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Joel Osteen (1:34)

Hi, this is Joel in Victoria. Thanks so much for listening to the podcast and thanks for supporting the ministry.

Victoria Osteen (1:40)

We believe you're going to have an.

Joel Osteen (1:41)

Awesome 2024 healthy, productive and favor filled. God bless you today and enjoy the message.

Victoria Osteen (1:48)

Well, God bless you. Always a joy to come into your homes. We love you. We know God has good things in store for each one of you and 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 lady. She was on an airplane reading her Bible. The man sitting next to her said, you don't believe all that stuff in there, do you? She said, sure I do. It's the Bible. He said, well, what about that guy that got swallowed by the well? She said, you mean Jonah? Yes, I believe that too. He said, well, how could he possibly survive all that time inside of a well? She thought about it a moment. Finally Said, I don't know. When I get to heaven, I'll have to ask him. He said sarcastically, what if he's not in heaven? She said, then you're going to have to ask him. All right, hold up your Bibles. Say it like you mean it. This is my Bible. I am what it says I am. I. 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 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 how to handle criticism. Every one of us in life will have times when we're being criticized. Somebody's talking about us, trying to make us look bad, blowing things out of proportion. And these people have no interest in helping us. They're just trying to drag us down. And I found most criticism is based out of jealousy, out of a competitive spirit. You have something that they want, but instead of being happy for you, instead of keeping a good attitude, knowing that God can do it for them, that jealousy rises up. And the way they release it is by talking, being critical, being cynical, trying to make you look bad. The more successful you are, the more criticism you will encounter. You get that promotion at the office, don't be surprised if your critics come out of the woodwork. Well, he's not that talented. He's just a manipulator. He just plays up to the boss. Or your friends. They may be fine as long as you're all single. But the moment you get married, don't be surprised if they start talking. Well, I can't believe he married her. She has no personality whatsoever. See, unfortunately, not everybody will celebrate your victories with you. All your single friends may not jump up and down when you marry the man of your dreams. Your co workers may not sing your praises. When you get that promotion, very often it draws out that jealous, critical spirit. But here's the key. You shouldn't take that personally. Many times it's not even directed at you. If it wasn't you, it'd be somebody else. It's something on the inside of them. Unless they deal with it, it's going to keep them from rising higher. One of the most important things I've ever learned is to celebrate other people's Victories. If my co worker gets the promotion I wanted. Yes, there's a tendency to be jealous. Yes, there's a tendency to think, man, why didn't that happen for me? I work hard. That's not fair. But no, if we'll keep the right attitude and be happy for them at the right time, God will open up something even better for us. But I found if I can't rejoice with them, I'm not going to get to where I want to be. How many times does God have a promotion in store? But first he sends along a test. He wants to see if we're ready. So our best friend will get married, but we're still single. Can we be happy for him? Or our relatives move into their dream home? We've been praying for years, but we're still in a little apartment. That's a test. And if we get jealous and start finding fault with them, start being critical. Keep us right where we are. Let's learn to celebrate other people's victories. Let it inspire. You know that if God did it for them, he can certainly do it for you. But too many people today fall into that trap of being jealous. There's so much competitiveness and even cynicism in our society today. If we're going to be our best, we need to know how to deal with people that are talking about us, people that are judging us, people that are even making false accusations. In the Old Testament, these people were called slingers. And the way they got their name is when an enemy went to attack a city many times, the first thing they would do was take the stones off of the wall that was protecting that city. And they would sling those stones into their wells. And they knew if they could get the wells clogged up with these stones, then eventually the people would have to come out. Their water supply would be gone. And it's the same parallel today. We all have a well of good things on the inside. A well of joy, a well of peace, a well of victory. But too often we let the slingers clog up our wells. Somebody's talking about us. Instead of letting it go, we go around dwelling on it. Upset, thinking, man, I'm going to pay you back. You're talking about