Bill Johnson teaches two keys for spiritual growth in every season, and explores the reason why churches grow under persecution but often become complacent in seasons of peace and blessing. God’s plan is for the church to thrive and grow in every season – both under persecution and in seasons of peace. In the early church of Acts we see the church grow under persecution, but also continue to thrive and increase after they came into a time of peace and blessing. Bill Johnson teaches two keys to not becoming complacent, found in Acts 9, that will ensure that we always experience spiritual growth in the Lord in every season. Bill Johnson’s sermon follows a time of healing ministry. 6:04 Words of Knowledge for Healing 11:09 Prayer for Healing 24:11 Testimonies 29:48 Sermon: Two Keys for Spiritual Growth In Both Blessing and Persecution Subscribe for weekly videos: https://bit.ly/bjmYoutube
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Scripture References: Acts 2-9 Ephesians 3: 20 Romans 3: 23 Psalm 67 Philippians 4: 12 Originally shared at Bethel Church, Redding California, on January 14, 2018.
in the scripture God is so kind to give
us this simple verse with two bits of
instruction that ensure the people of
God can step into a sweet spot of
blessing and not fall prey to
complacency loss of focus turning
attention from seeking first the kingdom
to seeking the things the benefits of
the Kingdom Jesus didn’t get any of his
disciples by sharing with them the
benefits of the
Kingdom
bless the worship team please blessing
go thank you thank you yeah yeah is this
on yet yeah there we
go well good to see you I uh I don’t
know if we can get a camera shot of
this if is it possible get up on the
screen car car’s Revival group decided
to give me a
gift now
[Applause]
[Applause]
there’s
Eric there’s
Brian
[Applause]
here’s my daughter
[Applause]
Leah so good I’ve never received one of
these before this is a I didn’t even
know you could do that that’s awesome
thank you I
have I have something I’ve never had
before
for people ask what do you get for the
person who has everything this this is
what you get you you get this it’s so
cool thank
you my cins my friend he’s with the
Randy clarks’s team why don’t you stand
up so everyone can see my friend
Mike bless
you so good to have you here he has a
such an unusual Grace on his life for so
many things leads the school of min
Ministry there in Harrisburg
Pennsylvania Mechanicsburg uh but also
uh unusual Grace on his life for seeing
people healed of P
PTSD and uh I don’t know how many it is
now but it’s 10,000 at least
10,000
10,000
wow is this mic
on something that is
incurable 10,000
10,000
Wow Come On Let’s stand up and give a
shout of thanks to the Lord
10,000 wonderful Jesus bless the Lord
bless the
Lord bless the
Lord thank you God something they said
could not be fixed Jesus is fixing in
Mass
wow okay I just feel better now that you
stood go ahead and sit
down we’re going to have such an
outrageously good
week a a number of our folks just
without any prompting at all have just
felt called of the Lord to
fast uh this next week this last week
some of them been been fasting for a
while in anticipation of this week um I
asked some of our students this week
just Excuse me while I have my
twin
just remind you I’m still
here
yeah um every once I’m asked the
question if you could spend an hour with
anyone in history who would it be and
there’s a lot of folks I’d love to spend
an hour with you know a lot of Bible
characters and stuff but probably the
person I would pick would be John G Lake
he’s just my my personal hero he had
such a clear understanding of the
Kingdom to me 100 years ahead of anyone
of his day I haven’t found anyone with a
Clarity of the understanding of the
kingdom of God that he had and uh I was
talking to the students this last week
and I said how many of you would love to
spend you know a week with John G Lake
or AA Allen or some of the heroes of the
faith that we have of course all of us
raise our hands you
know and this week you have a chance to
do
that this is exactly what you have a
chance to do 100 years from now ry’s
name will be put in the the same group
as these Heroes that we’ve honored
through the years and the Lord has used
him to initiate fires of Revival all
over the world more than any other
person I know and uh and he’s in reading
this week in
Reading just show up and get in the line
of fire that’s all you got to do is just
get in the line of fire and just
say mess me up
Jesus some eloquent prayer like that
mess me up Jesus Beyond recovery and uh
it may I never be the same I I’m coming
hungry I feel such a a personal need for
more uh I really do I feel like I feel
like I I feel like we are right on the
edge of a very significant breakthrough
I want to talk a little bit about that
tonight but uh what you don’t want to do
is Miss Divine
opportunities and uh find something else
to do so if it’s a possibility for you
join us this week it’s going to be
outrageous
all
right does does anyone have metal in the
right side of their jaw does anyone have
metal I saw is it right right over here
you have in the right side of your
jaw the whole face I actually saw it
looked like an x-ray earlier in the
prayer room and I just saw something
highlighted on the right side of the jaw
so we’re going to pray for that um
anyone have
issues okay okay anyone have just issues
with the jaw especially on the right
side it may be both sides but especially
on the right side it could be TMJ could
be any number of things but all right I
want you go ahead and stand if that’s
you there’s also a number of individuals
here uh this is kind of strange when
when this when I when I see this I saw
it in the left hip but I felt it in the
right so as far as I’m concerned it
includes both sides if you have an issue
in the joint of your hip I think it has
to do with some sort of a a bone disease
I’m just guessing but that’s kind of
what it looked or felt like so if you
have issues in uh one or the other hip
or both stand if you’re able to and
we’re going to pray for you um detached
retina is there anyone who uh has that
um has damage to the eye where they’re
concerned uh with that that’s you as
well so this is all about you tonight
then and and you have the hip
too my face they took a bone out of your
hip for your
face it was it the right side yours is
the right side cuz that’s the one I feel
but I also saw something in the left
joint all right well this entire meeting
is really for you
tonight that’s awesome all right well
let me just declare of you Jesus makes
all things new he is the one who makes
all things new I just want you to stand
there in the anointing because he he is
going to recreate he is going to
recreate there are individuals that have
inflammation right under the kneecaps
could be on one or both sides but
there’s inflammation if that’s you stand
up the Lord’s going to heal uh there as
well there’s tendon damage and I believe
it’s the right ankle it’s in the ankles
but I can specifically feel it in my
right ankle there’s tendon damage there
