Steven Furtick - Code Orange Revival (02/25/2017)
In Isaiah 55, God’s word falls like rain to nourish and bring growth, interrupting dry rhythms in life. Furtick preaches the rhythm of revival: receive God’s word, respond in obedience, release praise, and repeat to align with heaven’s beat, birthing miracles and joy even in barren places. He calls for open hearts to receive uncomfortable truths, responding with faith to see God’s higher ways transform lives.
Opening the Atmosphere for Miracles Through Revival Rhythm
My name is Steven Furtick, and I am your guest speaker for tonight. And I want to read you my scripture text for my sermon. And the Lord has been speaking to me about our first night together. And I believe that what he wants to speak tonight will open the atmosphere for miracles, signs, and wonders to occur in your life, your family, your business, your church, your neighborhood. My mom tells me that when I was a little boy, she used to catch me in my room with a globe pretending to be a weatherman. And she said that that’s all I wanted to be when I grew up was a weatherman. She said the only two things I really ever wanted to be when I grew up was to be a weatherman and a preacher. Well, tonight I get to be both. I get to tell you that the rain of God is about to fall on the dry places, the barren places in your life. And my text suggests the same. So listen to the word of the Lord from the prophet Isaiah. Touch somebody and say, I see favor in your forecast. I see blessings and joy in your future.
Isaiah 55 verse 6 says, Seek the Lord while he may be found. Call on him while he is near. Somebody shout, this is the time. We’re not waiting on the move of God. We are. Let the wicked forsake their ways and the unrighteous their thoughts. Let them turn to the Lord and he will have mercy on them. And to our God, for he will freely pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts. Neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. I can tell it’s going to be good tonight. I can’t even read my scripture and you’re already shouting like a bunch of Pentecostals. I can’t even see this place, my God. I think I’m going to text all the guest preachers and tell them to stay home. I want all ten nights. No, we won’t do that.
But God says, I’m on an entirely different level and now I’m inviting you up, up, up, up, up, up, up. As the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater. So is my word that goes out from my mouth. It will not return to me empty but will accomplish what I desire. This is the promise of God over your life. And achieve the purpose for which I sent it. You will go out in joy. Does somebody say, I’m leaving happy? You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace. The mountains and hills will burst into song before you. And all the trees of the field will clap their hands. The trees of the field will clap their hands. Will clap. I want to speak to you tonight on the rhythm of revival. The rhythm of revival. And on your way to your seat, would you ask the person next to you, do you have the rhythm? You may be seated. God bless you. God bless you.
Different Cultures, Different Rhythms in Worship
I think it’s really cool how our church has so many different kinds of people that come. That really blesses me. If you ever catch me just looking around in between my sermon points, it’s not because I’m stalling or lost in what I’m trying to say. Sometimes I’m just drinking you in with my eyes. The variety of your loveliness. All kinds of people come to church here and at our different locations, and that’s pretty cool to me. I’m a young man, but I have had the privilege to preach in different places all over the world. I have noticed that every culture has its own rhythm. So I’ve had the privilege to preach in Kampala, Uganda. I’ve had the privilege to preach in Columbia, South America. I’ve had the privilege to preach in Kalpins, South Carolina. And how many know that the rhythm in Kampala and Columbia is a little different than Kalpins?
And it’s funny because even in different churches, sometimes you’ll hear them sing the same song, but just with a different rhythm. One song we used to sing… How many of you love the old songs? Maybe you grew up in church and, you know, like those old hymns are great and some of those old choruses, worship choruses from back in the day. This is for the churchy people, but we used to sing at St. T. Circle Community Church. What a mighty God we serve. What a mighty God we serve. Now watch what’s happening right now. I want you to observe. The rhythm of this congregation is completely confused. because we have different cultures represented in our revival. And I don’t mean to be divisive or offensive, but just even… You don’t have to go to different nations. Black people and white people, even in America, clap differently. I’m not saying one is wrong and one is right. It’s just different.
So when I started singing that just a minute ago, when I said, What a mighty God we serve. See, stop. I’m using it for an illustration. The white people…. Do you have like a microphone stand or something? Because I need to use my hands. Thank you. The white people were clapping, technically speaking, on the one and the three. So if you’re sitting next to a white person, when I said, What a mighty God we serve. They start clapping, but they start clapping, right? What a mighty God we serve. What a mighty God we serve. Angels bow before him. Heaven and earth adore him. What a mighty… That’s the one and the three.
