Lily (0:03)

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Kunle (1:01)

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Joel Osteen (1:43)

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Joel Osteen (2:07)

Terms and conditions apply. Hi, this is Joel in Victoria. Thanks for listening to our podcast and thanks for supporting the ministry. If you enjoyed today's message, why don't you be a blessing and share it with a friend? We appreciate you and pray for God's very best in your life. Well, God bless you. Always a joy to come into your homes. We love you. We know God's got great things in store for you. Each one of you. He rewards people that seek after Him. If you're ever in our area, I hope you'll come out and be a part of one of our services. I promise you we'll make you feel right at home. But thanks so much for tuning in today, I like to get started each week with something kind of funny. I heard about this little girl. She was attending a wedding for the first time. She asked her mom, why is the bride wearing all white? The mom smiled and said, oh, white is the color of happiness. Today is the happiest day of her life. The little girl thought about it and said, why is the groom wearing all black? All right, hold up your Bible. Let's say it like we mean it. 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. I am about to receive the inquiry, incorruptible, indestructible, ever living seed of the Word of God. I'll never be the same. Never, never, never. I'll never be the same. In Jesus name, God bless you. I want to talk to you today about enlarging your circle of love. Too often, we only associate with people just like us. The people that look like us and people that have our same interests, our same personality types. It's easy to include them. We're comfortable. That's what we're used to. But what about the people that don't dress like us, the people that don't come from our same background, People that we see as being different? It's very easy to just write them off and think, they're not like me. They don't come from my same faith. Or they've got an addiction and I don't. They're old and I'm young. I don't have to interact with them. No. God put the people in your life for a reason. His love is inclusive, not exclusive. That man at the office may not come from our same faith, but that doesn't give us the right to treat him like he's second class. Enlarge your circle of love. Find somebody that you would normally not be friendly to and reach out to them. You don't have to agree with everything about them. Just be kind, be friendly. Show acceptance. Too many people have their walls up. Well, he's got long hair, he's got an earring. Or they're a Democrat and I'm a Republican. They're a Baptist and I'm a Catholic. Or Joel, he's an Aggie, I'm a Longhorn. No. Get outside of your box. Don't let these labels and these preconceived Ideas keep you from reaching out to other people. The scripture says here in John 7:24, be honest in your judgment of people. Do not decide at a glance. Superficially and by appearances. We don't realize how many times we look at someone, and in a split second we decide if we're going to like them or not. We size them up to see if they fit into our box. Do they look like me? Do I approve the way they wear their hair? Do I like their clothes? All this can take place in just three or four seconds. We categorize them, and they don't measure up to our standards. They don't fit into our box. We just write them off. We make a judgment. Yet we don't even really know the person. Much of this comes from how we were raised. I know when I was growing up, if I saw somebody smoking, I immediately thought, man, they're a sinner. They got a lot of problems. In my mind, that was a big category. But as I got older, I began to realize being overweight, living stressed out, that's just about as unhealthy as smoking. But I would never see an overweight person in that same light. Had all these categories in my mind of how I judged people. I've learned since not to make those judgments. Don't look at someone and decide in a glance. Get to know the person. I've seen people that have all kinds of hangups, yet they're some of the warmest, kindest people you could ever possibly meet. And really what causes us to judge is pride. We think, I would never do that. I would never smoke. I would never wear what she has on. No, we don't know what we would do. We haven't walked in their shoes. We weren't raised the way they were raised. We haven't had the experiences that they have had. Most of our behavior is based out of our experiences. The only person that really knows is that other person. Let's not make these quick judgments. After all, if it were not for the grace of God, there's no telling where any of us would be. I've seen people, they look down on people that struggle with their weight. The back of their mind, they kind of think, well, they're just lazy, just undisciplined. I would never let myself get that out of shape. No, you don't know the battles they