Without discipline and humility, God’s blessing will breed entitlement. Bill Johnson teaches on the potential pitfalls that can come from mismanaging God’s blessings. Let’s learn how to steward the favor of God.
merry christmas happy new year
happy fr president’s day
whatever is next i i forgot but
glad you showed up happy birthday happy
birthday
it’s not mine for a while but how many
of you plan to have a birthday next year
sometime right good yeah that’s good
ever since i was a child i’ve had fear
of somebody under my bed
at night so i went to a shrink and told
him
so i said i got problems every time i go
to bed i think there’s somebody under it
i’m scared
i think i’m going crazy
psychiatrist responded just put yourself
in my hands for one year
come and talk to me three times a week
we should be able to get rid of those
fears
how much do you charge i asked 80 per
visit replied the doctor
i’ll sleep on it i said
six months later the doctor met me on
the street he asked why didn’t you come
to see me about those fears you were
having
i responded well 80 bucks a visit
three times a week for a year is over
twelve thousand dollars
my neighbor cured me for free i was so
happy to save all that money i went and
bought me a truck
is that so with an attitude how may i
ask did your neighbor cure you
he told me to cut the legs off my bed
ain’t nobody under there now
i think that’s funny
all right um
we’re gonna do a little bit of study out
of uh
the 14th chapter of acts if you want to
turn there
go ahead and we’re going to spend some
time and
i i was at cascade or cascade campus
this morning
thought i would actually make it through
the whole chapter but we got through
like nine verses so
i don’t have any greater ambition for
tonight so
we’ll we’ll see if we can do eight or
nine ten verses something like that
here i want to present a challenge to
you before we
actually uh begin to read out of acts
14.
we’ve got a problem we’ve got a problem
because the old testament promises
things like peace and blessing and
prosperity and health and wholeness and
family and successful business and
all that stuff is the result of obeying
the lord
the new testament jesus comes along and
he focuses on
not your income not your status but
going low
being generous uh giving
uh imparting to others serving others
and yet in romans
somewhere
i think it’s chapter 15 he says paul
says
the things that were written in earlier
times
were written for our instruction
it’s important because so many believers
discard the entire old testament
saying i’m no longer under the law
it’s a well-meaning statement but it’s
stupid really
because the old testament was written
for us
there’s a richness there’s a treasure
there there is
such a wealth of discovery that we
have the opportunity to enter into
and the challenge comes down to this and
it’s a way bigger subject than we have
time for tonight but
as we as we go through especially old
testament
in fact i’ll just say going through the
old testament we have to
learn to recognize the wisdom of what
ended at the cross what was
changed by the cross and what made it
through the cross
unchanged because all three realities
exist
in the old testament jesus the lamb of
god he died
in our place there is no longer a
need for the sacrifice of animals
there’s no longer the requirement
of the shedding of blood of your own
blood or animal blood
to atone for sin by the way
it never did atone for sin it just
postponed the penalty for a year
and never dealt with sin only the blood
of the spotless lamb of god jesus christ
himself
could atone and cover and wipe out the
power of sin
so the animal sacrifice ended at the
cross
jesus announced at the beginning of his
ministry he announced that
this is the favorable year of the lord
he mentions it in luke 4
he’s quoting isaiah chapter 60. and in
this chapter he’s making
an announcement that if i can put it in
old testament terms
this is the year of jubilee
he’s making an announcement that because
the spirit of god comes upon a person
they can be once and for all free and
that was jubilee
jubilee is free from debt free from
slavery free from
all these things uh property were
properties that were had been sold are
restored to original landowners to keep
the the heritage the family line in
place
all these things took place every 50
years
in the year of jubilee
but jesus comes along and he says
jubilee
is now every year
so the jubilee was
changed at the cross it was redefined
when we come to the subject of worship
what we enjoy
tonight with the exception of
amplification
is exactly what david was doing
several thousand years ago before the
ark of the covenant
giving himself in worship completely
he was the one who brought musical
instruments into the worship expression
he was the one who had continuous choirs
24 7 ministering to the lord ministering
to the audience of one
and that period of time excuse me that
that the process or the vehicle that was
used was called
the tabernacle of david it was actually
it was a tent
no description is given except god was
there and people came to worship
the priests came to minister to god so
we have animal sacrifices ending at the
cross
we have the year of jubilee being
changed at the cross
and we have davidic worship being
unchanged it continues
so the challenge is
what of old testament blessing prophetic
destiny that exists in the realm of
obedience
what of those things can we expect in
the new testament
i don’t know if this is puzzling to you
or not it’s a huge deal for me
because we continuously try to
encourage people to step into purpose
into destiny become everything god
intended
sometimes that include a title sometimes
it includes
uh increased finances sometimes it
includes
uh greater authority all those kinds of
things and yet i’m very hesitant because
