Bill Johnson - Abide and Listen
There we go. Well, good morning! Nice to see you. It is still morning. You know when you are dead, you do not know you’re dead; all the pain is felt by others. The same thing happens when you’re stupid. That was good! The Flat Earth Society has members all around the globe. First woman in space: Houston, we have a problem. What? Never mind. What’s the problem? Nothing. Please tell us! I’m fine. I asked my grandpa, «After 65 years, you still call grandma 'darling, ' 'beautiful, ' and 'honey.' What’s the secret?» Grandpa responds, «I forgot her name five years ago. I’m scared to ask.»
Alright, last one! Last one: Pasteur had dinner at the home of a couple in his church. After he left, the wife said to the husband, «I think he stole our spoon.» That bothered her for a whole year. A year later, the couple had the pastor for dinner again. Unable to resist, the wife asked, «Did you steal our spoon last year?» The pastor replied, «No, I put it inside your Bible.» That just felt good to read! I just— I might have just read that one. Anyone who has what seems to be an impossible health condition, financial condition, or relational condition—Church family, you guys know what to do by now. These people need your prayer. Find out if it’s one of the three, all three, whatever it might be, and then just begin to pray.
I want you to ask the Lord to release a spirit of breakthrough upon them. If you’re sitting down, those who are standing, I want you to go to them, lay hands on them, and begin to pray that a spirit of breakthrough would come upon them. Please don’t leave anyone standing by themselves. Those of you who are watching, our Bethel family at home, just make agreement with us for the ones here in the room, but also your household, your entire family line. We just call right now for a great harvest of souls in family members, that revival would spread from family to family as people are restored to Jesus.
The financial breakthrough will come, supernatural supply, but also wisdom and favor for an increase of income. God, we call for a spirit of breakthrough in the whole area of health. Just declare over them, «Divine health is your portion! Divine health is your portion! Divine health is your portion!» Now I want you just to confess this over them as we pray: «I bless you in the name of the Lord; I call for a spirit of breakthrough to rest upon you—your health, your family, your money—in Jesus' name. Amen, amen! Hug them, do something nice, then be seated. Love, love, love it!
All right, if you would grab your Bibles, please, and open to the Gospel of John, chapter 15. This chapter is famous for two primary reasons. One is that this is the chapter where Jesus says to his disciples, „I no longer call you servants; I call you friends.“ This is the chapter where he unveils that. The other reason is that the first eight verses deal with an illustration of the nature of a believer and our relationship with God. He uses this terminology: the vine dresser, the vine, the branches, and fruit. We’ll read it in a moment, but the vine dresser, the one who owns the vineyard, is the Heavenly Father. Jesus himself is the vine; the people, you and me, are the branches, and the fruit is that which is naturally produced because of our connection to Jesus.
No fruit tree, no vegetable garden, no vineyard groans and travails to bring forth fruit; it bears fruit naturally if it is fed well, watered well, and pruned correctly. God rewards all growth with pruning. He rewards all growth with pruning. Pruning in the kingdom is not punishment. People look at the discipline of God and often assume that the discipline or pruning of the Lord has to do with punishment, and I say no, that’s not really right; that’s not really true. Well, what about Jonah and the whale? Jonah ran into the whale when he was running from the Word of God. The Word of God is what prunes us; the voice of the Lord is what prunes. Let’s go ahead and read all eight verses, and then we’ll back up and try to go through them one at a time.
Verse 1: „I am the True Vine; my Father is the vine dresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit, he takes away; and every branch that bears fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. He rewards all growth with pruning. You are clean already because of the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. He who abides in me and I in him bears much fruit, for without me, you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered, and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. If you abide in me and my words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it will be done for you. By this, my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be my disciples.“ I don’t know if this is just a portion of Scripture I never get tired of, because it seems to be this invitation into fruitfulness.
Do you remember the story Jesus used, a parable actually, of the landowner who gave his ten servants each a mina? A mina is a sum of money. Then there’s another story of three servants who received talents. A talent is not an ability to play the piano; a talent also was a sum of money. In each case, they were to invest that money to make a profit to give back to the landowner. What I want you to see is that from the beginning to the end, God created everything to be productive. Everything is to bear fruit by nature. Everything about our lives is to be productive and fruit-bearing. God is actually glorified by a system he created, where a peach tree will grow peaches. You eat the fruit, you plant the seed, and it grows another tree that brings more peaches. That cycle of life—of seed, fruit, parent, increase, of productivity—is the cycle to which God made everything. His economy is linked directly to his voice, which is not only all-powerful but is creative in nature. God spoke, „Let there be light,“ and there was light. He spoke things into being.
