Steven Furtick - You're Worth It To God
This is an excerpt from: We Are We Label
You are still operating in your life as if Jesus were not risen, but he is risen. You are carrying the shame as if your sin were not forgiven, but it is forgiven. "But I'm a sinner". You were a sinner, and you still sin, but now you have help that you didn't have when you were trying to fulfill the law in your own flesh. "For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened…" That's what I was. It's not what I am now. It used to be true, but Jesus is on your porch. Jesus is on your porch! That's the X factor. Not your might, not your power, but by his Spirit! He's here! Make the announcement to five people. Tell them, "He's here on your porch". He's here! It's so good. God wants to change your explanation to where you start explaining things differently.
Let your faith explain. Maybe we could do that for a part two message if you all like it: how to let faith explain, because fear will start explaining. "See the reason that happened to you? Because you suck, and you always sucked, and…" Let's put it in King James. "…thou shalt suck forevermore". The Devil will speak King James language to get you to believe a lie. A few weeks ago we said he's the Father of Lies. That's his native language. He speaks lie like you speak tennis. Robert is a tennis coach. He'll come up to me. He'll be like, "Man, that was like a serve in a volley," or something like that, today on the sermon. I'm like, "Robert, what does that mean? That doesn't apply". That's his language.
The Devil's language is lie. Do you think that man on the porch was trying to lie to Jesus? He was speaking something that used to be true. There were three things I said you needed. One was a Bible, and you had that. One was a pen, and you had that. I said a notebook, and he had that too, and he had a pen that I gave him. Isn't that just like the grace of God? He gives us what we ask for. (I just threw that in. I'm having fun today.) I feel the spirit of "unstuckness" as God begins to show you how to change the way you explain. The way you explain the experience either keeps you stuck or sets you free. So, she could sit here and say, "I'm just a little girl. Nobody…"
Can I tell them what that lady said to you the other day? People say the weirdest stuff to you when they don't know you but think they do. Some lady came up to her and said, "Girl, we go to church. You've gotten so good". It's already a backhanded compliment, because "You've gotten so good" implies…what? But then she didn't just imply it. She said it. "I mean, you were rough when you started". "Security"! All right. I can't do this for you, but maybe I could teach you the X factor. It's when you take something you used to be and that you still feel… Like this. What does that say? Yeah, you were. You weren't worth the blood of Jesus Christ, the precious eternal Lamb of God. You weren't that good. You weren't worth that much, God's only Son, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God, but he decided you were.
So, that's what I am. That's what I am! All I'm doing is Colossians 2:14 where it said that Jesus, having canceled… You want to talk about cancel culture? Jesus is the cancel culture king. Look at what he canceled. He canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness. The Greek word is the handwritten indebtedness. They would make you write your debt by your own hand, as to say, "This is my debt," and you have to write it in your own hand. So, Jesus took his hand… Y'all don't love the gospel? This is about as good as it gets. Colossians 2:14 is about as good as it gets. I know. "Pressed down, shaken together, running over…" I'm excited about everything God wants to add to my life. I am more excited about what he took away when he died for me on the cross. That's a really astounding thing for me. He took our indebtedness, and he paid the price for it, which stood against us and condemned us. He has taken it away, and he nailed it to his cross.
That is why I can take up my mat and walk. That's the X factor…for me. Grace makes the difference for me. I know; you are a good person, and that's why you deserve to be blessed. Not me. I know; you always get it right, and that's why you're so successful. Not me. I know; you are always full of joy, and that is why the Lord is lucky to have you on his squad. Not me! I know what I was without him, and that's why I'm so excited that I've got him, and that's why I don't mind praising God. That's why I expect the supernatural.
I want you to take every page of this thing and write stuff that used to be true before Christ came along. I want you to practice this week. I wish some of you parents would be a leader for your family and take this message and say, "Before we sit down today, everybody is going to 'X' something before I even feed y'all lunch. You know I'm paying. Don't take a bite until we 'X' something the Enemy has said over your life that used to be true".
That's the key: it used to be true. It used to be that the only way to be right with God was for you to be perfect, for you to keep the law, including the Sabbath. That's what the Passover was all about. That's what the festival John 5 mentions was. They put an X in blood on the door of all of God's people so the angel of death would pass over…on the top of the doorframe, on the sides of the doorframe…in Exodus 12, and God said, "Not this house". This is a Passover day for us in Jesus. He's walking up to the person on the porch who can't move, can't function, can't get over it, can't recover, can't get it together, and the truth stands in front of the experience. He doesn't tell him something to understand; he tells him something to do.
"I want you to take what was holding you and hold it". "I have no one to help". But you do now. Don't let the explanation become an excuse. You have it now. You have the Word of God. You have the Spirit of God. Please don't just come in here every week expecting for somebody to lug you to the pool, because you're always going to get blocked. This is the X factor. The man said, "I don't know who healed me". "Well, go find out". It was Jesus. Say it again: "It was Jesus". You said it at the beginning of the sermon, but now I want you to hear it. He's the X factor. He changed everything. Grace changes everything.
You're here today. You're saying, "I can't be saved. I can't be a Christian. I can't get on the right path". God knew that. That's why he didn't make you get to the water. He brought the water to you. It's not how smart you are. That's not the X factor. That's not what's going to attract the power of God to your life. It's not how manipulative you can be, how you can work everything out according to your plan. He said, "It was Jesus who made me walk. It was Jesus who made me whole". It starts with this question: "Do you want to get well"? Because you've been like this a long time.