The Cross is the Only Solution for Sin – Bill Johnson | Rediscover Bethel

ABOUT BETHEL CHURCH Bethel Church in Redding, CA, is a congregation rooted in the love of God and dedicated to worldwide transformation through revival. It’s our goal for God’s love to be manifest in signs, wonders, and miracles. The atmosphere at Bethel is charged with faith and exuberant joy, which manifests in all we do. We believe we’re on the edge of the greatest revival of all time. It’s our vision to see history become His-story as the kingdom of this world becomes the kingdom of our God. We welcome you to join us in this adventure!

we’ve intentionally i’ve intentionally

not made our sunday morning gathering an

evangelistic

meeting

i’m not saying it’s wrong to do it we’ve

just taken what i felt was from the lord

many years ago i learned through my dad

that it’s a the community is together

it’s a time to teach it’s a time to

impart it’s a time to encourage and

inspire

[Music]

what do you think uh about the cross the

the centrality of the cross um the

necessity of salvation

um

what do you want to make sure that you

people know because there’s some

misinformation you know as far as we

undervalue it or we don’t value it or

these sorts of things like

what are you carrying as far as the

sacrifice of jesus on the cross

there was no other solution

for sin if if you know i hear people say

there’s many ways to god if there are

many ways to god then god was cruel in

requiring jesus to go through what he

went through it’s just the most brutal

thing the spotless lamb he lived with

all the temptations that we face yet

without sin

he was the sinless spotless lamb it’s

the only possible solution for the sin

issue in our life

is that jesus became a man

died

in my place

so that i could live with him

sometimes we’ll put it

he died as a man so we could live as

sons and daughters of god

and that’s uh that’s what happened and

there’s no other solution the eternal

son of god laid down his life

and the cross is central

to everything in the gospel without it

we have nothing

without it we have nothing but with it

we have resurrection life which is the

demonstration of our life in christ

and uh so it’s it’s that you can’t

separate the two it’s the one-two punch

the centrality of the cross

but it takes you to a resurrection

where the demonstration of who jesus is

right now is seen in and through the

life of a believer we must be born again

there is no other way yeah there’s no

other way

and so you

you and i have both experienced times in

our life when we felt like this is it

we’ve given our life to the lord

and when we when i leave somebody lord

i’m i’m like forgive my sins

i believe you are who you said you are

and have accomplished what you said

you’ve accomplished

and um i’m confessing you as my lord and

my savior i mean so

when we became christians i mean that

was my experience as far as the

i don’t know the classic confession sure

of who jesus is and who i am

and my connection to him was that your

experience as well oh yeah yeah

yeah in fact but it was a longer

confession

yeah

it was oh god you know yeah because

because you have to

you have to come face to face with your

lost condition

you know i’m not waltzing into the

kingdom thinking i’m going to get rich

and famous i i am lost and i am in need

of a savior

and uh and in that in that place you

just pray better

you play with you pray with absolute

abandonment because you know

it’s not a life filled with option

there’s only one this is the

one solution for sin

is that his atoning blood would cover me

completely

and not only

wipe away the record of sin

but change the nature of the sinner

he not only removed the the sin itself

the penalty of sin

but he in his resurrection he gave me

life

he

gave me a life he gave me his life born

again i’m yeah i’m alive in christ and

that’s that’s the

indescribable gift of salvation

is that the holy spirit would come

and live who jesus is in and through us

yeah and that’s that’s the great

privilege of our life he’s the seal of

our salvation and yeah and the spirit of

adoption by which we cry out you you’re

my my father your abba father

i think partly with that we talk about

the cross too

it’s for me it’s um

the cross when you it’s a symbol right

it’s because it’s also it’s an

instrument of execution that the romans

used

brutal suffocating

uh days long generally and so like we

say the cross like we’re not saying i

affirm i love execution by the state in

the most brutal manner possible that’s

like a symbol that we’re we’re saying i

i have put my allegiance towards so

what’s the cross represent

and for me it’s you know it’s it’s the

self-giving love of god right he says i

will cross

any hurdle yeah to get to you and bring

you home

and so we’re talking about what what are

we like i’m falling i’m embracing the

cross i’m like i’m embracing self-giving

