God’s Presence Is Your Place of Safety - Bill Johnson Sermon | Bethel Church

0:00 Any situation where you feel like you're under heavy assault, if you'll refine your focus, you'll find the table of fellowship. He prepared a table before me in the presence of my enemies. If all you see is the enemy, then you need to readjust, get back to what God has said about your life, find the table of communion. In that table of fellowship with God is all of our place of great strength, great confidence. Oh, man, what an amazing selection of songs.

0:33 I was about to get lost on that blessing song. That song was just written, by the way, if you don't know it. Steve Furtick and Kerry Joab and the husband and Cody and a bunch of them just wrote that, which is like a prescription God wrote, you know, a couple of weeks ago for what's going on right now. And the blessings beat curses. In the Bible, people would suffer with a curse to the third and fourth generation, but blessings go to the thousandth generation because it's superior in every way. and it's critical that we adjust our thinking, our anticipation, our expectation, our prayers, our everything according to the lifestyle of heaven, the way God thinks, the way he lives and he's not intimidated about anything.

1:28 If, you know, decide who's going to shape your thinking. Come on, Bill. Decide. Hurry. If you have more input from the media than you do from the Word of God, your depression is your responsibility.

1:49 Your discouragement, your heaviness of heart is self-inflicted. Turn the thing off and turn this thing on. I'm serious. Just adjust. Why? Because we've been called to be an influence in the midst of difficulty and calamity. It doesn't matter what the situation is. We are always there to be not the, we are not the answer, but we usher in the answer through the wonderful, wonderful message of the gospel. And this is the privilege that we have as believers. I want us to look today at Psalms 91. So if you'd open your Bibles to that, do that, please. Let's begin with verse one. In fact, you know what? I want to read the whole psalm, and then we're going to back up and go back through verse by verse. All right? So let's just read the whole thing. I'm reading out of New King James. The title of the psalm is Safety of Abiding in the Presence of God.

2:45 And here's my prayer. I believe that the manifest presence of God upon his people is the key to divine health. All right. Verse 1 of Psalms 91. He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress. My God in Him will I trust. Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler, from the perilous pestilence. He shall cover you with His feathers. Under His wings you shall take refuge. His truth shall be your shield and buckler. You shall not be afraid of the terror by night, nor of the arrow that flies by day, nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness, nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday. A thousand may fall at your side and 10,000 at your right hand, but it shall not come near you. Only with your eyes shall you look and see the reward of the wicked.

3:53 Because you have made the Lord who is my refuge, even the most high your dwelling place, no evil shall befall you, nor shall any plague come near your dwelling. For he shall give his angels charge over you to keep you in all your ways. In their hands they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone. You shall tread upon the lion and the cobra, the young lion and the serpent. You shall trample underfoot because he has set his love upon me. Therefore, I will deliver him. I will set him on high because he has known my name. He shall call upon me and I will answer him. I will be with him in trouble. I will deliver him and honor him with long life. I will satisfy him and show him my salvation. He who dwells, verse one, we're going to go through verse by verse, all right? So please follow with me in your Bibles. He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. Stop right there.

5:03 He who dwells, you remember the scripture talks about abiding in Christ. If we abide in him, his words abide in us. When it talks about dwelling in the shelter of the Almighty, we're not talking about a point of theology. We're talking about a lifestyle. In other words, it's not just a verse you've memorized. It's supposed to be the developing of an ongoing lifestyle of a consciousness, an awareness of the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit. Mad万aju Many people stop short of a divine encounter because they're satisfied with good theology.

5:55 The word is the invitation to meet the person. This is not supposed to be just a verse I quote. That's valuable. it's supposed to be the endeavor of my heart is the discovery of the manifest presence of God upon me as a surrendered son upon me as a yielded vessel he says he who dwells in the shelter of the almighty shall abide under the shadow of his wings the shadow of the almighty the shadow is a dark place I'll never forget my grandmother, my mom's mom she was losing her eyesight and so many of us would read, I would take turns reading to her from the scripture she would memorize entire psalms and my uncle would memorize books of the Bible, they were just into that memory thing which becomes contagious after a while and I would sit down and I remember she wanted me to read to her a particular book by Corrie Ten Boom and in this book, as I recall, it was some sort of a devotional book that she had written. And in this book, she talked about dwelling under the shadow of the Almighty. And she made this statement, and I've never been able to shake it, thankfully. She made this statement that sometimes it's dark because he's so close. Sometimes it's his nearness that causes things to be out of focus.

7:30 It's that shadow of presence. And sometimes we mistake the moment that we're in by natural interpretation instead of the realization of what scripture says. Scripture says you're in the shadow of the Almighty. So the people who turn their affection towards the ongoing manifestation of the abiding presence of the Spirit of God, those people dwell in a habitation that even when it's dark, It's only a testimony of his nearness. Verse two. Come on. All right, I'm back, I think. I will say of the Lord, he is my refuge and my fortress and my God.

