Gladly Welcomed - Joel Osteen

 God bless you. It's great to be with you today. I hope you'll stay connected with us during the week through our daily podcast, our YouTube channel, and social media. We'll keep you encouraged and inspired.

I like to start with something funny. I heard about these three aspiring psychiatrists—William, Julie, and Bubba. They were taking their first test on emotional extremes. The professor asked William, "What is the opposite of sadness?" He replied, "Happiness." The professor asked Julie, "What is the opposite of depression?" She replied, "Joy." The professor asked Bubba, "What is the opposite of woe—W-O-E?" Bubba looked kind of puzzled. After a long pause, he replied, "Giddy up."

All right, say it like you mean it. Here we go: This is my Bible. I am what it says I am. I have what it says I have. I can do what it says I can do. Today, I will be taught the Word of God. I boldly confess: my mind is alert, my heart is receptive. I will never be the same, in Jesus' name. God bless you.

I want to talk to you today about being gladly welcomed. We have two small dogs at home—they're Shih Tzus. They're very friendly and playful. Every time they hear the garage door go up and someone returns home, they run to the back door and wait. When we open the door, they jump up on us, so excited, their tails wagging back and forth. It's like they hadn't seen us in two months—we've been gone thirty minutes.

I know they're just dogs, but it still warms your heart to know they're so glad to see you.

Paul said in Ephesians, "Because of our faith in Christ, we can come fearlessly into God's presence, assured of His glad welcome."

Not many of us have the audacity to think that God would be that happy to see us. I mean, He's the Creator of the universe. He has bigger things to deal with. He's not concerned about me.

You are God's biggest deal.

You are His most valuable possession. He made you in His own image. There's nothing more important to God than you. It says in Isaiah that He has your picture tattooed on the palm of His hand. He knows the number of hairs on your head. He knows your thoughts before you think them.

If you have the right image of God—knowing that He gladly welcomes you, that His face lights up when He sees you, that He loves spending time with you, hearing your concerns, knowing what you're dreaming about—then you won't shrink back in fear, intimidated, feeling unworthy. You will go fearlessly to Him.

But so many people have the wrong image of God. They see Him as being harsh, like He has a baseball bat, waiting for them to make a mistake so He can knock them down further. "Don't come near me, man. You've done wrong. You haven't measured up. You knew better." But God is not basing His glad welcome on your performance. It's not based on how perfectly you've lived—it's based on the fact that you're His child. Because of your faith in Christ—not because of your good works, not because you've performed perfectly—it's because of who you belong to.

Ephesians 1 says, "Long before God made the world, He chose you to be in Him, without fault." You may have made mistakes. You got off course. You've done things you're not proud of. We let the accuser heap all the baggage on us, reminding us of how unworthy we are, how we don't deserve God's goodness. "Look at what you've done. You should be ashamed. You knew better." But do you know how God sees you?

Without fault.

How could this be?

He's already paid the price for your sins, your mistakes, your failures. He sees you without fault—but that won't do you any good if you don't see yourself without fault.

If you're down on yourself, living guilty and condemned, even though God will gladly welcome you—even though He's longing to be good to you—you won't see this goodness because you don't come fearlessly into His presence.

This all started in the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit. Up to then, they were happy, confident, secure. They knew God loved them. They went boldly into His presence, walked with God, talked with God. They received His glad welcome.

But when they disobeyed, condemnation came. The accusing voice brought fear and intimidation. The first thing they did was run and hide. They had to get out of God's presence. They knew they wouldn't be gladly welcomed anymore. God came and said, "Adam, where are you?" It wasn’t so much about his location—it was about his frame of mind.

In the Old Testament, they had to make sacrifices to cover their sins, but we're under a better covenant. The price has already been paid.

It says in Revelation, "God has washed away our sins." Past tense. He's already forgiven you.

You may have made mistakes. You're not where you wanted to be. You don't feel worthy, like you deserve God's goodness. Now, like Adam, you're hiding.

God is saying, "Where are you? I long to be with you. I have mercy for your mistakes. I have forgiveness for your wrongs." What you've done did not stop His glad welcome.

The Scripture says, "Come boldly to the throne of grace to receive mercy."

Notice: To get the mercy, you have to go boldly.

You won't go boldly if you think God is mad at you.

"You've made too many mistakes. You lost your temper. You ran with the wrong crowd. You ruined your marriage."

Mercy is available. New beginnings are available. But it's not going to happen if you stay down on yourself, feeling unworthy.

"I don't deserve to be blessed."

Get rid of that defeated mentality.

