Elevation with Steven Furtick - Let Go Of What You Think You Need

Episode Date: August 31, 2023

Don’t let the enemy play you. Pastor Steven reveals that when you take a step of faith and make a sound of praise, God moves through you. If you’ve just made a decision for Christ, please respond HERE: http://ele.vc/tIepfr To support this ministry and help us continue to reach people all around the world click here: http://www.elevationchurch.org/giving/ Scripture References: Judges 7, verses 10-22See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Hey, I'm coming to you now from the Basin. This is a special bonus teaching that I recorded just for you. To break it down a little more, to take it a little deeper. I hope you enjoy this overflow message. Let me know. Let me know. Let's go.

Sometimes you can tell how significant your calling is. by how much the enemy is intimidated by you, and you can tell how much he's intimidated by you, by how much he's talking to you. God said, I've tried to talk to you through an angel. That didn't work, but now I want you to go listen to your enemy. And Gideon goes down to the outpost, verse 11. I almost missed it again.

This is the big verse, verse 11. And you shall hear what they say, and afterwards your hand will be strengthened to go down against the camp. Did you catch that? God didn't say your hand will be strengthened when you hear what God says about you, because the angel's been telling Gideon, you're a mighty warrior. The angel's been telling Gideon that God is with you. The angel has been saying God is going to deliver the people through you. Gideon doesn't believe any of it. He said, so if you don't believe me,

maybe you'll believe the enemy. Go down and listen to the enemy for a minute. And after you hear what your enemy is saying, your hand will be strengthened to go down against the camp. And then he went down with Pura, his servant, to the outpost of the armed men who were in the camp, and the Midianites, and the Amalekites, and all the people of the east lay along the valley like locust and abundant.

Ooh, there's a lot of them. And their camels were without number, so there's a lot of them. As the sand is on the seashore in abundance, there's a lot of them. Everybody said, there's a lot of them. Look, there's a lot of reasons to be afraid. There's a lot of reasons to fear. If you start listing them, you'll go crazy. But watch, when Gideon came, verse 13,

behold, a man was telling a dream to his comrade. And he said, Behold, I dreamed a dream and behold, a cake of barley bread tumbled into the camp of Midian. Ooh, barley bread. Not very threatening, huh? And it came to the tent and struck it so that it fell and turned upside down so that the tent lay flat. And his comrade answered, this is no other than the sword of Gideon, the son of Joash, a man of Israel.

God has given into his hand, Midian, and all the camp. You got Gideon's hand, which is trembling, he's afraid. You've got Midian's hand, which has them trapped. And you got God's hand, which is trustworthy. And God says, I am giving them into your hand. I don't know who this is for today, but God is saying, I want you to let go of what you think you need. I want you to let go of what you thought you.

you were. I want you to let go of what you can't get over. I want you to let go of it. I want you to go down toward the next thing I've called you to do. And watch what Gideon does. Gideon gets encouraging he hears how he's like, wait a minute. They're talking about me. I'm the barley. Yeah, that's not very impressive. No, no, no, it's not what the barley is. It's what the barley does. And he goes from trembling, to tumbling. God said, let's go. That's the third one. Let's go.

Let's go. Let's go. Let's go. As soon as Gideon heard the telling, I'm in verse 15. As soon as Gideon heard the telling of the dream and its interpretation, he worshipped. Ah, through both of his hands up. And he returned to the camp of Israel and said, arise. For the Lord, watch his past tense.

has given the host of Midian into your hand. Whose hand? The hands of the ones who took the trumpet. The hands of the ones who didn't turn back. The hands of the ones who were still trembling. My hands trembling, but I got a trumpet. Oh, these trumpets are about to be significant. The trumpets that the rest of the nation left when they left,

I got a trumpet and I got a God I can trust. And watch this. He divided the 300 men into three companies and put trumpets into the trembling hands of all of them and empty jars with torches inside the jars. I got something in my hands. I got something in my hands. I got something in my heart.

I got a gift. I got a skill. I got a weapon. I got an instrument. I got an instrument. God said, I'm going to put it in your hands. I'm going to put something in your hands in this season. Now watch.

It's not going to make sense. A trumpet versus an army. Or even a torch against an army. army doesn't make sense, but it doesn't need to make sense. What it needs to do in your hands is be surrendered and submitted to God so you can go forward in the strength that you have. Oh, this is anointed. I can't wait to preach this Sunday. He put a trumpet in their trembling hands. He put a torch in the other hand. He said, I need you to have something in your hands that you can use. Now, what has God put in your hands? And what have you put in his hands? You could put it in

his hands. The battle belongs to the Lord. You could put it in his hands. It is not by might. It is not by power. He is speaking today. He is strengthening today. That's why the enemy has been fighting you. He's tried to keep you in his grip. But we came to break the grip of the enemy, just like Gideon did. said I'm breaking the grip of the enemy over your life today. I'm breaking the grip of addiction. I'm breaking the grip of depression. It can't hold you anymore. Put it in his hands. And when you put it in his hands, he puts it in your hands. I got my trumpet. I got my torch. What's the torch? That's the light of the word that God has spoken. What's the trumpet? That's the sound of your praise. That's the sound of his word that you speak out.

