Something Good Is Here Right Now! | Holly Furtick | Elevation Church

come on put it in the chat right now if you say i'm a giver i'm a giver i'm a giver i'm a giver thank you lord for all these faithful givers for the seed they've sown thank you for holly thank you for the life that she lives the woman that she is thank you for how beautiful she is inside and out today god would you speak through her the exact thing we need to hear we are listening we are ready for a holly jolly christmas we thank you lord in jesus name y'all thank god for holly as she comes well merry christmas i have to say welcome to those of you who are watching online and all of our campuses today i am so glad to know that you are prioritizing the word of god in your life and in your family during the busiest season of the year and i believe that god is going to multiply your time today you're going to accomplish everything you need to accomplish in the next six days roughly 150 hours till christmas but who's counting not me before you sit down i just want to read my uh passage really quick if you have a bible i'm going to be in luke chapter 2 verse 8. if you don't have a bible it's going to be on the screen there for you luke 2 says and there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby keeping watch over their flocks at night an angel of the lord appeared to them and the glory of the lord shone around them and they were terrified the angel said to them do not be afraid i bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people today in the town of david a savior has been born to you he is the messiah the lord this will be assigned to you you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger let's pray lord would you speak to us today god would you help us to clear our minds of all the thoughts that are flying through our heads the things that we need to do the burdens that are on our shoulders god we set it all aside right now and we ask for you to speak to us we are listening we know you have a message for us today and god for all the delivery men and women out there would you bless them would you help them not to get lost driving around would you keep them safe and would you bring our packages safely to our doorsteps in jesus name amen you can be seated thank you worship team anyone out there tracking a package let me see your hand are you tracking a package i don't know if it's a gift or a curse that technology has allowed us to literally see where our packages are at all times except for some of these apps that are not quite accurate and they're driving me crazy i thought that i was doing really good this year when i started christmas shopping in october i'm telling you never ever have i christmas shopped before black friday but this year i was like scared the today show had me nervous and nothing was gonna get here and so i started in october but i gotta tell you it has been no less stressful for me because i have spent the entire month of december obsessively tracking my packages i currently have one package that i know is not gonna make it here by christmas and i have three that i keep hitting refresh on and it's gonna be a christmas miracle if they arrive in time how many of you believe in christmas miracles yes okay so last week one of the things that i had ordered for steven hadn't come in yet and so i went and found the email and i found the tracking number and when i clicked on it my heart sank because it said canada post and i didn't realize that my package was coming from a foreign country nothing against our canadian friends shout out to those of you watching at our toronto campus but my package sat at your border for three days how do i know because i checked it every day i kept the canada post tab open in my browser and i just i kept clicking reflect refresh and on day two i started to panic and i imagine my package getting lost in a giant pile of boxes at customs because i know canada is really much more strict about covet and all these things and maybe my package had covered and so i i started thinking of backup gifts and then on the third day i refreshed in the item the the the thing said item has arrived in foreign country usa how many of you thank god for the third day for believing god for some third day packages this christmas i think one of the best and the worst parts of christmas is mail because on one hand i'm constantly tracking my packages but on the other hand the relief and the pure joy that can be felt when you pull into your driveway and you see a pile of boxes on your front door some of the men in here are like i do not feel pure joy when i see all those boxes but sir eric phillips happy birthday you were not waiting for a christmas miracle and the feeling when you start to read those return labels and you realize that your gift is here it's amazing it is a great feeling amen anybody know that feeling okay last week steven taught us something good is coming from this were you here if you were here do the motions with me he said this he said something good is coming from this remember and he told us that if anything good can come from nazareth then something good is coming from this and i loved it when he said don't leave egypt without going through the gift shop because he made fun of me but you guys i love a gift shop i have loved gift shops since i was 10 years old i don't know why i love a gift shop if you don't buy the mug were you really even there you have to have proof that you were there something good is coming from this what a promise he gave us to hold on to and i thought about it all week and i kept thinking about how so many people are going through a dark season in their lives right now you might be watching and thinking i wish my biggest christmas my biggest worry this christmas season was making sure that my packages got delivered on time i've been thinking a lot about my