Steven Furtick - What to Do When You Doubt
This is an excerpt from: It’s The Motion That Matters
I know you’re trying to figure out, «What is the most important skill for raising a 2-year-old? What is the most important skill at this stage of my life»? Some of you would even say, «And you don’t even know, because I’m 62, and you’re not». I would suggest that whether 62 or 16, a 4-month-old church or a 40-year-old church, the most important skill you will build in your life is the ability to step out not only when the feeling of faith makes it convenient but when the conviction of faith makes it necessary even though the convenience is nowhere to be seen.
Now, I am a skeptic. My kids will tell you, when they tell me anything, I always say, «What’s your source»? They will tell me the craziest stuff at the dinner table. They will tell me the craziest stuff about politics. They will tell me the craziest thing about my own staff that they heard. They will tell me the craziest thing about what’s going on in the larger world of… I don’t know. They talk about everything from eyeliner to steroids at my dinner table. «Did you know steroids are good for you»? I’m like, «Where did you see that»?
The other day, Graham said the most outrageous thing. He said, «Dad…» And he said it like a fact, just a flat fact. Boom! And he just dropped it. I said, «That is the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard. That’s not true». He said, «Yes, it is». I said, «No, it’s not». And it wasn’t like a disrespectful thing. We were kind of playing. He looked back at me and said, «Yes, it is true». I said, «It can’t be true». He said, «Yes, it is. I saw a thing». «Oh! Oh! You saw a thing. Oh, well, now it’s definitely true, because you saw a thing». «Son, I know you saw a thing, but before I’m going to believe a thing, you’ve got to source the thing you saw if you want me to believe it».
I’m going to give you three points at the very beginning of this message. This is not the message; these are just the points that will build the message that will get to the point of the message. Write them down. They all start with the letter B. If you are wavering today, and if you are wondering today if you can make it to the other side, there are three things happening at all times. First, you behold. Secondly, you believe. Thirdly, you behave. We behold. We believe. We behave. We behold. We see a thing. Graham said, «I saw a thing».
We have never lived in a time where you see more stuff. I see a thing, I believe a thing, and I behave a way. I see a thing… I don’t even know right now if anything I see… I used to say, «I’ll have to see it to believe it». Now I have to see it and verify it. I don’t even know if the trees that were in my backyard this morning are AI right now. I don’t know. They look pretty real. Put my hand through the tree to see if it’s real. «Is this a simulation»? I don’t know. I don’t know if they really said that. I get these clips. People want to show me stuff all the time. «Look at what this political candidate said».
I Google one time and find out they didn’t say any of that. They made the voice sound just like the lips move. I’ll just be honest with y’all. It’s a weird time to do this, to talk to y’all, because they can show you stuff I said that I didn’t say or slice what I do say until it’s not what I said. So, people will want to come up to me… «Oh, did you hear what they said? Did you see what they did? Did you hear it? Did you see it»? I’ve learned to tell my kids, «I don’t want to see it unless you can source it».
Now, this is the kind of preaching that I notice nobody shouts about, because we want God to set us free of everything but our gossip, everything but our slander. We want God to give us peace, but we don’t want him to meddle with any of the processes that are making us anxious. I am trying to say that sometimes you see a thing… Graham said, «I saw a thing». I’m not doubting that you saw a thing, but for you to just see a thing and believe a thing is immature. For you to just see a thing and believe it is to put too much confidence in your senses. Your senses are not your sensei when it comes to this fight of faith; the Spirit is. There is coming a time in your life where you are going to have to get to the root, in a season of your life, for the challenges you face, for the responsibilities you carry… I have to calm down.
I get excited because I see how it all works now. I realized that some of the things that are a problem in my behavior are a problem in my belief. But before I believed a thing, I had to see a thing. If I behold a thing and believe a thing, I will behave a way. Some of us hate the way we behave, but we will not change what we behold. So, I behold. I saw a thing. I believed a thing. I didn’t even check it out to see if it was real. Then I behave a way. So, now I have seen so many things, making me think that person is my enemy because they’re of a different political persuasion, and I have beheld enough of that information and data in my phone that now I behave in a way that is completely contrary to the character of Christ who is bigger than either political party, but I can’t believe that because I don’t behold that.
Do you really believe we walk by faith not by sight? That means faith is not primarily a feeling. That means faith, biblical faith… I’m not talking about manifesting your dream job, dream car, dream house, or dream beach. «I’m going to manifest my island». Well, I don’t want to have to staff an island, so I’m not manifesting that. Okay? I can barely keep my bed made in my house. But biblical faith, whose object is Jesus and the finished work he did on the cross and his resurrection from the dead…that kind of faith, faith in Jesus and what he has done.
We walk by faith, the kind Paul is talking about in 2 Corinthians, chapter 5. I’m about to show you Moses and Peter, two leaders who both needed to step out in doubt with no feeling of faith. Can you do that? Can I do that? Do I still do it or did I just do it when the church was young and I was 26 with nothing to lose? These are the things that have been challenging me. Faith is not a feeling; it’s a behavior. This is the best news I’ve ever given you. What it means is you can be at an emotional low and a faith high. What it means is all of the people who say, «Well, you shouldn’t doubt or think that or ever deal with that or struggle with that if you really knew Jesus…»
It means, from now on, you get to take them to 2 Corinthians 5:7 and say, «My faith is not about what I feel; it is about the way I behave». I do not mean that if you don’t behave correctly, you don’t have faith. What I mean is it’s the motion that matters. Let me show you what I’m talking about. In Exodus, chapter 14, there is a Bible story that I have come to really, really love. It is called the parting of the Red Sea. Of course, that’s only what you call it if you fast-forward to the part where it parted. We love the part where it parted. Just a sidenote. Don’t you love the part where it parts, the part where God did it?
