Elevation with Steven Furtick - Save Your Strength Pt. 2

Episode Date: January 26, 2024

We all feel weak sometimes. So where can we find strength when we need it most? Learn how to increase your strength by starting at the source. If you’ve just made a decision for Christ, please respond HERE: ele.vc/tIepfr To support this ministry and help us continue to reach people all around the world click here: www.elevationchurch.org/giving/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. At your standard. Have you even thought about it or this is just inherited? Who set your standard? You're looking to celebrities for your standard? Really? The ones who are so miserable, they can only be. happy when they have attention?

Really? That's your standard. Set your standard of what you will and will not listen to. Your standard. Oh, you think you're better than us. That's what they'll say when you start living with standards. Oh, you think you're better than us. No, it's just that I know how much I need a source that is not me, because I am weak without him.

In fact, I'm nothing without him. So excuse me, but the battle that I'm in is too real for you. me to play around and live my life with exposed places and low standards. So I got to get this right this year. I like that boy right there. He looks like a teenager with standards, sitting there leaning in in church. Some kids would be texting in church, but not you. You look like you want something from God, boy.

You look like you got a mission. You look like God might use you. Don't you live down to the level of your friends. Your friends don't know anything yet. God has taken you places. Stand up on your feet right now. Yeah, you. Stand up right now.

Raise the stander, don't lower it. When you show up in school, God walks through the halls. When you show up in school, the presence of God moved. You're really going to let your unmarried friends tell you how to do your marriage? I'll tell you, if I had a wife, I wouldn't. You said all I needed to hear in that if I had a wife part. If I wanted what you had, I'd do what you're doing. but I want something better.

It's your standard. Sometimes our standards need to be lowered. Yeah, no, sometimes they do, because sometimes it takes too much to make us happy. Who set the standard for what it takes to make you happy? Who set the standard for what it takes to have a good day? I'm bad about this. One bad meeting, and I had a bad day. No, no, no.

It's like that old man told me that time. I said, how you doing? He said, I'm alive. I thought, well, you didn't answer me. And then I realized, yes, he did, because for him to be alive, he woke up, it's a good day. He woke up, it's a good day. Who set your standards? I mean, when did we come to the point when kids had to watch a movie in the car?

Trip to Target. I used to have to drive four hours with a crayon and a book. And now you need Elsa to get to Harris Teeter. Who set this standard? How are we all talking about? The time I was complaining, I preached on a Saturday night. My friend came. He's on staff in another church.

I was apologizing to him because the crowd was a little down, because I was used to being packed out in elevation on Saturday night. I said, I'm sorry, man. It was kind of down today. He said, your down day would be my revival. I needed that. Because sometimes you let your stander get out of control. as the church, we want to put a standard on the world that we ourselves don't even exemplify.

We can't even figure out racial reconciliation within the context of the community of faith, but then we want to judge it when it's in the world. God's got a remnant. God always has a remnant. I believe God is raising up Elevation Church as a remnant in this day to raise the standard of what church can be. And how broad this message really is. We're here to raise the standard. I wonder who set your standard.

See, how can you expect God to be your strength if he didn't set your standards? How can I expect success if I don't have a standard of excellence? If I have not established a standard of excellence in my life, why would I expect God to bless my blemished offerings? You could take a little time off your sermons. You know nobody would notice, but why would I ask God to bless something that my whole heart wasn't in? It's hard to preach this in church because in church people think that if it's for God, it doesn't have to be good. Church can become a place where we just bring God any old thing.

We show up on time for something we buy a ticket for, but we 35 minutes late to get to church, and it doesn't matter because it's like the preliminary stuff or something like that. Just bring God any old thing. And listen, I am not talking about keeping God's standards so that you'll earn His love. This is not about keeping rules so that God will love you. It's because living right because he does. Not living up to a standard, but living out of a standard. Christ in you, the hope of glory, or as Romans says, that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us who walk not after the flesh but the spirit.

For years I read it that the righteous requirements of the law might be met by us. I realize it's not something God wants from me as something that he wants for me. He has given me a standard. He has called me his child. And to live beneath that is to be like Eve and to speak to something that you should be stepping on. But a lot of times we have an expectation with no standard. A standard of excellence means doing the best with what you have.

