Joel Osteen Podcast - Stretch Beyond The Norm | Joel Osteen

Episode Date: July 28, 2023

If you want to go to the next level, be willing to step outside your comfort zone. God wants to take you further than you can imagine!  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 Terms and Conditions at UNS.com. See you. 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.

Well, God bless you. It is always a joy to come into your homes. We love you and we're praying that you're going to have a blessed, prosperous year. I encourage you if you ever in our area, I hope you'll stop by. We give you a personal invitation, You promise you will make you feel right at home, but thank you so much for tuning in today.

And I like to get started each week with something kind of funny. So listen to this one. An elderly preacher was dying. He sent word for two of his members, an IRS agent and a lawyer to come to his house. When they arrived, the preacher held out his hands and motioned for them to sit on each side of the bed. The men were very moved to be with the minister in his final moments. The lawyer finally asked, preacher, what made you choose the two of us? The preacher mustered up some strength and said weekly, Jesus died between two sinners, and that's how I want to go.

All right, hold up your Bibles. Let's say it together. Ready? 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'll be taught the word of God. I boldly confess, my mind is alert, my heart is receptive. I will never be the same. I am about to receive the incorruptible, indestructible, ever-living seed of the Word of God. I'll never be the same. Never, never, never, never, I'll never be the same in Jesus' name. God bless you. You sound great as usual. We've been talking about being willing to take a risk and not living with a play-it-safe mentality. If we're going to be all God's created us to be, we've got to get out of our comfort zones and learn to take some steps of faith. And faith is just like a muscle. The only way it grows is when it's stretched, is when it's being pushed.

And so often, we just want to stay where it's comfortable and where we've got everything figured out. But really, God is not in the comfort business. And once you reach a certain level, he may leave you there for a little while, but eventually he's going to begin to stir you. He won't let you get stagnant. And he'll bring opportunities across your path, or he'll deal with you in certain areas that you need to stretch in. Maybe you need to stretch to take that new position at work. Or maybe you need to stretch in your finances. You've gotten stagnant in your giving. Some of you

need to stretch just to forgive somebody or stretch to have a better attitude. But whatever it is, we should always be using our faith. A lot of times we think we're going to get to the place where we can just relax and it's easy and I don't have to stretch, but that's not how it works. you cannot please God without faith. You have so much in you. There's so much more you can accomplish. God is always going to be given you opportunities to stretch. Some of you today, you're kind of bored with your life.

There's no enthusiasm. You don't get up each day with excitement. And it's all because you've gotten comfortable. You're not stretching. You're not being challenged. And if you want to get to that next level and see God begin to do the extraordinary, then you've got to start sewing some extraordinary seeds.

In other words, you've got to press beyond the norm. You can't just get up and keep doing the same thing the same way day after day and expect to get different results. You've got to get out of your boat and stretch yourself and do some things that you may not be used to doing. You've got to be willing to take some risk. And you need to accept the fact that when you step out, everybody may not agree with your decision.

Some people may criticize you. They may judge you. You may ruffle a few feathers, but you're going to have to ask yourself, am I going to live to please people, or am I going to live to please God? I know when the compact center became available, our new facility, I had to step out and do something out of the ordinary. I had to press beyond the norm. See, my father always told how he didn't feel like he should ever move the church from this location. And so when we began to grow and We needed a larger auditorium. The first thing I did was to look for property as close to this place as possible. I thought, man, I'm the new pastor. I'm young, and I'm sure not going to rock the boat. I'm sure not going to announce that we're moving the church. After all, we'd been here at that time for some 43 years. But when all these other doors for other property just supernaturally closed down,

the compact center came across our path. And I knew that God had opened that door. I knew down in here it was something. that we should pursue. But I had to make a decision, was I going to be bold and have the courage to do something different, or was I going to let the fear of man, the fear of being criticized, the fear of everybody not agreeing to keep me in my boat? It had been very easy to just play it safe and stay in my comfort zone. I finally decided I was going to take that step of faith and do what God had put in my heart. And the first weekend that I announced it to the church,

I can probably say that about 99.9% of the people were totally on board. People were excited about it. But there were a few that just didn't agree with the decision. They said, Joel, you're making a big mistake. You know, even your father said he wouldn't move the church. Now we're just selling out to go across town. I remember one man in particular, he came up to me practically every service, month after month. And he told me how disappointed he was in me,

and what a big mistake I was making. how bad I was going to miss it, and on and on. Finally, after about six months, he came to me. I'll never forget it. He had this long, serious face. He said, Joel, I hate to tell you this, but because you're not willing to change your mind, I'm going to have to leave the church.

