Steven Furtick - God Knows What You Need (10/30/2018)
The preacher explains that coming to Christ doesn't remove our human needs like approval, connection, or significance—those stay the same, but God meets them perfectly from His infinite riches instead of flawed sources. He stresses that addictions and wrong behaviors aren't evil needs but valid ones met wrongly (e.g., lust as untreated loneliness for connection), and Philippians 4:19 promises God supplies all needs according to His riches, often through redirecting us to meet others' needs so we discover true fulfillment in Him.
Needs Don't Disappear – They Get Met Differently
When we come to Christ, there's often an unrealistic expectation that he's going to take away our needs, and he doesn't. In fact, if you are a Christian, you still have the same needs now that you did before you met Jesus, the same needs, but they are now met in a different way. In other words, you still have the same need for approval, but now instead of trying to get it from another human who doesn't even fully like themselves, you are getting it from the all-sufficient, all-knowing, all-seeing, ever-present, ever-living God who gives you breath and who intricately knit you together in your mother's womb.
So, it's not that I don't have needs. It's not that I don't have wants. The Lord is my Shepherd. I shall not want. That doesn't mean I never want anything, never need anything. It doesn't mean my appetite went away. It just means I go to a different buffet now. Amen. That means I eat off a different menu now. Amen. And sometimes we are so focused on people's behaviors that we can't discern the needs that drive the behaviors. And a lot of Christian teaching and preaching is focused on condemning behaviors without understanding the need.
There is no need that you are currently meeting in your life that is an evil need or a bad need. And many of us who have various addictions need to hear this exact point. And maybe you can even leave after I say this, because this may be the whole reason God brought you here. You're not meeting the wrong need. You're just meeting it with the wrong means. This applies to overspending, overeating, over-talking, over-bragging. And yes, I hear you, Facebook, over-sharing. It applies to every sexual addiction.
Lust as Untreated Loneliness
You know, there's a certain shame that comes with sexual addiction, but there shouldn't be, because all the addiction is is a valid need trying to express itself. It's a need for connection, which is very good and very God. It is not good for man to be alone. But loneliness, if left untreated, becomes lust. That's all lust is, is the need for connection being met through something that has no ability to satisfy the need that it is trying to meet. So it becomes more and more and more and more and more and more.
And Paul says, my God shall supply all your needs or meet all of your needs, not according to your resources, but according to his. And I'm glad about it. I'm glad that the only one who has what I need happens to be the only one who knows what I need. How many are glad about that? Let's give God five seconds of praise for knowing what we need and for being what we need.
The Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid? Listen, Blakely. When the wicked, even mine enemies, came upon me, even they stumbled and fell. He prepares a table for me in the presence of my enemy. No, he doesn't take the need away. He becomes what I need. He meets my need. Some of us are waiting for God to remove the need, but if he removed the need, he would remove the means by which he meets the need to remind you that he is what I need. He not only gives it, he is it.
Checking Your Need Meter and Joy Meter
Let's back up a little bit and let's talk about your need meter. You know, spell it different. Just if we'd spell it like this. Need, not that meters, but the other one. Need meter. Like, how needy are you? Like, what's your meter read? If we could read the meter on your need today, if it was right there on your forehead when you came in the house of God, what would we see if we could read your meter?
What if we could read your joy meter today? Not your happy meter. Happy meter might be just caffeine. Starbucks can make you happy. And yet there's this joy, this contentment that's described in the Scripture. Oh, don't let people smile confuse you, because some people's bone structure is just arranged in their face. They look like they're smiling, okay? Some people just have, you know, resting, blessed face. And they just look happy, but it's covering up a lot of stuff.
Don't worry about that. I'm saying, like, the thing that we can't see, if we could see it… If you had a peace meter on your forehead today and we could see your peace meter, would it be like, or would it be like the gas gauge of a 16-year-old who fills up $5 at a time? You know, filling up $5 at a time, a click at a time, a like at a time, a comment at a time.
Because here's what I've learned about this. When joy is low, usually it's because entitlement is high. That's why the most joyful book in the Bible, according to many, was written in a prison cell, because Paul has come to the point where he says, I don't need it. I don't need it. And he really means it. It's not like the one preacher who got up, you know, I don't preach for the praise of men. Amen? Amen? Amen! He's really found a place. He's really found a place of freedom from what he thinks he deserves.
Freedom from Entitlement Unlocks True Joy
And once he's set free from what he thinks he deserves and what he expected it to be… Ooh, that's good. That's good. God just gave me that for this particular worship experience. I didn't say it any other time. Once he's set free from what he expected, he can receive what he needs. And sometimes what blocks us from receiving what we need is what we expected we would get. And when it doesn't show up like we expected, we can't receive what we need.
Can I move a little deeper into this teaching? You good? Okay. Find Acts chapter 16. If you can find it in your Bible or if you want to look it up on your phone. I always have a backup plan on the screen for you, just in case. In case it was hectic getting out of the house, it will come up on the screen.
And so God does something unusual in Acts 16 as Paul is taking the gospel out. And you have to understand that Paul isn't writing the principles in Philippians in a vacuum. He's writing them in the context of historical relationship with people in a church, and he loved them. And he's writing saying, thanks. Got the gift. Gonna use it. Don't need it. What I'm excited about is how God is going to use your gift to bless you. That's what he's saying. And it goes all the way back to how he met them to begin with.
