B (1:44)
Well, God bless you. It's a joy to come into your homes. We love you and we're believing for God's very best in your life. If you're ever in our area, I hope you'll come out and see us. I promise you we'll make you feel right at home. But thanks for tuning in today. I'd like to get started with something funny. And I heard about this minister that bought a new horse and he trained it to respond to Praise the Lord, meaning giddy up and Hallelujah, meaning woe. His friends were so impressed, every time he said Praise the Lord, the horse would take off running. He'd say Hallelujah and it would quickly stop. Well, one day he was out riding and the horse got spooked and headed straight toward a cliff, yelled out whoa, Whoa. But he didn't respond. He then remembered he taught it something different, but he couldn't remember what it was. He yelled out, amen. Glory. Bless God. Nothing happened. Finally, right when the horse got to the edge of the cliff, he yelled out hallelujah. And the horse came to a screeching halt. He breathed a sigh of relief and said, praise the Lord. Alright, hold up your Bible. Say it like you mean it. This is my Bible. I am what it says I am. I have 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 not losing your joy. Every day we have opportunities to get upset, to go around stressed out. Life is full of inconveniences. People don't always do what they should. Our plans don't always work out. There's constantly something that can steal our joy. People traffic, disappointments. And if we're going to live in victory, we have to have the right approach to life. At the first part of every day, we need to make a decision that no matter what comes against us, we are not going to get upset. It's good to have plans, but we should submit our plans to God and just say, God, this is what I would like to accomplish today. This is what I would like to get done. But God, I know you're in control, so I submit my plans to you and I make a decision in advance. No matter what comes my way, I'm going to stay in peace knowing that you are directing my steps, knowing that and that all things are going to work together for my good. If you'll learn to submit your plans to God and decide in advance to stay in peace, then when things come against you, it's no big deal. You've already made up your mind. That's not going to steal my joy. I like to pray every morning. Father, thank you that you've given me the grace to handle whatever comes my way. When those inconveniences come, when our plans don't work out, when somebody irritates us, the first decision we should make is, I am not going to get upset. I'm not going to lose my joy. I have the power to stay in peace. That's what the scripture says. No man can take your joy. That means no person can make you be unhappy. No circumstance can force you to get upset. It's totally up to you. You have complete control of how peaceful and how happy you want to live. One of the keys to enjoying life is you have to take responsibility for your own happiness. I hear so many excuses. I'd be happy if my spouse would treat me better. I'd be happy if I didn't have to work around so many negative people, or if I didn't have these problems, these challenges, then I wouldn't be so stressed out. No, you can be happy right where you are. You may be in a difficult situation. It may not seem fair, but God has armed you with strength for every battle. He said he would never let you go through more than you can handle. And you can have joy right there in the midst of that adversity if you'll simply have the right approach. Jesus put it this way in John 14:27, stop allowing yourself to be upset and disturbed. Notice it's a decision we have to make. One of the best things that I've ever learned is I don't have to have my way in order to be happy. My plans don't have to work out in order for me to have a good day. I've already made up my mind. I'm going to enjoy this day even if things don't go my way. I'm going to be happy even if somebody doesn't like my sermon. God forbid, I'm going to have a good attitude even if I have a flat tire on the way home. When we have this kind of approach, all these things that have the potential to upset us, maybe at one time they frustrated you. They won't upset you anymore. And some of you need to draw that line in the sand and say, that's it. I'm done with letting people and circumstances and traffic and neighbors and disappointments always upset me. I refuse to give away my joy anymore. I'm going to live my life happy. Well, you say, joel, I've got a lot of things coming against me, a lot of challenges, and my spouse kind of gets on my nerves, and my boss aggravates me. Traffic is horrible. No, those circumstances are not really your problem. It's your approach. You keep giving away your joy because you could take someone with the right attitude and put them in your same situation and they wouldn't be stressed. They wouldn't be uptight. They would still be enjoying their life. Why is that? They have the right approach. They know that God is in control. They know their steps are being Ordered by the Lord, they know all things are ultimately going