Joel Osteen (0:01)

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Victoria Osteen (0:31)

Another dose of mystery and mind games? The Hulu original series 9 Perfect Strangers is back for an all new season. This season, a new group of visitors with mysterious connections to each other journey to an opulent healing retreat. Subjected to an intense and unorthodox form of therapy and wellness, they peel back the layers in a series of shocking twists and revelations. Starring Nicole Kidman, Nine Perfect Strangers is now streaming on Hulu New episodes Wednesdays.

Joel Osteen (1:03)

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Conan O'Brien (1:33)

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. God bless you. It's great to be with you today and I hope you'll stay connected with us during the week through our Daily podcast, our YouTube channel Social media and you can come visit us in person. We'd love to have you be a part of one of our services, but I'd like to start with something funny. And I heard about this archaeologist in New York. He dug down 10ft and found copper wiring dating back 100 years. He concluded that New Yorkers had a telephone network over 100 years ago. Not to be outdone, an archeologist from California dug down 20ft and found copper wiring dating back 200 years. He concluded that Californians had a communication network 100 years earlier than New Yorkers. Upon hearing this, Bubba from Texas dug down 30ft on his farm and found absolutely nothing. He concluded. 300 years ago, Texans had already gone wireless. All right, y' all 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 rewiring your brain. For. For years, scientists believed that once we reached adulthood, the brain was fully formed and couldn't be changed. There was no new growth or reshaping. But in the last few decades, they've discovered that the brain is constantly changing, that it's not set in stone, but it's more like plastic that can be molded and reshaped. Every time you think a thought, it's creating a neural pathway, like a roadway in your mind. The more you think a thought, the easier it is to think again because the road is already established. Repetitive thoughts are making that path wider and deeper. It's not just mental where you're developing a habit, but in your brain, something is happening. These neurons are creating pathways that accommodate what you're telling it. When that path gets so established, then it's like you're on autopilot. You just follow that path. Have you ever been driving home from work and you start thinking about something else? Daydreaming. And five minutes later you come back? Think, man, I wasn't even paying attention to the road. Well, you've driven that path for years. Those neurons have built a highway in your mind. Now they can take over without all the mental energy just naturally kicks in because of what the repetitive thoughts have established. This is what Proverbs says as a person thinks, so he will become. The good news is you get to choose which pathways your brain is going to establish. Well, Joel, nothing good ever happens to me. I always have bad breaks. I don't think I'll ever get out of this problem. Just imagine a big bulldozer starts to clear out that path. The foreman says to his crew, we just got an order from the command center. Start building an I can't do it highway. A not gonna make it pathway, never gonna work out roadway. Every time you think it, those neurons go to work. It's not just your thoughts, but in your brain. Cells are creating what you're telling them to make it easier to think the next time. Over time, it's just who we are. Here's the key. You can rewire your brain. Some of us have all these negative highways. Not good enough. Guilt, I can't forgive. I'm not disciplined. We've been thinking this way for years. No, it's not a road. We got a four lane highway, got the best lights, pavement, 80 miles an hour. Next time you're tempted to think those thoughts, recognize what's happening. You're building something you don't want. Yes, it's going to be easy to think them because the highway you've built is so big. Now it's going to facilitate what you've been thinking. You have to put your foot down and say, no, thanks. I am not going to use my mental energy to build roads that are going to work against me. Best thing you can do is put up some road closure signs. That thought comes, nothing good is in my future. Sorry, that road is closed. I don't need that path anymore. Build a new highway. Father, thank you. That my path is getting brighter and brighter. That you're taking me from victory to victory. I can see that foreman thinking, what in the world is happening? He tells his workers, come off the can't do it highway. No more construction on the always be addicted roadway. Start building that something good is going to happen. Freeway. It's not just being positive. It's not just quoting God's word, which is all good. But in your brain, neurons are firing, cells are working to create pathways for what you're repeatedly thinking. My father taught me when I was a little boy that when I got up every morning to say, something good is going to happen to me today. I've been saying that all 39 years that I've been alive every morning. Victoria will tell you this is going to be a great day. Lord, thank you for waking me up this morning. Something good is going to happen to me. I don't have to even think about it anymore. It's just autopilot. It's going to be a great day. I'm expecting God's goodness. You, God, let me be a blessing to somebody else. I know we all have different personalities. I'm naturally positive, upbeat. I've been this way my whole life. A pastor friend of mine told me that he's so negative, he can take a positive sermon and preach it in a negative way. Some of it may be natural temperament, but that can be overridden by how you choose to think. A man I know was always so down on himself, sour, expecting the worst. He said, that's just who I am. He started listening to