Elevation with Steven Furtick - It's In The Middle

Episode Date: March 28, 2025

The decision to follow Christ can be made in a moment and will secure your place in Heaven for eternity, but what about the middle? Learn how to see the purpose in the process and discover God's grace in the gap.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. I'm the pastor of Elevation Church, and this is our podcast. I wanted to thank you for joining us today. Hope this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith. Hope it gives you perspective to see God is moving in your life.

Enjoy the message. We're focused this week on the word of salvation. You know, when Jesus was dying on the cross, he said to a thief that was crucified with him, you of course would know that the crucifixion was not an anomaly. In Jesus' time, it was a common form of capital punishment. And so Jesus died, the death of a common criminal. Beside two common criminals, one of them mocked him, said, if you were really who you say you are, you would get down off that cross and you would get us down to save us. and while one mocked him, the other one who was on his right side recognized the distinction of his divinity or at least his innocence and said, we deserve this and you don't.

And sir, I'm not quite sure who you are, but when you come into your kingdom, remember me. And Jesus said, today, somebody shout today. I'm going to wake you up. You're going to talk back to me today, at least at Valentine. I can't do anything about Concord. I'm not there. But somebody at Valentine in the back of the room from Jackson, Mississippi, or Toronto, Canada, or Charlotte, North Carolina. Shout today. Today you will be with me in paradise. The word of salvation. I had the privilege this weekend to perform my brother's wedding ceremony. I don't do a lot of weddings, but I'm good at them. I'm typically preaching on Saturday nights.

Our campus pastors do such an excellent job with the wedding officiating, so I was kind of nervous doing his ceremony. I don't want to mess up my man's wedding because, hey man, he's got this girl here at the altar, and he might not get this chance again. She might change her mind, so we've got to get this done. It's my little brother, but he's a lot taller than me, and he serves in the United States Air Force. They honored me. Yeah, praise the Lord. Yeah, he's cool.

He could beat me up, but I got mind game on him, so he doesn't know that. But he asked me to do his wedding, and his fiancé broke, and they asked me to come. And I was privileged to do it. Holly said I did a good job. In fact, she said exactly this. She said, you did so good officiating that wedding. She said, I kind of wish I could marry somebody else so you could do the wedding. Wasn't sure how to receive that compliment.

I rebuked her. Kind of a twisted compliment. But anyway, I only bring it up. Because truth be told, although I really love the opportunity to do the wedding, I kind of have a problem, not with. weddings, I'm not anti-marriage, do not send me email, send them all to Jonathan Joseph's, your Valentine campus pastor. It's not that I'm against love, I have nothing against it, it's just that can we all agree, especially those of us who have been married for more than 10

years, that marriage has very little to do with the flower arrangement that you choose, or how many layers of cake that you can roll out that you're not going to eat anyway, because only the top one is real, and all the other stuff is just decoration. Come on, it doesn't matter how many shades of magenta your bridesmaids are standing there dressed it. What happens in marriage happens in the middle. Somebody shout, it's in the middle. That's my sermon today.

I want to say it's in the middle that a marriage is made. It's in the middle that a Christian grows. It's in the middle that you find out what you're made up. This sermon is like a tootsie roll pop. What you bought it for is in the middle. I admire the thief and I'm thankful that he was saved on the cross, but most of us don't get to be in paradise the day we get saved. The fact of the matter is we don't get raptured up to heaven the moment we make Jesus Christ the Lord of our lives. We are left here on this earth so that we can bring heaven into our situation.

It's in the middle. And the way that we typically focus on the moment, you know, I believe that God can save you in a moment. really do. If you're here today and you're thinking that you have to memorize some Bible verses or there's some certain habits that you have to correct in your life, or y'all tired of hearing me preach. I've been preaching to y'all for 11 years now. And for 11 years, I've been saying this same message. God can save you in a moment. If you believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead and confess with your mouth, Jesus is Lord, you shall be saved. I know it because that thief did not have to enroll in a theological school.

