Jesus came to illustrate the most extreme representation of grace and love, which was the heart of the father. Bill Johnson teaches how Jesus came so that we could experience the fullness of our destinies. Unlock the understanding of your divine purpose today.
thanks
good morning
good morning
[Applause]
gotta make sure you’re alive and awake
double yolker
excuse me double yoka yoga
i want to go home and crack open some
eggs
anybody else going to do that i think we
just need to go home and see if
i heard that happening to somebody once
every egg they opened for a season of
their life was a double yolker
because the lord he does stuff in the
natural to illustrate spiritual truths
and uh
it’s it’s so fun so fun to it’s it’s a
it’s a language of the spirit unusual
circumstances
they sometimes testify things so anyway
wonderful merry christmas
merry christmas um
a three-year-old in church learns
the lord’s prayer and he comes home
quotes it for his family our father
who does art in heaven harold is his
name
amen amen that was close
my wife invited some people over for
dinner and at the table she turned her
her six-year-old daughter and said honey
would you like to say the blessing
little girl said i wouldn’t know what to
say she said well
just say what you hear mommy say the
daughter bowed her head and said lord
why on earth did i invite all these
people to dinner
a mother was preparing pancakes for her
sons kevin
was five and ryan it was three the boys
began to argue who would get the first
pancake
the mother saw this as an opportunity to
give a lesson
she said if jesus were sitting here he
would say
let my brother have the first pancake i
can wait
kevin turned to his younger brother and
said ryan you be jesus
[Applause]
oh goodness
one more one more after the christening
of his baby brother
in church jason sobbed all the way home
in the back seat of the car
his father asked him three times what
was wrong finally the boy responded
that preacher said he wanted us to be
brought up in a christian home
and i wanted to stay with you guys
all right all right all right that’s it
this poor poor sense of humor that’s
awful
well don’t uh open your bibles to
matthew chapter one
we’re actually going to read from two
places in the scripture going to read
from matthew 1
and a little verse i think maybe out of
chapter 2 we’ll see
and then also second corinthians 5.
so we’re going to we’re going to use
these two passages let’s read this
first one here in matthew and then uh
and then i want to talk to you for a bit
before we we jump into
second corinthians 5.
we’re going to start in verse 20.
while he thought about it this is joseph
an angel of the lord appeared
to him in a dream saying joseph son of
david do not be afraid
to take mary your wife for that which is
conceived in her is of the holy spirit
and she will bring forth a son you will
call his name
jesus and he will save his people from
their sins
he will save his people from their sins
jump to verse 23
behold this is what a prophet said the
virgin shall be with child
and bear a son and they shall call his
name
emmanuel which means god
with us she called his name emmanuel
god with us christmas is uh
is the the season that emphasizes the
absolute greatest story
ever told and it’s the the coming of
christ
and there’s a lot of people who have
this notion
that jesus came to earth to plead on our
behalf
to calm down an angry father that was
looking for somebody to punish
and i i don’t know that that’s something
you would believe because we’ve gone
through this
enough through the years but jesus
actually came to do the opposite he came
to reveal
a father that was passionate for his
people
but here’s the context in which he came
in the context in which we
we live today there’s secularization of
culture
is working very hard to remove the
concept of a creator
and when you get rid of a creator
let me re name it when you get rid of
the designer
you get rid of design because you can’t
have design without a designer
and the effort is to erase the lines
of uniqueness to all that god has made
and the purposes
that he has created us for so if you
don’t have a designer then you don’t
have design and you’re free to do what
you want
design implies that when god created us
with design
he created us with purpose purpose
carries with it
the implication of destiny and destiny
carries with
the responsibility of accountability so
the bottom line is
the effort to destroy the concept of a
creator
a designer is to erase
that which we were born with it’s the
conviction that i’ll have to give an
account of my life
