Steven Furtick - It's Already Written (04/16/2017)
Pastor Steven teaches from Philippians 4:8-9 and Psalm 112:7, focusing on the phrase "of good report." He argues that believers should not fear bad news because the "report" we believe—our perspective grounded in God's promises—is more powerful than the negative circumstances we face. Using the story of the twelve spies in Numbers 13, he illustrates that focusing on "giants" (problems) instead of "grapes" (God's provision) leads to failure, while a "good report" of faith enables us to possess God's promises.
Thinking on Things of Good Report
And this week, I want to preach to you from the subject, It's Already Written. It's Already Written. I love the people who get excited just on the sermon title alone. I don't know what he's going to say, but that sounds awesome. Fantastic. Same verses we looked at last week, but I want to jump off again because it was such a good time. And I want to preach a different sermon from the same scripture. Look at this. Paul, Paul, writing to the Philippian church, says, Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy, meditate on or think about these things.
The things which you have learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do. So, it's not just enough to discover the right thought, but to do it. That's where the difference is made in our lives. And the God of peace will be with you. When you get God, you've got peace. When you get God, you have joy. And when you get God, you have courage. Well, I'm just not a very courageous person. If God lives in you, you are a courageous person who has not yet awakened the sleeping giant that is inside of you. And Paul says the way to awaken it is this. Back to verse 8. Whatever things are, true, noble, just, pure, lovely. And this is the one I want to focus on, the next one, of good report. Good report. Touch the person next to you and ask them, have you got a good report? Have you got a good report? Just wondering because...
No Fear of Bad News
See, like in our world today, it's mostly bad news. And I think the church of everybody that exists today, Christians of all the people on the planet today, ought to be people of a good report in a world full of bad news. I'm inferring that from Psalm chapter 112. Look at this little passage. What a great goal for living. He says, surely the righteous will never be shaken. We want to be stable people. We want to have a foundation. We want to have a base. And we want it to be the kind of base that is anchored in something deeper than our emotions. And he says, they will be remembered forever. The righteous will. They will have no fear of bad news. That's a pretty hard thing to believe that you could actually get to the place in your relationship with God that you have no fear of bad news. Their hearts are steadfast, trusting in the Lord. Their hearts are secure. So we've got stable, steadfast, and secure. If you like S's. They will have no fear. In the end, they will look in triumph on their foes. Say it out loud. It's already written. It's already written. Back to verse 7. Listen, I want to know, is this even possible? They will have no fear of bad news.
I jotted a few phrases that tend to make people afraid. I found out that a lot of people are weak, not because of the bad news that they receive, but the bad news they think they might receive. I like that phrase. It's an interesting phrase. He talks about the fear of bad news. And how many know there are certain statements or things that you can hear that someone can say to you that can just trigger the fear of bad news? I mean, anytime the phone rings for a parent of a driving teenager after 10. 30 P.M., there's a certain emotion that happens inside. And just even the thought... And see, some of y'all are too young to know what it was like before we had caller ID.
When the Phone Rings with Dread
And we had to screen our calls on the answering machine. Hello, somebody. And when the phone would ring, you wouldn't know who it might be. You might want to talk to them, you might not. So you would pretend like you weren't there until they started talking on the machine, and then you might pick up. But even just certain people, when you see their name on an email, it can trigger the fear of bad news. And I found out that if you go through enough things in a certain season of your life, you'll be afraid for the phone to ring at all. There have been times in the church where things were harder than others, and I found out I didn't even want my phone to have a text message from any of my staff. I don't even want to see your name right now. Just do not disturb all the time, because sometimes wave after wave of bad news can hit you until it starts to erode the foundation of your confidence, and just the littlest thing can send you off in a million different directions.
Holly has this phrase that I wish she'd never say again, and the phrase is, I need to talk to you about something. I don't like that phrase. I don't like that phrase. That makes every muscle, voluntary and involuntary muscle in my body, clinch. I need to talk to you about something. And then when she sees me bracing, she'll sometimes say, Oh, it's not bad. It's not bad. I would prefer for you to phrase it another way than I need to talk to you about something. It's just a grave sounding statement. If we're going to talk about dinner on Tuesday night, it doesn't need that preface. Let's just go straight to dinner. Sometimes she'll say, Oh, it's not bad. Sometimes she'll say, Annie, it's not that bad. And then sometimes she'll just take off. And then I know, brace for it. Touch somebody, say brace for it. Brace for it.
