Steven Furtick - It's What's Inside That Counts (01/28/2026)
Pastor Steven uses the story of Jesus turning water into wine at the wedding in Cana (John 2:1-11) as a backdrop for a message about giving and faith. His key point is "It's what's inside that counts," emphasizing that God values the heart and initiative behind an act more than its outward size. He concludes that the greatest miracle from our faithful giving is the transformation that happens inside our own hearts.
The Setup: A Wedding in Cana
What a beautiful day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it. In John chapter 2, verses 1 through 11, there's a little story that I would love to use as a setup today. It's a little bit different than my normal sermon. If you haven't been here before, this will be an unusual day, but I think you're going to really like it. Touch somebody and say you're going to like it. Because what's going to happen today out there is really more important than what's going to happen here. And you'll see the hearts of people on display, the hearts of people who are concerned about humanity and who are driven by the cause of Christ as we move and give. And I just want to use for a backdrop of our offering today, John chapter 2, verses 1 through 11. Watch the screen.
On the third day, a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus's mother was there, and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine was gone, Jesus's mother said to him, they have no more wine. How many of you are married? Anybody married men? I wouldn't advise you to use verse 4 very frequently where Jesus said, Woman, why do you involve me? My hour has not yet come. His mother said to the servants, do whatever he tells you. Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from 20 to 30 gallons. That's the capacity of these jars. And Jesus said to the servants, Fill the jars, fill the jars with water. So they filled them to the brim. And then he told them, Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet. And they did so.
God Honors Initiative, Not Intention
God honors initiative, not intention. It was when they did something. It was not when they dreamed about it. It was when they did something about it, that supply and provision flowed to their life. And the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. And he didn't realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. And then he called the bridegroom and said, Everybody brings out the good stuff first, and then once everybody is too wasted to know the difference, then they bring out the cheap stuff. But you have saved the best till now. You have saved the best till now. And what Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory and his disciples believed in him.
Now, I want to use for a subject line today just a little saying that you've probably heard before. This is probably something that your mom said to you if you had a good mom, maybe when you were going through your awkward adolescent phase, or maybe you were getting a little chubby or something like that, and you were distraught about your acne or something. This is something every good mom will say. And my title for it today is, It's what's inside that counts. It's what's inside that counts.
A Prayer for Open Hearts
Now, God, I pray that you will open the hearts of everybody who's hearing my voice today. I want them to know that you're more interested in working in them sometimes than what they want you to do for them. Because if you don't do it in us before you do it for us, we won't be able to handle it. So we ask for Patience in the process, because we know you're getting us ready for greater things yet to come. And we believe that the best days of 2015 are still ahead of us. We thank you that you saved the best to last, and we declare it now in Jesus' name. Everybody shout, Amen. All right. On your way to your seat, touch somebody and say, You've got a good heart. It's what's inside that counts.
We had our staff Christmas party on Thursday, our Elevation Church staff Christmas party. Our staff Christmas party is a debaucherous affair. It's like a group roast. The only people who are immune from being made fun of at the staff Christmas party are people whose last names start with fur and end with tick. Other than me and Holly and my mom, nobody is off limits. It's a beautiful time of blooper reels. It's kind of the culture we're trying to create for our staff is that we're a family, almost like a fraternity or sorority or whatever you want to call it. We're in this together. The longer you stay around, the more fun it gets.
Inside Jokes and Understanding
I'm telling you, for the people who have been at our staff party for three, four, five years, some of us coming up on ten years now, just every year, it's more fun and it's funnier because you get it. Because the whole thing is built on inside jokes. So if you're a new staff member, if you've been three months, the whole thing probably looks pretty silly. But you can watch people who have been around for a year, two years, three years, four years. The longer they've been there, the more they laugh. In fact, my mom, who is here on the front row just like every 1130 on Sunday morning, let's give it up for my mom. She's not the mother of Jesus Christ, but she's my mom. She ain't married, but she's actually relatively new to Charlotte.
