What to Do When You Can’t Sense God’s Presence - Bill Johnson Latest Sermon | Bethel Church

0:00 What the Lord has called us to is not greatness, is not high achievements, it's the simplicity of devotion to Christ when things are red hot and fiery and when things are cold, when I can't tell up from down and when everything is being answered according to how I pray. Thank you. Good morning. Merry Christmas. Thank you. the salesman at the furniture store told me this sofa will seat five people without any problem i said where am i going to find five people without any problems

0:48 I've read this one before, but I just think it's funny. I'm reading it for me. Imagine the manger. Christ is in the manger, surrounded by animals. And all the animals are inspired and are confessing what they're going to give to honor the king. The camel says, I will bear him gifts. The donkey says, I will carry him. The fish says, I will pay his taxes.

1:23 The cow says, I will quench his thirst. The dove says, I will bless his baptism. The sheep says, I will warm him. The duck says, I will feed him. The pig says, I will let him fill me with demons and I'll jump off a cliff. I never get to finish it, so let me finish it.

1:55 I will let him fill me with demons, and I'll jump off a cliff and wait, what? It helps if you have a third-grade sense of humor, so that's what I've got. Open your Bibles. It'll take me a little bit to get there, but to open your Bibles to, I've actually got two places I want to read from. We'll see how I do. 2 Kings 20 and then 2 Chronicles 32.

2:28 That's where we'll go. All right. For the last several weeks, I've had, especially when I'm thinking about stuff that I want to talk about to our students and and i've had this story of hezekiah um on my mind a lot and in reading in my reading i've been reading about the kings for quite a while now just going through first second kings of course samuel and chronicles and just right now i'm just going through some of that part of the story again with this hezekiah he was 25 years old when he became king he inherited the throne from his father Ahaz who was an extremely wicked king. He led Israel into idolatrous worship. He defiled the house of God. He built Baals and other false gods, constructed them for, I say Israel, it was actually Judah. Judah and Israel were separate at this time.

3:28 and he led the people of God into literally demonic worship, led them as a nation into serving other gods. Hezekiah became king at the age of 25 and inherited, if you could imagine, not just a defiled religious system, but an entire culture that has now been crippled and poisoned, if you will, With this demonic worship. So it's not just their practices now. We know that it has to do with the atmosphere. It has to do with the demonic world. Being given liberty by those who are in authority. So if you can imagine becoming king. And you inherit something that has a momentum of many years. That is so corrupt and so defiled.

4:24 And yet you become the king from your own dad. you're inheriting this momentum and you stand in the middle of it and you say no we're going to serve the Lord it honestly I'm not sure that any of us have enough understanding to appreciate the amount of courage that it took for this guy Hezekiah to stand up and decide we're going the other way but he didn't just make the decision we're going to serve the Lord he went to extremes He actually was given a grace, a favor, a wisdom by God to reshape the culture of the people of God. It was more than we're going to sacrifice now at the temple. It was more than that. It was the culture of the entire nation was shifted and changed. I doubt it happened on a weekend, but it happened over a period of time where the nation of Israel responded to godly leadership and became passionate lovers of God.

5:26 When I read through the stories of the kings, they're some of my favorite stories because they're so crazy. Some of them are just weird. But I tend to prefer the weirder stories from the Bible because there are plenty to feed yourself on and plenty to create questions. But for example, one king did so good. It was like, it says, he did what was right in the sight of the Lord as his father David. had done. David was always the measurement for everybody else's success. So for several hundred years, the success of a king or the failure of the king was measured against the standard that King David had established. And so it would say something like, and he did what was right in the sight of the Lord as his father David had done as long as, and then it would mention the high priest, as long as the high priest was alive.

6:19 what's crazy is you go through the story and then you see when that high priest dies the king becomes weird he becomes corrupt and i don't i don't think it's hard to imagine but i don't think you know he was had a passion for god one day and the next day he finds out the high priest is dead i'm going to serve the devil now i don't think it was that it was that he lost the inspiration. He lost the inspiration. I watched so many people do well in seasons of great visitation, seasons of great inspiration. The times when the prophetic word of their life is so fresh and so clean. The time when you sense the Holy Spirit moving profoundly in a gathering or in a season. And people do so well during those seasons. But when that season lifts, or there's a season change.

7:12 I watch as so many people lose heart, lose what they just gained, lose what they poured out their life for in the previous season. I watch many who move from one side of the planet, here, sacrifice everything because of the season of inspiration. The challenge is what do you do when the inspiration lifts? It's not punishment. And it's not necessarily even caused by sin.

