A Steady Hand For A Sudden Blessing | Pastor Steven Furtick | Elevation Church

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first of all I can't wait for you to  get this message this thing flowed   fierce let me know in the comments what's your  name and where are you joining from today I'm   glad to have you so many good things are  happening man elevation nights coming to   the following cities Savannah Georgia Greenville  South Carolina Nashville Tennessee and also that's   July 19th through 21st also to Miami Tampa Atlanta  can you tell me I'm reading my list here Knoxville   Birmingham Lubbock Dallas and Houston that's  October 3rd through 12th elevationnights.com   I want to see you there but I want to see you  right now I'm glad to see you I can't wait to   see what God speaks through you let me know what  you're watching from let's go into the presence   of God he has something amazing for youI want  you to take your hands and put them like this.   Today is going to be a special day. I want  to teach you that prayer we were singing.   That prayer came out of my personal  time with God dealing with my own   anxiety and fear and stress and all of the things  we deal with. Holly shared it a few weeks ago. It just gives you an opportunity  to reset, and I want to give you   that opportunity right now. Just take  a deep breath and breathe out again.   Repeat after me. Say, "I  breathe you in, Holy Spirit;   and your strength comes suddenly; and your  peace fills me completely." Let's pray it again. "I breathe you in,   Holy Spirit; and your strength comes  suddenly; and your peace fills me completely." Come, Holy Spirit. With every breath, come.   Come have your way.   Come show us Jesus. Come teach us your Word.  Come lead us in your ways. Come renew our minds.   We're waiting here for you. We breathe you in.   Thank you today, Lord, for each person  you drew to be a part of this moment. I believe it was you who made the arrangements  for us to be here at this time. I believe there's   something you are going to speak today, words of  comfort, conviction, healing, and instruction.   We want to say to you that unless  you come, we're not enough,   but if you come… And we believe  that you're here right now. We believe that you're filling us right now.  We believe that you're doing it right now. If   you come, we can do all things through him who  gives us strength. Thank you for your strength,   Lord. Thank you for the confidence that only comes  from you. We receive it now. In Jesus' name, amen. Let's clap our hands and  thank God for his presence. I'm so excited to share these moments with  you today. I want to share with you right   from my personal time with God. Remain  standing for a moment. I want to   just tell you this before I tell you  what I'm going to tell you. Let me   tell you before I tell you what I'm going  to tell you, what I'm going to tell you. It has been several years since I've preached  on this particular weekend. It's a holiday   weekend. Normally, I take this weekend off, but  something God was stirring in me was so strong   I felt that it was meant to be  released on this particular day.   I don't say that to get your expectations too  high, because then there's no possible way we   could live up to it, but there is something God  has been speaking. This is Pentecost Sunday. You're like, "Do they have Episcopalian  Sunday? Baptist Sunday? Does every one of these   denominations get a Sunday?" We're not celebrating  a denomination today. Pentecost is where the   church celebrates the coming of the Holy Spirit.  It's beyond any certain tradition. There is a   stirring in my spirit to give you two Scriptures  today and kind of come right out of that song   where we were singing, "All of a sudden." Listen  to this. I'm going to give you two Scriptures,   and then I'm going to have you be seated and  teach what I believe is one of my life messages. They used to come around all the  time… When the church was growing,   these consultants would come, and they'd say,  "You need to develop a life message." I was 29.   I was like, "I haven't lived." But at this stage  of my life, there are some things I believe   God has called me to impart. I'm learning  about that. I believe this is one of them. The first Scripture I want to give you is from 2  Kings, chapter 3. You're not going to know what's   going on around here, but you will know when you  need to. Second Kings, chapter 3. Just one verse,   and then I'll tell you the story behind  it. "Now it happened in the morning,   when the grain offering was offered, that  suddenly water came by way of Edom…" That's the   wilderness. "…and the land was filled with water." Now let's go over to Acts, chapter 2, the  original Pentecost Sunday. It has been 10   days since Jesus ascended to heaven. It has  been 50 days since he rose from the dead.   Pente means five. It's a celebration that  is in progress. The Scripture says, "And   suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a  rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house   where they were sitting." I don't think  you heard me. It filled the whole house,   every single nook, every single  cranny. It filled the kitchen.   It filled the bathrooms. It filled the  living room. It filled the whole house. God told me to preach a message today and release  a word to you. This is called A Steady Hand for   a Sudden Blessing. Touch three people and  scare them on your way to your seat. Say,   "Suddenly." It's going to come suddenly.  Wow. Thank you, Lord. I'm so excited.   I might sweat. I shouldn't have  worn this sweater. I might sweat.   