me. Let me tell you what I know about them. No, you have to make it a priority to keep your well pure. Somebody's being critical toward you. Somebody's trying to show you in a bad light. Recognize that's a stone coming your way. If you start dwelling on it, get upset and get revengeful. They've accomplished their goal. They landed another stone in your well. Now the joy, the peace, the victory gets a little more restricted flow like it should, really. We all have slingers in our lives. People that are going to try to bring us down with their words. They may be a friend to your face, but you know, behind your back, they would cut you up and down. What are they doing slinging another stone? The way you overcome is not to get revengeful. Don't sink down to their level and start talking bad about them. And don't get defensive, trying to prove that you're right and they're wrong. No, the way you really defeat a slinger is to just shake it off. Just let it go. This is what Jesus told his disciples. He sent them out to the different towns to teach the people and to care for their needs. But he knew they would suffer rejection. He knew not everybody would like them. Some people would get jealous and start talking and trying to make them look bad. In other words, he knew the slingers would be out there. And so he said in Matthew 10, verse 14, when you go into a town, whoever will not receive and welcome your message. When you leave that place, shake the dust off of your feet. Notice he didn't say, if they start talking about you and spreading rumors, get revengeful and try to pay them back. He didn't say to get defensive and try to set the record straight. He simply said, shake the dust off of your feet. That was a symbolic way of saying, you're not going to steal my joy. You may be talking about me, but I'm not going to sink down to your level. I'm not going to get in there and fight with you. I'm going to let God be my Vindicator. Sometimes when you leave the office, you've got to shake it off. People talking, playing politics, trying to bring you down. Don't take that junk home. Shake it off. Sometimes even leaving your relative's house, I'm shaking this off. I'm not going to drink of their poison. Well, you say, Joel, I heard one of my competitors at work is talking about me. Man, I'm going to fight fire with fire. I'm going to let him have it. No, that's not the way you win. Let God be your Vindicator. If you'll stay on the high road, God will fight your battles for you. But you never really win by sinking down to their level, attacking them personally. Rise above that. When somebody's being critical and negative towards you, just recognize, here comes another stone. And Our attitude should be, I'm smarter than that. I'm not going to let their stone clog up my well. In other words, I'm not going to let their jealous spirit poison my life. I'm going to stay full of joy. And some of you today, you don't have the victory that you should because you're not shaking things off. You're letting the slingers get the best of you, dwelling on the criticism. Who's talking about you and who rejected you. Your well's all clogged up. I think about the Apostle Paul. One time he was shipwrecked on a small island and he went to pick up some firewood and a poisonous snake bit him. The people thought he would immediately die. And that's kind of what it's like when somebody criticizes us, when, when somebody's talking behind our back, trying to put us in a bad light. We can feel the sting of their words. I love what Paul did. He just shook it off. One translation says, he simply shook it off. In other words, no big deal. I'm not going to let this thing bother me. It may be poisonous, it may look big, but I know God's in control. I know God will fight my battles for me. And do you know that snakebite never did harm Paul? Yes, it was poisonous, yes, it was harmful, but he knew this secret of simply shaking it off. But a lot of people today, they let these negative words and what people think about them totally run their life. They live to please everybody and try to keep them happy. They don't want anybody to ever say a negative word about them. The problem with that is impossible. You have to accept the fact that not everybody's going to like you, not everybody's going to accept you. And you certainly cannot keep everybody happy. Some people, no matter what you do for them, they're going to find some reason to find fault. You can be there for them a thousand times in a row, but that one time you can't show up. They're going to start talking, start bad mouthing. You listen, life is too short to try to keep people like that happy. Yes, we should be kind, we should be loving, but don't spend all your time trying to please somebody that's impossible to please. Until they deal with their own issues on the inside, they're not going to be happy. And people like that, it's much better to just love them from a distance. Say, you know what? I'm not going to play up to them. I'm not going to try to Keep them happy. Because I know no matter what I do or don't do, a month later, they're