Bill Johnson - You Are Called to Live a Life of Miracles
And I would say to everybody in this room, you’ve been called to the miraculous, but it’s not so that your self-esteem could grow. It’s because there are people around us who are hurting. It’s not so that we can be entertained by yet another miracle, but because there are people around us who are filled with broken situations, and they’re looking for somebody who knows God, who believes God, to step into their life and say, «I will stand with you in this matter.» Chay is going to be with us tonight—a great friend of the house and a great Apostolic leader from Southern California—and I’m so glad he’s coming. It’s always fun when he is here; he’s a dear friend. He and I met on the floor—literally. We were laid out, and our heads were close enough that some prophetic guy walked by us, grabbed both of our hands, joined them, and began to prophesy. That’s a strange way to meet another guy, but it worked—he was from Southern California, and of course, we’re in Northern California. We made a genuine partnership in that moment for the state of California. Anyway, Chay will be here tonight, and I always look forward to seeing my friend.
I just got back Friday night from Edmonton, Canada. How many Canadians do we have here? You live in a cold country! The best definition I heard of Edmonton was, «We have ten months of winter and two months of bad sledding.» It was so cold, and I was moaning and groaning because it was freezing with ice everywhere. I complained about the temperature, and they said, «You should have been here last week; it was 40 below zero!» I began to rejoice. I was actually in that area about 30 years ago—the only other time I visited—and the night I landed in the morning, it had been 28 below zero the previous night. At the time, I had a mustache, and I could actually feel my mustache hairs squeak as they rubbed against each other. I didn’t know it was even possible; I didn’t know they made that noise, but I could hear something going on with that hair. In three days, it was 70 degrees—a 100-degree turnaround in three days—because they had what they called «Chinook winds.» It’s a miracle they didn’t come while I was there; I was hoping God would gift us again with the Chinook winds, but that was a one-time experience, apparently.
I do have something to read: «Women and cats will do as they please; men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea.» I thought it was funny. Anyway, three friends from a local congregation were asked, «When you’re in your casket and friends and congregation members are mourning your loss, what would you like for them to say?» Ry said, «I would like them to say I was a wonderful husband, a fine spiritual leader, and a great family man.» Eugene commented, «I would like them to say I was a wonderful teacher and a servant of God who made a huge difference in people’s lives.» Al said, «I would like them to say, 'Look, he’s moving! '» That’s so dumb, but it may speak to either IQ or whatever. Anyway, we’ll leave it right there.
I want to talk to you today about the mandate for miracles that is upon our lives. It is in the bold preaching of the Gospel that the hand of God is released to demonstrate His love and power. Jesus did not give us power and authority so we could sit in a pew and wait for the Rapture; He gave us power and authority to deal with the works of the devil. He gave us power and authority to silence that illegal voice that torments people with lies and deceptions. He has given us the great privilege to walk in the anointing that Jesus Himself walked in. It’s a miracle mandate. In Romans 15—I forget the exact verse reference, I think it’s around 17, 18, or 19—Paul makes this statement: he says he has gone to certain cities, and he said in mighty signs and wonders, he has fully preached the Gospel. In mighty signs and wonders, he has fully preached the Gospel. How many of you want to fully share the good news of the Kingdom? It requires miracles to be fully preached.
The bold decree throughout Scripture, over and over again, is that bold confession of faith, that bold declaration. Preaching is not just from a pulpit; it can happen over coffee. It’s that confidence in Christ where we share the good news of the Gospel of the Kingdom, and that literally helps to manifest the hand of God in given situations. However, I want to approach this subject from a different angle because what was in my heart this morning was to bring to you two portions of Scripture that are often used against those who pray for the sick—those who pursue the demonstration of power. There are a couple of portions of Scripture that are frequently presented to individuals like myself to discourage me from praying for the sick or to expose the heresy involved. It’s not in defense of that because they’re not in the room, but it’s so that you and I will be deeply entrenched in the assignment God has given us. I may not excel in what God has called me to do, but I don’t have the luxury of changing the assignment. I don’t have the luxury of altering what He’s said to do just because I don’t execute it well. What is often done is that people will retreat to what they are good at and forsake what He’s called us to do. We don’t have that luxury. Our gifts and skills are valuable; they’re important and are part of our offering to the Lord. However, we cannot lose track of the fact that God has called us to invade the impossible and demonstrate His love, His purity, and His power.