I can't tell what temperature it's going  to be here in Charlotte right now from day   to day. I'm so confused. It'll change on you  like that. It'll feel like summer one day and   fall the next. It'll just switch  on you suddenly. That's all right. I was even glad it was raining today  because I thought it was a sign   that God wanted me to preach when the rain  comes suddenly. I'm serious. Y'all think I'm   playing around. That's not a joke. I really do  think God wanted me to share this. A Steady Hand   for a Sudden Blessing. We'll talk about  both of those, because both are important. Write this down if you like to take  notes. It'll give you a good sense of   momentum as we begin this sermon. What we  experience suddenly was usually engineered   steadily. What we experience suddenly was  usually…not all the time but usually…engineered   steadily. What I mean by that is behind most  things that happen quickly to our eyes there   was consistency that enabled it  to happen that we didn't see. Just for an example of that, one of my friends  who is a professional fighter knocked out one   of his opponents in, like, 30 seconds, and I had  paid $60 to watch the pay-per-view. When I called   to congratulate him, I said, "I'm so glad you  won. Congratulations on the victory. But did you   have to knock him out so quickly? It was $60."  I was doing the math on the price per second. Of course, I was joking, but he got really mad  about it. He's a professional fighter, so it was   really intimidating. But I never forgot what he  said. He said, "What you saw me do with one blow…   I trained six months to be able to do that,   and beside the fact that I trained six  months, I've been doing this all my life." He was trying to get me to see that what looked  like luck through the lens of my experience was   anything but. What we experienced quickly… "It's  over already? I was just getting my popcorn."   What we experienced quickly was engineered  through consistency. Isn't that true in your life?   Since our church did grow fast, a lot of  people called us an overnight success. One thing I love about the season of life I'm  in is that not only have I been pastoring this   church now for over 17 years, but this Thursday  I will celebrate 21 years of marriage to Holly.   Yesterday, when my barber asked me,   "What's one nugget of wisdom from 21  years?" I said, "Easy. Marry Holly." That's the best thing I ever did. That's my  whole marriage book: "Marry her." I really do   think the selection process was a blessing, but  of course… I mean, we want it in one principle   for 21 years. There's no one principle for 21  years. There's no one anything for anything. Yet I have preached and taught that so  much out of a desire to be balanced that   sometimes I think I fail to remind you  that with our God it can happen suddenly.   It can come suddenly. It can, and it often  does come suddenly. That's why I wrote a   prayer for myself that said, "I breathe you in,  Holy Spirit, and your strength comes suddenly." There will be moments in my life  where I need God to do it right now.   Maybe you're in one of those moments today.   I want to speak to that moment, if you are in that  moment, where you need God to give you wisdom,   and you don't have six years to study the subject  to get the wisdom. The wisdom can come suddenly. Say it out loud. Let's get this confession turning  in our spirits. "It can come suddenly." No sooner   can you start to think it's never going to happen  than it does happen while you were wondering how   it was going to happen. It can come suddenly. On  the day of Pentecost, there came a sudden sound. A sudden sound for a people who were  sitting in the middle of a very difficult   and uncertain season. See, not only has it  been 10 days since Jesus left the earth,   but they have no clue how and when he's  going to restore the kingdom of Israel.   Maybe that's you. Maybe you need God to  come right now because you have no clue. Just graduated college, and you have no clue   who's going to hire you. The Lord told me to put  a little graduation speech energy in this today,   so I'm going to put a little graduation speech  energy in this today. For everybody who is in   high school right now, and they're all asking  you, "Where are you going to college? And what   are you going to do with your life? And  where are you going to retire to?" I mean,   we start asking everybody everything so soon.  Before I even get a chance to know who I am… I can't even hang my middle  school diploma on my wall,   my eighth grade graduation participation trophy  certificate on my wall, before you want to know,   "Well, where are you going to college?" Nowadays,  there is so much pressure… Let me rant. I came   in on a holiday weekend, so let me rant. Let me  have a little fun. Let me have a little therapy. Is it so necessary that our kids have a 9.7 GPA  in the third grade in case they want to go to   Harvard? What if I don't want to pay for Harvard?  Stop asking my kids, "Are you going to Harvard?"   I don't want them to go to Harvard. I want them  to go to online school because it's cheaper.   Leave my kids alone. Somebody who has had  somebody pressuring you to make a decision,   just shout really quickly,  "Leave me alone! I don't know!" "When are y'all going to have kids? When  are you going to give me some grandbabies?"   "Leave me alone! I don't know!" You  can't say that to your mom's face,   but you can say it in church right now.  I'm kind of reminded of what Jesus said   when the disciples were like, "Is it time? Is it  time? Is it time?" This is in Acts, chapter 1. They're like, "Is it time? Are you going  to restore the kingdom to Israel?" Jesus   is like… This is a great little Bible verse  for everything you think you need to know   that you don't know right now, and you think  you can't go forward until you know everything   you think you need to know, so you are  staying frozen in what you don't know. Look at Acts 1:7 on this Pentecost Sunday.  