There’s more to the story. In “God, I Need You Now“ Pastor Steven Furtick reminds us that God will always give us exactly what we need to step forward in faith. This is an excerpt from “Forward Not Finished” .To watch the full message from @elevationchurch , click here: 
• God, I Need You Now | Steven Furtick #faith #peace #hope #stevenfurtick #elevationchurch Chapters: 0:00 – How Do I Grieve This? 2:35 – The Time Of Weeping Is Over 6:00 – It’s Over; We’re Going Forward 8:28 – God Says Now 10:59 – Send For Jesus 13:37 – God, If You Would Have Done It… 15:47 – You Got A Dead Situation? Scripture References: Deuteronomy 34, verses 8-9 John 11, verses 4-6, 22, 29-30
How do you grieve the loss of a hope
you can’t really articulate? “I just
feel like something is missing.” How do
you grieve the fact that “I don’t know
where the grave is. Somewhere along the way I
started talking myself out of seeing miracles,
and I can’t find the grave. I don’t know what
day it happened. I can’t tell you it was 9:37
a.m. I can’t tell you any of that. I’m grieving
over something I can’t find the grave for.”
“I don’t know why I don’t trust people anymore,
but I just don’t. I don’t know why I won’t let
anybody new in my life, but I just won’t. I
don’t know why I don’t even talk back to the
Devil when he starts telling me I’m worthless,
but now I just agree with him to get him to
quit. I don’t know when I stopped thinking, ‘At
some point, I am going to get through this.’
Maybe it was the third time or the fourth time I
went to rehab. But there’s something I’m grieving,
and I can’t show you the grave.” I want
to tell you God knows where the grave is,
and only God knows where the grave is. That’s
why in this season people can only help you
so much. I’m telling you, in this season, you
can read books, but books can only do so much.
This is a season where you need the author. This
is a season where you need the generator. This is
a season where you need the God of Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob who knows where you laid your hope,
who knows where you lost your faith, who knows
where you gave up your edge, who knows where you
surrendered to the addiction, who knows where
you gave up the glory because of the grief.
“It’s over now. He’s not coming back.
We’ve looked everywhere for him. It’s
over now. We’ve got to move on. It’s over now.”
“What will we do without him?”
“I don’t know, but it’s over now. We sent
everybody everywhere we could. Apparently,
God is just as good at hiding as he is seeking,
because we have millions of people and one
Moses, and we’ve been looking one month.”
I don’t know who this is for, but the
Lord said, “It has been a month.” Oh,
the architecture of this verse. It’s just as
important as the application, so please bear
with me as I try to get it to you like God gave
it to me. It was so important how they said it.
It said in verse 8, “The Israelites grieved
for Moses in the plains of Moab [one month]…”
Moses, Moab, month. To leave Moab and go
forward into Canaan, they had to accept
the death of Moses, and they mourned him
one month, until… Watch this. (Oh yeah,
they got it up there. I’m so glad they got
it up there. Y’all don’t bring your Bibles,
and I don’t want you on your
phone while I’m preaching.
I don’t want you having that distraction
factory right there in front of your face
while I’m preaching, because somebody is
going to text you, and it’s going to tear
you out of this message. The Lord is trying
to preach, and it’s going to distract you.
You can’t multitask as well as you think you
can. I don’t care if you are a woman. So put
your eyes on the screen.) They grieved in the
plains of Moab one month. One Moses, one month.
“…until the time of weeping and mourning
was over.” He didn’t say the feeling of
mourning was over, but he said it’s time
to move forward. “But I don’t feel like
moving forward.” I’m not preaching about
feelings today. I’m preaching about faith.
To move forward when you’re not finished, to
move forward when it still doesn’t make sense,
to move forward when you still have questions,
and the questions are now not only unanswered,
but the questions have had baby questions, and
you can’t figure any of it out. The Lord says
the feeling wasn’t over, but the period of
mourning was over. You’ve got to move now.
If it’s for three people God sent me to preach
this to, I’m preaching to you right now. If you’re
not even in the room with me, I’m preaching it
to you right now. It’s over. No, no, no. You
heard that like cruel. I don’t mean it cruel.
You heard it like, “Stop crying” or “Don’t go
to therapy” or “Don’t tell anybody” or “Just act
like it didn’t happen.” I did not say any of that.
I’m just saying that the time for you staying in
Moab, looking for a Moses who isn’t coming back,
looking for a season of your life that was
awesome but is over, looking for somebody
to apologize… They’ve already moved to Cancun.
It’s over. Scrolling through Facebook, wondering
“What are they up to now?” It’s over. Delete the
app and live your life. You did what you could.
You waited a month. You’ve been down there
thinking, “Oh, I’m so holy. I’m mourning
over this.” Oh, I love the Bible verse. It says
weeping may endure for a night, but I came with
an announcement that joy comes in the morning!
It’s over! We’re going forward! Forward with our
shirttails out, forward with our tear-stained
faces, forward with our unanswered questions,
forward with our unfinished faith…forward!
High-five 18 people and say, “Forward!” That’s
where I’m going. Forward! Don’t know how.
Forward! Don’t know who’s going to be there.
Forward! I’ll send you a postcard. Forward! I’m
going to make something of this next season.
Forward! This year I’m growing. Forward! It’s
over! I’ve been by this pool 38 years. I reckon
I’m ready to get up. I have somebody to help me
now. Y’all are like, “That’s not in the text.” Oh,
I left one thing out. Verse 9: “Now Joshua…”
No more Moses. “Did you look for him up
there?” “Yeah, I looked over there. No Mo. I
looked for him over here. No Mo. I went back;
I texted him. No Mo. I went back; I
tried to ask him to have me back. No Mo.”