God sees you without fault.

He's not holding your mistakes against you. When you come to Him, He won't say, "It's about time. I'm so disappointed. What's wrong with you?"

He will gladly welcome you.

Maybe, like Adam, you're hiding—thinking you can't go to God. Every voice says, "Look at your failures. Look at your weaknesses. You don't deserve it."

If you only knew that God is standing before you right now with open arms.

He's not just going to welcome you—He's going to gladly welcome you.

Why don't you come out of hiding?

Come out of unworthiness. Come out of condemnation. And receive His glad welcome.

"God, I know I'm not worthy, but I want to thank You that You have made me worthy. Lord, I know that I have many faults, but I thank You that You see me with no faults."

How do you see God?

As someone who will gladly welcome you, who looks forward to seeing you, who won't judge you?

Or do you see Him as someone who's hard, condemning, holding your mistakes against you?

Your perception of God will have a great impact on whether you become all you were created to be. Sometimes, religion distorts the image of God. It can portray Him as harsh and mean, as if you can’t measure up. It uses guilt and feelings of unworthiness to try to get you to live right. But condemnation doesn’t make you do better.

 The Scripture says, "It's the goodness of God that leads to repentance." When you understand that God loves you unconditionally—not if you perform perfectly, but even when you make mistakes—He has mercy. That He finds you without fault, that He gladly welcomes you, that there's nothing more valuable, nothing more important to Him than you—then you'll put your shoulders back, you'll hold your head up high, and step up to who you were created to be.

In Luke, chapter 15, a young man asked his father for his inheritance early. The father agreed and gave him the money. The son left home, went out, and lived a wild life—partied all the time, wasted his inheritance, and made poor choices. The money finally ran out, and the young man had nothing to eat, nowhere to go. He found a job on a farm taking care of some hogs. He was so desperate that he had to eat the hog food to survive. He was very down on himself—ashamed, embarrassed. He had no one to blame except himself.

As he was sitting in the hog pen—dirty, smelly, not knowing what he was going to do next—he began to think about his father. He said, "Even the servants at my father's house live better than I do. They have a nice place to stay, they have three meals a day, they get paid well." He thought about how good his father was, how he was even kind to the staff. He remembered how he was loving, generous, merciful, and compassionate.

As he contemplated who his father was, something rose up on the inside—a boldness, a confidence. He said, "You know what? I'm going to arise and go back to my father." He didn't say, "I'm going to go back home." He didn't say, "I'm going to go back to my family's house." He said, "I'm going to my father."

He knew everyone might not accept him. There would be judgment from people—maybe friends would look down on him, maybe a sibling would say hurtful things—but he knew his father was the key.

As he made this journey back home, I can hear thoughts telling him, "It's not a good idea. Your father is not going to receive you. Look at what you've done. Look at how dirty you are. You better turn around." The whole time, he kept dismissing it, saying, "No, I remember who my father is."

If he had the image of his father being harsh, mean, and judgmental, he would have never come home. How you see your Heavenly Father will determine whether you run away from Him or whether you run to Him.

Maybe you're staying away because you have the wrong image of God. You're letting those lies play: "God won't receive you. You've blown it too many times. You should live guilty and condemned."

No! If you knew who your Heavenly Father really is, like this young man, you would arise and go to your Father.

When he got close to the house, this big moment finally came. His heart was beating fast. He was trying to believe for the best, but fear, unworthiness, and guilt were playing louder than ever. I can imagine he wanted to turn around, "Just forget it. This wasn't a good idea."

Right then, he looked way off in the distance and saw someone running toward him. He thought, "Who could this be? Is there a problem, an emergency? Is someone in trouble?" As they got closer, he realized—it was his father.

Naturally, he thought, "He's coming out here to condemn me, to keep me off the property." But when his father reached him, he grabbed him and hugged him with all of his might—he wouldn't let him go.

Remember, the son was dirty—he had hog feed, manure, and mud all over him. He hadn't showered in days; he smelled terrible. But it didn't stop his father. He didn't pay any attention.

Our God will get dirty to restore you. He’s a God that comes to messy places. The dirt on your life, the mistakes you've made, the mess—it will never keep God from coming to you. Nothing you've done is too much for the mercy of God.

The father told his assistant, "Go get the best robe and put it on my son. Get some new shoes and put them on his feet. Get the family ring and put it on his finger."

This meant that all of his authority as a son was restored. He went on to say, "Go kill the fatted calf; we're going to have a party."

