Keep Growing

*****Joel Osteen*****

Keep Growing

• You Have to take responsibility for your own growth. You can't coast through life on what you already know. 50% of the people who graduate high school will never read another a book.
• I Have a responsibility to myself, to my family, and to God to develop my hidden treasures. I Have tooin much in me to not be proactiveproactive.
• Pablo Casals continued to practice guys cello for 5 hours daily well into his eighties so that he could continue to get better.
  http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pablo_Casals
• The Tale of 2 Lumberjacks
  Two lumberjacks, a younger one and an older one, raced to see who could cut down the most trees in a single day. At the end of the day the winner was obvious. The older lumberjack had won. The younger man could not believe it!"How could you have cut down more trees than I did?" he asked. "Every hour you sat down while I kept right on cutting. I don't understand. How could you have cut more trees while sitting so much?""When I sat down, I was sharpening my axe," the older lumberjack said. "Why didn't you stop to sharpen your axe?" "I didn't have time," the younger man said. "I was too busy cutting!"This story reminds us that in order to be an effective servant, to make our lives count for Christ, we should take time regularly to "sharpen" our lives.
• If you sharpen your skills you may not Have to work as hard.
• God has shifted things in my favor and it's up to me to be prepared.
• David was a shepherd: He had a minimum wage job and no friends. David's brothers were in the army: they had Huigh praying jobs. David could have drowned in self pity but instead he took time to work on his skills and become a skilled marksman devoted to his flock and when God needed someone to kill a giant, David was ready!
• Proverbs 18:16 NIV...A gift opens the way and ushers the giver into the presence of the great.
• Don't use your position as an excuse to slack off: Proverbs 22:29 NIV...Do you see someone skilled in their work? They will serve before kings; they will not serve before officials of low rank.
• Joseph in the Bible is a good example. He didn't wait until he was at the top he started from the bottom.
  After many setbacks, Joseph learned humility and wisdom. He was a hard worker, even while a slave. Joseph loved his family and forgave terrible wrongs done to him.
  The account of Joseph in the Bible is found in Genesis chapters 30-50. 
• Never present only a problem. Don't have destination disease.
• People won't always care who the popular kids and athletes were.
• Use the time that you have wisely: you can use your drive time, workout time, waiting time, and etc to grow. During your downtime read the Bible, listen to the Bible, read a book, take an online course, and etc.
• Be careful of who you spend time with.
  Who you associate with matters.

****Victoria Osteen****
Have God-Esteem

1. Proverbs 18:14 NLT....The human spirit can endure a sick body, but who can bear a crushed spirit?
   The bible says that the spirit of a man sustains the man. Your spirit is constantly trying to change you and that's why you have to be careful of what you let get stuck in your head.
2. Hebrews 4:16 NLT...So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.
   When you go boldly before someone it's a reflection of what you think about that person. You trust that person and respect their admonishment.
3. Acts 13:22 NIV...After removing Saul, he made David their king. God testified concerning him: ‘I have found David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do.’
   David was a man after God's on heart but he wasn't perfect. He was confident in God and took time to meditate on God.
4. Romans 14:22-23 NIV So whatever you believe about these things keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the one who does not condemn himself by what he approves. But whoever has doubts is condemned if they eat, because their eating is not from faith; and everything that does not come from faith is sin.
   As long as you don't condemn yourselfyourself you can ask God for anything.
5. When your perspective changes then everything Looks different.

Joel Likes To Start With Something Funny...

A young girl is standing on a street corner, preaching about God to whoever will listen. A businessman stops to listen, and can't believe what he's hearing.Finally, he interrupts the girl and says, "Excuse me, but are you saying that EVERYTHING in the Bible is true?"The girl responds, "Why, yes, that's exactly what I'm saying."He says, "So you're saying that the story of Jonah and the big fish is a true story?"The girl says, "Yes, that's what I'm saying."He says, "Okay, so tell me how Jonah could survive for three days inside of a big fish!"The girl thinks for a moment, then says, "Well...I'm not sure. But when I get to Heaven, I'll ask him."He says, "But what if Jonah went to hell?"The girl says, "Then you can ask him!"

