Bill Johnson - Jumpstart Your Faith
Good morning! I’m glad you showed up, and I’m happy you’re here. Happy New Year, by the way! I missed the chance to tell you that earlier. I was in Korea and Taiwan and had such a great time. People are catching on because I’ve been saying for years that when I go somewhere, I say, «I’m here to eat.» If you want to have meetings before and after meals, that’s fine, but I’m here to eat. I will admit this was a trip filled with meals, so I may need to dial that back a bit. I had such a great time, but boy, is it ever good to be home! I’m so thrilled to be here with you. I see I have something to read to you—it’s very short but worthwhile. Companies are bragging about making plants taste like meat. Cows have been doing that forever!
Oh goodness, that’s a word of wisdom right there. I think the most Christ-like people in this church are the vegetarians because they endure so much of my teasing. Someone bought me a t-shirt a while back that said, «If God meant for us to be vegetarians, he would have made broccoli more fun to shoot at.» I don’t know; it makes perfect sense to me! So anyway, open your Bibles to the book of Malachi, or as some would call it, Malachi, the Italian prophet. That’s the last book in the Old Testament. I haven’t done something like this for quite a while. What’s in my heart to do is to take probably two weeks—maybe three, but I think we’ll just do two weeks—to study the book of Malachi.
There are two parts to this study. Part one today will primarily deal with the correction that leads to the fullness of covenant. Let me say this better: The Lord is very confrontive, but when He corrects, it is always an invitation to life. His corrections are never punishment-focused; they are always life-focused. They are invitations to step into purpose, to step into destiny. In the first three chapters especially, we find the Lord addressing some heart issues that we’ll look at in a moment. We’re just going to skim a couple of them, but He addresses the heart issues that had become dead in the people. They had become a people of routine instead of the life-giving relationship we’re supposed to have with the Lord. Of course, this is an Old Testament context, so it’s going to have to do with animal sacrifices and that sort of thing; however, it’s essentially in the context of our affection and worship for the Lord.
One of the things you notice if you take time this week to read through the book of Malachi is a phrase that is repeated over and over again. The Lord makes a statement and then says, «And yet you say.» He does that like nine or ten times. So what this book is about is the issue of lordship—absolute lordship. There is more room for freedom inside the kingdom than outside. There’s more liberty in a relationship with Jesus than being in a place where you can do whatever you want. True freedom is the ability to do what’s right. Freedom of will outside of God’s purposes is so restrictive and confining. Real liberty comes in responding to the invitation for a relationship so that we live as transformed people. We’re going to get right into this. I want you to go to Malachi chapter 1. We can’t read all of it; I’m just going to take a few verses and read them. It will give us a kind of summary of what I see in this wonderful book.
Malachi chapter 1, verse 7: «You offer defiled food on my altar, but say, 'In what way have we defiled you? ' By saying, 'The table of the Lord is contemptible.' When you offer the blind as a sacrifice, is that not evil? And when you offer the lame and sick, is it not evil? Offer it then to your governor; would he be pleased with you? Would he accept you favorably? says the Lord of hosts.» Jump over to verse 13 of the same chapter: «You also say, 'Oh, what a weariness! ' and you sneer at it,» says the Lord of hosts. «You bring the stolen, the lame, and the sick; thus you bring an offering. Should I accept this from your hand?» says the Lord. «But cursed be the deceiver who has in his flock a male and takes a vow, but sacrifices to the Lord what is blemished. For I am a great king,» says the Lord of hosts, «and my name is to be feared among the nations.»
This is where we’re going to start—a nice, happy, pleasant conversation in Malachi. He says, «You take from your flock. You have a nice, healthy male, but when it comes time to give something in an offering or sacrifice, you take a lame one,» probably reasoning, «It’s going to die anyway.» The Lord sees that and calls it evil. He calls it evil because He is a great king. What does He need that we have to offer? Nothing. What’s He going to do with a dead sheep that burns on a fire? Nothing. What’s He going to do with your money? Nothing. He doesn’t need one thing that you and I have to offer Him. The greatest injustice in the universe is for the great king to exist as the source of life and go unrecognized.
