Steven Furtick's Blog, page 51

Elevation Creative: The Earth Is Yours

God is the ultimate source of all things, but sometimes it’s hard to see this in our everyday lives. “The Earth Is Yours”, a motion graphics piece from our Creative team, helps us understand and visualize God’s sweeping command of all creation, and find our connection to the resources He so richly provides.

Trusting God When We Don’t Know the Details

What if our lives were books that were already written? How many of us would skip to the end of a chapter to know how things work out? Or fast forward through a difficult season to get to better days? But real life doesn’t work that way. And often, when we ask God for resolution or direction, His answers don’t contain the exact details or instruction we’d like. In this clip from our series Treatment, Pastor Steven explains how trusting God’s simple commands can set us free from worrying about our future.

What our Generosity Says About Our View of God

We work hard to make a living, and many of us are not sure how or why we should give any of it away. Besides, after the mortgage and the bills and the tuition payments, there really isn’t much left over. But Scripture tells a very different story when describing what belongs to us and what belongs to God. In part 2 of our series Consider the Source, Pastor Steven challenges the way we approach our giving, and why our generosity says a lot about how we view God.

What We Learn When Our Faith Falls Short

No one likes to fail. Even if we learn something through our mistakes, failure isn’t something we’d typically volunteer to do. But what if God had an even greater purpose for our failure than just fine-tuning our skills or strengthening our relationships? In this clip from our series INFIN8, Pastor Steven uses the story of Peter walking on water to explain what our failure can do to point us toward a deeper understanding of who Jesus is and what He has done for us.

You’re a Good Investment

In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding.

Ephesians 1:7

This is an apparent contradiction. You usually don’t think of lavish and wisdom in the same breath or sentence.

Lavish means you are giving more than is necessary or giving it freely. In our time and in this economy, when we think of wisdom, we think of using the bare minimum. To lavish seems to be wasting, and wasting is not wise.

Especially when God is lavishing something on us. From every perspective, it seems like we’re a bad investment. It can be easy to feel like we are a waste of God’s resources or grace when we constantly keep blowing it.

But that’s not how God sees it. God in effect says to every one of us:

No. You’re a good investment from my perspective. I think you’re worth it. I’m not lavishing my grace on you because I don’t know how bad you are. I’m lavishing my grace on you because of how good I am. And because I know how great you can be. And I’m doing it with all wisdom.”

God doesn’t waste anything. There isn’t one drop of blood or one forgiven sin He wishes He could have back. Even when it applies to you. There will never be a moment where God has second thoughts about whether He should have lavished His grace on humanity. Even when it applies to you.

The reason God’s lavishing looks like foolishness is because all we see is who we were and who we are. God, on the other hand, already knows what we will become. In this life and in the next.

And He knows that the only way we’re going to become it is by His grace. His lavish grace. And that’s why He’s wise to give it.

This entry was originally posted July 19th, 2011

Elevation Creative: Creation Piano

Have you ever felt like you were lacking the things you need in this life? One of the simplest solutions when we feel this way is to look around and notice how much God has already provided us. This video from our Creative team, celebrates the abundance of God’s creation, through the physical and natural world, and how much more God has blessed and equipped us as Christians with His Holy Spirit.

Elevation Worship: Raised to Life EP

Today is the release of the “Raised to Life” EP, featuring brand new music from Elevation Worship. This digital-only EP includes two new songs – “Jesus I Come” and “Unstoppable God”, as well as a studio version of the song “Raised to Life”. Our prayer is that during this Easter season, these songs will remind you of the sacrifice Jesus has made for all of us, and the joy of our salvation found only through His death and resurrection.

Click here to purchase the album on iTunes.

We’ve also made several resources available for each of these songs at ElevationWorship.com, including lyrics, chord charts, tutorials, and more.

Where To Look When We’re Overwhelmed with Worry

In the middle of our daily struggles, it can be easy to focus on ourselves and get caught up in a wave of worry. Why is this happening? What did we do wrong? When are things going to get better? But God tells us to look in a different place. In the first part of our series Consider the Source, Pastor Steven teaches us what God says about our situations and our worry, and why knowing where we come from is paramount in understanding where we’re going.

Consider The Source

Throughout the Bible, God shows us He is a provider. He tells us not to worry because He knows all our needs. Still, most of us find it hard to trust God when it comes to our job performance, bank account, or relationship status. Why do we struggle entrusting God with our future? How do we learn to live with open hands in a world that tells us to hold on to what we have? Find out in our new series, Consider the Source, beginning March 29-30.

Click here to find a location near you. Click here to invite your friends and family.

What We Can Do When We Feel Hopeless

What do we do when we’re facing a situation that seems hopeless? We’ve tried everything you can think of, and done everything we can do, but it seems like there’s nothing left to give. It seems like the only thing left to do is throw in the towel. But in this clip from our sermon series Get Back, Pastor Steven shows us that even when we see no way out, God has a different perspective – and He can still use our hopeless situation to do something extraordinary.