Bill Johnson - Trusting the Trustworthy One
You always become like whatever you worship, and whatever you worship will determine what you trust. I can sing the right songs here on Sunday morning, raise my hands, sing loudly, and give shouts of praise, but if when I face a difficulty I turn to something other than God, then my area of trust is being challenged. Thank you, and I love you, too! Thank you. Uh, Eric and Candace are in Mexico. They’re at Rancho de Sus Niños, the orphanage slash Bible school slash church planting ministry slash anything you can think of that needs to be done. These guys do it, and they’re down for the 30-year anniversary of that ministry, which interestingly started with a couple from Weaverville who were with us for a couple of years before they went on to start this orphanage. We’ve been involved with that place all these years. Eric is on their board, along with Rick and Candace, and so anyway they send their love. They miss you and will be home later.
I saw a funny sign yesterday that said, «I was tasered at the airport yesterday. Apparently, the security guards don’t like it when you yell out 'Hi Jack, hi Jack.'» Bummer of a name for a friend at that point, right? Alright, let’s open up our Bibles if you would. We’ve got three portions of Scripture we’re going to read. We’ll start with Judges chapter 6, so if you go there first, it will take a little time. We’re going to jump over to Psalms 115 and then from there to Proverbs 3. If you want to put a piece of paper or something in at least one of those, that would be helpful. There’s an unusual connection, kind of a seamless connection, among three subjects in Scripture: fear, worship, and trust. Fear, worship, and trust. What you fear will influence what you worship, and what you worship will be proven by what you trust. Worship isn’t merely an act of song, kneeling, or raising hands; it’s actually something akin to two-part epoxy. It is the second part that proves and establishes what real worship is in our heart of hearts, and that is trust.
God is continuously looking for trust in His people, because our trust mirrors who He is. The most reliable thing in existence is God Himself. He’s more trustworthy than the sun rising tomorrow morning—that could end; that is temporary; but He cannot change; He is perfectly faithful. Our entire life is learning this expression and learning this lifestyle of absolute trust in God. Delayed answers seem to dial up all kinds of stuff in us regarding where we actually mistrust God, and it’s never punishment. It’s never for humiliation. It’s always to expose where I need to fully confess my weakness because when I confess in agreement with God, I step into grace where I can forsake something that has perhaps plagued my life for an entire lifetime. God is looking for people who trust Him. The Bible says that He looks for worshipers. Interestingly, He doesn’t look for worship; He’s not an egotist in need of affirmation. He looks for worshipers because we always become like whatever we worship. We’ll see this illustrated more in a moment.
You always become like whatever you worship, and whatever you worship will determine what you trust. I can sing the right songs here on Sunday morning, raise my hands, sing loudly, and give shouts of praise, but if when I face a difficulty I turn to something other than God, then my area of trust is being challenged. It doesn’t mean that I can’t use counsel; it means that all has to be in accordance with what God says, what He thinks, and His purpose for my life. People say, «Well, we’re entitled to our own opinion.» Well, you can have yours; I don’t want mine. It’s only gotten me in trouble. I don’t want to have thoughts or values that are inconsistent with His thoughts and values. I want to think creatively within the confines of His lordship because there’s more liberty in His lordship than outside doing what I want. It’s crazy but there’s more room in the house than out of the house. It’s the logic of a kingdom where you go low to go high, where you empty yourself to be full. Yes, indeed!
So, here we have two episodes of Scripture; once again: «This faith, hope, and love; the greatest of these is love.» The second is, «We cannot do anything to please Him apart from faith.» Paul in Galatians talked about these two subjects as though they were one. I look at them as two sides of the same coin, where he says, «Faith works through love.» One is the expression of the other reality. The Lord has been working from day one to build a community of trust, a community of faith, because that best represents who He is on the earth and it best connects us to who He is on the earth. So, we’ve got this passage in the Book of Judges, chapter 6. In verse 10, the Lord speaks and says, «I said to you, I am the Lord your God; do not fear the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell, but you have not obeyed My voice.» An interesting verse. Look at it again: «I said to you, do not fear the gods of the Amorites, but you have not obeyed.»
