The renewed mind proves the will of God. Bill Johnson challenges us to allow miracles to change our way of thinking and living. Allow the impossible to become logical.
a couple weeks ago the last time i spoke
i mentioned to you what my intentions
were
i think it’ll be for this entire summer
that i feel like it’s supposed to be a
summer of review
a summer of review and that we’re
supposed to take
some of the things that have been very
important uh to us
in study in learning over the past 25
years
and i’m going to bring them up again and
review them which i did a couple weeks
ago
today i want you to go if you would to
mark chapter eight
and uh and i want to talk to you out of
this chapter this
uh is one of the most important chapters
honestly in my life
uh that’s uh in no way an exaggeration
i had an unusual experience probably
going back 20 years
it seemed that every time i opened my
bible it just opened to mark
8. i could be wanting to go to the
psalms and it would open the market i’d
want to go to
you know the book of jude and it would
open to mark chapter 8.
and it doesn’t do that anymore so it’s
not a crease in the bible it’s not a
broken spine
it just would open to mark 8 over and
over and over again
and after probably a half a dozen times
i thought
this is weird maybe i should read it and
so i did i
i tend to be real systematic in my
reading i
i’ll read like the old testament or new
testament or gospels or
book of law and i take sections maybe
the epistles the minor prophets
and i just read over them sometimes i
read them over and over again i did the
gospels once
constantly for 10 years just continually
reading and rereading
and i discovered it’s actually all about
jesus that was probably pretty good that
i
that i read that i read the gospels um
but but what i do for my recreational
reading which is like it’s like going to
a cabin on the weekend
uh i have certain places that i like to
go and feed and mark eight is one of
those
and there’s about eight or ten verses
that i feast on and the reason
because these verses cut me they
literally
pierce my soul every time i read them
it’s a two-edged sword it heals where it
cuts
so we need to welcome that cutting of
the word of the lord into our soul
because it actually imparts and shapes a
perception
of reality that you don’t get any other
way and
i remember dick mills wonderful friend
of ours that had this message once
if you can imagine uh a guy standing in
front of me
you know four feet away and he’s got
this big sword and the tip of the sword
is at my chest
and then that guy says come here and it
was a picture of
literally walking into the sword of the
lord and that’s what we do
when we open up the word we open it with
him
and not just to learn about him but to
engage with him
mark chapter 8 is this a fascinating
story
about for me it’s about the renewed mind
in fact
what i plan to do throughout the
throughout the summer is on several
occasions talk to you out of the gospel
of mark
because for me the gospel of mark
illustrates
the renewed mind again for me
better than any other part of scripture
the renewed mind
is essential to our faith
every single day of our life the holy
spirit is working
on us for the renewing of the mind the
reason
is because it is god’s heart to invade
this
world with his will
why the renewed mind it’s his heart to
invade this world
with his will what does it say about the
renewed mind in romans 12 verse 2
don’t be conformed to this world but be
transformed
by the renewing of your mind that you
may what prove
the will of god that which is good
acceptable and perfect
what is the will of god best definition
for me
is found in the prayer that jesus taught
his disciples
your will be done on earth as it is in
heaven pray that with me
your will be done on earth as it is in
heaven say it again
your will be done on earth as it is in
heaven
so what does a renewed mind do then it
proves the will of god
we see the miraculous through faith
we see the miraculous through presence
the most consistent way to see the
miraculous is through the renewed mind
there’s no cancer in heaven
he said on earth as it is in heaven and
it’s through the renewed mind
the renewed mind is not the source of
faith
the mind excuse me faith doesn’t come
from the mind
it comes from the heart
faith is not the product of striving as
a result of surrender
that’s why it’s a heart issue but the
renewed mind
creates the context for faith like the
banks of a river
the renewed mind creates a context for
faith to flow in
so we see jesus talking to the centurion
and he’s stunned by his faith when he
gives an explanation on how authority
works
it was his understanding that was
renewed came only by revelation
understanding of authority that was the
context that gave evidence that he had
real
faith so the lord is i i believe
