How to Step Into God’s Promises in 2025 - Bill Johnson Sermon | Bethel Church

I pray right now that as we wrap up this year into the next one that something would be birthed in us this Consciousness this awareness this appetite for promise that we wouldn't haphazardly enter this year but we do so intentionally I pray for that Grace I pray for the John 157 Grace to rest upon us that our prayer life actually makes a difference in the world well hello happy New Year Happy New Year my goodness I this prayer time thing that we got coming up is so you know uh last year when we took that

week uh and spent morning after morning together here it was it was honestly one of the highlights of I've been here 28 years one of the highlights satisfying my soul in ways that are hard to explain one of the greatest highlights of my 28 years and it was just such a oh such a joy to meet with you in prayer and this year I'm celebrating it by going to Korea I I am so bummed it was scheduled when I when I was off to Korea so I will not be eating kimchi I did my first

several years going just to show them I love them but now they know I love them so I don't have to eat it anymore so that's that's that's just sorry and as many of you love it and I know who you are yes all right three-year-old Rees prayed Our Father who does Art in Heaven Harold is his name amen a wife invited some people to dinner at the meal she turned to her six-year-old daughter and said honey would you like to say the blessing the little girl says I wouldn't know what to say the mother

said well just just say what you hear Mommy say the daughter daughter bowed her head and said Lord why in Earth did I invite all these people to [Applause] dinner one more uh mother was preparing pancakes for her son Kevin age five and Ryan age three the boys began to argue over who would get the first Pancake the mother saw an opportunity for teaching a lesson if Jesus were sitting here he would say let my brother have the first Pancake I can wait Kevin turned to his younger brother and said Ryan you be [Laughter] Jesus

grab grab your bibles if you would and we're going to open into two portions of scripture Deuteronomy 8 and Joshua 1 Deuteronomy 8 and Joshua 1 uh what I'm doing is I'm um I could I saw at the beginning of December that I actually had three times to talk to and uh in this month and I I wanted wanted to grab my opportunity and and talk to you about something that's that uh stirs in my heart honestly often and that's the story of the promised land um for Israel leaving Egypt a place of bondage into

a place of Liberty and freedom fulfilled dreams it is the picture of the Christian Life and I feel like it's going to become more and more important to us in the in the years to come where we learn um what it looks like to live a life that illustrates the kindness and goodness of God lack is not humility lack doesn't illustrate humility abundance abundance managed well illustrates humility lack does not illustrate humility abundance for the purpose of blessing the people around us illustrates humility looks like and there's some things that I feel like the Lord

really wants to you know he's been working on us for so long got a feeling he's going to be working on me for quite a bit longer um but there's things that he wants to teach us about the way he thinks is really different than even uh some of our you know good Christian backgrounds we we don't always think correctly about certain things even though we try so hard and I feel like the Lord is really visiting us with this concept of Promised Land promised land is not heaven promised land is a fulfilled Christian Life

I I call it the kingdom lifestyle Jesus Illustrated it when he uh went into a situation where there was no food for thousands of people he was able to provide food for them it was it was the reality of his world permeated this one until there was abundance and the whole point is is that his world is a world of abundance but he releases it to us according to our capacity to manage and Steward well in uh last last week I talked to you a bit about uh a couple things one is that Israel followed

the presence so the presence of the spirit of God in our life is absolutely Central to all advancement all progression all growth for every one of us in in the Kingdom it's not just us following principle principle is significant and huge but it's following the actual presence of the Lord Romans 8 says those who are LED by the spirit are the ones that are actually born of the spirit and so the illustration of our of our right standing with God is the fact that we're is an ever increasing sensitivity to the person Holy Spirit where

his thoughts his his ambition his desires his dream his word for us is constantly increasing in our mind I'm going to go back to a a scripture that I've quoted maybe a dozen times or more this last year and it's John 15 vers 7 if you abide in me my words abide in you you will ask what you desire it'll be done for you the ambition is not to raise up a generation of self-centered Christians that get their way the ambition is to be so immersed in the presence of God and in the word of

