Joel Osteen Podcast - An Expected End

Episode Date: May 20, 2020

You may have had a rough start, but you’re not going to have a rough finish! And best of all, God promises in Philippians 1:6 that He will bring you to a flourishing finish!Your best days are still ahead, and together we can make a difference in this world with the message of God's hope and love. To give visit JoelOsteen.com/GiveHope Subscribe to SiriusXM Podcasts+ to listen to new episodes of the Joel Osteen Podcast ad-free and a whole week early. Start a free trial now on Apple Podcasts or by visiting siriusxm.com/podcastsplus. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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Well, God bless you. Such a joy to 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. But thanks so much for tuning in. And thank you. you again for coming out today. I like to start with something funny. I heard about this pastor. He was asked to inform a member of his congregation who had a heart condition that he had just inherited $10 million. They were concerned because of the shock that he might have a heart attack. The pastor said, sir, what would you do if you inherited $10 million? Men said, Pastor, the first thing I'd do is give half of it to the church. At that point, the pastor fell over dead. Hold up your Bible. Say it like you mean it. This is my Bible. I am what it says I am. I have what it says I have. I can do what it says I can do. Today I will be taught the word of God. I boldly confess. My mind is

alert. My heart is receptive. I will never be the same. In Jesus name. God bless you. I want to talk to you today about an expected end. I was with a well-known actor a few years ago. He not only stars in major movies, he writes then. We walked into this room that had a large glass wall overlooking his property. There were all these five-by-seven index cards stuck up on the wall, probably 150 of them. He explained how he was writing a movie, and those were all the different scenes. He studies them, moves things around, adds a scene here, takes away a scene there. He told to have a good movie, you need ups and downs, conflicts and victories, good characters and bad, twist and turns. While it was very fascinating, it was very confusing. It looks so complicated. I said to him,

how do you even know where to start? He said, oh, that's the easy part. You always start with your final scene. You have to decide how you want the movie to end. Once you establish the ending, then you work backwards and fill in all the details. He said, in fact, in a lot of movies, you don't shoot in sequential order. Sometimes you shoot the final scene first and then you shoot the rest of the movie. This is what God has done for each one of us. The scripture says, God declares the end from the beginning.

When God planned out your life, he started with your final scene. He started with where he wants you to end up. Then he worked backwards. Jeremiah said, God's plans for you are for good and not harm to give you an expected end. Your end has already been established. Your final scene has already been shot. The good news, you don't end in defeat. in failure, end in disappointment, you end in victory. You end is more than a conquer. You end

fulfilling your purpose. When you understand your end has been established, you won't go through life discouraged because of a disappointment, bitter because of a loss, frustrated because a dream hasn't come to pass. You'll stay in peace knowing that in the end it's all going to work out to your advantage. But here's the key. Like any good movie, there will be twist in turns. You think, I know I'm supposed to be going this way. Why am I going the opposite direction? My goal is over here.

Why am I headed the wrong way? There will be scenes that on their own don't make sense. If you stop right there, the divorce, the sickness, the loss would look like it didn't work for your good. Looks like it got the best of you. what you don't realize is that is not your final scene. As long as your breathing, your movie is still going. You may be in a difficult scene right now, something you don't understand, negative medical report, set back in your finances.

You have to remind yourself that is not how your story ends. You have an expected end, the creator of the universe, the most high God, God has planned your days for good, not harm. If you'll keep moving forward, at some point, you'll come into another twist. But this time, a good break, a promotion, a healing. God knows how to weave it all together. Your end has already been established. We see this principle in the life of Joseph.

God destined him to become a great leader, to rule a nation, to help the Israelites during in a time of famine. That was his end. It had already been established. And Joseph started off well. It's a young man. He was his father's favorite child. Went around wearing that coat of many colors, the coat that represented favor. But at 17 years of age, Joseph's life had an unusual twist. His brothers were jealous. They sold him into slavery. He could have become discouraged and thought, must not heard God right. He showed me a dream that I'd rule a nation, but it sure didn't happen. Joseph understood this principle. He knew that was just one scene. He knew his end had already been established, so he kept being his best. He was lied about, falsely accused. They put him in prison.

Another unusual twist. It looked like he was moving away from his destiny. This is the real of life. Will you stay in faith when you're doing the right thing, but the wrong thing is happening? Will you continue being your best even when you're not getting the credit? Will you stay passionate even though the door closed? You didn't get the promotion? You think you're moving the wrong way? This is where Joseph excelled. In prison, he didn't fall apart. He kept doing the right thing. and 13 years after he was sold into slavery, he interpreted a dream for the Pharaoh. Pharaoh was so impressed that he brought him out of prison and put him in charge of the whole nation. He saw his dream come to pass. He saw the expected end.

