A (0:01)

Welcome to Walgreens. Looking for a holiday gift? Sort of. My cousin Freddie showed up to surprise us. Oh, sounds like a real nice surprise. Exactly. So now I have to get him a gift, but I haven't gotten my bonus yet. So if we can make it something really nice but also not break the bank, that'd be perfect. How about a Keurig for 50% off? Bingo savings all season. The holiday road is long. We're with you all the way. WalGregreens offer valid November 26 through December 27. Exclusions apply. Lowe's early Black Friday deals are going fast. Don't miss. Up to 50% off. Select major appliances. Plus up to an extra 25% off when you bundle. Select major appliances. And with Christmas around the corner, you're gonna need more string lights, right? Save $4 on GE LED 100 count string lights. Now just 598 Lowes we help you save. Valid through 12.

B (0:54)

3.

A (0:54)

Selection varies by location. Select locations only while supplies last. See Lowes.com for more details.

B (1:00)

More than 90 years after Harry and David started selling pears from their Oregon orchard, we still hand pick and pack every one of our Royal Riviera pears. What makes these pears so special? Is it the single golden pear in every box that's a joy to unwrap? Or maybe it's that very first bite, as buttery, juicy, smooth, and rich as you remember. Get a taste of the best handpicked holiday gifts and get 20% off site wide at harryanddavid.com promo code PAIR20. That's haryanddavid.com, code PEAR20.

A (1:30)

