35 Burst results for "Steven"
AP News Radio
Golden Knights reach 2nd Stanley Cup Final after Game 6 win over Stars
"Las Vegas golden knights blank the Dallas star 6 to nothing in game 6 of the Western Conference Finals to advance the Stanley Cup finals against the Florida Panthers, golden knights jumped out to a three zero lead in the first 14 minutes and never looked back. Golden knights head coach Bruce Cassidy says he was impressed with the team's dominating performance. Yeah, well, it's definitely our best game of the playoffs and it came with the right time. You never know when it's going to happen. You always want to keep building. So boy, if we can bottle that, going forward, we're going to be a tough team to beat. William Carlson led the Vegas attack with a pair of goals and assists, goalie Aiden hill stopped 23 shots for the second playoff shutout in the series. Bob Stevens Dallas
AP News Radio
Vegas 1 win from another Stanley Cup Final after 4-0 win over Stars in Game 3
"The Las Vegas golden knights took a commanding three games to none lead in the Western Conference final with a four zero win over the Dallas stars. Golden knights scored three goals in the first 7 minutes to take control. It never looked back. Las Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy says the fast start set the tone for the game. We finished plays, right? So you get him lead on the road. It always makes it a little bit easier to relax and play. Not to chase the game. We've been doing a lot of that successfully, but it's not the formula they want every night. So Ivan barbershop led the golden knights with a goal and two assists, Jonathan Marshall, Alex Petro Angelo, and William kario also scored for Vegas. Aiden hill made 34 saves for the shutout. Bob Stevens Dallas
The Eric Metaxas Show
Prophetic Prediction About Trump's Presidency Shockingly Accurate
"Talking to Steven strang, the book is spirit led living in an upside down world. So I like talking to you Steven about these things because you bring a clarity, there's a lot of fuzz and smoke when we're talking about the prophetic, but so you mentioned that in 2007, Kim Clement said Donald Trump would be elected twice twice. Now, there are a lot of people like me who would say he was elected twice. He was elected in 2020, but the election was stolen. That seems to me dramatically clear on a hundred levels, but he did not serve a second term. So did Kim Clement say that he would serve two terms? Yes. And the way he said it is that God was going to raise someone up who prayed who didn't go in as a praying president, but would become a praying president. And we can only speculate what's going on with Donald Trump. And I just want to give a disclaimer. I've decided it is not my role to defend Donald Trump or anything like that. You know, I'm a journalist. I have interviewed him. I have a lot of respect for him. But part of it is, where is God in all this? Well, that's what I'm trying to say. I just interviewed somebody about Lincoln. He wrote a book called Lincoln's God, and it is clear that Lincoln became a believer in the course of his one term. There's no doubt about it that when he went in, you would have had to categorize him as a skeptic or whatever it was. But something within his term. And the person who wrote this is a Democrat, I don't know, agnostic. I don't know where he's coming from, but this is not some Christian christianization of the story of Lincoln.
The Eric Metaxas Show
Stephen Strang Is in the Studio to Talk More About His New Book
"Talk to my friend Steven strang, whom we have in the studio, Steven, welcome to the studio. Thank you. Welcome to New York. Congratulations on the book. Thank you. The book is titled spirit led living in an upside down world. Now we have talked about this on the program very recently, except not in person. And when I mention the Durham report, this corruption, corruption is a nice word for it. It is just like an inversion of everything that is good true and beautiful that is happening. And I feel like that ties into the title of your book an upside down world. I mean, we are living in a fallen world and sometimes we forget how fallen. You're absolutely right. And the crazy thing is how long it took them to come out with this. This all started when was it in 2016? And it heated up in 17 and 18. And it's just an example of how utterly ridiculous things are. And it's right at the same time as they're looking into the Biden family. So, you know, Congress. And the major news networks are ignoring the story. And when Trump, when his kids, if I remember right, they met with someone from Russia for like an hour and a half to talk, and they tried to make some crime out of it. And with the Biden family, it's example after example, after example, and it's like everybody just ignores it. Yeah.
AP News Radio
Stars beat Kraken 2-1 in G7 to advance to West final, Johnston scores day after 20th birthday
"The Dallas stars defeated the Seattle kraken two to one in the decisive 7th game of their second round playoff series, advanced to the Western Conference Finals against Las Vegas. Jake gottinger stopped 21 of 22 shots for the stars. Dallas coach Pete deboer now 7 O in game 7s in the playoffs. It was our best team game of the playoffs. I knew our group would respond to have all year individually and collectively as a team and they didn't disappoint. Rope Hanson, why a Johnson scored for the stores while Oliver Björk's fan got the lone Seattle goal. Bob Stevens Dallas
The Eric Metaxas Show
The Professor vs. The Ploughman With Hadley Arkes
"Of things like critical theory, when I think of deconstruction, it all sounds like gobbledygook and I would argue that part of it is calculated to sound like gobbledygook part of it is calculated to tell common men and women, listen, this is not for you, will take it from here. That seems to me part of the underlying thesis of what we're communicating. That's absolutely right. You know, Jefferson had that line. You could do the same problem to a professor in a ploughman and the planet was an example to get it right. Well, if you want to who said that? Jefferson. Okay, Jefferson said the proof of the problem. I didn't get the word the ploughman. Right. It gives the same question to the Professor of the ploughman and the plowman was his apt to get it right because he's not being distracted by artificial rules or theories. And that is the argument I'm making here. Click the most dramatic example, Eric. You have the matter of transgenderism. Comes before the court and the court decides that if Anthony Stevens, declares himself to be a woman, everybody else around him must be obliged to respect that judgment or put their jobs and their employers in peril. Now, the conservatives look at this and say, well, that's how what sexual discrimination made in 1964. Let's look at, let's look at the legislative history. But that's I could get them anywhere. You have to go beyond the legislative history to consider what sex really is. You know, the congregation for the doctrine of faith once said there's not always been an Italy or a Hungary. But as long as there are human beings, there must be men and women, males, and females. The average man would look at this thing and say, why do you kidding? He's not a he's not a woman. He's a man. In other words, it took certain lawyers. Years of training, absorbing theories of statutory construction to prevent them from seeing what the ordinary man sees it once is imbecilic.
The Eric Metaxas Show
Steven Strang Unpacks the Prophecy of Trump's Re-Election
"Clement got it right when he said, you know, Trump will be a president or whatever, but he says he are two terms. Now he doesn't say consecutive terms. What do you make? Are you able to speculate on why some prophetic voices were so insistent that Trump would be elected this time in 2020 and it's so it's just hard for me to process and you don't want to ask the wrong person because some people will get angry at you, what do you make of it? Because I never seen what I deal with this in the book. Pendulum swing too far one way or the other. There's some people who don't think prophecy is for today at all. There are other people that go around prophesying everything in the world. And I believe that there are people who've actually made a name for themselves going around prophesying about Trump and this is my own opinion. I think a lot of us wishful thinking. And there are some people that think, well, if I were God, I would do this. So of course God is going to do it. And there are a lot of people that would really like Trump in The White House. But look, what I don't understand, it's one thing to say that. It's one thing to say, I believe the lord is saying, but it's an entirely different thing to say the lord has said, and then you say something. And in fact, the lord didn't say it. That's like blasphemy. So this is where I get very confused. Are there a number of people that they're in the flesh and they're confusing their flesh or the old testament? Old Testament, prophets actually spoke for the lord. In the New Testament, it's one of the gifts of the spirit. And Paul, the apostle Paul, very clearly said to test the spirits and test the prophecies and so forth.
The Eric Metaxas Show
Stephen Strang Rejects the Lie That Faith & Politics Must Be Separate
"With my friend Stephen strang, it's strange without the E strang. He is a bestselling author, founder of charisma, magazine, the new book of spirit led living in an upside down world. But part of what we're talking about right now, and this is a very central subject for me, is dealing with this lie that we've been dealing with in America that somehow faith needs to be separated from politics, that the two, that is not biblical. And you've been very brave Steven strang, not just in writing your book God and Donald Trump. But the point is, you know, we can challenge people and say, listen, if I'm missing something, help me see what I missing. But when the Holy Spirit gets involved, if you believe in the prophetic, which you and I do, you even write in the book about Kim Clement, the South African prophet who in 2007, which is about a million years before anybody thought Donald Trump might run for president. Gave a famous prophecy. Now, you can either say, I don't believe in prophecy. Kind of just, you know, he got lucky. But you write about that and there's a lot to that he was speaking at bethel church in Redding California, which I just was saying bethel church has started a church here in New York City. I'm thrilled to say, but can you talk a little bit about that? Because I don't think we've ever covered that on this program. What a crazy, amazing thing that Kim Clement, who's now been gone to be with the lord, that he actually got a prophecy in 2007. Well, I got to know him in the early 90s when he hadn't been over here from South Africa very long. I really don't remember what prompted it. I do remember being at a convention once and having a long discussion over a meal. I actually had him come and do a retreat for the men on my staff before he was famous, or he wouldn't have done weekend retreats. And I just kind of watched his career. He had a great gift of prophecy. He was able to administer prophetically. He was a worshipper. He was a musician. And if you're not a Pentecostal, sometimes it's hard for you to understand him. He's all over YouTube. People need to Google him on YouTube, and they can see there were two main ones. And I document them and got in Donald Trump. He was the first of several people profits who said that God was raising up this unlikely businessman like Cyrus. Cyrus was the Persian king. Who originally said Cyrus, who was the first prophetic voice to link or maybe you don't know, but I'm just wondering. Probably Lance walnut claims it, but I would have to dig back to find out who you Cyrus to start with. The idea I'm pretty sure. I'm pretty sure it was I. I'm pretty sure it was right. No, it was not. I think you're right. I think it was Lance will now.
The Eric Metaxas Show
Stephen Strang Describes "Spirit-Led Living in an Upside-Down World"
"Your book, I want to be clear coming out very soon. It's called spirit led living in an upside down world. So Steven strang, author, a businessman, founder of charisma, magazine. In a nutshell, do you say in your book spirit led living in an upside down world? We know the world is upside down. If you have eyes to see and ears to hear, you get that. Well, when charisma started in 1975, we used the slogan magazine about spirit led living. I never had any idea that it would kind of be our theme over the years, but really every single person who serves Jesus Christ needs to be led by the spirit and every generation. It's just that it's more desperate now. In the same way that when somebody goes through a terrible tragedy, they reach out to God. They suddenly need God, things are getting desperate. And just to survive and not be sucked into it, we've got to get serious about God. We've got to be led by the spirit. In all the ways that you would understand, which we want love, joy peace, patience, goodness, all those things. Those are fruit of the spirit and we need power for miracles to overcome the enemy. These are other things that these are called gifts of the spirit, just to survive, then meanwhile, I go into how bad things are, I have a whole chapter on the tribulation, I grew up kind of thinking the tribulation was going to happen after my lifespan, but now it's looking like we're beginning to see the beginning of it with one world government and the chips. There's now the technology to do the mark of the beast before people sort of didn't understand what it would be or own that'll never happen. There's actually the beginning of that now. How are we going to stand strongly? You can't even buy groceries or your cancel. Some people are canceled. It's just that they don't cancel everyone. They basically don't cancel the ones who go along to get along, like you wrote about in Germany.
