Using Adversity to My Advantage – Bill Johnson (Full Sermon) | Bethel Church

Is it possible that adversity can work to our advantage? Bill Johnson teaches how our attitude and trust in God during difficult times actually causes adversity to work to our advantage, like the eagle who lets opposing winds take him higher as he soars. Bill’s sermon follows a time of healing ministry and testimonies.

wow thank you thank you thank you thank

you guys thank you so much

please uh be seated good evening

glad you showed up

glad you’re here

how many folks are still here from the

uh leaders conference this week

actually we had uh we had so many events

this week

we had other schools and conferences and

stuff going on

sheesh i

i almost got confused

trying to figure out what’s going on

around here so anyway good to good to

see you

um who is it that has uh an issue with

clogged arteries

clogged arteries i believe jesus is

healing he’s opening up clogged arteries

there’s also somebody who has irregular

heartbeat

that the lord is healing

um so when i call your stuff out stand

up

um is there anyone here that has metal

in the right ankle

metal in the right yeah if you’re able

to stand uh stand

and believe god especially do you have

any pain

or a restricted movement anything of

that nature yeah okay a little bit so

just pray for absolute liberty for you

and uh

yeah well just pretend i’m a dyslexic

knowledge guy and get it from the left

ankle

yeah um there’s a missing cartilage and

there’s torn cartilage in the knees

um

stand up if that’s you

missing and or

torn

cartilage damage in the in the knees who

is it that has

some sort of an injury to the collarbone

i believe it’s on the right side there’s

some sort of a

an injury right here in the

right who is it put your hand up so i

can tell who you are is that you over

here okay oh here another one all right

all right i i yeah the lord’s healing

that these he’s restoring broken bones

there are people here

uh quite a few people here who have

broken bones uh sometime in the past

could be 50 years ago but broken bones

and things just did not heal correctly

and

and you’d love for the lord just restore

that if that’s you just stand up right

now

stand up right now

there’s also someone here who has

damage to the achilles tendon on the

right leg obviously if you have the left

stand up anyway but there’s some sort of

uh uh

an injury there i don’t know if it was

torn and there was surgery but there are

ongoing issues with that achilles

tendon on the right leg specifically

now

there’s nerve damage

on

the right side of the body specifically

the right leg this area here but i think

it may be i think it may be more than

than just a leg is that you yeah there’s

uh there’s this issue of nerve damage i

can actually

feel it feels almost like

um it feels almost like it’s weak as a

result of some sort of a nerve nerve

thing it’s it’s weak it’s um

like it would maybe be hot or warm or

or numb or it’s a it’s a weird

combination of feelings but i believe

jesus is restoring that tonight

tonight yeah

amen

all right there’s uh let’s see

and you guys have anything else here

brian you got anything going there but

yeah

do we have do we have a

do we have a mic

somebody help me take it to brian here

and if you guys have anything

the lord gave me the number 12.

i think it’s like a family size and i

saw like a whole bunch of

girls

set 12.

is there a family here of 12

with a bunch of girls

yeah yeah

right that’s that is true that is you

guys there’s a whole tribe back there

yeah

is

and there’s a bunch of girls yes there’s

a bunch of girls

yeah

what do you have for them

you know

i was asking the lord so

what am i supposed to say to him and he

just

um

that he hasn’t taken his eye off you

and um just supposed to speak life and

health and vitality over you yeah yeah

um

and then uh so that whole family just

stand up because you get you get prayed

for people will

[Applause]

