Just Do It

0:00:00.200 --> 0:00:02.880 No one likes to talk about money. Am I saving enough? 0:00:02.960 --> 0:00:05.040 Can I buy a house? Am I paying too much 0:00:05.040 --> 0:00:07.760 in taxes? Will I be able to retire? What if 0:00:07.760 --> 0:00:10.360 you could unlock insights about your finances in less than 0:00:10.400 --> 0:00:12.840 five minutes, with a clear picture of where you stand 0:00:12.880 --> 0:00:15.720 today and where your money can work harder. Now you 0:00:15.760 --> 0:00:18.759 can visit facet dot com to take the free quiz 0:00:18.800 --> 0:00:23.400 and get your financial wellness score today. That's Facet dot com. 0:00:23.400 --> 0:00:25.360 This ad is sponsored by Facet. Fast Wealth in Corporated 0:00:25.440 --> 0:00:27.280 is an sec registered investment advisor. This is not an 0:00:27.320 --> 0:00:29.080 offer to buy your self securities or is it investment, 0:00:29.160 --> 0:00:30.080 legal or tax advice. 0:00:30.760 --> 0:00:33.960 You're ready for a comeback, and with Purdue Global you 0:00:34.000 --> 0:00:37.200 can do more than take classes. You can take charge 0:00:37.520 --> 0:00:41.520 of your story, of your career, of your life, Earn 0:00:41.560 --> 0:00:43.559 a degree you can be proud of, and get an 0:00:43.680 --> 0:00:48.559 education employer's respect. 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The units 0:01:11.560 --> 0:01:14.080 stap makes it easy for grandparents and family friends to 0:01:14.160 --> 0:01:17.160 give funds to a child's investment account for a limited time. 0:01:17.280 --> 0:01:19.440 Download the uns stap and use the code I heeart 0:01:19.440 --> 0:01:21.720 fifty at sign up to receive a fifty dollars bonus 0:01:21.720 --> 0:01:24.280 when you fund your account. That's code iHeart fifty when 0:01:24.319 --> 0:01:27.280 you sign up at unest dot co for a fifty 0:01:27.319 --> 0:01:30.120 dollars bonus. See terms and conditions at UNEs dot co. 0:01:31.120 --> 0:01:34.880 Hi, this is Joel and Victoria. Thanks for downloading our podcast. 0:01:35.160 --> 0:01:37.920 We enjoy spending this time with you. I hope you'll 0:01:38.000 --> 0:01:38.720 leave Inspire. 0:01:39.080 --> 0:01:42.000 Make sure you subscribe to get new messages every week. 0:01:42.160 --> 0:01:45.280 We appreciate your support. It helps keep the ministry going. 0:01:45.680 --> 0:01:58.280 Enjoy the message. 0:02:00.840 --> 0:02:03.880 Well, God bless you. Thanks so much for letting us 0:02:03.880 --> 0:02:06.840 come into your homes. And if you're ever in our area, 0:02:06.880 --> 0:02:08.679 please stop by and be a part of one of 0:02:08.720 --> 0:02:09.519 our services. 0:02:09.760 --> 0:02:12.160 I promise you we'll make you feel right at home. 0:02:12.400 --> 0:02:14.720 But thanks so much for tuning in, and thank you 0:02:14.760 --> 0:02:17.800 again for coming out. I like to start with something funny, 0:02:17.800 --> 0:02:20.680 and I heard about this man that was very stingy 0:02:20.840 --> 0:02:24.520 with his money, and just before his death, he made 0:02:24.520 --> 0:02:27.720 his wife promise him that she would have him buried 0:02:27.760 --> 0:02:31.240 with the fifty thousand dollars he had saved. The wife 0:02:31.280 --> 0:02:35.600 reluctantly agreed, and at the funeral, before they closed the casket, 0:02:35.919 --> 0:02:39.480 she snuck in this small wooden box. Her friend said, 0:02:39.520 --> 0:02:42.640 surely you didn't just bury the money, did you. The 0:02:42.680 --> 0:02:45.480 wife said, of course I did. I'm a Christian. I 0:02:45.520 --> 0:02:48.680 can't lie. She said, you mean you just buried fifty 0:02:48.760 --> 0:02:51.720 thousand dollars. The wife said, yes, I did. I wrote 0:02:51.720 --> 0:02:52.160 a check. 0:02:54.200 --> 0:02:54.880 Hold up your. 0:02:54.800 --> 0:02:58.680 Bible, say it like you mean it. This is my Bible. 0:02:59.040 --> 0:03:01.360 I am what it says I am. I have what 0:03:01.400 --> 0:03:03.760 it says I have. I can do what it says 0:03:03.800 --> 0:03:06.400 I can do. Today I will be taught the word 0:03:06.440 --> 0:03:10.520 of God. I boldly confess. My mind is alert, my 0:03:10.639 --> 0:03:14.960 heart is receptive. I will never be the same. In Jesus' name, 0:03:15.440 --> 0:03:19.600 God bless you. I want to talk to you today about. 0:03:19.880 --> 0:03:20.519 Just do it. 0:03:21.720 --> 0:03:25.040 Sometimes God asks us to do things that don't make sense, 0:03:25.720 --> 0:03:30.239 doesn't seem logical, doesn't fit into our budget, doesn't line 0:03:30.320 --> 0:03:31.320 up with our schedule. 0:03:31.960 --> 0:03:34.119 God, you want me to go back to college. 0:03:34.240 --> 0:03:37.240 I'm forty years old. God, you want me to give 0:03:37.280 --> 0:03:40.000 them a gift? I was saving those funds for my 0:03:40.080 --> 0:03:42.920 own dreams. Or God, you want me to lead this 0:03:43.000 --> 0:03:46.080 secure position that I've had for years and start my 0:03:46.160 --> 0:03:50.840 own business. Too often we overanalyze it, we debate it, 0:03:51.280 --> 0:03:53.920 look at it only in the natural. We end up 0:03:53.960 --> 0:03:57.440 making excuses, talking ourselves out of it. That couldn't be God. 0:03:58.280 --> 0:04:01.120 But if you're going to reach your highest potential, you 0:04:01.200 --> 0:04:06.400 have to have bold obedience. That means you obey even 0:04:06.440 --> 0:04:07.880 when you don't understand it. 0:04:08.480 --> 0:04:11.440 You just do it, even when it doesn't make sense. 