I moved my mom to Charlotte when my dad got sick. My mom and dad moved here. It was kind of my dad's idea. He knew he wouldn't be able to take care of my mom much longer, so he pulled me aside and said, Can you move your mom? I'd like her to be a part of your life. To which I responded, What has she ever done for me? I'm just kidding. I said, Of course. I'd love for you guys to come. Come on. So they moved here. My dad passed away. My mom has now become a part of our church staff, so she was at the party on Thursday night laughing as hard as anybody. But a few years ago, before she moved to Charlotte, she was at the Christmas party just as my guest, but she didn't know any of the people. It was very different sitting with her this past Thursday night than it was sitting with her a few years ago because some things only make sense from the inside. Some things only make sense.
A Headset Changes Everything
I don't mean to embarrass you, man, but my buddy Joey Logano is here. He drives Nascar. He's the best Nascar driver that I know, the best Nascar driver that goes to Elevation Church for sure. He's usually at Lake Norman. He came to see me today. It worked out perfect because I told a story about him at a leadership thing how he invited me to come watch Nascar. It wasn't on my bucket list or anything, but he said, come. You will like it. You can bring the kids, and we did, and they treated us so great. I didn't have any interest in Nascar until I knew somebody on the inside. When I came to see him, Brittany gave me a headset. His wife gave me a headset, and I got to listen to what was going on. And so, you know, before I had somebody on the inside, you know, it was just kind of like…. But when I heard everything that was going on so those cars can do what they do…. When I had a headset, I got to hear his crew chief. All of a sudden, I found myself on Sunday afternoons preaching and going home and watching Nascar on TV because I knew somebody on the…. Touch somebody and say, It's different on the inside. It's different on the inside. Some stuff only makes sense on the inside.
And the reason some of you aren't very excited about God is because you're trying to look through the window in other people's worship. But if you would ever get a real relationship with God where you speak with him and walk with him and talk… I got a man on the inside. I wonder, would this verse preach for Christmas? Because Mary is in it. And, you know, it's kind of interesting because Mary tells these servants to carry the jars. And Mary tells these servants to do what Jesus said. And Mary is the perfect person to do it. Because wasn't it Mary that was told to carry something that she didn't understand either? An angel shows up and says, Mary, you've got a man on the inside. What is in you is not of you, but it's going to come through you.
Understanding the Backstory
So, in a few minutes, when you see people come forward and they're bringing an offering to God, I wish you could hear on the headset how God has been speaking to them. I wish you could know the backstory of how God blessed them and made a way for them where there was no way. It's different on the inside. A couple of seasons ago, the Panthers started winning. I asked one of the players, hey, how does it feel to have the community behind you now? Because you know Charlotte. We don't get behind nothing until it's like. at least an 800-winning percentage. Now all the flags are flying. Everybody has stickers and everything like that. He said, oh, it doesn't change anything for us. We're just doing what we do. We don't pay attention to that. I kind of got that because I have to learn as a preacher how you don't preach for public opinion. You don't preach for popularity. I ain't running for nothing. You see a hairpiece on my head? I'm not running for nothing. I don't preach for approval. I don't preach for likes on a page. I don't preach so people on the outside will understand it. It's what's inside. This is just supposed to be a devotional before the offering. Everybody shout, calm down. It's what's inside that counts.
When you're on the inside of something, you understand it at a different level. A gentleman asked me recently how it feels to be building all these buildings that we're building now. We have a Rock Hill campus, which will be starting soon. By this time next year, we'll be moved into our Ballantyne location as well, and all of these things that are opening up. Toronto just opened up. It's a lot of things opening up. I had to explain to him, because he doesn't go to our church. I said, to understand what motivates us and what motivates me, you can't look at the buildings. You can't look at the edifice. You can't look at the structure. You have to understand what goes on inside.
It's Not Buildings, It's People
There are a couple in our church that have been coming pretty much since we started. Our uptown campus pastor Jonathan Josephs, the Canadian sensation Jonathan Josephs. Double J, Jonathan Josephs. I'm shouting him out for his campus sake. He took them around recently. He wanted to show them. how what they put into God's kingdom had been transformed to change lives. They took a little trip. I want you to watch this little video presentation to see that it's not buildings that we're building, but it's people, it's dreams, it's hopes, and it's new beginnings, because it's what's inside that counts. Check this out.
