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Tariff and trade policies are dynamic. Your business needs to know how to pivot fast. Get total visibility with NetSuite by Oracle. The number one cloud, ERP, accounting, financial management, inventory and HR all in one source of truth with real time forecasting and AI to automate everyday tasks, keeping your team strategic. If your revenues are at least in the seven figures, download the free ebook navigating global trade three insights for leaders@netsuite.com osteen that's netsuite.com hosteen now more than ever, Lowes knows you don't just want a low price, you want the lowest price. And with our lowest price guarantee, you can count on us for competitive prices on all your home improvement projects. If you find a qualifying lower price somewhere else on the same item, we'll match it. Lowe's we help you save price match applies to same item current price at qualifying retailers. Exclusions and terms apply. Learn how we'll match price@lowes.com Lowest Price Guarantee Victoria and I are believing you're going to have a blessed summer. Praying for you guys every day and thanks for being with us today. Hey, I'm excited. Victoria's got a new book out. It's called Grace to Go and I know it's going to bless you. I'm excited because in this book you.

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Will see how you are strengthened, that.

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You are prepared and you are ready for anything that's in front of you. You are Grace to Go. Enjoy today's message. Well, God bless you. It's a joy to come into your homes and if you're ever in our area, please stop by. I promise you we will make you feel right at home. I like to start with something funny and I heard about this positive farmer and negative farmer. When it would rain, the positive farmer would say, lord, thank you for watering our crops. The negative farmer would say, yeah, but if it keeps this up, it's going to rot the roots. When the sun came out, the positive farmer lord, thank you for giving our plants valuable nutrients. The negative farmer yeah, but if it keeps it up, it's going to scorch the crops. One day they went bird Hunting together in a boat. The positive farmer just got a new bird dog. He was so proud of him. He shot a bird, fell in the water, said to the negative farmer, watch this. The dog jumped out of the boat, ran on top of the water, picked up the bird, ran back on top of the water, put it in the boat. He said, what did you think? The negative farmer said, I should have known it. That dog can't even swim. 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 it's worth the wait. We all have things that we're waiting for. A dream to come, to pass problem, to turn around to meet the right person. When it's taking longer than we thought, it's easy to get discouraged, to become impatient and think, when is it ever going to happen? But sometimes it's not happening because we're not prepared for what God has prepared. You're ready for what you have in mind. But if you could see what God has in mind, you would realize you couldn't handle it right now. You need more time to grow, to develop, to gain experience. And the scripture says, let patience have its perfect work. Patience is developed in the weight room. When I was playing sports in high school, the coach would have us spend an hour a day lifting weights. I didn't want to do that. I wanted to play basketball. That seemed like a waste of time. But in that weight room, we were getting stronger, building endurance so we could succeed on the court. Before you see what God promised, before you get on the court, God will send you to the weight room. W a I t you may not like it. You don't see anything happening. Other people are in the game, making progress. You're stuck waiting. But that time in the weight room is critical. You may not see anything changing, but something is happening. Patience is working. Your spiritual muscles are getting stronger. You're growing, developing. Patience is building you, getting you prepared so you can sustain what God has coming. Discount the waiting periods. Don't get discouraged because it's not happening as fast as you would like. The longer it takes, that means the more God has in store. When it's your time, when he knows you're ready, what you give birth to is going to be much bigger than You've imagined. Hebrews says you have need of patience so you can receive the promises. We know we need to have faith. We know we need to believe. Those things seem obvious, but this says we need patience if we're going to see promises come to pass. Maybe you've been praying, believing, being your best, but you don't see anything changing. You're tempted to live, stressed, have a new perspective. You're in the weight room. You're not missing out. You're. You're not falling behind. God has you right where he wants you. That promise is right on schedule. Now do your part and wait with a good attitude, not upset, complaining. When is it ever going to happen? No. Turn it around. Father, thank you that what you started in my life, you will finish. Thank you that what you promised is on the way. If you will wait with the right attitude and after patience has done its work, you're going to see promises come to pass. But we see waiting as negative. We don't like it. Nothing is happening. We're interested in the destination, but God is interested in the journey. He's working on us along the way. When we understand that waiting doesn't mean nothing is happening, doesn't mean God has forgotten about us. It's all a part of the process. Then we can stay in faith, knowing that at the right time, God will get us to where we're supposed to be. David waited 13 years to take the throne. After the prophet Samuel anointed him to be the next king. God could have taken him straight to the throne. But David wasn't ready. He had to go through a time of testing. During those 13 years, he faithfully took care of his father's sheep. Seemed like a menial position. He knew he had bigger things in him. He had heard the prophet say that he was a king. But had David