When Giants Become Bread - Bill Johnson (Full Sermon) | Bethel Church

[Applause] thank you good morning is it still morning yes it is it's still morning ah nice to see ya appreciate all the prayers for our household benny's doing increasingly better better and better and better i told our family yesterday i said the miracle is a done deal it's just opening like a flower every day and that's what we see so very very encouraged so thank you thanks so much according to a news report a certain private catholic school was recently faced with a unique problem a number of the young ladies were starting to wear lipstick which wasn't the problem but they would press their lips against the mirror in the girl's bathroom and it was a hassle to clean and so sister mary the principal talked to them about not doing that but it just didn't slow it down they continued to press their lips against the mirror so she decided to have a meeting with all the young ladies in the girls bathroom so they all crowded in there with the janitor and she began to talk to them on how hard it was to clean those mirrors and to illustrate how difficult it was she turned to the janitor and said would you please demonstrate how hard it is to clean the lipstick off the mirror and he took the long-handled squeegee he dipped it into the toilet [Laughter] [Applause] and he cleaned the mirror and they have never had another lipstick print on the mirror since then that's what you call an educator right there jesus came to earth commissioned by the father for clarity's sake jesus christ is the eternal son of god never stopped being god he's not an ascended being that's somehow attained to some position he is the eternal son of god but the great mystery of scripture is that he was 100 god while at the same time he became 100 man and if you can figure that out please explain it to me it's it's the great challenge in conversation in teaching but both realities are equally true so jesus came to earth having been commissioned from the father first john 3 8 tells us what the commission was it says he came to destroy the works of the evil one planet earth had been infected with the devil and the demonic horde that helped to bring about absolute chaos loss lot death destruction into the earth jesus came to correct and to destroy the devil's works the authority that he operated in was connected to his commission chris puts it best he says you can't be commissioned co would be like in co-laboring co you can't be commissioned until you come into submission to the primary mission jesus came with the mission of the father and exercise the authority of heaven as a human being a policeman has authority but he doesn't have authority to build a house without a permit there are a number of positions political positions where maybe somebody has authority in economics or has authority in housing or whatever they can't step out they don't have authority outside of their assignment outside of their mission you and i have authority jesus after his resurrection stood before his 11 remaining disciples and threw them through all of humanity who would say yes to jesus and he said all authority's been given to me therefore go into all the world preach the gospel disciple nations teach them what i taught you part of what he taught them was matthew 10 to heal the sick to raise the dead to cast out devils that's a part of the commission so it says teach them what i taught you then he closes with this statement for i am i will be with you always jesus then commissioned his disciples now in luke 9 verse 1 author of matthew 10 verse 8 says he gave power and authority to his disciples jesus came with authority i don't believe he came with power he came with authority because he said yes to the mission but he didn't come with power instead we see john the baptist baptizing in water and he is preaching to the crowd and he said there is one coming after me i'm not even worthy to untie his shoes he will baptize you in the holy spirit and in fire and as he's preaching he looks up on the banks of the river and he sees jesus jesus didn't have a sign over his head saying i am the christ john looks at him i like to describe it this way every cell of john's being came into realization and recognition that that is the lamb of god it wasn't just a passing mental inspirational thought it was a revelation that impacted the entirety of john's being and he stopped and he said look behold the lamb of god who takes away the sins of the world in other words this is the moment i've been waiting for here he is the scariest thing john ever experienced i'm sure happened in the moments that followed jesus walked up to him and he said i want you to baptize me john knew that his baptism was a baptism of repentance jesus had nothing to repent for he was baptized in what i would call an intercessory role intercession is basically to stand in the shoes of another and plead their case as though it were your own if what's happening in our nation right now doesn't make you angry you may be a part of the problem hold on hold on you've got to catch the next part of that part that part will get you in trouble and will eventually get me in trouble if it doesn't make you angry you may be part of the problem either through apathy or through thinking consistent with the evil that's taking place but if that anger takes you to accusation complaining and criticism you're playing on the devil's playing field and you will always lose on his playing field when righteous anger takes you to intercession where it's not accusation but it's praying as though it were your issue god forgive us we have sinned against you we have exalted standards that you forbid in your law we have broken all your laws god please heal us and forgive us as a nation when we embrace when we take that righteous anger if you will and allow it to drive us into the presence to intercede on behalf of the nation a leader whatever it might be then that that anger if you will don't be offended by that god gets angry and the bible commands be angry and sin not so what keeps us from sin in anger is that we identify with the people that we would be most angry with and we plead their case in mercy does that make