God that he can trust our desires to influence the course of world history that our position of prayer would actually move the heart of God the hand of God in such a way that anything we dream of anything we ask for that is obviously consistent with his heart for us anything we asked for would release his hand in a in a miracle fashion I I love the Miracles of healing that we see and uh Randy coming uh next month is just going to be outrageous again and I I never get tired of of the stories

of the blind eyes open or the lame walking or the cancer gone or whatever it might be but some of the greatest Miracles that I I get just as excited when I see a a marriage he when I see children that were wward and not walking with the Lord return to Christ those are the the great Miracles when I see a business that was failing and uh and the Lord just breathes fresh uh breath into that business and that family begins to thrive I mean those kinds of things to me are so exciting when you

see a a neighborhood that was that was once known for drug trafficking and it's changed and it's transformed and there's healthy family life and all this stuff goes on in that neighborhood now those those kinds of stories to me are as significant and sometimes even more significant I I expect the cancer to go but when I see a transformation of that nature that is actually promised land that that's that's Promised Land that's that's that's where he says every place the soul of your foot that have I given to you it is the it is the

promise of God to occupy every space we occupy so think about that what does that look like for him to occupy whatever we occupy that we are actually there representing him in uh in uh character in Purity in presence uh in purpose all these things permeate our lives so that the people around us benefit from the from the blessing of the goodness of God on our lives um something I haven't said to you for a while but uh but I'll I'll say it again because it's it's annoying and it's just what I do um if

you don't want more then you're just being self but if if we can live in an environment where there's so much need and not ache to be a part of the solution then we're way too caught up with uh with our own agendas and uh so there's there's this there's this requirement I believe of the Lord to have Godly appetite for him to use us in ways that are are significant lifechanging one last comment I'll make actually I'll wait let's go to Deuteronomy chapter 8 oh oh I'll wait on that comment Deuteronomy chapter 8 um

what we're going to do today is last week I talked to you about the the presence but I also talked about the devastating influence of complaining and criticism uh I I know you didn't need to hear but many of your relatives you just shared Christmas with needed to hear that word and I I was just trying to help you that's all just trying to to help you um complaining is complaining in criticism is how fear talks complaining and criticism does not coexist with the thankful heart thankfulness is what protects us from entitlement all of us

I mean entitlement is is almost the the name of the game these days in culture uh frighteningly so and all of us hate entitlement in other people and are sometimes just way too slow to recognize it in ourselves it's it's that we constantly feel we are owed something and when it doesn't work that's when the complaining the anger the resentment the point blaming that that sort of thing and it's uh it's it's become such a a stronghold in our culture that people like you people like me have to rise up with an aggressive posture of

thankfulness aggressive uh this morning Steve mentioned it as a as a weapon aggressive posture of thankfulness when when the scripture says Rejoice or uh in everything give thanks he was giving us the tools to live unaffected by a movement that is so becoming so deeply entrenched and so rooted in in the in our American culture right now that thankfulness actually insulates us from the influence of that spirit and it it it helps us to uh defeat that thing of entitlement and really change the language of our life the language of our life when it is

complaining criticism those kinds of things always pointing the finger finding blame those those are so devastating because what it is is it's actually giving permission for unbelief to thrive yes bill that was a really good point when I complain and criticize and point the finger I am actually Fanning the flame of unbelief giving it permission to increase because Faith real Biblical faith and complaining do not coexist they just don't if if if you let's say you you knew someone a very very wealthy person very kind person you knew them well enough to know that if

they say something you can take it to the bank they are absolutely 100% honest and truthful and they were to come to you this morning and say I had a dream of you last night uh come to my office this Friday I'm going to give you $100,000 how many of you would wait till Friday to re joice no you you wouldn't you you would be you would be rejoicing right now why because because you know it's as good as done when the Lord says I cause all things to work together for good the one who's

not even capable of lying has just given a promise to turn a bad thing into a good thing when does the rejoicing start if there's Faith legitimate Faith then it starts the moment you hear it all right well let's just take a couple uh look at a couple verses in uh Deuteronomy 8 you there verse two you shall remember that the Lord your God LED you all the way these 40 years in the wilderness to Humble you to test you to know what was in your heart whether you would keep the Commandments or not he

humbled you allowed you to hunger fed you with Mana which you did not know nor did your fathers know that he might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone but but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord all right stop right there when you're in a position of need when you're in a position of uh of lack or just you're praying for that breakthrough it could be personal could be for your business could be your family whatever that place of need is supposed to lead you