0:04:11.840 --> 0:04:13.600 That's what faith is all about. 0:04:14.360 --> 0:04:17.919 If you can understand everything, you have the time, the money, 0:04:17.960 --> 0:04:18.920 it's all lined up. 0:04:19.080 --> 0:04:22.600 That doesn't really take any faith. God will ask you 0:04:22.680 --> 0:04:27.160 to do things that seem far out, unusual, not practical. 0:04:28.000 --> 0:04:32.359 With every act of obedience, there is a blessing attached 0:04:32.360 --> 0:04:35.560 to it. When you do what you know down and 0:04:35.600 --> 0:04:39.080 here God wants you to do, a blessing will follow. 0:04:39.520 --> 0:04:41.320 God rewards obedience. 0:04:42.160 --> 0:04:44.760 One time Jesus made mud put it on a blind 0:04:44.800 --> 0:04:47.839 man's eyes. He told him to go wash it off 0:04:47.960 --> 0:04:51.560 in the pool of saloon. Jesus could have just as 0:04:51.600 --> 0:04:53.080 easily healed. 0:04:52.800 --> 0:04:54.400 The blind man on the spot. 0:04:55.160 --> 0:04:57.280 He could have opened his eyes right then and there 0:04:57.440 --> 0:05:03.000 and sent him on his way. Obedience activates God's power. 0:05:03.839 --> 0:05:06.440 He put the ball back in the blind man's court. 0:05:06.800 --> 0:05:09.600 He said, in effect, if you want to be healed, 0:05:10.080 --> 0:05:12.680 you're going to have to do something that doesn't make sense, 0:05:13.240 --> 0:05:16.440 something that's not logical. You're going to have to show 0:05:16.560 --> 0:05:19.440 that you trust me and go wash this off in 0:05:19.520 --> 0:05:22.840 the pool. The blind man could have wiped the mud 0:05:22.880 --> 0:05:25.120 off with his own hands and thought, I'm not gonna 0:05:25.120 --> 0:05:25.960 do that. 0:05:25.960 --> 0:05:27.839 That doesn't make sense. That's going to be a waste 0:05:27.839 --> 0:05:30.400 of time. He could have thought, I'm. 0:05:30.200 --> 0:05:33.800 Blind, I have these disadvantages. I can't make it down 0:05:33.839 --> 0:05:38.240 to the pool. But instead of making excuses, instead of 0:05:38.279 --> 0:05:41.440 talking to himself out of it, he decided to just 0:05:41.560 --> 0:05:45.039 do it, went to the pool, washed it off. Immediately. 0:05:45.120 --> 0:05:49.280 He could see here's the key. The healing wasn't in 0:05:49.360 --> 0:05:54.200 the water. The healing was in the obedience. When you obey, 0:05:54.720 --> 0:05:58.599 dreams come to pass. When you obey, health is restored 0:05:58.920 --> 0:05:59.599 when you obey. 0:06:00.400 --> 0:06:00.920 Turn around. 0:06:01.720 --> 0:06:04.719 I wonder how many miracles we would see if we 0:06:04.760 --> 0:06:07.719 would simply do what we know we're supposed to do. 0:06:08.520 --> 0:06:12.080 Are you talking yourself out of something because it's not practical? 0:06:12.279 --> 0:06:15.760 Doesn't make sense. I know I should volunteer, but I'm 0:06:15.800 --> 0:06:18.960 too busy. I know I shouldn't hang around these friends, 0:06:18.960 --> 0:06:21.680 but I don't want to be lonely. I know I 0:06:21.680 --> 0:06:23.600 should get out of this job where I'm not going 0:06:23.640 --> 0:06:26.000 any place, but at least I'm comfortable. 0:06:26.760 --> 0:06:29.200 No quit putting it off and just do it. 0:06:29.760 --> 0:06:33.400 If you'll have bold obedience, you'll see God's favor in 0:06:33.440 --> 0:06:37.760 a new way. When Joshua and the Israelites needed to 0:06:37.800 --> 0:06:41.440 get across the Jordan River, God said he would open 0:06:41.480 --> 0:06:44.279 it up, but they had to get their feet wet 0:06:44.520 --> 0:06:48.240 before the water's parted. They could have sat back and thought, 0:06:48.480 --> 0:06:50.360 as soon as God opens it. 0:06:50.680 --> 0:06:51.719 Then we'll walk toward. 0:06:51.760 --> 0:06:55.680 It doesn't make sense to go now. The river's still flowing. 0:06:56.120 --> 0:07:00.920 Everything's normal, nothing's unusual. They took a step of faith 0:07:01.279 --> 0:07:05.719 and started walking toward the water. I can imagine when 0:07:05.760 --> 0:07:08.320 water got up to their ankles, they thought, what are 0:07:08.360 --> 0:07:10.119 we doing walking into a river? 0:07:10.520 --> 0:07:11.280 We could drown. 0:07:12.240 --> 0:07:14.720 Water got up to their knees and thought said you 0:07:14.800 --> 0:07:17.600 better turn around. You're making a mistake. Water up to 0:07:17.640 --> 0:07:22.280 their waste. They just kept walking. What is that bold obedience? 0:07:23.080 --> 0:07:27.360 About that time the river supernaturally parted, they walked into 0:07:27.360 --> 0:07:31.200 their promised land in the same way. If you're going 0:07:31.240 --> 0:07:34.600 to make it to your promised land, it's going to take. 0:07:34.400 --> 0:07:36.240 This bold obedience. 