Clapping on Different Beats—God’s Rhythm vs. Ours
So watch this. It’s just like, One, two, three, four. What a mighty God we serve. What a mighty God we serve. But if you’re sitting next to, let me be politically correct, an African-American person, when I said, What a mighty God we serve, they instinctively began to clap on the correct beat, I was supposed to say that. Which is the two and the four. So they started singing like this. What a mighty God we serve. It’s a whole different thing. What a mighty God we serve. Angels bow before him. Heaven and earth adore him. What a mighty God we serve. What a mighty God we serve. Come on. This is a day. This is a day. This is a day. That the Lord. I will rejoice. I will rejoice. And be glad. Oh, no, that this is the day. That the Lord. I will rejoice. And be glad. This is the day. If you want to get fancy, you could go. But see, white people, white people don’t stop. In the name of Jesus, in the name of Jesus, we have the vigil. Now switch it to the one in the three, watch this. In the name of Jesus, in the name of Jesus, Satan will have to flee. Back to the two and the four. Tell me who can stand before us when we call on that great name. What’s his name? Jesus. We have the Victor.
If you got the victory… Let’s see if I say… Just dip it up. Sit down. I hope they’re having as much fun at the other campuses. But turn to your neighbor and say, different culture, different rhythm. And one’s not bad, one’s not good, but the prophet Isaiah is pointing out a discrepancy between the rhythm of the thoughts, intentions, and imagination of God and the response of his people. In the 55th chapter of Isaiah’s prophecy, the captives to Babylon have returned to Jerusalem, Jerusalem, but there’s work to be done, and God’s people are in need of revival. Because they’ve gotten out of rhythm. They’re clapping on the one and the three, and God is trying to put them on the two and the four. And God says, I’m frustrated with my people because I can’t get my people to move to the beat of my heart. And God is trying to get his people to move in rhythm.
God’s Higher Ways—Interrupting Earth’s Rhythm
And Isaiah appeals to nature knowing that the culture of heaven and the culture of earth are so different. And if the culture of earth could ever get in rhythm and in syncopation with the culture of heaven, then his kingdom would come and his will would be done on earth. Did anybody come to revival to get in the rhythm of God? To move like he moves and speak like he speaks so you can see what he spoke come to pass in your life. I feel extra anointed to preach to y’all tonight. We might as well set it up on night one. Touch your neighbor and say, catch the rhythm.
God says, when I give, you give. I gave my son, give your life. When I love, you love. But sometimes we have a hard time getting on the same beat. And we get stuck in the wrong rhythms. The Lord was very clear with me that he said that tonight on night one of the revival, he wanted to get you in a new rhythm. See, it’s not that you don’t love God. That’s not why your spiritual life has felt kind of weak lately or nondescript. It’s not because you don’t have a desire to serve him. It’s just that, you know, some of us, we have better rhythm inside than we can express. Some of us are really good dancers in our minds. Because we can feel the rhythm, but it is an entirely different thing to feel the rhythm than it is to express it.
The Rain Cycle: Receive, Respond, Repeat, Release
And so God is trying to get you in the rhythm, a different rhythm. He’s trying to get you to switch beats. And so he uses an agricultural example of the seed and the rain, which, of course, is a cycle. Any farmers in the house? Why are you clapping for that? It was one guy. I’m proud of him. I figured you might not relate as much to the agricultural example that Isaiah sets forth here as much as the original audience would have. So I want to break it down a little bit, because I use the word rhythm. We’re talking about a rain cycle. God says, I’m going to send my word down. And my word is going to do something in your life that is analogous to water. What water does to the seed when it is planted in the earth, my word is going to do. when it comes down in this revival in your life. And I’m going to send my rain in your life to interrupt the rhythm, the dry rhythm, the dragging rhythm.
