Elevation with Steven Furtick – "Your Label Is Lying"

Date: October 19, 2025
Host: Steven Furtick (with Holly Furtick)
Podcast: Elevation with Steven Furtick, iHeartPodcasts

Episode Overview

This episode, titled "Your Label Is Lying," is the culminating message in the "Same Lies, New Loops" series at Elevation Church. Pastor Steven Furtick and his wife, Holly, focus on the power of labels—how the things we've been called, or have called ourselves, can become lies that limit our potential and identity. Drawing from John 5 and the story of the man at the Pool of Bethesda, they challenge listeners to reevaluate the labels they've accepted, recognize their true identity in Christ, and place trust in God's word over any limiting beliefs or negative self-definitions.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Danger of Early Labeling

• Labeling Before Experiencing:

  • Steven shares an anecdote from a songwriting session to illustrate how premature labeling can restrict something (or someone) from becoming what it was meant to be.
  • Quote (09:15): “If we name it before we make it, there may be something else the song wants to be that we don’t allow it to become because we already gave it a name.” – Steven Furtick

• Diagnosis versus Destiny:

  • The hosts caution about society's habit of diagnosing and labeling children too early, limiting future possibility.

• Advice:

  • "Make it now and name it later." – Don’t define yourself by your current condition or setbacks.

2. Labels vs. True Identity

• John 5: The Pool of Bethesda (07:19 – 11:00):

  • The story of a man labeled by his disability for 38 years; his identity is overtaken by his condition.
  • Bethesda translates to "house of mercy," a place supposedly for healing but in reality is filled with those left out.

• Memorable Quote:

  • “There are some of you listening to me preach today who have been labeled so long by what you can’t do that you forgot your name.” – Steven Furtick (19:19)

3. Retrospective Wisdom & Timing

• Perspective Changes Over Time:
  • John wrote about Jesus’ miracles decades after they happened—a reminder that what we label as “bad” in the moment could later prove to be a blessing.
  • “Sometimes it is better to evaluate your situation later.” (18:10)
• Naming the Process, Not Just the Product:
  • Holly highlights the importance of being honest about the struggles, not just the victories, in our testimonies.

4. The Package Doesn’t Determine the Value

• Gift-Giving Analogy (21:20 – 24:14):
  • Holly would put expensive-looking gifts in cheap boxes, while God does the reverse—He puts invaluable blessings in the least attractive boxes (pain, disappointment, struggle).
  • Quote:
    • “God will put the best stuff in the worst box.” – Steven Furtick (23:15)

5. Interrupting Old Loops with God’s Word

• 38-Year Loops & Freedom’s Journey:
  • Reference to the Israelites’ 40-year (really 38 years) wanderings: it’s often the middle “loop” years, not the endings or beginnings, where most of growth happens (25:50 – 27:30).
  • Real deliverance is more about learning new ways to handle old problems than being instantly set free.
  • Quote:
    • "It was actually more powerful to hear about their process than it was to hear about their product." – Steven Furtick (27:17)

6. Jesus Sees You Past Your Labels

• Jesus Saw the Man, Not the Mat

  • Emphasizes that Jesus looked past the man's label ("lying", "invalid") and saw his true self (32:54).
  • The religious leaders see only the mat—the sign of past failure—not the man's miracle.

• Quote:

  • “He stops by to see about somebody that doesn’t even have a name. Of course, he has a name, but his name has been replaced by his label.” – Steven Furtick (18:52)
  • “How can they see a man who has never walked before... and say, ‘You can’t do that’?” (35:44)

7. The Power of God’s Command

• God’s Word over People’s Labels

  • Jesus’ command, “Get up, pick up your mat and walk,” looks impossible, but it overrules the voice of limitation.
  • Quote:
    • “Sometimes God will give you a command that makes no sense in the face of your condition.” – Holly Furtick (28:56)
  • Steven frames it: religion points at the mat (your history), but God sees the man (your destiny).

• Countering Condemnation with Truth:

  • “Shame said die. But God said, live.” – Worship Team (41:53)

8. Rejecting the Lies, Embracing God’s Voice

• The Label Is Lying:

  • The stuck patterns in our thinking, identities, and emotional history are described as “lying labels” that only the Word can break.
  • Memorable Moment: The congregation chants “The word says otherwise!” as a declaration against the lies of the world, religion, or internal voices (40:31, 44:07).

• Personalizing Faith:

  • Listeners are encouraged to not just accept the labels that life, circumstance, or even well-meaning people put on them—but to hear and claim what God actually says about them.

9. Celebration and Application

• Not Returning to Old Labels:

  • Symbolized by the man carrying the mat that he once lay on—not going back, but using the symbol of former struggle as a testimony (36:35 – 39:13).
  • Quote:
    • “He’s happy carrying that mat because he’s holding something that has been holding him his whole life.” – Steven Furtick (37:07)

• Joyful Response and Worship:

  • The episode closes in jubilant worship, emphasizing that God’s word sets people free from all false labels.
  • “You can’t do that.” “But the Word says otherwise.” – Repeated call and response (40:31–44:07)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “Your label is lying.” – Holly Furtick (08:53)
• “The word says otherwise.” – Steven Furtick (07:45, 40:31, 44:07)
• “I am not what I did. I am not what I was. I am who God says I am.” – Worship Team (39:54)
• “I might be in it, but it is not in me.” – Steven Furtick (42:25)
• “I am the one he loves. I’m the one he stopped for.” – Worship Team (42:49)
• “God is not disappointed in you. How can he be disappointed in what he appointed?” – Steven Furtick (34:28)

Timestamps for Important Segments

• [03:11] Introduction to "Same Lies, New Loops" series
• [07:19] Reading and exposition of John 5 (“Pool of Bethesda”)
• [09:15] Story of songwriting session—danger of premature labels
• [18:10] Evaluating situations with time; John’s gospel perspective
• [21:20] Gift-box analogy—what’s inside often doesn’t match the outside
• [25:50] 38-year cycles, testimony honesty, journey to freedom
• [28:56] God’s commands often contradict our conditions
• [32:54] “Lying” versus true name—seeing beyond labels
• [35:44] Religious leaders label the mat, miss the man
• [39:54] “This is the house of mercy” – Identity and worship declaration
• [40:31] “The Word says otherwise” – Affirming God’s truth as ultimate
• [41:53] “Shame said die. But God said, live.”
• [44:07] Worship climax: “Get up out of that grave!”

Conclusion

"Your Label Is Lying" calls listeners to break free from the names, diagnoses, and narratives that have defined them in limitation and shame. Through scripture, story, and song, Steven and Holly Furtick point to the love of God and the authoritative word of Jesus, which call us out of old loops and into new freedom. The challenge is clear: Trust in what God says, not in the labels you or others have accepted. The episode closes with a rousing encouragement to “get up out of that grave,” celebrating the victory that comes not from the absence of struggle, but from embracing a new identity as one loved and called by God.