Bill Johnson - Great Faith
Wonderful, good to see you! Glad you showed up. Any wedding anniversaries today? They’re all out to dinner, I guess, huh? Snooze, you lose is all I’ve got to say. The new Victory album just came out as USAFA, and it’s just so good. You know what is really nice? When you get one of these, leave a review. Because sometimes we get little stinkers on there about books, recordings, everything. Just leave something nice. All right, let’s take this way back, though, for me. Bless you, she’s visiting from Brazil. Bless you with Daddy. All right, I was going to wing it, and then we probably would have had to raise the debt or something when I was through, so maybe wisdom kicked in or something. I’m not sure.
A preacher stood waist-deep in the water at a river baptism, talking to a group of people on the bank, when an overwhelmingly drunk man wandered down into the crowd. The preacher spotted him, pointed him out, and said, «Sir, would you like to find Jesus?» The drunk shook his head yes and wandered down into the water. The preacher grabbed him, spun him around, put him under the water, pulled him up, held the front of his coat, and yelled, «Did you find Jesus?» The drunk said no, so the preacher repeated the baptism and extended his time under for 10 seconds. Then he pulled him up again and asked, «Did you find Jesus?» No, cried the drunk. So that process was repeated a third time, except the preacher held him under for 30 seconds. He then pulled him up, and the drunk said, «You almost drowned me!» The preacher yelled, «Yes, but did you find Jesus?»
The drunk wiped the water from his face and asked, «Are you sure this is the last place you saw him?» I’m just reporting the news; that’s all I’m doing. When I listen to the voice of a problem more than I listen to the word of the Lord, faith will always be an uphill battle. If I receive my counsel from the difficulties of life, my heart will be shaped by inferior things. Oftentimes, we receive our counsel, our input, our values, our sense of urgency—all those things are often shaped by problems without the breath of God showing us His heart, His mind. God has a solution for every challenge, every problem, every difficulty. Learning to not only read the word but to meditate on it is vital. To meditate means it’s a word that is best illustrated by a cow chewing its cud. It brings it up and chews on it over and over and over again to extract all the nutrients possible from that food.
Meditation on the word is different from Eastern meditation; the other meditations promoted by various religions. All of those want you to become empty. God wants you to become full. Their ideal is nothingness; His ideal is kingdom, word, voice, fellowship. He tries to bring us into a place where, through biblical meditation, we literally extract the very things that God is thinking, not just saying. It brings us into connection with the one whose heart is perfect and gives us face-to-face reality with the one who actually paid a sufficient price to settle every broken issue that exists on planet Earth. There’s not one situation that is outside of His reach or outside of His compassion; it is all settled. The difficulty for us is we are bombarded with information almost 24/7, and it’s inferior information. Some of it is overtly evil and corrupt; some of it is just a distraction. Learning to live from heaven towards earth, learning to live from the word of the Lord, the heart, the mind of God toward situations, is our lifelong journey. It’s what you said yes to.
People come and they say, «I’m so confused about the situation I’m facing.» Of course, you’re confused. You listen to the problem more than you listen to God. You can’t expect any other outcome. If listening to the difficulties of life has actually shaped my perception, then, of course, faith is going to be an uphill battle. It doesn’t mean I can’t get there; it just means I have to return to what God is saying. I have to return to His nature. I have to return to His covenant. The big challenge for us is living conscious of the heart of God, living conscious of the Spirit of God, living conscious of the will of God. What is His will in this situation? Oftentimes, we settle for things that are inferior, not what Jesus would have done were He standing in these shoes. It’s difficult for me to still the voice of the inferior if I’m not replacing it with an affectionate response from the voice that changes everything.
This is Jesus' imprint: our times of worship, our times in the presence, are times of worship. Gideon had a challenge; he was grinding wheat in a wine press. Many people have done that with revival; they get into a move of God and they try to get bread out of it. The bread of the word of God doesn’t come out of a winepress. It’s not either/or; you just move in the season He put you in. «God, I want fresh revelation.» He says, «What you need is a fresh touch of the Holy Spirit.» «Oh God, I want to be zapped again.» «What you need is to understand my heart; you need to understand the word. Find the season you’re in: is it time for bread, is it time for wine? Stay in the season He has for you.» «God, I want to be electrocuted by your presence.» It’s a good dream; He doesn’t give you a menu, however. You don’t get to order from a menu; you get to move with what He’s saying, what He’s doing. «God, I want revelation.»
It’s a good dream; pray it, but then drink what He’s given. That’s an amen point! Amen, amen. That is the truth right there. The Lord is healing people’s brains right now! Right now! Learning disorders being healed, head trauma—there’s someone here who has had multiple concussions. I don’t know if it was through football or a sporting event or if it’s maybe just freakish falls or whatever, but multiple concussions and you suffer as a result of it. Who is that? I believe Jesus is healing you. Is that you? You know, multiple concussions? We break that cycle where the enemy has sought to steal! He fears your creative expression through freedom of thought. We declare over you that that cycle ends tonight, and we declare healing from the injury to your brain. There’s someone else here; there’s another person right here, multiple concussions. We’re going to pray in a moment together. Multiple concussions.