Honestly, I know that by this point in the year, and many of you may be watching this on television or online at a later time, but we’re right in the middle of that season where many people are trying to get back in the rhythm. Our kids are going back to school, and we’re trying to find our rhythm. And we came to revival because we don’t want to be stuck in the same old rhythm. You know the rhythm I’m talking about? It’s a slow rhythm. It’s a predictable rhythm. But I believe God brought you to a revival. To interrupt that rhythm, that dry rhythm, that dead rhythm, that dragging rhythm, that head hung down, not excited about anything, just trying to survive to get to Friday. We came to church on a Friday night because we want a new rhythm, and we’re not going to let complacency call our Cadence anymore. Come on, touch free people. Say get in the rhythm. The rhythm of revival. You know, the world has a rhythm, a rhythm of fear. Watch the news. Get scared. Watch the news. Get scared. Get scared. Terrorists. Trump. Terrorists. Trump. Trying to scare you to death. Just a rhythm.
And what I love about the Word of God is that when it comes into my life, it interrupts that rhythm. That’s why Jesus was telling his disciples before he left, in the world you will have trouble. It’s the way it’s been since the beginning of time, and it’s the way it’s going to be. But take heart just about the time that it seems like evil has overcome and darkness has won the day. Take heart, for I have overcome the world. What are you talking about? On the third day, the resurrection of Jesus Christ interrupted the rhythm of death, hell, and the grave, bringing life to all who would believe and call on his name. And whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved. So Jesus broke the rhythm. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. And this Word was born into humanity, wrapped in flesh, and sent for you and I to interrupt the rhythm because religion had a rhythm. Religion had a rhythm. They would come to the temple making sacrifices. Can I teach a little bit on Revival Night One? Where they would offer a pigeon and a dove and a goat and a pigeon and a dove and a goat and they would have to come and do it every year. They would have to do it after certain sins they would commit. They would come and bring an offering and it was a rhythm. It was a rhythm.
From Religion’s Rhythm to Grace’s Flow
Religion is a rhythm. Try hard. Try harder. Fall short. Give up. Try hard. Try harder. Fall short. Give up. Try hard. Try harder. Fall short. Give up. When Jesus did what he did on the cross, you have to understand that part of what the cross means to us is that the rhythm of religion was replaced by the rhythm of grace. It means that I have a great high priest, and I can come before him anywhere, anytime, no matter what I’ve done. He changed the rhythm. I just wonder tonight what rhythm you find yourself in. I see in Isaiah chapter 55 a rhythm of revival. I want to present it to you because it’s very, very simple and very, very practical, and it produces results when you get in the rhythm. The first thing that he mentions is receiving. Would you write that down if you’re taking notes? Just write down receive. And after you’ve had the opportunity to write it down, just say out loud, Lord, I receive your word to me.
He says, as the rain falls from the heaven and waters the earth, the earth has a responsibility to receive the rain. And I don’t wonder whether God will speak over the course of this revival. I wonder whether our hearts will be open to receive what he speaks. It is my experience in pastoring people that usually we are selective receptors of the word of God. I even heard some people asking me on social media, and I’m not mad at you, but I’m not answering you, because they wanted to know who’s speaking on what night. And here’s what I want to say back when they say, who’s speaking? Who cares? Who cares? I’ve come to the point in my life where I don’t care what kind of package the promise is wrapped in. I just want God to speak. God, you can speak to me through anybody. They don’t have to look like me. They don’t have to have a style I’m familiar with. If your word comes forth, I receive it. So whoever you want to speak it through, if they’re a teacher, if they’re a preacher, if they’re loud, if they’re soft, I’m not addicted to a style. I want the substance of the word of God in my life.
So the question isn’t, will God speak? It’s, will you receive it? Because the rhythm of revival begins with ground that receives the rain. The Lord is going to speak to many of you over the course of this revival about an uncomfortable area of your life. Will you receive it? He said, I think differently than you. Now, you know what it’s like to speak with someone who thinks differently than you. It’s frustrating. It’s what makes marriage such a blessing. We don’t think alike. Have you noticed how crazy your thoughts are, by the way? They really are crazy. They’ll get off track so quick, and that’s why you need revival in your life, so you can get your thoughts back in rhythm with how God thinks, because you’ve been freaking out, anxious, having panic attacks all over the place. But over the next 10 days, you’re going to interrupt the rhythm of those crazy thoughts, those ones that have been making you suicidal and depressed and despondent and feeling like your life doesn’t count, but God wants to interrupt that rhythm.
