You don’t have to chase what God has chosen you for! In “Tired Of Striving,” Pastor Steven Furtick teaches us how to get off the treadmill used to destroy our contentment and move toward who God has created us to be – based on the strengths He’s given us. This is an excerpt from “God Chose You… Will You?.” To watch the full message from @elevationchurch click here: 
• God Chose You… Will You? | Pastor Ste… #Exhaustion #Tired #Identity #Striving #feelings Chapters: 0:00 – That’s Not You 3:47 – You Are Not What You Feel 5:58 – Stuck On A Treadmill 8:00 – Chasing After Future You 11:04 – It’s Already Yours Scripture References: Jeremiah 1, verse 5
When you give up what you want most for
what you want now, you’re not doing you;
you’re being deceived. I can tell people are
being deceived when they say stuff like, “Well,
that’s just how I am. I just go off. That’s just
how I am. I just say what I think.” That is a
bad strategy. Have you ever cataloged your
thoughts? Not all of them are FDA approved.
I believe this message is important to a
generation that is running around saying
things like, “Live your truth.” If he lives his
truth, he’s going to find himself in moments where
it will feel true to him that “This temptation is
stronger than my faith,” but it’s not. There will
be moments where it’ll feel to him like popularity
is more important than calling, but it’s not.
There will be moments where he will feel
that something is true, but what if what
you feel is true is actually a trap? It’s a
trap. To act outside of the character God has
placed inside of you and call that you is
a trap. The Enemy has some of you trapped,
and you don’t know it. He has you trapped in
the prison of what you call your personality.
So, now you run around saying things like, “Well,
that’s just the kind of person I am.” Well,
if the kind of person I am doesn’t match
the kind of God he is, I have to change
some things and choose some things. Come on.
God didn’t tell Jeremiah, “Do you.” God said,
“I knew you.” Steve Jobs has nothing on God. Steve
Jobs made an iPad. God made a resurrection. The
Bible says the same power that raised Christ
from the dead lives in you. I remember being in
high school. I don’t know if I’ve told you this
story before. Maybe I’ve told you it 10 times.
Everybody was getting high, and I had never been
high in my life. I was planning to get high that
night. I remember feeling like, “I’m sick of being
a good kid. I’m sick of being alone on Saturday
nights. I’m sick of this. I’m going to actually
do it tonight.” I remember when I grabbed it and
went to smoke it, my friend slapped it out of my
hand. He looked at me and said, “This isn’t you.”
I came to Ballantyne, North Carolina, today to
tell you “That’s not you.” Everything that’s
sabotaging you, I slap it out of your hand and
declare, “That’s not you.” Every habit… That’s
not you. Look at your neighbor and say, “That’s
not you.” (Don’t slap them. I don’t want to start
anything.) When I feel it rising up in me to
take me down, I slap it. I demolish strongholds.
The weapons of my warfare are not carnal
but they’re mighty through God. This isn’t
you! Not the new you. See, we’re confused,
because we think that if it’s automatic,
that makes it authentic. I am not what I feel. I
am not what I do. I am what God’s Word says I am,
and he is the Great I Am. This changed my
life, because I wrote down the phrase do you,
and then I said, “No, no. The new
you…the you God says he knew.”
So, maybe we should spell it differently. Maybe
doing the new you means doing the knew you. Thank
you, Jesus. You make all things new. Let’s say
I preach this to him, and I’m like, “Okay. So,
don’t just do what you want to do. Do what
God tells you to do.” So then you get out of
the trap. I really think it’s a trap to have an
experience, form it into a belief, and then call
it your truth. That’s a trap. Then let’s say you
get out of the “do you” trap, only to… Bring my
next illustration out. Now you’re about to find
out why I brought Graham up for the illustration.
Let’s say you get out of the “do you” trap.
“I’m just doing me. I’m just being me. That’s
just how I am.” Then you get out of the
trap, the “do you” trap… “Just do you,
boo-boo. Do you. Just do you.” You
get out of that trap. You’re like,
“All right. I’m going to change.” Now that
the Devil sees you’re out of the trap and you
want to change and you want to get better and
you’re not happy with it exactly like it is…
You get out of the “do you” trap, and you get
onto the “future you” treadmill. How many didn’t
know this was a treadmill; you thought it was a
coat rack? It’s all how you use it. This is why
I brought Graham on the stage. Now he’s out of
the trap, but now let’s say self-discipline and
religion puts him on a treadmill where he starts
looking at, “Okay. I’m going to do the new me.
I’m going to wake up at 5:00 a.m. My friend wakes
up at 6:00 a.m. I’m going to get up at 5:00 a.m.
