Peace is not a place; it’s the presence of God. In “4 Reasons You’re Stressed,” Pastor Steven Furtick reveals that it’s impossible to experience peace when you are expecting perfection. This is an excerpt from “The Path Of Peace.” To watch the full message from @elevationchurch, click here:    • Stop waiting for it; walk in it. | Pa…   #faith #peace #hope #stevenfurtick #elevationchurch Chapters: 0:00 – How Stressed Are You? 2:33 – 4 Reasons You’re Stressed 4:55 – The Expectation Of Peace 6:54 – The Thief Of Your Peace 9:24 – Stop Expecting Perfection Scripture References: Luke 1, verse 79

what would you give your stress level 1

to 10 just in this

moment so I’m heing a

three who said three you’re not old

enough to have a three stress level

you’re supposed to be like 80 before you

realize that all the crap you worry

about isn’t worth worrying about and

then you can have a three stress level

where you just don’t care I can’t wait

to get old and just just not care that’d

be great you’re too young for that but

somebody said 10 did you say 10

and I’m not going to ask you

why fact I don’t even have to all right

here’s what we’ll do we’ll do another

one real quick I know this is personal

but at every location play along just

close your

eyes get the thing on your mind that is

the greatest source of stress in your

life at this very

moment and you better not be picturing

[Music]

[Applause]

me all right get it on your mind what is

the single greatest source of stress in

your life will broaden it a little bit

not in this very very moment but in this

season of your

life all right you got

it now open your eyes you’re going to be

shocked but I know what you were

thinking I know it’s your and I know I

know this much I know that the thing

that you thought of fell into one of the

following four

categories okay it was either related to

a

place a pace a problem or a

person or maybe

people

peoples just in general all of them

every last one of them just human beings

homos

sapiens so it’s either a

place that you’re going after this or

even for some people church can be

stressful it can be stressful to I’m I’m

sure it’s stressful to come to Elevation

I’m sure it’s you know if You’ never

been here especially cuz it’s confusing

cuz they got like violins and cellos on

the stage but then they start shooting

laser beams and it’s it’s mixed

messaging like what kind of church is

this is this a white church black church

it’s a traditional Church untr

yes yes to all of the above it’s the

kind of church where you can’t figure

out what kind of

church it’s a good news to all people

kind of

church but some some of the stressful

places that we will go uh this Christmas

season it can be a a place um if you

have to fly certainly understand your

dread for that experience just walk

through the airport telling yourself

over and over again I’m not a human I

have no rights and you’ll be

okay um the pace of life I hear people

mention this a lot how you doing

busy I’m busy

busy busy busy busy busy I’m busy busier

than a one one armed wallpaper

hanger they said that to me the other

day think that’s weird busier in a

three-legged cat trying to cover up his

poop on Ice somebody said to

me run around like a chicken with my

head cut off so violent all I said is

how are you doing you’re like

decapitating

chickens

so it’s like the pace of Life understand

that if you’ve been running people

everywhere you’ve been like an unpaid

Uber driver for a 13-year-old I

understand feel

you um sometimes it comes down to a

problem in your life that is persistent

and sometimes it comes down to one that

you’re just pushing through right now a

lot of people listening to me preach

right now are having a hard time

focusing with their minds because of the

pain in their body or what can be even

worse somebody that you love that you

can’t do anything to comfort them and uh

that can be difficult and really the the

fourth category that I mentioned uh

people that’s really the the whole

thing uh which is why when I asked you

to imagine in your mind the source of

your stress the greatest source of your

stress I I was very clear I said imagine

it because some of you would have

started pointing if I would have let you

which is a bad idea like some of you are

are are sitting next to what you

perceive to be the

source see you should you should look

really confused right now is my

[Music]