God knows how to gladly welcome you. It would have been nice if the father had just forgiven him, let him come back home, and not made a big deal about it. But notice—God doesn’t just take you back; He restores you. He gives you back what you lost.

This is hard for us to fathom—that God will be good to us even though we've done wrong. He'll have a party when we return, not because we did something great, not because we accomplished a goal, but because we blew it, we made poor choices.

This is the goodness of our God.

Maybe, like this young man, you think God wouldn't have anything to do with you. You've gotten off course, you've made mistakes. But the truth is, God has a robe of honor waiting for you. It’s not in the hog pen—it’s with your Father. He has a ring of authority. He wants to not just receive you back but restore what’s been taken—restore your honor, restore your reputation, restore your joy.

You're condemning yourself when He has a fatted calf out in the field with your name on it.

Don't believe those lies that say, "You'll never really be happy, never be fulfilled. If only you had made better choices."

It’s time to arise and go to your Father.

When you do, the Scripture says you can be assured of His glad welcome. Not maybe, not if He’s in a good mood, not if you’ve never had this problem before. No! You can be sure—He’ll be there with open arms. He’s waiting to celebrate your arrival.

We feel the guilt, the condemnation—but God sees our failures already covered. Now we have to receive the forgiveness, receive the mercy, and see ourselves without fault.

This goes against our natural reasoning because everything in us says, "You're just a poor old sinner. You're just unworthy."

The truth is—you used to be an old sinner, but when you gave your life to Christ, you became a son, a daughter of the Most High God.

He has made you worthy. You are the righteousness of God.

It’s not your righteousness—it’s His righteousness.

Don't live with a weak, worm-of-the-dust mentality: "I don't deserve God's goodness. Like that prodigal, I brought the trouble on myself."

The Scripture says, "Where sin abounds, grace does much more abound."

You didn’t supersede your allotment of grace. You didn’t make a mistake so big that God ran out of mercy. Instead of living condemned, why don’t you go boldly to the throne and receive that mercy?

God is waiting to gladly welcome you.

But here’s a key—He won’t force you to come. He didn’t make the prodigal go back home. It was the young man’s choice.

When you take one step toward God, He comes running toward you.

The only place in the Bible where it pictures God running was to this young man who had gotten off course.

God could have come running to heal the lepers, running to teach in the synagogue, running to the religious leaders—but instead, He came running to someone who had made mistakes.

My little dogs—when I get home this afternoon, I have no doubt they’re going to be happy to see me. I am fully convinced they will be there with their tails wagging, jumping up on me.

What would happen if we believed that God will always gladly welcome us?

How much better would we live—how much freer, more secure, at peace—if we were confident that God is for us, that He sees us without fault, that even when we make mistakes, He’s waiting with arms open wide, ready to restore us and get us back on track

The enemy has worked overtime to try to convince people that God is out to get us. "He's mad at you. He's counting your mistakes. He's about to knock you down further."

That is not our God.

Don't let the wrong image of God keep you from coming to Him.

The Scripture says, "The people who know their God will be strong and do exploits." I believe one meaning of this is that when you know the character of our God—when you know He's for you, when you know He gladly welcomes you, when you know He sees you without fault, when you know He comes running when you make mistakes—then you're going to be strong, and you're going to do great things.

"Well, Joel, when we make mistakes, I believe we should do better."

Yes, I agree. But you're not a finished product. God is still working on you. While He's changing you, while you're growing, you have to learn to accept yourself—not beat yourself up when you don't perform perfectly.

What you struggle with, the mistakes you've made—they are not a surprise to God. He's the one who made you. You're on the Potter's wheel; He's continuing to mold you.

Now stay positive toward yourself. Give yourself grace. You can't change in your own strength. You keep honoring God, and in His timing, He'll help you to change.

Think about Zacchaeus. He was a tax collector. They were known for being dishonest, cheating people. He was the chief tax collector. Zacchaeus was despised. The people in Scripture described him as scum.

It's pretty bad when the Bible calls you scum.

Jesus came passing through the town. Zacchaeus was up in a tree, trying to get a glimpse of Him. Jesus stopped. Out of all the people there—thousands—Jesus looked up and said, "Zacchaeus, come down. I want to go to your house and have dinner."

This didn't make sense to the religious leaders. They complained, "Why is He going to dinner with a notorious sinner?"

Religion says, "You're too bad. You've made too many mistakes. Stay away."

But God says, "I will gladly welcome you. I'm going to come to your house for dinner."

Jesus could have gone to the mayor's house, the high priest's house, the governor's house. This is showing us how God doesn't judge the way people judge.

