Living Large

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See terms and conditions at UNEs 0:01:29.760 --> 0:01:30.080 dot co. 0:01:31.080 --> 0:01:34.840 Hi, this is Joel and Victoria. Thanks for downloading our podcast. 0:01:35.080 --> 0:01:37.880 We enjoy spending this time with you. I hope you'll 0:01:37.959 --> 0:01:41.319 leave Inspire. Make sure you subscribe to get new messages 0:01:41.360 --> 0:01:44.360 every week. We appreciate your support. It helps keep the 0:01:44.440 --> 0:01:45.240 ministry going. 0:01:45.640 --> 0:01:57.040 Enjoy the message. 0:02:00.160 --> 0:02:02.720 Well, God bless you. It's always a joy to come 0:02:02.760 --> 0:02:05.080 into your homes. And if you're ever in our area, 0:02:05.320 --> 0:02:07.280 please stop by and be a part of one of 0:02:07.280 --> 0:02:10.079 our services. I promise you we'll make you feel right 0:02:10.120 --> 0:02:13.160 at home. These are the finest people in all of Houston, Texas, 0:02:13.240 --> 0:02:16.160 right here at Lakewood. Thanks for tuning in, and thank 0:02:16.200 --> 0:02:18.680 you again for coming out. I like to start with 0:02:18.760 --> 0:02:21.640 something funny, and I heard about this husband and wife. 0:02:22.080 --> 0:02:24.840 They'd been arguing for a long time about who should 0:02:24.840 --> 0:02:28.000 make the coffee in the morning. The husband thought it 0:02:28.040 --> 0:02:30.960 was the wife's job, but she just didn't agree. After 0:02:31.080 --> 0:02:34.520 several heated debates, she finally said to her husband, I 0:02:34.600 --> 0:02:37.680 can prove to you from the Bible that it's the 0:02:37.800 --> 0:02:40.720 man's job to make the coffee. He said, what are 0:02:40.760 --> 0:02:42.480 you talking about. I just nothing in the Bible about 0:02:42.480 --> 0:02:44.919 the man making the coffee. She said, sure, there is. 0:02:45.160 --> 0:02:48.560 She opened her Bible and pointed to the Book of Hebrews. 0:02:51.360 --> 0:02:53.600 Hold up your Bible. Say it like you mean it. 0:02:54.040 --> 0:02:56.720 This is my Bible. I am what it says. I am, 0:02:57.200 --> 0:02:59.480 I have what it says I have. I can do 0:02:59.520 --> 0:03:01.960 what it's says as I can do today, I will 0:03:02.000 --> 0:03:05.480 be taught the word of God. I boldly confess. My 0:03:05.600 --> 0:03:09.040 mind is alert, my heart is receptive. I will never 0:03:09.080 --> 0:03:14.120 be the same. In Jesus's name, God bless you. I 0:03:14.160 --> 0:03:17.919 want to talk to you today about living large. We 0:03:17.919 --> 0:03:21.639 weren't created to live a small life with little goals, 0:03:21.919 --> 0:03:26.600 little dreams, little influence. God created us to live an 0:03:26.680 --> 0:03:30.560 abundant life. No matter what level you're at, you're not 0:03:30.600 --> 0:03:34.200 supposed to get stuck and stay there. God is a 0:03:34.200 --> 0:03:38.040 god of increase. He has something bigger in your future. 0:03:38.760 --> 0:03:41.120 And if you're going to live this large life, it 0:03:41.280 --> 0:03:45.560 starts in our thinking. Jesus said, you can't put new 0:03:45.600 --> 0:03:49.920 wine into old wine skins. Wine skins were made out 0:03:50.000 --> 0:03:53.480 of leather. When they got old, they became hard and stiff, 0:03:53.840 --> 0:03:57.560 wouldn't expand if you put new wine in they would burst. 0:03:58.360 --> 0:04:01.680 Jesus was saying, you can't have a new life with 0:04:01.840 --> 0:04:05.280 old at thinking. You can't go around thinking you've reached 0:04:05.280 --> 0:04:07.880 your limits. You've gone as far as you can. You 0:04:08.000 --> 0:04:11.840 never get any good breaks. Limited thinking will cause you 0:04:11.880 --> 0:04:15.480 to live a limited life. Get rid of that old 0:04:15.560 --> 0:04:21.480 wine skin. Start thinking bigger, believing bigger, expecting bigger. You 0:04:21.520 --> 0:04:26.400 are full of possibility. You have seeds of greatness. There 0:04:26.440 --> 0:04:30.039 is untapped potential in you right now. And one of 0:04:30.040 --> 0:04:33.039 the biggest battles that we all face is the battle 0:04:33.160 --> 0:04:37.760 of containment. The enemy can't do anything about the grounds 0:04:37.760 --> 0:04:41.480 you've already gained. He can't make you go backwards, but 0:04:41.560 --> 0:04:44.960 he'll do everything he can to try to keep you 0:04:45.040 --> 0:04:48.960 from going forward. His goal is to convince you to 0:04:49.120 --> 0:04:53.080 settle where you are. He'll tell us things like you'll 0:04:53.120 --> 0:04:55.599 never be able to afford that house you really want. 0:04:55.880 --> 0:04:59.479 Just accept it. You'll never get well you saw the 0:04:59.520 --> 0:05:02.920 medical WRO, or you'll never meet the right person. It's 0:05:02.960 --> 0:05:05.200 been too long. This is as good as it gets. 0:05:05.760 --> 0:05:09.120 Don't believe those lives. He wouldn't be fighting you so 0:05:09.320 --> 0:05:13.120 hard unless he knew. God had something amazing in your future. 