Bill Johnson - The Needle in the Haystack - Part 2
So, we see, in verse 33: «And with great power, the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And great grace was upon them all». Let me make a comment here. Miracles are necessary for two basic reasons. One, it is impossible to adequately display the love of God without a miracle. It’s impossible to reveal, fully reveal, adequately, the love of God for an individual, apart from a miracle. You, that’s one. But the other? It is the miracle that testifies Jesus actually was resurrected from the dead. You heard testimony tonight of the resurrection of Jesus.
Chapter 5, Ananias and verse 5 says: «Great fear came upon all those who heard these things». Verse 11: «So great fear came upon all the church and upon all who heard these things». Verse 12: «And through the hands of the apostles many signs and wonders were done among the people. And they were all with one accord in Solomon’s porch. Yet none of the rest dared join them, but the people esteemed them highly». «And believers,» verse 14, «Were increasingly added, multitudes of both men and women». By the way, just a side note, in the gospels, when a crowd was counted, it was counted by how many men were there and the scripture would say «Besides women and children».
After the day of Pentecost, both men and women were counted. The gospels reveal the culture of that day, not the will of God. So, when you see the woman put down in that culture, it was created by a rabbinical system that created laws against the women, exalting men. It was never in the heart of God. And when we see the day of Pentecost, you see a level playing field. You have 120 in the upper room, both men and women. They were all counted. And children were never counted. And just to break that mold, Jesus used a child’s lunch to feed 15,000 adults. Chapter 6, verse 1: «Now in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplying, there arose a complaint», of course, there was. Verse 7: «Then the Word of God spread, and the number of the disciples multiplied, a great many of the priests were obedient to the faith».
As a result of this, persecution intensified. Stephen, who was one of the deacons, becomes promoted in to such a point where Saul leads a group of people that stone him to death. It’s in chapter 7. After that, the persecution when you get, let’s see, let’s go down to chapter 8, verse 1. «Now, Saul was consenting to his death. At that time, a great persecution arose against the church which was at Jerusalem: and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. And devout men carried Stephen to his burial, and made great lamentation», it’s interesting. The believers made great lamentation. Verse 3: «As for Saul, he made havoc, entering every house, and dragging off men and women, committing them to prison». Verse 4. Isn’t this encouraging? Just hang on, 'cause it’s gonna get, it ends well, all right? It ends well.
Verse 4: «Therefore, those who were scattered went everywhere preaching the word. Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria and preached Christ to them. And the multitudes with one accord heeded the things spoken by Philip, hearing and seeing the miracles». This, now, is not one of the apostles. 'Cause it’s starting to get spread through the church. «Unclean spirits, crying with a loud voice, came out of many who were possessed: and many who were paralyzed and lame were healed. And there was great joy in that city».
So, there is this parallel track: intense persecution or persecution, I should say, intensifies and great joy comes upon those who experience the it reminds me of Isaiah 60 that says gross darkness covers the earth, but his glory arises upon you. It’s not in the same place, but it is in the same season. You can feast your eyes on you can be troubled, bothered, and become hopeless because of the work of darkness, or you can feast your eyes on the work that God is doing and that it will spread to the places that are overrun with hopelessness. All right, I’m just about to the sweet spot, all right? So, there’s great joy in that city. Let’s see. Chapter 9. Damascus road. Saul is rocked. He is rocked. He’s rocked by the rock of ages. Yeah, he gets knocked off his donkey. And, the Lord speaks to him, in verse 4, and he says: «Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me»?
Now, Jesus has already died, resurrected. He already suffered. He died. He’s resurrected. He ascended. He’s glorified. He’s at the right hand of the father. And that Jesus at the right hand of the father speaks to Saul and says, «Why are you persecuting me»? Because he takes personal what you experience. Don’t ever think the enemy has the last laugh. The Lord takes it personal. And he came to Saul and he said, «Why are you persecuting me»? And Saul’s bewildered. He says, «Who are you, Lord»? He got the «Lord» part right. How many know when God shows up and you’re blinded, you just call him «Lord»? You don’t know who he is, but he’s «Lord». He says: «I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting».
