I'm Glad It Happened | Pastor Steven Furtick

I just want to share with you nine verses of Scripture and finish something that I started back in 2014 it seems like to me that New Year's Eve is a perfect time to finish your business and I started something in 2014 I preached a little message about holding on to the promise of God through the storms of life and I called the message from something that the Apostle Paul said during a shipwreck that he survived I called the message it will happen that was the first message this year God gave me a sequel to that message that I preached a few months ago in our church and it was about making sense of setbacks and that after you have survived the storm you have to find out why you survived it was for a reason so we followed Paul from the Adriatic Sea where he was adrift with no hope of being saved all the way to a little strange Island called Malta where God used him to perform miracles and release healing not without difficulty but destiny never is is difficult by design that way when God uses you you won't get confused about who is doing the great things and you give him the glory and so we preach that message this year and that message was called it had to happen and I've heard a lot of good feedback about those messages but tonight I want to complete the trilogy and I want to finish this series of messages from Philippians chapter 1 verses 12 through 20 we're gonna follow Paul all the way to Rome he's crossed the Mediterranean he's left Malta after three months of ministry he's now according to many scholars under house arrest in Rome where the book of Acts incidentally ends but his ministry didn't end where the book did and I want to pick up on this letter that he wrote from the prison in Rome and just read it to you I'm gonna take my time to read it because the the context of this message will determine whether or not you can receive it at a level that will make it effective in your life and starting in verse 12 Paul says now I want you to know brothers and sisters that what has happened to me has actually served to advance the gospel as a result it has become clear throughout the whole palace guard and to everyone else that I am in Chains for Christ and because of my chains not in spite of my chains but the power of God is being released through the thing that you might pity me for because of my chains because of my confinement there is a a great purpose unfolding where I am position as a result it has become clear throughout the whole palace garden to everyone else that I am in Chains for Christ and because of my chains most of the brothers and sisters have become confident in the Lord and dare all the more to proclaim the gospel without fear it's true that some preached Christ out of envy and rivalry but others out of love knowing that I am put here see when you understand that God is positioning you you don't fear what people might do to you because there is not a situation that they can put you in that God will not show up in the midst I don't make me preach because I'm just trying to read the scripture and I hadn't even really set it up appropriately yet I only got so long on this clock but ask those Hebrew boys who went into a fiery furnace if a fourth man won't step in just when it gets cranked up seven times hotter than it's supposed to be and the only thing that's gonna fall off in the fire is the ropes that had you bow God lets you be in the fire to set you free so he said the former seventeen preached Christ out of selfish ambition not sincerely supposing they can stir up trouble for me while I am in Chains this is a cool part that only an old man can say but what does it matter I live long enough to let some of my concerns fall off of me now I have a sense of priority and I'm not concerned about what they say and I'm not concerned about their motives because God's intention is always more powerful than human motives the important thing is that in every way whether from false motives or true Christ is preached and because of this because of this I rejoice not because of a new car but because of a calling because of this I rejoice yes and I will continue to rejoice for I know that through your prayers and God's provision of the spirit of Jesus Christ what has happened to me will turn out for my deliverance I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body whether by life or by death now read all that just to go back to verse 12 where I started now I want you to know brothers and sisters that what has happened to me what has happened to me has actually served to advance the gospel alright it will happen it had to happen and my message for you tonight if you can say it with Paul by faith is this it will happen it had to happen but tonight look at your neighbor and say I want you to know I'm glad it happened now this one's gonna be kind of tough to get with this because there are really two reasons that we put on this praise party one year I turn to Holly I said we're getting too old to try to stay up on New Year's Eve without accountability let's have Church on New Year's Eve and it really serves two purposes if you allow it to it serves the purpose of allowing you to reflect and expect so two questions I want to hang over your head as you sit there tonight on whatever campus or around whatever screen however you're viewing this I want to ask you two things are you where you want to be and are you ready for what's next God brought you here tonight to give you the opportunity to reflect and to expect so as I reflect am I where I want to be and as I expect am I ready for what's next now as you reflect you got to understand that reflection must be done correctly