yeah

and they’re missing some too there’s

four missings yeah i just feel like the

lord just wanted to highlight you

tonight um good

and then um

something about like uh organs or uh

like

pre-mature aging

um like you’ve been or organs in the

body yeah they’re like

anyone like it’s been a diagnosis like

does that make sense to anyone you’re

aging

i mean we’re all aging but

like just something prematurely it’s not

right and just the lord wants to does

that make sense back here yeah yeah

yeah so that stops right now yeah that’s

completely over all right

and actually i really feel like the lord

wants to turn the clock back on your

life

and uh

and the way he’s gonna do it is you’re

gonna find yourself getting

caught up into the realm of the spirit

and you’re going to lose track of time

beautiful and that’s the lord just

turning back the clock and just taking

giving back everything that’s been taken

from you

all right good thank you brian

there’s also somebody uh uh there is a a

tear or something in the left achilles

uh is that you it’s it’s it’s a

uh yeah it’s a tear in the left achilles

tendon right now so tonight you get it

on either side

and it’s all free

all right here’s what i’m going to ask

you to do excuse me all of you any of

you guys have anything dave did you have

something yep

i’m sorry

just like a real last minute or so real

warmth in my left hip i believe god’s

healing uh hips so stand up if if that’s

you but specifically your left but i get

yeah but i can really feel like he’s

even as i’m speaking i can just feel

this this warm this warm presence in my

left hip and then it’s fingers just like

i don’t it could be any fingers i’m not

that specific but the finger i have on

my right hand i i saw a ring or

something going wrong an injury

and damage a broken finger so just take

it for four fingers fingers being

restored crooked fingers being here

yep yeah beautiful all right go ahead

all right yeah i saw like a muscle in

the left calf that actually hadn’t

healed correctly there was something in

in the left calf right here great and

then um issues with gallbladders i feel

like you’ve gone in and they’ve sent you

home but it it’s a continuing issue in

the gallbladder um and then

there’s something i i don’t even know

but this i’m gonna say left side um

that’s what i got left side a chronic um

uncurable issue right here in the left

side i’m gonna leave it kind of open

ended up make sense to anyone

stand up okay that’s you all right okay

beautiful now

if uh all of you that are standing put a

hand up

now those of you that are sitting down

you just got drafted

you are now the team that’s going to

pray so here’s what i’m going to ask you

to do listen carefully i want you to go

to somebody

have them pull their hand down so i know

they’re being covered but don’t pray yet

wait till i give you instruction okay so

go to somebody whose hand is up if you

can’t reach them at least stand and and

extend your faith uh towards someone who

has their hand up all right

okay look around keep your hand up until

someone comes to you

okay front row we’ve got a couple still

here on the front row

okay

did we miss anyone wave your hand at me

if we did

oh wow

that was amazingly fast good job all

right

i realize most of you know what to do

but just to make sure we’re all on the

same page

number one you’ve got to find out what

the problem is

i don’t like general shotgun prayers i

like rifle prayers i like very targeted

specific

prayers don’t don’t shoot anybody it’s

just an analogy all right

um very specific prayer so you’ve got to

find out what’s wrong

sex shh

i’ll tell you when

secondly those of you that are receiving

the prayer don’t give them a big story

just give them a target honestly keep it

simple

when you depress the people who are

praying that’s not a good deal

keep it simple thirdly

there are many ways to pray for the sick

one of the most common is laying out of

hand so i’m going to ask you to put your

hand on the problem if it’s an

appropriate place to place your hand

if not

put your hand on your shoulder or

something and then finally as you pray

speak to the condition

if there’s arthritis if there is uh you

know there’s missing for example missing

cartilage doesn’t need a healing

it needs to be created

so be specific if if there’s something

that’s torn it can be mended if it’s

missing it needs to be created

so when i pray for something that’s

missing i will pray specifically

lord recreate right now we just declare

all things be made new let that

cartilage be formed in fact i think it

just happened in somebody’s knee as i

was

just modeling a prayer

so go ahead and turn and uh and minister

to these folks find out what’s happening

and then pray your best prayer

the lord is just wholesale healing those

knees right now

even though you’re receiving prayer just

start checking them out right now

there’s a there’s a creative miracle

happening

with these knees

okay the conversation should be over he

should be praying by now

holy spirit we ask that you’d come now

in power

and glorify the name of jesus

through miracles through signs through

wonders

glorify the name of jesus through

miracles

signs wonders

there are people being healed of

arthritis even though it wasn’t called

out

we rebuke arthritis now

in the name of jesus the affliction on

the joints in the tissue of the body

we declare this ends tonight in jesus

mighty name

let cartilage be formed now in the knees

that to be restoration

we declare healing to the gallbladder

ongoing affliction in that gallbladder

