In “Stop Giving Into Fear,” Pastor Steven Furtick reminds us that our praise has the power to destroy what’s keeping us stuck in old patterns, fear, or regret — our praise is a weapon against the enemy. This is an excerpt from ” I’m Not Stuck Unless I Stop.” To watch the full message from @elevationchurch , click here: 
• I’m Not Stuck Unless I Stop | Pastor … #fear #strength #hope #overcome Chapters: 0:00 – When God Touches You 2:36 – Don’t Stop 5:02 – I’m At The Edge But I Can’t Get In 8:53 – This Takes Faith 11:03 – Keep Going 13:00 – What’s A Wall To A Way Maker? 15:23 – It’s Gotta Come Down Scripture References: Matthew 20, verse 31-34 Joshua 6, verses 1-5
God doesn’t have to shout when he’s close
to you. So, if you can’t hear him right now,
if you can’t feel him right now,
if you can’t see him right now,
maybe you will hear the still, small
voice and feel a touch. All of a sudden,
what the crowd told them had no power
over the Savior who touched them.
When God touches you, no matter what fear
tells you, no matter what the Enemy tells
you… When God touches you and says, “I don’t
care what they’ve told you. I don’t care what
they’ve called you. I don’t care how
they’ve labeled you. I don’t care if
they said it’s a learning disability…” No.
When this ability meets the disability,
God will raise up something that is
absolutely grace-compounding amazing.
It’s amazing grace. He did it
for people who couldn’t see it,
and he did it for people who couldn’t do it for
themselves. He called them, and they followed. I
was reading this passage over and over again,
and I realized that he did not come to them;
he called them. When he found them, they
were sitting, but he didn’t want to leave
them sitting in Jericho; he wanted to get
them stepping toward Jerusalem. This is why
God doesn’t always make it easy for you. This is
why even in the moments where he has compassion…
Sometimes in his compassion he’ll tell you,
“Come.” It does not say Jesus went to
them. As a matter of fact, what it says
is absolutely amazing. I want y’all to love
this Bible. I want y’all to get a highlighter,
a blue one, a yellow one, a pink one,
a raspberry one, and a scented one.
I want you to sniff that raspberry
in the morning and start looking for
the righteousness of God in the Word of
God and the revelation of God with your
raspberry highlighter and start circling
stuff God speaks to you so you can get a
better word over your family. Everybody
shout, “Lord!” Now be the crowd. Say,
“Stop.” Say, “Lord!” Now be the crowd. Say,
“Stop.” This side say, “Lord!” Say it loudly.
Oh, by the way, I want to show you something.
I love these guys. It says when the crowd told
them to be quiet, they shouted all the
louder. So let’s practice. Everybody say,
“Stop!” on this side. Now say, “Lord!”
Now say, “Stop.” Louder, louder.
Now watch this. The crowd says, “Stop.”
Fear says, “Stop.” Insecurity says,
“Stop.” Past says, “Stop.” Addiction
says, “Stop.” Depression says,
“Stop.” Anxiety says, “Stop.” Because they
didn’t stop… Put it back on the screen,
tech team. I’ve got to show this to my eFam.
I’ve got to show this to somebody who has made
up their mind. “I’m not going to stop following
Jesus. I’m not going to stop praying about it.
I’m not going to stop seeking him. I’m not
going to stop encouraging. I’m not going to
stop using my gift. I’m not going to stop using
this anointing. I’m not going to stop speaking
life. I’m not going to stop praising him. I’m not
going to stop trusting him. I’m not going to stop.
I’m not going to stop.” Because they didn’t stop,
Jesus did. He did, because they didn’t stop. They
just shouted louder. I love them. Not only did
they not stop; they took it to another level.
Not only did they get healed; they followed
Jesus, and they didn’t go back to Jericho.
All of this started with a shout. I’m not going
back to Jericho, and it started with a shout. Now,
I seem to remember something in the Bible
about a shout in Jericho. I seem to remember
something… Can we find it in the Bible? Come on.
Everybody who wants this good part of the word,
shout right now. Shout louder! Everybody
who wants God to give you an update and
make you a disciple and purge you
and purify you and get your mind
right and bring his Spirit to break
chains, make some noise right now!
This is not the first shout in Jericho. The
Bible says in Joshua 6:1, “Now the gates of
Jericho were securely barred…” You remember
Jericho. It was the first city God called his
people to take over after 40 years of stuck in the
wilderness. After 40 years of going in circles,
after 40 years of saying, “Those giants are bigger
than us,” after a whole generation complained and
wasted away and waged not a war against their
enemies but a war against their own destiny,
now Jericho was securely barred up. Talk about
stuck. You’re standing at the edge of something.
How many feel like this? “I’m at the edge
of something, and I can’t get in. I’m at
the edge of joy, but I can’t keep it. I’m at
the edge of a blessing, but I keep messing it
up. I get a little bit, and I spend more. I get
a little bit, and I eat more. I stuff and I numb,
and I don’t understand why.” “Now Jericho was
securely barred because of the Israelites.”
Remember, the Enemy is intimidated by you,
because he knows who’s fighting for you.
“No one went out and no one came in.” They are
stuck, but where the previous generation stopped,
they didn’t. The Bible says in verse 2, “Then
the Lord said to Joshua, ‘See, I have delivered
Jericho into your hands, along with its king
and its fighting men. March around the city
once…'” “Oh, cool. Okay. I can do that. Yeah,
I’ll march around the city once. You’re going
to give me the victory if I just march around the
city once? Yeah, sign me up. I’m going to do it.”