Here you go. "And He [Jesus]…" Capital H.   That's the big guy. That's the big boss.  That's the chef in the back of the kitchen   and the owner all rolled up into one. "And  He said to them, 'It is not for you to know   times or seasons which the Father  has put in His own authority.'" This is not permission to be ignorant. It's just  an invitation into mystery. Watch what he says   next. Verse 8: "But you shall receive power…" I  like this little thing. I don't know the plan,   but that doesn't mean I don't have the power.  I love that. Don't you? I don't know the plan,   and I don't know how this ends, and I  don't know when, but I definitely know who. See, the Holy Spirit doesn't just give power;  he is power. So, if you believe in Jesus,   and if you've called on his name to save you,   not only did he save you but he's stepping  through every season with you, and you have power. Power. That's what I've got. "You've got a plan?" "No. I've got power." "You've got it all worked out?" "No. I've got power." "You've got a seven-step strategy?" "No. I've got power." Power enough to do…what? Power enough to  walk… Okay, okay. I have to get back to it.   He said it is not for you to know the times  the Father has called you to trust him with.   A lot of times, it is not about us knowing  what time it's going to be when it happens;   it's about us trusting God enough that until he  does show us what he's doing, we can trust him   that his hand is steady, that his hand is  active, that his heart is full of love for me. This enables me to stand in uncertain seasons. I  mean, it is an uncertain season when Jesus just   vanishes and you don't know when he's coming back.  The disciples were like, "We need to know." I'm   speaking to somebody today who thinks you need to  know something you don't need to know right now.   What I want you to begin to say to yourself  over the next seven days, for all of those   times you think you need to know something  that God is trusting you to let him control,   is just over and over say, "I'll know…" This is my first point of the sermon.  I've already made some points,   but this is the first one I told them  to put on the screen. "…when I need to."   I'll know when I need to. That thing hit me the  other day, because I was praying about something…   Well, okay. That's very generous to call  it prayer. I was worrying about something.   I don't know why I wanted to label  it prayer in front of you. Y'all   make me want to get up here and  pretend I'm holier than I am. I was stress eating about something. I  really don't want to get any more honest   than this about it. That's about as far as  I'm willing to go with you. That's all you   need to know. "What were you stress eating?"  Don't worry about it. That's all you need to   know. This relationship is on a need-to-know  basis, and so is your relationship with God. I'll know when I need to. Say that. "I'll  know when I need to." I love participation and   response, because I think when you speak something  that God speaks to you, it has a lot more of   an opportunity to get in you than just when you  listen to me say it. "I'll know when I need to." This is what Jesus is saying to the disciples.  There are some things only God can control,   and then there are some things you are responsible  for. So, it is not for you to know the times,   but it is for you to walk in the power.   That helps me with this, because if I were  teaching this like a seminar and not preaching   it like a sermon, I would talk about how  desperation drives you to revelation. Some things you will never know in your life until  you become convinced that you need to know them.   The best example I can give you is there  are books you bought that you never read   that are sitting on your shelf waiting  for you to hit a situation that makes   you go pull that book off of  your shelf. Hello, parents. There was a book I bought because I thought  it had a cool title about parenting years ago,   but I never read it…until my oldest son turned 13.  I went to find that book. I grabbed the hardcover   paper book off the shelf. I downloaded the digital  one so I could have it on my Kindle so I could   take it on my phone. I downloaded the audiobook so  the author could read it to me in their own voice,   because they had a British accent, and I  thought that sounded kind of sophisticated. Watch. This is what I'm trying to say. I  didn't dig for it until I got desperate for it.   A lot of things we say we want to know about  God… We don't really want to know them badly   enough yet because we don't think we need it  badly enough yet. So, we approach God kind of   wanting surface-level, superficial knowledge about  decisions in our lives, but some things are only   going to become plain and real to us as we get  past the place of thinking that we can control it. We'll start saying, "What was that  Scripture Pastor Steven was preaching   that Sunday when I went and it was  raining and I was kind of sleepy and   I didn't write it down? Did you write it  down?" You'll be going to your neighbor,   asking, "Did you take notes?"  because when you need those notes… Put everything I say that sounds even like  it might be good at some time in the future   in your phone, because you don't know how the  Devil is going to be fighting you this Friday.   What if God is giving you the word right now  for the fight you're going to be in Friday?   You don't know about that fight yet, but put it  in your phone so when the fight comes you will   know where to go. "God gave me this word for this  fight before it was ever even the first round." See, I can't hit the gym and start  lifting when it's time for a competition.   