Joel Osteen Podcast - The God Who Stoops | Joel Osteen

Episode Date: January 22, 2024

When we fail, God stoops to our level not with judgement, but with mercy. No mistake you’ve made is too much for His grace.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.Daily inspiration. Scriptural promises. Get ready for a new year of faith with the Hopes & Dreams 2024 Planner. Our special December offer will let you journal your thoughts, record your prayers, and hold on to the dream God has placed in your heart. Request your copy today! https://bit.ly/3T8xgqS Subscribe to SiriusXM Podcasts+ to listen to new episodes of the Joel Osteen Podcast ad-free and a whole week early. Start a free trial now on Apple Podcasts or by visiting siriusxm.com/podcastsplus. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hi, this is Joel and Victoria. Thanks so much for listening to the podcast and thanks for supporting the ministry. We believe you're going to have an awesome 2024, healthy, productive, and favor-filled. God bless you today and enjoy the message. God bless you. It's great to have you with us today. I hope you'll stay connected with us throughout the week. We have a daily podcast that you can download.

You can go to our YouTube channel and watch the messages anytime. Or, of course, you can follow us on social media. I promise you, we'll keep you encouraged and inspired. Thanks for tuning in. Thank you again for coming out today. I like to start with something funny, and I heard about this man. He was on vacation in Jerusalem with his family when his mother-in-law suddenly died. He went to make arrangements to get the body back home.

The consulate said it would cost $5,000 to have the body shipped, but he could have her buried right there in Jerusalem for just $150. The man thought about it a moment, said, no, I'd like to have her ship. The consulate said, wow, you must have really loved your mother-in-law. He said, no, it's not so much that. I just remember a case here years ago when they buried someone and on the third day they arose and I can't take that chance. All right, y'all, I got a great mother-in-law.

Here we go. 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 the God who stoops. We think if we can live good enough, then God will bless us. If we can clean ourselves up, get rid of this bad habit, not fail anymore, then God will show us favor. The problem is we can't live that way. way. We all make mistakes. We all have times we give into temptation. Let our emotions take over. The condemning voices come saying, you blew it. It was your own fault. God's never going to help you.

That's not the way our God is. When you can't come up to his level, he says, don't worry, I'll come down to yours. He's not so high that he won't come low. And it's good to see him as all powerful, holy, the creator of the universe. But if you only see him that way, you'll be intimidated, overwhelmed. I'll never measure up. You have to see him as the God who stoops. He comes down to the messy places. He's a God that will get his hands dirty. When you're falling, when you're broken, when you knew better but you did it anyway,

you think you're far from God. No, get ready. He's coming after you. The scripture says he leaves the 99 sheep and goes after the one sheep that lost. He could have stayed with the 99 that are on course. He could have been satisfied. I don't want the trouble. That sheep shouldn't have wandered off in the first place, but he goes to messy places. He went to the hog pen to get the prodigal son. He'll go into a club. He'll go into dysfunction, into failure, into compromise. You can't get too far down, too far off course, too many mistakes

that God will leave you alone. He'll come down to. He'll come down to. where you are. The beauty is he comes not to condemn you, not to point out all your mistakes, he comes to lift you, to restore you, to free you, to set you on a new path. Psalm 113 says, he stoops down from the heavens to look at the earth. He lifts the poor from the dirt and the needy

from the garbage dump. He sets them among princes. He'll stoop all the way to a garbage dump, all the way to the dirt. Notice what he does. He doesn't just bring you out, but he honors you. He sets you among princes. He doesn't hold our mistakes against us. He takes what was meant for harm and uses it to our advantage. And I thank God that he's all powerful. I thank him that he's holy. But I also thank him that he's the God who stoops. The God who picks me up when I fall. The God who shows me mercy when I get off course. The God who comes to messy places and rest of me, restores me, sets me in a place of honor. Where would we be without the God who stoops?

My father was a teenager growing up during the Great Depression. It's very poor. He knew nothing about God. No future to speak of. He had to drop out of high school to work on the farm to help try to keep food on the table. His parents were good people, but they didn't have any kind of faith, any kind of spiritual awareness. Look like my father would be the same way. just struggle through life, mediocre, no purpose. But at 17 years old, he was walking home from a nightclub at 2 o'clock in the morning. He looked up at the stars, and for some reason, he began to think about God, what he was going to do with his life.

