Steven Furtick - God Will Work It In
Today I have a word from the Lord for somebody. I only have two verses this week. I was meditating on where to go after we talked last week about God Can Use This Too. This is a little bit of a sequel to that message. I love to preach Bible stories and use the different elements to use different things, but sometimes I feel like it's good to just come to something that's a simple instruction in the Word of God. Hopefully this will help us to apply what God has planted in our hearts.
We're going to go to Philippians 2:12-13 for a moment. I'm preaching from my daughter's Bible today, so you will notice an extra anointing, gentleness, and vivaciousness. I've given all three of my kids Bibles that I preached from. I preach five years from a Bible and then give it to a kid, give it to another. So, we'll see if Abbey's is more anointed than Elijah's and Graham's today. I cycle through them, see which one of them has been praying for me the most. All right. Listen to this verse. Just because I said it's shorter, just because I said it's simple, don't disengage your brain, because I really want you to pay attention to what the Lord is saying here through the apostle Paul in this epistle to the church at Philippi.
The Word of the Lord says, "Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed, not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence, continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose". That's all I want to read today, but I want to give you my sermon title. It's a common saying, so I'll say it, and then you fill in the blank when I stop and point at you. Ready? You can play along online too. After I say the title, I'll read the Scripture again for you just so we can get it down deep. God will work it… Right. I set you up, though. That is amazing.
"God will work it out" is something everybody wants to believe about the situation they're facing, whether it's a custody battle or a medical situation or relational tension, but the message God gave me today is just one word different. I'm going to change just one word. I'm not changing the word God, and I'm not going to change the word will. I'm not going to say he might, he could, or he can. But instead of "God will work it out," I want to preach on God Will Work It In. I'll read the verses again, and you'll see where I'm coming from. This is not just wordplay. I don't just think of a clever thing I can call a sermon that sounds good so you can feel good for a minute.
The text says in Philippians 2:12, "Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed, not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence, continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose". Now, as you take your seat, prayerfully reach around and tell seven people, "God will work it in". Praise the Lord for what he's working out. Praise the Lord for what he's working in. I'll make that make sense if I do my job. I'm going to have fun preaching this today. I already decided.
I was thinking today… Holly was eating this tomato soup she made for herself. None of us like tomato soup but her. She just made it for herself. She was having so much fun eating that tomato soup I was like, "What else is in there"? She was like, "No, I'm just excited. I've been growing tomatoes, and I finally used my tomatoes in the soup". That's how I feel about my sermons when I get to eat it with you, and I hope you like tomatoes too. Here we go. In Philippians 2:12-13, the apostle Paul is writing an epistle to the church in Philippi, and both of those are miracles. The fact that Paul is an apostle is the first miracle.
Paul, the artist formerly known as Saul of Tarsus? When the Lord wanted to reach the Gentiles, he found somebody who was persecuting the church. The persecutor of the church is now one of the lead preachers in the church. You never know how God is working in somebody's life. Don't write people off. Don't count people out. Don't slap a label on them because this is the way they always are. The way God always is means more than the way they always are, least of all yourself. Don't ever underestimate how God can work in somebody's life. Think about that. He took him from the persecutor of the church to a preacher. I guess he needed someone who understood the system from the inside in order to overturn it.
That's why God will often call you into something you struggle with, because the thing you struggle with the most is the thing you're most qualified to help somebody else step through. So, when the Lord needed to reach the Gentiles, he said, "I can't call Peter for this. I'd better call Saul and change his name to Paul". So, it's a miracle that he's an apostle. His whole title apostle, the apostle Paul… He had been something completely different, and God changed him. That's one reason we were praising him today while we were singing in church. I wish you could have heard the worship if you're watching this online later. I wish you could have been in here with us, because we were praising him because he didn't leave us like we were.
That causes something to explode inside of you when you realize he takes persecutors and turns them into preachers. The second miracle (I mentioned that there were two in the text) is not implicit. You have to go beneath the surface to get this one. He is writing the letter, the epistle… Somebody asked me, "Is that like an apostle's wife"? No. Epistle just means letter. It's a letter that ended up being in the Bible. It was written to a specific audience, the church at Philippi. It was not written from where it was written to. It's a miracle this Scripture exists because of the conditions Paul wrote it in. Not a writer's cottage by the sea. Not a retreat situation in the mountains. Rather, he wrote this from prison.