in order to be productive there is a way of reflecting on your life and I think this is why some of us avoid looking back that can leave you paralyzed in a sense there is a type of reflection that does not energize you there's a type of reflection that can bring you into a state of resentment as you look back over what happened to you for you this year there may be a temptation for you to reflect to the point of resentment and there may be some people this year who were supposed to support you and maybe you expected them to be standing by you but you find yourself a little more lonely at the end of this year even going through your photo stream on your phone I found can be dangerous cuz some of the people that I'm scrolling through then I felt one way about in January I feel differently about them in December because and you have to be careful you have to be careful if you want to go back on the timeline you may feel some things and when you reflect is it's important that you avoid resentment on one level but I think also you should be very careful when you reflect because not only can you begin to resent opportunities that you didn't get or maybe maybe ways that you were not acknowledged to which can bring you into a state of resentment but you also got to watch out for regret this is like the devil's R&R you know regret and resentment now they're really the same regret is just resentment turned inward it's when you take a look at where you said you would be on December 31st 2017 and the scale says something different then your list said 365 ago or it can be when you are thinking about all of the dance recitals that you missed or it could be that you think about how you promise to be more faithful in church this year but you didn't quite make it happen but you did get here tonight high five your neighbor and say you're ahead for 2018 you already got a gold star on the Jesus Christ chart now there is a type of reflection that leads to regret there is a type of reflection that leads to resentment but the right kind of reflection will lead to resolution the right kind of reflection as demonstrated by the Apostle Paul in Philippians chapter one from I believe a Roman prison cell which was really a rented home where he was allowed to see people but remember now he's been waiting for a trial for maybe as much as four years and still after four years of bouncing around from prelate to prelate from governor governor there's still no resolution for his situation yet Paul exhibits the kind of attitude in Philippians chapter 1 that I am striving to see manifest in my own life as he reflects he demonstrates that your spirit does not have to be a reflection of your situation what I'm trying to say is you do not have to allow your outlook to be defined by the events that brought you to this point Paul proves it clearly in Philippians chapter 1 verse 12 through 20 and really I see him in Philippians chapter 1 verses 12 through 20 some of the rumors that have apparently begun to surface in Ephesus about his situation I don't I don't mean to say Ephesus I mean to say Philip I but really everybody every Church that Paul started has started to talk a little bit I can almost hear them whispering behind his back he still hasn't had his trial yet looks like his ministry is over it's horrible it happened to Paul he was only trying to help but you know he probably pushed it a little too far he kept on preaching to the Gentiles and the Jews told him to stop it but he wouldn't stop it and then he told those Gentiles they didn't have to get circumcised and well you know he he probably if he would have toned it down a little bit you know if he wouldn't have appealed his case to Caesar he might have got set free by Festus did you hear what happened to Paul it's horrible what happened to Paul terrible thing what happened to Paul you can almost hear them whispering from the church at Philippi which Paul founded a decade earlier but now some things have happened and not only as time passed but it seems that Paul's ministry has come to a grinding halt there is to be no more movement during this period and I can almost hear the whispers from the church at Philippi when Paul speaks up in verse 12 and says now I want you to know brothers and sisters that what has happened to me has actually somebody say actually actually I know I know what you heard but forget what you heard for a minute let me set the record straight and you know I hear the Spirit of the Lord saying tonight that before you leave 2017 you need to set the record straight about what really went down this year you need to set the record straight as a matter of fact we came tonight to give God praise for what he brought us through and we came tonight to make our commitment to him that we will follow him throughout the course of this year no matter how the road might wind or where it might lead us but we also came to set the record straight to let the devil know that everything we went through this year was just gross of the promise and the power and the unlimited potential of the ever ruling ever reigning ever-present God tell your neighbor I came to set the record straight I don't know what you heard you might have heard that I was on the way down but I came to set the record straight there's some things I need you to know before January hits my watch so one thing I'm trying to do before I make a new year's resolution I want to make a few revisions Paul wants to make a few revisions let's talk for a moment about the revision the revision I I've noticed a lot of times that when we write a song or when I write a sermon the magic happens not on the first draft or the second draft or the third