Long story short, he gets healed, he gets released into ministry, and things start changing in the climate of the church. Here’s the verse I want you to see. You ready? The needle in the haystack. Verse 31: «Then the churches throughout all Judea, Galilee, and Samaria had peace and were edified. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, they were multiplied». I’ll read it again, because I don’t want you to miss what we just read. «Then the churches».
Now, we’re not talking about individuals. Previous to this, if my memory serves me correctly, the verses we read, anyway, it was always the number of believers that increased. It was the number of believers that were added, except in chapter 6. It said the number of believers multiplied. But now, we have a phenomenon that we’ve not seen before. Earlier, the church moved from addition to multiplication. Believers, excuse me, the number of believers. But now, look at this: «Then the churches throughout all Judea, Galilee, and Samaria had peace and were edified. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, they,» being the churches, «Were multiplied».
I don’t want you to miss it. It could be oversimplified. I don’t think I’m overemphasizing it. The church has been in this fight to increase in the glory, to increase in the measure of breakthrough. Whenever opposition has come, instead of moving in hatred, or resentment, or bitterness, or trying to call down judgment or prophesying against this king and that king, they move in humility and they increasingly step into greater places of authority, greater places of anointing. Persecution intensifies. They say, «God, just give us greater boldness,» like that’s gonna help. And it increases. And it intensifies even farther. And we have this continual increase and they finally step into this place, after what they were carrying so dramatically changed the climate that Saul himself is and the church finds themself, they don’t know how many more years they’ve gotta climb this ladder of pressing in with resolve and refining focus and giving themselves more completely to the ministry of the gospel.
They don’t know when the climb stops. But, suddenly, they’re in a sweet spot. And then, they hear Saul is saved. And then, they see the fruit of his salvation. And then, suddenly there’s peace, everywhere. There’s peace. They don’t know what it’s like to live without the threat on their life. They don’t know what it’s like to gather with other believers without having some group wanting to report it, some group wanting to come and imprison you. And, now, they’re in this place. History tells us that the believers in Rome began to prosper. They began to increase in their business favor. Their own incomes actually made the people around there, provoked them to jealous because they were so favored of the Lord. 'Cause that happens.
Once you don’t have to fight to stay alive, suddenly, you get to practice what God has taught you into everyday life. And when you start practicing what God has taught you, through the trial, through the health, through the wilderness, eventually, you step into a Promise Land. And in that Promise Land, the Lord is looking for a productivity that is directly connected to the Revelation of his promise and his person among his people. And the church started to enter into this place. And it says that the churches entered into this place of peace, and then, it described what I believe were two decisions. They began to multiply because of two conditions.
Number one: the fear of the Lord. It’s not hard to fear God in the middle of a hellish situation. It’s a lot easier when it’s life and death. It’s just, you know: I’m all in. Nothing else matters. I don’t care about my business, I don’t care about this, I don’t care about my house. All of a sudden, all those goals vanish because all we’re trying to do is: I wanna keep my wife, my children alive, keep connected to other believers. We just wanna keep each other safe. We wanna keep each other encouraged. We wanna keep praying the promises. Suddenly, all of these things that have occupied our time through the years, suddenly, they just simply don’t matter. It’s easy to walk in a purity of lifestyle when you have few choices. But something happened. When this thing lifted, when the terrorizer was saved, suddenly, there’s no more pressure to pay a price. But something happens when the heart becomes divided.
And this verse tells me that there was one group that I can find now in history that entered into the sweet spot. And they were able to maintain the focus and the sacrifice, even though their lives were no longer threatened. How did they do it? Number one, the fear of God. They maintained the fear of God. The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. Apart from the fear of God, the mind of man becomes exposed as a self-centered arrogant tool that destroys a human life. But in the fear of God, wisdom is born. The Bible says that the fear of God is what gives us access to knowledge. The fear of God gives us access to Revelation knowledge. It is the fear of God that actually attracts the voice of the Lord in a given situation so he can entrust to his people insights for the next season, insights for the decisions that need to be made.
The fear of the Lord is actually that which attracts an abundant lifestyle. I know there are those say there is no fear of God, in the New Testament. They just haven’t read their Bible 'cause it’s all through the New Testament. I know the verse that’s used is «Perfect love casts out fear». Perfect love includes the fear of God: it just casts out every other fear. And I hear people say: well, you can’t have intimacy with God and fear him, at the same time. And that person obviously is not married. That’s all I need to say about that. In my household, fear and intimacy work very well together. That’s all I’m gonna say.