“I’m going to absolutely do it. I’m going to
join a gym, and I’m going to get a meditation
app on my phone as well, and a Bible plan. I’ve
got a Bible plan. I’m going to read it in The
Message Bible. I really like The Message
Bible.” That’s great, but nothing happened
once. “March around the city once” is what
God told Joshua. This is what God tells you.
“March around once with all the armed men. Do
this for six days. Have seven priests carry
trumpets of rams’ horns in front of the ark.
On the seventh day…” Take a few deep breaths,
because you’re about to shout again.
Tell the people in your apartment,
“Don’t get nervous. I’m about to shout again.”
Just tell them, “Hey, you’re going to hear me
holler, but don’t call 911. Just call Joshua 6,
because I’m shouting about something
I can’t see right now. I’m shouting
about something I can’t feel. I’m shouting
about something I don’t have the factual
backing for right now. Yeah, I’m shouting
about something you can’t see right now.”
“Have them march around seven times, with
the priests blowing the trumpets.” Remember,
every day they marched and nothing happened took
faith. Every day you pray and believe and nothing
comes back in the form of love toward your life
is a day that takes faith. Every day that the
desire doesn’t leave you but you commit to get
back up even though you slipped takes faith.
So you’re waiting for the walls to fall. You’re
waiting for the pain to go away. You’re waiting
for it to get easier. You’re waiting for
the right pill to fix it. You’re waiting
for the right key to break it and unlock it
forever. But the Bible says it took six days
of “stuck,” and on the seventh day… I preached
a message one time called Don’t Stop On Six.
I preached that message when I was going through
hell. I preached that message when the media was
saying I was a liar and a hypocrite and that I
was buying my way onto a bestseller list with
my book that I never did and that we were
faking baptisms. I preached that message
Don’t Stop On Six, and I walked around the
podium and got down on my face. (I’m 44 now,
so I’m not going to do that part anymore,
because getting up is different.)
I got down on my face, and I talked about the laps
where you have to crawl. I talked about the nights
where you have to fake it. I talked about the
days where you have to go into the bathroom at
work and cry and go, “I can’t even get through
the day, and it’s 9:45 in the morning. The Bible
is just hieroglyphics to me right now, and the
impulse is stronger than my integrity right now.”
I preached, and I said, “Don’t stop on
six,” because on the seventh day…you
never know…this might be the one.
I mean, this might be the time.
This might be the day. This might be
the seed. This might be the season.
This might be the moment, and you might be
the one to break it off of everybody with
your last name who is yet to be born. So
don’t stop. The Bible says when you march
around the city seven times… Everybody shout,
“Seven!” That’s the number of completion. Now,
high-five seven people and
say, “I’m getting this done.”
What did you say? Keep going. Keep going. Keep
going. Yeah, I stumbled. Yeah, I slipped. Yeah,
I did it. Yeah, I struggle with it, but
I’m not it! No, I’m not it! I’ve got a
new name! I’m not a blind man; I’m a bold
man! I’m not the old man; I’m a new man!
Watch this. Verse 5 is my verse. Somebody
shout, “Don’t stop!” They didn’t stop shouting,
and Jesus stopped in the middle of the
street on the way to the cross to save
the world. He’s calling you right now. He
stopped this moment in time. For some of you,
God stopped a relationship you were addicted to
so he could open your eyes to who you really are.
For some of you, God stopped a job you
were greater than so you would develop
your skill in humility to go to the next level
and learn from the mistake. When you don’t stop,
God does. I silence accusation. I silence
condemnation. I silence what the crowd says.
I silence what your Instagram feed says.
I silence what your negative result says.
Now that the crowd has to be quiet and the Christ
has called you, let’s look at this Jericho shout.
I didn’t realize when I read about the blind
man that the shout they released in Jericho was
an echo. It was the echo in Jericho. If you know
anything about what happens next in this passage,
in Joshua 6:5… Now we’re ready. The Bible
says, “When you hear them sound a long blast
on the trumpets, have the whole army give
a loud shout…” What are you going to do?
You mean I preached an hour in this heavy
sweater and you still don’t know what to do?
Are you kidding me? You mean I wrote a whole
book, I’ve been pastoring a whole church,
and you still…? Eighteen years and we still
don’t know what to do with a wall? What’s
a wall to a way maker? What’s a chain to a
chain breaker? Here it is. The Bible says,
“When you hear them sound a long blast on the
trumpets, have the whole army give a loud shout…”
Watch this! No, no, no. Stop. Stop. If you
shout, you might get joy. If you shout,
you might get an answer. If you shout, you
might get out of your self-consciousness and
get Christ conscious. Don’t shout now!
“Have the whole army give a loud shout;
then the wall will collapse…” Watch
this. Not shout when the wall collapses.
Shout… What are you shouting
about? Something I can’t see,
but he spoke it and it’s got to come down! It’s
got to come down! Say it. “It’s got to come down!”
I praise when outnumbered,
I praise when surrounded,
‘Cause praise is the waters my enemies drown in.
I praise when I feel it, I praise when I don’t,
I praise ’cause I know you’re still in control.
I praise ’cause you’re faithful,
I praise ’cause you’re true,
I praise ’cause there’s nobody greater than you.
My praise is a weapon, it’s more than a sound,
My praise is the shout that brings Jericho down!