We are stewards of the divine; we are stewards of the testimonies of God, the ways of God, and the Presence of God. In this full sermon, Bill Johnson teaches from key scriptures that reveal the desire of God to be known by His people. His works reveal His ways, and His ways reveal who He is. We have the great privilege of knowing God and representing Him by living from heaven towards earth.
[Applause]
beautiful
well good morning good to see you
glad you showed up how many of you uh
were a part of the uh
randy clark healing school and
conference this week how many of you
made it to that
we had such an outrageous time i’m still
a little bit rocked from the week
and um
i was talking to randy last night there
was
somewhere
ah there’s over a thousand healings
uh this week with a number of no notable
miracles
and uh my goodness it just
i got i got whacked we need to have a
new dictionary so the people know what
we mean
whacked blasted hit hard those are all
very positive terms
yeah wrecked
ruined those are all very positive words
so
anyway it was just that kind of a week
for me
and i know for quite a few others um
i uh
i have a
something i read a year or so ago
that i found in my little file here on
my ipad
something that one of my grandsons wrote
about his mother
and a mother’s day card that he wrote
and it’s uh
cruz cruz’s
is a fascinating child
he’s just a fascinating child
he um
he has an imagination
and i’m not sure if he knows when
it’s reality or when it’s imagination
i’m not sure if he knows where that line
is yet we’re trying to help him but in
the meantime we’re
wonderfully entertained
by this child
and uh
i think it was a year or so ago leah
came to pick him up at school
at the christian school here
and
teacher uh salia said oh i’m so sorry to
hear what happened
he said uh what do you mean what
happened he said well cruz told us that
your house burned down
and
she said oh he did and so uh they’re
walking to the car and
leah turns to my daughter leah turns to
cruz and said
hey cruz did you tell your teacher that
our house burned down he said yeah
i mean
no
no hesitancy at all oh yeah yeah i did
son why did you do that
he says oh mom she loves a good story
[Applause]
[Laughter]
now his dad gabe
says he’s lying i i am saying he’s just
creative
and he’s thinking so in fact at
christmas time we had our whole family
together and brian brian asked him
hey cruz
are those stories real
because we’re all so fascinated by what
he comes up with are those stories real
he looks at brad he says
they’re real in my head
i don’t know if they are in yours but
they are in mine
[Music]
so here is his mother’s day card from
i think two years ago
my mom is as pretty as a dancing
princess
she is as sweet as a horse
his imagery needs a little bit of work
here
she is as sweet as a horse
she is as smart as god
so we’ll have to work on his theology as
well
but most of all
she’s special
like a dragon
[Applause]
a dragon that is nice
and can shoot water out of its mouth
[Laughter]
so i know that’s the goal of every woman
in this room
to be recognized as a dragon that can
shoot water out of its mouth
that’s quite a child there all right
we’re going to read a couple portions of
scripture we’ll start with exodus 33
and uh we’re actually today we’re going
to focus on
two portions of scripture
that in some ways have had
uh i hate to say the most influence but
certainly at the top uh influence in my
life in my thinking over the last 20
years
and
let me give you just a little bit of
background
first of all i i i felt uh towards the
end of december uh around christmas time
i really felt like the lord spoke to me
and said that this next year 2018 the
year that we’re in now would be a year
of new beginnings
and really felt the lord on that uh
benny and i went to korea we actually
spent new year’s little it was a mistake
in my schedule
in my scheduling but uh but it ended up
i think being a god mistake and it was a
glorious time in korea with some friends
and then a conference that i
do every year with cheon
and this year one of the guest speakers
was chuck pierce who was a great
prophet of the lord and a good friend
really really loved that guy just a real
pure stream
anyway he gets up to speak one of the
nights and he and he starts talking
about that this year is the year of new
beginnings
and uh so i i it doesn’t have anything
to do with the message that i have for
you today it just needs to be said it’s
a year of new beginnings and there’s i
think there’s a whole bunch of things
probably represented in the room that
you just as soon see start over
and uh and i feel like it’s a year for
that where the lord is just going to
just add a freshness to things new life
to things and new beginnings so that uh
that is this next year
this uh these last few weeks have been
very very tender for me i
uh
many times throughout the day whether
i’m at home whether i’m in the corporate
gathering here or
conference or in korea or randy clark
event this last week i feel like i’m
about this far away from tears almost
all the time but it’s never said this
