Speaker 1: Hi, it's Joel and Victoria. What a joy to be
Speaker 1: with you today. We always counted an honor. Know that
Speaker 1: we're praying for you and your family we share. Hope
Speaker 1: you enjoy this podcast today and we just are praying
Speaker 1: for you and know that God is for you, so
Speaker 1: enjoy today's message. God bless you. It's great to be
Speaker 1: with you today, and I hope you stay connected with
Speaker 1: us during the week through our daily podcast on YouTube channel,
Speaker 1: social media, and you can come visit us in person.
Speaker 1: We'd love to have you be a part of one
Speaker 1: of our services. But I'd like to start with something funny.
Speaker 1: And I heard about these two men named Archie and Jack.
Speaker 1: They had debated their whole life as to whether Jesus
Speaker 1: was white or whether he was black. Archie was certain
Speaker 1: he was white. Jack was just as certain he was black.
Speaker 1: As fate would have it, they died on the same
Speaker 1: day and rushed to the pearly gates, said, Saint Peter,
Speaker 1: please tell us. We've been arguing our whole life. Is
Speaker 1: Jesus white or is he black? About that time, Jesus
Speaker 1: stepped up and said, all right, guys, say it like
Speaker 1: you mean it. This is my Bible. I am what
Speaker 1: it says I am. I have what it says I have.
Speaker 1: I can do what it says I can do. Today
Speaker 1: I will be taught the word of God. I'll boldly confess.
Speaker 1: My mind is alert, my heart is receptive. I will
Speaker 1: never be the same. In Jesus' name, God bless you.
Speaker 1: I want to talk to you today about the courage
Speaker 1: to get well. We all have areas where we're not
Speaker 1: being our best. Something is limiting us, lack of confidence, unforgiveness,
Speaker 1: and addiction. We don't like it. We know it's holding
Speaker 1: us back, but often we learn to live with it.
Speaker 1: Human nature leans toward what's comfortable. It's not change we resist.
Speaker 1: It's what's required of change. It's easier to stay the same.
Speaker 1: If we accept it and let it become a part
Speaker 1: of us, we won't have to stretch and put forth
Speaker 1: more effort. It becomes normal to us. We can get
Speaker 1: comfortable with self pity, in comfortable with bitterness, comfortable with
Speaker 1: the bad attitude. We have an excuse. I can't forgive Joel.
Speaker 1: They hurt me too badly. I know I'm hot tempered,
Speaker 1: but that's how I was raised. I'll never be successful
Speaker 1: with the mistakes I've made. I'm carrying this guilt and shame.
Speaker 1: As long as you normalize it, that lesser version of
Speaker 1: you will stay. You'll adapt to your conditions and learn
Speaker 1: to function in the dysfunction. That's not who God made
Speaker 1: you to be. There is a better version of you,
Speaker 1: a healthy you, a free you, a blessed, confident, successful you.
Speaker 1: Here's the key. The new you won't show up as
Speaker 1: long as you're allowing the old you to stay. If
Speaker 1: you're accepting the mediocrity, the self pity, the dysfunction that's
Speaker 1: going to keep you from your destiny. Getting well takes courage.
Speaker 1: Being free will cost you something. If it was easy,
Speaker 1: everyone would do it. It's going to cost you excuses, no
Speaker 1: more finding reasons to justify it. It will cost you
Speaker 1: some comfort. You have to be disciplined and be willing
Speaker 1: to do the hard thing so you can see change.
Speaker 1: It may cost you some friends and getting out of
Speaker 1: limiting environments. If you're dealing with an addiction, you can't
Speaker 1: hang around other people who are addicted. If you do
Speaker 1: that long enough, the addiction becomes normal. That's just who
Speaker 1: we are. Everybody's this way now. That's because you're in
Speaker 1: the wrong environment. If you're always around people who are jealous, bitter,
Speaker 1: can't pay their bills, that's going to become normal to you.
Speaker 1: Where you lower your expectations and convince yourself that's who
Speaker 1: you are, or you're better than that. You are made
Speaker 1: in the image of Almighty God. He created you to
Speaker 1: rule and to reign. There's a new you on the
Speaker 1: inside God, ready to rise up, break free and reach
Speaker 1: new levels. Now do your part and have the courage
Speaker 1: to leave what's comfortable. The courage to get away from
Speaker 1: people who are enabling dysfunction and limiting your growth. The
Speaker 1: courage to have a new mindset, not live with insecurity.
