Invisible Prisons

Summary

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Elevation with Steven Furtick – “Invisible Prisons”

Date: October 17, 2025
Host: Pastor Steven Furtick

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Overview

In this engaging and challenging sermon, Pastor Steven Furtick explores the concept of “Invisible Prisons”—the internal, often unseen, struggles that confine us, such as disappointment, unmet expectations, and doubt in our spiritual journey. Rooted in Matthew 11:2-3, the message revolves around John the Baptist’s questioning of Jesus from prison and draws deep parallels to the ways our own expectations can imprison us spiritually, emotionally, and mentally. Pastor Furtick calls listeners to recognize these invisible prisons and receive freedom by placing trust in God’s greater purpose, even when circumstances don’t meet our desires.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Setting the Scene: The Power of Expectation

(01:52–07:51)

• Pastor Steven begins by reading Matthew 11:2-3, highlighting John the Baptist’s time in prison and the pivotal question, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?”
• He makes a personal connection, discussing expectations in marriage:

  “It’s about expectations. Marriage is about expectations. I could preach a seminar on that. Let’s do another time.” (05:00)

• Faith as Expectation:

  “Faith, when you get to the essence of it, is an expectation—a confident assurance that a negative circumstance still holds the potential to produce great purpose in my life.” (05:24)

2. Expectation is Contagious – Who You Surround Yourself With Matters

(07:51–15:18)

• Furtick discusses the impact of surrounding yourself with expectation, drawing on the story of Mary and Elizabeth and their shared experience of miraculous pregnancies:

  “The best thing you can do when you are expecting is to get around somebody else who’s expecting.” (11:27)

• Personal anecdotes about his son, Graham, noticing the enthusiasm of a church parking lot attendant and equating it to childlike, contagious faith:

  "What he felt, though, he didn't know it, was the Holy Spirit in that man... he was expecting that when you pull in my parking lot, you're pulling up on holy ground." (13:15)

3. Invisible Prisons: External vs. Internal Bondage

(16:03–27:08)

• The narrative shifts back to John the Baptist, whose “prison” is both literal and metaphorical.
• Danger of Misaligned Expectation:

  “It's very dangerous to have a low expectation of God. Then you just live the life at the level of your disappointments…” (17:39)

• Pastor Steven explores how John’s family and personal history built a high expectation of what the Messiah would be—expectations that appear unmet in his circumstances.
• Invisible Prisons:

  "There is a spiritual depression on so many thousands I will preach to this weekend. And nobody can see it because we paint the walls with a smile, but we live behind bars on the inside. It's an invisible prison." (26:00)

4. God’s Plans Versus Our Expectations: The Disappointment That Grows Faith

(27:08–36:27)

• Furtick examines Jesus’ response to John’s disciples: Jesus lists miracles but omits proclaiming "freedom for the prisoners," a detail John would have expected (Luke 4).
• Everyone faces “WTF moments” (Where’s The Fork? Where’s The Fire?)—moments of confusion and unmet expectations with God:

  “John is having a WTF moment with the Lord... if you’ll be really honest, there are some things in your life you’re trying to figure out right now.” (29:09)

• Profound Point:

  “What if God didn’t want to meet your expectations because He wanted to exceed them? ... The way He grows my faith is usually to disappoint my expectation.” (30:26)

• Important distinction: Jesus was fulfilling prophecy, not the audience’s preferences.

5. The Jail of Our Own Plans—Moving Beyond Our Design

(36:27–43:04)

• Furtick underscores that John the Baptist never physically escaped his prison; his story didn’t end with earthly rescue or reward.
• Bigger Purpose:

  “There’s something even more beautiful in the text than John getting what he wants... There is a purpose that is greater. There is a plan that is bigger.” (36:55)

• The greater issue is not God’s apparent silence, but our mental confinement—the invisible prison created by limiting God to our own agendas and timelines.

  “As long as I’m in the prison of what I thought, I can’t be a part of what God is doing.” (41:44)

6. Freedom Found in Surrender and Trust

(43:04–48:31)

• The sermon culminates in an invitation to trust God’s sovereignty and to step out of the prison of disappointment and unmet expectations.

  “The Lord wants to set you free today from the way you thought it was going to be. ... Once you get set free from the way you thought it was going to be, you can embrace what it is.” (43:04)

• Furtick prays for those trapped in invisible prisons:

  “I want to pray for them right now, Lord, that you would look into the places of their life where they’ve been disappointed... where they’re in an invisible prison of disappointment, resentment, bitterness. But you said you came to set us free.” (44:07)

• Assurance that God is at work, even through the uncertainties:

  “God said, that’s me... The thing in you that can’t always make sense—you should read the Bible sometimes—God said, that’s me. I want you to wrestle with it.” (46:40)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

On Faith and Expectation

• “Faith is an expectation to know that even if the sequence of things doesn’t make sense in my life, that God, who lives outside of time... knows the end from the beginning.” — Steven Furtick [06:00]

