Joel Osteen Podcast - Keep Pressing Forward | Joel Osteen

Episode Date: September 20, 2024

Too often, we settle for where we are instead of believing God for greater things. But if you're going to become all that He created you to be, you need to learn to keep pressing forward. 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.God still works miraclestoday just as He did in Scripture! InMiracles Happen, you’ll find stories of 30 miracles from the Bible plus 5 modern-day miracles. Let our September offer stir your faith and increase your expectation—your miracle is on the way!Request your copy today,https://bit.ly/3SVZvsb. 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.

Hi, this is Joel and Victoria. Thanks so much for listening to the podcast and thanks for supporting the ministry. We believe you're going to have an awesome 2024, healthy, productive, and favor-filled. God bless you today and enjoy the message. God bless you. It's a joy to come into your homes. We love you. We come each week with good news. I know that God rewards the people that seek after him. And I believe that's you or you wouldn't have tuned in today or you guys wouldn't be here, but we just welcome you today. come back. If you're ever in the Houston area, stop by and see us. We give you a personal invitation. I promise you, we'll make you feel right at home. But thanks for joining us today. I'd like to start each week with something kind of funny. And I heard about this man. He was on

vacation with his family in Jerusalem. And suddenly his mother-in-law died. He went to make arrangements to get the body back home. The consulate told him it would cost $5,000 to have it shipped, but only $100 to have it buried there in Jerusalem. After deep thought, he told the consulate he wanted to have the body shipped back home. The consulate said, well, you must have really loved your mother-in-law. He said, no, it wasn't necessarily that. I just remember a time many years ago where they buried somebody here and on the third day he arose. And I can't take that chance.

All right. Hold your Bibles up. 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 not getting stagnant in life. It's so easy to get stuck in a rut to where we're not growing. We're not improving. We've gotten comfortable and we just accept. the status quo. We're not happy in our marriage, but at least we're still together. We've struggled

with our weight for years, but it's just too hard. It's not worth it. Or maybe at one time, we were determined to break bad habits. We were determined to overcome addictions, but now it's easier to just accept it. I've heard people say, I've had this sickness my whole lifetime. I'll probably die with it. Gone as far in my career as I can go. It just can't control my temper. often we settle for things that are far less than God's best. But if we're going to become all that God's created us to be, we've got to learn to keep pressing forward in life. We've got to draw the line in the sand and say, no, I'm not going to be comfortable where I am. I'm not going to learn to live with these addictions. I'm not going to make excuses for the way I treat people. I'm not going

going to get content where I am in my career. I'm going to stir myself up and start pressing forward. I'm going to start believing for greater things. And our attitude should be, I'm coming up higher. I'm going to become all that God's created me to be. The scripture says in Proverbs that the path of the righteous gets brighter and brighter. That means we should be increasing. We should be seeing more of God's blessings and favor in our lives. We should be displaying more of his character, more kindness, more compassion, more patience.

Our attitude this year should be better than it was last year. But some of you are stuck in a rut. You're not growing. You're not improving. You've just settled where you are. And it's easy to try to justify it. Well, everybody in my family is like this, Joel, I can't help it. My mother was depressed.

That's why I'm kind of depressed. My father, he had a bad temper. Now I have one. Or all my relatives struggle with alcohol. That's why I had this problem. No, those are wrong ones. mindsets. You may have been influenced by your past, but you don't have to be controlled by it. Don't learn to live with things like that. Yes, that may be the reason you are the way you are,

but don't let it be an excuse to stay the way you are. You can come up higher. And there's an interesting scripture here in Ezekiel 18 verse 2. It says, what do you mean by quoting this proverb, the fathers ate the sour grapes, and now the children's teeth are set on edge. As surely as I live declares the sovereign Lord, you will no longer quote this. What's happening here is this is a proverb they had been living by. And it was basically saying, since the father did wrong, then the children will have problems as well. Since the father ate the sour grapes, because the parents had addictions, because the grandmas, because the grandparents were defeated and depressed, then the children will struggle with the same

things. That was their philosophy. Everything just keeps getting passed down. That's who we are. And evidently, they'd been thinking this way for a long time because God showed up and said, hey, stop saying that. Why are you using your relatives as an excuse? Why are you using your parents and how you were raised and what you didn't have as a reason to stay the way you are? As long as the sovereign Lord is alive, you don't have to be bound by the bondages of the past. In other words, your relatives may have eaten the sour grapes. Your parents may have made some poor choices in life. Maybe you look back in your bloodline and you see all kinds of defeat and mediocrity that goes back for generations. But God is saying, it does not have to affect you. Yes, it may have given

you some disadvantages. Yes, it may have held you back for a little while, but this is a new day. And if you'll get rid of the wrong mindsets and start pressing forward, then all the forces of darkness cannot hold you back. Understand what's happened in your past, how you were raised, what your parents did or didn't do for you, cannot keep you from becoming all God's created you to be. And I hear too many people today saying things like, well, everybody in my family gets divorced. My mother and dad, they argued and fought all the time. Now my wife and I, we argue and fight all the time. Or I'm negative, judgmental, critical, because the environment I was raised in. No, those are wrong mindsets. The scripture says, you are a new creation. The old has been passed away.

