The First Deeds – Bill Johnson (Full Sermon) | Bethel Church

What do we do to get back to a strong connection with God? Bill Johnson speaks out of Revelation 2 where Jesus challenges the church of Ephesus to return to their first love by doing the deeds they first did. We must always be growing in the relational inheritance we have been given.

good job good job

bless you wow

[Applause]

this is a very fruitful church

very fruitful

my goodness

a pastor dies he’s waiting in line at

the pearly gates

ahead of him is a guy who’s dressed in

sunglasses a loud shirt leather jacket

and jeans

saint peter addresses the cool guy first

who are you

so that i may know whether or not to

admit you into heaven

the guy replies i’m dennis retired

airline pilot from florida

peter looks at his list he smiles he

says to the pilot

take this silk robe this golden staff

enter the kingdom the pilot goes into

heaven

next it’s the pastor’s turn he stands

tall

booms out i’m pastor bob pastor of

bethel church in reading california

for the last 43 years saint peter looks

at his list

he says to the pastor take this cotton

robe

and a wooden staff and enter into heaven

he says hey wait a minute the pilot got

a silk robe and a golden staff i only

get cotton and wood

how can this be peter responded up here

we go by results

when you preached people slept when he

flew

people prayed

yeah yeah all right

in revelation chapter 2 jesus

brought a word of correction to the

church at ephesus

and it’s not that i want to bring a word

of adjustment or correction i want to

highlight a principle

that he addressed in the passage and if

the if it fits great

he said you’ve lost your first love

and what fascinates me about the story

when he

addressed the fact that the church at

ephesus this church had experienced

what i think is the greatest move of god

in the new testament

he didn’t say memorize these scriptures

until your love returns for me

he didn’t say um go into multiple

worship services and worship until your

love was restored he didn’t say

a fast seven days and then your love

will be returned to you

instead he said something that i find to

be very strange

he said do the deeds you did it first

it’s it’s almost strange to me that the

lord would direct people who had lost

their first love

to go back to their first deeds

when you understand the heart behind

this

you realize of course it comes from

jesus so it has to be true and right

but it’s the most profound connection

for a person to get back to a place of

fervency in god

do the deed you did it first what

happens in life

is you know we we pay a price

we pay a price to serve god nobody

nobody adds jesus to their life

jesus is our life we we literally leave

everything to serve him and we pay a

price and some of you moved here from

other parts of the world of the country

some people left great businesses uh

some

left uh families in in in difficult

situations and

you just made that bold mood and move

and you came because you heard the lord

speak to you

others have done other things they join

wyoming they go to missions but the

point is

they say yes to god and they pay a price

and what happens

is when you say yes to the lord we pay a

price to

increase to advance in the kingdom it

brings breakthroughs sometimes it’s

quickly

sometimes it’s after years some of you

went as a new believer went on a

seven-day fast and and you didn’t think

it did any good all it was was just a

hunger strike for you

you had dreams and visions of hamburgers

and fries

and there seemed to be no spiritual

significance to the fast

and yet it was laid up to your account

and some of the breakthroughs you

experienced maybe even years later

were in part due to a price

that you paid i remember

waking early and crying out to god and

oftentimes i would fall asleep i found

i found the secret to prayers to keep

walking just keep moving

i just it’s it’s the way it works for me

i just walk and pray walk and pray

i found the bible says watch and pray

but i i walk so that i can keep my

eyes open and watch so i’m walking

praying and

some uh in this room you you had certain

things that you did in your early days

with the lord

that after breakthrough started to come

we started neglecting

some of the things that actually got us

to that place of breakthrough and i

don’t i don’t know that

everything has to be the same as it was

but if we don’t look at our life wisely

we will misinterpret what actually

brought the breakthrough

it wasn’t my significance it wasn’t my

call it wasn’t my great faith

it was his grace it was his grace

and and somehow paying the price you say

well why should i pay the price jesus

