Joel Osteen Podcast - Stay Open For God To Do It His Way | Joel Osteen

Episode Date: December 19, 2024

God's ways are higher than our ways. His answer may not come the way you were expecting, but His plan is exactly what you need to get you where you're supposed to be. 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.Dream it! Write it! Speak it! Expect it! With inspiring scriptures, daily reflections, intentional goals, personal writing space, and inspiration from Joel, our December offer will help you believe bigger and receive God's promises, https://bit.ly/3OfcB0T!  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. Well, God bless you. Always our joy to come into your homes. We love you. We know God has great things in store. And if you're ever in our area, I hope you'll stop by and be a part of one of our services. I promise you this. We'll make you feel right at home. much for tuning in today. And again, thank you for coming out. I'd like to start with something funny. And I heard about this elderly lady. She went to church one Sunday morning and a friendly usher met her at the back door and said, ma'am, where would you like to sit? She said, I want to sit on the very

first row. The usher said, oh, no, ma'am, you don't want to do that. Our pastor is very boring. He'll put you to sleep. Let me seat you somewhere else. She looked appalled. She said, sir, do you know who I am? He said, no, ma'am. She said, I am the pastor. She said, I am the pastor's mother. He hung his head in embarrassment, and finally he looked up and he said, ma'am, do you know who I am? She said, no. He said, thank God. Hold up your Bible and 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 will never be the same. I will be the

same in Jesus name. God bless you. I want to talk to you today about staying open for God to do it his way. So often we put God in a box. We tell him how to meet our needs and when to do it and who he should use. We've got all these preconceived ideas about how it's going to happen. But it says in Isaiah 55, God's ways are not our ways. They are higher and better than our ways. way God chooses to do something may not be the way that you were expecting. If you are set in your thinking with preconceived ideas of how God's going to do it and who he's going to use, you might miss the answer that God is sending you. You could overlook someone, not even give them the time of day, yet God sent them to be

instrumental in your life. You could pass on an opportunity because it's not what you had in mind, yet the fact is, God is sending it to try to take you to a new level. What am I saying? When the answer shows up, it may not look like the answer you were expecting. One time the disciples were on a boat. They were rowing across the lake in the middle of the night. The wind was blowing very strongly against them. So much so, it was almost impossible to get to the other side and to keep going forward. As they struggled and struggled, I can hear them say, I wish Jesus was here with us. He could calm these winds down.

If he was here, it would be so much easier. All the sudden, Jesus came walking on the water beside the boat. The scripture says the disciples screamed in terror. They thought it was a ghost. What happened? Jesus showed up a different way, and they didn't recognize it. They had never seen him in that form. They had seen him during the day,

teaching on the Sea of Galilee. They had seen him feeding the 5,000, healing the lepers. They knew what he looked like during the daytime, but they had never seen him in the middle of the night during a great storm walking on the water. And sometimes when God shows up a different way, we don't recognize it.

You could have the answer God is sending you right now. Jesus could be walking on the water right beside your boat but because the answer is not what you thought it would look like. Because you have preconceived ideas, it could keep you from seeing what God is sending you. My challenge is to stay open. The answer may not come a familiar way. It may not happen like it happened last time. God may show up in another form.

When I look back over my own life, I can see where time and time again, God blessed me through people that I never expected. God brought me through things in ways that I never dreamed of. He showed up in another form, in the form of a friend that I never expected to be a friend. He used people to help me that were not on my list of who I thought God would use. I remember when we were trying to acquire this facility, there were two people that came in contact with us. They were very influential, very well-connected.

but they didn't have any kind of religious background. They were a little rough around the edges. In other words, they loved to party. They loved to have a good time. They were good people, but they were a little far out. And it's interesting, we didn't pursue them. They pursued us. One of them told me, Joel, this is my personal mission.

I'm going to do everything I can to make sure that you get this facility. My first thought was, is this right? This is like oil and water. It's not what I was expecting. God showed up in another form. Was I going to be open and recognize the answer God was sending us? Or was I going to let preconceived ideas cause me to miss it? I was smart enough to say, God, do it your way.