i never want to make those things the
goal
i don’t i never want to say
you can measure your spirituality by
your wealth
that’s about as nauseating as anything
we could ever say
and yet there are times where a person’s
spirituality
is actually honored by the lord in the
area of finances
it cannot be denied jesus himself
said this in mark chapter 10
he was telling the disciples how hard it
is for a rich man to enter the kingdom
peter says we left everything to follow
you and jesus said that’s right
and i will add back into your life a
hundred times what you left
to follow me that just is bizarre to me
i don’t know what you do with that i’m
i’m tonight i’m gonna talk for my sake
you can hang out if you’d like
if you get done before i do just go home
how’s that
i’m i’m i’m in this process i’ve been in
it for years but i’m
i’m really pursuing this thing right now
in this season because i happen to be uh
writing a book on this subject
so it’s right at the forefront of my
thinking
so jesus says i will add back in your
life a hundred times
what you left and then he says with
persecution
my friend bob weiner calls that income
tax
[Laughter]
the more income the more tax the more
blessing the more breakthrough the more
opposition
and to think any other way is to be
unrealistic
it’s the opposition it’s the conflict
it’s the difficulty it’s the
it’s the challenges those are the things
that if i can put it frankly keep us
honest
the blessing of the lord breeds
entitlement
in the people of god if they don’t
remain humble
and practice discipline those two
elements
keep the blessing a positive element
as you look through israel’s history you
find
times where they came into great
extravagance solomon’s era
is maybe the best example they say
silver piled up on the streets
it was too common to bother counting
so what does that say about the
prosperity of a city of a nation
the blessing of the lord upon them in
this season was so extreme
that they didn’t bother counting what
was precious to them in other seasons
no excuse me sorry
not maintaining that sense of humility
and personal discipline
gets us into trouble it’s my personal
conviction
the lord would pour out blessing on
everybody in this room
greater than you have the intelligence
to ask for
but he is more concerned with my outcome
than he is how much i enjoy the journey
if i can
put it that way there’s probably a
better way to say that while that i
believe that all the way
100 let me say it differently
he’s more concerned about what i become
in here
than what i experience out here
jesus without question prioritizes
our inner world he speaks to the inner
world consistently in fact he says
the kingdom of god the kingdom of heaven
is within you
all kingdom issues are internal personal
issues they’re heartfelt issues
and so anytime we deal with kingdom
realities
we deal with it from the heart first
it’s why jesus would would come into a
situation and say
if you want to be exalted you have to
lower yourself
it would go opposite the the
common the common thinking of the day
which exists today
if you want to obtain you’ll have to
give
okay the list just goes on and on if you
want to live you have to die you know it
just gets confusing
and yet he’s he’s revealing to us the
nature of his world
so here he says now follow me and go low
put me first be generous give do all
these things
what happens when you look throughout
history at people who actually
lived like jesus taught
they become prosperous
it’s the result of reformation it’s the
result of
awakening it’s the result of renaissance
three terms
while they are not the same i’m starting
to use them interchangeably because they
are
ambitions and goals of mine for me to
see
affect the nations of the world in my
lifetime
and what you see in errors of
reformation is you see people
diligently disciplining themselves
following hard after the lord
doing everything he says putting him
first serving family loving one another
laying their lives now for the spreading
of the gospel and what happens
the lord increases the favor upon their
lives
one brilliant example is a is a
a personal favorite of mine a man named
hans nelson howard
from norway he lived back during i
believe
napoleon that era back in that day
and norway was a very very illiterate
country
is very very poor and he was truly a
revivalist
i actually call him a reformer because
he brought such transformation and
change he’s not a
common household name even in religious
circles that
study and talk about reform like uh
the the great reformation with martin
luther and
john calvin and all these guys here’s
another guy hidden away in norway
he was such a reformer in thought and
yet he was a burning revivalist he would
come for example
into a area and
people didn’t know who he was and he
would see them working in the field so
he would just join right in with them
and help them to harvest their crop and
when they would get done they would all
wonder who he is and they would
think talk among themselves saying well
this can’t be hens nelson helga because
he’s a revivalist and he would want to
preach but he’s here helping us
gather in the harvest and there he was
working together in the harvest
and after they completed their day’s
work he would announce
tonight such and such a place we will
have a meeting and then he would preach
this
fiery message and people would be
transformed and changed but he
he knew the priority of healthy business
he knew the
he knew he knew the reason for healthy
family
it wasn’t just all about the goosebumps
and the raised hands and the
and and the healing as much as i like
all of that stuff
it has to somehow translate in how we do
life
that is victorious and illustrates how
to reign
in life every person was designed to
reign in life
reigning in life is a biblical term it’s
an it’s in romans 5.
