Podcast Summary: Elevation with Steven Furtick

Episode: "There’s A Hole In Your Story"

Host: Pastor Steven Furtick
Date: March 13, 2026

Overview

In this power-packed episode of Elevation with Steven Furtick, Pastor Furtick explores the ways our personal and communal stories can become distorted, incomplete, or misleading—leaving "holes" that keep us from experiencing the fullness of God's purpose. Drawing from Acts chapter 11 and Peter’s account of Cornelius’ conversion, the sermon challenges listeners to examine the stories they tell themselves, recognize the dangers of half-truths, and choose narratives that align with God's reality and redemption.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

The Biblical Backdrop: Acts 11 and "The Whole Story"

• Furtick opens by reading Acts 11—a pivotal moment where the Gospel breaks through to the Gentiles (03:30).
• Peter’s recounting to the Jerusalem believers marks a move "from protest to praise" and centers on verse 4: “Starting from the beginning, Peter told them the whole story” (04:30).
• Key Insight: We often live with “plot holes” in our stories, missing key perspectives that God wants to reveal.

The Concept of "A Hole In Your Story"

• The title’s meaning unfolds: we all have gaps, unconscious biases, or omissions in the way we recount our lives or understand others (08:30).
• Memorable illustration: Furtick shares his family's playful term “a Garrity” (from Friday Night Lights), symbolizing total forgiveness and moving on—highlighting how missing pieces often exist in all family histories and personal stories.

Four Types of Stories with “Holes” That Can Ruin Your Life

1. Secondhand Stories

• Explanation: Accepting as truth what you’ve only “heard” but not experienced yourself (17:19).
• Dangers:
  • Fuels rumor and prejudice.
  • Distorts reality, just as the early Christians criticized Peter without knowing the full story.
• Quote:

  “When you hear something secondhand and take it as truth, it can be worse than secondhand smoke. Secondhand smoke can destroy your lungs. Secondhand stories can destroy your life.” —Steven Furtick (18:48)

• Call to Action: Evaluate who authored the stories you believe about yourself—God, others, or yourself?
• Illustration: The “telephone game” transforms simple facts into outlandish tales, just as our perceptions can distort God’s truth and our own identities.

2. Self-Centered Stories

• Explanation: Placing yourself at the center of every narrative, leading to unnecessary stress and misunderstanding (21:18).
• Examples:
  • Over-personalizing others’ actions (“They don’t like me”—when people are just tired or distracted, not critical).
  • In parenting, believing your child is “selfish” when they might just be scared.
• Quote:

  “When you put yourself at the center of every story, you’re going to be stressed out. There’s not enough Pepto Bismol in the world!” —Steven Furtick (21:18)

• Takeaway: Step back and ask for compassion—consider what others may be experiencing rather than making everything about you.

3. Selective Stories

• Explanation: Editing the narrative to focus only on the negative or to suit your fears, particularly in uncertain seasons (27:10).
• Memorable Analogy:
  • “Some of us could give Stephen King a run for his money if we put down to paper the scary stories we write about what might happen in our lives.” (27:38)
• Choice: Life brings suffering, but you have the power to choose the meaning and story you build around your experiences (29:25).
• Illustration: Furtick recounts a friend’s trial with loss and cancer, who chooses to see God’s provision in the details rather than despair (33:30).
  • Quote from the friend: “It’s not your story… If I believed that this was the end for me, I wouldn’t survive. But if I believe, I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.” (36:45)

4. Short Stories

• Explanation: Allowing doubt or narrow focus to prematurely cut off the narrative, missing the bigger picture of God’s ongoing work (37:35).
• Illustration: Just as Peter didn’t stop at Jesus’s death (“they hung him on a cross”) but continued to the Resurrection (“but God…”), so we must not stop our story at its most painful comma (41:10).
• Quote:

  “Don’t stop at the comma. The next verse says, but God…” —Steven Furtick (41:18)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the dangers of rumor:

  “The story about what Peter did got back to Jerusalem before Peter did… The story beat Peter back to Jerusalem.” (11:20)

• On breaking out of inherited narratives:

  “We stay stuck in a story for 80 years of our life that we could have broken out of if we would have believed the voice of God.” (18:50)

• On compassion and perspective:

  “Sometimes we tell ourselves stories about others without realizing that they are going through things too… Kind of like we want God to forgive us. Kind of like we want God to excuse our gaps.” (24:36)

• On faith amid adversity:

  “If you stop at the comma, you never get to see the But God… Resurrection is possible when you realize he didn’t stay on the cross.” (41:10)

Timestamps for Important Segments

• 03:30 – Intro to Acts 11, Peter’s story recap
• 08:30 – Introduction of sermon title and central concept
• 15:00 – Transition from the biblical story to personal application
• 17:19 – "Beware of Secondhand Stories" begins
• 21:18 – "Beware of Self-Centered Stories" section
• 27:10 – "Beware of Selective Stories" begins (with Stephen King analogy)
• 33:30 – Personal story about loss, faith, and choosing your narrative
• 37:35 – "Beware of Short Stories" and not stopping at the comma
• 41:10 – The power of “But God…” and the Resurrection as the whole story

Conclusion & Takeaways

• Summation:
  Pastor Furtick urges listeners to seek out and embrace “the whole story” God is telling in their lives—complete, redeeming, and often bigger than what we initially perceive. We are not bound by rumors, inherited scripts, negative edits, or unfinished beginnings; God's narrative continues and is ultimately redemptive.
• Final Charge:

  “There’s a hole in your story, and the best is yet to come. He who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it.” (43:22)

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