Releasing the full you

05/05/2013

Joel @ Lakewood Church

Romans 12:2 KJV
And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

The caterpillar goes from being one of the most plain insects to one of the most beautiful,  a butterfly. Like that caterpillar,  we may start plain but we aren't meant to stay that way.

That caterpillar has to push himself out of the cocoon.  In the same way,  it's up to me to push myself out.  Negative thoughts can impede the full you from coming out.

● You have to change your thinking because
inside of you is everything I need to be that beautiful butterfly soaring to places that I never imagined.

● John Osteen grew up in a plain lifestyle but he felt the urge to do something more.  His family discouraged him but he had to ignore those thoughts and renew their minds.

● A lot of the time,  we get programmed by the words that other people speak over us but we need to reprogram our thoughts with what God says about us

● The enemy fights you for where you are going.

Judges 6:11-12 KJV

And there came an angel of the Lord , and sat
under an oak which was in Ophrah, that pertained unto Joash the Abi–ezrite: and his son Gideon threshed wheat by the winepress, to hide it from the Midianites. And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him, and said unto him, The Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of valour.
● God calls you what you will become,  not what you are.  It's up to me to come into agreement with what God knows about me not my circumstances or what I think about myself.

● A Plantation owner was throwing out dead wood when a sculptor asked if he could have the wood. The plantation owner laughed and told him to take it since it was useless. The sculptor carved an eagle.  A few weeks later the Plantation owner saw the Eagle displayed at the sculptor's hut and offered to buy it for $500. The sculptor told him that it was the dead wood. The sculptor saw the Eagle on the inside it wasn't useless.
Micah 4:9 KJV
Now why dost thou cry out aloud? is there no king in thee? is thy counsellor perished? for pangs have taken thee as a woman in travail.

● We are children of the most High God, there are kings and Queens on the inside and it's time for them to come out.

*********Victoria Osteen***********
The Season of Graduation

When God prepares you for a challenge you get stronger in the midst of it.

It is what it is as I get better over time.
You don't need to take from others because they don't have what I need, that's why I can rejoice when others rejoice.

This is a season of graduation. When you finish with one thing, it's hard to see what God has for you but like Abraham we have to follow God even though we don't know where he's going.

Hebrews 11:8-10 MSG
By an act of faith, Abraham said yes to God's call to travel to an unknown place that would become his home. When he left he had no idea where he was going. By an act of faith he lived in the country promised him, lived as a stranger camping in tents. Isaac and Jacob did the same, living under the same promise. Abraham did it by keeping his eye on an unseen city with real, eternal foundations—the City designed and built by
God.
-Sometimes like Abraham, things take a long time! In this times when we have a front row seat to the longest wait we have to remember that God has perfect timing.

Nehemiah 8:10 NLT
And Nehemiah continued, "Go and celebrate with a feast of rich foods and sweet drinks, and share gifts of food with people who have nothing prepared. This is a sacred day before our Lord. Don't be dejected and sad, for the joy of the L ord is your strength!"
-In that time of waiting we have to praise God to strengthen ourselves. That praise needs to be stored up so it can minister to me.

Keeping Your Vision in Front of You

Joel @ Lakewood Church

• Keep the right things in front of you because if you aren't looking at it then you are not moving toward it.

Zechariah 4:6-10 KJV

Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the Lord unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts. Who art thou, O great mountain? before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain: and he shall bring forth the headstone thereof with shoutings, crying, Grace, grace unto it. Moreover the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house; his hands shall also finish it; and thou shalt know that the Lord of hosts hath sent me unto you. For who hath despised the day of small things? for they shall rejoice, and shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel with those seven; they are the eyes of the Lord , which run to and fro through the whole earth.

Proverbs 29:18 KJV

Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.

• When you believe big, you please God!  Don't be afraid to set a new standard for your family.  God is not limited by any of my perceived deficiencies.