On Disappointment and Spiritual Growth

• “Do you know what God uses to develop your faith? Disappointment. Do you know what the devil uses to destroy your faith? Disappointment. I think it’s what you do with it.” — Steven Furtick [36:11]

The Danger of Limiting God

• “God never wants your faith to rest on you. He knows how fragile and fickle you are.” — Steven Furtick [37:01]
• “As long as I’m in the prison of what I thought, I can’t be a part of what God is doing.” — Steven Furtick [41:44]

On Real Freedom

• “Where the spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. The kind of freedom I mean is the freedom from the need to control your life, to call the shots and to always know the plan.” — Steven Furtick [44:29]

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• [01:52] – Introduction of theme: Matthew 11 and invisible prisons
• [05:00] – Discussion on expectation in relationships and faith
• [11:27] – Mary, Elizabeth, and the importance of shared expectation
• [13:15] – Contagious faith: Story about Furtick's son and the church parking attendant
• [17:39] – The danger of low expectations of God
• [26:00] – Defining invisible prisons and spiritual depression
• [30:26] – God exceeding expectations by disappointing them
• [36:55] – God’s greater purpose versus our expectations
• [41:44] – “As long as I’m in the prison of what I thought...”
• [43:04] – Call to freedom and embracing God’s bigger picture
• [44:29] – Description of spiritual freedom through surrender

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Final Takeaway

Steven Furtick urges listeners to identify and move past their “invisible prisons”—the mental and spiritual barriers created by assumptions about God, themselves, and how life “should” be. Real freedom is found not in God conforming to our plans, but in surrendering to His infinitely better purpose, even in seasons of disappointment or confusion. His call: “Be set free today by the fact that God may not be conforming to your agenda … but there is a greater purpose and there is a bigger picture.”

Transcript

[Steven Furtick]

This is an iHeart podcast.

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[Steven Furtick]

Hey, this is Steven Furtick. I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast. I wanted to thank you for joining us today. Hope this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith. Hope it gives you perspective to see God is moving in your life. Enjoy the message.

[Elevation Church Worship Leader]

Let's get into the scripture now.

[Steven Furtick]

The Book of Matthew, chapter 11, verse 2:3. As I share this with you today, I pray it will be a very personal experience for you. Matthew, chapter 11, verses 2 and 3. When John, who was in prison, heard about the deeds of the Messiah, he sent his disciples to ask him, are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else? Really? Let's focus on the first part of that. When John, who was in prison, you'll find my message right between those commas in that little clause. When John and here's the phrase, who was in prison? Today, I'd like to speak to you about invisible prisons. Let's pray one more time. God, you hold the keys. You have all authority. You're sovereign we believe you can do anything now. Enable your servants to have the kind of faith that will connect with heaven, get us past the point of our own perspective and help us to see things like you see them for a few minutes. We believe that if we do, things will change in our lives. In Jesus name I pray. Amen. You may be seated. A little ocd. My Bible was on the wrong side of the. I have to keep it a certain way. You know, it's funny, when you're married to somebody, you notice all these little things about them. Now listen, this is not hyperbole. Holly Furtick is pretty much the perfect wife. We don't have the perfect marriage, but she's like 9.9999. 9 out of 10 on the wife even. Look at me, look at me. I'm not just earning points up here trying to get something started in the afternoon after I preach. I promise you, she really is. Even when we miss each other just by that point. 000001 it's usually she's even trying. Sometimes it's just like she loves me so much it messes things up. She used to introduce me. We would go to the different campuses and have a campus vision night. So we'd be at University City or at Riverwalk. The Artist formerly known as Rock Hill. She'd get up to introduce me. She'd read the scripture, greet the people and she would tell them, now in a few moments our pastor is going to come preach. And let me tell you, it's going to be a good one tonight. They'd cheer a little bit and she'd say, I'm telling you, he's been studying all day. I mean to tell you, he hadn't come out of his room. I went in the room and he was on his face on the carpet seeking God and worshiping God. On the way over, he had a napkin out and he was writing his.

[Elevation Church Worship Leader]

Sermon notes on a napkin.

[Steven Furtick]

And he was just fired up.

[Elevation Church Worship Leader]

I've never seen him this fired up.

[Steven Furtick]

I think tonight might be the best message he's ever going to preach in his life. I'm like, shut up.

[Elevation Church Worship Leader]

This is too much pressure.

[Steven Furtick]

I cannot take the expectations. It's like, ah. Everything she says, it's like, I can't possibly make it this good. Get up and tell them I've been sick and the kids have been crazy and it's just a miracle that I'm here. I could just jump over that. I could dunk on that. Just set the goal about five feet. I could dunk on that. You know what I'm saying? She puts it up so high I can't possibly reach it. It's about expectations. Marriage is about expectations. I could preach a seminar on that. Let's do another time. It's just the idea of when you don't understand someone's expectations, you can't make sense of their disappointments. Faith, when you get to the essence of it, is an expectation. A confident assurance that a negative circumstance still holds the potential to produce great purpose in my life. Come on, shout on that. I'm going to teach y' all where to shout. Y' all have been coming to church too many years to not know where the shouting part is.

