Testimonies Create Culture – Bill Johnson (Full Sermon) | Bethel Church

Every testimony reveals the nature of God and his covenant with mankind. Bill Johnson, shares on the importance of dwelling on the testimony of God in our lives. It is time to remember the goodness of God.

Check out the INCREASE Testimony Map to see what God is doing all around the world! Add your own testimony to it through the INCREASE App, and help us create a global database of hope which will shout that Jesus is alive for generations to come!

[Applause]

i’ll pay you later

thank you very very nice

and kelly’s album looks good and i

i ordered it during the last service i

downloaded it sitting right down here

thank you jesus it’s now here i shall be

listening to that on the way home today

hey i felt like uh something i was

supposed to do today

uh it’s like we’re pulling our car into

the

bay at the repair shop we’re going to

get a little tune-up something that

uh that we have pretty good training and

real good exposure

we’ve uh been working on for a lot of

years as

the concept of testimony and the

prophetic nature of a testimony

so to do this right i’ve got to take you

on just a little bit of a

personal journey oh goodness 30

i don’t know 38 years something like

that ago i was

pastoring in uh in weaverville and i was

in my office

and i was reading praying reading in the

morning i was going through the book of

revelation and i

came to this verse in revelation 19

10. it says the testimony of jesus is

the spirit of prophecy

and when i was reading through

revelation when i came to that verse it

just

it’s just one of those moments you know

that you have in god words it’s kind of

like

it’s on neon lights and like something

happened here

that i can’t explain i love learning

here first

because your heart can fit where your

head can’t fit so it’s

it’s uh he invites us into things that

we have perception of here that we can’t

comprehend

and it’s it’s a wonderful way to learn

so anyway i sensed

life on that verse and i actually

stopped i stopped my reading

i looked at that verse i said god

there’s something here

i know you want to teach me and i said

please show me what this means

show me what this means went on through

the

the morning and it was that afternoon

maybe you know

an hour two two hours three hours later

i was in uh

i was in in my office and uh just doing

work and one of the guys from the church

came and stood in the doorway from the

sanctuary my

uh this our church facility at the time

the sanctuary was here there was a door

came into my office

so he stood in the doorway and he walked

in he said

i said bill i said come on in sit down

he said no he says i’ve got to get back

to work

i just wanted to tell you of the miracle

that god has done

in healing my marriage and he stands

there in the doorway and he gives me you

know a three or four minute

synopsis of the miracle that god had

done

in his marriage and so i i thanked him

for the report

he turned to leave and he got about this

far away

and he turned around and he said you can

tell this story to anyone you want

you can tell my story to anyone you want

i knew in that moment that something

just happened

that was connected to my prayer that

morning i couldn’t have taught on it i

couldn’t have explained it but i could

tell

they were related they had just shared a

testimony with me

and he was giving me permission to

repeat that story

so let’s take the verse the testimony of

jesus is the spirit of prophecy

the testament of jesus say it with me

the testimony of jesus

is the spirit of prophecy let’s do it

again the testimony of jesus

is the spirit of prophecy all right

number one

the testimony of jesus is is a spoken or

written record of anything he’s done

all right so the testament of jesus is a

spoken or written record of anything

that he’s done

the spirit of prophecy is that prophetic

anointing prophetic mantle so what is

prophecy then

prophecy is in two realms that i

understand

one is to foretell the future a prophet

will describe

something is about to happen on such and

such a day but

i think predominantly the prophetic is

used not to foretell

but to do something else and that is to

change present

situations the prophetic will be used to

make a decree that actually

changes the reality that an individual a

family a church a city nation

is facing it’s the word of the lord is

released and it changes the situation

so think of it this way the testimony of

jesus

carries with the weight of heaven to

alter the reality of a problem or

situation that we’re facing

it carries that it’s written into the

dna of a testimony

that it has that ability to actually

change reality

change realities so i uh

i was in uh rochester minnesota i was

with a dear friend there assembly got

church

and um i i had spoken at a night meeting

i spent some time praying for a young

lady she had

uh she had been in a snowmobile accident

her ankle was put back together with

pins and

and you know metal stuff to make it work

and so she had pain she had restricted

movement she had all that going on in

her ankle

and so now i’m just telling you the only

way i know to

learn in some of these things is to

either have a mentor

or to experiment and since i didn’t know

anyone who knew anything about

the power the prophetic nature of a

testimony of jesus we had to experiment

so the safest way to experiment is with

people that you know and trust

that you live accountable to so that if

you overextend yourself

they reel you back in and you you clean

up your mess but

but you have you have to be you have to

be willing to experiment if you’re gonna

if you’re gonna try to

touch new things so so um this gal comes

to me

uh the nick i pray for this night she

comes to me the next morning and she

says

she said bill you prayed for me last

night i said yeah how how is your ankle

she said when i got up this morning i

was getting dressed

and my husband looked at my leg and said

hey

that wasn’t there before and she looks

down

she was actually missing a part of this

calf muscle because of this accident

and it grew back overnight it grew back

so it is it’s there it go back overnight

so i thought well that’s so cool i said

here tell her you know we’ve got

probably i don’t know 20 or 30 people in

this meeting it was a morning meeting

and

and so i said tell them the story and um

and so she tells the uh her testimony

that the accident

and the missing muscle and then it

actually grew back overnight

and so as soon as she starts going back

to her seat

there’s a gal sitting right here on the

front row from toronto

that was a friend of the house she was

but she was visiting she walked

right up to me after the scale leaves

she said she says to me

if god did that for her certainly he

would do that for me

now she had she had a brilliant

understanding of the kingdom

that number one god is no respecter of

persons what he’s done for one he’ll do

for another

he doesn’t have us in categories where

these people get special things and

these people get the crumbs it’s not how

he works

so she understood that number one number

