Bill Johnson - God Wants His Word to Become Flesh Again
God is planting and depositing in us promises of hope, future, and destiny that are so profound and powerful. But whenever I begin to ponder and think, «Oh, this was promised so many years ago; it’ll never happen,» I start undermining the very life I hold. I actually render the word of God of no effect. Thank you. Well, hello! Good morning! Nice to see you. It’s still morning; we have another 20 minutes. That’s good. Well, good morning! Nice to see you; I’m glad you showed up. I like Christmas. I’m not even bitter at Santa anymore; I’m good. I don’t care about reindeer, of course, I hunt them, but you know. Sorry, I just wounded so many people with that comment.
All right, a guy goes to a psychiatrist and says, «I have problems. Every time I go to bed, I think there’s somebody under it. I’m scared I think I’m going crazy.» The shrink says, «Put your life into my hands for one year. Come talk to me three times a week; we should be able to get rid of those fears.» He asks, «How much do you charge?» The doctor says, «$80 a visit.» He replies, «I’ll sleep on it.» Six months later, the doctor meets him on the street and asks, «Why didn’t you come see me about those fears you were having?» He says, «Well, $80 a visit three times a week is over $112,000 in a year. My neighbor cured me for free! I was so happy I saved all that money; I went and bought a truck!» The doctor, with a bit of an attitude, says, «And how, may I ask, did your neighbor cure you?» He replies, «He told me to cut the legs off the bed; there ain’t nobody under there now!» That’s just dumb. But I like it; you know, sometimes you just have to enjoy dumb!
All right, open your Bibles to Luke chapter 1. We’re going to take a look at the Christmas story a bit, and there are a few things that I want to address that touched me year-round from this story. Everything about our walk with Christ has its roots in what we do with what God says. God spoke the worlds into being; He literally spoke, and it was there. Psalms 33:6 says, «And by His word, the heavens were made.» So God literally just speaks things into existence. Faith comes from hearing, so faith itself even is a product of God’s creation within our hearts. We are targets for Him to deposit His own nature of faith into the lives of every believer. His word holds everything together. In Colossians, it says, «In Him, all things consist.» Things are held together by the word of His power. So literally, everything that exists is held in place because God spoke and said, «It’s to be so.» His word is what gives us life; we live not by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from His mouth. So we literally are alive, spiritually vibrant, because He speaks, and we listen. What we do with what He says is vital.
Now, God is sovereign; He can force anything upon us that He wants to, He’s all-powerful and all-knowing. But He has chosen to write us into the story so that we actually have an effect on what happens. We know this from several places, specifically as it pertains to the word of God. We know this from the parable of the seed and the sower. We know that there is hard ground that doesn’t receive seed. We know there’s rocky ground; hard places that are not dealt with in the human heart resist the word of God. We also know there’s soil with thorns and other things planted in there, which represents people who not only entertain the word of God but also entertain other ideas that compete with what God has said, strangling the word. And then there’s the good soil.
The effectiveness of God’s all-powerful word is connected to the condition of the heart of the person. In other words, what we do with what God has said actually impacts the success of what God has said. In Mark chapter 7, Jesus addresses this concept when He talks to the Pharisees, rebuking them for their values of tradition—in other words, man-made values, concepts, and ideas that were held above what God said. Jesus made this profound statement; he was known for doing it: «By holding to these traditions, you have rendered the word of God of no effect.» Wow! Think with me, the word of God, the most powerful thing in the universe, He says you, at least for this season, are able to render the all-powerful reduced to no power at all.
If I could illustrate it this way: if there were a guitar up here, cranked up extremely loud, and I walk over to the wall and pull the plug out of the wall, I’ve rendered the electric instrument powerless; I’ve rendered it of no effect. God has actually given us this role as co-laborers that we can use for or against what He’s saying.