There’s someone else who’s had several surgeries; at least one where the anesthesia still has you feeling like you haven’t been quite the same since that surgery. It may have been a week ago, it may have been 20 years ago; it doesn’t matter. What matters is there’s almost like a medical fog and the Lord is healing you from that tonight. Who is that? I’m confident there are many who are watching online. Is that you? All right, the Lord is going to clear up that fog that has been there, and it really is going to—His breath is going to blow away the fog! He said He’s going to breathe on your thought life. He’s going to breathe! Some of you will actually have unusual sensations on your head, and it’s going to be—some of you need it and He’s going to give it to you. Others of you, it’s just going to be clarity of thought that will be returned to you. Bipolar, epilepsy, issues of the brain—Jesus is healing tonight.
If you have any issue with the brain and you need a miracle, stand. Many of you just want to be smarter. Yeah, don’t stand. Don’t stand; that’s between you and God. I don’t have the faith for that one, though—just a bad joke, an ill-timed bad joke. All right, I’m going to have you, those of you seated around these people, stand in just a moment. I want you to pray. I want you to take maybe a minute or two just to pray. Pray the power of God upon them specifically. I want you to pray for the peace, the shalom of another world to permeate every cell in their brain. I want you to pray for that and then I’m going to ask someone in the group, after we pray for a minute or so, to lift as though you could visibly see a steel band around their head. I want you to lift the steel band off and I want you to make the proclamation, «This ends tonight! This ends tonight!»
All of you who are standing, put a hand up. Those of you who are seated, go to someone who’s standing. As soon as someone comes to you, put your hand down. Now look around; make sure that everyone with a hand up has somebody praying for them. As soon as somebody comes to you, put your hand down. If you’re about to pray for someone that still has their hand up, pull their hand down for them. There’s someone with a hand up right here. Beautiful! There’s somebody with a hand up right here; do they have—yeah, have them pull their hand down so I can tell. All right, we still have somebody here. Oh no, he’s extending their hands! All right, worshiping churches are rough. You know people always have their hands up! All right, I want you to begin to pray. Listen to me carefully. The Bible says today is the day of salvation. It does not say a week from Friday. Salvation literally means forgiveness, healing, and deliverance.
So what do we know about the will of God for these people? Today is the day of their salvation, the healing of their brains. Today is the day! Say that with me—today is the day! Say with me now is the time! Now is the time! I want you to take just two minutes—we’ll just time it literally—and then I’ll tell you when I want you to lift the band off. I want you to take two minutes to intercede for them. Do it right now; just begin to pray! Lay hands on them. Pray! Those who are watching on Bethel TV, we declare this exact same word over you! Specifically, there are many who are watching that have that cloud from a past surgery, and Jesus is healing your brain, clearing up the fog, the confusion, and bringing great strength where there has been weakness. The scripture says He sent His word and healed them; we declare that over each person right now. The word of the Lord over you has come! The word of the Lord that declares now is the time has come! Thank you, Lord! God, just keep praying; don’t stop! Just intercede for them. We pray spirit, soul, and body, every part of their being to be refreshed, renewed in this miracle.
All right, now together I want you just to lift that steel band off their head and begin to prophesy, «This ends tonight! This ends tonight! In the mighty name of Jesus, this ends tonight!» All right, take just a moment just to turn your affection towards the Lord. Every person, just turn your affection towards the Lord. Beautiful! All right, God, we give you thanks. We do! We give you praise! We give you thanks! We honor your wonderful name! Now this is a very difficult one to instantly measure, but many of you that received prayer right now just felt like almost a refreshing or a freshness come upon your mind; a shift in seeing, thinking. We’ve had people as soon as they’re prayed for, colors are brighter, their ability to process information changes instantly. We’ve had complete amnesia, partial amnesia. We’ve actually had hearing and eyesight restored from damage to the brain.
So there are a number of different ways you can measure and tell what God has done, but I want you that received prayer right now just in some way examine yourself. If you had a learning disorder, let’s say dyslexia, and it was very difficult to read, grab a Bible—grab somebody’s Bible, grab your Bible—and right now just try to read it. Challenge yourself! Please! Chances—you know, don’t sit idle right now! Put faith into an activity! Do something right now! Those of you that prayed for them, help them to discover what the Lord’s done. All right, give me your attention! How many of you that received prayer can already notice a difference? Wave your hands like this! Wave your hands like this! Look around; you can already tell a difference! It’s amazing! Glory to God! Glory to God! All right, all of you that were praying, I want you to pray again, and I want you—it’s two-part epoxy!
