God Won’t Let You Break | Steven Furtick

When we blur the lines between worshiping God and worshiping what He’s given us, we become weary. When we refocus our praise on Him, He can turn even the smallest thing into a big victory. This is an excerpt from “God Gave It To Me.” To watch the full message from ‪@elevationchurch‬, click here:    • God Gave It To Me | Pastor Steven Fur…   #faith #peace #hope #stevenfurtick #elevationchurch #identity #pride #focus Chapters: 0:00 – Start With God 2:00 – You Won’t Believe What He Did Next 5:12 – Worship The One Who Gave It 7:30 – Grab What You Have 10:55 – Winning But Worn Out 13:23 – Don’t Praise The Gift 15:29 – What Made God Open The Hollow Place Scripture References: Judges 15, verses 16-19

When it starts with God, it ends in victory.
When it starts with me, it ends in defeat.

Now take that and apply it over your day, over
your business venture, over your relationship.

I’ll say it again. If it starts with God…your day,
your career, your relationship…it ends in victory,

even if it goes through seasons of defeat. So,
if it started with God, there may be a season of

defeat (a silent Saturday, a bloody cross),
but it will end in victory (an empty tomb).

The sad thing about Samson is that he was born
supernaturally. His mother’s womb was barren.

An angel came to his mother and said, “You’re
going to have a baby.” Her husband wasn’t there.

When he came back, she said, “An angel just
told me I’m going to have a baby.” He was like,

“What angel? Who came and told you you’re going
to have a baby?” The angel came back and said,

“You’re going to have a baby, and
because this child is special, protect

it. God is giving you this child, and
this child is not just given to you;

this child is going to be given to the whole
nation. This child is going to do amazing

things. So you need to raise this child in
a very special way because he is given.”

It’s different when it’s given. When something
is given by God, it must be guarded. Here

we see Samson doing something amazing with a
donkey’s jawbone. It’s amazing what he did,

but it’s ridiculous what he does next.
You would think that after seeing such

an incredible intervention of God, such a
sovereign display of the strength of God…

“Hey, a minute ago I couldn’t even use my
hands, and now I’m looking at a thousand dead

Philistines, and I’m still breathing.”
You would think he would praise God,

but Samson does something so stupid. I do
it too, and you do it too. After Samson

won a great victory… Some of you are in
here, and you have won a great victory.

You have seen God do amazing things in
your life, but here comes the mistake.

Verse 16: “Then Samson said, ‘With a
donkey’s jawbone I have made donkeys

of them. With a donkey’s jawbone I have
killed a thousand men.'” You mean God

just saved your life and you want to
write a song about a donkey’s jawbone?

Samson is like, “Oh, this is amazing. Wow!
Incredible.” He’s still holding the jawbone,

and he goes, “‘With a donkey’s jawbone…’
Let’s see. God just gave me a great miracle.

God just gave me a great success.
God just did a great thing. What

should I sing about? ‘With a donkey’s
jawbone I have killed a thousand men.’

No, let me put this in there. ‘With a donkey’s
jawbone, I have made donkeys of them.’ Yeah,

that’s clever. See? Because I’m talking
about donkeys, and I made them donkeys.”

Why are you singing about donkeys when God
just delivered you? Why are you praising

the thing he used when you know good and
well it wasn’t enough to get the job done?

Why do we become so attached to jawbones?

Why do we get so addicted to jawbones? “What
do you mean by that, Pastor Steven?” I mean

when you start to think the thing God did
through you proves how great you are. I

read Samson’s song over and over again. “With a
donkey’s jawbone I have made donkeys of them.”

He’s talking about them. He’s talking about
the donkey. He’s talking about the jawbone.

He’s definitely talking about himself.
He’s talking about killing. This is a

violent song. This is a specific song. But where

is God in your song? Why didn’t your song
start with God? You know the miracle did.

You know it wasn’t a jawbone. You know it was only
God who kept the jawbone from breaking. So, don’t

praise the thing you used; praise the one who kept
it from breaking. Don’t depend on the donkey’s

jawbone; depend on the one who could use something
as ridiculous, as small as a donkey’s jawbone.

