Steven Furtick - I Got The Hook Up (10/30/2018)
In this throwback message revisiting John 4's woman at the well, Pastor Steven Furtick declares the harvest is here and now—Jesus is the true well of living water exceeding expectations. He urges believers to stop waiting for future breakthroughs, recognize God's hookup already present, leave old jars behind, and rejoice as sowers and reapers together, seeing obstacles as opportunities and the mission as immediate.
Welcome and Setting the Tone
I wondered if we could go back to the well, and we have been looking at... How many of you got to hear the sermon this weekend? I don't want to assume everybody got to hear it. Hey, we're excited because we found out this weekend in our church for all of you who are visiting with us, and we don't stand the whole time, anything like that, but we do stand up when we get excited, and we stay excited, so. So, I'm going to see how y'all act tonight. I came here to check on y'all and see if y'all are responsive and rowdy, like they say. They say rowdy and rowdy, and we'll see if y'all are responsive.
Returning to John 4: The Woman at the Well
And what I'd like to do is go back to John chapter 4, where we were looking at a woman at a well, and the real well in John chapter 4, of course, is Jesus Christ, who gives this woman living water to drink, more than she expected. That's the way it works. God is an exceeder, and so whatever you came for tonight, he is able to do immeasurably more than you could ask or imagine. I don't know why you came what you need, but God does, and he's got it.
God's Got It – Abundant Supply Tonight
Do me a favor, because I felt like you needed to tell the person next to you God's got it, so tell them God's got it. And just whatever you stand in need of tonight, he's got it. He's got it, an abundant supply. And so we're kind of studying about this, and I want to get back into it tonight and continue in the same thought. Somebody shout, it's harvest time.
Jesus' Frustration with the Disciples
Jesus said in John chapter 4, verse 34, my food is to do the will of him who sent me and finish his work. Don't you have a saying? It's still four months until harvest. This kind of got me when we were singing tonight, because we have a saying in our church. We always say we didn't make this up. A lot of people say it, but we always say the best is yet to come.
And I felt God say to me, standing amongst you tonight, he said, Furtick is here. It's here. It's here. I mean, look around you. Look at the passion in this room. Look at these people. It's here. It's here. It's here. Stop waiting on what God is already doing. Get into it and enjoy it and appreciate it.
Open Your Eyes – The Fields Are Ripe
I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields. They are ripe for harvest. Even now, the one who reaps draws a wage and harvests a crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. Thus, the saying, one sows and another reaps, is true. I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor.
Throwback Challenge: 1998 Edition
So we're really going to throw back now. I'm going to test you, and after this you can be seated, but I want to see if you can take it all the way back to 1998. How old were you in 1998? Shop your age in 1998. All right. Look at your neighbor. Look at your neighbor. Look at them beneath their eyes. Look deep into their soul. And I want you to give them my sermon title. Are you ready? Going all the way back to 1998. I want you to channel your inner Master P. Look at your neighbor. Say, I got the hookup.
The Disciples Don't See the Harvest
Looking around. Checking y'all. I got the hookup. Be seated. God bless you. It's so good to see you tonight. Got the hookup. Y'all are silly. This ain't a real church. What's wrong with y'all? Wow.
So it's like Jesus is frustrated with his disciples because they can't even see how good they've got it. And I felt like maybe there was a parenting lesson in the text because it seems like that's what I spend the majority of my time trying to show my kids. It's like, you know, Jesus is trying to get them to see what's right in front of them that they didn't earn. Which, in the case of my kids, is everything. Everything. They're running water. They're toothbrush. They're toothpaste. Certainly their Xbox. And they don't even know how good they've got it.
The Parenting Parallel – Not Knowing How Good It Is
Now, I'm going to tie my shoe while I tell you this story because I think that'd be better than tripping, less distracting. You like my Ultra Boost? It's depressing. Sometimes people will talk to me and they'll say, Pastor Stephen, I really love... And I think they're going to say your sermons and they say your sneakers. Makes me feel shallow on the inside.
But, like my son, Elijah, I bought him a pair of Ultra Boosts. And, yeah, he didn't even get it. He was wearing them outside. Getting them dirty and stuff. And so I beat him unconscious with the love. No. I was trying to explain to him, like, you know, man, that, like, if we sold you for what you were worth, you still couldn't buy the shoes with the proceeds. But he doesn't get it.
