Steven Furtick - The Future Isn't Your Problem
This is an excerpt from: Look Forward Not Far
At some point during Paul’s wrestling match… What he’s doing here is modeling for you what to do when you are caught in a space where you don’t have clarity, but you need courage; where you don’t know how to handle this, but you need his help, and you can’t really figure out what to set in front of you. For some of you, you don’t even know what to look forward to. It is difficult to attach faith to a future you can’t even articulate, so you don’t even really know what you’re asking God to do. It would be easier for you to give up. But the need started pulling.
Now, Graham, pull me like you’re stronger than Gavin. At some point, the need became strong enough to release Paul from what he wanted so he could respond to what was needed. Do you see what I’m doing? I’m pulled by purpose. Watch this. One thing is pulling me to give up. «Oh, it would be easier to go up to heaven. 'In the sweet by and by… I’ll fly away, oh, glory! '» But just about the time he’s ready to fly away, something is pulling him back. He said, «This would be easy, but this is what you need».
So, at some point, Christians, we have to decide. Are we just going to be driven by decisions of what’s easy or are we going to be pulled by purpose into what is necessary? I came to let you know there is a necessary «next» in your life. If the brook dried up, there’s a widow in Zarephath down to her last meal. God is positioning you in this season for a need you don’t even know about yet. So, it’s very important right now that as we look at the example of Paul, which, to me, I told you, was a picture… It’s a picture of somebody being pulled. It’s a picture of everybody in this room who is being pulled. The easy thing and the needed thing. The thing you want…
See, sometimes, when you get old, you get farsighted. Holly started looking at me funny the other day. We were in a restaurant, and she was looking at me funny. I was paying the bill, and she was looking at me funny. «What are you looking at»? I thought she was looking to see… Because I tip bigger than her. I thought she was scrutinizing my tip percentage. Y’all, pray for her, because I’m generous. I thought she was scrutinizing the bill, but then later that night she was looking at me funny. I was in bed reading a book, and she was looking at me funny. A few days later, I came home, and she said, «I left something for you in the bedroom beside the bed». I’m like, «Oh»? She was like, «No, it’s just a little something that I think you need».
That woman looked at me stone cold, ice in her veins, and said, «It’s time. I watched you at the restaurant. I’m not going to sit there while you pull out your flashlight for 15 minutes trying to read 'Is it a 5 or a 7? '» They keep it so dark in the restaurants. Can I preach about how the Devil is busy with a light-dimming ministry? The Prince of Darkness. She said, «It’s time». I said, «No, no. I’ve got more years. I can make the font 72, and I’ll use my iPad when I preach». She said, «No, you might want to use a paper Bible. It’s time. You’re farsighted».
I said, «No, I’m actually close-sighted, or whatever the other one is, because I can see it if it’s far; I just can’t see it if it’s close». She said, «That’s what farsighted means. It means you can see far, not close». She said, «There’s another name». She had done research. She said, «There’s another name for it when you get over 40. It’s called aging eyes». A soft way to say, «Getting old». Aging eyes. There was even some Greek word she used for it. I don’t even remember. It had presby-something in it. An ophthalmologist can send us a text about this message and correct everything I’m saying that’s wrong. She said, «It’s time». Y’all can’t even take me seriously with those on. You’re going to have to get used to it, because I need to see what’s right in front of me in this season.
I’m afraid if I can only see what’s far away… Paul said, «I want to be in heaven with Jesus, but…» God said, «That’s too far, Paul. One day. One day I’ll give you a 'Well done, ' but not today, because I still have stuff for you to do that’s right in front of you». Paul says, «Convinced of this, I decided I’m going to make what’s right in front of me, that I could miss if I was too farsighted, my focus». So, the word of the Lord is whatever is right in front of you that God has given you to do, that is your focus in this season. All you have to do with the parts you don’t know about God’s plan for your life…
You know, Jeremiah 29:11 is a wonderful Scripture. «For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you, not to harm you; plans to give you hope and a future». That was spoken to prepare them for their captivity in Babylon, which would last 70 years. He said, «In the meantime, while you’re in Babylon, you need these». While you are waiting for the future you believe God has for you, I don’t want you to get farsighted and miss what’s right in front of you. Sometimes the reason I miss it is because it’s right here and I’m looking out there.