to a confidence that we live by what he says I I don't know if you're Connecting the Dots here he said I let you be hungry and I gave you Mana what was the lesson you live by what he says how's that represented in the Mana are you getting my he didn't say I I I let you be hungry and fed you with Mana so you'd have confidence in Mana the place of need is to take us to the person who speaks why is that important he spoke the worlds into being when he talks he

creates faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God even Faith itself is imparted through hearing when Jack Taylor uh was alive he he came here a few times to minister and one of the times it impacted me so deeply he's home with the Lord now obviously excuse me but one of the times it impacted me so deeply he quoted this passage um out of uh Luke chapter 1 and I share it with you often so this isn't new for most of you but it's that verse nothing shall be impossible I with God

nothing shall be impossible with God and it's what the angel told Mary at the news that she would be giving birth to the Christ child nothing will be impossible with God and what Jack did for us as he broke down the the in the original language how this verse could be translated so the word nothing is actually two words it's the word no and it's the word Rama Rama often in scripture refers to that freshly spoken word of God that that active word that God speaks into somebody's life and then it says without uh uh

shall be shall not be impossible nothing will be impossible that word impossible means uh without ability so he this is what he said he said this verse could actually be translated like this no freshly spoken word of God will ever come to you that does not contain its own ability to perform itself that amazing no freshly spoken word of God will ever come to you that does not contain its own ability ability to perform itself you take a kernel of corn the ability to produce corn is in the seed it needs soil it needs water

it needs sunlight but the ability to produce corn is in the seed the ability to produce christlikeness in you is in the seed called the word that he speaks James chapter one says in humility that's condition of soil uh condition of the heart soil in humility receive the word implanted which is able to save your soul receive the word implanted the seed implanted why because that word has the ability the word has the ability to save your soul salvation Spirit soul and body the transformation of an individual life the healing of the body the saving

the Forgiveness that we experience the transformation of the Mind the emotional healing the things that all of us need all of us are broken somewhere and we we are constantly being restored and refreshed and healed but he does it by speaking to us so the the test of the hour is to hear him and to receive what he says the transformation of Our Lives does not come because we have been we have determined to be transformed it comes because we have yielded to the transforming word and part of what what happens in this lesson to

be honest with I wish we could take like 12 weeks to go go through this but this is this is it today so going to finish it off today but there's there is so much um there's so much responsibility that you and I have to yield to what he's saying and doing so that he can do something in us that only he can get the credit for all right Deuteronomy uh let's go to verse nine right in the middle of a sentence or go to verse eight he said uh this land this promised land is

a land of weed and barley Vines fig trees pomegranates land of olive oil and honey a land in which you will eat bread without scarcity in which you will lack nothing a land whose stones are iron out of these Hills you will dig copper when you have eaten in our full then you will bless the Lord your God for the good land which he has given you very next phrase be aware beware that you do not forget the Lord your God by not keeping his Commandments I I like this chapter for a number reason number

of reasons this particular chapter I like to just go to and read uh when I want correction it's a friend of mine gave a sermon once called walking through the sword and this is how I pictured it Jesus standing in front of me he's got a sword the tip is at my chest and he says come here that's what we do when we read Romans chapter 8 as we go oh yeah okay and and he honestly he just it's a two-edged sword it heals where it cuts so he he cuts deep to make us aware

of how his world works so here he just announces this land I'm giving you does it make sense to you that God wants more for your life than you do it is true his dreams are greater than our capacity to dream but he doesn't want to entrust stuff to us that destroys us does that make sense to you the blessing can destroy and so here in this passage he he says the previous verse he says it's it's a land filled with water there's streams there's abundance uh The Barley the wheat The Vines everything is abundant

land I'm going to give it to you this is your inheritance this is your Promised Land be careful you don't forget me because what happens and I've watched it here not with you but other people that were one here no that actually that could be taken real that was supposed to be a joke that that was dumb sorry I I Repent in dust and Ashes all right let me start over I've got something to share with you today I've I have watched people pay a great price to be a part of what God was doing

and in becoming a part of what God was doing coming into a place of blessing where they become insulated from what got them there does that make any sense th this is what comes to my mind uh during the pandemic thank you Jesus the de is over Jesus thank you the pandemic's over and I don't know if you've noticed the drought is also over a long time ago that um during the the pandemic the lord gave us a a real strong word I I remember we were meeting out in a tent praying outside the lord