8:26 In him I will trust. I will say of the Lord, he is my refuge, my fortress, my God. In him I will trust. this is the only proactive position in the psalm. One is implied later, but this one is the action point of this psalm. And it's, I will say of the Lord, he's my refuge, my portion. In him I trust. I always take this and I turn it into a personal declaration. God, you are the one that I trust. You are my refuge. And for years, when I come to that, I don't like the wording because I want to make it personal. And then it hit me, the wording is chosen for a reason. We are supposed to confess and declare that he is our trust. But this is actually a confession we are to make to one another. I will say of the Lord. It's important that we guard what we say to people, to one another, to the community. Both hopelessness and hope are contagious. Choose how infectious you want to be.

9:43 So here it is. He says, I will say of the Lord, he is my refuge, my fortress, my God, and him I will trust. So when I was thinking about this, here's this passage in Colossians. It says, let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in Psalms, hymns, spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. What is that? It's actually a confession of truth, scripture, and even in song. It's interesting. They would apply psalms, hymns, spiritual songs. Psalms are biblical songs. Hymns are things that were written, songs that have been written. Spiritual songs are the spontaneous.

10:35 And they actually, there are times for them to be sung to each other, which is not a practice that we do, but we should maybe learn how to do it. Except some of you just sing softly. That was a bad joke. That was a bad, bad joke. Yeah, that was like when Chris went to visit my dad when he was in his final days. Chris said, I feel like I'm supposed to sing over you. And my dad asked him to sing On a Hill Far Away. And he said, you mean the song On a Hill Far Away? He says, no, on a hill far away. But he was always good with a good sense of humor.

11:19 Psalm, excuse me. So here it says, I will say of the Lord. There's another place in Isaiah 35 where it says, and I'll just read it to you quickly here. It says that we say to the one with weak knees, with feeble heart, be strong, take courage. And the very next verse says, then the eyes of the blind will be open. Then the ears, the tongue of the dumb will be loose. It's guarding what we say to each other. Being intentional in our decrees to one another is a huge part of this thing we call faith. This life of faith, this thing that we call the faith that we are in, this faith in Christ, this walk with Christ. It's the caution, but it's the proactive position of declaring what God has said, what God is saying in this environment and not feeding and fueling this fear element that is gripping so many people's hearts.

12:20 So here's the one intentional action in this Psalm is I will say of the Lord, he is my refuge, my fortress, my God, and him will I trust. Verse three, surely he shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the perilous pestilence. To me, this implies snare of the fowler. They would set a trap for a bird to catch a bird. Fowler, snare. He will deliver you from the snare. To me, it implies that maybe you got caught in the snare and he's going to release you. So if you didn't get the protection you're supposed to get to keep you from the snare, once you're in it, he's going to release you. The whole point is, so all of you that are watching, some of you are in absolute divine health, others of you are struggling. He will deliver you from the snare.

13:14 If you got caught in the snare, it's not shame, it's not condemnation. We live in a world of sin. We get exposed to stuff, and it's not your fault. The good news is he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the perilous pestilence. Verse four, he will cover you with his feathers. Under his wings, you shall take refuge. His truth shall be your shield and buckler. A buckler is a small shield. So it's more of a hand-to-hand combat type picture. All right. I always quote this verse when people complain about feathers appearing in our meetings. he shall cover you with his feathers. Well, that's not literal, Bill, and I'd say, I know, that's what I thought. All right, verse five.

14:01 Verse five, you shall not be afraid of the terror by night, nor of the arrow that flies by day. This is important, the distinction. In the New Testament, the arrows are the enemy's thoughts, You remember the example of the armor of God, the shield of faith. It's to absorb. The shield of faith is to absorb the thoughts, the ideas, the suggestions, the temptations, all the junk that the enemy throws our way. So that's what the arrow comes during the day when you're alive and thinking. At night is the terror. And so he's distinguishing. If you go to bed with fear, You're embracing this thing that says something could happen in the night. It's that thing that foreboding spirit that Chris deals with a lot. The expectation or anticipation of something wrong happening.

14:57 Oh man, I hope our family member, I hope something bad doesn't happen to this person, that person. That foreboding spirit is that terror in the night. And so the Lord is actually equipping us to take a position, shield and buckler. the shield of faith to absorb the stuff that comes at us during the day, but to do it so well during the day that when it's time to go to bed, we can go to sleep in rest knowing that he will defend us. Now I'm going to throw in a word. It's not a biblical word. It's a word. It's the one of two times in my life I've had the Lord wake me up in the middle of the night with his voice. it happened about oh goodness 23 probably 23 years ago here soon after we came to we've been here I think it's 24 maybe it's 25 years I lose track 24 years this last month so it was about maybe 23 years ago I was awakened in the night with this phrase he watches over the watch of those who watch the Lord Thank you.

