Glory to Glory - Bill Johnson of www.iBethel.org www.BillJohnsonMinistries.com
 
Disk 2 of 4 - Refined Focus

Longevity is our goal; continue in victory until you die. Failure is completely unnecessary, as is cooling down in our passion for God. We go from glory to glory, from passion to passion. The Gospel was never intended to be known for its discipline; discipline is the backstop to catch stray pitches. The Gospel is to be known by passion. There should be caution lights, not paranoia, that you can fail in the end, if you relax the standard. The flip side is not only longevity, but also occupation (dangerous place). Just protecting what you have can be denominationalism; it's dangerous not to adjust to the wind of God. One talent guy lost what he had. The safest place is to be in the front lines of battle; positioned to occupy, for the purpose of advancement. Everything has to be expanded; accelerated growth needs to be on your mind - it's not skipping grades. No one in his or her right mind would want to be in the limelight. I want my name known in heaven and in hell (they tremble). I want to end well (longevity). Some OT kings started out as jerks, but repented, and ended well - there is hope for all of us. Another group comes in and takes what we've given them, and they take it to a new level. From David to Solomon (Solomon is prophetic for the last days). Solomon was devoted in the beginning to embrace the wisdom of God as the top priority. At every point that the enemy put up a block to the move of God, the Church turned the wall into a hurdle, that once crossed, increase of anointing happened, and their focus was refined. The immediate result was to function in greater boldness, and heaven says, amen, and new miracles come. There is always more! We can't live another day without getting more. They would always break into new measures of fruitfulness, finally knowing multiplication, and peace in society.  Boldness - look the devil in the eye, and declare the Word of the Lord, and insist on the Word of the Lord for the assignment He has given you.

