Why Do I Act Like This?

You can’t resist what you’re not ready for. In “Why Do I Act Like This?,” Pastor Steven Furtick explains that reflection helps us prepare for whatever comes our way. This is an excerpt from “The God Of After.” To watch the full message from @elevationchurch, click here:    • The God Of After | Pastor Steven Furt…   #faith #peace #hope #stevenfurtick #elevationchurch Chapters: 0:00 – How Do You Deal With Correction? 1:55 – Why Did I Act Like That? 4:35 – Stop And Ask This Question 6:46 – Get Ready For The Fight 9:47 – Understanding Your Triggers 12:59 – The Hidden Expense To Sin Scripture References: 1 Peter 5, verse 8

now one of the things

um that I was talking about last

Wednesday I spoke to my staff Wednesday

and after I spoke to the staff I spoke

to a smaller group of like 20 of the top

staff new staff

and uh I had a conversation with a young

lady because in the

staff teaching I was talking about how

you deal

with correction

or specifically not fighting against

things that God is trying to send to

help you in your life

which is something I struggle with

and so she had a follow-up question

after the session that I did with the

staff she said well when you’re a

fighter and you’re sitting there in the

moment

and somebody’s like challenging you or

saying something that’s really making

you go crazy and that fighter wants to

Rise Up In You

and just fight back

how do you in the moment receive that

that interaction and really process it

positively and I said I don’t

I never process positively in the moment

Almost Never

um you don’t either

but after

after you know then that’s usually where

a lot of my spiritual growth happens is

after

I screw it up

and the Holy Spirit shows me hey you

screwed that up

would you like to keep screwing that up

would you like to have me show you how

to stop screwing stuff up in your life

and I’m like well Lord it just depends

like what am I gonna have to do to stop

screwing it up I have to go back and

apologize and I want you to realize that

spiritual growth is not measured by

perfection in the moment

but really on your ability to go back

after the fact

and be correctable by Christ

so you don’t get frustrated with

yourself

I I told the staff member who asked me

that I said just yesterday

just yesterday this guy honked at me

you know where this is going

and with my elevation sticker on my car

talked at me and he pulled out in front

of me

somebody set this up for you this fool

this brother

[Applause]

figuring out who I’m talking to today

when he pulls out in front of me I’m

going the speed limit I’m doing nothing

wrong I mean nothing wrong I can’t

always say that on the road but in this

particular instance he honks at me and

he pulled out in front of me

so yes

I stopped the car

yes

I backed up

and yes

I said are you good

but I smiled when I said it

and I kept my voice really low

and he said are you good and I said I

don’t know that depends are you good

because if you’re good I’m good but if

you’re not good you know

[Applause]

you know I had to get all the way back

to my house

and try to think what made me back up

and talk to this guy on the road like

that I mean this guy might be getting

baptized Sunday in my church

I don’t know this guy

[Applause]

horses he might he might have something

in the glove box that’ll make much last

Sunday my last Sunday

him I don’t know any of it I don’t even

think about it in the moment I think

about all that after

and then I tracked back and I was like

why was I so tight why couldn’t I just

laugh at this this uh

blessed

tool of the Lord for my sanctification

and drive on

I realized what we did right before that

was take family Christmas pictures

my wife has me taking the family

Christmas pictures now in August

of course I’m edgy

who wants to take family Christmas

pictures even in December let alone in

August do you know all the fights that

we have been through in family Christmas

pictures through the years of course I’m

a little edgy so I’m bringing this up as

a humorous example at my own expense to

show you how immature I can be but that

I realize that something happened before

he pulled out in front of me

and honked at me that made me back up

in middle of the road

and act like I’m 13.

and then sometimes

in our own lives

we never take the time

after we act a certain way

to back up

and ask the question

what was it

that put me in that frame of mind to act

that way

so then we just repeat the behavior over

and over again

and the devil just picks our lives apart

because we never stop to ask the

question after we act away we don’t want

to act I mean that could have gone much

worse it ended up being a pretty mild

story from in my estimation of how it

could have gone

but you know there are other things in

my life that I look at like

times when I am completely unreasonable

and I have to go back sometimes and say

what was it

before that I think that’s what Peter

means when he says in verse 8 put it

back up be alert

sober minded

to recognize

when the enemy attacks you where you are

most vulnerable to his attacks

because without asking that question you

just kind of repeat the same stuff

over and over again

some of my best growth moments in God

have been after my worst performance

moments

outside of God

where I go back and say

what was it

you ever had something you did where

you’re like well I know it wasn’t that

that made me act like that so what was

it that made me act like that

what was it that made me so irritated

about something that was so

insignificant

why does something so small

like a pebble in my shoe

caused me to walk so crooked

and sometimes when you go back and you

look at it you’re like oh yeah that’s

what it was I actually in the process of

taking those family pictures I think I

was very stressed and I think I was a

little sad because I’m sending my son

off to college next week and I’m not

going back on all of this to blame it

so that next time I come up on it I can

beat it

can I teach this message today

sometimes when the enemy attacks you

you act like it was a surprise attack

but if you would pay attention to your

own life

you could be ready for some of the stuff

that comes at you regularly

you can’t resist the devil that you’re

not ready for

I’m just getting warmed up I hadn’t even

got to my good verse yet

but he said be alert

and sober-minded or clear-headed One

translation would say

because the death

the death someone

to devour

so if he can eat you alive with anxiety

he will

because he’s looking for his lunch

if he can eat you alive with the fence

he will

because he’s looking for his lunch

if he can eat you alive with the memory

of something that you did that God has

already forgiven he will

because he’s looking for his lunch

he is looking for someone who has not

taken inventory of their lives to go

back and track the times that you know

what it seems like the enemy always

attacks me here and he always attacks me

when

but when you have an unreflective life

when you are just reactive all the time

every attack that happens to you you are

not ready for you cannot resist it there

is no Readiness where there is no

reflection

[Applause]

