My notes for Pastor Steven Furtick’s sermon Staying Power. From Elevation Church, May 2020.

Click here to watch Staying Power on YouTube.

Click here to join an online volunteer team, or an eGroup with Elevation.

Bible verses are linked if you’d like to read them.

Please remember that these are not my own words, simply the notes that I took while listening.

Sermon Notes : Staying Power

• Acts 27:20-32; 44
• Do the biggest storms make for the best stories in our lives? Usually.
• The greatest stories usually revolve around the greatest storms.
• Sometimes you have good advice but you have bad timing.
• It’s one thing to be told you’re going to go through a storm, and it’s other thing to be experiencing one.
• Staying Power
• A lot of people have starting power, but less have staying power.
• Staying gets sexier the longer you live.
• We have such a hard time celebrating the right things in our culture. 
• The greatest power is often not in the faith to start, but what you have the faith to stay with.
• Does it take more faith stepping out of a boat when Jesus calls you or does it take more faith to stay it the boat when Jesus has called you to get to the other side?
• Most of the time people don’t really want advice, they really just want you to affirm what they are already going to do.
• Paul is doing something that he always wanted to do – which is go to Rome to preach the gospel. However, he’s going there in chains as a prisoner.
• You have an appointment.
• But in our hearts we get disappointed in the way that God does certain things.
• Just because people let you down, don’t give up and jump into the sea.
• Don’t stop trusting that God is your provider.
• You have an appointment in the storm – Paul knew that in the storm the ship was going to break apart.
• How could God call you to stay in something that is breaking? Yet it is staying in the breaking that will lead you to the blessing.
• It’s not what you go through that determines where you end up.
• It’s who you listen to.
• Rather than stay in a place that they didn’t like, they sailed into a place that would destroy them.
• You can’t control certain things (the first storm) don’t create a second storm with your decisions. 
• You can pray to God to help you in the first storm.
• Don’t try to drive out darkness with darkness.
• You can run to places in the storm that are more dangerous than the storm itself – but you can’t change if you never stay.
• One voice is wisdom, and the other is worry. Gratitude/grumbling. Blame/faith.
• Doubt doesn’t keep you from having faith, it gives you something to have faith for.
• Blame will block faith every time.
• Some storms can be avoided – sometimes it’s not the devil it’s your decisions.
• God will get us there, but sometimes may have to remove things/people for it to happen.
• You’ve got an angel telling you right now that you’re going to make it.
• Greater things – bigger storms – better stories
• Tell somebody – I’M IN THE SEASON FINALE!!!
• We’re celebrating that we stayed in the storm.
• If you stay, you will be saved.
• You can’t give up hope now – I’ve got to stay in this moment and let patience have it’s perfect word.
• Patience is the active ingredient in faith.
• Stay praising – I’ve decided that that is my survival. 
• If I don’t praise him, the rocks will cry out.
• It takes faith to stay.
• Stay sweet when the world is sour.
• Cut the ropes – quit trying to escape the stuff God is using to change you.
• Don’t cut yourself off from the vine while God is pruning you.
• The only way we can see the power of God is to stay in the place of peace.
• We’re not promised that things will look the same when we arrive – but we are promised that we will make it anyway.
• The same boat that broke apart, still got them to land safely, even though it looked different.

Be sure to leave a comment letting me know your favorite takeaway from Staying Power.