F4F | Tavner Smith and his Adventures in Missing the Point

Stephen Furtick Introduces Tavner Smith at Elevation Church

Welcome to another installment of fighting for the faith. My name is Chris Roseboro. I am your servant in Jesus Christ. If you've ever heard of Stephen Furtick or Tavner Smith, you're thinking who's Tavner Smith?

Yeah, it doesn't matter. We'll talk about him in a minute here. Go ahead and hit the subscribe button down below. Don't forget to like the video and to ring the bell so you can be notified when we update our channel.

We're gonna be heading over to Elevation Church, Elevation Church, Elevation Worship, Stephen Furtick. You can arguably make the case that there are few that are more popular in American Evangelicalism today than Stephen Furtick and Elevation Church.

But Stephen Furtick has a mini-me and it's Tavner Smith, a venue church. And we've noted over the past few years that Tavner wants to be Stephen Furtick in the worst way. And I'm wondering if if Tavner is paying Stephen to be one of his coaches.

Yeah Stephen offers his services for a fee to coach up-and-coming Vision-casting leaders like Tavner Smith, but Tavner Smith is a guy who could not properly exegete his way out of a paper bag if you gave him a commentary Sermon outline and kind of explained it all to him as well as a flashlight.

So yeah, the guy is hapless doctrinally and theologically in fact. We've noted that he has taught in the past full-on Mormonism. That's Mormonism, Patrick and And so I find it fascinating that what we're gonna watch here is Is Tavner Smith preaching at Elevation Church?

But Stephen Furtick is gonna give his 100 Endorsement for the guy and I just think this is bizarre. We'll listen to part of the sermon which is supposed to be on Exodus chapter 14 and Let's head over and take a look at the the desktop here.

The name of the message we'll be listening is titled the tour a detour is for your destiny. The detour is for your Destiny so yeah, I hope you're sitting down. Let's get to it. Here is a Stephen Furtick to introduce Tavner Smith to Elevation Church.

Here put put that one in the left one, I think this is working. Hello. See a elevation. Happy weekend. What's up? This is pastor Tavner Smith. He's gonna preach the word today. Tavner looks starstruck.

He is one of the most amazing. I want to say this to you.

You were one of the most and now let's build up Tavner Smith's ego.

Shall we amazing pastors that God is raising up in the nation today, and this is our first time having him at Elevation. I really believed in him. But in a minute you'll see that that really doesn't say anything about me.

Because the fire of God is on this man of God. He and his wife Danielle pastor venue church in Chattanooga, Tennessee soon to be all over the nation and the world. I hope not.

Yeah, and so let me put this in here going back in time to March 5th 2018 Tavner Smith's sermon titled dream hustle win. We will note Tavner's theology is completely wackerdoodle to say the least. Let's listen in.

Tavner Smith's Mormonism and Bad Theology

Wow. Fly away ogle or anybody. I'll fly away. When I die hallelujah by and by I'll fly away. Bad singer good songs. Nothing wrong with the music. But it was not the end intended message that God wanted to deliver to the earth.

God's message to the earth was never supposed to be hurry up and get back to me.

God's message to the earth with now know what he just said there. Hurry up and get back to me. He's teaching the Mormon doctrine of pre-existence of humans. I'm not making that up. We didn't pre-exist.

But watch what he does. It's always supposed to be help me get heaven down there through you. I.

Have to back that up to hear it and cut it. Yeah, so God's intended message was help me get heaven down there to you. If God wanted to bring heaven to earth he could it. Oh and by the way Jesus will be bringing the new Jerusalem with them On the day that he returns in glory to judge the living and the dead when he makes a new heaven and a new earth.

And he's not needing our help to do that. But let me back this up just a smidge. Hurry up and get back to me.

God's message to the earth was always supposed to be help me get heaven down there through you. Right. The Bible says that before the foundations of the world He knew us. If he knew us it means we were with him before we were created.