to work together for their good. In other words, they've trained themselves to stay in peace. We have to recognize we can't control the traffic, we can't control what our neighbor does or how our boss treats us. But we can control our approach to life. That's where the power lies. Not in being able to control all of our circumstances, but in being able to control our own attitude and rise above those negative circumstances. I think it's interesting. The apostle Paul never prayed for people to be delivered from their problems. He prayed that God would give them the strength to go through them with a good attitude. A lot of times we think, God, if you would just change these people that are aggravating me, God, if you'd just make my child straighten up, or God, if you'd just move my boss to another planet, God, if you'd deliver me from these people, then I could be happy. But the truth is those people may not ever change. I hope they do, but even if they don't, if you will change, if you will make an adjustment, it doesn't have to upset you anymore. You have the power right now to live a joy filled, faith filled, peace filled life. But you've got to come to that point where you say, God, even if it never changes, it's not going to steal my joy. I know you've got me in the palm of your hand. I know you've always got my best interest at heart. So God, I'm totally trusting you. Anything you have to have in order to be happy is something the enemy can use against you. If you think you have to get married in order to be happy, not only are you in for a pleasant surprise, I said a pleasant surprise, but the enemy can use that against you. If you think your boss has to change before you can enjoy your work, you'll go year after year dreading it, thinking that's why you can't be happy. No, throw out all those excuses. You can be happy right where you are. I know people that are facing life threatening diseases in the natural. If anyone had a right to be kind of down, it would be them. But they've got a smile on their face. They're in peace, fighting the good fight of faith. And when we have to have something, it's a sure sign that we're out of balance most of the time. That's only going to cause God to delay that from coming to pass. And it's good to have hopes and dreams. It's good to get up each day believing and expecting. But what I'm saying is, don't wait for those things to enjoy your life and be happy. This is the day the Lord has made. Not tomorrow, not when all your dreams come to pass, not when all the negative people are changed, but today. Understand, God has you exactly where he wants you. And if you'll learn to be happy where you are, God will get you to where you want to be. He's promised he will give you the desires of your heart. If there's something that you really want, I would encourage you to just put it on the altar. Just say, God, I would really love to have this God, you know, the desire you put in me. I would love to get married. I'd love to see my spouse change. I would love to get that promotion. But God, I'm not waiting on that to be happy. I'm happy right where you have me. That's the kind of attitude God's looking for. Somebody came up to me a while back and she was kind of bent out of shape. She said, joel, my boss doesn't give me the credit that I deserve. He overlooks me and it's not fair and it's very upsetting. I told her what I'm telling you. Don't allow other people to steal your joy. You can't make your boss do what's right. You can't change that. Man. You should have the attitude. It doesn't matter what my boss does or doesn't do. I'm not working unto Him. I'm working unto God. And I'm going to keep a smile on my face. I'm going to be happy anyway, knowing that God's going to make it up to me. And if you'll have that kind of approach, not only will you enjoy your life more, but God will fight your battles for you. He'll make sure you get everything that you deserve. But we cannot wait for other people to change. We have to change. I know this man that struggled in his marriage for years and years. He and his wife don't see eye to eye on certain issues, and she won't come to church with him. For the longest time. This had him down and discouraged. I saw him a while back and asked him how everything was going, and he seemed to be very upbeat. He said, joy, everything's going great. I'm really enjoying my life. And I thought for sure that he and his wife were getting along better and they'd resolved all those issues. But he said, no, my wife is just the same. We still don't see eye to eye. She still won't come to church with me. But he said something very interesting. He said, joel, she hasn't changed, but I've changed. I don't let that upset me anymore. I don't let that steal my joy. That's what I'm talking about. Don't allow other people to keep you from being happy. They may do things that irritate you. You may have a family member that gets on your nerves night and day, but you've got to make a decision. You're not going to let that get under your skin, going to enjoy your life anyway. Because let me tell you, if you let other people and your circumstances keep you from being