The Challenge of a Blessed Season
And the challenge for us in a blessed season like this, and we certainly are in a blessed season and we give God all the glory for it. It's kind of... And excuse me if I sound old. I was only 18 in 1998, by the way. So, how'd that make you feel when I said that? Some of you feel ancient right now. But it's... Yeah, it's hard for me because I don't want to feel like I'm fussing. I'm not fussing, but I don't know if you just got to our church in the last couple of years if you can really, truly comprehend the significance of the season that we're in.
And it's not your fault. Just like an 11-year-old can't really understand that, hey, you know, this is amazing that I have a phone. I'm 11 and I have a phone. He doesn't understand it. He calls it his phone. It shows you how much he doesn't get it. And I will show you so quickly whose phone it is if you get an attitude about it.
I kind of feel a little bit of that from Jesus all throughout John chapter 4 because they just don't get it. The disciples don't get it. They're looking at a harvest. They don't even see the harvest. And so Jesus is really trying to get it across generationally. There's like a generation gap.
Throwback Stories: Small Beginnings
I found that even in our staff, the ones who got to the staff later in the church, they complain about things that in the early days it would have been amazing for us to have a computer. And now yours is two years old and you want to put it on a staff evaluation. You need a new computer. And it just makes you feel a certain kind of way. And it's not spiritual. When as a pastor, come on, as a parent, when you see how good someone has it and you're the reason they have it good, and they don't even realize that you are the source.
And so I don't feel like I'm the source of this church. In fact, I want to tell you a few stories tonight since it's throwback Thursday, since we already went back to 1998. Let's go back to 2004 to, what was it, Mi Poblito in Shelby, North Carolina. Holly was pregnant. Amy was pregnant. Chunks was still holding on to three strands of hair before I told them, you got to shave that. You got to get some black glasses and shave it. It's a new season. This is your season to be the cool, bald guy.
The Raleigh Trip – Not Yet
And we said, let's go to Raleigh because we could not figure out where God wanted us to start our church. And that's part of what I want to talk to you about tonight is a little bit of how you're trying to figure everything out in your head. But the hookup is not in your head. That's not where faith comes from. That's not where miracles happen. And that's what John chapter 4 proves. It's very thematically present. I don't know how much of it we'll have time to look at tonight. We'll do what we can.
Figuring It Out vs. Faith
But in fact, you might just want to write down get it through your head. That's the first one. Get it through your head. So we were trying to figure out where would we start our church? 2004. I had already told Chunks I wanted him to do the business. In fact, Chunks, just stand up. The people really came out just so they could maybe get a glimpse of you tonight. Amy, stand up. Holly, stand up. Stay standing. Stay standing. Stay standing.
Now, the people that aren't clapping, I'm not mad at them. They just don't know what kind of faith you had to have to believe my crazy little sales pitch. Start a church with me. I don't know where. I can't pay you. I may never be able to pay you. Oh, good. And we're sitting in that restaurant and we had made a list. He still has the picture somewhere. He'll probably show it to you if you ask him to. Of all the cities, demographically, that we might want to start the church in.
From Raleigh to Charlotte – God's Timing
And on the list was Jacksonville, Florida. Atlanta, Georgia. A lot of southern cities, but a lot of cities that weren't in the south too because I really didn't think there was another church needed. Right? Any more than we need another Starbucks in an airport do we need another church in the southeastern United States. But this is not where God speaks. Come on. If you did everything your mind told you to do, you'd be in jail. You'd be wearing orange. Not for elevation either.
So, one of the ways we get into faith... I feel like preaching tonight, so I'm just warning you. If y'all stay there, you're going to get spit on. You're going to walk out of here with some saliva. Right there in your ponytail, man bun, whatever that little thing is. It's coming. So, just say... Don't say, I didn't warn you. If you get close to the well... Touch somebody. Say, If you get close to the well, you might get wet.
