Displaying Christian Sermons by tag: Textual Sermons Of Famous Preaachers: Joyce Meyer, Joseph Prince
Joyce Meyer - Sermon: God Will Meet You Where You Are. No matter what you've done, God is here to help you. Discover the life transformation that's possible when you surrender to Him.
Have you been abandoned? Have you been rejected? Are you living with the results of all of your mistakes and have no idea what you're supposed to do?
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Well, I can tell you what to do. I do what I do because I've seen God's power transform my own life, and He will do it for you. The key to everything is found in God's word. I'm Joyce Meyer, and I believe that God can heal you everywhere you hurt. Thank you for joining me today on Enjoying Everyday Life. I love to teach the word of God because I know what the word has done in my life, and I know that it will do the same thing for you. Today, I want to talk to you about what I think is a very important subject, and one that I think a lot of people don't realize, and it is one of those good news subjects. Do you know that God will meet you where you are? I think so often we think that we have to get ourselves all fixed up before we can go to God, but if you will cry out to God from where you're at, God will meet you where you're at, as long as you cry out to him in sincerity. And I have several biblical examples that I want to share with you, but the thing I want you to realize is no matter what kind of a mess you're in, no matter how long you've been in it, no matter what your need is, if you sincerely want God to help you and you're ready to change your life, you're ready to repent of your sins, and to repent means to turn away from, that means you're not going to go back to that again. With God's help, you're going to turn away from that wrong way of living, and you're going to learn how to live the way God wants you to live. God will meet you where you're at, and the good news is, is He loves you too much to leave you where He met you. He will always help you get to where you need to be. Now, I want to say that again because I think that's really important. God loves you so much that He will come to you in your mess, and He will meet you there, but He will never leave you there because He loves you too much to leave you in the same mess He found you in. He will help you to change your life, and He will give you, by His grace and mercy, a life really worth living.
There's a story in the Bible about Abraham and Sarah, and this was a couple that God had promised a child. They had not had a child of their own, and really, when God made this promise to them, both of them were too old to have children. Abraham was 99 years old or close to 100, and Sarah had already, she was past the childbearing age. And so, in the natural, it was impossible, but do you know that God specializes in impossible? A lot of things that aren't possible for anybody else are possible for God. With man, it's impossible, but with God, all things are possible. And so, God just wanted them to believe Him, to trust Him that He would give them a child from Sarah's womb, and that He would make Abraham the father of many nations. Well, like a lot of us do, he waited for quite a while; in his case, he waited a good number of years, and nothing was happening, and so he got a plan of his own. And we do that, don't we? When God's plan is not seeming to come to pass, then we've always got a backup plan, a plan of our own. And his wife suggested that he take her handmaiden and get her pregnant, take her as a secondary wife, and then she would claim this child as her own and raise the child as her own. And so, Abraham did it. That was one case where he should not have listened to his wife. It doesn't make any sense for any woman to want to give her husband a secondary wife; that can't be anything but trouble from the get-go. But sure enough, Hagar, the handmaid, did become pregnant, and as soon as she did, she looked with contempt upon her mistress. In other words, she previously had a submissive attitude; she loved her mistress; she'd do anything for her, and so because of the great attitude she had, Sarah thought well, she'd continue to have one. But as soon as she had a foot up, so to speak, on Sarah, or she was in a situation now where she could give Abraham something he wanted that Sarah couldn't, she got a bad attitude. And the child grew with them until he was about 13 years old, and it was just starting to be nothing but trouble, trouble, trouble all the time. And Sarah wanted Abraham to make them leave; she didn't want them to be together anymore. Now, she had had the child that God had promised them, and they grew together for a while, but it was still just trouble, trouble, trouble all the time. How many of you know when you do something that God doesn't want you to do, until it's corrected, it's just nothing but trouble, trouble, trouble all the time?
And so, here in Genesis 21:14-17, it says, "Early the next morning, Abraham took some food and a skin of water and gave them to Hagar. He set them on her shoulders and then sent her off with the boy. She went on her way and wandered in the desert of Beersheba. When the water in the skin was gone, she put the boy under one of the bushes. Then she went off and sat down about a bow shot away, for she thought, 'I cannot watch the boy die.' Well, we can see that she already had made her mind up; they weren't going to make it, and the boy was going to die. And as she sat there, she began to sob, and apparently, the boy was crying too. And the Bible says God heard the boy crying, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, 'What is the matter, Hagar? Do not be afraid; God has heard the boy crying as he lies there. Lift the boy up and take him by the hand, for I will make him into a great nation.' Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. So she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink. God was with the boy as he grew up." That the Amplified says, "He will meet him where he is." And that's the title of the message I want to bring you today: God will meet you where you are. Now, this boy was in a mess; his life looked like it was all but over, and he cried out to God. You know, sometimes all we have to do is cry out to God, and He will meet us right where we're at, and He'll help us get to where we need to be. God heard Ishmael where he was, and He actually promised him promotion and a good life. And all Ishmael did was cry out; he didn't do anything else; he just cried out.
Whether the sword of judgment or plague or famine, we will stand in your presence before the temple that bears your name, and we will cry out to you in our distress, and you will hear us and save us. Well, you know, I think anybody can cry out to God. It doesn't take any special training to do that. You just say, "Oh God, I need you. God, you're the only one that can help me. God, I need your help. I'm crying out to you. I want you in my life. I want you to come and get involved in my life." And I hope that there are many people that I'm talking to today that you will really be convicted by what I'm saying, and you'll realize that you are in a mess in your life and maybe you've been trying to fix that mess yourself. And I'll tell you, you cannot. You need God's help. And God will come and help you if you will cry out to him. He'll begin to unravel the situation in your life, and it may not all happen overnight, but if you'll surrender your life to him, let him come into your life, forgive your sins, and give you a brand new start, God will meet you where you're at, and he will help you get to where you need to be. Psalm 37:2 and 3 says, "I cry out to God Most High, to God who vindicates me." You might remember, well, I don't know if you were watching the program when I shared this or not, but I shared about blind Bartimaeus who cried out to Jesus, "Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me." And the people told him to be quiet, and it says he cried out all the more, and God healed him. Crying out to God is pretty easy. Sometimes we cry to our friends, and we cry to ourselves, and we feel sorry for ourselves, but what about crying out to God and saying, "God, whatever you want me to do, I'll do it. Just show me what to do, and I want to be obedient to you." "I cry out to God Most High. He sends from heaven and saves me, rebuking those who hotly pursue me. God sends forth his love and his faithfulness." And one last one, Psalm 86:5, "You, Lord, are forgiving and good, abounding in love to all who call upon you."
God met Ishmael in his rejection, he met him in his abandonment, and he promised him promotion, and I can pretty much say the same thing happened to me. I'd been abused in my childhood, sexually abused by my father, abandoned by my mother, spent many years in complete misery, and lived in a total atmosphere of fear and violent, angry behavior. And I cried out to God, and he met me where I was at, and he helped me change my life. It didn't happen overnight, but I am a totally different person now, and those things that happened to me in my childhood, when I think back about that little girl, it's almost as if she's somebody that I used to know, not me. I'm a brand new creature in Christ, because the Bible says in 2 Corinthians 5:17, "If any man is in Christ, any man who receives Christ is considered to be in him. If any man is in Christ, he is a new creature. All things pass away, and all things become brand new." You become new spiritual clay, and if you'll be soft and pliable in the hands of God, he will mold a brand new life for you. It's not too late for you, no matter where you are. Are you lost in problems, tragedy, or sin? Are you lonely? Are you sick and perhaps afraid of death? Have you been abandoned? Have you been rejected? Are you living with the results of all your mistakes and have no idea what you're supposed to do? Well, I can tell you what to do. Cry out to God, and he will meet you where you're at, and step by step, little by little, God will teach you, and he'll begin to show you how to make right choices and live the right way. But you have to make a start by surrendering your life to God. You don't just cry out to him and expect God to come and help you if you're not ready to surrender your life to him. And you know, I felt even before I started to share this message for today that today, many people are going to give their life to Jesus Christ. And you do have to give it to him. He wants everybody, but not everybody will receive him because not everybody will humble themselves and say, "Yes, God, you're right, and I'm wrong. I've lived my life all wrong, and I want to change. I am a sinner, and I'm sorry for my sins. I'm sorry for the way I've lived, and I want you in my life. Will you forgive me and come into my life and be my Lord and my Savior?" And the moment you do that in sincerity, God will come into you, he'll make you his home, your sins will be washed away, moved as far as the east is from the west, and he will remember them no more. Now, that doesn't mean that instantly everything in your life is going to be fixed, but it does mean that it's a brand-new beginning for you.
Old things have passed away, God's forgiven you, and then you can start working with God to have the circumstances in your life changed into a life that is going to be pleasant and enjoyable. Now, I have a pretty large portion of Scripture that I want to share with you, and normally I don't try to share this many Scriptures because people kind of lose their focus, but Psalm 139:1-8 are absolutely phenomenal, and I think they're going to really encourage you if you'll pay attention. "You have searched me, Lord, and you know me. Well, when God says he knows you, let me tell you, he knows you. You know, a lot of people that even work here might say, 'Well, I know Joyce.' Well, they may know me, but they don't know me like Dave does, and Dave doesn't even know me like God does. When God says he knows you, let me tell you, there's nothing about you that God doesn't know. He knows things about you that you haven't even admitted. 'You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue, you, Lord, know it completely.' God knows what we're going to say before we even say it. He knows what we're going to think before we even think it. Nobody knows you like God knows you. 'You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me. Have you ever felt like that, that God's got you in a place where you can't go forward and 2 Chronicles 20:9 says, "If calamity comes upon us,
You can't go backward; you're just there, waiting for God to do something. Well, He will if you just keep crying out to Him. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it's too lofty for me to obtain. Let me tell you, the work that God does in our life is too wonderful for us to even begin to understand. Where can I go from your Spirit, God? Where can I flee from or hide from your presence? If I go to heaven, you're there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn or I settle on the far side of the sea, God, you are there. Even then, your hand will guide me; your right hand will hold me fast. Can I tell you there's nowhere where you can get away from God? He is everywhere all the time, and His hand is upon you.
And God's got a plan for your life, and I'm just going to say this the best way I know how, the gentlest way I know how: If you persist in going your own way, your life is going to be pretty miserable. But if you'll surrender your life to Christ today, you can know a life that you cannot even begin to imagine right now. If I say, surely the darkness will hide me and the light will become night around me, even the darkness will not be dark to God. There's nowhere we can hide from God. You can't hide in the dark; you can't go high enough or deep enough. God knows every place where we're at, and He knows everything that we do.
Now listen to this: For you, God, did create my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. God, with His very own hand, purposely knit you together in your mother's womb. You are not a mistake. God made you specially; there's nobody else on earth like you. Nobody has your fingerprints; nobody has your DNA. Don't let the devil or anybody else convince you that you're a mistake, that there's no plan or no purpose for you. If that's what you've been thinking, then your thinking has been all wrong because God wants you; He has a plan for you and a purpose for your life.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, and I know that quite well. I love the boldness of the psalmist David. He said, "You created me; wonderful are your works." I mean, what was he saying other than, "God, you have made me a wonder. I am wonderful; the way you have made me is wonderful." So right now, today, you can stop being against yourself. You can stop hating yourself and rejecting yourself and thinking that you're not okay because you're not like everybody else. Right now, today, you can accept yourself as someone handmade, handpicked by God, made very special, and God has a special plan for your life.
Your eyes saw my unformed substance, and all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them even came into being. I love that; God has a book, and He's written every day of all of our lives in that book before we ever show up on planet Earth. How precious are your thoughts toward me, O God. Now listen to this: How vast is the sum of them! If I were to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand. And when I awake, I'm still with you.
God has you on His mind all the time. There's never been a moment in your life when God has not loved you, and there will never be a moment in His life when He will love you any more than He does right now. And you say, "Well, that can't be possible. God can't possibly love me, not with the things I've done." Well, God is love; it's not something He does sometimes and doesn't do other times. He is love, and what He wants us to do is respond to that love. Jesus said, "If you love me, you'll obey me." He wants us to learn His word and live a life of obedience to Him. He didn't say, "If you obey me, I will love you." He said, "If you love me, you will obey me." And the reason why people don't obey God is because they don't love Him enough to obey Him. The more you fall in love with Jesus, the more and more you're going to want to do what He wants you to do.
Revelation 3 says, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door... well, guess what? The doorknob is on your side of the door. He's not going to break the door down and make you accept Him, but if you'll open the door, He says He will come in and eat with you, and you will eat with Him." Well, what does eating signify in the Bible? Intimacy, close relationship. Covenants were sealed with a meal; the Passover was instituted with a meal. We remember the Lord's body and His blood that was broken and shed through a meal. Jesus wants to eat with you; He wants an intimate, personal relationship with you.
You know, the Bible is full of redemption stories. God is a God of redemption; that means that He bought us back from the enemy. God wants you; He's paid the price for you. The devil may have you convinced that he still owns you, but he does not because Jesus bought you back with His own blood, and He descended into hell and He took the keys of hell and death away from Satan, and He's given us authority. The enemy has no right to run your life anymore if you won't let him.
