Steven Furtick - More of the Same (01/29/2026)
Feeling full in heart entering the new year, Pastor Steven introduces "The Power of Same," emphasizing that true change comes from consistent, sacred sameness rather than chasing the new. Drawing from Genesis 26:18 (Isaac re-digging Abraham's wells) and John 15 (abiding in the vine), he stresses that resisting the monotonous causes us to miss the miraculous—fruit comes through remaining, routine, and faithfulness to God as the gardener, not a genie.
Feeling Full and Ready to Overflow
I feel full going into this new year. I feel full. I'm not talking about full of carbohydrates and cookies. Some of that too. But I feel full in my heart. I thought you'd clap when I said I feel full. Because if I'm full, that means when I preach, it's going to overflow to you.
And I want to admit and confess, as I do often, that I've overprepared. And we've got a whole series to cover this material. This week I want to start the concept off. The power of same. And really today I'm just handing you the syllabus. And class officially begins next week.
And we're going to study together how same is underrated. Same is underrated. I'm on a real kick. I'm going to rant and rave a little bit today. So many people are so obsessed with what's new and next that we never discover the power of same.
And I want to speak on that subject for a little while today using a couple different scriptures. On New Year's Eve, we found our flow. We found it. But to flow in it is going to require consistency. Frequency is the key to sustaining flow. In any endeavor, your walk with God is no exception.
Re-Digging the Wells of Blessing
I shared a verse at the praise party that's been ministering to me for a few months. In Genesis 26:18, where it says Isaac reopened the wells that had been dug in the time of his father Abraham, which the Philistines had stopped up after Abraham died.
We talked about how the enemy tries to block the source where your connection with God comes from. Bitterness, resentment, complacency, laziness. He wants to put dirt in the place where the blessing of God springs forth from.
And when we start digging out some of that stuff, a fresh flow comes to our life. A fresh passion. A rejuvenated relationship with God. And we're after that this year. Say amen, somebody. Amen.
It said that he gave them the same names that his father gave the wells. He gave them the same names his father had given them.
The Power of Same in John 15
Today I want to go over to the New Testament book of John. John chapter 15. Jesus is just hours away from being handed over to be crucified. He's sharing with his disciples some of his very last words that he'll speak on planet Earth.
How many know last words have weight? The last words that people say have weight. Especially when they know these are going to be their last words. Jesus knew very well that he was leaving.
And there's one thing he wanted his followers to understand. And it's the power of same.
John chapter 15 verse 1. Jesus says, I am the true vine and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit. While every branch that does bear fruit, he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.
You are already clean because of the word I've spoken to you. Remain in me as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself. It must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.
The Key to Change: More of the Same
I want to start this series off with a simple subject. The key to change is more of the same. The key to change. Write it down. Put it on the fridge. So when you go to reach for a snack of an unhealthy variety, you'll remember that the key to change is more of the broccoli.
The key to change, any change, is more of the same. Am I right about it? We're obsessed with sparkle in our society. We're obsessed with shiny in our society. We're obsessed with the next big thing.
I personally feel conflicted preaching this message because I know that there is a bad kind of sameness that can cause trouble in our lives. I just wrote a few examples of it down.
There's stagnant sameness, and that's where you just settle into something, like a cesspool, where you just don't change anything ever just because you're settled into something that's comfortable, even if it's not profitable. That's stagnant sameness. We don't want that.
There's stupid sameness. Stupid sameness. Keep touching the stove. Ouch! Touch it! Ouch! ... One motivational speaker said that's the definition of insanity. Stupid sameness.
Tell somebody, don't be stupid same. You repeat the habits that you saw your parents model for you and never even question, is this a productive way to live? Stupid sameness.
You know, well, my mom was always that way, and her mom was always that way, but was it God's way? Because if it wasn't and you just repeat it and just hand it on to your kids, that's stupid.
See, you have to come to a church where the preacher will tell you don't be stupid, and you came to that church today. I'll tell you what wasn't stupid coming to church the first weekend of the year. There wasn't anything stupid about that.