The Hotel Room Lesson
So, I hope you brought your poncho. But y'all sit down. Y'all stay standing. Stay standing. No, them. You sit down. So, they were the first ones. And they did the hardest thing, which is to believe in what you can't see. That's the hardest thing to do. That's the hardest thing to do. When people believe in you after something is already working, that's great. But when they believe in you because of something that they see in you, that's why you better never forget me on your Christmas list, Preston. Because I believed in your little punk intern behind. I gave you three internships. And look at you now, just leading like a boss. Jesse B. You will always be Jesse B to me. You can change it legally. It doesn't matter.
So, what we did, we had that list and we had no idea where God was calling us to start our church. And all these cities, and I don't know who said it first, if it was me or Chonks. I know it wasn't Holly and Amy because this isn't something that they would suggest. But we said, let's go to Raleigh. When? Now. This is when, remember, our kids were still not here. They were there, but they were not here. So, you just do stuff like that. You just do stuff like that before kids come. Anybody pregnant in here tonight? Do all the stuff you can that you just think of right now. If this is your first child, because that's over. Okay? All we had was dogs. We had a Chihuahua. I know. I know. I know. Thirty percent of the men in the church just lost respect. I thought he was a man, but I'm not. Thought he was taller. Look taller on the screen.
Charlotte Revelation at Joe's Crab Shack
So, they had a golden retriever, so we loaded up Magnum and Yo-Yo, and we came to Raleigh. Let me tell you something. Our pregnant wives were delighted to find that there were no hotel rooms available at Raleigh when we arrived at two in the morning because of the basketball tournament. What's the name of the tournament? the NCI? CI? N-C-A-N-Double-A-C- No, that's a different thing. Okay. Basketball tournament.
And we... Can I just talk to you tonight? And so we came to Raleigh and we could get a hotel room and we drove around the next day and I thought, man, this place is expensive. And you got to understand because we were coming from Shelby and the traffic was overwhelming. Everything was overwhelming. I grew up in a town with 6,000 people. And so in my mind, I had a monk's corner mind. That's the town I'm from, 6,000 people. And to just see 6,000 people parked in traffic was a little mind-blowing to me.
And as we were leaving Raleigh, I knew that we would not start our church here. I knew that this was not where we were going to start our church. I knew that... I didn't know where it was yet. It would be on the way home that we would drive through Charlotte. And I realized at Joe's Crab Shack that Charlotte was going to be the place where we were going to plant the church.
Mustard Seed Growth and Perspective
But see, one thing about the way God works is you can't always know what something will be when you plant it or how far it will reach. Jesus one time said that the kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed. The kingdom of heaven might look like monk's corner when you're 16 years old. That might be all you can see. But when it grows and when it is tended and when your faith is exercised when it matures it will be the largest plant of all and all the birds of the air will nest in its branches.
How y'all doing up there? So what I'm trying to say is when we came to Raleigh I thought God was saying no but he was really saying not yet. But when I walked in tonight God said now. Now is the time. This is the hour. Here is the harvest.
See so when I look at you I see more when you're lifting your hands I don't just see people with their hands lifted I see trees I see mighty oaks of righteousness I see a harvest. Somebody shout We are the harvest. Yes you are. Yes you are. What God is doing in your life is absolutely amazing. And to him be the glory because you know it's not you. And if we could hang out for five minutes you would know it's not me.
God Is My Source
So sit down and tell your neighbor God is my source. And his ways are not my ways and his thoughts are not my thoughts. And you never know when you're leaving a Mexican restaurant with a pregnant wife and a chihuahua what God is going to do. I just want to tell you that because you might not understand. If you don't understand how small it started you will never understand how much it can become.
Can I please preach that? You think this is something? This little Thursday night this little throwback Thursday night gathering is something? God sees this like a small group. In fact here's how much higher his thoughts are than my thoughts and his ways above my ways. What I just called a harvest God sees as a seed. God's looking at us tonight saying you think God blessed your life? You ain't seen nothing yet.
I don't mean to scare you but this is not the harvest this is not the harvest this is just to see somebody shout I got the hookup. so this woman comes out and she wants some water and Jesus is in her way which goes to show that often God will present your greatest opportunities in the form of an obstacle. okay. she comes out to get water it's a well-known Bible story But I don't want to assume that everybody knows it.