our messages on Sirius XM And a couple of years later, he said, joel, people don't recognize me anymore. They said, what happened to you? He's the most positive, grateful, joyful person you could meet. There wasn't anything wrong with him. He had just spent years building the wrong highways, creating all these negative paths and discouraging words. As you think you will become. You're telling your brain how to function. These repetitive thoughts are giving the assignment. Your thinking is the command center. Like this man, you may have created something you don't want. You don't have to stay that way. You can rewire your brain. You can create new neural pathways that will work for you rather than against you. Some people have built highways for guilt, shame and unworthiness. The battle is taking place in our mind. One reason the enemy works so hard in this area is he knows your life is going to follow your thoughts. He'd love for you to wire your brain for guilt and can't do it. And not good enough. You've got to close those roads off. You've got to put up some detours and no longer in use signs. Quit spending your energy building roads that are working against you. The more you think it, the deeper the road, the easier it is to go down the next time. It's a self destructive cycle. You wake up in the morning, think, man, I don't want to go to work, traffic's so bad and these people get on my nerves. Just imagine all those neurons building highways to just what you said. You gave the command. When you've been doing that for five years, 10 years, 30 years, your highway goes from here to Botswana. You could drive a house down that thing. No wonder when we get up, those thoughts come the easiest. You paved a beautiful road. Change what you're building. That's not who you are. The enemy has hijacked your crew. He's deceived you into believing his lies. Now your own cells are working against you. It's time to do some rewiring, some road closures. No more giving life to the negative. It's going to take discipline. Because when we've been thinking one way a long time, you're going to want to go back to the old habits, like driving on autopilot. You don't have to think about it. You're used to feeling guilty, inferior, can't break the addiction, never get out of debt. Those are learned behaviors. You're going to have to dig down deep and take control of what you think. You get to choose what you dwell on. When the same negative thoughts come You. You'll be tempted to get on that highway. It's already built. It's what I'm used to. No, don't give those thoughts permission to stay. They may come, but you don't have to dwell on it. If you dismiss it, the thought dies. Doesn't have any power. It's repetitive thoughts that build the highways. When we're constantly thinking, it's going to be a great day, I'm blessed, I'm strong, I. I'm healthy. I have the favor of God. Think of the roads that's building in our brain. Think about how that's impacting our future and our self image, our confidence. Verse I'm unworthy. I've made too many mistakes. I can't get a good break. Everyone in my family struggles. Your thinking is the command center. You are giving orders to your neurons to form how your brain functions, to create the roadways, to become what you think. Paul said in Philippians, I have learned how to be content. He didn't say, I was born this way. This is my natural personality. That's why I'm content. He said, I had to learn this. I had to be disciplined in what I think. I had to guard my mind. Some of us have learned to be discouraged, learned to be insecure, learn to expect the worst, recognize what's happening. If you can learn to be offended, learn to be discouraged, then you can learn to be happy. You can learn to stay in peace. You can learn to have faith. It all starts right here. Paul said it this way. You can be transformed by the renewing of your mind. When you start thinking the right thoughts, it's not only affecting you mentally, but. But your brain is creating new pathways, pathways that work for you, not against you. I was on my phone the other day flipping through Instagram, and I usually click on the sports highlights and watch clips from ball games. But this video popped up of these two men in a grocery store fighting. It was real small on the phone, so I had to click it to make it bigger. It was so bizarre. In the middle of the store, they were throwing each other up against the shelves and cans of food was falling and, you know, cereal boxes going everywhere, rolling, punching, going crazy. I was just going to watch five seconds, then 20 seconds went by, then a minute, and it went from bizarre to entertaining. I thought, this is better than sports. But finally I moved on to something else. A few seconds later, there was another clip of fighting, then another, then another. Before long, 90% of my feed was fights. I've never seen so many Crazy people. You know what happened? The algorithm kicked in. All this data and calculations identified me as a person that likes fights. So they fed me more of what I'd been watching. It's the same principle in our thoughts. You're going to get more of what you've been thinking because that pathway has been developed. You've told those neurons to build this highway. So it's going to be easier to think that way. It's going to create habits. If you get up in the morning and think, something good's going to happen to me, Lord, I thank you that it's going to be a great day. You're going to see more good things. That algorithm, so to speak, is going to kick in. You're going to enjoy your children. You're going to thank God for your job. You're going to stay in peace under pressure. You're getting more of what you clicked on. And just the opposite. If you live worried and stressed over your job and upset at your neighbor, afraid your child will get off course, you've created pathways to make all the negative easier. Like that algorithm. You're going to have plenty of reasons to worry. You need to put up some road closures. No