If you want to use these people, more power to them. We'll use their help. But see, a lot of times we have God in this box. And we think, God can't use that man. he's a sinner. He can't use her. She likes to party. He's got a bad attitude. She's sarcastic. He doesn't even believe in God. Now, listen, the longer I live, the more I realize God can use who he wants to use. God can bless who he wants to bless. God can bring good out of who he wants to bring good out of. And we got to quit putting God in our box, telling him what to do and when to do it, and making these narrow-minded judgments of who's good and who's not good and who God can use and who God can't use. Listen, in the scripture,

God used Rahab, the prostitute to save the people of Israel. God used a donkey to speak to a prophet. God used mud and spittle to heal a blind man's eyes. God used a little boy to feed 5,000. God used Pharaoh's daughter to take care of baby Moses. In other words, God used the enemy to take care of his children. Friends, God is God. He can do what he wants to do. Don't put God in a box and miss your miracle. He may show up in another form. And some of you today are too narrow-minded. You've seen God during the day, so to speak, like the disciples,

but now God's showing up in another form. Instead of being open and being willing to try something new, becoming friends with someone that's not like you, trying a new opportunity that you've never done before, you've got God in this box, thinking this couldn't be for me. I know it'll never happen this way. No, you may have the answer that you've been praying about.

You just don't recognize it. My sister Tamara had her mind made up about what kind of man she was going to marry. She had a list in her mind of what he is going to look like, what he was going to do, what kind of family he was going to be from. All these conditions, very specific. Of course, there's nothing wrong with praying and believing, having ideas and goals, but you have to stay open. God knows what you need more than you do.

And your idea may not be exactly God's idea, but I can promise you this, God's way will be better than your way. Tamara went off to college and she met this young man that got interested in her, but he had red hair. Well, Tamara didn't want somebody with red hair. red hair was not on her list. Plus, he was way too tall. Tamara is about five feet. This young man was well over six feet. Big, strong, athletic guy played college baseball.

Tamara would call home and say, well, this guy named Jim keeps calling me and calling me. I've told him month after month, I don't want to go out with him. I'm not interested in him. Well, Jim finally wore Tamara down. And just to get him to quit calling, she agreed to go out to dinner one night.

They went out and they just hit it off. Tamara called back and said, you know what, I think I like this guy. He's friendly, he's kind, he's loving, he's got a good personality, he loves his family. On and on, she couldn't quit talking about Jim. Today, 25 years later and four kids, Tamara and Jim are still growing strong. They pastor Faith Family Church in Victoria, Texas. Jim was recently voted one of the most influential people in all those counties.

What am I saying? Tamara had the answer God was sending her, but she didn't recognize it. God showed up in another form. Are there people in your life right now that you're writing off because they don't meet the conditions on your list? They don't have the right background, the right height, the right job, the right personality, the right nationality. How do you know you're not missing out on an incredible friendship because of preconceived

ideas. Well, Joel, I'd never be friends with them. They don't have my same interest. They work in a different department. They don't meet the 127 conditions on the list of who would be my friend. You need to get out of that little narrow box. Tamara thought she would never marry someone with red hair. But do you know today, Tamara loves red hair. You'll be amazed at what you find you love if you just give it a chance. Victoria always thought she would marry someone much taller than me. But think about it, how could you resist this face? What are you laughing at? Some of you women, you're praying for someone tall, dark, and handsome. Can I be real truthful with you? They may show up short, light, and not so handsome, but there'll be somebody you can't live

without. After all, what's on the inside is more important than what's on the outside. looks can change. I remember a whole high school buddy of mine. He was the star football player. He was built with this incredible physique. He had this thick, curly, blonde hair. He looked like he was just out of a surfer magazine. All the girls were crazy about him. I saw him recently, and it's funny, he still has that thick curly hair. The only difference now is he can take it off and put it back on. stay open to the people God put in your life. Don't have a narrow box to where everybody has to look like you and think like you or you write them all. I saw recently where these baby tiger cubs lost their mother. Normally they would never survive. But somehow this big mother pig found them and took them in and nursed them and cared for them and protected them. It was the strangest thing.