For every “No Mo” in your life, there is a “Now
Joshua” that God has been developing. I took my
Deuteronomy pill this morning, y’all. Now Joshua…
Look at this verse. This is anointed. “Now Joshua
son of Nun…” Where you see none, God says
now. Where you see no way God says, “Now,
watch me make a way. Let me through.
Make some space. Make some room.”
Lift up your heads, all ye gates, and
let the way maker through! No Moses,
but there is more. The Devil told you,
“No more. No more. No more.” He was wrong,
because you’re moving forward. You’re not
finished. You’re moving forward. You’re
not finished. It’s not a midlife
crisis; it’s a midlife cocoon.
You’re changing in there. You’re transforming
in there. You’re coming out with wings. You’re
coming out with wisdom. You’re coming out with
the will of God. I’m coming forward with the
weapons of praise and a double-edged sword in
my mouth! Let my future go, Devil! Now Joshua!
I saw this one time before. I saw
one time before where they thought
it was over. I saw this one time before.
You heard it like this when I said it:
“It’s over now.” You heard it like this: “It’s
over now.” It’s all it has been telling you.
“It’s over now. You’re not going to change.
If you were going to change, you’d change by
now. If you were going to do it, you’d do it by
now. If it was going to happen, it would happen
by now. It’s over now.” The Lord said
it, but he said it differently. He said,
“It’s over. Period. Now…” It’s over. The
period of mourning is over. Now Joshua…
“Send for Jesus. Lazarus is sick. Jesus loves
Lazarus. Jesus will come for us. We hosted
him in our home. He’ll come for us. I cooked
chicken for Jesus. He’ll come help Lazarus.
Send for Jesus.” The Bible says something really
crazy in John 11:4. It says that when Mary and
Martha sent for Jesus, he said, “This sickness
will not end in death. It is for God’s glory.”
Do you want to know the plot of your story? I
just gave it to you right there: God’s glory. He’s
getting ready to get some glory out of this so he
can show a generation what a chain breaker is. Oh,
some sermons you just want to stay in all day. I
just want to stay in this one for a moment. They
said, “Go get Jesus. We need Jesus. We tried the
doctors. The doctors can’t do it. We prayed about
it. Prayer didn’t fix it. We medicated him.
Medication wouldn’t do it. Send for Jesus.”
The Bible says something that’s kind of
like what it said in Deuteronomy 34:9,
“Now Joshua…” Look at verse 5 of John 11, for
what is said in Joshua is echoed in John. It says,
“Now Jesus…” Now Jesus loved Lazarus and his
sisters. He loved Mary, even though she was lazy,
and Martha, even though she was bossy, and
Lazarus, even though he was sick. Now Jesus…
You think you did something he can’t fix? You
think you have something he hasn’t seen? You
think you’re going through something he
doesn’t know the way through? You think
you’re working through something God can’t
heal, that he hasn’t already worked out?
Now Jesus loved Lazarus even to the point
of death, even when his body was stinking,
even when the maggots made their home
in his eye sockets. I know it’s gross.
That’s how God is. That’s how far his love
reaches. That’s how far he’ll dip down to get
you. Now Jesus loved them very much, so (verse 6)
when he heard about Lazarus’ sickness, he stayed
where he was until it had been four days. “It’s
over. He’s dead now. Tell Jesus, ‘Don’t bother.'”
About the time they told Jesus Lazarus was dead,
he told Peter, “All right. Now I’m going.” Peter
was the one who would get in Jesus’ face and
contradict his logic as God. Peter said, “Now,
Jesus, you know it’s not good for you to go back
there. They’re trying to kill you in the region,
and Martha might kill you if the
scribes don’t because you’re late.”
Now Jesus. Martha comes running out to meet Jesus.
She doesn’t even let him get inside the town. She
got there really quick. She said, “If you had been
here, my brother wouldn’t have died.” “God, if you
would have done it, maybe I wouldn’t have lost my
son. If you would have done it, maybe I wouldn’t
have turned to the pills. If you had rescued me
from that abuse, maybe I wouldn’t struggle with
this now. If you’d done it…” But through her tears
of grieving, she said something powerful. “Even
now I know God will give you whatever you ask.”
But there’s more to the story. Look at verse 29.
When Mary heard that Jesus was there,
when she heard that he was asking,
she got up quickly. You don’t have time to
figure everything out before you walk in
faith. You need to put the appointment on the
calendar for this week. You hear me? You need
to take a step toward it this week. You need
to flush it before the halftime show today.
You don’t have time to be in your tears talking
about what God can’t transform because he’s out
of time. He is fashionably late. He is faithfully
late. He may not have come when you wanted him,
but that doesn’t mean it’s over. So, she
gets up quickly. Get ready for this. Verse
30 lit me up. It says, “Now Jesus…” “I need
you now, Jesus! I need you in this moment.”
“Now Jesus…” You have a dead situation, but
you have a now Jesus. You have a sick heart,
but you have a now Jesus. You have a weary
soul, but you have a now Jesus. I have a now
Jesus. I have a third-day Jesus, a fourth-day
Jesus, a generational Jesus, a Jesus who was
the Word in the beginning, and he won’t fail
me now. I have a now Jesus, and when he says,
“Take me to the place where you laid the
body,” he already knows where the grave is.
He has just been waiting on you to take him there.
He knows. You don’t. But I’m
going forward not knowing.