He didn't have to go through a catechism class. He didn't have to prove the legitimacy of his faith by giving up certain things. Come as you are. Don't expect to stay that way. And Jesus said, today you will be with me in paradise. Part of me thinks that would be kind of nice. if I could just be married and stay married without a process. Well, I'm kind of a process preacher.

I really am because one of my core beliefs is that God is in the process. Don't get me wrong. He can move in a moment. Something can happen in your soul when the Word of God goes forth that is so strong, that the chains are broken and you are never the same. Why not today? The Apostle Paul said that today is the day of salvation. He said that to the Corinthian Church backslidden, he said,

now is the time of God's favor. Somebody shout now. Not when you get your act together, not when people approve of you. Now. Now is the hour. Today is the day. And the privilege of my life is seeing someone in a moment make a decision to follow Christ in a moment for the weight to be lifted, for the chains to be broken in a moment. Yet what about the middle? Because I know that he can save me in a moment. And I know that when you're

I die in a moment in the twinkling of an eye. To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. I'm going to heaven when I die and I'm glad about it and I don't have to fry and burn. I know all that. And I'm real glad about it. But one thing the thief and I did not have in common, because we both deserved the cross that Jesus died on. But I didn't get to go to paradise the moment that I trusted Christ with my life. So this message is not about paradise.

this message is about process. This message is not about flower girls. This message is about the fight for faith in the middle. And I want to present it to you in a way today that hopefully in the next 29 minutes can help you to understand why it is that sometimes, even though you got saved, you don't feel saved. and what to do in the middle. Touch your neighbor, say, I need to know what to do in the middle. Because when I die, I'm dead, I'm gone, I'm in heaven, I'm there. But here and now, I need God.

See, the thing about me is I got saved, but I still need some saving. Maybe you don't. But I still, look real good at the person next to you and see if they look like they still need saving. See if they look like there are still some times in their lives. Come on, Blakeney, that they still need saving. It's a seven-mile journey, and the miracle is in the middle. Did you notice that? We've been studying from this Amos Road where Jesus just shows up beside these two disciples.

LD, don't put too much of this on Instagram stories because I don't want them to see it. I want them to have to watch it online later. Those of them are sitting home in the snow. Don't be putting it online right now. I want him to catch it later. And Jesus just shows up right in the middle of their conversation. It's a man named Cleopus, and some scholars suggest perhaps his wife, his companion, and he were not expecting the presence of Christ to show up, but he showed up in the middle of their disappointment. He showed up in the middle of their disillusionment.

He showed up in the middle of their we thought so. He showed up in the middle of the what now. up in the middle, God will meet you in the middle. It's in the middle. And they walk, the Bible says, seven miles from Jerusalem to Amas. And when they got there, check this out in Luke 2428, when they arrived and approached the place, the village that in their mind was their destination, the village called Amas. when they got to the place they thought they were going. Jesus continued on, I love the next two words,

as if he were going further. Like he's a man on a mission. He's got people to see and things to do. And only 39 and a half days before he has ascended to the right hand of God, the Father Almighty, from whence he shall come to judge the quicken the dead. And so he acts as if, show him again, as if he were going further. And sometimes it feels as if God is leaving you.

I would suggest that some of the moments when it feels as if he's walking away from you, he is creating a desire within you so that if you draw near to him, he will draw near to you. God is trying to set your faith free from the need to feel it, to have it. As if. Somebody say as if. The next time the devil tries to tell you,

God has left you, that God has abandoned you, look him right in the eye and say, with your hand on your hip, in your best white girl teenager voice, say as if, as if he would leave me. He said he would never leave me, never forsake me, never abandon me. He will stop what he started. I am his and he is mine. And he's with me in the middle.

As if he were going further. And they asked him to come in and stay with them. Now, professional pointer. Be careful when you ask Jesus to come in. Because if he comes in, he's going to take over. So God is not going to settle for a shout-out. He's not going to make himself a cot in the foyer of your heart. He's coming in the kitchen.

I feel God on that, and I don't know why. Touch somebody say, he's coming in your kitchen. He's coming in your kitchen. He wants to get into the ingredients. Watch what Jesus does. He walks in, this is verse 30. He sits down at the table, takes their bread. Remember, it's Cleo's house.

