Tragedy to Triumph - Bill Johnson of www.iBethel.org - Sermon of the Week streaming audio (Mar/Apr 2007)

Just flew in on a red-eye from Alaska from a healing conference.  A woman received prayer last year that got absolutely hammered, whacked, run over by God. They left her at the church all night. When they came back the next morning she was still there. She could not walk for 2 1/2 weeks. Her husband moved her around in a wheelchair for 2 1/2 weeks. She could not function.  People say, "I just want God to touch me!"  Are you sure? (laughter) Heidi Baker was touched by God for 7 days; she couldn't move a finger. In the 7 or 8 years  since then, they have planted over 8000 churches, over 80 people raised from the dead, countless numbers of blind restored and deaf hear.  Come on God, whack us good. The woman that was touched has a daughter with a disease in her shoulder that caused her arms to hang out of their sockets, because of dead nerves. Her arms were wrapped to hold them in place; this 13 year old was in great pain; about to lose her arms. She was in her bedroom, crying out to God, kingdom of God come, the will of God be done. She was sitting in her bedroom, and I believe the gift of faith came on her. You know, the gift of faith that comes from holy frustration you feel; desperation came on her - I've had enough.  She took the wrappings off of herself, picked up her guitar and began to play and worship the Lord. As she was worshipping, two hands came, grabbed her on both shoulders, and she is completely healed.  Yea God (audience cheering loudly).  This girl had been born with this, in constant pain her whole life from this degenerative condition.  And Jesus healed her, and in front of everyone, she just weeps and lays before the Lord, in absolute joy because the pain is gone; the Lord has completely set her free. We had one of those meetings where the giving of a testimony caused a chain reaction thru the place, and we had 8 or 9 people get healed from one testimony. 

Last Sunday we took the whole day to share testimonies from the outreach we had. It took an entire week to report on the miracles we had during our mission week. We see miracles daily in our own city here in Redding, CA, but something happens when you are able to take a week to sow, minister into one location, meeting after meeting, day after day. The reports from that week contained the most significant series of miracles we'd ever had.  From our teams in Africa, Israel, Australia, Japan, Mexico, Alaska. We had one cancer case in Alaska where the guy went to the doctor, while the students were still in Alaska, and the doctor couldn't find any cancer in his body after they had prayed over him; completely healed.  Some folks from Barrow, AK came to our healing school to give the report to Bill while in Alaska. We have the blind healed, the deaf hear, but we've never had like, 30 blind people healed in a week.  But we did last week. The ministry team said it was common to find deaf mutes that were healed.  Cripples and wheelchair bound people got up and walked. Last Sunday we took the day just to boast in the goodness of God, and to give you a report.  Oftentimes we save those for Sunday night, and I realize not everyone is able to be here. So we had the teams up here on Sunday morning to give you a small portion of the miracles that happened.  

Last week was one of our greatest weeks of triumph; this week one of our greatest losses.  It's only appropriate that I come to you on both occasions. We did this a few years ago after my dad died. We took the Sunday before, and the Sunday after, so that we could process and learn, what do you do with loss? A lot of folks don't know what to do. They pretend it didn't happen, or they move into a realm of grief that takes them into unbelief, where they become angry with the Lord. The Bible makes it very clear - hope deferred makes the heart sick. There is not a person in this room that is excluded from this experience. When there is disappointment, you have to know what to do - you have to respond Biblically. The most profound example I came find in the Bible about this subject, is when David lost his child thru Bathsheba - the child died because of David's sin of adultery with her.  He is crying out to God for mercy, interceding for the child to be healed, and the child dies anyway.

At this point in Bill Johnson's wonderful sermon on such an important topic, I would like to insert this testimony/devotion, given by Watchman Nee over 50 years ago, on this very subject. It is found in Nee's devotional book, "A Table in the Wilderness", Tyndale House Publishers, April 6.

