In this sermon from 2018, Bill Johnson unpacks how to treasure the Word. The Bible is so deep that we will be studying for eternity, as every facet is a glimpse of His face. The Word of God is endless in its scope and study. Bill shares personal secrets from his own time in the Word, including stories of when he audibly heard the voice of God. He also unpacks Isaiah 30. In this sermon from 2018, Bill Johnson unpacks how to treasure the Word. The Bible is so deep that we will be studying for eternity, as every facet is a glimpse of His face. The Word of God is endless in its scope and study. Bill shares personal secrets from his own time in the Word, including stories of when he audibly heard the voice of God. He also unpacks Isaiah 30.
thank you thanks
[Applause]
nice to see you
nice to see us
i was in
houston
and then phoenix last week
and i had such an amazing privilege
of speaking at
maya morello had a conference
to celebrate his 50th year of preaching
the gospel 50 years i think he started
when he was five
but preaching the gospel for 50 years
and his ministry is what just completely
changed my life
and uh so i whenever i introduce him i
i introduce my i owe this man my life
and uh anyways what an incredible honor
to be there to celebrate
his 50th year and
do this conference is just
just one of the highlights of my life a
great treat then i was in phoenix
at uh church for all nations with the dr
michael mayton and they’ve got such an
amazing amazing work there
um he went through hell you know 30
years or so ago 20 some years ago
and somebody ran off with the
money and this is a horrible story
and but the lord has so restored
him
in the church there multiple campuses
that place is exploding and he’s one of
my favorite people everywhere anywhere
both
he and his wife mary just thankful for
them so it was a great treat to be with
them last week
and now i’m at my favorite place on the
planet right here
they have a place
i uh somebody gave me this this morning
someone figured out my password
now i have to rename my dog
[Applause]
i just think that is so funny
the flat earth society has members all
around the globe
[Laughter]
how many of you have had your coffee
you should be getting these yes
first woman in space women you have to
forgive me are already at the beginning
here
first women in space
houston we have a problem
what kind of problem
never mind
what’s the problem nothing
please tell us i’m fine
[Applause]
that’s funny
that is fun
i asked my grandpa
after 65 years of marriage you still
call grandma darling beautiful honey
what’s the secret
he said i forgot her name five years ago
and i’m afraid to ask
[Applause]
one more one more one more and then
we’re through for the day
god promised men
the good and obedient wives would be
found in all corners of the earth
then he made the earth round and he
laughed and laughed
[Applause]
[Laughter]
oh boy okay
i had kind of an unusual thing happened
uh yesterday it wasn’t dramatic it was
just it just caught me off guard
the lord spoke to me
and he told me to talk to you about
isaiah chapter 30.
which i don’t get that kind of direction
so it caught me completely off guard
because i don’t even think in those
terms
i have been reading isaiah in uh recent
last several days
and i had read
isaiah
30 was one of the chapters that i read
yesterday
and
and he spoke to me so clearly that i was
to talk to you about isaiah 30. so
i started pondering um what i was
supposed to do i mean obviously
i need to talk to you about isaiah 30.
but it represented something for me that
is what i’m going to talk to you about
isaiah 30 is one of the maybe 100 places
in the scripture
where the lord has fed my soul
when i’ve been
in trouble
fearful
anxious whatever it might be
um i’ve learned through the years that
whenever i’m i’m
going through something what i want to
do is i want to meet with jesus
and this book right here is jesus in
you know don’t tell me you love jesus
and you don’t love his book because this
is him in print
and and what happens is
i read this verse this morning actually
it said
the lord waters the seed that we plant
so just think in the natural you take a
seed you put it in the ground he’s the
one who brings the rain
it’s also true of the word we plant in
our heart it’s up to us to plant the
seed of god’s word into our heart he’ll
make sure he waters it once it’s planted
so the point is is we have
responsibility to take what god is
saying and make sure it gets planted
safely into our heart where he can water
and bring bring fruit from this from
so i remember
early on in my walk with the lord in
fact
i
benny and i got married i was 21 she was
18.