when jesus when god created the worlds
it says in genesis 1 10 times it says
he created this these animals to
reproduce
after their kind is the phrase ten times
after they’re kind
so there’s two laws in creation that are
actually
uh reveal part of why jesus it was
necessary for jesus to come
number one we reproduce after our kind
you plant a flower seed you don’t grow a
horse you know it reproduces after its
kind
within each specie there’s latitude but
there’s no crossing over
if you take a donkey a male donkey
a female horse i think it is i think i
have it right
they breed you get a mule but that mule
cannot reproduce
because it is outside of design
it’s got to get deep into us that by
nature
we were created to reproduce and i don’t
just mean
obviously children who have children who
have children i mean just in life that
we are contributors
to society that’s who we are in the
story of the minors there’s this parable
where 10 servants were given a sum of
money they in turn reinvested it
and the master came back to collect the
prophets
and the one who who increased his one
talent to 10
that master said now be in charge of 10
cities
enter into the joy of your master here’s
what you need to see
responsibility was their access to
greater joy
greater responsibility because joy is
not something you get
by doing nothing it’s something you get
by functioning according to
design design is what connects us to
purpose
design is what there are different gifts
and individuals in this room
unique giftings you have something to
contribute
to the overall story of mankind that no
one else can
can contribute there’s a uniqueness over
every person
we were made in the image of god and so
when you destroy the concept
of design and purpose you’ve erased this
sense of accountability
for illustrating who he is and every
person
let me back up the sin issue entered the
picture
sin is operating outside of design
what is the design it’s in the image of
god it’s anything
outside of the nature and character of
christ
is what is sin so when jesus came he
came because of this
reproducing out of kind so you have
horses
give birth to horses people to people
flowers to flowers but sinners
reproduce sinners that that cycle had to
be solved
we’ll get to it in a minute another
thing that he created
in all of creation was he he called it
in genesis 8 i think it is
he calls it seed time and harvest
seedtime and harvest
that means you reap what you sow
you plant a seed and it will bring forth
fruit
if i if i sow
a thousand acres of corn i’m going to
have a harvest
from that corn if i sow
mercy blessed are the merciful they
shall obtain
mercy it’s just written in all of all of
creation
that what you plant you will harvest and
so
jesus saying that humanity has been
planting
actions apart from god not for his glory
independent of
purpose and design stepped into the
scene
to stop the flow of sowing and reaping
we’ll look at it in a moment he actually
took upon himself
all the fruitfulness of wrongdoing
that that was that we earned
he took upon himself what i deserved so
that i could receive what
he deserved that’s what salvation is
it’s not just a temporary postponement
of sin it’s actually he took upon
himself the punishment
i deserved and he did it so that i could
receive
the life he deserved that’s christmas
i saw a picture this week i i really
liked it it was a
a christmas wreath and a crown of thorns
and somebody put the two together so it
was a half wreath and half thorn
and it said the season
the reason
it was a costly introduction to a season
where
everything is about a father restoring
people
to design restoring to purpose
i i cringe uh the internet i love
and i hate love hate relationship
i cringe at times when i hear what some
people confess christ will say about
another movement
a political party a racial group
a a social economic group whatever
comments that are made that are just
frightening to me
and what concerns me is i know they will
have to harvest those seeds
as it’s not only damaging but it comes
around
i’ve watched people who are just seem to
be naturally
contentious they have a lot of
contention in their life
sometimes i just want to tell them stop
planting the seeds
this will change in your life you just
stop planting the seeds so
jesus says blessed are the merciful for
they shall obtain mercy
what we are harvesting today are the
seeds we planted yesterday
jesus came and interrupted the cycle
so that the irreversible damage
could be stopped and a new creation
would take place take a look at me
with me at second corinthians
chapter five second corinthians 5.
