The Devil’s Tactics – Bill Johnson (Full Sermon) | Bethel Church

In the latest sermon from Bethel Church Pastor Bill Johnson shares on discerning the devil’s tactics and maintaining our focus on Christ.

all right well good morning good morning

good to see you all i

i just wanted to show off my mask

it’s my second one the last one i could

tell what i had been eating over the

last week

there’s barbecue smell in there there

was all kinds of stuff it just

i could tell it was defeating the

purpose it was no longer a healthy mass

so

anyway well good morning to you it’s so

good to be home

i benny and i were in north carolina

last week

with mahesh and bonnie shapta and uh

such wonderful friends of ours and it

was just a real

blessing to be there it’s usually a

packed house but

uh with social distancing it reduced

down to maybe

i don’t know 150 200 people in the room

but it was it was still

very fun to be there um i don’t ever

want to make

fun of a virus but i will make fun of

you and me

they said a mask and gloves were enough

to go to the grocery store

they lied everyone else had clothes on

[Laughter]

[Applause]

i think it’s funny maybe maybe third

grade humor may be my problem but uh

but i think that’s funny i love this one

whoever’s supposed to go to nineveh

just go already

[Laughter]

this one is uh a story from

one of my grandkids cruz he who is

just the way his brain works is just

very entertaining for the rest of the

family

he’s the one who told his school teacher

that his house burned down

and uh and when leah picked him up from

school she said

cruz did you tell your teacher that that

our house burned down he goes yeah

she said why did you do that he saw mom

she loves a good story

so that’s

i i don’t know he figured it was a

testimony even though it wasn’t true so

we’re working on that part

so after school was canceled

first day of no school crews set up an

office

in their piano room and it’s called

cruz’s office of mental issues

and leah writes i just had my first

appointment with him

after asking me what my mental issue was

and me saying stress

he gave me a list of all the things i

need to do to help

one being not to watch diego play

baseball

since they caused stress i then told him

but i love watching you guys play

he then said no i just mean don’t watch

diego’s games

you can watch me because you know i’m

gonna win

we we have our hands full with that one

that’s uh that’s so fun

well uh this is uh

i i just look forward you know we have

regularly we have eight meetings a

weekend and now it’s reduced down to one

and uh and we have the privilege of

rotating

as we always do but when you rotate one

it’s different than rotating eight

so i i’ve got to grab my moment here and

uh

and i am very thankful i get a chance to

talk to you i actually had

something that i was going to bring

today that i feel like is going to be

key for us for the next

probably 10 years it’s a specific thing

that i believe the lord is speaking

into our lives and and i’ll but i’ll do

that uh

another time because i i really felt

strong yesterday that i was to

talk to you out of concerning the

devil’s strategies

the devil is not one i talk about much

and generally

only long enough to put my crosshairs on

him and pull the trigger he’s not

he doesn’t fascinate me at all i don’t

study him i don’t just

i don’t study his thoughts or ideas but

uh

but paul did say i speaking of the of

the devil he says i don’t want you to be

unaware

of him i don’t want you to be ignorant

to his devices and

and so it’s i think it’s wisdom for us

just to

consider the devices the cool thing

about this hour now this

this hour that we’re in is weird it’s

chaotic it’s all the above

but if you remember that um the devil’s

strong suit

is sitting in the back row of the church

his last card

if you will is to expose himself and

right now he’s fully exposed

it’s not his best card it’s his last

card

remembering that will help us we know

that the way the enemy

dealt with adam and eve yes the

temptation was to for

uh partake of forbidden fruit but the

real temptation came before that

was to question what god said he started

the conversation with

has god said and then the way he

um worked with jesus in the wilderness

with his

temptation uh the devil came to him

and said if you’re the son of god so the

first thing was

to cause people to question what god has

said and the second has caused people

to question their identity and if the

enemy can get

us to be weakened in either of those two

things

all the other tactics and tricks that he

uses

we become very vulnerable to now christ

in us

is more than sufficient to withstand

any opposition persecution temptation

anything but when we draw

on strength other than christ then we

make ourselves an open target and

vulnerable

it’s the reason the apostle paul

actually exhorted

what i think is probably the strongest

new testament church

in the bible as the as the church at

ephesus he warns them in chapter four

don’t give place to the devil so he’s

saying this to the most mature

he’s saying this to the most insightful

and discerning their

their record in revival their record in

impacting culture i believe surpasses

every other church

in in the uh recorded in scripture and

to them he says

