Joel Osteen Podcast - Being A Loyal Person | Joel Osteen

Episode Date: August 2, 2024

God rewards loyalty. If you'll stay committed to the people He placed in your life, He will pour out His blessings and favor. 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 visitJoelOsteen.com/GiveHope.Dispel worry and gain newfound hope! This August, we are offeringPower Up: A 21-Day Action Plan to Transformative Thinking.Receive the truth about what God says about you and transform your thoughts from Day 1. Take a step up toward powerful living today, https://bit.ly/46jp0ZX! 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.

always a joy to have you with us. We're praying for you guys. Check out my new book. It's called Power Up, a 21-day action plan to transformative thinking. I think it'll help you think great thoughts and just live a victorious life. But you can check it out on the web. It's so great having you with us. Enjoy the podcast. God bless you. It's always a joy to come into your homes. We love you. If you're ever in our area, I hope you'll stop by and see us. I'll promise you we'll make you feel right at home. but thanks so much for tuning in today. I like to get started with something funny each week, and I heard about this man.

He came up to a Baptist pastor, and he said, sir, my dog has passed away. And I was wondering if you could come to my house and have a funeral for him. The pastor seemed kind of annoyed, and he said, no, I can't do a funeral for a dog. The man said, well, that's too bad because I was thinking about making a $5,000 donation

to your church. The pastor smiled and said, why didn't you tell me your dog was Baptist? All right. Hold up your Bibles. 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. I am about to receive the incorruptible, indestructible, ever-living seed of the Word of God. I'll never be the same. Never, never, never, never, I'll never be the same in Jesus' name. God bless you.

I want to talk to you today about being a loyal person. If there's one quality that seems to be lacking in our society, it's loyalty. The words respect, honor, duty, integrity, we don't hear too much of that anymore. And sadly, many people are only out for themselves. They don't stick up for their family and friends. They'll stab somebody in the back in order to get ahead. They're not honorable. They think nothing of criticizing people, bad-mouthing their boss, bad-mouthing their country. They don't keep their commitments. They'll pack up and leave their company of 10 years overnight, high and dry, just because they got a better offer somewhere else. It all boils down to a lack of loyalty. And the scripture says in Proverbs 2121, he who pursues right, he who pursues right,

righteousness and loyalty finds life. Notice how righteousness and loyalty go together. In other words, if we're not being loyal to our family, loyal to our friends, loyal to our country, then we're not going to experience God's best. And I've seen people betray lifelong friends just to get a promotion at the office. They may get ahead for a little while, but in the end they're going to suffer. God rewards loyalty. And loyal people, are honorable people. When you're loyal, you stick with somebody through thick and thin. When you're loyal, you keep your word. Even when it hurts, people can count on you. Loyal people are respectful of their country and leaders. They don't go around bad-mouthing

people in authority. Loyal people honor their parents. They defend their family. They defend their friends. When you're loyal, you stick up for people. For instance, If I hear somebody start to talk about you, and I know you're a part of the Lakewood family, even if I don't know you by name, I can tell you this, I'm going to defend you. I believe the best in you, so I'm going to do everything I can to take up for you. That's what a loyal person does. Well, Joel, one of your members tried to run me off the road last week. But I'm sure they didn't mean to.

I'm sure they just got distracted. Maybe they were looking for their cell phone. No, they were mad. They were honking their horns. They had their hands in the air. Oh, I'm sure they're just worshiping the Lord. Lord, you are good. When you're loyal, you will defend people even to a fault.

Well, Joel, I don't think that's right. Listen, I'd rather be too merciful than too judgmental. And even if they were wrong, even if they blew it, maybe they were having a bad day. Why don't you give them the benefit of the doubt? After all, if you've never blown it, go ahead and throw the first stone. See, when you're loyal, you stick up for each other. You believe the best in people.

Anybody can jump on that old negative, critical, fault-finding bandwagon. That's easy. But I don't know about you. I don't want to be a fair-weathered friend. I'll be with you in the good times, but God bless you and good luck in the tough times you're on your own. Now, I'm going to stick with you through thick and thin. When you're loyal, you'll be with somebody on the mountaintop celebrating their victories, and you'll still be with them in the valley defending their honor, fighting for them.

That's what it means to be loyal. I heard something that Kevin McKell said. He was a famous basketball player with the Boston Celtics. And after somebody made a game-winning shot or they did something really unbelievable to help win the game, the coach, Casey Jones, would never come over and congratulate that person.

