Joel Osteen - Don't Get Stagnant

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi, this is Joel and Victoria. Thanks for listening to
our podcast and thanks for supporting the ministry. If you
enjoy today's message, why don't you be a blessing and
share it with a friend. We appreciate you and pray
for God's very best in your life. Well, God bless you.

(00:26):
It's a joy to come into your homes and we
come with good news. We know God is on your
side and he has a great plan for your life.
And I trust today that you're going to be blessed
and encouraged. And if you're ever in our area, please
stop by and see us. We'd love to have you
be a part of one of our services. I promise
you we'll make you feel right at home. But thank
you so much for tuning in, Thanks for coming out

(00:48):
today once again. But I'd like to start with something funny.
And I heard about this young lady. She brought her
fiance home to meet her parents and the dad said, okay, son,
tell me a little about yourself. What do you do
And he said, well, sir, I'm a Bible scholar. Dad
said that's great, but how are you going to provide
for my daughter? He said, well, I'm going to study
my Bible and I know God will provide, he said,

(01:11):
we'll find. But how are you going to buy her
an engagement ring? He said, well, I know when I
focus on my studies that God will provide. He said, well,
in a few years, y'all may have children. How are
you going to provide for them? He said, sir, please
don't worry about it. God will provide. Later that night,
the man's wife asked him how the talk went with
their future son in law, and he said, not too good.

(01:33):
He has no plans, no job, and he thinks that
I'm God.

Speaker 2 (01:39):
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.

Speaker 1 (02:04):
I want to talk to you today about the importance
of not getting stagnant in life. It's so easy to
get stuck in a rut to where we're not growing.
Our marriage becomes stale, our finances are not increasing. We're
not as happy as we know we should be. And
the problem is we become stagnant, and many times we

(02:24):
just kind of sit back and we learn to live
with things that are less than God's best. But I
want to stir your faith today. You can rise higher,
you can be happier, you can have a better marriage,
a more fulfilled life. God has more in store for
every one of us. His dream is that we would
continually be growing, that we'd always be increasing and reaching

(02:47):
for new heights. But if this is going to happen,
we've got to learn how to shake off complacency. We've
got to get out of these ruts. There's a law
found all through the Bible called the law of reaping.
It basically says what we sow, we're going to reap.
And if we keep doing the same thing the same

(03:08):
way year after year, then we're going to keep reaping
the same things. If you want to see change, you
have to get out of your routine. You've got to
do something that stretches you, something to where you have
to press beyond the norm. I call it sowing an
extraordinary seed. And it may not be something difficult. You

(03:28):
can smile more often for some of you, that would
be an extraordinary seed. You can get to work five
minutes earlier, come to church more consistently, forgive a little quicker,
not get upset so easily. Those are all extraordinary seeds
that will allow God to do the extraordinary in your

(03:48):
own life. But you cannot keep doing the same thing
the same way and expect to get different results. If
you want to be happier, if you want to have
a better marriage, if you want to see in it
all starts by you sowing a seed. And a lot
of times we're just kind of waiting for God to
bless us. We're waiting for God to increase us. But

(04:09):
we have to give God something to work with. For instance,
if you want a better relationship with your family, why
don't you sow a seed by turning that TV off
an hour at night and spending that same time together.
It's just something small, but you're out of your routine,
you're stretching, you're going beyond the norm. God always rewards that.

(04:30):
Or maybe you get up and pray ten minutes every morning,
Well let me challenge it a pray fifteen, just an
extra five minutes, and watch what God will begin to do.
Maybe you normally give ten percent of your income, Well
why don't you stretch your faith and give just a
little bit more and just watch and see if God
doesn't begin to do extraordinary things in your life. Maybe

(04:52):
you have a child that's hard to get along with.
He's always getting you down, kind of stealing your joy.
Well you need to sow a seed of being more patient.
Just make a decision. I'm not gonna be so uptight
about this. I'm not gonna let him steal my joy.
I'm not gonna let him get me upset. I'm gonna
be more understanding. That's an extraordinary seed that God can reward.

