Joel Osteen Podcast - Making Miracles Out Of Mistakes | Joel Osteen

Episode Date: February 28, 2025

A negative past does not disqualify you from a bright future. No mistake is too great for the mercy of God.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 wants to give you a fresh vision for the abundant life He's called you to! Joel's brand-new book will show you how to stop living an ordinary life and start trusting God for His promises. Request our February offer and dare to Pray Bold, https://bit.ly/4aDY5Kl! 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 for listening to our podcast and thanks for supporting the ministry. If you enjoyed today's message, why don't you be a blessing and share it with a friend. We appreciate you and pray for God's very best in your life. Always a joy to come into your homes. We love you and we know that God has great things in store for each one of you.

If you're ever in our area, I hope you'll stop by, be a part of one of our services. I promise you it will make you feel right at home. but thank you so much for tuning in. I like to get started with something funny each week, and I heard about this little girl. She was sitting on her grandfather's lap. She noticed how wrinkled his face was.

And she contemplated the difference between hers and his. She said, granddaddy, did God make you? He laughed and said, yes, honey, God made me a long time ago. She said, well, did God make me? He said, yes, God made you just a little while ago. She thought about it a moment and said, Granddaddy, God's getting. better, isn't he?

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. 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, I'll never be the same in Jesus' name. God bless you. I want to talk to you today about how God can make miracles out of our mistakes.

Too many people are sitting on the sidelines of life, feeling washed up. They've made mistakes, gone through setbacks. Now they don't feel like they have much of a future. I hear it all the time. Joel, you don't know what I've done. I have these addictions. I ruined my marriage. I failed in business. No, God still has a great plan for you. A negative past does not disqualify you from having a bright future. No mistake you've made is too much for the mercy of God.

But you've got to get your fire back. You've got to stay filled with hope. This is not going to happen if you're sitting around negative, condemned, in self-pity, all that's going to do is keep you from the new things God wants to do. And it's so important to learn to receive God's mercy. When you make a mistake,

don't just ask for forgiveness. Take it one step further and say, Father, I'm receiving your mercy. What you're saying is, God, I believe you're not only forgive me, but you still have great things in store. And you have to do this by faith because everything in your mind

is going to tell you, you don't deserve it. You're a hypocrite. You know what you did. God's not going to bless you. That's the enemy trying to deceive you into living guilty and condemned. How many people swallow his lies and go through life with no enthusiasm, no excitement toward their future? Please don't let that be you. God is not looking for perfect people. If he was, we'd all be disqualified. He's looking for people that have a heart that's right. And if you have a heart toward God and you get up each day doing your best, you don't have to live guilty and condemned. And when those old thoughts come telling you, you don't deserve God's blessings, just say you're exactly right. I know I don't deserve it, but that's what mercy is all about.

Let it remind you of the goodness of God. But some of you are going around so focused on your mistakes and the opportunities that you've missed. You kind of think, man, I could never have God's best for me. but no, it's not as easy to mess up God's plan for your life as you may think. Moses is listed as one of the heroes of faith, but he made plenty of mistakes. As a young man, he knew that God wanted him to help deliver the people of Israel. That dream was in his heart, but he tried to do it in his own strength. He went out and killed a man.

He didn't think anybody saw, but the next day some of his own men came up to him and said, Moses, are you going to do to us what you did to that other man? He realized they did see him and he had to flee for his life. He ended up spending years on the backside of the desert. It looked like he messed up God's plan. It looked like God would just find somebody else. Let Moses stay out there in defeat and mediocrity. But no, God never gives up on us. The scripture says God's callings are irrevocable. That means the dreams, the desires, the calling God has on your life, he will never take it back. We may slow it down, we may make it more difficult, but if we will stay in faith and keep believing, we can still see God's best plan come to

pass. Forty years later, when God was ready to deliver the people of Israel, he didn't raise up a new leader, he didn't go find a younger man, somebody that had made fewer mistakes, he went right back to Moses. Here Moses was 80 years old. He had spent 40 years out there. He'd spent 40 years out there, I'm sure he must have felt like a failure. I'm sure at times he told his family, man, God had a call on my life, but I made a mistake, I blew it. No, God always gives us another opportunity.