um I think it happened quite a while ago
but it’s just never fully recovered if
that’s you stand up CU tonight is your
night uh there’s somebody who has broken
the right rib ribs on the right side it
may be a fresh break it may be an old
injury that just aggravates and if
that’s you just stand up because Jesus
is going to heal that right now right
now in fact put your hand on your own
rib just put your if that’s you put your
hand on your own
rib yeah we just declare the healing
Grace of Jesus right now there is a
hearing loss specifically in the left
ear if that you stand
up I mean obviously if you have an
either ear that’s great just get in on
it but uh uh but I can see just
specifically uh issue in the left ear um
also is there anyone here who has
growths of any kind in the abdominal
area it may be cancer it may not be is
it you you have is it benign is it
cancer do you know
don’t they found a MK okay you don’t
know what it is yet all right all right
so if there’s anyone else over here as
well all right listen Jesus wouldn’t
show these things for entertainment or
merely to give you hope he reveals these
things because of his full intention to
release his Miracle his touch his
grace the Lord is able to actually lay
his hand declare his word over each one
of you at the same time church I want
you just to extend a hand towards these
right
now for those of you that are
standing if you’re able to just put a
hand on the part of the body that is
Afflicted so that the people around you
will know what to pray
for
there’s also uh something the Lord is
doing in healing it almost feel like
he’s um purging or uh rotor
rter bad picture uh the whole sinus
cavity up in the forehead there’s
something that he’s purging he’s
cleaning out and uh I’m not sure it may
may be just an infection but it felt
like it was it was uh some sort of a
disease or Affliction of some sort
anyway if that’s you just stand up uh in
any measure just stand up all right now
Church begin to pray I want you to lay
hands on them declare the healing Grace
of Jesus we just ask holy spirit that
you would come now in power that you’d
release your Miracle of
healing we declare Jesus makes all
things new we speak to the right jaw be
healed now in the name of the Lord Jesus
all infirmity Affliction
loose in Jesus
name loose in Jesus name I ask for the
fire of the Holy Spirit to go through
that sinus cavity and permanently uproot
all Affliction all continuous Affliction
and pain this ongoing nonsense Ends
Tonight in Jesus name inflammation in
the knees and throughout the body I
rebuke you I rebuke you in the name of
the Lord and I command you loose
people’s bodies now in Jesus
name disia just keep see the letters
just um there’s a word of knowledge for
the healing of
Dyslexia so if you have that lay your
hand on your own forehead just lay your
hand on your own forehead and we just
ask Lord Lord rewire brains right now
there’s nothing you did wrong you are as
intelligent as anybody else around you
there’s just something that’s broken and
Jesus has come to repair and to fix it I
saw I’ve seen as many as 16 cases of
Dyslexia healed in one evening proven by
standing up and doing what they could
not do in front of a thousand people so
we declare that healing word right now
in Jesus name some of you are being
healed I want you as you’re being prayed
for just examine yourself slowly but
examine yourself and some of you that
are sitting down the healing Grace of
Jesus is called collateral blessing he
is touching people that aren’t standing
and uh and I believe that people are
being healed uh that uh that aren’t even
standing there’s somebody who has
something in the right sciatica that
Jesus is touching right now if if if I
were you I would stand up right now and
check it out if you had the issue with
the knees start Bend them examining them
do whatever you can do to check yourself
out thank you
Lord thank you Lord
Jesus peanut all peanut allergy is a
word of knowledge for peanut
allergy who is that peanut allergy
peanut algae man that’s just wrong
peanut algae you know Peanut allergy
chocolate allergy both are just illegal
they’re just from the devil so we just
declare no more peanut allergy honestly
let’s go after this food allergies are
wrong it’s the enemy mocking the liberty
of the believer to Delight in God’s
provision we call an end to food
allergies in this room right now in
Jesus mighty name we rebuke that lying
Spirit we rebuke that lying spirit that
just says food allergy is just a part of
life it is not a part of life there are
those watching online listen receive
these words over your own body we
declare that healing word write us when
the Lord touches you too let us know cuz
we need get encouraged by the by the
stories thank you
Lord I this is what I’m going to do
everyone that stood for prayer be
standing again right now if you sat down
stand again I this I I’ve not done it
like this before but I want everyone
who’s standing to put a hand up and I
want everyone else to stand right now
and face somebody with their hand up and
extend your hand towards them I feel
like there is a corporate anointing that
we are supposed to tap into for miracles
right now a corporate anointing it’s not
about an
individual it’s about his body his
Spirit upon his body we declare that
healing word right now that healing word
over your body in Jesus name
ears open in Jesus
name limbs be mended now in Jesus
name those with a jaw issue just start
moving your jaw around those with a
hearing issue have somebody examine you
uh check things out for your uh for your
hearing the the left eye the uh uh
uh issue with the eye with the sight
examine yourself right
now okay Church stop praying I want
everyone that receive prayer to test
yourself right now try to see what you
can
do who there’s a word of knowledge about
equilibrium
dizziness who who has who has that put
your hand up high lay hands on these
folks
quickly uh who has vertigo wave your
hand at me if it’s vertigo man that is
that is a tormenting thing I’ll tell you
lay hands on these folks right now for
that may be an inner ear infection lay
hands on them right now we just declare
this thing Ends Tonight Ends
Tonight okay everybody be praying right
now everyone be praying now everyone
that put your hand up right now check
yourself
out examine yourself and as soon as you
realize you’re at least 80% better I
want you to wave both hands over your
head like this so we can see who you are
are do that for about 15 seconds I want
people around you to see who who you are
look around the room glory to
God glory to
God now turn and Pray Again turn and
pray again unless the person is 100%
then of course leave him alone but turn
and Pray
Again go after a church the anointing is
upon you to bring healing and Recovery
to Broken conditions someone I think
it’s her right heel the heel was like
chipped the bones chipped there’s a word
of knowledge for a chip in the right
heel is there anyone has some sort of a
chip or a fracture a crack or something
in that in the right
heel if that’s you put your hand up cuz