You can imagine how disappointed I was. I knew at that point that God still answered prayer. I got on my knees. I said, God, you are a good God. But I understand everybody has a right to have their own. own opinion, that's fine, but too often we let the fear of what other people are going to think to keep us from trying something new. And some of you today, the whole reason you're not stretching into that next level is because you just don't want to deal with the criticism. You don't want to

ruffle any feathers, and you're worried about what your friends and coworkers are going to think and what Uncle Bob and Aunt Susie will say, and so you're just staying in the boat where it's safe. But the sad thing about that is you will never know what you could have been. You will never know how high you could have gone unless you press beyond the norm and do what God's put in your heart, regardless of what the critics are going to say. Let me ask you this. Twenty years from now, are you going to be more disappointed by the risk that you did take or by the risk that you didn't take?

Be bold and have the courage to do something different. So an extraordinary seed and press beyond the norm. You've got to learn to stretch into that next level of faith. And always remember, you're never going to be able to. to get to the place where you arrive. I know when we get down to compact, it'll be easy to think, man, we've finally made it. Now we can relax. No, you know as well as I do, God's going to have another area for us to stretch in. He'll bring something else across our path. That's what it means to be in God's perfect will. You'll be stretched. You won't be always real super comfortable.

But too many people today, they just live with that play-it-safe mentality. They're not willing to stretch. And so they stay in their same routine day after day. And yes, they're comfortable, but they're missing out on God's best. And I've discovered we can even get comfortable in disobedience. You can get comfortable with bad habits, with bad addictions. You can get comfortable with unforgiveness in your heart. We get to the place where we say, you know what, I've been this way so long, it's just easier to stay right where I am.

In other words, I don't want to have to stretch to overcome this addiction. I don't want to have to stretch to forgive that person that hurt me. or I don't want to have to stretch to let go of my past. It's too easy to hold on to the pain. It's too easy to live in self-pity. And see, when I'm talking about stretching today, sometimes it takes a step of faith just to forgive somebody. Maybe somebody did you wrong,

walked out of a relationship, something very unfair. Listen, you're going to have to stretch yourself in order to let that go. Or maybe you've made some mistakes in life. You've made some poor choices. And now you're just sort of sitting on the sidelines, thinking you're all washed up and God could never use you, listen, you're going to have to take a step of faith in order to forgive yourself. You need to get back in the game. God still has a good plan for

your life. He still has something for you to accomplish. And don't make the mistake of getting comfortable in mediocrity. And don't let the fear of what other people are going to say about you keep you from pressing forward. I've learned people will criticize you no matter what. You stay in the boat, they'll judge you. If you get out of the boat, they'll judge you. If you're going to still judge you. You might as well step out and do what God's put in your heart and let that criticism bounce off of you like water off of a duck's back. I don't know about you, but I'm not perfect. There's some things that I'm probably not doing exactly all right, but you know what? God sees my heart. Man looks on the outside, but God looks on the inside. You step out and do

what you feel good about, and God will take care of your critics. God will fight your battles for you. But friends, we cannot get comfortable in mediocrity. You've got to press beyond the norm. Learn to take some steps of faith and stretch yourself. I think about Moses. As a young man, he was called to deliver the children of Israel. But he got in a hurry and made a big mistake and he killed a man. And he ended up having to flee to the desert. And he lived out there year after year after year. And eventually he got comfortable out there.

See, it's easy to learn to function in our dysfunction. We get comfortable with bad attitudes, comfortable with bad addictions, comfortable with unforgiveness, with mediocrity. And we know deep down in here it's not right. But instead of doing something about it, we take the easy way out and just learn to live with it. Moses had been out there year after year. And once again, God came to him. You notice the call was still on his life.