friend kimberly whose 14 year old son has cancer and he has been fighting for his life in the hospital and how she hasn't seen her 12 year old son for two months and i know that many of you are going through maybe a divorce or you lost your job or you lost a loved one this year and you don't even want to celebrate christmas and i just want to say to you that if it feels dark to you this year if you i want you to know that i'm praying for you and i'm also so thankful that you are here with us in church today because god can handle your disappointments and your doubts and when you come to church where you log on to your computer and you take time and you worship god even in the midst of a difficult season you're sending a message to yourself and to the enemy that you may be under attack but you are not going to go down and i believe i'm praying that you are going to go out of here today full of faith and joy and hope in your heart because god has given me a message for you so this week when i was reading this passage luke 2 about the shepherds and i kept praying about what god wanted me to say to you and i had all these things but they weren't all coming together and i was thinking there's only six days left till christmas and god what do you want me to say and i finally figured out he wants me to give you part two of pastor steven's sermon from last week all right so last week we learned something good is coming from this this week part two we've got some new motions goes like this something good is here right now okay let's do it one more time one more time ready because now you got it okay something good is here right now right now right now today i want to take the story of the shepherds and show you that not only is something good coming from this from your situation but also something good is here right now romans 8 28 tells us that god is working all things for good but what i am learning is that while i'm waiting for god to do this good work there is good to be found in every situation in every person in every moment right here so in our time that we have together i want to show you three things to remember this holiday season that will help you focus on the good in the middle of the chaos in the middle of the loneliness in the middle of your dysfunction in the middle of every single situation that you face are you ready let's go let's look at the first two verses that we read luke tells us in verse 8 and the shepherds were living out in the fields nearby keeping watch over their flocks at night and an angel of the lord appeared to them the first thing that i want to point out to you is that god is here not there one of the themes that i love about the christmas story in the bible is how god chooses the least likely people to carry out his plan it's not just in the christmas story it's all throughout the bible but when we think about the christmas story mary was she was not an experienced mother she was just a girl joseph was not the son of a prominent community leader or a bible scholar yet god chose them two ordinary people to care for and protect and raise jesus and then when it came time to spread the news of the birth of his son god chose the shepherds now when we picture the shepherds i think that we picture this you i just grabbed this little case since the book was better the book is always better um if i have any book lovers out there i think that we picture this i took this from my foyer for some reason my nativity set only has one shepherd i'm not sure why i never noticed that before there were shepherds in the field but anyway i think we picture this guy and you know he's got this peaceful these peaceful little lambs that are you know looking up at him and and he's got this this this baby lamb in his arms and and he's got this beautiful white robe and the shepherd thing on his head and he just looks so good and and peaceful i mean he's holding a lamb right that's my perception of what the shepherds were like but actually during this period of history shepherds were some of the lowest in society first of all just purely because of their work with animals they were considered unclean by jewish law and and just just because of the nature of their job this made them an outcast from the community on a regular basis but not just that they were also commonly assumed to be dishonest and untrustworthy people now if i was god i'm if you're glad i'm not god my kids are glad i'm not god if i was god i would have chosen the priests right they were the ones who knew all about the ancient prophecies they were the ones who had experience in spiritual matters and they were respected in the community why didn't the angel go to the temple but instead the angels went to the field and i think it's funny how god works because most of the time in my experience he doesn't show up there the place where you think he should he shows up here the place where you are the shepherds were some of the least respected people in the community they were going to be the first to receive the announcement of the birth of the king of god's son not in the temple but out in the field and i believe that god is sending you and i the message today that you don't have to change anything about yourself for god to reveal himself to you you don't have to get clean you don't have to be successful you don't have to be a bible prophecy expert you don't even have to be an exceptionally good person your accomplishments your status your appearance do not qualify you in a spiritual sense now obviously as we grow in our relationship with god we do change and we do mature and god doesn't want you to stay where you are but who you are right now is all you need to be for god to reveal himself to you right now in this moment it's your position that's important god reveals himself to those who have space to hear him who have room to receive him the shepherds didn't