Break Free From the Enemy’s Stronghold - Bill Johnson Sermons | Bethel Church

0:00 If he hasn't delivered me out of a situation, he has complete confidence that he has prepared me for victory. It's not a sin to experience fear. Sin starts when I start partnering with fear. What it does is it causes me to lose sight of the tools God has given me. The offspring of fear is hopelessness. Now, how many of you remember where the Bible says he chooses the foolish things to confound the wise? He chooses the weak things to confound the strong. How many of you know that God chose you?

0:34 How many of you are just now realizing you qualified through weakness, through foolishness? he chooses it's not that extremely talented people can't be used by God because they are all the time but they just have to die more to get where they can be used the Lord uses human skill and grace and talent. He's the one who gave it to us. But it has to come to a place of surrender, otherwise we take the glory. And the Lord is very finicky about receiving His glory. And He doesn't mind if we're in the room and we share in the sense of atmosphere, but He really is building a case for the glory of the Lord to fill the earth. and that is done through a yielded, surrendered people. So here's the story.

1:27 We're going to start in chapter 6 and verse 6 says Israel is greatly impoverished because of the Midianites. Verse 7, it came to pass when the children of Israel cried to the Lord because of the Midianites, the Lord sent a prophet to the children of Israel who said to them, thus says the Lord God of Israel, I brought you up from Egypt, brought you out of the house of bondage, delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians, out of the hand of all who oppressed you, drove them out from before you and gave you their land. Also, I said to you, I am the Lord, your God. Do not fear the gods of the Amorites and whose land you dwell, but you have not obeyed my voice. We're going to be reading quite a bit of scripture. So it would be helpful if you're able to follow along. So here the Lord says, he said, first of all, the people of God are just, they're under the weight of oppression, under the weight of being impoverished, of being robbed and taking advantage of by superior military powers, governments, etc.

2:28 They are despondent and they are crying out to God, probably not in great faith, probably just more out of panic, if anything. And the Lord sends them a prophet. Now, sometimes I'm thankful when the Lord ministers to me directly. I love when he speaks to me directly, but sometimes he will not talk to us directly. He will only talk to us through a friend. He will only talk to us through a gift, through another person, through a prophet, through whoever. And the reason, I saw this with David years ago. David wanted to build a temple for the Lord, and the Lord wouldn't talk to him directly about it. He would only speak through the other prophets around him. Why? Because God, he knows what we need and when. And he knows when speaking to me directly would build independence from my need for other people. And he knows when I actually need to hear the word of the Lord through the mouth of a friend or acquaintance or whatever, a gifted individual. And there are times where I need it, my need says it's got to come from somebody else, not directly from the Lord.

3:32 Why? Because he's building something in me that has a value for the anointing, the gift, the grace that rests on other people. And so they cried out, God sent them a prophet. The prophet came and said, all right, the Lord says, I brought you out of Egypt. I brought you out of bondage. I even brought you into a land of promises. And I delivered this land to you. It's your inheritance. It's your promised land. He said, but I warned you, don't fear the gods of the Amorites. All right. So what has been the repeated sin forever with Israel? The Lord warned them that when you come into the promised land, if you don't completely drive out the enemy nation, you will end up in time intermarrying and you will eventually worship their false gods. So the warning was drive them out completely. Otherwise, there'll be what was a thorn in your side.

4:26 It says there'll be a snare to you. It will be a thorn in your sight, and you will end up worshiping false gods. So here the Lord has warned them about worshiping false gods. But in this verse, please notice, he didn't say, I warned you not to worship false gods. What did he say? I warned you, don't fear the gods of the Amorites. Why? Your fear always directs your worship. You can sing the right songs, but in your heart of hearts, be afraid of going broke. And so you hold to every penny.

5:06 You're afraid of not being recognized. And so you hold to the opportunity to make sure people notice you are the one responsible for that act, for that gift. Fear takes on ugly. Fear is a horrible teacher, a horrible taskmaster. because we know enough spiritually to how to cover our frailties. We take our dysfunctions and we give them religious titles where fear is no longer fear. It's now called discernment or caution or wisdom. Any number of names. And fear is a horrible taskmaster. This is what fear does. Fear will always attract whatever information is necessary to legitimize its existence.