I want you to add the second part right now! Seal the deal! Make declarations over them! This will never return to them! This will never return to them! Yeah, take just another minute. Thank you, Lord! Okay, you did good! Now just remain standing, if you would! All of you that received prayer, I want you to wave your hands again if you can tell there is already a difference! Maybe you grabbed a Bible and you can read where you couldn’t! Maybe there’s a freshness—whatever it might be! The fog is gone! Wave your hands to testify of what the Lord has done! That’s beautiful! Wow! Wow! Wow! That’s wonderful! Now how many of you can actually say you can tell the problem is all gone? It’s actually gone, gone, gone; it’s not going, it’s actually gone! Wave your hands because I want to see who you are! Wave your hands! All right, right here; look, look, look! Yup, beautiful! It’s gone, it’s gone, it’s gone! Yeah, bless the Lord! All right, go ahead and be seated; go ahead and be seated! I want to find out what Jesus just did. It’s really important!
Some of you just got healed of something that was so extraordinary. First of all, everything God does is extraordinary, so I never want to downplay or classify levels of healing or miracles. Having said that, some of you just experienced something that is very unusual, and it changes your life beginning tonight! I want to know who you are; I want to know what Jesus did! Tom, take that mic; just put your hand up, and Tom is going to come to you. All right, yeah, come right back here! Yeah, yeah, stand up! Tell us your name, what did Jesus do for you? Hi, my name is Bonnie. I have been injured several times in my head. My daughter’s here, but she doesn’t even know because I don’t give the enemy any place with it, but I’ve been struck in my head many times and I get headaches.
A lot of times if something touches my head, just slightly, I’ll feel something like running, like fluid sounds. Feels like it’s running in my head, and I get pains across the front. But when they prayed for me, it just got really—it just felt like a clearing. It just cleared up; everything just felt like it just lifted and it cleared up! Okay, beautiful! Thank you, Lord! I love that! Somebody else, real quick—what did Jesus do? Right down here, yeah. Go ahead; yeah, you’re in the blue right there. What did Jesus do? If you give us your name and tell us what Jesus did for you. My name’s Victoria. I was in a car accident about five months ago, and I was having some really bad headaches. I was prayed for, and they’re gone! They’re gone! Come on! Amazing! Bless the Lord! Never again! This ends tonight! Yeah!
There are others that still suffer from migraines—not from head injuries—it’s just been something that’s happened in your life. If that’s you, put a hand up right where you are. Those of you sitting next to them, put your hand on their head. Just put your hands on their head and just rebuke migraines. Rebuke them! Jesus bore the curse that these folks would not have to bear the curse; we cancel that cycle. Some is chemical, some is related to times of the month for women. Often we’ll have that; we just declare this is an illegal assault on your body—be released from it now! We accept no ownership of these afflictions; they end now in Jesus' name! Amen, amen! All right, somebody else, what did Jesus do? I want to hear this! One way in the back over there! Way in the back! How many of you had a migraine when you came in, and it’s now gone? Just wave your hand at me! Just wave your hand! Right over here! Another one over here! Yeah, beautiful!
All right, now go ahead and stand up! Tell us your name; tell us what Jesus did! My name is, uh, in English, Ron, and in Hebrew, it’s Reuben, my Hebrew name. I’m sorry, I can’t crank it up. Um, I’ve been having problems with my memory; bad. I’ve been having problems learning. My math scores have gone down to eighth grade level from college. I’ve been losing keys, wallets. I don’t remember faces. One day I’m cloudy; the next day I’m clear. Then that evening I’m cloudy, and it’s been going on for 19 months. And I felt the band come off my head; my head became perfectly clear, and now it’s going to stay! It’s not going to go back and forth! Oh my God! Set free! I know! I did! Beautiful! Stand up! Let’s give a shout-out! Thanks to the Lord! We bless your great name, God! Bless your great name, Jesus! Wonderful God! Wonderful God! Wonderful God! Wonderful Lord! Beautiful!
Now turn to the person next to you; find out where they need a miracle! Do it quickly! Find out where because you’re going to lay hands on them and pray! Find out where they need a miracle! Okay, now go ahead and pray! Just pray for each other! Okay, you should be praying by now! Wonderful! The Lord’s healing the sciatica on the right side of the body! If that’s you, you have that issue, put your hand on it right now! Put your hand on it right now! Injury to the sciatica, right side—this cycle of pain affliction ends tonight in the mighty, mighty name of Jesus! It ends tonight! Chronic sinus infections, put your hands on your forehead right now! We just declare that ends tonight now in the name of the Lord Jesus! Okay, check yourself out, everyone! Check yourself out! Just try to do something you couldn’t do! It’s difficult to do! In some way, examine yourself! As soon as you discover you’re at least 80% better, wave both hands over your head like this! Wave your hands over your head like this! Give testimony! Keep doing it! Keep doing it! Look around the room! Yeah, look around the room! Beautiful!