• His dream for my life is bigger than my dream.
• Don't be limited by your own imagination (or lack thereof); don't let the enemy decide what you imagine.
• Let a new image take root.
• If you aren't healthy right now but you should put things in front of you that remind you of when you were.  More importantly make plans to live and not die.

2 Corinthians 4:18 KJV

While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.

One translation says that those things are subject to change.

Genesis 13:14-15 KJV

And the Lord said unto Abram, after that Lot was separated from him, Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward: For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever.

Conrad Hilton: In 1932 Conrad N. Hilton wrote "The Greatest of Them All" onto a photograph of The Waldorf Astoria New York in New York City. It was his dream to own this hotel and include it in his prestigious portfolio of hotels. In 1949 he realized his dream, extending his version of "the light and warmth of hospitality" to the legendary New York landmark. Today, the hotel is the inspiration for the distinctive luxury hotels of The Waldorf Astoria New York Collection, the new Hilton brand established in 2006, to which the original Waldorf Astoria New York is affiliated. 

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

Forget and Press

Philippians 3:13-14 NLT

No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.

• ·Forget the past
• ·Set a goal.
• ·Press forward.

EXAMPLE: When you lift weights, you start with small weights and its hard but if you keep pressing then you get stronger. 

• We shouldn't operate in our circumstances because the more you mediate on it the more it will take root. Don't associate yourself with your circumstances.

You have to decide what you will dwell on and remove yourself from situations that will drag you down.

Walk out of harmful identities and walk into the identity that Christ on you, it is a HIGH CALLING!

God Will Finish What He Started

Joel @ Lakewood Church

God never starts something with the end in mind and he has already set the completion date. God has already lined everything up.

There are some people who you shouldn't tell about God's promises. (Secret Petitions) Psalm 37:4 AMP...Delight thyself also in the [Lord]; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.

Luke 2:25-27, 29 ESV
Now there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ. And he came in the Spirit into the temple, and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him according to the custom of the Law, "Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace, according to your word;Joel @ Lakewood Church

• God never starts something with the end in mind and he has already set the completion date. God has already lined everything up.
• There are some people who you shouldn't tell about God's promises. (Secret Petitions) Psalm 37:4 AMP...Delight thyself also in the [Lord]; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.
• Luke 2:25-27, 29 ESV
  Now there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ. And he came in the Spirit into the temple, and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him according to the custom of the Law, "Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace, according to your word;
• David had to go on the run after he received the promise that he'd be the next king. He was in the wilderness where he couldn't see anything happening. He had to reminded of who he was and what God had promised (1 Samuel 25)
• A group went fishing and the people who knew that area told the leader that if he found himself near a certain place to head dew north and he'd make it back to dock (that was the promise). Well they went fishing and a thick fog set in limiting their visibility. The leader noticed where he was and told them to head dew north. The trip was taking long and the others started to plant seeds of doubt but he kept going and they made it back. When things look foggy, you just have to keep going.
• Genesis 30:22-24 MSG
  And then God remembered Rachel. God listened to her and opened her womb. She became pregnant and had a son. She said, "God has taken away my humiliation." She named him Joseph (Add), praying, "May God add yet another son to me."
• God doesn't forget even after you give up because I don't have the final say, God does.
• Paul Osteen (http://www.paulosteen.com/who-we-are/) Re
• Mary and Martha wanted Jesus to heal Lazarus, but He had a resurrection in mind! Sometimes you think God is too late, but he has something better in mind. (John 11)
• Zechariah 4:8-10 MSG
  After that, the Word of God came to me: "Zerubbabel started rebuilding this Temple and he will complete it. That will be your confirmation that God-of-the-Angel-Armies sent me to you. Does anyone dare despise this day of small beginnings? They'll change their tune when they see Zerubbabel setting the last stone in place!" Going back to the vision, the Messenger-Angel said, "The seven lamps are the eyes of God probing the dark corners of the world like searchlights."
• If you hit a setback then begin again!
• Philippians 1:6 NIV
  being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

