Steven Furtick's Blog, page 88

Defining An Active Faith

As a Christian, does our faith sedate or activate? When we feel like we’re losing the spiritual battle for our life, is faith the consolation prize or our most valuable weapon? In this clip from the sermon series Give. Me. Faith. Pastor Steven teaches us the right way to wield our faith.

Why We Can’t Win The Same Way Anymore

Everyone likes winning. It’s how we’re wired. No one really enjoys the ‘moral victory’ that comes with a loss. But many of us have a misunderstanding of what it means to really win. What does victory look like in our daily lives? And is winning even the point? In the first part of our new series Banner Years, Pastor Steven gives a new perspective on victory by teaching us where it must begin.

From the Archive: Grace Is Power

When it comes to grace, people usually go wrong in one of two ways.

We either think that we’re too far gone for it and dismiss it.

Or we take it for granted and abuse it.

While they’re on opposite ends of the spectrum, they’re actually just two different expressions of the same problem:

They both view grace as weakness.

The first group lives as if grace is too weak to rescue them.

The second group lives as if grace is too weak to transform them.

Both are wrong. Grace isn’t weakness.

Grace is power. It is power to save and to transform. To cover all of our sins and remove them from our lives. To get you off the hook and to get you into the zone of transformation.

Check out 1 Corinthians 15:9-10:

9 For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.

I love that. First Paul relates with those of us who think you’re the exception to God’s grace. If there was ever a candidate, it was Paul. Not you. And apparently his sin wasn’t too powerful for God’s infinitely more powerful grace. And neither is yours.

Then he comes in and punches those of us who abuse it in the mouth. God’s grace is not without effect. Grace isn’t just a cheap perfume you splash on to cover the stench of your sins. It’s the power to change your life from the inside out.

Grace is power.

Power to save. Power to live right. Power to talk right. Power to walk right. Power to give. Power to forgive. Power to do anything God calls you to do in His name. Power to pray. Power to overcome.

Paul could have lived in perpetual guilt for what he had done. Or he could have taken advantage of what God had done for him. But he didn’t. And look at what he became.

You have the same options.

Embrace the power of God’s grace and imagine what you’ll become.

Originally posted February 23, 2011

Elevation Creative: Fruit of the Spirit

When we make decisions in life, will we plants seeds of fear or seeds of faith? This motion graphics piece created for our recent series Ghost Stories, takes a look at the Fruit of the Spirit and how we practically can experience them in our daily lives.

Why Forgiveness is Your Only Option

We have all been hurt by others. Sometimes that hurt ends up defining our lives. It keeps us from forgiving. But in this clip from our F-Bomb series, Pastor Steven explains why as Christians, forgiveness is our only option.

The Purpose Behind Our Brokenness

Throughout the Christian life, we can expect to experience seasons of blessing. But the Christian life is much more than just sunshine and rainbows. We should also expect to experience seasons of breaking. In this clip from the sermon Blessed & Broken, Pastor Steven teaches us why the breaking stage is so important.

A Divine Reminder From The Holy Spirit

As Christians, we tend to have selective memories. But our spiritual growth often times has less to do with learning something new or deep, and more about remembering what we already know. Remembering the goodness of God and what He’s done in our lives. Remembering our righteousness given to us through the saving grace of Jesus. Truths we already know – but we often forget. In the final sermon from our Ghost Stories series, Pastor Steven shows us how the Holy Spirit serves as our divine reminder of who we’ve become in Christ.

From The Archive: Thank You, and Please

It’s common practice to teach your kids to say ‘please’ and then ‘thank you’ when they have requests. It’s considered proper protocol. And when talking to adults, it is. But with God, things are a little bit different.

God has a protocol for how He wants to be approached. And it starts with thanksgiving:

Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. For the LORD is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.

Psalm 100:4-5

With God, ‘thank you’ should always come before ‘please.’ The first thing that needs to come out of my mouth in prayer and worship needs to be praise for who God is and what He has done. Not just instructions for what I want or even need Him to do.

Thank you is the key that opens the door to God’s house. There’s a lot of reasons for this, but more than anything, it’s about perspective.

If you thank God for everything before you ask Him for anything, it makes you realize you deserve nothing. It gives you the worldview that but for the grace of God, you would be in hell. And in turn, it makes you even more thankful because you’re not. And because God still answers your prayers.

Additionally, starting with ‘thank you’ is just practical. When we start with praise, we establish the goodness and greatness of God right off the bat. Now all of our subsequent prayers and complaints can be answered by a good and great God who can both respond to us and who wants to.

It’s impossible to be self-absorbed and God-conscious at the same time. Realign your perspective in prayer today.

Start with ‘thank you.’ And then move on to ‘please.’

Originally posted July 26, 2011

Knowing Is Half The Battle

We are familiar with the Enemy. We know his favorite strategy for sabotage and we’ve felt the devastating effects of his assault. In this clip from our series Hebrews 12, Pastor Steven teaches us how to stand firm in the midst of battle.

Late Leader, Volume 1

God has given us so much as a church and we jump at any chance we have to give back and help others fulfill the calling God has placed on their lives. And #LateLeader is one of those opportunities. #LateLeader is a live Q&A session hosted periodically by Pastor Steven on Twitter. Leadership questions are submitted using the #LateLeader hashtag, and he does his best to answer as many as he can – in 140 characters or less. We collected some of the best questions and will be releasing them over the next few months in different volumes. Check out Volume 1 now, and follow @stevenfurtick on Twitter for your opportunity to participate in the next #LateLeader event.

Click here to read #LateLeader, Volume 1.