In this sermon recorded at Bethel Church, Pastor Bill shares on how to move into great faith through obedience. Faith comes by hearing the word of God, and as we listen to His word and respond in obedience to it, we will find our hearts in a place of faith. Faith comes from surrender to God’s word.
thank you
so wonderful to see people humans
i don’t think i’ve ever taken it for
granted but i know one thing i never
will
having fasted humans for a year
it was not near as fun as they said it
would be
how many of you this is your first time
back in
in the building since the uh yeah the
whole that whole thing
welcome welcome all of you bless you and
uh all of our online family
you know i if this something strange
happened this last year
strange is probably the wrong word but
actually it’s probably a good word
um just the the awareness
of our online family because all of you
were on my family
for a while and we have people all over
the world that connect with us
goodness i think there’s there’s
something like 500 000
on our bethel tv list the subscription
and so there’s people all over the world
and we’re just so thrilled i love when i
get to travel to meet so many of our
online
family and uh it really plays a
significant role in so many people’s
lives so
anyway i’m just happy just blubbering
and
running off at the mouth just because
i’m happy so
all the moms stand up please
to be moms want to be moms
however it works just get in except for
the guys you stay down
i don’t care what ben prayed i don’t
want that healed
i do not want that miracle no sir
okay recovery bill focus focus
just extend the hand towards them lay
hands on these folks just we want us we
want to pray that this next season would
be a season of fulfilled dreams
there’s this interesting verse where it
says
of john the baptist’s dad angel spoke to
him said your prayers have been heard
the original language can be translated
the prayers you no longer pray
have been heard so lord we’re praying
for resurrected dreams that you would
empower
dreams that this would be a season of
fulfilled dreams a fulfilled purpose
in way in fact all of it with greater
rest
not greater striving but with greater
rest and that you would bless
these wonderful women in jesus name amen
amen amen
all right go ahead and sit down
[Applause]
oh yeah yeah
ever since i was a child i’ve always had
a fear of somebody
being under my bed at night so i went to
a shrink and told him
i got problems every time i go to bed
i think there’s someone under it i’m
scared i think i’m going crazy
the doctor said just put your life in my
hands for a year
come talk to me three times a week we
should be able to get rid of those fears
i asked how much do you charge it says
80 a visit
i replied i’ll sleep on it
six months later the doctor met me on
the street and asked why didn’t you come
see me about those fears you were having
and i responded well 80 bucks a visit
three times a week
is over twelve thousand dollars over the
course of a year
my neighbor cured me for free i was so
happy
save all that money i went and bought a
truck
is that so the doctor asked with a bit
of an attitude he said and how may i ask
did your neighbor cure you
he told me to cut the legs off the bed
ain’t nobody under there now
it’s so dumb it’s just there’s this
first
first class dumb all right all right
matthew chapter excuse me mark chapter
four we’ve got several portions of
scripture i want to read today so
we’ll just kind of do our best i’ve
tried
twice i’m gonna try again a third time
and the next service will be the fourth
try and if i don’t get it by that time
we’re just gonna forget it i’m just
gonna go home all right
mark chapter four um there are
uh i usually we’re going to talk a
little bit about the parable of the seed
and the sower
a pretty familiar familiar parable um
i want to talk about it because of one
phrase that is found
in mark’s gospel i usually teach on this
from matthews because there’s some other
words that are used that are really
helpful to understand
what what the lord is driving at here
parables are
are are mysterious they’re interesting
because they were they
were given both to illustrate truth and
to conceal truth
the same story would hide truth from
those who are unready
not ready to obey and reveal truth to
those who are ready to obey
and it’s the mercy of god to withhold
insight
to withhold revelation from people who
are not ready to obey
because if he if he randomly just throws
out increased revelation to everybody he
increases their accountability and their
responsibility
and therefore increasing their judgment
so god actually
withholds truth not out of punishment
but out of
uh it’s divvied out in a sense according
to the condition of the heart
and what you and i receive is actually
up to us
you say well god is the one who reveals
truth he’s the one who leads us into
truth and it’s absolutely true
but he’s already willed for us to step
more fully into all that he’s made
and uh our our process uh
contributes to the outcome so all right
let’s just go ahead
and get right into mark chapter 4 verse
13
is where we’ll start this is where he
begins to explain the parable
and he said to them do you not
understand this parable how then will
you
understand all the parables you know
what we’re just going to kind of wade
through this so
just let’s read that verse again because
i want to make sure that you catch this
he said to them do you not understand