There’s a bizarre story in Acts about King Herod. Herod was really kind of an antichrist figure; he sought to kill Jesus as an infant. He’s this ungodly figure, and in the book of Acts, he gives a speech. It says he gave this speech to the citizens of the nation; they were so rocked by his words that they began to cry out, «The voice of a god! The voice of a god!» And the Bible says Herod died that day because he did not give glory to God. Think about this: he died that day because he did not give glory. What does that imply? It implies that the Lord enabled an ungodly king to give a moving speech; He gave him the ability to impact citizens of a nation with words, but he did not recognize that it was the Lord who enabled him to do that.
The greatest injustice in the universe is to live in a world where there’s blessing and life, and Him go unrecognized. To make matters worse, when there’s a natural disaster, He gets the credit for that but not for the crops growing, or for the ability to go to a grocery store and see walls of food there day after day, any day of the week. Historically, it is such an unusual blessing to walk into a place of abundance that we’ve lost the discernment for the abundance we’re in. That injustice is what He’s dealing with, and it has created a group of people who confess Christ but live complacently in their relationship with Him.
There’s a passage in Proverbs— I think it’s chapter 18, verse 19—that says, «The slothful in his work is brother to him who destroys.» So just look at it this way: we have the passionate laborer, the lazy worker, and the opponent to the work. We have the passionate servant of the Lord, the complacent servant of the Lord, and those opposed to the gospel. Complacency fuels the heart of the opponent; complacency legitimizes opposition to the gospel. They are the two most alike—the complacent and the opponent. The scripture says this one is a brother to this one.
Being lukewarm in a relationship with Jesus is not a season; it’s a devil. It is unnecessary. We have emotional ups and downs. We have challenges in our lives, trials, and everything else. But none of that ever has to translate to complacency in our devotion to Him. We have times when we know what’s going on and are aggressively pursuing the call on our lives, and other times when we’re just trying to do our best, but complacency is never an answer. I have never been reduced to a routine in Jesus Christ. I have more jokes if it becomes necessary!
Verse 4 of chapter 2: «Then you shall know that I have sent this commandment to you, that my covenant with Levi may continue.» Okay, how many of you have your Bibles? Let me see them! Say this with me: «I love my Bible. I really, really love my Bible.» All right, if you don’t have one, steal your neighbor’s! No, no, don’t! Let’s not start a fight here!
All right, He said, «I have sent you this commandment that my covenant may continue.» Commandments connect us to covenant. Covenant connects us to encounter, which ends in transformation. Commandments are not bare; they are not just things to keep us busy in Christian activity. Every commandment is an invitation to enter into life. He says this: «The commandment is given that my covenant with Levi may continue.»
Verse 5: «My covenant with him was one of life and peace.» Has anybody ever gone on vacation or stayed at a hotel where everything is included—all the food, everything? This word «peace» is the all-inclusive word in the Bible. If you ever wanted it, it’s in the word. The word «peace» means sound mind, divine health, and prosperity. It’s like anything you’ve ever prayed for is actually in that word «peace.» So here He’s saying, «I’ve brought you a commandment so the covenant will continue.» What’s the covenant? It’s a covenant of life and peace—a covenant where you get launched into the reason you were made.
Entrance is the commandment. David said he would meditate on the commandments of the Lord in the middle of the night because he saw what they were—they were invitations to life, invitations to personal breakthrough, invitations to become all that God had destined and designed him to become.
There are many folks who, for some reason, have been saying that there are no more commandments left because of grace. I don’t know how you can think that and read the Bible! Even if you just read the New Testament, there are a lot of suggestions in here, and they’re not just suggestions!
Verse 7 of chapter 2 says, «The lips of a priest should keep knowledge, and the people should seek the law from his mouth; he is the messenger of the Lord.» This is a beautiful statement. Here’s the deal: every believer in this room is called a priest unto the Lord. What is the primary focus of the priest of the Lord? It’s to preserve awareness of what is actually righteous and what is unrighteous.
