Waiting On An Answer | Reflect '23 | Holly Furtick

I am so excited about what God has given me tonight. I told you my heart was like pounding in my throat while I was sitting on the front row. Because I just feel like everything has woven together tonight. And I'm so excited about what God has given me to share with you. So I want to jump right in. Okay. If you have a Bible, we're gonna look at Acts, chapter one. If you don't have a Bible, it's fine. We're gonna have it right up here on the screenshot. Here we go. In my first book, I told you, Theophilus, about everything Jesus began to do and teach. Luke is writing the book of Acts into His first book was the book of Luke. And he says, until the day that he was taken up to heaven after his chosen apostles further instruction. After giving his chosen apostles further instructions through the Holy spirit, during the 40 days after he suffered and died, he appeared to the apostles from time to time and he proved to them in many ways that he was actually alive. And he talked to them about the Kingdom of God. Once when he was eating with them, he commanded them, do not leave Jerusalem until the Father sends you the gift he promised. As I told you before, John baptized with water, but in just a few days, you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit. So when the apostles were with Jesus, they kept asking him, lord, has the time come for you to free Israel and restore our kingdom? And he replied, the Father alone has the authority to set those dates and times, and they are not for you to know. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you. And you will be my witnesses telling people about me everywhere in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria and to the ends of. And after saying this, he was taken up into a cloud while they were watching. And they could no longer see him. And as they strained to see him rising into heaven, two white robed men suddenly stood among them. Men of Galilee, they said, why are you standing here staring into heaven? Jesus has been taken from you into heaven. But someday he will return from heaven in the same way you saw him go. Then the apostles returned to Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives, a distance of half a mile when they arrived, they went to the upstairs room of the house where they were staying. Let's pray one more time. Father, would you bless the time we have together tonight? Would you help us to be present in this moment? We are ready to hear what you have to say to us tonight. Father, would you speak through me? Would you let this word came out the way you gave it to me, in Jesus name we pray. Amen. All right, so I have a question for all of the ladies over the age of 35 in the room. By the way, I've got to change the font size. That's what I was thinking while I was reading Acts Chapter one. I was like, oh, okay. All right. So for all the ladies over the age of 35, I have a question for you. Did you have a rule about how you were to answer the phone when you were a kid? Okay, so for everyone under the age of 35. You see, our phones were attached to a wall in the house, and when the phone rang, you raced your sibling to see who could answer it first. And you grabbed the phone, and out of breath, you said, hello. Well, my parents, and I think probably yours, too, hated this game, obviously. Remember, we all shared one phone number, so it could be my neighbor Tricia from across the street calling to see if we wanted to swim, or it could be a deacon from my dad's church who had something important to talk to him about. So my parents made a rule that we had to answer the phone with this greeting. Boitnot residence as my maiden name. You didn't know that? I got an upgrade when I got Furtick Boitnot residence today. Our kids, they all have their own phones. Of course they do. And believe it or not, my kids. And I'm betting that yours, too, It's a strange phenomenon because they prefer to call instead of texting me, because texting takes way too much patience to actually wait for the other person to read and respond to your question. And recently, I noticed that when my kids call me, they don't even wait for my greeting. Boy, not residents. As soon as they see that the call has connected, they say, hi, mom. Can you. Because, I mean, obviously, they're not calling to check on how my day's going. And so they don't even wait for me to say hello before they bombard me with their questions. And I guess every generation of parents has their own cross to bear, and there's reasons for why we make up, like, all these rules. So just like my parents made up their rule, we had to put a little rule in place at our house. And Steven Furtick had to step in and say, you wait until your mother says hello before you say anything to her. And the other day, Abby called me, and I was getting into my car, and at that exact moment, and so the call had, you know, like, connect to my car speakers. And I finally said, hello. And Abby was like, mom, I thought you would never answer. Okay, tonight I want to talk to you about waiting on an answer. I want to talk to the person who is waiting on an answer specifically from God. Maybe you need to know why. Maybe you need to know how much longer or when or which or how. Or you feel like you've texted God and you feel like you've called him and you're beginning to think that maybe God has changed his number or he's blocked you. You know, like when I was a little girl in Sunday school, I remember a Sunday school teacher telling me that when you ask God for something, he always answers in one of three ways. Have you ever heard this before? He always says yes, no, or maybe. Okay, I get this sentiment. I understand the concept. But I think I took it way too literally. Because now I look back on that, I'm like, wait a minute. The God who created language, like every language, He. He has a very vast vocabulary that is definitely not limited to three words. So I want to