Noah is a great story of redemption, and I just noticed this: Noah's story is in Genesis 6-7 and 8, and it says here God warned of coming judgment, and He said that those who repented of their sin and believed would be saved. He told Noah to build an ark to contain those who would believe. However, after years of preaching—listen to this—after years of preaching, only eight souls entered the ark, Noah and his family. Now, today, I'm preaching to you, and I hope that you will listen to what I say, and that there won't have to be somebody else next year or another 5 years from now that will come along and preach again. You don't want to keep saying no to God and keep saying no to God. All the people that were alive in Noah's day, they were preached to; they were told that judgment is coming. Jesus is coming back, and they did not listen. They continued to live their own lives and do their own thing. I'm pleading with you today to no longer live your own life and do your own thing, but to turn your life over to Jesus Christ, who loved you so much that He died for you.
God loved you so much that He sent His only Son to die for you. Jesus said in John 10:10, "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life and have it abundantly." Saul, who became Paul, is a great story of redemption. Mary of Magdala, who was full of demons, became a close friend of Jesus's and traveled with Him. Mary the prostitute became a close friend of Jesus and traveled with Him. Peter, who denied Jesus, became one of the greatest apostles. Just because you've made mistakes doesn't mean that it's too late for you, and it's not too late for me. If you've not received Christ as your Savior, there's a number on the bottom of your screen, and we invite you to call that number. Somebody will pray with you and lead you into a personal relationship with Christ, and we have a free book that we'd like to send to you to help you get your new life started right with Christ.
I've told you today on the program how to receive Jesus. Just tell Him that you're a sinner and you want Him to come into your life, that you're tired of living the way you are, you're tired of running from God, and you want to repent of your sins. You want to turn away from that life. "Jesus, I love you; I give my life to you; come and live in me," and He'll do that. But there are some things you need to understand about that, so call us, and let us talk to you. Thank you so much for listening to me today, and for those of you who need it, let this be a day of great change in your life. God bless you.
God’s WORD and Healing: The Living Connection with Kenneth Copeland 2018. There is power in God’s WORD! In this episode of Believer’s Voice of Victory, Kenneth Copeland explores the healing power of God at work when you trust in and meditate on The WORD. If you are believing God for healing, then don’t wait to understand the living connection between God’s WORD and healing.
I know my God has made the way for me. I know my God has made the way for me. KENNETH: Open your Bibles to Proverbs 4. "Attend to my words," put it first place, "incline thine ear unto my sayings. Let them not depart from thine eyes." This is a big one. "Let them not depart from thine eyes." You need to keep healing verses going into your eyes, going into your eyes so you begin to see yourself well instead of sick, see yourself walking instead of out of commission, see yourself out of debt AUDIENCE: Amen. Amen.
KENNETH: instead of owing all that back taxes. You and it takes a while because you've been seeing yourself night and day like that. You'll be looking at yourself in the mirror of your own mind. And that's the way you keep seeing yourself, particularly if it's a long-term thing. Keep them don't let them depart from your eyes. I was in a meeting in Shreveport, Louisiana, and it was three weeks three weeks long, 21 days, two services a day on most days and three on Sunday. And, the the Sunday night before the meeting started on Monday, Life Tabernacle Church in Shreveport, Louisiana, and the home church of Carolyn Savelle, and in the church and in the meeting where Jerry Savelle got saved. Anyway, the Sunday night, Gloria and I got there, and so we were in church Sunday night, and the meeting started on Sunday Monday morning.
And I felt this this tightening on the inside of my thigh, just above my knee there. It just felt like like I had a a rubber band or something around my leg. And it just started it didn't gradually creep up, it just was there. Didn't hurt all that bad, but it was just kind of tight. By the time church was over, it was it was talking to me. Now, I didn't say that like slang. Jesus walked up to that fig tree, and he answered that tree and said, "No man eat fruit of you." He answered it. The tree was talking. That tree said, "No. Don't care how long you're out here. You ain't getting nothing here today." Jesus said, "Okay." He talked you need to learn how to talk back, particularly if you sit down AUDIENCE: Amen.
KENNETH: to your evening meal, and you flip the television on, and they start all of those prescription drug commercials, while you're trying to eat. AUDIENCE: That's right. KENNETH: Turn BVOVN on, and we won't we won't bug you like that. But they come on there, you know, and, of course, the person's got a smile on their face while the guy in the background's saying, "Here's this stuff will kill you, brother." And they're still smiling. And they come on there and say, "You know, this is " whatever it is. You just holler back at that and say say, "There's healing for that! And I'll never have that disease." Let the Word of God talk back to your television set. All right. Glory to God. Where was I? Anyway, and by the next morning, that thing was hurting. Well, I'm I'm already, "I believe I receive my healing." I'm already doing, you know, my thing here. And, whoa. Boy, by the time that morning service was over with, I was in real pain.
And it's and it's creeping up my leg. And it got to the place, by the evening service on Monday evening, it was the worst pain I had ever suffered up to that time. And equal with the second worst pain I've ever suffered in my life. Amen. AUDIENCE: Amen. KENNETH: And I whoa. I'd step out on the platform, the anointing would manifest, and I wouldn't feel a thing. I mean, just preached and teached and, you know, just enjoyed myself and just having a big time. I wouldn't know sometime between the edge of the platform and the door, one time, I screamed out loud before I could catch it. It just hit me, just blindsided me before I could get out the door. I fought that thing for three weeks. And I'm confessing, confessing, confessing, preaching. I'm preaching healing, you understand? You can change the subject right quick. When you need healing, preach healing. Glory to God. And so, anyway, I laid down across the bed between services that afternoon.
And I said, "Lord, I've missed it here. You you can't miss it. Your Word is true. Your Word is right. If anybody's out of line here, it's me. I'm off base here someplace. I'm I've not made my connection. What what's happening here?" Prayed in the Spirit there for a while. And the Lord took me back to this scripture, "Let them not depart from your eyes." He said, "You've been quoting scriptures, quoting healing scriptures, quoting them and quoting them and quoting them and quoting them." He said, "You've let them depart from your eyes." And He said, "The memory of a potato will not nourish you. You can remember what it looks like, smells like, and tastes like. But you have to get it in the system before it'll do you any good." You have to get it in the system. Well, I mean, what's the difference? If a doctor prescribes a medicine for you, and and you you call him and you said, "There's something wrong with this medicine. I mean, I had the prescription filled and all, and if anything, I'm getting worse." He said, "Well, have you been taking it?" "Well, no, no. But I've got it sitting right there on my bed stand right next to I mean, it's sitting right there. I look at it three times a day." It don't say look at it three times a day, it said take it three times a day.
AUDIENCE: Amen. KENNETH: It's not going to do you any good in the bottle. You've got to get it in the system. Jesus said, Matthew 4:4 you remember He said, "Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God," huh? So, that God is saying His Word feeds the human spirit the way natural food feeds the physical body. What happens when you feed the physical body? Why do you feed the physical body? Because you eat physical food that produces physical strength. Amen. So, as you expend strength, then there comes a time that it has to be replaced.
So you have to go eat to replace it. The same thing is true spiritually. You have to feed on the Word of God faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. You have to feed on the Word of God to produce a spiritual strength called faith. Amen? Put that Word in your eyes, ears, out your mouth until it gets into your heart, for and then protect it. "Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life." That word "issue" is translated "forces." Out of your spirit being are the forces of your life the spiritual forces that your flesh must have in order to live. So protect it. I mean, don't let junk start going in your eyes.
Don't you let junk start coming into your ears. Get out of the presence of people that just talk doubt and sickness and disease all the time. And you say something about faith, and they say, "Ah, that faith stuff, I tried that, and it didn't work." No. It tried you, and you didn't work. And you go to a service somewhere and and, you know, announce, "We're going to talk about faith." "Oh, is he going to talk about faith again? Dear Lord, I've heard that." No, you didn't hear it or you'd come back to the table. "Are we going to have bacon and eggs again this morning? I ate bacon and eggs, oh, let's see. When was that?
I believe that was October of 1991 I think. Didn't care much for it." You want me to tell you? Let me put it this way. I can cut this real short. What if you only ate food when you went to church? You'd starve to death. You want to tell me why people's faith is weak? You feed your body three hot meals a day and your spirit one cold snack a week particularly if you go into a church that don't that don't preach you anything that'll feed your faith. Amen. I said, "Amen." Glory to God. Thank You, Lord. Now then, I'm talking to myself here, you understand? I'm ha-ha. You get busy, you don't spend the time. It's just a little ole' thing here, you know?
And after all, that that Sunday night, it didn't hurt all that bad. But I thought it was going to kill me by the time I got through with that meeting. And I should have immediately gone right to my room and gotten my Bible. Here's something I learned from Brother Hagin. I should have, before I turned the light out, go through my Bible and look at all put into my eyes all the healing scriptures and then meditate on them for at least an hour, and then turn the light out, sleep for an hour, wake up and do it over again. And then turn the light out and sleep for another hour and do it over again. Feed your faith. Feed it. Meditate on it. Feed it.
Jump on that demon while he's before he can get his hooks into you. Hallelujah. And then just take the Word of God and, you know, let the Word fight its own fight. Take that sword of the Spirit and say, "Here, devil, hold this!" And just jam it to the hilt. And every time the thing starts coming back, you rattle that sword a little. He'll flee.
He is so frightened of you, you have no idea how frightened he is of you and the authority you have in the name of Jesus. But when your faith is feeble, he'll and he'll mess with your mind every way he can. But when it comes right down to it and it takes hold in you, and you, "Get! In the name of Jesus!" he'll run like a scared dog. Amen. I'm going to take you through and don't attempt to look these scriptures up. I'm going to read them to you and feed your faith right now. You can write the scripture references down. I especially like Isaiah 35:3-6. "Strengthen ye the weak hands, make firm the feeble knees. Say to those who are fearful hearted, Be strong, fear not.
Your God will come " Well, of course, that was that's in Isaiah. So you and I can say this: "Our God has come with vengeance and recompense. He has saved you. The eyes of the blind see. The ears of the deaf hear. The lame man leaps like a deer, and the tongue of the dumb sings." Amen. Genesis 6:3, "The days of man shall be 120 years." Proverbs 10:7, "The memory of the just is blessed." Isaiah, Chapter 53, beginning with Verse 4, "He hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows." The words "grief" and "sorrows," the Hebrew text is, "He hath borne our sicknesses, diseases, weaknesses, and pains." Now, people get upset because the King James translation will translate it, "grief and sorrow." No, no, no, no, no, no. Don't go there. Don't get upset with that. No, no, no. He bore your griefs. You don't need to be grieving about anything. I mean, grief is a killer. The Word says, "Sorrow not." It says that. Amen. "Sorrow not. We're not people without hope." You need to be resisting and I'm going to tell you something while I'm on this. AUDIENCE: Glory to God. KENNETH: Do you know what the suffering of the saints is? Do you know what our part of suffering is? And there is the righteous suffer. This ain't an easy walk. No. We suffer.
Do you remember the scripture that it says that Jesus learned obedience by what He suffered? Jesus had to learn obedience? Yeah. Because if you just go down a couple of more verses there, it says He suffered being tempted. He had never been tempted in His existence until He put that body of flesh on and came into this earth. My. Boy, my goosebumps is double-parked. Ha-ha-ha. Hallelujah. Glory to God. That went all over me. Now, our suffering now listen to me carefully because I we're just we're about to kill, graveyard dead, an old religious cow. We're going to knock this heifer right between the eyes right now.
AUDIENCE: Hallelujah. KENNETH: There was one guy, every time I'd go to their church, he'd stand up and sing, "Spare Me Nothing." "Spare me nothing that You bore on the cross. If it'll make me closer to You." That's blasphemous. You're not qualified to bear what He bore on that cross. That's just not natural religious thinking. We're going to stop that right now. The suffering of the born-again child of God is to resist steadfastly in the faith everything that Jesus bore on that cross. AUDIENCE: Whoo! Amen. KENNETH: He bore sin, we resist it with every fiber of our being. He bore our sicknesses, we resist it.
In this video sermon Bishop TD Jakes talks about feeding what feeds you. He says that you are to bless what blesses you, to feed what is feeding you, and pour into what is pouring into you. Bishop shows you God’s secret to cycles in your life.
Coming up on The Potter's Touch, anything that feeds you, you must feed it. If you don't feed anything else, common sense says you feed what's feeding you.
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You bless what's blessing you, you help what's helping you, you pour into what's pouring into you. You don't need a degree to speak Hebrew to understand that this is the past. Greetings in the name of Jesus Christ our King. I'm excited and delighted to have this opportunity to share the word of the Lord with you, and particularly this message. The thought has really been the substratum of many of the things that I have meditated on in recent days. The message is called "Feed What's Feeding You." If you would learn to focus on what's feeding you and give it your utmost attention, you'd be surprised how much further you can get along rather than focusing on things that have no intrinsic feeding value for you. How do you value what you've been given? How do you value the people you've been given, those portals of access that God has given you that feed you? Are you taking care of what's taking care of you? Take a look at this, and it'll bless you. "Feed what's feeding you." And then the Lord said to me, and I'll share it in short order. He gave it to me in long form, but I shared it in short order.
"Everything that I created, I created in a system of cycles. Everything that I created, I created in a system of cycles. And I designed it so that if they obey that one law of feeding what's feeding you, I would never have to create again." Watch this. He says, "I allowed the grass to grow up out of the ground with the promise that the grass would feed the ground that fed it. And as long as the grass feeds the ground that fed it, the cycle will go unbroken, and it will always reproduce again. If the ground starts giving more to the grass than the grass gives to the ground, they break the cycle, and everything goes black." He said, "You see the heavens, you see the rain coming down?" He said, "I fixed it the same way. I designed it to cycle. The cloud that bursts and gives the rain can afford to release it because, as the humidity comes, it goes back up, and the cycle goes again. What does it do? It's feeding what's feeding it. Are you hear what I'm saying?" You remember when Jesus passed by the fig tree and cursed the fig tree? What is this? Was it, did Jesus kill the tree 'cause He was hungry? I mean, you know, that's like going past KFC and they're closed, so I burned it down. "I bet you won't close up again, brother. Hungry up in here." That'd be kind of crazy. Did Jesus really just curse the fig tree 'cause He was hungry? No, He cursed the fig tree 'cause it broke the law.
