Elevation with Steven Furtick - When God Goes In

Episode Date: March 27, 2023

Let the way maker through. In “When God Goes In,” Pastor Steven Furtick teaches us that when we let God remove what’s limiting us, we make room for Him to lift us to our full potential. 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 6, verses 7-14 1 Corinthians 1, verses 24-27See 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. Be sure to subscribe so we can get you these new sermons every week. I hope you're blessed today. With hands lifted all over this room, let's sing to him. God is more...

That God is able to do immeasurably more than you ask... Or think. Or imagine. according to his power. Somebody shout his power. Reach about today. I want to preach about his power. This message, are you ready?

Bose in. Thank you for your anointing to break chains, liberate those who are captive, to raise up those who are broken, to heal those who are hurting, to save those who are lost, to free those who are addicted. That anointing is in the world.

this house right now and we release you to do what you want to do mighty god miracle worker have your way in this place you are more than able in jesus name somebody shout amen come here i'll start my sermon this way i just go right in y'all ready to go right in let's go right in this one of my favorite songwriting partners in the world chandler chandler moore we have an enterprise called more ferdick Enterprises. I kissed his sweaty cheek because he has brought so many wonderful gifts to my life and to our church. We have a long story. You could go back and watch me telling those stories. They're all online. One thing that makes us good songwriting partners is that we both respect one another's strengths and we have different strengths. And I've never met anybody more intuitive

than Chandler. So what I do to get him to sing. No, hold on, let me tell you what I do a little trick, in case you ever want to write a song with Chandler. Get him to think you're done writing the song, and then he'll do something more amazing than he did while you're writing the song, and then take that and write the song around that. A little trick. A songwriting trick. True, Christian? Very true.

One of the things that makes us good in collaboration, I think, is that he is very strong, where I'm not as strong, and I'm very cool to be vulnerable in the way to say, hey, that's better, or he might say to me, oh, that's better. And that's very important in a creative partnership. But you are in a partnership with God to bring about his purpose in the earth. Even if you're a single mom, you're in a partnership with God raising your child. You're not alone. And just like Chandler has strengths that I don't, the thing about God and you and what makes you and God good partners is that he's really good at

what you're not good at. And that's a lot of stuff. I've been checking on y'all. That's a lot of things that he can do that you can't do. And so today I want to preach about that, and I want to share, continue. We've been preaching off the song that we wrote, more than able. It's out now. You can go download it.

How many of you have already been riding around singing it with the windows down? It's been warm Charlotte weather. I'm scared people are hearing you sing that thing loud, and I'm scared you can't sing, and I'm scared your head. You're scaring them. You're right around and you start thinking you sound like Chandler. Sounds just like him, sound just like him. But I've been preaching off of a thought in that song that said, there's so much more

to the story. And I'm believing that in faith for everybody who might have been tempted to give up in the last few years or even in the last few weeks or the last few days. You know I met a lady this weekend, she said, I was sitting in the hospital parking lot trying to decide whether I needed to check myself in. She was standing there with her son. She said, I was trying to decide whether to check myself into the hospital because lately I feel like I'm going crazy.

And I've made an appointment to see about that. But she said, I was sitting in the parking lot listening to your sermons all day. I sat there for two hours. When I finished, I said, God, I need another sign that it's going to be all right. And then she saw me in the thing. And I was like, I think this counts as a sign. don't you? Don't you?

I don't believe God has to bring me or any other individual in your life to give you a sign that he's with you. The fact that you've survived all that you've survived and that he brought you to this point and that you still have breath in your lungs. He's not done with you yet. Say it, he's not done with me yet.

He's not done with me yet. So let's go. You go dry off or something. You got me soaking wet now. That was disgusting. And I'm going to give one scripture while you're standing. I'll let you sit down in just a moment, but I want to share one scripture from Judges, chapter 6, verse 14.

And then out of this verse, this will be a two-week sermon. How many of you will commit to come back next week? If I can get 50% of you to say you'll come back next week, I won't have to keep you here until 3 p.m. Raise your hand if you commit to come back next week. That's good. And then we'll be at Easter. And then we've got to come on Easter. Even if we don't come any other time, we've got to come to Easter.