In fact, the devil got nervous when he saw you put on your church clothes today. He thought you were going to stay in your sweats till about 3.30. And when he saw you get dressed and go to church, he said, Oh, God. And God said, That's right. Oh, me. They're seeking me first this year. They're going to put me first this year. They're not just going to come three times this year. They're going to lock it in.
This year is the year you lock it in. And anyway, you don't want to be stupid same.
Avoiding Stubborn and Scared Sameness
And then there's stubborn sameness. Stubborn sameness. Some of you are sitting next to someone who exemplifies stubborn sameness. It's just the way I am. I'm just being me. I just got to keep it real. Stubborn. You're stubborn.
We're stubborn sometimes, and we're the same because we're stubborn.
And then there's scared sameness. Scared sameness, where we'd rather circle around the same mountain for 40 years than go in and take on a new challenge. Just keep it same because I'm scared to change.
However, I'm focused this weekend and in this series on a different kind of sameness, a sacred sameness. A sacred sameness.
Changing How We View "Same"
I went into our staff, and I'm going to talk to you like we're in a staff meeting today, okay? I'm going to talk to you like I talked to our staff.
I went into our staff a couple months ago, and I said, the word same gets a bad rap. It's hardly ever used positively, and I think we need to change the way we see same.
And I said it because a lot of our staff is young. I'm young, and a lot of our staff is young. And a lot of them now are young in a way that makes me feel old. It's their first job, and I realized that if they're not taught about the power of same, they might spend decades of their life running around drilling new wells, looking for a new job, but not realizing that every time you drill a new well, you take yourself into each new situation.
And if you don't learn to plant yourself sometimes, and sometimes it's good to mix it up, but sometimes it's good to keep it the same.
See, most of the goals in my life revolve around the power of same. The real goals in my life… I want to pastor the same church for like five decades. That would be, to me, that would be it.
Now, I might mess it up. I mean, I'm not saying that it's just a definite thing that it's going to happen, but that's what I want. That's what I want. Y'all might get tired of coming and run off, but I'll be here. I'll still be here.
And if you ever need me, you can come on back, because I'm going to be here. You get mad about something, come back in two years. I won't be mad at you. I'll be preaching. Just going to preach.
Somebody told me the other day, well, I haven't been there in a while like I need to. I said, you know where to find me when you need me? I'm right here holding this microphone, spitting on Lauren Webb. I'm here. I'm here.
I don't think you can build a great church if you don't have a leader who's here. You know this thing, and I'm not criticizing the way things are done, but you know this thing where the pastor moves around.
My grandfather was a pastor in a denomination where the pastor moved every two or three years by design. Like, if we get tired of you, we'll just wait you out. And it's like, I get that to a degree because the church is more than just the leader, but I don't know how I can stand up and challenge you if I haven't committed myself to consistency.
See, one of my friends was telling me the other day, he said, you know, so-and-so church is probably going to call you when so-and-so retires because he doesn't have many more years left and ask you to take it over.
And I said, why in the world would I take that call? Why would you leave the Super Bowl? To me, preaching here every week is the Super Bowl. To me, I'm not saying there are other good churches, but to me, this is what I always wanted to do.
And so all I really want to do is preach different sermons. Hopefully they get better. Hopefully they get better. I don't know whether you should clap for that or not. At first I wanted you to, and then I felt kind of hurt when you did.
But I want all the videos on YouTube. I want to pastor this church as a young punk. I want to pastor this church as a wise sage. I want to be like looking at, you know, some of y'all, I look at you on every week, and I don't know anything about you, but just seeing you sit, you're just saying, that comforts me.
It's like, yeah, we're going to do something for a long time. We're going to do the same thing for a long time, ups and downs.
And so I want to tell my kids, I was preaching when you were five to these people, and when you were 15, and when you were 25, and I want to have something to hand them.
Some of you are going to have nothing to hand to your children if you don't get planted. You attended somewhere other than your critical review of the nine different churches you attended, kind of, while they grew up.
Resisting the Monotonous Misses the Miraculous
Alright, point number one to this little talk today, this introductory talk. If you resist the monotonous, you'll miss the miraculous. Put it down. Put it down.
