Steven Furtick - The God Of A Way

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Let's praise the name of Jesus together. Lift up every voice to the Great I Am. If you know God is great and greatly to be praised, lift your voice right now. That's it. A great God deserves a great praise. Let's give him a great praise. That's an okay praise, but he's not an okay God. Let's give a great God a great praise. Open your mouth and give him praise. If he brought you through, give him praise! If he has been good to you, give him praise! If he kept you, if he blessed you, if he led you, if he fed you, if he has been by your side, give him a great praise! The Great I Am! Let's lift up one more shout, corporately, for the King is among us. It is such a powerful thing to call him the Great I Am. It means there is nothing you need in your life right now that he cannot provide. Nothing.

We have come together today to worship his great name. All over the world, we're joining now as a global church family. Let's welcome our eFam all over the world. Right now, where are you joining from? Put it in the chat. Let me know. Turn to your neighbor and tell them where you came from today to come to church. Do that in the room too. Tell them, "I drove four miles". Gas is expensive. I'm checking on YouTube. God is going to speak a word to us today. Do you believe that? This is fun to do every once in a while, just to put it in perspective. I just told them in the chat, "Let us know where you're joining from".

If you don't believe this is a global ministry, listen to some of this. South Africa, West Virginia… Well, those are different. Don't you feel sorry for me? I have to preach a message that applies to South Africa and West Virginia. Thank God that the Word of God can travel through time zones, accents, and backgrounds. All right. Slow down. How do you make it stop? I can't stop it. God is unstoppable. Phoenix, Arizona; Alabama; Dubai; Buffalo; Brazil… I was watching some UFC this morning getting ready for church. I recorded it so I could get a good night's sleep. Then I played it so the Lord would fire me up to fight his battles when I was praying this morning. It was a good one too.

Barbados, Uganda… If you would have told me (I'm just trying to put this in context) 20 years ago, "One day you'll be preaching, and you'll be standing a few miles from your home, looking in a camera, touching people with the gospel of Jesus Christ all over the world," I would have said, "No way," but God who is amazing and incredible and superfluous… You know how we call people "extra" but we mean it like we're kind of putting them down? We're like, "She's kind of extra". God is extra in a good way. He does exceedingly, abundantly above and beyond all we could ask or imagine, and he has made a way for me. In fact, that's what I want to preach to you about today. I'm going to go to Isaiah 43:16-19. Holly was trying to do a spoiler, but I wouldn't let her. She asked, "Are you giving us another installment in this 'God of' series"? We talked about how God is the Great I Am. We spend the rest of our lives filling in the blank, because when God told Moses his name, he said, "My name is Yahweh," which is I Am. That's what the name means.

You can't confine God to one certain designation or label. As much as we want to make God like us and put him in a box, he will not be boxed. So, we spend our entire lives, if you could say this, kind of unboxing God in our hearts as we encounter different battles and blessings and come to know him in different ways. For a few weeks now we've been going through some unique ones, not just the normal ones you hear…Jehovah-Jireh, Jehovah-Shalom. Jehovah is the Latin for Yahweh, so if that ever confuses you… You're like, "Is it Yahweh? Is it Jehovah? What is the name"? Well, the name means I Am. Then God tells us to get busy finding out who he is, getting to know him. We get the privilege in our lives of discovering that one phase at a time.

Now, this today is going to be, I want to say, the last in this series, but I don't know yet, because he's The God of Also, he's The God of Again, he's The God of Already, and he's The God of After. He's all of those things. I have one more for you today in Isaiah 43. Man, do I love this Scripture, and, boy, did God confirm this word. When I was not sure if I should preach this today, he confirmed it three different ways, so I know it's him. Listen to this. Isaiah 43:16 in the English Standard Version: "Thus says the Lord, who makes a way in the sea, a path in the mighty waters, who brings forth chariot and horse, army and warrior…" That represents your enemies. "…they lie down, they cannot rise, they are extinguished, quenched like a wick".

He says something else very interesting. "Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am…" Whose name is that? That's God's name, so I'm paying attention now. "Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert". Can we double down on that verse? That's the one right there. God says, "Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way…" I want to talk to you about The God of a Way. Do you need him to clear some space in your life today? Do you need him to come through in a way that only he can? I have good news. He's the God of a way.

Father, your Word is already blessed, so just open us up to receive it. That's all I ask. What you're already doing in this place, continue it. I step into alignment and agreement with your Spirit concerning each person here. In Jesus' name, amen.