have a high position in human terms but in spiritual terms they were perfectly positioned because they were in the field at night outside of the hustle and bustle of town life they were not sleeping comfortably with the roof over their head and worn blankets they were outside in the dark i don't want to have to remind you about being kept in the dark i hope you were paying attention two weeks ago if not you go back two weeks and hear pastor steven talk about being kept in the dark but i gotta tell you if you feel like you are outside and in the dark this christmas if you feel lost and confused if you feel like no one sees you you just might be in the best position to hear from god i think that god knew he knew that he could get the shepherd's attention because they were away from the noise of the town in my experience god does not need me to be a certain way in order for him for me to hear him speak but he does not shout and he does not compete with all the other things that i have going on in my life and for me the biggest hindrance to my relationship with god is my schedule when my life is busy and hurried and rushed i have no space for god to speak to me i have no time for god to speak to me and every time the holiday season comes around every single time you think i'd get this figured out but i get so caught up in the rush of everything that i that everything that i have to do everything that i've committed to do that i end up limping into the new year feeling depleted because i've just spent the last month trying to worship jesus and this year i feel like god is saying to me hey holly i didn't ask for all of that decorating your home with beautiful decorations that's great and all the delicious meals and all the gifts that you buy for people that's great but what god wants from me this christmas is my attention the message can you give him your attention the message that the angel delivered was the king is here today and i want you to know he's here he's here in this room he's here in your car he's here in your kitchen he's here at your desk he's here in your thoughts right where you are just how you are you don't have to wait until you get there to experience god don't wait until christmas eve to experience jesus it's not about there it's about here this present moment take a breath can you make some space for god in your life because something good is here not when i get over it now when i get through it now when i get past it it's here right now come on okay i can't wait to tell you this next part because god gave me this next part first and i have been waiting for several weeks to tell you this next part i don't want to like over over promise and under deliver but it's really good okay so look look at what the shepherd uh look at what the scripture says what the angel said to the shepherds verse 9 an angel of the lord appeared to them and the glory of the lord shone around them and they were terrified but the angel said to them do not be afraid i bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people today in the town of david a savior has been born to you he is the messiah the lord are you ready for this here's number two god has good things to say to you don't be afraid i bring you good news i grew up in church in fact i would challenge anyone who is in this room or watching online today that i have spent more time in church than you some of you heard me say this before but my dad was a pastor my whole life i rarely missed a sunday or a wednesday church in fact the same is kind of true for my kids abby has strep throat she's backstage right now watching but then when i was in high school my parents joined this traveling revival ministry where we held services almost every night and then i went to a christian college and then as you know i married a pastor and i'm so grateful for the foundation that my parents gave me in my faith it it made me the person that i am today but somewhere along the lines and no fault to you mom and dad hey my parents are watching at our greenville location somewhere along the lines i spent a lot of my teen years and my young adult life missing what it means to actually have a relationship with christ because i thought that most of the time when god speaks to you it's because you have broken a rule in fact i remember a sunday school lesson where we memorized numbers 32 23 this is what it says behold you have sinned against the lord and be sure your sin will find you out i still remember it and oftentimes when i would think about my relationship with god i would think about the things that i'm not supposed to do as a believer in christ and i would imagine that when god would speak to me it would be about something that i needed to stop doing now listen before i get to the good news part sometimes when god speaks to us it is to correct us sometimes it is to direct us or redirect us or stop us from doing something really dumb and when god speaks these things to us like be kinder to your spouse be honest in your schoolwork be faithful in your job it can be really hard to receive nobody wants to hear hey you need to change this so so yes that is a part of having a relationship with god but listen to me say this this is so important if you only hear me say one thing today i want you to hear me say this jesus came so that you and i do not have to be afraid of god even when god speaks to correct us he does it as a loving father not a condemning judge four times in the christmas story the characters are told not to be afraid i gotta tell you about him the first time is in luke 1 13 and the angel says to zechariah fear not your prayers have been answered and i believe that god wants you to know today that he hears your prayers you don't have to be afraid that your prayers are going nowhere god hears you then in luke 30 luke 1 30 the angel told mary fear not you have found favor with