If Joseph were standing here today, he would tell you, don't get discouraged by the detours, by the twist of life, by the things you don't understand. They are all necessary scenes in your movie. By themselves, they may not make sense, but when God brings it all together, you too will come out fulfilling your purpose, seeing what God has promised. But this is where many people get frustrated, lose their passion.

Joel, if God was good, why'd I have the bad break? Why'd I go through the loss? Why didn't my relationship make it? We may never understand why. But I can tell you this. God wouldn't have allowed it if it wasn't going to somehow work for your good.

Nothing that's happened to you can keep you from your destiny. The only thing that can stop you is you. If you get negative, bitter, lose your passion. That can keep you from God's best. And you may have had unfair things happen.

But I've learned the depth of your pain is an indication of the height of your future. When construction workers are going to build a tall building, they have to dig down many stories first for the foundation. Taller the building, the deeper the foundation. When you go through things that you don't understand, difficult situations, you may not like it.

It may be uncomfortable, but God is getting you prepared to take you higher than you ever imagine. You may think it's there to defeat you, but God's going to use it to promote you. No bad break can stop you. All the forces of darkness cannot hold you back. God has an expected end for you. He's already established it. But again, along the way, everything is not going to make sense.

This is what faith is all about. You have to trust that even in the twist of life, in the things you don't understand that God still knows what he's doing. That even when like Joseph, you know God promised you one thing, but you're seeing just the opposite. Defeat, betrayal. That's when you have to dig your heels in and say, God, I don't understand it, but I trust you.

I believe your plans for me are for good, that you've already shot my final scene. You've already established my end. So, Lord, I want to thank you that I will. will fulfill my purpose, that I will become everything you've created me to be. I've heard it said, God always ends in all as well. So if all is not well, that simply means it's not the end. Well, Joel, it's not well in my finances. I lost a big client last week. I'm discouraged. No, stay in peace. It's not the end. That's just one scene. Favor is coming. Promotion. Good breaks are

headed your way. If it's not well in your health, don't settle there. Think, well, this is the way it's always going to be. No, another scene is coming. God promises the number of your days he will fulfill. If it's not your time to go, you're not going to go. Maybe it's not well in a relationship. You went through a breakup.

You're lonely. You don't think you'll ever meet the right person. That's not the end. That one disappointment. That one person that laid. left, they can't change your ending. They can't rewrite your movie. God has already established it. They don't have that much power. God is already lined up the person of your dreams. Somebody better than you can imagine. They're just a couple of scenes away, just a matter of time

before they show up. Isaiah said, what God has purposed, who can annul? This means God has a purpose for your life. He's planned out your day. lined up your scenes and established your ending. Then it asked, who can stop it? God is saying, I flung stars into space. I spoke worlds into existence. I'm the all-powerful creator of the universe. Now, who can stop my plan for your life? Who can change your ending? People can't. Unfair situations can't. Tragedy can't. God has the final say. When you're on one of those detours, Something that doesn't make sense. You don't understand it.

Don't get upset. It's just one scene. When it all comes together, like Joseph, it's going to work for your good. See, if Joseph hadn't been betrayed by his brothers, if he hadn't been sold into slavery, if he hadn't been put into prison, he would have never made it to his throne.

Those were all necessary scenes on the way to his established end. What am I saying? What you may think, is a setback is really a set-up for God to get you to the fullness of your destiny. Now, we can either go through life, fighting everything we don't like, upset, bitter, offended, or we can stay in peace, knowing that God is directing our steps. And even the twist, the things we don't understand, in the end, they will work to our advantage.

Sometimes when I'm traveling and not able to watch a ball game at home, I'll recall. A few weeks back, there was an important basketball game on that I missed, and I sat down the next week to watch it. And I already knew the outcome. I mean, I'd seen all the highlights, read the news reports. The team I was pulling for had won. But during the first quarter, we played really badly, could hardly make a shot, fell behind. I didn't get the least bit worried. I sat there calmly enjoying the game. The next quarter, the star player got in foul trouble. to sit the bench. We fell further behind. I didn't get uptight. Came out the second half, started off just as badly. Couldn't do anything right. Normally I would have been on edge,

uptight, anxious, wondering what's going to happen. But since I knew the outcome, it totally changed my perspective. In fact, the further behind we fell, the more I thought, wow, this is going to be some kind of comeback. I can't wait to see what's going to happen. All the worry, the anxiety was taken away because of the expected end. I knew we had won. There are times in life when it looks like our opponents, the depression, the sickness, the legal situation is getting the best of us. We're falling behind.