He felt this sense of destiny. On the coffee table at home, there was a family Bible. He was just there for decoration. They never read it. He walked in that night. He was drawn to it. He went over and opened it up. The pages fell to a picture of Jesus standing at a door and knocking.

The caption read, If you'll open the door, I'll come in. My father didn't understand religion, didn't understand theology, but he did understand opening a door. The next day, he went to church for the first time with a friend. The end of the service, the pastor invited people to the altar that wanted to receive Christ. My father wouldn't go. He was too afraid.

His friends said, John, if you'll go, I'll go with you. My father walked down the aisle, gave his life to Christ. He went on to become a minister and started Lakewood, did great things with his life. Why did he feel that way coming home from the nightclub? What was that? The God who stoops. Sometimes we say, we found God. The truth is, God wasn't lost.

We didn't find him. He found up. He chose you before you could choose him. I love the fact that you can never get so low that God won't come down and pick you up. You're not too far off course. You haven't failed too many times. You haven't had too many bad breaks.

God is coming to you right now. He's breathing on your life in a new way with fresh vision, fresh passion. New doors are going to open. The greatness God put in you is about to come out. what he's destined for you to accomplish will come to pass. Now don't write yourself off and don't write anyone else off. Don't give up on your child.

Don't quit praying for that loved one. The psalmist said, God, wherever I go, I can't get away from your presence. If I go up to the heavens, you are there. If I go down to the depths of the ocean, you're still there. There is no depth that God wants stoop to, to free you. to restore your family member, to bring your child back home. This is what happened with Saul in the scripture. He was the biggest enemy of the church.

He was very educated, an influential leader, but he was against believers. He went around having them arrested and put in prison. It looked like he would be the last person that God would have anything to do with. He was creating habit, making the disciples miserable. But God loves to redeem people that we think are not redeemable.

He loves to take people that look too far gone, not a chance, and make them into a chosen vessel, bring them into purpose and destiny. On his way to arrest believers, Saul had letters in hand from the council, permission to put them in jail. Suddenly a bright light shined down from heaven, knocked Saul off his horse.

A voice boomed out. Saul, why do you persecute me? He said, who are you, Lord? The voice said, I am Jesus. God was saying, you're against me now, but that's not your purpose. That's not who I created you to be. I love you too much to let you miss your destiny. Even though I'm a God that sits high, even though I'm all powerful, I'll stoop low to get you into your calling.

God will go to great lengths to bring you into your destiny. You may feel like you missed it. You've made too many mistakes. you too far off course, the good news is we serve a God who stoops, the God that will reach down to redeem, to restore, to set you among princes. He's not going to just bring you out, he's going to honor you, promote you, give you influence, cause you to shine. That day was a turning point for Saul. He became the Apostle Paul and went on to write over half of the New Testament. One verse he wrote in Romans talks about the grace that God freely gives us.

If anyone understood grace, it would have been Paul. The word he used for freely in the original language is promiscuous, meaning that God's grace will go to anyone. If someone is promiscuous, they're unrestrained, they're loose. That's the way God's grace is. It's not looking for perfect people. You can be struggling with an addiction and grace will come looking for you. You can be working in the wrong kind of place and grace will come knocking at your door.

You can be dishonest, manipulative, and grace will show up at your house. You can be discouraged, thinking you've messed up too many times. You brought the trouble on yourself. Like the prodigal son, grace will come into the hog pen. You can't get so low that God won't stoop down. His grace is unrestrained. It doesn't have limitations. It will go after anyone.

See, we look at people and make judgments based on how we were raised and how we see things. We think God wouldn't have anything to do with them. They're not living right. They party too much. He's too dishonest. Her dress was too short. They used bad language. They come from a different religion.

The longer I live, the more I realize God will save who he wants to save. He'll stoop down to people that don't have a good reputation. Just ask Zakias, he was dishonest. He cheated people. Everyone knew he wasn't trustworthy. Yet Jesus called him out of a huge group of people. He said, I want to go to your house for dinner. The religious leaders, the priests, the council members couldn't understand it.