All right, thank them for praying! Find your places; go and be seated! Open your Bibles to John chapter 20, please. You ever shoot rubber bands as a kid? It’s a very powerful rubber band! You just caught—it’ll change your life! John chapter 20, verse 21: Jesus said to them again, «Peace to you! As the Father has sent me, I also send you.» When He had said this, He breathed on them and said to them, «Receive the Holy Spirit.» Let’s read those two verses again: Jesus said to them again, «Peace to you! As the Father has sent me, I send you.» And when He had said this, He breathed on them and said to them, «Receive the Holy Spirit.» It’s interesting to take a look at the four gospels and to see how the disciples were commissioned. Each one—one we are most familiar with would be Matthew 28:19: «Go into all the world, preach the gospel.»
Luke’s gospel has a little different; not in conflict, but just adding something a little unique. In Luke’s gospel, He talks about going into all the world, preaching the gospel, and then He says, «Stay in Jerusalem until you’re clothed with power from on high.» So it’s an interesting commission because He says, «Go, but before you go, stay. Go, but not yet. Stay, because in your staying you’re going to get something that will make your going work.» As we look through the scripture, we know that in Acts chapter 1, 120 people are gathered together— they’re in one accord, they pray. Jesus ascended to the Father 40 days after His resurrection. He had been appearing for a 40-day period. Pentecost means 50. So Jesus appeared and reappeared for 40 of those 50 days, but there were 10 days of nothing. They had 10 days to pray before heaven ever invaded earth. Earth invaded heaven.
For 10 days, they prayed and they cried out to God. They were divided people, wonderful people devoted to Jesus, but a lot of strife, a lot of conflict. They were normal human beings. The disciples would argue as to who was the greatest, and there were those kinds of issues. I’d like to suggest that when they came together to pray for those 10 days, they didn’t know what was going to happen; they didn’t know when it was going to happen. They just knew that before they could go, they had to stay, and they would know when it was time to go because something would be given to them. And so they stayed. Scripture doesn’t record what happened, but it does say they were in one accord. They were people that were broken and divided, and when the Spirit of God came upon them, they were in one accord. They all had unique instruments in the orchestra, if you will, but they were all tuned to the same master tuning note.
Tuning for, they all played harmoniously in this work that God was doing. When the Holy Spirit was released upon them, they were clothed with power. This baptism in fire, this baptism in the Holy Spirit does a lot of things in a person’s life. One of the things that it does is it introduces you to what we would tell our children when they were small—it gives them their secret language. Each of our children received their secret language when they were four. I believe so much that this is part of the outpouring of the Spirit upon our lives. When you see the 120, they are immersed in the fire and the presence of God, and you see them responding to the Lord, praying in tongues. Praying in tongues is generally one of two things: it is either intercession or it is praise. The Bible teaches about the prayer in tongues, and then it also talks about praise.
In Acts chapter 2, verse 11, we have people from the surrounding nations visiting Jerusalem at that time of outpouring, and they are stunned and mystified by what’s coming out of this group of 120 from the upper room. They are conversing with each other because they know this group of 120 people don’t know their language from the country they came from, but they are discussing with each other, and verse 11 says, «Are they not all speaking of the mighty deeds of God?» So here they are speaking in a language they didn’t know, but they are declaring the secrets, the mysteries, the wonders of God Himself. They were doing it in a language they didn’t understand. It’s because their spirit grabbed hold of that language and began to declare. I heard of someone this last week that when they would pray in the Spirit—in fact, it was one of my friends who heard them and said, «Man, it sounds like they’re speaking Japanese!»
And we know they don’t know Japanese! So they brought some Japanese friends over to hear him pray in tongues, and for a while, he would pray in high Japanese—that the royalty, the wealthy, the elite would speak. Then he went to the middle-class Japanese, and then he eventually went to the street language of the Japanese. Each time, he was saying the basic same things, declaring the wonders and the greatness, the significance of God. The stories of this nature are unusually great. We’ve had our own teams in Israel; one of our—I think it was a young lady—was used over and over and over again to pray in the Spirit, but she was praying in Hebrew. We actually had somebody interpret for her. I have it on tape somewhere; I’ll have to try to find it someday. Speaking in Hebrew, the prayer language that God gives us is because sometimes our thoughts aren’t clear.
In fact, the Bible says we don’t know how to pray as we should. The Holy Spirit in us does. It’s always best to start with His prayer and then pick up His heart, His mood, His faith, His perception, and then add your prayer to His. It’s much more powerful, much stronger. The baptism of the Holy Spirit was for that reason, but when He says in Luke 24, «Don’t leave Jerusalem until you have received this gift from the Father,» which was this outpouring of the Spirit, He defines it as being clothed with power. The real evidence of the baptism of the Holy Spirit is power. Many people are satisfied with good theology, and they stop short of a divine encounter. The revelation of Scriptures is to take us into an encounter with a person that transforms us. Power has two basic functions: one, the most obvious to us, is miracles. Miracles—impossibilities yield to people who walk in power.
