Steven Furtick - Why God Chose You For This
This is an excerpt from: It Works In Reverse
The thing the Lord says to Solomon through David… It's hard for us to believe God feels this way about us, but I want to put it right there in your heart today. Verse 10: "Consider now, for the Lord has chosen you…" There's a lot I don't know, church. I don't know when Jesus is coming back. I don't know who the Antichrist is. There's a lot I don't know about the future, my future, your future. There's a lot I don't know in this Bible, but I know I'm chosen. I know that. I know God chose me to speak this word to you today. I know that. I know that. I don't believe you can fully know what you were chosen for as you're going through it, but you can start from the belief, if you choose to, that God has chosen you. You will need to understand that God does not choose like people choose. God does not judge… Remember how he chose David? He said, "Man looks at the outward appearance, but God looks at the heart".
When God chose David, he wasn't looking for how tall he was. When God chose David, he wasn't looking for how much ability he had, even though he had great ability that he grew into. Yet when it comes to heaven, he never starts with our ability but, as one preacher said, our availability. That means he doesn't call the qualified; rather, he qualifies the called. For those he has called he will resource for everything he has chosen them to do. Somebody shout, "I'm chosen". That ought to make you feel good in your bones just to know that God chose you. Not only this, but the God who is eternal who lives outside of time and space, when he was looking for somewhere to live, guess where he said he wanted to dwell. Not in a temple built by human hands, but he said, "I want to come and live inside of you". I'm chosen.
God walked around the whole neighborhood, and he said, "I want that house". God looked all around. He was very, very choosy. He had to be, because there is a very specific assignment God has for your life, and he chose you to do it. Now, if you don't get what I just said, you will struggle with the rest of what I say, because most of us would think that while Solomon was chosen, there is nothing significant about us. While the temple of the Lord is filled with splendor and majesty and onyx and stones and precious rubies, and things like that, we look at our lives and see that we are made of clay. We are vessels that are scooped up out of the dirt into which he breathed the breath of life. God said to stop apologizing for the simplicity of the temple of your life and let him fill what he built with what he wants to fill it with. You are chosen.
Touch your neighbor and say, "You're chosen". Tell them a little bit more convincingly because, honestly, you sounded a little bit uncertain about that. God is not unsure about it. God is not confused about it. You might be confused about it. You might look at your life and see it as insignificant. God doesn't. In fact, I would just put in here whatever you need to put in here. "Consider now, for the Lord has chosen you to build a house as the sanctuary". But I can do better. God has chosen you to be a house as the sanctuary. Why is this so good to me? I just love the Word. Maybe I need to be reminded of it today. Maybe I just need to walk through my house saying, "I'm chosen". Maybe it's more than a TV show title. Maybe it's more than twelve disciples chosen. Maybe it is a new operating system and a framework from which I need to come at every challenge in my life, knowing that if he gave me the challenge, he chose me before he gave me the challenge.
That's why I can fight Goliath. Before this challenge showed up, I was chosen to go for it. I was chosen to fight through it. I was chosen to do it. The Lord showed me in my prayer time that you don't feel that way a lot of times, and that's okay. God shows you what you are chosen for as you go forward. It works in reverse. "Be strong and do the work". How do you hear that? Do you hear "Be strong" as a condition, like, "I need to be strong"? And do you hear "Do the work" as a command? "I need to do the work". The problem if you hear it that way, if you do hear it that way… Maybe you don't, but that's probably how I would hear it, because that's how he said it. "Be strong and do the work". Sometimes I don't feel like I meet the condition, "Be strong," to follow that command, "Do the work".
In other words, I feel overwhelmed by it. I feel like the work that is in front of me is greater than the power that is within me. I said I wanted to keep this simple, and I don't know how to keep it any more simple than to put it on a poster. Holly said she was going to put it on a coffee mug and a sweatshirt. I didn't have time to do either of those, so I just had them make some posters last night. Y'all bring me my posters real quick. Everybody shout, "Be strong". Everybody shout, "Do the work". I'm going to need your enthusiasm. Shout, "Be strong"! Shout it like you need to get another rep. "Be strong"! You've got this. You can lift this. You can make this. You can do it. Here you go, Chunks. Take this one. "Be strong".