0:07:37.080 --> 0:07:40.080 You're not always going to understand what God is doing. 0:07:40.920 --> 0:07:45.120 God is not always logical. The scripture says His ways 0:07:45.360 --> 0:07:46.440 are not our ways. 0:07:47.000 --> 0:07:50.160 And take this in the right sense. Sometimes you have 0:07:50.240 --> 0:07:51.760 to turn your mind off. 0:07:52.680 --> 0:07:56.320 If you overanalyze it, look at it only in the natural. 0:07:56.560 --> 0:07:59.680 You'll never get off a dead sinner. Faith is not 0:08:00.120 --> 0:08:04.160 your head. Faith is in your heart. Down in here. 0:08:04.480 --> 0:08:06.800 You'll know the right thing to do. Up here. 0:08:06.960 --> 0:08:10.000 You'll have a thousand excuses, a thousand reasons why it's 0:08:10.040 --> 0:08:12.440 not going to work out. You've got to turn your 0:08:12.480 --> 0:08:15.760 mind off and listen to your heart. That's what I 0:08:15.800 --> 0:08:18.960 did in nineteen ninety nine when my dad died. 0:08:19.280 --> 0:08:21.960 I knew I was supposed to step up and pasture 0:08:22.000 --> 0:08:22.440 the church. 0:08:22.840 --> 0:08:26.360 I felt it so strongly down in here, but in 0:08:26.440 --> 0:08:30.560 my mind it didn't make sense. I had never ministered before, 0:08:31.160 --> 0:08:34.880 never been to seminary. I said, God, this doesn't make 0:08:34.920 --> 0:08:37.679 sense to me. But I'm going to take a step 0:08:37.720 --> 0:08:41.320 of faith, believing that you know what's best for my life. 0:08:42.000 --> 0:08:44.960 And as I stepped into the water, as I got 0:08:45.000 --> 0:08:48.600 my feet wet, so to speak, that's when the water's parted. 0:08:49.240 --> 0:08:52.160 God's taken me places I've never dreamed of. But some 0:08:52.240 --> 0:08:55.679 of you are waiting for the waters to part. Then 0:08:55.720 --> 0:08:58.280 you're going to take a step of faith. But your 0:08:58.320 --> 0:09:03.240 obedience is what the water to part. You're waiting on God, 0:09:03.400 --> 0:09:04.199 but God's. 0:09:03.920 --> 0:09:04.680 Waiting on you. 0:09:05.360 --> 0:09:08.560 If you'll do what you know God's asking you to do, 0:09:08.960 --> 0:09:13.040 your obedience will activate the favor, the increase the blessing. 0:09:14.040 --> 0:09:17.480 Much of what happens along the way are simply tested. 0:09:18.080 --> 0:09:22.040 God is seeing, Do you trust me? Will you obey 0:09:22.320 --> 0:09:22.920 even when. 0:09:22.800 --> 0:09:24.000 You don't understand it? 0:09:24.240 --> 0:09:26.600 Will you take a step of faith even when it 0:09:26.640 --> 0:09:27.559 doesn't make sense. 0:09:28.559 --> 0:09:29.920 Back in the nineteen. 0:09:29.559 --> 0:09:33.760 Sixties, Lakewood was still in its original building, a feed 0:09:33.840 --> 0:09:37.120 store that held two hundred people. The church was really 0:09:37.160 --> 0:09:41.440 growing and they needed a larger auditorium. My father told 0:09:41.480 --> 0:09:45.319 the congregation that on a particular Sunday he was going 0:09:45.360 --> 0:09:49.080 to receive a special offering for a new building. He 0:09:49.160 --> 0:09:51.120 asked them to see what God would have them to 0:09:51.120 --> 0:09:53.600 give and really pray about it, and he encouraged them 0:09:53.600 --> 0:09:56.440 to stretch their faith, to believe big, and to do 0:09:56.559 --> 0:10:00.280 their very best. He received the offering. It was a 0:10:00.280 --> 0:10:02.520 little over six thousand dollars. 0:10:03.280 --> 0:10:07.360 To them back then, that was like six hundred thousand dollars. 0:10:07.679 --> 0:10:09.200 Daddy was so excited. 0:10:09.800 --> 0:10:12.640 That was enough to pour the foundation and get the 0:10:12.679 --> 0:10:17.440 building started. But one day, driving home from church, my 0:10:17.559 --> 0:10:22.839 father passed a small Spanish church about six blocks from Lakewood. 0:10:23.640 --> 0:10:27.240 This Spanish church had been building on a little auditorium 0:10:27.320 --> 0:10:30.760 for years. They would build and take time off, build 0:10:30.800 --> 0:10:31.280 some more. 0:10:31.160 --> 0:10:32.040 And on and on. 0:10:32.800 --> 0:10:36.520 As my father passed, he heard a voice down in hearsay, 0:10:37.200 --> 0:10:40.600 I want you to give that special offering to this 0:10:40.760 --> 0:10:43.520 Spanish church so they can finish their building. 0:10:44.440 --> 0:10:48.800 Daddy's first thought was get behind me, Satan. That could 0:10:48.840 --> 0:10:52.760 not be God. He began to reason it out. God, 0:10:52.920 --> 0:10:54.199 you mean you. 0:10:54.240 --> 0:10:58.320 Want me to give the money. I just raised the money. 0:10:58.400 --> 0:11:02.079 We need the money. We've been dreaming about money, we've 0:11:02.120 --> 0:11:04.520 been praying for it. You want me to give that 0:11:04.720 --> 0:11:08.400 to a church down the street. Didn't make sense, didn't 0:11:08.440 --> 0:11:12.440 seem logical. He needed the funds, Yet God said, sow 0:11:12.520 --> 0:11:16.360 it as a seed. My father had this bold obedience. 