5:55 Fear will always attract whatever information is necessary to legitimize its existence. fear is a self-fulfilling prophecy and Jesus warns throughout the whole of scripture I don't remember now I think it's like 365 times one for every day of the year where he says in scripture do not fear it's the most repeated command in the entire Bible is do not fear, why? he was trying to give us a clue here's going to be your biggest enemy because when I'm anxious, I don't hear from him well, and I live from his voice. When I'm anxious, I don't hear well.

6:43 It says, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. So the very voice of the Lord is what activates life and sustains me as a believer. It's not the wow factor. It's the fact that his voice brings a substance that I live off of, that I thrive off of. Faith comes from hearing, not from having heard. It's a present tense relationship. And so fear disrupts that. I used to have an issue with my knee where it would get dislocated in football. And I remember the first time it happened, the coach ran out and put his leg on this part of my leg and pulled this part straight out and then slowly. And then there's this huge pop. It was nauseating.

7:34 I'm just trying to make all of you sick is what I'm trying to do. But it happened several times. Chris helped me on one of the occasions. Now, when it was dislocated, it's still a part of my leg. It's still alive. I have a measure of movement, but its function is completely gone. A person bound by fear is still alive. And there's some measure of connection, but function is gone. Function is gone. Fear, the scripture says that love casts out fear. So let's reverse that. Where fear is dominant, there's no awareness of love. And the love of God is the supreme thing for our walk with Christ. It's the fact that for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son.

8:32 It's the love of God that sustains us. All right, back to this. I've got to get going here. Goodness gracious. What are you doing, Bill? So preaching, that's what I'm trying to do. That's right. All right, so Gideon, the Lord calls Gideon in verse 11 and 12 of chapter six. Gideon's response, he says, oh my Lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? Where are all his miracles which our fathers told us about? Has anybody ever uttered either of those two questions? God, if you're with us, how come all this junk is going on? You know, if this is a nation of blessing and favor, How come the craziness is happening? And what about the other question? Where are all the miracles? Now, I'm thankful. I've seen more miracles than I thought I'd ever get to see in my lifetime. But I still live with the awareness there is so much more. How many of you have asked either of those two questions before? Where are all the miracles?

9:26 All right. The Lord set you up. He provoked you to have the questions so that you would be better equipped to recognize your call. You are assigned to be the solution. Gideon is asking the question, where's all the miracles? If you're with us, how come all this stuff is happening? And God begins to speak into his life about his purpose. That he is a part of the company of people that is going to rectify, bring solution to this mystery that has been haunting the nation of Israel all this time. He actually stirred, planted in him the question before he ever brought the answer. if you have the question guess what you got set up you're part of the company that's supposed to bring the answer The Lord asked at one point, can a nation be saved in a day? He wasn't looking for an answer.

10:24 He's looking for a fruit. some things are too easy to answer verbally without any substance behind it and the Lord is having us ask certain questions if God is with us and where are all the miracles they're in your hands they're in your voice they're in your hospital visit they're in your knocking on your neighbor's door to see if they're well yet it's are you alive yeah All right, let's move on. So we get through chapter 6. There's an offering, a sacrifice that Gideon makes. He's very intimidated, very much afraid. And the Lord, you know, he says, how can I do this? I'm the least of my family. My family's the least in our tribe. And he starts running all these disclaimers before the Lord. And the Lord answers, I'm with you.

11:18 I've sent you. If you start wondering what your skill level is, it doesn't matter. start wondering what your your faith level is it doesn't matter your yes matters Your yes matters.

11:47 Why? Because he sent you. All you need to know is God sent me. Fear doesn't start off, oftentimes doesn't start off as a spirit, a spirit of fear. Sometimes it's just a simple emotion. I mean, you can work yourself into fear without the devil being 100 miles away. I mean, we don't need him to be stupid. I don't. I'll speak for yourself. So some sins we always, we think are spiritual, but actually oftentimes they start in the natural realm. And the extreme example of this in Galatians 5 actually refers to witchcraft as a sin that starts as a sin of the flesh. That's just bizarre. I mean, here's this, you know, cultic involvement, the demonic, all this world swirling about a person who's involved in witchcraft, the scripture says it starts off as a sin of the flesh.