[Ryan Seacrest]

That's.

[Steven Furtick]

The shouting part means I can walk into something dark and light it up because of my faith, because the light of the world lives in me. You say Jesus is the light of the world? Absolutely, he is. But guess where he lives? It's an expectation. Faith is an expectation to know that even if the sequence of things doesn't make sense in my life, that God, who lives outside of time because he is eternal, knows the end from the beginning. So then I have to trust him with L, M, N, O, P if he is Z, and A if A.

[Elevation Church Worship Leader]

Is related to Z, because He is.

[Steven Furtick]

Alpha and Omega, beginning and the end, the first and the last.

[Elevation Church Worship Leader]

My faith is an expectation that before the movie even starts, he has already.

[Steven Furtick]

Shot the closing scene.

[Elevation Church Worship Leader]

It helps me to know today that I don't have to live in suspense as to whether or not I will see the goodness of the Lord in.

[Steven Furtick]

The land of the living. Faith is an expectation. Faith enables me to wake up in.

[Elevation Church Worship Leader]

The morning knowing that surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life. Since this is one of the days of my life. Goodness and mercy are my bodyguards. One on my right and one on my left. You can't see them, they're invisible. But if you look really close. I have security.

[Steven Furtick]

I have security.

[Elevation Church Worship Leader]

Goodness and mercy.

[Steven Furtick]

The favor of the Lord is the filter through which I view the fights of my life.

[Elevation Church Worship Leader]

Knowing this, that he who began a good work in me will be faithful to complete it. I don't know when, don't know how, not even sure what he's doing yet. But my faith gives me an expectation now unto him who is able to do immeasurably more than we ask or imagine, according to his power that works mightily in us. Not according to my preference, not according to my understanding or the finite, finite.

[Steven Furtick]

Small, little, puny way. I tend to Comment situations. But my faith is an expectation, and this expectation is contagious. Talk about expectations. John the Baptist, who we just read about, he was really, really familiar with the pressure of high expectations because he was a miraculously born baby and an angel prophesied his birth. In fact, when his mother, Elizabeth got pregnant, his father Zechariah, was so shocked by it that he told the angel it couldn't happen because they were kind of old. His expectation with age. One thing can happen with age that's good. You can get experience, but it can diminish expectation. Do you know what I mean by that? I'm looking for over 40 because I'm not there yet. I'm familiar with this. But. But John was born. But before he was born, you have to understand that he was the voice that prepared the way for the Lord, that the entire nation was expecting to deliver them from oppression. That was their expectation of the Messiah they looked for for hundreds of years and centuries. So this generation that was alive at the time of the birth of Christ had heard the stories, the rumors and the rumblings about the possibility and potential of his coming into the world. This expectation from their heart was that he would then set them free from oppression, whether economic or political, or deliver them from their circumstantial containment. There's an expectation. One thing you have to do when you have an expectation is make sure you connect yourself with people who have a similar expectation. This is important because expectation is contagious. Say that out loud. Expectation is contagious. Those of you watching this message, you didn't get to be with us in worship. I had everybody in the church turn to each other and I had them check with their neighbor and make sure their neighbor was the right neighbor. Because I don't want them sitting next to anybody who's not expecting God to speak today. Just going to play something on their phone. Candy Crush or whatever game is popular now. I don't play that stuff. I read my Bible in my free time. Read my Bible, watch YouTube in my free time. I was just having them check. Because expectation is contagious. Here's how contagious it is. When John the Baptist was still in Elizabeth's womb, an angel appeared six months after Elizabeth got pregnant with John the Baptist to Mary, who was a relative of Elizabeth. You know, Mary, Mary did you know from Christmas she was told she was going to have a baby and she hadn't had relations. It's kind of hard to believe a revelation that completely contradicts the circumstances surrounding it. So the first thing she did when the angel left was go into the hill country to see her relative named Elizabeth, because the angel said she's also expecting. The best thing you can do when you are expecting is to get around.

[Elevation Church Worship Leader]

Somebody else who's expecting. If you get around somebody who's expecting.

[Steven Furtick]

Your expectation will rise.

[Elevation Church Worship Leader]

That's why I come to church, to.

[Steven Furtick]

Be honest with you.

[Elevation Church Worship Leader]

You know what? I could watch it on my phone, but there's something about being in an atmosphere with people who are also expected.

[Steven Furtick]

You know what?