	Then David arose from the earth, and washed, and anointed himself, and changed his apparel; and he came into the house of the Lord, and worshipped. 2 Samuel 12:20

	David's son died because of David's sin. True, David had repented, and being a man of prayer had fasted and prayed earnestly for his son's life. Nevertheless, the child died. A man of less humble spirit, ignorant of divine discipline, might have been offended and have nursed a grievance against God. David did no such thing. Told of the child's death, he arose at once and worshipped. Sometimes God has to vindicate his own holiness in this way, putting his servants into the very fires of suffering. The great test in that hour is their reaction to His governmental hand. Of course David felt the sorrow keenly - he would scarcely have been human not to. But when at length he realized that this was God's way with him and there was no relenting, he bowed to it and worshipped the will of God. Should such an occasion arise, could we do this? It marked David as a man after God's own heart.  - end of Nee's April 6 commentary

Bill Johnson: There wasn't an explanation that satisfied the intellect. It was something deeper, and more profound that had to be healed. I have these gapping wounds and I go into the presence of the Lord and ministering to Him, and giving praise, honor. Yes, it is a sacrifice, but that is what is required of us - to go beyond what is convenient or what we feel in the moment. There is something that happens in the presence of the Lord as we draw near to Him in our crying out. There is something about the spirit of worship that fills in the gap that starts to heal the wounds. It's not a 5-minute deal where you just sing a song and it's all-better now. It's like the little kid who clings to dad, hanging on his pant leg. You do everything you possibly can to position yourself in His presence - your awareness of God's manifest presence. David succeeded in that and went on into some great triumphs and personal victories.

One of our school's ministry students, of one of the great families of our church, their son Matt, that we've been praying for, died this past Sunday night.  We've been contending and praying with them, students were praying, even many hours after his death, to try and raise him from the dead, but to no avail. Now we have a situation - what we do with this crisis of loss? How do people deal with this kind of stuff? This is what I'm going to talk about this morning. I want to make sure, as a church family we know how to deal with this. The Lord has called us to contend for breakthrough. As I've told you in the past, we are going to have a cancer-free zone. I believe it's the word of the Lord that He gave to us - an assignment to contend for a realm of anointing that exists here that cancer cannot stand. I'm glad to report that the miracles of healing of cancer have increased thru the years. They've never been higher in percentage than now; significant breakthrough. I got another report just before this service started that at the crusade we had at the auditorium, there was someone here at death's door with prostate cancer that came, and was completely cured.  I want to show you how the Lord works, but because he is so interested in raising up a people that can hold focus. Many people experience tragedy and just throw in the towel and go into an emotional tailspin. It is legal to grieve and feel pain over the loss - it's normal. It's not like, I'm not spiritual enough if I feel that. No, you're probably dead if you don't feel it. But we don't sorrow, as those who have no hope. One of our elders says it best, you can't threaten me with heaven. The devil gives his best shot and somebody dies. It is tragic, there is loss, we are sorrowful, however - they are in heaven. It's a win/win situation. It's impossible for me to lose from this point on. Every loss we've experienced is temporary; every victory we've ever had is permanent. That is the way His kingdom works.