paid the ultimate price and it’s true

but it would be foolish to think

i can serve him wholeheartedly without

paying a price

there’s something about the absolute yes

that cost me absolutely everything

what happens is we get breakthroughs we

come into places where

where we’re enjoying the fruit of

yesterday’s yes we

enjoy the fruit maybe you’ve never seen

a miracle in your life and you started

to cry out to god and

and there’s this encounter came on your

life you start praying for people and

every once while you actually see a

miracle take place in somebody’s life

what is that that’s an inheritance

that’s that’s the lord saying

here this is a realm that belongs to you

this is

this is something that is the result of

your yes

one of the illustrations i like to use

that is a

a standard uh in scripture a lot

especially old testament concept

was it was a warning do not move

the ancient boundaries so just think

with me now don’t move the ancient

boundaries

this was to a people that had inherited

pieces of land and they weren’t to

adjust the borders the boundaries they

were to

they were to uh experience enjoy delight

in what god had given them

to the fullest and not adjust the

boundaries sometimes you can adjust the

boundaries in

because you think your faith is small

and you’re not going to live up to your

potential

sometimes you can actually encroach upon

other people’s you want what other

people have you want

their anointing their ministry their

their blessing in life instead of living

responsibly with what god’s given you

but the point is is we’re forbidden to

move the ancient boundaries

it’s kind of an abstract lesson so i’m

gonna need you to work with me a little

bit here today

but when the lord reveals truth to us

he’s doing two basic things he’s

inviting us

into personal transformation and he’s

revealing to us our inheritance

i heard someone say recently

that when god reveals truth to us he’s

inviting us into personal transformation

and he’s revealing to us our inheritance

when he when he shows

for example every broken situation that

jesus walked into he walked into it

redemptively

he didn’t walk into a tragedy a crisis a

disease a funeral whatever fill in the

blanks

he didn’t walk into the situation

looking and go i don’t know what to do

and walk out it never happened he always

came in with a redemptive solution

raised the dead child healed the blind

eyes

brought peace where there was conflict

hope where there was a

loss of hope the point was he always

stepped into a situation redemptively

that’s an ancient boundary it’s a

boundary that was established in the

nature of the gospel that we do not have

the right to adjust

from there i may never do it well but i

can’t change the boundary

i have to grow into the size of the

inheritance i’ve been given

so in light of this i i’ve had

two things kind of pulling in my heart

one is is when i look at

i look at history i look at the church

history i look at evan roberts for

example

i love that guy i love i love this guy

was he 19 years old he just

started hungering for god and he just

started praying

in ways that were just unheard of he

just would cry out to god he’d

he would stay up at night and cry out to

the lord he’d wake up early

he’s a coal miner and he just he just

had this he just knew that god wanted

his nation to be saved and

he just angst for more and and you know

when you

when you ache for something like that

you sometimes you forget to eat

you know you you just some of the things

that would normally

matter just don’t matter anymore and you

just see this guy that is so obsessed in

a right way

with the things of god that he’s just he

just cries out day and night for this

move of god

and he arranges with his pastor he comes

home from the goal my

coal mines and arranges with his pastors

talk to the people and

and uh one uh evening when the meeting

was over

the pastor said i’ll let you talk to

whoever wants to stay after

and so he didn’t give him the main

service but he stayed with i forget how

many 25 people or something

and he just challenged them to give

their all for jesus

if i remember the numbers right i think

it was 13 people stood

at the end of that brief message to 25

people

13 people stood and basically said i’m

all in

evan robert’s response was he wrote

the national newspaper and said

basically

revival is here all he had was 13 people

that said yes

and he basically said watch out your

world is about to change

why because we have 13 burning ones that

are now going to shape the course of

world history

and it was just you read this and you go

man that’s an ancient boundary i don’t

want to move that

