Reflect 2020 // Root Check – Holly Furtick – Elevation Church

Holly Furtick’s Introduction

• 2020 has been a year of trying new things
• So happy that we’re all gathered together and watching
• It has been a very special year
• Happy that it’s November and looking forward to the end of the year, even though the new year doesn’t reset everything
• We learned a lot of things this year
• People learned how to cook, teach kindergarten, work remotely, and even refill their own nails
• Can you relate to needing to get your roots done?
• Tonight it’s time for a root check

Message Title: Root Check

Jeremiah 17:7-8 New International Version (NIV)

7 “But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord,

    whose confidence is in him.

8 They will be like a tree planted by the water

    that sends out its roots by the stream.

It does not fear when heat comes;

    its leaves are always green.

It has no worries in a year of drought

    and never fails to bear fruit.”

Does anyone else want to finish this year strong?

Tonight we’re talking about how to have roots that never fail to bear fruit.

We all want to be the kind of woman that has roots. Do you know any women like that who always come out on the other side bearing fruit?

Strong women do not happen by accident.

Do you know a woman with a killer body? People ask, “How do you do it?” We all know the answer is diet and exercise. Yet, we still hope it’s some magic tea.

Strength doesn’t happen overnight it, it’s over time, day in and day out, staying present and working on the best version of yourself you can be.

It’s easy to blame others for your situation, stay angry, or offended by anything that doesn’t go our way.

Anecdote: Holly remembers the first time she took a group fitness class (over 30 years old). The class was body-pump. You would lift weight to music. The instructor told Holly she could start late. Very stubbornly, Holly completed the class with the weight. Holly was sore even just walking to her car. When she woke up the next morning, she told Steven that she thought she had the flu. She couldn’t move for about a week. She couldn’t go up the stairs. She didn’t go back to the class for a year. You don’t get strong by going to one class.

A tree takes the time to put down roots.

You will have to have roots to be a strong woman. Time under tension creates strength.

The most important part of the tree happens below the surface – where people can’t see.

Let’s finish strong instead of limping across the 2020 finish line.

We have to check our roots to do this.

In Luke 1, we learn of a woman who weathered tough storms and droughts (Mary).

Luke 1:26-38 New International Version (NIV)

The Birth of Jesus Foretold

26 In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, 27 to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”

29 Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. 30 But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. 31 You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”

34 “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”

35 The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called[a] the Son of God. 36 Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. 37 For no word from God will ever fail.”

38 “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her.

Mary had a massive calling on her life – to raise God.

We know nothing of Mary prior to that.

1. Awareness 

Have you ever thought of how God spoke to people? Dreams, burning bush, talking donkey, writing on the wall, and occasionally an audible voice.

The passage doesn’t say where Mary was or what she was doing.

We wonder if God knew He could interrupt any day in her life.

She was aware of God’s presence enough to receive Him in her everyday life.

Are you so busy that you can’t receive Him in your everyday life?

What if self-care was not letting your calendar get so full? What if it was saying no to another thing? What if it was about taking a break from social media or not saying yes to another sport for your child?

Holly practices worship, but she has to look for pockets. You may not have an hour every day to spend time on your knees and pray. Do you have pockets? What do you do on your way to work? What is playing in the background during laundry? Who do you talk to or what do you watch when you’re on your lunch? What’s the last thing you do before you go to bed?

Mary had space in her life for God.

For us, we’re lucky because we can fill our lives with amazing sermons, audiobooks, and podcasts. However, without a plan, you’ll just scroll through feeds with every extra second you have.

Some of us are letting church slip through our fingers.

In the beginning of the pandemic, you gave your full attention. Many of us are just “catching it later on YouTube”. If you let the important things slip through your fingers, you’ll find yourself in a difficult storm and won’t have roots to make it through.

The strength you need in the next season are right here in the things that God is speaking to you now.

Mary was aware. The angel gave her his message and Mary said, “I am the Lord’s servant. May your word to me be fulfilled.”

2. Acceptance

Many of us wouldn’t have had that answer. We may have brought up people’s unwillingness to believe us or our lack predisposition to do it.

You have to have the root of acceptance in your life. If you don’t, you’ll abandon your calling at the first minute of trouble in your life.

