Are You Limiting Yourself Pastor Steven Furtick

It is only when you challenge your capacity that you

discover your capacity. I don't want you to be content

with your capacity. I want you to challenge your capacity.

How could you be content with your capacity when you

serve a God who is unlimited and says he's able

to do immeasurably.

More than you ask or imagine?

You know who was content with his capacity? The man

who sat at the gate called Beautiful. And every day

he would beg for alms because he wasn't able to walk.

And so he had convinced himself, I'll.

Never be able to walk, but I could beg.

So he learned to beg.

He learned to survive off the scraps of what other

people gave him. And he looked at Peter and John

one day, and he had run into the wrong folks

because Peter and John weren't willing to give him what

he expected to be given. Peter and John were willing

to reach down and show him what he could do

that he never knew he had inside of them.

You know, church is a place where you don't just

come to be comforted.

A lot of people come to church to be comforted

in their dysfunction. But what if God doesn't want to

comfort you in your dysfunction? What if he wants to

challenge you beyond your dysfunction and make you new and

give you the power to do what you never knew

you could do? But how will you even know your

capacity if you insist.

On your comfort?

You start with what you have. And see, the Macedonian

church didn't have much. But when they gave within their capacity,

God increased their capacity. And all of us come into

church and come into faith with this little box of

what God can do and what we can do, and

we bring God our limitations.

When we are met at the level of our own low.

Expectations, we become disappointed and assume that God was limited,

when in fact it was our lid that kept us from.

Seeing what God could do through us. How good is

this teaching today?

Like 1 to 10, I'm thinking this is 11, 12, 12.5.

It's time to challenge your capacity.

It's time to challenge.

Some of the things you've told yourself about yourself. We

limit ourselves in all kinds of ways. We limit ourselves

with our language. You label yourself with your language. Well,

I'm just not a naturally happy person. I'm not predisposed

to be an optimist.

Okay, since when.

Did the gospel consult your predisposition or your genetics before

determining what kind of person.

You could be? Some of you need to make room

for joy in your life.

You've convinced yourself that you can't be happy, and now

you are living within the very limitation that.

The lies created.

But if you would ever challenge your capacity and say,

my mom might not have been happy, but that doesn't

mean I can't be.

I'm a new creation in Christ.

I have a new name and a new expectation, and

I believe I'll see the goodness of the Lord.

In the land of the living.

And so we challenge our capacity.

And I'm concerned.

I'm concerned about what you might miss out on. I mean,

what might you miss in your life if you never

challenge your capacity? Listen to this, Ecclesiastes 11.4. It's not

on the screen, but I'll read it to you. He

who observes the wind will not sow, and he who

regards the clouds will not reap.

What does that mean?

It means if you wait on all of the conditions.

To align before you take a step of faith and

commit yourself, you will never see, you will never experience it.

And it amazes me how many people are conditional in

their faith.

I would if I could. I would if I could.

I mean, I hear about the tithing thing. Sounds cool.

I would if I could.

That was dad's favorite line, wasn't it? I would if

I could.

He loved that line. He'd say it all the time,

and he didn't want to do something for us. I

would if I could. I promise you, man, I would

if I could. Paul said the Macedonian church couldn't, and

they did.

And when they did, they could.

So what faith does, faith flips the script. You say,

I would if I could. Faith says you could if

you would. That's my message today. Tell your neighbor you

could if you would. You could if you would. You

could forgive if you would forgive.

But if you.

Won't forgive, you can't forgive. You would have joy if

you would rejoice. You could be free if you would

be free. You could step out if you would step out.

You could make it if you would endure. You could

move forward if you would let go. you will when

you do when you put it in his hands it'll

multiply in your.

Sight you will when you do will you do it.

I believe god wants to increase your faith i believe

god wants to increase your joy i believe god wants

to increase your capacity The woman came to Elisha. She said,

I don't have any oil. He said, go get some jars.

She said, I don't need jars.

I need oil.

But he said, until you increase your capacity, God cannot

release provision.

You've got to get something to put it in. You've

got to make room for God to move in your life.

When we started the church, Chunks took me over to

the senior center, and it seated 300 people, and I

looked at him and said, we'll be in this building.

I said, this building will accommodate us for our first

five years. That's how big my faith was. Within five months,

what God was doing in the church exceeded the capacity

of that room. Now listen. Your ability to believe will

never catch up with God's capability to perform.

Can I say it again?

If I say it again, will you put it on Pinterest?

Your ability to believe will never catch up with God's

ability to perform.

Never.

Now unto him who is able to do immeasurably more

than we ask or imagine. The only cap on what

God can do through you is your imagination.

So I.

Came to challenge your capacity. What you think you can be,

what you think you can become, what you think you

can do. And I suggest The current limitations in your

life might not be a result of your capacity, but

your conditioning, your mental conditioning, your spiritual conditioning. It wasn't

that I could do one pull-up. It wasn't that one

pull-up was the maximum of my ability and my future potentiality.

As a pull-up doer. It wasn't my capacity. It was

my conditioning.

And I see so many people struggling because they've never

conditioned their hearts. See, you can have a good heart

but bad habits and never live the life God called

you to live. And that's why I'm so glad my

mom used to give me a dime every time I

went to church. She was conditioning my mind that when

God gives you a dollar, you give him a dime.

She was teaching me about the tithe.

That the first 10% comes back to God. And for

some of you, even the thought of doing the math

on bringing 10% of what God has given you back

to him creates a wave of nausea in your heart.

And here's what you're saying. I don't do cardio. I

don't do the tithe thing.

I had one guy tell me one time, do you

know how much I make? He was under the impression

that he made too much to tithe. Now, I've heard

people say they made too little to tithe, but this

was a new one. He said, I did the math,

and my tithe would be more than my house payment.

Do you know what I said?

And I'm not always this bold, and I'm not always

this witty, but the Lord gave me the answer.

I said, well, let's pray. He said, pray about what?

I said, let's pray that God will bring your salary down.

Let's pray that God will adjust your income to the

level where you'll have the faith to obey.

I'm closing.

Touch somebody and say, challenge it. I came to challenge

all of the complacent people. Where you started does not

have to be where you stay. God wants to do

immeasurably more than you ask or imagine But it has

to start somewhere Hey, thanks for watching make sure to

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