Bill Johnson - A War Over Words
Thank you, thank you, thank you! I leaned over to ask Chris a question, but I can’t remember what it was now. Elena, I left my phone down there, I think. Today, it’s not like I need it; I just don’t want to forget it. There it is! Oh, thank you. All right, I leaned over to ask him a question, and I bumped him a little. When I leaned over, he was already gone. He shot right out of that seat, and I thought I was going to ask him a question. It’s funny; I was with my dad in L.A. We were at a stoplight, and I don’t know how it happened, but the guy in front of us was reading his newspaper while he was driving. He was stopped at a red light, reading the newspaper, and my dad honked the horn. The guy threw the paper and shot through the red light! Thankfully, nobody was injured, but it kind of reminded me of that moment. I honked my horn, and Chris was gone. Well, I don’t even remember what I was going to ask you, but it was a very enjoyable moment for me. You do not lack in giving me opportunities to enjoy life. I’m going to read you a funny story that’s one of the first ones I ever read here some years ago, but I like it so much that I’m reading it for my personal enjoyment. If you like it, join me!
As a bagpiper, I play many gigs. Recently, I was asked by a funeral director to play at a graveside service for a homeless man. He had no family or friends, so the service was to be in a pauper cemetery in the Kentucky backcountry. As I was not familiar with the area, I got lost. Being a typical man, I didn’t stop to ask for directions. I finally arrived an hour late and saw that the funeral guy had evidently gone; the hearse was nowhere in sight. There were only the diggers and the crew left, and they were eating lunch. I felt badly and apologized to the men for being late. I went to the side of the grave and looked down; the vault lid was already in place. I didn’t know what else to do, so I started to play. The workers put down their lunches and began to gather around. I played from my heart and soul for this man with no family or friends. I played like I had never played before. As I played «Amazing Grace,» the workers began to weep. They wept, I wept, we all wept together. Why are you laughing? When I finished, I packed up my bagpipes and started for my car. Though my head hung low, my heart was full. As I was opening the door to my car, I heard one of the workers say, «Sweet mother of Jesus! I’ve never seen anything like that before, and I’ve been putting in septic tanks for 20 years!» Oh, I do think that’s funny!
All right, open your Bibles, please, to the book of First Timothy. We’re going to read quite a few scriptures, so please keep it open. What I want to do today is give you what I consider to be an overall message from this book. It includes specific statements, specific charges, encouragements, and insights, but there is an overall message. The subject for today is a «War of Words.» If there was ever a culture that lived in an environment of war of words, it’s right now. How many of you are on social media? The whole thing is a war of words. There are so many attempts by the enemy to distract us from our assignment and purpose into fighting over specific words.
Here’s the dangerous part: It persuades me to anchor my affections into an inferior cause, an inferior reality, and what it does is weaken me for why I’m alive. Paul is writing this letter to Timothy; Timothy is his spiritual son. What we have here is a dad talking to his boy, exhorting him about why he’s alive and what the expected outcome of his life is. Every parent should be aware that as we raise our children—grandparents too—we have the privilege of helping them understand their identity, purpose, and destiny. We have this continuous responsibility to reaffirm who they are, why they’re alive, and where they’re going.
But there’s another interesting thing that Paul adds that I’m going to start incorporating into my thoughts about our role as parents. He begins to define God’s intended outcome or impact for their life. For Timothy, there was an intended impact, and that impact can be found in a couple of places. If you’ll just look quickly with me at 1 Timothy 2, I’m going to have you bouncing all over, so please keep your Bibles open. How many have your Bibles? How many of you have hard copies? All right. How many of you have iPhones or iPads? My goodness gracious! All are accepted! I have many of each.
But if you look with me quickly at chapter two in the first three verses, there is a command and an invitation to pray. The unique thing about these verses, due to the number of them, is I’m going to read select phrases, but I would like for you to see them in your Bibles. In the first three verses, what is unique is that Paul is exhorting Timothy and his followers to pray and give thanks on behalf of all men. This is during a time of persecution from government leaders, and he is actually exhorting Timothy and his followers to be thankful even for these corrupt individuals. There’s something that happens when you obey the Lord when it’s not easy; it forms a Christ-likeness in us that you can’t get in any other way. Obedience that is easy forms little in us; it’s important, but it forms little.
