When Giants Become Bread – Bill Johnson (Full Sermon) | Bethel Church

Can the giants in our lives become bread? Bill Johnson shares from Psalm 23: 6 and other key scriptures where God promises to nourish us in the presence of our enemies. The giants in our lives will become our bread as we keep our eyes focused on God and His promises over us. Let this message fill you with courage and boldness today for whatever you are facing!

[Applause]

thank you

good morning

is it still morning yes it is it’s still

morning

ah nice to see

ya appreciate all the prayers for our

household benny’s doing

increasingly better better and better

and better

i told our family yesterday i said the

miracle is a done deal it’s just opening

like a flower every day and

that’s what we see so very

very encouraged so thank you thanks so

much

according to a news report

a certain private catholic school was

recently faced with a unique problem

a number of the young ladies were

starting to wear lipstick which wasn’t

the problem but they would press their

lips against the mirror in the girl’s

bathroom

and

it was a hassle to clean

and so sister mary the principal talked

to them about not doing that but it just

didn’t slow it down they continued to

press their lips against the mirror

so she decided to have a meeting with

all the young ladies in the girls

bathroom so they all crowded in there

with the janitor

and she began to talk to them on how

hard it was to clean those mirrors

and

to illustrate how difficult it was

she turned to the janitor and said would

you please demonstrate how hard it is to

clean the lipstick off the mirror

and he took the long-handled squeegee he

dipped it into the toilet

[Laughter]

[Applause]

