Bill Johnson - God's Promise of Provision and How to Steward His Blessing
I have something I need to read to you. I read it a few years ago, but I think it’s worthwhile for today. The Pope goes to New York. He’s picked up at the airport in a limousine. He looks at the beautiful limousine and says to the driver, «You know, I hardly ever get to drive. Would you please let me drive?» The driver is understandably hesitant and says, «I’m sorry, but I don’t think I’m supposed to do that.» The Pope persists, saying, «Please.» The driver finally relents, thinking, «Oh, all right. I really can’t say no to the Pope.» So, the Pope takes the wheel and enjoys himself out there on the freeway until he attracts the attention of a highway patrol officer who pulls him over. The officer walks up to the window and asks him to roll it down. When he sees it’s the Pope, he’s startled and surprised, runs back to his vehicle, and calls the chief. He says, «Chief, I have a problem.»
«What sort of problem?»
«Well, you see, I pulled over this guy for driving over the speed limit, but it’s someone really important.»
«Important like the mayor?»
«No, much more important than that.»
«Important like the governor?»
«Way more important than that.»
«Like the president?»
«No, more.»
«Who’s more important than the president?»
«Well, he’s got the Pope driving for him, so it must be God.»
All right, I don’t know who makes these up, but I like what they do with their lives. Every once in a while, we will have a service like this that is intensely focused on a Bethel project or issue, and yet this is a place where we have guests constantly. We had 37 nations represented this week, and so we have lots of guests always. We are so thrilled! What I’m purposefully doing is taking something that has very real application for us at Bethel but is useful to everybody who is in the room. I want to talk to you about God’s way to blessing, increase, and prosperity. I really think He wants it more than we do, according to Scripture.
According to Scripture, it says that He is intended to do abundantly beyond and above all we could ask or think, beyond the greatest reach we would ever have in our life in faith, and beyond the greatest reach of our imagination. He wants to work beyond all of that, and it’s very specifically in the area of blessing. I’ve told you before that I feel like the Lord disciplines us so His blessings don’t kill us. His heart is to make us stable in character to handle the more. I don’t know any group of people on the planet that doesn’t want more, except for many Christians, because we’ve been taught that more is greed. It could be, but not necessarily. I’m concerned for anyone who doesn’t hunger for more. Not hungering for more is not normal.
We know when a child is sick because they don’t eat. You can tell when a child isn’t feeling well; they begin to lose their appetite. You can go anywhere in the world. I’ve been back in the bush, in jungle settings, and everybody wants more. I’ll never forget going with a friend of mine in Africa, I think it was Malawi, and we drove through a village where he gave two teenage girls a pink pencil each. I thought it was the dumbest thing in the world to give to people. He wanted to have something to give them, and when we drove away, I looked in the back window and saw those two teenage girls dancing and jumping up and down like they had just won the lottery. Everybody wants more, but somehow religion robs us of appetite and calls it sanctification. It robs us of appetite and calls it discipleship, and it’s just simply not true.
Jesus didn’t kill the passion for greatness in the disciples; He redefined it so they could be entrusted with something that would promote them and not kill them. Come on! The appetite for more is essential. I don’t think any believer who truly sees the cry of the world around us for help would not have an appetite for more. It’s not about building materialistic personal kingdoms. I’m thankful He provides for us; I’m grateful for what He does. He’s gone way beyond what I could ever have asked for or dreamt of. But the point is He is looking for people who hunger for unusual supernatural significant breakthrough, put into the context of a passionate person for souls, so that as the resources come, we have the wisdom and the grace to do what we’ve purposed in our hearts to do.
We actually get to shape the course of history through generosity. This is a huge thing for me. I’m sure I see it differently than many, but just consider my perspective. I believe that generosity, which can be proven in Scripture, is one of the evidences of righteous living. It’s one of the evidences of being in fellowship with the Lord; it’s very normal. Everything that God has made gives; the leaves on the trees give oxygen, the sun gives heat and light, and everything just gives. It’s how God made things, and you and I are the only ones with options.
