Latest / Top Churches / Joel Osteen Podcast - God Will Finish What He Started | Joel Osteen

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Joel Osteen Podcast - God Will Finish What He Started | Joel Osteen · Top Churches

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Hey, thanks again for being with us today.
• 0:02
  Speaker 2: Always my honor to be able to share God's Word
• 0:05
  Speaker 2: with you and hopefully inspire you and encourage you. If
• 0:07
  Speaker 2: you're enjoying the podcast, I hope you'll share it with
• 0:09
  Speaker 2: a friend, pass it along. Let's inspire some other people
• 0:12
  Speaker 2: as well. But know that we love you. It's going
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: to be a blessed day for you. Well, God bless you.
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: It's a joy to come into your homes. We're here
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: at the Miami Marlins Baseball Stadium with some of the
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: finest people in all.
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: Of Florida right here at the ball stadium. Fantastic people.
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: Victors and not victims. Hold up your Bible. Say it
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: like you mean it. This is my Bible. I am
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: what it says I am. I have what it says
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: I have. I can do what it says I can do. Tonight,
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: I will be taught the Word of God. I boldly
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: confess my mind is alert. My heart is receptive. I
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: will never be the same.
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: Never, never, never.
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: I'll never be the same in Jesus' name.
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: God bless you.
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: I want to talk to you tonight about how God
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: will finish what he started. The moment God put a
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: dream in your heart, the moment the promise took root,
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: God not only started it, but he set a completion date.
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: God is called the author and the finisher of our faith.
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: God wouldn't have given you the dream. The promise wouldn't
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: have come alive if God didn't already have.
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: A plan to bring it to pass. Doesn't matter how
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: long it's been or how impossible it looks. Your mind may.
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: Tell you it's too late. You missed too many opportunities.
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: It's never going to happen. No, God is saying it's
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: not over. I have the final say. I've already set
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: the completion date. And if you will stay in faith
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: and not talk yourself out of it, it's just a
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: matter of time before it comes to pass.
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: But some of you tonight, you've lost your fire.
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: At one time you believed you could do something great.
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: You had a big dream. Maybe you believed you could
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: start that business. Believed that you'd get healthy again.
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: Believed that you'd.
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: Fall in love and get married. But it's been so long.
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: You tried and it didn't work out. The loan didn't
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: go through. The medical report wasn't good. Now the never
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: lies are playing in your mind. I'll never get well.
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: I'll never get married. I'll never accomplish my dreams. No,
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: you have to have a new perspective. The creator of
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: the universe has already set that completion date. Just because
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: it hasn't happened yet doesn't mean it's not going to happen.
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: God has already lined up the right people, the right breaks,
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: the right answers. Everything you need is already in your future.
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: Now you got to shake off the doubt. Shake off
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: the discouragement. Whether it's been a year, five years, or
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: 50 years, what God promised you, he still has every
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: intention of bringing it to pass. In the scripture, there's
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: a man by the name of Simeon. An angel appeared
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: unto him and told him, you will not die until
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: you see the birth of Christ. You can imagine how
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: far out that promise seemed, especially back then. He would
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: see the birth of the Messiahs. Simeon didn't tell anyone
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: about it, kept it to himself. Do you know some
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: promises you're not supposed to tell your friends and all
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: your family members? They may not be happy for you.
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: They may tell you how it's not going to happen
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: and you're too old and you really think you can
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: do that.
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: Keep it to yourself.
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: That's between you and God. The scripture calls it a
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: secret petition of our heart. Year went by and Simeon
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: didn't see any sign of the Messiah. Five years, 10 years.
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: I'm sure the thoughts came saying, you heard God wrong.
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: It's been too long. It's never going to happen. The
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: enemy has no new tricks. He uses the same type
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: of lies on us today.
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: Doubt, discouragement.
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: You really think you're going to get well? You saw
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: the medical report. You really think you could accomplish those dreams?
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: You don't have the funds, the connections. No, let those
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: thoughts go in one ear.
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: And out the other.
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: I can see Simeon all through the day. God, I
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: know you're a God of completion. You said I wouldn't
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: go to my grave without seeing this promise come to pass.
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: So Lord, I want to thank you that it's on
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: the way. He got up every morning believing, expecting, knowing
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: that it would happen. And sure enough, 20 years later,
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: he saw Christ born. The promise came to fulfillment. God
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: is saying to you tonight what.