16:02 he watches over the watch of those who watch the Lord. Of course, we know in pondering after I heard that, he awakened me with that voice. I don't ever want to equate that with scripture. I'm just saying he spoke something to me that was important for me to hear in that season, but also right now. He watches over the watch. We know what a watchman is. A watchman is positioned on a wall to see what might be coming towards the city. Good news here. We have people coming into trade. Open the gates. Bad news here. We have people trying to sneak into the city to kill, steal, and destroy. And so the watchman keeps awake. And this verse said, he will watch over my watch if I'll watch him. So this terror by night thing is that, is that we go to sleep literally with our eyes on him, knowing that he will watch our watch on our behalf.

17:01 Amen. That was an excellent point. All right. Let's, verse six is basically the same thing. Know the pestilence that walks in darkness, the destruction that lays waste at noonday. Verse seven, a thousand may fall at your side, 10,000 at your right hand, but it shall not come near you. Only with your eyes shall you look and see the reward of the wicked. I want to be careful here. First of all, the judgment verses in the Old Testament, I don't want to ignore. I don't want to wash them away and pretend they don't exist. That's not healthy, nor is it accurate. Whenever I see a person who lives in corruption, in evil, it doesn't matter how deep they are lost. I always am praying for mercy. I don't care how lost they are, how, you know, how demonized they are, how they may be a self-proclaimed devil worshiper. Makes no difference to me. I'm going to pray for the mercy of God, but I will let you in on a secret. If I, in my prayer, Lord, if they absolutely refuse to repent and they will not turn, then please use your dealings with them to release the fear of God to the people of God.

18:17 Awaken us to this, to this reality. now another thing i need to say is just because you have difficulty or struggling or you're sick or whatever that's not the judgment of god all right so anybody who's watching online here we're going to pray for this at the end it's not the judgment of the lord that's not what he's doing this is uh quite a different deal here all right verse nine let's move on from that because you have made the Lord who is my refuge, even the most high, your dwelling place, referring back to verse one, no evil will befall you, nor shall any plague come near your dwelling. For he shall give his angels charge over you to keep you in all your ways. Let's go back over verse 10 and 11 again. I'm sorry verse 9 because so here's a reason because you have made the Lord who is my refuge even the most high your dwelling place no evil shall befall you nor any plague come near your dwelling stop right there I just want to reemphasize learning to live in the manifestation of the presence of God the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit. I cannot overemphasize the importance of us learning to live with continuous affection for the person of the Holy Spirit.

19:51 There's something about that abiding presence. It's not just that he protects us. It's the closer I stay to his heartbeat, the more I know what to do in a difficult moment. the disciples come to Jesus and say, why couldn't we cast the demon out of the child? Jesus says it only comes out with prayer and fasting and he didn't pray or fast.

20:19 Why? Because the tenderness, the closeness was already there. The devil was on his shoulder and remained. So there was a continuous ongoing relationship and awareness of the spirit of God. so he didn't need to turn aside. What is fasting for? It's to refine our focus to the kingdom. It's to say no to other appetites so that we can truly hunger for the reality of the unseen promises of God that are to become manifest. That's what it is. Fasting is refining focus. Jesus didn't fast in the moment. Why? He lived with a refined focus. He lived with the connection to the abiding presence of the Spirit of God. So this promise here is not just this casual, the Holy Spirit is with us always thing. It's the invitation to develop an awareness of the Spirit of God upon our life in such a way. It's not just to protect me from plagues. It's to keep me in the center of what he's doing on planet earth. It makes me the offensive weapon, if you will, the one who can bring hope in hopeless situations, the one who refused to cower in the face of threat and disease and all the junk that goes on, unwilling to cower. I will not, I will not give honor to a disease. I will not give honor to a disease.

21:37 Cancer is with a small c. Jesus is a capital J. Always keep it big. It may seem silly to you, but that's what's going on in my head. All right. Because you've made the Lord, who is my refuge, even the Most High, your dwelling place. So here's two people have a conversation. because you've made the Lord who's my refuge, even the most high, your dwelling place, no evil will befall you. How about seeing people that live in that abiding presence and making that confession over them? realities are released through decree not what we choose to say i mean life and death is still in the power of the time but you know i'd rather just make sure i'm saying what he's saying but how about being in that moment where you can look at somebody say you know what i've got a good word for you no evil will come near your tent no evil will befall you. It's got to be declared. Chris, remember that time you prophesied about the people who couldn't have kids, they were trying for 13 years or whatever, and the Lord spoke to Chris and said, tell them they'll have a child by this time next year. And he was struggling, as every one of us would be, to make that kind of a declaration to somebody who couldn't have children.

23:14 And the Lord spoke to him and said, if you don't declare it, if you don't say it, it won't happen. And so he did, and they did. Some things actually have to be declared to happen. We have to understand we are a part of that economy. That's who we are. That's how we live. That's how we function. verse 10 no evil will befall you nor any plague come near your dwelling why for he shall give his angels charge over you to keep you in all your ways in their hands they will bear you up lest you dash your foot against a stone i as as most of you know one of my dearest friends is Randy Clark. I was just with him in New Mexico. And he tells the story of his time of ministry in Argentina and Brazil both. But in Argentina, one of the leaders that he was learning from and partnering with as he ministers in that country made a statement to him. And I'm not going to get it exact, but I'll get the gist of it.