i don’t want to mess with that that’s a

standard that forever stays in my mind

that this is what god responds to he

responds to the person

who just puts away some of the normal

things the things that are okay and says

you know what i just hunger for god more

than anything else

these these prices that we paid these

experiences these

these moments where god deals with us i

remember

i remember my own walk with the lord

where the lord

came so powerfully in the night and i

won’t go into detail but

the power of the lord was so in the room

upon my physical body that i couldn’t

function i couldn’t maintain

and i knew that the lord was asking for

one thing i had asked him i want more at

any cost

i will pay any price and he began to

parade in front of me

scenes of me trying to teach in front of

the people

realizing i look so dumb i look so

foolish no one’s going to believe this

is god i saw the next scene of me

standing in front of my favorite

restaurant in our town

up there in weaverville realizing

there’s not a person in the city that’s

going to believe this is god

and i remember that jacob wrestled with

an angel and he limped the rest of his

life and

mary of course was the mother of the

illegitimate child so the point is is

when you are profoundly touched by god

it leaves a mark

and are you willing to leave with live

with the mark because it’s not always

something you can explain

and that’s what the lord was dealing

with me on it was a it was a price to

pay so to speak

and i remember laying there unable to

function normally

and tears flowing down my my cheeks

under the pillowcase

as for about maybe 20 minutes she began

to show me scenes and show me

you know i told him i want more at any

cost and he was showing me the price

and when those scenes were over i said

i’ll take it

if i get you in the exchange you can do

anything you want to do

with me do anything you want you know

you have these moments in god and it’s

going to be different for every person

but the point is

the farther you go in god the less you

can take with you

these moments where the lord touches a

person’s life these moments where

a word is released into somebody’s life

these encounters were i don’t know what

happens but something happens in here

where

i think different i see different

everything changes in these moments

these are

the yeses that we say to god that become

the price that we pay for breakthrough

and what’s vital for me is that

is that i i say yes i i pray i

i do all the things that i do under

something and

and i have this encounter and the lord

speaks to me here and

i obey in this very difficult situation

here and i give or

or or sacrifice or whatever here the

point is all these yeses to god

some how he adds that to he adds his

grace to that

and he brings me into a breakthrough

that i i didn’t even know was possible

and the temptation is to coast

in your present breakthrough and live

ignorant

of the fact that that was just step one

of many stairs many steps into the

things that god

longs to release into the earth there

are things that have never been

seen before there are realms in god

that have never been seen before that

he’s so

longs to release to his people

in john 16 jesus said he said

i have so many things to say to you

but you can’t bear them now i have so

many things to say

because see when he talks he doesn’t

just exchange ideas when he speaks he

creates

and he’s basically saying you don’t have

the weight caring capacity

to hold under what i want to release

over

you so i have to i have to hold back

what i would normally say

and i i feel like the lord is is is

bringing us to a place i believe

i just personally i just believe the

next 90 days

have been set aside by the lord where we

live with the possibility of seeing

breakthroughs that we have ached for

for years

but it’s years or things how many of you

have since you’re on the edge of

breakthrough for something how many you

can say you’ve felt that way for

years it’s not like the last four weeks

you know it’s like the last

10 years or something and and i

i’m i feel like we’re on the edge of

something i can feel it i can taste it i

can see through the glass darkly so to

speak

and what he keeps bringing me back to is

this that i’m talking about today

when you get breakthrough you can never

depart from

what got you the breakthrough

do the deeds he did it first

go back to the standard that you said

yes to

in the beginning keep the simplicity

of devotion to christ don’t complicate

it

through the fruitfulness of breakthrough

so i’m going to take you through to just

three

portions of scripture so

go with me if you would ezekiel 44

yes ezekiel 44.