The Woman at the Well – Thirsty for More
Remember, Jesus is a cistern that holds water. The people of God have a horrible habit, Jeremiah said, of digging for themselves, cisterns that are broken that can hold no water. You know how we go back to these habits and these patterns of living that can't satisfy us, and we know they can't satisfy us, but we're stuck in them. So it was with this woman.
And a few weeks ago when we preached about her, we called her a thirsty woman, and the teenagers were explaining to the parents the double meaning of thirsty. And she was thirsty for something that was so far above her thoughts. I've mentioned the Scripture two times. I'm going to mention it again. When God says, as the heavens are above the earth, so are my ways above your ways.
And when we don't understand what God is doing in our lives, and for this woman, okay, she's had five husbands. She needs some match.com or some algorithm or something, because this is not working. But she keeps doing it, but it's not working. But she keeps doing it. And Tim is different. And she finds out that every relationship she enters into, the common denominator is her.
And I don't know if you found out yet that no matter how many different places you move around to in life, how many different jobs you go to, cities you go to, relationships you go through. You have to take you with you everywhere you go. So you have to get it right on the inside. And so you can leave this church and go to that church, and then leave that church and go to the other church. And you can keep well hopping, going to different houses of worship like they are buffet-style restaurants.
Breaking the Cycle of Broken Wells
And I don't like green beans, so I'm leaving that church. And one time they said, and there was this one guy in there, and I liked the way they looked at me. And it was loud, and I didn't want it loud. Worry about my eardrums, and it was too quiet. And they stood up too much, and they sat down too much. And this weird thing is preaching, and this organ came on behind them. It scared me. I feel like I was at the ballgame or something. I didn't know what was up with that, and I didn't know what to do. So I left that because they weren't spirit-led enough, or they were too weird.
It was all kinds of extremes, but until you fix it within, you will always be dry and inside. So she sits down. She walks up to a well, and Jesus is sitting down on the well. And they didn't have any Dasani back then, so what you had to do? They had to take a bucket, and you had to put the bucket in the well.
Jesus – The Unexpected Hookup
And Jesus is telling the woman how he wants a drink of water, and she's like, Well, if you want some water, where's your bucket? Because it only makes sense that if you're going to get water, you need a bucket. And you don't have no bucket. You don't have a bucket. Where's your bucket?
And Jesus is looking at this woman who is about to become his bucket, and she doesn't even know it yet. Because she's trying to figure out how is this going to work, and that's where so many of us get stuck. And Jesus tells the woman something very interesting. He says, If you knew the gift of God, if you knew who you were talking to, if you understood what you're standing next to, you got to hook up, and you don't even know it.
And the way I know that you don't know it is because you keep hooking up with all these other men, and they leave you, and it lasts a little while, and it's over, and you keep running around to this and that, and you're surprised when you're let down. But why would you be? And you are standing with a man who is more than a man. You're not standing with number six. I'm the seventh man in your life. I got to hook up if you want it.
You don't have to be tried. You don't have to stay lonely. You don't have to stay defeated. And you don't have to figure it out. And so I thought that was cool how in her head it made no sense. And yet it's our level of thinking. I believe one of the reasons that we do not get all that God wants to give, and it's frustrating for him because he is saying, Jesus is saying in this passage, I put you in the middle of a harvest, and you didn't know what to do with it because all you could see was what you could see.
Get It Through Your Head – Faith Over Logic
But what God does on the inside of us is to give us spiritual wisdom and discernment to see what we can't see. And so that's why last week I left you with a challenge. Are you more concerned about the meal or the mission? Can we read this really quickly? Just for a review, somebody shot, I got the hookup.
You're going to believe that before tonight's over. Even if you don't feel it, you're going to faith it by the time tonight is over. After all, it is not by grace through feelings that you are saved. It is by grace through faith. I don't have to have a bucket if I believe. I don't have to understand if I have faith. It doesn't have to make sense if I believe in my heart that God raised him from the dead. Anything is possible. The tomb is empty.
So Jesus is talking with this woman. Let's go all the way back to verse 22. Y'all like the Bible, right? If you hadn't liked it, you hadn't read it right yet. You just need to read it better. It's very interesting because there's this racial hostility. You know, the Bible is not relevant at all to our day. There's racial tension, political tension, you know, just obscure stuff that humanity has evolved past now. So I don't have to pay any attention to this.