Receive God’s Word to Interrupt Wrong Rhythms
Holly was telling me the other night… I came out to pick up Elijah from his small group, and she was telling me this. I couldn’t put it in a sermon, but she was telling me the other night how when I didn’t show up as quick back to the house as she thought I was going to show up. She said, my mind went crazy. I started thinking that I was going to have to come get you at the hospital, and I didn’t have my phone on me. I’d left it somewhere else, and I came in here, and they were doing some run-throughs for the revival, and I was just walking around talking to people with Elijah. She said, I started thinking about how I was going to have to see you at the hospital. She said, then the next thing I thought is I already took my makeup off, and I’m going to have to go to the hospital. I thought that was kind of crazy. Then she said she was thinking I was thinking about wearing sweatpants in case she had to stay with me at the hospital overnight. And then 15 minutes later, of course, I texted her back. But have you noticed how quickly your thoughts can just get crazy? I don’t know what that had to do with Isaiah 55, but it was kind of funny. Oh, I remember. It was about the rhythm, how God said, you’re not thinking in rhythm with me. The thoughts that I have toward you are of a hope and a future to give you an expected end. And I brought you to revival to get your thoughts in rhythm with mine.
The key for you to know is that sometimes the thing that God speaks to you that you initially resist is the thing that you most desperately need to hear. Would you like me to say that back in Espanol? I’ll say it again in English. The word that you initially resist might be the one you most desperately need. Will you receive it, Naaman? Because you’ve got leprosy. And when you show up at the door of Elisha, the prophet, he might not come out and tell you what you want to hear. He might come out and tell you that you’ve got to dip in the Jordan seven times. And the Jordan might represent that muddy, dirty place that seems beneath you. Some of you came asking God to give you direction for your next job, but while you’re here, he’s going to speak to you to stick it out in the one that you’re in. Will you receive that? Some of you came asking God to cancel your debt, but he’s going to tell you to make a plan to pay it off. Will you receive that? Or do you only want the breakthrough if it comes dressed like a shortcut? I’ll say it like Joyce Meyer said it one time, and maybe she’ll say it when she gets here. There ain’t no drive-through breakthroughs in the kingdom of God.
You might have to get down low and strip off your armor and respond to the Word of God, and he might speak it to that uncomfortable place in your life. Will you receive that? Touch 17 people and say, Receive that. You ought to be like Odell Beckham this week, just trying to receive everything you can. You ought to… Everything God throws at you, even if you don’t need it for now. Let me tell you something. Sometimes God will give you the word you need for the storm you’re not in yet. You better did what you can. You better store up this word. You better get ready. You don’t know what fights you’re going to have in your future, but I receive it. Whatever you speak to me, God, I receive it. Yeah, but you don’t even know what he’s going to speak yet. Yeah, but he’s my father. I trust his heart. He wouldn’t speak it to me if it wasn’t good for me, so I receive it. You know that person next to you that was lifting their hands in worship, and you’re like, what are they doing right now? And they had their hands lifted high in the air. They were receiving what God wants to do in their life. They’re posturing themselves for the promise of God to come to pass, and for it to come to pass, you have to receive it.
Respond to God’s Word—Don’t Just Receive
You know, that’s not quite a beat yet. I think we need something else for the rhythm. How about you? Because we have to receive and then respond. Receive and then respond. This is the rhythm of revival. It’s not just, God, I’m going to hear it. Some of you have heard more sermons than Moses. But it’s not just this, because watch. If all I ever do is receive, receive, receive, receive, receive, receive, receive, receive. Oh, I like Hillsong and Bethel and gospel music, and I like TVN and Daystar and online and podcasts and streaming, and I want to hear my word. That’s not a rhythm that produces revival. That’s a rhythm that makes you fat, lazy, and ineffective in the kingdom of God. If you just eat, eat, eat, eat, eat, eat, eat, eat, touch your neighbor and say, walk it out.