7:43 What happened to Hezekiah, he was known, let's just go through his history for a moment. He was known as a king who prayed. The stories in here of his answers to prayer are extraordinary. For example, it says in one place, it says, every work that he, Hezekiah, began to do in the service of the house of God, in law and the commandment, to seek his God. He did it with all of his heart, and so he prospered. Say that with me. And so he prospered. The result of his radical, courageous obedience. Remember, his obeying against the stream, against the flow, is going upstream in his radical obedience. So this is a very, very courageous thing. He's thinking in terms of multiple generations to come. And so he is determined, I'm going this way regardless of who goes with me. And that's Hezekiah. So it says the Lord sees that. And so he prospers in everything he did, he began to prosper. The very next phrase in the chapter 32 says, after these deeds of faithfulness, That's what God called Hezekiah's actions.

8:55 After these deeds of faithfulness, Sennacherib, king of Assyria, came and entered Judah. What I want you to see is it wasn't sin that brought an attack from an enemy. It was what he was doing that was right. Many people are never attacked because they're not doing anything that disturbs the powers of darkness. if you don't walk if you don't run into the devil now and then you might be going the same direction so it wasn't the the sin entered that brought the opposition it was the faithful deeds think about it jesus baptized in water the holy spirit comes upon him as a dove remains on him in that presence and in that power, he's led into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.

9:56 So sometimes when the conflict comes in our life, it's an affirmation that we've done right. it's it's an affirmation it's i don't know how it's an it's an affirmation that you've done well now the point is now is not the moment to panic the this is the point is now is not the moment to become introspective this is the moment where childlike we say what do we do now What Hezekiah did is amazing because he was known for prayer, but he joined himself with the prophets. Isaiah was his friend. It's a good friend to have. Isaiah and him, they called a prayer meeting one day when this enemy nation who was much bigger and much more powerful in every natural way than were the people of Judah. And this nation came in and taunted and mocked, did everything they could to demoralize the people of God.

10:57 Thank you. Hezekiah and Isaiah had a prayer meeting. And it says they cried out to the Lord. And the Lord sent, if I remember right, one angel. One big bad angel. There's this huge army and God says, ah, one angel's enough. So when Jesus says he could send thousands, just imagine what that would take care of. so he sends one angel into the situation and the angel wipes out the enemy army Sennacherib the king of Assyria goes back to his own country in shame he enters the temple of his false god and his own kids go into the temple and kill him not a good day but he taunted the armies of the living God and Isaiah and Hezekiah had a prayer meeting.

11:58 And it's beautiful to see the kings and the prophets work together. It's one of the most essential ingredients of this next season. And we see it in the story. So Hezekiah had a value for the prophets. He had a value for prayer life. He had an absolute devotion to reformation. He's possibly, at least for me, my biggest hero as a reformer. I think what he inherited in a momentum of corruption that he was able to turn into a nation of passionate lovers of Jesus is extraordinary. And he did it because of his courage.

12:38 Because of his obedience, remember this verse that says, and so he prospered. And it called these faithful deeds. So because of these faithful deeds, two things happened. One is the blessing of the Lord increased. Let me tell you something important. God disciplines us so his blessings don't kill us. he disciplines us so we can survive his blessings discipline is not punishment it's not the opportunity for the heavenly father to take out his anger and express it towards an individual it's always to prune and reduce to a point of strength so that we can hold and contain and carry more so whenever the lord is dealing with you it's why the Bible says that rejoice when various trials, difficulties come, because it's actually the pruning that enables you to carry the greater weight of God's presence and glory. There is no greater gift than the presence of God. There is no greater gift. And every true measure of progress in our life is blessed with greater measure of presence. And you will always have the measure presence in your life that you're willing to jealously guard. Whatever measure you would take a bullet for, that's what you'll live with.

14:05 this sense of presence and glory can be contained, maintained, sustained all throughout the week. And that's the ambition. It's for us to be a people that hosts the presence. Because your shadow will always release whatever overshadows you. It's containing that presence, that adoration, that place of deep affection for the Holy Spirit. It's in that place that his environment changes our environment. So Hezekiah, back to the story, he's the reformer. He's the prayer warrior. He's the partner with prophets. He's all these things. But in the blessing, he started attracting favor from outside kingdoms and kings. So they started sending gifts and presents. I don't know. I think I think it was the right thing to do.