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: He said to Simeon. You can't die yet.
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: There are too many promises that have not come to
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: pass in your life. What God started, he will finish.
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: People can't stop it. Bad breaks can't stop it. Sickness
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: can't stop it. Death can't even stop it. You need
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: to get ready.
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: God is going to complete your incompletions.
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: You will not go to your grave without seeing those
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: dreams come.
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: To pass, even the secret petitions of your heart.
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: And it may seem impossible, but remember, our God is
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: all powerful. He spoke the worlds into existence and he
• 5:31
  Speaker 2: has you in the palm of his hand. God never
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: created you to do something average, to drag through life, unfulfilled, unrewarded.
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: No, he created you to.
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: Do something amazing. He's put seeds of greatness on the inside.
• 5:49
  Speaker 2: He's whispered things to you in the middle of the
• 5:51
  Speaker 2: night that seemed too big, far out, impossible.
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: But God is saying, that was my voice. That's my
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: dream for your life. It's bigger. It's more rewarding. You
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: may not see how it can happen. May look like it's.
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: Been too long, but if you'll stay in faith, God
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: can still bring that to pass.
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: He will finish what he started.
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: I met a 106 year old man in our lobby
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: after the service a while back. And he was so happy,
• 6:22
  Speaker 2: so full of joy. He looked like he was 70
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: years old. He didn't have one wrinkle.
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: He was African-American.
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: And I commented on how great he looked. I'll never
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: forget what he said. He touched his face and said, Joel,
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: black don't crack. He was so funny, but I asked
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: him how long he planned on living. He told how
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: he has seven children. One of his sons has gotten
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: off course and not serving God. He said, I can't
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: die yet because God promised as for me and my house,
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: we will serve the Lord. I love that attitude. I
• 7:07
  Speaker 2: can't die until I see God bring every promise to pass. Friends,
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: you got to stir up what God's put on the inside.
• 7:16
  Speaker 2: Life will try to push you down, steal your dreams,
• 7:19
  Speaker 2: talk you into settling for mediocrity. And I want you
• 7:23
  Speaker 2: to have this new attitude. What God started in your life,
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: he is going to finish it. But here's the real question.
• 7:31
  Speaker 2: Will you keep believing even though it looks impossible? Will
• 7:37
  Speaker 2: you stay in faith even though every voice tells you
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: that it's not going to happen?
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: This is what David did.
• 7:45
  Speaker 2: He was anointed to be king at 17 years of age,
• 7:48
  Speaker 2: but he didn't take the throne until he was 30.
• 7:52
  Speaker 2: For 13 years, he had a lot come against him.
• 7:55
  Speaker 2: King Saul was jealous of him, tried to kill him.
• 7:59
  Speaker 2: Even though David had done no wrong, he had to
• 8:02
  Speaker 2: live on the run, hiding in the caves. Year after year,
• 8:06
  Speaker 2: I'm sure he thought, God, did I hear you wrong?
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: Is it ever going to happen?
• 8:12
  Speaker 2: At one point, a man named Nabal insulted David. He
• 8:16
  Speaker 2: wouldn't give David's men any food, even though they had
• 8:19
  Speaker 2: been protecting his property.
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: This set David off. He was furious.
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: I don't think so much it was the fact that
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: Nabal was rude, but it was the fact that David
• 8:31
  Speaker 2: had 13 years of pent up frustration on the inside.
• 8:35
  Speaker 2: He'd heard the voice again and again. Look at you, man.
• 8:38
  Speaker 2: You're supposed to be a king. You're out here living
• 8:42
  Speaker 2: like a caveman. David and his men set out toward
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: Nabal's property. They were going to wipe him out. But
• 8:50
  Speaker 2: along the way, a young lady showed up by the
• 8:52
  Speaker 2: name of Abigail. This was Navel's wife. She said, David,
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: you're the next king of Israel. You are destined to
• 9:01
  Speaker 2: take the throne. Why are you going to go mess
• 9:04
  Speaker 2: with my husband? That's like swatting a little fly. She
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: reminded David what God had spoken over him.
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: David said, you know what? You're right.