I was in Alaska when I received the news of this loss. Matt died of Leukemia. The first email I downloaded while in Alaska was a testimony of Leukemia being healed at the conference I was attending in Alaska. This cannot offend you. The Lord is working to call us into our purpose and destiny. If I stumble over these kinds of things then I will miss the very unusual moment I've been brought to. I've learned I never blame God for the disease. At one time in my life I kind of thought God caused or allowed diseases for whatever reason. That was the spirit of stupid. He doesn't give disease because He doesn't have it; it doesn't exist in heaven. God is good all the time. People ask, how is it ... we prayed our best prayer, we fast, we did everything we knew to do, and we didn't get the breakthrough. Our loved one died, or this person didn't get healed. I work hard to feed my soul, and celebrate, on what God has done. There are so many things that are easy to stumble over that didn't get fixed, or is not yet repaired, healed and restored. It's a big deal to learn how to respond to what comes our way. And to purpose in our heart to not allow disappointment to bring on spiritual disease. Because I'll be honest with you, I would say over 50% (maybe even 70-80%) of the Body of Christ is diseased from disappointment. Wherever I travel and talk in the world, whenever I talk about this subject, everyone in the room moves to the edge of their seat, because everyone in the room is hurting; has not stepped into what they believe is true; they've held back because they're afraid of being disappointed again. They are afraid of loss. They don't believe they have that call or anointing in their life. Most are emotionally afflicted, diseased, by disappointment that was never taken care of. This is a big, big deal - if we can whup this one, we're going to be whipping a major giant in the land. The two things that I hold close to my heart concerning this subject is: 1) I will never blame God for a conflict, a disease, an affliction - anything that has the appearance of evil is evil. You cannot look at a diseased person, who is in excruciating pain and torment from a disease, and say, "well, God just allowed it for His good." No. Then why is it still there? We've been commissioned to do what Jesus did, to live as Jesus lived. His promise is not insufficient, but substantial enough to deal with every situation. The anointing He is releasing to the Church is big enough for every conflict, disease, and problem. There is no lack on His end of the equation. Then where is the lack? The most tempting thing to do is think, oh, if only I would have fasted more, prayed differently, or taken them to this meeting (Todd Bentley, or Benny Hinn), whatever, maybe then we would have gotten the breakthrough. The worst thing in the world you can do is to spin off into guilt and shame, and do the regret stuff. It's the tool of the enemy to undermine the potential you have in your future. When you have a loss you have a scar, you have a trump card - you have access to a realm of destiny thru divine justice, that you didn't have before the scar. I'm not one who believes you have to be scarred by loss in order to have gain. I don't buy it or believe it at all. But listen, if it happens, you might as well use it to your advantage. I will not embrace this whole idea of accusing God, being offended and angry at God. But neither will I do the guilt, shame, regret stuff if breakthrough doesn't happen, because it only ends in disaster. All I've found in my life is that guilt and shame leads only to more guilt and shame. It's quite the opposite of from glory to glory. If you want to go from glory to glory, you have to be in a place of glory to get to another place of glory. If you're in a place of discouragement; it's all my fault, and you fill your heart with that stuff, you're only going to go from junk to junk.

I wrote a book that came out just last week entitled "Strengthen Yourself in the Lord."  Video announcement pastor Dan, who helps me with editing and other things I'm just clueless about, pointed out that I had left out an important event in my life - the story about your dad's death, and how you processed it. Then Dan said something that was very encouraging for me, he said, "we all learned from observing you process this loss." How does it affect the call of God? God's call on our life is to mimic Jesus. As the Father sent Me, I send you. He has this standard. Everyone that came to Jesus left well. Even those who didn't talk to him, like the lady who just touched the hem of his garment got healed - that's a pretty good reputation. Tough act to follow. Not everyone who comes to me (Bill Johnson speaking) leaves well. Some do, but not all. More do now, than 5 years ago. But I'm still not there yet. But what I can't afford to do is to experience loss, tragedy, crisis, and allow to effect and poison my heart so that I lower the standard of Scripture to my level of experience to make us feel good (by changing my focus and not contending for the miracle). To see someone in pain and misery because of sickness and not pray for their healing is sin. It's that big of a responsibility. Or, we may hold the standard up there and just bail out by saying it's not my gift or calling. 