working on us for the renewed mind now a
couple weeks ago i likened it unto a
truck driver and i’m going to do it
again because it
fits my illustration best a truck driver
will take off with this load
and after driving a while that load
begins to settle
and so the truck driver often will pull
over to your truck stop and they tighten
down the load
because things have shifted and settled
how many think maybe in the last 18
months we’ve had a few things settle
and we we need a little bit of cranking
down tightening of that load and that’s
kind of what i feel like we’re doing
over these next uh number of weeks uh
here in the summer mark chapter eight
let’s begin reading with um
with verse 13. and he left them
getting into the boat again departed to
the other side
now the disciples had forgotten to take
bread they did not have more than one
loaf with them
in the boat then he charged them saying
take heed beware of the leaven of the
pharisees
and the leaven of herod and they
reasoned among themselves saying
it is because we have no bread but jesus
being aware of it said to them
why do you reason because you have no
bread
do you not yet perceive nor understand
is your heart still hardened
having eyes do you not see having ears
do you not hear
and do you not remember when i broke the
five loaves for the five
thousand how many baskets full of
fragments did you take up
and they said him twelve also when i
broke the seven for the four thousand
how many large baskets full of fragments
did you take up
and they said seven then he said to them
how is it you do not understand
this is the portion that i read over and
over again in fact quite honestly
there are times i’ll open to this
chapter and i will just
read and ponder verse 17. jesus being
aware of it said
why do you reason because you have no
bread
any thought process that begins with
what we don’t have
will have to be repented of
because you can’t build anything
substantial on that thought
it makes a poor foundation for human
reasoning
that went over pretty good
so jesus gives them instruction and he
warns them he warns them about
leaven the leaven of herod the eleven of
the pharisees
there is a third eleven in scripture
it’s in matthew 13
it’s the leaven of the kingdom so we
know leaven is yeast you work it into
dough we lived in weaverville we only
had
wood heat and not even a little space
heater for 17 years
and benny would make homemade bread and
she would
work that yeast and work the dough and
sometimes the house was just too cold
where the kitchen was so she’d put it
right next to the wood stove and the
fire would activate the east
and it would rise fire always activates
whatever yeast is in your mind
it always activates it reveals it’s a
revealer it reveals what’s been planted
so jesus warns of two different kinds of
leaven
and 11 represents world view
ways of thinking
he warns against the pharisee
mindset and the political or herod’s
mindset
herod’s is the political spirit
it doesn’t mind you having a belief in
god just don’t bring him into the
equation
which sounds very familiar in our
political climate
doesn’t mind a belief in god just don’t
bring him in where that’s a determining
factor
on policy etc the religious system has
got
at the center of everything but he’s
impersonal and powerless
he’s figurative not relational
and the kingdom is opposite of both of
those
he’s at the center of everything and
defines
everything by his own person his own
presence everything is defined by the
person
of the lord jesus christ every value
everything in him we live
and consist and have our being so jesus
warns about these value systems
that could and will
persuade you out of the reality of the
kingdom of god
which is the greatest reality in
existence
paul told us what you can’t see is
eternal what you can see
is temporal the kingdom of god is not
meat or drink it’s not here in the
physical
it’s righteousness peace and joy it’s in
the unseen it’s a superior reality
but thinking from that place gives you a
different approach to a problem in the
natural
thinking from the natural at best makes
you a beggar
hoping to god to invade your situation
we leave the posture of sons and
daughters
when we pray only from earth to get him
to invade a problem
and yet what he’s trying to build in us
is an awareness of identity
and purpose so that we can effectively
use
his name his authority to accomplish his
purposes it’s not about our kingdoms
it’s not about our you know fame or
success or any of those things it’s not
about my fulfillment of dreams
that’s always a byproduct of fulfilling
his
if god’s not listening to your prayers
maybe talk to him about what he likes to
talk about
just peace all right both of these
realities the political spirit
the political spirit and the religious
spirit
both have one overlapping common
denominator