God was saying, in effect, Moses, I haven't forgotten about you. I'm the one that put the dream in your heart. I'm going to give you another chance to see that come to pass. This time, Moses rose up and fulfilled his calling. But see, it's much more difficult to mess up God's plan for you.

your life, then you probably realize because God's always going to give you another chance. But some of you today, you're just sitting on the sidelines thinking you've made too many mistakes. Now you've given up on those dreams. You can tell me, Joel, I did this, I did that. It's been so many years. No, God is saying to you, I still have another way to bring those dreams to pass. I still have a great plan for your life. But you've got to get your hopes up. quit dragging around, focused on your mistakes, and the opportunities that you've missed, and how you didn't finish college, and you didn't spend enough time with your family. No, you can't do anything about the past.

Let that go and just be your best today. And know this. Nothing that's happened in your past can disqualify you from the bright future God has in store. Forty years later, Moses saw his dreams come to pass. why don't you start believing that some of the opportunities you missed down through the years will come across your path once again. God is a God of another chance. If we'll stay in faith and keep our hopes up, he can do for us what he did for Moses. I have a navigation system in my car. I can type in an address and it will automatically calculate the fastest way to get there.

It highlights it on the screen, shows you the way to go, and I'll back out of my driveway. but sometimes I don't take its advice and I go a different way. And what I like about it is the system doesn't stop just because I get off course. It immediately updates and calculates a new route from where I am. It can still get me there. You have one. Do you know what I mean? You can drive 100 miles in the wrong direction, zigzag through the woods.

The whole time is constantly making adjustments telling you the fastest way to get to that original location. that's the way God is. He didn't say to Moses, you blew it, turned the navigation system off, he's done. No, when we get off course, God immediately comes up with another way. He finds another route to still bring those dreams to pass.

And I'm not saying that we can live sloppy lives and think, well, Joel told me God's so good he'll get me there. I'll live however I want. No, I'm talking about people that have a heart to serve God. People that have a heart to do right. You make mistakes once in a while, Well, you don't have to sit around, feeling all washed up. God still has a way to bring your dreams to pass.

A lot of people today, they think God's mad at them, and he's keeping a record of everything they've done wrong. When they make poor choices, they wouldn't dare go to God and ask him for his help. They think they have to pay for their mistakes. The way most people do it is they give up on their dreams, go around depressed and defeated, thinking that they're paying God back.

But the good news today is that, the debt has already been paid. Why don't you receive God's mercy? Why don't you believe he still has great things in store for you? You may have made mistakes, but nothing you've done is too much for the mercy of God. The scripture says here in James 1, verse 5, if anyone needs wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to everyone without finding fault. Notice God is not a fault find her. That means I may have made mistakes. I may have gotten myself into trouble. But if I'll be bold enough to ask God, he will help me and not condemn me and not find fault. But a lot of times when we make mistakes, we wouldn't dare go to God. We think, man, I got myself into this trouble. Too bad.

I got to get myself out. But this is what mercy is all about. If we could just learn to come to God and say, God, I blew it. I admit I did wrong. But I believe, because I'm your child, and because you are full of mercy, you will still give me wisdom and help me to get out of this trouble. When you come with that boldness, with that confidence, that's what pleases God. I think about our son, Jonathan, he's 11 years old. If all a sudden I heard him screaming, Daddy, come help me. I look out the window and I see he's hanging by a tree. He's about to fall. He's about to get hurt. I wouldn't say, well, let me think about how good he's been lately.

Victoria, has Jonathan been doing his chores? Let me go check his bedroom. The whole time he's screaming, Daddy, please help me. Hang on, Jonathan, I've got to check your report card. No, those thoughts wouldn't even come into my mind. He's my son. Whenever he needs help, I'm going to do whatever I can.

That's the way God is. He's not focused on your mistakes. He's not looking for ways to make your life miserable. God wants you to succeed. He created you to live his abundant life. Don't go around with that old nagging feeling, man. God's not pleased with me, Joel. I'd be a hypocrite to ask for his help all the mistakes I've made.

No, you are the apple of God's eye. You are his most prized possession. Nothing you've done or ever will do will keep God from wanting to be good to you. Dare to believe. Shake off that old guilty, unworthy feeling. Doesn't please God for us to drag around, negative. defeated, feeling like a failure, thinking that we're paying God back for our wrong choices. Now, you're a child of the most high God. What pleases him is when you put your shoulders back.