it’s just the unexplainable kind that
i’m just i’m overwhelmed
by what i see god doing i’m overwhelmed
for example again this last week we saw
the beautiful testimony of ptsd
healed and
randy has a guy on his team now that has
personally led 10
000 people into healing of ptsd
it’s it’s one of the most extraordinary
things i mean it is it is literally it’s
just off the charts they’re now bringing
them to military bases and places where
it’s it’s it’s running so rampant that
they need help and there’s no answers
but jesus is the answer and he and and
we watch people in fact i’ll i’ll i’ll
try to remember the next
couple weeks if i remember to show you
just a a testimony of one of the
miracles that actually happened here in
reading and was towards the beginning of
this launch uh for them and seeing this
this horrible affliction of the heart
um healed and uh so you watch this
happen you know you watch you know the
gala they showed the video of the gala
that has this metal uh bar put in her
arm and you see the picture of how this
thing stood out and they prayed and it
literally just went in just just
dissolved and you you you know your mind
cannot commute what god can compute what
god is doing but he just literally just
reduces that and just completely heals
and restores it the stories go on and on
and on i mean they’re just extraordinary
extraordinary things but it’s all
symbolic in a sense of not the season
we’re in because that’s been going on
for years
but there’s a there’s a
presence there was
this week was filled i don’t know if
everybody experienced this but i i know
the ones that i interacted with about
this there was such
there was such a sense of god’s presence
in the building that it just felt like
anything was possible at any time
and i just became mindful
of of something that i wanted to share
with you today
and all of this uh actually i’m going to
probably combine like three different
concepts or three different
uh teachings or messages that i that i
run with and put them into one and
basically boil it down to this we are
stewards of the divine we are stewards
we’re stewards of the testimony of god
we’re stewards of the ways of god
we’re stewards of the presence of god
it’s those three things and he probably
could ask we could add 100 things to the
list but to me those three things
represent the bulk of why we are on
planet earth and what we have the
privilege doing with our lives
stewards of the testimony
stewards of the knowledge of his ways
stewards of his presence
you know the great
revelation
that jesus provided in coming to earth
to putting on flesh was he was revealed
as emmanuel
god with us emmanuel god with us
the whole the whole point of jesus
coming to earth was
was so that humanity so that people
could actually discover
that god is with us he is so for us
that he is with us
and it it’s uh it’s tragic to me to
watch people day after day week after
week year after year of their lives live
this far from the answer and be clueless
to god has brought that within arm’s
reach
the lord jesus gives us a gift
and repentance is the gift of repentance
repentance is not something that we
uh just randomly choose whenever we want
it’s literally a gift the bible calls
repentance a gift that god gives
and it’s a part of what he does in
wooing us to himself
repentance isn’t just
the uh a mourning over our past
it includes that it’s but it’s the
sorrow of our sin that is so deep in its
impact that it launches us into a shift
in how we think about life how we think
about sin how we think about a presence
our future all of that is contained in
this wonderful
gifted word called repentance
and so jesus gives us access to steward
these three
parts or aspects of god’s person his
nature
it’s the testimony
it’s the
ways of god it’s the
presence of god
the bible is filled with
i don’t want to call them lists but
their principles that come in sequence
for example
i will enter his gates with thanksgiving
in my heart i will enter his cords so
it’s deeper into the presence with
praise so throughout scripture there
there are these processes that he takes
us through where there’s there’s
deliberate shifts in priorities in
activities and actions in the way that
we think how we apply truth there’s
these these places that we come to where
there’s there’s this shift where we say
you know what i’m not just interested in
the works of god
i want to know what he’s like
i want to know his ways
and the scripture says israel was
acquainted with the acts of god but
moses was acquainted with his ways
that’s a huge shift there
because israel missed out on what moses
had but the implication of scripture was
they all had access to it they all had
access but israel was acquainted with
man on the ground every morning there
they were acquainted they were satisfied
with water out of the rock they they
never made it past
the act of god on their behalf
into discovering the nature of god
and here’s the saddest part of that
equation
whenever god reveals something about his
nature
whenever he reveals he unveils here is