The Eric Metaxas Show
Eric Welcomes Stephen Strang, Founder and CEO of Charisma Media
"Stephen string is the founder and CEO of charisma, media there's lots more to say about him, but the main thing is that he's the author of a new book called spirit led living in an upside down world, the author now of spirit led living in an upside down world, my friend, Steven strang. Welcome. Well, thank you, Eric. Boy, the world is upside down, especially what's been going on in just the last week or so. Yes. And I just felt I needed to comment on it. A little bit like you did with your book a letter to the American church. I had to do something. I felt compelled. Now I took an entirely different tactic than you did. Your book on Bond hoffer was brilliant and anybody who hasn't read it needs to. I read all 600 pages and I didn't really know a lot about Germany during that era. I'd seen all the documentaries, but every documentary I saw were of the concentration camps or maybe war scenes where things were blowing up. And I was interested to get your take on what the culture was like, a normal life went on for normal people if they were away from the fighting and they had decisions to make and within that context, Bond hoffer stood strong when so many didn't. He saw what was going on when so many didn't.
AP News Radio
Tavares' OT goal gives Maple Leafs series win over Lightning
"The Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Tampa Bay lightning two one in overtime to close out their series and move on to round two for the first time since 2004, leafs captain John Tavares got the game winner. Auston Matthews got his 5th of the playoffs to give Toronto a one nothing lead in the second period. Steven stamkos, even the score early in the third, Ilya samsonov stopped 31 shots to win the game and the series. Tampa
The Officer Tatum Show
Steven Crowder's Pregnant Wife Accuses Him of Threats and Lies
"My YouTube producer just showed me a clip of Steven Crowder. If y'all know who Steven Crowder is, apparently yelling at his pregnant wife and saying some threatening things to her. And yesterday he came out and said that the divorce was his wife's idea and he had nothing to do with it as if he was the victim. He also claimed that he take full responsibility for the divorce in the fact that his only mistake was marrying the wrong woman. Can you believe a man would say that, even if you believe that, bro, you can't say that to your audience. You sound like you sound like a chump, not taking responsibility. And then Hillary Crowder, his wife, his family put out a statement and denied that any of what he said, most of what he said was untrue. That he actually hired a divorce attorney, had cut his wife off from all funding. She didn't have any money. And he wasn't there during the birth of his children. His twins, and he moved in an apartment somewhere without her knowledge. Now, I don't know what's true 'cause I don't, you know, it's always variations of the truth. But it's kind of odd that he said that and she's saying this. It's kind of interesting.
The Dan Bongino Show
'The One-Button Problem' With Some Media Platforms
"I saw this this morning on Twitter for my Twitter account I can't say on the air because the name was kind of a little bit vulgar But someone wrote this because they said there's a one button problem The one button problem that we have with some platforms you know Roku and other places Amazon Prime and others such as Roku But is there great platforms a lot of these platforms but the issue they're going to have is people have to hit probably two or three buttons to get there You got to hit the power button You got to go to the app It's not hard folks It takes seriously under like 5 seconds to figure out But some folks wander folks like me and I put myself in that group there They're just not familiar with the technology But ladies and gentlemen they're very smart They're going to figure it out And when they do it is going to be it's going to break the back of everyone left in the mainstream media Someone wrote this I walked my aunt to getting rumble on her TV It took a minute but she's thrilled now she can see people like Dan bongino and Steven Crowder All right it's one tweet that's on a particularly big deal But I get these messages all the time Dan I finally figured out how to use this or that The kids have all figured this out years ago The kids already knew this The landscape is totally changed folks Totally changed And the left is still trying to adapt to that too They had a monopoly on Twitter They had a monopoly on news channels It's all coming to an end The new media ecosystem is not going to be friendly to them
The Officer Tatum Show
Exposing Steven Crowder's Money Grab Scheme
"Now I'm going to have a subscription base, right? I'm going to have a premium subscription base for people that follow me that won't exclusive content. Meaning content that you ain't gonna find nowhere else, content that I had to hire people to get. And I'm going to have a subscription base, which is smart to do it because if you two fires me today, you know, I'm just going to go to zero. So they're not fired me, but if they kicked me off the thing, it's going to go to zero. So it's a smart to have a listener supported backup plan. However, you don't trick your people into signing up emotionally when you know that's not real. You know it's a money grab. And I believe that's what Steven Crowder was doing. In my personal opinion, based on what I observed, is that he literally tried to come out with his own thing. And tried to use leverage to bash daily wire to get people fired up. Because he pretty much said these people are screwing influencers. He had this whole thing. They screwing influencers. And I don't stand for that. You can come up with my platform and he tried to get influencers to come to this platform. And if you were influencer, we'll reveal your contract for free. And it makes me mad as an influence because I know the trick that he's playing on people. I know what he's trying to do on the back end. He's trying to create a subscription base because he left the blaze in the blaze on the mud club with all his subscriptions. Because they owned him. And now he wanted to try to divert all of those people out of date out of the subscription with the blaze and to go into his own subscription base with the arrogance of believing that he is worth more than what he really is. And my opinion. I think the daily wire puffed his arrogance up too. And he did that to his people that follow him. Now there's a bunch of people that likes to be crowded and don't listen to nothing I have to say, they're going to say I'm wrong. But I know what this is, man. And I don't like when people be fake.
The Officer Tatum Show
Steven Crowder Accuses Candace Owens of Endangering His Children
"So let's talk about Steven Crowder and Candace. So I already gave you the rebuttal, at least the concept of Stevie Crowder. He announced that he was getting a divorce, but one of the things that made me lose 'cause I had a little bit of respect left for Steven Crowder and what made me lose all of the rest of the respect that I had for him is what he said about Candace Owens. I didn't watch the clip so I don't really know if one of these clips articulates what he said in relation to canon zones. I watched the clip earlier, but I don't know if the couch that I got is there, but I'm just gonna give you a synopsis and I'll play the clips. I'm hoping that it encapsulates what I'm saying. He claimed that Candace Owens prematurely exposed to the world that he was getting a divorce. Claiming that her negligence and exposure of his divorce put his kids in danger. I have zero respect for him now. Zero. I mean, I'm in a negative right now. It ain't even zero. It's like negative 15. Why you gotta be so fake? You know Candace ain't got nothing to do with you and your wife getting a divorce and exposing it. Ain't got nothing to do with it. All right, let me play the clip from, I'm gonna go with Candace, clip four. That's it. That's the big scary story. And then went on to my platform and I said, pray for Stephen powder. Honestly, because that's what he needs to need to prayer. And apparently, nobody's answering those prayers right now because he's still acting erratic. He's now upping the ante and suggesting that I extorted him. I will not take that lightly, okay? I am not Hillary clowder. I am not anybody in his family. I am not going to take somebody going on to his platform and alleging that I either harassed, threatened or did anything that would put his children at risk. That is very serious stuff that he is saying. And so what I did this morning after this clip was sent to me is I contacted the defamation lawyer and I am sending Steven Crowder a cease and desist and I'm going to demand a full throated retraction to the idea that Candice Owens threatened him or extorted him and not that I simply did a little math, one plus one equals two. A crazy man doing these sorts of things to his friends, obviously means that something is going on personally.
The Officer Tatum Show
Jeremy Boreing Responds to Steven Crowder
"So Jeremy came out and just laid the hammer down. And to me, it made me lose. All but a little bit of respect for Steven Crowder because of that. And what happened recently is that world, unfortunately he's going through a divorce. Now, I don't understand in the Christian world why people haven't getting divorces like they like they do. What happens to the dead do you part? You don't have to like the person. That don't mean you have to get a divorce. You made a commitment. You made a commitment that wasn't up for negotiation. With God, you're supposed to be a Christian. And I'm not talking about him 'cause I don't know. He maybe he getting abused or something. I don't know what happened to him. But I'm just throwing that out about people that get married. They get married and they're like, I don't like this person. I want to go move on. The grass, listen, the grass ain't greener. Especially for men, you think you feel to leave your wife and go get she crazy too.
The Dinesh D'Souza Podcast
Economist Peter St. Onge Talks About the Fate of the Dollar
"Peter, let's talk a little bit about the dollar as a global reserve currency. I mean, all of us in this country, we use dollars. We have pretty much all our savings and wealth in dollars. Should we be worried? And what's happening to the dollar on the global market? Yeah, the dollar was given this really dominant position over the entire world economy coming out of World War II, right? The rest of the world was completely obliterated. The U.S. had, I think a majority of world GDP at that point, the U.S. basically was the world. And ever since that moment, 1944, the U.S. has been losing very gradually, but it's been losing share, little by little. And this is partly because other countries have grown. So Europe, Japan, places like Korea, China, of course. And what's happened in the past couple of years is that that has really accelerated. And what's driving it particularly last year was a bit shocking how quickly the U.S. started losing ground. So there's an economist former Morgan guy Steven Jen and he did the math. Once you control for the price of the dollar, the dollar lost 8% of its share of global reserves. So that brings the dollar down to 47%, 8% in a year is shocking. That is a very, it's really a flight from the dollar. And what's driving that, of course, we have the inflation and that makes people nervous about a dollar being a good store of their wealth. But pretty much everybody else in the world also has inflation, even Japan ramped up inflation, Europe, of course, most of the world ramped it up in order to buy these COVID lockdowns. we're merely one of the gang at that point. What's really driven this wholesale flight from the dollar is the sanctions on Russia.