I’m going to read five books of the Bible a
day. Five alive.” How many of y’all started
with a real New Year’s energy going into a new
24? We realize we just take it a day at a time.
I think the crazy thing is… I would do this
illustration myself, but I’m wearing these
boots. They’re new. I can’t crease these. They’re
new. I’m not messing these up. They’re heavy. I’m
not called to the cardio ministry anyway. I’ve
told y’all that before. Here we go. Do the new
you and…go. So now the Devil has some of
us out there, not settling but striving.
To do you, just do you and not let God have his
say, and to commit and put yourself in concrete
for what you’ve been up to this point
is a trap. I know it looks like a bowl;
it’s a trap. I know this looks like
walking, but he’s not going anywhere.
To just do you is to live your life cheated,
but to get this idea in your mind that there
is a future you God would love more or a future
you God could use or a future you that would be
worthy of love in a relationship or a future you
that could feel good about yourself and your life,
and it’s just one accomplishment away, is to
get out of the trap and onto the treadmill.
It’s good as long as it’s good, and it
works as long as it works. I wonder if
there are some people here who have been cheated
because you’ve settled for what you thought you
were. I also wonder if there are some people here
who are chasing…chasing something you think you
need to be because you saw somebody else be
it, chasing something you scrolled past and
thought it was the full story of what a happy
family looked like, chasing after future you.
It goes like this. “Yeah, boy. You’re going
to be great one day. All you’ve got to do
is get through high school, and then you go
to college. Now all you’ve got to do is get
this degree. Now all you’ve got to do is
find somebody who’s actually hiring with
that expensive degree that you’re going
to be paying off for the next 50 years.”
Now I’m chasing, and I’m running. (I’m so
glad I had kids so they could do this part
of my illustrations now that my beard
needs to be dyed.) So now I’m chasing,
and it’s great, but not only is it
getting faster and faster and harder,
but I look around and I realize, “I don’t
think I’m ever going to be anything but me.”
Here I am, thinking that somehow this collage…
Watch. Here’s what we do. We get a collage.
Right? We get the person with all the money.
We get the person with all of the girls. We
get the person with all the success, with all of
the followers. “Oh, if I had 1,000 followers.”
Now you need 10,000. Beep! It just went up.
Beep! It just went up. Here comes the incline.
Now we’ve got social media. I didn’t
even have Twitter when I was a teenager,
and it’s not even called Twitter
anymore, and my beard is gray,
and I’m still chasing. “Well, maybe if I turn 50,
I’ll have wisdom. Maybe if I get through this,
I’ll be happy. And I’m going to rest when…
And I’m going to feel good about myself when…”
Before you know it… No, I’m going up. I’m going
up. I’m going up. You’re holding on. But the Bible
says, “The word of the Lord came to me and said,
‘Before you were formed I knew you.'” The word
of the Lord came to me! The word of the Lord
is coming to you right now. Out of the trap,
off of the treadmill, and into the truth until the
truth gets into you and you recognize, “I’ve been
running after something that’s already mine.
I’ve just been living beneath its potential.”
I’m already clean by his blood. I’m already saved
by his grace. I’m already redeemed by his liberty.
I’m already to the praise of his glorious
grace. Why? Because I refuse to live cheated,
and I refuse to live chasing, because I’m chosen.
Say it. Get that word in your mouth…chosen.
I love you, Holly, but I didn’t pick you
for that illustration, because I didn’t
know if you could last long enough on 12 for
me to get the Scripture up. I’m not picking
on you. You do a lot of amazing things. I
didn’t pick you for it. I picked somebody…
I chose him because I knew that if he had to,
he could beat me up. He’s in wrestling shape.
I’m telling you God chose you, and I’m saying
he knew you. I want you to see the difference.
Close your eyes. You know how you’ve been chasing
after something that you think when you get it,
when you get there… “I’m going to do the
new me. New year, new me.” No, new year,
same nose. But what if you’ve been running
after something that is already yours?
Perhaps the addiction is something the
Enemy planted in your life because there
is something so amazing inside of
you that he wants your birthright,
and you gave it away for a bowl. Perhaps God
really is… Now I’m going to minister this,
because this is me. This is me right
here. Watch this. I sit there and go,
“Well, I’m somebody who goes for
it. I’m somebody who doesn’t settle.
I’m somebody who really demands the best out of
myself. I’m somebody who wants to improve.” That’s
fine. It’s called self-righteousness. When I
talk like that and I don’t receive by grace,
I end up, like Graham almost was…
(He’s still breathing heavily up
here. Don’t let him fool you with his
closed mouth. I hear him breathing.)
I’m running after something. How
long can I keep this up? I’m chasing,
but I’m chosen. You don’t have
to chase it when you’re chosen.