Joel Osteen (0:00)

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Victoria Osteen (0:59)

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Joel Osteen (1:15)

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Victoria Osteen (1:16)

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Joel Osteen (1:19)

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Victoria Osteen (1:21)

Oh, trade in your old phone for a brand new iPhone 16 Pro, iPad and Apple Watch. Visit verizon.com today. Additional terms apply Service Plan required for Apple Watch and iPad 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. It's always a joy to come into your homes. We love you. We know God has great things in store. If you're ever in our area, I hope you'll stop by and be a part of one of our services. I promise you we'll make you feel right at home. Thanks so much for tuning in and again, thank you for coming out today. And I like to start with something funny each week. And I heard about this minister. He was finishing up a fiery sermon on self control. He said with great passion, if I had all the beer in the world I would take it and throw it in the river with a greater fervor. If I had all the wine in the world, I'd throw it in the river. Almost to the top of his lungs. If I had all the whiskey in the world, I'd throw it in the river. He sat down. Song leader got up, said, for a closing song, let's sing hymn365, shall we gather at the River. 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 holding on to your peace. We all have opportunities to get upset, live stressed out. The storms of life come to every person. The scripture says the rain falls on the just and the unjust. No matter how good of a person you are, you're going to have some rain. Can't pray away every difficulty. A lot of times we're using our faith to try to control our circumstances. But I've found it's better to use my faith to try to control myself in the midst of those circumstances. I know if I can just remain stable in the storms of life, if I can just stay in peace, that's what allows God to change things. God never said that we wouldn't have difficulties, but he did promise we could have peace in the midst of the storms. When you face adversities, one of the most powerful things you can do is simply stay calm. When you are at peace, you are proving to God that you trust him by your actions. You are saying, God, I know you're still on the throne. I know you're bigger than this problem. I've been through several hurricanes, and the storm can be huge. 80 or 90 miles wide, the winds blowing 120 miles an hour, knocking down trees, telephone poles, blowing the roofs off of houses, all kinds of damage. But do you know right in the center there's something called the eye of the storm. In the eye, it's just as calm and peaceful as can be. The winds, the rain, the damage, it can be all around you. And if you went out a few miles, it could be dangerous. But if you stay in the eye, everything will be okay. Same principle in life. The storm may be raging. Your health, your finances, your family, you could easily be torn apart. But in the center of that storm, there is a place you can enter where you can find rest. And God may not deliver us from every storm, but if we can learn to stay in the eye, we can have peace right in the middle of it. And some of you are facing major challenges right now. You're constantly wrestling with that problem. You're so worried you can't really sleep good at night. You're trying to fix this person, trying to pay somebody back that did you wrong. Trying to pray long enough to show God you mean business. You're all wrought up. But the scripture says, those who have believed enter into the rest of God. If you want God to take care of that problem, you got to come back to that place of peace. That's what shows you're really believing. And here's the key. You may be in the storm, but don't let the storm get in you. In other words, somebody may be aggravating you. Somebody may be trying to get on your nerves. Listen, don't let that get on the inside. Don't give away your power. That's just what they want. Just shake it off and move on. Maybe a situation in your health, your family, your finances, you could easily worry about that night and day. No, just do your best and. And then trust God to do the rest. You can't stop every storm, but you can keep it from getting on the inside. I think about Daniel. He was thrown into the lion's den. He didn't get upset. He didn't stay up all night praying, rebuking, begging, God, please help me, please protect me. He just stayed in peace. I can imagine. He walked into the lion's den, lay down, went to sleep right in the middle of the storm. His attitude was, God, I know you're still on the throne, and if I die tonight, I'll come to heaven and be with you. But if it's not my time to go, I know all the forces of darkness cannot take me. So I'm just going to relax, keep my peace, get some sleep, and enjoy my life. He was in the storm, but he didn't let the storm get in him. He remained stable. That's what allows God to work. But when we're worried and living stressed out and fighting against everything, we tie the hands of Almighty God. One time, the people of Israel had just come out of slavery. They were headed toward the promised Land, so happy, finally free. But then Pharaoh changed his mind and came chasing after them. They came to the dead end at the Red Sea. They had nowhere to go. It looked impossible. And Instead of staying in faith, knowing that God had delivered them before and he would do it again. They got all upset, started complaining, got afraid. Moses, why did you bring us out here to die? Look what you've gotten us into, Moses. See, they were in the storm, but they made the mistake of letting the storm get in them. Moses knew he had to get them out of that negative mentality or they would be defeated. He said in Exodus 14:13, Stand still and you will see the deliverance of the Lord. He went on to say, the Lord will fight for you if you hold your peace and remain at rest. That's a powerful principle. God will fight your battles