any sense to you it's not the message for today that's completely free i won't charge you for that but that's that's uh i've been wanting to say that for a while all right so jesus stands in the place of all those who would repent of sin in the years to come he stands in their place and is baptized in water john said an interesting thing he said i need to be baptized by you what did john just announce about jesus he will baptize you with the holy spirit in fire john was saying i need your baptism you don't need mine i need yours and john was out of season he was not in the seas where he could be baptized in the holy spirit and fire because that would not come till after the death of christ and of course john's death preceded that which interestingly the bible declares that john was the greatest of all the old testament prophets but the least the least in the kingdom was greater than john i would like to suggest that that holy spirit baptism gives you access to a reality in god that not even john the baptist had access to back to the script here so jesus gets baptized in water when he comes up out of the water mark's gospel mark and luke both mark 1 and luke 3 says the heavens parted the word used in africa which gospel i believe it's luke's gospel the word that's used there for the parting of the clouds is actually a violent term the same word for parting that word parting of the clouds parting is used twice in matthew 27 to describe something that happened in the natural realm after the death of christ when he died when jesus died in matthew 27 it says that the veil in the temple very tall was torn from top to bottom from god's end to men's that veil they say is four to six inches thick in fabric and it was ripped from the top to the bottom in the same verse it says and the rocks around jerusalem were torn in half so imagine some angel coming down ripping rocks in him so we're in other words we're talking about a violent act we're not talking about a gentle breeze separating clouds the bible describes the enemy as the prince of the power of the air i'd like to suggest that there is a figurative thing going on here where when jesus was baptized in water there was a rending a tearing of the heavens and the spirit of god came down through that opening if you will upon jesus in the form of a dove and remained he was baptized if you will in the spirit at that point it's the very next chapter is the first time we see jesus walking in power so i'd like to suggest jesus came with authority because he said yes to the mission but he came with power because of the encounter your authority comes in your yes to the commission but your power comes in the encounter jesus gave authority and power to his disciples while they walked with him but when he ascended to the right hand of the father he told his disciples in luke 24 which is the basically same encounter or moment where jesus gives his mission in matthew 28 so it's just two different chapters 24 adds this one element he says don't leave jerusalem until you're clothed with power here's your authority all authority's been given to me now therefore go so here's the commission but then a loose gospel he adds this phrase don't leave jerusalem until you clothe the power power comes in the encounter authority comes in the commission i want you to look we're going to change gears a little bit i want you to look at three very strange verses with me and it's numbers 14 it's matthew 6 and psalms 23. all right very random but hopefully you'll see at least that they complement each other numbers 24. interestingly this is a fascinating uh subject i know i've heard chris and maybe some others touch on this just a little bit in recent months that the lord rewards maturity with increase of responsibility the promised land was not sitting on a beach sipping lemonade the rest of their life the promised land was a place where they actually had to work that we were actually designed to work in fact the very thing happening in our country right now where people don't want to work is actually actually working against divine purpose it's actually working against design it's like using a crest wrench as a hammer in a work it just wasn't designed for that now if you're unable to work for whatever reason much blessing and grace to you i i believe we're supposed to care for people that can't but the point is we got a spirit that's been loosed in the nation in this day where people are looking for opportunities to not work when actually the fulfillment of our design is found in work all right i feel better about that too that one's free as well that's all right let's get back here my assignment today is just a medal and cause problems so i'm looking for every opportunity so israel was given a promised land and your future is defined by promises and the measure in which we say yes to the promises of god is in that measure we step into the fullness of our design the promises of god guarantee a fight between the promise and fulfillment now back pedal israel under moses's leadership they were looking at the promised land they knew there was a great vast inheritance for them so he took 12 spies and he sent them into the land to spy it out and to bring back a report of what they were about to step into they came back 10 of them said there are giants in the land or like grasshoppers in our sight we can never win this battle two of them joshua and caleb came back and said this is a done deal this is a set up by god for our victory they came back with great courage but the ten persuaded the crowd to move in fear now nobody in the crowd said i choose fear they all said let's choose wisdom because fear masquerades us wisdom the ten spies did not come back with lies they came back with truth just not the whole truth they came back convincing people of something that was inferior to what god has said and what god has said over your life is what we must feed our heart on if we feed our heart on just simply the facts we will react in fear and never recognize it as fear we will consider ourselves to be people that move in great wisdom and i'll tell you this if you move in fear all of your friends if you live cautiously your friends will call you wise