if you study the gospels you’ll see this
repeated over and over again
both of them are heavily influenced by
the fear of man
the pharisees wouldn’t answer a question
because the crowd would turn on them
they refused to answer jesus question
the political system refused to make
this decision because of what this group
pilot ended up crucifying jesus because
of the political
environment they’re going to tell caesar
the motivator for many decisions in
these two realities is the fear of man
and the crazy
thing is they all think it’s wisdom
fear masquerades as wisdom whether it’s
fear of
a disease fear of man doesn’t matter
what it is
fear will always attract whatever
information is needed to legitimize its
existence
fear reinforces itself
i personally believe there’s a little
side note here i personally believe
that we this everybody i’m sure would
agree with we all have strengths
but those strengths can be turned into
weaknesses would you would you agree
with me
the boldness of peter
didn’t always work so well all right but
it really worked well
once it was under the lordship of jesus
are you with me all right
the fear of man i think starts out as a
tender heart
that has compassionate care for other
people
but the enemy works to manipulate it so
that we are actually governed by the
gift
instead of we govern the gift for
kingdom purposes
he turns he works to turn our place of
perception
from compassion and concern for the
condition of people around us
to a place where we become imprisoned by
the opinions of people around us
back to the subject so jesus talks to
these guys
and let’s go to the end of the story
first he says
when i fed the five thousand
we started with five loaves how many
baskets do we have left they said twelve
he said when we fed the four thousand we
started how many loaves seven
how many baskets were left over seven
so you mean to tell me when he fed the
most people
he started with the least amount of food
and he had the most leftovers
starting with more is not an advantage
starting with more that’s wall street’s
perspective
that’s not kingdom
you were chosen not because of your
strengths but because of your weaknesses
you were chosen
why all of eternity
will be spent by us looking into each
other’s lives
in honor in celebration by giving thanks
to god
because it was all by grace we’ll see it
clearly
it was all by grace nobody got here on
their own marriage
everybody got here by grace
it will be actually the inspiration for
praises for all of
eternity ephesians 2 says it’s going to
take the ages to come
to unravel the mystery of the surpassing
greatness of his grace
so here we are he says when i broke the
five thousand
five loaves for the five thousand how
many baskets did you have left they said
twelve
now go back to verse 17 let’s take a
look at this and let me talk to you for
a few minutes about it
why do you reason because you have no
bread
do you not yet perceive nor understand
is your heart still hurt
this is interesting because conversion
gave us the capacity to see
john 3 verse 3 unless you’re born again
you cannot
see the kingdom of god the implication
is
your conversion gives you the capacity
to see
now in this passage jesus says
okay you can’t see is your heart still
hurt
now never does he do that in shame it’s
never to rub our nose in something
it’s never to make us feel hopeless it’s
always an invitation to maturity
it’s always an invitation to grow so
he’s pointing out
some weaknesses in their perception
what’s the problem here
they just if you read through this
chapter you notice they
just were used in multiplying food a
second time
for the four thousand they go from
multiplying food
to a boat where they don’t have enough
food and they’re afraid of not having
food for lunch
why do you reason that you have no bread
why did you start your thinking
with what you lacked with what you don’t
have
all right let me ask you the question
how many of you have had
honestly supernatural provision of god
you’ve had god provide for supernatural
how many of you after that miracle of
provision you had another financial
problem how many of you were as afraid
the second time as you were the first
time
all right that’s the issue right there
is
our experience in the supernatural is
supposed to train us how to think and
how to see
when he asked the question why do you
reason he never asked that to them
in their beginning stages of
discipleship
he never would have expected them to
have that awareness the god of the
impossible
unlimited supply is with us he wouldn’t
have expected it
but now that they’ve experienced
multiplying food twice
see miracles are expensive because they
require
change miracles that are just
observed and applauded but doesn’t
shift perspective have not had their
full impact
they’re supposed to actually change the
way i deal