0:11:16.360 --> 0:11:17.240 He said, all right, God. 0:11:17.480 --> 0:11:19.960 He wrote them a check and they nearly passed out. 0:11:21.040 --> 0:11:22.839 Over the next few months. 0:11:22.840 --> 0:11:26.400 People begin to come from nowhere giving money. 0:11:26.120 --> 0:11:27.800 To the Lakewood New Sanctuary. 0:11:28.240 --> 0:11:32.200 They not only had enough for the foundation, but enough 0:11:32.200 --> 0:11:35.600 for the whole building. A year later, they moved into 0:11:35.600 --> 0:11:40.000 a one thousand seat sanctuary, totally debt free. You can't 0:11:40.040 --> 0:11:44.360 outgive God. When God asked you to do something, just 0:11:44.480 --> 0:11:47.880 do it. If you talk yourself out of it, not 0:11:47.960 --> 0:11:51.400 only is the other person not being blessed, but you're 0:11:51.440 --> 0:11:55.679 missing the blessing God has for you. How many times 0:11:55.679 --> 0:11:58.560 have I taught myself out of doing what I knew 0:11:58.720 --> 0:12:01.520 God wanted me to do. I knew I was supposed 0:12:01.559 --> 0:12:04.560 to call a friend and encourage them. I knew I 0:12:04.640 --> 0:12:07.440 was supposed to help that family with their rent. But 0:12:07.520 --> 0:12:10.439 I got busy, thought, God, they look like they're doing okay. 0:12:10.440 --> 0:12:13.160 They got as much as I do. Maybe next time, 0:12:14.080 --> 0:12:17.320 I wonder what I missed out on. I wonder what 0:12:17.440 --> 0:12:21.840 God couldn't release. When you obey, a blessing is always 0:12:21.880 --> 0:12:26.120 attached to it. Eight years ago, we moved out of 0:12:26.160 --> 0:12:29.880 our old sanctuary from the other location we'd been at 0:12:29.880 --> 0:12:32.920 that piece of property for over forty years before I 0:12:33.080 --> 0:12:38.079 was born. On the last Sunday there after the final service, 0:12:38.679 --> 0:12:42.240 I was driving away and just reflecting on all that 0:12:42.280 --> 0:12:44.720 God had done out there through the years, and thinking 0:12:44.760 --> 0:12:46.360 about where God was taking us. 0:12:46.960 --> 0:12:49.559 My heart was filled with gratitude. 0:12:49.640 --> 0:12:53.320 About that time I passed the small Spanish church six 0:12:53.360 --> 0:12:56.400 blocks down the road. They had written on their little 0:12:56.480 --> 0:13:01.479 makeshift marquis, thank you Lakewood for giving us our first sanctuary. 0:13:02.200 --> 0:13:06.959 They remembered it forty years later. I thought, how we 0:13:06.960 --> 0:13:12.120 were headed to this place, a four hundred million dollar facility. 0:13:12.200 --> 0:13:15.880 But it all started over four decades ago when my 0:13:16.040 --> 0:13:20.160 father took that bold step of obedience, even when he 0:13:20.200 --> 0:13:23.880 didn't understand it, even when Lakewood needed the funds, he 0:13:24.040 --> 0:13:27.480 was willing to give it away. Now I realize I 0:13:27.520 --> 0:13:31.160 am reaping a harvest from seeds that were sown many 0:13:31.240 --> 0:13:36.720 years ago. And when you have bold obedience, you don't 0:13:36.760 --> 0:13:39.319 know where God is going to take you. You don't 0:13:39.480 --> 0:13:42.800 argue with God, you don't reason it out, you don't. 0:13:42.559 --> 0:13:44.600 Make excuses, You just do it. 0:13:45.040 --> 0:13:48.360 You can't imagine the doors God is going to open, 0:13:48.559 --> 0:13:52.480 not only for you, but for your children. I'm sure 0:13:52.520 --> 0:13:55.160 my father is looking down from heaven right now, thinking 0:13:55.440 --> 0:13:58.520 I never dreamed Lakewood would be where it is today. 0:13:59.080 --> 0:14:02.000 That's what happened. When you have bold obedience. 0:14:03.000 --> 0:14:06.600 We can all obey when it's easy, when it makes sense, 0:14:07.280 --> 0:14:11.560 when it's logical, when it doesn't take any extra effort. Yeah, Joel, 0:14:11.640 --> 0:14:14.720 I'll go to church, I'll tithe my income, I'll be 0:14:14.800 --> 0:14:17.400 kind to people. I have a good attitude that doesn't 0:14:17.480 --> 0:14:21.280 really take much faith. But what about when it's out 0:14:21.280 --> 0:14:24.320 of the ordinary, and God asks you to not only 0:14:24.400 --> 0:14:27.360 go to church, but swing by and pick up that 0:14:27.560 --> 0:14:30.640 couple that's struggling and bring them to church with you 0:14:30.760 --> 0:14:34.360 each week. God, wait a minute, I got a full 0:14:34.360 --> 0:14:38.320 time job. I'm raising these children. I'm very busy. And God, 0:14:38.360 --> 0:14:41.040 they live twenty minutes out of the way. I'm gonna 0:14:41.040 --> 0:14:43.880 have to get up earlier. That's gonna take extra gas money. 0:14:43.880 --> 0:14:45.920 And God, they may want to come eat. 0:14:45.840 --> 0:14:48.680 Lunch with me afterwards. God, I'll pick them up, but 0:14:48.760 --> 0:14:50.280 I am not buying their lunch. 0:14:51.800 --> 0:14:55.800 No, when God asks you to do something that takes sacrifice, 0:14:55.800 --> 0:14:59.400 something that's out of their ordinary, it's because God wants 0:14:59.480 --> 0:15:02.560 to release blessings in your life that are out of 0:15:02.560 --> 0:15:03.800 the ordinary. 