Go to hell. You go to double hell if you don't come on Easter. You know, I'm teasing. Judges chapter 6, verse 14, says something very powerful, and it's going to get more and more powerful as I preach it today. And then as I preach it again next week, and it's just going to build momentum in your spirit. And you're going to see a breakthrough on Easter Sunday. That's going to start right now. Judges chapter 6, verse 14, the Lord turned to him. him and said, go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian's hand. Am I not sending you when God

goes in. Father, have your way in Jesus' name. Amen. Touch somebody say he's coming in. He's coming in. Let the waymaker through. He's coming in. He's coming in. To your home, to your heart, to your brokenness, to your questions, to your weeping. Right now, just make that confession online in the chat. Say he's coming in. Come through, Lord.

Do what you want to do. When you think about the Bible, I want you to think about all of the strange elevations in the Bible. This is not the first strange elevation in history, this church. I know we're a little weird. I know it's a little different. How many of you the first time you came here, we scared you a little bit? Just raise your hand. Even like, they're too happy.

This can't be real. This feels culted. Why? Because everybody seems really into it. Oh, yeah. God forgive we be into Jesus in this kingdom. That would be weird. make much more sense to feel like a funeral when God is alive.

I digress. My point is not that. My point is not about our church being strange, although we are proudly strange and getting stranger every day. We hadn't even gotten weird yet. Let me tell you how weird it's going to get. We're going to release a whole album on May 19th, Holly's birthday. It's called Can You Imagine? And on that night that we release those songs, we're going to record eight more.

And I'm announcing it now because that's weird. But that's what we're going to do. Because we got to get the word of God out into as many hearts as we can. And if God gives it, we can't be stingy. We got to give it and release it so we can receive it and repeat it and do it again. So that's how weird we are. And we're weird in other ways, too. not divided in ways that some churches are divided. And we don't have black songs and white songs. We just

have songs. Songs about God. We don't do ministry to rich people or poor people. We just do ministry. Everybody needs Jesus. One thing that encourages me in my study of God's word is all of the people that God raised that from a human perspective wouldn't have been recognized as likely candidates to be vessels for the purpose of God. Clap on that if you're an unlikely candidate, too. Yeah, that's good. I call it a strange elevation, because definitely if you want to see that,

look at what Paul says in 1st Corinthians 1, verse 23. Check this out. It might be 24, I don't remember. But whatever scripture it is, put it up, because I'm stalling. But to those whom God has called, touch your neighbors say that's me he's talking about Paul never met me but he's describing me right there but to those whom God has called both Jews and Greeks

Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God next verse for the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength. More. Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Don't flash back too far.

I might not get you back to church today if you think about where you were, what you were and where you were. Think of what you were when you were called. Not many of your wise by human standards. Not many were influential. Not many were of noble birth. Next verse.

But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise. Don't clap too hard. They might think you're the foolish one. I'm past the point of caring, ma'am. I'd rather somebody think I was foolish than actually be a fool. And the fool has said in his heart there is no God. But God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.

So the subject I want to talk to you today about revolves kind of around this thought. The problem that you're having in your life right now, to align with what God spoke about you has a very discernible diagnosis from the Word of God. I'm going to give it to you up front, and then we'll unpack it together. It's that sometimes you get who you are confused with where you are. That's a lot of what you've been having severe and even crippling anxiety about, is that you keep getting who you are confused with where you are. you are. And God knows the difference even when you don't. I'm not going to fill this sermon

with anecdotes from people that I met, but it just so happened going through Krispy Cream the other night. I wasn't eating them. I was getting them for the sleepover gram was happened. Just want to tell you that right now. Because I can't eat one of those. And I pulled through, and I thought like it was a good test for me against temptation to have two dozen Krispy Cream donuts in the car and just drive home and not touch them. And I did it, and I got a quest cookie, and I called it even. It took me a while to get to that place, or I could do that. So don't give up.

There's hope for all of us. Anyway, the guy said, hey, man, I know who you are. I said, cool, what's your name? He said, I used to go to elevation. I said, great, what's your name? He said, no, I don't go anymore. I said, what does that have to do with what's your name? I didn't ask where you go to church.

I asked who you are. In Judges chapter 6, we meet a man who is being raised up by God, who is unlikely, being that he's from the tribe of Manasse, which is looked down upon among the nation of Israel. In some ways for good reason. They were kind of messy tribe. But also, within that designation, he saw himself as being the youngest in his family because he was biologically. But God had chosen him for greatness. If you go through the book of judges, you'll see all kinds of strange elevations. What I mean is God will reach down and raise up somebody who no one else had noticed and do something really great through them while nobody's looking. One of the stories is about Ehud, who was a left-handed judge.