draft but it is in the revision that the potential of the song or the sermon is reveal well I love that cuz when I think about it I think that maybe there are some things this year where I'm getting the story wrong and I need to see it differently not looking good for Paul that look like he's gonna make it it doesn't look like it's embarrassing when your pastor is in jail I would imagine I hope you never have to find out firsthand what that's like not planning that but remember now he's been driven across the Adriatic Sea three months in Malta now he finds himself in Rome and he's still waiting and the situation is still unresolved but he's not resolution is not an event it is a decision and as Paul reflects from Rome and looks at what's happening he understands that well sometimes people will misjudge our situation because they do not know the backstory and so he is informing them he's taking the opportunity to inform them about what is apparent and what is actual I love it because sometimes what's happening on the surface is not the real story so Paul is focusing here not on what is happening to him but what is happening through him the story that you tell is dependent on the point of view that you have so while others are looking at Paul's life from the outside in they are judging him a failure while others are looking at Paul's life from the outside in they're saying he's going down now while others are looking at Paul's life from the outside and far away from Philippi across the Mediterranean Sea it doesn't look good from Paul but Paul is not looking at his situation from the outside in he's looking at his situation from the inside out now the inside is where the Spirit of God lives and the Spirit of God lives in you greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world so it means that no matter what resistance is against me somebody shot I'm glad it happened there are some things that I went through this year that I didn't like there are some things that I went through this year that hurt and I'm not saying that they didn't hurt they hurt I'm not saying that they didn't hurt they hurt like hell you should've left your kids home it's New Years Eve I'm not saying that I would have chosen them if I had had the opportunity but now that I've been through it there is something that I learned through what I went through that make me who I am I don't stand it to think Johnny coming to embrace somebody somewhere they probably felt sorry for Paul they were probably signing petitions to their Senators to get Paul out of prison Paul said stop all your petitions don't feel sorry for me I know I've got these chains on me but I'm freer than all y'all [Applause] now I didn't like it at the time I didn't get it at the time it didn't make sense while I was in it but I've been here long enough to recognize and I've been through enough storms to know and I held on to the planks of the boat and made it across the sea and saw God's provision at a level that now I can tell you that actually God is up to something Paul says I'm not a hostage oh I want you to say that because this is a revision that you need to make because some of you have made yourself the victim of 2017 and we need to make some revisions because you cannot leave 2017 like a victim and go into 2018 like a victor and you've got to make a decision tonight you've got you've got to revise some of the stuff in your story and take a cue from Paul I was confused at first because he said I want you to know brothers and sisters that what has happened to me but then he gives no detail about what actually happened to him all he talks about is what God did through the events that he could have been bitter about I'm not a hostage don't feel sorry for me in fact Paul might say I always wanted to go to Rome to preach the gospel I didn't think I'd have to drag these shackles through the streets to do it but it actually works out pretty good because all these guards have to listen to me preach any time I open my mouth I'm not a hostage I'm not a hostage to your opinions I'm not a hostage to what went wrong I hear Paul say him all the way from Rome shouting across the Mediterranean Sea shouting all the way into 2017 just before midnight Eastern Standard Time shouting the elevation Blakeney shouting the University City shouting the Lake Norman shouting to the overflowing Ballantine shouting to the efan watching online I hear God shouting into your iPhone 10 I hear this message I hear Paul saying I'm not a hostage I'm a weapon I made up my mind anywhere God pushed me there's a purpose for it I'm not a hostage you better shut your neighbor right now say I'm not a hostage I'm a weapon for then the fire else steady in the hands of God I'm loaded now I'm focused now I mean now I don't want matters now it's like the Spirit of God is breaking out on this side of the church somebody thought you were trapped it's not you this [Applause] just set the record straight I came here in Chains but because I'm here somebody's gonna get set free God would be here not Caesar not Festus there wasn't the boat that brought me here it was the purpose of guy I found out there Thunder I got like 26 minutes I found out that that progress is relative to priorities I'll ask a question it's kind of stupid illustration but it's late what's that progress come on now it depends on what destination I intended to arrive at just because I step toward you doesn't mean that's where I had in mind to go so I might have been going the wrong way if I really needed to get over here cuz I was thinking all night how cool it would be to preach from up here just all the way up at the top you see this might be progress I