two she understood that god is the same

yesterday today and forever

so something he’s done at another time

he’ll he’ll do again

so she says what uh if god did that for

her

certainly he would do that for me and so

i called the girl that just got healed i

called her back he said come back

here and then the pastor’s wife they

came up they prayed for her

they watched she had had been in an

accident and had to actually

go through therapy to learn to walk

again because she’s missing a part of

this muscle

in in the leg she actually had to learn

how to walk again

so that’s why she wants prayer so the

pastor’s wife

and this young lady come up they lay

hands on her and they watch and before

their eyes

the muscle forms and is is recreated

it’s a creative miracle

in the moment in that instant

that’s that’s amazing two other women

came up it’s like an epidemic of calf

muscle problems you know

it’s like how do you get that many

people in that small of a crowd that all

have

something similar with their with their

leg muscle so two other gals come up one

had been kicked by a horse

and destroyed a portion of the muscle

she had a growth in its place and the

other one i don’t remember the details

but they prayed they watched the the

growth the tumor disappeared the muscle

fell on the

the fourth one the same thing so uh we

of course we

we celebrated just the kindness of the

lord in doing such unusual things in

such a

such a small group of people it’s just

amazing i flew from there to another

city

in tennessee and um

i don’t remember the name of the town

though it wasn’t nashville it wasn’t a

place that i normally go to

and uh i was with there with a with a

good friend

and so i gave them the stories of these

healings these of these four uh leg

muscle things

and a medical doctor was there who had

broken his leg a year earlier

uh the muscles had atrophied he had

restricted movement a lot of pain

and so he he won a prayer so he came up

and i had a bunch of students with me

they prayed for him

and he came to me sometime later in the

evening and wanted to give me a report i

said

i said what’s going on with your leg he

said he said the pain is all gone he

says i’ve got all the movement back

but i was curious about the muscle thing

you know because we we gotta we got a

roll going here

of muscles just going back i said how

how’s the muscle the atrophied muscles

in your leg

he said i can feel the skin stretching

so i i flew home and i shared those five

stories

here on a sunday morning probably and

there was a gal here

that i think it was two weeks later we

were in a small meeting we used to

uh we were taking some time to pray over

some folks

and in a separate private meeting there

was maybe uh 15 or 20 of them we were

praying

and she says but uh she says i need to

tell your story she said

two weeks ago do you remember when you

gave the testimonies of

the of god healing the legs the muscles

i said yeah i do

she said i broke my leg a year earlier

the muscles had atrophied i had

restricted movement

um and and pain and while you were

giving the testimonies my leg turned hot

and we have since learned hot is good

her leg turned hot and she was

completely healed without anybody

praying

so so what happened is uh

i started stewarding these stories and i

would experiment

um would i would give a story and then

we would find out what god was doing now

how many of you have heard testimonies

before uh in church you know uh

deliverance from drugs healing of bodies

whatever it might be

uh the stories i grew up on hearing them

and they were always so

encouraging and so exciting but i don’t

remember one time

in all my years of growing up where a

testimony was given

and a miracle followed as well as a

result of the story

and yet it is in god’s plan

it’s in his dna so

adjusting how we think actually puts us

in line for how he moves

adjusting how we think adjusting what we

expect

i was on the coast with uh once again

with a bunch of our students and

we were uh we had a meeting there that

ended up

it’s i think it’s the only meeting in my

life i lost complete control of

and i’m not a control freak i just

control freak but i like to direct the

traffic you know i like to make sure

this person is healed

and this person gives testimony and

stuff but i i lost control of everything

i finally i did i finally quit i finally

just got into the fray because it was i

realized

i can’t get this meeting back so forget

it they’re having all the fun and i’m

trying to direct

traffic so

so i uh i got down into the into the

fray with people

and i mean we this is where we’ve got uh

empty wheelchair we’ve got a wheelchair

being passed up over people’s heads up

to the front and

a gal with uh permanent nerve damage

down the right side of her

or one side of the body i forget which

side uh was completely healed blind eye

was open deafness was

open all kinds of stuff so the students

come to me and they said

we just prayed for this little boy uh

with club feet

and god healed him i said well bring him

to me i want to see him

so they went got this little guy’s three

years old and his feet are like this

and he’s got scabs on the tops of his

feet because they were

on the bottom of the feet where he would

he would drag them

and he’s three so a little guy named

chris so he’s bending over

he’s playing with the scabs he’s

touching the scabs

because they were out of view before you

know now now he sees so he’s touching

the scabs and one of his little friends

comes a little girl comes up to him says

run chris run so he takes off in this

like this 20-foot circle he runs he

comes running back to

this little girl and he says i can run

i can run his eyes are like this you

know

his his face is lit up with joy oh man

it’s just enough to wreck you you know

for the rest of your life you never

forget the look on that face

so he comes back he says i can run i can

run so

we we bring the story home of course and

i i share the story here

we had somebody visiting us from out of

state and they had

i think three children if i remember

right and one of them was a little girl

almost two years old her feet were

turned in so severe

that she would trip over her own feet

when she would try to run

she was in her child care

and so i taught on the concept of the

testimony

and then i gave the testimony of the

club feet

she hears the concept that god intends

to duplicate

miracles did i mention this the hebrew

word the old testament word for

testimony comes from a word that means

do

again that the very nature when he says

keep a testimony

keep a record of what i want to

duplicate of what i want to do again

it was never meant to be a historical

factor

that pointed to an old event it was

supposed to be a present tense reality

that releases the activity of god into

present situations

and so i i taught on that just briefly i

shared the testimony

she she says in her heart she says i’ll

take that for my little girl

when the meeting is over she goes over

to get her little girl

and her little girl’s feet are already

straight nobody prayed for it

nobody paid for it come on

wow

[Applause]

