Joel Osteen Podcast - The Second Touch

Episode Date: July 31, 2020

Let this exciting message reveal the miracle Jesus performed on a blind man and how it applies to your everyday life as you explore what the second touch of God means.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.

Are you ready to move your career forward? Make your comeback with Purdue Global and get college credit for your work, school, life, or military experiences. With these credits, you may have already completed up to 75% of your undergraduate degree. You've worked hard to get where you are. It's time to get the recognition you deserve and earn a degree you'll be proud of, one that employers will trust and respect. When you take the next step in your life and career, make it count with Purdue Global. Purdue's online university for working adults.

Start your comeback at PurdueGlobal.edu. No one likes to talk about money. Am I saving enough? Can I buy a house? Am I paying too much in taxes? Will I be able to retire? What if you could unlock insights about your finances in less than five minutes with a clear picture of where you stand today and where your money can work harder?

Now you can. Visit facet.com to take the free quiz and get your financial wellness score today. That's facet.com. This ad is sponsored by Facet Wealth Incorporated is an SEC registered investment advisor. This is not an offer to buy or sell securities, nor is it investment, legal, or tax advice. He'll forget about the video game you gave him on his birthday. Wow, thanks, Grandpa. But he'll never forget how you invested in his future with the UNEST app.

Wow, thanks, Grandpa. The UNEST app makes it easy for grandparents and family friends to give funds to a child's investment account for limited time. Download the UNEST app and use the code IHeart50 at sign up to receive a $50 bonus when you fund your account. That's code IHeart50 when you sign up at UNEST.CO for a $50 bonus. See terms and conditions at UNES. 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. Well, God bless you.

We feel very overjoyed to come to you from the beautiful AT&T ballpark in San Francisco, California. I'm with some of the finest people in all of San Francisco right here. Love having you with us as well. I always start with something funny, and I heard about this man. He called the church office and said, I want to speak to the head hog at the trough. The secretary was offended. She said, if you mean the pastor, you're going to have to call him pastor, but you may not call him the head hog at the trough. He said, well, fine, but I was thinking about making a $5,000 donation to your church.

She said, hang on, porky just walked in. Would you say it with me? 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. Tonight, I will be talked to Word of God. I boldly confess. My mind is alert. My heart is receptive. I will never be the same in Jesus' name. Amen. God bless you. I want to talk to you today about the second touch. In the scripture, some people brought a blind man to Jesus. Jesus. He'd never been able to see. Jesus made mud in his hands and put it on the man's eyes. Instantly, his eyes were opened. You can imagine how thrilled he was. For the first time,

he could see light, color, trees, the sky. He was overcome with excitement. His life had just totally changed. Didn't Jesus ask him an interesting question? He said to the man, what do you see? It's as if Jesus already knew something wasn't quite perfect. The man answered back, I can see, but I see men walking as trees. He was saying, I'm grateful that I can see, but it's blurry. Not complaining. Thankful that I have any sight, but everything is out of focus. Jesus could have walked away, said, well, I made it much better.

Be on your way, have a great life. That could have been the end of the story. but God didn't come to just make you better, to make you okay, to make you get by. He came to make you totally whole, to live an abundant, healthy, happy, free, victorious life. The scripture says Jesus touched the blind man again. On this second touch, his eyes were completely healed. Everything came into focus. Now he had perfect vision.

Many of us are like this blind man. We've seen God's goodness. He's helped us to get to where we are. We're grateful even though we haven't broken the addiction, even though we haven't accomplished a dream, even though a child is still off course. We're thankful for what God has done. We can say like the blind man, he's made it a whole lot better.

While we should be content where we are, we shouldn't be satisfied with mediocrity. too often we settle for less than God's best, thinking I'll never break this addiction, but at least I've learned to live with it. I'll never get married, but at least I have a few friends. I'll never get out of debt, Joel, but at least I can pay my bills. You're right where the blind man was, saying everything is blurry, but at least I can see something. I'm not complaining. I'm satisfied to be better. Here's the key. You may be satisfied, but God is not satisfied.

He has a second touch coming your way. The second touch is when you come totally out of death, when you're free from the addiction, when the medical report says no more sickness, when your whole family comes to know the Lord. The second touch is when God opens doors you never dreamed would open, when he amazes you with his goodness.