The Trigger of Bad News
Report cards come out Thursday. How'd that make you feel? It just depends on the current status of your scholastic career. Some of you, when you hear that, immediately thoughts of your social life being shut down for the next three months. Being to fill your head. And the fear of bad news. Hey, the boss wants to see you. How'd that feel? And again, it just depends on whether you think you're doing well or not. It kind of depends on your framework. If things are going for you, you might be excited. Hey, it's about time he wanted to talk to me. I've been wondering when he was going to know this. But when you get enough bad news, it creates an underlying undercurrent of dread in your psyche and even in your spirit. And just little things can send you off in a million directions. I want to talk to you about the fear of bad news and what to do with bad news.
Because Paul said in the New Testament, think about the things that are of good report. Of good report. And the psalmist said that God's people should have no fear of bad news. Here's the first thing I wanted to point out to you. The report that you believe is much more important than the news you receive. And sometimes you've got to help yourself preach. I learned a lot about this last year from some reporters who did a series of stories about our church. And it was interesting because when I first heard they were doing a story about the church, I thought, well, this could be positive. I have since discovered that positive stories don't sell. Positive stories don't drive up ratings. Last year when an investigative reporter... I'm going to show you the first investigative reporter in the Bible before I finish preaching today.
The Story is Already Written
But an investigative reporter told us that he wanted to do a series of stories. Listen to this, Gaston. Wanted to do a series of stories on the church. I was actually kind of excited. Because at our church, we have nothing to hide. I'm proud of how we run the church. In my own life, I don't have anything to hide. So I thought, well, this will be great. And any skeptics will get to see our answers to his questions. So we sent questions and we answered them. During this time, one of my friends who is a veteran pastor... I'm still under the 10-year Mark. That makes me sort of a rookie. A veteran pastor called and asked me how things were going. And I mentioned to him that an investigative reporter had sent us some questions. And we had answered them. And we were excited because we had good answers for all the questions. And he said, Oh, Steven. Poor, stupid Steven. That's what he meant by, Oh, Steven.
He had been through the process before in his own town. Because if you go up kind of high in God, there will always be somebody that wants to bring you down. And he said, Oh, Steven. He said, I would advise you not to waste one more second trying to answer the questions. Because he's never going to show the answers that you sent him. He said, And I'll tell you why. Because his story is already written. He said, Here's how these guys work. And there are good reporters and bad reporters. Just like there's good preachers and bad preachers and good servers and bad servers and good restaurants and bad restaurants. But this particular reporter, the way he operates as a reporter is, he writes the story that will get the most ratings. And then he goes in to backfill the story that he already wrote with the evidence that he twists and manipulates. Some of it is true. Some of it is false. Some of what is true, he will put it in a way that makes it false. But he's not out to report good news about Elevation Church.
You Are the Reporter of Your Life
And I said, Oh, but maybe we could try. He said, Steven. It doesn't matter. The story, but we could sit down with him. It's not worth it. He will chop you up so many ways if you sit down with him and put something that you said and take it and put it beside something that you said three years ago. His story is already written. It doesn't matter. Don't give all your energy and effort to trying to change his story, because he's not writing the story that's true. He's writing the story that sells, and his story is already written. Now, that was good advice, but I didn't take it. I thought I could redirect the narrative, but I found out the report was already written. Now let's talk about you. You are an investigative reporter. Everyone is a reporter, going out each day collecting evidence. But before you ever go out into your day, might I suggest that your story is already written, based on what you believe about the nature of God and his disposition toward you.
Now, the goodness of God is all around us. I would compare this to the Old Testament promised land, just so we can have an image to work from. How Moses, before they went into the promised land to defeat the enemies, the land that God had promised to give to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, and now Moses is supposed to be the one that takes them in. But he doesn't take them in. Because before they went in, God instructed Moses, I want you to send a few reporters into the land. And God gives them some specific instructions. He says, I want them to explore the land. And so Moses, we'll actually pick it up in verse 17, numbers 13, verse 17. Moses sent them to explore Canaan and he said, okay, go up through the Negev and on into the hill country. And see what the land is like and whether the people who live there are strong or weak, few or many. What kind of land do they live in? Is it good or bad? What kind of towns do they live in? Are they unwalled or fortified? How's the soil? Is it fertile or poor? Are there trees in it or not? Do your best to bring back some of the fruit of the land. In other words, bring the people back a sneak peek of what they're fighting for. Because it's supposed to be a land that flows with milk and honey and grapes. And I'd like them to taste the grape. So to inspire them to go forward.