AP News Radio
Seguin, Stars take 3-2 series lead with 4-0 win over Wild
"The Dallas storms blank the Minnesota wild four zero to take a three games to two lead in their Western Conference first round playoff series. Jake conger stopped 27 shots. His second career playoff shutout. Special teams once again the key two more power play goals for the stars. They also killed off three penalties. Dallas coach Pete deboer says the power play continues to be a key factor in the series. Where we came into the series, you know, Minnesota is one of the most penalized teams in the league. We knew we were going to get power place. So their goal was to make them pay for it. And we were doing that and we got to keep doing that. Tyler Sagan and Jason Robertson had power play goals for the stars. Rope a hints with four assists now as 11 points in the series. Bob Stevens Dallas
Elevation with Steven Furtick
"steven" Discussed on Elevation with Steven Furtick
"To three, jump in the water right now right now right now right now right now right now right now right now shooting hot suit and hot. Let's celebrate let's celebrate let's celebrate, let's celebrate the loss this foul. The dead are coming alive. But chains of sinner broken there's something in singing worship team, but chains are broken. The grave is empty. The blood was enough. Let's take about 23 seconds and celebrate. The greatest Easter day the greatest decision ever made the odds became sin that we might become the righteousness of God is risk. Let's turn here and you lift a voice like lift and reward in your feet to yourself here the restorative is your answer you'll
Elevation with Steven Furtick
"steven" Discussed on Elevation with Steven Furtick
"A Holy Spirit, tongue talking, and a costal. There ain't no God, turbulence. He shunned all motion. It was that kind of turbulence. I was sitting on the front row, I was going, it'd be cool if we could bring turbulence to church sometimes. Worship team would love that. Introducing a new song, not going so good, turbulence. Offerings kind of low, try turbulence, you know? Alter call, turbulent, bro, I mean, it would work, right? The storm has its purpose. We've landed, got the bags, got on the tour bus. I mean, it just took so much time, so many lace finally to arrive at the Sea of Galilee. And I sort of just say that up front as an illustration that it sounds easy. Miami to the Sea of Galilee. But how many all know, if you want to get to the Sea of Galilee, you're going to have to go through some stuff. It's just the reality. We live in a time right now where everybody wants to arrive, but not everybody wants to take the trip. I think we all want a life of purpose, but very few of us really want to walk through the process. If you want to get to, you got to go through. This is a biblical principle that you must get deep down in your heart. God is taking you to some stuff. No doubt about it. But more often than not, in order to get to, you're going to have to go through. I believe God is going to take you to mountaintops. You go from mountaintop to mountaintop, but you got to go through the valley. He's going to take you from blessing to blessing, but you're going to have to walk through sacrifice. You're going to go from glory to glory, but you got to walk through some suffering. And you're going to go from miracle to miracle, but how you all know, you're going to actually have to go through the storm. The storm has its purpose. I don't know who I'm preaching to you today, but as you walked into this house, I just sense it as we were singing. Many of you in this room, you are headed to a breakthrough. Some of you are headed to a promotion. Some of you are headed to a miracle. Some of you are headed to a brand new season. But if you're going to get to, you got to go through. Somebody said amen in this room. We might have to bring some turbulence in this room today. Because I believe that that guy wants to speak to you. I think through is one of God's favorite words. It's what Isaiah said he said, when you pass through the waters, I will be with you. When you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned. Anybody in this house say, can you testify that you're walking through something right now, but you believe in faith, God is gonna get you to the other side. If there's anybody like that in the room today, go ahead and give God some praise in this house. He's taking you through. As we go through, we face some stuff. But we're gonna have to get a new perspective on our storms on our obstacles on our opposition on our challenges because it's not a question of if it's a question of when. You will go through storms. You will go through difficult moments, but the story is bigger than you could ever imagine, so don't give up in the storm. March after 6 is the most beautiful illustration of this truth because here's Jesus. He gets done doing this big miracle where he feeds 5000 some people. He stole a kid's lunch, fed everybody. Sends it as I was in a boat to the other side. They finally get to the other side when they get to the other side, Jesus starts healing people over there, but in the middle of these two great miracles, they have to face a storm. As interesting because I've read Mark 6 so many different times. But it's important that when you're reading the Bible, that here's the most important rule about reading the Bible. Three rules, really. Context, context, and context. You have to put the text in the context. And many times I used to always just kind of read devotionally in Mark chapter 6, and I saw these guys in this storm and it's really, really interesting. No doubt about it, but you need the full context of what's taking place. Because I don't know if you see this, but when you go back in Martin chapter 6, we see that Jesus does a miracle to the masses, and then they go into a storm, and then Jesus gets over there to get a Sarah, and he does a miracle to individuals, but in between is a storm. And it got me kind of thinking. Are you in a storm? Or are you just in between two miracles? Are you in a storm or are you just in between the thing that God started and the thing that God's going to complete in you if you will choose in your spirit today? I'm not going to back down. I'm going to keep moving forward. Do not place a period where God is placed a comma. He's taking you through. This thing will not take you out. You're going to get to the other side. The storm has its purpose. Are you in a storm? Are you just in between two miracles? I've just decided recently. When I'm in turbulence, oh, he's taking me through. I've just decided I'm going to tell myself over and over again. I'm just in between two great things that God is doing. When I look at the text, there's just a few basic observations that can help you. We could make lots of observations. But let's just make a few today because if you're in a difficult moment, if you're in the middle of your story and you're thinking about quitting or you're wanting to give up, the word of the lord for you today is simply this the storm has its purpose. It's not that I think that God plans all of our storms, but I certainly think that God will use all of our storms. He will use what you are going through and he will bring meaning and purpose if you'll look a little bit deeper. The first reason why I believe that God lets us go through storms and the purpose of the storm is that storms make you realize you're not in control. The scripture says that he sends the disciples in the boat to the other side and that little passage right there. Mark chapter 6 verse 50 yeah, immediately, let me see it. I don't have it right there. Mark chapter 6. It says that they were straining at the oars. I don't have to ask and bring that verse up. They were straining at the ors with all of their might. I love that picture because here's this picture of these disciples trying to get to the other side. But as they put all of their effort as they put all of their energy, they are unable in their own strength to get there. How many will know? It's one thing when you fail and you didn't really try. It's another thing when you put your heart, your soul, all of your focus into something, and you came up short. These disciples are doing everything they possibly can in their effort to get to the other side. That's what Jesus had promised them. That's what Jesus had told them. Jesus said, get in the boat and go to the other side.
Elevation with Steven Furtick
"steven" Discussed on Elevation with Steven Furtick
"I love the flow that our pastors are in right now. There's so much more to the story and obviously you can tell I am not pastor Steven. Just in case you didn't know, I'm not him. But you got to understand about our pastor is, you know that there are only two people in this world that were ever given the vision of this church. The way of this church, the weight of this vision, and I will, I'd be remiss to think that I would ever understand what that means at all. And so the opportunity to be able to get on this stage and talk for the next two and a half hours. It's not that. Oh, I thought that was the deal. Okay, 39 minutes, 39 minutes. Man, I don't take it lightly. And we have some incredible pastors, I don't just say that because I work for him. I want you to know that that man is a hero of my life and a hero of the faith and he's the real deal. He really is the real deal. And the little that I do get to know about him, he is the real deal. And it's incredible. We need people like that. We need people like that. Like, heroes of the faith that we can actually look to. You know what I'm saying? Top shelf leaders, right? Top shelf leaders, the ones that who last, who go the whole way, right, who don't just call it quits 20 years in, but who keeps going? And so I'm so grateful for this house and the pastors of this house. And I really believe that this series is one of the series that will really never forget. But I'm gonna be honest with you. Three weeks in, he's in the book of Joshua. And I told chunks about a month ago, I said, yeah, I think I would be in Joshua with him. And after about those three weeks, he preached. I said, okay, he's getting every nook and cranny of Joshua. I'm a stay away from it. But I'm gonna stay in the same vein of there's so much more to this story. So here's what I want you to do. How many of you brought your bibles? Do you believe in the word of God? Anybody believe in the word of God? You brought your bibles with you? Okay? No. You must be familiar with this place because we put it on the screens for you. No worries. Go to psychic kings, chapter four. Sega king's chapter four. Verse 8. Second king's chapter four verse 8. I'm gonna give you a second. You found it? If you need time, say hold up. Okay, hurry up. Okay. This is what it says. Sega king's chapter four verse says one day, everyone say one day. I like your past through shoot them, a leading lady of the town, talk to him in to stopping for a meal. And then it became his custom. Whenever he passed through, he stopped by for a meal. I'm certain, said the woman said the woman to her husband, that this man who stops by with us all the time is a holy man of God. Why don't we add a small room upstairs furnish it with the bed and the desk, a chair and a lamp so that when he comes by, he can stay with us. This is the first Airbnb of the Bible, okay? And so what happened at the next time Alicia came by, he went to the room laid down for a nap and then he said to serving the haysi. Tell that shit on my woman. I want to see her. He called her and she came to him through kaj Zion said, you've gone far beyond the Call of Duty and taking care of us. What can we do for you? Do you have a request we can bring to the king or to the command of the army and she replied, no, I'm good. I don't need anything. I'm secure. Satisfied in my family. Malaysia conferred with gaze, and that's got to be something we can do for her, but what in gaze I said, well, look, she ain't got no children and her husband's an old man. Don't look to your left, don't look to your right. You're okay. It might be old, it's all right. Color in satellite, it called her and she stood at the open door and the license said to her. This time next year, you're going to be nursing an infant son. Oh, my master, holy man. She said, don't play games with me, teasing me with such fantasies. And the woman conceived a year later, just as elisha had said. She had a son. The child grew up one day, he went to his father just like a teenager working with the harvest hands complaining. My head, my head, you see how there were no laughs, just 'cause y'all ain't y'all ain't parents. A teenager's yet. My head in my head. His father ordered a servant, did just what a wise man would do. Said take him to his mother. Servant took him in his arms and carried him to his mother, he laid on her lap until noon and died, and she took him up late him on the bed at the man of God. Shut him in alone and left. She then called her husband, said, give me a servant and a donkey so I can go to the holy man. I'll be back as soon as I can. He's like, yo, why did they just ain't a holy day? This ain't new moon, this ain't savage. She said, don't ask questions, man. I need to go right now. Trust me. She went ahead, saddled the donkey, ordering her servant. Take the lead and go as fast as you can. I'll tell you if you're going too fast. And so off she went and she came to the holy man at mount Carmel and the holy man spotted her while she was still a long way off, said to a servant, Hayes, I look out there, why is the shoe? Well, my quickly now
Elevation with Steven Furtick
"steven" Discussed on Elevation with Steven Furtick
"I went that day. Only reason I was there at that moment is because somebody had interrupted me earlier. And then I ran out of time to go where I wanted to go, so I was just go to Barnes and noble. I was wondering around like a homeless man in Barnes and noble. Not intending to buy a thing, anything. I said, let me go over to the Christian living and see if I can at least rip off somebody's title and put it in a sermon sometimes soon. Little downstream sermon preparation happened in that day. But. She walked in and started crying when she saw me. She said pastor Steven. I never met you. I moved three years ago to go to elevation. But then I had two miscarriages. I quit coming to church.