that hurts a friend of mine would say if

that doesn’t light your fire your wood

is wet so

yeah that’s that’s amazing so

i take that story those two stories and

i

i was with mahesh and bonnie shoved how

many you know the shavdas in north

carolina wonderful people dear friends

of ours were

we we ministered there every year with

them and they’ve been here many many

times

so i was there and i was talking about a

series of

it happens to be one of the times i was

teaching on the concept of the testimony

and giving them stories and in giving

the stories

i talked about the club feet i talked

about the little girl

and some other leg issue stories so

uh after the meeting we spent a little

bit of time with mahesh and bonnie

and and then our we have a driver

someone who takes us

from the hotel to the meeting from the

meeting back to the hotel

so he’s from brazil so he he meets us

at the end of the meeting and we get

into the car and he says

i just got a phone call from and i don’t

remember now if it’s his sister-in-law

or her sister

he says i just got a phone call and my

sister let’s say it was my sister

was watching tonight’s meeting on on the

internet on live tv

and she has a little girl about 10 or 11

years old that has deformed feet she’s

a beautiful young lady but not only the

inconvenience of a problem with the feet

but people just stare at their feet so

it’s

it’s not only a natural issue it’s an

issue emotionally

and so the mother is watching online she

hears the story the series of stories

and at the end of it she calls to her

daughter who’s down at the other end of

the house

she calls her name the little girl comes

into the hallway and says yes mommy

and the mother looks at her daughter and

says take your shoes off

she removes her shoes and she says come

here

as she walks towards her mother god

heals her feet completely completely

you know it’s it’s it’s not a tool that

we use to manipulate it’s the

it’s the privilege to broadcast the

nature of god because every testimony

reveals the nature of god and reveals

his covenant with man

the nature of god and his covenant with

us

i was in the modesto and i was

a wonderful assembly we’ve got church

there which is

which is my history so i have a special

fondness

uh for the assemblies and i was i was i

was in this

uh and it ended up it was another

healing meeting and great stuff’s

happening

but this gal comes up to me towards the

end she just walks up to me she said

her first words out of her mouth the

voices stopped

i went all right um

help me understand give me give me some

story here she says the voices stopped

i said okay tell me what was happening

at that point her father walks up who’s

a retired surgeon

and he begins to explain to me she has

bipolar

she’s had bipolar she’s on medication

she her

particular issue she was constantly

hearing voices and

now nobody prayed for this was during

worship the voices stopped

and the voice has stopped she’s trying

to figure out what do i do because she

has this lifestyle of many many years i

think

i memorized 13 years of medication

treatments whatever

so now both the dad and the daughter are

talking to me want to know what do we do

and so i try to give them advice how to

navigate this uh this that the

that god is doing and so

that was a i believe it was a thursday

night not the next sunday but a week

later should be ten days later i was

standing right back there

and this gentleman walks up to me says

do you remember me is

i was in modesto you you uh talked to me

about my daughter

and his his words to me were i have my

daughter back

i have my daughter back absolutely no

effects no medication nothing

she is completely restored in every

possible way

and it was during worship it’s during

worship so i

i stood up here and shared the testimony

that we have this

case of bipolar being healed there were

two men in the room at that time that

both had

had both had bipolar for over 20 years

each and the moment it came out of my

mouth

instantly they were both healed

instantly healed

sometimes this process but in this

situation it was instantly they were

healed

we quit counting about 10

10 maybe 12 years ago the bipolar

healings

but for a season there we were just kept

counting them and there was something

like 60 or 65

of them but i think only three or four

were actually prayed for all the rest

were healed

either in worship or in a testimony just

hearing the report of the lord

now the testimony of jesus is the

spirit of prophecy old testament

testimony comes from a word that means

to do again

new testament it is the prophetic nature

of the work of god

i want to read a quote to you how many

of you know charles spurgeon

