To forsake all to follow Jesus is the entrance to a supernatural lifestyle. Bill Johnson unpacks the cost of growth and resurrection. We are called to live from glory to glory.
awesome good would you thanks thanks
thanks
thank you congressman
[Applause]
oh yeah we’re going to have a uh
a prayer gathering in june
uh where we are
we’re gathering uh several leaders from
around the state of california here in
reading
and uh gonna have a purpose for the
state of california
we uh we believe that uh it’s not only
time it’s past
time and we’re going to uh just focus
together on
on what we believe the lord wants to do
in healing our state so
those of you that are around join with
us i believe uh i believe it’s going to
be
a very powerful time all right got a
couple
funny signs i don’t need a valentine i
need eight million dollars and a fast
[Laughter]
metabolism
i don’t want to brag or make anyone
jealous but i can still fit into the
earrings
i wore in high school
[Laughter]
i love this things i asked my mom
where’s my phone
where’s the remote what’s for dinner why
can’t animals talk
things i asked my dad where’s mom
[Laughter]
that one’s just too true i you know
one more a recent studies found
that women who carry a little extra
weight live longer than the men who
mention it
yes amen yes amen
all growth is rewarded with pruning
all death is rewarded with resurrection
to forsake all to follow him
is the entrance into a lifestyle that
he’s in charge of
it’s a crosswalk into resurrection
it’s a crosswalk into breakthrough
israel traveled from egypt which
was a picture of sin so forgive me if
you’re from egypt
just a one-time illustration that’s all
from egypt through the wilderness into
the promised land
the wilderness experience was
one of great difficulty and challenge
they had to trust god every day for man
on the ground sometimes they were
thirsty for days had nothing a rock was
struck
water came out of the rock one time
there was a
whole supply of quail that it didn’t
turn out real good but uh but they had
meat once
but there was this ongoing miracle
that god trained them with in the
wilderness
but the daily provision of manna
was not the promised land
it was the training for the promised
land
there are times where we have a
perspective
of faith that
uh i don’t want to say is immature it’s
just it’s not developed
and that’s probably true for all of us
in some measure but we
we tend to think that the person who
believes god for daily provision
has greater faith in the person who
works
and has an income and it’s not true i
remember having a
a friend of mine he’s home with the lord
now but a businessman he was quite
wealthy quite well to do
he had a pretty large business it
affected uh
from denver west and uh i remember we’d
have early morning prayer meetings
in weaverville and he would come early
and he would be over on the side he’d be
kneeling and praying and in conversation
with him sometime after he
began to come to this perimeter he he
was there praying for his employees
that he would prosper enough to keep
them
employed so they could put their kids
through college
that’s what he’s praying for see when
you when you have
we’ve got this thing in our in our
nation
that’s ugly and it’s it’s a jealousy
is exalted as a virtue
where people look at somebody who has
more than they do
and assume they did something wrong to
get it
and jealousy is all often exalted as a
virtue
it’s called discernment
and anytime you give a virtuous name to
some to a dysfunction
you give it not only permission to stay
you give it room to set down roots
until it actually affects our
personality
and the lord is is wanting to expose
some of this stuff not out there but in
here
so we where we know how to properly
celebrate another person’s breakthrough
what’s what’s important is when you’ve
been praying for something
and somebody else gets your breakthrough
and you know they haven’t prayed near as
long as you have
which means basically they don’t deserve
it like you do
it’s a it’s an invitation for personal
breakthrough believe it or not it’s
actually
it’s the mercy of god exposing what
could go wrong in the heart
so that when your breakthrough comes it
lands in a safe place
character is the container that blessing
is to rest in
and it doesn’t leak out character is
what holds
and contains the blessing that the lord
would like to put on our life
what i don’t want to do is is to create
creating your thinking
blessing means
mansions and you know tons of material
things or whatever
it sometimes includes that but if that’s
the focus we’re in trouble
what’s vital for us to learn is in this
journey
that we deal with what he’s dealing with
inside of us
