In the latest sermon from Bethel Church Pastor Bill Johnson shares on discerning the devil’s tactics and maintaining our focus on Christ.
all right well good morning good morning
good to see you all i
i just wanted to show off my mask
it’s my second one the last one i could
tell what i had been eating over the
last week
there’s barbecue smell in there there
was all kinds of stuff it just
i could tell it was defeating the
purpose it was no longer a healthy mass
so
anyway well good morning to you it’s so
good to be home
i benny and i were in north carolina
last week
with mahesh and bonnie shapta and uh
such wonderful friends of ours and it
was just a real
blessing to be there it’s usually a
packed house but
uh with social distancing it reduced
down to maybe
i don’t know 150 200 people in the room
but it was it was still
very fun to be there um i don’t ever
want to make
fun of a virus but i will make fun of
you and me
they said a mask and gloves were enough
to go to the grocery store
they lied everyone else had clothes on
[Laughter]
[Applause]
i think it’s funny maybe maybe third
grade humor may be my problem but uh
but i think that’s funny i love this one
whoever’s supposed to go to nineveh
just go already
[Laughter]
this one is uh a story from
one of my grandkids cruz he who is
just the way his brain works is just
very entertaining for the rest of the
family
he’s the one who told his school teacher
that his house burned down
and uh and when leah picked him up from
school she said
cruz did you tell your teacher that that
our house burned down he goes yeah
she said why did you do that he saw mom
she loves a good story
so that’s
i i don’t know he figured it was a
testimony even though it wasn’t true so
we’re working on that part
so after school was canceled
first day of no school crews set up an
office
in their piano room and it’s called
cruz’s office of mental issues
and leah writes i just had my first
appointment with him
after asking me what my mental issue was
and me saying stress
he gave me a list of all the things i
need to do to help
one being not to watch diego play
baseball
since they caused stress i then told him
but i love watching you guys play
he then said no i just mean don’t watch
diego’s games
you can watch me because you know i’m
gonna win
we we have our hands full with that one
that’s uh that’s so fun
well uh this is uh
i i just look forward you know we have
regularly we have eight meetings a
weekend and now it’s reduced down to one
and uh and we have the privilege of
rotating
as we always do but when you rotate one
it’s different than rotating eight
so i i’ve got to grab my moment here and
uh
and i am very thankful i get a chance to
talk to you i actually had
something that i was going to bring
today that i feel like is going to be
key for us for the next
probably 10 years it’s a specific thing
that i believe the lord is speaking
into our lives and and i’ll but i’ll do
that uh
another time because i i really felt
strong yesterday that i was to
talk to you out of concerning the
devil’s strategies
the devil is not one i talk about much
and generally
only long enough to put my crosshairs on
him and pull the trigger he’s not
he doesn’t fascinate me at all i don’t
study him i don’t just
i don’t study his thoughts or ideas but
uh
but paul did say i speaking of the of
the devil he says i don’t want you to be
unaware
of him i don’t want you to be ignorant
to his devices and
and so it’s i think it’s wisdom for us
just to
consider the devices the cool thing
about this hour now this
this hour that we’re in is weird it’s
chaotic it’s all the above
but if you remember that um the devil’s
strong suit
is sitting in the back row of the church
his last card
if you will is to expose himself and
right now he’s fully exposed
it’s not his best card it’s his last
card
remembering that will help us we know
that the way the enemy
dealt with adam and eve yes the
temptation was to for
uh partake of forbidden fruit but the
real temptation came before that
was to question what god said he started
the conversation with
has god said and then the way he
um worked with jesus in the wilderness
with his
temptation uh the devil came to him
and said if you’re the son of god so the
first thing was
to cause people to question what god has
said and the second has caused people
to question their identity and if the
enemy can get
us to be weakened in either of those two
things
all the other tactics and tricks that he
uses
we become very vulnerable to now christ
in us
is more than sufficient to withstand
any opposition persecution temptation
anything but when we draw
on strength other than christ then we
make ourselves an open target and
vulnerable
it’s the reason the apostle paul
actually exhorted
what i think is probably the strongest
new testament church
in the bible as the as the church at
ephesus he warns them in chapter four
don’t give place to the devil so he’s
saying this to the most mature
he’s saying this to the most insightful
and discerning their
their record in revival their record in
impacting culture i believe surpasses
every other church
in in the uh recorded in scripture and
to them he says
don’t give the devil an opportunity
