Bill Johnson teaches foundational keys for growing and walking in great faith. Faith does not come from striving, it comes from surrender to the Word of God. Faith is such an important subject for us as believers because we cannot please God without it. Learning where faith comes from and how to grow in it is key to walking in great faith, empowered by the Holy Spirit. Subscribe for weekly videos: https://bit.ly/bjmYoutube

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0:00 Introduction 0:20 It Is Impossible to Please God Without Faith 7:55 It’s Not About How Much Faith You Have 18:30 By Faith We Understand (We don’t believe because we understand, we understand because we believe) 27:57 The Renewed Mind Creates the Context for Faith 33:47 A Supernatural Faith Bill Johnson is a fifth-generation pastor with a rich heritage in the Holy Spirit. He is senior leader of Bethel Church in Redding, California, and is passionate about seeing Revival and God’s Kingdom established and revealed in the lives of individuals, families, communities, and nations. Bill’s teaching on the Kingdom of Heaven, hosting the Presence, and the renewed mind has helped thousands around the world to step into their true identity in Christ, God given purpose, and walk in a supernatural lifestyle displaying both purity and power. #BillJohnson #BethelChurch #Faith

faith comes from surrender not striving

it’s the product of yielding

to the spirit of God and the word of God

and the encounters or experiences that

he takes us into to think and to see

differently

[Music]