get practical tonight, and I want to take a look at this portion of Scripture, and I want to show you how to evaluate your own situation when you feel like you are waiting on an answer from God. In our passage we've just read, we're coming in at the end of Jesus ministry on earth. Jesus has died on the cross. He has risen again. And for the past 40 days or so, he's been appearing to the disciples on and off. And in our passage, they don't know, but this is actually their last time on earth with Jesus. And Jesus is giving them some really important instructions, but they don't know how important it is because they've taken his presence for granted. And they don't know that this is their last, like, in person conversation with Him. And I want you to look at what he tells them in verse four. He says, verse four, do not leave Jerusalem until the Father sends you the gift he promised. As I told you before. Do I want to read the next verse? Yeah. John baptized with water, but just in a few days, you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit. Okay. Have you ever been trying to give really important instructions to someone and they didn't see the importance? Okay, so not to compare myself to Jesus, but about a month ago, we dropped off our oldest son at college, and we were helping him move into his dorm room, and I was making his bed. And you can judge me if you want, but putting sheets on a bed was not one of his chores at our house. And so, hours before I'm leaving him on his own, I'm trying to show him how to make a bed. So I'm like, you know, this is the mattress cover and this is the fitted sheet. So then you put in it, you know, see, it hooks around and he does not care. And he's way more engrossed in a much more important task and that is setting up his space speakers. And so I just was like, you know what? I'm not. I just, whatever, I'm just gonna make his bed for him. And I just decided he could figure it out later on his own if he even decided to change his sheets. I kid you not, this boy FaceTimed me two weeks later because all the sheets had like come off of the bed. And he was trying to remake it and he couldn't remember how. He didn't know how to do it. So I sent him a YouTube video. I literally looked up a YouTube video and I sent it to him. Just a little mom advice. I don't know. Okay, sorry. So I wonder if the disciples would have listened more closely if they had known that, that this was their last time seeing Jesus face to face. Cause I mean, how many of us would like, pay money to have a face to face conversation with Jesus, right? So I'm thinking this through. I'm imagining, like, if Peter had known, would he maybe have taken notes? You know, like, don't leave Jerusalem. Got it. Holy Spirit coming. And then like, if they'd been taking notes, they might have asked better questions, like, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, like, can you tell us more about that, you know, or do we need to do anything to prepare? Should we get everybody together? But the disciples, they were caught up on this one question that they had been asking Jesus for the past three years, and Jesus had not answered it. And so they kept asking, essentially what they were asking was this. When will you free Israel and restore the kingdom? This was the thing that they had been wanting to know because they thought, based on ancient prophecies, that Jesus was going to have a physical takeover of the kingdom of Israel, that Jesus was going to lead, like a rebellion and they were going to overthrow the Roman government and Jesus was going to establish himself as the earthly king and that his disciples would be like the government leaders. That's why they were always arguing about who would be first in the kingdom. They weren't talking about the kingdom of heaven, Jesus was talking about the kingdom of heaven. They were talking about Earth. And they wanted to know, when Jesus becomes president, who's gonna be the vice president? And like, who. What cabinet seat? If I don't get vice president, you know, can I be whatever it is. Their last conversation with Jesus and look at what he says to them. Is that what I want to say? No, look what they say to him. So when the apostles were with Jesus, they kept asking him, lord, has the time come for you to free Israel and restore our kingdom? They kept asking him, like little kids on a road trip, are we there yet, Jesus? Is it time yet, Jesus? One version that I read said every time they were gathered together, they asked Jesus this question. And here's the thing that I've noticed in my life. God is always speaking to me, but a lot of times what I equate as feeling blocked is actually me not wanting to hear what he's saying to me. And I miss the message or I ignore the instructions because I'm so focused on the answer that I want him to give me. Like, I remember when I was in middle school, I wanted my mom to drop me off at the mall alone with my friends so we could walk around. And I asked her over and over and over, and my mom was like, absolutely not. My mom's at our Greenville campus right now. She did not care that everyone else's moms were dropping them off. She did not care that I was missing out on all the fun. Over her dead body was she gonna drop off her 13 year old daughter at Dadeland Mall in Miami, Florida. And I was so mad. And I hit her with every excuse. You don't trust me? You don't think I can handle it? And I literally, I mean, like every angle. And she would not budge. And I remember saying to her, why won't you answer me? And she said, I have answered you. You just don't like my answer. Listen, tonight I'm not trying to diminish what you're going through. And I want to make it clear to you that as a child of God, you can and you should ask him for everything that you want. Everything. You should have the faith to believe. And you can have the faith to believe that God will heal you, that God will save your marriage, that God will provide for your every