this parable
how then will you understand all the
parables
what is he doing he just he just
marked this parable of the seed in the
sower
as the key that unlocks all the other
parables
understanding this one actually
positions you to understand all the rest
so it’s like it’s a key parable that
unlocks the rest
it says when you understand this one why
is this one so critical why is this one
kind of the the the one that sets the
pace for the rest of scripture
is because when you understand that the
word of god is not something just that’s
spoken the word of god is actually a
person
then you realize stewarding a word is
stewarding a relationship
and when we realize that the entrance to
the word
is actually the entrance of a person the
entrance of a person
into a given place in our own hearts
then it changes our role from being
people who are trying to analyze
specific words
to surrender to a specific person
let’s uh let’s read that again then
we’ll move on down through the story
uh like i said i do have quite a few uh
passages that i want us to look at if we
have time
uh verse 13 again he said to them do you
not understand this parable how then
will you understand all the parables
the sower sows the word so here he’s
likening the seed
to the word of god these are the ones
who by the way side where the word was
sown
when they hear satan comes immediately
and it takes and takes away the word
that was sown in their hearts
stop right there we’ll just go through
each verse
so when he talks about seed sown on the
wayside
in bible days they planted crops
different than today today
we plow a field and then and implant the
seed
in biblical days they actually just
threw out the seed and then they would
plow
and when you had walkways that were
heavily traveled on
they were so dense and so so beat down
that the plow wouldn’t be able to turn
the seed over and so those seeds
literally just set on top of the soil
and the birds would come along and they
would take it why because it was not
it was not planted in the ground itself
the point is in matthew’s gospel uh
emphasizes this
it says when the person didn’t
understand the word
that was given to them then the enemy
came as a bird and stole the seed
understanding was what enabled seed to
penetrate soil
what’s what’s fascinating about this i
did a word study on
matthew’s version of this years ago and
i found that that word understand
actually means learning that takes place
through the five senses
learning that takes place through the
natural senses what does that mean
it means that what god says has to be
brought into practical human experience
or it is laid in the open for the enemy
to steal
so in other words we can hear things
i’ll say caring for the poor we can hear
the message we can all say amen we can
do everything intellectually to make
agreement with that but if it’s not
brought into practical human experience
the life of that word will actually be
stolen
it has to bring me to action
these likewise verse 16 are the ones who
sown on stony ground who when they hear
the word
immediately receive it with gladness
they have no root in themselves
it’s a fascinating phrase i love that
phrase and i don’t know what it means
but i really
like it they have no root in themselves
and so endure only for a time afterward
when tribulation
or persecution arises for the word’s
sake immediately they stumble here’s an
interesting thing
persecution tribulation difficulties of
life
arise wake up
for the sake of the word that was spoken
into your life
the word over your life needs to be
opposed
i’m just here to encourage you i’m just
here to just to serve you well that’s
all
the word of our lives honestly needs
opposition why because you need
options if you don’t have options
there’s no basis for reward
he can give you gifts randomly but he
wants to reward you because it’s the
nature of a father
those who believe those who believe
believe must believe that god
is and that he is the rewarder there’s
an aspect of the father’s nature that
can
only be revealed as he rewards a son and
daughter for a right choice
and when you have no options there’s no
basis for reward
so a word spoken of your life you’re
going to see
people healed and great miracles going
to take place through your life and the
next month a friend of yours
is very sick and dying and you pray for
them and nothing happens
i’m not prophesying that i’m just saying
that’s life i i
most of us have gone through that exact
scenario
what’s the point am i going to believe
what god said over my life
or am i going to lend my heart my
emotional strength my attention to the
word that contradicts it
if i do in this one particular moment i
have
given my authority to that which is
inferior and it undermines that which
has all authority
verse 18 these are the ones sown among
thorns
they are the ones who hear the word and
the cares of this world that word cares
is made of two words it’s the word
divide and
the word mind the cares of this world
are actually those things that divide
the mind
are you like still breathing and
everything
all right just checking it’s starting to
scare me
divide the mind contrast that if you
like to write
your own footnotes which i uh or cross
references in your bible
which which is one of the main things
that i do in my own study
cross reference this to the sermon on
the mount where jesus said
the eye that is single their body will