actually what I want to do is I want to

talk about faith

and but it’ll be a little different kind

of a faith

message usually when I think in terms of

talking about faith I think in terms of

getting amped up to believe for the

impossible and that’s always the case

but what I’m looking at is a little bit

different the Lord has has initiated

this relational Journey for us here let

me bring something to mine Hebrews 11 6

says it’s impossible to please him apart

from faith that means faith is fairly

significant because establishing favor

increasing in the pleasure of the Lord

is in Connect is connected to in many

ways our life of faith

one of the things that has been the most

important for me to learn in recent

years has been that Faith doesn’t grow

from striving it grows from surrender

it’s the place of yieldiness that brings

me into greater and greater Faith so if

we can keep those things in mind it

keeps us from the hype that is really is

a is a counterfeit uh to what real faith

is you can’t self-will your way into

great faith I’ve heard people say I’m

just gonna I’m just gonna believe God as

though they can Will themselves into

great faith and it’s not quite how it

works faith comes in one of two ways

it’s number one it’s a fruit of the

spirit and or it is a gift to the spirit

it’s in Galatians 5 mentioned as a fruit

of the spirit many of your translations

will use the word faithfulness but it’s

the same exact word for Faith as you

find in First Corinthians chapter 12

where it talks about the gift of faith

so let’s talk about these two things the

fruit of the spirit is Faith the gift of

the spirit is Faith fruit means it’s

something you can develop with use

so you can increase its size you can

increase its impact through use it’s

like a muscle you develop it through use

I had so many years ago tell me they had

zero Faith No Faith whatsoever and I was

trying to figure out what they did with

it because God gave every person a

Measure of Faith so I’m not sure if they

left it somewhere or what they did but

um oftentimes we look in the wrong

places for Faith because Faith doesn’t

come out of determination it really does

come out of a surrender in relationship

another point to Faith that is important

before we read this scripture

is the fact

says faith comes by hearing

and hearing by the word of God we we

actually studied this I think two or

three weeks ago recently sometime in my

lifetime recently I know that I had a

couple sleeps since then but we we have

talked about it

so faith comes by hearing

hearing by the word of God faith comes

from hearing faith is the evidence of a

current relationship where you’re

hearing from God faith comes from

hearing hearing comes from the word of

God so my capacity to hear is enhanced

through the literally the reading of

scripture it’s it’s pouring myself into

the word of God it’s pouring the word of

God into me is what increases my

capacity to hear now this is vital

because the Lord

well the the Bible also says a man shall

not live by bread alone but by every

word that proceeds from the mouth of God

I live because he talks

I’m alive because he speaks the very

fact that God speaks he breathes his

word into my heart day after day hour

after hour it’s evidence because I’m

alive he keeps me alive with his voice

and the mistake that we made that I did

address a few weeks ago is that many

times we are in a position where we’re

just not hearing his voice well in fact

I asked you the question how many of you

have had times where he couldn’t hear

his voice well but you could sense his

presence

yeah and the point was is that is his

voice

that’s his voice we tend to measure his

voice by what we comprehend instead of

by who’s in the room

he is the Living Word he is the word of

God and when he comes in presence like

that he’s generally depositing stuff in

our spirit that that is too big

or too significant for our mind

oh man I don’t want to fall in that hole

so let me back away here

stay away from that hole right there

it’s a good hole I just I just may not

recover

he speaks to your spirit man he deposits

things for example you’re sitting here

in the presence this morning worshiping

great worship we’re just enjoying him

um and there’s this interaction between

the Holy Spirit and your spirit the

Bible says we worship God in spirit and

in truth so in spirit means we are

engaged with the Holy Spirit himself who

is the one who guides us who leads us

empowers us in this worship time that we

have with him this time of Thanksgiving

and praise that we give him but it also

says to Worship in truth and truth means

nothing hidden I I am there with all my

pain all my my breakthroughs my

testimonies my questions my all my stuff

is laid out on the table I’m not

presumptuous I don’t I don’t I don’t

pretend to be something that I’m not I

am here as a child who has problems and

I lay all of it before you and it is all

a part of my worship expression

there’s something about that kind of

interaction with him where where you

know you’ve had this happen where you’ve

got something that’s just an

insurmountable problem and you can’t

explain it but you walk out of that

moment with peace

you walk out of that moment you don’t

you don’t know what to do but it’s

almost like it doesn’t even matter in

fact you can almost worry yourself and

I’m not being responsible because you’re

not fearful and yet there’s those

moments where that peace of God just

comes what’s happened he’s ministered

deeper than your mind cannot comprehend

in that moment and if we don’t learn to

recognize that we won’t know that he is

actually speaking words of life into us

that literally Keep Us Alive there are

times where the Lord speaks to you in

fact job has this this great uh dialogue

or this this situation where he talks

about God visiting uh or in the Book of

Job it talks about God visiting us in

the night

putting things in our heart that are too

big for us to handle if he gave them to

us in the day the reason is we become

egocentric or we would think more highly

of ourselves that would be healthy for

us and so the Lord just deposits these

things very deeply in us and over time

they mature and they come to the surface

the point is God is always talking to us

the problem with many of us as we sit in

our spiritual recliners and we just you

know basically say God you know I’m

hungry for Revival if you want me to

experience it you know where I’m at you

know just come come and visit me and

that kind of an approach to the things

of God is very very dangerous because it

it means it means you’re only going to

get what he is Sovereign determined

you’re going to get and your hunger has

no role in the outcome of your life

that didn’t sound right let me put it a

different way it was true but it didn’t

sound right

most of what you need in life will be

brought to you most of what you want

you’ll have to go get

there is a responsibility to seek and to

pursue even the spiritual gifts in First

Corinthians 12 are once again repeated

in 14 and he says pursue earnestly

spiritual gifts so the revelation of the

gifts do not deposit gifts

they must be pursued of independently

because they’re in the work

[Music]

in humility receive the word implanted

which is able to save your soul

interesting and first Thessalonians 2

verse 13 He said the word of God

carries

the word it uses here is effective it’s

the effective word of God in your heart

the word for effective is the energy of

God so picture it this way God’s energy

and he doesn’t run out

when it’s windy he doesn’t shut it off

[Applause]

fire fires don’t scare him

foreign

the energy of God is contained in the

word that he speaks

here’s here’s the deal we had one of our

guys was sharing this morning a great

testimony

now we had some students in all in Texas

and uh Joel power gave this word of

knowledge pointed to a lady

and said do you have a son a name starts

with the letter j

and um

God is healing something with his brain

come to find out the Sun

as Joshua has autism has never spoken

and when she got home he spoke in

complete sentences and answered her

now you can say those words from now

until Jesus comes home and have nothing

happen but when they originate in the

heart of the father and all of us want

to say life-changing words but first you

have to hear life-changing words

[Music]

