Bill Johnson - Discovering God's Purpose for Your Life
all through history, people have created stories that try to answer the cry of the heart for fulfillment about why we’re alive. There are children’s stories, fables, and all these things. They are attempts to reveal what it means to be in a right relationship with the Father because you were born to demonstrate unity between a son, a daughter, and the Father, and Him fulfilling what you were born for. Eric sent me something this past week saying 2018 was marked by a number of recalls, all of them vegetables. Note that there were no bacon recalls! Amen! To keep your kids safe, feed them bacon! That’s really the conclusion of that message. It’s funny—this morning I was thinking of a recall; something happened in Weaverville. For 11 years while I was there, we met for 11 years at the Town Theater. They continued to meet there for a couple more years until the building was built. We put a little sandwich sign out front that said, «Mountain Chapel meets here today,» and then on the marquee would be whatever movie was showing that week. The newspaper captured one that you just can’t miss. It said, «Sandwich sign: Mountain Chapel meets here today.» On the marquee, it said, «God’s Must Be Crazy,» which I thought was a perfect combination. I don’t know, it witnessed to my heart that it was good.
A woman just returned to her home from an evening of church services when she was startled by an intruder. She caught the man in the act of robbing her home of its valuables and yelled, «Stop! Acts 2:38.» That verse says, «Repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ so your sins may be forgiven.» The burglar stopped in his tracks. The woman calmly called the police and explained what she had done. As the officer cuffed the man to take him in, he asked the burglar, «Why did you just stand there? All the old lady did was yell a scripture at you.» He replied, «Scripture? She said she had an axe and 238s.»
Okay, let’s go to Luke. We have a real special treat: one of our heroes of the faith from the healing revival of the '50s, Jack Coe, and his son, Jack Coe Jr., are here today, along with his grandson, Jared. Can you wave at us or something? Let everyone know where you are. So Jared, Jack Jr.'s grandson, is here. We’re just wonderful friends, and we’re honored that you’d be here. For the last two times I’ve spoken to you, I’ve talked to you about bitterness and jealousy, which are just wonderful Christmas themes. I had to interject «Merry Christmas» throughout the messages just to keep people from falling into deep depression. Seriously, if you weren’t able to be a part of those days, I would encourage you to review that.
Today, I want to look at one part of the Christmas story that always impacts me. The only thing I don’t like about Christmas is that we tend to look at scriptures or sing songs that we only do like one time a year. These themes are continuous throughout the year. Mary is one of the great heroes of Scripture, and I’m inspired by her example, the way she responded to an impossible challenge in front of her. So we’ll look at that in a moment. The Holy Spirit came upon Mary, and she revealed Jesus. The Holy Spirit comes upon the written word, and Jesus is revealed. The Holy Spirit comes upon a surrendered believer, and Jesus is revealed. I don’t want to lessen the significance of the role that Mary plays. She’s called «highly favored of the Lord,» so please don’t misunderstand that. However, the miracle of Jesus being manifested in and through you and me is the same miracle. It’s the Spirit of God coming upon the natural to manifest the eternal. Eternity is the cornerstone of all logic and reason. Anytime we lose sight of eternity, we are bound to come to temporary and false conclusions.
Seeing things from an eternal perspective changes everything. For example, Mary is called «highly favored of the Lord.» If you lose sight of eternal perspective, you look at her circumstances: Joseph wants to divorce her, not follow through with the wedding; Herod wants to kill her child; the scandal of her being a mother of an illegitimate child looks like anything but favor. Favor on your life will reveal issues in the people around you, and our ability to carry favor well is key to the increase of favor. We never owe anyone an explanation, nor should you ever apologize for favor. An apology for favor is an expression of unbelief that basically says God made a bad decision by giving me favor. You never want to dishonor God with how unqualified you may feel for an assignment. I hope everybody in the room feels unqualified. If you feel qualified, you haven’t seen your assignment clearly.