0:05:13.760 --> 0:05:16.719 You may not see how it can happen, but one 0:05:16.920 --> 0:05:20.359 touch of God's favor can catapult you to a new level. 0:05:21.480 --> 0:05:24.760 Paul said in Second Corinthian six, I want you to 0:05:24.920 --> 0:05:30.680 enter into this wide open, spacious life. The smallness you 0:05:30.800 --> 0:05:35.039 feel comes from within. Your lives are not small, but 0:05:35.160 --> 0:05:39.240 you're living them in a small way. Notice God's dream 0:05:39.640 --> 0:05:43.919 is that we live a wide open, spacious life. But 0:05:44.080 --> 0:05:47.479 even though God has this big life planned out, if 0:05:47.480 --> 0:05:50.560 we have limited thinking, we can live it in a 0:05:50.600 --> 0:05:53.440 small way. And it's easy to get stuck in the 0:05:53.520 --> 0:05:56.960 rut just going to work and coming home, dealing with 0:05:57.000 --> 0:06:00.320 the daily pressures of life. We look up and we're 0:06:00.360 --> 0:06:04.279 not expecting anything better, not releasing our faith, thinking this 0:06:04.440 --> 0:06:08.200 is all there is, but compared to what God has planned, 0:06:08.400 --> 0:06:12.080 we're living small on a regular basis. You have to 0:06:12.120 --> 0:06:15.599 stir up your faith, stir up your gifts, stir up 0:06:15.680 --> 0:06:19.800 your passions. You have not seen your best days. God 0:06:19.839 --> 0:06:24.040 has a wide life for you, much bigger than your living. 0:06:24.839 --> 0:06:28.440 Whatever level you're at, don't get stuck and stay there 0:06:28.640 --> 0:06:31.920 may feel big to you. You're blessed, you're content, but 0:06:31.960 --> 0:06:35.160 in God's eyes, it's a small place. He has new 0:06:35.240 --> 0:06:40.560 horizons for you to explore, new dreams, new talents, new opportunities. 0:06:41.200 --> 0:06:43.680 The Scripture puts it this way. The path of the 0:06:43.800 --> 0:06:48.240 righteous gets brighter and brighter. God's idea is that our 0:06:48.279 --> 0:06:53.520 lives get bigger and bigger, more influence, more opportunity, more resources. 0:06:54.000 --> 0:06:57.279 You may feel stuck, you haven't seen this happen. But 0:06:57.400 --> 0:06:59.960 this is a new day. Things are about to turn 0:07:00.200 --> 0:07:03.359 in your favor. If you'll get your hopes up, start 0:07:03.440 --> 0:07:07.800 expecting God's goodness, You're going to come into a bigger life, 0:07:08.040 --> 0:07:11.720 to a new level of your destiny. See for years 0:07:12.000 --> 0:07:14.920 I thought I was living a big life I was 0:07:14.960 --> 0:07:18.760 happy and a beautiful wife, good job I loved working 0:07:18.800 --> 0:07:21.840 behind the scenes here at Lakewood. Didn't seem like it 0:07:21.840 --> 0:07:25.000 could get any better than that. But when my dad 0:07:25.080 --> 0:07:27.520 went to be with the Lord and I stepped up 0:07:27.560 --> 0:07:30.840 to pastor the church, God began to open new doors, 0:07:31.480 --> 0:07:33.800 brought talent out of me that I didn't know I had, 0:07:34.440 --> 0:07:38.200 helped me to write books, gave us the former Compact Center, 0:07:38.760 --> 0:07:42.559 taken me places that I've never dreamed of. Looking back now, 0:07:42.840 --> 0:07:46.800 I realized what I thought was big was not big 0:07:46.840 --> 0:07:52.000 at all. God's idea of living large is much different 0:07:52.000 --> 0:07:55.840 than ours. You may have seen God's blessings in the past. 0:07:56.320 --> 0:07:59.200 You need to get ready. You haven't seen anything yet. 0:08:00.120 --> 0:08:02.880 God is going to take you the doors. He's going 0:08:02.920 --> 0:08:06.080 to open the people you're going to meet, The promotion, 0:08:06.320 --> 0:08:10.280 the good breaks, the influence is going to supersede anything 0:08:10.320 --> 0:08:15.880 you've imagined. God's prepared a wide, spacious life for you. Now. 0:08:15.920 --> 0:08:20.960 My challenge is don't live with a small mentality. Don't 0:08:21.080 --> 0:08:25.520 water down your dreams accepting less when you know God 0:08:25.520 --> 0:08:28.560 has created you for more. Well, you said, Joel, I'm 0:08:28.560 --> 0:08:31.880 doing okay, can't complain. Got a roof over my head. 0:08:32.160 --> 0:08:35.120 Got a job. I'm making it and that's good. We 0:08:35.160 --> 0:08:39.040 should be grateful, we should be content. What I'm saying is, 0:08:39.120 --> 0:08:43.520 don't settle there. Don't let that become permanent in your thinking. 