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you hi, this is Joel and Victoria. Thanks for listening to our podcast and thanks for supporting the ministry. If you enjoyed today's message, why don't you be a blessing and share it with. We appreciate you and pray for God's very best in your life. Well, God bless you. Always a joy to come into your homes. We love you and we know God has great things in store for you. God rewards the people that seek after Him. I know that's you or you wouldn't be watching or you wouldn't be here today. So bless you today. If you're ever in our area, come out and see us. I promise you we'll make you feel right at home. But thanks for tuning in. I like to get started each week with something kind of funny. And you know these are not doctrinally correct. They're just to make us laugh. But I heard about this husband and wife. They were celebrating their 60th birthdays together. Suddenly an angel appeared and said God was going to grant them each one special request. They were so excited. The wife said, my request is that we'd be able to travel all over the world. And poof. When the smoke cleared, she had tickets in her hand. The husband hung his head in shame. He said, my request is that I'd be married to a woman 30 years younger than me. And poof. When the smoke cleared, he was 90 years old. 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 how you are an extraordinary person. We all face challenges and we all have obstacles to overcome. But if we can keep the right perspective, it'll help us to stay in faith. And one thing I've learned is average people have average problems. Ordinary people have ordinary challenges. But here's the key. You're not average. You're not ordinary. You are extraordinary. God breathed his life into you. This means you can't expect average problems. You can't expect ordinary challenges. You are exceptional, and exceptional people face exceptional difficulties. But the good news is, we serve an exceptional God. And when God allows a problem in your life, he doesn't match it to the size you think you are. He matches it to the size of your destiny. God knows what you're capable of. He sees your potential. When you have an incredible problem, instead of being discouraged, you should be encouraged, knowing that you're an incredible person and you have an incredible future. Well, you say, joel, why are these people talking about me at work? Why are they trying to make me look bad? Listen, they don't talk about average people. They don't talk about ordinary people. They talk about exceptional people. That's why they're talking about you. It's no big deal. Just shake it off and move forward. It comes with the territory. I had a reporter say to me last week, joel, I've done all my research on you, and I've got to tell you, you have an extraordinary amount of critics. I smiled and said, it's because I'm an extraordinary person. Well, how come every time I turn, every time I try to go forward, Joel, every time I try to pursue my dreams, I have major challenges? It's because you're a major person with a major future. The enemy would leave you alone if you weren't a threat. He wouldn't bother you if you weren't headed for great things. You need to dig your heels in and say, I'm not going to be discouraged by these problems. It may be big, but it's not too big for me. I'm not going to go around complaining because somebody's talking about me. I'm not going to get upset because I'm struggling a little in my finances. I'm staying in faith knowing that the enemy wouldn't fight me this hard if he didn't know God had something great in store. Now understand, the size of your problem is an indication of the size of your future. If you have a big challenge, that means you have a big future. Don't go around complaining. Why did this happen to me? Why did my plant close down? Why did my loved one die? Why do I have this sickness? No, that obstacle is not there to defeat you. It's there to promote you. If you'll stay in faith, right past that difficulty, you'll see a new level of God's favor. This is what happened to David. He would still be known as a shepherd boy if it were not for Goliath. He faced an extraordinary problem. Goliath was three times his size. He was a skilled warrior. He was the leader of that army here. David was a teenager. He didn't have any formal training. He had no equipment, no armor. In the natural, David didn't have a chance. What was God doing? That didn't seem to make any sense. But God wouldn't have presented David with that extraordinary challenge unless he already knew that David was an extraordinary person. No doubt David felt average. I'm sure he felt ordinary, just taking care of his father's sheep, nothing special about him. But when David heard Goliath taunting the people of Israel, something rose up on the inside. David, this is your time. This is your destiny. I believe at that moment, a seed of faith took root in his heart and he began to realize he was not average. He was not ordinary. He could feel those seeds of greatness. His mind told him, david, you're crazy. You're never going to defeat this man. You're going to get out there and look like a fool. But in his heart, he could hear the voice of faith saying, greater is he that's in me than he that's coming against me. I am well able to fulfill my destiny. I may not see a way, but I know my God can make a way. He went out and defeated the giant. Do you realize what made David king? What promoted him? It was Goliath. The extraordinary problem brought out the extraordinary person and some of you today, you're facing situations that seem impossible. You don't see how it could work out. But I believe even right now, a seed of faith is rising in your heart. Something on the inside is saying, I am bigger than this problem I was created to overcome. I was destined to live in victory. Now you've got to do like David and let that seed take root. Believe that you can overcome every obstacle. Believe that you're a person of destiny. Stir up the fire that God's put on the inside. You can't sit back and be passive and kind of complain. Talk about how bad it is, how you'll never rise any higher. No. That obstacle may look like a Goliath, it may look impossible. But God