Size Up the Situation, Not Yourself
Notice what Moses does not command them to investigate. He never asks them whether or not they think they're strong enough to do what God has called them to do. He tells them to size up their situation, but he never tells them to size up themselves. Because God knows about you that if you start sizing up yourself, you'll always retreat in fear. Now, we should size up our situation. We don't want to live in a place disconnected from reality where we're opening a bakery and we don't have any good business sense, but we like to make muffins. I'm going to be brave. No, you're going to be broke. You need to understand something about a business model and the economy and the location. He says, size up the situation. But he never told them to size up themselves. God says that we are to magnify him with our worship. To magnify God doesn't mean you make him bigger. You really think a magnifying glass can make God bigger than he is? It means that you bring him into closer visibility. And now, all of a sudden, you see him for something like how big he really is.
Hey, that's one of my purpose statements in life as a preacher. To be a big old magnifying glass. And that when I get up here and start hollering, yeah, I yell about it, but I'm not afraid to yell. Because, you know, people turn up the volume sometimes when they've seen a vision that causes them to get a little bit excited. So, I want you to look through me today. And don't look at me, but look through me. And see your God in your situation get bigger than your problem. Size up the situation. But be very slow to size up yourself. Because you will tend to size up yourself according to your weaknesses and not God's strength. And because they got it wrong, listen, because the report you believe determines the future you experience. Watch this. Not the news you receive, but the report you believe determines the future you experience. Because they believe the wrong report, let's see it together, verse 21.
Grapes and Giants: Two Perspectives
They went and explored the land from the desert of Zin, as far as Rehob toward Lebo Hamath. And they went through the Negev, came to Hebron, where Ahiman, Pokemon, the descendants of Anak lived. Go to the next verse. It says, when they reached the valley of Eshcol, they cut off a branch bearing a single cluster of grapes. Two of them carried it on a pole between them. Some big grapes. Touch your neighbor and say, you got big grapes. What? Most awkward touch your neighbor of the year. Didn't think about it, just said it. And two of them carried it on a pole between them. Shut up. Along with some pomegranates and figs. That place was called the Valley of Eshcol because of the cluster of grapes the Israelites cut off there. At the end of the 40 days... Come on class, get back with me. At the end of 40 days, they returned from exploring the land. So they spent 40 days exploring. As far as we can tell, it was a good trip. And coming back with some fruit.
And they came back to Moses and Aaron and the whole Israelite community at Kadesh in the desert of Paran. And they, what's the word? Reported to them. And to the whole assembly and showed them the fruit of the land. Look at these blessings. Look at the fruit that grows in the land God has given. Look at these grapes. Look, here's the proof of God's promise. And they gave Moses this account. Watch this. The grapes represent the reality. That's what God was giving them. But what they say next represents their perspective. And now I need to blow your mind. You experience your perspective. There's a young lady named Kat who cuts my hair. And she cut my hair the other day. And she dropped a bomb on me. She said, The Lord told me the other day, Kat, you experience your perspective. It was so deep. I had to think about it for the whole haircut. And about five minutes later, I jerked and almost messed up my haircut. Because I thought that's exactly right. We don't experience our reality. We experience our perspective of reality. You can be carrying grapes on your shoulder, but so worried about giants that you never go into the land and get what God gave you.
The Report of the Ten Spies
We went into the land to which you sent us, Moses. And it does flow with milk and honey. Oh, it's good. Here's its fruit. But the people. But the people. The promise is true, but the people. The promised land is every bit what we thought it would be, but the people who live there are very powerful. Perspective. And the cities are fortified. Mustn't it sound strange to God when you start telling your God, who is all-powerful, how powerful your enemies are that he's called you to defeat? Mustn't that annoy him? Mustn't that aggravate him? Yeah. The cities are fortified and very large. We even saw descendants of Anak there. Those are some bad boys. The Amalekites live in the Negev. The Hittites, Jebusites, Amorites live in the hill country. And the Canaanites and the most feared and dreaded people of all, the Cellulites live near the sea. And then Caleb was one of the twelve spies. It was Caleb and Joshua. They were two of the twelve. You know, I found out it's about a ten to two ratio. of the number of thoughts that we have that tell us that we can't to the number of thoughts we have that tell us that we can. It's about ten to two for most people. Some of y'all are positive and happy. And then the rest of us are trying to get that way. And for us, it's about ten to two.