But the second purpose of power is endurance. Many people waver in difficult times because they’ve not been baptized in fire. The friends that I know who have gone through the greatest trials, the greatest difficulties—from imprisonment to beatings to all the horrible things that you read about in Scripture and that you hear about in church news—my friends who have endured those things first had a great, great baptism of fire. And there was something in that encounter with God that so deeply transformed them that they could hold the course in the midst of circumstances that seemed to deny the promise. What the Lord is looking for—I don’t believe He creates any of those conflicts for us—but what He’s looking for is a people that will hold fast to what He has said regardless of circumstances. It’s not mental strength that enables us to do that; it’s the Spirit of God upon us that enables us to do that.
It’s not our self-imposed discipline; it’s not our vows; it’s not our promises that we’ve made. «Oh God, I’ll follow you.» Look at Peter; he was in the middle of three and a half years of interaction with the miraculous and the miracle worker, and he said, «I will never deny you!» His determination was the strongest of all of them! But determination itself cannot get us to where we need to go. It’s the grace of God; it’s the empowering presence of God—it is that fiery work of the Spirit of God upon a person’s life that enables us to bring the miracle and endure till it comes! We’ve been summoned unto the Lord for this lifestyle! What I just read to you in John chapter 20 is a little bit different, though, because this is before the day of Pentecost.
So just think with me what this means. This is before the day of Pentecost. Jesus has raised from the dead, but this is during the 40-day period of time where He is still visiting His disciples, giving them words about the kingdom, giving them direction about what He’s going to do, giving them promises, teaching them about this assignment that they’ve been given. So for a period of 40 days, He appears, instructs them—this is during that time! This is not day of Pentecost! What did He do? He breathed on them and told them to receive the Holy Spirit! So we have to ask the question, was this symbolic of something that was going to be released on them on the day of Pentecost? Because the group that He just breathed on was also in the 120. This may not be significant to you; it is for me. So I’m going to take you on my journey. I’ve heard my whole life the church was birthed on the day of Pentecost.
Okay, it may be true, but when were they born again? When were these eleven born again? It’s in the receiving of the Holy Spirit! So even though they were born again and the Spirit of God lived in them, they still needed this baptism of fire! And this baptism of fire is not a one-time experience; if you’ve been there, done that, anyone who has that attitude has lost the flame entirely. It may be smoldering; you may have the testimony of a past event, but when you’re on fire, you’re contagious! Fire creates an appetite for the impossible. If the appetite for the impossible is not there, then I suggest you get a fresh baptism! Do you remember when Jesus hung on the cross and they took the spear and they put it in His side? Does anybody read their Bible here? Yeah! You remember that! What came out? Blood and water! Blood and water!
Sin cannot only be dealt with by blood; refreshing is dealt with by water! In the Old Testament, when they came into the outer court, the first thing that they walked into was the brazen altar where they would sacrifice their lamb to the Lord—the shedding of blood for the remission of sin! The blood of bulls and goats did not wipe out sin; it just postponed the penalty for one more year! It was the blood of the spotless Lamb that once and for all dealt with sin! And it’s for that reason we’d never have to sacrifice sheep again! Why? Because this spoke of something greater that was coming! Now that the greater has come, we never go back to this! In coming into the presence, the first thing is the blood because the blood deals with sin! But then on the other side of that piece is a laver; it was made out of the mirrors of women. This laver contained water, and the priests, although they had been the blood of the Lamb deal with the sin in their life, they still had to wash with water before they came into the presence of the Lord! Why? Because in this outer court they’re dealing with people, and there’s always contamination!
No sin was dealt with there, but you heard a story that could depress you if you allowed it; but you ministered to that person, you still need to go to the water and wash! You heard a conflict, a problem, you’re walking with somebody through great difficulty; you still need the refreshing of the water. And the scripture talks about this water, and it uses this phrase in Ephesians: the washing of the water by the word of God! So the blood of Jesus deals with my sin, but I still need to bathe frequently in water! I still need to bathe frequently! I need to be refreshed; I need to be encouraged; I need to be cleansed; I need my conscience clean! You see, what dealt with that with the blood, that’s true. The power of sin was defeated by the blood of Jesus, but it’s the continual washing of my mind that makes me God conscious and not sin conscious—the heart of God conscious and not the heart of defiled man conscious!
This is what connects me to the passion, the heart, the purposes of God! It’s the word of God, Jesus in print—washing! I want you just to listen to this verse. I’ll give you the reference after I read it. Just listen: «In that day a fountain shall be opened for the house of David and for the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and uncleanness!» In that day, a fountain shall be opened for the house of David, for the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and uncleanness! In that day, a fountain will be opened! Blood and water for sin and uncleanness! Where did Adam’s bride come from? Where did the last Adam’s bride come from? It was made possible by blood and water! Born again, continually cleansed by the word of God! Oh, we need our brains washed! We need to be brainwashed! Turn to the person next to you; look them in the eye and say, «You need to be brainwashed!»
