Get Back In The Gate | Gates of Change | Pastor Steven Furtick

[Music] when I was praying about how to start the year and the theme we should start the year with I was led to second Samuel 19 a scripture that originally I was attracted to from a leadership perspective but I think it has implications for our church as I said this image before you I invite your attention to second samuel chapter 18 let's go 18 verse 33 and get the context and read down to chapter 19 verse 8 and so I know we were done with David because we preached a whole series about him last year called bars and battles but last time when he come over to 2018 and helped us start the year and so he said that he would but there's gonna be a real dramatic difference between the David we saw in 1st Samuel 19 and the David we see in second Samuel 19 because when we saw him in first annual 19 he was on the come-up and God was really blessing him and he had a lot of courage but now we're going to see him at a place that is very unfamiliar to someone of his caliber and David's confidence is shaken and so this would be a very strange thing if you just picked up the Bible and you heard about David from Sunday school and he was killing Goliath and ripping off the heads of Philistines and and driving back the enemies of Israel but now the scripture says in 2nd Samuel 1833 the king was shook I put it in a little bit of a modernized translation he was shook and he went up to the room over the Gateway and wept as he went he said oh my son Absalom oh my son my son Absalom if only I had died instead of you Oh Absalom my son my son way to pick out an inspirational scripture to start the year with Furtick chapter 19 verse 1 Joab was told the king is weeping and mourning for Absalom and for the whole army the victory that day was turned into mourning which is exactly the opposite of what God does God turns a day of mourning into a day of tree don't believe me just ask those disciples who were gathered together in sorrow and shame one Sunday only to get the news that what looked like hell's final defeat of heaven was actually the starting point of salvation God specializes in turning your day of mourning into a day of victory the enemy however would desire to turn your day of victory or your position of strength into weakness and sorrow that's exactly what has happened here the whole army is experiencing mourning in a time of victory did you know that you can experience mourning in a time of victory you can experience depression in a place of provision you can experience what feels like failure in a season of success so much of life is determined not by the event but by our ability to process the event on the correct level has to be blind to our own blessings we have many instances but here David has lost so much in the course of the battle that he cannot celebrate the victory he lost his own son and we'll see how that affects him now the troops had heard it said the king is grieving for his son and so the men stole into the city that day as men steal in who are ashamed when they flee from battle they actually had defeated the enemy but their heads were hung in shame there would be no parade this day for the King verse 4 covered his face and cried aloud o my son Absalom o Absalom my son my son his focus is so narrowed to what he has lost that he is about to lose what he has left he cannot get over what's gone and he is about to step right over what is and miss it because waiting for his support are all of the troops and the resources for him to reclaim his throne and get back where he belongs but he's not ready yet he's weeping in isolation over the gate and then verse 5 says that Joab his general had the guts to go into the house and say something to the king that nobody else had the guts to say sometimes you need to thank God for the people in your life who say stuff that you don't like to hear those are the ones who often really love you sometimes you need to see every parent in this room looking at their teenager I caught you look at somebody and say tell me the truth you are not my friend if you don't tell me the truth God uses Joab to give David watch this the gift of confrontation you see how nobody said Amen if I would have said the gift of comfort you would have gotten it but sometimes the gift of confrontation is greater than the gift of comfort Joab challenges David goes in a house the king and says today you have humiliated all your men who have just saved your life and the lives of your sons and daughters and the lives of your wives and concubines you love those who hate you and hate those who love you why do you keep attaching yourself to stuff that is doing you no good why do you keep running back to things that hurt you you love those who hate you and hate those who love you why do you keep chasing that which is trying to walk away at the expense of that which God has given you or as David asked Samuel about Saul how long will you mourn over what God has rejected you made it clear today that the commanders and their men mean nothing to you I see that you would be pleased if Absalom were alive today and all of us were dead now go out and encourage your men I swear by the Lord you go out not a man will be left with you by nightfall this would be worse for you than all the calamities that have come on you from your you till now so the king got up and took his seat in the Gateway the king got up and took his seat in the gateway that's our theme as we begin the year so look at your neighbor and say neighbor and force them to make eye contact with you before you go any further tell them get back in the gate get back in the game if they're looking