In this full sermon at Bethel Church, Bill Johnson encourages the church to discover a deeper realm of faith. It is time to up the ante.
good morning
glad you showed up
glad you’re here i am happy new year by
the way
i i missed the chance to tell you that
earlier
i was in korea and taiwan and had such
such a great time it’s
people are catching on because i i’ve
been saying for years
when i go somewhere i say i’m here to
eat
if you want to have meetings before and
after
the meals that’s fine but i’m here to
eat
and i will i will admit this was
a trip with a lot of meals so
i may need to dial that down some doubt
uh had such a great time
but boy is it ever good to be home so so
thrilled to be
uh to be here with you um
i see i have something to read to you
it’s very short very short
but it’s worthwhile companies are
bragging
about making plants taste like meat
cows have been doing that forever
[Applause]
oh goodness i
now that’s a word of wisdom right there
i think the most christ-like people in
this church are the vegetarians because
they endure so much
of my teasing so somebody bought me a
t-shirt a while back that said
if god meant for us to be a vegetarian
he would have made broccoli more fun to
shoot at
i don’t know it makes perfect sense to
me so
anyway all right open your bibles to the
book of malachi
or as some would call it malachi
the italian prophet
malachi that’s the last book in the old
testament
and uh i i haven’t done something like
this for quite a while
what i what’s in my heart to do is i
want to take probably two weeks i could
do three but
i think probably we’ll just do two weeks
and study the book of malachi
and there’s two parts to this uh
that we’re going to need to study so
part one today
is is going to do primarily with
the correction that leads to the
fullness
of covenant let me i can say that better
the lord is very confrontive but when he
corrects
it’s always an invitation to life
his corrections are never punishment
focused they are always
life focused they are always invitations
to step into purpose
to step into destiny and so we find in
the first three chapters especially
we find the lord addressing some of the
issues of the heart
that we’ll look at in a moment we’re
just going to skim a couple of them but
address the issues of the heart that had
become
dead in in the people they had become a
people
of routine instead of the life-giving
relationship that we’re supposed to have
with the lord of course this is an old
testament context so it’s going to
have to do with animal sacrifices that
sort of thing but it basically
is in the context of our affection and
our worship for the lord
one of the things that you notice if if
you could take time this week even
to read book through the book of malachi
you notice
uh a phrase repeated over and over again
the lord would make a statement and then
he’d say
and yet you say and he does that like
nine
nine or ten times the lord makes a
statement then he says but you say
and so what this book is about is this
is about the issue of
lordship absolute lordship
there is more room for freedom
inside the kingdom than there is outside
there’s more liberty in a relationship
with jesus
than being in a place where you can do
whatever you want
freedom is actually the ability to do
what’s right
freedom of will outside of god’s
purposes
are so restrictive and confining
real liberty is in responding to the
invitation for a relationship
so that we live transformed people so
what we’re going to do is we’re going to
get right into this i want you to go to
malachi chapter 1. we we can’t read all
of it we’re
i’m just going to take a few verses and
we’ll read them and it’ll give us kind
of a
kind of a summary of some of what i see
in in this wonderful wonderful book
malachi
chapter 1 verse 7
you offer defiled food on my altar
but say in what way have we defiled you
by saying the table of the lord is
contemptible when you offer the blind
as a sacrifice is that not evil and when
you offer the lame
and sick is it not evil offer it then to
your governor
would he be pleased with you would he
accept you favorably
says the lord of hosts jump over to
verse
13 same chapter
you also say oh what a weariness you
sneer at it says the lord of hosts
you bring the stolen the lame the sick
thus you bring an offering should i
accept this from your hand says the lord
but cursed be the deceiver who has in
his flock
a male and takes a vow but sacrifices to
the lord what is blemished
for i am a great king says the lord of
hosts
and my name is to be feared among the
nations this is where we’re going to
start
nice happy pleasant conversation
in malachi all right
he says you take from your flock you
have a nice healthy male
but when it comes time to giving
something in an offering or sacrifice
you take a lame one probably reasoning
it’s gonna die anyway
the lord sees that and calls it evil
he calls it evil because he’s a great
king
now what does he need that we have to
offer nothing
what’s he going to do with the dead
sheep that burns on a fire
nothing what’s he going to do with your
money nothing he doesn’t need one thing
that you and i have to offer him
the greatest injustice in the universe
is for
the great king to exist as the source of
life
and go unrecognized
there’s a bizarre story in uh in the
book of acts
with king herod herod was really kind of
an antichrist type figure he
he sought to kill jesus as an infant
he’s uh
is this ungodly figure so
he’s in the book of acts he’s giving a
speech and it says
he gave this speech to his uh the
citizens of the nation
he gave this speech they were so rocked
by his
words that they began to cry out the
voice of a god
the voice of a god and the bible says
herod died that day because he did not
give
glory to god think through this he
died that day because he did not give
glory what does that imply
it implies that the lord enabled
an ungodly king to give a moving speech
he gave him an ability to impact
citizens of a nation with words but
but he he did not recognize that it was
the lord
that enabled him to do that
the greatest injustice in the universe
is to live in a world where
there’s blessing there’s life
and him go unrecognized and to make
matters even worse
when there’s a natural disaster he gets
the credit for that
but not for the crops growing
not for the ability to go to a grocery
store and to see
walls of food that are there day after
day any day of the week that you go
historically it is such an unusual
blessing
to walk into a place of abundance that
we’ve lost
the discernment for the abundance we’re
in
and so that injustice is what he’s
dealing with
it’s created a group of people
who confess christ but live complacently
in their relationship with him and to
people
there’s a passage in proverbs i think
it’s chapter 18 verse 19.