don’t give the devil an opportunity

don’t give him a place don’t open a door

because he will take possession of that

which you open the door to

it’s interesting we’re going to look in

nehemiah so if you turn to nehemiah

chapter 4 we’re going to start there

we’re going to read quite a few

scriptures today

so just uh keep it open because i’m

going to teach as we read

but it’s interesting in the story of

nehemiah in the storyline

there’s a time in here towards the end

of this incredible story

let me give you a context ezra was all

about rebuilding the temple

nehemiah is all about rebuilding the

walls of jerusalem

israel had been taken captive their

nations city of jerusalem had been

destroyed

they are now rebuilding under nehemiah’s

leadership nehemiah means the name means

comforter

so he’s a tremendous picture of the holy

spirit who leads us

into restoration and they had been

trying something for 70 years and failed

and

i forget 52 days or something like that

under the holy spirit’s leadership

he brought them into wholeness so this

is a very profound thing

but one of the points of of

a failure that the priesthood

in israel had was at one point towards

the end of nehemiah

they there was a room where they kept

all the sacrifices

and they emptied that room out and they

actually let one of the primary

enemies of israel live in that room

where did the enemy want to live where

there used to be sacrifice

anytime there is the absence of

sacrifice

there is an invitation for the enemy to

occupy

so we we look at these things through

scripture and we find

insights i i don’t need to be devil

conscious but i do need to be

god conscious and remember the things

that he values

he values sacrifice he needs nothing

that i have to offer him

he doesn’t need my skills he can do

everything better than i can he doesn’t

need my money he doesn’t need my time he

doesn’t need

anything that i have to offer except my

heart he wants that tremendously

but out of that surrender to christ

there

is suddenly the discovery of purpose

there’s this interesting passage i just

read this week i may try to teach on it

at some point because it really impacted

me

while i was reading in proverbs chapter

24.

in proverbs 24 it says this it says

where there is wisdom there is a

perception

of the end of things the outcome okay

where there’s wisdom there is perception

of

outcome and when you have those

ingredients

you have hope

now fear masquerades as wisdom

but what is the fruit of fear it is not

hope for the future

the reason the prophets of the new

testament romans

12 they were exhorted to prophesy

according to their faith

which tells me why there are so many

destructive prophetic words released

because of the smallness of faith

i don’t mean to be throwing stones i’m

just saying let’s draw a line here

of understanding so we can see with

greater clarity

of thought and heart and mind to

perceive

what actually is coming to us from the

lord and what isn’t

so nehemiah we’re going to read out of

two chapters that i haven’t taught on

for quite a while but i used to do ever

every once in a while just because of

the

i love some of the old testament stories

like david and goliath in these stories

they are so clear they just you know

they they

they help me they help me by the way i

read something from babylon b

this week that goliath actually died

from the coronavirus but

i don’t think it’s true he came

nauseated fell over and david cut his

head off but

i don’t think that was true sorry that’s

a

bad time for that joke sorry

okay see if we can recover so here we

are

two chapters we’re gonna read from

chapter four in chapter six and these

two chapters

actually expose the devil’s hand

expose the devil’s hand as clearly as

any place i can find in scripture

i don’t know any story that more clearly

unveils

the cards the enemy is holding all right

so let’s quit talking and get into this

all right so we have in this

uh chapter we’re going to go right

towards the end

and it says here in verse

15 it happened when our enemies heard

that it was known to us that god had

brought their plot to nothing

that all of us returned to the wall

everyone to his work

previous to this nehemiah had given them

an exhortation

to fight the see the enemy was

threatening

to block them from building and to tear

down what they built

at the beginning of this chapter they

mocked the people of god by saying

even if a fox jumps on that wall it’ll

crumble down

so this thing of intimidation through

mockery is an

ongoing tool if we become overly

self-conscious

we become overly sensitive to that

mocking spirit

because we will concern ourselves with

how we appear to someone else

even what you’re building if a fox

should jump on it

it’ll crumble down so nehemiah gets the

people together and he tells them

station yourself on the wall and he

gives them this wise advice

fight for your families

in other words what is the one thing a

person would be willing to take a bullet

for so to speak it’s it’s

that natural instinct i’ve got to lay my

life down for the sake

of my wife my children my grandchildren

i’ve got to lay my life on the line for

this and so that’s what he did

and so it says they return to the wall

everyone do his work verse 16.