be full of light very abstract statement
that jesus made if your body is single
the word there for single is made of two
words again like
uh this word cares cares of this world
the word single is the word the number
one
excuse me is the number one and the word
voyage
the eyes of the heart that is set on one
voyage
one reason for being alive that person
everything about them will come under
the light of god
so you contrast that the one voyage to
the cares of this world the divided mind
so it says the cares of this world the
deceitfulness of riches
riches lie
they pretend to be something that
they’re not
they’re useful tools they’re horrible
masters
the deceitfulness of riches and the
desire for other things
choke the word so here’s here’s the deal
the way we
live we actually well i’ve already
illustrated this in measure but let me
let me try it again
the word of god is all-powerful god
spoke
and the worlds were made i mean he
literally speak things
speaks things into being and that word
which has
all power has been put into my heart
and in this moment of time
i have the ability to give my heart to
something that’s inferior and because i
am
an authority all of us
are authorities not not titles now but
as
followers of the lord people that god
gave authority to
has given us the authority to choose
what we’re going to feed our soul with
so many people experience ups and down
emotionally because you consider things
that are unnecessary
you entertain ideas and thoughts that
are draining
and you’re constantly fighting a battle
you weren’t designed for
that when i entertain these things that
are opposed to the word of god over my
life i’m actually
lending my authority to an inferior
thing and it chokes
the all-powerful thing which is the word
of god
that’s what it says it says the the
desire for these other things
choke the word of god
verse 20. these are the ones sown on
good ground they hear the word
accept it bear fruit some 30 fold some
60 some hundred jump down to verse 24
actually verse 23 if anyone has ears to
hear let him hear
what’s interesting uh just the
interesting phrase it’s all through the
new testament
jesus says if you have ears to hear let
him hear what is he saying
in the parable of the sower seeing the
sower there are four
groups of people they all heard but only
one of them heard
they all heard but only one of them
heard
three kinds of soil illustrates the
person
that hears with their ears only and not
with their heart the last one because it
was able to produce
eternal fruit heard with surrender
humility and surrender is the condition
of soil
that makes the word of god a full effect
so verse 24 he said to them take heed
what you hear with the same
measure you use it will be measured to
you
and to you who hear more will be given
and whoever has to him more will be
given whoever does not have even what he
has will be taken away look at verse 24
again
taking what you hear with the same
measure you use it will be measured to
you
to you who here more will be given
oftentimes we see people
that have a lifestyle of continuous
revelation of scripture
and we attribute it to a gift and not to
a measure
that was a really good point
really good point oftentimes we see
people
that flourish in revelation knowledge of
scripture
and we just we just assume that’s just
the gift that god’s given them
maybe but maybe it’s the measure they
said
because he says whatever you have more
will be added
measurements have two natures two
functions as i understand one is
quantity
a cup of flour a gallon of gas
uh your children can’t ride this ride
unless they’re this tall
there’s quantity and then there’s
quality
there’s a measurement of quality where
you are
on a line where all these apples are
going by and you pick all the ones that
out that have brown spots and the rest
go into
being sold it’s quantity measurement
quality excuse me
you can take any person
let’s just say um who has
who has a bench towards gossip they just
like us that’s a measurement in their
life
you you always attract what you value
you can take that person believe it or
not
stick them down at a business where
there’s 100 people working there
they start this next week by the
following
week the gossips in the business will
already know who they are
not because they put a sign on their
desk i love gossip
but because there’s this unwritten
attraction
an attraction that the scripture says
you set the measure it will be given to
you
it’s true in the negative it’s also true
in the positive
when you have an appetite for that which
god is saying
you will you will hear him in the lyrics
of a song
in a store you will have a friend
call you on the phone with a dream
you will attract these things into your
life because they are of value to
there’s a measurement that has been set
and it will be tested you don’t have a
measurement that
includes off-color jokes and what do you
do
in that moment when it is given
reinforcing the measurement actually
increases
the supply
i’ve told you for years what i try to do
with the prophetic words over my life
is i review them on i work out uh five
or six days a week and while i’m working
out i play prophetic words
uh most most of the time i play
prophetic words sometimes i’ll play
other things but i
i have that going listening because i
can’t afford to have thoughts in my head
about me
that he doesn’t have in his head about
me i only want to reinforce what he has
declared
