Joel Osteen Podcast - Separated for the Better

Episode Date: May 29, 2020

Sometimes you have to lose something to gain something better. Take another look at these seasons of growth in this eye-opening message. You’ll be inspired to stay in faith and be equipped to go through the pruning seasons. Your best days are still ahead, and together we can make a difference in this world with the message of God's hope and love. To give visit JoelOsteen.com/GiveHope Subscribe to SiriusXM Podcasts+ to listen to new episodes of the Joel Osteen Podcast ad-free and a whole week early. Start a free trial now on Apple Podcasts or by visiting siriusxm.com/podcastsplus. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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See you. Hi, this is Joel and Victoria. Thanks for downloading our podcast. We enjoy spending this time with you. I hope you'll leave inspired. Make sure you subscribe to get new messages every week. We appreciate your support. It helps keep the ministry going. Enjoy the message. And God bless you. It's always a joy to come into your homes. And if you're ever in our area, please stop by and be a part of one of our services. I'll promise you we'll make you feel right at home. Thanks so much, though, for tuning in, and thank you again for coming out. I'd like to start with something funny. One day, Jesus and Satan were having a contest to see who was better with computers. After six hours of making spreadsheets, designing web pages, a thunderstorm knocked the power out. When they rebooted their computers, Satan started screaming, it's all lost.

All my material is gone. while Jesus quietly printed his out and turned it in. Satan complained, it's not fair. He must have cheated. How come he didn't lose his work? God smiled and said, Jesus saves. Let's 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 separated for the better. In the scripture, there's a place called the threshing floor. That's where the wheat was separated from the chaff. Back in those days, they didn't have machinery, so they would lay sheaves of wheat on the ground and have their oxen and cattle walk over them repeatedly. They would break up the husk and struts. straw. The valuable part of the plant, the grain that was used for bread and meal, would come

loose from the chaff. The farmer could have a great harvest, but if he didn't separate the dysfunctional part of the plant from the functional, he would never make a living. Even though he had something very valuable, if it didn't go through this process, it wouldn't do him any good. In the same way, to reach our highest potential, God will take us. us through some threshing floors. We start off like that stalk of wheat. The potential is there. We have seeds of greatness. We're valuable. But the problem is we all have some chaff. Along with the valuable grain, we may have some pride or selfishness or insecurities. And unless God took us through the threshing floor, we've never become what he created us to be. God has to separate the

dysfunctional part of us, the part that's holding us back from the valuable part. Now, if the wheat could talk, it would say, I don't want to go through the threshing floor. I don't want animals walking on me. That's uncomfortable. That's painful. That's painful. Leave me alone. But the farmer knows, without the separation, the grain would never be useful. And sometimes we think, why am I stuck in traffic again? Why won't this person give me credit? Why did this friend walk away? We don't realize we're on the threshing floor. What we think is a bad break, a disappointment. We don't like it.

We're uncomfortable. But God is the one that ordained it. Instead of fighting it, if you'll stay in peace, then you're being refined. What's holding you back is coming off. Like that week, you're becoming more valuable. That person at work that always gets on your nerves, always tries to make you look bad, as long as you let that frustrate you, ruin your day, you're going to get stuck. But when you recognize, I'm on the threshing floor.

This is an opportunity to come up higher. I'm being refined. So I'm going to stay in peace. I'm going to let God fight my battles. When you have that approach, even if the situation doesn't change, you will change. You're getting better. The scripture says, our faith is tried in the fire of affliction. We can't pray away every difficulty.

There will be things that happen that you don't understand. You went through a loss. A friend let you down. You didn't get the promotion. Recognize you're on the threshing floor. Even though it's uncomfortable, if you'll keep the right attitude, you'll come out refined,

more valuable, separated from what's holding you back. I'm a very goal-oriented person, and I never like to wait. But it seemed like the more. The more impatient I was, the more I found myself in situations that I didn't have a choice. I had to wait. I never dreamed it was God putting me there. I was sure it was the enemy trying to slow me down.

I tried to pray away every traffic jam, every slow driver, every delay. I prayed that Victoria would get dressed faster and prayed that the kids would be ready on time. No wonder it didn't work. I was praying against what God had ordained. He loved me too much to answer my prayer. I wanted God to change the situation. God wanted the situation to change me. Maybe you're on the threshing floor today,

fighting something you don't like. Why don't you have a new perspective? God wouldn't have you there unless you needed it. It may not be good, but God knows how to use it for your good. Instead of living frustrated, sour, bitter, have the attitude, I may not like this, but I know I'm on the threshing floor. I'm being refined. I'm getting better. I'm coming up higher. One Sunday morning, when our services were still held at our northeast location, I headed out for church.

