Stewards of the Divine – Bill Johnson (Full Sermon) | Bethel Church

We are stewards of the divine; we are stewards of the testimonies of God, the ways of God, and the Presence of God. In this full sermon, Bill Johnson teaches from key scriptures that reveal the desire of God to be known by His people. His works reveal His ways, and His ways reveal who He is. We have the great privilege of knowing God and representing Him by living from heaven towards earth.

[Applause]

beautiful

well good morning good to see you

glad you showed up how many of you uh

were a part of the uh

randy clark healing school and

conference this week how many of you

made it to that

we had such an outrageous time i’m still

a little bit rocked from the week

and um

i was talking to randy last night there

was

somewhere

ah there’s over a thousand healings

uh this week with a number of no notable

miracles

and uh my goodness it just

i got i got whacked we need to have a

new dictionary so the people know what

we mean

whacked blasted hit hard those are all

very positive terms

yeah wrecked

ruined those are all very positive words

so

anyway it was just that kind of a week

for me

and i know for quite a few others um

i uh

i have a

something i read a year or so ago

that i found in my little file here on

my ipad

something that one of my grandsons wrote

about his mother

and a mother’s day card that he wrote

and it’s uh

cruz cruz’s

is a fascinating child

he’s just a fascinating child

he um

he has an imagination

and i’m not sure if he knows when

it’s reality or when it’s imagination

i’m not sure if he knows where that line

is yet we’re trying to help him but in

the meantime we’re

wonderfully entertained

by this child

and uh

i think it was a year or so ago leah

came to pick him up at school

at the christian school here

and

teacher uh salia said oh i’m so sorry to

hear what happened

he said uh what do you mean what

happened he said well cruz told us that

your house burned down

and

she said oh he did and so uh they’re

walking to the car and

leah turns to my daughter leah turns to

cruz and said

hey cruz did you tell your teacher that

our house burned down he said yeah

i mean

no

no hesitancy at all oh yeah yeah i did

son why did you do that

he says oh mom she loves a good story

[Applause]

[Laughter]

now his dad gabe

says he’s lying i i am saying he’s just

creative

and he’s thinking so in fact at

christmas time we had our whole family

together and brian brian asked him

hey cruz

are those stories real

because we’re all so fascinated by what

he comes up with are those stories real

he looks at brad he says

they’re real in my head

i don’t know if they are in yours but

they are in mine

[Music]

so here is his mother’s day card from

i think two years ago

my mom is as pretty as a dancing

princess

she is as sweet as a horse

his imagery needs a little bit of work

here

she is as sweet as a horse

she is as smart as god

so we’ll have to work on his theology as

well

but most of all

she’s special

like a dragon

[Applause]

a dragon that is nice

and can shoot water out of its mouth

[Laughter]