reigning a life is a biblical term it
does not mean to reign over people
it means to reign in life it means money
doesn’t control me i control money
i control the resources put into my life
to invest
for eternal purposes and and and i want
to teach on that again
um uh hopefully sometime soon
so here’s this guy hans nelson how good
he uh he he understood things that
are rarely understood uh he he knew how
to
uh how to you know really ignite revival
in the hearts of people
great movement but on the side he would
also start businesses
he would go into a city and a massive
revival would come and he would start
businesses
and then before he left he would turn
them over to the young people
and they would start to prosper he would
write illiteracy was extremely high
in norway at the time and uh and he was
an
author he was a writer and he wanted
people to read his books so he
started training people teaching people
how to read
well pretty soon you know he’s got a
couple hundred thousand books
in print and in that day was
unbelievable
and people are reading his books
studying his books
excuse me in a second here
all right i’m back come out come out
he wanted people to read books so he
started this program to teach people how
to read
well guess what happened when it was
time
for norway to elect
officials to run their country
they elected the most educated who were
the most educated
his disciples
so what happened through revival
prosperity through business
and they were promoted into places of
rule but i remind you in the kingdom
ruling means to serve and anytime we
mix that up we will abuse the position
that god has given us
every every position of authority and
and i mean every position whether
i’m president of a country i’m the ceo
of a corporation
i’m the dad of my household i’m the
pastor of a church
doesn’t matter any place of authority
those positions of authority are always
for two basic
reasons number one is to provide
protection
and number 2 is to empower the bible
uses
different terms to describe that
empowering but that’s basically it peter
talks about
protection and giving praising those who
do right
so it’s basically empowering those who
do right
so what do we have here we have
protection and we have empowered
so let’s break it down this way we rule
to protect
we serve to empower it’s ruling and
service it’s always
those two realms and in this
in this um conversation
there is the compelling evidence
throughout history
that those who obey the lord and seek
him first and
live wisely they become promoted
to places of great influence i don’t
know if
if you see the dance i’m trying to do
here but i
i i i react a little bit internally
to those who always want the christians
to be in charge of stuff
it makes me nervous we’re not good in
charge of stuff we’re we’re better
servants
and i would just soon see us serve well
and if i serve well
and that gets me promoted great but just
don’t let me forget i’ve got to continue
to serve well
and if i can keep that combination going
i’m happy with promotion
but for me promotion has never been
about
size or title or position
all right i that’s the longest
introduction
in church history right there yeah it’s
probably not but
anyway
so i’ve already presented to you some of
the
some of the challenge let me read a
couple verses to you
i’m just going to give you reference and
read it and
you do with what you want in job
chapter 1 is this interesting verse
his children would would have parties
together
and it doesn’t say there were immoral
parties it doesn’t say there was
anything wrong whatsoever in the party
they would just have a family
celebrations together in each other’s
homes
they would celebrate their birthdays
they would celebrate special events
and here’s what it says so when the days
of feasting had run their course
job would send and sanctify them
he would rise early in the morning and
offer burnt offerings
according to the number of them all for
job said
it may be that my sons have sinned
and cursed god in their hearts
thus job did regularly
there’s no record of them ever sinning
what is he doing
here’s the deal he knows that
blessing without humility and discipline
will create an entitlement that will
eventually separate them from god
and yet it’s the father who wants to
bless
do you see the the the conflict it’s the
father
who wants to pour out the blessing
i i hear people say that the lord has
intended for us to live with
persecution and conflict no he uses it
but he doesn’t he didn’t design that
in first timothy two he he gives a very
specific way to do life
in his conclusion was that you may live
a peaceful life
and that all may be saved so what he’s
basically saying
is that when you came come into a place
of
let me use the another term
interchangeably here
when you come into that place where the
peace of god has so saturated your life
that you
actually are reigning in life reigning
over your thought life
you’re not imprisoned by being offended
by somebody you
uh you’re not you’re not controlled by
greed and
and these kinds of things you you
actually are reigning in life when that
peace
has put you into place of such a place
of security
and stability that you are reigning in
life
that is an invitation for people to come
to know the same jesus
because everybody was born for that kind
of significance
everyone was designed for that kind of
personal breakthrough
everybody wants it
everybody wants to improve their life