fight. You don't have their genetics. You don't have their metabolism. You don't have their appetite. Don't make judgments. Give people the benefit of the doubt. When we see Other people that struggle in an area, or maybe they have a negative quality. Instead of being quick to judge and condemn and be critical, what we really should do is say, father, thank you for giving me grace in that area. Thank you, that I don't struggle with that. We don't know what people have been through. Some people have hangups because of the way they were raised. They couldn't help it. We don't choose our environment. We didn't pick our parents. I talked to a lady last week. She's in her 60s. As a little girl, she was mistreated physically, emotionally, verbally. It's a very traumatic, hurtful experience. For the most part. She's over that today. But she said, I still have things that I deal with. I still have things that affect me in my thoughts, in my mind from what happened way back then. Even though we overcome things doesn't mean we don't still have some residual effects. Let's quit being so judgmental. Let's give everybody a little bit of room. Let's be more understanding. Well, Joel, he's got long hair, he's got a tattoo, he's far out. I just don't agree with that. Now, as far as I know, Jesus had long hair, Moses had long hair, Charlton Heston had long hair. I saw the movie. We have to get past this thinking that as long as you're like me, then I'll accept you if you look like me, if you come to my church, if you have my same interests. No, some of you have people in your life right now that could bring you great joy. You could have a great friendship. But you've already judged them and put them into a not for me category in your mind, yet you've not even taken time to get to know that person. A very close friend of mine told how when she was in college, a young man invited her out on a date. They had known each other for several years, just casually enough to say hi. They'd never really talked before. But when he invited her out, she immediately said no. She already had her mind made up. The kind of man she was going to date, what he was going to look like, his qualities, his personality. In her mind, this young man didn't meet any of those requirements. He was too tall, he had red hair, he wasn't outgoing enough. All these things that didn't measure up to her standards. And of course it's fine to have personal tastes, but don't be so close minded that you don't at least get to know someone month after month. He kept inviting her out. He wasn't bothersome, but he was persistent. One day she finally gave in. They went out with another young couple. She had already made up her mind she wasn't going to like him. But that night she saw a side of him that she had not seen before. He was kind, friendly, outgoing, loving. Today that couple has been married more than 21 years. They have four beautiful children. The point I want you to see is that young lady almost missed out on somebody God brought into her life because she judged him based on superficial things. She judged him without really getting to know him. I wonder how many of us miss out on great friendships because we do the same thing. We make a quick judgment in our mind. We size a person up to see if they fit into our box. If they don't, we just write them off. All we know is, her hair's too long, or I don't like the way they look, or they come from a different nationality. I'm sure we couldn't have anything in common. The word prejudice means to prejudge. In other words, I judge you. And I'm going to make a decision whether I accept you or not. Based on your appearance. Based on what I see on the surface. What a shallow way to live. You think about it. We didn't choose our race. God chose it for us. That means we shouldn't hold that against another person. For the most part, we don't choose our looks. Sure, we can stay in shape, take care of ourselves, but we can't change our overall makeup. Don't prejudge someone because they don't meet up to your standards. Maybe they weren't blessed with good looks like you and me. At least this time I included you. You know how human nature is. We all think we're the best looking. It's like this lady I heard about. She felt like she was so young and she had aged so well. And one day she went to the dentist office and she noticed the name of this one dentist up on the wall. And she thought, that's the same name of a guy I dated in High School 30 years ago. I wonder if it could be him. A few minutes later, this old man came out. Wrinkled gray hair, glasses. She thought, surely that couldn't be him. He is so old. She said, sir, did you go to such and such high school and graduate in such and such year? He said, I sure did. She said, wouldn't you know it? I think you were in my class. He squinted his eyes and said, really? What subject did you teach? We See ourselves through rose colored glasses. We see everybody else through that magnifying glass. Much of our wrong judgment is based on the culture we were raised