If you don't take notes, we charge you for the pen we gave you when you came in. Take notes, you can keep it for free. If you resist the monotonous, you'll miss the miraculous.
And that might be the only point I get to in this session, but we're going to work with it for a moment.
Jesus said, when you want to think about your relationship with me, when you want to think about how life flows, you want to find a flow, think of me as a vine.
Now, the vine is not the part that runs along the window, so the vine is the part that comes out of the ground like a trunk and stands about three feet tall.
So, Jesus is saying, I'm what's in the ground bringing forth life, and you are the branch, and if you stay, stay, stay connected to me, you'll bear fruit. You'll find your flow.
You'll have blessings of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, and increasing measure, and you won't be barren, and your life will bear fruit.
And even when your life feels barren, you'll bear fruit, because it's not what people see on the outside, but it's what God is doing on the inside, if you'll stay connected to me.
God as Gardener, Not Genie
And he said, here's the analogy. Look at verse one. He says, I'm the true vine, my Father is the gardener. Watch this.
Most of us read it this way. I am the true vine, my Father is the genie. See, most of us don't want a gardener God. We want a genie God.
But when Jesus surveyed all of the analogies he could have used to describe the process—it's a process—by which God makes change. Whatever change you're hoping for, dreaming for, praying for, committed to this year—he says, okay, let me put it in a way you can understand. Think of your God as a gardener.
Wait a minute. I'm not sure I want a gardener God. I want one of those gods where you can rub your Bible. Where you can pray a prayer. You know, get a little of that God luck flowing in your life.
And he says, no, no, no. It's because the disciples were sad when Jesus was saying these words because they were following him to what they thought was the end of what they had set out to do.
They thought he was coming to wipe out the bad guys, to set right the wrong things. Yet he was going to do all of that through his death, through a process of death.
He was turning inside out their conception of what God in the flesh would be like. And as he's walking, the Bible says in John chapter 14 at the end that he said, Rise, let us be going. The hour is at hand.
And as he's walking, he's walking through a garden. And under the lamplights, he apparently comes upon—because Jesus is a master illustrator—he apparently comes upon a cluster of grapes.
And maybe he holds up the grapes. Maybe he doesn't. But he uses this visual. He says, you see these grapes. You see this vine. You see the way this fruit was produced. That's the way God is going to grow his will, his purpose, and his plan in your life. He's a gardener.
And if you come into a new year treating God like a genie, like the first time you do it, it's going to come out of the lamp, like the first time you pray it, like the first time, Well, I went to that church, but it didn't work.
I like to say that's because you didn't work it. You didn't work it.
Embracing the Routine for Results
One thing that blows my mind, y'all, is my wife and some of the other wonderful people that serve on my team, they have to sit through my sermon three times every weekend. It's the same sermon. Well, it's kind of. It really isn't, because every time it changes.
Like a lot of the stuff that I say, I didn't plan on saying, or I said it in the one, I didn't say it in the other. Sometimes I forget what I said in one, and I start saying it again in the other, and that's embarrassing.
But it's amazing to me that they would sit through the sermon three times. Sometimes I sneak Holly's notebook after church, and I want to see what notes she made. Each time she'll have written some different notes, because she's sitting through the same sermon.
But when you embrace the power of same, you can't just stay at the surface and expect to grow in your relationship with God.
So, you know, you write down the notes. Some people don't even take it that far. You write down the notes. You never look at them again. That's not gardening.
I just want the Word of God to come into my life. Well, it will, but it'll come like a seed, and God will treat it like a gardener.
See, stuff in the garden grows in the dirt, and stuff in the garden grows in mundane circumstances.
So, if you want to find your flow this year, and if you want things to happen in your life… I know some of this is common sense, but stop coming to God like a genie and start embracing the process.
He said, you're like fruit on the vine, and the gardener comes out, and one day nothing grows, and the next day nothing seems to grow, and the next day nothing seems to grow, and the next day nothing seems to grow.
But when you embrace the monotonous, that's when you can experience the miraculous.