Elevation with Steven Furtick
"steven" Discussed on Elevation with Steven Furtick
"I shall
Elevation with Steven Furtick
"steven" Discussed on Elevation with Steven Furtick
"I have. I like that guy. Let me tell you about strong Steven. Because of a strong season. He doesn't have to prove his point and when every argument. Because he's coming from a place of strength, not neediness. So he can listen to somebody and go like, okay, wow, that's crazy. Let me think about that. Week Stephen? Sounds strong. 'cause he argues and a lot of times he wins because he's good with these words, mama. But even though I win, it's really weakness. 'cause when I'm coming from a place of strength, I don't need to teach you a lesson. 'cause it's in God's hands. But weak meat, weak Steven, he's a different he's a whole different situation. He is a whole different case study. And that's why I was encouraged by verse 7 and 9 because I thought like, oh, Joshua isn't just strong. 'cause God wouldn't tell him not to be afraid. And he's not just encouraged or God wouldn't tell him don't be discouraged. And it gave me hope for what I've been preaching to you all year about do the new you. This passage to me communicates the belief of a coach that God has in the ones that he's chosen. And it also features some correction that's going to help us today. How many of you want this help that God has for you today? It's going to help us today to understand how to track back your discouragement. And get back on track with what God's called you to do. Some of you are completely off track right now in your life. You know it. Your discouraged and you know it. You're down and you know it, you're defeated and you know it. But if you track it back, this is what came to me and y'all are gonna think, wow, that's not very deep. But if you track back your discouragement, it usually has to do with your discussions. Not just with other people. But the conversations that happen inside of your own soul. You expect God to give Joshua all the military strategy in Joshua one. And yet he focuses way more. I mean, he gives him the whole picture, he says, I'm going to give you from the desert to Lebanon from the Euphrates to the Mediterranean. To me, that's like the opening scene of a movie where the drone is flying over the whole land or they're showing us one specific place, and they're giving us a setting. Ah, but then after the setting, there has to be a good script. And so he's giving him the script so that he can live the story. That God wants him to live. And the lord sent me to say, some of you, the reason that your story feels such a dead end story is because your script sucks. Tell your neighbor if you're not afraid they'll punch you, say, your script sucks. Holly, listen, Holly, y'all pray for Holly because she says inappropriate things to me. She says that I'm a bad actor. Anytime I try to pull a little lied to the kids and make them think something, she's like, you are such a bad actor. You're a horrible actor. Like, we should be glad about that. It means I can't get away with anything. She says, yeah, but you're such a bad actor. It's always been like, well, test me. Give me a scene to do. And I'll come in the room and do it. So she'll give me something crazy like somebody just died that I love or something. And I come in the room and she's like, can you just got the phone call? And they died. And so I come in. And the thing that I do every time I start laughing. I can not. I can not do it without laughing. And we play this game often and she's like, you're terrible. You're so horrible. Why do you keep making me do this? This is so bad. This is so dumb. You laugh every time. And one time I looked at her, 'cause she's like, you're a bad actor, and I was like, I need better lines. Your fault. You didn't give me any lines. You didn't give me any. You didn't give me anything to say. So you gave me a setting, you gave me a kind of like a scene to work out. But you didn't give me a script. Give me a better script and I'll be a better actor. At least that's my excuse, right? So God says, I'm going to give you the strategy for each city in your life. But first, before I give you the strategy for it, I want to give you the script so that when you get into it, what you say on the inside will empower you to face what's on the outside. Joshua, this is going to be an inside job. Yes, you're going to face giants. Yes, there is going to be dry terrain. Yes, there are going to be screaming whining people that will remind you of toddlers that you will have to lead, but Joshua be strong. And very courageous. How do I be very courageous, God? Be very careful. Be very careful what you let in you. And you will be very courageous when you face what's in front of you. We keep trying to fix what's in front of us. If they would change, if I were single, three years ago, you said if I were married, which one is it? Because we keep talking about situations changing. But God is talking about conversations changing. The lord said to Joshua am I preaching or am I crazy? Because I think you might be discouraged not because of something that you're facing or feeling, but because of something that you are saying about what you were facing. So here's what you gotta do, Joshua. What do I do? Do I shoot him? Do I kill him to stop him, do a choke him? All right, before we get to all that, 'cause we're gonna do all that, keep this book of the law. Now Joshua is jealous of you 'cause he had the book of the law. Genesis X's numbers leviticus, deuteronomy. You got the whole story. Hold up. Let me see real quick. You got something Joshua doesn't have. And I just want to make sure real quick. Oh, yeah. You win. Spoiler alert. I didn't mean to mess it up for you 'cause I know you were gonna read it. This week, but you win. We win. The grace of God's people be with you. Hey man, you win. Come lord Jesus. We win. He's already here with us. You win. Wherever you step your foot, he's already there. You win. There's 15 people who felt that when I said it. It's like, yeah. I read this one. This is a good one. We got a fight a lot, but we're going to have faith. And we're not going to feel it every time. And we're not going to see it every time. And we're not going to always know how, but he always makes a way. And
Elevation with Steven Furtick
"steven" Discussed on Elevation with Steven Furtick
"Don't need to explain it. My counselor, you know. I mean, I think we can all do this, right? Now, my counselor has really worked with me on this. And it was really important that I learned this. You see, I used to think I had to over explain. I still struggle with over explaining. Do we have any over explainers in the room? Okay, remember, do not poke your neighbor. Let them just say that they are in over explainer, okay? So here's what I would do. I would say my heart says yes, yes, yes. The reality of my time makes this a no. And then I would start to explain all the reasons why. And my counselor said this to me and it absolutely radically changed my thought process. He said, Lisa adults inform children explain. Good, right? All right, all right, so let's go to something a little more challenging. Let's say you have a friend, possibly a family member, but let's say you have a friend and y'all love going to church together. Don't poke your neighbor. Okay, so you love going to church together. However, you have different definitions of being on time. Right? And this is really causing some situational stress, right? Okay, so let's say your definition of being on time is that you want to get there 20 minutes early. You do. Why? Because you have got to get a parking space. This is so funny. I see somebody holding up blinders against their neighbor right now. You're cracking me up. Okay, so your definition of being on time is to get there 20 minutes early because you want to have time to park and actually walk through the parking lot, right? Novel idea. And then you want to get inside, you want to go TT potty, right? 'cause you don't want to be sitting in there and be thinking about that. So you wanted to go do that. Then you want to be able to come in, you want to get a seat. You want to watch the announcements. You want to be ready for the first note of the first praise song because that is being on time to you. Amen. Amen. Okay, but let's say your friend has a different definition of being on time. Their definition of being on time is that they can skirt in here before the last praise song is finished. That is their definition of being on time, right? Now here's the deal. Are you bad? For wanting to be their 20 minutes early? No. Are they bad? They still want to go to church. I mean, they're just getting here before the last price song. I mean, maybe some of you think is bad, but I say in general, that's not bad. It just means you have two different definitions of being on time, right? And so you realize that something's got to change. Because every week, you're riding with them and they are making you late, according to you. And now you're sitting way up there in the balcony, right? Or you may not even make it inside. You may have to be sent somewhere in the overflow, right? And now you're so twisted up in a knot because you're ready, you could have been down here on the floor. That's where you could have been, right? And you could have gone TT potty, you could see the announcements, listen to all the praise songs. And so now when they make you skirt in at the last moment, and you're out of breath from running through the parking lot, and you had to park 5 miles away, you know, and now you finally get in your seat, you are so twisted up in a knot that you can not even enjoy anything. Because all you want is for pastor Steven to address the issues of this person that made you lay uh huh. You know what I'm saying? Okay. So, you have a choice. You could just start avoiding this person. That's what some of us do, right? So they call and say, oh, do you want to ride to church together? And you could say, oh, you know, I would really love to go to church with you today. I really would. The problem is I have to run errands before I go to church. I mean, and they're one person errands, just one. And. So this other person, when you're communicating this, they know something's up. And they're going to personalize it and get their feelings hurt because they can't quite figure out why you're being distant. And then you could possibly just try to still go with them and be late and you're going to take it and take it and take it and take it and take it until one day you just can not and you snap. And you jump from trying to take it all the way over here to where you can not take it anymore and you just skirt that friendship altogether. You see, what a boundary does is it helps us avoid extremes. The extreme of I'm going to take it and take it and take it until I'm so frazzled and fractured, worn out and worn down that I just don't even want to be that person's friend anymore. So you jump from that extreme all the way to you're done. Boundaries, what they really are is a way to bring the conversation back to the middle to avoid those extremes. Boundaries are nothing more than a conversational tool, a healthy conversational tool where you can establish what is and is not okay in this relationship. What you do have to give and what you don't have to give, what you will tolerate and what you will not tolerate. Now, obviously, we need the lord to check our hearts here. You know, we don't want to start being just absolutely irresponsible. I mean, I had possibly one of my many children try to draw a boundary this year at Christmas and they just said, I do not have it to give to help wash any of the dishes. To which to which I replied and I do not have it to give to put food on any of your dishes. So neither of those are helpful or healthy, right? So we do it to check our heart. We don't want to draw boundaries to sort of be some sort of weapon to make us able to get out of our responsibilities. We do have responsibilities. And at the same time, we have the responsibility to stay self controlled in our relationships. So you could simply have this conversation with this friend. Hi, friend. I love going to church with you. I really do. Is that true? It is true, right? So don't put a butt there, because if you put a butt, I love going to church with you, but that sort of negates the fact that you love going to church with them, okay? So you put and I love going to church with you and I have a different definition of being on time than you do. That doesn't make me right and you wrong, are you writing me wrong? It just means we're different. So here's the deal. I'm going to drive to church this week. I would love for you to ride with me. And I'm pulling out of my driveway at this time, so that I can get there 20 minutes early. If you would like to ride with me, great. Be in my car at that time. However, let me give you some really awesome news. If you are being more creative with your time, so creative, then we could just ride separately, no big deal. And I'll save you. You can sit right beside me. I'll even catch you up
Elevation with Steven Furtick
"steven" Discussed on Elevation with Steven Furtick