The picture that I like from scripture is that the gates of heaven are described as being made of pearl. Pearl is formed in irritation, and the whole concept is that gates are praised in Isaiah 60. The idea is that we give praise when we’re in difficulty; when it’s least expected, that’s when we give thanks, honor, and praise. That actually forms in us a mature Christ-likeness, and that maturity is a posture of great stability. Why is that important? Because the Lord is looking to release glory; He’s looking to release the weightiness of blessing that comes in so many different fashions—on individuals and corporate groups, on our lives. Here’s the deal, though: If I have a fracture in my foundation, the greater the weight that is put upon me, the greater the fracture.
A way I like to put it is that the blessing of the Lord on an unsanctified life crushes it, but the blessing of the Lord on a sanctified life establishes it. There’s a firmness, a maturity, and He is looking for a group of people to whom He can entrust the weightiness of His presence, the weightiness of His glory. The reason God’s dream is for the earth to be filled with the glory of God is that His dream is for all the kingdoms of the earth to be His. He’s not going to do it through a military takeover; that could be easily done at any moment. He’s doing it through a people that become like Christ, who will carry the weightiness of His presence into life.
So, Paul is addressing Timothy over a conflict, and he’s giving him a picture of what he intends to do. I’m going to the end of the story and give you the outcome before I give you the process. Here’s the outcome: He directs Timothy to pray for all people with thankfulness, even though they don’t deserve it. And here’s the outcome: verse 4, «Who desires all men to be saved.» There’s something about you and me becoming like Christ; there’s something about being a people who are unmoved by opposition and criticism. In fact, we do the opposite: we actually give thanks in difficulty—not necessarily for, but in difficulty, knowing we serve the Lord, the God most high, who is in charge of everything and who defends, protects, and uses every situation that comes in our direction for His glory and our strength.
It’s the confidence in His lordship. In that context, we’re able to give thanks. So that process has an intended goal. What is it? The intended goal is that God desires that all would be saved. Now look at chapter four. Chapter four has a process that we’ll look at in a few minutes, but it concludes with verse 16. Verse 16 says, «Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine.» Remember, we’re dealing with a war of words. We’re talking about ideas, thoughts, concepts, principles, so take heed to yourself and to the doctrine. «Continue in them, for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you.»
The New American Standard puts it this way; I like it better: «For as you persevere in this, you will ensure salvation for both yourself and for all who hear you.» You’ve got to know when you’ve run into something that is way bigger than your understanding and your faith, so that you have the wisdom to stop and to park at a phrase that invites you into something beyond your gift, beyond your faith, beyond your history, beyond your knowledge of revival history. You just ran into a verse that God says, «If you do this, you will ensure your own salvation—not only that, but for everyone in the sound of your voice.» There are very few promises in scripture as big as that one, as far as I’m concerned. He’s invited me into something, and He shows me the end before I see clearly what the beginning is because He puts the joy before me to endure the cross.
The process of becoming a people who can actually see all saved. It’s time to dream His dreams; it’s time to think His thoughts; to adjust our values to what He values. We sometimes become satisfied with mirroring something similar but not the same. He said that you would ensure salvation for yourself and for everyone who hears you. So here I want you to look at the challenge; it’s all the way through the book of First Timothy, but we’re going to start in chapter one. I’m going to pick out certain verses because I want it to be clear in our thinking before we get into the process that God’s invited us into.
Verse 4 says, «Don’t give heed to fables and endless genealogies which cause disputes rather than godly edification, which is in faith.» Verse 5: «The purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart, good conscience, sincere faith, which some having strayed have turned aside to idle talk.» Do you hear what’s being read here? Idle talk was a tool to disengage a person from a relationship with God and discovering why they were alive—meaningless conversation. I’m not saying we don’t play around and talk about the weather; I’m talking about discussing values that change the affection of the heart.
