There are always measurable behavioral changes that illustrate what we believe. Bill Johnson walks us through the four cornerstones of thought. God is good. Nothing is impossible with God. Jesus settled everything at Calvary. I am significant.
i want you to open your bibles to the
book of name
is where we’re going to start we’ll
actually have four different portions of
scripture today
nahum nahum and right after micah if
that helps
if you get to the psalms turn to hard
right if you get to matthew turn left
it’s it’s in there somewhere all right
we’re gonna actually start with this
verse but we have several others
that i mentioned uh everyone
i would say probably everyone who has
the privilege of getting up and
speaking uh teaching god’s word
preaching his heart
what what we’re interested in most is
just representing him well
and saying what he’s saying you know
i’ve shared my ideas before they’re not
near as fun as sharing his ideas
so that’s our heart our heart is always
to hear what the lord is saying
we pray for direction and sometimes it
comes externally sometimes it comes
overwhelming in a sense of faith for
something and other times it comes from
a desire
sometimes you just have something that
stirs up inside of you and you find
yourself
wanting to do something and that’s the
position i’m in today wanting to do
something that
i normally wouldn’t do in in this
context
only because we’ve done it before and
here’s the picture that i had this
morning
i i felt i i felt that
it would be important for us to review
some things that we’ve done in the past
and here’s the picture i had a trucker
who
takes a load of logs or lumber or you
know whatever
goods he’s carrying drives a while and
then pulls over
because the load will have shifted and
settled and he always they always
re-tighten the straps they always they
always get it tighter and i feel like
through the wild ride we’ve been on the
last 12 months
might be good if we just kind of pulled
over and tightened up the straps
and so that’s actually what i feel like
i’m doing today is i feel like i’m just
cranking down the straps making sure
that
that we don’t lose anything on this next
journey because i expect it to be
a wild ride we’ll just call it mr toad’s
wild ride
but um it’s just time to tighten down
the load so
here’s what i wanted to do i want to
talk to you about something that um
as i said i’ve done before i want to
talk to you about what i what i call the
four
cornerstones of thought there are areas
of
thinking and values um things that we
uh embrace that when they are in place
they actually help
us to bring transformation to atmosphere
eventually culture and they are our
points of reference for
just about everything that we do around
here are found in these four
things each of these four areas are
things that you could have told me
so there will be nothing new there um
they are
all uh um self-explanatory they’re
i tell our young preachers um if you
want a lot of amends in your message
just tell people what they already know
so i’m i’m going to give you a heads up
you’ll be able to say amen for the first
part anyway
um because the the four these four
cornerstones
i view them as like the chairs that
you’re sitting on four legs
um they’re equal in length equal in
value
and uh you don’t even think about it you
sit down with all your weight on it
knowing that it’ll hold you up if
there’s three
you can make it work if there’s two
that’s challenging
and uh and all of these things actually
fit together
in in what i believe to be a perfect
marriage
of thought that actually makes kingdom
transferable
transferable to any part of culture
that’s another subject let me just go
through the four
number one god is good amen to that yep
see i told you
here’s another here’s another slow pitch
nothing is impossible with god
there’s another amen amen um
everything was settled at calvary
everything was settled at calvary
everything we will ever
experience throughout all of eternity
the issue was actually settled
at the cross where jesus died and the
fourth thing i
am significant it would be uh easier to
say it this way
each person is significant but to
believe that each person is significant
and not include ourselves
is actually an injustice because it’s
not a philosophy about how to treat
people
it’s the value of human life and so
we’re going to go through those
what the the distinguishing factor of
this particular talk today
is that when we have beliefs
there’s always measurable
behavioral changes that illustrate what
we believe
and without the behavioral changes it’s
a philosophy
it’s not a way of life and so what i
want to talk to you about
is that number one god is good
if god
is as good as we say he is or as good as
the bible says he is more importantly
then i owe him a lifestyle of big dreams
it would be like inheriting 10 000 acres
and you stand on the border of that 10