"Take good notes when the king talks. When you hear words from the lord like you here on a regular basis that the man's probably walked through something that we can't even imagine, pull a pen and a piece and put your phone out and write down when you hear the king make you a promise write it down. Remind the king of his obligations. So powerful, we're scribes. Think of this that when Nebuchadnezzar invaded with his Babylonian army, the nation of Israel and took the city of Jerusalem and leveled it, the scripture said he gave in second king chapter 25 special instructions. He said, you are too arrest. He said this to his military. Arrest their generals, arrest their military leaders, arrest the royal seed or the royal family of the families of threat. Everybody he's talking about is a threat and then he makes this profound statement and make sure that you arrest the principal scribe. I'm scared, Nebuchadnezzar and his mighty Babylonian army. I'm scared to death of the principal scribe. The guy who gets in the throne room and hears conversations and writes them down and communicates it to the people. It's one of the most dangerous individuals to my Babylonian culture because if he hears, he has the capacity to go back and remind the people of where they have been before and how they didn't see a way back then. And if God could do it then, he can do it again. And that's why he stayed true. When they were taken into captivity in Jeremiah 23, Jeremiah asked the question, will we ever be assembled again? We're so scattered. We're so defeated. We're so humiliated. Will we ever be a people again? And God gave him a message and he said, remember what idea for Egypt and how I brought Moses out, but then God said, but I've got news for you. That, for them, was that for them, for you, the story of Moses and the Israelites coming out of Egypt that for you is a story, but for them, it was a miracle. And somehow we have to go from doing more than reading this book and it being stories about David against Goliath and stories of hezekiah having a death sentence and being given 15 more years. We have to go beyond reciting and then we need to pull out our pen and start writing and saying if he ever did it before all the stories that are written are just to let us know he's the same God today what he did for 17 years he'll do it again and again and again from faith under faith from glory under glory. Take a praise break. If you believe he'll do it again. God said Jeremiah, I don't want you to just read about Moses and how he brought them out. But I'm telling you I have a remnant that is going to come from the north southeast and west and you're going to write a new chapter and you're going to see my faithfulness in your life in your family in your generation against your giant. I'm not playing games if I ever did it before. If he ever healed cancer before, he can do it again. If he ever redeemed and restored a family and a marriage, he can do it again. Saddam. When I think about and I don't even know all the stories when I think about chunks and his wife and I think about Steven and I think about his family come in here with nothing but a dream. And you've done so much so fast so incredibly so well. You sure have impacted my life in my ministry. We sing your songs every week. And I travel all over the world, and I'm telling you people do all over the world. What happens in this room? It can't stay in this room. Because you, for whatever reason, have given access to the throne room and God says Stephen come in here and God says to the team of musicians and singers come in here. Now don't take this like it's normal. Don't act like you're just another ministry. Don't go around, stay humble, stay obedient, stay pure. Stay clean because I'm trusting you with throne room stuff. And write it down. Give me all the glory. It'll never stop as a matter of fact. I'll give more instructions. I'll give more words. I'll give more. Ascribing the greatness of God through song I'll give it more and more and more. But what we need in this hour, when I'm fighting hail, I don't need somebody to give me a story. I need somebody to give me a pen. God wants to change the period to a comma. He still doing miracles. In the most dangerous place that a church can get is when they do more reading than writing. The most dangerous place that a person in their Walt with God can get is when all they can do is recite history of how God used to move in your life and how you used to have devotion and how you used to really be on fire and couldn't wait to get here. The most dangerous season in your life is when you're focused more on where you have been instead of where you're going and where you are. This is why scribes in the New Testament were extremely unpopular with Jesus. I can not find anywhere in the Bible where Jesus ever complimented scribes. He was always saying like in Matthew 23, wow, unto you scribes and pharisees. They follow Jesus around. And every time he was trying to give him a fresh page of new miracles, all they could do is compare it to the old book of Moses. And say, you can't do that because we're living over here in what used to be. Stop breeding your history. And get your pen out. I appreciate the 17 years, but your best chapters have yet to be written. I don't know who I'm preaching to, except this church, and you are the church, not building, it's the people. God, when I'm saying church, I'm saying if you're affiliated with this thing, he is about to give you your best chapters. I
Elevation with Steven Furtick
"steven" Discussed on Elevation with Steven Furtick
"Jesus, <Speech_Music_Male> <Advertisement> <Speech_Male> <Music> <SpeakerChange> I bring your people <Speech_Male> <Advertisement> <Speech_Music_Male> <Advertisement> before your feet today. <Speech_Male> <Advertisement> <Speech_Male> <Advertisement> Where <Speech_Male> <Advertisement> there is no rocks <Speech_Male> to throw. <Speech_Male> Only <Speech_Male> <Advertisement> righteousness to <Speech_Music_Male> <Advertisement> receive. <Speech_Music_Male> <Advertisement> <Speech_Male> <Advertisement> Heads about eyes <Speech_Male> <Advertisement> close the spirit of the lord is <Speech_Male> <Advertisement> working in someone's life <Speech_Male> <Advertisement> in this moment <Speech_Male> <Advertisement> to give your <Speech_Male> <Advertisement> life to Jesus. <Speech_Male> <Advertisement> You <Speech_Male> <Advertisement> have never <Speech_Male> <Advertisement> really given <Speech_Music_Male> <Advertisement> him your <Speech_Music_Male> life. You <Speech_Music_Male> <Advertisement> went to church when you <Speech_Male> <Advertisement> were little, you <Speech_Male> <Advertisement> heard the gospel, <Speech_Male> you know some songs <Speech_Music_Male> about it. You <Speech_Male> may have even at one time <Speech_Male> been in a better place, <Speech_Male> but you've never <Speech_Music_Male> really given him you. <Speech_Music_Male> <Advertisement> <Speech_Music_Male> <Speech_Male> What this is your moment. <Speech_Music_Male> <Speech_Music_Male> <Advertisement> This is your <Speech_Male> <Advertisement> permission. <Speech_Music_Male> <Advertisement> <Speech_Male> <Advertisement> To stop living for <Speech_Male> <Advertisement> yourself and live for <Speech_Music_Male> <Advertisement> him. <Speech_Music_Male> <Advertisement> Stop trusting <Speech_Music_Male> <Advertisement> in your own righteousness <Speech_Male> <Advertisement> and trust in his. <Speech_Male> <Advertisement> <Speech_Male> <Advertisement> To stop trying to <Speech_Music_Male> <Advertisement> achieve it <Speech_Music_Male> <Advertisement> and receive it <Speech_Music_Male> <Advertisement> by grace. <Speech_Music_Male> <Advertisement> <Speech_Music_Male> <Advertisement> With head spout in <Speech_Music_Male> <Advertisement> ice close at every <Speech_Male> <Advertisement> location. <Speech_Male> <Advertisement> If you hear that <Speech_Male> <Advertisement> Tinder voice of love, <Speech_Male> <Advertisement> that's the voice of Jesus <Speech_Male> <Advertisement> saying, where are your accusers? <Speech_Music_Male> <Advertisement> <Music> <Speech_Music_Male> <Speech_Music_Male> <Advertisement> I don't condemn you. <Speech_Music_Male> <Advertisement> <Speech_Music_Male> <Advertisement> But I want <Speech_Music_Male> to change you. <Speech_Male> In this <Speech_Music_Male> <Advertisement> moment, <Speech_Music_Male> <Advertisement> if that's you and <Speech_Music_Male> <Advertisement> God is calling you, <Speech_Music_Male> <Advertisement> I want to lead you in <Speech_Music_Male> <Advertisement> a prayer. <Speech_Music_Male> <Advertisement> <Speech_Music_Male> <Advertisement> This <SpeakerChange> prayer is <Speech_Male> <Advertisement> not a magic trick. It's an <Speech_Male> <Advertisement> expression of your heart <Speech_Male> <Advertisement> to God for the Bible <Speech_Male> <Advertisement> says that if you confess with <Speech_Male> <Advertisement> your mouth, Jesus is the <Speech_Male> <Advertisement> lord and believe in your heart <Speech_Male> <Advertisement> God raised him from the dead <Speech_Male> <Advertisement> you will be. <Speech_Music_Male> <Advertisement> Saved. <Speech_Music_Male> <Advertisement> It is by <Speech_Music_Male> <Advertisement> grace we are safe <Speech_Male> <Advertisement> through faith. <Speech_Music_Male> <Advertisement> It's not of work <Speech_Music_Male> <Advertisement> so that no one can boast it <Speech_Music_Male> <Advertisement> is the gift of God. <Speech_Music_Male> <Advertisement> Right now if you're <Speech_Male> <Advertisement> ready to give your life to Jesus <Speech_Male> <Advertisement> online at a <Speech_Male> <Advertisement> campus right here at ballot <Speech_Male> <Advertisement> time, I want you to <Speech_Male> <Advertisement> repeat this after <Speech_Male> <Advertisement> me. Our church <Speech_Male> <Advertisement> family repeat this <Speech_Music_Male> <Advertisement> out loud for the benefit <Speech_Music_Male> of those who are coming <Speech_Male> to God. Heavenly <Speech_Music_Male> father. <Speech_Music_Male> I <Speech_Music_Male> am a sinner. <Speech_Music_Male> In need <Speech_Music_Male> of a savior. <Speech_Music_Male> And <Speech_Music_Male> today, <Speech_Music_Male> I make Jesus <Speech_Music_Male> <Speech_Music_Male> <Advertisement> the lord of my life, <Speech_Music_Male> <Advertisement> <Speech_Music_Male> <Advertisement> I believe he <Speech_Music_Male> <Advertisement> died. <Speech_Music_Male> <Advertisement> That I would be <Speech_Music_Male> <Advertisement> forgiven <Speech_Music_Male> and rose <Speech_Music_Male> <Advertisement> again <Speech_Music_Male> <Advertisement> to give me life. <Speech_Music_Male> <Advertisement> <Speech_Music_Male> <Advertisement> I receive <Speech_Music_Male> <Advertisement> this new <Speech_Music_Male> life, <Speech_Music_Male> this is <Speech_Music_Male> <Advertisement> my new <Speech_Music_Male> <Advertisement> beginning. <Speech_Music_Male> <Advertisement> If you just pray that <Speech_Music_Male> <Advertisement> on the count of three shoots <Speech_Music_Male> <Advertisement> your hand up, one, <Speech_Music_Male> two, three, <Music> all over the room. <Music> <Advertisement> All over <Music> the room <Music> <Advertisement> in the chat right <Music> <Advertisement> now online are Ethan. <Music> <Advertisement> Come on, lift <Speech_Music_Male> <Advertisement> it up. Don't be ashamed. <Speech_Music_Male> <Advertisement> Don't be ashamed.
Elevation with Steven Furtick
"steven" Discussed on Elevation with Steven Furtick
"Is the <Speech_Music_Male> trade. <SpeakerChange> <Music> <Music> <Music> <Music> <Music> <Music> <Speech_Music_Female> Welcome <Speech_Music_Female> <Speech_Music_Female> to <Music> <Music> here <Speech_Music_Male> turn <Music> <Music> the father's <Music> <Music> arms on <Music> <SpeakerChange> roll <Music> <Speech_Music_Female> for <Speech_Music_Female> keeping it <Music> <Speech_Music_Male> was <Speech_Music_Female> falling <Speech_Music_Female> <Music> out pressure <Music> <Music> right <Music> Jesus <Speech_Music_Male> <SpeakerChange> Christ. <Speech_Music_Male> No one moving <Speech_Male> in just a moment our <Speech_Male> pastors are going to give an invitation <Speech_Music_Male> for people to <Speech_Music_Male> <Advertisement> receive Christ, be <Speech_Music_Male> ready. <Speech_Male> I just want to <Speech_Male> tell you this <Speech_Male> before I <Speech_Male> <Advertisement> give the service to <Speech_Male> them. It's about eyes closed. <Speech_Music_Male> <Speech_Music_Male> <Speech_Music_Male> Are you hurting <Speech_Music_Male> and <Speech_Music_Male> broken within? <Speech_Music_Male> <Speech_Music_Male> <Speech_Music_Male> Overwhelmed <Speech_Music_Male> by the way <Speech_Music_Male> of your <Speech_Music_Male> sin, <Speech_Music_Male> Jesus <Music> is <Music> called. <Music> <Music> <Music> <Music> Have you <Speech_Music_Male> come to <Music> the end <Speech_Music_Male> of yourself? <Speech_Music_Male> <Speech_Music_Male> <Speech_Music_Male> <Speech_Music_Male> <Speech_Music_Male> From the <Speech_Music_Male> world <Speech_Music_Male> Jesus <Speech_Music_Female> is <Speech_Music_Female> <Advertisement> called. <Speech_Music_Female> <Advertisement> <Speech_Music_Male> <Advertisement> <SpeakerChange> <Speech_Music_Male> <Advertisement> <Speech_Music_Male> <Speech_Music_Male> <Speech_Music_Male> <Speech_Music_Male> <Speech_Music_Male> From the <Speech_Music_Male> world <Speech_Music_Male> Jesus <Speech_Music_Female> is <Speech_Music_Female> <Advertisement> called. <Speech_Music_Female> <Advertisement> <Speech_Music_Male> <Advertisement> <SpeakerChange> <Speech_Music_Male> <Advertisement> Thank you for joining <Speech_Music_Male> <Advertisement> us. Special <Speech_Male> <Advertisement> thanks to those of you who <Speech_Music_Male> <Advertisement> give generously <Speech_Music_Male> <Advertisement> to this ministry <Speech_Music_Male> <Advertisement> is because of you <Speech_Music_Male> <Advertisement> that this ministry is <Speech_Music_Male> <Advertisement> possible. <Speech_Music_Male> <Advertisement> You can click the link <Speech_Music_Male> in the description <Speech_Music_Male> to give now <Speech_Male> or visit elevation <Speech_Male> church dot org <Speech_Music_Male> <Advertisement> slash podcast <Speech_Music_Male> <Advertisement> for more information. <Speech_Music_Male> <Advertisement> And if you <Speech_Music_Male> <Advertisement> enjoyed the podcast, <Speech_Music_Male> <Advertisement> you can subscribe. <Speech_Music_Male> <Advertisement> You can <Speech_Music_Male> <Advertisement> share it with your Friends. <Speech_Music_Male> <Advertisement> You can click the share <Speech_Music_Male> button. Take a screenshot <Speech_Music_Male> and share it on <Speech_Music_Male> your social stories and <Speech_Music_Male> tag us at elevation <Speech_Music_Male> church. Thanks again <Speech_Music_Male> for listening. <SpeakerChange> God bless <Speech_Music_Male> you.