When there’s complacency, the line gets blurred. When the line gets blurred, the message becomes weak. When the message becomes weak, there’s little understanding in the world around us of the nature of God. Compromise here defiles the revelation of God’s nature to the world. The priests—those who stand before the Lord—live with an awareness of righteousness and unrighteousness. That’s not an invitation to reject people or to criticize and be harsh against people; it’s not that at all. It’s recognizing, «This is life; this is death. If I do this, it leads to life; if I do this, it leads to death.» Those two realities are true for believers as well as unbelievers: this leads to life, and this does not. The lips of a priest—it doesn’t say just the thoughts or the heart of the priest; it’s going to come out in conversation. Whatever is in the heart is going to be revealed through speech.
Chapter 3: You still alive? Good, because it’s about to get really good!
Next week, we’re going to take the prophetic promises. Malachi is known for three basic passages. The first one would be the tithe in chapter 3; we’ll read that in a moment. The second would be at the end of chapter 4, the word about Elijah coming and restoring the heart of the parents to the children, and the heart of children to the parents. The third most familiar passage in this book is that the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in his wings.
We’re going to take those promise aspects next week, but today I want to stay on re as honorably as I can. Let’s go right into chapter 3 and let’s go to verse 8: «Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed me. But you say, 'In what way have we robbed you? ' In tithes and offerings. You are cursed with a curse, for you have robbed me, even this whole nation. Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Try me now in this,» says the Lord of hosts. «See if I will not open for you the windows of heaven.»
Part of blessing until there’s no more need! All right, I like the kind of verses that growl at you when you read them. I like my coffee strong; I want it so strong, it talks to me! It growls when I pick up the cup. My coffee is so strong you can walk on it without faith! That’s our stop. I like my spice extremely hot. I want everything on the edge. I want it to challenge your breath. When I read this scripture, I want the stuff that growls at me. When He says, «You’re robbing me,» I go, «Bring it on! Talk to me!» I don’t want to skirt any of the issues.
What I’m trying to say is I don’t want to screw any of the issues; I don’t want to miss anything. The tithe, by many today… I don’t know what’s going on, but something has happened where people have come to the conclusion that the tithe is actually part of the law. The tithe was not introduced by the law; it was introduced by Abraham, who is called the father of our faith, and ratified by the law, ratified by Jesus. Jesus said in Matthew 23, He was talking to the Pharisees, and He said, «You guys tithe on your herbs.» They give such delicate care to this part, and He says you should do that. That’s what He says! These things you should do. So there, He’s ratifying the tithe without neglecting the rest.
What is He saying? «This is kindergarten. You’ve got to press on to graduate school.» People think that tithing is a sign of spiritual maturity. You tithe? Congratulations, you’re no longer a thief! I just felt good to say that! It’s a beginning place; it’s not an arrival place. It’s not a destination; it’s a step in the journey. People describe this relationship with God as though, in fact, I hear them say there’s no fear of God in the New Testament, which they obviously haven’t read their Bible if they think that.
I’ve told you before: those who say you can’t have intimacy with God and fear Him at the same time… my response is that whoever made that up is obviously not married! I am intimate with my wife, but she scares me! We’ll just leave that right there. That’s the way I think it’s supposed to be. This relationship with the Lord—none of the commands He gives us are to imprison us; not one of them. None of them are restrictions. Anytime a person sees them as restrictions, they’re looking from the outside in.
Those who live in the relationship see that when He speaks a command, He is actually enabling us by grace to do what He said. The difference between law and grace? I don’t know if you realize this: the law says, «Don’t murder.» Grace says, «Don’t call somebody a fool.» The law says, «Don’t commit adultery.» Grace says, «Don’t lust after a woman.» It’s a lot easier to not kill than it is to not call somebody a very descriptive name when they cut you off on the freeway!
The point is, the law is quite simple; grace takes presence in a relationship to achieve the commands under grace, which are invitations to partnership. It’s where Jesus lives His life in and through our yieldedness, our willingness to obey. Grace enables me to do more than I could on my own if I were just left with commandments.
I remind you again of the verse the angel of the Lord spoke to Mary: «Nothing will be impossible with God.» Nothing means no and the word rhema, that freshly spoken word of God—no freshly spoken word of God will be impossible. The word means «without ability.» Jack Taylor, years ago, told us that verse can actually be translated like this: «No freshly spoken word of God will ever come to you that does not contain its own ability to perform itself.»