I like to arrive at least 30 minutes early, so I can go over my notes and get ready. But when I came to the main intersection to leave my neighborhood, it was blocked off because of the marathon. that happens here every January. So I turned around to go out the backside of the neighborhood, but it was blocked off as well. I tried another place and another and another. There was no way to get out. I was so frustrated.

I went back to the main intersection. I said to the police officer standing there, I passed for a church across town. I'm trying to get on the freeway, but can't seem to get out of the neighborhood. All he had to do was move one cone and let me cross the road. Early Sunday morning,

not another car or person in sight. He was going to help. He said, all right, let me see what I can do. Then he turned and looked at his supervisor across the intersection. Before he could say anything, his supervisor started shaking his head, no. Couldn't believe he. He didn't know what we're going to ask.

I wanted to say, tell him, I was going to buy him a new car. He just said no. I turned around so frustrated, drove through the neighborhood another 10, 15 minutes. Finally found this small side street to get out. The funny thing is when I got to church, Victoria was already there.

She left 30 minutes after me. I said, how did you get here so fast? She said, I went the normal way. The intersection was open for me. Friends, God knows how to put you where you're supposed to be. If he has you there, don't fight it. Embrace it.

stay in peace. See, Victoria is very relaxed, easygoing. She doesn't struggle with being impatient. She has a whole bunch of other things she deals with, but I'm not the only sinner in the family now. What am I saying? If we would work with God and let the situation change us instead of trying to change everything we don't like, we wouldn't have to keep taking the same test. I had to go back to that threshing floor again and again stuck in traffic. Some things don't come off easily. God will deliberately put us in situations so we can come up higher. The right approach is if God has me here, I must need it. I'm going to keep a good attitude, knowing that I'm coming out refined. I'm coming out more valuable. In the scripture, when the

three Hebrew teenagers wouldn't bow down to the king's golden idol, he was very upset. He was going to have them thrown into a fiery furnace. He had their hands and feet bound with cords and he threw them into the furnace. But the only thing that was burned in the fire were the cords that were holding them back. The fire didn't stop them. The fire separated them from their limitations. It was meant to destroy them, but in fact, it made them better. They came out with a new confidence, with a greater trust in God, not in the fire, but on fire. Just like with them, when you find yourself in the fire, you can stay in peace knowing that God is not going to harm anything that you need.

That difficulty is not going to leave you broken, scarred, defeated. All it's going to do is burn off any limitations that are holding you back. It's going to separate anything that's not God's best. you're going to come out prepared, ready for the next level. In the scripture, we see this principle. All the great heroes of faith went through their threshing floor experiences. Remember Peter? He was hot-tempered.

He used bad language. He told Jesus, I'll never deny you. I'm your main disciple. I'll be with you through thick and thin. But when he was put on the threshing floor, in the heat of the moment, he denied that he knew Christ. when you're under pressure, you find out what's really on the inside. That's when impurities in our character come to light.

If you'll work with God and let him refine you, you'll come out better. This is what happened with Peter. He didn't stay there. One day he ministered and 3,000 people came to know the Lord, the most in the scripture. He was so powerful that his shadow caused people to get healed. Moses, as a young man, knew he was supposed to deliver God's people. The dream was in his heart, but he got out of God's timing and tried to do it in his own strength.

He ended up killing a man and had to flee for his life. He spent 40 years on the backside of the desert. Look like that one mistake ruined his destiny. God never writes us off. He was on the threshing floor, being refined. When he was 80 years old, the scripture says Moses was the most humble, gentle man alive. God was saying, Moses, I haven't forgotten about you.

That threshing floor experience, you may not have liked it, may have been uncomfortable, but the good news, it's prepared you for the fullness of your destiny. Moses went on to bring the Israelites out of slavery, lead them toward the promised land. would have never happened without the threshing floor. Judges chapter 6 tells about a time when the Israelites would go out and plant their crops, water them, cultivate them, but when it came time to reap, an enemy would come and take their harvest.

God raised up a man by the name of Gideon to do something about it. The problem, Gideon was insecure. He didn't think he could do anything great. As long as he felt inferior, he would never reach his destiny. God didn't say, Gideon, too bad. I had something amazing in your future. If you have all these things holding you back, I can't use you. No, God never leaves us where we are.