The only possible response to what God expects from our life is the overwhelming sense, «I could never pull this off,» and that’s the position the Lord puts every one of us in so that He can demonstrate who He is. Good works are a critical part of the Christian life—feeding the poor, serving those without clothes or housing, or whatever it might be. Fill in the blanks. The overall gamut of meeting the demand of human need is a huge part of the Christian life. But if we’re honest, we’ll realize that feeding the poor and all these other amazing and wonderful things can be done by people who don’t know the Lord. There has to be an aspect of our service before the Lord that only He can do in and through us. It has to cross the line into the realm of impossibility, or it has not adequately given witness to the resurrection of Jesus.
There is in every one of us an inbuilt appetite for the impossible that will bend its knee to the name of Jesus through our lips. It’s critical. It’s vital that that is a regular part of our life. If it is not, we have to come back before the Lord and find out why. Not in introspection, but to learn where we need to take risks. The Lord is looking for people who will come into agreement with what He has said. There is alignment—I almost hate to use the word «alignment» because cults use it—but we’re called a cult, so maybe it’s all right. There is this agreement we make with the Lord. When people come into proper alignment or agreement with what He has said, there is a display of what God intends on the Earth.
Let’s take a look at these scriptures. What we’ll do is take some time to talk through about 12 verses; it will take probably 20 minutes or so, and then we’re going to spend the rest of the time sharing in communion together. It’s going to be two completely separate parts, but they’ll both be good, I hope. Alright, let’s go to verse 26. Did I tell you where? Luke chapter 1? Did I not tell you? Well, open your Bible anywhere; it’s all good. Just start reading out loud wherever you open to, and we’ll see how well this works.
Alright, Luke chapter 1, verse 26: «Now in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary.» Having come in, the angel said to her, «Rejoice, highly favored one! The Lord is with you; blessed are you among women.» But when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying and considered what manner of greeting this was. Then the angel said to her, «Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a son, and shall call his name Jesus. He will be great. He will be called the Son of the Highest, and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom, there will be no end.» Then Mary said to the angel, «How can this be, since I do not know a man?» The angel answered and said to her, «The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you. Therefore, also, the Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God. Now indeed, Elizabeth, your relative, has also conceived a son in her old age, and this is now the sixth month for her who was called barren.» Last two verses: «For with God, nothing will be impossible.» Then Mary said, «Behold, the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.» And the angel departed from her.
I love this story a lot. I often return to it just to be refreshed by reading something that’s out of my sequence. I like to read books of the Bible and just go through them, but every once in a while, I’ll go right to this and just read through it because it’s so encouraging to me. Mary has an angel show up and make this announcement of God’s intention. Everything that God has intended to do in and through you is absolutely impossible, as I’ve already stated. If you’re not overwhelmed by your assignment, you don’t see your assignment. What He intends to do is absolutely impossible—it puts us in a place of absolute dependency so that He can work in and through us to display Himself as the God of the impossible. This is His intention, and He has designed it so for every person who puts their faith in Christ. It is not for a select few; it is the design of God for every person.
So the angel shows up to Mary and says, «Rejoice, highly favored one!» Typically, you rejoice after the baby is born. She was commanded, «Rejoice! It’s coming!» There’s not one situation that anybody in this room faces that you wouldn’t like to have a miracle for; Jesus has already settled the issue and paid the appropriate price so that that miracle could be accomplished in His name. There is not one situation He did not pay for so you and I would leave it on the lot. Everything in our life has already been settled. The cross that Jesus suffered on had a complete effect and work. There is not one thing anybody in this room could face that Jesus would look at and say, «Ah, wish I would have thought of that before I died. I would have put that on the cross too.» There are none of those things. Every single issue of life—in fact, not just in this life but throughout all of eternity—has already been settled. So when the angel of the Lord comes to Mary and says, «Rejoice, highly favored one,» it is because this thing has already been settled in heaven.