24:26 told him that basically you in the American church know a lot about operating in the gifts of the spirit, but you don't know how to partner with the angelic. Now, personally, I do not believe in me telling angels what to do. I won't go there. I will not go there. But what I will do is I have found that in scripture, our decrees let the angelic realm know what their assignment is. Our decrees when we say what he is saying. I would like to suggest that a decree that comes from the throne room carries the fragrance of the Father, carries the fragrance of its origin. There's something about that, that the angelic realm have a sense. This came from the throne room, and this is their assignment.

25:20 In Psalms 103, it says that angels carry out his word. In my thinking, that's when God declares the matter. There are some times he just declares the matter. That's their assignment. You can vote yes, you can vote no. Doesn't matter. It's going to happen anyway. But the second part of the verse says that the angels give attention to the voice of his word. In my experience, I believe the voice of his word, it's you and me. It's when God speaks in the quiet of our heart. And unless we declare it, it goes unsaid. So if you can picture this, saying something that had its origin in the throne room, and we make that decree, his angels will give charge over you. That's a part of this confession that is made from one to another. His angels will give charge over you.

26:14 What happens? As that comes from the heart of God himself, the angelic realm knows that's their assignment. I'm just supposing that's how it works. I know that in the natural world, we know flies are attracted to decay. Satan is called the lord of the flies the demonic realm is attracted to decay in thought in morals values that's why what we say is going to attract one of two worlds that's why there's life and death in the power of the tongue guarding ourselves to deposit in one another, not just hopeful words, but actually putting on them a bullseye that the angelic realm will reinforce. That's our assignment. A people of courage that must deposit the bullseye, if you will, of the target of God in this situation. And it's a lifestyle that we have the privilege of living. He will give his angels charge over you to keep you in all your ways. In their hands they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone. Let's go to verse 13. You will tread upon the lion and the cobra, the young lion and the serpent you will trample underfoot. This is a passage that Jesus quotes, at least in part, in the gospel of Luke. You will tread upon the lion and the cobra, the young lion and the serpent you will trample underfoot. Here's an important thought in this passage.

28:00 This whole psalm is about protection until this verse. Then it basically says the protected are going to get vindication. the protected are going to get vindication. The protected are going to trample on the very efforts of darkness to kill, steal, and destroy. The protected, the ones who've been kept in safety, the ones that death, a thousand fall at your side, 10,000 at your other side, those folks are now released to tread upon the powers of darkness that caused the disaster in the first place. We are summoned not to sit idly by and just pray, oh God, please protect me, protect me.

28:52 Please keep me from harm. To just try to be the protected, safe person is the opposite of our calling, the opposite of our design, the opposite. The safest place in the kingdom is the front lines of battle. you will tread upon the lion and the cobra the young lion and the serpent you will trample underfoot Jesus made that statement to his disciples he brought it into New Testament context verse 14 because he has set his love upon me therefore I will deliver him I will set him on high because he has known my name he shall call upon me, I will answer him, I will be with him in trouble. Go back to verse 14.

29:56 Let's cover just that one for a moment. Because he has set his love upon me, therefore I will deliver him. Who does the deliverance come to? The people who set their love him. I don't want to twist the meaning of this. So again, everything, do everything to resist any kind of guilt, shame or whatever. To me, this is an invitation by God to learn what it is, to fix the affection of our hearts, to be anchored in him continuously. He makes a point for a reason because He set His love on me I deliver I know when I'm home, I tell my wife that I love her many times a day.

31:00 Many times a day. Many times, sometimes during a meal. It's going to be repeated frequently. I'm going to reset. I've already set my love on her, but I reset. See, in Acts chapter 2, it says, and they continually devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching, to the breaking of bread, to prayer, to fellowship, et cetera. They continually devoted. They continually re-upped the contract, re-signed the contract. There's something about this passage that provokes me. because he has set his love upon me therefore I will deliver there's something about the ongoing I hate to reduce it to a discipline but if that's what it takes do it the ongoing resetting of our affection for him throughout a day if you need it set it on your alarm to remind you the resetting of a heart of affection for him. There's something about that. He's such a lover that he's drawn.

32:11 You know, I've talked about this through the years, but in going to sleep at night, I turn my affection towards him. When I go into a difficult situation, I'll stop, turn my affection towards him until I can sense his presence resting upon me. It's not that he wasn't before, but something happens. Either he comes or I become aware. I don't care what it is. I like it. Turn my affection towards him and something happens in that moment where there is a manifest presence of God upon me for whatever environment I walk into. And I've told you before, I remember a store I used to shop in that was a grocery store, but it had cultic stuff there too. And I loved to shop there. And I remember the owner taking me aside one day before I'd walk in, I'd just stand at the door. I'd go to the back door, I had to stand at the door and just turn my affection towards the Lord.