You know, to me, maybe the best part of this campaign was the kids are getting old enough to understand it a little bit. We've tried to involve them. Elijah is our oldest. He's 10. So, I walked in Saturday morning. Holly had them at the table. They had their jars. Show them real quick. These are their give jars. In eKids, we teach the kids, you know, give, save, spend, in that order. God first, save, put it aside, spend. And it's so much easier if you get that in them early. And so, the kids all got to figure out what amount of Holly's money and my money they wanted to pretend to give to God.
A Child's Perspective on Giving
And so, Elijah, he comes in here to me at 1130, so he's here right now. But he gave a certain amount. Abby gave a certain amount. I remember when we were doing banner years. It was our biggest offering that we ever did. And Elijah gave, I want to say, $70. Do you remember something? It was a big amount. And it was Christmas money, birthday money, whatever. And that's what he wanted to do. And when he had given it, he asked, now, how much is the Ballantyne building going to cost? And when I told him it's like a $25 million total project, his little head fell. And I remember it was slumped over. And he goes, ah, so my gift is not going to do anything. And I tried to explain to him, because that year another person had given $1.1 million. And that alongside his gift, when everybody does proportionally what represents faith to them, then everybody gets to participate in the same miracle.
And the interesting thing about doing this with my family now is I get to show them, hey, Mommy and I are doing this alongside you. Elijah actually snuck a peek at our check while we were at the table, and he went, ah! He couldn't get his mind around. I said, yeah, boy, that's right. You know, we believe in this stuff. This is what our family does. The problem really comes when you start measuring your contribution against somebody else's context. You don't want to do that, because then you'll either give God too little, or you'll feel like what you gave wasn't big enough. I want you to know something about God. This doesn't just refer to our offering. It's just everything in your life.
God Measures in Context of Capacity
God measures your contribution in the context of your capacity. It might be worth writing down if anybody wants to pretend that this stuff is informationally helpful. God measures your contribution in the context of your capacity. What I mean by that when I say it is… Let me just do a little illustration. I'm big on these little illustrations from memory. This would be the person, the family, that's able to give what we would call a big gift, because some people are in positions to do that. So you've got this guy, and then you've got this guy. This is just how my mind thinks. I know it's very elementary. It's not a real deep illustration. But God measures contribution in the context of capacity.
Look at verse 7 of John, chapter 2, one more time. It says, Jesus told the disciples, fill the jars with water, so they filled them to the brim. That's what's important. Not how big the cup is, but how full you fill it. That's what's important. Not how big your jar is. God knows how much capacity you have, but how much faith you're willing to put into it. That's something important to realize, because otherwise you might have people who are big-gulp capacity people, and they're like, Oh, yeah, man. I'm going to give to the thing. Okay. Here's this. That's a lot. Then you might have somebody else who's able to give, but it's just a little bit. I could ask you the question, which one has more? But the question isn't really about the contents. It's about the capacity.
The Widow's Mite Principle
So, if you are a big-gulp person, God's not going to measure what you gave or what you did for him while you were here on the earth up against what somebody else did. God's going to measure it in the context of what you have the capacity to do. Y'all aren't helping me a bit today. Why'd y'all go Presbyterian on me this weekend? I'm saying that it's what's inside that counts. One time Jesus was watching people bring their offering in the temple, and he's watching people, and he sees Fat Cat Freddy walk by. Fat Cat Freddy does real estate deals all over the world. Fat Cat Freddy comes and drops something, but it's really not sacrificial. So, if it's not sacrificial, it's not significant. So, Jesus doesn't say a word about it.
Here comes a little lady. She's a widow, and she has what's called a mite. It would be a little coin. Very small. The smallest denomination of currency she could have brought. Jesus said, she gave more than all of you because she gave at the full context of her capacity. What I'm trying to say is Abby Middow gave all of us fools this weekend with $4 in the context of what she had. And I don't know how you imagine the miracle, but it is interesting to note that the Bible doesn't say at what exact point the water turned into wine. So, I like to use my imagination. I figure if the Bible wanted me to know exactly when it happened, it would have told me. Otherwise, I'm free to imagine.