see he’s got the heart

to change to shape the course of history

to change lives of people around us he

he has the desire he doesn’t like that

he doesn’t like the vision

he’s already put everything in motion

for there to be Solutions he’s just

waiting for people like you and like me

that will hear and then say what he’s

saying

all right Hebrews 4 we’ll make this our

last uh last portion of scripture

Hebrews chapter 4

. this is a uh a contrast a comparison

between the New Testament Church coming

into a place of rest a place of of

absolute unity in Christ

and Israel trying to get into the

promised land so it’s it’s a it’s a

contrast and the promised land is

referred to as a place of rest okay so

it has its prophetic imagery so listen

to this verse two for indeed the gospel

was preached to us as well as to them

but the word which they heard did not

profit them not being mixed with faith

and those who heard it are two things I

want to draw your attention to number

one he says the word they heard didn’t

profit them what does that imply every

time God talks to you he wants you to

profit

and don’t reduce it to a raise at work

it may include money occasionally but

it’s not about that it’s about life

it’s about the life of God coming into

us in a way where things just work

things function as they were designed to

function

so he said the word did not profit them

not being mixed with faith to look down

at verse six since therefore it remains

that some must enter it those to whom it

was first preached did not enter Because

of disobedience

all right just think with me

did they not enter Because of

Disobedience or because they didn’t

unite the word with faith

do you see what it says sir

it says they fail to enter because they

didn’t unite the word with faith and

then it says they didn’t

enter because of this of disobedience

so what is it

yes

two sides of the same coin if you

evaluate your faith you’ll never do

anything

it’s a wrong place to look

I cannot put any attention on whatever

level of faith I have or don’t have

my only question is what does he want me

to do

because I can always obey you can obey

your way into great faith

the question isn’t do I have enough

Faith the question is what did he say to

do

am I supposed to act am I supposed to go

am I supposed to give

am I supposed to rest am I supposed to

pursue am I supposed to fast what am I

supposed to do that’s all I need to know

because I think I can obey myself into

great faith

verse 11 and 12 let us therefore be

diligent to enter that rest lest anyone

fall according to the same example of

Disobedience for the word of God is

living and Powerful sharper than any

two-edged sword piercing even to the

division of Soul and Spirit of joints

and moral and is a discerner of the

thoughts and intentions of the heart

all right let’s take that last phrase

there

the word of God is a discerner of the

thoughts and intentions of the heart

that is not saying the word of God helps

you to discern the thoughts and

intentions of another person

[Applause]

wall I heard somebody say recently

that the word of God

does not enable us to discern the

thoughts and intentions of another

person

[Applause]

the Bible says no one can know your own

heart how in the world you’re going to

know someone else’s you got a full-time

job

wading through this thing to find out

what’s going on in your own heart

that people come to all the time they

say oh that person is just trying to do

this so they’re just they’re the reason

they’re doing that is for the oh just

shut up

you don’t know what you’re talking about

next time you want to do that just look

for the sign there’s a sign that says no

trespassing don’t go there just stay

away from that because it’s not legal

territory for you to trample

it’s just not

well I know the reason they did this no

you don’t

you don’t even you don’t even know the

reason you think you know their reason

uh gotta stop there all right so here

here’s the deal the word of God actually

enables us to see our heart that’s the

whole point it’s a mirror you look at it

you see things clearly never to shame

but always to invite

he doesn’t expose to ridicule democrates

always to say that attitude there that’s

not going to work that won’t last much

longer you know it’s kind of like when

Moses can only go so far without doing

the circumcision thing on his on his

family he just he couldn’t go any

further until he took care of business

he couldn’t go any further until he took

shoes off in that in that place

sometimes you go as far as you can go

and you have to make a decision and it’s

the word of God that makes things clear

in our heart and I’ll end with this this

uh this thought out of Romans 10 17 that

I actually spoke to you about a few

weeks ago but it Bears repeating

faith comes by hearing and hearing by

the by the word of God faith comes by

hearing hearing by the word of God it

does not say faith comes from hearing

the word of God

it says faith comes from hearing

hearing comes by the word of God

this

is what opens and empowers

our capacity to hear the voice of God

it’s the voice that releases faith for

the moment but it’s this that keeps us

accurate and Central with what he’s

saying

oh goodness you know

that I’m going off track here but I’ve

got a few minutes so I can I can just

make one more mess and then I’ll be I’ll

feel good about my life

when the Lord speaks to you it’s very

affirming right I mean there’s just that

there’s that sense of of affirmation I

mean it is there’s there’s something

that helps to build sense of identity

purpose all that stuff just becomes

clear when the Lord speaks he uses you

maybe it’s a word of knowledge maybe you

you have this question you ask a person

it brings them into a breakthrough it’s

just affirming

the problem is

is we sometimes don’t know the

difference between that feel good

affirming moment when God has spoken to

us and the feel-good feeling moment when

we have a desire

that we’re hoping is God

um I’m not sure if I said that very well

but I know what I meant and it was

really good

okay

there’s maybe somebody will give you uh

you know they pray over you that you

know let’s just make it weird you know

somebody’s gonna

give you a great inheritance you can

have all this money or something and and

oh yeah that’s got to be God

why and we can even quote versus to make

sure it sounds like God

but what happens is that feel-good thing

that we felt

we haven’t learned to distinguish

between that which is born of the spirit

of God when he speaks to us and that

which comes out of our own gratification

and that’s what this does is it cuts it

cuts it says this is self-gratification

this

is also feel good but it’s the will of

God it’s the spirit of God it’s your

privilege to co-labor with the almighty

God

[Applause]

