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