going to be running me down. There is a real freedom when you accept the fact that not everybody's going to like you. Scripture says in proverbs, a gossiping fault finding tongue is like a venomous snake. People's words, if we allow them, can poison our lives. If somebody's talking about you, don't go around dwelling on it. Three days. You have to immediately shake that off. The longer you think about it, the more venom goes into you. I know if somebody comes up to me to tell me something bad somebody said about myself or my family, first thing I'll do is try to stop them. Say, you know what? I don't really want to hear that. I don't want to get that poison on the inside. I've found it's a lot easier to shake things off if you don't know all the details. So if somebody's talking about you, don't go home and call seven of your friends. Say, what? Did you hear about this? No, just shake it off. Remember, most of the time, it's not really about you. It's the fact that they hadn't dealt with that jealous, critical spirit on the inside. But we can't live with this idealistic view of life where we think, I'm a good person, Joel. I'm kind, I'm loving. Nobody's going to talk bad about me. No. Sometimes the nicer you are, the more people will talk about you. It's because the good in you stirs up the bad in them. They feel convicted by the purity of your heart. I mean, you can go out and feed the poor. You can go mow your neighbor's lawn. You'd think they'd be happy. But no, Here comes that jealous spirit. Well, who do they think they are, Mr. Goody Two Shoes? Why do they get to work every day early? He's just playing up to the boss. Why is she so friendly to everybody all the time? She's just trying to get something. Listen, the best thing you can do is just shake that off. Some people are just slingers. They won't do what they know they should do to be their best. So they feel like they got to tear you down to help ease their conscience. When you hear those negative comments, those false accusations, your attitude should be no big deal, Just another slinger. And I've already made up my mind. No more stones going into my well. I'm going to live my life free. You Know what those slingers really are? They're distractions. They're trying to get you to lose focus on what you really should be doing. But you shouldn't waste five seconds of your emotional energy trying to figure out why somebody said something or what they really meant. That's a distraction. You only have so much energy each day. If you don't shake this off immediately, you won't have the strength to do what you really need to be doing. You'll go to work and not be able to give it your best. You'll come home and not really want to interact with your family. It's because you're emotionally drained. You got distracted and poured all your energy into something that really didn't even matter. We have to recognize we cannot stop people from talking. It's a free world. If you're trying to be the gossip police and make sure that nobody ever says a negative thing about you, you're going to live a frustrated life. No. Accept the fact that people are going to talk, People are going to make cutting remarks. But the good news is you don't have to drink of their poison. You can rise above it. You can stay on the high road and enjoy your life anyway. I don't know about you, but I don't have time to around thinking about all the people that don't like me. I realize every day is a gift from God. And my time is way too valuable to go around trying to figure out how I can please everybody and make them understand me and change their mind. No. I've already accepted the fact not only is not everybody going to like me, but not everybody is going to understand me. You don't have to try to explain yourself. Spend all your time trying to win your critics over. Just run your own race. I know I start off every morning searching my own heart. I make sure to the best of my ability that I'm doing what I believe God wants me to do. And I know as long as I feel good about it in my own heart, as long as down in here I feel like I'm on course, that's all that matters. You cannot let the critics and the negative voices distract you. I know people today, they spend more time focused on what other people are saying about them than they do their own dreams and goals. But understand, if you're going to do anything great in life, if you're going to be a great teacher, a great business person, a great athlete, not everybody is going to be your cheerleader, not everybody is going to be excited about your dreams in fact, some people are going to be downright jealous. Some people are going to start to find fault and criticize. It's so important you learn to shake it off. Because the moment you start changing to try to please people, the moment you say, you know what, I'm not going to show up at work early anymore because they're starting to talk about me, or I'm not going to buy that car that I really want because I know people are going to judge, People are going to condemn me. No, listen, I found no matter what you do or don't