at you crazy it was the wrong neighbour turned to the other one and say get back in the gate get back in the gate and so we could understand why David is shook because we are seeing here the inextricable connection between character and confidence it is impossible to sustain your confidence with a faulty character you can hyper yourself up just bump yourself in the mirror you can even get abs and feel good about those but without the deep-seated core of character to sustain you in life it is impossible to maintain a sense of real confidence he shook he's allowed some things into his life that are now overpowering him he lets some things in little by little and now it's been years and years of dysfunction it wasn't so much the dysfunction that brought trouble to David it was the way he dealt with the dysfunction God knew he was dysfunctional when he picked him out and he knew that he had father issues when he picked him out and he knew that he was quite lustful and when he picked him out none of those things stop God from choosing him and so they couldn't stop God from using him it is never your dysfunction that stops God from using you it is how you choose deal with the dysfunction when David fought Goliath he fought him from a distance which was a strategic thing because if he came close to him he would die by his sword Goliath was skilled in hand-to-hand combat but David was a slaver that was the way he fought Goliath and it was the way that he had tried to live his life and in certain situations it worked for him until it came to the point when you may remember this story it's not told in Vacation Bible School because because it's rated ma it's more like a game of Thrones episode really than a Bible story when Davis should have been at war and he wasn't and it wasn't where he was it was where he wasn't that got him in trouble it wasn't what he did it was what he didn't do that brought him to a place until he had enough freedom of capacity to entertain thoughts he wouldn't have thought if he'd been doing what he should have done it wouldn't have been tempted to do what he did but since he did what he did and ended up sleeping with a lady who was taking a bath named Bathsheba the Bible is full of these happy coincidences where he messed up wasn't necessarily his sin which was wrong but it was the way that he compounded his sin because he responded to his shame rather than receiving God's grace and so rather than deal with the dysfunction and the decision of his disobedience he piled several layers of shame on top of his sin and ended up having her husband killed well when Nathan the Prophet came to David he said because of the way you've acted because of the decisions that you've made God is going to forgive you but you're going to experience some consequences please write this down if you're under the age of 18 you can pick your decisions but you can't pick your consequences and he received grace but it left a residue and the aftermath of David's sin would play out through the course of his family line when his son Amnon raped his half-sister Tamar and you thought your family was dysfunctional you could write a parenting book compared to David I mean David's son raped one of David's daughters from another wife are you following this do you feel like you left church and went to Jerry Springer 1992 hello Ann Absalom had to do what David wouldn't do because David wanted to deal with it from a distance rather than confront the dysfunction he kept it out here but you can only keep it out here so long just like he did with Bathsheba he kept it out here but only for so long it's just a matter of time before the dysfunction shows up on your doorstep once you let it through the gate and so now it's working his way through his family and because David will not stand in his place and make a decision on how to deal with that even if it's the wrong one he makes the the greatest mistake - to become passive the greatest trouble in David's life came when he became passive or you might say disengaged disengaged I have an Instagram account and every month our social media team brings me reports for the engagement on our Facebook the engagement on Twitter the engagement on social media is how we measure effectiveness how many people are commenting and and liking and looking and sharing engagement even re family line what's up eat fam maybe you got here because somebody shared the link with you it's called engagement III I don't think there's ever been a time in the world where we've been more engaged on the surface and more disengaged in our souls because we got all these fake connections and fake friendships and fake sexuality and-and-and fake relationships and stuff that won't do you any real good when the devil fights you in your life because you are not engaged now Absalom has taken matters into his own hands years ago he killed him not himself he went running he wanted to come back David wouldn't see him he kept him at a distance and now the battle has arrived on his doorstep because he would not deal with it at the gate he would not deal with it when they showed up so now it is gain power and Absalom has actually tried to overturn his own father as king Absalom was pretty smart Bible says he was real good-looking had a lot in common with Rick Parker except one thing Rick he had he had so much hair the Bible said his hair was so long when he would cut it off every spring it would weigh two pounds so he would stand by the gate with his luxurious locks and when people would come to see David he'd say Oh dad's busy if I were king I'd help you out I would hear your matter if I were king but I'm not with four years