Steven Furtick - Count On It (02/28/2017)
In this powerful New Year's Eve message from Psalm 48, Acts 5, and Haggai 2, Pastor Steve urges believers to rejoice as one year ends and another begins—not just for victories, but for battles that didn't beat us, beatings that didn't break us, and small beginnings that seem insignificant. The core truth is that God promises greater future glory than past splendor, declaring blessing even while the seed remains in the barn, so we can count on His faithfulness and rejoice right now in faith before seeing the proof.
A Reason to Rejoice: New Year's Eve Message
I want to get into this because I would say I can preach all night long, but we can't because when it gets to midnight, East Coast time, we're going to celebrate together, so I've got to be done by then, but God has given me a word, and I want to share it with you now. And it's kind of complicated, so I've got three different Bibles up here, three different translations, and all these notes, and so little time, but I'm going to do my best to inspire you and help provide a perspective from God's word that will be beneficial to us.
I was sitting around with some staff members a few months ago, and I said, what do you do on New Year's Eve? And three of them talked about getting drunk, and I fired them. It's a joke that didn't happen. And we all just kind of looked at each other like, well, we try to stay awake and all that for the new year, like we're 75 years old or something.
And I said, well, you know, with this 52 days of thanks and praise, if we're really going to push the people into 52 weeks of thanks and praise in 2014, we ought to give them a good, strong boost at the end of the year, just make sure we get right across that next year, get across the line.
Psalm 48: Walking Around Zion in Praise
I want to share a scripture with you. I've got several, and you'll see the theme at the end, so if I sound confused at the beginning, I'm not. I know exactly where we want to end up, and hopefully I can get us there. But I want to read a scripture. All of these will be on the screen. Don't bother flipping around tonight. Just take notes, but don't bother flipping around. Just follow the screen.
And I want to share, first of all, a scripture. I've loved the scripture for a long time, from Psalm 48, verse 9 through 14. And here, the psalmist says, "Within your temple, O God, we meditate on your unfailing love. Like your name, O God, your praise reaches to the ends of the earth. Your right hand is filled with righteousness. Mount Zion, that's us, rejoices. The villages of Judah are glad because of your judgments."
Then he gives an instruction. He switches from talking to God to giving the people some instructions about how they should respond to God. He says, "Walk about Zion. Go around her. Count her towers. Consider well her ramparts. View her citadels. That you may tell of them to the next generation."
Touch somebody next to you and say, I've got a testimony.
"For this God is our God forever and ever. He will be our guide even to the end."
I wish y'all would act like this on Sunday. This is fun.
But he's talking about praising God and thanking God. What I found interesting studying the Scriptures is that this actual passage is about a pilgrimage. It's a passage for pilgrimage when people would come to Jerusalem. In fact, it was written for people who came to Jerusalem after God's holy city had been through a battle where they had been attacked by an enemy. But they were still standing.
And I want to call this message tonight, if you want to give it a title, I want to call it A Reason to Rejoice. A Reason to Rejoice.
We said we're going to build up a wall of salvation and praise, thanks and praise in our lives as this year ends. And so I want to talk about A Reason to Rejoice. And I'm going to try to give you three before we count this new year in tonight.
But I wanted to start by telling you that, as this year ends and a new one begins, without even knowing all the particulars of your situation or your circumstances, I wanted to tell you that you have a reason to rejoice. You have a reason to rejoice.
And I wondered if we might do what Psalm 48, verse 12 says, where it says, walk about Zion. Walk about Zion.
I went to Australia three times in the last two years, so I like the term walk about. Yeah, you ever heard of a walk about? It's a walk about.
And tonight I thought we'd take a walk about. And it's good at certain times during your life to take a lap around your life and look at what God's done for you.
He said, walk about Zion, count her towers. I love that imagery because what he's saying is, okay, the enemy came in and he blasted you and bombed you and he tried to bring you down. But if you walk around your life today, because we're not physically Zion, we're not the physical Jerusalem. We, as the church, we're the spiritual Jerusalem. We don't go to a physical temple to worship God. We are the temple of God.