How many of you, God has done so much through
some ridiculous things in your life that it just

doesn’t make sense? All right. So,
don’t sing to the thing that doesn’t

make sense. Don’t worship the thing that
doesn’t make sense. Don’t depend on the

thing that doesn’t make sense, because
the truth of the matter is, Samson,

if God had left your hand tied, you couldn’t
have even used the jawbone to begin with.

If God wouldn’t have brought you out
of that situation, you wouldn’t even

be here today. If God would have let you
get caught, you wouldn’t have had mercy;

you’d be locked up. If God wouldn’t
have brought you through that season,

you wouldn’t be singing about the joy of
the Lord. So, don’t worship the way it came;

worship the one who gave it, and turn
your song around, and turn your spirit.

“With a donkey’s jawbone…” I don’t care what
melody you put to that. That’s a dumb song to

sing. “With a donkey’s jawbone.” With the
power of God, with the strength of God,

with the anointing of the Holy Spirit,
with the “get up and go” of God,

with the resurrection power of Jesus, with
the Word of God, with the promise of God…

That’s what I’m praising. Not a jawbone.
I’m praising the God of the jawbone.

I’m praising the God who knew I would need
a donkey to decompose right there and have

something for me to grab. The truth of the matter
is the only reason we’re here today is because we

grabbed what we had and God did what he does. How
many have that testimony? “It wasn’t enough. It

didn’t make sense. It didn’t look good. They were
screaming and coming my way, but I grabbed what I

had. I didn’t have a sword. I grabbed what I had.
I didn’t have a spear. I grabbed what I had.”

Some of you didn’t have a dad to raise
you. “I grabbed what I had.” Some of you

didn’t get a college education. “I grabbed what I

had.” Some of you don’t have the best health
right now. “I grabbed what I had.” “I didn’t

have the best team around me. I grabbed
what I had. I wasn’t raised in that culture,

but I grabbed what I had, and God did what
he does, and I’m not singing to a donkey.”

Grab what you have. You don’t need a
better weapon. You need a more worshipful

spirit. You need greater faith. You need more
innovation. “God gave it to me. It’s a jawbone,

yeah, but God gave it to me, and a jawbone with
Jesus, a simple thing with Jesus, a silly thing

with Jesus, a small thing with Jesus is better
than the world’s best weapons without him.”

“For the weapons of our warfare are
not carnal but mighty through God for

the pulling down of strongholds.” So, a
crazy thing happens to Samson. He praises

the thing he has to throw away. After
you get done glorifying the jawbone…

Hey, God gave you that job, but it’s
just a jawbone. If that one goes away,

God will kill another donkey.
I don’t know who this is for,

but you’d better get this while you can,
because God gave this message to me for you,

because he wants you to know you don’t need
better weapons. He can do it with a jawbone.

You don’t even have to like
your job for God to use it to

provide for you. When did we start
raising a generation that thought,

“I have to like everything”? “I have to like my
job.” I don’t even like myself half the time,

let alone people I work with. But God can use
it. The miracle of the jawbone is that it was

fresh so it didn’t break. That is the
miracle of your life: you didn’t break.

A jawbone is only 18 inches. It isn’t
big, but it didn’t break. It isn’t bougie,

but it didn’t break. Am I talking
about a jawbone or your car?

It isn’t the best one, but it didn’t break.
That’s the miracle. It didn’t break. Come on,

get this in your spirit. It didn’t break.
Think about the miracle of God in your life.

It didn’t break. “Yeah, my heart was torn,
but it didn’t break. It’s still beating.

It’s still loving. It’s still pumping. God
still has a purpose for me. It didn’t break.”

In verse 17, Samson throws that bone away,
and the place was called Ramath Lehi,

which means Jawbone Hill. Of course, rather
than naming the place something about God,

Samson names it something about the jawbone.
We name stuff wrong. We get caught up…

I want to show you something that can happen
in your life. Samson is winning, but he’s worn

out. Did you know that’s possible? You can be
winning and worn out. People think the only

people who need preaching of encouragement and
inspiration are those who are losing. You know,

you’re in a losing season. You just lost a
relationship. You just lost someone you love.