It's easy to get discouraged. Oh, Joel, I can't accomplish my dreams. The odds are against me. I'll never get well. The medical report's too bad. Just like this ball game that was recorded, you have to remember. you have to remind yourself that the end has already been set. And when you feel like you're falling behind, you're outclassed, outsized, outnumbered,

instead of being discouraged, have this new perspective. That means you're about to see a major comeback. Any moment things are going to shift in your favor. A good break, a promotion, a healing. God says he always causes you to triumph. Not part of the time, not most of the time. God's already lined up your victory parade. He's already established your ending.

Back in the 1970s, a teenage girl in Iowa became pregnant with the son. She was white. The father was black. Her parents told her, you can't have this baby. It's a mistake. It's never going to amount to anything. You're not only going to ruin your life, you're going to ruin the child's life. They gave her an ultimatum, either abort the baby or move out of the house.

She wanted to have her child. So she left home alone, headed for California. No money, no future to speak of. She ended up on drugs, struggling to survive. One day at 17 years old, standing on a street corner, a lady came up and handed her a Bible,

talked to her about having peace with God. Right there, she gave her life to Christ. She opened her Bible. The first word she saw was Israel. She said, that's what I'm going to name my baby, Israel. This little boy was born with all the odds against him. He couldn't do anything great. He didn't have any kind of future. But when God breathed his life into you, he established your end first. He gave you a purpose. He set your assignment. Then he put in you everything you need to fulfill your destiny. He's given you the gifts,

the talents, the confidence. How you start is not important. Don't let what you think is a limitation, a disadvantage. If I was a different nationality, Joel, I come from the wrong side of the neighborhood. There's dysfunction in my family. That's how you started. That's not how you're going to finish. The beginning does not determine your destiny. That's just one scene. What matters is the expected end. The creator of the universe has already destined you to leave your mark on this generation. He's already put seeds of greatness in you. God loves to take people who start off with all the odds against them and shine down his favor, promote them, give them good breaks to where they rise up and do extraordinary things. This is what happened with my father. He was raised in a very

poor family. They had no money. He had no education, no future. That's where he started, but that's not where he finished. His expected end. His final scene was pastoring a great church, having a ministry that touched the world. Don't let how you were raised. What you didn't get, what you think is a disadvantage caused you to settle where you are. The established end is not dependent on the beginning. This young boy Israel could have grown up with a defeated mindset, inferior, chip on his shoulder, thinking why was I born into this family? Why don't I have a dad? Why am I half white, half black? What can I become? Today, you can become the president of the United States. It's not how you start. It's how you finish. If you will keep honoring God being your best, you are moving toward the destiny.

He has designed for you. It's bigger than you can imagine. It's more rewarding than you've ever dreamed. As a child, this boy Israel discovered that he had a gift and ability to play instruments, to write songs, to write music, to sing. Now, this child that some people didn't want born, this little boy that some people thought would be a mistake, has become one of the great worship leaders of our time.

our own Israel Houghton right here. He's won many Grammys, all kinds of awards, goes all over the world, cheering his gift with others. Israel, you better be thankful. Your mother's first word she saw wasn't Nebuchadnezzar instead of Israel.

How about Nebuchadnezzar and new breed? Here's what I'm saying. Get rid of the excuses. You may have had a rough start, but you're not going to have a rough finish. Somebody may have put you at a disadvantage, but they did not change your expected end. Paul said in Philippians, God will bring us to a flourishing finish. Not a defeated finish, a mediocre finish, a lonely finish, a bankrupt finish.

You'll come into a victorious finish and a flourishing finish. When thoughts tell you otherwise, you'll hear things like you have too many disadvantages. You're too far behind. Or you've made too many mistakes. let those lies go in one ear and out the other. God is saying, I'm going to take you further than you can imagine. I have explosive blessings that can catapult you ahead. I have favor that can thrust you into your destiny. I'm going to bring out those seeds of greatness that I put on the inside. God has established your end. You can be certain he knows how to get you there. Now our part all through the day, Lord, thank you

that your plans for me are for good. You're not limited by where I am right now. You've already shot my final scene. I may not understand everything along the way, but God, I trust you. I believe I'm coming to a flourishing finish. This is what Job had to do. He had some unusual twist and turns in life. Some scenes didn't make sense. Everything started off great, life was good, but then the bottom fell out. Job lost it. his health, lost his business, lost his family. He could have gotten discouraged and given up. His wife told him, Job, just curse God and die. You're done. Nothing like having an encouraging spouse. But in the middle of that discouragement, when everything had come against him, when a lot

of people would have been bitter, angry, complaining, Job looked up to the heavens and said, I know my Redeemer lives. He was saying in effect, I know God's still on the throne. I know he's already shot my final scene. And if this is my time to go, I'm not going to go bitter. I'm not going to go upset. Though he slay me, yet will I trust him? When you can keep a good attitude when the bottom falls out.