if you'll stay calm and remain in peace. This is what a friend of mine did. He was a mechanic at one of these big diesel shops where, where they work on 18 wheelers. For years there, he wasn't treated right. They made fun of him. They thought he was stiff because he wouldn't go party with them after work. Year after year he had to put up with their ridicule, injustice, sarcasm. They treated him like he was second class, like he was inferior. The truth is he was the top producing mechanic seven years in a row. But he had never once had a raise, a promotion, any kind of bonus. It was because his supervisor didn't like him. He could have easily lived, stressed out, angry, chip on his shoulder. But I told him what I'm telling you. Don't lose your peace. Don't let those people get on your nerves. You're not working unto them, you're working unto God. He just shook it off and kept being his best. It was bad all around him, but he found the eye of the storm where he knew God was in complete control. One day, the owner of this business, out of the blue, called him. He had never met this man. The owner wasn't involved in the day to day operations. The owner told how he wanted to retire and he was looking for someone to sell the company to. And he offered it to this man. This man said, I don't have the money to buy your business. I'm just an employee. The owner said, you don't need the money, I'm going to loan it to you. Long story short, he took the offer and today he owns that company. It's very successful, has nearly 80 employees. He said, joel, it's funny, they used to call me names, but now they call me boss. When you stay in peace, God will not only fight your battles, but he will pay you back for the enemy bringing that trouble into your life. I'VE learned some people are just peace dealers. They feel like it's their calling in life to aggravate you, try to make you look bad and tell you what you can't do. They'll try to bait you into an argument to get you upset, annoyed, frustrated. Listen, don't take their bait. They're not worth you losing your peace over. They may think they're getting the best of you, but in the end, because of what they've done, God will take you higher. They think they're pushing you down, but. But because you stayed in peace, what they're really doing is pushing you up. Had a young man tell me last week how the people at his company treat him like he's nothing. They talk down to him constantly. They act like he can't do anything right. His self esteem was down to nothing. I said, listen, they're just peace dealers. You are not who they say you are. You are who God says you are. And if you will stay in peace and just keep being your best, God will promote you in front of them. God said he would prepare a table before us in the presence of our enemies. That means God will elevate you so that all those that tried to keep you down will clearly see it. Like this mechanic. God will put you on display. There will be no doubt about it. They will clearly see you promoted, successful, a victor and not a victim. Now quit trying to win over somebody that's never going to like you. Some people don't want to be at peace with you. You gotta come to the place where you can say, I'm at peace with you not being at peace with me. In other words, I don't need your approval to feel good about myself. I don't need to be in your group to enjoy my life. I'm at peace with you not liking me. I'm at peace with you even trying to make me look bad. Because I know a secret. When I remain at rest, the Creator of the universe will show up to fight my battles. He'll be my vindicator. He'll get me to where I'm supposed to be. Friends, God has seen every wrong that's been done to you. He's seen every unfair situation. He told the people of Israel, I have seen your affliction. I have seen how badly you were treated those 430 years that you were in slavery. God went on to say, I have come down to deliver you. When God brought them out, they didn't come out empty handed. God made their enemies give them their gold. Their silver everything they asked for. Somebody may have done you wrong. And you could easily live bitter and angry and spend your life trying to pay them back and trying. Trying to prove to them who you are. No. If you will let God do it his way, he'll pay you back with much more than you lost. He'll make it up to you in a much greater way. Remember when our daughter Alexandra was about 3 or 4 years old? I just bought her an ice cream cone. We walked out of the store and we saw some friends there on the sidewalk and started visiting with them. And there were some kids out here playing. And Alexandra went over there and a bunch of them, they all had their ice cream cones. As we were talking, I noticed out of the corner of my eye, this one little boy was playing very rough with everybody. I thought to myself, now he's got to be careful. That's my little girl over there, and I don't want her to get hurt. But sure enough, and he didn't mean to, but he accidentally hit her very hard, and Alexandra fell down and lost her ice cream cone. He began to laugh and laugh, and because now she was the only one that didn't have that ice cream, Alexandra headed straight toward me. She was as serious as could be. All business. She said, daddy, come on, let's go get another one. She knew that I would make things right, and normally I would get her one scoop. But I said, alexandra, I'm gonna get you three scoops so you'll have more than everybody else. She went out of that store and went and found that little boy and started waving that ice cream cone just like she was saying, look what you did. You caused me to get three times what I had before. See, he meant it for harm. I meant it for good. That's the way our Heavenly Father is. Somebody may have done you wrong, but if you will stay in peace, if you will stay on that high road, God will make sure that you come out with more than you had before. He's not going to give you a single scoop. He's going to give you one of those triple scoops. I know this man. He's an executive with this big oil company. He had a very good position, worked