WEBVTT - Ease Is Coming | Joel Osteen 0:00:01.160 --> 0:00:02.840 What a joy to be with you today. 0:00:02.920 --> 0:00:05.280 If we're praying for you and your family, I know 0:00:05.360 --> 0:00:08.360 God has great things in store. You wouldn't be alive 0:00:08.480 --> 0:00:10.879 if there weren't more victories in front of you. So 0:00:11.240 --> 0:00:13.440 now that we love you, we're praying for you, and hey, 0:00:13.440 --> 0:00:15.200 I hope you'll stay tuned to the very end. We've 0:00:15.240 --> 0:00:19.600 got some special resources to help you stay encouraged and inspired. Well, 0:00:19.600 --> 0:00:22.639 God bless you. It's a joy to come into your homes. 0:00:22.680 --> 0:00:25.320 And if you're ever in our area, please stop by 0:00:25.360 --> 0:00:27.600 and be a part of one of our services. I 0:00:27.760 --> 0:00:31.120 promise you we'll make you feel right at home. I 0:00:31.240 --> 0:00:33.480 like to start with something funny, and I heard about 0:00:33.520 --> 0:00:36.960 this mother. She had two young boys that were known 0:00:37.120 --> 0:00:41.960 for their mischievous behavior. Anytime trouble occurred, they were certain 0:00:42.000 --> 0:00:44.760 to be a part. She decided to take them one 0:00:44.840 --> 0:00:48.040 at a time to see their pastor. The pastor said 0:00:48.040 --> 0:00:51.360 to the first young boy, son, where is God? He 0:00:51.440 --> 0:00:55.280 sat there silently. He asked again, where is God? Still 0:00:55.320 --> 0:00:58.560 no reply. The third time the pastor asked, the young 0:00:58.600 --> 0:01:01.360 boy bolted out the door, ran home and said to 0:01:01.400 --> 0:01:05.120 his brother, God is missing. And they think we did it. 0:01:06.120 --> 0:01:08.760 Say it like you mean it. This is my Bible. 0:01:09.160 --> 0:01:11.480 I am what it says I am. I have what 0:01:11.560 --> 0:01:14.040 it says I have. I can do what it says 0:01:14.080 --> 0:01:16.720 I can do. Today I will be taught the word 0:01:16.800 --> 0:01:20.720 of God. I boldly confess. My mind is alert, my 0:01:20.840 --> 0:01:25.119 heart is receptive. I will never be the same. In Jesus' name, 0:01:25.600 --> 0:01:28.919 God bless you. I want to talk to you today 0:01:29.000 --> 0:01:33.480 about ease is coming. We all go through seasons of 0:01:33.600 --> 0:01:38.319 struggle when it feels like it's uphill. There's pressure raising children. 0:01:38.880 --> 0:01:41.440 Maybe you're believing for your health to improve, but it's 0:01:41.480 --> 0:01:45.400 not getting better. Too often we get discouraged and think 0:01:45.520 --> 0:01:49.360 that's just the way life is. In Matthew chapter eleven, 0:01:49.760 --> 0:01:53.680 Jesus talked about how the Kingdom of Heaven suffers violence 0:01:54.000 --> 0:01:56.840 and you have to take it by force. He was 0:01:56.920 --> 0:02:00.240 telling us there will be seasons where you have to 0:02:00.320 --> 0:02:03.160 stand strong and really fight the good fight of faith. 0:02:04.040 --> 0:02:07.720 But a few verses later in the same chapter, he said, 0:02:08.200 --> 0:02:12.040 my yoke is easy and my burden is light. He 0:02:12.200 --> 0:02:17.559 was saying there will be times of struggle, pressure, difficulties, 0:02:17.919 --> 0:02:21.880 but don't get discouraged. That's not permanent. What I'm putting 0:02:21.919 --> 0:02:26.440 on you. My yoke it's easy, it's light. You may 0:02:26.480 --> 0:02:30.080 be struggling now, you feel pressured. You think that's the 0:02:30.120 --> 0:02:33.000 way it's always going to be. You'll always struggle with 0:02:33.040 --> 0:02:37.359 your health, struggle in a relationship, struggle in your finances. No, 0:02:37.560 --> 0:02:40.680 you're going to come in to an anointing of ease. 0:02:41.360 --> 0:02:44.359 And when you come into this ease, what once was 0:02:44.400 --> 0:02:48.000 a struggle won't be a struggle anymore. You're going to 0:02:48.040 --> 0:02:52.200 have a supernatural grace of favor that will lighten the 0:02:52.240 --> 0:02:55.640 load and take the pressure off. God is going to 0:02:55.720 --> 0:02:59.400 make your life easier. He said, he would go before 0:02:59.480 --> 0:03:03.720 you and make your crooked places straight. That means he's 0:03:03.760 --> 0:03:07.800 going to smooth things out. You're coming into a season 0:03:08.080 --> 0:03:11.240 where things are going to fall into place. You're going 0:03:11.280 --> 0:03:14.880 to get breaks that you didn't see coming. Problems that 0:03:14.960 --> 0:03:18.160 you thought were permanent are suddenly going to turn around. 