Hi, this is Joel and 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. It is always a joy to come into your homes. We love you and we're believing that this year is going to be your best year so far. We just appreciate you tuning in. If you're ever in our area, come out and be a part of one of our services. These are the finest people in all of Houston right here at Lakewood. We'd love to have you be a part, but thanks for tuning in today. I like to get started each week with something kind of funny. And I heard about this burglar that broke into a home one night and as he was stealing the stereo, he heard a voice saying, jesus is watching. He froze in his tracks. He shined the flashlight around the room and he noticed over in the corner there was a parrot. He said, did you say that? The parrot said, yep, I'm just trying to warn you. He looked kind of confused and said, warn me? What do you mean? Who are you? The parrot said, my name is Moses. He laughed and said, what kind of crazy people would name a parrot Moses? The parrot replied, the same kind of people that would name a 150 pound Rottweiler Jesus. All right, hold up your Bible. Say it like you 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. In Jesus name. God bless you. I want to talk to you today about having the God kind of faith. When we hear the word faith many times, we think of it in a general sense. If I asked you if you had faith, every one of us would say yes. But there are different types of faith. There's a faith for our everyday life where we have faith to get to work safely, faith to provide for our family, faith to be healthy. That's the way we typically think of faith. But Jesus said in Mark 11, have the faith of God. Notice that little word of it tells us where it originates from. I know people that have faith in God. They believe God can do anything. But this is saying we can have the faith of God. In other words, God wants to take some of his faith and deposit it on the inside of you. It's a faith that doesn't originate with ourselves, but one translation calls it the God kind of faith. What type of faith is this? It's a faith that stretches. A faith that makes us believe we can accomplish things that we once thought were impossible. It's a faith that challenges us to go beyond the barriers of our past and to do things that we've never done before. You'll know it's the faith of God. When something rises up in you and you don't really know why you're believing, it's totally over your head. It seems like it's out of your reach. But deep down, something keeps telling you, no, it's going to happen. God's going to bring this to pass. That's the God kind of faith. A faith that tells you you're going to get well, even though medical science says it's impossible. Where did you get that? Didn't originate with you, God deposited that on the inside. The God kind of faith will tell you you're going to accomplish your dreams. Even though you may not think you have the connections, the resources or the education. It's a faith that says, even though no one in my family is doing right, as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. The God kind of faith gives you a spark of hope, a reason to believe. You can accomplish every dream, every, and overcome every obstacle. When you have this faith of God, it's as if you're allowing God to believe through you. He takes some of his faith and puts it on the inside. And because you get in agreement with it, that allows God to bring it to pass. But here's the whole key. You have to let it take root. It comes up out of your heart. That's God speaking to you. That's his faith. It didn't originate with you. He's trying to plan it on the inside. But if you're not careful, your mind will try to talk you out of it. Your mind will tell you all the reasons why it's not going to happen and how you don't have the right connections and you're too old or too young or here's a common one, you've made too many mistakes. God's mad at you, man. You're never going to see your dreams come to pass. No, if you're going to have the God kind of faith, you've got to come to a point where, where you, so to speak, turn your mind off. You've got to quit listening to all the negative, discouraging, can't do it thoughts. If you're constantly dwelling on all the reasons why it's not going to happen and how you don't have enough and how you'll never get out of debt, that seed is not going to take root. And sure, you'll still have faith, but when you have the faith of God, you're allowing him to believe through you. And it may not make sense to your mind, but you've got to just shake it off and say, God, I. I am bold enough to believe you can do anything. And even though this looks impossible, I know this faith didn't come from me. It came from you. And you created the whole universe. And so if you say it can happen, I'm going to get in agreement with you and believe that it will happen. When you learn to have the God kind of faith, you'll find yourself at times believing for things that you know it's not your Faith. And you'll think, I don't even know why I think this is going to happen. I don't know how I'm being so bold. I don't know where I'm getting this confidence. But somehow, someway deep down in here, I know it is going to happen. That's the God kind of faith. I can look back in my own life and see times where I know my faith didn't come from me. It didn't originate from my own thinking. Something down in here said, joel, you can accomplish this dream. You have what it takes. I've learned to let that take root. That's God trying to believe through us. In other words, the God that lives in you right now, the Holy Spirit on the inside is trying to connect with your spirit. And if you'll allow him and not talk yourself out of it, God can believe through you. This is what happened when my father went to be with the Lord. What gave me the confidence to step up and pastor the church. I had only spoken one time. I'm smart enough to know you cannot pastor a church if you've only spoken once. You need sermons, you need training. You need material in the natural. It didn't make sense. I had never been to seminary. I didn't feel qualified. But deep down in here, something kept saying, joel, this is your time. This is your destiny. You've