Dust yourself off and say, I may have made mistakes, I may have blown it, but I know God is full of mercy and he still has a great plan for my life. That's what it means to come boldly to the throne of grace to receive mercy. You have to be determined. If you give in to guilt and condemnation, you'll go through life beaten down, feeling unworthy, no joy, no peace, no victory. Well, Joy, you don't know what I've done. Now let me ask you, is it too much for the mercy of God? Do you think your mistakes could somehow cancel out God's plan for your life? God created the whole universe. The scripture says, God has already written down every day that you would live in his book. I cannot fathom the creator of the universe.

hundreds, maybe millions of years ago, writing in his book on this day, my son or my daughter is going to make a mistake that's too much for my mercy. Now, where you are is not a surprise to God. What you struggle with doesn't have him baffled. God already knows. He does not require a perfect performance.

He just asks that our heart would be right. I'm asking you today to get up every morning knowing that God has a bright future in store. Does it matter what you've done? Doesn't matter what somebody has done to you. Nobody or nothing can stop God's plan from coming to pass except you. You have to shake off complacency and start believing that every dream, every desire, every possibility God's put in your heart will come to pass.

When Jonathan was small, I had a sports car that I took very good care of. I'd wash it once or twice a week sometimes by hand and polish it and make sure it was perfect. And I had this bucket that I kept all my sponges and towels in that I used to clean the car up at the front of the garage. One day I'd spent a couple of hours washing it. I had buffed the paint, made it look like glass. I could see my reflection. So proud of it. And a few hours later, little Jonathan came in.

He must have been about three years old. He smiled real big and said, Daddy, I just washed your car for you. And I thought to myself, surely you didn't. He said, do you want to see? I thought, yeah, I do want to see. So we went out there, and I nearly passed out. He had taken my dirtiest towel, the one I used for my tires, and he had gone around my whole car and just rubbed that in.

I felt sick to my stomach. He looked at me so proud. He said, Daddy, what do you think? I just said, oh, Jonathan, thank you so much. I just flat lied, but he went in to tell Victoria, I got the hose, started over, cleaned up the mess. what's my point? Jonathan's heart was right. He thought he was doing good. He thought he was doing me a favor. I've asked him since not to do me any more favors. But I didn't get on to him. Oh, Jonathan,

why did you do that? Now I've got to spend all this time. No, I just cleaned up the mess and didn't say a word about it. I wonder how many times God does that for us. We make a mess. We make some poor choices. But because our heart is right, God causes it to work out. He doesn't say anything about it. it. We may never know that he changed something here, caused the right people to come along there. What would have been a big mess, because of his mercy, he cleaned it up and caused it to work out for our good. That's the way God is. When your heart is right, he'll clean up the mess and not even condemn you for it. There's a story in Luke chapter 7. Jesus is at the home of a Pharisee about to have dinner. This lady comes in. Her name is Mary. The scripture says she is a notorious sinner.

Everyone there knows that she spends all of her time in the red light district. That's the kind of lady she is. That's how she makes her money. She's got this jar of perfume and she pours it on Jesus's feet. She begins to wash them and dry them with her own hair. And the Pharisees, they were the religious leader. They began to complain. They said, if Jesus were really a prophet, he would know what this lady's profession is.

He would know she's got a terrible reputation around here. Jesus knew what they were thinking. So he answered them back with a story. He said, suppose a lender has two people that owe him money, $1.5 and $1,500. And this lender forgives both of their debts. Which one would love the most? They answered back, the one that he forgave the most.

He turned to the woman and said, You see this lady, when I came into your house, you didn't greet me with a kiss on the cheek. You didn't offer me a drink. for to wash my feet, yet she has not stopped doing so. Though her sins be many, they are now forgiven. You think about it, Mary had had a rough past, but because her heart was right, she didn't have to have a rough future. God had a plan. Here, she had spent years making wrong choices. She had spent years going down the wrong path. Most people in her shoes wouldn't dare go to God.

They'd feel too guilty, too condemned. But somehow Mary understood the mercy of God. And She understood where she was was not where she had to end up. She knew God still had a bright future, and her negative past didn't have to disqualify her from having God's best plan. That day she left there, a changed woman. Years later, when Jesus was crucified and rose from the grave, the first person the angel spoke to was not one of the religious leaders, wasn't one of the disciples, wasn't the apostle Paul. The first person the angel spoke to to tell that Jesus was alive was this lady, Mary. She seemed like an unusual choice.

She had a negative past. She was considered a social outcast called a notorious sinner. Friends, God is not near as concerned about your past as he is your future. Where you've been is not near as important as where you're going. The whole key was Mary's heart was right.

If God can cause her to fulfill her destiny and play such an important role in history, surely God can make miracles out of our mistakes. Surely God still has great things in store for each one of us. I love the scripture in Zeppani 319. God is gathering together the outcast and the limping ones. That means the people that society has written off, the people that have had a negative past. And you may feel like you were as far from me.