Speaker 1: Not enough, can't do it. Get rid of the old
Speaker 1: so the new you can show up. John Chapter five.
Speaker 1: There was a man that had been crippled for thirty
Speaker 1: eight years. Every morning, his family would carry him to
Speaker 1: the pool of Bethesda. It was known to have healing waters.
Speaker 1: Once a year, when the angel stirred the water, the
Speaker 1: first person in would be healed. The scripture says a
Speaker 1: great multitude of sick people came each day, the blind,
Speaker 1: the lame, the paralyzed. Everywhere this man looked, he saw
Speaker 1: people just like him. With great problems, struggling. Some were groaning,
Speaker 1: some could and talk. Somewhere very old and about to pass.
Speaker 1: I can hear the conversations people talking about all that
Speaker 1: was wrong, hoping they can just make it through another day.
Speaker 1: Was an atmosphere of defeat and disappointment. For thirty eight years.
Speaker 1: That's all this man is known. What a limited, dysfunctional
Speaker 1: way to live. But to this man, it was normal.
Speaker 1: That was his world, That's what he did every day.
Speaker 1: Your environment has a way of normalizing your condition. If
Speaker 1: you're around people that complain all the time, complaining is
Speaker 1: going to feel normal. If everyone around you is negative,
Speaker 1: negative is going to feel normal. If everyone's unfaithful in relationships,
Speaker 1: being unfaithful is going to feel normal to you. And
Speaker 1: the challenge is when something becomes normal, we stop seeing
Speaker 1: it as a limitation and something we need to overcome,
Speaker 1: and we take it on as a part of who
Speaker 1: we are. Your environment is conditioning you how you were raised.
Speaker 1: The people you work around, your community, they may be
Speaker 1: good people, but perhaps they have issues. They're sitting by
Speaker 1: the pool, so to speak, disappointed talking about what didn't
Speaker 1: work out. Don't let their example become who you are.
Speaker 1: They may be stuff they gave up on their dream
Speaker 1: they won't forgive. But you're the exception. You're the one
Speaker 1: God raised up to break out of the limited environment.
Speaker 1: Recognize that's not normal, that's not who you were created
Speaker 1: to be. This man had been going to the pool
Speaker 1: for thirty eight years. He had his routine down, and
Speaker 1: every morning his family would get him dressed and bring
Speaker 1: him breakfast. Then they would carry him to the pool
Speaker 1: and set him in the same place. He would talk
Speaker 1: to the same people, friends he had known for decades
Speaker 1: that were crippled and blind in great need. Every evening
Speaker 1: his family had come make him up and take him home,
Speaker 1: help him to bed. He never saw people who were
Speaker 1: pursuing dreams, building their businesses, and passionate about their family
Speaker 1: and thanking God for another day. He saw just the opposite.
Speaker 1: His normal was dysfunction and defeat. One afternoon, Jesus came
Speaker 1: walking by. He saw the man and went over to him.
Speaker 1: He said, sir, do you want to get well? That
Speaker 1: seemed like such an odd question. Of course, he wanted
Speaker 1: to get well, That's why everyone came to the pool
Speaker 1: each day. But Jesus was asking something much deeper. He
Speaker 1: knew The man had been there for thirty eight years.
Speaker 1: He was saying, in effect, are you willing to leave
Speaker 1: what you've become accustomed to. Are you willing to give
Speaker 1: up that old routine that you've done for thirty eight
Speaker 1: years and take on new responsibility? Are you willing to
Speaker 1: get rid of the excuses? Because if he got healed,
Speaker 1: it wasn't just about his legs. His whole life change.
Speaker 1: Nobody would have to carry him to the pool, he
Speaker 1: could walk where he went. Nobody would bring him food
Speaker 1: each day and cater to him. He would have to work.
Speaker 1: Jesus was saying, I want to change things for you.
Speaker 1: I want to make it much better. But it's going
Speaker 1: to cost you something. It's going to take courage to
Speaker 1: get well. You can't go back to the pool what
Speaker 1: you've been used to. You can't hang around those same
Speaker 1: friends each day. They're dysfunctional. That's not you anymore. Getting
Speaker 1: well means you have to make changes. But some people
Speaker 1: choose to stay at the pool because it's comfortable. The insecurity,
Speaker 1: they're not good enough, the guilt, they know it's limiting them,
Speaker 1: but it's familiar, it's what they're used to. Change requires effort,
Speaker 1: it's not just God snapping his fingers, healing and freeing.