(05:12):
But I want us to get out of these ruts.
Doesn't matter who we are. Over time, anyone can get complacent.
And I found that human nature is too easily satisfied.
We have to constantly make sure that we're staying fresh
and that we're pressing beyond the status quo, especially in
our relationships. I know people today their marriage is as

(05:34):
stale as it can be. It's not growing. They don't
enjoy each other anymore. They've lost that spark. And the
sad thing is they're not doing anything about it. They're
just accepting it. Well, Joel, this is just the way
it is. We don't have anything in common. He doesn't
like to do what I like. Or if she would
start treating me better, then things would be different. Now,

(05:56):
quit waiting for that other person to change, and you
do what you can to make your marriage better. Sow
in extra ordinary seed. Start treating that person with more
respect than ever before. Go out of your way to
do kind things for them, be more fun to be around.
You got to do something out of your normal routine.

(06:18):
I know a while back, Victory and I had been
very busy traveling a lot, and we hadn't spent much
time together, and so I decided to do something out
of the ordinary, something just to let her know that
I was thinking about her. And so I had flowers
delivered to her every Monday morning for one month, just
something different. It's funny when she first opened up the

(06:40):
card to see who they were from, she said, oh look, Joel,
they made a mistake, they said, these flowers are from you.
Made me feel real good. But those flowers cost me
about one hundred bucks. Some of you, that could be
the best one hundred dollars that you could spend it
would breathe new life back into your marriage. Something I'm

(07:00):
small so in an extraordinary seed. Well, Joel, I'm not
going to spend my money like that. She knows I
love her. No, you need to put some actions behind
those words, you old stingy thing. Now I'm asking us
today to do something out of our normal routine, something
that stretches us. Instead of complaining that she won't ever

(07:21):
go anywhere with you, why don't you swallow your pride
and go somewhere with her? Or better yet, why don't
you get creative and plan an event that she would
enjoy going to. You can plan an afternoon down at
the beach. You can take her to the galleria. That
always works. But some of you men, if you plan
something special, you may want to first learn CPR in

(07:43):
case she passes out, because you know you hadn't done
anything romantic in twenty seven years. But I know we
can all improve in some of these areas. We can
be a little kinder. Let's be a little less judgmental,
a little quicker to forgive, a little more pleasant to
be around. But we need to do something that stretches

(08:04):
us out of the norm. I remember one thing I
did years ago is every time I went to brush
my teeth, I would reach over and put toothpaste on
Victoria's toothbrush. Just a little thing. Didn't take me in
extra five seconds. But I remember back then Victoria was
not only in a better mood, but once a month
she would cook dinner. Now, seriously, Victoria's a great cook.

(08:26):
Nobody can heat up those TV dinners like she can.
But do you know, it's the little things that keep
a relationship growing, It's the little things that keep it healthy.
Let me ask you, what are you doing to make
your marriage better? Some of you may not want to
admit it, but that relationship is so stagnant that unless

(08:48):
you take the initiative and start doing some fresh, new things,
it's going to continue to go downhill. And as I said,
you cannot wait for the other person. You've got to
do it. Do something out of your normal roots to
show that person that you care so in extraordinary seed.
And we need to examine our lives and see if
there are areas where we're stuck, areas where we're not growing.

(09:10):
And I'll admit that my personality type is naturally very routine.
I'm a very structured person, and it's easy for me
to get stuck in the rock. It's easy for me
to go year after year reading the same amount of
chapters in my Bible, giving the same amount, praying the
same amount of time. It's almost like I'm on autopilot.
But I've noticed when I do that, I just stay

(09:31):
at the same level. I don't grow, I don't see
as much of God's favor as I should. I have
to constantly remind myself to stretch beyond the norm. I
don't know about you, but I don't want to be
at this same place next year as I am right now.
I want to be a better father, a better pastor,
a bigger giver. I want to grow. I want to increase,

(09:53):
and I've learned if it's not happening, it's not God's fault.
He doesn't need to change. I need to change. Maybe
you're here today and you struggle with addictions. Maybe you
have a problem with smoking. You've tried again and again
to quit but just can't seem to do it. Well,
don't get complacent about it. What I'm saying is, don't
stay in that rut. Do something out of the ordinary.