god and i believe that god wants you to know today that you are blessed and highly favored you are his child and he is proud of you and he has good gifts that he wants to give you this christmas season and then in matthew 1 30 the lord said to joseph do not be afraid to take mary as your wife god wants you to know that you don't have to be afraid to do the things that you know that he is calling you to do don't be afraid to forgive don't be afraid to give of your time of your gifts of your money don't be afraid to love when god directs you like he did joseph he's gonna be with you the whole way he's gonna send you the wise men and give you the gifts that you need to carry you on to egypt and then the fourth time is the angels to the shepherds and the angel says do not be afraid i bring you good news that will bring great joy to all the people i read a quote this week that said all fear is the notion that god's love ends and i want to tell you today don't be afraid of what your loving father wants to speak to you today first john 4 18 there is no fear in love because perfect love drives out fear fear has to do with punishment and jesus did not come to earth to punish us he came to earth to save us he came to earth to atone for our sins not to condemn us again and again and again about them the funny thing about that verse in numbers it said your sin will find you out and i think that my sin does a pretty good job of finding me out most of us are doing a great job feeling ashamed of the mistakes that we have made most of us are well aware of the consequences of our poor choices the message of jesus is repentance not shame and condemnation and god did not send his son to rub your mistakes in your face he sent his son because he loves you and his love for you is endless it's beyond anything that you can fathom there is nothing that you can do that will make god stop loving you i gotta say that again because i want it to sink in there is nothing that you can do that will make god stop loving you and what god wants for you is to have a relationship with you that is the gospel you know what is actually literally translated good news he has good news that he wants to speak to you does anybody need some good news today there's a lot of bad news out there there's a lot of scary news i'm scared about my packages a lot of these my husband will come home and i'll tell him i oh i've got something to tell you and he'll look at me and say is it good or bad and i'm not an angel but i do have some good news for you today and i believe that you came to church today because god wanted to speak some good news to your heart so listen to me here's some good news you are loved and accepted just the way you are good news good news god sent his one and only son to earth for you good news god is for you not against you good news you are not alone good news you are more than a conqueror good news god has put his spirit inside of you to comfort you and to guide you don't let fear keep you from receiving the good news that god has for you because this news will bring you joy an unexplainable knowing that makes you smile from the inside out no matter what's going on around you something good is here good news and great joy that's what god wants you to experience this christmas the bible tells us that when sarah abraham's wife finally held her son in her arms at the age of 90 and she saw the promise of god fulfilled in flesh you know what she said she said god has brought me laughter i want you to laugh this christmas season i want you to smile not because everything's great in your life but because you have heard good news and it caused you to feel great joy joy is the secret of christmas and it is here for you right now when you receive the good news of jesus look back at what the angel said let's keep going verse 11. today something good is here right now not tomorrow today in the town of david a savior has been born to you he is the messiah the lord this will be assigned to you you will find the baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger and suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel praising god and saying glory to god in the highest and on earth peace to on those to those on whom his favor rests and when the angels had left them and gone into heaven the shepherds said to one another let's go to bethlehem and see this thing that has happened which the lord has told us about so they hurried off and found mary and joseph and the baby who was lying in a manger all right so something good is here right now but it might not be in plain sight that's my last point too today god wants you to find the good one the angel says to the shepherds you will find the baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger and the shepherd said let's go find it and they hurried off and the bible says they found mary and joseph and the baby who was lying in a manger how many of you know that what that you will find what you're looking for this christmas if you're looking for drama you're not gonna have to search very hard if you're looking for a reason to be annoyed you shouldn't have too much trouble finding that if you're looking for a fight if you're looking for the negative it's gonna be right there in plain sight but i came today to tell you six days before christmas 150 hours something good is here right now are you looking for it the first christmas that steven and i lived in charlotte steven's parents came to our house to celebrate christmas in the past we had always driven down to their house but this particular year we had a brand new baby and we were busy building the launch team of elevation which would begin services sunday morning services the following february and stephen was providing for our family in that season by traveling and preaching at every little don't picture this church basement picture that every