And we all see people who have great results in an area of their life. Great results in their knowledge of the scripture. Great results in their physical appearance. Great results in their financial life.
We see the results and we admire the results and we desire the reward for the fruit that Jesus is speaking of represents the reward. It's the sweetest thing in life. The grape represents the blessing. The grape represents the reward.
And Jesus says, you can't admire the results and desire the reward if you don't embrace the routine that produces the results and the reward.
I told the Lord before I came to preach this to you, I said, I don't care if they get on their feet today. Because it's not whether you get on your feet on a weekend that determines how high you grow this year.
It's how deep you get the truth of God in your heart through obedience that determines how much you're going to grow this year.
Practice Makes Permanent – The Odell Beckham Lesson
Did y'all see that Odell Beckham catch a couple weeks ago? Did you see it? How many of you are wondering about who is Odell Beckham? Odell Beckham is a bad man, football player.
He made what some analysts are referring to as the greatest catch ever a few weeks ago. And I'm going to put it on the screen and you can decide if it's the greatest catch ever.
Look at this. Inbounds. See it again. Inbounds. My God. And a flag with pass interference. Still caught it. Still caught it.
Somebody said to me, Did you see that lucky catch? Did you see that lucky catch? And that's what most of us think when we see a catch like that. What a lucky catch.
That's what a lot of us see when we see somebody whose life is blessed, who's got grapes on the vine, who's got… Well, they just married the right person. Well, they just were in the right place at the right time. Wow, what a lucky catch.
Can I tell you a secret? It only looks lucky. It only looks lucky. You don't get blessed over a lifetime by a lucky moment.
See, I'm so glad they had some cameras out there before the game that day. There were some cameras that were filming Odell Beckham's practice routine before the game. So watch this. They caught this just moments before the game.
What's he doing? He's doing the same thing. Y'all better help me preach on this football clip. The same thing. Here's him at practice before game day ever came. Same thing. Same thing.
So when you see him under the lights and it looks lucky, it only looked lucky. But the truth is he practiced that. Let me preach this.
When you see somebody's life, when you see God doing stuff, and you see them having supernatural peace and abundant joy, and you see him making wise decisions, can I tell you a secret? They practiced that. They practiced that.
That didn't just happen. They practiced that. They practiced that. Tell somebody they practiced that.
Biblical Examples of Sacred Sameness
Let's go from the football screen to the Bible. Let's go back to the Bible now. Thank you, Odell Beckham. You just reminded me of Joshua.
Joshua was given a command from God that made no sense. He is leading the people of God into their promised land. For 40 years they have been in the same wilderness waiting for this opportunity.
Their first day they get their marching orders. They're looking at a city called Jericho, a city with big walls. The city wasn't that big. The walls were just high.
By the way, some of the stuff you're looking at isn't as big as you think it is. It's just that you need the perspective to see that with God all things are possible.
It's the first city in the promised land. If they get through this city, it's the key to all of Canaan, but they have to get through the first city.
Sometimes the first step you take is the hardest step to take. Sometimes getting started is the hardest part.
When I'm preparing a sermon, getting started is the hardest part. When we write music, getting started is the hardest part.
Once you've got your flow, it's not that hard to be in the flow. It's hard to start. It's hard to finish. That's what God is going to help us with this year.
Because God had started something for Joshua and the Israelites, but now they had to complete it.
And so God speaks to Joshua. He says, I want you to march around the walls for six days. I should preach a sermon about this sometime, and I would call it, Kelly, don't stop on six. I should preach that one day. I think it would go over well and help some people.
But it says that they started walking. And here's the command. You've got to read this sometime. It says, walk around the walls on the first day. Just walk around.
And then it says, walk around on the second day, walk around on the third day, walk around on the fourth day, walk around on the fifth day, walk around on the sixth day, on the seventh day, walk around seven times. Then the walls are going to fall down.
You can go in, let each man straight in, and take the plunder, and take the Booty, and loot the city, and take over, and take everything I've promised to you.
And so it says that Joshua obeyed. Now listen, obedience is the key. It's not the revelation, it's the response that determines the size of the blessing.