What did Israel do when they feared other gods? They would always worship other gods and turn to those gods in difficulty. For example, Baal was considered the god of abundance, so Israel, if things were shaken in their relationship with God, would turn to Baal and worship this false god. Strangely, throughout history, there were times when they would try to worship God on the Sabbath day and on other days, or in other experiences, they would turn to another god. They tried to have this dual devotion to multiple gods plus the real God. It was always a point of downfall for Israel. It was always a point of disintegration of who they were and their identity. The Lord looked at Israel and said, «I told you not to fear the other gods, but you didn’t obey.» What was the evidence? They worshiped other gods. The point is, what you fear determines what you worship. That’s the point.
Look at Psalms 115. «Psalms 150, honey, could you grab my water bottle down there? I forgot to bring it.» «Oh, there it is! Thanks.» Thank you. «Psalms 150.» I love this psalm. I remember in the early days when we had so many unusual things happen in a gathering, and it seemed like people’s favorite question was, «Well, where is that in the Bible?» I tell them Psalms 115 because verse 3 says, «He does whatever He pleases.» Where is that in the Bible? The Bible is not a book of lists, or let me put it a better way: the lists in the Bible don’t confine God; they reveal Him. The nine gifts of the Spirit don’t limit God; they reveal how He works. A couple of my family members, when they were baptized in the Holy Spirit, spoke in perfect Chinese. Someone said, «Well, that’s the devil.» Yeah, except it was all praise to God when it was translated by a Chinese missionary. The devil’s not known for worshiping Jesus. «Well, it’s not on the list.» Yeah, but it’s consistent with the list. Why? Because those who speak in an unknown tongue speak to God, not to men. Acts 2, verse 11, says they are speaking of the mighty deeds of God in these other languages, which is what praise, that prayer language, might call it. It’s the secret language with our children. That secret language is a language of prayer, intercession, and worship and praise.
So the lists that exist in the Bible are not to restrict or confine God; they are to reveal God. Psalms 115, verse 3 says, «But our God is in heaven; He does whatever He pleases.» That’s like my favorite verse! «He does whatever He pleases.» Verse 4: «Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands. They have mouths but do not speak; they have eyes but do not see; they have ears but do not hear; noses they have but do not smell; they have hands but do not handle; feet they have but do not walk, nor do they mutter through their throats. Those who make them are like them; so is everyone who trusts in them.» What you fear determines what you trust. What you trust is what you become like. In this case, it’s a strange story of molded images. They may be out of stone; it could be out of wood or rock. The point is they would worship these idols. And while we don’t have that type of thing today, the Apostle Paul said that greed is idolatry. Greed is the worship of other gods. Strangely, you’ll see greed and idolatry warned against alongside adultery in the same phrase throughout the Bible. Those two because idolatry, in the spirit realm, is what adultery and immorality is in the natural, physical realm. They are the same sin expressed in two different realities.
Greed then is idolatry, according to Scripture, the worship of other gods. What I fear affects what I worship. What I worship affects what I trust. If I fear going broke, I will turn my heart of affection toward money and obtaining it to try to create security for myself. I may sing the right songs in the morning, raise my hands, even dance; but if the heart is anchored in affection for things other than God, then what happens is it defiles my trust. My authentic worship is exposed when difficulty comes, because that’s when you discover what and who I trust. Jesus, when He talked about this subject of God and Mammon, said in the Gospel of Matthew that you can’t serve two gods. You can’t serve God and Mammon. In that passage, He actually spoke of Mammon as though it was a spiritual being. He wasn’t talking about dollars in your pocket; He was talking about a principality that actually has influence over the economies of the world. He says, «You can’t serve God and Mammon.» When He went to illustrate that, He said, «You will either love the one and hate the other, or you will hold to the one and despise the other.»