Elevation with Steven Furtick
"steven" Discussed on Elevation with Steven Furtick
"Sit down. I'm teaching today. From ephesians. Chapter four. 14 through 24. I really will only talk about one verse, but you got to hear all of them. Or else it'll sound like some kind of Pinterest thing or like some little cute little quote, but I'm not trying to do that today. I want to teach a little bit. I am excited when you when you come to church, you know, you get here. I know you leave the house and have to fight and all that. I'm already here for 5 hours. So the main thing I have to do when I start my sermons is tell myself verdict, slow down, let the people wake up. So that's why I had Zeke sing a little bit so I could slow down and just get ready to preach to you what I have been studying for the last several months, ephesians, chapter four, this new series is called do the new you. A vision's chapter four, do the new you, or we're going to talk about that. A whole lot in the month of January. Ephesians, chapter four, I'm happy to see you. I'm happy you're here. Look at you getting in a good church rhythm at the beginning of the year. You have perfect church attendance so far this year. Tell the devil that. Put a gold star in the devil's face and tell him I showed up for church. He fissions chapter four verse 14. The apostle Paul says, then we will no longer be infants tossed back and forth by the waves and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people. You gotta watch out for people. When life be wonderful, if it wasn't for the people that get in the way, you could do everything God spoke to you if it wasn't for people. It's real easy for me to obey God in church. And then I have to get out there and run what he showed me in the playbook. So Paul says here that we need to get to a point that we are grown past the opinions of people in their deceitful scheming, whether it's a marketer or a newscast or a political group or any of that, whether it's something you've been taught in church that's wrong. Paul says I want you to grow past that into this, watch first 15. Speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head that is Christ. From him, the whole body joined and held together by every supporting ligament grows and builds itself up in love as each part does its work. So I tell you this and insist on it in the lord that you must no longer live as the gentiles do. In the futility of their thinking, they are darkened in their understanding. And separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them. Due to the hardening of their hearts. Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality. So as to indulge in every kind of impurity, and they are full of greed, boy pastor Steven, you picked a cheerful scripture for the new year's sir. Listen to this, it's about to turn. That, however, is not the way of life you learned when you heard about Christ and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. You were taught with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires. And to be made new in the attitude of your minds and to put on last verse, the new self created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. Clap your hands for the word of God. When people give you advice that isn't helpful, what do you do? Smile at them. Yeah, I pray about that. A dude was telling me the other day I need to preach a series on Bitcoin. I said, I pray about that. Thank you for the input. And then I went on about my business. But when somebody you respect, then it's different, even if you don't like what they say. And when my dad was diagnosed with ALS, about ten years ago, he was diagnosed about 12 years ago and he went to heaven about ten years ago. We went through a horrible period as a family. And some of it I can laugh about now, but man, we would get on the phone and try to talk to each other and we couldn't even speak. It would turn into a shouting match. And then I'd get up and preach Sunday and then get in the shouting match on the phone with my dad Tuesday and feel like a hypocrite about it. But I couldn't figure out a way past it. I tried to do all this and that and the other. But the point of the story is this pastor calls me and somebody that I really love and respected and said, I heard about what you're going through with your dad. And I've been praying about it. Now he only talked to my dad about it. He didn't talk to me about it. So he heard what he heard from who he heard it from. Is I heard what happened with your dad. And I just called to ask you one question, Stephen. What would Jesus do? And you know what I thought? Jesus would heal him? And I'm not Jesus. I might lay hands on him before us all said and done. So you can take your little WW JD wisdom. I had to bracelet to when I was 16. But it's not that I don't know what I want in this relationship. I won't reconciliation. I want to be my dad's side. I want us to be able to take care of him. I mean, that's the reason why we moved them to Charlotte is I wanted to be a part of that in any way I could. But it wasn't really knowing what to do. It was doing what I knew in the face of something in real time that was complicated. In the passage I just read you, I don't know how much the apostle Paul sounds like that pastor that called me to you because he's telling you things to do. Then on the surface sounds so simple. And in the way he starts it, it's so Paul is so Paul. Paul's like 17. He's like, so I tell you this. Give me verse 17. And insist on it. In the lord, well, now what can I say back to you, right? So I tell you this. Okay, tell me. And I insist on it, okay? In the lord, just say it. He says that the way that you have been living that has been limiting you is not a product of the person that God has called you to be, it is a product of the patterns of the world that you have copied unconsciously until now. But Paul says, I give you in
Elevation with Steven Furtick
"steven" Discussed on Elevation with Steven Furtick
"And that's all he said about that. And that's freedom. He went in denial either 'cause he still wept. There was a process. He didn't say it the next day. He didn't say it in the pit. He didn't say it in the back of the caravan as he's being sold and chained. But at some point, his perspective became but God. So you break it with a butt. Let me show you again. Y'all, I got the. I got the remedial class, the summer school in here today. I'm gonna show you again. You intended to harm me. That was bad. Now I could blame you, I could be bitter about it, and I could spend the rest of my life. But God. So you're dead, so you can get back together. Let me show you again. Let me show you till you see yourself. Interrupt him. What the enemy sent to destroy you. And you can break it with a butt God. You can break it. So I'm looking out. Now I'm looking. My future is my focus. So I'm looking for everything in my life. That has to be in bondage. And I'm looking to put a butt right here to see what God is gonna do next. I need 30 of y'all. Come on, I need 30 people in a Hammond B three. Some praise God. Got the power to break it. It's in your brain. In your perspective, in your purpose. Get together. That's how you break a chance. That's a they left me, but God has somebody else for me. They hurt me, but God healed me. He's healing me right now. Somebody's saying in the shot, but God. What car I feel like preaching in this room today. Like God is breaking safe. I'm serious, y'all. You can break it with a fuck. We were dead in our sin, but God. You meant it for evil, but not. The weapon was formed against me. But it didn't prosper. Because I'm still breathing. Listen. Talking, moving. My God. My God. Let's go. Let's go. Come break that thing. I can break that thing. You break it before it breaks you. You hear me? You break it before it breaks you. New year same God. I hope that this encouraged you. I hope that today you're walking away with a sense of gratitude for what God has done in your life and a feeling of expectancy for what he's going to do in the year ahead God came through last year, God spoke last year and he's going to come through again and he's going to speak again this year. If you missed any of the sermons that we talked about today and you were thinking that you would love to see the rest of it, good news. They're all up on our elevation church YouTube channel or also available on the elevation church podcast. The titles are all listed in the description below. I also hope that today you'll take a few minutes to reflect on the past year. Yes, it's important to set goals for the year ahead. But before you do that, take some time to look back at the faithfulness of God in your life in 2022. How did God provide for you? Who did God bring into your life? Who did he remove from your life? What did God speak to you this year? If you'll just start writing and reflecting on the presence of God in your life over the past year, I know that you're going to be overwhelmed with gratitude and excited about what's ahead or maybe I should say excited about who is ahead with you. He was with you in 2022, and he'll be with you in 2023. And I have to say thank you to all of you who attend a location who watch every week who volunteer and who give faithfully to this ministry. Pastor Steven and I counted a privilege that we get to do this every single week right alongside you. Let me pray for us. Heavenly father, we thank you for your presence in our lives. It is with gratitude that we look back and it is with excitement that we look ahead. We know that whatever we will face in 2023, we do not have to face it alone. You go before us. You come behind us. You're with us every step of the way. God, we surrender our year and our lives to you. And we ask that you not only be with us, but that you use us for your glory. Thank you for our pastor. May you continue to bless him and give him the words to speak to us each week. Thank you for this church. It means so much to us. We love you, lord. It's in Jesus name we pray, amen. Thank you for joining us. Special thanks to those of you who give generously to this ministry, is because of you that this ministry is possible. You can click the link in the description to give now or visit elevation church dot org slash podcast for more information. And if you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe. You can share it with your Friends. You can click the share button. Take a screenshot and share it on your social stories and tag us at elevation church. Thanks again for listening. God bless you.