of that and he won their hearts be very careful who you let stand at the gates you got to be real careful who you let represent you and over the course of time the Bible says that the hearts of the people were with Absalom it ended in a bloody result in the woods of Ephraim where Absalom was riding through the forest with his militia trying to overtake David's men now David has crossed the Kidron Valley he has left the throne he is on the run just to survive Epsilon's men catch up with him there's only one problem Absalom's hair gets caught in a tree snatches him right off of his horse why because the thing that makes you great outwardly makes you vulnerable inwardly he gets caught up in the thing that made him so attractive and as he is hanging there Joab decides to end his life three knives in him cause ten men to slice him up they send the nudes to David and he is shaken he's shaken like any father would be who lost a son but perhaps even more deeply because he feels responsible for it I kind of wish sometimes I could talk to my dad just one more conversation and I know he's probably listening to this sermon on heaven I know he's part of the efj am eternal fan but I wish I could sit down with him for real for real and I would only tell him one thing this would be the whole conversation I thought about a lot cuz now I'm raising my own kids and there are ways that I judged him when he was raising me then I would love to go back and say to him one one thing this is what I would say the title of our talk would be I get it now because when I became a teenager my dad went from coaching my teams to going out drinking and I didn't see him much over those years and I really thought he was a to be honest with you a pretty poor father during those years right it wasn't that I didn't appreciate the fact that he did not have a dad to show him how to do it his father committed suicide and so on his ninth birthday he found his father dead so without any frame of reference he stayed around to raise me but what what I would tell him now is I get it now because even as much as I love my wife which is more than you can possibly imagine and I love my kids and I am grateful for them and we enjoy some wonderful times together but there there have been times that I have pulled into my garage gotten out of my Nissan Maxima walked into my house and fantasized about getting back into my Nissan Maxima and going back to work so I could get some rest I get it now there are times when the challenge of responsibility will make you walk away from something that you actually love and people will judge you in that moment and they will think you're walking away because you're lazy but you're not walking away because you're lazy you're walking away because deep down inside I don't know if I have what it takes and this is the danger of disengagement it is when you find yourself in a state of shame or fear or ramaa or exhaustion and you walk away from what God gave you because you don't know how to manage it is the danger of this engagement it is the danger of showing up in body and not in mind I've learned that there's a big difference between coming to church and being in church I've learned that there is a big difference between coming home and being home don't lean to say nothing to me all year is that how it's gonna be even look at me crazy all year like that there is a big difference between having a child and being a mom and sometimes the temptation is not to exactly run away but to just disengage I'm disengaged not because I don't care but just because I'm afraid I don't know if I have what it takes David was shaken the death of Absalom represented his own failure if only did you hear him if only I had died instead of you it's my fault I didn't give you what you needed and it's my fault you're dead and now it's caught up with him and he's shaken and he's disengaged he's not defeated he's disengaged he has the victory but he's not acting like him he's the king but he's not where the king is supposed to be seized he's lost his sense of passion because he's moved from his position in ancient times the cities were well guarded by gates now David is in Mahanaim which is not Jerusalem the capital city Absalom is there and he's going to drive him out but not yet the first thing he has to do is relocate himself around the city are two gates everybody say two gates our theme for the new year is gates I want you to pay great and right now this is very important in each city there would be an outer date that everybody saw we all have one of those we all have the outer gate that people see it's our personality that we project into the world so people won't judge us so we will appear successful then there is the inner gate it's the second line of defense we all have one of those too it's our actions - gates - gates - - games and the action happens watch this between the gates the Bible does not say put my verse up again is my theme verse that David took his Cedars verse 8 at the gate it says that he got up and took his seat what we're now up until this point he's been near the gate but he wasn't in it he was in isolation above the gate like a lot of us live our lives watching events unfold but not taking responsibility for our outcomes when we live online in an ecosystem of pretension and narcissism and opinions but don't really make a commitment to make a difference in the world and we show up in the places that are most convenient to our ego but refuse to confront the issues that sabotage our soul the action happened between the gates not outside and not inside but often between the gates transactions would be made it was like a marketplace