Bill Johnson - Your Choice of Faith or Fear is Determining Your Destiny
Caleb waited his entire 45 years to say, «I want the Hill Country. I want the country inhabited by Giants. I want to go for the heart of this thing that kept us as a nation in fear and caused so many to miss out on God’s promises. That’s the country that I want.» It’s extraordinary for an 85-year-old man, ready to go out to war as though he were 40, because he is absolutely confident in the promise of the Lord. Thank you. It’s amazing to feel like a guest every time I speak. It’s awesome, thank you. One of our elders sent me this joke this week, and I had read it before, but apparently not recent enough, so I need to read it again. This is how we’re starting this joyful day. An old Italian gentleman lived alone in New Jersey. He wanted to plant his annual tomato garden, but it was very difficult work as the ground was hard. His only son, Vincent, who used to help him, was in prison.
The old man wrote a letter to his son, describing his predicament. «Dear Vincent, I’m feeling pretty sad because it looks like I won’t be able to plant my tomato garden this year. I’m just getting too old to be digging up a garden plot. I know if you were here, my troubles would be over. I know you’d be happy to dig the plot for me like in the old days. Love, Papa.» A few days later, he received a letter from his son. «Dear Papa, don’t dig up that garden! That’s where the bodies are buried. Love, Vinnie.» At 4:00 a.m. the next morning, FBI agents and local police arrived. They dug up the entire area without finding any bodies. They apologized to the old man and left. That same day, the old man received another letter from his son: «Go ahead and plant the tomatoes now; that’s the best I could do under the circumstances. Love you, Vinnie.»
Okay, I enjoyed that. Take your Bibles, if you would, and open to Joshua chapter 14. When we speak, my view is that we either speak something that’s pastoral, where we’re responding to felt needs within the church family, addressing specific issues, certain kinds of teaching and training that we feel are needed, or the other kind—I don’t know if it’s the best title, but the one I’ve used for over 40 years—is more prophetic in that we’re trying to see the big picture and draw the entire church family into the big picture of what God is doing on earth. I prefer to usually do the latter rather than the former, but since I have limited time today, I thought I’d give you two different sermons because I want you to experience a miracle on a whole other level. This is all for you; I just want to do it on two different levels. So, I’m going to give you two messages: one will be pastoral, and the other will be more prophetic.
All right, you ready? Because I’ve got to get going here. The first one I want to talk to you about—a word the Lord spoke to me through a prophet friend several years ago—was that we would be given the opportunity to redefine prosperity. It’s a biblical concept that is abused over and over again. So, the answer for much of the church is to reject the concept. Rejecting what God has to say is not wise. What happens is when you react to an error, we usually create another error. Yes, often times, poverty or lack or being in continual need is looked at as humility, and it’s not. I consider anyone who does not want to prosper to be selfish. Why? Because how can you continually face the needs that we have on a daily basis that we are unable to address? All of us would love to. The whole point is there has to be some sort of increase in our capacity to manage and our ability to release. So, I believe the Lord is going to give us a chance to redefine this issue of prosperity.
Where I believe it starts is in the area of generosity. In fact, let me rephrase it: it starts with the tithe and the offering. Many people think the tithe is a part of the law, and it’s not. It was ratified by the law, but it was actually started by Abraham, who is scripturally called the father of our faith. I spent three years reading and rereading daily Romans chapter 4 just to try to get a picture of this father of the faith and what faith looked like for what God’s about to pour out on the earth. Daily, I missed five days because of international flights. Comments from the peanut gallery down here—you’ll have to excuse me. What? Oh, Gabe says, «One peanut» not «the gallery.» Thank you, Chris, for clarifying that. I missed five days, so anyway, let’s move on.
The tithe is a critical part of Kingdom finance for a couple reasons. Number one, it’s a test of lordship because it’s predetermined, right? Most people don’t like to be told what to do. The scripture already determines where it goes. It goes into the storehouse to continue the work—in this case, of the local church. If I take my tithe and I give it to the poor, I feel like I have been generous, but I haven’t, because I’ve given somebody else’s money, right? It’s like what the government does. Do I dare? Yes, I do. It’s when the government takes your money and gives it to somebody else and has the feeling of generosity; it’s not generosity. Tell it’s your money.