[Elevation Church Worship Leader]

If you're watching this message in your house, next time you watch it, invite somebody over and y' all drink some coffee together and get some expectation between the two of you. And get a Bible and break out your Bible and stand up on your feet while I'm preaching. Even if you're watching in your kitchen, if you have somebody next to, grab them right now and tell them I'm expecting something. What I need is somebody who will help me with this expectation, because if I don't get around somebody who's expecting something. This is so real that we've got worship leaders in this church who lead worship and don't even have a microphone. When we were pulling in today, Graham, who is 11, said to me, we.

[Steven Furtick]

Listened to Hezekiah Walker on the way to church today. So I had the car bumping on the way in the parking lot.

[Elevation Church Worship Leader]

Then we moved over into Israel Houghton, circa 2006.

[Steven Furtick]

Then we pulled by the parking team.

[Elevation Church Worship Leader]

Do you know what my son said.

[Steven Furtick]

To me when we pulled by the parking team? He said, I love that guy. Now, this is Graham. Graham has never even said he loved me.

[Elevation Church Worship Leader]

He's like, I love him.

[Steven Furtick]

You can tell he's excited.

[Elevation Church Worship Leader]

Graham never said, I love Chris Brown. He never said it once ever. But that parking attendant, Graham said, he does so much for our church. What could we do for him? It was a childlike faith. I promise I'm going to talk about John the Baptist in a minute. But it's the craziest thing that when somebody is also expecting, it created an expectation. Even in the parking lot, my son felt something. What he felt, though, he didn't know it, was the Holy Spirit in that man. The Holy Spirit in that man who didn't need a microphone, had an orange baton. He was expecting that. When you pull in my parking lot, you're pulling up on holy ground. So get ready something good. I'm expecting something. So when Elizabeth and Mary got together, Mary said, oh, I just got bumped. Mary said, what do you mean? I just got Bumped.

[Steven Furtick]

This is the new modern Steven Furtick translation of Bible.

[Elevation Church Worship Leader]

What do you mean you just got bumped? She said when you got here, the baby in your womb made the baby in my womb leap for joy. Now you can't see it, it's invisible, but something in you, the Jesus in you, the Christ in you. I'm going to calm down in a minute and preach, but somebody who has a purpose on the inside. Sound like you're expecting the greatest days of your life.

[Scott Hansen]

Come on.

[Elevation Church Worship Leader]

On every campus, let's take 19 seconds and praise him in advance. It's all right to be expectant. It's all right to love Jesus. It's all right to be enthusiastic. It's all right. It's all right to lift up your eyes to the hills and know where your help comes from.

[Steven Furtick]

Expectation is contagious. So is skepticism. Sit down. We have to modulate because a lot has happened since John the Baptist was jumping up and down in Elizabeth's womb as a fetus. You know what I mean? A lot happens between when something gets birthed and the point now where he started his ministry. He has been doing his job. Remember the Titans. He's been doing his job, is really, really getting popular. He's blowing up, as some would say. Now, this is not before the blow up. Jesus is blowing all the way up, all the way up. John, according to the text, is in prison. When John first saw Jesus as an adult, whether or not they had much contact during their teenage years is not recorded in Scripture. One thing we know is that when John saw Jesus at one point when he was baptizing in the Jordan River, John identified Jesus not by the activities he did, but he identified him based on the essence of who he was, which is really important in how we relate to God. Because if we only learn to identify God by what he does and what he does for us, then our expectation will be attached to his activity. That's dangerous. It's very dangerous to have a low expectation of God. Then you just live the life at the level of your disappointments and then wonder why everything turns out exactly the way you imagined it to turn out because you didn't have any faith for anything else.

[Elevation Church Worship Leader]

It's a self fulfilling prophecy.

[Steven Furtick]

But it's also very dangerous, isn't it, to have an expectation of God that is not congruent with his character. This is where it gets difficult for us, because dancing babies in the womb is one thing. But now when John, who was in prison, not in prison for a meth lab, not in prison For a domestic disturbance in prison, for standing up to a wicked King Herod. Because he wouldn't say what was expected of him to be said. Because he was a prophet and he didn't operate like that. He was kind of rough, y'.

[Ryan Seacrest]

All.

[Steven Furtick]

John the Baptist, if he had a Twitter account, it would definitely need to be suspended. He would definitely be deplatformed. In this day, in this PC day, John the Baptist would not have much of an audience. But he was very popular in his time. Until Jesus came. When Jesus came, he said, look, Lamb of God takes away the sins of the world.

[Elevation Church Worship Leader]

Don't follow me, follow him.

[Steven Furtick]

John 3:30. He must become greater. I must become less.

[Elevation Church Worship Leader]

Follow him, not me.

[Steven Furtick]

The whole reason I'm here is point to him. Here he is. Y' all go with him.

[Elevation Church Worship Leader]

I'm going to do my thing.

[Steven Furtick]

I prepared the way.

[Elevation Church Worship Leader]

I'm just a voice. I'm not the one. I'm just the voice pointing to the one. I know my place. So I'm going to fall back now.