something about his nature whenever he
unveils that part of his nature
it always comes with the invitation to
know him in that way
never does the understanding of his
nature never does it come to us just
make it just to make us more
theologically sound
that’s important but it is secondary
what’s important is to know him in that
way to encounter him so when he says i’m
your provider i don’t want to walk away
from that revelation without provision
you know when he when he says i am your
holiness i i don’t you know i don’t want
to walk away the same that i came in i
want to leave change because i have
encountered him and now relationally i
come to know him in that way
so his ways
you know let’s say he healed your body
this week
his way so he heals your body but what
happens is we become
this this thing that god is doing in us
is so provoking and stirring us that we
no longer become satisfied with just the
act of god god show me what you’re like
and so now instead of me just being
satisfied with a healing
i want to discover the healer
so the healing points to his nature the
healer so now there’s this relationship
with the god who is my health
see he heals not as an act
so to speak follow my train of thought
here it’s who he is
he cannot not be the healer
he cannot not be the provider he can’t
it’s he cannot choose to not be that
because it’s it’s his person it’s his
nature it’s his makeup he provides
because of his nature it’s out of who he
is that he does all these things
and so here he invites us constantly
into being exposed to the works of god
we we we see these extraordinary works
of god in our life we hear of the
miracle of provision we hear of the
promotion that somebody got sometimes
it’s such the simplest thing and
sometimes it’s the most crazy bizarre
thing but we see these things that god
does and we become unsettled with just
standing back and giving a golf clap for
a miracle that god has just done or a
testimony that’s given we become
provoked inside i must know this one who
does this on behalf of humanity he does
this in people’s hearts i must know this
father who took this guy we saw the
video this week if you were there who
was locked up in ptsd absolutely unable
to function normally in life and in
literally in moments completely
transform his life to where he’s never
been able to play with his children he’s
never been able to you know take on the
pressures of life of work and all these
things and now suddenly overnight he’s
completely different and changed it was
no magic wand it was a person called
jesus who stepped into his life and just
sorted things out so we see this we go
you know i don’t have ptsd but i got
stuff
and i got to know this one who settles
these issues
and so we look at the sign as an
invitation to know the one who is like
that and to make him known
here’s the verse that i want us to read
it’s here in exodus 33
is verse 13 and he says
now therefore i pray
if i have found grace or favor in your
sight
show me now your way
that i may know you that i might find
grace in your sight
consider that this nation is your people
go back to at least what for me
is the heart of this verse
show me your way
that i might know you
say that with me
show me your ways
that i might know you say it again
show me your ways that i might know you
what’s the point the point is the
testimony reveals the nature
the nature is the invitation to an
encounter
but in the encounter we come to know the
one who works wonders
once you see what the sign points to
you’re never satisfied with only a sign
again
you hear about this wonderful restaurant
when you drive looking for it and you
see the sign
you don’t turn around and go home
you go to where the sign is pointing
the point the sign points to something
greater than itself
it’s like the exit sign over the door
it’s real but it points to something
more real that’s the exit
so you see the miracle of healing or
deliverance whatever it may be
the healing of a marriage the prospering
of a business
that’s a sign but it takes you to a
person
and the whole
purpose of this journey
is to know
him israel stopped short they were
satisfied with miracles
miracles do become boring
look at israel
manna every day
after a while what else is on the menu
i’m in the creation of food before them
every day after a while
well it sure likes some meat
which i understand that one
just between you and me the meat is
vital
part of life
and i’ll leave that
let me know your ways that i might know
you turn with me to
the um book of mark and we’ll read
where we’re going to land
today uh mark chapter eight is a uh
a portion of
scripture i don’t know maybe i i have
taught on this here
more than any other portion it wouldn’t
surprise me if that was true
and the reason for that is
it takes me a long time to learn things
and i i i will open to the story on
somewhat of a regular basis and review
the story and specifically one
particular verse
because i need
i need to face the questions that jesus
asks
he asked certain questions
you’ve heard it before but whenever god