Why would Jesus go to this guy's house? There were a lot of fine, upstanding people in the crowd. Zakias was a notorious sinner. It's because they knew God as being all powerful, holy, righteous, but they didn't know him as the God who stoops.

If you only know him as this majestic creator of the universe, then you can be judgmental, write people off. But when you realize, even though he sits high, he stoop's low. He doesn't disqualify people because they're off course now.

He knows they're a Saul. There is Zacchaeus. He comes down to redeem, to restore, to set among princes. I was at one of our events several years ago, and afterwards I was meeting people. This young man came through the line, and I could smell marijuana. It was very strong. This was before it was legal anywhere. My first thought was, man, this is a night of hope, not a night of dope.

After a couple of minutes, I started feeling really good, too, but it's easy to judge people. Why do they do that? Why does she go with him? Why isn't he more disciplined? But when you know God as a God who stoops, a God that comes down to lift people, that his grace is promiscuous, it goes to anyone, then you can be a lifter, you can be a healer, you can be a restore. Where would you be without the mercy of God? What if God had not stooped down brought my father into his purpose, where would I be? How many times has God stooped down to you? Showing your mercy when you didn't deserve it.

Got you out of a problem that you got yourself into. Lifted you out of the garbage, so to speak. It would be one thing if God did it condemning, judging, berating, but God doesn't say a word. He doesn't find fault. That sought me not to judge other people. if we walked in their shoes, if we had their same experiences, we don't know what kind of decisions we would make. Since God stooped down for you, why don't you stoop down for someone else?

You are never more like God than when you're helping the hurting, restoring the broken, lifting the falling. There's enough judgment in our world today. There's enough criticism, fault finding. Let's be lifters. Let's be encouragers. Let's be encouragers. Let's help someone. someone else experience the God who stoops. This young man told me how he had never been to church and didn't have much guidance growing up. He was passed from foster home to foster home, gotten into trouble, struggling with substance abuse.

A lot had come against him. But he said, my girlfriend and I started watching you on television. When I hear you speak, I feel something on the inside that I've never felt. I told him that your heavenly father drawing you. That's God saying, I have a plan and purpose for your life. That's what the psalmist meant. God stoops down from the heavens and lifts those in the dirt, sets them among princes. You two may have gone through disappointments, things that were unfair.

You couldn't do anything about it. You never thought you'd be where you are. Be encouraged today. He's a God who stoops. He comes to the messy places, not with judgment, not with condemnation, but with hope. with new beginnings, with fresh vision. God won't let you get in a problem that he can't get you out of.

You're not too far gone. Has it been too long? You haven't missed your destiny. God is about to do a new thing. Dreams are coming back to life. Promises that you've let go of are on the way. What God started, he's going to finish. John chapter 8, the religious leaders

caught a woman in the act of adultery. Jesus was teaching in the synagogue. They came dragging her in. All this commotion, disrupted the meeting. They threw her on the ground in front of the whole crowd. She was humiliated, closed torn. People shouting insults. Shame on you.

You're a disgrace. Two things I find interesting. First off, where is the man? If you're caught in the act, that means there were two. But they let the man off. Not this lady. The second thing is what? were the religious leaders doing spying on people doing surveillance hanging out at their house they should

have been focused on their assignment on helping others but some people are looking to catch you in a mistake hoping you'll fail they're ready to exploit expose any mishap you have don't be like them the mercy you show others is the mercy god is going to show you love covers for people i don't mean cover wrongdoing but you should cover them with prayer. Help them to heal. Help them be restored. They said, Jesus, the law says to stoner. What do you say that we should do?

This lady had no defense. She couldn't say they were wrong. They don't have the right person. It wasn't me. I didn't do it. She was guilty. She knew she was wrong. Lying on the ground, afraid,

embarrassed, shaking. She had no one to stand up for her. But the scripture says Jesus stooped to the ground and wrote in the dust with his finger. He came down to her level. He could have stood up taller, got on the platform, to a position of more authority, but he stooped. Everyone else was standing. Just he and the woman were looking eye to eye. I can imagine some of them thought he was stooping down to pick up a rock and throw it at the lady. Instead, he stooped down and through mercy. He said to the crowd, you who are without sin, go ahead, throw the first stone.