(10:14):
Why don't you just give up one cigarette a day,
or instead of smoking the whole thing, smoke three fourths
of it. But do something out of your normal routine.
Let me tell you, God sees that sacrifice, and when
you do your part, that's when God will kick in
and do his part. But you've got to do something
that stretches you, do something that makes you push. Maybe
you're here and you're wanting to get in better shape,

(10:36):
you're wanting to lose some weight. Well, why don't you
give up drinking so many cokes? Well why don't you
exercise just ten minutes longer than you normally do. Don't
just sit back and accept it. Take that first step,
you know, sow that extraordinary seed. Now I hear people say, well, Joe,
we all struggle with this in my family. We all
have these same addictions. Now that's what I'm talking about.

(10:57):
Being complacent. You can be the one to change. Oh
that extraordinary seed. I hear people complaining all the time
about the place they work. When Joel, I don't like
my job, I don't like the people. I can't stand
to drive in traffic. Well, for you, an extraordinary seed
would simply be to change your attitude instead of complaining
about that job. Why don't you be grateful that at

(11:18):
least you have a place to work. Why don't you
start looking at what's right in your life instead of
looking at what's wrong. After all, what a shame to
go to that place year after year, miserable, complaining about it,
dreading it. Life is too short for that. You've got
to get out of that rut and just make a
decision that you're going to be happy wherever you are.
Put a smile on your face, Cheer the other people up,

(11:42):
don't sink down to their level. Be a person of
excellence there at the workplace, and do the right thing
even when it's hard, even when you don't feel like it.
That's sowing an extraordinary seed. I met a man in
the lobby not too long ago, and he commented on
how much he liked my tie. And of course you've
heard me tell stories about people that have liked my ties,

(12:02):
and I've given it to them. And so now a
lot of times people come up and kid me about
liking my ties, kind of jokingly knowing that I've given
them away. In fact, some people come up and say, Joel,
I really like that suit. And had one guy the
other day. He said, Joel, I like your car. You
got a beautiful house. I said, you can forget it, man.
But when this man commented about that tie, I knew that.

(12:24):
I knew that. I knew right down in here that
I was supposed to give it to him. The problem
is I didn't want to. This tie was brand new.
It was the first time I was wearing it, and
already several people told me how beautiful it was, and
I really liked it. And so my first thought was, yeah, God,
I'll give him a tie, just not this tie. I
begin to reason it out. I thought, I know exactly

(12:45):
the tie. I'll give him that tie that I don't
like anymore. You know that tie that we got coffee
on the other week. And you know, I begin to
make all these excuses. But right down in here I
just couldn't get away from it. I knew I was
supposed to give him that particular tie. See, that was
an ordinary seed for me. That was an extraordinary seed.
That's when God asked you to do something that's difficult.

(13:07):
Maybe God asked you to apologize and it wasn't even
your fault. God asked you to be nice to somebody.
Yet they're not being nice to you or like in
my case, he asked you to give away something that
you really like. It may be uncomfortable, it may be difficult,
but if you'll do it anyway, you are sowing a
seed for God to do the extraordinary, a seed for

(13:28):
God to take it in new levels. You got to
realize God sees your sacrifice, He sees you going the
extra mile. Don't get complacent, don't just settle for mediocrity.
Keep pressing forward. Let me ask you today, do you
have any extraordinary seed in the ground? Are you pressing
beyond the norm? Stretching yourself every day? I had this

(13:49):
single mother talk to me not too long ago, and
she brought me a doctor's bill from the hospital for
seventy eight thousand dollars, And I thought she was going
to ask us to help with it, or at least
ask us to pray, but she said no, jel just
look down there at the very bottom and I saw
in big bold letters, paid in full. And she told

(14:09):
how her child had been in the hospital. And this
single mom had been through a lot of adversities, a
lot of hardships, but she just kept on being faithful,
She kept coming to church, she kept tithing her income,
she kept having a good attitude, and that whole time
her relatives were telling her, you're just wasting your time,
you're wasting your money. You should be keeping that for yourself.