was one of the great great heroes of the

faith an amazing

pastor from england and

he made this comment

july 17 1859 and no i was not there

but uh but it was it was it was recorded

all right

there we go i have to lean you know

that’s my crutch all right

here’s what he said he he preached a

message called the story of god’s mighty

acts and here’s the statement he made

he says when people hear about what god

used to do

one of the things they say is oh that

was a very long while ago

i thought it was god that did it has god

changed

is he not an immutable god the same

yesterday today and forever

does not that furnish an argument to

prove

that what god has done at one time he

can do at another

nay i think i shall push it a little

further

and say what he has done once is a

prophecy

of what he intends to do again

whatever god has done is to be looked

upon

as a precedent let us with earnestness

seek what god would restore to us

in the the faith of these old men that

we may richly enjoy the grace as in the

days of old

so here in 1859 the body of christ has

an

opportunity to step into a reality that

i don’t think was very common i’ve never

read

one other person write or talk about

this reality and yet it’s as plain as

can be in scripture

the nature of testimony and the and the

spirit of prophecy and revelation

and yet spurgeon makes this announcement

with incredible

influence and i don’t know what happened

but it appears to me

it just got reduced to a good sermon

instead of an invitation to explore what

might be possible if we actually

treasured

the record of what god has done so now

fast forward

the book of deuteronomy is the is the

book

um that uh from what i understand uh

young men jewish young men would

would uh need to learn and memorize and

it’s kind of the cultural book of the of

the uh

the books of law and um and i i love i

used to read it and read it read it

reread it

because in it was the instruction to

train your children raise them up in

specific ways and

which is a huge part of my life so um

i i was reading through and he says in

deuteronomy 6 he says

keep the commandment keep the statutes

and keep the testimony keep the

commandment

keep the statutes keep the testimony

okay we know what it means to keep a

commandment

he says you worship on this day you

worship on this day so he would give

them specific commandments you offer

this kind of an offering this kind of a

sacrifice you just do what he says

so keeping a commandment a commandment

is to obey god

what is keeping a statute keeping the

statutes of god

is where he is teaching us his value

system

so in a commandment he is telling you

what to think but in a statute he’s

telling you how to think

that was better than your response

in a commandment he’s telling you what

to think in the statutes he’s telling

you how to think he’s actually showing

you

his perception on reality and how he

how he how he navigates wants us to

navigate life so

he says keep the commandment keep the

statutes and then he says keep the

testimony how do you keep a testimony

i mean it’s not like doing something you

know it’s not like

sacrificing an ox or something it’s it’s

it’s you’re supposed to hold on to

something

and my conclusion uh through studying

especially

in the gospel of mark uh in the the

lifestyle of jesus

that keeping the testimony basically

means this to me

is that i hold the record of god’s

interventions

among people so close to me

that they become the lenses through

which i see present problems or

challenges

in other words i interpret them through

a history with god

a prescribed history with god has now

given me lenses through which to see

possibility in a problem instead of just

a problem

the nature of god in a situation how is

god going to become triumphant now

in this situation

oh it’s amazing

it’s it’s amazing but because we

actually have the ability

to steward the record of god’s

supernatural intervention

so well that they become how we see

they become the place from which we

think the place from which we see the

place from which we act

the place from which we pray testimony

it’s not just an exciting encouraging

moment just a moment in a service or

in our life we we just kind of get a a

boost of encouragement strength

it’s much more than that it is imagine

elijah standing in front of you

prophesying that’s what a testimony is

it is

prophesying this is the heart of god

this is the nature of god

this is the covenant of god and it is

available to you

that’s what a testimony is i want you to

look with me

at psalm 68 if you would

i had a guy come up to me once

at a conference he said i i said um he

said i’m 34 years old 25 years ago when