I'm going to be in some situations in  my life where I need sudden strength,   so how do I get sudden strength? It's with a  steady hand. It's going to come all of a sudden. I believe there are many here today who are  standing in front of something God is calling   you to walk into, but you won't go into it because  you don't know what's on the other side of it.   Enter Elisha, the prophet. Now, this is what I  got up to talk to you about on this Pentecost   Sunday. A little Bible story I really love. I  hope you love it too by the time we're done. I don't need you to know every single  detail about the kingdom of Israel to get   this Bible passage. Please. I know some  people, when they get into this stuff,   are like, "Oh, I feel so dumb, man. I  don't know any of these Bible stories,   and I know I should, but I don't  know what you're talking about." You don't need to know every bit of  the background of this just to get   what God has for you from it. Here's what I  think you need to know about this passage.   The king of Israel and the king of  Judah… So, there's a northern kingdom   of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah.  Jehoshaphat is a pretty good king in Judah. Jehoram is a terrible king, but his mom  was Jezebel. She was really, really bad,   and Ahab was bad, so he came by it honestly.  He didn't really get a lot of good training   in how to do this, but he was terrible.  These two kings are with another king from   Edom, which was the wilderness where  they were attacking through. So,   they pick up this king of Edom, and they're going  to fight against Moab. Moab is trying to rebel. Let me explain the situation. Let's  see if you've ever been there before.   On their way to go to war, they  run out of water in the wilderness.   Has that ever happened to anybody in  here? On your way to fight one battle,   you encounter something you didn't plan  for that weakens you on your way to war. It's this feeling you can get sometimes.  "I was already juggling enough.   I was already struggling enough." I feel so  anointed to break chains today for people. I'm   excited about it. "I was already stressed  enough. I was already overwhelmed enough.   Now this?" In the King James version of the  Bible, one of the kings looks up and says, "Alas!" I love that because it's kind of like the King  James cussword. He's like, "Alas! Dang it! We're   out here trying to fight the Lord's battles,  and the Lord won't give us water." So they march   seven days through the desert. Edom is butted up  right against the Dead Sea, so it's a dry place.   So, they can't even defeat their enemy  without passing through a dry place to do it. That's half the problem with us keeping our  faith. It's that we just don't get to show   up to stuff fresh. We don't just get to show  up to stuff feeling good. We don't just get   to show up to our mission in a good mood. A  lot of times, you will have to do the mission   when you're not in the mood you were in  when you said you would do the mission. A lot of times, I have to preach the sermon  when the feeling I got when I received the   sermon is sitting back in Thursday when I  studied the sermon, but I have to do it then,   and I have to do it not for my own glory, but  I have to do it so somebody can be helped.   Now, what do you do when you're on your way  to a war and you run out of water; when you're   trying to raise your own children and you are  still dealing with things from your childhood   that nobody showed you how to process? Nobody taught you how to break down trauma  and convert it into triumph. "I mean,   that sounds cute, but I don't know how to do it."  God says you'll know when you need to know. If   you didn't get it when you should have gotten it,  then that wasn't when you should have gotten it.   There's something about now that God knew.  There is something about your future that   God still knows. Just because I don't  get it suddenly and just because I'm   not walking in it presently doesn't  mean God isn't giving it steadily. You see, if I look back at my  life, the hymn I will sing is: Great is thy faithfulness, O God my Father, There is no shadow of turning with thee,  All I have needed thy hand hath provided, Great is thy faithfulness, Lord unto me.  Great is thy faithfulness, Great is thy faithfulness… How did you get it? "Morning  by morning." What's that?   When you need it. So, when  you woke up this morning,   the grace you needed for today was in today. The  strength you need for today is in today. When   you get to tomorrow, there will be a truckload of  what you need for tomorrow. Back it up tomorrow. But you can't get tomorrow's strength  on today's praise. You just have to say,   "God, I need you right now."   "Morning by morning." The hand of God was steady  holding me up even when the help didn't suddenly   come. That's why I don't like to preach  suddenly, because it sets an expectation   that everything I want and wish is going to  happen when I want and wish for it to happen. There are some times that it comes suddenly.  There are some times that it doesn't,   and in the times when it doesn't come  suddenly, his hand holds me steadily.   It's a steady hand. You know how the hand  of God can snatch you out just like that? If you don't know that, I'll tell you. The  hand of God can snatch you out of depression   just like that. Suddenly. The hand of God can  get you out of that situation just like that.   Let me prophesy. It's Pentecost. Can  we be Pentecostal for one single week?   