gave us this word it was time to return the old gym and it was a illustration taken out of a Rocky 3 movie to be honest that the Lord really spoke to us deeply in that in that particular season that that there were some hardcore decisions and sacrifices that we made early on to see breakthrough and what happened in the Rocky movie of course he becomes uh uh popular and wealthy and insulated from sacrifice and uh and he he wanted to fight a particular fighter and his manager said that guy will kill you he'll he'll

he'll beat you bad and he said what do I need to do and he says need to go back to the old gym need to go back to the level of sacrifice that got you here and sometimes we we forget that and so the Lord here is saying listen you've gone without without without without 40 years you've gone without now you're going to inherit don't forget me because that blessing can sometimes insulate you from your awareness of personal need need this is so significant it's not living uh with awareness of personal need so that I

become self-critical it's awareness of personal needs that I live dependent Jesus was talking to the Pharisees the most spiritually sick people of the day and he was telling them only the sick need a physician those who are healthy don't they thought he was talking about the AL alcoholic and The Prostitute he was actually announcing to them you're unaware of your own sickness and because of that I have no place to bring health and healing to you awareness why is it this is this to me is a stunning question why is it that the religious leaders

of his day who were uh steeped in the study of scripture which is so valuable and critical but they were steeped in the study of scripture they were the ones that didn't recognize him when he came how is it the demonized recognized him how is it the prostitute how is it that the people with various kinds of social Brokenness they recognized Jesus quickly and were attracted to him how is it that a tax collector who's hated by the entire Community because of his uh stealing from from society how is it that he recognizes him enough

to crawl up into a tree and make sure he could see him well that it it it wasn't that sin qualifies you to recognize Jesus it's awareness of personal Brokenness helps you to recognize the answer when it shows up and so here here in this situation Israel was dependent on God the first generation died out in unbelief but the Next Generation were filled with faith and obedience and they followed Joshua into the promised land and they obtained this this great promise how did they do it through humility and obedience and all he's saying is don't

forget humility and obedience don't don't forget the fact that even in your blessing you live dependent on every word that proceeds out of my mouth go back to the old gym sometimes it's it's important for us I um sometimes I will I will think about the things that I used to to do uh in pastoring uh the price I would pay the the prayer meetings the various things I was involved in and sometimes I I just have to stop and think I'm enjoying blessing from the investment I made then what investment am I making today

that I will enjoy 20 years from now does that make any sense to you all right well makes perfect sense to me all right verse 16 let's jump down jump down to this one uh he says he fed you in the wilderness with Mana which your fathers did not know that he might humble you that he might test you to do good to do you good in the end uh look look at that again verse 16 he fed you in the wilderness with Mana your fathers did not know that he might humble you and test

you to do you good in the end it really is the theme that we started earlier uh in the prayer time today that all things work together for good to those who love God call according to his purpose if it's not good it's not the end I think Chris reminds us of that quite often which is a tremendous uh phrase reminder for us so here the Lord says I test you because I I want to do good to you in the end and then the last verse we'll read in this chapter is Verse 18 says

you shall remember the Lord your God for it is he who gives you power to get wealth that is actually in the Bible power to get wealth now if you would go to Joshua chapter 1 if there's one chapter that I would say uh has had the greatest influence on my life in the last 50 years honestly last 50 years I would say Joshua chapter 1 it's one that I returned to uh fairly often just to read through just to provoke and stir my own heart um in in a sense I want to stir my

own heart to what I just talked to you about it's the sacrifices the goddess here I want to make sure that I maintain those right values and this is part of what he has in this particular chapter all right so Joshua chapter 1:3 every place the soul of your foot will tread I have given to you as I said to Moses by the way he gave that promise to Israel the 12 Spies when they went into the promised land and they did not benefit from that promise because they didn't join what God had promised them

with faith there was no action on their part with what God had given them verse um five says no man will be able to stand before you all the days of your life as I was with Moses so I will be with you I will not leave you nor forsake you be strong of good courage for to this people you will divide in inheritance the land which I swore to their fathers to give them only be strong and very courageous that you may observe to do according to all the law which Moses my servant commanded