And so when the psalmist says, you know, rejoice, and he talks about giving thanks and giving praise, he's not talking about giving God praise in a time where nothing bad has happened. Nobody has to instruct you to do that. It's natural to be happy.
He says, I want you to walk around Zion and see how, although the battle raged in your life this year, you're still standing.
So, I want us to rejoice tonight. And I know I won't have to work you real hard, but I want us to rejoice in our hearts and with our mouths and in our minds and in our spirits tonight.
I want us to rejoice for the battles that didn't beat you, for the battles that didn't beat you. Oh, they tried. They would have, but they couldn't. Because when the battle came, it had to reckon with a God who was much bigger than your enemy anticipated.
Yeah, you might as well go ahead and help me. There's no need in trying to make it through the sermon. This ain't a cute sermon. This isn't a scholarly sermon. It's time to praise God for the battles that you've been through that didn't beat you.
It is time to walk around your life and remember the war that you went through this year, but the war didn't wreck you and the battle didn't beat you. Walk about Zion and consider her towers because you're still standing.
Hey, that's why you can praise him without shame because you're still standing.
I need you to shake the person next to you and tell them, I'm still standing. I'm still standing.
I went through some stuff this year that shook me, but I'm still standing. I went through some stuff this year that shocked me, but I'm still standing. I went through some stuff this year that surprised me, that scarred me, but I'm still standing.
Come on, shake them again. Say, I was shaken, but I'm standing. I was stirred, but I'm standing.
Three Reasons to Rejoice as the Year Ends
Reason 1: Praise God for the Battles That Didn't Beat You
Okay. The battle that didn't beat you. I'm glad we had this party because I got some stuff that I needed to rejoice about that didn't beat me this year.
Hey, everybody's always telling you to count your blessings, right? Count your blessings, count your blessings. That's cool. You should do that. But don't forget to count your battles.
That's what the psalmist is saying. He's saying, hey, look at some of the stuff that you lost this year, but look at some of the stuff that's still there, too. Because sometimes the battle is the blessing. Because it proved God's presence to you in a way that no good time could have.
Count your battles and consider them blessings.
James said it like this in James chapter 1 verse 2. He said, "Count it all joy when you fall into trials of diverse kinds, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience."
So, let's take a lap around our lives as this year ends and count our battles, the battles that didn't beat you.
And I also want you to consider that you have a reason to rejoice. Everybody say, I've got a reason. I've got a reason.
Touch the person next to you and say, I've got more than one, but you know, I don't have time. I don't have time to tell you all the things God says. Because the stuff that I really want to tell you, I can't tell you. The stuff that I really went through when no one was around, if I told you, you wouldn't want to be my friend. Some of the stuff I thought that God kept me from doing, you wouldn't. And that's what you would say.
The battle that didn't beat you.
Reason 2: Rejoice Over the Beatings That Didn't Break You
But I also want you to consider the beatings that didn't break you. The beatings that didn't break you.
The psalmist said, count her towers. In other words, consider how God is still stationed in your life.
But, you know, if you go over to the New Testament, there's this really cool scripture. And I was texting it to some of our campus pastors. Where are my campus pastors at? Campus pastors in the house. I love these guys. I'll let you guys just stand up real quick. All your people want to see you.
How many of y'all love Joel Bell, Ken Hester, Chris Allen, LB? He's crippled like a weeble. He wobbled. Scott Hosey. Who else? What was I saying? It's real late, y'all.
It didn't break you.
I texted those guys a few days ago, right before Christmas. I was reading through the Bible in a year. You should do that next year. I actually, I don't want to tell you this, but I had to extend it a little bit. I got behind a little bit, so I'm going to have to finish it in February. But I am going to finish. I might be a little slow to the finish line, but I'm going to make it across.
