Steven Furtick's Blog, page 61

What Can Keep Us Being Grateful

God has blessed the life of the believer in Christ far beyond anything we could ever deserve, and far greater than anything we could ever do for ourselves. His grace, His mercy, His love – they are renewed for us everyday. And because of this truth alone, we have no reason to not be grateful. So why are our hearts not filled with gratitude every morning? Why, after all God has done for us, are we not heaping our thanks and praise on Him with every breath we take? In this clip from our series “The Highest,” Pastor Steven explains what gets in the way of a grateful heart.

Elevation Creative: Standing on the Promises

As believers in Christ, when we turn our lives fully and completely over to Jesus, we can then begin to understand the power of His promises to us as children of God. The Holy Spirit begins to permeate our everyday thoughts and actions, sustaining and encouraging us through every season. And as we begin to look back on our lives, we are able to see God’s sovereign hand of faithfulness in every circumstance, giving us hope and faith during the uncertainty of the future. In this video from our Banner Years series, our creative and worship teams joined together to look back at God’s past faithfulness in the life of church, set against the backdrop of a modern interpretation of the classic hymn, “Standing on the Promises.”

Where To Look To Find Your Joy

Joy. We don’t really know how to define it, but we know that we like it and many of us spend most of our lives trying to find it. We look for joy in our jobs, in relationships, in temporary pleasure. But at the end of the day, all these things will fall short. They will leave us empty and unfulfilled and we start looking somewhere new the find our joy. But as believers, as Pastor Steven reminds us in this clip from our series “The Joy Genome,” we have never-ending access to the most powerful source of true joy.

The Importance of Our Spiritual Attire

As Christians, we have been called to represent Christ to a lost and hurting world. To show to others the grace of God that has been so freely given to us. To live lives worthy of the calling we have received. But we all have parts of our lives that do not reflect Jesus. Some days it’s our attitude and outlook. Other days it’s the words we say to others or to ourselves. In this sermon from our series 52 Days of Thanks and Praise Pastor Steven teaches us the power the Holy Spirit has to locate the unbecoming areas of our lives and help clothe ourselves with the righteousness of Christ each and every day.

Hold on tight to what you can’t get back

A dilemma we all face is trying to determine how tight of a grip we should maintain on different things in our lives. A question I have started asking myself to help sort my priorities and determine the strength of my grip is what can’t I get back?

Not everything is replaceable. There are some things you simply can’t get back if you lose them. And these are the things I want to hold onto the tightest.

You can’t get back hours you missed out playing with your kids because you didn’t leave work at work.

You can’t get back your marriage if your actions and behaviors cause it to completely disintegrate.

You can’t get back the integrity you spent years building because you wanted to cut a corner for momentary pleasure or gain.

No paycheck or promotion is worth your family. No stubborn habit is worth your marriage. No compromise is worth your character. Prioritize what is most important in your life and hold onto it with everything you’ve got. Ruthlessly fight anything that threatens to loosen your grip.

We often hold too tightly onto the things we could replace or do away with all too easily. Let them go. Hold on tight to what matters most.

Or you might not get it back.

Finding the Source of Our Greatest Peace

In the midst of our own daily stress, most of us don’t immediately think to praise God. In fact it’s probably the exact opposite. When our thoughts are consumed by problems at work or issues at home, it’s incredibly difficult to just let it go and focus on glorifying Christ. But in our sermon series The Highest, Pastor Steven explains the peace we are given when we don’t prioritize our problems, but offer God our praise.

Elevation Creative: Banner Years 2013

As Christians, we should never want a day, month, or year to pass where we don’t look back and thank God for His grace and provision in our lives, in our families, and in our church. And before we begin looking ahead to the future God has for us in the coming year, we want to take a look back and remember just how amazing our God is and how grateful we are to play a role in the work His is doing through His Church. Watch this video from our Creative team as we celebrate and thank God for yet another banner year.

Why We Don’t Have to Have What It Takes

Why is it easier to believe a preacher can accomplish great things for Christ, but not everyone else? What about construction workers? Bankers? Teachers? Parents? The Bible says that as Christians, the spirit of God lives inside each of us. Not because of who we are, but because of who He is. In this clip from our sermon series The Prodigy In Me, Pastor Steven explains why God isn’t looking for people who have what it takes to be used for His glory.

52 Days of Thanks and Praise

There are two times in our lives when we should praise God: when we feel like it, and when we don’t. Either way, He is worthy. Giving God praise and gratitude is a choice we decide to make each day. And as believers in Christ, we have more than enough to be thankful for. The love of Jesus and the grace of God are enough to keep us grateful for the rest of eternity. So during our 2013 Banner Years Weekend, as we looked back at God’s past faithfulness in our lives and our church, Pastor Steven issued a challenge of spoken praise and visible gratitude for the final 52 days of the year.

If you’d like to join with us over the next 52 days of thanks and praise, visit 52DaysofThanksandPraise.com. There you’ll find a daily scripture and praise prompt, as well as a live social media stream featuring thousands of others giving God thanks and praise.

Why do you stand looking…

Read Acts 1:9-11

Here’s a summary:

While Jesus was being transported into heaven following His resurrection, His followers watched with great interest.

Of course they did! The Son of God was being beamed up into the skies before their very eyes. It’s understandable that they would be tempted to rubberneck.

So when the angels interrupt the experience with the question:

Why do you stand here looking into the sky?

I’ve got to admit, it comes across a little unfair. Don’t these guys have the right to star-gaze for a minute or two considering the magnitude of the moment?

It makes more sense if you put the question in context. In the same breath that the angel commands the disciples to stop staring upward, he reminds them of the urgency of their task:

Jesus is coming again. There is an imminent need for you to be His witnesses. (Jesus had just explained this in Acts 1:8 – you know the verse.)

So get your head out of the clouds, receive the Holy Spirit, and then get back to work.

Now consider how much more this rebuke would apply to many modern day followers of Christ.

Jesus is coming again, we have the message of the Gospel, and more resource and capability than ever before to be His witnesses.

But it seems like a lot of us have our heads in the clouds.

We critique one another’s methodologies rather than celebrating one another’s success.

We divide in camps over our dim interpretations of complicated theological issues rather than uniting under the banner of salvation through Christ alone.

We let small people with microscopic vision dictate the course of our ministry and limit the scope of our impact.

We can’t stand around with our heads in the clouds and our thumbs up our-noses. We don’t have a minute to waste or the luxury of pontification.

Jesus is coming! His Spirit is within us! We have power! We are the Church!

How dare we stand around looking in the sky-when there’s a world to win right in front of our face?