this is counterfeit it’s inferior it

will only lead to death This is

life-giving

it brings life to you and everyone you

influence

the word of God cuts

and I’m going to talk to you about one

of my most favorite subjects today and

I’m going to look at a story that is a

favorite story I read these to learn

there there are nuances in these stories

that I need so much because I the longer

I walk with Jesus the more I find out he

thinks different than me and he’s not

going to change

and I’m I’m the one that’s to change so

that’s the journey I’m on SO

what I’m going to do though is I’m going

to we’re going to take a story out of

Mark 9 but I’m going to read a verse out

of Matthew 13.

out of the parable of the seed and the

sower

I know that it is sometimes dangerous to

take elements out of one Parable or one

story and mix them with another because

they don’t always translate well story

to story and you can sometimes end up

with false information I know that

that’s true so I’m just warning you

ahead of time I’m going to do that

and you’ll have to figure it out

I know that sometimes or for example the

fire of God is always the Judgment of

God

except that one time in Acts 2 when the

fire of God was the tongues of fire and

tongues are a language of praise and

it’s for edification so it’s far from

judgment

the snake is always the devil I accept

that one time

it was Jesus on a cross

who became sin on our behalf

earthquakes were always judgment

except for that one time in Acts 4.

when in the outpouring of the Holy

Spirit the entire place was shook

because of the presence of God

so what you don’t want to do is become

too rigid and so I’m going to ask you to

approach these two stories Loosely

because I think one will actually give

us

the Insight we need for the next one all

right so this is what we’re going to

start is the parable of the seed and the

sower

now because we’re not doing the whole

story I’m just going to read one verse I

want to remind you if you’re unfamiliar

with the story parable of the seed and

the sort of the seed in this Parable is

the word of God

the soil is the condition of the heart

is a very important lesson

the productiveness of the fruitfulness

of a word that God spoke

does not validate whether or not it was

from God

because that Parable actually gives us

four different kinds of soil three were

no good

the word was authentic but it just

didn’t bear fruit

the fault wasn’t what God Said

see many people make the mistake of

saying well we won’t we will we judge a

tree by that’s absolutely right but they

will say well we’ll know whether this

was a work of God or Not by the fruit

not always

Jesus talked about healing ten lepers

only one had a character change enough

to return and give thanks did it mean

the other nine were falsely healed

no

God’s word

the validity of his word

is not validated by what we do with it

in other words it’s not proven by what

we do with it God’s not on trial by what

I do

I am

in this particular illustration

we have in verse 22 that he who receives

seed among Thorns is he who hears the

word and the cares of this world the

deceitfulness of riches choke the word

and he becomes unfruitful so here’s the

picture my my wife is the Master

Gardener she has not been gardening

she’s been too sick

we have a garden though

the pepper plants are not this tall it’s

the weeds that are This Tall

we have been invaded by the weeds in

this garden and it’s because we planted

certain seeds but not being able to take

care and tend the garden we have other

seeds that have competed for the

nutrients observe the moisture and have

outgrown and actually cast Shadow or

shade over the plants that were supposed

to be prolific and grow and provide food

the word of the Lord is the same way

faith comes by what

hearing and hearing by the word of God

faith comes by hearing hearing by the

word of God say that with me faith comes

by hearing and hearing by the word of

God say it again faith comes by hearing

and hearing by the word of God it does

not say faith comes from hearing the

word of God

if it did then it’s all of us go home

put on YouTube where they’re quoting

scripture for the next 24 hours Let’s

have it playing 24 7.

in our sleep and we’ll have the Wiggles

Wigglesworth kind of Faith by Friday

it just it doesn’t work that way faith

comes from hearing

it’s your connection to the voice of God

but the voice of God is activated by

your exposure to the word

it’s the word that enhances and trains

the hearing

now here’s the challenge

is I’ve got a word that God spoke to me

but I have another idea and I have a

disappointment and I’ve got this

criticism and I’ve got this complaint

and I’ve got all these seeds that are

vying for the same nutrients and what

does the Bible say happens it says the

cares of this world the other interests

the other burdens are concerns busyness

is artificial significance

the enemy Works to expand our busyness

to increase our cares

the enemy Works to expand our activity

to increase our cares

because if we can increase our cares he

plants seeds that compete with the word

of God

Mark chapter 9.

