Throughout scripture, many people have responded in unusual ways during challenging times. Bill Johnson lays out a prophetic template on how to face the threats of loss and tough situations. May we respond in hope and be found faithfully doing the will of our Father.
this is a unique way to to bring the
word to you it’s a great privilege to do
so I’m thankful for technology makes up
for all the things we couldn’t do in the
past but we get to touch a lot of homes
this way and I’m really glad I I
several years ago I was doing a study I
had noticed that there were awkward
awkward probably the wrong word unusual
responses to trial famines difficulties
in the word and so I began to do a study
this is quite a few years ago now and
since this whole virus issue came up
these things have come to mind because
what I want for me and what I want for
us is to learn how to respond biblically
to a crisis that comes up what are the
different ways that the people of God in
history have dealt with famines plagues
pestilence all those things the number
one response that we are to have we find
in the second chronicles 7:14 if my
people who are called by my name will
humble themselves and pray turn from
their wicked ways seek my face turn from
their wicked ways then I will hear from
heaven forgive the sin heal their land
always when there’s difficulty that
comes up it gives us a reminder to
refine our focus and to make sure that
we’re standing on solid ground that our
attitudes or behavior our relationships
all these things are are really in in
divine order but the unusual approach to
in this case I’m gonna get three famines
in the Bible and I want you to see the
unusual response of different people of
God throughout history so the first one
is in Genesis 26 and if you’ve got your
Bibles with you which I hope you do
you’re at home or somewhere where you
have a Bible I I want you to open to
Genesis 26 and I want you to see the
most unusual response to a famine by one
of our heroes of the faith of history
whatever our forefathers and that’s
Isaac and I want to begin with verse one
it says there was a famine in the land
besides the first famine that was in the
days of Abraham
and Isaac went to Abimelech king of the
Philistines in Guerard the first phrase
there was a famine in the land then we
jump to verse 12 and it says then Isaac
sowed in the land and reaped in the same
year a hundredfold and the Lord blessed
him the man began to prosper
he continued prospering until he became
very prosperous I love that verse is
like God really wanted us to understand
what took place here says he began to
prosper
he continued prospering until it became
very prosperous but the point was verse
1 says there was a famine in the land
verse 12 says Isaac sowed in the land
during that famine
it’s an odd time to plant crops
generally when we talk about sowing and
reaping in the in the church we’re
talking about giving this actually
technically is not a giving passage it’s
a good principle but that’s not what’s
at stake here
Isaac was selling into his future this
is a business decision he is he has
crops he has livestock and this is his
future this is his business and so he is
investing in his own future what’s
unusual is at a time when crops aren’t
being harvested when there’s not
financial progress being made by the
typical people or farms or ranches or
whatever he sews into the land and he
reaps a hundredfold a hundred times what
a normal harvest would be that’s
extraordinary it’s a supernatural
harvest what is this what is this all
about is the fact that Isaac took was
intentional and sowing into his own
future sowing into his own business if
you will he made decisions that would
otherwise seem foolish it would be
normal to want to eat the seed but
instead he planted the seed I remember a
missionary friend of many years ago sent
the newsletter out and I of course was a
recipient of that newsletter and he made
this comment he said for the first
in my life I understand what it means in
the Bible when it says to sow in tears
and to reap in joy sow in tears reap in
joy and then he began to describe in
Africa’s missionary in Africa began to
describe the the mothers who would have
children strapped to their backs and and
they would take the seed that they were
hungry to eat but they chose instead to
plant it in the ground and so they
planted it and they were crying while
they were planting the seed they knew
that they could that would be one meal
for them now but if they planted it it
could be a whole season of meals and so
there was that challenging decision in
this particular case I want to encourage
every business owner I would encourage
every employee every person listening to
this broadcast that to take the Isak
approach to this virus to the shutdown
of businesses all the stuff that’s crazy
that’s going on this is an opportunity
for us to really sow into her own future
to come with hope we have a reason to
hope his name is Jesus he has conquered
every enemy and he causes everything to
work for good to those who love God and
are called according to his purpose
that’s you and that’s me and so for some
