Peace is not a place; it’s the presence of God. In “4 Reasons You’re Stressed,” Pastor Steven Furtick reveals that it’s impossible to experience peace when you are expecting perfection. This is an excerpt from “The Path Of Peace.” To watch the full message from @elevationchurch, click here: 
• Stop waiting for it; walk in it. | Pa… #faith #peace #hope #stevenfurtick #elevationchurch Chapters: 0:00 – How Stressed Are You? 2:33 – 4 Reasons You’re Stressed 4:55 – The Expectation Of Peace 6:54 – The Thief Of Your Peace 9:24 – Stop Expecting Perfection Scripture References: Luke 1, verse 79
what would you give your stress level 1
to 10 just in this
moment so I’m heing a
three who said three you’re not old
enough to have a three stress level
you’re supposed to be like 80 before you
realize that all the crap you worry
about isn’t worth worrying about and
then you can have a three stress level
where you just don’t care I can’t wait
to get old and just just not care that’d
be great you’re too young for that but
somebody said 10 did you say 10
and I’m not going to ask you
why fact I don’t even have to all right
here’s what we’ll do we’ll do another
one real quick I know this is personal
but at every location play along just
close your
eyes get the thing on your mind that is
the greatest source of stress in your
life at this very
moment and you better not be picturing
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[Applause]
me all right get it on your mind what is
the single greatest source of stress in
your life will broaden it a little bit
not in this very very moment but in this
season of your
life all right you got
it now open your eyes you’re going to be
shocked but I know what you were
thinking I know it’s your and I know I
know this much I know that the thing
that you thought of fell into one of the
following four
categories okay it was either related to
a
place a pace a problem or a
person or maybe
people
peoples just in general all of them
every last one of them just human beings
homos
sapiens so it’s either a
place that you’re going after this or
even for some people church can be
stressful it can be stressful to I’m I’m
sure it’s stressful to come to Elevation
I’m sure it’s you know if You’ never
been here especially cuz it’s confusing
cuz they got like violins and cellos on
the stage but then they start shooting
laser beams and it’s it’s mixed
messaging like what kind of church is
this is this a white church black church
it’s a traditional Church untr
yes yes to all of the above it’s the
kind of church where you can’t figure
out what kind of
church it’s a good news to all people
kind of
church but some some of the stressful
places that we will go uh this Christmas
season it can be a a place um if you
have to fly certainly understand your
dread for that experience just walk
through the airport telling yourself
over and over again I’m not a human I
have no rights and you’ll be
okay um the pace of life I hear people
mention this a lot how you doing
busy I’m busy
busy busy busy busy busy I’m busy busier
than a one one armed wallpaper
hanger they said that to me the other
day think that’s weird busier in a
three-legged cat trying to cover up his
poop on Ice somebody said to
me run around like a chicken with my
head cut off so violent all I said is
how are you doing you’re like
decapitating
chickens
so it’s like the pace of Life understand
that if you’ve been running people
everywhere you’ve been like an unpaid
Uber driver for a 13-year-old I
understand feel
you um sometimes it comes down to a
problem in your life that is persistent
and sometimes it comes down to one that
you’re just pushing through right now a
lot of people listening to me preach
right now are having a hard time
focusing with their minds because of the
pain in their body or what can be even
worse somebody that you love that you
can’t do anything to comfort them and uh
that can be difficult and really the the
fourth category that I mentioned uh
people that’s really the the whole
thing uh which is why when I asked you
to imagine in your mind the source of
your stress the greatest source of your
stress I I was very clear I said imagine
it because some of you would have
started pointing if I would have let you
which is a bad idea like some of you are
are are sitting next to what you
perceive to be the
source see you should you should look
really confused right now is my
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advice I think it’s important before we
begin a discussion on the path of peace
to try to talk about the source of
stress
because whatever you identify as the
source of your stress determines where
you will seek your peace
amen good I say that again whatever you
say this is the source of my stress that
regulates and
determines where you seek your peace and
so the Christmas story of course comes
along and challenges Us in all of those
