Transcription
[Music] Today from Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas, join us for John Osteen. For more than 50 years, John Osteen has been making a difference in people's lives, showing the world that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Founder and pastor of Lakewood Church, John Osteen has dedicated his life to reaching the unreached and telling the untold in America. Reaching out to the poor, winning the lost, and changing lives on the street, on the job, and even in prison. Overseas, taking the power of the Gospel to places that have never heard the name of Jesus Christ. Join us at Lakewood Church, the Oasis of love in a troubled world, a church with a worldwide vision, reaching the lost here in the United States and dedicated to taking the gospel to the nations of the earth to preach, teach, and heal, just as Jesus did. Today, your life can be changed as God's word comes alive in you. Don't miss the next 30 minutes with your host, Pastor John Osteen.
Hello everybody. Do and I always appreciate, along with Lakewood Church, the fact that you tune in, not only all the way across Houston, but across the nation, and many of you see this in other parts of the world. Let's give them a good amen. Amen. Let me tell you what a verse says in the Living Bible, in the 50th Psalm, the first verse: "The mighty God, God the Lord, has summoned all mankind from east to west." Did you know God has summoned you? Do you know if a law enforcement officer comes to your house and he says, "You've got a summons, you've got to appear in court," you know you have a summons from the Lord Jesus Christ to appear, to to be with Him in heaven in eternity? And if you don't heed that summons, if you don't come unto Him, "All you that labor and have you L and let Him give you rest and let Him be your peace," then you'll miss out on a lot. You'll miss out on all of eternity, we worshiping God, spending eternity with Jesus. So God has summoned you. You come unto Him. Everybody said amen. Oh, Do's getting where she can preach. Lift up your Bible. Let's make our confession. This is my Bible. This is my. I am what He says I am. I am what He says I am. I have what He says I have. I have what He says I have. I can do what He says I can do. I can do what He says I can do. Today I will be taught the word of God. Today I will be taught the word. I boldly confess. I boldly confess. My mind is alert. My mind is alert. My heart is receptive. My heart is receptive. I will never be the same. I will never be the same. I am about to receive the incorruptible, indestructible, ever-living seed of the word of God. Of the word of God. I will never be the same. I will never, never, never be the same. In Jesus' name. Jesus. Amen. You may be seated and open your Bibles, if you will, to two places: Genesis 12 and Galatians 3.
In Galatians chapter 3, verse 9, it says, "So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham." And then in verse 13: "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree: That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith." Verse 29: "And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise." Verse 1 of chapter 4: "Now I say, That the heir as long as he is a child differs nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all."
Now I want you to turn, please, to Genesis 12. And I'm going to read, uh, two or three passages here. Verse 1: "Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will show thee: And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing." Chapter 13, verse 1 and 2: "And Abram went up out of Egypt, he, and his wife, and all that he had, and Lot with him, into the south. And Abram was very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold." Chapter 14, verse 11: Talking about the enemies of Abraham. "And they took all." Everybody say, "They took all." "They took all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah, and all their victuals, and went their way. And they took all of Abraham's brother's son, that dwelt there in Sodom, and his goods, and departed." And when Abram heard that his brother was taken captive, he armed his trained servants, born in his own house, 318, and pursued them unto Dan. And the Bible says in verse 16: "And he brought back all." Everybody shout, "All!" "All he brought back all."
Now I want to talk to you today, you who view by television, as well as those in Lakewood Church, about claiming your blessings. You know, we're blessed and we cannot be cursed. But many people don't know they're blessed. And this message today can change your life. I went 19 years as a denominational Christian and preacher and did not know the blessings that belong to me. So I want you to listen real carefully, along with all you people here, everybody who's listening here, shout amen. Amen. Claiming your blessings, you've got to know how to push in and know what belongs to you. And it'll never just fall on you like ripe cherries off of a tree. You'll do without doubt and do without belief and receive. And so I want to stir you up that it's not just going to automatically happen to you. The Bible says here that that that we're heirs of God, but the heir as long as he is a child differs nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all. Now God has made us lord of all. We are to reign as kings in life. Could I have an amen? We are to reign as kings in life.
