Proving the Will of God – Bill Johnson (Sermon Clip) | Bethel Church

How do you prove [demonstrate the truth or existence of] the will of God? Bill Johnson teaches how renewing our minds enables us to hear God’s voice clearly and recognize His will so that we can partner with Him to see it established in the earth. “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” Romans 12: 2.

but the word here to prove is is a is a

very interesting word it actually is a

word some of your translations have it

means to approve approve the will of god

it doesn’t mean that somehow you and i

are the ones who give approval for what

god’s doing on the earth doesn’t mean

that at all

but let me illustrate it this way

do not be conformed to this world

but be transformed by the renewing of

your mind

that you may prove what is that good and

acceptable and perfect will of god when

there’s a verse like this that is so

familiar the temptation for me if i’m

sitting where you are is i know it by

heart so i don’t need to look at it

but i will often go the extra mile

because i want to be

re-exposed to what i might be overly

familiar with

sometimes intentionally looking it up in

a different translation i want it to

rattle my my thinking so i don’t get

stuck

stuck in my in my thinking so he says

don’t be conformed to this world be

transformed

my

i think maybe my favorite illustration

of this word transformed is found in

luke chapter 9

where jesus takes few of the guys and

they go up on a mountain

and he the bible says he is transfigured

before them

imagine going to a prayer meeting

and you’re dozing off

it’s a long prayer meeting it’s one of

them all-nighters

jesus loves these all-nighters

and all of a sudden

jesus turns into

this transformed person it says that he

looked other looks he looks different

but not only that it says his clothing

is as lightning

so you’re sitting here dozing off all of

a sudden jesus is dressed in lightning

how many think it might wake you up from

a boring perimeter

that’s what happened to the guys right

here

is is they they are in this moment where

suddenly they see and that’s why they’re

so inspired to build tabernacles you

know for moses elijah and jesus it’s

this moment where they are electrified

literally by what they are seeing jesus

clothed in lightning

that word transfigured where jesus is

transfigured is this word here

transformed

it’s just an idea but it’s my personal

conviction

the the renewed mind

looks like

jesus stressed enlightening in the

spirit world and the unseen world the

renewed mind is so unique and so

distinct

it’s not passive it’s not subtle

it is brilliant

as it illustrates the heart and the mind

of god for planet earth he still has a

plan for this planet

and you’re a part of it

so here it is

don’t be conformed to this world be

transformed by the renewing of your mind

that you may prove

the will of god

that which is good acceptable and

perfect

what is the will of god

your will be done

on earth as it is in heaven say it with

me your will be done

on earth as it is in heaven say it again

your will be done

on earth as it is in heaven what does

the renewed mind do

it proves the will of god heaven on

earth

that’s amazing

that’s amazing the renewed mind

see some of what we think is going to

come at the return of christ is supposed

to come in the renewed mind of christ

the transformation of a person’s life

is no greater than the transformation of

their mind

it’s the reason the word repent means to

change the way you think he’s targeting

not just merely the discipline of right

thoughts which has value

he’s talking about

living from the perception of reality

that is greater than everything you can

see which is inferior

this world

paul teaches in romans this world

everything you can see is temporal

what you can’t see is eternal faith

functions out of the eternal towards the

temporal

towards that which

is the greater reality towards the

inferior reality

the renewed mind lives

conscious

of that

now this word here says that you may

prove the will of god that which is good

acceptable and perfect i

i remember growing up i would hear

people teach on the good acceptable

perfect will of god there was a perfect

there was a good and there was an

acceptable will

no no those are three terms for the same

thing don’t don’t don’t don’t try to

skim by

i’m going to do the acceptable will of

god it’s just permissible now slap

yourself that’s stupid

but the word here to prove is is a is a

very interesting word it actually is a

word some of your translations have it

means to approve approve the will of god

it doesn’t mean that somehow you and i

are the ones who give approval for what

god’s doing on the earth doesn’t mean

that at all

but let me illustrate it this way

let’s say that you just received

an inheritance

of a great estate

in europe somewhere

this should make you happy start

fantasizing with me here

you just received notice that you’ve

just inherited this vast estate

big castle

lots of acreage

lots of animals for hunting on my estate

on yours it’s just a zoo it’s all right

i’m i’m not a family i’m not offended

so

we hear the news and we arrange to fly

and we fly back

and uh we we come to the estate and the

people in charge take us and they show

us what belongs to us

we stayed there for you know several

weeks just kind of processing what’s

ours and scouring over the grounds and

what’s in the

castle and you go up into this attic

area and you see that there’s a lot of

stuff there that’s been stored and you

look over in the corner here’s about six

to eight uh different pieces of art

paintings

and you start peeling through them and

and one stands out to you just so

noticeably and you look down

in the corner and there’s this signature

that says van gogh

and you don’t know if this is a copy

counterfeit you don’t know if it’s real

you don’t know

you just you look at this or you pull it

out

and you think man i need to find out if

this is if this is the real deal and so

you call me

because in this story i’m the van gogh

expert when you tell the story you can

be whoever you want but i am the van

gogh expert

so you call me and you tell me i’ve just

inherited this estate and found a bunch

of paintings some may have value i’m not

sure but there’s one that has the

signature van gogh

on the lower right hand corner of that

painting

and then i say well what what uh

uh what does it look like so you

describe the painting so you know either

there’s no record of a van gogh painting

with that subject in it and so tell me

more

and finally we arranged to have a

meeting and you bring to my uh uh studio

where uh there’s great safety and

protection for all the art that’s there

and i take

four weeks and i study i’ve studied

every brushstroke of van gogh every

known painting

i’ve studied the medium i’ve studied the

oils that he used the colors he would

use the subject matter i know his life

backwards and forward i’m really