0:08:44.559 --> 0:08:48.800 I've learned if we live in mediocrity long enough, it 0:08:48.800 --> 0:08:51.880 can become normal to us to where we think that's 0:08:51.920 --> 0:08:56.679 all there is. If you see lack, dysfunction, struggle, addictions 0:08:56.880 --> 0:09:01.040 on a regular basis, it can become ingreen you where 0:09:01.080 --> 0:09:04.400 you think that's the way it's supposed to be. We 0:09:04.480 --> 0:09:08.080 adapt to our environment. If you take a fish that's 0:09:08.080 --> 0:09:10.959 supposed to grow to two feet long and you put 0:09:11.040 --> 0:09:14.800 him in a small aquarium, that fish will never become 0:09:15.120 --> 0:09:18.440 what it was created to be, not because there's something 0:09:18.440 --> 0:09:21.840 wrong with the fish, but because of the environment that 0:09:22.000 --> 0:09:26.040 is in. You may be in a limited environment right now. 0:09:26.200 --> 0:09:30.120 Perhaps you can't do anything about that. The key is 0:09:30.160 --> 0:09:34.440 don't let the environment get in you. Don't let mediocrity 0:09:34.559 --> 0:09:37.720 become the norm. That may be where you are, but 0:09:37.760 --> 0:09:40.280 that is not who you are. You are a child 0:09:40.480 --> 0:09:43.800 of the Most High God, the creator of the universe, 0:09:44.160 --> 0:09:48.160 has breathed his life into you. Let these words sink 0:09:48.240 --> 0:09:53.679 down into your spirit. A wide open, spacious life that 0:09:53.760 --> 0:09:57.440 means a life free from addictions in bad habits, a 0:09:57.480 --> 0:10:02.960 life where you're happy, healthy, whole, fulfilled, a life of abundance, 0:10:03.320 --> 0:10:08.079 more than enough, and overflow life. See the enemy wants 0:10:08.120 --> 0:10:12.400 to contain you, but God wants to enlarge you. Break 0:10:12.400 --> 0:10:16.760 out in your thinking, stay open to new possibilities. One 0:10:16.760 --> 0:10:19.640 time in the scripture, Peter had been fishing all night. 0:10:20.240 --> 0:10:23.160 The next morning, Jesus came to him and asked him 0:10:23.160 --> 0:10:25.880 if he could borrow his boat to teach the people 0:10:26.040 --> 0:10:29.480 from the shores. When he finished teaching, he wanted to 0:10:29.520 --> 0:10:32.120 pay Peter for the use of his boat. He said 0:10:32.160 --> 0:10:35.640 to Peter, launch out into the deep and let down 0:10:35.679 --> 0:10:39.880 your nets nets with an s plural. Well, Peter began 0:10:39.960 --> 0:10:42.800 to reason it out, said Jesus, we fished all night, 0:10:43.080 --> 0:10:46.360 we didn't catch anything. Morning's not the best time to fish. 0:10:46.520 --> 0:10:50.559 He came up with excuse after excuse, almost talked himself 0:10:50.559 --> 0:10:53.000 out of it. The last moment he decided to go 0:10:53.000 --> 0:10:55.800 ahead and do it. But the scripture says Peter went 0:10:55.880 --> 0:11:00.839 out and let down his net singular. In other words, 0:11:00.920 --> 0:11:03.559 Jesus said, Peter, I've got an abundant life for you. 0:11:04.000 --> 0:11:07.199 I've got a wide spacious life. But Peter thought of 0:11:07.240 --> 0:11:09.720 it's not gonna happen for me. There's no fish out there. 0:11:09.760 --> 0:11:12.120 I never get any good breaks. So he went out 0:11:12.200 --> 0:11:15.800 and let down his net. He caught so many fish 0:11:15.960 --> 0:11:18.680 that it began to break. But a lot of times 0:11:18.679 --> 0:11:21.520 were like Peter, God says, I want you to live 0:11:21.559 --> 0:11:25.960 a big life, an abundant, fulfilled life where you're gaining 0:11:26.040 --> 0:11:29.080 new ground. I want to take you where you've never been, 0:11:29.600 --> 0:11:33.120 show you influence, favor good breaks that you've never seen. 0:11:33.559 --> 0:11:36.760 But there is a catch. You have to let down 0:11:37.040 --> 0:11:40.200 your nets. You have to make room for it in 0:11:40.280 --> 0:11:45.319 your thinking. You can't think small, believe small, expect small, 0:11:45.920 --> 0:11:49.679 and expect to live this large life. If you just 0:11:49.840 --> 0:11:54.200 let down your net thinking, God, help me survive, Help 0:11:54.240 --> 0:11:56.720 me to make it through this month, Help me to 0:11:56.880 --> 0:11:59.720 live with this addiction. Help me to maintain where I am. 0:12:00.120 --> 0:12:03.280 You will miss the fullness of what God has in store. 