This full sermon was shared at Bethel Church during the COVID-19 shutdown. In this message, Pastor Bill shares about the strength when two or three are gathered in His name and our need for the felt presence of God.

beautiful good morning good morning good

to see you

here we have a few people in the room

which is kind of cool

that way i don’t have to talk to empty

chairs and by faith i see all of you

out out and about um

i love the fact you know this is a weird

season let’s be honest but

but it’s been amazing to see how many

people can be

impacted through through vidi video

so many people that i don’t think did

anything online

previous to this season are now becoming

pros

professionals they can dial up anything

and uh and that’s

it’s been really uh really refreshing

for me

uh the encouraging thing has been the

impact to see

the measurable impact on individual

people’s lives on homes

on honestly cities cities and nations

this last week i

i spent a bit of time with leaders from

iran iranian leaders ministering to them

and what my goodness what an honor to

sit in to talk with these folks and to

share with them a bit

and pray together and you know you

wouldn’t have been able to do that you

know a few months ago but now we’re kind

of geared up for that

and uh and it just it works you know

there’s no space

there’s no distance in god uh

there’s just no distance and living with

that realization really helps us

to be able to grab hold of our moments

um

right after i was through with the

leaders the iranian leaders

i got to minister to a whole bunch of

leaders from the uk

so i i had an international trip and got

no miles for it

i got no miles but i also have no

fatigue and it was just wonderful you

know so i didn’t i didn’t uh

have to eat any of the weird food on the

plane and

although they’re trying to get better

i’m just thankful for all kinds of

things so

all right um a funny uh story

i heard a while back is a a police

officer

a highway patrolman pulls over these

three little old ladies in their car

and they’re going 35 miles an hour on

the freeway and he pulls him over he

says

hey you guys can’t go this slow the

driver says i was going the speed limit

the sign said 35. he said he started to

laugh he said no

that’s highway 35. highway 35 the speed

limit is actually 70.

she said oh he says by the way why

your passengers look so terrified oh

because we just got off of highway 105.