He's already doing it. He's the God of a way. Holly does this thing for me, and it really helps me. I think it's her way of encouraging and rebuking me all with one stroke, killing two birds with one stone, as they say. Isn't that a horrible little saying, by the way? Why are you killing birds to start with? The birds are not hurting you. Anyway, she does this thing for me from time to time. When I'm in a moment that's really wonderful but I think she senses I'm taking it for granted, she'll ask me a question. "What would 18-year-old Steven say about this"? See, that's how long we've known each other. She met me when I was 18. I was wearing a Superman shirt and some yellow-tinted glasses, running around North Greenville University. An XXL Superman shirt. I was shopping at Goodwill back then, and enjoying it too. She fell in love with me not for my Superman shirt but for my spiritual acumen.

We started traveling together doing ministry together, and we've known each other pretty intimately since that time. So, she knows the dreams I had and the things I used to pray for, and she knows how big of a deal a lot of the things God has done for us would be to that guy. She also understands the dynamic that happens that while God is doing those things you dreamed about, you often don't realize them because, well, you're doing it. When you're in something, it can be easy to miss something you're in. I used to think it meant I wasn't grateful, but I was talking to one of my friends, and I realized I don't think it's that I'm not grateful for the great things God has done for me.

I think it's that the pressure of trying to maintain the ministry God has given me, the marriage God has given me, even the money I need to live in this world and to reach people around the world… All of that pressure can cloud your perspective. So, she'll just, from time to time… She doesn't do it that much because it would probably lose its efficacy if she did it too much. She'll go, "What would 18-year-old Steven think right about now"? Let me give you a few examples, not to brag, or anything like that, but just to help you. I believe there are some things in your life that are just like this today, and if we can get you to think about them, I think it will help you so much for whatever you're up against right now.

So, one night I was talking to one of my heroes on the phone. This was just a month or two ago. It was my preaching hero. I was talking to my preaching hero on the phone on a Saturday night, and she walked in and saw it. When I got off the phone, she went, "What would 18-year-old Steven say if I came up and told him he was going to be talking to his preaching hero on the phone on a Saturday night, just swapping sermon titles before Sunday in the pulpit…the guy he used to watch on TV"? I said, "What would 18-year-old Steven say if you told him that"? She said, "Yeah". I said, "He'd say, 'No way.'"

Here's another one. This is kind of crazy. We were in Toronto. I mean, 18-year-old Steven had been on one plane in his life, so even being in Toronto was crazy, let alone 14,000 people were there for Elevation Nights. Wasn't it amazing? Hey, LJ is Toronto's finest, y'all. Forget Drake. We've got LJ. I would trade three Drakes for one LJ, but that's just me. So, she turned to me in Toronto. "What would 18-year-old Steven say that the songs from this church, this ministry God has given, are being sung tonight by 14,000 people in Toronto"? I just looked back at her, and I was like, "He would say, 'No way.'"

It does the trick because it helps me realize that what I'm standing in in that moment is something I never would have even had the mind or the perspective to imagine in the past. Let me say that again. Sometimes what you're standing in in the moment is something you couldn't even have imagined in the past. It's true in your life too. There are some things, if I could pass around the mic today… I'm not going to because I don't trust all of y'all. There are way too many people watching in West Virginia and South Africa for me to freely pass this microphone around.

I'm not going to get canceled off of something you said because I was stupid enough to pass the mic around. But if we could pass it to the right people, there would be something you could say that today God is doing in your life that if I told you, little boy you…I don't know what age…maybe 12-year-old Officer VanAllman, maybe 10-year-old… If I said, "This is where you're going to be, and this is how it's going to be, and this is what you're going to be dealing with; this is what you're going to be managing," you would say, "No way". But what you would say "No way" about yesterday is actually, today, so normal.

That is why it is good for Holly to turn to me every once in a while and say, "You need to talk with 18-year-old Steven, because this 43-year-old Steven is grumpy. This 43-year-old Steven is complaining about stuff he prayed about yesterday". You missed it. He prayed about this thing yesterday. God did it. Now he's complaining about what he prayed for. He's now standing in what he said "No way" about, and he's worried about what's ahead when if he could just look back a little bit… I'm getting warmed up too soon.