So it's not what you hear today, it's what you do with what you hear that determines whether or not it's going to bear fruit in your life.
So it says, on the second day, I feel my preacher. I was trying to teach today. I actually considered sitting on a stool because I just wanted to teach today, but something comes over me. You people make me misbehave.
But it says in Joshua chapter 6, verse 14, it says, so on the second day, they marched around the city once and returned to the camp, and they did this for six days.
Anytime you see the number six in the Bible, it represents the number of man. It would represent the totality of our effort without God. It's just a symbol in the Bible. Nothing deep or freaky. I'm not talking about the Mark of the beast on your iPhone. I'm just talking about the number six.
It always symbolizes and shadows the number of man. So it makes it more special when it says in verse 15, on the seventh day.
Seven is God's number. It represents completion. This is a series about seven. This is a series about completing the work that God began in you, and you only do it if you get up, like Joshua got up, and march at daybreak, early the seventh morning.
I've done this six days. No walls have fallen. But on the seventh day, they marched around the city seven times in the… What's the word? In the… Come on, Weddington. In the… Come on, Concord. In the… Come on, University City. In the… Come on, Lake Norman. In the… Come on, all the other locations that I can't think of right now because there's a lot of y'all. In the same manner.
Nothing changed about the way they walked. Nothing changed about what they did. They did the same thing, the same way. The same thing, the same way, except on that day. On that day.
And you never know when that day is going to be. You wake up. It seems just like any other day. But if you don't walk the lap that day because you don't want to do what's monotonous, you won't be in position to receive what's miraculous.
I'm preaching to a parent now. If you don't invest in your kids intentionally when it seems to not be sinking in, you won't get to experience the moment of breakthrough where they come around and say, you know, you actually were right.
If you don't stay the same, people give up so quick. People walk away from stuff. People don't see anything happening, so they quit their Bible reading plan. Two and a half weeks in, they join the gym. They quit the gym. They ask for a refund because six pounds didn't melt away in the first three days.
You might have to show up three weeks, three months. You might have to do this for a while. It's the power of same… It works in your body. It works in your spirit. It works in your mind.
Some habits don't break overnight. Some things don't break over a year. Some things take a lifetime, and on that day something happened. On that day… something happened. On that day…
Jesus says, I'm the vine. You're the branch. It's the process.
Grooving It Right – Practice Makes Permanent
What struck me about this sermon series is you don't even have to be a Christian to get something out of this. This is just principles.
I see my tennis coach. I've got this tennis coach. He's awesome. Robert Stevens. Book him. He's great. He taught me so much about the power of same.
He taught me something. He taught me when he was first teaching me the correct grip. See, I didn't realize I was going to be paying you to watch me. That's strange to me, paying somebody to watch you.
If you ever hire an instructor for anything, a lot of what you… They'll show you stuff, but then you're going to pay them to watch you do what they showed you. I thought that was strange.
In the first few weeks he was teaching me, he said, be careful how much you practice this at this point when I'm not watching you. I said, but wouldn't practice make it better? Practice makes perfect.
He said, no, practice makes permanent. Did I get it right? He said, so if you groove it wrong, you're going to be grooving… See, some of y'all have been grooving God wrong. You've been grooving God wrong.
You got into habits with God, but it's just ritual. It's not a life-giving routine. It's not a routine that brings life.
Jesus said, this is supposed to be a life flow. My friend was preaching before I came out. I was watching him on a live link. He said, some of y'all, Jesus is your weekend activity, not your daily priority.
He said, you've been grooving it wrong. If you groove it wrong, you're going to lock it in wrong.
So, here's what I wanted to tell you about the change. See, the key to change is more of the same, but you've got to repeat the right things. Repeat the right things the right way. Repeat the right things the right way so you can actually bear fruit in the process.
Repeat the right things the right way. That means, when you give, don't give because you thought you got it off your checklist. Give with a grateful heart.
That means when you worship and praise God, don't do it in a way you feel like you have to. Do it because you get to.
That means when you serve, don't serve so you can get your own merit affirmed. Serve because you're serving out of the well of the life that God has put inside of you.
