Elevation with Steven Furtick - Setup In The Stronghold

Episode Date: September 13, 2024

Do you escape to security when life gets hard? If you step out of your comfort zone, you might find that God wants to help you face your challenge.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. I'm the pastor of Elevation Church, and this is our podcast. I wanted to thank you for joining us today. Hope this inspires you. Hope it builds your fate. Hope it gives you perspective to see God is moving in your life.

Enjoy the message. This week's Psalm is Psalm 142. I got some good news. My oldest son has fallen in love with an album. Something I feared may never happen, because, you know, We live in the day of the single. Nobody listens to albums anymore. But my son, having impeccable good taste, mostly informed by his genetic code, has fallen in

love with an album. If we weren't in church, I'd tell you that it's a Kendrick Lamar album. What was so good to me about that is I was scared that he would never have the experience that I had when I was about his age. He's 12. And he would just listen to songs, you know, Spotify stream songs and just, you know, garbage stuff that's out there now. I didn't know if he'd get into good quality music. And I never knew if he would have the moment that Eric and I had growing up in the mean streets of Monks Corner, South Carolina,

falling in love with an album. The first album that I fell in love with was, of course, by the great Christian worship band Guns and Roses, the prophet Axel Rose was the first preacher, whoever touched my soul in a powerful way. And I wanted him to have that experience to really get into the music. And he looked at me the other day. He said, I just feel like Kendrick gets me. Yes, Compton and Axel are just alike. But that point aside, it was good to me to see him get into.

I wanted him to know that, you know, I wanted him to feel. that. I wanted him to know that it's not just... Because, see, like in this series, I want you to know that God gets you. And I want you to get into God. Can you see how excited I am or caffeinated or something, some combination of caffeine in Jesus Christ? You got me fired up to tell you that God gets you. And touch somebody and say, I don't get you. Thank God, he does. And the more you get into God, you realize that God gets you, all of you. And yet, when we come into church, sometimes we read little fragments of scriptures and phrases and things that sound good. It's like people who say, oh, I don't listen to the lyrics, I just like the beat. I hate those people. You don't understand.

And the depth, the backstory, you just like the beat. And sometimes we're like that in church, you know. I will bless the Lord at all times, and his praise shall continually be on my mouth. Now, thinking about what that says, you're just like how it sounds. Like, yeah, I will bless the Lord. Occasionally, once in a while, on Sunday for 28 minutes. I will bless the Lord at all time. I mean, all times, not all times.

Like all the time, all the time. I'm not going to get in front of people and do it or anything like that. But you know, I'm not going to lift my hands or anything. You know, it sounds good. I like the beat. So I thought what we did today last week we were focused on Psalm 59, which was a banger. We discovered that not only is David a shepherd, but he is a goat, the goat, the greatest of all times.

Some people were offended by that assertation, that David was the greatest. rapper of all time. I stand by it. We are rocking to his mixtape, the book of Psalms, three millennia after he penned these words. They still resonate in our souls. But this week, we're going to look at some things that he said that might surprise us in Psalm 142. And this is more of a ballot. The tempo is a little slower because David is conflicted and he cries out to God about it. I want to read all seven verses from Psalm 142, where David says, I cry aloud to the Lord. I lift up my voice to the Lord for mercy.

I pour out before him my complaint before him, I tell my trouble. When my spirit grows faint within me, it is you who watch over my way. In the path where I walk, people have hidden a snare for me. Look and see, there is no one at my right hand. No one is concerned for me. I have no refuge. No one cares for my life. Elijah, nobody's praying for me.

I looked around for help. And all I found was hardship. I cry, verse 5, to you, Lord. I say, you are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living. Listen to my cry, for I am in desperate need. Rescue me from those who pursue me, for they are too strong for me, set me free from my prison that I may praise your name. I want to, so bad, but I can't.

Right now, set me free. Only you have the keys to do it. Then the righteous will gather about me because of your goodness to me." One more thing I want to read you before we talk about it for a few moments from 1 Samuel 22. This is the backstory. This is the backstory to the beat. And just one verse for now. 1 Samuel 22, verse 5, but the prophet Gad said to David, do not stay in the stronghold, go into the land of Judah.

