Steven Furtick - Go 4 Broke
Father, now as our faith rises and as your praises fill our hearts, we ask, that you would come and have your way among us. We have set aside this time for you, to have your way. So we put our agendas aside and we cast all of our anxieties out, we banish them far from our thoughts and from our consciousness. Now we come into your presence not because we deserve to be in your presence, or not because it's always convenient to be in your presence, but because in your presence, that's the only place we can find peace, that's the only place we can find rest for our soul. We've been so weary and heavy-laden, trying to figure things out and fix things on our own. But we come into your presence and you touch us and you mend us and you make us whole again. You pick us up and you set us back on a path, that we've wandered from so many times, but you are still are our destination and our Companion.
And we thank you for being with us every step along the way. Lord, I know that, I know, that I know, that it was you, it was you, that kept me and it was you that blessed me, it was you that taught me, it was you that caught me. When I was falling you were there, when I arose you were there. I thank you, Lord, for every mountain, that you've let me see, every summit that you've allowed me to stand on to. Also thank you for every valley, that you enabled me to go through and what you taught me in those places, as well. I thank you, that everything we need - is in your presence and nothing good will you withhold from those who seek you. We came to seek you today, o, God of Jacob, to seek your face, not just your hand, but we want to know your ways.
We thank you that not one person in this place has escaped your notice and not one need is beneath your attention. Lord, now I speak a blessing over my brothers and sisters, have gathered now some in the room, many more online all around the world, we've been expecting you to move on this day. This day is holy unto you. We've consecrated ourselves, we've come into this moment with hearts full of gratitude, and we don't want to just rush past it. This is a significant season in our lives and we want to be aligned with you. Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven, right here as it is in heaven. Ballantyne as it is in heaven, University City as it is in heaven, Matthews as it is in heaven, Toronto as it is in heaven, Kampala, Uganda as it is in heaven, Sydney, Australia as it is in heaven, Johannesburg as it is in heaven, Cape Town as it is in heaven.
Lord I ask, that everywhere that the sound of this message reaches today, that each person would since and know in a very real way, that this is a pre-appointed scheduled encounter with the Holy Spirit of God. We clear out all distractions, give us an undivided heart in this moment. I prophesy to every dry bone, hear the word of the Lord, this is what the Lord says: you shall live, come to life and stand up on your feet, like a vast great army, from the North the South the East in the West, we speak to the wind of the Spirit of God, we ask that you would breathe into these slain that they may live. Come now, Holy Spirit, through every iPhone screen, come Holy Spirit, in every auditorium come Holy Spirit, in every home come Holy Spirit, in every car through every podcast, on every television screen come Holy Spirit, come like a mighty wind, like a rushing wind. We came today to declare, that the devil is defeated and he has no place in our lives.
And we thank you for being with us every step along the way. Lord, I know that, I know, that I know, that it was you, it was you, that kept me and it was you that blessed me, it was you that taught me, it was you that caught me. When I was falling you were there, when I arose you were there. I thank you, Lord, for every mountain, that you've let me see, every summit that you've allowed me to stand on to. Also thank you for every valley, that you enabled me to go through and what you taught me in those places, as well. I thank you, that everything we need - is in your presence and nothing good will you withhold from those who seek you. We came to seek you today, o, God of Jacob, to seek your face, not just your hand, but we want to know your ways.
We thank you that not one person in this place has escaped your notice and not one need is beneath your attention. Lord, now I speak a blessing over my brothers and sisters, have gathered now some in the room, many more online all around the world, we've been expecting you to move on this day. This day is holy unto you. We've consecrated ourselves, we've come into this moment with hearts full of gratitude, and we don't want to just rush past it. This is a significant season in our lives and we want to be aligned with you. Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven, right here as it is in heaven. Ballantyne as it is in heaven, University City as it is in heaven, Matthews as it is in heaven, Toronto as it is in heaven, Kampala, Uganda as it is in heaven, Sydney, Australia as it is in heaven, Johannesburg as it is in heaven, Cape Town as it is in heaven.
Lord I ask, that everywhere that the sound of this message reaches today, that each person would since and know in a very real way, that this is a pre-appointed scheduled encounter with the Holy Spirit of God. We clear out all distractions, give us an undivided heart in this moment. I prophesy to every dry bone, hear the word of the Lord, this is what the Lord says: you shall live, come to life and stand up on your feet, like a vast great army, from the North the South the East in the West, we speak to the wind of the Spirit of God, we ask that you would breathe into these slain that they may live. Come now, Holy Spirit, through every iPhone screen, come Holy Spirit, in every auditorium come Holy Spirit, in every home come Holy Spirit, in every car through every podcast, on every television screen come Holy Spirit, come like a mighty wind, like a rushing wind. We came today to declare, that the devil is defeated and he has no place in our lives.