and uh
we’d have an evangelist come to town
he’d say how many of you have teenagers
at home and i’d raise my hand
and about that time i’d get the elbow
and the ribs i think i’m still bruised
here from
from the elbow and the rims ribs
oh yeah those teenagers are challenging
yeah
yeah amen
i remember
about that period of time i i went
through just a very very difficult
situation it’s the absolute worst
situation i’d ever gone through my life
and it was a betrayal of sorts and it
was just extremely painful and you know
it’s one thing it’s one thing to
determine in your heart i’m just i i
forgive and i’m going to walk in
forgiveness
it’s another to settle down the
firestorm that’s in your brain
in your mind and i remember the fight i
remember the fight
goodness i remember
i remember being at work one night i was
a custodial engineer
i cleaned the toilets and vacuumed the
floors
at the city hall
and
police department in santa rosa that’s
where i happened to be going to school
and i remember just being in this fight
over my mind and over my heart and i had
already made the determination i’m gonna
walk in forgiveness
but it was just a horrendous
personal experience
and so i remember
i remember being at work and
goodness every three minutes
i’d have to try to settle the firestorm
in my brain and i just i’m going i walk
in forgiveness i forgive this person i
did find
through the journey that if you can put
forgiveness into an action it’s like
two-part epoxy you make the decision the
termination the confession but then you
put an action together and it solidifies
the decision but i was in the process in
the journey of discovering this
so i remember being at work and i i
don’t recommend you doing this but i had
my bible with me
and uh and i would i would be so
overwhelmed by this thing my my thoughts
were going crazy i would just open the
bible somewhere and point
now
don’t get your direction from the lord
doing this
i’m telling you my story i’m not trying
to give you an example
but i did that’s exactly what i did i i
did it at least 20 times truth be known
it’s probably closer to 50 times in one
night
because i was i was i was i was in such
pain
and such turmoil and have forgiveness
and three minutes later five minutes
later 10 minutes later i would just take
the bible i would open at that point
every time
i did that he spoke to me exactly what i
needed every single time
and it probably was closer to 50 times
in one evening i don’t recommend you
doing that
because you could go judas went and hung
himself
that’s not good
go thou and do likewise that’s it’s just
a bad combination of verses so
you got to be careful what you do but in
that evening i in that night i was
honestly i was in such
pain in my heart the lord was so
gracious that he used that as a method
to talk to me
that was a part of my journey to learn
how to find safe places
where i could retreat to and let me
describe that
my home has always been a home of peace
always
benny and i determined from the very
beginning it’s never been a house of
conflict
doesn’t mean we don’t have difficulties
or challenges like anyone else but it is
just a place of peace always is a place
of peace
i learned that when you you come home
after a long day you never greet each
other with difficulties or challenging
things unless it’s an emergency
you always greet each other in peace
excuse me if there’s difficult things to
talk about you schedule at a mutually
convenient time so that you’re both at
your best to deal with whatever issue
arises so anyway we we just learned we
learned to maintain the house of peace
and so my home has always been you know
no matter what kind of craziness i i
experienced out there and when i go home
it’s a place of peace
well
how many of you would like to have a
little cabin by a lake somewhere up in
the mountains yeah the little place of
refuge yes jesus hear my cry amen all
right
we would all like to have that
and i actually have probably a thousand
of them in here
they’re places of such absolute peace
where there’s interaction
i hear his heart his mind and i
literally come face to face
with him
i’ve i’ve been in these situations as i
was that night
where i i need i need god i
in that situation i didn’t need an
answer i just needed deliverance i
needed help
and so i walked in forgiveness and
and it got to where it wasn’t every
three minutes it was every 10.