I’m going to read a passage in a moment that will underscore this, but please don’t let anyone ever manipulate or coerce you into giving. I don’t care if they’re knocking on your door or it’s me standing behind this; I will never do it intentionally. But it’s very possible for you to misinterpret my zeal for giving as a tool of coercion to get you to do something. Don’t pay attention to that; if you ever feel that, shut that down because it’s not good for you and it’s not good for me. It’s not good for us to somehow get manipulated into giving or guilt-shamed into giving.
It’s the absolute privilege to send money out to war and shape the course of history. I’ve told you before; I consider myself a general in an army, and the dollars in my account are my soldiers. I get to assign them to an eternal task, and I find great joy in doing this. Benny and I have giving as a huge part of our lives; it has been since before we were married. There are three things we do every single month from every one of our paychecks: we obviously give the tithe, the offering to the local church, and the local church has to be the home base where things are based from and exported from. I’m a firm believer in the local church.
The tithe—I’ll get to it in a moment. World missions: we support world missions all around the world as long as I can remember. Then, caring for the poor—I remember picking that up about 35 years ago, just helping the poor with every paycheck, every month, sewing into the benevolence of feeding those without food and clothing those without clothing. For us, every single time we receive income, that’s where it goes: into those places. I remember about 35 years ago, I saw that Israel separated one out of—I believe, if I remembered this right—one out of every three tithes. They had three tithes, meaning every three years they threw in an extra 10% that was all to go to the poor. Interesting.
So, I thought, okay, I need to do something based on that principle, so that every month I’m doing something to take care of the homeless, the poor, the broken, the needy. We have a certain base amount that we start with; it’s considerably more than a tithe. We begin there, and then we can give throughout the month as we desire. The point I want to make is that every person in this room has been positioned with something.
Honestly, generosity is a heart attitude. It means that when you go into the store, you smile at the person who’s helping you. It means you’re free enough to compliment someone else’s hairstyle or clothing. It just means you’re not focused in here on personal matters. It means we actually think in terms of making a difference everywhere we go, and it’s such an incredible privilege to do this.
We don’t have time today, but I would love to spend several weeks just on the generosity portion of life because it changes everything. It changes how you see people, how you see your resources, and how you see your time. Everything changes when you get this thing boiling up inside you about generosity. I know the tithe is a touchy area in some circles. If it is here, let me step on it for you; if it’s a tender spot, let me just kill that nerve.
The people will say the tithe came from the law; the tithe didn’t come from the law—it came from Abraham, who was called the father of faith. Can you imagine doing something so significant in your relationship with God that your children pick it up, your descendants pick it up, and then God looks at it and says, «It’s such a great idea; I’m also going to put it in the law»? And then Jesus comes along in Matthew 22 and says, «You should do the tithe but don’t neglect the rest.» So, the concept that it’s just the law is silly; it’s our rent payment for living on His planet, breathing His air, and you don’t want to get evicted.
I remember reading a story about scientists who said they had no more need of God, that they could make man and do all this stuff. God said, «Well, let’s have a man-making contest.» He said, «All right.» So God reaches over, picks up dirt, forms a man, and the scientist reaches over to pick up dirt. God says, «No, no, no, no, go get your own dirt.»
I’m way off track and don’t have that much time left, so I’ll shut up. You don’t realize how much I love talking about these things. The Lord spoke to me in the night and said, «The anointing for the day of the cancellation of debt is upon you.» We’re going to end the service today by praying for this because I feel like I’ve not been stewarding that anointing enough. I only do it occasionally, and I feel like I had someone say this morning that they were here before when I prayed this prayer. They went home, and a $40,000 debt was canceled. They’ve had three different things happen in their lives.
I feel like the Lord wants to wholesale bring blessings into people’s lives, but here’s the deal: position your heart to make a difference. The Lord will bless you whether you do it or not. I’m just saying there’s a day coming when what you’ve done for Him on earth will be the only thing that matters.