advice I think it’s important before we

begin a discussion on the path of peace

to try to talk about the source of

stress

because whatever you identify as the

source of your stress determines where

you will seek your peace

amen good I say that again whatever you

say this is the source of my stress that

regulates and

determines where you seek your peace and

so the Christmas story of course comes

along and challenges Us in all of those

ways that we experience stress and

pressure Christ is born to challenge us

as it relates to our expectation of

Peace the Jewish people had a very

particular expectation of the kind of

peace that the Messiah would bring

Zechariah States it very clearly and

paints a picture of the kind of peace

that the Jewish people were looking for

God to bring through the prophesied

Messiah it features such expectations as

mentioned in verse

74 he says that this Messiah will rescue

us from the hand of our enemies notice

the word

from the expectation of peace for the

Jewish people is that God would deliver

them from their

circumstances from their oppression from

their being

marginalized from their poverty from

their Despair and from their Darkness it

was surprising then for me to see the

shift that Zechariah made in verse 79

where he said that the rising sun will

shine on those living in darkness and in

the shadow of death and so it represents

a shift in perspective that God does not

always rescue me from sometimes he

visits me in my

trouble and for so many years I have

thought that the thief of my peace was

other people or certain places or the

schedule of my life which is kind of

funny because I’m the one who said yes

to all that stuff that I’m stressed

about and so now I’m asking God to take

away the things that I committed to and

I’ve tried so long you know to arrange

my life in such a way that I would no

longer experience those stressful events

and stressful people and if God would

just change them and if everybody would

just act the way they should act for a

little while this Christmas but the Lord

has been speaking to me in these last

few days about the path of peace and

what I realized the more I reflected on

This Promise of peace that God gives us

Isaiah 9:6 his name will be called

wonderful counselor Mighty God

Everlasting father and the Prince of

Peace but notice the prophet didn’t call

him the prince of

convenience or the prince of ease or the

prince of comfort or the prince of my

preferences because a lot of times when

God promises me peace What I Hear in

Translation is that God is promising me

convenience or God is promising me ease

or God is promising me my preference

being met but the Lord has been speaking

to me and maybe you don’t need to hear

this but just in case you do it is

impossible to experience peace when you

are expecting

Perfection see my problem I’m coming to

realize this it’s not other people it’s

not the place it’s not the pace and it’s

not the problem the problem is not the

problem I I can tell you the problem is

not the problem because Jesus was born

in a manger the angel appeared to

Shepherds so the Shepherds were the

people that you you would least expect

the heral to make the announcement of

the birth of the Son of God and yet he

showed up to the least likely people in

an unlikely place so it’s not the people

it’s not the place it’s not the pace the

the the Shepherds were always on the

move from place to place to place to

place it’s not the it’s not the place

it’s not the pace it’s not the people

it’s not the problem here’s my problem

my problem is that I can’t receive peace

because I’m expecting

Perfection and and the angel said are

y’all going to help me preach or it’s

just me

today I’ll make it quick here’s the

whole message if you need to go if you

got things to do I’ll give it to you

right now and you can go on and get the

Target and and hopefully everything will

turn out all right the enemy of your

peace is not other people it is not

other places it is not how fast life is

or the way the world is the enemy of

your peace is your in assistence on

Perfection and when Heaven came down and

appeared to humanity it was not in the

form of perfection in fact God did not

come down looking like a deliverer he

came down looking like a dependent he

came down as a baby and so when the

Prince of Peace came he didn’t come

dressed in power he came in Pampers why

because God wanted you to know that he’s

going to bring you peace but not like

you expected him to bring it it’s not

going to look like you pictured it it’s

not always going to fit your preferences

it’s not always going to live up to your

exact specifications of the performance

of people so if I’m going to live at

peace come on I’ve got to surrender my

expectation of

[Applause]

[Music]

perfection I feel like I can leave

every Christmas party is going to be so

much better that you attend cuz of what

I just told

you every every every place you set your

foot over the next three days is going

to be so much more

peaceful because you just realized that

peace isn’t found in a

place peace is not found in a in a set

of circumstances that is Problem free it

is not that he delivers me from it it’s

that he meets me

[Applause]

[Music]

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