000 acres and you never explore what
you’ve inherited
you could you can boastfully say it’s
all mine but what does that mountaintop
look like what does that lake over there
look like what does
are there any fish in that stream what
kind of timber is there
this inheritance that you have has to be
explored
and faith explores what revelation
reveals
it’s vital that we use our faith to
explore that which god
has proportioned for us
and what i owe him to illustrate my
conviction my
embracing the lifestyle of dreaming of
the lifestyle of of settling into the
goodness delighting and the goodness of
god is actually to dream
in a significant way jesus came we know
to reveal the father
and i know that many people in the room
had horrible
experiences at home and you didn’t have
a father or still don’t have a father
that inspires dreams
but in this relationship this particular
father
invites us to stretch the envelope
invites us to go above and beyond
in fact he almost dares us when he says
i’m going to do exceedingly abundantly
beyond all you could ask or think i’m
going to reach beyond
your prayer life i’m going to reach
beyond your imagination and that’s the
realm that he lives in
and he’s inviting us into this journey
and so in john
uh 14 15 and 16 three chapters
actually has four times where jesus said
ask whatever you want
and it’ll be done for you now we know
instinctively we know from the
weightiness of the rest of scripture
he’s not inviting us
into a self-centered lifestyle he’s not
inviting us into
into this journey where we build our own
empire and
we become the king of the mountain it’s
not that it’s not anyone who thinks that
hasn’t read the rest of the book
but he’s inviting us into this scary
journey
where we actually come into a place
where anything you ask for is done
he’s looking though look at his heart
he’s looking for co-laborers
when he said ask whatever you want he
didn’t say i’ve made you to be a robot
and you are to repeat back to me what i
tell you to want
i mean if i made it as a robot i don’t
mind anything doing
doing anything with and for god is an
absolute honor and privilege if i
am a servant and not a friend and i just
do what he tells me to do
i’m good with that i actually am very
good at giving me a list and i just get
that stuff done
the scary thing is he’s invited me into
a relationship
and in the relationship he’s put himself
at i like to put it he put himself at
risk
by saying son that’s whatever you
whatever you want
abide in me stay connected to my
manifest presence let my words abide in
you
keep what i say in the center of your
heart and i will trust you
to shape the course of history through
your prayer life because anything you
ask for will be done
we owe god extreme dreams
and disappointment kills the capacity
for dream not knowing how to handle
disappointments
entire uh whole entire other study
but oftentimes we we let religious
environments that is known for
resisting change of any kind or the
other extreme
is uh is the disappointments that happen
in life just to kill that capacity for
dream but you were born to dream
everybody in this room we are we are
never at our
we never reach our potential apart from
the capacity for dreaming
and so god’s goodness i believe is
actually
displayed through your ability to dream
big
in the psalm 67 it’s a it’s a favorite
uh psalm of mine
um in which it starts by
a prayer for blessing and so the
psalmist writes he said lord bless me
which i like any prayer that starts that
way lord bless me
and then he says cause your face to
shine upon me that faces the picture of
a father’s approval
cause your face to shine upon me listen
to the next phrase
that your way would be known on the
earth
what does that mean that your way that
your nature who you
are would be manifest in the earth
because of how you treat me
listen folks this you have this as an
obligation
this is not a luxury this is not you
know
luxury equipment on an automobile this
is the essence of who you are you’re a
son a daughter connected to a perfect
father
now dream and display it
so he says bless me cause your face to
shine upon me that your way would be
known in the earth here’s the
interesting thing
and your salvation to the nations
salvation to nations
we know that tragedy brings people to
jesus we know that we get that
i i don’t blame people in crisis in war
or
or they’re put in prison or they’re you
know there’s earthquakes or whatever it
is people turn to the lord i’m so
thankful that that happens that
ministers of the gospel are there in
christ is to share their faith and
people find peace in god i’m
i’m thankful for that but what would it
be like to actually have salvation
impact the course of history for entire
nations because the goodness of god was
revealed
upon the people of god and i’m not
talking about
becoming you know again building our
empires and
you know being the wealthy person that
