Let Hope Reinterpret Your Season - Bill Johnson Sermons, Bethel Church

0:00 Some of you need to stop in the middle of your conflict and go, oh, wait a minute, I belong to the Lord. The enemy meant it for evil, the Lord reverses it and means it for good. See, that's what hope does. Hope reinterprets a circumstance. and the encouragement that you receive from other people I guess you can live by it if you want to but it's not the meal it's just supplements the meal is what you find on your own to feed your own soul with and we each have the responsibility to maintain the level of hope in our own life many people live in a place of of of actually famine needing someone else to bring them good news when God has given you actual legal access to an unlimited resource of refreshing and good news.

0:58 He oftentimes hides what we need the most in the most offensive situation or circumstance. In Proverbs 25 verse 2 it says, It's the glory of God to conceal a matter. It's the glory of kings to search out a matter. So the glory of God to conceal a matter.

1:27 He hides things for us, not from us. My oldest grandson, Judah, works for me at my house, and he helps take care of things that I either don't want to do or don't have the time to do. Most of it's the first one. I don't want to do. And I pay him. I pay him well. And I think it was last week or a week before last, he found an Easter egg that has been there for probably two years. Now, if you're thinking hard-boiled egg, no. We put money in plastic eggs. And I have one grandson that when he was younger, we had hard-boiled and money eggs. and he'd pick up an egg, shake it. If it rattled, he'd put it in his basket. If it didn't rattle, it was hard-boiled, he threw it back in the bush.

2:20 He was a cash-only kid. He just cashed on. But my grandson Judah actually found an egg that we had put there with cash in it probably two years ago. God hides things for us. And then it goes on and it says, it's the glory of kings. It's the glory of people who know who they are. that know what they have legal access to and responsibility for. Think of it this way. There is a treasure hidden within reach that you have a responsibility to find because you're discovering that treasure will affect multiple generations. We're not talking about just personal, you know, just encouragement for yourself.

3:14 That's huge. But it's not just personal pleasure, personal success. It's the responsibility of creating a momentum of being a generation who hopes in God in all situations. A responsibility. I have a responsibility to find, to apprehend, to lay hold of what God has put within reach. I remind you that that's the way he described the kingdom of God. The kingdom is the realm of his dominion. So everything that exists in heaven that he wants to be released, if you will, on earth, on earth as it is in heaven, is in that realm called the kingdom. And he said the kingdom is at hand. It's within reach. It's here. It's now. And it's obtainable.

3:55 Unfortunately, many choose to live with the theology of a kingdom that is present, but never learn how to find the treasures that have been hidden. the enemy works hard to keep us distracted through anxiety through fear all that those family of bad decisions to keep keep us anxious so that we lose sight of we lose awareness of the solutions that God has for us the enemy works to make us anxious so that the problems we face appear bigger than the solutions we carry. God intends to work the impossible through a yielded people. What hope does is it positions me for surrender.

4:49 What hopelessness does is it removes from my awareness the beauty of sacrifice. Hopelessness robs me of an awareness of why obey? why sacrifice why pay a price let's make it simple. Let's say that you and your family were going to take a special vacation next year. And that vacation, you've got 12 months to save up for it. So you've decided to, I don't know, cancel the movie channel, to not eat out for six months or whatever. You make sacrifices because you have something more valuable, more pleasurable at the end of the sacrifice. And what hope does is hope keeps the long-term situation in view.

5:49 It keeps perspective on the pain that I experience right now, the self-denial that I have in this moment will be worth it because we're going here for a vacation. Does that make sense? and what hopelessness does is it robs me of the delight of obedience. I may still be locked into the discipline of obedience. I still may do all the right things externally, but because of hopelessness, my heart doesn't get to feast on the joy of obedience. Every commandment of the Lord is to ensure that I succeed. Yes.

6:30 Every commandment of the Lord is to tie me into the purpose for why I'm alive. The commandments of the Lord connect me to why I'm alive, and they ensure, if you will, they ensure my success. Success is a biblical term. I realize Wall Street has a definition. Don't fall for that. There's a better one. the absolute fulfillment of why we're alive, the gifts that we carry, the joy and the satisfaction of doing all that he said to do, that he directed us to do. Every one of us will appear before the Lord to give an account of our life. And the commandments of the Lord actually link me to my design. There's also this thing, this element called the testimony. That's the spoken or written record of anything God has done in his partnership with people.

