Steven Furtick - Stop Letting Your Thoughts Trap You
This is an excerpt from: My Joy Is My Job
I want to make sure the way you are processing the unfinished places in your life, the way you are processing the imperfect parts of you, the way you are processing the parts of your life that do not match your preference… I want to make sure your process doesn’t become your prison so you ruminate and stew and have imaginary conversations where you get back at people who aren’t even thinking about you right now.
If I invested all the imagination and energy into preaching that I did into imaginary arguments with people, I would be Charles Spurgeon or Billy Graham. We have to go into some prisons. Right? They were thrown into one prison, but the other one… I think sometimes you aren’t thrown into it; I think you think your way into it.
So, we have to process. It’s hard to process (as we’re talking about joy) when you’re in prison and your feet are in stocks and it’s dark outside and your back is raw because you were beaten with rods. I know we normally don’t go through things to this magnitude. That’s why I think the story is so helpful, because whatever you’re going through, it isn’t this. Whatever pressure you have on you, it isn’t being the lead apostle for the gospel just decades after Jesus Christ walked the earth. So, if they did this, it can become an illustration for me. It takes a they.
As you process, I want you to write down three things. Make sure you have the right partner to process. Write down the word partner. I need a partner. I need a partner in my life who will help me to process my imperfection and my unfinishedness in a way that encourages me with the grace to sit in my unfinished but also gives me an example and a goal that I can go forward and grow into all God has called me to be. As a matter of fact, I told Isaiah «Zeek» Templeton I might bring him up to be my partner. So come on. I think we should do it. Would y’all give Zeek a hand as he comes? Oh, come on. You can do better than that. It’s Zeek, everybody! Zeek, as you come, I’ll be Paul, you be Silas.
Let’s give the people a mental picture. Yeah, give him a microphone. We might do some singing before this illustration. I’m just saying. The partner I pick might indicate the purpose I have in mind. That’s a whole sermon point. Nobody wrote it down. I picked my partner according to my purpose. God picks people according to his purpose. God picked you according to a purpose. So, here’s what they did. The Bible says it’s midnight. It doesn’t say they were sitting like this. This just seemed to be a good way to get the point across. But they were in the same cell. Maybe Paul… I have some speculations about this passage. First of all, let’s see the Scripture. Acts 16:25: «About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God».
Okay. This is just a speculation. It’s not in the text, but I just speculate. I don’t think Paul was a very good singer. I think Silas was a better singer than Paul. I take it from one Scripture where people used to say when he would get up that he was unimpressive in person. If you’re a great singer, nobody is going to say that about you. Right? So I don’t think Paul was a very good singer, but I think… This is another speculation. I think Paul is the one who started singing, because one thing Paul knew how to do was start stuff. He was an instigator. Okay? So, I imagine it’s about midnight. And what else are you going to do? You can’t move. He’s not going to do any burpees. His feet are in stocks. He’s not going to get prison ripped this time. I know they didn’t have musical directors in prison, but just give me a C so I can sing in a good note.
Okay. I think sometime in the middle of the night Paul went… What a fellowship, what a joy divine, Leaning on the everlasting arms… It says they sang hymns. I know that hymn wasn’t written yet. Use your imagination. I think they sang something like that. What a blessedness, what a peace is mine… He probably doesn’t feel a lot of peace when he sings that, but I’m going to give you a life principle, worshipers. Sometimes you have to sing until your soul catches up with your song. Do you feel that, Silas? Leaning on the everlasting arms. Leaning… Hey, Silas, are you awake back there?
Zeek: …leaning, Safe and secure from all alarms…
Steven: I think when Silas started singing, Paul started getting louder. Leaning, leaning, Leaning on the everlasting arms. But it says they sang hymns, plural. So they didn’t stop singing. I think Paul knew so many hymns he just started a medley. You know what I’m saying? I think he memorized some songs in a previous season that God knew he would need at a midnight hour. Uh-huh. So, I think next he went… Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine! Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine! You take this part, Silas.
Zeek: Heir of salvation, purchased by God, Born of his Spirit, washed in his blood.
Steven: Now, I want you to remember their feet are in shackles, but they’re washed in his blood. I want you to remember their feet are in shackles, but they’re born of his Spirit. I want you to remember that your situation is dark, but you’re born of the Spirit. I want to remind you that this chapter is painful, but your story isn’t over. Paul said…
Zeek: This is my story, this is my song, Praising my Savior all the day long, This is my story…
Steven: Do that again, Silas, but do it high. «This is my story».
Zeek: This is my story, this is my song…
Steven: So what am I doing?
Zeek & Steven: Praising my Savior, (I’m leaning, I’m leaning) Praising my Savior all the day long.
Steven: Praising my Savior at midnight too. All of a sudden, the Bible says, as they were singing, something started shaking. Something started shaking. Praise started shaking something. Lydia might have felt it at her house, and she didn’t know what it was, but Paul knew. When we praise… The foundations started shaking, and Paul said… On Christ the solid rock I stand, All other ground is sinking sand, All other ground is sinking sand. Help me, church! On Christ the solid rock I stand… My feet are in these shackles, but I’m standing! All other ground is sinking sand, All other ground is sinking sand. Come on! Let’s shake the foundations for a minute! No, no. You can’t shake them like that. You’ve got to get down on the inside of your belly. From your belly!
Somebody shout unto God! Shaking, shaking. Shaking, shaking. Shaking, shaking. I’m singing in shackles, and something starts shaking. I’m singing in shackles, and something starts shaking. I’m singing in loneliness, and something starts shaking, because I have a partner, I have a praise… The Bible says they did one more thing. They prayed. Did the Bible say they prayed in verse 25 or did I make it up? They prayed. Verse 25 says they sang (they praised) and they prayed. I don’t know what songs they sang. I don’t know what prayers they prayed, but I have a speculation about what they didn’t pray. I would imagine if you’re in a prison, your prayer, your dominant goal and thought would be…what? «Get us out». Yet the Bible says… I have heard this passage preached like you wouldn’t believe about how a shout will bring you out, which confused me when I read the next verse.
The Bible says that after they sang and prayed… I’m imagining Paul going, «God, get us out by your power, by your blood. Just like you brought Moses out of Egypt, just like you brought Nehemiah and the captives back to Jerusalem, just like you did it for them, just like you brought Jonah from the belly of the whale, God, get me out»! The Bible says suddenly there was a violent earthquake, the foundations shook, and everyone’s chains came loose. Now, what do you do when you’re in prison and your chains come loose? One, two, three. Leave! When your chains come loose, you leave. Right? Because I prayed and he brought me out. But watch this. Verse 27 says, «The jailer woke up…» Dude, you had one job. «The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself…» Because if he didn’t, his superior officer would. «…because he thought the prisoners had escaped».
Well, yeah. That’s what you’re supposed to do when God sends an earthquake and opens the doors. Unless they weren’t praying for God to get them out. I don’t know who this is for. You keep thinking God wants to get you out, and sometimes he does. Eventually they left. They didn’t stay there. But verse 27 is very powerful. The Bible says, «The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped». Verse 28: «But Paul shouted, 'Don’t harm yourself! We are all here! '»
Why are you still here? Paul says, «I wasn’t praying for God to get me out; I was praying for God to come in. These doors are open because the King of Glory is coming in»! So, I want to propose to you, child of God, that you keep saying, «When I get out of this, I’m going to praise God,» which is the wrong perspective. You can praise God when you get out of it, but you can also praise God into it. I’m going to give you 24 seconds to do it right now.