In this sermon from 2018, Bill Johnson unpacks how to treasure the Word. The Bible is so deep that we will be studying for eternity, as every facet is a glimpse of His face. The Word of God is endless in its scope and study. Bill shares personal secrets from his own time in the Word, including stories of when he audibly heard the voice of God. He also unpacks Isaiah 30. In this sermon from 2018, Bill Johnson unpacks how to treasure the Word. The Bible is so deep that we will be studying for eternity, as every facet is a glimpse of His face. The Word of God is endless in its scope and study. Bill shares personal secrets from his own time in the Word, including stories of when he audibly heard the voice of God. He also unpacks Isaiah 30.

thank you thanks

[Applause]

nice to see you

nice to see us

i was in

houston

and then phoenix last week

and i had such an amazing privilege

of speaking at

maya morello had a conference

to celebrate his 50th year of preaching

the gospel 50 years i think he started

when he was five

but preaching the gospel for 50 years

and his ministry is what just completely

changed my life

and uh so i whenever i introduce him i

i introduce my i owe this man my life

and uh anyways what an incredible honor

to be there to celebrate

his 50th year and

do this conference is just

just one of the highlights of my life a

great treat then i was in phoenix

at uh church for all nations with the dr

michael mayton and they’ve got such an

amazing amazing work there

um he went through hell you know 30

years or so ago 20 some years ago

and somebody ran off with the

money and this is a horrible story

and but the lord has so restored

him

in the church there multiple campuses

that place is exploding and he’s one of

my favorite people everywhere anywhere

both

he and his wife mary just thankful for

them so it was a great treat to be with

them last week

and now i’m at my favorite place on the

planet right here

they have a place

i uh somebody gave me this this morning

someone figured out my password

now i have to rename my dog

[Applause]

i just think that is so funny

the flat earth society has members all

around the globe

[Laughter]

how many of you have had your coffee

you should be getting these yes

first woman in space women you have to

forgive me are already at the beginning

here

first women in space

houston we have a problem

what kind of problem

never mind

what’s the problem nothing

please tell us i’m fine

[Applause]

that’s funny

that is fun

i asked my grandpa

after 65 years of marriage you still

call grandma darling beautiful honey

what’s the secret

he said i forgot her name five years ago

and i’m afraid to ask

[Applause]

one more one more one more and then

we’re through for the day

god promised men

the good and obedient wives would be

found in all corners of the earth

then he made the earth round and he

laughed and laughed

[Applause]

[Laughter]

oh boy okay

i had kind of an unusual thing happened

uh yesterday it wasn’t dramatic it was

just it just caught me off guard

the lord spoke to me

and he told me to talk to you about

isaiah chapter 30.

which i don’t get that kind of direction

so it caught me completely off guard

because i don’t even think in those

terms

i have been reading isaiah in uh recent

last several days

and i had read

isaiah

30 was one of the chapters that i read

yesterday

and

and he spoke to me so clearly that i was

to talk to you about isaiah 30. so

i started pondering um what i was

supposed to do i mean obviously

i need to talk to you about isaiah 30.

but it represented something for me that

is what i’m going to talk to you about

isaiah 30 is one of the maybe 100 places

in the scripture

where the lord has fed my soul

when i’ve been

in trouble

fearful

anxious whatever it might be

um i’ve learned through the years that

whenever i’m i’m

going through something what i want to

do is i want to meet with jesus

and this book right here is jesus in

print

you know don’t tell me you love jesus

and you don’t love his book because this

is him in print

and and what happens is

i read this verse this morning actually

it said

the lord waters the seed that we plant

so just think in the natural you take a

seed you put it in the ground he’s the

one who brings the rain

it’s also true of the word we plant in

our heart it’s up to us to plant the

seed of god’s word into our heart he’ll

make sure he waters it once it’s planted

so the point is is we have

responsibility to take what god is

saying and make sure it gets planted

safely into our heart where he can water

and bring bring fruit from this from

so i remember

early on in my walk with the lord in

fact

i

benny and i got married i was 21 she was

18.