God as you possibly can be. You've messed up, made mistakes. People have written you off, but I can tell you with confidence, God still has a great plan for your life. He did it for Mary, he can do it for you. And if you'll just dare come to God and say, God, I messed up. I know I haven't lived like I should have, but I believe your mercy is bigger than any mistake that I've ever made. When you come with that kind of boldness, that opens the door for God to do great things in your life. See, God will never write you off. He doesn't see you like other people see you. Sometimes people may look down on you. Think that you don't have much to offer. You've got these addictions. You've had a rough past. But God doesn't look at what you are. He looks at what you can become. He sees your potential. One thing I love, when I look out here at Lakewood, I see all different types of people. Some of you grew up in church like I did. Others of you grew up in the bars and the clubs. Some of you went to Ivy League schools. Some of you spent time in prison. Some of you come from well-to-do, loving families. Others of you come from negative, dysfunctional families.

Somebody told me last week, Joel, my family put the funk in dysfunction. You may feel like that's you. But you know what? None of that matters to God. He knew you before you were born, and he already has a great plan for your life. First step, the first step is just doing what Mary did and coming to God. Receive his forgiveness, receive his mercy. Let him give you a new beginning. I had a friend that grew up in church,

but he got off course and started making poor choices. And he ended up the leader of an outlaw motorcycle game. They were constantly in trouble with the law. This friend had all kinds of addictions. When he got up in the morning, the first thing he would do was get high. His life was totally out of control. One day he hit rock bottom.

he was going to end it all by taking a whole bottle of pills, but something down in here told him to go to church one more time. On Mother's Day, he showed up to Lakewood higher than a kite, had that long beard, long hair, tattoos, leather all over him. And normally the first couple of rows are reserved for some staff, but for some reason that day, the usher took him all the way down to the front and sat him on the very first row. He said he was so high he couldn't remember anything that was said.

all he could remember was the love that he felt. That's the mercy of God. You take one step toward God. He'll come running toward you. That day he left the service, went out to the parking lot, and on his knees, he asked Jesus to come into his life right in front of his motorcycle. That was a turning point. Today that gentleman is a pastor of a church. He started a new motorcycle group, and now he goes all over, sharing with other bikers what God has done for him. See, God can take him. See, God can take your mess and turn it into your message. He can use you to help other people in that same situation. This young man got off the right track, but notice God gave him another opportunity to get back on track. He was considered a social outcast. People looked down on him, but see, God looks at

you differently. He looks at the heart. You may be thinking, man, I've blown it. I'm so far from where I should be. But I believe like him, deep down, you have a tender heart toward God. Deep down, you want to do what's right. Beyond the hard outer shell, beyond the facade that everybody else sees, you have a desire to get back on to God's best path. The good news is your negative past doesn't disqualify you from having a bright future. God still has a plan. You're never too far gone with our God. Society may write you off, but God wants to gather up the outcast, the limping ones. He can still make something great out of your life. One thing I found interesting, about this man is he had a mother at home that was always praying. That reminds me, moms and

dads, let's never quit praying for our children. Doesn't matter where they are, what it looks like. Nothing's too hard for our God. All it takes is one touch of his favor. He can turn any life around. In John chapter 6, Jesus had just fed the multitudes with the little boys lunch. When they got finished, they had more left over than when they started. That's what happens when you give your life to God, he'll always make so much more out of it. Afterwards, Jesus said to the disciples, gather up the fragments so that nothing will be wasted. Notice, God never waste anything. People today have been abused, been divorced, been through other failures. And it's easy to just settle for mediocrity and think, man, I've blown it so many times. But no, God still has a plan.

You can come to him with nothing but broken pieces, broken dreams, a broken marriage, a messed up life, God can still make something great out of it. Well, you say, Joel, I was abused growing up. Wasn't fair. That's why I'm angry. That's why I'm bitter. No, give that fragment to God. He still has a plan. He can use you to help other hurting people. Well, my spouse walked out on me, left me for somebody else. Stay filled with hope. God still has a good future.