12:48 What is witchcraft in its basic form? It is the want to be in charge and to control your environment so that you remain in charge. It is the absence of trust in God. And it starts as a sin of the flesh. It becomes supernaturally empowered and eventually becomes very demonic, becomes a stronghold of the demonic. Does that make sense to you? The same is true with fear. Fear oftentimes just starts as, I got a bill in the mail that I didn't expect and I don't have money for. You start feeding into that thing and pretty soon in no time at all, you're just buried in fear and worry, anxiety, all the junk that all of us face. Every one of us deal with this stuff. And so we get buried in that thing and it actually invites the spirit realm to come and reinforce. And it becomes a much bigger battle than it was when we were just dealing with our own discipline. One more passage I want you to look at.

13:44 It's in Philippians chapter 1. and then I want to talk to you for a little bit. Philippians 1 is one of my favorite ones on the subject of fear. Verse 27 says, Let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of your affairs, that you stand fast in one spirit with one mind, striving together for the faith of the gospel. Here's the verse. not in any way terrified by your adversaries which is to them proof of perdition but to you of salvation now think through this verse this is really powerful not in any way terrified by your adversaries which is to them proof of eternal judgment so think through this every time you and are victorious over a fear issue. What is broadcast on the PA of hell, the powers of darkness, is pending doom, absolute eternal judgment. And they try to get you to fear so they don't have to think about what's coming.

14:58 I've got some really good news for you I heard just recently every time we are victorious over the fear issue what happens is the enemy all the powers of darkness come face to face with the fact that they are eternally doomed and there is no solution and that's what the victory over fear does is it pronounces, it announces it reminds what is coming their way. No wonder the powers of darkness work so hard to get us in fear, both to dislocate us in our sense of effectiveness, but also to erase from their thinking what they are facing.

15:44 That's amazing. That's amazing. So here's the deal. Fear absolutely kills us. Fear absolutely messes us up. in the worst possible way because it connects us to a lie. So I've got just a series of questions. I've got to make this some briefer in this service. But I've got just a series of questions, and here's the first one. What are you doing? Pertaining to the fear issue, pertaining to the temptation to entertain,

16:20 thoughts, negative thoughts that really cause you to become weak and fearful. how many of you you've become so fearful over something so anxious over something you couldn't get it out of your mind you couldn't stop thinking about it all evening long into the night it kept you up at night how many of you have lost sleep over thinking stupid things all right so we know you know how to meditate Thank you. So now we just need to change the subject that you're focusing on. You're going to feed yourself on that which kills. You're going to feed yourself on that which gives life. And it is a choice. It is a choice. Jack Hayford made a statement years ago that really rocked me. He said, how would you treat a friend who lied to you as often as your fears do? 76 Turn to 1 John 4.

17:27 It's probably the most well-known passage on fear, at least for many of us. 1 John 4. 1 John chapter 4 starting in verse 17 love has been perfected among us in this that we have boldness in the day of judgment that's an amazing thing because as he is so are we in this world but I'd love to bring that subject up again but not today there is no fear in love verse 18 perfect love casts out fear because fear involves torment but he who fears has not been made perfect in love jump down to verse 20 It's all in the same thought. If someone says, I love God and hates his brother, he's a liar. He who does not love his brother whom he can see, how can he love God whom he cannot see? The whole point is, is that when we confess, we have a spiritual experience, a reality in the unseen realm, it has to be measurable in the scene.

18:27 How we treat the natural world actually illustrates and exemplifies exemplifies what we are claiming to have happened in our own personal lives. So if I say I love God, but I don't love people, then I'm lying. So what is he saying here? Perfect love casts out fear. I've only had half this equation settled in my thinking. In recent years, any time I've made reference to this verse, perfect love casts out fear, the emphasis has been on making sure that I'm in a place to receive that loving touch from God. Why? Because that love casts out fear. It's true, but it's only partially true. Why? Because the scripture says perfect love. The word perfect there is the word complete. Love that is made complete casts out fear. When he goes on in the discussion, he talks about us loving people. So in other words, I have to give away what I've received in order for it to be complete. And it's only that kind of love that casts out fear.