I want to get better and better and

better in my life not at blaming stuff

that happened but going like hey what

was it that put me in that state that I

wasn’t ready for that and how next time

when I’m going into that situation can I

be a little more ready for it

sometimes God will uncover really weird

stuff for you like this I’ll give you an

example when I get really hyped up

before I preach it’s a setup for me to

be disappointed if you’re not hyped up

when I start preaching but here’s what

happened

I pulled into a private space today

you had to drive through some traffic

and people and stuff like that I didn’t

have to bring any kids to church today

Holly did all that

so of course I’m ready I have to get

anybody dressed anybody in the car on

time I didn’t have anybody come for but

myself only person I had to make sure

had his clothes on and shoes on and

showered up was me

so I’m in a good mood

but what if you’re not

so I realized that like I got to be

ready when I come out here to preach

that you might not be ready to listen

yet

because if I’m not then when the

discouragement comes when I’m like oh no

they don’t look like they’re really into

this well they’re into it but it’s just

like a cold plunge for them like they

just got to get settled into it let them

sit there a minute

you know I asked Scott one time because

when people yawn when I’m preaching that

really sets me off

like really sets me off

if you ever notice in my sermon where I

take a sharp turn and it gets really

really rough all of a sudden like really

mean or like condemnation I start

talking about hell and and judgment and

stuff like that I probably saw somebody

yawn that’s probably what just happened

and I I remember something even this

week I was thinking about this because

in Psychology they call it triggers and

you know different things to it could be

a smell it could be a sight it could be

a sound it can be a lot of different

things but I remembered that there was

one boy when I was first learning to

teach the Bible and he would full-on

yawn not like yawn like he was trying to

hide it but he would full on stretch

back on his shirt would stretch up over

his belly I have to look at his belly

his open mouth his open abdomen and all

this stuff and that was when I was first

learning to preach and I realized that

that kid was right in front of me when I

was first learning to teach the Bible

I’m not gonna say his name but he was he

would yawn while I was preaching the

Bible and so to this day if I see

somebody on it actually sets me in a

place where I feel like a beginning

preacher

is that weird

or maybe I just need more therapy but

but even recognizing that it gives me a

moment to know oh that guy yawning he he

might have worked third shift

he might be tired because maybe he’s

visiting somebody in nursing or or he

stayed up online playing video games but

it’s not mine to judge but if I

recognize

that that puts me in a bad place

then I can be ready watch this to

respond rather than to react

and to resist the temptation before I

attacked before before I’m attacked

because Faith does not give you the

ability to prevent the enemy’s attack

I wish it did

I wish that by faith we could rebuke

every panic attack in the room every

Financial attack in the room every

attack on your physical body in the room

if I had the power to do it I would do

it I would love to do it for you but

there is nothing in First Peter 5 8 or

any of the rest of the Bible that

suggests that at will we can just rebuke

the devil’s attack and prevent the

devil’s attack

but we can plan for what you’re going to

do the next time he does attack

that’s why Peter called him a roaring

lion

before he ever comes to devour you

there’s always a roar

do you recognize him when he roars

or

do we live lives that never reflect and

say

why do I keep ending up in this

situation why is the devil always

picking on me why am I always in this

bad relational pattern why are people

always number coming to my Aid and why

am I never you know it’s always this

thing of blaming it

or do we want to beat it

and resist it

and get stronger

from it

I think it would be easier to resist

temptation

if the consequences were immediate of

the sin

I think that would be really easy to

resist

I think even overeating

if the bad stuff happened while you ate

no I’m serious

if if if if the cellulite grew

as you chewed

you stopped chewing

yeah notice

how the benefits of discipline are

delayed

and the payoffs

of donuts

are immediate

I mean a quick sweet relief

a glazed relief

[Applause]

I’m getting hungry y’all I fast before I

preach but but there’s there’s there’s

there is a hidden expense

to sin

and a quick hit

for sin

and there is a hidden benefit of

discipline that doesn’t kick in quick

but you’ll be glad you did it after

I used to always say I could do crunches

if my abs would pop pop pop pop pop

while I crunched when I crunch on a

Frito if I could crunch on the Frito and

the fat would Pop I could stop with the

Fritos but it is the delay that gets me

trapped

the consequence comes after

somebody shout after

it’s the most amazing thing what the

devil will hide from you when he tempts

you

it’s an amazing thing what he’ll bait

that hook with that you don’t see when

you bite

it is not until after you are hooked

that this isn’t so fun anymore

it’s not until after you can’t get rid

of the Habit that you wish you had found

in healthier way to deal with your

emotions

and this is why we must teach in church

not only the Deliverance of the Holy

Spirit

but the disciplines of the grace of God

so that we can help people make

decisions today that they will be glad

for

after I want you to pray to God after

you fail but I also want you to pray to

God before you fail so that maybe he can

spare you some of the pain that you

could put something in his hands before

you get caught in it so that God could

spare you from some of the Wasted Years

and this is not even in my notes but I

just feel like I need to go off for a

minute and say sometimes we create our

own suffering because of shortcuts that

we take because of how we want to feel

right now but I heard a wise preacher

say never give up what you want most for

what you want now

because there are some things you want

to be in the future

that are going to require some

adjustments to what you need to do right

now

even some of the scriptures that you

hear and some of the messages that you

hear

that will challenge you the most will

help you the most

after

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[Music]