is asking you a question it’s never
because he’s lacking information
he’s just trying to dial something up in
you that you don’t know is there or he’s
trying to lead you into understanding
something so he asked these questions
and they’re they’re they’re provoking
questions we’ll get to them in a moment
but if you picture this with me the
jesus uh the disciples have a three and
a half year relational journey with
jesus
and during this time they’ve watched
things happen
uh that that just changed their their
thinking about life in general
they they all uh you know were pretty
insignificant people from
politicians to fishermen to whatever and
they they just they just suddenly caught
a vision for their life and were willing
to die for something uh previous to that
they just wanted to catch fish but now
suddenly they’re wanting to change the
world and they did they they caught that
by being with this jesus
and jesus would use them he would he
would empower them to do the same things
he did it had to be absolutely
frightening and glorious all at the same
time
it’s kind of funny because jesus would
use them so powerfully that they
actually began to think they were
important
outside of their role they they began to
think of their own significance in a in
a strange way you know like they would
argue as to who was the the greatest
you know we we’re too smart to argue
with each other i’m greater than you no
i’m better than you
we’re way too religious to do that
we just do that by pointing to somebody
else’s flaws
it’s the more subtle way of saying i’m
better than you
anyway let’s stop meddling and move on
here
but the disciples what did jesus do he
immersed them in this atmosphere of
presence and power used them in
significance in a glorious way the way
he had designed for them to live but in
doing so it dialed up stuff in their
hearts that they didn’t know was there
peter was shocked to find out he would
deny the lord he was absolutely
convinced he would last when everybody
else fell
and yet he was the one who denied jesus
what happens in these moments where
where there’s pressure pressure isn’t
always
negative but pressure isn’t always added
because of problems sometimes pressure
is added because of the miraculous of
the way god uses us because of the
understanding we receive there’s there’s
just this stuff that comes on our life
and the weightiness of god’s work in us
reveals fractures
it doesn’t cause fractures it reveals
fractures why the lord never does that
to shame us he never does that as
punishment he always does it so that we
can see what he sees
because if i can see what he sees
then i can confess and confession
basically means to agree with god so the
weightiness of god’s work in my life
reveals a fraction maybe it’s a fraction
of my thinking every time i get in this
pressure situation i just start
criticizing myself or every time i get
in this pressure situation i want to
withdraw from people or every time i get
in this precious situation i blame other
people around me instead of taking
responsibility whatever it might be that
weightiness of whether it’s blessing or
whether it’s responsibility it reveals
fractions why it’s so that i can come
into agreement with god i see that lord
i see that i have that tendency to beat
myself up when this pressure comes
please forgive me because i believe
things about me you don’t believe about
me and it’s got to change what is he
doing he’s in his mercy he’s revealing
fractures so that we can come into
agreement because once we see it and we
come into agreement the confession
releases the capacity to forsake
it’s
that was really good news right there
the confession i see it oh god i beat
myself up every time this pressure comes
i’m tired of it i
i know you revealed that so that i
confess it i agree with you there’s a
fracture in my makeup that blames me for
everything and i know it’s not right and
i’m confessing my self-centeredness
because don’t think it’s anything other
than you blame you every time something
is wrong it’s still it’s a it’s a
reverse arrogance and pride
face it call it for what it is because
i’m still the focus of my attention
now please forgive me for this subtle
pride that has robbed me of so many
things in my life i’m through with it
i’m finished with it and by your grace i
step into thinking differently about me
now because of what you said over me so
there’s that that confession we forsake
he actually releases in the confession
the divine capacity to forsake to leave
what has trailed behind you all this
time
that’s the reason for the weightiness of
god
so the disciples
in this journey had two occasions where
they
were privileged to see food multiply and
feed thousands of people
one time they
they fed five thousand men besides women
and children another time four thousand
men
besides women and children
i i think it’s important to know to
recognize even though it’s not the
subject of the message today it’s
important to recognize
that
before the death and resurrection of
christ before the day of pentecost
only the men were