Let me get to this Scripture. Isaiah has a difficult task. He's prophesying to the nation of Israel just before they are carried away into exile. It won't be long before they'll be taken from their homeland. They'll be taken from everything they know. They'll be taken by not only the Assyrians but the Babylonians after that. No matter how he warns them, they will not listen. Up until Isaiah 40, there's not much hope to be found in this prophetic record, but something shifts in Isaiah, chapter 40, and he starts looking toward the future, that even after they are carried away… Didn't I just preach last week something about after, and am I preaching today about a way? Even after they are carried away, God will still be faithful.

In order to give them this picture, he tags back to the past and says… Verse 16: "Thus says the Lord, who makes a way in the sea, a path in the mighty waters, who brings forth chariot and horse, army and warrior; they lie down, they cannot rise, they are extinguished, quenched like a wick". This is a very familiar framework for Isaiah's audience. Maybe not so much for us. This refers to the Egyptian army that God drowned in the Red Sea centuries before Isaiah would write these words. He reminds them of the past, and then in verse 18, he tells them, "Remember not the former things…" It's kind of confusing because he's telling them, in a sense, "God made a way in the past. Now forget the past and trust him in the present".

You're clapping, but I'm confused. It's kind of like, "Stand on your right foot. Stand on your left foot". I'm like, "At the same time? I can do them both at the same time". "No, do both". You know, I think what Holly is trying to get me to do and what the Holy Spirit wants us to do today and what Isaiah wants his audience to do, as well, is to find a way to tap into the past that will cause you to trust God in the present. There's somebody here today who needs God to make a way. That way could be financial. That way could be physical. There could be something in your family. I mean, I'll be honest with you. When I list those categories, I think we're all just a week away from needing any of those things in our lives…one text away from needing something you don't know you need right now.

The beauty of God's Word, for me, is in the fact that he teaches me how to tap into my past in order to find my faith. To talk to 18-year-old Steven and just remember that many of the things you are standing in today, you said "No way" about yesterday. If I would have told some of you that you would be in church this morning, like, actually sitting in church this morning, listening to a guy open a Bible and talk, you would have said, "No way".

Some of y'all heard Elevation was a cult, so if I told you that you'd be at Elevation… Come on, wave at me. I know they say stuff about us. That doesn't scare me a bit. I don't care anything about it. If they said, "You're going to be going to that church with the orange little arrow that you saw on the stickers on all of those cars driving around…all of those cars you were cussing at on the freeway, you're going to be sitting with them on a Sunday morning…" I mean, there were people who were baptized last week that if I would have told you… In fact, can I say this? If you would have told me when we started the church (and this was not that long ago; this was less than 20 years ago), when we were trying to find one person to baptize, that in one Sunday we would baptize over 1,000 people…

See, you weren't there then, so it doesn't mean so much, but if you would have been there in the yesterday, you'd be standing in today, saying, "What in the world"? I would have said, "No way". If you would have told me, not only in Toronto… Y'all, one time I got up in front of our church when we had 200 people. I said, "What are y'all going to do when we have 2,000 people every week"? and they looked back at me like, "No way". If you would have told me there were going to be 2,000 last week in our church just in Toronto, I would have said, "No way". But I'm standing now in what I said "No way" about then.

I'm not bragging, and I'm not saying everything in my life has exceeded my expectations, because on the other hand, if you would have told me some of the stuff I would still struggle with today that I thought I would have been past by now, I would say, "No way". "You mean I'm still going to pick out my wardrobe some weeks like a fifth-grade boy, trying to figure out what the cool kids wear? I won't care about that when I'm in my 40s". If you would have told me these baggy jeans would be back in style when we were all cutting off our circulation with skinny jeans about five minutes ago… "No, Pastor, the bootcut is going to come back". I would have said, "No way".

I'm trying to bring a variety of dimension to this concept so we can set the context for whatever it is in your life where you are standing now where you're saying, "No way". If I tell you the depression actually can lift and you can come into a greater season and your best days may be ahead of you, there will be a little Devil to tell you, "No way". "You've already been to the doctor three times about this. You've already tried three different prescriptions for this". When we say things like, "He's the God of a way," you have an Enemy who says, "No way". That's why I love the very first four words of Isaiah 43:16: "Thus says the Lord…" You could get happy off those four words if you knew what hung on those four words. When you read, "Thus says the Lord," it's tagging into his name, "The Lord," "Yahweh," and it is saying that what Yahweh says about your situation is greater than any past indicator of your potential.

Now, follow me here. It's important that you really tap into your past. If you don't ever tap into your past, like Isaiah is doing here… He says, "He makes a way in the sea, a path in the mighty waters". If you don't ever tap into what God did in your past… Do it right now. Just close your eyes. I promise nobody is going to steal your purse. These are good Christian people. Close your eyes right now where you are. "I'm watching on my phone, and my roommate is going to think I'm weird". Your roommate is weird. They need to be watching.