need. God can give you the job that the man, the baby, God wants to give you the desires of your heart. And he is a good father who likes to give good gifts to his children. And sometimes you need to have the faith to keep visualizing the thing that you are believing God for. Like Graham and Abby, they asked their dad for a dog for years. Years. Graham wrote a song, Abby drew pictures, they made lists, they made up contracts. That they signed. They promised their daddy would never have to do anything to help with the dog. And finally, years later, when their dad thought the time was right, their request was answered. And Bo came into our family. Okay, I gotta give you a little update on Beau, since we're talking about Beau, because Beau's been in our family for about a year and a half now. And the other day, Steven and Bo and I went for a walk, and we decided to do, like, an extra loop. And we got worried because it started to get hotter because we started off in the morning, but it started to get really hot. And we got worried that Bo was overheating because, you know, he's like a. He's a Boston Terry. He has, like, the smashed face and they. They overheat, apparently. And anyway, have you seen those tiktoks that are like my dad with the dog? He didn't want. You know what I'm talking about? And I mean, since we're talking about the dog and it's reflect and it's the one night of the year that I get to preach and show whatever pictures I want to do. You want to see a picture of your pastor with the dog? He didn't want. He carried him down the driveway. He was overheating. I want to say something else about that picture, but I'm not. Okay. Okay. So my point is. My point is we gotta get back. Okay, we're back to the sermon. Back to the sermon. My point is God hears you. God is not ignoring you. But as a good father, he is considering so much more than what you want. Sometimes he's making sure the timing is right. Sometimes God does have to say no, though, because as all the parents in this room would agree, just like my mom wouldn't drop me off at the mall. The mark of a good father is not how happy his children are. The mark of a good father is that he knows what is best for his child. And sometimes you have to wait because there's something that God needs to put in you before he gives you what you're asking for. Sometimes there's something that he needs to work out of you before he gives you what you're asking for. Sometimes there's something better than what you're asking for. Okay, look at what Jesus says back to them after their question. He says, I love this so much. The Father alone has the authority to set those dates and times, and they are not for you to know, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will be my witnesses. Telling people about me everywhere in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. I told you that God can say a lot more than yes, no, and wait. And in this case, what he says back to them, it's probably the hardest thing that we can hear from God. And that is not for you to know. Stephen was preaching about this verse one time, and he said that this was Jesus inviting them into the mystery of God. This might be not. This might not be the encouraging message that you came to reflect, to hear. But if you have been waiting on God about something tonight, especially if your question starts with why or when or how much longer, God's answer to you may be, this is not for you to know. So here's my question. If God answered all of your questions, when would you need to have faith? I know you want to know. I want to know, too. But I'm learning that not knowing is the faith part. Waiting is the faith part. So if you're taking notes, write this down. Maybe I'm not supposed to know. Earlier this year in our Bible reading club, I told you. I got initiated into the Bible reading club that Stephen was doing with our son. And I came across this verse. I'd never seen it before. It changed my life. I have to show it to you. This is Deuteronomy 29:29. The secret things belong to the Lord our God. But the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever. That we may do the words of this law, God has secrets. There are things about God and about this world and about the Bible, for that matter, that we are not meant to know the answers to. If we understood everything, that would make us God. And I'm learning to accept that there are things in my life, I on this side of heaven that I will never understand. And a huge part of walking in a relationship with God is learning to trust him, even when you don't understand. I know you want answers, but can you accept the invitation to mystery? Can you stand firm on the belief that our God is a good God and He is never gonna let you down? And if he's not answering you, you can trust that he has a reason. When you aren't getting the answers that you seek, you gotta change your question. God, will you give me faith? Show the verse again. The secret things belong to God, but the revealed things belong to us. God has secrets, yes. And we ask him for the faith to accept the things we don't understand. But he has revealed a lot of things to us. And Sometimes I think I get so caught up in the things that he hasn't revealed that I miss what is right in front of me. And the revealed things are the things that enable us to do, to live. The revealed things are the directions that he has given you. Sometimes you gotta look for the but. Write that one down really big. Look for the but. Just go back to Jesus answer and look for the but. He replied, the Father alone has the authority to set those dates and times and they are not for you to know, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth. He's giving them the answer but. The disciples wanted positions, but God wanted to give them a different kind of power. They wanted to overthrow Rome. Jesus wanted them to change the world, literally the entire world to the ends of the earth. The disciples today, they're