19:23 it's not just my experience on a prayer line or through a fire tunnel it's the experience i've had with god that has been translated into how i treat people here's the bottom line what are you doing what are you doing pertaining to the issue of fear what are you doing this the scripture compels us serve somebody stop waiting for another conference stop waiting for another prophetic word, stop waiting for another person to come and massage your ego or help sympathize with the tragedies that you've faced. You know, at some point, we have to stop being impressed with the size of our problem. And our deliverance begins at the moment. We're no longer impressed with the size of our problem. And that's the challenge for every one of us. And some of you say, well, you don't know what I've gone through. No, that's true. And if I did, I would probably buckle or be as challenged as you're struggling. I wouldn't ever want to discount that.

20:21 I'm just saying none of us want to stay there, so let's get out. And the way you get out is you find someone to serve that's worse off than you. Love has to become practical where it becomes demonstrated. So what are you doing? What are you thinking? What are you thinking about? Because if I'm fueling the lie, I've agreed with the liar, and tragically, I've empowered the liar. so he only comes to kill steal and destroy so when you empower the liar there's always loss and destruction as a result so there has to be a point where find a scripture a word of promise read the bible till he talks to you and when you find that verse of scripture memorize it write it on a card you may have to pull it out 50 times 100 times in one day and quote it pray it declare it sing it but just take some responsibility take some responsibility for the very fact that the enemy is intimidated by your success and he hopes to dislocate your effectiveness by causing you to fear. That's what he's doing. He does not want to be reminded of eternal judgment. That's why he has targeted you, targeted me to fall into this issue of fear. So taking personal responsibility, what are you doing? Serve somebody. What are you thinking? Think what God says. Paul wrote us in in the most horrific situation possible.

21:39 Here's a guy who writes, everywhere I go, people want to kill me. That has to affect your approach on travel. He says, everywhere I go, they want to put me in chains. You know, he's got this group that follows him. All they want to do is kill him. I mean, they've stoned him. They've done all this stuff, tried to kill him. He's had 39 lashes. I forget how many times. The guy's just, you know, he's got some reasons to be depressed. and here he's in a prison. He's in a hole in the ground. I've actually been in the hole that he was at in Rome and he writes this letter that says rejoice. Again, I say rejoice. He found how to beat the fear thing.

22:21 He found something powerful. Anybody can rejoice when they have joy. In the kingdom, you rejoice to obtain joy. You actually cause your thought life, your emotional life and your physical body to align with what god has made available and in that yielding in that sacrifice in that obedience brings a release of profound joy fear can't connect itself it's like you become teflon nothing sticks nothing sticks of that realm of fear and so the question is you know what are you what are we what are we thinking What are we doing? What are we praying?

23:03 You know, Jesus said, come to me, all you who are weary, heavy laden, I'll give you rest. There's a profound picture of exchange. If when you pray, you don't leave refreshed, you probably weren't praying, you were complaining. because the whole point of prayer is that you're supposed to get his heart and he's going to take yours he's going to take your junk and give you his good and that's the exchange that's the that's the deal of prayer so if you walk into the presence and you walk out as frustrated as when you went in you might want to think about how you're praying So what am I doing? What am I thinking? What am I praying? It basically comes down to this. Any area of our life for which we have no hope is under the influence of a lie. If we, what happens is we sometimes become careless or lazy in our faith, and we allow parts of our life to have no hope.

24:03 We say, well, we're believing for breakthrough here, but this is, I just don't want to talk about it. And there's that area for which we have no hope, and that is actually being influenced by a lie. And what's vital for you and me is to learn what God has already, here it is. There is no situation that you could face that you're not prepared for and that he doesn't have an answer for.