You know what happens when praises go up? Blessings come down! Come on, let's give Him one more praise. Amen! I just want you to sit down right now, and take one moment with me. Would you stay with me the whole time? You OK? Do you need somewhere to sit, because right in a minute we're gonna worship and we're gonna give and it's gonna be amazing, but I want to share a thought from Mark 14 verses 1 through... now I could stop at verse 9, but I feel like the people, who came to church today want me to go all the way to verse 11, so that's what I'm gonna do. And speaking of who's joining us today, it's kind of complicated, we designated this weekend for our offering, and of course, we've been in this series and you can just stay right underneath me. LJ, thank you so much, I appreciate the atmosphere, helps me sound more spiritual while you play, it adds like 25 percent Holy Spirit effect on me.
Theologically I don't actually believe that, it was just just a little joke, but when we planned this out for Gamechanger trying to get ready to give together, which is really nothing to be nervous about, because all that God will ever ask of you is for you to give your best, because that's what he did for you - he gave his best. And so, as long as you're doing that, you don't have to worry about it. The Word, God gave me today was from a very beautiful picture in Scripture, from Mark 14.
Mark 14:1 - "Now the Passover and the Festival of Unleavened Bread were only two days away, and the chief priests and the teachers of the law were scheming". I mention that word, because while they were scheming to do what they were scheming to do, someone else was scheming to do something as well. So, just put your finger on that word. "They were scheming to arrest Jesus secretly and kill Him. 'But not during the festival', they said, 'or the people may riot'. While he was in Bethany, reclining at the table in the home of Simon the Leper". You thought your nickname from high school was bad? This dude was obviously healed by this point, because nobody would be in his home for a dinner, if he still had a contagious skin disease. You won't even let your kids get around people with runny noses. So you know he was healed, that's probably why he had the the dinner, was because he was grateful for his healing.
I found out, that when God touches your life, the first thing you want to do is open your life back up to him. And out of gratitude for what he's done for you, you want to give back something to him and to others. Usually, when God does something in our lives, our instinct a lot of times maybe feel like we're not worthy of it or not deserving of it, and we feel guilty about it, but all God ever wanted you to do, was to open your life to him. And so, I'm about to show you a picture of what that looks like and what this offering is going to look like, as we bring it today online and at our campuses, that are able to have church right now, and here in this room as well.
So watch this, it says that "A woman came with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume", this is not Tommy Hilfiger from 1996, this is the pure nard from the Himalayan mountains. "She broke the jar and poured perfume on his head. Some of those present were saying indignantly to one another, 'Why this waste of perfume. It could have been sold for more than a year's wages and the money given to the poor'. And they rebuked her harshly". Jesus said this isn't your party, leave her alone. Touch somebody say, leave me alone. I don't care if you thought I sing good, I wasn't singing to you today, I don't care if you think it's weird, when I lift my hands, I wasn't lifting them to you, you didn't save me, you didn't raise me, you didn't heal me, you didn't cleanse me, you didn't forgive me, and you don't have a heaven or hell to put me in. Matter of fact, all the people, who don't care what anybody thinks about it, take 18 seconds to give God praise, cause he brought you through this year, because He let you see another day come on 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, all the grateful people make some noise 3....
"'Leave her alone', said Jesus. 'Why are you bothering her? She's done a beautiful thing to me. The poor you will always have with you, and you can help them any time you want. But you will not always have me. She did what she could. She poured perfume on my body beforehand to prepare for my burial. Truly I tell you, wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her'".
Touch your neighbor, give them my title, tell them: I don't know about you, but I'm about to Go 4 Broke. Look at your other neighbor, cause that one thought you were crazy. If you're watching online, just say it to the wall, say: I'm going for broke. You know, I don't know what kind of attitude you have towards risk and responsibility. As for me I, try to make sure, that the reward is worth the risk. When I do something, I don't mind taking a risk as long, as I know the reward is worthy of the risk. And in this passage, I see a woman, who was willing to take a risk, to make a move, and to break a barrier, in order to do something that she could not have known the significance of at the time. But we're still talking about her to this day. Somebody say: I'm going 4 broke. It's the dark time in the life of Jesus, because waiting for him in Jerusalem is a religious lynch mob. He's going to be assaulted by their accusations, which are not substantiated, but nevertheless acted upon. He knows this because he's Jesus, but I want you to notice what he's doing, because this blessed me.