Sanctification and the Sword – Bill Johnson (Full Sermon) | Bethel Church

To forsake all to follow Jesus is the entrance to a supernatural lifestyle. Bill Johnson unpacks the cost of growth and resurrection. We are called to live from glory to glory.

awesome good would you thanks thanks

thanks

thank you congressman

[Applause]

oh yeah we’re going to have a uh

a prayer gathering in june

uh where we are

we’re gathering uh several leaders from

around the state of california here in

reading

and uh gonna have a purpose for the

state of california

we uh we believe that uh it’s not only

time it’s past

time and we’re going to uh just focus

together on

on what we believe the lord wants to do

in healing our state so

those of you that are around join with

us i believe uh i believe it’s going to

be

a very powerful time all right got a

couple

funny signs i don’t need a valentine i

need eight million dollars and a fast

[Laughter]

metabolism

i don’t want to brag or make anyone

jealous but i can still fit into the

earrings

i wore in high school

[Laughter]

i love this things i asked my mom

where’s my phone

where’s the remote what’s for dinner why

can’t animals talk

things i asked my dad where’s mom

[Laughter]

that one’s just too true i you know

one more a recent studies found

that women who carry a little extra

weight live longer than the men who

mention it

yes amen yes amen

all growth is rewarded with pruning

all death is rewarded with resurrection

to forsake all to follow him

is the entrance into a lifestyle that

he’s in charge of

it’s a crosswalk into resurrection

it’s a crosswalk into breakthrough

israel traveled from egypt which

was a picture of sin so forgive me if

you’re from egypt

just a one-time illustration that’s all

from egypt through the wilderness into

the promised land

the wilderness experience was

one of great difficulty and challenge

they had to trust god every day for man

on the ground sometimes they were

thirsty for days had nothing a rock was

struck

water came out of the rock one time

there was a

whole supply of quail that it didn’t

turn out real good but uh but they had

meat once

but there was this ongoing miracle

that god trained them with in the

wilderness

but the daily provision of manna

was not the promised land

it was the training for the promised

land

there are times where we have a

perspective

of faith that

uh i don’t want to say is immature it’s

just it’s not developed

and that’s probably true for all of us

in some measure but we

we tend to think that the person who

believes god for daily provision

has greater faith in the person who

works

and has an income and it’s not true i

remember having a

a friend of mine he’s home with the lord

now but a businessman he was quite

wealthy quite well to do

he had a pretty large business it

affected uh

from denver west and uh i remember we’d

have early morning prayer meetings

in weaverville and he would come early

and he would be over on the side he’d be

kneeling and praying and in conversation

with him sometime after he

began to come to this perimeter he he

was there praying for his employees

that he would prosper enough to keep

them

employed so they could put their kids

through college

that’s what he’s praying for see when

you when you have

we’ve got this thing in our in our

nation

that’s ugly and it’s it’s a jealousy

is exalted as a virtue

where people look at somebody who has

more than they do

and assume they did something wrong to

get it

and jealousy is all often exalted as a

virtue

it’s called discernment

and anytime you give a virtuous name to

some to a dysfunction

you give it not only permission to stay

you give it room to set down roots

until it actually affects our

personality

and the lord is is wanting to expose

some of this stuff not out there but in

here

so we where we know how to properly

celebrate another person’s breakthrough

what’s what’s important is when you’ve

been praying for something

and somebody else gets your breakthrough

and you know they haven’t prayed near as

long as you have

which means basically they don’t deserve

it like you do

it’s a it’s an invitation for personal

breakthrough believe it or not it’s

actually