(14:32):
And she said how many times she was tempted to
get discouraged, she was tempted to just give up, but
she never did. She just kept on pressing forward. And
she had no idea how she'd ever be able to
pay off that debt. She didn't have insurance for it.
But one day out of the blue, she got that
letter in the mail from the hospital that she was
showing me, and it was basically saying it was totally

(14:53):
and completely canceling her debt. And we've seen that kind
of thing happen time and time again. Tell you that's
not a lucky break, that's not a coincidence. That's the
fact that she's sow in all those extraordinary seeds. She
did the right thing when the wrong thing was happening
to her. She just kept on being faithful when a

(15:14):
lot of people would have just thrown in the town
and she could have easily just accepted it, she could
have just gotten used to it. Well, this is my
lot in life. Broke defeated in debt, but no, she
didn't get complacent. She just kept on pressing forward. And
just like her, every one of you can rise higher.
You can overcome any obstacle, you can have a better marriage,

(15:37):
you can get out of debt. But you've got to
do your part by sowing extraordinary seeds. I was thinking
about Isaac. They're in the Bible. He was at a
time in his life when they were in the middle
of a famine. There was no food and no water.
People were starving. What did Isaac do sit around and
complain about it? Did he sit around and just have
a pity party and say it's not fair? Now? The

(15:58):
scripture says in jenna'h his twenty six verse twelve that
in the midst of that famine, Isaac sow does seed
in the land. In other words, he planted his crops.
And can you imagine what the other people must have thought.
There was no water to water the crops. He has
no way to irrigate his fields. And I'm sure his

(16:19):
friends said, Isaac, what in the world are you doing.
You are wasting your time, your money, your energy. What
do you mean planting in the midst of a famine.
But Isaac didn't get discouraged. He didn't listen to the naysayers.
He just kept sowing those extraordinary seeds. The scripture goes
on to say that in the same year Isaac received

(16:40):
a one hundredfold return. We have to remember that God
is in control. He's the one that created the universe.
It doesn't matter what it looks like in the natural.
He's a supernatural God. Your friends, your relatives, your coworkers
may be saying to you, do you really think you're
going to get out of debt? You think your husband's

(17:00):
gonna change, you really think you're ever gonna get well?
Just like in this case, many times they'll try to
talk you out of your dreams. Too many people today
they just get complacent and they live with things that
are less than God's best. But I'm asking you today
to do what Isaac did in your time of need,
in your time of famine. When it doesn't look like

(17:22):
anything's gonna change, when the doctors don't give you a
good report, when the business is slow, you know what
you've got to do. Just keep sowing those extraordinary seeds.
You keep praying, you keep believing, you keep giving you,
keep coming to church, you keep being faithful. God is
keeping the wreckers. It may look impossible with men, but

(17:42):
it is possible with God. And as you just keep
on keeping on, you know what's happening. You're passing the test.
Those extraordinary seeds are taking root. One day you're gonna
reap the seeds that you've been sowing. God is a
faithful God. What I'm saying today is, don't give up
on your relatives. Keep praying for that husband, Keep praying

(18:02):
for that son, that aunt, that uncle, that grandmother. Keep
calling them, keep inviting them to come to church, keep
encouraging them. You may not see anything happening in the natural.
It may not look like anything is changing. But let
me tell you. God is working behind the seams. He
sees your diligence, he sees your faithfulness. Or maybe you're