and he cleaned the mirror

and they have never had another lipstick

print on the mirror since then

that’s what you call an educator right

there

jesus came to earth

commissioned by the father

for clarity’s sake jesus christ is the

eternal son of god

never

stopped being god he’s not an ascended

being that’s somehow

attained to some position he is the

eternal son of god

but the great mystery of

scripture

is that he was 100 god while at the same

time he became 100 man

and if you can figure that out please

explain it to me

it’s it’s the great challenge in

conversation in teaching

but both realities are equally true

so jesus came to earth having been

commissioned

from the father

first john 3 8

tells us what the commission was

it says he came to destroy the works of

the evil one planet earth had been

infected with the devil and the demonic

horde that helped to bring about

absolute chaos loss lot death

destruction

into the earth

jesus came

to correct and to destroy the devil’s

works

the authority that he operated in

was connected to

his commission chris puts it best he

says you can’t be commissioned co would

be like in co-laboring co

you can’t be commissioned

until you come into submission to the

primary mission

jesus came with the mission of the

father

and exercise the authority of heaven as

a human being

a policeman has authority

but he doesn’t have authority to build a

house without a permit

there are a number of positions

political positions

where maybe somebody has authority in

economics or has authority in housing or

whatever they can’t step out they don’t

have authority outside of their

assignment outside of their mission

you and i have authority jesus

after his resurrection

stood before

his 11 remaining disciples

and threw them through all of humanity

who would say yes to jesus

and he said

all authority’s been given to me

therefore

go into all the world preach the gospel

disciple nations teach them what i

taught you

part of what he taught them was matthew

10 to heal the sick to raise the dead to

cast out devils that’s a part of the

commission

so it says teach them what i taught you

then he closes with this statement for i

am i will be with you always

jesus then commissioned his disciples

now in luke 9 verse 1 author of matthew

10 verse 8 says he gave

power and authority to his disciples

jesus came with authority i don’t

believe he came with power

he came with authority because he said

yes to the mission

but he didn’t come with power

instead we see

john the baptist baptizing in water

and he is preaching to the crowd and he

said there is one coming after me

i’m not even worthy to untie his shoes

he will baptize you in the holy spirit

and in fire

and as he’s preaching he looks up on the

banks of the river and he sees jesus

jesus didn’t have a sign over his head

saying i am the christ

john looks at him i like to describe it

this way every cell of john’s being

came into realization and recognition

that that is the lamb of god

it wasn’t just a passing mental

inspirational thought it was a

revelation that impacted the entirety of

john’s being and he stopped and he said

look behold the lamb of god who takes

away the sins of the world

in other words this is the moment i’ve

been waiting for

here he is

the scariest thing john ever experienced

i’m sure happened in the moments that

followed

jesus walked up to him

and he said i want you to baptize me

john knew that his baptism was a baptism

of repentance

jesus had nothing to repent for

he was baptized in what i would call an

intercessory role intercession is

basically to stand in the shoes of

another and plead their case as though

it were your own

if what’s happening in our nation right

now

doesn’t make you angry

you may be a part of the problem

hold on hold on

you’ve got to catch the next part of

that part that part will get you in

trouble and will eventually get me in

trouble

if it doesn’t make you angry you may be

part of the problem either through

apathy or through thinking consistent

with the evil that’s taking

place but if that anger takes you to

accusation complaining and criticism

you’re playing on the devil’s playing

field

and you will always lose on his playing

field

when righteous anger takes you to

intercession

where it’s not accusation but it’s

praying as though it were your issue

god forgive us

we have sinned against you

we have exalted standards that you

forbid in your law we have broken all

your laws god please heal us and forgive

us as a nation when we embrace when we

take that righteous anger if you will

and allow it to drive us into the

presence to intercede on behalf of the

nation a leader whatever it might be

then

that that anger if you will

don’t be offended by that god gets angry

and the bible commands be angry

and sin not

so what keeps us from sin in anger is

that we identify with the people that we

would be most angry with and we plead

their case in mercy

does that make any sense to you it’s not

the message for today that’s completely

free i won’t charge you for that but

that’s that’s uh i’ve been wanting to

say that for a while all right

so jesus stands in the place of all

those who would repent of sin in the

years to come he stands in their place

and is baptized in water john said an

interesting thing

he said i need to be baptized by you

what did john just announce about jesus

he will baptize you with the holy spirit

in fire john was saying i need your

baptism you don’t need mine i need yours

and john was out of season

he was not in the seas where he could be

baptized in the holy spirit and fire

because that would not come till after

the death of christ and of course john’s

death preceded that

which interestingly the bible declares

that john was the greatest of all the

old testament prophets but the least the

least in the kingdom was greater than

john

i would like to suggest that that holy

spirit baptism gives you access to a

reality in god that not even john the

baptist had access to

back to the

script here

so jesus

gets baptized in water when he comes up

out of the water

mark’s gospel mark and luke

both mark

1 and luke 3

says the heavens parted

the word used in africa which gospel i

believe it’s luke’s gospel

the word that’s used there for the

parting of the clouds

is actually a violent term

the same word for parting that word

parting of the clouds parting is used

twice in matthew 27

to describe something that happened in

the natural realm

after the death of christ when he died

when jesus died in matthew 27 it says

that the veil in the temple

very tall was torn from top to bottom

from god’s end to men’s

that veil they say is four to six inches

thick in fabric

and it was ripped from the top to the

bottom

in the same verse it says and the rocks

around jerusalem were torn in half

so imagine some angel coming down

ripping rocks in him

so we’re

in other words we’re talking about a

violent act we’re not talking about a

gentle breeze separating clouds

the bible describes the enemy as the

prince of the power of the air i’d like

to suggest that there is a figurative

thing going on here where when jesus was

baptized in water there was a rending a

tearing of the heavens and the spirit of

god came down through that opening if

you will upon jesus

in the form of a dove and remained he

was baptized if you will in the spirit

at that point it’s the very next chapter

is the first time we see jesus walking

in power so i’d like to suggest jesus

came with authority because he said yes

to the mission but he came with power

because of the encounter your authority

comes in your yes to the commission but

your power comes in the encounter

jesus gave authority and power to his

disciples while they walked with him

but when he

ascended to the right hand of the father

he told his disciples in luke 24

which is the basically same

encounter or moment where jesus gives

his mission in matthew 28 so it’s just

two different chapters

24 adds this one element he says don’t

leave jerusalem until you’re clothed

with power

here’s your authority all authority’s

been given to me now therefore go so

here’s the commission but then a loose

gospel he adds this phrase don’t leave

jerusalem until you clothe the power

power comes in the encounter authority

comes in the commission

i want you to look we’re going to change

gears a little bit i want you to look at

three very strange verses with me

and it’s numbers 14

it’s matthew 6

and psalms 23.

all right very random

but

hopefully you’ll see at least

that they complement each other

numbers 24.

