Steven Furtick - Get Ready For Revelation
This is an excerpt from: Let Me Show You The Door
I want you to notice three things that are going to help you have the perfect comeback for the Devil. When he comes at you this week, you are not going to get to the bottom of the stairs and think, "Oh, wait"! You are not going to wait until next Saturday night to say, "Oh, I've got to go back to church. I've got to go to Elevation". You are not going to get stuck at the bottom of the stairs this week, thinking, "I've got to get back to church to get a word for the Devil". You are going to have the comeback for him at the door the moment he knocks to try to tell you what you're not. Jesus had a comeback for the Devil. "It is written…" He knew the Word of God. He had a comeback for the Devil. I thought it was interesting how in the passage we read, they were coming back to the place where they were sent from. They were coming back to the grace they started with.
I thought that word comeback was interesting, kind of like a double meaning. They're coming back to Antioch. They have gone 1,200 miles of travel in the 12 months of time that has passed, and they have seen some amazing things. So, the Bible says they came back. I kept reading, and I was like, "I want to talk about the comeback, but I also want to talk about the connection". I noticed, and I want you to notice, how many times in this passage (Acts, chapter 14) the word they appears. It says, "From Attalia they sailed to Antioch…" They sailed to Antioch. "…where they had been committed to the grace of God for the work they had now completed. On arriving there, they gathered the church together and reported all that God had done through them".
What God does through you is a lot of times determined by the they you are connected to. If anybody could have done it alone, it would have been Paul. For all of you who try to do it alone in your own strength, maybe you're a better Christian than Paul and Jesus, but the rest of us need a they. So, imagine they're picking. Like, "We've got to send Paul because he's learned and he's of the tribe of Benjamin, and he can really speak to the Jews and the Gentiles. He has a Roman citizenship, so he's very able to be very fluent in both languages, not only the language of faith in Jesus but the language of Judaism. And who should we send with him? Barnabas". You said "Silas"? No, Silas went to prison with him in chapter 16. Silas could sing, but Barnabas had a very special gift. His name means son of encouragement.
Does this say something about what Paul struggled with that the one they sent with him was one of these guys? They looked at Paul. "Paul, you're a powerful preacher. You're an amazing preacher. You're a man of God. You're anointed and you're called and you're chosen". Now, Barnabas was not only an encourager, but he was the one who brought Paul into the fold to begin with. They were scared of Paul. Paul was the one who would go and have the Christians executed before he became one, before the Lord smacked him right off his beast and told him, "I'm Jesus of Nazareth. Who do you think you're messing with? I'm about to show you how much you must suffer for my sake, because you're my vessel". That's where Paul was, and the people were like, "You want us to have the guy who was the terrorist on our team"? Barnabas was like, "Yeah. He's changed. Let's give him a chance".
Thank God for Barnabas. Barnabas was "hopethetical". Barnabas was optimistic. Barnabas was able to see the best in Paul. He was able to see the Paul in Saul. So, I want to talk about your connections today, because the fact that they made it through everything they made it through was the fact that they were they. I believe the reason the Devil doesn't leave your life a lot of times is because you try to run him off alone. There comes a point where you can't fight this in your own head. There comes a point where you can't fight this with your own personality. If you could have gotten you out of this, you'd be out by now. So what are you still doing here? Maybe you are waiting on the right connection. Perhaps the reason we feed some of our insecurities sometimes is because we stay in isolation where there is nothing to prove anything to us other than the words the Devil is speaking.
The Lord told me to tell you there may be a Barnabas you are missing in your life that is causing you to remain stuck in the loop the Devil has you in. There may be. And there may be some people in your life who are the opposite of Barnabas, some people in your life who really aren't headed where you're headed. I would like to refer you back to my title. You may need to send them a text right now and just send them, "I'm listening to a sermon, 'Let Me Show You the Door.'" That will be code for you to have the conversation you need to have. You cannot fulfill a Paul-sized mission without a Barnabas-sized encouragement. Sometimes it will be a BYOB situation. That stands for "Be your own Barnabas".
Sometimes the people you need to encourage you are having a bad week too. Guess what? Maybe you need to do what David said. David said, "I encouraged myself in the Lord. I know what's written in the Psalms because I wrote them. I'll quote my own psalm back to myself when I'm struggling". This is so important so you don't get stuck at the bottom, talking about, "Oh, I need to get to church. Oh, I need to get around the right people". You do, but there's a lot of time between Sunday and Sunday, so there will be situations in your life where you need a connection to something, you need a connection to someone, you need a connection to people who can remind you of the purpose God put inside of you. Comeback. Connection. Isn't that good?