so it was from that time on that half of

my servants worked at construction

while the other half held spears shields

bows

and wore armor the leaders were behind

the house of judah so the leadership was

all in agreement

to put these people half of them held

spears

and watched and waited uh to be able to

block or prevent any kind of an assault

the other half worked he goes on and it

says

uh everyone in verse 18 uh had uh

every one of the builders had his sword

girded at his side as he built

so here’s another picture there’s a

picture of half the group

one with swords spears the shields the

other with

working tools the next picture is

there’s all

another group of people they are working

but they have a sword here what is that

i believe it’s a unique picture of

praying without ceasing

it’s not kneeling in a chapel somewhere

as much as i love

that that is that is the creme de la

creme that’s the

that’s the ultimate time is just have

that face-to-face time with the lord

before him on my knees nothing better

but the instruction to pray without

ceasing is

not that because that’s not possible it

is to keep that lifestyle of continual

connection to the spirit of god where

the sword is always ready

the sword is always ready i remember a

guy teaching us years ago because 40

some years ago

he’s teaching us about this is uh this

is back in the 70s he

he lived in a second story of a of a

home and uh and it took forever

in the morning for his shower for the

hot water to get from their hot water

heater up to that

up to that uh uh shower and so the night

before he would turn the hot water on

just a little bit

and it would just kind of drip all night

long now we wouldn’t do that today

because we’re much more conscious about

waste

[Laughter]