Let’s go to 2 Corinthians chapter 9. We have two portions of Scripture I’m going to try to get to, and if I do, that will be wonderful; if I don’t, that will be wonderful too—just not as wonderful! First, 2 Corinthians 9. Chapters 8 and 9 of 2 Corinthians are actually used fairly often whenever the subject of giving is brought up. But we’re going right to the bonus round. What I’m going to do today is take two verses—two sections of Scripture that are probably the most popular in the New Testament about giving and God’s blessing in our lives.
All I want to do today is point out the context in which God spoke these extreme words of blessing over your life and mine. They were actually released in an unusual context that, if you’re not paying attention, you might not catch. It’s the context that sets us up for the reward.
You ready? Say yes! Yes, Bill, we’re ready! Verse 7: «Let each one of you give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly—not doing that, or my brother would say, 'I don’t care if you give angrily; just give it'—not grudgingly or of necessity.» I think the New American Standard says «of compulsion.» In other words, don’t ever find yourself in a place where you feel pressured to give. Just shut that down. Get at peace with God, and find out what He wants you to do, whether it’s here or somewhere else. Just stay away from it because it’s not healthy and it’s not a good place to give from.
«For God loves a cheerful giver.» Here’s our big verse: «And God is able,» which is the root of our blessing. «God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you always having all sufficiency in all things may have an abundance for every good work.» Why do you need to be blessed? So you can address every opportunity to do a good work.
Let me ask you this: Just be honest with me, and this time don’t do the half-mast thing; just be honest. How many of you have situations where someone is in crisis, someone is in need, or maybe it’s a futuristic vision to sew into an opportunity, and you see these things come up and you have nothing to give, and it frustrates you that you couldn’t do something? How many of you have had those kinds of situations?
What He is saying here is that He’s talking about coming into a lifestyle where you always have something to give into those things that present themselves. The Lord would actually do something in our lives where somebody comes to you and you find out they have no shoes for their kids. Oh, hang on! I just happened to have a couple of hundreds in my pocket this morning, and we take care of it.
Somebody stands up here and says, «Heidi’s boat sank,» you know, where they’re reaching these islands where nobody has ever heard the name Jesus. They take the Gospel, they go through horrific weather, and their boats sink. I told her, «We are buying her a new one.» I’ve already promised her, so don’t let me down; don’t make me a liar!
So something like that comes up, and you go, «Oh, yeah, we have it in the checkbook.» And we write that check! The point is, every time something comes up that moves our hearts, we’re able to act; we’re able to do something. Man, I love that! I love the thought of that. I’m closer to that than I’ve ever been, and it’s a thrill to walk through the office and have someone say it’s their birthday, and to be able to bless them just because it’s their birthday.
There was a time where you just gave them a hug, and that’s good; it’s just more fun to go beyond the hug and actually bless them with something. Am I making sense? I want to be able to contribute to any need that comes my way. That’s one of the goals of my life: to never have a situation come my way that I would have to turn away from and just say, «Well, I’ll pray that God blesses you.» Does anyone else want that?
He says, «An abundance for every good work.» I love the word «every.» As it is written, «He has dispersed abroad; He has given to the poor; His righteousness endures forever.» Notice the connection of righteousness and generosity.
Now may He—verse 10—may He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food supply and multiply the seed you have sown and increase the fruits of your righteousness! I love that verse; it has helped me a lot. I lived for a long time being very generous and always felt that, you know how when you give something, there’s gratification and a sense of personal fulfillment? It doesn’t matter if anybody knows or if you just did it in secret; there’s a sense of fulfillment like, «Man, I did it.» You just feel good in that moment that you got to be part of an answer or part of a solution.
But I didn’t have that same joy over providing the simple things for my family. I mean, I always loved to do that, but one felt noble and the other felt natural. I don’t know if that makes sense to you.