eventually it was every 30 minutes
eventually a couple times a day
eventually it was
once or twice a week
and then eventually
you look at the thing
and you can say with absolute confidence
you have no influence in me none
whatsoever you have no influence
you would think as big as he is he could
just deliver us from the moment so we
don’t have to have that kind of fight
but the crazy thing is it’s the fight
that conditions me to live in the
blessing once i get the breakthrough
that without the conditioning
i wouldn’t be able to handle that which
god wanted to release into my life
so i remember that particular evening
and since then i’ve had
so many situations throughout my life
and isaiah 30 is one of
on those
more positive note
when i as a young man i had this desire
to write
now you have to understand my grades
were good i
i did fine but i was not a good student
i’ve told you that before my mom
disagrees with me but trust me she
i was a great student
i i just you know i just
i just wasn’t very good
learning wasn’t
i wasn’t interested
i was always daydreaming
about being somewhere else my senior
year i had enough credits i think i
ended up with four pe classes
which is like heaven on earth you know
i’d rather play sports anyway so i just
whittled it down i think i just played
volleyball my senior year out in the
parking lot and that’s what i did all
day you know
and that was that was my kind of school
right there
permanent recess
i always pulled an a in recess so
but i you know as a young man i i had
this desire to write
and uh i know enough about what the
father’s like now
that if that’s that desire is there you
know just get the car rolling it’s
easier to steer you know just start
pursuing but i i didn’t know that i
didn’t know that then and i wasn’t at
all confident
in uh and
my ability to write i mean my
any report that i did
i’m embarrassed to say but i’ve just
copied out of an encyclopedia i just
you know i didn’t know what i was
talking about but i would just copy it
and
those were my reports explained
encyclopedia you know
it’s a big book yeah
so the point was as i i felt extremely
unqualified to write but i had a desire
i didn’t have the courage to even try
but i
i just had that dream so i would pray i
prayed about it and prayed about it
and one time dick mills was down in
chico dick mills is a prophet friend of
our family good friend of ours and
encouraged me so much in waverville he’s
one of these guys he had 7 700 all 7 700
promises in the bible memorized
in various translations just because he
could
and uh and he would you know we’d be at
a restaurant and i’d say that girl right
there she goes to our church he says
bring her over here and so he would
bring her over and say hey come here and
introduce and he’d get this incredible
prophetic word just by quoting scripture
it was it was jehovah’s sneaky that did
this because the church had so rejected
the prophetic that’s hard to argue when
all that uses the bible scripture so he
snuck the prophetic back into the church
as as only he can but it was just so fun
so binding our and the kids were went
down to chico we’re just going to hang
out with him for the day and then there
was a meeting that night so we went into
town had lunch and
and i was hoping in my heart of hearts
that he would give me a word about
writing because i did not have the
courage to pursue it unless i knew god
was in it
so i’m not saying my approach was
correct i’m just saying
that’s what i did
so i went to the meeting i didn’t have
the t-shirt pick me pick me but i i did
have that prayer god it should be cool
so we we went to lunch hung out for the
day and that evening was a meeting
there’s a bunch of people in the room
and so he preaches for his at whatever
time and when he’s through he says i’m
going to be calling out several of you
and i’m going to be giving you a good
word from god i’m going to give you a
promise and he says when i’m through
giving you a word i’m going to hand the
microphone to bill and bill is going to
give you a word
[Laughter]
we had never discussed this
and while i didn’t have very many verses
memorized i had some
and they all got raptured they all
evaporated immediately
i was struggling to remember jesus wept
and i sure that wouldn’t encourage
anybody
and i i literally i’m panicked but i’m
cool on the outside but i’m panicked i’m
inside going
have i ever read the bible before
everything just
vanished
it’s absolutely true so dick calls this
lady out and he gives you this great
word he hands me the microphone
and the anointing that was on him then
came on me
and i functioned in his gift that’s an
interesting way to learn
because you get tethered to somebody
else and if there’s honor and submission
or you actually get to step into their
momentum
and i actually functioned as he did that
night it didn’t continue but what
happens is the lord will give you a
taste of a reality that you can then
pursue legally in your own journey
and so that’s what happens i tasted of
that grace and i i had scriptures coming
back to mind that i had you know
memorized or read years before and i was
rather shocked and the meeting was over
and we’re hanging out up front and
people we’re talking to people and stuff
and this lady comes up to me with this
this
torn piece of paper about this big
and it’s just torn off of another piece
of paper and she says i feel like god
spoke this word to me
for you and i read it and i said this is
what i came praying about and it was a
word about writing
and i said i was praying about this she
said oh good she said i tore it up twice
before i gave it to you
so she encouraged me so much i didn’t
have what it took to sit down and then
write a book but at least i had i was
going in the right direction i knew that
god’s in this
a short time later i was at i was uh
at home
and we we had this home back in the back
in the woods a little ways beautiful
home and
and i woke up in the middle of the night
with the voice of the lord this has only
happened to me twice
the voice the voice woke me
and imagine being sound asleep and then
hearing somebody talk to you and this is
what he said
isaiah
30 verse 8.