He cursed the fig tree 'cause it broke the cycle. He cursed the fig tree because the fig tree was receiving and not giving. In another text, He said, "Why cumbereth the ground?" Why would you be in the ground and keep drawing and drawing and drawing and not expect to give nothing back to what's given to you? This is not benevolence; this is not generosity; this is sick. You learn cycles. You're giving to what's giving to you, and anytime you break the law, it will die. There will be a curse every time you break the law. If you marry somebody and they keep giving to you and you don't give anything back to them, I guarantee you the marriage is cursed because anytime you don't give to what's given to you, you will kill the source. "Do not muzzle the mouth of the ox." You can't keep working the ox and muzzling his mouth. Anything that feeds you, you must feed it. If you don't feed anything else, common sense says you feed what's feeding you. You bless what's blessing you, you help what's helping you, you pour into what's going into you. Oh, you don't need a degree to speak Hebrew to understand that everything operates that way. The fields, crops, the corn, the okra, everything operates by giving back to the thing that gave to it. The ground gave it to me; now I give it back to them. They give it to me; I give it to them. The cloud gives me rain; I give back humidity back to the cloud.
Everything is a circular system of reciprocity. Every relationship in your life where you violate that law is cursed. I've never understood why I got such a high off of a terrible situation. I don't mean it didn't hurt. I don't mean it didn't break my heart, but I got such a high out of taking care of my mother. I got such a high out of it. Of everything I've ever accomplished, I've been all over the world, got all kinds of trophies and grand even better than edited. Ah, the thing I'm most proud of is that I took care of my mother. To see that, above everything else, above everything else I've ever done in my life, it is by far the thing that I'm most proud of. And the reason I am so proud of it is that I got to prove to her that if the shoe were on the other foot, I would do for you what you did for me. That is a wonderful thing. So, I cleaned her sometimes and washed her sometimes and fed her sometimes, and when I didn't do it, I paid to have it done, to make sure that she was taken care of because when I was a baby, she washed me and cleaned me, and I threw up on her, I peed on her, and she still loved me anyway.
So, I told her, "That's alright, mama. Don't even worry about it. I got you," because I want to see what was feeding it. It says something about your character when you give back to something that gave to you. "Be not deceived; God is not mocked." Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. T.D. Jakes was driving down the road one day, and I saw a sign on the front area of the car, and it says, "Just teach." You're teaching your children how to treat you by how you treat your parents. Whatever you throw at your parents, your kids are gonna throw at you. You cannot show disrespect and reap honor. You cannot show hostility and reap love. You cannot show greed and reap prosperity. Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. Say you want friends? Show yourself friendly. You know why people don't like you? You're not nice. Let me just cut through it. Let me just cut through the drama. Let me tell you what everybody is trying to tell you, and they can't get across to you. The reason folk don't like you is because you're not nice. You've been manipulative and conniving, and they understand it, and they won't play around with it, and you don't need to go to school. You need to learn how to smile, shut your mouth, sit down in your seat, and be nice, and people will always come around nice people. I don't care how cute you are. If you are nasty, nasty will trump cute every time.
"Be not deceived; God is not mocked." Whatsoever you feed what's feeding you—your time, your talent—you invest it into what's feeding you. Some people are eating one place and sowing... You're not gonna talk to me. How in the world can you be eating over here and sowing over there? How can I be your wife, washing your drawers, changing your baby's cooking your food, and hoodie over there getting your money? You eat over here. Oh, you know, no. I'm gonna break it down. Don't say nothing. I'm gonna bring it worth. If anybody was gonna get a watch, it should have been me. If anybody was gonna get a ring, it should have been me. If anybody deserves to go out to dinner, it should have been me. "Be not deceived; God is not mocked." Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. If I give to you, why would you not give to me? Anytime you take in anything living, it has to be sown. Don't take on more than you're willing to feed, and don't expect me to gold sell 'cause you got tired. Now I got to reduce my value down to your comfort. How many people understand the words that are coming out of my mouth?
So, the question is, how can you understand that about you and about your life and about your sacrifice and not understand that about your church? I'll sit. If I'm the one making your life better, if the dance and the drama and the stage or the book or the ministry pours into you, why would you call it robbery to feed what's feeding you? When you go to a restaurant, they don't ask you to pick up the check around the table, but they do expect you, if you ate, to pick up the check for what you ate. If I feed you, aren't you supposed to feed me? And if you don't, here comes the paddy wagon to pick you up because the restaurant will not be mocked. Still to come on The Potter's Touch, whatever you invest the most in will give the most back to you. "Give, and it shall be given unto you again, good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over." Whatever you give yourself to, it will give itself back to you. If you practice well, you'll play well. If you give to him, it will give back to you. Why are you angry at things and people and jobs and businesses and churches that don't give back to you when you don't give anything?
Christ came so that you may have life and have it more abundantly. The mystery and the majesty is that you don't have to work for this. God's provision is never limited. Your river is dried up, but God said, "I already got a plan for you. I already have made provision for you." Now you can receive all that God has in store for you. For your gift of any size, you will receive "Feed What's Feeding You" on CD when you visit our website or call 1-800-BISHOP-2. "I'm gonna bless you according to your appetite. Let me find somebody that's hungry for what I have." And for your gift of $70 or more, you'll receive "Abundance Supply" on DVD. "Whatever little bit you got, you need to use it, and let God open up the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing." However, when your gift is $125 or more, you will receive "Abundance Supply" on DVD, a blessed mug, and notecard set. "I refuse to exist. I will not just exist. I will live. I didn't come to make you religious. I came to make you live." Plentiful blessings await you today, and God will provide in abundance supply. Are you trying to draw from something where you have little investment? If you sow sparingly... Oh, y'all got quiet. Only stay with me. Don't leave. See, when I was saying stuff you could use on your spouse in the car on the way home, you were about to dance out of here. So don't you drop now. You stay right here. Press with me right now. As long as you were shoveling that word at somebody else, you were about to fall over, telling Bishop, "That's right, Lord Jesus, God, I'd live." Wherever you're being fed, whether you're watching over the Internet, if this is not feeding you, don't you feed it. If Potter's House doesn't feed you, don't you feed it. If the books don't bless you, don't read it. If you don't enjoy the ministry, don't watch it. But if you're gonna sit up there and watch it week after week after week after week after week after week and tweet and talk and take the stuff and put it in your messages and talk about it at work and use it in your marriage, use it in your situation, don't get to the end of the broadcast and click off as if the transaction is over. "Be not deceived; God is not mocked." You owe it, not to me, to God, that if God uses me or him or him, it doesn't matter who He uses to pour into your life, don't you sit up in the restaurant and eat and belch and wipe your mouth and get up and walk away like you got amnesia because when the fig tree did that, God cursed it, for it failed to produce on the level that it took. Let's talk about levels. You cannot draw 60 and produce 30. Simple. You cannot draw 60 percent and produce on a 30 percent level. Some people are better takers than givers. If you're going to draw, give on the level that you draw from because if you don't give on the level that you draw from, you will slow down the death, but the death will still occur because little by little, that depletion just happens. It doesn't happen as fast as a robber who stole everything, but it is a gradual decline until all of a sudden, it feels like people got tired of you.
They've not gotten tired of you; they've gotten tired of carrying something that's not giving back on the level that it's taking. This is God's Word. Let's read it again. Go back to your Bible because I want you to read this in your Bible. I want you to get this. I'm not worried about you shouting; you missed your chance. "Let every man bear his own burden." Nor even Paul is saying this. He's saying it to the early church because the majority of the church worked a secular job. And then he says, "Let him that receiveth teaching communicate unto him that teacheth in all good things." In God's perfect order, it was not God's will for the man of God to do anything except give himself over to prayer and study of the word. To relieve him of responsibilities is why the deacons were created, so that the apostles would be able to turn themselves fully over to the Word of God so that when you came to be fed, you would get a full meal without the restriction of them being distracted to take care of their own needs. So he said, "Let him that receiveth teaching communicate unto him that teacheth in all good things." Then, "Be not deceived; God is not mocked." God, and the reason if God is not mocked, and I want you to get this, I want you to get it as I said it, but I want to underline it again. God put in a system, a cycle, so delicate that man's tampering with one of God's systems breaks it down. A system, "Let there be light," and there was light, and it was good, and the evening and the morning were the first day. And God said, "Bring forth," and herbs yielding seed after its own kind, each producing after his own kind. And God said it was good. That's not just creation, though. They're systems, circular systems, that once God put it in motion, as long as you don't mock Him, that system will go uninterrupted. "Give, and it shall be given unto you, good measure, pressed down, shaken together." As long as you don't violate it. As long as I throw you the ball, you can throw it back to me. As long as I pass it to you, you can pass it back to me. But I can't stop passing it and then say, "Why don't you give it back?" God is not mocked. The system... Now, I'll quickly close with this. "Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap."
What areas in your life are you underfunding and over expecting? What areas in your life are you underfunding and over expecting? Oh, are you expecting more out of a career than what you're willing to study for? Are you trying to get something out of the piano that you didn't put into it? Are you trying to get something out of ministry that you don't put into it? Do you realize you can't come once a month and get what you need? My tree died. It wasn't that I didn't feed it. I just didn't feed it often. I put it in the light when I was home. I gave it water when I got a chance, and little by little, the little green things just fell off, and I hated it because it didn't look good, and I had to hide it 'cause it looked bad. But the way it looked was a result of how I treated it. I was over expecting and underfunding. Wow. Don't take on more than what you can afford. Don't overextend yourself beyond your willingness to invest. Don't take five dogs, three cats, and a pool when you know you are not gonna take care of it. Don't have them and then complain 'cause you got to walk them. Common sense tells you that if you had it, you gotta take care of it.
Don't have a baby because of the baby daddy because the daddy may not stay, and you still got the baby. To those of you who didn't understand that, what that actually means is that a life filled with promiscuity and indiscretion ends up in total despair and degradation. It is wise for us to be contemplative before we make such decisions that end in ruin. "Let him that receiveth give back." We have a responsibility, and I'll close with this. Our generation has a responsibility. I am tired of hearing my generation talk about the younger generation. I'm sick of it. We talk about them and their antics and their foolishness and their ways as if they were not our kids. Whatever is wrong with them and whatever's right with them, they are our children. It happened while we were doing our thing, had gone about our business, and dropping it like it's hot, and because we left them to be raised by computers and they had nobody to love and nobody to talk to, had nobody to stand by them, that's why they didn't turn out like you did 'cause your mama put more into you then you put into your daughter. And if you want to change the outcome, you have to change the investment.
So shut up talking to me about these kids. They are our children, and they didn't get here by themselves. And because we were more interested in making money than we were making people, we left them home alone, and they figured it out the best way they could. And the only way to fix it is to go back and do your first works over and repair and say, "I know I wasn't there for you like I should have been, but I'm not gonna leave you in this mess by yourself. Mama made some mistakes, and Daddy did some crazy stuff, but I'm in this mess with you, and whatever it takes to work it out." So we owe it because this is the first generation in history that is biblically illiterate because this is the first generation of young people who never knew went to Sunday school, never went to Vacation Bible School, never went to the sunbeam choir, never were in the Tom Thumb weddings.
You know why? We didn't take them. Now they don't know anything about God, and we don't understand why. And before we die, that's why I want to build a youth center. That's why I want to educate our children. That's why I want to put them in classes and put some faith down in them because now that we got enough sense to come out of the strip club and finally admit that we are broke people, let's go back and parent them the way we should have done 20 years ago and raise up something so that we can put in them what mom and them put in us 'cause I don't want them to face the world without understanding what God is able to do. "Shall yes, lord." I hate to stop there. It's been a real joy to have the opportunity to share this word with you. I see so many people today; they're so busy trying to apprehend what's in front of them that they don't feed what's feeding them. They sacrifice so many portals that God has given you and the people that God has given you that feed you financially, spiritually, emotionally, every area of your life, are being sacrificed while you're snatching something you don't even have yet or taking care of somebody's business that's not even yours. You need to feed what's feeding you. Let's break this down into something you can really use in your daily life and stop sacrificing the many, many people and opportunities that God has given you and taking them for granted, trying to get to the next level.
Do what you do on the level you're on. You work your way to the next level. In fact, you need to work your way to Orlando, Florida, April 30th through May the second. I have got a conference; it's got your name on it. If you're a builder, you're a feeder, you're a thinker, you need to go to the conference, International Pastors and Leadership Conference, and let us pour into you so you can go and pour into other people and do what God has called you to do. Whether you're a pastor, a leader, elder, deacon, auxiliary leader, worship leader, no matter what your function is in the kingdom, you need to be there. Even if you're a leader that hasn't been recognized, haven't started the business yet, haven't opened up the company yet, haven't built the mission field yet, whatever it is, if it's brewing on the inside, we got to start feeding before you birth it. You can't start feeding the baby after the baby's born. It's got to be fed even while you're carrying it on the inside. Join me and the hosts of mission comfort. You have some months. Eakins gonna help you out. Don't miss it. Before I die in a cage, I want to run in the wild, to understand what it is to be free. They can hear that life-changing message and the education. You're frustrated about something that's just an incubator to take you to the next dimension. Now we're gonna grow and go to global missions. No more limits, no more boundaries.