You can’t return your calling for a different one. It’s just for you. You can either reject it or you can accept it.

We can be guilty of subtly rejecting our callings. For instance, allowing ourselves to get stuck.

Holly personally noted that on some days, she’s not willing to put in the work that’s required to do what God has said to do on some days. It took her years where she simply didn’t want to put in the work to put out a good sermon. It takes work and it takes reading your Bible. Back then, it was easier for Holly to hide behind the idea of not being good enough or not having what it took. She wasn’t willing to put in the work.

You’re enough. You have everything you need to do what God is calling you to do.

That doesn’t mean it’ll be easy.

You’re called to do whatever God has put in your life, right now. Not one day, but right now.

The best person to raise your kids, do your job, speak up for that cause burdened on your heart, is you. You are called to the place you are right now – your high school, your job, your neighborhood.

When you go through something hard, everyone will see your strength, resilience when you go through them.

For Mary – what about when people didn’t believe her? Gave birth to her baby in a barn? Or had to watch her child at the foot of the cross? – these were hard moments.

Write and declare: “I can do hard things.”

Nobody ever said a calling was easy. Having a calling requires strength to move through the difficult times.

3. Action

When Mary accepted her calling, at that very moment, she went into action.

Luke 1:39-40 New International Version (NIV)

Mary Visits Elizabeth

39 At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, 40 where she entered Zechariah’s home and greeted Elizabeth.

What is your response time? God uses people who hear and move.

It starts with the small things. You get big things after enough practice with the small things.

What was the last small thing God asked you to do? Apologize to someone? Start forgiving someone who hurt you? Start an egroup or bible study in your home?

Becoming a woman of action takes practice.

The best thing you can do for your loved ones is to be a healthy person – to be a person who hears God’s voice and acts.

It’s the small things.

God is good, patient and will not give you step 2 before you do step 1.

Step 1 is still there.

Better is not out there. Better is right here, right now.

Look around and figure out what God wants you to do, right now.  

4. Attachment

Strong women understand attachment. When you are strong, you don’t need to compete or compare. You are never intended to live out your calling alone – not your husband, but a group of women around you.

When Mary got the news, the angel mentioned that her cousin was also about to conceive. She went straight to Elizabeth. We need each other.

Anecdote: Holly learned that Elephants are one of the most intelligent animals, rivaling primates and whales. They can dance and even communicate with each other through infrasonic sounds 6 miles apart. The best part to Holly is that they are a matriarchal society and operate as a unit caring for each other’s young. The older ones help the younger ones. They circle up when they’re vulnerable. The strong ones face out when the herd is vulnerable. They huddle around each other to protect their own from the outward danger that she is facing in the vulnerable situation. It’s a beautiful thing to experience other women coming to your need. You need others to support you on your way.

Female friendships are important.

Even if you’ve been “too hurt”, it’s important. To all the teenage girls, “mean girls are a real thing, and unfortunately, they don’t go away when you graduate high school. I wonder tonight, if maybe you’re using the wrong criteria for your support system. Maybe get someone further down the line from you, not their age, but maturity – someone you admire for the person they are, not the followers they have – this is for all women, not just teenage girls.

Elizabeth celebrated Mary and brought her into her life. Mary likely stayed until Elizabeth gave birth. When it came time for Mary to give birth to her own child, we can wonder whose voice was in her head.

Who is around you? Who has grieved with you? For those of us watching, who are you watching with?

Holly and her friends have prayed each other through cancer, loss, ministry, kids, and these women mean the world to her.

Dig into the root of friendship tonight.

Zoom and FaceTime count, but sometimes, you need to look someone in the eyes and ask for or offer help.

You have to build roots before the storm or drought comes.

If you don’t build the relationships now, you won’t have them when you need them.

It’s beautiful to have the support of women during a difficult time and it’s a privilege to support them.

When you experience difficult things with one another, it’s way more vital than a girl’s night out.

Elizabeth confirms what’s inside of Mary, then Mary sings her prayer.

Luke 1:45-49 New International Version (NIV)

45 Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her!”

Mary’s Song

46 And Mary said:

“My soul glorifies the Lord

47     and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,

48 for he has been mindful

    of the humble state of his servant.