not passed the test in the weight room, he would have never made it to the throne. He had to show God he would take care of his father's sheep before God would trust him to take care of his sheep, the people of Israel, while you wait. Be your best where you are. That's a very important time. God is watching to see if you're ready. And here's the key. If what you're praying about isn't changing, then God is using that situation to change you. If it's not working out, then it's working out. Something in you. All things are working for your good. When we acquired the Compact Center, a company filed a lawsuit to try to keep us from moving in I had already announced to the congregation that it was ours. People had given to help renovate it. Now there was a chance it wasn't going to happen. Thoughts told me, joel, you're going to look like a fool. You're going to have to give the funds back. It's going to be a big mess. I was tempted to worry, live stressed out. But I prayed like I had never prayed. When I woke up in the middle of the night thinking, the opposition is too big, it's never going to happen. I'd turn it around. Father, thank you. That you being for me is more than the world being against me. This went on month after month, even year after year. I was in the weight room. I had the promise, but nothing was improving. I didn't like it, but something was happening that I couldn't see. I was growing. I was developing a greater trust in God. In that weight room, I learned to stand strong even when it seemed impossible. I lift weights now at home, and when I'm on the bench, I push the barbell up and down. But what's interesting is the weight never changes. The only thing in the weight room that ever changes is me. The situation you're in may not be changing. Then you're in the weight room. If it's not changing, don't worry. You're changing. Patience is working. You're getting stronger, more determined. It's preparing you. Almost three years later, that company dropped the lawsuit and we got the building. It was a great victory. But think of this. God could have given me the victory the first week just as easily. He could have done it suddenly and turned it around right away. And I wouldn't have had to spend all that time in the weight room. Would have been so much easier. The problem is, I wouldn't have been prepared for what was coming. I wouldn't have been able to handle the growth, the influence, the opposition. God had to get me stronger. He didn't use the good times. He used the resistance. You don't grow when everything is easy. In those three years, I learned to trust God in a new way. I developed a greater resolve, a greater confidence. You can't get that overnight. That doesn't happen on a weekend. It takes time. When Joseph was in prison unfairly all those years, says in Psalms, his feet were in chains of iron, and his soul entered into that iron. He didn't like it, but those challenges were developing something in him. Courage, strength, endurance, that he couldn't get any other way. It happened in the weight room. And I'll admit I don't like to wait. I like to move fast. I like to make progress. I like to get things done. My prayer used to be, God, do it now. Do it in a hurry, do it fast. But I've learned some things take time. We live in a microwave society, but we serve a crock pot God. You can't get microwave maturity, microwave growth, microwave anointing. So much is developed in the process. Sometimes people say to me, joel, pray that God will give me your anointing. I know they're being respectful, but I want to say, you can't have my anointing without going through what I've been through without the sacrifices, without the closed doors, without the loss, without facing the giants. There's a price to pay to be prepared in that weight room when you're doing the right thing, but nothing's changing. You have the promise, but you're not making progress. Remember, something is happening. You're growing, you're developing. You may not like it, but you can't bypass the process. You can't skip the weight room and reach the fullness of your destiny. When my father went to be with the Lord and I stepped up to pastor the church, things began to grow. All of the sudden, I was in the spotlight, and people were watching and coming. Someone referred to me as an overnight success, said that I had come out of nowhere. But the truth is, I had been in the weight room for 17 years behind the scenes here at Lakewood. I didn't know it then, but God was getting me prepared for what I'm doing now. Had I not been my best where I was, had I not been faithful to serve my father, to trying to make him look good, carrying out his vision, then God couldn't have trusted me with my own vision. What am I saying? Keep a good attitude when it's not happening as fast as you would like. David said, God, my times are in your hands. It's very powerful when you can say, God, I not only trust your ways, but I trust your timing. I know at the right time when I'm ready, when I can handle it. You. You will take me to new levels of my destiny. But the mistake we make too often is we get in a hurry and try to make things happen in our own timing. This is what the young man did in the story of the prodigal son. He went to his father and said, give me the portion of goods that belong to me. They were rightfully his. It was his inheritance. But a blessing given at the wrong time is not a blessing and something may have your name on it. You know God has put it in your heart. But if it happens too soon and you're not prepared, the blessing will become a burden. A good father won't give a good gift at the wrong time. When our daughter Alexandra turned 18, we got her a car. I loved her just as much when she was five years old. I would have done anything for her. I had the funds. I. But I knew giving her a car at 5 wouldn't be a blessing. Sometimes God proves his love to us by what he's not letting us have. Doesn't mean that it's never going to happen. We just have to spend more time in the weight room. Growing, developing, gaining experience, learning to trust God, learning to forgive, learning to keep a good attitude