fluffing myself up in this one i i i

know

i’m feeling so good about myself in this

moment and i’m gonna go buy an art book

when we’re done

so i but i’ve studied literally every

brush stroke every every bit of his

personality that was displayed in every

one of his paintings

i do

the carbon tests on the canvas

on the paint everything

and i call you to my studio

and i say

this is what i’ve done for the last four

weeks

and i am 100 certain

this is an authentic van gogh painting

one

that nobody

knew existed

suddenly

the piece of art that might be worth a

hundred dollars is now worth in excess

of 100 million dollars

what happened

after thorough examination

i approved

i romans 12 did it

let’s say that you get uh

a report from the doctor and you’ve got

something going on

that’s just not good not gut not good

news not a good report

and a really uh good a friend of yours a

strong

pure living passionate lover of jesus

calls you one day and says hey i had a

dream last night

jesus came to me in the dream

and he told me to tell you he’s given

you this affliction for a brief season

he will then heal you and it will be

glorious

two weeks later

you get another dream

from a friend

who calls you and they say

i had a dream last night jesus came to

me in the dream

and he told me to tell you

this disease is not from him

and he will set you free

what just happened

you were given two pieces of art

both with van gogh written on the bottom

but they’re not both

authentic paintings

so what you do is you go to matthew mark

luke and john

and you examine every brushstroke

every brushstroke

and without rejecting the individual

that had the contrary dream

without shaming or spitefully

uh speaking to them

we embrace one

and we put down the other

and we say after thorough examination

but the word of god

and the spirit of god who lives in me

i would like to declare

i approve

this is the will of god this is the

authentic painting

that’s what it means

you and i

have

opportunity and responsibility

to illustrate the heart and mind of god

i’ll have i have uh pastors will come to

me fairly often

and they’ll ask me a question or they’ll

write me or call me or whatever for

friends and

they’ll say bill how do how do

i want to increase the miracle level in

my own life i want to increase the level

of miracles in our church what do i do

and so there’s several things that you

know that i’ve i’ve

practiced and still in practicing to see

greater and greater breakthrough and

i’ll tell them just about my own journey

i’ll talk to him oftentimes about uh

just being in the environment of the

anaheim vineyard 1987 and how i came

home with something i didn’t go with i

came home with an anointing that began

to display itself that next week and i

had never seen it before in my life

and it wasn’t through laying on our

hands by being in the atmosphere and

i’ll tell them my story but then i’ll

say at the end they say but if you want

the shortcut and who doesn’t like

shortcuts if you want the shortcut

just go with randy clark to brazil

just go with randy clark to brazil

you will see

in a week

more miracles

than holy ghost filled faith-filled

believing believers see sometimes in a

lifetime

you’ll see in a week i remember one i

remember one time i got there like two

days after this thing had started

and

randy met with me and we were talking

about what had been happening and he

said

man he says we’re in this meeting

there’s like 9 000 people in this uh in

this coliseum stadium

and he said 8 000 of them got healed

8 000.

8 000.

and one of the stories he said he said

i he i think it was him doing the

praying he just prayed god let the let

the wind of the spirit or something like

that just fall upon the death there’s a

death section

and there was this it was in this big

tent and the wind blew and uh lifted the

flap of the tent and rain outside came

into the tent and landed on the death

section and a whole bunch of deaf people

just got healed just like that

now

so let’s put this in practical terms you

and me were there all right

and uh you go to the first meeting

and uh you had prayed specifically god i

want to see tumors disappear only to see

cancer disappear so you go to the first

meeting somebody comes up to you they’ve

got a big old growth on their neck you

pray it disappears

and then somebody comes up to you a

woman says i was just diagnosed with

breast cancer she lays her hand on her

own breast you put your hand on top and

you pray a simple prayer and she begins

to probe and find out it’s completely

gone

and the next day the same thing and the

next day and the next day and the next

day same thing happened how many know

after about 10 of those experiences

you’re looking for tumors

you didn’t look for them before you went

but since you entered into a flow of the

mind of christ i could call any number

of things the flow of the spirit of god

the demonstration of the power of god it

would all be true but for this

illustration you stepped into a

demonstration of the mind of christ and

suddenly you are thinking different

why because the word of god the spirit

of god and your personal experience

illustrates what it is to have a renewed

mind and all three of those things are

necessary for you and for me to live

with a renewed mind

yes amen

amen

i think that’s pretty much it why don’t

you stand

uh

the renewed mind illustrates

demonstrates

manifests

and approves

of heaven on earth

we see it with the deaf ears

that open

we see it with

the new idea

for an expansion of a business

we see it in

the key

to reconciliation

in that broken family

he manifests in so many different ways

but it’s always to his glory and to our

strength

don’t be conformed to this world

i don’t like when people try to stand

out

but if you’re going to have the mind of

christ you will stand out

i don’t like

i don’t like the attention thing you

know

but maybe that’s why in james he said

wisdom with meekness

maybe that’s why he said with wisdom

listen with wisdom you’re going to be

brokering my world into this one just

stay low as you do it

restrain strength

restricted or directed strength

so father that’s my prayer for us

put your hands out in front of you or on

your heart or something but let’s just

take a moment to pray father

that’s uh that’s my christ our cry

together

uh for our family online that watches

from all over the world we bless them we

pray that together

there would be this corporate

illustration this corporate experience

of the mind of christ

in ways we’ve never known the true

wisdom of god in ways we’ve never known

we do pray

on earth

as it is in heaven god we love your will

we pray on earth as it is in heaven

inspire the dreams

help us to deal with the little offenses

and the things that just seem to creep

up now and then just help us to be a

people that just give up our right to be

offended

give up our right to be offended we want

to embrace fully the mind of christ

i pray this in jesus name