So anyway, that was free, there’s no charge for that at all. I’ll pay for it later, but there’s no charge for it. The offering is ours to do with as we please. If you want to invest in cancer research or give it to your neighbor who’s in a tight spot, it doesn’t matter where—we follow our heart for the offering. But the tithe is predetermined; it’s a test of lordship. That’s the beginning place of Kingdom finances: tithe and offering, the realm of generosity. We’ll do more on that another time.
The second part has to do with investments. I believe every family should have multiple streams of income, and if you have it in your heart, position yourself to learn because God will teach us how to have money make money. If you look at the scripture, the minimum measure of increase in both the parable of the talents and the minas was 100% annually. God’s Kingdom is a kingdom of increase. It’s not for self-indulgence; it’s for impact. It’s for being a people of resource to make a difference. Part of that is not just working for income but having your resources, your investments work for income so that while you’re sleeping, your income is actually working.
And the last one is wise investments—excuse me, wise purchases. This is the part that gets scariest, and I’ll have a lot of fun with this in the future because it’s the scariest. The Kingdom of God is not meat or drink; it’s not made out of material things. We don’t build the kingdom by owning cars and houses and planes and whatever else. That’s not the point. The point is that the Lord releases blessings into our life to affirm our identity in Christ. It never means that we worship the object that is given to us. Psalms 103, I think it’s verse 3, says, «And the Lord fills our life with good things so that our youth is renewed like the eagle.» There’s something about a blessing that comes from the Lord. It may be a car, it may be a job, it may be a friendship, but something that comes from the Lord affirms your place in Christ and is actually to spur on divine health.
If we learn how to manage the material world better instead of trying to build a material empire, it actually pays off in health—emotional, spiritual, and physical health. All right, sermon number one is over. Thank you, Jesus. Everybody’s thankful for that one. All right, let’s move on to Joshua chapter 14. A few weeks ago, we had our initial message on this particular season of our Commitment Sunday. I don’t remember, I think it was three weeks, might have been four weeks ago that I spoke, and in that message, I took you to the story of Israel going into the promised land.
For those who may not be familiar with the story, Moses chose 12 spies, one from each tribe, and sent them into the land of promise to spy it out and bring back good news of what they were about to inherit. Ten of the twelve saw the promised land—the good part of the promised land, the bounty, the blessing—but they brought an evil report back and actually caused the hearts of the people of God to melt with fear. They brought their own fear; this impartation started a long time ago. They imparted their fear and caused an entire nation of perhaps, let’s say, 2 million people in the wilderness to be struck with fear, and they all missed out on what God promised them. They all missed it because of fear. Fear keeps us from our destiny.
Fear and faith cannot work together; one has to be dealt with. So, Israel missed their chance, with the exception of two guys, Joshua and Caleb. Joshua and Caleb were the only two from a couple million people to inherit that land of promise. What we’re going to read is the Caleb part of that story because I felt, I really felt of the Lord, and you can witness yes or no to this, that this particular story was for us in this building season. Although it has nothing to do with buildings and what I’m going to share, if you’re a visitor with us, truth is truth. It’ll apply to your life in whatever issues you’re facing. In fact, it goes far beyond our challenge right now of building this building. It has everything to do with our obedience in following the Lord.
All right, let’s read some scripture. Joshua chapter 14—are you there? How many of you have your Bibles? Yes, let me see them. Oh, good: electronic, hold those up too. It’s all right; it’s not cheating, it’s okay. All right, Joshua 14, verse 6: «Then the children of Judah came to Joshua in Gilgal. Caleb, the son of Jephunah the Kenizzite, said to him, 'You know the word which the Lord said to Moses, the man of God, concerning you and me in Kadesh Barnea. I was 40 years old when Moses, the servant of the Lord, sent me from Kadesh Barnea to spy out the land, and I brought back word to him as it was in my heart. Nevertheless, my brethren who went up with me made the heart of the people melt, but I wholly followed the Lord my God.'»