0:03:18.760 --> 0:03:23.280 You are not going to go through life constantly struggling, pressured, 0:03:23.680 --> 0:03:27.280 weighted down by problems. This is a new day. Ease 0:03:27.480 --> 0:03:31.880 is coming, David said. God anoints my head with oil. 0:03:32.600 --> 0:03:37.200 Oil makes things flow. When there's friction, things that are stuck. 0:03:37.520 --> 0:03:40.520 Oil is used to lubricate it to make it more fluid. 0:03:41.160 --> 0:03:45.040 God is going to oil your life. This anointing is 0:03:45.080 --> 0:03:48.200 going to cause things to be easier. You're going to 0:03:48.280 --> 0:03:52.920 accomplish more with less effort. What stopped you in the past, 0:03:53.280 --> 0:03:56.520 what's caused friction, is not going to stop you anymore. 0:03:56.600 --> 0:04:00.880 You're going to flow right past that. You're english goals 0:04:01.000 --> 0:04:04.480 and think that was easier than I thought, never dreamed 0:04:04.480 --> 0:04:08.960 it happened that quickly. That's this anointing of ease. There's 0:04:09.000 --> 0:04:12.040 a large company that has a slogan that says that 0:04:12.240 --> 0:04:15.120 was easy. A few years ago, a friend of mine 0:04:15.360 --> 0:04:18.440 sent me their big red button. When you push it, 0:04:18.440 --> 0:04:23.000 it says that was easy. Now. I keep this by 0:04:23.040 --> 0:04:26.360 my bathroom sink there on the counter. Every so often 0:04:26.400 --> 0:04:29.520 I reach over and push this button. I like to 0:04:29.560 --> 0:04:32.839 get that phrase down in my spirit because it's easy 0:04:32.880 --> 0:04:35.880 to go through life looking at our problems, focus on 0:04:35.920 --> 0:04:38.599 our obstacles, thinking, oh man, this is going to be 0:04:38.640 --> 0:04:41.560 so hard. I dread dealing with this. It's never going 0:04:41.600 --> 0:04:46.080 to work out. That's mindset is not only stealing our joy, 0:04:46.320 --> 0:04:49.760 but it's keeping us from seeing God's favor. When my 0:04:49.839 --> 0:04:51.719 dad went to be with the Lord and I first 0:04:51.800 --> 0:04:55.880 started ministering, it took everything I had to write a 0:04:55.920 --> 0:05:00.880 message for that weekend, all my focus, my creativity, my energy. 0:05:01.560 --> 0:05:06.120 I was pressured, stressed. When I finally finished, I felt 0:05:06.120 --> 0:05:08.240 like that's the last one that I could ever do. 0:05:09.080 --> 0:05:11.960 And if I wasn't careful, I was tempted to dread 0:05:12.000 --> 0:05:14.800 it and think this is too hard. I'm not going 0:05:14.880 --> 0:05:17.200 to know what to say. I can't do this anymore. 0:05:17.720 --> 0:05:20.720 I had to turn it around. Father, Thank you that 0:05:20.760 --> 0:05:23.880 your yoke is easy. Thank you that I'm well able. 0:05:24.160 --> 0:05:27.599 Thank you that you've equipped me and empowered me. I 0:05:27.680 --> 0:05:31.160 got my mind going in the right direction. I went 0:05:31.200 --> 0:05:35.520 through seasons of struggle, strained, difficulty, but I didn't let 0:05:35.560 --> 0:05:39.360 it become permanent in my thinking. One day I came 0:05:39.440 --> 0:05:43.279 into this anointing of ease. What once was a struggle 0:05:43.680 --> 0:05:46.840 is not a struggle anymore. Every week when I finish 0:05:46.920 --> 0:05:50.440 a message, I hit this button just to remind me 0:05:50.520 --> 0:05:54.839 that it was easy. Quit telling yourself this is so hard. 0:05:55.680 --> 0:05:59.000 I'll never accomplish my dreams, I'll never get out of debt. 0:05:59.080 --> 0:06:01.880 This is a new day. You are going to have 0:06:01.960 --> 0:06:05.920 a strength that you did not have before. God did 0:06:05.960 --> 0:06:10.240 not create you to struggle your whole life. His yoke 0:06:10.400 --> 0:06:13.320 is easy. You may have had that addiction for a 0:06:13.360 --> 0:06:16.440 long time. It's going to be easier than you think. 