0:12:04.240 --> 0:12:07.560 Why don't you start letting down your nets? Why don't 0:12:07.600 --> 0:12:11.040 you say God, I'm in agreement with you. I believe 0:12:11.080 --> 0:12:15.960 you have a wide open, spacious, abundant life in store 0:12:16.000 --> 0:12:19.040 for me. So I'm gonna believe that my whole family 0:12:19.160 --> 0:12:21.559 is going to serve you. I'm gonna believe that, I'm 0:12:21.559 --> 0:12:24.760 gonna come out of debt, be a blessing to others, believe, 0:12:24.840 --> 0:12:27.800 and to start my business to build that orphanage, to 0:12:27.920 --> 0:12:31.600 meet the person of my dreams. If you'll start letting 0:12:31.640 --> 0:12:34.880 down your nets, God will open doors that you could 0:12:34.960 --> 0:12:38.240 never open, bring the right people across your path. He'll 0:12:38.240 --> 0:12:42.520 take you where you've never dreamed. But too often we 0:12:42.640 --> 0:12:45.840 let how we were raised. What we saw model growing 0:12:45.920 --> 0:12:49.440 up set the limits for our life. If our parents 0:12:49.679 --> 0:12:53.280 had addictions, bad habits. Are the people that raised us 0:12:53.480 --> 0:12:56.880 lived in lack and mediocrity. We think that's our lot 0:12:56.920 --> 0:12:59.800 in life. People tell me, Joel, I've gone as far 0:12:59.800 --> 0:13:03.120 as my parents, I've accomplished as much as my grandparents. 0:13:03.320 --> 0:13:07.000 I'm doing good enough. No, God is a progressive god. 0:13:07.400 --> 0:13:11.960 He wants every generation to increase. Your parents, your relatives, 0:13:12.360 --> 0:13:16.080 they laid the foundation. You're not supposed to settle there. 0:13:16.360 --> 0:13:19.560 You're supposed to build off of what they did. That's 0:13:19.640 --> 0:13:22.960 not a resting place where you can put down your stakes. 0:13:23.200 --> 0:13:26.280 That's a stepping stone for you to rise higher, a 0:13:26.360 --> 0:13:29.800 launching pad for you to go further. Don't get comfortable 0:13:30.280 --> 0:13:33.080 and settle there. And yes, you may have seen some 0:13:33.200 --> 0:13:37.000 mediocrity growing up, but God is counting on you to 0:13:37.040 --> 0:13:40.960 be the difference maker. In other words, maybe nobody in 0:13:41.000 --> 0:13:44.400 your family made good grades in school. You be the 0:13:44.440 --> 0:13:47.520 one to make good grades. Maybe none of them went 0:13:47.559 --> 0:13:50.040 to college. You be the one to go to college. 0:13:50.640 --> 0:13:53.080 They didn't live in a nice house. That's okay. They 0:13:53.080 --> 0:13:56.120 did the best they could with what they had. But 0:13:56.200 --> 0:13:59.840 don't you settle there. You have more advantages than they. 0:14:00.240 --> 0:14:03.840 You have more wisdom, you have more opportunity. There is 0:14:03.960 --> 0:14:08.000 more available to you. Your relatives may have let down 0:14:08.040 --> 0:14:12.160 their net singular, but the good news is you know better. 0:14:12.360 --> 0:14:14.760 You can let down your nets. You can dream bigger. 0:14:15.000 --> 0:14:19.120 You can believe bigger. Start living large, start taking steps 0:14:19.160 --> 0:14:25.480 of faith, stretching, growing learning. There's a wide, spacious life 0:14:25.640 --> 0:14:30.840 prepared for you. I saw a documentary about a professional thief, 0:14:30.880 --> 0:14:34.760 and this man was extremely intelligent. The way he planned 0:14:34.760 --> 0:14:39.440 his burglaries was very fascinating. He used incredible strategy. For 0:14:39.520 --> 0:14:43.840 twenty one years, he burglarized homes without being caught. He 0:14:43.920 --> 0:14:46.160 never heard anyone. He would only do it if the 0:14:46.200 --> 0:14:50.120 people weren't there. The police were so frustrated they brought 0:14:50.160 --> 0:14:54.160 in federal agents, some of the most skilled detectives around, 0:14:54.280 --> 0:14:57.720 still couldn't catch him. After twenty one years, because of 0:14:57.760 --> 0:15:01.200 this fluke, he was caught. This man did not look 0:15:01.280 --> 0:15:05.040 like a thief. He looked like a typical middle class 0:15:05.240 --> 0:15:09.520 business person. The police were very puzzled. They asked him, 0:15:09.640 --> 0:15:12.920 with all of your talent, your expertise, your skill, why 0:15:12.960 --> 0:15:16.560 did you choose a life of crime. I'll never forget 0:15:16.560 --> 0:15:19.560 his answer. He said, this is all that I know 0:15:19.640 --> 0:15:22.480 how to do. He went on to tell how he 0:15:22.520 --> 0:15:25.560 came out of a dysfunctional family and other relatives were 0:15:25.600 --> 0:15:28.600 involved in the same type of things. What was his problem. 0:15:28.880 --> 0:15:32.560 He had been raised in a limited environment. He made 0:15:32.600 --> 0:15:35.600 the mistake of letting the environment get in him. He 0:15:35.680 --> 0:15:39.040 saw dysfunction growing up and thought that was his slot 0:15:39.120 --> 0:15:42.440 in life, and like that fish in a small aquarium, 0:15:42.680 --> 0:15:45.320 there was nothing wrong with him. He had the talent, 0:15:45.600 --> 0:15:48.960 the intellect. God had a wide life plan for him, 0:15:49.440 --> 0:15:52.600 but because of limited thinking, he was living it in 0:15:52.640 --> 0:15:56.200 a small way. Don't let how you were raised, or 0:15:56.240 --> 0:15:59.880 even the environment you're in right now convince you to settle. 