So David left and went to the forest of Hereth. My subject for today is the setup in the stronghold. When we started Psalm 142, I don't know if you found yourself like me wanting to tell David, that you're not allowed to do this. When he cries aloud to the Lord in verse one and lifts up his voice to the Lord for mercy in verse one, at this point in the Psalm, I have predicted this predicament. It is in verse 2 that I'm a little surprised when David says, I pour out before him my complaint.

At this point, I want to pull David aside and say, didn't you know that you were supposed to bless the Lord at all times and his praise continually be in your mouth and David said back to me yeah I wrote that Psalm 2 that's Psalm 34 but this one's a little different because sometimes before my mouth can be filled with praise I have to pour out something else to make room for what I know I'm seeing now this is the point of the sermon where where people start getting real confused on me because we have been taught sometimes that unless we can come to God the right way, we can't come to him at all. And the fact of the matter is a lot of us don't pray, don't worship, and don't enter into

the presence of God in that specific and tangible way, wherein he can heal the issues of your heart because we are scared of what would happen if we really opened ourselves up and told him, in fact, I was talking to my friend, I'm not going to say his name, I don't want to embarrass Eric Phillips, but we were talking the other day how for us is very difficult for us sometimes to tell God how we're feeling, which is funny because I have a feeling that he already knows how I'm feeling, but I'm scared to tell him. And here's why I'm scared to tell him. I know why I'm scared to tell him because of something my dad used to say. My dad used to say whenever I would start crying, he had this line he would say to get me to stop. And the line was, finish it if you know it, if you don't see. stop that crying, I'll give you. Your dad was an abusive maniac as well. My dad was a great dad. And I get it.

And I get it. But when David uses this image, I was surprised because I'm so used to the Psalms being a place where we pour out our praise. I was surprised to see David pour out his complaint. Because I didn't think you were supposed to complain. if God was good to you and I read the whole psalm and he started the psalm saying he was pouring out his complaint and he ended the psalm by saying that God was good to him and I couldn't put the two together because what do you have to complain about if God has been good to you?

I'm sometimes afraid to complain in the presence of God and so I don't pray because I can't say what I know I'm supposed to say so I don't say anything, because I'm going to tell you, I'm scared that if I say what I really want to say, God might give me something to cry about. I'm scared sometimes to pray to God before I come preach, what I really feel like praying to God, which is, I'm not feeling this today. Because I'm scared if I say that to him, he'll put something on my voice box where I can't preach. I'm afraid if I complain to God about my children,

that he might look on somebody else who's been praying that they could have kids and they can have kids. And here I am complaining about something that I prayed and asked God to give me. And I feel kind of guilty. So now I stand in a distance and I won't tell God what I have to say. But I learned something about God is that he is the only safe place where I can pour out my compassion. And if I don't learn how to pour out my complaints in his presence, they will spill over somewhere else. Where else can I go but his presence? Who else could I tell but the one who knit me?

Where else? Where else is it safe? What are you going to do? You're going to go on Facebook and tell your troubles? The presence of God is not a place to be. to bypass your emotions. It's a place to process them. And what that means is this.

The only way into the presence of God is from where you really are. Not from where you wish you were. You can start your prayers with, O Sovereign God of the Seas and Nemo and Dori and Sydney, Australia. Oh, God, sovereign Father. You can start there. That's preferable. But in case you can't, in case it's one of those days, in case you don't even feel saved,

in case you just want to bash some heads, bust some heads, in case it's one of those days, in case you don't feel God at all, you know, it's okay to tell God I don't feel you right now, but I need you. God come to my rescue. You know, I need place, the attitude, the mind. mindset that God wants you to have and where he wants you to be if you don't start from where you really are So it gives me permission If David did it

Let somebody say if David did it If David did it So can I Pour out my Complaint in his presence And he said he said I I cried I loud

to the Lord. Allowed. The word has different meanings if you spell it, you're allowed to complain. Allowed. And this is something it took me a long time to learn because I always tried to fight what was going on in my mind in my mind. The only problem with fighting what's going on in my mind in my mind is that is enemy held territory. Because I have strongholds in my mind. And when I go to pray and my heart is overwhelmed, My mind can't keep up with my spirit. Because my spirit knows what I need to pray, but my mind gets in the way. Who am I helping? So far, who am I helping?