He'd just go about his business. But any time somebody missed a game-winning shot did something that caused the team to lose, KC. Jones would be the first one to go to that person and encourage them. Say, hey, don't worry about it. We'll get them next time. And one day, Kevin McKell asked him, he said, coach, how come you never come over and congratulate us when we do something good, but you're always the first one over when we mess

up and lose the game? He said, here's why, Kevin. When you win, everybody's cheering your own. Fifteen thousand people are screaming your name, shouting your praises. But when you lose, when you're down, when you've blown it, when you've made mistakes, that's when you need a true friend. And really, that's the way it is in life. It's easy to cheer people on when they're on the mountaintop. It's easy to cheer them on when everything's going their way. But a loyal person, a person of honor, a true friend, is going to be there cheering you on even when nobody else is around. That's the kind of people we need to strive to be. True friends. The scripture says in Galatians 6-1, whenever you see a brother or a sister that has fallen, you who are spiritual,

should gently restore them. Notice it doesn't say you who are spiritual should look down on them and sit around the table at lunch discussing their failures. It doesn't say that we should be critical and judgmental. It says we're supposed to gently restore them. That's what a loyal person does. There are too many fair-weathered friends these days. You even see it in the sports world. One moment you're the hero. A couple of weeks later, you have a couple of bad games. Everybody's booing. You're trying to run you out of town. Now, we need to let our friends and our family know we're with them for the long haul. We're going to be by their side, committed to them through thick and thin. A true friend defends, a true friend restores, and a true friend is committed. I was in a grocery store

one time, and there was this little boy. Looked to be about three or four years old, and he snuck around the corner where his mother couldn't see him. And then he reached up and he pulled a whole stack of cans off the shelf. It must have been about 15 or 20 of them, and they hit the ground, started rolling around. And about 30 seconds later, his mother came around the corner, and at the same time, another man that had been stocking the shelves, he came around the corner as well. And you could tell he's a little aggravated. And he came over to this lady and said, ma'am, you're going to have to keep your son under better control than that. You cannot let him do this in our grocery store. And this mother was just a little lady, but she rose up like a

tiger. She said, let me tell you, how dare you accuse my son? You didn't see him do it. I didn't see him do it. And even if he did do it, it's okay, he's just a little boy. And I thought, man, mister, you are messing with the wrong woman. Don't ever get between a mother

and her child. What I loved about that was the way she rose up to defend her son. And I thought, if we could just have that same attitude toward the people in our lives, when somebody starts accusing and talking about somebody we love, we should say, hey, wait a minute, that's my son, that's my friend,

that's my neighbor, that's my co-worker. They may have made a mistake, but you better give them a little mercy, because when you're messing with them, you're messing with me. They may not be perfect, but neither are you, so you need to back off. You need to give them a little slack. That's what it means to be loyal. You stick up for people. And it's funny, this society has a way of kicking people when they're down.

It seems like we love to build. people up only to enjoy even more seeing them torn down. But when you're loyal, when you're honorable, and you see a friend, a brother or sister that's down, instead of talking about them, being critical, judgmental, well, really, you're getting what you deserve. No, we're supposed to lift the fallen. We're supposed to restore the broken. Instead of saying too bad for you, we're supposed to go to them and pour the healing oil onto their wounds. The scripture says, a gentle, gentle, comes healing. Do you know kind words can get people back up on their feet again? Really, mercy is simply loyalty in action. When you're merciful, when you're forgiving, when you help restore,

that is loyalty at work. Let me ask you today, are you being loyal to your friends, loyal to your family? Do you stick with them through thick and thin? It's so easy when people are down, when they've made mistakes, to be critical, to condemn them, but really, really, that's when our friends need us the very most. A true friend is going to be by your side when you're hurting, when you're falling, when you've made mistakes. When we see somebody in need, our attitude should be, they're on my team.

They're a part of my family. They work at my company. They're a part of my church. I'm not going to sit back. I'm going to step up and defend them. And they may have made mistakes. I'm not saying that they're perfect. Maybe they are guilty.

But understand, only they. the guilty need mercy. And if you're a spiritual person, you won't be a part of the problem and say, oh yeah, that's juicy. Let me tell you something else I know. No, when you're loyal, you will put a stop to it. When you're loyal, you'll be merciful. There's a scripture in Proverbs. It says, have you heard a word against your neighbor? Then let it die within you. I like that. It's saying you heard any good gossip lately? You heard anything bad about your neighbor, your friends, your family, your pastor, here's what you need to do. Burry it. Don't spread it. Don't pass it on.