So, so, so repeat the right things until the routine is the reward. Until the routine is the reward.
The 28-Day John 15 Challenge
God, I've got so much to share with you. I'm deciding what to cut on the spot because we don't have time. You can come back next week. If you come back, I'm not done with this week yet, but I will be shortly, relatively, is if you come and hear the same message.
You know what we're going to do for the next 28 days starting Monday, this Monday? I want every person in this church to get this chapter of Scripture, John 15.
It's the year 2015. I say, God, what chapter do we start the year with? Is there a passage? It said, in my heart, John 15? 15? It's one of the most important passages of Scripture.
And rather than challenging you, we had this whole plan where we were going to challenge you to go through a Bible reading plan this year. You know, same, get into discipline.
And I had this idea, what if everybody read the same chapter every day for a whole month? You know how a song can get stuck in your head if you have to hear it, whether you like it or not?
I believe Scripture can get stuck in your heart. And you'll just walk around hearing the words of Jesus if you groove it right.
And when you read it, when you read it, I want you to take the first 15 minutes of every day in 2015. The first 15 in 2015 for at least a month.
Once we get 28 days, you'll have the pattern. First 15 minutes. Read John 15. Read it out loud. Read it backwards. Read it in Pig Latin. Listen to it.
I'm going to record the audio so you can listen to it as if you don't hear my voice enough. You can take it with you. I'm going to record it. Brian's going to play beautiful music back behind it.
Give me an example of the kind of music you can play behind it. Give him a taste. I am the vine. It'll be something like that. We're working on it. It's a work in progress.
But we're going to put that… All of this is on this website, beginagainchallenge.com. Every day, read that chapter.
Here's what you're going to do. You're going to groove it right, because you're not just going to read it as a ritual. You're going to read it until what happens to me when I'm preparing a sermon happens to you.
When you get to the part where Jesus says, I call you friends, you're going to start asking God, how can I be a better friend to you today, God? I want to go beyond just being a follower of Christ and really be a friend.
What does that look like? I don't know. Maybe that'll get you thinking about your friendships, and then maybe you'll be a better friend to other people.
You see how, if we get it in our hearts… I want us to flow from within this year. To flow from within. We've got to increase the frequency.
I never felt more certain about what we need to do at the beginning of the year as a church, so we're going to take this chapter, and we're going to groove it. We're going to groove it, and then you come back to church, and we'll make sure you're grooving it right, and we'll align it, and we'll get it, and it'll be great.
Don't Miss the Miraculous by Resisting the Monotonous
I'm going to tell some of you what's going to happen this year. You're going to miss the miraculous, because you resist the monotonous. You're going to desire the rewards.
I'd like to have grapes like her. Spiritual fruit. You know what I'm saying. I'd like to have whatever. I'd like my kids to love God like their kids love God.
I'm trying to move on. But he said, he said, he said, abide. He said, the key to this thing is, will you abide? Abide.
Can I tell you a secret? You're never going to arrive if you can't abide. You will never arrive. We all have goals we want to get to. We all have places that we want to see God perform in our lives, all of us.
But you're never going to be able to reach if you don't remain. See, the branch reaches, but the only way it's able to reach… Set your goals this year. Go for it, man. Go for it. Get your six-pack. Go for it. Get your degree. Go for it. Read three self-development books per night. Go for it. Do your thing.
Nobody here has got any more goals than me. I got goals this year. I did it different this year. So last year, I started trying to get a better workout rhythm, you know, where it wasn't up and down all the time.
You know what I found out? I did better by setting a goal that was based on the routine rather than the result. And that kind of flipped it for me because I used to make a result goal.
And so if I didn't achieve this, lift this, weigh this, then I'm frustrated. I'm frustrated.
But this year, I was talking to somebody the other day. They said, how much do you weigh right now? I said, I don't know. I've been on a scale in eight months. I feel good.
Because I found out if you make the routine the reward, here's what I set a goal for this year. I'm going to have 200 workouts in the year 2015. 200 workouts.
And I mean, I need to do a good workout. You can't just do a bad workout and expect a good result. The way you do it matters. But I'm going to do 200 workouts this year.