0:06:16.520 --> 0:06:19.560 To break it. You're going to have a supernatural power. 0:06:20.160 --> 0:06:23.840 Maybe you're struggling in your finances, pressure to pay the bills, 0:06:24.040 --> 0:06:27.479 pressure to get ahead. I believe that pressure is coming 0:06:27.520 --> 0:06:30.719 to an end. God is going to cause good breaks 0:06:30.720 --> 0:06:34.280 to find you. New doors are going to open. Your 0:06:34.320 --> 0:06:36.400 gifts and talents are going to come out in a 0:06:36.440 --> 0:06:39.320 new way. It's going to be easier than you think. 0:06:39.920 --> 0:06:42.200 A couple of years after I wrote my first book, 0:06:42.640 --> 0:06:46.480 a man was walking by Madison Square Garden one evening 0:06:46.520 --> 0:06:49.600 there in New York. He was an executive at one 0:06:49.640 --> 0:06:53.200 of the largest publishing companies in the world. He saw 0:06:53.240 --> 0:06:56.080 my name on the marquee and people waiting in line 0:06:56.120 --> 0:06:58.840 to get in. He'd never heard of me, and he 0:06:58.880 --> 0:07:01.479 went home and did some re search. He called my 0:07:01.560 --> 0:07:04.599 literary agent and said that he wanted to publish my 0:07:04.720 --> 0:07:07.680 next book. She told him that we already had a 0:07:07.720 --> 0:07:11.280 publisher and we were happy. He asked if he could 0:07:11.280 --> 0:07:14.320 make an offer. She said, of course you can. He 0:07:14.480 --> 0:07:18.840 offered an amount more than I ever imagined. When she 0:07:19.040 --> 0:07:22.680 called and told me, I nearly passed out. I said, boy, 0:07:22.720 --> 0:07:26.160 you sure do great work. She said, actually, Joel, I 0:07:26.200 --> 0:07:29.600 didn't go to him, he came to me. I thought 0:07:29.640 --> 0:07:34.560 to myself, that was easy. That was God lining up 0:07:34.560 --> 0:07:37.800 the right people, having him at the right place at 0:07:37.800 --> 0:07:41.720 the right time. If he had not left work late 0:07:41.800 --> 0:07:44.679 that night, he wouldn't have seen those people in line. 0:07:45.280 --> 0:07:48.440 If he had not taken that train home, he wouldn't 0:07:48.480 --> 0:07:51.480 have been in that area. If he had have been preoccupied, 0:07:52.000 --> 0:07:54.320 he could have walked by the arena just thought it's 0:07:54.320 --> 0:07:57.880 another ballgame, another concert. All these things had to fall 0:07:57.920 --> 0:08:02.080 perfectly into place. Was the hand of God making my 0:08:02.160 --> 0:08:06.480 life easier. God has the right people lined up for you. 0:08:07.080 --> 0:08:10.440 He has the right breaks, the right opportunities. You may 0:08:10.480 --> 0:08:14.040 not have seen it, yet you keep honoring God being 0:08:14.120 --> 0:08:17.600 your best. He's going to take you into overflowd You 0:08:17.680 --> 0:08:21.240 are not going to go through life pressured by bills, 0:08:21.840 --> 0:08:25.120 pressured to make ends meet, pressure to send your children 0:08:25.160 --> 0:08:30.280 to college. God is going to do something unusual, something unexpected, 0:08:30.520 --> 0:08:33.680 something that you couldn't make happen. I know a single 0:08:33.760 --> 0:08:38.240 parent mother. She was working hard, raising her children, trying 0:08:38.240 --> 0:08:41.640 to make ends meet. Every month, she barely had enough 0:08:41.679 --> 0:08:45.280 to pay her bills. She told how she dreamed of 0:08:45.320 --> 0:08:49.440 taking a vacation, but every time she saved up extra funds, 0:08:49.720 --> 0:08:52.920 something would break that had to be repaired. She was 0:08:53.000 --> 0:08:56.480 being her best, but couldn't get ahead. It seemed like 0:08:56.559 --> 0:08:59.880 she would struggle her whole life. When you keep doing 0:09:00.120 --> 0:09:03.600 the right thing, you keep passing these tests, you're going 0:09:03.679 --> 0:09:07.560 to come in to this anointing of ease. God is 0:09:07.600 --> 0:09:10.720 going to make things happen that will lighten the load. 0:09:11.160 --> 0:09:14.280 He's going to take the pressure off. One day, her 0:09:14.360 --> 0:09:19.559 supervisor unexpectedly took an early retirement and she was given 0:09:19.640 --> 0:09:24.120 that position. With it came a significant increase in salary. 