everybody is jealous of
that’s that’s a poor counterfeit
wealth is in the presence of god the
peace of god in the middle of difficulty
it’s it’s being able to trust when
everything is crazy
it’s a having enough resource and more
than enough to be able to sow into other
people’s lives it’s the
giftings it’s the insights it’s the
spiritual activity of god
in and through us it’s having friends
that would take a bullet for us
i mean these are the things that make
make us wealthy the the family members
that
uh actually love each other and care for
each other this i
just reminded me sorry of a of a
friend of mine sent me this said i’d
take a bullet for you
not in the head but maybe like in the
leg or something it’s
that third sense greater humor third
grade sorry
all right not in the head but maybe like
the leg or something
where was i i don’t know i just got i
just got shot in the legs what happened
so so this goodness of the lord
upon a people who have found a capacity
to think large to dream
significantly again not about being at
the top of the stack but having the
resource of heaven to empower people
around you to succeed
it’s the privilege in life
hosea 3 says that in the last days
people will fear god because of his
goodness
how good does it have to be the goodness
on your life
so you got a promotion people just think
you worked hard
so you’re the 1 millionth customer at
safeway and you win a brand new car
people
just think you’re lucky what kind of
goodness does it have to
have to be to actually bring salvation
to nations what kind of goodness does it
have to be to actually
bring people to drop to their knees in
the fear of god
a fear of god that doesn’t drive them
away but a fear that endears them
to him
the goodness of god i believe requires
us
to dream big go with me to luke’s gospel
chapter 1.
luke’s gospel chapter 1 the second
point in this the four cornerstones of
thought
the second is that there’s nothing
impossible for for god
now if if i truly believe that nothing’s
impossible
then i owe him a lifestyle of risk
if if i believe nothing’s impossible i
owe him a lifestyle of risk
it doesn’t do any good for me to sit
back and quote the verse well nothing’s
impossible with god he can do whatever
he wants
yeah but he looks for people 95 of the
time he’s looking for someone to
cooperate with him
and though and the one time out of 20
that he invades on his own is usually in
response to intercessory prayer
john wesley said god does nothing in the
affairs of man except in response to
prayer
so this thing of sitting back saying
well if it’s god’s will he’ll perform it
that’s just
not true that’s not bible
can god violate everybody’s will step
over all the fences and accomplish what
he wants of course he’s god he can do
whatever he wants
but what he reveals throughout scripture
he’s looking for the participation and
cooperation of an individual
and in this area this whole idea that
god that nothing’s
impossible for him it means that we
actually have to take risk it means that
what what i do as an individual is he’s
the extravagant one all i do is create
time for him to do something
i can’t i can’t do the something but i
but i can create the time i can stop and
say all right we’re going to make room
for
this now
we just we’re i was in seattle this week
and we had a guy that had
many health issues and open heart
surgeries his entire chest was
wound together with uh some kind of wire
or metal
a device throughout his chest and it was
it was raised as like a spiral notebook
and it was painful to the touch he
walked with the limp because of an issue
and one of our students prayed for him
and it’s just gone it’s just completely
gone
it’s not there he can do whatever it’s
just not there anymore
and then he discovers that he i don’t
think his leg was even prayed for but
he’s walking
completely normal nothing’s impossible
with god it means you take a risk it
doesn’t mean you
you you you jump off the pinnacle of a
temple that’s presumption that’s the
reference to
satan’s temptation of jesus perform
something for me we’re not performers
but we do move redemptively towards
broken circumstances in life
and that’s the whole thing is we look
for broken people broken
situations challenging opportunities and
just believe god for the impossible
that’s what we do and we do that because
nothing’s impossible with god here in
luke’s gospel uh mary
is uh is visited by an angel gabriel
a messenger angel which is fascinating
to me that
god would assign an angel to bring a
message to mary when god could show up
and do it himself
and do a better job
he’s omnipresent so it’s not hard for
him to pull off two things at once
and yet his delight is in co-laborers
his delight is in everything he has made
step fully into its design and purpose
that’s his delight
his joy was in having an angel show up
and give mary this bizarre message that
you’re going to give birth