it’s the mercy of god exposing what

could go wrong in the heart

so that when your breakthrough comes it

lands in a safe place

character is the container that blessing

is to rest in

and it doesn’t leak out character is

what holds

and contains the blessing that the lord

would like to put on our life

what i don’t want to do is is to create

creating your thinking

blessing means

mansions and you know tons of material

things or whatever

it sometimes includes that but if that’s

the focus we’re in trouble

what’s vital for us to learn is in this

journey

that we deal with what he’s dealing with

inside of us

because he’s always preparing us for

greater breakthrough

i’ve said it to you a number of times

through the years let me declare it

again

god disciplines us so his blessings

don’t kill us

he disciplines us so his blessings don’t

kill us he actually

longs to put blessings now some people

in this room would many in the church

let me just say generally

are very much afraid and opposed to

financial wealth

which i understand the reasoning i don’t

agree but i understand their reasoning

the problem is they don’t have the same

fear

over increased anointing and both will

give you access to pride

see to think that because i’m pursuing

something that’s overtly

spiritual i’m safe it’s far from the

truth

because it’s the greater recognition

that is the issue can we navigate that

see jesus walked with an anointing where

everyone who came to him was healed

everyone the father sent to him sent him

to was healed

so anyone who came to him with a request

was healed everyone the father directed

him to was healed

what would happen if that same

measure of breakthrough was put on just

one individual in this room

it’d be cool for a very short time

but your name would be a household name

within 30 days around the country

let’s say that you couldn’t be bought

let’s say that you’ve dealt with a money

issue

you couldn’t be lured into compromise

for money let’s say that issue is

settled

you still have a problem because at our

local airport

would be 50 private jets with suitcases

filled with money

as they try to persuade you to come and

pray for their dying loved one

and so you can’t be bought you still

have a problem

you can only say yes to one and you’ve

got 49 others

that fly away and you’ve got their faces

in front of you

that you didn’t have time to pray for

them the point

is is that increased anointing gives us

as much access if not more access

to pride arrogance independence all the

things

that are dangerous for us as much as

wealth

so when i talk about wealth or i talk

about

favor let me use the word blessing when

i talk about the blessing of the lord

increasing

on our life there are times where

it’s a promotion at work there are times

it’s

finding that spouse you’ve been waiting

for all these years

there are times where you’re unable to

have children and all of a sudden

you’re pregnant with twins see it’s it’s

it’s the favor of blessing comes in so

many different

ways sometimes it’s just this

people just will prefer you at work

there’s no

explanation you don’t have the highest

position but people just are drawn to

you

maybe they automatically just confess

their personal

issues and problems because they they

trust you that’s

favor that’s that’s wealth in this

kingdom

where the lord adds that favor to your

life where people just trust you

sometimes it’s just the fact that you

just get the

big breaks you get the big deals but the

point is

is the lord would increase every one of

our lives in this

realm of blessing

if we could carry it for his glory

which means i hold to everything loosely

because sometimes today’s blessing is

tomorrow’s investment

i’ve been working on this theme for a

while i’m working on a book again

and uh i think i’ve got another week or

so and i’ll finish

but it’s it’s i talk about this issue of

promotion i talk about this

issue of blessing favor and increase

and how can we navigate it well

what does it look like first of all

if

if eric was here tonight and i were to

give him

a brand new truck

that’d be cool he’d be quite happy

i wouldn’t be very happy if he gave it

away

why because i actually gave it to him

because of

