Progress is effort in the right direction. In “This Is Draining Your Strength,” Pastor Steven Furtick reveals that in order to move towards what God has for you, you have to first let go of the distractions that are keeping you stuck. This is an excerpt from “Don’t Blow It!” To watch the full message from @elevationchurch click here: 
• Don’t Blow It! | Waymaker | Pastor St… #faith #peace #hope #stevenfurtick #elevationchurch Chapters: 0:00 – How We Disguise Our Procrastination 2:12 – Distracted Not Disobedient 3:41 – Start With God 5:45 – “I’ve Done Everything I Can!” 8:53 – You Don’t Have Any Time To Waste 10:53 – Consider Your Ways
and I found out we have a lot of
different things we
say to disguise our
procrastination can I give you one thing
we say in church we don’t say I’m fixing
to we say I’m praying about
it I will preach this word until three
people are left in the first two rows of
elevation
Valentine and it’s cool because you do
need to pray about some
things but some things that God just
told told you to do get your book
out do not require
prayer they require
action and that guy has a hard job
because the people on one level are are
making progress at least it seems to
them like progress and the question
becomes this is point number one they’ll
put these on the screen is it
progress or is it
procrastination wow because apparently
there were some really nice subdivisions
going up in the suburbs of
Judah the Exiles have been back from
Babylon now 20 years and that was a God
thing wasn’t it I mean they didn’t know
if they’d ever come back and only
because Persian control took the
territory of Babylon back were they able
to come back and rebuild their home land
and when they first got back they
thought they’d rebuild the Temple
because it had been destroyed it was the
preeminent place for the presence of God
to be manifested among his people so
that he would have a Dwelling Place you
and I understand that now this Temple is
not a physical building but it is you
and I the Temple of the Holy Spirit
where God dwells and where God
lives but in the midst of rebuilding
this place where God had appointed his
presence to
dwell something was lacking in their
perseverance or or perhaps it was just
that they got
distracted this has helped me so much in
trying to to minister to people and
challenge people and call people higher
to God’s standard is that often people
are not willfully
disobedient they are just
distracted you know what I mean I I
don’t think that people always decide to
live in
Disobedience
sometimes life just creates such a
scenario and and thisen what what what
ha gu said he said each of you is busy
with your own house I thought that was
an interesting phrase that he said
you’re busy with your own house he
didn’t say they were bad people just
that they were busy
people sometimes you are struggling in
your life in ways that you do not
understand but you are not directly
Discerning the source of the dysfunction
such is the case for the people in
hagi’s day he saidou disappointed aren’t
you I know you are it’s August it’s the
season for figs and grapes and
pomegranates and you planted a lot of
seed but when you went to get the
Harvest it was only half of what you
expected have you ever invested in
something or
someone keep eye contact with me when I
say what I say
next only to wonder how could I put so
much into it and get so little out of
it have you
[Applause]
ever H have you ever this is the scene
in hagi’s day remember this is a
specific word to specific people but I
think it has Universal application and
it is a Timeless truth is that when you
do not start your process with God at
the center it will always end in
disappointment and it will not matter
how much energy you give it or how much
talent that you have or or or or or how
sincere you are in your efforts I’m
telling you man I have sat with rich
people famous people people with great
status and no
satisfaction great prosperity and no
peace because any process that does not
start with God ends in disappointment
write that down teach it to your kids
put it on your mirror any process that
does not start with God ends in
disappointment you plant much you reap
little you get dressed you’re not warm
you drink you drink you drink you drink
you drink you drink but you are
bottomless and even the blessings that
God gives you will be will be can I say
it this way Hollow
[Music]
it’s a hollow
Harvest and while the people were busy
building their own
houses busy building their own bodies
busy building their own dreams busy
planning their own
future they they
neglected the place of God’s
presence I was praying about this
message I said God I can’t preach that I
don’t want to make them feel bad their
lives are already hard
enough and God told told me what I
didn’t I didn’t hear this out loud it’s
just the impression I have Okay so let’s
get that straight right
now but the impression that I got is if
you don’t ever make that
connection you will live in a continual
state of frustration and wonder why am I
doing so much and receiving so little
little why am i Fishing all night and
catching nothing that’s what happened to
Peter you
know fished all night caught nothing but
the moment he gave his boat to
Jesus his biggest problem was breaking
Nets because God is in charge of the