in. We don't understand the new young people these days wear their hair much more messy. Sometimes it looks like they just got out of bed. Not long ago, we were leaving the house and I said to our 12 year old son, Jonathan, you need to run comb your hair. He said, daddy, I just did. I thought, okay, but styles come and go. I like my hair back up off of my forehead. This is my style. Been wearing it like this for years. My son Jonathan, he likes his hair as far down on his forehead as he can get it and still be able to see. One time I told him, jonathan, I don't particularly like your hair like that. He said, daddy, would I get in trouble if I told you I didn't like yours? I said, you just did. Well, we got to give people a little room. I went to buy some jeans the other day and the only ones I could find had these tears all through them. They were faded, raggedy, beat up. I thought at least I'd get a discount. I got home and Jonathan said, oh, dad, you got some cool jeans. I love those tears. I thought, yeah, those tears cost me a lot. It's a generational thing. When my father was a teenager, the founder of our church, growing up back in the 1930s, he wore what they called a zoot suit. The pants were up to here, the jacket went down to here. He had this hat cocked over to one side. Out of this pocket he had a long gold chain. And he'd walk around swinging that chain looking like a cool cat. Today we would say, he's got some bling. But as a teenager, as a teenager, my father was one of the far out ones. Isn't it interesting that God called him to be the pastor of a great church? Some of you are wondering about your young people. You're wondering about your children, maybe because they got messy hair and baggy pants and they talk a language you can't understand. And I don't mean speaking in tongues. You don't know what God's going to do with that young person. God looks past the surface and he looks at our heart. Sometimes we think, oh, they got long hair, they're just a hippie. They got some bling. I'm sure they're up to no good. Or he's got a tattoo. I know he's going to hell. No, I realize not everybody has my same taste. Not everybody was raised in the culture I was raised in. I'm going to stay open. I'm going to look past the surface and not make judgments without getting to know someone. When we make these superficial judgments, it affects the way we treat that person. When I first started dating Victoria, some of my friends were kind of standoffish toward her. They were very reserved and almost unfriendly. Several months later, they told how they thought because she was so beautiful and carried herself so confidently that she would surely be stuck up. They found out later she was just the opposite. You can't find a more down to earth loving person. But they had already judged her in their minds to be arrogant and unfriendly simply because of her looks. That's what we do. Many times we make these judgments. Then we go into a relationship with all these walls up, treating people the way we think they're going to be. It's much better to just stay open and look past the surface. And even if there are some things about a person that we don't understand, let's give them a little room. God's made us all different. I heard this lady tell how one day her son came home with a tattoo. She was so upset, she couldn't believe it. She didn't want her son to have any tattoos. And she went on and on telling him how disappointed she was. Finally, the young man pulled up his sleeve and he said, oh, mom, it's just a tattoo with your name on it. She said, oh, well, maybe just one would be okay. I don't personally care for tattoos, but when I see somebody that has one, I'm not going to judge them and put them into a certain category. Several years ago, a young man came up to me in a mall. He had tattoos all over his arm, completely covering them. And he had lived a very rough life recently. He'd got it turned around. Now he was serving God. He was about to spend thousands of dollars to try to have those tattoos surgically removed. He asked my opinion and I asked what his motive was for doing that. He said, well, Joel, the main reason I want to get rid of them is because I don't think my new friends will accept me looking like this. I told him, you do what you feel good about concerning the surgery, but let me tell you, if your friends won't accept you the way you are, they're not really your friends. You keep being your best and God will give you some true friends. That kind of judgment is based out of pride. There's nothing God dislikes anymore than being holier than Thou having a better than you attitude. The scripture says that's a stench in the nostrils of God. In other words, being proud, being judgmental, looking down on people that don't meet up to our standards. In God's eyes, that's the very worst. I heard about this man that went to a real fancy church. He was dressed in blue jeans, cowboy boots and an old cowboy hat. He walked in on a Sunday morning, sat down on the third row. Much of the