But Jesus reaches right across the table, takes Cleo's bread, and just starts doing stuff. See, I need you to know that God is not going to come into your life and stay on standby so that when you kind of sort of need him and maybe can fit him into your schedule. Maybe I can get a little Jesus juice when my boyfriend isn't calling me back. Maybe I'll pray. See, Jesus, when he comes into your life, I feel the spirit of God. It's all up in me right now. I feel it. God said, I'm taking over. Today is the day of salvation. I'm taking over your thoughts. I'm taking over your imagination. I'm taking over your desires. Salvation is totally. This is how I used to preach when I was 23, man.

This is how I used to preach to people who thought that God could be a part of their life. If God gets in your life, he's going to get all up in the middle of it. God is going to change who you have listed in the contacts of your iPhone. God is going to change who you friend on Facebook. God is going to change what you do at 1130 on Friday night. God isn't just going to wait for you to get to church on Sunday morning and bless you. You can't you with a goosepuck. God wants...

I know where to preach. I know where the love is. It's in the middle. Somebody shout us in the middle. Anyway, is it okay? Jesus doesn't ask any permission. He sits down at Cleo's kitchen table, takes Cleo's bread, blesses Cleo's bread, breaks the bread, and gives the bread, and when he gives the bread, and when he gives the bread that he broke, which is also the bread that he blessed, which is also the bread that

he took. When he takes over your life, he blesses your life. But the same hands that bless your life are the same hands that must be trusted when your life is broken. I mean when your heart is in a million people. See, I need to preach this because sometimes we think when we get saved that everything is going to be sanitized and everything is going to be safe. And we think that when we get safe, see, this is the kind of preaching that will help you when life is doing its best to tear you apart. You can know beyond the shadow of a doubt.

Somebody shout, I'm still saved. I'm saved when I'm happy. I'm saved when I'm sad. I'm saved when they're with me. I'm saved when they walk away. I'm saved when I'm up. I'm saved when I'm down. I'm saved when I'm blessed.

I'm saved when I'm broken. I'm saved in the palace. I'm saved in the pit. God is with me in the middle. Three things I'm going to give you. Three things I want to give you about the middle. I was saved. It happened.

I will be saved. I will be saved. I'm going to be with him forever. But I need him to be with me in the middle. This is not a moment-to-moment contractual arrangement with God. Because we kind of think, like, His grace will save you, and His grace will get you to heaven. You're on your own in between. I want to declare that the same grace that will get you there, wherever you're there,

is with you here. If you will believe the words coming out of this country preacher's mouth today, that God is in the process, and number one, the gift is in the middle. They sat down to eat with Jesus, but they didn't even do what they sat down to do because while he was breaking the bread, the process of the way that he broke the bread, revealed His presence to them, God is in the process, and the gift is in the middle. Today, you will be with me in paradise. What an awesome promise to that thief. But I got a better one for you, because that's pretty good, right?

I mean, come on. You're a dying thief. And you're trying to slip in before the door closes. You're trying to get on Noah's Ark, and it's already halfway out in the water. And with your drowning, dying breath, you half-heartedly make a request just in case it works. And that guy got in. Today you will be with me in paradise. But God has made you a better promise.

for he says to each one of us today, help me say it, God. Not today you will be with me in paradise, but today I will be with you in the process. You see, to me that's even better that I have not only his statement, but I have his spirit. I am sealed with a guarantee that he is with me. Not just when I raised my hand, not just when I went down in the baptismal waters. That was awesome. Your wedding was beautiful, and we all appreciate so much the catering service. But we're not waiting.

Please. Like God left you on earth to wait to go to heaven. Have you noticed there's so much of what we talk about in terms of salvation? has to do with us getting out of here. Like Christianity is God's cosmic evacuation plan. The gift is in the middle. Can I show you something Peter said one time? Peter knew something

about the middle. Because one time he was in the middle of the sea in the middle of the storm. All of a sudden, in the middle of the sea, in the middle of the storm, here comes somebody walking toward him, and he's not quite sure, but he thinks it might just be Jesus.