If we knew how much was already settled in heaven, joy would be the natural response, a celebration beforehand. The reality is eternity defines every situation we face. I may be in the middle of a conflict here, but I’m also in the middle of a breakthrough here. I may be in the middle—I hope—in the middle of a challenge here because it’s necessary for faith to grow, but I’m also experiencing great breakthrough here. Every person in this room was designed to invade this realm called impossibility! Now the Lord, the angel of the Lord, appears to Mary and says, «Rejoice, highly favored one.» This favor would cause her to be valued and celebrated for all eternity. Everywhere the gospel is shared, there is celebration for this woman who said yes, and the miracle produced Jesus. She is celebrated, but she was also opposed, and favor does that to our surroundings.
I strongly exhort you: do not make excuses for the favor of God; simply embrace it and give Him the honor and the credit for it. I’ve shared this even in recent weeks, but the point is, when somebody comes to you and they celebrate you, thank you, and tell you, «You did such a great job,» please don’t say, «It wasn’t me; it was Jesus.» Aside from it being nauseating for the rest of us, I come to someone and say, «It’s a beautiful song you just sang!» They tell me, «Oh, it wasn’t me; it was Jesus.» I’m thinking, «It wasn’t that good!» It was good, but let’s be honest: if Jesus sang that, universes would be created. His declared word would have changed everything. So it wasn’t that it was good, but it wasn’t that good.
If someone comes to you with a compliment, receive it. If you don’t know how to receive honor, you’ll have no crown to throw at His feet. You have to know how to receive honor. Then, when you get alone with the Lord, you just say, «Look what was given to me that belongs to you.» It’s part of the process. So back to the story: Mary is called this «highly favored one,» and she had both blessings and challenges because of the favor, and favor will do that.
The subject of favor is not our subject today, so I’ve got to move quickly on this. Favor is the difference between some people fulfilling why they’re alive and others who don’t. The issue of favor is that people can have a call of God on their life but never learn the need for favor, so they never increase in favor, and thus never have the appropriate open doors, support, or whatever is needed to accomplish what God has called them to do. Favor is the issue; it says if Jesus increased in favor with God and with man. It’s amazing! I understand why He needed to increase in favor with man because it’s going to be Zacchaeus that welcomes him into his home. It’s going to be the Pharisee that invites him, you know, to his house, to where Mary washes his feet. It’s going to be these people that give opportunity for Jesus to step in.
But how is it that Jesus, the Son of God, who is absolutely perfect in every possible way, needs to increase in favor with God? I don’t know; I don’t have an answer. I just know if He did, you and I might want to consider our need for increased favor with God as well. Don’t think that what you have is enough because part of what you need is what you can obtain through faithfulness with what you have. So we’ll leave that there.
Let’s move on down to this verse 32. In the last half of the verse, it says, «The Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David.» That’s strange because in verse 35 it says he will be called the Son of God, but in verse 32, he’s called the Son of David. This is one of the things that has marked me: to see God look at this man, David, who God said, «He has a heart after my heart.» The Lord looked at this man, David, and said, «I’m going to call My Son your son forever.» How do you obtain such a place of favor with the Almighty God? It tells me He’s impressionable; it tells me it’s possible to leave a mark on His heart. He’s not this robotic being; He’s one who has invited us into this relational journey.
There are times in Scripture where someone would demonstrate faith; the centurion demonstrates faith; the Syrophoenician woman demonstrates this faith. Jesus stops in the middle of the miracle and says, «I’ve not seen faith like this in all of Israel.» How is it that you have God stand up and go, «Wow! Look at that! I’ve never seen anything like that before!» There are certain responses that the people of God can have to Him that are not generic; they’re not apathetic; they’re unique; they’re honest; they’re real; they’re honest. It’s absolute surrender, and He stops and says, «You know what? I’m going to call My Son your Son.» Never have I seen such great faith in all of Israel’s history.