Harvest there is a certain part of
success and a certain part of life that
you don’t control control you can decide
how much to plant but without the
cooperation of the elements it will only
grow to be so
much takes a little while to learn this
that you can do everything in your human
strength that you know to do to
guarantee a happy life but there is a
certain dimension of life that is
outside of your control touch your
neighbor say don’t blow it blow it here
here are these people it’s been 20 years
I understand they come back from Babylon
they’re really trying to get acclimated
to being back in a place that has been
so ravaged they’re settling into their
towns maybe two years maybe 5 years but
it’s been 20 years it’s been 20 years
now which is a significant number for me
let me tell you why this summer I was
going back and watching some of the
sermons that inspired me to be a
preacher they are all on YouTube and
it’s cool because I don’t have to pay
for them I can bootleg them now and I’ve
long since lost the cassette tapes but
they’re all online now and so I was
online watching some of my favorite
preachers that were inspiring me as a
boy these were my heroes I was watching
them just to kind of get in touch with
16-year-old Stephen who used to walk
around the block with the Walkman and I
would preach with the preachers and I I
would I would hold an imaginary
microphone I’ve said too much
okay and I was listening to to them
preach and I was watching them on
YouTube and I
thought man these guys looked so much
older to
me and then I did some math and I
realized that the guys that I used to
watch when I was 16 were the age
then right that I am
now you talk about a broken
heart you talk about a wakeup call
because see I still feel like I got all
this time you know I still feel like
we’re just getting started the church is
just getting started I mean in in my
mind this is still the
IPO but it was a wakeup call for me to
realize that what they were to you then
you are to somebody
now in other words you don’t have any
time to waste touch your other neighbor
say don’t blow it you only got so much
time I I know you keep telling yourself
one day when and we’re going to get
around to it and I’m fixing to but you
might find yourself one day running out
of strength what is in your heart to do
you better do it
now some of your neighbors say do it now
cocka dooodle dooo this is your wakeup
call that was 20 years ago
man if we’re going to build it we got to
build it
now but some times the devil will tell
you you’re being patient when really you
are procrastinating and if he can get
you to mistake procrastination for
patience he can keep you locked out of
the blessing that is on the other side
of your
[Applause]
[Music]
obedience yes it’s a
process I mean yes it takes time but
really 20 years and after all hagy said
says it looks like somehow you found
time to build your own
house I’m so glad Pastor Mickey taught
me that he beat that into my head he
said boy you find time for what you want
to
do he said that cuz I told him I didn’t
have time to do something he told me to
do he said boy you find time for what
you want to
do you find time for what you want to
do you you you find passion and
energy if I could get some of you to
apply the same energy to serving God
that you appli to
sin we would turn every county in the
United States of
[Applause]
America and it looked to them like
progress but the prophet Hagi says wait
a minute progress is more than just
effort progress is effort in the right
direction
consider your
ways consider your ways he gets into a
vivid description this sounded so modern
when I was reading it I don’t know if
you had the same experience CU I thought
about all the the streams that we live
in now and the
feeds and when he said you you eat and
are Never full and you
scroll and are never
[Music]
entertained he didn’t say that but
that’s what it made me think of
he said you YouTube and now you’re over
in cat videos and you don’t even know
how you ended
up how did
I how did I get here on a Minecraft
tutorial I’m 37 years
old and then it it gets kind of
dramatic I don’t apologize for God’s
word on he said when I saw
that you were so busy with your own work
when I saw that you were so busy with
your own
interest I didn’t mind you building your
own
house I didn’t mind you driving a new
car I didn’t mind you enjoying yourself
on the weekend and telling your friend
who’s always trying to use you that you
didn’t have time to help them move it
was fine cuz they’re always asking you
and they’re
they’re
but what I minded was what I minded
was that you
lost your
sense of what was really
important and so now God says I I had to
take action I had to frustrate your
process to remind you of your
priorities you know how
sometimes you’ll be doing something that
used to be fun for you and it’s not fun
anymore and you can’t even explain
why sometimes that’s God sucking the fun
out of
something that is keeping you from your
calling and
purpose hey thanks for stopping by my
YouTube channel I hope you were blessed
today if you were share this with
somebody like And subscribe and leave me
a comment let me know where you’re
watching from what we can pray for you
about hope to see you back here again
really
[Music]
soon