Not great at following God’s advice Pastor Steven Furtick

God did not just say he would guide you. He

said in Psalm number 46 that he would be our guide.

That's better.

Because if God gave me guidance, I know.

Something about myself. I'm not good at following it.

.

It's a red porch swing.

It's got an American flag draped over it. She knows

all these details of stuff that I don't recognize. And

then she'll look at me, and she'll see my eyes glazing.

Over, and she'll be like, you know what? I'll just

give you the address. And that saved our marriage. I'm serious.

I have no... This is how bad it is.

When I was a teenager, I would not go get

my driver's license. Not because I didn't want to drive.

I could not find my way around Monk's Corner. What

is there to find in Monk's Corner? There's a Walmart

and there's.

A high school. I couldn't find....

It was so bad. My dad had to make me

go get my driver's license. He walked in the house

one Wednesday. It was his day off. It was summertime.

I had turned 15 months ago.

Every time he would ask me, do I want to

go get my license?

I would tell him no. It wasn't that I was

scared of driving.

I was so embarrassed that I couldn't find my way around.

So I just kept putting it off. And one Wednesday,

he walked in.

It was his day off. It was my day off.

I had a summer job.

My first job was at Pet Rest Crematory and Cremation Service.

Okay?

I started from the bottom for real. Don't look at

me like I was glamorous. And I was in my

room playing my guitar.

He walked in and said, today's the day. We're going

to get your license. I'm sick of this. And I

wasn't scared of the driving test. I should have been.

The woman that was sitting next to me for the

driving test, she was so mean.

The car kept cutting off.

Every time I tried to start my dad's Jimmy, y'all

remember the Jimmy?

Every time I would try to start, every time....

My dad's car was such a piece of crap. When

you try to start the car and put it in reverse,

it would cut off. And so I was trying to

back out of the parking lot of the DMV. I

couldn't get the car out of the parking lot. And

every time I put it in reverse, it would cut off.

And the woman let me do it three times. And

she says, sir, in the history of my experience of

135 years, administering these tests.

I've never done this, but get out the car. Your

test is over.

You failed in the parking lot. My dad came running

across the parking lot.

He's sweating.

My dad's a big old guy, sweating, waving his arms.

Give him another chance, man. Give him another chance. I

forgot to tell him this car's got some issues. You

can't have the air conditioning on when you have it

in reverse.

Y'all didn't grow up driving these kind of cars. I

know you got a BMW on your 16th birthday. I

had to make it.

I think a lot of believers have been given license

to live in the fullness of the promise of God,

but I don't trust my sense of direction.

And so God said, I see you, you look like

a sheep. I see you.

Turning left instead of right.

So I'm going to guide you. The Lord is my shepherd.

That's a good thing he's my shepherd, because I am bad.

I mean, I am bad at finding my way. So

he said that he would make me lie down in

green pastures. Wait a minute, I don't want anybody to

make me do anything. Live a little while.

And you will want someone bigger than you, wiser than you,

stronger than you. You'll stop trying to shrink God down

into a formula that you can manipulate and you will

come to the point where you'll say.

God have your way in my life.

Make me lie down in green pastures.

David said, He leads me beside still waters. Isn't that cool?

He restores my soul.

He leadeth me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Yea,

though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death.

Wait a minute.

We were just talking about still waters and paths of righteousness.

How did we end up in this valley of the

shadow of death? But sometimes... The paths.

Of righteousness must pass through the valley of the shadow

of death so that you can go through situations that.

Look like, seem like, and feel like.

They are going to kill you, but you get to

the other side and you see a table that is

spread of provision in the presence of your enemies.

If there is one thing I believe.

It's that goodness and mercy have been following me all

the days of my life.

And I look well.

That is one thing that keeps me from going crazy.

I know God is guiding my life. I really have come.

To the point where I believe that I can't always

tell you where. But I know who the Lord is.

is my shepherd.

And I found out that he will use circumstances that

he did not create. He will even use confusion to

guide me to confidence. So the children of Israel, I'll

prove this to you, okay? They come to the Red Sea.

They're confused. But God put a cloud, here it is,

before them. This is Exodus 13, 21. They're not in

the wilderness yet. They're not out of Egypt yet. They're

in between. They're 15 years old. They're about to get

their driver's license. They don't know where to go, so

look what God does. By day, the Lord set a pillar,

and it went ahead of them, and it is a

pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire

by night, because God will not always look the same

way in every situation. Sometimes you miss him because you

are looking for him to appear in the form of

a method And so you come to something I'm gonna

turn my back so this just can be between you

and God wave your hand if you're going through Something

right now that you do not fully understand right?

It's called being alive So now they're coming to this

this transition point.

And they don't know where to go because they can't

go back to Egypt and But they don't know how

to get across the sea, so God gives them a cloud.

And watch what the Scripture says. Go back to 21.

I want to make sure you don't miss this. Sometimes

I go too fast, don't I? And we miss stuff.

He sent them the cloud. It went before them to

guide them. God's positioning system. So wherever I go, God

went before me. That sounds so simple. But thousands of

you don't believe that yet. You believe that the good

things that are happening to you are the result of

the guidance of God. But I'm telling you that God

was using the chariots of Egypt and the whip of

Pharaoh to make sure.

That they kept moving.

So God is driving them from behind and leading them

as he goes before them.

Say it out loud. God is my guide.

Say it like the devil might have been pushing you

around lately. Let him know God is my guy. And

even if it's the devil pushing, God is the one

who is pulling me into the purpose. All things work

together for the good. So I need a guide. And

so the cloud went before them. And it showed them

the next step to take. And the cloud, it led them.

I need the Lord to lead me. I need him

to lead me to speak these sermons. We're all in

trouble if he doesn't lead me to preach these sermons.

I heard somebody say something in church one time. They

were talking about being led by the Holy Spirit. And

you probably heard that before, that God led me. Sometimes

Christians use that to say the craziest stuff. All religions do.

Some religions will commit acts of terror. and say that

they were led by God to do that. One thing

I heard early, they were taking an offering in church.

I grew up in church, but it wasn't personal for

me then. You know, like it was a religion. It

wasn't a relationship.

But when my relationship with God.

Became real, because only you can decide that, they were

taking an offering one day and The person taking the offering,

they said this phrase.

They said, just give today as you feel led.

And I was only like 17 years old, but I knew, well,

that's not going to work.

As I feel led.

Because, I mean, let's just apply that feel led to

other areas of life, okay?

If I ate.

what I feel led to eat, there would not be

enough denim in these United States of America to circumvent

my waistline. If I exercised when I... feel led to exercise,

it would be once in January and once in May

when I thought about looking good in a bathing suit,

and then I would decide I already got my wife,

who cares, and I would never hit the gym.

If I did it when I felt. Okay, try this.

Tell your kids, when you feel led to go to school,

try that with your employer. I wasn't feeling led to,

what if you went to work when you felt led

to work? But we will subjugate our relationship with God

to our feelings.

Now notice this.

The cloud didn't ask the children of Israel, do you

feel like moving today? Would this be a good time?

And did I catch you at a bad time? And

God doesn't consult their mood. See if they feel like moving.

I don't have to feel it. I'm not being led

by my feelings. I'm led by my priorities.

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