with the situations of my life
once you’ve seen supernatural supply
you’ve lost every right to start any
thought process with what you don’t have
as i heard somebody say recently
once you’ve seen supernatural supply
you’ve lost all rights to begin any
thought process with what you don’t have
see miracles are expensive because they
require shift
they require change any thought process
that i start with what i don’t have will
have to be repented of
because anything i build on it is built
on sand
it’s built on that weak foundation
people around you will applaud you
they’ll call it common sense
common to what world what kingdom is it
coming to
why do you reason that you have no bread
don’t you understand can you not
perceive and then he goes on then he
asks three questions
he says having eyes
can’t you see i don’t know about you but
oftentimes i mean that situation
nope i cannot see
i know it’s me but it’s real i don’t i
cannot see
and he goes on and says can’t you hear
you know having years do you hit not
here
i i do hear better than i see but there
are times i’m in a situation where i
can’t see i can’t perceive
it’s seeing from the heart you
understand we’re not talking about open
visions of
angels and all that that’s all wonderful
but that’s not the normal
everyday seeing of the heart of a
believer
i’ve had situations i remember praying
for this uh
this guy who had a issue with his back
and i couldn’t see with my eyes but i
could see it clearly from my heart
there was a black substance on his back
that was clinging to him
i know it sounds weird i didn’t make a
big deal of it i just the person i was
praying with i said pull that off his
back
and we had worked together long enough
they they knew just to do what i asked
them do
so they just went as though they just
grabbed this black mass and pulled off
his back and he was healed
it’s a seeing it’s a perceiving here’s
here’s what i’ve learned
he says having eyes can’t you see having
ears can’t you hear and do you not
remember
the first two most of us would attribute
to somebody
connected to their gift that person
really
or chris for example has an unusual
ability to see
he sees he can see with his natural eyes
what what
sometimes what what i can’t even see by
faith you know he sees it with his
natural eyes
it’s a gift so sometimes seeing we would
relegate to somebody who has that
unusual
gift or they’re hearing they just have
such an ability to hear from god i love
whenever
i love whenever they share something
because they’re just like i tell they
can just start hearing from god
but remembering has never been
attributed to a gift
see i may not have what i think is a
qualified gift to see and i may not have
in this particular season of my life an
ability to hear well but i can always
remember
psalms 119 verse 11 says this
the testimony of the lord is your
inheritance forever
say that with me the testimony of the
lord
is your inheritance forever let’s make
it personal the testimony of the lord
is my inheritance forever now what’s
interesting about that
is that verse does not say
your testimony is your inheritance
forever it says the testimony of the
lord which then opens it up
to everything god has ever done
in all of time in his affair with people
and his activities of people that then
means that when the water came out of
the rock
for israel that’s my story
that’s my story it’s part of my
inheritance
now there are sometimes people don’t
enjoy their inheritance
they don’t use their inheritance they
leave it where it is you know they
they inherit a home but they never stay
there
and a lot of us have inheritance in god
some of you never knew they were yours
but these are your stories
when jesus walked upon that funeral and
a dead child was being carried to be
buried
and the mother was weeping and jesus
with the father’s heart
was so deeply moved with compassion he
raised the child up that’s your story
that’s your story why why is it
important
because prayerfully meditating on the
testimony of the lord
equips us with an ability to see
here’s what happens for me i get in
situations where i’m trying to see and i
i can’t see i
there’s times i can’t i can’t perceive
what he’s saying what he’s doing
i’m trying to hear and i’m trying to you
know i’m trying to i’m trying to prime
the pump you know i’m reading
the scriptures and doing i’m not hearing
at all but i can remember
and i’ll stop and this is what i’ll do
i’ll stop and i’ll say all right
two weeks ago we got a testimony of
pancreatic cancer being healed
one of the most horrific kinds of cancer
anybody could ever have
and right after that i saw a woman with
als
healed two of the most horrible diseases
this is the season for going after
horrible diseases this is the season
where did you get that we got it from
the testimony
it shapes how we think i remember flying