I just freed somebody up right now, because you didn't know that the preacher could be late on the Bible reading plane. But I'm going to finish. I'm going to limp to the finish line, but I'm going to get there. I'm going to finish by my birthday. That's my new goal.
Well, it's going to be tonight, but I've got a little extension.
But I was reading in Acts chapter 5, and I've always thought this was a remarkable little passage. It talks about how the apostles were preaching, and they were under tremendous pressure and persecution, like we would know nothing about in our day. We would know nothing about it in this geographic location where God has enabled us to live where we have so much freedom to share the gospel.
But they were being persecuted severely, and they rounded them up, and they said, you need to stop that. And they're like, well, no, what if God tells us to do it, and you tell us not to? He's bigger than you, so we're going to go with him.
And so they couldn't figure out what to do. And one of the guys speaks up. He says, hey, if you try to stop these guys and God is with them, you're going to fight against God. But if you just let them go and God's not with them, they're going to fail. So just let them go. See what happens.
But to make sure that the apostles got the message in Acts chapter 5, I believe it's verse 40, it says that they called the apostles in and had them flogged. And then they ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus and let them go.
Stop right there. Don't put the next verse up. Next verse is going to shock you.
Everybody say, a reason to rejoice.
Look, the apostles get beat and ordered not to speak in Jesus' name anymore. And look at verse 41. Here's what I texted to the guys. That I said, this is to me so challenging and so inspiring.
It says, "The apostles left the Sanhedrin rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the name." Because they had been counted worthy.
See, when you go through stuff and when life beats you up and when things happen to you, sometimes our beatings are, because of our own decisions, no doubt. But sometimes we go through things and we put what we went through in the wrong column when we tally it up.
As you close the books on 2013 and open up shop on 2014, I want to make sure you've got everything that happened to you in the right column before you close the books, because if not, you're going to have an accounting error and it's going to throw the balance off.
And I'm totally out of terms that I know about finances right now. But see, you've got profit and loss, right? Profit and loss, the P&L.
And some of the stuff that you've got in the loss column that you went through this year actually needs to be moved over to the gain column because it was the highest compliment that God let you go through that.
And what you gained from that experience is so much greater than what you lost because of it.
I'm trying to say that the fake friends you lost in the process of what you went through are nothing compared to the intimacy with God that you gained and the new people he's going to bring as a result of your faithfulness.
So rejoice in it. Come on. Rejoice because life beat you up a little bit. Rejoice because you've got some scars to show. Rejoice because they beat you black and blue. But check it out. I didn't go down.
Listen to what they did. It says they rejoiced. They rejoiced because God had counted them worthy.
They rejoiced. See, it's one thing to rejoice because God is worthy. But this is another level because I'm rejoicing because God looked at my life and he counted me worthy to taste just a little bit of trouble and a little bit of trial.
And I'm preaching right to somebody right now who needs to rejoice in the beating that didn't break you. A beating that didn't break you.
Look what they did. Verse 42. Day after day in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped. I love it. They never stopped. Teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Messiah.
The beating that didn't break you. Praise him for the beating that didn't break you.
Rejoicing in Small Beginnings and God's Promises
Reason 3: Rejoice for the Beginnings That Don't Seem Big to You
And this is my last one, but it's the longest one. So, you know, you got to stay with me on this one.
I want you to rejoice as one year ends and another one begins for the beginnings that don't seem big to you.
So, I'll back up now. The battles that didn't beat you. The beatings that didn't break you. And the beginnings that don't seem big to you.
And now we need to study the Bible a little bit more in depth.
Recently, God brought to my attention a verse of Scripture in the book of Haggai, chapter 2. And Haggai is a prophet who was getting the people back to work. And God's people had been negligent as to what God wanted them to build. And so they were supposed to rebuild the temple and they got discouraged because it's one thing to start it's another thing to finish.