and so that makes a lot of sense

all right i want you to open your bibles

to uh matthew

chapter 16. uh last week i

i i had uh the chance to talk uh to you

and talked about uh

prayer and some things that are pretty

critical for us

and um and i postponed something that

i’m going to

uh begin to try to crack open today uh

for those of you that did

our our study our small group study on

my book way of life

you will have touched upon this subject

in that book

i think one of the most important books

of this era

is a book by a dear friend ed sovoso

called

ecclesia l e ekk

i a ecclesia and um

it’s it’s a profound insight in

scripture

and a profound strategy for bringing

transformation

to this world i i in some ways i feel

like it’s the most important book of

this era

of this particular period of time and uh

and he’s stirred up some stuff we we

have uh i think most of us have grown up

in an environment

where we knew that the church was not a

building

we knew that church was much bigger and

different than that we knew

i grew up my dad saying all the time the

church isn’t building

it’s not a denomination it’s none of

that it is

actually the people of god that have

gathered together in his name

but there are some very specific things

that if we have them

in mind as we do life it changes

everything

for example the great commission go into

all the world preach the gospel did you

know that the active

verb in that verse is not go it’s

actually to disciple

the word actually the act the word

actually means as you go in other words

you’re going to be going here and there

throughout life as you go do this

it’s already determined you’re going to

travel on vacation to this city it’s

already been determined as you do

business you’ll be dealing here and

dealing there

it’s already determined that your life

is one of going so

as you go do this

and when you see the weight of

authority and responsibility that god

puts upon the people of god

i i don’t know what happens to you when

i realize oh this is my responsibility

suddenly i become very sober-minded

about what i the opportunity that is

before me

i live with a i think a fairly

heightened

sense of responsibility and

um and i i i pray that over every one of

us that

uh not the burdensome kind but the

challenging kind the invi

the invitational kind that says here

god says this belongs to you now go

occupied go take care of this

and and that’s kind of the mandate we’ve

been trying to live for

goodness 20 some years now and uh and we

we

keep trying again and learning another

lesson and

coming coming from different staff

members another layer of this truth upon

another

and so anyway um this is uh this is

what’s on my heart today i believe that

the lord is uh i’m gonna use the word

force

it may not be the kindest word but work

with me

he’s forcing us to learn

the strength of the church he’s forcing

us to learn where the strength is

i love the large gatherings i do i’ve

been

you know i’ve ministered in groups up to

goodness i think 60 or 70 000 that’s fun

i love when we get together just

getting a thousand crammed into this

room and overflow and i mean i love it i

just love that i love

i love all those kinds of things but

what’s happening right now

is the lord is forcing us to discover

the strength of the church is actually

the two or three gathered in his name

the strength of the church

the large gathering i believe is

critical i believe is very important

it creates identity which is huge we

belong to something that is bigger and

more significant

than our little world of influence

that’s important

there’s also a prophetic sense of

direction

that is given in the corporate setting

that i never hear in the smaller setting

i’m not saying it can’t happen

it’s just there’s something about people

coming together

in large groups with that prevailing

word

over a group of people that there is

that there’s that prophetic sense if you

will

of this is the mandate of the lord upon

us

i know for me since i was since i first

started in ministry i i remember going

to

to weaverville in 1979 i remember

we had a little business card i was on

staff here with my dad here for five

years

and i remember when i went up there i

wrote a little note on the back of my

business card from bethel

i just put this note and i kept it on my

desk

for i i think just about all of the

17 years that i was there i kept it on

my desk and it said whatever feeds me

feeds them so the responsibility was for

me

to be well fed into things of god

and then give away whatever he gives me

but make sure that processes through

through my lifestyle first through my

own experience through my own

devotion to christ let it filter through

that and then

offer that to the people that you love

and care for and serve

matthew chapter 16 we’re going to

actually read

a little bit out of here and we’ll jump

over to chapter 18

and we’ll i think we’ll end up in john

15 just to keep you busy

matthew 16 verse 13.

