Steven Furtick - God Will Carry You Through
This is an excerpt from: The Lord Will Lighten Your Load
So, I’m explaining how God came to get him with the wagons because God knew he had a limp. And he knows where you’re weighty and he knows where you’re weak. And that’s what the wagons are for. Give me the verse again. Ain’t that anointed, Mom? I said, «Ain’t that anointed, Mom? If my mom doesn’t think it’s anointed, I need to shut it down». But when he saw the wagons, are you back there, Justin? Can you circle when he saw the wagons? Oh, when he saw the wagons that Joseph had sent to carry him. I want you to circle carry, too. Because I think that’s the key right there. For the Lord lightening your load today. I don’t think he needs to take something off of you. I think he needs to put something under you. Wow. The Lord will lighten your load. Not by decreasing the weight, but by sending the wagons. Wow. What are your wagons? And why won’t you get in them? Why you keep not joining an egroup?
Come on. You think the whole group has COVID, but you you ain’t going to catch nothing from them. Maybe. But Jesus, you might catch some joy, might catch some peace, might catch some better habits, might catch some accountability, might catch some spiritual discipline, might catch a Dave Ramsey budget makeover. You might catch something good. Keep praying about the weight of your financial burden, but you won’t get on the wagon. Get on the wagon. Limp to the wagon. This is so good. You can get on the wagon weeping. Just get on. Just get on. You can get on the wagon worried. Just get on. You can get on the wagon with all of your weight. These are good wagons. These are trustworthy wagons cuz Joseph sent them cuz God sent them. And he will help you carry what he called you to and nothing that he didn’t. Which is why it becomes so important.
I talked about the weight. I talked about the wagons. Can I talk for a moment about the worship? Okay, this is important. He sets out in the wagons. He says, «Oh, the wagons are here. That must mean it’s true». And and I use this to illustrate all the things that God is sending in your life to convince you that he’s with you in spite of all of your feelings saying that he isn’t. They are there. Sometimes you can’t see the wagons through your weeping. So he gets on, right? And I would love to read the whole chapter to you where it lists all the people he had to take because you would start to feel how weighty it is. And you would start to identify he has to take them, their children, and some grandchildren cuz he’s 130 and he has accumulated a lot.
Now they’re on there with animals. They’re on there with people. They’re on there with people that act like animals. I did not mean to describe your family vacation, but let’s make this real. Let’s make this live. Let’s just don’t don’t leave this in BC. Let’s bring it to right now. Let’s bring this to your life. He’s on the wagons, but he’s still worried. And I think this is the part that that maybe can help you Wednesday to worship God Wednesday. I don’t really I don’t really preach with the intention for you to worship God Sunday. I want you to worship Wednesday when it’s weighty, when you are on your way and you’re worried.
So, in Genesis 46:1, it looks like they’re going straight to Egypt to get the food because that’s where the food is. That’s where Joseph is. But Israel, the better part of Jacob, took his journey with all that he had, including Jacob. I’m going to say it again. Your silence does not intimidate me for making my point. You bring you with you. Amen. You bring you with you. If you get a promotion, I hope you’re a good boss because you bring you with you. If you get a partner, you bring you with you. If you have kids, you bring you with you. And all they are going to do is show you you in a fun house mirror. You bring you with you. So when it says Israel took his journey and then people say enjoy the journey. I hate that cliche.
How am I supposed to enjoy the journey with 70 jokers that I can’t trust? With a land that I’m headed to that I have never seen, that I cannot research, that I can’t even really understand what it’s going to be like. With the sadness of my past following me here. So Israel took his journey with all that he had and came to Beersa. Beersa is on the border of southern Canaan. What does that mean? It’s right there on the edge of going to Egypt. If he gets past Beersa, he’s going all the way. So, he stops there. And watch what he does when he stops. He takes some of those animals that were in that wagon that would have represented something that he accumulated in Canaan and he offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac.
Next verse. And God spoke. Verse one. He offered sacrifices and God spoke. Come on. Come on. He gave God something and God gave him something. I am not saying that this is a transaction, but it is a fact. Worship is heaven’s strategy to unbburden the human heart. Worship is heaven’s strategy to see you with your messed up mind, to see you with your jacked up habits, to see you with your cluttered state of mind, to see you in all of your burdenedness, and to say, «Let me lighten your load». Yeah. And when he offered sacrifices, God spoke and said, «Jacob, Jacob». And he said, «Here I am. I’m here. I’m anxieted about this journey». And verse three says, «Then the Lord said, I am God».
