Steven Furtick — Don't Forget Where You Come From
When I started thinking about this phrase "Consider the Source", normally that's meant in a negative way, you know, "They said this", or "They said that." "Oh man, just consider the source." My mom taught me that phrase when I was, I believe six or seven years old. She said, there was a kid making fun of me, and she said, "Boy, just consider the source. That kid is such a punk." She said, "It's not that he doesn't like you, he doesn't like himself. Just consider the source."
And that will really help you in life, but I want to flip the phrase for this series, and talk about God as our source, and how much everything changes when instead of approaching life, first and foremost, by considering our circumstance, which is where most of us live, which is how most of us figure things out, which is how most of us make decisions.
If you start with the source how much different would things be? And in order to unpack this first installment of my sermon, I need to go all over the Bible, but I'll start right there in the very beginning. Cause if you open up the Bible, this idea of the source is not only prevalent, but it's preeminent, that means it comes first in priority and in order.
And so, the very first verse that you'll read if you ever open your Bible, just to see what's in there, goes like this. "In the beginning, God." And notice your name isn't there, and my name isn't there, and it starts with the source. God wants you to know before you get any deeper in this thing, I got this whole thing started.
The encouraging thing about knowing that God got the whole thing started, is He's responsible to finish what he initiates. And so before we read about all the characters in the Bible, God wants you to know who has the starring role. Everybody say, "God is the source." It says, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth", and it goes on and on, and it kind of gives us a play by play of how God created things, how He spoke, and it was.
And He spoke, and it was. And He said something, and then stuff appeared based on what He said. Only God can do that. I'm just gonna pick a few out, because we don't have time for all of them, but let's say Genesis 1:11, that's a cool verse because it says, "Then God said, 'Let the land produce vegetation, seed bearing plants, and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it according to their various kinds, and it was so."
God said, and it was so. God spoke to the ground, and brought forth plants. Very cool. If you flip forward a few verses from that, it says in Genesis 1:20, that "God said, 'Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the vault of the sky." And it doesn't say it, but it implies that it was so, God said, and it was so.
Maybe one of the most important verses in the Bible, Genesis 1:26, lets us know that when God finished making all of that creeping and crawling and swimming stuff, He said, "Let us make mankind in our image." Very important theological concept, Imago Dei, the image of God. "Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness."
And I have a screen with these scriptures that I'm looking at, I don't want you to think I have them memorized, I ain't trying to fake you out. "This guy is smart." "So that they may rule over the fish in the sea, and the birds in the sky. Over the livestock and the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground."
So, God makes all this stuff, and then He speaks and here you come. God is our source. That's the title of our series, "Consider the Source". That's why we come to church, to consider the source. In other words, we need a time set aside each week, we really need it daily, but at least once a week we can do it with others where we consider that we don't come from ourselves, and we owe a debt to One who is beyond us that we can never repay.
And so, we consider the source. I feel sorry for people who don't believe in God, because I can't image what it would be like if the only place you had to look for solutions was within yourself. Because I am a limited resource, and you are a limited resource, but when get in here, we connect to a unlimited source, and power flows, and provision flows, and protection becomes evident as we open our eyes to see the source of our strength.
That's the series we're gonna spend some time with, but for today's message, I want you to take that little note sheet they gave you when you walked in, come on, pull it out at all of our locations, cause I have three points and a poem, and I want you to use this as a title to direct our thoughts for installment one.
Today I want to talk to you about, don't forget where you come from. Don't forget where you come from. I need you to nudge somebody next to you and tell 'em, "Don't forget where you come from." Oh, you're still writing. I'll give you a moment. That's another phrase my mom taught me, it means, don't you get too big for your Britches!
I won't make any comments about the tightness of my pants or your pants, but it's a southern colloquialism, it's not to be taken literally. It's a way that people have of saying, "As you move forward in life, don't forget to look back and be good to the people, and cognizant of the situations that brought you where you are."
I was telling my friend I wanted to call this series, "Consider the Source", he said, "That's good." I said, "I want to call the first sermon, 'Don't Forget Where You Come From." He said, "People don't want to hear that." He said, "We live in a upwardly mobile society, and so, people want to hear about where they're going, and so don't be surprised if your attendance goes down during this series. If you want to talk about don't forget where you come from."
Therefore, I decided to structure the sermon in a way that will give you some reasons why it's beneficial. One of my favorite scriptures says, "That we should bless the Lord with all that is within us", and watch this, "forget not all His benefits."
Forget not all the benefits of belonging to Him, and the blessings, it says that, "He forgives all your sins, heals all your diseases, redeems your life from the pit, crowns you with love and compassion. Forget not all His benefits."
Don't forget where you come from, cause when you remember where you come from, there are benefits that will carry you into your future, and you can't really get where you're going and have what you need when you get there if you forget where you come from.