1972 my dad spoke

for i think four weeks if i remember

right

four weeks out of this chapter how many

of you weren’t even

born in 1972. oh

shut up

i remember my dad spoke out of this

chapter in this chapter

we’re going to read just a couple verses

out of it because what i want you to see

is i want you to see a concept that is

revealed here it’s an ancient boundary

for me it’s a very life-changing

represents a life-changing moment

in this chapter he talks about priests

and priests had two basic functions

minister to god

and minister two people

as he laid it out for us he talked about

the priority

of ministry to the lord and then

ministry to the church

and ministry to the world and that so

resonated in my heart i remember

the old how many of you were here and

and the other of the old

bethel church some of you were alive and

here then i’ll bless your hearts

these are the not old-timers long-timers

long times some of them are also very

old-timers but

long-timers i miss two sections like

this and i remember sitting on the

on the edge right over here maybe third

or fourth row and

and my dad spoke for four weeks on the

subject of ministry to god

and i remember at the end of

one of the messages he didn’t have an

altar call

there was no invitation to do anything

it was just coming to the end of the

message

and i remember just bowing my head right

back here and i just prayed this prayer

i said god

i give you the rest of my life to teach

me this one thing

this one thing i’ve been so impacted

by the fact that the people of god have

the privilege

of coming and ministering to god himself

so you have to ask the question why then

would god want us to come and minister

to him he’s not insecure

he’s not in need of us boosting his

confidence he’s not

fearful about his identity he’s not

struggling with any of those things

why then would god want me to come and

declare to him

his greatness his significance why then

would he want me to come

and give a sacrifice that step beyond

convenience in giving thanks

even ahead of personal breakthrough why

would he want that

the answer is because every decision god

makes is out of love and love chooses

the best

so god wants that for me because it is

the best

for me so then we have to ask the

question

how then is ministering to him

the best for you for me

it’s because we always become like

whatever we worship

and god could want nothing better for me

than for me

to become like him

it’s also true in the negative you look

at psalms 115 it’s another psalm i

forget the one right now

but the principle used is those who

worship idols

and by the way you know people may not

have an idol sitting up in their home

but the apostle paul taught that greed

is idolatry

idolatry

is spiritual adultery

so you almost always see sexual sin

and idolatry in the same breath because

one is in the spirit but the other is in

the physical

and generally before people fall into

the physical sin they’ve made

the spiritual sin

so paul warns about adultery what’s the

point psalms 115 he says

and those who worship idols

become blind like the idol they worship

this idol can’t see they become blind it

doesn’t mean their eyes don’t work it

means they’re discernment their

perception stops

their ability to tust and touch and

taste the experiences of life

those things begin to shut down why

because they’re becoming like

what they worship the opposite is also

true

in the presence in the glory in the

opportunity to minister to him

we are changed take a look at this

pastor

we’ll read just a couple of verses uh

just to kind of represent

um this particular part of the story

verse 15

but the priests the levites the sons of

zadok who kept charge of my sanctuary

when the children of israel went to

stray from me

they shall come near to me to minister

to me

they shall stand before me to offer to

me the fat

and the blood verse 23 and they shall

teach

my people the difference between the

holy and the unholy

and cause them to discern between the

clean and the unclean

i don’t know if that stands out to you i

love that verse that your life

as a worshiper can actually provoke and

cause others to see things that are holy

and unholy there is a perception that

they obtain

in life about right or wrong things that

are defiled things that are

blessed by the lord to see the

difference in the two simply because

you’re in their life as a worshiper

you’re welcome that was free

here is this privilege of ministering as

a priest now here’s the deal

old testament one tribe out of 12 or

priests

new testament every believer is a priest

old testament exodus 19

and isaiah 61 say

you shall be priests under the lord

new testament first peter 2 revelation 1

5 says you are see the old testament

says you shall be

new testament says you are.

it’s been in the works for a long time

but now it’s

everyone is the priest before the lord

so when he spoke that word

i bowed my heart bowed my head and said

god i give you the rest of my life to

teach me that one thing what is that

i’ll tell you for me and i believe for

this house it’s an ancient boundary

it’s not negotiable this is who we are

it defines the privilege

and the mandate that rests upon our

lives

to come in before him and i’ll tell you

one of the most important parts of this

for me is it has to be sacrifice

with this example uh makes sense to you

what i gave to the lord i’m going to use

money just because it’s measurable

what i gave to the lord 20 years ago was

a sacrifice

but that that was a sacrifice 24 40 20

years ago

is now convenience

obedience increases your capacity

and so to stay on the edge of personal

development and growth

is to increase the sacrifice

it’s a very good point bill amen all

right go to isaiah chapter 60.