and uh

we’d have an evangelist come to town

he’d say how many of you have teenagers

at home and i’d raise my hand

and about that time i’d get the elbow

and the ribs i think i’m still bruised

here from

from the elbow and the rims ribs

oh yeah those teenagers are challenging

yeah

yeah amen

i remember

about that period of time i i went

through just a very very difficult

situation it’s the absolute worst

situation i’d ever gone through my life

and it was a betrayal of sorts and it

was just extremely painful and you know

it’s one thing it’s one thing to

determine in your heart i’m just i i

forgive and i’m going to walk in

forgiveness

it’s another to settle down the

firestorm that’s in your brain

in your mind and i remember the fight i

remember the fight

goodness i remember

i remember being at work one night i was

a custodial engineer

i cleaned the toilets and vacuumed the

floors

at the city hall

and

police department in santa rosa that’s

where i happened to be going to school

and i remember just being in this fight

over my mind and over my heart and i had

already made the determination i’m gonna

walk in forgiveness

but it was just a horrendous

personal experience

and so i remember

i remember being at work and

goodness every three minutes

i’d have to try to settle the firestorm

in my brain and i just i’m going i walk

in forgiveness i forgive this person i

did find

through the journey that if you can put

forgiveness into an action it’s like

two-part epoxy you make the decision the

termination the confession but then you

put an action together and it solidifies

the decision but i was in the process in

the journey of discovering this

so i remember being at work and i i

don’t recommend you doing this but i had

my bible with me

and uh and i would i would be so

overwhelmed by this thing my my thoughts

were going crazy i would just open the

bible somewhere and point

now

don’t get your direction from the lord

doing this

i’m telling you my story i’m not trying

to give you an example

but i did that’s exactly what i did i i

did it at least 20 times truth be known

it’s probably closer to 50 times in one

night

because i was i was i was i was in such

pain

and such turmoil and have forgiveness

and three minutes later five minutes

later 10 minutes later i would just take

the bible i would open at that point

every time

i did that he spoke to me exactly what i

needed every single time

and it probably was closer to 50 times

in one evening i don’t recommend you

doing that

because you could go judas went and hung

himself

that’s not good

go thou and do likewise that’s it’s just

a bad combination of verses so

you got to be careful what you do but in

that evening i in that night i was

honestly i was in such

pain in my heart the lord was so

gracious that he used that as a method

to talk to me

that was a part of my journey to learn

how to find safe places

where i could retreat to and let me

describe that

my home has always been a home of peace

always

benny and i determined from the very

beginning it’s never been a house of

conflict

doesn’t mean we don’t have difficulties

or challenges like anyone else but it is

just a place of peace always is a place

of peace

i learned that when you you come home

after a long day you never greet each

other with difficulties or challenging

things unless it’s an emergency

you always greet each other in peace

excuse me if there’s difficult things to

talk about you schedule at a mutually

convenient time so that you’re both at

your best to deal with whatever issue

arises so anyway we we just learned we

learned to maintain the house of peace

and so my home has always been you know

no matter what kind of craziness i i

experienced out there and when i go home

it’s a place of peace

well

how many of you would like to have a

little cabin by a lake somewhere up in

the mountains yeah the little place of

refuge yes jesus hear my cry amen all

right

we would all like to have that

and i actually have probably a thousand

of them in here

they’re places of such absolute peace

where there’s interaction

i hear his heart his mind and i

literally come face to face

with him

i’ve i’ve been in these situations as i

was that night

where i i need i need god i

in that situation i didn’t need an

answer i just needed deliverance i

needed help

and so i walked in forgiveness and

and it got to where it wasn’t every

three minutes it was every 10.