because he’s always preparing us for
greater breakthrough
i’ve said it to you a number of times
through the years let me declare it
again
god disciplines us so his blessings
don’t kill us
he disciplines us so his blessings don’t
kill us he actually
longs to put blessings now some people
in this room would many in the church
let me just say generally
are very much afraid and opposed to
financial wealth
which i understand the reasoning i don’t
agree but i understand their reasoning
the problem is they don’t have the same
fear
over increased anointing and both will
give you access to pride
see to think that because i’m pursuing
something that’s overtly
spiritual i’m safe it’s far from the
truth
because it’s the greater recognition
that is the issue can we navigate that
see jesus walked with an anointing where
everyone who came to him was healed
everyone the father sent to him sent him
to was healed
so anyone who came to him with a request
was healed everyone the father directed
him to was healed
what would happen if that same
measure of breakthrough was put on just
one individual in this room
it’d be cool for a very short time
but your name would be a household name
within 30 days around the country
let’s say that you couldn’t be bought
let’s say that you’ve dealt with a money
issue
you couldn’t be lured into compromise
for money let’s say that issue is
settled
you still have a problem because at our
local airport
would be 50 private jets with suitcases
filled with money
as they try to persuade you to come and
pray for their dying loved one
and so you can’t be bought you still
have a problem
you can only say yes to one and you’ve
got 49 others
that fly away and you’ve got their faces
in front of you
that you didn’t have time to pray for
them the point
is is that increased anointing gives us
as much access if not more access
to pride arrogance independence all the
things
that are dangerous for us as much as
wealth
so when i talk about wealth or i talk
about
favor let me use the word blessing when
i talk about the blessing of the lord
increasing
on our life there are times where
it’s a promotion at work there are times
it’s
finding that spouse you’ve been waiting
for all these years
there are times where you’re unable to
have children and all of a sudden
you’re pregnant with twins see it’s it’s
it’s the favor of blessing comes in so
many different
ways sometimes it’s just this
people just will prefer you at work
there’s no
explanation you don’t have the highest
position but people just are drawn to
you
maybe they automatically just confess
their personal
issues and problems because they they
trust you that’s
favor that’s that’s wealth in this
kingdom
where the lord adds that favor to your
life where people just trust you
sometimes it’s just the fact that you
just get the
big breaks you get the big deals but the
point is
is the lord would increase every one of
our lives in this
realm of blessing
if we could carry it for his glory
which means i hold to everything loosely
because sometimes today’s blessing is
tomorrow’s investment
i’ve been working on this theme for a
while i’m working on a book again
and uh i think i’ve got another week or
so and i’ll finish
but it’s it’s i talk about this issue of
promotion i talk about this
issue of blessing favor and increase
and how can we navigate it well
what does it look like first of all
if
if eric was here tonight and i were to
give him
a brand new truck
that’d be cool he’d be quite happy
i wouldn’t be very happy if he gave it
away
why because i actually gave it to him
because of
my delight in him i want him to enjoy
what i bought him i i don’t want him to
take that gift
and there are sometimes the lord
deposits something in our life
that he just wants to see our delight
i’ve had times where i’ve given things
to people and they didn’t know how to
manage or handle
that added blessing in their life and so
they quickly just gave it away
i understand i understand we we don’t
want to accumulate
you know we don’t want our identity
wrapped up in material things i get that
but there are times where
our confidence in his nature as a father
is revealed by how well we steward
a gift that was given to us can you
receive
a blessing give him thanks
and simply delight in it see whenever
the lord
releases whether it’s a material
blessing it’s favor
an open door promotion at work whatever
fill in the blanks any of those things
whenever he adds blessing to our life he
is
always trying to endear us to a world we
cannot see
the problem is when that
natural blessing endears me to the
visible
more than the unseen is where the
breakdown starts for me
i believe that the lord would fill our
lives
with with friends with