interestingly

this is a fascinating uh subject i know

i’ve heard chris and maybe some others

touch on this just a little bit in

recent months

that the lord rewards maturity

with increase of responsibility

the promised land

was not

sitting on a beach

sipping lemonade the rest of their life

the promised land was a place where they

actually had to work

that we were actually designed to work

in fact the very thing happening in our

country right now where people don’t

want to work

is actually actually working against

divine purpose

it’s actually working against design

it’s like using a crest wrench as a

hammer in a work it just wasn’t designed

for that

now if you’re unable to work for

whatever reason

much blessing and grace to you i i

believe we’re supposed to care for

people that can’t but the point is we

got a spirit that’s been loosed in the

nation in this day where people are

looking for opportunities to not work

when actually the fulfillment of our

design is found in work

all right

i feel better about that too that one’s

free as well that’s all right let’s get

back here

my assignment today is just a medal and

cause problems so i’m

looking for every opportunity

so israel

was given

a promised land

and

your future is defined by promises

and the measure in which we say yes to

the promises of god

is in that measure we step into the

fullness of our design

the promises of god guarantee a fight

between the promise and fulfillment

now back pedal

israel

under moses’s leadership they were

looking at the promised land they knew

there was a great vast inheritance for

them

so he took 12 spies and he sent them

into the land to spy it out and to bring

back a report of what they were about to

step into

they came back 10 of them said there are

giants in the land or like grasshoppers

in

our sight

we can never win this battle two of them

joshua and caleb came back

and said this is a done deal this is a

set up by god for our victory

they came back with great courage but

the ten

persuaded the crowd to move in fear

now nobody in the crowd said i choose

fear

they all said let’s choose wisdom

because fear masquerades us wisdom

the ten spies did not come back with

lies

they came back with truth

just not

the whole truth

they came back

convincing people of something that was

inferior to what god has said and what

god has said over your life

is what we must feed our heart on

if we feed our heart on just simply the

facts we will react in fear and never

recognize it as fear we will consider

ourselves to be people that move in

great wisdom

and i’ll tell you this if you move in

fear all of your friends if you live

cautiously your friends will call you

wise you just won’t move many mountains

it takes courage to confront and to face

what god has put in front of us

so here’s some of the dialogue

that we have from joshua and caleb as

they literally prophesy they bring the

word of the lord to a nation

to not rebel against the lord by failing

to enter a promise

let that phrase just run through your

mind for a minute to not rebel against

the lord by failing to enter a promise

all right

verse 9

only do not rebel against the lord well

i just heard that recently do not rebel

against the lord nor fear the people of

the land for they are our bread

their protection has departed from them

and the lord is with us do not fear them

your giant looks different when you

believe a promise

look at it again do not rebel against

the lord nor fear the people of the land

for they are our

bread go to matthew 6.

verse 11

give us this day

our daily bread

[Music]