love

i’m embracing this manifestation of the

self-giving love of god

and and and saying that’s the only by

grace i’m saved by i’ve done nothing to

deserve it uh

but he has lavished this grace on me and

so

sometimes we talk about the cross it’s

it’s only like uh well it i don’t know

it’s it’s either suffering or

self-denial

uh

or a high sin consciousness i’m like

those are components absolutely yeah but

there is this message of self-giving

love that i think all this animal

sacrifices were like pointing to like

trying to make us wise for salvation

like this is not the same the way you’re

sacrificing to me is not what the

nations are doing

i don’t need your food your clothing

your shelter i’m trying to teach your

soul to be ready to see what i’m doing

exactly on the cross

and uh to be to realize that’s that is

the grace that i need to enter into yeah

so that’s exactly right

it’s the it’s the beauty of the ugliest

thing ever

yeah it’s the cross yep yeah

and and so when i think sometimes like

uh we

we never want to downplay that or not

talk about it we talked about how at

eucharist and taking communion we we

again are face to face with you know

regularly and in our lives

with you were broken that i might be

whole yeah um

um and so this is we make sure that in

the rhythm of our our time as a

community with communion that we are we

are in touch with his self-giving love

yeah his his painful sacrifice for us

and then also in our worship songs we

sing the cross and

we sing salvation over ourselves and

make declaration and so

um a huge part

for me as an insider the gospel’s

everywhere and everything we do

and so and sometimes where’s the gospel

with you guys like oh if you’re thinking

altar calls like okay we could do more

of those

but if you’re like uh where’s the gospel

i’m like it’s in it’s in our it’s in the

fabric of my life for 50 years it’s been

in the fabric of your life

you know for that long and uh in our

community

we’ve intentionally i’ve intentionally

not made our sunday morning gathering in

evangelistic

meeting

i’m not saying it’s wrong to do it we’ve

just taken what i felt was from the lord

many years ago i learned through my dad

that it’s a the community is together

it’s a time to teach it’s a time to

impart it’s a time to encourage and

inspire and yes bring people to jesus

you know and uh as you know of late in

the last probably year

i don’t know that we’ve missed very many

meetings without giving an altar call

because it’s because i’m realizing

you know we have a broader and broader

uh group of people that will gather with

us at any given time and we really have

to give people a chance to come to jesus

but i you know we’ve had it happen i

i’ve we’ve been you know in worship and

i’ll have somebody come up and tap me on

the shoulder and say uh are you gonna

have people uh get right with god are

they gonna meet jesus today because i

have a friend who’s ready to do it right

now you know and so

okay we’ll take care of that right now

and and you know what we’ve seen is that

you can teach on family life and people

can get saved you know you can teach on

tithing and p you know it’s the

strangest thing but i’ve watched it

through the years

where any time you you talk about the

kingdom the lord is able to customize

what people hear and make them aware of

their need for god that doesn’t excuse

us from presenting the gospel right but

he is just he’s just big enough

broad enough in his reach that he can

use the most unusual things to bring

people to christ and we will have

of course our people we train them to do

it and so oftentimes they will be the

one that leads their neighbor to christ

and then they will bring them to church

or their work partner or whatever it

might be

and so we try to incorporate all that in

our evangelistic thrust yeah and and i

want to get back to holiness because i

think sometimes the the church is

powerfully uses the cross and the

sacrificial love of jesus to call people

to holiness so sometimes

that’s a component that you know we we

also embrace as well

um

uh but maybe we don’t do it exactly the

same way you know with the cross

actually since we’re there let’s just

let’s just go with that

the um

we talk about how

we have a new identity in the lord that

our we’ve been we’re new creations uh

that are

our normals to actually want to please

the lord and um so we we don’t quite use

the cross to like

point to people’s sin

as maybe as regularly as part of the

church does or does that feel true to

you or or that’s probably

it’s probably true i wouldn’t have

thought of it that way but

you know that’s probably true

my approach is going to be

you know

grace

if if grace doesn’t lead you to

righteous living it’s not grace

if grace doesn’t lead you to holiness

session titus grace teaches us

righteousness yeah great great real

grace empowers holy living