when jesus came into the region of

caesarea philippi

he asked his disciples saying who do men

say that i

the son of man m so they said some say

john the baptist

some say elijah others jeremiah or one

of the prophets

and he said to them but who do you say

that i am

simon peter answered and said you are

the christ

excuse me you are the christ the son

of the living god and jesus answered and

said to him blessed

are you simon barjona for flesh and

blood has not revealed this to you

but my father who is in heaven

and i also say to you that you are peter

and on this rock i will build my church

and the gates of hades

shall not prevail against it and i will

give you the keys of the kingdom of

heaven

whatever you bind on earth will be bound

in heaven whatever you loose on earth

will be loosed in heaven

let me take verse 19 again the new

american standard says this so much

better

and it’s a footnote in my bible

it says whatever you bind on earth will

be bound in heaven

a much more consistent translation

with the way jesus taught and lived is

whatever you bind on earth will have

been bound in heaven

whatever you loose on earth will have

been loosed

in heaven it’s it’s it’s it’s mirroring

that reality here and that is the

overall theme of jesus

when you pray your will be done on earth

as it is in heaven your kingdom come

your will be done

on earth as it is in heaven so the

backbone of the commission

for every believer is learning how to

partner with god to bring the reality of

his reign

his dominion into the specific

areas of our human experience

and so um let’s go back uh through

through this uh

particular portion of scripture so i’m

gonna read that verse again but i’m

gonna read it the way

i think it should be written how’s that

let’s go right to verse 15 who do you

say that i am

peter answered and said you were the

christ the son of the living god

jesus answered and said in blessed are

you simon barjona for flesh and blood

has not revealed this to you

but my father who is in heaven this

wasn’t a slap or a put down

jesus was acknowledging that he just

heard well from the father

he was pointing out i i used to do this

with with my kids my

my kids would be playing on the floor

and one of them would treat the other

one with unusual kindness kindness and i

would stop and say

hey guys stop stop say eric do you know

what that was and he would look at me

like he was in trouble you know

and i said son that was a fruit of the

spirit that was kindness

and that’s what jesus is doing here he’s

he’s stopping the procession

and he’s saying peter you just heard

from the father

that’s what it sounds like when you’re

hearing from the father

blessed are you simon bird john for

flesh and blood has not revealed this to

you but my father who is in heaven

and i say to you that you are peter

peter is actually a word that means rock

but it’s a small rock

and upon this rock that word is the

massive rock

i will build my church i personally i do

not believe

that peter was the rock that the church

was founded on

it was an illustration the rock it was

founded on

is verse 16 you are the christ the son

of the living god

it’s the revelation of jesus as the

messiah

the son of the living god that is what

the church is actually built on

it’s built think about this the church

is built upon

revelation

the essence of your faith is

that you heard god speak and you

responded

there is no salvation apart from hearing

god speak people say i just don’t hear

from god

well you must have heard something

because that’s how you got born again

it’s the only way you can get in

is there’s an acknowledgement that god

has spoken i am convicted of sin

i i am he’s given me a gift to turn from

this way of life to follow after him

and it’s that invitation if you will or

compelling

uh exhortation by god that enabled us to

turn

in faith to him every

every part of our life is hinged upon

that willingness and ability to hear

from god

and every time we say i just don’t hear

well we’re shooting ourselves in the

foot

instead of acknowledging what we do well

we point to what we don’t do well i

don’t hear as good as

this person this person has open visions

this person is the slightest impression

i just don’t

hear that well well you must have heard

something because you’re alive man does

not live by bread alone but by every

word that proceeds from the mouth of god

there is life

continuously flowing in us and through

us because we hear from god

it would be much wiser for us to say i

hear from god but i’m

but not as good as i want to i’m

improving i’m on a journey

to increase my capacity my ability to

perceive

when god is speaking it’s a whole other

subject but his first language is not

english or spanish or whatever

else other language you speak there’s

this whole world of impression and

and pictures and and things that are

that are

otherworldly which is his language and

it’s how he

actually teaches us how his world works

another subject but you get the point so

here this revelation of jesus as messiah

is the foundation for the church but

look at verse 18 again he says upon this

rock i will build my church in the gates

of hades

shall not prevail against it i never

heard anybody

say that the gates here were the gates

of the church that kept us protected

from the devil but somehow when i grew

up that’s how i saw the verse