0:09:24.880 --> 0:09:29.880 She was very grateful. Several years later, her manager, one 0:09:29.920 --> 0:09:34.160 of the vice presidents of this large company, suddenly resigned 0:09:34.480 --> 0:09:37.960 and she was given that position. Today, she makes more 0:09:38.000 --> 0:09:42.199 than ten times what she made when she started. She 0:09:42.240 --> 0:09:47.000 doesn't live under constant pressure. She can take vacations whenever 0:09:47.040 --> 0:09:51.880 she wants. She supports other single parent families. She said, Joel, 0:09:52.080 --> 0:09:55.320 I don't really know how this happened. Everything just fell 0:09:55.360 --> 0:09:58.439 into place and here I am. What she is really 0:09:58.480 --> 0:10:02.120 saying was that was easy. That's what God is going 0:10:02.160 --> 0:10:04.319 to do for you. He's going to put you at 0:10:04.320 --> 0:10:07.200 the right place at the right time. He's going to 0:10:07.240 --> 0:10:10.440 open doors that no man can shut. He's going to 0:10:10.520 --> 0:10:13.800 cause people to want to be good to you. You 0:10:13.880 --> 0:10:17.319 may be struggling in some areas, but don't get discouraged. 0:10:17.440 --> 0:10:28.600 That is not permanent. Ease is coming. I talked to 0:10:28.640 --> 0:10:32.000 a young man. He was finishing up his Masters. He 0:10:32.040 --> 0:10:35.920 had one final exam left. It was the hardest class 0:10:35.920 --> 0:10:38.480 on his schedule, and he is very stressed out and 0:10:38.920 --> 0:10:41.760 concerned that he wasn't going to pass. And we prayed 0:10:41.760 --> 0:10:43.760 and asked God to give him wisdom to help him 0:10:43.760 --> 0:10:47.600 to excel. He came back last week so excited he 0:10:47.640 --> 0:10:50.640 had passed the test. Now I asked him, how was it. 0:10:51.160 --> 0:10:54.360 He said, it's funny because all of my classmates thought 0:10:54.400 --> 0:10:58.120 it was very difficult, but to me, it was easier 0:10:58.240 --> 0:11:02.520 than I expected. He did his part, he studied, he prepared. 0:11:02.880 --> 0:11:06.480 Then God stepped in and made it easier than he thought. 0:11:07.400 --> 0:11:11.480 Quit thinking I'll never pass, I'll never get out of debt. 0:11:11.520 --> 0:11:16.120 This is too hard. Sometimes we're expecting to fail, we're 0:11:16.160 --> 0:11:19.680 expecting to struggle, we're expecting it to be difficult. Turn 0:11:19.720 --> 0:11:22.840 it around. Father, Thank you for your anointing of ease. 0:11:23.360 --> 0:11:25.880 Thank you that you're causing me to excel. Thank you 0:11:25.920 --> 0:11:29.840 that you're breathing in my direction. Some of the things 0:11:29.840 --> 0:11:32.440 that you're worrying about. You don't see how it could 0:11:32.440 --> 0:11:35.520 ever work out. It's not going to be what you think. 0:11:36.080 --> 0:11:39.320 God is going before you right now, making those crooked 0:11:39.360 --> 0:11:41.960 places straight. You're going to look back like him and 0:11:42.000 --> 0:11:45.760 say it was easier than I thought. The Book of 0:11:45.760 --> 0:11:49.720 First Samuel, the Philistines had just defeated the Israelites in 0:11:49.760 --> 0:11:53.559 a battle. They captured the Ark of the Covenant. That's 0:11:53.600 --> 0:11:56.920 where the presence of God was back then. The Israelites 0:11:56.960 --> 0:12:01.760 were so distraught. When the prophet Eli heard this bad news, 0:12:01.920 --> 0:12:06.160 he passed out, fell backwards, and broke his neck. All 0:12:06.240 --> 0:12:09.400 of Israel was in mourning. They had not only lost 0:12:09.400 --> 0:12:13.320 the Ark of the Covenant, their most important possession, but 0:12:13.520 --> 0:12:17.240 thirty thousand men had been killed in that battle. It 0:12:17.280 --> 0:12:20.920 looked like the Ark was gone forever. The Philistines took 0:12:20.960 --> 0:12:24.040 the Ark to their temple and placed it next to 0:12:24.120 --> 0:12:28.760 their god, Dagone. He was a stone statue that they worshiped. 