counted in a crowd
a crowd was measured by how many men
were there
the women who were there they were fed
in these miracles but they weren’t in
they weren’t counted
after the day of pentecost men women and
children recounted
the outpouring of the holy spirit
creates a level playing field and it’s
it’s it’s vital that we recognize that
grace that is released over the church
where we find every race we find every
uh economic
level we find every age all it’s a level
playing field read in joel 2 about the
outpouring of the spirit it becomes a
level playing field through the
outpouring of the spirit but back to the
story here
the disciples are with jesus on two
occasions where they see food multiply
and they were used in the miracle and
they would distribute the food and it
literally would would increase as they
passed it out
jesus didn’t throw the boy’s lunch in
the air and go shazam he created a pile
of food
instead he he divided into 12 sections
and the disciples took it out and fed
the multitudes extraordinary miracle
we’re going to
we’re going to look at the disciples the
day after
all right so they got
major miracle 4 000 men besides women
and children extraordinary time they get
in a boat they’re going on a journey
they get some r r time with jesus and
they’re in the boat all right with me
longest introduction ever but we’re
there all right verse 14
the disciples had forgotten to take
bread
actually start with 13. he left them
getting into the left them meaning the
crowd getting in the boat again departed
to the other side the disciples had
forgotten to take bread
they did not have more than one loaf
with them in the boat then he charged
them saying
take heed beware of the leaven of the
pharisees and the leaven of herod
and they reasoned among themselves
saying it’s because we have no bread
but jesus being aware of it said to them
why do you reason because you have no
bread
do you not yet perceive nor understand
is your heart still hardened
i will actually turn to verse 17 i just
randomly on my own because those
questions are piercing to me and they
expose
my
my leaning into thinking differently
than jesus
and to me the prize of all prizes for us
right now is the mind of christ
it is the great prize it is the reward
of repentance
it is the fruit of the result
of repentance the mind of christ
the mind of christ is the great prize i
mean we celebrate the presence obviously
there’s no greater gift than the
presence of god emmanuel god with us
we celebrate the anointings that
manifestation of presence that brings
miracles and healing deliverance all the
stuff
we celebrate one another we celebrate so
many things that god has given us
but there is one thing that is more
transformational than any other and that
is the mind of christ it’s seeing and
thinking the way he sees and the way he
thinks
there’s something different
about
jesus
who can look at a boy’s lunch fearlessly
knowing that there’s going to be
leftovers there’s going to be more than
enough
this is going to be such a wonderful
moment that we will have more at the end
than what we started with
but that was the thinking he we we know
there’s an oak tree in an acorn well in
circumstances that would come up he
would see the possibility of the
potential of a moment that divine
reasoning
you know i get there eventually i don’t
always start there
in fact
just between you and me don’t tell
anyone this
it seems like i hardly ever start there
i get there but starting with his
perception
is a gift
that i long for
you know i know that biblically we have
the mind of christ by the way it says we
have doesn’t say i have
it’s collectively
we
our father we have the mind of christ
but anyway
i know that we have the mind of christ
but i i want i want what’s in my account
to be in my possession
in other words i i wanted to influence
my my initial reaction i i get there but
i want my initial reaction to be mind of
christ
and i do believe that that’s the the
great um
the great prize
so he says take heed verse 15 beware of
the leaven of the pharisees the leaven
of herod
he’s not warning them about bad bread
you know he’s not saying don’t go to
herod’s bakery because it’s bad
don’t go to the pharisees you know stay
away from their bread he’s warning them
about ways of thinking
pers the way you perceive reality can be
shaped by these two themes these two
groups and these two actually
clarify the two primary movements in the
earth apart from the kingdom of god
there’s the leaven of the kingdom
there’s the eleven of herod there’s the
eleven of the pharisees those are three
different perceptions of reality and so
jesus you know imagine yourself sitting
in the boat you you’ve been you’ve just
had the most incredible day of your life
yesterday you’re in the boat going to
the other side you have a little
interaction time with jesus and just
kind of enjoying the journey and jesus
says hey guys let me have your attention
and you look towards him you’re waiting
to hear
another more pearls of wisdom and he
says be careful of the leaven of herod
and the leaven of the pharisees