you do not turn from it to the right or to the left that you may Prosper wherever you go verse 9 says have I not commanded you be strong and very courageous how many of you think maybe we're supposed to be strong and courageous here's here's the part that I that I want to make sure that you catch and we'll we'll take a few points out of this chapter and and talk about them together if strength if spiritual strength strength in the Lord if that were only available through years of discipline determination it would be

unkind to command for God to command you to be strong amen if the only way to strength is through years of discipline determination if that were the only way to strength then him commanding you to be strong is cruel anytime a command like this comes to us as unreasonable as it may sound the Fulfillment is within the reach of a choice when he says Be Strong he made it available in the command remember no freshly spoken word will ever come to you that does not contain its own ability to perform itself in humility receive the

word implanted it's it's able to save your soul so he says be strong in the yes even the overwhelming sense I don't know how I could ever pull this off but I trust you I know that you can do in me what I could never do for myself and in that yes is the is the pathway for strength to be imparted verse eight says the book of the law shall not depart from your mouth but you will meditate on it day and night that you may observe to do according to all that is written in

it for then you will make your way prosperous and then you will have good success look at that verse again I I I want this verse to to really take root in our hearts in this season this book of the law this word of God shall not depart from your mouth but you will Med meditate on it I would have thought it would have said this book this word of God is not to depart from your H from your heart but you will speak it on a regular basis it it does this one the opposite

he says if you keep it in your confession it'll penetrate your heart there are times where a a a proclamation a confession creates a pathway for your heart to follow I heard a a phrase years ago you cannot change your heart God will not change your mind but if you change your thoughts God will change your heart wow you cannot change your heart God will not change your mind but if you change your thoughts God will change your heart that that statement was a lot better than your response it was it was it was it

was tons better than than your response the book of the law shall not depart from your mouth but you will meditate on it day and night right so that you'll be careful to observe all that he commanded you you to do then you will make your way prosperous and then you will have success I I know that prosperity and success gets abused a lot and I I understand that there's a whole Christian culture thing that is very self- serving I I understand that but it's still in the Bible and I'd rather be successful than fail

and because of our desire to serve well and to provide well for people I I would want everybody in this room to prosper it is the way Heaven is it is the nature of his world it's the nature of his kingdom and while I get it that it can be horribly abused it can also be horribly wonderfully used correctly and here in this particular passage he says you will make your way prosperous if I were to travel around this wonderful city of ours and interview you know 10,000 Christians probably 95% of them if I were

to ask him this one question who determines your income who determines your level of prosperity almost every believer I interview would say well God does and I I get why because he is The Sovereign one he rules over all but who determines how many acres of corn a corn Farmers is going to harvest if he plants a 100 can he claim a thousand and get a thousand he can he can bind he can loose he can do everything he wants to do he can take his tambourine out there and sing and dance through the corn

if he planted 100 acres of corn there's a good chance he's only going to harvest 100 acres the point is is is in some measure the farmer has great responsibility on what's going to be harvested I I really felt like for today to be honest with you I really felt like today was just supposed to be the announcement of Promised Land harvesting harvesting Promised Land promises harvesting promises and I'm not even I'm not even totally sure what that's supposed to look like I mean I I do in measure because we've seen the blessing and the

favor of God and so so grateful so thankful but here this talks about a generation of people we're not talking about an individual obviously it's given to Joshua but he is leading a company of people they have made Covenant with him anything you tell us we will do we obeyed this generation obeyed Moses the previous one didn't but he says we they said uh Joshua we obeyed Moses we will obey you we will follow you into this land of promise and they did so now the Lord is imparting something to Joshua that in his leadership

he will have the grace to impart to a nation and what is it that they will actually be able to make their own way prosperous there's a lot of junk that goes on in many of our heads we most of us would be embarrassed if it was put on a loudspeaker the selft talk you understand what I'm saying that just a oh man I don't know if that'll ever happen oh that was promise I don't know that's oh and there's there's that there's that selft talk thing that's just not healthy it's not right and what

the Lord is going for is he's he's going at the root of this sense of identity and purpose it it's not it's not about mansions and boats and planes it's it's about purpose it's about fulfilling why I am on the planet it's it's as much as I know how with however many years I have left fully experiencing that reality called the kingdom of God in such a measure and in such a way that my life overflows with blessing that testifies to people God really is good he's a good father he really is he's holy he