0:16:00.200 --> 0:16:04.000 You are get rid of that old wine skin. I 0:16:04.040 --> 0:16:06.920 wanted to say to this man, if you could successfully 0:16:07.120 --> 0:16:10.760 steal for twenty one years, out smarting some of the 0:16:10.800 --> 0:16:14.720 brightest minds around. Don't you think you could run your 0:16:14.760 --> 0:16:18.360 own business. Don't you think you could earn your master's degree. 0:16:18.880 --> 0:16:22.960 Don't you think that you could help businesses develop strategies 0:16:23.000 --> 0:16:27.640 to grow use your gifts for productive purposes. Had a 0:16:27.640 --> 0:16:29.880 young man tell me after the service a while back 0:16:30.080 --> 0:16:32.160 how the only thing he knew how to do was 0:16:32.200 --> 0:16:35.960 sell drugs. He came out of a rough neighborhood, dropped 0:16:35.960 --> 0:16:37.960 out of high school, his parents were never around, A 0:16:38.000 --> 0:16:40.480 lot of odds were against him. He said, Joel, I 0:16:40.560 --> 0:16:43.040 don't like doing it. I know it's not right, but 0:16:43.120 --> 0:16:46.120 I don't have any special skills. This is the only 0:16:46.200 --> 0:16:48.920 way I know how to make a living. I said, 0:16:48.960 --> 0:16:52.080 Now you're selling yourself short. You're smarter than you think. 0:16:52.400 --> 0:16:55.120 Selling drugs is not the only thing you can do. 0:16:55.440 --> 0:16:58.960 Think about this. If you can sell drugs, you have 0:16:59.040 --> 0:17:02.680 to know how to mark your product. That's marketing. You 0:17:02.800 --> 0:17:05.680 have to know how to get the word out, that's advertising. 0:17:06.240 --> 0:17:09.280 You have to take care of your clients, that's customer service. 0:17:11.119 --> 0:17:14.760 You have to know when to sell, when not to sell. 0:17:15.080 --> 0:17:19.040 That's a management decision. The truth is if you can 0:17:19.080 --> 0:17:22.000 sell drugs, you can sell stocks and bonds, you can 0:17:22.080 --> 0:17:27.440 sell medical equipment, you can sell electronics. God has a 0:17:27.480 --> 0:17:31.159 big life waiting for you. He has a purpose for 0:17:31.200 --> 0:17:34.840 you to fulfill, an assignment for you to accomplish. He's 0:17:34.880 --> 0:17:38.000 put the right gifts and talents in you. He's already 0:17:38.040 --> 0:17:41.400 lined up the right people, the right opportunities. Here's the key. 0:17:42.000 --> 0:17:46.560 Don't let your heredity stop your destiny. Don't let what 0:17:46.680 --> 0:17:49.399 was passed down to you keep you down. Break out 0:17:49.440 --> 0:17:53.920 of a limited mindset. There is greatness in you. Your 0:17:53.960 --> 0:17:57.680 destiny is calling out. It's time to start living large. 0:17:58.160 --> 0:18:01.919 If you'll start throwing out your having a bigger vision, 0:18:02.240 --> 0:18:05.680 believing that you're well able like Peter, you'll come into 0:18:05.720 --> 0:18:08.880 a great hall. God will amaze you with his goodness. 0:18:09.560 --> 0:18:12.119 This is what my father had to do. He was 0:18:12.200 --> 0:18:16.040 raised in a limited environment. His parents were cotton farmers. 0:18:16.520 --> 0:18:19.639 They lost everything during the Great Depression. They didn't have 0:18:19.760 --> 0:18:22.360 enough food to eat. My dad would go to high 0:18:22.400 --> 0:18:24.720 school with holes in his pants, holes in his shoes. 0:18:25.080 --> 0:18:30.359 This poverty mentality had become ingrained in his thinking. We're poor, 0:18:30.880 --> 0:18:33.960 we're defeated. This is all I'll ever have this is 0:18:34.000 --> 0:18:36.919 my lot in life. That's all he had ever seen. 0:18:37.119 --> 0:18:40.840 He didn't know any better. But at seventeen years of age, 0:18:41.280 --> 0:18:44.640 my dad gave his life to Christ. God called him 0:18:44.680 --> 0:18:48.680 to be a minister. Something came alive on the inside. 0:18:49.320 --> 0:18:53.240 Those seeds of greatness began to take root. He heard 0:18:53.240 --> 0:18:57.040 a voice saying, this is not your destiny. You are 0:18:57.080 --> 0:19:02.440 not made to live a defeated life, but rather an overcoming, victorious, 0:19:02.600 --> 0:19:06.880 fulfilling life. There's something more in store. In his mind, 0:19:07.320 --> 0:19:11.840 this battle of containment was taking place, negative voices telling 0:19:11.920 --> 0:19:15.160 him just the opposite. This is all there is. You'll 0:19:15.200 --> 0:19:19.320 never get out. Just accept it. His parents, my grandparents, 0:19:19.359 --> 0:19:22.920 were very loving people, kind, hard working people, but they 0:19:22.960 --> 0:19:26.560 had a limited vision. They were living a small life. 0:19:27.280 --> 0:19:30.760 They said, John, you better not leave the farm. All 0:19:30.800 --> 0:19:33.680 you know how to do is pick cotton. He could 0:19:33.680 --> 0:19:36.240 have thought, yeah, you're right. I don't have the education, 