Joel Osteen (0:00)

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Joel Osteen (1:47)

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's a joy to come homes and if you're ever in our area, please stop by and be a part of one of our services. I promise you we'll make you feel right at home. I like to get started each week with something kind of funny and I heard about this pastor and song leader that were not getting along and it started to spill over into the services. One Sunday the pastor spoke about being willing to change. Afterwards, the song leader got up and led the song. I Shall not be moved. The next week he spoke on being a giver. The song leader got up and led. Jesus paid it all. Next week he talked about gossip and how you have to watch your tongue. And the song leader led. I love to tell the story. The pastor got so frustrated he finally resigned. He said, jesus brought me here and Jesus has taken me away. The song leader then led. What a friend we have in Jesus. Alright, hold up your Bible. Say it like you mean it. This is my Bible. I am. 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 developing an overflow mentality. Our God is a running over God and we're not supposed to just have our needs supplied. We're supposed to be so blessed. When other people get around us, it overflows onto them. We should be so blessed in our finances that we can not only pay our bills, not only accomplish our dreams, but we can be a blessing to others. And if we're going to live this abundant life, we have to have an overflow mentality. You've got to know if it's God's dream that you prosper. Just like as a parent, I love to see my children doing well. I love to see them looking good and see them excelling. It's the same way with God. He takes pleasure in prospering you. We were never created to barely get by. We weren't created to have to constantly struggle. God made us to be the head and not the tail. He said we would lend and not borrow. We may not all be there just yet, but don't settle where you are all through the day. Remind yourself. God takes pleasure in prospering me. His favor surrounds me like a shield. His blessings are chasing me down. Promotion and increase are coming my way. And of course we all go through times of testing. There are seasons where we don't see any increase. We're not getting any good breaks. We have to dig our heels in and press through the difficult times. But the way God designed it is that seasons always change. That means we're not supposed to constantly struggle. It is not your destiny to always be in lack and never have enough. At some point the test will come to an end. At some point you go from sowing into reaping. But if we're not careful because we've struggled so long and not seen the results and the increase that we've hoped for. It's easy to lose our fire, lose our passion, and think, oh, man, it's never going to happen to me. I'm never going to rise any higher. No, don't settle where you are. You've gone through sowing. Now you need to start believing that harvest is coming your way. And some of you have been so faithful. You've gotten up each day and done your best. You've given even when you didn't have enough. You've kept that attitude of faith. And God is saying, today, it's your time to come into harvest. It's your time to start reaping all those seeds that you've sown. Why don't you get a vision for it? Not a barely get by. Maybe one day I'll have enough. Maybe one day I'll be able to send my children to college. Maybe one day I'll be able to afford that house that I really want. No, start thinking overflow. You're a child of the most high God. He wants to do more than you can even ask or think. I know. I've had people say, well, Joel, my family's always struggled. My parents never had enough. My grandparents were always in lack and defeat. That may be true, but this is a new day. You can set a new standard. God wants you to be the one to break the curse of lack in your family line. You have seeds of greatness on the inside of you right now. God has equipped you with everything you need to succeed. And the fact is, your parents, grandparents, ancestors, they may have been good people, but maybe they didn't understand this truth that God takes pleasure in prospering you. Or maybe they sowed the seeds, they made the sacrifices so that you could live a better life. In either case, God wants you to go further than your parents. He wants every generation to increase. And if you'll rise up in faith, you can affect your family line for generations to come. This is what my father did. His family was one of the poorest families around. They had nothing. But at the age of 17, when my dad gave his life to the Lord, he made a decision that his children would never be raised in the lack and poverty that he was raised in. He drew the line in the sand and said, this is where we are, but this is not where we're staying. We are coming up higher. What happened? He developed a new mindset. Up to that point, he had had a poverty mentality that's all