God is in it with you. Pastor Steven Furtick reminds us that faith doesn’t mean that we won’t sink; it means we won’t stay there. This is an excerpt from “Rags To Righteous!.” To watch the full message from @elevationchurch , click here: 
• Rags to Righteous! | Pastor Steven Fu… #faith #peace #hope #stevenfurtick #elevationchurch Chapters: 0:00 – God, Where Are You? 2:30 – When You Start To Sink 5:30 – Life May Be Against You, Jesus Isn’t 7:38 – Cry Out Now 9:32 – I’m Sinking, But… 12:07 – An Unlikely Deliverance 14:10 – God Uses Who He Wants Scripture References: Matthew 14, verse 30 Jeremiah 38, verses 6-7
When we say, “God is not against
me,” perhaps it seems to you
unnecessary. Perhaps you’ve never had
the thought that God was against you,
but is it possible that while confessing
“God is for me,” life is coming against
you in a way that is making you wonder, “If God
is with me, why is there only mud in this pit?”
I don’t know if you noticed, but the one thing
that was never mentioned in the chapter I read
you was the presence of God. It does not say
Jeremiah was thrown into the pit but God was
with him in the pit. It says that about
Joseph in prison in the Old Testament,
but this is a little different.
This is one of those moments where
Jeremiah must have been thinking as
he was sinking, “Where are you, God?”
We know he thought this way, because
in the book of Lamentations… I mean,
think about the name of that book. Jeremiah
wrote that book. Lament. It means to grieve. It
means to question. In that book as well as the
book that bears his name, many times he would
speak the word of the Lord, but he would also
question within himself. “God, if I’m your man,
what’s up with this mud?” This is his third
imprisonment for preaching the word of the Lord.
“God, if I’m your servant,
why am I in this cistern? God,
you called me to be a prophet. You told
me before I was born that you knew me
and appointed me.” Yet he’s learning, as
we all must learn, that just because you
are appointed doesn’t mean you’ll never
be attacked. I’m going to say it again.
I know you don’t want to wear this helmet, but
I don’t want your head to crash on the pavement
that you think just because you have a purpose
and a promise from God there will be no pits.
If I preach this, but I don’t tell you about the
pit stops on the way to purpose, you will smash,
you will splatter, you will smudge, you will
stop, you will feel stuck in the moments when
the feeling goes away. Yet the time to sing
“God is not against me!” is not when you see
it. Let me tell you when you need to sing, “God
is not against me!” Sing it when you’re sinking.
So, this is how it’s going to work in your life.
When you start to sink into the pit of your own
problems… I feel anointed to help somebody
up today. I see you’ve been sinking. I see
you’ve been going down in it. I see you’ve been
going back to past habits that are beneath you.
I see you’ve been going into memories you need
to leave in a room, but they keep coming out.
I see you keep going into self-pity. I see you
keep going into old ways of processing. I see you
keep going into despair. I see you keep going into
suicidal thoughts. I see you keep going back to
toxic relationships. I see you keep going back to
the things that break your heart. I see you keep
going back to the things that pulled you. I see
you keep going back to the things that offer you
temporary relief, and I see you sinking, but I see
you singing as you’re sinking. “Love lifted me.”
Faith doesn’t mean I won’t sink; it means I
won’t stay there. Please do not let our songs
confuse you into thinking that we never sink.
Of course we have low moments. It’s called human
experience. It’s called being born of a woman.
It’s called having a nature that was given to
us by Adam but was redeemed by Christ. When I
was sinking, he reached down and rescued me.
I need somebody who has been rescued to get
up and rejoice that he rescued you. Yeah,
we’re getting there. I’m not rejoicing
because the Enemy never resisted me;
I’m rejoicing because when he resisted me,
God rescued me. It is never mentioned in
this Scripture that God intervened,
but I’m going to show you something.
I never read about it before. I went to cemetery
(seminary), went to Bible training school. I never
read about it. I read about Jeremiah, but look
at what happened when he was sinking. This is
what’s happening in your life right now whether
you realize it or not, whether you see it or not,
whether you feel it or not, whether you can
believe it right now or you just think I’m hyping
people up because I’ve got to give them good
energy and that’s what I do on Sunday morning.
That’s not just what I do on Sunday morning.
This is what I do on Monday morning. This is
what I do on Tuesday morning. This
is what I do on Wednesday morning.
This is what I do when I’m in my own muddy
moments so I can encourage myself in the
Lord. Why are y’all looking at me like you
work security? You look suspicious of this.
Yet I am telling you that I sink. Safety
Steve is also Sinking Steve. Speaking
Steve is authoritative. Sinking Steven has
to remember, “No, no, no. He’s not against
me. Life is. Trolls are. Aging is, but God
is not.” Do you know what Peter showed me
in the New Testament? Then I’m about to show
you something that’s going to blow you away.