back from new zealand i just spent some
time
several years back i just spent some
time with winky pratty
he’s a a wonderful friend and a hero of
the faith for me
and he um he had a stroke and it
literally blew up like a quarter of his
brain
and he he threw literally through the
renewing of the mind
the lord had healed his brain and i had
just been
with roland baker who had a disease that
was
eating his brain they have x-rays it was
his brain was dying
so here i’ve got the two smartest men i
know
winky pratty
and roland baker are the two most
intelligent guys i think i’ve ever met
and here they both had brain issues that
were going to take their life
and they’ve been healed i came back here
thinking on the airplane thinking about
this is interesting
god must be healing minds it must be
healing minds
we’ve got to target this god’s going
after trauma of the brain
so in here out of that not out of a word
of knowledge
not out of sometimes he’ll speak to me
something or i’ll see a picture of it
sometimes he just puts it in my heart i
can tell
there’s a faith for something it wasn’t
this this
was seeing what he’s doing
so i called out brain trauma we had one
of our own
staff guys that had a horrible horrible
fall
and has not been able to do anything
with his children any kind of activity
with any kind of movement
he couldn’t be in the room when a
difficult subject was being discussed
he would just it would just go into
panic mode he couldn’t function
he was in here when i called that out
he went into the men’s room and he just
he literally just calmly put his head
against the wall
as his act of faith
and he was completely healed a woman
sitting right over here
two-year-old child had had uh grown up
with an abusive
husband a abuse abusive father
and that child was beat as an infant
a misshaped head disassociated
wouldn’t associate with parents with
people and some of our students right
over there just laid hands on this child
the next morning the child walked into
them
to the mother’s room which never
happened when associate
walked into the mother’s room and said
mommy i’m okay now
see it’s supposed to be that feeding
five thousand
and feeding four thousand become the
lenses
through which you see an empty boat
without food it’s supposed to be the way
i see
the present challenge
it’s supposed to affect perception
because it causes me to look at things
differently
by the while that child’s misshaped head
but i
believe it was by the next morning was
normal completely normal
how different lenses
see to pray for miracles to look for god
to do what only he can do
and then not be changed ourselves in how
we think
and how we see challenges problems is to
miss the point
and so jesus he’s got his disciples
cornered
they’re on a boat they can’t go anywhere
and he says
can’t you see is your heart still hard
if i’ve ever lived in a season we’ve got
two things going on
we’ve got the residue or whatever you
want to call it from
the last 18 months and we have these
ongoing testimonies that are being
handed to us that are some of the most
extraordinary miracles
we’ve ever seen some of them are
happening
pancreatic cancer a student stood in
proxy
for her mom fourth stage
they were going to run scans on her to
see
if she could survive three 16-hour
surgeries
beginning in the month of june and the
scan came back
there’s zero cancer left the mother
excuse me the daughter just stood in
proxy
long distance it’s supposed to be one of
the primary lessons
of this last season of having to do
things on zoom and
and online all that stuff the amount of
miracles as it is right now we have
an ex a great number of people that are
becoming born again
literally through the declared word
online
the miracles empty wheelchairs out of uh
out of comas
i have one friend he’s seen two
resurrections from the dead all through
online all through
zoom extraordinary miracles taking place
what is it it’s learning to think and to
see
from god’s history with people see for
many
their history is works against them
i’ve been prayed for a thousand times
nothing’s ever happened yeah we prayed
for my mom and
she passed what is it
it’s not that we pretend those things
never happened that they never
existed it’s that we bring them in to
the relationship with the lord
so he can heal the place of pain and
turn it into a place of strength
every loss is supposed to be a place of
vengeance
not your vengeance not mine but where
god shows himself strong
uh somebody wrote a book years ago don’t
waste your sorrows
don’t don’t experience tragedy
and then let it just sit there and haunt
you use it against the enemy
use it why build a life formed around
the disappointment of loss
when you could use it for the place of
promotion for breakthrough
pancreatic cancer i just mentioned to
you what did my dad die of
pancreatic cancer