he'd ever known. Barely able to get by, barely have enough to pay the bills. He could have easily settled there and just thought, this is who I am. This is my lot in life. If he had done that, I wouldn't be where I am today. The decision he made way back in the 1930s is still affecting me, my children, even future generations. But my father knew deep down he was supposed to live this abundant life. He developed this overflow mentality, and it didn't happen overnight. But he and my mother stayed faithful. They kept giving, serving, believing. And over time, God did more than they could even ask or think they came in to overflow. You may be in poverty today, but don't ever let poverty get in you. Hold your head up high. Know that you're a child of the most high God. That may be the way it's been, but that's not the way it's going to stay. You are coming up higher. You're going to see God's favor in a greater way. You're going to see your gifts and talents come out like they've never come out before. I believe you're going to be given supernatural opportunities that just like a rocket, can launch you into a new dimension. If you'll stay in faith, it's just a matter of time before it comes to pass. That's what the scripture says in Psalm 65, verse 11 God will crown the year with a bountiful harvest. Your carts will overflow with abundance. That's my prayer for each one of you. That you will see God's blessings like you've never seen them before. That you will come into promotion, increase bonuses, raises, even inheritances. God likes to do unusual things. It talks about in the book of Malachi, if you'll be a giver and keep God first place, he will open up the windows of heaven and pour out blessings that you cannot contain. That sounds to me like it's supposed to be running over. After all. He's called El Shaddai, the God who is more than enough, not El Cheapo, the God of barely enough. Don't ever go around talking about how high prices are and how you're never going to make it. If you have a poor mouth, you're going to live a poor life and you may be so broke that you can't even pay attention. You may have so many things coming against you, but if somebody asks you how you're doing, don't give a 20 minute explanation of how bad things are. And gas is so high and my Business is slow. My dishwasher broke. My dog died. Zip all that up. Don't speak defeat over your life. No matter how it looks in the natural, you need to start saying it. By faith, I am blessed. I have the favor of God. Everything I touch prospers. Yes, prices may be high, but God always supplies my needs. Yes, the economy may be a little slow, but I'm not going under. I'm going over. God always causes me to triumph. A while back, this young couple asked me to pray and agree that this furniture they wanted to buy would go on sale. They had been watching it a long time, and they knew if it went on sale, they'd be able to buy it. And I had to think about that a minute, and I finally said, instead of praying that it'll go on sale, I would rather pray that God would bless you in such a way that that even if it doesn't, you would still be able to purchase it. It's not about trying to make things come down so we can afford it. It's about us believing to come up higher where we're supposed to be. After all, the same God that can cause it to go on sale can cause you to be blessed in such a way that you're not sitting around waiting for a discount. And I'm all for getting good deals. I'm for being frugal and not wasting. In fact, when I order a pizza over the phone, I still use the coupon out of the paper. I'm not against any of that. But some people, and I say this respectfully, they've got a cheap spirit. They won't buy anything unless they can find it on sale. I've known people that will drive across town and spend $10 on gas to save $3 on a box of detergent. They don't realize their time is valuable. Years ago, a friend of mine went to a family reunion in another state. And the next day a cousin of his was flying in. But this cousin flew to a city that was 200 miles away so he could save $60 on his airplane ticket. My friend drove five hours to get him, waited two hours at the airport five hours to get back to the family reunion. When he got back, the Cousin offered him $100 for coming to pick him up. And my friend, of course, he wouldn't take it. But he thought to himself, I wish you would have just spent the $60 on your ticket. So you would have saved us both a whole day and a lot of other headaches. What's my point? This cousin it wasn't that he couldn't afford it. He had just programmed himself to think cheaply. I don't have enough. I got to get the bargain basement flight, even if I've got to go through Tokyo first. No, you need to be set free from that cheap spirit. You are a child of the most high. Go. Your time is valuable. You are a person of excellence. And if you don't realize who you are and get rid of that barely get by mentality, it'll keep you from coming into overflow. I remember when I was growing up, just a little boy, I