of the day but between the gates of the city there would be buying and selling and negotiation between the gates prophets like Amos would prophesy to maintain justice in the gates in the gates when Ruth if you remember the Old Testament story was claimed by Boaz her kinsman redeemer he did the deal in the presence of 10 witnesses in the gate when Abraham bought the burial ground for Sarah in the Old Testament he bought it in the presence of witnesses in the gate it's where the witnesses were it's where the judges would sit it's where negotiations happen is where the conscience of the nation was developed it's where Absalom would stand at the gate and before people could go through turn them back after he had promoted his own agenda and everything changed for David when he did something so simple the Bible says that after all he had lost and after all the tears here cry and after all the mistakes he MA he did something so simple and so profound the king got up left his chamber and took his seat in the gate in other words I hear David saying like Arnold Schwarzenegger I'm bad my heart is broken but I'm back I made some mistakes but I'm back I wish I could go back and change some things but I can but I'm back I'm devastated about what happened but I'm back I'm uncertain about the future I don't know where it's gonna go from here I'm a long way from home but I'm back now what I picture in my mind is today thousands of people who have gathered to hear this message online or in person at every location and I see you getting up from the failure and the shame and the regret that has kept you paralyzed and taking your stand in the gate of praise and entering his gates with Thanksgiving I wish 70 people would sup up on your feet right now and shout at the top of your lungs [Applause] I don't know what tomorrow's gonna bring five everybody you can race I'm back in it I'm back in it not gonna stand over my life blaming people for the next 20 years because of the last 20 baby I may say and with the enemy cops with his accusations and his excuses I want you to look him square in the eye before the year even gets started good and tell him devil this seat is taken I said this seat is taken no room for you to run my life cuz I am seated in heavenly places with Christ I'm back in position I'm back in purpose [Applause] get back in the gate get back in the game you cannot change what you tolerate get back in the gate you cannot change what you won't face get back in the game you can't change it by complaining you can't change it by if only but now if you will take your seat God has prepared a place for you in the presence of your enemies it might not rid you of your problems but he has given you his breakfast [Music] I'm back I'm back I'm back and I'm broken and I'm better because I was broken [Applause] because I learned how to fight the battle in in-between it's not what happens to you it's not what they say about you it's what happens between the gates that's what I want to study with you for the next four weeks I want you to invite every jacked up person that you know because we're gonna get our gates back we have been to flooded with images and and points of view that - do not promote peace in our lives and we are practicing the habits of worry and we are living in the state of anxiety a place of power is when you take your seat watch this David got up took his seat in the game he wasn't healed yet but he's here I'm hurting but I'm here it's gonna be hard but I'm here you know what's cool you already got perfect attendance for the year in church celebrate yourself [Applause] and to get everything he needed all he had to do is what Kendrick said all he had to do was sit down when he sat down all of his men came to him your weapons are waiting for you to take your place your weapons you're waiting for your weapons to come your weapons will not come until you take your place this is the place of responsibility this is the place of owning your story this is the place of dealing with your dysfunctions not from a distance this is the place of power we fight the enemy in the wrong place and we wait for things to appear that are waiting for us in our assignment and I feel the Spirit of God on me this year to teach this message on the gates of change each of us is standing at a gate of change and there are four gates that I want to teach you about over the next four weeks here's the key this gate only opens from the inside it only opens from the inside this battle has to be fought at the gate keep that camera shot on me real quick I want to show them there's keep that tight shot yeah the tight shot right there do not move that camera no matter what I do or no matter what you are trained to do I am overriding your training right now do not move that camera now the only way for us to get the back of his head off the bottom of that screen it's for me to get back where I belong watch this the camera is not broke I'm just out of place Oh No let's get a new camera no you need to get a new attitude you don't need otherwise you need a new mindset you need to get back in the game you got a good watch that's why you married her if you would get in the game maybe I don't want to run them off week one they just got back somebody [Music] and when he got back in the gate everything he needed came to him you don't have to chase it you goodness and mercy will follow back get back get back get back you don't have to be perfect just be present and Isaiah said I want us to think about this you know I'll start here next week you coming next week tell somebody get back get back get back get back do what you gotta do to get back you should