24:31 Israel, there's an interesting story about Israel. They were coming to this one, they were released from Egypt going into the promised land. So it ended up being a 40 year journey. They had battles. They had a lot of stuff on the way. As somebody said years ago, it was easy to get Israel out of Egypt. It was hard to get Egypt out of Israel. You know, they learned the ways of slavery. They learned the ways of another kingdom. And it just took process to get that out of them so that they could, once they got into the promised land, they could stay there. And so here they're on this journey. They've just left the wilderness, or the promised Egypt, and they're in the wilderness. and the Lord says there's an enemy in front of them. They are equipped to win. They have the skills to win, but they don't have the heart to win. So the Lord said, I'm going to take them the long way around because if I take them into a battle at this point in their journey, they'll become afraid and they'll go back to Egypt.

25:29 So what does that tell you about the Lord? it tells you that he creates detours around battles you're not ready and equipped to win. That's huge. That's huge. It means that if he hasn't delivered me out of a situation, he has complete confidence that he has prepared me for victory. And here's what happens with fear, anxiety, intimidation, and all that whole family of junkie attitudes, that whole deal. The problem, yeah, bad family, bad, bad family. That whole group of attitudes and thoughts. what happens there is that when it's not a sin to experience fear. Sin starts when I start partnering with fear, when I start giving my heart to fear, when I start giving my thoughts, my attitude towards fear, then I become poisoned by it. And what happens is in fear, when I embrace fear, what it does is it causes me to lose sight of the tools God has given me.

26:30 suddenly I feel like I'm completely abandoned I'm completely alone there's no answer for my situation I've done everything I know to do and it's that the the offspring of fear is hopelessness and I got there because I lost track of what God had already instilled in my life most individuals in this room all of us are facing facing things I mean we all have things that are working really good and things that are not working so good all right we we got that going up. So we're facing challenges. And what happens is I think every person, if you were to sit down and spend an hour with the Lord and ask him, show me what you've taught me over the last year, help me to remember the things I've seen, I've experienced in your word, the things that I've cried out for, those moments where you touched me, have him remind you of what he's taught you in the last year. And I'll bet you that every situation that is being faced by every person in this room, he has already put the tools in your life, in your thinking, in your experience, in your testimony, and they simply need to be drawn on for this particular problem.

27:39 Does that make sense? Because what fear and anxiety does is it causes me to lose sight that I have an answer, that I have access to an answer. Or have you ever felt this way? I can't remember one thing God has ever done. I mean, that's like the spirit of stupid on steroids for sure, but it's like I can't think of anything at the moment. I know he's done all kinds of stuff, but we just need that moment where we just peer in to this engagement that we've had with the Lord. Maybe for some of you it's been only a few weeks. For some of you it's been decades. But the point is, is you have a history with God, and that history has provided for you tools, tools for this present situation.

28:22 God is a God who plans well. He's a good steward. He answers prayers, but he does it so differently. We're contending for some pretty big breakthroughs. And sometimes he just gives us an acorn instead of an oak tree. Sometimes we're praying for this massive thing to take place, And the problem is we don't know how to be encouraged in the process because we're waiting for some, you know, everything is going to be different right around the corner, right in this next season. And we don't know how to stay encouraged in that season because unintentionally we've put God on trial to answer this one big thing so that we have confidence in what he's doing. Instead of realizing he answers so many large prayers with small answers to see if we have the character, the stamina, the focus to steward the answer that came in small form. Why? Anytime there's a process in the development of the acorn to the oak tree, that kind of an answer, big answer, start small. Anytime God engages me in a process, it's because he's trying to grow me into the person that can handle the full answer. Because if that oak tree, figuratively speaking, if that oak tree is given to me in my present condition, it would destroy me. So God's trying to grow me into the person that can handle that answer without it destroying me.

29:52 That's good. Oh, good. All of God's disciplines are so that his blessings don't kill us. He disciplines us not with punishment.

30:13 No one has ever been punished into purity. No one's ever been punished into godliness. It doesn't work that way. Discipline comes from God speaking to the heart of a person. The whole concept of pruning in John 15 verse three says, but you are clean, the word is prune there, you are clean or pruned, disciplined already because of the word I have spoken to you. It's the word into the yielded heart that prunes, that trims, that disciplines. It's not the circumstances, the circumstances just wake us up to listen. I mean, when Jonah was sitting in the belly of a well, he thought there's probably somebody out there who had a better solution than what he was experiencing. He was in a position to listen. And that's what happened. Circumstances wake us up to listen. The life is in the Word.