Speaker 1: There are things that we have to be willing to do.
Speaker 1: Some people stay at the pool of compromise, bad habits.
Speaker 1: I know these friends are not good for me, Joel,
Speaker 1: but I don't want to have to find new friends.
Speaker 1: I like them. Do you want to get well? Getting
Speaker 1: well will disrupt old patterns. Getting well means you can't
Speaker 1: rely on excuses. I'm this way because of what they
Speaker 1: did to me, because of what I didn't get. Excuses
Speaker 1: will keep you at the pool. Quit blaming people, blaming
Speaker 1: your boss, blaming your government. Nothing that's happened to you
Speaker 1: has stopped your purpose. It may not have been fair,
Speaker 1: but God saw it. He knows how to make it
Speaker 1: up to you, how to give you beauty for those ashes.
Speaker 1: But you can't stay at the pool nursing your wounds,
Speaker 1: thinking about who did you wrong, reliving the hurt. You
Speaker 1: can't change any of that that's in the past. The
Speaker 1: question is do you want to get well? Do you
Speaker 1: want to see God pay you back? Then you can't
Speaker 1: stay at the pool of self pace, letting the chip
Speaker 1: on your shoulder, the bitterness, the unforgiveness, become normal to you.
Speaker 1: You may have a good reason, a good excuse. Look
Speaker 1: what happened when you get well. The excuses go away.
Speaker 1: No more people to blame, no more reason to shrink
Speaker 1: back and live intimidating, no more reason to be sour
Speaker 1: and critical. There's new responsibility to getting well, being free
Speaker 1: and whome. Jesus asked the man a very simple question,
Speaker 1: Do you want to get well? Yes or no? Seem
Speaker 1: like an easy answer. This is a no brainer. Yes,
Speaker 1: I want to get well. I don't want to go
Speaker 1: back to that pool another day. But after thirty eight years,
Speaker 1: strongholds can form in our mind. We resist change because
Speaker 1: things have become so normal and so routine. Instead of
Speaker 1: answering with faith and confidence, yes, I want to get well,
Speaker 1: the man said, Sir, I don't have anybody to help me.
Speaker 1: Every time the angel'll come, somebody gets in before me.
Speaker 1: Excuses will keep you from getting well. Telling God what
Speaker 1: you don't have, what you can't do, that's going to
Speaker 1: keep you at the pool. God isn't asking you to
Speaker 1: heal yourself. He's asking are you willing to deal with
Speaker 1: the changes when he takes you to a higher level?
Speaker 1: Will you not go back to that pool and stay
Speaker 1: in dysfunction, Will you quit making excuses to not pursue
Speaker 1: your destiny. This man was known as the crippled man
Speaker 1: by the pool. We don't have his name in the scripture.
Speaker 1: His whole identity was on what he had been through.
Speaker 1: If Jesus healed him, he'd have to be willing to
Speaker 1: change his identity. He'd no longer be the crippled man,
Speaker 1: no longer have people feeling sorry for him, catering to him,
Speaker 1: having all that attention because what he'd been through. Some
Speaker 1: people become known by the hurts, the loss, the bad
Speaker 1: thing instead have happened to them. It becomes their identity.
Speaker 1: It's a victim mindset. Man. I went to a bad
Speaker 1: break up Joel my company let me go. It wasn't fair.
Speaker 1: I lost a loved one. If you're going to get well,
Speaker 1: you have to get rid of that old identity. That's
Speaker 1: what happened to you, is not who you are. You
Speaker 1: are still a child of the most tied God, valuable,
Speaker 1: a masterpiece. We're in a crown of favor. Don't let
Speaker 1: what you've been through distort who God says you are.
Speaker 1: The enemy would love for you to live as a
Speaker 1: victim and always had that on the forefront of your mind,
Speaker 1: where you're bittering, you have a chip on your shoulder,
Speaker 1: not expecting anything good. No God is asking you today,
Speaker 1: do you want to get well? It's going to cost
Speaker 1: you something, no more finding reasons to stay at the
Speaker 1: pool and why you can't be successful. It'll cost you
Speaker 1: the wrong identity. You have to give up, the defeated you,
Speaker 1: that hurt you, the not good enough you. It'll cost
Speaker 1: you being comfortable, staying in your routine where it's safe,
Speaker 1: the same friends, the same environment dislimiting you. You can't
Speaker 1: stay at the pool and reach your destiny. The pool
Speaker 1: was a place of healing. It's not your permanent home.
