Stop Trying To Control The Timing | Steven Frankfurt

What if God wants to reset your schedule?

In his message, “Stop Trying To Control The Timing,” Pastor Steven Furtick of Elevation Church shows us how to trust God’s timing – even when it feels like things are behind schedule.

God does not check your schedule. By the
way, neither does the Devil. The Devil

doesn’t look and see, “Would it be all right
if I stopped by at 3:30 Tuesday afternoon and

visit you with depression, anxiety attack,
panic attack, and shortness of breath?”

No. You have to stay in a place where you know
how to breathe in the presence of God. You have

to stay in a place where you are looking
at the presence of God. One psalmist said,

“I lift my eyes to the hills. My help
doesn’t come from the north, the south,

the east, or the west. My help comes from
the Lord.” Who does your help come from?

If God wants to reset your
schedule, will you let him?

If God wants to move… He’s like, “Hey, I know all
of your other friends are over here doing this,

that, and the other, but I have something
different for you.” God said, “Can we reschedule?

I know you had all this stuff
you were going to do this year.

Can we reschedule?” I almost hear the
Lord saying, “Let me make it up to you.”

I almost hear the Lord saying, “I’m going
to do exceedingly, abundantly above what

you had on your schedule.” I almost hear
the Lord saying, “Let me get you ready

for what I have scheduled.” See, to really trust
God… We can sing about that and quote about that,

but to trust in the Lord with all your
heart means you have to move with him.

Life has come along this year and interrupted your
rhythm. I know it. It sucks. I’m not saying you

have to like it, but what are you going to do
with it? He didn’t promise you a schedule; he

promised you a Spirit. See, that’s better, because
his Spirit will give me the ability to step out

if I need to step out or to stay put if I need
to stay put. This is for you if you feel behind

schedule. “I should have more money in the bank
by now. I should know more of the Bible by now.”

It does not matter what your
schedule was. It matters what God

spoke about you before you were born.
Do you get it now? You can be 75.

Eleven years into waiting, Abraham tried to have
a baby with Hagar because he got tired of waiting

for the schedule. I’m glad the
disciples waited for the Spirit.

Whatever you’re waiting for today, I just
need to make it clear, as clear as I can…

I can’t make it as clear as I saw it. I’d never
be able to do that, but I just saw God saying,

“Stop trying to schedule me. Build your schedule,
but realize that some of the best things

I’m going to do in your life are
not going to be on your schedule.”

Can anybody testify that one of the
greatest blessings God gave you…?

The greatest blessings are unschedulable, and if
you are so stuck on what you thought this stage of

life or what you thought this day would be like,
I’m telling you, you are going to miss the gift.

Wait for the gift. I’m waiting for the gift,

and I’m looking for the gift,
and I’m looking for the cloud.

I can’t schedule God’s presence and say, “You
should have done this then, and you should

have done that there, and you need to give me
details then.” I’m sorry. You’re not going to

get all of the details. God will tell you what to
build, but he will not tell you when to move it.

He wants you to depend on him. This is the
most anointed word I’ve preached all year.

God is resetting our schedules, and what we are
calling interruptions are really invitations.

Jesus said to Jairus, “Don’t be afraid.
Just believe.” When he got to the house,

the little girl was dead to the other people.
She was sleeping to Jesus, because he has his

own schedule. Heaven has a schedule. Heaven
has a purpose. Heaven has a blueprint.

Heaven has a process. Have you submitted
your schedule to the Lord just to say, “Lord,

I want to reschedule”?

“I thought you were going to do this, but let’s
reschedule, Lord. I thought you were going to heal

Lazarus, but, hey, if you want to raise him from
the dead, let’s go to the tomb. Let’s reschedule.

I’ll roll the stone. Yeah, I’ve been disappointed,
I’ve been depressed, I’ve been stressed out,

but let’s reschedule. I’ve been confused,
but I’ve been trying to control the timing,

and you’ve been calling me to
trust you, so I receive power.”

I receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on
me, and I’m going to be a witness wherever I go.

Father, I thank you in this moment
for the unschedulable blessings

that are coming to your people all over the world,

the unschedulable blessings, the testimonies that
are coming because you are an unschedulable God.

You give a 100-year-old man a baby.
You can bless us behind schedule.

At the same time, you can be interrupted
by a woman with an issue of blood.

You can bless us ahead of schedule. You
can do anything, because you’re God.

You can prepare a table in the presence
of our enemies. You don’t even have to

get rid of the problem to bless us. You’re
unschedulable. It’s not for us to know the time.