congregation were appalled. They sent letters to the minister expressing their concern. Afterwards, the minister got him aside and told him he needed to ask God how to dress before he came back to his church. The next Sunday, the man showed up dressed exactly the same. The minister scolded him and said, I told you to ask God how to dress before you come back to my church. The man said, I did ask God, but he told me he didn't know because he's never been here before. We got to have a wide circle of love. Quit judging people by the exterior. I found whether I wear blue jeans or whether I wear a suit, it doesn't affect the anointing. It's not affected by. It's not affected by cotton or denim from a Brother Paul's sake or polyester. Seriously, you know what affects the anointing? The attitude of our heart. Some people look like a saint on the outside, but on the inside, they're full of poison, pride, judgment, criticism. Like a Pharisee, they look down on other people. They have a little bitty circle of love. If you don't look like them, talk like them, think like them, they shut you out. You're outside their circle. On the other hand, I've known people that have some hang ups. They don't perform perfectly all the time, yet they have a pure heart toward God. Let me tell you, God is more pleased with that than he is a person that performs perfectly all the time but has a lousy heart. What's going on on the inside is more important than what people see on the outside. One time a man came up to me in the visitor's reception and he looked like a biker. He was dressed real rough. I hope you're not offended when I tell you this. But he said, joel, I got to tell you, that was a hell of a sermon today. I thought, next time tell me what you really meant. That didn't bother me. I realized he comes from a different background. No doubt he wasn't raised like me. Hopefully over time he'll come up higher. But I believe that his heart was pure. Down in here where it really counted. He was as sincere as he can be. It's funny, the way I was raised, if you said, hell, you were probably going to go there. I mean, if we said, doggone it, that was a big deal in my family. But we can't go around shutting people out because they're not just exactly like us. Well, I don't think she should come to church, Joel, looking like that. That dress is not appropriate. That's too revealing. Yes, I'm all for dressing modestly, but I would rather her be here than out in the bars or the clubs. I'd rather them be here than out in the street somewhere. We have to give people a little room while they're in the process of changing. Jesus said it's the sick who need a doctor, not the healthy. But if they come into our churches feeling so condemned, or if they get around us during the week and we shut them out, looking down on them being holier than now, they may never become all God's created them to be. If there's anything that fires me up, it's to see people judging and being critical toward a person, yet they know nothing about what that person is going through. That young lady may be here on her last leg. She may be thinking, let me go to church one more time to see if I can get my life straightened out. What a shame if we would be so full of pride or so judgmental that she felt unwelcome. Why don't you give her the benefit of the doubt? Thinking, maybe she wasn't raised like I was. Maybe she didn't get the breaks that I got. Maybe she's doing the best she can with what she's got. Let's have a wide circle of love. That's what I love. That's what I love about you guys. You make everyone feel welcome. Rich, poor, black, white, people that have it together and people that are trying to get it together. The scripture talks about the same amount of mercy we show to other people. That's the amount of mercy God will show back to us. I believe we can even store up mercy for our children, for our grandchildren. When you have a large circle of love, you're merciful. And even though you don't understand somebody, you don't judge them. You give them the benefit of the doubt. You're friendly anyway. You help them come up higher. When you live your life like that, then when you need mercy, or your children or your grandchildren, God will make sure mercy is extended back to you. There's too Much judgment in our society today. We're so quick to condemn, we shut people out of our group if they're not exactly like us. I don't know about you, but I'm going to have a large circle of love. I may not understand everyone. I may not agree with them, but that's not going to keep me from being good to them. It's not going to keep me from showing God's kindness. I know. I get letters all the time from atheists. They say, joel, we love watching your program. I think that's great. Doesn't bother me a bit. I don't judge them. If they don't believe like me, that doesn't mean they're a bad person. We have to understand it's not our job to convert everyone. It's our job to simply present the truth. The Holy Spirit is the only one that can convict people. Sometimes we