Paul and Barnabas. I want to act this out, because I really want you to get the story in your heart. Abbey… Abigail means father's joy. Sit down with me. Be my Barnabas for a minute in the illustration. Remember I told you Paul and Barnabas… It says they went from Attalia to Antioch, which is not like going from Marvin to Ballantyne. This is a 300-mile trip in itself. Remember, I told you they've already been 1,200 miles in 12 months. Now they have a decision to make on the way back because they have to give a report to the church on how it went. The part I didn't read you was everything that happened before Acts 14:26-28, kind of like I didn't read you how Jesus fasted 40 days before the Devil left. I just got straight to "The Devil left".
The angels came, and that's exciting, and we all want to get there. But realize, if we put ourselves in the historical context of this passage, that Paul and Barnabas have 300 miles to travel, and they have to figure out, "What are we going to tell them when we get back"? Barnabas was probably keeping good notes and stuff like that, because Paul was the one who was mostly talking. So they have 300 miles to figure out together, "When we stand in front of the church that sent us, when we get back to Antioch, what will we report"? I'm not saying Paul was a pessimist, because I don't believe he was. He wrote amazing verses like, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" and "Now unto him who is able to do immeasurably more".
So, I am not throwing Paul under the bus, but Barnabas had the gift of encouragement. So I think while they were going back, they were probably going through their log of everything that happened over the last 12 months. "Okay. What are we going to tell them when we get there, Barnabas"? They're going through their notes, because how do you condense 12 months into one talk? It said they gathered the church together and told them. I imagine the first place they realized they had to talk about was Cyprus, when they got to Cyprus, the island called Cyprus. That's in Acts, chapter 13. While they were there, God was using them. Paul is like, "Do you remember that guy, that sorcerer in Cyprus"? Barnabas is like, "Yeah. What was his name again"? Paul is like, "Oh, I'll never forget his name…Elymas". His name literally means sorcerer. Barnabas is like, "Oh, yeah. I remember now. Elymas".
Even Barnabas couldn't see much good in Elymas. He's like, "Yeah, he was a bad dude, because right when we were going to have an audience with the governor of that city, Elymas started trying to interrupt us and distract from Jesus. Just when it looked like we were going to make progress with a very important governor, Elymas stood up and distracted him". Paul is like, "Yeah, that guy. He got on my nerves. I hate Elymas. If I ever see Elymas again, I'm going to tell him…" Barnabas is like, "Wait now, Paul. Do you remember what you said to him"? Paul is like, "Kind of". Barnabas goes, "I've got it. I've got it written right here".
Now put up Acts 13:8. Look at what happened. "But Elymas the sorcerer (for that is what his name means) opposed them and tried to turn the [governor] from the faith". He was about to receive Jesus, which would have been a major open door for the gospel of Jesus Christ. He was a Gentile and a governor. Remember, right on the verge of God doing something amazing in your life, right when you are at the threshold of it, right when you are at the door frame of it, there will be a devil. The Devil doesn't mean the door wasn't real. The Devil doesn't mean God wasn't in it. The Devil at the door might mean you are headed in the right direction and he's trying to get you to turn around.
Barnabas says, "Paul, you looked at Elymas and told him, 'You are a child of the devil and an enemy of everything that is right! You are full of all kinds of deceit. Will you never stop perverting the ways of the Lord?'" Paul is like, "I said all that"? He's like, "Yeah, you said all that. You called him a child of the Devil. It's kind of mean, Paul, but it was the perfect comeback for the situation". Watch what God did in verse 11. Suddenly, after Paul spoke up; suddenly, after Paul confronted the opposition; suddenly, after Paul refused to let the Devil block his door… I'm looking for somebody today who refuses to let the Devil have this one. He said, "'The hand of the Lord is against you. You're going to be blind for a time, not even able to see the light of the sun.' Immediately mist and darkness came over him, and he groped about, seeking someone to lead him by the hand".
Look at what happened in verse 12. "When the proconsul saw what had happened, he believed, for he was amazed at the teaching about the Lord". "So, maybe when we get to Antioch in a few days, we'll tell them about the sorcerer at Cyprus, and we'll tell them how we faced resistance, but we'll tell them that after the resistance came a revelation". Paul said, "We're going to tell them about the sorcerer?" and Barnabas said, "Yeah, but we have to make sure to tell them that if the sorcerer wouldn't have been struck blind, the governor wouldn't have seen Jesus". Let me show you the door. The resistance was the starting place of the revelation.
Now what resistance? Imagine this. The resistance you're facing in your life right now might be the door to a revelation of how great God is. Maybe. Let me show you the door. You want God to take the resistance away while you're simultaneously praying for him to make you strong? How will he make you strong with no resistance? How will he show you who he is if he doesn't let you find out who you're not without him? "Remember that, Paul, when you looked at him and said, 'You child of the Devil'? That was the perfect comeback. So, when we get back to Antioch and we're in front of the church council, let's make sure we tell them there was resistance, but it led to revelation.