If God gladly welcomed Zacchaeus, why do you think He’s not going to gladly welcome you?

"Joel, I made some mistakes. I still struggle with my temper. I gave in to this temptation."

That didn’t cancel out His mercy.

Run to God, not away from Him. Don’t do like Adam and start hiding.

You can be open and honest with God. He's not going to judge you. It's very powerful when you admit your dependence on Him.

"God, I'm struggling in this area. I can't overcome it on my own. I need Your help."

That's when you'll feel a strength, a power, to do what you can't do on your own.

Zacchaeus went to dinner with Jesus, but he didn’t leave the same way. He said, "I’m going to give half my income to the poor. Those I have overcharged—I’m going to give back four times the amount."

Jesus said, "This day, salvation has come to your home."

Sometimes, we think if we berate people, tell them all they're doing wrong, make them feel guilty, then they'll change.

Most people already know what they're doing wrong.

But when they hear about a God who gladly welcomes, a God who doesn’t hold their faults against them, a God who shows mercy when they deserve judgment—then they’ll change.

Make sure you have the right image of God.

He's for you. He has a great plan for your life. He’s not focused on all your failures. He has mercy for every mistake.

He's waiting to gladly welcome you.

All you have to do is take that step toward Him.

No more hiding. No more living condemned, feeling unworthy.

Go to God with boldness and receive His mercy.

It says, "Come boldly to the throne."

You won’t receive it if you go around thinking, "I don’t deserve it. I’m unworthy. I’m like Zacchaeus. I’ve made a lot of mistakes, done things I’m not proud of."

God is calling your name today, saying, "Come down out of that tree. Come out of hiding. I want to come to your house. I want to gladly welcome you."

Will you receive this welcome?

Will you shake off the guilt, the condemnation, the past—put your shoulders back and see yourself the way God sees you—without fault, worthy, righteous?

Many times, we get our image of God from our natural father.

If your father was loving and kind, it will help you have the right perception of God.

But I know people whose fathers were harsh, condescending. He wasn’t around much. They couldn’t count on him.

Don’t let that negative image distort who our Heavenly Father is.

God is merciful. He’s loving. He’s forgiving.

Victoria has a great father; he's always been good to us. When Jonathan was a little baby, he would come to our house and spend the night so we could sleep, and he would take care of the baby.

Victoria is very close to her father.

When she was in her teens, she had just gotten her driver's permit. She asked her father if she could borrow the car and go to a friend's house in the neighborhood.

He was a little hesitant, but he finally agreed and said, "Yes, you can take the car as long as you go straight there and come straight back home."

She said, "Yes, sir, I'll do exactly that."

Well, Victoria is not quite as holy as I am.

She did go straight to her friend's house, but she picked her up, and then they decided to get on the freeway and go see some other friends.

The problem is—she didn’t put the car in drive; she put it in low 1. That gear is used for climbing. She was going down the freeway, barely moving, with the engine sounding like a jet airplane.

The car started smoking. Ten minutes later, the engine blew up. The car wouldn’t move. She pulled over to the side of the freeway.

The last thing most people would do is call their father. He’s the one who just told her not to get on the freeway. 

Not Victoria. Like that prodigal, she said, "I will arise and go to my father." She called and said, "Dad, I made a mistake. I took the car out on the freeway. Something happened, and it's not running anymore." If her father had been harsh, mean, always berating her—she wouldn’t have run to him; she would have run from him.

The reason she was bold enough to go to her father was because she knew his nature. She had seen his character through the years—loving, kind, merciful. When you have the right image of God, even when you make mistakes, you’ll go to Him. Like Victoria, you’ll be assured of His glad welcome. Her father came, had the car towed.

Do you know—he never said a word to her about it?

Sometimes, God will clean up a mess we've made and never say a word. He doesn’t condemn us. He doesn’t find fault, saying, "I told you so."

It’s the mercy of God. That’s what happened with the prodigal son. When he returned home, the father—who represents God—never brought up his past. He never said, "I'll take you back, but you should be ashamed of yourself. I hope you learned your lesson."

The father never said a word about it. God is waiting to gladly welcome you. Not to judge you. Not to make you feel worse. But to restore you. If you receive it, can you say Amen today?

I'd like to give you an opportunity to make Jesus the Lord of your life. Would you pray with me?

Just say, "Lord Jesus, I repent of my sins. Come into my heart. I make You my Lord and Savior." If you prayed that simple prayer, we believe you got born again. We'd love to send you some free information on your new walk with the Lord.

I hope you’ll get into a good, Bible-based church and keep God first place.