Be Prepared | Pastor Steven Furtick

because we live in a world where everybody wants to post everything and we got people who are more interested in posting than they are in progress one man was talking about the the game Guitar Hero the game where you can press the buttons and pretend pretend to play the guitar not the prepare he's just pretend and he said everybody wants to be a rock star but nobody wants to learn the chords preparation is underrated preparation is not very celebrated in our culture it's a because we want we want to post and we need instant validation we live in the age of outrage instant outrage and instant validation we learned to tweet before we learn to think just post everything that you think like everybody needs to hear what you know I'm thinking about doing a lesson because it's disturbing me and show you the difference between a journal and a Facebook page everything you think does not deserve an audience [Applause] brings to the people some of y'all are shouting cuz you're hoping that your aunt Susie in Oklahoma hears this message she's embarrassing you and the whole family the post yeah I know you're wondering how I get back to 2nd Kings 13 I know exactly how to get back there see cuz I prepared to preach what would you do if I came up here to preach and instead of telling you to turn your Bible is oh my god anything you want to talk about this sweet anybody its thing Old Testament New Testament look at some scriptures Devin em I see you like fun and I wonder why do you expect me to prepare to preach I'm not gonna be mean about it but just the question are you prepared to receive because the last time I checked it's often the quality of the soil that determines the harvest more than the quality of the see [Applause] sometimes when when Trump so tell me that was your best sermon you ever preached I said no you finally just listen I'm pretty good it everybody use just awake this week when the King went down to see Elijah remember he had recently been appointed to to his post as king and Elijah has not been mentioned in the scriptures for something like forty five years but he's still on his post there's there's something about staying on your post it is the lost art of being planted and you you are never going to fulfill purpose until you commit to your post think thinking about post in a couple of different ways I'm thinking about how God has posted some of you in in places that that seem insignificant and isn't that really the message of second Kings 13 14 through 20 we were talking the other day the little group about this passage and one person said I feel sorry for the king if Elijah would've wanted him to strike the ground five or six times he should have told him to strike at five or six times and I think the message here is that God leaves a lot of it up to you how far do you want to go I don't think God makes all the decisions for your life I think he lets you decide within certain parameters how much purpose or potential you want to fulfill I don't think that God presides everything about our life do I believe that we each have a purpose yes do I believe that he's God whether or not you marry Jimmy yes do I believe that you quitting your job would cause the cosmos to collapse or that any presidential office could thwart or overpower the presence and the preeminence of God no I believe he's sovereign but I also believe that within his sovereignty he has left space for you and I to take responsibility the post how do you preach about the value of preparation in a post oriented world how do you preach to a it's not really an age thing it's not really a social media thing I mean I put stuff on line to just like the rest of you but I wonder sometimes do we want recognition before we've taken responsibility do we need the pat on the back the battle is won or lost in preparation this is true of athletes I I can tell any athletes in the house are there any professional athletes in the house any NASCAR drivers in the house yeah don't know NASCAR is not that simple I mean it is a very sophisticated sport I only know because of Joey Britney if he isn't racing I don't watch not a NASCAR fan I cheer for twenty two comes to my church and he told me to come out to a race to see him race I really want to go to the NASCAR race and after I went I was fascinated I got to hear his team work in everything and chunks who I mentioned earlier who only have listens to my sermons sometimes I'm kidding about chunks but he turned to me and said something because when I went to the race Joey won I'm not saying it was the favor of God because your pastor was at the racetrack I would never say something like that I would only imply it but he won and and chunks looked at me on the way home he said you know what's interesting about that race he said that race wasn't won on the track it was won in the garage because he had been talking to one of your team members during the race explaining how all week the team is 350 people he told me working on that car you see one driver and he's a good driver and if he can't drive they don't win but no matter how well he can drive it's not what happens on Sunday I feel like preaching a little bit because I think this has something in common with spirituality it's what happens Monday when they're trying to make the car a tenth of a pound lighter just a tenth of a pound lighter can make all the difference I mean just just a little bit just a little tweak on the motor just a little race note on this track and this turn and I'm making stuff up cuz I don't know a lot about NASCAR but what I'm trying to say is maybe God is more interested in the garage than he is the track god is a god of preparation he would not feed the multitudes until they sat down in the grass why provision awaits preparation you've been asking God to send it and he's been asking you to form it cuz he can't fill the ones it'll form post it was decided the battle had not been fought yet but Elijah predicted the outcome based on the Kings persistence and preparation here's what he said if you won't do the ground work when it doesn't seem to make sense if all you want is this great marriage happy family ate that whatever prayer life whatever I care what it is I'm telling you it's about the garage he is the god of the garage tweaking stuff and fixing stuff stuff you can't see you

Channel: Official Steven Furtick

Views: 139,018

Rating: 4.9397612 out of 5

Keywords: Elevation Church, Steven Furtick, Steven Furtick sermons, Pastor furtick, Prepare to try, be prepared, social media, social media addiction, validation, responsibility, social media posts, preparation, athletes, athlete pregame, training, how to prepare

Id: FcRz_KjpC9E

Length: 9min 22sec (562 seconds)

Published: Fri Feb 16 2018