Heaven's Dream for Your Life | Bill Johnson

Anyway, all right, take your Bibles open to Mark chapter 8. And we're going to we're going to start with um I'm actually not going to teach on the story that I normally do out of Mark chapter 8, but I I I do want to use a reference that he makes here. So, Gospel of Mark, uh the 8th chapter, I I want to talk to you about the renewed mind.

And uh for those of you that have been around [clears throat] when I've taught before, I I talk about it a lot. Maybe it's it's it's I'm I'm making confession of what I need. But uh I I feel like I feel like there's so much more that the Lord wants to do, but he will only do it in consistent with our renewed mind.

If you if you take the the key verse on the renewed mind, Romans 12:2, don't be conformed to this world. Don't be conformed to a system that thinks and values differently than God does. It's actually a system. It's not just carnality. It's not just perversion. It's just not just all that stuff. It's a different it's it's a different point of reference in thinking. It's based on humanism or or a religious spirit that has no relationship. It's routine without relationship. It's uh it's no power. And uh that world system is working to influence our values, working to influence how we see challenges that are before us. And what we see with the disciples is they were they were with Jesus continuously experiencing extraordinary miracles and yet they still had trouble changing the way they thought.

So the scripture says in Romans 12, [clears throat] don't be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove the will of God. What is the will of God? Your will be done, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. I think the clearest definition of the will of God is that your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. That's the will of God. And it's the renewed mind that proves it. It's the renewed mind that is able to display and to affirm God's heart. The renewed mind thinks from God's heart, his vision for humanity, his vision for planet Earth.

He's You [laughter] don't You don't have to respond. I just want to make sure you get it. I I just I I just want to make sure you haven't fallen asleep from lunch. All right. The renewed [clears throat] mind is able to validate. It's not that God needs validation, but the word to approve the will of God is actually a statement of validation. It's approval of the will of God. And the Lord has so many things that he desires to do on the earth. And yet we often times adjust our expectations to anticipate the negativity that's going on in the earth or the punishment for sin that's going on in the earth instead of the response of God to the cries of his people for massive outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

So it's so much easier to believe for negative things than it is for for positive things. In a very strange way, many people are encouraged over the bad news because it means Jesus is coming soon. That's a perversion. As far as I'm concerned, it's a perversion to look for negativity as a sign Jesus returning. He's not returning for a jigsaw puzzle of a bride that he has to put together in heaven. He's he's coming for a glorious church. >> That's not my subject, but it's it's it's what God has in his heart for the day that you and I live in is extraordinary.

So, he's working on how we see reality. He's working on how we think, how we process information because he just thinks different. How many of you have figured that one out? What we haven't figured out is how different he thinks. He here, picture this. He's sitting in the temple and people are bringing up gifts, putting it into the offering, and a widow comes up with a might, less than a penny, two might. He thinks that's more than the big offering. >> Yes. Just he thinks in terms of quality not quantity and purpose. >> Amen. >> His celebration is on quality and purpose.

>> I had a strange experience two weeks ago. I was um um we had a whole bunch of our international um online students come to reading. We had about 600 of them show up and they had a couple of them had brought me uh gifts, you know, like coffee or candy or cookies or something something from heaven basically. And uh and so somebody was kind enough to go get a plastic bag out of I think our bookstore or somewhere so that I I wouldn't have to have my arms full of stuff. And so put it in a plastic bag and they gave me the bag and I just, you know, uh the plastic uh handles. I so I just held on to it while I'm talking to people and taking pictures and you know just hanging out with our our international guests. And then one of the security guys uh came says, "Would you like for me to put that in in your office?" And that's always a help because then I don't have to manage stuff. And I said, "Yeah, that'd be great." And so when I I opened my hand to give it to him, a dime appeared in my hand. Now, I I don't know about you, if I don't have things I don't understand happening in my life, I get concerned. >> I'm serious. >> I'm serious. I The mo one of the most terrifying things for me is to just experience the predictability of life. There's got to be mystery or I I figure out that I see I don't want to have a God made in my image. I I don't I don't want to have a God that I can manage and understand. I've got to have that area of mystery. [clears throat] And I know people say, "Well, if you are open to all that kind of stuff, you can be deceived." And that's true. But without it, you already are deceived.

