Steven Furtick's Blog, page 80

The Only Way to Recover

We have all lost things in our lives that seem unrecoverable. Not the small stuff like your keys or that other sock. Big things. Like hope. Faith. Love. Trust. Integrity. What are we supposed to do in the situations when we think we’ve lost it all? How can we recover? In this clip from our series Get Back, Pastor Steven explains to us that God knows what we lost – and He has a recovery plan.

The Problem With Keeping Your Options Open

God did not bring us into existence so that He could only reign over certain areas of our lives. God did not send Jesus to rescue a sinful, broken world so that He could just be one of our options. So why do we treat Him that way? Why, as Christians, do we want God to reign over our spiritual lives, but then often choose to follow other options when it comes to our job, our relationships, or our finances? In part three of our series IN•FIN•8, Pastor Steven shows us, though the story of Elijah on Mount Carmel, the problem with keeping our options open.

Did God Really Say?

1 Now the serpent said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” 2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”

Genesis 3:1-3

There are some questions we have no business trying to answer.

The first sin in human history wasn’t just pride. That’s the common interpretation, and it’s partially true, but it’s not the whole story. The first sin was disbelief in something God had said. A promise He had made. And it all started with an innocent question.

Satan implanted four simple words in Eve’s mind: Did God really say? An innocent question. But a question she had no business trying to answer. He got her to scrutinize something she was simply called to believe. She fell for it. Ate the fruit. And people have now been scrutinizing God and His promises ever since.

Satan’s strategy towards us is still the same today. His primary question is still: Did God really say…? If he can get us to innocently question God’s promises or His character, the rest will take care of itself. Just ask the Israelites who listened to the 10 spies’ negative report of the Promised Land.

Now of course there’s room to ask tough questions about God. You’d have a mindless faith if you didn’t. Of course there’s room for wondering how we navigate the tensions of this world that we live in that’s so often a waiting room between the promises God has made and their fulfillment. You wouldn’t live in reality if you didn’t.

Nevertheless, we always have to remember:

Like the Israelites in the Promised Land, you’re called to explore God’s promises, not scrutinize them.

There really are some questions you have no business trying to answer. Questions whose only answer can ever really be, “God has said.”

Is God really good if people are dying in Japan and from tornadoes?

Can God really heal people?

Has God really forgiven me?

That’s not land you’re supposed to scrutinize. Not because it isn’t important. But because God hasn’t called you to validate His promise of His goodness. His healing power. His forgiveness. Or any other promise He has made. He’s called you to believe it.

Is it difficult? Of course. But since when has faith ever been easy?

Don’t waste time trying to validate a promise that God has simply called you to believe.

Some people will say that just means you’re brainwashed.

I say it just means you’re born again.

And you don’t want to repeat the mistakes of Adam and Eve again.

Why You May Not Want the Favor of God

As crazy as it sounds, there’s a chance you don’t want the favor of God on your life. And it’s because we don’t understand what the favor of God looks like. Having God’s favor does not mean our lives are easier or more convenient. That’s not the point of it. In this clip from our series Found Favor, Pastor Steven teaches us what it really means to have the favor of God – and why it’s better than any life we could imagine.

The Role You Were Meant to Play

Often we struggle understanding were we fit into God’s plan. What part of the story are we? What lines do we have and what is our motivation? What do we do when the spotlight is on us? In this clip from our series Living A Better Story, Pastor Steven explains how the role God designed for us to play is often different than what we thought.

Elevation Worship: Nothing Is Wasted

Today is the release of the fifth album from Elevation Worship, Nothing is Wasted. The songs of this project were birthed out of Pastor Steven’s book Greater, and its message of laying down our lives to follow Jesus and make Him greater. Each chapter of the book has a corresponding song inspired by that chapter, creating a deeper experience for readers of the book.

Nothing is Wasted is also a double album, with two expressions of the same songs – a live version recorded at a night of worship with our church, and a deluxe edition that includes unique studio versions of the same songs.