when things aren't going our way. The sooner we pass these tests, the sooner God will release what belongs to us. See, the prodigal son got his inheritance too soon. He went out and wasted it. Spent it all living wildly. I used to pray God, give me everything in a hurry. Now I've learned to pray God, don't give me anything too soon. Don't take me anywhere that I can't handle. Don't open a door that I don't have the grace to be there. The prodigal son wanted his prepared blessing. The problem was he was unprepared. He couldn't sustain the weight of what God had in store for him. And one reason we get in a hurry is we think we're falling behind. Our friend is getting married. Our co worker got promoted. The neighbors moved into a new house. We. We got to make things happen. We're being left out. Well, here's the key. What has your name on it will not go to anyone else. What belongs to you will not go to another person. Well, Joel, this guy may get away if I don't do something now, if I don't compromise, he may not stick around. If you have to compromise, he's not the right one. God, has somebody ordained for you. Somebody better than you can imagine. You won't have to beg them to stay, talk them into calling you. Convince them to spending time. They'll be so in love with you, you can't get rid of them. They'll treat you like a queen, like a king. Stay in that weight room. Be patient. You may be ready, but God's still working on the other person. David was out in the shepherd's fields when the prophet Samuel came to his house to anoint one of the sons as the next king. David's father, Jesse didn't even bring David in. He thought, there's no way. It's David. He's too young. When Samuel went to pour the oil on the other seven sons, the oil wouldn't flow. I can imagine him turning the bottle upside down, hitting it. Nothing would come out. God was showing us no matter how hard someone tries to get what's yours, they may manipulate, connive, ignore, leave you out. The oil is not going to flow to them. What has your name on it is coming your way. The person, the job, the house, the opportunity, the promotion cannot go to anyone else. That's why we don't have to live jealous or envious of other people. Well, Joel, my co worker, got the promotion that I worked so hard for. They played politics. It wasn't fair. If it was supposed to be yours, you would have it. Stay in the weight room. Keep a good attitude. Keep growing. Keep passing the test. What God has for you is on the way. The reason it's taking longer is because it's much bigger, much more rewarding than you thought. When you see what God did, you'll say it was worth the wait. When you see the person God brings into your life, somebody better than you've dreamed, you'll say it was worth the wait. The contract didn't go through for the last house. You were disappointed. When you see the new door God opens, you're going to say it was worth the wait. When we were trying to buy property to build a new sanctuary, twice the land was sold out from under us. I was disappointed. I thought the dream was coming true. But God sent me back to the weight room. Seemed like we were stuck. Out of nowhere, the compact center opened up. I didn't go after it, it came after me. I can tell you, standing here today, it was worth the wait. You couldn't pay me to take those other properties. This is what God had in mind. Something more than we could imagine. Now, maybe the door didn't open for you. The job, the position, the relationship didn't work out. That means God has something better. Stay in faith and one day you'll see it was worth the wait. I read where an elephant is pregnant for almost two years. The animal is so large, takes a long time for the baby elephant to develop. Elephants give birth to only one baby per pregnancy. A dog, on the other hand, is pregnant for only 63 days. After two months, the mother can give birth from between five and eight puppies. Typically. Imagine the elephant and dog having a conversation. The dog says, I don't think you're pregnant. I gave birth after two months, something is wrong with you. The dog goes out and gets pregnant again and again, giving birth every several months. Two years later, the dog comes back to the elephant with 30 puppies following him. He says, I know you're not pregnant now. Look at all these puppies. I've given birth multiple times. The elephant says, no, here's the difference. The reason you've given birth so many times is, and I'm still pregnant is because what I'm carrying is not something common, not something usual. I'm about to give birth to something big, something out of the ordinary. Maybe you've been in that weight room a long time. You've seen people accomplish dreams, get married, move into their houses. That's great. Be happy for them. But the reason it's taking so long for you is because what you're carrying is not a puppy. It's not something small. You're about to give birth to something you didn't know was in you. God's about to open a door that you didn't see coming. I thought I was carrying a puppy. I didn't know a compact center was in me. Don't get discouraged because it's taking longer. That's a sign that you're carrying an elephant. What you give birth to is going to surprise people. A dream, a ministry, a business that touches the world. You're going to go further than you thought, make a greater impact than you've imagined. That's why you've been in the weight room so long. When people tell you, I don't know, I don't think you're pregnant. It would have happened by now. You still think you're going to meet the right person? Still think you're going to get the promotion? Still think you're going to pay your house off? You've been believing a long time. Just say, yeah, I know a secret. I'm carrying an elephant. When you give birth, you're going to say, look what the Lord has done. It's going to be more than you've imagined. A friend of mine that attends Lakewood with his family, he grew up in South America. He got involved in the management of professional basketball right out of college. He's worked for the Houston Rockets, assistant to the general manager for