• 9:14
  Speaker 2: I know there's a promise in me and I'm not
• 9:17
  Speaker 2: going to let the fact that it's taken a long
• 9:19
  Speaker 2: time cause me to get frustrated and make a poor
• 9:22
  Speaker 2: decision that could hinder my destiny. He turned around, went
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: back home. God has put a promise in every one
• 9:30
  Speaker 2: of you, but maybe like David right now, you're in
• 9:34
  Speaker 2: the wilderness where you don't see anything happening. You think, Joel,
• 9:39
  Speaker 2: I've been praying, believing for a year, five years, 10 years.
• 9:43
  Speaker 2: It's never going to work out Now let me be
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: the voice of Abigail.
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: Stay the course. Keep believing.
• 9:50
  Speaker 2: You may be tired, discouraged, tempted to be frustrated, but
• 9:55
  Speaker 2: don't give up on your future.
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: Stay on the high road.
• 9:59
  Speaker 2: Our God is a faithful God. It may be taking
• 10:02
  Speaker 2: up a long time, but what he started, he will
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: finish in your life. A good friend of mine is
• 10:18
  Speaker 2: Jeff Hackleman here on the front row, and he and
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: his wife Eileen pastor Family Faith Church in Huntsville, Texas.
• 10:25
  Speaker 2: When we were in high school, Jeff drove down to
• 10:28
  Speaker 2: the Gulf of Mexico to go fishing one day, and
• 10:31
  Speaker 2: he'd done this many times before. This day, he and
• 10:34
  Speaker 2: his friend decided they were going to try somewhere different.
• 10:38
  Speaker 2: As Jeff was launching the boat, he asked the man
• 10:41
  Speaker 2: at the dock how to get back to that place
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: from the gas wells. The man said, we're directly north.
• 10:48
  Speaker 2: If you're anywhere around those gas wells, just go due
• 10:51
  Speaker 2: north and you'll make it back to this dock. Jeff
• 10:55
  Speaker 2: and his friend traveled an hour in their little boat
• 10:57
  Speaker 2: and got to their destination.
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: They were having so much fun, catching so many fish.
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: What they didn't.
• 11:04
  Speaker 2: Realize is a heavy fog had set in. It happened
• 11:09
  Speaker 2: so quickly that it caught them off guard. They could
• 11:12
  Speaker 2: only see 20, 30 feet in each direction. It's getting
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: kind of late. The sun started to go down and
• 11:18
  Speaker 2: Jeff was a little concerned. Told his friend, pull up
• 11:21
  Speaker 2: the anchor. We got to get going. Jeff looked around
• 11:25
  Speaker 2: to try to get some sense of direction. He could
• 11:28
  Speaker 2: only see fog. All of his logic said, we need
• 11:32
  Speaker 2: to go this way. He asked his friend. His father's
• 11:35
  Speaker 2: a big fisherman as well. He said, no, Jeff, it's
• 11:38
  Speaker 2: not that direction. It's this direction. Totally opposite what Jeff thought.
• 11:43
  Speaker 2: Now he was really confused. He got his compass out.
• 11:47
  Speaker 2: Due north, like the man at the dock said, wasn't
• 11:50
  Speaker 2: this way or this way.
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: But it was this way. Different than what both of
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: them thought.
• 11:56
  Speaker 2: Against all sense of reasoning, Jeff cranked up the motor
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: and started traveling due north. Everything in his mind told him,
• 12:05
  Speaker 2: you're making a big mistake. You're going the wrong way.
• 12:08
  Speaker 2: You better turn around. He kept going back to what
• 12:11
  Speaker 2: the man at the dock said, go due north and
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: you'll make it back. He traveled, crept along, couldn't go fast.
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: 15 minutes, 30 minutes, 45, an hour.
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: Now it was dark.
• 12:23
  Speaker 2: A voice started telling him, if you were going right,
• 12:27
  Speaker 2: you would already be there by now. How many times
• 12:31
  Speaker 2: as we're believing for what God promised us, do we
• 12:33
  Speaker 2: hear these same type of voices? If you were going
• 12:36
  Speaker 2: to get well, you'd feel better by now. If you're
• 12:40
  Speaker 2: going to get married, you would have met somebody by now.
• 12:43
  Speaker 2: There will always be voices trying to convince us it's
• 12:47
  Speaker 2: too late.
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: You're going the wrong way. It's never going to happen.
• 12:51
  Speaker 2: Jeff's friends started panicking, started yelling at Jeff, turn.
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: The boat around.