There's ten spies that come back talking about giants. There's two spies that come back talking about grapes. There's ten spies that come back talking about problems. There's two spies that come back talking about promises. Now I want you to think not about the spies that are in this passage, but the spies that are in your mind. I want you to think about the spies inside of you, these thoughts that go out and survey, even as I'm preaching, what God could do through you and what God is calling you to do and the dream God put inside of you and all of this promise that God has given us in Christ. For Ephesians says he has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Christ. But your thoughts are the spies that determine whether or not you take a step.
Caleb's Good Report: "We Can Certainly Do It"
I love Caleb. Caleb, silence the people. Shut up, y'all. Shut up. Shut up. That's an inside joke. Shut up, y'all. We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it. We should, for we can. We should, for we can. We should, for we can. They saw the same reality as the other ten spies, but they believed a different report. We should, because we can. The other spies come up, we can't, so we won't. But the same spies that went on the mission to say, we can't, so we won't, ended up dying in the desert. Ended up dying. Your faith is dying in deserts, not because of your enemy, but because of the way you're looking at your enemy. You're looking at it wrong, you're looking at it wrong, you're looking at it wrong, you're looking at it wrong. That's the problem. You're looking at it wrong. And if you are afraid, the thing you fear will come to pass. Feel weak, you'll be weak. Feel small, you'll be small. No. We can, because we should. I would if I could. No, no, no. You could if you would. You could if you would.
But the man who had gone up with him said, Can't attack those people. Stronger than we are. Wait a minute. Stronger? When did God or Moses command you, Mr. Investigative Reporter, to give your opinion and use your measuring stick? Your scale is broken. And when you start weighing yourself rather than weighing God's Word, you'll always stop in weakness and doubt. And they spread, 32, among the Israelites, a bad report. See it? A bad report. I can't find anywhere in the passage where they got bad news. But here's what fear will do. Fear will turn good news into a bad report. Congratulations on your new job. Oh, yes. It's real stressful, man. I mean, I didn't plan on working on the weekends. Wait a minute. I was congratulating you. I thought it was good news you got a promotion. Well, it is. But the people who work for me, they just, man, it's crazy. I never knew, I've seen so many people. No, no. It's just, you know, I got my kid over there at the school. And I don't know. Now I can afford to keep them in, but I can't go to any soccer game. Never mind. I'll never congratulate you again.
What Kind of Report Do You Bring?
I mean, what kind of report do you bring into people's lives? It says they spread a bad report. And some of y'all, I'm going to solve the problem. This is why nobody wants to go on a second date with you. Too much. Because they don't need to know all about your chronic back pain on the first date. Some of y'all, this is why nobody asks you, how are you doing anymore? Because the last time they asked you, it took two hours. And they had to be somewhere. And they really didn't mean, how are you doing? They're just being polite. Report. Ask the person next to you, do you have a good report? Because I need one. There's enough bad news in the world, y'all. What I need is somebody who will not turn good news into a bad report. But I need a believer with the kind of faith that can turn bad news into a good report. See, I want to clear it up. The news is not the report. The news is what happened. But the report is what you make of what happened. My God. The news is the issue. The report is your interpretation of the issue. And I don't always have to have good news to have a good report.
See, I want the kind of faith, church, like Caleb, that says, yeah, the giants are big, but the grapes are bigger. And God is bigger than them all. I don't always get good news. You know that verse we read, Psalm 112? I wish it said… I wish it said I read at the beginning. I don't know if you have a short attention span. You might have forgotten it already. You might have already been making your grocery list. But he said, they'll have no fear of bad news. I wish it said, they will have no bad news. Can we rewrite that one, God? Can we make a new translation of Psalm 112? Can it say, the righteous will never be shaken, for they will have no bad news? I like it better like that. What he said instead is that they might get bad news, but their faith will enable them to give a good report, even in bad news. I felt like this might change the way that somebody is looking at your situation today. We can't change your situation yet. But just like the reporter had already written his story, you can go ahead and write yours in advance too.
Write Your Story in Advance
You can go ahead and decide whatever bad news comes into my life. And there are some people in this church who have gotten some bad news, much worse than the principal's office, but they believe a good report. The news you receive is not nearly as important as the report you believe. But what those spies should have known and what they should have remembered when they were looking at those giants is that God had promised his people, the land that they were going into over 170 times in Scripture. Over 170 times in Scripture, he said, the land I have given you, past tense. Wait, we're not there yet. But I'm God. And I go into your future and bring you back a good report about your present struggle that sometimes looks nothing like the news you received.