And the good thing about him being left-handed was he reached over to his right, thigh and stabbed a fat king. And the attendants were outside thinking the king was in the bathroom, but he actually had a blade sucked into his cellulite. And he snuck out and saved the nation because he was left-handed. Now, the tribe that he was from Benjamin, that means son of my right hand. So he was a left-handed dude in a right-handed tribe, but God raised him up at just the right time. Humble yourself under the mighty hand of God that he may lift you up in due time. Of course, you never heard of Ehud because it's kind of nasty scriptures, so they don't teach it over there in Sunday school class very much. However, you have heard of Gideon, who I read about in

Judges Chapter 6, I think you have. I think you've heard about what he did, how he saved the nation with just 300 men. My plan is to attack that next week and to show you how everything that has left your life is not needed for the next season that God is bringing you into. If you got him, you're going to do great things and greater things in the future. Yeah, I see it. Got you. Now, Gideon is the least likely he calls himself that in just a moment, which will see his conversation with God. He calls himself the least and he calls himself the weakest. He calls himself the least and he calls himself the weakest. In fact, he calls the clan that he's from within his family the least and he calls himself,

well, he calls them the weakest and he calls himself the least within that family. So the weakest and the least. And he goes on to save the nation. But before he does, before we talk about what. Gideon did or before we even talk about who Gideon is, I think we need to remember where he was because I think that's where a lot of us are. I know it's where I've been. And I spent a lot of my time in life, in this place, where Gideon was when God called him to do something amazing and raised him up. It's a strange elevation. It's God raised

raising up an imperfect person. As Paul said, the foolish things of the world to shame the strong and the weak things to confound the wise. The Bible says in Judges chapter 6, verse 7, when the Israelites cried out to the Lord because of Midian, he sent them a prophet who said, this is what the Lord the God of Israel says. I brought you up out of Egypt. elevation out of the land of slavery. I rescued you from the hand of the Egyptians and I delivered you from the hand of all your oppressors. I drove them out before you and gave you their land. I said to you, I am the Lord your God. Do not worship the gods of the Emirates. Do not worship the gods of comparison, do not worship the gods of status, do not worship the gods of sexual expression

at the expense of addiction and entanglement and bondage? I said to you, don't do it. I'm like where you are. Don't confuse who I made you to be what you see in the place where I put you. The prophet said that. He said that. We don't even know his name, but he said that. But you have not listened to me. Now, I promise I'm going to raise you up. But first, I got to start where we got to start, okay? Because that's true about a lot of us.

How hard you make me work is how deep I'm going to go. So just let's make a deal. You've been there before. I call it predictable misery. You know it's not where you need to go to get what you need to have. But you do it. Predictable misery. Predictable pleasure.

You do the thing, you get the thing, you lose the thing, now you got nothing and you cry out to God. Now what I love about him is that he still lifts me. That's what I love about him. It's that he still lifts me. The question isn't, will he lift you out of it? The question is, how long do you insist on staying in it before you ask you. him to do what he said he would do. Now for the Israelites, it was a seven-year cycle this time. Seven years of being oppressed by the Midianites. It would get really bad when they tried to plant.

When they tried to plant, the Midianites would come, and the Bible says they came on camels, and the Bible says they were like swarms of locusts. That's how many there were. It was overwhelming. Like swarms of locusts, they would come and raise. and invade every time the Israelites got ready to grow and do something forward-thinking and progress and put something in the ground here came the Midianites the Bible says like swarms of locusts every time they went to sew into their future here came a swarm of enemies to drive them back into their past every time they went to sew here came a swarm of enemies to drive them back into their past every time they went to sew here came a swarm I'm setting this up so when I tell you where Gideon was, you won't judge him. Because you will judge him if you just meet him where he is.

But if you know what he's been warring against, maybe you can relate to this guy a little bit. Maybe you won't call him a wimp if you see why he's hidden. Maybe if you realize that every time he's tried to plant, every time he's tried to reap, Every time I tried to go for a job interview Every time I tried to move forward Every time I tried to get my feet under me Every time I tried to talk to him Every time I tried to apologize

So now we have Gideon Who is hidden But he's a hero But he's hidden But he's a hero Which one, it's both And so it is with you. I'm preaching today to a hidden hero. I'm preaching today to somebody who is stronger

than your life has been suggesting that you are. I'm preaching today to somebody who has more potential than you've been given yourself credit for. And God said, I'm coming in to show you who I am. I am the Lord your God. Now let's go. Here comes the angel in verse Number 11, the angel of the Lord came and sat down under the oak in Orphra. This is before she had her talk show. I like to point that out. She'd been doing it a long time. I always throw that joke in there because that's a really good little creature joke.