I’m sorry, I was looking up this phrase «wholly followed the Lord.» I think New American Standard says «followed fully» or something. The word «follow» can actually be translated as «hinder part», so you notice, everywhere I go, my hinder part follows. May we follow the Lord as consistently and closely. I’m just saying; I didn’t know if I would have the courage to share that this service or not, but it’s the visual—it works, doesn’t it? Yeah, I received mail in Weaverville that was addressed «Bill Johnson, Assemblies of God,» but the computers would almost always abbreviate «Assemblies.» Okay, I’m not sure I can recover from that one, but I’m going to try.
«Bill Johnson.» All right, verse 9: «Again Moses swore on that day, saying, 'Surely the land where your foot has trodden shall be your inheritance and your children’s forever, because you have wholly followed the Lord my God.' And now, behold, the Lord has kept me alive,» he said, «these 45 years ever since the Lord spoke this word to Moses while Israel wandered in the wilderness. And now, here I am this day, 85 years old, and yet I am as strong this day as on the day that Moses sent me. Just as my strength was then, so now is my strength for war, for going out, and for coming in.» Oh my goodness! Does anybody want that word right there? As my strength was at 40, so my—some of you are 20, and your strength at 40 wouldn’t be very good for you. I really think there’s something on this verse that we’re supposed to lay hold of because I have yet to find any generation besides Israel in the wilderness—any generation that actually tapped into divine health. I pray that the Lord shows us and gives us the insights for this.
I think a good place to start is just with the decree that I’m as strong today, at whatever age you are, as I was at whatever age you think was your high point. All right, let’s move on. Verse 11: «Yet I am strong this day as on the day that Moses sent me. Just as my strength was then, so now is my strength for war.» That’s amazing! An 85-year-old guy as strong at 85 as he was at 40—for war? Maybe for fishing, but for war!
Verse 12: «Therefore give me this mountain of which the Lord spoke in that day, for you heard in that day how the Anakim were there. The Anakim were the Giants, and that the cities were great and fortified. It may be that the Lord will be with me, and I shall be able to drive them out as the Lord has said.» He’s not questioning whether the Lord will be with him; he’s laying down the fact that this can only be accomplished by God being with him.
Verse 13: «Joshua blessed him and gave Hebron to Caleb the son of Jephunah as an inheritance. Hebron therefore became the inheritance of Caleb the son of Jephunah the Kenizzite to this day because he wholly followed the Lord God of Israel.» One more verse: «The name of Hebron formerly was Kiriath Arba. Arba was the greatest man among the Anakim. Then the land had rest for war.»
All right, here’s the storyline: if you can imagine being Caleb, 85 years old, you’ve waited now 45 years since the day you actually went in to spy out the land. You had a taste, if you will, of what God was about to bring into your life, and yet because of fear, an entire nation died off except for two guys, and others rose up under them. You’ve been waiting for 45 years for what the Lord had promised, remembering that Moses—who himself didn’t make it into the promised land—gave you a word that says you can have any part of the land you want. The interesting thing is that this promised land was divided up into sections according to tribes, but Caleb actually got to choose whatever he wanted. Faith does that; faith lets you choose.
So, Caleb goes into this land of promise and he comes to Joshua and he reminds him of the word of the Lord through Moses. I think we probably need to remember to remind the Lord more often, and it’s not because he forgets. It’s just a part of his sequence of events. It’s like he has me pray for things he already knows I need. Not because he’s ignorant, but because I need to step into divine process, where I bring things before him that he already intends to take care of, but I’m supposed to learn how to pray the heart of God. Because when I pray what he has told me to pray for my life, I become positioned to pray effectively for yours.