you say well that’s torn out of context

okay

psalms 23

you prepare a table before me in the

presence of my enemies

there are certain spiritual nutrients

that you cannot get

apart from defeating defeating a giant

the meal you are hungry for

is in the triumph of the giant you’re

facing

god has given every one of us an

appetite

to be strong spiritually but we want

strength for the battle and he’s saying

my strength comes from the battle

they are bred

we’re not talking about a mental game

where we

imagine that there is no enemy

i love the honesty of joshua and caleb

where they talk openly about the giants

they’re just not impressed by them

and i have found anytime i am impressed

with the size of my problem it’s because

i’ve lost sight of the size of my god i

know that sounds cute but it’s a reality

anytime i become impressed with the size

of a challenge i have lost sight of the

size of the promise that weighs over my

life

and there’s a huge part some part of our

christian life he absolutely does for us

he actually does for us he caused this

victory to happen i didn’t i didn’t do

anything all i did was show up and he

just caused it to happen he defended me

here he promoted me there he did i get

that but there are parts of our of our

christian walk where the nutrients we

ache for are actually found in the

giants we are facing

and it’s changing our perspective

not in a mental mental gymnastics but

changing perspective according to what

god says

what did god say

joshua and caleb pick something up they

picked something up from the lord that

this

this land of giants

that’s lunch

and when we’re through with lunch we’ll

move on to dinner

this is our food

psalms 23 fascinates me

for a lot of reasons obviously but

psalms 23 fascinates me because he says

you prepare a table

before me

in the presence of my enemies we’ve gone

through this i know i i know you’ve

studied it on your own i’m sure but

let’s just mentally walk through this

very strange

setting

god has prepared a table

of the richest

most glorious food

you will ever eat in your life

i mean i think god’s probably a pretty

good cook good good so here is this

table the table is a place of

nourishment the table is a place of

interaction a fellowship of connection

so here you are on the other side of

jesus

whose eyes are like burning with fire

but also with the tenderness of

compassion and love you’ve ever seen in

your life

his words give you courage to face

anything that you could possibly ever

ever face this interaction with you that

we have with him at this table so to

speak something that defines our purpose

our reason for being our destiny it’s a

life-giving encounter and here it is

in the presence of enemies

and i fear that many people sit at this

table day after day after day

rebuking and binding

and doing all these things because

they’re preoccupied with the enemy

that’s around the table

and they never benefit from the

nutrients of the moment

and they may come out victorious they

may come out saying no we took care of

that problem didn’t we and yet they’re

lacking in the nutrients or lacking in

the very thing that was to define their

future

because they became preoccupied with the

devil instead of with the lord who

created a place of intimate fellowship

in the middle of a problem

[Applause]