of you it may be taking an online course
it might be buying a book and reading a
book during the shutdown time worry you
learn better how to maybe advertise or
whatever might be the point is is that
you all of us are making aggressive
decisions about our own future that
we’re anticipating breakthrough we’re
positioning ourselves for breakthrough
we’re even sacrificing because we
believe that God is breathing on that
offering so I want to encourage you I
believe this is a time for us to show
great courage and great faith it’s not a
time to be foolish it’s not a time to be
careless but it is a time to be
intentional so that we give God
something to breathe on if you will to
cause it to abound in to prosper so this
is not a generosity verse this is a
verse that deals with us investing in
our own future the second story is is
very unusual in some ways more unusual
than this one and it’s found in Nehemiah
chapter 5 if you would turn to that one
I’d love for you to see this one there’s
a little bit more involved in the detail
here what’s happening is there’s a
famine and the people have got Israel
here they’re running out of money they
have no crops to harvest they they’re in
big trouble and so they’re selling their
their lands to other people and in this
case ones you would sell to another Jew
but the point is is is these lands were
the permanent inheritance of individual
family liens this that when they
inherited that land that was marked for
them that was to be theirs and their
family from that point on so when they
sold them they were actually selling
something that God had given to them and
so it’s a very very difficult situation
so I want you to look at this
it’s an EMI v and we’re going to start
the verse two we have several verses to
read so follow along for there were
those who said we are sons our daughters
are many therefore let us get grained
that we may eat and live there were also
some who said we’ve mortgaged our lands
and vineyards and houses that we might
buy grain because of the famine there
are also those who said we’ve borrowed
money for the king’s tax on our land and
vineyards yet now our flesh is as the
flesh of our brethren our children as
their children and indeed we are forcing
our sons and our daughters to be slaves
some of our daughters have been brought
into slavery it is not in our power to
redeem them for other men have our lands
and vineyards and I mean this is me am I
talking since I became very angry when I
heard their the outcry and these words
after serious thought i rebuked the
nobles and said to them each of you is
exacting usery
which is interest from his brother so I
called a great assembly against him let
me explain this situation when Nehemiah
examines he hears the cry of the people
they’re saying we’re starving to death
we’re not able to eat we’ve had to sell
our own children into slavery which is
just
the unthinkable and nehemiah sees he
goes into the root of it and it’s that
brothers were buying brothers lands and
they were putting heavy heavy interest
on any payments that were to be made and
they were losing they were losing their
ability to buy food and so he rebukes
them and he restores them to a place of
family and National Covenant here’s the
point is that this is a time where many
of us were being forced to stay in our
own homes for example we we are confined
quarantined to our own homes what’s the
point is this is the time to renew and
restore relationships family first the
body of Christ the people of God it’s
not a time to take advantage of somebody
in their difficulty this is where we
adjust the opportunity for personal gain
to accommodate the people that are in
pain the people that are suffering the
people that are suffering experiencing
loss or diminishing of wages whatever it
might be don’t we do whatever we can to
stand as a family to give biblical
support love and support financial
support wherever possible I’m reminded
in Acts chapter 2 through 5 is where the
church experienced this great revival
they began to sell their lands and do
all kinds of stuff and what they did is
they made sure that nobody among them
was lacking nobody among them was poor
it wasn’t a mandate from the top it was
something that erupted within them and
that’s important it’s not a governmental
decision of everybody has the same it
was an internal decision that says I
care for my brother I care for my sister
I want to make sure that they are
supplied for that they have food to eat
that they they have shelter to live in
this is a time right now in a time of
crisis not for us to withdraw and to
become preoccupied with our own needs
our own circumstances instead it’s an
opportunity for us to aggressively
pursue those that we know that might be
in trouble maybe they have maybe they
have a financial crisis maybe they have
a medical crisis whatever it is the
point is is that we turn our attention
towards the people of God and rally
to their case rally to their cause you
may have neighbors friends we’ve
encouraged people you know call the
senior citizens around you those who may
not be able to go and get groceries and
so we have a lot of our teams that are