So he cries out in the middle of the sea, in the middle of the storm. If it's you tell me to come, and he gets out the boat and he does pretty good. And by the time he gets where he's going, God reaches down and grabs him. That's a picture of the grace to get started and the grace that will be there in the end. But what about the minute? He was walking on water above what could have killed him. And all of a sudden the wind and the waves on the right and the left caused him to lose his focus on the man in the middle, and he sinks.

And so Peter said, sometimes you are so focused on what's behind you. I'm preaching to somebody, and you are so focused and concerned and anxious about what's ahead of you. You are missing the presence of God. He is not the great I was. He is not the great I will be. He is the great I am, and his presence is not just for heaven. One day, the kingdom of God is at hand.

He's here in the middle. And a little later in his life, Peter was writing to a persecuted church who was going through a fiery trial, and they were in the middle of it. And he said to them, this is like 1, 1, verse 9. He said, you are receiving, I've been studying this all week. I hope you'll like this as much as I did. Sometimes it's tough because I've been thinking about it all week and you have a real job and real bills. I'm just getting up here trying to tell you this stuff. I don't know if you see it, but he said, you are receiving the end result of your faith,

the salvation of your souls. One day it will be complete and there will be no need, but you don't have to wait until one day when. Children show us how to do this better than... because adults are so goal-focused. And we think that things have to be a certain way before we can enjoy God's presence, before we can enjoy what God's given us. So we set certain destinations in our mind, and when it gets like that, then I'll be Complete. But God wants to teach you how to get it in the middle. I believe this is life-changing. I believe this is life-changing. I was riding my bike. I don't do this much just on vacation. I'm scared to ride my bike on the road. The way some of y'all drive with elevation church stickers on your car. It scared me to death. But we were riding through. We were riding. We were riding. We were on.

family vacation and we had rented bicycles and we were riding to a restaurant and it started raining outside and I started going through all this negative cycle of emotions about the rain and I knew it was going to rain and I told Holly it was going to rain and she said it wasn't going to rain and I was raining and we're too far to turn around and go back home and so now we've got to ride in the rain and all of a sudden I see Elijah he pulls around me and he shouts at the top of his lungs epic because he saw a mud puddle. and for him the mud puddle looked like the perfect thing to aim at riding in the rain. Now, to me it was annoying.

To him, it was epic. I was already steering to go around it, and he was going right. When I thought about that picture, I thought about some of you going to work this week. and I saw you not aiming around the thing that you, they don't want me to preach like this, because we just want to talk about heaven and the streets of gold. And when we get there one day, when I'm flying around with wings and me and Aunt Thelma are drinking hot tea and the sapphire. No, it's here and now it's in the Monday and the mundane. It's in the mud.

It's in the dirty. See, God is a gardener. He likes to get down in the mud, down in the dirt, down in the disappointment. God is in the middle. The gift is in the middle. I see you riding your bike. I see you peddling through the puddle this week. I'm not going around it.

Grace will get me through it. It's in the middle. Shout somebody. You all are so sleepy. All right, let me illustrate this. Come here, Jonathan. And I come here, come here, come here. Jonathan, Anna, come here.

Do you remember, write this down. This is point number two. I'm closing real quick, because I know y'all got to go, and I don't want to stop. But this is number two of my message. So if you need to leave, if you got something to do, leave right now because I'm in the middle. And when I get to the end, it's going to be worth it. But this is the middle of my message. Now I was thinking about an illustration.

Some of you will remember it that I preached this illustration. I was trying to illustrate. Can you help me? I was, you be Cleo. You'd be Cleet and I was preaching on confidence and I talked about how far I feel like I have to go. And then I exactly sit down, sit down, he's got me. Come here, come here, he's got me. You got somebody else on this row that can help too? Okay, okay, come on, come on. Because he said, he said my point before I could say it. So I figured he should help me with this illustration. And this guy, this is perfect.

You don't know how perfect this is. Because not only is the gift in the middle, but watch my second point. You won't believe this. The goal is in the middle. See, man, God knew you needed to help me with this. Come on. So come all the way. Stay right there.