0:15:03.960 --> 0:15:06.200 When you radically obey. 0:15:06.480 --> 0:15:10.240 You will be radically blessed. You know what this building is, 0:15:10.440 --> 0:15:14.000 It's a radical blessing. It's because my parents and that 0:15:14.040 --> 0:15:18.320 first group of Lakewood members sowed a radical seed. That's 0:15:18.320 --> 0:15:20.960 what happened to Isaac in the scripture. There was a 0:15:21.000 --> 0:15:23.800 great famine in the land. There had been a drought 0:15:23.840 --> 0:15:28.000 for many years, hardly any food, no water. People were 0:15:28.040 --> 0:15:32.440 struggling to survive. God told Isaac to take a step 0:15:32.480 --> 0:15:36.920 of faith and plant his crops. That didn't make sense. 0:15:37.280 --> 0:15:39.960 There was no way to water the crops. Look like 0:15:40.040 --> 0:15:43.480 it be a waste of time. Isaac could have said, God, 0:15:44.080 --> 0:15:47.520 have you seen the conditions lately? Have you checked the 0:15:47.520 --> 0:15:51.440 weather report? Do you realize it hadn't rained in years? 0:15:51.880 --> 0:15:54.960 Nothing's going to grow. He could have looked at it 0:15:55.400 --> 0:15:58.400 just in the natural logical way and talked himself out 0:15:58.400 --> 0:16:02.480 of it. But Isaac had this bold obedience, says in 0:16:02.520 --> 0:16:06.480 Genesis twenty six, in the midst of the famine, he 0:16:06.680 --> 0:16:10.600 sowed a seed in the land. I can imagine his 0:16:10.720 --> 0:16:13.320 friend saying, Isaac, what in the world are you doing? 0:16:13.800 --> 0:16:17.200 Do you realize nothing is going to grow in a drought? 0:16:17.920 --> 0:16:20.640 He didn't talk himself out of it. Didn't get discouraged. 0:16:20.680 --> 0:16:23.320 He just kept planning. What was he doing? 0:16:23.760 --> 0:16:27.640 So in a radical seed? What happened? He reaped a 0:16:27.760 --> 0:16:30.640 radical harvest. The scripture says. 0:16:30.680 --> 0:16:34.720 In the same year, in the famine, he received a 0:16:34.840 --> 0:16:39.120 one hundredfold return. He could have held onto those seeds 0:16:39.160 --> 0:16:43.320 for years, waiting for the conditions to be perfect, nothing 0:16:43.320 --> 0:16:48.200 would have happened. Isaac understood this principle. The power was 0:16:48.240 --> 0:16:52.080 not in the seed. The power is in the obedience. 0:16:52.480 --> 0:16:56.840 That's when miracles happen. The conditions don't have to be perfect. 0:16:57.320 --> 0:16:59.920 The economy doesn't have to be booming for you to 0:17:00.080 --> 0:17:03.040 be blessed. You don't have to have the most education, 0:17:03.240 --> 0:17:05.720 the most talent, live in a certain neighborhood. 0:17:06.280 --> 0:17:08.199 All the odds can be against you. 0:17:08.800 --> 0:17:11.720 But when God asks you to do something and you 0:17:11.880 --> 0:17:16.080 don't argue, you don't make excuses, you just do it, 0:17:16.800 --> 0:17:19.480 Like Isaac, God, I don't understand it, but I'm going 0:17:19.520 --> 0:17:22.240 to sow a seede anyway like my father. 0:17:22.600 --> 0:17:22.840 God. 0:17:22.920 --> 0:17:25.440 We need the money, but I'm gonna bless that Spanish 0:17:25.560 --> 0:17:29.560 church anyway like I did God. I don't feel qualified, 0:17:29.800 --> 0:17:32.639 but I'm going to take a step of faith that's 0:17:32.760 --> 0:17:35.560 when you'll see a horrvest in the midst of the famine. 0:17:36.200 --> 0:17:39.679 You'll be blessed even though others are struggling. You'll be 0:17:39.760 --> 0:17:43.080 promoted even though you weren't the most qualified. You'll see 0:17:43.200 --> 0:17:47.800 dreams come to pass even though the odds were against you. Friends, 0:17:47.880 --> 0:17:52.040 God is looking for people who will have this bold obedience. 0:17:52.840 --> 0:17:55.840 If God has to talk you into it, send you 0:17:55.960 --> 0:17:59.800 seven signs before you decide to believe God. If you'll 0:17:59.840 --> 0:18:03.600 just have lightning strike across the sky, spell my name 0:18:03.640 --> 0:18:07.360 out in smoke, I believe God. If you'll have Moses 0:18:07.400 --> 0:18:10.000 show up at my front door tonight, or God, if 0:18:10.040 --> 0:18:12.600 I see a camel walking down the freeway this week, 0:18:12.880 --> 0:18:17.960 then I'll believe. Don't make a decision to just do it. Well, Joel, 0:18:18.000 --> 0:18:20.919 what if it's not right? What if I miss God? 0:18:21.560 --> 0:18:25.359 Like Joyce Meyer says, then God will find you. But 0:18:25.480 --> 0:18:28.160 God would rather you take steps of faith and miss 0:18:28.200 --> 0:18:30.399 it every once in a while than to play it 0:18:30.480 --> 0:18:33.040 safe your whole life and never get off dead. Sinner, 0:18:33.480 --> 0:18:36.240 the only way you're ever going to really know is 0:18:36.280 --> 0:18:39.120 by taking a step of faith. A couple of years 0:18:39.119 --> 0:18:42.280 after Victoria and I were married, we sold our town 0:18:42.359 --> 0:18:45.199 home and we found this house that we really wanted 0:18:45.200 --> 0:18:49.080 to buy. We made a great offer, we prayed over it, 0:18:49.160 --> 0:18:52.800 we believed for it, but unfortunately they sold the property 0:18:52.840 --> 0:18:53.679 to someone else. 0:18:54.320 --> 0:18:57.320 For the next several months, we kept looking and looking. 