are you alive

like really alive or just kind of

wow deeply impacted by the woo

that that was good

in may of 1979

the lord spoke to me out of a chapter

isaiah 60. how many of you weren’t even

alive in 1979

pups young pups

i was in the back of the church walking

in weaverville in the back of the church

the church would

seek maybe 120 people if we squeeze

together tight

and i i was in the back of the sanctuary

just walking as was my custom i’d walk

through the

place and i would pray and um and i

happened to be walking in the back

section just probably about here to that

wood

part of the stage there just walking

back and forth praying and i happened to

be reading in isaiah that particular

week and

i came to chapter 60. it says our eyes

shine for your latest come

and it was different then every other

verse i had been reading up to that time

the way i describe it it’s a moment that

god breathes on

there’s life emanating from

what i just read it gripped me

it spoke to me so deeply that i could

see

he was changing my view of the church

and what is possible in my lifetime he

began to

uproot some things in the just in the

reading of the scripture

it was like honestly the first 19 verses

we’re going to read four or five but

the first 19 verses he just began to

speak to me layer after layer after

layer

and it has affected i believe it’s

affected every day of my life since that

thursday afternoon may of 1979

simply because he breathed on a portion

of scripture that i knew

was was home for me

i want you to look at this passage with

me isaiah 60

verse 1. arise shine for your light has

come

stop right there jesus is the light

that enlightens every person that comes

into the world john chapter 1

he is the light that enlightens every

person coming into the world this said a

ride shine because your light has come

listen there’s not another light coming

this is a right now word it’s vital that

we see in the old testament isaiah was

looking to our day and he was giving us

insight he was giving us food that would

nourish us

into our expansion into the things of

god

into the reality of the kingdom of god

so he’s giving us a statement he says

arise shy in other words

you have a responsibility because your

light has already come get back to work

do what you’re supposed to do

take your position rise

show the nature the love of christ the

power of christ take your posture and

watch what happens

arise shine your light has come the

glory of the lord

is risen upon you behold darkness covers

the earth

a deep darkness the people but the lord

will arise over you

his glory will be seen upon you so

here’s the deal you take your position

and god adds his glory to your position

it’s like does this make sense you’ve

been given a glory

do you know that when every every part

of god’s creation has a measure of glory

so he says it’s almost like stand in

your present glory and i’ll add mine

it’s like he releases that glory is the

manifested presence of jesus

my goodness what could we want that’s

better than that

verse excuse me verse 2

behold darkness shall cover the earth

deep darkness the people

but the lord will arise over you his

glory will be seen

upon you my translation says gentiles in

the next verse

new americans says nations i’m going to

use that one verse 3

the nations shall come to your light and

kings to the brightness of your rising

lift up your eyes all around and see do

you remember when jesus said lift up

your eyes see the

fields there are white under harvest

do you remember when jesus said lift up

your eyes

and look on the fields there are white

under harvest yes john chapter 4

this is a sister passage to this lifting

up your eyes

here’s what happens we get buried with

world conflict and difficulties

and personal lives and our vision gets

cast down down down down down he says

lift up your eyes

because it’s only in lifting up that you

get to look down with clarity and

perception

it says lift up your eyes and see look

at this he says

lift up your eyes round and see they all

gather together they come to you

son shall come from afar your daughters

will be carried in their arms and nursed

at your side in this translation

then you will see and become radiant

your heart will swell with joy

because the abundance of the sea is

turned to you now the abundance may be

resources and

opportunities and favor and all that

stuff and i’m i’m into that that’s

wonderful

but the real wealth of the nations is

people it’s souls

it’s souls he says the wealth of the

nations will come to you it’s not about

you and me building our personal empire

it’s about the king of glory being

exalted as the great harvester

in the earth the harvester of souls and

he’s saying

arise and shine take your place i’ll add

my glory

and when that combination of heaven and

earth works together

nations will come nations kings

the leaders of industry athletes

actresses

um politicians ceos the whole point is

those who shape culture

they will see the glory that is upon you

and i have put within them

a passion and a desire that they don’t

even know how to describe

and it’s for what you will be carrying

as the glory rests upon you

they will leave their position your

posture and they will come to you

it says lift up your eyes look your

daughters are coming

your sons are coming it’s happening the

wealth of the nations the

the masses of people will come to you

how in the world

if god speaks to you about that can you

be impressed

by a crisis anywhere on the planet

it doesn’t mean i’m unmoved it just

means i’m not impressed

it doesn’t mean i’m unmoved it doesn’t

mean there’s no compassion no we

we respond to these things with prayer

with step into these things redemptively

to see god work his purposes out

but the moment a crisis becomes bigger

in my own consciousness than my

awareness of god i will live in reaction

to the problem

and if i live in a reaction to the

problem the devil has had influence in

setting my agenda

he is not worthy of influencing my

agenda at

all and so the lord was merciful in that

may of 1979 to drive a stake in the

ground

that has influenced my hope my

anticipation my expectation

for what will happen what happened in

the earth not denying difficulty not

denying crisis

but just saying in the midst of it god

is to be glorified

and the church will come into a place of

purity into a place of great strength

and the nations will see it the kings

will see it and once they do they will

come

but it comes back to you and me get up

off your rear end and shine

stop

stop waiting for another prophetic word

i love the prophetic but stop waiting

for your word that brings you breaking

you don’t need it just obey god

do what he said just get up well i don’t

know what i’m doing well try your best

just do the best you can do just you

take your position

[Applause]

one more

romans 15.

does anyone else in the room have

recreational portions of scripture

that you just you just turn to just

because you can

and and you they’re so refreshed psalms

37 is that for me isaiah 60 is that for

me romans 15 is that way

they are they’re what i call

the hot tub

[Laughter]

it’s the hot tub in god now

i have a couple things in my life that i

believe

reveal the goodness of god one is a

massage chair

and the other is a hot tub when i get in

that hot tub

i let the bubbles work on the lower part

of my back

and then i go to the next verse i mean

the next chair

[Laughter]