happy, there will always be something to steal your joy. And some of you today, if you don't draw that line, you'll go the next 20 years letting someone control you and keep you down and discouraged. I found, unfortunately, some people don't really want to be happy. They won't discipline themselves to make right choices. And so they just live in the pits, all defeated and depressed. And understand you can't change people. You can encourage them, you can speak faith into them, but ultimately you cannot make them do what's right. And I say this respectfully, but you're not responsible for their happiness. You're responsible for your own happiness. You need to have the attitude. Have the attitude. If you don't want to be happy, that's fine. But you're not going to keep me from being happy. If you want to live in the pits, that's okay. But I'm not going to get in there with you. I'm going to enjoy my life. Sometimes we have to love people from a distance. You may have you laugh because you know it's true. You may have family members, relatives, friends. You love them, they're good people, but you can't be around them every minute. You can be kind, you can be respectful, but you should not spend all your time with what I call toxic people. That's people that are always negative, people that bring out the worst in you, people that irritate you and always want to argue. The less time you spend with people like that, the better off you're going to be. And I realize sometimes we don't have a choice. You may work with someone or live with someone that just almost on purpose, does things to aggravate you. They feel like it's their calling to make your life miserable. You need to change your approach. The more you let them upset you, the more you let that get under your skin. All you're doing is empowering them. If they can frustrate you, they know they can control you. The next time they do something that would normally upset you, just stay in peace. Don't give in. If they're rude to you, just keep a smile on your face. If they leave you out, overlook you on purpose, don't let it bother you. Don't go call your friends. Don't give it the time of day when you rise above that and keep your joy. You're not fueling it anymore. In other words, you're taking away their power. But as long as they know they can push this button and upset you and this button and you'll come running and this button, and it'll sour your day, then they're going to keep doing that. Well, you say, joel, I can't help it. They aggravate me. They get on my nerves. No, we can't help it. The scripture says in Psalms, God has given us the power to stay calm in times of adversity. Here's the key. What you feed is going to grow. You have to quit feeding those wrong emotions. In other words, the next time you get stuck in traffic and you're tempted to get upset, feed it. The next time a co worker is rude to you and you're tempted to let it sour your day, overlook it. Don't let it steal your joy. If you'll quit feeding those wrong feelings, they will get weaker and weaker, and eventually they won't affect you anymore. When Victoria and I first got married some 20 years ago, we would do things that kind of irritate each other. Not on purpose. We just have different personalities. And if we're not careful, we'll blow things out of proportion and little things will turn into big things. We have to learn to adapt and adjust. We can't wait for others to change. We have to change. For instance, when I have somewhere to go, I like to leave maybe 15 minutes early so I have plenty of time and can just relax. Victoria's just the opposite. She'll leave 15 minutes late and make it up on the freeway. We're just different. Actually, she doesn't speed. She's a very good driver. If you see me riding with her, that helmet I wear is just a safety precaution. But on Sunday mornings, we take different cars to church. Not for that reason, because I stay late. But I used to get so stressed out thinking that she wasn't going to get here on time. And so before I left, I'd Tell her, victoria, you've got to leave at this time and there may be traffic. And this is very important. On and on and just kind of nagging her. And when it got time for the service to start, I would wait for her at the back door. I'd ask Joni, give me an update, see if you can see her. He'd open the door, look down East Houston Road, see if we could see her car. I was so uptight about it, but the fact is, I can't ever remember one time that she missed our part at the very beginning of the service. Now, there were times she'd pull up during the opening song, but she made it up here. But one day, I decided to do what I'm asking you to do. I changed my approach. I quit nagging her, I quit trying to change her. And I let her be who God made her to be. Now, that thing that used to stress me doesn't bother me at all. In fact, it's funny. When I quit letting that upset me, that's when she started coming earlier and earlier. Sometimes now, she'll beat me here by 30 minutes. God is a God of miracles. But what am I saying? What I'm saying is I changed. And even now, when she's running late and I'm tempted to get upset, I just