i i saw that god is going to keep our

gates strong and keep us protected from

that big bad devil that’s outside trying

to break inside the

church and steal and kill and plunder

and do all the stuff that he does

and that’s not it at all it’s the gates

of hades that will not prevail in other

words

the demonic kingdom and gates in

scripture refers to positions of

authority

so we’re not just talking about gates

like to a city or

something that get torn down so we take

the enemy’s possession that’s

that’s figurative but it’s it’s in the

picture

but it’s the gates of a city is where

the authorities of the city would be

seated

they would be sitting there to make uh

decisions

so when we talk about the gates of hades

we’re talking about

the hierarchy the ephesians 6

principalities and powers

we’re talking about the hierarchy of

this of the world of darkness

will not be able to stand against what

against this prevailing group of people

i’m just going to throw in here

something that is probably worthy of

studying

at another time please notice it doesn’t

say gates of hell

we actually talk about hell as a place

where the devil reigns from or rules

from or or has influence from

hell is his place of eternal punishment

it’s his place of eternal punishment

it’s it’s technically it’s not

it’s not you know the gates of hell will

not prevail it’s

it’s this realm of darkness that cannot

withstand

against a church that responds to the

assignment and the call that god has

given

and where we function as he has assigned

us to function

and in these verses he gives us the

beginning

strategy if you will on bringing

transformation to the world around us

so here we have um will not prevail

against at verse 19. i will give you the

keys of the kingdom of heaven

and whatever you bind on earth will have

been bound in heaven

whatever you loose on earth will have

been loosed in heaven

this is a very significant assignment

that jesus now gives

to every single one of us as individuals

now jump over to chapter

18 and the subject matter in chapter 18

is actually correction for people who

will not repent

and it’s actually given in that light

but there are principles in these verses

that i would like for you to grab hold

of

because they are they are they’re they

go far beyond the immediate application

he says in verse 18 again i say to you

whatever you bind on or

shall have been bound in heaven whatever

you loose on earth

shall have been loosed in heaven again i

say to you and here’s our verse

if two of you agree on earth concerning

anything that they

ask it will be done

for them by my father in heaven verse 2

20 for where two or three are gathered

in my name

i am there in the midst all right so

here’s the deal

when the lord said i will build my

church

he did not use a term that would have

been very

uh commonplace for the jewish culture

that this was taking place in

it was not a synagogue nor was it a

temple

the word is ecclesia it’s very important

boring for a moment but stick with me

ecclesia

is a group of two or three people

that are citizens of a particular

country or government

and whenever they gather together they

actually represent the government

of that country they are from so if you

have roman citizens that are

in greece and uh they get together and

they are

they work together say at a bakery and

they get together at lunch and they talk

together

they are actually representing the

government of

rome

that’s actually the term that is used

here

jesus used a secular term he was he was

known for using secular concepts i don’t

think he was

borrowing from the secular world i think

he was taking back what he inspired them

to think and to do in the first place

and he

he did this by using the term apostle

which was a greek and eventually a roman

term he did the same with ecclesia

these are secular terms these are

secular terms that refer to a gathering

of two or three people

that have the authority to make

governmental type decisions

and so when jesus uses this term

ecclesia

he’s actually using a secular term that

everyone in that known world would be

aware of because it was a part of their

culture

so he says when two or three of you

gather i am there in the midst

so here’s the deal the presence of god

is the mark of divine authority

the presence of god the manifested

presence of god upon

a couple a married couple the presence

of god

that rests upon that couple in unity

before

christ they carry a governmental

responsibility

to represent him and to bind here

what is not free to rule there and to

lose here

what is already loosed there it is a

god-given mandate and responsibility

it is it is the backbone of our dis of

our assignment to disciple nations

it is a very specific responsibility it

is not

this is not peripheral this is not uh

you know extra you know like you you buy

a car and you

you want something extra on why i want

the one with the sunroof this

is not this is not extra this is the

heart and soul

of how you and i were designed we were

designed and assigned by god to be on

this planet

as citizens of another world

and as citizens of that world i’m to

look for

the one or the two others with whom i

can meet and come

into a place of agreement so that the

manifested presence of god would settle

upon

our gathering together and then in that

position we make decisions