it’s a god-given desire
it’s not selfish in and of itself
it’s not evil in and of itself
i remember years ago i was i was in uh
africa
and and i i brought her i was as when i
pastored in weaverville
and i brought a good friend with me and
and
sorry
all right it’s out all right i brought a
good friend with me and he wanted to
give something to
children in the villages and then he
showed me at these
pencils bright pink pencils
and i’ll be honest i thought
that’s a dumb gift
come on if you’re going to give a gift
let’s you know
let’s do something significant but he he
thought that was the thing to do
and i remember we drove into this
village and we got out talked i don’t
remember
why we were there but we were we were
there and and we got untalked and
there was a couple teenage girls uh in
the right by the car
and he gave them two bright
pink pencils as we drove away
i turned around and looked and they are
jumping
up and down with joy absolutely ecstatic
and
overjoyed that their life was just
improved
by a pencil everybody has it in their
life in their heart
to improve their life everyone
it actually works against the nature god
gave us
to see improvement and increase
if i can push it a little bit farther
when jesus gave the
parable of the minor and the talents
in both cases the person
who suffered discipline was the person
who did nothing with what they were
given let me rephrase it
both times the landowner the master
representing the lord anticipated
that they would bring increase with what
they were given
you are designed your your musical
ability
your ability to lead your ability to
have compassion
your ability maybe it’s a skill that you
have of writing or
or analyzing things uh maybe a
strategist
you have this ability to put strategy
together whatever it is
that you were designed to do that
ability was given to you to bring
increase into the kingdom to bring
increase yes of souls but not just that
the development of life together because
your gift makes up for my weakness
and together we make advancement and the
lord is looking
to have a body of people that
continuously
advance in their ability to communicate
the gospel
well to in to bring the influence of
change and transformation
into society
that’s probably i i have i had more but
i’m
stopping right there and we’re going to
go into acts 14 because
you’ll just get too depressed and you
won’t keep your bibles open anymore
and some of you already closed it
because you just got exhausted holding
it open so
all right let’s just go right to acts
chapter 14.
i actually was going to take you into
some other portions of scripture but i i
think
i hope hopefully i’ve made my point
acts 14 acts 14 is a very fascinating
chapter
it’s one of those chapters that could
actually stand on its own
it’s it’s a complete representation
in many ways of life in the kingdom
it has great triumph great victory great
impact great opposition great difficulty
great it has everything all in one
chapter
and uh so we’ll we’ll take about nine
ten verses and let’s see how we do
at least that’s my goal we’ll see how we
do verse 1.
now it happened in iconium that they
went together to the synagogue of the
jews
and so spoke that a great multitude both
of jews
and of greeks believed but the
unbelieving jews
stirred up the gentiles and poisoned
their minds i think
new american standards has embittered
their minds
poison their minds against the brethren
let’s read those two verses again it
happened in iconium
they went together to the synagogue of
the jews they spoke that a great
multitude
of jews and greeks were converted they
believed
but the unbelieving jews stirred up the
gentiles
and poisoned their minds against the
brethren
this is um
this is what i i believe paul prayed for
deliverance from when he prayed for
god to deliver him from that thorn uh in
the flesh
it doesn’t there’s no reason to believe
it was actually a physical illness of
any kind
jesus had a tone for that he had taken
care of that uh at the cross
what paul had going against him was
every time he would travel somewhere
there was this band
of jews that would go there and poison
the hearts and minds
of the citizens of that area so that
they would rise up
in persecution against paul
they went everywhere the more pronounced
you become
in your testimony of the gospel the more
bold you become in your witness of the
gospel
the more you overtly pursue
the outward display of the gospel
through conversion
deliverance and healing the more you
will
incite opposition to your life
you can’t avoid it there’s this
whole desire to
you know to be loved and accepted by
everyone
there’s a measure of wisdom in that we
want to we want to make sure that we
present the gospel
in wisdom in kindness in tenderness real
compassion for people
there’s no question this is this is our
heart this is our call our mandate
but many people have stripped the gospel
of its
power because of their intent to be well
loved
the the priority is favor with god and
in the favor with god let me get favor
with man
once i reverse that i lose both
paul had a group of people that followed
him around
just bringing opposition
and there are those who believe they are
serving god by opposing you
now here’s the deal this is what i have
to tell myself
jesus experienced that opposition
a million times more than any of us and
he was perfect
how could me who is far
less than perfect expect to confess his
name and not have opposition
it’s unreasonable