Joyce Meyer - Sermon: Worry and Anxiety. Feeling overwhelmed? Today Joyce shares powerful scriptures to help you stand your ground against worry and anxiety.
What would you do if you didn't have a problem, if everything was coming up roses today? What would you do? Well, do that because your problem is on its way out. I do what I do because I've seen God's power transform my own life, and He will do it for you. The key to everything is found in God's word. I'm Joyce Meyer, and I believe that God can heal you everywhere you hurt.
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Well, thank you for joining me today on Enjoying Everyday Life. It's always my desire that after you spend these 30 minutes with me, you're going to feel so much better than you did before you started listening. The word of God is powerful. It has the ability to calm you down, to cheer you up, to give you hope, to stir your faith up, and I believe that God's going to speak some things through me today that are going to help you because I'm going to talk about worry and anxiety. I just wonder if there's anybody watching me right now that's worried about anything. Well, worry is a huge problem, isn't it? Matter of fact, some people think that it's their obligation to worry. Some people feel like if they don't worry about their kids, they're not being good parents. But worry has never done anybody one ounce of good. There's no upside to worry. Worry is useless. I like to use the example of sitting in a rocking chair. You can sit in a rocking chair and rock all day, and it keeps you busy, but you get absolutely nowhere, and that's the same way it is with worry. You can worry all day, you can stay awake and worry all night, you can worry for a week or a month, and it's not going to do any good, but it can do a lot of harm. Worry is a complete waste of time and energy. You say, "Well, I can't help it." Well, let's not go there because if the Bible tells us not to do it, then there is a way not to do it. And I believe that one of the things that we have to have if we're not going to worry is a strong belief in the power of prayer. I've been a Christian for a long time, and I've been preaching the word for a long time, but even just in the last maybe three years, my faith in the power of prayer has increased so much. I think if we really watch how God answers prayer, sometimes we pray about things, and then later on, maybe six months later, even a year later, God answers them, and we forget we even prayed about it, and so we don't give God the credit. If you have to keep a prayer journal, keep a record of the prayers that God answers and the things that He does for you. E. Stanley Jones said worry is the interest we pay on tomorrow's troubles. The definition of worry means to torment oneself with disturbing thoughts. Wow, well, who wants to torment yourself?
The devil's trying hard enough to torment you; you don't need to help him by worrying. To feel uneasy, to be anxious, or troubled, to torment with annoyances, cares, and anxieties, worry is self-torment, but God's will for you is peace. Oh, I love peace. I think that's one of my biggest goals in life right now, is to get through every day peacefully, and when trouble comes up, to stay peaceful. When there's something that comes along that I could worry about, instead, to choose peace. Peace is wonderful. Colossians 3:15, the Amplified Bible says, "Let the peace that comes from Christ rule and act as an umpire in your heart." Now, we all know what the umpire does. The umpire says whether it's in or out, safe or not safe. And so there's a good lesson here because it's basically saying if you don't have peace about something, don't do it, or if what you're doing is not bringing peace, don't do it. If you're having an argument with somebody and everybody's all upset and there's no peace, then that's not the right thing to do. That's not solving the issue, that's not solving the problem. If you're making a decision, and maybe you want to do it, you want to do it so bad you can hardly stand it, but way down deep inside, you don't have peace about it, but you don't even understand why you don't have peace about it, don't do it. If you don't have peace about it, don't do it. You know, I was abused by my dad growing up, sexually and verbally, and every way you could be abused, and so I married the first guy that showed any interest in me because I thought nobody would ever want me. And I was just 18, and he was 19, and I knew down deep inside that I was making a mistake, but I was desperate. I was afraid nobody would ever want me, and you know, desperate people do desperate things. But don't do things you don't have peace about, and sure enough, it was a five-year nightmare of him running around with other women and not working, and stealing things and stealing things that belonged to me, and finally ended up in prison. And I got a divorce, and then thank God, He sent me Dave, whom I've been married to now for 54 years, and what a change that's been. When you have the right person, it can be wonderful; when you have the wrong person, it's a nightmare. So, don't just get desperate and grab at anything just to have somebody. Wait until God brings you the right person. Now, listen to this. So, be peaceful and be thankful. Wow, I heard yesterday, I was listening to a teaching or something, and it said that gratitude is the shortest-lived emotion, and I thought that was interesting. You know, we ought to be a whole lot more thankful than what we are. The Bible is absolutely full of instructions to be thankful, and right here, it says, "Let the peace of God rule in your heart as an umpire, and be thankful, giving praise to God always."
You know, it's amazing how gratitude can change your life. You may be thinking about everything you don't have, but how about if you take a little time and start giving thanks for what you do have? Pretty soon, you'll get excited; you'll realize how blessed you are. And boy, Jesus left us a wonderful gift; He left us His peace. John 14:27, "Peace I leave with you; my own peace I now give and bequeath unto you; not as the world gives, do I give to you. Don't let your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid." See, He's giving us a responsibility. Now, listen to this. "Stop allowing yourselves to be agitated and disturbed." And you know, the best time to stop worry is when you first begin to worry. The best time to calm down is when you first get upset. The best time to forgive somebody that hurt you is immediately when you start to feel angry about it. The longer you let these negative emotions take root in your soul, the harder it's going to be to get rid of them. "Resist the devil at his onset," the Bible says in 1 Peter. "Stop allowing yourselves to be agitated and disturbed, and don't permit yourselves to be fearful and intimidated and cowardly and unsettled." You say, "Well, Joyce, I just can't help it. I'm just a worrier. My mom was a worrier, and I'm a worrier." Don't say that. You're not just a worrier; you're a child of God. You're full of the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus lives in you. You're not just a warrior; you're an amazing piece of art that God specifically designed and created with His own hand, and His plan for you is good. Oh boy, do I love Philippians 4:6 and 7. This is one of my favorite ones. This is my go-to when I start to worry. This is my go-to. "Don't be anxious about anything, but in every situation by prayer." How do you get rid of worry? You pray, and you believe that when you pray, you're giving God your problem. Well, if you're giving it to God, then you can't keep it too. You either give it or you keep it. And so when you pray, you're giving it over to God, and you're saying, "God, I'm trusting You to do something about this," with thanksgiving. There it is again, thanksgiving. Giving, it's all over the Bible. With thanksgiving, be thankful. What do you have today to be thankful for? You know, a lot of mornings, I just thank God that I can walk and talk and see and hear, or I'll thank God that I've got hot and cold running water in my house, it's clean. I like my first cup of coffee in the morning; I thank God for my coffee. There are so many things you can thank God for. No matter how bad your situation is, it could be so much worse than what it is. I know you may think nobody's got it as bad as you, but there are people in the world that have got it a lot worse than you do. "Don't be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God." And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will guard your heart and mind in Christ Jesus. You know, the way that people greeted one another in the Bible very often was, "Grace and peace be multiplied to you." I think that'd be nice if we had that today instead of just like, "Hey. Oh, how you been?"
Of course, we all say fine, whether we've been fine or not. But they said, "Grace and peace be multiplied to you through our Lord Jesus Christ." You've got to understand grace to ever have peace because grace is God doing for you what you cannot do for yourself. Grace is the power of God. It's undeserved favor. It's God's riches at Christ's expense. Grace is outrageous. You can't understand it. Where sin abounds, grace does much more abound. We cannot have peace unless we understand God's character. Let's talk a little bit about God's character and let just let this be a little checklist. See if you know these things, if you're convinced of these things. First of all, God is good all the time, not just some of the time. And even when I have the biggest problem that I could ever possibly have, that doesn't change God. God's still good. God is faithful; He does what He says He's going to do. He cannot lie. He always, always keeps His word. God is just, and I love that. I love the justice of God.
That means that He makes wrong things right. It may take Him a little bit longer than you'd like for it to, not because He couldn't do it sooner, but God has His own reasons for His timing. And I tell you, I had so many unjust things happen to me in the earlier years of my life, but oh, God has paid me back. He has turned them around and brought justice in my life. Wow, God knows and sees your situation. You may feel like God's forgotten about you, but I can promise you that God has not forgotten about you. And in all probability, there's several people praying for you that you don't even know. God is love, and guess what? He loves you. God is everywhere all the time, and He is not surprised by your situation. He knew about it before it ever happened, and He's already got your escape planned. We receive grace only by faith, and worry is not faith. Worry is our work, trying to do what only God can do. Let me say that again. Worry is our work, trying to do what only God can do. You, you, you can't figure out the answer to your problem. Now, you know, I don't, there's nothing wrong with pondering a situation before God, talking with God about it. "God, is there anything here that I can do? Is there something You want me to do? Is there something I can do to change this situation?" I don't know, maybe you've got turmoil between you and somebody, and you can talk to God about it. He may tell you to go and tell the person you're sorry. Well, you don't think you're in the wrong, so you don't want to do that. But God says, "No, be the bigger person. Go and tell them you're sorry." Well, you could solve your whole problem just by being willing to humble yourself a little bit and do what God wants you to. There's nothing wrong with pondering something before God and asking Him if there's something He wants you to do, but if you're not getting an answer, give the problem to God. Cast your care on Him, and uh-oh, now you are going to be shocked by what I'm getting ready to say, and go ahead and enjoy your day. "Joyce, I can't do that. I have a problem." Well, no, you don't have the problem if you've given the problem to God. Now He's got the problem. And yes, I realize that you still have to deal with situations and circumstances, and if you've got a kid that's giving you trouble, you still got to deal with that. But as long as you're believing God is working on your problem and your situation, worry is the fruit of pride. Worry is me saying, "If I rotate this around and around in my mind long enough, I can figure out an answer. If I worry about this long enough, I can solve my problem." I'm going to say what I said earlier.
You can give your problem to God, and you can go ahead and enjoy your life. The joy of the Lord is your strength, and when the devil gives you problems, he really, the thing he's trying to get is your joy because your joy is what makes you strong. 1 Peter 5:6 and 7, "Therefore humble yourselves, demote, lower yourselves in your own estimation under the mighty hand of God. See, don't even think you can solve your problem. I, I've come to the point in my life where I'm not smart enough to run my own life. Yes, I said, I'm not smart enough to run my own life. Oh my goodness, I don't know how many times every day I ask for God's help. I start before my feet are on the floor in the morning. 'God, help me.' Sometimes I don't even know what I need help with, but I know I need help. I know if God doesn't help me, I'll say the wrong thing, get myself in trouble. If God doesn't help me, I'll give in to the temptation to sin. I need God's help, and so do you. Casting all of your care, all your worries, all your concerns, once and for all on Him, for He cares for you affectionately, and He cares about you watchfully. How do you humble yourself? Casting your care on God. Do your responsibility, but cast your care. And see, what most people do is they keep the care and don't do their responsibility. Ephesians 6 talks about when we're having all kinds of diverse trials and temptations, and it says, having done all the crisis demands, stand firmly in your place. If there is something you can do, do it. But if there is nothing you can do, and you know, the devil sends out a little demon to sit on your shoulder, 'What are you going to do? What are you going to do? What are you going to do? What are you going to do?' Well, if you don't know what to do, just say, 'I, I don't know what to do, but God does.' I'm going to praise God. I'm going to keep giving. I'm going to be a blessing to somebody. You want to really make the devil mad? When you've got your biggest problem, go be a blessing to somebody else. Yes, I'm going to say it again. When you've got your biggest problem, go be a blessing to somebody else. Find something you can give, find some way that you can be a blessing to other people. You know why? Romans 12:21 says we overcome evil with good. Boy, I like that scripture. If evil has snuck its way into your life, then you go be good to somebody. Psalm 37:3, "Trust in the Lord and do good." Don't just trust God, but keep doing good, keep doing the right thing. Faith prays. Faith doesn't worry. Faith prays.
Well, just what should you do after you pray while you're waiting for God to do His work? What are you supposed to do then? Well, number one, keep a good confession. In other words, keep saying what God says. Don't say what the world would say. Don't pray one thing and then go talk about it in the opposite way. Stay positive, and don't even start complaining. Oh, if we can get through just one day without complaining, what a miracle that would be. Don't get into moaning and grumbling and complaining. It opens the door for the devil. Don't get discouraged and depressed. Stay joyful. This is an important one: don't be resentful of people who don't have a problem. Woo, that's so hard. Well, why is it that I have problems all the times, and you never seem to have a problem? Be happy for them. "Thank you, God, that even though I have a problem, my friend John doesn't have a problem. Thank you that my sister doesn't have a problem." Don't be jealous of people that aren't going through a hard time just because you are going through a hard time. Keep any and all commitments that you have made. You know, when we're upset about something, the first thing we want to do is just go sit home and feel sorry for ourselves and isolate ourselves and not go to church and not keep our commitments. "I'm not working in the nursery this Sunday. I know I said I would, but I'm not going to because I've got a problem." Well, that's not what God wants you to do. He wants you to keep your commitments. What should I do when I don't know what to do? Well, do what you would do if you didn't have a problem. I like that. What would you do if you didn't have a problem, if everything was coming up roses today? What would you do? Well, do that because your problem is on its way out. You can start saying goodbye to it now. "Goodbye, problems. God is after you." While you're waiting on God, regularly voice your trust for God. "Lord, I trust You." You can just say it. You can just go through your house and say, "God, I trust You. God, I put my trust in You. I know You're working on my problem."