So this tells us, as they come up this procedure to come into a place of what I would call «Promise Land blessing,» when they step into that, the very thing that have destroyed other believers through the years to where it breeds complacency, they lose you know, when you don’t need to sacrifice, why sacrifice? So, they come into this place. In the scripture, God is so kind to give us this simple verse with two bits of instruction that ensure the people of God can step into a sweet spot of blessing and not fall prey to complacency, loss of focus, loss of heart, turning attention from seeking first the kingdom to seeking the things, the benefits of the kingdom, Jesus didn’t get any of his disciples by sharing with them the benefits of the kingdom. He didn’t say, «I promise these things if you’ll follow me».
He did not. He let them see the challenge. And if they could face the challenge, then they could have the blessing. And that’s the kingdom. So, here’s the two things: there’s the fear of God. The fear of God is that which keeps you tender, the fear of God is that which keep you leaning towards his voice. The fear of God is that which keeps us from the arrogance of independence and a self-confidence that is not from the Lord. There’s a faith that looks like self-confidence. And I believe in that. But there was a self-confidence that’s just actually, it’s human made, it’s arrogance, it’s independence. It does not submit to the will of God. And then, he uses the other side, which is interesting. He uses this side which would be like the harsh side but it’s not.
The fear of God doesn’t drive me from him: it endears me to him. We got the fear of God. And then, we’ve got this other side. So, it’s like these two things keep me in the straight and narrow: the fear of God and the comfort of the Holy Spirit. Comfort, it’s not talking about just: oh, you’ve had a rough day, so the Holy Spirit comes and give you peace. I buy into that. I believe that and I’m so glad that’s what he does. He’s describing a lifestyle in which the Holy Spirit himself is the continuous source to keep us focused, to keep us alive, to the word here for «Comfort» is that word «Parakletos,» the one called alongside.
So, he’s saying how this church went into a place of peace where over on that side, they got to where the churches were multiplying, not just they had an explosion in growth. It was no longer just addition. It was no longer just multiplying of disciples, but now it’s churches themselves that are multiplying. How did it happen? Fear of God, on one hand, and learning to walk in this abiding presence of the Spirit of God. On this side is that two-edged sword that says, grieve not the spirit, quench not the spirit. It’s that dual role of a relationship. How sensitive am I to the Holy Spirit? You can measure it by looking at «Do I grieve»? And «Do I quench»? Grieve is doing something wrong. Quench is the failure to do what’s right.
So, how did they make it into this place where the persecution stopped? They actually started tasting of the promises of the Lord. They actually starting tasting of the things that others had enjoyed for years, their own forefathers in Israel’s history had enjoyed. Now, they’re starting to enjoy these things. How can they come into a place of blessing and increase and promise and fulfillment of actual dreams? How is it possible to do that and still increase in everything that is kingdom? The fear of God and the continuous connection to the Spirit of God who makes me mindful of what he’s saying and what he’s doing. And it’s these two things. They were able to live in blessing and bring even greater increase. I remind you, in Psalm 67, which, for me, is one of the greatest prophetic Psalms in the Bible, at least for the day is this prayer. It says: Lord, bless me.
See, I like that part of the prayer, already. I’m all into that. It said, Psalm 67: Lord, bless me. Cause your face to shine upon me that your way would be known in the earth and your salvation to the nations. God bless me. Help us, God, to step into the place of favor with God and man. But, God, do it in such a way that what you do in us and through us is a prophetic invitation for nations to come and to discover who you actually are. Because, see, that has to happen to fulfill the assignment. The assignment is to disciple nations. Two assignments: one is to make disciples of the nations, but the other is to disciple nations themselves. And to do that, there has to be an effective display on how you live life in difficulty but also in blessing. Paul said it: I have learned how to abound, I’ve learned how to be abased. In other words, I’ve learned how to be blessed and I’ve learned what to do when it’s in both situations, I need his strength. I know I need his strength when I don’t have enough. But Paul just showed us we actually need strength when we have more than enough. So, why don’t you stand?