was with my father and he was buying a suit and the man selling it to him found out that he was a minister. And kind of demeaning, almost like we were second class. He said, well, you know, we can give you a minister's discount if you need it. I could tell my father did not like that. That rubbed him the wrong way. He thought to himself, I am not a beggar. I'm not looking for a handout. I'm a child of Almighty God. I don't need a minister's discount. And understand. My father loved to get good deals. He came out of the Depression. He was very conservative. I'm not talking about being arrogant or being wasteful. It wasn't out of pride, but rather out of a boldness of who he was and what he represented. He put his shoulders back and said, no sir, I don't take a minister's discount. Do you know who my father is? That salesman stepped back, looked at him kind of differently. He thought Daddy came from a well to do, influential family. He didn't know. He wasn't talking about his earthly father, he was talking about his heavenly father. That day something just rose up in my dad. He was saying, in effect, this is a new day. We've stepped out of poverty and lack. We've gotten the Christmas basket long enough because we were the poorest family. I went to high school with holes in my pants. All I could ever afford growing up was a half a glass of milk. But Daddy was saying, this is a new day. Don't tell me the God I serve has to have a discount. He's well able to take care of me. He's Jehovah Jireh, the Lord, my provider. If there's anything that must make God sad sons and daughters to go around with a barely get by defeated mentality. I got to have a discount. All I can afford is the day old bread. All I can afford is the leftovers. No, you need to get A bigger vision of who you are. You need to start reminding yourself, I am blessed, I am prosperous. I may not be able to afford it right now, but my time is coming. I may be on welfare today, but this is not where I'm staying. I don't need a handout. Even if you have to stand against that your whole life, you should never give in to the fact that you're supposed to live in lack and always be at the mercy of other people. You need to make up your mind. You may be taking a handout now, but one day you're going to be given the handout. One day you're going to lend and not borrow. You're coming in to overflow. That's God's dream for each one of you. And you may not see how it can happen, but that's okay. That's not your job. Your job is to believe. God can give you one idea that can totally change your life. He can cause you to bump into one person that will offer you a position that will take you to a new level. He can give you an inheritance from a long lost relative you didn't even know you had. He's God. He's got it all figured out. The other day, a man told me how he had reached his limits in his career. He didn't think he could go any higher. The man in front of him, his supervisor had just gotten the big promotion that he was hoping to get. And this supervisor was a young man, looked like he'd be there for 20 or 30 years. This other man was so discouraged. And I told him, just stay in faith. God's still in control. You never know what could happen. About six months later, that man all of a sudden decided to move to another city. This supervisor, to be with his family. And now they offered this man the same position. He was on cloud nine. It put him into overflow. If you'll stay in faith, God will move people around to get you to where he wants you to be. I know this couple. They bought a home in another state. And a couple of months after they purchased it, they got a certified letter notifying them company had discovered oil underneath the whole neighborhood. They offered them an incredible amount of money not to purchase the property, not to disrupt their living, but simply to be able to go underground and drill for that oil. He was so happy. I mean, you would have thought he was Jed Clampett, the Beverly Hillbillies. But you think about it, a couple of months later and those owners would have never sold him the property. God had it all arranged for moving one out to move another in the right place, the right time. That couple stepped into their season of harvest. You don't have to figure it all out. Just stay in faith, believing that God takes pleasure in prospering you. He wants you to come into overflow, not just so you can be blessed. There's a purpose for our prosperity, and that is to be a blessing to others. If all you have on your mind is yourself, that's going to limit what God can do. We need to have the attitude, God, give me ways that not only my family can be blessed, but help me to make a bigger difference, help me to impact more people. God has blessed Victoria and I beyond our wildest dreams. And I say this humbly, I think you know my heart. But we've always had a desire to help others. We've talked about for years being able to build hospitals in needy countries, orphanages to support less fortunate children. Right now, we're in the