7:24 The reality is God can do everything better than we can, and he does not need us. I hear people teach all the time. God needed us, so he created us. No. No, don't be stupid. The one who lived eternally past, he has no needs. He has lots of dreams, and you're the dream. You're the desire. Hopelessness robs us of potential. And hope always leads to great faith. hope anticipates hope actually attracts circumstances that aid us in fulfilling our purpose hope is a magnet people with hope actually attract opportunities actually attract the building blocks of prophetic words if you will into their life so that they can fulfill their reason for being. Hope really is a magnet. It magnetically attracts into our life the building blocks of things that we need.

8:39 Hope comes from his nature. Our hope doesn't exist because we've psyched ourself into, well, we just got to do better. We just got to believe. It's hope is not the product of determination. much like faith, hope is the product of surrender. It's yielding to the reality of who he is.

9:13 I want you to look in your Bibles at Psalms 42. We're going to look at just one simple passage in a moment. But to help us with this, hope actually is the product of his presence. Nobody looks into the face of God and walks away without hope. hopelessness only reveals the distance between my face and his it grows in the it grows in the space between encounters it grows in the space between awareness of the spirit of god upon my life in my life hopelessness grows when i give my heart to what other people will call common sense I've never been impressed with any thought I had that was coming. There's nothing life-changing that is coming.

10:15 verse 5 of Psalms 42 did you find that 20 minutes ago all right verse 5 why are you cast down oh my soul why are you disquieted within me hope in God for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance that last phrase I don't know what it is I forgot to look in new american Standard and some of the others. But there is a translation that I really like. It's the complete Jewish Bible. Instead of for the help of his countenance, it says for the salvation that comes from his presence. So let me read that verse again with that last line because it actually helps. The reason I'm reading this is I am reminded in this scripture, the birthplace of hope in my heart.

11:13 The place where this tangible sense of the Spirit of God becomes so pronounced in me that the circumstances around me can all shout one thing, but I've got something burning in me that says another. It's that element of hope. And hope is displayed as hope in the middle of controversy, in the middle of conflict.

11:41 So let me read that verse again with that in mind. It says, why are you cast down on my soul? Why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise him for the salvation that comes from his presence. The biblical word hope is so much different than the way hope is used in this culture. The way hope would be used in our culture is it would be a wish. I hope that happens. I wish this would, you know, I wish that this would happen in my life. I hope that they call me on the phone. I hope that this job opportunity opens up, whatever it might be. It's a wish. Biblical hope actually means the joyful anticipation of good. In other words, I'm sitting on the edge of my seat excited besides myself with joy because I know what's coming my way. It's a different kind of a hope. It actually becomes an atmosphere that faith grows in.

12:37 It becomes an atmosphere that actually attracts the promises of God. I've watched people lose hope. And all of us have done it in situations. We just lose hope. We maybe know enough to say the right things spiritually to give the right answer. Or when it's appropriate time to pray the right prayer. But in our heart of hearts when we're alone, we're face to face with the fact that hopelessness has really swallowed up that part of our life. and I feel like this morning I just wanted to do kind of a refresher course on this subject of hope and we're going to use a story of Abraham. Abraham is, Abraham was honored by the Lord when God number one called him his friend. Number two said I'm going to count your faith as righteousness and number three he dedicated an entire chapter of the Bible to Abraham.

13:33 that's fairly significant Hebrews 11 is dedicated to about 20 or 30 people Romans 4 is dedicated to Abraham it was the Lord wanted to honor this man who believed when it was impossible what he was believing for in fact the phrase we'll look at is hope against hope it's when natural hope that has limitations gets swallowed up by divine hope that knows no limitations. And it's this, it's moving from I live with just a positive attitude about life to where I see prophetically the purposes and plans of God and I am one of the instruments that help to bring about what God is planning to do in the earth. All right, Romans 4. Verse 18.

14:26 Actually, we'll start in the middle of 17 if you can figure it out. God who gives life to the dead, calls those things which do not exist as though they did. Verse 18, who contrary to hope, in hope believed, so that he became the father of many nations, according to what was spoken, so shall your descendants be. Just verse 18 again. who contrary to hope and hope believed so that he became the father of many nations according to what was spoken so shall your descendants be alright let me explain this he became according to what was spoken that's the heart of the Lord for every person in this room that we would become what he says say that with me his desire is that I would become what he says so Abraham took this word and and it says he hoped against hope in fact the message bible says it uh in a pretty cool way he says when everything was hopeless Abraham believed anyway deciding to live not on the basis of what he saw he couldn't do but on what God said he would do and he was made a father of many peoples God himself said to him you're gonna have a big family, Abraham. Abraham didn't focus on his own impotence and say it's hopeless. This hundred year old body could never father a child, nor did he survey Sarah's decades of infertility and give up. He didn't tiptoe around God's promise, asking cautiously skeptical questions. I love that.