some of you aren’t but some of you are

we would that wouldn’t be

applauded today but he would just keep

it on so that when he got up in the

morning he turned it on it was always

instant what does instant nc’s in and

out mean

it means that you continuously keep that

affectionate

attachment to the spirit of god

because you don’t know when the hot

water is needed you don’t know

when the enemy sneaks through that hole

in the wall that you are working on

presently areas that are destroyed or

damaged because of life we’ve all got

those blind spots and so we keep the

sword to our side

and i believe we do that through

continuous worship and through praying

in the spirit i think is one of the most

brilliant ways so

i want to encourage you with that it

says every one of the builders had

the sword girded at his side go down to

let’s go down to verse 22 at the same

time i said let each man and a servant

stay at night

in jerusalem they may be our guard by

night working by day

the next uh verse says they didn’t even

take their clothes off at night so the

point was

is they in for a season how many know

you can’t work

you can’t work 18-hour days as a

lifestyle

but in an emergency i can do it for a

short period of time the problem is

is when we see that as productive as it

is

the failure of many ministries is they

see the productivity of that 18 hour

a day week and they make it a lifestyle

and they burn out and crash

you know the illustration i like to use

is i’ve heard of

wheat farmers who who you know the the

wee farms they’ve got their kids

everybody’s working to bring in the

harvest and when that harvest is ready

you have to bring it in in a certain

period of time

and they may have two weeks where

they’ve got 18-hour days and the whole

family does that

and everybody works together but if you

do that as a lifestyle you destroy your

family you destroy your health you

destroy everything you have to know when

to unstring your bow so that it’s not

taut anymore it’s not

tight unstring it relax make up in the

next season

for the time you missed in this season

and we’re in one of those seasons where

the sword has to be at our side

we cannot afford to be found sleeping

because there’s

there’s too many demons dressed up like

people

amen that was a good word right there

yes indeed all right

jump over to chapter six

chapter six there’s a

the the enemies of israel verses one and

two there’s a bunch of them there tobiah

uh sambal uh geshem they said

come verse two says come let us meet

together among the villages in the plain

of ono

they thought to do me harm so i sent

messengers to them

saying i’m doing a great work so that i

cannot come down

why should the work cease while i leave

it and go down to you

they sent me this message four times and

i answered them in the same manner

here’s here’s

the deal

one of the first things the enemy does

for every one of us is distract us

from our assignment

it’s happened all through history where

where somebody will come into this

incredible place of breakthrough and

then they’ll start looking for something

else to do to add on to their ministry

and they start functioning outside of

their anointing outside of their gift

many ministries have ended on a down

slide

because they changed their focus from

what their assignment

to what they wanted

where you are anointed where god has

called you where he has assigned you

regardless of the applause of people

that assignment

is your sweet spot that’s where a

sound is released into the earth that

echoes the reality of heaven something

that’s like hitting that tuning fork

a sound release because you’re in your

element and in that element you’re

actually releasing presence

and power everything you do things

cannot be measured through

immediate we’re an immediate culture

everything is quick and

and we just can’t measure ministry that

way we have to think in terms of

not what kind of fruit am i going to get

this week through this activity

what am i going to get 10 years from now

because i’m living a

lifestyle that will earn me a place of

influence to bring transformation within

the system

finding that sweet spot is vital for

every person because we were all

born with unique purpose unique gifting

i personally think wisdom for life comes

from understanding his nature

understanding his promises and

discovering his purpose

those three things help to form in us

the

the heart of wisdom so that we do what

scripture says

he said teach us to number our days so

we can present to your heart of wisdom

teach us to put a limit on how much time

we have so that we

know we have to use the time well we’ve

got to discover the reason why

we’re alive the purpose of god in and

through us

i i think all of for all of us it goes

back to genesis 1

where he says be fruitful multiplicity

of the earth all of it has some sort of

a transformational influence

so he says four times now why does the

enemy come

repeatedly because he’s hoping

to change your confession

there becomes fatigue over time

where we shift in our focus from our

assignment

does this make sense to you where

there’s this um the re

repeated temptation come meet with us

come meet with us come meet us

come meet with us is it over and over

again at first time

what comes he says i’m doing a great

work why should this stop while i come

down and talk to you

tremendous i love that so much i’m what

i’m doing is awesome

i don’t have the time to talk to you and

he just keeps it up and keeps it up wide

hoping to diminish the effect of his

declaration

i’m not sure that came across quite as

significant as it is

when the bible says let the weak say i

am strong

he’s instructing us to declare

into our own soul into the atmosphere

the opposite of what we perceive

and if the repeated assault of the enemy

shapes in some measure our perception

then it’s going to weaken our decree

verse 5 sam balot sent his servant to me

as before

the fifth time with an open letter that

means he posted it on facebook

instagram and twitter

open letter for everyone to read