Now, I do want to add here that there are aspects of the will of God that you can vote yes on or you can vote no on; it doesn’t make any difference whatsoever; He’s going to accomplish what He purposes to accomplish. But there are other aspects of His will where your part is actually critical. These are two sides of the same coin; two issues that work in complement to one another. Our yes to what God has said is a huge part of the fulfillment of God’s word. This means that what you and I do with what God has said plays a huge role in what is going to be produced through us.
What do you want to give birth to? You will give birth to whatever you host in your heart, what you value, what you treasure. If it’s fear, if it’s bitterness, if it’s jealousy, if it’s selfish ambition, or all the other things outside the purposes of Christ, anytime that we embrace those kinds of things and treasure them in our hearts, they influence what comes out of our mouth. This is an indicator. Let me say this differently: if you watch your heart, you don’t have to watch what you say.
That’s good! The trigger to knowing the heart needs help is by hearing what comes out of our mouths. I listen; we are pro-life. We just believe that every baby should live, but yet we abort the word of God over and over again. The life of God, imparted to us through what God says, is often aborted in the name of reason, in the name of not being gullible. Amen! I feel better.
James 1 says, «In humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls.» In humility, the soil condition receives the word implanted. Seed carries God’s DNA, and it’s that seed that is able to save my soul. You say, «Well, I’m already born again.» Yes, I was saved; I’m being saved, and someday I will be saved. Those are the three dimensions of salvation, and that is just the way it works. The word of God enables us to be completely transformed, and it’s by what we host and what we give attention to in our hearts. It’s evident by our meditation, evident by our prayers, evident by our confessions and proclamations.
All right, let’s go to Luke chapter 1, and we’re going to jump around a bit, so just follow hard. We’ll start with verse 5 of chapter 1. We’re going to look first at the story of Zacharias and John the Baptist. There was, in the days of Herod, king of Judea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the division of Abijah. His wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. They were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless.
Stop right there. If you know this story, you know that Zacharias is in a moment known for his unbelief. Righteous people are sometimes unbelieving people. True faith comes from hearing, not having heard. Wow! It’s a present-tense relationship with the Lord. Randle Warley helped us with this years ago. He said, «Abraham was required to sacrifice his son Isaac.» As he draws back the sword, the angel says, «All right, never mind.» Isaac was very glad his father kept hearing what God was saying and didn’t just respond to what God had said. There are many dead Isaacs because nobody kept hearing.
The present tense reality is where the strength and the power are at the moment when God speaks. I hear people say, «You want to hear God’s voice? Just look down at the Bible.» That’s true; there’s credibility there. But it’s cute, and it undermines the passion of the heart to hear and interact with our perfect Father, God.
All right, going off course here. Let’s get going. The angel of the Lord appeared, verse 11, standing on the right side of the altar of incense. When Zacharias saw him, he was troubled, and fear fell upon him. The angel said to him, «Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your prayer is heard.» I researched that years ago, and found that this phrase, «Your prayer has been heard,» actually means «the prayer that you no longer pray has been heard.» Interesting!
Later, we see evidence of that as he discounts what God has said because he’s considering his own age, so it wouldn’t be a prayer he would continue to pray. It’s interesting that our prayer life releases things before the Lord that continuously stay before the Lord even though we sometimes have stopped praying them. Verse 14—excuse me, the second half of verse 13 again: «The angel said, 'Do not be afraid, Zacharias; your prayer is heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will call his name John. You will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth.'»
This is interesting because John, we know, was the bold prophet who would alarm people into repentance. Jesus was the one who played the flute, so to speak; He came with mercy and grace. But even John was to be known for bringing joy. If there’s no joy, repent yourself into joy!
Now let’s jump over to verse 20. The angel continues to speak and says, «But you will be mute and not be able to speak until the day these things take place because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their own time.» You will be mute because you did not believe. Many believers lose their voice of influence because of unbelief. God, in His mercy, silences those who are about to destroy their destiny with their own confession. It’s the mercy of God to silence a person’s voice who is about to destroy their own destiny. The purpose of God was outlined in the decree, and he asks, «How do I know this is really going to happen?» The angel says, «All right, you’ll be silent for nine months.»