Dead silence. Nobody moved. Finally, a man walked out. Then another and another. From the oldest to the youngest, they all left. The whole time Jesus was stooping down, riding in the dirt. That was signifying how God will get dirty to rescue you. He's not a God that just stays behind stained glass windows, or even a God that just stays

the heavens. He's a God that will stoop down to a hog pen to rescue the prodigal son. He'll stoop down to the dirt to restore a lady caught in adultery, a God who will stoop down and save that one last sheep. Wasn't until all the men left. Jesus stood up. He said to the lady, woman, where are your accusers? Hasn't anyone accused you? She looked around and said, no one, Lord. He said, neither do I condemn you. Now go and send no more. more. Stooping is nothing new to our God. That's what he did 2,000 years ago. He stooped down from heaven and came to earth. He stooped down from being worshiped by angels to being born in a manger. He stooped down to be mocked, betrayed, beaten, and even crucified. He didn't have to. He could

have said, Father, I'll pass on this assignment. Let me stay up here on high. But for your sake and mine, he said, I'll stoop. I'll go low. So low that I'll be buried in a grave. So low, the enemy will think that I'm defeated. So low, forces of darkness will have a celebration. The good news is he didn't stay stooped. He stooped for a moment, but he got back up again.

He defeated death, hell, and the grave for you and for me. Now he's not only the all-powerful resurrected Savior, but he's the God who stoops. He still comes to messy places. He'll still meet you where you are. He'll still rescue you when it was your fault. He'll still defend you when you knew better. Where would we be without the God who stooped?

When we didn't deserve it, when we couldn't measure up. We made mistakes. We had no defense. He had every right to stay on the throne. Be the God that he is. But in his mercy, he stooped down. He came after the one lost sheep. years ago, a friend of mine received a phone call from his uncle. He lived in another state.

He told my friend there was a classmate he went to high school with. He hadn't seen in 40 years, but he couldn't get him off his mind. This classmate lived in the city where my friend lives. It was so strong, his uncle felt like he had to reach out to him, but he had no number, no contact. His name was very common. There would be thousands of people with the same. name. But he asked my friend, his nephew, if he would try to locate him. He kind of laughed and thought, there are seven million people in this city. What are my chances of finding him? The next day, my friend went to his mailbox. There was an advertisement for a business. He noticed the man's name was the same. His uncle mentioned. He thought, what do I have to lose? He called the number.

He said, I know this is odd, but I have an uncle by the name of so-and-so, and I'm wondering if you went to high school with him. The man couldn't believe it and said that he did. My friend said my uncle is very concerned about you. I wanted to know if there's anything I can pray with you about. The phone went silent. In a few seconds, he began to hear the man sob. He said, I'm out in the woods about to end my life. He had all the tools to do it. Everything set up. My friend began to encourage him and let him know that God still had a plan and purpose for his life. Men changed his mind. Today, he and his family are back in church. His business is being blessed more than ever. He's fulfilling his purpose. That's God stooping down. He'll come right where you are

into the lion's den, into the fiery furnace, into the accusing voices, into the club, into the hospital. Like the psalmist said, to lift you out of the dirt, out of the messy places, and to set you among princes. And it's good to thank God for promotion, thank him for favor, but how we should thank him for stooping down. Lord, thank you for getting your hands dirty. Thank you for coming to the messy places of my life.

Thank you for restoring me when I was broken, redeeming me when I failed, healing me when I was hurting. There was a young prophet in the Old Testament named Josea. He was very well respected. People came from all around to get his advice. He was single. He knew God would bring him a wife, but it wasn't what he thought. God told him to marry a young lady named Gomer. She was a former prostitute.

Didn't have a good reputation. You can imagine what Josea thought. God, do you know who she is? I'm a respected prophet. What are people going to think? He could have talked himself out of it, but he knew to obey. Things started off, well, they were in love. They had a baby. Then things went downhill. Josea would go out ministering, Gomer slipped back into her old ways. He was heartbroken. He knew she wasn't being faithful. To make matters worse, she was the talk of the town. Everyone knew about Gomer's affairs.