Psalm 91:1 and 2, "Whoever dwells in the secret place of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty." Now, listen to this. "I will say of the Lord." What are you saying about God? "I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I put my trust." Boy, I like that. And then I added another one this morning: be prepared to wait. Oh, we don't like that waiting stuff, do we? You know, I'm one of these people. I want to just do it and get it over with. And our TV at home, it has some weird problems. It's like sometimes you turn it off, and it comes back on, and then you got to use the on button to turn it off, the off button to turn it on, and I get frustrated with it. And Dave keeps telling me, "You have to point the remote at the TV, and you press the off button, and you have to hold it there for at least 10 seconds." Now, I guess for some reason, it's not working perfectly, but he's found a way for it to work. And last night, I was not holding it long enough, and I guess I was holding it up in the air, and he said, "You can't hold it up in the air. You got to point it at the TV, and you got to wait 10 seconds." It's amazing how hard it is sometimes just to wait 10 seconds. But we've got to be prepared to wait when we give our problems to God. He's got a timing, and it's not our timing. Worry robs you of your power, the grace that God gives you to live today because worry always operates in the past or the future. You waste today worrying about yesterday, or you waste today worrying about tomorrow.
And God doesn't want you to do either one. He wants you to enjoy today and live today, one day at a time. We don't know; we trust God for a long life, but what if this is my last day? What if God's going to bring me home to be with Him tonight? Well, I don't want to spend my last day here worrying. Matthew 6:34 says, "Don't worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Oh, my goodness, I wish that wasn't there. I would rather not think that if I make it through today, tomorrow may have some other kind of trouble. But you know what? We're living in a world where the devil is alive and well on planet Earth, and he loves to try to give people trouble. But if we trust God, honestly and truly, if we really trust God, we don't even notice all that stuff because God is so good, and He's busy bringing answers into people's lives, and it's really fun to watch God work in your life. It's just wonderful to watch Him work. Worry causes illness, ulcers, colon problems, headaches, nervous tension, irritability, and even cancer. Worry nullifies prayer. If I'm going to pray about something, then I, then and worry about it too, then my worry cancels out my prayer. The act of prayer says, "God, I trust You," and worry says, "God, I don't trust You." Worry chokes the word and keeps it from being fruitful. According to Matthew 13, some seed fell among thorns and grew up and choked the plants. Worry can cause us to miss important things going on around us, things that we should be aware of and things that we should see and notice. God wants to set you free from worry.
Joel Osteen - Sermon: It Is Finished.
In this message, Joel will show that instead of accepting an addiction as a part of your life and allowing it to stay, you need to announce to that addiction: “It is finished! You don’t control me, and you can’t keep me from my destiny. The price has been paid. I am free. I am whole. I am clean.”
When you rise up and tell the past, tell the poverty, tell the guilt, “It is finished! This is not who I am. I am blessed. I am prosperous. I am victorious,” strongholds are broken in the unseen realm, chains are loosed, and favor is released.
Full Textual Version of the sermon:
Well, God bless you. Thanks for letting us come into your homes, and if you're ever in our area, please stop by and be a part of one of our services. I promise you we'll make you feel right at home. I like to start with something funny, and I heard about this cat and mouse that died on the same day and went to heaven. After a few weeks, Peter saw the mouse and asked him how he liked it. He said, 'Oh, it's great, but it's so big. I wish I could get a pair of roller skates.' Peter said, 'No problem,' got him some roller skates. A few weeks later, Peter saw the cat and asked him how he liked it, he said, 'Oh, it's fantastic, and just when I thought it couldn't get any better, I discovered the Meals on Wheels.'
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I want to talk to you today about 'It is finished.' We all have things that are trying to hold us back, guilt from past mistakes, temptations we can't seem to overcome, dysfunction that's been passed down. It's easy to learn to accept it and think that that's who we are, but God didn't create you to go through life weighed down by addictions, dysfunction, guilt, the past. He created you to be free, and when Jesus hung on the cross, before he took his final breath, he said, 'It is finished.' He wasn't just talking about his life and how he had finished his purpose. He was putting an end to all the negative things that could keep us from our destiny. He was saying, in effect, the guilt is finished, the depression is finished, the low self-esteem, the mediocrity, it is finished. And instead of accepting the addiction, thinking, 'It's the way it's always going to be. Everybody in my family has it,' you need to announce to that addiction, 'It is finished. You don't control me. You can't keep me from my destiny. The price has been paid. I am free, I am clean, I am whole.' But as long as you accept it, you're allowing it to stay. But when you tell the addiction, tell the past, tell the poverty, 'It is finished, this is not who I am, I am blessed, I am prosperous, I am victorious,' in the unseen realm, strongholds are broken, chains are loosed, favor is released. Are there things you're living with that you need to say, 'It is finished'? Are you going around guilty, down on yourself because of past mistakes, not expecting anything good? You need to announce to that guilt, 'It is finished. I'm done beating myself up, living condemned. God's mercy is bigger than my mistakes. I am redeemed, I am restored, I am forgiven, and I am excited about my future.'
Are you living with a sense of shame, feeling inferior because of how somebody treated you? They did you wrong, they walked away? Now the accuser whispers, 'It's because you're not good enough. You're not attractive enough. You don't deserve to be loved.' Announce to that shame, 'It is finished. I'm not living inferior, unworthy. I know who I am. I am a child of the Most High God. I'm wearing a crown of favor. I have royal blood flowing through my veins. No matter what someone did or didn't do to you, it does not change who you are, and you may have had bad breaks, gone through unfair situations, don't have a victim mentality, have a victor mentality.
God said He would pay you back double for the unfair things that have happened. That person that did you wrong, they thought they were hurting you, the truth is they were helping you. They qualified you for double. They thought they were setting you back, in reality they were setting you up. Now, do your part, say to the self-pity, 'It is finished. I'm not living discouraged, dwelling on my disappointments, reliving my hurts. I'm letting go of the old and I'm getting ready for the new things God has in store. Father, thank you double is coming my way.'
But we can all find a reason to live negative, thinking that we're at a disadvantage. 'My boss overlooked me.' Somebody walked out of a relationship. I'm asking us to get rid of the excuses. It's time to say, 'It is finished. I'm done thinking about what I didn't get, what didn't work out.' You have to tell the past, tell the self-pity, tell the discouragement, 'It is finished.' As long as you justify your condition, you're giving it permission to stay.
John chapter 5, Jesus met a crippled man that had been lying by the pool of Bethesda for 38 years. There were five porches surrounding this pool filled with sick people, and once a year, when the angel moved the waters, the first person to get in would be healed. Jesus said to the crippled man, 'Do you want to get well?' It seemed like there was an obvious answer, everyone was at the pool to get well. But the scripture says when Jesus saw the man lying there, He asked, 'Do you want to get well?' In other words, there was nothing in this man's actions that said he wanted to get well, nothing in his behavior that said, 'I'm expecting things to change.' He had his bed there by the porch, his whole area set up. I can imagine a table, a lamp, books, pictures. In 38 years, he had gotten comfortable in dysfunction. He thought, 'This is my lot in life. It's never going to get better.' He was surrounded by other people that were sick, that were blind, that were afflicted. He gravitated to people that were just like him. Everybody was needy. Everybody was complaining. Everybody was discouraged. You need to be careful who you surround yourself with, especially in difficult times. You may have an illness, but don't go find a bunch of other sick people to hang around. Misery loves company. If you struggle with an addiction, don't hang out with people that are addicted. That's going to cause you to get stuck. If you're depressed, don't go find five depressed friends so you all can be depressed together. Find people that have what you want. If you're struggling in your finances, get around blessed people, generous people, people that are well off. If you tend to be negative and critical, don't stay around people like that. Find people that are happy, positive, grateful. There should be something about you that says, 'I want to get well. I want to be blessed. I want to go to the next level.'
When Jesus asked this man if he wanted to get well, instead of saying, 'Yes, that's what I'm believing for, that's my dream,' he said, 'Sir, I don't have anybody to help me get in the water. When the angel comes, somebody always beats me in.' He was justifying his condition. 'I'm this way because I'm at a disadvantage. Nobody will help me.' As long as you're making excuses for where you are, you're going to get stuck. 'I'm this way, Joel, because I had a bad childhood. I'm bitter because a business partner cheated me. I'm negative because I have this illness.' I'm asking us to get rid of the excuses. Nothing that's happened to you has to keep you from your destiny. If it was going to stop your purpose, God wouldn't have allowed it.
You may not understand it, it may not be fair, but if you will take the hand you've been dealt and make the most of it, God will get you to where you're supposed to be. No person can stop them, no bad break, no addiction, no sickness. God has the final say. Tell the self-pity, 'It is finished.' Tell the excuses, 'It is finished. This is a new day. God's about to do a new thing.' Jesus said to the crippled man, 'Get up, pick up your bed, and walk.' Instantly the man was healed. He stood up and was able to walk out of there, and what you think is permanent, looks like it's never going to change, that addiction you've had for years, the illness, the situation in your finances, you don't see a way, but God has a way. Right now, he's fighting your battles. I believe things are changing in your favor. Breakthroughs are headed your way. New beginnings, healing, freedom, it may look permanent, God is saying, 'It's only temporary. I'm about to turn it around.'
What's interesting is this crippled man didn't have a lot of faith. He didn't say, 'Yes, I believe I can get well.' He made excuses, yet God in His mercy healed him. Imagine how God feels when He sees you shaking off the self-pity, shaking off the excuses, saying, 'Lord, I believe You can turn my child around. I believe You'll take me to the next level. I believe You'll free me from this addiction.' When you believe, God will make things happen that you couldn't make happen. Tell the excuses, tell the doubt, tell the negative thoughts, 'It is finished.' It's time to put a stop to some things. This is what my father did, he grew up very poor. His parents were cotton farmers, and they lost everything during the Great Depression. My father went to school with holes in his pants and holes in his shoes. In high school, he was given the Christmas basket that went to the poorest family. He was at a disadvantage, no money, very little education. The odds were all against him. He had a good excuse to settle where he was and accept a life of mediocrity. But at the age of 17, my father gave his life to Christ, the first one in his family. On the inside, he could feel seeds of greatness rising up, on the outside, everything said, 'You're poor. You're at a disadvantage. You're limited. You don't have a future.' But down in his spirit, he could hear God whispering, 'This is not who you are, you're better than this. You can set a new standard. You were made for more,' and at 17, he told his parents he was going to leave the farm and become a minister. They thought he had lost his mind. They said, 'John, you better stay here on the farm with us. All you know how to do is pick cotton.' They meant well, but sometimes well-meaning people will try to talk you out of your destiny. If my father would've stayed in that limited environment, he would've never seen the fullness of what God had in store. You have to get away from people that only see you for who you used to be and not for who you're about to be because some people that knew you back then will try to keep you in the same box that you grew up in. They'll try to put limitations on you, 'You can't accomplish that dream, you're not that talented. You better play it safe.' This is what happened in the scripture with David. His family didn't see him as a giant killer, as a king. They discounted him. David's father didn't bring him in from the shepherd's fields when the prophet Samuel was choosing one of his brothers as the next king. He thought, 'Ah, it's just David. He's so small, he's so young. He doesn't have the experience.' But people don't determine your destiny. What they say about you, how they try to make you feel cannot stop what God has ordained for your life, and you need to distance yourself from people that are always trying to put limitations on you and talk you out of what God put in your heart.
Sometimes it's the people that have known you the longest because they can only see you one way. Jesus' brothers never accepted Him. He was performing all these miracles, but they didn't see Him as the Messiah, they only saw Him one way, as their brother, thinking, 'Oh, it's Jesus. Nothing special about Him, we grew up with Him.' Even when Jesus began to gain notoriety, the scripture says His brothers scoffed at Him. They made fun, 'Yeah, right, you're the Messiah.' They tried to discount Him, talk Him out of His destiny. Jesus let it go in one ear and out the other. My father could've stayed in that limited environment and accepted a life of poverty and lack. He could've lived with a scarcity mindset, but he did what I'm asking us to do. He rose up and said, 'It is finished. This may be where I am, but this is not who I am.' At 17, he took a step of faith. He had to hitchhike, but he left the farm. He started ministering in the prisons, in the senior citizens homes, in the schools, and God began to promote him and open doors, and he and my mom founded Lakewood. He pastored here for 40 years. He went on to live a blessed, abundant life, and here's my point. My father broke the curse of poverty in our family. Now myself, my siblings, all of our children are living at a higher level because one man didn't settle for the status quo. One man didn't say, 'I'm at a disadvantage. I've had bad breaks.' Instead, he said, 'It is finished. I'm a difference maker. I can set a new standard.' You can be that man, you can be that woman for your family. You can put an end to negative things that have been passed down. What you're dealing with may not have started with you, but it can stop with you. You need to say to the poverty, say to the lack, 'It is finished. I will lend and not borrow.' Say to the addiction, the depression, the dysfunction, 'It is finished.' God wants you to set a new standard. You have seeds of greatness. You are full of talent, ideas, potential. You're not limited by where you came from. Just because negative things have been passed down doesn't mean they're supposed to continue. You're the one to break the curse, to break the poverty, to break the depression, to break the dysfunction. You can take your family to a new level. Now, don't talk yourself out of it. Don't let circumstances discourage you. The odds may be against you, but the Most High God is for you. He is breathing in your direction right now. He's going to open doors that no man can shut, bring talent out of you that you didn't know you had, cause the right people to be good to you. Opportunity is going to track you down. Good breaks, freedom, increase, you're stepping into a new level. Bondages that have held you and your family back are being broken. Now, do your part, have a new mindset, an abundant mentality, a free mentality, a healthy mentality, a victorious mentality. I wouldn't be standing here if my father would've kept that poverty mindset, that scarcity mentality, thinking, 'I'm at a disadvantage. I've had bad breaks.' We could all come up with an excuse to settle where we are. I'm asking us to get rid of the excuses. Anything that's holding you back, it's time to announce to it, 'It is finished. This is a new day, I'm drawing the line in the sand. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord, we will live free from addictions, we will lend and not borrow, we will be generous and help others, we will accomplish our dreams and become everything we were created to be.'