i was nine i broke my leg

when it healed it grew past the other

one an inch and a half

and i’ve got problems with my back now

i’m a contractor i’ve got issues with my

back because my

broken leg when it healed it just got

happy and went past the other one

happy was my turn that is and he said

have you ever

seen a leg shrink before because he’s

wanting to know if there’s a testimony

for

so i figure if we haven’t there’s always

got to be a first time right

so i paused for a moment i thought you

see

yes i have i’ve seen it happen i was in

an italian restaurant with a pastor

friend of mine in sacramento

he had been in a snowmobile accident

when they put him back together

apparently they had too many parts

because he had a leg that was too long

so he’s telling me in the restaurant i

said i’ll just turn your chair aside so

in the

italian restaurant you know the nice

lining table claws and everything we

just i just

give me your leg so we’ll lift his legs

up and i command a long leg just to

shrink so it just shrinks just like that

he goes back to the therapist told me

later he said therapist said it’s

perfect everything’s just right

so i so i told the guy yes i’ve seen it

happen

i said get a chair and of course if

we’ve never seen it get a chair anyway

because there’s got to be a first time

so he sits down and i’m holding his leg

and sure enough he’s got a leg that’s an

inch and a half longer than the other

one sorry i’m laughing

i’m holding i’m holding his legs up and

and sure enough one is is an inch and a

half longer than the other

and i just had this moment where i

thought

should i shrink the long one

[Applause]

or should we see if god would call them

the normal one no it it took me 10

seconds to ponder but

i i just kind of surprised myself by

saying

you know to the normal leg to grow it’s

kind of like the guy who says

i don’t want to think before i speak i

want to be as surprised as everyone else

and that was

that was kind of how i how i was in that

moment i found myself saying to the

normal leg i said in jesus name

grow and we just watched oh

it’s this one’s too long i’ve got to

watch my time here

this one’s kind of a weird story it

grows it grows and then it shoots past

the other one

i’m not kidding i i would give anything

to have a video of this moment

because the guy’s in pain how many of

you had growing pains when you were a

kid

yeah so did he 34 years old he got like

two years of growth

in in a moment his leg is

sticking out there and i’m on the

outside

i’m acting like oh yeah this happens

on the inside i’m saying oh jesus

i’m searching my heart how do i pray now

that’s honestly my question how do i

pray now and i remembered the word

shalom in the bible shalom the word

shalom is of course we notice the word

peace

but it is one of the fullest most

pregnant words

in the bible it’s sound mind it’s

prosperity financially

it’s divine health it’s all these things

anything you would ever ask for in life

it’s wrapped up in that word

so what i’m thinking is that word’s got

to cover this

so i prayed with all the confidence in

the world

jesus help me i just prayed now lord i

just pray that you release the peace the

shalom of heaven over this man

and and it just evened out perfectly

the testimony prophesies

sometimes you just do dumb things and

sometimes the lord just honors it anyway

i was

i was in another city there was a gal

there completely deaf

ear that opened up she had had bone

cancer

and they replaced this bone with metal

and and they made it she had the surgery

when she was 15 they made an inch and a

half too long

because they knew she’d grow into it or

she didn’t grow anymore

and so she’s got the same kind of issue

and so she asked for

her deaf ear open and then prayed for a

leg

having had a recent experience

with growing the wrong leg that whole

situation

it was fresh in my mind i thought i’m

not messing with this

so i she was laid out on the floor so i

got out on the floor and spoke to the

leg and it

it actually the metal part actually

shrunk came back into the line

she came to me the next day she said i’m

so glad that you

you had the metal leg shrink

i said why is that she said because if

you didn’t the doctors would have said

see

we told you you’d grow into it if i go

the other way

so sometimes you look good when you

don’t deserve it

that’s that’s my conclusion is i did not

know what i was doing

psalm 78 are you there we’ve got a few

minutes late

left one uh 78 is what i meant did i say

68

well you know what just have a good time

in 68 because it’s a great chapter

it’s let god arise his enemies be

scattered it’s a great chapter

but i’m going to be reading out of psalm

78.