and they all go
did you bring the bread
because they thought he was actually
rebuking them because they forgot
somebody dropped their responsibility
and they look around the boat and they
don’t have any bread
and jesus of course is not talking about
herod’s bakery or the pharisees bakery
he’s talking about perception of reality
that becomes shaped by a value system
that is other than the kingdom of god
it’s it’s it’s counterfeit perception
it’s it’s anchoring our hearts into the
inferior instead of living from the
reality of god’s rule his dominion
towards the circumstances of life and
every believer has the amazing privilege
of living from heaven towards earth
that’s the call that’s the privilege of
god that’s what it is to abide in christ
so here we have this warning be careful
of the leaven of herod
and the leaven of the pharisees
herod represents the political system
it’s humanistic in nature
it does not mind you believing in god
just don’t bring that into the everyday
affairs of life
in other words it’s okay that you
confess to be a christian
it’s all right just don’t bring him into
the political office don’t bring him
into the classroom
it’s the humanistic it’s man at the
center of everything
and man as god is a real let down
the pharisees leaven is not any better
because while it believes in god he’s
impersonal and powerless
it’s in form it’s in shape it’s in
ritual it’s in routine it’s not in
relationship it’s not anchored in
knowing it’s not anchored in
encountering it’s just this routine that
we follow
and so jesus says don’t fall into either
of these two ditches this ditch here
will kill you it’s called humanism
and this ditch will kill you it’s called
religious routine and form without
relationship
both of these things are dangerous and
they’re both cancers to your soul be
careful of these things and he’s warning
them and they completely miss it
he asked them these questions and this
is what i review on a somewhat of a
regular basis verse 17. why do you
reason
because you have no breath why does your
reasoning start with what you don’t have
[Music]
why does your reasoning start with what
you don’t have why
why why are you doing that
you get to see i feel like i’m in the
boat to be honest with you often i feel
like yeah i need you to ask me those
questions again
you know why do you reason that you have
no bread
um is it because we have no bread
somehow i know that’s the wrong answer
so i’m not going to say anything
and he says how is it that you don’t
perceive or understand
i don’t know
he says is your heart’s still hard and
that’s the third question is your
heart’s still hurting
i didn’t know it was but apparently it
is
i mean he just takes it through these
questions and all he’s trying to do is
expose the fracture so that we can make
agreement and see things healed and
changed
see when you’ve experienced supernatural
supply i’ll ask you the question how
many of you have had god provide for you
in an absolute supernatural way
all of us have how many of you after you
experienced that supernatural provision
you had another financial problem
how many of you were as afraid and as
nervous the second time as you were the
first time
that’s the point is that i learned
nothing it was it was like it was like i
know he i know he provided he’s so good
he took care of me last time but the
problem that i’m facing right now i
don’t know if he’s going to do it again
you know it’s just that russian roulette
thing i just happened to hit the right
cylinder and i got the answer of god but
you know he just doesn’t always work
like that and i don’t know i may be on
my own it could be that i earned this
mess and and and and i approve my
devotion by just sucking it up and bear
up under the pressure of this financial
thing and he’s he’s he’s looking at us
like don’t you don’t understand what
forgiveness is huh
so so he asked a series of questions he
says
so why do you reason
that you have no bread because once
you’ve experienced the miracle of god’s
provision you’ve lost the right to begin
any thought process with what you don’t
have
that is not brought into the equation
it fascinates me that in these two
stories that jesus didn’t create food
out of nothing
i mean he could have but that wasn’t the
miracle the miracle was that he took
what there was
and he multiplied it
let’s look at the rest of the story here
verse 18 having eyes do you not see
having ears do you not hear
and do you not remember
that verse has helped me so much let me
tell you why
he’s asking the questions again and i
need the questions of jesus so he says
having eyes do you not see and there you
know i’ll be really honest there i’m in
a whole bunch of situations throughout
my
average week or month where no i’m i’m
totally clueless i don’t see at all what
you’re doing i’m
i’m i don’t know it’s not working it’s
just not working so he follows up on the
second question he says well can you
hear
well the reality is i do hear better
than i see
so he follows the second question he
says can you hear me and there i’m in a
situation where i go
