Steven Furtick - God Will Restore What You've Lost
This is an excerpt from: Not Dead Yet
The Enemy will weasel his way into your marriage. He'll weasel his way into your business, get you to start cutting corners and stuff like that. I know he works. I'm a weasel expert. The weasel will try to keep you from worshiping God. The Lord said, "I'm going to list a lot of things that will multiply rapidly in your life…small things, moving things, saras. I'm going to show you what to do with them so I can keep doing big things". God still has big things for me. I felt chills on my body when I said it. God still has big things for me, things that are bigger than my intellect, things that are bigger than my imagination, exceedingly, abundantly above all I ask or imagine. The seed of God's potential lives inside of me. I'll say it again for the people who really believe what the Word of God says.
The seed of God's potential lives in me. I mean, think about it. Here are people in Leviticus who have been through Egypt, have been through the Red Sea, who started with a man named Abram. All out of one man came millions of people, because God said, "I will bless you and multiply you". Abram was waiting. We preached about him for two weeks awhile back, how he was 99 and God gave him the promise when he was 100. I preached on "Keep it 100". But can I keep it 100 with you? Abram said, "My wife's womb is as good as dead, and so is my body. My body is as good as dead because I'm 99". Then something got inside of Abram and kicked inside of Abram.
See, the seed that was inside of him was greater than the limitation that was on him. Something got inside of Abram. He looked in the mirror, but then he looked at the stars. He talked to himself and his situation, but then he talked to God, and God reminded him of the promise. Abram said, "I'm old, but I'm not dead yet". I think he said it with no teeth. "I'm not dead yet". I'm not done yet. I'm not dead yet. It's not over yet. I'm not dead. God is not done. If I'm not dead, God is not done. Greater things are still to come! Do you believe it? Thank you, God! Think about everything that the seed survived. That's what he said. The seed of Abram became the nation of Israel. We've been through the Red Sea. We've been through the wilderness. We're going to the Promised Land, but watch this weasel.
Now I'm ready for my key verse. Verse 37: "If you see a carcass…" A dead thing. The rule of thumb is "Don't touch dead stuff," and that's a good idea, just in general. "Why do you seek the living amongst the dead"? When you go to send that text to that relationship you know God has brought you out of, don't touch dead stuff. I worked for a pet cemetery when I was 16. A lady called and said, "Can you come get my cat? My cat is dead". We said, "We'll be there in 30 minutes". She said, "No. I want you to get him tomorrow morning. I want to spend one more night with my cat in the bed". Why are y'all acting shocked? You're in the bed with some dead stuff too. Don't make me pull up your search history. Don't make me do it! I'll come down there and snatch your phone. What do I do with the dead thing?
Watch this. I'm almost done, but I'm not done yet. If a dead thing, a carcass, a carcass of a saras, a thing that moves and multiplies… If a dead thing falls on any seeds that are to be planted, they (the seeds) are still clean. So, God said, "Have you ever had something die on you"? Have you ever had a dream die on you? Have you ever had an idea die on you? Have you ever had an opportunity die on you? Have you ever had your body start to fail on you? Have you ever had your hope start to die on you? Have you ever had something you idealized for your future die on you? Have you ever had a plan die on you?
If something has died on you, God wants you to know that what dies on you is nothing compared to what God put in you. The seed still has what it needs to go into the ground and come up better. God said you're coming up better! I know what you've been through, but you're not done, because you're not dead yet. It's still a seed. It's still a gift. It's still a breath. It's still a praise. It's still going to happen! The seed is bigger than the weasel! It's not dead yet! My dream…not dead yet! My vision…not dead yet! The church…not dead yet! Your children…not dead yet! Give him praise!
You are a chosen people. You are a royal priesthood. To declare the praises of him who brought me from a place and bought me with a price! I was sinking deep in sin. I was caught in a pattern, but he taught me that the seed will survive. He's going to do it! He's going to do it. He's got to do it. He's God. He has been God a long time. He has been God since Abraham started wobbling. He has been God before you started walking, and you're not dead yet.
Let everything that has breath… You know what to do. If he brought you and he bought you and he led you and he fed you… The best me is yet to be, because the seed is incorruptible. You couldn't die because God is not done. COVID couldn't kill this church because we're still called to be his people. No weasel, no devil, no rejection, no anxiety shall be able to stop what God started. So, tell that weasel, "Get off my word". Jesus said in Luke, chapter 8, "The seed is the word of God".
So, if the weasel touches the seed, it doesn't spoil the seed. No dead thing. We've all had something die on us…all of us. We've all had something die on us, but will you let what died on you keep you from believing and moving forward with what God put in you? If the weasel touches the seed, get the seed. Snatch that seed back from that dead weasel and go forward and sow it. Go forward and build it. Go forward and believe it. Go forward and achieve it. Go forward and do it in his name. Not dead yet. The weasel is dead, not the seed.
As a matter of fact, the seed hasn't even been planted yet. That's why it's still clean. Because God has been saving you. That's why he brought you and bought you. I don't care what little thing in your life… As a matter of fact (I don't mean this to be corny), I want to wage war against whatever it is, that dead thing, that weasel. The living Word of God is greater than that dead thing.