And here it says God provides seed for sowing—that’s generosity—and bread for eating—that’s consuming. Both one is as holy as the other. When I realized this, it helped me a lot, because it meant that buying gifts for my children, my wife, and food for the table didn’t matter what it was. It was as holy an act as was the mission support, which I thrive on.
Come on! God actually had a slot, a place for both, and I could do both with equal conviction and joy and pleasure. I just don’t like to live routine; I like to extract all the nutrients out of the moment that I can get and realize that God ordained me to consume bread. He ordained me to be a consumer of what He provided for me as well as a giver.
I’m taking my boys hunting in a week. Thank you, Jesus! Yes, indeed! Through the years, I’ve bought each of them rifles. Now, if you don’t like hunting, just pretend we’re on a photographic safari, and we are shooting lasting pictures engraved. You know what? How does a father look at you enjoying what He provided for you?
It can’t be any less than my joy of seeing my kids enjoy what I’m able to do for them. There’s no way! I’m a better father, but I am inspired by Him. Yes! So, when He provides the food to be consumed, He delights in your joy in what He’s provided. So don’t ever downgrade that.
I feel like I should have had good. Thank you! I see the time disappearing, and I’ve been rambling; I feel like today is a day where I’m going to talk about a hundred different things, and when I go home, I’ll feel good about all of them.
Verse 11: «While you are enriched in everything for all liberality, which causes thankfulness through us to God.» While you’re enriched for everything, all liberality, all generosity overflows and brings thankfulness to God.
Let’s think about this. Let’s say you provide for—let’s just take Heidi’s boat for example. Heidi is already celebrating that I’m buying her a boat! Excuse me, that we are buying her a boat! She is already celebrating! Years ago, I told her I’d buy a well-drilling rig, and she— I didn’t know it, but she ordered it.
She came here on a particular week that we knew she was coming, and I gave her the check, and she said, «Oh good! I ordered it already.» She said, «I’ve had others tell me they would buy a well-drilling rig, but they never did.» She said, «But when you told me, I knew you were a man of your word, so I ordered it.»
So, let’s say we sew into this boat. What happens? Well, people will be saved. But what else happens? Heidi and an entire team of people who have the privilege of taking the Gospel to these islands will be in continuous thankfulness for what we’ve provided.
So the Lord receives honor through thanksgiving; He receives honor through the souls that are saved. He receives honor through people doing what they were born to do, going to lost tribes. Every gift has multiple effects; it’s the joy of giving.
All right, go to Philippians 4, and I’ll try to end this on a safe note. Philippians 4:19—this is a verse that probably most of you know or are familiar with. It’s a great passage. «My God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.» How many of you have claimed that verse before? «My God will provide all your needs according to His riches in glory.» I mean, we know that’s about as high a gold standard as you can get, right? His riches in glory, which are unlimited and eternal—that’s the measure of provision for us.
Thinking about the passages I showed you in Corinthians and the passage here in Philippians, both of them give promises that we delight in and enjoy about unlimited provision guaranteed by the Lord throughout our lives. But both are connected to missionary giving. Paul was the missionary they were supporting, going to people who had never heard the Gospel. The Philippian church did that; the church at Corinth did that. The whole context was the fact that they were supporting the work of the ministry that would go on around the world.
I don’t know if this will make sense to you. Here’s Paul; he’s so filled with gratefulness because of the sacrifice of these people, and he’s writing a letter. Now, I realize it became Scripture, but just take it from his perspective. He’s writing this letter, and he is so thankful because he can actually tell this group, the church at Philippi, «I’m full. I’m full! I’ve lacked before, but right now I’m absolutely full. I’m filled with abundance, and it’s because of you.»
He is so filled with gratefulness, and from that place of gratefulness come these words: «And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory.» He tapped into something himself while he ministered to this entire body of believers in this city. He taps into this prophetic promise that God Himself was linking them to unlimited supply, and it was out of their connection to bringing the Gospel to the nations.