When John was born and he wrote on a piece of paper that his name is to be John, which is not a family name and was outside of their tradition at that moment, when he returned to the word of the Lord, his mouth was loosed. Wow! God speaking to your heart, Him speaking to my heart is what gives us voice, and our voice apart from God’s voice is worthless.
Jump over to verse 34. The previous verses, starting at verse 26, an angel shows up—Gabriel once again—and speaks to Mary, saying she’s going to give birth to the Christ child. Verse 34: «Mary said to the angel, 'How can this be since I do not know a man? '» The angel answered and said, «The Holy Spirit will come upon you. 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; this is now the sixth month for her who was called barren, for with God nothing will be impossible.» And Mary said, «Behold, the maidservant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.»
That phrase is profound. Dick Joyce, one of our dear friends from many years ago, who is now in heaven, taught us a chorus: «Be it unto me according to your word.» There will be a performance of all that you have spoken. It’s a very profound part of the Christian life because Zacharias was given a word that made no sense; Mary was given an even harder word that made no sense. Zacharias wanted proof; Mary wanted understanding.
We never have the right to put God on trial. Many people withhold their obedience until they have understanding. We do not have the right; He does not owe me anything. If He ever reveals to me a reason, purpose, or promise, that’s a bonus. All I need to know is what to do. I have no right to hold Him hostage to an explanation. He is God; I am not.
So Mary asks for understanding; Zacharias wants evidence. Wow, not a good plan, but what does it tell me about Mary? Mary says that, «How can this be? I’m a virgin,» and the angel of the Lord says, «The Spirit of God will come upon you; you’ll conceive and give birth to a son.» I don’t have any evidence for this, but I don’t think Mary understood any better after His explanation than she did before. No, it was, «How can this be? I’m a virgin?» «Oh, the Spirit of God will come upon you.» Okay, I’m not going to ask the question again: «How can this be? I’m a virgin?»
In other words, the explanation carried life, and life was what was needed. The verse that says «nothing will be impossible with God,» we study this probably every six months or so, but the word «nothing» is two words: it’s the word «no» and the word «rhema,» the freshly spoken word of God. So it means no freshly spoken word of God will be without ability. Jack Taylor taught us years ago that it could actually be translated like this: no freshly spoken word of God will ever come to you that does not contain its own ability to perform itself.
This concept is in James 1:21 where it says, «In humility, receive the word implanted which is able to save your soul.» The power for transformation is in the word you receive. Wow! This story goes on in chapter two. The shepherds show up in verse eight. The angel of the Lord stands before them, and a great host, heavenly hosts show up, declaring, «Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace and goodwill towards men.»
Even in the birth of the Christ child, we see that it was always intended for the heavenly realm to influence the earthly realm: «Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace.» Your kingdom come; your will be done on earth as it is in heaven—that’s always been the plan. But then we come to verse 18. All those who heard it marveled at the things told them by the shepherds. But Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart.
See, we have Mary at the announcement of the birth of Christ saying, «Be it unto me according to your word.» Now after He is born, with His purpose becoming defined by angelic visitations, shepherds, wise men, etc., we see that Mary ponders her value for what God says. She is one of the finest examples in all of Scripture—a young lady who embraced and valued what God said, pondering them in her heart.
Another place it says she treasured these things in her heart. Several years ago, Benny and I were given some very expensive crystal goblets. Very, very expensive crystal goblets! I have a little cabinet in my dining room with glass doors and lights on top, and I can turn the lights on, and these goblets are not to be used by my grandchildren out by the swimming pool. That’s not good!