>> That just felt so good to say. I don't think [laughter] I don't think it was as fun for you to hear as it was for me to say it. But so this renewed mind adjust. So there's this dime I mentioned to the staff on Sunday. We had a early morning prayer meeting and I mentioned and one of the gals said, "I just heard this phrase, it'll turn on a dime." And I realized it was for me it was a prophetic word about situations that need to turn on a dime. How many of you have situations that just need to turn? stand up because we're going to pray over that right now because I feel like there's a there's a certain in fact our our dancers um uh that that more that next Sunday morning a dime appeared in the middle of where they were dancing on the stage. Now coincidence who who knows who cares all I know is I got stuff that got to turn on a dime. So put your hands out in front of you and just say I receive that word. We just declare the miracles right now where situations turn on a dime. Things that were impossible one moment become logical the next. Complete turnaround of of relationships that have been broken, financial crisis turn around in a moment. The miracles of health of of reports from doctors etc. Let them turn on a dime right now in Jesus name. Now just offer what you stood up for. Just offer to the Lord. Just say, "I received that promise." Amen. Amen. Go ahead and and and be seated.

So, I Let's see. I've got to manage my time a little better here. Sheesh. All right. So, uh the point I'm trying to make is Jesus sees moments different than I do. Like way different. He actually thinks giving is better than receiving. Now for many of us, we know the act of generosity. We don't know the lifestyle of generosity. >> There's many things we know how to turn on. But some of those things should never be turned off. It's a way of thinking. It's a way of seeing. When your mind is renewed, the impossible looks logical. Now faith doesn't come from the mind. We know that faith comes from the heart. With a heart, man believes. But what the renewed mind does is it creates the context for faith. It's much like the banks of a river. It creates the context for faith to flow in. And renewed thinking actually um I I it in it is in a sense it enables faith to function. Hebrews 11 says, "By faith we understand." The worlds were made out of nothing. It didn't say we understand. And then came faith. It says by faith we understand. Understanding came after faith. Faith requires an action. The activity of faith will always take you into greater understanding.

>> [clears throat] >> It's all right. I've had to work harder before. I'll uh So, in John 6, it talks about where Jesus multiplied food, which you're going to read one small part of if I ever get to Mark chapter 8. There's one one small part there, but in John 6, it actually talks about one of the occasions where there was the multiplication of food and and the way the gospel writer identified the moment and the location was, it's the place where Jesus multiplied the food. Here's the phrase, after giving thanks. >> That's how he labeled the location and the moment. after he had given thanks. Okay, think with me. What did he give thanks for? He gave thanks for that which wasn't enough. When you when you see the pregnancy of a moment, Thanksgiving starts. It's when you don't see it that you wait to be motivated to give thanks. When you see the moment, you see the power of a seed. I personally think a lot of the big prayers, the great prayers that we pray are like we're praying for oak trees and God gives us an acorn. And because of the inability to recognize the seed of the miracle, we abort the life of the miracle in its infancy. instead of learning how to steward. And what happens when we learn to steward the seed of a miracle is we grow with the seed, which is what's necessary for many of the great things we pray for is our maturity level has to grow to be able to consistently live in a place of purity and surrender as the miracle manifest and takes place.