in verse 15 says he died for all
that those who live should live no
longer for themselves
but for him who died for them and rose
again
verse 17 therefore if anyone is
in christ he is a new creation
old things have passed away behold all
things
have become new look at verse 17 again
if anyone is in christ
is a new creation old things have been
passed away
behold all things have become new
the last thing that we needed as people
is some kind of a soothing ointment over
the
open wound of sin we didn’t need a
spiritual band-aid over a problem
he actually needed to come and to change
everything
to where there was a new start and new
beginning
in genesis 1 we read of the creation of
all things in the seventh day he rested
since that time there has never been
anything new created
until jesus died and was raised from the
dead
then everyone who puts their faith in
him is what the bible calls born again
and in that born-again experience they
become something
that has never existed before a new
creation
i had a a couple plants in weaverville
that uh
in my office that i had for years one of
them i had i had in redding before i
moved to weaverville
and i actually ended up with this plant
for like seven 19 or 20 years
so we had a good good friendship made in
that plant
and i only watered it with coffee
if i had leftover coffee that’s what it
got if i had none it didn’t get anything
if i wasn’t in there for a few days you
just didn’t get anything else
maybe my secretary watered it so i had
this one plant
that was in this pot like this this big
and it was in this pot for um
probably 17 years and 16 years anyway
and right before a few months before we
moved i decided to transplant it
so i i took it out and when i brought it
out of the pot
french roast coffee is what it smelled
like it smells
smell like smell like this this plant is
a reproducer of coffee i mean they had
just been saturating coffee for 17 years
so i put it into a bigger pot
and uh something happened i put it in
this bigger pot
and within a very short time it started
to blossom
and have flowers i never saw that before
in my life
i i put it in a new setting it expanded
to its new environment
and produced things it never produced
before never
once did it ever produce flowers but it
did in this new pot
jesus when he caused you to be born
again
you were put into his shoes that are
significantly larger
than ours but every day of our life he
works to get to enable us to grow
into the fullness of what he designed us
to be and in that context we bring a
fruitfulness to the planet through our
life that is impossible without the
grace of god
impossible without that natural gift
that god would give us
so that jesus could be seen once again
this verse old things have passed away
all things have become new has become a
champion verse for
probably most all of us let’s read a few
more and then
i’ll talk and we’re going to pray over a
few things together
verse 18 all things are of god who has
reconciled us to himself
through jesus christ and he’s given us
the ministry of reconciliation say this
with me god has given me
the ministry of reconciliation
now let’s say it again together god has
given
me the ministry of reconciliation
that’s actually true for everybody in
this room it’s a mandate it’s a call
it’s
kind produces kind once you’re
reconciled to god
your nature is to be a reconciler
kind reproduces kind
kind reproduces kind of
all right you have you had a chance you
missed it all right
jump down to verse 20 it says now then
we are ambassadors for
christ as though god were pleading
through
us we implore you on christ’s behalf
be reconciled to god verse 21 last verse
for he made him who knew no sin to be
sin that we might become the
righteousness of god in him verse 21
again
he made him that’s jesus who knew no sin
to be sin
for us that we might become the
righteousness of god in christ
here’s the here’s the deal
my favorite definition of mercy and
grace his mercy is when i don’t get what
i deserve
and grace is when i get what i don’t
deserve
mercy is where i don’t get what i
deserve
grace is when i get what i don’t deserve
jesus came lived perfect faced
every kind of temptation a person can
face
he did not yield to any of them in the
slightest measure
he became what would be called a lamb
that had no blemish was not defiled
there was nothing wrong with it
he became the perfect offering why
because
this cycle of sowing and reaping
was going to destroy for eternity all of
humanity
and jesus stepped into the middle of
that and basically said
put the harvest that they deserve
on me i’ll take all of it and it was
in the past and every person in the
future
he took upon himself the punishment that
every
person deserved it’s not an angry father
that’s looking to destroy people
it’s this creation
that requires productivity
increase reproducing after its kind
sowing reaping it’s the way you come
into life
if he changes the laws he changes the
way we come into breakthrough
in maturity and progress so instead
jesus came
and bore the punishment for all that
which was wrong
and then he turns to us and he says
you’re reconciled to god
now you be a reconciler i don’t
understand this verse
it says that jesus became sin
so that we could become the
righteousness of god
i like it i just don’t understand it but
i sure like it
how is it possible for you and me to be
living examples of the righteousness of
god but that’s what he says