This is a relational journey; this is not a Christian routine where you jump through hoops and try to accomplish a certain regiment. I’ve been invited to know God, and in my heart of hearts, knowing Him is the reason I’m alive. It’s the reason I wake up in the morning; it’s the reason I go to bed at night; it’s the reason behind everything—it’s this invitation to actually walk with the One who created all things and to come to know Him. There’s something about this privileged invitation that makes everything else pale in comparison.
I remember talking to some young people years ago; I was in a group of about 20 or so, and I said, «The claims of Jesus are so absolutely astronomical, so extreme, that if it is true, I owe Him my entire life to that which is true. But if it is a lie, it has made such a mark on history that I owe my entire life to humanity to disprove that this thing that He has claimed is true.» In other words, it is a line in the sand that says, «Choose your side.» It is that demanding. It is not gray; it’s not a gray area; it’s not an apathetic area. It’s not an area that we stand back and simply applaud. It’s like the claims of this Jesus to actually atone for sin, to make it where I can have peace forever with God, where His nature can become my own nature, that I am actually changed from the inside out, that I find out why I’m alive. Suddenly this becomes crystal clear, and it becomes clear through the redemptive work of Jesus.
Here in this moment, He’s called the Son of God, but He’s also called the Son of David. Move down to verse 37; this is one of my favorite verses. The next two are two of my favorites in the whole Bible. Verse 37 says, «For with God, nothing will be impossible.» Say that with me: «For with God, nothing will be impossible.» Say it again: «For with God, nothing will be impossible.» We’ve looked at this countless times through the years, and I realize for many of you, this will be a repeat, but I love repeating it: «With God, nothing will be impossible.»
That phrase «nothing will be impossible» has an interesting makeup, and it was Jack Taylor who helped me understand this many years ago. I actually heard him teach on this passage before I ever met him. He has since become a personal friend and a friend of our house, and he writes to me regularly just to encourage me. He’s such an amazing father in the faith. But he took this verse, «Nothing is impossible with God,» and broke it down. The word «nothing» is actually two different words. It’s the word «no,» but then there’s the word «Rhema.» Rhema is the distinction between logos and rhema in the Greek language to describe God’s word. Logos would be more used for the written word; Rhema is that which is freshly spoken. It’s not absolute, but those are the predominant uses in scripture.
So just think through this with me. Rhema, no Rhema, no freshly spoken word of God will be impossible. The word «impossible» actually means «without ability.» So this verse can be translated this way: «No freshly spoken word of God will ever come to you that does not contain its own ability to perform itself.» Wow! No freshly spoken word of God will ever come to you that does not contain its own ability to perform itself. See, in James 1, it says, «In humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your soul.» The power is not in my ability to receive; the power is in the word I receive.
In the same way, the acorn produces the oak tree; the power is in the acorn. The surroundings, the soil, is my «amen» to what God is saying. It’s my surrender; it’s my yieldedness to that which God has spoken. I have a role, but I don’t make anything grow. I create the atmosphere of absolute surrender so that His purposes can actually be fully displayed in me. To any measure, He intends no freshly spoken word of God will ever come to any one of us that does not in itself contain its own ability to make sure that what was spoken actually happens. And that’s why the next verse is so significant.
Verse 38: Mary said, «Behold, the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.» Let it be to me according to your word. We used to sing this song years ago: «Be it unto me according to your word.» It was this wonderful song. Dick Joyce, in fact, taught us—who is now home with the Lord—this wonderful prophet friend that made such a huge difference in our lives in Weaverville and here at Bethel. He taught us this song. I’ll never forget it: «Be it unto me according to your word.» We would just sing this song, using scripture to sing into this place of absolute surrender. «God, we want you to perform in and through us all that you intend.»
Now catch this thought: Jesus almost walked on water, Jesus on air, either one—air or water, same thing—Jesus in the Gospel of John. The predominant feature of the Gospel of John is that Jesus came to reveal the Father. Yes, ten of you agree! Has anyone ever read the Gospel of John? Jesus came to reveal the Father. You know, if I keep at it by the end of the day, we should have everyone!