it says the slothful
in his work is brother to him who
destroys
the slothful in his work is brother
to him who destroys so just look at it
this way
we have the passionate laborer
we have the lazy worker and we have the
opponent
to the work
we have the passionate servant of the
lord
we have the complacent servant of the
lord
and we have those opposed to the gospel
complacency fuels the heart
of the opponent
complacency legitimizes
opposition to the gospel
complacency legitimizes
the opposition to the gospel
three groups of people the faithful
passionate worker the lazy person
and the opponent the two most alike
are the complacent and the opponent
the scripture says this one is a brother
to this one
being lukewarm in a relationship with
jesus
is not a season it’s a devil
it is not necessary we have emotional
times of being up and down we have
challenges in our life
we have trials we have all that stuff
but none of that ever has to translate
to complacency in our devotion to him
we have times where we know what’s going
on we’re aggressively pursuing the call
in our life
we have other times where we’re clueless
we’re just trying to do our best
but never is complacency an answer
i am never have i been reduced to
a routine in jesus christ
i have more jokes if it becomes
[Applause]
necessary
verse 4 of chapter 2
then you shall know that i have sent
this commandment to you
that my covenant with levi may continue
okay how many of you have your bibles
let me see them
say this with me i love my bible
i do i really really love my bible
all right if you don’t have one steal
your neighbors no no don’t
no because start a fight here all right
he said i have sent you this commandment
that my covenant may continue
commandments connect us to covenant
covenant
connects us to encounter which ends in
transformation
commandments are not bare they are not
um
uh he’s not trying to find things for us
to do to keep us
busy in christian activity
every commandment is an invitation to
enter
into life and so he says this he says
the commandment is given
that my covenant with levi may continue
verse 5
my covenant with him was one of life and
peace
anybody ever go on a vacation or you
stay at a hotel where everything is
included
all the food all direct everything’s
included this word peace is the
all-inclusive word in the bible
if you ever wanted it and it’s right
it’s in the word
the word peace means sound mind the word
peace means divine health
the word peace means prosperity it’s
like anything you’ve ever prayed for
is actually in that word peace so here
he’s saying
i’m i’ve brought you a commandment so
the covenant will continue
what is the covenant it’s a covenant of
life
and peace it’s a covenant where you get
launched into the reason you were made
entrance is the commandment
david said he would meditate on the
commandments of the lord in the middle
of the night
because he saw what they were they were
invitations
to life they were invitations to
personal breakthrough
they were invitations to becoming all
that god had destined and designed him
to become
there’s a a lot of folks that for some
reason have have been saying that
there’s no more commandments
uh left because of grace
i don’t know how you can think that and
read the bible i mean even if you just
read the new testament
there’s a lot of suggestions in here
[Laughter]
and they’re not just suggestions so
all right verse 7 of chapter 2 says the
lips of a priest
should keep knowledge the people should
seek the law from his mouth
he is the messenger of the lord this is
a beautiful statement here’s the deal
every believer in this room is called a
priest
unto the lord what is a primary focus
of the priest of the lord is to preserve
an awareness of what is actually
righteous and what is unrighteous
when there’s complacency the line gets
blurred
when the line gets blurred the message
becomes weak when the message becomes
weak
there’s little understanding in the
world around us to the nature of god
compromise here defiles the revelation
of god’s nature
to the world the priests those who stand
before the lord
live with an awareness of righteousness
and unrighteousness
that’s not an invitation to reject
people
or to or to criticize and be harsh
against people it’s not that at all
it’s recognizing this is life this is
death
if i do this it leads to life if i do
this it leads to death
and those two realities are true for
believers
as well as unbelievers this leads to
life
this does not and the lips of a priest
it doesn’t say just the thoughts of the
priests or the heart of the priest
it’s going to come out in conversation
it’s going to come out because whatever
is in the heart
is going to be revealed through speech
chapter 3.