Close your eyes. I want you to think and tap into something in your past (when you've got it, say, "I've got it"), something God did that you would have said, "No way" about. For some of you, it's the fact that your kid is in church with you today. Your kid didn't want to come to church, and then all of a sudden, somehow, someway… Well, maybe you dragged them. Maybe you bribed them. Maybe you had to pay them $20, but someway, God got them here. For some of you, it is a physical illness you thought you wouldn't recover from. If that's your testimony, shout, "That's me". Okay. It's a physical illness you thought you wouldn't recover from. You recovered from it, and you're strong by the grace of God. God made a way.

For some of you, it is an addiction that crippled you, and now you find yourself gaining momentum, a little bit stronger every day. Some days it's harder than others. Some days it seems like you might not make it today, but even when you slip off the path a little bit, you feel him pulling you back. God is making a way. If that's you, shout, "That's me". Okay. For some of you, it is something in your life that God provided in the resource realm. You didn't know how you were going to come up with that money. You didn't know how you were going to do it by that date. You didn't know how you were going to make it through that unemployment season. You didn't know how your industry was going to collapse all around you and God was going to send ravens to feed you by the brook called Cherith.

God did not take a vote to see how he could bless you. He just tapped a bird on the shoulder and dropped something off for you and did something for you. He did it just in the nick of time…not early, not late. You found out he's an on-time God who makes a way where there is no way at just the right time. As you abide in him, you bear much fruit. For some of you, it's a revelation God gave you of the strength you didn't know you had. You walked through the valley of the shadow of death, but his rod and his staff comforted you. So now you're standing looking at another wolf, saying, "I will fear no evil, for thou art with me. Thou art always with me. Great Jehovah, guide me". Shout, "He made a way"! So, I have to tap into that.

Now watch this. This is the important thing Isaiah said. Tap into that, but don't get trapped in that, because the way he made yesterday may not be the way he makes today. There are two ways to approach the past. One way is you tap into it, and you trust God in the present. The other way is you get trapped in it, and you doubt God in the present, because he isn't guaranteeing that he will do in the future what he did in the past. "Break it down, Pastor. I think I follow you, but I'm a little bit confused". I can do that. The relationships God used to support you in one season may not be the same relationships he uses to support you in the next.

As a matter of fact, sometimes the removal of a relationship is an opportunity for a revelation, because some of the things I trusted in were a trap, holding me back from trusting in God who is my supply, who is my provider, who is my help. I don't look to the hills for my help. My help comes from him! Jesus is my help, and he is the same yesterday, today, and forever. So, here's the dance. I have to tap into yesterday but not get trapped in yesterday. I have to tap into what he did enough to trust what he's doing, and I have to move through what he's doing even though I cannot predict where it ends up. I keep no secrets from you. We are family. I am preaching from a personal place. I just dropped my oldest son off at college this week. I'm not okay. I miss him. That's my dude. Who else am I going to listen to Guns N' Roses in the Pound and lift weights with? I don't know. Abbey, are you available?

But here's what I'm learning about this whole process. You talk to these parents who drop their kid off at college, and they're like, "Yeah, we dropped them off, and they graduated, and they're a doctor". Thank you, Mike. Mike Mitchell said, "It's not easy". Thank you for saying that. You know, when people talk about, "We dropped our kid off, and they were the salutatorian. They went to Harvard, and then they did their postgrad at Yale, and then they invented a cure to cancel culture…" I just don't even know. He didn't even go that far. We're still going to talk every day, but I still miss him, and I'm trying to trust God with that. People would tell you their own testimony like it was just a clean miracle.

You know, this is how I read the Bible. I don't know if you read the Bible like this. When I read it like that, and it sounds too clean, like, this is the clean version of what happened in Exodus 14… "Thus says the Lord…" Isaiah is reminding them God was faithful, because that was something they didn't experience. That was hundreds of years before they lived. He's trying to get them ready for something they're going through now, so he taps into the past to teach them to trust in the present. So, he says, "Thus says the Lord, who makes a way in the sea, a path in the mighty waters…" How good that sounds and how easy that sounds. "…who brings forth chariot and horse, army and warrior; they lie down, they cannot rise…" You have to put verse 16 up there because it sounds so good. "…who makes a way in the sea, a path in the mighty waters…"