They have found seeds, like in the pyramids and stuff, that are two to three thousand years old, and they plant them, and they grow. The power is in the seed! The seed is the word of God. The ability to become all that He has said is in what He has said, but it takes the receiving of the word by the yielded believer. It’s the surrender.
We don’t accomplish great things for God because we’ve determined; we accomplish great things because we’ve surrendered. Faith is the evidence of surrender, not determination. Faith is not the result of striving; it’s a result of giving up! Jesus said in Matthew 22, «Give unto Caesar what belongs to Caesar.» Taxes! «Give unto God what belongs to God.» That means there’s something that belongs to God. People say, «Well, all the rest is His.» That’s true, but that’s a cop-out in this verse because in this verse that would include the taxes. He’s making a distinction between what’s in my wallet—whatever that advertises—and what’s in my account that belongs to Caesar and belongs to God.
Only in the kingdom of God does 90% of the whole have a greater impact than the whole. This is the only issue on His mind: the lordship of Jesus. That’s the issue—is who will I follow? Who will I say yes to? He says that there may be food in my house. Try me now in this! We are warned in the Bible, «Don’t try God, don’t test God.» I remember in the Jesus People Movement there were those bumper stickers that said, «Try Jesus,» and then Winky Pratt said once, «He doesn’t come in trial sizes; you can’t try Jesus! He’s God. He comes in one size only—that’s very large!»
According to chapter one, He says, «I’m a great king.» The great injustice is for great things to happen in the world—the ability to eat food—and Him to go unrecognized, and yet He gets the credit for the floods and all the other junk. So the Lord is bringing us to account, and He says, «Test me now!»
Here’s the end result: «See if I will not open for you the windows of heaven.» Has anybody else here prayed for open heavens? It’s strange, but that which opens heaven—open heavens! Cornelius in the book of Acts was a Gentile; he was outside of at least an Old Testament—so to speak—he was not a Jew, but he loved God and he loved what God was doing in Israel. So he gave, and the Lord visited him. The Lord said, «Your offerings have been raised up into heaven as a memorial.»
Now memorial stones were piles of stones that Israel would put up. They would remind them of an event. In other words, Israel crossed the Red Sea at this place, or the Jordan River, and they would put up a pile of stones. So that any time mom and dad and the kids are walking down the river trail, they could stop and say, «Hey, what’s this pile of stones for?»
They could stop and tell them the story! Well, this is where Joshua did this, and this is where Moses did this—this is where Israel came across into the land of promises, the Jordan River. So it was a pile of stones that reminded. The Lord said that the giving of Cornelius was a memorial stone in heaven—a pile of stones that spoke to God the Father about the generosity of someone on earth.
What happened? He was visited with an outpouring of the Spirit; his entire family was saved. The wrong conclusion is that you can buy miracles from God. You’ve heard the people joke about sending a hundred dollars and getting your miracle or whatever—that’s horrible! It’s just wrong! You can’t buy from God. I can’t manipulate Him with my money. I can’t manipulate Him with my raised hands or my shout or anything else I do; He is unmanipulatable!
But at the same time, it illustrates, I never tap the fullness of what God intends to do apart from generosity. He says in this passage that there may be food in my house. Think about this: I’ve never seen a ministry of any kind that functions in great revelation of the Word that was not equally generous. There’s a connection.
It would be wrong to think if I give a gift to God, my neighbor will be saved or my family member or whatever—that’s foolish because we can’t manipulate them. But at the same time, every time we break into the patterns of generosity, something changes in the spiritual realm over our lives and over our families. There’s something to be said about generosity and the breakthrough over entire households.
You know, there’s warnings in Scripture about giving under compulsion. In other words, don’t let anybody use fancy words to manipulate and persuade any of us to give anything. It’s wrong! We have the authority—the tithe is His—but everything else is ours to use at our discretion, at our disposal. Don’t let anybody manipulate that out of you!
At the same time, there are opportunities in God to step in and do something courageous with action. Sometimes it’s words; sometimes it’s just serving somebody; sometimes it’s just stopping long enough for this person in pain to let them know that you actually care about the condition they’re in. Sometimes, it’s money. But it’s a heart of generosity.