The Power is in the Process
So, I think about how Jesus mostly does stuff in the Bible, and usually he does stuff in a way that requires faith. So, I don't think that the water turned into wine while they were pouring it into the jars, because that wouldn't have produced any faith. I mean, if you were watching the stuff turn into wine while you were pouring it, if God blessed you while you were doing it, no faith. Touch somebody and say, no faith. What I think happened is that after they had drawn out the water they had poured into the jars, and as they were bringing it to the Master… If you start your own church, you can preach it the way you want to. This is mine. I believe that the water changed a little bit with every step they took. I believe they were watching it change. Is it just me? It can't be. It's the lighting. I think something is happening here. I'm just taking the step God told me to take, and the change doesn't happen all at once. But I'm watching the change from the inside.
And it says that the master of the banquet knew how good the product was, but he didn't know the process. Because to understand the process, you have to have a spot on the inside. Only the insiders saw the miracle. I'm trying to say everybody got to go home with a buzz, but only the ones who participated went home with a blessing. I'm saying that only the servants saw the real power, and the power is always in the process. If you know I'm preaching, Ralph, clap your hands. I'm going to pass out some jars right now, and this will be symbolic of what you have to give to God. Coming down your rows, there are some little jars that will say fulfilled on them. We would like you to take one per family, if you could take one per family. If you don't have anything to write with, take a pen.
Handling the Jars with Care
If you need a new one of these pledge cards where you're giving today, we're actually not just giving the pledge. We're hoping that most people will either online or here give the gift as you're able. But if you need one of these, take one, and I'll explain about what we're going to do with it. First of all, if you could handle it very carefully, that would be helpful. The last thing that we need is a lawsuit while we're trying to raise an expansion offering. You want to break the jar and then slit your wrist and sue the church. Now we have to take the fulfilled offering, and people die and go to hell because you are clumsy. So, please be careful with the jar. I have a vivid imagination. But we're going to use this in a minute, and the worship team is going to come back out. And I do believe that giving is the greatest act of worship. Because I think you can honor God with your lips and your heart be far from him. But when you get, watch this, invested. Invested. Invested. Invested in.
Sipping vs. Serving
Some of us have sipped so much. Oh, that's good. Thank you, Lord. That's a good word. Good sermon. But now you get to serve. Sipping and serving both release two different levels of blessing. And so, as you take this jar, it's something that I want you to keep for 2016. And you see that label that says, Fulfilled. This is where I want you to write your word. Put a word down that represents something you're believing God to do in your life, in the coming year. It's just a way to connect your faith and expectancy with God, which I think always opens our hearts. And if you need more than one word, that's okay. If you need to hyphenate, abbreviate, it's between you and God. The word doesn't even have to make sense to anybody else, just if it means something to you. You can even put a code word. If the thing you need from God is something you don't want to write down, God knows. But put it on there in a way that you'll know what it is, because you're going to keep that with you.
Now, in just a moment, we're going to sing some songs. It will be a really cool time. God has really met with us all weekend so far, and I believe he saved the best till last. So, we're expecting God to show up in a great way in this time. And we're still going to end on time. So, you don't need to leave early or anything like that. We're going to end right on time like we normally do. But when we begin to release you row by row in just a moment, two things I want you to do. The first one is to bring your gift or your card. Now, even if you're not giving, you can still come, because if you don't give God anything other than your faith, that's a lot. I said, if you don't give God anything other than your faith, that's a lot. So I want everybody to come. I don't want anybody to miss out because you couldn't give.
The Symbolism of Pouring It Out
But when you come, those of you who are able to give, if you would place your gift in here, and this giving station says Joshua 21, 45, that's been our theme verse for the series, that not one of God's promises to Israel failed. Everyone was, say the word, fulfilled. And so as you fulfill your commitment to God today, if you would take this jar we gave you. and pour it out, somebody shout, pour it out. Look at the person next to you, say, pour it out. It symbolizes that I'm pouring my part into God's purpose. I'm pouring my life into something bigger than me. I'm pouring into his cause. I'm pouring into his kingdom. And as you pour it out, we're going to see, yeah, that's right, how we can do so much more together than we can apart. Y'all be careful clapping. I know you're holding your jars, so just nod.