I wanted to point that out to you, because sometimes you get more focused on where you are than what God has called you to do and be, and you start acting like your environment rather than changing it. You know, walk into school and start talking like a foolish… You're actually a great, faithful child of God, but you get in an environment, and you start changing. Paul would get in an environment and change it. That's what made him different. He was also a great multitasker. Y'all say that men can't multitask. I beg to differ.
The apostle Paul, while serving a prison sentence, is writing sentences that we now call Scriptures. The beautiful thing about this miracle is you may not be an apostle, and you might not write an epistle, but let me break it right down to where you live. Any situation in your life that isn't getting better (I want you to think of that situation right now), you can do what Paul did. You can get busy while you wait on it to get better. While you're waiting for it to change, change. While you're waiting for a better opportunity, obey. The Bible says Paul was a great man of faith, yet his faith did not keep a snake from biting him last week, did it? But his faith enabled him to shake the snake off of his hand and use the incident… Everything that happens in your life, good or bad, use it.
Sometimes I feel like the moment God is working with me on a specific area, that area will be attacked. I used to think that meant God wasn't really working there, but if you read the Scripture, it's very interesting how it's worded. Paul writes to the church and says (verse 12), "Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed…" This Scripture is definitely not about me. "Always obeyed". No, no, no. I think this is some kind of reverse psychology Paul is putting on them, because they're fighting and arguing. Later in the book of Philippians he name checks two women and tells them, "Y'all stop fighting".
That's in chapter 4. I'm not going to preach that this week. But he says, "If you were able to obey not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence…" Think about the sadness of Paul, the apostle, being in prison. He's in a shipwreck. He gets on another boat three months later. He goes to Rome. He's under house arrest for two years, and he writes four epistles…Ephesians, Colossians, Philippians, and Philemon, the Prison Epistles. They call them that. They were written in prison, but we quote them in church. So, where you are right now has tremendous potential. Even your darkness has tremendous potential to be harvested to bring somebody else light.
The Bible says that God, who caused his light to shine out of darkness, gives his Holy Spirit into our hearts, and we have this treasure in earthen vessels that the excellency of the power might be of God and not of us. It's God doing it. It wasn't God throwing Paul in the cell, but it was God on the inside of Paul that caused him to pick up a pen while he was in there. Because he picked up a pen while he was in there, you and I are shouting over stuff he said today. Somebody else needs to be shouting in five years because you didn't give up. Somebody else needs to be praising God in 10 years because you stayed the course. What you need to keep going is in you. Say it by faith. "It's in me". He said, "You have an opportunity now".
The opportunity is this. Paul says absence is an opportunity for application. That's the best thing I'm going to say all day. One of our staff members sent me a stack of different things she had written down from the sermons I preached. She said, "I just want you to see that we hear you". In the notes she put, she would work through the word she heard. I'm just asking, and I'm not going to ask you to raise your hand. Do you work through the word you've heard or does it go in one ear and out in the parking lot when you get stuck in traffic? You start lifting up your hands, but only one finger on the hand. That single-finger praise. But seriously.
I'm using it as a joke because I don't want it to feel condemning, because that's not really my style, because I don't really have room to do that. How many words has God given me that I did not work through? I don't mean you have to take notes to be saved. God knows he's not going to check your highlighter colors when you get to heaven. "Only pink? You're going to pink-only heaven. Oh, pink, green, yellow, red. Yeah, you're going to multicolor heaven". The process by which you mix the Word with faith is when you take what I say and ask God, "What are you saying to me about my situation through what he said"?
That's the process where you filter, and that's the process where your faith is strengthened. I used to go to a therapy session where I would work on an issue in my life. After the therapy session, I would have a major… I don't want to call it a relapse, but in whatever area… I don't mean drugs or alcohol in these cases, but whatever I just talked through would be very challenged in my life in the next 24 hours. So, I brought that to the therapist. I'm like, "I might have to fire you, because every time we get off the phone my life gets worse". The therapist said, "So you can get better".