Speaker 1: One reason Jesus asked the crippled man, do you want
Speaker 1: to get well? Is he wanted to know if I
Speaker 1: heal you, are you gonna stay at this fool? Are
Speaker 1: you gonna get the same mindset? Are you gonna go
Speaker 1: out and fulfill your purpose and step into the greatness
Speaker 1: that I put in you? See, the Israelites had been
Speaker 1: in slavery for four hundred years, mistreated and taken advantage of.
Speaker 1: They were at the pools, so to speak. All they
Speaker 1: had known was struggle and hardship. Well, God sent Moses
Speaker 1: to deliver them, and after ten generations they were finally free,
Speaker 1: a dream come true. They left Egypt, headed through the
Speaker 1: desert toward the promised land. They got next to it,
Speaker 1: the land flowing with milk and honey. But the spies
Speaker 1: came back, told Moses the people were too big, they
Speaker 1: could never defeat them. Well, God had already promised them
Speaker 1: the victory. But when they heard the negative report and
Speaker 1: how big the people were, they were so afraid. They said, Moses,
Speaker 1: let's go back to Egypt. Let's go back to being slaves,
Speaker 1: being oppressed, being told what to do. That's how powerful
Speaker 1: wrong mindsets are. Who would want to go back to
Speaker 1: being a slave. They could have said, let's just go
Speaker 1: live somewhere else where there's no opposition, But slavery had
Speaker 1: become normal to them, being talked down to, forced to
Speaker 1: work long hours. That was their routine. As long as
Speaker 1: they were slaves. They weren't responsible for where they lived
Speaker 1: and what they did. It was up to someone else.
Speaker 1: God delivered them, but they weren't willing to pay the cost.
Speaker 1: They wanted to keep their old identity, Their same excuses,
Speaker 1: same neighbors, same environment. They got stuck. Don't be like them.
Speaker 1: It takes courage to get well. You have to be
Speaker 1: willing to be uncomfortable for a season, to stretch and
Speaker 1: face opposition without being weak and turning back. It may
Speaker 1: mean you have to change relationships that are limiting your
Speaker 1: growth and keeping you from flourishing. Perhaps this wrong mindsese
Speaker 1: self pity. Look what I've been through. A chip on
Speaker 1: your shoulder. Life is too short to live that way.
Speaker 1: Do you want to get well? Don't answer like the
Speaker 1: crippled man. Come up with excuse it, Joe, you don't
Speaker 1: know what's happened to me. The right answer is yes,
Speaker 1: I want to get well, and I'm willing to change.
Speaker 1: I'm willing to get out of my routine. I'm willing
Speaker 1: to take on a new identity. I read about a
Speaker 1: man that had been in prison for thirty one years.
Speaker 1: He served his time and was finally released. Some volunteers
Speaker 1: took him to a sheltered stay, gave him clothing and food.
Speaker 1: They had a program to help him find a job
Speaker 1: and get back into society. But a week later, the
Speaker 1: man was sleeping on the sidewalk in front of the prison.
Speaker 1: The guards came out and said, what are you doing here? Man?
Speaker 1: You're free, go enjoy your life. He would leave. A
Speaker 1: couple weeks later, he went to a grocery store and
Speaker 1: stole some items. He waited outside for the police to come.
Speaker 1: When they arrested him, he told the officer, I want
Speaker 1: to go back to prison. I don't know how to
Speaker 1: be free. We can get so accustomed to something, even
Speaker 1: if it's not good for us, that we don't want
Speaker 1: to change. It's easy for us as an outsider to
Speaker 1: see it. Man, don't go back to prison. But sometimes
Speaker 1: you can't see it yourself. You have to get honest
Speaker 1: and ask God to help you to see any areas
Speaker 1: where you're self sabotaging, where you're letting the old use
Speaker 1: stay simply because it's familiar. Change. God will help you
Speaker 1: break out of those strongolds. He'll help you break free
Speaker 1: from negative patterns. That may be the way it's been,
Speaker 1: But this is a new day. Freedom is coming. Heally
Speaker 1: is coming. Victory is coming. But it's easy to want
Speaker 1: to say at the pool because it lowers expectations. As
Speaker 1: long as the man was at the pool, nobody expected
Speaker 1: him to walk, or to go work, or to travel
Speaker 1: or to help someone else. He's limited, he's at the disadvantage,
Speaker 1: and people would comebine, I'm sorry you're going through this.