They had a picture. It showed all these baby tiger cubs cuddled up to this big mother pig. You'll never know what kind of friendships you could enjoy if you'll just get outside of your box and stay open to the people God brings across your path. I remember the first time I ever met Marcos Whit, our Spanish pastor.

Marcos is one of the most well-known ministers and worship leaders in all of Latin America. I had heard a lot about him down through the year, but I'd never met him, never even seen him. And one day his office called and asked if he could rent our facility to have a Spanish concert. Normally we don't do that, but I'd heard so much good about him, we said yes. And the night of the concert, I came down to meet him. I walked in the back room, and I saw this middle-aged Caucasian man over to one side.

And I politely said, hello, and I kept walking. I wanted to meet Marcos. I looked in another room, in another room. nobody was there. And I came back to that main room and he came up to me and he put out his hand and he said, I've been wanting to meet you. My name is Marcos Witt. I nearly passed out.

Here, he's the leading Hispanic minister in all of Latin America and I mean he is as white as me. God has a sense of humor. I told him, Marcus, I don't mean to sound surprised, but I just thought you'd look like Julio Iglesias.

But what happened? God showed up in another form. It wasn't what I was expecting. It's funny, I had prayed about believed to have a Spanish service for a long time, but I always thought it would at least be led by someone that looked Hispanic.

But I almost missed Marcus. I passed right over him because he didn't fit into my mold. Look around in your life this week. Are there people God has put there that you're writing off because they don't meet your conditions. You've already prejudged them to not be for you

because of how they look or what they wear or where they come from or what they do. Now, you've got to get out of that box. If Tamara would have done that, she would have missed out on a great husband, Jim. If I would have done that, we might have missed out on being blessed by Marco's wit. We might not even have our Spanish-speaking service.

Sometimes we allow tradition to keep us from seeing the new thing God wants to do. Before my father went to be with the Lord, I worked in the television department here, and we would broadcast the services on Sunday, and I would work with the ushers to seat the people properly. The old sanctuary held 8,000 people, and at the time we would have about 6,000 come out on a Sunday morning. One of the main ushers would say to me time and time again, Joel, one day this place is going to be filled to the top. It's going to be packed full of people.

I would always say, I agree. I believe that too. Well, my father went to be with the Lord in 1999, and I stepped up to pastor the church, and I didn't even know this was in me. But by the end of that first year, the building was full to the very top, just like he talked about. So much so that we had to start a second Sunday morning service, and that filled up. And then we started a Saturday night service. Whenever I would see that ushered, I always think to myself, he must be so happy. It's not only filled once, but it's filled twice.

That's what he talked about all those years. But what's interesting is it didn't happen the way he thought it would happen. I don't minister exactly like my father. My father was more of a fireball. I'm more laid back. My dad's mission was to bring down the denominational wall so that God's people could all worship together. We are living in the day my father dreamed of. Most people now are not really concerned whether you're Baptist or Methodist or Church of God.

I mean, you may be here today, a Catholic sitting by a Pentecostal, sitting by a Presbyterian, sitting by someone that doesn't even know what those names mean. The walls have come down. But this usher was so set on it happening a certain way, the way my father did it, that when I came along and did it a little bit different, even though it was filled up twice, he couldn't accept it. He moved on. What was the problem? God showed up in another form. He didn't recognize it. He was stuck in tradition. He had God in this little bitty box thinking, if it's going to happen, Joel's got to be just like his dad. No, God is doing a new thing. And the new thing is not going to look like the old thing. Stay open.

Don't get stuck in tradition. God is a progressive God. I really believe One reason that some churches are not growing today. They're even going down is because they're stuck in what God was doing 40 years ago trying to make it happen today. There's no anointing on it. What God did back then was the right thing for then. And what God is doing now is the right thing for now. If you're going to be blessed, you're going to experience God's best,

you've got to let go of the traditions of yesterday and come over into the God of the now and say what God did back then is great. We celebrate what my father did. We celebrate the message of power to the denominational world, but we can't get stuck there. This is a new day and God's doing a new thing. We see this even in the scripture. John the Baptist showed up wearing camel skin, eating locust and wild honey, preaching like no one they had ever heard before. He was different. He didn't wear robes and stay in the sun. He didn't wear robes and stay in the synagogue. What did the religious leaders say? He's got a demon. There's something wrong with him. He couldn't be right. God showed up in another form. They didn't recognize him. Even Jesus, they were