I I walked into our school uh of ministry one day and I I walked into the back of the room. There's about four or 500 uh people in there and I I walked into the back and I I just had this impression um I've never Well, I've just had this impression somebody in the room asked for $500 this morning. And so, um, they I went up to, uh, to take the the mic and and speak. [clears throat] And instead of greeting everyone, doing what I would normally do, I I wanted to get right into that thing that I had just heard in the back. I didn't want to lose it. I said, "Is there anyone here that you asked the Lord for $500 this morning?" And one lady right in the front row, right in front of me, she put her hand up and I said, I looked around, there was nobody else. I said, "You asked him for specifically for 500 this morning?" She said, "Yes." I said, "Here." So, I pulled out a a $50 bill out of my out of my pocket. I said, "It's not 500, but there's 500 in the 50." See, every moment, every open door of favor, it may not be the biggest open door that you've prayed for, but it's a seed to greater breakthrough, to greater favor if it's stewarded well. Favor is a big thing. Proverbs 22, the end of Proverbs 22 says, "If you're a person of excellence, if you do labor of excellence, you'll stand before kings." The very start of chapter 23 says, "When you dine with a king, put a knife to your throat if you're a man of great appetite." In other words, go into that environment realizing they have stuff that in the normal you might want, but if you begin to turn your heart towards that, you'll lose your place of influence. So you have to choose what is most valuable for me. Is it the stuff or is it the position of influence to serve? You put a knife to your throat. It's acknowledging a that's it's why we pray things like lead us not to temptation. God doesn't take us into temptation. What we're doing is acknowledging I have bents in my life that could easily be drawn into that kind of a greed or a lust or a sin. So I'm putting a self-imposed restriction so that I can be fully trusted with the moments that you want to give me. So how do you grow in favor? It's you use what you have. Well, so he opens many doors for us, miracles that take place. You know, you want to see empty wheelchairs, then rejoice when the sinus headache gets healed. If if you if you if we can't be trusted with the pain in the shoulder that's gone, we probably can't be trusted with the miracle because we'll take it to ourselves. So, he gives us these kinds of moments.

So, anyway, a couple weeks after I I did the the $50 thing, one of the students came to me, "Did you ever hear what happened with the uh $50?" They said, "No, I I I didn't." They said uh she went to the grocery store that evening and there's a young couple standing in front of her that didn't have enough money for their groceries. So, she pulled out her 50 and and helped pay for their groceries and thought to herself, "Well, there goes the 50." And uh when she drove home after leaving the grocery store, driving home, when she drove into the driveway, somebody drove up to her driveway with $500. Now, my favorite kind of miracle is the quick one. Man, I I I like kaboom. There it is. But he knows I would turn into a a monster if everything turned out that quickly because then I would have the slot machine of heaven figure it out. You put 50 in, you get 500 out. you put 50 in. [laughter] So sometimes, have you ever seen this? Sometimes you'll have the quick answer which will be followed by a similar need, but you'll have a delayed answer. Have you ever seen this? You have a quick answer. You looked at me as though that had never happened to you. Well, let me tell you my story. There are times where there are quick answers, but they're they're usually followed by a very similar situation and the answer does not come as quickly as the previous. Why? Because he's already revealed his nature and character in the first miracle. Now he's trying to reveal reveal the condition of our heart in the second. Listen to me. All delayed answers are gaining interest. all delayed answers. They came to Jesus said, "Lazarus, your friend is sick." And when he heard that, it says, "So he waited two more days." You would think he's really a friend. He would hurry quickly to go pray for his friend. But he intentionally chose delay because there was a greater miracle about to happen. And that's when the resurrection after four uh being dead for four days.

So Jesus gave thanks for that which wasn't enough. I I don't know. I I'm I'm learning I'm learning the power of thankfulness to [clears throat] be much more significant than I ever thought. It's to me it's one of the greatest tests of lordship in the word. is it didn't say in everything that goes well give thanks. It says in everything give thanks. It doesn't mean I have to thank God for disease. I'm thankful that he's in charge in the middle of it. That he can win with any situation. He can turn anything around for his glory. And if I don't find that place of actual gratefulness, that place of thankfulness, then I will I will be uh running around like trying to force the hand of God, running around thinking that uh that I'm the one in charge, that I'm the one that's responsible and overemphasize my role. Thankfulness is a posture of humility.