so i know that’s the goal of every woman

in this room

to be recognized as a dragon that can

shoot water out of its mouth

that’s quite a child there all right

we’re going to read a couple portions of

scripture we’ll start with exodus 33

and uh we’re actually today we’re going

to focus on

two portions of scripture

that in some ways have had

uh i hate to say the most influence but

certainly at the top uh influence in my

life in my thinking over the last 20

years

and

let me give you just a little bit of

background

first of all i i i felt uh towards the

end of december uh around christmas time

i really felt like the lord spoke to me

and said that this next year 2018 the

year that we’re in now would be a year

of new beginnings

and really felt the lord on that uh

benny and i went to korea we actually

spent new year’s little it was a mistake

in my schedule

in my scheduling but uh but it ended up

i think being a god mistake and it was a

glorious time in korea with some friends

and then a conference that i

do every year with cheon

and this year one of the guest speakers

was chuck pierce who was a great

prophet of the lord and a good friend

really really loved that guy just a real

pure stream

anyway he gets up to speak one of the

nights and he and he starts talking

about that this year is the year of new

beginnings

and uh so i i it doesn’t have anything

to do with the message that i have for

you today it just needs to be said it’s

a year of new beginnings and there’s i

think there’s a whole bunch of things

probably represented in the room that

you just as soon see start over

and uh and i feel like it’s a year for

that where the lord is just going to

just add a freshness to things new life

to things and new beginnings so that uh

that is this next year

this uh these last few weeks have been

very very tender for me i

uh

many times throughout the day whether

i’m at home whether i’m in the corporate

gathering here or

conference or in korea or randy clark

event this last week i feel like i’m

about this far away from tears almost

all the time but it’s never said this

it’s just the unexplainable kind that

i’m just i’m overwhelmed

by what i see god doing i’m overwhelmed

for example again this last week we saw

the beautiful testimony of ptsd

healed and

randy has a guy on his team now that has

personally led 10

000 people into healing of ptsd

it’s it’s one of the most extraordinary

things i mean it is it is literally it’s

just off the charts they’re now bringing

them to military bases and places where

it’s it’s it’s running so rampant that

they need help and there’s no answers

but jesus is the answer and he and and

we watch people in fact i’ll i’ll i’ll

try to remember the next

couple weeks if i remember to show you

just a a testimony of one of the

miracles that actually happened here in

reading and was towards the beginning of

this launch uh for them and seeing this

this horrible affliction of the heart

um healed and uh so you watch this

happen you know you watch you know the

gala they showed the video of the gala

that has this metal uh bar put in her

arm and you see the picture of how this

thing stood out and they prayed and it

literally just went in just just

dissolved and you you you know your mind

cannot commute what god can compute what

god is doing but he just literally just

reduces that and just completely heals

and restores it the stories go on and on

and on i mean they’re just extraordinary

extraordinary things but it’s all

symbolic in a sense of not the season

we’re in because that’s been going on

for years

but there’s a there’s a

presence there was

this week was filled i don’t know if

everybody experienced this but i i know

the ones that i interacted with about

this there was such

there was such a sense of god’s presence

in the building that it just felt like

anything was possible at any time

and i just became mindful

of of something that i wanted to share

with you today

and all of this uh actually i’m going to

probably combine like three different

concepts or three different

uh teachings or messages that i that i

run with and put them into one and

basically boil it down to this we are

stewards of the divine we are stewards

we’re stewards of the testimony of god

we’re stewards of the ways of god

we’re stewards of the presence of god

it’s those three things and he probably

could ask we could add 100 things to the

list but to me those three things

represent the bulk of why we are on

planet earth and what we have the

privilege doing with our lives

stewards of the testimony

stewards of the knowledge of his ways

stewards of his presence

you know the great

revelation

that jesus provided in coming to earth

to putting on flesh was he was revealed

as emmanuel

god with us emmanuel god with us

the whole the whole point of jesus

coming to earth was

was so that humanity so that people

could actually discover

that god is with us he is so for us