can't tell you because progress is relative to priorities I didn't come tonight to do cardio I already got my workout before we came right write down the word did you write down revision because there's some parts of your story you need to rewrite before we go into a new year because if you carry the mentality that you are trapped in a situation or trapped in what they thought or trapped in what they did or trapped in the event somebody said I'm glad it happened and here's why number two because I'm focused on the results I [Applause] don't have to like the event to celebrate the result and I don't know if you saw it but Paul said it clearly he said as a result that's 13a if they want to reinforce it with screen support as a result I was talking to one CrossFit dude we were taught my exercise a minute ago one crossfitter in the whole New Year's Eve praise party and he was meeting me at an event that I was preaching at he said he was coming as a little late he wasn't too late but he was apologizing because apparently he likes to be prompt he says so sorry I just had a great workout now to me that's paradoxical in nature great workout I'd never felt that way about a workout I said what what what was a great workout what made it great sat through three times now [Applause] brain damage twisted value system but I get it what what what he enjoyed wasn't how he felt during the routine of working out you don't have to like what it felt like to appreciate the change that it is created and a lot of us when we assess a year we assess it by how much we enjoyed the different experiences in that year I was reading an interesting book by the heath brothers they have written several books they're more sociological in nature but they're also good for business this most recent book the power of moments it gave a snapshot of what psychologists called the peek in theory and here's what they say when we assess our experiences we don't average hour minute by minute sensations rather we tend to remember flagship moments that's the peaks the pits and the transitions they use the example of Disney World they said if you were rating your experience at Disney World minute-by-minute on a scale of one to ten your average rating would probably be one point seven and no one would ever go if you think of all the lines that you stand in and all of the heat that you endure and it's a small small world after all what a blessing but you don't assess the experience by what did they say your minute-by-minute sensations rather we tend to remember the peak and the end or the peaks the pits and the transition so when I say to you how was this year for you don't be so quick to call it a bad year just because you went through some hard things I'm trying to get you by faith to accept whatever God allowed and not only that but to now see how it actually can serve to advance the gospel if that's not your priority if God is not your focus then you have no way of measuring your progress against a standard that you have not set for your life Paul isn't writing about how wonderful the food is Paul is not writing about how how strong the Wi-Fi signal is in the Roman prison system what he's talking about is the results he's saying I don't necessarily like what I'm going through and I'm not saying that it's fair that's not the point the point is that God is achieving a purpose through this that is making it clearer and clearer what he put me on the earth for so touch somebody and say I'm making progress I'm making progress and as long as I know I'm making progress I can endure anything I'm glad it happened I was reminiscing with the friend about something that happened earlier this year what happened was so horrible at the time we didn't think we can make it through but you know when we were talking about it and looking back on it we realized that some things are so much better now come on now how many of you can relate somebody broke up with you and you thought you couldn't make it without them and then you look them up on Facebook and you fell on your knees and thank God that broke your heart all thank God they weren't interested in me look what could have been look what the Lord has done I don't always understand the reason but I praise God for the result this takes faith can you praise God for the result of a situation that is not yet resolved not to say ten years later I'm glad it happened but while you're still sitting in a Roman prison cell can you say God if you're gonna get some glory out of this I'm glad Paul might have talked to Lazarus he might have I don't know when Lazarus died the second time now the first time he died was weird because Jesus knew he was sick and he was about to go to him but he delayed his trip to let him die weirdest thing in the world for the Son of God the savior of humankind the compassionate Christ the one who combs the hair of lambs on his lap as he sings lullabies to the lambs you know the Jesus you always hear about he says something so shocking to his disciples when they came to him with the news that Lazarus who he loved had died and I want to put it on the screen because you won't believe it's in the Bible if I don't show it to you he told his disciples plainly Lazarus is dead watch what comes next not weeping not tears but for your sake I'm glad [Applause] I'm glad it happened I'm glad I didn't get there in time to heal him I'm glad because now I get to show you a level of my glory that you could not see if I had shown up and done what you thought I should do I'm glad it happened I looked at my friend I said you know I wouldn't choose what we went through but I don't think I'd change it either I don't think I would change it see