got what it takes. I let that seed take root. It wasn't so much that I was confident, but I was allowing God to believe through me. It was his faith. I let it flow by simply coming into agreement with him again. The thing that stops the God kind of faith is when we talk ourselves out of it. My mind was telling me the whole time, joel, you better not get up there and try to minister. You're not going to know what to say. You're going to look like a fool. You've not been trained. You're not qualified. On and on, I had to turn my mind off and listen to my heart. That's where God speaks to you. Up here, all I heard was, it's a big mistake. It's never going to happen. But down in here, when I got quiet, I could hear the faith of God saying, you can do all things through Christ. You are strong in the Lord. You are anointed, equipped and empowered. When the God kind of faith rises up, there will always be two voices competing for your attention. It will never happen unopposed. The voice of doubt telling you you can't. You're not able. It's been too long. That'll rise up. But at the same time, if you'll get quiet and listen to your spirit person, you'll hear a voice of hope, a voice of victory, saying, no, you are well able. Those that are for you are greater than those that are against you. If you're going to let the God kind of faith take root, you've got to learn to always choose that voice of hope. About eight months ago, all of a sudden, I had this strong desire to make a large donation to the ministry. I don't know where it came from. I was just minding my own business. I wasn't praying, I wasn't feeling spiritual. But all at once, this desire dropped in my heart to give this large gift. And at first, like we do many times, my thought was, I can't give that amount. I don't have it. Where would I get it? All these reasons telling me why it wasn't going to happen. There would have been a time in my life where I'd just kind of shaken that off, thought, well, I'm just feeling generous today, that'd be nice to do one day, and just kind of ignored it and gone on. But now I realize that wasn't something that I just thought up. That was a desire God deposited into my spirit. And at the same time, he was trying to put some of his faith to go along with it. Understand, God will never give you a dream without giving you the faith to accomplish it. He'll never give you a desire. He won't put a promise in your heart without taking some of his faith and putting it on the inside. And I felt this desire so strongly. And I simply said, God, I'm going to get in agreement with you and believe that I'm going to be able to give this gift. And I normally don't do this, but I just felt like I was supposed to give it that year. And this was a large stretch for our family. We didn't have it in the natural. I didn't know where I was going to get it, but I let the seed take root. That's the main thing. God doesn't ask us to figure it all out. He simply asks us to believe. Month after month went by. I didn't see anything happening, but I just kept thanking God that he was making a way. And the good news, when you realize it's the faith of God, it takes all the pressure off of you. I knew I didn't have to stir anything up. I just relaxed and stayed in faith. That time, my mind was telling me, joel, this is Far over your head. You're never going to be able to give it. You're just wasting your time. No, I just shook that off and said, with God, all things are possible. I kept letting his faith rise up. Well, two weeks before the end of the year, I got a call out of the blue from someone asking me to be a part of a certain project. And normally I would never do it, but I really liked what they were doing. It wasn't going to take any of my time. I wasn't going to have to do any work. So I agreed to do it. I didn't even know they were going to do this, but they were so happy. They said joy. To express our appreciation, we're going to make a large donation to your ministry. The amount they gave was the exact amount to the penny of what God had put in my heart. What am I saying? If you'll let the faith of God rise up, you'll see God do amazing things. If you're bold enough to believe, God will be bold enough to bring it to pass. And I know we all have faith in God. We all know God can do anything. But I want us to learn to receive the faith of God. He's constantly trying to plant new seeds in your heart. You have a desire to accomplish a new dream, a desire to get out of debt, a desire to overcome an addiction. The first thought that comes to your mind is impossible. No, that's God trying to deposit some of his faith. That's God trying to believe through you. Why don't you get in agreement with him? Well, you say, joel, I don't have a lot of faith. I wasn't raised in church like you. I don't know all these scriptures or. I've been through a lot of disappointments. I've had a lot of setbacks in life. I don't have all this faith that you're talking about. No, you don't have to have great faith. You don't have to understand all the theology and know all the scriptures. And Jesus said, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you can say to a mountain, be removed, and it'll be taken away. A mustard seed is one of the smallest seeds. It's about that big. If I ask you, do you have that much faith? Do you have an eighth of an inch of faith? Every one of you would say, yes. Well, God is saying, you have enough faith to overcome every obstacle. You have enough faith to accomplish every dream. You have enough faith to break every addiction. You have the faith to live a Victorious life. Quit telling yourself my problems are too big. And I just can't believe I don't have enough faith. No, it's not your faith anyway. It's the faith of Almighty God. And the good news is, our God is all powerful. He can turn any situation around. He can restore your marriage. He can cause you to be at the right place at the right time. One touch of his favor can thrust you to a new level. God has already lined up in your future. The right people, the right breaks, the right opportunity. He had the solution before you ever even had the problem. He would not give you the desire if he had not already made a way to bring it to pass. Dare to believe. Draw that line in the sand