be healed now

in jesus name kidneys the lord is

healing kidneys

even though you’re praying for someone

else if you’ve had an issue with kidneys

just lay your hand literally on your own

kidney

just put your hand on it as you’re

praying for someone else the lord will

honor that simple act of faith

i know the people watching at bethel tv

oftentimes get miracles and i just want

to declare to you this is your portion

as well those you are watching at home

or small groups we just declared that

healing grace of jesus

okay about 30 more seconds

thank you lord

okay go ahead and end your prayer

but stay with the person just stay with

them

okay don’t

no hit and run stay with them

all right

now just give me your attention

stay with the person you prayed for

though oh everyone give me your

attention please

stop praying there we go

you can actually pray past the miracle

you can

all right

everyone that received prayer this next

moment i consider to be as important as

was the prayer

that’s where we put faith into an action

into an activity i don’t want anyone you

don’t have no one has to prove anything

but you need to discover

only half the people we see heal feel it

happen

which means another half just receive

prayer and they’re clueless that they’re

actually better until they examine

themselves

so some of you you could discover

through emotion a movement of some sort

whatever it would take for you to do

right now i want you to try to do that

lord is also healing there are people in

the room that have issues with the gut

uh you have digestive issues there’s

something not right in your digestive

ish system and the lord is healing that

right now

and the phrase that goes through my mind

is all foods are to be enjoyed

all foods so we declare that word all

foods are to be enjoyed all right

now everyone that just received prayer

examine yourself right now do it quickly

examine yourself quickly

everyone that is at least 80 percent

better wave both hands like this over

your head

wave both hands like this over your head

okay look around the room

thank you lord

all right

okay

stan please stand with me don’t don’t

let your face sit down yet if you let

your face sit down we have to quit this

and so stand with me if you’re able to

everyone that just got healed wave your

hands at me like this i want to see who

you are

all right

wonderful

beautiful now

i want you to turn and pray again

turn and pray again if they’re a hundred

percent

don’t pray for them again because you

might mess them up

leave them alone

but if if they’re 80 90 pray again all

right go ahead

it’s gonna be the last time then we’ll

find out what happened

[Music]

yeah that’s awesome beautiful thank you

lord

all right just about 30 more seconds

speak to the condition

we declare healing grace now in jesus

name

thank you lord thank you thank you lord

all right you did good go ahead and end

your prayer now you know what to do

everybody examine yourself again even if

it seems silly to you do it anyway just

some kind of movement something to see

what the lord has done

now who was healed the second time we

prayed wave your hands over your head

because i want to see who you are the

second time we prayed right down here

there’s another one there’s another one

there another one here another one over

here

thank you lord beautiful

wonderful

all right

hug them do something nice

bless them good and be seated

now

[Applause]

it okay

so we had

five people healed in the overflow as

well that’s awesome

okay

now

i want everyone that got healed tonight

we say 80 because there there are

sometimes where a healing will actually

start and it takes 20 minutes 30 minutes

we like to acknowledge what god is doing

and uh we have to create some kind of a

a line so we choose 80

uh as kind of a mark of what the lord is

doing so if you’re

at least 80 percent better on something

that was prayed for i just want you to

stand

because i want us to see who you are and

if you got healed of more than one thing

put a hand up

all right

thank you lord

beautiful

wonderful now how many of you got healed

of more than one thing wait wave your

hand at me

look at this isn’t that great i love

this

yep

thank you go and be seated i want to

hear from at least three or four people

something significant happened in your

body every mirror i don’t care if you

had a headache and it’s gone

you know

we celebrate everything that he does and

i don’t like categorizing but i do ask

that tonight you’re able you were able

to test yourself and prove that jesus

did something pretty significant in your

body tonight i’d like to hear from at

least three people right now just put

your hand up right over here as one

all right yeah um it was my left hip um

i had an injury to it a number of years

ago i fell off a ladder and the ladder

fell on top of me anyway i’ve been going

the chiropractor every week for probably

i think like at least the last year or

so and he has to reset it because it’s

it’s turned and um so it’s painful off

and on

varying degree and um i have no pain at

all and i can move and twist ways i can

just feel freedom where it was

restricted before thank you beautiful

wonderful wonderful

somebody else i need to hear from at

least at least three people somebody

else right down here

just stand up tell us what happens

okay i had a i had a ripped my calf

muscle right by the bottom of the cavity

and the achilles in a basketball

accident and um

i had this big knot

uh for about almost 20 years and is gone

so

[Applause]