So, I added the biggest situation in my life concerning loss, my dad's death, to a chapter in the book where it fit. My dad was my number one encouragement in life, I thought we needed him for years more, for the wisdom and experience he had - I could give you a thousand reasons why he should have remained here. We had no difficulty contending for that miracle. My dad died of pancreatic cancer. I had talked to Rick Joyner the day before my father's passing and he encouraged me on the phone, saying, "this loss will set you up in a place (it will be up to you) where you'll need to demand divine justice."  Divine justice is 7 times greater return for what was stolen. A thief would have to pay back 7 times what they had stolen. We need the season of mourning and grief - that's legitimate. Stay close to the Lord and near believers that we trust - it's a vulnerable time and you don't have to hang around everyone and get weird counsel. There has to be this point where we begin to pursue divine justice. That is, "God, I have suffered loss, and I'm asking now, for 7 times greater anointing upon my life, so that others do not have to go thru the pain I just went thru. So, I received the email that Leukemia was healed right after hearing Matt died of that disease. I already determined years ago this is how I'm going to finish my days, there is no other way to live, I've burned all my bridges, I have no more options, shoot me if I try otherwise, I must pursue divine justice. For when there is loss, we stay before the Lord until there is a breakthrough, an increase. Rick Joyner also confirmed the fact that God has called us to pursue a cancer-free zone - this property in Redding, California. Anyone with this disease who came upon this geographic location would see the cancer destroyed. I know it's possible; I believe it's the heart of God for us; I believe I've heard from the Lord and you've heard me declare this for many years now. The numbers of people who are healed from cancer continue to increase.  And I'm thankful, but you know, as I do, sometimes they're not healed. At least at this point; yet. The day is coming when it will be 100%. For right now it's not. So, until then we can't change the subject, we can't change the agenda or standard. Everyone who came to Jesus was healed, not everyone who comes to me. What I have to do with my life, what we have to do together, is to make sure we jump the hurdles, obstacles, offenses, the opportunities for disappointment, discouragement, unbelief, depression, all that stuff individually, because where I want to go are in the same direction that the winds of adversity are coming from. If you position the sail and rudder on a sailboat correctly, you can sail (tack) against the wind. That is our calling. We have not asked for something simple or easy, but are asking for something worth pouring our life out for - that the Gospel of Jesus would be seen with an authentic representation of His love, power and character. When we suffer loss, we can sit there the rest of our life and be scarred as a victim, or we can rise with a righteous vindication, to see the name of the Lord vindicated. It doesn't hurt to say this - Elijah prayed (to have the fire come down), God, do this for your name, AND FOR ME. God, this is for your name, and it wouldn't hurt to help me out as well :) After I finished adding this story to a chapter in the book, I went to my office and was greeted by a lady who said she had been here two years ago with pancreatic cancer, you had prayed for me, and God has healed me. (audience claps enthusiastically; Bill chokes back emotion - you can hear it on the audio)  It's just like the Lord to do that, isn't it? In the dark night of the soul, in that dark moment when you don't see clearly ... stop asking why - I stopped asking why years ago; I don't need to know why, to be honest with you. I believe Him. Now, He explains things to me, and I'm thankful, but I don't ask why. All I need to know is what to do next.

Open your Bibles to Matthew 11:1-6
1 When Jesus had finished giving these instructions to his twelve disciples, he went off teaching and preaching in towns throughout the country. 2 John the Baptist, who was now in prison, heard about all the things the Messiah was doing. So he sent his disciples to ask Jesus, 3 "Are you really the Messiah we've been waiting for, or should we keep looking for someone else?" 4 Jesus told them, "Go back to John and tell him about what you have heard and seen 5 the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised to life, and the Good News is being preached to the poor. 6 And tell him: 'God blesses those who are not offended by me.

In the book of John, it records that John the Baptist came baptising because that is how the Father told him he would find the Messiah. You can see John out in the wilderness baptising people in the river going, no, you're not him, no, you're not him. He is preaching this message of repentance, baptising people in the river, and he looks up on the banks, and here comes a man towards him. Now imagine what Jesus looked like. He doesn't look like the GQ paintings of Jesus we have in our child's Sunday School materials, who would make a great Hollywood actor and be the most handsome man on planet earth. The Bible tells us He was nothing to look at; there was nothing natural appealing about Him (he was not a good-looking man). He purposely chose a body to live in that was not appealing. It was important that there was not any natural draw to Himself. There is nothing physical that would attract John the Baptist to him (like strikingly tall and handsome - authoritative looking, that Samuel fell for when looking to anoint the King of Israel amongst the sons of Jesse). Yet, John looks up on the bank and says, "Behold", or Look! there is the Lamb of God. He is the one who takes away the sins of the world. He has been preaching to the crowds, but suddenly he is overwhelmed by the Presence of Another. And he points, and commands everyone, Look! There He is. And he begins to prophesy this stuff about the Messiah, and says, I am not worthy to untie his shoes. I baptise you with water, yet He comes to baptize you in the Holy Spirit and fire. Now, some years later, John the Baptist is in prison. I hear that these miracles are going on, go find out if this is him. Why is he asking this question? He is in prison. He's the greatest Old Testament prophet, because his ministry was done before the death and resurrection of Christ. The least in the Kingdom is greater than John the Baptist, the greatest of all prophets, Jesus said. The least who lives by Kingdom principles, has access to realities, realms in God, that even John the Baptist didn't have access to. John was to prepare the way for the Messiah to come. What is the Messiah's job description? Jesus announced his call in Luke 4:18 "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has appointed me to preach Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the downtrodden will be freed from their oppressors, 19 and that the time of the Lord's favor has come. Where is John? In prison. Wasn't the Messiah going to release those in prison? Where is John's attention? John's attention, the greatest man in the Old Testament, is on what God ISN'T doing and hasn't done. What did Jesus do? John wants evidence that he is the Messiah. Jesus could have easily taken him thru all the old testament prophesies that declared what would happen in Jesus life ... I was born in Bethlehem, this has happened, that has happened, and go thru these fulfillments of prophecy. Rather He said, tell John what you see and hear - the blind see, the deaf hear, the lame walk, the dead are raised up, and the Good News is preached to the poor. What did He just do? He just captured John's attention, because he once knew who Jesus was. Are you the one, is a redundant question, that he's starting to question again - why?  Because he has been feeding himself on what God hasn't done or isn't doing. Jesus brought his attention back - tell John what you see and hear. Verse 6 has always seemed completely misplaced, until I got this principle, at least in part, established in my life: God blesses those who are not offended by (in) me.  I personally think one of the most important insights for emotional health in the entire Bible in found in this passage. If you feed on what God hasn't done, or isn't doing on your behalf, then you've created opportunity for offense. Jesus told John's disciples, remind him what is happening, tell him what you see, because John wasn't going to be released from prison. It could have seemed very unjust, wrong, that the One who comes to release from prison, would not release his own cousin, the greatest man of the Old Testament - but instead, that's where John died. Blessed is he who is not offended in Me.