Let me prophesy. The hand of God can get  that no-good guy you keep chasing because   you don't want to be alone and snatch  him out of your life just like that. You'll be praying, "God, bring  him back," and God will say,   "I can't bring him back because  I'm trying to take you forward,   and what you've been calling a blessing is really  a blockage." God can move stuff just like that.   Just because he does stuff suddenly doesn't mean  that when he's not doing it suddenly he went away. The absence of evidence is  not the evidence of absence.   That is not my original quote. I don't know who  said it, but it just came up in my spirit. See,   that's a good example. How did I  say that suddenly? Because every   day of my life I try to study.  When we needed that word…   Suddenly. See, behind every sudden  blessing there is a steady hand.   Anybody who built a successful  business, wave at me. Doesn't it make you laugh  when they think it was sudden   when it starts working? "Wow! You just came  out of nowhere. You blew up." "No. I dug down."   Stop saying people blew up. That makes it  sound like something bad happened. "Man,   they blew up." No. They built  something. I promise you they did. Wave at me again if you've ever had a  business succeed or anything succeed.   Let's get the baseline down. You sent a  successful text message one time. We have to   find common ground. There  were all kinds of spelling,   punctuation, grammar… None of that  comes suddenly. We just see it suddenly. A lot of times…not every time, but a lot of  times…you don't even know what you're doing there   until you can look back later in, say, 21 years.   The reason I shared with you about  my 21-year anniversary was to brag.   Secondly, to get y'all ready for our marriage  series we're going to be doing sometime soon.   I don't know when. I already know what to  call it. I just don't know what to talk about.   The Lord will show me when I need  to know. It must not be time yet. Can we get a little more openhanded in our lives  and let go of when we think stuff is supposed to   happen and how we think it was supposed to  happen and who we think it was supposed to   happen through? When I went to college… Remember,  when I was 9 years old, I wanted to go to Harvard.   I probably could have done it, but the Lord had  different plans for me. That's my narrative. But why am I at North Greenville? Remember how  badly you wanted me to go to Charleston Southern?   Yeah, it was close to home,  and I kind of wanted to go,   too, because there was this girl and  this job and all that. But something…   Come here, 21 years. Something. Something   was coming to Tigerville, South Carolina.  That's where North Greenville is. "What am I doing here?" I wondered when  my parents dropped me off at that college.   This is for everybody who's stressed out about  stuff you don't understand and you don't know.   I wanted to go home for months at  that little school, but something…   It must have been a Holly Anna Boitnott. It must have been that girl staying over there  in Cline 9. I remember the number of the dorm.   I was stalking you before you knew how sexy I was.   Now, how many of y'all think that while I was  in those first three weeks wanting to go home,   God saw this girl on the front row who has  built this church and this ministry right   by my side every step of the way?  How many think God saw that? I do. Do you think God sees stuff about your life  that you don't see right now? Is it possible   that you're not in a sudden season, you're in a  steady season? We used to say, "Will you go steady   with me?" Actually, I think that was in the 50s.  I think that was "The Fonz" who used to say that. We used to just say, "Go with me." "Go with you where?" "I don't know. Just go with me." Sometimes God will just say, "Go with me." "I  need you to take this next step, because I need   to get you steady, because for what I'm going  to do in your life that you don't know yet,   if your hands aren't steady, you won't be able  to handle the blessing I'm going to send."   So, even when God isn't doing stuff  suddenly, he's doing stuff steadily. When he's doing stuff steadily, I can  hold on to my hope that all of a sudden…   Everybody else will say, "Oh, it happened so  quickly," but you'll know it was consistent.   You'll know that you cried for it. You  won't have to tell them that. You'll know   that you wondered about it. You won't have to  explain to them how deep the questions went. You'll know what it actually cost you to stay  faithful to God. You'll know how painful it was   when you went to therapy and started rooting  out stuff you wanted to push back down. They   won't know, but they don't need to. What they  will know is that the glory of God is on you. They will look at your life not many days from  now, and they won't know how, but you will,   and you will say, "It was by his hand. It was  by his mercy. It was because he loved me. It   was because he came close. It was a divine  design. See, he was connecting dots. See,   they had to say 'No' so he could say 'Yes'  so I could be here so I could do this." I dare you to believe it. They had to say "No." I  speak to every rejection in the name of Jesus. I   speak to the next level of your effectiveness  on the other side of this rejection. They had   to say "No" so he could say "Yes" so you could  be here so you can do this. Praise him for it!   Come on, quiet personalities,  get loud. Praise him for it!   Come on, Episcopalian, get Pentecostal.  Praise him for it! Do this! High-five   five people and say, "I'm doing this. Absolutely  I'm doing this." That's what Elisha the prophet   said. Are y'all ready for Elisha the prophet? We  have three kings in the desert about to die. The   Devil has been telling somebody, "You're about to  die. The dream is dead. It's over. You're dead.   