that he is with us

and it it’s uh it’s tragic to me to

watch people day after day week after

week year after year of their lives live

this far from the answer and be clueless

to god has brought that within arm’s

reach

the lord jesus gives us a gift

and repentance is the gift of repentance

repentance is not something that we

uh just randomly choose whenever we want

it’s literally a gift the bible calls

repentance a gift that god gives

and it’s a part of what he does in

wooing us to himself

repentance isn’t just

the uh a mourning over our past

it includes that it’s but it’s the

sorrow of our sin that is so deep in its

impact that it launches us into a shift

in how we think about life how we think

about sin how we think about a presence

our future all of that is contained in

this wonderful

gifted word called repentance

and so jesus gives us access to steward

these three

parts or aspects of god’s person his

nature

it’s the testimony

it’s the

ways of god it’s the

presence of god

the bible is filled with

i don’t want to call them lists but

their principles that come in sequence

for example

i will enter his gates with thanksgiving

in my heart i will enter his cords so

it’s deeper into the presence with

praise so throughout scripture there

there are these processes that he takes

us through where there’s there’s

deliberate shifts in priorities in

activities and actions in the way that

we think how we apply truth there’s

these these places that we come to where

there’s there’s this shift where we say

you know what i’m not just interested in

the works of god

i want to know what he’s like

i want to know his ways

and the scripture says israel was

acquainted with the acts of god but

moses was acquainted with his ways

that’s a huge shift there

because israel missed out on what moses

had but the implication of scripture was

they all had access to it they all had

access but israel was acquainted with

man on the ground every morning there

they were acquainted they were satisfied

with water out of the rock they they

never made it past

the act of god on their behalf

into discovering the nature of god

and here’s the saddest part of that

equation

whenever god reveals something about his

nature

whenever he reveals he unveils here is

something about his nature whenever he

unveils that part of his nature

it always comes with the invitation to

know him in that way

never does the understanding of his

nature never does it come to us just

make it just to make us more

theologically sound

that’s important but it is secondary

what’s important is to know him in that

way to encounter him so when he says i’m

your provider i don’t want to walk away

from that revelation without provision

you know when he when he says i am your

holiness i i don’t you know i don’t want

to walk away the same that i came in i

want to leave change because i have

encountered him and now relationally i

come to know him in that way

so his ways

you know let’s say he healed your body

this week

his way so he heals your body but what

happens is we become

this this thing that god is doing in us

is so provoking and stirring us that we

no longer become satisfied with just the

act of god god show me what you’re like

and so now instead of me just being

satisfied with a healing

i want to discover the healer

so the healing points to his nature the

healer so now there’s this relationship

with the god who is my health

see he heals not as an act

so to speak follow my train of thought

here it’s who he is

he cannot not be the healer

he cannot not be the provider he can’t

it’s he cannot choose to not be that

because it’s it’s his person it’s his

nature it’s his makeup he provides

because of his nature it’s out of who he

is that he does all these things

and so here he invites us constantly

into being exposed to the works of god

we we we see these extraordinary works

of god in our life we hear of the

miracle of provision we hear of the

promotion that somebody got sometimes

it’s such the simplest thing and

sometimes it’s the most crazy bizarre

thing but we see these things that god

does and we become unsettled with just

standing back and giving a golf clap for

a miracle that god has just done or a

testimony that’s given we become

provoked inside i must know this one who

does this on behalf of humanity he does

this in people’s hearts i must know this

father who took this guy we saw the

video this week if you were there who

was locked up in ptsd absolutely unable

to function normally in life and in

literally in moments completely

transform his life to where he’s never

been able to play with his children he’s

never been able to you know take on the

pressures of life of work and all these

things and now suddenly overnight he’s

completely different and changed it was

no magic wand it was a person called

jesus who stepped into his life and just

sorted things out so we see this we go