that actually shape the course of

history

now in john 15 this

i i’ve been messing with these verses

for so long i i don’t know if you’re

tired of hearing me talk about them but

john 15

is uh provokes me because

do you ever do this do you ever read a

portion of scripture that blesses you so

much but you know you don’t get it yet

yeah that’s that’s kind of how i

approach the subject of abiding in

christ

is i i know i get it and i know i don’t

know what i’m talking about

i i know that i have experience there

and i’m so thrilled with what i’ve

experienced but i also know

i’m in preschool and i have barely

started this journey and that’s how

that’s kind of how i feel with this

whole subject so just take one verse the

entire 15th chapter

is worth the read but we’re just going

to take the one verse

if you verse 7 if you abide in me my

words abide in you

you will ask what you desire and it

shall be done for you

goes on to say by this my father’s

glorified you bear much fruit the fruit

in this context i believe is answers to

prayer

so i owe god answers to prayer

the lack of answers to prayer is not on

his end of the equation

the lack of answers to prayer are on my

end of the equation and it is connected

to my

ability and willingness to abide

the felt presence of god is the

absolute key to continuous answers to

prayer

and living apart from that doing our

best to mimic god’s will doing our best

to

pray for things that we think ought to

happen

it’s not that the prayers are wrong it’s

not that what we have requested is

is against his will it’s just we’re

we’re missing the strength of abiding

when you have the manifested presence of

god upon you

on jesus and you come before the father

with request

there is this clout if you will

that we have been invited into abide in

me

let my words abide in you what is that

it’s the acknowledged

felt presence of god and it’s not just a

recognition of the almighty god being

here

but is it is my engagement with him

abiding

is an engaged participation with a

person

there is this there is this encounter

there is this

exchange there is this fellowship there

is this intimacy

there’s a connection that is

otherworldly

and in that connection i am positioned

to think different

to feel different to see different and

i’m sitting here with

another brother a sister family member

whoever whoever

and he says in that context the weight

of the government of my world

is upon your shoulders and for that

reason

you can bind anything here that’s

already bound there

in that position we’re much more prone

to see discern the reality of that world

we do okay with binding here what’s

already bound there we do because

we know for example that somebody

demonized we know that

that doesn’t exist in heaven we know

that uh

somebody addicted to alcohol or or drugs

or whatever we know that doesn’t exist

there so

so we we know the devils work well we

know what it is to bind we know that

if there’s death lost destruction we

know that’s the devil’s fingerprints

and so we know all right this addiction

has to end so you pray for

your cousin or whatever that is addicted

to drugs you pray

we bind here what is already bound their

addiction does not exist in heaven

and we pray i remember one sunday night

we had this uh

uh it was a fairly quick altitude about

20 people as i recall came

forward and they stood right here and

we just prayed they responded to an

invitation to get rid of addictions

and we prayed this corporate prayer over

them i don’t recall i don’t think there

was any laying on of hands

we just prayed over the group six months

later one of the indian

individuals came to me and said do you

do you remember when you had that uh

invitation for uh for for prayer

concerning addiction i said yeah i do

he said well me and another person both

have been addicted to heroin for over 20

years

and we were both instantly set free that

night in a corporate prayer

we sometimes we have degrees of

difficulty in our mind that he doesn’t

have in his

you know this this one’s easy this one’s

hard

it wasn’t any harder for god to set two

people free

of heroin addiction in a moment probably

a five-minute

moment of prayer wasn’t any more

challenging for him than it would be to

bring

encouragement to somebody who was

discouraged

it’s all in his wheelhouse so to speak

so what we do is we bind here so you’re

praying for that relative of yours or

or a close friend or whatever that has

that addiction we’re binding here

what has already been there we’re

familiar with that responsibility

in measure our problem is on the other

side of the responsibility

we’re supposed to lose here what is

already loose there and without heavenly

encounters and heavenly experiences

and heavenly perception we have no idea

what we’re supposed to release

in the place of what we just bound the

whole concept is i’m removing something

and i’m replacing it

jesus taught this in the gospel of luke

when he said when a house

is clean and swept it’s got to be filled

with something or the enemy comes back

seven times

worse so sometimes we we we have this

we have a perpetual problem because we

bind but we don’t replace how

do we know what to replace it’s you know

it’s not

uh forgive me for the hunting analogy

but a flock of ducks go by a lot of

hunters just shoot at the flock you

don’t get anything that way you have to