The target of the affection of the heart, and Paul is giving a warning to a group of people that get wrapped up in conversations about endless genealogies that qualify you for this or that—stuff that just gets talked about sometimes in Christendom that is just vain babbling. He says, «Listen, it wars with the affection of your heart.» And there’s something profound about God revealing to you and me our identity, purpose, destiny, and outcome or intended impact of our life. There’s something about understanding what God has intended for us.
So, every parent has been summoned into this role to build a sense of identity into our children and grandchildren. We hit this day after day after day, and in that, we identify purpose: «This is why you’re alive. The giftings are breathed in you by God Himself, and these are the things that God has given you to flourish.» All of this is important because you have a destiny, an intended destiny, but the destiny isn’t the reason. It’s the impact: that all would be saved.
The Lord describes this life of abundance for us because of His heart to bring us into a place of sanctified affections, where we are truly anchored in our reason for being. It’s interesting to me that we come to the end of Timothy, and I’m jumping ahead in the story, but it just fits in here. At the end of the story, Paul says this: «Command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty nor trust in uncertain riches but in the living God, who richly gives us all things to enjoy.»
Interesting verse! So let’s walk through it. He says, «Tell those who are wealthy not to set their affections on the uncertainty of riches.» It’s unstable; it’s not worthy of their affections. Their trust needs to be in God Himself. Then it says, «Who richly gives us all things to enjoy.» So it wasn’t a statement to drive us to poverty; it was a statement to drive us to purpose. Yes, it’s a revelation of purpose that is to drive us to connection because there’s something about this passage. He says, «It’s the Lord who gives you these things.»
Here’s the challenge: When God puts blessing in my life, if it does not endear me to Him, then that blessing ends in that moment. But when it endears me to Him—in other words, I see this as coming from His hand, from His favor in my life—my affection for Him increases; my devotion for Him becomes more refined and focused. What happens is I’m drawn to Him from the blessing. Now, the blessing can continue to increase, but the moment the blessing ends with me just enjoying a moment of favor, an income increase, or an open door, and it’s all about me, that lifespan of that blessing ends in that moment. Proverbs puts it this way: «The Lord adds blessing to our life and adds no sorrow to it.»
In other words, He gives us income without income tax; there’s heaven on earth right there! Income without income tax. In other words, there’s no balloon payment, no buyer’s regret, nothing that comes around the corner that causes us to regret the increase that God brought. So here, Paul is saying, «All right, tell those who are rich in this life not to anchor their hearts in the uncertain but in what is absolute. Let the blessing draw you to a confidence in God, not a confidence in money or blessing.» Why? Because he’s trying to get Timothy and his followers into a place of refined focus, refined purpose.
Enjoy everything that God brings, but it’s always unto something. Does that make sense? It’s unto something; it doesn’t have a lifespan ending at noon today. It doesn’t say, «Well, when summer’s over, then that blessing is gone.» It is something that takes me to the source of the blessing, which causes me to become increasingly in my faith, confidence, and adoration.
All right, here are the warnings: Idle talk. Verse 6 of chapter 1. Look to chapter 4. Chapter 4, verse 1 says, «The Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons.» Speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a branding iron. Then he goes into some of the issues that they dealt with in their day. Go to chapter 6, verse 3. «If anyone teaches otherwise and does not consent to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the doctrines which accord with godliness, he is proud, knowing nothing, but is obsessed with disputes and arguments over words.»
Hello, internet! Arguments over words. «From which come envy, strife, reviling, evil suspicions, useless wranglings of men of corrupt minds and destitute of truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain.» In other words, they can obtain godliness through their fight with their opinions. They think they can somehow come into this place of purity. Paul is warning about the war of words. One more verse, look at verse 20. Verse 20, First Timothy 6: «O Timothy, guard what was committed to your trust, avoiding the profane and idle babblings and contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge.»