to the son of god to the christ child
he delights in everything he made
standing full
in its responsibility and position
and promotion in the kingdom is
increased responsibility that’s the
nature
of maturity it’s not you know you don’t
obey god
and get the the beach house on hawaii to
sit on the beach until you die the rest
of your life
promotion in the kingdom is greater
greater responsibility greater sense of
authority and impact that’s the whole
point
thankfully he throws in a weekend hawaii
occasionally
yes lord i’m hearing you yes i’m hearing
you now yeah i’m ready
so here’s this verse in uh in response
to this dialogue that mary has with the
angel
and he says in verse 37
for with god nothing will be impossible
instead of doing the whole story just
because the time
let’s just look at this one verse for
with god nothing will be impossible see
that with me
for with god nothing will be impossible
say it again
for with god nothing will be impossible
jack taylor who by the way went home to
be a jesus this morning
jack tater our dear friend a father of
the faith
my greatest encouragement in my life in
fact when my
my dad was the constant encouragement
for me
when he died jack said i’ll i will be
that for you
and he was and he he goodness he wrote
me
so often day after day after day after
day literally
sometimes multiple times in a day but
always encouraging such a great father
of the faith
and he went home to be with the lord
this morning but i remember him teaching
on this particular passage
and for nothing will be impossible with
god and he gave me a view of that i’ll
never shake the rest of my life he it
impacted me tremendously
the word nothing is actually two words
just the word no
and the word thing is actually the word
rey we get our word rhema
from it if you are familiar with the
some of the language of scripture
there’s rhema and there’s logos this
would be
most often considered logos and the
rhema would be that freshly spoken word
of god they don’t contradict
but it’s when god breathes upon
something faith comes by hearing and
hearing by the word
the freshly spoken word of god and so
no rhema will be impossible impossible
means without ability
and jack told us that this verse can
actually be
be now tr can be translated this way
no freshly spoken word of god will ever
come to you
that does not carry its own ability to
perform itself
no freshly spoken word of god will ever
come to you that does not
contain its own ability to perform
itself
so now we understand why jesus can look
at his disciples and his disciples say
we got a crowd of thousands how do we
feed him and he says you feed them
because in the command is the capacity
that’s why quick obedience releases the
great amount of greatest amount of power
obedience after extended analyzation
drains it almost always of power
that was a really good point bill he was
excellent
excellent
no freshly spoken word of god will ever
come to you that does not contain its
own ability to perform itself so now we
know why jesus said
heal the sick not pray for the sick
because in the command
the command itself contains the ability
one of the coolest things ever to
discover in scripture is found in
mark chapter 9 is that we know
god is the only one who is infinite
everything else
from the angels to satan himself
everything satan is not the opposite of
god he’s the absolute mark michael the
archangel
there is no opposite of god there
there’s
there is zero contest believe me
there’s zero contest
it’s raining come on
all of our our bethel tv
friends and people around the planet
bless you for joining us by the way we
always love it to uh
hear the reports but you just need to
know we need rain
and uh i just think i just forgot
everything i’d said and
anything i want to do i’m just happy
it’s raining
so and i hear it’s going to snow up in
the mountains that’s even better yeah
so here back to this uh this thought
nothing
is impossible with god this incredible
thing took place
where there’s a dad who wants his son
healed and delivered
and and he has the lowest measurable
amount of faith i can find in the bible
there’s different levels of faith
all through the bible but the lowest
measure barely moved the needle on the
richter scale that hardly it just
twitched at the bottom
it’s when he came to jesus and he said
if you’re able
to ask god if he’s able to do something
is not
great faith it just it just barely it
just barely lifts the needle
and jesus responded to him said if
you’re able
you turn the tables if you’re able to
believe
and then use this phrase all things are
possible for those who believe
so here it says nothing’s impossible
with god and then it says for those who
believe nothing’s impossible for them
either
so all of creation exists in this finite
limited realm except for god and then
god invites you to join
with him in that realm of knowing
nothing to be impossible