ways that we experience stress and
pressure Christ is born to challenge us
as it relates to our expectation of
Peace the Jewish people had a very
particular expectation of the kind of
peace that the Messiah would bring
Zechariah States it very clearly and
paints a picture of the kind of peace
that the Jewish people were looking for
God to bring through the prophesied
Messiah it features such expectations as
mentioned in verse
74 he says that this Messiah will rescue
us from the hand of our enemies notice
the word
from the expectation of peace for the
Jewish people is that God would deliver
them from their
circumstances from their oppression from
their being
marginalized from their poverty from
their Despair and from their Darkness it
was surprising then for me to see the
shift that Zechariah made in verse 79
where he said that the rising sun will
shine on those living in darkness and in
the shadow of death and so it represents
a shift in perspective that God does not
always rescue me from sometimes he
visits me in my
trouble and for so many years I have
thought that the thief of my peace was
other people or certain places or the
schedule of my life which is kind of
funny because I’m the one who said yes
to all that stuff that I’m stressed
about and so now I’m asking God to take
away the things that I committed to and
I’ve tried so long you know to arrange
my life in such a way that I would no
longer experience those stressful events
and stressful people and if God would
just change them and if everybody would
just act the way they should act for a
little while this Christmas but the Lord
has been speaking to me in these last
few days about the path of peace and
what I realized the more I reflected on
This Promise of peace that God gives us
Isaiah 9:6 his name will be called
wonderful counselor Mighty God
Everlasting father and the Prince of
Peace but notice the prophet didn’t call
him the prince of
convenience or the prince of ease or the
prince of comfort or the prince of my
preferences because a lot of times when
God promises me peace What I Hear in
Translation is that God is promising me
convenience or God is promising me ease
or God is promising me my preference
being met but the Lord has been speaking
to me and maybe you don’t need to hear
this but just in case you do it is
impossible to experience peace when you
are expecting
Perfection see my problem I’m coming to
realize this it’s not other people it’s
not the place it’s not the pace and it’s
not the problem the problem is not the
problem I I can tell you the problem is
not the problem because Jesus was born
in a manger the angel appeared to
Shepherds so the Shepherds were the
people that you you would least expect
the heral to make the announcement of
the birth of the Son of God and yet he
showed up to the least likely people in
an unlikely place so it’s not the people
it’s not the place it’s not the pace the
the the Shepherds were always on the
move from place to place to place to
place it’s not the it’s not the place
it’s not the pace it’s not the people
it’s not the problem here’s my problem
my problem is that I can’t receive peace
because I’m expecting
Perfection and and the angel said are
y’all going to help me preach or it’s
just me
today I’ll make it quick here’s the
whole message if you need to go if you
got things to do I’ll give it to you
right now and you can go on and get the
Target and and hopefully everything will
turn out all right the enemy of your
peace is not other people it is not
other places it is not how fast life is
or the way the world is the enemy of
your peace is your in assistence on
Perfection and when Heaven came down and
appeared to humanity it was not in the
form of perfection in fact God did not
come down looking like a deliverer he
came down looking like a dependent he
came down as a baby and so when the
Prince of Peace came he didn’t come
dressed in power he came in Pampers why
because God wanted you to know that he’s
going to bring you peace but not like
you expected him to bring it it’s not
going to look like you pictured it it’s
not always going to fit your preferences
it’s not always going to live up to your
exact specifications of the performance
of people so if I’m going to live at
peace come on I’ve got to surrender my
expectation of
[Applause]
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perfection I feel like I can leave
every Christmas party is going to be so
much better that you attend cuz of what
I just told
you every every every place you set your
foot over the next three days is going
to be so much more
peaceful because you just realized that
peace isn’t found in a
place peace is not found in a in a set
of circumstances that is Problem free it
is not that he delivers me from it it’s
that he meets me
[Applause]
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soon