And so God sends a messenger named Haggai to encourage Zerubbabel to rebuild the temple. And he's saying, okay, you need to pick this thing back up.
And so the people begin to work at it again.
I want you to listen. Just listen and read along on the screen to some of the things that God says to motivate his people.
See, you need to know that the first temple had been destroyed by enemies. And it's very appropriate that we end the year this way because remember we talked about Nehemiah who came in and rebuilt the walls after the temple was rebuilt. But before the walls could be rebuilt, the temple had to be rebuilt. And so Haggai was getting the people before Nehemiah, long before Nehemiah to rebuild the temple.
And in order to motivate them, he does a comparison, a contrast.
Haggai 2: Don't Despise the Day of Small Beginnings
Look at verse 3, Haggai chapter 2. He says, "Does anyone remember this house, the temple, in its former splendor? How in comparison does it look to you now? It must seem like nothing at all."
And I would feel that that's how some of you view your life tonight or an area of your life or a certain goal that you're working toward in your life. It seems like nothing at all.
And it's because they were comparing the new temple, the beginnings of the new temple to the end of the old temple, Solomon's temple, which was arrayed in splendor and glory.
And he said, I know compared to that, this doesn't seem like much. But listen, he said, now the Lord says, verse 4, "Now, be strong, Zerubbabel. I'm giving out free names for your kids too. It's part of your admission. Be strong, Jeshua, son of Jehozadak. We're full of them. So in case the person you're with takes Zerubbabel, you've got Jehozadak, the high priest. Be strong, all you people still left in the land, and now get to work, for I am with you."
"And now get to work, for I am with you, says the Lord of heaven's armies. Not get to work because it will be easy for you, but get to work because I'm with you in those long nights, and I'm with you in those long lines, and I'm with you in those dark hours. I'm with you. Get to work. Get to work. Get to work. Get to work."
He said, verse 5, "My spirit remains among you, just as I promised when you came out of Egypt. So do not be afraid, for this is what the Lord of heaven's armies says. In just a little while, I will again shake the heavens and the earth, the oceans and the dry land. I will shake all the nations, and the treasures of all the nations will be brought to this temple. I will fill this place with glory, says the Lord of heaven's armies. The silver is mine, and the gold is mine. I'm the source, so there's no resource that is beyond my reach, says the Lord of heaven's armies. The future glory of this temple will be greater than its past glory, says the Lord of heaven's armies. And in this place, I will bring peace. I, the Lord of heaven's armies, have spoken."
Now you're confused. What does the temple in Zerubbabel's day have to do with me in 2013? Pastor Steve. I doubt anybody in this room calls me Pastor Steve, but it kind of flowed with what I was saying.
I wanted you to remember what I said earlier about how the Lord's temple is no longer a place that people go to, but the Lord's temple happens any time a person will yield his or herself completely to God.
So watch this. Let's read back. Whatever God said about that temple in Haggai chapter 2, he must mean about you in 2013, because now you're the temple, and you've got a reason to rejoice.
Here it is. God inhabits the praises of his people, so we don't have to rebuild a temple with walls and bricks and mortar, but we're building a temple tonight with praise and worship and Thanksgiving and gratitude and appreciation of all that God has done.
This is so good. This is so good.
He said the future glory is going to be greater than anything you saw in the past. He said the best is yet to come. He said you haven't seen anything yet. He said don't be discouraged by how small it seems, because everything I send, I send in the form of a seed.
The Promise While the Seed Is Still in the Barn
Okay, so then... All that's cool, right? But then the way he closes this chapter, this is where I want us to close a year.
Okay? And I've left myself just enough time to work it out. Talk to me. Say, work it out. Work it out. I believe I will.
So listen, y'all. Okay? You had to be there. I was reading this, and I came up on verse 18. No, no, no, no. Remember, the people had been slack. They didn't finish what God had started. And for 16 years, they just looked at the foundation of the Lord's temple, but they didn't do anything about it.