Here He describes open heavens because of generosity. We’ve got something going on here in the last month or so; I don’t know what it is except it’s wonderful! There’s an incredible move of the Holy Spirit that we’ve been experiencing. I don’t know how much was talked to you in the opening of the meeting, but I guess they had to make people go home at midnight on Friday.
We had a staff gathering this week, and it was just such a strong visitation of the Holy Spirit. Something is just happening around here, and I believe the open heavens is, at least in part, the result of you and me coming together and choosing a life of generosity. At the same time, I feel like the Lord is inviting us to come on up higher. Here’s my invitation to you: the thing I’m most concerned about—not concerned in the sense of worried, but concerned in the sense of priority—is complacency in the heart of a believer in this house.
Because complacency gives reason to oppose the gospel more than to support it. We’ve never been designed as a people to be lukewarm in our approach to Jesus. He’s a great king, and because He’s a great king and the source of all life, everything needs to be viewed through that lens—that God is the giver and sustainer of life. All good gifts come from Him. That simple recognition positions us with His heart of generosity for life.
Why don’t you stand? Happy New Year! Merry Christmas too, I guess, huh? I almost feel like I should announce we’re in for a wild ride! We’re in for a wild ride! I think one of the most important things to realize when you see the Spirit of God moving like we are is that the first conclusion we have to come to is that we don’t know what we’re doing. Because when you know what you’re doing, you try to fit Him into what you’ve seen or done in the past.
Excuse me. You’ve said yes; we’re together because together we said yes. Your kindness and generosity of lifestyle have once again given the invitation for God to prove who He is. He’s an extravagant Father—one who delights over you and over me!
I don’t know if it needs to be said now, but I just get overwhelmed. I work hard; you work hard. But when it works—wow! It was all by grace! I’m at that moment again where I feel like the Lord is just upping the ante. So my challenge has been the last few days: people I’ve talked with—you know, you get up 15 minutes early to pray, get up 30!
It’s time to up the ante! You give 10%, give 15%! You come to the six o’clock meeting? Come at five for prayer! Look for people who have need! The whole point is, at every point you read two chapters a day, read five! I’m not trying to describe legalism; I’m trying to say this insulates us from complacency.
I’ve had a challenge in the last few weeks with sleep, and please don’t give me suggestions! I don’t need any more herbal teas, and no, it’s not my coffee! But seriously, every moment of being stirred—I shouldn’t say every moment, almost every moment of being stirred in the night, I have interpreted as an invitation to pray. I have something in the crosshairs, and it’s called complacency, and I don’t want to allow that thing to live in anybody I know. I want to erase the objection to the gospel as much as possible, and never again have the people of God fuel the opponent through complacency.
So Father, that’s what I pray. I pray that You’d help us to be a people who are all in. We’ve said yes for years, but we say it again, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes! I pray for those who watch even on Bethel TV the same thing—that there would be such a fire in our souls beyond just the emotional highs and lows, the fire because I’ve said yes to the God who burns for me.
I was probably 19 years old and I heard a woman in this church when my dad was the pastor prophesy. I’ll never forget her prophecy. She said the word of the Lord through her mouth was, «If you long for Me as I long for you, you will be satisfied.»
If you long for Me as I long for you, Lord, those eyes burning like fire—let them touch my own heart. God, I give You everything; I show You everything. Let your burning eyes ignite something in me that no opposition could ever quench.
So I pray that for this family in Jesus' name. One more question: if there’s anyone here that would say, «Bill, I don’t have a personal relationship with Jesus. I need to get right with God. I want to find peace with God. I want to know what it is to be forgiven. I want to surrender my life and truly become a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ.» If that’s anybody in the room and you would make that agreement with me now, I want you just to put a hand up, and I want to pray with you right where you are. Just say, «Bill, that’s me! I want a relationship with Jesus right now!»
Is there anyone else? Raise your hand if I see you! Yes! Wonderful, beautiful! Anyone else? I don’t want to miss anyone—right here. We’ve got a fresh start banner, and we’ve got some folks that we know and trust. I want to ask anyone who is making that commitment to follow the Lord Jesus to come over here and meet our friends. They just want to talk and pray with you. Come right now! I want the ministry team to come as well; that’ll help them find their way up here. But if you have a friend that wants to come up and make this commitment to Jesus, have them come right now!