don’t give him a place don’t open a door
because he will take possession of that
which you open the door to
it’s interesting we’re going to look in
nehemiah so if you turn to nehemiah
chapter 4 we’re going to start there
we’re going to read quite a few
scriptures today
so just uh keep it open because i’m
going to teach as we read
but it’s interesting in the story of
nehemiah in the storyline
there’s a time in here towards the end
of this incredible story
let me give you a context ezra was all
about rebuilding the temple
nehemiah is all about rebuilding the
walls of jerusalem
israel had been taken captive their
nations city of jerusalem had been
destroyed
they are now rebuilding under nehemiah’s
leadership nehemiah means the name means
comforter
so he’s a tremendous picture of the holy
spirit who leads us
into restoration and they had been
trying something for 70 years and failed
and
i forget 52 days or something like that
under the holy spirit’s leadership
he brought them into wholeness so this
is a very profound thing
but one of the points of of
a failure that the priesthood
in israel had was at one point towards
the end of nehemiah
they there was a room where they kept
all the sacrifices
and they emptied that room out and they
actually let one of the primary
enemies of israel live in that room
where did the enemy want to live where
there used to be sacrifice
anytime there is the absence of
sacrifice
there is an invitation for the enemy to
occupy
so we we look at these things through
scripture and we find
insights i i don’t need to be devil
conscious but i do need to be
god conscious and remember the things
that he values
he values sacrifice he needs nothing
that i have to offer him
he doesn’t need my skills he can do
everything better than i can he doesn’t
need my money he doesn’t need my time he
doesn’t need
anything that i have to offer except my
heart he wants that tremendously
but out of that surrender to christ
there
is suddenly the discovery of purpose
there’s this interesting passage i just
read this week i may try to teach on it
at some point because it really impacted
me
while i was reading in proverbs chapter
24.
in proverbs 24 it says this it says
where there is wisdom there is a
perception
of the end of things the outcome okay
where there’s wisdom there is perception
of
outcome and when you have those
ingredients
you have hope
now fear masquerades as wisdom
but what is the fruit of fear it is not
hope for the future
the reason the prophets of the new
testament romans
12 they were exhorted to prophesy
according to their faith
which tells me why there are so many
destructive prophetic words released
because of the smallness of faith
i don’t mean to be throwing stones i’m
just saying let’s draw a line here
of understanding so we can see with
greater clarity
of thought and heart and mind to
perceive
what actually is coming to us from the
lord and what isn’t
so nehemiah we’re going to read out of
two chapters that i haven’t taught on
for quite a while but i used to do ever
every once in a while just because of
the
i love some of the old testament stories
like david and goliath in these stories
they are so clear they just you know
they they
they help me they help me by the way i
read something from babylon b
this week that goliath actually died
from the coronavirus but
i don’t think it’s true he came
nauseated fell over and david cut his
head off but
i don’t think that was true sorry that’s
a
bad time for that joke sorry
okay see if we can recover so here we
are
two chapters we’re gonna read from
chapter four in chapter six and these
two chapters
actually expose the devil’s hand
expose the devil’s hand as clearly as
any place i can find in scripture
i don’t know any story that more clearly
unveils
the cards the enemy is holding all right
so let’s quit talking and get into this
all right so we have in this
uh chapter we’re going to go right
towards the end
and it says here in verse
15 it happened when our enemies heard
that it was known to us that god had
brought their plot to nothing
that all of us returned to the wall
everyone to his work
previous to this nehemiah had given them
an exhortation
to fight the see the enemy was
threatening
to block them from building and to tear
down what they built
at the beginning of this chapter they
mocked the people of god by saying
even if a fox jumps on that wall it’ll
crumble down
so this thing of intimidation through
mockery is an
ongoing tool if we become overly
self-conscious
we become overly sensitive to that
mocking spirit
because we will concern ourselves with
how we appear to someone else
even what you’re building if a fox
should jump on it
it’ll crumble down so nehemiah gets the
people together and he tells them
station yourself on the wall and he
gives them this wise advice
fight for your families
in other words what is the one thing a
person would be willing to take a bullet
for so to speak it’s it’s
that natural instinct i’ve got to lay my
life down for the sake
of my wife my children my grandchildren
i’ve got to lay my life on the line for
this and so that’s what he did
and so it says they return to the wall
everyone do his work verse 16.