it was written it is reported among the

nations and geshem

says the you and the jews are planning

to rebel

therefore according to these rumors you

are rebuilding the wall that you may be

their king

you have appointed prophets to proclaim

concerning you at jerusalem saying

there is a king in judah now those

matters will be reported to the king

so come therefore let us consult

together

the tactics are obvious when you’re in

the middle of the pressure they’re not

so obvious but it’s easier to read it on

the page

when you’re in the middle of the

pressure

we try to think of some ways to ease

the pain of this kind of activity

accusation is one of the primary tools

an accusation is once again to get us to

weaken our posture of faith

and our confession our decree weaken

through a manipulation

manipulation is the core

um basis of witchcraft

spirit of witchcraft manipulation and

control

is the essence it develops into horrible

ugly things

but it starts pretty ugly and it’s

actually

used in parenting in sales

and so much of the american culture the

political system

and the religious system both herod’s

leaven and the pharisees 11

are riddled with this way of thinking

of using manipulation to get you to do

what i want you to do

years ago we were working to cover and

to

help restore a fallen believer i

remember one of the letters

that i received he he

told me who he was his radio show his

influence his

following that he had and he basically

said

you need to do this this and this or

i will expose you as actually being

involved in this sin

well there’s got to be some other

alternative it’s got to be like

like how can you if i don’t do what you

say how can you come to the conclusion

that i’m involved in the sin i made a

determination years ago

that what i discuss

in the back room one-on-one with a

person i will not make public

so that i look better in the eyes of the

critics

i’m not gonna i’m not gonna sacrifice

the reputation of this individual

who’s confided in me and who i have

locked horns with perhaps or rebuked or

working on correcting

i’m not bringing that into the open so

that so that somebody who wants this guy

thrown under the bus

will think better about me i’m not going

to do that

you you cannot be trusted with the

greater things in god

if you’re willing to sacrifice another

person for your own appearance

it’s it’s demonic i’m telling you it’s

demonic

so i just told the guy go for it i said

a little bit more than that

i told him he had an inflated sense of

self-importance

that felt real good to say

i’m not sure it was the lord but i felt

better when it was done

and as you can tell i probably still

haven’t repented come to think of

yourself

seriously the the tool it’s it it

happens in homes raising kids if you

don’t do this i will do this there’s

this control thing

and our our our approach to life has to

be cleaner than that

it can’t have that attachment of

manipulation

we can’t manipulate people to the

desired outcome

you know that went over well all right

let’s just keep going i um

uh verse 8 then i sent him saying no

such things as you say are being done

but you’ve you invent them in your own

heart

they were trying to make us afraid

saying their hands will be

weakened in the work and it will not be

done

do you hear it trying to make them

afraid so what

the work will stop

fear stops the building of the kingdom

realities

on planet earth you cannot build

and embrace fear

jump down to verse 13 it said for this

reason he was

hired that i should be afraid and act

that way and

sin

psalms 37 i think it’s verse 8 says

don’t fret it only leads to evil doing

the only possible outcome of fear

is sin the only possible outcome

so fear that masquerades us wisdom has

only one possible outcome and that is

sin

genuine wisdom has another outcome it is

a hope-filled future

because real wisdom has perception

i i want to be very careful here and

respectful

but honest too so let me see how i do

this

there’s a verse in this story

that says i’ll just read you out of

chapter 4 verse 12 it says so

it was when the jews who dwelt near them

this is now these are the enemies of

israel

think through this now the jews who

dwelt near them

they told us ten times from whatever

place you turn they will be upon us

what’s the point the jews who lived

close to the enemy

heard ten times over and over and over

and over again the threat

that the enemy had for them why

do you live near the devil

move

if you have the news on

all day long you are living near the

devil

and i’m not saying the news is the devil

i’m just saying the the

sometimes the media would rather have a

story than reveal truth

i have this picture i actually wanted to

show you today it shows

prince charles you know uh what one of

them

had his hand out like this

let’s see if i can get it on the camera

there we go so what does it look like i

do

it looks like i’m flipping somebody off

but what he was really doing from

another angle is he was holding up three

fingers to let somebody know a number

the way you project something

you create an image i have a friend

whose picture was on the front page of

the newspaper right next to a horrible

story

and under the picture they had a little

disclaimer that it had to do with

another story

but they were after this man to destroy

his reputation

so they put him under the title of this

horrible

story i don’t want to imply

that all the media is like that but

there is enough like that that all of us

have become

jaded and hesitant to receive

so why invite that into my home day

after day after day

i i told you guys at the beginning of

this thing four months ago

i said if you have more input from main

street mainstream media then you do the

word of god then your discouragement is

self-inflicted

this thing of fear is

a very serious issue so much so

that is the number one command in

scripture repeated more often

than any other because the lord knew the

enemy would use that continuously

now there is a real virus so i don’t

want to make light of that at all

our leaders we’ve got to pray for them