you just won't move many mountains it takes courage to confront and to face what god has put in front of us so here's some of the dialogue that we have from joshua and caleb as they literally prophesy they bring the word of the lord to a nation to not rebel against the lord by failing to enter a promise let that phrase just run through your mind for a minute to not rebel against the lord by failing to enter a promise all right verse 9 only do not rebel against the lord well i just heard that recently do not rebel against the lord nor fear the people of the land for they are our bread their protection has departed from them and the lord is with us do not fear them your giant looks different when you believe a promise look at it again do not rebel against the lord nor fear the people of the land for they are our bread go to matthew 6. verse 11 give us this day our daily bread [Music] you say well that's torn out of context okay psalms 23 you prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies there are certain spiritual nutrients that you cannot get apart from defeating defeating a giant the meal you are hungry for is in the triumph of the giant you're facing god has given every one of us an appetite to be strong spiritually but we want strength for the battle and he's saying my strength comes from the battle they are bred we're not talking about a mental game where we imagine that there is no enemy i love the honesty of joshua and caleb where they talk openly about the giants they're just not impressed by them and i have found anytime i am impressed with the size of my problem it's because i've lost sight of the size of my god i know that sounds cute but it's a reality anytime i become impressed with the size of a challenge i have lost sight of the size of the promise that weighs over my life and there's a huge part some part of our christian life he absolutely does for us he actually does for us he caused this victory to happen i didn't i didn't do anything all i did was show up and he just caused it to happen he defended me here he promoted me there he did i get that but there are parts of our of our christian walk where the nutrients we ache for are actually found in the giants we are facing and it's changing our perspective not in a mental mental gymnastics but changing perspective according to what god says what did god say joshua and caleb pick something up they picked something up from the lord that this this land of giants that's lunch and when we're through with lunch we'll move on to dinner this is our food psalms 23 fascinates me for a lot of reasons obviously but psalms 23 fascinates me because he says you prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies we've gone through this i know i i know you've studied it on your own i'm sure but let's just mentally walk through this very strange setting god has prepared a table of the richest most glorious food you will ever eat in your life i mean i think god's probably a pretty good cook good good so here is this table the table is a place of nourishment the table is a place of interaction a fellowship of connection so here you are on the other side of jesus whose eyes are like burning with fire but also with the tenderness of compassion and love you've ever seen in your life his words give you courage to face anything that you could possibly ever ever face this interaction with you that we have with him at this table so to speak something that defines our purpose our reason for being our destiny it's a life-giving encounter and here it is in the presence of enemies and i fear that many people sit at this table day after day after day rebuking and binding and doing all these things because they're preoccupied with the enemy that's around the table and they never benefit from the nutrients of the moment and they may come out victorious they may come out saying no we took care of that problem didn't we and yet they're lacking in the nutrients or lacking in the very thing that was to define their future because they became preoccupied with the devil instead of with the lord who created a place of intimate fellowship in the middle of a problem [Applause] once we come to christ it doesn't mean that everything that comes my way is designed by the lord i'm facing things right now i know he had no hand in because he gives life and these things give death he came to give life the enemy came to kill steal destroy so if there's death loss and destruction involved guess what that's the devil's fingerprints it's not from the lord but here's the guarantee all things work together for good for those that love god and are called according to his purpose something happens in this life in christ where this that comes my way that was unexpected becomes redefined god says all right i'm turning this into a meal this thing that was set to destroy this is dinner this is breakfast this is brunch i don't know about you i love brunch i love brunch but they only have them on sundays and i'm here all day all day so when i'm on vacation i look for brunch because brunch is where bacon goes to die that's what that's what bacon is i know not supposed to eat bacon but i eat bacon so the lord takes that which was thrown your way and he says all right i am going to put in the purpose of this giant i'm going to put in his makeup the food that you will need for the next season now repent which means what change the way you think change your perspective on reality why because if you don't you'll just see the giant you won't see dinner i want you to turn with me to joshua chapter one and we're going to read a portion of scripture i think i could say honestly if i could take the three most important portions of scripture in the bible for me in the last 50 years this would be one of the top three and for me it's like a refrigerator i go to it when i'm hungry there's always something in this refrigerator to eat joshua chapter 1. it feeds my soul i remind you that joshua is one of the two that went into the land of promises and came out with a good report tragically israel could not enter to take the promised land and every person in the nation died with the exception of joshua and caleb because promises give you a reason to