Every once in a while, you got to take what you heard and not just hit the snare again. Receive, receive, receive, receive, but put something with it. Receive, respond, receive, respond, ah, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. So now we’re getting somewhere because I’m in the rhythm. Touch somebody, say, I’m in the rhythm. I didn’t come here just to soak up as much Scripture and spiritual knowledge. I want to see something grow in my life. As the rain falls from the heavens and waters the earth, making it bud, my life is going to grow over these ten nights. I’m going to be different when I leave than when I came, because I got in the rhythm, and I’m living in the rhythm, and I’m walking in the rhythm, and I’m walking in the rhythm. And when God speaks, I do it. And when God says it, I do it. And when God speaks and I do it, and when God says that I do it, we’re establishing a new rhythm. where it’s not just receive, receive, receive, receive, receive, but I receive, respond, receive, receive, respond.
Every night of revival, I want you to go home and take one thing from the sermon and do it before the next day. Because if you come back and didn’t do the last thing that God told you to do, it won’t matter if you come back and get more notes for your notebook or highlight in your Bible with green, red, and orange. When you get to heaven, a highlighted Bible will get you more jewels in your crown. I didn’t work this out before I came, but you can understand that I’m trying to say we didn’t just come to hear the Word of God. I want the Word of God to fall in my life and make something. Anyway, receive, respond. Receive. As the rains fall from the heaven and water the earth, so shall my Word be that comes out of my mouth. It will not return to me empty before it does what it was designed to do. There’s an assignment on every word that God releases into your life. The ground of your heart determines whether or not that Word is fruitful. It’s a rhythm. It’s a rain cycle rhythm. Receive. Respond. Repeat. The rhythm of revival.
Release Praise to Complete the Rain Cycle
Receive. Respond. Repeat. That’s what makes it a rhythm. Watch this. Just give me the one, the two, one time. Just… That’s not a beat. It’s not a beat until you do it again. I like it. Receive. Respond. Repeat. Receive. Respond. Repeat. That’s why I want you to come. Not just one night. Not just two nights. Not just three nights. Not just four nights. But get your butt to this revival as many nights as you possibly can so that the rain of what God is speaking can reinforce the seed that that is planted in your life and do it again. Stop, Dom. Some of y’all want to do it one time and then blame God that it didn’t work. But it’s receive. Respond. Repeat. Isn’t this a good message to open us up for what God wants to do? Respond. I sent Graham a text message the other day. Sending my eight-year-old a text message was in itself. An indictment on my parenting that he has a device that he can receive text messages on. I questioned my own wisdom on that one.
But I sent him a text and I didn’t hear back. And I came home and said, Hey man, I sent you a text. And Graham has this raspy voice. He said, I know. I said, you know. He said, I know. I said, Graham, you didn’t send anything back to me. And he said, I know. And then I told him how if I’m paying for the device and you receive a message for me, it is incumbent upon you to respond to the one who bought the stupid thing. I’ll take your iPhone and run over it with my Maxima if you don’t respond to me because I bought it. Now, if you are bought by the blood of Jesus Christ and he purchased your life and he takes the time to speak into your life, what kind of response does he deserve? God says, I want a response in your life. I didn’t bring you from California, Wally or whatever your name was. I don’t remember. Willie Wally, California. What? Who? Ethan Wally. But I didn’t bring you all this way to Code Orange Revival for you to receive a message and get stuck in a bubble.
Do you have an iPhone? You know when you send the text back and you’re sending it back and it’s the bubbles and then the bubbles come up. Some of you are stuck in a bubble, but God brought you to Code Orange Revival. You’ve been putting some things off. There are some things he’s been trying to bring to pass in your life and you’ve been stuck in a bubble of trying to decide whether to do it. But I hear the voice of Jesus calling you to come on the waters. I hear the voice of God echoing from heaven tonight by the Spirit of God on the inside of you calling you to come. This is your moment to respond. Receive, respond, repeat. I feel like we’re missing something, though. We almost got a beat. Receive, respond, repeat. It’s almost a beat. No, no. Just do this. What’s this? Receive, respond, repeat. Receive, respond, repeat. Receive. Again. It’s almost… I’m missing one thing. As the rain comes from heaven… Where’s the earth? You know, I always wanted to be a weatherman. And the way… Let’s just play with it for a minute, because since I was a little boy I’ve wanted to do this. The way that rain comes… Oh man, should I do this? I don’t know if I should do it. All right. Is that the rain doesn’t start off in the sky, does it? The rain starts out on the ground. Then the sun comes, and when it gets hot enough, it causes the water that’s on the ground to evaporate.