There is a string of verses, statements made concerning the warning. So picture this: Paul comes up and says, «All right, you are being hit with a wall of words that are all fighting for your destiny. They are all fighting for your affection. All this wall of words, whether it’s any political agenda, a social agenda—it doesn’t matter. Maybe it’s a personal family thing—whatever it is, it’s this wall of words that are all fighting to affect why you’re alive, to have their voice, their say.»
And Paul defines this problem. He says, «Listen, you have a higher call, and your higher call is that everyone who hears you would be saved. Everyone under your influence, and to get that result, you cannot be entangled with this, because this will rob your strength, rob your faith, and redefine your purpose. You will embrace a lesser call if you’re involved in the war of words.»
So now, it’s a little different. We’re just bouncing around the whole book. Go back to chapter one. I’m still alive! Verse 18, First Timothy 1:18: «This charge I commit to you, son Timothy, according to the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you wage the good warfare.» Look at chapter 4, verse 12: «Let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity.»
Stop right there. «Let no one despise your youth.» For Timothy, the issue was his age compared to other apostolic leaders, but for you, it may be your gender, maybe the fact that you’re a woman; it may be your race, your income, or your family background. It could be any number of things. Don’t let anyone discount your place in God. Don’t let anyone undermine or disqualify you through their treatment or their words.
But here’s the interesting thing: when he says, «Don’t let anyone disqualify you,» he doesn’t instruct in protest, defense, or self-promotion. The best answer you and I have for all of our critics—because we all have them, we all have people who would discount our place in God—is to become like Jesus. There isn’t a clearer, better answer. So Paul says, «Become an example in your conduct.» That’s the way you do life.
«In your words,» that’s your pronouncement; it’s that you’ve refined what you’re willing to speak about and what you’re not willing to speak about in the war of words. You’ve chosen where you’re going to put your life on the line. And then he says, «In your faith,» that’s your relationship with God. «In your love,» that’s your relationship with people. So he outlines this entire opportunity we have to illustrate and demonstrate what Jesus is like in how we do life. That is the answer.
And that is how you pull the plug and silence the voice of people who point to you and say, «You’re not qualified.» You have this in your history; you’ve been married before; whatever, fill in the blanks. You had this kind of lifestyle before you came to Christ—all of those things the enemy would use to disqualify you because he’s afraid of you becoming what Jesus said you were to become. He’s very nervous about the redemptive process on a broken life.
And every one of us has someone who would disqualify us. Verse 14: «Do not neglect the gift that is in you, which was given to you by prophecy with the laying on of hands of the eldership.» These verses, verses 12 through 16, have been feeding places for me for 40 years. I can no longer claim the youth of verse 12 unless I compare myself to Methuselah or someone, and then I’m just a pup!
That’s right; so I think that’s what I’m doing the rest of my life. I’m comparing myself to Moses or someone. Verse 14: «Do not neglect the gift that is in you, which was given to you by prophecy with the laying on of hands of the eldership.» Do you understand that when God speaks, He creates? Whenever the word of the Lord is spoken over somebody’s life, there’s an impartation of grace for life—a grace that enables us to actually do what was described in the word.
But here’s the challenge: in chapter 1, he says, «Fight the good fight with the prophecies made.» What does that mean? It means your destiny is here, you have opposition here, and all you have here is a word! See, many believers— and I’m telling you it’s a high percentage of believers—could write books on how to live off of what God brings your way.
God is so generous that you will always have a steady stream of love, kindness, and blessing. Just be in the right group, and you’ll thrive. But what you were born for is deep in the heart, and it was called to the surface through a prophetic word that is bigger than your imagination. It’s bigger than what you would ever assign for yourself. It’s not the fulfillment of your dream; it’s bigger than your dream. And that thing is planted in you, and you attract the word of the Lord.
In getting that word of promise, it may come as you’re reading scripture; you may be called out in a service; you may have a friend call and say, «Hey, I was thinking of you today!» and suddenly you have this word. Now you have a responsibility because God has announced your purpose, your destiny. But it is not guaranteed—it is only accomplished by the ache of the heart that causes me, like Hannah, to cry out for a child when I am barren.