And so when Haggai came along, his goal was to motivate them to not become discouraged by the lack of progress, but to be convicted by their lack of action so that they would move forward in the plans that God had called for them to materialize.
And so I was reading, and how Haggai was telling them, hey, the reason that you've experienced some of the barrenness in your life and in your land is because you stopped making progress. Not because you didn't finish, but because you didn't keep going.
And so he's encouraging them. He's saying, hey, the moment you get back to work, I can begin to work again in your life. The moment you get back to work on what I called you to build... Remember, we're not talking about a physical temple. We're talking about us. God wants to build things in us.
So then I read in verse 18, he said, "Think about this 18th day of December, the day when the foundation of the Lord's temple was laid. Think carefully. The 18th day of December."
Now, I just happened to read that right before December 18th this year. I called our staff together, and I was like, hey, I know it's probably a coincidence. I'm not trying to make a big deal out of this, but I read this thing, and it talked about the 18th day of December, and we were getting ready for our Christmas worship experiences.
And I was thinking about all the people that God was going to bring here. And why I wanted to share it with them wasn't really because of verse 18. Verse 18 was just nice because it said the 18th day of December.
But really, verse 19, this is where I wanted to bring the staff, and it's where I want to close the year with you as the pastor of this church and as somebody who has been called to preach God's Word.
God's Promise: Blessing from This Day Onward
Listen to this verse. He says, "I am giving you a promise now while the seed is still in the barn. You have not yet harvested your grain, and your grapevines, fig trees, pomegranates, and olive trees have not yet produced their crops. But from this day onward, I will bless you."
I got happy when I read it because I started thinking about some seed that's still in the barn in my own life.
Put it on the screen again. I want everybody to get this at the deepest level.
He said, "I'm giving you a promise now, verse 19, while the seed is still in the barn. I'm giving you a promise now. Your vines have not yet produced what you were praying about, but I'm giving you a promise now. The seed is still in the barn."
How many of you have got some unanswered prayers, some unrealized dreams, some things that God put in you that haven't come to fruition yet in your life?
He said, I'm giving you a promise when? Now. Now, even though what you're praying about, wishing about, striving toward, has not yet come to pass.
In seminary, they taught me about the already-not-yet tension that runs throughout the hermeneutic of all of the canon of Scripture. Already, not yet.
Here we see it very clearly. What Haggai is doing is he's saying, you've already got the promise, even though you don't yet have the proof.
And faith, I believe, is the ability to still hope in the promise when you can't see the proof.
You have not yet seen the proof. What you are working toward has not yet produced in your life. Yet, this day, this day, you have a reason to rejoice.
This day, as you stare at the seed that's still in the barn in your life at the end of this year, here's what God wants to know. Will you rejoice over the seed, even when you can't see the harvest?
That's called faith.
See, I don't have the proof yet, but I have the promise now. So when do I rejoice? Not when I see the proof, but when I consider the promise.
And since I got the promise right now, I think I might just rejoice right now. I don't have the proof right now, but I have the promise right now.
When are you going to praise him? When are you going to thank him? When are you going to glorify him? When are you going to call him faithful? Right now! Right now! Right now! Right now! Right now!
Please be seated.
I got so excited, and I picked up this little Bible. I had this little Bible that says by my bed, the message translation. Do you ever read it? It's written by a man named Eugene Peterson. He's a poet. And sometimes he'll translate it in a way that helps you see it in a new way.
So I said, I went home. I was so happy. And I just can't even express to you now, because this has been in the freezer for like two weeks. And so I'm trying to get it back out and reheat it, but you know, it'll taste the same after it's been in the freezer.
But when I read it, ask Holly, when I read it, when I read it, I'm not even lying to you. When I read it, I pulled Graham. Graham's only six. He don't care nothing about sermons, but I pulled Graham in the bedroom. I said, boy, I got to preach to you. I ain't got nobody else to preach to. And I preached this to Graham.