And we hear a lot about generational curses today, and they are real. Things can be passed down. Medical science tells us sicknesses and diseases, even addictions and bad habits, they can be passed down genetically through our blood, through our DNA. Now, I read where if your father was an alcoholic, you have three times the chance of becoming one as well. And in the natural, there are genetics. Things can be hereditary, but in the spiritual realm, it's a different story. And God is saying, as long as the sovereign Lord is alive and well in your heart, you don't have to eat the sour grapes. You've been redeemed. You're not under the curse anymore. You're under the blessing.

The old has passed away. When you came to Christ, you stepped into a new bloodline. And the good news is, there's no defeat in this new bloodline. There's no lack in this new bloodline. There are no addictions, no sickness, no mediocrity. Get a vision for who you are. You are a child of the most high God. You have his royal blood flowing through your veins.

There is nothing in life that you cannot overcome. There is no obstacle, no mediocrity, no addiction, no bad habit, no sickness. You have everything you need right now on the inside of you to fulfill your God-given destiny. But if this is going to happen, you've got to rise up and start acting like it. You've got to get rid of that weak, defeated mentality. You will never live in victory as long as you're sitting around in self-pity. Blame in the past. Blaming your parents.

Blaming your circumstances. No, quit playing the blame game. and step up to the plate and deal with the things that are holding you back. I was talking to a young man the other day. He said, Joel, I know I'm ruining my marriage. I'm rude. I'm disrespectful. I just say whatever I want.

I can't control my temper. He said, the thing that I dislike about it the most is I'm acting just like my father. Growing up, my dad treated my mother so rude, so disrespectfully. And I despise that about him. but now would you believe it? I've become just like him. That's what happens when we're complacent. That's what happens when we're passive. We allow the generational curses to go from one generation to the next. I told him what I'm telling you, you don't have to eat the sour grapes. You're more than a conquer. You're an overcomer. But you've got to dig your heels in and say, enough is enough.

You will never change what you tolerate. You got to get fed up with it and say, you know what? I'm drawing the line and the saying, I'm not going to live like this anymore. I'm going to make changes. I'm going to treat my family right. I'm going to be kind. I'm going to walk in love. And if you will do your part and be disciplined to make good choices, God will help you to overcome anything that's trying to hold you back. And I want to stir you out of complacency. Don't learn to live with things that are less than God's best. Don't keep passing the junk down. Today can be a new beginning. Today can be a turning point in your life. Even with sicknesses, we know in the natural how things like heart disease, diabetes, even depression can be passed from one generation to the next. And you can't

just sit back and accept that. Complacency will always keep you in mediocrity. Now, I'm not saying to deny it and act like it's not there. I'm simply saying, don't let that determine your destiny. In other words, my grandfather may have died from cancer. My father may have died from that. My father may have died from that, but you know what? It's a new day. I don't have to eat the grapes. The buck is going to stop with me. Medical science even tells us people that have a feisty spirit, people that have an overcoming, determined attitude, they recover quicker than people to just sit back and accept things. I heard somebody say, well, my arthritis has flared up on me. My depression was really bad last week. Listen, you've got to quit taking ownership of that junk. It's not your arthritis, it's not your sickness.

It's not your depression. You are free. You are whole. You are a new creature. A victor and not a victim. Really, a better way to look at it is you're not a sick person trying to get well. You're a well person standing against sickness. Our attitude should be I walk in divine health.

Sickness cannot live in my body. It may try to take up a temporary residence, but it's not going to last forever. It didn't come to stay. It came to pass. Well, Joel, what if I have to fight this sickness my whole lifetime? Listen, I'd rather stand against it every day and know that I died in faith than just sit back and accept the life of mediocrity. We all have things to overcome.