I want to see I want to see who you are
I see a hand way in the back I don’t
know if they’re worshiping or right is
there right here
okay right back here okay all right all
right somebody just lay hands on the on
the heel declare heel over the heel amen
heal in Jesus name all right you got
about 30 seconds everybody be
praying everybody be
praying
[Applause]
it is the absolute will of God for every
person to be touched by the Lord tonight
the healing Grace of
Jesus thank you
Lord thank you
Lord all right you did good now yeah
stop praying for him everyone that
received prayer I don’t care if you felt
anything or not everyone who received
prayer right now examine yourself to see
what the Lord has done if there’s
anything you can do to check yourself
out do it right now and everyone who is
at least 80% better in any part us
prayed for wave your hands over your
head like this so that we can see who
you are we can celebrate with you thank
you
Lord bless the Lord
look wow wow wow wow
wow
come on lift up a shout lift up a shout
we give you thanks
God we give you thanks
Lord we give you thanks
Lord go ahead and be
[Applause]
seated
as simple as those kind of moments
are we’ve been doing this for a long
time many many many
years 20 years
plus and what I’ve noticed is there’s a
tremendous increase in the number and in
the significance of the Miracles when
the people of God doing the do the
praying yes we have great stories when
the prayer teams pray pastoral staff
healing rooms great reports but the ones
that impact me the most is when I have
the church pray and sometimes as in
tonight there’ll be pain leave
somebody’s body very simple minor to
everyone except the person who had the
pain
and other times it’s an absolute
creative Miracle we have one with us
tonight that had extraordinary Miracle
um let stand up so everybody can see was
it a year ago no it was just in May it
was it it was last May almost year yeah
yeah yeah yeah eight months ago eight
months ago absolute healing throughout
your body we’ve got a video that we’re
going to be doing or have done a the you
it’s already been filmed I think it’s
last week or so she had a uh little spal
spinal cord stimulator pack uh to
shoot the take the pain away in the
spine and and and you couldn’t do a lot
of things and you got baptized tonight
and your head almost came off I noticed
and you couldn’t do that before like
that would have killed you yeah yeah she
couldn’t do any of that because of the
metal and stuff in her
neet such a glorious thing yeah we’ll
we’ll hear more
we’ll hear more on this maybe testimony
or something this week such such a great
story but here’s the deal in these
simple moments where the church is the
church from the simplest things to the
most profound breakthroughs happen in
these kind of situations don’t ever
become weary of them don’t lose focus
don’t lose appreciation it’s not the
time to use the restroom it’s the time
to dig in to see breakthrough if you’re
not seeing breakthrough and you pray
scoot next to someone who is join your
prayers with them and when a
breakthrough comes just pretend like it
was all your
prayers just go yay God I give you glory
I give you thanks I give you praise it’s
just what we do we just draft on
somebody else’s Faith it’s a time to
increase it’s not a time to become
Spectators it’s a time to intensify s in
time to refine it’s a time to refine
Focus it’s a time to refine Focus
because the Lord is about to release
greater increase to those he can trust
with greater increase and uh I I hope to
have a little bit of time to talk to you
about that just in a few minutes I would
like to hear from three or four people
that had the Lord do something very
significant in your body tonight I would
like three testimonies minimum of
something Lord Jesus did you can help me
out come on up to the front here and um
I want to
hear what Jesus
did come on
down all right just’s come on down let’s
have at least at least
three sometimes it’s all men sometimes
it’s all women tonight it looks like
it’s all women come on down all right I
got to have one guy in this mix just
just because come come on down is there
is there is there a man did Jesus touch
men tonight or did he just ignore all of
you all right all right now don’t come
down for a miracle come down because
he’s already touched you and if that’s
you come on down all right tell us what
Jesus did tonight well I was standing
for a friend and my
grandson for the word of knowledge you
you called out and I wasn’t standing for
myself but I got healed of the flood in
my eye
[Laughter]
[Applause]
when the the floater in your eye is that
what you said yeah floater in my in my
eye and it what happened to it it’s gone
it’s
gone that’s
[Applause]
awesome come on Jesus testimony of Jesus
Spirit of proph prophecy if you have
floaters in your eyes lay your hands on
your own eyes and just say floaters be
gone if you don’t know what a floater is
good may you never know may you never
know right here go ahead what did Jesus
do
yeah okay what happened uh hi my name is
Tara nice to see you and uh I’m just
visiting this weekend
welcome
um
um a year and a half ago I was diagnosed
with breast cancer and I’ve been in
chemo and radiation and I almost um
died as an allergic reaction
and it it caused a lot of pain in my
jaws and my teeth from the chemo and
um uh I had to have emergency surgery to
pull out some teeth because of all the
metal in
them and this whole jaw here um this
whole side here is all
cracked um and I’m uh teeth are all
chipped and uh having chemo I last my
job so I don’t have any
insurance so I’ve just been enduring
this pain in my right
job my last treatment
was October so I’m just a few months out
of this okay what happened tonight the
pain is gone it’s been
in
thank the
Lord thank the
Lord thank you
Lord I want a couple of you girls take
her over here and just pray for the Lord
to absolutely do a whole overhaul
rebuild head to toe yeah just minister
to her bless the Lord good once you guys
scooted over this way get more towards
the middle so more folks can see you
well beautiful what did Jesus do for you
so um a while back I fell straight on my
tailbone on concrete and I broke it it’s
what it felt like I didn’t go get it
checked because they said there wasn’t
anything they could do for it when when
Todd White was here People Prayed for me
and it was healed within seven days and
I’ve had this ongoing joint pain it
feels like every joint but my elbow has
been in pain for such a long time and uh
tonight when Pastor was talking about
the hips both my hips can you guys hear
sorry hear okay I can’t hear up here
okay okay so uh both my hips were in
especially my left hip was in so much
pain and I was I was saying Lord I know
you healed my tailbone you can heal the
rest of my joints and I want to be able
to stand and I want to be able to
worship you and I don’t want it to hurt
and I want to go for walks and I don’t
want it to hurt and so I stood um for
that and I said cover the places that
hurt I was like I don’t have enough
hands but Jesus you know so I just my
hands and I put my fingers down cuz I
