Are you allowing what you focus on to steal your joy? In “Stop Focusing On Negative Emotions,” Pastor Steven Furtick of Elevation Church shows us that what we focus on often distracts us from the favor God’s already given us.
When you’re living in it, you don’t
even know what you’re looking at.
That’s why we really have to be careful
not to wish away stages of our lives,
because that was in your backyard.
It took 2020 to get some of us to see
that showing up early to get a seat at
Ballantyne at 9:30 on a Sunday morning
was a privilege back when we
could all do it without fear.
We had the favor of God. We still do.
But some of it… It was our backyard. I just looked
at it. I was like, “Dude, this is trippy. Are you
sure they didn’t move these mountains in since
we left? Are you playing with me? Did you slip
something in my turkey? What’s going on? Is this
really here? Am I hallucinating?” It was there.
He was there. He had been brought up there.
He was in Nazareth. That’s where he grew up.
Is familiarity the enemy of favor? I
think it is sometimes. I really do.
I think we choose what is familiar even
at the expense of God’s favor sometimes.
I’ll prove it to you, not from
psychology. I have no degree in that.
I’ll prove it to you not from sociology; I’ll
prove it to you from theology in the text.
Why is it that in the place where Jesus
should have been able to do the most
he was able to do the least? That should have
been the place for the greatest favor of God.
Now, I need to say this to you. This might
sound rough. Some of the places where God
should be working the most in your life you’re
letting him do the least, and the reason is
you’re choosing what is familiar,
and you are chasing away God’s favor.
For many of us, we’re waiting on the
vengeance. We think we know so much.
When he rolls up the scroll and sits
down, we think, “Well, it must be over,
because God didn’t do what I wanted him to
do.” It’s finished when he says it’s finished.
He is who he says he is, not who you think he is.
And you are who he says you are, not what they
say you are. Whether they is your thoughts,
your addictions, your insecurities, your secret
stuff, you are not what that says you are,
or your life. That’s not what we mean by favor.
We don’t mean the facts. We mean the Father.
So, when they were looking at him,
there’s a Greek word they use,
and it’s used 10 times in the
book of Acts, only twice in Luke.
It says when he said what he said… He
said, “Today this scripture is fulfilled
in your hearing.” Faith comes by hearing, but not
with physical ears…spiritual ears. It’s a terrible
thing to have sight but be blind, Helen Keller
said. It’s a terrible thing. He’s talking about
opening blind eyes, but they are blind to the Blue
Ridge Mountains that are in their own backyard.
He is favor and he’s right in front of them,
just like the favor of God is right in front
of you. I promise it is. It’s everywhere.
You bumped into it trying to get in a fight on
your way out of the house today. You bumped into
the favor of God. You had to push the favor of
God out of the way to get to your bad attitude.
He said, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in
your hearing.” And he sat down, and they spoke
well, but they were so familiar. “That’s Joseph’s
son. Wow, he talks good, but we know him.”
Familiar. Favor. Familiarity. Is
familiarity keeping you from God’s favor?
Are you addicted to feeling
miserable? It feels familiar.
If fear is your natural habitat for long enough,
you’ll seek it out. You’ll find something to be
afraid about. I started looking up estate
taxes the other night and freaking out,
and I don’t think I’m dying. I just needed
something to be worried about. I just needed
something to freak out about. I didn’t have
anything in the moment. It was too good. I had
to make something up in the moment. Isn’t that
crazy? I think I was seeking what was familiar.
To receive and accept God’s favor… When
he says, “The year of the Lord’s favor,”
the other translation is “The acceptable year of
the Lord.” Now, the Jewish people knew a concept
called Jubilee, every cycle of seven years. On
that fiftieth or forty-ninth year (the rabbis
differ as to which one it fell on originally), the
debts would be forgiven and the prisoners would be
released. Jesus was saying, “I am your Jubilee.
You don’t have to wait until the fiftieth year.”
You don’t have to wait until 2021. You don’t have
to wait until you get married. You don’t have to
wait until you get divorced. Everybody is trying
to go somewhere else. He said, “Today…” This is
the year. But if frustration is a more familiar
state for you, you will create frustration.
You do this. I know this is hard to hear,
but please hear me with spiritual ears.
Some of the frustration you just have to
get through because it’s not your fault.
Some of it you’re creating. You’re
creating it when you compare yourself
to other people. You’re creating it when you
overload yourself with all this stuff you’re
looking at. You are making yourself frustrated.
I’m going to tell you why you’re doing it:
because it feels familiar. You want what’s
familiar, because that feels like Nazareth.
Favor feels funny.
There’s no equivalent for God’s favor. People
don’t love you like that. So, when God tries to,
you push that away. “That’s not familiar. I
can’t just trust that my sins are forgiven.
I can’t just pray to God in any situation. I can’t
just give God this burden. I can’t just roll in
on him and trust that he cares for me. I can’t
smile while I’m going through this. I can’t trust
wholeheartedly. I can’t take the next step without
knowing all of the details. That’s not familiar.”
So, I will create frustration through a
spirit of manipulation just to feel what
feels like home to me. It said they fastened
their eyes on him. The word is atenizo. It’s
used to describe a very emotional attention.
I have to show you this. It’s too important.
This is what makes the difference. This is
why I didn’t see the mountains. This is why
I couldn’t see the Blue Ridge Mountains. Verse
20: “The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were
[atenizo].” It’s an emotional focus. It’s the
same word when he was taken up in Acts 1:10.
They atenizo. They watched, because they wondered,
“If he’s leaving, what’s going to happen to us?”
That’s how you felt all year.
“Well, if I’m losing this,
if it’s not like this anymore,
what’s going to replace this?”