0:19:36.440 --> 0:19:39.560 the talent, the connections, the money. I better just stay here. No, 0:19:39.760 --> 0:19:43.800 don't let people put their limitations on you. Something rose 0:19:43.880 --> 0:19:46.680 up in my father. He said, this is where I am, 0:19:47.000 --> 0:19:49.320 but this is not who I am. I may be 0:19:49.480 --> 0:19:51.919 in a limited environment, but I'm not gonna let this 0:19:52.040 --> 0:19:54.680 environment get in me. I know I'm a child of 0:19:54.720 --> 0:19:57.720 the most tih God. I'm destined to leave my mark 0:19:58.000 --> 0:20:03.440 on this generation. He started throwing out his nets, believing 0:20:03.560 --> 0:20:06.560 he could take new ground for his family, believing to 0:20:06.600 --> 0:20:10.439 step into the wide open, spacious life. And seventeen he 0:20:10.760 --> 0:20:13.320 left home. And that's just what happened. God opened up 0:20:13.320 --> 0:20:16.960 big doors, He pastured great churches, touched people all over 0:20:17.000 --> 0:20:19.960 the world. God took him places that he never imagined. 0:20:20.600 --> 0:20:24.719 Here's the beauty because he stepped up and broke that 0:20:24.880 --> 0:20:29.720 poverty mentality. Now, my family, my brother, my sisters, we 0:20:29.760 --> 0:20:32.919 don't have to deal with it like my father. You 0:20:33.040 --> 0:20:35.960 can be the one to break the cycle of lack 0:20:36.160 --> 0:20:39.600 and defeat in your family. You can break the addictions, 0:20:39.640 --> 0:20:42.840 the bad habits. You can rise to a new level 0:20:43.240 --> 0:20:46.200 and go where no one in your family has ever gone. 0:20:46.280 --> 0:20:49.639 There's a large life waiting for you. Don't stay contained, 0:20:50.080 --> 0:20:52.920 don't talk yourself out of it. If you'll think bigger, 0:20:53.280 --> 0:20:56.720 you'll live bigger. I saw an experiment that was done 0:20:56.720 --> 0:21:00.199 with four monkeys. They placed them in a room with 0:21:00.280 --> 0:21:03.080 a large pole in the center. The top of the 0:21:03.119 --> 0:21:06.480 pole was a bunch of bananas. The first monkey hurried 0:21:06.560 --> 0:21:09.640 up the pole. So excited couldn't wait to get a banana, 0:21:10.040 --> 0:21:12.040 But just when he was about to reach for one, 0:21:12.440 --> 0:21:15.640 a large bucket of cold water was poured on him. 0:21:16.160 --> 0:21:18.720 He scurried down that pole as fast as he could. 0:21:19.080 --> 0:21:21.399 He didn't want to have anything to do with those bananas. 0:21:21.760 --> 0:21:25.160 A few minutes the second monkey went up, same thing happened, 0:21:25.520 --> 0:21:28.040 poured the cold water on him. He turned around, ran 0:21:28.160 --> 0:21:31.720 back Over the next hour, the other two monkeys went up, 0:21:31.760 --> 0:21:35.080 but once again they were doused with water came running 0:21:35.119 --> 0:21:38.800 back down. Day after day went by. Even though those 0:21:38.840 --> 0:21:42.080 monkeys loved bananas, they wouldn't dare go up that pole. 0:21:42.880 --> 0:21:46.640 At that point, the researchers removed one monkey and brought 0:21:46.680 --> 0:21:49.959 a new monkey in. This new monkey started going up 0:21:50.000 --> 0:21:53.360 the pole. When he did, the other three monkeys grabbed him, 0:21:53.680 --> 0:21:57.280 pulled him down, wouldn't let him go up. He tried again, 0:21:57.400 --> 0:21:59.720 and again and again they wouldn't let him. Finally he 0:21:59.760 --> 0:22:04.600 gave up quit trying. Researchers brought in another monkey, removed 0:22:04.600 --> 0:22:07.720 an original, same thing. When he went up, the three 0:22:07.720 --> 0:22:11.760 other monkeys grabbed him. Eventually, the room was filled with 0:22:11.960 --> 0:22:15.960 dozens of monkeys, none of them the original, none of 0:22:15.960 --> 0:22:19.240 them had felt the dowsing of water, but not one 0:22:19.280 --> 0:22:22.480 of them would go up that pole. They didn't know why, 0:22:22.520 --> 0:22:27.080 They just knew they couldn't have those bananas. Sometimes we're 0:22:27.119 --> 0:22:29.879 like these monkeys. We don't know why we can't do 0:22:29.960 --> 0:22:32.679 something great, why we can't accomplish the dream, why we 0:22:32.680 --> 0:22:35.639 can't break an addiction. All we know is nobody in 0:22:35.720 --> 0:22:38.879 our family has done it. Now they're pulling us down, 0:22:39.760 --> 0:22:43.400 telling us how we can't be successful, throwing water on 0:22:43.440 --> 0:22:49.400 our passion. Generation after generation being limited, pulled down because 0:22:49.400 --> 0:22:53.320 of wrong thinking. My message today is very simple. Go 0:22:53.359 --> 0:22:57.560 get your bananas. Somebody may have told you you can't 0:22:57.560 --> 0:23:01.359 do it. Nobody in your family did it. Daddy didn't 0:23:01.359 --> 0:23:04.240 do it, granddaddy didn't do it, Great granddaddy didn't do it. 0:23:04.280 --> 0:23:07.959 That's okay. This is a new day. You're the difference maker. 