Steven Furtick’s Recent MESS Of A Sermon!

Hey guys, Colin here, and welcome back to the channel where the Bible and critical thinking meet to give you real

Christian commentary about the things that matter. Thanks so much for watching, let's get into the video. So Stephen Furtick is the pastor of Elevation Church in Charlotte, North Carolina.

He's a modern, seeker -sensitive pastor who often joins up in ministry with false teachers like Joel Osteen and T .D.

Jakes. Stephen is an immature, irresponsible, yet passionate preacher who always seeks to make his sermons about you rather than about God.

The reason I talk about Stephen Furtick so much on this channel is because he's deceiving so many people.

In fact, the sermon of his that we're going to be looking at today has been viewed by over 850 ,000 people, and it's not uncommon for his sermons to be viewed by over a million.

So for all of you out there who want me to stop talking about Stephen Furtick so much, my answer is this, I'll stop talking about him when every one of the people he's deceiving knows the truth.

Those people matter, and they are being misled. That's why the mission of this channel is so important, because the

Bible tells us to offer others the truth, not let them wander into lies. And with that said, let's take a look at the multiple unbiblical teachings that Furtick offered in one of his most recent sermons called

My Maker is My Mirror. Link in description. Let's talk about this using three biblical points. Number one, take a look at what

Furtick says after inviting his worship leader on stage and talking about him for a while. Watch this.

When they saw you worshiping God, they didn't feel like they had the victory, but while you were shouting the victory, now

I wonder if you would do that for somebody on your row right now. I know you had a hard week too, but magnify the

Lord with me, let us exalt his name together. If you don't have faith today, borrow mine, you're gonna make it a sin.

Now there's actually two unbiblical comments being offered in the video, but they come in quick succession, and the second one is going to be the next point of this video.

But the first unbiblical statement he offers is quote, if you don't have faith today, borrow mine.

Now some of you are going to defend this, and you're going to say, but Colin, Stephen was just trying to say that if you're downcast or hurting, he's going to try to uplift you.

And my response is this, okay, well then that's what he should have said then. To suggest that someone else can borrow your faith is absolutely unbiblical.

It could have been accurate to say that iron sharpens iron, or that Christians can be encouraged through fellowship and community with one another.

Those are biblical statements which are backed up by passages of Scripture. Galatians 6 too, after all, says quote, bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ.

There is definitely something to be said about helping one another when we're hurting and downcast. But that's not what

Furtick said. He said that if you don't have faith today, you can borrow his. And this is a very important distinction.

At the very least, the language of this comment is dreadfully irresponsible, but at worst, it's downright heretical.

However, in no case is this biblically sound or wise in the slightest. The Bible makes it abundantly clear that no human being can give someone else faith.

That is for God alone to sovereignly decide. For instance, Ephesians 2, 8 says this quote, for by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing.

It is the gift of God, end quote. So clearly faith is not something that you can share as a gift to someone else.

It is a gift that can only be given by God himself. To suggest otherwise exalts yourself and dishonors

God. So Stephen may not have meant that you can transfer your faith to someone else in a supernatural way, but that's certainly what he made it sound like through his immature and irresponsible language, which can often be just as detrimental as intentional false teaching.

I'm not saying that pastors can't make a mistake in their presentations sometimes. Every pastor has been guilty of that at some point.

Rather, I'm saying that if, like Stephen Furtick for instance, you have a weekly habit of saying things that are biblically inaccurate and horribly untrue, at a certain point, you're not just irresponsible, you're actually an unbiblical teacher and unqualified for ministry.

This brings me to point number two. Let's watch the clip that I showed you again and see what the second unbiblical comment he made was.

Let us exalt his name together! If you don't have faith today, borrow mine!

You're gonna - So Furtick says, you're gonna make it,

I said so. And there are two problems here. One problem is that Furtick makes a promise which is not a biblical one.

And the other problem is that Furtick makes this promise under his own authority, not God's. So let's deal with problem number one first.

Why is this statement unbiblical? Let me answer that question with a question. Where in the Bible does it guarantee that you're gonna make it?

In fact, what does the vague promise of making it even mean? Does you're gonna make it mean that you're gonna live a better, happier, more successful life?

Or does you're gonna make it mean that you're gonna learn to lean on Christ despite your horrible circumstances, no matter how long they last?