cancel some stuff just just to let the devil know this year that God is your priority and be in church set six alarms if you have to and be here because the word you need might be here hold the camera shot I hold the camera shot I and if you're over here you will miss the word that was waiting for you so I gotta be here because Isaiah says stand I'm closing I'm closing I'm closing Isaiah said that God will be August so want you to teach you I can't wait this is just the syllabus nice isn't even the class tell somebody I'm coming back I'm coming back I'm coming back he will be listen to what the Lord Almighty is Isaiah who prophesied so eloquently of Jesus Christ he will be a spirit of justice to the one who sits in judgment he gives justice when you are in the seat of judgment and he will be a source of strength to those who turn back the battle at the gate a lot of the defeats that you have been suffering have been because you've been fighting them on the wrong level you've been fighting them in the wrong place but this is our year to stop it at the source he will be a source of strength starts with God not with me this is not self-help this is the overflowing abundant Spirit of God that empowers believers the Spirit of Justice the Holy Spirit of God he will be a source of strength to him who sits in judgment and turns back the battle at the gate if David had dealt with Absalom at the gate Absalom wouldn't have had to die in the forest sometimes we let the devil come all the way in and then we pray to God to get him off of our backs but the time to turn the devil back is that the gate [Music] [Applause] the time to turn depression back is that the gate and there is a word from God that will push back the darkness but it has to happen at the gate we're gonna learn about these gates for the next four weeks but it begins with the decision for you to take your place in the game and we're gonna start getting intentional about our thoughts so that we win the battle between the gates we're gonna put Christ back on the throne and then we're gonna sit right there by him and guard our gates I have seated in heavenly places if you're hearing this word right now rejoice where you are rejoice in your kitchen come on when you enter his gates with grace you drive back the devil before he ever gets a chance to sit down at your kitchen table we're gonna turn back the devil and we're gonna make some decisions early this year we're gonna set up some areas of our life where we're not gonna negotiate anymore we're getting back in the gate and the promise of God is this that uh the gates of Hell will not prevail against it there is so much revelation that God wants to release but this gate of change opens from the inside so I want you to lift your hands now if you feel comfortable stand to your feet some people think that lifting your hands is some sort of denominational thing for exuberant emotional people but really is just for people who know they need God I get it now dad sometimes it's easier to run than to take responsibility and sometimes you don't run because you don't care you run because you're scare you run because you're ashamed you run because you've tried to change before and so you live your life in a chamber of isolation God is calling you back in the gate and I know you've been embarrassed about some things and I know you don't really believe in yourself anymore and you haven't kept some promises to yourself so you don't feel like making any more and I know some people around you have kind of boxed you in they think they know how you are and you're not gonna be any different but Jesus said I am the gate not what people did not even what you think of yourself I am the gate where we come before you this year some of us with heavy hearts but all of us with expectation you didn't leave us here for nothing you didn't bring us into 2018 just to drop us at the gate so we're going in we're going in we're gonna enter in your gates with Thanksgiving and your courts with praise God we're also bringing some baggage we're bringing some pain and we're bringing some questions we're bringing some anxieties we're bringing some if onlys we're dropping them off at the gate and we are entering into your joy I thank you Lord for the revelation that you've given us today it has been so sweet and meaningful I thank you the chains have fallen now because of the sound of your word echo and forth from the portals of heaven and doing what only you can do in the hearts of people I believe this is just the beginning and so I pray that this series would be unlike any that we've ever known the gates of change open from the inside you're a mighty God and as we praise you today we expect the best of heaven to empower us in broken places have your way God thanks so much for joining us today if God has impact in your life in any way through this ministry we'd love to hear about it take just a second and email us at Amen at elevation church org and if you would like to continue to receive additional inspirational content from pastor Stephen or elevation Church you can click the subscribe button or just click this video to continue 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Channel: Elevation Church

Views: 562,069

Rating: 4.9178281 out of 5

Keywords: Elevation Church, Pastor, Steven Furtick, Gates, Sermon, Message, Gateway, Position, Stay in position, Victory, Consequences, Character, How to gain confidence, How to build character, Dealing with dysfunction, Engagement, Scared, Afraid, Danger of disengagement, Change, Gates of change, How to change

Id: XFCPBUEwgwA

Length: 39min 43sec (2383 seconds)

Published: Mon Jan 08 2018