So, the Lord is trying to bring us into a process where we dialogue with him and see prayers answered. It brings such strength and encouragement to us to see things happen. I actually believe that we owe the world answers to prayer. We owe it to them. We owe answers to prayer; we actually owe it to the Lord, in one very unusual sense, because he’s already committed himself to do it. So, we must learn to pray accordingly so that he can be glorified through his own answers.
Nehemiah did something that I find really interesting. Nehemiah helped; he was a high official in another nation. He was a Jew; he was sent back to help Israel rebuild the walls of their city in Jerusalem. When he came back, he was allowed a governor’s allowance. He was allowed all this stuff, but he didn’t take any of it. He was very prosperous as a leader of this other country. So, Nehemiah, standing before the Lord, says, «God, I didn’t take the governor’s allowance that was offered to me. I paid all these people. I paid; we ate this many deer every day, this much fish,» and he went through this long grocery list of stuff that he gave daily for the rebuilding of the city of Jerusalem. At the very end, he says, «Remember this for me, for my good.»
It’s not an egotistical thing to stand confidently before God. Confidence looks like arrogance to those with unbelief. He stands before the Lord because he knows he’s a father, and this Father rewards those who sacrifice. He’s pulling on that part of the Father that says that those who believe must believe that he is and that he is the rewarder of those who seek him. One huge part of our life of faith is the confidence in God’s reward system. So, he prays and says, «God, remember this that I’ve done for you for my good.»
We are being brought into a time where we’re facing Giants. I guess that’s always the case; there are always challenges before us. But we’ve chosen this mountain. Sometimes Giants come at you just because you’re alive; other times, you’re picking a fight. Caleb waited his entire 45 years to have the one moment with Joshua to say, «I want the Hill Country. I want the country inhabited by Giants. I want the territory whose people that are there kept us out of our inheritance. I want that; I want the jugular vein. I want to go for the heart of this thing that kept us as a nation in fear and caused so many to miss out on God’s promises. That’s the country that I want.»
He brought his petition before the Lord, intentionally going after the hardest place. It’s extraordinary; it’s an 85-year-old man who’s ready to go to war as though he were 40 because he’s absolutely confident in the promise of the Lord. We are in a position as a church family where the prophets—genuine, not just somebody who had pizza last night and had a bad dream—but actual prophets of the Lord have come to us on numerous occasions, and they have made this statement: «If you don’t build now, you will not be ready for what God is about to do.» We have heard it over and over again.
I’ve confessed to you before, I haven’t cared that much about buildings. I mean, they’re useful, and I’m thankful, but my dream is not to build big buildings—an empire. My dream really is to raise up big people and release them into the earth. That’s my dream! But when you find out that God is building a building, don’t try to convince him of your priorities. When you find that he’s building a building, guess what? That’s what I’m doing. I’m building buildings! Why? Because it is a tool that God is about to use.
Chris talked to you about our raise. I’ll never forget. We stood right here raising the money for that prayer house over there. That was back in the day when we only had one service. That was awesome! A few people left to make it possible to only do one service, and a whole service of people left! Yes! I remember we piled money right over here; Steve D’Silva was over here adding up on his computer, and we got to 247,000 or whatever the number was and $8. One kid gave $10 and was sure he took us over the limit! So, it was awesome!
But the point being is that as we chose this because we heard what I believe to be the word of the Lord—that this is what we’re supposed to do, this is the assignment at a most inconvenient time—we ensure God gets the credit for what’s about to be done. Benny and I gave a commitment that was absolutely impossible—absolutely impossible for us to be able to do. But we’re 9/10 of the way through, and now it’s actually looking possible! So, Benny’s not donating much at the moment, but I’m doing my part. Actually, she might be more than I know, so it’s kind of a thin place sometimes.
I was in Israel this summer, and Benny’s favorite place on the planet was Jerusalem. I halfway expected to see her there, but I kept looking. Sorry, if that… Yeah, I better pull out of that subject. See, we’re already accused of some interesting things. I think I’m going to change the subject. Yes, I am! This is the only service I’ve done that because it just goes around the world! That’s awesome! You know, wisdom sometimes kicks in, and then other times, it was just a good try.