years. His dream is to become a general manager, and several opportunities opened up. He went and interviewed big positions, had his hopes up, but it didn't work out. I talked to him a couple of years after he was turned down by another team. He was so close, but they said no and chose somebody else. These doors kept closing. He didn't understand it, but he kept being his best. He was in the weight room. Others were being promoted. Seemed like he was being bypassed. But what has your name on it is not going to go to anyone else. In the same way. You can't open a door that God has closed. And sometimes God has to shut the door because what we're believing for is too small. God has something much bigger. He loves you too much to let you miss your destiny. After being turned down again and again a few months ago, he flew to Minnesota to interview with the Timberwolves professional basketball team. They didn't just offer him the position of general manager like he was hoping. They offered him the position of president of the whole organization. One report said they gave him the keys to the car. Now my friend Gerson Roses is the highest ranking Latino in all of professional basketball. When it's taking longer than you thought, it's because you're going to give birth to an elephant. Something bigger, something more rewarding than you've imagined. Now keep a good attitude in the weight room. When doors are closing, when. When you're being bypassed, can I encourage you? Your time is coming. There's a birth in your future. There's something big, something that you weren't expecting. When you see what God was up to, you're going to look back and say, like my friend Gerson, it was worth the wait. Psalm 37 says, don't be impatient for the Lord to act. Travel steady along his path. He will honor you and give you the land. When you're faithful in the weight room, when you don't get impatient, you don't get frustrated by closed doors. You don't live jealous of others because you're traveling steady, honoring God, he will give you the land. That means you don't have to make things happen in your own strength. You don't have to manipulate people, try to force the doors to open. God will give you the position, give you the spouse, give you the influence, give you the compact center. Don't fight the weight room. You're not falling behind. God has already lined up the land he's going to give you. He's already put your name on things bigger and better than you can imagine. Now keep traveling steady. Keep trusting God, even though you don't see anything changing. When I was eight years old, it was Christmas time. I went with my father to buy a bicycle for my little sister, April. He wanted me to help pick out what I thought she would like. We were at the store looking at all these bikes. He had me get on different ones to try them on, see if I thought they would fit her. After a half an hour, we picked her out a bike. He was going to go back later and get it in a couple of days. I noticed on our back patio a big sheet covering the bike that we had bought her. And I went over to lift it up to take a peek. My father said, no, Joel, I don't want you to look at it. I said, why not? I've already seen it. He said, I just don't want you to. He didn't give me a reason. When he wasn't there, I was tempted to go over and look. But unlike my brother Paul, I obeyed my parents. If it would have been Victoria, she would have taken the bike out and ridden it. But this was a couple of weeks before Christmas. Every day I asked my father if I could look at the bike. He told me no again and again. I couldn't understand it. What was it going to hurt? Christmas morning finally came around and all of us kids slept in the den together. Six o', clock, we went and woke my parents up. We opened all the gifts under the tree. Then my father said, april, there's another gift for you out on the patio. We all went out. My father took the sheet off. There wasn't just one bite there. There were two bites. One for me as well. My father had taken me to the store, really, to find out what I liked. Sorry, April. That's why you got a boy's bike. Sometimes. That's funny, isn't it? Sometimes God is not letting us see something now because it's not the right time. He's got the COVID on it. But when you come out of the weight room when it's your time, it's going to surprise you. Something that you weren't expecting. It didn't make sense to me at the time why my father wouldn't let me look. Now I understand why I had to wait. My. My bike was under there. You may not understand why you're having to wait, but God has a reason. There are some things he has covered for you right now. When he uncovers them, you're going to say it was worth the wait. Now my challenge. Don't be impatient for God to act. Don't be discouraged by what's not happening. God is working in that weight room. He's getting you prepared for for what he has prepared. The reason it's taking longer is you have something big in you. Not a puppy, but an elephant. If you will. Stay in that weight room with a good attitude. If you'll keep traveling steady. I believe and declare God's about to uncover something you didn't see coming. He's about to surprise you with opportunity, promotion, divine connections, the fullness of your destinies in Jesus name. And if you receive it, can you say Amen today? Well, I'd like to give 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. Sometimes in life, people don't choose us. We've all felt overlooked, like we're not good enough. It's easy to live inferior thinking we don't measure up. People may have left you out. The good news is God has chosen you. He's the one that matters. And in my new book chapter, your life is marked for distinction. You'll discover. Before you were born, God not only knew you, but he handpicked you and placed a calling on your life. You are equipped and empowered to fulfill your destiny. When you understand that you're chosen, fear and doubt can't stay. You'll live with a boldness to step into the greatness God put in you. I'd love to send you my new book Chosen plus the chosen T shirt from our friends at Copperfit as our.