No, it doesn't mean that if we were with him before we created. He then saw an answer the earth needed that could only be answered through you. And so he gave you a body to live in to bring the answer to the earth.

So we get.

Yeah, that's Mormonism. Yeah right there. That's Mormonism right there. So Tabner Smith is a guy who just doesn't know how to rightly handle a biblical text and of course Stephen Furtick wouldn't you know is the one endorsing him and unleashing this Theological virus this gang green on Elevation Church.

But in Tabner's case, he may be less dangerous than Stephen Furtick. I'm just saying.

And I believe that God's gonna use him in a great way today. So stand up right now at every location. Put your hands together and he's not here. He's there. Anyway, you get it. Come on get up on your feet and let's show honor and love to my friend Pastor Tabner Smith.

Come on, put your hands together. Let's get ready for the word.

I love you, man. All right, so Tabner Smith now takes the stage at Elevation. Well, good morning Elevation. Now he's gonna go on and do kind of a mandatory thing all guests preachers at Elevation Church must assume the sycophant position and engage in activity.

That sycophants engage in and so he'll go on for a couple of minutes. So we'll fast forward to the very last part where he's giving such high praise to Stephen Furtick, oh. He's the best thing ever.

This is not a large church. This is a move of God and I'm glad you don't think that. Elevation is a church. That's how I'm interpreting it.

I just want to take the next 20 seconds. And if so, he said that Elevation Church is not a large church. It's a movement. Yeah, it's not a church. It's a movement.

Works for me. God has done anything in your life through this ministry. I want you to raise the roof at all our locations and thank God for the gift that he's given us and our pastors. Pastor Stephen and Holly come on lift your voice in this place.

Yeah God doesn't allow women to be pastors. So Holly isn't that? So there's his plaintiff. Yop and You know, he's thanking God for Stephen Furtick. Could you imagine what would happen if John MacArthur for instance led his congregation in this kind of behavior.

I want to jump right into the word before you sit down. Let me read. But I want to say this before I read the word. I want to tell you this that God is gonna meet you today. Not at the level of my preparation he's gonna meet you at the level of your expectation.

Pseudoprofound bovine scatology. That what does that even mean? God's gonna not meet me at your level of preparation. Yeah, he he has prepared all the way to preparation H level and. But God's gonna meet us at the level of our expectation.

Where'd you get that Tavner? I came prepared I came ready. I'm gonna give you a word today. But how funny I am how loud I am how good I am has no bearing on what the word has the ability to do. Isaiah 55 says the word will perform everything it was intended to perform.

Yeah, that's gonna require you to rightly handle the word and correctly give a proper sense of what it means Pointing it back to Christ Properly distinguishing between law and gospel calling sinners to repent and to be forgiven by the shed blood of Christ.

I don't have to perform and I didn't come to perform. All I came to do is deliver the word whether the words gonna change you or not. Does not have to do with what happens up here. It has to do what what happens right there in your seat.

So I want you right now just to raise your level of expectation. I want you to stir your.

Raise your level of expectations folks get up higher man. Get that expectation up there, man. I Don't know.

Lean in. Okay, lean into the Holy Spirit and watch what he's gonna do. Yeah, this is a pseudo profound pep talk here I declare before I preach you're gonna leave a different person. Oh, he declared it.

It's gotta be true. So father in Jesus name change us shift us may we leave different.

Shift us I. You know, apparently we're all in manual transition and God has to take us from second to third or something.

I don't know in your name. Come on. Everybody said amen Amen. Exodus chapter 14.

Exodus 14 and the Salvation of Israel

Says it this way now. I'm gonna know this is a great text. This this is the parting of the Red Sea. This is a big deal and one of the major texts of Scripture and Whoa, I mean talk about the biblical typologies that point us to our salvation that we have in Christ this text is that and even the Apostle Paul uses this text as a well a picture of our Baptisms into Christ.

Yeah, I'll talk about that in a minute. But man, I mean great text. I'm glad you picked Exodus 14. I hope you preach it in all of its Christ glorifying glory.