so if you want to join me join me psalm

78

we’ll start what right with verse 3

is referring to dark sayings and

parables he says which we have heard and

known

and our fathers have told us we will not

hide them from their children

telling to the generation to come the

praises of the lord

and his strength and his wonderful works

that he has done what just happened

there

now think while you’re reading this they

are being exhorted

to train their children on not only the

report of the law of god the

commandments but to train him with the

report of his wonderful works which is

what

that’s a testimony yes

yes all right verse 5 he established a

testimony in jacob he appointed a law in

israel which he commanded our fathers

that they should make them known to

their children that the generation to

come might know them

the children who would be born that they

may arise and declare them to their

children

so if you can see this was a pattern of

a value system for the

spoken or written record of all that

god’s done to be given to this

generation

they would give it to the next

generation they’d give it to the next

generation

now it tells us why and this is

important verse

7 that they may set their hope in god

there’s something about the testimony

that conditions or positions

a child or an adult to position himself

to place hope in god when a trial comes

their instinctive response is i’m going

to trust god he’s the god who works

wonders

i don’t understand what he’s going to do

i don’t know how he’s going to do it but

i’m going to trust him

where did that come from it came because

the cloud of their heart so

so to speak was seated with this thought

that god is faithful

in impossible situations so here it says

it says that they may set their hope in

god and not forget his works the works

of god

keep his commandments are you guys still

alive you sure you’re still alive

all right what i want you to notice is

is not forgetting the works of god and

keeping the commandments

the testimony and the courage to obey

they’re connected

this is really a big deal because what

we do for ourselves what we do for our

children our grandchildren

we set the stage for them to have

courage because it takes courage to obey

god

it takes courage we want courageous

obedience radical obedience

out of my life that’s what i want so

here he says we keep the testimony going

multiple generations why

so they’ll put hope in god and that

they’re

there they won’t forget the works of god

and will have the courage to obey god

now he illustrates it in the next three

verses all right

verse nine that the children of ephraim

being armed and carrying bows turned

back in the day of battle

they did not keep the covenant of god

they refused to walk in his law

they forgot his works and his wonders

that he had shown them okay walk through

this

these three verses with me verse nine

the children of ephraim

are armed in other words they’re

prepared for battle they’re skilled

they’re trained for battle they’ve got

all the equipment necessary

he said the children of ephraim being

armed and carrying those turned back in

the day of battle

so why did they turn back in in why did

they become cowardly

when there was a conflict verse 10 tells

you

because they didn’t keep the covenant of

god they refused to walk in his law

how many know if you’re not walking into

obedience spiritual warfare is not where

you want to be

because you you become very vulnerable

so they turn back in a day of battle why

because they didn’t they had not been

walking in obedience why weren’t they

walking in obedience

verse 11. they forgot his works and the

wonders that he had shown them

there is something about the testimony

that instinctively

breathes into our soul a courage for

radical obedience

it’s a part of the process it’s how you

keep

strong in your confidence and faith in

god

what happens if if the the testimony of

the lord

if we decline in sharing testimony

then we see miracles less if we see

miracles less we expect them less

if we expect them less we talk about

them less

if we talk about them less we see them

less we expect there’s this downward

spiral

into the point where miracles have

become a mere

part of our history some time ago god

used to do such and such

which is where so much of the church is

right now it was in their history it was

in israel’s history it was in the

the book of acts it was it was the

memory of something that happened

back there but it’s not a current

reality it’s not a present tense

experience

and the testimony is supposed to become

that which invites us into this

relational journey where we learn how to

take

we learn how to take these things that

god has said and we simply trust god we

put our lives on the line to take risk

to see what he might do and it’s simply

because

i’ve been built up by the record of the

supernatural interventions of god

i love it when god will give us a

glimpse

of what he’s doing because it’s fun to

gain an understanding

but oftentimes he moves and i’m just

clueless

i’m a clueless observer that’s just

frantically trying to learn

i’m not a facilitator you know in the

sense that i made anything happen i’m

just i’m

i’ve told him i said god i just want to

be in the room it doesn’t have to come

from me i just want to be a part

and there are there are things that he

does the moment in dallas where

pray for this individual who with the

lightning of god literally goes through

him from head to toe and he’s completely

delivered and healed of schizophrenia

completely comes to me a year later in

his right mind completely

because god brought a miracle to him he

ended up

going to africa and ministered i think

he personally

was able to bring liberty and freedom

through his own testimony to about 40

people that were considered insane

mentally gone it’s a testimony it’s it’s