I'll show you what that doesn't say. I feel like Moses wants me to tell you this, because Moses was the one who was actually there. Moses would be like, "Hey, hey, y'all shout about that? 'God who makes a way in the sea, a path in the mighty waters.' It does not say… I don't know what y'all are shouting about, because it doesn't say, 'He makes a way around the sea.'" This is Moses. I'm speaking on behalf of Moses. Not a path around the mighty waters. Do you see that little word in? Ooh, when you're in it… I'm going to come to this side. They're judging me over there. They're like, "Just trust God". When you're in it… I'm going to come down there. I'm sick of this. It's like, "And they crossed over on dry ground". "They went through the Red Sea, the waters went back, and they crossed through on dry ground".

How dry? I'm not a scientist or a meteorologist, but I speculate that if there was a sea and God sent a wind and split the sea and told them to go in the middle where the water had just been and was still standing up on the right and the left as they walked through it… If they stepped into the middle of where water had just been… Let me check your shoes really quick. I'm thinking it was muddy. Let me check y'all really quick. I'm checking to see, because you're quick to hear about other people's miracles, but I found out no mud, no miracles. Let me check. Those are nice. I'm checking. I'm just checking to see… I know this is kind of a weird thing to do. I'm checking to see if there's anything in your life right now that's kind of muddy, where you're in it. I mean in it.

In church, it's a time for us to remember miracles. It is also a time for us to accept the mud that comes with the miracles. I will tell you the truth about everybody who sits on your row. If they have a miracle, they also have some mud. I just need you to know it so you don't feel judged by all of the perfect families that you thought were perfect. You just haven't gotten close enough to see their mud yet. They keep their shoes clean enough when they're around you, but if you ever saw what was really underneath, you wouldn't feel so bad about the stuff you struggle with either. So, yeah, I have miracles. Yeah, I have testimonies. Yeah, I have open doors. Yeah, I have victories. Yeah, I have songs. Yeah, I have praise reports. Yeah, I have miracles, but I also have mud.

What I'm trying to say to you today is if you are in a muddy situation, if you are in the muddy middle of a transition in your life, if you are in the muddy middle of beginning a recovery process, if you are in the muddy middle of trying to figure out "Who am I now in my life…"? If you are in the muddy middle of sending your kid off or having your kid back or trying to have a kid but can't have a kid or trying to raise a kid and not kill a kid or trying to finish a degree or trying to start a degree or trying to go back or trying to get away… If you have some mud, I have a word for you: mud means miracle! Come on, this is for the muddy ones! This is for the ones who say, "I see it kind of fuzzy, but I'm trying to have faith".

Check your neighbor's shoes and say, "You've got mud"? We'd better tell the team they're going to have to clean the church a little extra today. Today is not a day for you to walk into church and walk out unchanged. Today is the day you can come into the presence of the Lord, mud and all, hurt and all, brokenness and all, doubts and all, questions and all, failures and all, mistakes and all, and this is a miracle moment! Give him 30 seconds of crazy praise, muddy, messy, ridiculous praise, way-maker praise! Are you ready? When I say this, shout. Repeat after me. Say, "It's muddy, but I'll make it"! Give him praise if you know you're going to! Yeah, it's muddy. Yeah, it's confusing. Yeah, I'm kind of unsure, but I know one thing. He makes a way!

What's his name? Yahweh! "Thus says the Lord…" So, when the Devil says, "No way," you say, "Yahweh"! Oh, it's going to catch on in a minute. You don't get it yet. When the Devil says, "No way you're ever going to pay off this debt. No way you're ever going to shake off this burden. No way you're ever going to make it through this lonely season…" When the Devil says, "No way," we say, "Yahweh"! When the Devil says, "No way," you say, "Yahweh"! Give him praise! I feel that. When the Devil says, "No way," we say, "Yahweh". Let's make a live recording right now. Let's put this on TikTok to let every chariot know, to let every Babylonian know, to let every disease know, to let every bad report know, to let that Devil… When the Devil says, "No way," we say, "Yahweh". I love it. "Thus says the Lord…

Give me verse 19 and I'll shut up. I'm on fire on the inside. I'm going to bring a busload of Pentecostals to help me preach part 2 of this next week. "Behold, I am doing a new thing…" He's going to do a new thing. So, tap into the past, but don't be trapped in that. He said, "I am the God of also. I am the God of again. I am the God of already. I am the God of after". After all the hell you've been through, you mean you don't want to stick around and see what God can do through you? You want to go through all that suffering for nothing? Not me, Devil. You want to stand in front of this Goliath with nothing? Not me, Devil, because I say, "Yahweh". "Behold, I am doing a new thing…"