The Sun Rises—Praise Evaporates and Condenses
How am I doing so far? This is my first time in meteorology. I’m not even a very good theologian, and now I’m trying to put theology and meteorology together. So y’all pray for me, but it’s revival. I figured I might as well try this. And when the sun gets hot enough, and the water that’s on the ground begins to evaporate, it turns into a vaporous gas which is lighter than the air, and so that it can rise up into the sky. And when I was thinking about God saying that his word is going to be like the rain that falls from heaven, I started thinking about how many of us, if we hear that, we will wait to receive a blessing from God. But that’s not quite how the rhythm of rain operates. Come on, help me preach somebody. The rhythm of the rain is not that it falls down out of the sky magically. The rhythm of the rain is that the sun heats up enough that eventually what was on the ground starts to rise. I feel something heating up in our church tonight. I feel something heating up at Cold Orange Revival. I feel like something is starting to rise from the ground and change form and lift to the skies.
Now watch this. When the rain changes forms from liquid to gas to rise up, those little droplets of rain begin to get together. This is a process known as condensation. It is the opposite of evaporation. Condensation is when the gaseous rain, which is now a vapor, turns back into water like these little drops. Now here’s what’s happening when those gaseous vapors get to a certain place in the sky. They get cold enough that they can turn back into water again, but they’re just little tiny drops. However, if enough little tiny drops get together up there in the sky, they form a cloud. If enough of those tiny little drops collide together and bump into one another and stick together, it forms a cloud. And if the cloud gets heavy enough, it bursts in the sky. And when it bursts in the sky, the rain waters the earth. And when the rain waters the earth, it buds and flourishes and brings forth. God said it in this revival. It’s not going to be about rain coming down from the sky. It’s going to be about praise rising up from the church. And if I can get enough drops of praise.
So it’s release, receive, respond, repeat. Say it. Release, receive, respond, repeat. Say it again. Release, receive, respond, repeat. Now here’s where that takes faith. Will you release praise before you see the promise come to pass? Will you release a praise today from your heart, from your soul, even though you feel like your life is out of step? God brought you to revival to get you in a new rhythm. And if you will release, you know, some of you cannot receive what God has for you until you release what he is trying to take away from you. Release, release, release that heavy burden of shame, that cycle of shame and sin, that rhythm of failure and disappointment and discouragement. Release it, release it, release, release the disappointment of the last thing that It died in your life. Release it, for I see a cloud the size of a man’s hand starting to swell.
If you will release a praise, you can receive the rain, and the trees of the field will clap their hands and the trees of the field. If you can get in rhythm with what God is doing this week, your life has been struggling because you’ve been out of rhythm, you’ve been out of step. Your life is dry because you’ve been out of rhythm, you’ve been out of step, but if you can get in the rhythm this week, you can receive the rain. As the rains fall from the heaven and water the earth, so shall my word be that proceeds from my mouth. It will do what I sent it to do, and when it does, you will go forth with singing, and the trees of the field will clap their hands. What does that mean? That means when I release from within, then God will revive. When I release what’s within me, God will revive what’s around me. And the trees of the field will clap their hands. Release, receive, respond, repeat, release, receive, respond, repeat. That’s how we’re going to see revival in our lives this week.
Release Praise Now for Revival Rain to Fall
Release, in fact, let’s go ahead and release a praise right now for all that God is going to speak, for all he’s going to do. Come on, put your notebook down and just begin to fill this place with praise. We worship you, Father. We glorify your name, Jesus. We honor you, Holy Spirit. Come on, release a grateful praise. Don’t be embarrassed about it. Do it like your favorite team just won. Do it like something good happened to your kid. Do it like God is alive and on the throne and anything is possible. Release it. Release it. Release it. Come on, the sun is rising over this church. The sun is rising. It’s revival time. Release the praise to the heavens. Release. Receive. Respond. Repeat. Release. Receive. Respond. Repeat. Release. Receive. Respond. Repeat. Release. Receive. Respond. Repeat. Release. Receive. Respond. Repeat. Release. Receive. Respond. Repeat. This is the rhythm of revival.