Peter showed me in Matthew 14:30… Peter is
walking toward Jesus on the water. He has a
path toward purpose. Then, all of a sudden,
he saw the wind, which was against him,
and he was afraid. Beginning to sink, he cried
out, “Lord, save me!” That’s the only verse
you need for your sinking moments. That’s what
you need. He started sinking because of what he
saw. The wind was against him. Sometimes what
you see is against you, so you forget what is
in you that is for you. “Beginning to sink…”
Peter doesn’t sound like this when he cries.
He’s not gurgling anything. I don’t even
think he was up to his waist. He said, “Oh,
no. I’m not going all the way down there
when Jesus is right here.” I want you to
get that mentality about your day. “I’m not
going to do it after I drink eight glasses;
I’m going to cry out when I start to sink.”
“I’m not going to do it after I’ve
already gone off on everybody in
my phone and ruined all of my friendships.
When I start to sink…” He started to sink,
and he said… What do you say when you
start to sink? “God is not against me.” So,
you start to sink. The wind is against
you. Remind yourself, “God is not.”
They might be, but God is not. It might be, but
God is not. If every demon in hell is against you,
God is not. God is not done with you. God is
not fed up with you. God is not gone. I’ll
show you this from Jeremiah 38. Now we’re ready
for Jeremiah 38:7. He was sinking down in the
mud. Verse 7: “But…” You missed a shout. Let’s
do it again. He sank down into the mud, but…
Let’s do it again. He sank down into the
mud, but… I’m not shouting about the mud;
I’m shouting about the but. I’m sinking
into the feeling of anxiety… You got it.
I’m sinking into the old way of doing it… One
of the best Scriptures you’ll ever see is,
“We were dead in our transgressions and
sins, but God…” Yet the Bible doesn’t
mention God in this passage. It says he
was sinking in the mud, but Ebed-Melek…
Baby name possibility right here…Ebed-Melek. Your
child will be the only one in class raising their
hand if you name them Ebed-Melek. Ebed-Melek, an
Ethiopian… It says here “Cushite.” It also says
he was an official in the royal palace,
but that’s not specific enough. He was a
eunuch who was brought over as a slave and
was put in a position of service. In fact,
the name Ebed-Melek… Ebed means servant;
Melek means king. “But Ebed-Melek,
a Cushite…” A eunuch. The eunuchs, when they
were brought over to serve, were castrated.
The Levitical law forbade anyone who was castrated
from entering the assembly of the Lord. So,
I want you to get the preciousness of this
partnership and the unlikeliness of this
deliverance. A man from Ethiopia who was brought
to a land that was being ravaged by enemies,
who was serving a king who had no
courage, speaks up and steps up.
As Jeremiah sinks in a cistern in a pit,
he speaks up as a servant in the palace.
God is working in places you can’t see. God is
working through people you don’t know about.
God is working through people who you think
don’t belong in that position. I’m pointing
it out to you because some people have let you
down. Maybe some people have been like the men
in this passage who threw Jeremiah into the pit.
“Oh, thanks a lot. I was just trying to help.”
But while they were throwing him into the
pit, God was already preparing somebody in
the palace to speak up on his behalf. I’m
preaching this word to somebody who feels
forgotten. You are not forgotten. God is
just going to use something foreign… I
said God is going to use something
foreign. Think how wild this is.
God needs somebody to move to get
Jeremiah out of the pit. Who does
he choose to use? Somebody who wasn’t
even allowed to come worship. You’re
going to have to watch this message
twice to get it, because it’s going
to remind you that no matter who betrays
you, God always has a “But Ebed-Melek…”
He not only comes to the king, but he
confronts the king. This is the kind of
courage you have when you know “God is
not against me, but he’s in it with me,
working through me, fighting for me.”
Isn’t it amazing that you would stand up
to a king? And he is not even considered
a true worshiper. Not by that culture.
God uses who he wants to use. I want to talk to
everybody who doesn’t even have a high school
education. God uses who he wants to use. I want
to talk to everybody who has had an abortion,
and people try to make you feel terrible
about it. God uses who he wants to use,
and he’s going to give you something
in your future to help somebody.
So, let’s turn those tears into
testimony so you can help somebody,
so you can hand somebody a helmet. I want
to speak to everybody who has been cast out,
cast aside, castrated, and left. Isn’t
it crazy that the one who was left
out is the one who lifted up? Sinking in
loneliness right now. Oh, but Ebed-Melek…
I’ve been spending time with this
guy all week. The more I studied him,
the more it touched me what he did. He
heard they put Jeremiah into the cistern,
and the king was sitting in the gate. Now, I want
to point something out. The king is in the palace;
Jeremiah is in the pit. God is not with the
king. God is with Jeremiah. Get this. The
palace does not prove God’s presence.
The pit does not prove his absence.