33:06 Make sure that I could sense the Spirit of God resting upon me. Then I would walk in and just shop. I wouldn't do anything different than anyone else. But the owner took me aside one day and said, Bill said, something is different when you walk in the room. I know it's because the manifest presence of God resting upon me. So this is what he's saying. He said, because you set your love on me, therefore I will deliver. So I just pray right now that every one of us upgrade that resetting of the affection of our heart for him. Not just reduced to a discipline, but the increasing passion of the Lord would become our passion. I remember a prophetic word I heard, oh goodness, it was probably 1972, it was before I was married, which was 73.

33:57 I remember sitting in a service in Bethel Church, the other old location. and this woman prophesied and she said, if you long for me as I've longed for you, you will be satisfied. If you long for me. What does it mean to set your love on God? It means you've received his love. Do you know that? Do you know the scriptures is we love him because he first loved us? Do you know when I love him, I'm only loving him back with what he gave me? When I opened up my heart to receive his love, he gave me the capacity to love him back. strangely in scripture you see instruction on the husband to love the wife but the wife to respect the husband why because if the husband does a good job loving the wife she doesn't need to be commanded to love in return and all the women said yes amen but you you get the point you get the point the point is is is it's it's actually carried on in the illustration of christ and his church the husband and the wife Because he has set his love upon me, therefore I will deliver him.

35:32 I will set him on high because he has known my name. I'm not sure what it means my mind goes quickly to being seated in heavenly places and it's that particular passage we are seated in heavenly places with christ is a wonderful wonderful truth the problem that i have not with the verse but with the issue is it gets reduced to a point of theology and never becomes an experience heavenly places is supposed to be a place from which we think and from which we see. It's not a mind over matter thing. It's not a, you know, discipline our minds to imagine this and imagine that. It's not that.

36:34 It's that our love runs so true with him. The resetting of our hearts of affection towards him becomes so ongoing that we not only have the point of theology that is accurate, we are seated in heavenly places, but we actually think and see from that place because our burning heart of affection for him and his burning heart for us brings us into such a place that our perception changes. Everything changes because in that abiding place of presence, we think and we see different. See, it's that person that can say to the disease. It's that person as John G. Lake discovered, to hold the disease in his hand, put it under the microscope and watch it die. Not everyone could have done that. Why? Because not everyone has life flung from them continuously. If you take a garden hose and you put it in foul, putrid water, whatever's in that puddle is going to leak into the hose.

37:47 The only way to keep the inside of the hose unaffected is that before you put it into the stuff, make sure the water's turned on and if there's a continual flow through the hose you can put it in any environment and it doesn't get infected Come on. Come on. We've got people setting up barriers of protection around themselves because they don't have enough flowing out. You get the stuff flowing through you, that yieldedness. Yieldedness. Not yieldedness just for the sake of power, but yieldedness because of this romance, because of this love, because I've set my heart of affection on it. Suddenly there's stuff flowing from us that starts changing. The atmosphere starts changing the environment that we walk into. We've been called into this for this season.

38:45 This is the season of advancement. Thank you so much. All right, we're getting close to the end. That's right. Verse 14 again, look at it in your Bible. Verse 14 again, because he has set his love upon me, therefore I will deliver him. I will set him on high. It's actually a place of safety in a sense, unreachable. By the way, the scripture teaches pretty clearly that we are out of reach of the enemy, but not out of sight. That's why he prepares a table before us in the presence of our enemies.

39:37 You're out of reach, but you're not out of sight. Why? I think the Lord loves to torment the devil. That's just my thought. I think he rather enjoys. And you know what? You're sitting at a table and you've got the enemy all around you. What is your attention on? any situation where you feel like you're under heavy assault if you'll if you'll refine your focus you'll find the table of fellowship He prepared a table before me in the presence of my enemies. If all you see is the enemy, then you need to readjust, get back to what God has said about your life, find the table of communion. But in that table of fellowship with God is all of our place of great strength, great confidence, great life, great help. All right, getting down to the end.

40:28 Verse 15, he shall call upon me. I will answer him. I will be with him in trouble. I will deliver him and honor him. With long life, I will satisfy him and show him my salvation. Verse 15 again.

40:49 He shall call upon me. I will answer him. I'm not going to go long on this one, but I am so tempted. And let me just tell you why. I love it.

41:15 Continuous answers to prayer are what we were designed for. To not have them is abnormal. and that needs to matter. It needs to matter. what I see happen for us is that we'll pray about this, pray about that, have no breakthrough, and just assume it's the will of God.

41:45 The disciples tried to cast a demon out of a child. If we could bring that analogy into today, when the child wasn't delivered, we would just assume that in the sovereignty of God, it must be his will. He works in mysterious ways. which is the cop-out answer. It's the cop-out answer to explain away our powerlessness. I'm trying. so what did the disciples do? Jesus comes along. He brings the deliverance. I made reference to it earlier. It brings deliverance to the child. He asked the disciples, how long am I going to be with you? Which seemed to be a question he asked often. How long shall I be with you? And then the disciples, they're stunned by, first of all, they're stunned by the fact they couldn't bring deliverance. Why? Because they have a history of success. Jesus sent them out two by two.