position with favor with
possessions all things that testify
of a father who is incredibly perfect
and he
takes absolute delight in us and the
ability to celebrate his goodness
in the midst of a very special meal that
somebody bought for you
i forgive me i’m i’m going to repeat a
number of statements just because
i want to put it into context for
tonight
i some of my favorite stories in uh
in church history are when a missionary
couple would sit down with their
children for dinner for example
and this has happened frequently
throughout history they would sit down
for dinner but they’d have no food in
the house
but they sit down anyway they set the
table they’ve got the
forks and spoons and knives everything’s
in place and there’s no food
and they all sit down and they pray and
they give thanks for the food
and right about the time they finish the
prayer
there’s always a knock on the door and
somebody
was moved by god to bring groceries to
that missionary family i love those
stories so much it’s
it’s the coolest thing in the world i
remember benny and i used to run a
street ministry here called the salt
house
about 4 000 years ago
[Laughter]
and it was back you may be read about it
the hippie era
it actually happened we saw it for real
and and we worked with a lot of a lot of
kids on the street and
stuff like that we lived in this
particular uh
this particular house downtown and the
people would drop in for
counseling and deliverance or maybe they
just wanted to try to throw our piano at
the front window which actually tried to
happen
but we had a number of wonderful
experiences
it felt at one time that every demonized
person
the west of the rockies came to visit us
i can’t prove that but that’s what it
felt like
it was it was it was it was school
for us we thought we were there for them
but i think we were there to learn
and uh and it was it was interesting
i remember one morning uh ben and i were
praying together and
and talking and we we uh we
looked at the bills and there was a
certain amount that we in fact i asked
benny i said how much do we need
to pay the bills for the ministry what’s
due
and she told me the amount is 300 and
which would be
20 000 today but uh 300. and
and i remember we just prayed and i was
walking i walked out of the house the
mail came in the afternoon but i walked
out in the morning and
opened the door and right to the left of
the of the door
there was a mailbox and i just by habit
just opened it there was an envelope in
there no stamp nothing
with an envelope and i opened it and
there’s a check for 300.
that’s i i love when that stuff happens
i mean jesus is good at that
but here’s where i’m at in my life right
now i want to be the guy
knocking on the door i i want to be the
one who hears
responds and attends to somebody else’s
place because both are places of great
blessing and honor
and is the disciples left everything to
follow jesus
and in mark 10 in fact why don’t you
look at it it’d be fun just to have you
stare at the bible for a minute mark
chapter 10.
this is a great uh portion of scripture
for so many reasons
mark chapter 10 now i don’t
i don’t know about about you i i like
i like the in-your-face verses
i like the in-your-face verses i like
pick up your cross and follow me those
verses those are good verses
i don’t want to read over this quickly i
like i like my coffee
unreasonably strong i like my salt
my hot sauce insanely hot
and i like my bible to growl at me when
i pick it up that’s that’s the way it is
this is my approach to life so when i
find
the in your face verses i don’t want to
dodge and assume it’s for somebody else
all right
all right don’t give me that look
um verse 23 of mark chapter 10
this jesus looked around and said to his
disciples
how hard it is for those who have riches
to enter the kingdom of god
how many of you understand every one of
us qualify
as the hard one
yeah i don’t i wouldn’t answer me either
if i were you it’s it’s not a trick
question but let’s just keep reading
verse 24
and the disciples were astonished at his
words
but jesus answered again and said to
them children
how hard it is for those who trust in
riches to enter the kingdom of god
this time he adds a description
to his statement those who trust
enriches so i’ve asked you the question
before
right now we have politicians we have
political
realms we have we have they’re trying to
figure out how much is too much money
for a person to make first of all it’s
not government’s responsibility but i’ll
leave that aside since i’m not running
for office
how much is too much money it’s whatever
amount replaces trust
see for one person a thousand dollars in
the bank is more