It's over. You won't make it. They're going to  cancel you. They're going to take you out. The   economy this time, your industry this time, your  business this time…" This is where we need Elisha   the prophet, because he knew how to do what  he knew how to do until God did what God does.   Isn't this good? I'm going to put this sermon up also on the Basin.  I already recorded it. I already preached it   Friday. Holly came downstairs to ask, "Do you want  to eat sandwiches or eggs?" and I was hollering   at the camera. I heard her go back up the  stairs. "Leave him alone. Let him work it out."   I preached this an hour. Why? Because when God  showed up and when you showed up, I wanted to   be ready for the rain. I preached it in the  basement so I could be steady in the pulpit. Elisha has a bad attitude because he thinks  these kings should have done it differently,   and then they wouldn't be in this situation.   "Okay. If you would have done it God's way,  you wouldn't even be needing this water." There are wilderness seasons  we send ourselves into.   Guilty as charged. Look at verse 14. Let's  back up a little bit and get the context.   "And Elisha said…" Oh, he is a new prophet to  them. They've never used him before. Elijah   was the one they were familiar with.  He was the new one. Elijah went up   with chariots of fire, and  they went to look for him. Elisha said, "You can go look for him all you  want. He's not coming back. We've got to figure   this out right now." The Lord will speak that  to you sometimes. "You can go chase down that   disgruntled employee and do all of the exit  interviews you want to all you want to.   That's not coming back. You'd better get with  this. You're going to miss this chasing that." So, Elisha gives them a little speech,   a little talking to. Second Kings 3:14: "And  Elisha said, 'As the Lord of hosts lives, before   whom I stand, surely were it not that I regard  the presence of Jehoshaphat…'" "You're all right."   "[If I didn't regard him] Jehoshaphat  king of Judah, I would not look at you…" He turns to the other king, Jehoram, and  says, "I wouldn't even look at you." He said,   "I wouldn't even look at you, nor see you." Now,  I read that because it's important. He's going,   "I don't feel like prophesying for y'all." What  does feeling it have to do with flowing in it? I wouldn't do this if I were  just going to my feelings.   I love verse 15. The whole thing hinges  on two of my favorite words. "But now…"   You can get a whole lot out of those two  words. "But now…" That's how you have to   reset in your heart. "I wish I would have  known it sooner. I didn't. But now I do." "I wish I would have gotten the memo about your  character three months before we met, but I   didn't. But now I got the memo loud and clear. You  are absolutely crazy, and so am I, and our crazies   collide in a way that is not acceptable  for the foreseeable future. Now I know."   "But now bring me a musician." "Then it happened, when the musician played, that  the hand of the Lord came upon him." Came upon   who? Elisha. So, let's get this straightened out.  We have a need for water that nobody saw coming.   Nobody knew they were going to be in need of  water. They thought they were just going to war.   How many are standing looking at a need right  now that you didn't see coming in your life? Even if it's just the surgery you might  have to have, but it's freaking you out,   raise your hand. Even if it's just  the challenge you feel emotionally,   but everything is good in your life, raise your  hand right now. I was with some pastors this week,   and what they said helped them the most… I was  imparting to them and teaching them and helping   them, and they said, "It was just good to hear  from you that there's nothing wrong with us. It was good for us to hear from you,  because there's a part of us that thinks,   'I'm not supposed to be angry. I'm supposed to  be grateful.' But I find myself getting angry,   and I don't know why. So, when you told  us how you get angry, it helped us,   because it let us know that sometimes on  your way to war, you run out of water too." What do you do when the fight is right  now but the knowledge isn't coming and   the feeling isn't coming? Elisha knew what to  do. He said, "Get me a musician," and when the   musician began to play, the hand of the  Lord came upon Elisha. How? Suddenly.   Does it say when the musician started practicing  the hand of the Lord came upon Elisha? Here's what I'm wondering. How long  did that musician have to practice?   How many hours of practice does it take  that if they come recruit you and say,   "Hey, we need you in the wilderness really  quick. We're running out of water. I need   you to play something snappy for Elisha.  It's his first chance to prophesy. He has   an audience with three kings, and if he  doesn't do it right, they die. Come play…" That is not the time to work on your scales. So,  if I bust into "Great is thy faithfulness, O God   my Father, there is no shadow of turning with  thee. All I have needed thy hand hath provided…"   His hands started playing all of a  sudden. We did not talk about that hymn. I did not prepare him for that hymn. I did not  say, "LJ, at moment number [blah, blah, blah]   in the sermon, after I say this, get ready to play  'Great is Thy Faithfulness.'" I need them to know   that it's "Great is thy faithfulness, O God my  Father, there is no shadow of turning with thee.   All I have needed thy hand hath provided. Great is  thy faithfulness…" Whose hand? "All I have needed   thy hand hath provided…" His hand.  But whose hand had to practice?   Ya'll give me that holiday energy,   and I have that Holy Ghost anointing.  