my delight in him i want him to enjoy

what i bought him i i don’t want him to

take that gift

and there are sometimes the lord

deposits something in our life

that he just wants to see our delight

i’ve had times where i’ve given things

to people and they didn’t know how to

manage or handle

that added blessing in their life and so

they quickly just gave it away

i understand i understand we we don’t

want to accumulate

you know we don’t want our identity

wrapped up in material things i get that

but there are times where

our confidence in his nature as a father

is revealed by how well we steward

a gift that was given to us can you

receive

a blessing give him thanks

and simply delight in it see whenever

the lord

releases whether it’s a material

blessing it’s favor

an open door promotion at work whatever

fill in the blanks any of those things

whenever he adds blessing to our life he

is

always trying to endear us to a world we

cannot see

the problem is when that

natural blessing endears me to the

visible

more than the unseen is where the

breakdown starts for me

i believe that the lord would fill our

lives

with with friends with

position with favor with

possessions all things that testify

of a father who is incredibly perfect

and he

takes absolute delight in us and the

ability to celebrate his goodness

in the midst of a very special meal that

somebody bought for you

i forgive me i’m i’m going to repeat a

number of statements just because

i want to put it into context for

tonight

i some of my favorite stories in uh

in church history are when a missionary

couple would sit down with their

children for dinner for example

and this has happened frequently

throughout history they would sit down

for dinner but they’d have no food in

the house

but they sit down anyway they set the

table they’ve got the

forks and spoons and knives everything’s

in place and there’s no food

and they all sit down and they pray and

they give thanks for the food

and right about the time they finish the

prayer

there’s always a knock on the door and

somebody

was moved by god to bring groceries to

that missionary family i love those

stories so much it’s

it’s the coolest thing in the world i

remember benny and i used to run a

street ministry here called the salt

house

about 4 000 years ago

[Laughter]

and it was back you may be read about it

the hippie era

it actually happened we saw it for real

and and we worked with a lot of a lot of

kids on the street and

stuff like that we lived in this

particular uh

this particular house downtown and the

people would drop in for

counseling and deliverance or maybe they

just wanted to try to throw our piano at

the front window which actually tried to

happen

but we had a number of wonderful

experiences

it felt at one time that every demonized

person

the west of the rockies came to visit us

i can’t prove that but that’s what it

felt like

it was it was it was it was school

for us we thought we were there for them

but i think we were there to learn

and uh and it was it was interesting

i remember one morning uh ben and i were

praying together and

and talking and we we uh we

looked at the bills and there was a

certain amount that we in fact i asked

benny i said how much do we need

to pay the bills for the ministry what’s

due

and she told me the amount is 300 and

which would be

20 000 today but uh 300. and

and i remember we just prayed and i was

walking i walked out of the house the

mail came in the afternoon but i walked

out in the morning and

opened the door and right to the left of

the of the door

there was a mailbox and i just by habit

just opened it there was an envelope in

there no stamp nothing

with an envelope and i opened it and

there’s a check for 300.

that’s i i love when that stuff happens

i mean jesus is good at that

but here’s where i’m at in my life right

now i want to be the guy

knocking on the door i i want to be the

one who hears

responds and attends to somebody else’s

place because both are places of great

blessing and honor

and is the disciples left everything to

follow jesus

and in mark 10 in fact why don’t you

look at it it’d be fun just to have you

stare at the bible for a minute mark

chapter 10.

