Steven Furtick - Take Your Turn (05/19/2017)
Pastor Steven Furtick preaches that God makes everything beautiful in its time (Ecclesiastes 3), and every season has both struggles we cannot see and strengths we must seize. We must trust God's timing, avoid missing our turn by wandering away in discontent, and recognize when we are already standing in the season we've been waiting for. The message warns against rushing ahead of God or failing to embrace the present, using the prodigal son's story to show both impatience and ingratitude. We are called to rejoice now, take our turn, and live fully in the current season with praise and faith.
The Power of Your Words Over Your Season
Did you know God has given you the power to label your life with the words that you speak about it? What you say about it will become the way that you see it. The way you see it will determine the way you experience it. I have a dear friend who leads worship music all across the world, and you've met him before if you've been at church here. His name is Israel Houghton, and he's one of the most gifted guys you'll ever meet. I was having a conversation with him one time about creativity. I said, "Tell me a time where God spoke to you so clearly that you knew it was Him. Do you have a time, more than any other time?" Without thinking much, he didn't stop the process. He just said this.
When "Coming" Becomes "Now"
He said it was right after they had achieved great success. He had been through a period of obscurity where he didn't know if his dreams to reach people with music would happen. He's won multiple Grammys now and accomplished a lot of things. But it was right at the time when they had just become successful. The album they had released was called 'New Season,' and the title track said, "It's a new season, it's a new day. A fresh anointing coming my way. A season of power and prosperity. It's a new season coming to me." He said he was leading that song in front of thousands of people one night, and in the middle of singing that line, "it's a new season and it's coming to me," God arrested him. God said, "Why are you always singing, 'it's coming to me'? Look around, you're standing in it."
The Problem with Deferred Hope
That's one problem about preaching, maybe even my preaching. We're often guilty of telling you what's coming to you. You're like, "Just hold on. It's coming, it's coming, it's coming. It's your time. It's about to be your time." But here's the problem with that kind of thinking that always defers hope to the future: you miss the fact that you're standing in it right now. He said God told him, when he was standing on that stage singing that song, to change the words. Instead of saying, "It's a new season coming to me," he said to sing, "It's a new season and it's already on me. It's a new season and I'm already in it." What are you saying about the season that you're in? "Oh, it's gonna be"? "One day we will"? Or are you looking at what is?
Being Planted for Your Season
Here's the scripture that helped me a lot: Psalm 1. It says, "Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season." It yields its fruit in season. Why? Because it is planted by the streams of water. Now I've got a picture to help us out. You know when you go to a restaurant and they give you a pager? They tell you, "As soon as your table is ready, in about 30 or 40 minutes, we'll page you, and you can come get your table."
Don't Miss Your Turn
Guess what I found out? One time I had a bad experience where I walked a little too far from the restaurant. I came back about 40 minutes later and said, "My pager never went off, but it's been 40 minutes." Now I'm arguing with the hostess; it's getting a little escalated. She said, "Sir, we paged you." I said, "But my thing never buzzed." She said, "You must have not been in proximity for the pager to buzz, because we buzzed you a couple times. Oh yeah, we called for you a couple times. 'Furtick, table for two, ready for you. Furtick, table for two.' But guess what? You weren't within hearing distance when we called you, because it was your time, but you missed your turn because you were too far from the place you should have been."
Here's what happens when you get discontent in your season and you start wandering away from God's will because you think the season you're in is unbearable. God says, "I was calling for you. I prepared a table for you, but you went and wandered out too far away." No, no. Stay close to me, because when it's your time, you don't want to miss your turn. And when your turn comes, you want to be ready for it. Don't miss your turn. Oh, help me. Touch three people. Tell them, "Don't miss your turn. Don't miss your turn. Don't miss your turn."
Finding Strength in Every Season
Here's what Holly has taught me more than any other person: every season has strengths you can seize. So now I feel a little schizophrenic because I started out the message on a negative note: every season has struggles you can't see. The flip side is this: every season has strengths that you can seize. I'm going to try to do this how I did it last night when I preached it, but it might be difficult. When my dad died this summer—and there is an element of humor to what I'm about to share with you—my dad was sick a long time. Let's understand: he had a liver transplant when I was in college, so I've been dealing with my dad's sickness for a long time.
As you know, if you go through a period with someone where they're sick and struggling for a long time, you kind of come to terms with it. You learn to deal with it in different ways. You have to laugh at it sometimes; you have to cry sometimes. I want to tell you something, and I hope you'll see the humor in it about my dad. He was a very controlling person. He loved me; he loved our family, but he was one of the most controlling people that you could meet. I'm not saying I'm not that way too, but you can see it a lot easier in somebody else. And we're talking about him right now, and he ain't here, so let me just tell you the whole story.