I was just swinging! All right, let’s get back to this. We have an opportunity, and it will be accomplished. The only question that remains is what level of involvement will you have? Will I have in what is about to be done? It’s interesting to me that the Lord would choose reading. He didn’t choose you; He chose me. This isn’t the only thing happening on the planet; we know that for certain. But it is something that He’s doing in an out-of-the-way place. I’ll never forget a prophet prophesying to me so many years ago that God would bring people out of big places to a small place, just like he did in John the Baptist’s day—out into the wilderness to hear the word of the Lord.
People have to pay a price to come here. So many of you came from another part of the world. You didn’t even know where Reading existed, but you’re here because of something that God is doing. You’re here because of a work that God is doing, and he chose an insignificant people in an insignificant city to do a significant thing. Never will I think it’s because of anything we’ve done. It’s simply the goodness and kindness of the Lord. But you said yes to it; I said yes to it. What he’s about to do in this facility is to help us multiply our effectiveness in loving and serving nations as well as equipping people for transformation in our own city.
That’s what our heart is. So, I want to encourage you with this pledge card to consider. We asked you a few weeks ago to prayerfully consider this part. We’re making commitments today; we’re taking an offering today for our building. Why don’t—man, I sure like, let’s go there! I want to go to that church right there. I’d like that smart move putting that up there—yes, sir! I want you to take the pledge card. You’ve already—we’ve asked you already to pray. If you haven’t done so, pray now. We’re going to make pledges, commitments; we’re also going to receive an offering right now. I’m going to have the worship team come on back up, and they’re going to lead us in worship.
Here’s what we want to do: we want to take this next—you owe me about 10 minutes; you may not know it, but you owe me about 10 minutes. I would like to take this time just to honor the Lord with worship, and then we’ve got these humongous baskets up here. Goodness gracious! So let that move your faith! Right there, we could have 55-gallon drums—I guess that’d be the next move. But what we’re going to ask today is for everyone with a gift or a pledge card to actually bring it up to the front because we want the involvement of moving out into a place of sacrifice to give unto the Lord. If you’re giving, put the phone thing up there—the QR code—um, I want to ask you to come up anyway. You don’t have to throw your phone in the bucket, but at least go through a symbolic prophetic act of saying, «I’m in; I’m in—I’m all in.»
How many of you can say, «I’m all in»? I’m all in. You’re following the Lord? Yes, we’re following the Lord. I want you to stand, and our team is going to lead us in worship. We’re going to take a few more minutes just to worship the Lord. Again, I want to ask that you would prayerfully consider filling this out. Do it now, and the online family—my goodness, the online family—one of the most amazing things that the Lord is doing is raising up such strong support from our online community. It’s most anywhere I go in the world—in fact, I could say anywhere I go in the world, we meet people who are in our online family, and they are as committed to what God is doing here as you and I are.
So, I want to encourage our online family: do the same! Make the pledge commitment. If you’re unable to or it’s just not in your heart to do so, please follow that—no worries at all; nobody is being judged or measured by that. It’s just important for us. It’s important for me as a leader of this house and family to invite and say, «Listen, this is what I believe that God has given us an opportunity to do.» So, I’m going to ask the worship team to go ahead and lead, and the rest of you, as you’re able, come up and present your gift in one of these large buckets.
All right, thanks to our incredible Bethel friends and family for being with us today for this rich time we have. If you’re looking for prayer, anybody that has their hand raised, please connect with us. It’s so fun and such a joy to have you connect with our online community. I love it so much! I get to talk to so many of them when I travel, and it’s just fun! It’s fun to see how large and how warm the family is; it’s beautiful! We have a tie; I can see here—Mike is saying, «A couple years ago, I prayed about offerings I received a personal conviction to give as much as possible towards the project God led me to.» He talks about how he’s walked with the Lord. There are so many of our community who have been on their own journey of building with God and investing, and then who are currently walking alongside us in such extravagant ways.