doing that right now they’re they’re
doing that very thing calling their
neighbors and friends but also our own
church membership to call to find out
where the needs might be the point is
this is a moment where instead of
reacting to the fear of the day which is
running rampant instead refine our focus
on our practical simple devotion to
Christ and his people I want my love for
God to be seen and measured by love for
people in this unusual story
the famine happened but we never hear it
spoken of again
it’s as though their compassion for each
other their devotion to one another
silenced the voice of that storm silence
the voice of that family
the last story I want to ask you to look
at is in Acts chapter 11 and this is
this obviously New Testament and it’s a
it’s an interesting story for so many
reasons because once again a famine was
coming to really devour from people and
so what we’ve got here is in acts 11 was
start with verse 27 it says and in these
days prophets came from Jerusalem to
Antioch and one of them named Agabus
stood up and showed by the spirit that
there was going to be a great famine
throughout all the world which also
happened in the days of Claudius Caesar
then the disciples each according to his
ability determined to send relief to the
Brethren dwelling in Judea I love this
particular store for a whole bunch of
reasons but I guess my favorite part is
that when they heard that a famine was
coming remember it says in the whole
world so that means the people that are
hearing this word can tell there is a
famine coming in their direction and
it’s going to affect their life the
first thing they did this is remarkable
the first thing they did is they took an
offering that’s the last thing that so
many people would ever think I’m doing
that’s where you would retreat you you
you do whatever can to survive and
instead in this particular passage they
moved aggressively to receive an
offering and to send it to the Brethren
of Judea they did it each according to
their ability so there was no
manipulation there was no somehow
coercion were they were they had to
relinquish goods it wasn’t that it was
there was this overwhelming thankfulness
for God’s promises and they decided to
plant a seed
the first story we read is about Isaac
who’s sowed seeds but it was not it was
not generosity it was he sowing into his
own future in his own business it’s
important the second one was covenant or
relationship just sow into that and make
sure that there was health there but
this last one actually has to do with
money itself they took an offering and
they gave it to the Brethren in Judea
this means a lot of things it could be
an act of compassion I’ve heard people
say that the Brethren Judea were in
great crisis financially and so if
that’s the case this obviously was a
very noble thing to do to receive an
offering but I would like to suggest to
you that there might be just a little
bit more to the story than that
Judea this is where the ministers of the
gospel came from to Antioch to bring the
gospel people in this audience if in
this church if you will the people of
this body of believers are converted
because somebody came from Judea and
brought the good news to them I would
like to like to suggest that yeah this
is probably a gift of compassion but
even more so it was a gift of honor
a gift of honor and that gift of honor
while the famine happened we never hear
it spoken of again it’s silence the
appetite it dulled the teeth it silenced
the voice of this famine that was going
to affect so many people’s lives it’s
never spoken of again there’s something
profound
about generosity in times of personal
need I know around here when we’ve had
different crises and challenges
financially that’s when I’ve gone into
our financial people’s office I need you
to write a check for such-and-such a
church in town they they aren’t able to
pave their parking lot and and we’ll
we’ll just well aggressively go after
that right now we had a guest that was
supposed to speak to us this this I
think it was this week now if not this
week next week and and itinerant people
all of their travel is shut down and so
this last week we sent this friend of
ours an itinerant minister we sent him
the honorarium
as though he had spoken here we wanted
to honor him and thank him for his
ministry his devotion to us through the
years we’ve done this through the years
where we’ve where we’ve had individuals
who have not been able to make a
conference that they were a guest at and
and because they they had a medical
report the doctors told them you’re not
to travel during this season and so we
just write out a check we send the
honorarium to them I got a text this
morning from what are one of our staff
guys who they are using the cash app to
pay you know the the beautician that had
to cancel the appointment to do his
wife’s hair but they’re paying her as
though the hair the hair appointment was
kept and doing the same with the trainer
at the gym and all these things the
point is this is the moment to sow into
people’s lives aggressively to display
honor because I refuse to bow at the
threat of this family so to speak in