Love, hate, hold, despise. Love, hate. Your love for God is actually, in many ways, revealed by what you hate. You can’t hate people; it’s just stupid. But we’ve got to hate evil. This whole thing of having no emotion where we become like Spock, unmoved by circumstances around us, is not Kingdom peace; that’s some Eastern religion, but it’s not Kingdom. That kind of peace only exists where that person is in charge; it’s never where there’s chaos. Okay, so Jesus said, «You either love the one and hate the other.» Do you remember when my kids were small and finally had permission to hate something? I remember Brian walking around the house saying, «I hate the devil! I hate the devil!» He had been freed to hate once again because we told him he could hate the devil. I remember Eric, Brian, and Leah walking around the house going, «I hate the devil! I hate the devil!» They just had a whole new liberty in life.
So it makes sense that you can love the one and hate the other. When you’re devoted to God, your love for God will be seen in what you hate. When Mammon is what I serve, it says I will hold to the one and despise the other. Anytime money is talked about in church, the fact that I become aggravated over a subject of that nature being brought up only reveals that there is a measure of trust and worship that is misdirected. Proverbs 3 is the verse I’ve been looking forward to talking to you about. So why don’t you…oh, I forgot—I skipped a key verse here in Psalms 115. Sorry about that. Verse 8 says, «Those who make them are like them; so is everyone who trusts in them.» What is the implication? The implication is that those who worship false idols become like the idols they make. They make an idol that’s blind; they lose their ability to perceive. They make an idol that can’t speak; they lose their voice in the world. They make an idol that can’t touch; they lose their own sensitivities. They make an idol that can’t hear; they lose track of the voice of God in their life because we become alike whatever it is that we trust.
At this point, God steps into the middle of the equation and says, «Alright, now Israel, trust the Lord.» Why? Because you become hearing, perceiving, sensitive to touch; you become like Him in your capacity and ability to live life. Trust is what opens up the supernatural grace, the ability to live like Jesus. It’s trust! Amen! Good point!
Alright, Proverbs chapter 3. My mom’s parents lived with us for a good part of my life. I went to grade school in Sacramento; they lived with us there. We moved to Los Angeles for my parents' pastoring, and they lived with us there. When we came to Redding, my parents actually built an apartment on the back of the house, and they moved in there. I would go over and visit. This is the grandma that I would visit and she’d say, «Billy, would you like some pie?» And I’d say, «No, thanks, Grandma. I’m full.» Her next question was, «Would you like ice cream on it?» She just had no comprehension of anyone not wanting a piece of pie. It just didn’t register; it was just automatic. I was going to be eating pie; the only question was with or without ice cream. So that was Grandma.
She was losing her sight at the end of her life; she died in her upper 80s. I would go over and read to her. I remember reading her a book by Corrie ten Boom. She loved to memorize Scripture and always encouraged us to memorize it, and it really worked with her son David, my uncle, because he would memorize entire books of the Bible. He memorized like Hebrews, the Gospel of John, Romans—lighthearted stuff. We’re not talking about Ephesians and Philippians; we’re talking about the Gospel of John. He would visit us in the middle of the afternoon and go back to his bedroom. What’s Uncle David doing? Well, he’s going through the book of Hebrews all this week. He’d take an hour in the middle of his day and he’d have the book in front of him and just began to quote Hebrews because he wanted to stay current in the memory of Hebrews. Me? Hahaha. «For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.» You know, I get that stuff down, but the books of the Bible? Man, I tried but failed miserably. Anyway, Grandma was a great proponent for memorizing Scripture and she would quote it to me. This was one of the verses she wanted me to memorize, which I now know.