How much body fat percentage? If I do 200 workouts, the result will flow from the routine.
You know what I even did? I'm ashamed to tell you this because it feels a little elementary. I actually went and got poster board and gold stars like you do when you're a kid.
And I put them on my wall and I give myself a gold star when I work out. And let me tell you, I got a sky full of stars on my wall right now. I'm just filling it up with stars and I'm going to put 200 stars on the wall.
I already got three for 2015. Sometimes you got to give yourself a gold star, church. Sometimes you got to say, you know what? The routine is the reward.
I'm not going to wait for the result to celebrate. Just the fact that I showed up. In fact, start clapping for yourself right now that you got to church today. That you got to church today.
Come on, Pat. I'm giving everybody in church a gold star today. Some of y'all look sad. Smile. You made it to church. You made it. You could have made an excuse. You could have been taking down the last Christmas Holly stuff, the mistletoe from the thing or packing away or whatever.
But you came to church and you know what? Just by being here, the routine is the reward. Because you got to be in the presence of God and you got to honor him. You got to honor him.
The Greatest Catch – Practice and Persistence
They said Odell Beckham might have made the greatest catch ever. I don't think he did. I don't think he did. The greatest catch ever happened in Weddington, North Carolina. Just a couple months ago.
And fortunately, there was a father. I was wondering if you want to see that again. I thought y'all might want to see that again real quick. Just real quick.
I know you got stuff to do, but... You know how many times I watched that video of Graham catching that ball? Do you know how many times? Maybe 700. It's possible. It's possible.
Do you know how many people I've shown that video before this moment? Furthermore, do you know how many videos I have on my phone of times where I pointed the phone at him in case something happened good and nothing did? Maybe 700.
No, I'm serious. I must have been the most obnoxious parent in the history of that rec league. Because every time the ball got within 20 feet of my boy, I was ready.
He's in the outfield. They're not going to hit it to him. Yeah, but what if he backs the guy up? I want to capture that. He may need that to get into college one day.
If I hadn't captured all the misses…. That was the last game of the season. That was the best catch of the year. But if I hadn't captured all the misses, if I hadn't… If my phone wasn't full of all those worthless videos….
If you don't embrace the monotonous, you have to come when you feel like coming and come when you don't. You have to read your Bible when you feel inspired to read it and read your Bible when you feel inspired to watch Scandal instead.
You have to read your Bible. I'm telling you, you have to love people. You have to practice that. You have to practice that.
Can I tell you how many times I've seen Graham walking around our house on hardwood floors, throwing a tennis ball at himself and catching it? He practiced that. He's seven, and he understands that the monotonous leads to the miraculous.
We're going to practice the presence of God in 2015, and I hope that you'll be along for the ride. I hope that you'll embrace the monotonous this year.
Keep Coming Home – Abide in the Vine
I asked my grandfather, who was… I began to play Brian, so I began to shut up. I asked my grandfather, who was a faithful, faithful… I mentioned him earlier. He was a pastor, but he was also a faithful husband, which to me was his greatest life contribution as he cared for his wife with Alzheimer's for over a decade.
But I asked him before I married Holly, how do you stay married? How do you stay in love? He said, keep coming home.
I waited for the rest. That was the book title, subtitle, chapter title, and the paragraph, opening paragraph, closing paragraph. Keep coming home.
And he looked at me like I was stupid when he said it. Keep coming home. How are you going to remain in the vine?
See, isn't it interesting that we start a new year wanting to go to another level? We want to go to another level. And Jesus dies, and dies on the cross. He rises again.
And the words echoing in his disciples' hearts would have been, abide. Abide.
We live in a world that always makes you feel like you haven't arrived. Your income isn't, so you haven't arrived. Your marital status isn't, so you haven't arrived. Arrive, arrive, arrive.
But yet, the scripture says we want to go to another level. I get that. Our church is called Elevation Church for a reason. We're all about new. A new series. A new campus. It's great. New. I love it. It's new. It's great. It's great.
You've already arrived in the love of God. You haven't arrived in every area of your life, but you've arrived in the love of God.