So what I do, I wish I would have brought them out. I didn't remember to bring them out. I have some AirPods that I put in my ear. So people will think I'm having a conversation on the phone. In case they look at my car or in case they see me going through, well, I don't ever go to Target. But if I happen to go to Target once a year, my annual trip to hell, I would put in my my air pod. And I don't fight my mind

in my mind because I can't win the level on the level that I'm fighting on I have to get altitude. I have to fight from an elevated place. So I fight my mind with my mouth.

You can pray any way you want to. But when you really get in a situation, you don't fight in your mind You pray out loud. I want you for the next seven days, the next seven days, you can do whatever you want after that, but for the next seven days, tell somebody, for the next seven days, you're allowed to pray aloud. I want you to stop closing your eyes and worrying and calling it prayer. Because you can think a thousand things at once. How many can?

How many aren't even paying attention to me right now? You got something in the oven. But you can only say one thing at a time. So when I open my mouth, I'm not just being emotional. I'm being strategic. In fact, why don't you just shout right now to let God know? I don't have to start with the script. Oh, thou mightiest, only as God is oneest of the sunnest and the starsest.

I can look at God and say, God, I hate myself right now. Did you see how I just acted? And God will say, yeah. Matter of fact, I did. And I see how you're going to act tomorrow. And I decided to send my son to die for you with complete foreknowledge of all of your false. If I make my bed in hell, you are there. If I say I'll dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, God is in the depress.

place. God is in the darkness. God is in the cave. And David starts writing this song, and he has good acoustics, because you know how you can sing real good in the shower, because the acoustics make you think you can carry a tune. You ever did that? You got in the shower, you're like, I should probably, I should probably get an agent. I sound just like the recording. But the acoustics in the shower make you, okay, David has good acoustics because he's under attack, but he's in a cave. And some of the best expressions of your relationship with God will be born not when you are crowned in victory, but when you are hiding in despair. So David is a giant killer.

And David has a future as a leader of an entire nation that God has called out his people. But have you ever had your calling in conflict with your circumstances? This is David's situation in Psalm 142. I mentioned briefly, but I want to go back to it, the historical record in 1 Samuel 22, because David is in a safe place, a cave in adulam. The Bible says in verse one, David left Gath. Hey, you want to do something real cool this week? Go and study where Goliath was from.

Okay, I'll go ahead and tell you now, because I studied it for you. It's Gath. So he has to go hide in the place where he just defeated an enemy. He has to go hide for a little while in a place that he doesn't belong. The problem with David going to Gath is, When they see him, he's still got Goliath sword that he took after he cut off his head and maybe a little bit of blood on it. And David is on the run from Saul, whose throne he is going to occupy. And so he can't stay in the place he belongs because the king wants to kill him.

But he can't stay with the enemies that he's fighting against. Have you ever felt like you didn't fit anywhere, just kind of quite fit? Are there at least three weird people like me in here? Do you ever feel like you don't fit where you came from? You don't fit where you're going. Have you ever felt too churchy to be worldly, but a little too worldly to fit in some churches where you have to... I hit something right there. He escapes, but watch this.

This is the phrase that got my attention. Everybody say escape. Escape. Because everybody has a way that they escape. That's what Guns and Roses was for me. That's what Elijah's headphones are for him. It's a way for me to escape just for a little while. I can get out of my situation and get into something else.

But the way that you escape, here's the principle, could lead to greater captivity. So it is so important where you go when you run. because sometimes what you run to will end up running you. The Bible says that David escaped from the land of Gat and he was safe from the spear of Saul. And he escaped to, give me my verse, the cave, which is a safe place, but he escaped to something that he was trapped in. Now, we understand what David had to complain about in Psalm 142, because he's supposed to be a king and he's stuck in a cave. And he's safe, but he's stuck.