you know i don’t have ptsd but i got

stuff

and i got to know this one who settles

these issues

and so we look at the sign as an

invitation to know the one who is like

that and to make him known

here’s the verse that i want us to read

it’s here in exodus 33

is verse 13 and he says

now therefore i pray

if i have found grace or favor in your

sight

show me now your way

that i may know you that i might find

grace in your sight

consider that this nation is your people

go back to at least what for me

is the heart of this verse

show me your way

that i might know you

say that with me

show me your ways

that i might know you say it again

show me your ways that i might know you

what’s the point the point is the

testimony reveals the nature

the nature is the invitation to an

encounter

but in the encounter we come to know the

one who works wonders

once you see what the sign points to

you’re never satisfied with only a sign

again

you hear about this wonderful restaurant

when you drive looking for it and you

see the sign

you don’t turn around and go home

you go to where the sign is pointing

the point the sign points to something

greater than itself

it’s like the exit sign over the door

it’s real but it points to something

more real that’s the exit

so you see the miracle of healing or

deliverance whatever it may be

the healing of a marriage the prospering

of a business

that’s a sign but it takes you to a

person

and the whole

purpose of this journey

is to know

him israel stopped short they were

satisfied with miracles

miracles do become boring

look at israel

manna every day

after a while what else is on the menu

i’m in the creation of food before them

every day after a while

well it sure likes some meat

which i understand that one

just between you and me the meat is

vital

part of life

and i’ll leave that

let me know your ways that i might know

you turn with me to

the um book of mark and we’ll read

where we’re going to land

today uh mark chapter eight is a uh

a portion of

scripture i don’t know maybe i i have

taught on this here

more than any other portion it wouldn’t

surprise me if that was true

and the reason for that is

it takes me a long time to learn things

and i i i will open to the story on

somewhat of a regular basis and review

the story and specifically one

particular verse

because i need

i need to face the questions that jesus

asks

he asked certain questions

you’ve heard it before but whenever god

is asking you a question it’s never

because he’s lacking information

he’s just trying to dial something up in

you that you don’t know is there or he’s

trying to lead you into understanding

something so he asked these questions

and they’re they’re they’re provoking

questions we’ll get to them in a moment

but if you picture this with me the

jesus uh the disciples have a three and

a half year relational journey with

jesus

and during this time they’ve watched

things happen

uh that that just changed their their

thinking about life in general

they they all uh you know were pretty

insignificant people from

politicians to fishermen to whatever and

they they just they just suddenly caught

a vision for their life and were willing

to die for something uh previous to that

they just wanted to catch fish but now

suddenly they’re wanting to change the

world and they did they they caught that

by being with this jesus

and jesus would use them he would he

would empower them to do the same things

he did it had to be absolutely

frightening and glorious all at the same

time

it’s kind of funny because jesus would

use them so powerfully that they

actually began to think they were

important

outside of their role they they began to

think of their own significance in a in

a strange way you know like they would

argue as to who was the the greatest

you know we we’re too smart to argue

with each other i’m greater than you no

i’m better than you

we’re way too religious to do that

we just do that by pointing to somebody

else’s flaws

it’s the more subtle way of saying i’m

better than you

anyway let’s stop meddling and move on

here

but the disciples what did jesus do he

immersed them in this atmosphere of

presence and power used them in

significance in a glorious way the way

he had designed for them to live but in

doing so it dialed up stuff in their

hearts that they didn’t know was there

peter was shocked to find out he would

deny the lord he was absolutely

convinced he would last when everybody

else fell

and yet he was the one who denied jesus

what happens in these moments where

where there’s pressure pressure isn’t

always

negative but pressure isn’t always added

because of problems sometimes pressure

is added because of the miraculous of

the way god uses us because of the

understanding we receive there’s there’s

just this stuff that comes on our life

and the weightiness of god’s work in us

reveals fractures

it doesn’t cause fractures it reveals