Count on It: The Real Title of the Message
Because look at it. In the message, when I read it, in Haggai chapter two, everybody, everybody get ready for this. This is whoo, whoo.
God, this is why I wanted to do the praise party right here. I didn't know what I would share when I scheduled it, but I figured God would give me something good. And he did, because when Eugene Peterson translates Haggai chapter two, he says, even though you can't see the proof right now, you can count. What's this? What's this?
He says, hold it. Are you sufficiently excited? Come on, lean in, lean in, lean in, lean in, lean in, lean in, lean in, lean in, lean in, lean in, lean in, lean in, lean in, lean in, lean in, lean in, lean in, lean in, lean in, lean in, lean in, lean in, lean in, lean in, lean in, lean in, lean in, lean in, lean in, lean in, lean in, lean in, lean in, lean in, lean in, lean in, lean in, lean in, lean in, lean in, lean in, lean in, lean in, lean in, lean in, lean in, lean in, lean in, lean in, lean in, lean Blessing.
This is what got me so excited. This is what I started preaching to Graham. I grabbed Graham and I said, Graham, high-five somebody and tell them, count on it.
I said, I got my New Year's Eve message.
Because you know how I told you that this message was called A Reason to Rejoice? That was the head thing. That's not the real title. Here's the real title. Count on it. Count on it. Count on it.
Touch as many people as you can reach without standing up and tell them, count on it. Count on it. Count on it. Count on it. Count on it. Count on it.
They tell you to count your blessings, and you should. It's good to be grateful. But I can do one better as we end one year and enter another. I don't want to just count my blessings after they come. I want to count on my blessings before they even get to my...
Now lose your mind. I know you want to. Come on, count on it. Count on it. Count on it.
Come on, come on. Graham did better than that. Count on it. Count on it. Count on it.
Watch, watch. It doesn't take any faith to count it after it comes. What takes real faith is when it's not yet here, but I count on it because I consider him faithful.
You getting this? Count on it. Count on it.
So God wanted me to let you know there's some stuff in your life that's still in promise form. It's still in seed form. It's still in potential form. And the thing that you're praying about has not yet happened, but count on it. Count on it. Count on it.
That child that you're praying for is not yet delivered and close to God, But count on it. Count on it.
You've not yet figured out how you're going to survive. What the doctors told you, you're going to have to go through. And you can't see how God's going to get you through. But count on it. He will. Count on it. He always does. Count on it. He shall do it. Count on it. Count on it.
While the seed is still in the barn, I'm counting on the promise.
Aren't you glad you stood in line for New Year's Eve? Because I'm telling you, there are some people who are waiting to see what comes their way this year, and they're going to wait to see what kind of year it's going to be.
But people of faith don't wait to see what turns up in the ground. We call it good before it grows while the seed is still in the barn. I'm counting on it. I haven't seen it, but I believe it because I'm counting on it.
Re-Preaching the Christmas Joy: Rejoice Today
Now I want to re-preach the Christmas sermon.
He said in Luke chapter 2, verse 10, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people."
Everybody shout the next word, the first word of verse 11. Say, Today, In the town of David... No, just today. That's the only word I wanted you to say.
Y'all are very, very responsive, which I deeply appreciate. A little bit overambitious, if you want to know the truth about it.
He said, Today, Today, Today, In the town of David, a Savior has been born to you. He is the Messiah, the Lord. And this will be a sign to you. What? A shooting star? What? A rainbow? What? A lunar eclipse? No. You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.
But today, I bring you good news while the seed is still in the barn.
Oh my God. Jesus was still a baby in the barn. But the angel said, Today, you can rejoice because I bring good news of great joy.
And you've got a reason to rejoice while the seed is still in the barn. Rejoice. Rejoice. Rejoice.
Now touch your neighbor. I need you to re-preach the sermon. Say, I'm rejoicing for the battles that didn't beat me. I'm rejoicing for the beatings that didn't break me.