Verse 21 Moses raised his hand over the sea and the Lord opened up a path through. This is not a good sign.

How many of you have read? You know Tolkien's the Lord of the Rings or CS Lewis's the Chronicles of Narnia or you know. You've read a really large tome. I I don't Really pay attention to recent book releases unless it's theological.

And how many of you will you know, you know in reading? These have started, you know. Two-thirds of the way through the story, you know. Forget forget the Fellowship of the Ring forget the two towers.

You're gonna go straight to You know the last third of the return of the king. Yeah, that makes sense as far as storytelling is concerned to me right. You you jump in you're not gonna know who's what or who's.

Where or where you is and what's going on? You're gonna be lost. So here you exodus 14. We're jumping into verse 21.

Why? Through the water with a strong east wind. The wind blew all night and turning the seabed into dry land. So the people of Israel walked through the middle of the sea on dry ground With walls of water on each side.

Let me skip down. I'll skip down to verse 27.

Now we're playing hopscotch. Okay, so we jumped into verse 21. Now, we're down to verse 27. Why I don't know.

After they get across the Sun began to rise and Moses raised his hand over the sea and the water rushed back into its usual place and The Egyptians the ones who were chasing them trying to kill them tried to escape but the Lord swept them into the sea.

Then the waters returned and covered all the chariots and charioteers and the entire army of Pharaoh and of all the Egyptians who had chased the Israelites into the sea. Not a single one survived. I want to spend the next few minutes today speaking on this subject.

The detour is for your destiny.

What on earth? Huh the detour. It's up on the big screen and big words. The detour is where your destiny. Yeah, I know. I have no idea what this is.

It's for your destiny. If you're ready high-five your neighbors you sit down and tell them get ready. Here comes the detour.

Here comes the detour that I don't usually consider those to be good things.

You know my wife and I just got the opportunity to get a brand new house and and. We've been moving in in the past few months and we kind of ran up on a dilemma. And we were getting on each other's nerves a little bit because we weren't prepared for what was coming.

There was just a lot more than we thought with the packing the unpacking the getting ready the the new drive to getting used to it, but.

Does this have anything to do with Exodus 14? Alright, we're gonna pause Tavner there for a minute. I mean, this is such an amazing text. How can he not see what this is about? All right. We're gonna head over in our Hebrew boy, you know Hebrew and English get the Hebrew a little bit bigger.

The Red Sea as a Picture of Salvation

Oh, no, I made it smaller. There we go. Just in case I need to reference it older eyes I have to be able to see it if it's small. It's forget it. It's not gonna happen. Alright, so people of Israel Let's kind of jump give a little bit of the context.

The context is that the people of Israel after the death of Joseph several generations later the Pharaoh of Egypt did did not know who Joseph was didn't really care and Decided he was going to oppress the people of Israel enslaved them and Then you know, you remember he required that the male boys the young infant male boys be put to death because he feared the power of the of the Jews in his midst and So this is how Moses came about.

Moses was supposed to be put to death his mother put him in a basket floated him down the Nile and Pharaoh's daughter of all people, you know found him Brought him in and raised him raised him in the palace there and called his name Moshe which you know means he drew or drew out of the water.

So great I mean great story so far. Moses after he grows up He knows that he's a Hebrew decides that he's going to start to work to Free his own people or stand up for him ends up murdering an Egyptian.

The Pharaoh finds out about it. Moses ends up skedaddling out of Egypt spends 40 years as a shepherd in Midian you know, which is on the other side of the Gulf of Aqaba in Saudi Arabia and Then at Mount Sinai God causes, you know, God shows up in the form of a burning bush.

Moses goes to see why the bush is Burning but not consumed and then God commissions him says, you know, I I remember my covenant to Abraham to Isaac and to Jacob and I've heard the groanings of my people and so I'm gonna send you to Set my people free from slavery under Pharaoh.