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

• When you dance in the freedom that you have God gives you more freedom.
• I'm released from everything except doing my best.
• Faith is now and God has everything that I need. God is working through me for his good pleasure.
• God has my victory in His hands.
• My blessing is in stock for future release.
• I'm not under my circumstances, I'm

David had to go on the run after he received the promise that he'd be the next king. He was in the wilderness where he couldn't see anything happening. He had to reminded of who he was and what God had promised (1 Samuel 25)

A group went fishing and the people who knew that area told the leader that if he found himself near a certain place to head dew north and he'd make it back to dock (that was the promise). Well they went fishing and a thick fog set in limiting their visibility. The leader noticed where he was and told them to head dew north. The trip was taking long and the others started to plant seeds of doubt but he kept going and they made it back. When things look foggy, you just have to keep going.

Genesis 30:22-24 MSG
And then God remembered Rachel. God listened to her and opened her womb. She became pregnant and had a son. She said, "God has taken away my humiliation." She named him Joseph (Add), praying, "May God add yet another son to me."

God doesn't forget even after you give up because I don't have the final say, God does.

Paul Osteen (http://www.paulosteen.com/who-we-are/) Re

Mary and Martha wanted Jesus to heal Lazarus, but He had a resurrection in mind! Sometimes you think God is too late, but he has something better in mind. (John 11)

Zechariah 4:8-10 MSG
After that, the Word of God came to me: "Zerubbabel started rebuilding this Temple and he will complete it. That will be your confirmation that God-of-the-Angel-Armies sent me to you. Does anyone dare despise this day of small beginnings? They'll change their tune when they see Zerubbabel setting the last stone in place!" Going back to the vision, the Messenger-Angel said, "The seven lamps are the eyes of God probing the dark corners of the world like searchlights."

If you hit a setback then begin again!

Philippians 1:6 NIV
being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

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

When you dance in the freedom that you have God gives you more freedom.

I'm released from everything except doing my best.

Faith is now and God has everything that I need. God is working through me for his good pleasure.

God has my victory in His hands.

My blessing is in stock for future release.

I'm not under my circumstances, I'm

Making God A Part of Your Everyday Life

• Joel @ Lakewood Church
• 
  
• ·Some people put God in a Sunday morning box, but he wants to be the center of my life; at work, at the grocery store, etc...
• Proverbs 3:6 NIV
  in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.
• There are somethings that you may be able to do in your own strength but when we acknowledge God, he crowns your efforts.
• 1 Thessalonians 5:17 NIV
  pray continually,
• You should have an attitude of prayer.

John 15:5-8 NIV
"I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.    If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.    If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.    This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

• When you humble yourself and admit that you can't do things on your own then God will exalt you. When you do this it's a sign of strength and if you can't then it's a sign of pride.
• Hebrews 11:6 KJV
  But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
• God rewards you for making an effort.
• Matthew 6:33 NIV
  But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
• One translation of seek says, to make it a vital necessity. Your life should depend on it and it shouldn't be an option. You may have to rearrange a few things to make God a priority.
• John 4:14 NIV
  but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life."
• Our praise should outweigh our petitions.
• When you talk to God talk to Him the way that you talk to your friends; when you talk to God speak the scripture even if you don't understand it because the Word is a living seed that will take root and sprout when needed because the holy spirit is your teacher.

*******Victoria Osteen @ Lakewood*******

1. We are ambassadors of peace and ambassadors represent.
• Romans 12:18 NIV
  If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.
2. You have to settle it in your heart that you will be at peace. That doesn't mean that you lay down and let someone make you a doormat.
• 2 Timothy 1:7 NIV
  For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.
3. When your heart and mind are not at.peace then you begin to react instead of respond.
• Philippians 4:7 NIV
  And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
4. You have to learn to manage some relationships and you have to always pray for people who seen "hard to manage".
• Psalm 34:14 NIV
  Turn from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it.
5. Seek means that you have to take action and pursue means that you can't stop.