fractures why the lord never does that

to shame us he never does that as

punishment he always does it so that we

can see what he sees

because if i can see what he sees

then i can confess and confession

basically means to agree with god so the

weightiness of god’s work in my life

reveals a fraction maybe it’s a fraction

of my thinking every time i get in this

pressure situation i just start

criticizing myself or every time i get

in this pressure situation i want to

withdraw from people or every time i get

in this precious situation i blame other

people around me instead of taking

responsibility whatever it might be that

weightiness of whether it’s blessing or

whether it’s responsibility it reveals

fractions why it’s so that i can come

into agreement with god i see that lord

i see that i have that tendency to beat

myself up when this pressure comes

please forgive me because i believe

things about me you don’t believe about

me and it’s got to change what is he

doing he’s in his mercy he’s revealing

fractures so that we can come into

agreement because once we see it and we

come into agreement the confession

releases the capacity to forsake

it’s

that was really good news right there

the confession i see it oh god i beat

myself up every time this pressure comes

i’m tired of it i

i know you revealed that so that i

confess it i agree with you there’s a

fracture in my makeup that blames me for

everything and i know it’s not right and

i’m confessing my self-centeredness

because don’t think it’s anything other

than you blame you every time something

is wrong it’s still it’s a it’s a

reverse arrogance and pride

face it call it for what it is because

i’m still the focus of my attention

now please forgive me for this subtle

pride that has robbed me of so many

things in my life i’m through with it

i’m finished with it and by your grace i

step into thinking differently about me

now because of what you said over me so

there’s that that confession we forsake

he actually releases in the confession

the divine capacity to forsake to leave

what has trailed behind you all this

time

that’s the reason for the weightiness of

god

so the disciples

in this journey had two occasions where

they

were privileged to see food multiply and

feed thousands of people

one time they

they fed five thousand men besides women

and children another time four thousand

men

besides women and children

i i think it’s important to know to

recognize even though it’s not the

subject of the message today it’s

important to recognize

that

before the death and resurrection of

christ before the day of pentecost

only the men were

counted in a crowd

a crowd was measured by how many men

were there

the women who were there they were fed

in these miracles but they weren’t in

they weren’t counted

after the day of pentecost men women and

children recounted

the outpouring of the holy spirit

creates a level playing field and it’s

it’s it’s vital that we recognize that

grace that is released over the church

where we find every race we find every

uh economic

level we find every age all it’s a level

playing field read in joel 2 about the

outpouring of the spirit it becomes a

level playing field through the

outpouring of the spirit but back to the

story here

the disciples are with jesus on two

occasions where they see food multiply

and they were used in the miracle and

they would distribute the food and it

literally would would increase as they

passed it out

jesus didn’t throw the boy’s lunch in

the air and go shazam he created a pile

of food

instead he he divided into 12 sections

and the disciples took it out and fed

the multitudes extraordinary miracle

we’re going to

we’re going to look at the disciples the

day after

all right so they got

major miracle 4 000 men besides women

and children extraordinary time they get

in a boat they’re going on a journey

they get some r r time with jesus and

they’re in the boat all right with me

longest introduction ever but we’re

there all right verse 14

the disciples had forgotten to take

bread

actually start with 13. he left them

getting into the left them meaning the

crowd getting in the boat again departed

to the other side the disciples had

forgotten to take bread

they did not have more than one loaf

with them in the boat then he charged

them saying

take heed beware of the leaven of the

pharisees and the leaven of herod

and they reasoned among themselves

saying it’s because we have no bread

but jesus being aware of it said to them

why do you reason because you have no

bread

do you not yet perceive nor understand

is your heart still hardened

i will actually turn to verse 17 i just

randomly on my own because those

questions are piercing to me and they

expose

my

my leaning into thinking differently

than jesus

and to me the prize of all prizes for us

right now is the mind of christ

it is the great prize it is the reward

of repentance

it is the fruit of the result