he's pure he's powerful he's all these things he's honest he's true he's faithful all of these things but he is absolutely good and our lives get to illustrate that and to live with this idea that I am the victim of a culture I am the victim of unfulfilled promises and not take responsibility is to fall short of our assignment our assignment is in a sense to to DET to determine to step as fully As We Know know how into this reality called the kingdom of God and see it measurable impact on our personal lives and

on on the world around us and so the Lord gives this incredible word to to Joshua this book of the law this word of God will not depart from your allou he's given forgive me it's almost like a formula and I don't want to make it that but let's pretend it is for a minute this book of the law shall not depart from your mouth so what what is he saying he said when God speaks a word to you memorize it say it confess it driving down the street prophesy declare it when you pray don't

ask God to do it you you come into agreement with him to do what he said you know your participation my participation yes God I agree with you you will cause this to happen in my life in my family land whatever it might be we take the word of the lord we aggressively Proclaim it what happens it affects what we think about when nobody's watching what we think about as we go off to sleep at night it it it starts affecting and infecting in a righteous way uh Ambitions dreams desires things that the Lord I

I don't you know I'm I'm thank I'm thankful for uh you know guys like Elon Musk and some of these amazing creative thinkers Steve Jobs uh cultural Giants I'm so thankful for all of those people I I I I I really admire them but man I want some of that stuff coming from you and from me uh some of that stuff honestly and I don't I don't want to take away from what they offer I just I just want us to raise the water level and say you know what the god of the impossible lives

in me and he he is's he's not just interested in getting me to Heaven he's interested in getting Heaven into me he's interested in in getting something happening in and through my life that actually affects the world around me the culture itself could change this word shall not depart from your mouth but you'll meditate on it day and night you'll do everything that's in it then you'll make your own way prosperous and then he follows It Up by saying be strong and very courageous do not fear do not be dismayed anybody been dismayed this week

at all besides me yeah do not fear do not be dismayed it's a commandment it's not a suggestion and in in the Commandment in the the yielding if you will to what God is saying is the Assurance of stepping more fully into what he has promised a Promised Land exists there are Realms of breakthrough for everybody in this room that we've not yet even dreamed of but it's available to every person and he invites us through his presence come and explore find out what belongs to you that I that I predetermined would be a part

of your experience be a part of your life adventures in the promised land harvesting promises I ache for this I I do it's I I'm I've taken this uh this subject material very very seriously because of of where I'm at and where I believe we're at and what God's putting in front of us I want to dream like I have never dreamed before I've been asking the Lord night after night after night for at least a year maybe two years talk to me tonight in dreams visions do something in job it says he visits Us

in the night he deposits things in our heart that if he were to do it during the day we would become arrogant they're they're too significant they're too great and so he he sometimes works this subtle thing into our hearts that sometimes takes days to unpack and realize through our own desire that he Depo deposited a dream in us and I I feel like I feel like this promis line concept is going to capture a huge part of our of our future so want don't you stand let's let's [Applause] do yeah would wouldn't it be

cool in in a year a year from now to be able to write down the outrageous things that we saw happen this last year yeah yeah some some just need to get back to the old gym that's still a prevailing word to me so father we give you thanks for promises promises that that you're so faithful you keep every promise and we honor you for that and I I just I pray right now that something would as we wrap up this year into the next one something would be birthed in us this Consciousness this awareness

this appetite for promise that we wouldn't haphazardly enter this year but we do so so intentionally I I pray for that Grace I pray for the John 157 Grace to rest upon us that our prayer life actually makes a difference in the world I thank you for that thanks so much I want to give opportunity for anyone here who does not have a personal relationship with Jesus you don't know what it is to be forgiven you don't know what it is to actually be brought into the family of God but you would like to you

you would be saying bill I don't want to leave the building till I know I have found peace with God if that's you just put a hand up where you are we just want to I just want to acknowledge that commitment that you're making to the Lord just so real quickly right now anyone at all right over here somebody I didn't see that but I see there is a oh right over here wonderful wonderful I bless you in the name of the Lord I'm going to come on up and I I want to ask Ministry

team to come if you would and anyone who is coming to Jesus this morning we've got people that we know and trust over here by this Banner so you just know where to go go there and they will talk with you pray for you and bless you