What You Plant Today Is Bringing in a Harvest - Bill Johnson Sermon | Bethel Church

0:00 There are things that you and I are planting today that in the right season will be the release of water and there will be payback, but it's not a slot machine, you know. In other words, sacrifice is vital and important. It's a demonstration of true discipleship. Disciples sacrifice. Disciples become like their master. Good morning. Good morning. Good morning. Good morning. Nice to see you. one of the most important parts of our life as a church family for these number of years has been to review the good things that God has done and to share the testimonies and we gather together as a staff every week as a leadership team every Sunday morning we come early to pray together but First, we just talked about the things we've seen or heard of God doing through our family that previous week.

1:04 And this morning we just had such great, great news of our missions teams. We had 1,525 people that were sent out all over the planet to 48 different countries, 75 different locations. I'm tired just thinking about that one. But we just had so many wonderful reports. I wish there were some way to just let you know, get a little better glimpse of all that happens on those trips. There's something that happens when you set aside time just to pursue the breakthrough that King Jesus brings. And so we had teams all over the world doing just that. I think I mentioned at the beginning of the service one of the great stories. It was our team that went to South Africa. they had gone there last year as well and when they got off the plane or when they got there somebody met them and said do you remember me?

2:00 You prayed for me last year. And last year they had a doctor verified dead baby in the womb and they prayed for her and she introduced them to her seven month old child who was literally raised from the dead in the womb. God is just turn to somebody and just tell them this never gets old. This never gets old. My, my, my. So fun. And the stories just continue. You know, great stories. So many people got born again. So many people came to Jesus, which is the greatest miracle of all. And so we're just thankful, thankful. And I want to encourage you to learn how to benefit from their breakthrough. And it's really by treasuring in your heart the reports, the testimonies, because their breakthrough is yours. We all benefit from the breakthrough of any team that we send out. And the stories are just simply beyond imagination.

2:59 I remember when it was just, you know, we'd send out 50 or 60 people, and the stories that would come back were just astounding. And now it's, I can't keep track. I get a headache thinking about it. All right. Why don't you open your Bibles to 2 Chronicles 32. That's the first passage we'll read. I'm going to read one other one to you. But before we actually read some scripture, I need to read something else. It's short. If you're depressed about being fat, you should eat right and exercise. Then you can be depressed about being hungry. I just think that's so funny. Sorry.

3:54 I found this one this morning, actually. And it's one I had, goodness, 25 years ago in Weaverville. A young businesswoman, flushed with success, was opening a new branch office, and a friend decided to send a floral arrangement for the grand opening. When he arrived at the opening, he was appalled to find that his wreath bore the inscription, Rest in Peace. Angry, he complained to the florist. After apologizing, the florist said, Look at it this way. Somewhere a man was buried under a wreath today that said, Good luck in your new location. I think that's... I do think that's funny.

4:48 All right. You I'm going to take another crack at the subject of grace before we get into the financial thing, which I think will be in two weeks. And let me tell you the angle I want to take at it this morning.

5:12 First of all, there's very few subjects that excite me more than the subject of grace. To see the empowering presence actually enable us to do what's impossible. And that really is the effect of grace. The effect of grace is the empowering presence of God that enables us to live like Jesus. What grace does not do that many seem to model or illustrate, grace does not empower a person to sin and just overlook it. It's not that kind of enablement. enablement. It's an enablement for living as Jesus lived. One of the mistakes that I see made most often, especially in the last 10 years or so, has been for us as believers to come up with a definition of a word, important biblical words like grace or love or mercy or sacrifice or whatever it might be, discipleship, you fill in the blanks. But biblical phrases, biblical terms.

6:19 And we come up with definitions. And then what I've seen happen is somebody will come into a definition that they really like. And then as they read through the scripture, when the scripture doesn't fit their definition, they adjust the scripture instead of adjust their definition. and ongoing development in the Lord will always help us to tweak and redefine our understanding of everything about God and about his kingdom. It's we who have to change. And so when the Lord gives us an additional insight on grace, for example, we don't make the scripture fit our definition. Instead, we allow it to tweak and adjust us. The illustration I like to use that some have misunderstood and criticized me for is the concept of our theology being elastic. Our theology shouldn't be elastic in the sense that truth is not truth. It's not like today's truth in this century is different than 100 years ago and things are more modern, so now we adjust things for this era. No, that's absolutely not true. Truth is truth. It is absolutely firm and stable. But what changes is our perception of truth, our understanding, our understanding of application. And so we have to remain elastic. The illustration I use is of a wineskin. The biblical illustration of a wineskin is they would pour grape juice, unfermented juice in a skin of an animal. And then as it would ferment, it would expand, and it would cause the animal skin to expand.