And that's the great thing about God. he never gives up on you. Doesn't matter how many mistakes you've made. Doesn't matter how many times you've blown it. God will always give you another chance. You're never too far gone. I believe today God's speaking to some of you about areas you need to stretch yourself in

and get free from the bondages that are holding you back. The easy thing is to just accept it. Well, Joel, this is just the way I am. I've always been a negative person. I've always had these addictions. That's just the way it's got to be. No, that's not the way. way it's got to be you can change. Don't learn to function in your dysfunction. God has a place of

victory for you. But you've got to start taking some steps of faith. You've got to be willing to press beyond the norm. Forty years later, God showed up and said to Moses, I want you to go stand before Pharaoh and you tell him to let my people go. Now Pharaoh was one of the most powerful people of that day. And Moses came up with all the reasons why he shouldn't do it. He said, God, I can't talk good. I'm not eloquent of speech. God, I stutter. You know that man's not going to listen to me. You might as well get somebody else. And so often we do exactly the same thing. God, I can't overcome this addiction. You know, I've had it too long. God, I can't take that new position at work. I'm not qualified. Or God, I can't forgive that man. You know how bad he hurt me.

No, why don't you quit telling God what you can't do and let God tell you what you can do? Why don't you quit looking at what you don't have, and let's start looking at what God does have. You are not a weak, defeated, not able to person. You have the power of the Most High God on the inside of you. God says you can do all things through Christ. That means you can overcome any addiction. You can break any bad habit. You can forgive any wrong.

You can accomplish your dreams. You are well able to fulfill your destiny. I love what God said to Moses. he just kept on complaining about his lack of ability and how he wasn't a good speaker. And finally, God said, Moses, let me ask you a question, who made your mouth? Who makes the deaf to hear? Who makes the blind to see? Who makes the dumb to speak?

Isn't it me, Moses? God was saying, in effect, Moses, there's nothing too difficult for me. You get out of your comfort zone and quit fearing the people and I'll help you do everything I've called you to do. And Moses took that step of faith. He got out of his routine. did something out of the ordinary, and God showed up and did the extraordinary. But too many people today are comfortable in mediocrity.

God brings an opportunity across their path, like he did for Moses, an opportunity to grow, an opportunity to advance. But they just have that weak, not able to mentality. Joel, I can't change. I've been this way forever. I can't forgive. I can't let go of my past. And they end up staying right where they are.

But I'm challenging you today to stretch yourself and take a step of faith. Start doing something out of the ordinary. So an uncommon seed. Maybe you're here and you really need to forgive somebody. You know you're holding on to a grudge. And you think, I can't do it. I've been this way too long. No, what you're really saying is I don't want to change.

I'm just going to keep drinking this poison. Hey, you say, Joel, you don't know what they did to me. It was so unfair. It wasn't right. No, I'm not doubting any of that. You may have every reason in the natural to live your life angry and bitter on the inside. I'm simply asking you to give that to God. He will be your vindicator.

God will make your wrongs right. If you will just dare let that go, God is promised he'll take all the unfair things that have happened to you and he'll turn it around and use it to your advantage. But you're going to have to stretch yourself and take that step of faith and be willing to forgive. otherwise you'll live a very negative and bitter life. And some of you today, God wants to bring somebody new into your life, but you've been so hurt in a relationship in the past,

you're not even willing to step out and try. Your attitude, man, I've been burned once. I'm not going to let that happen again. And unfortunately, just like Moses, you're learning to live with mediocrity. Just because somebody did something unfair to you, somebody walked out on you, doesn't mean you're supposed to live the rest of your life, lonely,

and unfulfilled and defeated, God still has a good plan for you. But if you don't stay open and you're not willing to stretch yourself and get past the fear of being hurt again, then you won't experience the great things God has in store. And it's so easy for us to get stuck in a rut. It's so easy to get up and do the same thing,

the same way every day, not expecting anything better, not releasing our faith, not stepping up when opportunities come. And that's why we end up being so stagnant. I don't know. Maybe Moses wouldn't have had to stay out there in the wilderness for 40 years if he had not gotten so comfortable. Maybe God came to him time and time again, but he was just too set in his ways. I believe most of you in here, you know down deep what you should do. You know the areas God's talking to you about

stretching, forgiving, stepping out and taking that new position, but you just keep putting it off and putting it off. But I'm encouraging you today to make some positive changes. Don't stay out year after year in the wilderness, unhappy, unfulfilled, bitter on the inside, all because you're not willing to do something about it. Friends, we've got to stay open. If you want to see uncommon, unusual things happen in your life, you've got to start sowing some uncommon seeds.