Speaker 1: Can I get you some water? Do you need some food?
Speaker 1: They'd cater to it. But if he gets healed, the
Speaker 1: questions would change to what dreams are you pursuing? What
Speaker 1: are you gonna do with the gifts God has given you?
Speaker 1: Who are you gonna be a blessing to today? There's
Speaker 1: a responsibility with being made well. No more excuses to
Speaker 1: be complacent, feel sorry for yourself the wounds. Now, I
Speaker 1: know things happen in life that can kind of knock
Speaker 1: the wind out of us. A sickness, a loss, a
Speaker 1: bad break. It's easy to lower our expectations, push down
Speaker 1: the promises. A man, it's too late for me, joel
Speaker 1: and I'm not worthy. I've been through too much. No,
Speaker 1: don't spend your life at the pool. You may go
Speaker 1: there for thirty eight days to find some healing, or
Speaker 1: even thirty eight weeks, but don't you dare stay there
Speaker 1: for thirty eight years. God is a god of justice.
Speaker 1: He knows what's happened to you. He saw the disappointment,
Speaker 1: the loss, the mistakes, the pool was a part of
Speaker 1: your story, but it's not the end of your stories.
Speaker 1: Jesus didn't get upset with the crippled man. He didn't
Speaker 1: berat him. Man, why are you making all these excuses?
Speaker 1: He simply looked at the man and said, rise up,
Speaker 1: take up your mat, and walk. But this man had
Speaker 1: never walked. He could have thought, what are you talking about?
Speaker 1: Can't you see that I'm crippled. Just a few minutes earlier,
Speaker 1: he was making excuses. But something shifted in his mind.
Speaker 1: A stronghold was broken. He thought, this pool is not
Speaker 1: my destiny. I'm made for more than this. He started
Speaker 1: to get up. The scripture says, immediately the man was healed.
Speaker 1: He rolled up his map and began walking. What's interesting
Speaker 1: is Jesus told him to rise up and walk before
Speaker 1: you was healed. Why is that? Healing requires obedience, Freedom
Speaker 1: requires action? Do you want to get well? The real
Speaker 1: question is are you willing to do what God is
Speaker 1: asking you to do? Will you rise up and take
Speaker 1: up your map? That may mean forgiving that person that
Speaker 1: did you wrong, distancing yourself from people that are pulling
Speaker 1: you down, or taking on a new identity, changing the
Speaker 1: way you're seeing yourself, not a victim, not a failure,
Speaker 1: not an addict, but a free, blessed, healthy, victorious person.
Speaker 1: Getting well starts with you. You do your part, and
Speaker 1: God'll do his father This is what my father did.
Speaker 1: He was raised very poor in a limited environment. His
Speaker 1: parents lost everything during the Great Depression, dropped out of
Speaker 1: high school to help on the farm. Poverty, lack, defeat,
Speaker 1: that's all he had known. That was normal to him.
Speaker 1: But he's seventeen years old. He was walking home from
Speaker 1: a nightclub at two o'clock in the morning. He knew
Speaker 1: nothing about God. He wasn't raised in church, didn't have
Speaker 1: any kind of faith background. But he looked up at
Speaker 1: the stars and for some reason he began to think
Speaker 1: about God and what he would do with his life.
Speaker 1: The scripture says God chose us before we could choose him.
Speaker 1: This was God saying, in effect, John, do you want
Speaker 1: to get well? Do you want to fulfill your purpose?
Speaker 1: Do you want to go places that you've never dreamed?
Speaker 1: My father didn't know what was happening, but that next
Speaker 1: morning he called a friend and said he wanted to
Speaker 1: go to church with him. That day he gave his
Speaker 1: life to Christ. The first one in his family. He
Speaker 1: felt this calling to become a minister, but he didn't
Speaker 1: have any training or experience, and he told his parents
Speaker 1: that he was going to leave home and go out
Speaker 1: and become a minister. They said, John, you don't know
Speaker 1: how to minister. All you know how to do is
Speaker 1: work on the farm with us. You're going to get
Speaker 1: out there and fall. They meant well, but they were saying,
Speaker 1: you better stay at the pool. We're crippled, we're poor,
Speaker 1: we're at a disadvantage. Daddy had a good excuse to
Speaker 1: stay there. Poor was normal to him. A limited mindset,
Speaker 1: low expectations. Don't think you can do anything significant. That's
Speaker 1: all he has seen. He was comfortable, but he wasn't satisfied.