15:05 I think they were acknowledging, they were recognizing something on Hezekiah that Israel had one time been known for with David and Solomon. They were giving allegiance. They were giving honor. And these gifts would come, and Hezekiah is starting to prosper, and he's acquiring a lot of land and a lot of blessing in his life. And yet something happened. Leaders from Babylon came. and they came to visit him and they came to honor him with gifts. And he did something unusual when the Babylonian leaders came to him. He actually took them into his treasury and he showed them everything he had. That may not seem very significant, but I want you to think about this.

15:55 Only a king who's insecure about his position is going to try to use his possessions and his accomplishments to increase favor. When the Lord points out insecurity in any one of us, he's doing us a favor because he's exposing wrong securities. Insecurity is wrong security exposed. so here is here is King Hezekiah who does something that Solomon did Solomon married all these women why? I mean let's be honest enough is enough he's got like 900 I forget the numbers now concubines and all these wives why think through this why would a king marry the daughter of another king?

16:51 so there would be peace between the nations. Think with me. He tried to obtain through fleshly partnerships what God had already given him by the Spirit. He was already called the man of peace. David was the man of war. Solomon is the man of peace. And now he's trying to obtain what he already had through covenants, illegal, improper covenants. and it brought about his own domful. Adam did the same.

17:27 If you partake of this fruit, you'll be like God. He already was. He already was. He was already made in the image of God. He tried to obtain through his own works what he already had by grace. And what gets us into trouble so often is when we don't know what we have, we act either out of ignorance or stubbornness to try to fight for something that God's already put in our life. He's already answered. He's already given to us. so Hezekiah shows the Babylonian leaders everything Isaiah comes to him this is in 2 Kings 20 verse 15 Isaiah says to Hezekiah what have they seen in your house?

18:24 Hezekiah answered they've seen all that is in my house there is nothing among my treasures that I have not shown them Do you understand the point I'm trying to make of trying to obtain favor with an enemy nation by impressing them with what you have? None of us have ever done that, but he did it. All of us hate entitlement in other people. You know, that's just worthy of a drink, actually. That's just worthy of a drink.

19:07 A couple weeks ago, I spilt a whole cup of espresso in my Bible. So it reads fast now. I wish I could say that was the first time that happened. I have espresso stains in the front part from another time, so, oh well. At least I'm consistent.

19:32 They've seen all that is in my house. There's nothing among my treasures I've not shown them. Isaiah said to Hezekiah, Hear the word of the Lord. Behold, days are coming when all that is in your house and what your fathers have accumulated until this day shall be carried to Babylon. Nothing shall be left, says the Lord. And they will take away some of your sons who will descend from you, whom you will beget. And they will be eunuchs in the place, in the palace of the king of Babylon. Let's do it again. Whom you will beget. These sons of yours will be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon. and hezekiah this great reformer this great visionary man who poured out his life for the generations to come listen to his response he hezekiah said to isaiah the word of the lord which you have spoken is good for he said will there not be peace and truth at least in my days Thank you.

20:36 Did you guys hear what I just read? how does a person fall from the champion of courage, the champion of personal sacrifice, the willingness to go against the stream for the purpose of reforming an entire nation and impacting the surrounding nations? How does he go from that to a guy who is happy when a prophetic word is given where his own sons will be made eunuchs and serve in another king's palace. How do you get from there to here? I'm glad you asked. in 2nd chronicles and i do want you to look at this one if you have got your bibles 2nd chronicles 32 we'll start with verse 23 and many brought gifts to the Lord at Jerusalem and presents to Hezekiah king of Judah so that he was exalted in the sight of all nations thereafter here.

22:07 let me add a comment here when the Lord does the exalting it's good it's always for a redemptive purpose don't foolishly put down either your own promotion or somebody else's when God's involved because it's always for a purpose he says humble yourself unto the mighty hand of God and he will exalt you in due time. It is part of the purpose and the plan of God. But it always, increased blessing is increased responsibility to live redemptively for the blessing of other people. And to miss the purpose of the promotion is to misuse favor. anytime promotion comes into any of our lives if it doesn't benefit the people around us then we've misused the favor Merry Christmas.

23:11 Does that help? You're giving me that look. All right. So many brought gifts to the Lord in Jerusalem, presents to Hezekiah, king of Judah, so that he was exalted in the sight of all the nations. In those days, verse 24, Hezekiah was sick and near death, and he prayed to the Lord and he spoke to him and gave him a sign. Now this is expanded. This part of the story is expanded a bit more in 2 Kings. But this is what happened. Hezekiah is sick. The prophet Isaiah comes to him and he says, get your house in order. The sickness is unto death. You're going to die. Now that wasn't a curse. That was, yeah, it was an invitation of God to live the remainder of his days in wisdom. Hezekiah, as you read the story, he turns his face toward the wall.

