cry amen all right we would all like to have that and i actually have probably a thousand of them in here they're places of such absolute peace where there's interaction i hear his heart his mind and i literally come face to face with him i've i've been in these situations as i was that night where i i need i need god i in that situation i didn't need an answer i just needed deliverance i needed help and so i walked in forgiveness and and it got to where it wasn't every three minutes it was every 10. eventually it was every 30 minutes eventually a couple times a day eventually it was once or twice a week and then eventually you look at the thing and you can say with absolute confidence you have no influence in me none whatsoever you have no influence you would think as big as he is he could just deliver us from the moment so we don't have to have that kind of fight but the crazy thing is it's the fight that conditions me to live in the blessing once i get the breakthrough that without the conditioning i wouldn't be able to handle that which god wanted to release into my life so i remember that particular evening and since then i've had so many situations throughout my life and isaiah 30 is one of on those more positive note when i as a young man i had this desire to write now you have to understand my grades were good i i did fine but i was not a good student i've told you that before my mom disagrees with me but trust me she i was a great student i i just you know i just i just wasn't very good learning wasn't i wasn't interested i was always daydreaming about being somewhere else my senior year i had enough credits i think i ended up with four pe classes which is like heaven on earth you know i'd rather play sports anyway so i just whittled it down i think i just played volleyball my senior year out in the parking lot and that's what i did all day you know and that was that was my kind of school right there permanent recess i always pulled an a in recess so but i you know as a young man i i had this desire to write and uh i know enough about what the father's like now that if that's that desire is there you know just get the car rolling it's easier to steer you know just start pursuing but i i didn't know that i didn't know that then and i wasn't at all confident in uh and my ability to write i mean my any report that i did i'm embarrassed to say but i've just copied out of an encyclopedia i just you know i didn't know what i was talking about but i would just copy it and those were my reports explained encyclopedia you know it's a big book yeah so the point was as i i felt extremely unqualified to write but i had a desire i didn't have the courage to even try but i i just had that dream so i would pray i prayed about it and prayed about it and one time dick mills was down in chico dick mills is a prophet friend of our family good friend of ours and encouraged me so much in waverville he's one of these guys he had 7 700 all 7 700 promises in the bible memorized in various translations just because he could and uh and he would you know we'd be at a restaurant and i'd say that girl right there she goes to our church he says bring her over here and so he would bring her over and say hey come here and introduce and he'd get this incredible prophetic word just by quoting scripture it was it was jehovah's sneaky that did this because the church had so rejected the prophetic that's hard to argue when all that uses the bible scripture so he snuck the prophetic back into the church as as only he can but it was just so fun so binding our and the kids were went down to chico we're just going to hang out with him for the day and then there was a meeting that night so we went into town had lunch and and i was hoping in my heart of hearts that he would give me a word about writing because i did not have the courage to pursue it unless i knew god was in it so i'm not saying my approach was correct i'm just saying that's what i did so i went to the meeting i didn't have the t-shirt pick me pick me but i i did have that prayer god it should be cool so we we went to lunch hung out for the day and that evening was a meeting there's a bunch of people in the room and so he preaches for his at whatever time and when he's through he says i'm going to be calling out several of you and i'm going to be giving you a good word from god i'm going to give you a promise and he says when i'm through giving you a word i'm going to hand the microphone to bill and bill is going to give you a word [Laughter] we had never discussed this and while i didn't have very many verses memorized i had some and they all got raptured they all evaporated immediately i was struggling to remember jesus wept and i sure that wouldn't encourage anybody and i i literally i'm panicked but i'm cool on the outside but i'm panicked i'm inside going have i ever read the bible before everything just vanished it's absolutely true so dick calls this lady out and he gives you this great word he hands me the microphone and the anointing that was on him then came on me and i functioned in his gift that's an interesting way to learn because you get tethered to somebody else and if there's honor and submission or you actually get to step into their momentum and i actually functioned as he did that night it didn't continue but what happens is the lord will give you a taste of a reality that you can then pursue legally in your own journey and so that's what happens i tasted of that grace and i i had scriptures coming back to mind that i had you know memorized or read years before and i was rather shocked and the meeting was over and we're hanging