Okay, Jesus came to reveal the Father; here’s the deal. The Father is only revealed through His children. In other words, He can be revealed but not as Father. He can be revealed as Almighty God; He can be revealed as the great judge; He can be revealed as the Creator. He can be revealed as a thousand different things, but if He’s revealed as the Father, it’s in connection to the revelation of who His kids are.
The point I want to make is that you and I have this incredible privilege to reveal the Father by us being what He has designed us to be. In other words, if I claim to be a good father, then it has to be measurable with how my children are treated. Your relationship with God as your Father actually illustrates the quality of His fathering. Jesus illustrated that very thing perfectly by doing what He only said what He heard His Father say. He only did what He saw His Father do.
He illustrated perfectly; you go to a place in Rome and throw a coin into the fountain and make a wish. Your birthday cake is brought to you, and you blow out the candles and make a wish. In a children’s story, you rub on a lantern, and a genie comes out and grants you a wish. All through history, people have created stories that try to answer the cry of the heart for a fulfillment of why we are alive. There are children’s stories, fables—there are all these things. I’m fine with all of them as stories, but they are all attempts to reveal what it is to be in right relationship with the Father because you were born to demonstrate unity between a son, a daughter, and the Father, and Him fulfilling what you were born for.
So she says, «Be it unto me according to your word.» That’s the «amen!» I can’t make that impossibility happen. How many of you are aware that you cannot make what God wants out of your life happen? But what I can do is I can say yes. What I can do is invite Him to do what only He can do. So say this with me: «Be it unto me, according to your word.»
We’re going to share in communion together, and I would like to ask our ushers and whoever’s helping to hand out the supplies. We’re going to share in communion together. Typically, our tradition is to come to the front and share in communion in groups; we’re not going to do that today because I want to lead you through specific things.
I do want to ask staff and ministry team to come on up to the front, if you would, because I want to have you ready. When we’re through with communion, I want to have you ready to pray for people. For those who are watching on Bethel TV, we should announce ahead of time that we’re doing communion so you can get your own supplies ready and join with us. If that’s doable, do it quickly because we’d love to have you join.
I want to take you through a typical, normal process of communion for my wife and for myself. By the way, Benny and I—mostly Benny—wrote a book on communion. It comes out in February, and so I’m real excited for this. I think it’s going to be a great compliment to what God’s doing in the earth. As believers, I don’t come to this table of the Lord as a tradition, where I need to just get another notch on my Bible that I’ve accomplished something I’m supposed to do. For me, this is a living interaction between me and the Almighty God. It’s one of the most history-influencing activities of my life.
It’s not done out of routine; it’s done with faith; it’s done with obedience. I know as Protestants, we’re not supposed to approach the body and the blood this way, but when I hold the bread in my hand, I remind myself Jesus said, «This is my body.» I don’t have to understand anything about it; all I need to do is acknowledge I hold in my hand the broken body of Jesus. The broken body represents something to us that’s extremely significant. Jesus was beaten with a whip. If you can imagine a whip with leather strands and, at the end, pieces of shards of glass and pieces of metal, they beat Him with this whip until, history tells us, internal organs were displayed.
He was beyond recognition, and according to Isaiah 53, that payment He made was not so that we would feel bad for Him looking in the past, but that we would realize He purchased something in that moment. He actually bought your right to healing! He made a payment. «By His stripes I was healed» is the scripture. «By His stripes I was healed.»
Two thousand years ago, a payment was made for our healing, and the only thing greater than divine healing is divine health. I believe that the Lord is going to give us insight. I don’t have it right now; I just have the ache in my heart. I can tell when God’s doing something. My heart will usually ache for it first. There’s this ache in my heart that tells me there is a reality I’m not yet tasting of that He has made available. I don’t know how to get there, except to come before Him repeatedly in obedience and surrender, making my petitions known.