«Grandma, I got it! I got it!» Alright, I’m not talking to the dead. I can see the emails now. «In Proverbs 3, verses 5 and 6, trust in the Lord with all your heart. Lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.» Look at it again: «Trust in the Lord with all your heart; lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your paths.» I can still hear Grandma quoting that verse: «Trust in the Lord with all your heart; lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your paths.»
Look at verse 5: «Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not lean on your own understanding.» Why are those two phrases back to back? Because if I truly want to trust in God completely, my perception of things will undermine my trust. Perception has to be given to us by God so that we see the way He sees and so we see what He sees—what His promise is before it comes to pass. That way, our mental, creative energies are directed towards the will of God and not warring against the will of God. Trust in the Lord with all your heart—excellent surrender! I have no personal interest in my own opinion. As I’ve stated, «Well, Bill, we need to be free to think for ourselves.» I get that, and I want to always be free in my thinking, but there’s more freedom in His will than outside of His will. I want to think consistent with His liberty in me; I want to think consistent with His promise over me.
I’m not a robot to be programmed by commands, but in a relationship, your thought life is the offspring of who you commune with, and I want to tap into the offspring, so to speak, of God’s inspired ideas over my life. So He says, «Trust in the Lord with all your heart.» It’s a place of absolute surrender. «Lean not on your own understanding.» Why? Because your own perception of things is weak and misguided and it will undermine what you’ve said you want from your life. That’s the absolute trust and abandonment in Christ. «Trust in the Lord with all your heart; lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him.» It’s interesting for us; the word «acknowledge» means Chris is in the front row. I walk in the room and go, «Hey Chris, nice to see you! I haven’t seen you all week! Good to see you! Glad you’re home!» What have I done? I’ve acknowledged; but that’s not this word.
This word is the word that means to come to know in an experiential and/or intimate way. It’s actually used to describe that verse in Genesis: «And Adam knew Eve as she conceived and brought forth a son.» I mean, you understand Adam didn’t walk into the room and acknowledge, wave, «Hey, good to see you, let’s get together!» It wasn’t that kind of acknowledgment; it was an experiential, intimate acquaintance. This is interesting because God is actually giving everybody in this room an invitation to come to know Him in all the different ways of our life. We have so many ways to be; we would take all day to even try to listen, but let me give you a few: family; that’s one of the ways we have in our life. It’s our relationships, our friends—that’s a way. It’s our financial life—that’s a part of our life. It’s our ministry. It’s our church life. It’s our mental health; it’s our emotional health; it’s our area of faith; it’s our area of business or work gifting. We have all these things, all these different aspects of life.
What happens is we may have an area of maturity—let’s say that you just have a grace on your life where you know how to raise children, and your children are thriving; they’re doing good, your spouse is happy, your family—doesn’t mean you never have problems. Just, you know how to weather them; you have a grace for that because you’ve come to know God in that part of your life. But when it comes to money, there’s just constant fear—constant worry and anxiety. You know, worry and anxiety give us a false sense of being responsible. It gives us a false sense that we’re being responsible people. No, that’s counterfeit responsibility because we’re taking on a responsibility He didn’t give us. It doesn’t mean I don’t take ownership of my decisions and my issues financially; it just means that worry, anxiety—all that stuff—actually gives place for me to put my trust in something else. It’s the holding to or despising; that’s what happens in the life that goes down that road.
So here we’ve got this issue of «in all your ways, acknowledge Him.» What is He saying here? Let’s say that your family life is good; finances are good. But when something happens that’s just out of the ordinary, the car breaks down, maybe a dear friend just betrayed you and just made up lies; they really hurt you. Those things are always going to hurt; they’re always going to challenge our faith. But they devastate some, and it’s never supposed to devastate a person’s life. So let’s say that in a situation like, «Man, you know, I do so good for so long, and then something happens. Somebody tells a lie about me; they post something online, and I just get this emotional nosedive.» I don’t like this emotional instability. «God, I want to know You as the one who is emotionally stable because You are the creator of my emotions and You Yourself are emotional.» It says His anger lasts for the night, but His favor lasts for a lifetime. There’s emotion involved there.