i don’t like persecution i don’t like
opposition i don’t like the stuff that
we sometimes go through i don’t like the
slander especially
the lies
but when jesus spoke to peter and the
guys
who said we left everything to follow
you he said i’m going to pour back in
your life 100 times what you left
with persecution what’s the point
the the measure i want to pour blessing
upon you
you don’t have the strength to handle
without
the reminder of humility the need for
humility
and absolute trust and dependency that
is the outcome of being opposed
pretty good news isn’t it
and you know none of us are that good i
mean none of us
have it all that together to be able to
handle
constant blessing without difficulty
people come to me and they say the devil
just doesn’t like me and i
you don’t like anybody no don’t take it
personal
it’s just you remind them of jesus just
you know adjust
i never want to glamorize opposition i
never
i don’t make it an issue in our even in
our private conversations
we we will try to find wisdom to answer
a challenge
but but we don’t you know we just don’t
we don’t talk about that stuff it’s not
worthy
of my attention but it’s it’s reality
it’s reality it’s it’s what happens in
any person’s life that’s going to take a
stand for jesus
it’s just simply going to happen here’s
the challenge
the new american standard says and it’s
a in this case it’s a more accurate term
um the gentiles the jews poisoned the
gentiles mind
new american standards says embittered
the word embittered means to make bitter
here’s the challenging part
hebrews 12 says it has this phrase
it says look king carefully listen
anyone falls short of the grace of god
verse 15. listen to this phrase lest any
root of bitterness spring up
and cause trouble and by it many become
defiled
what is that what is the story there
what’s the narrative it’s that
bitterness in a person will defile those
around them
unless they are alert to what’s going on
it will excuse me it will defile it will
bring
contamination of hearts and minds here’s
one of the biggest challenges
in ministry i’ve brought this to you
before but let me do it again tonight
one of the biggest challenges in
ministry
is to give yourself to a people group to
an assignment
and do so without picking up the
offenses of the people
you are serving can you minister
to children without being offended at
the adults that don’t prioritize
children
can you minister to adults without being
offended
at young people that have that show no
respect for adults
can you serve the poor without being
offended at the rich
can you serve the rich without being
offended at those who won’t work
can you minister to one race without
being offended at another race
this is this is challenging because what
i’ve watched for years as i watch people
give themself in ministry and to
demonstrate
that they have a heart for the people
they’re serving they
ignorantly pick up their offenses and
consider that their partnership with
that individual
bitterness is contaminating in nature
and the i think one of the things that
keeps us
from having the measure of cultural
impact that god’s assigned for us
is the the challenge the difficulty the
sometimes
inability to wade into deep and dark
places
and serve well without getting
contaminated ourselves
i i promise to end happier
you you look
constipated is the word that comes to
mind but
that’s probably the wrong word
listen to this verse
the fact that you guys show up every
week is just signs of
you practice forgiveness and all that
all right listen to this
this is out of james he says if you have
bitter envy
or self-seeking in your heart
self-promotion
do not boast and lie against the truth
listen to this phrase this this ah
if you have bitterness self-seeking in
your heart don’t lie against the truth
this wisdom
what wisdom bitterness and
self-promotion
this wisdom does not descend from above
but it’s earthly sensual and demonic
what did he just say
bitterness is appealing because it’s
reasonable
it masquerades as wisdom he says james
writes in chapter four he says
this wisdom is not from above
it’s natural sensual and demonic so the
appeal
of bitterness of offense is is
reasonable what i mean by that
if you have if you carry a fence i’m
sure everybody’s experienced this
you carry a fence in your heart towards
somebody you
attract information to reinforce the
offense
you will attract people into your life
that think like you do about that
individual and they will reinforce
that you are right and and the
the difficult part is is it is
emphasizing your discernment
and takes what is evil and demonic and
turns it into a spiritual gift
staying clean in attitude
is everything everything
proverbs 4 verse 23 watch over your
heart it’s been a life verse for me for
40 some years
watch over your heart with all diligence
because from it flow the
issues of life the issues of life flow
from this place
that i’m to watch over the slightest
offense
the slightest irritation has to be
quickly dealt with
i i i’ve had several times just this
week where
a thought comes to mind about an
individual innocent
thought that i accept and dwell on
and i find after about three or four
minutes roots are starting to set
themselves down
because that thought that started
innocently
turned into a reaction of offense
and what happens is the roots
settle into our the longer you dwell and
think about an offense
something that was wrong the deeper the