You have a duty to keep it quiet. You have a duty to put a stop to it. And they may be wrong. But a loyal person doesn't go around bad-mouthing. A loyal person helps restore. I know years ago, one of the prominent ministries was involved in a big scandal. It was all over the news. And the men was guilty. He admitted it. And it seemed like the whole world had turned against him. The media, the late night talk show host, they were having a heyday with him. And when my father passed away, we were going through his files, and we found a letter that he had written this man during that time. And daddy said,

I know you are hurting, but we want you to know we here at Lakewood are on your side. And when you hurt, we hurt. My father went on to tell him how he loved him. He encouraged him that God could still restore. See, everybody has a bunch of friends when they're on the mountaintop. They get all kinds of praise and appreciation up there. Your friends really need you when life has taken an unexpected turn, when they've made mistakes, when they're in those difficult times.

And I want you to have a bigger vision today. The people in this church are on your team. Defend them. The people in the church down the street, they're on our team. Let's stick up for each other. You hear somebody talking about them, knocking their pastor, knocking why they do something,

don't say, oh yeah, I don't understand it either. that's kind of weird. No, stick up for them. Put an end to it. Your coworkers at the office, your friends, your neighbors, they're on your team. And these days more than ever, we need each other. And we need to make sure, especially that we are loyal to our own family members. Stick up for your brothers, your sisters, your aunts, your uncles, your relatives. You may not agree with everybody in your family. You probably don't. Some of them may get on your nerves. some of them may be a kind of loose. Maybe some of them, their elevator doesn't go all the way up.

But if somebody is talking about one of your family members, it is your duty to put a stop to it. Don't you dare let them get you all stirred up to where you join in. And before long, you're airing out all your family's dirty laundry. No, we should always be positive and honoring toward our family. It doesn't matter if they're the laziest, most undisciplined scoundrel around. you should never portray them in a negative light.

That's your blood. And I've seen people, when somebody starts talking about their family, they just jump on the bandwagon. Oh, yeah, man, I know what you mean. They've been a jerk for years. You should see what I've had to put up with. Let me tell you some more stories about them. No, you have a responsibility to put a stop to it.

And I'm not saying make excuses for them, but you can say something like, you know, I know they've got some issues. I know they're a little bit different, but they're growing. They're making progress. I love them down deep, they're a good person. See, that's your family.

Be loyal. Take up for them. Always be positive in honoring toward your own family. And no matter how tempted you are to get upset at them, no matter how different they may be, never make the mistake of

airing out your dirty laundry from your family with other people. Because if you tell it to somebody, they're going to tell it to somebody else. And before long, the whole world will be talking about your family's problems. That only makes it worse. Well, you say, Joel, you don't understand my situation. My brother borrowed money from all of us.

Now he can't pay us back and we're all upset. Or my father ran off and married another lady, messed our family up. Well, that's unfortunate, but it's still your family. And it's easy to kick people when they're down. It's easy to be judgmental and say, I told you so and just shut somebody out of your life. But the honorable thing to do is to help restore that person.

The honorable thing to do is to help bring peace back to your family. After all, they've got enough people pushing them down. The least they should be able to count on is their own family. And I hope you have a good family, but if you don't start sowing some seeds, I know

I've been blessed in my family. I believe I have people around me that would die for me, my wife, brothers, sisters, brother-in-laws, sister-in-laws. I really believe they would defend me to their dying day. I mean, I could go out here and rob a bank this afternoon, steal a car, And they're going to tell you, all, Joel, he's just barring it.

He's wanting to help somebody else. Now, behind closed doors, they're going to tell me to get my act together. But in front of you, that's my family. I can do no wrong. They're loyal. They're going to defend me. They're going to stick up for me. And if we can't count on our own family to be with us in our times of me,

who can we count on? I remember one time years ago, I went through a difficult time in my life, a little set back. I was kind of down and discouraged, thinking that everybody was against me. And about that time, I got a note from my brother Paul. And he said, Joel, I just want to tell you how incredibly proud I am of you. He said, I love you, I respect you, I believe in you. He said, I know this time is difficult, but I'm going to be there to do anything I can to help you make it through it. And the scripture says, a friend loves it all times, but a brother is born for adversity. That's saying,

your friends are great. We all need them. But there's something special about your own family. Your brothers, your sisters, your mom, your dad, your aunts, your uncles. They were born to be with you in the tough times. When things get difficult, we have to learn to pull together

as a family. The enemy would love to bring division. He would love to use strife and conflict, jealousy, bad attitudes to pull us apart. But we've got to rise above that. brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, relatives, quit bickering over things that don't matter. Get over those petty little differences.

