Holly Furtick

This weekend we closed our series, God’s Will is Whatever, a series all about God’s will, based on the verse, Colossians 3:17.   We had originally planned for the series to be a 4 week series, but the series was so well received that we added a 5th week with a Q & A.

People sent in questions like…

-Is it God’s will for us to suffer pain?
-Why am I still single when I have a desire to be married?
-Is it God’s will for me to pay off debt or begin tithing?
-Does God call us to do specific things for Him?
-How do I know if God is calling me to move on from something?

If you want to hear my husband’s specific answers to those questions, you will have to go online and watch the message.  I want to share a few of my favorite quotes from the weekend…

• The right time to start doing the right thing is right now.
• If you don’t obey God in one area of your life, eventually you may not be able to hear Him in another area.
• When I do the part of God’s will that I can control, He will do the part that I cannot control.
• If you’re faithful fishing, God knows where to find your boat.
• Just because you didn’t win, doesn’t mean it didn’t work.

This has been such a powerful, practical series.  I hope you will listen to or watch this it.  It was so good!  You can catch it today on the Elevation Network and later in our archive.  Have a great Monday!

This weekend we continued our series, God’s Will is Whatever, a series all about God’s will, based on the verse, Colossians 3:17.  So far my husband has taught us that if we walk in His ways, we will be in His will.  Then we learned that to know God’s will must view everything through the window of God’s word.

This weekend we learned that God’s will is like a can of paint, the value is in the application.  In other words, you have to DO it!  My husband told us that we can study God’s will, we can debate God’s will, we can deliberate over God’s will, but until we actually DO what God has told us to do we won’t see God move in our lives.  God doesn’t show us His will so we can know it, he shows it so we can do it.

And then the deepest level of knowing God’s will, and doing God’s will is in desiring God’s will.  God wants me to want to do His will.  And as I grow in my relationship with Christ, He moves me out of the duty, and into the desire.  My husband said, “Delight produces desire and desire will produce decisions that duty never could.”  God’s will is not about will power, it’s about delight.

This has been such a powerful, practical series.  I hope you will listen to or watch this it.  It was so good!  You can catch it today on the Elevation Network and later in our archive.  Have a great Monday!

This weekend we continued our series, God’s Will is Whatever, a series all about God’s will, based on the verse, Colossians 3:17.  This week my husband explained that the revealed will of God (God’s Word) illuminates the concealed will of God for my life.

As he walked through the story of Jacob in Genesis 28, he explained that God’s will is most often revealed to us in 3 different ways…

1. Influence of others.  God can use the voice of the right people to tell us what to do.
2. Life situations.  Advantages God has given us to leverage as well as limitations God wants for us to embrace.
3. Leading of the Spirit.  The desires and emotions God puts in our hearts.

The message was so powerful.  I feel like I just too all the life out of it as I put it into words.  I hope you will listen to or watch this message so you can get the full effect of how great it was.  You can catch it today on the Elevation Network and later in our archive.  Have a great Monday!

This weekend we started a new series, God’s Will is Whatever, a series all about God’s will, based on the verse, Colossians 3:17.  My husband kicked the series off talking about how before we can do God’s will we have to understand God’s will.  He explained that when we walk in God’s ways, we do His will.

There was so much content in this message.  I want to share with you his 3 closing points…

1. God’s will is present more than it is future.  It is more about the how than the when.
2. God’s will is motive more than action.  It is more about the why than the what.
3. God’s will is a person before it is a place.  It is more about the who than the where.

His point in the message is that we spend so much time wanting God to reveal the concealed part of His will rather than obeying the reveal part of His will in His Word.

I truly loved this message.  It was so practical.  It took the mysticism out of this concept of “God’s will” for my life and put the relationship back in it.  He even pointed out that sometimes God will hide his will from me so I will dig deeper to know His ways.

I hope you will listen to or watch this message and this series.  It was so good!  you can catch it today on the Elevation Network and later in our archive.  Have a great Monday!

We are continuing our series In-Fin-8.  We are walking through 8 of the greatest stories from the Bible.  We have heard about Adam and Eve, Moses and the Red Sea, Elijah at Mt. Carmel, Jonah, Daniel and the Lion’s Den and then this weekend my husband taught on the story of Peter walking on the water.

He taught us that sometimes God sends us directly into a storm (of course, sometimes we send ourselves into a storm too), just as Jesus sent the disciples on a boat and towards a storm.  From this, we can be comforted to know that just because we are going through something hard, does not mean that God is not in our situation.

My husband said that Jesus did not criticize the the quality of Peter’s faith, nor the quantity or his faith.  He criticized the duration of his faith.  And although Peter failed at what he set out to do, Jesus succeeded in what he set out to prove.  The point of the story was not Peter’s great faith, it was about God’s great grace.

It’s a great series and the message this weekend is so worth your time! I hope you’ll join us in listening to it. You can listen to the message on the Elevation Network, or later today on our Podcast, or in our archive.  Have a great Monday!