those are shoes that we’re growing into
i believe that today is marks a season
of
breakthrough um about two or three weeks
ago
uh eric led in a prayer time here
and he spoke about
that in the last uh several weeks of the
year i think i think it was a month
maybe five weeks
the last several weeks of the year that
we’d see
more miracles in that period of time
than we did in the previous 11 months
in other words it’d be compounded be
increased and we prayed into that
then chris got up in that similar period
of time
and he announced um i’m going to use the
word reconciliation restoration
but he used different terms but it was
people who had
family members who had not been walking
with the lord that they would be
restored in their in their faith in
their relationship with god
and it was a great time of prayer and uh
one of the greatest miracles in the
vallettan household ever
took place before the day had passed he
literally went home from here
and got a phone call from one of his
grandsons that was
going left when god was going right and
called the grandpa and said i’m not i’m
not right with god
and i want to be in and it’s a long
story but it’s a beautiful story
i feel like when god is breathing on
something that’s what we give ourselves
to we stand in that
and we say we join our voice with his
his is the creative powerful voice
but it’s the partnership that brings
release specific
application to his heart to broken
situations so we hear what god is saying
we
say this is the day of reconciliation
this is the day of reconciliation
this is the day of being restored to god
i think it was within the last two years
billy graham died what a wonderful man i
i my name is i shouldn’t hate to say
this but my name is actually billy
don’t call me billy my name’s bill but
my name is billy it’s not william
they’ll ask me
you know whatever is your name actually
william no no it’s billy yeah my mom’s
apologizing
my my uh now don’t don’t don’t it’s it’s
an incredible honor
my mom met billy graham my uncle worked
for him and uh was his right-hand man
for a number of years
and my mom met him just weeks before i
was born
and i inherited that name which is a
great honor
billy graham great man a man of
integrity
a man of great faith and he just gave
his life
for people to know jesus to know the
love of god
he did it all over the world and then
last week
we had the home going of reinhardt
blanchy who is
one of the greatest men i’ve ever met
tonight we have heidi baker
coming and it would be heidi uh
reinhardt bonkey
and brother yoon those are the three
scariest people i know
and uh reinhardt just went home to be
with the lord unusual
evangelist he just brought so many 79
million
people came to faith in christ through
his ministry through the years
that they know about
when the lord takes people home like
this
their gifts remain but i don’t believe
that what god is doing is going to raise
up another billy graham or another
reinhard bonke what he’s doing is he’s
trying to bring
all of us into that inheritance to walk
in the grace to walk in the anointing
to walk in that heart for people
that these two great great leaders had
and so we’re going to actually pray into
that today we’re going to do a couple
things
together because i feel like whenever
we’ve done this
uh i i don’t know how many times it’s
been but you know maybe 10
15 times in 20 years we’ll take part of
a meeting just to pray corporately
over specific things how many of you
were here for the
the i want my knife back uh meeting
several years ago
it was it was just the weirdest weirdest
story
and a serious sequence of events it
basically has to do with lost items
god miraculously restoring and there’s a
long story to it i don’t want to take
the time for it now
but we saw the lord honor corporate
prayer
for that area and we had stories that
continued
we had inheritances that were lost in
court cases that had been wrapped up for
years
that were released that week so many
things that were
bound and lost that were restored it was
extraordinary what was it
it was it was doing what he said he was
doing
it’s breathing out what he’s breathing
it’s involving himself and what he’s
involving himself with
and i believe today he’s involving
himself in these things
we’re supposed to pray for economic
breakthrough
for those who have impossible economic
situations
we’re supposed to pray for relational
healing
for those who have impossible conflicts
and families the cool thing
is nothing is impossible with god and
the things that look to be the most
impossible tell them hello
jesus is calling
we we actually it’s all right it’s all
right
we had somebody call years ago or our
secretary was praying for somebody
behind their desk that just needed a
real deliverance you know
and they were praying for him and the
phone rang at the church you know so she
went and grabbed the phone
and instead of saying good morning
bethel church he said i plead the
i plead the blood of jesus or something
like that
she wasn’t thinking she was still
praying for this person in her mind when
she answered
the person on the other and the end of
the phone fell under the power of god so
you know you never know what you’re
going to get
so we’re going to pray together for the
economic breakthrough we’re going to
pray for relational
healing i feel like there there are
anytime you have a crowd this number
it’s not even a word of knowledge
we always know there’s relational