do, somebody's going to talk. Somebody's going to be critical. You might as well do what God has put in your heart and just trust him to take care of the critics. One thing that I'm good at is staying focused. I don't allow what people are saying to get me distracted. I realize not everybody's going to understand me. And it's not my job to spend all my time trying to convince them to change their mind. I know I'm called to plant a seed of hope in people's hearts. I'm not called to teach deep theological truths. I'm not called to explain any deep kind of doctrine. My gifting is to encourage, to challenge, to inspire. People say, well, Joel, he's not enough of this, or he's too much of this. Listen, if I changed with every critic, I wouldn't have a chance. And I believe one reason God has promoted me, one reason God has promoted me me is because that I've stayed true to who I am. And I have not let people talk me out of doing what I know in my heart God wants me to do. Some of you today, you need to get free from trying to please everybody. You need to break free from worrying that somebody's going to criticize you. And just remember, if you're criticized, you're in good company. Jesus was probably criticized more than anybody. He got criticized for healing a man on the Sabbath. In other words, for doing something good. He was criticized for going to dinner with a tax collector. They called him a friend of sinners. He was criticized for helping a lady in need, somebody that they were about to stone. But one thing I love about Jesus is he didn't change to try to fit into everybody's mold. He didn't try to explain himself and make everybody understand him. He just ran his race. He didn't look to the left or to the right. He stayed focused on the prize that was set before him. He fulfilled his destiny. And this really helped to set me free. Because there was a time in my life where I really wanted everybody to like me. It's just a part of my personality. And if I ever heard somebody say one negative comment, I thought, oh, man, I failed. What have I done wrong? Where do I need to change? But one day I realized it's impossible to have everybody like you. And that's why now I don't let my critics upset me and steal my joy. I know most of the time it's not about me. It's about the success God's given me. It stirs up the jealousy in them. If you're making a difference in your family, if you're making a difference at the office, if you're making a difference in your workplace, you're going to have your share of critics. The higher you go, the more people are going to want to take shots at you. I think about the apostle Paul. He had great crowds following him. But time and time again, the people got jealous. They got all stirred up town. What did Paul do? Get all depressed and say, God, I'm trying to do my best. Nobody understands me. They keep criticizing me, running me out of town. No, you know what he did? He shook the dust off of his feet. He was saying, in effect, it's your loss, not mine. Because I'm going to do great things for God. I'm not going to allow your rejection. Your negative words. They're not going to keep me from my destiny. His attitude was, sling all you want to. I've got a lid on my well. I'm not going to let you poison my life. I heard somebody say, if people run you out of town, just get to the front of the line and act like you're leading the parade. In other words, shake it off and keep moving forward. I love the scripture. In Isaiah, no weapon formed against us will prosper. But every tongue raised against us in judgment you will show to be in the wrong. We all have these tongues that come against us. Judgment in criticism. But if you can just stay on the high road and keep doing your best, you will show it to be in the wrong. In other words, God will pour out his favor in spite of your critics. Understand, your destiny is not tied to what people are saying about you. Our critics told us we'd never get this building. They told us we didn't have a chance. In fact, one man was at a big business luncheon with all the city leaders. He told the people at his table, it'll be a cold day in hell before Lakewood ever gets The Compact Center. When I heard that, I did just what I'm asking you to do. I shook it off. I knew our destiny was not tied to one goofball. I mean, one man. I knew that was just a distraction. And I realized not everybody was going to understand. I heard people saying, why do they need to move? Why do they want a bigger church? Why are they leaving their roots? People were talking. Many times I wanted to get in there and try to explain it and convince them that it was a good idea. But I knew not everybody wanted to understand. Not everybody had an open mind. So we just shook it off and kept pressing forward. I guess today is a cold day in hell, because here we are. But friends, your destiny is not tied to your critics. God has the final say. Some of you need to get your fire back and quit listening to what the naysayers are telling you. Quit living to please people. Just shake that off and keep pressing forward in life. Another