little youth group speaking event that he could fit into his calendar and then spending every free second of his time planting this church we were stretched then in every way with time with money with everything and so his parents generously came to us and on christmas morning one of the gifts that we opened was a hundred dollar gift card to walmart from steven's uncle and this was a big deal to us we were super grateful for that gift his uncle had never really given us a gift that big before and so it was just a wonderful pleasant surprise and a few weeks later steve was headed out the door and he said hey where's that gift card that uncle russell gave us and i you know i got a bad feeling and um so you know i casually started looking in like the normal places you would like in my wallet i was like was it in your wallet and we couldn't find it anywhere so then we both started looking and we looked and we looked and i'm not going to lie to you we got into a fight i was gonna say a little fight we got into a big fight over it this was not my finest mrs better half moment we fought over who had the card last we fought over whose fault it was missing we fought over why we couldn't be more responsible human beings we're like grown-up adults now and why didn't we value the card more and it wasn't good and um eventually we stopped looking and we went our separate ways and i just decided it must have accidentally been thrown away two years later i was decorating our house for christmas and in the bottom of the storage bin of decorations was that hundred dollar gift card to walmart it had been in the house all along now guys i gotta tell you i looked in empty suitcases diaper bags wallets drawers pockets cars everything that i could think of to look but i never thought to look in the christmas decoration ben and it just made me think that a lot of the things that we're searching for are at the bottom of places that you don't think to look three times in ten verses in the bible luke tells us that the baby would be found in a manger why did he say manger three times in ten verses i think it's because a manger is the last place that you would think to look for a baby that's how they were gonna know it was the right baby the angel didn't say go look for a newborn baby because quite frankly all newborn babies look the same they're scrunchy and goopy and crying they look like little aliens i'm not really a baby person but look for a baby in a manger now that's not something that you see every day because a manger was a feeding trough for animals a manger was an ordinary mundane glorified dog bowl and throughout time there are a lot of places that people might put a baby a crib cradle a basket a drawer a person's arms but the last place that you would think to find a baby would be a feeding trough and the message to the shepherds it's the same message to us something good is here right now today but it's not gonna be where you expect it but when you find it amazing it's gonna bring you great joy and you're never gonna be the same again last week when pastor stephen was ending his message have you ever the people who like to take notes sometimes when pastor stephen says stand up put your notebooks down and then he says like the best things and i'm like no no no no so last week at the very end of his message he just like shoots off things that i would make a whole message around and he tells us he says be looking for the good and he said you're gonna find it this christmas in dirty places annoying people and simple moments when he said that i was like whoa i think that's my sermon so i wrote it down and i just want to just uh you know expound on that because i like more words than him right now today can you find the good in the dirty places of your life the places that you don't want anyone to see you know the unfiltered places that no one's going to see in your facebook feed on your christmas card we all have those places your marriage is a manger it's messy it's imperfect and there are places in it that you don't want anyone to see but there is good to be found in your marriage can you find the good and annoying people there's good in your teenager there's good in that annoying co-worker that you sit next to or work with every day what if this christmas season you went around looking for the good in your family now this might be actually this is harder to live out than it is for me to just say it from the stage but let's all together try to rather than seeing the things that drive you crazy about people maybe you can focus on the things that they do well surely you can find something or the things that they have been through that can give you compassion for the way that they act or the way that they treat you or treat others there's good to be found and then there's what he said the simple moments can we just spend some time over the next few days seeing finding looking for the mundane manger moments this week i started thinking about the simple moments in my life and i want to see the good in the ordinary moments because you see when i said at the beginning god wants you to have space to hear him god what god wants you to have space in your schedule i'm not saying that you have to get up earlier or stay up later or cancel something i'm saying can you see the good in everything that you do like like driving my kids to school simple every day and let me tell you the verdict children they do not have a mother who is a pleasant morning person and most days we leave our house 7 10 that's the goal and most days the traffic is bad and i'm dropping them we're like peeling in on two wheels at the last second and i'm like run get any ideas there are not beautiful meaningful conversations going on in your pastor's wife's car in the morning but i know that one day i will just i will miss just breathing the same air as them for 25 minutes in the