(18:23):
here like that single mom and you don't think you
could ever get out of debt. You don't think you
could ever pay your house off. He said Joel Man,
I've gone as far as my education allows. You don't
know my situation. No, God is not limited by your education.
Your job is not your source. God is your source,
and God can give you one new idea that can
thrust you to a whole new level. God can cause

(18:46):
you to be at the right place at the right time.
He can cause his light to shine down on you
and favor you. You've got to just keep on passing
that test. I can promise you you're going to see
the extraordinary in your life. He could do. Another man
from Los Angeles, he was here for treatment at M.
D Anderson, the cancer hospital here in town. He was

(19:07):
having problems with his kidneys. He would come in every
three months to have them tested, and the doctors told
him that very likely in the near future he would
have to go on dialysis, and not only that, that
he may have to have those kidneys removed. He had
big tumors on them and they were checking the growth.
But this man didn't just sit back and accept it.

(19:27):
He didn't just start making plans for that. Instead, he
started really praying. He started really believing. And what I
like about him is he did it not only for himself,
but he'd go around the hospital praying for other people.
He was an encourager. Every time he came to Lakewood,
he had three or four of those cancer patients with him.
So in an extraordinary seed. Don't you know a lot

(19:49):
of people in his situation would have been at home
having a pity party, depressed and dejected. Not him. He
just kept believing, stretching his faith, pressing beyond the norm.
You know, the last time I saw him, just a
couple of weeks ago, he said, Joel, I came in
and the doctors tested my kidneys, and those doctors didn't
know what to tell me. They said, we can't find

(20:10):
any sign of a tumor on those kidneys. There's nothing
wrong with you, They said, we don't want to see
you for another year. Friends, God can supernaturally turn things around.
He made your body. He can create what you need.
Don't get disturbance. Keep on believing like Abraham, keep on
hoping on in faith like Isaac learned to sew a

(20:33):
seed in that time of famine. I don't just sit
back and get complacent and say, well, man, I guess
this is my lot in life. You heard what they said.
Now let me tell you what your lot in life is.
If you read God's word, your lot in life is
to be happy, to be healthy, to be a blessing
to others, to enjoy God's abundant life. Well, you said, Joel,

(20:54):
what if I pray and believe like he did and
nothing happens. Well what if you pray and believe in
something to happen. Now, I realize not everybody gets healed
like that, but you'd still be better off to believe
than to sit around depressed and defeated. The fact is,
one day we're all gonna die. But I've made up
my mind. I'm gonna die in faith. I'm gonna die believing.
I'm gonna die with a smile on my face. So

(21:16):
and those extraordinary scenes. I loved the story in March
chapter five about this lady that had been sick for
twelve years with a bleeding disorder, and she had gone
to many different doctors, spent all of her money, but
she continued to get worse, and I'm sure she was
very tempted to get discouraged medical science had given up

(21:36):
on her. She could easily gone home and just pull
the blinds and said, well, too bad, that's it for me.
But no, not this lady. She refused to live with
things that were less than God's best. She said, you
know what, I'm gonna do something out of the ordinary.
I'm gonna do something unusual, uncommon. I'm gonna reach out
and touch Jesus when he comes walking by. She had

(21:57):
a lot of opposition as Jesus came through her. There
were so many people around him. She couldn't get to him,
and so she had to fight her way through the crowd.
No doubt, she's having to push people out of the way.
She's sowing those extraordinary seeds. And you know the story.
As Jesus came by, right at the last minute, she
lunged out with all of her might and just barely

(22:18):
touched the edge of his robe, and the Bible says
immediately she felt a supernatural power surge into her body.
She was instantly made whole. And friends, when you get
out of your routine and you press in to really
get to know God, you make decisions that are pleasing
to him, you stretch your faith, then God will do
the extraordinary in your life. And Jesus stopped right there

(22:41):
and he said to his disciples, who just touched me?
And they kind of laughed, said, what do you mean, Jesus,
everybody's touching, everybody's bumping into you. He said, no, somebody
touched me with such faith and with such expectancy that
they drew the miracle working power right out of me.
And about that time, Jesus eyes meant that woman's eyes.
He smiled and said, daughter, your faith has made you