of repentance the mind of christ

the mind of christ is the great prize i

mean we celebrate the presence obviously

there’s no greater gift than the

presence of god emmanuel god with us

we celebrate the anointings that

manifestation of presence that brings

miracles and healing deliverance all the

stuff

we celebrate one another we celebrate so

many things that god has given us

but there is one thing that is more

transformational than any other and that

is the mind of christ it’s seeing and

thinking the way he sees and the way he

thinks

there’s something different

about

jesus

who can look at a boy’s lunch fearlessly

knowing that there’s going to be

leftovers there’s going to be more than

enough

this is going to be such a wonderful

moment that we will have more at the end

than what we started with

but that was the thinking he we we know

there’s an oak tree in an acorn well in

circumstances that would come up he

would see the possibility of the

potential of a moment that divine

reasoning

you know i get there eventually i don’t

always start there

in fact

just between you and me don’t tell

anyone this

it seems like i hardly ever start there

i get there but starting with his

perception

is a gift

that i long for

you know i know that biblically we have

the mind of christ by the way it says we

have doesn’t say i have

it’s collectively

we

our father we have the mind of christ

but anyway

i know that we have the mind of christ

but i i want i want what’s in my account

to be in my possession

in other words i i wanted to influence

my my initial reaction i i get there but

i want my initial reaction to be mind of

christ

and i do believe that that’s the the

great um

the great prize

so he says take heed verse 15 beware of

the leaven of the pharisees the leaven

of herod

he’s not warning them about bad bread

you know he’s not saying don’t go to

herod’s bakery because it’s bad

don’t go to the pharisees you know stay

away from their bread he’s warning them

about ways of thinking

pers the way you perceive reality can be

shaped by these two themes these two

groups and these two actually

clarify the two primary movements in the

earth apart from the kingdom of god

there’s the leaven of the kingdom

there’s the eleven of herod there’s the

eleven of the pharisees those are three

different perceptions of reality and so

jesus you know imagine yourself sitting

in the boat you you’ve been you’ve just

had the most incredible day of your life

yesterday you’re in the boat going to

the other side you have a little

interaction time with jesus and just

kind of enjoying the journey and jesus

says hey guys let me have your attention

and you look towards him you’re waiting

to hear

another more pearls of wisdom and he

says be careful of the leaven of herod

and the leaven of the pharisees

and they all go

did you bring the bread

because they thought he was actually

rebuking them because they forgot

somebody dropped their responsibility

and they look around the boat and they

don’t have any bread

and jesus of course is not talking about

herod’s bakery or the pharisees bakery

he’s talking about perception of reality

that becomes shaped by a value system

that is other than the kingdom of god

it’s it’s it’s counterfeit perception

it’s it’s anchoring our hearts into the

inferior instead of living from the

reality of god’s rule his dominion

towards the circumstances of life and

every believer has the amazing privilege

of living from heaven towards earth

that’s the call that’s the privilege of

god that’s what it is to abide in christ

so here we have this warning be careful

of the leaven of herod

and the leaven of the pharisees

herod represents the political system

it’s humanistic in nature

it does not mind you believing in god

just don’t bring that into the everyday

affairs of life

in other words it’s okay that you

confess to be a christian

it’s all right just don’t bring him into

the political office don’t bring him

into the classroom

it’s the humanistic it’s man at the

center of everything

and man as god is a real let down

the pharisees leaven is not any better

because while it believes in god he’s

impersonal and powerless

it’s in form it’s in shape it’s in

ritual it’s in routine it’s not in

relationship it’s not anchored in

knowing it’s not anchored in

encountering it’s just this routine that

we follow

and so jesus says don’t fall into either

of these two ditches this ditch here

will kill you it’s called humanism

and this ditch will kill you it’s called

religious routine and form without

relationship

both of these things are dangerous and

they’re both cancers to your soul be

careful of these things and he’s warning

them and they completely miss it

he asked them these questions and this

is what i review on a somewhat of a

regular basis verse 17. why do you

reason

because you have no breath why does your

reasoning start with what you don’t have

[Music]