And if you'll abide… Look at it in the King James, John 15, verse 4. He says, Abide in me. Abide in me.
The world is shouting, Arrive, arrive, arrive. You're not there yet. You haven't made it yet. You haven't proven yourself yet.
And if you start from that place, you'll never arrive. Because when you get there, you won't know how to be there. You won't know how to live there.
So the word is, Abide. Eugene Peterson translates it, Make your home in me as I have made my home in you.
Get it home in the habits of knowing God this year. Embrace the pruning process. It's the pruning process that nobody wants to participate in that's going to produce the results.
Stay. Stay. Stay. I'm looking at some people, they bless me, who have just stayed in this church. Just stayed. Just stayed.
When the church was popular and at times when the church was under scrutiny, stayed. Stayed.
I want to stay. You know, we're crazy. Our society, we're crazy. We're obsessed with new, but we really, we really want same.
We really, we really want same. We celebrate the 50th wedding anniversary of someone. Anybody here been married like over 30 years? Over 30 years. That's so cool. Over 30 years.
Put them up high again like that's something to be proud of. That's remarkable. Kept coming home.
See, we celebrate that. Now, I'm not trying to be cruel, but if I asked, is there anybody in here who's been married five times? It would be a different tone in the room. It'd be a different tone.
We would celebrate the fact that you made it. We'd celebrate the fact that you've been through some things, but you're still standing. We would celebrate and hope that you're happy now.
But, but, but there's a different tone. Why? Because we all chase new, but what we really want is same. Same.
One of the greatest accomplishments of my life as a pastor, to this point, it's kind of a bold thing to say in your 30s. The greatest accomplishment of my life.
I'm saying up to this point, because I don't know what's next, is that the same families that started the church with me are still here.
See, that blesses me. I know you can't keep everybody. It'll be success to me if they just say, he slept with the same woman every night. He went home to the same girlfriend every night. Just decade after decade. Just same. Same.
And some of you don't feel successful, because we say, same old, same old. What's wrong with the same old, same old? What's so wrong with same? What's so wrong with same?
Come on, celebrate same. Abide. Abide. Abide.
Closing Prayer and Challenge
Up on your feet, we're praying, we're praying, we're praying. Ask the person next to you. You coming back next week? Let them answer.
If they say no, stab them with your elevation pen. Come on, until they flow with orange blood.
I wonder what this year would be like for you. If you take me up on the challenge. The first 15 minutes can direct the course of your whole day. How awesome would that be?
I'm going to... I'm going to make our staff memorize John 15. You're going to make them? Yeah. What are you going to do if they don't fire them? I pay these people to love God.
We're going to memorize this. 27 verses. I wonder if 1,500 of you would memorize it. Get God's... You memorize a lot of other stupid stuff. You know where Odell Beckham went to high school. You can't memorize the Bible.
Come on, man. Let's get connected to the consistency of Christ. We're going to flow this year.
God's already shown me some things about this year. You don't want to miss it. You're going to miss it. The miraculous. You're going to miss those baptisms if you resist the monotonous.
This is the year you lock it in. And I'm declaring, this is the year you lock it in. You're going to lock it in this year.
Not going to be perfect. You're going to slip and fall. But you're going to lock it in.
Perhaps the greatest compliment that we can pay God is to call Him faithful. He doesn't need our compliment, but perhaps the greatest thing we can say about Him is that He's faithful.
When the writer of Hebrews wanted to describe Jesus, you know what he said about Him? He said, Hebrews 13, 8, Jesus Christ is the same.
Say it out loud, same. He's the same. And that's why you love God, because He's the same.
That's why you love God, because He's consistent. That's why you love God, because He holds you when you can't hold your world together.
He says, The same power that makes me consistent will flow to you. I'm the vine. You're the branches.
I want that same life to flow in you. Lift your hands if you want it to flow. Maybe the first time you ever did it. Lift your hands in the presence of God.
All you people, the same power that raised Him from the grave, flowing through you, flowing to you, flowing for you, flowing forth now.
Let's sing about how we need Him.