And he knows there is more to me than this. And he is shocked. Now watch this. David is not surprised by the enemies that surround. surround him. He's surprised by the friends that didn't. David was not expecting that it would be easy to be a king. He was not expecting to ascend to the throne without any battles. He wasn't expecting cotton candy, lollipop, Santa Claus, Yahweh. He wasn't expecting to be able to take the moving sidewalk to the throne to rule the people. But he was expecting

that the people God called him to serve would have his back. And he looks around in Psalm 142 from the cave of Adulam and says, I'm not surprised by who's surrounding me to kill me. I'm surprised that nobody is surrounding me that cares about me. Have you ever looked around and been surprised? Where are the people I have prayed for? Where are the people? This is what it's like.

I thought it must be lonely for David in the cave. to be all alone in the cave, but then I kept reading and I discovered he wasn't alone. Can I show you? Have a seat. I'll show you. I love this stuff, man. Touch somebody, say, get into it. Get into it. Get into it. Don't just settle for a little cassette single. Don't just settle for a little, this is the Dean and the Learn is me.

Because you like the beat. The backstory is this. David is in the deepest. place of despair, not because he's surrounded by trouble, but because he can't find his support. And he's in a stronghold looking for a support system, looking for somebody to be there for him. You mean I killed this giant that was defying the whole nation? You mean I helped you move? It's trying to make it practical or something we can live with, because most of us aren't hiding from wicked king. But it doesn't mean that we can't relate.

David says, I looked around and nobody was there, but it wasn't true. Just read the whole rest of the verse, verse one. Same verse. He's in the cave of Adulam. That's where he was. He says, I looked to my right and nobody was there. That's what he wrote. Psalm 142. And his brothers and father's household heard about it, and they went down to him there.

So he was surrounded. But there is a difference between being surrounded and feeling supported. And God sends David some people in a cave. And maybe he wrote that before they came and maybe he wrote it as they came. Here's one thing I know. Everybody in that cave needed something from David. Here's how I know. The Bible describes David's team in verse two.

It says, not only did his brothers and father come, who by the way didn't believe in him, his dad didn't even bring him in on draft day when Samuel came through town with a horn of oil looking for the next king. Now you want some help in the cave because Saul's gone crazy and you think maybe I can defend you because I'm good with a sword and a slingshot? You felt like people only call on you in certain times, like you don't hear from them for two years. And when they call you, you kind of want to say, why don't you just cut the crap and tell me what you want? Because I know you didn't call me to check on me. I know there's no way in the world you just called me to see how I was doing now let's just skip through the preliminaries How you doing bro? How I'm doing is just tell me what you need and I'll tell you whether I'm gonna do it or not

But let's just cut through all this so I can save the time that you would spend pretending like you care about me Maybe it's just me I would bless the Lord at all times And and and and David is surrounded But he does not feel Supported he's got a full email email inbox does anybody still email email inbox does anybody still email any And it's not that he's not getting any text, it's just that they're all transactional. It's not that he doesn't know anybody.

It's just that nobody really knows. Nobody cares. He didn't say nobody came. He said nobody cares. I got a crowd around me. And I smile so good, they have no idea that I feel like it's all fake. Quiet, it's getting. That's when I'm preaching my best.

And they're standing up and shouting and all that. I ain't saying nothing real important. When it gets like that, you hear it? You hear that funeral vibe? That's what I like. If I couldn't provide for them, would they care? I wonder sometimes if I couldn't pick up the mic, if I couldn't do what I did, who would I be?

And who would really love me if I didn't have a big church? I'm just trying to tell you, I'm not David, but I don't. can relate. And I have a feeling every husband can relate, every wife can relate, every friend can relate. I know every parent can relate to look around and wonder, does anybody as a person, when are they going to ask me? How are you? Eat something from me. Look who God sent to David in the cave. Thanks a lot, God. Look at verse two. All those who were in distress or in debt or discontented gathered around him. Really? This is my team. Really?

I don't know the sequence. Nobody does. But was God messing with David? Nobody surrounds me. And God said, all right, I'm going to put 400. The Bible says there were 400 of them. I'm going to send 400 rough, the roughest thugs you've ever seen in your, you're going to have some company in the cave now, David. Hey, make some room.