[Steven Furtick]

So he can do what he came to do. What he came to do was to judge the unwickedness and to bring the people to repentance. That was John's favorite message. He loved that word, repent. Repent. He just preached it all the time. When they would come out to be baptized by him, he would call them names. He one time called the Pharisees a brood of vipers. I thought that would be an interesting way to welcome the campuses one weekend. Yet there was a prophetic power to his ministry that people were attracted to because he would say things that were true, whether they wanted them to be true or not.

[Elevation Church Worship Leader]

Yet that same spirit, I really want to isolate this.

[Steven Furtick]

I didn't do it last night, but I was thinking the same thing that.

[Elevation Church Worship Leader]

Made him so great got him in trouble. The same thing that made him able to just take a stand. And I'm not moving. And this is how it's going to be. Repent. Let me show you one example. Can I show you one example of what his message was?

[Steven Furtick]

He's out baptizing at the Jordan.

[Elevation Church Worship Leader]

He baptized Jesus. He said, I'm not worthy to untie your thong of your sandal.

[Steven Furtick]

Jesus said, we have to do it.

[Elevation Church Worship Leader]

To fulfill all righteousness. It's proper, it's appropriate. Stop thinking about how you think it needs to be.

[Steven Furtick]

And I'm telling you how it needs to be.

[Elevation Church Worship Leader]

You're just the voice. You're not the message. You're just the voice.

[Steven Furtick]

Again, you're not the message.

[Elevation Church Worship Leader]

You're just the voice. One more time. You're not the message. You're just the voice. He baptized Jesus in obedience even though it didn't make sense. Now watch this. This is something he said that shows.

[Steven Furtick]

Us what his expectation was.

[Elevation Church Worship Leader]

If you don't understand his expectation, you.

[Steven Furtick]

Can'T make sense of his disappointment.

[Elevation Church Worship Leader]

This was his expectation of the Messiah. This was his expectation of the one he gave away his ministry to. This was his expectation of the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

[Steven Furtick]

And it's found in Matthew, chapter three. Watch this.

[Elevation Church Worship Leader]

He's talking to the crowds.

[Steven Furtick]

I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me comes one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in hand. That's what you use to get the chaff out, the wickedness. You winnow it out and you separate the sheep from the goats, the good from the bad, the righteous from the wicked. He has his winnowing fork. He's here now, and it's about to go down. It's about to get good. The Lamb of God is here, and he has his winnowing fork in his hand. He will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire. It's about to be fire. The Son of God is here. It's about to be fire. He's got a fork and he's about to start a fire, and he's burning up all y' all that don't want to do it and get right and get left and all this stuff. John the Baptist had a church sign, it would have all those things about hell on it, about the fire and the wicked and the righteous and turn or burn. He has his fork in one hand. Now watch this. He's in prison now. Something is making him doubt what he was so sure about from the time even before he was born, what he knew before he was even born. He's now doubting in this prison. Sends messengers a hundred miles on foot just to ask Jesus one question. I get it, because we're supposed to be partners. Here I am in prison. All I keep seeing is you healing people, blessing people.

[Elevation Church Worship Leader]

All I keep seeing is the reports.

[Steven Furtick]

Of how awesome it's going for you. But I stood up to a king, and I'm here in prison. And here's what he's wondering. Did you catch it in the verse? He said, are you the one or should we expect someone else? In other words, is it always going to be like this? In other words, I thought. I thought you were going to. Have you ever thought God was going to. Where did y' all go? Y' all were fired up when we had a little praise moment and all that. Have you ever thought God was going to.

[Elevation Church Worship Leader]

Have you ever wondered?

[Steven Furtick]

Because John the Baptist is just wondering. He's just wondering. He's not denying Jesus.

[Elevation Church Worship Leader]

He's not turning away from the sovereign.

[Steven Furtick]

Lord who bought him.

[Elevation Church Worship Leader]

He's not contradicting what he said to begin with. He's just thinking, now, maybe God isn't what I thought he was. Maybe the one I trusted in, maybe I trusted in the wrong one. Now, you don't say it like that.

[Steven Furtick]

Because if you said it like that, you would be scared. God would hit you with a lightning bolt.

[Elevation Church Worship Leader]

But you just send messengers. You don't say it like that directly, but indirectly. Somebody came in here wondering. And you don't talk about this.

[Steven Furtick]

You're wondering if God made some promises.

[Elevation Church Worship Leader]

Here's the interesting thing about it. A lot of times our entire faith journey is sabotaged because of our expectation of salvation. When it gets started, I'm not sure as preachers we've been very responsible about it.

[Steven Furtick]

Because a lot of times we will.