In fact, if I find any out there, we will be having a conversation. If they try to drink water out of them in my kitchen, we will also be having a conversation! They are brought out for very special occasions, but they are visible to everyone behind the glass doors. I turn on the lights; they look good. If I have a friend over who values or admires things like that, I pull out the goblet, let them touch it. I know it’s the kindness of God that when He is kind to you, you must be kind to others, and we use these for very special occasions.
But I treasure them; I don’t put them in a gun safe; I put them where I can see them. I can pull them out, examine them, ponder them, share them with others. See, Joseph made the grave mistake of having a dream that he told everyone. What you do with what God has given to you—that is a treasure—and you throw pearls before swine. That’s not an accusation that people are pigs; it’s saying they don’t have the same value system you do, and they will trample on what you’ve given to them. You always want to be a good steward of what is entrusted to you.
Psalms 105 speaks of this story about Joseph. He had this dream; many of you know the story. He had dreams about his own destiny and shared them with family and friends, ending up creating a hellish situation for his personal life. But Psalms 105 says, «Until the time that his word came to pass—the word of the Lord tested him.»
In other words, he gave out more than he should have, and it was the word of the Lord that trimmed it back to a foundation that God could actually build upon. The word of the Lord sustains life; the word of the Lord gives life; the word of the Lord heals. We know in Psalms 107:20, «He sent His word and healed him.» That was an Old Testament principle and prophecy later illustrated in Jesus’s life when the centurion came to Him and said, «I’ve got a servant who’s dying.» Jesus said, «Go your way; your servant lives.»
He goes his way and finds at what time this happened, and they trace it back to the exact same time that Jesus said, «Go your way and live.» He sends His word and heals. So this word carries the life-giving, healing, restorative, redemptive, prophetic sense of hope—all of this stuff is contained in the DNA of whatever God says.
Putting it in soil with other ideas and concepts that war against the very purposes of God in my life invites disaster. I remember mentioning to you back during the pandemic, if I spend more time watching the news than I do the impact of what God has said, then my depression is self-imposed. I’ve created my own problem, and I can call it a burden; I can call it many other things that are just a condition of this world, but they are self-inflicted.
In this moment, God is planting and depositing in us promises of hope, future, and destiny, and His intentions are to see the transformation of impossible situations all around us. They are so profound and so powerful. But whenever I take that word and add my own ideas to it, or I begin to ponder and think, «Oh, this was promised so many years ago; it will never happen,» I start undermining the very life of God. I hold my tradition—of whatever it might be, my tradition of unbelief—over and above the word of God.
I actually render the word of God of no effect. Wow! We have areas of life that need constant promises. In fact, every area of our life—anything significant—needs a promise of God. What has God said to you about your health? You need to have a word. What about your ministry? What about your family? Your relationships? What about finances? All these areas need continuous life from the promises that God has given us. Those promises aren’t just to be underlined in my Bible with a date next to it; they’re something that has to influence my thinking, my praying, my confession, and my proclamation.
When times seem the most impossible, I get hit with that sense of impossibility that I begin to prophesy, «This will happen because the word of the Lord is this!» And we begin to declare what God is saying. I remember so many years ago, a dear friend of ours, a brand new believer—he’d been saved maybe two weeks—was prophesied over by a prophet. This same prophet, Dick Joyce, called him out of the crowd three rows back and began to prophesy about him being an evangelist.
As a brand new believer, a few weeks later, he was in a horrible accident—a tree branch from a logging piece of equipment cut off all oxygen to the brain. They pronounced him dead on arrival at the hospital. They ended up from Weberville driving him to a hospital here in Redding, and they kept him on machines to keep things functioning but with no brainwaves. I remember not knowing all the details of what I just explained to you.
I found out later. I remember going into the hospital room where the machines were hooked up, and there were no brainwaves. There they were able to keep the heart beating. So I stood next to him, grabbed his arm, and called out his name, saying, «Larry, you’re going to be all right because God said you would be an evangelist.» As best I could, I quoted the prophecy given to him just a few weeks ago.