was like Lord you know all the way down
to the job and as everybody was praying
for me all the the really bad pain that
was in my left hip tonight was
[Applause]
gone it
just it just feels like um like shivery
water on my joints wow so God’s just
doing a really great work and I’m so
thankful for the name of Jesus yes amen
amen amen
whoa whoa
whoa hi my name is Jerry and I’m
visiting from Utah it’s my husband and I
um 17th anniversary actually next Thurs
Saturday wow happy anniversary thank you
and my first time here ever welcome love
it had um sciatic nerve and hip pain for
27 odd years um that’s how old my oldest
is and um God healed it it’s gone it’s
completely
wow all
right I have an area that I want to
minister
on I’m hoping to be able to do something
more extensive
in the future I will take a little bit
of time tonight to do it I plan to do it
again um I feel like I I by the grace of
the Holy Spirit I found the needle in
the haast stack I found something that I
I never
knew if it existed I had hoped that it
did I had believed that it could but I
couldn’t ever remember finding a place
in scripture and possibly even in church
history where a particular thing
happened it’s going to seem
oversimplified to you perhaps but let me
mention it is to see the church endure
persecution go into increase endure
persecution go into increase until they
come into a place of blessing and then
in the place of blessing experience a
greater
increase is the rarest thing in the
world to find because once blessing
comes complacency comes many people
wouldn’t have a prayer life if they had
no
problems on the motivation to pray is
the devil’s work the devil’s attack
conflict
situations that involve their personal
life personal pain becomes the single
motivator for a prayer
life when that happens we actually
choose
our motivation for prayer we actually
give place
to the kind of
circumstances that prompt us and
motivate us to seek the
Lord in the book of Acts is where we’re
going to go I’d like for you to turn to
Acts chapter 2 I’m going to take you
through just a series of scriptures
maybe four or five we’ll see see how we
do and then I want I want to take you to
the one verse and I want to talk to you
about this one verse that uh shows me
it’s
possible I uh I I don’t know if if it
encourages you but I’ve been I’ve been
looking at the church the last well I’ve
been in pastoral type Ministry for 40
plus years um but in the I’ve been here
for it’s 22 years this next month and
I’ve been watching the outpouring of the
spirit I’ve been watching the increase
I’ve been watching the increase of
pressure the critic ISM the people
leaving the people coming all the stuff
that just goes on when there’s a move of
God I’ve seen the increase of Miracles
I’ve seen people Prosper that never
prospered before I’ve seen marriages get
healed that were a mess I’ve seen
people’s bodies I’ve seen people dying
uh no hope to live get healed and come
into a place of blessing and peace and
increase and what you do in your moment
of blessing actually determines how
significant your your next season will
become I don’t mean that as any kind of
a threat I don’t mean that as if we
don’t respond correctly then God
punishes us it’s not that at all it’s
just simply the Lord is constantly
testing us to see what measure of Glory
of weight we can live under the glory of
the Lord resting upon an unsanctified
life will crush it the glory of the Lord
resting Upon A Sanctified life will
establish it so he’s constantly looking
for the stability of heart it’s not self
it’s not this self-willed maturity it’s
this maturity that comes from surrender
it’s this maturity that comes from
yielding it’s this maturity that comes
simply from from allowing the spirit of
God within us to do his work to make us
into the image of the Son of God Jesus
Christ and he is constantly performing
that work in Us in Ephesians three one
of my favorite passages says now to him
who’s able to do
exceedingly
abundantly above and beyond all it’s
like how many more words can he put in
there exceedingly abundantly above and
beyond all that we could ask or think
ask is our prayer life think is our
imagination so he’s made a covenant with
us to work beyond the reach of my prayer
life on my greatest day and he’s
covenanted to work in my life beyond my
reach on my day of greatest
imagination but there’s a clause there’s
cause and effect there’s it’s a there’s
contingent or there’s a there’s
something connected to This Promise he
says now unto him who is able to do
exceedingly abundantly beyond all we
could ask or think listen to the phrase
according to the power that Works within
us so his
his his commitment to go beyond our
reach in prayer and
Imagination is parallel to the Liberty
we give him to work deep within us the
deeper he goes Within Me farther he can
go beyond my prayer life the deeper I
allow him to work in me the farther he
goes beyond my imagination why it’s not
punishment it’s not manipulation of
course it’s not control
it’s simp simply the Lord continuously
testing us not to find wrong but
continually testing to see what weight
of Glory can we live under because we
are being restored to the original
purpose and designation for mankind the
scripture says all have sinned and
fallen short of the glory of God sin
means to miss the goal or the target so
if I were an Archer and I were shooting
an Arrow at that water bottle sin says
the arrow didn’t even reach the target
it fell
short but what was the Target in God’s
creation of you of me it was for
Humanity to live in the glory of God all
have sinned and fallen short of the
glory glory was the original design that
you and I would live in the Manifest
presence of King Jesus when you were
born again you were reinstated to Divine
Purpose you were reinstated and when
Jesus in John 15 talks about the
privilege of abiding in Christ he is
reconnecting us to our original design
of dwelling and living in the
glory there’s there’s a cycle that takes
place in the book of Acts and it’s like
it’s almost like a road map someday I’m
going to try to chart I’m not a chart
person but who knows I may be inspired
one day to step outside of my limitation
here but there’s there’s this thing this
that happens if you can just follow this
Acts chapter 2 we’ll read a verse in a
moment there’s this outpouring of the
spirit there’s dramatic increase and
there’s dramatic
opposition
outpouring blessing
increase disciples are added
daily
persecution they make it through the
persecution without becoming
bitter they become more refined in their
focus they become more bold in their
witness in the midst of persecution
which does what it brings greater
increase greater
persecution greater
opposition again they refine their
focus they don’t become complacent with
draw they don’t decide to stay home now
because they may be criticized by their
friends they refine their focus they
give themselves more completely to the
work of the Gospel which brings greater
increase
again which results in again greater
persecution to the point where we now
