Do You Feel Stuck? | Steven Furtick

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Maybe when you feel stuck you're building  strength. That's the only way you really   build strength. It's to get to that sticking  point, to get to that point where you can't   push through. I used to have this spotter  in high school. He would stand over me,   and the moment I started to struggle, he  would just lift the whole weight off of me. I thought, "Man, that's not a good  spotter." That's not a good God,   to never let you have any weight. That's not a  good God, to never let you have any challenge.   How would he grow your faith? No. See, a  good spotter… You're on rep 11, 535 pounds.   And I'm just a little stuck. God is standing  over your life… I need you to know this. He sees where you're stuck, that sticking point,  and he says, "I'm not going to take it off of you;   I'm going to give you a lift." Have you ever had   God be your spotter? I declare the God of  angel armies is standing over your life,   and if you feel stuck, he will do what  you cannot do! He is your strength! He knows how to get me past the point where I'm  stuck. Now watch this. You may not like this.   The first sticking point Moses encountered  was not Pharaoh. The first sticking point   Moses encountered, and maybe the greatest  one, is that he tried to negotiate with God,   and he got stuck. He got stuck at the burning  bush before he got stuck at the Red Sea. God is like, "I chose you." He's already stuck  tending sheep for his father-in-law, Jethro.   He'd been doing that 40 years because he got  mad at somebody and killed him, because when   you get stuck you get stupid. Now he's doing  something that's a consequence of his decision. Then the Lord speaks to him. He's like,  "I chose you. Go to Pharaoh and tell him,   'Let my people go,'" with the hand motions.  Moses is stuck. You might be stuck in yourself.   He said, "But behold, they will not believe  me…" But you haven't even talked to them yet.   "…or listen to my voice, for they will  say, 'The Lord did not appear to you.'" Now there are two things about this that  are wrong. First, it's on other people,   and second, it's about a future event. You  can't control either. So he's stuck, and   he's stuck for good reason. It's because he  knows himself. He knows Moses. You know you. To negotiate with God is usually  like, "Nah, I'd better not try that."   So I'm stuck in myself. Isn't this crazy? He's  telling himself a story of what's going to happen.   Have you ever been stuck in a story of what's  going to happen? I wake up in the middle of   the night sometimes just like, "Ah!" I'm  in a king-sized bed. Everything is good.   I have the most beautiful woman in the world  sleeping next to me. "Ah!" I'm screaming. I'm stuck in a story of what might happen  tomorrow or what has happened before.   Have you ever been stuck in a story?  Have you ever been stuck in yourself?   Have you ever been stuck  in a story about yourself?   I mean, rejection is painful, but  Moses takes it to a new level. This is not rejection. He rejects himself  before anybody else has the chance to.   This is like advanced-level… This is pre-jection.   "I'm not even going to try. It's the story  of my life. Everything always goes wrong."   I see this. I don't want to do a dating seminar,  but I already did a negotiation seminar. When you ask her out on a date like, "I  know you probably don't want to, but…"   You have to have some confidence to it, man.   Walk up to her like, "Hey, I didn't know  if you wanted to go Tuesday or Wednesday."   Come on, I'm helping you. Name your kid Larry.  (That's my legal first name.) Moses is like,   "I can't do this. I know me. I don't have it. I  can't do it." He's stuck in a story about himself. Now, the bigger story does not revolve around you.   Remember that. When we get stuck in ourselves, we  miss the whole point. God is doing something that   is bigger than you. It's bigger than what's wrong  with you, it's bigger than what you didn't do,   it's bigger than the time you wasted, and it's  certainly bigger than the opinions of others. So God makes this kind of pep talk. He's like,  "What is that in your hand?" This wouldn't make me   feel any better if I have to lead a whole nation  and tell the most powerful man in the world,   "Let my people go." He's like, "What  is that in your hand?" and Moses says,   "A staff." The ESV calls it a staff,  but technically, it's a stick. For every sticking point in your life, God  has given you a stick. You have one right now.   In order for Moses to see  what that instrument could be,   he had to release it and throw it down on the  ground. When he released it on the ground,   it became a snake. Until you surrender it, you  will never see what it could be. If you will   release it, if you will put it before God, if you  will say, "Here's my intellect. Here's my will.   Here's my understanding. Here's my ability,"  you will watch it transform. It will transform. It became a snake to become a sign, because  Moses needed to know "This is really God,"   because he was stuck in himself.  When you need to get out of yourself,   you have to release what God has given  you so he can show you what it can become.   Then he had to do something crazy. He  had to do something I would never do.   He had to do something you only do if you  really love nature. He had to pick up the snake. When he first released it and it became a  snake, he ran from it, because he was smart.   Not because he didn't have faith  but because he had intelligence.   But then God called him to reach  for what he had been running from.   I promise you I feel the Holy  Spirit so strong right now.   When he did it, it turned back into a stick. A stick is something small, but  it would be that same stick…   I need you to know this, because you've  never been through this challenge before.   You've never been 24 before. You've never been  61 before. You've never been a wife before.   You've never been a mom before. I've never  been a dad before. This is my first rodeo.   