• 12:56
  Speaker 2: You're taking us out to sea. We're going to run
• 12:58
  Speaker 2: out of gas. We could get killed. In spite of
• 13:02
  Speaker 2: all these confusing voices, Jeff kept traveling due north another
• 13:06
  Speaker 2: 30 minutes, another 45, another hour. Just before they ran
• 13:10
  Speaker 2: out of gas, they begin to see the dock faintly
• 13:14
  Speaker 2: come into view. They made it back safely. Sometimes in life,
• 13:18
  Speaker 2: the fog will set in. You don't know which way
• 13:22
  Speaker 2: is the right direction. You know God's put a promise
• 13:25
  Speaker 2: in your heart, but every voice tells you it's not
• 13:28
  Speaker 2: going to happen.
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: You're too old. You missed too many opportunities. You don't
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: have the connections. In the foggy.
• 13:35
  Speaker 2: Times where you don't see anything happening, that's when you
• 13:38
  Speaker 2: have to dig your heels in and say, God, I'm
• 13:41
  Speaker 2: going to believe what you promised me in spite of
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: how I feel, in spite of what people are telling me,
• 13:48
  Speaker 2: in spite of how it looks. God, I'm going to
• 13:51
  Speaker 2: keep acting like what you said is true. I'm going
• 13:54
  Speaker 2: to keep believing you're on the throne. I know you're
• 13:57
  Speaker 2: a faithful God. What you promised, you will bring to pass.
• 14:02
  Speaker 2: There's a young lady in the scripture by the name
• 14:04
  Speaker 2: of Rachel. She wanted to have a baby so badly.
• 14:08
  Speaker 2: God put this dream in her heart, but year after
• 14:11
  Speaker 2: year went by and she couldn't conceive. At the same time,
• 14:15
  Speaker 2: her sister Leah had a baby. Rachel was happy for her,
• 14:19
  Speaker 2: congratulated her, but all the while she kept praying. Rachel did,
• 14:24
  Speaker 2: believing for her own baby, but no success. Well, Leah
• 14:28
  Speaker 2: had another child, another baby, and another and another. And
• 14:33
  Speaker 2: of course, it's good to be happy for others. It's
• 14:36
  Speaker 2: good to rejoice with them. But God doesn't want you
• 14:39
  Speaker 2: to just celebrate everybody else. God wants to bring your
• 14:43
  Speaker 2: dreams to pass. God wants to give you the desires
• 14:46
  Speaker 2: of your heart. He wants you to be celebrated. And
• 14:50
  Speaker 2: Rachel did her best to keep praying and believing. But
• 14:54
  Speaker 2: after years of frustrations, Seeing her sister have babies and
• 14:59
  Speaker 2: her not have a child, she got discouraged.
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: And thought, hey, this is my lot in life. It's
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: never going to happen.
• 15:07
  Speaker 2: One thing I love about God is just because we
• 15:10
  Speaker 2: give up on a dream doesn't mean that God gives
• 15:13
  Speaker 2: up on the dream. The scripture says God remembered Rachel.
• 15:19
  Speaker 2: It doesn't say that Rachel remembered God. This is how
• 15:22
  Speaker 2: much God wants you to fulfill your destinies. It says,
• 15:26
  Speaker 2: God remembered Rachel, answered her prayer, and gave her a baby.
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: Friends, God is so loving. He's so merciful.
• 15:36
  Speaker 2: Even when we become too discouraged to believe, God does
• 15:40
  Speaker 2: not forget what he promised you. You may feel like Rachel.
• 15:46
  Speaker 2: Your life hasn't turned out the way you had hoped.
• 15:48
  Speaker 2: You prayed, you believed, you worked hard, you put forth
• 15:51
  Speaker 2: the effort, but it didn't work out. Now you're kind
• 15:54
  Speaker 2: of thinking, hey, never going to be happy again, never
• 15:57
  Speaker 2: be married, never accomplish my dreams. No, God not only
• 16:02
  Speaker 2: remembers you, he remembers the promise he put in you.
• 16:06
  Speaker 2: He knows what he's destined you to do. You may
• 16:10
  Speaker 2: have already said, forget it. It's never going to happen.
• 16:13
  Speaker 2: The good news is you don't have the final say.