Ephesians 5 says, «Don’t be drunk with wine; be filled with the Holy Spirit.» Listen to the words: we are commanded to be full! Not merely one of several doors you can walk through should you choose that direction; it is a command put upon our life—be full of the Spirit! Jesus put it this way: with the eleven, «Go, but stay! And stay till you can go!» There’s a difference between the fire of God that these heroes of the faith walked in after the day of Pentecost and what many of us have experienced. And I don’t want to downgrade anybody in this room, any of our experiences. I’m thankful for everything that God has done for me. I just live aware there’s more for me! The healthiest posture of my life is thankfulness and hunger. Those two things together for me are two sides of the same coin. I don’t ever want to divorce the two.
If I get hungry without thankfulness, I will live frustrated. If I’m thankful without hunger, I will become complacent. But these who had the baptism of fire of Acts 2 said of themselves, «We cannot help but speak of the things we have seen and heard!» We cannot help but speak! Volcanically, these things erupt from our soul and we find ourselves declaring the things that we have tasted of, the things that we have seen, the things that we have heard. Somehow, 120 people isolated in a room spill out onto the streets and change the atmosphere of an entire city in a drunken condition! Drunk wasn’t the goal; it was a byproduct! If you make the main thing the main thing, you get all the parts! Don’t be drunk with wine, but be filled with the Holy Spirit! Contrasting experiences: toxic intoxication, naturally intoxication! The crazy thing about being intoxicated by the Holy Spirit is you will never think clearer in your life! It has a different effect than drunkenness with wine; it has a different effect!
If you’ve been around drunk people in the natural or the spiritual, one thing you’ll learn quickly is they really don’t care what you think! They don’t stagger either through the church or down the alley through a natural line. They don’t stagger around wondering what people are going to say about them! Social media has exaggerated the value of public opinion! If you study the New Testament, you’ll find that both the Pharisees and Herod and the political world, they both were governed by the fear of man! Jesus warned His disciples, He said, «Beware the leaven of Herod, the political world, and the leaven of the Pharisees, the religious world!» They both made decisions! Jesus would ask the Pharisees a question, and they would discuss with themselves, «If we say this, the people won’t think this; if we say this, the people will think this.» And they’d give Him no answer, and Jesus said, «And neither am I going to answer you!»
If you don’t have the courage to defeat the fear of man in your life, you’re not ready for the revelation knowledge I would speak over you! That was Jesus; that wasn’t me! I was— I’m teasing! I hate dust on my lens! Then you look dusty! Big globs of dust on you! Yes! There is a fresh, fresh baptism of the Spirit available for every single person in this room! Every single person! For some, it’s a very difficult subject and there’s so much anxiety in your life over the subject that the Lord actually has to minister to you while you’re sleeping because your anxiety has kept Him at bay! Sometimes there’s so much work to have an experience that He has to wait until we’re through working; otherwise, we’ll actually think that that what He gave us was the result of our labor! Once again, faith is not the product of striving! It is not the result of determination! It is not something you choose in the sense of self-will! Faith is the product of surrender!
You were born for great faith! You were designed for it! Everything about you is designed and wired to recognize God and to hear God! Everything about you—all of your senses—your entire creation! What God made you, He could do no better! When He made Adam and Eve, it was the high point of His creation; He could not improve upon His creation! Everything about us—our emotional life, intellectual life—our senses: sight, sound, smell, taste, touch—all these senses were actually given to us as tools that we used to discover Him! Hebrews 5 says, «Having our senses trained to discern good and evil!» Trained! That means it doesn’t just come suddenly with full knowledge. It means there actually has to be training periods of time where you learn to recognize presence; you learn—having your senses trained to discern good and evil!
If you work for a bank and you’re the one responsible to make sure that the currency you have in that bank is actual currency and not counterfeit, you go through training! And I know that most of you know this already, but the training you go through never do you study counterfeit money! You only study the real! You become so absorbed with the authentic hundred-dollar bill that when you’re handed a phony one, even though it may look exactly the same, there’s something about it that you may not recognize at first, but there’s something that is not right! Having your senses trained to discern good and evil! We are trained to recognize presence; we’re trained to recognize voice, countenance, mood—the heart of God! These are all things that we are capable of recognizing through our senses! In Hebrews 5, that is actually the mark of a mature believer.
How many of you have some growing to do? Having senses! My wife and I were driving from Weaverville to Redding; this is back when we were pastoring there years ago, because Leah wasn’t even born yet! It was just our two boys in the car! We had this little Toyota Corolla hatchback, blue, five-speed, cassette stereo in there, uh-huh, air conditioning! We were at the pinnacle of wealth at the high point! And we’re driving from Weaverville to Redding, and we just began to sing in the Spirit, and our boys became so calm and quiet! It was like a miracle equal to the parting of the Red Sea! These boys were extremely high energy, and putting them together was just inviting a problem because they’re brothers and they wrestle and they do stuff! One time, I was driving and Brian was the only other passenger with me, and he was just a little guy, and he said, «I want water!» I said, «Son, I’m sorry; we don’t have any water. When we get to Redding, I’ll get you some water!» And he said, «I want water!» I said, «Son, I don’t have any water!» «I want water!» «There’s no water; I don’t have any water in the car! We’re going down Buckhorn Summit; there’s no water!» «I want water!»