Two things happen: when I feed myself on what God HAS done, and I feed myself on what God IS doing, I stay encouraged, I stay strong, I stay focused on what my life is all about. But there is another effect, as I become strengthened in my personal prayer time, I am able to bring to the Lord the things He has not yet fixed. Oftentimes, because this matters to us; we are just not willing to let cancer have it's course in people bodies, we contend, we fast, we pray, we cry out to God, we set ourselves against that thing, make declarations against it, and do all the things that we know to do, by crying out for divine justice, that encouraged state that I'm in, qualifies me to be a part of the answer for what concerns me - that which God has not yet done. I use the example about the Pool of Bethesda - we don't know how many sick were around that pool, but Jesus passes up everyone and goes to one person, and raises him up after 38 years of infirmity. If that story were being reported today in Christian magazines and newspapers, most likely, they would point out there were many who didn't get healed, that only goes to proves it's not God's intention to heal everybody. Theology is formed around what hasn't happened. Where is the celebration? Someone sent an email asking why they hadn't seen certain diseases healed. (Bill mentioned he hadn't seen Cerebral Palsy healed, but we will).  I've seen everything healed, including AIDS. The email asked, why do we hear of all these things being healed, but not this? Which tells me, the person writing the email, didn't have the disease that was getting healed (or else it would have been a big deal and they would have been celebrating). When you have Rheumatoid Arthritis, it's not some simple, cute little healing - it's the suddenly the most important healing there is. First, celebrate what God has done! Secondly, examine why there is no breakthrough - the problem is not on His end. It's not like He didn't provide enough for this to be done. It's not like He gave us a commission and left us shorthanded, sorry, you'll have to figure out some way to get this done. He gave us an assignment, He gave us the Spirit and the Scripture, and says, you make it work out. You find out why. But we prayed our best prayer, and it didn't happen. It's got to be God's fault.  I'm not going to blame Him, but neither am I going into a place of guilt and shame, wondering what else we could we do. I watched the Schively family do everything possible, and more, to bring the breakthrough to Matt. Stunning, heroics of faith we saw, yet there was no breakthrough. So, what do we do? God just allowed this ... no, that is non-sense. He didn't create the disease. Now we have loss; what do we do? We're going to go after DIVINE JUSTICE!!!  I do not believe I can get a report one minute about his death, and at that same moment get a report about that same disease being healed, without it being that still, small voice that says, listen, gear up, we got to go after this one. One of the reasons loss like this is so offensive to us is because we don't have a whole lot of value for eternity. Theologically we believe in it, and everyone wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die. There is not a great awareness of eternity. Parents parent differently when eternity is in mind.  When kids are raised knowing they have to give an account of their life to God when they die, that person will live differently. For us to celebrate when we have loss of a loved one, whether they are 97 or 7, we celebrate that they are with the Lord. Do we mourn, cry and hurt - yes, it's right and real. When in the presence of the Lord, he heals what our answers will not. You can't give me an answer to fix this hurt I'm feeling. Any explanation you could give me is not going to work. I'm hurting on an emotional level and I need the Spirit of God to touch me where no person can get to.  We are in this for the long haul, we are not going to fall away because of some tragedy by getting bitter and blame God.  John the Baptist was as vulnerable as anyone in this room - even he needed a warning from Jesus, who said it kindly, tell John what you see - remind him what's happening.  Let your heart be fixed on what I'm doing. It's not a good deal to get offended with what I'm doing, or you think I'm not doing.  When I feed myself on what hasn't happened, or God hasn't done or isn't doing, when I make that the parking place of my heart, I create an opportunity for offense towards God and legitimize my own unbelief, my own struggle with faith. I prayed, did everything we could, it's God's fault, or we didn't know enough and somehow we blew it, and it's our fault. Both extremes are drastic and dangerous (God's fault/My fault). We live in a world with conflict, sin, and a real devil.  If a person dies, it doesn't necessarily mean they had sin. We're in a battle for eternity. All this will make perfect sense in eternity. None of it has to make sense now. What has to make sense now is I just have to know what to do next. How do I position my heart to stay encouraged? John is about to have his head cutoff. So, I think the advice Jesus gave him will probably work for most of us :) Jesus gave him some final instructions, it might be good to take note. Keep your eyes on what He has done, and is doing. I cannot afford to fall into offense and unbelief. He is on my side and is always good. My heart is fixed on the breakthroughs everyday of my life. We prayed for quite awhile, as a family, for Jack Frost, one of our heros - two of his kids are in the service.  Josh made me so proud - I don't think I've ever been more proud of a young person in my life. Don't accuse someone living in triumph of living in denial. Celebrate their victory. Josh, the son of Jack Frost, stood up at the end of the funeral (his dad died at 54 years of age), and said, "I don't know why my dad died, but I do know this, that God is good, and He wants to heal everybody in this room. And after the funeral I'm going to be right here, and if anybody needs a miracle in their body, come and see me, and I will pray for you!" (applause, wow) We have to be able to live in mystery, without accusing God, without wallowing in depression, seek for breakthrough, why - because it effects eternity. A day is coming when we will stand before the Lord, and all the things that bother us now, won't even enter our mind. There will be only one thing on our mind, what is He going to say? We all live for that one moment - how long does it take to say, "Well Done, good and faithful servant - enter into the joy of your Master"? That is the moment everyone lives for. With eternity in mind, as painful as this loss is, this unfulfilled dream, let you fill in the blanks, I refuse to let them effect my eternal purpose and quest for the authentic Gospel to be displayed in fullness in my life. 