42:43 they've been with him in those moments. They've been in there with him. They are the most trained people in deliverance of anyone to ever live except for Jesus up to that time. And so they're shocked when it doesn't happen. That's a good shock. When something doesn't happen, the day's coming when we're going to be shocked when somebody isn't healed. So Jesus brings deliverance, and it says the disciples took Jesus aside privately, and they said, how come we couldn't do it? How come it didn't work when we tried? And of course, Jesus said, this kind only comes out with prayer and fasting. what's the point? When they didn't get an answer, they took Jesus aside.

43:38 What we tend to do is stop praying. it's supposed to bother us enough that we look at the lack of a breakthrough as an abnormality. Something didn't work right. I'm not going to blame it on the sovereignty of God. I'm not just going to say, well, somehow this must be God's will. I'm not gonna do the cop-out thing and push it under the sovereignty of God. I'm gonna take responsibility and come before the Lord until I find out why. Take Jesus aside. Take Jesus aside. I'm asking all of the Bethel family, online community, and the Reading, the local community, take at least a day this week, if it's physically possible, to fast and to cry out to the Lord. We've got to hone our focus in this season. We have to refine the focus to what God is saying and doing. This is our greatest opportunity for advancement. This is our greatest opportunity. It needs to come in miracle power. It needs to come in economic release, both for businesses, churches, ministries, all over the world are being unbelievably hit by this thing. What has happened? We are being set up for massive, massive revival. How do we know this? Let me give you just one historic lesson.

45:02 you know we talk a lot about the Azusa Street Revival. I did not know until yesterday the Azusa Street Revival is 2006. Excuse me. 1906. Maybe I just prophesied. 1906 is the Azusa Street Revival. What I did not know until yesterday is that there were sparks of revival all over the United States in 1905. And there were about a million, which the country size at that time was very significant, a million new conversions in 1905, which set the stage for an explosion in 1906. What's happening right now? Corporate gatherings around the world of tens of thousands and even hundreds of thousands. We have Louis Palau.

45:59 We have Franklin Graham. We have so many others in the Calvary Chapel movement. Their evangelists are holding these massive crusades. We've got the send. We've got the call. We've got all these things. Daniel Kalenda. We've got this stuff all over the world of the gathering. Bethel Music and their gathering of tens of thousands of people. All over the world, this stuff's going on. And what's happening right now? All of it is shut down. Why? The enemy fears the impact of that. of that. And the assault is on the business community because that's what funds the movement. This is the moment for vindication, but I believe it takes aggressive prayer on your part and mine, where we stand in the gap and we say, not on my shift, not on my shift. What's been happening in the last couple of years is 1905 all over again. It's that God has set the stage for an explosion to take place than it's to take place right now. We're being positioned for it. If we'll posture ourselves with faith, guard our hearts from those random fearful thoughts where we deny love and embrace fear and position ourselves to find out what God is saying and make the decree. Get into the battle. Get into the fight. Take that time. Take a day to fast. Cry out to God. Lift up your voice, content for those who are suffering. I took the communion with me this week and just walked in my hotel room, just declaring the names of these individuals. Jesus bore their affliction on his body. He bore yours, mine, on his body. There's no sense two of us paying the same price.

47:41 No sense. Makes no sense. So here he says, I will be with him in trouble. He says, I will answer him. I will be with him. I just, I feel like, do you know where every one of us started our life in Christ? All of us, you could take all of our gifts, all of our history, our heritage, all the stuff about our life, and just take everything away until you come down to the one common denominator. The one common denominator is we called upon the Lord, he heard us, and he saved us. Our life started with an answer to prayer. Our life started as an answer to prayer. We lifted up our voice. We cried out to God. He met us, and he performed the greatest miracle we will ever see in our life, and that's the salvation of our own souls.

48:35 We started in the miraculous. It was never supposed to decline. It was never supposed to decline. So he says, he'll call upon me. I will answer him. I will be with him in trouble. I will deliver him and honor him. I will be with him in trouble. That tells me sometimes I'm in trouble. but he's with me. The table of fellowship is there in the presence. All right. I will deliver him and honor him. That's a strange conclusion. I'm not just going, I like this. I'm not just going to set him free and protect him. I'm not just going to get him out of the snare. I'm going to honor him as one of mine. I'm going to mark him and let him know, let her know that this one follows me. I'm reminded of Gideon's prayer where he told all of his 300 soldiers around him as you break these pictures, remember they had these torches with pictures over them, and as you break those pictures, yell out, for the Lord and for Gideon.