0:12:29.280 --> 0:12:32.920 In the middle of the night, Dagon fell over. They 0:12:32.960 --> 0:12:35.760 thought it was a coincidence, maybe the wind or something. 0:12:35.880 --> 0:12:39.360 They stood him back up. The next night, Dagon not 0:12:39.480 --> 0:12:43.640 only fell over, this time he broke into pieces. They 0:12:43.760 --> 0:12:48.680 realized their god couldn't stand in the presence of Israel's god. 0:12:50.400 --> 0:12:54.040 Plegues began to break out in the camp. People started 0:12:54.040 --> 0:12:58.560 getting boils and tumors. They finally realized, it's because we 0:12:58.679 --> 0:13:01.680 have the Ark of the c it. They decided to 0:13:01.720 --> 0:13:04.400 move it to another city just to make sure the 0:13:04.480 --> 0:13:08.920 same plegus and boils started afflicting those people. They panicked 0:13:08.960 --> 0:13:11.079 and said, we have to get rid of this arc. 0:13:11.480 --> 0:13:15.280 We can't mess with the God of Israel. Seven months 0:13:15.320 --> 0:13:19.280 after they captured it, they built this wood carp, placed 0:13:19.280 --> 0:13:21.679 the Ark of the Covenant on it, hooked it up 0:13:21.720 --> 0:13:25.240 to two young cows. They turned it loose and let 0:13:25.280 --> 0:13:28.880 those cows go wherever they wanted. They started heading straight 0:13:28.960 --> 0:13:32.760 toward the Israelites camp in a few days. When the 0:13:32.840 --> 0:13:36.640 Israelites saw the Arc coming, they couldn't believe their eyes. 0:13:37.120 --> 0:13:40.880 They started celebrating. They never dreamed they would see the 0:13:41.080 --> 0:13:44.679 Ark again. They not only got it back, but they 0:13:44.720 --> 0:13:47.960 didn't have to fight for it. The Arc came looking 0:13:48.000 --> 0:13:50.400 for them. If they would have had one of these 0:13:50.440 --> 0:13:53.440 red buttons. They would have pushed it. That was easy. 0:13:54.160 --> 0:13:58.200 But during those seven months, I'm sure the Israelites came 0:13:58.280 --> 0:14:02.000 up with plans and strategy how to get the art back. 0:14:02.720 --> 0:14:05.520 They had lost thousands of men. They knew they were 0:14:05.520 --> 0:14:09.240 going to lose more. Then they saw the cows come 0:14:09.280 --> 0:14:13.400 walking up. Suddenly their life got much easier. They were 0:14:13.440 --> 0:14:17.559 so relieved. Some of the things that you're worrying about, 0:14:17.760 --> 0:14:19.640 trying to figure out how it's going to work out, 0:14:19.720 --> 0:14:21.640 how you're going to get well, how you're going to 0:14:21.680 --> 0:14:23.960 get out of debt, how your family's going to be restored. 0:14:24.640 --> 0:14:27.320 God is going to do for you what he did 0:14:27.360 --> 0:14:31.479 for them. He's going to cause those things to find you. 0:14:31.480 --> 0:14:34.120 You're not going to have to fight those battles. Good 0:14:34.200 --> 0:14:37.880 breaks are going to come after you. The right people 0:14:37.920 --> 0:14:40.880 are going to search you out. What you're believing for 0:14:41.120 --> 0:14:44.240 is going to track you down. God is saying, get ready, 0:14:44.520 --> 0:14:48.000 the cows are coming. What belongs to you is headed 0:14:48.040 --> 0:14:51.960 your way, the health, the freedom, the abundance, the contracts, 0:14:52.040 --> 0:14:55.240 the spouse. God is going to make things happen that 0:14:55.320 --> 0:14:58.680 you could have never made happen. Those cows could have 0:14:58.720 --> 0:15:03.360 stayed there grazing. They could have wandered aimlessly month after month. 0:15:03.720 --> 0:15:09.400 But God controls the universe. That means God controls the cows. 0:15:09.920 --> 0:15:12.960 He knows how to get what's yours into your hands. 