i would
and this is what i said
that was clear
that was clear
and so when i got up i opened isaiah 30
verse 8 and it said
now go and write
so it was a tipping for point for me
where i began to write small pieces this
isn’t about that this is about
a journey that i have with this book
i have
little
cabins by lakes
from genesis to revelation and there are
places where i can go and become
refreshed places that i go hide i
remember a real challenging situation
that i was facing about 11 years ago
and man it just it just rocked me just
messed me up so much as just very deep
and personal
it wasn’t uh conflict or you know
anything of that nature it was very just
a real deep
challenge
and i remember
what i do is i i go to the word i i will
go and i will read till i hear his voice
and i’ve sat down before and i’ve read
20 chapters 25 chapters before he speaks
to me
but the point is i have to find the seed
then he’ll send the rain
that’s the whole point is i have to take
what he’s saying i’ve got to put it in a
safe place where i demonstrate i
treasure your word for me
and then i hide it away it’s interesting
last night when i i uh went to bed uh on
the web i have a little table next to uh
benny and i both have on each side of
the bed a little table
and um
i have a stack of three by five cards
that sit on that table and they’re just
promises i’ve gotten from the lord i i
have more than that in in my ipad and
iphone and computers and everything
i’ve got files on my i’ve got two huge
binders this big in my office one is
just for words about bethel and warren
personal words so anyway i got into bed
and i looked out that stack and i read
the top verse and it was uh you know it
was the promise that the lord had put
none of these diseases upon you and that
he would be our healer and all that so i
read that i thought that was cool i
thought what’s in the middle so i opened
the middle of the stack up
isaiah 30.
and i began to read three verses that
we’re going to read here in a moment i
realize all right i get it i get it i
get it so i’m not teaching on isaiah 30
as much as i’m saying
develop a history
where you have
places where you can retreat to
places see this book is so deep that
you’ll be reading studying it for
eternity
and it will never be boring every
little new nuance will be another
glimpse of his face what he’s like his
nature his heart for you
and it’s it’s endless in its
scope in its study
so i remember
i i was uh about 11 i think said 11
years or so ago i i was facing this just
personal struggle so disheartening
and
i remember just getting into psalms and
psalms 25 just lit up to me it fed me so
much
i i went i went chapter 26 and it was
almost like it was even more tailor-made
for me in 27 i think i actually ended up
going uh five or six psalms deep into
that where every single one fed me the
point is
today
even though i’m not facing the same
challenge
when i go into psalms 25 i will
intentionally walk wade into that psalm
going this is a place of health for me
now you can read it and enjoy it too but
i’m loaning it to you
it happens to be my personal
gift that i loaned to you
just joking but you get the point it’s
it’s i have history there i have i can
show you in weaverville the uh where the
church is in weaverville um the new
church um i used to walk that property i
didn’t know it was two lots owned by two
different owners
and i used to go up there and just walk
and pray and i’d say god we we need to
build a new building we’ve grown out of
our
own and we just need this land so i’d
walk and walk and
coincidentally
both uh pieces of land came up for sale
at the same time by two different owners
and so we we uh we bought it
and uh danny when he was in weaverville
ended up building the building but the
point is i remember walking that land
and i i just i like to walk and pray i
like to get alone and meet with god and
i would just walk walk that land and i’d
cry out to god for revival cry out to
god for whatever it was that we were
facing
and i remember standing by one
particular tree so
uh so troubled in my heart for what i
felt god wanted to do and
and so overwhelmed with what wasn’t
happening and i remember just personal
uh issues and
not struggles uh challenges for my faith
to see breakthrough in this area neter
and just weeping before the lord and
having him talk to me out of psalm 68 i
will never forget it i could take you
the tree’s not there anymore because
they cut a bunch of them down but i
could probably almost take you to the
exact spot where he spoke to me out of
psalm 68 and as i read i like to read
uh i don’t like to randomly go
throughout the scripture i read the
gospels or the whole new testament or
the prophets or the books of law
whatever i take them in sections and i
generally read and reread i i spent
goodness i spent 10 years
reading and re-reading the gospels i
read other places too but i just i
couldn’t get out of the gospels
so anyway here i am
uh in the in the psalms and i’m and i’m
reading and the lord speaks to me
and to this day it is now
30 years later
i
go to that verse it’s still alive like
it was today it fed my soul still alive