eventually it was every 30 minutes

eventually a couple times a day

eventually it was

once or twice a week

and then eventually

you look at the thing

and you can say with absolute confidence

you have no influence in me none

whatsoever you have no influence

you would think as big as he is he could

just deliver us from the moment so we

don’t have to have that kind of fight

but the crazy thing is it’s the fight

that conditions me to live in the

blessing once i get the breakthrough

that without the conditioning

i wouldn’t be able to handle that which

god wanted to release into my life

so i remember that particular evening

and since then i’ve had

so many situations throughout my life

and isaiah 30 is one of

on those

more positive note

when i as a young man i had this desire

to write

now you have to understand my grades

were good i

i did fine but i was not a good student

i’ve told you that before my mom

disagrees with me but trust me she

i was a great student

i i just you know i just

i just wasn’t very good

learning wasn’t

i wasn’t interested

i was always daydreaming

about being somewhere else my senior

year i had enough credits i think i

ended up with four pe classes

which is like heaven on earth you know

i’d rather play sports anyway so i just

whittled it down i think i just played

volleyball my senior year out in the

parking lot and that’s what i did all

day you know

and that was that was my kind of school

right there

permanent recess

i always pulled an a in recess so

but i you know as a young man i i had

this desire to write

and uh i know enough about what the

father’s like now

that if that’s that desire is there you

know just get the car rolling it’s

easier to steer you know just start

pursuing but i i didn’t know that i

didn’t know that then and i wasn’t at

all confident

in uh and

my ability to write i mean my

any report that i did

i’m embarrassed to say but i’ve just

copied out of an encyclopedia i just

you know i didn’t know what i was

talking about but i would just copy it

and

those were my reports explained

encyclopedia you know

it’s a big book yeah

so the point was as i i felt extremely

unqualified to write but i had a desire

i didn’t have the courage to even try

but i

i just had that dream so i would pray i

prayed about it and prayed about it

and one time dick mills was down in

chico dick mills is a prophet friend of

our family good friend of ours and

encouraged me so much in waverville he’s

one of these guys he had 7 700 all 7 700

promises in the bible memorized

in various translations just because he

could

and uh and he would you know we’d be at

a restaurant and i’d say that girl right

there she goes to our church he says

bring her over here and so he would

bring her over and say hey come here and

introduce and he’d get this incredible

prophetic word just by quoting scripture

it was it was jehovah’s sneaky that did

this because the church had so rejected

the prophetic that’s hard to argue when

all that uses the bible scripture so he

snuck the prophetic back into the church

as as only he can but it was just so fun

so binding our and the kids were went

down to chico we’re just going to hang

out with him for the day and then there

was a meeting that night so we went into

town had lunch and

and i was hoping in my heart of hearts

that he would give me a word about

writing because i did not have the

courage to pursue it unless i knew god

was in it

so i’m not saying my approach was

correct i’m just saying

that’s what i did

so i went to the meeting i didn’t have

the t-shirt pick me pick me but i i did

have that prayer god it should be cool

so we we went to lunch hung out for the

day and that evening was a meeting

there’s a bunch of people in the room

and so he preaches for his at whatever

time and when he’s through he says i’m

going to be calling out several of you

and i’m going to be giving you a good

word from god i’m going to give you a

promise and he says when i’m through

giving you a word i’m going to hand the

microphone to bill and bill is going to

give you a word

[Laughter]

we had never discussed this

and while i didn’t have very many verses

memorized i had some

and they all got raptured they all

evaporated immediately

i was struggling to remember jesus wept

and i sure that wouldn’t encourage

anybody

and i i literally i’m panicked but i’m

cool on the outside but i’m panicked i’m

inside going

have i ever read the bible before

everything just

vanished

it’s absolutely true so dick calls this

lady out and he gives you this great

word he hands me the microphone

and the anointing that was on him then

came on me

and i functioned in his gift that’s an

interesting way to learn

because you get tethered to somebody

else and if there’s honor and submission

or you actually get to step into their

momentum

and i actually functioned as he did that

night it didn’t continue but what

happens is the lord will give you a

taste of a reality that you can then

pursue legally in your own journey

and so that’s what happens i tasted of

that grace and i i had scriptures coming

back to mind that i had you know

memorized or read years before and i was

rather shocked and the meeting was over

and we’re hanging out up front and

people we’re talking to people and stuff

and this lady comes up to me with this

this

torn piece of paper about this big

and it’s just torn off of another piece

of paper and she says i feel like god

spoke this word to me

for you and i read it and i said this is

what i came praying about and it was a

word about writing

and i said i was praying about this she

said oh good she said i tore it up twice

before i gave it to you

so she encouraged me so much i didn’t

have what it took to sit down and then

write a book but at least i had i was

going in the right direction i knew that

god’s in this

a short time later i was at i was uh

at home

and we we had this home back in the back

in the woods a little ways beautiful

home and

and i woke up in the middle of the night

with the voice of the lord this has only

happened to me twice

the voice the voice woke me

and imagine being sound asleep and then

hearing somebody talk to you and this is

what he said

isaiah

30 verse 8.