and say, that's it. This is a new day. I've settled for defeat and mediocrity long enough. I'm done with little dreams, little plans, little goals. I'm a child of the most high God. I'm going to start tapping into his faith. You got to put on a new attitude. You may not feel like you can do it in your own strength, but God will give you the strength. You may not have the wisdom, but God will give you the wisdom. It may look impossible to you, but God specializes in in doing the impossible. Why don't you let some of these seeds of hope take root? God's trying to deposit some of his faith on the inside. And I know some of you have been through a lot of disappointments. You've had unfair things happen in life, and you're tempted to just sit back and kind of settle where you are and think, oh, Joel, I'll never really be happy. I'll never really accomplish my dreams. But I believe today you're feeling hope rising on the inside. That's the God kind of faith trying to tell you that your best days are still out in front of you. And every dream that you've given up on, every desire you push down, God still has a way to bring it to pass. Your mind will tell you, no way. I've been through too much. But if you can just shake off that negative, defeated mentality and let the faith of God take root, then something will rise up on the inside. And instead of dragging around defeated and discouraged, you will know that you know you are a victor and not a victim. And it may not make sense to your mind. You may have a lot of problems. You may be deeply in debt. Your health may not be very good. And in the natural, you should be kind of down, discouraged, worried, frustrated. But if you'll Listen, deep down in here, you'll hear that old song we used to sing. I've got a feeling everything is going to be all right. You're saying, I know somehow, someway, God is going to make a way. I know God is fighting my battles for me. I know right now he's arranging things in my favor. And when it's all said and done, he's going to bring me out with the victory. What is that? That's the God kind of faith rising up in your spirit. Let it take root. Well, you say, Joel, you don't know how impossible my dreams are. I don't see how my marriage could be restored. I don't see how I could ever get out of debt. My faith is just not that strong. No, your faith may not be that strong, but you have to realize you have the faith of Almighty God. His faith is plenty strong. He can do anything. Why don't you start tapping into that? That's what the Apostle Paul had to do. He'd been through all kinds of adversity. He'd been shipwrecked, thrown into prison, beaten, mistreated. Yet in spite of all these obstacles, in spite of all these people coming against him, he said, I am more than a conqueror. He went on to write over half of the New Testament. He accomplished his dreams. How could he have had such a good attitude and fulfilled his destiny? With all these obstacles, I believe he gives us the secret of his success. It's found in Galatians 2, verse 20. He said, the life I now live, I live by the faith of the Son of God. Notice, he was saying, I've learned not to live by my own faith. I haven't made it just because I had a strong will and I was determined and I worked up some kind of emotion. He said, the reason I could overcome every obstacle, the reason I accomplished my dreams, was because I learned how to tap into the faith of Almighty God. And if we're going to become everything God's created us to be, if we're going to fulfill our God given destiny, we too, like Paul, have to learn to let the faith of Almighty God take root on the inside. I know this man that was raised in a small town out in the country. He was the youngest of many children. During his teenage years, instead of playing sports like all of his brothers, his parents got sick. He spent most of his time taking care of them. In his early 20s, he married a young girl from the community. And this young lady was really into fashion. She had a special thing for shoes. She really loved wearing high heeled shoes. One day, after they had just gotten married, they were driving back home. The roads were kind of wet. It had been raining. And a truck coming in the other direction didn't see them and turned right in front of them. This young man tried to stop, but he couldn't. And he plowed into that truck. He hit so hard. The person in the back seat was thrown out of the vehicle. He couldn't get his door open, so he tried to crawl out the window. He encouraged his wife to do so as well. She said, I can't. My legs are hurt. He looked down and saw both of her ankles had been crushed. He could see the bones coming out of the skin. They rushed her hospital in a larger city. After several days and several surgeries, the doctor came in and said to that young couple, I hate to tell you this, but your wife will never walk again. Her ankles have been so messed up. Maybe we can fit her with some kind of brace to help stabilize her, but she'll be confined to a wheelchair the rest of her life. You can imagine how devastated they were. That young man took his wife home. When they got to the house, he physically carried her inside. He looked her in the eyes and said, listen here, honey. Everything that man just said to us, I want you to ignore. You will walk again. I don't know. I don't know if it'll take a month, it may take a year, it may take 20 years, but you are going to walk again. What was it that caused that young man to believe that his wife could defy the laws of medicine and somehow walk again? How did he have the nerve to think that he knew more than a trained professional? A man that had spent years studying the bones, the joints, how the body works. That didn't make any sense. No, that wasn't his faith. It didn't originate from him. It was the faith of God rising up on the inside, saying, I can do what men can't do. I can make a way. Even when it looks like there is no way. He let it take root. He didn't know how it was going to happen. It seemed like it was just wishful thinking. But deep down in here, something kept saying to him, if you believe, all things are possible, I will restore health and heal you of your wounds. What am I saying? The God kind of faith will stir you to believe for the extraordinary. But