16:09 He plunged into the promise and came up strong. Plunged into the promise and came up strong. So here's this deal. Every single person in this room has some dreams that are doable. But the ones you don't want to talk about are the ones that are impossible.

16:33 And what I would encourage of everybody in this room is just start making your dream list. and it can be anything from I want to take a vacation in Yellowstone Park to I want to see the dead raised and don't categorize because we don't do well categorizing for God as you know your place of employment some would say you have a spiritual job Christian job and others have a secular job there's no such categorization in the Bible once you're in it it becomes a spiritual point of occupation. Now, I remember hearing years ago a list of priorities for those in ministry, and it was very helpful, very useful list. It was God is first, family second, the church is third, and this list that different pastors made. And they made it during a time when ministry seemed to be demanding all their time, all their affection, and they really saw that They had to give themselves first and foremost to the family and then to the church.

17:37 And it was a wonderful emphasis and a wonderful revelation. But in my own journey with the Lord, I've changed the description a little bit. And you do what you want with it. This is how it works for me. God is number one. Family is number two. Church is number three, et cetera. I've changed it. God is number one. And when he's number one, there is no number two. my love for my wife is a part of my offering to God there's no vacation from number one to do number two my love for my children my grandchildren is all a part of my expression of worship to God if I'm taking a vacation with my kids that is a worship expression I've been learning how to capture every single part of life and bring it into the scope of what is an offering, what I can actually give to the Lord as a fragrant offering to him for his glory, for his honor. No longer separation between secular and sacred. And so obviously there's still that emphasis that I have to make sure I take care of my family, this and that, but it's never vacation from number one to do number two. Does that make sense to you? All right.

18:50 hope against hope there's two guys in the Bible that I want to do a little comparison with Abraham would be the first one Abraham lived with such an infectious hope that he defined his surroundings his nephew Lot it says in 1 Peter listen to this phrase Lot was oppressed by the sensual conduct of unprincipled men. Let me say it again. I left out one word. Righteous Lot was oppressed by the sensual conduct of unprincipled men. Righteous Lot. Do you remember when Abraham believed God in the middle of absolute impossibility? He still is believing God.

19:44 He's got a 100-year-old body. He's got a 90-year-old wife. It's impossible for them to have kids. He still just believes God. In that atmosphere of contagious hope, a miracle comes forth. Abraham was known for extreme faith and extreme hope. Lot was known for being righteous, but his... his life became engulfed by the sinful conduct of people around him and his own effectiveness was crippled. And I believe it was because of this issue of hope.

20:24 If you compare the two lives, both are called righteous. Both are going to spend eternity with God. Both have promise. Abraham defined his surroundings. Lot was defined by his surroundings. And the only difference I can find between the two, primary difference, would be Abraham lived with hope, the swallowed natural hope. Lot just had wishes. here's the part of this verse that stands out to me and I hope this is making sense the part of this verse that hits me so hard in Romans 4 it says that contrary to hope, in hope believed he became the father of many nations what is it saying? it's saying your legacy comes out of hope we don't know much about Lot's descendants in a good way but we do Abraham we've talked in here for a number of years about the 100 year vision about having multiple generations that are affected by those who would serve the Lord and we pray frequently for children who don't know the Lord or parents who aren't walking with the Lord or whatever and we contend constantly to see one family entire family units brought into the kingdom We believe strongly in that principle that's found in the Old Testament where one lamb was sacrificed for an entire family.

22:02 We believe that. We think in terms of family units, family lots, and that line of legacy. But here there seems to be an implied truth that infectious hope, the kind that defines surroundings, is what creates the atmosphere for legacy. in Hebrews 6 I think it's in there it's in Hebrews 6 twice or it's in Hebrews twice there's this phrase that says by faith we inherit promises.