Sorry about it. The angel of the Lord came and sat down under the oak in Oprah that belonged to Joash the Abies, right? Shock of shock, horrors of horrors, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a wine press to keep it from the Midian eyes. And when the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, The Lord is with you, mighty warrior. Now somebody's lying. Peace cannot coexist.

You cannot be threshing wheat in a wine press and be a war. while you're in a wine press, thresh and wheat hiding from the big bad Midianites. Somebody's lying. Somebody's wrong. Somebody is not seeing something correctly. One is an angel and one is Gideon. One is the messenger of God and one is Gideon a human from the tribe of Manasseh. So I'm ask you a question.

It is God and Gideon saying two different things about the same situation. Which one is wrong? That is not a trick question. Shout this out loud, God is not wrong. So why are you hiding if God is not wrong? So why are you worried about tomorrow if God said he's already there? So why have you given up on yourself when he didn't give up on you yet.

So why do you talk to yourself like your trash when he spilled his blood for you like your treasure? Why do you keep going into a dark place? I'll tell you why. You are hiding because you've been hit hard. I understood the more I studied about the Midianites. They were hit harder than any other tribe. When the Midianites, or excuse me, the tribe of Manasseh, they were hit harder than any of the other tribes.

When the Midianites would come in on their camels like locust, they hit Midian the hardest. And so Gideon has this little spirit on him. Why is everybody always picking on me? And that's because the enemy only picks on what he perceives to be powerful. You see why it's going to take me two weeks to do this the right way? But he's in a wine press, threshing wheat. Nothing wrong with wine press. He's not down there getting drunk.

He's not down there making meth, Mr. White. It's not that, it's not exactly that he's in a wrong place. It's that he's doing the thing that he's doing in a place that is not most appropriate for who he is. When you thresh wheat, and trust me, I've done it a lot. Never thresh wheat. But I understand from people who have done these things. When you thresh wheat, the goal is to thresh it up on a hill in an elevated place, as high as you can get.

Because if you thresh your wheat in a high place, and let's again remember what threshing is, is separating what's useful, the wheat, from what's useless, the chath. And when you're threshing wheat, they say, if you throw it up and the wind is there, then the wind will take what's useless, the chath. And the wind is there, then the wind will take what's invaluable and blow it away. Boy, I could preach this about the Holy Spirit. The wind will take, you know the Holy Spirit is like wind, right? Numa, the breath of God. When God does what he does, it blows useless stuff away.

I see chaff flying out of your mind today. I see chaff flying out of your emotions today. But you've got to get where the wind is. but it's hard to be where the wind is when you're in a low place. That's what's wrong with the wine press. It's a low place. That's what's wrong with the wine press. It's a depressed place.

That's what's wrong with the wine press. It feels like a safe place, but the wind can't blow there. That's what's wrong with pornography. It's a low place. Makes you feel certain for a few minutes, but it really puts you in chains in the end. It's not a safe place. That's what's wrong with states of anger and rage is that when you're in that state, you're crazy. And you can't remember who you are because all you can deal with is where you are.

Confused. Have you started conflating who you are with where you are? Because Gideon did. And maybe you're better than Gideon. That's possible. It is possible that you're not. You are holier than Gideon. I'm not.

So I get this guy. When I say I get him and watch this, he doesn't even know he's going to be, I would put Gideon as the goat of all the judges that God raised up. I would say he is the greatest of all time, the greatest ever to do it. He had tact diplomacy. He could talk people down who wanted to fight. But if you wanted to fight, if you want to fight, do you really want to do this? I'm warning you.

Buck, we went to the wrestling tournament, all the guys with their ears all cauliflowered up, I was real nice to them, because I know you've been through something, man. Whatever you did to get your ear like that, I don't want you to do it to me. So, how you doing? Yes, go first. Go right ahead. I'll hold the door for you. So, Gilegin, with Ralph and Tomp was depressed.