wouldn't have allowed it if he didn't already know you could overcome it. Quit looking at your difficulties as obstacles that are going to hold you back and start looking at them as opportunities that are going to push you forward. Understand? Incredible people will face incredible challenges. But the good news is you're going to see incredible victories. Outstanding people will have outstanding problems. But let me declare it, you're going to see outstanding promotion. Extraordinary people will have extraordinary critics, but you're going to have extraordinary vindication. I've learned this. God doesn't allow big challenges to face small people. You may be facing something big today. Seems like it's over your head. You could easily be overwhelmed, but that is a sure sign you're a big person with a big destiny. You may feel small, you may not see how it's going to work out, but you've got to remember who you are. Child of the most high God, you have been created in his image. You're wearing your crown of favor. You've got royal blood flowing through your veins. When times get tough and you don't see a way out, don't go around complaining. Oh, this is never going to change. No. Dig your heels in. Have the attitude. I've come too far to stop now. This may be extraordinary, but I know I'm an extraordinary person serving an extraordinary God. And every morning you need to remind yourself you are equipped, you are empowered, you are anointed. You are strong, you are talented, you are creative. You have been armed with strength for every battle. There is no challenge that's too difficult for you. No sickness can hold you back. No person can steal your destiny. No legal trouble is going to defeat you. Your enemies may be powerful, but our God is all powerful. One thing I love about God is he will never give you a goliath. Without giving you Goliath sized favor, all David had was a slingshot and a few stones. It didn't look like much, but a little with God's favor is all you need. All God has to do is breathe in your direction and things will begin to change. I remember when we were trying to acquire this place, the former Compact center, our new facility. It was like David versus Goliath. Our opponents, another group that wanted this property. They were the largest taxpayer in Texas. A huge corporation, very influential, very strong in the natural. We didn't have a chance. And at first I thought, God, why couldn't we be facing somebody more our size, somebody more reasonable, maybe a smaller company, another nonprofit, but God, not this huge corporation. But over time I learned this principle. God doesn't match you to the size you think you are. He matches you to the size of your destiny. God will not give you a Goliath. He will not allow a major challenge and then just give you a little favor, a little strength, a little wisdom. No, God equips you with exactly what you need to overcome every obstacle you have been empowered to accomplish every dream that God's put in your heart. We begin to realize the reason we have a huge obstacle is because we have a huge future. We made up our mind we were not going to back down. We weren't going to go around negative, complaining, talking like it wasn't going to happen. Our attitude was, if God be for us, who dare be against us? And this may be a big challenge, but we know we're big people serving a big God. We stayed in faith and three years later we saw God show up and make a way where it looked like there was no way. God wants to do the same thing for every one of you. But you've got to know who you are. When times get tough, you cannot back down and get discouraged. You've got to know that you know you are equipped, you are empowered, you are well able to overcome. When I was growing up, we had a dog by the name of Scooter. And Scooter was a great big German shepherd. He was the king of the neighborhood. He was strong and fast and always running here and there, chasing after squirrels. Nobody would mess with Scooter. Well, one day my dad was out taking a bike ride and Scooter was following along beside him. My father told how he looked over there and, and was so proud of Scooter. Scooter looked like he could fight a tiger. You could see his muscles rippling out. But about that time, a tiny Little Chihuahua came bursting out of one of the homes about 30 or 40 yards in front of them, racing towards Scooter, 90 miles per hour, barking at the top of his lungs. My dad thought, poor little dog, you are messing with the wrong dog. Scooter can put one paw on you and crush you. That little dog just kept coming full force, barking as loud as he could. And my dad was just waiting for Scooter to back him down. But much to his surprise, the closer that little dog got, the more Scooter began to hang his head. When that little Chihuahua finally got all the way up to Scooter, you know what Scooter did? He laid down, rolled over and put all four legs up in the air. Daddy said, I wanted to kick that dog all the way home. But I've learned the size of the problem is not what matters. It's the size of the person. Scooter was not near as big on the inside as he was on the outside. But really, that's nothing compared to what we do as sons and daughters of the most high God. When we back down and allow every disappointment and every adversity to stop us here, we've got the greatest power in the universe on the inside. God has made us to be more than conquerors. But too often, when times get difficult, we do like scootering. We don't remember who we are. We think, oh, man, this is too much. I'll never get out of this situation. No. Put your shoulders back. Hold your head up high. You are well able to overcome, if you will recognize you're an extraordinary person, you have an extraordinary future, then you won't be surprised nor frustrated when you face some extraordinary challenges. This is what Joseph did. He had a big dream. But with this big dream came big problems. He suffered incredible rejection. His own brothers sold him into slavery, threw him into a pit. It was incredibly unfair. He was lied about and spent 13 years in prison for something that he didn't do. Incredible injustice. But Joseph understood this principle. He knew he was an incredible person with an incredible