(23:04):
whole go in peace. And you notice Jesus didn't say
my faith has done it. No, he said, because of
your actions, because you went out of your way. I'm
going to go out of my way and see when
you sow those extraordinary seeds, God can bless you in
extraordinary ways. But I know too many people today they're

(23:26):
stuck in a rut in their marriage, in their finances,
in their health. But I want to shake you out
of that complacency. Don't just sit back and learn to
live with things that are less than God's best. God
wants you to go higher. Are you giving him anything
to work with? Are you doing like this lady and
stretching your faith, pressing beyond the norm? You need to

(23:49):
do something out of the ordinary. That's what gets God's attention.
And some of you right now you have areas in
your life that are so stale, and it's because you're
not stretching. You've gotten comfortable. Do you know you can
even get stale coming to church. I found you get
out of something what you put into it, And if
you find yourself starting to get stale, that's God trying

(24:11):
to get you to grow. Maybe it's time that you
start serving in one of our ministries, teaching our children,
visiting people at the hospital, standing at the door, and
being a friendly face to greet people. That would be
an extraordinary seed that'll help get rid of that staleness.
Or maybe you're stale in your finances, you're not seeing

(24:32):
any growth. Everything's the same year after year. Well you've
got to start planting some extraordinary seeds. Why don't you
stretch your faith and give a little bit more. Or
maybe instead of going out to eat one night, send
that money to a friend that's struggling. If you don't
have extra money, I understand that, but you can give
your time. Maybe sit somebody's children, give somebody a ride

(24:53):
to church, most somebody's long, but do something to get
some extraordinary seed in the ground. Maybe you're stale at
the workplace. You haven't had a promotion, a bonus, a
raise in a long time. Well, maybe you need to
sow a seed by getting there a little earlier. You
need to stretch your faith by being a little bit
more productive, be a person of excellence on that job.

(25:16):
You know, go the extra mile, and God can use
that to bring promotion and increase in your life. I
believe then you'll see that new growing. But we have
to make sure that we're keeping ourselves fresh. When we're stale,
it's boring. When it's stale, we just dragged through the
day with no joy, no enthusiasm. It's because we're not growing.

(25:36):
You got to get out of that rut. If you
stay stale, you're going to get molded. Now. I want
us to go into this new year with a freshness
excited about it. If that's going to happen, we got
to be willing to get out of our normal routine
and plant some extraordinary seeds. Remember, if we keep doing
the same thing the same way, we're going to have
the same results. And I'm asking you today to find

(25:57):
at least one area in your life that you know
that you're kind of stale and do something out of
your normal routine that honors God in a greater way.
Maybe you're gonna turn that TV off like we talked
about at night, and spend more time with your family.
Maybe you're gonna get up fifteen minutes earlier and spend
a little more time with God. Maybe you're going to

(26:17):
just start treating the people in your life kinder and
with more respect. But do at least one thing out
of your normal routine for several months, be consistent about it,
and you just see if God doesn't do the extraordinary.
Just see if that freshness doesn't come back and you
begin to experience new growth. Friends, God has more in
store no matter where you are in life. He wants

(26:38):
you to go up higher. But we've got to get
out of these ruts. Let's learn to shake off complacency.
And we need to continually be pressing forward, pressing beyond
the norm. And I know if you will sow extraordinary seeds.
God is a faithful God, you will see the extraordinary
in your life. You won't be stale, you'll be fresh,
you'll be excited about the future. You'll be growth, and

(27:00):
you'll live that life of victory that God has in story. 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. Friends, if you prayed that

(27:24):
simple prayer, we believe you got born again. Get in
a good Bible based church. Keep God first place. He's
going to take your places that you've never dreamed of.

Speaker 3 (27:34):
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Speaker 1 (27:47):
Thanks so much for listening to today's message. I hope
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