Is this teaching biblical?
Steven Furtick taught that 'even Jesus cannot override your unbelief,' mishandling Mark 6:5-6 to teach that human faith activates (or blocks) God's power. This is classic Word of Faith theology that makes man sovereign and God dependent. Pastor Garrett Kell responded: 'The only reason I'm not still a lying, womanizing, idolater who drinks, smokes, and snorts my life away is because Jesus overrode my unbelief.' Scripture teaches that God is sovereign over all things, including the human heart (Proverbs 21:1), and that salvation itself is a gift — 'not of yourselves' (Ephesians 2:8-9). If Jesus could not override unbelief, no sinner would ever be saved.
What did Steven Furtick say?
"There's one thing that even Jesus can't do. One thing that even the son of God can't do. Even Jesus cannot override your unbelief."
Speaker: Steven Furtick
Source: Sermon on Mark 6:5-6, Elevation Church, August 2018
What does Scripture actually teach?
Jeremiah 32:17
"Ah, Lord God! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and outstretched arm. There is nothing too hard for You."
— NKJV
Jeremiah declares there is NOTHING too hard for God. Furtick says there is one thing Jesus cannot do. One of them is wrong, and it is not Jeremiah. God's power is not limited by or contingent upon human faith.
Ephesians 2:1-5
And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins... even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved).
— NKJV
We were DEAD in sin — dead people cannot believe. God made us alive WHILE we were dead. He did not wait for our belief; He overrode our spiritual death. If Furtick's theology were true, every person would remain dead in sin forever, because dead people cannot generate faith.
Proverbs 21:1
The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord, Like the rivers of water; He turns it wherever He wishes.
— NKJV
God turns hearts wherever He wishes. He is not 'trapped' by anyone's unbelief, as Furtick claimed about Nazareth. The sovereign God who parts seas and raises the dead is not helpless before a skeptic's doubt.
Related False Teachings
"I say it to every sinner: God broke the law for love."
— Steven Furtick | False Gospel
"No, I am not leaving you. I am changing forms. Up until now I have walked with you, but when I send ..."
— Steven Furtick | Modalism Heresy
"I'm in covenant with God Almighty! I am God Almighty!"
— Steven Furtick | Deity of Man Heresy