live promises insulate you from what destroys others it does not destroy you why because you have a reason for being alive and god protected and honored their faithfulness honored their faith verse 5 no man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life as i was with moses so i will be with you i will not leave you nor forsake you stop right there let's let's change this for just just a moment instead of moses let's put jesus in there and let's read this to you because that actually is the reality of the new testament no man will be able to stand before you all the days of your life for as i was with jesus so i will be with you i will not leave you nor forsake you do you know that that is absolutely true do you know that the promises given to the son jesus have been given to you do you know that jesus said all things the father has our mind and i give them to you all things the entire realm of sonship that was upon jesus he passed on to you and to me it's called grace none of us could ever earn that we could never jump through enough hoops to get that it was a gift it was a gift of god verse six be strong and of good courage for to this people you shall divide as an inheritance the land which i swore to their fathers to give them do you understand your obedience positions you to redistribute the inheritance of god to many others all those under your influence come into promotion and blessing because of your yes if you don't see that you're not thinking right hello bethel tv online community bless you if you don't see that you're not thinking so i wanted to welcome you into this joyful experience that we're having here verse seven only be strong and very courageous that you may observe to do according to all the law which moses my servant commanded you i realize we're not under the law of moses but we are under the law of love and in the law of love we find the capacity to obey everything jesus said to do according to all the law which moses my servant commanded you do not turn from it to the right hand or the left that you may prosper wherever you go this book of the law shall not depart from your mouth but you will meditate it meditate in it day and night stop right there if you want to impact what you think about change what you talk about the book of the law shall not depart from your mouth but you will meditate on it day and night that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it for then you will make your way prosperous and you will have good success you will make your way prosperous many believers are waiting for the lord to make their way prosperous you imagine a farmer planting 10 acres of corn and being angry because he didn't harvest 100. that was that was it was a really good bill i if i were you i'd try it again it was it was worth trying again you can't harvest what you don't plant god's given his word to us to use not in manipulation for self-glory prosperity and success unfortunately we usually define those words by society around us it's the mansion on the hill it's you know whatever five cars whatever we we translate prosperity and success in those terms where biblically is so much richer than that it may include the nice house in the nice car it's never the point the point is in here i am alive abundantly alive my relationships are healthy i complete who they are they complete who i am our family life is creating a sense of destiny and purpose there is a momentum in the generations because of our yes my friendships are i have people around me that would take a bullet from me and i would take a bullet for them i i like that little joke i saw a while back says i would take a bullet for you not in the head but maybe like in the leg or something that's i i thought that was funny i'm sorry [Applause] poor sense of humor all right success and prosperity involves possessions but is never the focus it's the abundance of heart what would it be like to be prosperous in your mind i can tell you what it is it's creative thinking creative thinking and we need a whole generation of creative thinkers god has a solution for every problem on the planet he would love it if the people that become so preoccupied of the fear of failure when asking actually start asking the question god how can we solve this problem verse 9 have i not commanded you be strong i don't know i'm picking up this idea that maybe we should be strong have i not commanded you be strong and have good courage do not be afraid nor be dismayed for the lord your god is with you wherever you go that last phrase is critical years ago i did a study where i tried to find every place where the lord said he would be with somebody so we see it with moses the lord says i'm going to be with you we see it with gideon he's facing this crazy insurmountable task of this army he's got 300 soldiers the lord says i will be with you we see it all through the scriptures you see it with the prophets we see it with different ones who are put in these positions lord says i will be with you we see it in the great commission matthew 28 verse 19 and 20. go into all the world it ends with and i will be with you always the point is every time i could find that god revealed that he was with an individual or with a group of people it was always connected to their impossible assignment he revealed his presence because he told them to do something they could not do let's rephrase that we sing the song i love your presence and we do we love the presence of the lord but the manifestation of the presence of god is to guarantee you've been assigned to the impossible he could comfort us in many ways but it's more than just his presence to comfort me it is to equip and enable me to confront things that jesus would confront if he were in these shoes he says be strong and courageous do you understand that he would never command me to be strong if it wasn't within reach in other words if my will if i could not will my way into it then it would be a cruel command he didn't say feel courageous he didn't say hover till you feel strong he said just be it be strong now if god is commanding me to do something that is the product of 10 years of obedience then it's a it's a cruel command because i'm in trouble