so it was from that time on that half of
my servants worked at construction
while the other half held spears shields
bows
and wore armor the leaders were behind
the house of judah so the leadership was
all in agreement
to put these people half of them held
spears
and watched and waited uh to be able to
block or prevent any kind of an assault
the other half worked he goes on and it
says
uh everyone in verse 18 uh had uh
every one of the builders had his sword
girded at his side as he built
so here’s another picture there’s a
picture of half the group
one with swords spears the shields the
other with
working tools the next picture is
there’s all
another group of people they are working
but they have a sword here what is that
i believe it’s a unique picture of
praying without ceasing
it’s not kneeling in a chapel somewhere
as much as i love
that that is that is the creme de la
creme that’s the
that’s the ultimate time is just have
that face-to-face time with the lord
before him on my knees nothing better
but the instruction to pray without
ceasing is
not that because that’s not possible it
is to keep that lifestyle of continual
connection to the spirit of god where
the sword is always ready
the sword is always ready i remember a
guy teaching us years ago because 40
some years ago
he’s teaching us about this is uh this
is back in the 70s he
he lived in a second story of a of a
home and uh and it took forever
in the morning for his shower for the
hot water to get from their hot water
heater up to that
up to that uh uh shower and so the night
before he would turn the hot water on
just a little bit
and it would just kind of drip all night
long now we wouldn’t do that today
because we’re much more conscious about
waste
[Laughter]
some of you aren’t but some of you are
we would that wouldn’t be
applauded today but he would just keep
it on so that when he got up in the
morning he turned it on it was always
instant what does instant nc’s in and
out mean
it means that you continuously keep that
affectionate
attachment to the spirit of god
because you don’t know when the hot
water is needed you don’t know
when the enemy sneaks through that hole
in the wall that you are working on
presently areas that are destroyed or
damaged because of life we’ve all got
those blind spots and so we keep the
sword to our side
and i believe we do that through
continuous worship and through praying
in the spirit i think is one of the most
brilliant ways so
i want to encourage you with that it
says every one of the builders had
the sword girded at his side go down to
let’s go down to verse 22 at the same
time i said let each man and a servant
stay at night
in jerusalem they may be our guard by
night working by day
the next uh verse says they didn’t even
take their clothes off at night so the
point was
is they in for a season how many know
you can’t work
you can’t work 18-hour days as a
lifestyle
but in an emergency i can do it for a
short period of time the problem is
is when we see that as productive as it
is
the failure of many ministries is they
see the productivity of that 18 hour
a day week and they make it a lifestyle
and they burn out and crash
you know the illustration i like to use
is i’ve heard of
wheat farmers who who you know the the
wee farms they’ve got their kids
everybody’s working to bring in the
harvest and when that harvest is ready
you have to bring it in in a certain
period of time
and they may have two weeks where
they’ve got 18-hour days and the whole
family does that
and everybody works together but if you
do that as a lifestyle you destroy your
family you destroy your health you
destroy everything you have to know when
to unstring your bow so that it’s not
taut anymore it’s not
tight unstring it relax make up in the
next season
for the time you missed in this season
and we’re in one of those seasons where
the sword has to be at our side
we cannot afford to be found sleeping
because there’s
there’s too many demons dressed up like
people
amen that was a good word right there
yes indeed all right
jump over to chapter six
chapter six there’s a
the the enemies of israel verses one and
two there’s a bunch of them there tobiah
uh sambal uh geshem they said
come verse two says come let us meet
together among the villages in the plain
of ono
they thought to do me harm so i sent
messengers to them
saying i’m doing a great work so that i
cannot come down
why should the work cease while i leave
it and go down to you
they sent me this message four times and
i answered them in the same manner
here’s here’s
the deal
one of the first things the enemy does
for every one of us is distract us
from our assignment
it’s happened all through history where
where somebody will come into this
incredible place of breakthrough and
then they’ll start looking for something
else to do to add on to their ministry
and they start functioning outside of
their anointing outside of their gift
many ministries have ended on a down
slide
because they changed their focus from
what their assignment
to what they wanted
where you are anointed where god has
called you where he has assigned you
regardless of the applause of people