So, let’s look at the first portion of Scripture in Matthew chapter 7. In fact, both portions we’ll look at today are from the Gospel of Matthew. Matthew chapter 7, verse 21: «Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord, ' shall enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but he who does the will of my Father in Heaven. Many will say to me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name? ' And I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from me, you who practiced lawlessness.'» I would like to suggest that there are actually two parts to the lesson Jesus is trying to instruct this crowd in. The first is concerning the will of God. He said, «Just because you call me Lord, it has to be demonstrated by your obedience.» Interestingly, Jesus was in a similar crowd when His disciples came to Him and said, «Your mother and your brothers are outside waiting for you.» Jesus made this statement that probably sounded rude at the time, but He said, «Anyone who obeys me, anyone who does the will of God, those are my brothers, my sisters, my mother.» What was He saying? He was saying you can’t find your identity apart from obedience. Those who do the will of God, those who yield to the assignment, the commission that God has given—that’s where we find identity in Christ.
Yes, Bill, that was an extremely good point: two-part epoxy. You got it! All right, we’ll leave it there. I was expecting a bigger smile or at least one of those loud smiles—you know something like that? I’m teasing you because I’m in a teasing mood. It was sunny yesterday! Glory to God! The last time I saw it sunny was today. I am so happy. You know what I did yesterday? Nothing! I walked around my property just enjoying the sun; we got reacquainted. I hadn’t seen it for a while! So, back to this. He said, «Just because you call me Lord, if you don’t do the will of God, you can’t call me Lord. You can’t call me Lord and not obey.»
So, what is the will of God? The broadest definition is found in what we usually call the Lord’s Prayer, which is, «Your will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven.» So, it’s the reality of that world changing, affecting the reality of this world. Every other commission Jesus gave, every other assignment He provided, was actually an expression of that overall commission: Heaven to Earth. It became practical when He said, «I’m going to send you out two by two; you go into a home, heal the sick that are there, find the peace, fill souls, minister to them, make sure Deliverance comes, cast out demons, cleanse lepers, raise the dead.» That’s very specific! So, what is the will of God? If they’re sick, heal them. All right, that’s the will of God. So when He says, «Don’t call me Lord,» and you disobey me when I give you a commission to pray for the sick… I’m not saying that’s the only way we demonstrate the will of God, but don’t ignore it because it’s part of the program. Don’t say He’s my Lord and yet you don’t pray for the sick; you don’t confront someone tormented with dreams. Well, I don’t know how to deal with demons. Just tell them to leave! Start there! Just pretend like you’re standing in Jesus’s shoes and use His name. Come against that demon and tell him to break off that person’s life! Just let this nonsense of torment stop today!
But, you know, the whole point was you can’t call me Lord and not do the will of my Father in Heaven. The second verse, though, verse 22, says, «Many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons, and done many wonders in Your name? '» What group is that? Those are the people that don’t have a relationship with God but know enough spiritual truths to demonstrate His authority, prophesy, and heal the sick. They’re doing the will of God. So, the first group doesn’t even try; the second group tries, but there’s no relationship: «Depart from me; I never knew you.» So, people will say, «Well, here’s evidence we’re not supposed to pray for the sick.» But it’s the opposite!
Here’s the deal: if people who don’t have a relationship with Jesus can use His name and people can get healed, then those who know Jesus have no excuse! Jesus didn’t give us the Spirit of the resurrected Christ so that we could sit down and wait for someone else to do something; He put the Spirit of resurrection in us because He’s looking for us to confront death, loss, destruction—all those signs of the enemy’s world! That is our assignment! You were born for this! Yes, amen!
Verse 23 says, «And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from me.'» So we have the question: what’s one thing more important than knowing God? There is one thing: it’s Him knowing you. I have certain heroes in my life—athletes, for instance. I grew up with Willie Mays as my hero. I used to watch every game I could, everything about Willie Mays. His birthday is May 6; God was kind enough to me to allow my firstborn, Eric, to be born on May 6—it’s just the mercy of God. But I’ve never met him; I don’t know him. I can tell you facts about him; I saw him play. I witnessed the home runs and all the amazing catches and throws he made. I loved baseball, but I don’t know him.
And yes, God knows everything about you and everything about me. But it’s only as we open up and are totally honest—totally transparent—before the One who knows everything. The Scripture says I’m supposed to worship Him in spirit and in truth. «In spirit» implies a relationship with the Holy Spirit who enables and directs me in the true privilege of giving honor to who God is. But the second part is «in truth.» Truth means nothing hidden, nothing concealed. The one thing more important than knowing God is Him knowing you. Paul says in 1 Corinthians, «Those who do the will of God are known by God.»