and so the only thing i know to do is to
take those things that have been
declared that i believe are truly the
word of the lord
are confirmed in my heart and i review
those things
not to make them happen but to be the
person that says yes
he doesn’t give out information to make
us smarter he’s not that concerned about
our intelligence
he’s concerned about my christ’s
likeness and when he speaks it’s always
to change me it’s always to equip me
it’s always to enable me it’s always to
invite me
it’s always for profit
not the a prophet but
i’ll show you later so here he says
whoever has verse 25
more will be given whoever does not have
even what he has shall be taken from him
i love the bible i love my bible
i love i love stuff like that
even even he who
whoever does not have even what he has
to be taken away
that’s not fair don’t talk to me about
that
our job is to read what he says and say
amen
and if it offends you adjust because
he’s not changing
[Applause]
you do not want a god that fits your
approval
because you will have a mirror that
reveals you
[Applause]
i do not read the word
to study the word i read the word
because it studies me
it’s a relational journey it’s living
it’s living i i
there’s so many years of reading this
and i’m so thankful for
faithfulness over time just pays off you
just got to understand
there’s there’s something about just
doing the right thing for
a long time that you you just start
cashing in on investments from 20 years
ago
and you didn’t like the investment 20
years ago but you’re really gonna like
it 20 years from now
it’s like the guy who says the best time
to plant a tree is 20 years ago
the second best time is now
you just pay whatever price you need to
pay because you’re investing
into your future and there’s something
about this word that just comes alive
i i remember years ago i was in the oh
the old bethel over on bacheli lane
my dad was pastoring i was in the
library
and i was just starting to read the
bible for myself as
strange as that may sound i hated
reading anything i like pictures of my
hunting magazines but the reading part i
just wasn’t into
and uh i remember just standing there
talking to a friend and i took a book
off the shelf i can still see it was
small
it was white kind of those embroidered
type or
um texture uh
covers i figured which color embossed it
was
it was kind of been embossing so i
picked this book off and i just opened i
started to read
i thought man this guy’s good i was
reading and reading and reading
i came to the end and i just randomly
opened and when i came to the end
i realized oh i was reading scripture
[Laughter]
because i wasn’t familiar with it i i i
was not familiar with with
the these passages the point i’m trying
to make is
it was it was bringing life and i could
feel
it take place i could feel it i thought
man this is so good
and then i kept reading and i turned the
page about oh no wonder it’s so good
it’s it’s actually god’s talking that’s
pretty cool i like that
when you go to a nice restaurant and and
as i love doing
um and you get one of these amazing uh
meals uh you you you eat a meal
that has you oftentimes a very elaborate
and sometimes
complicated recipe and procedure to
make this particular meal and probably
for most of those meals if you’ve ever
been to one of those kinds of
restaurants where you have that
that aha moment like i just got born
again again after eating this meal
when you have that moment like that
truth be told
if you were to see what was in the
recipe probably half the ingredients you
would not eat on their own
don’t just read the parts about jesus
that you like
read the parts that bother you why
because it’s all put together
into one amazing meal
all right i just feel better having said
that
go with me to james chapter 1. james
chapter one
we’ve got a couple more verses here that
i would like for us to read
i just i just feel this i feel this urge
urge and urgency i don’t feel urgency in
the sense of panic but i feel
urgency in the sense of opportunity to
hear what the lord
is saying because we it will be life to
us in this next season
james chapter 1 verse 21
therefore lay aside all filthiness and
overflow of wickedness that’s
that’s a good plan right there lay that
all aside and receive with meekness the
implanted word
which is able to save your soul
and receive with meekness the implanted
word new americans
excuse me new american standard i
believe says
in humility receive
the word implanted which is able to save
your souls
goodness 500 years ago
during the protestant the protest
reformation
for which we are very thankful many
wonderful things took place in that
period of time but one of the things
that happened is
they were breaking off from the catholic
church and i’m not trying to
i’m not trying to take sides i’m just
trying to say
they were trying to break off from the
catholic church to do their own thing it
was a protest
and the catholic church believed in
supernatural in the signs and wonders
and miracles
and so to make a distinction they
rejected miracles
except for conversion and so salvation
to the protestant church was an
invitation to be born again
but the original language which many of
you have heard
us use this word sozo around here for
the last 20-some years
the word sozo is a word that actually
means
refers to being born again forgiven of
sin but it also
means a deliverance from torment and
healing of disease
so when a person gets born again