Moses says send somebody else. God says no I'm sending you and And so from there God sends Moses and you know about the ten plagues the ten plagues With the you know turning of the Nile into blood you got the plague of the frogs of plague of the gnats the plague of The hail the plague of the darkness, you know, and then you got the locusts and in all of these plagues, you know.

Yeah, what's happening? Is is that Moses is telling Pharaoh let God says let my people go and Pharaoh says no I will not and finally Finally with the tenth plague the plague of the Passover the killing of the firstborn.

You know every Family in Egypt that didn't have the blood of a lamb over their doorposts in their house over their lintels the firstborn Inside those that house died. That's exactly what happened. And so we have this amazing story of God setting the people of Israel free from slavery by a mighty hand by judging Pharaoh and judging the gods of Egypt and so the people of Israel now they you know, they march out of Egypt and they're heading towards Mount Sinai and they come up against the Gulf of Aqaba, which is part of the Red Sea and It looks like it's lights out for them because the the army of Pharaoh is behind them because Pharaoh has changed his mind and So we get to Exodus 14 we'll start at verse 1 and And it was kind of work this out.

So Yahweh said to Moses tell the people of Israel turn back and encamp in front of high pie Hahera between Migdal and the sea in front of Baal Zephan. You shall encamp facing it by the sea for Pharaoh will say of the people of Israel.

They are wandering in the land the wilderness has shut them in and then I will harden Pharaoh's heart and He will pursue them and I will get glory over Pharaoh and all of his hosts and the Egyptians shall know that I am Yahweh and so they did so and When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled the mind of Pharaoh and his servants was changed toward the people and They said what is this that we've done?

We have let Israel go from serving us. So he made ready his chariots took his army with him and took 600 chosen chariots and all the other chariots of Egypt with officers over all of them and Yahweh hardened the heart of Pharaoh the king of Egypt and he pursued the people of Israel while the people of Israel were going out.

Defiantly the Egyptians pursued them all Pharaoh's horses and chariots and his horsemen and his army and overtook them and Encamped at the sea by pie Hahera in front of all Zephan when Pharaoh drew near the people of Israel lifted up their eyes and behold the Egyptians were marching after them and They feared greatly and the people of Israel cried out to Yahweh and they said to Moses Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness.

What have you done to us in bringing us out of Egypt? Is not this what we said to you in Egypt? Leave us alone so that we may serve the Egyptians for it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness and Moses said to the people fear not stand firm and see the salvation of Yahweh.

Which he will work for you today for the Egyptians whom you see today. You shall never see again. And Yahweh will fight for you and you have only to be silent. And so you'll know this is a wonderful picture then.

This is a salvific picture. The Lord is the one who fights for us and the question then of course a good one comes up is You know against whom does the Lord fight? Answer. The Lord fights against our real enemy our enslaver Satan himself.

He is the he is the the king if you would of the dominion of darkness the the tyrant of the dominion of darkness and God is the one who sets us free from slavery to sin death the devil and he fights against our enemies for us.

And he does this by dying on the cross, but here we have this picture and you'll note the text itself Mentioned salvation for it says fear not stand firm and see the salvation Yeshua Of Yahweh. Which he will work for you today for the Egyptians whom you see today.

They will you'll never see them again. So Yahweh said to Moses. Why do you cry to me tell the people of Israel to go forward? Lift up your staff stretch out your hand over the sea Divided that the people of Israel may go around Go through the sea on dry ground.

And I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they shall go in after them and I will get glory over Pharaoh and over all of his host his chariots and his horsemen and the Egyptians shall know that I am Yahweh when I have gotten glory over Pharaoh and his chariots and his horsemen.

So then the angel of God who was going before the host of Israel moved and went but behind them. And the pillar of cloud moved from before them and stood behind them coming between the host of Egypt and the host of Israel and There was the cloud in the darkness and it lit up the night without one coming near the other all night.

