Staying In The Game

Joel @ Lakewood Church

· It's easy to lose your passion when things don't work out, but you have to shake off the pity. You can't let the hurt cause you to sit on the sidelines.

· Don't let the bad break make you bitter. You have to have a made up mind that you are going to be faithful.

· Momma Dodie: diagnosed with terminal cancer but she still drove mIles to pray for others. She was injured but still in the game.

· God will take your scars and turn them into stars for His glory.

Isaiah 61:3 NIV

and provide for those...beauty instead of ashes...

Isaiah 60:1 AMP

ARISE [from the depression and prostration in which circumstances have kept you--rise to a new life]! Shine (be radiant with the glory of the Lord), for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you!

· God has an after this planned for me!

Job 42:16-17 NIV

After this, Job lived a hundred and forty years; he saw his children and their children to the fourth generation. And so Job died, an old man and full of years.

· NFL Player Torrey Smith Honors Brother Who Died In Motorbike Crash Hours Before Game Time

· People would understand if you sat on the sidelines "nursing your wounds" but when you get in the game in spite of the circumstances you give the enemy a nervous breakdown.

· God understands

Hebrews 4:15 NIV

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.

· Ruth (example)

Ruth stayed in the game after losing her husband and was given a husband who was the richest in the land and ended up in royal lineage.

Ruth 4:21-22 NLT

Salmon was the father of Boaz. Boaz was the father of Obed. Obed was the father of Jesse. Jesse was the father of David.

· The rest of my days will be the best of my days!

********Victoria Osteen*********

Turn Your Worrying into Worship

· God cares about what I care about.

Psalm 55:22 NIV

Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous be shaken.

· Don't worry.

Matthew 6:25 NIV

...do not worry about your life....

Matthew 6:27, 33 NIV

Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

·Look up and not down.

Luke 21:28-29 NIV

When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near."

· You can tell worrying from planning because you are frustrated and not displaying the fruit if the spirit.

Galatians 5:22-23 NIV

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

· Sarah (example)

Hebrews 11:11 NIV

And by faith even Sarah, who was past childbearing age, was enabled to bear children because she considered him faithful who had made the promise.

Standing on the promises of Christ!

MAKING ROOM FOR INCREASE

You can't get increase on the outside without making room for it on the inside. You make room for increase on the inside by changing your thinking.

· e.g. if you don't think you will get out of debt then you probably never will.

· Mark 2:22 NIV

And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins."

God has unlimited supplies what decreases is our ability to receive it.

·if I have thousands of gallons of water but all you have is a gallon jug then it's obvious that supply is not the issue.

·Matthew 9:29 NIV

Then he touched their eyes and said, "According to your faith let it be done to you";

2 Kings 4:1-7 NIV

The wife of a man from the company of the prophets cried out to Elisha, "Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that he revered the Lord . But now his creditor is coming to take my two boys as his slaves." Elisha replied to her, "How can I help you? Tell me, what do you have in your house?"

"Your servant has nothing there at all," she said, "except a small jar of olive oil." Elisha said, "Go around and ask all your neighbors for empty jars. Don't ask for just a few. Then go inside and shut the door behind you and your sons. Pour oil into all the jars, and as each is filled, put it to one side." She left him and shut the door behind her and her sons. They brought the jars to her and she kept pouring. When all the jars were full, she said to her son, "Bring me another one."

But he replied, "There is not a jar left." Then the oil stopped flowing. She went and told the man of God, and he said, "Go, sell the oil and pay your debts. You and your sons can live on what is left."

· If she had more jars then she could have gotten more oil

Psalm 35:27 NIV

May those who delight in my vindication

shout for joy and gladness;

may they always say, "The Lord be exalted,

who delights in the well-being of his servant."

· It's ok to want more for yourself.

· There was a man fishing. Everytime that man caught a big fish he would throw out back but he would keep the small fish. Someone finally asked him why he was throwing the big fish back. He said that it was because he only had a ten-inch frying pan. Some people need to buy a new frying pan.

· Some people have a ten-inch frying pan mentality...e.g. well this was my mom's frying pan...we''re just a ten-inch frying pan family.

· Proverbs 13:22 NIV

A good person leaves an inheritance for their children's children, but a sinner's wealth is stored up for the righteous.

Isaiah 60:1 NIV

"Arise, shine, for your light has come,

and the glory of the Lord rises upon you.

· Glory indicates weight.

Psalm 150:2 NIV

Praise him for his acts of power;

praise him for his surpassing greatness.

Jeniro is on the go!