>> All right, I should probably get to Mark chapter 8 before you You think I don't believe it's there. Jesus uh just corrected them actually gave them a word about u levven of Herod. The 11 of Pharisees. Levven of Herod is religious. Religious spirit pheriseical spirit and uh humanism the political spirit. They are both fighting to get your attention, get your adoration, your affection, your commitment. And both of these two ways of thinking, there's three ways of thinking on the planet. I I I believe there's the way of the kingdom, there's the way of religion, there's a way of politics, political spirit. Political spirit is humanism. Has man at the center of everything. Doesn't mind belief in God. Just don't bring him into the equation. The religious spirit has God at the center of everything, but he's impersonal and powerless. He's there in theme, in idea, in concept, but not in relationship, not in power, not in presence. And the third way is is kingdom. So he's correcting them for them. And he asks them, why do you reason in verse 17 that you have no bread? He he just uh started to talk to them about not having enough, excuse me, about levan. And they were fearful because they didn't have enough bread for this trip. He said, "Do you not uh perceive nor understand? Is your heart still hardened?" How many of you have had a supernatural miracle of provision before you've had you've actually had a miracle? Yeah. How many of you after that miracle had another financial challenge? How many of you were as afraid the second time as you were the first time? Yeah, that's the point. So, he's he's asking that question. He said, "Why why do you reason that you have no bread?" See, once I've experienced the supernatural supply, I received the revelation of his covenant and his nature. Now, I have to live from that. >> Once I've received the miracle provision, I've lost the right to start any thought process with what I don't have.

>> It's a very good point, Bill. Having verse 18, having eyes, do you not see? Having ears, do you not hear? Do you not remember? You know, I I have always thought, you know, I have friends that just see so well in the spirit. They see unseen things well. And I I don't mean imagining angels. I just mean they perceive things uh in such an extraordinary way. And uh others hear. So So you ask the question, can't you see? And sometimes I have to answer, no, I'm not seeing anything. Can you hear? Well, I hear better than I see, but I'm not hearing anything at the moment either. He says, "Well, can you remember?" You see, I I attribute hearing, seeing and hearing to maturity andor gifts, spiritual gifts, but remembering is a choice. You can feed your soul on anything you want to feed it on. Many people feed their soul on what God hasn't done. or you can remember. >> It's the intentional calling to mind what you've seen and or have heard of the mighty works of God. Real faith doesn't deny the existence of a problem. Real faith denies the problem a place of influence. Real faith silences the voice of a problem.

All right, let's finally get to what I wanted to talk to you about. Verse [clears throat] 19 and 20. When I broke the five loaves for the 5,000, how many baskets full of fragments did you take up? They said to him, 12. When I broke the seven for the 4,000, how many large baskets full of fragments did you take up? And they said, "Seven." And he said to them, "How is it you do not understand?" All right. This is heaven's math. When I broke the five loaves for the 5,000, that's just men, not counting women and children. and he multiplied a child's lunch. So the one who didn't count in culture counted to Jesus. Five loaves for 5,000 12 baskets left over. When he started with seven loaves, he fed 4,000 and had seven baskets left over. He fed more and had more leftovers when he started with less.

>> Remember, he looked at the widow's might and honored it, praised it, because in heaven's economy, it was actually more. The reason the Lord warns us about the effect of money on the heart of believers is because we are we tend we tend to relate significance to amounts and not quality to quantity not quality to external abundance and not purpose. And until we have those adjustments made in our heart, we can't be trusted with the measure he would like to entrust us with. Did that make any sense or Yeah, it made sense to me, but I'll I'll keep working on it. So here here Jesus, he sees things different. He gives us the warning in scripture, don't despise the day of small beginnings. Why? Because heaven sees moments different than we do. In John 7, Jesus says, "Come to me and drink and out of your innermost being will flow rivers of living water." Come to me and drink and out of your innermost being will become rivers. What happened? A drink becomes a river. The significance of the small is throughout scripture. He thinks different. The disciples wanted to have bigger faith and Jesus talked to them about a mustard seed to illustrate the power of faith. The significance of the impact of faith was not seen in its size. It was seen in its quality. Oftentimes we don't need more faith. We need less unbelief.