He can bring somebody new into your life. Or maybe you think, Joel, I'm so far from where I should be. I've made so many mistakes. I have so many mistakes. I have so many failures. You have to receive God's mercy and keep pressing forward. If you'll keep your heart pure and stay filled with hope,

God will never waste anything that you go through. Somehow he'll use it to still get some good out of it. In Jeremiah chapter 18, it talks about a potter sitting at the will, working on a vessel, some kind of pot of clay. And it says the vessel becomes marred in the potter's hands. That means it's messed up. It's broken. It's got cracks and defects. But the potter doesn't just throw it away and say, too bad,

let me get something else. It says the potter remakes the vessel once again. When it's all said and done, the vessel is stronger and more beautiful than it ever was before. Of course, the potter represents God. And all of us in life go through failures, disappointments, things where people didn't treat us right. we end up hurt, broken, maybe feeling like we don't have much of a future. But God is saying through this passage, if you'll just stay filled with hope, I'll take your broken pieces, the hurts, the failures, the disappointments, and I'll use them not just to put you back together, but I'll bring you out better off than had that not ever even have happened to you.

There's a famous poem that talks about how a bird with a broken wing will never fly again. It's a very sad, depressing point. But one day, somebody took it and put a new end on it. They told how when God gets a hold of the bird, he begins to heal it and restore it and breathe new life back into it.

And it ended up by saying, the bird with the broken wing will fly twice as high again. That's what God wants to do for every one of us. But some of you today, you've just about written yourself off, living guilty and condemned. You've got to get a new vision for your life. God,

is full of mercy. He doesn't want you to stay where you are. He wants to restore and breathe new life back into you. His dream is to take your broken pieces and bring you out better off than you were before. You've got to shake off that old negative, defeated, guilty spirit. This is a new day. Nothing that you've done is too much for the mercy of God. Give him those fragments. Give him the broken pieces. And just say, God, I've made a mess of my life. But I believe that you are good enough to still make miracles out of my mistakes. God, I'm just bold enough to believe, even though I don't deserve it because of your mercy, you still have good things in store. When you come with that boldness, with that confidence, believing in the goodness of God, that allows him to do great things in your life. If you will stay in faith, keep your hopes up,

keep your heart pure, I know that God will remake your life into something more beautiful and more rewarding than you ever thought possible. Amen. Do you receive it this morning? 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. God first place, he's going to take your places that you've never dreamed of. When was the last time you asked God to do something that seemed impossible? If you only pray small, ordinary prayers, you'll live a small, ordinary life.

I have a new book called Pray Bold. I'll challenge you to stretch your faith and believe for the big things God puts in your heart. Victoria and I used to have season tickets to watch the Rockets play basketball here. We never dreamed it could be ours. When they moved out, Somehow we had the faith to pray a bold prayer. God made things happen that we could never make happen. It's the same for you. Who knows what God will do in your life if you'll dare to pray bold? Ask him for your dreams.

Ask for your healing. Ask for your freedom. That's when God will show up and do more than you could ever imagine. As our way of saying thank you for your gift of any amount this month, we would like to send you a copy of Joel's brand new book. Pray Bold. Dare to ask. and believe big.

Joel shares that when we pray, we can tap into God's creative, awesome power, something bigger than we have ever imagined. God doesn't want us to just pray in our comfort zones. No, God loves when we pray big, believe big, expect him to do the unexpected. There are inspiring stories from the Bible, from history, and personal testimonies of people

who dared to believe God in extraordinary ways. You'll learn how to practically expand your prayers and watch your life move from the common to the extraordinary, from less than to overflowing. Be sure to request your copy of Pray Bold Today. Visit Joelosteen.com or call us toll free. God has put dreams in your heart and things he's whispered in the night that seem impossible. But as you pray these bold prayers, you're going to see the goodness of God in ways you've never seen. Victoria and I believe, and you're going to have a great 2025. We pray for you and your family every day for God's very best. We want to thank you for your prayer and your support.

You're impacting people all over the world. Be sure to request your copy of Pray Bold Today. Visit joelowsteen.com or call us toll-free. Finally, elevate your personal time with God by requesting the My Time with God collection. This beautiful collection contains the Pray Bold new release, plus the new living translation, one-year chronological study Bible, and a beautiful glass mug and throw blanket based around the inspiring scripture from Psalm 4610. Be still and know that I am God. You can learn more about this unique new gift collection by calling 888-567 Joel

or logging on to Joel Osteen.com today. Remember, you can watch the services online every Sunday morning, download our daily podcast, listen on Sirius XM, watch on YouTube, and now the new Joel Osteen Network streaming on television 24 hours a day. If you've never been to Lakewood, we have a great opportunity. We call it Homecoming Weekend. We'd love to meet you and your family. You can see the building and attend one of the services. It's a great time to be a part of the Lakewood family. Looking forward to seeing you homecoming weekend.