waiting for the Messiah. But because he showed up as a baby, many people didn't recognize him. Because he came in a manger through a young teenage girl born in a stable, many people didn't even pay attention. Jesus grew up and went a about healing the sick, bringing hope to the fallen, lifting the hurting. He wasn't like the other religious leaders. He didn't spend all of his time in the temple in synagogues. He spent his time among the people. But instead of celebrating him and being happy for the good he was doing, the scripture says they despised him. They called him a friend of sinners, a friend of tax collectors. What was the problem? They didn't recognize the new thing God was.

doing. They had God in a little bitty box. Don't let that be you. Stay open for something new. What God did 20, 30, 40 years ago, that was great. But what God is doing today is not going to look like what God did back then. Don't get stuck in tradition. If you do, you'll develop a critical spirit and you'll start to find fault with everybody that's different than you. And you'll go find your own group so you can sit around and complain and criticize and talk about the way it used to be. Well, Joel, this is not the way my great grandmother had church. With all due respect, your great grandmother is in heaven. This is not your great grandmother's day. This is your day. Well, Joel, these are not the songs that we sung when I was growing up in church. We sure

didn't have those electric guitars. We didn't have those lights that move around and change colors. Yes, but this is a new day. It's the same God, but he showed up in a different form. Can you recognize it? Well, Joel, you don't use as many scriptures as your father did. You don't teach line by line, verse by verse. No, that's because I'm not my father. If God wanted us to be like somebody else, he would have made us as clones.

Now, quit trying to make what happened yesterday, happen today, and just enjoy what God is doing right now. This is an awesome day to be alive. Would you ever dream that we would be having, church in a former basketball arena. I grew up watching the Rockets play basketball here. I had season tickets right back

over there. In fact, somebody's sitting in my seats. Every time I come in here, I'm still amazed at God's goodness. When I was growing up, a church of a thousand people was a big deal. Now there are churches all over with thousands and thousands of people.

The scripture says this. The glory of the ladder house will be greater than the glory of the former house. That means what God is doing today in your life is going to be greater and more powerful and more exciting and more effective and more influential than what God did in the past. But if you get stuck in yesterday and you refuse to let go of tradition, you will miss the greater glory, the greater influence, the greater favor. We don't serve a gauda yesterday. We serve a gada right now. And what God is doing right now is going to far-souwer.

supersede anything God has done in the past. I hear people say, well, Joel, I'm just praying for revival. I've heard that since I was a little boy. I'm praying for a move of God's spirit and understand what they mean, but I don't think they realize that we are living in revival. We have some 30, 40,000 people come out each week and churches around the globe are impacting their community. God's favor is on his people like never before. This is the best time to be alive. Sometimes we think, well, if I could have just lived back there in Bible days with Moses and Abraham and David and Esther and Sarah and Ruth, you know what those people are saying up in heaven?

If I could just live down there with Joel and Susan and Maria and Chris, they've got all kinds of technology, they've got basketball arenas, they've got satellites, they've got all kinds of ways to advance the kingdom. What a great day to be alive. don't miss what God is doing. The opportunities around us, the solutions to our problems, they're all there. We just have to stay open and get God out of our little box. There's a man in the scripture by the name of Naaman.

He was a captain in the army, a very important person, but he had a problem. He had leprosy. He went to the prophet Elijah and asked him to pray that God would heal him. Elijah said, yes, God will heal you, but here's what you have to do. go down to the Jordan River and wash seven times and you'll be made whole. Well, Neiman had these preconceived ideas about how it was all going to happen. That struck him as being odd. He said, Elijah, I thought two words that almost kept him from his miracle.

I thought you would just speak to me and make me whole like you've done for so many others. I thought you would just lay hands on me. I thought it would happen like it happened for my great grandma. mother. Neiman had to make a decision. Was he going to stay stuck in tradition and miss his miracle? Or was he going to take a step of faith and recognize that God was doing a new thing? He finally convinced himself to go down to the Jordan River. And when he came up the seventh time, he was perfectly whole. But here's my point. He had the answer that he needed, but he almost didn't recognize it because it was not what he was expecting.