Now, watch this. Stop confusing yourself with your state. It's easy to do. It's easy to do. Gideon is threshing wheat in a wine press. He's a warrior. Come on, we just have to stop and marvel at this. That he could be a warrior in a wine press.

That you could be a great man trapped in a really bad habit. That you could be a great woman going through a period of chronic pain followed by depression. But you could still be something and not see it in yourself because of where you are. Where you are. I don't even think I knew what that line meant

when we wrote it, Chandler. I know who I am, but I can't stay where I'm at. Now I get it when I read Gideon. Because the Lord says, Mighty Warrior, the Lord is with you. And Gideon, look at verse number 3. He says, pardon me, sir, big, strong, scary-looking angel.

Oh, by the way, angels aren't cute and comforting. You ever see what they write about the angels in the Bible? The angel will make you throw up and pee your pants. Pea your pants while you're throwing up. The angels are scary. So the first instinct sometimes when the angel came, they'd be like, don't be afraid. It's like, if the angel look cuddly like that little one you have up there on your mental piece, then why would he say, don't be afraid?

Angel's got cauliflower ear. Angels looking rough coming up in there. And Gideon's like, hey, man, pardon me. I don't want to start anything because you're a bad man. But if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our ancestors told us about? When they said, did the Lord not bring us out of Egypt? But now the Lord has abandoned us and given us into the hand of the Midian.

You know that's not what the prophet said. When I read you verse 7, that's not what the prophet said. The prophet said, you abandon God. That is not what the prophet said. Gideon's wrong. Somebody say he's wrong. He's a warrior, but he's wrong. He's gifted, but he's wrong.

He's anointed, but he's wrong. He's strong, but he's wrong. He has confused where he is with who he is to the point when the angel calls him what he really is He's like is there's somebody else in this wine press that I haven't seen? He just said mighty warrior and here I am down here in a depressed place You know when you've been in a situation long enough I don't care if it was done to you or if it was done through you When you've been in it long enough You begin to get the negative thing so embedded into your mind that you can no longer see anything but that.

Am I right? When you've been in it that long, the negativity becomes embedded. So you are no longer choosing to be negative. You now think that's normal to be negative. You have names for it. You call it keeping it 100. Or when you do something really rude and out of pocket, you go, I just got to be me.

And I've been teaching you all year. That's not you anymore. God is raising you up out of that. God is calling you up out of that. God is saying, come up a little higher. I've got something for you to do. It's not just about you. Almost a verse 14.

I believe we can get there by 6 o'clock if you pay attention. God says to Gideon, your mighty warrior. He identifies it. him by something that he sees, which made me wonder, is Gideon the only one who is sifting in this passage, or is God sifting to? The first picture I saw in the passage was Gideon sifting. Write down sifting. That's my first point. That's only your first point. I'm going to go quit. Write it down like this. Before lifting comes sifting. It better. If God raises you up to something and he hasn't sifted from your life some of the attitudes,

you will sabotage what he brings you into. How many witnesses do I have that you tried to skip the sifting? You just thought, well, I'll just go ahead and do it anyway. How did that work for you? When you said, I know I got 17 warning bells going off. One of my buddies said the other day, I was asking God, should I marry this woman? He said, she was so hot. He said, I didn't want to hear what God said.

He said, we got in a fight. I reached in the window, tried to take the car keys so she wouldn't drive off. She rolled my arm up in the window and squeezed it for a good 10 seconds. And I married her anyway. We make some weird decisions when we really want something so bad. And we just decide, oh, no, this is what I want. I just decided, you better let God sift that thing. I don't like being single.

You better let God sift that thing. I'd rather be single and sifted than married and miserable. I want God to sift them. Better let him sift it. All right, be good. Be good. He's sifting it. He's sifting it.

Just like Gideon is sifting the wheat. God is sifting Gideon. He's blowing out all the worthless thoughts, all the vile imaginations. All of the things that I think I am that I'm really not. All of the things that I think I need that God is more than enough to cover for. All of the ways I used to do it when I was a child, I spoke as a child. But when he raised me up to become a man, I'm coming into a season now where I've got to be the real thing for Jesus. I am so passionate about that because if your faith does not survive the sifting, you will miss the best parts of being.

you. I've been down before and thought about quit preaching. Sorry, but I have. It's hard to get the wind of the Holy Spirit to get a word to give to you when I'm in a wine press of my own weakness, and I've been there many times. Makes me want to cry when I think about all the times that I tried to quit, but he sifted me to show me I don't even need a feeling to do this. that the word of God is powerful enough without my feelings for me to stand up and preach it. Let it flow, God. I don't care. I don't look at those notes anyway.