i can jump again man

that’s beautiful

the knot is not

yes

let’s let’s have at least one more just

give testimony we have one right over

here in fact you know what we

if uh we could have one or two more come

on up here just come on down

if you have uh something to share i saw

yeah come on down

what did jesus do for you go ahead and

tell us a couple years ago i broke my

ankle and it never healed right and

there’s i think there’s still metal in

it but in the last two or three days and

including tonight i’ve gotten all kinds

of more range of emotion of motion in it

and it’s gotten stronger that’s

beautiful thank you all for that

wonderful

okay goes you guys go ahead and stand up

um

how many let me ask the question how

many of you

you had a a broken bone sometime in your

in your life it never healed correctly

and tonight jesus healed you put put

your hand up i want to see we’ve got one

here who else way back over here’s

another one anyone else right over here

there’s another two more right there

this actually used to be the most common

miracle we had

and uh probably still would be if i kept

calling it out but uh

it’s just i actually quit counting

at um goodness what was the number i

think it was like 2600 people

had been healed of of injuries of that

nature

and this is about 10 years ago i quit

counting

so it’s just what jesus is doing so you

might as well get in on it all right

let’s find out what happened he’ll hold

it for a bit go ahead and face everybody

yeah you called uh out an achilles

tendon and i had surgery on it years ago

but it never healed right and it did and

tonight the the pain is gone from that

and i can feel i felt a release in my

achilles tendon

also two weeks ago i had a heart attack

and uh

i came in with i’ve had a lot of

episodes in the last two weeks and came

today really by faith

but

i the pain is uh being relieved in my

left side right now in my heart that’s

wonderful and so thank you lord

wonderful thank you

pastor i love you we lived here five

years ago and we came back after five

years well it’s about time yeah come on

you need to be here my husband is in

bssm masela stand up baby

[Applause]

i wanted to crack you up because he said

that problem right yeah i teach at

anderson elementary i was out of school

this week for my first graders i was on

the stool

eight times with that problem yep and

then you just called out healing of the

gut and you said you could eat whatever

you want right

i’m standing outside you guys

at the chip

[Applause]

i was experiencing pain today yeah yeah

on my right side in my gut and i was

like oh no i don’t receive this and

right there the chip machine i felt that

pain just go away

[Applause]

it does say you could eat or drink any

deadly thing and it will not harm you so

that’s good

what did he do for you um so i have had

some pain in my hip which i’ve had for

years and just kind of put up with

because

you know you just do

and um

when i was walking in this morning this

this evening it was just really body and

just painful and

um actually during worship i had to sit

down i was like you know bummer because

i’ve come so far and i really want to

enjoy this moment

and um

and then you know you you did this stand

up if you got it and i was like okay

well darn that’s me um i stood up and

um i’ve never had an experience myself

of instant healing because you know i

just haven’t

and when when people were praying it was

you know i could just feel this sort of

great feeling but um the second time

they prayed it was like someone was

massaging in the inside of my hip and i

was like

and my and my legs started doing this i

was like guys that’s not me

that’s not me and then um you as i were

praying you called out um

people with gut problems and i have ibs

and before i came here flew out here i

supposed to go and see the nutritionist

because i’m not i’m not supposed to eat

really a small amount of food

and i’ve come from new zealand we have a

lot of dairy i can’t eat dairy

and so when you said i was like yes

that’s me

and i’m going to eat dairy after this

because i believe it i believe

so i’m excited thank you wonderful

wonderful bless you

thank you lord

well the doctor said i had nerve damage

all down my side from uh okay acute

appendicitis

it was real nasty yeah but

uh

so the pain went away when they were

praying and they asked if something was

i i could if there’s something i could

do to prove it you know there’s nothing

really i can do but then i remember i

used to be able to roll my stomach

[Laughter]