nope i hate to say it but i don’t see
and i don’t hear
i say follows with the next one
and i’m so thankful for it he says
what do you remember
yeah you want to activate your hearing
meditate on what you remember of the
works of god review the activities of
god i don’t care if you have to go back
to the days of moses you have to go back
to your parents and grandparents or you
have to go back to last week go back to
something that you watch god do
don’t just take it at surface level god
show me the nature of a father would
cause that metal bar in the arm to
dissolve
that would take a son that was so
tormented by combat uh
fatigue on his heart his mind that you
would heal him in moments where he
thinks clearly and he now contributes to
the well-being of his family show me
what kind of father you are because i’m
afraid i could just see the surface and
never tap into the heartbeat of a father
who loves people like you do god take me
beyond the obvious
take me beyond the elves
let this memory activate my hearing
because i want to hear better
and what i’ve noticed is that
remembering activates my hearing and
hearing activates my scene
and so he has some more questions
he says verse 19 when i broke the five
loaves for the five thousand how many
baskets full of fragments
did you take up and they said him twelve
also when i broke the seven for the four
thousand how many large baskets full of
fragments did you take up they said
seven
and he said
how’s it you don’t understand
i don’t know
look what he just did he just he asked
him about the numbers of people they fed
so five thousand and four thousand
what did they start with they started
with five loaves and another times seven
loaves
so when they fed the larger group five
thousand people they started with fewer
loaves
five loaves instead of seven
and they had more leftovers twelve
wow
when they started with more the seven
loaves they fed a smaller crowd
and had fewer leftovers seven baskets
it’s divine math
why did god choose israel he said
because they were the least
don’t be surprised that he chooses to
work in a way where he receives the most
glory
and when you start thinking you’re
pretty cool because god chose you
just remember
i love a statement chambols made i don’t
know when he made it but i read it last
year sometime
and it goes something like this
he said the lord makes sure that all of
our friends our closest friends sees our
idiot idiosyncrasies and our broken
areas of life and the things that don’t
always work well in us and make sure
that our closest friends see that so
that when god uses us all they all know
it’s by the grace of god
so they all know it’s by the grace of
god and that’s the reason many people
will not come close in relationship
because they don’t want anyone
to know that and when they do it they
withhold glory from god because people
never really discover how much that work
was by the grace of god
you see these miracles that they were
exposed to
was supposed to have a greater effect on
them
this won’t sound right probably but give
me a moment it was to have a greater
effect on them than merely inspiring
them to give god praise
now i buy into that completely i i love
us responding to god’s works and giving
him the honor giving him the credit he
was looking for more
he was looking for their history with
him
feeding five thousand feeding four
thousand
he was he was looking for their history
with him
to become the lenses
through which they see their present
situation
he was looking for them to be so
impacted by the multiplying of food that
when he starts talking to them about
leaven they don’t go into a fear mode
about what they don’t have
their initial response is instead
i serve the god of the impossible
he did it before he’ll do it again
i mentioned all of that this morning
because i i felt so strongly in
and getting ready for today that
the the reminder perhaps
of what we steward what we actually give
oversight to what we take charge of in
our own lives that we
steward the testimony of the lord
we steward we
we remember we we’ve been trying harder
and harder as a staff to
write these things down to we’ve hired
someone to record them we now have a
team that does background
research to get medical verification and
and we’ve got a great story we’re going
to show you bethel media is working on
right now that we’ll be able to show you
in a couple weeks of one of the most
extraordinary miracles that we’ve ever
seen
and uh medical evidence medical proof of
this of this miracle
so we we want this we want to be
accurate we want to
collect things that really truly bring
god glory but they have to be more than
the moments in our life together where
we just simply applaud and give god
thanks for what he’s done
but we actually see to where the signs
pointing
come to know a father who treats a son
that’s been so destroyed through combat
in moments
he makes it as though
he was never in a war
where there’s such peace on his mind his
heart he’s that kind of a father
it’s going beyond
just their testimony so we can cheer