We know that, excuse me, when he speaks to us today, faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. So his design is that everything would happen through the voice of his Word. In John 16, the very next chapter, Jesus describes how he has regained everything the Father has given and put everything back into his hands, which is fascinating because he forfeited everything as God to become a man. He’s still 100% God, so some people misunderstand me at this point. He’s entirely God, but he takes on flesh and chooses to live within the restrictions of a human being. Although he’s eternally God, in that position as a man, now he inherits everything he already had as God. Why? Because he’s our elder brother, and he now gets to include us in the inheritance. In John 16, he announces, „All that the Father has is mine.“ Now listen carefully, „and the Holy Spirit will take what is mine and declare it to you.“
He’s not merely making an announcement; he’s not just showing off what he owns. He’s transferring resources from a heavenly account into an earthly account, and the transfer takes place whenever he speaks. Not only does God create, but he also transfers resources through his decree, through his declaration. The Bible says every molecule is held in place by his voice, by his word. Everything is defined, everything is empowered, everything is created, and everything is sustained through his word. So when we come to this story, this illustration of us being a vine, we have God the Father as the vine dresser. In verse 1 and verse 2, every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that bears fruit he prunes so that it may bear more fruit. Once again, he rewards all of our growth with pruning. You are already clean, verse 3, because of the word I’ve spoken to you.
Now think through this: you are already clean. So he’s announcing to the disciples, „Listen, when you bear fruit, I will prune it so that we will get more fruit.“ You have to see that the Lord does everything for the purpose of increase. The Father is extremely focused on increase. The stories of the talents and the minors are always about increase; the minimum level of profit allowed in those two stories was 100 percent per year. I’m just quoting scripture now. In each story, the one person who stood before the Lord in judgment was the one who buried what they had, and the Lord said if they only would have put it in the bank, they would have at least gotten interest.
The whole point was I want you to see how God thinks—he thinks in terms of increase; he thinks in terms of things working to better life, to bring increase, to be productive. The sun gives light, gives heat; the leaves of the trees give oxygen; plants yield seed to reproduce over and over; animals do the same thing. God has created this cycle of increase and productivity, and he has brought you and me into that life cycle of God himself, with supernatural increase and supernatural supply. So he has positioned us; he requires us to bring increase, but not an increase that we somehow have to drum up. It’s simply the increase that comes by staying attached to the vine. It’s normal; he’ll do the pruning. You just stay attached; you don’t have to grow.
„I claim grapes! I claim grapes! I’m confessing grapes right now!“ No grapes—grapes are not going to grow simply because you claim them. You don’t have to do it; you just have to stay connected. It’s the natural product; he’ll do the pruning, and you stay connected, and you will bear fruit. We’re going to look at part of what that fruit is. He says you are already clean because of the word I spoke to you. The word „clean“ and the word „prune“ are basically the same word. So when he says to his disciples, „But you are clean already,“ he is saying, „I’ve already pruned you.“
How did he prune them? By the word I have spoken to you. The pruning wasn’t done with a hand; it was done with the mouth. It wasn’t yelling and screaming; it was adjusting values so they could be more fruitful—pruning their value system, their interpretation of things. For example, Luke chapter 9 is one of my favorite chapters for many reasons. Jesus sends the disciples out in ministry, and they are very, very productive. They come back with stories of breakthroughs; they saw miracles happen that they had never seen, except with Jesus, but never through them. Now they actually saw, through their hands, through their words, and they’re beside themselves with excitement. So they come back, and they’re very, very enthused. The very next moment, you find them in a group without Jesus there. He walks upon the group and asks, „What are you guys talking about?“
He already knew what they were discussing; they were arguing as to who was the greatest. Some things in your heart will not be dialed up by failure and weakness; they will only be dialed up through success. I remind you that the hardest place to minister is at home, so Jesus sent them home to minister because a prophet is not without honor except in his hometown. If you can minister at home, you’ll learn to do ministry out of obedience instead of for applause.