Sometimes when it isn't getting better, you are. You don't get patience by praying for it; you get patience by being annoyed. You have no idea. There are people who are helping you get patient who you are complaining about, and you need to be paying them. They are your personal trainers for patience. I'm not saying we want it, but I'm just saying God can use that too. While you're waiting on God to work some things out, whatever that area is… If you need a breakthrough in your business, I believe with you for a breakthrough in your business. If you believe for a breakthrough in your marriage, I believe for a breakthrough in your marriage. If you are believing for a husband or a wife to come into your life because you don't want to be alone, I believe with you and stand with you for that.
But just know that some people are praying for a breakthrough in the marriage that they prayed for yesterday that is struggling now because they believed the lie that the situation would fix them. When I say, "God will work it in," I'm not just trying to be clever. I thought about how we're wanting God to affect situations, and that's great, but Paul said, "My absence in this prison is actually a gift for you in Philippi". Because when you're hearing the Word or when you're learning something, you're getting it at a mental level, and that's wonderful. Instruction is wonderful. There's a man in the church right now who taught me a lot about tennis, a great tennis pro out here.
That's wonderful, but the thing about instruction is it is limited until you have an opportunity for integration. Integration happens when what you were taught is challenged or tested and you have to remember under pressure what you learned in peace. So, be careful coming to church, because in this peaceful environment, God is going to provide after the peaceful… For Paul he provided a prison where he wrote four epistles. For the church at Philippi, he did not leave Paul's physical presence with them, but he gave his presence within them so that when Paul's presence was taken away from them, his presence within them intensified.
What I'm trying to say is anything in your life that goes away and you think you need it, God is going to release something greater in your life that you didn't even know you had until you got into a situation where you needed it. So, eventually Paul says, "Continue in it". Continue to work out. Now, that's not a literal workout thing. Y'all, I remember the first time somebody called me… I guess it was to my ego or whatever. They were like, "So, as a lifter, what are your splits"? In case you need me to interpret, "As a weight lifter, what body parts do you work out on which day"? Nobody had ever asked me that before.
I figured, "Oh, I must be giving evidence that what I've been doing is actually improving my physical frame to the point where I'm a lifter". Do you know how good it felt to be called a lifter? I'd lifted a lot, but I'd never been called a lifter. I was walking around the house. I didn't tell anybody, but I was looking at the kids. They were like, "Daddy". I'm like, "Lifter. You can call me lifter, Mister Lifter". I was so proud for three days, because what I did was integrated in my life in such a way…
If you would, look at your neighbor and say, "As a praiser, when do you praise God"? Ask them, "What are your splits"? Tell them, "Well, I praise when I feel it; I praise when I don't. I praise on the mountain; I praise in the valley. I praise when I'm sure; I praise when I'm doubting. I praise when I've got it; I praise when it's gone. I praise when I feel it; I praise when I faith it. I'm not faking it; I'm faithing it, because if I faith it, it will form me".
So, let's break it down. The absence is an opportunity for application. When I used to work out, I needed somebody to be there to make me work out. I found out they were really good partners when I heard their voice even when they weren't there. What I love about God… A good instructor is not satisfied simply with your assimilation of information. A good instructor will sometimes create absence. And life will. You're in a season right now. The Lord was speaking to me about it. I don't know who it's for. I don't need to know who it's for. You know if it's for you. You're in a season right now where it is very important that you integrate what God has given you. It is feeling intense right now because of the absence of something you think you need to have.
Paul said, "In my absence, much more than my presence…" You have to remember what you know about God. In the absence of joy, you have to remember how to rejoice. In the absence of harmony, you have to remember to be a peacemaker. In the absence of money, you have to stay creative. God will sometimes take resources away from you to remind you of something you're not using. One of the worst things God can give some people is too much money, because they will start stuffing themselves with stuff and forget the substance of who they were that led them to the point that they had the wealth to begin with. That's why the Word says, "When you have become great, do not forget the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the power to get wealth".
I think that as much as God's presence provides comfort, absence creates opportunity. I want to really get this home to you. Okay? So just bear with me for a minute. Let me put another tomato in this soup. My oldest Elijah and I had a great conversation. When he left for college… For a couple of years after Buck and Chunks stopped coming over to help me work out, he was my workout partner. When he left for college (he went three hours away), I was so depressed I would still go lift weights, but I wouldn't even put my shoes on or turn the lights on. I wouldn't even turn Metallica on…I mean, Maverick City and Kirk Franklin.