• 16:16
  Speaker 2: God has the final say. And he says, what I
• 16:19
  Speaker 2: started in your life, I'm going to finish. That dream
• 16:24
  Speaker 2: you gave up on, God didn't give up on. When
• 16:27
  Speaker 2: my brother Paul was 12 years old, he went to
• 16:30
  Speaker 2: Africa with my father and standing on a hot tarmac,
• 16:35
  Speaker 2: waiting for a small plane to refuel in a tiny
• 16:39
  Speaker 2: nation called Northern Rhodesia, God planted a dream in Paul's
• 16:43
  Speaker 2: heart that one day he would go back to Africa
• 16:47
  Speaker 2: and do medical missions. The creator of the universe birthed
• 16:51
  Speaker 2: that in him that day. Paul went on to become
• 16:54
  Speaker 2: a doctor and he spent 17 years as the chief
• 16:57
  Speaker 2: of surgery in Little Rock, Arkansas. Deep down, he still
• 17:02
  Speaker 2: wanted to do medical missions, but he was so busy.
• 17:04
  Speaker 2: He had so much responsibility, he couldn't do it. In 1999,
• 17:10
  Speaker 2: driving home from my father's memorial service, he heard God
• 17:15
  Speaker 2: speak to him right down in here, telling him to
• 17:18
  Speaker 2: give up his medical practice, come back home and help
• 17:21
  Speaker 2: us pastor the church. in the natural, that didn't make sense.
• 17:26
  Speaker 2: He had all these years of training, all these years
• 17:29
  Speaker 2: of education. He was going to walk away from it.
• 17:33
  Speaker 2: For 10 years, Paul helped us here at the ministry,
• 17:37
  Speaker 2: never thought anymore about medicine, thought those days were over.
• 17:42
  Speaker 2: But God doesn't forget what he promised you as a child.
• 17:46
  Speaker 2: God remembers the dreams, the goals, the things that you
• 17:50
  Speaker 2: always wanted to do. One day, a group of doctors
• 17:53
  Speaker 2: from our church were going to Africa. They asked Paul
• 17:56
  Speaker 2: to go and he went over there just thinking he
• 17:59
  Speaker 2: had watched from the sidelines, maybe see how we could
• 18:02
  Speaker 2: support them better. But when he got there, they put
• 18:06
  Speaker 2: him in the operating room and said, Paul, we need
• 18:09
  Speaker 2: you to do these surgeries.
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: Hadn't done surgery in over 10 years.
• 18:14
  Speaker 2: I just thank God I wasn't the first patient that day,
• 18:17
  Speaker 2: but on the last day before he left, come back
• 18:22
  Speaker 2: home on that two week trip. He got up in
• 18:24
  Speaker 2: the middle of the night. He went out and looked
• 18:27
  Speaker 2: up in the African sky and all of a sudden
• 18:30
  Speaker 2: it hit him. He was doing what God put in
• 18:34
  Speaker 2: his heart as a 12 year old boy. What God starts,
• 18:38
  Speaker 2: he will finish. You may not see how it can happen.
• 18:43
  Speaker 2: It may look like You're too old. You missed too
• 18:47
  Speaker 2: many opportunities.
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: It's impossible. No, God has it all figured out.
• 18:52
  Speaker 2: God knows how to connect the dots.
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: Here's the key.
• 18:56
  Speaker 2: God is not okay with you fulfilling half of your destiny.
• 19:01
  Speaker 2: He's not okay with you fulfilling a part of it.
• 19:04
  Speaker 2: God is going to make sure you complete what he
• 19:08
  Speaker 2: put you here to do. Today, Paul spends five months
• 19:12
  Speaker 2: a year over in the remote villages.
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: Of Africa operating on the poor and needy.
• 19:18
  Speaker 2: In fact, right now, He's in Central Africa in a
• 19:22
  Speaker 2: tiny nation that used to be called Northern Rhodesia, the
• 19:27
  Speaker 2: exact place God planted the dream in his heart some
• 19:31
  Speaker 2: 45 years ago. God knows how to bring your dreams
• 19:35
  Speaker 2: to pass. You say, Joel, this all sounds good, very encouraging,
• 19:41
  Speaker 2: but you don't know my situation. I think it's too
• 19:44
  Speaker 2: late for me. That's what two sisters in the scripture thought.