From now on all generations will call me blessed,

49     for the Mighty One has done great things for me—

    Holy is his name.

5. Affirmation 

There comes a time when the affirmation that you need has to come from yourself.

Before Mary saw any fruit, she had to center herself on who God was to her – her savior, someone who had done might works for her. That’s a relationship with her father. She had scripture planted in her spirit as a child and it poured out of her mouth.

She was putting down roots long before an angel came to her.

She didn’t list out everything that would go wrong, she stayed focused on who God was and who she was in Christ.

These are things we must put into action in our own lives.

These are the things we have to draw from when we’re weak, nobody know what you’re going through yet, and you don’t feel enough. Sometimes the affirmation you need has to come from within.

Anecdote: Holly woke up on a weekend and felt so heavy, dragged herself out of bed, headed to the bathroom, and thought to herself “I can do this”. Steven asked, “What can you do?” She didn’t realize she had said it out loud. She looked at him and said, “Everything” – even though it initially felt like he invaded her thoughts. In the darkness of the morning, somehow her soul was able to touch those roots. She was reminded of Philippians 4:13 “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

You can feel encouraged – I wanted you to know that you can do this. You are worthy. You can do this.

You are a chosen child of the most-high God. You are a rooted woman and you can finish strong.

Together, we’re not going to limp across the finish line to 2020.

We’re going to pray for each other and lift each other up.

We’re going to tap the root deep inside of us and say, “I can do this God, whatever you have called me to do God, I can do it and I’m going to do it with a good attitude. And I’m going to do it because I am empowered by the Holy Spirit”.

You are not alone. The angel said the Holy Spirit will come upon you. You’re not alone physically or spiritually.

He will give you his spirit and together you’re going to accomplish the amazing things that God has put right in front of you right now.

You can do this – everything. Everything. Everything you’re called to do and not one thing extra.

Prayer: God, thank you for this night. Thank you for these women that are gathered, literally all over our world. Thank you that we live in a day and time where nothing can stop your church. Nothing can stop us from meeting together. Just take a breath. Breathe in and realize that you are a chosen child of the most-high king. I want to pray for those of you who are tired and overwhelmed. God, we just whisper to you in this moment, that He is your strength. I want to pray for the one who’s busy. God, for those of us who are busy and as we head into the busiest time of the year, busy on top of busy, would you show us the pockets of time that we have? Would you whisper to our spirit when we’re scrolling in the wrong places when we have a minute to hear a word from you? To re-center our focus and worship you? Can you just whisper it to us? Would you give us a song to get through the end of the year, a verse, a word? Would you show us those pockets of time? As we center our focus on you and come to you God, that you would give us the little bit of strength that we need for the next thing you’ve called us to do. God, help us to fight and to keep fighting. Help us to realize that in you, we’re stronger than we think we are. Make us aware of your presence in this place right now. For every person watching in this moment, whether in a couple of hour or a couple of days, you’re not bound by time. Your spirit can reach through our screen and bind our hearts and focus our faith. Right now, right here in this moment. I want to take a second and give some of you the opportunity, maybe for the first time, to give your life to God, or maybe you’re coming back to God. I want this night to be a marker in your faith. A night you can come back to over and over again. Whoever you’re watching with, let’s pray this prayer, “Heavenly Father, I believe that you are the most high savior of the world, that you died on the cross so that I could be forgiven, and right now Lord, I place my faith in you, this is my new beginning, in Jesus name, Amen.”

Breathe in God’s presence and breathe in His love.

Watching or reading with a group? Ask the following discussion question that Holly poses:

Want encouraging messages from Holly? Text “Sign Me Up” to 704-810-2300

Reflect apparel available now: SHOP NOW

SUMMARY NOTES

1. Awareness
2. Acceptance
3. Action
4. Attachment
5. Affirmation

Link to full Video: TBD (if applicable; not sure if this will be rebroadcasted)

Contact Elevation Church Here: https://elevationchurch.org/contact/

• • • Side-note/Personal Recommendation: Pastor Dr. Dharius Daniels wrote a book called “Relational Intelligence” that will walk you through how to assess your relationships, define them, discern them, align them, and finally activate your relationships to unlock your greatest potential. See below:

Latest Arrivals in Merch