«God, I want to know You as the creator of emotions! I want to come to know You in this area so that I can actually manage this part of my life.» This is what He says: «In all your ways acknowledge, come to know Him, and He will direct your paths.» He’s not just saying, «Here, I’ll give you the direction that you seek for in your life.» That’s not it at all. There are two things. Number one, the word here for direct paths is to make straight. I’m going to take a crooked, crazy path that you’re on. A horrendous, life-threatening, nerve-wracking journey? I’m just going to straighten that road out. We’re going to take a treacherous trail and turn it into a four-lane highway. That’s what we’re gonna do; that’s what the Lord is saying. He says, «I’m going to make it straight! I’m going to make it straight so pedal to the metal! You can go where you’re supposed to go.»
But the second thing is, what is the path of the direction of the Lord? He would always work to take Israel into their inheritance, into their promised land. So when the Lord says, «You say, 'God, I want to know You in my emotions! '» or, «I want to know You in my finances!» «I want to know You; I don’t want to just have ideas and run with them. I want to experientially encounter You as the God who provides. You’re the one who with a word sustains all of life. You’re the source of life. You’re the sustainer of life! I want You to be the sustainer of my economic well-being. I want to know You there.» What happens? He says, «Awesome! Let’s talk!» He begins to work with us and encounter us; things begin to expand in our thinking and our expectations. What’s happening? We’re coming to know Him as the God of finance.
What happens then? He makes what was crooked straight and it takes us right into inheritance. It’s the shortcut to breakthrough! «In all your ways, come to know!» It may be that there’s a child who is just different than all the other kids, which we all have kids who are all different than the others. I heard one comedian say, «I have two wonderful children, and then there’s a third one.» That’s a bad joke, but I just thought it was funny. We have three wonderful children, but they’re so unique that you may have a personality, your gifting, or your insight may be prone to succeed better with one over the other. It’s not that you prefer one over the other; it’s just your own makeup fits well for this individual. So what happens is we need to encounter God in that way of life, in that part of our life.
I need to have more than concepts and principles. I need to know the God of child-rearing with somebody that has that creative mind. I need to know how to work with that, because I think so much differently. You understand what I’m saying? So we come to know God. So what does that mean? It means I have to set my heart to know Him who is Lord over that expression in life. «God, I’m so weak in this area; I would love to be more in tune artistically or musically or whatever.» He’s the creator of it all, so we take time to seek His face. We set our heart on knowing Him in that way, and what happens? That encounter transforms who we are and what we’re capable of doing! So here’s the verse: «Trust in the Lord with all your heart; absolute surrender. Don’t lean on your own understanding—it’ll undermine your faith.»
Romans 8 says that the mindset in the flesh is hostile to God; it is not even capable of obeying God. Isn’t that amazing? The mind, separated from the Holy Spirit’s direction and influence, is actually at war with God. So that’s why He says, «Trust in the Lord with all your heart; don’t lean on your own understanding.» Don’t feed into that which will undermine your faith and eventually rob you of your destiny! But instead, in every part of your life, every area of your life, acknowledge the way you have in your life. I have a financial part of my life; I have a business part of my life; I have a relationship with friends part of my life; I have all these different aspects of life. «God, I’m acknowledging You! I want to know You here so that out of my relationship with You financially, there is the offspring of a prosperity that I will know what to do with because You are my absolute Lord and King!»
And I always acknowledge Him; you know, make your path straight, and He’ll take you right into your promise. I love the prayer we just had on the screen—that five-year-old from T.D. Jakes' church— that child knows how to pray! I watched it yesterday a number of times and today already a bunch of times! I love it! I love the prayer for promised land breakthrough! I love his prayer: «God, they are fully qualified for the inheritance of Jesus!» Come on—fully qualified! Jesus qualified me for His inheritance—that’s amazing!