is beyond their trust level all of a
sudden they turn to the money instead of
trusting god
but but there are others it could be 100
million dollars
because it’s not an amount it’s a
condition of the heart and so jesus says
how hard it is
for those who trust in riches to enter
the kingdom now jump down to verse
verse 26 they were greatly astonished
saying among themselves
who then can be saved do you understand
they are asking that even about
themselves
all right verse 27 jesus looked at them
and said with men it’s impossible
with but with god all things are
possible
verse 28 peter began to say then
see we’ve left all and followed you
jesus
answered and said assuredly i say to you
there is no one who has left house
or brothers or sisters or father or
mother or wife
or children or lands for my sake
and the gospels who shall not receive a
hundredfold now
in this time houses brothers sisters
mothers children
and lands with persecutions
and then the age to come eternal life i
like this verse
for a whole bunch of reasons
first of all what are you going to do
with 100 mothers
you get the point jesus is using
a description announcing to
those who left everything to follow him
that they have
access to unlimited resource to
accomplish all they’ve been called to do
unlimited resource david put it this way
he prayed it in psalms
119 verse 17 i believe he said deal with
your servant bountifully
that i may live and keep your word
in other words the only way i could
possibly fulfill
all that you’ve put in my heart is that
you would have to deal with me
bountifully
the expectation for increase
i know automatically we think of dollars
and it’s easy to measure
but there are many in this room money is
not the answer
it’s a promotion it’s a position change
it’s an idea it’s an invention
it’s a song it’s a melody that’s never
been heard
it’s just the fact that god is giving us
access
to his mystery realm because he’s
longing to communicate
the nature of his heart the nature of
his mind
the nature of his world to this one and
it’s the people of god that have
access to this realm called the secret
things
the mystery of god trusting god pursuing
god
so peter says we left everything to
follow you
and jesus said that’s right and i’m
going to add a hundred times as much
back into your life with persecution
there there’s a promise i’ve never seen
on anyone’s refrigerator
[Laughter]
i’ve seen a lot of good promises but
that one was never in the bible promise
box
but follow this with me
israel left egypt went through
difficulty so they could be trusted with
the promised land
israel went through the red sea
paul calls it the baptism of moses
through trial and now through another
another body of water a baptism but this
one’s not a still body of water it’s a
river
it’s the purpose for holy spirit baptism
to introduce to a way of life
that you can’t get on the other side of
the river
there’s a death that takes place but
there’s a life that becomes clear
the disciples leave everything to follow
jesus
they have nothing and before jesus
goes he says i’m going to add 100 times
back into your life
he wasn’t saying i’m going to give you
mansions on hilltops
i’m giving you access to unlimited
resource
to accomplish all you’ve been called to
do why because you trusted me without
i can now trust you with
before jesus before jesus died he did
this very very strange thing
he told his disciples to get a sword
i think peter was quite happy with that
direction
he’d been warming up in his sword
swinging
so in the garden they come to take jesus
peter knows why jesus would want him to
have a sword
to hurt people of course
and so he pulls out the sword cuts off
the servant’s ear
jesus shakes his head puts the ear back
heals it
put the sword away what purpose did the
sword serve
take this with a grain of salt it’s just
an opinion
only jesus would have you get a sword
you can’t use
because it is symbolic
of an entire realm of resource
that is at your disposal for all god’s
cause you’d called you to do
i remember many years ago i was looking
through a fly fishing catalog
which is a great joy of mine
fly fishing and the catalogs
i like most hunting and fishing catalogs
and i look through them to discover the
will of god for my life
it’s amazing how sometimes the lord will
just speak to you
and i got this catalog from our local
fly shop it’s one of the best in the
world and
i go through and i look each page just
waiting to hear
the father speak i will admit it didn’t
happen but i i gave him the chance
and i didn’t throw it away just in case
tomorrow he might speak i
go through the cataloging at the very
end of the
of the uh catalog is all the items that
only
true devoted fly fishermen