remind myself, even if she doesn't make it on time, even if she doesn't get all her makeup put on driving down the freeway, that's not going to sour my day. I've learned to relax and just go with the flow. But I've seen people, they go year after year, letting the same things upset them. Every time they get caught in traffic, they respond a certain way. Every time their spouse does a certain thing, they lose their joy. It sours their day. Or if they don't get enough done at the office, at work, they come home all frustrated. Don't let that be you. Find out what's stealing your joy. Take inventory of your life. What are you allowing to upset you? What's causing you to go through the day stressed out? Identify what it is and then make a decision that you're going to change your approach in those areas. After all, if you get caught in traffic, getting upset is not going to make it go any faster. If someone's rude to us, being rude back to them is only going to sour our own day. If our plans don't work out, let's stay in peace instead of getting upset, knowing that God is still directing our steps. He's still got us exactly where he wants us. I was driving in a crowded parking lot the other day, just going around and around. This was in another state, looking for a place to park. This couple came out of the building walking toward their car, and I had to guess which aisle they were going to be parked down. And I turned down this one aisle, and it just so happened it was the right one. And they were parked at the spot closest to the door, right up front. So you know me, I was just thanking God for his favor and just waiting for them to back out. When they backed out, this man came from the main road and he turned down the wrong direction on that aisle and beat me to that spot. My first inclination was to want to honk and give him a piece of my mind. But then I remembered I'm a pastor and I can't do that. I had to make a decision. I am not going to let this upset me. I thought to myself, I'll give him the parking spot, but I will not give him my joy. When you're tempted to get upset, when somebody does you wrong, you have to ask yourself, is this worth giving up my joy over? They've already offended me. Am I going to make it worse and let it sour the rest of my day? Some people don't realize they're constantly giving away their joy. They wonder why they're not happy. It's because they gave away joy when they couldn't find their car keys in the morning, gave away joy in traffic, gave away joy when they had to work late, gave away more joy when they heard somebody was talking about them. Friends, I'm asking you to quit giving away your joy. You need it. Life is too short to let interruptions and inconveniences keep us from being happy. We're never going to get away from them. You can't just pray it all away. It's a part of life. We have to learn to handle it in the right way. And it's very freeing when you understand this principle. I don't have to give away my joy. I can live every day happy if I want to. And I don't mean that. We're always jumping up and down. But one definition of joy is calm delight. That means we're at peace. We're at rest. Not mad at our spouse and aggravated at the boss and disappointed because our plans didn't work out. Quit giving away your joy. And so I just went on past that parking spot. Didn't make a big deal about it. Really didn't think about it even anymore. A few minutes Later I found another place to park. And when I was walking toward the building, this young couple came walking out and they stopped me and told how they had a son in the hospital and they had been reading my book. It was a source of hope and encouragement to them. The lady began to weep and weep. She said, joel, I know seeing you here is God letting us know that everything is going to be okay. And after we prayed, after we talked a moment and prayed, I thought about. I didn't get the spot that I wanted, but I got the spot that God wanted me to have. God was directing my steps. That wasn't a coincidence. God caused our paths to come together for a reason. But if I had been upset and stayed over with that other guy and argued, tried to set him straight, I probably wouldn't have been where I was supposed to be. Friends, God's in control. When our plans don't work out, it doesn't mean that we're not at the right spot. And if somebody's rude to you, if you're tempted to get upset, just take the high road and stay in peace. God is a God of justice. He sees every wrong that's ever been done. And if you'll keep your peace, he'll make your wrongs right. He'll take what you thought was a setback, what you thought was a disadvantage, and he'll turn it around and use it to your advantage. Let's learn to pass these tests. Don't get set in your ways. There's always something that can steal our joy. I know people, they get stressed every time they have to pay their bills each month, or every time they have to clean the house, every time they have to work late. And if they don't make these adjustments, they'll go the next 20 years giving away their joy. I read where there are more heart attacks on Monday morning than any other time during the week. Why is that? People are uptight, stressed, dreading going to work, already planning on having a lousy day. One reason there's so much sickness in our society is because of stress. 