right now i got a problem right now and he comes to us with a command be strong and don't fear be courageous do not be dismayed why because i'm with you for me the implication is if i am overwhelmed by the size of my problem i have lost sight of the presence of god and his promise that prevails over my life it's what it's what helped the 10 spies to not lie but emphasize the size of the giants the size of the problem it wasn't a lie they just described that problem without the prevailing word of god over their life without the abiding manifested presence that was visibly seen among them every day of their life in the wilderness visible manifestation of the glory of god the pillar of fire by night the cloud by day it was there day after day after day after day but they didn't remember that when they got into the promised land and they saw giants they saw big people instead of a big god i've told you in recent weeks that most of us our miracle our breakthrough begins the moment we stop being impressed by the size of our problem many people define themselves by the size of the problem oh it's been rough and i don't mean we shouldn't share and pray with each other i i get that so i know this could be misapplied but it's worth the risk if i get some of you to apply it it'll be good your giant is your next meal give us this day our daily bread god create the table in such a way that i am so overwhelmed by who's at the table and what you put there for me to eat that i never again become impressed with the enemy who is watching my one of my most favorite verses of all is in acts 10 38 and i uh just about any time i'm thankful for digital clocks because they say 10 38. and when whatever they do even i've been up here talking before and i've seen 10 38 and just pause in my heart and acknowledge the reality of acts 10 38 one of the most important scriptures for my life it's where he says god was with jesus and he anointed him to heal every disease to destroy all the powers of hell that he ran into because god was with him it says jesus went about doing good healing all who were oppressed the devil listen to this phrase for god was with him the very fact that the presence of god is manifested with him emphasizes that role he had he had as man with the presence of god with him why because he's looking for a generation that will say an equal yes and look at the giant and say you are my dinner you are my dicker [Applause] well i don't want to make the devil mad he's already mad you are my dinner why'd you stand so just pretend with me that the biggest giant you're facing is standing right in front of me maybe you don't have any you can borrow your neighbor's giant i want you to say this with me you are my bread father i'm asking for that that supernatural gift of courage the supernatural gift of perception where we see things as you see them not as the enemy wants us to see them that we actually see the meal that is the reward of this next victory we long we hunger to see the enemies of our life bend their need of the name jesus through our lips we want to see the impossibilities of life bow to the authority of jesus that he's imparted to us we pray for this god i pray for everybody in this room that there would be an unusual ability to interpret giant dinner to be able to interpret the enemy surrounds me there must be a meal somewhere there must be a meal somewhere holy spirit we we look to ask that you to literally rest upon every person in this room in such a profound way that we never in fact this is hard to even imagine but we never again become impressed with the size of a problem let us see through the eyes of jesus now without anybody moving around give me just a moment here the most important moment of this day is this one i know with a crowd this size quite possibly online or in the room that there are people here that do not have a personal relationship with jesus you've never surrendered your life to be a disciple a follower of jesus the bible calls it being born again it's where we receive him and there's a transformation that takes place from the inside out forgiven of sin brought into his family that is available to everybody in this room all those watching online if you're online put it in the chat box we've got staff on there that are ready to talk to you and to pray with you just say i'm i'm receiving jesus if there's anybody in the room that would just say bill i don't want to leave the building till i know i'm right with god i'm at a place of peace with god i'm forgiven of sin i'm part of his family if that's you then just put a hand up right where you are just do it real quick like put your hand up for that reason right back here i see one all right wonderful anybody else put your hand up quickly way back over here's another one yep beautiful anybody else wave your hand if i if i missed you okay i see i see this i see this one here that one there is there any anybody else all right beautiful you guys you guys will help okay what i want to ask is there's at least two that put their hand up do me and yourself a favor just walk up here real quickly because i have friends that i know and trust that i want to talk and to pray with you so just come on down real quick if you if you friend raise their hand walk down with them just come on down god bless yes so these guys right here are going to talk really crazy come on god bless you guys yeah go ahead you guys just take him to the side and pray and talk with him extend your hand towards them and just pray god give them more than they ever thought was possible just let let them be filled with the holy spirit even right now that all the torment the stuff that's been on their life would be broken off just pray that right now pray that over them just pray out loud pray for them right now to encounter the lord

Channel: Bill Johnson Teaching (Official)

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Keywords: our daily bread, give us our daily bread, in the presence of my enemies, facing giants, sermons on courage and boldness, joshua 1:9, gods promise, caleb and joshua, 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: gZNrwT8JpZE

Length: 45min 27sec (2727 seconds)

Published: Fri Aug 27 2021