0:15:13.360 --> 0:15:17.320 People can't stop him. Bad breaks can't stop him. Cows 0:15:17.320 --> 0:15:21.480 can't stop him. Enemies can't stop him. The Philistines took 0:15:21.520 --> 0:15:25.200 the art, but I love the fact they couldn't keep it. 0:15:25.200 --> 0:15:28.880 It made them miserable. That tells me nobody can keep 0:15:29.080 --> 0:15:34.200 what belongs to you. The enemy may take your health 0:15:34.360 --> 0:15:37.480 for a little while, but he can't keep it doesn't 0:15:37.480 --> 0:15:41.200 belong to him. You are God's property. God will send 0:15:41.240 --> 0:15:45.960 it back. He may distract your child, get them off 0:15:46.000 --> 0:15:49.000 course for a season, but he can't keep them there. 0:15:49.440 --> 0:15:54.120 Quit worrying, quit losing sleep. They're coming back. He may 0:15:54.160 --> 0:16:00.680 have taken your dream temporarily, had bad breaks, disappointments, Stay encouraged. 0:16:00.960 --> 0:16:03.640 What has your name on it is going to find you. 0:16:05.280 --> 0:16:08.240 Some of you. Your cows are going to show up 0:16:08.640 --> 0:16:13.400 sooner than you think. What you thought was over and done, 0:16:13.440 --> 0:16:16.760 it would never work out. Suddenly things are going to 0:16:16.800 --> 0:16:20.520 fall into place. You don't have to fight, you don't 0:16:20.520 --> 0:16:24.040 have to struggle, Just get up every morning, father, think 0:16:24.080 --> 0:16:28.520 you that my cows are coming. Isaiah said to the Israelites, 0:16:29.000 --> 0:16:33.880 your swords will be turned into plowshares, your spears into 0:16:33.920 --> 0:16:38.480 pruning hooks. God was saying, you're coming into a season 0:16:38.920 --> 0:16:42.080 where you're not going to need your swords and your spears. 0:16:42.600 --> 0:16:45.000 You're not going to have to fight, not going to 0:16:45.040 --> 0:16:48.480 have to struggle, try to make things happen. Instead of 0:16:48.520 --> 0:16:51.760 a sword, you're going to need a plow together of 0:16:51.880 --> 0:16:56.280 the harvest. You can put down your spears. You're not 0:16:56.320 --> 0:16:58.960 going to have to go attack, try to get back 0:16:59.000 --> 0:17:03.080 what belongs to you. God is fighting your battles. He's 0:17:03.160 --> 0:17:07.280 putting pressure on those that have what's yours. You need 0:17:07.320 --> 0:17:10.200 to get ready, not for a fight, not for a battle, 0:17:10.480 --> 0:17:13.440 Get ready for a harvest, Get ready for a breakthrough, 0:17:13.680 --> 0:17:17.320 get ready for healing. You're coming in to this season 0:17:17.440 --> 0:17:21.160 of ease. Have a friend that I grew up with, 0:17:21.280 --> 0:17:24.800 that struggled with an addiction for a long time, got 0:17:24.880 --> 0:17:27.439 mixed up with the wrong students in high school, and 0:17:27.680 --> 0:17:31.040 twenty years later he was still addicted. He'd gone through 0:17:31.080 --> 0:17:34.280 rehab and all kinds of treatment, but it never worked. 0:17:35.119 --> 0:17:39.199 Like the Israelites, he looked defeated. That addiction looks so 0:17:39.280 --> 0:17:42.560 much bigger, like nothing he could ever do. I saw 0:17:42.640 --> 0:17:46.080 him a couple of years ago. He told how after 0:17:46.200 --> 0:17:50.119 twenty one years of being addicted, he is now totally free. 0:17:50.840 --> 0:17:53.960 He looks better than he looked in high school. Skin 0:17:54.080 --> 0:17:56.600 had cleared up, he gained some weight, had a smile 0:17:56.680 --> 0:17:59.960 on his face. I asked him how he did it. 0:18:00.440 --> 0:18:03.280 I thought he went through some type of special rehab, 0:18:03.680 --> 0:18:07.080 he said, Joel, I didn't do anything different. I can't 0:18:07.119 --> 0:18:09.560 really put my finger on it. It was just like 0:18:09.680 --> 0:18:13.560 something broke on the inside. Now I felt a shrimp 0:18:13.960 --> 0:18:18.560 that I'd never felt before. What was that God causing 0:18:18.600 --> 0:18:22.600 his cows to find him. God gave him the victory 0:18:23.080 --> 0:18:27.199 without him having to fight. Friends, Freedom belongs to you, 0:18:28.200 --> 0:18:32.000 Wholeness belongs to you. Quit believing those lies that you're 0:18:32.040 --> 0:18:35.640 stuck you'll never get well. It's been too long, it's 0:18:35.680 --> 0:18:39.000 too hard. This is a new day. That yoke of 0:18:39.119 --> 0:18:42.760 bondage is being broken. You're getting a new yoke, a 0:18:42.840 --> 0:18:46.320 yoke of ease, a yoke of freedom, a yoke of victory. 