My God, this will preach. He divided the 300 men who he had left into three companies and put trumpets in the hands of all of them, not the 32,000. No, the 300 that will go forward. God is looking for 300 today who will say, I'll take the trumpet and I will go toward what God has called me to do. And I will take the torch and I will march toward what God has called me to be. and I'll do it shaking, and I'll do it unsure, and I'll do it in faith, and I'll do it step by step.

And he gave him a trumpet and an empty jar. So there's something that goes into both of those, right? The breath goes in the trumpet, and inside the jar is going to go the light to turn the empty jar into the torch. God's going to put something in you that's going to transform it from a silly instrument. to an instrument of victory. And he said to them, verse 17, look at me and do likewise. When I come to the outskirts of the camp, do as I do.

When I blow the trumpet, when I take what's in my hand and breathe into it, I and all who are with me, then blow the trumpets also. When I do it, you do it. And on every side of the camp, I want you to blow those trumpets and I want you to shout. for the Lord and for Gideon. So Gideon and the hundred men who are with him,

he takes a third of a, of a small army, a third of 300. That's all you need. You don't need what you think you need. You just need to give him the instrument. Here's what I want to do at this point in the sermon. Gideon took the 300, came to the outskirts, at the beginning of the watch,

when they had just set the watch just like two in the morning, and they blew the trumpets and smashed the jars that were in their hands. They used what they had. Then the three companies blew the trumpets and broke the jars.

Blow the trumpet, break the jar. They held in their left hands to torches and in their right hands, the trumpets to blow. And they cried out, a sword for the Lord and for Gideon.

They held in their left hands the torches and in their right hands the trumpet. What do you have in your hand right now? And whose hand are you in? Why are you so stressed and scared of an enemy that is so intimidated by you? Blow your trumpet. Break your jar. I want to use the jar, the torch, to represent the light of what you know. Go in what you know.

Yeah, but I don't have that figured out yet. Don't need to. Go in what you know. What you know is enough for now and more will be revealed later. Break your jar. Use your torch and blow your trumpet. Make a sound of God's word. Make a sound of praise.

I'm looking for 300 people right now who will. Make a sound. Look at this. They blew the trumpets and broke the jars. Isn't that beautiful? Verse 20. You've got the instruments of victory. You are the instrument of victory.

You're in God's hand. Held in their left's hands of torches, right hands of trumpet, and they cried out a sword for the Lord Gideon. What I couldn't figure out is where was the sword? Talking about a sword. All I got is a trumpet and a torch. Do you feel like that? I don't have the weapons that I need.

Well, I think that's going to surprise you where the sword was. Verse 21 says, every man stood in his place around the camp and all the army ran. They cried out and fled. This is the enemy army. They start running. Gideon got this military genius in a supernatural backing. And those two together are very powerful. He's like, we're going to confuse the enemy.

We're going to make them think we're bigger than we are. And I want you to blow your trumpet. Let everything that has breath, praise the Lord. And I want you to break your jar. I want you to begin to make the sound of victory. I want you to begin to walk by faith, not by sight. Take a step of faith. The sound of praise and the step of faith.

The step of faith, I'm calling that the torch and the sound of victory. Now, if I get time, I'm going to come back and do more with this. I'm going to talk about the torch, the step of faith, the light. I'm talking about an empty jar. We have this treasure in earthen vessels. Remember, when you give your instrument, your mind to the enemy, he plays you. Don't let him play you. Take your instrument.

Break your jar. Use your light. Step of faith, torch, the light that you have, and the sound of praise, the trumpet. And when you do, when you take a step of faith and make a sound of praise, when you move forward in that, look what God does. the Lord set verse 22 ooh this anointed when they blew the 300 trumpets

the Lord set every man's sword against his comrade and against the army and the army fled the instrument of victory that God used to kill the enemy was the one that the enemy

was holding Gideon didn't stab him to death with the trumpet he didn't beat him to death with a jar broke the jar, or star slaves in their throats. No. He blew the trumpet, the sound of praise.

He broke the jar, break the jar, take the step of fate. Blow the trumpet, make the sound of praise. And what will God do? God will take care of your enemy. Why? Because Gideon

and the Israelites were in Midian's hand, God's hand is greater than all. And that's where I want to end this sermon. Give it to him. You are his instrument. He has called you for great things. He wants to use you to speak and to be and to change so many things. I hope you can feel that.

I know you've been in a wine press, but you have weapons. You have instruments. You are an instrument in God's hand. And maybe right here we sing, do it again. I don't know. Something just to put our lives in God's hands. hands. Whose hands are you in today?

You're not in Midian's hands. Whose hands are you in? What's in your hand? You got what it takes to win. But God has been putting you through a season where he didn't want you to think it was your hand. So he let some things leave. Be open-handed about that.

Let go. We need to just let go today. Let go. Go down to the camp. Make a move toward the thing that God is calling you to do. And then let's go. Let's go. Hey, I hope you enjoyed the podcast.

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