future. So he didn't get discouraged by incredible problems. He just kept doing his best, day in and day out. He could have easily let his dream get pushed down. It could have gotten buried under disappointment, buried under rejection, buried under injustice. Most people would have gotten bitter and lost their enthusiasm, but not Joseph. He just shook it off knowing that he served an incredible God. And sure enough, one day, he saw incredible promotion. He was put in charge of the whole country. He saw incredible vindication. His own brothers came back and bowed down low before him. What am I saying? Without the incredible challenges, he wouldn't have seen the incredible promotion. And some of you today don't think that you could really fulfill your destiny. You've had too much come against you. People didn't raise you right. Somebody walked out of a marriage. You had an incredible disappointment. It was just so unfair. But you need to do like David and have the attitude. I've been through incredible problems. I've had incredible rejection. I've had some incredible disappointments. But now I know it's my time for incredible favor. I'm expecting incredible promotion. I'm expecting incredible vindication. Don't let your dreams get pushed down. Determine in your heart you're going to become everything God's created you to be. I see too many people, they get discouraged. Say, joel, why did this happen to me? It was so unfair. But I want you to have a new perspective. Those challenges will were stepping stones to your destiny. If you didn't have big problems, you wouldn't be a big person. Most of you, I dare say, you can look back in your own life and see how in the difficult times when you didn't back down, but you pressed on and you overcame that addiction, you overlooked that offense. You did the right thing when the wrong thing was happening. When you got past that, you saw a new level of God's favor. And I know this may sound kind of odd, but if all you have is little challenges, little problems, little opposition, really, that's not a good sign. That means you're coasting, you're not stretching, you're not growing. You need to stir up what God's put on the inside. I mean, if you can accomplish all your dreams in your own strength, if you can win all your battles without God's help, you need to get a bigger vision. You need to look down on the inside and, and you will find a God sized dream. How do you know it's from God? It'll be so big, it'll look so impossible, you can't accomplish it on your own. You'll know you'll have to have God's strength, God's wisdom and God's favor to see that dream come to pass. The scripture says in Psalm 107, 23, they that go down to the sea and do business in deep waters, they will see the wonders of God. Friends, you and I were created to do business in deep waters. We're not supposed to have little dreams, little plans. Oh, just pray that I'll never face anything big. No, if you have a big dream. You're going to have big challenges. Big people face big problems. The good news is we don't have to be worried. We serve a big God. It's all a part of fulfilling our destiny. When you're out there in the deep waters, you can't touch the ground. It can get a little rocky at times. You don't see how it's going to work out. It looks impossible, but on the inside you know God can do the impossible. When you're in the deep waters, you're not moved by your circumstances. You know not only who you are, but whose you are. A sickness may come against you. A child's not doing right. You're struggling in your finances. You don't get discouraged. You don't start complaining. You've got a made up mind. You know the reason you're having a big challenge is because you're a big person with a big destiny. You're not a lightweight. When you're in those deep waters, you don't get discouraged because somebody's talking about you. You just shake it off and say, God bless them. I mean, God bless them. You don't give in because one door closes. You keep going knowing that God's going to open up another door. You don't go around feeling sorry for yourself because your dreams are taking a long time. No. You know, in due season, God will bring them to pass. Jesus said to his disciples, come out into the deep. And I believe God is saying that to each one of us today. Let go of little dreams, little ideas, little plans. Dare to believe for something great. Stir up those gifts, those dreams that God's put on the inside. That's one thing I love about Joseph. He never let go of his God sized dream. Through all the disappointment, through all the rejection, through all the injustice, he could have easily scaled back his dream, said God. I thought you wanted me to do something great. I thought I would lead a country. I thought people would bow down before me. But I must be wrong. God, nothing in my life has gone right. No. In spite of his disappointments, in spite of his own family doing him wrong, the scripture says Joseph remembered his dream. This is so important. Some of you need to get alone and in your quiet time, search your heart and remember. The dream God put on the inside may have been pushed down by adversity, buried under disappointment, buried under failure, buried under rejection. But God is saying that dream is still alive and I still have a way to bring it to pass. Just like with Joseph, God is still in control. You may feel like you're in the pit. You may feel like you're in the prison, so to speak. But the good news is the palace is on its way. If you'll get a new vision for your life and stir up what's been pressed down, then God's going to bring out of you buried treasure. That is, those hidden desires that you haven't told anybody about. Those secret dreams that you had when you were younger, before life threw you some curves. Those promises are still alive and well. And the fact is, everything you've gone through in life is to prepare you for this time. Nothing in your life has been wasted. Every mistake you made, God had a purpose for it. Every person that did you wrong, they didn't just take something from you. God deposited something in you. Every disappointment, every lonely night. It may have been difficult, but it has prepared you and made you into who you are today. Like