There's one thing I should show you. It's in Exodus 3:8. When God was talking to Moses before they ever got into the land, he said, you got another minute? Another minute. Say, I got a good report. Say, I got a good report. I got a good report. I got a good report. Ask somebody next to you. Say, how about you? I know you got some bad news. I know sometimes your kids act up. I know there are some things that are strongholds in your life. I know there are some things you're worried about. I know there are some things you wish you could change. But do you have a good report? My faith makes a good report out of bad news.
So God told Moses, I've seen my people and I have heard their cry. He told them, he says, so I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey, the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites. All those enemies that they ended up running from were enemies that God had already overcome. I gave you the land. Before you ever got here, I gave it to you. My story is already written. This must be what gave Jesus the kind of peace when he was hanging on the cross to be able to say, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. I always thought that that verse, I don't know if this is the way you thought of it, too. I always thought that meant they don't really know what they're doing. But they did. They knew what they were doing. They were hanging this man, trying him as a criminal. They knew what they were doing. Lately, I've been interpreting it a little bit differently. I wonder if some of what he meant wasn't. What they're doing that seems to be bringing death. is really what God is using to bring forth new life. What the enemy has been bringing into your life to shake you. can become, through the lens of faith, if you'll be like those two spies. Everybody say, two spies. I think Moses made his biggest mistake when he involved too many people in his decision. Can I prove it?
Joshua's Two Spies: A Different Approach
Forty years later, after one generation has completely died in the desert because they refused to go in, not because God didn't want to take them in. If you don't experience victory, it won't be because God didn't give it. But because they wouldn't believe. And see, I always thought God should have given them a second chance and let them go in. But it would have been cruel for God to let them go in because if they didn't have the faith to enter, how would they have possibly had the faith to fight all the fights they would need to fight once they got in? And 40 years pass, and Joshua, the second spy, there's Caleb, and there's Joshua. And Joshua, who gets to go in because what? He believed a good report. He believed a good report. He saw the same situation but believed a good report. And Joshua is about to lead the people into the Promised Land. And watch, watch, watch, watch this. This is almost a flashback to what happened 40 years earlier, except it's a little different.
Joshua 2:1. Then Joshua, son of Nun, secretly sent two spies from Shittim. If you ever read that out loud, be careful that you pronounce that correctly. You want to use a long eye. I'm trying to run all the stuffy churchy people out of this church anyway. That's why I say stuff like that. Go. He said, look over the land. Especially Jericho. Remember how long Moses talked? Check out the soil, check out the trees, check out the world, check out the... Joshua said, uh-uh. I remember last time we went around and looked at all that stuff. That didn't work so good. We can't walk by sight. We got to walk by faith. He said, so I want you to go check it out. But check out Jericho, because that's the first city we got to be. We just got to focus on the next thing we got to do. The first thing we got to do. We just got to focus on one thing at a time. If we get looking around at all, the ites and the bites and the tights, we're going to get all out of our minds and we're going to start sizing ourselves up. So just go check out Jericho. Just go check it out.
The Only Two Spies You Need
But did you notice Notice what it said at the beginning of the verse, that he secretly sent how many spies? How many spies? How many spies? Check this out. You only need two spies. You only need two. Huh? What do you mean? Well, when David said in Psalm 23, Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, bad news, I will fear no evil. For you are with me. Come on, I have a good report in the valley. Your rod and your staff comfort me. But I have to show you verse 6 because I want to show you the only two spies you need as you walk by faith. You only need two. You're letting too many thoughts dominate your mind. You're letting too many opinions, and you're second-guessing yourself.
God never called you to second-guess yourself. He called you to trust in him. You only need two spies. And I'll show you what they are. Here's what you need. He said, Surely, your goodness and. mercy will follow me. You only need two spies. You only need an awareness of two things, whether the cancer goes or the cancer stays. Surely, goodness and mercy will follow me. And since it's following me, I'm going forward in faith. I got a good report. I got a great God. I got goodness peace and love. And I'll brave in my heart. Cause my story is already written. It's already written. It's already written. No matter what I face, my report is good. My faith is strong. My heart is steadfast. My spirit is secure. His promises are true. His Word is everlasting. I'll give him praise. Hallelujah.