All right, so I pushed the little cigarette lighter; you know, you push that in. I pushed it in; I put a pretend cup under it. I held it! When I was through, I handed it to him! He took the pretend cup and threw it down! He would have nothing to do! He’s sitting there, sitting in the back seat, and Benny and I are just singing in the Spirit—just worshiping—and they’re just completely in the right sense, almost drugged! And suddenly, right about—if you know where the turn is to Lewiston off of 299, right about that area there, I started smelling flowers or something! I started smelling, and I’d look outside to see if there’s a flower! Then I realized, this is winter; there’s no flowers anywhere!
So I just kept driving! I didn’t say anything to Benny because I didn’t want to jinx it, you know? What I would do is I would smell it; it reminded me of a fragrance I had smelled before. Then I could taste it; it’s strange, but I could taste the smell, and it was like granules of sugar on my tongue! It’s very, very, very sweet to the taste! So I would worship, well I’d stop, I’d taste that smell! We’d continue worshiping! A minute or two later, I’d stop and taste smell continuously! Did almost the entire way to Redding, and then it finally lifted, and I said, «Honey, did you smell?» And she was, «Yeah! Did you smell that?» So we were having a shared experience here of the fragrance of the Lord that brought such a peace over our car and gave us this—I don’t know what to call it—just a heavenly encounter, actually—tasting of another world. Because everything in heaven has light and has sound, has color and has flavor! Every flower has a sound to their color!
Yeah, I was leaving—just leave it right there—everything is alive! On steroids! Everything is alive! Abundantly alive! Living! You walk across a meadow of flowers—none of them die when you step on them; they just come right back! Fragrance and light, flavor—everything is released from everything He made! Everything testifies of Him; everything is alive because of Him! You and I are people who have dual citizenship, but our primary citizenship is there! Our temporary citizenship is here! As dual citizens, we live in two worlds! Jesus put it this way; He said, «No one has ascended to heaven except for he who descended from heaven!» Who descended from heaven? It’s not a trick question! Who descended from heaven?
Reminds me of the Sunday school teacher who asked the children what’s gray and has a long bushy tail, stands about that tall, and the kids are completely quiet. She said, «Come on, you guys know! It’s gray, it’s about this tall, climbs trees, has a long bushy tail!» They’re quiet! This kid—"you know the answer to this, it’s gray and about this tall, eats nuts, long bushy tail!» They’re quiet! And one kid says, «I know the answer is supposed to be Jesus, but it sure sounds like a squirrel to me!» Jesus tells His disciples early in their journey together, «No one has ascended to heaven except for the one who first descended!» What does that tell us? He’s been ascending while He’s in His earthly body! He is ascending in the sense He has learned to live from a place of abiding in the Father! Why did everyone Jesus pray for get healed? That’s why! It’s in John 3:13: «No one has ascended to heaven except for he who came down from heaven.» And my translation adds this last phrase: «That is the Son of Man who is in heaven!»
So it’s like Jesus talking to us saying, «No one has ascended to heaven except for me! I came down, but I’ve been going up too! And actually, I’m there right now!» When we hear the mysterious examples of Scripture, they are to wow us, but they are to make us hungry. God can easily impress us with His understanding, His wisdom, His insight, His power, all those things, but none of them are done merely to impress us! They are all to create in us an affection for a world that we cannot see! To anchor our affection, our values for things that we cannot see! It’s to make us hungry! So I want you to stand! What I’m going to pray for tonight—ask for tonight—if a fresh baptism of the Holy Spirit is not something you want, it’s too late! You never should have come tonight is all I can tell you because you just got drafted into a momentum that is God-created, God has orchestrated your steps! He won’t force anything on you, but He’s very persuasive!
Israel is standing at the Red Sea; Moses opens the Red Sea. There are two walls of water, but they’re still not moving! So the Lord releases the Egyptians to persuade them to walk between the walls of water! He won’t force you, but He will persuade you! This is a year for a fresh baptism of fire! I can tell you what happened to me; I’ve already talked too long! I don’t want to go into the story, but something was deposited in me in February of 1995 that possessed my soul! It started light, but it increased its grip on my heart, and it was a hunger for the more of God! I prayed it day and night! I see some people get touched the moment they cry, lift up their voice; others it’s a while. It’s not mine to judge; it’s mine to pursue! It’s not mine to understand; it’s mine to give place to!
For me, it was eight months, eight months of continuously praying, and there was a baptism of fire that came into my room in October of 1995 at three o’clock in the morning, and it continued for three nights. And that’s what I’m praying for you! I don’t care if it’s three in the morning or three in the afternoon at the 8 a.m. service on Sunday morning, or while you’re going through the car wash—that’s a rather frightening thought! Let me take that one back! But I want you to lift your hands, your face, your voices, and I want you to put in your own words your words out loud! You don’t need to scream them, but your words out loud about your hunger for more! Some of you aren’t hungry, so you can do this; you can hunger for hunger! «God, I really know I need this, but I don’t have the passion for it! Make me hungry!»
