One of the youngest megachurch pastors in the country preached what may have amounted to half a year’s worth of sermons in 24 hours.
Executing what he called the craziest, most asinine ideas he’s ever had, Pastor Steven Furtick stood in front of a live Web audience on Tuesday and Wednesday, teaching from the Bible for 24 hours straight.
Though hours of sermons may have easily sounded like a snooze fest for some, the online event was a big draw for thousands who were familiar with the young pastor’s passionate preaching.
“Audacious faith” was the main message he proclaimed.
It’s the same message found in his newly released book, Sun Stand Still: What Happens When You Dare to Ask God for the Impossible.
“There’s so many people living with the ache of the ordinary; nothing seems to ever happen supernatural in their lives,” he said.
The 30-year-old pastor reminded viewers, “We serve a God who can do the impossible.”
“Why did you stop believing God for the impossible?” he asked.
Furtick, who leads Elevation Church in Charlotte, N.C., was commemorating the day that his first book was released. Rather than watch Amazon rankings all day, he decided to celebrate the book release in “epic style.” Hence, the 24 hours of “good old-fashioned holy ghost preaching.”
It wasn’t a gimmick, he stressed, and he acknowledged he wasn’t a TV preacher or “the LeBron James of pastors.” But the online event was a celebration of what God had put on his heart to share with the world.
Responding to criticisms that he was merely “pimping” his book all day, Furtick admitted he was. But he said he was doing it because he truly believes the message – God’s message – in the book will change people’s lives.
Initially, he had hesitated to write a book.
“Like the Christian bookstores need another book on their shelves,” he said.
But what it came down to was that he believed so many people were in a position where they needed to “get pushed into a pool.” He wanted to tell them to stop wading in the kiddie pool and go into the deep end, to stop settling for spiritual mediocrity and to start living with unusual boldness.
“Your belief system, your way of seeing the world, your framework, what you operate out of is either going to be an outlook of faith or an outlook of fear,” he said during the online event. “And the battleground where that all plays out is in your mind.”
There are lies that keep people from audacious faith, he noted.
“Who told you you don’t have what it takes to fulfill the calling God has placed on your life?” he posed. “You’ve got to find the lie and replace it with the truth.”
Furtick warned viewers that they may have swagger jaggers in their lives – “people who want to cut in on you and stop you from pursuing what God has called you to do.”
They’re not always malicious, he pointed out. Sometimes, they are well-meaning people.
But “you can’t let anybody step between you and the plan God has for you,” he underscored.
article courtesy of TheBelleReport.com