Is this word for you or just for me? I'm talking to 43-year-old Steven. I'm talking to 18-year-old you. I'm talking to 67-year-old you. I'm talking to broke you, discouraged you, down you, anxious you, panic attack you. I'm talking to all of them. I'm giving you an instruction you can carry in your heart by the Holy Spirit this week. When the Devil says, "No way," you say, "Yahweh". He's the God of a way. That might mean some of the things from your past aren't going to happen again, but look at this. He said, "I'm doing a new thing…" Shout the next word. Now. A new thing now. For you to stay trapped in your past would be like you trying to send a fax when you have an iPhone. God has given you new tools. God has given you new opportunities. God has given you new wisdom. God has given you new strength. God has given you new experience. God has given you new know-how.

So, when the Devil says, "No way," you say, "Yahweh". I think this is the part that makes us really want to scream, where he says, "Do you not perceive it"? A lot of us want to say, "No, I don't. I don't know what I'm doing". I think that's what Moses would say standing in the mud in the middle of the Red Sea. You know, there's an interesting verse about Moses in Psalm 103:7. It says, "God made known his ways to Moses, his deeds to the people of Israel". What does that mean? That means Moses, who led them through the Red Sea, got to know God in a way that none of them did, in a way that you can only know God when you have to move through the muddiness of not knowing how to manage your own self.

Can we be honest? We're going to eGroups this week. Marriage is muddy. All of the men make some noise. Holly was having the women shout earlier for Reflect. All the men make some noise. Manhood is muddy. You're supposed to be some tender warrior. What? Left foot, right foot… It's muddy. It's muddy, man. I get it. I have mud on my white shoes too. I should have worn different shoes today. I shouldn't have worn the white ones because I got mud all over my shoes. Money is muddy, trying to figure out how to trust God with your stuff. "Well, you don't need money; you just need God". Okay. Take me to Cracker Barrel on a praise song. You can't do it. You can't sing for your supper at Cracker Barrel. But I want to say this to a lot of you, and the Lord wants me to encourage you. It's muddy, but you're making it.

He said he made his ways known to Moses and his deeds to the people of Israel. Now watch this. Israel saw everything God did. Moses was the one who had to stand there in the muddiness and wonder, "Will this really work? Will I really have what it takes? Did I really do it right? Did I really get it right? Am I getting it right"? It's muddy in the middle. That doesn't mean there's no miracle. As a matter of fact, the more mud you walked in here with, the more miracles you're a candidate for, because that means you're walking through stuff, praying through stuff, pressing through stuff. I don't mean we continue in sin that grace may abound and just start celebrating our shame. What I do mean by that is that gives God something to show you through the mud that he can't always show you if you just stand on this side of it.

He made known his ways to Moses. Yahweh. Maybe it's not going to happen your way. Maybe you need to say, "Yahweh, how do you want to do this? I'm trying to do this on my own. I'm trying to figure this out on my own. I'm trying to do this in my own strength. I'm trying to calculate it with human reasoning. Lord, I don't want to get stuck in the way I thought it was supposed to be done". He said, "Behold, I'm doing a new thing". Look at verse 19. "Now it springs forth". No way to now way.

Do you know what's beautiful about the picture? I see the Lord all over this message today. If a spring comes forth from the desert, what does it make? It makes mud at first. Every change God makes in your life will be muddy at first. Everything he accomplishes through your life will be muddy at first. Every miracle starts with mud. It springs forth now from the desert. Do you not perceive it? Sometimes we miss what God is doing because it's muddy, and we don't see it. That doesn't mean he's not doing it. Whatever is your "No way," I know a name, "Yahweh," who can make a way where there is no way. What are you standing in front of today? What are you needing from God right now? He said, "Now it springs forth". It's not going to be what it was, and it's not going to be what you think, but if you can perceive it in this moment, you can receive it in your future.

Give God praise. If you know the way maker, give him praise right now. Let me tell you what I learned. Worship is my way. It's my way through defeat. It's my way through despair. It's my way through fear. This is how I fight my battles, y'all. I throw up my hands, I call on Yahweh, and I tell him, "You're a miracle worker, so work a miracle. You're a promise keeper, so fulfill your word". I need a now word for a now situation. I have a now God. I have a now faith. I have a now praise. Let's give him 10 seconds of praise in the mud! Come on, give him praise!