You've never been through this before. "This wasn't on my schedule, and I don't  feel like I'm what I'm supposed to be for   what I'm up against." Can I tell you what God  told Moses? By the power of the Holy Spirit,   when you stand in front of those Red Seas in  your life… God took him back and showed him the   same stick, the same stick God had changed into  a snake and back into a stick, that same stick. He told him in Exodus 14:16,   "I want you to take your stick and  point it at what you're going through.   I want you to take your stick, and I want  you to point it at what you can't get over.   I want you to take your stick and  raise your staff." I know it's small.   It always feels small. I know some of you are  visited by the perpetual spirit of "never enough,"   but it becomes enough when you stretch  it. It becomes enough when you use it. This is the miracle of faith. Why?  Because God changes things. Say it.   "God changes things." That's what he  does. God changes things. He turns   mourning to dancing. He changes things. He  gives beauty for ashes. He changes things. He turns shame into glory. He turns crosses  into empty tombs. He turns graves into gardens.   He turns bones into armies. He turns seas into  highways, and if you will stretch what he gave you   over what you're going through, you're going  to get through this. I declare it! I decree it!   God said it! That settles it! Back up, Pharaoh!  I'm coming through! I know it feels small,   and I know for many your energy has been  diminished by what you've gone through, and I know   some of you feel too young and some feel too old  and some feel too in between and some feel too… Shut up and trust your stuff.   Don't do something stupid like give up  and quit just because you feel tired.   I felt tired from the 9:30, and I came out and  preached this one. I had to get in a freezing   cold shower to wake up, because you need this  word. So I grabbed my stick and preached it,   because I can't stop doing what I'm  called to do just because I'm tired.   You will have to trust that it is enough. Not that  God is enough but that what he gave you is enough   for where he put you. This is a sticking point. If you sit there and try to negotiate  with God, you will miss it. The   saddest thing in the world is that Moses never  even went into the Promised Land. He got stuck.   He hit a rock with his staff, the same staff he  raised over the sea and the waters parted and   they got through. He took that staff because  he was tired of the people, and he struck the   rock twice, and God said, "Now you can't  go in, because you don't trust me enough." Everything you love will have a part  of the process you will not like,   including following Jesus.   Did Jesus love the Father? Then why did he ask in  the garden of Gethsemane, "If there's any other   way, I don't want to do it"? Because everything  you love will have a part you don't like. I'm so sick of my generation thinking we always  have to feel happy to move forward. Sometimes   we can do it because we love God enough and  we love people enough and we're called and   because we have a staff. I have a stick. I have  to stick it out. I have to persevere. I have a   purpose. I have a reason. I have a calling, and  no, you can't have me back, Pharaoh. No! I've   come too far to get stuck here. Some of you came from broken homes and  broken families and busted situations,   and God would not bring you out here to drown you.  He's dealing with your enemies. Stretch your stick   and trust your stuff and  go forward and stand there. It's a small thing, and if you trust him  enough to stretch the small thing over the   bigger thing… I don't know what that is for you.  I'm going slow because I need you to imagine,   and I need you to see yourself  on the other side of this,   what it's going to be like when  you're helping somebody else   and all the hell you went through  isn't wasted but it's invested. It's the dumbest thing, but I just saw  a picture like Popeye, or something,   of you just getting strong in your spirit because  you're pushing past the sticking point. Now,   you have a spotter, and God is not going to  let it fall on you, but you have to imagine. "Okay. I will rejoice again.  I will sing again. Okay.   My children are going to be free because I  fought for this. Okay. I'm going to do it."   But you will have to commit. You will have  to walk through it, and that means you'll   have to walk through something that feels  like it could collapse on you at any time. The story goes that he stretched the  staff. He trusted God, and God made a…   Don't you love this? An interstate highway  through the sea. Who else can do that? Who   else can turn a sea into a highway, a  stick into a snake? Only God can do it.   The ability to walk through  something God is holding up for you. You can't stick your right foot in and your right  foot out. You can't hokey-pokey through the Red   Sea. It's going to mean saying, "God, I'm going  to see this through. I'm going to stay in this   uncomfortable place. I would rather stay stuck  and have you deal with what you need to deal with.   I would rather stay stuck and see  your purpose for my life fulfilled." When you're standing in front of something you've  never seen before, hold on to what you know.   You have a stick. When it happens this  week, when you hit the sticking point,   if it's a mood or if it's a… I don't want  to say this, but if it's a mother-in-law or   if it's something really deep and dark  that we can't talk about out loud,   when you hit it, use your stick. Small, trust, imagine, commit, and  know. That spells stick. Small,   trust… "God, it doesn't feel like much, but  it's enough." Trust, imagine, commit, and know.
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Channel: Steven Furtick
Views: 236,283
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Keywords: pastor steven furtick, steven furtick, stephen furtick, steve furtick, elevation church, elevation church pastor steven furtick, elevation church steven furtick, the sticking point elevation church, the sticking point steven furtick, steven furtick sermons, elevation church sermons, the sticking point, graves into gardens, bones into armies, seas into highways, beauty for ashes, mourning to dancing, shame into glory, stuck, feeling stuck, helpless, trusting god, strength, hope
Id: Y77NByuDoU4
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Length: 18min 13sec (1093 seconds)
Published: Tue Sep 21 2021
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