I told a songwriting room the other day, «Y’all, I don’t know if we can put oceans splitting or mountains moving in any more songs. I think we’ve found every way to say that we can». You know, it’s powerful for a reason. Everybody has one of those. Well, this is the part in Exodus, chapter 14, that I think is kind of funny. I’m going to use Exodus 14 and Matthew 14 to remind you today that it’s the motion that matters. You did the exact right thing by getting into your car and spending your expensive gas money to get to this church on this day at this location, because it’s the motion that matters.
Listen to me. I don’t care if y’all fought all the way here and cussed them out in biblical Koine Greek. You did the right thing to drag your cussing tongue into this room so you can have these ears sanctified by the Word of God so you can cut your cussing in half by the time you get back next week. It’s the motion that matters. Don’t judge where I am if you don’t know where I started from. You don’t have a frame of reference for how hard this is for me. It’s the motion that matters. They’ve come a long way.
Moses and the children of Israel have been through so much. Unimaginable. A 430-year cry to God that seemed unanswered, but «not now» is not «no». At the appointed time, God sent a deliverer named Moses, who himself was pretty old. He taught the most important skill for this stage of life in old age. Moses said, «I can’t speak well, and I can’t do it. I killed an Egyptian. How will I go to Pharaoh who’s an Egyptian and say, 'Let the people go'? What if they don’t believe me? I’m not a motivational speaker».
Moses, the non-motivational speaker, ends up with the most important message of all time because he stepped out in doubt. Prove me otherwise. Quote every Scripture you want at me. One of the greatest leaders God used told God he couldn’t do it and then did it. And then did it! Well, he did all he could do. He put some plagues on the people. He even got the Egyptians to give plunder to the Israelites so they would not leave empty-handed. Now with the wealth of an entire nation on their backs, the children of Israel, two million strong, are marching…boldly, the Bible says…out of Egypt. Now here comes the part that I think is kind of funny. I think this happens in our lives.
Verse 10: «When Pharaoh drew near…» Pharaoh is the enemy they just left that they thought they were free from, but they weren’t quite yet. But they thought they were. They’re in motion, and then all of a sudden, Pharaoh… The Bible gives an exact number. It says 600 chariots and his best fighting men are now chasing them down, because not only have they lost their labor but they’ve given up their wealth. So Pharaoh drew near. «…the people of Israel lifted up their eyes, and behold…» They saw something. They saw a thing. They saw a thing they thought they had just left. Touch your neighbor and say, «I saw a thing». «I was doing pretty well with my eating plan, but…»
I was trying to make it practical. «I was doing pretty well. I wasn’t texting any girls, because I was going to get this season of my life straight, but I…» Okay. Y’all don’t like that? David was on the roof one day, and he… So now look at me all hypocritical, holy, and sanctimonious, like you never saw a thing and beheld something and believed something and behaved a way. In order to understand why you’re behaving that way, don’t you understand why you’re believing that way? And to understand why you’re believing that way, don’t you have to think back to what you beheld that made you believe that? So, I completely understand what comes next. For us to judge the Israelites because…spoiler alert…they get scared… They see Pharaoh and feel fear.
«How could they do that? God turns seas into highways». They didn’t know that song! They were living it. I’m living this. I’m walking by it. I’m having to take uncertain steps. I thought God would fix me just right before he made me preach to you, but the truth is sometimes I will preach to you a lesson I have limped to. You can do the same. Now, in this particular instance, it’s like you judging an Olympic athlete, thinking to yourself, «I could probably do that». No, you probably couldn’t. Do you ever watch a sport and are like, «I think I probably could… No, I probably couldn’t do that. Not like that. I could do a version of that, but not exactly that». They lifted up their eyes.
Now, I want you to really get in this text with me today. I told you we put too much confidence in our senses. I know we have to use our senses to keep ourselves from getting our fingers burned on stoves and walking across crowded highways and things like that, but we cannot make decisions with our senses when it comes to this next step of faith in this season of our lives and the way we see ourselves and the way we see the people God has given us to impact. Your senses will get you killed. Here’s why. They looked up. «…and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them, and they feared greatly». Is this a sin? No. It’s a feeling. The sin is the decision after the feeling.
God forgives that sin too, but if you really want to be free from it, you have to ask the question, «What did I lift my eyes up and see that is dragging me back into a past I said I would leave behind? What is making me so afraid I keep running back to stuff I know I’m done with? What do I keep seeing that makes me fight off people who love me? What do I keep remembering»? Is the Devil controlling your whole future with an old movie? An old movie. I’m talking 1988 blockbuster, «Be kind, rewind,» Karate Kid stuff. The Devil keeps showing you stuff you kicked in 1988, and he doesn’t even have to resist you anymore. All he has to do is get you to rewind. I came to find out what you are beholding, because if you keep beholding what they want to feed you…
Yes, I’m talking about everything that’s on our news right now. Yes, I’m talking about everybody who’s vying for your attention. Your attention is too expensive to keep giving it to things that do not have your best interests at heart. I know what I’m saying. God said this to me. Your attention is too expensive. It’s costing you your freedom.