because they are in a tough place to

make

really rough decisions i do not envy any

of them

in the decisions they have to make i

have my own opinions

but we all do and they probably differ

so

and and they’re they’re not important in

this discussion what’s important

is that we pray i was reading this week

in proverbs again

that we that ungodly counsel in the

chambers of the king

will impact the nation in

unrighteousness

righteous counsel in the chambers of the

king brings righteousness to a nation so

that’s one of our prayers

does god remove the voice of the enemy

from

our leaders that you have put into place

whether i voted for them or voted for

somebody else

these leaders father we ask that you

would give them divine wisdom

your perception on stuff

and fear fear destroys that

he said verse 12 he said uh chapter six

then i perceived god had not sent him at

all

back up to verse 10 there is a prophet

hired to prophesy bad stuff and he

responds

verse 11 should a man such as me flee

verse 12 then i proceed god had not sent

him this is

important he sees somebody prophesying

evil towards him

he responds out of his identity not out

of a word from the lord

he did not see the situation clearly he

just saw who he was and what he was

trying to do

and he he responded out of that he had

no clarity on the on the moment

except who he was and he said should a

man like me

flee and as soon as a word came out of

his mouth he suddenly saw the whole

strategy of the enemy the lord unveiled

it for him to see clearly why

he needed to make a decree first what do

you think jesus did

when he stood and said the spirit of the

lord god is upon me

it was before he had performed one

miracle he made the decree out of isaiah

the spirit of the lord god is upon me

he made the decree of why he was sent to

planet earth as the son of god

to redeem man and to restore the broken

situations of people’s lives

he made the decree and suddenly

everything just begins to open up

same thing happened for nehemiah he

stands in that place he knows his

purpose

and he says should a man like me flee

and then he sees the strategy of the

enemy

the lord lifts the veil on his eyes and

he sees clearly then i perceive their

end

sometimes perception follows

a confession of faith

sometimes confess perception prophetic

perception

follows a confession

of faith a decree that god has given us

we rarely have been given the whole

picture but we’ve all been given enough

to obey

we’ve all been given enough to obey

we’ve all been given enough to do

something

to do something to make the decree to

have that sword at our side where

we’re constantly in in the place of

wanting to hear god’s heartbeat

and i’ll tell you what in this moment

unlike any season i’ve ever been in my

in my life

i have to know god’s heart

i don’t want to say minute by minute

because that would be an exaggeration

for my

my own lifestyle but i will say hour by

hour

i’ve got to have that touch that

connection to his pulse to his heartbeat

or i will think out of my own perception

instead of his

i cannot i cannot afford to come to

conclusions

about stuff out of my own experience

it’s a part of the picture it’s just not

the whole picture

i need desperately to stay connected to

the promises of god the word of god

his view on stuff wisdom will give me

hope because i perceive the end

that’s the word wisdom will give me hope

because i have perception of the outcome

of his intended outcome

and it’s worth fighting for

we know that media whether it’s

news or sitcoms or whatever they’re

they like constantly or they deceive

deceive

means that they reveal certain amounts

of truths

but not enough to change your pers to

alter your perception

the goal is to control the narrative

um let me leave that

so we know that lifestyles are projected

in sitcoms movies whatever

they’re a deception of god’s intent and

plan

we face it every single day every day of

our life

while i have concerns about the

deception and the lies and

all that stuff my biggest concern is not

that my biggest concern

is they are discipling a nation to their

worldview

they are disciplining a nation to their

worldview

paul says in colossians keep your mind

set on things above where christ

is seated for you and then he goes on to

talk about

your conversion you’ve been redeemed you

are in christ seated in heavenly places

what’s the point

my focus has to be on christ

exalted above every name including

viruses

including political oppositions all

these things

if i don’t have him at the center of my

thoughts

as the redemptive one then i will take

an inferior perspective

perspective on life perception of life i

will think

separate from the one who has a

redemptive answer for every broken

situation

and the crazy thing is is it feels

spiritual because you have a burden

but the burden is called fear the burden

is not released in the presence

the burden makes you feel discerning and

spiritual because

oh those are troubling times

you’re doing nothing till you pray

you’re doing nothing until you pray

a phone telephone pole can feel what’s

going on

and don’t quote me on that but you know

it doesn’t take a spiritual giant to

discern what’s happening in the world

that’s crazy

to feel it the weightiness of it and to

do nothing

is to waste space why are you on planet

earth

we were given the ability to perceive

that we might come

on that paved that paved pathway

paved with blood to give me legal and

free access

to come before the father because out of

wisdom

i perceive there is a redemptive

solution

and i will come in hope to the one who

has already promised me ahead of time

two or three of you agrees to touching

anything it will be done for you

anything he says

and then he puts us in a place to

perceive trouble why

so that out of wisdom we might perceive

the conclusion

the worldview the world view

exposes you to pain without a redemptive

solution the world view

of the world system political herod

religious pharisees their

world views perceive pain

but their solutions have nothing to do