49:46 There are times where he will actually have somebody honor you publicly for your courage, maybe in front of another friend. I remember as a parent, I took on the intentionality of bragging on my children to another adult while my children are present. I remember when Eric drew on a bedroom wall in our house, and he drew this city landscape, you know, these high-rise buildings, you know, with windows and everything. And I got home, Benny said, you need to come and see what Eric did. So I went in, I'm looking at this wall, Eric's standing there like this, you know. I don't remember how old he was, four or five, something like that. So I'm looking at all, you know, he did it with crayons, you know, and marked all over the bedroom, the spare bedroom wall.

50:46 I'm looking at these things. I said, son, that's really good. You did a good job. Look at these. Look at the, honey, look at the details here. Look at these windows. He drew windows here. He's got big buildings, small buildings. This is amazing. He did a good job. So I went on and praised him for a while. And then I said, you know, next time you want to draw, they'll just let us know. We'll get you paper. and then a week or so later we had guests over for for dinner we had friends over for a meal and after the meal i said hey you guys got to come with me come see this come back in the bed so i took our guests back in their bedroom and eric standing there all happy and i said i said i just want you to look at my what my son the artist drew you know but what eric do look at this look at the details here look at the windows look at all this stuff you know that's what he does and be the child that realizes the privilege that he promised and I would honor him.

51:42 don't deflect it don't deflect it if we don't know how to receive honor we'll have no crown to throw at his feet last verse with long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation it's the promise of the Lord to us with long life, I will satisfy him. There's two things there. There's the promise of long life, but the long life is given to satisfy.

52:26 I don't know if I can say this very well. the quest for life means I must live longer. Some have lost the quest for life. Some have lost it. they've retired from this, they've quit from that, all they have is just the routine of making it through every day. It's no longer the adventure of faith. For them, it's no longer the conquest. It's no longer bringing in fruit, harvest for his glory. It's just been reduced to just abiding in Christian discipline and fellowship. But there's no quest for life. He says, with long life, I will satisfy him. Come on.

53:19 All right. We're going to share in communion. I want you to stand. You've been sitting forever. If you're at home, please grab your elements. And we're going to share in communion together. And I believe more now than ever in the beauty and the power of communion, of the broken body, the shed blood of Jesus. I won't make this as long as I do when it's me and Jesus alone because I like to take time I like to take time I try to be careful to never do anything just out of a routine.

54:17 I believe in discipline, but I try to make sure that whatever I've disciplined myself in, that I can turn my passion towards that thing so that I am all in. I just always want to be in. No matter what it is, I want to be all in. Jesus do you need help there Chris?

54:45 you got it up in there those of you at home probably don't have this problem of trying to get the combination to work here Jesus broke bread. and he turned to his disciples and he said, take and eat, this is my body. Now I don't understand this part, but I don't feel I need to. I just want to honor what he said. He said, this is my body. He didn't say it represents my body. He said, this is my body. So my approach to this is supposed to be with that kind of reverence, with that kind of value. I don't need to understand. I don't need to explain. What I need is to approach it with the value he placed on it. Later in Corinthians, he says, many sick are sick and a number even die because they don't judge the body correctly.

55:49 He could have been talking about this. The context has been talking about this. so today we hold in our hand the testimony of his death the stripes that he bore when I partake of the bread I use that as a moment to declare over myself my family my extended family to declare over them by the stripes of Jesus I was healed by the stripes of Jesus I was healed. I pray for different friends by the stripes of Jesus. I've taken you through this in times past. Something I added about three or four months ago is I remembered something out of the book of Ephesians chapter two, where it says, Jesus bore in his body the dividing wall between Jew and Gentile. He destroyed the power of division with this offering.

56:57 So I pray not only for people with sickness, disease, friends of mine, based on the payment has been made. I then move into praying. Any place I know where there's division. Jesus, you paid more than an adequate price for there to be no division in that situation. It doesn't matter to me whether it's a family conflict, it's racial reconciliation that needs to happen. It doesn't matter in what category, how large or how small, the payment he made was more than enough. More than enough. So I'm going to ask all of you here, all of you at home, going to take maybe two minutes. I want you just to pray for whoever God brings to mind. But here's what I'm going to have you do that's important in my walk. I have to make it a confession. By the stripes of Jesus, I was healed. By the stripes of Jesus. And then I'll pray for different people, for Kathy Vallotton. By the stripes of Jesus, Kathy Vallotton was healed. Eli Spooner was in a very, very tragic accident last night.

58:03 Very, very tragic. I'm not going to go into it now, but one of our own. And we today need to stand in agreement for an absolute creative miracle in his body right now. And you have different people, but let's take like two minutes and I want you to pray for whoever God brings to mind. You won't be able to cover everything, but let's do the best we can in two minutes. But make the confession. And I'm going to ask you, pray this out loud. No one needs to yell, but I want to hear the sound of people before God with the value for his body that has been broken for us. Let's do that now. You got two minutes. By your stripes I was healed.

59:01 By your stripes. By the stripes of Jesus. Alan Ray was healed. By the stripes of Jesus. Mary Burke lives in divine hell. by the stripes of Jesus. Kathy Vallotton is fully restored. Eli Spooner, fully restored.