0:23:08.440 --> 0:23:11.400 Rise up and go get what belongs to you. Quit 0:23:11.480 --> 0:23:16.960 letting people pull you down. Your friends, your relatives, your coworkers. 0:23:17.600 --> 0:23:20.680 They may mean well, but God didn't put the dream 0:23:20.720 --> 0:23:23.960 in them. He put the dream in you. Don't let 0:23:23.960 --> 0:23:26.639 them talk you out of it. Don't settle where you 0:23:26.760 --> 0:23:31.119 are because everybody around you is stuck. Go get your bananas, 0:23:31.960 --> 0:23:35.920 get me one while you're there. You've got to learn 0:23:36.160 --> 0:23:40.439 how to encourage yourself. You can't rely on people to 0:23:40.560 --> 0:23:44.000 keep you built up and cheer your own Sometimes people 0:23:44.040 --> 0:23:46.359 will let you down. They'll try to keep you at 0:23:46.359 --> 0:23:49.200 the same level. They may not see what you can see. 0:23:49.840 --> 0:23:53.200 Paul said in Romans three, what if they don't believe? 0:23:53.800 --> 0:23:57.240 Will their unbelief make the faith of God of no effect? 0:23:57.880 --> 0:24:02.000 One version says, so what if they don't believe? Just 0:24:02.080 --> 0:24:05.359 because somebody doesn't believe that you can do what God 0:24:05.400 --> 0:24:08.879 put in your heart, that doesn't change anything. You don't 0:24:08.920 --> 0:24:12.159 have to have everybody on board. You're never going to 0:24:12.200 --> 0:24:15.280 get all your relatives, friends, coworkers to cheer you on 0:24:15.680 --> 0:24:19.520 and support you. In fact, sometimes, and I say this respectfully, 0:24:19.880 --> 0:24:22.720 they'll be like these monkeys. They'll tell you you really 0:24:22.720 --> 0:24:24.800 think you can do that, You really think you can 0:24:24.840 --> 0:24:27.720 break that addiction, start that business, write that book. I 0:24:27.720 --> 0:24:31.040 don't think so nobody can climb that pole. Your attitude 0:24:31.040 --> 0:24:34.560 should be again, respectfully, So what if they don't believe? 0:24:34.960 --> 0:24:37.919 I don't need their encouragement, their support, their prayers. I 0:24:38.000 --> 0:24:41.639 know this, Me and God are a majority. If God 0:24:41.680 --> 0:24:44.120 be for me, who dare be against me. I'm gonna 0:24:44.160 --> 0:24:51.679 go get my bananas. Start encouraging yourself. I'm strong, I'm talented, 0:24:51.760 --> 0:24:56.399 I'm well able. I'm coming into my wide open, spacious life. 0:24:57.520 --> 0:24:59.479 A friend of mine told how when he was six 0:24:59.600 --> 0:25:03.040 years old, the teacher gave the class an assignment. They 0:25:03.119 --> 0:25:05.520 had to write down what they wanted to be when 0:25:05.560 --> 0:25:08.679 they grew up. He had seen a man on television 0:25:08.720 --> 0:25:11.560 that was very funny, and that was his dream. As 0:25:11.600 --> 0:25:14.239 a little boy, he knew he wanted to be on 0:25:14.280 --> 0:25:18.400 television making people laugh. He wrote it down. He came 0:25:18.440 --> 0:25:21.560 from a low income family or hand me down clothes, 0:25:21.640 --> 0:25:25.320 plus he had a problem with stuttering. The teacher started 0:25:25.320 --> 0:25:28.480 calling out the kids' names out loud and reading what 0:25:28.480 --> 0:25:31.040 they had written down, but when she came to his, 0:25:31.280 --> 0:25:34.520 she stopped and said, Stevie, will you please come up here. 0:25:35.240 --> 0:25:37.560 He walked to the front of the class so proud, 0:25:37.960 --> 0:25:40.520 thinking that she was going to encourage him, cheer him on. 0:25:41.040 --> 0:25:43.960 It's just the opposite. She said, Stevie, what did you 0:25:44.040 --> 0:25:46.720 write down? He said, I wrote down that I want 0:25:46.760 --> 0:25:51.160 to be on television making people laugh. She said, now, Stevie, 0:25:51.480 --> 0:25:55.480 do you know anybody on television? He said, no, ma'am. 0:25:55.840 --> 0:25:58.720 She said, Stevie, has anyone in your family ever been 0:25:58.760 --> 0:26:02.199 on television? He said, no, ma'am. She said, then you 0:26:02.240 --> 0:26:05.600 need to take this back and write down something more realistic. 0:26:06.400 --> 0:26:09.000 As a six year old boy, he was confused. Up 0:26:09.080 --> 0:26:12.480 to that point. Nobody had ever told him what he 0:26:12.520 --> 0:26:16.080 couldn't become. And this teacher, I'm sure she meant well, 0:26:16.240 --> 0:26:19.240 but like these monkeys, she was pulling him down. You 0:26:19.280 --> 0:26:23.040 can't do that. Nobody in this school does that. That night, 0:26:23.119 --> 0:26:26.200 Stevie told his father what happened, showed him the paper 0:26:26.200 --> 0:26:28.359 that he had written down he wanted to be on television. 