pick one out

it’s not it’s not guesswork it’s very

specific

very strategic addressing an issue

replacing it

there has to be ongoing increased

understanding

of how his world works and what our

responsibility is

we are not leisurely coasting downstream

we are aggressively going upstream

against the tide

because we represent another world and

we continuously run into things

that he has nothing to do with they

don’t exist in heaven

and sometimes you’ll see a dear friend

of yours a part of the very thing that

doesn’t belong here

sometimes i’ll see a well-meaning

believer a part of something and they

have no clue

most of the time

i feel that my responsibility is just to

go behind the scenes and pray

and try to break that thing because if

they saw the spirit that was behind what

they said yes to they would never

participate

but generally a debate doesn’t convince

anybody

it’s better that if you see there’s a

demonic power behind something

love the person but get behind the

scenes before god

and bind and lose

if you can see with me i i don’t think

it’s uh uh i i don’t think it’s a

careless

joining of unique scriptures matthew 16

matthew 18. both carry the theme

whatever you bind here

has to already have been bound there but

then the losing

the increased heavenly perception

where does that come from well i think

there are unique experiences

that people have before the lord i’m

actually reading a book right now in

heaven that it’s just

mind-boggling that i i love so much when

i’m

when i’m finished i’ll tell you what it

was maybe

if i remember i i love

seeing glimpses of how he works how he

thinks how his world works

because every glimpse of his world of

his ways

and then his world equips me

to release his influence in the earth

see there’s a lot of people that think

his influence in the earth is going to

be when he returns and it’ll be this

military invasion

who knows what that’s going to look like

all i do know

is that i have the assignment now

he didn’t give us authority to keep us

busy till he returned he gave us

authority to make a difference in the

world we live in

and most of the stuff is not dealt with

face to face with an individual

i’m not saying avoid conversation all of

that i’m just saying

so often the powers that be are demonic

realities

that are surrounding an issue and that’s

where we go to battle that’s where we

get on our knees that’s where

we make prophetic decrees we are not

fighting against people

every one of us have had a bad idea at

some time and we actually partnered with

the enemy and not with god

every single one of us and probably most

of us more than

once or twice and somebody was merciful

to me

so let’s let’s let’s show the same mercy

the enemy is not people the enemy there

are powers

behind realms of thought there are

powers behind they’re behind even

geographical areas

i don’t want to get weird and spooky on

you but i’m just telling you

there are certain places they are dark

in that area

because there is an individual that has

partnered

with the demonic realm at such a level

that that thing has to be broken over

that person’s life

you see it with a man of the gadarenes

jesus brought deliverance to this one

guy actually

the son of the gospel say there was two

the point was they got free

jesus brought deliverance to the one the

people were so freaked out

it says it says that this demoniac

you know he had so many demons that his

demons were possessed you know

he was he was set free it says he was

clothed and in his right mind and the

city was afraid

as long as the guy is writhing you know

and breaking chains and running around

naked everybody’s fine but somehow when

he gets freed people get concerned

you know it must be that cult it must be

that church down the road

and it says the people they were afraid

because there was a power

that operated outside listen every

people around you don’t mind a god who

looks like them

they will they will try to reduce the

nature of god to their nature

instead of having a god you must give an

account to

and the responsibility in this moment is

jesus brings a deliverance to this guy

the city gets afraid and it says they

chase jesus and his disciples out of the

area

sometime later it says that when jesus

came back to that area

every person from every village came to

hear him speak

what happened there was one credible

witness

one person upon whom the kingdom had

come

something was bound something was loosed

he was a living illustration

of what that world looks like he had

sanity

he had engagement with people he was a

different person

and when that leaven was put into the

lump of dough that entire

region that had rejected christ when

that leaven was put into that lump of

dough

when jesus came back they all wanted to

hear what he had to say

because something was bound and

something was loosed

david made this statement he said he

said daily

i set the lord before me

it’s a strange statement daily

i set the lord before me well

just so you understand you can’t grab a

hold of god and put him where you want

he wasn’t saying that i believe what he

is saying

is since you can’t imagine a place where

he isn’t you might as

well imagine him with you

is he everywhere yes that means he’s

here

what is abiding in christ it’s

acknowledging

the presence of god who is with you to a

point

of engagement relationship awareness