this is a great uh portion of scripture

for so many reasons

mark chapter 10 now i don’t

i don’t know about about you i i like

i like the in-your-face verses

i like the in-your-face verses i like

pick up your cross and follow me those

verses those are good verses

i don’t want to read over this quickly i

like i like my coffee

unreasonably strong i like my salt

my hot sauce insanely hot

and i like my bible to growl at me when

i pick it up that’s that’s the way it is

this is my approach to life so when i

find

the in your face verses i don’t want to

dodge and assume it’s for somebody else

all right

all right don’t give me that look

um verse 23 of mark chapter 10

this jesus looked around and said to his

disciples

how hard it is for those who have riches

to enter the kingdom of god

how many of you understand every one of

us qualify

as the hard one

yeah i don’t i wouldn’t answer me either

if i were you it’s it’s not a trick

question but let’s just keep reading

verse 24

and the disciples were astonished at his

words

but jesus answered again and said to

them children

how hard it is for those who trust in

riches to enter the kingdom of god

this time he adds a description

to his statement those who trust

enriches so i’ve asked you the question

before

right now we have politicians we have

political

realms we have we have they’re trying to

figure out how much is too much money

for a person to make first of all it’s

not government’s responsibility but i’ll

leave that aside since i’m not running

for office

how much is too much money it’s whatever

amount replaces trust

see for one person a thousand dollars in

the bank is more

is beyond their trust level all of a

sudden they turn to the money instead of

trusting god

but but there are others it could be 100

million dollars

because it’s not an amount it’s a

condition of the heart and so jesus says

how hard it is

for those who trust in riches to enter

the kingdom now jump down to verse

verse 26 they were greatly astonished

saying among themselves

who then can be saved do you understand

they are asking that even about

themselves

all right verse 27 jesus looked at them

and said with men it’s impossible

with but with god all things are

possible

verse 28 peter began to say then

see we’ve left all and followed you

jesus

answered and said assuredly i say to you

there is no one who has left house

or brothers or sisters or father or

mother or wife

or children or lands for my sake

and the gospels who shall not receive a

hundredfold now

in this time houses brothers sisters

mothers children

and lands with persecutions

and then the age to come eternal life i

like this verse

for a whole bunch of reasons

first of all what are you going to do

with 100 mothers

you get the point jesus is using

a description announcing to

those who left everything to follow him

that they have

access to unlimited resource to

accomplish all they’ve been called to do

unlimited resource david put it this way

he prayed it in psalms

119 verse 17 i believe he said deal with

your servant bountifully

that i may live and keep your word

in other words the only way i could

possibly fulfill

all that you’ve put in my heart is that

you would have to deal with me

bountifully

the expectation for increase

i know automatically we think of dollars

and it’s easy to measure

but there are many in this room money is

not the answer

it’s a promotion it’s a position change

it’s an idea it’s an invention

it’s a song it’s a melody that’s never

been heard

it’s just the fact that god is giving us

access

to his mystery realm because he’s

longing to communicate

the nature of his heart the nature of

his mind

the nature of his world to this one and

it’s the people of god that have

access to this realm called the secret

things

the mystery of god trusting god pursuing

god

so peter says we left everything to

follow you

and jesus said that’s right and i’m

going to add a hundred times as much

back into your life with persecution

there there’s a promise i’ve never seen

on anyone’s refrigerator

[Laughter]