Soon we're all going to be gone. Don't waste years of your life being mad at each other. Your family needs you. You have something that only you can give as a brother, a sister, an aunt, an uncle, a relative. Be there for your family. When you're a loyal person, when you're a loyal person, you respect. and honor your parents. You listen to what they have to say. You make them a part of your life. And when they get older, you do your part to help take care of them. Think about it. When you were a

child, they watched after you, they fed you, they clothed you, they made incredible sacrifices for your sake. And really, life is a big cycle. Most likely there'll be a time when your parents need you to watch after them, to help feed and clothe them as well. They did it for you. It's your duty to do it for them. Do you know how many lonely parents there are today sitting up in a nursing home somewhere? Nobody comes to see them.

Children too busy. Working all the time, building their careers. No, the honorable thing is to take time for your parents. Make them a part of your life. Call them and let them know what you're doing. Honoring our parents is the only commandment that comes with a promise. It says, if you will honor your mother

and father, you will live a long life. And I know this takes time. It takes commitment. And really, I don't think the best thing to do is to just pay somebody to take care of your parents. It's our duty, our responsibility to spend time with them, to watch after them. And if you have brothers and sisters, it should be a team effort. Don't make one child do all the work. One brother pay all the bills. One sister spend all the time. No, pull your load. Be responsible and honor your parents by taking care of them. I believe one reason that God has blessed me is because I've always done my best to honor my father and my mother. And I'm not perfect, but anybody that knows me will tell you that I always treated my father like a king.

I used to go over to my parents' house every Saturday night, and I'd pick out a suit and a tie for my father to wear Sunday morning on television. 75 years old, and I was still picking out his clothes. I remember one Saturday I was running late My father said oh Joel don't worry about it Let me pick out something on my own I'll pick out something good Daddy showed up Sunday morning I thought dear Lord the cameras can't even handle that

You better believe the next Saturday I made sure I made it by his house Later in my father's life when he went on dialysis I was able to take him to the clinic many times In fact the last day of his life I took my father to dialysis at 4 o'clock that morning what I'm saying is sometimes you have to make sacrifices to honor your parents. I didn't necessarily like getting up at 4 o'clock many of those mornings, but that's okay.

That's our duty as a son, as a daughter. If your parents live close by, swing by and check on them, mow their lawn, take them out to dinner, change the oil in their car. Let them be involved in your life. Watch after them. I know this young lady that gets up early every morning, and before she goes to work, before she gets her kids, kids off to school, she makes lunch and dinner for her elderly parents. Then after she

drops her kids off, she swings by and takes her parents that food. And then she goes to work, she'll get up the next day and do it all over again. Let me tell you, that young lady is going to be blessed. She's going to live a long life. God sees those seeds of loyalty.

And I realize some of you don't have your parents any longer. Or maybe you were raised by parents that didn't necessarily treat you very good. it. And you're thinking, Joel, the last thing I'm going to do is honor my parents after what they did to me. I want to challenge you. It may be difficult,

but you've got to do whatever you can to make amends. And you may not ever be best friends, but the fact is, God chose that man and woman to bring you into this world. And you have a responsibility to show them respect and honor. And even if you don't do it for them,

number one, you should do it for yourself so you can live a long life. And then number two, you should do it for your children. Don't keep passing all that junk down. Set a new example. Your children are watching you. They're watching how you treat your parents. And if you're cold

and rude and you just blow them off and you don't let them be a part of your life, then those same seeds are being planted in your children. Now, you've got to swallow your pride and do whatever it takes to make amends. If you want to live a long life, we need to honor our parents.

And we should learn to be loyal to our family, loyal to our friends, and then let's make sure that we are loyal to our country. Be loyal to that place wherever you live. It may not be perfect, but that's where God has you. And really, I don't know of one perfect country. You have to look for the good and then be grateful for that. And we should never demean and badmouth our leaders. God has placed those people in authority. We may not like what they do, but the scripture tells us to pray for our leaders. And there's so much hatred and mean-spiritedness in the world today, especially in the area of politics and toward our leaders.

And we may not agree with them. We may not see eye to eye on their policy. But when it comes to name-calling and these personal attacks, it's not only dishonoring to that person, it's dishonoring to our country. And my prayer is that we'd see a rebirth of patriotism. That we would not focus so much on what we don't agree on, but rather what we do agree on. I know Victoria, in all the national holidays, we hang the flag outside our home. We love our country. This is a great place to live.