there for over 25 years. One day the company sold, and they had this corporate restructuring, and they was told that they didn't need him anymore. He had all this seniority. He'd been very loyal, but they just cut him loose. He's a faithful member here at Lakewood. He serves as one of our volunteers. I Wondered how this was going to affect him. Was he going to be upset, discouraged, angry, drop out of church, bitter? No. You couldn't even tell anything was wrong. Every service there with a smile. Serving, giving, helping others, week after week, month after month. Six months later, after he had lost that job, he said, joel, I just got a new position. It's closer to my home. I don't have to travel benefits. And I'm going to be making just about twice what I was making before. Friends, if you will stay in peace, God will pay you back. It's one thing to come through a trial with everybody praying for you, everybody cheering you on. That's great. We need people to encourage us. But I believe it's a greater testimony to come through a trial. And nobody even knew you went through it. You're so consistent, so stable. You've got so much peace, nobody could even tell anything was wrong. No matter what comes our way, our attitude should be, I know God is in control and everything is going to be all right. You need to let that phrase sink down into your spirit. Everything is going to be all right. Somebody says, well, I heard they're laying off people at your company. Yes, that's true, but I know Jehovah Jireh is still on the throne. Everything's going to be all right. Well, your child sure is acting up. Yes, but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. Everything's going to be all right. Well, I heard you got a bad report from the doctor. Yes, but I've got another report. It says that God is restoring health back unto me. Everything's going to be all right. If you will meditate on that simple phrase, no matter how big the challenge, it'll help you to stay calm. And some of you have been wrestling with the situation month after month in your mind. Worried, anxious, uptight. God is saying, be still and know that I am God. Get your peace back. Get your joy back. It may look dark and gloomy, but right above those dark clouds, the sun is shining. God has you in the palm of his hand. Now turn it over to him. Quit worrying about it. Everything is going to be all right. See, sometimes God doesn't deliver us from the storm. He will take us through the storm. There are two kinds of faith, a delivering faith and a sustaining faith. Delivering faith is when God instantly turns it around. Of course, we all like that. But most of the time, God gives us sustaining faith. That's when we have the grace to walk through the difficulty. If you don't understand this, you'll try to pray away every challenge. Try to fight against everything that you don't like. You'll end up frustrated. This is why I love Joseph. Even though it wasn't fair, he didn't fight it. He embraced it. He kept being his best, stayed in peace. God brought him out on top. That's that sustaining faith. The three Hebrew teenagers, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. They were told they had to bow down to the king's golden idol or they would be thrown into the fiery furnace. They said, no, king, we're not going to bow down. We know our God will deliver us. Their attitude was, we're not worried about it. We have inside information. We know everything is going to be all right. Notice they didn't fight it. They weren't upset, they weren't complaining. They were at peace. They knew nothing could happen without God's permission. The guards threw them into the fiery furnace. And you know the story, they came out without the smell of smoke. God didn't deliver them from the fire. He took them through the fire. If you're going to stay in peace, you have to let God do it his way. Because if you're only going to be happy, if it happens your way timetable, you're probably going to end up frustrated because God's ways are not always our ways. His timetable may not line up with our timetable, but I found God's way is much better than my way. It may take a little longer. I may have to stretch and go through some difficulties. But when it's all said and done, you're going to come out promoted, increased, elevated, restored. Better off than you were before. The scripture talks about how when you've been through the fire, through the flood, through the famine, then you need to get ready. The fourth F is favor. God is about to turn it around. He's about to amaze you with his goodness. I know this young couple. They were on their honeymoon riding horses on the beach. And they were with a group of eight or 10 riders and having a great time. But then at one point, the lady's horse got spooked, reared up and bucked her off. She didn't get hurt, she was okay. But when she fell, she flung her arms and unfortunately, her brand new diamond wedding ring flung off into the sand. And this is right where the waves were washing up on the ocean. Of course, they all got off and started looking for it. But hour after hour, nobody could find it. It seemed impossible finding a ring out there. Plus it could have washed out back to the Ocean. They went back to their hotel room, very discouraged and depressed. Later that evening, the young lady was sitting there discouraged, and she had a change of heart. She thought, I'm not going to let the loss of this wedding ring ruin my honeymoon. I'm not going to let this be my main memory. And she simply said, God, I'm turning it over to you. I'm not going to worry about it anymore. I know you're in control. She quit fighting it. She came back to that place of peace. She was saying, in effect, everything is going to be all right. Three days later, she and her husband were out taking a walk on the beach, enjoying a beautiful sunset. She stepped on something hard, thought it was a rock, a seashell. She looked down. Wouldn't you know it, it was her diamond wedding ring. It had washed back up on the ocean. What are the chances of that? Friends, God is in complete control. When you remain at rest, God