Be grateful for what God has done, but don't be satisfied with better. God didn't create us to reach half of our destiny, three-fourths or 90%, but what God started in your life, he's going to bring to completion. And I'm not just trying to encourage you, trying to make you feel better.

I'm prophesying a second touch is coming your way. When this second touch kicks in, you're going to see favor that you've never seen. The right people are going to show up. Freedom from strongholds. a new level of your destiny. Now, you have to let this seed take root. You have to get an agreement with God.

You can't go around thinking that you've reached your limits. You'll never get well, never be promoted. Joel, I'll never see clearly. It's been blurry for so long in my life. Thinking like that will stop God's best. Quit declaring defeat over your life. Quit prophesying mediocrity. It may be blurry, but it's not a surprise

to God. He's not scratching his head thinking, why didn't they get clear vision? God controls the whole universe. He has all power. What he's destined for your life will come to pass. Now, it may not happen all at once. While we're waiting, that's a test of our faith. Don't get discouraged. When things happen, you don't understand. Don't give up. You always face your greatest opposition when you're closest to your victory. The enemy wouldn't be fighting you so hard if he didn't know God had something amazing in front of you. You have to dig your heels in?

Say it may be blurry, may be taking a long time. I don't understand it, but I know a secret. The second touch is coming. God is still on the throne. His plans will be are for good, and any moment things could change in my favor.

When you live with this expectancy, see, that's what allows God to do great things. You don't know the second touch could happen today. You could meet the person of your dreams tomorrow. That health issue could turn around. The loan could go through this week. There are second touches already ordained to come across your path. God doesn't do things half-hearted.

He's the author and the finisher. It may look impossible, but God can do the impossible. people may try to talk you out of it, but people don't have the final say. God does. Get up every morning and thank him for your second touch. Lord, I'm grateful that I have a job. I'm grateful that I can pay my bills, but I'm still in debt. God, I'm asking for your second touch. The second touch is when you come into overflow, when you come into more than enough. Well, Lord, I'm feeling better. I'm making progress, but I'm still struggling with this illness. Lord, I'm asking for the completion of your healing. Or God, I went through a bad break. I lost a loved one. It's kind of blurry in my life right now.

God, I'm asking just like you did for that blind man, touch me again. Restore my joy, my passion, my vision. God, give me a new beginning. I spoke along these lines a while back about how God can suddenly shift things. I received a letter from a young man that plays high school football. He told how when he heard me say this phrase that a shift is coming, something came alive on the inside. He didn't just hear it, they go,

oh, yeah, right, it's not going to happen for me. He let the seed take root. He started telling people a shift was coming. He was the running back on his team and people told him he was too small that he would never be successful playing football that he should try another

sport. Their team was playing very badly, losing game after game. He was so fired up, he got his whole team saying this before the game that a shift is coming. Things are changing in our favor. He started playing better and better. They made the playoffs. In the state final, he scored four touchdowns in one game, the most of his career, plus the winning touchdown with two seconds left in the game. He was named the ABC High School Player of the Week. In their yearbook, they could put one quote under their picture. His quote was, a shift is coming.

I wonder what would happen if we would go out with this same expectancy believing that the second touch is coming. Not just hearing a message, but letting a seed take root, expecting a dream to come to pass, expecting to get healthy and home, expecting God to finish what he started. Well, Joel, this sounds good. but I've had some setbacks.

I've been taking this treatment for cancer on and off for the last 10 years. That's why I'm discouraged. I don't think I'll ever get well. Just because you gave up doesn't mean God gave up. God is not satisfied with better. He's going to take you to the fullness of your destiny. David said, God lifted me out of a pit and set my feet upon a rock. Sometimes, even though we're content to stay in the pit,

God is not content. He's not going to give you a choice. He's going to lift you out of that pit. He's going to set your feet toward your destiny. You didn't think it's going to happen. You thought you were stuck where you are, but then one touch of God's favor. Suddenly your health improved. Suddenly you met the right person. Suddenly a new door of opportunity. Was in anything you did, it was simply the goodness of God, his second touch. First Kings chapter 19, the prophet Elijah, had just seen one of the greatest victories of his life. Four hundred false prophets that worship the God bail had come against him. Elijah said to them, since you think your God is real, let's have a contest. They both put wood on an altar. The God that lit the wood on fire would be the true God.