Find somebody in the church…just walk around until you find them…who looks strong. I mean a big ol' guy. Not like a prayer warrior. I'm talking, like, physically strong. Big and strong. Just walk around for a minute. Chunks, look at me. Somebody you wouldn't mind looking like. All right? I'll just qualify it like that. He's going to find somebody while I'm talking. Everybody shout, "Do the work". Who's somebody in the house (I'm going to let you choose yourself) who wants to work out more, getting ready for the summer? Okay. Do you want to do it? Do you want to do it? I don't know.
See, here's the way this works. When God chooses people, he knows who he's choosing. I don't know you. So, should I choose him for this illustration? I'm going to come over here. I don't know him. All right. Over here? Anybody? You know what? Because you have a tie-dye shirt on, I'm going to use you. I just think you look handsome. Hurry up. We have to get this done. Come on. Did you find somebody, Chunks? Is he big and strong? He's big and strong. All right. You come up. Oh, you don't know what I'm going to make you do. I saw you doing some calisthenics. Come on up. All right.
Now, I'm not saying one of you looks better than the other. Y'all identified yourselves. You said you wanted to work out more. So, let's do this really quick. Come here. Stand here. Yeah, that's the verse. "Be strong". "Do the work". I'm sorry. You volunteered. Remember? I was on the whole other side of the church, and you were calling me. "Choose me, Pastor". Okay. You got what you wanted, Tie-dye. You already look good. I'm going to be honest with you. To me you look good. I want to show you something the Lord showed me. He showed me that "Be strong" is what everybody wants to look like. Would you have worn short sleeves if you'd have known this illustration was coming today? You had no idea. He said, "I would have worn a tank top". You would have gotten a pump, too, wouldn't you? You didn't need one. You look great. Okay. So, be strong. Everybody say, "Be strong". Everybody say, "Do the work".
Now be honest really quick and say, "But I'm not strong". How many of you have felt that way in an area of your life this week? It could just be a simple feeling. You may not have said that, but it may be the way you felt. What the Lord was showing me as I was studying this is we think this is the condition to follow this command. So, in moments where we feel strong we do strong stuff. In moments where we feel solid we show up consistently and committedly. Then the command "Do the work" becomes dependent on the feeling of our strength. See, that's fine for people who live by their feelings, but you're not one of them. That's fine for people who aren't chosen, but you're not one of them. That's fine for people who have nothing important to do with their lives, but you're not one of them, for you're a child of the King, for he has given you a temple to build, for he has given you an assignment to complete, for he has given you a testimony. Are you feeling this?
I'm feeling this, standing between the two of y'all right now. I'm feeling strong as I preach, but I don't always feel strong. Sometimes I have to do stuff that strong people do when I don't feel stuff that strong people feel. The Lord was showing me, "You've got this thing backward, Furtick. You still don't understand faith. You think faith is when you feel a certain way, you can do a certain thing. You think faith is when you get details, then you can follow God in obedience". But the Lord said it doesn't work like that. In fact, it works in reverse. You keep saying, "When I get stronger, when I get clearer, when I get older, when I get better, when I get richer, when I get through this, when I get done with this, when I get finished…" But God said, "I'm not telling you to do the work when you feel strong. I'm telling you…" Switch places. It works in reverse.
God said, "I see you feeling weak, but you keep waiting on strength. It doesn't work that way in the kingdom, because in the kingdom, if you want to be strong, you have to do the work". "How do I get up out of this pitiful situation? How do I look like that? I want to look like that. I want to function like that. I want a big back like that". Well, God says if you want to be strong, you have to do the work, and if you do the work, you'll be strong, and if you'll be strong, you can do the work. That's why I brought you to church today. I've got you in the gym today, because I want to fill you with the Spirit of Jesus and resurrection power of God flowing through your body so you get big and strong and build your temple. That's what Holly taught y'all last week. Give somebody a high-five and say, "Do the work". Do the work and you'll get strong. "I don't feel like worshipping". Worship him and you'll feel it. Call it till he comes. "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy"! That's what praise is. Praise brings power. Do the work!