Whether you live here in Redding, you’re part of Bethel, or you’re part of another church in another country, one of the things we’ve noticed is that the health of a church always increases when they go beyond the reach of their own local church.
It’s said of the church in North America—I don’t know what it’s like in other countries represented, but tragically in North America, they say 95% of all the money that comes into the local church is spent on the church in North America. Ninety-five percent! In other words, if $100,000 came in, the average is $95,000 of that would go just to care for and take care of us. There’s this thought that, well, we’ll reach other countries when we’ve taken care of our own.
That may look good on paper, but that’s really stupid! It’s really dumb! One of the great missionary statesmen, Jim Elliot, who died a martyr, made this statement that rocks me: «The light that shines the farthest shines the brightest at home.» You can’t give yourself to them without impacting us on the way, but if you don’t give yourself to them, you’ll never have all you need to do what you’re called to do here.
Does that make sense? God’s economy is just different. It’s just different! When I’ve given my tithe, I have 90% of my income left. That 90% is actually more effective because it’s without a devourer. The 100% comes with a devourer. True!
It’s like the person who loves God more than his wife; he’s got more love for his wife when he puts God first. It’s just the way God’s world works; it’s just different, but it’s right.
So here we are: these two passages of Scripture promise us great abundance. I have such a heart for Redding to be transformed. I believe deep in my soul—I feel like I’ve heard from the Lord—that God is raising up Redding as a Geneva—a place of great creativity and great excellence. I long for His blessing to fill every single life in this room. The abundant factor—I’m so hungry for it! I dream about it, I pray for it, I read about it, I sing about it, I declare it, and I drive down the streets of our city with that confession.
It’s not about dollars; it’s not about materialistic empires. It’s about having something happen here that the nation would take note of because that’s not normal! In our history, we were called «poverty flats.» God would change the nature of a city to where not only are they blessed, but they are contributors to cities and nations all over the world—a benevolence movement that would stir up and be birthed here that would actually affect the course of history.
I hunger for this; I long for this. But I know that there are decisions along the way, and one of those is can we get on board to support people that live halfway around the world and help them as they minister the Gospel in these various places?
Here’s what I long for: I want every person—okay, pay attention closely. Every person who considers Bethel home—our family nature, our family inheritance, our family gift—is generosity to nations. That’s who we are and what that means for you is one less cup of Starbucks a month than you give—250 or a dollar; I don’t care what it is! If that’s all it is, just do something consistently that’s not about you and not about us, but something that we will actually have to wait till eternity to see the full effect.
I encourage people to adopt a nation; that’s just personally. Unfortunately, I have so many nations I’ve adopted now, and never mind—that’s another issue; I have issues! But we’ve got these envelopes, and it would be really cool if you took just a moment to pray and ask the Lord what you should do, could do, or should do. What could you believe Him for? If you need one of these missions envelopes, put a hand up because we’ve got ushers with as many as are needed.
I know we have people online watching, and I just bless you! Please, in your local church, do something! If it’s your local rescue mission, which we have a great ministry in town that we support—our rescue mission here is outrageously wonderful! They are doing an amazing job. I’ve never been more proud of that kind of ministry than what I’ve seen in our own city. If that’s what you want to sew into, my goodness, that is money well spent; it’s changing lives!
But the point I’m trying to make right now is we have a whole bunch of missionaries that we’re supporting, and I would encourage you to make a commitment so we can continue the support for these folks. Actually, we’re going to continue whether you do it or not. Sometimes in years past, before you got so generous, we’d have to pull it out of our operations and cut down something else here. That’s how I’ve done life personally. I remember we have a substantial missions commitment every month, and I remember quite a few years ago during Weaverville Days, the only way I could keep the missions commitment going was to sell my car because the payment was too high, and one had to go. I couldn’t keep them both going, and so we sold the car. It was just a no-brainer.