difficulties and challenges
we’re going to pray for healing there
we’re going to pray for
the health there are impossible cases
medically uh in this room that just need
a miracle
and we’re gonna join together and pray
for that in just a moment
because this is i i saw colon cancer
healed right here
so a woman get out of a wheelchair right
over here stroke 58 years
gets up and begins to walk seeing a
whole series of about four different
diseases right over there
just completely healed uh that were
impossible ms
west now no west nile virus is already
here several things
just all over this room i can look
around and just see right back over here
a woman’s jaw that broke 10 years ago
she couldn’t open her mouth without pain
was instantly healed all through this
room
olympic athletes right over here that
were healed of career-ending
type injuries jesus heals them so it
just happens here
it happens here and it might as well be
your day and so in fact we have
so many watching on bethel tv we bless
you
prophesy to you get in on this because
we want to pray for this kind of a
breakthrough
but the greatest miracle of all is
actually
a person being reconciled to god
reconciled to god
it’s it’s it’s not hoops that we jump
through it’s certainly not joining a
church membership or something it’s not
that it’s a personal relationship with
jesus
and jesus comes and he’s standing with
the hand of the father and he’s reaching
for yours
he’s saying i want to bring these two
back together i want to restore you to
design to purpose
because you have a purpose for your life
that is rich it’s wonderful it’s
significant and that’s what it is he
restores
reconciles to design into purpose
if there’s anyone here that would just
say with me i i i want to be reconciled
to god i don’t have a personal
relationship with jesus i don’t know
what it is to
be the new creation to actually be
different on the
inside by his doing not mine
i don’t want to leave this place until i
know i have peace with god if that’s
anybody here in that category all i want
you to do is put your hand up
and we’re just going to pray for you
right back over here’s one anybody else
put your hand up
right down here’s another one put you in
right over here is another one
beautiful
it’s time amen it’s just time
another one back over here beautiful
yeah we give thanks for this
it’s this is about to multiply so get
ready to disciple people
get ready jesus didn’t say go make
converts he said make disciples
and this is the great privilege so all
put your hand up again if you put your
if you raised your hand a minute ago put
your hand up again if uh
if you raised it right here anyone
sitting around them just put your hand
on their shoulder
just pray for them right now pray for
the greatest most significant
breakthrough of their life to come right
now to come right now
for the spirit of god to come upon them
at the end i’m going to ask you guys to
come to the front here
to talk with our team but right now i
want you to pray anybody who’s watching
on bethel tv
they would just say bill i don’t want to
i don’t want to leave this broadcast
until i know that i found peace with god
you just prayed the same thing
god restore me reconcile me to god
reconcile me
i put my faith in jesus in his work
to restore me completely so we declare
over these people
that there would be such a
transformation
a transformation of life that happened
from the inside out
inside out just declare
i believe in jesus let’s say it all
together i believe in jesus
as my lord my savior
i sit here as a disciple
a follower of jesus change me now from
the inside out
i give you my past i give you my present
i give you my future all of my trust is
in you
thank you lord beautiful now anybody who
has
a relational impossibility put a hand up
i want to see who you are
stand if that’s you any kind of a
relational
impossibility it just impossible with
man not
you know for for most of us in this room
uh our problem
starts getting solved the moment we stop
being impressed by the size of our
problem
and uh for most of us we just need to
shift our attention
to a perfect loving father who is more
than able to repair and to fix that
situation
i want you to extend your hand towards
these some of you stand stand around
them
just pray for them once again on bethel
tv we declare the same
thing that god would work wonders in
your household in your family
and that family members that have been
out of sorts with other family members
we declare that jesus bore the dividing
wall on his flesh
when he was crucified he took away the
power of division
and we declare the healing the restoring
of broken hearts
god restore families restore households
restore
marriages restore children to parents
parents to children
yeah church i want to hear you pray just
take just a moment longer to pray over
these
and just bless them bless them bless
them
thank you lord
now before the christmas season is over
we ask for
miracles in households miracles and
families restore
in the wonderful name of jesus and lord
we do pray this that you would be
glorified
amen amen good to sit down anyone who
is uh facing an impossible
medical situation i want you to stand
without god it’s an impossible medical
situation to stand up
impossible medical situation yeah please
stand
it’s just it’s just a day of miracles
the things i’ve seen happen oh goodness
gracious
in this in this room you know this colon