Paul's Blocked Plans Lead to God's Greater Purpose
And how many would say that some people in your life right now don't understand you properly because they don't know your background? And they expect you to be farther along in certain areas, but you're like, if you only knew how good I'm doing to even be as far along as I am. I mean, I still cuss, but I used to beat people. And why I think we really do Philippians 4:19 a disservice is because we strip it of its context. So I thought we needed to look at this real quick to understand the stuff we shout over.
My God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches. And I'm sad, but that verse sounds great, so I'm going to shout over top of my sadness. It's because we don't understand the means. We don't understand the means. So let's go back several years earlier. Paul is trying to get somewhere. Verse 7, when they came to the border of Mysia, he's got Timothy with him, and they tried to enter Bithynia, but the spirit of Jesus would not allow them to.
Wouldn't allow them to what? Wouldn't allow them to preach about Jesus. Jesus stopped his own PR campaign. That's very, very, very unusual. Very difficult for me to get my mind around until I get to the next verses. And sometimes you do not understand at all what God is doing in the moment.
Graham is so funny. We were coming to church today, and a lot of our staff kids went to camp last week. We had a staff advance last week, and I was sharing with the staff all week, and it was just a family event and family affair. Graham got to play Joseph in a skit in a small group at camp, so he had the story of Joseph, the Old Testament Joseph, on his mind. And they sent me a video of him down on the ground when Potiphar's wife is accusing Joseph. Potiphar's wife is called Hotifer, and she was accusing him of trying to make advances. And Graham was on the ground saying, no, I didn't do it.
But Graham asked me something. He said, you think when the Bible says God was with Joseph, you think Joseph felt that way at the time? I don't know. It doesn't say how he felt. It states the fact after the fact. But you can't really know what God is doing until he's done it. And you don't really know what you really need until you get what you want and find out it isn't even what you thought it was.
Active Waiting in Transition Places
So Paul wants to go to Asia. Blocked. Paul wants to go to Mysia. Blocked. And he does something that you've got to learn to do when you don't know what to do. Instead of going home, he goes into the place of active waiting. It means, God, I'm not just waiting for you to do something. I'm waiting on you. Like we used to not call them servers. It was waiters. I'm waiting on you. God, what would you like me to do in this season?
So I'm praying for a new job, but I'm being nice at this one. Y'all don't want to help me preach. I'm praying for my kids' behavior to improve, but I'm not going to exemplify the exact behavior that I'm trying to correct by going off on them and demonstrating anger while I'm trying to correct anger. I'm actively waiting.
And this place is called Troas. The Bible says that since they couldn't get into Mysia, they went down to Troas. This is a place of transition. It's a port city. Asia Minor on one side, Europe on the other. Where are we going? What's God doing? I don't know, but I'm not going home. I don't know, but I'm not giving up. I don't know, but I'm not losing sight. I don't know, but I'm not going to go into despair.
I don't know. I don't know. I mean, I thought it was God, and I thought it was this, and I moved to Charlotte, or I moved to Raleigh, or I moved to Winston, and I had this idea, and I had this plan, but God's purpose is greater than my plan, so I am in the place, I'm positioned to hear God's voice.
And God speaks to Paul in that place. God speaks to Paul. I believe he's going to speak to somebody here today too. During the night, verse 9, not in the daytime when everything is pretty and you can see what you're doing. During the night, this is a theme in Scripture, some of the greatest stuff God will show you will be when you can't see with your eyes and when you can't feel with your emotions and when you can't understand with your mind.
During the night, Paul had a vision of a man, a man of Macedonia, this big region in Europe, with people who were not yet reached by the gospel. There were a lot of Jewish people in Macedonia, but not many believers yet, and certainly no church. And now I understand why God told Paul no. Because God knew the real need.
The plans of a man are in his heart, but his steps are ordered by the Lord. God has a purpose and you have a plan, and sometimes he has to do away with one to get to the other. I'm preaching right to your heart today, trying to get you to see this vision that Paul saw. It was a man of Macedonia. A what of Macedonia? A man of Macedonia standing and begging him, come over to Macedonia and help us.
Paul was looking for an opportunity. God showed him a need. Could it be possible that you've been asking God for an opportunity and God is showing it to you in the form of your greatest need? Would you be willing to receive that maybe the way God is speaking to you in this season is not by what you feel and not by what you think and not even by what you want when you try to figure out your life and how others should act and how it needs to be?
Have you got to the place like Paul where you say, I don't know what I really need. I need you to lead me, God. Somebody say, lead me, Lord. I don't want to lean on my own understanding. I need God to lead me. I don't need to lean on what I think I need because I think I need one thing when I really need another.
God Meets Needs with Needs – The Macedonian Call
That's how I gained weight when we got married. I thought I needed an Oreo and I really needed exercise. Sometimes we think we need food. We really need a nap. Sometimes we think we need another person. What we really need to do is pray and ask God to get our minds right. Sometimes we think we need people to treat us different when what we really need is to see people not as trees for us to pick the fruit from, but for soil for us to sow in.
God speaks to Paul and says, you want an opportunity? Here it is. It's in the form of a need. God is trying to lead you through your need. My God will meet all your needs. How? With a need. God is God. He meets needs with needs. He's better than Christian mingle. God is a matchmaker. He's better than farmers only and Christian farmers only. God is in the business of meeting needs with needs.
He meets. Has your joy been low lately? Has your focus been off? Is your meter reading, need, need, need, need, need, need, need, need, need? Maybe God is going to show you a need that you can meet so that you can see what you had all along that you have not been using.