[Elevation Church Worship Leader]

Preach that salvation from your sin is a one time event. In fact, it is. You will never pay the penalty of your sin. Jesus is the Lamb of God. This is what John knew, who takes away the sin of the world. But the power of sin is very different than the penalty of sin. The patterns of sin are very different than the penalty of sin. So when we preach that you've been forgiven of your sin, you are set free from the penalty of your sin. But if the pattern of your sin has been ingrained not only just throughout your lifetime, but some of it is even generational, some addictions you are fighting against. You know, the invisible prisons you live in, the things you do over and over again. I was thinking about how some of us are in invisible prisons today. Even as we try to appear free to people. There is a spiritual depression on so many thousands I will preach to this weekend. And nobody can see it because we paint the walls with a smile, but we live behind bars on the inside. It's an invisible prison. It's ways of thinking and reasoning and fearing.

[Steven Furtick]

When I realized John was in two different prisons at the same time, it clarified the text for me. One was the one Herod Antipas put him in for Saying what he didn't want to hear. But the other one was an invisible prison. The other one is one I'm all too familiar with. This is the prison of your expectations. This is the prison your plans. This is the prison of what you thought God was going to do. Hey, go ask Jesus. Are you the one? I told everybody you were the one? I told everybody you had your fork. You're about to start a fire. Watch what the messengers say back to John. Go back and report to John what you hear and see. Look at this list. The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed. The deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor. Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of me. Watch what wasn't in that verse, the fork and the fire. Jesus wasn't doing any of the things John wanted him to do. Read the list again. The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor.

[Elevation Church Worship Leader]

Go tell John that.

[Steven Furtick]

John is like, I'm just checking Jesus.

[Elevation Church Worship Leader]

Where's the fork? Where's the fire? Wtf. Have you ever had a moment?

[Steven Furtick]

Why y' all hate me today?

[Elevation Church Worship Leader]

You never had a Where's the fork? Where's the fire? John is having a moment. John is in a WTF moment with the Lord. Walk out if you want to. But if you'll be really honest.

[Steven Furtick]

There.

[Elevation Church Worship Leader]

Are some things in your life you're trying to figure out right now. What in the world? What is this? Yeah, I don't know. I just need to know because I thought you were going to. That is the prison we spend so much of our lives in. What we thought God was going to do. But I have a question for you. What if he really is able to do immeasurably more than you ask or imagine? What if he wants to? To do something so much better than your mind can comprehend? Would you be open to that?

[Steven Furtick]

What if God didn't want to meet your expectations because he wanted to exceed them? Now I'm going to make you sit back down because you're not going to like this. The way he grows my faith is usually to disappoint my expectation. John's like this. This is what I gave up my ministry for. This I gave my life to Jesus. And I'm still struggling with depression and anxiety. This because it was your expectation of deliverance that is causing your disappointment. Go tell John. Watch this. Blind see, the deaf Ear the lame walk. Tell him I'm touching people nobody else would touch that were quarantined because of this dreadful disease called leprosy. And they're able to go back to their family because they're cleansed and they can live their life. Tell them all that. But you know he's not making this up, right? This is what he came to do. This is what he announced he came to do. In Luke chapter four, he said, the spirit of the Lord is on me because he's quoting Isaiah 60:1. Because he is fulfilling the prophecy, not fulfilling their preferences, fulfilling the prophecy. It's very different. He's fulfilling what he said he was not what they thought he was going to be. That's what God is trying to deliver us from, from what we thought he was going to be. He's so much bigger than that. He's so much better than that. His plan is so much bigger than that. His purpose is so much greater than that. John said, are you the one? He said, go back and tell him that the deaf hear and the blind see, and the lepers are touched and the eyes of the blind are open and the ears of the deaf.

[Elevation Church Worship Leader]

This is all from Luke chapter four. Look it up. When he unrolled the scroll, when he stood up to read in his hometown.

[Steven Furtick]

And he said, to this day.

[Elevation Church Worship Leader]

Is this prophecy fulfilled in your hearing?

[Steven Furtick]

I came.

[Elevation Church Worship Leader]

The spirit of the Lord is upon me. For he has anointed me to preach the good news to the poor, recovery of sight to the blind.

[Steven Furtick]

He sent me to open deaf ears.

[Elevation Church Worship Leader]

He sent me to do all this. But one thing he left out when.

[Steven Furtick]

He sent the message to John. This is crazy, Zach, because I know how much you love the Bible, so it's going to blow your mind.

[Elevation Church Worship Leader]

The only thing he left out, he.

[Steven Furtick]

Added some stuff to it, but. But he left one thing out. Freedom for the prisoners. Look it up right now. Reference me. It's in Luke 4. I can wait. I know I'm right about this. Unless you have some weird Bible you made for yourself. Luke 4. It's like 1819, something like that. What does it say? 1819. What does it say? This is Rick Parker, the one y' all always hear on the podcast. Hey, Rick, you know you're famous on the podcast. He's the one always talking back to me. The country guy is always talking back to me. People ask me all the time, who's that country guy that's always talking back to you? That's Rick Parker. What does it say? Gospel to the poor, heal the broken heart.