0:18:58.040 --> 0:19:02.159 One day we found this old, run down house was 0:19:02.200 --> 0:19:05.520 on a large piece of property in a nice neighborhood. 0:19:06.240 --> 0:19:10.399 The house had been abandoned, doors were missing in the 0:19:10.520 --> 0:19:11.639 kitchen for some reason. 0:19:11.680 --> 0:19:12.760 They had a scarecrow. 0:19:13.840 --> 0:19:17.000 There was a big garbage can, water was dripping from 0:19:17.040 --> 0:19:21.000 the ceiling. It had major foundation problems. The floors will 0:19:21.040 --> 0:19:25.240 all bode. Nothing about the house was nice. The lot 0:19:25.400 --> 0:19:28.520 was very beautiful, but the house in the current condition 0:19:28.760 --> 0:19:33.240 wasn't livable. I wasn't there ten minutes when I heard 0:19:33.240 --> 0:19:37.600 something down in here saying, Joel, this is it. I 0:19:37.640 --> 0:19:39.800 thought to myself, I don't know who you are, but 0:19:39.840 --> 0:19:40.720 this is not it. 0:19:41.760 --> 0:19:45.200 This is a piece of jump. I couldn't get away 0:19:45.240 --> 0:19:45.640 from it. 0:19:46.160 --> 0:19:49.080 That feeling would not leave, and here we had just 0:19:49.119 --> 0:19:52.040 moved out of a beautiful town home. I said, God, 0:19:52.119 --> 0:19:54.600 we want to move up and not down. This is 0:19:54.640 --> 0:19:58.440 the wrong direction. That still small voice kept saying, Joel, 0:19:58.640 --> 0:20:01.600 trust me, I know what I doing about that. 0:20:01.680 --> 0:20:04.119 Time, Victoria came up the big smile. 0:20:04.359 --> 0:20:07.960 She said, Jeel, this is the place for us. Thought, 0:20:07.960 --> 0:20:12.280 Dear God, we're both going crazy. Long story short, We 0:20:12.400 --> 0:20:15.080 bought the property, fixed up the house. A year later, 0:20:15.720 --> 0:20:20.159 a builder knocked on the front door, unexpectedly, unannounced. 0:20:20.520 --> 0:20:21.239 I answered it. 0:20:21.520 --> 0:20:24.800 He said, I'd like to buy this property and build 0:20:24.840 --> 0:20:26.959 two new houses here. And I said, well, thank you, 0:20:27.000 --> 0:20:29.359 but the property is not for sale. He said, how 0:20:29.400 --> 0:20:32.119 about I pay you this much? I said, like I said, 0:20:32.160 --> 0:20:37.560 we'd love to sell it. God did exceedingly abundantly, above 0:20:37.600 --> 0:20:43.920 and beyond. We felt like Isaac that one hundredfold return. 0:20:44.480 --> 0:20:45.320 What am I saying? 0:20:45.800 --> 0:20:49.639 God knows what he's doing. God has information that you 0:20:49.720 --> 0:20:52.960 don't have. He can see what you can't see. He 0:20:53.119 --> 0:20:56.600 knows the end from the beginning. Don't argue with God. 0:20:57.040 --> 0:20:59.959 You'll never win. God knows how to get his way, 0:21:00.880 --> 0:21:03.920 and even when it seems far out, dare to have 0:21:04.440 --> 0:21:09.720 radical obedience instead of reasoning it out, making excuses, talking 0:21:09.760 --> 0:21:10.520 yourself out. 0:21:10.400 --> 0:21:13.280 Of it, no making decision to just do it. 0:21:13.880 --> 0:21:17.320 The quicker you obey, the quicker, God can release what 0:21:17.400 --> 0:21:20.560 he has for you. In Acts chapter nine, there's the 0:21:20.640 --> 0:21:24.879 story of Saul. Saul was the greatest enemy of the church. 0:21:25.320 --> 0:21:28.840 He hated believers, and he was passionate about it. He 0:21:28.920 --> 0:21:31.879 went around having them arrested and put into prison. 0:21:32.359 --> 0:21:34.320 He was known for his persecution. 0:21:35.000 --> 0:21:40.000 The scripture says Saul was breathing out threatenings and slaughters 0:21:40.160 --> 0:21:45.000 against the disciples. One day, Saul was traveling to Damascus 0:21:45.359 --> 0:21:48.960 on his way to arrest more believers when a bright 0:21:49.119 --> 0:21:52.760 light shine down from heaven knocked him flat on his back. 0:21:53.320 --> 0:21:57.479 Saul became totally blind, couldn't see anything. The men with 0:21:57.640 --> 0:22:02.960 Saul were speechless. They picked Saul up led him into Damascus, 0:22:03.000 --> 0:22:06.080 totally blind. There was a man that lived there by 0:22:06.080 --> 0:22:09.840 the name of Anonius, a believer. God spoke to him 0:22:09.840 --> 0:22:12.480 in a dream and told him to go to the 0:22:12.560 --> 0:22:15.960 house where Saul was staying and pray for him. 0:22:16.080 --> 0:22:18.240 So that his sight would be restored. 0:22:19.119 --> 0:22:23.000 You can imagine what Anonius must have fought. I can 0:22:23.040 --> 0:22:26.240 hear him say, excuse me, God, you want me to 0:22:26.320 --> 0:22:29.720 go pray for the man that's actively trying to kill us, 0:22:30.320 --> 0:22:33.560 the one that's hunting us down, the one that's breathing 0:22:33.640 --> 0:22:34.639 out threatening us. 0:22:34.720 --> 0:22:35.600 I don't think, Saul. 0:22:36.160 --> 0:22:39.080 How about I send somebody from the prison ministry, or 0:22:39.359 --> 0:22:42.720 how about I give him a phone call instead? But God, 0:22:42.720 --> 0:22:47.040 that's too dangerous. I'm not going to go. God said, no, Anonius. 