Elevation with Steven Furtick
"steven" Discussed on Elevation with Steven Furtick
"Maybe today you have plans to eat collard greens and black eyed peas later. Is that just a southern thing? Because here in North Carolina, our family has a new year's tradition where we eat pork and collards and black eyed peas. Supposedly it symbolizes good things for the new year. I think collards represent prosperity and peas represent good luck. But mostly we just like them and we're celebrating a new year together as a family. Whatever you feed your soul is way more important than what you feed your body. And so no matter what you plan to eat today, you are ahead of the game because you're feeding your soul. It's so important to pause and to look back. And that is what today is all about. One of the primary ways that God speaks to me is through the messages of this house. Every single week, God uses our pastor to bring the exact word we need to hear. How does he do this? His messages penetrate whether you have been a believer for 5 minutes or 50 years, every age, every stage of life, there is a word for every single one of us. I wonder which messages spoke to you the most this year, maybe one that came at the perfect time, maybe it hit at a moment when you were doubting or anxious and the sermon was exactly what you needed to hear. I love how God works. I wish we could just sit down together and talk about it. In fact, let me know in the chat, which messages this year have resonated the most with you. Today, I invited some of the people in our church to share about some of their favorite sermons from 2022. We will be diving into our notes, sharing our stories and then looking back at portions of these sermons. My hope is that these excerpts remind you of what God spoke to you and what God did in your life last year. I want us to go into 2023, believing that the same God that was with us last year will be with us again this year. Of course he will. That's why we're calling today new year, same God. We've been singing that song same God over and over this last year, and it has been such an anthem for our church. So the God of Jacob, the God of Moses of Mary of David, the God of your grandma, is the same God of you and I and that is who we worship today. He is faithful to see us through whatever is ahead. And the best way to stir up our faith for what's ahead is to look back at his past faithfulness. So I'm going to go first. I have to go first. I can't let others share about how the messages preached by our pastor, my husband, ministered to them without getting to share how they have ministered to me. And I'm pretty sure everyone who follows me and shares about their favorite sermon is going to say some version of it was so hard to pick just one. Because it is sometimes they can not believe the amazing feast that Steven furdik lace before us each and every week. If you can sit under a sermon by Steven verdict and say that God did not speak to you, you have a listening problem. Anyway, okay, it's so hard to pick just one. But back in the spring, Stephen preached a little mini series. Three sermons on the book of Ruth. They were called, it will come together. The one who seeks finds and blown away. I felt like these three weeks I was like trying to get a drink of water from a fire hydrant. Steven was dropping wisdom faster than I could write it down. And God was speaking to my heart. So now that I'm narrowed it down to three servants, I'm going to tell you the one that I want to talk about. Not necessarily my favorite of 2022, Steven sermons are like my children. They're all my favorite. But this one, this one really got me. It was a sermon called it will come together. Now in this sermon, Steven laid the foundation by talking about Ruth, and the tragedy that she had experienced in her life. She lost her husband, and she lost everything that she held dear in her life. It probably felt to her like her life was over. But as we read through the book of Ruth in reality, we realized that her life was barely getting started on the basis of all that God was going to do for her and through her. Steven told us that we don't taste life as a meal. We experience the ingredients as they come and the problem with this is that the ingredients themselves can often taste bad in isolation. This really hit home with me because I love to cook. And I understand that there are essential ingredients to almost every recipe that tastes bad in isolation. Like salt and oil and flour. If you only taste those things, you would spit them out, but put them together, add in a little bit of baking powder and some eggs, and you're on your way to a cake. In my life so often, I experience disappointment or frustration when something that I asked God for doesn't go the way I thought it would. I ask God for this relationship, but it feels like we're fighting all the time. I ask God for this child, but now I feel like I don't have what it takes to raise them. I ask God for this new job, but now I feel lonely. And when I start to feel these feelings, my tendency can be to think that God is angry with me or that maybe I did something wrong or maybe I wasn't meant to have these things to begin with and I got it all wrong. And the thing that stuck with me from this sermon is when he said, let God mix it. He told us that our prayers should be God. I want your will and I want whatever comes with it. Those ingredients that taste bad to me in isolation are actually building something good in my life. That relationship that feels tense is teaching me humility and the art of putting others before myself that job that challenges me is teaching me to depend on God in ways that I never would otherwise that loneliness is causing me to lean into my relationship with God and then also to invest wisely in the relationships around me. Steven said, just because it tastes bad and isolation doesn't mean it won't serve a purpose in the finished product. The good things often come with frustration and disappointment and difficulty. That's normal. That's okay. And he reminded us in this sermon, if it's not good, then God is not done. And that mantra will get you through. All right, I've said enough. Now I want you to check out this clip so you can see what I'm talking about. Whoever walked in the kitchen and just use an example. I'm not a cook. Take a scoop of baking powder. And just down it. Did you ever do it? So baking powder is bad. Anybody want a big peeping pile of baking powder for lunch today. Raise your hand. Why are you messing up my illustration, bro? Not, this is the message. You want the whole message in a moment. This is a whole message is a whole message. This is why you came from Michigan. So God could tell you, this is why you tuned in online. Just because it tastes bad in isolation. Doesn't
Elevation with Steven Furtick
"steven" Discussed on Elevation with Steven Furtick
"And present your requests. To God. He is the one who will show you the things you do not know. Cry out to him. Tell him what's in your heart. Ask him to show you the way forward. The Bible says knock, and I will answer, make your request to God. This next one is kind of counterintuitive, okay? It's a little bit harder to hear. Regard. Philippians two tells us that if we are to be like Jesus, we are to not merely look out for ourselves, but also for the interests of others. Paul says we must regard others as more important than ourselves. I know your situation is difficult. I know your situation is painful. But I guarantee you that there is someone else close to you who also has a great need. You don't need to compare your stumps, but sometimes the best thing that you can do. When you feel like something has been cut off from your life, is to do something for someone else. It doesn't make sense, but just trust me, if you will stop staring at your stump and look around. Christmas is all about perspective. It's about learning to see and value what God sees a baby in a barn. Shepherds in a field. Can you regard someone else as more important than yourself? Get your mind off of yourself. Then there's the root of routine. Now last week, if you were not here last week, you've got to go back and listen, I know I say that every time I preach too, but that's because if you're missing church, I feel so bad for you. So Steven talked about getting his hair cut. Does anybody remember that? It was a really small part of his message, but it spoke very deeply to me. And he said that when someone asked him one time, what do you do when you don't feel like preaching? And he said, well, I get my hair cut. And he talked about just doing the next thing. That he does the thing that he does every week before he preaches. And he told us that we have to learn to send a signal to ourselves that it's time to do the work that we've been called to do. No matter how you feel, no matter what's been taken from you, keep your routine. Get up. Get going. Exercise. Take a walk. Take your kids to school. Show up for work on time. Do the things of life. Have your song, a guy came up to us at a restaurant a couple of weeks ago. And he said to Steven with tears in his eyes, he said, I just want to thank you for the song and I was thinking he was going to do some come to the altar or a slow song. He said, I just have to thank you for the song rattle. He said, I've listened to that song at least every day for the past year and that song is saved my life. Find your song. And put it on repeat. Because it's gonna tell your body it's gonna tell your mind is gonna tell the devil that you're getting to work now. That you're not gonna be stopped. You're not gonna be stumped. Find your verse. Keep doing the things that you know you're supposed to do. It's simple, but sometimes we forget. Life can not stop because something didn't turn out the way you thought it would. And when you keep your routine, you're sending a message to yourself and you're sending a message to the devil and everyone around you that a shoot is gonna come up from this stump. Bye guy, I'm not stopping. Just because something got cut off. I've got roots that go deep. And I'm gonna keep doing the things that I know to do until I see that shoe come up. The last one is remain. I gotta show you some 92. It says, the righteous will flourish like a palm tree. They will grow like a Cedar of Lebanon. Planted in the house of the lord, they will flourish in the courts of our God. They will still bear fruit in old age. They will stay fresh and green. Are you planted in the house of the lord? Because I'm just going to tell you. This place is a stream. And every week, our pastor comes out on this stage with water for our thirsty souls. This is fertile soil for your roots. And whether you're watching online or you're joining us at one of our campuses, the people watching with you, the people sitting next to you, the people in your E group, the people you volunteer with. They are the ones who will walk with you through your pain through your divorce through your surgery through your recovery. This is the place where your roots find a direct source of water. Draw from the root. Look for the shoot. Christmas is a tender shoot of hope. I have one. It's small. It's vulnerable. It comes in unexpected ways. And at unexpected times, and when I see this shoot, I was thinking of a couple who's on staff at our church. And they've been trying to have a baby for 5 years. And she told me recently that they've almost finished their
Elevation with Steven Furtick
"steven" Discussed on Elevation with Steven Furtick
"Is so much better. This is terrible. And I couldn't convince some otherwise. And I kept trying to tell them that that was cutting edge technology at the time that Steven Spielberg knew that the shark didn't look super real. And so he went with a less is more approach that he knew in order for people to truly enjoy the movie the way it was meant to be enjoyed, they had to see less of the thing that they went into the movie wanting to see. So less is more something I'm not teaching you anything new. You all know this. So less time on Instagram means more time in person with the people you love. Less shopping means more money in the bank. Can I get a witness on that after this weekend? Less donuts is more apps. Now, I don't personally like that. I want more donuts and more abs. I would actually just settle for one ad, but I don't think the lord has given me the ab anointing. But usually we don't like less is more when both are things that we want. We want more and more. So you want more relaxation and more influence at your job. You want more free time and more money. But usually a tradeoff has to be made in order to get something that is most important later, you have to see less of something that you want right now. So with that tension in mind, I want to read the two key verses from ephesians and let us really think about what God is wanting to say to us about more. So now to him he was able to do a measurably more than all we ask or imagine according to his power that is at work within us to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations forever and ever amen. See, that scripture used to be my cheat code when I was a worship leader, because if I needed to get the people to shout, all I had to do was start talking about immeasurably more and people would shout about it because you should shout about it. It's an awesome promise from God. It's an awesome declaration of faith because I can imagine a lot and if God can not do what I can imagine, then that sounds like a pretty sweet deal for me. But what I didn't realize is that I would also, I would almost treat it like God would take my dreams and whatever I wanted. And just like crank it to 11, like God just wanted to take whatever my wish list was and just maximize that, that immeasurably more was going to come my way no matter what, more success, more money, more happiness. I treated it like it was Paul's mic drop moment at the end of ephesians. And the problem with that is this. It doesn't usually line up with real life. Because many of you, you're looking at the last year of your life, and you're not seeing more of what you hoped for, you're actually seeing less. You're seeing less of what you prayed for, less of what you thought God was going to do in your life. And that can be especially painful during the holidays. So this Thanksgiving, you were looking at one less person across the table from you after that divorce that you never saw coming. You're looking at less financial security after you just lost your job. I've got two friends right now who just got a devastating diagnosis about their unborn son, where they were told that he would not live past childbirth. So where is a measurably more for them right now in the season? You know, we, when Sydney was born, 5 weeks after she was born, we found out that she has cystic fibrosis. And so we weren't shouting about a measurably more in the hospital room when we got that diagnosis. So here's the question we're going to wrestle with from our main text today is how can we as a people of God claim to worship a God of immeasurably more in a world that often feels like a measurably less. So as we look at this question, I think it's important that we go back and see what Paul is actually experiencing when he wrote it because he didn't write this as like a mic drop moment benediction at the end of ephesians. It's right smack dab in the middle of that letter. And it's what he says next that I think is really interesting for us to explore. He says this in chapter four verse one. He says as a prisoner for the lord den, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you ever received. So if you're not seeing what you expected a measurably more to look like in your life right now, pause immeasurably more at this moment, look like a prison cell. He wasn't seeing more, he was seeing less, less freedom, less visible fruit of his ministry, less of his dreams coming to life. So how could Paul still write about God doing more? Well, we know that Paul was a student of the scripture. So I wonder if he's writing this letter if he's thinking about Isaiah 55 or say it writes. My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts says the lord. And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. So if God's thoughts are beyond our thoughts and his ways are beyond what we can imagine, then maybe the way that God sees more is different than the way we see more. The way we view more see Paul was writing this letter, either to the church in Ephesus or to several churches in that area, and they would just pass it around and they would read it because he was trying to show them what the church should be like. What was the purpose of the church? What did it mean to follow Christ because so many people were coming to faith in Jesus from so many different backgrounds and so many different walks of life and there was very little blueprint for what this life and Christ was supposed to look like. And they were facing opposition from so many different things. And so Paul wanted them to know where their hope came from, where their power was found, how they could be empowered to live out the gospel live out this life that Christ was calling them to an inverse 20, I think there's two words that make sense of the whole passage for us. So put ephesians three 20 on the screen. See, most of my life, I focused on the two words immeasurably more. But I've always skipped over the two words within us. And I think that is the key to understanding this chapter because the more Paul is talking about here is less about an external wish and more about internal weight. It's less about what we see. It's less about the more that we can view with our own eyes and it's really about the more that God wants to produce within us, the more that he wants to form within us, the more that he wants to shape and the more that he wants to do through us. And so when you read scripts, your context is everything. So I want to show you some of the verses leading up to ephesians three 20 and notice all the internal language in it. So let's see, I think it's ephesians three 16. I will show it. Here we go. It says, I pray that out of this glorious riches, he may strengthen you with power through a spirit in your inner being for 17, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, go to verse 18. 19, I mean. There we go, that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God's Paul is praying that they would experience the process of sanctification. So when you put your faith in Jesus, you're saved by grace through faith in a moment, but it takes a lifetime for the Holy Spirit to work out the reality of what he wants to do in your heart. It takes a lifetime to line up our hearts to the reality of what God says we are and who God says we are. And so Paul is saying there's a work that God needs to do inside of you, but often I want to bypass the inner work of the Holy Spirit and get right to the external reward. I don't know if you've ever felt that way too. Then let me say this though. Do I believe God can do a measure be more in your circumstances and do things beyond your wildest dreams? Yes. Of course I doubt married to the woman in my dreams. I have three amazing daughters. I've seen God do miracles. This church, this is a living breathing, a measurably more testimony. What we have seen God do through this church. I believe what the Bible says that God is a rewarder of those who seek him. But we are not promised our preferred more.