out up front and people we're talking to people and stuff and this lady comes up to me with this this torn piece of paper about this big and it's just torn off of another piece of paper and she says i feel like god spoke this word to me for you and i read it and i said this is what i came praying about and it was a word about writing and i said i was praying about this she said oh good she said i tore it up twice before i gave it to you so she encouraged me so much i didn't have what it took to sit down and then write a book but at least i had i was going in the right direction i knew that god's in this a short time later i was at i was uh at home and we we had this home back in the back in the woods a little ways beautiful home and and i woke up in the middle of the night with the voice of the lord this has only happened to me twice the voice the voice woke me and imagine being sound asleep and then hearing somebody talk to you and this is what he said isaiah 30 verse 8. i would and this is what i said that was clear that was clear and so when i got up i opened isaiah 30 verse 8 and it said now go and write so it was a tipping for point for me where i began to write small pieces this isn't about that this is about a journey that i have with this book i have little cabins by lakes from genesis to revelation and there are places where i can go and become refreshed places that i go hide i remember a real challenging situation that i was facing about 11 years ago and man it just it just rocked me just messed me up so much as just very deep and personal it wasn't uh conflict or you know anything of that nature it was very just a real deep challenge and i remember what i do is i i go to the word i i will go and i will read till i hear his voice and i've sat down before and i've read 20 chapters 25 chapters before he speaks to me but the point is i have to find the seed then he'll send the rain that's the whole point is i have to take what he's saying i've got to put it in a safe place where i demonstrate i treasure your word for me and then i hide it away it's interesting last night when i i uh went to bed uh on the web i have a little table next to uh benny and i both have on each side of the bed a little table and um i have a stack of three by five cards that sit on that table and they're just promises i've gotten from the lord i i have more than that in in my ipad and iphone and computers and everything i've got files on my i've got two huge binders this big in my office one is just for words about bethel and warren personal words so anyway i got into bed and i looked out that stack and i read the top verse and it was uh you know it was the promise that the lord had put none of these diseases upon you and that he would be our healer and all that so i read that i thought that was cool i thought what's in the middle so i opened the middle of the stack up isaiah 30. and i began to read three verses that we're going to read here in a moment i realize all right i get it i get it i get it so i'm not teaching on isaiah 30 as much as i'm saying develop a history where you have places where you can retreat to places see this book is so deep that you'll be reading studying it for eternity and it will never be boring every little new nuance will be another glimpse of his face what he's like his nature his heart for you and it's it's endless in its scope in its study so i remember i i was uh about 11 i think said 11 years or so ago i i was facing this just personal struggle so disheartening and i remember just getting into psalms and psalms 25 just lit up to me it fed me so much i i went i went chapter 26 and it was almost like it was even more tailor-made for me in 27 i think i actually ended up going uh five or six psalms deep into that where every single one fed me the point is today even though i'm not facing the same challenge when i go into psalms 25 i will intentionally walk wade into that psalm going this is a place of health for me now you can read it and enjoy it too but i'm loaning it to you it happens to be my personal gift that i loaned to you just joking but you get the point it's it's i have history there i have i can show you in weaverville the uh where the church is in weaverville um the new church um i used to walk that property i didn't know it was two lots owned by two different owners and i used to go up there and just walk and pray and i'd say god we we need to build a new building we've grown out of our own and we just need this land so i'd walk and walk and coincidentally both uh pieces of land came up for sale at the same time by two different owners and so we we uh we bought it and uh danny when he was in weaverville ended up building the building but the point is i remember walking that land and i i just i like to walk and pray i like to get alone and meet with god and i would just walk walk that land and i'd cry out to god for revival cry out to god for whatever it was that we were facing and i remember standing by one particular tree so uh so troubled in my heart for what i felt god wanted to do and and so overwhelmed with what wasn't happening and i remember just personal uh issues and not struggles uh challenges for my faith to see breakthrough in this area neter and just weeping before the lord and having him talk to me out of psalm 68 i will never forget it i could take you the tree's not there anymore because they cut a bunch of them down but i could probably almost take you to the exact spot where he spoke to me out of psalm 68 and as i read i like to read uh i don't like to randomly go throughout the scripture i read the gospels or the whole new testament or