0:18:47.280 --> 0:18:51.199 You're going to break habits that looked permanent. It's not 0:18:51.240 --> 0:18:54.159 going to happen. Just by your might, by your power. 0:18:54.359 --> 0:18:57.600 It's going to happen because the Most High God is 0:18:57.640 --> 0:19:01.359 breathing in your direction. It may have been difficult in 0:19:01.400 --> 0:19:05.000 the past. You tried and it didn't work out. Try again. 0:19:05.760 --> 0:19:09.320 You're in a new season, You've come into harvest. You 0:19:09.359 --> 0:19:11.919 can put those swords down. You don't have to do 0:19:11.960 --> 0:19:14.760 it in your own strength. God is fighting your battles. 0:19:15.480 --> 0:19:19.679 Dare to declare, I am free, I am whole, I 0:19:19.760 --> 0:19:23.679 am victorious like this man. God is going to surprise you. 0:19:24.400 --> 0:19:27.720 What you thought would never turn around. Suddenly you're going 0:19:27.760 --> 0:19:31.640 to see it happen. Several years before my father went 0:19:31.680 --> 0:19:34.440 to be with the Lord, we came across a construction 0:19:34.600 --> 0:19:38.560 permit for the last full power television station in Houston. 0:19:39.200 --> 0:19:42.520 The transmitter was going to be out north. We needed 0:19:42.520 --> 0:19:45.639 a place to put the station here in the city. 0:19:45.800 --> 0:19:48.600 A few months earlier, a man had called me out 0:19:48.640 --> 0:19:51.879 of the blue, left a message saying that he was 0:19:51.960 --> 0:19:55.200 in commercial real estate that if we ever needed anything, 0:19:55.480 --> 0:19:59.160 he would love to help. Normally I would have erased that. 0:20:00.000 --> 0:20:03.080 I thought much about it, just another sales call. But 0:20:03.119 --> 0:20:06.040 for some reason I wrote his name and number down 0:20:06.359 --> 0:20:10.119 put it in my desk drawer. Never realizing in a 0:20:10.160 --> 0:20:12.520 few months we were going to need a place to 0:20:12.560 --> 0:20:15.840 put the station. I called him. It was like we 0:20:15.840 --> 0:20:19.439 were old friends. He was so likable. He took us 0:20:19.520 --> 0:20:23.520 to different office buildings. They were nice, but our challenge 0:20:23.560 --> 0:20:27.159 was we needed a cell phone tower close by so 0:20:27.240 --> 0:20:31.240 we could microwave our signal down to the transmitter site. 0:20:31.320 --> 0:20:34.360 We looked for several weeks and couldn't find anything. One 0:20:34.400 --> 0:20:37.919 day he took us to this big office complex about 0:20:37.920 --> 0:20:43.000 fifty acres, very beautiful trees and lakes. There were new 0:20:43.040 --> 0:20:46.959 owners and they were very excited about the possibility of 0:20:47.000 --> 0:20:50.320 having a television station there. They told us we would 0:20:50.359 --> 0:20:53.440 be their main tenants. They would give us the signage 0:20:53.480 --> 0:20:57.840 out front. They showed us offices overlooking this lake. They 0:20:57.880 --> 0:21:01.280 wanted us so badly. Their price was about half of 0:21:01.320 --> 0:21:05.359 anything we'd seen. We loved it. We wanted to be there. 0:21:05.560 --> 0:21:08.040 The only problem was we had to see if there 0:21:08.119 --> 0:21:11.120 was a cell phone tower close. We went on top 0:21:11.160 --> 0:21:14.160 of the building and looked around, and we didn't see anything. 0:21:14.720 --> 0:21:16.639 I was disappointed. I thought that would have been a 0:21:16.640 --> 0:21:21.959 perfect location. Everyone left, but Victoria and I stayed and 0:21:22.000 --> 0:21:25.800 we walked around the property for about thirty minutes. As 0:21:25.840 --> 0:21:28.760 we were coming up the parking lot. On the side 0:21:28.760 --> 0:21:32.000 of the building, about forty yards from the place they 0:21:32.040 --> 0:21:36.359 showed us, I could hear construction behind this wooden fence. 