She cries out, and it wasn’t until she was able to mirror the anguish in God’s heart—a prophet is what God wanted, not just a son—that when she mirrored the ache of His heart, that’s when the two met, and God granted her what she requested. But she had this ache and cry, this burden of her heart for a child that caused her to lose all sense of public demeanor.
She didn’t care what anyone thought of her; it wasn’t about making herself a fool. The target was that she had to somehow express what she had in her heart, which she couldn’t find any civil way to express. She got alone with God in the temple; she lifted her voice. Eli thought she was drunk out of her mind. Come to find out, she was passionate out of her mind. She was hungry out of her mind. She ended up having that son, but there was something in her that said she was born to have children.
The present announcement of being barren and trying all these years was not good enough. It’s not good enough! And so she took out of her heart her soul this passion that became like a sword, and this obstacle of barrenness was slain as she met with God, who announced over her that she would have a son. She had exactly what she cried out for.
The point is that every person in this room has something in you that testifies to you when you’re quiet and by yourself. You were born for more. You were born for more than this. You were born for more than this. You were born for more than this. It’s bigger than what you would dream on your own. It’s bigger than what would ever make it to your prayer list; it’s bigger, it’s bigger!
Now take what God says and learn how to fight, because it is in the fight that we become strong. We become mature, and the cracks get sealed and healed so that the Lord can fulfill His dream, releasing the weightiness of presence—the weightiness of blessing, the weightiness of glory upon a people who won’t be crushed by it, but instead will be established by it. It’s the glory of the Lord; He’s got a dream, and the dream is that the earth will be filled with the glory of God.
He’s got a dream that His government would always increase in its manifestation and expression on the earth. He’s got a dream that the people of God would actually host His glorious presence in such a way that people all over the world see that light of God on our lives and want to know the same Father, the same Savior, the same Lord. It’s His dream! So He’s working with Timothy, and He says, «This gift that is in you—be absorbed in it! Be absorbed in it! Be lost in your passion for excellence and what God has put in you.»
Why? Because your destiny is hinged on your fulfilling the reason your life is connected to your absolute willingness to focus on what God has said over your life, regardless of the war of words. We feel fulfilled with the war of words because we’re addressing so many issues, but are we addressing why we’re alive? Are we addressing what we were born for?
The enemy knows he can’t get me to sin, so what does he do? He wants to somehow pull me out of my assignment because then, like a dislocated arm, I’m still attached; I’m still alive, but I just don’t have my normal function. I can’t move like normal; I can’t hold things; I can’t carry the weight because it’s dislocated. It’s out of its function, out of its purpose, out of its socket. When I have misplaced affections, I’m alive but disconnected from purpose—the enemy wars to get me to put my affections on something inferior, and then though I’m alive, I’ve lost function.
He says in verse 15, «Meditate on these things; give yourself entirely to them so that your progress is evident to all.» In verse 16: «Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine; continue in them.» Please note: we sometimes make comments about doctrine, like it’s not about doctrine—that’s true. But doctrine is not a bad word; it’s not a negative word; it’s actually a word that encompasses the body of truth. It’s the acknowledgment that God is a Father; He said Jesus is a Savior—that’s doctrine.
While it’s silly to argue over lesser things, doctrine is essentially important. So Paul is providing this as an antidote for the wall of words that is assailing the minds of the people of God in this city. It’s doctrine, but he says, «Give attention to yourself and to the doctrine.» This is where we have the need to understand: as you persevere in this, you’ll save both yourself and all who hear you.
Interesting note: Paul is addressing Timothy—Timothy is the apostolic leader over Ephesus. Paul addresses the elders of Ephesus in Acts 20. When he does, he tells those leaders, «Watch over yourself and for the church, for the flock of God. Watch yourself and the flock!» Here, to Timothy, he says, «Watch yourself and the doctrine.»