Taking Control of Your Happiness

Joel Osteen @ Lakewood Church

• A lot of people are sacrificing their own happiness to keep everyone happy. We are not responsible for anyone else's happiness. If someone gets upset because you don't help them then they are trying to manipulate you. That person will never be free if you keep being a crutch. If that person is not taking responsibility and you keep giving in you are not dealing with the real problem.
• You need to cut the strings. It's like a toddler throwing a fit. As long as someone can pressure you they will keep doing it.
• Life is too short to go through life sacrificing your dreams for people who make poor decision.
• I am not the potter, God is. The best thing sometimes is to not rescue the person.
• You have to put your foot down and say I love you but I'm not going to feel guilty because I'm not making someone happy.
• Luke 15:17 NLT
  "When he finally came to his senses, he said to himself, 'At home even the hired servants have food enough to spare, and here I am dying of hunger!
• Sometimes people have to come to a place where no one is bailing them out.
• Be careful of high maintenance people.
• Lift, thrust, weight, and drag are the factors of flight. People will usually fall into one of these categories. Make sure you spend the majority of your time with lifters and thrusters.
• You can't go where God is taking you with certain people on board.
• Get prayed up, praised up, and encouraged before you go to places where you have to be around weights and drags. You can't go into the day in neutral.

******Victoria Osteen @ Lakewood Church ******

Psalms 44:5 NLT
Only by your power can we push back our enemies; only in your name can we trample our foes.

We need to take the pressure off of ourselves, it's not our work, it's God's power.

Victoria sat there for a day waiting for the fog to lift so that they could enjoy themselves. What made it worse is that the weatherman said that it would be sunny. Finally they went down to the lobby to find something to do and the concierge told them that 10 minutes down the road it was clear and sunny. It had only been a pocket of fog. That's what a lot of people do, they sit in a fog waiting to enjoy life when they really need to get up and move around.

Thank you for the S-O-N, he's always shining.

Get Over It

JOEL @ LAKEWOOD CHURCH

• A lot of people go through life thinking that people owe them something. Your poor upbringing, that bad relationship, none of it was a surprise for God. God wasn't having a bad day when he made me.
• Psalms 139:14 NLT
  Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.
• You can be pitiful or you can be powerful but you can't be both.
• God has given me the grace that I need to run my race. So I don't need to start comparing myself to others because I'm anointed to be me.
• God had already arranged a comeback for every setback.
• If anyone had a right to have a chip on their shoulder it was Job. There he was living right and he lost everything.
• It's very easy to make an excuse for being bitter. Sometimes we want things from people that they don't have. If you only look to people, they will always let you down. No one person can meet all of your needs, they will always fall short. Let people off of the hook. When you are bitter it poisons every area of your life.
• It's easy to remember what we didn't get.
• Psalms 27:10 NLT
  Even if my father and mother abandon me, the L ord will hold me close.
• Matthew 5:45 NLT
  In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike.
• A bitter root will always produce bitter fruit. If the whole world stinks then maybe you need to make some changes on the inside. When we don't let things go it doesn't hurt the other person, it hurts you. You forgive for your own sake.
• Hebrews 12:15 AMP
  Exercise foresight and be on the watch to look [after one another], to see that no one falls back from and fails to secure God's grace (His unmerited favor and spiritual blessing), in order that no root of resentment (rancor, bitterness, or hatred) shoots forth and causes trouble and bitter torment, and the many become contaminated and defiled by it--
• Mordecai Peter Centennial Brown(October 19, 1876 – February 14, 1948), nicknamed "Three Finger" or "Miner", was an American Major League Baseball pitcher at the turn of the 20th century. Due to a farm-machinery accident in his youth, Brown lost parts of two fingers on his right hand[1] and eventually acquired his nickname as a result. Overcoming this handicap and turning it to his advantage, he became one of the elite pitchers of his era.
• Your handicap can become your advantage if you just get over it.