Tune in to the Elevation Network throughout today, from 8:00AM EST to 8:00PM EST, to see live acoustic performances, go behind the scenes with Elevation Worship, hear the stories behind the songs, and preview our new live worship DVD. We’re excited to share this album and its message with you.

Click here to purchase the new album on iTunes.

When God’s Way Isn’t The Best Way

If all we want is a life of convenience and only convenience, then God’s way is not the best way. Because when it comes to God’s will and His plan for our lives, His way is not always the shortest way or the easiest way. It’s better than that. In the second part of our series IN•FIN•8, Pastor Steven uses the the story of Moses and the Red Sea to show us that God’s way is the way that causes us to press in towards Him, stretching our faith and increasing His glory.

Meat, Milk, and Malnourishment

One of the greatest critiques of the American Church today is that it’s malnourished. Some would even say it’s our most pressing problem.

When most people voice this complaint, the focus is on the worship experience. From people who leave these churches, you hear, “I wasn’t getting fed.” Or, “I just want some deeper teaching.” From people outside these churches you hear, “too much milk, not enough meat.”

In some cases, I’m sure this is true. But I really don’t think that’s the real problem. Yes, American Christians are malnourished. But I don’t believe it has anything to do with milk or meat.

Most American Christians aren’t malnourished because of what they’re getting fed on Sunday. They’re malnourished because they don’t feed themselves Monday through Saturday.

So you had filet mignon on Sunday and learned about the mystical union of Christ and the church as it relates to the rapture and the design of the tabernacle in relation to Levitical dietary laws as understood by the Council of Trent. Good for you. Have fun starving yourself the rest of the week and letting your pastor read the Bible so you don’t have to.

So you had some milk on Sunday and learned 37 ways to ________. Have fun having 37 new ways to not obey God during the coming week.

The crisis facing the church today isn’t what people are getting fed on Sundays. It’s what they’re not feeding themselves the rest of the days. Who really cares whether you consume meat or milk on Sunday if it’s the only meal you have all week?

I’m not saying this to get pastors and churches off the hook. It is the shepherd’s job to feed the sheep (John 21). And feed them well based on their needs and faith development. But it’s also the sheep’s job to eat:

13Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. 14But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.

Hebrews 5:13-14

Here’s the point. Churches: we have a responsibility. We should serve up the Word, hot and fresh every single Sunday. As church leaders, it is our job to create and sustain processes and systems that responsibly enable people to grow in their faith after receiving Christ.

People in our churches: you also have a responsibility. If you refuse to study the Word, apply it, pray some during the week, join a small group and dig deeper with others, there’s not much we can do to help you. Your malnourishment won’t be cured by anything we give you on Sunday.

So are you an infant and need milk? Drink it for now, but the only way you’re getting more mature and will be ready for meat is by training yourself. Constantly. Do you want meat? From these verses, it seems like meat is doing the milk. On your own. Constantly.

Not getting it served to you once a week.

This entry was originally posted on June 28, 2011.

Speaking Life Over The Ones We Love

What would it look like if everyday we spoke life, love, and potential over our relationships? How would that change the prayers, interactions, and frustrations we have with the ones we love? In this clip from our series Mr. & Mrs. Betterhalf, Pastor Steven shows us what happens when we speak life over our relationships.

Elevation Creative: Adam & Eve

During our series InFin8, we’re looking back at eight of the greatest stories forever told. Stories like Adam and Eve, Moses and the Red Sea, and Daniel and the Lion’s Den. The hard part about many of these stories is that over the years, they have become common to us. We’ve forgotten the joy, excitement, and wonder that made them so great to us in the first place. So during this series, we’re retelling them through the lens of childlike imagination, recapturing the power of these stories and their impact on our lives. For part one, we used play-doh and stop-motion animation to tell the timeless story of Adam & Eve.