So Jesus sends them home, and they get breakthroughs and bring the reports back, and the very next scene, they’re arguing about who is the greatest. Why? Because of their success. It wasn’t failure in ministry that caused that problem; it was the fact that they were fruitful. They had stuff happen; they didn’t think it happened to any other disciple because it was so significant through them. It was hard for them to imagine John saying, „I had my announcement,“ or Peter saying, „I saw what happened in my town.“ Because they had this success, it dialed something up. So what does Jesus do? He talks to them about what greatness is. What’s the point? People who hung out with Jesus began to dream of personal significance in ways they never thought possible before.
There’s something about being with people who believe in you and in Jesus. How much did He trust them? He trusted them enough to turn them loose in their own cities. Having someone believe in them stirred something powerful and right within them; it was a sense of personal significance. And what happened? They bore fruit. What was the fruit? They had miracles, healings, and deliverances. These things were accurate representations of Jesus in those towns, even though Jesus didn’t go there. That’s good fruit. They came back together and argued about who was greatest; that’s not so good fruit. What do you have? You’ve got a big bunch of grapes and a branch that is starting to grow where only leaves will be produced, not grapes. It’s developing into a ministry that looks good on the outside—"Look at me! Look at my leaves! Look how good I look!"—when Jesus wants them to be productive.
So He rewards their growth with pruning. But here’s what He does: He points to what is developing in them that’s not healthy. Doesn’t it make sense that each of us has gifts that, under the lordship of Jesus, bring Him great glory? Outside the lordship of Jesus, those gifts can cause us great problems. Take Peter, for instance—his boldness and «foot-in-mouth disease» had him talking at the wrong time, interrupting God, and even rebuking Jesus. That was my favorite—rebuking Jesus—because he thought for sure that Jesus should not be going to the cross. It was a bad idea, so he rebuked the Son of God. That’s all-time classic! Yet that same Peter, under the lordship of Jesus, stood before a crowd of thousands mocking the outpouring of the Spirit, and the end result was 3,000 people coming to Christ. That boldness outside the lordship of Jesus caused him problems, but that boldness within the lordship of Jesus bore fruit.
So Jesus said, «All right, you’ve got a branch that’s grown past your ability to bear fruit; we’re going to cut that back.» He pointed to a child and said, «That is significance. That’s greatness in the kingdom.» He prunes the branch back. The disciples were talking to Jesus and said, «We saw this group trying to cast out demons in Your name, so we told them to knock it off.» Ah, you see, our wisdom, of course! You see our loyalty to the group, right? It’s Jesus and us twelve, and we will change the world—just fifteen of us right here. Just don’t die! Their loyalty to the group was healthy and, in a sense, right; it was good. But loyalty to one in the kingdom never requires disloyalty to another. That’s carnal and natural—humanistic loyalty that is not Kingdom. So when they said, «We told them to knock it off,» Jesus replied, «No, guys, listen: If they are not against us, they are for us.»
That was a whole new concept! He recognized that their loyalty was good and that they bore good fruit, with good grapes growing. But this little branch thing they had going over here would draw too much attention to themselves and create an atmosphere of loyalty that was not of the Kingdom of God at all. So He pruned that branch and said, «If they are not against us, they are for us,» setting them up for tremendous increase. The next story is my favorite. James and John had a brilliant idea. They and the others tried to pass through a certain town—the city of the Samaritans. The Samaritans did not want them there and wouldn’t let them enter. John came to Jesus, thinking He would like the idea. He was confident that Jesus would be impressed with his zeal, intensity, and focus.
He approached Jesus, saying, «Some of us have been talking, and if You just give us the mission, we would love to call down fire on this entire city and kill everyone—in Jesus' name, of course! We’ll give You all the glory!» It sounds so funny to say it that way, but that’s what they were actually asking: to call down fire to kill an entire city! I asked myself, what kind of meetings did they have in their hometown to think they could pull this off? I mean, what in the world happened when they preached in their own communities that they thought all Jesus had to do was say, «Good idea! I’m with you,» for them to think they could actually call down fire and consume a whole city? I have no idea what kind of meetings they had, but it must have been something. But Jesus looked at them and said, «You don’t get it. I’m not here to take life; I’m here to give life.»
What is he doing here? Their sense of passion and zeal is good; it’s just misdirected. So what does he do? He says this branch has grown way too far in the wrong direction. He says, «Here, we’re gonna need some real snippers on this one,» and he cuts it back by saying, «I didn’t come to destroy life; I came to give life.» He just positioned them for an increase in fruit. They had the right zeal; they had a sense of significance; they were committed to the journey. They made a lot of mistakes, but they still said yes. Many leaders who see this kind of dilemma when they empower people and they make such messes just want to never empower anyone again.