i’ve seen a lot of good promises but

that one was never in the bible promise

box

but follow this with me

israel left egypt went through

difficulty so they could be trusted with

the promised land

israel went through the red sea

paul calls it the baptism of moses

through trial and now through another

another body of water a baptism but this

one’s not a still body of water it’s a

river

it’s the purpose for holy spirit baptism

to introduce to a way of life

that you can’t get on the other side of

the river

there’s a death that takes place but

there’s a life that becomes clear

the disciples leave everything to follow

jesus

they have nothing and before jesus

goes he says i’m going to add 100 times

back into your life

he wasn’t saying i’m going to give you

mansions on hilltops

i’m giving you access to unlimited

resource

to accomplish all you’ve been called to

do why because you trusted me without

i can now trust you with

before jesus before jesus died he did

this very very strange thing

he told his disciples to get a sword

i think peter was quite happy with that

direction

he’d been warming up in his sword

swinging

so in the garden they come to take jesus

peter knows why jesus would want him to

have a sword

to hurt people of course

and so he pulls out the sword cuts off

the servant’s ear

jesus shakes his head puts the ear back

heals it

put the sword away what purpose did the

sword serve

take this with a grain of salt it’s just

an opinion

only jesus would have you get a sword

you can’t use

because it is symbolic

of an entire realm of resource

that is at your disposal for all god’s

cause you’d called you to do

i remember many years ago i was looking

through a fly fishing catalog

which is a great joy of mine

fly fishing and the catalogs

i like most hunting and fishing catalogs

and i look through them to discover the

will of god for my life

it’s amazing how sometimes the lord will

just speak to you

and i got this catalog from our local

fly shop it’s one of the best in the

world and

i go through and i look each page just

waiting to hear

the father speak i will admit it didn’t

happen but i i gave him the chance

and i didn’t throw it away just in case

tomorrow he might speak i

go through the cataloging at the very

end of the

of the uh catalog is all the items that

only

true devoted fly fishermen

would ever want uh a leather couch

with a trout etched into the leather

cushion things that are essential

essential um crystal

goblets with a famous river

etched on the side or a picture of a

rainbow trout

leaping for a fly things that no serious

fly fisherman

would want to live without and i got to

that part of the catalog

now i’m looking at all the goblets and

there was this one section i can

still see it right side of the page

right down the inside column

there were three flasks

flask made out of

pewter or stainless steel or something

and

it was apparently fly fishermen like to

have whiskey or brandy or something with

them

in case you’re not catching stuff i

don’t know i figure i

i figured that must be why it’s there so

i looked at them

and it was exact it took me like two

seconds three seconds to

look through i looked at them they just

looked cool so i looked at the price and

i thought to myself

i can afford it and then i thought i

have no use for it i mean i

don’t take whiskey to the river you know

come to think of it there is brandy

creek up by whiskeytown lake

maybe that’s where you’re doing i don’t

know anyway all right that’s

for those of you who aren’t local that’s

actually the name of places

so i looked i looked at the price i

thought i have no use for it so i turned

the page

got through the catalog put it away we

uh went to england

a week or so later and benny and i were

uh we’re at this conference and a woman

brought

each of us a gift and of course i had

benny open her gift first and i don’t

remember to this day what it was but it

was something you’d give a

godly woman you know earring with cross

or

picture frame with the name jesus on or

something you know

is this what you give to godly people

yeah it’s just that it was a nice

it was a nice christian gift

and then i opened mine i open it

and there’s a flask a flask

now outwardly i’m saying

that’s awesome thank you so much

inwardly i’m thinking

you’re kidding

[Laughter]

you’re kidding

do you know how many things i have on my

emergency list

prayers that need to be answered

do you know how many things that are

important they’re not life and death but

they’re on my list that are

need to be answered i even have this it

would be nice

part of the list and

under that is a pile of stuff that

wasn’t good enough to make the list

[Laughter]

and on the bottom of that pile was

three seconds glancing at a flask

in a catalog and king jesus

reaches to the bottom of this

insignificant pile pulls out a flask

inspires a woman across the pond

bill needs one of these

[Applause]

it’s my it’s my sword

it’s it’s just there

to remind me everything’s covered

everything’s good that he would actually

inspire someone to spend their dollars

to buy me something i have no use for

because i looked at it for three seconds

i’m trying i’m gonna get there

come on i’m gonna get there you and me

we may have to tag team this one look at

this verse again

29 assuredly i say to you there’s none

who’s left

house or brother sister father mother

wife children 100 wives

solomon now never mind children

lands for my sake and the gospels who

shall not receive

a hundred fold look at it

now in this time

this is not heaven now in this time

houses brothers sisters mothers children

lands

with persecution and in the age to come

eternal life

i remember several years ago in fact uh

this last week was bob jones

homegoing anniversary he died on

valentine’s day

if you don’t know who he was he was a

wonderful friend of ours uh

amazing prophet of the lord who actually

died way back in the 70s

and he came before the lord and the lord

had one question for him

did you learn to love and the next

moment he found himself back in his body

and he spent from the 70s until what

three years ago

four years ago learning to love

and if you knew bob at all you know that

was what he

what he excelled at he just loved he

just loved he loved us so much

he loved people so much

and jesus took him home on valentine’s

day

wow

we were sitting at a table at his

funeral after the service everything was

done

i was sitting at a table with several a

number of folks that you would know

with mike bickle and joyner a bunch of

others

and we were just talking about some of

the things that uh that we were

experiencing and what

if i tell you what it was it would sound

like a complaining session it wasn’t we

were kind of comparing notes to be

honest

there’s uh not everybody in social media

is

is wild about us which is it’s a shock

it’s a it’s a complete shock

i you probably didn’t know this but it’s

true

it’s true

i have a sign on my phone that said on

the internet

you can be anything you want so why do

so many people choose to be stupid

[Laughter]