the prophets or the books of law whatever i take them in sections and i generally read and reread i i spent goodness i spent 10 years reading and re-reading the gospels i read other places too but i just i couldn't get out of the gospels so anyway here i am uh in the in the psalms and i'm and i'm reading and the lord speaks to me and to this day it is now 30 years later i go to that verse it's still alive like it was today it fed my soul still alive like the day it refreshed me and my faith it it did not change any circumstances but it changed me see what you want is you want to be changed into the person that is capable to dwell in the blessing that you're praying for so often we want god to add something to our life without us being transformed into one who is capable of stewarding well what we've asked for the fight is for that purpose the fight of our faith the challenge the discipline those things and so here we are we're in isaiah chapter 30 if you haven't turned there already please do because we're going to read just a couple verses out of there i'm going to read this out of the new american standard i like it so much better and that was actually the translation i was using at the time and perhaps that's why it just it sounds more like his voice the way he he spoke to me isaiah 30 verse 18 therefore the lord longs to be gracious to you and therefore he waits on high to have compassion on you for the lord is a god of justice how blessed are all those who long for him o people in zion inhabit in jerusalem you will weep no longer he will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry when he hears it he will answer you although the lord has given you bread of privation and water of oppression he your teacher will no longer hide himself but your eyes will behold your teacher and your ears will hear a word behind you this is the way walk in it whenever you turn to the right or to the left it's just a portion that i will return to every once while because it feeds me it's like for me it's like joshua chapter one verses five through nine it's just a place i weighed into because i have i have met with him over those verses and he's brought peace to me in the middle of challenging situations or peace to me when i have ached for more and i didn't have anything to show for what i aged for he is the word that's why you can't separate the voice from the presence when he speaks he is it's two sides of the same coin it's why you have in john 1 jesus is the word of god made flesh but in john 6 when jesus spoke the word became spirit because when he speaks presence is there and presence throughout scripture old and new testament is represented by one picture in one picture alone the presence is the face of god it's the joyful delighting accepting countenance of a perfect father voice presence face see the cabin by the lake is nice but when you're in the middle of difficulty and you your life is laid down to honor just this one jesus and everything seems to be on the line and you've been anticipating breakthrough there's been a delay in answers and there's the anguish of the heart because god i've been believing you i've been confessing i've been praying i've been doing everything i know to do it's not the time to throw in the towel because oftentimes the greatest breakthrough comes when we just take that one more step and taking that one more step and saying god i've got to meet with you and we meet together and he talks to me and in this case isaiah 30 represents a chapter where he has ministered to me deeply on many many occasions i can take you from the beginning to the end of this great book the word of god the scriptures and i can give you my history i met with him here at this point this chapter changed my life this verse in mark 8 changed the way i thought for the rest of my life i will never think the same again because of this verse right here on the left page right side column halfway down it's got all kinds of marks around it but the point is is that history is on those pages it's a safe place everybody needs a safe place your home your friends family but also with god where his voice is there and he comforts one of the more frustrating parts of our relationship and forgive me for putting it in those terms but one of the more frustrating parts of my relationship with him is the fact that he won't always tell me what to do all i want is this will just tell me what to do i just you know i got door a b and c just tell me which one i'm happy i'm happy i love your will it's always been good and there are sometimes i'm i i want to know his plan for my life just show me what i'm supposed to do and i'm standing here and i hear nothing i said god come on and i i remember one situation years ago i even resorted to fasting i was that desperate fasting god what do you want me to do nothing and i finally it was 11 59 so to speak and i just i had to make a decision so i just made a decision just went to door a walked through and he was on the other side going good choice good job you scare me the way you do things just ah scares me but i love you and i don't understand you at all but now that it's over that was fun right and sometimes you know sometimes we're stan i'm standing here and i've got door a b and c and and i don't know what to do and i'm waiting for him to give me his voice and sometimes he's very clear i mean you know isaiah 30 verse 8 is pretty clear it tells me exactly what to do but there are other times he just won't and it's not until i approach door c and get my hand on the handle he says be and i go all right cool and i take his direction but he didn't speak until