like

god has give imagine being given um

you know a priceless uh gem

uh how many know if you’ve been if

somebody comes to you and says i’ll give

you a million dollars if you can wear

this ring it’s worth 10 million dollars

you can’t lose it

but you have to wear it you can’t put it

hide it away how many of you think

you’ve got that ring on your hand you’re

going to be looking at it all day long

you’re going to be wrapping tape you’re

going to do all kinds of stuff to make

sure

we don’t lose this thing all right i’m

aware

of the value of what’s on my hand are

you aware

of the value of what’s in your mouth

it’s the record

it’s the it’s the revelatory

testimony of the heart the nature the

covenant of god

that actually invites people into a

personal relationship with jesus

paul when he was in trouble he would

revert to his personal story

into his own testimony it’s not just the

miracles of healing it’s the deliverance

salvation is the greatest miracle of all

and everybody in this room has that kind

of a story

i believe that god wants to give us an

upgrade

and this will sound a little strange but

but actually the whole thing’s been

rather strange so it’s

that’s if

if you want to if you want to change the

atmosphere of a room

go to you know say a restaurant you go

into a restaurant

three or four people sit down and take

the first 20 minutes only to share

miracle stories

i don’t mean miracle stories so that you

impress people around you i mean so that

the atmosphere changes because the

angelic realm

is fascinated by your perspective of

jesus the son of god

and they love hearing the stories of

what you’ve had happen what you’ve seen

what you know about him

they are enthralled with him but every

story we share

they catch another glimpse of what he’s

like through the eyes of someone who is

redeemed

simply sharing stories

i i feel like the lord would just give

us an upgrade in this area

we’re going to be touching you know i’m

thankful

beyond words on what i’ve seen happen

what we’ve seen happen we’ve seen happen

in this

room what we’ve seen happen in our city

is just it floors me sometimes i

i get in here early sunday morning i

just walk around and i just i just

remember oh

colon cancer was healed here a woman

after 50 some years in a wheelchair

gets out right there after a stroke she

walks

right over here um ms multiple sclerosis

was healed

west nile no m.e

this same person had several conditions

they were healed

just walk around this room the guy who

was run over by a 14-ton

truck completely crushed his ankle and

he receives prayer over here

there’s a pop his his ankle turns cold

there’s a pop and it’s completely

totally healed

completely here just go through the

story one after the other the woman who

who could hardly open her mouth just

very little movement because he broke

her jaw ten years earlier

and there was very little movement

extreme pain to open her mouth wide the

dentist

they didn’t have time to give her any

kind of

novocaine or anything because of the

pain she suffered with

and yet one sunday morning just simply

praying for those with broken bones

she’s instantly completely totally

healed

right back over here a man with prostate

cancer that’s healed a woman right down

here

a tumor in her breast just simply devol

dissolves and the stories go

on and on and on and on there are

hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of

them

but none of them are

badges of honor they’re all records

of a of a god who is willing to work

in and through very imperfect people

he just he just looks for people that

have a value

for his nature and will give him an

opportunity to do what he does best

he works in the impossible

i’m there in the journey

and i believe in this fall season we’ve

got some stuff coming up in another

couple weeks three weeks maybe we’re

going to be targeting this

even more not the testimony side but the

miracle realm because i believe

it’s a season for an upgrade this season

and it’s honestly for everybody in this

room you know jesus

asked the questions of his disciples

once they were

they were bewildered by the challenge

that he had just given him they

they just it’s one of these moments

they’re they’re literally just beside

themselves bewildered

and so he then asked them this series of

questions and these series of questions

have helped me a lot

he asked his disciples because they were

they were concerned about not having

enough food after he just multiplied

food

you know like the day before which is

it just comforts me to see other people

that

that think as dumb as i do i just and

when it’s in the bible i just feel so

much better

and so they’re puzzled by this and then

jesus asks them a series of questions he

says can you see

and you can tell they’re not answering

so he says can you hear

and they’re still just staring and he

says can you remember

those questions have helped me

incredibly because there are times i’m

i’m tr i i’m always trying to see i’m

always trying to see what is god doing

i’m always trying to hear what is he

saying so i’m let’s just say in a moment

like this i’m

just trying to discern what is it the

lord is doing around the room and so he

comes to me he says can you see

and my heartfelt response is now i don’t

see anything

so then he says what can you hear well

my hearing’s better than my scene

but at the moment i don’t hear anything

and then he says can you remember

yes i can i can remember

i can remember i can remember flying

back from new zealand

after having spent some time with great

hero of the faith for me

winky pratty it had a stroke his brain

part of his brain literally just blew up

and he was completely

healed restored in his right mind i was

on the plane thinking about this miracle

of healing with the brain

and i recall to my mind roland baker a