Stay right there. Stay right there. So we were talking about in that sermon illustration about how sometimes you have to look back and see how far God has already brought you. So salvation means I am not what I once was. How many can say that? I am not what I once was. But the same time you raise your right hand, how many of you could lift your left hand and say,

but I'm not what I want to be? That's you. That's you. You are what I want to be, okay? And I chose you because you're much better looking than him to be What I want to be And so we talked about living in the gap and so what I expect when I hear about salvation You know like in a wedding ceremony. They say and the two will become one flesh Notice they will become They will become, but it's not going to happen there at the ceremony.

It's going to happen in the kitchen when we're trying to decide who does the dishes. They won't help me preach. They just want to go to heaven. When we all get to heaven. Awesome. But in the meantime, here I am, and I'm not living in paradise. I'm living in process. Help me preach, please, or I will leave this stage right now.

I don't need to know the third point. I know it already. And here I am in the middle. And I look back and it's awesome because I'm not what I was. If any man is in Christ, he is a new creation, the old is gone, the new has come. I am not what I was. And I found out that if I will walk with God, he will change me and conform me to the image of Christ. Now, my expectation is, watch this, that as I move toward God's purpose for my

life, as I get closer and closer to God, that this gap will shrink. Guess what? Let me show you something. The Bible says that when they recognize Jesus in the process, when he broke the bread and gave the bread, watch what happened next. Can we go back to Luke 24-31? The moment they recognized him, he disappeared from their sight. So this is what happens, and this is going to explain a lot of why you don't feel like a good Christian, why you don't feel like you're growing. Don't get me wrong. Salvation is a gift, but it is a gift that you must grow into. My expectation is that as I walk with God and as I make decisions to follow him and I make decisions to eliminate certain things from my life that are causing me to drain energy and focus that could be applied

toward my purpose, that this gap behind me will get bigger and the gap in front of me will get smaller. But guess what God does? When you take a step, when you make a move, when I step, you step. Watch this. God moves too. You're going to love this gold digger. See, In my mind, the goal was, stay right there, that this gap goes away. Here's what God knows. If you think that you have arrived, arrogance is sure to follow. So what God is going to do, I need to do this. This is version 2.0.

God is going to make sure that as you grow, when I step, you step. The gap stays. So you look back and you say, oh look, I'm moving forward, but you look forward and it doesn't feel like you've gone anywhere. But I want to let you know you're right where you need to be. See, you need for both gaps. Here it is. Grace that created this gap between where I was and where I am is the grace I need.

I step you step. Says to everyone who's in the middle of something right now, in the middle of change. In the middle of process in the middle of becoming in the middle of a storm in the middle of the fire You step by step keep stepping step stay in the middle step stay in the middle Sturridge with you in the fire I need I need both Gap's I need a gap that makes me grateful and a gap that makes me grow Y'all better sit down I gotta start closing and I'm I want to to preach about these gaps. I don't know why it is that we think that the first gap is the grace of God and the second gap is anything but the same grace that did that will do this. He who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it.

So the disciples get where they're going to Amas and God says, oh, you thought that was the final stop? No. It's just the middle. Oh man, if you could see your life like God sees your life. The good stuff happens in the middle. I love Netflix. I can just pause it. And sometimes if the tension is real high in a show, I'll pause it, not to stop it, but I want to see where we're at on the timeline. Here's what I know.

If there's unresolved conflict in the show, I would want to know, wait a minute, how much time is left? Because if we're still in the middle, come on, somebody, your dream is not over, your purpose is not finished, this is not the end, it's just the middle. The gift is in the middle. The goal is in the middle. I press toward the mark for getting what is behind. I will not. Not quit in the middle. Encourage somebody next to you. It's just the middle.

This is just the middle. This is just the middle. This is not the end. It's just the middle. And I think it is significant that when they reached Amas and Jesus revealed his presence through the scars that he suffered for their salvation, he disappeared. so that they would turn around. And when they got to the place, they thought they were going, they found out, surprise.

Look at verse 32. They got up and they started talking to each other. And they said to each other, we're not our hearts as we went. That's where you get it. That's where you grow. That's where he shows up in the middle. in the middle of the night, when it's just you and Pastor Pillow, and nobody left the text, you will hear his voice in the middle. Whoever this is for, and whatever you're in the middle of, I want you to look at the cross again.