That’s what the word was. It was the same word
when Peter was cussing, when Jesus was being
taken away to be crucified. The servant girl
atenizo, fastened her eyes. It’s not just like
you look. It’s like you’re emotionally focusing
on something. Here’s the thing I found out about
God’s favor: my emotional focus determines whether
I go to frustration, fear, fighting, or favor.
The Lord said he wanted to give you the gift
this last month of the year, whoever this is for…
He wants to give you your emotional focus
back. What that is going to require…
I want to make sure you’re down, because this
is not going to be easy. You are going to
have to let go of some certain attachments to
familiar things that are blocking God’s favor.
I don’t mean you’re going to leave the city.
I don’t mean you’re going to flee the state.
I don’t mean you’re going to move to
Canada. I mean that in this moment,
you are going to decide what has been in your
backyard all along that is bigger than what
you’re going through and living in right
now. My focus is my favor, not your favor.
God gave you a favor; God gave me a favor.
God gave you a family; God gave me a family.
God gave you a gift; God gave me a gift. Every
preacher watching me, God gave you a church;
God gave me a church. Everybody watching this
who wants God to do something he’s doing for
somebody else, it is time for you to focus
on the favor God has given you in this season
of your life. And I promise you this. Atenizo.
You will find what you’re looking for.
If you want to look for goodness, it’s on your
right hand. If you want to look for mercy,
it’s on your left hand. So, he rolled
up the scroll, and he sat down and said,
“You want favor? It’s right in front of
you.” It is not out there somewhere. It
is not to be found in any earthly promotion.
It is not to be found in any earthly acclaim.
It is in the wilderness. It is in the synagogue.
It is in Nazareth. But the place where he was
brought up was the place where they were
so familiar with him they could not receive
the favor, because they chose what
was familiar. “That’s Joseph’s son.”
Are you open to seeing the favor of God?
I asked the Lord to do three things for us: make
us conscious of his favor (you have to see it),
to help us cooperate with his favor (to stop
fighting against what God is doing in my life),
and then the biggest part of all (this is
why I want to give my offering next weekend),
to make me a conduit for his favor. I want that,
because this is the year of the Lord’s favor.
I don’t know about tomorrow.
He opened the scroll. That’s the same thing he
did in Revelation 5. They couldn’t find anybody
to open the scroll and break the seals, and
then there was a Lamb next to the one who was
seated on the throne, not stressed, not
freaking out, and neither should you be,
because no matter how it started,
it’s going to finish with favor.
What sin started in the garden
Jesus dealt with on the cross
and buried in his tomb. So, I’m making the
declaration: you’re going to finish with favor.
Do you receive that or are you going to chase
it away? That’s what the people did to Jesus.
He started speaking about the favor of God.
He said it’s the year of the Lord’s favor,
and they were atenizo. They were looking at him.
They were expecting one thing, like
we all are. “This is how it’s going
to be. This is how it’s supposed to work.”
They’re looking at him. They’re focused on
what they think he’s going to do, but he said
something very powerful. He said in verse 24,
“Truly I tell you (amen, I say to you),
no prophet is accepted in his hometown.”
Do you accept what God is doing in this season
of your life? I know what you expected him to do,
but will you accept what he is doing? He said,
“You are too familiar to receive the favor
that is sitting right in front of you. You are so
used to rejection you find it when it’s not even
there. You are so unfamiliar with acceptance
you can’t receive the love I’m sending you.”
Whoever you are and whatever this year has
been like for you, the Lord sent me with a
message. Today is the day of the Lord’s favor.
It is right in front of you. I don’t care how
it started. I don’t care what it looks like.
It doesn’t matter what happened up until now.
You will finish with favor. Confess
it. “I will finish with favor.”
He sat down right in front of them.
He said, “The problem with you,
why you can’t receive the favor…” This is to the
Jewish people who should have really known him,
the people who saw him running around when he was
2 years old. Their familiarity killed their favor.
This is kind of sad that Jesus was rejected
by the people who should have recognized him.
Listen to this. Verse 25: “I
assure you…” This is Jesus speaking
to the people he knew who should have
known him but couldn’t see it because
their emotional focus was on what they expected
God to be like. Is that where your focus is?
What you expected your kid to be like at age 18?
That you expected you would have kids by now?
What you expected to happen this year in
your career? If that is your emotional focus,
it is going to kill your favor. That’s what
happened here. Jesus goes all the way back to
their history. “…there were many widows in Israel
in Elijah’s time…” Do you remember this story?
I hope you don’t, because if you’re
unfamiliar with it, you’ll hear it better.
He said there was a drought for three and a
half years. There was a famine caused by the
drought. Verse 26: “Yet Elijah was not sent to
any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the
region of Sidon. And there were many in Israel
with leprosy in the time of Elisha the prophet…”
These are famous Bible stories: 1 Kings 17
and 2 Kings 5. You can look these up later.
What you’ll see is that God sent his greatest
favor to the people who were least familiar.
I wonder… Do we know too much? Do we have too much
of a blueprint of how God is going to bless us?
Have we lived in it so long we
no longer see it for what it is?
He said God had to go to a woman at Zarephath,
had to go to a Syrian commander named Naaman
to show what he could do, because the
people who should have received his power
couldn’t recognize what was
right in front of them. Can you?
God has given you some great opportunities this
year. He has done some amazing things in your life
this year. He has shown you some ugly stuff that
if he didn’t show it to you would have killed you.
Can you receive that? Is this the acceptable year
of the Lord? He’s talking about his salvation,
his deliverance, his ministry. I wonder if we have
accepted this for what it really is yet, because
that’s the key. Will you accept the favor of God
or are you pushing it away because it feels weird?