grace doesn’t excuse me to do whatever i

want and then call it grace

and so we we do have a pretty hard line

on that approach

you know because there are so many that

will excuse their sin saying well you

know i’m seen as righteous so i can do

whatever i want

you know that’s that’s just dumb yeah

that’s just dumb it’s it’s just careless

theology it’s careless approach to this

one that we are supposed to walk with in

tenderness and love

so uh

i don’t remember using the cross in that

manner to provoke people to holy living

but i can i can see where it has been

used that way

i would use more the expectation of a

father

you know what he looks for from you and

what he’s what he’s enabled you to do

what he’s equipped you do he gave you

the holy spirit the down payment yeah

the seal of your salvation so that you

can become like jesus yeah you know what

are you doing with what he gave you yeah

he’s been he’s sanctified us he’s a

there’s a status he confers on us and

then a

grace he gives us to walk through this

process and yeah sometimes we’ll talk

about this idea of sanctification of

continuing in holiness

um

as as like a a wedding because you don’t

quite feel like a married man like on

your wedding day you know the status

conferred on you boom and then you got

to live it’s good that’s good

what does it mean to be a married man or

married woman the rest of your days and

you’re on this journey of what does

covenant love look like and and how do i

manifest covenant lots of greatness this

happens on a day and then you’ll spend

60 years doing it yeah yeah great

example yeah

one of the other things is that we often

our church is unique in the sense that

we’re open like six days a week there’s

something happening oh boy uh you know

maybe maybe closer to seven seven so

we’re in tons of meetings and like with

our school of ministry students we we

don’t have you know those folks who come

into the school ministry they they’ve

they’ve done an application

they’ve confessed their faith in jesus

christ they’ve given us their testimony

and so when we’re in our school of

ministry we don’t do a lot of altar

calls or

focus on salvation because

we’re super confident those folks have

come to know jesus

generally i know i know early on though

we will do a couple of things just to

kind of see because we have had some

people come to the school

kind of lie on their app which you know

they don’t want to slip through the

cracks yeah and then they go i thought i

was saved or i kind of was you know on

the fence but now you know so we do at

the school kind of invite folks early on

but generally we’ve got you know a

thousand people in the room who are

ready and hungry to follow jesus

and who are laying aside sin they’ve

sacrificed to be there and so we’re

we’re just trying to like coach them up

exactly exactly i would only

i would only give an altar call in that

setting for salvation

through

the holy spirit prompted me that there’s

somebody in the room that needs to be

jesus so it’s not going to be my default

that’s not the place where the places

for teaching for inspiration in in

empowering people

uh but the altar call for salvation i

wouldn’t even think of it he would have

to bring it to mind yeah

which would let me know oh

maybe there’s even a visitor here this

today which we’ve had

so uh so i would i would do it of course

then i try to be sensitive absolutely to

always do it in those moments but it

would never be my default it would never

be the thing that’s automatic yeah it’s

not right it’s not our daily worship

you’re actually singing the gospel

you’re singing the anthem of your own

faith you know every day we have one of

the worship songs now like has a

beautiful line where we hear praises you

see faith yeah yeah that’s just gorgeous

whenever i think about the people of god

you know worshiping you know extravagant

joy and you’re like the lord’s like

that’s that’s a lot of faith i see right

yeah and that’s

that like reoriented what yeah what i

thought was happening in worship in some

ways uh yeah powerful and i i think the

thing to remember in all of this is

we’re we’re on a journey we’re learning

i mean we’re learning where

next year will change some of the things

that we did this year yeah you know it’s

just that’s the way that’s where we are

and i i made it plain if you you might

remember when i first came you know if

you like things to work perfectly every

time you won’t want to follow me

because i i take too many risks and

which means we’re going to get some

things really right yeah but we’re also

going to get some things wrong and we’ll

just have to

go back and and yeah and make it right

you know repent and clean up the mess

and

whatever and that’s that really is our

lifestyle and uh that makes a lot of

people nervous which i understand

i don’t i don’t fault anyone

for having that sense but

but it’s the only way i know