Elevation with Steven Furtick
"steven" Discussed on Elevation with Steven Furtick
"Is my brother. He is my brother from another mother and I'm just thankful for him. There's so many things I could say about him, his brilliant mind to declare the word of the lord, the incredible songs that he's written, but I'm just thankful that he is a brother when I tell you there have been Sundays before I get up to preach. I'll get a text from pastor Steven, said you're anointed. You're a man of God. You can do it. Preach the gospel. That's just the heart of your pastor. We have a church called social Dallas. And. The first church to sew into us when we got ready to plant just a year ago was your church, your pastors, and my wife and I are just incredibly grateful for this house, and I want you to stay standing 'cause my right toe is tingling. I feel like preacher, I'm going straight to the word of God. I'm excited. I'm excited about what God has given me to share with you today, and I don't want to waste another second or another moment, but can we thank God for the incredible worship team that just let us so beautifully? Into the presence of God, also because I'm with family, I may as well show you my fam. You know, I gotta give you the family update. This is my bride and my three little humans, right there. That's the madhu crew. We did good. We did good. Y'all pray for us. That is an 8 year old, a 7 year old, and a 5 year old. Amen. Yes, pray for your boy. Pray for your boy. But that's my family, but I have a word, and I want you to stay standing because I want to jump straight into it. Did you come to get a word from God? Oh, if y'all feel like hearing it, like I feel like preaching it's something's gonna happen in here today. Go with me to axe chapter 16. Acts 16 and for the benefit of brevity, I want to look at versus 16 through 18. Ask chapter 16, start a verse 16, and we'll land a verse number 18. When you're ready to read it, say yeah. If you're not ready, you need some time. It's like, hold up. I heard that hold up. Come on. Hurry up. They're gonna put it on the screen. You're good, you can. Shout out to all the campuses in the E fam, everybody. Ask chapter 16. Starting a verse number 16. And it says once when we were going to the place of prayer that we is Paul and Silas. We were met by a female slave who had a spirit by which he predicted the future. She earned a great deal of money from her owners by fortune telling. And she followed Paul and the rest of us shouting, these men are servants of the most high God. Who are telling you the way to be saved. She kept this up for many days. Finally, Paul became so. Annoyed. I was falling for you to say it annoyed. That he turned around and said to the spirit in the name of Jesus Christ, I command you to come out of her. At that moment, the spirit left her. Can you say a man? Spoiler alert. That girl's liberation led to their incarceration. But they found out at midnight that even didn't change, you could still have church. They started singing the worthy you were waiting on the chains broke. You know the story, you better turn. The doors flew open, but but none of that is what drew me to the text. Is verse 18 where it says Paul finally became so annoyed. I want to preach for about 6 and a half hours today. But I want to do something. I want to do something I'm at home so I can do this. I want to do something that I've never done in a sermon before. I'm going to give you part of my title right now. And then the other half of it, I'm going to give you at the end of the message. Is that cool? Okay, so if you leave early or E fam, you log off and you're going to be lost, okay? I'm only giving you half of the title right now, but here's the half I want you to get. I want to talk to you from this thought. I'm annoyed. I'm annoyed. I'll give you the second half later, but for right now, look at your neighbor, whichever one you like the best. And say, neighbor, I'll come on, don't be afraid to talk to your neighbor in church. You know I can see you. Come on, same neighbor. Can I be honest? I'm annoyed. Looking through all the neighbors say other neighbor. You my second option.
Elevation with Steven Furtick
"steven" Discussed on Elevation with Steven Furtick
"Let's go to the message. If we haven't met before, my name's chat. I'm the. I'm the pastor. At our university city campus. You see, it's no place like it. 81 O 5 IBM drive in the north side of Charlotte. I love you. I love you. I love you. And it's such an honor to be able to open up guys work with you today. And I'm excited about it. I'm really, really excited about a guy's been dealing with me. Over the last really, I feel like God's been showing me this message over the last year. And to be able to have a moment to release it today, I'm fooled. I'm really, really, really full. And before I jump into God's word, I just got to tell you, I love my church. Do you love your choice? Do you love your church? I love my church. I love my church, y'all. You know, in a week like this week when you all been scrolling on Instagram watching the news seeing the devastation of hurricane eating this week, I got to see God move in such a powerful way, but I love the vision of our church. See what God can do through you and so we've been praying this week as a church. We've been praying for families and praying for everybody that's been affected, but not only praying, we've been showing up. Your church has been showing up. I wanted to just share a couple of things with you. I mean, we're a partner with over non partners across the Melbourne and Orlando area with our with our campuses there. Matter of fact, today is coupes, birthday, our Melbourne campus pastor, happy birthday. Happy birthday, but when I was thinking about all that is going on, like, I mean, convoy of hope, Samaritan's purse. Mission and hope are on the ground providing relief efforts right now. Earlier this year, maybe you packed some of these hygiene kits. I'm talking about 50,000 hygiene kits that are being distributed, right? Now, we've given convoy of hope over $500,000 in supplies. And 200 and 50,000 to go towards the disaster. Relief efforts tell your neighbors say I love. I love, I love I love my church. We don't just talk about making a difference. We are making a difference. And at the beginning of October, I could not stand on this stage and I honor my pastors. Pastor Steven in Holly. And Harley verdict. Tell your neighbor say, I love my pastors. I love my pastor. I got to sneak in to reflect and I snuck in at UC and Hollywood was just so surgical in the way that she ministered to the women of our church and I can't wait. I can't wait to see God continue to give her fresh revelation and continue to inspire through our groups ministry. All that Holly's doing, it's amazing. But when I thought about pastor Steven, it would be easy to sit and talk about the messages. The sermons and the songs that God has used him to release into the world. You know, maybe, you know, like me, sometimes hear these messing, like, is he bugging my phone? Is it been following me? But I really wanted to tell you guys about a moment that we had in a staff meeting. I was leading this staff meeting. It was a whole staff. All of our campuses, all of our central teams, the digital team, the HR team. Everybody was together. Everybody was together in the room. All of our campus inside roll it outside Charlotte, we were all together in one room. We were worshiping. We were praying. We had some updates and things to share. And I'm leading this meeting. We had some prayer time and I'm not bleeding. And I looked down and I make eye contact with pastor. And he just waits for me to come off the stage. So I was like, oh, what did I do? What did I do? I walked downstage and I got next to him and he says, give LB to microphone. I said, did I, what did I mess up? I thought I was doing a good job. He said, bow your head and he put his hands on my shoulders, and he began to pray for me. In the first thing that he said, the first thing that he said was, the word of the lord is rest. God says sleep well tonight. Pastor didn't know, I didn't call him and tell him that there were a few nights that I was just up late and I couldn't sleep because who knows that life be life in sometimes. Things be happening sometimes and life doesn't stop because I'm struggling and I'm going through something. I still have to show up and in that moment he prayed for me. Spoke life into me and in that moment I knew that he cared more about me as a man. He cared more about me as the husband that he called me to be the father that he called me to be than anything that I could ever do on the stage or in a pulpit and for that I'm so forever great for I love I love I love my pastors and yes me to preach today and that's what I'm gonna do. That's what I'm gonna do. So we're gonna go to genesis chapter 41. We're gonna go to genesis chapter 41 and read a few scriptures and I believe in the guys gonna show up in a powerful, powerful way. We're gonna start at verse 38. We're gonna start in verse 38. We'll spend some time with Joseph today. And this is what it says. It says, so pharaoh asked him, can we find anyone like this man? One in whom is the spirit of God? Then pharaoh said to Joseph since God has made all things known to you, there is no one so discerning and wise as you, I gotta pause right there and give the wives up little heads up. This would be a good verse for you to send to your husband. Just send it from time to time, add some hearts and some kissy faces in it. Just listen to this thing. Can we find anyone like this man? One in whom is the spirit of God? Then ferocity of the 6 God has made all of this known to you. There is no one so discerning and so I send a send it this week. You might get you might get a blessing. First 40. It says you shall be in charge of my palace. In all my people are to submit to your orders. Only with respect to the throne will I be greater than you. So pharaoh said to Joseph, I hear by putting you in charge of the whole land of Egypt. Then pharaoh took his Senate ring from his finger and he put it on Joseph's finger. He dressed him in robes of fine linen and put a gold chain around his neck. If I was talking to my boys or to the youth, they would say, he's Joseph's getting drippy. His drip goes hard. That's what they would have said. That's where they would have said. Verse 43 assists. He had him ride in a chariot as second in command. And all the people shouted before him make way does he put him in charge of the whole land of Egypt. Then pharaoh said to Joseph, I am pharaoh, but without your word, no one will lift the hand or foot in Egypt. Let's pray God, we love you. We thank you. Give us ears to hear what you have to say. Open our hearts to receive whatever it is you want to speak to us. I have your way in this place. We love you. We thank you and it's in Jesus name I pray amen amen amen before you take your seat. I need you to look at your neighbor to the left, but your neighbor to the right. And I need you to give