Get the cot ready. I heard you, David. Here comes some backup. But God, I don't want what David did it. No. Can I preach? Can I preach? These men would be the same men who would bring him.

These men that God sent to David in the cave would be the same men who would chase down lions and pits on snowy days and ripped their mouths open. And if they wouldn't have been rough, they couldn't have been relentless. And if David hadn't been in the cave, they wouldn't have come to him. It was a setup. That's what I'm trying to say. It was a setup. There are some things that can only come together in the cave. When you get alone and you feel alone and you say, God, I need you, And God says now that you know that I'm what you need, I can give you what you don't even know to pray for if you'll get desperate and open your mouth and get real. Come on, is anybody ready to get real with God? I'm done pretending.

I'm done playing. Do it by faith. Touch five people say, you got what you need. You got what you need. You got what you need. Come on, you'll see, you got what you need. It might look like debt. It might look like disorientation.

It might look like discontent, but those were David's mighty men in disguise. I'm telling you, a little boy's lunch isn't all you can eat buffet with God puts his hand on it. What you have is what you need for where you are. You are not stuck. It is not over. Saul can't kill you, and you're not alone. Shout about it. So, David, David is not alone.

Tell somebody say you're not alone. Look them in the eyes. Say you're not alone. You're not alone. The person on the other side of you that you've been ignoring every time I told you to turn to your neighbor, look at them and say, you're not alone either. Don't leave them. You've been in a stronghold.

David doesn't know what's next. And he says something real crazy. He says something real crazy because the men come to him, the broke relatives come to him. Everybody wants a piece of David now that he's got a contract, right? And he's like, I don't know. I'm in this place right now. I'm in this cave. And he leaves the cave with these folk.

And he's got to do something with his mom and dad. So he goes down to Moab where they have good retirement communities assisted living. He went there. He had a tie there because his great-great-grandmother was a Moabite. You can study this as much as you want. There's a lot of connections here. And which ones you see determines is determined by how you look. When he drops his parents off in Moab, I want to read you this.

I didn't really get to key in on this last time, but I want to say it here. He tells the king of Moab, he's like, I need a place, a safe place for my family to stay. So will you look after mom and dad? who weren't really looking out for me, who demean me. You know how it says David was a man after God's own heart? You know how Jesus is called the son of David? They had one thing in common. They did it for others who wouldn't do it for them.

They were willing to die for the people who were willing to kill them. And so David makes arrangements for his parents to stay in Moab. The only problem with Moab is not really a bad. I don't want you to conjure up images of Nineveh where they would impale their enemies. I don't want you to think of Nero or anything like that who was persecuting the New Testament Church, frying them in vats of oil. But Moab was a place where they worshipped other gods. And so David goes down to a place that's not necessarily bad, but sometimes you go places to survive that is

up imprisoning you in the process. And he drops off his parents and he says, verse three, verse three, can they stay while I or until I learn what God will do for me? David, you know that you're destined to be a king. Yes, I do. But right now I'm in this cave of a king. confusion and what I know God has promised me does not take away the confusion of wondering how he will bring it to pass so I need a safe place to stay while I figure

out how is God going to do this and he drops his parents off and he's got everything verse 4 under control the king says sure and what else you're going to say to David he hit you with a rock or something you don't help him out And they stay with them as long as David was in, oh, there it is, the stronghold. God sent me to preach to somebody today who's in the stronghold. The stronghold is not a bad thing. Please understand that when 2 Corinthians 104 says, we demolish strongholds, if you stick around church a little while, you hear us say some churchy things,

these little vocabulary words that we have, and we'll talk about pulling down strongholds. But before you pull them down, understand what they actually are. Now, I know you understand the military term that a, stronghold is a fortified place. A stronghold is a place where opposing forces can't get to you. But a stronghold that protects you from one enemy might imprison you to another one. So the prophet Gad says to David in one of the only two times that we see him in scripture, the prophet Gad says something to David that I believe the Spirit of the Lord might be saying to you today. Lake Norman, University, online, Kansas, Nebraska, from sea to shining sea, I want to make an announcement.