Now, this is for all of the worriers who call themselves planners. You do know that every time God gives a gift, the Enemy attacks it with a perversion. Planning is God’s gift to you. Worry is the perversion of God’s gift called planning. People who are good at planning are also world-class worriers. Worrying is when I don’t have clarity about the situation because I’m looking so far. I’ll illustrate this one other way, because I’m passionate that you get the picture. I don’t want to just preach these messages, and when they ask on Tuesday, «Did you go to church…»? «Yeah». «What did he preach about»? «I don’t… God».
I want you to have something you can remember. What I see you doing is this. You’re going forward. «God, direct my path». But you are looking so far. I promise you I will not take one more step. It’s too risky for me to go forward looking that far. I mean, maybe I could do it. Remember? I’m 44. It’s way too risky for me to take that step. If I’m going to go forward, that’s what I’m going to look at next. Now, somebody who wants me to come up there and give them a hug, wave at me really quickly. Okay. I’m coming for you in the back row right there. I see who I’m coming to. Everybody else, put your hand down. I’m coming all the way to you. That’s my future, but I am not coming to give you that hug, which I’m going to give you in just a few moments… I’m going to come toward you (that is the future), but I am not going to look that far, because if I look that far, I’ll fall.
That’s the definition of anxiety. That’s why Peter didn’t make it all the way to Jesus. He saw the wind and the waves. When you look too far, you fall, but if you take this next step by faith and say to the Devil, «My purpose is pulling me…» «This is the next sandwich I need to make. This is the next bill I need to pay. I’m not going to think about the other $18,000 in debt right now. This bill, this baby step, this phone call, this workout, this breath, this appointment, this phone call, this day, this hour, this minute».
I’ll tell you what. I found out that the Word of God is like headlights on a car. When you’re driving at night, you can only see as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way…three feet at a time. I promise you I’m going to look here while I’m walking there. This, to me, is the balancing act of great faith. Look forward, but not far. Now watch. I’m not going to do this. I’m definitely not going to do that. I have that much down. But if the Enemy can’t get you to look back on your past, he will try to get you to go so far into your future…
It is just as dangerous for me to look at where I’m going all the way up there as it is for me to look back at where I came from. It’s dangerous not to look forward. It’s dangerous not to have anything to look forward to. It’s dangerous for you not to have a plan for this year of your life. It’s dangerous for you to not have structure around your day. It’s dangerous for you to not have a budget. It’s dangerous for you to not have an eating plan. It’s dangerous for you to not have a Bible reading plan, because you will need a plan to produce what you’re called to produce. It’s dangerous not to look forward. It is just as dangerous to look too far forward, to try to control things only God can control, to start thinking about the product while you’re still in the process of making it.
You don’t know what it’s going to be. If you look too far and go, «Okay, I’m going to be sober the rest of my life…» Too far. That can be where you’re headed. That can be where you’re going, but what I want you focused on right now is «The presence of God is enough to keep me out of these chains today. I’m not drinking it today. I’m not doing it today». «I’m never eating sugar again». That’s too far. Don’t eat it this week. Can we do this week? Ooh, big ol' jump. Just like that. Can we do it for a week? In this way, your faith is like headlights.
Paul said in verse 20, «I eagerly expect…» Are you taking my video? You can do it. I’ll preach this just to you. You can film it too. I want you to remember it. Oh, this is amazing. You’re getting a hug on the way to the hug. That’s awesome. You don’t even know what you just did for me. You preached a sermon… Do you see how much that meant to him that I hugged him? That isn’t even what I came up here to do. What if God wants to use you on the way to where you think you’re going in a greater way than you could ever be used when you get there? What if I had been farsighted? What if I couldn’t see where I was supposed to stop? Do you like the glasses?
I feel dignified with these. I feel theological with these. I feel like I need God to hand me these for the times in my life when I can’t see what’s right in front of me. So here it is. Not back…forward, but not far. What is there along the way that God wants to show you? What is there along the way that God wants to do? Paul was so good at glasses, he looked and saw, «Oh, these chains that are on my wrists are going to be a testimony so the guards can get saved, because I want to have a bigger church when I leave this prison than I did… Cool. I’m going to have a prison campus». That’s how Paul thought about it. That’s what happens when God gives you glasses. «God, give me the glasses this week to see what’s right in front of me».
Then, along the way, I’ll see some things, I’ll learn some things, we’ll have some moments, but I’m going to get there. I’m going to do what I promised to do, what I set out to do. I’m going to hug the one I saw… Do you like my glasses? Holly gave me these. She said, «It’s time». God wants to give you these, because you are missing what’s right in front of you.