The very first verse of chapter 10, which is the end of chapter 9, says, «And Jesus gathered together seventy others also and empowered them to do the same.» Now, that’s divine humor right there. I don’t know if you got it or not, but that’s divine humor. What would have made every one of us in the room nervous with the 12, Jesus said, «Man, this is working so good; let’s add seventy more to the mix.» The whole point is that he was willing to make them successful, to dial up issues that only he could take care of through pruning. He didn’t lower them; he didn’t belittle them; he didn’t punish them. He instead spoke to the issue.
As long as we are hewers of the word, as long as we are willing for God to speak change into our lives, of course it’s true that he can add whatever circumstance to our life he wants; he’s God. But the point is he puts us in a position so that we’ll listen. In the belly of a whale, it was a good place to listen; you don’t have a lot to do but hang out. Wisdom just kicked in; it’s all right, it happens every once in a while. And just remember to joke, but I’m fighting the temptation. Yeah, it’s good, yeah, yeah, well, that’s all right. What do you do if you’re swallowed by an elephant? You’ll walk around until you’re pooped. Alright, where’s the joke? It just vanished. You heard it first, right here, right here. Alright, let’s move on quickly before I lose it altogether. Good, on to verse 5: «I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in me, and I in him, bears much fruit. Without me, you can do nothing.»
Now, Jesus announces to you and to me that we can’t do anything without him, but ten chapters earlier, he announced he can do nothing without the Father. All he’s done is try to bring us into the same place of dependency he lives in. He has set the example; he has modeled the lifestyle and value system. He’s been working from day one to bring us into the same place of dependency because, in the same way, he could do nothing without the Father. That’s how much he emptied himself. He’s still eternally God, but he emptied himself to function as a human being dependent on the Father. In doing so, he set an example, passed it off, and announced to you and me, «Now you can do nothing.» What’s that for? He puts you in a position where you can do nothing and then requires everything, which means we’re going to have to learn dependency to pull this off because he’s expecting fruitfulness.
So what is my responsibility? Abide and stay connected; just keep the protected connection. What about the fruit-bearing? Don’t worry about it; he’ll prune you. Just listen, listen to what he says; the fruit-bearing will be natural. Alright, move on quickly, and we’ll try to wrap this up. Anyone who does not abide in me, for six, is cast out as a branch and withers; they gather them and throw them into the fire. Who is not abiding? Say it’s a branch. Alright, when the branch is no longer connected, it’s just a stick. It’s no longer a fruit-bearing branch, so it has no value; it’s just put into the fire.
Verse 7: «If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it will be done for you.» When Mary, the mother of Jesus, heard of the angel’s message over her son, when the wisemen came concerning what they had heard regarding the star in the east, and when they heard the prophetic words from Anna and Simeon, she heard all these different words from God about her son. The Bible says she pondered these things in her heart. What it means is she took these words, put them in a safe place, and then brought them out to reexamine and returned them to a safe place.
It’s a valuable thing to me when God speaks; I don’t paint it on the walls of my house. I protect the word because it must be nurtured in a safe place—in the womb of my heart—where I remember what God has said, and I bring it out and look at it. I have things that God has spoken to me 30 and 40 years ago that I still bring out and reexamine. I put them in a safe place. What does Jesus say? He says if you abide in me, you maintain the connection, and my words have a resting place in you. Then, that combination of abiding—relationally connecting with his heart and mind—will lead you to naturally pray for things that the Father will want to respond to.
By those answers, He is glorified because He created a system whereby you can be eternally productive. He is glorified through fruit, and in this particular verse, the fruit signifies answers to prayer. However, He isn’t answering any whim, as He refuses to answer any prayer that undermines my purpose. I’ve also noticed that the Lord will often answer the desires of an unbeliever before the carnal desires of a believer because the desire of an unbeliever can woo them into a relationship with Him. If He emphasizes the carnality of a believer, He emphasizes that which separates their heart from His. He’s looking for a relational journey where, when He says «Amen» to the cry of our heart, that relationship is strengthened and enhanced.
What is supposed to happen in this walk with the Lord is that desires form in us as the offspring of our walk with God; that dreams and desires would develop because of our time spent—spent not just with a shopping list but with sharing the heart of God. That’s the context of friends. He says, «I no longer call you servants; I call you friends.» Why? Because the servant doesn’t know what their master is doing. The servant doesn’t get a glimpse of behind the scenes—this is what moves me, this is what marks me, this is my value system. The servant doesn’t have access to that secret, but the friend does. The friend gets to see what moves Him. So if we pray out of an understanding of His heart, we pray out of this great privilege to make cries in the earth that represent His heart.