it’s it’s coming to know this one who
knows no limitation
no restriction no restraint he is
absolutely full on in demonstrating his
love for us
so we steward the testimony it’s
important that we
hold to it as a
treasure
we steward the knowledge of his ways
what is he like because there’s a lot of
people
out there you know let’s be honest we’re
the ones who taught the insurance
companies to call hurricanes and floods
acts of god
they got their theology from the church
let’s teach him something new this next
season
of what he’s like as a father
but he’s the one who heals he’s the one
who restores he’s the one who protects
he’s the one who delivers not just as a
point of theology but out of her own
rich experience with a father who loves
us so tenderly and so carefully
so i steward testimony and i steward the
knowledge of his ways
but the greatest gift of all as i
steward his presence
he who has chosen to identify himself
with me
i close with this thought
moses
asked the lord at the beginning of his
call god called him to deliver israel
out of egypt
and moses asked this
great question he said who am i
god said i’ll be with you
i don’t know if i’m moses i’m going
that’s awesome
but you skipped my question
who am i
certainly i will be with you
all right i i used to i used to think
god just in fact i taught it god just
ignored his question because he had
something better to show him which which
in part is true
but what did he actually
tell moses how did he
let’s look at this way who was moses
god says you’re the one i want to be
with
that’s who you are
your identity is in the one who has
chosen to walk with you that’s who you
are
you are the one over whom god says i am
not ashamed to be called their god
that’s who you are
you are the one i am not ashamed to
display myself upon that’s who you are
i do love the privilege of being
together
and i especially have the opportunity
to make sure that everyone
in the room has an opportunity to know
what it is
to be forgiven of sin to turn from
the self-centered lifestyle that
everybody lives before meeting jesus
to turn from that one thing that
condemns every one of us and that is sin
there’s only one possible solution
god made this statement he said
there’s only one name
under heaven
by which a person must be saved
it’s foolish to think there’s many ways
to god foolish absolute foolishness
if there’s many ways to god then he was
cruel to jesus to make him suffer and
die the way he did if there was any
other way to get people to be at peace
with god then that was absolute cruelty
it was done because it was the only
possible solution there had to be the
shedding of innocent blood for the
forgiveness of sin
and jesus volunteered to die in my place
your place
and with a crowd this side there’s
always opportunity there’s always a
chance that there are people here that
have never said yes to jesus you’ve
never said i
i want to follow jesus i want to turn
from my life i want to know what it is
to be forgiven i know what wants to know
what it is to be
born again
and if that’s anybody in the room just
quickly i want you right where you are
sitting just put a hand up and we’re
just going to make wonderful wonderful
agreement with you that you would know
what it is to be forgiven of sin to be
brought into the kingdom of god to be
adopted into god’s family wait about 15
seconds that’s about it 10 seconds maybe
but if there’s anyone at all please put
your hand up if you’re in the overflow
room please do it there so the people
there can see you is there a hand up i
didn’t see it i’m sorry so right over
here yes right there yeah wonderful i
bless you sir in jesus name god bless
you
anyone else real quickly
anyone else
all right let’s go ahead and stand if
you hold your places please
i i
it will help us tremendously
if you if you would
give opportunity
for this to happen i i want this is what
i want i want ministry team to quickly
come to the front
the gentleman that put your hand up if
you wouldn’t mind do us all a favor your
self affair come down here i want you to
talk and to pray with the people to my
left there’s a banner over here it’s
called a freedom banner and it just is a
place where some folks that we know and
love
will help you
now the rest of you as the minister team
is coming just put hands in front of you
i just want to pray over you concerning
this mind of christ maybe i should have
you lay hands on one another’s head no
don’t do that
shake it too
let’s let’s just pray together i want to
pray for this mind of christ thing and
then i’m going to turn it over to chris
and tom
and if you hold your places please it’s
very important that we give place what
the holy spirit is doing
first and foremost so father i
ask for the glory of the name jesus
that you would help us to adjust and
shift
with everything you do
so that we see
the beautiful opportunities to know you
to love you and to make you known
we devote ourselves as stewards of
testimony the knowledge of your ways
and your presence
i ask for this grace to rest more
powerfully on us this year in jesus name
amen