not men that we may or may not read about if we're paying attention in world history class. They are men that we are still talking about and learning from. They're powerful. God breathed Holy Spirit writings that we have 2,000 years later. Where's your butt? My friend Brandy thought that she would be married to the same man for her whole life, but now she has a ministry to divorce women. My mom thought that her three girls would go to college and get married and have families of their own. But now she's an outreach liaison to one of our outreach partners who works with parents of children with special needs. You thought you'd be married by now, have kids by now, have a certain career by now. When you aren't getting the answer you hoped for, you have to have the faith to find your butt. Okay, watch what happens next. You guys did. That was funny. The faith to find your butt. Alright, so here's what happens next. Verse 9, after saying this, he was taken up into a cloud while they were watching and they could no longer see him. As they strained to see him rising into heaven, two white robed men suddenly stood among them. Men of Galilee, they said, why are you standing here staring into heaven? Jesus has been taken. Taken from you into heaven. But someday he will return from heaven in the same way you saw him go. Jesus gets taken up into heaven right before their eyes and rightfully so. They stand there staring. They're like, like when I was a little kid. Did you ever release a balloon into the air? I know that's bad for the planet now, but in the 80s we didn't know. And I remember vividly, remember releasing a balloon and saying, I'm gonna watch until it completely disappears. And standing there and straining until it went from a speck to nothing. That's what the disciples are doing. And I would too, if a man went up to heaven right in front of me, I'd be like, so God had to send a couple of angels. Bible doesn't say they're angels exactly, but they were men in white robes who appeared suddenly. So God sends some angels and they say, hey, guys, snap out of it. He's gone. He's gone to heaven, but someday he'll return. And I can just imagine the disciples, they look around and they're all like, what do we do now? They're like, oh, okay, what did Jesus tell us to do? And like, what if Peter actually had taken notes? And he pulls out his notes and he's like, do not leave Jerusalem, guys. We gotta go back to Jerusalem. All right? I'm not an angel, but my husband does call me the Holy Spirit. And I feel like God sent me here tonight. Reflect 2023 to give a word to somebody. To say, stop staring. Stop waiting for the pain to go away. Stop waiting for an explanation. Go back to the last thing he told you. What was the last thing God spoke to you? I know you're waiting on God to speak to you about a specific situation. But might I suggest to you tonight that while you're waiting for that answer, you can do the last thing he told you to do. Remember our Deuteronomy verse? The secret things belong to the Lord our God. But the things that are revealed belong to our children forever. To us and our children forever. That we may do all. That we may do all the words of his law. Listen, I know that following God and hearing his voice is not black and white, no matter what some other Christians want you to think. God has never spoken to me in an out loud voice. And sometimes I'm going to stand up here as your pastor's wife and tell you it's confusing because God doesn't always give us clear answers, but he has given us some pretty clear instructions. Jesus gave the disciples three instructions in this passage and I'm going to give them to you as I'm closing tonight. The first instruction is what we've been talking about. He gave them a place to be. He said Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth. Everything that God was going to do through them had to start where in Jerusalem. The familiar place. The place where they've Been doing ministry for three years. What is your Jerusalem? What is the place where you need to go and wait? I believe with all of my heart that God wants to do a new thing in your life. But I think he might want to do a new thing in the same old place. He didn't send them to a new place. They couldn't handle it. They were standing there staring. He sent them back to a familiar place. Go to the place where you have been assigned until you receive further instructions. The job that you have now today is the place where God wants you to be. Serve him there with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, with all your strength. Your marriage, the one that you're in today, your family, your neighborhood, your church. The power of the Holy Spirit is coming to you there. The last place that God puts you. Everything launches from that place. From Jerusalem. They went to the ends of, of the earth. Where has he placed you? Go back there and wait. Do the last thing that he told you to do. The second thing that he gives them is a person to become. He says, you will become my witnesses. The absolute hardest part about growing in my relationship with God is focusing on who he's called me to become. Oh, I have so many thoughts about who he's called Steve and verdict to become. I mean, there's books and songs and so many things. I have so many dreams about who he's calling my kids to become. And pretty much every relationship I have, I can easily come up with a list of things that they could do better, things that they should stop doing or things that they should start doing. And many days my prayers to God are all about how he needs to, you know, help so and so. And I think, though sometimes, I mean, it's. I don't pray for the people you love, but sometimes I'm avoiding working on the person that he's called me to be. And listen, it's normal and natural and beautiful as women for us to want to help everyone around us and to worry about the people that we love and to think of all the ways that our relationships would be better if the other person would, you know, call more, cuddle more, apologize more, whatever. But perhaps the most important thing that I have learned as an adult is that the best thing that I can do to help the people that I love is work on me, to focus on the woman that God is calling me to become. And it's not overnight. It's a process. Jesus, he, even Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, it was like a process because Samaria was the place that they didn't like the people there. Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth. He didn't say, you will be my witnesses to the ends of the earth. That's too vague and too lofty. He was specific. He said, you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem. Yeah. Who is God calling you to become? I was reading this book about anxiety and teens because. Yeah. And I don't know if you read parenting books. I really don't like parenting books because most of the time they make me feel like everything I did was wrong and it's too late. You know, you get halfway through the book and you're like, oh, it's too late. Too late for this one. But this book had a line in it that really helped me. It helped me with so much more than my parenting. But the book said, the best thing that you can do for your child's anxiety is handle your own. And I'm confessing to you because I get it all backwards. I want to focus on what God wants me to do, the parts of me that I can see and tangibly manipulate. And we focus on our position or our career or our title or our appearance. And those things are not bad in and of themselves, but they are not nearly as important as who I am becoming, the parts inside of me that are unseen. That's our verse for this year, 2nd Corinthians 4:18. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. Don't get fixated on the parts about you that you can see, the things that you can measure. You change what you see by giving attention to what you don't see. Jesus, he was moving the disciples from a seen relationship with him to an unseen relationship. And that required a different level of faith. It was one thing to believe in Jesus when he was multiplying bread and calming storms. That was like observation ministry. But now they're moving into a new level where they're gonna see the Holy Spirit do miracles through their own hands. They were moving from observation. Look what Jesus did to experience. Look what the Holy Spirit did through me. I don't know if this is making any sense to you. I'm trying to tell you, stop fixating on the wrong things, things in your life. Stop hyper focusing on the answers that you're not getting. Figure out what God wants you to be right now in this season of your life. Whatever your things are that you're facing, what can. How can you be a better person in this situation and let the Holy Spirit empower you to live it out. The answers that you are seeking, seeking come from the inside out. So God gave them three things. He gave them a place to be. He gave them a person to become. And then this is the best part. He left them with partners to believe with. Jesus spent three years building this group of disciples. He handpicked them, he brought them all together. And it would not be a successful night at reflect if I didn't stand up here and remind you to look around. I don't care if this is your first time here. You don't know anyone, and you're sitting in the seat in Raleigh. I don't care if you're watching at home alone in your pajamas. This is for everyone. God never intended for you to walk out your faith alone. He has placed some people in your life. Now let me defend these people for a second. They are not perfect by any means. The person sitting next to you, she has her own drama, she has her own baggage. She has her own unanswered questions. But there are some people in your life who will walk beside you on this journey. You're missing out if you're not reaching out to them. You gotta lean in to the people who are in your life. You've gotta allow the people around you in to your unanswered questions. Cause you know what? When you tell your unanswered questions, they're gonna tell their unanswered questions. And you might go, oh, I like my questions better. You might not. You might find somebody who can help you with your unanswered questions. Talk about who you believe that God is calling you to become in this season of your life. With some people that you can trust, with some people that are hearing the same messages and also trying to live their life for Jesus too. But if you don't, you don't have to let everyone in, though. But you do have to let someone in. If you don't lean into the partners that God has given you to believe with you and pray with you and cry with you, you will never experience the fullness of life that you were meant to have as a believer in Christ. The partners are like a gift that Jesus left. And they didn't even realize that Jesus left them with each other. Like he gave them the Holy Spirit, but he gave them each other too. For the past several months, we have been singing a song here called Trust in God. How many of you love that song? I love that song. Aren't you grateful for? To be able to be a part of a church where the pastor works so closely with our worship team to write songs that are biblical and relevant and me too. And this song, every time we get to the part where we sing I sought the Lord and he heard and he answered. I don't know, maybe this happens to you too. But like my mind just gets flooded with memories of how many times in my life God has answered me. I think about how far I've come. I think about the ways that he's provided for me. I think about the ways that he's protected me, the things he's kept me from, the things he's given me, the things that I was so worried about that he took care of. And when you start to think about all of those times that God has answered you, I find that my faith is renewed for the answers that I'm still waiting for.