0:22:46.640 --> 0:22:50.800 Do what I say. He is a chosen instrument to 0:22:50.880 --> 0:22:51.600 bear my name. 0:22:52.400 --> 0:22:57.160 Verse seventeen says Anonius went and found Saul. He laid 0:22:57.240 --> 0:23:01.760 hands on him and said, brother. Saw he not only 0:23:01.840 --> 0:23:05.480 found him, but he called him brother. He could have 0:23:05.560 --> 0:23:09.439 called him a lot of other things. You lousy, no good, loser, 0:23:09.480 --> 0:23:11.320 trying to kill us. I hope you stay blind. 0:23:12.119 --> 0:23:12.199 No. 0:23:13.720 --> 0:23:19.680 Anonius prayed for Saul. His sight was restored. He became 0:23:19.960 --> 0:23:23.320 the apostle Paul, who went on to write over half 0:23:23.400 --> 0:23:26.640 of the New Testament. None of this would have happened 0:23:27.000 --> 0:23:32.240 if Anonius had not had this bold obedience. Sometimes God 0:23:32.280 --> 0:23:35.639 will ask you to do things that don't make sense. God, 0:23:35.720 --> 0:23:38.080 you want me to do them a favor when they 0:23:38.160 --> 0:23:41.000 left me out on purpose. God, you want me to 0:23:41.040 --> 0:23:45.600 help them when they wouldn't help me. Like Anonius, your 0:23:45.640 --> 0:23:47.680 first thought may be, no way, I'm not going to 0:23:47.760 --> 0:23:51.399 do that. But if you listen again, you'll hear God saying, 0:23:51.840 --> 0:23:55.240 just do it. Sow a radical seed, take a step 0:23:55.280 --> 0:23:59.080 of faith. When you do, God will do something radical 0:23:59.119 --> 0:24:02.359 in your life, and we can all make excuses. Joel 0:24:02.480 --> 0:24:06.639 is too hard, it's too big a sacrifice, it's too inconvenient. 0:24:07.160 --> 0:24:09.920 But if you keep putting it off, that's causing God 0:24:10.000 --> 0:24:12.240 to put off what he has in store for you. 0:24:12.720 --> 0:24:16.840 When you obey, a blessing is attached. You may not understand, 0:24:16.840 --> 0:24:20.240 it may not make sense. That's okay, Be like Antonius 0:24:20.480 --> 0:24:23.840 and just do it. My brother Paul was a surgeon 0:24:23.920 --> 0:24:28.280 in Little Rock for seventeen years, had a very successful practice. 0:24:28.640 --> 0:24:31.520 He was the chief of surgery. He and his partners 0:24:31.560 --> 0:24:32.800 owned the new hospital. 0:24:33.320 --> 0:24:35.919 Life was good. He was helping a lot of people. 0:24:36.600 --> 0:24:38.639 But when my father went to be with the Lord, 0:24:39.040 --> 0:24:42.560 Paul was driving home from the memorial service, going back 0:24:42.560 --> 0:24:46.360 to Little Rock, Arkansas, when he heard that still small 0:24:46.480 --> 0:24:50.800 voice say go back to Houston and help them pastor 0:24:50.880 --> 0:24:52.920 the church in the natural. 0:24:53.200 --> 0:24:54.280 That didn't make sense. 0:24:54.840 --> 0:24:57.560 He'd gone to school for twelve years to become a surgeon, 0:24:58.080 --> 0:25:02.240 had all this training, all this expertise. His colleagues thought 0:25:02.320 --> 0:25:05.359 he was making a big mistake. They told him he 0:25:05.440 --> 0:25:08.200 was having a midlife crisis and tried to talk him 0:25:08.240 --> 0:25:08.760 out of it. 0:25:08.840 --> 0:25:11.560 But deep down, Paul knew that he was supposed to 0:25:11.680 --> 0:25:13.119 lead his practice. 0:25:13.160 --> 0:25:15.600 He had to turn his mind off and listen to 0:25:15.640 --> 0:25:19.480 his heart. Even though he didn't understand it. It's not 0:25:19.600 --> 0:25:22.199 what he had planned for his life. He made a 0:25:22.200 --> 0:25:26.080 decision to just do it. That was fourteen years ago. 0:25:26.680 --> 0:25:29.720 Lakewood wouldn't be where we are today without my brother Paul. 0:25:32.320 --> 0:25:36.360 Now Paul goes to the remote villages of Africa and 0:25:36.400 --> 0:25:41.200 spends months every year operating on people that would normally. 0:25:41.160 --> 0:25:42.879 Have no access to healthcare. 0:25:44.040 --> 0:25:47.959 He's still using his gifts. He thought he was walking 0:25:48.000 --> 0:25:50.720 away from medicine, but God knew what he was doing. 