have a a guy in charge of the ministry
of
persecution and his name is Saul of
Tarsus and he is he holds the garments
of his workers who Stone Steven to
death Jesus is recorded in scripture as
being seated at the right hand of the
father but Stephen the first martyr of
the church when he dies the scripture
records Jesus is standing in honor of
the death of the first one to lose his
life for the cause of the Gospel as
Stephen enters that Heavenly realm Jesus
himself is standing to welcome
him Saul leads this movement in which
the entire church is terrified of one
name and it’s this name Saul they don’t
know where he’s going to show up next
they don’t know how big his military his
group is going to be that capture and
kidnap and torture and and eventually
try to kill these believers they don’t
know when and where it’s going to happen
everybody is terrified and Paul or Saul
excuse me is on a mission and on this
Mission Jesus shows
up Saul would be the Osama Bin Laden of
that day and Jesus shows up knocks him
off his donkey Saul cannot see for 3
Days the blind he was blinded
by the
glory I’m not sure that if the church
had not made it through those levels of
increasing pressure with refin focus
with a greater resolve for preaching the
period of the gospel for living a life
worthy of the Gospel I’m not sure there
would have been that measure of Glory to
turn the heart of this one man wow who
had given his life for the dest
destruction of the church and yet Jesus
showed up and the glory blinded him he
was blinded for 3 days until a servant
of the Lord laid hands on him now
remember it’s hard to find a servant of
the Lord that’s willing to pray for the
devil Saul’s not the devil but they
thought he was he is so much in
opposition to what God’s doing in the
church and when the Lord called this man
ananas to come and lay hands on him
scales fell off Saul’s eyes and he
became this vibrant minister of the
Gospel it was so dramatic and so
overnight that the church did not
believe
it they heard reports and they thought
nope no way he’s just using a new tactic
he just wants to get into the secret
meeting so he can finded who we are and
where we meet I’ve been in RS in Rome in
the catacombs
underground where they had cubby holes
dug out of the wall where they would put
the bodies as the Believers would die
and they would meet in these underground
catacombs you have to imagine the stench
and they would meet hidden away in these
places because of the intense opposition
and
persecution and now the head guy of the
persecution is quote unquote saved and
the church is not buying it and and
there was a guy named
Barnabas his name means son of
encouragement so good it took an
encourager it took somebody who believed
the best about others who was always
looking for the gold who lived to make
others stronger it took a Barnabas to go
find this soul of Tarsus on and actually
verify it’s true he’s actually saved
he’s truly born again the story of Saul
or Barnabas and Saul is dramatic and
glorious is for another day but I want
you to look at just a couple verses
because I want to take you to the needle
in the Hast stack for
me are you
ready yes all right Acts chapter
2
verse 42 this is there’s a good chance
this is
two three maybe four years after the day
of Pentecost verse
42 they continued steadfastly in the
apostles Doctrine Fellowship the
breaking of bread and
prayers I love that the scripture gives
us an outline of what was important they
found these were the essential
things and it says they continued they
reup the contract they red devoted it’s
like it’s like a husband telling his
wife that he loves her every day of the
marriage not just on their anniversary
every day renewing the vows of devotion
and commitment and these Believers now a
couple years in after this invasion of
Heaven is it reveals what help helped
them to stay in a place of strength they
continued steadfastly in the apostles
Doctrine what is the apostles Doctrine
I’m glad it doesn’t list a list of
doctrines I personally
believe when it says Apostles Doctrine
it is referring to the present word that
God is releasing into the church for
each specific
season so they are all paying attention
to the present word you don’t get a
present word unless you’re part of a
corporate
family amen bill that was so good it was
so good they continued steadfastly in
the apostles Doctrine
Fellowship
Fellowship is not just hanging out over
coffee talking about going hunting as
much as I love that and that is
fellowship for
me this is referring to something that’s
much profound much more profound and
deeper it’s the exchange of Life One
member to another fellowship the
breaking of bread and in prayers
breaking of bread could be meals
together it could also be implying the
communion service I think it’s probably
talking about meals and the fact that
they they took personal time to make
sure they shared with other believers so
they did these four things verse 43 fear
Came Upon Every Soul Many Wonders and
signs were done through the apostles now
let me uh the apostolic Ministry helps
to release the signs of Wonders Ministry
into the church but it was never meant
to be something that they alone were
known for it was always supposed to be
the equipping of the Saints so that the
Saints could do this work of service
here it is recorded as initial
initiated by the apostles where they
were known for miracles signs and
wonders verse 43 again fear Came Upon
Every Soul Many Wonders and signs were
done through the apostles all who
believed were gathered together they had
all things in common sold their
possessions divided them among them all
continuing daily with one Accord in the
temple breaking bread from house to
house there’s the corporate there’s the
smaller Gathering uh with gladness
Simplicity of heart praising God having
favor with all the people the Lord added
to the church
daily
good it is
good in Acts chapter 3 there’s a miracle
through uh Peter and John at the gate
there a lame man who is healed they are
quickly arrested they are
threatened they are uh told to never do
that again Peter asked the question
whether we obey God or obey you you
figur it out which uh was a question
they couldn’t answer when they were
released they went to a prayer meeting
which is fun to see as soon as you get
out of prison just go to a prayer
meeting and he says in verse 29 Lord
look at their threats grant that your
servants with all boldness may speak
your word stretch out your hand to heal
signs and wonders done through the name
of your holy servant Jesus when they
prayed the place where they were
assembled together was shaken and all
were filled with the Holy Spirit they
spoke the word of God with boldness
listen to me carefully Peter and John if
you read chapter 3 they were arrested
because of a miracle but also it
specifically says because of their
boldness what does Peter pray for when
he gets out of prison more
boldness
now let’s be honest the church right now
wanting to be at peace with everybody
and not taking a stand for
anything don’t ever exchange the favor
of man for the favor of
