Don’t Quit Before God Moves | Steven Furtick

0:00 I decided to set this sermon up by giving you a  little personal anecdote from my life experience.  

0:09 I have never coached one of my children in sports.  I just decided that my enthusiasm about being  

0:17 their dad shouldn't punish the other children  on the team with my lack of expertise in sports.

0:24 I think you know what I'm talking about.  I think you've all had that coach,  

0:27 cussed out that coach, and complained about  that coach. I always coached them personally  

0:32 on the sidelines. Graham said something so  devious the other day, because he's a good  

0:36 little wrestler now. A good big wrestler now.  He's not little. He's the same size as me.

0:46 He said, "I thought you were so OP  as a wrestler when I was little,  

0:52 but now that I look back and realize how  little you actually knew about wrestling, it's  

0:57 amazing to me how much you coached me, knowing  almost nothing about the sport." That's funny.  

1:07 I try to coach my kids for the  challenges of their life. Of course,  

1:11 you know they didn't sign up to be on your  team, so they don't care much to listen  

1:15 to your advice, and you can't kick them  off, so you are limited in your coaching.

1:20 But, all joking aside, I have found it to  be one of the greatest and most stretching  

1:26 challenges and privileges of my life just to  be there for them, especially in those moments…  

1:33 My oldest son Elijah called me from college  last semester. This is one of those moments.  

1:40 I think in the transition of being a freshman  in college, he just wanted to hear my voice on  

1:45 a few things, but I could tell he was down  and he was low. That happens to all of us.

1:50 After we pushed past that a little  bit, I said, "I'll tell you what. Do  

1:56 you want to call me back at, like, 3:00 and have  something to write with, and I'll coach you up a  

2:01 little bit? I'll coach you as if you paid me to do  it." He said, "I would love that." So he called me  

2:10 at the scheduled time of the appointment.  We did. We set up an actual appointment.

2:15 I said, "Okay. What I think you're feeling  right now is you are feeling like all of  

2:22 the resources you relied on when you  lived at home… You're still resourced,  

2:27 and you still have us at college, but everything  is new to you. When I get in that place where,  

2:34 in my personal life, I feel like I have reached  the end of my resources, and I get in that funk…

2:42 You know, the Devil starts telling me the same  things he's telling you as a college student,  

2:46 but he tells me them as a grown man, that  I have nothing really to offer or that my  

2:52 best is behind me or that I'm no longer  relevant or that the things my critics  

2:58 have said about me are right. You know,  the list goes on and on. I don't want to  

3:04 bore you with it. When I get in that  place, I've learned to make a list."

3:08 So I told him, "I'm going to take you through  this today of how to make a list when you feel  

3:12 low." I said, "One list that I, of course,  make that I've taught you about is gratitude,  

3:17 things to be grateful for.  You've heard about that."

3:20 There's nobody who has a TikTok account who hasn't  heard the importance of a gratitude list. I said,  

3:26 "There's another type of list I like to make,  and it's when I'm basically telling myself I'm  

3:31 in this alone and nobody is there for me. I know  that's not true, but it feels true emotionally.

3:37 I'll make a list of every person who is in my  life who has in a past time or even recently  

3:47 said they would be willing to help me or  who I think might be willing to help me  

3:52 even in the smallest way. If they ever helped  me before or if I think they might help me or  

3:57 if they mentioned one time that they would  help me, I will just start writing a list."

4:00 I said, "Now, the hardest part is going to be to  start the list, because right now you're feeling  

4:05 like, 'Well, nobody cares about me. Nobody likes  me.' But that's just recency bias. That's just the  

4:12 last thing that happened to you posing as the  biggest thing that happened to you. It's not.

4:21 As you begin to write, what you're going to find  is… When you start writing with no discretion,  

4:25 with no editing, you'll have a hard time  stopping writing the list. Don't qualify  

4:30 anything. Don't asterisk anything. Don't 'Yeah,  but they might, but then if they do that for me,  

4:36 I've got to do that for them.' Then, if you  can't do that, how about somebody you could  

4:39 do something for?" Y'all are quiet. Y'all  liked the first part of the list better.

4:46 I said, "Sometimes it's better to even say, 'Well,  

4:48 who's somebody I could encourage? Who's  somebody I could send a text to?'" I said,  

4:54 "When you start the list, you'll have to stop  yourself because once you start… Trust me." So,  

5:01 we did it together on the phone. What I said would  happen, happened, because I'm a good coach, just  

5:06 not at sports. So, he starts writing the list,  and he's like, "This is crazy. This is amazing.  

5:13 You're right. This is crazy. And they know them,  and I know…" I said, "See? See how it happens?"