I have a friend that's very successful, his father was a police officer, and he was raised in a middle-class home. When he was 11 years old, his father asked him to get in the car and they were going to take a drive together. They drove for several hours to another state. The father never told his son where he was taking him. They came to this very rundown neighborhood, trash everywhere, nothing kept up. Young boy's eyes were so wide, he'd never seen anything like this. They finally pulled into this dirt makeshift driveway of this house that was very dilapidated. No front door, the windows were broken out, it looked like it was vacant. They walked in, there was an old man sitting on a stool. No shirt on, hadn't shaved, looked like he was homeless. The father looked at him and said, 'Dad, I brought my son to see you.' The young boy couldn't believe that was his grandfather. He'd never seen him, never heard his father talk about him. The grandfather wouldn't look up. He didn't want anything to do with his son nor his grandson. The father put some money on the counter, said, 'Dad, I love you, I just wanted to say hi.' They both walked out. The young boy said, 'Dad, that was the most scared I've been in my whole life. I never want to come back to this place.' The father said, 'Son, that's why I brought you here, to show you this is where we come from, but this is not who we are.'
Now, you may have been raised in a limited environment, they were good people, but they didn't have any vision, they settled for mediocrity. Like my friend, you can set a new standard. Where you start is not important. Where you finish is what matters, and God is going to use you to not just break a generational curse, but to start a generational blessing. Where you come from is not who you are. You are blessed, you are free, you are talented, you are a child of the Most High God. Abraham was in a limited environment. God told him to leave his country, leave his family, and go to the land that I am showing you. God was saying, 'Abraham, you have to leave what's familiar, leave what you grew up with.' I'm not suggesting to abandon your family, but I am saying to leave negative mindsets you were raised with. Leave a scarcity mentality. Leave limitations that people have put on you. You have to make room for God to increase you, and sometimes, our environment is too small. If you take an oak tree seed and plant it in a 5-gallon pot, that oak tree will never become what it was created to be, not because there's something wrong with the tree, but because of the environment that it's in. In the same way, there's nothing wrong with you. You have seeds of greatness. The Most High God breathed His life into you. Now make sure your pot is not too small. Make sure your environment is not holding you back. You need to be around people that inspire you, people that have gone further, people that are making a difference, not just people that are settling for the status quo. Isaiah said, 'Enlarge the place of your tent. Stretch forth your curtains. Lengthen your cords. Strengthen your stakes. Make room for God to do a new thing.' Tell that limited mindset, 'It is finished. I'm dreaming big dreams. I'm praying bold prayers. I'm expecting to go further than how I was raised.' When my father went to be with the Lord, people would ask me if I thought we could keep the church going, and I never said it arrogantly, but I would tell them, 'I don't think we can just keep it going, I believe we can go further.' It's because God is a progressive God. He wants every generation to increase. Have a big vision. Don't settle for what your parents had, what your relatives accomplished. You were made for more. You can go further. You can be the one to set the new standard.
But it's easy to talk ourselves out of our dreams, live discouraged because of disappointments and things we don't understand. We worked hard, but didn't get the promotion. We prayed, but our loved one didn't make it. We did our best, but the relationship didn't work out. Life is not always fair. I can't explain everything, but I can tell you God said He would take what was meant for your harm and use it to your advantage. He said He would give you beauty for the ashes, but I've learned you have to let go of the ashes before you receive the beauty. You can't hold onto the old and expect to receive the new. The past is over and done. That's why it's called the past. Quit dwelling on it, quit reliving it. You're not going to understand everything that happens, but God has a purpose, He knows how to bring good out of it. Keep moving forward. This is what David did, he had a newborn baby that became very sick, and David night and day prayed and fasted for this baby. He wouldn't eat, he wouldn't talk with anyone else. He spent all of his time on his knees, asking God to heal his child. On the seventh day, the little baby died. They didn't know how David would handle the news, but when they told him, David got up off the ground, took a shower, put on new clothes, and went to the temple and began to worship God. When he finished, he went and had dinner with his men. They were so amazed, they said, 'David, when the child was living, you wept, you refused to eat, but now that he has died, you've stopped your mourning and you're acting like everything's okay.' David said, 'When the child was alive, I asked God to let him live. But now that he has died, I cannot bring him back, but one day I will go to be with him.' David did everything he could. He prayed, he fasted, he believed, but it didn't work out his way. He could've lived bitter, with a chip on his shoulder, but David understood this principle. He said to the past, 'It is finished. I don't understand it, but I'm moving forward.' We all have things in life that we don't understand. It's easy to live negative, with a chip on our shoulder. But if we're going to see the double, if we're going to see the beauty for ashes, we have to do like David and say to the past, say to the things you don't understand, 'It is finished. I'm not going to dwell on what didn't work out. I'm not going to try to figure out why. I'm going to let it go and keep moving forward.' The past doesn't have to stop you. A bad break, a loss, a disappointment, God is in control of your life. You wouldn't be alive unless He had something amazing up in front of you. You haven't had too many bad breaks, you haven't made too many mistakes. You're on the verge of seeing double. You're on the verge of beauty for ashes. Now, do your part, put on a new attitude, wash your face, and get ready for the new things God is about to do. Let me declare this over you today. Receive this into your spirit. The past, the hurts, the regrets, it is finished. The poverty, the lack, the limited mindsets, it is finished. The addictions, the depression, the dysfunction, the guilt, the shame, the self-pity, it is finished. This is a new day. Things that have held you back are being broken right now. You're going to step into a new level of freedom. You're going to break generational curses and start generational blessings. You're about to see the beauty for ashes, healing, promotion, breakthroughs. They are headed your way in Jesus' name. 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.
The sermon "Victims of Suicide" by Joyce Meyer. Suicidal thoughts...Learn where they come from, and how victims and their families can experience healing through Jesus Christ.
In Sermon Victims of Suicide Joyce Meyer say: I want to talk specifically about depression because that's a deeper issue than just being a little bit sad, or having a bad day, or an unhappy day. And let me just start off by saying that there's a lot of different reasons for depression. And if you have trouble with depression, I know that sometimes it's not as simple as just, well, put a smile on your face, and forget your problems, and go on about your business. But I do believe that no matter what we're dealing with, even if doctors can't fix it, Jesus can. Jesus can, amen? I said Jesus can. Actually, Jesus can heal you anywhere you hurt. Healing is not just for the physical body, but it's for emotions, it's for finances, for our social life, for our mind. Every area of our being, Jesus wants to heal us, and he is our healer. I believe that all healing comes from God.
Full Sermon
Even if it comes through some kind of medical help, it still came from God because only he can give people the technology that we have available today to help us in some of these areas. Now, there are a lot of medical reasons why people can be depressed. Jesus can heal those. I believe that this weekend that people are going to have breakthroughs. And I don't want you just to get your little breakthrough, and go home and enjoy your breakthrough. I want you to let us know that God touched you because it's important for our faith to grow in these areas, and also important for you to share your testimony. People can be depressed because they eat too much sugar, and it's not agreeing with them. People can be depressed because they don't get enough sleep. People can be depressed because they get too much sleep. Do you know that laziness will depress you? If you just sit around and do nothing, the more you do nothing, the more you don't want to do anything, so nothing turns into more nothing. And the more active you are, the more active you can be.
The more inactive you are, the more inactive that you want to be. God didn't create us to sit around and do nothing. He wants us to bear fruit. And so, sometimes just boredom can depress you. There's a lot of different reasons. Problems, if we meditate on our problems too much, and we think about our problems, and we talk about our problems, if you look around at your problems all the time, you know, there's a danger in just staring at your problems, and talking about your problems, and talking about your problems, and talking about your problems, and talking about your problems. And God wants to help us in greater ways than what we can even imagine, but we do need to be willing to give him our problems and our situations.
So, if a person is making you sad, don't let somebody else who doesn't want to be happy steal your joy. And I think maybe I'm going to say that again. I said if another person is making you unhappy, don't let somebody who doesn't want to be happy steal your joy, amen? And to be honest, if they enemy is using them to make other people unhappy, the more unhappy you are, the more you feed their problem. I had a lot of discouragement, and depression, and bad moods in the early years of mine and david's marriage. I had a lot of problems. I'd been abused, and I had not learned how to think right yet. And my husband loved me, and he tried to help me, but I really wasn't at a point yet where I was ready to receive help. And I was unhappy a lot, but dave stayed happy, and his joy made me mad. Well, it's the truth. You know, when you're unhappy, somebody that's happy annoys the living daylights out of you. You don't it's like it's just like, "well, what are you so happy about?" And so and it was just it would almost aggravate me that he didn't seem to have any problems.
Well, it must be nice that life was so great for you, but you know, you didn't go through what I went through. And, but I can also tell you that in the long run, dave's joy was the salt that God used to make me thirsty to have what he had. So, you're not helping the person you're in a relationship with if you let them make you unhappy all the time. You're actually only feeding their problems. So, if you want to help them are you ready for this? If you want to help them, stay happy. I said if you want to help them, stay happy. And I'm not talking about being ridiculous, and going around and giggling all the time, and not but I'm just you know, joy is anything from extreme hilarity to a calm delight. And I think that we have those moments of extreme hilarity, but basically we live in a calm delight. It's God's desire that we just live in this calm delight, and that we can enjoy wherever we're at, whatever's going on. Not that we like everything that's going on, we don't. And one thing's for sure, now listen to what I'm going to say, you'll never be consistently happy if you don't make a decision that you're going to be. Okay, so about % of the crowd got that, so we're going to try again. I want you to you know, it's not even about the clapping so much as I just want you to get that. You're never going to really be consistently happy if you don't make a decision to be happy.
And I'll tell you something else that I think. I think that joy has to be a priority in our lives. I realized probably , years ago that because the devil stole my childhood, that I never really learned how to be a child. And you know, kids are pretty happy no matter what. You know, they get mad at somebody and be over it in seconds. They you know, you can punish them for something, and they'll find a way to make a game out of that. And it you know, you tell them no and act like it's the end of the world, but a few minutes later, everything is fine. And I never got a chance to be a kid, and so I didn't know how to be one. And I think every healthy adult also needs to have a good healthy child on the inside of them. And maybe some of you that your childhood was stolen. You've always been serious, you've always been sincere, you've always been deep. You know, I used to say, "well, I've just got a deeper personality." Well, I was so deep, I didn't know where I was at half of the time. And so, you know, maybe you're like that. Maybe you've kind of just lost yourself somewhere in your depth, in your deepness, and it's time to just lighten up a little bit and try to enjoy your life. You don't have to figure everything out. You can trust God and let him figure some things out, amen? And the reason why we call our tv program "enjoying everyday life" is because it became a real priority for me because I continually saw in the word of God that one of the reasons why Jesus died for us is so that we might have joy, and that we might enjoy our lives in abundance to the full, until it overflows. Paul said, "rejoice in the lord, and again I say rejoice." And he was in very bad circumstances when he wrote that, it's recorded in philippians.
And so, I started making enjoying my life a priority. And I didn't want to just enjoy parts of it, I wanted to enjoy all of it. Being sad about your problems is not going to make them go away. [audience applauding] Joyce Meyer: "but laughter does good like a medicine," the bible says. And I know, I can almost see it when I look around, I see a certain amount of people, it's like what I'm saying almost minorly aggravates you because it's kind of like, "it's nice for you to say. You just don't have my problems." No, you're right, I don't have your problems, but I've had plenty of my own. And I'm telling you what I've learned over the years. I wasted too much of my life being sad about things that I couldn't do anything about. You know, you can't do anything about your past, but you can do something about your future. Maybe you didn't have a good start, but you can still have a good finish, amen? This is the day the lord has made, and today I will rejoice and be glad. And you might think, "well, I can't help the way I feel." Well, depression does do a lot to your feelings.
And like I said, there's a lot of different reasons for that. I'm not just saying everybody can just, you know, all of a sudden feel better, but you can do something about how you act. And I believe that when we act on the word of God in faith, that our feelings catch up with it. So, for example, you could maybe instead of oh, let's just say if you're already depressed, you know, why do you want to sit around and watch sad movies that make you cry? Went and saw a good movie last week, the worst, craziest, most awful day that you've ever had in your whole life. That was pretty funny too. And dave didn't think it was as funny as I did, but I said, "do you know what? I guess I just needed a laugh." And when I really need a laugh, it don't take much to get me started, and I'm off and rolling. In other words, what am I saying? Laugh on purpose. Don't spend all your time hanging out with people that are in a worse mood than you are. Get around some people that have got a sense of humor. Amen? [audience applauding] Joyce Meyer: we have a couple that travel with us on the road, and he's our staff pastor. You'll meet mike throughout the weekend and his wife penny. And mike is just funny. And I just love to have him around because he's just funny. He just does and says some of the funniest things, and yet he's very deeply spiritual, and can be very serious, and can handle anything that you want him to handle. But we all need to have a sense of humor. And you know what? Some of you, it might just change your life if you would make a decision to take every opportunity that you possibly can to just have a good laugh. And yes, I'm also talking to the people watching at home by tv.