why does your reasoning start with what

you don’t have why

why why are you doing that

you get to see i feel like i’m in the

boat to be honest with you often i feel

like yeah i need you to ask me those

questions again

you know why do you reason that you have

no bread

um is it because we have no bread

somehow i know that’s the wrong answer

so i’m not going to say anything

and he says how is it that you don’t

perceive or understand

i don’t know

he says is your heart’s still hard and

that’s the third question is your

heart’s still hurting

i didn’t know it was but apparently it

is

i mean he just takes it through these

questions and all he’s trying to do is

expose the fracture so that we can make

agreement and see things healed and

changed

see when you’ve experienced supernatural

supply i’ll ask you the question how

many of you have had god provide for you

in an absolute supernatural way

all of us have how many of you after you

experienced that supernatural provision

you had another financial problem

how many of you were as afraid and as

nervous the second time as you were the

first time

that’s the point is that i learned

nothing it was it was like it was like i

know he i know he provided he’s so good

he took care of me last time but the

problem that i’m facing right now i

don’t know if he’s going to do it again

you know it’s just that russian roulette

thing i just happened to hit the right

cylinder and i got the answer of god but

you know he just doesn’t always work

like that and i don’t know i may be on

my own it could be that i earned this

mess and and and and i approve my

devotion by just sucking it up and bear

up under the pressure of this financial

thing and he’s he’s he’s looking at us

like don’t you don’t understand what

forgiveness is huh

so so he asked a series of questions he

says

so why do you reason

that you have no bread because once

you’ve experienced the miracle of god’s

provision you’ve lost the right to begin

any thought process with what you don’t

have

that is not brought into the equation

it fascinates me that in these two

stories that jesus didn’t create food

out of nothing

i mean he could have but that wasn’t the

miracle the miracle was that he took

what there was

and he multiplied it

let’s look at the rest of the story here

verse 18 having eyes do you not see

having ears do you not hear

and do you not remember

that verse has helped me so much let me

tell you why

he’s asking the questions again and i

need the questions of jesus so he says

having eyes do you not see and there you

know i’ll be really honest there i’m in

a whole bunch of situations throughout

my

average week or month where no i’m i’m

totally clueless i don’t see at all what

you’re doing i’m

i’m i don’t know it’s not working it’s

just not working so he follows up on the

second question he says well can you

hear

well the reality is i do hear better

than i see

so he follows the second question he

says can you hear me and there i’m in a

situation where i go

nope i hate to say it but i don’t see

and i don’t hear

i say follows with the next one

and i’m so thankful for it he says

what do you remember

yeah you want to activate your hearing

meditate on what you remember of the

works of god review the activities of

god i don’t care if you have to go back

to the days of moses you have to go back

to your parents and grandparents or you

have to go back to last week go back to

something that you watch god do

don’t just take it at surface level god

show me the nature of a father would

cause that metal bar in the arm to

dissolve

that would take a son that was so

tormented by combat uh

fatigue on his heart his mind that you

would heal him in moments where he

thinks clearly and he now contributes to

the well-being of his family show me

what kind of father you are because i’m

afraid i could just see the surface and

never tap into the heartbeat of a father

who loves people like you do god take me

beyond the obvious

take me beyond the elves

let this memory activate my hearing

because i want to hear better

and what i’ve noticed is that

remembering activates my hearing and

hearing activates my scene

and so he has some more questions

he says verse 19 when i broke the five

loaves for the five thousand how many

baskets full of fragments

did you take up and they said him twelve

also when i broke the seven for the four

thousand how many large baskets full of

fragments did you take up they said

seven

and he said

how’s it you don’t understand

i don’t know

look what he just did he just he asked

him about the numbers of people they fed

so five thousand and four thousand

what did they start with they started

with five loaves and another times seven

loaves

so when they fed the larger group five

thousand people they started with fewer

loaves

five loaves instead of seven

and they had more leftovers twelve

wow

when they started with more the seven

loaves they fed a smaller crowd

and had fewer leftovers seven baskets

it’s divine math

why did god choose israel he said

because they were the least

don’t be surprised that he chooses to

work in a way where he receives the most

glory

and when you start thinking you’re

pretty cool because god chose you

just remember

i love a statement chambols made i don’t

know when he made it but i read it last

year sometime

and it goes something like this

he said the lord makes sure that all of

our friends our closest friends sees our

idiot idiosyncrasies and our broken

areas of life and the things that don’t

always work well in us and make sure

that our closest friends see that so

that when god uses us all they all know

it’s by the grace of god

so they all know it’s by the grace of

god and that’s the reason many people

will not come close in relationship

because they don’t want anyone

to know that and when they do it they

withhold glory from god because people

never really discover how much that work

was by the grace of god

you see these miracles that they were

exposed to

was supposed to have a greater effect on

them

this won’t sound right probably but give

me a moment it was to have a greater

effect on them than merely inspiring

them to give god praise

now i buy into that completely i i love

us responding to god’s works and giving

him the honor giving him the credit he

was looking for more

he was looking for their history with

him

feeding five thousand feeding four

thousand

he was he was looking for their history

with him

to become the lenses

through which they see their present

situation

he was looking for them to be so

impacted by the multiplying of food that