something happens in that heartfelt

connection with the presence of god the

spirit of god

who is with me and will never leave me

something happens

in that heartfelt connection

where i i live more aware of what he

wants

i live more conscious of his will

the way i like to describe it is i live

more aware of his mood and i don’t mean

he’s

he’s moody in some temperamental way i

mean i just mean i

i live more conscious of his mood of how

he feels about a given subject about

a given person we’ve talked before about

i remember years ago

somewhere as not that long ago maybe

three years ago now

i was looking through a magazine it had

all these different conferences

in this magazine and i don’t it was

horrible when i got to the end of the

magazine i realized that i had skimmed

over every conference because i just

i looked at the speakers that were in

the conference with almost a disregard

and i thought that kind of um

complacency of heart towards another

brother in the lord is not healthy

so i actually went back to the beginning

of the magazine and i slowly turned the

pages until i came to a conference

i looked at each speaker this took me a

while

i took i looked at each speaker until i

could feel the pleasure of the lord for

that individual

when i could feel the pleasure of the

lord for that person

then i turn the page and go to the next

one

feel the pleasure of the lord when i did

something

changed in my perception i found that i

was

can i say it this way i was careless

i’m embarrassed to even say it i was

careless

in my attitude towards those who were

not a part of our stream

it wasn’t it wasn’t a conscious thing

that was i didn’t know it was there

until it

till it surfaced as i was looking at

these speakers and i felt so embarrassed

and ashamed in a sense

i knew enough to not think critically

but the answer to not being critical was

just to ignore and that’s not kingdom

see the opposite of love is not hate

it’s complacency

finding that that pleasure if you feel

you can sense that

that heart of god for any given issue it

may be a politician it may be somebody

who’s

completely opposed to anything you think

and

and their decisions or whatever you take

just that extra moment to realize

here is someone made in the image of god

i have the responsibility to treat them

as one made in the image of god

policy issues those are other issues

they cannot color

my approach or value prayer felt

value for an individual

it’s a deception

the religious spirit the political

spirit are both vying

to capture our emotional condition

or both vying for influence to to

influence my perception of people

of groups of people

to discolor so because

if if a person

if there’s a person i find repulsive to

me or i want nothing to do with

then we’ve just cut off my ability to

demonstrate the love of christ

and he didn’t say bill you’re assigned

to a few and you can be mad at the rest

you know

you love this person love that person

but you can hate everyone else it’s just

silly

it’s the fact that whoever he puts me

before i have to be able to honor and to

celebrate so here we have this

responsibility

jesus said the ecclesia

the two or three people the work down

here at such and such a grocery store

they take their lunch break together

when they come together in jesus name in

that lunch

room and they have this predetermined

idea we will partner together for the

invasion of god’s blessing and presence

upon this

business that i don’t own a business

that i am here is a representative of

another world

the government of god is resting upon

the two or three

but not just the government the governor

the one who runs the government is with

us as we gather

if we had just a heightened awareness of

purpose

and the reality of presence we would

live think and pray differently

our decrees would be much more

intentional our decrees our

pronouncements our prophetic uh uh words

that we

release would be much more anchored in a

faith that sees a possible

outcome paul in romans 12 talks about

talks about people who would prophesy

according to their faith

faith is supposed to be the guiding the

guiding

power if you will behind the prophetic

faith by faith i see what is it

naturally visible

so i’m perceiving something that isn’t

yet but it’s about to be because i’m

about to speak it

i’m about to declare it so you take the

ecclesia you take the two or three

and maybe a husband or wife in our homes

i would encourage you

of that has a facebook page it’s

actually

it’s not about his ministry it’s just

the ecclesia everywhere i think it’s

called

ecclesia everywhere and then there’s

going to be a website and you just sign

up and say you know

my house is in ecclesia my place of

business isn’t ecclesia

you just sign up let them know that

there are thousands upon thousands

and i hope eventually we get well over a

million all scattered all over this

nation that says you know what

we’re tired of letting the enemy have

his way

we are here representing another world

god himself

the governor of that world is here

present with me and he says

if i’ll just connect my heart to him and

i’ll live aware of him and i’ll let his

the words that he breathes infect my

soul until i think what he thinks

i want what he wants i dream what he

dreams

and as that abiding presence becomes

that kind of an influence