wonderful friend of our house had

x-rays of his brain actually dying

and the lord completely healed him

raised him up so i’m thinking on the

plane flying back from new zealand

these are the two smartest men i have

ever met

and god restored their brains i’ll bet

god is healing brains

i’ll bet that’s what he’s doing can you

see i don’t see it

and i don’t hear it but i i can remember

and the

the more i remember the better i hear

and the more i hear the better i

see so we came in here on a sunday and i

called out i said god is healing brains

went right back here you remember this

kevin you were right back here praying

for

this young lady she’s in fact we have

the testimony in video

she was dying she was dying

terminal systemic lupus of the brain

chris had a word of knowledge but

somebody had a blow to the head

she’s right back there and she would

when she’d get up in the morning

sometimes she’d pass out and she’d be

unconscious for 30 days

30 days

she’s dying of this of this disease

and chris has this word of knowledge and

pray

here’s this moment god is healing brains

and what happens

she’s completely healed her mother looks

at her the next morning says you look

like you did before the accident

before the accident she then comes to

the school of ministry i think she’s in

oxford right now she’s in some

smart school because she’s a smartie

smarty

so the lord heals a young kid over here

he

had a head that was misshapen because of

abuse he was two years old i think he

was two

and it missed shape and he was very

disconnected he didn’t associate with

people he’d wake up in the morning he’s

very disconnected

and some of our students prayed for him

after this announcement god is healing

brains

and they pray for this child the next

morning the child comes into his mother

which is a miracle

comes into the mother and said i had a

dream

last night excuse me he was four so this

happened until the time he was two

he said i had a dream last night i’m

okay now

and they examined him and his head was

back to normal shape

god is healing brains

[Applause]

why don’t you stand

can you see yeah i’m not seeing much

can you hear i try sometimes i hear

can you remember can you remember

folks listen to me you have a

responsibility this is not a pastoral

issue

this is not a ministry team issue this

is a people of god issue

what have you seen god do here’s a great

news you may say i’ve hardly ever seen

anything happen

i mean my own testimony is a great

miracle but i’ve never seen healing or

deliverance or any of those things and

that’s you know that’s totally fine i

had a long season in my life where i’d

never seen anything

but there’s a verse in psalms 119 verse

111

and it makes this statement the

testimony of the lord is your

inheritance forever

think about it the testimony of the lord

is his uninheritance forever

what is the testimony of the lord it’s

the full record of anything he has ever

done

on planet earth he did it with moses

he did it with the elijah with david

with paul with whoever

it’s your it’s your story it’s your

testimony

no you didn’t get it the full record

of god’s activity with people is your

inheritance

why is that important why is that

important

because the scripture says they overcame

him

by the blood of the lamb there’s the

legal basis and the word of your

testimony

so now the word of my testimony is not

just what i have experienced in my life

but it includes what you’ve experienced

so i hear your story

that’s a part of my weaponry that’s a

part of the tools that i

use to ensure i walk in victory in this

present situation

so father i pray for a fresh fresh grace

that you would inspire us from the

inside out to treasure

the record the reports of the miracles

the interventions of god

that we’ve seen and that we’re about to

see that we would never treat them

carelessly or casually

but we could together again stand in all

and celebrate you for your kindness your

mercy

that would do such extraordinary things

with such simple simple people as we are

i ask this that the name of jesus would

be exalted

now before anyone else moves i’m going

to ask this

any time we’re in a room this size

there’s always a chance a crowd this

size there’s always a chance that there

are people here

that have never made a personal

commitment to the lord jesus christ

it means you turn from your way of life

to follow this one

who forgives us and truly gives us

eternal life starting now

and if there’s anybody in this room that

would just make that confession with me

to say bill

i don’t want to leave the building until

i know i have found peace with god that

i know what it is to be forgiven

by god if that’s you put a hand up real

quick right right where you are right

over here is one

beautiful there’s another one beautiful

right here

anybody else put your hand up real quick

there’s another one back over here

another one right there beautiful thank

you all

anyone else real quick

not over here’s another one right over

here’s another one come on

thank you all

bless the lord bless the lord anybody

else

anyway i saw the one over here unless

there’s another one all right here’s

what i’m going to ask

we’re going to pray together we’re going

to wrap this up and and i need to let

you all go

but i’m going to ask the ministry team

to come to the front and i want the

three or four people that put their

hands up

or any others that i may not have seen

come right over here we’ve got a team of

trusted people

that i want to pray with you because i

believe the greatest miracle

of your life is about to happen in these

next moments

so i’m going to ask as the ministry team

comes to the front please leave your

seat

come right down over here the folks who

have their hands up

they are their trusted friends to pray

with you to talk with you

church why don’t you bless them as they