0:26:28.840 --> 0:26:31.479 His father said, Stevie, put this in your top drawer. 0:26:32.080 --> 0:26:35.480 Every morning before you go to school. Every night, before 0:26:35.520 --> 0:26:37.800 you go to bed, you get this paper out and 0:26:37.840 --> 0:26:41.200 read it and thank God that one day you will 0:26:41.200 --> 0:26:47.040 be on television. He did that, year after year after year. Today, 0:26:47.320 --> 0:26:51.000 many years later, my friend Steve Harvey is on television 0:26:51.040 --> 0:26:55.200 seven days a week, making people laugh. A great inspiration. 0:26:57.119 --> 0:27:00.879 Who told you you can't do something great, Who told 0:27:00.920 --> 0:27:04.000 you you can't accomplish your dreams, who told you you'll 0:27:04.040 --> 0:27:08.600 never overcome that illness? Don't let the monkeys of life 0:27:09.080 --> 0:27:12.800 keep you from your destiny. Steve could easily be living 0:27:12.800 --> 0:27:15.960 a small life if he'd have let those words take root, 0:27:16.400 --> 0:27:19.200 gone around thinking about them, that would have kept him 0:27:19.240 --> 0:27:22.720 from God's best. If you're going to live a large life, 0:27:22.880 --> 0:27:26.200 you have to delete the negative things that were spoken 0:27:26.240 --> 0:27:29.399 over you. You are not who people say you are. You 0:27:29.440 --> 0:27:32.560 are who God says you are. Don't let what they 0:27:32.640 --> 0:27:37.200 said contain you. For instance, you're just a C student. 0:27:37.440 --> 0:27:40.880 Delete that you're an A student. You'll never get out 0:27:40.920 --> 0:27:43.520 of debt. Delete that you will lend and not borrow. 0:27:44.280 --> 0:27:47.359 You can't accomplish your dreams. Delete that you can do 0:27:47.440 --> 0:27:50.919 all things through Christ. You're not talented, you're not attractive. 0:27:51.080 --> 0:27:55.159 Delete that you are fearfully and wonderfully made friends. People 0:27:55.200 --> 0:27:58.439 don't have the final say. God does, and he says, 0:27:58.480 --> 0:28:03.120 I've prepared for you, wide open, spacious life. Now get 0:28:03.200 --> 0:28:06.479 rid of the old wine skins. Start throwing out your nets. 0:28:06.760 --> 0:28:09.159 This is a new day. God wants to take you 0:28:09.200 --> 0:28:11.840 where you've never been. He wants to show you something 0:28:11.880 --> 0:28:15.440 that you've never seen. If you will start living large, 0:28:15.920 --> 0:28:19.000 I believe and declare you're going to see new doors 0:28:19.040 --> 0:28:22.280 begin to open, new talent come out of you, New friendships, 0:28:22.359 --> 0:28:26.760 new opportunities, a new level of your destiny in Jesus' name, 0:28:27.160 --> 0:28:31.000 and if you receive it, can you say amen. We 0:28:31.119 --> 0:28:33.919 never like to close our broadcast without giving you an 0:28:33.920 --> 0:28:37.440 opportunity to make Jesus the lord of your life. Would 0:28:37.480 --> 0:28:42.400 you pray with me? Just say, Lord, Jesus, I'll repent 0:28:42.440 --> 0:28:46.960 of my sins. Come into my heart. I make you 0:28:47.040 --> 0:28:51.560 my Lord and savior. Friends, if you prayed that simple prayer, 0:28:51.800 --> 0:28:54.360 we believe you got born again. Get in a good 0:28:54.360 --> 0:28:57.600 Bible based church. Keep God first place. He's going to 0:28:57.680 --> 0:28:59.200 take you where you've never dreamed. 0:29:00.120 --> 0:29:02.960 Thank you for listening to the Joel Los Dean podcast. 0:29:03.320 --> 0:29:05.920 Help us continue to share the message of hope with 0:29:06.040 --> 0:29:10.000 those all over the world. Visit Joelostin dot com slash 0:29:10.120 --> 0:29:12.120 give Hope to give a gift today. 0:29:13.400 --> 0:29:16.280 Thanks so much for listening to today's message. I hope 0:29:16.320 --> 0:29:19.680 you'll subscribe so you can receive the latest podcast to 0:29:19.760 --> 0:29:22.960 keep you inspired all through the week. We're praying for you. 0:29:23.160 --> 0:29:25.600 I know God's best is still ahead. We'll see you 0:29:25.680 --> 0:29:26.240 next time. 0:29:33.160 --> 0:29:35.680 More than ever before, people are turning to the church 0:29:35.720 --> 0:29:39.480 for their mental health struggles. Unfortunately, the church has largely 0:29:39.520 --> 0:29:42.760 been ill equipped to help. That is until now join 0:29:42.840 --> 0:29:45.920 yourly fifty thousand people just like you who've enrolled in 0:29:45.960 --> 0:29:49.440 the Mental Health Coach training program and become equipped to help. 0:29:49.720 --> 0:29:52.760 For a limited time, apply for a full tuition scholarship 0:29:52.800 --> 0:29:54.960 and only pay a one time tech fee of fifty 0:29:54.960 --> 0:29:59.000 four dollars if accepted. 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