Esther, this is your time. This is your moment to step into a new level of God's favor. Like Joseph, this is your time to go from the pit to your place of promotion. Like David, it's your time to go from keeping the sheep to keeping the nation. To go from being in the background to being in the foreground. To see those dreams come to pass. Why don't you let these seeds take root? I know some of you have had more than your share of unfair things happen. You have plenty of reasons to just settle where you are. But understand the depth of your past, indication of the height of your future. If you've been through a lot of negative things, that just tells me your future is bigger and brighter and greater than you can even imagine. Let me ask you, are there dreams and promises that you've let go of? Are there things that God's put in your heart but because of time, because of disappointments you've given up on? No. Today is the day dreams. A new beginning. Faith is rising in your hearts. What's happened to you is not nearly as important as what's happened in you. God was getting you prepared. It may have been difficult, but I know I'm not looking at lightweights. I'm not looking at pushovers. Average people may have gotten discouraged with your circumstances. Average people may have given up by now. Average people would have found some reason to settle where they are. Average people wouldn't be sitting here today. They wouldn't be watching. Let me tell you again. You're not ordinary. You are extraordinary. You know, God has you in the palm of his hand. You know, right beyond that difficulty is a new level of God's favor. You recognize that challenge is not there to stop you. It's there to promote you. All you may have is a slingshot and a few stones, but you know the favor of God is upon it. You're out there in the deep waters, honoring God, doing your best, being a blessing to others. Just like Joseph, just like David. God promises you're going to see his wonders in mighty ways. That means you're going to see supernatural doors begin to open. You're going to see promotion. You're going to see vindication. You're going to discover talent that you didn't know you had. You're going to accomplish goals that you thought were impossible. You're going to overcome enemies that were more powerful than you. You're going to rise above that sickness. You're going to break every addiction. What was meant for your harm, God's going to use to your advantage. When you're in those deep waters, it may get a little rocky. But know this, you're not going to go under. God is fighting your battles for you. And it's just a matter of time before God shows up and shows out in a great, great way. But here's something that we have to do. Ephesians, chapter 6. Put on the whole armor of God. Every morning before you leave the house, you need to make sure you have your armor on. You got to get prepared for what comes against you. When you have on the armor of God, you are bad to the bone. Nothing can defeat you. You've got your helmet of salvation. That means you're not only at peace with God, but you've got your thoughts going in the right direction. Positive, hopeful, expecting God's favor. You're wearing your breastplate of righteousness. You know God already has approved and accepted you. Doesn't matter how people try to make you feel. You've got your belt of truth. You don't live life stressed out. You're wearing your shoes of peace, even when it looks difficult. No big deal. You've got the shield of faith. You know God's going to make a way. And finally, you've got the sword of the spirit. That's God's word coming out of your mouth. You don't go around complaining. Oh, man, my stock dropped in half last month. Joel, I'm depressed or my back's been hurting for six months or the hurricane really set me back. No, your attitude is, I'm blessed, I'm prosperous, I have the favor of God. I can do all things through Christ. I am strong in the Lord. My best days are still in front of me. When you have your armor on, nothing can take you down. You don't get discouraged because somebody's talking about you. You got your shoes apiece on you. Shake it off and keep going. You don't get overwhelmed because you went through a disappointment. You got the shield of faith. You know God is still directing your steps. When you're wearing your armor, you're protected, you're empowered, you're equipped. No matter what comes against you. No adversity, no disappointment, no challenge. All the forces of darkness cannot stop you. They may do their best, but their best will never be enough. When it's all said and done, you will still be standing strong. Here's something important about the armor. Did you notice there's nothing for our backside. There's nothing to cover us from the rear. You know why? God never intended for us to be running from our enemies. Don't run from your problems. Don't run from Goliath. Oh, but it's so big, Joel. No, the size doesn't matter. What matters is who's backing you up. The creator of the universe is on your side. You may have some big challenges, but you always remember it is only because you're a big person with a big destiny. When times get tough, don't do like Scooter. With all that strength, all that power, all that ability. Don't back down and settle where you are. Dig your heels in. Have the attitude I'm in it to win it. I may get knocked down, but I can't get knocked out. I've got comeback power. And I know not only who I am, I know whose. I am. A child of the most high God. And if God be for me, who dare be against me? Friends, I'm asking you to come out into the deep. Let go of little dreams, little ideas. Shake off disappointments, shake off failure, shake off offenses. This is a new day. You are an extraordinary person. And if you'll have this extraordinary mentality, let me declare what's going to happen. You're going to step into an extraordinary future. You're going to see supernatural doors open. You're going to overcome every obstacle. You're going to defeat every enemy and every dream, every desire God's put in your heart. You're going to see it come to pass. Amen. Do you receive it today? If you receive it today, can you say amen? Well, 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.