Can You Trust God's Timing? | Steven Furtick

you know how many things that the devil has kept you from doing in your life that God called you to do because of what might happen if you did and a lot of us the enemy doesn't even have to fight us with real events or circumstances just even the suggestion of a disaster is enough to send some of us into retreat and so just even the thought that what if they don't like you is enough to keep you in the house or just even a thought if what if they break my heart is enough to keep you from extending yourself in relationship or just even a thought you know many of you are reluctant to get involved in this church because you had a previous bad church experience and I understand that because once you have been through a storm I lived through Hurricane Hugo I was eight years old when Hurricane Hugo hit Charleston South Carolina it terrified me I didn't want to spend the night away from home for two years after that as a little boy because one thing after you have survived a storm after you have survived bad weather after you have survived abuse what people don't tell you about is that even after the storm is over it still rages on on the inside of you and the saddest thing in the world is to see a Christian who has been set free by the love of Christ to know that neither height nor depth nor anything else in all creation neither death nor life neither Angels nor demons neither the present nor the future nor any other power shall be able to separate me from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus my Lord what I'm trying to say some of us need to fire the devil as our weatherman we have been consulting the wrong source to find out what our future looks like and so now we stay indoors and we stay in fear and we stay in paranoia and we never plant and we never reap Solomon said because we watched the wind what a weird image you really can't see the wind you can only see the effects of it and he says when you watch the wind you know like is this a good time I'll give you one this one looks like to watch the wind gusting about that phrase watch the wind and I was like this is not a literal message I'm not using it to talk about physical storms I'm using it to talk about when the sower goes to sow he wants the wind to work with him and when the wind is blowing the opposite direction all your seed smacks you in your face but you never feel like everything you soldiers you feel like stuff just backfires on you are you trying to be nice to somebody that's the last one of those I'm doing I gotta preach this twice tomorrow I need my brain cells but you ever just been smacked by your own seed because that's what he's saying when the wind is blowing against you some some of you have had the wind against you your whole life you didn't have the right shoes your parents didn't make a lot of money you had to learn to fit in you had to learn how to be tough you had to learn how to be hard and you learned how to survive a storm but the problem with that the only problem with that is sometimes the wind isn't even against you but you still feel like it is because your mind is collecting evidence in support of a verdict that is no longer accurate so you watch the wind try to find out what's popular is it's not popular I'm appreciates to our students they've got rhythm night coming up next next Sunday night and I want to talk about this in some form tim is that watching the wind is like trying to determine what's going to gain you clout and then you let clout overrule character and watching the wind is trying to be like oh do they like me do they like me is this what I need to be to be like that's that's watching the wind now give you another one that's watching the wind it's needing to be in a good mood to keep your commitments that's watching the wind because some of my weather systems are internal and I found out a long time ago that usually the mood that you're in when you make a commitment will not match the mood that you're in when it's time to keep the commitment and so to watch the wind is for those of us who sometimes need to feel it in order to fulfill it and Solomon says the wisest man the richest man the the man who said that to do things for Vanity's sake is like chasing after the wind he uses this metaphor a lot in his in his book Ecclesiastes The Collected teachings which are like proverbs but it's written in such a way as to convince the knowledge of the universe and the futility of vanity he uses this image of the wind why because it is an invisible force and he says if you are always checking with and consulting how you feel you will always find a reason to contradict your responsibility so there will always be a reason much this that you don't feel like forgiving people but if you want to be free you might have to go against your feelings in order to live in freedom I'm saying you might have to walk against the wind you might have to forgive against the wind especially in marriage I love Holly so much because she decided a long time ago that I was the man and for her she reached the verdict on fur day before she ever took my name is her own and because she reached the verdict that she loves me and I'm a good man in our marriage she works to collect evidence to support that I'm the man for her she could just as easily do the opposite she could she could find 15 reasons we'll he's only 5 foot 9 he's bigger on screen you know she could find 15 reasons I'm usually moody three and a half days out of seven she could find 15 reasons not to feel that way about me but sometimes commitment means facing resistance with resolve in your heart you can find a reason to leave this church in the next three days if you want one matter of fact the law of averages says that there's somebody on your row right now who if you get to know them they will give you a reason to leave this church in the next three days because they will disappoint you with their lack of Christian character but if you move one person over on the same row I bet you there's somebody on that row that loves Jesus there's somebody on that row who is honest there is somebody on that row that is sincere but you'll never so we'll see I'm gonna get my woman do I'm gonna get my I'm gonna do the tithing thing but imma do it after I get my thing because the thing after the thing is gonna do the thing and then this thing happened there was the thing and but the economy but the presidential election you see how we do it consulting the forecast instead of consulting our faith he who regards the wind or observes the wind will never sell and he looks at the clouds will never reap because it always looks like it could rain anytime and you can't get the harvest in when it's wet and Solomon didn't have a Weather Channel app and Solomon didn't have a Weather Channel he's dealing with people who would consult the conditions before keeping their commitments watching the wind how many people have not started what God told him to start because they've been watching the wind been