And I'm all for having freedom of speech. But the anger, the hostility, it's not doing anything productive. It's divisive rather than unifying us. And we need to learn to honor those that serve us. Learn to honor the people in our military. When you see one of our service men or women, thank them. Buy their dinner. Express your gratitude. Let's be loyal citizens. I think about this church. It was built by loyal people, people that have stuck with us for 30 or 40 years through the exciting times and the not so

exciting times. I ran into a lady last week. She said, Joel, I remember when you were born. I used to change your diapers in the nursery. I said, that's great, but you can go ahead and keep that to yourself. But it was built by faithful people, people we could count on. I see Robin around here all the time. I've known him since he was this big. He and his family have been here forever, serving, faithfully. They are loyal. I could give Robin the keys to my car, my house, give him my wallet.

I'm not going to. He's not that loyal, but they are true friends. They are committed people. And that's the kind of people I want us to be. Not high-maintenance, friends. where if you do everything just right, and you never let me down, and you never offend me, then I'll stick with you, man.

But the moment you don't perform perfectly and you make a mistake and you don't come to my birthday party, then I'm out of here. No, let's be bigger than that. Let's stay committed to each other through thick and thin. I heard a story about two young men, Jim and Philip. They were the best of friends. They did everything together.

They went to high school and college together. They played sports together. even after college, they both joined the Marines. They were inseparable. And one day they were out on the battlefield, in Germany, in the midst of a very fierce battle. Gunfire was everywhere, bombs were exploding. It got so bad they were giving the order to retreat. As the men were running back, Jim noticed that his friend Philip wasn't with him. His heart was gripped with fear. He panicked. He rushed over to the commanding officer and requested permission to go back into the the battle zone. The officer said, are you crazy? You don't have a chance. That'd be committing suicide

going back in there. Without missing a beat, Jim turned around, ran back, defying the orders. In a few minutes, the officer saw Jim hobbling back across the field, carrying a lifeless body in his arms. It was his friend, Philip. He screamed at him, I told you not to go. You could have been killed. I knew your friend was already dead. Jim said, no, sir, you were wrong. He was still alive when I got there. And his last words were, I knew you would come back. That's the kind of, that's what I want

my friends and my family to be able to say about me. Be loyal. Stay committed. Stick up for each other. When somebody falls, when they're down, don't kick them, don't criticize them. Restore them. Go to them. Pour the healing oil onto their wounds.

Remember, mercy is loyalty in action. And when you're loyal, to your family, to your country, to your friends, then in your time of need, you can be assured God will have somebody there for you. God rewards loyalty. So let me challenge you again. Be a person of honor.

Don't be a fair-weathered friend. Stay committed. Stick up for each other. Defend your family. Honor your parents. If you'll keep sowing these seeds of loyalty, God has promised he'll pour out his blessings and favor, and you'll find that life of victory that he has in store.

Amen. Do you receive it this morning? I know you do. We 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 up. Our negative thinking can short-circuit God's power and blessing in our lives. When you say, I always seem to worry. I can't forgive what was done to me. I pray, but it feels like God doesn't hear. I won't have enough to provide for me and my family. How do you overcome this type of negative

thinking that limits you from God's best? Our thinking sets the limits for our life. Every morning you have to power up your mind. Get it going in the right dream. but dwelling on what God says about you. When you think thoughts of faith, hope, and victory, you'll tap into blessing and favor that belongs to you. Now, I'd love to send you my newest book. It's called Power Up. I'll show you how to delete negative thoughts

and focus on the promises rather than the problems. You can discover God's unprecedented power in your life. As our way of saying thank you for your gift of any amount to the ministry this month, Joel and Victoria would like to say, you this life-altering resource. Power up, a 21-day action plan to transformative thinking. God wants to power up every area of your life. Your relationships, career, finances, health. He wants to bless it all. But sometimes negative thinking can short-circuit the truth. This resource reconnects those power lines, providing the free flow of God's eternal promises.

Remember, wherever you're at, whatever you're facing, you can make the choice to power. power up and access God's promises. When your mind is going in the right direction, your life will go in the right direction. Start powering up each day and watch what God will do. Victoria and I want you to know that we pray for you and your family. We appreciate your prayer and support. Your generosity is impacting so many lives. Remember, you can watch the services live online every Sunday morning.

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