Joel Osteen Podcast - Be Faithful With The Small Things

Episode Date: April 16, 2019

When the Israelites were going to possess the Promised Land, God said, “Little by little I will drive your enemies out before you, until you have increased enough to take possession of the land” (Exodus 23:30). God started small, slowly decreasing the enemies because He wanted His people to go big. He wanted them to grow their own capacity to be able to handle what He was going to give them in the future. He didn’t want the land to overtake them. He wanted them to overtake the land. God was increasing them incrementally throughout their journey. God wants to increase us, but oftentimes we overlook the small things because we want to go big. Remember, a majestic oak tree starts with a small seed. 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.

No one likes to talk about money. Am I saving enough? Can I buy a house? Am I paying too much in taxes? Will I be able to retire? What if you could unlock insights about your finances in less than five minutes with a clear picture of where you stand today and where your money can work harder? Now you can.

Visit facet.com to take the free quiz and get your financial wellness score today. That's facet.com. This ad is sponsored by Facet Wealth Incorporated is an SEC registered investment advisor. This is not an offer to buy or sell securities, nor is an investment, legal, or tax advice. You're ready for a comeback. And with Purdue Global, you can do more than take classes. You can take charge of your story, of your career, of your life. Earn a degree you can be proud of and get an education employer's respect.

It's time, your time, not just to go back to school, but to come back and move forward with Purdue Global. Purdue's online university for working adults. Start your comeback at Purdue Global. He'll forget about the video game you gave him on his birthday. Wow, thanks, Grandpa. But he'll never forget how you invested in his future with the UNEST app. Wow, thanks, Grandpa.

The UNEST app makes it easy for grandparents and family friends to give funds to a child's investment account for limited time. Download the UNEST app and use the code IHeart50 at sign up to receive a $50 bonus when you fund your account. That's code IHeart50 when you sign up at UNEST.co for a $50 bonus. See terms and conditions at UNES. See you. Hi, this is Victoria. Thank you so much for downloading this podcast. I believe God has amazing things in your future. I hope you enjoy this message. You know, I'm reminded today that God

always starts small. God takes the small and goes big. You know, God's got a way of doing things with seeds that multiply. And today, I just want to remind every one of us, you may feel small. You may feel like you don't have enough. Are there maybe some small things in your life? You don't know if you really can handle. But I want to tell you something. When you put those small things in the hands of Jesus, you know what?

He can go from small to big. He can go from small to big. You see, God told the Israelites when they were going to possess the land in Deuteronomy. He says, I'm going to decrease. your enemies so that you can increase. He said it like this. He says, little by little, I am going to decrease the enemies in the land so that you can increase and take possession of the entire promise in this land.

You see, God started small and wanted them to go big. See, he wanted them to have the capacity to be able to handle what he was going to give them. He didn't want the land to overtake them. He wanted them to overtake the land. But he had to decrease the enemies small, slowly, so that they could increase. So that means that God was increasing them incrementally throughout their journey. And do you know that's what God wants to do for you today? He wants to increase you. What you think is small and insignificant? God wants to go big with it. But you've got to learn to handle the small first.

Many of you know the story in Matthew 4 in the Gospels. When Jesus was preaching and teaching to the multitudes, they'd been with him all day long. He had healed the sick among them, and he was just loving on them all day long. And the disciples came to Jesus, and they said, Jesus, the people haven't eaten all day. And it's starting to become evening.

and they need to leave and they need to go find food, would you release them, Jesus, so that they can go to the villages and find the food? We don't have enough food to feed them. And Jesus said, it's not necessary for me to release the people. You feed them. They said, we don't have enough to feed them. We only have five loaves and two fish.

It is not enough to feed the multitude. It's too small. I love the way Jesus said, you feed them. Now, he'd been doing miracles all day. Wasn't going to be difficult for Jesus to just multiply the food. The disciples hadn't done any miracles, but yet he looked at them and said, you feed them. You see, what they thought was small, what they thought they couldn't handle. See, they couldn't handle feeding this many people was such a small thing.

He said, bring it to me. And you know the story. They brought it to Jesus. He broke it. He blessed it. And he gave it back to them so that they could feed the multitudes. You see, Jesus took that small and let them go big. He let them be a blessing that day.

He let what they had in their hands feed the multitude. I want you to know that God, thinks the small is very important. Oftentimes we overlook the small because we want to go big. Oftentimes we don't think we have to deal with the small because it's not going to make that much difference anyway. But I believe Jesus was telling us in this story, the small things matter. Don't overlook the small things. You see, too often we think that the complaining doesn't really make a difference. We think because we're not treating our spouse right, it doesn't really matter.