Because the Bible says that what they thought was the end, Emmaus, where they intended to stay in disappointment and eat some bread and go to bed. Once they saw who was with them all along and realized what had been happening along the road that seemed to them trivial in something as mundane as a seven-mile walk, they turned around, they got up, and they returned at once to Jerusalem. And you thought this series seven-mile miracle was about the first seven miles. And you thought salvation was just about God getting you out. But the second seven miles is when you turned back around. and stop running from what God saved you out of and start running toward what God saved you for. And they got up at once in a moment and returned to Jerusalem. This may be the strongest message on salvation that God has ever given me. Because when I looked at the cross where he died, and I realized that he died on a hill called Gagatha, which is the place of the skull in Aramaic, and on one side of him was one thief,

and on one side of him was another. And the cross that brought our salvation was right there in the middle. I realized that the world. that the way that he died is symbolic of the way that I now live. I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me. And the life that I now live, I now live. It is here now.

If you're looking for the grace of God, don't look to your deathbed and don't look to your past. He is the great I am. If you're looking for the grace of God, put your eyes on that middle cross. Between two thieves, on your left, you'll see your past. On your right, you'll see your future. But don't look at your past. You're not going that way. And don't even worry about your future. God is already there. If you're looking for the grace of God It's in the middle. I need somebody to praise God right here, right now

for His grace in the middle. He is with me in the middle. He is with me in the middle. And maybe, stand please. Maybe it's not about God getting me out. Maybe the reason he died is because he wanted to get in. Your faith is hanging between two thieves.

What was is gone. What will be is unknown. If you're looking for the grace of God, if you're looking for the glory of God, the glory is in the middle. I know it's in the middle because when Shabrak, Mishak and Abedigo

got thrown in the fire, God didn't get them out of the fire. But late at night, when the flames were at their highest, seven times hotter than they normally were because they would not bow before the Babylonian king. The scripture says that a fourth man went in the furnace with the three who were thrown in. God didn't get them out. He got in the middle with them. Now, if you know this message is for your soul, just raise your hand.

If you know it's for your soul. I want the same grace that got me out of my sin to lead me into everything that God saved me for. I want to learn to see his power not just in my perfection. I mean, even the thought that I'm going to reach that on this earth is ridiculous. I want God's presence in the process. When he took it, he blessed it, he broke it, and gave it. And that's where they say, in the middle. Common, middle, mundane.

middle. The miracle is in the middle. Not when you get out, but while you are in it. I know you're still struggling with the addiction man, and I know even your wife doesn't know because you're scared to tell her. God is with you in the middle. Not just when you've been five years clean. God is with you in the pig pen. He is with you in the middle. And the same grace that stayed with you in the pig pen is going to bring you out don't you dare quit this is just the middle this is just the middle this this is just the middle god is with you his presence is here john said i looked and saw a throne and this is a beautiful picture because he said that the throne was sitting in the middle of praise i want us to do something right now this may be a little uncomfortable for you but the reason you've been feeling stressed out and worn out. And the reason you've been trying to do what Jesus did not do on the cross, which is save himself, the reason you've been trying, the reason you've been so strained and the reason that you've been so drained is because you've been trying to save yourself and

you've been at the center. If you are looking for the peace of God, if you are looking for the power of God, if you are looking for the presence of God, it's in the middle. And for him to be in the middle, you can't stay there. So lift your hands, say glory and praise, power and strength. This is what they're singing in heaven around the throne. Worthy is the Lamb of God. We're singing it now. Salvation belongs to our God, to the Lamb who sits on the throne. Power forever and ever. Put him at the center. For it is by grace you have been said. Through faith, not of yourselves. It is the gift of God. Come on, if you're in the middle of a storm right now, I need you to lift your hands and call on.

His glory will show up in the middle of your storm, in the middle of your struggle. He's in the midst of his people. Thank you for joining us. Special thanks to those of you who give generously to this ministry. It's because of you that this ministry is possible. You can click the link in the description to give now, or visit elevationchurch. 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. This is an IHeart podcast, guaranteed human.