Don't get nervous. It's in my spirit. I've been sitting with this for three weeks, and God's been sifting it and getting it ready to feed you for the fight you're in, for the future that he sees, and it's not going to look like where you are. It's going to look like what he said. You feel that? That's the wind. That response, that's the wind. Blowing out all that condemnation you've been putting on yourself. He died for you. He bled for you. He roamed again. It's a stranger. He's lifting me. High five, seven people say he's lifting me right now. He's lifting me right now.

He's lifting me right now. It seems like a bad time. It seems like it's over. It's a strange elevation, but he said it's two times. You will reap. Right now, right now, right now, right now, right now, right now, right now, right now. I might be down right now, but I'm mighty and God. I might be sick right now, but I'm healed by his stripes. I might be broke right now, but my God shall supply all my knees. I know who I am, and I'm not staying in this wine press. So, Take down my pen in a truck. I'm out of here. This what a breakthrough feels like. This is what the wind feels like. This is what the spirit feels like. I in this wine breast my kids don't get this word.

You understand how important it is what you're fighting for right now. And the devil will send every little locust to get you in that hole. How many had the locusts coming this week? The locust, the locust. I heard it called A-N-T-S one time. Ants, Automatic Negative Thinking Syndrome. Isn't that good? I didn't make that up.

I read it one time. On a paid subscription website to psychology today, they said ants. I said, that is it, it's automatic negative thinking syndrome. It becomes just who I think I am. Because my automatic response to anything God wants to do, I hide. Sifting. I'm only going to get the point one this week, but let's just do it, Lord, let's just do it. Let's just do this one so good that they go home and realize that you are with them.

Sending your word into their wine press. God saw his people oppressed by the hand of Midian. He saw you oppressed by sin. He saw you oppressed by shame. And you know what he has to do before God can get you out? He has to get in. He's getting in. You tried to keep him out.

You tried to do everything you could do. You tried to push him away. You tried not answering your phone. You tried not texting the healthy people back. You texted to other people back. You tried everything you could do to love the locusts. But you know why it didn't work? Because you got a lion inside.

I'm about to up the dosage. Are you ready? Lions don't hide from locusts. Mighty warrior, miserable situation, predictable systems of enslavement. God is not confused about you. You don't fool him with all that fake crap that fools people acting like this is just how I am, this is just how I'm going to stay.

You can't. I'm sorry, but you can't because God is about to go in. And when God goes in, it's not like, you know how you're getting a fight with somebody and you're like, oh, they're going in right now. This is crazy, but they can only do so much. When God goes in, he's coming in. He's coming into the house that he built to remodel it. When God goes in, he's coming into something that only he knows the blueprint for.

When God comes in, he knows where every busted pipe is. He knows where every traumatic event is. He knows where every fault line lies. He knows where everything is busted. He knows where you're disgusted. He knows where you're just about to give up. And he says, good. This is going to make a great partnership.

Just like me and Chandler write good songs together, you and God are about to do good work together. Because what you're not, he is. After all, that's his name. Moses said, I don't have good speech. God said, I am. I am. What does that have to do with good speech? That's not even good grammar.

No, no, just plug in whatever you need behind the name of God. Take it for yourself and walk in it for a purpose and we are gonna get you up out of this in the name of Jesus I decree it Because we've got to We've got to You've got to come out of that You've got to stop deciding stuff in your depressed state You keep cutting off the life of God man You know all the things that

I would have missed if I would have made my decisions based on where I was emotionally. Best things had ever happened in my life. You are more than able. I didn't feel like writing music that day, and neither did Chandler. People say sometime, I love to watch a song be written. No, you wouldn't. It's the most horribly boring, vulnerable thing of people with egos trying to eke out their idea in a room and everybody's ego's fighting everybody's ego.

until everybody shuts up and let's go and just try something, nothing happens. But boy, Chandler started playing this thing. We wrote it. And you know what? Chris had to make me do it in church. He said, more than able's awesome. I said, oh, no. It's kind of Broadway. Is it trendy?

Chris said, come on, man, the people will need it. I ride around listening to it. I need it. Let's do it. And then we released it. Now, I just use it as an example. I'm not up here doing a class on communication, songwriting. fitness, donuts, or anything else like that. Everything I bring you today, I bring you to serve to you something that God has helped me to understand. That a lot of times in my life, I let the wrong thing be sifted out, and I kept the wrong thing sitting in.