I forgot where I was for a minute. I'd sit there in the silence just cranking out the reps. Sometimes, just to make him feel bad about leaving me, I would send him a picture of me sitting there in the dark. It's hard without your partner. Then I felt better, because about a month or two after he'd been gone, we were having this deep conversation one night. He opened up to me. He was like, "College is great, but it's hard. I'm grateful to be here, but it's hard". He said, "And it's hard because I have to be both of us here. I'm so used to having you say, 'Son…' Sometimes you got on my nerves, but I needed that. I needed you to get on my nerves". Y'all, I've had a Grammy, a New York Times, and all that stuff. I felt like I got the greatest reward of my life when he said, "Now I have to be both of us," because it let me know we've gone from instruction to integration.
It let me know my voice is still speaking. It let me know I'm still talking three hours away. Paul wanted the church at Philippi to know, "I'm still talking to you even though I'm in this prison cell". God wants you to know, "I'm still talking to you even though you lost your mother last year". God wants you to know, "I'm still talking to you even though you don't know how you're going to make payroll next month". God wants you to know, "I'm still talking to you even though you haven't felt goose bumps in a while, and while everybody else seems to be rejoicing, you feel kind of empty". God says, "This is not absence; it's integration, because my sheep know my voice".
The most powerful moment of your life to work a word from God is not just when you're putting it in a journal to write it down but when you are putting it into practice to live it out. This is a practice season for you. This absence you feel, this thing that has changed… I wish I could sit down and get to know your exact situation so we could have an exact conversation, but Paul wrote one letter to the whole church and said, "It's good that I'm gone". That's what Jesus said to the disciples. "If I leave you, I'll send you the Holy Spirit. I can send you something greater than just my words. I can give you my Spirit".
Greater. Integration. God is doing something greater in your life. Something goes away and something greater comes. This is the rhythm of God. Give him praise. God will work it in. I want to study this a little bit more. "Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed, not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence…" I can't get off of this. God said the absence of what you think you need in this season is an opportunity for you to get attuned to what you really have. The best thing that happened to me to be able to effectively minister to you was when we couldn't have people in church in 2020, because it taught me not to need your energy to be effective to minister God's Word.
When I couldn't ride on the waves of your energy, I had to let God make a wave inside of me with his Word. So I came out of it never more alive and in love with the Word of God because of something that was taken away. Now, I'm not using this to talk about me or tomato soup or weight lifting, although I am proud to be a lifter. I want you to see that the absence creates an opportunity for application. This was weird. I don't know if you thought it was weird when I read it. He said, "Work out your salvation with fear and trembling".
I thought that might mean when we give the invitation every week for you to get saved, raise your hand just in case. Like, "I don't know. I thought I did this when I was 8, but I'm scared and I'm trembling that maybe what I did last week canceled it out. So just in case, Lord, I'm putting my hand up right there. Yeah, you can give me another one of those Bibles. I haven't read any of them. I have 17 of them stacked up at home, but, yeah, give me another one".
Then I realized what he didn't say. Watch this. He didn't say, "Work for your salvation". He said, "Work out your salvation". He's not saying earn it. That's contrary to everything else God gave Paul to teach us. That's contrary to the very essence of the cross of Christ. How are you going to earn a grace that was given from a cross you didn't die on? What he's saying is not only to integrate what you've been taught, what you've been instructed, and apply it… Like Vance Havner said, "Never forget in the darkness what God showed you in the light".
Now, fear and trembling is a saying they had, like we might say, "Lock, stock, and barrel," which means everything. They would say, "Fear and trembling" like a saying. It was a colloquialism. When he says, "Work out your salvation with fear and trembling," he does not mean be afraid that God didn't give you what he promised to give you. He said you're forgiven. You're forgiven. He said there's no condemnation. There's no condemnation. It is being afraid to live your life without the awareness of that, because you know if you ever lose awareness of who God is to you and in you, you will make the stupidest mistakes.
So, I want you to work out (you're about to see it) what God has already worked in. God is working on you, and you are a work in progress, but your salvation is not. It's finished. There's nothing more to be done. That's why Jesus said, "It is finished". God already worked that out. If you've placed your faith in him, you are already saved. Now you are taking what God gave you and working it out. That's what I told Elijah. I said, "This is your season to grow. Every conversation we've had down here lifting weights together, every time I've ever corrected you that you wanted to kill me, but you knew I would kill you if you tried to kill me…" "Every single one of those things… Now that we're not together, now that it's not like it was, it gets to go deeper inside of you".