[Applause]

that’s unrelated to this subject of

course

so we were talking about some of the

things

that we had had happened and and one of

the guys there uh

bob weiner maranatha ministries

wonderful wonderful man

he said as i just call it income tax

and everybody just kept on talking i

said what

he said income tax yeah the more income

the more tax

the more favor

learn to handle it well because it

determines what you can carry

it really does

many break down at that point of

opposition rejection

jesus said see if i will not

return to you a hundred times as much

now in this time with persecution

i don’t think the lord inspires

persecution

i just think blessing on people’s lives

stirs it up in others

and one of the things we are required to

navigate

is being with people

and it just doesn’t always feel good

many turn to retaliation vindication

they respond and like spirit and it’s

just tragic

i remember years ago watching there was

a real

moral mess with a bunch of leaders i

think it was back in the 80s

it was it was embarrassing and

there was this ted koppel i believe is

who i think is the one who with abc

did this panel and he had all these

major leaders in the church that were in

this panel and there

was just this conversation but all these

famous christians that had fallen

morally

and i’ll never forget as long as i live

what ted koppel said he said

when we do investigative reporting it

requires us to do a lot of research

but with these stories you guys called

us

did you hear what i just said

he said you guys christian leaders

called us with information about other

christian leaders

we didn’t have to do the research

you guys called us

throughout history there have been times

where there have been great moves of god

that literally just came to an abrupt

end because of jealousies

because of competition so many things

and yet never was it in the heart of god

to

end the increase the ramping up of what

he was doing in the earth

but in order to save those who were

carrying

that weight of glory so as not to bless

them beyond their

capacity to bear and withdrew the

anointing

we’re at a place in a time where i feel

like the lord

the lord is wanting to see yet again

what can we carry before him

can we be misunderstood

i mean nobody likes it you never have to

enjoy it but you do have the privilege

of giving thanks in the middle of it

the the key three months ago the lord in

the middle of the night the lord spoke

to me i’m

the key to mental health is giving

thanks in everything

the key to emotional health is rejoicing

always

maintaining that aspect that approach to

life

is central to who god made us to be so

here we’ve got this

story see if i will not add back into

your life a hundred times

with persecution there’s something about

difficulty that keeps us prayed up

or we crumble under the difficulty

and i believe that the lord would love

to demonstrate

his resurrection power he would love to

demonstrate

what it looks like to have a people that

that

are finally out of the wilderness

israel went for 40 years around the same

mountain

because they just couldn’t learn the

lesson the lesson was abandonment and

trust

and some people have gone without for

their entire life

and all the lord’s trying to do is to

teach trust

because once trust is settled you can be

entrusted

with the promised land

i believe to embrace the assignment

that’s been given to us

which is to disciple nations

have to have this lesson done i have to

be okay with

you getting the car i was praying for

i have to know how to celebrate your

promotion

when i was hoping it would be my turn

jesus and solomon and proverbs

both taught the same concept that when

you when somebody else experiences a

breakthrough

it is an opportunity for us to celebrate

their breakthrough as preparation for

our own

and the inability to celebrate somebody

else’s breakthrough as though it were

mine

actually pushes back my own

experience of breakthrough

left egypt

wilderness finally dealt with trust

the promised land is where they had to

go to work

it doesn’t sound like the promised land

for a lot of people

why was it the promised land

because god would breathe on human labor

and bring supernatural increase there

was the partnership

of our effort and god’s grace

it is the very thing that god has wanted

demonstrated

in the earth from day one is the

partnership of heaven

and earth it’s that beautiful

marriage of supernatural and natural so

that they work together

in tandem illustrating this perfect

father

for who he is i believe that the lord is

giving us an opportunity to see what

that’s like

again and so i want you to stand we’re

gonna pray

oh

i hope he gives you a sword you can’t

use

in my closet there was a shelf