31:06 It's in His voice. In Philippians 1, it says, when you and I, I think it's verse 21, when you and I say no to fear, it only reminds the devil he's doomed. that's awesome when you and i resist resist fear this i just picture this scene when you and i resist fear what happens there's this wave of intimidation over the demonic realm and they begin to tremble because they are reminded they have a death sentence that's huge Isaiah deals with the same the same concept so here we have Israel two guys not Israel two guys are courageous they stand up in face of an opposing army and they bring about such an extraordinary victory that the news of their victory spreads we'll find out in a moment into Israel but also into the enemy's camp and the news goes through the enemy's camp it says the people trembled. The soldiers trembled. The raiders trembled. Everybody trembled. So much so that the earth itself began to shake.

32:22 I think we're going to, I hope we learn something in the next 10 years or so. And that's that what happens to us affects the planet. We don't have time for the study today, but here's a good example. The courage that intimidated the enemy brought a response out of the earth. When the Bible says, we repent of our sins, I will heal their land, I think he's actually referring to land. in Romans chapter 8 it talks about the people of God coming into their place of identity we actually find out who God's made us to be that the earth groans and travails for that moment coming and when it happens the earth is released into the same liberty that the people of God step into. In other words, your freedom affects the planet.

33:31 That's good. That's good. Psalm 67 is one of my favorite psalms. And it says, Lord, bless us, cause your face to shine upon us, that your way would be known in the earth and your salvation to the nation. So here's this prayer for blessing. What happens? By the time you get to the end of the psalms, only, I think, seven verses, when you get to verse six, in response to you and me, the people of God with divine favor, It says, then the earth shall yield her increase. There's a connection between the rich harvest of the earth and the people of God carrying the favor of the Lord. it's not the subject for today, but it's a fun side subject to actually think that you and me together, discovering what the Lord has said over us, what he's making us to be, actually releases something dynamic and powerful of the kingdom of God over creation itself.

34:35 Amen, Bill. Very good point. Now, here's, we're going to get to the heart of the message. There are two results or responses to courage that are two of the most inspirational verses I can find in the Bible that are in this story that they are the result of the people of God having courage. So look at this in verse 21. It says, Moreover, the Hebrews who were with the Philistines before that time went up with them into the camp from the surrounding company. They also joined the Israelites who were with Saul and Jonathan. Here's what's happening. We've got Jonathan and the armor bearer. They bring about a great victory. The word gets back to Saul. The whole army rallies together. And they figure here's an opportunity for us to really bring destruction on the enemy of Israel, which is the Philistine. And so they all rally together.

35:30 and here is an outcome of this courageous act of Jonathan and his armor bearer. Look at verse 21 again. The Hebrews who were with the Philistines before that time went up into the camp from the surrounding country. They joined the Israelites who were with Saul and Jonathan. What is this saying? Picture this. You've got Hebrews, Jews, not our coffee shop, Hebrews. Jews who are no longer identifying themselves as Israelites. They have completely abandoned the whole concept of being the people of God. They have now joined themselves in language, in conduct, in clothing, culture, everything to be a Philistine. Picture an army, a Philistine army, a whole regiment of soldiers. And picture in that group are Israelites that you can't tell are Israelites because they dress the same as everybody else. They talk the same as everybody else, same language, everything, same culture. And they're in that number. And then this word comes back that Jonathan and an armor bearer did some courageous act and they actually wiped out entire regiment of the Philistine army. The word comes back. Just the news of courage from one of God's own awakened a sense of personal identity that they have been bearing for who knows how long. And suddenly, if you can picture them stripping off the garb, the Philistine garb, the Philistine identity, and they run over to the Jewish camp, to the Israel camp, to fight against the very people they had spent their life with.