Well, I don't think that Furtick was saying, you're gonna make it through the hardship of your life by leaning on Christ, because Christ is nowhere to be seen in this comment.

The statement was not, depend on the Lord and he will support you, no matter what. Rather, it was, you're gonna make it,

I said so. But even on the off chance that Stephen Furtick means this in a biblical way, which is a very slim possibility given the context of his comment and his teaching at large, again, we run into the same problem of presentation.

Even if he means to get a biblical message across, his irresponsible and immature presentation of the idea makes it almost impossible that the audience will unilaterally hear something that's doctrinally sound.

There may be one person in that room or a few people who heard you're gonna make it and thought, wow, I'm gonna trust

God despite my circumstances. But there is probably an overwhelming majority of those people who heard you're gonna make it and thought, you're right

Stephen, I bet God is gonna change my circumstances and make my life better and more successful and much happier.

So again, no matter what Stephen Furtick meant, the statement is unbiblical because it's so irresponsibly stated and so vague in its nature that it can easily be used to justify unbiblical conclusions in a valid way.

In fact, when seen in the context of the rest of Furtick's preaching, there's even more reason to believe that this statement could be used to support unbiblical ideas and offer promises that God did not offer in his

Word. And this brings me to point number three. The second problem with the you're gonna make it, I said so comment is that it's being presented under the authority of Stephen Furtick rather than God's Word.

He does not say, you're gonna make it and here's where the Bible says that, no, rather he says, you're gonna make it,

I said so. You see, one of the most unique things about Jesus's teaching and ministry in the

New Testament is the fact that he spoke authoritatively. He did not depend on theological backup from any human being because he had divine authority and he was in submission to the perfect will of his

Father. Mark 1 .22 says, quote, And they were astonished at his, that is, Jesus's teaching, for he taught them as one who had authority and not as the scribes, end quote.

The scribes and Pharisees of the day taught with the authority and backing of their particular Jewish teacher.

No one went off and taught in their own authority. That was just not done. But Jesus did do that. And that is part of why

Christians recognize him as unique and distinct, not merely a teacher, but the Son of the living God.

As Christians, we do not personally have the authority to speak our own binding words out of our own worldly wisdom.

Our words only carry theological weight when they are completely aligned with the Holy Scriptures.

Stephen Furtick seems to have missed this. To make promises like, you're gonna make it, I said so, without a clear biblical reason to promise that, that's a very dangerous thing to do.

Because you're effectively making God responsible for fulfilling a promise that you made up for him, rather than a promise that he himself has committed to.

What if we had told Stephen Martyr, for instance, you're gonna make it, Stephen, I said so. What happens when he gets stoned by the

Jews? What if we had told Peter, you're gonna make it, Peter, I said so? What happens when

Peter's crucified upside down and brutally executed? What if we told Paul the Apostle, you're gonna make it,

Paul, I said so? What happens when Paul gets beaten, shipwrecked, belittled, persecuted, and attacked for his entire life as a converted man?

And here's my point. As Christians, we need to be very careful with this whole, everything's gonna turn out alright,

I promise you, type of message. It is true in one sense, because Christians will gain eternal life, they'll have the fruit of the

Spirit, they'll have relationship with God and with their brothers and sisters. And if that's what we mean when we say everything's gonna turn out alright, then that's great.

But nine times out of ten, what people like Stephen Furtick are really saying is this. Your material circumstances are going to get better soon,

I promise you. And that kind of message is unbiblical and dishonoring to the many severely persecuted

Christians who came before us. So in conclusion, Stephen Furtick's sermons are ridiculous and often filled with passionate yet incomprehensible messages.

His words are so vague and ambiguous that they can often be validly interpreted by the listener in a plethora of unbiblical and heretical ways.

And finally, many of his views are just downright deceitful and wrong in and of themselves, such is the view that you can borrow another person's faith.

Stephen Furtick is not someone that any responsible Christian should be listening to, and Stephen, if you're somehow watching this, please know this isn't an attack on you.

You can always repent and confess your sins to Christ, who is full of mercy and full of grace. But your false teaching?

It needs to stop now, because you're leading others astray. So let's pray for Furtick and for his followers that they would repent and believe the truth of God's Word.

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And until next time, fight for truth, never surrender. And keep your eyes open. Thank you, and God bless.