22:46 Through faith we inherit promises. I don't, I've looked at, to be honest with you, I've looked at that passage for 30 years. I don't think he's saying faith helps you to have promises fulfilled. I think he's saying abiding faith actually attracts promises from God you wouldn't get otherwise. Because God's a good steward. He plants into healthy environments. And what is the healthy environment? It's a heart of hope. It's hope against hope. Divine hope consumes natural hope. it's hard to keep natural hope alive there's so many negative situations around you have to constantly psych yourself up emotionally and mentally to try to feel positive about negative situations but when you've heard God speak when you have a word from God holding to that word becomes a life source for me I just have to get alone with God I get alone with God with the promise. I get alone with God with the crisis, with the situation.

23:54 And sometimes I do a lot of praying. Sometimes I do a lot of listening. Sometimes I just do a lot of worshiping. But it's gathering together over this that God desires to be birthed in the earth. And hope becomes the womb that a legacy is born out of. And everybody in this room is here for more than just yourself. Just here for more than just you paying the bills and having a nice Christian life. We are here as a tribe because we have this passion to see an effect of righteousness on multiple generations and nations all over the world. It's just a part of our DNA. We want to see this thing of legacy. What I'm telling you, hope is the womb that that legacy is born from. Hope is that atmosphere through which the impossibility is released into the earth that starts redefining our surroundings. Righteous Lot was oppressed by the people who lived evil around him.

24:50 And I feel like the same option is available for every person, everyone who walks with the Lord now. I believe that we're all called to Abraham-type faith, Abraham-type hope, that in the middle of all the odds are against us, but now God has said, and we just simply hold to it. We just simply hold to it. We stay accountable. We stay with friends. We stay in that support realm, but we just hold to, this is what I saw. This is what I heard. This is what he spoke to my heart. And I have to hold on to this until he shows me otherwise. But I cannot relax the devotion of my heart to that which gives birth to legacy that impacts nations. There isn't an insignificant person in the room. There's not an insignificant situation. so here the lord speaks and he says i'm going to deliver you from the waterless places verse 12 return to your stronghold you prisoners of hope even today i will declare i will restore double to you now this is something that we did i won't spend much time on because we did it i think a week or two weeks ago i forget now but i i i talked to you about the rest the restoration of God, the restorative nature of God, where Job lost everything. When God restored him, he restored him to twice what he had before. The temple of Solomon was tore down. When it was rebuilt, it was rebuilt to twice the size. The concept of restoration in scripture is so profound that you would be encouraged when you suffered loss.

26:27 there is a way of thinking that is, it is a biblical way of thinking that doesn't cower when there's a challenge or a problem, but instead realizes, man, here's another opportunity to get doubled. Some of you need to stop in the middle of your conflict and go, oh, wait a minute. I belong to the Lord. This works differently than what I've been accustomed to. This is, This is something that while the enemy meant it for good, he doesn't have the last say. The Lord has meant it. The enemy meant it for evil. The Lord reverses it and means it for good. It just needs to be that aha moment where we go, oh, wait a minute. I belong to the Lord. I am not outside of his thoughts. I'm not outside of his will.

27:19 I'm not outside of his purposes. He has made it to where when I suffer loss, I am positioned to receive twice what I lost. See, that's what hope does. Hope reinterprets a circumstance. I just pray for more aha moments for you. Verse 14, the Lord will be seen over them. His arrow will go forth like lightning. The Lord will blow the trumpet. the whirlwinds from the south, jump down to verse 17. For how great is its goodness and how great is its beauty. Grain shall make the young men thrive and new wine the young women.

28:05 Grain in Scripture refers to bread, the making of bread. Bread is the word of God. Grapes, wine is the Holy Spirit. and those two essential ingredients for the well-lived disciple of Jesus is the word and the spirit and this is just talking about the condition by which the people of God thrive some of you may remember the story of Gideon where they were trying to get they were trying to thresh wheat in a wine press and to me that's a humorous picture when there's when the spirit of God is moving powerfully and it's symbolized by wine. Some people work so hard to get bread out of that wine press. they work so hard to get a good teaching out of the middle of something God's doing and it's completely different than what they expect.

29:03 And my philosophy is if God's serving bread, eat it. If he's serving wine, drink it. Just move with what he's doing. Don't try to switch the season to fit what you think is theologically correct. Just respond to what he's offering. If he's offering profound encounters, be the first in line. If he's trying to expand our understanding, I personally think we know way too much already. Some people, our knowledge of what should be is so far past our experience that we've become spiritually muscle-bound. And what the Lord is looking for is the people who know how to live childlike in the midst of maturing and increase. childlike approach to this walk with Jesus.