Jesus illustrates the life of faith and unbelief with a garden, with soil. There's the seed of the word of God carrying his DNA, his promise, his word that he's declared over our lives. But then he talks about the weeds that get planted in our garden. And those weeds compete for the nutrients of the soil to influence the condition of our heart. And as it grows, the scripture says that the weeds actually choke the word of God. That's amazing. The most powerful thing in the universe is the word of God. And yet lies can choke it. In Mark chapter 7, Jesus talks about tradition. Now, all traditions aren't bad, but when traditions compete and overtake the power of the word of God, then they become despised. So, he's referring not to family traditions, church traditions. He's referring to things that we follow instead of the spirit of God, instead of the word of God. And he talks about he rebukes the Pharisees and he says because of your traditions you have you have rendered the word of God the phrase there is to render powerless. If you can imagine an electric guitar up here with unbelievable volume and then I go to the wall and I pull the plug. What did I do? I rendered it powerless. The word of God comes with the backing of all of heaven and yet tradition can render it powerless. If I follow my church history or I follow my family history or something in contradiction to scripture, then I have pulled the plug on the most powerful thing in the universe. There's a competition for the seed of the word of God that's been planted in my heart. And anything that I turn give my attention to, the enemy wants me to give attention to a lie because eventually he can get my affection or my my allegiance to to that lie. It doesn't mean we ever admire the devil. It doesn't mean we ever admire lies, but giving it attention can empower it just enough to compete with the word of God that is looking to empower me to become all that Jesus said I was to become.

>> Amen. So giving some of us just have too many weeds in our garden. You know if I if I stop to give consideration to you know let's say you you've been praying for and somebody just gave you this great word that you're going to see tremendous release of healing miracles through your life and you pray for a relative that dies. You start wondering, was that word that I received really from God? What are you doing? You're inviting a weed to be planted in your garden? And the more time you think on it, the more you water that garden that you're letting the sunshine of your own life come on to cause that thing to germinate and begin to compete with the word of God over your life. Why were there two trees in the garden? One they could eat from and one they couldn't eat from. There were many trees they could eat from. But there's a tree of life. There's a the tree of knowledge of good and evil they couldn't eat from. Why? Because he's a father. That's why. And fathers long to give reward. And there are no rewards without cho choices without options. If you don't have an option, you have no occasion to be rewarded for the right decision. It's too late. It's too late. You had you had your chance. I'm sorry. It's that third grade sense of humor again. He's a father who loves to give rewards. If you understand faith, you'll understand the importance of reward. Many people say, "Well, I I I don't need any reward. I don't want anything from God." Well, that sounds spiritual, but it's actually kind of dumb. When your dad has the checkbook of heaven, you should be wanting something. Well, I just want a cabin in the corner of heaven. Slap yourself. You're just not even you're you're trying to be spiritual, but you're not. Just stop. Those Hebrews 11, those who come to God must believe that he is and that he is the rewarder of those who seek him. Half of faith is linked to subjective rewards.

>> Now, I realize you can get perverted and weird on it, but sometimes we try to be so spiritual, we just get dumb. >> He's the rewarder. So he fed more people when he started with less food and he had more lo leftovers. There's so many of these [clears throat] kinds of stories throughout scripture. We've got um Gideon's army is one of the great ones. Many of us pastors who have lost people have used Gideon's army story to encourage us. Sorry, had a something in my throat. The frog, I think. Um, Gideon's army starts with 32,000. All of you who are afraid, go home. 22,000 leave. There's 10,000 left. I don't know about you, if I'm in the 10,000 and I wasn't afraid. I'm sensing the spirit of fear somewhere close to me right now. And then the Lord says, "Take him to the water. You still have too many." And and the enemy's arm is like 230,000 or something crazy. [clears throat] And so they go to the water and he says, "Watch them drink." And the ones who they bring the water to their mouth and they keep their eyes open, those are the ones that you'll fight this war with. The ones who put their face in the water, tell them to go home. The Lord chose the 300 best soldiers because they brought the water to their mouth, keeping their eyes open. They were alert that they were in a conflict. They were in a military battle. The Lord didn't choose to win with 300 lazy, careless warriors. He chose the 300 best >> because it's still all about collaboring. He can win through anyone, but he chooses to win through those who have given themselves in excellence and in completeness. And so those 300 So what what did God do? He he beat several hundred thousand enemy soldiers with 300 devoted soldiers. So the Lord uses small to impact big. All All I want to do is I I just I keep kicking that same dead horse. I All I want to do is is is for you to see the small situation that seems to be so undeveloped in your life. I want you to see it for what it is. It is the seed of the miracle you've been praying for.