90% of all doctor's visits to a primary care physician are stress related. I think we'd be amazed at how much healthier we would be if we would quit fighting against everything that doesn't go our way. When we really believe that God's in control, we don't have to get upset because somebody was rude to us. We don't have to be uptight because we didn't get a promotion we wanted to. We don't have to live worried because we got a negative report from a medical doctor. No. We know that God has us in the palm of his hand. We know that no weapon formed against us is ever going to prosper. When you stay full of joy, it's just like you're taking medicine. When you're at peace, when you're at rest, it brings health to your whole system. The scripture says this. A relaxed attitude will lengthen your life. I believe many of the headaches and backaches and the reason we can't sleep, many of these ailments would go away if we would just come back to that place of peace. Not hurried, worried, uptight, stressed out. But some people on the inside, they're always fighting, they're always in turmoil with something they don't realize. They are giving away the very thing that can help keep them healthy. They keep giving away their joy. I heard about this man that had not been feeling well. He went to see his doctor and the doctor said, what's wrong? He said, well doctor, lately I've been getting dizzy and I'm starting to see these white spots. The doctor examined him and put him through some tests. Several days later, called him back and said, sir, I hate to tell you this but you've got a rare disease and we think you only have about six months to live. The man quit his job, decided to travel the world and do all the things he'd always hoped to do. Spent a lot of time with his family, bought a new sports car. One day he was driving by this famous clothing shop and he decided to go in and get a tailor made suit. The tailor came in and measured his arm length 33 inches, measured his waist 32, measured his pant length 34. Then he measured his neck and said, I'm going to make you a 16 and a half inch shirt. The man said, no, I wear a 15 inch shirt. The tailor measured it again very closely. He said, no sir, look, you wear a 16 and a half inch shirt. The man was very adamant. He said, no sir, I wear a 15 inch shirt. I've worn one my whole lifetime and I want you to make me a 15 inch shirt. The tailor said, well fine, I'll make you a 15 inch shirt, but it's going to make you dizzy and you're going to start seeing white spots. What's my point? You know my point. If we'll be willing to change, if we'll make adjustments many times, we'll see our white spots go away. We'll see our frustrations go away. It's when we get set in our ways and we think this is the way I've always done it. I always get upset when my spouse is late for dinner. I always get stressed when I have to work overtime. Joel, my daughter always upsets me. She knows how to push just the right buttons. No, turn those buttons off. Don't go around with a 15 inch when you know you need a 16 and a half. Make the necessary adjustments. And some of you, if you'd just get your joy back, you'd go to a whole new level. You're constantly allowing other people and your circumstances to keep you upset, frustrated, worried. If you would make even a minor adjustment and change your approach, you would see a major improvement. Remember, we can't control our circumstances. We can't control what other people do. But we can control our own attitude. That's where the power lies. And I wonder how many of us would get upset this week if we knew we only had six months to live. We wouldn't be bothered if we had to work late. We'd have a whole new perspective. We wouldn't be stressed if we got stuck in traffic. We'd appreciate every moment. We wouldn't let a family member get under our skin. We would rise above it. Friends, let's keep it in the right perspective. We're not always going to be here. Each day is a gift from God and I'm asking us to make these adjustments now so you don't have to look up one day. Man, I wasted years letting that person frustrate me. I wasted years being stressed on the job, years dreading having to clean the house. No. If you'll change your approach and believe that God's directing your steps, believe that you're exactly where you're supposed to be, then you'll come back to that place of peace and you'll not only enjoy your life more, but God will pour out his blessings and favor and you'll live the life of victory he has in store. Amen. Do you receive it today? We never like to close our broadcast without giving you an opportunity to make Jesus the Lord of your life. Would you pray with me? Just say, Lord Jesus, I'll repent of my sins. Come into my heart. I'll make you my Lord and Savior. Friends, if you prayed that simple prayer, we believe you got born again. Get in a good Bible based church. Keep God first place. He's going to take you places you've never dreamed of.