Could it be that you have the answer you need today? But because it's not how you thought it would happen or who you thought God would use, you're not pursuing it, you're not moving forward? I think about my father. As a young man, he had a dream to pastor a church with thousands of people in it. In the early 1960s, that seemed impossible.

There weren't any big churches back then. My dad was pastor in a small church. He was on the state board for his denomination. Everything was going great. But what my father had on the inside was bigger than anything he saw in his denomination. He prayed for God to open up new doors and give him more influence. He started preaching to his congregation with a new fire, telling them that God was a good God, that he could do miracles,

that they could live a life of victory. It's this message of faith that we have today. He thought the congregation would be excited and that's how God would increase him. But it was just the opposite. They didn't like his new message of faith. It didn't fit in their denominational mold. They were steeped in tradition. Down deep, my father knew he was supposed to leave that church.

Look like a setback, but really it was a set up. It looked like the end of a dream, but really it was a new beginning. He didn't realize it at the time, but that was God showing up in another form. He could stay there and play it safe and let tradition set the limits for his life, or he could take a step of faith, recognizing God was doing a new thing. He took that step of faith, and that's when he started Lakewood Church in 1959 with 90 people in an abandoned feed store. All the critics said, it won't last. It'll blow over.

And sure enough, it did. It blew over the whole city. Here we are today. Still going strong. 51 years later. Here's my point. The answer didn't look like what he thought it would look like.

He prayed for increase. At first, he got decrease. He prayed for more influence. At first, he got less influence. Friends, God knows what he's doing. If you'll stay in faith, it may look like a setback, but it'll turn out to be a set-up

to take you to a new level of your destiny. And some of you today, you have the answer that you need. You don't recognize. recognize it. My challenge is to stay open. Don't be set in your thinking to where it can only happen one way and you've told God how to do it and who to use and when it could happen. Let God out of your box. He may not use somebody that's on your approved to use list. He may take you in a way that you've never thought possible. That's God showing up in another form. Don't live

narrow-minded. Get rid of preconceived ideas. God's ways are not our ways, they are better and higher than our ways. And if you will stay open and let God do it his way, then like Neiman, you'll get your miracle. Like my father, you'll see promotion. Like my sister, you'll discover lasting relationships. I believe and declare you will overcome every obstacle, defeat every enemy, and you'll become everything that God's created you to be.

Amen. Do you receive it today? 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 out. What if what you imagined came to pass? What if what you asked for turned out greater than what you can see.

What if you could plan for God's best in your life? We all have hopes and dreams and things we're believing for, but what God has in store for you is more than you can imagine. When you start the year off in faith, believing for greater things, that's when God will exceed your expectations. We'd love to send you our 2025 more to imagine planner. You can write down your dreams and goals, plus use it for your everyday activity and reminders.

It is so important to feed yourself hope and faith on a daily basis. This planner is not only a calendar, but it's filled with inspiration and scripture to help you stay encouraged and keep believing for what God is put in your heart. He sees your faithfulness, how you're being your best each day. You're going to see the goodness of God in new ways in 2025. As you support the ministry this month with a special year-end gift of any amount, we would like to bless you with the more to imagine 2025 planner. With the new planner, you can start each day writing down the fresh vision God gives you,

whether it's appointments, daily tasks, or long-term desires in your heart. Let each note be a testament to your faith. Included are hand-pick scriptures and uplifting reflections to empower you as you walk this faith journey with Jesus one day at a time. Joel and I are standing in faith with you that 2025 will be a year of far and beyond favor for you and your family. We pray for you every day for God's very best, and we want to thank you for your prayer and support, especially your year-end gifts. You are impacting people all over the world. Remember, you can watch the services online every Sunday morning, download our daily podcast, listen on Sirius XM,

or watch our YouTube channel and the new Joel Osteen streaming television network, 24 hours a day. Until we see you next time, have a very Merry Christmas. Be sure to request your copy of the More to Imagine 2025 planner today. Visit joelowstein.com or call us toll free.