so

i can do it again it works yeah that

works

what did he do for you

so about 10 years ago i had a really bad

joint problem that caused my knees my

kneecaps to just roam around because the

ligaments were too long and it wore down

the groove that holds the kneecap in

place

so when you called out missing cartilage

in the knees

i actually suddenly started feeling this

grinding and popping and tightness

happening wow and

my kneecap groove grew back on both legs

wonderful

just give just a shot of thanks to the

lord

you know

years ago we had we had in our school it

when it was quite a bit smaller we had

maybe

i’m guessing 100 100 people in the

school or 100 maybe per class

and one of the older gals in the school

was actually in this moment where she

saw

the spare parts room in heaven

body parts i’ve i have met several

people that have seen that room

i can’t give you chapter and verse i

just

nod my head while they’re talking

and uh and she was uh i believe she

traveled with chris

to in the bay area

and somebody came up

and needed a miracle in their leg and

then they made the comment i don’t even

have a kneecap

and she said oh i’ll get one for you

she did she said i’ll get one for you

and she reached up like this brought her

hand down and began to pray and within

15 minutes she had a kneecap created

isn’t that amazing

i said she had a kneecap created

wow all right

let’s um

i was going to do something much more

extensive

but not now

we’ve had a long full wonderful evening

so let me let me just kind of ramble for

a few minutes and

see if we can make sense out of a few

things

uh yeah i’m going to read a verse for

you out of psalms 23 if you want to open

that’d be great 23rd psalm

what i’m finding

is that

is that i hardly know anything

i don’t know why after all these years

it hasn’t changed

seriously i i

i keep i keep learning and catching

glimpses of the fact

that he thinks entirely different than i

do

entirely different

and i’m the one that has to change and

that’s what the renewing of the mind is

is it’s it’s accommodating to his mind

and seeing through his eyes thinking his

thoughts

because he just he just thinks different

i met with

about 40 40 plus uh leaders this a week

in a private setting before our big

conference

and i shared a story there that uh

came back to mind tonight

uh in wanting to talk with you there’s a

pilot friend of mine

told me of this incident a number of

years ago

where there was a commercial jet a 747

the big big jet

was flying

i believe it was over canada if i

remember the story right

flying over canada and all the injust

failed

and

the pilot

was able to

recognize the thermals recognized the

air current he was able to ride

on those thermals

and find a place to land and landed

safely

the airline who

who owned that plane

ran tests

and they had all of their pilots

in this airline company all of their

pilots get in a flight simulator

to see

if they would be able to land that plane

because they found out that this pilot

that landed the plane was actually also

a trained guider

a glider pilot

and so he knew how to read thermals and

he knew what to do in that situation

so they put all of their other pilots in

this company through that flight

simulator and every one of them in the

exact same conditions crashed

this guy knew how to ride the thermals

right outside here we have a prayer

house and i was over

actually this side of the prayer house

one day and i was

i i just uh there was this hawk over the

top of the press it just caught my eye

and i just watched this hawk

he didn’t

he didn’t flap his wings at all all he

did

was go in a circle above the prayer

house

he got higher

and higher

and higher until he was almost out of

sight

and then he just folded his wings and he

dove it’s just the coolest thing i wish

that would have had a video you know

because he just he rode the currents he

was able to recognize

see there’s a lot of times we face

adverse winds

and we don’t realize it’s those winds

that give us access to going higher

we misinterpret the moment

when you misinterpret the moment you

won’t talk right and the condition of

your heart won’t be right

the analogy that i usually use in this

context

is a sailboat the sailboat can with the

adjusting the sail and the rudder

can actually advance

it’s called tacking advance against

can actually sail against the wind

it’s extraordinary

the sail

is your heart

attitude

the rudder is your tongue

it’s your speech

and by managing attitude well

and our confession well

we actually make advancement

against adverse wins

adverse winds are actually

in the kingdom

there are invitations for breakthrough

but we tend to see them differently than

he does

if i’m not positioned well in my heart

my heart attitude if i’m not positioned

well in what i’m willing to speak and

confess and declare over my life

then i can actually

partner

in thought and in conversation

with

the enemy’s reason for sending the

adverse winds

and i actually empower what the enemy

meant for evil

suddenly

has effect of

destruction evil

but the enemy has no authority

over you he can only get authority from

those who have it that would be you and

me

and so

back to this analogy of

riding the thermals

something i’ve tried to practice for

years i remember bob jones what a what a