car in the morning it's a simple moment a simple moment like i need to do a better job at smiling at people if you have a mask on you know some people love the mask because you don't have to smile with your eyes see the people that are around you simple moments like staying a little bit longer at the dinner table it wasn't a perfect meal that we had this last monday and no one went back for seconds but i told everyone we are eating together at 6 45 on monday night and i want everyone to be there and we sat down and we ate together and it wasn't about the food it was about the time around the table you've got simple moments in your job simple moments in your laundry god comes through mangers the ordinary the places that you don't think to look major moments it's an opportunity to look for god in the unexpected to see him in your work to see him in all your roles in all your mess you don't have to deny the dark you don't have to pretend like everything is amazing i know that this didn't turn out the way that you expected but what i want to say to you today is don't let your unmet expectations keep you from seeing the gifts that are all around you and the greatest gift of all matthew 1 23 tells us the virgin will conceive and give birth to a son and they will call him emmanuel which means god with us the gift of christmas is that you are not alone god is with you he's here right now something good is here right now it is jesus emmanuel god with us he is with you in your pain he is with you in your disappointment he is with you when you feel like you're being kept in the dark he is with you in all of the ordinary moments and tasks of your day something good is here right now now i don't want to end on a down note i want you to walk out of here like i said with a smile on your face that came up from the inside so here's what we're gonna do stand up and don't you dare leave right now don't you dare turn your computer off you're gonna miss the best part and i went a lot shorter than pastor steven does every single week so there's no rush to leave all right what i want you to do first let's do our motions okay ready something good is here right now i want you to turn to the person next to you and tell them something good can be anything anything [Music] all right all right i told you i was going to get you out of here turn to another person something good tell someone else something good something you're thankful for a person and answered prayers if you're watching online i want you to put it in the chat tell me something good right now something good we're looking for the good this week we're not going to wait on there because something good is here right now can i show you one more thing one more thing real quick look at verse 20. let me find it verse 20. of luke chapter 2 it says this the shepherds went back to their flocks glorifying and praising god for all that they had heard and seen it was just as the angel had told them they found the baby was in a manger just as the angels had said they worshipped the baby then they went into the town of bethlehem and they told everyone what they had seen and then what did they do what did it say put it back up what do you say oh i got it okay there it is the shepherds went back to their flocks glorifying and praising god when you walk out that door today you're going back to your box but you're not going back the same you're going back a new you with a new perspective because your eyes are open you've heard the good news it's brought you great joy you're gonna be looking for the good you're going out of there today back to your flocks but a new you let's pray lord we're going back to our flocks right now thank you for what you have shown us today thank you for your word thank you for the good news of jesus that brings us great joy god all day today would you just flood our hearts with good news good messages flood our hearts with your love open up our eyes as we close out 2021 we want to see the good that is here right now we're looking and god we thank you that you are with us emmanuel it's in jesus name we pray amen [Music] well thank you for joining us and being a part of elevation church today we trust that god spoke to you right where you are in this year-end season if you'd like to begin partnering with us financially head over to elevationchurch.org there you'll find all of the options and opportunities available for you to give if you haven't begun tithing or placing god first in the air of your finances we'd encourage you to start there if you already do that and do that consistently we'd encourage you to ask god how you can go above and beyond in this season and give toward the year end offering we always love to see how god works in and through you right where you are so if you're a part of one of our local campuses make sure you select that campus as part of your offering if you're a part of our online community or our efam make sure you just select online we always love seeing how god works in and through you as you continue to open up your life open up your hands and offer god all that you are we're excited for you blessed that you're a part of what god is doing right here and can't wait to see how he moves in and through your life as you continue to place him first

Channel: Elevation Church

Views: 208,912

Keywords: elevation church, holly furtick, something good is here right now, elevation church sermons, pastor holly furtick, holly furtick sermons, 2021 sermons, steven furtick, pastor steven furtick, steven furtick sermons, preaching, preacher, something good, good news, you are not alone, Christmas, perspective, expectation, demeanor, seasons, support system, hardships, good, positivity, simple moments, dark seasons, making space, sermons about perspective, sermons about expectation

Id: aWl0VnyhthY

Length: 47min 44sec (2864 seconds)

Published: Mon Dec 20 2021