See, because the stuff that was beating on me that thought it was going to beat me down actually did nothing more than to strengthen me so God can raise me up. So I'm rejoicing. Oh, oh, oh.
And I'm rejoicing. Tell them, I'm rejoicing for the seed that's still in the barn. Because I don't have proof but I got a promise and I'm counting on it. I'm counting on it.
High five to everybody you can finally tell them count on it. Count on it. Count on it. Count on it. Count on it.
Counting on Christ: The Hope of Glory in Us
Now when you're counting on it make sure you count on the right constant. Count on this. Christ is with you and he is the hope of glory in you.
See, Haggai was talking about a second temple. Yeah. A second temple. He was talking about a temple that would have greater glory than the temple Solomon built.
But you know what I believe? I believe he was also looking forward to the greatest temple. the greatest temple. I believe he was looking forward see, because those other temples were destroyed.
But I believe he was looking forward to a temple that is not built with human hands. No, no, no. I believe he was looking forward to the time when the church would be born and the greatest glory that can fill the temple is the baby that was born in the barn.
Now count on him. because he's in you and he's with you and he'll never leave you.
I've got to save something for this weekend. I'm preaching too hard. Count on it. Count on it.
I'm counting on Christ. I'm counting on his faithfulness. I'm counting on his goodness.
I need you to find a partner somewhere in this crowd and tell them some things you're counting on God to do for you in your life this year. Go ahead and testify. Come on. While the seed is still in the barn.
Come on. Tell them. I'm counting on Christ. Tell them. Come on. Tell them. Tell them.
When you're done with them, find somebody else and tell them. Tell them. Count on it. Count on it.
You're watching online. You didn't stream this by accident. The same word that God is releasing in our church as we end 2013 on this 52nd day of thanks and praise.
We declare over your life you can count on the goodness of God, the glory of God to fill your life, the presence of God to pursue you through every day of your life. You can count on it.
I've got a reason to rejoice. A reason. I don't rejoice when I see the harvest. I rejoice over the seed.
Anybody feel like rejoicing over the promises that God has made you? Look, look, look.
They say don't count your chickens before they hatch. But I believe that when it comes to these promises. I'm supposed to count my blessings before they come.
Come on. Let's make a down payment of praise for everything God's going to prove in your life this year. Let's praise him for the promise before we see the proof.
Come on. Come on. Something's happening while you're praising him. Your expectation is rising while you're praising him. The devil's getting very nervous while you're praising him. Because you're praising him like it's the harvest while you're looking at the seed.
And he is faithful. He keeps his promises. He keeps his promises. He keeps his promises.
Final Call: Praise in the Last Moments of the Year
Okay, okay. Shh. We got about one minute and 52 seconds. I need everybody who's physically able to get up on your feet and breathe deep.
Because when there's 52 seconds normally they count down the full minute. But I just thought we'd do the last 52 seconds of the year. 52 seconds.
And I'm going to play my part and you play yours. I wrote down 52 things. Shh. Not yet. Not yet. Make sure you hear me.
52 things that I'm counting on this year for God. You know, let's don't just praise him for what he's done. Let's send our gratitude in advance into our future and praise him for what he's going to do.
You ready? Now it's time. Get those hands together.
We're counting on you, God, to help us, to keep us, to protect us, to cover us, to rescue us, to open doors, to make ways, to direct us, to speak to us, to comfort us, to change us, to sustain us, to provide for us, to feed us, to lead us, to be near us, to amaze us, to fill us, to strengthen us, come on, to show us, to enable us, to mold us, to refine us, to embolden us, to encourage us, hold us, grow us, teach us, favor us, heal us, develop us, Pursue us. Reward us. Connect us. Come on. Adore us. Appoint us. Forgive us. Carry us. Love us. And be with us.
Let him hear your prayers. Count on it. Count on it. Count on it.