in my conscious and unconscious mind i

can ask

anything anything

anything god and you as a majority

and in that gathering he says the gates

of hades all the powers of health that

are known for killing stealing and

destroying

they are no contest no contest

we get so overwhelmed and impressed by

the success of the powers of darkness

not realizing that all it takes is two

or three

but look at the movements that are

destroying this

yeah yeah thousands and sometimes

millions of people yeah

but two or three god’s there god’s there

and when god is there anything can

happen

to shift the focus the direction the

flow

of the life of an entire nation

i i think we’ve probably

known or thought or talked about some of

these things for

quite a few years so today what i’m

wanting to do is have an altar call not

where you come forward

but where you just acknowledge my house

is an altar

my house is an altar my wife and i

our kids we are in ecclesia

we have made a covenant before god that

we will learn to recognize his presence

we will learn to flow from that presence

my dream is to dream what he dreams

my passion is to think what he thinks

do you remember that passage in romans 8

it says all things work together for

good

yes shake your head yeah if you don’t

read your bible

all things work together for good those

who love god called according to his

purpose

great passage right before that the holy

spirit

intercedes for us right after that jesus

intercedes for us that’s why all things

work

and learning what they are praying is

the key

to our ongoing continuous breakthrough

in prayer

it is supposed to be that the will of

god invades

earth because we prayed

what you stand

i i know there are people that

participate with us online

i love this fact there are so many that

join with us

uh who are not a part of the bethel

family we’re just we’re just glad you’re

here we

we’ve got people all over the world that

consider themselves

we consider you part of the bethel tribe

the bethel family

we’re we’re honored to join with you in

any way we can

but there are many who just for whatever

reason maybe stumbled across us on a

youtube channel or bethel tv

whatever it might be and

you are in this moment very much aware

of your need for god and i believe that

the lord jesus himself

set the stage for you today to be able

to step

into life for the simple faith to

measure faith that every person

has been given according to scripture

that that faith would be placed

in jesus christ as lord as absolute

savior

and we’ve got pastors that are online

ready to talk and to pray with anyone

who would just simply express just write

it in the chat box just say i want to

know jesus

i want to be forgiven of sin i want to

be a disciple a follower of jesus

because you were born for something much

more significant than what

you have known up to this point

i remember many years ago uh one of our

dear friends in weaverville chris and i

were still in weaverville and one of our

dear friends buck steele he’s a what

what a great man

such such an unusual grace and gift on

his life

but i remember he prophesied once that

there would be an individual from a

particular city in our county trinity

county

that would be saved and that he would

become a key

to reaching many people in that city and

he prophesied this word

well he was at the office one day and we

got a phone call from the

sheriff’s department and there was

someone in the

cell the padded room who had just tried

to kill himself

and uh so buck was there i said buck you

want to go down and pray for buck

never resisted a chance to go pray for

somebody and to you know lead someone to

christ or whatever

so he went down there he did the most

unusual thing he went down there and he

found out this man is from the city i

just prophesied about and that there was

a key person about to be saved

that would be key for touching that

entire city and he came in

with this word that this individual was

chosen for such a time as this

and all of a sudden a guy who wanted to

kill himself suddenly realized i have

purpose i have a reason for being alive

i’ve got a reason for being alive i have

a chance to have a relationship

with god and that he would actually use

me to impact an entire city that i live

in

how many know when you find purpose you

don’t want to end your life you want to

start your life

and that’s exactly what anybody watching

right now and everybody in this room

this is it it’s engaging with divine

purpose there is

nothing greater there is nothing greater

so i encourage you online please just uh

in the chat box do whatever but

get help because there are people that

would love you and care for you

father i ask that there would be an

impartation

first for the realization of the

presence of god

second that in that discovery of your

manifest presence upon us

we would come to know more and more your

thoughts

your heart your mood what you feel about

different things that this partnership

with the almighty god and the two or

three

gathered in his name that we would see

in this abiding presence

the will of god being manifested on the

earth in ways

that have been thought to be impossible

impossible until now

incorporate us in this last days

plan to demonstrate the presence and

power and government of god

into every aspect of society

i pray this in jesus wonderful and

mighty name

amen amen