When you can give God praise in the twist of life, in the things that don't make sense, that's when God will take you to a new level. of your destiny. We hear a lot about Job's loss, Job's trials, Job's suffering, and yes, he went through a difficult season. But here's the key. He didn't stay there. That was one scene. In the end, he came out with twice what he had before. God paid him back with double. He had twice the cattle, twice the sheep. God has health back, his joy back, his peace back. The scripture puts it this way. after this, Job lived

140 years and saw his grandsons down to four generations. Notice, after the loss, after the disappointment, after the bottom fell out, he didn't end on a sour, defeated note. His life was not over. Job went on to live a full, happy, blessed

140 more years enjoying his grandchildren, accomplishing his dreams, fulfilling his purse. purpose. What am I saying? Just because you have some twist, terms, things you don't understand, that doesn't mean your life is over. God has an after this coming. When thoughts whisper, you've seen your best days. You've been through too much. This is as good as it gets. God is saying to you what he said to Job after the cancer, after the divorce, after the betrayal. There's still

a full life ahead of you. You haven't dreamed your best dream. You haven't danced your best dance. You haven't laughed your best laugh. Shake off the disappointment. Get your passion back. God hasn't, after this coming your way.

He's not only going to bring you out, but he's going to pay you back for that trouble. You're going to come out stronger, increase, promoted, better than you were before. When it was all over, Job said, I'm convinced. nothing and no one can upset God's plans. He was saying nothing can change the expected end.

God already established it. Friends, the enemy cannot keep you from your destiny. Satan had to ask God permission to even test Joe. That tells me, God is not only in control of your life, he's in control of your enemies. You have nothing to worry about. There is a hedge of protection around you. They cannot be penetrated. When Jesus was about to be crucified, he told people, if you destroy this temple in three days, God will raise it up.

They thought he was talking about the building. He was talking about himself. Jesus, of course, understood this principle that his end had already been established. He knew his final scene had already been shot. It wasn't him hanging on the cross in great pain. it wasn't him in a tomb buried in grave clothes. He knew his final scene was him seated at the right hand of the father

with all power with the keys of death and hell. That's why it says he endured the pain of the cross looking forward to the joy that was set before him. The way you stay encouraged in the tough times is you keep looking ahead knowing that your end has been set, knowing that you're coming to a moment, a flourishing finish, knowing that God always causes you to triumph. The scripture talks about how Jesus was buried in a borrowed tomb.

He had no place to be buried of his own. A disciple came and got his body and buried him in a tomb that they owned. I can imagine Jesus before he was crucified asking that disciple, can I borrow your tomb? He was saying, I don't need to buy it. this is not how my story ends. This is only temporary. I'll just be here a few days. I have an established end set by my father and no enemy can change it. They can put me in the grave, but they can't keep me in the grave. Our attitude like Jesus, in difficult times, this is temporary. This addiction is

not how my story ends. This defeat, this sickness, this betrayal, it's just one scene. I know another scene is coming, a scene of victory, a scene of favor, a scene of new beginnings. Friends, your final scene has already been shot. Now don't let the twists, the turns, the things you don't understand cause you to get discouraged. Keep moving forward. In the end, it's all going to work to your advantage. Like the ballgame I recorded, we know the final outcome. We don't have to live worried and upset. God has established your end. If you'll stay in faith and keep honoring God, I believe and declare. Like Job, God's going to pay you back for the trouble. Like Joseph, God's going to get you to your throne. Like Israel,

no matter how you start, you're going to come out with a flourishing finish, accomplishing your dreams, becoming all God created you to be in Jesus' name. If you receive it, Can you say amen today? You never like to close our broadcast without giving 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. Friends, if you prayed that simple prayer, we believe you got born again. Get in a good Bible-based church. Keep God first place. He's going to take you places.

that you've never dreamed. Thank you for listening to the Joel Osteen podcast. Help us continue to share the message of hope with those all over the world. Visit joelosteen.com slash give hope to give a gift today. Thanks so much for listening to today's message. I hope you'll subscribe so you can receive the latest podcast to keep you inspired all through the week. We're praying for you.

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