Three weeks, four weeks. How long are we going to need with this word? I'll be here in 2029 saying, there's so much more to. this story. You're not done with me yet. And he's not done with you yet. He's not finished sifting. It must have felt horrible for Peter saying, I failed Jesus.

But Jesus told him Satan's going to sift you. And Jesus said, I'm going to let him. I'm going to let him. The only way I can let you know that you have a lion inside and you won't turn it into pride is if I let the locust come for a little. while. But then comes a word from God, and it may be for you today that the Lord said, he's about to go in to your insecurities, to your inadequacy, to your incapacity. I told the Lord one time, I'm not capable. And he said, I'm able and I wear the cape,

so you just do it. Isn't that cool how the Lord gives me wordplay because he knows that's my love language. I'm like, oh, Lord, talk clean to me. I love that wordplay. What's wrong with me today, y'all? I just decided now I'm going to be me in this pulpit and everywhere I go. So we're just going to have a good time in church. Y'all can clip me, me, me, do whatever you want to do, but I got to be me, I got to go home with me, and Holly thinks it's, okay, she thinks it's attractive. Now, I've almost got us to the point of verse 14, which is really what I stood up to tell you today. Almost there. Where the Lord said, the Lord said, verse 14.

Before the Lord said anything to Gideon, look at verse 14. I almost skipped this. Oh, glad I saw it. Verse 14, come on, y'all. Before the Lord said it, give you a minute. to think about this. Why were they in this situation to begin with? Because they turned away from the Lord. And so the Lord says, even if you have a will to turn away, I've got a word to turn you back. This is a turning word today. It's go in the strength.

You have. But before in the strength that you have, you've got to stop worshipping your weaknesses. And you have spent enough time in your life in the form of the excuses that you made, worshipping your weakness. For every time you make an excuse about something God called you to do, you worship the weakness instead of worshiping the God who gives you strength. I love the scripture that says, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Well, that's just the New Testament version of what the angel said to Gideon. He said, go in the strength that you have, and I'll be with you and you'll strike them down.

Am I not sending you? And Gideon is like, I'm still not really convinced about this, but you don't have to be convinced to commit to it. I know that sounds controversial because we think it takes full surrender to God in order to be used by God. It doesn't start with full surrender. It starts with you, watch this. It starts with you saying, if God is strong and he's in me, then where I am is not who I am. And it can change because God doesn't. So if God called me a warrior, that didn't change.

because of decisions that I made if God said that I can be free and pure and new and God said I can be fresh and God called me creative and God is calling me forward whatever the locust are saying is a lie and God is true and God is right and God is sovereign and God is judge and God is still speaking to some of you and he's stirring something up in this season of your life. And it hasn't been comfortable. Sifting isn't meant to be comfortable. It's meant to be profitable so that when you get through this season, what's left over is his strength, not yours. Whatever's keeping me from seeing you, get it out, God. Whatever's keeping me from connecting with you. Get it out, God. Whatever's keeping me from believing again, from having childlike faith, from speaking to mountains instead of bowing to them. Get it out

Get it out I got to grow up I'm not a kid anymore Gideon you're not a kid anymore You're not a child anymore God is raising you up now You're not immature anymore You're not a slave to that anymore

You're not in the hands of Midian anymore The hand of God is on you The spirit of God is in you You are not under the law You are under grace and you can do anything he says you can do But you need a reminder because sometimes you lose your mind and you hide because you don't want to fight. I don't want to fight.

So I'll just hide. I'll just shrink my life down to the level of this problem. I'll just shrink my life down into this bottle. I'll just shrink my life down into this cynicism. I'll just shrink my life down into this stupid iPhone. And I will scroll my life away, hiding from real relationships, because I'm scared of rejection. It's a strange elevation happening. Even as I preach this word, even as we worshiped, God has to bring you out of prison for you to praise.

Let me tell you a little secret. When you praise in a prison, God goes in. No, I'm saying God goes in. And when God goes in, fear has to go out. When God goes in, depression has to go out. When God goes in, every excuse we made, let me give you an illustration of how much of a warrior I can be and how much of a weakling I can be. I'll give you an illustration from my own life. About four or five years ago, we were driving home from church.