when he starts talking to them about

leaven they don’t go into a fear mode

about what they don’t have

their initial response is instead

i serve the god of the impossible

he did it before he’ll do it again

i mentioned all of that this morning

because i i felt so strongly in

and getting ready for today that

the the reminder perhaps

of what we steward what we actually give

oversight to what we take charge of in

our own lives that we

steward the testimony of the lord

we steward we

we remember we we’ve been trying harder

and harder as a staff to

write these things down to we’ve hired

someone to record them we now have a

team that does background

research to get medical verification and

and we’ve got a great story we’re going

to show you bethel media is working on

right now that we’ll be able to show you

in a couple weeks of one of the most

extraordinary miracles that we’ve ever

seen

and uh medical evidence medical proof of

this of this miracle

so we we want this we want to be

accurate we want to

collect things that really truly bring

god glory but they have to be more than

the moments in our life together where

we just simply applaud and give god

thanks for what he’s done

but we actually see to where the signs

pointing

come to know a father who treats a son

that’s been so destroyed through combat

in moments

he makes it as though

he was never in a war

where there’s such peace on his mind his

heart he’s that kind of a father

it’s going beyond

just their testimony so we can cheer

it’s it’s coming to know this one who

knows no limitation

no restriction no restraint he is

absolutely full on in demonstrating his

love for us

so we steward the testimony it’s

important that we

hold to it as a

treasure

we steward the knowledge of his ways

what is he like because there’s a lot of

people

out there you know let’s be honest we’re

the ones who taught the insurance

companies to call hurricanes and floods

acts of god

they got their theology from the church

let’s teach him something new this next

season

of what he’s like as a father

but he’s the one who heals he’s the one

who restores he’s the one who protects

he’s the one who delivers not just as a

point of theology but out of her own

rich experience with a father who loves

us so tenderly and so carefully

so i steward testimony and i steward the

knowledge of his ways

but the greatest gift of all as i

steward his presence

he who has chosen to identify himself

with me

i close with this thought

moses

asked the lord at the beginning of his

call god called him to deliver israel

out of egypt

and moses asked this

great question he said who am i

god said i’ll be with you

i don’t know if i’m moses i’m going

that’s awesome

but you skipped my question

who am i

certainly i will be with you

all right i i used to i used to think

god just in fact i taught it god just

ignored his question because he had

something better to show him which which

in part is true

but what did he actually

tell moses how did he

let’s look at this way who was moses

god says you’re the one i want to be

with

that’s who you are

your identity is in the one who has

chosen to walk with you that’s who you

are

you are the one over whom god says i am

not ashamed to be called their god

that’s who you are

you are the one i am not ashamed to

display myself upon that’s who you are

i do love the privilege of being

together

and i especially have the opportunity

to make sure that everyone

in the room has an opportunity to know

what it is

to be forgiven of sin to turn from

the self-centered lifestyle that

everybody lives before meeting jesus

to turn from that one thing that

condemns every one of us and that is sin

there’s only one possible solution

god made this statement he said

there’s only one name

under heaven

by which a person must be saved

it’s foolish to think there’s many ways

to god foolish absolute foolishness

if there’s many ways to god then he was

cruel to jesus to make him suffer and

die the way he did if there was any

other way to get people to be at peace

with god then that was absolute cruelty

it was done because it was the only

possible solution there had to be the

shedding of innocent blood for the

forgiveness of sin

and jesus volunteered to die in my place

your place

and with a crowd this side there’s

always opportunity there’s always a

chance that there are people here that

have never said yes to jesus you’ve

never said i

i want to follow jesus i want to turn

from my life i want to know what it is

to be forgiven i know what wants to know

what it is to be

born again

and if that’s anybody in the room just

quickly i want you right where you are

sitting just put a hand up and we’re

just going to make wonderful wonderful

agreement with you that you would know

what it is to be forgiven of sin to be

brought into the kingdom of god to be

adopted into god’s family wait about 15

seconds that’s about it 10 seconds maybe

but if there’s anyone at all please put

your hand up if you’re in the overflow

room please do it there so the people

there can see you is there a hand up i

didn’t see it i’m sorry so right over

here yes right there yeah wonderful i

bless you sir in jesus name god bless

you

anyone else real quickly

anyone else

all right let’s go ahead and stand if

you hold your places please

i i

it will help us tremendously

if you if you would

give opportunity

for this to happen i i want this is what

i want i want ministry team to quickly

come to the front

the gentleman that put your hand up if

you wouldn’t mind do us all a favor your

self affair come down here i want you to

talk and to pray with the people to my

left there’s a banner over here it’s

called a freedom banner and it just is a

place where some folks that we know and

love

will help you

now the rest of you as the minister team

is coming just put hands in front of you

i just want to pray over you concerning

this mind of christ maybe i should have

you lay hands on one another’s head no

don’t do that

shake it too

let’s let’s just pray together i want to

pray for this mind of christ thing and

then i’m going to turn it over to chris

and tom

and if you hold your places please it’s

very important that we give place what

the holy spirit is doing

first and foremost so father i

ask for the glory of the name jesus

that you would help us to adjust and

shift

with everything you do

so that we see

the beautiful opportunities to know you

to love you and to make you known

we devote ourselves as stewards of

testimony the knowledge of your ways

and your presence

i ask for this grace to rest more

powerfully on us this year in jesus name

amen