more clicking on the worry, the fear, the what ifs. Here's how you create some better highways. Get on that algorithm of favor. Father, thank you that I'm in the palm of your hand. Thank you that your plans for me are for good, that you're fighting my battles. Lord, I don't see a way, but I know that you have a way that's creating pathways of peace, pathways of trust where you can enjoy each day. You have to take control of your thought life. If not, the enemy's going to have a heyday using that negative algorithm to bring more of what you don't want. The scripture says to meditate on God's word day and night. Meditate means to think about the same thing over and over. It's not passive, like traditional meditation, Like, I'm going to sit here and think about nothing. Silent scriptural meditation means to continually think about what God says about you. Well, God says you're a masterpiece. Fearfully and wonderfully made. When you meditate on that all through the day in your thinking valuable. I'm a masterpiece. I'm crowned with favor. I have seeds of greatness, the DNA of Almighty God. Think about what your neurons are doing. Think about how your brain is being wired, how it's programmed to function. Imagine the highways being built to make it easier for you to think that way again. Here's the masterpiece highway, already been built. Easy to travel down that one. Here's the valuable highway. You have four lanes on that one. Here's the crown with favor, the talented and gifted highway. In your brain, these pathways are getting deeper, longer, more established as you think you will become. Now here's the question. What are you meditating on? The truth is, we're all meditating on something. There are certain thoughts playing in our mind over and over. I'll never get well. I can't break the addiction. I'll always be lonely. Those repetitive thoughts are building the highways that you're going to travel down. You need some road closures. Pay attention to what's playing in your mind. That's why we say every service. I am blessed, I am healthy. I'm strong. I'm disciplined. I'm equipped. I'm empowered. We are meditating on what God says now. I read where the average person has over 40,000 thoughts a day. 95% of those thoughts are repetitive. It's the recording that's been playing in our mind since we were a child. It's defining who we are and how we view the world. Here's the startling statistic. 80% of the average person's repetitive thoughts are negative. That means 80% of the time, our neurons are building highways that are working against us, wiring our brains for things that are limiting us. We wonder why we don't feel good about ourselves, why we live stressed, why we can't believe, for our dreams. Maybe you've built the wrong highways. Maybe you've trained your brain to work against you and not for you. The good news is it's not too late. You can rewire your brain. You can build new pathways that will make it easier on you. Pay attention to what you're thinking, especially the repetitive thoughts, what you're telling yourself all through the day. If that recording is negative, you're defeating yourself. The scripture says to guard your mind. That's the command center by what you're thinking. You're building highways that are either going to help you or hinder you. When I was 8 years old, my younger sister April and I were out riding our bikes down the street. And we lived in the country, a lot of open land. And next to the street there was a ditch for the water to drain in. And it was empty. And we were kind of bored. And I said, april, let's get down in the ditch and ride there. That'll be more fun. It's about 5ft deep. And we walked our Bikes down and started riding through the ditch. Went about 50 yards. Then we came to this culvert where the ditch stopped and we couldn't go anymore. Thought, no big deal. Let's get out. But we tried to get out, but it was deeper than we thought. April crawled up the side and I tried to push my bike to her, but she wasn't strong enough. We switched positions. I got out. Still couldn't get the bike out. It's too heavy. It was easy to get in the ditch, but it was hard to get out. Sometimes in our minds, we're in a ditch. We've developed these mental ruts from years of wrong thinking. I'm a victim. I've been through too much. Never get well. We're living in a mental rut that we've created. We didn't realize through negative thinking. We were building something that would limit us paving a road that would keep us stuck. April and I couldn't get out of the ditch by ourselves. And this young man came driving by and he nicely stopped, got down in the ditch and lifted both of our bikes out. The difference in our story is you can get out of your ditch. You can break any stronghold that's held you back. The forces that are for you are greater than forces that are against you. When you get in agreement with God and start meditating on what he says now, your repetitive thoughts are full of faith and hope and victory. You will come out of those mental ruts. That's what it means to be transformed by. By the renewing of your mind. No more I'm a victim. I've been through too much. That's going to keep you in the ditch. How about I am a victor. God always causes me to triumph. Well, I'll never get well. Joel, you should see the medical report. This sickness is going to be the end. That's going to keep you stuck. How about God is restoring health back unto me the number of my days he will fulfill. That's not just being positive, not just having faith. That's rewiring your brain. That's building new highways. That's what's going to bring you out of that middle rut and allow God to do what only he can do. You need to examine your life. Are you in any ruts? Have you built roads in your thinking that are easy to go down, but it's not where you want to go? You've got these highways leading to discouragement. Do it. Not valuable. That comes natural to you, but it's limiting you. That's a learned Behavior. You've learned to be unhappy, learned