7:56 Once it had expanded fully, if you put new wine in that skin, then it will cause it to burst. And so that was one of the illustrations that Jesus used, was you can't put something new into something that's stretched as far as it's gonna stretch, because every new thing God does expands in us. And so there has to be that sense of elastic, elasticity, that willingness and ability to adjust in the journey. Another way to illustrate it is you could take the greatest scientists on the planet, and they can aim a rocket ship towards the moon, and they could aim it the best they could with all their skills. They will still need to make mid-course corrections the entire way, because that's just what's needed. And we are on that kind of a journey that needs constant redefining, readjusting, pruning the heart, learning in this journey how to bring glory to God in every situation with all of our hearts, with all of our strength.

8:59 So that's kind of what we're going on today, all right? Now, Jesus made a statement in Matthew 16. I'm just going to read it to you, and we're going to use this as kind of the springboard for what I'm going to talk about today. Jesus said in 1624, he said, If anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. Whoever desires to save his life will lose it. Whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. Back to verse 24 again. If anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. Let me address one more point that I addressed last week, and we'll probably do again in the next several weeks, is that there are some who have taken the teachings of Jesus, what he did, he closed out the Old Testament. Are you with me?

9:54 His last three and a half years of life and ministry on the earth ended with the death and resurrection, that the blood shed, the resurrection, that was the moment of the new covenant the New Testament began. So his teachings actually existed in the Old Testament time frame. But they had a double-edged effect. They closed the Old Testament but introduced grace for the new. And there's a school of thought that I consider to be extremely dangerous where we no longer consider the teachings of Jesus because they were Old Testament. John foreseeing that day coming warned us in 1 John and he said anyone who does not hold to the teachings of Jesus don't even greet them don't even greet them, don't have conversation don't do anything that would enhance let me put this in my language, don't do anything to support stupidity It really is all about Jesus, and you can still trust what he had to say.

10:59 He taught us verbatim what was expected of us. So when he says, if you want to follow me, pick up your cross. Now this is fascinating if you think about it, because the cross of Jesus was enough. The cross of Jesus took care of everything. So why would you, after the cross, still need to pick up your cross? See, there's no redemptive value in your suffering. All of that was accomplished. But everything we do in picking up our cross to follow him is not a redemptive act. It's a discipleship act. The disciple like his master. a pupil, according to Scripture, when he is fully trained, will be like his master.

11:55 A disciple. The issue of being a follower of Jesus is modeled and illustrated by going low, by humbling ourselves, washing the feet of others as Jesus did. He gave us, through the Apostle Paul, a statement that first mentioned may sound like I'm misapplying the principle. And so let me mention it, then I'll try to explain. Well, the Lord spoke to Paul, and he said, in weakness, in your weakness, I'm made strong. He was not dealing with humbling yourself. He was dealing with hellish circumstances he was facing for which he had no solution. but yet yielding to the Lord in those difficult situations was a point of weakness in which God's strength could be seen. But the principle behind that statement is still true. When you put the towel over your arms, so to speak, and wash the feet of other people, when you humble yourself, you actually position yourself to discover the greatest manifestations of God's power.

13:01 Why do our missions teams get so many breakthroughs? It's not just breakthroughs in third world countries. It's breakthroughs in Europe. It's breakthroughs in places where they call them the missionary graveyard, the graveyard of pastors. Nobody makes it there. And we send teams there. Something happens when you humble yourself to go and serve another people group. It draws the power of God into full display. And so what the Lord is looking for is he's looking for disciples that understand what it is to pick up the cross and follow, to live a life of true humility, demonstrating that in our following after Christ. It's not a redemptive act. It's an act because of his redemption. It's the result of what he's done. He qualifies me to follow suit and to illustrate in my lifestyle, in our lifestyle, what it looks like to follow Jesus, and more importantly, what it looks like to have a risen Savior.

14:02 True servanthood is the essence of power. Now, I'm going to give you two stories, both Old Testament stories. In Chronicles, 2 Chronicles 32. Did I tell you where to go? 2 Chronicles, did I tell you what chapter? 32? How many of you are in 32? I move you somewhere else Okay, just adjust Just adjust I hear people say We're not supposed to seek the hand of God We're supposed to seek the face of God And I just tell them Well, if you find the hand, just look up It's not that far away It's just a slight adjustment You'll be just fine All right. verse 23 and many brought gifts to the Lord at Jerusalem in presence to Hezekiah king of Judah so that he was exalted in the sight of all nations thereafter in those days Hezekiah was sick and near death and he prayed to the Lord and he spoke to him and gave him a sign. But Hezekiah did not repay according to the favor shown him, for his heart was lifted up. Therefore, wrath was looming over him and over Judah and Jerusalem.