We all have challenges. Let's don't make excuses and get complacent. I found the first place we lose the battle is in our own thinking. We have to have the right mindsets. You may have been raised by people that were negative. or had addictions and bad habits, and now you struggle with them, but you've got to make up your mind. They are not going to last forever. You don't have to eat the sour grapes. Get a new vision for your life. Make a decision, you know what? This bad habit is not going to be with me my whole lifetime.

I'm not going to deal with this sickness forever. I'm a child of the most high God, and I'm coming up higher. Some of you have struggled with your weight for years, and you have tried and tried, and, man, you just say, joy, it's too hard. I can't do it. It's in my jeans. Everybody in my family's like this. I don't have what it takes. No, quit talking like that. Don't speak defeat over your life. You need to start saying every day, I can

do all things through Christ. I have discipline. I have self-control. Get up every morning. Look at yourself in the mirror and say, good morning, you good-looking thing. You got to call it by faith. Some of you more than others. My brother Paul's been trying this 40 years.

years, it still hadn't helped. You just got to keep on, keeping on. Every day you need to tell yourself, I weigh what I should weigh. Greater is he that's in me than he that's in the refrigerator. I will fulfill my destiny. See, God's verifying it right there. Accomplish my dream. We have to have the right mindsets. We got to have that can-do mentality. Our attitude should be, I'm coming up higher. I'm not staying where I am. I'm growing. I'm increasing. I know there are good things in store. I know the best is still yet to come. Gotta keep pressing forward. It says in Proverbs 132, complacency will destroy. Being complacent will steal the dreams out of your heart. Complacency will ruin your relationships. Ultimately, complacency

is going to keep you from reaching your highest potential. And you may be at a good place today. And you're thinking, well, this isn't for me. I don't have bad habits. I'm living an okay life, but no, God always wants us to be growing. And I've discovered that the good can be the enemy of the best. Sometimes I can speak a pretty good message. But you know what? I'm not satisfied. I want to get better and better.

I treat Victoria pretty good, but I want to treat her better. I don't have any major hangups. Maybe you don't either. But we all have areas where we can come up higher in. And the danger is that we get comfortable. We sit back and say, hey, this isn't a very bad place. I'm blessed. I've achieved as much as most. I've gone pretty far. But deep down in here, we know that God has more in store. We know there are new mountains to climb. We know there are dreams and goals that we should be pursuing. Don't get stagnant. Some of you today are living so far below your potential. You have so much to offer, so much talent, so much creativity, so much. So much. much in you, but it keeps getting stifled because you won't take that step of faith. You are satisfied where you are. You just keep playing it safe. But you've got to dare to step

out of your comfort zone. You need to start stretching yourself. God's trying to plant new seeds in your heart today. It's trying to get you to come up higher. I have a friend that had a dream of becoming a pastor. He's a very fine young man, very sharp, very talented, had so much going for him. But growing up, he had a serious problem with stuttering. I mean, he could hardly even get a sentence out. It would take him forever. And you can imagine what this did for his confidence, had very low self-esteem, hardly looked at the eyes. And on top of that, at the school, the children would make fun of him and tease him. That just made his stuttering worse. He turned inside, hardly even say anything. He told how at the ages 16, he was at this very respected speech school, and the leaders carried around a stopwatch.

And any time a student got stuck, they would time how long it took to say the next word. That's the way they could keep up with their progress. And on the first day at the school, this young man got stuck on the word thee. And it took him one minute and 16 seconds to get it out. I mean, he had a serious problem with stuttering. And they tried all these different approaches. He was just so discouraged. He could have easily just settled right where he was. He could have easily thought too bad, this is my lot in life. But I love what he did. He said, God, people can help me, but I know you can. I know you made my tongue. I know you made my mind. And I'm asking you to help me to speak clearly. I'm asking you to help me to overcome. And he put actions behind his prayers. The scripture says that faith without our works is dead. He got his Bible every day and he would get alone where nobody could hear him

and he started quoting scriptures. Sometimes it would take him five minutes just to get one out, but he never gave up. He just kept on keeping on doing his best, making the most with what he had. He would quote things like Philippians 413, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. I am more than a conquer. No weapon formed against me will ever prosper. He just kept pressing forward. Day after day, he had to fight off all the negative voices telling him, you're never going to get better. You'll never overcome. This is your destiny. He just shook that junk off. He said, no, I'm coming up higher. I'm going to become all that God's created me to be. And it didn't happen overnight, but little by little, day after day, he got better and better and better. better. Now I saw him about this time last year, and he speaks as clearly and fluently as could be.