I'm glad it happened whatever it may be for you I'm not talking about the promotion of course you're glad that happened I'm not talking about the miracle breakthrough that you got to check in the mail the tax refund of course you're glad that happened I'm talking about the thing that other people feel sorry for you about having the faith to say I'm glad for my weakness it led me to deeper strength getting quiet at the praise party I know how to preacher you into a little bit of frenzy I could do that any time this is the deep work that requires Matt or faith to be able to look at something when I grew up in the Methodist Church we used to have in the youth group we had prayer requests and praise reports this is old school why don't we bring that back in the church that would be wonderful pastor Stephen no people are too crazy and I will not give them the mic okay all right that's great but paul paul with a messed up praise report some prayer requests because the praise report says where you put the good stuff and the prayer request is where you put the bad stuff but paul has reached the point in his life now where he said i don't know the difference anymore my prayer requests have become my brace reports cuz i know y'all are praying for me to get out of prison but i gotta be honest with you I'm running a revival and I'm not sure I'm ready to leave yet so could y'all bring the prayers down a little bit cuz I think there's something God still wants to do while I'm in this prison are y'all clapping to be polite or do you really believe that some of the things you would have prayed away are the instruments of change and see Pope Paul has no problem rejoicing because he knows the result he knows the result when I showed grammar Aki for I wasn't nervous when Drago won the first three rounds why I know how this ends some of y'all need to look at 2018 before it even gets started and declare in the face of the devil nervous I'm not worried I'm not anxious I'm not freaked out stressed out maxed out know how this is that take 18 seconds right here and praise him for how it is oh the temple hates this he makes when you get plan about what your eyes have not seen and your ears have not God is going to get some glory out of everything I've gone through and the more I've gone through the greater the glory shout about that this is a resurrection moment what about it I'm glad about it I'm not glad about the pain I'm glad that in the pain it's a purpose I'm glad about it somebody say I'm glad about it I'm glad about it I cried enough about it I spent enough time wishing it would go away but now I'm standing here with my praise intact in my right mind I'm glad about it I'm glad I'm glad they rejected me showed me that God was enough and I don't need them where'd y'all go on that one where did you go ahead and hear anything on that one and so Paul makes a resolution now he he made the revision he set the record straight and he said I want you to know what really was really happening here cuz y'all are feeling sorry for me but don't don't feel sorry for me I'm getting results God's getting some glory through my life don't don't feel sorry for me some of y'all need to call some people and say I don't need you to apologize and then if you want to mess with their whole mental state send them a gift card whoever hurt you know I'm serious about it when I first preached it will happen I told you about that message did I tell you about it I can't remember it was a it was a it was a real tough message to preach because I preached it under attack for our church was under his hat about something that was very important to us which was our baptisms and there was a fictitious story run by a very unethical and scrupulous journalist who insinuated that we faked baptisms in our church now I got to be careful right now because this is on tape and everything like that and they send the archives forever and I don't want to say anything right here that could hurt me at a future point can I tell you I'm actually glad that he did what he did because when when he ran that story at the time he ran the story and said we faked our baptisms we did baptisms only once a year and occasionally throughout but when he ran the story I got the idea that may be the area that they're attacking us is the area where we should advance and now now we do baptisms every week so now please I am NOT asking for another story but I can say about that one I'm glad it happened I am I'm sorry I know it sounds kind of sadistic I know it sounds kind of weird to be glad that somebody came against me but I'm glad it happened arts aren't you glad that the storm stripped away everything that you really didn't need so you could know what was core to the essential nature of who Christ made you to be I'm so glad that you're not going into the next year carrying dead weight of worthless relationships aren't you glad that God closed some doors so that you wouldn't spend years of your life in the wrong room I'm glad it happened I am glad it happened I'm glad I might not be able to smile when I say it but I'm getting there I'm glad I'm glad it happened he said I I made a resolution how about this just one new year's resolution this the only one you really need I mean do everything else you want to do to save the money put the kid to college fund go to the moon with Elon Musk I don't care what you do but do this too this is 18 B yes and I will continue to rejoice now that's the resolution I worry about that word rejoice because I think that you might think that it only means this or this no he's making a decision or a resolution because remember resolution is a decision not an event I'm not waiting to see