This is what the threshing floor is all about. God puts us in situations to separate what's limiting us. God told Gideon, I want you to lead the people and defeat this army. Gideon said, God, how can I do that? I'm the least one in my father's house. It's significant where Gideon was when he said this. He was hiding in a threshing floor. He felt weak, inferior, less than. God answered him back and said, Gideon, you are a mighty man of valor. You are well able to accomplish this assignment. I can imagine hiding there. something came all over him. He thought to himself, you know what, I'm not weak, I'm not defeated, I'm a child of the most high God. Suddenly fear left him. Intimidation was gone. The threshing floor will separate what's limiting you. On the threshing floor, God will stir your gifts. You'll hear him speak in faith and victory over your life. Gideon would have been satisfied to stay there hiding,

just have enough to survive? God said, Gideon, this is not your destiny. You are not going to let the enemy steal your harvest the rest of your life rise up and go do something about it. See, the threshing floor was never meant to be permanent. God is saying to us what he said to Gideon. You've been on that threshing floor long enough. It's time to go get what belongs to you. That means shake off the disappointments.

Shake off low expectations. Shake off what people told you you can't do. People don't determine your destiny. God does. There is a great harvest in front of you. It has your name on it. Don't let the enemy keep taking what belongs to you. You are a mighty man of valor.

You are a mighty woman of valor. Like Gideon, you've been equipped. empowered, anointed. You are well able to accomplish your assignment. But all of us will go through these threshing floor experiences. It's not because God is forgotten about you. He's punishing you. He's done with you. It's just the opposite. The reason you're facing the difficulty is because God is getting you prepared. He knows what you're capable of. So he's separating what's holding you back. You're about to see new growth, new opportunities, new friendships. You're going to come out refined, polished, stronger, matured. You're going to have a greater trust, a greater confidence in God.

Now, don't complain about how big the obstacles are, about what somebody did to you. That threshing floor is not defeating you. It's promoting you. First Chronicles 13, the Ark of the Covenant. This was a large box where God's presence was back in those days, had been gone for a long time. David had a desire to bring it back to Jerusalem. He had his men build a special cart. Very carefully, they placed the Ark of the Covenant on this cart. They headed toward their destiny, very excited.

The Ark was finally coming back home. Everything was going great until the oxen hit a bump in the road and stumbled. The ark started to fall. a man reached out to steady it. When he touched it, he was instantly killed. David was so upset, so distraught, he wouldn't go any further. He couldn't understand how he could be doing the right thing, yet God took the life of one of his friends.

He gave up on his mission, let the Ark of the Covenant go to a house close by. What David didn't realize is that setback was divinely orchestrated. The scripture says The bump in the road occurred at a threshing floor. David just saw it as a bad break, but God was directing his steps. At the threshing floor,

just as wheat is separated from chaff, God was going to use that situation to refine David. And sometimes we're going along and everything's great. Life is good, but we hit a bump in the road. Lose a loved one. relationship doesn't work out.

The business goes down. We don't understand what happened. But just like with David, those bumps in the road are not random. They happen at a threshing floor. When you come out, you're not going to be the same. You're going to be refined with less chaff with more wheat. If you look back over your life,

the times you really grew, you came up higher, you developed more confidence. weren't the good times when everything was going your way, it was the times you hit a bump in the road. You couldn't see it at the time, but you were at a threshing floor. God used that to refine you. You came out better.

For three months, David was depressed, sitting by the side of the road. God, it didn't work out. God, I never dreamed I'd lose somebody along the way. But the threshing floor is a place where things die. so something new can be born. That difficulty is not the end. The divorce, the loss, the child that broke your heart

is not how your story concludes. Something may have died in your life, a friendship, a goal, a dream. The only reason it died was to give birth to the new things God wants to do. Sometimes you have to lose something to gain something better. God has to close a door

before he'll open a bigger door. The threshing floor is not only a place of separation, it's a place of preparation. If David would have taken the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem the first time before the bump in the road, he had no place to put it. A lot of people could have been hurt. Chapter 15 says he went and prepared a place for the ark.

When you hit a bump in the road, God is not only separating what's hard, holding you back, but he's preparing you for what's in your future. Some of the things God has in store, if he took you right now, you couldn't handle it. He's growing you up. He's maturing you. He's teaching you to trust. So when it's your time to step up, you'll be ready to go. David thought it was over. For three months, he had been weeping, upset, never thought he could accomplish his assignment. One day he looked out and saw the house where the Ark of the Covenant had been staying. Those people were so blessed, so prosperous,

so full of God's favor, something rose up in him, a new fire, a new passion. He said, God, I've changed my mind. I'm going to get back in the game and do what you've called me to do. Maybe you've hit a bump in the road and it's knocked the wind out of you. You don't think like David that you could accomplish your dreams, accomplish your assignment. That threshing floor is not defeating you, it's preparing you. You may have lost something, but you need to get ready. You're about to gain something a whole lot better. God is getting you prepared for something amazing. Get your fire back. Get your passion back. A good man falls seven times and the Lord raises him up. You may have fallen, but it's time to get back up. You're prepared, you're qualified, you're refined,

what God started in your life, he's going to finish. This is what David did. Scripture talks about he got the Ark of the Covenant headed toward Jerusalem with great gladness. A few weeks earlier, he didn't think he'd ever smile again. Now he's full of joy, singing, dancing, seeing a dream come to pass. When we hit bumps in the road, the enemy always whispers, you've seen your best days. It's all downhill from here. you've just been through too much, don't believe those lies.