you still alive good because it’s about
to get really good
next year next year yeah i’m gonna hit
you with this all year long yeah you
just wait
next week uh we’re gonna take the
prophetic
promise malachi is known for
three basic passages um
the three most familiar the first one
would be
the tithe in chapter three we’ll read
that in a moment the second would be
at the end of chapter four is the word
about
elijah will come and restore the heart
of the parents to the children
the heart of children to the parents the
third most familiar passage that is in
this book
is that the son of righteousness will
rise with healing in his wings
so we’re going to take those promise
aspects next week but today
i want to stay on re as honorary as i
can so we’re going to
we’re going to move on here into chapter
3. and let’s go right into verse
will a man rob god yet you have robbed
me
but you say in what way have we robbed
you in tithes
and offerings you are cursed with a
curse for you have robbed me even this
whole nation
bring all the tithes into the storehouse
that there may be food in my house
try me now in this says the lord of
hosts see if i will not open for you
windows of heaven
part of blessing till there’s no more
need all right
i like the kind of verses that growl at
you when you read them
i like my coffee strong
i like it so strong it talks to me
it growls when i pick up the cup
my coffee is strong enough you can walk
on it without faith
that’s our stop i like
my spice extremely hot i want everything
on the edge i want it to challenge your
breath
and when i read this scripture i want
the stuff that growls at me when i read
it
and when he says you’re robbing me i go
bring it on
talk to me i don’t want to skirt the
issues what i’m trying to say i don’t
want to screw it any of the issues i
don’t want to miss anything
the tithe by many to today something’s
happened i don’t know what’s going on
but something’s happened where people
have come to the conclusion the tithe is
actually part of the law
the tithe was not introduced by the laws
introduced by abraham
who is called the father of our faith
ratified by the law ratified by jesus
jesus said in in matthew 23
he said he’s talking to the priests
excuse uh yeah
the pharisees pharisees and he said you
guys
tithe on your herbs
they give such delicate care to this
part
and he says you should do that
that’s what he says these things you
should do
so there he’s ratifying tithe without
neglecting the rest
what is he saying this is kindergarten
you’ve got to press on the great to
graduate school
people think that tithing is a sign of
spiritual maturity
you tithe congratulations you’re no
longer a thief
i just felt good to say
it’s a beginning place
it’s not an arrival place it’s not a
destination
it’s a step in the journey
people describe this relationship with
god as though
in fact i hear them say there’s no fear
of god in the new testament
which they obviously haven’t read their
bible if they think that
i’ve told you before those who say you
can’t have intimacy with god and fear
him at the same time
my response is that whoever made that up
is obviously not married
i am intimate with my wife but she
scares me
we’ll just leave that right there where
it is that’s the way i think it’s
supposed to be
this relationship with the lord not one
of the commands he gives us
are to imprison us not one of them
none of them are restrictions anytime a
person sees them as restrictions
they are looking from the outside in
those who live
in the relationship and see when he
speaks a command
he’s actually enabling us by grace to do
what he said
the difference between law and grace i
don’t know if you you realize this
the law says don’t murder grace says
don’t call somebody a fool
[Music]
the law says don’t commit adultery grace
says
don’t lust after a woman
it’s a lot easier to not kill than it is
to not call somebody a very descriptive
name when they cut you off on the
freeway
the point is the law is quite simple
grace takes presence in a relationship
to achieve the commands under grace
are invitations to partnership
it’s where jesus lives his life in and
through
our yieldedness our willingness to obey
grace enables me to do more than i could
on my own if i were just left with
commandments
i remind you again of the verse
the angel of the lord spoke to mary says
nothing will be impossible with god
nothing will be impossible with god the
word nothing is two words
it’s no and it’s the word rhema it’s
that freshly spoken word of god
no freshly spoken word of god will be
impossible the word means without
ability
jack taylor years ago told us that verse
can actually be translated like this
no freshly spoken word of god will ever
come to you
that does not contain its own ability to
perform itself
they have found seeds in in like the
pyramids and stuff
they’re two three thousand years old
three thousand year old seeds and they
plant them and they grow
the power is in the seed the seed is the
word of god the ability
to become all that he has said is in
what he has said
but it takes the receiving of the word
by the yielded believer it’s the
surrender
we don’t accomplish great things for god
because we’ve determined
we accomplish great things because we’ve
surrendered