Racial and Religious Barriers Broken
And the woman is trying to keep the argument about who God is because Jesus is trying to show her who he is. He's trying to use her so she can see what God can do through her and all these things. And she's trying to take it to a level of where she can figure it out. And your faith will often die in the prison of what you can figure out.
And so he's trying to get her past that. But she keeps on putting it at an abstract level. Like, she's saying, sir, the Jews worship here, and our people worship here, and our denomination, and the way we did it in my old church, and, you know, this religion and that religion. And where she is trying to create an argument, Jesus gives her an active command.
Worship in Spirit and Truth
Again, in verse 22, you Samaritans worship what you do not know, we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming, pay attention, and has now come, has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth. So it's really not about a style at all. And it's really not about how loud you shout at all. It's really not about what you can figure out in your head about God that will determine what he can do through your life.
Because if you've got the hookup, you don't get it through your head, you get it through your heart. And a time is coming where you've got to get outside of your head and outside of that prison of your mind and outside of all of those voices giving you a limited vision of what you can be and what God can do and worship him from within.
God is Spirit, verse 24. And his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth. And the woman said, I know that Messiah called Christ is coming. You see how she did it like we all do it? She put it out in the future somewhere. She put it out in the realm of one day when.
One Day When – Breaking the Future Trap
You got any one day wins? It's that milestone that you've told yourself in your heart, I'll be happy one day when. Maybe God will be able to use me one day when. I get this debt paid off. When I get this degree. Or when I explain to my parents that I dropped out four months ago and I'm trying to figure out how to tell them I'm not even in college anymore. You know, whatever. One day when. The one day when. One day when I meet a man. One day when we get pregnant. One day when. I mean, just put in whatever you want. That's where this woman is. In the mental wilderness of one day when. One day when.
He's coming and he will explain everything to us. But if you wait until you get an explanation to believe God, is it really faith at all? And if you wait until you have it to rejoice in it, what kind of faith does that take? Watch what Jesus says to the woman. I believe he's saying it to someone in this place tonight.
I Am He – The Hookup Is Here
I, the one speaking to you. Not Henry. Not Horace. I was trying to think of another one that started with the letter H. Struggling up here. I am he. What you've been searching for. What you've been going to all these other Wells trying to get out with a bucket with holes in it. What you've been seeking in stuff. What you've been seeking in success. Yes. Which can only be found in the significance which comes from the limitless supply of the Spirit of God.
Man, y'all make preaching easy. I feel like there is a breakthrough in this house tonight. Somebody shout, it's here. I got the hookup. I'm what you need. I'm what you've been looking for. I'm what your soul wants. I am the one. I am he who heals your diseases, who forgives your sin, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you. He's here. Sitting right there on that well. Right in the midst of everyday life. He is my hookup.
From Thirsty to Witness
So listen. I need you to know something. This is going to sound harsh. I don't mean for it to sound harsh. I'm debating whether to say it because I don't get to be out here very much. Okay. I'm going to try to say it like this. If you like me, I will preach. If you say amen, I will preach. If you give, I will preach. If you serve, I will preach. But if you don't, I'll still, I will still, I will still, because my well is within. I've got something on the inside.
Come on. I know you grew up Presbyterian, but you better shout on back. I got you like a river. I love it. I still will. I still will. And so Jesus says to the disciples, watch this. He's talking to this woman. He tells her who he is. She's got it in her head that it needs to be this way. She's trying to figure it out. It doesn't make sense. Very rarely does what God is doing in your life make sense. It's not supposed to. That's why it takes faith.
Leaving the Jar – Becoming the Carrier
If I would have waited for it to make sense, we wouldn't have a Raleigh campus. Because I know how limited I am. But I found a well. I found something on the inside. I found a heavenly supply. Watch this. While all this deep stuff is going on, because this is deep, right? This woman is encountering the living Christ. She's a Samaritan woman. She's from another place. She didn't expect Jesus to have any use for her, not conversationally, let alone call her to be useful.