talk about co-laboring
let’s take the last one and go with no
we got two more goodness i’m moving slow
oh jesus help us all right
ephesians we’ll go faster on this one
ephesians chapter one
was that coffee is that is that like for
me
you operating a word of knowledge here
yeah
yeah bless you thank you excuse me
can you hear the angels too
i don’t know if it’s just me if it was
everybody but i’m pretty sure i heard
them
all right thank you thanks
the third one is the centrality of the
cross
more more uh practically applied to this
concept
that because of the death of christ
every
issue is settled for all eternity now
let’s just take a real quick look here
ephesians 1
of verse 3 blessed be the god and father
of our lord jesus christ
who has blessed us make a note there
who has blessed us with every spiritual
blessing in the heavenly places in
christ
so the point is is jesus what he
suffered at the cross
put into your account everything you
will ever need
for all of eternity jump down to verse 7
it says in him we have redemption
through his blood
the forgiveness of sins according to the
riches of grace
now most often uh we define grace as
unmerited favor it’s a great definition
it’s just it’s just the beginning of the
definition of the word grace
why because grace in its nature
is the empowering presence of god to
enable us to become
not just to perform it actually changes
who we are
and it changes what we’re capable of
doing so
grace would be like grace would be like
the hands of a potter
shaping clay so our our skill set
our ability to represent him well all
those things are according
to the hands of that potter in this case
according to the shaping
that takes place in our experience with
grace now go to chapter two
ephesians i don’t know of an of a more
pregnant chapter
in the bible than ephesians one my
goodness i think you could study the
rest of your life and still have your
head hurt by the end
it’s is there’s so much in there chapter
two
verse four it’s my dad’s key verse it’s
actually on his tombstone
verse four but god who is rich in mercy
because of his great love with which he
loved us
even when we were dead in trespasses
made us alive together with christ
by grace you have been saved look at
verse 7
that in the ages to come you might know
the exceeding riches of his grace
in his kindness towards us in christ
jesus okay catch the phrase
in the ages to come okay now think with
me
2000 years ago jesus hung on a cross and
was crucified
on our behalf not as not opening up
one of the many ways to god but opening
up the only possible way to god
god would not require something so
brutal of his own son
if it were not the only possible
solution
so jesus dies a brutal death
and at the end declares it is finished
and when he declares it’s finished his
job
literally was done what he did in that
moment is he purchased
for us everything that we would ever
need not only in this
life but also in the life to come
and so this phrase in ephesians two
verse uh what is it seven
in the ages to come think about this in
the ages to come he will show us the
surpassing riches or greatness of his
grace
ages to come a hundred billion years
from now
you will just be starting to discover
the richness of his grace let me
rephrase it
100 billion years from now you will just
be beginning
of stepping into the empowering presence
of god that enables you to become all
that he designed you to be
it could never be fully accomplished in
this life it must be done throughout
eternity when was that paid for on the
cross
now if all of that is true and obviously
i believe it is absolutely true
then it is completely unreasonable for
me to not trust him
when i’m facing a difficulty
i owe him absolute trust
and i i found just for for me in the
last couple of years i i should have
known this my whole life but i
it never clicked until a couple years
ago
it’s vital for me to say out loud i
trust you
now i’ve always worked on the trust
element element in my heart
but i have found it’s important that i’m
i’m in this situation i find
my head spinning about this and about
that and i go i just step back
but father i trust you something happens
by
something happens to me
when i put myself on the line like that
and i say but i trust you because
see if jesus actually thought of
everything and all of
eternity is already set up for me to
draw from what he
purchased in that one
violent and powerful act if it’s true
then there’s not anything i could
possibly face
that would disturb or upset his capacity
to rule and bring solutions that he’s
already paid for
he already thought through the entire
thing there’ll never be a moment in all
of history where he looks at a challenge
he goes
man i wish i would have thought of that
when i was gonna die i would have
included that in the pile of stuff i
paid for they’ll never be one of those
moments
let’s go to the lesson go to john
chapter 13.