roots go until they eventually affect
our personality
they actually shape the way we think and
perceive reality
that’s why the bible says don’t let the
sun go down on your
anger on your wrath don’t go to bed mad
deal with it before them because if you
go to sleep that thing will foul and
fester
and you have an infection deeply rooted
in your heart
that you no longer are even aware of
that’s where people go through traumatic
experiences sometimes with the lord just
getting free from things they’ve carried
for years
that they never knew they never knew
that they just squashed it down
and just hit it made up spiritual you
know
quicky answers for something that was
really poisoning their hearts
so paul would go in and preach the
gospel in this area have tremendous
impact masses uh great numbers of people
would believe
and then the jews from this other city
would come and it’s interesting the jews
which would come to the gentiles and
poison their minds
because that was paul’s primary goal he
would always minister to the jew
but he was outwardly called by god
to bring the gospel to the gentiles
and they would take their own bitterness
and spend time with the gentiles
until they caught the same disease
scripture says to mark a factious person
a divisive person
it’s just wisdom to recognize
who affects you negatively who affects
you positively
and i i i’m not saying you know you have
a loved one a relative that is
uh really is steeped in bitterness or
whatever
i’m i’m not saying you don’t spend time
with them they’re your relative you’re
you’re
whatever i’m just saying be aware
be aware go in
recognizing that there’s a problem
changing the subject a little bit and
then i’ll
actually i don’t know if this chapter
gets any happier i think we’re pretty
much stuck i
i think i’m kind of in your face tonight
we’re going to have to end it that way
i’m pretty sure
i don’t i don’t think it improves
at the end of chapter 22 of proverbs
is this uh statement that a person
of excellence will stand before kings
so that’s the last verse of 22 the first
verse of 23
says when you stand before kings
put a knife to your throat if you’re a
person of great appetite
so here’s the deal my lifestyle of
excellence has brought me into promotion
where i am now influencing a
circle in society of people
i have no logical access to but his
promotion put me there
now he says put a knife to your throat
what is he saying
if you recognize that you have a bent
it’s an
it’s an appetite that you have to
accumulate
stuff
when you get in that environment go in
there with self-imposed restriction
knowing that it’s a problem so that it
doesn’t become a problem because if
if i get into the presence of the king
and i start wanting his stuff
what will happen is i will exchange my
favor for influence for
the opportunity to obtain possessions
you can’t you can’t have both not in
that environment
the the point i’m trying to address is
recognize
your own personal bent if if you are
easily offended
just be honest i i get so defensive
i get so defensive just be honest that
when you’re around this person
and they bring up this subject it dials
you up it doesn’t mean move to the other
side of the planet
it just means put some big boy pants on
get into that relationship put a knife
to your throat
if you realize you have a bent towards
this kind of behavior
go in knowing ahead of time if i’m with
this person
i tend to pick up their offenses you
just go in you’re talking with them
you change the subject you try to bring
something more positive more edifying
you do whatever you can but you go in
with a knife to your throat so to speak
you go in with self-imposed restriction
because you know
they are carrying something that could
bring a destructive influence on your
life
all right let’s move on
verse three we have not gotten very far
we’ve got poison brains in verse two
verse three therefore they stayed there
a long time let’s read verse two again
unbelieving jews stirred up the gentiles
poisoned their minds against the
brethren
therefore they stayed there a long time
is that a great verse or what
we are we are under intense opposition
so i think we’re going to move from a
hotel room and buy an apartment
in other words we’re going to go from
being visitors to residents because
we’re setting down roots
many people discern the will of god by
the opposition they have the more
opposition
the more they’re convinced that’s not
the will of god
not you but i’ve heard of people doing
this
and they should never do that again
therefore they stayed there a long time
speaking boldly in the lord
who was bearing witness to the word of
his grace granting
signs and wonders be done by their hands
stop right there
are you reading this in your bibles do
you see it
they stayed there a long time doing what
speaking boldly
and in response to the bullets you got
to get this connection
in response to the people of god’s
boldness
and proclaiming the gospel the hand of
the lord was released
to perform signs and wonders through
their
their hands
a lot of people wait for god to show up
so they can be bold
the scripture gives overwhelming
testimony
that god shows up when he finds a bold
person
mark chapter 16 exact same story
the bold proclamation of the gospel
brought the hand of the lord to display
miracles
peter and john were imprisoned in jail
for
preaching the gospel when they were
released they went to a prayer meeting
and peter prayed this prayer god says