that assignment
is your sweet spot that’s where a
sound is released into the earth that
echoes the reality of heaven something
that’s like hitting that tuning fork
a sound release because you’re in your
element and in that element you’re
actually releasing presence
and power everything you do things
cannot be measured through
immediate we’re an immediate culture
everything is quick and
and we just can’t measure ministry that
way we have to think in terms of
not what kind of fruit am i going to get
this week through this activity
what am i going to get 10 years from now
because i’m living a
lifestyle that will earn me a place of
influence to bring transformation within
the system
finding that sweet spot is vital for
every person because we were all
born with unique purpose unique gifting
i personally think wisdom for life comes
from understanding his nature
understanding his promises and
discovering his purpose
those three things help to form in us
the
the heart of wisdom so that we do what
scripture says
he said teach us to number our days so
we can present to your heart of wisdom
teach us to put a limit on how much time
we have so that we
know we have to use the time well we’ve
got to discover the reason why
we’re alive the purpose of god in and
through us
i i think all of for all of us it goes
back to genesis 1
where he says be fruitful multiplicity
of the earth all of it has some sort of
a transformational influence
so he says four times now why does the
enemy come
repeatedly because he’s hoping
to change your confession
there becomes fatigue over time
where we shift in our focus from our
assignment
does this make sense to you where
there’s this um the re
repeated temptation come meet with us
come meet with us come meet us
come meet with us is it over and over
again at first time
what comes he says i’m doing a great
work why should this stop while i come
down and talk to you
tremendous i love that so much i’m what
i’m doing is awesome
i don’t have the time to talk to you and
he just keeps it up and keeps it up wide
hoping to diminish the effect of his
declaration
i’m not sure that came across quite as
significant as it is
when the bible says let the weak say i
am strong
he’s instructing us to declare
into our own soul into the atmosphere
the opposite of what we perceive
and if the repeated assault of the enemy
shapes in some measure our perception
then it’s going to weaken our decree
verse 5 sam balot sent his servant to me
as before
the fifth time with an open letter that
means he posted it on facebook
instagram and twitter
open letter for everyone to read
it was written it is reported among the
nations and geshem
says the you and the jews are planning
to rebel
therefore according to these rumors you
are rebuilding the wall that you may be
their king
you have appointed prophets to proclaim
concerning you at jerusalem saying
there is a king in judah now those
matters will be reported to the king
so come therefore let us consult
together
the tactics are obvious when you’re in
the middle of the pressure they’re not
so obvious but it’s easier to read it on
the page
when you’re in the middle of the
pressure
we try to think of some ways to ease
the pain of this kind of activity
accusation is one of the primary tools
an accusation is once again to get us to
weaken our posture of faith
and our confession our decree weaken
through a manipulation
manipulation is the core
um basis of witchcraft
spirit of witchcraft manipulation and
control
is the essence it develops into horrible
ugly things
but it starts pretty ugly and it’s
actually
used in parenting in sales
and so much of the american culture the
political system
and the religious system both herod’s
leaven and the pharisees 11
are riddled with this way of thinking
of using manipulation to get you to do
what i want you to do
years ago we were working to cover and
to
help restore a fallen believer i
remember one of the letters
that i received he he
told me who he was his radio show his
influence his
following that he had and he basically
said
you need to do this this and this or
i will expose you as actually being
involved in this sin
well there’s got to be some other
alternative it’s got to be like
like how can you if i don’t do what you
say how can you come to the conclusion
that i’m involved in the sin i made a
determination years ago
that what i discuss
in the back room one-on-one with a
person i will not make public
so that i look better in the eyes of the
critics
i’m not gonna i’m not gonna sacrifice
the reputation of this individual
who’s confided in me and who i have
locked horns with perhaps or rebuked or
working on correcting
i’m not bringing that into the open so
that so that somebody who wants this guy
thrown under the bus
will think better about me i’m not going
to do that
you you cannot be trusted with the
greater things in god
if you’re willing to sacrifice another
person for your own appearance
it’s it’s demonic i’m telling you it’s
demonic
so i just told the guy go for it i said
a little bit more than that
i told him he had an inflated sense of
self-importance
that felt real good to say
i’m not sure it was the lord but i felt