i’m going to read just one verse here
and then let me talk to you
verse 3 john 13 jesus knowing
that the father had given all things
into his hands
and that he had come from god when and
was going
to god okay just stop right there
because i just need to talk about that
first part
first this is the only place i know of
i’m
it’s probably all through the new
testament it just it just never clicked
for me
until this verse this is the one place i
know of where it describes what jesus
is thinking
you know we see his actions we see all
these things that he does but this is
one moment where it says here’s here’s
what he’s thinking jesus
knowing jesus conscious of two things
number one everything is his
everything the billions of galaxies
all mine
every realm of authority principalities
powers everything that exists
all his past
present future all his everything
in existence is his
now see as the son of god it was already
his
but he laid it down to become a man
and now he’s re-inheriting everything
as the son of man still the eternal son
of god
but re-inheriting john 16 he says
everything the father has is mine
and everything that is mine is now yours
and he says the holy spirit will declare
it to you
is your head hurt yet it should if it
doesn’t you’re not thinking
this is mind-boggling jesus says it’s
all my everything in existence
every realm every everything unseen and
everything’s seen it’s all
jesus this is on his mind it’s all it’s
all mine it’s all been given back to me
and then it says he was thinking about
the fact
yeah it’s just about time for me to get
back to the father
i came from him the time is just days
away
when i’ll be returning to the father
this time glorified
in a different way first born of the
dead
where death finally dies
seated at the right hand of the father
so this is what is on his mind
i really doubt that any human being has
ever had tool after your thoughts
are you tracking with me i doubt that
there has ever been
a moment in all of human history where a
person
had a a greater awareness of personal
significance in this moment
verse 4 he rose from supper laid aside
his garments
took a towel guarded himself
took water poured it in a basin
and washed the guy’s feet that in
hours would deny they knew him
mind-boggling from
significance
to washing feet
see most of us when we think in terms of
personal significance and
i know we were against this but most of
us tend to think in terms of
of title or power or reas you know money
or
you know something to do with being
elevated to a more powerful position
and yet the one who illustrated what
real significance
look looks like the very first thing he
did
after all that was in his mind was to
get a basin of water
and wash disciples feet the whole point
is
true significance in christ cannot be
tarnished
through servanthood it’s actually
revealed through servanthood
real significance is never tarnished
through going low
we we work a lot with people in our
schools and
for years i don’t know how many
graduates we’ve had but it’s
multiplied thousands and it’s it’s a fun
journey to walk with people
as they discover day after day their
significance before the lord the ability
for them to pray and
to have things happen and it’s just a
it’s just a wonderful journey
but sometimes i uh i i chuckle a little
bit
because somebody will discover part of
the story of their significance
and want to get a business card with
their
title you know apostle of this universe
so as we’ve conquered this one we’ll
move to the next you know it’s that kind
of
it’s it’s a it’s a it’s a tyler it’s a
position
it’s not it’s not the resource of heaven
flowing through my veins it enables me
to serve
powerfully and effectively to mark
eternity it’s not that
it’s the other kind of stuff i remember
my brother who
who runs did used to run a pretty
significant
scary powerful ministry on the streets
of san francisco
i remember we’ve had so many things
happen together
with the things that we’ve seen the lord
do experiences encounters we’ve both
been laid out under
the power of god in ways where you can
just hardly function can hardly move
we’ve
been in meetings where the glory of god
is so manifest you just you lose track
of time
so many different things that we’ve had
experiences with through the years and i
remember he
he was describing to me and to us
the time he had the greatest encounter
the greatest exposure to the glory of
god
it was actually on the streets in san
francisco where they would have
hairdressers volunteer their time i
remember one one particular guy that was
the most
consistent that i know of his
his haircuts were 400 a pop
and he would volunteer himself to come
down and they would wash the homeless
wash their hair they had a sink with
a special sink to be able to wash their
get all the bugs out and
then they would trim their hair and trim
their beards and
they’d wash their feet and trim their
toenails give them
fresh brand new socks and do all these
things and baba’s
describing to me these moments he said
the greatest
sense of presence and power i’ve ever
been aware of in my life