And until I've done the best with what I have, I don't feel like I should ask God to do what he can do if I haven't done what I can do." And you run into all kinds of problems with this, you know, even from early in the church. Early in the church, I wanted to have a standard, you know? And we didn't have money, but I wanted a standard. And we didn't have equipment, but I wanted a standard. So I was the worship leader when we started. The standard was way lower than it is now.

I got in at a good time, okay? I was the only one available. And so I had to organize the base. And I bought in this guitar player for one of our first rehearsals, and he came in, and he didn't practice. He said, I got busy this week. I didn't practice this week, but I'm good. So I let him practice with us.

Then after practice, I pulled him aside because I didn't want to embarrass him. I said, hey, man, we won't be needing you Sunday because you didn't practice. He said, really? He said, you're going to kick me out the church because I didn't practice? I said, no, you can come to church. You just can't come with a guitar on and stand on the stage. You come to church all you want. I saved your seat, but you're playing.

And I gave him a $50 gas card. I said, here you go, man. But you're not playing. He said, your standards are too high. He said, nobody's going to want to be a part of this ministry because the standards are too high. And he was right. Nobody, this whole thing just.

I heard a story last night from an e-group in our church. The couple that came a couple years ago, they were. sharing their story how they got here, they said, we hated it when we first came. And I was waiting for the twist, you know, because you're here now. And you came years ago. They said, we came in, and somebody at the door said we couldn't bring our Starbucks in church. And we had just spent $5 each on our Starbucks.

And I sat through the first part of the sermon, all mad about my Starbucks. But then in the middle of the sermon, I started crying. And then when we left the church, we were getting in our car and somebody chased us down. The same person that told us we couldn't have our Starbucks in church said, while you were in service, we went and got you a Starbucks gift card and chased them down with a Starbucks gift card. And it wasn't even my sermon that wanted him to Christ, it was Starbucks. But it was a standard.

See, because I feel like why should I ask people to tithe to this ministry and then have lazy staff members who don't even want to practice. Why should I expect you to invite your friends to church and not have a standard of excellence on this stage? Why should I expect God to bless something that I am not invested in? Why should we expect God to bless our lives with success when we have not established a standard of excellence? This is my year to bring my best to God, to bring him a worthy offering. I will not offer the Lord that which cost me nothing. How can I expect God to bring my best to God? me with success when I have no standard of excellence. How can I expect God to bless me with abundance when I have no standard of stewardship? The standard comes before the strength. He will

be a spirit of justice to the one who sits in judgment and a source of strength to him who turns back the battle at the gate. The standard, then the strength. The standard, then the strength. So if I want God to be my provider, I have to make a plan. Why would God give me provision if I don't have a plan for it. Why would God bless me with more when I'm not even generous with what I have? Why would he pour out of his resources into closed hands? I need a standard. That's why I give the first 10 percent to God. That's my standard. He's first. This is off limits. It's not for negotiation. This is my standard. God comes first. Your children shouldn't even have to ask you, are we going to church this week?

Unless you got the flu. Of course we're going to church. It's our standard. I don't care who's playing. It's our standard. I don't care who's preaching. It's our standard. I don't care how bad the parking lot is.

It's our standard and God is worth it. I'll sit in traffic. He's God. I got standards. I got standards, see. That's where my strength comes from. My standards. I don't have to waste time making

decisions about standards that I should have said a long time ago. I don't have to negotiate between the gates. I have standards. How can I expect God to give me stability if I don't have a standard of integrity? A lot of times we ask God to help us feel better, but sometimes we're not going to feel better until we do better. When you're managing secrets that you won't bring before God to confess to him so that he can begin the process of healing, you will always fill off inside.

can't be the source of your strength if he's not the source of your standards. How can I expect God to give me influence if I will not embrace the standard of sacrifice that influence requires? I want the influence, not the sacrifice, I want the resurrection but not the crucifixion. We'll say your standards. How can I expect to live in freedom if I do not embrace God's standard of forgiveness? If I hold on to every offense and let it all in the gate and don't turn back the battle, If I'm looking for reasons to be offended, looking for reasons to be angry, I should not be surprised

when I find myself in a low emotional state. How can I be free from what I let walk right through my front door? How can I expect to walk in freedom if I have not chosen to walk in forgiveness? It is the standard of forgiveness that enables me to live in freedom. I don't forgive you for you. I forgive you because I want to be free. How can I expect God's peace in my life if I don't control my meditation? How can I receive strength that God is trying to give me if I just let any thought in?

