“When you feel unseen, especially by the people whose attention and approval you crave the most, it can create a compulsion in your life to start doing things that are not even really consistent with your character.” In this message, Pastor Steven Furtick will help you learn how to find acceptance and approval in Christ rather than allowing others to control you. Because, unfortunately, this kind of approval from others can be taken away just as easily as it is given, leaving us feeling empty and invisible.
We need a way to get out of this unhealthy cycle and invest our best energy in better ways. The good news is, in the Kingdom of God what is unseen is often most significant. Some of the most important things we will ever do in our life will not be noticed by others, but they are always seen by God. In this message, Pastor Steven uses Matthew 6 verse 4 to show us that, “Your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.”
It is okay that you need to feel appreciated, celebrated, and loved, but you need to use your greatest energy to find these things in God because you can’t let others control you.
We pray that this message fills you with fresh energy and passion to see what God can do in and through your life. God sees you, He knows you and He’s with you.
There is no worse feeling than that of invisibility.
When you are doing your very best and it goes unrecognized, it makes it harder to want to keep doing it.
When you feel unseen, especially by the people
whose attention and approval you crave the
most, it can create a compulsion in your life
to start doing things that are not even really
consistent with your character in order to
receive from people a confirmation that can
be taken away just as easily as it was given.
But we are not citizens of this kingdom which
celebrates and compliments all of the things
that are seen; we are citizens of the kingdom
where Jesus says things like this: “When you
do something in secret, your Father sees it,
and he will reward you according to what he
sees.”
So, my message is…if you have felt unappreciated,
uncelebrated, unnoticed, and insignificant,
in this kingdom, what is unseen is often what
is most significant.
Now, not in the world.
In the world, we correlate seen with significant,
but I’ll tell you what.
You could take this pulpit away, and I could
still preach my sermon, because I really don’t
need my notes.
They’re just like Linus’ blanket.
It’s like a security thing for me.
I really have the message in my heart.
So you could take this away, and I could still
preach, but if the signal that’s causing this
microphone to make a sound were to drop out,
you could no longer hear the message.
Why?
Because what is invisible is often what is
most valuable.
Whether we will admit it or not, we are so
good at celebrating the wrong stuff.
People will always, especially the crowd…
“Give us Barabbas!”
The crowd will always celebrate the wrong
thing.
People will always celebrate what they can
see.
Another thing people will always do is celebrate
a gift rather than celebrating character.
We celebrate the wrong stuff.
Now, if you do it in secret (and this could
refer to anything in your life)…
If you do what you do according to your values,
not according to external validation, then
you understand the meaning of “The Father
saw.”
The sacrifices you made that no one else really
pointed out, the stuff nobody gave you a trophy
for…
What would it be like this year for us to
live with God as our audience and not our
dysfunctional friends and family members,
who are secretly so caught up in their own
crap they can’t celebrate us because they’re
waiting for us to celebrate them?
I struggle with this, because it’s hard for
me to live my life for an invisible audience.
They used to sing a song in the children’s
church where I grew up that said, “Be careful
little eyes what you see.”
Did y’all have this song in children’s church?
“Be careful little ears what you hear.”
It’s the creepiest children’s Bible song ever.
“For the Father up above is looking down with
love.”
It’s like, “This doesn’t feel very loving;
this feels invasive.”
Do you remember the song, “Every Breath You
Take”?
“Every breath you take, I’ll be watching you.”
The beat was so good to the song I didn’t
realize it’s a stalker.
He said, “Your Father who sees what is done
in secret will reward you.”
For
everybody who was not appreciated, for everybody
who was not celebrated, for everybody who
was unwanted, even abandoned, I want you to
know your Father saw who left you.
He saw who should have been there.
When my father and mother forsake me, then
the Lord will take me up.
My Father saw!
When people mistreated me and I could have
gotten even but I put it in his hands, he
saw it, and my reward is with the Lord!
So, how good are you at celebrating the unseen?
Do you celebrate those moments in your life
where God is making you stronger but your
biceps aren’t getting bigger?
People will celebrate your biceps.
“Oh man!
You got tickets?
You’re going to need a ticket to the gun show.”
People have fifty thousand clichés to compliment
your body, because people celebrate what they
see.
Nobody ever came up to me and said, “Hey,
man.
Your contentment is, like, gains, bro.”
We all know which is more valuable, but we
live in a world where what is visible is celebrated
more than what’s valuable.
If you move toward the clap of the crowd,
they will lead you right off the cliff.
I’m going to stop right here, but you see
the illustration.
If I keep following that clap, where am I
going to end up?
If you keep chasing clout right now, what’s
it going to be like when the people you live
to please are no longer even paying attention?
Your friend might move to Alabama.
Now the person who was your whole sole source
for affirmation is gone to another nation…I
mean, state.
The Lord said to tell you that he saw it.
Now, we don’t need to be afraid.
This is not a verse about retribution.
“Your Father who sees what is done in secret.”
Some people hear that like a threat.
When I said, “Your Father sees what is done
in secret,” you were like, “O God!
Oh no.
That’s the worst news I’ve heard all day.”
He’s not speaking about punishment; he’s speaking
about reward.
He’s trying to get us to see that we’re seen,
whether people do or not.
“Okay, I get it, Pastor.
He sees me.
I get it.”
Do you really?
Or are you still buying stuff?
Are you still giving away things?