important key is don't allow the criticism to change you. We need to be tough on the outside, but you have to stay tender on the inside. Too often we become hard and critical and cynical if we're not careful. When we've seen people be two faced. When we've seen hypocritical people that talk behind our back, it's easy to let their poison get on the inside of us and start to change us. But you've got to keep those stones out of your well. You've got to keep your heart pure and learn to stay true to who God has made you to be. I found sometimes when people see little quirks in our personality or even something about our appearance, they start to kind of make fun of it. Very often we overcompensate and it starts affecting our personality and the way we carry ourselves. But we cannot let people's cutting remarks and their insensitive words cause us to be overly self conscious and start to change. I remember a friend of mine in high school. He was very popular, very well liked, fun and outgoing. But he had a very unusual laugh. It was real high pitched, real distinct. And one day a couple of our friends started making fun of him. They were going around the school imitating his laugh. They didn't mean him any harm. They were just trying to have fun. But I noticed how this young man started to change. He quit laughing as much. He got much more quiet and reserved here. At one time, he was the life of the party. Fun and outgoing. But little by little he began to change. And I know it was because those guys were making fun of him. He didn't know to shake it off. He let it get down on the inside. He started thinking, man, something's wrong with me. I got a weird laugh. Before long, he lost his confidence. He became insecure, started overcompensating. That's what happens when we don't shake things off. You may have something kind of distinct about you, but know this. God made you like you are on purpose. If people are trying to make fun of you or make you feel overly self conscious, you got to just shake that off. I know in my case, I smile a lot. In fact, I smile all the time. I can't help it. I've been doing this since I was a little baby. One time when I was seven years old, I was in a car accident and I had this big cut on my head. And some friends came up to the emergency room to see me. They were so worried that I'd be upset and crying. When they came in, I was laying there on the emergency room table and they said, joel, we walked in there and you were smiling from ear to ear. Big old cut on my head. That's just the way God made me. And sometimes people kind of make fun of me for smiling, give me a hard time. You'd think they'd be happy that you're happy. But you know, I've heard people say. I've heard people say, why does he smile so much? Almost like there's something wrong with him, you know? And after my father went to be with the Lord, a few months after I began ministering, somebody started calling me the smiling preacher. And it really caught on. And one day I was being interviewed by this very well known reporter. And he said, kind of sarcastically, kind of demeaning, what do you think about being known as the smiling preacher? And I think my answer kind of surprised him because I said, you know what? I kind of like it. I'm happy. I believe God wants us to be happy, so that's just fine with me. And I'll never forget, his jaw dropped wide open. He didn't know what to think. But see, we should not allow what other people say or what other people think. Change us from being who God made us to be. Be confident in who you are. Now I've learned to just roll with the punches. The other day I saw this parody that somebody made about me. It was a clip of me speaking. And every time I smiled, my front teeth would ping. This star would come off kind of like a toothpaste commercial. I laugh more than the people that were watching it with me. But I thought to myself, that doesn't bother me one bit. I can't help it. I know I smile a lot. If somebody doesn't like it, take a look at the slow motion replay. Oh boy. I'm going to see if I can't get Crest to sponsor this program. But what I'm saying is one, you ought to be able to laugh at yourself. The other thing, don't let the criticism change you. Start shaking stuff off. If you're going to do anything great in life, you're going to have the critics. The slingers will always be there. But I'm asking you today not to drink of their poison. When those stones come, make sure you got a lid on your well. Keep your heart pure. Remember, not everybody's going to understand you. Not everybody's going to accept you. Just run your race. Stay focused on what God's called you to do. If you'll handle criticism the right way, not let it get on the inside, I know this. God will not only fight your battles for you, but he'll take care of your critics for you. You'll live that life of victory he has in store. Amen. 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. If you prayed that simple prayer, we believe you got born again. Get in a good Bible based church. God's going to take you places you've never dreamed of.