We can’t control anything. We can’t even
control our kids’ Little League schedule.

We certainly can’t control how things
unfold in our lives, so we’re just going

to wait. Not because we’re lazy,
just because we know you love us.

Some of the best stuff God will do in
your life will not be on your schedule.

Brandon, I was in your neck of the woods
on Sullivan’s Island in 2016 on vacation.

It’s a beautiful place. I love
going there with the family.

Holly wanted us to go to some farmers’ market

at Sullivan’s Island, and she somehow conned
me into going with them. Do you remember

the girl, Addie Mae, who came over…? She had
cupcakes and pastries and stuff, and she said she

listened to the podcast and could we get a picture
together. I had my hat and my sunglasses on. She

was like, “I thought that was you. I thought
I recognized you.” She was so kind and nice.

Then she said, “You know what? My pastor is going
to be jealous that I met you. He invited you to

speak at our church. This week, we’re having holy
convocation at our church. They invited you to

come speak, and your office said you couldn’t come
because you were on vacation with your family.”

I said, “Well, that’s exactly what you’re
seeing here. You will be witnesses.”

She said, “Okay, okay.” She brought over
a box of sugar for my kids so they could

be crack addicts all night, which I greatly
appreciated. “Thanks for taking a picture.

Let me dope up your kids on sugar as a way of
saying thank you. Appreciate your ministry.”

She said, “I just talked to my pastor. He
told me to make sure to invite you to come to

convocation.” I said, “No, Addie Mae. Vacation. No
con.” You know sometimes God will con you. Right?

I don’t mean he’ll trick you because he’s
deceptive. He’s impeccable. Remember.

But sometimes you will think you’re
going to the farmers’ market,

but God knows the future. You have to
know that about him. He knows the future.

“I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper
you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope

and a future.” Don’t you want the one who knows
the future to set the schedule? Don’t you want him

to bring the right people into your life? Don’t
you want him to get the wrong ones out? Don’t you

want the one who knows the future to open the
doors? Don’t you want him to close some too?

It was just a normal afternoon. She said, “You
should come to convocation.” I said, “Uh-huh.

Sounds good.” Now I’m trying to find a way to
end this conversation with the convocation.

I was trying to have a vacation. She said,
“We have great speakers.” She named a bunch

of people I didn’t know, and then she said
one for one of the nights who I did know,

and I always wanted to hear him preach.
I said, “Huh.” I suddenly got interested.

I thought, “Well, I’m still not going to go,
but let me at least write it down. Maybe they

have a livestream or something and I can watch him
preach. Maybe I could have lunch with him. Maybe

I could skip church and meet him if he’s coming
this way. The church is just right down the road.”

She gave me the crack…I mean, the cupcakes…for
my kids. She wrote down the name of the church

and the date of the thing for convocation.

I didn’t think much about it. I asked Jess, my
assistant, “Reach out to this preacher. He’s

coming to this church on this night. Just see
if we can say hello. We’ve talked a few times,

but I never really got to meet him. It would be
good.” She hit me back and said, “Yeah, he wants

to do it. He wants to meet with you.” The next
week rolled around, and I had kind of forgotten.

I was in my vacation flow. You know, limited
showers, no shaving, or anything like that.

I was like, “Oh, this is the day
I’m going to meet with the pastor.”

Jess texted me. She was like, “By the way,

so-and-so had to cancel. He had
emergency back surgery. He can’t come.”

You know how sometimes you’ll get an idea and it’s
not God and you’re like, “I rebuke you, Devil; I’m

not doing that,” and then sometimes you’ll get an
idea and you will try to rebuke it and it remains,

and the more you think about it, you’re like,
“I think this might be what God wants me to do”?

Something inside of me… I believe it was
the Holy Spirit, because I don’t think

the Holy Spirit just gets you to speak in
tongues. I think it gets you to take steps

and do simple things. It’s not always
something sensational. It can be very

simple how the Spirit can guide you.
This is what the unschedulable God did.

He spoke to me in kind of an impression. “Call
the church and offer to fill in for the preacher.”

I said, “Lord, that’s creepy.”

“Hey, you want me to come over and preach for you?
I could come preach for you. I’m over here just

wanting to preach. I’ve got my Bible. I’ve got
a little Bible Scripture. I could come preach.”

I’m like, “I’m not calling the church.” The
Lord said, “You were the one they wanted on

that night. They couldn’t get you because you were
on vacation. Now call the church.” I said, “Lord,

she didn’t write down the number.” The Lord
spoke to me very powerfully. He said, “Google.”