One thing I have learned is we don’t graduate
from our need to be approved by people when
we graduate high school.
We still live for approval; it just gets more
expensive.
When God gave me this message, he said, “Call
it The Father Saw, because they thought nobody
saw, but I did.”
Since you can’t see the Father visibly or
hear the Father audibly, I want to deliver
the message today that he saw.
He saw what you didn’t get.
He saw that integrity you had.
He saw when you didn’t go off.
Now, Wednesday you did, but then Thursday
you got it together and you didn’t do it again.
See, we have to celebrate the times where
we do get it right.
I’m bad at this.
Stand up if you’re like me and you have a
hard time celebrating your successes.
All right.
Let’s take a moment, since we’re so hard on
ourselves and we have a hard time celebrating
ourselves, at every location, let’s celebrate
the fact that we had the self-awareness to
stand up and know that we’re hard on ourselves.
See how weak that was?
You’re like, “I’m not clapping for that.”
Sit down.
I have to work on y’all for a minute.
We are so bad at this.
Holly and I went on a hike to Crowders Mountain
Friday, and while I was busy beating the imaginary
opponent to the top of the hill…
I was 30 steps ahead of her, and she was looking
at the view.
I said, “You need to keep up.”
She said, “You need to slow down.
The view is getting good.”
I was like, “I know it.”
But she was talking about the landscape.
I realized it was an analogy for what she
brings to my life that is so irreplaceable.
Holly is great at celebrating herself.
She really is.
She does not need lessons in this.
She came downstairs the other day celebrating
her workouts, that she had made it to a certain
point in her workouts.
I’m the kind of person…
I’ll do the workout and then think about the
fact that somebody else could have lifted
more.
I’ll just do this all the time.
Really.
I struggle to celebrate myself.
And I used to think that was godly, because
after all, the Bible says, “Humble yourself
in the sight of the Lord.”
Do you notice people who quote that verse
are never really that humble, and they don’t
even know what verse it is?
Next time somebody quotes a Bible verse at
you to beat you over the head with it, ask
them what chapter and verse.
There’s a 99 percent chance they’ll shut up.
I’m not talking about pride; I’m talking about
process and progress and being able to say
in certain moments of your life, “Nobody else
saw it, but the Father saw.”
Otherwise, you’re going to be waiting for
people to give you trophies that don’t even
exist.
Oh, by the way, if they gave the trophy, they
can take it back.
They can change their mind about you.
So I have to get calibrated.
I feel anointed to preach today.
I feel anointed to get us set free.
Watch this.
We talk about getting set free from sin and
shame.
We need to get set free from people.
Not that we don’t care about them, but we
can’t be controlled by them.
I can’t even let you control this message,
because what if the best thing I say is the
thing you’re not ready to hear?
What if you don’t like the taste of the medicine?
I have to mash it up in the applesauce and
give it to you anyway, because I cannot be
controlled by a crowd and deliver God’s Word.
You cannot be controlled by a cultural ideal
of success and really receive the affirmation
that comes from God alone.
Today is the day for somebody that you get
a different audience.
Not the audience that is external, because
they will always clap for what is visible,
but if you know you have a God on the inside
of you who is the treasured possession of
your life and the strength of your soul, give
him praise right now and celebrate his presence
in your life.
If you don’t have anything else, you have
him, and he is enough.
Y’all do what you want to do.
I’m going to take 20 seconds and celebrate
that word.
Thank you, Lord, for loving me!
Thank you, Lord, for choosing me!
Thank you, Lord, for keeping me!
Thank you, Lord, for forgiving me!
Thank you that you didn’t just see my mistakes
but you saw my potential.
The Father saw.
He saw the tears you cried while you were
waiting because you wouldn’t compromise just
to fit in.
The Father saw.
So, when we celebrate the unseen…
Write that down on your page: “Celebrate the
unseen,” because what is most seen is not
always what’s most significant.
You know the Devil can’t defeat you, right?
He’s a defeated foe.
Now, if it were you against him, it would
be like Conor McGregor.
It would be over in 40 seconds.
Did y’all see that?
I need my money back.
That was $60 for 40 seconds of fighting.
If I do the math on that (and I can’t do it
off the top of my head), that’s a very expensive
dose of violence that I purchased last night
on the UFC fight.
(If you don’t know what I’m talking about,
don’t worry; I was praying.)
When we say that the Devil is doing this and
that in our life…
There are only two things he can do.
He can’t defeat you.
The cross of Jesus Christ defeated the Devil
once and for all.
He is a defeated foe.
You don’t run from him; he runs from you.
You resist him and he flees.
But, and this is really important, because
this is where it happens…
Before I take you over into this next section
of the teaching, understand that since he
can’t defeat you, he will always try to distract
you or discourage you.
Because he can’t defeat you, because greater
is he who is in you than he who is in the
world.
Now, he can’t defeat you, but he can distract
you…distract you with what others are doing.
He could distract me, as a pastor, with how
other churches reach people.
He could distract me, as a man, with how other
parents are raising their family.
Certainly, I can learn from that, but if I
get so distracted by how you’re doing it,
I might miss the uniqueness of how God made
me to do it, and then I become discouraged,
distracted and discouraged.
He wants to distract you so you crash or discourage
you so you quit.
This message finds many of us distracted and
discouraged.
When we come to this point, it is the revelation
that the Father saw that enables us to get
our focus back.