24:10 And he says, God, I've lived faithfully. I've done this and that. And he cries out to the Lord. In his affliction, he cries out. And the Lord speaks to Isaiah, who hasn't even left the temple, the palace grounds yet. He's not even walking across the courtyard. The Lord speaks to him and says, go back. We've got a different word. He turns around, he goes back, and he tells him, you're going to live and not die. And the Lord actually added 15 more years to his life. 15 years.

24:40 But what happened here? It says, in the days of Hezekiah, he was sick, near death. He prayed to the Lord. He spoke to him and gave him a sign. Verse 25, this is what happened. Hezekiah did not repay according to the favors shown to him, for his heart was lifted up. Therefore, wrath was looming over him and over Judah and over Jerusalem. Look at it again. God answered him, healed him, but, I have the word but circled in my Bible, but Hezekiah did not repay according to the favor shown him. What is that telling us? It's telling us something about the more you mature, the level of blessing that comes in your life is much deeper and much more profound. Be ready to respond equal to the favor.

25:38 What was sacrificial for me yesterday is a token gift today. what cost me everything yesterday i've become accustomed to and now i can give it out of routine and what he's inviting us into is the tenderness of heart that stays fresh and stays current with every season do you remember the passage in revelation two where he says the church at ephesus you've lost your first love do the deed you did at first go back to how you used to approach me. Your childlike approach, the simplicity of devotion, where everything was abandoned to me. Go back and do those things because you can reignite the passions that you once had for me. He didn't say, worship me until first love is restored. He didn't say, memorize 100 verses until the first love is restored.

26:37 He said, do what you used to do. Those were living encounters that we had together because of your response to me. Go back to those and I'll reignite that which I put in you in the first place. And maintaining first love through seasons is one of the greater challenges in life. This is really an invitation, if you will, to never burn out.

27:05 So what happened here? He didn't repay. He didn't respond to the Lord. As he had his entire life, he had responded sacrificially. And in this season, he became the entitled one. He became lifted up in his own pride because of blessing. and he didn't respond to God sacrificially anymore. I'm sure he still worshiped. I'm sure he still offered sacrifices.

27:41 But now it's out of convenience. If you can imagine with me, this worshiping king is now doing things out of routine, not relationship. He's doing things out of principle and not presence. There's something that's taken place in his life where an entire value system shifted because of favor and blessings that changed his appetite from simply pleasing God to now accumulating. the scary part of the story for me if that wasn't scary enough it says, Hezekiah rested with his fathers.

28:40 Then Manasseh, his son, reigned in his place. 2 Kings 21. Manasseh was 12 years old when he became king. He did evil in the sight of the Lord according to the abomination of the nations the Lord had cast out from before Israel. he rebuilt the high places which Hezekiah his father had destroyed he raised up the altars for Baal he made a wooden image as Ahab king of Israel had done he worshipped the host of heaven and served them he built altars in the house of the Lord he defiled the house of the Lord here's Manasseh a 12 year old how many years did God add to Hezekiah's life 15 how old was Manasseh when he became king. He was born in the season of religion and not fervency, in routine and not relationship.

29:42 He is the offspring of form without power. Merry Christmas. Thank you.

30:07 I look at stories like this. I like them because they provoke me. I like when the Lord provokes. I like it. If you don't feel that sting of Scripture, then you may be getting numb. I don't want to be numb. I don't want to be numb. friends my dick mills had this this sermon once it's called walking through the sword that's a great title for a sermon walk so i just picture this jesus is holding a sword and i'm standing in the tip of the sword is piercing my chest and he says come here Yes.

30:57 That's why the word just begins to cut and to prune and to trim. And honestly, it's the mercy of God to prune us so that we can survive his blessings. So here's stories, a story of a great man that we will honor in heaven. who experienced a crash towards the end of his life that was completely unnecessary. it's it may be hard there's a lot of things in life that are hard but they're not complicated they're challenging, but they're not complicated. They're not confusing. I have found that most of the time the will of God is not confusing at all. It's only confusing when I entertain other ideas.

31:52 Then I invite confusion into my life. Please come. Make a mess of my brain. But his word is very clear. all of these things are all they all have to do with lordship who's lord it's not about what you accumulate it's not about what you sacrifice it's not about any of these things it's the lordship of Jesus Thank you. when Jesus is Lord, he can trust me with more. Whether it's insight, maybe it's favor, maybe it's open doors, maybe it's resource.