faith is the evidence of surrender not
determination
faith is not the result of striving it’s
a result of giving up
jesus said in matthew 22
he said give unto caesar
what belongs to caesar taxes
give unto god what belongs to god
that means there’s something that
belongs to god
people say well that all the rest is his
that’s true but that’s a cop-out in this
verse because in this verse
that would include the taxes
he’s making its distinction between
what’s in my
what’s in your wallet whatever that
advertises it
what’s in my account that belongs to
caesar
and belongs to god
only in the kingdom of god does 90
of the whole have greater impact than
the whole
this is this is the only issue
at uh
the only issue
on his mind is the lordship of jesus
that that’s the issue
is is who
will i follow who will i say yes to
he says that there may be food in my
house try me now in this
we are warned in the bible don’t try god
don’t test god i remember
in the jesus people movement there was
these bumper stickers that would say try
jesus
and then winky pratt and he told us once
he said
he doesn’t come in trial sizes
you can’t try jesus he’s god
he comes in one size only that’s very
large
and according to chapter one he says i’m
a great king
the great injustice is for
great things to happen in the world just
the ability to eat food
and him to go unrecognized and yet he
gets the credit
for the floods and all the other junk
so the lord then is bringing us to
account and he says
test me now and here’s the end result
see if i will not
open for you the windows of heaven has
anybody else here prayed for open
heavens
open heavens it’s it’s
strange but
that opens heaven
open heavens
cornelius in the book of acts
was a gentile he was outside of
at least an old testament context he was
outside
of the faith so to speak
he was not a jew but he he loved god and
he loved what god was doing in israel so
he gave
and he said the lord visited him and
and the lord said your your offerings
have have been raised up into heaven
as a monument a memorial
now memorial stones were would be a pile
of stones that israel would put up
and it would remind them of an event in
other words
israel crossed the red sea at this place
or the jordan river
and they put a pile of stones so that
any time
you know mom and dad and the kids are
walking down the river trail
and they go hey what’s this pile of
stones for they could stop and tell them
this story
well this is where joshua did this this
is where moses did this is where
this is where israel came across into
the land of promises the jordan river
so it was a pile of stones that reminded
the lord said that the giving
of cornelius was a memorial stone in
heaven a pile of stones
that spoke to god the father about the
generosity
of someone on earth what happened he was
visited
with an outpouring of the spirit his
entire family was saved
the wrong conclusion is you can buy
miracles from god
you’ve you’ve heard the
you’ve heard the people joke about you
know send send a hundred dollars and
you’ll get your miracle or whatever it
might that’s that’s
horrible it’s horrible it’s it’s just
wrong
you can’t buy from god you can’t i can’t
manipulate him with my money
i can’t manipulate him with my raised
hands or my shout or anything else i do
he is unmanipulated manipulatable
i know what i mean leave me alone
he’s unmoved by manipulation
but at the same time it illustrates i
never tap the fullness of what god
intends to do
apart from generosity he says in this
passage that there may be food in my
house think about this
i’ve never seen a church i get the
privilege
luxury if you will of working with
ministries all over the world
i’ve never seen a a ministry
of any kind that function in great
revelation of the word
that was not equally generous
there’s a connection this is that there
may be
food in my house there’s a connection
it would be wrong to think if i give a
gift
to god my neighbor will be saved or my
family member or whatever that’s foolish
because we can’t manipulate them but at
the same time
every time we break into the patterns of
generosity
something changes in the spiritual realm
over our lives over our families and
there’s something to be said
about generosity and the breakthrough
over entire households
i i you know there’s warnings in
scripture
about giving under compulsion in other
words don’t let anybody
use fancy words to manipulate and
persuade any of us
to give anything it’s it’s wrong we have
the authority
the tithe is his but everything else is
ours to use at our discretion
at our disposal don’t let anybody
manipulate that out of you
at the same time there are opportunities
in god to step in and do something
courageous
with action sometimes it’s words
sometimes it’s just serving somebody
sometimes it’s just stopping long enough
for this person in pain
just to let them know that you actually
care about the condition they’re in
and sometimes it’s money but it’s it’s a
it’s a heart of generosity
and here he describes open heavens
because of generosity we’ve got
something going on here in the last
month or so it’s i don’t know what it is
except it’s wonderful
there’s a there’s an incredible uh move
of the holy spirit that we’ve been
experiencing i don’t know how much was
talked to you in the in the