Elijah let them go first. They prayed, sang, dance, chanted, hour after hours, still no fire. When it was Elijah's time, he prayed and God sent lightning and started the wood on fire. Later, all 400 of those prophets were killed. It's a great victory for Elijah. Well, there was a lady there by the name of Jezebel. When she heard what happened to those prophets, she was furious. She sent word to Elijah saying, If I don't kill you by this time tomorrow, I'm going to kill myself.

Elijah took off running for his life. It's funny, he wasn't afraid of 400 men, but he was scared to death of one angry woman. When you have an angry woman, you need God's help. Elijah ran far away from that place. He was sitting under a tree so depressed that he didn't want to live. He said, God, I'm done. It's over. Just take my life.

Here he had just seen this great miracle. And the problem now is he's tired. He's tired of believing. He's tired of standing strong. He's tired of staying in faith. Maybe like Elijah, you've been doing the right thing for a long time, believing, praying, standing in faith. You've seen God's goodness in the past.

Now, you're tired. You've lost your drive, your passion. You don't think you'll ever really get well. You've had the sickness so long. You're not believing. even to start that business anymore. You've had too many setbacks. The good news is, God doesn't give up on us when we get tired, when we get discouraged. When Jesus was on his way to the cross about to be crucified, he got so tired, so weak that he fell down. He couldn't carry it anymore. God didn't

say, Jesus, what are you doing? Get up. You're making me look bad. He sent a man by the name of Simon to carry the cross for him. God knew there would be times that we would get tired, fall down, be discouraged, give up on a dream. He doesn't say too bad, you should have had more faith. No, he'll send somebody to help lift you back up. Somebody to breathe new life into your dreams.

Maybe I'm that somebody for you today. You're not here by accident. God is saying the best part of your life is still out in front of you. He has new friendships, new opportunities, new victories, new mountains for you to climb. But sometimes we think because we're people of faith, we're supposed to be Superman, superwoman. Never have an ounce of doubt, a moment of discouragement. Take the pressure off yourself. You don't have to be strong all the time.

Even Jesus fell down under the weight of the cross. You may be down right now, not pursuing your dreams. means, not passionate about life, tired. God has you here to lift you, to help you get back up, to remind you that he's not finished with you. He's going to bring you out of that pit. He's going to set your feet on a rock. He's going to move you toward your destiny. This season will pass. The second touch is coming. Elijah was so depressed. He didn't want to live. He's sitting under that tree. You would think God would say, come on, Elijah. I just rained down fire, from heaven, just showed you by favor, my protection, and you mean you're going to let this one woman,

one bad break, one disappointment, cause you to get discouraged and give up? What's wrong with you? No, God doesn't disqualify us when we don't stand strong enough. The scripture says, the angel of the Lord came a second time to Elijah and touched him, say in arise and eat. when he woke up he saw bread cooking over some coals and a jar of water. God not only gave in the bread and water, God took it one step further. He cooked the food for him. God could have given him the strength to go out and hunt and find food, find water, come back into the firewood, cook it himself.

That would have been nice. Here's how good God is. On this second touch, God's going to bring things to you. He's going to cause blessings to you. to chase you down. He's going to make things happen that you could have never made happen. You may have been through some disappointments. People, circumstances have come against you, and now you've settled where you are, not expecting anything good. Every voice tells you it's never going to happen. Don't believe those lies. Just like Elijah, the angel of the Lord is coming a

second time. This second touch is not only going to give you new fire, new passion, but it's going to push you into your destiny. The second touch is when you'll see clearly. You'll have wisdom. The right doors open. Things fall into place. You'll step into your purpose. Why don't you shake off the disappointments? Shake off what didn't work out. Say, God, I know you're still in control of my life. I've had these bad breaks. Things come against me. But God, I'm not going to settle here. I'm not going to give up my dream. I know your second touch is coming. if you'll do that, God will not only bring you the provision. He'll not only give you the food and water, so to speak, but he'll cook the food for you. He'll do more than you can ask or think. But too often, we stay focused on the negative, what didn't work out, how long it's taken, who hurt us, how unfair it was, that causes us to get stuck. You can talk yourself out of your destiny. This is what Abraham's father did. His name was Tara.