to step into

what i believe god is saying in his word

for us to learn to do and sometimes you

have people to follow you know sometimes

you have a mentor that can train you and

something but sometimes we’re we’re

we’re seeing things that the early

church did that’s not in practice today

how do we do that yeah and if you don’t

have someone to follow means you know

it’s it’s like what i taught my kids to

ride the bike i took them to the park

where there was a lot of grass

so that when they fell yeah

they wouldn’t get hurt bad you know and

that was the whole point is i i need to

create a safe environment so they can

learn to ride the bike that’s the whole

point and it’s the same with the things

of god we’ve we we are on a journey to

learn

and uh all we want to do is glorify him

we just want to represent him well bring

him glory so that’s that’s kind of the

mandate on our house

randy clark gave a good illustration he

said when you’re when you’re following

and you kind of you get led into a

corner you’re like oh you you made a

mistake you let us into a corner it’s

like but when you’re the leader actually

you don’t quite realize until you’re in

a corner until you get in a corner you

know you’re like everybody back up yeah

yeah yeah that’s funny so part of

leading and experimenting and

risk-taking is you end up kind of in a

corner everyone smile and go like we’re

going to take a sharp right right here

you know this turns out to be a corner

exactly that was a fun way of us kind of

him kind of saying you guys are leading

in certain things so you’re going to

make some mistakes sometimes and you’re

going to not get it right so true so

we’ve been talking about the centrality

of the cross and how you know we don’t

outgrow it again he’s given us the

communion to say no stay in touch with

my my self-giving love and my sacrifice

here and um

but we’ve also said the cross leads to

resurrection

and then there’s this resurrection life

of bringing the kingdom and

becoming disciples of jesus and and as

we’re disciples we we follow him in his

death you know which is is commemorated

in our baptism and then we’re you know

raised a new life with him

so it’s kind of it’s the crosses

never want to sound like you’re leaving

it behind in the rearview mirror or like

we’ve grown past it

you know it’s like it’s the central his

self-giving love is central to

everything we’re doing and his

resurrection life would be central

but we do have

um kind of heading towards we see though

there’s there’s things to continue to be

about the father’s business

once we’ve experienced this

crucified life and this resurrected life

and right would you would you kind of

speak to that a little bit about this

you know that we don’t leave the cross

in the in the rearview mirror but that

it’s with us

i don’t know i don’t know if it’s a good

way to say it but for me the cross is

the foundation it’s the platform i stand

on to live the resurrected life yeah so

i never leave it because it’s what

creates the stability for me it’s

because of this i have life but now that

i’m standing on this platform i want to

demonstrate who he is presently the

resurrected glorified son of god at the

right hand of the father and his triumph

is what i’m looking for to see expressed

in every situation that i that i face

we we are demonstrating who he is as the

resurrected son of god

and that’s that’s what the christian

life is

but you don’t leave the platform

everything’s done on the planet you

don’t need the foundation yeah the

foundation is the cross you don’t

believe that that’s the that’s what

gives you the ability to stand in the

resurrection life so beautiful yeah

that’s how i’d approach it and then as

we’re as we’re thinking about just um

our own discussion about like altar

calls or when to have them how often to

have them it’s been an important deal

and and then um

you know there’s actually people that

are more gifted than others as well that

seem to be more anointed at it than

others and so yeah that idea but one of

the things that we have is we’re in

equipping environments so we you know we

think the the the apostle prophet pastor

teacher evangelist is given to equip the

saints for works of service and so yeah

partly like our my hope would be that it

is that more people are getting saved

not in the church on sunday morning

but are getting saved

seven days a week out in the workplace

and out in their environments because

they feel radically equipped

to

give a reason for the hope that they

have you know in christ and so that’s a

big part of who we are too that you can

kind of that’s huge can’t forget that

we’re not trying to get a bunch of

strangers in the room although we love

it uh but actually

bethel is a tough place to actually get

into it’s super inconvenient the parking

it’s getting better but you know

uh

you know there’s lines to get into