• 19:49
  Speaker 2: Mary and Martha. Their brother Lazarus was extremely sick. They
• 19:54
  Speaker 2: sent word for their good friend Jesus to come to
• 19:57
  Speaker 2: their city and pray for him. A day went by
• 20:00
  Speaker 2: and Jesus didn't show up. They asked the people they sent.
• 20:05
  Speaker 2: Did you tell Jesus this was us? Yes, we told him.
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: Did you explain how sick Lazarus was? We explained it
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: to him.
• 20:13
  Speaker 2: They couldn't understand why Jesus wouldn't come immediately.
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: Lazarus ended up dying. Four days later, Jesus showed up.
• 20:24
  Speaker 2: Mary said, Jesus, if you'd have been here sooner, my
• 20:27
  Speaker 2: brother would still be alive. Have you ever felt like
• 20:31
  Speaker 2: God showed up too late? It had just got there
• 20:35
  Speaker 2: a little sooner. Maybe things would have worked out. That's
• 20:38
  Speaker 2: the way they felt. You know how the story ends.
• 20:41
  Speaker 2: Jesus spoke to Lazarus and he came back to life.
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: But what I want you to see is they wanted
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: Jesus to come and heal their brother.
• 20:51
  Speaker 2: But Jesus wasn't thinking about a healing.
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: He was thinking about a resurrection.
• 20:56
  Speaker 2: A healing would have been good, but Jesus had something
• 20:59
  Speaker 2: better in mind.
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: When the promise.
• 21:03
  Speaker 2: doesn't turn out the way you thought, when it doesn't
• 21:07
  Speaker 2: happen on your timetable, it's easy to get discouraged and
• 21:11
  Speaker 2: to feel like God let you down. But the truth is,
• 21:15
  Speaker 2: that means God has something better in store.
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: You prayed, you worked hard, you believed, but you didn't
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: get the promotion. The door closed. Don't get discouraged.
• 21:25
  Speaker 2: That would have been a healing. God has a resurrection.
• 21:29
  Speaker 2: Dare to trust him. He's promised what he started in
• 21:33
  Speaker 2: your life, he will finish. If you'll let God do
• 21:37
  Speaker 2: it his way, it'll always turn out better than you
• 21:40
  Speaker 2: ever imagined. I read a story about a young man
• 21:43
  Speaker 2: that was training for the 1924 Olympic Games.
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: They were to be held in Paris, France.
• 21:51
  Speaker 2: He was an American highly skilled in whitewater canoeing. He'd
• 21:56
  Speaker 2: won many competitions down through the years. He was the
• 21:59
  Speaker 2: heavy favorite for the gold medal. That was always his dream,
• 22:03
  Speaker 2: an Olympic gold. It just so happened that his wife
• 22:07
  Speaker 2: became pregnant and her due date was at the exact
• 22:10
  Speaker 2: time of the Olympics. And of course, back in those days,
• 22:14
  Speaker 2: didn't have travel like we do today. To go across
• 22:17
  Speaker 2: the ocean and back would take several months time. He
• 22:21
  Speaker 2: made the decision that he wasn't going to miss the
• 22:24
  Speaker 2: birth of his first son. Informed his coach that he
• 22:28
  Speaker 2: would no longer be participating, not competing in the Olympic Games.
• 22:33
  Speaker 2: His son was born and over the years he poured.
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: Into that young man like his father did.
• 22:39
  Speaker 2: The son was extremely gifted in whitewater rafting. They spent
• 22:44
  Speaker 2: year after year practicing, training, getting better and better. In 1948,
• 22:49
  Speaker 2: the son qualified for the Olympics in Helsinki, Finland.
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: He went over and competed.
• 22:56
  Speaker 2: A couple of weeks later, the father received a telegraph, said,
• 23:01
  Speaker 2: dear dad, Thanks for waiting around for me to be born.
• 23:05
  Speaker 2: I'm coming home 24 years later with your Olympic gold medal.
• 23:10
  Speaker 2: The son won the gold, came home and presented it
• 23:14
  Speaker 2: to his father. Now the father had the gold medal
• 23:19
  Speaker 2: that he always dreamed about, but it even meant more
• 23:22
  Speaker 2: to him because it came from his son whom he
• 23:25
  Speaker 2: loved so much. That's the way our God is. When
• 23:29
  Speaker 2: we think it's too late, it could never happen. I've
• 23:31
  Speaker 2: missed too many opportunities. Listen, God still has a way
• 23:36
  Speaker 2: to bring your dreams to pass. There's a man in
• 23:38
  Speaker 2: the scripture by the name of Zerubbabel. He had a
• 23:43
  Speaker 2: dream to rebuild the temple. The whole city had been destroyed.