once we come to christ

it doesn’t mean that everything that

comes my way is designed by the lord

i’m facing things right now i know he

had no hand in because he gives life and

these things give death

he came to give life

the enemy came to kill steal destroy so

if there’s death loss and destruction

involved guess what that’s the devil’s

fingerprints it’s not from the lord

but here’s the guarantee

all things work together for good for

those that love god and are called

according to his purpose something

happens in this life in christ where

this that comes my way that was

unexpected becomes redefined

god says all right i’m turning this into

a meal

this thing that was set to destroy this

is dinner

this is breakfast

this is brunch

i don’t know about you i love brunch

i love brunch

but they only have them on sundays and

i’m here

all day

all day

so when i’m on vacation i look for

brunch

because brunch is where bacon goes to

die that’s what

that’s what bacon is i know not supposed

to eat bacon but i eat bacon

so the lord takes that which was thrown

your way and he says all right i am

going to put in the purpose of this

giant

i’m going to put in his makeup

the food that you will need for the next

season

now repent

which means what

change the way you think change your

perspective on reality why because if

you don’t you’ll just see the giant you

won’t see dinner

i want you to turn with me to joshua

chapter one

and we’re going to read

a portion of scripture

i think i could say honestly

if i could take the three most important

portions of scripture in the bible for

me in the last 50 years this would be

one of the top three

and

for me

it’s like a refrigerator i go to it when

i’m hungry

there’s always something in this

refrigerator to eat joshua chapter 1. it

feeds my soul

i remind you that joshua is one of the

two

that went into the land of promises and

came out with a good report

tragically israel could not enter to

take the promised land

and every person in the nation died

with the exception of joshua and caleb

because promises give you a reason to

live

promises insulate you from what destroys

others it does not destroy you why

because you have a reason for being

alive and god protected

and honored their faithfulness honored

their faith

verse 5 no man shall be able to stand

before you

all the days of your life

as i was with moses so i will be with

you

i will not leave you nor forsake you

stop right there let’s let’s change this

for just just a moment instead of moses

let’s put jesus in there

and let’s read this to you

because that actually is the reality of

the new testament

no man will be able to stand before you

all the days of your life

for as i was with jesus

so i will be with you

i will not leave you nor forsake you

do you know that that is absolutely true

do you know that the promises given to

the son jesus have been given to you

do you know that jesus said all things

the father has our mind and i give them

to you all things the entire realm of

sonship that was upon jesus he passed on

to you and to me

it’s called grace none of us could ever

earn that

we could never jump through enough hoops

to get that

it was a gift it was a gift of god verse

six be strong and of good courage

for to this people you shall divide as

an inheritance the land which i swore to

their fathers to give them do you

understand your obedience positions you

to redistribute the inheritance of god

to many others all those under your

influence come into promotion and

blessing because of your yes if you

don’t see that you’re not thinking right

hello bethel tv

online community bless you if you don’t

see that you’re not thinking so i wanted

to welcome you into this joyful

experience that we’re having here

verse seven only be strong and very

courageous

that you may observe to do according to

all the law which moses my servant

commanded you i realize we’re not under

the law of moses but we are under the

law of love

and in the law of love we find the

capacity to obey everything jesus said

to do

according to all the law which moses my

servant commanded you do not turn from

it to the right hand or the left that

you may prosper wherever you go

this book of the law shall not depart

from your mouth but you will meditate it

meditate in it day and night stop right

there

if you want to impact what you think

about change what you talk about

the book of the law shall not depart

from your mouth but you will meditate on

it day and night that you may observe to

do according to all that is written in

it for then you will make your way

prosperous and you will have good

success

you will make your way prosperous many

believers are waiting for the lord to

make their way prosperous

you imagine a farmer

planting 10 acres of corn

and being angry because he didn’t

harvest 100.

that was that was

it was a really good bill i

if i were you i’d try it again it was it

was worth trying again

you can’t harvest what you don’t plant

god’s given his word to us

to use not in manipulation for

self-glory

prosperity and success unfortunately we

usually define those words by

society around us it’s the mansion on

the hill it’s you know

whatever

five cars whatever

we

we translate

prosperity and success

in those terms where biblically is so

much richer than that

it may include the nice house in the

nice car it’s never the point the point

is in here i am alive abundantly alive

my relationships are healthy i complete

who they are they complete who i am our

family life is creating a sense of

destiny and purpose there is a momentum

in the generations because of our yes my

friendships are i have people around me

that would take a bullet from me and i

would take a bullet for them

i i like that little joke i saw a while

back says i would take a bullet for you

not in the head but maybe like in the

leg or something that’s

i i thought that was funny i’m sorry

[Applause]

poor sense of humor all right

success and prosperity

involves possessions but is never the

focus

it’s the abundance of heart

what would it be like

to be prosperous in your mind i can tell

you what it is it’s creative thinking

creative thinking and we need a whole

generation of creative thinkers

god has a solution for every problem on

the planet he would love it if the

people that become so preoccupied of the

fear of failure when asking actually

start asking the question god how can we

solve this problem

verse 9

have i not commanded you be strong

i don’t know i’m picking up this idea

that maybe we should be strong

have i not commanded you be strong and

have good courage do not be afraid

nor be dismayed for the lord your god is

with you wherever you go that last

phrase is critical

years ago i did a study where i tried to

find every place

where the lord said he would be with

somebody

so we see it with moses the lord says

i’m going to be with you

we see it with gideon he’s facing this

crazy insurmountable task of this army

he’s got 300 soldiers the lord says i

will be with you

we see it all through the scriptures you

see it with the prophets we see it with

different ones who are put in these

positions lord says i will be with you

we see it in the great commission

matthew 28 verse 19 and 20.