God let the favor of God bring about the
favor with man not the other way around
because you you you won’t get it I I I
have friends who who mirror the world
around them to gain favor for the cause
of Christ
you cannot G any favor you gain through
mirroring their culture you will have to
sustain by becoming like them which
means you’ve lost your
witness they prayed for greater boldness
what’s happening here we’ve got
arrest persecution threats and the
prayer for what brought on the
persecution and the threat so what
happened we’ve got about an intensity or
refining the focus see something happens
in persecution is you don’t have people
attending church to uh make business
contacts it’ll be good for my business
if I’m just seen with other Christians
that disappears as an
option when you have the possibility of
losing your
life nobody wants to have a good
business by losing their life and you
start losing some of those things but
what do you gain you gain a refined
Focus you get the favor of God the favor
of Heaven leaning and looking our way to
bring about the most significant
breakthrough I believe the Lord is fully
intent on answering the prayer that we
pray on Earth as it is in heaven but
it’s not an overnight deal he’s looking
to see who can carry
what who can carry
what
and he will test it in
favor he will test it with money he will
test it with anointing what do you do
when cancer disappears under your hand
how do you tell the
story not again he’s not looking for
Aries to punish he’s looking how much
can I trust them with can I give them
more the last time I use them to do to
break that impossibility
there was more of them in their
testimony than there was in The
Experience are you are you traveling
with me here on this journey all
right so we see in verse
um
um
33 with great power the apostles gave
witness to the resurrection of the Lord
Jesus and great grace was upon them all
let me make a comment here why are
Miracles necessary Miracles are
necessary for two basic reasons one it
is impossible to adequately display the
love of God without a
miracle it’s impossible to reveal fully
reveal adequately the love of God for an
individual apart from a
miracle
that’s one but the other it is the
miracle that testifies Jesus actually
was resurrected from the
[Applause]
dead you heard testimony tonight of the
resurrection of
Jesus
chapter 5 ananas and
Safa die because they
lied verse five says great fear came on
all those who heard these things I’ll
bet it did verse
11 so great fear Came Upon all the
church and upon all who heard these
things
verse 12 through the hands of the
Apostles many signs and wonders were
done among the people they were all in
one Accord in Solomon’s porch yet none
of the rest dared join them the people
esteemed them
highly Believers verse 14 were
increasingly added multitudes of men and
women by the way just a side note in the
gospels when a crowd was counted it was
counted by how many men were there and
the scripture would say besides women
and children after the day of Pentecost
both men and women were
counted the gospels reveal the culture
of that day not the will of
God so when you see the woman put down
in that culture it was created by a
rabinal system that created laws against
the women exalting men it was never in
the heart of
God and when we see the day day of
Pentecost you see a Level Playing
Field you have 120 in the upper room
both men and women they were all
counted and children were never
counted and just to break that mold
Jesus used a child’s lunch to feed
15,000
[Laughter]
adults all right you all
right chapter 6 verse one in those days
when the number of disciples was
multiplying there arose a complaint of
course there
was
verse 7 the word of God spread the
number of the disciples
multiplied great many of priests were
obedient to the
faith as a result of
this persecution
intensified stepen who was one of the
deacons becomes promoted in the glory of
the Lord to such a point where Saul
leads a group of people that stone him
to death it’s in Chapter 7
after that the persecution intensifies
again when you get let’s see let’s go
down to verse uh chapter 8 verse 1 Saul
was consenting to his death at that time
a great persecution arose against the
church uh which was at Jerusalem they
all scattered through the regions of
Judea Samaria except the
apostles devout men carried Steven to
his burial made great lamentation
it’s interesting the Believers made
great lamentation verse three as for
Saul he made great
Havoc entering every house dragging off
women men committing them to prison
verse four isn’t this
encouraging just hang on because it’s
going to get it ends well all right it
ends well verse four those who were
scattered went everywhere preaching the
word Philip went down to the city of
Samaria preach Christ to them multitudes
with one Accord heeded the things spoken
by Phillip hearing and seeing the
Miracles this now is not one of the
Apostles because it’s starting to get
spread through the church unclean
spirits crying out with a loud voice
came out of many who were possessed many
who were paralyzed in lame were healed
there was great joy in the city so
there’s this parallel track intense
persecution or persecution should say
intensifies and great joy comes upon
those who experience the move and the
touch of God it reminds me of Isaiah 60
that says gross Darkness deep Darkness
Darkness covers the earth but his glory
arises upon you it’s not in the same
place but it is in the same season
yeah you can Feast your eyes on either
one you can be troubled bothered and
become hopeless because of the work of
Darkness or you can Feast your eyes on
the work that God is doing and then it
will spread to the places that are
overrun with
hopelessness all right I’m just about to
The Sweet Spot all right so there’s
great joy in that City let’s see chapter
nine Damascus Road let’s just summarize
it
Saul is
rocked he he’s rocked he’s rocked by the
Rock of
Ages now he gets knocked off his
donkey and the Lord speaks to him in
verse four and he says Saul Saul why are
you persecuting
me now Jesus has already died
resurrected he already suffered he died
he’s
resurrected he ascended he’s glorified
he’s at the right hand of the father and
that Jesus at the right hand of the
father speaks to Saul and says why are
you persecuting me because he takes
personal what you
experience don’t ever think the enemy
has the last
laugh the Lord takes it personal and he
came to Saul he says why are you
persecuting me and Saul’s
bewildered he says who are you Lord you
you got the Lord part
right I me you know when God shows up
and you’re blinded you just call him
Lord you don’t know who he is but he’s
Lord he says I’m Jesus whom you are
persecuting
long story short he gets healed gets
brought released into Ministry and
things start changing in the climate of
the church here’s the verse I want you
to see you ready the needle and the Hy
stack verse
31 then the churches throughout all
Judea Galilee and Samaria had peace and
were edified and walking in the fear of
the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy
Spirit they were multiplied Now read it
again because I don’t want you to miss
what we just read the churches now we’re
not talking about
individuals previous to this if if my
memory serves me correctly the verses we
read anyway it was always the number of
Believers that increased it was the
number of Believers that were added
except in chapter six it said the number
of Believers multiplied but now we have
a phenomenon that we’ve not seen before
earlier the church moved from addition
to
multiplication uh Believers excuse me
the number of Believers but now look at
this the churches throughout all Judea
and G Galilee and Samaria had peace and
were edified and walking in the fear of
the Lord and the comfort of the Holy
Spirit they being the churches were
multiplied
I don’t I don’t want you to miss it it
could be
oversimplified I don’t think I’m
overemphasizing it the church has been
in this fight to increase in the glory
to increase in the measure of
breakthrough whenever opposition has
come instead of moving in hatred or
resentment or bitterness or trying to
call down judgment or prophesying
against this King and that King they
move in humility and they increasingly
step into greater places of authority
greater places of anointing persecution
intensifies they say God just give us
greater boldness boldness like that’s
going to help and it increases and it
intensifies even further and we have
this continual increase and they finally
step into this place after what they
were carrying so dramatically changed
the climate that Saul himself is
confronted by the Glorious one and the
church finds them themselves they don’t
know how many more years they’ve got to
climb this ladder of pressing in with
resolve and refining focus and giving
themselves more completely to the
ministry of the Gospel they don’t know
when the climb stops but suddenly
they’re in a sweet spot and then they
hear Saul is saved and then they see the
fruit of his salvation and then
suddenly there’s peace everywhere
there’s
peace they don’t know what it’s like to
live without the threat on their life
they don’t know what it’s like to to
gather with other believers without
having some group wanting to report it
some group wanting to come and imprison
you and now they’re in this
place history tells us that the
Believers in Rome begin to prosper they
begin to they begin to increase in in
their business uh favor their their own
incomes actually made the people people
around there provoke them to jealousy
because they were so favored of the Lord
because that happens once once you don’t
have to fight to stay alive suddenly you
get to practice what God has taught you
into everyday life and when you start
practicing what God has taught you
through the trial through the hell
through the Wilderness eventually you
step into a promised land and in that
Promised Land the Lord is looking for a
productivity that is directly connected
to the revelation of his promise in his
person among his people and the church
started entering into this place and it
says that the
churches entered into this place of
peace and then it described what I
believe were two
decisions they begin to multiply because
of two conditions number one the fear of
the
Lord it’s not hard to fear
God
in the middle of a hellish
situation it’s a lot easier when it’s
life and death you just it’s just you
know I’m all in Nothing Else Matters
don’t care about my business don’t care
about this don’t care about my house all
of a sudden all those goals vanish
because all we’re trying to do is I want
to get my wife my children alive keep
connected to other believers we just
want to keep each other safe we want to
keep each other encouraged we want to
keep praying the promises suddenly all
these things that have occupied our time
Through The Years suddenly they just
simply don’t matter it’s easy to walk in
a purity of Lifestyle when you have few
choices but something happened when this
thing
lifted when The
Terrorizer was saved suddenly there’s no
more
pressure to pay a
price one of the Iron Curtain C Iron
Curtain countries that we sent teams to
minister in back in the
80s from Weaverville we would send teams
in and the churches were filled to the
rafters they would have automobiles that
they would drive in with secret
compartments they’ bring Med medical
supplies and bibles and various study
tools for leaders and they would they
would smuggle these things into the
Believers and then the Iron Curtain fell
on our same team when back to the same
church and what was once filled with the
raap rafters now was not filled at all
because people had
options they weren’t they weren’t afraid
of losing their life they now stepped
into the
luxury of having resource having time
having friends the vacation it’s not an
evil thing but something happens where
the heart becomes divided and this this
verse tells me that there was one group
that I can find now in history that
entered into the sweet spot and they
were able to
maintain the focus and the sacrifice
even though their lives were no longer
threatened how did they do it number one
the fear of God they maintained the fear
of God the fear of God is the beginning
of wisdom apart from the fear of God the
mind of man becomes exposed as a
self-centered arrogant tool that
destroys a human life but in the fear of
God wisdom is Born the Bible says the
that the fear of God is what gives us
access to knowledge the fear of God
gives us access to Revelation knowledge
it is the fear of God that actually
attracts the voice of the Lord in a
given situation so he can entrust to his
people insights for the next season
insights for the decisions that need to
be
made the fear of
God the scripture
says that there is no
lack for those who fear the
lord the fear of the Lord is actually
that which attracts an abundant
lifestyle but the Abundant lifestyle
apart from the fear of the Lord will
actually destroy the
life the fear of the Lord is that is
that tenderizer
gift that makes our
conscience so sensitive to
touch that we don’t need a baseball
battle over the head to wake us up to
dangerous conditions that we are in
because the fear of God
heightens the
sensitivities to the heart the mind the
values of God the fear of
God I know there are those who say there
is no fear of God in the New Testament
they just haven’t read their Bible
because it’s all through the new
test I know the verse that’s used is
perfect love casts out
fear perfect love includes the fear of
God it just casts out every other
fear and I hear people say well you
can’t have intimacy with God and fear
him at the same time and that person is
obviously not
married it’s all I need to say about
that in my
household fear and intimacy work very
well together
that’s all I’m going to
say so this this tells us as they come
up this procedure to come into a place
of what I would call Promised Land
blessing when they step into that the
very thing that have destroyed other
believers through the years to where
they it breeds complacency uh they lose
focus it you know when you don’t need to
sacrifice why