Circumstances of the dealings of God with the Church (4 themes). The ever-advancing Kingdom is the theme. There is a kingdom about to belong to Jesus (when driving around town). Don't ever be intimidated by the strategies of hell, or the history of his success - it's all temporary. He is a branch that is withering. Today's freedom is the seed of tomorrow's perfection. Acts 2:42 They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. This is about 2-3 years after Pentecost. When it says they continued steadfastly, it was like being remarried thru a renewed commitment. Pentecost was like a seed able to change all history; but it needed tending. Without proper tending, even that seed will die. You can't receive this blessing once, and coast on its benefits the rest of your life. Receive it knowing I'll never be the same again, but I have to water it (don't interfere with its development). Pull out your own weeds; stay hydrated. Apostles learned this very fast. God sets us up to succeed, and provides us with the necessary tools to win. Anxiety causes us to forget what God has equipped us with. Go back to where you lost your peace. Apostles continually devoted themselves to the same thing, years later. I must have continuous, ongoing encounters with God, that rattle my cage; stuff going on I cannot explain, realm of mystery exploding in me, to know Him more. I welcome mystery; don't have to have an explanation for everything. The place where they were assembled was shaken, in a place where everything moves. All filled with Holy Spirit and spoke with boldness (continually devoted brought this about). You just got saved; looking at the Owner's Manual, no disappointments; you'll never be the same again (incredible peace; numbers were multiplied). Every revelation is an invitation for more divine encounter. What are we going to do if in one week the numbers are multiplied? Some of you who want to learn will have to teach. In Acts 1, twice the disciples asked about the Kingdom, and twice Jesus talked about the outpouring of the Spirit. When are you going to come to establish the Kingdom, and He talked about the Spirit. For the Kingdom of God is righteousness, peace and joy in the HS. The Kingdom of God is in the Holy Spirit - the manifested realm of the Spirit who demonstrates the Lordship of Jesus (King's Dominion). Acts 1: Don't go anywhere until you receive power, to be my witnesses. Heaven itself is going to invade your soul, you'll never be the same again, it will shock you; a fire will be burning in you never thought possible. You're going to see the city change. 10 years later, the church still sitting in Jerusalem, trying to get stronger, more knowledge, more experience (just one more class) before they went. Go! What part of the word go don't you understand. I've got to get it together first, but you will never measure up to what you think qualifies you to go. God has never sent persecution to the church (you pray for your leaders so that you can live in peace 1 Timothy). When people forget the call of God, still witnessing to the two same neighbors, persecution can happen. To a famished man, any bitter thing is sweet. Why one person gets it, and another doesn't. An abundance of food, in a church that's not passing it out, will cause snobbishness. Where do you want to go to church this week honey? There is an abundant supply of revelation (bread). Famine always follows misused abundance. Abundance is here to accelerate development. Church sat in Jerusalem, building their numbers; when their numbers were the strongest, they faced the heaviest persecution. It's not political power and numbers, but the favor of God is our strength. Coming in low; helping businesses to prosper - not just about us. Prepare yourself for the "Go" of the Gospel. Death, decay, or scattering of the numbers occurs. God can use the stupidity of the devil. The devil is a pawn on the chessboard. Do you think the devil would have crucified the Lord had he known there would be a resurrection? Acts 8:4 before Saul's conversion; Saul persecuting the church; Stephen martyred - those that were scattered went everywhere preaching the Word. The devil is so driven by hatred, God can maneuver him for His purposes. Israel just came out of Egypt. Wow, what a wonderful meeting we had last night (put blood on the doors; Egyptians are moaning). We're alive, made it out just in time. Where we going Moses - that's that a large body of water. Who's that coming behind us - Pharaoh - Ooo, I bet he's mad. We took all their gold and they're bankrupt, and angry because every family experienced death. Moses tell us the good news here, because, like this gold suddenly worth nothing if I'm going to die. So Moses opens the sea, with it's two, huge walls of water - nothing holding the water. Moses, you expect us to walk thru here - what if the water decides not to be a wall anymore. God says I'm going to motivate them to cross the sea. There is a devil; he just doesn't know he is playing into my hand again; day after day, for thousands of years. There are no final victories in hell. It's not Lions 1, Christians nothing. Devil has no permanent victories. The Lord says, it looks like they're not going to go thru on their own, faith is not big enough, so I think I'll motivate them. I will send a gift - a gift of motivation. Pharaoh is about to become the motivational speaker. Pharaoh comes with his screams and cries, rage in their eyes, and suddenly, faith enters Israel's heart. And they decided, hark, the will of the Lord is right here, and they cross. Back to Acts - those that were scattered went everywhere to preach the Gospel. People in Jerusalem are not going anywhere, so God says, we need a motivational speaker. Once again He allows the foolishness of the enemy to come to the surface, and the people get motivated to obey. It's amazing how people devote themselves to prayer when there is crisis. Phillip went down and preached Christ. The church preached the Word. Acts 8:4 Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went. 5 Philip went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed the Christ there. 6 When the crowds heard Philip and saw the miraculous signs he did, they all paid close attention to what he said. 7 With shrieks, evil spirits came out of many, and many paralytics and cripples were healed. They SAW the miracles. Your message determines the outcome - say what you want to see. Bible studies are good, but you can preach Christ (Anointed One). It's different to preach the Anointing. Churches that preach backsliding get it. The Anointing brought everyone together. They were hearing and SEEING. There was great Joy. When are they coming, when are they coming? The cities had been waiting for them to leave Jerusalem. Entire cities find their joy in God. We want one miracle to bring a domino effect of joy in an entire city. We want to see the drug addict suddenly transformed, and the wealthy that rejected them are now being taught by them. Philip baptized this guy, and disappears.  Philip just leaves a revival meeting, and God sends him to preach to one guy on a chariot (refined focus stand out to anyone here?). Can you imagine being baptized, going down, and when you come up, the guy that was holding you is not there. That's high on the cool list. Bobby Connor was translated from the airport to home; his wife thought he was playing a trick on her; no, no, I'm not sure what happened). A guy is told to go the airport with no ticket or money. He's standing next in line and still no money. Ok God, what do I do now - go to the restroom. What do I do now - go into the stall (with all his luggage). Ok, I'm in the stall, now what do I do? God says, get out of the stall. He opens the stall door and walks into another country. Just understand, you can't make that stuff happen. That's high on the cool list. When walls become hurdles, and boldness is increased, and God says amen to what goes on, fruitfulness becomes unimaginable. I like seeing the miracles that are the byproduct of a move of God, not the intentional product. Praying for one person, and other things get healed also (the guy praying for someone's healing; then his arthritis left); collateral blessing. I don't have bipolar anymore (no one prayed, it was just during worship). Obedience in the tough, you build interest, and it manifests in things we lack the insight to pray about.  Leave the crowd and pray for the one. The goal is not the masses, but faithfulness.