um in the opening of the meeting
but i guess they had to make people go
home at midnight friday
there’s we had a staff gathering this
week
and it was just such a strong visitation
of the holy spirit something
is just happening around here and i i
believe the open heavens
is at least in part the result of you
and me together choosing a life of
generosity
at the same time i feel like the lord is
inviting us come on up higher
come on up higher come on up higher and
here’s my invitation to you
the thing i’m most concerned about not
concerned in the sense of worried
uh concerned about in the sense of
priority
is complacency in the heart of a
believer
in this house because complacency
gives reason to oppose the gospel more
than it does
to support the gospel and we’ve never
been designed
as a people to be lukewarm in our
approach to jesus
he’s a great king and because he’s a
great king and he’s the source of all
life
everything needs to be viewed through
those lenses the god
is the giver and the sustainer of life
all good gifts come
from him that simple recognition
positions us with his heart of
generosity for life
why don’t you stand
happy new year
merry christmas too i guess huh
i almost feel like i should announce
we’re in for a wild ride
we’re here for a wild ride
[Applause]
i think one of the most important things
to realize
when you see the spirit of god moving
like we are the first conclusion
we have to come to is that we don’t know
what we’re doing
because when you know what you’re doing
you try to fit him into
what you’ve seen or do in the past
excuse me
and you’ve said yes
we’re together because together we said
we said yes
and your kindness and generosity of
lifestyle
has once again
given the invitation for god to prove
who he is
and he’s an extravagant father he’s one
who delights
over you and over me
you know i don’t know if it needs to be
said now but
i just every once when i just get
overwhelmed
i work hard you work hard
but when it works it was all by grace
i do my best and when it works
wow it was all by grace
and i’m at that moment again where i
feel like the lord is just
upping the ante so my challenge has been
the last few days people i’ve talked
with
you know you get up 15 minutes early to
pray
get up 30. it’s time to up the ante
you give 10 give 15.
you come to the six o’clock meeting come
at five for prayer
you’re willing to pray for anyone who
has need look for people who have need
the whole point is at every point you
read two chapters a day read five
i’m not trying to describe illegalism
i’m trying to say
this insulates us from complacency
it insulates me
i’ve had a challenge in the last few
weeks
with sleep and um
please don’t give me suggestions
i don’t i don’t need any more herbal
teas and no it’s not my coffee leave me
alone
[Applause]
but seriously every every moment
of being stirred
i i shouldn’t say every moment almost
every moment of being stirred in the
night
i have interpreted as an invitation to
pray
i have something in the crosshairs
and it’s called complacency
and i don’t want to allow that thing to
live in anybody i know
[Applause]
because i want to erase the objection to
the gospel
as much as possible and never again
have the people of god fuel the opponent
through complacency
so father that’s what i pray i pray that
you’d help us to be a people again that
are all in
we’ve said yes for years but we say it
again yes
yes yes yes yes
i pray for those who watch even on
bethel tv
the same thing that there would be such
a fire in our souls
beyond just the emotional highs and lows
the fire because i’ve said yes to the
god who burns for me
i was probably 19 years old and i heard
a woman
in this church when my dad was the
pastor prophesy
i’ll never forget her prophecy she said
the word of the lord through her mouth
was if you long for me
as i long for you you will be satisfied
if you long for me as i long for you
lord those eyes burning like fire
let them touch my own heart god i give
you everything i show you everything
let your burning eyes ignite something
in me
that no opposition could ever quench
so i pray that for this family in jesus
name
one more question if there’s anyone here
that would say
bill i don’t have a personal
relationship with jesus
i need to get right with god i want to
find peace with god i want to know what
it is
to be forgiven i want to surrender my
life and truly become
a disciple of the lord jesus christ if
that’s anybody in the room
and you would make that agreement with
me now i want you just to put a hand up
and i want to pray with you right where
you are just say
bill that’s me i want a relationship
with jesus right now
anybody else raise your hand at me
if i see your hand anybody else there’s
another one over here
yes wonderful wonderful beautiful
anyone else i i don’t want to miss
anyone
right over here we’ve got a fresh start
banner and we’ve got some folks that we
know and trust
i want to ask anyone that is making that
commitment
to follow the lord jesus to come over
here and meet our friends
and they just want to talk and pray with
you come right now i want the ministry
team to come as well that’ll help them
to find their way up here
but if you have a friend that wants to
come up and make this commitment to
jesus
have them come right now