planning stages of helping to underwrite a home for troubled teens here in the Houston area. We're not supposed to be. We're not supposed to be a reservoir to hoard everything up. We're supposed to be a channel where God's blessings can flow through us. And if you will keep God first place and have a desire to help others, there's no limit to what God can do in your life. He can give you one good break that will put you into overflow. He can give you one dream at night that can revolutionize your life. Growing up, my parents knew a man by the name of Henry Kraus. Mr. Kraus was a farmer in the natural. Just an average, ordinary person. He didn't have a college degree. He didn't seem to be super talented. Looked like he would just live a normal life and make a modest living. But God is not limited by our education. He's not limited by our profession. He likes to do unusual things. And one night, God gave Mr. Krause a dream. And in this dream, he saw a certain kind of plow. A plow like he had never seen before. He got up the next morning and wrote it all down. Over time, he engineered it. He designed it, later had it patented. It became known as the famous Kraus plow. It went on to help revolutionize the farming industry. Mr. Krause was one of my father's biggest supporters. Just one idea, just one dream. The good news is God hasn't run out of ideas. He hasn't run out of ways to put you into overflow. One scripture talks about how God can give us witty inventions. Stay open. Don't settle where you are. You're not supposed to live in the land of barely enough. That's where you're always struggling, always trying to make ends meet. You're not supposed to live in the land of good enough. That's where you can pay your bills, but there's no abundance, there's no overflow. God wants you to come into the land of more than enough. That's where you can not only pay your bills, but you have plenty left over to be a blessing to others. That's the abundant life. A lady was telling me the other day how she brought a friend to the service. And at the end that friend stood up to make a decision for Christ. She was so happy for her. And afterwards they got to talking and she found that this friend didn't have a Bible. In fact, her friend had never owned a Bible of her own. And this lady knew she was supposed to go up to the bookstore and buy her a Bible. But her funds were very tight. If she did that, she wasn't sure she was going to make ends meet for that month. But she went up there anyway. They picked out a nice leather Bible. In fact, it was an expensive Bible. And while she was in line waiting to pay for it, a man walked up to her out of the blue, said, I don't know you, but I just feel like I'm supposed to give you this. He handed her a hundred dollar bill. That's the way God works. If you'll be obedient, God will always meet your needs. When you walk in overflow, you can be a blessing wherever you go. You won't be looking for a miracle. You can become someone's miracle. And really, that's what life is all about. Buying someone's dinner, helping a single parent. Mom, supporting a less fortunate child, making a difference. Friends, it's okay to have money as long as money doesn't have you. If you have a desire to help others and a desire to leave your children's children an inheritance like the scripture talks about, and you're living a life of excellence and integrity with a big vision, then you're in prime position to come into overflow. It may not have happened yet, but don't settle where you are. It's never too late. Have the attitude, this is where I am, but this is not where I'm staying. My God is a running over God. I know he takes pleasure in prospering me, so I'm going to keep giving, serving, believing, knowing that I'm headed for overflow. I'm coming into that land of more than enough. And I say this respectfully, but sometimes a religious attitude tries to make us think we're supposed to be poor and broke and depressed so we can prove to people that we're humble. But when we're poor and broke and depressed, all that proves is that we're poor and broke and depressed. That doesn't prove anything. Nobody's going to want what we have. We're supposed to be examples of what it means to live for our God. We represent Christ here on this earth. If I called my children up today and their clothes were torn and wrinkled and they had holes in their shoes, their hair was all messed up, you would look at me and think, man alive, what kind of father is he? It would be a poor representation on me. It's the same way with our God. When we drag around with a defeated, barely get by mentality, having that false sense of humility that's not bringing any honor to God. You want to honor God, have an abundant life mentality. You want to put a smile on God's face. Don't settle until you come into the land of more than enough. One time, Victoria and I found these two acres that we really wanted to buy. It was close into the city and a very valuable piece of property. And God's blessed us through our books and other things. And