I want you to look with me at Matthew chapter 12. The second portion of Scripture that is often used to discourage people from praying for the sick is found here, verses 38-39. Let’s read that: «Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered, saying, 'Teacher, we want to see a sign from You.' But He answered and said to them, 'An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.'» I always love when I’m given this verse— «An evil and adulterous generation seeks for signs and wonders.» That motivates you to pray for the sick, doesn’t it?
Just take a quick look at the context. In verse 9 of Matthew 12, now when He had departed from there, He went to their synagogue. Behold, there was a man there with a withered hand. They asked Him, «Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?» so that they might accuse Him. He said to them, «What man is there among you who has one sheep, and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not lay hold of it and lift it out? How much more valuable then is a man than a sheep?» Of how much more value is a man than a sheep? Of how much more value is a baby in the womb than a baby whale? It’s a twisted form of logic; it’s a twisted effort to express righteousness to disregard humanity while trying to spare and save everything else. Both should matter but not above a human life.
Jesus, here, I’m preaching to the choir so you’re not getting points for preaching to the choir, so let’s move on. In verse 13, He says to the man, «Stretch out your hand.» As he stretched it out, it was made whole. In verse 15, Jesus knew what the Pharisees were plotting against Him, so He withdrew from there. A great multitude followed Him, and He healed them all. In verse 22, then one was brought to Him who was demon-possessed, blind, and mute, and He healed him so that the blind and mute man both spoke and saw.
In verse 38, «Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered, saying, 'Teacher, we want to see a sign.'» Did you get it? What’s wrong with this picture? They were looking for something they could control—a sign. They wanted a pillar of fire, water out of a rock, which Israel experienced, manna on the ground—because of the callousness of their hearts, they had no regard for the well-being of the people in their community. Can you imagine knowing a man with a paralyzed arm, a shriveled-up arm that he’s never been able to use his whole life? It limits him in what he can do—and Jesus comes to that neighbor of yours, and you watch as that man stretches out his hand and is completely restored and healed. What does it take to see that and be unmoved?
To see another neighbor who’s never been able to say a word in his life and can’t even hear, and Jesus comes, and suddenly his ears are opened. What about the crowd that follows Jesus out of town and you see every single person with affliction get healed? For it to not move you? The miracles of God were not for entertainment; they were to restore us to God’s original intent. They are to bring justice to the demonic realm that came to kill, steal, and destroy. That’s got to bother us! We must stop creating theological reasons for disease to exist. We can’t say, «Well, I’m just getting older, and this is just what happens.» «My father had it; my grandfather had it; sure enough, I’m going to have it.» No! Stop it! Stop creating and adjusting your understanding of how the Kingdom of God works and shaping the Kingdom according to the laws of nature! It’s not that way; it’s the other way around! When we think that way, we actually make room for certain things to flourish that were never intended to flourish. You may be in a struggle or battle—don’t quit now! Don’t quit now! Stay on course with dealing with that which the enemy has released against you.
One of our elders here in the church had a grandson with extreme autism. I don’t know how it works, but there’s a number system, and his was around 26, while normal is about 11. He was diagnosed as extremely autistic. They took a year and prayed for him day after day after day, and slowly it changed. The last time they had him tested, he was around a 4—he’s more normal than normal children; he’s like «extra normal» or «normal on steroids.» You see, all of Jesus’s miracles were to restore people to God’s intent for them to live in health, to live with life, to live abundantly, to live with joy, to live fulfilled—being able to fulfill our assignment, to use both hands to work, etc. Jesus would perform these miracles to restore people to God’s intent, and the Pharisees were unmoved by it.
So Jesus gives them a little sermon here that I find quite interesting. He said, «An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign.» In verse 40, «As Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a great fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it because they repented at the preaching of Jonah. Indeed, a greater than Jonah is here.» Then the Queen of the South will rise up—that’s the Queen of Sheba—"in judgment against this generation and condemn it because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and indeed a greater than Solomon is here.»
Here are two unique parts of ministry: overt and covert—power and wisdom. Power brings the breakthrough; wisdom taps into the way of life that God intended for us. It enables us to sustain the breakthrough and position us to truly learn how to reign in life. Money doesn’t run my life; I manage it. Relationships don’t govern me; I govern relationships. Reining in life, wisdom gives us access to a lifestyle that testifies to His nature, but it doesn’t just testify—it invites. It comes as it’s displayed; it invites others into that same experience.