sacrifice
are you alive like like are you actually
breathing air and everything yeah all
right all right you just I’ll I’ll I’ll
end it soon it looks like you need to go
home
so you don’t you don’t need to go home
all right well I’ll go a few more
minutes we’ll see so they come into this
place in the scripture God is so kind to
give us this simple verse with two bits
of
instruction that
ensure the people of God can step into a
sweet spot of blessing wow and not fall
prey to complacency loss of focus loss
of heart turning attention from seeking
first the kingdom to seeking the things
the benefits of the Kingdom Jesus didn’t
get any of his disciples by sharing with
them the benefits of the
Kingdom he didn’t say I promise these
things if you follow me he did
not he let them see the challenge
and if they could face the
challenge then they could have the
blessing and that’s the
Kingdom so here’s the two things is the
fear of
God the fear of God
is is that which keeps you tender the
fear of God is that which keeps you
leaning towards his voice the fear of
God is that which keeps us from the
arrogance of Independence and a
self-confidence that is not from the
Lord there is a faith that looks like
selfcon confidence and I believe in that
but there is a self-confidence that’s
just actually it’s human-made it’s
arrogance it’s Independence it does not
submit to the will of
God wow and then he uses the other side
which is interesting he uses this side
which which would be like the the harsh
side but it’s not the fear of God
doesn’t drive me from him it ERS me to
him we got the fear of God and then
we’ve got this other side so it’s like
these two things keep me in the straight
and narrow the fear of God and the
comfort of the Holy Spirit Comfort it’s
not just it’s not talking about just oh
you’ve had a rough day so the Holy
Spirit comes and gives you peace I I buy
into that I believe that and I’m so glad
that’s what he does he’s
describing he’s describing a lifestyle
in which the Holy Spirit himself is the
continuous source to keep us focused
to Keep Us Alive to keep us encouraged
the word here for comfort is that word
paracletes the one called alongside so
he’s saying how this church went into a
place of Peace where over on that side
they got to where the churches were
multiplying not just individual
believers they had an explosion in
growth it was no longer just addition it
was no longer just multiplying of
disciples but now it’s churches
themselves are multiplying how did it
happen fear of God one hand and learning
to walk in this abiding presence of the
spirit of God on this side is that dual
that two-edged sword that says grieve
not the spirit quench not the spirit is
that dual role of a relationship how
sensitive am I to the Holy Spirit you
can measure it by looking at do I grieve
and do I quench grieve is doing
something wrong quench is the failure to
do what’s
right so how did they make it into this
place where the persecution stopped they
actually started tasting of the promises
of the Lord they actually started
tasting of the things that others had
enjoyed for years their own forefathers
in Israel’s history had enjoyed now
they’re starting to enjoy these things
how can they come into a place of
blessing and increase and promise and
fulfillment of actual dreams how is it
possible to do that and still increase
in everything that is Kingdom the fear
of God and the continuous connection to
the spirit of God who makes me
mindful of what he’s saying and what
he’s doing and it’s these two things
they were able to live in blessing and
bring even greater increase I remind you
in Psalm 67 which for me is one of the
greatest prophetic Psalms in the Bible
at least for the day that we live in is
the this prayer says Lord bless me I
like that part of the prayer already I’m
all into that people got mad at us 20
years ago when we were praying for
blessing there’s so many things that
come to my mind right now but I’m
demonstrating
self-control in
measure said Psalm 67 Lord bless me
cause your face to shine upon me that
your way would be known in the
earth and your
salvation to the
Nations God bless
me help us God to step into the place of
favor with God and man but God do it in
such a way that what you do in us and
through us is a prophetic invitation for
Nations to come and to discover who you
actually are because see that has to
happen to fulfill the assignment the
assignment is to disciple Nations two
assignments one is to make disciples of
the Nations but the other is to disciple
Nations themselves and to do that there
has to be an effective display on how
you live life in difficulty but also in
blessing Paul said it I have learned how
to abound I’ve learned how to be abased
in other words I’ve learned how to be
blessed and I’ve learned what to do when
it’s not going well in both
situations I need his strength I know I
need his strength when I don’t have
enough but Paul just showed us we
actually need strength when we have more
than
enough so good so why don’t you
stand
all
right we got a wild and crazy
week oh
[Music]
Jesus
H is there anyone here who’s you’ve
never made a commitment to make Jesus
Christ the absolute Lord of your life
now just everybody listen carefully and
don’t move around because this this
would be the most important part of the
evening if there’s anyone here who uh
perhaps you like the music maybe you’re
just brought here by a friend I I I
certainly don’t know
everyone but it could be that you you
don’t know what it is to be born again
in other words you’ve never had an
encounter with God where you’re forgiven
of sin and brought into his family where
he became your
father and yet it’s available for every
person in this room and if there’s
anyone in that condition and you’d say
Bill I don’t want to leave until I know
that I’m at peace with God that I know
what it is to be forgiven I’m willing to
turn from my life and follow Jesus if
that’s you then real quickly just put a
hand up because we’re going to pray for
you I don’t want to end this meeting
without giving you a chance to know what
eternal life is like is is there a hand
over here I can’t oh it’s right over
here okay great wonderful right here
beautiful
beautiful
excellent thank you
Lord amen is there anyone else real
quickly this is like the best part of
the day right here the B water baptisms
were pretty good but uh this is the best
part of the day because eternity begins
tonight for this
individual eternity begins tonight
forgiveness of sin
I’m going to ask for this one and any
others that would join them just to walk
down here real quickly if you would uh
come right over here to my left do you
guys have that get that banner up so
they can they can see we’ve got a banner
over here if you have a friend that can
walk with you that’s always good I see
that beautiful anyone else come down
here real quick and we want to make sure
that you have someone ready to pray with
you and and meet with you yeah bless him
would you bless him bless
It’s So Co God bless you yeah come right
over here bless you thank
you I love it come
on