think we have to make people believe, but only God can do that. Jesus said, the way people will know we're his disciples is by our love for one another. But today there are so many walls up. You're not from my group, you're not from my same faith. You're a Methodist, you're a Catholic, you're a Pentecostal. People ask me, joel, what are you? We're just a group of believers that are excited about serving God. I don't want any labels on me. Somebody said, well, are you an evangelical? I don't even know what evangelical means. All I know is this. I believe in Jesus. I believe in sharing my faith, and I love everyone. Well, Joel, what about the Muslims? I love them too. They are God's creation. What about the Hindus? They are God's creation. What about the Buddhists? Joel, you don't want them in here, do you? Sure I do. I've got a wide circle of love. I know our God. The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob. He loves the Muslims as much as he loves the Christians. He loves the Buddhists, the Hindus, the atheists, all the same. If God does, surely we can as well. I see too many people looking down on people of other faith, thinking, well, they don't believe in Jesus like I do. But it doesn't say to love them as long as they believe like us. We're supposed to love people unconditionally. We should never look down on someone. What a shame to treat another one of God's creation with less love and less respect just because they don't agree with us. We have to realize when we get to heaven. There's not going to be a Baptist section, a Methodist section, a Catholic section. Let's put the Pentecostals way over there. They're so loud. No, we're going to all be up there together. It's going to look just like Lakewood. All people, all races, all walks of life. There's going to be Democrats and Republicans. Tattoos, no tattoos. Bling and no bling. Denim and cotton, long hair and beautiful hair. Get outside of your normal box. Be open to people that are not just like you. A while back, we had a significant amount of funds that we were going to give to organizations that were helping people affected by Hurricane Katrina. And our staff made the recommendations. And I knew most of the people on the list, or at least I knew of them. But there's this one man on the list that I knew had been critical toward us. And when I saw his name, I had to think long and hard. Do we want to give him a large donation knowing that he's out there knocking us? My first thought was, absolutely not. I'm nice, but not that nice. But after I thought about it and prayed about it, I thought, you know what? I'm going to be bigger than this. I'm going to widen my circle of love. He drew a circle and shut me out. I'm going to draw a bigger circle and shut him in. I thought, he doesn't even really know me, because if he did, he'd like me. At least that's what I thought. We hand delivered the funds. A couple months later, I got a call from a friend of mine that works in that organization. He said, joel, our CEO, got up in front of the staff today and he apologized for everything he's ever said about you. I thought, isn't that interesting? When we widen our circle of love, it changes people's hearts. Now, the rest of you critics don't expect me to pay you off. But sometimes when somebody does us wrong, the easy thing to do is to say, forget you see, if I give you the time of day. No, be the bigger person. Sow a seed of kindness. Go out of your way to do something good for them. Talks about in Proverbs, when we are kind to our enemies, when we return, good for evil. It's like heaping coals of fire on their head. That's not talking about making them suffer. It means, when you're good to people that don't deserve it, that softens their hard heart. Those coals of fire help melt away the judgment and the criticism that they have toward us. And again, it's easy to love people that are just like us. But I'm asking us today, widen our circle of love. Find somebody that's not like you and instead of making a quick judgment, instead of stereotyping them, at least take time to get to know them. And even if you don't have common interests, doesn't mean you still can't be kind and respectful. Get outside of your normal box. I bet every one of us has someone in our life right now that we're kind of shut now thinking alone. They're just not like me. Let's have an open mind. If you'll have a wide circle of love and not make judgments based on the appearance, it'll not only make a difference in other people's lives, it'll make a difference in your own life. Because when you sow mercy, you're going to reap mercy. When you're good to others, God will always be good to you. He'll pour out his blessings, his favor. You'll live that 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 repent of my sins. Come into my heart. I make you my Lord and Savior. Friends, if you prayed that simple prayer, we believe you got born again. Get in a good Bible based church. Keep God first place. He's going to take you places that you've never dreamed of.