i came to the moment of decision the point is is the hunger isn't for a road map the hunger is for a tour guide the hunger is not for a plan for the rest of my life even though that may be what i would like what i really ache for is the person to meet with him have him speak to me sometimes i'm filled with questions i ask him about all this stuff he doesn't answer one of them he just touches me at a different place because he knows the pain of this started way back over here and so he ministers deeply the point is is that we come to him and he speaks and he brings comfort he brings peace sometimes he gives us an insight we know exactly what to do sometimes we have that courage just act other times nothing has changed but i feel better about horrible circumstances it's a weird thing but i just feel better see i want him to give me detailed instruction kind of like a slave wants detailed instructions and he's wanting me to act as a son who he trained to think like he does that makes me so nervous i'd rather him just tell me but he's actually wanting me to change so he invites us into this book here's an interesting part at the end of the chapter let me just read to you just as a bonus and then we'll wrap this up in verse 29 you will have songs as in the night when you keep the festival gladness of heart as one marches around to the sound of the flute to go to the mountain of the lord the rock of israel the lord will cause his voice of authority to be heard the descending of his arm to be seen in fierce anger the flame of his consuming fire this is all against your enemy so be happy in a cloud burst a downpour hail stones for at the voice of the lord assyria will be terrified listen to this when he strikes with the rod every blow of the rod of punishment which the lord will lay on your enemy will be with music of tambourines and harps we bring out the bazookas we're ready to go to war god says now pick up the guitar but we're going to war he says i know i'll amplify the sound you doing this releases that we're best in war when we're not devil focused anyway so here we are just celebrating his kindness playing the piano lifting a voice whatever it may be anytime we have this many people in the room the chances are high that we have people here who have never made a personal commitment to the lord jesus christ there isn't a more important part of this day listen to me carefully there are not many ways to god if there were many ways then the father requiring jesus to be crucified would be cruel he was crucified as the only possible solution a perfect man dying on behalf of everyone who is imperfect which is all of us he made that sacrifice so that everyone here those watching online those in the overflow everyone here could have a personal relationship with jesus to know what it is to be born again that's the bible term born again change from the inside out and i want to give this opportunity for anyone who would be in this room and just say bill i don't want to leave the room until i know that i've been forgiven by god that i know that i'm right with god that if i were to die today i would spend eternity with god i'd spend eternity in heaven with him if that fits anybody in this room you say bill i don't want to leave till i know i'm at peace with god then i want you just to put your hand up right where you are take just just a moment for this put your hand right here yes thank you sir beautiful anybody else real quick just put your hand up anyone else but you end up real quick i don't want to miss anyone okay let's do this i want everyone to stand everyone to please stand and if i missed you please forgive me but i would like to have ministry team come to the front and the gentleman put your hand up please just come right up over here as we have people that we know and love that we trust to talk with you and to pray with you would you honor this one who's making this confession of faith today god bless you god bless you right over here yeah thank you beautiful come on somebody get happy that's just good amazing amazing never ever gets old all right i want to pray for you because i believe the lord wants to release a gift you know i have people say i read the word but i don't remember what it says how many of you would i read the word i don't remember what it says i don't remember what i had for breakfast last week either but it still nourished me just eat [Applause] yes amen put your hands in front of you you're going to receive a gift father i ask that you would make the word of god our eternal safe place that for everybody in this room a new level of history would form today where we encounter you we meet with you over the issues the challenges the opportunities of our life and you speak to us once again i welcome that i pray for that and this body of believers i ask in jesus name amen amen now if you hold your place tom's going to help us to figure out what to do next so good could we give pastor bill a big hand thankful for that

Channel: Bill Johnson Teaching (Official)

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Keywords: how to read the bible, treasuring the word of god, bible, how to study the bible, bible study, i have hidden your word in my heart, the word of god, psalm 119, bill johnson 2020, bill johnson, bill johnson sermons, bethel church, bethel.tv, miracles, bethel miracles, bill johnson ministry, BSSM, bethel, jesus christ, church, sermon bethel, holy spirit, bill johnson ministries, bill johnson bethel, bethel tv, bethel church redding, christian theology, Christian, God is good

Id: ED9LtSdpru0

Length: 37min 49sec (2269 seconds)

Published: Fri Sep 24 2021