Teenagers, people who are not teenagers anymore, people who have lived several lifetimes since your teenage years. I want to declare the word of the Lord to you, and the word of the Lord to you is this, 1 Samuel 22, 5. Do not stay in the stronghold because it's a setup. Because if you stay in Moab too long, now Moab may be a state of mind. It may not be a physical location. I'm not talking about your marriage. I'm not telling you to get a divorce and blame it on God because he said leave Moab. I know people take my messages and twist them.

But the stronghold is usually something that you ran to to protect you. Let's see how real you're willing to be now. I want all the pessimists. to raise your hand right now. All the pessimists, all the spouses of pessimists, grab the wrist of your partner and make them play along with my interactive sermon. I'm going to tell you why you're a pessimist. It's a defense mechanism. It protects you from disappointment.

It protects you like the gin blossoms used to say. If you don't expect too much from me, you might not be let down. So I got let down, and I didn't like how that fell. So now I just expect people to suck, and when they do, I'm not surprised. Come on, how many pessimists in the house? And it's fine to be realistic. But what you don't know when you develop the pattern of pessimism, neurologically in your brain and spiritually in your heart,

when you hide in that stronghold, It protects you, but it traps you. Protects you, but it also ensnars you because you now create the reality that you projected through your expectation. So you are not surprised that life sucks, but life sucks because you were not prepared to be surprised by anything other than the fallen condition of sinful man. And so when God really wants to show you his goodness in the land of the living, you can't see it because you're not. you're in the stronghold. So pessimism protects you from disappointment, but it imprisons you as it protects you. Every addiction is at its root a form of self-defense. Because I'm taking something, or I'm seeing something, or I'm doing something, or I'm saying something,

because you can be addicted to a whole lot of stuff more than pills. I've got some friends that are addicted to problems. If it even looks like it's going to be a good day, they will spike the coffee just to screw things up so they can feel normal in a state of self-sabotized. I'm preaching like I know you now. Only God could show me this about you. You are addicted to drama. It protects you. The drama protects you from having to be productive and steady. Because if you create drama, you'll have something to blame. It's a way of escape. That's why a lot of us blame others.

It's a stronghold. It's a stronghold. It's a way for me to not have to take responsibility. Because if I blame you, I don't have to deal with the shame of me. But now I'm imprisoned to bitterness. And David, if you stay in the cave, you won't be able to save the people of Kyla. David had a battle to fight in Judah that he didn't know about. He had an army that God was forming that he couldn't see for what they were because he was in the stronghold.

And there are things that God has surrounded you with that you can't see in the stronghold. So the prophet says, you've got to go to Judah. You got to go to Judah. If I had a fired up church, I would preach this thing. If this was Code Orange Revival, oh, if I was at Matthews right now, if I was at Lake Norman, I would have you touch seven people and tell them, get to Judah, get to Judah as quick as you can. Get to Judah. Judah is the place that represents praise. In fact, the very word Judah means praise. Now I see what David was doing in Psalm 142 is what the prophet was saying in 1st Samuel 22. I'm leaving this strong. hole. I'm stepping outside of myself, outside of my feelings. To Judah, you won't see what God can do for you in this cave. You've got to go to Judah. You've got to get back to the place where you will be crowned as king.

You've got to get back to the promise. See, David, start, stand up and help me close this sermon. He starts Psalm 142, trapped in a cave. But he ends, put verse 7 up. He ends Psalm 142 coming out of prison. Psalm 142 behind bars, but he ends Psalm 142. He starts Psalm 142 in a cave that seems safe. He ends Psalm 142, knowing that God is my refuge and nothing can by any means harm

me. Nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing, no one, nothing can stand against the promise of God. He started with complaint, but by the time he got done, he was filled with praise. I know you came to church hurting, but why not lift your hand? Thank you for joining us. Special thanks to those of you who give generously to this ministry. is because of you that this ministry is possible. You can click the link in the description to give now or visit Elevationchurch.org slash podcast for more information. And if you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe,

you can share it with your friends. You can click the share button, take a screenshot, and share it on your social stories and tag us at Elevation Church. Thanks again for listening. God bless you. This is an IHeart podcast, Guaranteed Human.