better when it was done
and as you can tell i probably still
haven’t repented come to think of
yourself
seriously the the tool it’s it it
happens in homes raising kids if you
don’t do this i will do this there’s
this control thing
and our our our approach to life has to
be cleaner than that
it can’t have that attachment of
manipulation
we can’t manipulate people to the
desired outcome
you know that went over well all right
let’s just keep going i um
uh verse 8 then i sent him saying no
such things as you say are being done
but you’ve you invent them in your own
heart
they were trying to make us afraid
saying their hands will be
weakened in the work and it will not be
done
do you hear it trying to make them
afraid so what
the work will stop
fear stops the building of the kingdom
realities
on planet earth you cannot build
and embrace fear
jump down to verse 13 it said for this
reason he was
hired that i should be afraid and act
that way and
sin
psalms 37 i think it’s verse 8 says
don’t fret it only leads to evil doing
the only possible outcome of fear
is sin the only possible outcome
so fear that masquerades us wisdom has
only one possible outcome and that is
sin
genuine wisdom has another outcome it is
a hope-filled future
because real wisdom has perception
i i want to be very careful here and
respectful
but honest too so let me see how i do
this
there’s a verse in this story
that says i’ll just read you out of
chapter 4 verse 12 it says so
it was when the jews who dwelt near them
this is now these are the enemies of
israel
think through this now the jews who
dwelt near them
they told us ten times from whatever
place you turn they will be upon us
what’s the point the jews who lived
close to the enemy
heard ten times over and over and over
and over again the threat
that the enemy had for them why
do you live near the devil
move
if you have the news on
all day long you are living near the
devil
and i’m not saying the news is the devil
i’m just saying the the
sometimes the media would rather have a
story than reveal truth
i have this picture i actually wanted to
show you today it shows
prince charles you know uh what one of
them
had his hand out like this
let’s see if i can get it on the camera
there we go so what does it look like i
do
it looks like i’m flipping somebody off
but what he was really doing from
another angle is he was holding up three
fingers to let somebody know a number
the way you project something
you create an image i have a friend
whose picture was on the front page of
the newspaper right next to a horrible
story
and under the picture they had a little
disclaimer that it had to do with
another story
but they were after this man to destroy
his reputation
so they put him under the title of this
horrible
story i don’t want to imply
that all the media is like that but
there is enough like that that all of us
have become
jaded and hesitant to receive
so why invite that into my home day
after day after day
i i told you guys at the beginning of
this thing four months ago
i said if you have more input from main
street mainstream media then you do the
word of god then your discouragement is
self-inflicted
this thing of fear is
a very serious issue so much so
that is the number one command in
scripture repeated more often
than any other because the lord knew the
enemy would use that continuously
now there is a real virus so i don’t
want to make light of that at all
our leaders we’ve got to pray for them
because they are in a tough place to
make
really rough decisions i do not envy any
of them
in the decisions they have to make i
have my own opinions
but we all do and they probably differ
so
and and they’re they’re not important in
this discussion what’s important
is that we pray i was reading this week
in proverbs again
that we that ungodly counsel in the
chambers of the king
will impact the nation in
unrighteousness
righteous counsel in the chambers of the
king brings righteousness to a nation so
that’s one of our prayers
does god remove the voice of the enemy
from
our leaders that you have put into place
whether i voted for them or voted for
somebody else
these leaders father we ask that you
would give them divine wisdom
your perception on stuff
and fear fear destroys that
he said verse 12 he said uh chapter six
then i perceived god had not sent him at
all
back up to verse 10 there is a prophet
hired to prophesy bad stuff and he
responds
verse 11 should a man such as me flee
verse 12 then i proceed god had not sent
him this is
important he sees somebody prophesying
evil towards him
he responds out of his identity not out
of a word from the lord
he did not see the situation clearly he
just saw who he was and what he was
trying to do
and he he responded out of that he had
no clarity on the on the moment
except who he was and he said should a
man like me
flee and as soon as a word came out of
his mouth he suddenly saw the whole
strategy of the enemy the lord unveiled
it for him to see clearly why
he needed to make a decree first what do
you think jesus did
when he stood and said the spirit of the
lord god is upon me
it was before he had performed one
miracle he made the decree out of isaiah