He’s very practical. You’re asking God for
all kinds of big stuff. God just wants you

to do practical things sometimes. I called, and it
rang like six times, and nobody answered. I said,

“Thank you, Lord. Six is the number of man
and…” Before the seventh ring… No kidding.

Now remember. I don’t have a shirt on. I don’t
have shoes on. I don’t have church clothes.

I’m so glad. It’s 3:00 in the afternoon. I’m
like, “Okay, Lord. It was like a ram in the bush.”

Do you remember when he called Abraham and said,
“Sacrifice Isaac. Just kidding. Sacrifice the

ram”? I’m like, “Oh, cool. This is one of those
deals.” After the sixth ring, the man picks

up and says the name of the church. I said, “Oh,
hey! Um, hey, uh, I was calling to speak to the

pastor, Pastor [So-and-so].” He said, “He’s not
available. Can I take a message?” I said, “Oh,

no. I don’t want to bother him.” He said, “No.
The pastor would want you to leave a message.”

I’m like, “Okay, okay. All right. My name is
Steven Furtick. I met a girl named Addie Mae.

She gave my kids cupcakes at the farmers’
market. She said there was convocation. I

don’t know the name of your church. I don’t
know your pastor. I’ve never met him before,

never even heard of him before, but they said
he wanted me to come preach, and I’m 30 minutes

down the road, and I’ll come preach tonight.
Just tell him that.” He said, “I’ll tell him.”

Then here comes the call back five minutes
later. He was crying. The pastor was crying.

He said, “I’m sorry we missed your
call. We were in prayer meeting.

We were praying God would
give us a speaker for tonight.

I had three funerals this week.” See, funerals
don’t schedule themselves. Funerals will come

right in the middle of convocation. He said,
“I’m so out of energy. I was going to preach, but

I’m dry, and we were praying.” He said, “Did you
know that you’re the first person we asked? The

one we were having was going to be the second
choice. Do you know that we asked you first?”

I said, “Yeah. Addie Mae told me. That’s crazy.”
I said, “This is the weirdest thing. I never

invite myself to preach anywhere. I don’t even
invite myself over to people’s houses, let alone

to people’s pulpits. But, man, do you want me
to come…?” He said, “Yes!” before I even got…

He said, “You’ll come?” I said, “I will,
but I don’t have convocation clothes.

Really, the dressiest thing I
have is some Pirate Black Yeezys.”

He said, “I’ll wear my Yeezys too. We’ll
both wear our Yeezys. You’ll come preach?”

And I went out that night. Con-vacation. I
thought I was going to the farmers’ market.

You don’t know what heaven has scheduled. Some
of the best stuff doesn’t come when you say,

“Okay. This is where it’s going to be.”

Your kids might not turn out like you
wanted them to. God might do something

better on a different schedule. “Train
up a child in the way they should go,

and when they are old, they will not
depart from it.” “How old, Lord?” He said,

“Let me set the schedule. Some of the stuff I’m
going to lead them through at age 17? I’m going

to use it until they’re 70. You let me set the
schedule. You train. You obey. You show up.”

Look. That convocation that night… I did not know
this until this year, but the pastor, who was just

a delightful guy… We had the best night. I mean,
the best night. His son was leading worship on

the worship team. He said, “That’s my son.” He
was proud. I was like, “Oh, he’s amazing. What

an amazing…” It was your friend Chandler Moore.
Now he and I have been writing songs with Chris.

Do you know what’s funny? Brandon told me that
when I was coming to preach at a church one time,

I walked over and said to him, “God is going to
use you in a great way. You’ve got good hair.

You’re handsome.” I’m real spiritual, you
know. Man looks at the outward appearance.

That’s my job. God looks at the heart, not me.
I can’t see your heart. I can see your hair.

I said, “The Lord is going to use
you.” I didn’t even know that.

He said he was 16. God has got your kids. His
dad is a great man of God. And I didn’t even

know who your dad was. Your dad was somebody whose
leadership book I read. I didn’t know any of that.

It wasn’t on my schedule to stop by… I think
we were at Pastor Greg Surratt’s church.

Shout-out Seacoast Church.
It wasn’t on my itinerary.

“Stop by and encourage Samson on your way
up to the pulpit.” It wasn’t on my schedule.

Some of the best stuff, some of the
blessings… God said to tell you,

“Get ready for the unschedulable blessing.”
If you’re ready for an unschedulable blessing…

“I have nowhere to go. I’m here for it.

I’m waiting for the gift. God, you give me
the direction. I’ll give you the details.”