It's not what we're wanting to do anyway. The lack of integrity, maybe leaving the office early, sneaking out, it's okay. My boss isn't looking. See, those are small things that matter to God. They're small things. He's saying, how are you handling the small things? Observe the small things. Then too often we say we don't have enough.

They don't match the dream. They don't match my desires. I don't have the right education. I don't have the proper finances. I don't have the resources. I didn't come from the right family. I can't do what I would like to do. That's small stuff too.

See, all of this stuff is small. But God likes to take the small and he likes to go big. But we've got to put the importance on the small. You know, I believe that's why God gives us babies. Because they're small. Then they go big. Can you imagine him giving us this grown baby? We wouldn't know what to do with it.

God always starts with a seed. He wants us to go big, but we got to handle the small stuff, like the disciples. They had it in their hand. They didn't know how to handle it until Jesus gave them the secret. Bring it to me. Listen, you got some problems in your life. You got some unforgiveness in your life. See, those small things can go big if you don't bring them to Jesus.

The bitterness, the root. of envy, jealousy, those things can all go big if you don't bring them to Jesus. You want him to multiply, you want him to give you a promotion, you've got to work the small things. You've got to not overlook the small things. You know, we're sitting in this auditorium today, and it's amazing. It's beautiful. We get to gather together. We get to sing. We get to worship God in such a magnificent place. But you know what I remember about this building? Over 32 years ago sitting up there by the flag watching the rockets play basketball. It was my very first date with my husband, Joel.

You see, it looks one way to you, but gosh, looks another way to me. You see, it started with a seed. But can I tell you there was a lot of small stuff along the way. And can I tell you this? never, ever get rid of the small stuff. It doesn't matter how big you go. There's always the small stuff you have to bring to Jesus. There's always the small stuff. When we learn how to handle the small stuff, God will give us more stuff to handle. He'll enlarge our capacity. You see, 32 years ago, Joel and I could never handle what's going on in our life.

today. It would have overtaken us. Instead of us possessing it, it would have possessed us. We did not have capacity. We were not in that place that we could deal with it. And see, that is what God is saying to you. He is saying, I want you to possess, but I want you to start with the small stuff. We went to the funeral service of the great evangelist Billy Graham Friday and celebrated 99 years of a man who touched millions. We celebrate this iconic legend. We see his big life, but we don't see the small stuff he dealt with every single day. The choices, the adjustments, the things that he did when no one was looking, the things that he did when he didn't know if it would even make a difference. You see, we see the big.

We fell to see the small. I have a beautiful oak tree in my front yard, and it spans forever with the limbs. And as I look at that tree, it's very difficult for me to believe that it started from an acorn. You see, it's big. All I see is the big. But that tree had to start small. God takes the small. he goes big. Can I tell you if you will learn to handle the small things, the secret is bring them all

to Jesus. Let him break them. Let him bless him. And he'll go big in your life. Amen. Amen. 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 for listening to the podcast. Be sure to subscribe so you can get all of the latest messages. Know that we pray for you. God bless you. Nice buns. Soft, fluffy, and ultra low net carbs. Discover Hero Bread, the delicious ultra low net carb bread with incredible taste and texture. Hero bread has zero grams of sugar

and is under 100 calories per serving. Plus, high in fiber and up to 10. grams of protein per serving. Available on Amazon.com, Walmart.com, and hero.c.O. That's hero.c.O. Order from hero.com now and get 10% off your purchase with promo code IHM 10. More than ever before, people are turning to the church for their mental health struggles. Unfortunately, the church has largely been ill-equipped to help. That is until now. Join nearly 50,000 people just like you who've enrolled in the mental health coach training program

and become equipped to help. For a limited time, apply for a full tuition scholarship and only pay a one-time tech fee of $54 if accepted. Apply now at mentalhealthcoach.org. Again, that's mental healthcoach.org. Summer is here, and our sleep is just as important as our weekend plans.

So get the sleep you deserve with Lisa. For a limited time, save up to $700 off select mattresses plus two free pillows during our summer sale. Check out our hybrid mattress designed to keep you cool during those hot summer nights. Lisa also offers free shipping and a risk-free 100-night trial. Get the sleep you deserve. Shop our summer sale now and save up to $700 off select mattresses.

Plus two free pillows at Lisa.com. That's L-E-E-E-S-A.com. Exclusions apply, visit Lisa.com for details.