how this turns out before I make my decision about my faith so I reflect and I expect and Paul says I don't know how this is gonna turn out yeah they might kill me I don't know what you're going through this right now but it ain't this bad that's why I brought Paul to the praise party because if I say this crap you might just think I had never been through anything but you haven't been through you you you haven't had your life on the line for the gospel not yet so Paul says I want you to know I've made my resolution and I will continue to rejoice Oh Paul did you get good news are they about to release you don't know resolution is not an event it's a decision now watch the decision is verse 20 verse 20 he says oh we gotta get it we got to get nineteen as well it's just too good I can't do this to nineteen I can't I can't leave my team sitting right there just look at all pretty for I know that through your prayers and God's provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ what has happened somebody say I'm glad it happened I want that ringing in your spirit so you go out really confessing it and really declaring it and really living in that state of rejoicing that is not dependent on the outcome of your situation I know that what has happened to me will turn out for my deliverance [Applause] here's the word I eagerly expect how many remember I preached a whole sermon on the the Greek word that Paul made up because he couldn't find a word in the lexicon that described how he felt about the situation because he couldn't say I have a good feeling about this little oh I'm enthusiastic bill it wasn't one of those things it was a from the gut gladness that only comes when your sole priority is the glory of God and nothing else holds weight in the court of your reasoning so he made up a word from three different words remember apple cara doe kia three words apple to look away cara head doe kia stretch Paul said I'm chained to the floor but these chains make a good sermon prop because my feet are bound but my mind is free and I can't change my situation right now but I can make up my mind and here's what I've decided and I need about a hundred and thirty people who will make this decision I eagerly expect in other words I stretch my head toward my future I can see we need some exercise stand up I'm gonna help you with your new year's resolution you wanted to exercise more we're gonna do it before you hit the parking lot tonight high five your neighbors say I'm glad it happened I'm glad it happened I'm glad it happened now I want you to do me a favor everybody ever campus even the cool people who are too cool to high-five your neighbor every time I tell you to high-five your neighbor I want you to turn around 180 degrees now if you are geometrically challenged you should be facing the opposite direction a moment ago all right the Word of God on this pulpit represents the promises that God has made to you in the future that he has in store and we came tonight to reflect but also to expect you can't go into what's next that has your name on it your next assignment your next breakthrough your next level of influence your next season of real joy you can't go into it facing this way what happened happened it happened whether you wanted it to or not whether it was your fault or not happened acknowledge it there were some disappointments this year some stuff that broke your heart but you cannot experience the purpose of God in 2018 with your head in your past I hear the Spirit of God saying tonight is turnaround time its turnaround time don't turn around yet messing up my illustration Paul said I eagerly expect what that what has happened to me will turn out for my deliverance I want you to turn 90 degrees 90 degrees just 90 just 90 this 90 degrees I don't care which 90 just 90 preferably so you're facing someone else could you face somebody hey now shut up don't strike up a conversation but listen listen to me you can't go into this next year facing your past and you can't go into this next year facing other people you cannot look to them and compare yourself to them and compare your situation to theirs not in going to the future that God has for you Paul said I want you to know that what has happened to me what God has for me is for me sometimes we are so busy comparing our situation to the situation of others we are locked in cycles of resentment and regret but it's turnaround time somebody shot us turnaround time now I want you to turn another 90 degrees and we all should be facing forward this is where this is where I'm facing I got my eyes with the camera on the put the camera on the pulpit I got my eyes on the word that God spoke to me my eyes are on the high calling of God in Christ Jesus I got my head out my past I got my feet in my lane I got my eyes on the prize for which God called me heavenward in Christ I'm glad it happened I'm glad it happened I'm glad for the dangers the toils the snares I'm glad for the battles I'm glad for the blessings I came tonight to give you praise for all of it God all things work together for the good that's I'm call come on we only got a few minutes to get ready for what's next we only got a few minutes to get ready somebody shot I'm ready now and they peace with what's behind me my eyes are on the joy set before me and there is a battle range of love me [Music] [Applause]

Channel: Elevation Church

Views: 774,718

Rating: 4.8832455 out of 5

Keywords: New Years, Steven Furtick, Elevation church, church, resolution, New Years resolution, why do things happen, trust, faith, how to trust the process, process

Id: uUu4_VIeTzs

Length: 49min 3sec (2943 seconds)

Published: Mon Jan 01 2018