5:18 "Now you have to stop, because now I'm going  to tell you the next hardest part of this.  

5:22 I'm going to need you to act on at least one  of them and reach out because you feel low.  

5:32 I want you to learn the pattern in your life  that when you feel low on resource, reach in,  

5:40 and then reach out. You don't have to reach  out to everybody on the list, and you don't  

5:49 have to ask them to do something, and you don't  have to stand there and stare at the bubbles.

5:54 The third hardest part of this,  and the hardest part of all,  

5:57 is after you reach out, I need you to  release your need for them to respond,  

6:06 because they might not. If you predicate your  happiness or your strength on their response,  

6:15 you could end up worse off after this  exercise than you were before you did it,  

6:20 because now it will have served to have reinforced  your insecurity that 'Nobody is there for me.'

6:27 So I need you to reach and release. That's what  we're going to do." And he did that. I told him,  

6:40 "You might reach out to somebody and  say, 'Hey, can we get together? Hey,  

6:43 remember when we talked about…?'" Because he  was in a state that we've all been in before,  

6:47 like, "I don't really have anything, and I don't  have that many people, and I don't have enough."

6:52 I said, "Well, the first thing you need to do  is remind yourself of the resources you have and  

6:57 then reach, but then release, because they might  get your text but it's just a bad time. It might  

7:08 just be a bad time. You might create stories  in your mind that 'They don't like me. They  

7:17 don't care about me. Something horrible happened  that they didn't tell me about. They're dead.'

7:22 No, they're not dead. They're just asleep, taking  a nap. It might just be a matter of timing."  

7:39 That's what I saw in John, chapter 2, this  time. In all of my sojourns through this text,  

7:45 joining the milieu of students of the Scripture  through the millennia who have wondered about  

7:50 this question: "Why is Jesus at a wedding when  he only has three years to change the world?"

7:59 You will recall that his life  was cut short at the age of 33.  

8:04 You will recall that for the first 30 years  of his ministry there is no record of his  

8:10 ministry activity, meaning everything  we have that was written about him,  

8:15 other than him getting lost at the temple one  time and sitting around with the older teachers…

8:21 Well, it simply isn't there for our  records. So, the question becomes,  

8:27 "Jesus, do you really have time to stop by  a wedding when you only have three years  

8:35 to change the world? And, I might add, your  discipleship team is not exactly executive,  

8:43 world-class material. You've got a lot of  work to do with these boys. Are you sure  

8:50 you want to take them to a wedding on the  first week that they're your disciples?"

8:54 Did you know that? This is the first week that  they're following Jesus. Everything in the text  

9:02 makes me think about the timing of Jesus. "On  the third day a wedding took place…" You're like,  

9:08 "Oh, yeah, the third day…resurrection." Not  yet. We still have a long way to go until  

9:14 Jesus gets up from the grave. He hasn't died  yet. He hasn't healed blind Bartimaeus yet.

9:19 He hasn't taught the Pharisees and the  Sadducees with authority and rebuked  

9:24 them for their stiff-necked adherence to  traditions of men rather than the ways  

9:28 of God. None of that has happened yet,  and it says, "On the third day he went  

9:34 to a wedding." The third day of…what? The  third day after he selected his disciples.

9:40 For years, I read this and thought it  was the third day of the wedding feast,  

9:44 because in these days they would  party for a week at a wedding.  

9:49 So I thought it meant the third day of the  wedding. That's not what it means. "On the  

9:53 third day a wedding took place at Cana…" So, we  realize from the very beginning of this text it's  

10:01 not happening on our timeline; it's happening on  his. Not your schedule. It's happening on his.

10:21 That is one of the most difficult  lessons for us to learn. Sometimes,  

10:26 when we believe a promise from God, we expect  that promise to happen according to our plan,  

10:34 but it's not happening according to my plan. It's  not happening on my say-so. It's not happening  

10:40 according to my preference. It's happening  according to his purpose. That being said,  

10:48 don't you want to kind of tell Jesus to read  a leadership book and learn how to say no?

10:54 Read the Scripture. It says, "On the third day  a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus'  

11:01 mother was there, and Jesus and his disciples  had also been invited to the wedding." So,  

11:08 you're running Jesus' scheduling.  You're his administrative assistant,  

11:11 and you're going through all of the  possible things that the Son of God,  

11:15 the perfect Word of God that was  made flesh and dwelt among us,  

11:18 the one through whom and by whom and for whom  all things were created that were created…

11:24 He's sitting down to plan the week, and they  say, "Jesus, we've got this wedding in Cana,  

11:29 but I told them no," and Jesus  says, "No. Actually, we're going."