verse 17 we’re going to read quite a few

verses so please do follow in your Bible

or your neighbors

as much as you can please verse 17.

now one of the crowd answered and said

teacher I brought you my son who has a

mute spirit

and whenever it seizes him it throws him

down

he Foams at the mouth

gnashes at the teeth

now she’s his teeth becomes rigid

so I spoke to your disciples that they

should cast it up but they could not

and he answered him and said o faithless

generation how long shall I be with you

let me stop there I’m I’m annoyed by I

love this translation but I’m annoyed by

their use use of this word faithless

because that’s not what it says the

literal word is the word unbelief and

there’s a difference between faithless

and unbelief

unbelief is not the absence of Faith

it’s the presence of unbelief

there is a difference

later he says I believe but help me in

my unbelief

the problem is is you can have more than

one seed growing in your garden

to say it’s a faithless garden is not

accurate

there’s faith in the garden

are you following my analogy here to

call it faithfulness not is not accurate

there’s just unbelief there

people come to me and they say well I’m

I’m more uh I have an intellectual bent

Oh you mean you have an unbelieving bent

[Laughter]

it’s nothing to be proud of

God’s quite smart and it doesn’t

interfere with his faith

so if my intellect is affecting my faith

then I know the wrong things

the knowledge of the tree of Good and

Evil I know the wrong things

I I feel my garden with seeds that

compete with what God is saying

they compete with my destiny

true Faith gives you access to your

greatest point of intelligence

I believe in the days ahead we’re going

to see the greatest intellectualism come

out of faith

yes Bill amen keep it up the Bible says

by faith we understand the worlds are

made out of nothing by faith we

understand

we don’t understand by faith we don’t

understand

excuse me we don’t believe because we

understand it we understand because we

believe

Faith gives us access to a level of

understanding you can’t get through

reason

renewed mind

the renewed mind

is the target of the Lord in your life

every single day of your life

he is constantly speaking to us leading

us into experience encounters that will

reposition us for thinking not just

creatively but thinking like Christ

the renewed mind is able

to create a context for faith

it’s important you understand this

Faith doesn’t come from the mind the

Bible says it’s with the heart man

believes unto righteousness so faith is

not an intellectual matter

but the renewed mind creates the context

for Faith much like the banks of a river

create a context for the river to flow

in

so the renewed mind it was the Centurion

who understood the ways of God and the

nature of the Kingdom that caused Jesus

to respond

so impressed with his understanding

and he called it faith

so unimpressive this understanding he

called it Faith he said go your way your

servant lives so faith will often

demonstrate itself in Kingdom

understanding

it is not the product of discipline

self-discipline I believe discipline is

important and I I play it down some so

forgive me for that

somebody else will balance it out

it won’t be me

I I believe in discipline I really do

but it creates the context for something

to happen Faith Comes from surrender not

striving

it’s the product of yielding

to the spirit of God and the word of God

and the encounters or experiences that

he takes us into to think and to see

differently

there are enemies to the renewed mind

obviously everything that the enemy

would want to do in our life is to

disengage us from the renewed mind the

reason is he wants people that think in

ways that

even though they appear logical and

reasonable they’re actually hostile

towards God and the ways of God

the mindset on the flesh Romans 8 is

hostile towards God

it’s not neutral

it’s not like the mindset on the flesh

is just having a bad day no it’s at war

with the things have gone

it’s important to understand that the

mindset on the flesh but the mindset on

the spirit is life and peace the minds

sit on the spirit is capable of moving

in great faith

a couple more comments then we’ll we’ll

read that did I tell you where to go

James 3

no

how many of you were there I just want

to see how many Discerning people there

are in the room none all right well

I’ll give you another chance James

chapter three turn there in your Bible’s

World we’ll read out of there in just a

moment

I think

now I I’m I’m perceiving something

like you remember the phrase looking

through a glass Darkly that’s where I’m

standing right now is I’m I’m peering

through a glass and it’s it’s I can’t

see it clearly but I’ll tell you what I

do see

the scripture says by faith we

understand the worlds were made out of

nothing by faith we understand the

worlds were made