i would

and this is what i said

that was clear

that was clear

and so when i got up i opened isaiah 30

verse 8 and it said

now go and write

so it was a tipping for point for me

where i began to write small pieces this

isn’t about that this is about

a journey that i have with this book

i have

little

cabins by lakes

from genesis to revelation and there are

places where i can go and become

refreshed places that i go hide i

remember a real challenging situation

that i was facing about 11 years ago

and man it just it just rocked me just

messed me up so much as just very deep

and personal

it wasn’t uh conflict or you know

anything of that nature it was very just

a real deep

challenge

and i remember

what i do is i i go to the word i i will

go and i will read till i hear his voice

and i’ve sat down before and i’ve read

20 chapters 25 chapters before he speaks

to me

but the point is i have to find the seed

then he’ll send the rain

that’s the whole point is i have to take

what he’s saying i’ve got to put it in a

safe place where i demonstrate i

treasure your word for me

and then i hide it away it’s interesting

last night when i i uh went to bed uh on

the web i have a little table next to uh

benny and i both have on each side of

the bed a little table

and um

i have a stack of three by five cards

that sit on that table and they’re just

promises i’ve gotten from the lord i i

have more than that in in my ipad and

iphone and computers and everything

i’ve got files on my i’ve got two huge

binders this big in my office one is

just for words about bethel and warren

personal words so anyway i got into bed

and i looked out that stack and i read

the top verse and it was uh you know it

was the promise that the lord had put

none of these diseases upon you and that

he would be our healer and all that so i

read that i thought that was cool i

thought what’s in the middle so i opened

the middle of the stack up

isaiah 30.