would ever want uh a leather couch
with a trout etched into the leather
cushion things that are essential
essential um crystal
goblets with a famous river
etched on the side or a picture of a
rainbow trout
leaping for a fly things that no serious
fly fisherman
would want to live without and i got to
that part of the catalog
now i’m looking at all the goblets and
there was this one section i can
still see it right side of the page
right down the inside column
there were three flasks
flask made out of
pewter or stainless steel or something
and
it was apparently fly fishermen like to
have whiskey or brandy or something with
them
in case you’re not catching stuff i
don’t know i figure i
i figured that must be why it’s there so
i looked at them
and it was exact it took me like two
seconds three seconds to
look through i looked at them they just
looked cool so i looked at the price and
i thought to myself
i can afford it and then i thought i
have no use for it i mean i
don’t take whiskey to the river you know
come to think of it there is brandy
creek up by whiskeytown lake
maybe that’s where you’re doing i don’t
know anyway all right that’s
for those of you who aren’t local that’s
actually the name of places
so i looked i looked at the price i
thought i have no use for it so i turned
the page
got through the catalog put it away we
uh went to england
a week or so later and benny and i were
uh we’re at this conference and a woman
brought
each of us a gift and of course i had
benny open her gift first and i don’t
remember to this day what it was but it
was something you’d give a
godly woman you know earring with cross
or
picture frame with the name jesus on or
something you know
is this what you give to godly people
yeah it’s just that it was a nice
it was a nice christian gift
and then i opened mine i open it
and there’s a flask a flask
now outwardly i’m saying
that’s awesome thank you so much
inwardly i’m thinking
you’re kidding
[Laughter]
you’re kidding
do you know how many things i have on my
emergency list
prayers that need to be answered
do you know how many things that are
important they’re not life and death but
they’re on my list that are
need to be answered i even have this it
would be nice
part of the list and
under that is a pile of stuff that
wasn’t good enough to make the list
[Laughter]
and on the bottom of that pile was
three seconds glancing at a flask
in a catalog and king jesus
reaches to the bottom of this
insignificant pile pulls out a flask
inspires a woman across the pond
bill needs one of these
[Applause]
it’s my it’s my sword
it’s it’s just there
to remind me everything’s covered
everything’s good that he would actually
inspire someone to spend their dollars
to buy me something i have no use for
because i looked at it for three seconds
i’m trying i’m gonna get there
come on i’m gonna get there you and me
we may have to tag team this one look at
this verse again
29 assuredly i say to you there’s none
who’s left
house or brother sister father mother
wife children 100 wives
solomon now never mind children
lands for my sake and the gospels who
shall not receive
a hundred fold look at it
now in this time
this is not heaven now in this time
houses brothers sisters mothers children
lands
with persecution and in the age to come
eternal life
i remember several years ago in fact uh
this last week was bob jones
homegoing anniversary he died on
valentine’s day
if you don’t know who he was he was a
wonderful friend of ours uh
amazing prophet of the lord who actually
died way back in the 70s
and he came before the lord and the lord
had one question for him
did you learn to love and the next
moment he found himself back in his body
and he spent from the 70s until what
three years ago
four years ago learning to love
and if you knew bob at all you know that
was what he
what he excelled at he just loved he
just loved he loved us so much
he loved people so much
and jesus took him home on valentine’s
day
wow
we were sitting at a table at his
funeral after the service everything was
done
i was sitting at a table with several a
number of folks that you would know
with mike bickle and joyner a bunch of
others
and we were just talking about some of
the things that uh that we were
experiencing and what
if i tell you what it was it would sound
like a complaining session it wasn’t we
were kind of comparing notes to be
honest
there’s uh not everybody in social media
is
is wild about us which is it’s a shock
it’s a it’s a complete shock
i you probably didn’t know this but it’s
true
it’s true
i have a sign on my phone that said on
the internet
you can be anything you want so why do
so many people choose to be stupid
[Laughter]