37:19 Something about courage calls a sense of purpose and destiny out of the hearts of people that you wouldn't know could ever be touched by the things they've got. Now, I've watched this for years. I've seen some of the stories that have circulated that have come out of here, and I've actually watched, I've visibly able to watch, the impact of a story, a word, a testimony, an encounter upon somebody who came to a meeting who literally was just there because they got drugged there. They got bribed or brought there or whatever. And they're in the meeting. They don't have any hunger or desire to be there. And here they sit in that meeting and suddenly there's a word that comes forth about a courageous story and they find out why they are alive. Why they are alive. I remember a number of years ago, I was praying, I was doing a conference with Randy Clark up in Spokane and a pastor, a wonderful man, came up.

38:14 He said, we were praying for people, specific things. And he come up and he said, I was in a motorcycle accident. I forget how many years ago, like 10, 20 years ago. And he was missing. He destroyed two inches of bone in this femur bone here. So when he sat down, his leg was actually two inches back because it had grown, but the bone wasn't replaced. So his leg was two inches short. So we're talking. He says, you know, he says, I never even thought of having this being prayed for. And he wasn't even asking for prayer. He was just kind of confessing. It never crossed my mind to have this prayed for. I said, well, why don't we just go for it? So he sits down, and I grab his leg, and sure enough, or he sits down, and I can see by his knees, they're back two inches, two full inches. And I hold up his leg, sure enough, two inches. And I begin to pray and command it to grow. So it starts to grow. And I said, do you see that? He wouldn't answer me.

39:06 So it's growing more. Do you see that? He wouldn't talk to me. He wouldn't talk to me. He's just watching. Because I always tell him, watch. I want you to see what's happening. So he's watching. He grows up. Finally, it comes all the way. And I said, did you see that? And he looked at me and he said, I don't believe what I just saw. That's exactly what he said. Exact word. I don't believe what I just saw. He stood up. He stood up. And his 16-year-old daughter walked up. And he turned to her and says, I just got healed. and then or actually he stood up tested it seemed right and then he thought now if i sit down then i'll be able to tell he sits down and the knees are perfectly even then his daughter comes up and he says i just got healed well fast forward 45 minutes an hour later he comes up to me later in the meeting and he says i found out why i'm alive one experience completely redefined the rest of his life, redefine the rest of his life. Here we have stories. We have stories that circulate here for years. One of our early on stories, very fun with Chad Dedman, who was going to a grocery store, a local grocery store, late one night to get some donuts, one of the basic core food groups.

40:19 And he went to get some donuts. And as he walked by, you know, cash register number three or whatever it was, he notices the lady with a hearing aid and he stops and finds us, I think, If I remember right, she's 100% deaf in one ear and 50% in the other and ask if he could pray for her. Long story short, he prays for her and her ears are open. She's just weeping and weeping and weeping at the counter. And the gal behind the counter, you know, checking the groceries, she starts crying. And they both, you know, one of them says, this is God. The other one says, this is God. And Chad, God in us, yes, this is God. And he turns to the gal. Excuse me. excuse me, he turns to the gal behind the counter, and he said, God wants to do more in this store. Can I use the intercom? As she looks around, she goes, yes, and this is, showed him how to do it. So Chad gets on the intercom, and he says, attention shoppers.

41:17 God just came into the store and healed a woman who was deaf at cash register number three, And then he had the wisdom to take her, said, tell people what God just did for you. She gets on the intercom and gives the testimony. Then he gets the intercom back and he says, God wants to do more in this store tonight. He said, somebody here needs a new hip, carpal tunnel syndrome. He starts calling out these words of knowledge. So picture this. You're in the grocery store just shopping and you hear a testimony over the intercom. and so as he's standing it he says if if you need a miracle meet me at cash register number three so people are coming down the aisles looking around the corner to see like if is this legitimate see and they're here standing there so a crowd finally gathers and and the woman that needed the new hip she's on one of those electric electric carts you know scooters and she she comes right through the middle of the group she goes i'm the new hip Thank you.