0:25:51.160 --> 0:25:53.359 God's plan is better than our plan. 0:25:54.359 --> 0:25:56.679 Not only that, now he gets to work with me 0:25:56.840 --> 0:25:57.320 every day. 0:25:57.359 --> 0:25:58.160 How great is that. 0:26:00.080 --> 0:26:03.320 When you have bold obedience, God will take you into 0:26:03.359 --> 0:26:07.320 the fullness of your destiny. God asked Abraham to do 0:26:07.400 --> 0:26:11.320 something radical, to take his son Isaac, the one he 0:26:11.400 --> 0:26:14.639 had prayed and believed to have his whole life, the 0:26:14.760 --> 0:26:18.800 promised child, and put him on an altar and sacrifice him. 0:26:19.200 --> 0:26:23.320 Abraham didn't understand it. It didn't make sense. But Abraham 0:26:23.400 --> 0:26:26.840 had this bold obedience. Just as he was about to 0:26:26.880 --> 0:26:30.920 go through with it, and Angel said, stop, Abraham, don't 0:26:30.960 --> 0:26:33.680 do it. God just wanted to see if you would 0:26:33.720 --> 0:26:38.720 be obedient. The scripture says the Angel called to Abraham 0:26:39.080 --> 0:26:43.440 a second time. The blessing is not the first call. 0:26:44.160 --> 0:26:48.920 The first call is obedience. If you'll obey, there will 0:26:48.960 --> 0:26:50.160 be a second call. 0:26:50.920 --> 0:26:52.200 Genesis twenty two. 0:26:52.080 --> 0:26:55.679 Says the Angel called a second time and said, I 0:26:55.840 --> 0:27:00.520 swear by myself, says the Lord Abraham, I will bless 0:27:00.560 --> 0:27:04.240 you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars. 0:27:04.600 --> 0:27:06.280 You will conquer your enemies. 0:27:06.600 --> 0:27:10.680 Your offspring will be blessed in every nation of. 0:27:10.600 --> 0:27:13.119 The earth because you have obeyed me. 0:27:14.040 --> 0:27:18.280 Notice when you radically obey, God promises he will radically 0:27:18.280 --> 0:27:21.879 bless But here's the key. The first call is not 0:27:22.040 --> 0:27:25.880 the blessing. The first call is the test. Will you 0:27:26.000 --> 0:27:29.880 obey me? Will you buy that old house even though 0:27:29.880 --> 0:27:33.200 it doesn't make sense. Will you give that Spanish church 0:27:33.240 --> 0:27:36.640 the money you need? Will you leave a successful practice 0:27:36.840 --> 0:27:40.360 and come help your family pastor the church. If you obey, 0:27:40.880 --> 0:27:44.640 you'll pass the test. Then you'll hear the second call. 0:27:44.960 --> 0:27:47.560 That's when God will say, all right, now, I'm going 0:27:47.600 --> 0:27:50.960 to bless you more than you can imagine. Some of 0:27:51.000 --> 0:27:54.360 you today, there's something you know down deep you're supposed 0:27:54.400 --> 0:27:58.560 to do you're debating it, you're analyzing, you're making excuses. 0:27:59.080 --> 0:28:03.080 God is saying, just do it. Sow a radical seed. 0:28:03.760 --> 0:28:07.200 Answer the first call, be obedient, and you'll come into 0:28:07.240 --> 0:28:10.879 the second call, the blessing. You may not understand it, 0:28:10.880 --> 0:28:12.080 it may not make sense. 0:28:12.240 --> 0:28:14.680 That's all right. Just turn your mind off and listen 0:28:14.720 --> 0:28:16.760 to your heart. God knows what he's doing. 0:28:17.480 --> 0:28:20.360 If you'll make a decision to just do it, then 0:28:20.400 --> 0:28:25.200 I believe and declare. Because you radically obey, You're about 0:28:25.240 --> 0:28:29.200 to come into radical blessings. Because you have bold obedience, 0:28:29.440 --> 0:28:32.120 God's going to do something amazing in your life. 0:28:32.359 --> 0:28:35.080 Like Isaac, the seeds you've sown are going to. 0:28:35.119 --> 0:28:38.680 Be multiplied back to you, and like Abraham, God's going 0:28:38.720 --> 0:28:41.880 to thrust you into the fullness of your destiny, taking 0:28:42.000 --> 0:28:45.960 you further than you ever even dreamed of. In Jesus' name, 0:28:46.320 --> 0:28:50.480 if you receive it today, can you say amen. We 0:28:50.600 --> 0:28:53.280 never like to close our broadcast without giving you an 0:28:53.280 --> 0:28:56.080 opportunity to make Jesus the lord of your life. 0:28:56.320 --> 0:29:00.560 Would you pray with me? Just say, Lord, Jesus, I 0:29:00.680 --> 0:29:01.800 repeat of my sins. 0:29:02.920 --> 0:29:06.640 Come into my heart. I make you my lord and savior. 0:29:07.800 --> 0:29:10.360 If you prayed that simple prayer. We believe you got 0:29:10.360 --> 0:29:13.680 born again. Get in a good Bible based church. Keep 0:29:13.720 --> 0:29:14.640 God first place. 0:29:14.920 --> 0:29:17.360 He's gonna take you places that you've never dreamed of. 0:29:18.440 --> 0:29:22.080 Thank you for listening to the Joeloustine podcast. Help us 0:29:22.120 --> 0:29:25.000 continue to share the message of hope with those all 0:29:25.040 --> 0:29:29.040 over the world. Visit Joeloustine dot com slash give Hope 0:29:29.280 --> 0:29:30.440 to give a gift today. 0:29:31.720 --> 0:29:34.160 Thanks so much for listening to today's message. 0:29:34.320 --> 0:29:37.040 I hope you'll subscribe so you can receive the latest 0:29:37.080 --> 0:29:38.520 podcast to keep. 0:29:38.360 --> 0:29:41.320 You inspired all through the week. We're praying for you. 0:29:41.480 --> 0:29:43.960 I know God's best is still ahead. We'll see you 0:29:44.000 --> 0:29:44.480 next time. 0:29:51.800 --> 0:29:56.400 Nice funs, soft, fluffy and ultralow net carbs. Discover hero 0:29:56.560 --> 0:30:00.240 Bret the delicious ultralow net carbbret with incredible. 0:29:59.760 --> 0:30:01.920 Tear and texture. Hero Bread has. 0:30:01.880 --> 0:30:04.480 Zero grams of sugar and is under one hundred calories 0:30:04.520 --> 0:30:07.400 per serving, plus high end fiber and up to ten 0:30:07.440 --> 0:30:10.960 grams of protein per serving. 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