two days before he died i talked to rick
joyner on the phone
and he said god’s gonna use this to give
you seven times greater anointing
against that disease
yeah you have to you have to bring this
stuff before the lord i can’t make
anything happen you can’t make anything
happen
but i can be available i can’t i can’t
find myself
leaning in the right direction i may not
be moving fast but if i’m just moving in
the right direction there’s hope
it’s you bring this step before the lord
say let your name be exalted
god you take you have the last laugh you
have the last say in this matter
and then suddenly you start attracting
these stories
you start attracting this this news of
what god has done
and what he’s doing you will always
attract whatever you value
any we did this two weeks ago any person
who values gossip you put them in the
middle of a business with a hundred
people
they will naturally attract every person
in that business that values gospel
but the same is true testimony the same
is true with words of faith
you will attract what you need
having eyes can’t you see
having ears can’t you hear
can you at least remember so he takes me
through that list i go yeah i’m not
seeing well
oh my hearing stinks sorry
but i can remember the first two are
attributed to gifts
the third is attributed to willingness
what am i willing to feed my soul on
so i pray that in this next season
everybody in this room every one of us
would
would literally be a magnet
to hope and to faith and to testimonies
the things
that reinforce the why why we’re alive
the purpose for our life that it would
not be
void of the supernatural interventions
of god
it would not be occasional wouldn’t be
that russian roulette thing or maybe
it’s god’s will but one out of ten times
no
not that this is the heart this is the
nature of god
it is for the people of god
we come with the violence of a john the
baptist
who lays hold of that which has been
promised
i pray for that father i pray that you
put a grace over every family
that we find ourselves mysteriously
running into the very story we needed
and that you’d help us to wear them like
lenses
and see through your history
awaken for us in the scripture the very
report of the lord that we need
in the season we’re in i’m praying
father for every
part of our family online family
local family that you would equip us
with the eyes to see
what’s been in front of us all this time
see if this story is true and it’s from
jesus so obviously it is
this could represent the greatest
spiritual reality in my life
but hardness of heart can make me blind
to what’s right in front of me
and so often we’re praying god how come
how come you haven’t provided god
how come the miracle hasn’t happened yet
how come how come how come
when right in front of us is the reality
that requires a response
but we’re too hard to see what he’s put
in front of us
so lord we turn intentionally away from
all those things that would build that
crust
in our heart to what you’re saying and
to what you’re doing
and help us to be unusually tender
to your voice to your presence for this
next season i pray
in jesus name the bible says jesus made
this statement i was reading it this
morning
what will it profit a man if he gains
the whole world
and he loses his own soul what does a
prophet
what would profit a person to have every
dream you’ve ever had every thought
every ambition
fulfilled and that you lost your own
soul
in that moment every person would trade
every experience every blessing
everything they ever had in life for
that one
sound of him saying well done good and
faithful servant there’s nothing
a person wouldn’t give in that moment
for that very word
i believe that told it brings us
together we have oh goodness i think
it’s eight to ten people a week
are coming to christ just in our online
service
but i want to make sure that everybody
in the room knows what it is to be
forgiven
to be brought into the family of god and
to be a follower of one
his name is jesus and anybody that would
be in this room and just say bill
i don’t want to leave the building i
don’t want to leave the property till i
know
i have found peace with god i’ve been
forgiven of sin and i truly
become a follower of jesus if that’s
anybody in the room just put a hand up
real quick where you are
give just a moment to look around the
room wave it at me if i miss you because
i want to make sure
we give full opportunity for everyone
here to make that confession of faith
towards
jesus all right
online put in the chat that you want to
surrender your life to jesus
we have pastors that are there that are
ready to talk with you to pray with you
and we believe this can be the absolute
beginning beginning of a whole new life
for you
bless you why don’t you go ahead and
stand tom
come on up and tell them what they’ve
won