42:14 and so chad prays for her i don't know if he even laid hands on her he prayed for her she ends up getting dramatically healed she's up dancing uh giving praise to jesus all around her scooter crowd started to gather even more a guy who's a concert pianist a piano teacher can't play carpal tunnel so bad he he comes through he says do you think god would heal me he gets dramatically healed and the story just goes on and on so chad's thinking man, I got a crowd here. I should preach. So he preaches the gospel and he gives the altar call, you know, like a Billy Graham altar kind of altar call thing at cash register number three. They raise their hands. You know, he gives them the appropriate time. They put their hand up, invites them to know Jesus. They pray they get born again at cash register number three. That story, I know for a fact, has gone around the world. I remember when it started here, Chad was just one of our young men just stepped out.

43:11 But that story, it was like the Lord breathed on that. And I've watched people just hear that. And all of a sudden, this countenance that was cast down. begins to rise. Why? People that completely lost their way. People who have completely identified with the lifestyle of sin for whatever reason. Maybe it's personal failure. Maybe, maybe they were just really hurt by the actions of other people. Who knows what happened? But they ended up in this camp here where they look like, dress like, talk like the enemy's camp. And yet when they heard a story of courage, they began to strip off all the stuff that identified them with this part of life. And they run. They don't just run over here into the safe. They're not looking for a safe place.

44:06 They're not here going to one of Israel's resorts. They run right to the front lines of battle. I'll tell you what, I've watched this for a lot of years. I do a lot of events with people like that that are in the room. And when they are transformed, they don't come over here to play games. They're not here to join a social club. They are only here for one reason. I'm on the front lines of battle, and I'm going to use the rest of my life to make a difference in the course of history. And so we have such a clear story. The Hebrews who were with the Philistines before that time, who went up with them into the camp. In other words, they went with the army into battle against Israel. They joined the Israelites who were with Saul and Jonathan. Now look at verse 22.

44:58 It's the second part of this great, great cause and effect story. Likewise, all the men of Israel who had hidden in the mountains of Ephraim, When they heard that the Philistines fled, they also followed hard after them in battle. What's that? That's the people that haven't done the backsliding thing where they joined the enemy's camp. They're still calling themselves believers, but the joy is gone. The life is gone. The passion is gone. They're hiding. They may be hiding in row number five, but the point is that they are not connected to the purposes of God. They have emotionally, mentally, physically withdrawn from any sense of contact, accountability, and purpose. And they are in that place of just death.

45:56 And there they sit. They're hiding in caves. If you go on, you find out these people were hiding in caves or back in valleys. So if you can just imagine kind of a wilderness area, back in these areas, there's a cave, and we've got five people living in the area. We've got a family across the way that are living in here. And they're just hiding. They're just hiding. They just have created distance between them and anything that was meaningful. Maybe it was disappointment. Maybe it was loss. Who knows why, but they're there. and somehow the story of a courageous soldier and an equipment manager reached back into these valleys, back into these caves, back into these ravines and they heard the story. And the Bible says they got up out of those caves and they ran hard after the enemy. They too went to the front lines of battle. Why?

46:48 No one was born to hide. No one was born to be insignificant. significant. Every person was designed for a significant role. I've told you before, no one who knows who God made them to be will ever want to be anyone else. Just being who God has designed us to be is absolute full-time pleasure and job, task at hand. And so here are these people that were lost in their own junk. Here they are. Something happens to them as they rise up and they run to the front lines of battle. I remember these stories that we have happen here, they spread and they're happening all over the world. It used to be I would travel and I'd go to a place, this is 15 years ago, I would go. Anywhere I'd go, I would start the meeting with testimonies. And I would always, which is not a bad idea ever, but I would do it just to kind of shock people because they weren't seeing anything happen.

47:43 So I would shock them into a realization, who knows, maybe God still does stuff, and just trying to take that approach. and now I hardly ever come in with testimonies because when they pick me up at the airport, they've got their own. Yeah, it's everywhere. It's literally everywhere. Every country, every place has their own breakthrough, their own experience. Every place is hungering for more. Don't get me wrong. That's why we're there. But they have their stories of the extraordinary things. Yeah, I'm so glad that you watched this video. I do pray that it's a great, great strength and encouragement to you. and I've got a verse that really is my cry for all of us. And it's Psalms 20, it's verse four. May he grant you your heart's desire and fulfill all your plans. That's my prayer. That's my prayer is that this would be the season of rich, rich fulfillment. Thanks for joining us.