and i let those things work on my

shoulders and then i go to the part

where you get to lay down and you just

you’re just floating in the glory and

it’s it’s that’s romans 15 for me is you

need to have a hot tub

somewhere in the bible that you can go

to just get refreshed

and i’m showing you one of mine i have

several but i’ll loan it to you

you just have to return it

look at verse 13 now may the god of hope

fill you with all joy and peace anybody

have room for more joy and peace

all right well this is his commitment

now may the god of hope

fill you with all joy and peace in

believing

that you may abound in hope by the power

of the holy spirit

ah can you abound in hope without the

power

the answer is no

the power of god reveals the love of god

and it is impossible to adequately

display the love of god without power

power is not a point in our theology

power is a person the holy spirit is the

dunamis of heaven

verse 18 i will dare not speak of any of

those things that christ has not

accomplished through me in a word indeed

to make the gentiles obedient here’s our

verse in mighty signs and wonders

by the power of the spirit of god

so that from jerusalem around

to lyricum i have fully preached the

gospel of christ

read the verse again i’m going to remove

the names of the cities

so that you can see more clearly what

he’s saying in mighty signs and wonders

by the power of the spirit of god i have

fully

preached the gospel of christ

i’ll tell you another boundary or border

that cannot be adjusted or moved

is the absolute necessity for the power

of god

the absolute necessity this is not a

verse to say

to say well you pre you fully preach the

gospel and your friend doesn’t it’s not

a have and have not

if i look at it that way then i have

misunderstood completely what he’s

saying

because the power of god is not a tool

that we use

to bring people into the kingdom the

power is a person

i am the tool that he uses

it is not my maneuvering of his presence

and power

that i use for divine purpose it is my

yieldedness and surrender i’m unwilling

to live life

without the yes through which he would

flow in power

i’m unwilling and it’s a boundary it’s a

boundary of this inheritance

it’s something in god i have no right to

adjust or to move or to change

it’s not about what somebody else

preaches it’s not about what somebody

else has

or doesn’t have it’s about my personal

responsibility

as for me and my house i have seen a

line of demarcation

i once was okay with the theology of

power

and not the experience and not the

practice

it’s unacceptable it’s unacceptable

it’s not a guilt words not a shame word

it’s just saying you know what

here’s the land you’ve inherited this

one over here

says you’re a priest to god this

boundary over here

says you have hope in every situation

but this one

right here says

power must be displayed for this

gospel to be revealed for what it is

to touch the hearts of people because it

is that power

that changes the life without power it’s

not good news

it’s not power without power it’s it’s

just another philosophy

but with the power of god demonstrated

to confront the

demons that torment people the diseases

that afflict people

the stuff the lies that are circling

people’s

heads those things are broken because

the power of christ working

in you and in me it stops that cycle of

death

it stops the cycle of loss it’s the

requirement upon

every believer to demonstrate who he is

in power

it’s not optional it’s a boundary i

don’t have the right

to adjust the boundary i may not live

fully to the boundary but i can’t move

it i have to grow

just like a plant you put in a larger

pot it grows until it fills that pot

and then you transplant to another one

and it grows till fills that pot

that’s where we’re at he’s expanding our

capacity

revelation knowledge reveals areas where

our personal

transformation coming and it reveals my

inheritance what i must enter into

through the expression of faith

mystery is your friend

because it gives opportunity for faith

all those questions you can’t answer

consider them friends

because without those questions it’s

much too easy for us to become arrogant

and independent

but living in mystery keeps us dependent

um