take note of their threats
they had just been threatened by the
religious leaders
god take note of their threats and grant
that your bond servants could speak your
word with
all boldness while you extend your hand
to heal
and signs and wonders take place through
the name of your holy servant jesus
what’s the point boldness creates the
target
for the power of god to strike
i did that much quicker than the last
two verses that’s for sure
verse 4 the multitude of the city was
divided part sighted with the jews part
with the apostles
when a violent attempt was made by the
gentiles and jews
with their rulers to abuse and stone
them they became
aware of it and fled to lystra derby the
city of laconia
to the surrounding region all right
here’s here’s the deal
[Music]
jesus there were
times where the people wanted to make
him king
but he would avoid their promotion
because it wasn’t from the father
he knew it was in hearts of men so in
one moment you have them wanting him to
be king
it also says there was a time where they
wanted to kill him
push him off a cliff
and so he avoided premature death
avoiding premature promotion is as
important as avoiding premature death
premature promotion is like having
a baby born that has been in the womb
for five months it can live
thankfully our medical care
today is extraordinary and those
children can live
but they require a lot of extra care
and things that come into our lives
prematurely
drain us of energy resource and
attention
just to keep them alive
the scripture says the lord when the
lord makes rich
and i’m gonna use rich now as promotion
not just dollars the lord makes rich
he adds no sorrow to it
the promotion comes without regret
it’s just pure promotion that’s healthy
and enjoyable
all right uh we we should probably end
this
let’s find a place let’s go to verse
eight
uh in lystra there was a man without
strength in his feet
he was sitting crippled from his
mother’s womb it never walked
this man heard paul speaking i have that
phrase this man hurt
his faith comes by hearing things have
to be declared
many people in this room are one
declaration short of a breakthrough
this man heard paul speaking listen to
the sequence here
paul observing him intently
seeing that he had faith to be healed
said with a loud voice stand up straight
on your feet
and he leaped and walked what did paul
do in that verse
he illustrated what was back in verse 3.
god granting signs and wonders to be
done in response to their bold faith
what does paul do in this situation he’s
preaching the gospel
and he looks at this man who’s been lame
from birth
and he sees faith
now i’ve heard expressions of faith that
didn’t end up to be faith
i’m not opposed to it i think we need to
we need to guard our speech
and and make sure that we that we speak
positive things and
encouraging things and faith-filled
things i’m i’m all over that
but i i can’t tell you how many times
i’ve had people come to me and say
you know i believe i’m supposed to be
healed today and i will
pray my best and we’ll go after it
together i will partner with them in
their faith
it doesn’t always turn out that way but
there was one time
i actually i think i spoke about this
couple weeks ago there was one
moment where this lady came up to me i
was in nashville we
had people all over the front we were
praying for a lot of healing going on a
lot of stuff happening
and this lady walked up to me and she
said i believe that tonight is my night
to be healed
now it’s hard for me to describe what
happened
because i felt i had never felt this
before
when she walked up to me and said those
words
i felt the presence of faith
i don’t know how to describe this i felt
the presence of faith i
i literally did this she said those
words
and i stepped back one or two steps and
i looked from the top of her head
to the sole of her feet back to the top
of her head what was i doing
i wanted every cell
in my body to be awakened
to what faith looked like
it impacted me deeply i i it’s years ago
and i talked about to this day
it impacted me so deeply i stood back
and i just stared at it i’m sure it
would look
odd in in that context just to stare at
somebody
but i looked her because i wanted every
part of me to become awakened
to this thing called faith why because
the bible says it’s impossible to please
god
without that thing i just saw
so i want to know what that thing is and
i want to know how to get more of that
functioning inside of me and and that’s
the lesson that’s the journey that we
are on
is to live a life of of
actual faith faith doesn’t mean you have
nothing uh let me just insert here
i i see people all the time that have
nothing in a material sense but they’re
not in a place of great faith
and i have other friends that they’re
not in a place of great trust
in god and i have other friends that
would qualify in the billionaire status
billionaire with a b and they live with
absolute confidence and trust in god and
do only what he directs them to do
the point i’m trying to make is is that
being without
so many people think being without
illustrates faith
no being without just means you’re in
need and you hope that somebody who has
something will help you
and calling that faith doesn’t make it
faith
i could say it better than i did but i
don’t want to take any more time so
let’s move on
he saw that the man had faith now we
know that jesus
i’m going to end here so we’ll find a
landing place
jesus only said what he heard his father