Lift your voices together. Let’s pray a fresh baptism of fire! «Your Lord God, a fresh touch of the Spirit of God on every person!» Keep praying; don’t stop! Keep praying; don’t stop! Don’t change the subject—a fresh baptism of fire! A fresh baptism of the Spirit! Awaken in us an awareness of why we are alive! Why we are alive—the assignment that is yet untouched! The assignment that is yet unfulfilled—awaken in us our reason for being! We just invite you, God! Touch our souls in a way that is undeniable! A baptism of fire that is contagious! Possess our souls, God! Continue praying; don’t stop, please! And I ask you, do pray out loud! You don’t need to yell, but do have the courage to pray out loud! Fresh fire! Fresh outpouring! Fresh outpouring! Fresh outpouring! Fresh outpouring!
Don’t stop, not yet! Not yet! Don’t stop, not yet! God, give us the gift of dissatisfaction in the—in dissatisfaction! Never satisfied with the inferior that is never satisfied with less than your desire! Yes! So put a hand on the person next to you; pray for a fresh outpouring of the Spirit of God upon them! Pray for them! Fresh outpouring! Fresh outpouring! Fresh outpouring! Never the same again! Fresh outpouring! Fresh outpouring! Take it! Take it! Take it! Take it! Take it now! Ah! Holy Spirit, come! We invite you to come now in power! To come! Fresh baptism of fire! Fresh baptism of the Spirit! Every single person! Marcus! Marcus! Marcus! Wow! Ministry team, I want you to start walking through the room, laying hands on people, praying for them right now! If God is touching you in an unusual way, just stay put, but other than that, I want you to be a carrier!
Walk through this room, through this building, lay hands on people! There’s to be a release of power, a release of anointing upon our people right now! A fresh, fresh baptism of fire! We just declare, God, mark us as a people of presence! Mark us for this that you have designed for us! Fresh outpouring! Fresh outpouring! Fresh outpouring! Mighty God! Mighty God! Mighty God! Mighty, mighty God! When God starts to touch you, just stop praying and just receive! Literally, just respond to Him! Sometimes we pray past the miracle! Increase this, Lord! Increase this, Lord God! More! More! We just say, «Lord, increase this! Increase! Increase!»
Those who are watching Bethel TV—more to you in the name of Jesus! Let the presence, the fire of heaven fall upon households, entire churches that gather, churches that gather right now! We declare that in Jesus' mighty name! Let 2019 be the year of fresh baptism! Hey, thank you, Lord! Thank you, Lord God! God, in this place! Holy Spirit! An omnipotent Father of mercy and grace, you are welcome in this place! Holy Spirit, you are welcome in this place! Holy Spirit, you are welcome in this place! Omnipotent Father of mercy and grace, you are welcome in this place! Just sing it with me: Holy Spirit, you are welcome in this place! Holy Spirit, you are welcome in this place! Omnipotent Father of mercy and grace, you are welcome in this place!
One last time, but sing it! Holy Spirit, you are welcome in this place! Holy Spirit, you are welcome in this place! Omnipotent Father of mercy and grace, you are welcome in this place! Yeah! Just take another drink! Just do so right now, and best you know how, just receive what He’s releasing over you! Wonderful! Wonderful Jesus! Wonderful! Wonderful Jesus! Wonderful! Wonderful Jesus! Oh! Oh! Have some more, Joe! Have some more! Have some more! When I see someone powerfully touched by God, I say, «I’ll take some of that! I’ll take some of that! I’ll receive that for myself!» Amen! Amen! Say this with me: «2019 is for this purpose—the baptism of the Holy Spirit! The baptism of fire! 2019 is for this purpose—the baptism of the Holy Spirit! The baptism of fire! 2019 is for this purpose—the baptism in the Holy Spirit! The baptism in fire!» Amen! Amen! Yes, God! Yes, God!
If we come out of this year with nothing more than that, we have had the greatest year of our life! We’ve had the most significant year of our life! I want to ask the ministry team to come to the front, just come quickly. We’re going to have a fire tunnel, but it’s going to be a little bit different! It’s going to be a new wine tunnel! Don’t come through it unless you want fresh joy! Let’s get the ministry team up here! We’ve got to move these rows! Yep, thank you! Move them up! If you need to leave, you’ve certainly been free to go all night! Thanks! Thanks! Yes!
Okay, just give me your attention here for a moment! If you’re a guest with us, we come down the center aisle! We have two tunnels to go through, so make sure there are two lines! You are allowed to go through a second time; you can double-dip! I want you to say this with me: «I am hungry for fresh joy! Unreasonable joy! Perfect joy! Complete joy! Fullness of joy from the presence of God! In His presence is fullness of joy!» Yes! Yes! Yes, God! Now those of you that are doing the praying, you have one assignment: drink and pour out! Drink and pour out; give away joy! All right, find some good music, put it on, and come on down! Come on through! Lance, you’re gonna pastor this! Go ahead!