where i put a flask

and every day when i got dressed

i had the reminder of what he’s like

he notices the subtle attention of your

heart towards something

never was even big enough to pray about

it’s never even enough to

put a dent in the day

but somehow he caught it

i remember many years ago sitting out at

whiskey town lake and there’s no

correlation between the flask and

whiskey town lake

i was there by myself had my bible it

was a nice warm

day i was reading and

worshipping jesus and just having the

most amazing time

and i remember seeing these little

bluegill little perch swimming around

so i picked up these little pebbles and

i threw them in the water they’d come up

and eat it spit it out

i was there to torment them

[Laughter]

it’s a gift i’ll pick up another little

pebble throw it in they’d

eat it spit it out

and i had this thought crossed my mind i

wonder if they would eat a bee

because b’s have stingers so i just i

wonder if they would eat a b

as soon as that i thought it

a boo a b a boo

a b flu

[Laughter]

i wish i had a film of this it flew from

this side

it stopped right in front of me

lost the ability to fly dropped into the

water

a fish came up and ate it

and i thought

so you know like everything that’s going

[Laughter]

on

the meditations of our heart are

louder in heaven than our voice is here

on earth

so let’s pray father

i thank you for the promised land i

thank you for

the design you have for us for the

absolute complete fulfillment of life

itself the lineage our family lines

our relationships with friends and

people how you just set the stage

for success at every turn the skills the

graces the gifts that you give us

to be to have a meaningful lifestyle

god i’m thankful for all of these things

but i pray

right now that you would increase the

capacity for breakthrough

the eternity would be forever marked

because we

used everything you gave us for your

glory

that we withheld nothing for ourselves

but literally

kept everything on the altar for you to

breathe upon

for you to bless for you to partner with

god i’m asking that is

in this next season you would teach us

what it looks like

to have the natural and the supernatural

perfectly partnered together we pray

this in jesus name

put a hand on someone next year and i

want you to pray specifically

supernatural wisdom divine wisdom

divine wisdom divine wisdom

divine wisdom

divine wisdom

divine wisdom

now wisdom is prophetic in nature so

press into this just a moment longer

divine wisdom let it be accompanied with

dreams

that would be accompanied with ideas

with solutions

that there be medical um inventions

uh medical devices let there be

technology

uh technological solutions that to be

relational

answers that words that would bring

healing

to a household to a family every area of

life

that you reconstruct the damaged parts

of the brain

through the prophetic decree of a man or

a woman with wisdom

god we call for this for the honor of

the name jesus

that our cities would demonstrate your

likeness

that our cities would demonstrate your

heart i pray this

in jesus name amen good put your hands

down

who’s who’s good come on up

i want to give you a quick story in

weaverville we had

one of our one of our key guys in the

church

uh had just uh he was he was an

accountant

he had an accountant office and did

taxes and all the stuff for businesses

and what all

and one of his competitors was opening

uh i just opened a brand new office

and um and so he was invited to come to

to see this branch so that grand opening

and so he stayed

for the whole party and then at the very

end

he asked for the husband and wife he

said

we’re kind of tight right now so i

didn’t have a gift to bring

could i just pray for the two of you

and so they said sure and so the three

of them got in a little circle

and he put his hands on them and he

celebrated the goodness of god

for prospering this business that

everyone else would say

was a competitive business and he prayed

for abundance

he celebrated the goodness of god on

this couple

and on this business and he prayed and

he prayed by the time he’s through

the quote-unquote competitor have tears

coming down their faces

because they realize i’m gonna use my

language

this is how his world works in his world

it’s possible for both businesses to

succeed

if you see somebody get a breakthrough

that you are praying for

even if you have to force yourself

force yourself celebrate it

celebrate if you’re jealous sometimes

giving a gift will silence jealousy

i’m serious put something into an action

skip a meal pray for them do something

but put it into an action

to silence that voice of jealousy

because it’s not to have

any place in us amen all right