This was a Saturday night, and they called me at 6:00 Sunday morning: he’s sitting up in bed; he’s fine! Everything’s fine! That was a Sunday. Two days later, he joined us for our men’s meeting. So here’s a guy pronounced dead on arrival, no brainwaves. Why? Because God said!
What is God saying? I remember when Brian and Jen’s oldest, Haley, was born, and there were some real challenging complications in her birth. There’s a numbering system; 10 is perfect, and she was a two. Things weren’t looking good. Anytime you do something with our family, we show up in mass. The waiting room was overwhelmed with family members, and we’re all sitting there praying. Benny steps aside from the prayer group, goes over to a corner, and says, «Father, what are we doing?»
We have enough in the room to know how to pray and contend, but my wife wanted specific direction for the very critical moment. You can pray generally, but you might as well go for the jugular and get the specific of what God is saying. So she separates herself while the rest of us are together praying for a miracle. She says, «Father, what are we doing?» In other words, we only want to do what we see the Father doing.
He spoke softly to her heart, and she did exactly what the Lord said. Within a short time, there was a complete turnaround in Haley’s health. Why? Because it’s what God is saying. See, He holds it all together with the word of His power. He spoke things into being. He called you by name to Himself. He gave to us as an inheritance the mind of Christ; it’s in our account, we must make withdrawals.
We must draw upon that which God has promised. His voice is a voice of delight and affection, aimed towards the human heart that will ponder, consider, and treasure what He has said. It will become the crystal goblet that you bring out and review, prophesy and pray over, and be encouraged that somebody would give you such a priceless treasure. There’s nothing more priceless than that word that God would speak so deeply and profoundly, giving us His word and His presence.
We have areas of our life—ministry, health, finances, relationships. You can continue the list. I encourage you; ask the question: what am I caring for in the promise of God for this part of my life? And then it’s to be prayed, confessed, and mediated upon, which means to mold it over and over again. Think about it—I’ve asked you the question before: how many of you have been kept awake at night by some troubling thought or experience? How many of you have? Yeah, okay, so now you know how to meditate!
Now we just need to change the subject matter. All right? So that’s exactly what we do: we displace the lie; we replace it with truth, mull it over, think it, pray it, sing it. We treasure what God has said. What’s the outcome? He wants the word of God to become flesh again. He wants every place you look into my life to see the evidence of what God has said. His word reveals His will.
I think I’m done. Yes, I am excited for tonight! Oh boy! I am excited for tonight. One of the most respected men in my life will be with us—David Hogan—extraordinary, extraordinary! Jesus describes a person as a fool who obtains the entire world but loses their own soul.
In this season, I love this season. I love «Joy to the World.» I love «Let every heart prepare Him room!» My goodness, that’s an intercessory song played in our shopping malls! If you can’t get into prayer and intercession with that, then you need, you know, resuscitation or something!
«Let every heart prepare Him room.» We sing it today; we declare it over everybody in this room. There’s the opportunity for everyone here to come to a place of a personal relationship with Jesus, to know what it is to be forgiven of sin and actually adopted into God’s family. There’s the promise of eternity and the presence of God that changes and transforms you now.
I want to know if there’s anybody in here who would say, «Bill, I don’t want to leave the building until I know I have found peace with God. I want to know what it is to be born again; I want to be a disciple, a follower of Jesus.» If that’s you, put a hand up real quick. I want to wait just a moment or two here. Put your hand up quickly if that’s you. Okay, I’m going to assume we’re all in. We’ve got people online too. Put it in the chat, and we’ll have a pastor that will come to you and help you and pray with you.
We’re going to have a ministry team come quickly, and I’m going to turn it over. But come quickly to the front; we will have ministry time. Anyone who wants to talk to someone about receiving Christ, we’ve got people over here to the left that we know and trust. I bless you! Come, Dante, and help us.