Your hands had better be busy. You'd better get your hands   busy, because when God gets ready to do what  he wants to do, he's going to be looking for   some hands that know where to go. That's why  I'm praising him. I'm getting my hands ready.   That's why I'm forgiving them. I have  to let it go. When he comes suddenly,   I can't be bound by bitterness. I can't be  flat. I can't be weak. I can't be stagnant. Clap those hands and get them ready! "Why are you  clapping?" "I don't have the victory. I'm getting   my hands ready. I'm praising  him not because I can see it.   I'm praising him because my spirit shows  me I'm a free woman. I'm a free man. I'm   a blessed man. I'm a blessed woman. I'm a  running over kind of vessel. I'm ready!" Get your hands ready. Count your  blessings, name them one by one,   and it might surprise you what he has  already done. I'm getting my hands ready!   Oh, here comes Goliath. Here comes the bear.  Here comes Goliath. It doesn't matter. My hands   are ready. My spirit is ready. My heart is  ready. I'm ready. He's steady; I'm ready. He   didn't put me in it if he didn't put it in me.  He's steady; I'm ready. He's not an "overnight   sensation" God. He's not a God who blows you up.  He's a God who will dig your roots down deep. I came to announce to your storm, "You'd  better pick on a different Christian,   because this one is ready. She's  ready. She knows how to pray in   a storm. She knows how to sing at midnight.  She knows how to work through a panic attack.   She's ready!"   Elisha said, "I don't need anything to do what God  called me to do," but somebody with a steady hand…   God is looking for a steady hand.  Not you joined the gym in January…a   steady hand. I read my Bible today. "What did you  get out of it?" Nothing. I'm in steadiness school. I study when I don't see anything in the  Scripture. I study when it looks like pig Latin.   I study when it looks like Japanese characters  and I speak English. I study because I'm   steady. God, help me. Y'all shouldn't have let me   preach on Pentecost Sunday. I knew God was  going to do this. This is point number one.   It's just coming, man. It's coming  suddenly because he was working steadily.   I'll know when I need to. When I get my mind made  up that I want to be set free from this addiction,   God will send keys. I'll know when I need to. You  tried it before. Hey, look at me, Dove's Nest. It's going to be different this time.   "But this is my fourth time. I'm 47 years  old." I didn't ask you about your age.   Stop giving me information I didn't  ask you for. I asked "Are you ready?"   Are you ready to experience the person  who is beneath those patterns that keep   pulling you back down? Because if  you're ready, God has a steady hand. Even if you fall again, that's  what the steady hand is for.   So, let's go forward and let's flow in  it. You'll know when you need to. This   is the other thing God gave me. We  might need a part 2 of this sermon,   but the Lord told me to tell you one  more thing before I get off this stage. The prophet looked at the  musician. He said, "Play."   Then it happened when the musician played. That's  a steady hand. That's a man who has practiced his   scales. That's a man who has learned his chords.  That's a man who has learned his character. That   is a woman who has learned how to apologize,  a man who has learned how to say, "I'm sorry." That is a trained player who  knows how to get back up again.   That's why Ella got that scholarship.  You didn't expect it. That's why she was   practicing since she was 8. That's why  she got the scholarship. A steady hand,   a sudden scholarship. Then somebody will  have the nerve to say, "Wasn't she lucky." No. She was steady. "But I'm not. You're not  talking to me, because I'm not stable. I'm that   other person you're talking about." That's  why I'm not talking just about your hand.   I'm talking about his.   Do you remember who was in the upper room in Acts  2:2, the first verse I read you? It doesn't say   in the verse. I don't know if you remember.  I had to think about it for a moment myself. Acts 2:2.   It's going to come up suddenly. I promise it is.   It's going to be slow then sudden.  Ooh, that's the word of the Lord. A   businessman in my church… I don't even know how  many millions of dollars of business he has done. He said, "Make sure you tell the  church it was slow, steady, sudden.   We saved for years. We tithed for years.  We lived beneath our means for years.   We went through cycles." He's a home builder. "We  went through the 2008 crisis, and it was slow,   but we were steady, and then it was sudden." Then  he used a word. I want you to hear this. He said,   "And now God has us stewarding more  than we could have ever imagined." I don't know if I remind you of this  enough, because I'm telling you,   "Do the work. Do the work. Do the work." And  I want you to, but what I need you to know   is that God can do stuff suddenly  that you had given up on.   Receive it if it's your word.  Put it in your phone if it's not. It will be one day, and when you need that  word for your life, it will be there for you.   This is how God works. He plants things  we need based on things only he sees.   Every experience I've been through, I  can look back on it… See, I'm not just   looking back on things I've been through  and saying, "That was the hand of God." I'm needing to believe forward into  what I don't know that about yet   so it's not just 20 years later where I  say, "Well, I guess it was God who sent me   to that college," but it's me saying while I'm  wondering, "Does anybody see me? Does anybody   know me? Does anybody care that I'm doing this?"  