That issue is divine health. I believe that if Israel in the wilderness, in rebellion against God—not even born again—could experience divine healing, then how much more for those who are under a superior covenant would actually taste of superior blessings? What I don’t want us to do is to create a theology for a problem we face; I want to hold to the theology of the solution. I only want to hold to the theology that says this is what Jesus has accomplished, that this that I’m facing would yield and be broken for the glory of God.
You hold in your hands the testimony of a broken body. I want you to stand. There may be some in the back who don’t yet have the bread, but I want you to stand. I want you to hold your bread out in front of you. There are several things that I do that I’m going to ask you to do with me, so put everything else aside—all other activities—in this one moment. I want us to come before the Lord with the broken body of Jesus, and what I like to do is hold the bread, the body, before the Lord and begin to pray and make confession and declaration.
«By the stripes of Jesus, Mary is healed. Cancer is never to return to her body again. By the stripes of Jesus, Parkinson’s is gone from Kathy. Parkinson’s has been defeated in Allen.» Just make these declarations. They’re not ritual or routine; life and death are in the power of the tongue, and all I want is my tongue to agree with what God has accomplished and what God is saying.
So I’m going to ask you to do that. I’m going to ask you to take just a moment, hold the bread before the Lord, and declare the healing grace of Jesus over your body, over your family, over any family member or person, friend that you know that is battling a disease. Bring their name before the Lord and declare over them, «By His stripes, you were healed.»
Let’s do that. Take just a moment for that. Do that even at home—those of you who are watching. «By the stripes of Jesus, I was made whole. By the stripes of Jesus, I was healed. By the stripes of Jesus, Mark Cooper was healed. Cancer is never to return to that body. By the stripes of Jesus, even in this room, brain disorders are to be healed. This is spirit, soul, and body. Every area of life is healed; there’s not one thing He left out.» We declare that healing grace.
Now hold that bread in front of you again. When you’re on your own, obviously, you can pray for everybody you can think of, but we do have a time limit this morning. So hold that bread in front of me. Here’s another thing that the broken body of Jesus did: In Ephesians 2, it says Jesus bore on His body the dividing wall. Now think about it. Between Jew and Gentile—the greatest divide ever to exist—the blessed and the cursed, Jesus took on His own body the dividing wall. What does that mean? It means that this bread, this brokenness that you hold in your hand, He became broken that we might become whole. He became empty that we might become full. He became despised so that we could be celebrated; He was rejected so we could be accepted. He became this so that we could live in this.
This is what God intended for you and me. Any situation where you know there’s division—it could be between you and a family member, it could be between a racial conflict in your place of work or city or nation, doesn’t matter what it is—I want you to hold this before the Lord, and I want you to make the confession: «This is more than enough to fix this divide. This is more than enough.» The payment you made is more than adequate to make it possible for unity to exist between this church and that church, between this race and that race, between this family and that family.
Lord God, we give you thanks for the power of healing and the power of unity—all that was released through the broken body of Jesus. Receive that now. Let’s partake together.
Now we give you thanks, Lord; we give you thanks, we give you thanks!
Hold the cup before the Lord. When I bring the cup before the Lord, Jesus said that this is His blood. There are two confessions I like to make, proclamations I like to make when I partake of communion of the blood. The first is: «The blood of Jesus sets me free.» Say that with me: «The blood of Jesus sets me free.» Say it again: «The blood of Jesus sets me free.»
The other thing I like to proclaim as I pray for every family member is this confession: «As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.» Say it together: «As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.»
And then I pray for my family members. Do that now. Take just maybe 60 seconds for that. Just declare. If you have loved ones that aren’t walking with the Lord, just call them in. We just say every single one has a place in Christ; we call them home in Jesus' name. The blood of Jesus sets free; the blood of Jesus sets free.
Thank you, thank you, thank you, God! I love praying for my family so much. I just love what I do. I pray for my kids, my grandkids, as I’ve done for, goodness, 40—Eric’s 42 years old, so I’ve done it for 42. In fact, I did it before he was born. I pray, «God, Jeremiah 24, give them a heart to know you. Let them hear your voice. Woo them with your voice. Let them know your ways, God.»