[Applause]
that’s unrelated to this subject of
course
so we were talking about some of the
things
that we had had happened and and one of
the guys there uh
bob weiner maranatha ministries
wonderful wonderful man
he said as i just call it income tax
and everybody just kept on talking i
said what
he said income tax yeah the more income
the more tax
the more favor
learn to handle it well because it
determines what you can carry
it really does
many break down at that point of
opposition rejection
jesus said see if i will not
return to you a hundred times as much
now in this time with persecution
i don’t think the lord inspires
persecution
i just think blessing on people’s lives
stirs it up in others
and one of the things we are required to
navigate
is being with people
and it just doesn’t always feel good
many turn to retaliation vindication
they respond and like spirit and it’s
just tragic
i remember years ago watching there was
a real
moral mess with a bunch of leaders i
think it was back in the 80s
it was it was embarrassing and
there was this ted koppel i believe is
who i think is the one who with abc
did this panel and he had all these
major leaders in the church that were in
this panel and there
was just this conversation but all these
famous christians that had fallen
morally
and i’ll never forget as long as i live
what ted koppel said he said
when we do investigative reporting it
requires us to do a lot of research
but with these stories you guys called
us
did you hear what i just said
he said you guys christian leaders
called us with information about other
christian leaders
we didn’t have to do the research
you guys called us
throughout history there have been times
where there have been great moves of god
that literally just came to an abrupt
end because of jealousies
because of competition so many things
and yet never was it in the heart of god
to
end the increase the ramping up of what
he was doing in the earth
but in order to save those who were
carrying
that weight of glory so as not to bless
them beyond their
capacity to bear and withdrew the
anointing
we’re at a place in a time where i feel
like the lord
the lord is wanting to see yet again
what can we carry before him
can we be misunderstood
i mean nobody likes it you never have to
enjoy it but you do have the privilege
of giving thanks in the middle of it
the the key three months ago the lord in
the middle of the night the lord spoke
to me i’m
the key to mental health is giving
thanks in everything
the key to emotional health is rejoicing
always
maintaining that aspect that approach to
life
is central to who god made us to be so
here we’ve got this
story see if i will not add back into
your life a hundred times
with persecution there’s something about
difficulty that keeps us prayed up
or we crumble under the difficulty
and i believe that the lord would love
to demonstrate
his resurrection power he would love to
demonstrate
what it looks like to have a people that
that
are finally out of the wilderness
israel went for 40 years around the same
mountain
because they just couldn’t learn the
lesson the lesson was abandonment and
trust
and some people have gone without for
their entire life
and all the lord’s trying to do is to
teach trust
because once trust is settled you can be
entrusted
with the promised land
i believe to embrace the assignment
that’s been given to us
which is to disciple nations
have to have this lesson done i have to
be okay with
you getting the car i was praying for
i have to know how to celebrate your
promotion
when i was hoping it would be my turn
jesus and solomon and proverbs
both taught the same concept that when
you when somebody else experiences a
breakthrough
it is an opportunity for us to celebrate
their breakthrough as preparation for
our own
and the inability to celebrate somebody
else’s breakthrough as though it were
mine
actually pushes back my own
experience of breakthrough
left egypt
wilderness finally dealt with trust
the promised land is where they had to
go to work
it doesn’t sound like the promised land
for a lot of people
why was it the promised land
because god would breathe on human labor
and bring supernatural increase there
was the partnership
of our effort and god’s grace
it is the very thing that god has wanted
demonstrated
in the earth from day one is the
partnership of heaven
and earth it’s that beautiful
marriage of supernatural and natural so
that they work together
in tandem illustrating this perfect
father
for who he is i believe that the lord is
giving us an opportunity to see what
that’s like
again and so i want you to stand we’re
gonna pray
oh
i hope he gives you a sword you can’t
use
in my closet there was a shelf