out of nothing by faith we understand

by faith

we understand

I believe that the Lord is

is

introducing us

to an understanding

that will benefit Humanity

an understanding that doesn’t Elevate

you or Elevate me as some

Christian smartypants

I said I see a t-shirt no I don’t do not

make that t-shirt for me I will not wear

it Christians

it just came to me I’m not sure it was

the Lord though all right

yeah yeah probably not

he’s not interested in elevating

the believer to a place of

Applause and worship

what he is

wanting to do is to elevate the fact

that he has the entire world in his

heart

and there are practical solutions for

every problem

and he understands what they are and

surrendered yielded people will come

into those so I do believe that as we

expand and grow in our own faith in

these areas I think that there’s going

to be more dreams more Visions more just

simple uh sometimes you get a dream and

a vision and it seems Supernatural

sometimes you just work hard and come to

a right conclusion and that also is the

work of God

sometimes I I know our teams that write

songs they’ll have these I I know from

uh from talking with Brian there’s these

moments where songs just seem to come

and and you know two-thirds of the song

is written but the last third is is

grinded is ground out over a period of

time and and both are necessary does

that make sense to you so so I I believe

that the Lord is going to release

understanding for us to for Creative uh

Creative Solutions Expressions Etc all

right

by faith we understand

the prayer language that God gives us

is because sometimes our thoughts aren’t

clear in fact the Bible says we don’t

know how to pray as we should the holy

spirit in US does

it’s always best to start with his

prayer

and then pick up his heart his mood his

faith his perception and then add your

prayer to his it’s much more powerful

much stronger and the baptism the Holy

Spirit was to for that uh in part for

that reason

but when he says in Luke 24

don’t leave Jerusalem

until you have received

this gift from the father

which was this outpouring of the spirit

he defines it as being clothed with

power

the real evidence of the baptism the

holy spirit is power

many people are satisfied with good

Theology and they stop short of a Divine

encounter

the revelation of scriptures to take us

into an encounter with the person that

transforms us

power has two basic functions one the

most obvious to us miracles

Miracles impossibilities yield to people

who walk in power

but the second purpose of power is

endurance

many people waver in difficult times

because they’ve not been baptized in

fire

the friends that I know who have gone

through the greatest trials the greatest

difficulties

from imprisonment to beatings to all the

horrible things that you read about in

scripture and that you hear about in

church news

my friends who have endured those things

first had a great great baptism of Fire

and there was something in that

encounter with God that so deeply

transformed them that they could hold

the course in the midst of circumstances

that seemed to deny the promise

what the Lord is looking for I don’t

believe he creates any of those

conflicts for us but what he’s looking

for is a people that will hold fast to

what he has said

regardless of circumstances

it’s not mental strength that enables us

to do that

it’s the spirit of God upon us that

enables us to do that

it’s not our self-imposed discipline

it’s not our vows it’s not our promises

that we’ve made oh God I will hold true

look at Peter

he was in the middle of three and a half

years of interaction with the miraculous

and The Miracle Worker and he said I

will never deny you his determination

was the strongest of all of them but

determinate determination itself cannot

get us to where we need to go it’s the

grace of God it’s the empowering

presence of God it is that fiery work of

the spirit of God upon a person’s life

that enables us to bring the miracle and

endure till it comes

we’ve been summoned under the Lord for

this lifestyle

what I just read to you in John chapter

20 is a little bit different though

because this is before the day of

Pentecost

so just think with me what this means

this is before the day of Pentecost

Jesus has raised from the dead but this

is during the 40-day period of time

where he is still visiting his disciples

giving them words about the kingdom

giving them Direction about what he’s

going to do giving them promises

teaching them about this assignment that

they’ve been given so for a period of 40

days he appears instructs them

this is during that time this is not day

of Pentecost

what did he do he breathed on them and

told them to receive the Holy Spirit

so we have to ask the question was this

symbolic of something that was going to

be released on them

on the day of Pentecost

because the group that he just breathed

on

was also in the 120.