We are continuing our series In-Fin-8.  We are walking through 8 of the greatest stories from the Bible.  We have heard about Adam and Eve, Moses and the Red Sea, Elijah at Mt. Carmel,  Jonah, and this week we heard our family pastor, Frank Bealer, preach on Daniel and the Lion’s Den.

In fact, our entire weekend was centered around our family ministry.  We were led in worship by children’s choirs at all of our locations and we also heard great stories of how our eKidz ministry is impacting kids and their families all over our city and even our nation.  Frank talked about how we can trust God no matter what.  And we can learn to have a faith that is simple and genuine, like our children.

Now, I cannot let this Monday Morning Commentary go by without commenting on the most significant part of my day because my baby girl turned 2 yesterday!!  In honor of her birthday, I took her on the stage to help me welcome the people.  She sure is a performer.  I thought you might enjoy seeing a little clip of her on stage and a picture of her in her birthday dress…

It’s a great series and the message this weekend is so worth your time! I hope you’ll join us in listening to it. You can listen to the message on the Elevation Network, or later today on our Podcast, or in our archive. Have a great Monday!

We are continuing our series In-Fin-8.  We are walking through 8 of the greatest stories from the Bible.  We have heard about Adam and Eve, Moses and the Red Sea, Elijah at Mt. Carmel,  and then this weekend my husband taught on the story of Jonah.

Once again, my husband took a story this Sunday school girl had heard a million times and made it alive and relevant to my every day life.  He said the book of Jonah is a book about a good god who can take a reluctant person and do an incredible work.  It would be hard for me to recap the whole sermon so I will give you a few bullet points of my favorite quotes from the weekend.

• When God speaks to me, do I hear it as an invitation or an interruption?
• Stop calling it according to what you see and start calling it according to what God says.
• Today’s excuses are tomorrow’s regrets dressed in disguise.
• We want mercy for ourselves but justice for someone else.
• When I become more concerned about my convenience over God’s purpose, misery is inevitable.

It’s a great series and the message this weekend is so worth your time! I hope you’ll join us in listening to it. You can listen to the message on the Elevation Network, or later today on our Podcast, or in our archive. Have a great Monday!

We are continuing our series In-Fin-8.  We are walking through 8 of the greatest stories from the Bible.  We have heard about Adam and Eve, Moses and the Red Sea, and then today my husband taught on the story of Elijah at Mt. Carmel found in 1Kings 17-19.

The first thing he pointed out is that Elijah had a rhythm of relationship with God.  Elijah did what The Lord told him (17:5).  ”The Word came… Elijah went.” (18:1-2). God greatly uses those who listen and obey.  It’s that simple.  I’m not sure i would always be able to describe my relationship with God as rhythmic. I think a lot of weeks I’m spastic, or sporadic. I want to be rhythmic.

I also loved when he talked about Elijah’s question to Israel, “How long will you waiver between two opinions?” (19:21). Elijah was not necessarily talking about wavering between God and Satan.  He explained that the Israelites worship of Baal was like an add on. As if they trusted God to meet their spiritual needs but not their agricultural needs.  The thing is, God refuses to be one of my options. He is the only solution to any and every problem I may have.

It really is shaping up to be a great series.  I hope you will take the time to watch or listen online if you missed it. You can listen to the message on the Elevation Network, or later today on our Podcast, or in our archive.

Check back around 3 for the announcement of our give away winners.  Have a great Monday!

This weekend was week 2 of our series, In Fin 8, a series about the 8 greatest stories ever told. Today’s great story was Moses and the Red Sea (Exodus 13-14), and it was great. My husband is truly making these stories feel fresh and alive.

My favorite part was when my husband pointed out how God took the Israelites the long way because he knew they were not prepared to fight the Philistines (if they crossed through their land via the short way) (Gen 13:17). My husband said that God’s way is sometimes longer, harder, or slower because He knows there is something ahead in the “easy” way that we are not ready for.

I also loved when he pointed out in Genesis 14:19 that decreased visibility of God does not equal decrease of His presence or protection. What a comforting thought to know that sometimes, decreased visibility of God means increased protection!

It’s a great series! I hope you’ll join us in listening to it. You can listen to the message on the Elevation Network, or later today on our Podcast, or in our archive. Have a great Monday!

This weekend we began our series, In Fin 8, a series about the 8 greatest bible stories ever told.  We started in Genesis this week and we will end with the crucifixion and resurrection on Easter.

I have to be honest.  When I heard my husband was preaching on Adam and Eve this week I was not excited.  It is not at the top of my list of favorite Bible stories.  But once again, my husband took a passage of scripture I have heard so many sermons on and made it fresh and practical and inspiring.

He pointed out 4 questions from Genesis 3…

1. Did God really say? (3:1)  We learned that the enemy takes what God means to be a liberation and turns it into a limitation.
2. Are you really sure? (3:4)  The enemy wants to insert a question mark over what I already know to be true about God.
3. Where are you? (3:9) God wants to replace my question mark with an exclamation point of His love.
4. Who told you that? (3:11)  I have got to locate the lies that I am believing.

The sermon was so personally challenging for me.  I know it will be for you too. You can listen to the message on the Elevation Network, or later today on our Podcast, or in our archive. Have a great Monday!