• 23:48
  Speaker 2: He came back and laid the foundation.
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: But the people in the city weren't for him. They
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: didn't want the temple rebuilt. They went to the.
• 23:56
  Speaker 2: Judge and he issued an order telling him to stop.
• 24:01
  Speaker 2: For 10 years, no work was done. I can imagine
• 24:05
  Speaker 2: Zerubbabel week after week going by the property and seeing
• 24:09
  Speaker 2: the empty foundation, all the supplies stacked up. It's like
• 24:14
  Speaker 2: rubbing salt on the wound. I'm sure he thought, God,
• 24:18
  Speaker 2: I started off good, had big dreams. These people came
• 24:22
  Speaker 2: against me. had so much opposition. He's down, discouraged, thinking
• 24:27
  Speaker 2: that it could never happen. But remember, God never starts
• 24:31
  Speaker 2: something that he can't finish. One day, a prophet by
• 24:35
  Speaker 2: the name of Zechariah showed up, said, Zerubbabel, God sent
• 24:39
  Speaker 2: me all this way to give you two words, begin again.
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: Faith shot up in his heart.
• 24:47
  Speaker 2: He said, you mean God can still bring it to pass?
• 24:50
  Speaker 2: Do you realize it's been 10 years? Do you know
• 24:53
  Speaker 2: how many people are against me? Do you really think
• 24:56
  Speaker 2: that I can still do it? Zachariah said, I don't
• 24:59
  Speaker 2: think you can do it. I know you can do it.
• 25:02
  Speaker 2: And God says, get started. God is saying the same
• 25:06
  Speaker 2: thing to each one of us. Begin again. Get your
• 25:10
  Speaker 2: dreams back. Get your hopes up. God has put some
• 25:15
  Speaker 2: kind of promise in your heart. Like him, maybe it's
• 25:19
  Speaker 2: been years. You tried, it didn't work out, you had
• 25:22
  Speaker 2: some setbacks. God is saying it's time to start dreaming again.
• 25:27
  Speaker 2: Start believing again. Start praying again. Start expecting again. Some
• 25:33
  Speaker 2: of you wanted to buy that new house. You didn't
• 25:35
  Speaker 2: qualify for it, it didn't work out.
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: That was 10 years ago. God says, begin again.
• 25:43
  Speaker 2: Some of you at one time, you knew you could
• 25:45
  Speaker 2: break that addiction, but it didn't happen. Now you've gotten comfortable.
• 25:50
  Speaker 2: God is saying, begin again. Some of you had a
• 25:54
  Speaker 2: big dream for your life. You were going to break
• 25:57
  Speaker 2: out of the mold and set a new standard for
• 25:59
  Speaker 2: your family, but you had some disappointments.
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: Nobody believed in you. Nobody encouraged you.
• 26:05
  Speaker 2: Now you think it's over, but God is saying, it's
• 26:09
  Speaker 2: not over. I have the final say, begin again. You
• 26:13
  Speaker 2: have seeds of greatness on the inside. God wouldn't have
• 26:17
  Speaker 2: put the promise in your heart unless he already intended
• 26:20
  Speaker 2: to bring it to pass. Here's how the scripture puts it.
• 26:24
  Speaker 2: Be confident of this. He that began a good work
• 26:29
  Speaker 2: in you will bring it to completion. Friends, God is
• 26:32
  Speaker 2: saying to each one of you tonight, I'm going to
• 26:35
  Speaker 2: complete your incompletions. I'm going to finish what I started.
• 26:40
  Speaker 2: I remember the dreams I've placed in your heart. I've
• 26:44
  Speaker 2: lined up the right people, the right opportunities. It's not
• 26:47
  Speaker 2: too late. You haven't missed too many opportunities. You haven't
• 26:51
  Speaker 2: made too many mistakes.
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: Begin again. Get your fire back. Get your passion back.