How can I expect to live in a state of joyful celebration of my progress if I allow myself to constantly complain? And sometimes I'm complaining or criticize. I can be real critical because I got that excellence thing. And the flip side of excellence is judgmental when I try to put my standard on you, which is always wrong. Which is always wrong. And so now I've opened my mouth and I thought I was complaining or I thought I was

criticizing and I told myself, I'm just letting it out. No? I'm letting it in. I left my gate wide open to the enemy because I have no standard. But when I set a standard for my speech and my thoughts, I turn back the battle at the gate. And now I'm not in the stranglehold of a system of thought that I allowed myself to flirt with. And now I'm living in a state of joy and I'm living at a level above the serpent and he's under my feet. And I am not negotiating with what God called me to trample on.

I said I'm not going to conversate with what God has given me the ability to crush. I'm taking my stand and I'm setting my standard. How can I expect God's strength if I do not embrace God's standard? How can we expect God to give our nation unity if we do not embrace his standard of equality? He will be a spirit of justice to the one who sits in judgment. And when we allow inequality and prejudice and stereotypes and oppression to go unchecked and then ask God to make us one, we are violating the very principle that will create unity. And then we come up on a weekend and we celebrate Dr. King rightfully, but we celebrate him at the wrong level because we celebrate his speeches. But Dr. King's life was not about speeches, it was about standards.

And I'm so afraid that we want God, we want God to be our mascot. We want God to be like one of those little, you know, those little stuffed animals, the ones that talk when you pull the string. And we got our little Jesus doll that we pull out. And we pull the string, and Jesus has about three little things that he says, You know, love your neighbor and love your enemies. And we pull the string and he just says these little sayings. And we don't want his standards.

We just want his sayings. And we'll listen to speeches. We'll listen to I have a dream. But a dream without action and a dream without process and a dream without justice is a delusion. So we kind of raise the standard and declare that some things are not all right. It's to be a standard. We are the people of God. Where is our standard?

For anybody else to set our standard, we are the church, we are the light of the world, we are the ones in the gate. It's us. He cannot be the source of our strength if he is not the source of our standards. We cannot poison the well and then complain about the water. Do you hear what I'm trying to say? We've got to stop it at the source. to draw a bloodline in the name of Jesus and say, this stops here. These are my standards.

I will not apologize. I will not always live up to them, but I am pressing toward the mark for the prize of the high calling. I will not live with low standards. God is looking for somebody to turn back the battle at the gate, at the gate, at the very beginning of the year. You know, most people want to get out of the gate strong. We want to get in the gate. Spirit of justice to the one who sits in judgment, source of strength to the one who turns back to battle at the gate. If you want to be one of those that he speaks about who will turn back the battle at the gate, I want you to stand to your feet right now on every campus.

Because I believe God has given us an opportunity. The gates have changed. start with our standards. I kind of wish we could sit down after this. I kind of wish we could take a moment and look at areas of your life where you're feeling weak and you need strength. Because in the area where you need strength, that's where you need standards. I'm not talking about 20 rules for you to keep that you tried to keep last year. I'm not talking about that kind of religious spirit that business.

that builds a ladder for you to climb to God. I'm talking about a ladder that came down to you. And the first step of these changes is standards. Standards. What are your standards? Who set them? Who set the standard for you of what it means to be a man? Who set the standard for you of what it means to be a Christian?

Just to pray a prayer one time? Show up to church when it's convenient. Try not to cuss too much. The devil is a liar. There's a higher standard. This thing is meant to consume all of my life. It changes the way I see the way I speak the way I think the way I treat my brother The way I treat my sister. I got a new standard and God is looking for people at the beginning of this year who will raise the standard Beautiful thing about it is that he is not going to Cause you to have to reach the standard. He's only calling you to raise it And he will give you the grace to draw a line and say, are there some things in your life today that you need to say?

I'm not going to talk that way, think that way, live that way. I'm not going to just allow unrestricted access to everything that wants to come into my space or my spirit to dominate my life and sabotage. So this year, I'm raising the standard. And when the enemy comes in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord will raise a standard against him. He will be a spirit of justice. a wreath for the remnant. This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed human.