What you lost was to give birth to the new thing God wants to do. Even when you lose a loved one, don't sit around, discourage the rest of your life. That loss is not a surprise to God. The way you honor their memory is to go out and do something great. If your loved one was here, they would tell you, get back in the games. Dream a new dream. Move forward with your life.

When my father went to be with the Lord, I didn't see how anything good could come of that. I lost something valuable, my father, whom I love and miss. But in that process, I gained something valuable. I discovered gifts and talents that I didn't know I had. I didn't know I could get up here and minister. There are times that you have to lose something so you can gain something to go to the next level. Of course, I'd say, you know, I don't want to be. lose my dad or we don't want to go through that disappointment, that setback, but you have to trust

that God knows what he's doing. I knew my father fulfilled his purpose. He finished his course. God will never take something away without giving you something better back in return. At the time, you may not be able to see it, but if you'll stay in faith and not let the disappointment, the law sour your life, then like David, like me, you'll come out prepared. qualified, ready for the next level. When I was on that threshing floor during the loss of my father, God separated things from me that were holding me back. Intimidation, insecurity, fear.

I was afraid to get up in front of people. But in that fire, those limitations were burned off. It didn't happen in the good times. It happened during the bumps in the road. My father and I were best friends. For 17 years, I had to be. worked with him behind the scenes at the ministry, we'd travel the world together, all of the sudden he was gone. I found sometimes God will take you through a season of being alone. That's a time

you could draw closer to God. When you'd normally give energy and affection to another person, you turn it toward God. Without that aloneness, you would never have the depth, the consecration, the character. Don't fight a season of isolation. If you'll embrace it, you'll discover something otherwise you could never have. Jesus put it this way. My father is the gardener. Every branch that doesn't bear fruit, he will cut away. God will take things out of our lives that are not good for us.

We're not moving forward. We understand this. He'll take away a branch of impatience, a branch of insecurity. He'll move a person that's holding us back. That makes sense. But then he said, every branch that does bear fruit, he will cut it back so that it can bear much fruit. This is saying at times we're all going to experience being cut back.

Sometimes it doesn't make sense. God, I was doing so good. Why did I lose that being client? Why did my friend walk away? Why did my child break my heart? We're doing the right thing. The wrong thing happens. We tend to focus on the cutback, the loss, the death.

disappointment, but the only reason God cuts us back is so we can bear much fruit, so we can rise higher. At home, next to our sidewalk, we have these green plants. They're about two feet tall. Look like real high grass that line our sidewalk. A couple of months ago, I walked out, and those plants had been cut back to about three inches tall. They look terrible. Look like my gardener was having a bad day. He had scalped my plants. A few days ago, Victoria and I were outside. Those plants were taller, fuller, bigger, healthier than I've ever seen. I was so amazed in just a few weeks they had sprouted to new heights. Here's the key. That man was an experienced gardener. He knows when each plant needs to be pruned. He knows how much they need to

to be cut back. It's not one size fits all. He carefully studies each plant. I have some crate mertles, other plants that he prunes at different times. In the same way, God is the master gardener. He will never cut something back, remove it, take it away, unless it's the perfect time. Sometimes we think, God, you scout me. You mess me up. God, why did you take away my dad, why'd you cut back my business? God knows what he's doing. The only reason he cut you back is so you can bear much fruit. If he had not cut you back, you would have been satisfied to stay where you were. God doesn't want you to get stuck. He has new levels. And on a regular basis, we're going to see this pruning in the uncomfortable times, in those tough times. You have to

remind yourself, you're being pruned so you can bloom, so you can blossom, so you can see new growth. Friends, we're all going to have these bumps in the road, these threshing floor experiences. The separation may be uncomfortable, but it's making you better. It's getting you prepared. You may have lost something, but you need to get ready. You're about to gain something a whole lot better. I believe and declare, you're going to come through every adversity. Less chaff, more wheat, refined, purified, stronger, ready for the fullness of your destiny. In Jesus' name, if you receive it today, can you say amen? 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. Savior. Friends, if you've 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 that you've never dreamed. Thank you for listening to the Joel Osteen podcast. Help us continue to share the message of hope with those all over the world. Visit joelosteen.com slash give hope to give a gift today.

Thanks so much for listening to today's message. I hope you'll subscribe. So, you can receive the latest podcast to keep you inspired all through the week. We're praying for you. I know God's best is still ahead. We'll see you next time. 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 mental healthcoach.org. That's mental healthcoach.org.

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