The point is that in both cases, the exhortation is to watch yourself. It sounds almost blasphemous, but there is a sanctified self-centeredness. Try this on for size. There is a sanctified self-centeredness—obviously not egoistic, not selfish in the sense that everything rotates around us—but let me give you an example. When we had a drought here for several years, these large trees that surround our property, I’m told, drink 40 to 50 gallons of water every day. None of us walk by those trees going, «You selfish tree! Don’t you know it’s a drought? What are you doing reaching into subterranean streams that we could be tapping into and using for ourselves? And here you are, flourishing when everyone else is dying! What’s the matter with you, selfish egotistical tree?»
It’s silly because it’s doing what it was designed to do; it was designed to reach into the depths of the earth to draw whatever it needed because if it doesn’t do that, it’s not around long enough to provide shade or fruit or any of the reasons why that tree is there. When you get on an airplane, the stewardess says, «In the unlikely event…» I always like that «in the unlikely event.» «Of the need for oxygen, panels will open in the ceiling, and an oxygen mask will fall down. Put it on yourself first and then on those who need assistance around you.» Why?
Because if you don’t take care of yourself first, you won’t be around to take care of the others. Probably in the last 30 or 40 years, I’ve heard so much stuff. There was a season of time; it was almost weekly—teachings, books, messages, conferences—on preventing burnout! Burnout had become such a high issue and problem in the church. I’ve got a teaching on burnout; let me give it to you right now: Burnout happens when you give out more than you’re taking in, so stop it! «Well, I have so many responsibilities.»
Well then, you have a greater responsibility to receive! None of us are that good to just give out and not receive. «Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine.» If you look at one more verse with me, chapter 6, verse 20—one last time: «O Timothy, guard what was committed to your trust, avoiding profane idle babblings and contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge.»
If there was ever a—this is obviously just an opinion—but if there was ever a group of people perhaps even more suited to receive this letter as a personal letter—it would be this generation that’s alive right now. Why? Because of the wall of words, the vain babbling, the idle talk, the distractions, and concepts and ideas pulling people away from the absolute truths of the scripture! Truth is not that complicated! Serving Jesus isn’t complicated. It may be hard, but it’s not complicated! He’s Lord, so He’s first. That kind of sells it! You do what He says; that kind of sells that part too!
It’s really fairly simple. He enjoys being God! It’s complicated when I entertain the vain babbling, the idle talk, the ideas that contradict scripture, and I give them a place in the rehearsing of my mind. What happens? My affections get tainted. My affections start to be distracted and pulled in all these different directions, and I lose sight of why I’m alive. And if I lose sight of why I’m alive, then my impact on everyone who hears me becomes compromised.
God’s a God of design. Paintings don’t appear on the wall; there’s a painter. Creation doesn’t exist without a creator; there is no design without a designer. The God we serve designed you, commissioned you, fashioned you with significant eternal purpose. But to get to where you have an ache to go that’s beyond your capacity to dream, that will require a fight. And it’s not a fight with people; it’s not a fight with those who are using the war of words. It is a fight for your destiny with what God says.
What has God said over my life? Here’s the challenge: One of my favorite verses in the Bible—absolute truth! One of my favorite verses! It says of Moses, «He built the tabernacle according to what he saw on the mountain.» It’s astonishing! Why? He spends weeks in the presence of God in the glory—God gives him a pattern, shows him what He wants built. When he comes back into the valley, he comes down from the mountain, and Israel is worshiping a stupid golden calf! They are in idolatrous worship! There is immorality; there is all kind of garbage going on in God’s name because Moses took so long!
He comes down, and it says he successfully built what he saw up there. In other words, what was going on around him that contradicts the vision did not affect the vision. What was contrary to the command did not affect the command. He was successful at remembering because sometimes for you and me, we hear this great promise from God, but when we get in the fight, we go, «Ah, the prophet must have been wrong that day! It’s been three years; I’ve been confessing! I’ve been proclaiming! I’ve been doing all this stuff. I’ve fasted! I’ve done all this!» It hasn’t happened; it must not be God!