cancer
guy was a gang leader from another city
who
heard that god was healing people and he
came here
and he got healed and the report i got
back was
he went back as a gang leader
evangelizing the gang members with this
message of
jesus’s love and so we just declare that
over every household here
stand up around these pray for them just
declare that healing word
find out where they need the miracle
pray just pray
just pray god restore completely
we declare the same for our friends at
home
the healing grace of jesus would fill
your household the healing grace of
jesus would fill your household
i mean pray in jesus mighty name
we rebuke torment affliction
in the name of jesus loose people’s
bodies
the bible says he sent his word and
healed them
so we declare the healing word over them
now
jesus name
every cancer cell dies
in jesus name
thank you lord larynx
larry is there a part of the body called
the larynx something
larry what is it learning larnix
all right it’s right here who has a
problem with that
there’s a what’s it called larynx
right right back here what is it larynx
is that did i say it right whatever it
is if you’ve got the problem there
this is your day somebody put your hand
on that and just pull off the affliction
in jesus name
i had a staff member buy me an anatomy
book once it’s a coloring book
because i have issues so we declare the
healing word of jesus over your body
now jesus mighty name now fully restore
what was stolen here
okay go ahead and be seated all right
one more
uh no two more things
economic financial impossibility that
you stand
some of you just keep standing for
everything i think you you’re just a
glutton for more prayer
by the way heidi is going to be here
tonight you know
i don’t know how many i know this is
hard for some to believe but i i’ve been
there i’ve
i’ve seen they they’ve had hundreds of
resurrections from the dead
and here’s the deal they don’t even
count it a resurrection
unless they’ve been dead at least four
hours
so if they’ve not been breathing for
three and they’re cold and stiff
and they’re raised up that’s a healing
you got to have standards
it’s not the standards i have that’s the
standard
you stop breathing for 30 seconds for me
it’s it’s
it’s a miracle all right all right she’s
going to be here tonight to be it’s not
an
accident by the way when she flew into
town she heard about
little olive last night and went right
from the airport to the prayer meeting
to pray it’s not not an accident this is
the season
of impossible breakthroughs now i want
you to surround these folks
surround the folks economic just declare
over them
the god of more than enough visit your
household
just declare the god of more than enough
visit your household
that this christmas season will be a
season of great celebration
great break through great favor god give
wisdom for every dollar you release
so we handle in a way that honors you
pray this in jesus name
thank you god
there’s a few of the folks we’re praying
for right now
uh this will make sense to a small
handful of you
is there’s an economic issue in your
life
and it’s been there for several
generations and
we’re just really to break that cycle
that generational curse of lack
off if that’s you let the people that
are praying for you just say that’s me
it’s been multiple generations and then
those of you pray pray with that with
that insight we just break that cycle
of generational lack we just declare it
ends now
in jesus mighty name all right just
declare over them we bless you
in the name of the lord and now let’s
have everybody stand for this last one
all right
everybody stand
how many of you have a family member
who is not walking with jesus this man
it’s it’s not everybody but it’s almost
everybody in the room
so this is what we’re going to do just
grab a hand
and if the person you are holding hands
with if you don’t know their name by now
that’s your fault you’ve been with them
for
hours here excuse me
i just want you to pray for their family
members to come home to jesus
and if they have no family members then
pray for their neighbors just pray
that this love of god will touch
everybody they know
lift your voices let’s pray
uh
just break through god we just praying
for our cities the cities that are
represented here
that there would be just literally a
harvest of souls
of thousands tens of thousands of people
millions through the broadcast the
people would just come to know the love
of god
and be restored to design be restored to
purpose we pray this in jesus wonderful
name
amen amen all right you can
drop the hands now
we had several people come to faith in
christ this morning i want the team over
here to get that banner up right away
i’ve got a banner over here i’m going to
ask those who
who came to faith in christ this morning
i’m going to ask you to do us a favor
yourself a favor
come up here just a moment we have
people that we don’t entrust
i just want them to talk with you and to
pray with you
that’s all we don’t want anything from
you we just want to bless you
i’m going to ask the ministry team come
up to the front right now
because we’re going to extend time of
ministry to people we’re going to let
you go a few minutes early here in a
heartbeat
but i would like for those that put
their faith in christ this morning
if you would right now make your way
down to these with their hands up
come down to them talk to them church
bless them as they come
amen