I don't know about you, but I don't want to get stagnant. I don't want to be at this same place next year as I am right now. I want to be a bigger giver. I want to forgive people quicker. I want to treat people better. I want to have a stronger anointing in my life. So I'm going to make sure that I keep stretching myself and pressing in to that next level of faith. And that's what I'm challenging each of you to do today.

Start sowing an extraordinary seed. Do something out of your normal routine. You can't keep doing the same thing the same way and expect to get different results. if you want to see the uncommon, unusual happen in your life, you've got to sow some uncommon seeds. For instance, if you normally pray 10 minutes in the morning, why don't you get up a little earlier and start praying 15 minutes? Do something that makes you stretch. If you normally give 10% of your income, why don't you stretch yourself and start giving 11%? Get into that next realm of faith. Or maybe you come home at night and you usually just watch TV. Why don't you turn that off and spend that

same time with your family. So an extraordinary seed. I have a friend of mine that owns his own business and things were very slow. He was really struggling in it. And over the Christmas holidays, he told all of his friends, his co-workers, his family that he didn't want any Christmas gifts this year, but he wanted them to take the same amount of money that they normally spent on him and give it to a children's home down in Mexico. He sowed an uncommon seed and he began to see God's favor in a greater way. What I'm saying is do something out of your routine. Do something that stretches you. Because if you're not putting a demand on your faith and you get comfortable, then you're just going to stay right where you are. You're not going to grow. You're not going to increase. We won't see God's favor and blessings like we should.

And really, that's just what the enemy wants. He wants us to be complacent. He wants us to be passive, where we think, oh, this is good enough. I'm not really happy in my marriage, but at least we get along. my husband doesn't treat me good he's not affectionate he doesn't take time for me but I guess that's better than nothing no don't just sit back and live that way year after year start sowing a seed by treating him better than ever if you start treating that man with more respect

with more honor if you go out of your way to be kind considerate to meet his needs God will honor that your action will cause him to treat you in a different way but notice it all starts when you take that first step and do something out of your normal routine. Husbands, in the same way. You want to see your relationship with your wife go to a whole new level, then start treating that lady better than you've ever treated her before. Do something out of the norm. Take her breakfast in bed in the

morning. Rub her feet at night. Bring her home flowers for no reason at all. Well, you say, Joel, that sounds like a waste of money to me, but listen, you need to stretch your faith, you old stingy thing. Ladies, I said it so you wouldn't have to. One time, a few years ago, I mentioned this in one of my sermons, and the next morning, bright and early, our alarm clock went off, and Victoria sat straight up in bed. I looked over at her, and she was smiling real big, and I thought, what's going on?

She smiled, and she said, I like my egg scrambled. I thought I was talking to them, not to you. But some of you today, you need to make a decision that you're going to stretch yourself and just smile more often? Are you going to stretch yourself and have a better attitude? You're going to be kinder. You're going to be more caring. You're going to wait there at the door for 10 seconds and hold it open for the people behind you instead of just busting on through. When you do that, you're sowing a seed. And the whole principle of the Bible is what you sow, you're going to reap. And if you don't like what you're reaping today, you've got to change what you're sowing.

And I dare you to give up something for God and just see what happens. Instead of always praying for your needs, pray for somebody else's needs. Instead of going out to eat one night, save that money and give it to that friend that's struggling. Or instead of always being negative and critical toward people, why don't you change your attitude and start seeing the best in them? Start giving them a little room. Start overlooking their faults. You'll be amazed at what will happen in your life.

If you will dare just do something out of your normal routine that honors God in a greater way. I remember something Victoria and I did years ago, when we first got married, Victoria worked at her family's jewelry store here in town. She had been there for a long time. But as we began to travel with my father all over the world, we got very busy, and eventually she had to leave that position. And here we were a young couple, and we'd stepped out and bought a town home and had several other obligations.