But God likes unlikely people. Just in verse 27, his disciples returned, and they were surprised to find him talking with a woman. Because you know how church people are. We have our own ideas of who God should use, and who God should speak to, and who God can save, and how God should move. We have all of our ideas and all of our traditions. And isn't it crazy? God does not ask our permission to offend any of our traditions. He just does what he wants. It's like he's God.
And they were like talking about it, but they didn't ask him, what are you doing? Look at verse 28. Then leaving her water jar, what she came with, she didn't need anymore, because she was so excited. So now, she got it through her head, she got it in her heart, but she had something in her hands. That's my third H, and I'm done. Oh, well, I'm kind of done. This is going to be a long point three, because she put down what she had in her hands, and she went back where she came from, and she started telling people what she had seen.
I met a man, and at first, you know they laughed at her, because that's what she had said five times before when they all came to her wedding with something on her registry that they knew that she was going to be returning, because it wouldn't last long, because she was that kind of woman. Yet that is the very woman that the creator of the universe, the CEO of planet Earth, sat down on a well and went through Samaria so he could turn her into something, so he could hook her up.
It's amazing what God will do when you leave your water jar. She went back to the town and said to the people, Come see a man. I have the hookup. Who are you hooking up with now? No, this is different. I'm not hooking up anymore, because now I found what I was thirsty for all along. Could this be the Messiah?
They came out of the town and made their way toward him, and his disciples urged him, Rabbi, eat something. But he said to them, Please don't talk to me about Chipotle right now while I am trying to reap a harvest. I have food to eat you know nothing about. And his disciples said to each other, Who gave him a slim fast?
And he said, It's not about the food, and it's not about the water, and it's not about what you don't have. My food is to do the will of him who sent me and finish his word. So stop waiting on it and get your hands ready, because the harvest is here. The harvest is here.
One of my favorite verses in the whole Bible is Acts 1, verse 8, because the disciples were trying to figure out, now that Jesus had risen from the dead, how the mission was going to go forward. How many of you have something in your life right now that you're having a hard time figuring out in your head? Okay. Get it through your head. Get out of that space where it's just you and all of your crazy imaginations and anxieties.
Power When the Spirit Comes
Get it in your heart. Jesus said, If you believe in me, you'll have Springs of living water that will come from within. And then the Bible says she went back to Samaria without her water jar, because now God was using her to carry the Spirit. He said, I need somebody to carry. And he said. Carry. Carry. Carry one arm. Carry. Carry. Somebody shout, we got the hookah!
Now, I've got to give you this, because it's so powerful. He said you will receive power. Somebody shout power. When the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea. What comes next? Samaria. So Jesus is not just reaping, he's planting, because there will come a time... And he said, you don't even know how good you've got it. You have living water inside of you, and I have put you in a dry and weary world.
I have put you in a hopeless world. I have placed you in a region where people's minds are so informed, but their hearts are so confused, and you have what they need. I got the hookup. I wish you would say it confidently. I got the hookup. And you will receive power. But you can't receive this power if you've got your hands full with your jar.
So get it through your head. Get it in your heart. And now I want to challenge you to do this. Some of you have never done this before, because you live up here. You live up here. What will people think about me? What will people say about me? Let me tell you. What will people think about you? They won't. They are thinking, What will people think about me? What will people say about me?
And so now you're putting on a performance from people who didn't even show up to your recital. You really want to live like this? You really want to drink from that well? Come on, stand to your feet and lift your hands. I want you to lift your hands because the harvest is here. I want you to lift your hands because living water is within you. You don't have to be dry. You don't have to stay in a state of confusion and wondering what God's will for your life is.
From Jar to Carrier – The Shift
The woman did something so simple. And watch what Jesus said. With your hands lifted, I want you to watch this. He said, in this verse 38, John chapter 4, verse 38, he said, I sent you to relax. No? Sorry, I'm getting older now. Getting older now, getting up close to 40. My eyes, maybe you can see it from back there. I sent you to recline. See, because there's a tendency for us to not even know how good we've got it, to not even realize what we're standing in.
I had no idea you would be here in 2004 when we sowed a little seed and stepped out and left a Mexican restaurant and said, not Raleigh, and God laughed. God said, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria is here. I got the hookah. You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you'll be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria.