Nuh-uh. You can be winning and worn out.
Everybody can look at you and envy you and

not have empathy for you, because their envy
doesn’t know how much energy it cost you to

win. I’m preaching what I know. Everybody around
you loves to lean on you when you’re like that.

They’ll say things like, “Oh, you’re just
my rock. You’re just my everything.” Well,

I’m not supposed to be your everything. Please
don’t make me your everything. I’m not supposed

to be. I don’t want you to come to me as your
full-time giver of love and joy. See, you can

be winning and worn out, because the people
who are with you don’t even know what it takes.

That’s a dangerous place, because then
you get to where Samson was in verse

18. He begins to feel like, “Even though
I won…for what?” Have you ever felt that

way? “Even though I won…for what?” It can
be very empty to stand in a victory you

believe you produced. It can be impossible
to sustain a victory you think you started.

Samson’s whole life started in a barren womb. It
started with God. Samson’s strength was given by

God. The thing Samson forgot while he was busy
making up poems about the instrument God used…

I heard a story about a guitar player.
He was playing a very expensive guitar,

and he was playing it so beautifully. He was
a great guitar player, a master musician.

He played it, and everybody around him was talking
about how beautiful the guitar was, the wood it

was made from, the intonation of the guitar, even
the inlays of the guitar, all of the ivory on the

guitar, how expensive it was. The whole time he
was playing it, they were all talking about how

wonderful the guitar was. Finally, very quietly
and humbly, he took the guitar, set it gently

in the stand, looked back at the audience,
and said, “How does the guitar sound now?”

While you were busy noticing the instrument,
you did not realize the mastery was not in

the wood; it was in the one who knew
what to do with it. Your life gets

confusing and hard when you start
praising the guitar, the jawbone,

the thing, the skill, the gift. When you
start praising that, here’s what happens.

Verse 18. Samson was very thirsty, because he won,

but he was worn out. He won. He was
delivered, but he was dry. He won a victory,

but he was thirsty. He cried out to the
Lord. “You have given your servant this

great victory. Must I now die of thirst and
fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?”

He’s asking a question. “God, what good
is winning if I’m just going to die of

dehydration?” Look at what happens in verse
19, something very interesting. The Bible says,

“Then God opened up the hollow place in
Lehi…” Somewhere that water should have

never been. “Then God opened up the hollow
place in Lehi, and water came out of it.”

So, it was a dry basin, but then… It was
a depressed place, but then God opened up

the hollow place, and water that was beneath the
ground came up out of the ground. “When Samson

drank, his strength returned and he revived.
So the spring was called En Hakkore, and it is

still there in Lehi.” I want to focus on that
one word then, because I want to go back to the

verse before it and see what happened that made
God open the spring so Samson could be revived.

I want to see in this season of my life what is
going to have to happen for God to refresh me so

that I can do everything he has called me, named
me, known me, empowered me, graced me, freed me,

raised me, appointed me, and assigned me to do.
It’s so simple you almost miss it in verse 18.

“Because he was very thirsty, he cried out
to the Lord, ‘You…'” That’s the first time

he talked to God in this whole passage. When
he said, “You have given your servant this

great victory…” Then he goes on to complain.
“Must I now die and fall into the hands of

the uncircumcised?” He didn’t even pray right.
Just the fact that he did… Verse 19: “Then…”

When he said, “You,” then… I have to get you to
then, because you can’t die in this dry place.

You can’t die in this discouragement. What good
is it for God to give all of this victory and

you die because you have nothing to drink? When
Samson’s song changed from “I have” to “You have…”

“You did it, God. You made it happen.
You gave me victory. You made it enough.

You supplied my needs. You brought me
through that. You gave me victory. You,

you, you, you, you.” Then God opened
the spring. Then God did what only he

could do. Here’s the principle:
when you refocus, God refills.