And then Moses stretched out his hand and I think a good way to think about this Is he's stretching out his arms like this. He's stretching out his hands Physically making a sign that looks a lot like the cross with his body.

That's kind of the point here so the people of Israel went in okay, so he stretched out his hand and and Yahweh drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night and made the sea dry land and the waters were Divided and the people of Israel went into the midst of the sea on dry ground The waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.

The Egyptians pursued and went in after them into the midst of the sea all Pharaoh's horses his chariots and his horsemen and in the morning. Watch the Lord in Yahweh in the pillar of fire and of cloud looked down on the Egyptian forces Through the Egyptian forces into a panic clogging the chariot wheels so that they drove heavily and the Egyptians said let us flee From before Israel for Yahweh fights for them against the Egyptians.

Then Yahweh said to Moses stretch out your hand over the sea That the water may become may come back upon the Egyptians upon their chariots and upon their horsemen. So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea and the sea returned to its normal course when morning appeared and as the Egyptians fled into it the Lord Yahweh threw the Egyptians into the midst of the sea and The waters returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen and all the host of Pharaoh That had followed them into the sea not one of them remained.

But the people of Israel walked on dry ground through the sea the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on Their left thus Yahweh and here it is saved. Yesha Yahweh saved Israel that day from the hand of the Egyptians and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore.

Israel saw the great power that Yahweh used against the Egyptians. So the people feared Yahweh. And they believed in Yahweh and in his servant Moses. Now we're not gonna end here. We're gonna go a little bit into Exodus 15.

But I want to show you in the time. You know how this is then used and we'll take a look at two passages in the New Testament first Corinthians chapter 10 watch what Paul does with this account of The crossing of the Red Sea.

Paul says I don't want you. This is first Corinthians 10 1. I do not want you to be unaware brothers that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed to the sea and All were and here's your word baptized.

Yeah, baptized. Oh, they were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea and all ate the same spiritual food. All drank the same spiritual drink for they drank from the spiritual rock that followed them and the rock was Christ.

So you'll note here first Corinthians 10 it makes it explicitly clear that in looking at the account of the Exodus and the crossing of the Red Sea and Even of the eating of the manna and of the drinking of the water.

That this is all pointing to Christ and the rock that followed them was Christ. This is what is being said here. This is amazing stuff when you consider the implications of it all of that being said one more text then.

That kind of bears this out. So Paul is using the the account of the Red Sea saying it's type and shadow pointing us to the reality that we have in Christ now and now we come to the major salvific theme of scripture.

And this is one of the major ways our salvation is pictured and it is salvate. It is a salvation from Slavery this would be redemption being set free from slavery and watch how the Apostle Paul in Romans 6 then uses Slavery language and how our baptism in our baptisms were set free from our Slavery to sin and the devil and things like this and watch what he does.

So what shall we say then are we to continue in sin so that grace may abound? Which is a slanderous statement being made by Paul's detractors. They're saying oh, this is what Paul teaches. We should sin so that grace may abound.

He's saying we're saved by our by grace through faith alone and not by our works, right? Well, that's what he says. So they're there they slanderously accuse him of saying that we are to continue in sin.

So that you know grace may abound. But Paul answers the question. He says by no means and watch me says how can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ?

We were baptized into his death. We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father We too might walk in newness of light of life.

So you'll note here. It says that in our baptisms. We were buried with Christ. We were raised with Christ so that we might walk in newness of life. So it goes on for if we have been united with him in a death like his we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.

We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing. So that we would no longer be and here's the major theme in slave to sin. So, you know in the New Testament the reality is revealed that slavery of the the slavery of the Old Testament that the Israelites lived through this is a picture of the our Enslavement to sin itself in each and every one of us born enslaved to the sin death and the devil.

So that the idea here is is that Paul's saying that we've been united with Christ our old self was crucified with Christ. And in our baptisms we were united with Christ in his death and resurrection. For what purpose.