And I want you to cheer up. The two best things you can do is calm down and cheer up. "in the world, you will have tribulation," Jesus said, "but cheer up, i Have overcome the world." Two scriptures. Psalm , verse , "why are you cast down, o my inner self? And why should you moan over me and be disquieted within me? Hope in God and wait expectantly for him, for I shall yet praise him, my help and my God." David was having a talk with himself. And you know, sometimes when my mood starts to sink, I have to have a talk with myself. Sometimes, you've got to take yourself somewhere and have a little meeting with yourself, you know what I'm saying? I mean, I actually have to say to myself sometimes, "okay, Joyce Meyer, knock it off." Especially if I'm getting cranky because I didn't get something I wanted, or I'm having a tough day, or you know, somebody aggravated me a little bit. I mean, my goodness, we have got so many blessings in our life. I said we have got so many blessings in our life. You know, if you make enough noise, you can scare off the spirit of depression. And psalm :, I think it's interesting because he said the exact same thing twice in this one chapter. And the whole chapter is only verses. "why are you cast down, o my inner self? And why should you moan over me and be disquieted within me? Hope in God and wait expectantly for him, for I shall yet praise him who is the help of my countenance," that's the look on our face. God will help my face. That's exactly what that means. "who is the help of my countenance." Your countenance is the look on your face. That means that God will help us have bright eyes and a smile, amen? Let me tell you, if you smile a lot in your younger years, you won't have as many wrinkles when you get older. Learn to laugh at yourself, don't be so deeply serious. "why so downcast, o my soul? Put your hope in God. Don't moan over me and be disquieted within me. Hope in God and wait expectantly for him, for I shall yet praise him who is the help of my countenance, and he is my God."
So, I'm going to pray for you. Father, I thank you for just reminding us that you want us to be happy. And I know that the anointing destroys the yoke of bondage. And I believe that you've given us a word for this conference in particular that you are going to break depression off of people as they sit in the worship, and as they hear the word. But I pray that every person here will make a decision tonight, a firm decision that they are going to be happy, and they are going to enjoy the life that you've given them, even while they're waiting on the things that they would like to have, that they're going to enjoy where they're at right now. So, in the name of Jesus, through the power of the holy spirit, I take authority over the spirit of depression, sadness, moaning, and groaning, and regret, and dread. And I thank you, lord, that the joy that's in us is greater than any of those things that come against us. And so, I pray that your joy would rise up and fill people, and just press off of us all those other things that try to hold us down. And I thank you, lord, for healing people that have medical depression. Straighten out their hormones, straighten out their chemical imbalances. I thank you, lord, for helping people that have been hurt, and wounded, and abused in their past. I thank you, lord, for pouring in your healing oil into their wounded souls. This is a brand new day, a turnaround evening.
And I thank you, father, that you're going to do what man and even medical science cannot do in Jesus' name, amen, amen. Come on, let's get happy. Joyce Meyer: well, enjoying everyday life is something that Jesus wants us to do. He has called us to live life abundantly. There's a trend today with young people getting caught up in taking their own life, and they see it even as romantic. Chad daniel's with us today to help us understand who the actual victims of suicide are. Well, chad, I'm kind of interested to hear what you have to say too. Suicide is romantic? Chad: yeah, if you look at the whole romeo and juliet, and that's one of the things that people always seem to reference, it's like, "oh, you know, it'll be better when I'm gone. I'll be in my coffin, and they'll think about " you know, everybody remembering all the good things about them. But it's not that. The stark reality is you're gone forever, you can't rewind it, you can't start over again. And it's not as beautiful as everybody would like to think it is in the way hollywood promotes it, it's like, "oh great, you know, you're just going to die." It's not like that. It's a very cold, harsh reality when you begin to even consider taking your life, much less then do the act. And the problem with that is people say, "well, it'll be over." It's not over. When you take your life, we're left. I'm the victim. When my father killed himself, it was me and my two sisters who were left to pick up the pieces.
The victims of suicide are the survivors. And that's where I always talk about the selfish aspect of suicide because people are thinking about, "well, it's just all about me. What about me? I need help." You're right, you need help, but don't just end it, and then throw the problem on the rest of us. Because it doesn't just end with you, we're then left to deal with all of it. It's tough. Joyce Meyer: my brother also committed suicide. I don't know if you remember that. Chad: of course. Joyce Meyer: we tried everything to help him. He had every opportunity that he could possibly have, but he just could never take hold of being responsible for himself. And he just let himself get in a very desperate situation, and finally just gave up. And so, I know what you mean. It's like we're dealing with two issues here today. We want to minister to people who may be thinking about suicide, but we also want to minister to people who have had a loved one that did commit suicide, and now they're trying to deal with that aspect. It says here that every seconds, someone in the world dies by suicide.
And every seconds, someone is left to make sense out of it. Chad: that's about right. Joyce Meyer: and what did you tell me about veterans? Chad: one of the leading articles that I read recently said that over veterans a day take their life, . These are veterans take their lives. The suicide is rampant, but no one talks about it. I know that there's a lot of political things that go on with that, but it's unfortunate because these are people who gave a lot for their country, and they're now at a place, for whatever reason, they feel like they have no hope, and that should not be. Joyce Meyer: well, and to be honest, it's tragic the way that they're not taken care of when they come back. I think we all know chad: there needs to be more done to help our veterans Joyce Meyer: there needs to be more done. And so, even as ministries, you know, we need to step up to the plate, which we're doing as much as we know how to do in several different areas. Chad: as much as we're allowed to do as well. Joyce Meyer: yeah, and so, it really is a serious problem. Now, what about forgiveness?
How does this play into this? Did you need to forgive your father for doing what he did? Chad: yeah, I think I did. In fact, I know I did. In fact, that's one of the main things that come up as I minister to young people around the world concerning suicide is there is usually an issue of forgiveness unforgiveness that is there that they need to forgive. Because that unforgiveness is a root that everything else kind of spreads out from. You know, they're bitter because they won't forgive. They're angry because they won't forgive. It just you have to deal with it. I had to forgive my dad because I felt like he kind of abandoned us, of course. I also had to then, you know, forgive myself realizing that of course we all had mistakes that we should have we should have done things differently.
But I had to allow the forgiveness to not just be a superficial thing, but I had to really let God get it into me, and go in and dig that root of unforgiveness out of me because I realize is that whoever's sin you forgive, you know, you don't want to hold that. I didn't want to hold that in. I've seen it with other friends of mine who've lost family members, they've become so bitter and so angry, at the end, they find themselves considering, "well, maybe I should just kill myself too." I'm like, "wait, wait, wait, it doesn't have to be this way." And unforgiveness releases a lot of the spiritual bondage that goes along with dealing with that whole event. Joyce Meyer: so, it sounds to me like we're talking about the need for forgiveness in three different areas. And so, I want to clarify so people can get ministered to on whatever level they need. Many people who are tempted to commit suicide are having issues with unforgiveness and bitterness. They've got something sick and poisonous stuck on the inside of them. And if they will forgive, then that temptation to want to end their life may well also go with that. You know, who doesn't have unforgiveness when you've been mistreated? But we cannot bring the justice that's needed, only God can. And there's no doubt if you've been mistreated, then you are due something, you're owed something. But instead of getting a chip on your shoulder, "well, the world owes me," let God pay you back. And God will deal with your enemies once you stop trying to do that and forgive them. So, then you have the issue of people who do commit suicide, and the people that are left then needing to forgive them for and a lot of people are angry. It's like, "i can't believe you left me."
Or you know, a wife might say, "i can't believe that you left me," thinking about a husband with all these bills, with all these kids. You know, "you just took the easy way out and you've left me " chad: exactly what they say. Joyce Meyer: with all the problems. And then the people that are left also need to deal with forgiving themselves for maybe feeling that they should have noticed, they should have done something. Chad: the guilt that comes in. Joyce Meyer: the guilt, why weren't you aware? So, talk to us some more about this situation. What are some of the other things that people deal with, and how can we help them today? Chad: well, let's look at a family who has lost. Let's look at some of these parents that we've spoken to who've lost children. It really can disrupt a family.
You can just imagine the strife, the guilt, the anger that goes on in this. And once again, I think it goes back to allowing family members to talk, for there to be some real dialogue, but to also have some support structure with some community, whether it be a church, whether it be a therapist, somebody who can help the family unit, which is now in turmoil, come back to a place where they can restructure and kind of rebuild. The communication thing to me is huge because most of us want to just do the stiff upper lip thing. "well, you know, so and so had his issues." And a lot of times when people do end their lives, they say, "well, there's relief," if there was some real problems in this. But at the end of the day, when the sun goes down, everybody's still sitting there just kind of looking at each other going, "what did we do wrong?" Joyce Meyer: I'm sure it's extremely hard on everybody, but it must be ramped up another level when maybe the person who ended their life seemed quite normal, and when you look back, there were symptoms that you perhaps feel like you should have recognized, or could have recognized, and you just didn't. That's when I would think that the guilt and the shame would just almost overwhelm you. What does a healthy and there is a healthy grieving process because to ignore it is not good. So, in a healthy grieving process, what can people expect to go through?
Chad: they're of course going to go through the guilt, and there's the anger. There's always going to be anger. Joyce Meyer: I think anger's first. Chad: anger always comes first. Then there's the guilt, trying to figure out what did I do, what did I do. Then they begin to process. Let's say there was a note or some other things left. They begin to see there was some revelation that there was some other things going on they weren't aware of. That can compile with more guilt, "i should have confronted my son. I should have been more aggressive. I shouldn't have been afraid." It comes to a place where they ultimately have to accept what's going on, that they're now gone. But that still doesn't solve it. I think there's a much deeper process that goes on to where they have to begin to like with my dad, I can't dwell on that single act alone, and define who my father was by that. I've recently begun to go back, I found a bunch of old pictures and baby pictures and little things, and I was like, "ah, I remember this. This was great, I remember this." And I thought, "you know what?"
I went back and remembered, wait a minute, this wasn't my fault. My dad did love me, and I was rebuilding a foundation to where I could go back, and have some healthy ideas and aspects about that. And as I do that, the healing just it gets better. Joyce Meyer: and of course, one of the greatest things is that with God, you can always see the bad thing work out for good. Chad: always. Joyce Meyer: always. So, whether it's somebody watching today who is tempted to commit suicide, somebody who's had a loved one commit suicide, and you're dealing with the aftermath of all that. I love what you've done. You've taken what happened, and you've actually turned it into a ministry. Now, everybody here may not want to turn it into a full ministry, but what an opportunity to receive healing yourself, and then be available to help other people that are going through similar things. And of course, we've got your website address up, and you're going to get inundated with messages and people reaching out for help. And you have resources available, is that correct? Chad: we do.
Joyce Meyer: that you can help people with. And so, we appreciate you being on the program today. And I'm sure you've just kind of opened up a can of worms. Chad: it's a good can to open. Joyce Meyer: now, we're going to believe that people are going to get a lot of help. I want to tell you, and please believe this, God loves you, and he has a great plan for your life. And whether you've been thinking about suicide, or you're trying to recover from somebody you loved who did commit suicide, God loves you, and he wants to bring healing to your life. And you know, we always offer you the word of God, always, always, always. Because to be honest, that's the only thing I know that can really help you. And when we say, "well, God wants to help you," he works through his word. And so, I've written a book that's actually, it's years old, but it's my number-one book, it's called "battlefield of the mind." And it talks about how you can learn to do your own thinking. You don't have to think just whatever falls in your head. You can learn to do your own thinking. So, you might be thinking about committing suicide, but you don't have to think that way. You can change that thought if you want to. And then also, an emotional healing dvd because many people who want to end their life, they're hurting from something that's happened to them in the past, and they need to be healed. And of course, those of you that have lost a loved one to suicide, you definitely need to receive emotional healing. So, we appreciate you being with us today, and we want to give you the help that you need in this area, as well as many other areas. So, please contact us, or get on chad's website, and let us continue to help you if there's a need in your life in this area. Thank you for joining us today.
Joseph Prince Sermon - God's Goodness Exceeds Our Wildest Expectations!. Do you believe that God is someone whose goodness you cannot always trust and so need to bargain with, or do you believe that He is a God whose goodness and generosity you can always count on? Join Joseph Prince in this thought-provoking message and see the generosity of our Lord in the parable of the vineyard workers. Learn how having a good opinion of the Lord will cause good things to come your way even if you are the "eleventh-hour worker". You'll find the Lord unfairly good toward you and exceeding your wildest expectations!
Full textual sermon God's Goodness Exceeds Our Wildest Expectations! of Joseph Prince
There is a story in the Bible that for a number of years I am puzzled I don't find preachers preaching on it also. I myself don't preach on it And I was thinking, "How does this reconcile with the grace of Jesus Our adorable Savior Our lovely Lord? You know, because this woman was a Syro-Phoenician woman A Canaanite, she was a non-Jew And the Bible tells us that Jesus was in the northern most part That's the farthest he ever went in His ministry To the northern part where the gentiles were, of Israel.
And He traversed about 20 miles to be up there And then the Canaanite woman A non-Jewish woman came and she said, "Son of David! Have mercy on me! My daughter is grievously tormented of the devil!" And the Bible says Jesus answered her not a word I couldn't understand that This kind, wonderful Savior Jesus, the Son of the living God Eyes blazing with fire Amen? Loving the sinner, hating sin Hating the devil He's always rebuking the devil Welcoming sinners This is our God And yet, He answered her not a word Why?