church and these are you know these are

humble brags but you know

so it’s not a great so when you bring

your friend you’re like oh this is

actually kind of a hassle you know how

long do i have to you know wait to get

my kid into sunday’s service so our

sunday mornings aren’t like a fabulous

uh uh you know

unbeliever magnet

if that makes sense that’s true

awkwardly said but if that makes sense

that

makes sense so we’re really reliant on

the people of god knowing how to present

their faith sharing their testimony

absolutely i i want i want the people of

god

that all of us serve whether it’s our

local community or extended i want them

to know how to heal the sick how to lay

hands on this like pray for them see

them healed i want them to know how to

be able to deal with a troubling spirit

that is tormenting a person’s life i

want them to know how to lead someone to

christ i want i want them to know how to

do all those things that’s part of the

gospel

and we do all of them in the building

you know we have healing rooms that we

operate on saturday i don’t want the

only time people get healed is there

you know and perhaps you remember uh

years ago i would ask on consecutive

sundays i’d say

how many of you uh shared the gospel

with somebody this week and all the

people who had did raise their hand i

said how many of you actually

prayed with people that for them to

receive christ and they would raise

their hand

and say how many of you prayed for the

sick this week and they’d raise their

hand how many of you saw people get

healed

you know how many of you confronted

demons that were tormenting people

they’d raise their hands and so what

happened with that i didn’t know this

until somebody came to me they said

you’ve heard the the phrase uh people

know what you expect by what you inspect

yeah

and all of a sudden they started saying

oh wait a minute we’re all expected to

do this

and they actually it was a righteous

peer pressure you know to get people

aware of the fact oh this is who we are

this is what we do and so it’s a huge

part of our life i want it to happen

when we gather together obviously yeah

but

i to be honest i get even more excited

when somebody comes to me and says i

prayed with a

guy i work with uh this week and he came

to christ here here he is yeah and oh

goodness that’s the highlight from and

all environments have their strengths

and weaknesses and i think one of ours

is like if you have a a church that

actually doesn’t move and maybe prophecy

or healing then you’re basically your

interactions people are are around

do you know jesus would you like to know

jesus

and that you quickly get to that and i i

have found in our environment one of the

difficulties for us is we’ll actually

pray for somebody who will be healed in

some measure and they won’t quite know

how to move people to

yeah to like have you put your trust you

know this miracle happened

because the lord is near

and he’s highlighting you that’s would

you like to put your trust in him and

it’s almost like we we did have to go

and still have to go through a process

of once you get the prophetic word keep

listening

and actually get practiced at the next

thing you’ll say to say jesus has opened

up like i’m interested in you

would you are you ready to give your

life to me we need to become more expert

and i talk about the students as well

like once you move into the sign wonder

you gotta you gotta be able to like

invite them into salvation now that is a

weakness of ours especially like ten

years ago yeah ten years ago it was the

goal was to get somebody healed or their

goal was to you know to pray with

somebody in the street or whatever and

those are fine goals but they’re unto

something yeah and i started noticing we

had conversation we started noticing

these testimonies coming in

but they didn’t get saved as a result

the kindness of god leads to repentance

so you’ve got to put the pieces together

you can’t force someone to surrender but

you’ve given them a chance to really

think through

their place with god

and uh and yeah that’s been a weakness i

think it’s better i do too

we had to actually realize that we

needed to teach into it because i think

we thought it would naturally happen so

be like how do i get saved because it

would happen that way in the gospel a

little bit you know or some of these

yeah some of the stories but we actually

need to be able to take those next steps

with people intentional has to be

intentional yeah i agree so again

salvation evangelism absolutely central

to what we’re doing we’ve been blessed

to have evangelists on our staff and our

team uh you know through and through our

environment and

and uh it’s an integral part of course

of all of us doing the work of an

evangelist yeah as the evangelists equip

us to do it so we love that and

celebrate that absolutely

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