And when you pour that out, it's a symbolic gesture. Please make sure that you put your envelope in this one and your water in this one. Okay, you'll be surprised. It sounds simple. And I always mess up the details of these tubes, so I'm trying to remember everything they told me. They told me to tell you, if you don't want to write it down here, write it down later. They told me to tell you that if you could take the lid off before you get to the station, we won't all be here until the fourth quarter. And so it'd be really good if you could unscrew it on your way and then. pour it out. And I want you to do one more thing, though, when you pour it out. And God just gave me this at 930. I want you to make sure that you keep the lid off of it when you take the jar back with you, because I want you to understand that he is able to do immeasurably more than you ask or imagine.
Keep the Lid Off: Expect Immeasurably More
There is no limit to what God can do in your life. You live under an open heaven, and then you're going to keep this somewhere in the days ahead where you can remember. and expect God's faithfulness. So that is the plan, and I ask that everyone reverence this moment, because you've got to understand for a lot of people, this is very meaningful to them. This is very meaningful to us. This is not only how we build God's church, but this is how he builds. us. So we're expecting great things. If you've given online or if you're going to give online, you can note that on your card. That's awesome. And then drop that in there. I always try to ask God before we give our offering. If everybody gave like we gave, would we be okay? And so I'm excited to bring God my best this weekend. This is not a joke to me. It's in me. This isn't a role I play. This is in me. And I want in on this. I want in on this. I believe in the church, and I want in on it. And if you want in on it too, jump up on your feet. Let's get ready to give. Let me pray before we release you to give. And as you wait, worship God. As you wait to go, worship God.
Father, we release glory in this place today. We know that as your people give, heaven takes notice. And we thank you that every gift, large and small, that is given in faith is going to produce a great harvest in our communities and around our world. We thank you for your people. They are precious. You said that the righteous wouldn't be forsaken and their seed wouldn't be back for bread. So we believe you to be a great provider. Release provision, release purpose in this house as we give in Jesus' name. Everybody who's ready to give, shout amen. Shout amen again. As they release you at every location, let's give to God in the spirit of worship.
I think we ought to give God glory for all of the faith of all of the people. Come on, that sounds kind of weak. We ought to give God glory. Come on up. I want to show you one more thing. I want to show you one more thing and I want to pray over every offering that was just given and every offering that will be given, every offering that has been Come on up, guys. At all of the locations, I asked six people to come up and represent these six stone jars that were in the passage that I read. It's what's inside that counts. Come on, David Hummel. Come on, Jay Rabin. Come on, Joel Delft. As they get in position, I want to show you a verse that I glossed over when I read the passage, but it's the most significant verse to the whole thing that we just did.
The Greatest Miracle is in the Heart
Why would Jesus take the time to get drunk people drunker at a wedding? You ever wonder that? And it's his first miracle. But I understand it because it represented that he came to bring change to a system that was watered down, that the love of God that was supposed to freely flow like wine, the spirit of God that was supposed to open blind eyes, had been watered down by the traditions of men. But I also think that verse 11 provides a context that it was the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory. Everybody shout glory. And his disciples believed in him. And that was the miracle. The greatest miracle isn't what happened in the jars. It's what happened in their hearts. And the greatest miracle that we'll see from this offering will not be an edifice or a structure. We'll build buildings. We're going to help the refugees that we told you about a few weeks ago. All of that's going to happen, and that's wonderful because the wine needs to flow. But the most significant thing that's going to happen through your act of faith is the change that happens in your heart. Where the water of your unbelief becomes the wine of joy, the joy that can only come by faith. The greatest miracle happens in your heart.
So we want to symbolize that now. When I count to three on every location, I want these guys to pour out what they brought up here, what you brought up here, and pour it out to symbolize the change that's happening in your heart right now as you stand before God. The change that we're expecting God for in our communities. You ready? On three. One, two, three. God, we declare change is coming to the hearts. Water to wine. Depression to joy. Sorrow to strength. Mourning to dancing. Happiness to praise. We declare change is coming to the people. Oh, come on, church. You better shout for change. Shout for change. New wine. New joy. New joy. New joy. New joy. It's a new season.