It wasn't too long ago that I began to study the names of God And I found out she used a phrase that is only exclusive for the Jewish people In another words, she came in pretense that she was Jewish Because she heard about Jesus and His miracle-working power so she came in pretense that she was Jewish because the title 'Son of David' was exclusive for the Jewish people to use of their Messiah Now don't forget Jesus when He first came He was sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel Only when He died, His salvation is for the entire world But when He walked on earth He was preaching to the seed of Abraham Alright? He was sent to fulfill the promise to the patriarchs, the fathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob So He has not yet died. It was not the dispensation for the Gentiles and yet this woman came in pretense saying, "Son of David!" And He answered her not a word And finally when she said, "Lord! Help me" Now it's no more Son of David Now it's Lord You know one time I asked the Lord Why is it Lord that You didn't answer her Just why don't You just give her a miracle anyway?
It will be so good on You when the people read the Bible You ever felt like you're helping sometimes? I mean it will be so good for that woman to come and say "Son of David" even though she was not supposed to use it But you know, just give her the miracle anyway. You know what the Lord said to me? I'll never forget this The Lord said to me If I had given her a miracle when she came in pretense She will never, she can go back to a miracle, but she will never never feel loved. Because you can never feel loved when you are in pretense Let's say you go for a date Alright?
And you are pretending to be someone you're not The person falls in love with you A few weeks passed You will never feel loved because you are in pretense So the Lord wants her to feel loved Wants her to come clean How many know that you can come to Jesus with all your warts and all your blemishes Because your need is your entitlement to His fullness The throne of God is now called the throne of grace It is not for perfect people Grace means unearned, undeserved favor So you can come boldly especially when you don't deserve it. To obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
Kenneth Copeland Sermon - Words Dominate Your Life (2018) online. Words are a powerful force on the earth! The power of words will be used in your life one way or another—to justify or condemn. Watch Kenneth Copeland on Believer’s Voice of Victory as he uncovers the many ways words dominate your life and your future.
Full Sermon
Let's begin with Matthew, Chapter 4. Now, I want you to look these up. It'll take us a little time. We're going to look up a bunch of scriptures. "It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." Tonight, we will be talking about words. (Audience "Amens") Words. The most important things in and on this earth are words. (Audience "Amens") That makes the Word of God the most precious thing on this earth.
AUDIENCE: Amen. KENNETH: Because words dominate AUDIENCE: Amen. KENNETH: human life. (Audience "Amens") We're going to see it tonight. Let's read, first of all, Mark 11:23. Now, this once we get through tonight, you will understand Mark 11:23 like you've never understood it in your life. "For verily," Jesus said, "I say unto you, Whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea, and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those words which he saith shall come to pass, he shall have whatsoever he says." AUDIENCE: Praise God. KENNETH: Now we'll turn to Matthew, Chapter 12. If you don't have a Bible, they're putting them up on the screen. Read that or look on with somebody else. You really need to put your eyes on these words. AUDIENCE: That's right. KENNETH: Matthew 12:37, "For by thy words " not God's words " by thy words thou shall be justified, by thy words thou shall be condemned." AUDIENCE: That's right.
KENNETH: Now look at the 36th verse. "I say unto you, Every idle word that men shall speak, they'll give account thereof in the day of judgment." Hey, this is getting serious really quick, isn't it? AUDIENCE: Sure is. KENNETH: Now, Luke, Chapter 6. Luke 6:45. "A good man out of the good treasure," or deposit, "of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; an evil man " Now, this is not this is not talking about murderers and so forth. It's actual actually, "evil" there is also translated "natural." AUDIENCE: Amen. KENNETH: You remember in the book of Hebrews, it says it makes this statement, "an evil heart of unbelief?" AUDIENCE: Yes. KENNETH: Or "a wicked heart of unbelief"? "A good man out of the good treasure," deposit, "of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; an evil man out of the evil treasure," or deposit, "of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for," or because, "of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks." You can't help it. AUDIENCE: Amen.
KENNETH: Whatever is in there in abundance is going to come out your mouth. AUDIENCE: Yes, amen. KENNETH: "Well, I have a praise in my heart." No, you don't. If you had a praise in your heart, it'd come out your mouth! AUDIENCE: Yes. Amen. Praise God. KENNETH: Amen. AUDIENCE: Thank you. KENNETH: All right. Genesis 1. I know where that book is. "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters." Now, God is moving. He's always moving. AUDIENCE: Amen. Amen. KENNETH: He's moving on the face of the water, but nothing's happening. AUDIENCE: Amen.
KENNETH: He's moving. Nothing look at it. Remember now, in the in the in the Hebrew Bible, it literally says, "Light be. Light was." AUDIENCE: Amen. Amen. KENNETH: All right. God said, "Light be. Light was." God saw the light. Now, that is the law. The Spirit of God is moving in your life. AUDIENCE: Yes. KENNETH: But if you're not saying anything AUDIENCE: Ah, yes. KENNETH: or if you're saying something else, He doesn't have anything to work with. AUDIENCE: Wow. Yes. Wow. Wow. KENNETH: It doesn't have nothing to do with your feelings. AUDIENCE: Amen. KENNETH: You better get ahold of your feelings, baby. AUDIENCE: That's right. Amen. KENNETH: If you're saying what your feelings are saying, they're killing you. AUDIENCE: Yes. Amen, amen.
KENNETH: "Man, my feet are killing me." AUDIENCE: Oh, no. KENNETH: Really? "Oh, shoot, I thought I was gonna die." You did not. Now you're lying. AUDIENCE: Amen. Praise God. KENNETH: "Are you going to the church meeting tonight?" "I'm afraid not." And the Holy Spirit is saying, "Whew. I love you sweetheart, but you're not giving me anything to work with." AUDIENCE: Amen. KENNETH: I can't kill you over this, you understand? AUDIENCE: Praise God.
KENNETH: These are these and before we get done, oh, I mean, I went over I've been over these again and again and I don't know how many times. I went back over them very carefully, and I saw some more things. Hebrews 1. Take the time to look it up. I'm not going to rush you. "God, who at sundry times and in different manner spoke in times past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person " now look " and upholding all things by the word of his power " So we live in a word-created, word-upheld universe. (Audience "Amens") Amen. (Audience "Amens") It's pretty awesome, isn't it? AUDIENCE: Yes, it is.
KENNETH: Words dominate our lives. We can't change that. It it's set. It cannot be changed. But we can change the words under which we live. AUDIENCE: Amen. Praise God. KENNETH: Oh, that's where the Word of God comes in. That's what makes it the most precious thing on this earth. AUDIENCE: Yes. KENNETH: Hallelujah. AUDIENCE: Hallelujah.
KENNETH: Mm. My, my, my, my, my, my. Psalm 19. 19th Psalm, 14th verse, "Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer," or my rock, the Hebrews said, "my strength and my rock." Let my let my words be acceptable. Faith words are acceptable. When I'm weak what did Joel say? "Let the weak say, I am strong." So your strength depends on it. All right. Let's go to the 91st Psalm. Everybody thinks they know the 91st Psalm. Most people know little to nothing about it. "He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty." That's wonderful. That is glorious. How do you get in there? How do you get in that secret place? It's right there. "I will say of the Lord, He's my refuge and my fortress: my God, in him will I trust. Surely!" "Surely he'll deliver me " AUDIENCE: Yes, amen. KENNETH: But not till I say it. AUDIENCE: Praise God.
KENNETH: Huh? Oh. Oh, thank You, Jesus. I really would like to get into that 91st Psalm, but we have to go to the 103rd Psalm. And I'm just about as wild about it. I had so many things happen in these in these Psalms. So many times been blessed, so many times been delivered. Psalm 103:5. Now, I want you to notice the phrase, "Good things so that" are in italics. That's not in the Hebrew text. "Who satisfies my mouth with good; thy youth is renewed like the eagle's." AUDIENCE: Yes. Hallelujah. KENNETH: But let's let's take a step into this because the translators were not all that far off. The root word in Hebrew to "thing" is "word." Because all things were created by the Word. AUDIENCE: Amen. Amen.
KENNETH: So "word" is "thing," and "thing" is "word." AUDIENCE: Praise God. KENNETH: "Who satisfies my mouth with good words " AUDIENCE: Come on! KENNETH: " so that my youth is renewed like the eagle's." AUDIENCE: Oh! Amen. Hallelujah. KENNETH: Now look at the 20th verse. Ho-ho. "Bless the Lord, you his angels, that excel in strength, that do his commandments, hearkening unto the voice of his word." Angels are listening for the voice of His word, not coming from Him, coming out our mouths. AUDIENCE: Amen. Amen to that. KENNETH: Well, yes, Sir. This is not on the list, but, yes, Sir, I see that. Let's go to the book of Ephesians right quick. In the 3rd chapter, Verse 9, "To make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ: to the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places " Now, we know that Satan's rank is principalities, powers, rulers of the darkness of this world. But, listen, angels are principalities. Angels, see. Satan, the fallen archangel. AUDIENCE: Right.
KENNETH: All of the rest of these things are fallen spiritual beings. They started out on the right side. And Satan conned them into that mess. "To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God." Angels can hear God speak. Of course, He talks to them. They talk back. But they don't get revelation. Humans get revelation. They hear revelation from God while you and I preach it. AUDIENCE: Yes. Amen. Hallelujah. KENNETH: They get it from us. Well, the devil ain't got any revelation. But our angels do. And the devil finds out Lord, can I tell yeah, okay, here I go. "Though I speak with the tongue of men and angels, and have not love," I'm nothing but a bunch of noise. (Audience "Amens") Isn't that right? The 13th chapter of I Corinthians, right? AUDIENCE: Amen. KENNETH: Those are words, right? Yes, they are words. AUDIENCE: Yes, they are. Amen. KENNETH: Powerful words. Hallelujah. AUDIENCE: Amen. KENNETH: That's the reason this is it's the reason it's so important to speak with other tongues. And what I'm telling you right now is that Satan fights it with everything he possibly can to keep you from doing it, because you've got a supernatural track to pray with God, and he can't understand a thing you're saying. And you can even be talking to him. AUDIENCE: Amen.
KENNETH: You can be talking to your own angel. AUDIENCE: Amen. KENNETH: Mm. I've got to get off of that. I'll wind up being here another hour if I shew. AUDIENCE: That's right. KENNETH: Ha-ha-ha. Okay. Hebrews 1. Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha. Hallelujah. AUDIENCE: Hallelujah.
KENNETH: Verse 13, "But unto which of the angels said he at any time, Sir, sit on my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool? Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?" (Audience "Amens") Huh? They're listening. They're listening to you. You have angel you have at least one. You got that one when you was born. AUDIENCE: Amen.
KENNETH: All right, Proverbs 4. And you realize this is not even close to an exhaustive list. We're just oh, we're just skimming the surface. Proverbs 4, and I want to start with the 20th verse. This is God's prescription for receiving healing. Works every time. But it's like any other prescription, you have to take it. "My son, attend to my words " That means put the Word first place. " incline thine ear unto my sayings." "To incline" means to lean over. " incline thine ear unto my sayings. Let them not depart from your eyes; keep them in the midst of your heart. For they are life unto those that find them, and health," or medicine, "to all their flesh. Keep your heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues," or out of it are the forces, "of life." Spiritual forces of life are in your born-again spirit. AUDIENCE: Praise God.
KENNETH: Now listen to this: "Put away from you a froward," or a disobedient, unruly, crooked mouth. AUDIENCE: Wow. KENNETH: Put it away. Do something about it, because He just gave you the prescription for life and healing, and now He just is telling you what you better do to keep from killing yourself and killing that prescription. Proverbs 6:2, "Thou art snared," or entrapped, "with the words of your mouth." You are taken with the words of your mouth. Proverbs 18:20, "A man's belly shall be satisfied with the fruit of his mouth; and with the increase of his lips shall he be filled." Increase comes from faith words.
Joyce Meyer sermon - Live 2 Love (online). God is love, and He wants His children to be loving too. Be encouraged to let go of unloving attitudes, and focus on God's love and loving others.
Joyce Meyer: it's amazing what God can use us for if we will just simply be willing to follow the leadership of the holy spirit. Every single one of you should be a spy for God. Well, there's nothing more pleasing to God than when we love and serve other people. The only way people see and experience his love is through us, and we should always be on the lookout for opportunities to do good. Watch this teaching about loving others, followed by an opportunity for you to do just that.
Joyce Meyer: learning how to be a lot more aggressive in loving other people has sure brought a lot of joy into my life. And as you know, we even call our tv program, "enjoying everyday life," because I spent a lot of years as a christian not really enjoying my life. And then I found out that Jesus died, not only so we could go to heaven, but that we could enjoy the journey. And one of the ways that we do that-- it's not the only way, but one of the ways that we do that is by getting ourselves off of our mind and aggressively, on purpose, being a blessing to other people everywhere that we go, in small ways, in large ways. And you have the ability to do that. As a believer in Christ, you are a new creature in Christ, and you have a new nature. There is a part of you that wants to love people. There's a part of you that desires to walk in all the fruit of the spirit. The bible says in galatians 5 that we have the fruit of the spirit. It's in us: love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, humility, meekness. All of those things are in you. Even self-control is in you, imagine that. Everybody say, "I've got it."
How to Have Limitless Faith with Kenneth and Gloria Copeland (sermon online). Want to know how to have limitless faith? Watch Kenneth and Gloria Copeland on Believer’s Voice of Victory share Partner testimonies that will stir your spirit and increase your faith. Learn how your spirit is tied to the kingdom of God, not the natural world. So, put The WORD to work!