The Sweetness in a Bitter Season
I was preaching here at the 9:30 worship experience, and I never do this. I mean, I would say never; I don't do it that much. I just decided, "You know what? The way I preached it at 9:30 is the way I feel like I needed to preach it. I'm just going to leave now and play back the video of it for the next one." So it felt kind of strange because I didn't do it a lot. But I went by to see my dad, and I got to sit down with him and watch the sermon. Then our family was scheduled to go on vacation, and we went. We got all settled in and unpacked and everything, and I was set to work on finishing my book. I had set aside this time for family vacation and book writing.
This is the part that you just got to see the humor in it: as soon as we went to lay down and go to sleep that first night of vacation, my mom calls. "Your dad's not going to make it much longer." So I'm thinking, "That man waited till I went on vacation." I know this sounds so selfish when I say it; that's why I just need you to laugh with me, because we all think things like this. Okay? I say what you think. And so we come back, and it takes my dad several days. He deteriorates over several days and dies on, I think, the fourth day. But it was about the second day where I was hating watching my dad suffer like this, wondering how much longer it was going to go on.
Embracing the Season You're In
All of these things, and this real selfish thing inside of me was like, "You know, here I am. I got this time set aside for vacation, and here I am." And that's where God spoke to me about how there's a sweetness in even the most bitter season. Now, here's how that looked for me. God said, "You planned to be on vacation right now, and you're frustrated because your plans aren't being fulfilled on your timeline. Okay? But there's a sweetness by the bedside that can be sweeter than what you would have experienced on the beach, if you'll embrace it." This was on about the second day, and so I picked up the little acoustic guitar and started to sing all these old hymns about heaven to my dad.
Now, I got two choices. I can be selfish and wish I was at the beach, or I can pick up the guitar by the bedside and start to sing "I'll Fly Away." Start to sing "Victory in Jesus." Start… y'all don't know these old hymns, but I'm going to tell you a few more of them. Start to sing "The Old Rugged Cross." Start to sing "Nothing But the Blood of Jesus." And as I started singing by my dad's bedside, a sweetness started to envelop that season. I can't describe it to you. It wasn't quite the vacation I had planned; it wasn't quite what I thought I'd be doing those few days. But when you embrace that He makes everything beautiful in its time, and when you start fighting to apprehend the strength of the season that you're in, and start fighting to see the significance in this season…
Seizing Your Current Strength
See, you can't live in the season of what was, and you can't wish for the season that might have been. But there's a strength in this season if you can seize it. There's a strength to be seized in every season. Some of you want to be older, but guess what you won't have when you're older? As much energy as you have right now. Some of y'all want to be with somebody, but guess what you won't have when you're married? As much time as you do now. Some of you want to be younger, but guess what you wouldn't have if you were younger? As much wisdom as you have now. So here's what you got to do: you got to seize the strength of this season.
Seize the strength of a 57-year-old. Seize the strength of a 43-year-old who went through a divorce. Seize the strength of a teenager. Seize the strength of singleness. Because there's a strength in every season if you'll seize it. I said there's a strength in every season if you'll seize it. You might not have what you used to have; you might not get what you want to get. But if you'll plant your roots down deep in purpose, He makes all things beautiful in its time. Give Him a shout if you believe what I'm preaching. All things. Everything. Every season. Every night. Every winter. Every situation. Every circumstance. There's a strength in it if you seize it. If you seize it. If you seize it. There's a strength in this season. There's a strength.
Trusting God's Timing: The Prodigal Son
I need help to get the point across. Shake the person next to you and say, "There is strength in this season. There is strength in this season. There is strength in this season." When I get a little bit older, I am going to serve God. You know? I used to tell God this all the time: "God, it would be better if I could pastor the church at age 50. Then I would know more about life." And God said, "What if there is a strength in your naivete? What if there is a strength in what you don't know? What if there is a strength in what you haven't seen? What if there is a strength in the wisdom that you don't have, because it will lead you to a weakness that will delve you deeper into the riches of what I know?" There is a strength in every season. There is a grace for every season.
So we have to learn to have the patience to trust God's timing—not wish away the season we're in because we're looking back at the season we had or longing for the season we want. We have to have the patience to trust God's timing. When I was thinking about that, my mind went to a very interesting place. I just want to mention it to you real briefly because it's a familiar Bible story. I won't need to give you much of the background, but it's the story about the prodigal son. You know that one? The younger brother. Let's just read a little bit of it. Just a little bit. It says that Jesus was teaching one day, and he said, verse 11, Luke 15: "There was a man who had two sons. And the younger one said to his father, 'Father, give me my share of the estate.'"