Let them know your ways! Pray that for your family: «God, give them a heart to know you! Let them know your ways, God! Draw them near to you!»
Next to praying for my family, probably my most favorite part is when I pray for those who, for whatever reason, have chosen to oppose me or criticize me. Their work in the gospel is to somehow take away from whatever God is doing here. The Bible makes it clear you don’t ever have the right to criticize a servant to their master. So I have no voice before the Lord—I don’t want to anyway; I have no voice to criticize another servant of God to God Himself.
What I have found joy in is praying for God to abundantly bless them in every possible way. I love to pray that God would prosper them, spirit, soul, and body. That their health would be good, that they would never need anything financially, that God would surround them with favor, that every opportunity for their gift would be provided for them, that they would become all that God has meant for them to become. I love to pray that when I’m holding the cup of the blood, because the blood is what covers me and covers them. It’s the blood that wipes out the power of sin.
I love to pray—my favorite thing, I guess, maybe, is that I pray that God would give their children and their grandchildren the joy of having children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren who serve God with a whole heart, absolute passion, and purity of heart—that they would know the joy of multiple generations serving Jesus. Some of you have conflicts right now; you may be doing well, but there’s just the pain of conflict. I want you to pray a blessing on that person. If the person you need to forgive is already dead, don’t pray for them. We don’t pray for the dead.
But honestly, pray for their family members, their descendants. Pray that the Lord would so richly touch that household—the family that remains from that person who caused you such pain. Be a redemptive person, not just a reactor; be a redemptive person.
So let’s hold this cup before the Lord. Let’s pray this one thing: If you have anyone you need to forgive, obviously, just do it right now. I just declare forgiveness for that person; mention their name. Pray for the Lord to abundantly prosper these people.
I think the ones that I know of are doing all that they know to do with what they have. I can’t judge them by my experience, so I bless them. I ask for rich, rich reward from God on their lives. I release them from my judgment, the file of information I’ve collected that proves me right and them wrong. I throw it on the fire right now and declare the wonderful grace of Jesus covers us both. Amen to that!
Amen. Let’s receive this together as a testimony of our own forgiveness. Thank you, Jesus! Thank you! Thank you, Lord! Wow! Do we have ushers and—yeah, you got little baggies? Pass the cups to the aisle if you would, otherwise we’re going to have broken shards of plastic all over the room.
I need to do one more thing as we get ready to go. We’ve got a ministry team down here. Is anybody else thankful that we’ve got a team of people just ready to pray? I’m so thankful!
Okay, we got a lot of movement here; let it be just the ushers taking care of stuff. The rest of you could just give me your attention for a moment here. I should have done this before we took communion; I apologize. It’s really out of sequence, but let me just ask the question: If there’s anyone here that would say, «Bill, I don’t want to leave the building until I know I am at peace with God, until I know I’ve been forgiven, until I know that I’ve been born again, changed from the inside out. I want to follow Jesus with all my heart,» if there’s anybody in that position, put a hand up right now. Just say, «Bill, that’s me. I don’t want to leave the building until I know I’m right with God.»
One way back over here—yes, beautiful! Anyone else? Put your hand up high. There’s another one right over here. It’s wonderful! The greatest miracle of all is this right here! Yes! Anyone else? Real quick?
Here’s what I’m going to ask: Who’s helping me out here? You okay, Tom? Come on up. Here’s what I want to ask: The two of you that just raised your hand—if there’s more that I missed—just come on down. I want you to come right over here to my left. I’ve got some people over here, friends that we know and trust. I want to ask them to talk with you and pray with you. I want to make sure that what happens in your life—that what you raised your hand for—actually happens in your life. So I want to ask you to come down to the front over here.
Come down to the front. Those of you with your hands up will talk with you and pray with you. Those of you that need a miracle in your body, you can start to make your way now.