this case of iris I refuse to bow to
this thing and instead I’m going to move
aggressively in generosity to to take
the teeth out of the bite of this thing
and I believe that we’re going to see a
very quick quick end to this virus but I
want to be found carrying on the heart
of the Lord as this thing comes to a
close I want to be found in that place
of radical obedience to the Lord where
we care about people’s souls we care
people’s well-being we serve them the
best we know how I have found personally
that you know just being shut in at the
house except for moments like this
being shut in at the house it’s a
tremendous opportunity just to walk
around my home or to walk around our
property and just to pray just to
intercede to lift up praise obviously to
the Lord but to pray for these neighbors
to reach out to people to to make the
phone calls to do all that we can it’s
the generosity of soul it’s uh buying
the gift cards just sent a text to a
restaurant owner yesterday to be able to
buy gift cards to help to sow into their
ongoing business we want our city to do
the impossible
in this moment we want your city to do
the impossible in this moment and that
is to thrive in the face of loss instead
of go backwards I want to see us advance
and I believe together as the people of
God this is the moment to advance this
an advancement now is a miracle and
that’s what advancements are supposed to
be so I I wanna I just want to declare
this to you teach teach you first of all
from the word three different unusual
responses to famine or to loss but also
to challenge you to challenge us as a
church family to stay with stand with
resolve and have that devotion of
commitment let me go over the three
things invest in our own personal
advancement in business in perhaps
you’re a counselor or whatever the point
is is that you sew into your own
personal development because you believe
you have a future in a hope
secondly is to reaffirm covenant or
relationships reaffirm the devotion to
people the people of God the household
of faith but also to to this city and
then third is this thing of generosity I
believe that this seeds of generosity in
times like this are so they so attract
God into an environment to prospering to
bring increase so that’s what we’re
doing here we’ve we have a number of
staff obviously they can’t come with a
huge staff they can’t come to the
so we’re directing their attention
towards our city directing their
attention towards neighbors members of
our family and I believe that the Lord
is honoring that approach to generosity
I want to encourage you to do the same
thing I want to pray for you because I
the prayer that I prayed more than
goodness I think I think probably I
prayed for this more than any other five
things combined in the last five years
I’ve been praying for the spirit of
breakthrough God identifies himself in
David’s life as the God of the
breakthrough bail pair ISM was the name
is the god of the breakthrough that when
there is an obstacle he breaks through
the obstacle when there is a season of
difficulty he breaks through them brings
increase he’s the God of answers and
solutions regardless of the problem and
so I want to pray because I believe it’s
not just to be a breakthrough season for
the church I think it’s individually I
think that every person I know I’ve been
I’ve been prayerfully meditating on a
particular verse I would invite you to
join join with me in kind of discovering
the depth the richness of this verse
it’s the passage in John 15 verse 7
where he says if you abide in me my
words abide in you you will ask whatever
you desire and it will be done for you
if you abide in me and my words abide in
you you ask what you want and it’ll be
done all of us like outcomes we like the
answer to prayer we like the graduation
we like the purchase of the home the
where we move in we like we we like
those kinds of things we likes we like
the conclusion but God likes the journey
I like the and everything will be added
he likes the abide in me and let my
words abide in you so what I’ve chosen
to do for me in my own journey in this
season is to turn my attention I’m
literally giving my time in this season
to learn one verse
better not to quote it I can quote have
been able to quote it for years not that
to live it fully what does it mean to
abide in Christ what is what does it
mean to be in continuous ongoing
affectionate relationship with him what
does it mean to stay connected to the
presence of God before his face in an
ongoing way what does that look like was
what does it look like for me to have to
carry that on that awareness that the
Spirit of God is in me the Spirit of God
is resting upon me what does it mean to
be that deeply connected to the heart
and mind of God abiding in him and then
he says that my words would abide in you
that’s where as we read his word
something stands out to us in this case
this whole thing of an offering in in a
time of famine stands out to me it’s
been on my mind for four years what does
that look like to face an external
problem what does it look like to act in
the opposite spirit and then for God to
bring a breakthrough what does that look