say
right he only did what he saw his father
do
so there was this incredible connection
that jesus had with the father to know
what to do
so here’s this moment
jesus has been sent by the father to
minister to the jew
first and in the rejection
by the jew the gospel then was to be
given to the gentiles
as well it was an important
part of the process and so the father
sends jesus and jesus turns to his
disciples and he says don’t minister to
the gentiles only the jews
so now he’s in this conversation with a
sovereign
syrophoenician woman who is not a jew
she’s a syrophoenicial woman she says
i’ve got a daughter
who’s demonized tormented needs to be
healed needs to be
delivered and jesus says
i can’t give the children’s bread to
dogs
the children’s bread is healing the
children are jews
i can’t take the meal that i’m supposed
to offer to this group
and give it to you if i can add it
wasn’t the moment that was coming
after the rejection but this moment is a
jew moment
all right so jesus is there he says i
can’t give the children’s bread
to dogs churches have split over
less than that
and that’s a fact i can’t give the
children’s bread to dogs so what does
what does a woman say the woman says
but the dogs get the crumbs from the
table what did she do
she answered intelligently
faith is divine intelligence
real faith is not this i’m ignorant
about everything
she saw something in a moment of how the
kingdom worked
and when she gave an intelligent answer
jesus healed her
but he only did what he saw the father
do i would like to suggest to you
i can’t prove this it’s only it’s only
an opinion
i’d like to suggest that jesus looked at
the woman
and never heard from the father what to
do
but when he saw faith in her response
he knew she could have only gotten that
from the father
so he knew what to do so here’s the deal
i not only want to recognize faith
functioning in me
i want to see it in other people i want
to know when i’m
face to face with faith for that miracle
because in this moment paul is preaching
to a crowd
but he sees a layman and he looks and he
keeps catching this guy’s eye
and he looks intently at him and he
stares at the guy
and he’s in it his heart he’s going and
there’s faith in there
and so he he he launches the word you
know he stands back and makes this
bold loud voice decree stand up and walk
and the guy stands up he leaps and he
walks he’s completely set free
what happened god say said amen
to the bold confession of faith
if i could take this just an inch
further
and this is where we will end my second
ending and i’m allowed three before it’s
a lie
is the scripture says we’re to know one
another after the spirit
the scripture talks about the discerning
of spirits
now i grew up thinking the discerning of
spirits was the ability to recognize a
demon in somebody
it includes that but that’s not what it
says
discerning of spirits is actually
discerning the spiritual
and there’s this responsibility that we
have to actually
learn to recognize one another according
to how the holy spirit
rests upon their on each other’s lives
how else can we beat this thing that has
crippled the church forever and it’s
called
a prophet is not without honor except in
his hometown
how can we receive from family
is when our honor for family exceeds our
familiarity
why don’t you stand we’ll just end right
there we just landed that plane in the
side of a mountain
but it but nobody was killed just
injured just
i don’t even know how long i went i have
a feeling i went long but
you know well you just didn’t get any
options you know
i know enough about church history to
know there’s not been very many seasons
where the people of god can actually be
blessed for very long
blessing brings entitlement in one
generation
complacency in the next
unless there’s humility and discipline
and i look at what we’re facing today
the lord has
called us to do more than survive
a very secular society and culture
he’s called us to disciple nations
i don’t think it’s possible to complete
that assignment to do it well
unless we know how to manage and steward
our lives
in the midst of abundance and lack
i use the word lack as well because paul
in
in philippians 4 said i know how to
abound and i know how to be a based
he says i can do all things which is
abounding
and lacking i can do all things to
christ who strengthens me
i ins we instinctively know we need to
pray good when we’re lacking
we don’t instinctively know we need to
pray even harder when we’re in abundance
and that minor little detail is
i believe key for bringing the kind of
impact
on a culture that the lord wants us to
have
not as know-it-alls not as people who
have arrived but just people who love
jesus
and want to serve well so let’s pray
father
i give you thanks for the privilege of
being together
and you give us so much hope you give us
so much promise
the assignment you’ve given us is is
just greater than
anything any of us could have ever
earned and so we just say thank you
thanks for just letting us be involved
thanks for letting us be on the team
thanks for letting us play
but i asked tonight that you’d impart
a real refined grace of focus on looking
intently
on this that you’ve placed before us
that we could
put a knife to our throat when it’s
needed
that that restriction that restraint
that actually causes us to lose
influence
we just want to love you well and
represent you well
i ask all of this in jesus name amen
amen
all right