Speaker 1: He knew there was more in him. To get well,
Speaker 1: he would have to break out of old patterns. He'd
Speaker 1: have to change friends, change his environment, take risk, stretch,
Speaker 1: takes courage to get well. It's going to cost you
Speaker 1: to reach your destiny. Playing it safe, living by the
Speaker 1: pool with low expectations, making excuses, that's the easy thing
Speaker 1: to do. But God didn't call you, equip you, empower you,
Speaker 1: anoint you, favor you, so you could take the easy
Speaker 1: way out. You weren't created to live at the pull.
Speaker 1: Rise up, take up your mat and walk. Rise up
Speaker 1: out of dysfunction, Rise up out of poverty and life,
Speaker 1: Rise up out of addictions and compromise, Rise up out
Speaker 1: of self pity and bitterness. If you'll make that first move,
Speaker 1: you'll feel God's strengthen your legs, healing your body, freeing
Speaker 1: you from addictions, launching you into your purpose. The healing
Speaker 1: is in the obedience, be willing to change. When my
Speaker 1: father was seventy five years old, he asked if Victoria
Speaker 1: and I would drive him back to Paris, Texas. That's
Speaker 1: where he was born, and he just wanted to reminisce
Speaker 1: and see some of the old sights. And we got
Speaker 1: there and found the old well from the farm where
Speaker 1: he was raised on him. We went into town and
Speaker 1: saw some people that knew one of his classmates. They
Speaker 1: told us how to get to his house, and we drove.
Speaker 1: There was this little shack with broken out windows, roof
Speaker 1: caving in the yard, was totally uncapt didn't look livable.
Speaker 1: We knocked on the door and this man answered, and
Speaker 1: he came out of the house and no shirt on,
Speaker 1: hadn't shaved hadn't combed, his hair looked very unkept. When
Speaker 1: my father told him who he was, and they couldn't
Speaker 1: believe they were seeing each other after sixty years. He
Speaker 1: invited us into his house and never forget there were
Speaker 1: buckets on the floor catching water dripping from the roof,
Speaker 1: very dilapidated. My father asked what he'd done with his life,
Speaker 1: and he told how he had a job down at
Speaker 1: the boat docks for a while pumping gas, but he
Speaker 1: was laid off forty years ago and hadn't been able
Speaker 1: to find work, and how life had been very, very hard.
Speaker 1: That day made such an impression on me. Here two
Speaker 1: men were raised in the same environment, same school, same poverty,
Speaker 1: same hardship. But my father went on to do great
Speaker 1: things pastor churches, raise his family, impact the world. This
Speaker 1: man never got out of the poverty and dysfunction he
Speaker 1: was raised in. The difference was he stayed by the pool,
Speaker 1: he let the dysfunction become normal. He took on that
Speaker 1: identity we're poor, not up to par, have a good
Speaker 1: reason to be this way. It takes courage to get well.
Speaker 1: It's going to cost you something. I wouldn't be here
Speaker 1: today if my father wasn't willing to pay the price.
Speaker 1: Some people are stuck not because God won't free them,
Speaker 1: but because they're comfortable in dysfunction. That was the difference
Speaker 1: between that man and my father. My father was at
Speaker 1: the pool, but he knew that pool was in his home.
Speaker 1: He had this fire, this passion to stretch to believe,
Speaker 1: knowing that God was breathing on his life. Are there
Speaker 1: areas where you're living with less than God's best and
Speaker 1: it's become normal. You've accepted it Lord expectations. Now you're
Speaker 1: at the pool, comfortable with an addiction, comfortable with unforgiveness,
Speaker 1: comfortable with lack and not enough. God doesn't want you
Speaker 1: to stay at the pool. He knew exactly where you
Speaker 1: would be. Jesus went to the pool and found this man.
Speaker 1: It's not an accident that you're hearing this today. God
Speaker 1: is saying to you. Do you want to get well?