You could never even tell he had a problem. Do you know what he's doing today? He's the pastor of a very successful church. You think about that. He went from it taking him a minute and 16 seconds to say the word thee, to speaking regularly in front of his congregation. That's what happens when we don't get complacent. That's what happens when we don't settle for the status quo. God will take what the enemy means for your evil and he'll turn it around and use it to your advantage. Don't get stagnant. Don't give up on the dreams that God has placed in your own heart.

Like him, maybe you can't do it in your own natural ability. But remember, you and God are a majority. Quit looking at what you don't have and start looking at what God does have. All Moses had was a rod, but God used it to part the Red Sea. all David had was a slingshot. God used it to defeat Goliath. All one little boy had was a fish and a few loaves of bread.

God used that to feed the thousands. Why don't you stop looking at what you're not and start looking at who he is? He is El Shadai, the God who is more than enough. He is Jehovah Jira, the Lord our provider. He said, when we are weak, he is strong. when we come to the end of our own natural ability, that's when God's supernatural ability kicks in. You've got to get your eyes off of your circumstances.

Get your eyes off of what you don't have. I think about the woman at the well in John chapter 4. Jesus was there and he asked her for something to drink. And she was so surprised because back in those days, the Jews didn't have anything to do with the Samaritans. And she said, how can you ask me for a drink? And Jesus replied, Ma'am, if you knew who I was, you'd ask me for a drink,

and I would give you living water. And she immediately looked in the natural. That's what we do most of the time. She said, but sir, you don't have anything to draw the water with. You don't have a pail, any kind of bucket, and the well's very deep. How could you possibly do this?

And I wonder how many times God wants to do something great in our lives. He puts a dream in our heart. right down in here, we know that we're going to rise higher. Something tells us we're going to be well. We're going to break an addiction. We're going to get out of debt. We feel it so strongly, but then like her, we start looking at what we don't have

and how we were raised and all the obstacles in our path. And before long, we talk ourselves out of it. Well, that would never happen for me. I don't have the education. I don't have the talent. I don't have the money. I don't have the discipline, Joel. I could never break this bad habit. I could never accomplish my dreams. No, you've got to quit looking

at what you don't have. When you believe all things become possible, if you will just stay in faith and keep doing your very best, God promises at the right time he will bring it to pass. I know when we were trying to get our new facility here, the compact center, in the natural, it looked totally impossible. All the odds were against us, but we too, had to quit looking at what we didn't have. We had to quit dwelling on all the negative reports. We had to quit reading what the experts were saying. Too often, we just look in the natural.

We need to remember God is a supernatural God. And the easy thing for us to do back then was to just stay at our other location. After all, we had a big church. It was paid for. We were comfortable. We could have stayed there and just coasted. But no, God never wants us to get stagnant.

And please understand, no matter where you are in life, God has more in store. And if you're not putting any demands on your faith, most likely you're not growing. If you know how you can accomplish everything just in your own natural ability, really, you don't need God to intervene. But if you want to see God take your places you've never dreamed of, if you want to see Him work supernaturally in your life, then you've got to do like Peter and get out of the boat. You've got to get out of your comfort zone and start doing. what you know God's leading you to do down in here. And I'm not talking about making foolish decisions, but some of you know in your heart, you need to put your name in for that new position at the office. You can do what you do every day in your sleep. You're not being stretched. You're not growing.

You've gotten comfortable. It's easy. God doesn't want you to stay there. You have so much more to offer. Dare to take the next step of faith. I was talking to a good friend last week. He's in the medical field, very successful. He said, Joel, something is stirring on the inside. I feel like I should be teaching people God's word, mentoring them, training them. But I've never done that. I don't know if I'd be good at it. I don't know if I have what it takes, but I just can't get away from it. I told him what I'm telling you, quit looking at what you don't have. Take the step of faith, and you'll find out what you do have. I know I wouldn't be standing up here today if I didn't do just what I'm asking you to do. Most of you know my story how my father tried to get me up here thousands of times to

minister. But listen, I'd never do it. I'd rather clean my attic in the heat of the summer than have had to get up in front of people. But when Daddy went to be with the Lord right down in here, I knew that I knew that I was supposed to step up and pastor this church. And I said, God, I'm not looking at what I don't have. I don't have a seminary education. I don't have a lot a formal training. I don't have a lot of experience. I'd only spoken one time. I said, God, I'm not looking at that. I'm looking at what you do have. I know in my weakness, you will show up the strongest. And so I took that step of faith seven and a half years ago, and God's taking me places that I've never dreamed up. He'll do the same thing for every one of you.