So, back in that upper room… Jesus has been gone   10 days. He rose 40 days before that. It  has been 50 days since the resurrection. The Bible says in Acts 2:2, "And  suddenly there came a sound from heaven,   as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the  whole house where they were sitting." There's   a whole sermon in that they, because sitting  in that house was a guy named Simon Peter.   He wasn't very steady 50 days earlier. He  fell down pretty badly 50 days earlier. I don't know who I'm preaching to, but you  stumbled pretty badly in this last season.   The Lord said you need to know  that he's steady when you stumble.   They. Peter? What's Peter going to  do? He already made a fool of himself. Nothing but preach on the day of  Pentecost and see 3,000 converts.   Are you telling me God can't  still use you in this season   because you have bursitis? Are you telling me  that credit card debt is too big for God? "God,   you can do all things. You're the master, unless  it's Mastercard. Then you can't…" No, no, no. God said, "I'm going to help you pay it off   steadily, and then suddenly. One  day there is going to come a moment   where you will be able to not only feel your own  freedom, but I'm going to use you as a vessel to   bring others to freedom in that very same path  that you struggled." You'll be able to tell them,   "You can flush the pills." You'll be able  to tell them, "You can beat this disorder." You'll be able to tell them, "You can get set free  from this pattern." You'll be able to tell them,   "The curse can be reversed,  and he can do it all of   a sudden." Sudden blessings come, sudden winds  come, sudden rains come, sudden floods come…sudden   love, sudden healing, sudden breakthrough,  sudden second chances, sudden new beginnings. Suddenly a sound like a mighty  rushing wind will fill the room,   and even Peter gets to preach,  and even you get to go forward.   Get your hands ready. Get your  heart ready. We're not thinking   about those toxic things this week. This is  the Lord's day. This is the Lord's holy home. This is his habitation. You  are his chosen instrument.   The Lord wanted me to tell you you won't  see wind and you won't see rain… See,   this is where the song we were singing earlier  came from. Did you know this was a Scripture?   The prophet told the kings in verse 17… Suddenly.  Everybody breathe in the Holy Spirit right now.   I love that that same Holy Spirit who can make  me want to shout can make me want to breathe.   To be still and know that he is God or to  shout that he is God. It's the same Spirit. Here comes the prophetic word. Stand up and  receive it. Nobody moving. This is a holy moment.   If you receive it, lift your hands. This  is the word of the Lord. And guess what?   For next Sunday, I'm going to  give you the second part of this. Next week is going to be so practical. It's  going to be so important. It's going to be so   significant. But unless you get this…  I want you to get this so you can get   that. This is going to be the foundation.  Are you ready? "For thus says the Lord:   'You shall not see wind…'" Well, of  course you can't. You can only feel it.   "…nor shall you see rain; yet…" This may  be the most important word of all. "…yet   that valley shall be filled with water, so that…" Watch how good God is. He went from  kings not having anything to drink.   He says, "When God gets done with the situation,  not only you but your cattle and your animals may   drink." God said, "I'm going to do it so big your  dog is going to be drinking this. I'm going to do   it so big you're going to help others. You're  going to change others. You're going to start   a school with what I'm going to teach you.  You're going to be there for other people." That's why God gave me the word. There have  been seasons in my life when I have felt so   dry I didn't think I could do it, but this past  Tuesday, I was helping pastors and telling them,   "You're going to make it." Now  how does that happen? Only God.   Everybody gets to drink.  Everybody gets to benefit. Nothing you've been through shall be wasted.  Nothing you've walked through slipped his   attention. It is going to come all of a sudden.  "Yeah, but I don't see it." You don't have to.   "Yeah, but I can't quantify it." You don't have  to. "Yeah, but every time I go to talk about it,   I can't even get it out because it's too  painful." Then let the Holy Spirit do the talking.   The Bible says there are groans  that can't be uttered by words,   and the Holy Spirit will intercede for  you when you can't speak for yourself. You won't see wind, you won't see rain,  But the drought will end, Everything can change all of a sudden,  I feel it coming. He will come when   you call his name, The Holy One will   renew your strength All of a sudden, I feel it coming all of a sudden. [Worship] hey thank you for watching the Elevation Church  YouTube I want you to subscribe that way you   can know when we go live and post new content  make sure to leave me a comment let me know   what spoke to you today where you're watching  from and what we can pray for you about and if   you'd like to support the ministry financially  you can click the give button now and help us   continue reaching people around the world for  Jesus Christ thanks again I'll see you next time
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Channel: Elevation Church
Views: 262,287
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Keywords: elevation church, steven furtick, faith, hope, peace, a steady hand for a sudden blessing, steady hand, sudden blessings, blessings, suddenly
Id: cOFHBSPfP6o
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Length: 69min 4sec (4144 seconds)
Published: Sun May 28 2023
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