like so we carry these words in our
heart you may have a different word
there may be something that the Lord
spoke to you about your family maybe
it’s a personal promise of something
he’s going to do and this looks like the
most impossible season for that to
happen well guess what it’s the most
likely season for the breakthrough to
come because he’s the God who majors he
brokers in impossibilities and so I I’m
gonna ask you join with me on this
abiding in God this affectionate love
for him continuously where his word
where I can at any at the drop of hat in
any moment be able to quote to you
declare to you this is what God is
saying to me in this season I want to
monitor those two parts of my life and
let him monitor my prayer life where
things happen where things breakthrough
takes place so father I’m praying right
now that fer the entire Bella family our
Bethel community around the world our
guests and friends who have joined us
let this be the season where we see a
spirit of breakthrough
mantle an outpoint of anointing for
breakthrough would come upon every
individual upon every household god I
pray it for our city I pray for the
cities represented that a mantle of
break the most impossible situations
would turn and reverse for the glory of
God that this would be the hour where
you receive the glory for every turning
that takes place in our cities in our
nation God we play it pray for America
we pray for Switzerland in Japan and
Korea in all these countries all around
the world that are joining with us right
now that there would be a turning and
there would be a massive deliverance of
this that the enemy has turned towards
us that instead there would be a mighty
deliverance a mighty healing that would
take place and household after almost
outsold God instead of retreating in
fear I pray that you’d release the
mantle for Health and healing upon the
people of God that we would aggressively
stand on behalf of our neighbors and
friends to see healing and deliverance
take place in the name of Jesus God I
pray for every business person that’s
watching that you would defend them in
that business you would promote them in
that business that their online success
would more than make up for what’s not
walking through the door because of
closure that you would give wisdom for
how to maneuver in this season that’s
different than every past season that
you’d help us to know how to invest in
our future in a biblical manner that you
show us where we need to to store up our
strength one another with one another in
our families in our church family and
you show us where Janet what generosity
looks like in this season I pray all of
this that the name of Jesus would be
exalted held in the highest honor amen
amen amen please I’ve been carrying this
thing in my heart for days and in fact
Chris was supposed to get up today but
he kindly bowed out so I could share it
was in my heart I feel like this is a
prophetic template
and it’s going to be applied differently
probably for every household but there’s
a prophetic template and how we face the
threat of loss how we face challenging
situations so I encourage you review
these things pray over these things but
the last thing I want to do is I know
that with such a large online audience
that there’s always the opportunity for
people who have never made a personal
commitment to the Lord Jesus Christ the
greatest miracle of all is the salvation
of the soul Jesus tugged on my heart he
showed me his love he called me to
himself and I said yes I called upon the
name of the Lord and he saved me he
forgave me of sin he delivered me from
my past and he made it possible for me
to walk with Him that offering that gift
of salvation is offered to every person
watching this broadcast that may not
have a personal relationship with Jesus
my goodness if there was ever a time
where it should be obvious we need a
Savior
we need a deliverer we need a father who
works on our behalf who defends us it’s
right now I want to encourage you but it
does cost it costs you this it’s not
your dollars it’s your life it’s the
fact that we turn from our life of sin
self serving to become a disciple of the
Lord Jesus Christ and I’m gonna ask you
just to pray with me right now
just just say these words with me father
I come to you I come to you as a sinner
I come to you in need of forgiveness I
ask you to forgive me from all sin I
turn from them I will not serve any
other God but Jesus I will not follow
any other lifestyle but the lifestyle of
Jesus and I ask that you would fill me
now with your Holy Spirit and make it
possible for me to live as a
representative of Jesus and the earth
I ask this for the honor of the name
Jesus amen
man well thank you thanks for uh for
joining us in this unusual setting this
unusual context but thank you thanks for
taking time out of your day I bless you
in Jesus name I pray that the face of
God would shine upon you I prayed that
every single household would have
increase of divine encounters divine
experiences and I pray for everybody
watching that God would release over you
over me a gift of faith for this season
in Jesus name Amen