it’s been in my heart for the last now

probably

several months to be honest maybe even

as much as a year so

to review just for my sake this is not a

public pulpit experience this is

my little world

what price did i pay where did i say yes

when it was hard

the abrupt break through here

am i maintaining that i don’t mean the

guilt thing i don’t mean the

introspection where we

go we become self-absorbed i’m not

talking about that

are there deeds i need to return to

or am i maintaining the deeds that got

me here

i don’t want to grow beyond

first love

there’s a stupid things i used to do to

just try to please god i think he liked

him

crazy amount of reading and praying and

all the stuff i don’t know

i just think he was entertained by it

the fast things that i was sure was just

a hunger strike

i don’t know it just feels like he

looked at it and said

he means well

[Laughter]

he means well

but every one of those moments my own

history in your history

that’s what our life was built out of

it’s those moments of yes

and i’m i’m in a place where i can

see and taste what’s coming

i can’t describe it well remark my word

i can see it

and i want to invite you

into the simplicity of life that returns

to the deeds we did at first

it’s the simple things i heard somebody

say once

actually i read it they said

you can tell how popular a church is

by their attendance on sunday morning

you can tell how popular the pastor is

by their attendance on sunday night you

can tell how popular god is

by their attendance at the prayer

meeting

it’s the deed you did it first

it’s it’s the abandonment to whatever

god is saying and doing

i know that anytime we have this many

people in a room there’s always really

good

chance that god in his kindness his

mercy has brought people here maybe

relatives of friends stumbled in here

maybe you’ve been coming for quite a

while but

the point is is you don’t have a

personal relationship with jesus christ

interesting thing about being forgiven

of sin

being what the bible calls born again

is we actually come at his invitation we

don’t come at ours

it’s not dictated by us it’s dictated by

him

and there’s a good chance there are

people here this morning that

you’re unsettled in your heart because

that’s just a sign of god’s dealing with

you

you know that you’re outside of the

family of god and yet

he would welcome you in to know his love

as a father to know what it is to be

forgiven of all sin

and to experience what it means to be

born again

change from the inside out and i just

don’t want to do meetings anymore

what we don’t give opportunity for

people

to know jesus it’s the greatest miracle

of all

if there’s anyone in this room that

would say that’s me i don’t want to

leave the building

till i know i’ve been forgiven by god

till i

become a true disciple to follow jesus

if that’s you just put a hand up real

quick i’m going to wait just

just a moment put a hand up real high

and just say that’s me i don’t want to

leave the building till i know what it

is

to have peace with god i’m sorry

tv as well thank you we have so many

that watch all over the world

over 100 nations those online that are

watching on bethel tv

if that’s you i exhort i encourage you

honestly it may seem silly to you put

your hand up right where you are

and say jesus i surrender everything to

you

anybody in this room i surrender

everything to jesus it’s the only way

you follow him he’s not something you

try

it’s not like the detergent you get in

the mail a trial size

he only comes in one size god

why don’t you stand we’re going to pray

i want to have ministry team people come

to the front real quickly

ministry team come on up quick if you

would please

well i want to pray just a simple prayer

over you

before i run to the back to shake some

of your hands

how many of you can say i want that

first

deeds thing operating fully in me

i want the first deeds there whatever

that means to you i want

i i don’t want to leave what got me here

i want to maintain what got me here

father i ask for the grace the grace the

anointing the insight

the conviction of heart of life for the

first deeds

that you would build upon that which you

started now so many years ago

i ask this for the honor of the name

jesus amen amen