One morning, Josea woke up and Gomer was gone. She abandoned him and the children. I can hear Josea's friend saying, it's about time. You need to be finished with that woman. She's brought you nothing but heartache and pain. That sounded good. but deep down, Josea still loved Gomer. Years later, he overheard the town gossip saying that Gomer was still alive.

She had been deserted by all the men that said they loved her. She was about to be sold off as a slave. The scripture says, the Lord said to Josea, go get your wife and bring her back home. After all the pain she had caused, all the rejection, he would think he would say, no way, I'm done, I'm over it, but we serve a God who stoops, a God that comes to the messy places. Josea went to the city and found her in the red light district on the auction block about to be sold.

She was beaten down, dirty, clothes torn. He got close and whispered, Gomer, she looked up and couldn't believe it. He smiled and said, don't worry, I'm going to get you out of here. He went to the man in charge and said, that's my wife. I'm taking her with me. He said, you're not taking her anywhere. She's for sale. You'll have to buy her.

Josea took his wallet out and gave him 15 shekels, five barley loaves. He bought back what should have been already his. Josea is a picture of God. Gomer represents you and me. We've all made mistakes. We all win our own way.

But God, who is rich in mercy, when we turned our back on him, he had every right to walk away, but he didn't turn his back on us. He stooped down to the messy places, to where we failed, to where we should have been finished and bought us back, not with 15 shekels, but with his son. Now, you have to do your part and receive his mercy. Receive his forgiveness. Quit beating yourself up.

Living guilty. Believe in the lies that you've seen your best days. You could never measure up. you don't have to. When you can't get up to his level, God stooped down to yours. He knew we wouldn't perform perfectly. He knew we'd fail. Get knocked down. Make mistakes. That's when the accuser works overtime trying to convince you. It's too late, man. You missed your chance. You'll never get out of this challenge. No, you have a defender. You have someone that won't just stand up for you. He'll stoop down for you. He'll come down to your level, not with judges.

but with mercy. Well, Joel, sounds good today, but you don't know where I am. You don't know what I've done. I don't know any of that, but I do know this. His grace is promiscuous. It's unrestrained. It will go to anyone. God doesn't disqualify.

He doesn't write people all. No mistake you've made is too much for the mercy of God. Nothing you've done in the past has to keep you from the bright future God has in store. I believe what God promised that he's about to stoop down and lift you out of low places negative situations are about to turn around

addictions are being broken strongholds that have held you back are coming down like with my father God is going to bring you out of lack and mediocrity into abundance influence and purpose like the woman with the accuser

God is freeing you from guilt releasing you from condemnation I believe and declare you are redeemed, you are restored, your past is not dictating your future. Get ready, new doors are about to open. New levels of joy, favor, breakthroughs, the fullness of your destiny. In Jesus' name, I'd like to give 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 if you prayed that simple prayer we believe you got born again we'd love to send you some free information on your new walk with the Lord just text the number on the screen go to the website I hope you'll get into a good Bible-based church

and keep God first place it's January time to renew my faith it's January it's time to start a new season It's January. There is no better time than now to set the course of our year ahead. The beginning of the year is a great time to start a fresh and anew, to let go of negative things of the past and to get ready for the new things God has in store.

Every January, we create a new devotional calendar that will help you throughout the year. When you start the day off in faith, grateful for what God's done, making positive declarations over your future, you're setting the tone for a blessed day and a victorious year. This devotional will help you get your mind going in the right direction so you can go out each day in faith, knowing that God is in control and that His plans for you are for good. I'd love to send you a copy.

As our way of saying thank you for your gift of any amount this first month of the year, we would like to send you a copy of our brand new, 2024, 365-day devotional calendar. Do you want to set a faith course for your life in 2024? Do you want to see your life take off in new directions of influence, favor, and provision in the year ahead? Using this devotional calendar is as easy as one, two, three. One, wake up with an expectancy in your heart.

Two, reflect on the daily scripture verse and devotional from Joel. Three, capture God's promises to you on journal. lines for writing and reflection. Be sure to request your copy of the 2024 devotional calendar available this month by simply visiting us at Joel Osteen.com or calling 888-567 Joel.