When you find out what you were born for, nothing else is appealing. When you find that this releases your purpose, your identity, and your focus in life to shift the course of history for nations, you know what? There’ll be other cars, but right now we’re going to do this. That’s just the way we’ve done life. We’ve done it here as a church; there have been times in the past, especially when things haven’t come in, that we just take it out of our operation here.
The point I’m trying to illustrate to you is this is intensely a big deal about how we live life. So I encourage you to join with us on this one. If you can do the pledge thing right now, do it.
We’re going to collect those envelopes, so do that right now. Then in just a moment here, we’re going to pass the bags. If you want to give a one-time gift, that’s cool! But we’re going to pass the bags, and then I’m going to pray over the entire household for this cancellation of debt thing. For those of you who have no debt, get in on it too, to where He just increases the black. You know, take us out of the red and into the black! I just want to see every household blessed!
You know what? I have personal goals and dreams that I’ve got some people I’d love to buy a house for, and I just am not going to be happy until I can do that. I keep meeting people who need a car, and the car they have should have been buried a long time ago. You know what I’m saying? Come on; we just need the greater breakthrough—the greater breakthrough!
That’s where my heart beats. So do the mission thing with us; join with us in supporting the Gospel around the world. Make out your pledge card, and pass the bags.
Lord, we do pray for real insight on what we’re to do. We love obedience; we love your will. It’s so gratifying to know we’ve done what you’ve said. I pray there would be such a sense of peace and joy in all the giving here that there would be no compulsion. Protect us from that, Lord, in our own hearts, and help us to do what we do out of great faith. In Jesus' name, amen!
Before we end this, we’re going to pray for that cancellation of debt thing. I’m excited about that one! As soon as the bag has gone past you, stand up. Actually, I guess you could all stand up if you can multitask. The last service, I dismissed everyone before we finished passing the bags. I got so excited; I just lost track of stuff.
We’re going to pray, so assume a prayer posture, and I’ll pray. How many of you are honestly ready for this release anointing that destroys debt? I believe in this! I have seen this through the years. I’ve been reviewing some old words, and I saw this and kind of got convicted to be honest with you: here was this grace on my life that I’ve not been using much lately. And I thought, «Oh man, it wasn’t given to me for me; it was given to me for us.»
Just put your hands in front of you; I won’t have you hold hands again because we don’t want to wear out that welcome. Let’s make agreement together. The Lord actually spoke to me and said, «The anointing for the day of the cancellation of debt is upon you.» It came at 5:55 in the morning, Minneapolis, Minnesota, in October of 2003. I know exactly when He spoke this word!
So Father, in response to Your word, I ask that there would be something new released over this body of believers and unusual stories just fill us with grace—stories of how you take care of things. We invite you, as our Father, Papa God, to come and do what only you can do. Let it be said of this church family, including our guests, that every person is out of debt. Everyone who wants a home owns a home outright and is positioned to meet every good work. We pray these things for the honor of the name Jesus. Amen!
Now hold your places. Amen! Now I’ve gone over time, so what’s it worth? Hold on! The most important part of the meeting is right now. I know in a crowd this size, there are always people here that don’t know the Lord.
Okay, please don’t walk around for this moment because I don’t want anyone distracted by what God is doing in people’s lives. I know that in a crowd this size, there are people here who don’t know the Lord. You’ve never given your life to Jesus. You’ve never said, «I am a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ. I believe He died for me; I commit my life to Him.» Some of you have walked with Him in times past and you haven’t. You just want to be one of those that say, «Bill, I don’t want to leave here until I know I’m right with God.»
If that’s you, if you would say, «Bill, I don’t want to leave here until I know that I’m right with God; I’m at peace with God,» then I want you to put your hand up right where you are. Just hold on for a second. All of you who would say, «I don’t want to leave here until I know I’m right with God,» put your hand up. I see one right here. I see another one right over here. I see another one right here. Yep, beautiful! Anyone else? Back over here…