we not only give, but we try to invest our funds. We're not supposed to give everything away. We're blessed so we can accomplish our dreams, so we can leave an inheritance to our children, and so we can be a blessing to others. And I was debating whether or not we should invest in this real estate. And I thought to myself, we don't really need two acres to live on. We're happy where we are. I was kind of feeling guilty, like I'm supposed to be poor, to show people that I'm humble, but that's far from the truth. And one day I was on an airplane 35,000ft in the air. I was looking out the windows, a clear, beautiful day. And I just kind of thinking about that property. And I felt God say something to me. I don't mean out loud, but right down in here, more of an impression. He said, joel, you're wondering if you should buy that property or not. Well, what do you think those two acres look like to me? What do you think they look like from my perspective, way up where I am? Well, just where I was, 35,000ft, 2 acres look like A little dot. I mean, just like you took a pen and dotted a piece of paper. It was nothing. And I felt God say, joel, I give you permission, it's okay to have enough land the size of a pinhead. To me see, we think so small, we think limited. God owns it all. The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof. He made it for his children. You need to expand your horizon. Don't get stuck in a rut thinking that you've reached your limits. God has so many great things in your future. If he showed you right now, your jaw would drop, you would be amazed. But sometimes we think, is it wrong for me to want to have a nice house? Is it selfish for me to want to leave my children an inheritance? Is it okay for me to believe for the funds that my God given dreams would come to pass? God's saying to you what he said to me, it's okay. He takes pleasure in prospering you. He wants to give you the desires of your heart. As long as you will keep God first place and not let those things become idols. God will do the extraordinary. He's a running over God. I remember back in early 2004, I had a desire to take our services on the road and do events in other cities. And I was discussing it with our team members and one of them asked what size auditorium was I thinking about. And I had no idea if 1,000 people would come or 10,000. We'd been on television a few years, but I'd never been on the road. I had nothing to judge it by. And my mind was telling me, you better get a little amphitheater that holds about 500 people because nobody's going to show up and you're going to be embarrassed and it's going to look bad. And I had to fight that for several days. I finally decided I wasn't going to act in fear, I wasn't going to act in doubt and unbelief. I know God is a running over God. And so I told our team members we need to just go ahead and rent the basketball arenas in those cities. And it usually holds 15 or 20,000 people. I figured if nobody showed up, we'd turn all the lights off and just do it right down in front, make it look the best we could. Well, that day came for our very first event, summer of 2004, in Atlanta, Georgia, a Friday night. That day I was so nervous, hoping somebody would show up. About 2 in the afternoon, I got a call from one of our team members saying the Line to get in was already wrapped around the building. When they opened the doors at 6 o', clock, the building immediately filled up some 20,000 people. We had to turn thousands and thousands away. Friends, God is a running over God. He wants to do more than you can even ask or think. But here's the key. I had to make room for it in my thinking. I had to rent the building first and then God filled it up. Some of you, if you could just make room in your own thinking, God would do extraordinary things. If you don't have a savings account, you need to open one up. Well, hey, you say Joel, I wouldn't have anything to put in it. Do it as an act of faith. If you open it, God will fill it. God doesn't want any of us to stay in barely enough or in good enough. God wants us to come into the land of more than enough. Put your shoulders back. Don't have a cheap mentality. Well, I can't afford it. No, your father owns it all. He takes pleasure in prospering. You, you may not have seen it happen in the past, but it can still happen. Let me speak it by faith over you. You're going to see God's favor in a greater way. You're going to come across supernatural opportunities. You're going to be at the right place at the right time and get the right break. You may not know how, but you are going to lend and not borrow. You're going to leave an inheritance to your children's children. Because you walk in obedience. God's blessings are going to chase you down and overtake you. Get ready for promotion increases, bonuses, raises. It's headed your way. 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, come into my heart. I repent of my sins. I make him 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 you've never dreamed of.