Well, here’s the deal: that idea excites me, but I want to see measured answers. The concept is nice, but none of the concepts are merely for eternity! Faith is always to have a measured effect on now, and one of the great passions for me this year for us is to see the measured impact of promises fulfilled. We’ve got this banner I saw there today: Hometown victories! That’s what we’re contending for—more and more and more hometown victories! The greatest hometown victory of all is for people who would come and spend time with us, as you have here today, to know what it is to be not only forgiven of sin but also to know what it is to be a part of a family that’s God’s own personal family! It’s amazing to me that when I said yes to Jesus, He adopted me!
The interesting thing about being adopted is you’re not an accident; it was on purpose. When the Father said, «I’ll take you» and He took me—and He took you and you and you—it was a deliberate choice to bring us into His family to show what it’s like to be a son or daughter of God, to be forgiven of sin and to be empowered to become what He designed you to become. That’s the life in Christ! And there’s always a chance, when there’s a crowd this size, that there are people here who have not made that turn to put faith in Christ. If that’s you, and you would say in your heart of hearts, «Bill, I don’t want to leave the building until I know I’m at peace with God, until I know what it is to be forgiven of sin and adopted into His family,» if that’s you, then I want you just to put a hand up. Say, «Bill, I don’t want to leave until I know.» That’s right back here—wonderful! Anyone else, real quick? Yep, right over here is another one—you’re saying, «I want to give my life to Jesus! I am putting my faith in Christ!» You know, He’s the only one I see who has the right to run my life, and yet He is the most gracious, loving Father. He has the right, and I have the privilege of surrender!
So, I want you to stand if you would, and we’re going to pray together. Before we do, we just had two people—may have been more, but I saw two—that put their hands up, saying, «I’m putting my faith in Christ. I want to know what it is to belong to the family of God.» I’m going to ask, please, no one move around right now. This is too precious a moment for anyone to be distracted by your movement, alright? I want to ask the two—and if there are others—come right over here to my left. These folks have their hands up right here. If you could just come right down here, come right down over here to my left. These are people that we know and trust who will just simply pray with you—that’s all they want. Everyone come right down here—beautiful! There’s another one; just come on down. Yeah, come right over here! If you have a friend, you can walk with 'em; that’s great! Yeah, bless you! Beautiful! The greatest miracle of all is to see the absolute change that takes place in people’s lives! Bless you!
We wanted to remind you, we’ve got three or four that have come forward saying «Yes» to Jesus, and that’s just the greatest miracle of all! Nothing compares with that, right here, the absolute destiny of people’s lives. Listen to this—not just their lives but their family line, legacy, their children, their grandchildren—entire family lines are being transformed right now as we speak. So we just bless you guys in the name of the Lord. Boy, I just pray that He fills you with the Holy Spirit and power! Wow! Wow! Wow! Alright, I better not get too distracted here. I’m going to jump into the crowd, but I won’t do that.
Alright, let’s have the ministry team come real quickly. If you went to the front, I want to pray over you as a church family before we dismiss. So, ministry team, come up real quick because I want you to be able to pray for anyone who needs a miracle in their body or to pray for anyone who just has any kind of family crisis—whatever it might be. We have people here that we love and trust who are willing and able to pray for you, no matter what the situation is!
Alright, now how about let’s quote that verse together: Proverbs 3, verses 5 and 6. You ready? If you don’t know the verse, just do «watermelon, watermelon, watermelon;» just keep your lips moving or just pretend like you know! Let’s say it: «Trust in the Lord with all your heart; lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your paths!»
So, Father, I pray that this year would be the year of unusual breakthroughs again—that promised land of victories would take place at an increased level. I’m asking that You’d help us to come to know You in all the different parts and ways of life. We ask all of this in honor of the name Jesus. Amen! Amen! Hold your places, and we’ll get some direction on what to do next. So good!