The Danger of "Now"
The word that's not in the text but is implied is "now." See, these two sons had a right to their inheritance. Their father was apparently wealthy, had great means, and as part of Jewish custom at his death, property would be distributed to the two sons—the older one and the younger one, in that order. But the younger son, I've heard him preached about so much because what's about to happen in the next verses that I'm not going to read is he goes hog wild, literally. He goes so wild that he ends up—that might be where they got the phrase from—he ends up sleeping with the hogs because he wastes everything his father gives him. He said, "Give me my share of the estate now. Give me my share. Give me what belongs to me now."
This might be somebody in the room who's having a difficult time trusting your heavenly Father's timing right now. Because, see, he was supposed to get the inheritance after his father died. But he wanted something that God wanted him to have before God wanted him to have it. Newsflash: if you get a blessing before it's time, it won't be beautiful; it'll become a burden. And this is a word for somebody who's praying for something right now that God doesn't intend for you to have right now. It wasn't what he wanted that was the problem; it's the fact that he couldn't trust his father's timing. "Dad, I'm tired of waiting on you to die. Just give it to me now." And you know what's scary about God? He'll actually do it. And He gave the boy more than he could handle to show him that it's always wise to trust the Father's timing.
The Older Brother's Missed Blessing
The story, of course, has a beautiful climax. The younger son recalls from the pig pen the blessings and the privileges of his father's palace. He returns to his father, and in the middle of his repentance speech to his father, his father runs to him, throws his arms around him, and welcomes him back home. But here's the part that doesn't get preached about enough. It happens in verse 25. It says, "Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. And when he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. So he called one of the servants and asked him, 'What's going on, man? What's all this noise about? It sounds like a party's going on in there.'"
"And the servant explained, 'Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.' The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and had a little talk with him, pleaded with him. He said, 'You know, son, let's talk about this.' But he answered his father, 'Look! All these years'—this is important; he had served his father for so many seasons—he couldn't believe that he hadn't experienced yet the blessing of his father in the way that his younger brother did after coming home for just one night. He said, 'All these seasons, all these years, all this time I've been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours—oh, what's his name—who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him.'"
Your Season is Now
See, I want to be in someone else's season. I see what God's doing for someone else. I see how God's blessing someone else. I see how the Father is welcoming someone else home, and I compare it to my seasons and I compare it to my struggles. But the Father has an answer. He says, "My son, verse 31, you are always with me, and everything I have is yours." Today, we've got one son who doesn't have the patience to trust his Father's timing. But we've got another son who doesn't even recognize what was always his the whole time. There may be somebody here today—I don't know who you are, God does—and you're trying to get something that God says "not yet" about. You just got to step back from it and say, "God, I trust your timing. God, I trust your timing." It doesn't change what I want; it doesn't change how I feel, but I trust your timing. That's one person.
The other person follows the example of the older son, and the older son didn't recognize what was available to him all the time. He was waiting for a time to come that he was already in. Watch this. Every morning he wakes up: "Maybe my dad will kill a goat for me today. Maybe my dad will throw a party for me today. Maybe my dad will do something special for me today." And the father says this: "Anytime. Anytime is a good time for you to take everything I've given you and to rejoice in all I've done for you. Anytime. What you're waiting for? You want to party? Let's party. You want to go? Let's go. You want some music? Let's dance. Come on. It's your season." Anytime you decide to seize it, waiting on God to change the calendar when God is waiting on you to make a choice.
Take Your Turn
See, it's a terrible thing when you don't wait your turn and you try to get out ahead of God, and you end up sleeping with the hogs. But it might be even worse when you're sleeping right under the Father's roof, waiting on God to give you something that's already yours. And you know, that's really what I wanted to say to you today: take your turn. Take your turn. Don't get so far from the house that when the pager goes off, you won't hear it; you won't feel it. Make sure that you wait on God and trust His timing. But guess what? This is a good season, and this is the time. Right now.
Not one day when you have what your parents had. Not one day when you get a little more experience. Not one day when you get a little more maturity. Not one day when it hurts a little less. But right now would be a real good time for you to wake up and rejoice in the goodness of God. It's the season to rejoice. It's the season to dance. It's the season to be glad. It's the season to praise Him. It's the season to reach out and touch Him. It's the season to rejoice in the Lord. This is the day that the Lord has made. I will rejoice. I will rejoice. This is my season to trust. This is my season to believe. This is my season to love. This is my season to clap my hands. This is my season to lift my head. I'm not waiting on my time to come. My time is now. From the beginning of time, God planned eternal things for my destiny, and I'm in a season right now.