Steven Furtick's Blog, page 49

Elevation Creative: Diamonds

When we think of a diamond, we think of a beautiful, sparkling gemstone. But when a diamond is first found, it barely resembles the stunning jewel that symbolizes love and commitment throughout the world. In this motion graphics piece, our Creative Team explains how each of us as Christians possess a similar treasure inside, and through shaping and refining, we are able to understand the real value of the glory within us.

The Next Step In Understanding the Will of God

Most of us approach the will of God in the exact same way. We want to know it, so we can do it, because we think we should. But for many of us, God wants to get beyond the surface of our actions. In this clip from our series God’s Will is Whatever, Pastor Steven explains to us that maybe what God truly wants from each of us has less to do with understanding His will so we can do the next thing – and more to do with our hearts.

Finding Faith At The End of Our Hope

It’s easy for us to define ourselves by our worst moments. And it’s hard to be hopeful if we are only known by our worst days. But, in part three of our series The Hope of Glory, Pastor Steven examines the life of Abraham to show us that, when God defines our lives through Christ, he doesn’t focus on past mistakes or even our current feelings and circumstances. And even at the end of hope, God can use our faith to fulfill His great purpose in our lives.

Stop the Hop

One of the things that really troubles me about the church today is the phenomenon of church hopping and church shopping. It’s a consumeristic mindset towards the body of Christ that grieves the heart of God.

It’s time for us to stop the hop. This isn’t Christianity. Jesus didn’t die so we could sample different churches like varieties of meat on a party platter. Jesus died to establish His church as the most powerful entity on the planet.

We are alive at the greatest time in history for the advance of the gospel. We have so much going for us.

We have the ability.

We have the resources.

We have the people.

What we don’t have is them committed to a place where they can actually be used for their God-ordained purpose.

If this generation doesn’t make the impact it should, it won’t be because it didn’t have the resources. Or even the passion. It will be because it was too busy hopping to different churches to stop and commit to one where its resources and passion could actually find an outlet.

The church is the change the world is waiting for. God help us if we keep the world waiting for us while we try to find the perfect church for us.

If you’ve fallen into the trap of church hopping, let me encourage you: embrace your place somewhere where God can use you. At the end of your life, God’s not going to be impressed or pleased that you saw what He was doing at ten different churches. He’s going be more pleased that you were a part of what He was doing at one church.

And you’re never going to find the perfect one, so give up looking. If the church you’re visiting doesn’t have what you’re looking for, it might be because God wants you to provide it.

Let’s all commit together to begin a campaign to stop the hop.

Find a place to get planted. Embrace it. And start changing the world.

The question of our day isn’t if God wants to do incredible things through the church. The question is will we be in place to experience it?

What You Can Expect from God

When we are hurting or disappointed with a person or situation, all we really want is for things to work out. We want to get the apology we expected, the job we deserved, the success we earned. If we are living a life in Christ, it can be easy to think that nothing bad should ever happen to us. In this clip from our series The Expectation Gap, Pastor Steven focuses on the words of Paul in Philippians 3 to explain the deeper meaning of Christ’s resurrection and give us a complete picture of what it looks like to truly pursue Christ in our lives.

Elevation Creative: The Force of Grace

When we think of grace, we often see it as a gentle, forgiving aspect to our salvation. It waits idly for us to make a mistake so it can go into action. But there is another side to grace that we often don’t see. Grace is an infinite force. It is central to our existence. Because of grace, we have hope in our future. This past Easter, our Creative team made a short film to help us visualize the scope and magnitude of grace. From the smallest molecule to the grandest galaxy, grace exists in our everyday lives and in creation all around us. Because of God’s great love, this enormous force we call grace was made for us.

What A Greater Life Really Means

If we could trade places with anyone for a day, who would it be? LeBron? Oprah? Billy Graham? No matter who we pick, chances are it’s someone whose life seems greater than our own. But in this clip from our series, Greater, Pastor Steven uses the biblical example of Elisha to teach us that, when God calls us to a greater life, it often means trading in the worldly definitions of success we see all around us for the far greater rewards of a life in Christ.

Easter At Elevation 2014 Recap

This Easter, across all our Elevation locations, we celebrated Jesus, His death, resurrection, and the hope that He has given us all as believers in Him. We rejoiced in the promise of our salvation and the grace God has lavished upon us in spite of our sin and our past. In this recap video of our 2014 Easter worship experience, we meet just a few of the volunteers who work behind the scenes, pray, and sacrifice in order that the Gospel can be presented to those who walked in the doors far from God and left as new creations, raised to life in Christ.

The Hope of Glory

Hopes, dreams, imagination. They were placed inside us for a reason. No matter our age or background or journey – we all have a desire for purpose. We all want to matter. We all want our lives to make an impact. What if we already had everything we would ever need to make our lives count – In spite of our mistakes, our shortcomings, and our wasted time? God for us. God with us. God in us. What’s in you?

Join us for our series The Hope of Glory. Click hear to find a location near you.

A Forgotten Aspect of Our Faith

We have all seen our share of trouble, hardship, and uncertainty. We’ve seen pain. We’ve experienced loss. And in these moments, our faith can be shaken. Sure, we believe that God exists. We believe Jesus is who He said He was. But in the face of our circumstances, we have a hard time believing that He has our best interests in mind. In this clip from our series I Know He Is But What Am I?, Pastor Steven explains that even in the midst of difficulty, our faith requires trusting that God is a great rewarder with great plans for our lives – and understanding that He has already given us our greatest reward.