Well, the word «anything you desire» consists of two words in the New Testament that relate to the will of God. One is that which is concrete; it’s established, and you can vote yes or no—it doesn’t matter; it’s going to happen anyway. It’s like Jesus is coming back. Well, I don’t believe it. It doesn’t matter; you don’t get to vote. Your prayer has nothing to do with it; your belief system has nothing to do with it—He’s just decided He’s going to do it, period. It’s going to be done. That’s the will of God. But there’s another part of the will of God that can actually be described as a dream or desire—something He wishes to see done.
You say, «Well, He can pull off anything He wants.» Yes, He can force anything into being that He wants to, but His dream is not just the outcome; His dream is the journey with yielded people who help bring about the desired outcome. He values the journey above the destination. So, He brings us into this relationship where we have the privilege of lifting up the cry of our heart—the will of God, which is just set in concrete, and then there’s the dream, that wish.
You remember what we call the Lord’s Prayer—that’s really the disciples' prayer—because within it is the confession of sin, which Jesus didn’t have. «Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be your name; your kingdom come; your will be done.» That word «will» is dream, wish—it’s a prayer that says, «God, we want your dreams. We want your desires to happen here just as they do in heaven.» There is no hindrance to your dream there, but there is here—it’s called the will of man that you empowered. So it’s a mirroring of the heart of God. I tell people half-humorously all the time, «Let’s say you tell me God doesn’t hear you, but when you pray, talk to Him about what He wants to talk about. It’s really good; it’s better than you thought it was.»
He really loves talking about it. He really cares for the nations—talk to Him about it. Tell Him your dream. See, that’s the whole point: the interaction continues until we pick up His heart to mirror back to Him—not as robots programmed to pray for specific things, but as sons and daughters learning what our destiny is all about. We lift up the cries of our heart, representing His heart, and there’s something happening in that merging of hearts—the marriage of hearts—where the Father becomes glorified because He delights in your cry and the answers. It says all of creation celebrates that God created a system whereby a covenant people can make a difference in the course of world history; a covenant people can have prayers answered, and it is His delight to do so.
It is «by this that my Father is glorified: that you bear much fruit.» In this context, the fruit refers to answers to prayer. Verse sixteen states, «You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit.» Interestingly, you have been appointed to bear fruit, as have I, and that fruit should remain. Listen to this: whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give you.
What’s the point? The point is that He is trying to co-create a relational connection between a yielded heart and a generous heart so that His purposes will be fully realized on earth, and all of creation will celebrate that His plan worked. Broken, destroyed, hell-bent humanity has been redeemed, and now they are making a difference in the course of world history. We never thought it could work, but it is working. Look, they were forgiven; now they look so much like Jesus! This is amazing—it’s working! All of creation groans and travails for the sons and daughters of God to realize who they are and take their rightful place. That is His purpose.
This prayer is heaven waiting to celebrate answers, resulting not from mere requests, but from a «yes» to a journey. May that increase in us a hundredfold beyond what we have ever imagined or heard before. I want to give one opportunity here; there’s always a chance, with a crowd this size, that some people do not know what it is to walk with God as His son or daughter. You may not know what it is to be forgiven, or to have said yes to follow Jesus as Lord and Master.
If that is you, and you’re in that place today, saying, «Bill, I don’t want to leave until I know I’m at peace with God and that I’ve been forgiven,» please raise your hand right where you are, as we will pray right down here. Wonderful! Nobody else? Right over here’s another one. Is there anyone else? Wave your hand if you don’t want to leave without knowing you’re right with God. Is that a hand back here? We have so many worshipers I can’t tell who is getting saved. One last opportunity: if I missed anyone, please raise your hand—it’s important to ensure that every person has a chance. I saw you right here; there’s another one over here. Wonderful!
I want to ask all of you to stand and hold your places, please. We have the freedom banner over here. All of you who raised your hands, this is not about Bethel; it’s not about joining any church in town. It is about a personal relationship with Jesus and knowing what it is to be forgiven. I’m going to ask every person that just raised their hand to come quickly, right now, to my left, to a trusted group of friends who want to talk and pray with you. I would like the ministry team to come to the front quickly as well. I want you to be able to come. God bless you, sir. Bless you.