What do we do? We take the very thing that we heard on the mountaintop, and it becomes redefined in the valley. We become more comfortable with an explanation for why we have not gotten breakthrough. Thankfully, Hannah didn’t do that or there never would have been a Samuel! You were born for something extremely significant, and I hope that everybody in this room has enough time alone—if it’s just at night going to sleep—where that thing in you becomes activated and you begin to feel the pain—not in a morbid way—but that which makes you willing to move into discomfort because the discomfort of lacking breakthrough is greater than the discomfort of being in pursuit!
We were born for this! I have already stated several times that the intended outcome for every one of our lives is that everyone who hears us would come to Christ. What a dream! My goodness! Everyone! Every neighbor that you spend time with comes under that influence of grace and hungers to know this Jesus that is all over you! What a dream! What a dream that in the workplace, where you have influence, everybody wants to know this Jesus! This is the dream of God!
The chances are high in a crowd this size that there are people here who do not have a personal relationship with Jesus. You’ve never been what the Bible calls «born again.» It’s a simple act of faith, receiving Jesus as your Savior, as your Lord, as the one who forgives you of sin. There’s actually an invitation by God to come to know Him as Father—the one, the only one who is able to erase your past and give you a fresh beginning as though you had never sinned! Every one of us has this opportunity.
Most everybody in the room has already made this decision; it’s why we’re together week after week after week. But for those that are here, I believe Jesus arranged your steps and made it possible for you to be here today. I’m going to ask this for anyone here who would say, «Bill, I don’t want to leave the building until I know that I’m at peace with God, until I know what it is to be forgiven of my sin, to know what it is to be actually adopted into the family of God—not Bethel, not a specific church, but into His family.» If that’s you, I’m going to ask you right where you are just to put a hand up quickly. «Bill, that’s me.»
Right back here! All right. There are a couple more back over there—just put your hand up high. If that’s you, we’ve got, I think, three people or so that I see over here. Anyone else? I give just a moment for this. Any others? Anyone else that I missed? All right. Let me see. All right, down here. Let me have all of you stand. Another one! Bless you! Let’s stand together. Another one over here. Another one over here, oh yes, see two more right there. Wonderful, wonderful!
You know, there were three people I missed, so let me throw the net out again. This is the most important thing that could happen today. This is not only changing the eternal destiny of an individual but an entire family line because, as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord; that is our right.
Here’s another one! Anyone else? Anyone else? Put your hand up! So wonderful! Thank you, Jesus. Beautiful! I’m going to ask now everyone that just raised your hand—I think there are seven or so that I was able to count. I’d like to have everybody stand. If you could stand with us, we’re going to close in a moment, but not yet! I want to ask those who raised your hand right up over here on my left. We have what we call a freedom banner, and I want to ask for everyone that just raised your hand—this has nothing to do with joining a church like Bethel; it has to do with people that we know and trust that can talk and pray with you so that you know, truly what it is and experience what it is to be loved by God, forgiven by God. I want you to come right over here to my left, and we’ve got a team of people ready for you. Just come on down real quickly!
Let’s have the ministry team come with them. Ministry team, come up along the front; let’s have our ministry team come on down, please, real quickly. By the way, Cal and Michelle Pierce, I don’t know if they were announced earlier, but Cal is speaking tonight from the healing rooms up in Spokane. Grab your friends! There’s going to be a whole bunch of good stuff happening tonight! I want to pray over you before we release everyone, and then Tom’s going to give some instructions. All right, ministry team, come quickly! Line up along the front, please.
I keep praying this same prayer—I’ve prayed many weeks now in the last few months. I cannot shake this message; I cannot shake this message. I think it’s bigger than me identifying a season I’m in; I feel like the Lord is drawing us into a significance of impact that is beyond anything we’ve ever known or dreamed of! And it’s not just Bethel; it’s the people of God!
So I want to pray. Put your hand on your own heart. I want to pray: Father, I ask again and continue to ask that you would release a grace over us as a body of believers—a grace for hearing the word of the Lord over our life and the grace that Moses had to not forget it, no matter what the circumstances said—to not deny it, no matter what happened around him—to hold fast to what you say.
I pray, Lord, that you would put that kind of devotion, that kind of focus, that kind of commitment into the hearts of this family of believers. I ask for this in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.