32:43 But whatever it is, when he is Lord, the foundation is firm and strong. And that lordship is not maintained through striving. I think it's just maintained by making sure that he remains my first love. staying tender, never getting far away from tears, always making sure that I'm not only ready to do what he says, I want to hear him speak, so I know what to do. Many people obey if God comes to them.

33:27 The part of this story, I don't remember if I emphasized here, so I'll wrap it up with this. is that before the Babylonian leaders came to see Hezekiah, the king, the scripture says, and the Lord removed his presence from him to see what was in his heart. the Lord removed his presence. Now we know the scripture says he will never leave or forsake us. So he doesn't remove his presence from us, but doesn't make sense to you. He can shut down our capacity to recognize him in a given situation or season. Do you understand that that is never punishment? it's not an angry father slapping you across the head it's it's the fact that the lord is measuring you measuring me to see what weight of glory i can live under without it destroying me he disciplines us so we can survive his blessings and so from hezekiah he backs up to see what was in his heart. And he found that he had a man that was able to have radical obedience when the inspiration was there. But there wasn't enough built into the structure of his inner world to maintain those values when the inspiration was gone.

35:00 I've watched here in Reading. I've watched what God's done here in the last 30 years. there are many that do incredibly well in the middle of the outpouring of great power, God uses them in miracles all these things happen and they are on the front lines of everything and then they go through a season that's dry and they can't seem to tell up from down which is fine except when then you turn your heart to self-will, self-indulgence self-promotion all those counterfeits all those things that shout, I am Lord, not Jesus. And so Hezekiah faced himself because the Lord said, I've got to find out what's in his heart when I'm not there to inspire him. What God is building in you and in me, I don't know how else to describe it, but it's internal structures.

35:57 It's like there are values, there's a sense of purpose, there's destiny, all these things that get built in us where we live aware of why we're alive. When those things are in place, God can entrust us with different kinds of weighty presence and responsibilities on the outside. Somebody said once, if the light in you is weaker than the light on you, you'll crash and burn. You won't succeed. So what the Lord is doing is he's building something significant here so that in the season where I can't discern him, I still live the same. So good. It's not dependent upon me feeling inspired. So next time you don't feel inspired, slap yourself. don't you be stupid and if you're not willing to do it your neighbor will i'm sure it will help you honestly what the lord has called us to is not greatness is not high achievements it's the simplicity of devotion to christ when things are red hot and fiery and when things are cold when i can't tell up from down, and when everything is being answered according to how I pray.

37:26 Both extremes. Paul said it this way. I can do all things through Christ. It strengthens me. I know how to abound, and I know how to be abased. I know what to do when I'm in lack, and I know what to do when I'm in abundance. I live the same. so that's my prayer my prayer for us this christmas season is the absolute joyful delightful lordship of king jesus would become so pronounced over everything we are everything we do in fact we just pray it might have been prayed earlier but i feel like we're supposed to in fact you need to demand this as you pray prodigals are coming home prodigals are coming here. And it needs to be proclaimed, declared.

38:19 I just, I see so many unusual blessings being released into people's lives. And the more you lean in to what you anticipate coming from God, the more you'll recognize the answers. Because not all answers will come with neon lights. Some will be very subtle. But when you recognize the hand of the Lord is in this, and it's for my encouragement, then suck it up. Join. Drink it up. Do everything you can to benefit from that breakthrough. Let me ask you a question. We're going to pray over everyone, but is there anyone here, you don't have a personal relationship with Jesus? You don't know what it is to be born again. That's where you invite the Holy Spirit into your life. You're forgiven of sin, and God actually brings you, adopts you into his family. It's the most amazing miracle ever. If there's anybody in the room that said, Bill, I don't want to leave the building until I know I have found peace with God. If that's you, put a hand up real fast and just hold it there until I see you because I want to recognize the cry of every single heart in this room.

39:21 Okay. All right. I assume we're all in. Those online, we welcome you. First of all, Bethel family online, we love you so much. Write in the chat box if you are one that is wanting prayer to receive Christ. Let's have everybody stand. Everybody stand. Who's helping me? The one and only? Come on up here. Let me pray for you. And you're amazing. All right, let me pray for you. And then we need to have a ministry team come on down here quickly. And then we want to minister to as many people as we can. But Father, let this be the season of first love. you need to ask for that put it on your lips put it on your lips, pray it out loud God let this be the season where without question I know that you are my first love awaken that in every person