to be offended, learned to not believe in yourself. That's okay. You can relearn. You can rewire your brain. Pay attention to the repetitive thoughts. Are they positive, building you up? Or are they guilt ridden? Can't do it. You're the command center. You're giving the orders, telling your neurons which pathways to build. Make sure it's a pathway leading you somewhere you want to go. I talked to a lady who had been through a very difficult and hurtful divorce. It was 10 years ago at that time, but she was still so bitter and so angry. And so her husband had left for someone else and caused all this heartache and pain. I know it's not easy, but at some point you have to move forward. You have to give it to God and trust him to be your Vindicator. People can't pay you back. Only God can. She was trying to get from her ex husband what only God could give. She wasn't going to be happy until he was unhappy. Until. But he was out enjoying his life. He had remarried and moved on. It may not have been right, but if someone has hurt you once, don't let them continue to hurt you by holding onto it. She was here at the altar for prayer. And she said, joel, I can't forgive him. He hurt me too badly. I understood what she meant. Because she had held onto that unforgiveness for 10 years. That's all she thought about. Do you know how deep that rut was? How long, how wide? That highway that wasn't four lanes, that's like 16 lanes. It was easy for her to be angry, offended. She'd built an incredible pathway. And I told her, of course, what I'm telling you, you have to change what's happening here. All through the day. When it comes up, instead of thinking bitter, angry thoughts, how about, father, thank you that you have beauty for these ashes. Lord, you said what was meant for harm, you would turn to my advantage. Father, thank you that I have the grace to forgive. She began to rewire her brain. I saw her a couple years later, out there at the Visitors. She was like a different person. Happy, beautiful, grateful. What happened? She started building new highways. She started meditating on the right things. Not the hurts, not the injustice. The enemy would love for you to keep building those roads. He knows it'll keep you in a rut, stuck in bitterness, stuck in defeat. Do like she did. Put up some road closures. No more going down those paths. That algorithm is going to keep feeding hurts Feeding discouragement. How about rewiring your brain? Send some new commands of hope, faith, and victory. That's how you get out of mental ruts. This is what Gideon had to do in the scripture. He was hiding in the winepress, afraid of the Midianites that were surrounding the city. An angel came to him and said, mighty hero, the Lord is with you. You are to lead the people of Israel to defeat Midianites. Gideon was taken aback. He said, in effect, that's not possible. I come from the poorest family. I am the least one in my father's house. He didn't get that way overnight. That was a mental rut that took years to develop. He was no doubt told that he wasn't up to par, that he wasn't talented, he couldn't do anything great. He let circumstances convince him that. That he was at a disadvantage. Those thoughts played over and over. His neurons went to work, did what they were created to do. Built pathways of inferiority and not enough. That's who he became. This angel showed up and told him who he really was. A mighty hero, well able. He spoke victory blessings, favor over his life. Here's the whole key. It was up to Gideon as to what he would do with it. Would he continue to meditate on the old limited too small? Or would he change what he was thinking? Would he send out some new commands? I'm a mighty hero. I am well able. I am strong in the Lord. He began to change his recording. He came out of that rut and he went on to become the mighty hero God called him to be. He's listed in Hebrews 11 as one of the heroes of faith. This would have never happened if he had not rewired his brain. He'd kept thinking all the negative, defeated thoughts. He'd stayed in the rut. We wouldn't be talking about it. Pay attention to what you're thinking, especially the repetitive thoughts. Do they line up with who God says you are? Mighty hero. Talented, valuable, Forgiven. Is that what you're meditating on? Building pathways that you want to go down? Or are those neurons working against you? Building roads that you don't want to travel? Perhaps you need to rewire your brain. Change those negative patterns that are pulling you down. Don't go the next 30 years stuck in a mental rotation. You're in charge of your command center. You get to choose what you think about. Get up in the morning and set your mind for victory. All through the day, meditate on what God says about you. Get on the right algorithm. If you'll do this. I believe and declare any strongholds that are keeping you back are being broken right now. God is going to help you rewire your brain. You are coming out of mental ruts into freedom, peace, confidence and victory in Jesus name and if you receive it, can you say Amen? 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. If you prayed that simple prayer, we believe you got born again. We'd love to send you some free information on your new walk with the Lord. You can text the number on the screen or go to the website, but I hope you'll get into a good Bible based church and keep God first place. Each week I stand on this stage and remind you of what God says about you because it's easy to be defined by who people say we are or by our own negative thoughts that we're not talented or problems too big. The key is to go back to who God says you are. I'd love to send you my new book, 101 Great Things that God Says about yout. I'll Help youp Discover your true Identity. God says, you're blessed. You're chosen. You're forgiven. You have seeds of greatness. Your future is bright. When you get in agreement with God and declare his promises, you'll rise higher and become all you were created to be.