like the day it refreshed me and my
faith it it did not change any
circumstances but it changed me
see what you want is you want to be
changed into the person that is capable
to dwell in the blessing that you’re
praying for
so often we want god to add something to
our life without us being transformed
into one who is capable of stewarding
well what we’ve asked for the fight is
for that purpose the fight of our faith
the challenge the discipline those
things and so here we are we’re in
isaiah chapter 30 if you haven’t turned
there already please do because we’re
going to read just a couple verses out
of there
i’m going to read this out of the new
american standard i like it so much
better
and that was actually the translation i
was using at the time and
perhaps that’s why
it just it sounds more like his voice
the way he he spoke to me
isaiah 30 verse 18
therefore the lord longs to be gracious
to you
and therefore he waits on high to have
compassion on you
for the lord is a god of justice
how blessed are all those who long for
him
o people in zion inhabit in jerusalem
you will weep no longer
he will surely be gracious to you at the
sound of your cry
when he hears it he will answer you
although the lord has given you bread of
privation
and water of oppression
he your teacher will no longer hide
himself
but your eyes will behold your teacher
and your ears will hear a word behind
you
this is the way walk in it
whenever you turn to the right
or to the left
it’s just a portion that i will
return to every once while because it
feeds me it’s like for me it’s like
joshua chapter one verses five through
nine it’s just a place i weighed into
because i have i have met with him over
those verses and he’s brought peace to
me in the middle of challenging
situations or peace to me when i have
ached for more and i didn’t have
anything to show for what i aged for
he is the word that’s why you can’t
separate the voice
from the presence
when he speaks
he is
it’s two sides of the same coin
it’s why you have in john
1
jesus is the word of god made flesh
but in john 6
when jesus spoke the word became spirit
because when he speaks
presence is there
and presence throughout scripture old
and new testament is represented by one
picture in one picture alone the
presence is
the face of god
it’s the
joyful
delighting accepting countenance of a
perfect father
voice presence
face
see the cabin by the lake is nice
but when you’re in the middle of
difficulty and you your life is laid
down to honor just this one jesus
and
everything seems to be on the line and
you’ve been anticipating breakthrough
there’s been a delay in answers and
there’s the anguish of the heart because
god i’ve been believing you i’ve been
confessing i’ve been praying i’ve been
doing everything i know to do
it’s not the time
to throw in the towel because
oftentimes the greatest breakthrough
comes when we just take that one more
step
and taking that one more step and saying
god i’ve got to meet with you and we
meet together and he talks to me and in
this case isaiah 30 represents a chapter
where he has ministered to me deeply on
many many occasions
i can take you from the beginning to the
end of this great book the word of god
the scriptures and i can give you my
history i met with him here at this
point this chapter changed my life this
verse in mark 8 changed the way i
thought for the rest of my life i will
never think the same again because of
this verse right here on the left page
right side column halfway down it’s got
all kinds of marks around it
but the point is is that history is on
those pages
it’s a safe place
everybody needs a safe place
your home
your friends family
but also with god
where his voice is there
and he comforts
one of the more frustrating parts of our
relationship and forgive me for putting
it in those terms
but one of the more frustrating parts of
my relationship with him
is the fact that he won’t always tell me
what to do
all i want is this will just tell me
what to do i just you know i got door a
b and c just tell me which one i’m happy
i’m happy i love your will it’s always
been good
and there are sometimes i’m i i want to
know
his plan for my life
just show me what i’m supposed to do
and i’m standing here and i hear nothing
i said god come on and i i remember one
situation years ago
i even resorted to fasting i was that
desperate
fasting
god what do you want me to do nothing
and i finally it was 11 59 so to speak
and i just i had to make a decision so i
just made a decision just went to door a
walked through and he was on the other
side going
good choice
good job
you scare me
the way you do things just ah scares me
but i love you
and i don’t understand you at all
but now that it’s over that was fun
right
and sometimes you know sometimes we’re
stan i’m standing here and i’ve got door
a b and c and and i don’t know what to
do and i’m waiting for him to give me
his voice and sometimes he’s very clear
i mean you know isaiah 30 verse 8 is
pretty clear it tells me exactly what to
do but there are other times he just
won’t
and it’s not until
i approach door c