the spirit of the lord god is upon me
he made the decree of why he was sent to
planet earth as the son of god
to redeem man and to restore the broken
situations of people’s lives
he made the decree and suddenly
everything just begins to open up
same thing happened for nehemiah he
stands in that place he knows his
purpose
and he says should a man like me flee
and then he sees the strategy of the
enemy
the lord lifts the veil on his eyes and
he sees clearly then i perceive their
end
sometimes perception follows
a confession of faith
sometimes confess perception prophetic
perception
follows a confession
of faith a decree that god has given us
we rarely have been given the whole
picture but we’ve all been given enough
to obey
we’ve all been given enough to obey
we’ve all been given enough to do
something
to do something to make the decree to
have that sword at our side where
we’re constantly in in the place of
wanting to hear god’s heartbeat
and i’ll tell you what in this moment
unlike any season i’ve ever been in my
in my life
i have to know god’s heart
i don’t want to say minute by minute
because that would be an exaggeration
for my
my own lifestyle but i will say hour by
hour
i’ve got to have that touch that
connection to his pulse to his heartbeat
or i will think out of my own perception
instead of his
i cannot i cannot afford to come to
conclusions
about stuff out of my own experience
it’s a part of the picture it’s just not
the whole picture
i need desperately to stay connected to
the promises of god the word of god
his view on stuff wisdom will give me
hope because i perceive the end
that’s the word wisdom will give me hope
because i have perception of the outcome
of his intended outcome
and it’s worth fighting for
we know that media whether it’s
news or sitcoms or whatever they’re
they like constantly or they deceive
deceive
means that they reveal certain amounts
of truths
but not enough to change your pers to
alter your perception
the goal is to control the narrative
um let me leave that
so we know that lifestyles are projected
in sitcoms movies whatever
they’re a deception of god’s intent and
plan
we face it every single day every day of
our life
while i have concerns about the
deception and the lies and
all that stuff my biggest concern is not
that my biggest concern
is they are discipling a nation to their
worldview
they are disciplining a nation to their
worldview
paul says in colossians keep your mind
set on things above where christ
is seated for you and then he goes on to
talk about
your conversion you’ve been redeemed you
are in christ seated in heavenly places
what’s the point
my focus has to be on christ
exalted above every name including
viruses
including political oppositions all
these things
if i don’t have him at the center of my
thoughts
as the redemptive one then i will take
an inferior perspective
perspective on life perception of life i
will think
separate from the one who has a
redemptive answer for every broken
situation
and the crazy thing is is it feels
spiritual because you have a burden
but the burden is called fear the burden
is not released in the presence
the burden makes you feel discerning and
spiritual because
oh those are troubling times
you’re doing nothing till you pray
you’re doing nothing until you pray
a phone telephone pole can feel what’s
going on
and don’t quote me on that but you know
it doesn’t take a spiritual giant to
discern what’s happening in the world
that’s crazy
to feel it the weightiness of it and to
do nothing
is to waste space why are you on planet
earth
we were given the ability to perceive
that we might come
on that paved that paved pathway
paved with blood to give me legal and
free access
to come before the father because out of
wisdom
i perceive there is a redemptive
solution
and i will come in hope to the one who
has already promised me ahead of time
two or three of you agrees to touching
anything it will be done for you
anything he says
and then he puts us in a place to
perceive trouble why
so that out of wisdom we might perceive
the conclusion
the worldview the world view
exposes you to pain without a redemptive
solution the world view
of the world system political herod
religious pharisees their
world views perceive pain
but their solutions have nothing to do
with christ the redeemer
the fight is over world view the fight
is over perception of what’s happening
and we got a lot of things that we’ve
got to have wisdom on and answers and
bold faith and i get all that and i i
don’t want to diminish any of those
but i’m telling you it is a distraction
to give yourself to an issue that you
lack divine perspective of
i don’t know if i said that well but i
sure meant well
for this reason verse 13 he was hired
that i should be afraid
there are people being paid to make you
afraid
and act that way and sin so they might
have
cause for an evil report
that they might reproach me
we’ll end with this verse
verse 16 and it happened
verse 15 says the wall was completed so
verse 16
and it happened when all our enemies
heard of it and all the
nations around us saw these things
that they were very disheartened in
their own eyes