59:23 Jean-Luc, fully restored. Fully restored. Entire household, fully restored by the broken body of Jesus. By the broken body of Jesus. remember pray both for division areas and healing areas declare absolute peace the peace of god to overwhelm the broken situations any broken situation in our community we declare the peace of god rules and reigns over all All right, now let me pray over this and we'll partake together. I'm glad that these are hard little wafers. The reason is I, it's just a reminder to me, it was broken.

1:00:18 He was broken that I could be whole. He was emptied that I could be full. He was despised that I could be celebrated. He was rejected that I could be embraced. He bore affliction that I could be healed. He became poor that I could become rich. He did everything in opposite to launch us into what's available right now. So let's just make this decree together. By his stripes, I was healed. I pray for divine health to rest over my household and over our extended church family in the name of Jesus. Amen. Partake of the bread. Now take the cup. I love this.

1:01:30 I love this so much. This is when I get to pray for every one of my family members by name. And my decree, my confession at this point is, as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. Say that with me. as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. I want you to declare it like you actually believe that this is the gospel truth right here. All right. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. Say it again. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. Now what I do is I open the cup and I hold it before the Lord and I pray for specific family members. You may not be able to pray for everyone. I'm going to give you just a minute or two. But in fact, let me tell you what I want you to do. I would like for you to take a minute to pray for family members by name.

1:02:26 And this is what I do. I just declare, I plead the blood of Jesus over Eric and Candace, over Kennedy and Selah. And this is my prayer, Jeremiah 24, give them a heart to know you. I plead the blood of Jesus over Brian and Jen over Haley, Taya, Brayden, Moses and the new little one that's coming because they're adopting another I plead the blood of Jesus over them God give every one of them a heart to know you I plead the blood of Jesus over Gabe and Leah, over Judah, Diego, Bella, and Cruz. Give them a heart to know you.

1:03:09 I want you to do that first. Pray for family members, and then I'll take you into the next phase. Give them a heart to know you, God. Every family member dreams in the night, encounters. Dreams in the night. Divine encounters. Prodigal son, prodigal daughters, prodigal parents, uncles, aunts, we just declare, come home, come home. In fact, I pray that every household here, we would see salvation extended to neighbors around us.

1:04:06 Next to us, across the street, behind us, there would be this awakening that would take place in home after home where the dreams, the visions of the man in white would no longer just be in Muslim territory, but it would actually invade America. It would actually invade our own cities. that people would be awakened in the night with encounters with a man in white. Now the next thing I do is I pray over those who in my case have opposed me and spoken against me, videos, books, whatever. I pray for them. That they would prosper inside and out. And that they would have the joy of having children and grandchildren that serve him well. that they would have a rich heritage in Christ.

1:05:02 Because these are all people confess Christ, who, well-meaning as they may be, you never have the right to criticize a servant to their master. I will not do that. And so what I do is I pray to bless them. So anybody who has affected you negatively, take just a moment to pray for them. And then we're going to share this together. Yes, prosper them inside and out, Lord.

1:05:39 Set the stage for them to step into why they were born. that they would have the joy of a rich, rich heritage, family line, richly devoted to you. for what it's worth I'm always careful to not pray that they would have a power encounter with God because I'm not asking to be vindicated I pray for their blessing in their context let God choose how do you understand what I'm saying I'm not trying to sneak in my opinion about something I'm praying for blessing in how they walk alright let's hold the cup before the Lord let's make this confession together as for me and my house we will serve the Lord let's share this together wow thank you Lord I would encourage you we have a couple little jars next door little couch sitting area we have jars with communion supplies in there continuously and we keep it full for staff members just to be able to take communion at any time and there's always a number of these cups in there. Today, there was only one left. So I think our team has been taking communion more often, which is good news. I want to encourage you. I order on amazon.com. I get these little cups. I have them at home. I take them with me when I travel. It is a part of our household routine. I encourage you guys online, do something. You know, if you want to do the wine and the bread, However, it doesn't matter to me.

1:07:35 Just in this season, especially, we need to upgrade our focus. The broken body of Jesus and the shed blood means something. It's not just eternity. It's now. And it must be declared now. What we're going to do right now is we're going to wrap this up. And obviously, you are the ministry team. And at home, you are the ministry team. And so I'm going to ask you here, if you want any prayer at all, turn to the person next to you and just tell them they are drafted. Their assignment is you. And honestly, ask them to pray for you. It may very well be we have people that are watching that don't know the Lord. And I want to take this moment. Listen, don't go through life on your own. It's just simply not worth it. It's not worth it. Jesus paid a price for your salvation like he paid for mine.

1:08:27 All of us were saved by the absolute grace of God. None of us earned it. I don't care what you've done. You are being set up in this moment to receive Jesus as Lord and Savior. It means you turn from what you've been serving to follow him. And you do what the verse I quoted earlier. He who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. His name is Jesus. Call upon that name, Jesus, and ask him for the absolute full.