But we made a decision early on when she left that position that we were going to keep giving the same amount of money. We decided we were going to stretch ourselves and continue to do. tithe our income just as if she were still working. In other words, we sowed an extraordinary seed. We did something out of the norm that made us stretch ourselves. And of course, it'd been okay to cut back our giving. Bible talks about the tithes is the first 10th percent of our income, and we could have easily justified it, but we wanted to sow an uncommon, unusual seed. And we did that month after month, year after year, and I can't even begin to tell you in all the ways that God blessed

us. When we went to sell that town home, a couple years later, we sold it for nearly twice what we had bought it for. Next piece of property, God supernaturally blessed us on and on. All these unusual, uncommon things begin to happen to us. And I know it was in part because we kept stretching ourselves and just sowing those extraordinary seeds. And I'm not talking about just money. you can sow an extraordinary seed of your time. Instead of just rushing home from work, won't you stop by the hospital and visit that friend that's not feeling well?

Or why don't you go over to that neighbor's house that's kind of been down and mow his lawn for him? That's an uncommon seed. Instead of just running into the office every morning, why don't you take five minutes and see how the security guard's doing out front? Or why don't you go encourage that coworker that's really been struggling?

See, you can sow an extraordinary seed of time, a seat of kindness, a seat of encouragement. When you get out of your routine and you start doing the extraordinary, you're putting yourself in a position to receive the extraordinary. In the book of Second Kings, chapter four, there's a story about a very poor widow. She's just lost her husband, and he's left her an incredible debt that she's not able to pay.

And now the creditors are on their way to her home to take her two sons as payment for that debt. That's what they did back in those days. Well, evidently, Elisha was a friend of the family because he showed up during this time of crisis, and she began to tell him the problem and how serious this situation was. And Elisha asked her, there in verse four,

what do you have in the house? In other words, he was saying, do you have anything you can pay them back with? Do you have any jewelry? Do you have any furniture? You have anything at all? She said, no, Elisha, all we have is this one pot of oil. He said, okay,

here's what you need to do. You need to go out to all of your neighbors and borrow every empty container, every empty vessel that you can find. And so she went out door to door and she began together up all these empty containers. Notice she's doing something out of the norm. She's doing something uncommon. She had to get out of her comfort zone. Don't you know some of those neighbors ask her, why do you need this? You're going to have a big party tonight? What's going on? She said, no, I'm just doing what God told me to do. I'm sure they looked at her like her elevator didn't go all the way up. Has God ever asked you to do something that in the natural doesn't make sense?

Like apologized to somebody, even though it wasn't your fault? Or give somebody some money, yet you know you need it more than they do. Listen, do it anyway. God's ways are not our ways. When you sow an extraordinary seed, you're going to reap an extraordinary harvest. Well, she got these vessels and containers all back to her house, and she said, okay, Elisha, now what? He said, now you need to take the container that you have and pour the oil into one of those empty containers. Again, it didn't seem to make any sense, but she did it anyway.

And she noticed once she got the first container full, she still had some left over in her original container. And so she poured it into the next one and filled it up. And then she did it again and again and again. God was supernaturally multiplying the oil as she was pouring it. And when it was all said and done, she had every one of those containers full to the top. And Elijah said to her in verse 7, now go sell the oil and you can pay off all of your debts and not only

that, you can live off the money that's left over. Friends, when you step out and you do the extraordinary, you sow an uncommon seed, God will meet all your needs and abundance. You won't have enough to just barely get by. You will have plenty left over as well. So let me challenge you again to get out of your

routine, dare to step out of that comfort zone. So some extraordinary seeds. Remember, if we keep doing the same thing, the same way, all we can expect are the same results. Why don't you make a decision with me that at least in one area of your life, you're going to do something out of your normal routine that honors God in a greater way? I don't know, maybe you're going to get up earlier and spend more time with God. Maybe you're going to forgive somebody that you haven't been willing to forgive. Maybe you're going to have a better attitude or you're just going to step out in faith. But I challenge you at least in

one area for a month or so. You do something out of your normal routine and you see if you're not amazed at what God will do. God wants to do more than we can ask or think. But I'm convinced we have to give him permission by sowing those uncommon seeds. So if you'll do your

part today and press beyond the norm, be willing to take a few risk, quit worrying about what people are going to think. If you'll do your part, God will do his part. He will bless you in uncommon, unusual ways, and you'll experience the victories that he has in store. Amen.

Do you receive that 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 your places you've never dreamed of. Thanks so much for listening to today's message. I hope you'll subscribe so you can receive the latest podcast to keep you encouraged and inspired all through the week.

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