[Elevation Church Worship Leader]

Liberty to the captives. Where's that? He said, tell John I'm doing it all. Tell John everything I said I would do, I'm doing it. But what I said I would do is. Is not what he was expecting. Tell John that I need his faith not to rest in his idea of who he thought I was. I'm going to preach this home right now. I need his faith not to rest in whether or not I fulfill his agenda. Look, so many of the things Jesus did in the scripture, it was a hidden agenda. In fact, he even spoke in parables. Not so the people would get a cute little story about a father and a son. And he ran away and he ate with the pigs and the father welcomed him home. That isn't why he taught him parables. He taught in parables because he didn't want his wisdom to be ascertained with the human mind. He taught in parables so that the Spirit of God could reveal to the unlearned not the wisdom of this world, but the things of God. So much of what he does is hidden. Yet we still, we spend all of our time in our minds trying to figure out whether God is good. Trying to figure out whether life makes sense. It's a prison. You'll never figure it out that way. You can't get out that way. You can't solve your problems on the level of self. It's going to take a great big God with an eternal plan. It's going to take a really good God. It's going to take a majestic God.

[Steven Furtick]

I'm going to have to decide whether or not I'm going to interpret him through the lens of my expectations or set my expectations on the basis of who he is. Here's what I know. I am preaching to so many different types of people today. For some of you, you can hardly breathe right now because I'm speaking so specifically to you. Because the Lord is trying to get this message to you. For others of you, you're in a much more dangerous place. You're not even listening. Do you know what God uses to develop your faith? Disappointment. Do you know what the devil uses to destroy your faith? Disappointment. I think it's what you do with.

[Elevation Church Worship Leader]

It.

[Steven Furtick]

Because it's going to happen. It's going to happen in relationships, it's going to happen in careers, it's going to happen in churches. To where what you thought it was going to be and what it really is. You know, I don't even like the way this Bible story goes because what I want to happen next in the story is that the angel of the Lord comes, breaks John out of prison. John goes on to preach the gospel and he has more success and double for his trouble, like Job, like never before. And the Lord restores the years, the cankerworm is wasted and we could have good church and all get a serotonin hit, go home, be happy and watch a NASCAR race. But what I'm thinking is I need to tell you that the way you expect this story to end, since we're talking about expectations, is not necessarily the way it does. Because John doesn't get out of prison in Matthew chapter 11. In fact, in Matthew 14, his head is served up on a platter because the king decides to to cut it off him. Yet there's something even more beautiful in the text than John getting what he wants. There's something much more profound than John gets what he wants. What it is, is in verse seven and following. Now, this transitional phrase is really important. By the way, who am I preaching to today that there have been some things that weren't what you thought they were going to be, and it's affecting your faith now, even in a sense, God is not who you thought he was going to be. You're experiencing him in a different way than you have a template for, and it's challenging to you. So what happens next is the part of the message I really want you to take to heart. It says, as John's disciples were leaving. What does that mean? Whatever Jesus says next, John doesn't hear it. He turns to the crowd and begins to speak about John. This is significant because what he says next is what he wants the crowd to know about John. What he said before was what he wanted John to know about him. It's a critical distinction, because God never wants your faith to rest on you. He knows how fragile and fickle you are. He said, go tell John that there is a purpose that is greater. There is a plan that is bigger. There is a purpose that is greater. There is a plan that is bigger. I'm looking for 100% participation on every location. There is a purpose that is greater. There is a plan that is bigger. Look at the person next to you and say, there is a purpose that is greater. There is a plan that is bigger. Other neighbor. There is a purpose that is greater. There is a plan that is bigger. Tell them, zoom out, zoom out, zoom out, zoom out, zoom out, zoom out, zoom out. Because you've been seeing this one little thing. And when you're in the prison of your Mind. It's an awfully small place, isn't it? It's really hard to see the light of day in solitary confinement. But go tell John we're right on schedule.

[Elevation Church Worship Leader]

Go tell John I'm using his preparation. Go tell John it wasn't in vain I heard the Lord say Furtick Go tell John Go tell the people Go tell the disciples Discouraged Go tell the beaten Go tell the broken Go tell the depressed Go tell the sick Go tell the broke Go tell the hurting Go tell the young Go tell the old Go tell them it's working Go tell them I'm doing it. Just not like you wanted me to.

[Steven Furtick]

But I'm doing it.

[Elevation Church Worship Leader]

He turns around and says to the crowd, what did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed swayed by the wind?

[Steven Furtick]

No.

[Elevation Church Worship Leader]

John wasn't fickle. John wasn't fragile. When John made up his mind about something, that's just the way it was.