Now, aren’t you glad that both of those are true? You’re still Jacob, but he’s still God. Wow. I told you I had a word for you today. And the word is you need to worship when you feel the weight. Pull the wagon over and worship. What do you mean, Pastor Steve? I’m driving right now. Should I lift my hands? Put your hands on 10 and two and worship and worship and rehearse the greatness of God until you forget the frustrations of you. Jacob Jacob Martha Martha Simon Simon Moses Moses I am God. I don’t care who you think you are or who you’re not. You’re not bound by any of that. I am God, the God of your father. By the way, Isaac made an offering in Beerseba, too.
So did Abraham. This was a significant place for Jacob. But he was having to do something his fathers never did. And when you come to a place where you’ve never seen a model for it, when you come to a place where you’ve never seen an example for it, when you’ve come to a place where you didn’t have anybody to show you the way, when you come to a place and you don’t know how, worship, worship, and the Lord will lighten your load. I’m not talking about sing. He didn’t sing. He sacrificed. Yeah. True worship is you giving up something that you weren’t meant to carry. Come on. The Lord will lighten your load before you go forward into this next thing. I see you giving up what people think about it. That’s worship.
When you give up what people think about it and you get serious about what God has said about it, that’s worship. Some of us cannot move forward in strength because we are too stuck in status. When you give up on what people say about it, people think about it, whether you’re going to be embarrassed about it, when you worship and you say, «God, you’re so sovereign. Look at all these wagons you sent». I’m telling you, if you want to get from weakness to strength in your spirit this week, start counting wagons. Instead of telling him how much it weighs, start thanking him for wagons. Look at what you’ve done for me, God. Look at what you’ve brought to me, God. Look at how you’ve helped me.
And the Lord said, «Jacob, Jacob, I am God. I know this isn’t the same way that your fathers went. I know this isn’t the same strategy that they had, but I’m the same God. So, do not be afraid to go down to Egypt». Now, I don’t know what you need to put in that sentence, but leave it up there. Do not be afraid to. There are two specific times in scripture that God says specifically what not to be afraid of. He tells Joseph, «Do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife because what is in her is of me». And he tells Jacob, «Do not be afraid to go to Egypt, even though it seems dangerous, even though it seems risky».
Remember, I’m not telling you to start a hair salon. Egypt does not represent just whatever thing you want to do. It is what God has called you to do, that you are afraid to do, that you are unfamiliar with. Do not be afraid to do it. Watch this. For there, in the unfamiliar place, there in the place nobody in your family has lived in before. There in the place where you thought Joseph was dead, but he’s actually waiting for you. There, I will make you into a great nation. Verse four, I myself will go down with you to Egypt, to the hospital, into your senior years, into the ninth grade. I myself, God says, will go down with you. In other words, I’m going to lighten your load because not only do you have weight and not only do you have wagons and not only do you have worship, but when you worship me, the weight lifts and your wagons have wings.
And I’m carrying you cuz I got wings. I put wings on your wagon. I put strength in your weakness. I put a step in your limb. I put power in your spirit. I put wings on your wagons. Come on. My wagons have wings, y’all. I’m going to get there cuz he’s with me. My wagons have wings. Yeah, I’ve got weight on me. Yeah, I’ve got burdens about the future. Yeah, I’m excited about it. Yeah, I’m still Jacob, but I’m not traveling alone. Cuz they that wait on the Lord will renew their strength, they will mount up on wings like eagles.
I’m going to Egypt on eagle’s wings. I’m going on wings. They shall run and not grow weary. They shall walk and not faint. I’m going in the strength of the glory of God. My wagons have wings. My wagons have wings. I got angels all around my family. My wagons. Don’t be surprised when I rise above it. The Lord has lightened my load. My wagons have wings. My tears have intention. My worship has purpose. I know you’re carrying a lot, but you’re carried, too. Your wagons have wings. He’s going with you. I don’t know where you’re going. You don’t either. But I know one thing. He’s going with you. Get my camera. I speak to your burden soul today. He’s going with you.
A while back, I was doing ministry with somebody. It was tag team. I looked over at them before we went up. I could see he was so nervous. I put my arm around him. I said, «You doing all right»? He said, «No». I said, «Why not»? He said, «I don’t know what to do up there». I said, «I’m not good at much, but I’m good at this. The Lord’s prepared me. So, when we go up there, I don’t want you to worry about anything. I’m going up there with you. And if you stop talking mid syllable, I’ll pick it up and say the next syllable like we meant to do it». cuz I could tell he was he was carrying weight. So I told him, «I’ll be your wings». I could see a tear come in his eye because he was carrying so much. I’ll be your wing man. That’s what I was telling him. And then I looked him in his eye and I said something to him. And I believe that the Lord would say this to each of his children today, too. Hey. Hey. I won’t let you fail.