15:41 This is a very strange, very bizarre scripture. I want to try to walk through this passage with you because I think it has present tense lesson in effect for us. Look at verse 24 again. In those days, Hezekiah was sick and near death, and he prayed to the Lord, and the Lord spoke to him and gave him a sign. But Hezekiah did not repay according to the favor shown him. His heart was lifted up.

16:12 when the Lord demonstrates his favor his power his miracle anything that he does that he releases in our life it is foolish to have no response to give him in return arrogance allows God to act and for us to think that's the way it's supposed to be and just go on and continue living the kindness of the Lord is supposed to provoke dependency humility and sacrifice out of the life of every believer the interventions of God he does not we don't repay in the sense that we could actually afford to buy anything from God. There's nothing that you and I could cause to happen through our own goodness, through our own sacrifice, through anything.

17:17 But there is a system where when God acts on behalf of a believer, it is appropriate for that believer in like manner to display an offering of thankfulness, of sacrifice, of going low in the sense of taking even a step lower in humility. If you could picture it this way, the more you are promoted in the things of God, the more you have to become intentional to become humble, to become low. The reason is because the natural, the secular, I don't know if that's the right way to put it, but the world's view of promotion is promotion actually lifts you out of exposure to people's needs. That's not the way it is in the kingdom. In the kingdom, promotion puts you into God's resources to best service people's needs.

18:15 And so it's the act of thankfulness for the favor and the privilege and the going low that actually brings not only, well, in fact, a great example is the teams were sending to Mozambique in another week or so. Going to do natural service, rebuilding homes destroyed by the flood, supernatural service, healing bodies, bringing people to Christ, getting deliverance. It's that two-edged sword, if you will. It's the natural, it's the supernatural. And the intentional response on the part of God's people is what displays authentic humility. Authentic humility is always thankful and is always sacrificial. When there's a resistance towards, let me not say resistance. When there is a slowness to give thanks or a resistance to give sacrifice, it's because arrogance has taken root.

19:15 How many of you know, even though we're born again and it's not our nature, we still have a shot at being arrogant if we want to? I didn't see any hands, but mine's up. I'll confess on behalf of all you proud people. I'm sorry. That was supposed to be a joke. It didn't come out quite the way it sounded in my head, but we'll just leave it there. All right. So here's Hezekiah. Hezekiah was in a season of great personal favor. What does it say? It says kings, the surrounding nations brought gifts to the Lord and gifts to Hezekiah. He was in a moment of being extremely promoted. He was very celebrated. He was one of the greatest reformers in all of history, Old and New Testament. Very few people accomplished what this king accomplished, and he really did it as unto the Lord. He was a righteous king.

20:12 He restored true worship to Israel. There's so many things he did, but he was truly a reformer in the same way that maybe a John Calvin or Edwards or somebody in New Testament times. This man was a reformer, an Old Testament reformer. He brought about transformation for an entire nation. But what happened is he got surrounded by extreme favor. He got surrounded by applause and accolades. Now, let me tell you, the Lord wants you to have that. But he doesn't want it to kill you.

20:46 He wants it to drive you lower still. Because see, the favor actually empowers you to be more effective in service. That's what it's there for. Extraordinary favor, as we've talked in recent weeks and months, on Solomon, favor upon him was for the benefit of the nation of Israel. They should benefit from God's favor on him. People around you, people that you have influence over, or people that you can serve are to be benefited from the favor that rests on your life. So here's Hezekiah. He's applauded, he's cheered, he's celebrated by not only his own nation, where they have seen reform because of his leadership, but now surrounding nations are bringing gifts, and his wisdom in leadership actually ignited a passion for God in the leaders of other nations. They brought gifts to Hezekiah's God.

21:42 I like that. I just think that's cool. People just got passionate for God because of his wisdom, his brilliance, and leadership. But here's what happened. when he got sick and he cried out to God, God, I don't want to die now. You know, I got things to do, people to see, places to go. And the Lord spoke to him and gave him an extension of 15 years. I've heard people say, well, you know, the next 15 years were hell for him because of, you know, difficulties and bad decisions that he made. It was never God's will for him to live an extra 15 years. That's foolish. Excuse me, I should say it differently. That's one opinion. Oops The 15 years was God's will. The arrogance was not.