the opportunity is there for them to be
healed and for them to be delivered of
any torment
it’s supposed to be one package
we’ve spent 500 years trying to crawl
out of that hole that was dug for us
so many years ago i i don’t
i don’t say that in accusation or or
uh resentment i said as a as a
to help clarify why we face some of the
struggles that we face
in our in our own maturity what does
this say in humility
receive the word implanted which is able
to
sozo your souls
receive the word in humility receive the
word
implanted you know you want to find an
exciting
read just take a proverb a day a chapter
of proverbs every day
and just try to find every time it talks
about health
or healing anything to do with physical
strength
and you will find a continual flow
of information about the word of god
that which god speaks
in our healthy our condition emotionally
mentally
physically spiritually it’s all
connected listen to this my son give
attention to my words incline your ear
to my sayings do not let them depart
from your
eyes keep them in the midst of your
heart
why they are life to those who find them
and health to all their flesh
what god says is health to all your
flesh
keep your heart with all diligence out
of it flow the issues of life
the book of proverbs is from one end to
the other talks about this
this life-giving word that god gives to
us but
when you approach the word as something
you’re going to dissect
instead of something that’s going to
dissect you
we often study looking for information
to reaffirm what we believe
instead of reading the word to be
transformed
it’s a living word
it’s alive this this is jesus
imprint
parts of the recipe are for god so loved
the world that he gave his only begotten
some
and another part of the recipe is if you
don’t die you can’t follow me
it’s it’s that’s the way it is
pick up your cross then come
in humility receive the word implanted
which is able to save your soul
interesting in first
thessalonians 2 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
fire fires don’t scare him
the energy of god is contained in
the word that he speaks
here’s the deal we had uh one of our uh
guys was sharing this morning a great
testimony uh we had some students and
all in texas
and uh joel power gave this word of
knowledge
according to a lady and said do you have
a son
name starts with the letter j and
um god is healing something with his
brain
come to find out the son 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 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
it’s the 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
the he doesn’t lack 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 last portion of scripture hebrews
chapter 4.
[Music]
this is a a contrast a comparison
between
the new testament church coming into a
place of
rest a place of absolute unity in christ
and israel trying to get into the
promised land so it’s a
as a contrast and the promised land is
referred to as a place of rest okay
so it has this 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 alright 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 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 there it says
they failed 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 it’s all i need to know
because i think i can obey myself into
great faith
verse 11 and 12 we’ll uh we’ll wrap it
up with this
i haven’t figured out how to end this
message
i’ve got one more crack in it after this
and if it doesn’t work there then i’m
just going to quit and go home
you know what if it does work i’m still
going to quit and go home
all right verse 11 and 12 let us
therefore be diligent to enter that rest
lest anyone fall according to the same
example of disobedience four
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
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 are you going to know
someone else’s you’ve got a full-time
job
waiting through this thing to find out
what’s going on in your own heart
and people come to all the time and say
oh that person’s just trying to do this
or they’re just they’re the reason
they’re doing this 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 there says
no trespassing
don’t go there just stay away from that
because it’s not
legal territory for you to trample on
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 got to 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 and you see
things clearly
never to shame but always to invite
he doesn’t expose to ridicule democ it’s
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 could only
go so far without
doing the circumcision thing on his on
his family 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
sensual with what he’s saying
oh goodness you know
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
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
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 going to give you a
great inheritance you’re going to 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
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 and the word
of god
cuts
i think that was my third ending and i’m
pretty sure i’m going to stick with it
right there
why don’t you couldn’t stand
say this with me i can obey my way
into great faith make that statement
with me
i can obey my way into
great faith
i remember you know i’ve told you before
i i mean i hated reading i just i never