God is taking you deeper in this season. He did not depart from you; he's taking you deeper. You are worried about something God has already worked out. Why do you do that? Because you stop at verse 12 and never read verse 13. Do you know how many people will take verse 12 and stop right there? "Therefore, since you were obeying when I was there, keep that same energy," Paul is saying. "When I was preaching, y'all were saying, 'Amen.' Now keep that same energy". A couple of Tuesdays from now, no matter who wins the election, no matter who's acting crazy, keep that same energy, because we had Republicans, Democrats, Black, white, Hispanic, male, and female all in the same church and we were all unified. We will not let a culture that divides us be greater than a King who defines us. Y'all keep that same energy out there in the world. All right?
Over the next two weeks, don't you get Facebook crazy and be church sane. I don't know where that came from. It just came to me. I decided to work it in. I don't know where this snake came from; I just decided to shake it off and work it in. I don't know where that feeling came from; I just decided to work it in. I don't know where that temptation came from; I just decided to pray extra this week, because if I'm going to get extra temptation, I'm going to need extra grace, so I'm going to pray extra prayers. I'm going to work this in. The reason you keep worrying about stuff God has already worked out is because of the way you keep thinking.
"…not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence, continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling…" You stop there. Church, that's a comma. I feel like I'm a multitasking preacher. I talk about fitness, English grammar, theology, parenting, recipes, tomatoes. I work it all in. "Work out your salvation with fear and trembling". Now, if you read that, you will be worried, because you are trying to work out something without God. What gets me tripped up every time I get overwhelmed… And I'm not talking about just having butterflies or getting nervous. I think all that is good. But when I get overwhelmed to the point where it really shuts me down…
You know how there's that line between when you're working on something and it's wearing you out and you realize, "Huh. This feels kind of cyclical because it's making me sick". If that's where you are in the feeling, read what comes after the comma. "Work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you". That's a very interesting thought, isn't it? It is God who works in you. Don't forget that while you work it out. Don't forget that. Don't get so good at trying to figure stuff out on paper that you forget to work stuff out according to purpose. The Bible said it is God who works in you to will and to do according to his good purpose. God starts with the purpose, not the person, and then he finds the person who will accomplish that purpose, and he shapes the person who will accomplish that purpose.
That's why you can know God is working on you right now and working in you. I will never forget sitting down to work on something one time. I'll tell you exactly what it was, because I think it's a great illustration. I had the opportunity several years ago to interview Bishop T.D. Jakes right here on this stage at Elevation Church, and I was so honored to do it. He is my preaching hero. He's my friend now too, but if someone is your hero, even if they're your friend, you still get really nervous, even if it's not their fault. I was so nervous to interview that man, because I wanted to do a good job for him. He was promoting a book called Soar. I sat down for weeks beforehand, and I would work, but mostly I would worry. It wasn't like I wasn't getting anything done.
By the time I got done being a complete stress ball for several weeks, I think I counted 75 note cards of questions to ask the man about the book. Everybody would say, "Aren't you excited to interview Bishop Jakes"? and I'd be like, "Yeah". Excitement and anxiety can kind of feel the same sometimes. What you call it depends on what you're focused about. When I look back on it, I regret all of the stress I felt from the pressure that wasn't even real. The fact of the matter is he could have had anybody interview him for the book. He wanted me to do it. He could have gone anywhere he wanted. He didn't go to Oprah. He came to Furtick. He didn't come to Dr. Phil. He came to Dr. Furtick. But I couldn't feel that way about it, because I thought, "What am I going to ask him? He's so smart".
The very reason I was stressed was the very reason I should have relaxed. Not five minutes after we got on this stage and he sat in his chair and I sat in mine… I had my whole stack. I said my first question to him. Twenty minutes later, I still had 74 questions left, and the interview was only 90 minutes. I remembered in that moment, "Oh, it's Bishop. He's good at talking". "Oh, all this time I've been thinking about this". Like, "I've got to carry it. What am I going to do if my questions are stupid? And what if the people look at me funny? What if I mispronounce a word? What if he doesn't sell any books? What if he never wants to talk to me again? What if I accidentally say something that wasn't intended to be offensive, but I was just trying to be casual and it came across as disrespectful"?