29:59 You know, every child wears a cape. You know, I mean, they dream of flying. They are all the heroes for something. They are adventurers plus. And the life of a child is the model of what the kingdom is like. And predominantly that trait of childlikeness is the sense of personal adventure. they don't want to, I remember when our tribe was growing up, I'd sit down on a Sunday afternoon and turn the 49er game on. My boys could only last part of the first quarter, maybe into the second quarter until they were out on the front lawn playing football. It just, it was week after week after week. It was like, you can only watch it so long. You have to eventually get out there and do it. And what we actually need is more children that read the Bible and go, hey, we need to be doing this ourselves. I don't want to just read about somebody else doing it. I just want to hear a story on Sunday about how it worked for the prayer team. I want it to happen for me at school.

31:02 I want it to happen for me in my place of influence. And really the Lord is summoning us out of an intellectualism type gospel into that which can be verified through experience. And it is childlikeness. It's not that intelligence, that learning intellectually is bad. It just needs to be followed by experience. If it doesn't, you'll get in trouble. You'll get too smart for your own britches. You heard it here, just remember. Verse 1 of chapter 10, ask the Lord for rain in the time of latter rain. You will make flashing clouds, give them showers of rain. Here's something that we didn't look at in the last verse, my apologies, in the last chapter is verse 13.

31:52 So go back to that. I'm sorry. I need to read this one to set up the remainder of this chapter. Verse 13, I have bent Judah, my bow, fitted the bow with Ephraim, raised up your sons, O Zion, against your sons, O Greece, and made you like a sword of a mighty man. All right. First phrase, I have bent Judah my bow. What does Judah mean? Does anybody remember? Word praise. So he says, I have bent Judah my bow. What did he load the bow with? No? I'm sorry. He goes on, he says, I have bent Judah my bow and I have fitted the bow with Ephraim. Does anybody remember what Ephraim represents? Ephraim is the word strength, fruitfulness. so he says I have put fruitfulness as a partner with praise you got to pay attention to the scripture when he shows us this is connected to this because sometimes sometimes your cross references in your bible are not going to include that you can follow all the cross references you never come to the fact Judah means praise and he says I'm going to fill praise with fruitfulness. Bounty is in your praise.

33:07 But the secret to bounty in your praise is you praise before you get the answer. These are the people that are still in need. And what has happened is the Lord has put fruitfulness in the praise. There's an interesting passage elsewhere in the Gospels where Jesus said about perfected praise. Perfected praise. And there's this Old Testament passage where the Lord talks about in the Psalms where praise was connected to strength. And in the New Testament, it's connected to children actually celebrating the kindness and the goodness of the Lord. And basically the conclusion of this verse is he said, yes, it's praise, but praise is where strength is found. So if you can just follow this train of thought with me, this simple act, in the middle of discouraging situation, you get bad news.

34:03 Well, God, I just, I acknowledge that you are God. You are on the throne. nothing escapes your notice and I give you honor you receive a bad report from the doctor you have a conflict with front with a friend a relative is turned on you whatever you know just the junk that we experience the business went bad we stop in the middle of it we just say Lord we I just acknowledge that you are God you are upon the throne and none of that anything I experience is outside of your your notice and your care you're concerned for me all the promises of your word. Belong to me. I just give you honor, God. You are the sovereign God who works on my behalf. I don't know how this can work, but I trust you, and I know that you do. And there's just that, there's that offering. What happens? The Bible says that's strength. The Bible calls that strength. The Bible calls that fruitfulness. The Bible says what you're doing, even though you may not feel like it here, you're acknowledging his sovereignty, his rule over all, and you are engaging your life. You're taking this life that the enemy has tried to isolate to bring destruction and loss, and you're joining it with fruitfulness.

35:07 You're joining it with strength. Every time we take a moment in the middle of contrary circumstances and exalt the Lord, we are prophesying over the details of our life. You will turn around. You will change. You will be fruitful. You will have strength. You will be bountiful. You will prosper. You will become whole. and we prophesy in these moments. Our hearts are not focused on the problems. Our hearts are focused on him. But it's an amazing thing when we exalt and celebrate his kindness. He releases envoys to deal with the issues that we've been facing. So here we are just delighting in him, and he says, let's take care of that for him. Let's fix this one here for him. And these things start turning around, not in a moment always. Sometimes it's over a season period of time. But what is God doing? God is seasoning me so that the answer doesn't destroy me when I get it. Does that make sense? He's seasoning me so that in the process, the acorn becomes the oak tree I prayed for. And the size of that oak tree doesn't overwhelm me. I'm capable in maturity and care.