this may not

be significant to you it is for me

so I’m going to take you on my journey

I’ve heard my whole life the church was

birthed on the day of Pentecost

okay it may be true

but when were they born again

when were they born again when were

these 11 born again

it’s in the receiving of the Holy Spirit

so even though they were born again

and the spirit of God lived in them

they still needed this baptism of Fire

and this baptism of fire is not a

one-time experience

been there done that

anyone who has that attitude has lost

the flame entirely it may be smoldering

you may have the testimony of a past

event but when you’re on fire you’re

contagious

fire creates an appetite for the

impossible

if the appetite for the impossible is

not there then I suggest you get a fresh

baptism

Ephesians 5

says don’t be drunk with wine

be filled with the Holy Spirit

listen to the words

we are commanded to be full

it’s not merely

one of several doors you can walk

through should you choose that direction

it is a Command put Upon Our Life

be full of the spirit

Jesus put this way with the eleven

go

but stay

and stay till you can go

there’s a difference between

the fire

of God

that these Heroes of the faith walked in

after the day of Pentecost

and what many of us have experienced and

I don’t want to downgrade anybody in

this room any of our experiences I’m

thankful for everything that God has

done for me I just live aware there’s

more

for me the healthiest posture of my life

is thankfulness and hunger those two

things together for me are two sides of

the same coin I don’t ever want to

divorce the two if I get hungry without

thankfulness I will live frustrated if

I’m thankful without hunger I will

become complacent

but these

who had the baptism of fire of Acts 2

said of themselves

we cannot help but speak

of the things we have seen and hurt

we cannot help but speak

volcanically these things erupt from our

soul and we find ourselves declaring the

things that we have tasted of the things

that we have seen the things that we

have heard

somehow 120 people isolated in a room

spill out under the streets

and change the atmosphere of an entire

city

in a drunken condition

drunk wasn’t the goal it was a byproduct

if you make the main thing the main

thing you get all the parts

don’t be drunk with wine but be filled

with the Holy Spirit contrasting

experiences

and toxic intoxication naturally

intoxication spiritually

the crazy thing about being

Intoxicated by the Holy Spirit

is you will never think clearer in your

life

it has a different effect

than drunkenness with wine

it has a different effect

if you’ve been around drunk people in

the natural or the spiritual one thing

you learn quickly is they really don’t

care what you think

they don’t stagger either through the

church or down the alley

through a natural line they don’t

stagger around wondering what people are

going to say about them

social media

has exaggerated the value of public

opinion

if you study the New Testament you’ll

find that both the Pharisees

and Herod and the political world they

both were governed by the fear of men

Jesus warned his disciples he said

Beware be aware of the leaven of Herod

the political world and the leaven of

the Pharisees the religious world

they both made decisions Jesus would ask

the Pharisees a question and they would

discuss with themselves if we say this

the people won’t think this if we say

this the people will think this

and they’d give him no answer and Jesus

say and neither am I going to answer you

if you don’t have the courage to defeat

the man the fear of man in your life

you’re not ready for the Revelation

knowledge I would speak over you all

right

[Applause]