I was fried, man. I preached that week, that same week in three other churches, came home, preached here. I know, I'm in a wine press. I'm whining and I'm depressed. I'm in a wine press. Why me, Lord? Because you accepted too many invitations, dummy, but I don't want to take responsibility for my decisions. I just want miraculous deliverance.

Illustration resume. I'm so fried. I'm going home and I have no voice. I've been screaming at y'all for an hour like I do. Why do you scream? The microphone works perfectly fine. Pastor, let's take a microphone offering so you don't have to holler so much. I know the microphone is fine, but there's something in me like a fire. Shut up in my bones. I've got to get it out. But then after all that mighty fire in the pulpit, all these different places, I'm riding

home. I'm like, holly, you got to drive. Normally she drives home because I'm still so in my head about the message. And what did I say? That I don't want to get in a wreck. So I let her drive. I'm smart enough to have discern it. And then I tell her to go faster and slower, which is really annoying. And then I try that. She's like, do you want to drive? I'm like, no, no, no. Just thank you so much.

And so we're driving home. And I'm tired, right? And the kids, the boys, I don't remember if Abby was in the car if she was just being angelic or if she wasn't there. Probably she just wasn't there. But the boys are fighting back and forth. Boom, boom, boom. And I'm like, y'all shut up.

I can't take it right now. I can't take it right now. I lost my last nerve is still in Toledo from Thursday night preaching. I don't have my last nerve that's in Toledo. Y'all got to shut up. I'm telling you, please shut up. Please, in the name of Jesus, please be quiet. Peace be still.

I'm speaking to the storm. Nothing's working. So finally, you ever just get so overcome you do something that you're watching yourself do? You're not doing it anymore. You're watching yourself do it. I tell Holly on Providence Road, let me out. We're going to stop light. I said, let me out.

She said, babe. No, we're only a couple miles and a half from home. I said, let me out. I said, I'm telling you, if you don't let me out of this car, Something's about to come out of me, and I don't know what it is, and I don't want to know, and I don't want anybody to know. I just want us to guess the rest of our life. What would have happened if I stayed in this car?

Let it out! And see, I don't even have my voice, so I can't scream at the kids. I can't scream. I feel just trapped. They won't stop. I get out. She drives off. I'm walking.

But I'm walking like I have a right to be walking on this road. I'm a taxpayer. And then I start thinking, well, if somebody from the church sees me, what are they going to think? And then I think they'll probably think, man, he is, he is, he is, he is nonstop. He preaches the word and walks home praying for us. What a man of God! Y'all don't know any better. Just use the illusion.

You know what I'm saying? I'm walking. And that didn't take me about 30 seconds a minute until I'm regretting the whole decision. And what should come back my way? But Hollis Denali down toward me on Providence. And I'm thinking, woman, I'm telling you, I can't do this right now.

I don't want to be a bad role model. And me and that car in them is not a good thing. And so she comes, she pulls up, she pulls around, and I'm opening the door to tell her I can't right now. I'm walking it off. Which isn't a bad strategy. Could be worse. But when I opened the door, I noticed something different than when she left.

It was only her in the car. Oh, yeah, oh, yeah, oh, yeah, oh, yeah. I said, where are the kids? She said, they're walking. What? Revelation. Look what she said. I'm going to release it in the spirit.

She said, you don't get out. They do. I came to tell every devil that's been forcing you out of your right life. You don't get out. You don't get out. Fear does. Don't kill yourself. And lions don't hide from locust.

And the lion of the tribe of Judah is just about ready to roar, to break your seven-year cycle, to break every cycle that has kept you stuck in sin and stuck in shame and stuck in a situation. of predictable misery, but God is about to go in. And all you got to do, I'm telling you, by grace we are safe. All you got to do, get in, is let the win. You are Jehovah, Jira. So my needs are provided. You don't get out, God.

Limitation gets out. You are Jehovah Shalom. You are my peace Your peace is not going out of my life this week My thought patterns that keep me in a place of panic are You don't get out See if it has new meaning The Lord is turning toward you right now

And I can't stay where I'm at I see you walking forward We've come this far by Let's go. God is looking for a partner. He's looking for you. You're not done with me yet. How many believe that?

You're not done with me yet. Here comes your second win, man of God. There's so much more to the story. Declare it over your life. You're not done with me. Sing it to your neighbor, encourage somebody. He's not done with you. Sing it to the person next to you.

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