read the bible
until i was like 18 it was there
i remember a contest a contest and
vacation bible school if you memorize
scripture
you you did enough of them you got a
candy bar or something
so i just randomly opened find the
smallest verse i could find
remember it long enough to get in there
and quote it and after enough i
got a candy bar so my motives are
completely pure
chocolate chocolate is chocolate
but i didn’t read
happy mother’s day kathy
happy mother’s day to my mom and to my
wife and all of you
bless you um
there are people all over the world that
can’t have one of these
do you know it only takes a conversation
level it takes 72 hours to read through
the entire bible beginning to end 72
hours is all
most of us read at twice that
36 hours all it takes for most people to
read cover to cover
it’s not complicated
but it is alive
i feel like this next year could be a
year of the word i don’t want to just
announce something because we’ve got
probably a thousand titles we could give
to this next year but this is one of
them
and as far as today goes this is the one
all right
i may add to it next week but i feel
like this is the year of the word of god
this is a year
where i’m not just studying i i i know i
can do better and i and i don’t mean
this in an achievement way
i just i know i can do better at
preserving what god has spoken over my
life
i have given my attention to it i have
valued it
but i but i want it i want to extract
more of that
that that he has spoken
we have decisions as a as a staff
constantly
and we’ll ask the question all right is
there a prophetic word about this
what what has the lord said what do we
have what you know
sometimes we’ll go back in history to a
word we got 30 years ago from
dick joyce a wonderful prophet friend of
ours or
but the point is is is if you if you set
the measure
you’ll attract it you set the measure
this is what i value in my life it will
come to you
you attract what you value and the lord
will speak to you
and five years from now ten years from
now you’ll have a notebook of things the
lord has declared over your life
that will be life itself to you it will
be bread for your soul
be stuff that you feed yourself on you
go and i’ve got a hard decision to make
all i want is the will of god has he
already spoken
or is he about to speak again that’s all
i need to know has he already spoken
if he has then i’ve got to see what is
it that he wants me to do
we do this all the time all the time
yeah when some years ago david wagner
spoke this word some years ago bob
hazlett spoke this word and we compare
our moment that we’re in with what was
spoken
sometimes it’s the highlighted verse
somebody will share in a staff
devotional and they’ll just say
this first stood out to me i had this
dream last night or whatever
we you have to steward those things
they’re not they’re not moments for
temporary entertainment
they’re engagements with the heart of
god i want to steward well what he said
what he’s saying because his plans
are beyond the reach of my imagination
and beyond the reach of my faith
he’s already promised that’s where he’ll
work
i just don’t want to miss my chance i
don’t expect to comprehend it i
certainly don’t want to direct him i
just want to be involved
i just want to be in the room so father
that’s what we pray put your hand on
your own heart and
hold your bible out or do something
father we just pray this let this word
this wonderful wonderful word of god
that so much of the world can enjoy
because
because it’s illegal in fact i’m telling
you folks if we don’t get some things
changed in our own country this book is
about to be labeled hate speech
i don’t i don’t say that for panic or
fear i’m just saying we’ve got to be
responsible
we’ve got to be responsible father i’m
asking that you would cause
this that is so treasured all over the
world
to become alive again in us
help us to represent you well with all
that you’ve said
amen i want to ask question first so no
moving around
i know there’s always when we have this
many people in a room there’s always a
chance that we have somebody here who
doesn’t have a personal relationship
with jesus
never been born again don’t know what it
is to to
actually be a disciple a follower of
jesus
and yet you’re here today and i believe
the invitation is here
for you those who are online the
invitation is there
jesus says come literally he says come
come all of you who are tired you’re
worn out come i’ll give you rest
is this invitation and it’s here today
for anyone in this room or online that
would find themselves in that place
should say
bill i don’t want to leave the building
till i know what it is to be a
real true disciple of jesus if that’s
you
and you want that i want you to put a
hand up because we’re just going to pray
for you
real quickly just put your hand up high
i don’t want to miss you right over here
excellent right over here is one
wonderful jesus
thank you lord
anybody else i don’t want to miss i
don’t want to don’t want to miss you
okay won’t you help me out we got put
your hand up again over here
go right over there and pray with this
man
and let him be filled with the presence
and power of jesus
forgiven of sin amen
chris come on up those of you that are
online i just put in the chat box
just let them know i want to know jesus
i want to be forgiven of sin
and some one of the pastors will get
online and help you with this chris come
on