and i began to read three verses that

we’re going to read here in a moment i

realize all right i get it i get it i

get it so i’m not teaching on isaiah 30

as much as i’m saying

develop a history

where you have

places where you can retreat to

places see this book is so deep that

you’ll be reading studying it for

eternity

and it will never be boring every

little new nuance will be another

glimpse of his face what he’s like his

nature his heart for you

and it’s it’s endless in its

scope in its study

so i remember

i i was uh about 11 i think said 11

years or so ago i i was facing this just

personal struggle so disheartening

and

i remember just getting into psalms and

psalms 25 just lit up to me it fed me so

much

i i went i went chapter 26 and it was

almost like it was even more tailor-made

for me in 27 i think i actually ended up

going uh five or six psalms deep into

that where every single one fed me the

point is

today

even though i’m not facing the same

challenge

when i go into psalms 25 i will

intentionally walk wade into that psalm

going this is a place of health for me

now you can read it and enjoy it too but

i’m loaning it to you

it happens to be my personal

gift that i loaned to you

just joking but you get the point it’s

it’s i have history there i have i can

show you in weaverville the uh where the

church is in weaverville um the new

church um i used to walk that property i

didn’t know it was two lots owned by two

different owners

and i used to go up there and just walk

and pray and i’d say god we we need to

build a new building we’ve grown out of

our

own and we just need this land so i’d

walk and walk and

coincidentally

both uh pieces of land came up for sale

at the same time by two different owners

and so we we uh we bought it

and uh danny when he was in weaverville

ended up building the building but the

point is i remember walking that land

and i i just i like to walk and pray i

like to get alone and meet with god and

i would just walk walk that land and i’d

cry out to god for revival cry out to

god for whatever it was that we were

facing

and i remember standing by one

particular tree so

uh so troubled in my heart for what i

felt god wanted to do and

and so overwhelmed with what wasn’t

happening and i remember just personal

uh issues and

not struggles uh challenges for my faith

to see breakthrough in this area neter

and just weeping before the lord and

having him talk to me out of psalm 68 i

will never forget it i could take you

the tree’s not there anymore because

they cut a bunch of them down but i

could probably almost take you to the

exact spot where he spoke to me out of

psalm 68 and as i read i like to read

uh i don’t like to randomly go

throughout the scripture i read the

gospels or the whole new testament or

the prophets or the books of law

whatever i take them in sections and i

generally read and reread i i spent

goodness i spent 10 years

reading and re-reading the gospels i

read other places too but i just i

couldn’t get out of the gospels

so anyway here i am

uh in the in the psalms and i’m and i’m

reading and the lord speaks to me

and to this day it is now

30 years later

i

go to that verse it’s still alive like

it was today it fed my soul still alive

like the day it refreshed me and my

faith it it did not change any

circumstances but it changed me

see what you want is you want to be

changed into the person that is capable

to dwell in the blessing that you’re

praying for

so often we want god to add something to

our life without us being transformed

into one who is capable of stewarding

well what we’ve asked for the fight is

for that purpose the fight of our faith

the challenge the discipline those

things and so here we are we’re in

isaiah chapter 30 if you haven’t turned

there already please do because we’re

going to read just a couple verses out

of there

i’m going to read this out of the new

american standard i like it so much

better

and that was actually the translation i

was using at the time and

perhaps that’s why

it just it sounds more like his voice

the way he he spoke to me

isaiah 30 verse 18

therefore the lord longs to be gracious

to you

and therefore he waits on high to have

compassion on you

for the lord is a god of justice

how blessed are all those who long for

him

o people in zion inhabit in jerusalem

you will weep no longer

he will surely be gracious to you at the

sound of your cry

when he hears it he will answer you

although the lord has given you bread of

privation

and water of oppression

he your teacher will no longer hide

himself

but your eyes will behold your teacher

and your ears will hear a word behind

you

this is the way walk in it

whenever you turn to the right

or to the left

it’s just a portion that i will

return to every once while because it

feeds me it’s like for me it’s like

joshua chapter one verses five through

nine it’s just a place i weighed into

because i have i have met with him over

those verses and he’s brought peace to

me in the middle of challenging

situations or peace to me when i have

ached for more and i didn’t have

anything to show for what i aged for

he is the word that’s why you can’t

separate the voice

from the presence

when he speaks

he is

it’s two sides of the same coin

it’s why you have in john

1

jesus is the word of god made flesh

but in john 6

when jesus spoke the word became spirit

because when he speaks

presence is there

and presence throughout scripture old

and new testament is represented by one

picture in one picture alone the

presence is

the face of god

it’s the

joyful

delighting accepting countenance of a

perfect father

voice presence

face

see the cabin by the lake is nice

but when you’re in the middle of

difficulty and you your life is laid

down to honor just this one jesus

and

everything seems to be on the line and

you’ve been anticipating breakthrough

there’s been a delay in answers and

there’s the anguish of the heart because

god i’ve been believing you i’ve been

confessing i’ve been praying i’ve been

doing everything i know to do

it’s not the time

to throw in the towel because

oftentimes the greatest breakthrough

comes when we just take that one more

step

and taking that one more step and saying

god i’ve got to meet with you and we

meet together and he talks to me and in

this case isaiah 30 represents a chapter

where he has ministered to me deeply on

many many occasions

i can take you from the beginning to the

end of this great book the word of god

the scriptures and i can give you my

history i met with him here at this

point this chapter changed my life this

verse in mark 8 changed the way i

thought for the rest of my life i will

never think the same again because of

this verse right here on the left page

right side column halfway down it’s got