The hope of the world is in your hands. When you see it like that, you'll stop coming to the well for what you can get out of it, and you'll stop coming to worship for what you can get out of it, and you'll start coming to God saying, I'm ready to reap. Use me, God. Use my gifts, my little gift. Use my life, my little life. Use me, God. You gave it to me. Use me, God. I'm ready to reap. I'm ready to reap.
The harvest is here, and it's your hands God wants to use. Doesn't that humble you? Look at your hands. Look at your hands. Check out your neighbor's hands. See if it looks like they ever did a day's work in their life. Look at their hands. Look at their hands. Hey, do this. The one who you just looked at their hands, high-five those same hands and say, You got the hook off.
Sowers and Reapers Rejoice Together
See, when we get together like this, sowers and reapers together rejoice. Rejoice, sowers and reapers together. Rejoice, sowers and reapers together. Rejoice, sowers and reapers together. Rejoice, sowers and reapers together. Rejoice, sowers and reapers together. Rejoice, sowers and reapers together. Rejoice, sowers and reapers together. Rejoice, sowers and reapers together. Rejoice, sowers and reapers together. Rejoice, sowers and reapers together. Rejoice, sowers and reapers together. Rejoice, sowers and reapers together. Rejoice, sowers and reapers together. Rejoice, sowers and reapers together. Rejoice, sowers and reapers together. Rejoice, sowers and reapers together. Rejoice, sowers and reapers together. Rejoice, sowers and reapers together. Rejoice, sowers and reapers together. Rejoice, sowers and reapers together.
So last night I met people from Pakistan. People from Bangladesh. People from Pretoria. People from Sao Paulo. They were saying to me thank your church for the ministry. They were saying thank the church for the ministry. They won't say it to you. They don't know to. Because they only see the sower. And so they see me preaching each week. But they don't see the reapers. But I do. I do. I do.
Thank You to the Reapers
And I know it's hard sometimes. I know you got that uncle who makes fun of you for coming to this church where the preacher's on the screen. I get it. But what we're carrying is too important to care what people think about it. Paul said, if I'm out of my mind, it's for Christ. People are out of their minds about everything but what matters, it seems like sometimes. And we have the hope of the world in our hands, and we're supposed to be quiet about it. Whatever.
I got the hookup. Holla at you here! Like it's 1998! We receive your reign. We receive your reign. We receive your reign. We receive your reign. We receive your reign. So for every reaper, Holly and I came tonight to thank you because you could come to church and just eat like most people do. But I see your hands holding babies and eKids, and I see your hands with parking batons, and I see your hands with worship guides, and I see your hands with set up and tear down and load in and load out. And I thank God for the reapers.
Your Floor Is Our Ceiling
Now, here's the last thing God told me. Come here and look at this so you can tell them. I wrote this in my notes. I just want you to verify. So, what I wrote down coming out here tonight, that last night I was hearing from people all over the world saying that they're blessed by the ministry, empowered by the ministry. They will say things like, through the ministry of Elevation Church, God saved my life. You don't always get to see that, but the sower and the reaper are supposed to rejoice together.
So I wanted to come to tell you that. Do me a favor. Read just that statement. I don't know if you can read my handwriting. It's pretty horrible. It's really terrible. Look, look how bad that is, what I'm making them read. That's pretty cool too, that card. Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it. That's pretty good. Somebody gave me that. Anyway, that's not what I want to tell you. Can you read them that?
We started with a seed. You're starting with a harvest. If the gospel is bearing fruit to the glory of Jesus Christ in Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sao Paulo, and Birmingham, and faraway places to the ends of the earth. If that's what God did through a trip from a Mexican restaurant with just a bald guy, and a short guy, and chihuahua, I sent you to reap where you didn't sow.
So, God said that your floor is our ceiling, and our ceiling is now your floor. So that means that the best really is yet to come now unto him who is able to do immeasurably more than we ask or imagine. Do you receive it? Somebody shout, we got the hookup. We got the hookup. Your kingdom come. Your will be done. We are the hookup from heaven to earth, earth to heaven. You've got it. The harvest is here. The harvest is now.
Let's read, probably. Let's read. We receive your end.