for they perceived that this work was
done by our god
did you hear what it said they weren’t
just discouraged
they they were disheartened in their own
eyes do you remember when the spies went
into the promised land
and they came back and they said we
appear as grasshoppers in our own
eyes our own perception
of us is very insignificant
and they are significant the tables just
got turned
because of a man guided by the holy
spirit led them into redemptive solution
after redemptive solution rejecting
every opportunity for
fear and something was accomplished that
they had failed at for
two generations and the wall was built
and he said he said they were
disheartened in their own eyes
because they could see this work was
done by god
we need a miracle we need a miracle for
the healing of our nation the healing of
our state
it’s bigger than the things that come to
mind all the things that are being
reported to us those are
those are obviously big concerns
but there’s about to be some exposure
done
in in our country of some very deeply
rooted
things that are not on hardly anybody’s
radar
but they will be and the lord is
exposing this
to bring healing and what you and i have
to do
is stay together just stay together
just stay linked stay members of one
another
the communion thing that chris led us in
earlier did it was absolutely
perfect and right the whole thing
communion together family
in this next season i want to encourage
you
in this prayer without ceasing staying
close to the heart of god
praying in the spirit just worshiping
throughout the day
um i i like to uh whether i’m in my
office i’m here on the grounds or
at my home i like i just have these
moments of just inspired thought where i
just realize this goodness
just just in the middle of what i’m
doing
god i give you thanks you are so good
if your heart burns for him
if it doesn’t work at it till it does
stay there till it does because what you
want to do is you want to
you want your heart to burn for him so
that that fire never dies out you never
have to worry about rekindling it again
it’s hard to get a fire started
it’s not hard to keep on burning
i love us and i’m looking forward to us
the bigger us
getting together again but un until that
day i
i just want to talk to the bethel family
that is outside of the room and just
say thank you some of you are meeting at
home some of you are
perhaps watching it work but whatever
thank you the strength of the church is
the two or three gathered in his name
that is the strength of the church the
prophetic
direction is set in the large corporate
setting
but the strength of the church is the
two or three
that agree as to touching anything
history is shaped
by that group that carries governmental
influence
kingdom influence to shape history
that’s who you are and i i just i
bless you with renewed effort renewed
focus
to see the kingdom of god come to earth
be
unwilling to be moved when the enemy
comes along there’s another thing
another bad report another thing to fear
be a nehemiah who says why should the
great work i’m doing stop
while i pay attention to you i don’t
have the time
give yourself some credit for having
influenced this simply because you love
people
some of you that are watching and we
have our bethel family local we have
international bethel family we have
others that are just
guests maybe you stumbled onto this
broadcast
the most important thing that could
happen today
is that if you are outside of a personal
relationship with jesus
is that you take advantage of this
moment that i believe god orchestrated
just for you
that you would be able to become a
follower
of jesus christ one who receives him
jesus said
or says of jesus in john chapter 1 to as
many as have received him
to them he gives the right or the
authority
to become children of god so we have
pastors that are on the bethel tv
program and zoom call or not on
youtube we have pastors that are ready
to talk to any one of you that would
just say
i want to know jesus i
i desire to be forgiven of sin i want a
new beginning
and regardless of what your history is
that’s the that’s the thing
that i’m talking about here today
regardless of how big of a mess
a person is in a city or a nation is in
god has a redemptive solution and if i
lose sight of the christ
seated on the throne above every
authority that i will
fall and fall into fear and you have the
opportunity for christ to be seated at
the absolute throne of your life
everything changes today
i want you guys to stand i’m going to
wrap this up in prayer
and then i will put my mask on
because i’m a mask wearer
oh
father i ask that you would grace every
person
watching this in the room and abroad
every person a grace a gift for wisdom
that perceives the end
that we would be hope filled because we
see your purposes
in the earth help us to never be
distracted
from what you have made clear in
scripture
your kingdom come your will be done
on earth as it is in heaven i pray this
for this church family all of our guests
i pray that you had marked them with
blessing that our lives will be marked
with presence
in jesus wonderful name amen bless you
thanks for joining us thanks