too often, we just push it down. We've been through setbacks. We tried and failed. Or we had a friend that didn't make It. And so our mind starts going into overtime telling us impossible. No way. You heard the experts. The battle is taking place right here. When this young man would come home from work, he would find his wife sitting in the closet. She had scooted her way there, just staring at her shoes, so down, so discouraged. He would pick her up and say, okay honey, let's try take a step. One step after another. Month after month, they kept trying, kept believing, kept releasing their faith, thanking God for her healing. She got to a place to where she could wear tennis shoes, then flat sole shoes, then shoes with a small heel. Eventually she could wear her high heels once again. Today she can not only walk, she can run, she can jump, she can dance. She's stronger now than she was 20 years ago when it first happened. But too many times we, we settle for second best. The God kind of faith is trying to stretch us and dare us to believe. But we think of all the reasons why it's not going to happen. How the experts have said it's impossible. We think we have to see a way, but all we have to do is believe. If we'll let the God kind of faith rise up. There's no situation God can't turn around. There's no sickness too big, no problem too great, no enemy too powerful. Our God is all powerful. He has you in the palm of his hand and he's saying, if you'll allow me, I'll use my faith to believe through you. All you've got to do is get in agreement with what you're feeling down in here. That's the God kind of faith rising up in your spirit. Now I know every one of you like me, you can look back in your life and see times where you think, where did I get this faith? How did I have the nerve to believe I could be? Well, when the medical report said it was impossible, how did I have the boldness to take that position where really I kind of felt like I wasn't qualified? Or how did I ever think I would be happy again and have a bright future after I had been so hurt in that relationship? It's because you let the God kind of faith take root. You got in agreement with the God that lives on the inside of you. And that's the same God that controls the universe. When you believe, he can do incredible things. I remember when Victoria and I first got married. We were out walking through this nice neighborhood and it had these beautiful two story homes. @ that time we were living in a small townhome, just as happy as can be. But as we were walking, Victoria pointed at this one house. It was just finished being built and it had a beautiful two story windows and had high ceilings. It was so nice. She said, joel, one day we're going to live in a house just like that. I couldn't even fathom what she was saying. I said, victoria, are you kidding? Do you know how much these houses cost? We will never be able to afford anything like that. I mean, in my mind I calculated we could work till we were 120 years old and still not have enough. And me being the great man of faith that I am, I did my best to talk her out of it. I said, victoria, we don't make enough money. On and on. All the reasons why it wasn't going to happen. It was like I was talking to a brick wall. I couldn't phase her. She said, no, Joel, right down in here. I know one day we're going to live in a house just like that. What was that? That was not normal. That was the God kind of faith being deposited into her spirit. And she was bold enough to come into agreement with it. Sure enough, several years later, through God's supernatural favor, we were living in a house just like that. I remember when my brother in law, Kevin, he's our administrator, he told me that to renovate this new facility, the former compact center, it was going to cost $75 million. I didn't bat an eye. That didn't bother me. I said, no problem, let's do it. Looking back now, I think to myself, was I crazy? What was I thinking? I had never raised one penny before. I'd only been the pastor for four years. The last building my father built cost $6 million. And here I didn't think twice about taking on something ten times that amount. I can tell you that wasn't my faith. It didn't originate with me. That was the God kind of faith. I simply allowed it to take root. That's what I'm asking you to do today. Throughout life, God is going to try to stretch you. The natural. It may not make sense, but if you can just get past what your mind is telling you and let it take root on the inside, you'll see God do amazing things. And some of you right now, God's trying to plant a new seed in your heart. Just like he gave me faith for the renovation, just like he gave Victoria faith for that new house. This is one of those moments for you on the inside. Something is saying, I can rise higher. I can accomplish every dream I Can overcome this addiction. I can be well again. That's the God kind of faith, rising up on the inside. Let it take root. Just say, God, I receive what you're saying to me. I know some of you, the doctors have said there's nothing more they can do. But God is saying I'm not limited by the laws of medical science. I'm not. I can do what men can't do. Some of you have given up on your dream. It's been so long. But God is saying I still have a way to bring it to pass. Dare to believe. Some of you think that you've been through too much to ever be happy. But God is saying I can give you a new beginning. Your future can be brighter than your past. Receive that faith today. Remember, God will never give you the desire without giving you the faith to accomplish it. So if you have the desire on the inside, if something is quickening in your spirit, man, then you can be bold enough to say, I can be free. I can be well, I can be restored. I know it's not by my might, it's not by my power, but it's by the spirit of the living God. Friends, if you'll learn to get in agreement with the creator of the universe and let his faith take root, nothing will be impossible to you. God will open up supernatural doors. He'll break down barriers of the past. And I believe and declare that every dream, every desire, every promise God's put in you, he will bring that to fulfillment. 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.