Speaker 1: Do you want some relief? Do you want help functioning
Speaker 1: in the problem. God didn't come to help you live
Speaker 1: better by the pool. He came to get you out
Speaker 1: of that pool. Jesus said to the man, rise up,
Speaker 1: take up your mat and walk. You would think you
Speaker 1: tell him, just rise up, and walk. Now. He said,
Speaker 1: pick up your mat, because you're not going to be
Speaker 1: coming back here. This is a new day, a breakthrough day,
Speaker 1: a destiny day. No more excuses, no more letting comfort
Speaker 1: keep us from our calling. If you'll pick up your
Speaker 1: mat and move forward, I believe and declare supernatural strength
Speaker 1: is coming, healing, freedom, breakthroughs, the fullness of your destiny
Speaker 1: in Jesus' name, And if you receive it, can you
Speaker 1: say amen? I'd like to give you an opportunity to
Speaker 1: make Jesus the Lord of your life. Would you pray
Speaker 1: with me? Just say, Lord, Jesus, I repent of my sins,
Speaker 1: Come into my heart. I make you my Lord and savior.
Speaker 1: If you've prayed that simple prayer, we believe you go
Speaker 1: born again, and we'd love to send you some free
Speaker 1: information on your new walk with the Lord. You can
Speaker 1: text the number on the screen or go to the website.
Speaker 1: But I hope you'll get into a good Bible based
Speaker 1: church and keep God first place. It's amazing what happens
Speaker 1: when you take a few moments throughout the day to
Speaker 1: connect with God, a moment to thank him for his goodness,
Speaker 1: a moment to declare his promises a moment to remember
Speaker 1: that he's working. Now love to send him a new resource,
Speaker 1: three Minute Moments with God. These short readings will help
Speaker 1: you refocus your thoughts, gain a fresh perspective knowing that
Speaker 1: God is ordering your steps. You don't need hours to
Speaker 1: connect with God. In just a few minutes, you can
Speaker 1: turn your thoughts toward Him and be encouraged by his promises.
Speaker 1: As you make time for him, you'll have greater peace
Speaker 1: and strength, and you'll step into the favor that belongs
Speaker 1: to you.
Speaker 2: Three Minute Moments with God is a powerful new devotional
Speaker 2: designed to meet you right where you are inside. You'll
Speaker 2: find topical readings for whatever you're facing, whether you need peace, wisdom, healing,
Speaker 2: or hope. Each one is filled with scripture and encouraging thought,
Speaker 2: a heartfelt prayer, and faith building declarations. So in just
Speaker 2: a few focused minutes, you can quiet the noise, turn
Speaker 2: your heart toward God, and set the atmosphere for Him
Speaker 2: to move. It's yours. As a thank you for your
Speaker 2: gift to the ministry today, be sure to request your
Speaker 2: copy of three Minute Moments with God available this month,
Speaker 2: by visiting us at Joelostein dot com or call eight
Speaker 2: eight eight five six seven, Joel.
Speaker 1: Know today that God has you in the palm of
Speaker 1: his hand. As you take time to acknowledge Him throughout
Speaker 1: the day, He's going to fight your battles and get
Speaker 1: you to where you're supposed to be. Victoria and I
Speaker 1: are praying for you and your family every day. Thank
Speaker 1: you so much for your prayer and support. Your generosity
Speaker 1: takes this message of hope to people all over the
Speaker 1: world who need their own moment with God. A special
Speaker 1: thank you to our champion of Hope partners. You monthly
Speaker 1: support makes a difference every single day. If you're not
Speaker 1: a partner, I hope you'll consider becoming one. Until next time,
Speaker 1: make the Lord bless you and keep you.
Speaker 2: Be sure to request your copy of three Minute Moments
Speaker 2: with God available this month by visiting us at Joelostein
Speaker 2: dot com or call eight eight eight five six seven Joel.
Speaker 2: With an additional gift, you can also receive the three
Speaker 2: Minute Promise, Power and Authority Collection featuring Abundance, Assurance and Authority.
Speaker 2: A rich, empowering study drawn from the Passion translation. It
Speaker 2: opens up who you already are in Christ, what's already yours?
Speaker 2: And the authority you already carry because your next moment
Speaker 2: with God could change everything. Know who you are, walk
Speaker 2: in what's yours, Step into every moment with conf evidends.
Speaker 2: You can request these inspiring resources by calling eight eight
Speaker 2: eight five six seven Joel or logging on to joelostein
Speaker 2: dot com today call or click anytime, twenty four hours
Speaker 2: a day