and get my hand on the handle he says
be
and i go all right
cool
and i take his direction but he didn’t
speak until i came to the moment of
decision the point is
is the hunger isn’t for a road map
the hunger is for a tour guide
the hunger is not for a plan for the
rest of my life even though that may be
what i would like
what i really ache for is the person
to meet with him
have him speak to me
sometimes i’m filled with questions i
ask him about all this stuff he doesn’t
answer one of them he just touches me at
a different place because he knows the
pain of this started way back over here
and so he ministers deeply
the point is
is that we come to him
and he speaks
and he brings comfort he brings peace
sometimes he gives us an insight we know
exactly what to do sometimes we have
that courage just act other times
nothing has changed but i feel better
about horrible circumstances
it’s a weird thing but i just feel
better
see i want him to give me detailed
instruction
kind of like a slave
wants
detailed instructions
and he’s wanting me to act as a son
who he trained to think like he does
that makes me so nervous
i’d rather him just tell me
but he’s actually wanting me to change
so he invites us
into this book
here’s an interesting part at the end of
the chapter
let me just read to you just as a bonus
and then we’ll wrap this up
in
verse 29
you will have songs as in the night when
you keep the festival gladness of heart
as one marches around to the sound of
the flute
to go to the mountain of the lord the
rock of israel
the lord will cause his voice of
authority to be heard
the descending of his arm to be seen in
fierce anger the flame of his consuming
fire this is all against your enemy so
be happy
in a cloud burst a downpour hail stones
for at the voice of the lord assyria
will be terrified listen to this when he
strikes with the rod
every blow of the rod of punishment
which the lord will lay on your enemy
will be
with music of tambourines
and harps
we bring out the bazookas we’re ready to
go to war god says now pick up the
guitar
but
we’re going to war he says i know
i’ll amplify the sound
you doing this
releases that
we’re best in war when we’re not devil
focused anyway
so here we are just celebrating his
kindness playing the piano
lifting a voice
whatever it may be
anytime we have this many people in the
room the chances are high
that we have people here who have never
made a personal commitment to the lord
jesus christ there isn’t
a more important part of this day
listen to me carefully there are not
many ways to god
if there were many ways then the father
requiring jesus to be crucified would be
cruel
he was crucified as the only possible
solution
a perfect man
dying on behalf of everyone who is
imperfect which is all of us
he made that sacrifice so that everyone
here those watching online
those in the overflow everyone here
could have a personal relationship with
jesus to know what it is to be born
again that’s the bible term born again
change from the inside out
and i want to give this opportunity for
anyone who would be in this room and
just say bill i don’t want to leave the
room until i know
that i’ve been forgiven by god that i
know
that i’m right with god that if i were
to die today i would spend eternity with
god i’d spend eternity in heaven with
him
if that fits anybody in this room you
say bill i don’t want to leave till i
know i’m at peace with god then i want
you just to put your hand up right where
you are
take just just a moment for this put
your hand right here yes thank you sir
beautiful
anybody else real quick
just put your hand up
anyone else but you end up real quick i
don’t want to miss anyone
okay let’s do this i want everyone to
stand
everyone to please stand
and if i missed you
please forgive me but i would like to
have ministry team come to the front and
the gentleman put your hand up please
just come right up over here as we have
people that we know and love that we
trust to talk with you and to pray with
you would you honor this one who’s
making this confession of faith today
god bless you
god bless you right over here yeah thank
you
beautiful
come on somebody get happy that’s just
good
amazing amazing
never ever gets old
all right i want to pray for you because
i believe the lord wants to release
a gift
you know i have people say
i read the word but i don’t remember
what it says
how many of you would
i read the word i don’t remember what it
says
i don’t remember what i had for
breakfast last week either but it still
nourished me just eat
[Applause]
yes amen put your hands in front of you
you’re going to receive a gift
father i ask that you would make
the word of god
our eternal safe place
that for everybody in this room a new
level of history would form today
where we encounter you we meet with you
over the issues the challenges the
opportunities of our life and you speak
to us once again
i welcome that i pray for that
and this body of believers i ask in
jesus name amen amen
now if you hold your place tom’s going
to help us to figure out what to do next
so good could we give pastor bill a big
hand thankful for that