Paul and Peter - two primary figures in the Book of Acts. Mysteries about how God works with people: Peter is the raw fisherman with foot-mouth disease. Peter was nervous with the Presence of God (on Mount of Transfiguration) and had to blurt out something. Now Peter is speaking with precision after the Baptism. Paul, on the other hand, is groom by the best teacher; Paul was the top student; an intellectual giant. He had respect and authority; insight to Jewish Law was superior. Who do you send to the Jews - Paul. But not God, God sent him to the Gentiles. God about Paul: I have a man that is so gifted; he might rely on his own understanding. Peter - them barbarian gentiles. God anoints Peter to minister to the Jew. Stop discerning the call of God on your life, thru the gifts you have. Stop it. Hear from God! You can tests today, that define your niche; and when you're thru, have moments of exhilaration - now I know what I'm called to do. Aw, you don't know squat! You think you're not good with people; God loves to work thru people who are not good with people, and anoint them to work with people. When they see you working with people, God will be the only one to get credit for what just happened. Stop taking the tests; self-discovery is rather boring after awhile. The call of God is the call of God. When He says, I have anointed you to preach to the Gentiles, and you are uniquely qualified for the Jews, take them degrees and lay them at the foot of the cross, and realize you're about to get a measure of grace no one could ever learn. If you've never heard the call of God, just function where your heart leads you; let your heart burn for something, and pour your life there until He redirects. When you realize the call of God, put a demand on the gifts of God that are available to the believer. Because this is your call, you have legal right to apprehend the gifts that support you in the unfolding of that call. Acts 10:9 - Peter's vision. Major shift in church life. God called them clean - whole new idea of what holiness is. Peter practiced the law to stay clean. God is destroying their old concepts of what holiness was. (John 10: Clean/prune are the same; by the Word I have spoken to you) Nehemiah 8 - people crying because they realized they weren't meeting God's standard. God said stop the crying - it's time to rejoice. What do we have to rejoice for? The word has been spoken, and you got it! It means the shift has already started. Don't call unholy what I've called (spoken) holy.

Acts 10:1,31 (alms) 11:27 (famine coming) When the famine was announced, they took an offering; in the natural you don't think about taking an offering. If the time is coming when you have no income, important we start setting aside now to take us thru that season. Kingdom mentality is different. Let's give honor the brethren in Judea. You cannot buy the blessing of the Lord; but you will not live in a continuous realm of blessing that is different from your capacity to give. You pray and give a lot (Cornelius). God instructed Israel to build memorials (crossed Red Sea and Jordon River) to remind that of what God did - in the future they would see the pile of stones and go wow, this is the place that the miracle of God happened. It reminded them of the supernatural interventions of God. It was to be a part of the system of remembrance. Oh ya, we serve a God who invades the impossible. God said Cornelius' giving, unsolicited, was a memorial in front of God. Cornelius is due a big blessing. See this pile of stones right here, they are from earth. We want heaven to invade earth, but on the 10th day after Christ left, heaven invaded earth. But it followed 10 days of earth invading heaven. The records of past moves of God I've (Bill) have been purchasing (all the way back to the 1700's). 6000 pages of miracles. We pour out our lives so that the kingdoms of this world become the Kingdoms of our Christ, so that He receives glory in every turn of the road. Keep it simple: Communicate that He is Good, and then display it. Simple decisions align you with what has already happened in heaven, when there is a meeting of the two; there is an extraordinary release (what use to take years, takes weeks or days). To keep a commandment, you obey. To keep a testimony, you keep it so close to your heart, that you think, live, act out of God's miraculous involvement with man. It affects how you see and think. Our heart burns for an accelerated move of God. I just want to do well with what He gives me; for the world to see something that has never happened in history. Light a fire in us. May all this truth be realized in us; amen.

Highlights:
The safest place is to be in the front lines of battle; positioned to occupy, for the purpose of advancement. I want to end well (longevity).
Today's freedom is the seed of tomorrow's perfection. Pull out your own weeds; stay hydrated.
Famine always follows misused abundance. Abundance is here to accelerate development.
Persecution (God allowing satan's hatred to move, like a chess piece) motivated the people to do what God intended, GO.
Your message determines the outcome - say what you want to see. It's different to preach the Anointing. The Anointing brought everyone together. They were hearing and SEEING. There was great JOY.
We want one miracle to bring a domino effect of joy in an entire city (accelerated growth thru a radical level of obedience).
If you've never heard the call of God, just function where your heart leads you; let your heart burn for something, and pour your life there until He redirects.
Because this is your call, you have legal right to apprehend the gifts that support you in the unfolding of that call.
Nehemiah 8 - people crying because they realized they weren't meeting God's standard. God said stop the crying - it's time to rejoice. What do we have to rejoice for? The word has been spoken, and you got it! It means the shift has already started. Don't call unholy what I've called (spoken) holy.
We want heaven to invade earth, but on the 10th day after Christ left, heaven invaded earth (Pentecost). But it followed 10 days of earth invading heaven.
Keep it simple: Communicate that He is Good, and then display it.