wonderful man and a dear friend of this

house he was a great great prophet of

the lord personal friend i miss him he’s

home in heaven and

and but i i miss him actually he’s

probably here but i don’t know

he he was able to function outside of

normal reality so

but i i remember he talked he he talked

once about eagles eagles have this uh

this special uh

like something that covers the eye lens

where they can actually when they if

there is a predator

flying chasing them they will actually

fly toward the sun

and the

other bird that wants to do damage to

them cannot handle looking into the sun

but the eagle can’t

and so i’ve made it to practice for a

lot of years they’ll be i’ll just be

driving down the road or maybe uh just

in conversation or just walking out and

this horrible thought or idea comes or

accusation whatever it might be and i’ve

tried to make it just almost like a you

know a reaction uh uh

where you get something so ingrained in

you that you react before you think

and what i’ve tried to do through the

years is anytime something like that

comes it is my head up

i lift my head up the scripture says

lift up your heads oh your gates he’s

the glory and the lifter of our head

i i don’t know if he meant actual

physical posture or not but i’m going

for it

and so if i’m in that situation i just

i consciously

will go that thought came that is not

mine

i’m i’m going towards the sun where the

enemy cannot follow

i’m going towards the sun

this whole thing of riding the thermals

the

the adverse winds that the enemy sends

our way it could it could come in just

personal issues you know just

discouragement or fatigue

sometimes uh

if the enemy can’t get me to do wrong

things he’ll get me to overextend myself

in the right things

because

there’s a fatigue that actually gives

birth to unbelief because it gives us

kind of a jaded resistant heart we we

become accustomed to activity

in the place of relationship and it

doesn’t happen in a moment it’s it’s a

very slow change where we learn just to

live in the routine

and we we allow a distance to be formed

in that tenderness that intimacy with

the lord

and uh and so what happens is we become

if it happened overnight it would be

easy to spot but it’s such a gradual

turning with that busyness just just you

know i just become more calloused and

jaded and and eventually resistant

towards the very thing that i’ve been

crying out for

so here’s this this opportunity that the

lord gives us and i want you to look at

this verse in psalms 23 and i’ll just

use this kind of as a symbolic verse for

the few minutes more that i want to talk

to you

psalms 23 verse 1 the lord is my

shepherd i shall not want

he makes me to lie down in green

pastures

he leads me besides still waters he

restores my soul

he leads me in the paths of

righteousness for his namesake

you know when i was sick a few years ago

i was really

having a battle in my health

and i just would read this day after day

after day

just meditate on

individual words on phrases on

statements until it came alive

you want it you want to look see this is

eternal this is the eternal word of god

you want to give occasion time effort

for him to just truly

allow roots to go down into your soul

where what god has said actually begins

to affect your personality

he restores my soul verse three he leads

me in the paths of righteousness for his

name’s sake

yeah even though i walk through the

valley of the shadow of death

i will fear no evil you are with me

your rod and your staff they comfort me

here’s the verse i want

you prepare a table before me in the

presence of my enemies

you anoint my head with oil my cup runs

over surely goodness and mercy shall

follow me all the days of my life

and i will dwell in the house of the

lord forever

say this with me goodness and mercy

shall follow me

all the days of my life

that is absolutely true

now here’s the verse i want you to look

at for just a moment

you prepare a table before me in the

presence of my enemies

it is fairly common when somebody wants

prayer to come request prayer

now i’m not criticizing anyone who does

this i i’m just trying to illustrate

something

somebody will come and say i’m just i’m

being so harassed by the enemy right now

and of course i’ll pray for them counsel

whatever whatever is needed in that

moment

but because we don’t see situations as

they are

we see

the enemies attack we hear his voice we

see the tension of the moment what we

often don’t realize

is that it was in that atmosphere jesus

set up a banqueting table

he set up a place to feast in the

presence of the enemy

[Music]

so i’m sitting here with jesus but i

don’t realize i’m sitting here with

jesus because i hear the harassment

coming

i see this tension coming here i’m

feeling all this stuff and i’m going i

rebuke and i bind and i do all this

stuff and what what’s happening is i’m

shadow boxing

i’m filled with christian activity

but i’m exhausting myself because the

nourishment is supposed to come from the

meal that’s in front of me

the strength the nourishment

the reinforcement of who he made me to

be

god intentionally threw the banquet

where the enemy could see

now when the lord says you’re hidden

you’re not hidden out of view you’re

hidden out of reach

when he said you’re hidden

you’re not hidden out of view

you’re hidden out of reach

[Applause]