go into all the world it ends with and i

will be with you always the point is

every time i could find that god

revealed that he was with an individual

or with a group of people it was always

connected to their impossible assignment

he revealed his presence because he told

them to do something they could not do

let’s rephrase that

we sing the song i love your presence

and we do

we love the presence of the lord but the

manifestation of the presence of god is

to guarantee you’ve been assigned to the

impossible

he could comfort us in many ways

but it’s more than just his presence to

comfort me it is to equip and enable me

to confront things that jesus would

confront if he were in these shoes

he says be strong

and courageous do you understand

that he would never command me to be

strong

if it wasn’t within reach

in other words

if my will if i could not will my way

into it

then it would be a cruel command

he didn’t say

feel courageous

he didn’t say hover till you feel strong

he said just be it

be strong

now if god is commanding me to do

something

that is the product of

10 years of obedience

then it’s a it’s a cruel command because

i’m in trouble right now i got a problem

right now

and he comes to us with a command

be strong and don’t fear

be courageous do not be dismayed

why because i’m with you

for me the implication is

if i

am overwhelmed by the size of my problem

i have lost sight of the presence of god

and his promise that prevails over my

life

it’s what it’s what

helped the 10

spies

to not lie

but emphasize the size of the giants the

size of the problem

it wasn’t a lie they just described that

problem

without the prevailing word of god over

their life without the abiding

manifested presence that was visibly

seen among them every day of their life

in the

wilderness visible manifestation of the

glory of god the pillar of fire by night

the cloud by day it was there day after

day after day after day but they didn’t

remember that when they got into the

promised land and they saw giants

they saw big people instead of a big god

i’ve told you in recent weeks that most

of us

our miracle our breakthrough begins the

moment we stop being impressed by the

size of our problem

many people define themselves by the

size of the problem oh it’s been rough

and i don’t mean we shouldn’t share and

pray with each other i i get that so

i know this could be misapplied but it’s

worth the risk

if i get some of you to apply it it’ll

be good

your giant

is your next meal

give us this day

our daily bread

god create the table in such a way

that i am so overwhelmed

by who’s at the table

and what you put there for me to eat

that i never again

become impressed with the enemy who is

watching

my one of my most favorite verses of all

is in acts 10 38

and i uh

just about any time i’m thankful for

digital clocks because they

say 10 38.

and when whatever they do even i’ve been

up here talking before and i’ve seen 10

38 and just pause in my heart and

acknowledge the reality of acts 10 38

one of the most important scriptures for

my

life it’s where he says

god was with jesus

and he anointed him

to heal every disease

to destroy all the powers of hell that

he ran into

because god was with him

it says jesus went about doing good

healing all who were oppressed the devil

listen to this phrase for god was with

him

the very fact that the presence of god

is manifested with him

emphasizes

that role he had

he had as man with the presence of god

with him

why

because he’s looking for a generation

that will say an equal yes

and look at the giant

and say

you are my dinner

you are my dicker

[Applause]

well i don’t want to make the devil mad

he’s already mad you are my dinner

why’d you stand

so

just

pretend with me that the

biggest giant you’re facing is standing

right in front of me

maybe you don’t have any you can borrow

your neighbor’s giant

i want you to say this with me

you are my bread

father i’m asking for

that that supernatural gift of courage

the supernatural gift

of perception

where we see things as you see them

not as the enemy wants us to see them

that we actually see

the meal

that is the reward

of this next victory

we long we hunger to see

the enemies of our life bend their need

of the name jesus through our lips we

want to see the impossibilities of life

bow

to the authority of jesus

that he’s imparted to us we pray for

this

god i pray for everybody in this room

that there would be an unusual ability

to interpret

giant

dinner

to be able to interpret

the enemy surrounds me there must be a

meal somewhere

there must be a meal somewhere

holy spirit we

we look to ask that you to literally

rest upon every person in this room

in such a profound way

that we never in fact this is hard to

even imagine but we never again

become impressed with the size of a

problem

let us see through the eyes of jesus

now without anybody moving around give

me just a moment here

the most important moment of this day is

this one

i know with a crowd this size

quite possibly online or in the room

that there are people here that do not

have a personal relationship with jesus

you’ve never surrendered your life to be

a disciple a follower of jesus

the bible calls it being born again

it’s where we receive him and there’s a

transformation that takes place from the

inside out forgiven of sin

brought into his family that is

available to everybody in this room all

those watching online if you’re online

put it in the chat box we’ve got staff

on there that are ready to talk to you

and to pray with you just say i’m i’m

receiving jesus

if there’s anybody in the room that

would just say bill i don’t want to

leave the building till i know

i’m right with god i’m at a place of

peace with god i’m forgiven of sin i’m

part of his family

if that’s you then just put a hand up

right where you are just do it real

quick like put your hand up for that

reason right back here i see one all

right wonderful anybody else put your

hand up quickly

way back over here’s another one yep

beautiful

anybody else wave your hand

if i if i missed you

okay i see i see this i see this one

here that one there is there any anybody

else

all right beautiful

you guys you guys will help okay what i

want to ask is there’s at least two that

put their hand up

do me and yourself a favor just walk up

here real quickly because i have friends

that i know and trust that i want to

talk and to pray with you so just come

on down real quick if you if you friend

raise their hand walk down with them

just come on down

god bless

yes

so these guys right here are going to

talk really crazy come on god bless you

guys

yeah go ahead you guys just take him to

the side and pray and talk with him

extend your hand towards them and just

pray god give them more than they ever

thought was possible

just let let them be filled with the

holy spirit even right now

that all the torment the stuff that’s

been on their life would be broken off

just pray that right now pray that over

them just pray out loud pray for them

right now to encounter the lord