with christ the redeemer

the fight is over world view the fight

is over perception of what’s happening

and we got a lot of things that we’ve

got to have wisdom on and answers and

bold faith and i get all that and i i

don’t want to diminish any of those

but i’m telling you it is a distraction

to give yourself to an issue that you

lack divine perspective of

i don’t know if i said that well but i

sure meant well

for this reason verse 13 he was hired

that i should be afraid

there are people being paid to make you

afraid

and act that way and sin so they might

have

cause for an evil report

that they might reproach me

we’ll end with this verse

verse 16 and it happened

verse 15 says the wall was completed so

verse 16

and it happened when all our enemies

heard of it and all the

nations around us saw these things

that they were very disheartened in

their own eyes

for they perceived that this work was

done by our god

did you hear what it said they weren’t

just discouraged

they they were disheartened in their own

eyes do you remember when the spies went

into the promised land

and they came back and they said we

appear as grasshoppers in our own

eyes our own perception

of us is very insignificant

and they are significant the tables just

got turned

because of a man guided by the holy

spirit led them into redemptive solution

after redemptive solution rejecting

every opportunity for

fear and something was accomplished that

they had failed at for

two generations and the wall was built

and he said he said they were

disheartened in their own eyes

because they could see this work was

done by god

we need a miracle we need a miracle for

the healing of our nation the healing of

our state

it’s bigger than the things that come to

mind all the things that are being

reported to us those are

those are obviously big concerns

but there’s about to be some exposure

done

in in our country of some very deeply

rooted

things that are not on hardly anybody’s

radar

but they will be and the lord is

exposing this

to bring healing and what you and i have

to do

is stay together just stay together

just stay linked stay members of one

another

the communion thing that chris led us in

earlier did it was absolutely

perfect and right the whole thing

communion together family

in this next season i want to encourage

you

in this prayer without ceasing staying

close to the heart of god

praying in the spirit just worshiping

throughout the day

um i i like to uh whether i’m in my

office i’m here on the grounds or

at my home i like i just have these

moments of just inspired thought where i

just realize this goodness

just just in the middle of what i’m

doing

god i give you thanks you are so good

if your heart burns for him

if it doesn’t work at it till it does

stay there till it does because what you

want to do is you want to

you want your heart to burn for him so

that that fire never dies out you never

have to worry about rekindling it again

it’s hard to get a fire started

it’s not hard to keep on burning

i love us and i’m looking forward to us

the bigger us

getting together again but un until that

day i

i just want to talk to the bethel family

that is outside of the room and just

say thank you some of you are meeting at

home some of you are

perhaps watching it work but whatever

thank you the strength of the church is

the two or three gathered in his name

that is the strength of the church the

prophetic

direction is set in the large corporate

setting

but the strength of the church is the

two or three

that agree as to touching anything

history is shaped

by that group that carries governmental

influence

kingdom influence to shape history

that’s who you are and i i just i

bless you with renewed effort renewed

focus

to see the kingdom of god come to earth

be

unwilling to be moved when the enemy

comes along there’s another thing

another bad report another thing to fear

be a nehemiah who says why should the

great work i’m doing stop

while i pay attention to you i don’t

have the time

give yourself some credit for having

influenced this simply because you love

people

some of you that are watching and we

have our bethel family local we have

international bethel family we have

others that are just

guests maybe you stumbled onto this

broadcast

the most important thing that could

happen today

is that if you are outside of a personal

relationship with jesus

is that you take advantage of this

moment that i believe god orchestrated

just for you

that you would be able to become a

follower

of jesus christ one who receives him

jesus said

or says of jesus in john chapter 1 to as

many as have received him

to them he gives the right or the

authority

to become children of god so we have

pastors that are on the bethel tv

program and zoom call or not on

youtube we have pastors that are ready

to talk to any one of you that would

just say

i want to know jesus i

i desire to be forgiven of sin i want a

new beginning

and regardless of what your history is

that’s the that’s the thing

that i’m talking about here today

regardless of how big of a mess

a person is in a city or a nation is in

god has a redemptive solution and if i

lose sight of the christ

seated on the throne above every

authority that i will

fall and fall into fear and you have the

opportunity for christ to be seated at

the absolute throne of your life

everything changes today

i want you guys to stand i’m going to

wrap this up in prayer

and then i will put my mask on

because i’m a mask wearer

oh

father i ask that you would grace every

person

watching this in the room and abroad

every person a grace a gift for wisdom

that perceives the end

that we would be hope filled because we

see your purposes

in the earth help us to never be

distracted

from what you have made clear in

scripture

your kingdom come your will be done

on earth as it is in heaven i pray this

for this church family all of our guests

i pray that you had marked them with

blessing that our lives will be marked

with presence

in jesus wonderful name amen bless you

thanks for joining us thanks