11:36 "But, Jesus, it's a wedding, and  we've got to change the world."

11:40 "Yeah. No. We're going."

11:42 What I took from that that I want  to pass on to you is you might be  

11:48 surprised where Jesus would show up  if you would invite him. We do think  

11:59 we have to be almost going under to cry  out to him for help, and then he'll come.  

12:04 We do think we have to be going through the fire  of hell to call, and then he'll come. But what  

12:11 if he wants to join you in your moments  of celebration to make them even sweeter?

12:17 I don't mean you have to be weird  and stop at the ball game. "Lord,  

12:21 we thank you for that base hit, for,  God, you are the basis of every base hit,  

12:28 and on Christ the solid rock we…" No. Just  shut up and, in your heart, have a moment.  

12:39 What God can do in one open moment might change  the rest of your life, but if you are waiting  

12:46 on what you perceive to be a God moment, which  means, "I can call on him in the prison cell…"

12:52 Why not call on him and ask him to come to the  wedding feast too? He has time for this, and I  

13:01 think that's amazing. I think it's amazing that he  came to the wedding. I think it's amazing that he  

13:07 took the time to stop by. I think it's amazing  that we don't even know whose wedding it was,  

13:12 because who was at the wedding becomes even more  important than who was married at the wedding.

13:20 Jesus goes from the plus one to the miracle worker  in the eyes of the disciples, and that is where we  

13:28 pick up. He was invited to a wedding, and verse  3 says, "When the wine was gone…" It would seem  

13:52 to me that if he was already at the wedding and  intended to replenish the supply, it would have  

14:01 been better to do it when the wine was getting a  little low. He did not step in when the wine got  

14:11 low. It would seem to me that if he was coming  to the wedding and he is God in the flesh,  

14:19 he could have brought wine to the wedding, because  he knew they would run out if he's omniscient.

14:26 Herein lies one of the great mysteries of  the mercy of God. He lets the human supply  

14:33 completely run out before he steps in. Just  because you've run out doesn't mean he won't  

14:46 still step in. I could preach a whole revival on  that. I'm preaching to somebody out of energy,  

14:54 out of answers, out of ideas, out of  innovations, out of people to call,  

15:00 out of people to text. "I made my list. I went  through my list. Nobody hit me back. I'm out  

15:05 of time. I'm out of opportunities. I'm out." Just  because you're out doesn't mean he won't step in.

15:17 Now you know why we were singing earlier that  he's always on time. Even though there were  

15:23 some times where he didn't show up right when we  wanted him to, there were also some times when we  

15:32 learned some things in the lag time that we would  not have learned… Oh, I have to break this down.

15:40 If he had stepped in immediately… If the  wine never ran out, it would have been  

15:44 about the wine. If the job never dried  up, it would have been about the job.  

15:52 If the relationship would have always  stayed intact and always been easy,  

15:56 it would have been about that person. So he  let it get hard. He let it run out. He let it  

16:03 run dry. He let it lag a little bit so when  he stepped in there would be a revelation.  

16:10 Now there's a conversation between Mary, the  mother of Jesus, and Jesus, the Son of God.

16:17 This is humorous. You have to see  the humor in it, because I really  

16:21 can't tell what's going on at first. I really  can't. She turns to Jesus (verse 3) and says,  

16:26 "They have no more wine." Two words in Greek:  no wine. It's a very strange thing for her to  

16:33 say. She's not exactly asking him to fix  it, but I think she's implying he should.

16:41 It's one of these. It's like, "No wine," and  he goes, "Woman…" I'm like, "What?" He said,  

16:52 "Woman, why do you involve me?" This is hilarious  to me. "No wine." "Woman, what does that have to  

17:00 do with me?" Now watch this statement, because  we're talking about time. He said, "My hour has  

17:08 not yet come." Okay. So, she's not exactly asking  him to fix it, but she's implying that he could.

17:23 He's not exactly refusing to do it, but he's  implying that he might not. I can imagine all  

17:33 of the responses that Mary, the mother of Jesus,  would have had in this moment if she had had an  

17:39 attitude like many of us, because watch what  he said. "It's not my time." "Not your time?  

17:51 Son, I was a virgin." Think about this. "Not your  time? You came into my womb. Talk about not time.  

18:15 Then I carried you for nine months.

18:18 I was going to Bethlehem for a census, and,  

18:22 no, you couldn't wait for me to get back  home. I was on that donkey behind Joseph,  

18:27 and here you came in a barn. And you want to  talk about your time. Let's talk about time."  