[Steven Furtick]

And that's what's getting him in trouble. He made up his mind about what he thought God was going to do and when God did what God wanted to do. Is that you right now? Are you in an invisible prison? I know Herod isn't going to cut your head off. It's not that dramatic, right? But you can't enjoy people, can you? Is that you right now? You can't create. Is that you right now? Is that me? Who am I preaching to? Maybe I'm preaching to me. It's not that God didn't do anything for me. It's not that God didn't bless me.

[Elevation Church Worship Leader]

It's just different than what I thought.

[Steven Furtick]

As long as I'm in the prison of what I thought, I can't be a part of what God is doing.

[Elevation Church Worship Leader]

Be set free today. Be set free by the fact that God may not be conforming to your.

[Steven Furtick]

Agenda or keeping all of your appointments.

[Elevation Church Worship Leader]

God might not be organizing everything to match your exact preference, but there is a greater purpose and there is a bigger picture. Just like John was the forerunner of Jesus Christ, some of you, God is using you to fight battles for your children and your children's children and your children's children's children will be blessed. If you will resist the urge to control God, you can serve him and worship him and it will be all right. Because my faith is not not the expectation that circumstances will be pleasant. My faith is the expectation that the voice of the Lord is upon the waters.

[Steven Furtick]

Go tell John. Blessed is he who does not trip over the way he thought it was going to be. Blessed is he who accepts what I'm doing in his or her life. The Lord wants to set you free today from the way you thought it was going to be. That's it. You know what's going to happen once you get set free from the way you thought it was going to be? You can embrace what it is. Do you know what God is going to do more than what you thought he was going to do? The blind see, the lame walk. God has something better than a fork. God has something better than a fire. The first place of deliverance is in the area of your expectation. Holy Spirit, I thank you for this moment and I pray that this message would not fall on deaf ears. Truth be told, Lord, there is a prison that is not physical. There are captives in here today whose chains are invisible. I want to pray for them right now, Lord, that you would look into the places of their life where they've been disappointed and where they've been bruised or even worse than that. Where they got their hopes up so high and they made a fool of themselves. Now it's kind of hard for them to really have an expectation of your goodness. They're in an invisible prison of disappointment, resentment, bitterness. But you said you came to set us free. So you didn't do it physically for John, but would you set us free? Set us free from ourselves. Set us free from our regrets. Set us free from our sin with everyone standing. Where the spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. The kind of freedom I mean is the freedom from the need to control your life, the freedom from the need to call the shots and to always know the plan. John said, are you the one? I just need to know. I hear the Lord saying today, yeah, it's me. It's me. It's me getting you through this season. It's me that allowed some of the things in your life you don't like. I didn't cause all of them, but I'm using all of them. It's me. Go tell John. It's me. That thing that won't let you go, that's grace. God said, that's me. That thing that keeps pumping in your heart, getting you back up. You fall down. 7. You get up. 8. God said, that's me. That thing in you that can't always make sense. You should read the Bible sometimes. God said, that's me. I want you to wrestle with it. That's me. I don't want you to put me in a formula. That's me. I don't want you to have me in a box I don't want you to be in this prison of your small view of me. That's me. O God, of every moment. We come before you now in need of your mercy, in need of your grace. We need to know that you are our shepherd, even if we go through a valley of the shadow of death. I thank you now, Lord, that as this word has gone forth today across multiple campuses, across multiple continents, that you are confirming your presence to your people right now. If you would just lift your hands. God said, it's me. It's me. You need to make sense of your life. It's me. Lord, I thank you that there is a bigger picture. We do not see in full. We see in part. We prophesy in part. We speak in part. But when that which is perfect has come, that which is incomplete will be taken away. Until that time, Lord, we trust in your presence. We trust in who you are. You're still the lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. You're still the king of our life. You're still the hope and foundation that our lives are built on. You're still the solid rock on which we stand. All other ground is sinking sand. It's you, God. It's you we worship and it's you that we trust. It's not ourselves. It's not our circumstances. It's you. It's you. It's you that I need, Lord. It's you that fulfills me. It's you that completes me. It's you who makes ways. It's you that opens doors. It's you that sets the prisoners free. It's you who broke the chains. It's you that I'm looking to.

[Elevation Church Worship Leader]

Promotion doesn't come from the east or the West. Promotion comes from you. It's you I'm counting on. It's you I'm looking to. It's you I'm leaning on. It's your everlasting arms. It's your mighty hand. It's your outstretched power. It's your grace that we need. It's you, Lord. It's nobody else. It's you. Our help comes from you. Our strength is in you. Our trust is in, is in your name. And we worship you now.

[Steven Furtick]

Thank you for joining us. Special thanks to those of you who give generously to this ministry. It's because of you that this ministry is possible. You can click the link in the description to Give now or visit elevationchurch.orgpodcast for more information and if you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe, you can share it with your friends. You can click the share button, take a screenshot and share it on your social stories and tag us evationchurch. Thanks again for listening. God bless you.

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[Elevation Church Worship Leader]

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[Steven Furtick]

This is an iHeart podcast.