All of this to interview one of the greatest talkers in the world. The only thing I had to do to be successful in the interview was this. You know, just a reverse nod for variety and effect, but between those two nods, he had it covered. I see you stressing about something in your life today. I don't know what it is. I don't need to. God knows. I see you playing out the situation over and over again. You call it preparation, but it's not preparation, because it is eating through your peace. Here you are thinking, "Well, when I get to that in three weeks, it's going to be terrible". "Oh, when my kids become teenagers…" They are yet toddlers. You have 12 years to read books about this crap you're going to be dealing with, and by then all of the books will be saying different stuff than they say today.
I see you looking at a situation in the future of your life, and you are afraid. I'll tell you why you are afraid. You forgot God is going to be there when you get there. I remembered, "Oh, Bishop is going to be there. He's a good talker". I wish you would remember with all of the scenarios you're playing out in your mind and all of the ways it could go wrong and all the stuff you're scrolling through, talking about "Is it another world war…"? Well, what are you going to do about it if it is? Are you going to go fight in it? Whatever happens, you're going to have God. If it's a prison, he'll be your cellmate. You're going to have God.
"Oh, yeah. I forgot. I'm going to have God in it with me. That's why I'm not stressed about retirement, because I've never seen the righteous forsaken. I was young, and now I'm old. I've never seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging for bread". "God is going to be in this with me. God is going to be in the challenge with me. God is going to be in the uncertainty. God is going to walk into that doctor's office with me. God is going to be on the other side of this painful breakup with me. God is going to be with me when I make my first appointment with a counselor. God is going to be with me when I show back up first day to school and I'm 27.
God is going to be with me when I open up my finances and begin to get it in order and humble myself. I forgot about God. That's why I was shaking. That's why I was trembling, but I'm not trembling anymore, because I'm trusting that when I get there…" My bracelet fell off, but let me work it in. There's some stuff that needs to come off of you in this season. It happened, so I might as well work it in. There are some things in your life you need to stop stressing about at a level that assumes you're going to have to do it alone. I never get stressed about a sermon if I remember, "Oh, yeah. God is going to be there".
Just like Bishop is pretty good at talking, God is pretty good at "Godding". I'm so tired of hearing people say, "Life be life-ing". God be Godding. (Don't quote me on that. That's so corny.) I think sometimes we take the journey in our mind as if God is not going to be there. That was so profound for me when I realized it. Have you ever been going into a situation and were so stressed, and then you remembered, "Oh, yeah. They're going to be there," and the person you thought of…?
Now, there are some times where you're going into a situation and remember they are going to be there, and then you really are reaching for the prescription pills. But there are other people… Like, I know for Holly when Amy is going to be there when she's preaching or recording, there are certain things she doesn't have to worry about. She's going over to get ready, and I can see she's stressed. She's like, "I'm good. Amy is going to be there". She just realizes, "There are things I don't even have to think about because she's good at… We've been together so long. She's going to take care of some stuff so I can just focus on what I need to do".
I hear the Lord saying, "I'm going to be there, even if Paul can't, even if nobody else does, even if you've never been there before". I only needed three note cards and two nods. Joyce Meyer said, "Worry is a down payment on a problem you may never have". Isn't that just like the Devil, charging you for stuff you don't even need that you didn't even order? So, he said, "Work this thing out". You don't need 75 note cards. Just make sure the mic is on and nod your head. I think as simple as this sounds sometimes to just assume God is going to be there, we should just sit in it for a minute. What would it change about the situation you're afraid of facing if you knew God was going to be there?
One time when they got so big on cancel culture, I thought, "What if they cancel me"? God said, "How many people were you preaching to when I called you"? The answer was "Five". The Lord said, "Well, surely you can find at least five who will come listen to you if they cancel you. The whole earth? You can find five". The fact is whatever happens in your life, before it even happens to you, God already has a way to work it in. I didn't make this bracelet fall off. It just happened. I worked it in. Remember when we were at Elevation Nights in Oakland? The reason they laughed when I said, "Oakland…" They're not West Coast prejudiced or anything like that. When we got to Oakland for Elevation Nights… This was 2022. I will never forget this night.