that was Jesus that wasn’t me that was

I’m teasing

you know

there is a fresh

baptism

of the spirit

available for every single person in

this room

every single person

for some it’s a very difficult subject

and there’s so much anxiety

in your life over the subject

that the Lord actually has to minister

to you while you’re sleeping

because your anxiety has kept him at Bay

sometimes there’s so much work

to have an experience

that he has to wait until we’re through

working

otherwise we’ll actually think

that that he gave us was the result of

our labor

once again faith is not the product of

striving

it is not the result of determination

it is not something you choose in the

sense of self-will

faith is the product of surrender

you were born for great faith

you were designed for it

everything about you is designed and

wired

to recognize God and to hear God

everything about you

all of your senses

your entire creation what God Made You

he could do no better

when he made Adam and Eve

it was the high point of his creation

he could not improve upon his creation

and everything about us

our emotional life intellectual life

our sense of sight sound

smell taste touch

all these senses were actually given to

us

to be tools that we used to discover him

Hebrews 5

says having our senses trained to

discern Good and Evil

trained

that means it doesn’t just come subtly

with full knowledge it means there

actually has to be training periods of

time where you learn to recognize

presence you learn

having your senses trained to discern

Good and Evil

if you work for a bank

and you’re the one responsible to make

sure that the currency

you have in that bank

is actual currency in that counterfeit

you go through training

and I know that most of you know this

already

but the training you go through never do

you study counterfeit money

you only study the real

you become so

absorbed with the authentic hundred

dollar bill that when you’re handed a

phony one even though it may look

exactly the same there’s something about

it that you may not recognize at first

but there’s something that is not right

having your senses trained to discern

good

and Evil

we are trained to recognize presence

we’re trained to recognize voice

countenance mood

the heart of God these are all things

that we are capable of recognizing

through our senses

in Hebrews 5 that is actually the mark

of a mature believer

how many of you have some growing to do

having senses my wife and I were driving

from Weaverville to reading this is back

when we were pastoring there

uh years ago because Leah wasn’t even

born yet it was just our two boys in the

car

we had this little uh Toyota Corolla

hatchback blue five-speed cast set

stereo

air conditioning we were at the Pinnacle

of wealth

at the High Point

and we’re driving from Weaverville to

reading

and we just began to sing in the spirit

in our our boys became so calm and quiet

it was like a miracle equal to The

Parting of the Red Sea

these boys were extremely high energy

and putting them together was just

inviting a problem

because they’re brothers and they

wrestle and they do stuff

one time I was driving

and Brian was the only other passenger

with me and he was just a little guy and

he said I want water

and I said son I’m sorry we don’t have

any water when we get to reading I’ll

get you some water

and he said I want water

I said son I don’t have any water I want

water right there’s no water I don’t

have any water in the car we’re going

down Buckhorn Summit there’s no water

even though I want water all right

so I pushed in the little cigarette

lighter you know you push that in I

pushed it in I put a pretend cup under

it I held it

when I was through I handed it to him

he took the pretend cup and threw it

down he would have nothing to do

[Applause]

he’s sitting they’re sitting in the back

seat and Benny and I are just singing in

the spirit just worshiping and uh and

they’re and they’re just complete we

recognize later they are just completely

in the right sense almost drugged

and um

suddenly right about

if you know where the turn is to

Lewiston off of 299 right about that

area there

I started smelling

like flowers or something I started

smelling

and I would smell and I’d look outside

and see if there’s flower and then I

realized this is winter there’s no

flowers anywhere so I just kept driving

I didn’t say anything to Benny because I

didn’t want to jinx it you know

and what I would do is I

smell it reminded me of a fragrance I’d

smell before

and then I I could taste it I I this is

strange but I could taste the smell

and it was like granules of sugar on my

tongue it’s very very sweet to The Taste

so I we’d worship well

stop I taste

that smell

we’d continue worshiping

a minute or two later I stop at Taste

smell

continuously

did almost the entire way to reading

and then it finally lifted and I said

honey did you smell and she goes yeah

did you smell that so we were having a

shared experience here of the fragrance

of the Lord that brought such a a peace

over our car and gave us this I don’t

know what to call it just a Heavenly

encounter actually tasting of another

world because everything in heaven has

light and has sound has color and has

flavor

every flower has a sound to their color

yeah I was just just leave it right

there everything is alive on steroids

everything is alive abundantly alive

living

you walk across

a meadow of flowers none of them die

when you step on them

they just come right back

fragrance and Light

flavor everything is released from

everything he made

everything testifies of him

everything is alive because of him

everything is alive

because he continuously breathes life

into them

and you and I are people

who have dual citizenship

but our primary citizenship is there

our temporary citizenship is here

as dual citizens we live in Two Worlds

Jesus put it this way

he said no one has ascended to heaven

except for he who descended from heaven

who descended from heaven

it’s not a trick question who descended

from heaven

reminds me of the Sunday school teacher

who asked the children

what’s Gray

and has a long bushy tail stands about

that tall and the kids are completely

quiet

she said come on you guys know it’s

great it’s about this tall climbs trees

long bushy tail

they’re quiet

kids you know the answer to this this

tall eats nuts long bushy tail gray and

one kid says

I know the answer is supposed to be

Jesus but it sure sounds like a squirrel

to me

[Applause]

Jesus tells his disciples early in their

journey together

no one has ascended to Heaven except for

the one who first descended what does

that tell us

he’s been ascending

while he is in his Earthly body he is

ascending in the sense he has learned to

live from a place of abiding in the

father

why did everyone Jesus pray for get

healed that’s why

it’s in John 3 verse 13 no one has

ascended to heaven but he who came down

from heaven and my translation adds this

last phrase that is the son of man who

is in heaven

so it’s like Jesus talking to us saying

no one’s a sin no one’s gone into heaven

except for me I came down but I’ve been

going up too and I actually I’m there

right now

when we hear the mysterious

examples of scripture they are to wow us

but they are to make us hungry

God can easily impress us with his

understanding his wisdom his inside his

power all those things but none of them

are done merely to impress us they are

all to create in us an affection for a

world that we cannot see to Anchor our

affection our values for things that we

cannot see