will do for you what you could not do for yourself. You may be in the fire, but remember, favor is coming. You may be in a famine, but if you'll hold your peace, favor is headed your way. Perhaps even like Joseph, you're in a situation where you're not being treated right. But if you will just stay calm, I can assure you something good is coming. Favor is coming. Vindication's coming. Breakthroughs are coming. Weeping may endure for a night, but joy is coming in the morning. Be still and know that he is God. This is what I had to do when my father went to be with the Lord. All these thoughts were bombarding my mind. It's never going to work out. Church is going to go down to nothing. Joel, you can't step up and pastor. You don't have what it takes. Thoughts of fear, worry, anxiety. In my imagination, I could see every worst case scenario. The church, you know, just being boarded up, nobody coming, A big embarrassment. My emotions were telling me, you should be upset, distraught. This is going to be really, really bad. I was in the storm, but I did just what I'm asking you to do. I didn't let the storm get in me. I came back to that place of peace and said, God, I know you're still on the throne. I know my father going to be with the Lord is not a surprise to you. And you said no weapon formed against me would prosper. You said I can do all things through Christ. You said that I've been armed with strength for every battle. So, Father, I just want to thank you that I'm not going to just come out I'm going to come out better off than I was before. I was in the fire. It was a difficulty. But I can tell you God brought me out with favor. He promoted me. He increased me. He's taken me places that I've never dreamed of. Some of you today are in the fire right now. You're in a difficult time. You could easily live angry, upset, bitter, worried, frustrated. No, Come back to that place of peace. God has favor in your future. He already has the solution. Isaiah said, in quietness and in stillness shall be your strength. You're going to have a greater strength when you get quiet, when you're at peace, when you're calm, you think better, you make better decisions. You're going to feel better and have more energy. You're not going to just endure life. That's when you'll enjoy life. Will you say, joel, I'm stressed because my child's acting up. I'm worried because my finances are low. I'm uptight because my health situation doesn't look good. No, I'm not doubting that you're in a storm. I'm simply asking you to come into the eye of the storm. Believe that God has you in the palm of his hand. Believe that right now God is fighting your battles. Believe that God's going to take what was meant for your harm and use it for your good friends. Life is too short to live. Uptight, frustrated, worried. Shake that off and come back to the place of peace. One time, the disciples were in a boat. And out on the lake a great storm arose. The winds were blowing, the waves were crashing. Got so bad they thought the boat was going to capsize. They thought it was over. They were very upset, very afraid. The whole time, Jesus was underneath in the boat, asleep. They finally said, somebody go wake up Jesus or we're going to die. Jesus got up, spoke to the storm. Everything calmed down. The scripture describes Jesus as the Word made flesh. You could say the disciples, in this storm, they woke up the Word. In your storm. If you want to see God's favor, if you want to see God, turn it around. Instead of complaining, instead of worrying you, you too are going to have to wake up the Word. You've got to start speaking victory to that storm. If you don't talk to the storm, the storm will talk to you. It'll tell you you're not going to make it. The enemy's too big. You're never going to get well. No. Wake up the word, Father. You said, when the enemy comes against me like a Flood. You would raise up a barrier. You said, you are my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? You said that I will live and not die. Some of you, if you would start waking up the Word, your storm would calm down. If you would start declaring what God said about you, you would not only have more peace, but God's word coming out of your mouth is alive and active. When you speak God's word, all of heaven comes to attention. The angels go to work. Favor is released. And in a storm, you can't be passive. If the disciples would have waited much longer, they might not have fulfilled their destiny. You can't just sit back and let negative thoughts play in your mind all day long. It's too bad you're never going to make it. It's never going to change. No. Get on the offensive. Your declaration should be, I may be in the fire, but I know favor is coming. I may be in famine, but I know increase is headed my way. I may be in the flood, but I know breakthroughs are in my future. Friends, you can have peace in the midst of the storm. I'm asking us today to hold on to our peace. It may be bad all around, but you've got to find the eye of the storm. Find that place of rest. That's when God says He will fight your battles. He will make your wrongs right. Now quit letting other people upset you. Shake that off and let God be your Vindicator. Remember, God doesn't deliver us from every storm. He may take us through it. Don't fight it. Embrace where you are. Stay calm. That's how you prove to God that you're trusting him in those storms. Wake up the word. Declare what God says about your situation. If you will be still and know that he is God. I can assure you everything is going to be all right. Just like with Joseph. God will bring you out, just like the mechanic. God will vindicate you. Just like the girl in the ring. God will give you favor, just like the Hebrew teenagers. You'll come out without the smell of smoke. And I believe and declare. You will overcome every obstacle, defeat every enemy, accomplish every God given dream. You're going to see. No eye has seen, heard or imagined blessings coming your way. In Jesus name, Amen. 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, 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.