because sometimes the moment that we

think is actually the darkest is

actually the brightest

but it’s only dark because of whose eyes

we’re looking into

when you look into the eyes of the

father of lies

when you are entertained by the voice of

accusation or whatever it might be

of the one who is the father of lies

there is really the constructing of that

reality all around my life

but a simple turning

of my attention

towards what the scripture says

there’s a table

there’s a table

it’s a table of

feasting

it’s a table of goodness it’s a table of

encounter

it’s a table of delight

it’s a table

where by i am strengthened i am

nourished jesus

made this statement

that has really rocked my life he said

my food

is to do the will of him who sent me

there’s something nourishing about just

being in the center of what god is

saying and doing so here you are in the

middle of this what you think is a

hellish moment that actually by god’s

design is a heavenly moment

but it doesn’t become heavenly until i

remove my focus

on what’s working against me

and i turn my focus to who’s working for

me

and listen it’s the exact same moment

it’s the exact same moment and all that

took place was a shift in perspective

it’s not pretending it’s not you know

denial doesn’t help any of us

pretending something isn’t you know i’ve

got this maybe a health scare or a

financial crisis or a relational thing

whatever it might be

pretending it’s not there doesn’t help

but not letting it rule my heart does

help

the way i like to state it

is that real faith

doesn’t deny a problem’s existence

it just denies the problem a place of

influence

so you take the moment that you’re in

i intentionally will lift my head

it may seem silly i i don’t know but i i

walk my my property i lift my head

because i’m i’m celebrated

by a perfect father

who gave me grace it was a gift i

couldn’t earn

i couldn’t qualify for it on my own

but jesus qualified me

he qualified me he took the exam for me

and i passed

[Laughter]

i wish i would have known that in school

i could have done a lot better

he took the exam for me and he passed on

my behalf and he gave me the grade

it’s called grace

and because of that

the moment that seems

in my natural estimation

to be the most dangerous cluttered

distracting abusive whatever it might be

is actually

my finest moment

because he prepared the table

the table of nourishment the table of

fellowship the table of intimacy

the table of tenderness

the table

of genuine friendship

he put the table and he makes the devil

watch

[Applause]

and the enemy can do nothing about it

so i want you to stand

the picture that i see in my in my heart

and my mind

is like this chalkboard you know that’s

got all kinds of writing on it

and the teacher comes along and he just

she just cleans it and it’s just a clean

clean slate

and some of you you carry the markings

of this

failure and this crisis and this

difficulty and this problem and this

temptation and this whatever

and he’s he’s just coming and he’s just

hosing down

the board so let’s let’s let’s do clean

slate stuff tonight let’s do a clean

slate let’s let’s you say well i’ve

tried this i’ve tried this very thing so

many times before and that i always keep

falling back into fear i always keep

falling back in anxiety i always keep

falling back into something yeah but

that was that was then today is a

different day

today is a day when when you are

actually

set up

to be the one

just

set your eyes the god-given eyes with

the lens

that protects you

from the fiery eyes of god but not the

enemy who would try to follow you

and we just ride the thermals if you

will of the challenges that we face

into that glorious presence

i’ve got a feeling some of you will

actually for the first time in your life

actually honestly be able to give thanks

for a problem

because it was it provided the thermals

that just took you higher

does that make sense

so put your hands in front of you just i

want to pray over you

father i ask that a gift of grace first

of all the clean slate thing how many of

you you just you you you need a clean

slate you need to start this thing over

and i’m not talking about your walk with

christ i’m just talking about this this

part of our life where we become so

anxious and fearful i mean just say i

want to i want to start this one over

all right so lord i pray right now that

by the holy spirit

literally a tidal wave of presence that

you’d go through this place and that

tonight would begin a clean slate that

we would just wake up tomorrow different

thinking different living different

literally rising in the midst of

difficulty

riding the thermals towards your

glorious presence your glorious face i

pray this in jesus name

give a courage to us tonight i pray

a courage and that uh and that we would

never again fall for that notion

that because we can hear his voice that

he has any authority over us

the enemy has no authority i pray for

that right now turn put a hand on

somebody next to you just pray for them

god give them this grace

let there be great great grace given to

them

right now in jesus name

all right now in jesus wonderful name

a great grace

to ride above to right above

these uh

these challenges these difficulties

these accusations temptations whatever

they might be

in fact pray for their heart attitude

god help them to be tender in heart

help them to be courageous with their

confession

courageous with their decree

we pray this in jesus wonderfully

now put your hand on your own heart

pray this famous prayer

help me jesus

i really mean it this time

help me jesus

amen amen

[Applause]