Don't get stagnant. Don't get complacent in your marriage, in your attitude, in your career. And I say this respectfully, but you can't dwell on what all the experts are saying about you. You can't sit around at home all day long thinking about how impossible your situation is. Turn it over to God. With men, it may be impossible, but with God, all things are possible. I think about a little bumblebee. All the laws of physics say a bumblebee cannot fly. Its body is too heavy for its wings. It doesn't have a big enough wingspan to support the weight. of the body. And for years, scientists, engineers, and experts in the field of aerodynamics, they have studied the bumblebee, and their final conclusion is it should not be able to fly.

But do you know why the bumblebee flies? Because God told the bumblebee to fly. And God is a supernatural God. He's not limited to the laws of nature. He can do what men can't do. and why don't you quit focusing on how big your problems are and start focusing on how big your God is. He created the whole universe. There's nothing too difficult for him. And when God puts a dream in your heart, in the natural, it may look impossible. Every voice may tell you it's never going to happen. You're never going to get well.

You're never going to break that addiction. You're never going to accomplish your dreams. But if you can just learn to shake that junk off and stay in faith, get up every day expecting good things, things, then just like that bumblebee, you will defy the odds and see it come to pass. A couple of months ago, I was talking to a friend. He's a famous tightrope walker. He comes from seven generations of entertainers there in the circus. And I ask him, what's the key to walking on the tightrope? I mean, he makes it look so easy. He said, Joel, the secret is you always have to keep your eyes fixed on where you're going. You can never

look down. He said, if you look down, he said, if you look, look down where your head goes, your body will go. There's a good chance you're going to fall. So you always have to keep your eyes focused on where you want to be. I thought that's the same principle in life. Some people are always looking back, focused on their hurts and pains, how they were raised, blaming their parents. Other people are just focused on where they are right now. In self-pity, been through disappointments, life's not fair. But the key to not getting stagnant is you have to stay focused on where you want to be. In other words, dream big dreams. Let the past be the past. Don't stay focused on where you are. Look out through your eyes of faith and see yourself

rising higher, accomplishing your dreams, breaking bad habits, fulfilling your destiny. Friends, you can live in victory. You can become all God's created you to be. Stir your faith up today. Don't settle for mediocrity. Don't settle for the status quo. Let this day be a time. The time of new beginnings. Every one of us can come up higher. And if you ask God, he will show you areas that are holding you back. Wrong mindsets, fear of failure, complacency, be willing to change. Don't make excuses. Remember, you don't have to eat the sour grapes. As long as the sovereign Lord is alive in you, good things are in store. You're not under the curse. You're under the blessing. The best is still yet to come. If you'll just shake off the complacency and start pressing forward

in light. Step in out of your comfort zone, stretching yourself. I know this. God will open up doors for you that no man can shut. You'll break bondages that have held you back for years and you'll live the life of victory he has in store. Amen. Do you receive it? 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'll 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 your places you've never dreamed of. Sometimes the difficulties of life can be so overwhelming. You feel like you're stumbling around in the dark. Things are so bad, you would need a miracle to change your situation. But is a miracle even possible? We all face situations where we don't see a way out. It's easy to get discouraged and give up on what we're believing for.

That's how we felt in 1981. My mother was diagnosed with terminal cancer and given a few weeks to live. Nothing could be done, medically speaking, but she chose to believe that God is a miracle worker. Today, 43 years later, by the grace of God, she's still healthy and strong. I'm so grateful to be alive. I'm 90 years young. I thank God every day that he still does miracles.

I'd love to send you my new book. It's called Miracles Happened. It's filled with powerful stories of miracles from the scripture and real-life stories of people that have seen the hand of God. It'll help build your faith so you can believe what seems impossible. God did it for my mother. Yes. He'll do it for you.

As our way of saying thank you for your gift of any amount to the ministry this month, Joel and Victoria would like to send you this powerful book. Miracles happen. Your journey to supernatural breakthrough. This new book details 30 different miracles from the Word of God, and each one comes with an encouragement and application to your own life. God has miracles stored up for you. Healing, freedom, favor, breakthroughs. Miracles still happen today, and faith is what activates God's power. When you believe, all things are possible. That's when you'll see the hand of God do supernatural things. in your life. Victoria and I are standing in faith with you. We pray for you every day. We appreciate

your prayer and support. Your generosity is impacting so many lives. Remember, you can watch the services live online every Sunday morning, download our daily podcast, watch on YouTube, the new Joel Osteen Network, listen on Sirius XM. Until we meet again, may the Lord bless you and keep you. Be sure to request your copy of Miracles Happen, your journey to Supernatural breakthrough today, visit Joel Osteen.com or call 888-567 Joel.