In the beginning, we were reading out some of the names on the commitment cards. Yeah, Pastor Bill, as you talked about going into the building, you ended with saying, «I want to be in that building. I want to be in that church.» Would you just share with us something of your heart as you prayed into that building and wanted to walk that ground? Is it something that hits your heart, especially about the project?
There are so many things; it increases our ability to serve. It increases our ability to equip and to empower. It increases all of that, but for me, it’s that verse out of Psalms 103:3 that I mentioned earlier—that the Lord fills our life with good things so that our youth is renewed like the eagle. I feel like there is a personal renewal that will happen in the spirit, soul, and body of every person involved in this to refresh us and strengthen us for this next season, this next phase. He uses—I don’t understand it, but I know it’s true! He uses physical things! Wow! To demonstrate his kindness, his heart, his nature!
And it’s not about the physical thing; it’s about us being strengthened in faith—encouraged and identified in Him. So, I’m looking forward to that as much as I am to the building itself. So good! One thing I’ve always loved about your heart, Pastor Bill, is talking about the multi-generational migration even, and how you guys—we bought this 20 acres because we’re always thinking about the kingdom going to the next generation. Where did that start for you? I mean, where did the Lord stir that in your heart?
You know, I don’t know. I think it’s logical, is what I think it is. That’s awesome! It’s, um, totally—this scripture says, «A righteous man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children.» The point of that verse to me is the more you take of righteousness that transforms our life, the more we think of future generations. It’s just kind of automatic; you just start thinking of other people. The more we learn to not be self-serving—making it all about us, making it all about our lives, our family, or whatever—the more we think like that, the more we can impact future generations.
It’s just, uh, so I think it’s just required of us in the Lord. And the more we grow, you know, just in the natural—the more you grow as parents and grandparents, the more you’re thinking about future generations! So good! I love we’re talking about faith. Faith sees in the imagination of faith. I mean, I love how these prophets come along and say, «If you don’t build now, you’re not going to be ready for what’s coming!» Which tells me God is—yes, I’m going to use the Southern word here—he’s fixing to do something huge! He’s going to pour out a massive harvest to raise up more for the end times; I mean, I just feel it bubbling as you just preached today. So good!
And the crazy thing is we’ll still have to have multiple services! Yeah, you know, but it’s all right. All right, it’s the rest of the facility that enables us to equip better; it’s for service to the Lord! Amen! Amen, Pastor Bill! And there are so many of us who are investing and dreaming and praying into the future. We know right now God is moving in an unprecedented way. I’m thinking of Aaron who’s online with us now on Bethel TV and trusting God for healing of bone cancer right now, and just several of our community who are here praying for a miracle, trusting God to do a miracle. Would you be open, as we close out our time together, to just declare the healing finished work of the cross over some of our community?
Amen! I was just reading in Proverbs where it says, «A good word strengthens the bones.» Yeah! And another one that said, «A good word adds fat to the bone.» So I pray that your life would be filled with the word of the Lord, the testimony of the Lord, that you’d be overcome and overwhelmed with hope because of the promises of God, yes, and that the effect of divine health would be your portion, your inheritance. I speak to the bones; I command cancer to loose their bodies now in the name of the Lord Jesus. Let divine health come into these bones, and let the true fatness of scripture be seen in the physical health represented by this online audience. We just pray that the wave—the tidal wave of healing—would go through this online audience right now for things never mentioned that would just loose and lift off of people’s lives, bodies, in Jesus' name! I pray for mental health as well—emotional, the whole fear trap that has been stealing from so many. Lord, let that end today, yes, in Jesus' name.
Amen! In Jesus' name! Amen! That was so good! Oh, I get to scream about like killing fear! Okay, I’ll stop! No, don’t stop! We’re going to take it to our families, to the streets! We are so thankful that you’ve joined us today! Thanks, Pastor Bill, for connecting with our community. We can’t wait to see you tonight—we’re going to have the honor of having Pastor Michael Kiano share the word of God with us in our 6 p.m. service. That’s going to be next level! Bye!