>> And until we know how to grab our moments and honestly give thanks in the middle of what appears to be lack, we're going to be constantly fighting against what the what the spirit of God is actually doing. It's not that I need more faith. It's that I need less unbelief. So, I have to stop receiving the counsel of the ungodly neighbor that has all kinds of ideas for my life. >> I have to protect myself from CNN and her friends. >> Did I say that? I I said that I said that publicly. Goodness gracious, Bill, you're so careless. [laughter] Honestly, I'm I'm joking, but I but I'm not. We have to. [laughter] Yeah. Remember liar liar. No. [laughter] No one has the key to the gate of the garden of my heart. I'm the only one who has it. And if weeds flourish there, it's only because I'm giving them attention. And Jesus thinks differently. He celebrates tiny things. He celebrates, you know, the the widow that was willing to give her last meal to the prophet which unlocked an endless supply in the midst of famine. She apprehended her moment of smallalness and God turned it into greatness. These kinds of stories are all through scripture.

I had u I had an interesting experience. I need to wrap it up with with this. I had an interesting experience many years ago when I was um when I was pastoring in a small mountain community called Weaverville. And I remember [sighs] I remember uh one Sunday morning we had the a sanctuary that would seat about 60 people or so. And uh I remember going into my office. I would get there early in the morning, turn the light the wood stove and get everything warmed up for the day. And I remember going into my office and there was a just a chair in my office. I'd kneel in front of that chair. And I remember just uh worshiping the Lord and giving him praise and and uh and I had this mental picture. I I've never seen anything with my natural eyes, but I get pictures from the Lord. And I had this mental picture of just putting a crown on his head as I was giving him praise, which wasn't a common kind of experience for me. And it was a it was a gold crown with a like a mirror finish to it. And I I remember just just giving him praise and honoring him for who he was and his faithfulness. And and I put that crown on his head. And when I removed my hands, my fingerprints were left all over the crown. And I had a moment of disgust. And it was a disgust for my humanity. And I went and I looked again. And each fingerprint turned into a gem, a priceless jewel. And I honestly it it changed my life because I realized oftentimes what I have despised in my smallness or inadequacy, whatever it might be is valuable to him. When I bring my inadequacy, my all all I've ever been able to give to the Lord in ministry is a child's lunch. Either he multiplies it or it's not enough. There's never been any significance that I could conjure up to be enough for any given situation that I've had to serve in. It's always been a child's lunch. Learning to apprehend our moments, apprehend the circumstances that we have in life, big or small, when they are honestly yielded and dedicated to the Lord, he takes a hold of that which maybe I despised my humanity and he turns it into something that brings him glory, turns it into something that he delights in, that he takes pleasure in. And we have so many of those kinds of small things going on in our lives that we could easily look past. I it's my personal opinion that when you pray that great prayer that he he always answers quickly, but he usually answers in seed form. And what I've been looking for is to be able to recognize the acorns better so that I can grow along with the protection of what God has given me. Does that make any sense? Protect to give myself to protect to guard well what God's entrusted into my care so that so that I can grow into the person that would that could be trusted with the with the oak tree that I prayed for.

Why don't you stand? We'll pray. I remember the one of the first Sunday nights we had at Bethl uh where I'm pastoring now. I invited all the people in the room to come to the front. We were experiencing a really wonderful outpouring of the Holy Spirit in Weaverville. And uh the elders wanted us to come back to the mother church and uh because they were hungry for what we were experiencing up up the mountain. And on that first Sunday night, my wife and I stood on the stairs and I I told the people where we were headed and we just prayed a simple prayer, the prayer that has become so famous, Holy Spirit, come. And there were hundreds of people along the front of the sanctuary because I asked them all to come to the altar. And the power of God fell on one person in front of my wife and I. One. There's hundreds of people there. Power of God fell on one. And Benny and I looked at each other and we said, "We've got it. We've got it. It's the it's the it's the cloud the size of a man's hand. Sometimes your greatest breakthrough be in the thing that would be the easiest to walk past. So, Father, I pray for a grace, a wisdom to recognize the bigness of small things, the significance of insignificant [music] moments, that you take us into promised land after promised land. And we pray this all for your glory. Amen. [music] Amen. Bless you. [music]