He had three sons. One of his sons, a young man named Horan, died at an early age. Tara went through this great disappointment, the loss of a son. Years later, God told Tara to leave the place they were living and go to Canaan, the promised land. Tara packed up his family, and they headed that way toward the promised land. But when they came to the city of Haran, the same name. name of the son he had lost, instead of passing through it, continuing on toward the promised land,

the scripture says, Tara settled in the city of Haran. He started off good, but when he came to the place that reminded him of the son he had lost, the place of his greatest disappointment, he got discouraged, gave up on his dream, told everybody, I'm sure I should go forward. Promised land is probably in front of us, but look, I've been through two. much. I've been hurt too many times. Let's just settle here. Tara could have become the father of many nations instead of Abraham. He's the original one God told to go to the promised land. We could talk about the God of Tara, Abraham and Isaac, and Jacob. It could have started one generation sooner, but Tara chose to settle. He didn't realize God had a second touch that. That God

can give beauty for ashes, that God can turn mourning into dancing, that God can take what's meant for harm and use it to our advantage. Instead, he chose to stay focused on the pain. I don't know, maybe he had a good excuse. He lost a loved one, but if he could have just dug his heels in and said, no, I am not going to settle in Haram. I'm not going to stay in the place of my greatest pain, I'm going to keep moving forward knowing that a second touch is coming, knowing that God will pay me back for this trouble. If he would have done that, he would have been listed as one of the heroes of faith. Friends, don't let one loss, one disappointment, one bad break, cause you to settle. We all face things we don't understand. Life is not always fair. The key

is you have to pass through the place of your greatest pain. Pass through the hurt, the rejection, the failure, the mistake. If you'll keep moving forward, you'll come in to your promised land. God will give you beauty for ashes. The scripture says he'll pay you back double for the unfair situations. You remember Job, he went through a great disappointment. He lost his health, his business, his family. But in the end, God restored twice back.

to him. Job had 10 children that were killed in a terrible storm. A great tragedy. He was devastated, but later on, God gave Job 10 more children. He had 10 in heaven, 10 on earth, double. And what's interesting is the scripture never says that Job married a younger wife. The same wife that had given him 10 children before gave him 10 more children. God opened that womb once again. In the natural, she was too old. She was done, couldn't have any more children. Looked like her womb was dead. But when God saw the trouble, the enemy had caused her, God said to her in effect, don't worry, I'm going to bring back to life your dead wound. That womb that's been closed, I'm going to open it once again. You're going to have 10 more

children. I don't know if she is happy or depressed about that, but God did that for Victoria. he'd have to bring me back to life. Bottom line, she gave birth to 10 more children. What am I saying? The enemy cannot stop God's plan for your life. He may try, but he can't do it. God has the final say. Now, you may have something that looks dead.

You tried, it didn't work out. It's been a long time. You need to get ready for the second touch. On the second touch, God's going to reopen what was closed. He's going to bring back to life what was dead. He's going to pay you back for that trouble. Don't settle in the place of your greatest pain. The second touch is coming.

I was in Washington, D.C. earlier this year, and this mom told about her son. He's a soldier serving in our military overseas. She received a phone call in the middle of the night saying that her son had been gravely wounded in action. They were flying him to Germany, didn't think that he would make. it through the night. She and her husband jumped on the next flight out. When they arrived, her son was still alive hanging by thread in a coma. The doctor said it would just be a matter of hours before he would pass. A lot of people would have given up, but this soldier had a praying mother. She knew that God has the final say, that God can bring back to life, resurrect what

looked dead. She was doing her best to stay in faith, but she asked God to give her a sign. When the doctors and all the specialists finally left the hospital room, after giving her the grim prognosis about her son, the nurse walked in, looked at the mother in the eyes, and she said, don't worry about your son. He's going to be fine. When he arrived last night, he opened his eyes and looked at me, and when he did, I could see God in his eyes. Against all odds, he made it through that night and the next and the next. Today, several years later, he's still alive on the road to recovery, getting better and better. When it looked like it was over, the second touch kicked in. God breathed new life into his body. Your situation may look dead in your health, relationship,

a business. You don't think how it could ever work out, but God didn't bring you this far to leave you. there's a second touch coming. The first touch got you to this point. The second touch is when you see it turn around. When you see your health restored, when your business takes off. The second touch is when you say, I can see clearly now. The dream came to pass. The problem resolved.