all kinds of marks around it

but the point is is that history is on

those pages

it’s a safe place

everybody needs a safe place

your home

your friends family

but also with god

where his voice is there

and he comforts

one of the more frustrating parts of our

relationship and forgive me for putting

it in those terms

but one of the more frustrating parts of

my relationship with him

is the fact that he won’t always tell me

what to do

all i want is this will just tell me

what to do i just you know i got door a

b and c just tell me which one i’m happy

i’m happy i love your will it’s always

been good

and there are sometimes i’m i i want to

know

his plan for my life

just show me what i’m supposed to do

and i’m standing here and i hear nothing

i said god come on and i i remember one

situation years ago

i even resorted to fasting i was that

desperate

fasting

god what do you want me to do nothing

and i finally it was 11 59 so to speak

and i just i had to make a decision so i

just made a decision just went to door a

walked through and he was on the other

side going

good choice

good job

you scare me

the way you do things just ah scares me

but i love you

and i don’t understand you at all

but now that it’s over that was fun

right

and sometimes you know sometimes we’re

stan i’m standing here and i’ve got door

a b and c and and i don’t know what to

do and i’m waiting for him to give me

his voice and sometimes he’s very clear

i mean you know isaiah 30 verse 8 is

pretty clear it tells me exactly what to

do but there are other times he just

won’t

and it’s not until

i approach door c

and get my hand on the handle he says

be

and i go all right

cool

and i take his direction but he didn’t

speak until i came to the moment of

decision the point is

is the hunger isn’t for a road map

the hunger is for a tour guide

the hunger is not for a plan for the

rest of my life even though that may be

what i would like

what i really ache for is the person

to meet with him

have him speak to me

sometimes i’m filled with questions i

ask him about all this stuff he doesn’t

answer one of them he just touches me at

a different place because he knows the

pain of this started way back over here

and so he ministers deeply

the point is

is that we come to him

and he speaks

and he brings comfort he brings peace

sometimes he gives us an insight we know

exactly what to do sometimes we have

that courage just act other times

nothing has changed but i feel better

about horrible circumstances

it’s a weird thing but i just feel

better

see i want him to give me detailed

instruction

kind of like a slave

wants

detailed instructions

and he’s wanting me to act as a son

who he trained to think like he does

that makes me so nervous

i’d rather him just tell me

but he’s actually wanting me to change

so he invites us

into this book

here’s an interesting part at the end of

the chapter

let me just read to you just as a bonus

and then we’ll wrap this up

in

verse 29

you will have songs as in the night when

you keep the festival gladness of heart

as one marches around to the sound of

the flute

to go to the mountain of the lord the

rock of israel

the lord will cause his voice of

authority to be heard

the descending of his arm to be seen in

fierce anger the flame of his consuming

fire this is all against your enemy so

be happy

in a cloud burst a downpour hail stones

for at the voice of the lord assyria

will be terrified listen to this when he

strikes with the rod

every blow of the rod of punishment

which the lord will lay on your enemy

will be

with music of tambourines

and harps

we bring out the bazookas we’re ready to

go to war god says now pick up the

guitar

but

we’re going to war he says i know

i’ll amplify the sound

you doing this

releases that

we’re best in war when we’re not devil

focused anyway

so here we are just celebrating his

kindness playing the piano

lifting a voice

whatever it may be

anytime we have this many people in the

room the chances are high

that we have people here who have never

made a personal commitment to the lord

jesus christ there isn’t

a more important part of this day

listen to me carefully there are not

many ways to god

if there were many ways then the father

requiring jesus to be crucified would be

cruel

he was crucified as the only possible

solution

a perfect man

dying on behalf of everyone who is

imperfect which is all of us

he made that sacrifice so that everyone

here those watching online

those in the overflow everyone here

could have a personal relationship with

jesus to know what it is to be born

again that’s the bible term born again

change from the inside out

and i want to give this opportunity for

anyone who would be in this room and

just say bill i don’t want to leave the

room until i know

that i’ve been forgiven by god that i

know

that i’m right with god that if i were

to die today i would spend eternity with

god i’d spend eternity in heaven with

him

if that fits anybody in this room you

say bill i don’t want to leave till i

know i’m at peace with god then i want

you just to put your hand up right where

you are

take just just a moment for this put

your hand right here yes thank you sir

beautiful

anybody else real quick

just put your hand up

anyone else but you end up real quick i

don’t want to miss anyone

okay let’s do this i want everyone to

stand

everyone to please stand

and if i missed you

please forgive me but i would like to

have ministry team come to the front and

the gentleman put your hand up please

just come right up over here as we have

people that we know and love that we

trust to talk with you and to pray with

you would you honor this one who’s

making this confession of faith today

god bless you

god bless you right over here yeah thank

you

beautiful

come on somebody get happy that’s just

good

amazing amazing

never ever gets old

all right i want to pray for you because

i believe the lord wants to release

a gift

you know i have people say

i read the word but i don’t remember

what it says

how many of you would

i read the word i don’t remember what it

says

i don’t remember what i had for

breakfast last week either but it still

nourished me just eat

[Applause]

yes amen put your hands in front of you

you’re going to receive a gift

father i ask that you would make

the word of god

our eternal safe place

that for everybody in this room a new

level of history would form today

where we encounter you we meet with you

over the issues the challenges the

opportunities of our life and you speak

to us once again

i welcome that i pray for that

and this body of believers i ask in

jesus name amen amen

now if you hold your place tom’s going

to help us to figure out what to do next

so good could we give pastor bill a big

hand thankful for that