Highlights:

Last week was one of our greatest weeks of triumph; this week one of our greatest losses.  It's only appropriate that I come to you on both occasions.
You can't threaten me with heaven.
Every loss we've experienced is temporary; every victory we've ever had is permanent.
I would say over 50% of the Body of Christ is diseased from disappointment ... they've held back because they're afraid of being disappointed again. They don't believe they have that call or anointing.
I will never blame God for a conflict, a disease, an affliction - anything that has the appearance of evil is evil. We've been commissioned to do what Jesus did, to live as Jesus lived. His promise is not insufficient, but substantial enough to deal with every situation.
God's call on our life is to mimic Jesus.
Divine justice is 7 times greater return for what was stolen.
... make sure we jump the hurdles, obstacles, offenses, the opportunities for disappointment, discouragement, unbelief, depression, all that stuff individually, because where I want to go are in the same direction that the winds of adversity are coming from. We have not asked for something simple or easy, but are asking for something worth pouring our life out for - that the Gospel of Jesus would be seen with an authentic representation of His love, power and character.
I don't ask why anymore; I believe Him. All I need to know is what to do next.
If you feed on what God hasn't done, or isn't doing on your behalf, then you've created opportunity for offense.
Theology is formed around what hasn't happened.
He gave us an assignment, He gave us the Spirit and the Scripture, and says, you make it work out.
He didn't create the disease. Now we have loss; what do we do?
We're going to go after DIVINE JUSTICE.