God finished what he started. Anybody can give up. Anybody can say it's never going to happen. That's easy. Doubters are a dime a dozen. but it takes a man or woman of great faith. Somebody like you to say, I may not see a way, but I know God still has a way. I'm not going to give up.

I'm not going to settle. I'm not going to be talked out of it. I know my second touch is coming. God did it for others. He can do it for me. Moses said in Psalm 90, God, show us gladness for the former misery. Replace the difficult years with good. God, let us see your miracles.

again. He was saying, God, I'm in a tough time. Things haven't been going my way, but God, I'm asking for your second touch. Show us miracles again. When you face difficulties, do like Moses, Lord, touch me again, heal me again, strengthen me again, amaze me again, dare to ask for the second touch. In the scripture, there was a lady named Elizabeth. She and her husband, Zachariah, were well up there in years and they'd never had any children. God spoke to Zachariah and said they were going to have a son. They were to name him John. He later became known as John the Baptist.

Even though Elizabeth in the natural was too old, she conceived. She was pregnant with little John. But for the first six months, she didn't feel hardly any movement in her womb and she was very concerned something was wrong with the baby. One day, her young cousin Mary came to visit her, she was pregnant with Jesus. When Elizabeth saw Mary, the scripture says the baby leaped in Elizabeth's wound. She knew John was alive and well.

That was the first time John the Baptist ever met Jesus technically still in the wound. Fast forward 30 years later, John is baptizing people in the Jordan River. He sees Jesus walking up, points his finger and says, behold, the Lamb of God. Jesus asked John to baptize him. When he came up out of the water, the heavens opened up. The first time John met Jesus, his mother's womb opened up, a natural occurrence. The second time they met, the heavens opened up, a supernatural occurrence. This second touch is not going to be ordinary.

It's not going to be natural, not what you were thinking. It's going to launch you into a new dimension, into a new level. God's going to take you where you could not go on your own. Now, you may have seen God's goodness in the past, but you haven't seen anything yet. You need to get ready. The second touch is coming. It's not too late to accomplish your dreams. You can still live healthy and whole.

You can still overcome that obstacle. Don't get discouraged and settle where you are. Don't get stuck in the place of pain, the place of disappointment. keep moving forward, there's a promised land in front of you. The best part of your life is still in your future. I'm asking you to stir your faith up. Get your passion back. Get up every morning and say with Moses,

Lord, thank you for your second touch. If you'll do this, I believe and declare. Just like the blind man, you're going to see the completion of what God started. Like Elijah, God's not only going to strengthen you, but he's going to bring you the provision. He's going to do more than you can. ask or think, and like John the Baptist, God's going to launch you into a new dimension,

into the fullness of your destiny. In Jesus' name, and if you receive it tonight, can you say amen? We want to give you the same opportunity that I gave everyone here at the stadium, and that is 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 it 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 in first place he's going to take you places that you've never dreamed thank you for listening to the joel o's dean podcast help us continue to share the message of hope with those all over the world visit joel osteen dot 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 mentalhealthcoach.org.

Again, that's mental healthcoach.org. Nice buns. Soft, fluffy, and ultra-low-net carbs. Discover Hero Bread, the delicious ultra-low-net carb bread with incredible taste and texture. Hero bread has zero grams of sugar and is under 100 calories per serving, plus high in fiber and up to 10 grams of protein per serving.

available on Amazon.com, Walmart.com, and hero.co. That's hero.co. Order from hero.co now and get 10% off your purchase with promo code IHM10. Summer is here and our sleep is just as important as our weekend plans. So get the sleep you deserve with Lisa. For limited time, save up to $700 off select mattresses plus two free pillows during our summer sale. Check out our hybrid mattress designed to keep you cool during those hot summer nights. Lisa also offers free shipping and a risk-free $100. trial. Get the sleep you deserve. Shop our summer sale now and save up to $700 off select mattresses. Plus two free pillows at Lisa.com. That's L-E-E-S-A.com. Exclusions apply, visit Lisa.com for details.