22:37 The 15 years was God's will. The refusal to go low was not. The 15 years was God's will. The unwillingness to sacrifice equal to the gift he had been given. That was not the purpose of God. Think about this. Because extreme favor came, there had to be a more intentional focus, not just on going low, but on actual offering and sacrifice. It may be time. It may be the going out of our way to serve someone. As I mentioned, people in the natural who get promoted, get promoted and create distance between where they live in this realm of promotion and practical human need. and in the kingdom it's got to be different. The promotion equips us to be effective in meeting human need. All right. Now I want you to look at another story real quickly. It's with David and it's in 2 Samuel 24. It's the last two verses of the book of 2 Samuel.

23:43 DAVID HAD committed a very foolish sin. He was not supposed to take an account of his riches or the strength of his leadership, the numbers of the people, the number of the army, all of that. And he violated that specific command of the Lord. He wasn't to count. But he violated it. When he did, sin releases consequences, and the nation began to suffer. and he pled with the Lord for the Lord to lift that that was released on the nation by his own sin. And the Lord gave him a specific assignment, very fascinating, told him of a place where he was to make a sacrifice, where he was to give an offering. And it was at somebody else's place, somebody else's threshing floor, someone else's geography, somebody else's property.

24:46 And so when David went to this man to tell him he wanted to offer sacrifices to the Lord to break the plague that had been released, this man told David, here's the oxen. Here's the wood for you to put on the altar. Here's the threshing floor. Here's the property. Take all of it as a gift and sacrifice to God. And David responded with this statement that has become a slogan for these centuries since then. In verse 24, the king responded to, how do you say his name? I called him art for service, but Aaron, yeah, whoever he is. And he says, no, but I will surely buy it from you for a price. nor will I offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God with that which costs me nothing.

25:44 I will not give God an offering that costs me nothing. Say that with me. I will not give God an offering that costs me nothing. Say it again. I will not give God an offering that costs me nothing. there's an aspect of this of this life of grace that sometimes is missed things are supposed to cost us in other words now i i believe so much in giving and i believe that the lord returns i i've watched it for my whole life but i'll be honest with you i gave sacrificially in early years and and i've i've watched this happen countless times where somebody will just come to the Lord, they'll hear about tithing, about giving offerings, they'll act in obedience to the Lord, and that week they'll get the most extraordinary breakthrough of their life. How many of you know that doesn't happen every week that you give from that point on?

26:40 How many of you figured that one out? It's like the Lord confirms the act of obedience and the word of truth, but then he puts you in a place to learn the discipline of lifestyle, of generosity, plus other aspects of our finances. I wish that I could sacrifice one week and have the biggest breakthrough of my life the next week.

27:04 Cha-ching! We would have the Holy Ghost slot machine working 24 hours a day because we see how it works. And to be really honest with you, I'm seeing breakthrough today that I sowed into 20 years ago. I see breakthrough today that I know today I'm experiencing this, but I can take you back to the sacrifice there. In other words, it cost me and there was no payback. That's the point. There was no payback. It's not a buying of favor from God. It's actually saying, I'm willing to go without this because I want your name exalted in the earth. I'm willing to go without this. I'm going to position myself in a place where I'm not going to have all the benefits that I would normally have with my income or with time or with insight or with strength or whatever it might be, but I'll use money to illustrate.

27:56 I'm not going to use all that I have for my promotion and help of my personal life. Instead, I'm going to take this portion, I'm going to give it as an offering, and I'm going to live below what I could live if I did it this way. Sometimes the Lord brings immediate release and favor, but the disciplined life of sacrificial giving is actually sometimes it's years down the road where the breakthrough comes.

28:25 I told you the story. I wish I would have kept it in, I read it in an airplane magazine. Two guys were flying over, I believe it was the Sahara Desert. It was a desert somewhere. And they were flying, it was just sand everywhere you could see. and then they came over this plot of ground and it was a perfect square. I believe if I remember right it was a square mile but it doesn't matter and it was like a jungle and so the passenger asked the pilot, he says what's up with that? And they said well they found water there so they decided to run an experiment. They watered one square mile and they didn't plant anything, they just watered. They just put water out to see what would happen. And they found that in that desert, seeds had been lying dormant for who knows how many years in the sand waiting for water. And when water came, this jungle came up. There are things that you and I are planting today that in the right season will be the release of water and there will be payback, but it's not a slot machine, you know. In other words, sacrifice is vital and important. It's a demonstration of true discipleship. Disciples sacrifice. Disciples become like their master. That's the point. David, in this particular case, was given a chance to offer God something at no personal expense to him. And he said something that I think will be quoted throughout all eternity. I will not offer God something that costs me nothing. It's one of the most profound statements in lifestyle giving in the whole Bible. I will not give God something that didn't cost me.