is in that moment of washing a hopeless
person’s feet
it’s uh heidi baker shared similar
stories
where you know i mean some of the
environments
you’re in in life are some of the
smelliest and most goodness the
exact opposite of where i want to be and
what i want to do
and yet in that moment in that presence
in that favor of god in that delight of
god
in that place of design
to serve place there is such
such a glory such a presence
there there are some parts of god’s
presence if you will there are some
parts of his nature some parts of
our experience in god it can only be
discovered in these these moments of
just going low
you can’t i can’t possibly tarnish
the highly exalted title that god would
give us
any of us it’s untarnishable
through servanthood it’s just
tarnishable
through self-promotion
it’s tarnishable by self-exaltation
by insisting on that we be the one
and i will say that i am
most impacted by the stories that i hear
from people in our community about you
and the way you love well and serve well
we just had uh did i tell you about
seattle i
i this is my uh up tenth meeting the
the spiral thing did i did i tell you
that here all right
so here i don’t know who prayed for him
that’s what i like the kid from norway
11 years old unable to eat food dying
soon
350 kilograms of medical supplies sent
with him
doctor not knowing if he had survived
the trip
somebody prayed for him i don’t know who
that’s that’s the point
it’s the point it wasn’t done by by a
title
even if they were prayed for by somebody
that was a title around here
it wasn’t significant enough to repeat
it
it was the fact that somebody’s just got
in the dirt with that person and helped
this homeless situation in a broken
situation
that’s that’s our significance
is that god could trust us enough to get
into that hell hole
and help bring somebody out
ct stud had one of my favorite quotes in
history i forget who it was one of the
christian singers some years ago wrote a
song about it but
it’s this phrase some people want to
live within the sound of chapel bells
i want to run a mission a yard from the
gate of hell
now there’s a statement some people want
to run a mission
within the sound of chapel bells
i want to run a mission a yard from the
gate of hell
servants the way we
actually demonstrate our awareness
of personal significance is through
serving well
and those who can’t serve well haven’t
yet learned how significant they are
because once you see it
all you want to do is whatever he says
these four areas i think at least for me
they are definitive on life’s values
and what we have championed for so many
years i want to pray over you i want you
to go ahead and stand up if you would
i want to pray over you over us
actually
my prayer is that
is that the lord would would crack open
the capacity for dreaming beyond
anything
any of us have ever imagined
no you didn’t hear me actually i’m
talking to him so i guess it doesn’t
matter but i still
i i’m serious i
there are things that are in his heart
that he would like to do
history is not winding down to a
horrible conclusion
it’s winding up to a glorious invasion
so my prayer is that the lord would mess
us up
with dreams
that are beyond and then we can
naturally think of
i pray as well that our capacity for
taking risk would increase
and god we do so just inviting you to
display who you are in your heart
that’s our passion
i thank you as well that you thought of
everything you didn’t skip you didn’t
miss anything
you thought of all of it all through
eternity you settled the issue
and so we just say to you i trust you
say it with me
i trust you say it again i trust you
say it again i trust you
that every situation that we have been
so intimidated with
not willing to look at because of fear
anxiety god we dispel anxiety with trust
and we just say i trust you and then i
ask that you would help us
as supernatural servants to at a whole
another level affect the course of
history
for this city for this nation i pray in
jesus name
amen one one quick thing before i
i turn it over to who’s coming up you
are come on up leslie
isn’t she wonderful she is she is she’s
wonderful
i just want one moment here any time
there’s a crowd that says there’s always
a high chance that we have somebody here
who doesn’t know the lord you’ve never
been born again you don’t know what it
is to be
forgiven you don’t know what it is to be
changed from the inside out you don’t
know what it is
to actually be adopted into god’s
personal family
those are all biblical terms but it’s
available now for anyone who would say
yes
to surrendering your life to jesus
the only one worthy to run our life
is jesus and if there’s anybody in that
condition in this room that would say
bill i don’t want to leave the building
till i know
i’ve been changed then i want you just
to put your hand up
right real quickly right where you are
we’re just going to take
just a moment just to agree with you
quick i want to make sure that i give
everyone a chance
all right then i’m going to assume
you’re all in
welcome to bethel folks so good to have
you here
welcome online family go ahead leslie