0:21:37.000 --> 0:21:39.440 I climbed up on the fence and looked over. They 0:21:39.440 --> 0:21:42.440 were pouring a foundation. I asked one of the men 0:21:42.480 --> 0:21:45.480 what they were building. He said, a cell phone tower. 0:21:46.680 --> 0:21:49.520 I nearly fell off that fence. I said, is there 0:21:49.640 --> 0:21:52.080 room for other clients? He said, yeah, it's brand new. 0:21:52.720 --> 0:21:55.600 I called the company the next day. We had a 0:21:55.600 --> 0:21:59.880 contract to microwave ar signal. What was that? God calls 0:22:00.119 --> 0:22:03.000 and things to fall into place, going before us, making 0:22:03.040 --> 0:22:07.080 crooked places straight. Well, Joel, that is just a lucky break. 0:22:07.240 --> 0:22:09.879 Can I tell you the lucky breaks you've been having. 0:22:10.240 --> 0:22:13.000 That's the hand of God. That's the yoke of ease. 0:22:14.359 --> 0:22:18.240 When you recognize God's favor, when you take time to 0:22:18.280 --> 0:22:21.840 say Lord, thank you for making my life easier, thank 0:22:21.880 --> 0:22:24.399 you for your goodness, then you will see more of 0:22:24.440 --> 0:22:28.280 God's favor. And what's interesting is this man. I met 0:22:28.320 --> 0:22:31.680 this realtor when we learned that the Compact center was 0:22:31.760 --> 0:22:35.200 coming available. He was one of the first people I called. 0:22:35.720 --> 0:22:39.440 He worked hand in hand on our behalf with the city. 0:22:39.880 --> 0:22:43.520 He was very instrumental in us getting this place. What 0:22:43.600 --> 0:22:46.320 are the chances of him calling me out of the blue, 0:22:46.960 --> 0:22:50.240 me keeping his number, him taking us to an office 0:22:50.280 --> 0:22:54.280 building where they were building a self power. That wasn't random, 0:22:54.520 --> 0:22:58.240 That wasn't a coincidence. That was God causing our cows 0:22:58.240 --> 0:23:02.160 to find us. God is in control of your life. 0:23:02.880 --> 0:23:05.879 He knows what you need and he knows how to 0:23:05.880 --> 0:23:09.080 get it to you. Yes, we all go through seasons 0:23:09.080 --> 0:23:12.800 of struggle, seasons of pressure and difficulty, but that is 0:23:12.920 --> 0:23:16.199 not your permanent home. You are coming in to this 0:23:16.400 --> 0:23:20.359 anointing of ease, like with me. You're going to see 0:23:20.359 --> 0:23:23.760 things fall into place. You're going to know it's the 0:23:23.800 --> 0:23:27.679 goodness of God. A friend of mine grew up very poor. 0:23:28.320 --> 0:23:32.800 His family lived in public housing. There was crime and drugs. 0:23:33.359 --> 0:23:37.560 His parents were migrant farmers and had no education. Didn't 0:23:37.560 --> 0:23:40.159 look like this young man would ever amount to too much. 0:23:40.800 --> 0:23:43.560 His mother saw that he had a love for music 0:23:43.960 --> 0:23:47.119 and encouraged him to join the band in school. He 0:23:47.160 --> 0:23:50.640 became one of their top tuba players. In the sixth grade, 0:23:50.920 --> 0:23:54.480 he already stood six foot six inches tall. He was 0:23:54.520 --> 0:23:58.120 the star player on the basketball team When he graduated 0:23:58.119 --> 0:24:01.480 from high school, he received thirty these scholarship offers to 0:24:01.520 --> 0:24:05.440 play in college. He was headed to the Portland Trailblazers 0:24:05.520 --> 0:24:09.240 to play professionally when he suffered a career ending injury. 0:24:10.000 --> 0:24:13.880 He ended up back at home in the projects, no money, 0:24:14.280 --> 0:24:18.560 no education, working for the city as a dog catcher, 0:24:19.080 --> 0:24:23.160 making a little more than minimum wage. During his lunch hour, 0:24:23.600 --> 0:24:26.439 he would go up to the local music store and 0:24:26.520 --> 0:24:30.159 play the keyboards that were out on demo. Wearing his 0:24:30.280 --> 0:24:35.080 dog catcher uniform. Customers would gather around to listen to 0:24:35.200 --> 0:24:39.960 him play. They were mesburized at his ability. One day, 0:24:40.040 --> 0:24:42.800