So that we would no longer be enslaved to sin for one who has died Has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ We will believe that we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ being raised from the dead will never die again.

Death no longer has dominion over him for the death. He died he died to sin once for all but the life he lives he lives to God. So you must consider yourselves dead to sin. Because you are if you are a baptized believer in Jesus Christ, you are dead to sin.

You must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God. So let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness.

Instead present yourselves to God as those who have been brought From death to life and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you since you are not under the law, but you are under Grace and then he continues with the slave to me theme.

So what then are we to sin because we're not under the law, but under grace. No by no means do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves? You are slaves of the one whom you obey either of sin which leads to death or of obedience which leads to righteousness.

But thanks be to God. That you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed and Having been set free have become slaves of righteousness.

All right, so you can see what's going on here. So I you know one of the things I like to teach the younger members of the congregations that I serve is that a good way to think of your baptism is it's just like the crossing of the Red Sea and Now that you've been baptized into Christ you look at you know.

You look around the rim of the baptismal font and there lie the dead corpses of the demons. You know, that's a good way to look at it. So here we've got this picture of salvation. Through water. Yes, I know Salvation through water and through and because of this ultimate ultimately being set free from slavery to Pharaoh now I want you to then hear how.

Then this results in praise and worship of God and this is a type and shadow picture of what Christ has done for us. So Moses and the people of Israel they sang the song after they got to the other side.

They're now on the Saudi Arabian shore of the Gulf of Aqaba. So then Moses and the people of Israel sang the song to Yahweh saying I will sing to Yahweh. For he has triumphed gloriously the horse and the rider.

He has thrown into the sea. The Lord Yahweh is my strength and my song. He has become my salvation. This is my God and I will praise him my father's God and I will exalt him. Yahweh is a man of war. Yahweh is his name.

Pharaoh's chariots and his host he is cast into the sea. His chosen officers were sunk in the Red Sea. The floods covered them they went down into the depths like a stone your right hand. Oh Yahweh glorious and power your right hand.

Oh Yahweh shatters the enemy in your great in the greatness of your majesty. You overthrow your adversaries and you send out your fury. It consumes them like stubble the blast of your nostrils. The waters piled up.

The floods stood up in a heap the heat deeps congealed in the heart of the sea. The enemy said I will pursue I will Overtake I will divide and spoil. But my desire shall have and my desire shall have its fill of them and I will draw my sword my hand shall destroy them.

But you blew with your wind the sea covered them. They sank like lead in the mighty waters. Who is like you? Oh Yahweh among the gods who is like you majestic and holiness awesome. In glorious deeds doing wonders you stretched out your hand the earth swallowed them.

You have led in your steadfast love the people whom you have redeemed and You have guided them by your strength to your holy abode and here you can see. This you sitting there going wait, that sounds like Salvation because it is this whole story is a picture of our salvation.

This is what's going. This is the mighty hand of the Lord saving us and you in there in Exodus 13 1513 you have led in your steadfast love people whom you have Redeemed redeemed is to be set free from slavery to be bought out of slavery and then made free.

You've guided them by your strength to your holy abode and see this is us. We've been set free from the dominion of darkness. Christ has mightily conquered the devil crushed his head through the cross and He is now guiding us to his holy abode in the new earth.

The peoples have heard they tremble pangs have seized the inhabitants of Philistia. Now are the chiefs of Edom dismayed trembling seizes. The leaders of Moab all the inhabitants of Canaan have melted terror and dread.

Fall upon them because of the greatness of your arm. They are still as a stone till your people Oh Lord pass by. Till the people pass by whom you have purchased. You will bring them in and plant them in your own mountain and place.

Oh the place Oh Lord. Which you have made for your abode the sanctuary. Oh Lord, which your hands have established. Yahweh will reign forever and ever. Hmm. Yeah, there's a lot more to this but you get the idea this is a text it is a picture of our salvation and Tavner what he read Exodus 14 21 22 and 27 and Said that the detour is for you destiny.