So Jesus uses two interesting examples: Jonah preaches to Nineveh, and Nineveh repents. It’s the bold preaching of the Gospel that actually attracts the miracle hand of God to be released in any given environment. You can see this in Mark 16 and Acts chapter 4. It’s repeated throughout Scripture—when there was boldness, there was the hand of God working wonders. Here we have Jonah going to a people he didn’t even want to minister to, and he preached to them. They were moved to repent, and they cried out to God for forgiveness. One of the two greatest revivals in the Bible happened in the Old Testament—Nineveh. The second, which I think is the greatest in my opinion, is Ephesus—an extraordinary move of God in the city of Ephesus.
So here we have Jesus announcing a strange thing: the people in Nineveh who are now dwelling in Heaven will stand in a day of judgment and point out to you what you missed because you had the opportunity, and they had a lesser opportunity than you, yet they repented and turned because they were impacted by the power of the preaching of the Gospel. Then He’s going to say, «And there was this lady who traveled halfway around the planet to get to this guy just to listen to wisdom.» She is the example of one moved by wisdom—another term I’ll use is divine reasoning, thinking from God’s perspective—that really is what the gift of wisdom is.
So here Jesus is saying she will stand and point to this generation that ignored the moment they were given. They were given an opportunity to see how God thinks, yet they rejected it to hold on to their own opinion and their own conviction. What He’s doing here is confronting the fact that you’ve missed your call for overt ministry to demonstrate power, and you’ve missed your call for covert ministry—subtlety, operating in wisdom. It’s that which is like leaven that gets worked into the dough and has an effect on everybody around you. God’s called us to both.
Everybody in this room has access to these two things, and probably everyone in this room has one that they prefer over the other. So, start paying more attention to the other because we want to have power and wisdom. We want to walk on legs that are the same length. We don’t want to hobble through life because we have a strong point and we have a point that we’ve ignored. God’s called us to demonstrate this good news, this Gospel of the Kingdom through power and through wisdom.
So, this passage that is often used to describe an adulterous generation seeking a sign is actually talking to a religious group of people that want the demonstrations of power for their sense of personal control and their sense of entertainment—completely unmoved by the conditions of people who are broken and hurting. And I would say to everybody in this room, you’ve been called to the miraculous, but it’s not so that your self-esteem could grow; it’s because there are people around us who are hurting. It’s not so that we can be entertained by yet another miracle, but because there are people around us who are filled with broken situations, and they’re looking for somebody who knows God, who believes God, to step into their life and say, «I will stand with you in this matter.»
Let’s go ahead and stand. We’ve had a string of miracles. I’ll talk about it more later, but I’ll just mention a few. Weeks ago at The Send, we had a woman healed—some of you have heard this story already—who had 38 years of Lyme disease. For the last ten years, she was mostly bedridden. She was completely healed. They sent a video of her running around her swimming pool, just beside herself. The entire family was filled with joy when I shared it here, and we prayed for those with Lyme disease. A friend of mine was visiting from Nashville; she stood in proxy for two young ladies with Lyme disease—actually the mother as well, who was bedridden and hardly able to function. All three were healed. One was healed of juvenile arthritis.
Listen, it’s just what Jesus does! One of our students, several years ago—this is a good one, and then I’m going to pray for you. I’ve been waiting for just this one good story. I’m teasing! On a ministry trip, one of our students gave a word of knowledge that God was healing kidney stones. This guy—who has since become my friend—had been suffering from kidney stones every couple of months for 27 years. If you’ve ever had them, you know how painful they are; I had them once, and it was a relief to get them out of my system! Wow! For 27 years, he prayed for relief. He was born with three kidneys, but two were diseased, so they removed two, leaving him with one, and he continued to suffer from kidney stones every couple of months.
Somebody called out that word of knowledge—kidney stones. His wife and kids made him stand; that’s what wives and kids are for! Some of us are a little slow and need someone with a cattle prod to help us! He stood up and was healed—no more kidney stones! He went back to the doctor because of another issue; he hurt his back or something, so they took x-rays. They said, «Well, we need to do this or whatever,» and he said, «Both kidneys are healthy!» He argued, «I only have one!» They looked at the report and said, «Oh, these must be the wrong x-rays!» They did it again, and the Lord created the second kidney! Come on! That’s good!
So listen, it has nothing to do with your intellect or intelligence or ability to imagine what God can do. It just comes down to obedience. It was a good thing all the student prayed for was no kidney stones; he didn’t know it would spill over into the creation of a new kidney. He’s actually getting the doctor’s report so we can celebrate that one! All right, so put your hands in front of you. Lord, I pray for great breakthrough in the areas of power and wisdom in Jesus' wonderful name.