where i put a flask
and every day when i got dressed
i had the reminder of what he’s like
he notices the subtle attention of your
heart towards something
never was even big enough to pray about
it’s never even enough to
put a dent in the day
but somehow he caught it
i remember many years ago sitting out at
whiskey town lake and there’s no
correlation between the flask and
whiskey town lake
i was there by myself had my bible it
was a nice warm
day i was reading and
worshipping jesus and just having the
most amazing time
and i remember seeing these little
bluegill little perch swimming around
so i picked up these little pebbles and
i threw them in the water they’d come up
and eat it spit it out
i was there to torment them
[Laughter]
it’s a gift i’ll pick up another little
pebble throw it in they’d
eat it spit it out
and i had this thought crossed my mind i
wonder if they would eat a bee
because b’s have stingers so i just i
wonder if they would eat a b
as soon as that i thought it
a boo a b a boo
a b flu
[Laughter]
i wish i had a film of this it flew from
this side
it stopped right in front of me
lost the ability to fly dropped into the
water
a fish came up and ate it
and i thought
so you know like everything that’s going
[Laughter]
on
the meditations of our heart are
louder in heaven than our voice is here
on earth
so let’s pray father
i thank you for the promised land i
thank you for
the design you have for us for the
absolute complete fulfillment of life
itself the lineage our family lines
our relationships with friends and
people how you just set the stage
for success at every turn the skills the
graces the gifts that you give us
to be to have a meaningful lifestyle
god i’m thankful for all of these things
but i pray
right now that you would increase the
capacity for breakthrough
the eternity would be forever marked
because we
used everything you gave us for your
glory
that we withheld nothing for ourselves
but literally
kept everything on the altar for you to
breathe upon
for you to bless for you to partner with
god i’m asking that is
in this next season you would teach us
what it looks like
to have the natural and the supernatural
perfectly partnered together we pray
this in jesus name
put a hand on someone next year and i
want you to pray specifically
supernatural wisdom divine wisdom
divine wisdom divine wisdom
divine wisdom
divine wisdom
divine wisdom
now wisdom is prophetic in nature so
press into this just a moment longer
divine wisdom let it be accompanied with
dreams
that would be accompanied with ideas
with solutions
that there be medical um inventions
uh medical devices let there be
technology
uh technological solutions that to be
relational
answers that words that would bring
healing
to a household to a family every area of
life
that you reconstruct the damaged parts
of the brain
through the prophetic decree of a man or
a woman with wisdom
god we call for this for the honor of
the name jesus
that our cities would demonstrate your
likeness
that our cities would demonstrate your
heart i pray this
in jesus name amen good put your hands
down
who’s who’s good come on up
i want to give you a quick story in
weaverville we had
one of our one of our key guys in the
church
uh had just uh he was he was an
accountant
he had an accountant office and did
taxes and all the stuff for businesses
and what all
and one of his competitors was opening
uh i just opened a brand new office
and um and so he was invited to come to
to see this branch so that grand opening
and so he stayed
for the whole party and then at the very
end
he asked for the husband and wife he
said
we’re kind of tight right now so i
didn’t have a gift to bring
could i just pray for the two of you
and so they said sure and so the three
of them got in a little circle
and he put his hands on them and he
celebrated the goodness of god
for prospering this business that
everyone else would say
was a competitive business and he prayed
for abundance
he celebrated the goodness of god on
this couple
and on this business and he prayed and
he prayed by the time he’s through
the quote-unquote competitor have tears
coming down their faces
because they realize i’m gonna use my
language
this is how his world works in his world
it’s possible for both businesses to
succeed
if you see somebody get a breakthrough
that you are praying for
even if you have to force yourself
force yourself celebrate it
celebrate if you’re jealous sometimes
giving a gift will silence jealousy
i’m serious put something into an action
skip a meal pray for them do something
but put it into an action
to silence that voice of jealousy
because it’s not to have
any place in us amen all right