• 26:58
  Speaker 2: And remember, if it doesn't happen your way, Keep the
• 27:02
  Speaker 2: right perspective. That would have been a healing. God has
• 27:06
  Speaker 2: a resurrection. He has something better coming your way. If
• 27:10
  Speaker 2: you'll stir your faith up like Zerubbabel told Zechariah to
• 27:15
  Speaker 2: be confident that God will finish what he started, then
• 27:18
  Speaker 2: I believe and declare God is going to complete your incompletions.
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: He is going to shift things in your favor. He
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: is going to release a flood of his goodness, a
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: flood of mercy, a flood of ideas.
• 27:31
  Speaker 2: You will overcome every obstacle, defeat every enemy, and become
• 27:35
  Speaker 2: everything God's created you to be.
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: In Jesus' name.
• 27:38
  Speaker 2: Amen. The scripture says, write the vision and make it
• 27:51
  Speaker 2: plain to see. There's something powerful about writing down what
• 27:55
  Speaker 2: you're believing for. That's why I'd love to send you
• 27:58
  Speaker 2: my new I Believe Planner. It's a place to write
• 28:01
  Speaker 2: down your dreams, your prayers, and the promises you're standing on.
• 28:05
  Speaker 2: What stays before your eyes has a way of staying
• 28:08
  Speaker 2: in your heart. Every time you see what you've written,
• 28:11
  Speaker 2: let it be a reminder to thank God that it's
• 28:13
  Speaker 2: already at work behind the scenes, even.
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: When you can't see it.
• 28:17
  Speaker 2: As you keep your faith in front of you day
• 28:19
  Speaker 2: after day, you'll be encouraged, your expectation will grow, and
• 28:23
  Speaker 2: you'll begin to see God bring those dreams to pass.
• 28:27
  Speaker 3: The I Believe Planner is a beautiful new resource designed
• 28:30
  Speaker 3: to help you believe God for more in your health,
• 28:34
  Speaker 3: your family, your future. Inside, you'll find a weekly I
• 28:38
  Speaker 3: Believe Declaration to frame your mindset and shift the atmosphere
• 28:42
  Speaker 3: with God's Word, daily planning, to-dos, and prayer prompts, and
• 28:46
  Speaker 3: space to reflect and record God's faithfulness in your life.
• 28:50
  Speaker 3: Each month brings a fresh scripture and theme, plus a
• 28:53
  Speaker 3: QR code linking to an exclusive message from Joel, to
• 28:56
  Speaker 3: keep you encouraged all year long. This 15-month planner will
• 29:01
  Speaker 3: inspire you for the rest of this year and set
• 29:03
  Speaker 3: you on a course for breakthrough throughout 2027. It's yours
• 29:08
  Speaker 3: as a thank you for your gift to the ministry today.
• 29:11
  Speaker 3: Be sure to request your copy of The I Believe Planner,
• 29:15
  Speaker 3: available this month by visiting us at joelosteen.com or call 888-567-JOEL.
• 29:23
  Speaker 2: Don't just carry your dreams in your heart. Put them
• 29:25
  Speaker 2: on paper. And as you read them each day, keep
• 29:28
  Speaker 2: thanking God that he's working. Victoria and I are praying
• 29:31
  Speaker 2: for you and your family every day. Thanks so much
• 29:34
  Speaker 2: for your prayer and support. Your generosity helps us take
• 29:38
  Speaker 2: this message of hope to people around the world a
• 29:41
  Speaker 2: special thank you to our champion of hope partners for
• 29:44
  Speaker 2: all you do to make the ministry possible until we
• 29:47
  Speaker 2: meet again may the lord keep you and bless.
• 29:50
  Speaker 3: You Be sure to request your copy of The I
• 29:53
  Speaker 3: Believe Planner, available this month by visiting us at joelosteen.com
• 29:59
  Speaker 3: or call 888-567-JOEL. With an additional gift, you can also
• 30:04
  Speaker 3: receive the I Believe in His Word collection, featuring the
• 30:08
  Speaker 3: Passion Translation New Testament Reader's Edition, alongside the I Believe Planner,
• 30:13
  Speaker 3: so you can carry God's Word with you every single day,
• 30:17
  Speaker 3: right alongside the promises you're standing on. Don't wait until
• 30:21
  Speaker 3: 2027 to believe God for more.
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: This is your moment.
• 30:25
  Speaker 3: You can request these inspiring resources by calling 888-567-JOEL or
• 30:31
  Speaker 3: logging on to joelostein.com today.
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: Call or click anytime, 24 hours a day.