Your Next Messy Step | Steven Furtick | Sermon Notes — Hello Pastor

Sermon Notes

Your Next Messy Step

Elevation Church • Nov 16, 2025 • 54 min

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Take this message with you through a journey of Scripture, reflection, and prayer.

Summary

In this message, Pastor Steven Furtick uses Jacob’s encounter with God at Bethel (Genesis 28) to show that God routinely meets us in our most uncertain and messy moments. While we often view our lives or successes strategically in hindsight, walking by faith is experienced in real time through surrender. True progress and salvation do not rely on us climbing up to God through self-effort, but on the step Jesus already made by coming down to meet us right in the middle of our dust and mistakes.

Themes

Faith and SurrenderGod's Abiding PresenceGrace in the MessRedemptive PurposeRelying on Christ

Pastor's Points

1.

A mistake

2.

A middle

3.

A move

Key Points

1.
Walking by faith is experienced in real time through surrender to God rather than through a polished strategic plan.
2.
God reassures His people with the present promise that He is actively with them wherever they go, rather than waiting for circumstances to settle.
3.
God does not wait for us to clean up our lives before meeting us; He draws near into the middle of hard places, mistakes, and dark seasons.
4.
Spiritual growth rarely follows a linear path like bases on a baseball diamond; it often feels like zigs and zags where we repeatedly run into God's grace.
5.
God routinely operates in the dusty and messy moments of life to fulfill His divine promises because He originally formed humanity from the dust.
6.
Jesus is the ultimate fulfillment of the ladder connecting heaven and earth in Jacob's dream, showing that salvation depends on Christ coming down to us.
7.
Before looking for external strategies or blaming circumstances, believers must acknowledge their mistakes and allow God's grace to work within them.

Sermon Moments

“There is no message where there is no mess.”

“What is explained as strategic is often experienced as surrender.”

“Life is more like dirt and less like a diamond on a baseball field.”

“God does not wait for you to reach your destination to show up; God meets you in the middle.”

“God does stuff in dust.”

“It is not your next step that matters; it is the step that God has already made toward you.”

“Jesus is the ladder connecting heaven and earth.”

This Week

Acknowledge and own past mistakes honestly before God without blaming circumstances or other people.

Practice daily surrender by releasing control over situations where your human wisdom and planning have reached their limit.

Recognize God's presence in your current "middle" season, trusting that He is with you right now in the midst of uncertainty.

Take your next obedient step toward God even if the path ahead feels unclear, imperfect, or messy.

Seek out real human community or wise counsel to help you walk through ongoing struggles.

Rest in the finished work of Jesus, remembering that true progress relies on His step toward you rather than your self-effort.

Praise God during chaotic or hard seasons, remembering that He routinely performs His greatest work in dusty and unexpected places.

Remember This

Spiritual progress is not about taking perfect steps on our own, but about surrendering control to the God who meets us in the middle of our mess.

A Challenge for You

Surrender your situation, burden, or uncertainty to the Lord today, trusting not in your own strategy or control, but in His abiding presence and the finished work of Jesus Christ.

These are personal sermon notes shared to help you remember the message — not a replacement for Scripture, your church, or your pastors.