18:44 Maybe it's not a problem. Maybe it's not  a controversy. Maybe it's not an argument.  

18:48 Maybe it's not a debate. Maybe it's not  manipulation. Maybe it's not reluctance.  

18:52 Maybe there's a pattern here. Let's see. He's  asked to do something. There's a request,  

19:03 there's a refusal, and then there's a revelation.

19:15 In John, chapter 7, Jesus' ministry is really  thriving. Many miracles have already been  

19:21 performed, many blind people have already received  sight, many of the deaf have been able to hear,  

19:26 and Jesus is popular. His brothers come to him  and say, "Now, if you really want to do this  

19:30 thing right, you need to get to Jerusalem  where the festival is, because they'll  

19:34 see you at the festival," and Jesus says  something interesting. He says, "Not now."

19:44 The Bible says Jesus' brothers went and  Jesus showed up with some sunglasses on  

19:50 a little bit later in the week. He  got there when he wanted to. Yeah,  

19:56 it's weird, isn't it? They said, "You need  to go to Jerusalem and show everybody who  

20:01 you are." He was like, "Oh, I'm going  to show them…on my time." He told them,  

20:08 "No," but what he was really saying  was, "Not now." There's a difference.

20:17 There were two sisters in a place called Bethany  in John, chapter 11. Often, they would host Jesus  

20:23 at their home. One of them loved to cook, and one  of them loved to listen. Jesus could speak and  

20:28 eat and speak and eat. He was in heaven in their  home. Eventually, their brother Lazarus, who many  

20:35 believe had a physical impairment and that is part  of the reason Jesus loved him so much… We know  

20:40 that whatever the case of his physical condition  at birth, he was sick and to the point of dying.

20:46 So, the messenger sent a text to Jesus. (I'm  modernizing.) They sent a message to Jesus.  

20:56 Since there was no communication via text  message or Internet, it took a little while  

21:02 for them to get to Jesus. It took a little  while, and he got worse. Now, the moment the  

21:12 message arrived to Jesus in John, chapter 11,  he could have gone to Bethany, but he did not.

21:21 "He must not have loved them very much," you say.  No, the Bible says because he loved them he stayed  

21:28 where he was two more days. So, here comes the  message now. "Heal him." It's a request. Here's  

21:39 the response of Jesus: He stays where he is. He  refuses to move where he is needed the most. Why?

21:50 They've seen him heal. They've seen him take  a sick person, reach down, and raise them up.  

21:58 They've seen him speak the word, and his word  was so powerful his word went where his body  

22:04 did not and healed, but in his delay Lazarus  died. He died because Jesus delayed coming.

22:17 When he finally got to the place,  late, Martha was upset about it,  

22:24 saying, "Lord, if you would have  been here…" John 11:21. Check this  

22:27 out. "…my brother would not have died."  "Why did you refuse a request, Jesus,  

22:37 that would have resulted in a healing? You could  have done something." Do you have anything in  

22:41 your life today that you secretly feel like God  could have done something about and he didn't?

22:48 Many times, it can be painful to praise God for  being on time when you feel like he just stood  

22:54 back and watched stuff happen to you that didn't  happen to others, watched stuff happen to you  

23:00 that you know was evil, watched stuff happen in  your life that he could have stopped. She said,  

23:08 "Lord, if you would have been here, he wouldn't  have died." And Jesus (verse 22) hears these  

23:15 words from Martha: "But I know that even  now God will give you whatever you ask."

23:23 What's she talking about? It can't be  resurrection. We've never seen a resurrection  

23:30 before. But she understands something about Jesus.  She has heard him teach. She has watched him work.  

23:37 She has seen him move. She has felt his presence.  She has understood that he has this propensity,  

23:44 when you get in his proximity, to make things  possible that seemed otherwise impossible.

23:50 She said, "I don't know why you  said no when we asked you to come,  

23:54 but I know what I know that even now…" I  need you to high-five somebody and say,  

24:00 "I know what I know." "I don't know why God  didn't do it, but I know what I know. He can  

24:08 still do it right now. I know what I know.  I don't know where it's going to come from,  

24:16 but I know what I know. God has what  I need. He can supply it even still."

24:25 I feel God on that. "I know what I know. I  don't know what kinds of things you're able  

24:33 to do that we haven't seen yet, and my brother  is in the ground. My kid is on drugs. My life  

24:40 is really in tatters. I'm in recovery. I have  a brother in prison. I'm in the middle of this  

24:47 custody battle. I have some legal problems. I  have an addiction I can't quit. I don't know  

24:53 what you can do about that, but I know what  I know. You're here right now. Do it, Lord!"