30:23 I look around this room and I see a family of people that have, we together have learned some of this. We've been experiencing breakthrough. We've been experiencing promotion. We've been experiencing increased opportunities, increased favor, all the kinds of things that we prayed for 10 years ago, 20 years ago, we're experiencing now. And I'm so thankful and so grateful. Here's the challenge that's before us. David offered an offering that cost him. And in the very next verse, it says, God healed the land and removed a plague.

31:19 I would like to suggest to you that when you sacrifice, you may be the only one who feels the pain but when you get breakthrough you're not the only one that experiences the blessing David's personal offering actually brought a breakthrough that the entire nation of Israel experienced. It's the profound responsibility and privilege of being any kind of leader, any kind of responsible person. Now, I don't mean leader by title, because I consider everybody in this room a leader. A leader in some way, in some part of this culture and society. Every person's a leader. What the Lord has done is he's positioned you and me to live the discipleship lifestyle, where there are offerings, there are sacrifices, and it may include money, but that's not the point.

32:20 The point is, it's going to cost me to respond this way. I'm making a decision, and it means it will cost me. I will not be able to do this. I may have to sell this. I may have to do, you know, whatever. It's going to cost me. However, in my day of breakthrough, everyone under my influence will benefit from my breakthrough. I believe it's a divine perspective on our role as leaders. It's a divine perspective. You know what? It's worth it. I'll sacrifice here because everyone around me will get the breakthrough there. we spend a good amount of our time working to strengthen your faith, our faith we spend a fair amount of time encouraging you that nothing's impossible to expand your vision to realize the mandate that's on your life you actually have the the responsibility and privilege to shape the course of history for entire nations.

33:33 All these things are absolutely 100% true. But in this journey, as we walk with the Lord, he gives us seasons of increase and seasons of promotion. And it's up to you, it's up to me, to take the season and make sure everybody around me benefits from it by going low and intentionally become a more empowered, more equipped servant for the benefit of others. A disciple of Jesus will always be one who carries the cross in a sense. It's not a redemptive cross. It's a cross that models what it looks like to follow a lamb who sits upon the throne. I close with this thought Jesus will forever be a lamb sacrificed on a throne why?

34:29 we can never afford to lose perspective of what it took to bring us into the kingdom it was a lamb who paid for the sins of the whole world because of that we have the privilege of going low and serving well Why don't you stand? We are over $60,000 in the come on music. Beautiful. Beautiful. Oh. Yeah, come on!

35:14 That's the world. Wow! We just... 60 for this service. Oh. So it's 75. Wow.

35:34 That is wonderful. What we will do, for those that came in late, we took a disaster relief. We have a disaster relief part of the ministry here where we send people around the world just to go and help with natural needs, medical building those kinds of needs food, whatever but also bring the supernatural element of the miraculous and we like to have a war chest that we can draw from so we came to you today saying we needed $60,000 raised today to complete the $90,000 that we need for the mission because we already have $30,000 in the war chest well today we still have money in the war chest we got one service to go so that's awesome we're going to do it again bless you guys for doing that I love the phrase I heard it from my dad years ago not equal giving but equal sacrifice and for one person you gave $10 and it was a huge sacrifice for someone else it was $10,000 which was an equally huge sacrifice and we bless every one of the gifts because of the widow's might is what brings these kinds of breakthroughs So I bless you. Thank you for that.

36:50 What we'll do is we'll send our team. We've got 12 people we'll be sending on the 16th of this month, just in a week and a couple days, to Mozambique to help with building. And they will also have access to extra funds should they need it for some of the projects. So we'll make sure that they go not just skimping, but go and do a good job. Amen? All right. Man, that's good news. Thank you, Jesus. 60 plus 15 is much better than 60 including 15 I mean even the new math likes both those numbers better alright I've gone over but for an offering it's worth it thank you jesus i thank you lord i thank you for for the privilege of following jesus and actually looking at like him while we do it thank you for the promotion thank you for the increase at every turn we honor you, we exalt you but we declare worthy is the Lamb who sits on the throne worthy is the Lamb who was slain Everybody said, amen, amen.

38:14 I'm so glad that you watched this video. I do pray that it's a great, great strength and encouragement to you. And I've got a verse that really is my cry for all of us. And it's Psalms 20, it's verse 4. May he grant you your heart's desire and fulfill all your plans. That's my prayer. That's my prayer is that this would be the season of rich, rich fulfillment. Thank you.