waiting for more spare time Imma write a book one day you even keep a journal right now I'm write a book one day when are you gonna write it i'ma build a cottage in Maine it's the thing I'm gonna do one day you got some family land nope it's an imaginary scenario that keeps you from an actual opportunity do you see it watching the wind is wishing that you had a different wife instead of loving the one that you've got like Christ loves the Church this is getting good this message is gonna be better than your beard by the time I finish with it my brother and that's saying a lot but you know Peter knew something about watching the wind though didn't he Peter the Apostle who was always wanting to do something impulsive sometimes it worked for him sometimes it worked against him but one thing that you got to love about him he did not wait for perfect circumstances to say he didn't wait until he had knowledge to give his opinion you ever lived with somebody like that it's terrible and I noticed something about God and I wanted to give this to you because they have these things in church they say well God is a on time God yes He is He's an on time God He's He's seldom early but He's never late ask Lazarus if He was ever late Lazarus He's about four days late decomposing body worms working their way into the eye socket by the time Jesus got there and Mary and Martha had set their watch by it ask Peter if Jesus was ever late ask him ask him if if one time they did not get sent out into a storm by the instruction that Jesus gave to go to the other side now this has been really exciting to me as I've studied it this week because the the real thing of faith is do you trust God's timing you know that right and that was the test for Mary and Martha Jesus said I am the resurrection and the life and Jesus said well you know I am the resurrection and she said well I know my brother's gonna rise again at the last day He said no I am the resurrection it wasn't that she didn't trust what He was able to do it was are you able to trust when God is going to do it you can trust somebody's intention but not trust their timing and since I already talked good about Holly in this sermon let me just say I trust her with my life I trust her to be faithful to our marriage vows I trust her if she cooks for me or orders for me off of a menu I trust she knows what I want to eat more than I want to she knows me like that I trust this woman with everything but time when she says it's gonna be 30 minutes I a lot three hours because she taught me that her concept of time is different than mine one is correct one is delusional and I trust her I really do I trust her I put her in a room full of supermodels men calendar men and trust her in there but if she said we're gonna leave in an hour I would set three alarms because I trust her with everything but time some of us trust that God is gonna get us to heaven one day some of us trust that He died on the cross for our sin we trust Him with everything but let Him not do something at the moment that we want Him to do it let Him leave us in the fiery furnace for seconds too long and we'll be screaming God get me out of this but God said the real test for a mature Christian is do you trust me with my timing trusting Him in the meantime is where maturity is developed and Jesus was always doing stuff at a bad time He was always going to Jerusalem at the time when they all wanted to kill Him that's a bad time to show up when they're looking for you to execute you it's a bad time 5,000 men women and children show up on the other side now this is right after John the Baptist I just want you to know how often God does things in our life at a bad time because some of y'all are like right now in your life like well this is a bad time for me God and and I used to have this friend every time he called me on the phone he was so respectful he'd say good time or a bad time always wanted to know that before he said anything else and I believe the Holy Spirit is saying to somebody today good time or a bad time and you're like this a bad time I'm too old to be doing this now I'm too young to be doing this now I'm too busy to be doing this now I used to have a better job I used to have more money it's a bad time but God likes to bless people at a bad time He likes to raise people on the fourth day and when Jesus had heard that John the Baptist had his head cut off by Herod it was a bad time and He wanted to get away from the crowds so He went over to the other side with the disciples and when they got there there was a crowd waiting to get autographs and healing and fish and chips and all this stuff as a matter of fact when He did the miracle and He feed the feeds the 5,000 the first thing the disciples said was what is late it's a bad time it's a bad time and Jesus when He took the bread blessed it broke it and gave it to them He did the miracle at a bad time now I'm now I'm divorced now I'm a single mom now it's a bad time for me to be believe in God it's a bad time I I really wasted a lot of years it's a bad time for me to be doing this I I think I made the wrong decision I don't even think I'm supposed to live in Roanoke I don't even think I'm supposed to live in Charlotte I mean it's a bad time it's a bad place that's what the disciples said they said it's a remote place and it's already late so send the crowds away and Jesus said no I I want to bless them when it's too little and when it's too late because I want to bless you when you think it's a bad time so I can teach you how to consult your faith instead of consulting your forecast you got the wrong weather man you keep watching the weather and so now you live in fear of everything that could happen and everything that has happened and as long as you watch the weather as long as you you you keep that wrong weather man this is what God showed me the weather is meant to be checked not watched when you see when you sit when you sit around and watch it all day it scares you Oh everything it's good to plan it's good to make provision but don't watch the weather if you watch the weather you'll get in your feelings and you'll get out of your faith and now the wind watch this will work against you to contradict the word that God spoke to you hey thank you for watching make sure you subscribe to this channel so you don't miss a single video or livestream and share this video with a friend and don't forget you can join me live every Sunday thanks again for watching

Channel: Steven Furtick

Views: 1,602,801

Keywords: steven furtick, pastor steven furtick, furtick steven, stephen furtick, can you trust god's timing steven furtick, how to trust god's timing, trusting God steven furtick, spiritual growth steven furtick, spiritual growth, can you trust god's timing, steven furtick 2019, steven furtick short sermons, steven furtick sermon clips, elevation church, elevation church steven furtick sermons, steven furtick sermons, steven furtick faith

Id: _ltCS-ve104

Length: 17min 5sec (1025 seconds)

Published: Tue Jan 07 2020