Now, when we preach at Elevation Nights, we're going into these big arenas, like basketball arenas and stuff. They're always telling me, "This is the NBA team that plays here". I don't care about basketball. I don't care about any of that. I just care about serving him. No, actually I'm looking at, "What bands came here? Oh, the Rolling Stones were here. That's cool to me. I don't care who played basketball here". But when we were in Oakland… I don't know what made me wear that big, heavy jacket that night. I remember wearing this big, heavy jacket. I'm up preaching, and there are a lot of distractions, because it's not like a church service where y'all are so attentive. Even watching online right now, you're just… At Elevation Nights it's like a concert and then a sermon.
Some of the people who are there got totally bait-and-switched. They had no idea they were going to have to sit through a sermon. They thought it was just music. So I am a total buzzkill for the whole room. But in Oakland it was going pretty well. You know, you have to work around the distractions. This guy is over here eating popcorn and chicken fingers. "Does she have a beer while we're singing 'Trust in God'"? You know, just all kinds of things going through your mind. You have to learn to work around it. But a couple of times on these nights, something happens that you can't work around, and in Oakland something happened.
I was in the middle of my sermon. I was preaching about Acts 3:1-10. The message was called Surprise. I was talking about Peter and John at the gate called Beautiful. A man showed up, and he wasn't expecting to get healed, and they weren't expecting to be healers, but surprise. Right when I'm revving up… You know, I've gotten my background covered. All of the lights in the whole arena go out. Not gradually, not dimmed…out. I'm thinking, "Huh, that's weird. They'll come back on in a minute". Six minutes and 45 seconds. I'm not exaggerating. It felt like six years. All of the lights go out, and the first thing I think the whole audience thought was, "Oh, this is a part of his sermon".
So I tell them really quickly, "This is not a part of my sermon". I'm standing up there. Ten seconds go by. Twenty seconds go by. I'm a professional, man. I've been doing this since I was 16. I've been doing this since I was in Moncks Corner, South Carolina. I can do this. I can hold this crowd for a minute. I can preach through this. But then it's 30 seconds. It's a minute. You kind of run out of steam to stall. "How about those lights"? Then it hit me. "You don't know how long it's going to take for them to work this out, so work it in".
I'm telling you the truth. With the lights off, I started preaching about when you're in a dark season. I started preaching about how Peter and John weren't always at the gate called Beautiful, but they had once been in a garden called Gethsemane where the Savior of the world was facing the darkness of our sin. What do you do when you're in the darkness of the garden of Gethsemane and the lights are out all around you and you are uncertain?
See, because I don't know how long it's going to take them to put the lights back on, so while I'm waiting for them to work it out… I'm trying to close this message. I really am. But there is somebody listening to me who's waiting for God to work it out, and God is saying back, "While you're waiting in this dark season for me to work it out, for me to show you the next step, for me to give you the next crumb, for me to give you the next notice, for me to give you the next relationship, for me to turn this thing around, for the report to be positive…" "While you're waiting for me to work it out, work it in".
I hear God saying, "Work it in". "For it is God who works in you…" Show them the video. About five minutes in, the people did something. The people had their phones out. I didn't tell them to. They just did it. Surprise! Give him a shout of praise. Are you a praiser? Are you a lifter? Maybe that's the message God wanted me to preach. Look at all of those lights. Look at all that evidence. Look at all that praise. Hallelujah! Look at all of that strength. Look at all of that glory from something we didn't see coming. Surprise! It's not what I ordered, but it's what God ordered.
God is sovereign. God ordered my steps. God is in this with me. Get your light out! You had that light in your pocket the whole time, but you didn't need to work that light out until the light was absent. The absence became the opportunity for the illustration, because while I'm waiting for God to work this out, I might as well work it in.
"God, what do you want to teach me through this? God, how do you want to prepare me for this"? I was complaining about something that wasn't succeeding in this season of my life lately, and God said, "Exactly, because you got cocky about what you could do, and I needed to teach you to pay attention. So I took your success away for a minute so you would pay attention to the source of your strength".
I didn't even plan for us to do this all together. We didn't work any of that out, but we worked it in. I'm going to give you 24 seconds to give God the greatest praise you gave him, because he gave you one more day. Nineteen seconds, 18 seconds… You're running out of time. And at midnight, Paul and Silas… You know what to do! Do it! Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five…