I heard my friend Bernie Davis tell the story on television, and I'm just going to borrow it from him. He said God told him to tell an audience, "Get up and say that God made you like a cork." He said, "God, he said, a cork? What do you mean?" But before he realized that, he got up and said, "God made His people like a cork." You know, a cork that you fish with. And, uh, and he said, "Well, God, what do you mean by that?" God gave him the information. He said, "Everything about a cork says you're supposed to stay on top. Everything about a cork says it's natural to stay on top, just to float above everything else." And that's right. If you've ever fished, a cork will just stay out there and just float. It's just being itself. So a Christian is made like a cork. You're made to float above everything else, the great sea of troubles. Now, the only reason a cork will sink is if it gets a bunch of trash on top of it, it'll go underwater. So you may have a bunch of trash on you today, and that's maybe why you're down under. Or he said, also, it can go under if it has weights under the water pulling it down. A lot of people have weights pulling them down and trash shoving them down. I don't know about you, but I want to get rid of the trash and the weights because I want to reign in life as a king. God said, "I have made men and women masters of all of life." That's one of my very favorite scriptures.
Now it says, though you, it says, a child, as long as you don't grow up, as long as you remain a baby Christian and don't get into the Bible, and get the baptism in the Holy Ghost, and have the power of God in your life, and have the Spirit of God open up redemption to you, as long as you are a child, you differ nothing than a slave, though God has made you lord of all. I come through that television camera to tell you that God has made you lord of all. You can reign in life. You don't have to be down under the circumstances. There's a way out. You have blessings, and today you can claim them. Would you shout Hallelujah? Hallelujah. Shout it three times. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.
Now the Bible says we're blessed with faithful Abraham. The Bible says that Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, that the blessing of Abraham might be on us. You all, all the children of God by faith. And if you are, you are the seed or the offspring of Abraham. And so if that's true, then we ought to look back and find out something about Abram, whose name was changed to Abraham. Could I have an amen? I don't know about you, my name is Jimmy. I'll take all you give me. And if I got anything coming to me, I want to know it. Praise God. I want to claim it. I don't want to get to heaven and see what I could have had and could have done and could have been, if I'd said no to Jesus when I came home from that nightclub at what time in the morning, lost, undone, without God. What if I'd have said no? And finally, in older age, you know, I'd gotten, gone to heaven, and then I'd have seen all of Lakewood Church I could have pastored, and all the souls I could have won, and the nations I could have stirred. Oh, I tell you folks, it's high time that we get in high gear and do our very best for God. I want what belongs to me, and I want to serve my generation well. Can I have an amen? Amen.
Oh, God says we're blessed with faithful Abraham, and we're going to shake ourselves and grow up. And whatever Abraham had, or Abram had, is for us. You say, "Abraham was a Jew." Abraham wasn't a Jew. Abraham was before Jews, before Israel. Abraham represents people of all races, all creeds, all nations, everybody on the face of the earth. It was later he had, uh, Isaac and Jacob, and then Jacob had 12 sons, and then, then that was where the nation of Israel came from. But Abram and Abraham was before all of that.
Well, now, there are three blessings of Abraham that I want you to claim today. There are many, but there are three that I want to encourage you to claim today. One, you're blessed, which you call, you're blessed in your finances, and you're blessed in your family. Read those scriptures to you. Number one, we are so blessed to have a call of God. God said to Abraham, He came to Abram. Abram, and Abram was in idol worship. Terah, his father, was an idol worshipper. He dwelt in the midst of those who did not serve God. But in the midst of all of that, the voice of God came to Abram and said, "Abram, get out of your country, leave your family." You see the call of God. You're rich if you've got the call of God. And I believe the voice of God and the call of God comes to every person on the face of the earth. And He said to Abram, He said, "Leave your idols, get away from your family if they're not going to serve God, get out of this country." And God says to us, "Come unto me. I'm calling you out of darkness into the marvelous light. I'm going to translate you into another kingdom, out of the kingdom of darkness. I want you to follow me, whether your family does or not. Follow me." Abram rose up and followed Him. And God said, "Now, because you're following me, I'm going to make you a lot of people say, 'Well, you know, I'm not much to follow God. You know what? I was a popcorn salesman. I dropped out of high school.' But God said, 'If you would just follow me, John Osteen, I'll make you, I'll make you, I'll make you, I'll make you.'" Well, you say, "He hasn't made me much." What? He ain't through with me yet. Hallelujah. I meant to say, ain't. He said, "I will make you, and I will bless you, and I will make your name, and I will make you a blessing." I'm telling you, we are so blessed for God's voice to come. Aren't you glad for that gentle voice? Many of you have never responded to that. Oh, you need to respond to those inner urgings, those fleeting thoughts when God is saying, "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." You say, "Well, I, I'll just lose so much if I answer the call of God." Sure you will. You'll lose all the sin that's running your body. You, you'll get rid of your drugs and your alcohol. You'll get rid of the world. You'll miss hell, and you'll make heaven. You're going to miss a lot, but you're going to get a lot more. Hallelujah. Come on, rejoice. He said, uh, he said, he said, "Come, Abram, and I will make you, and I will, I will bless you, then I will make you a blessing." And, uh, and you know, God's call is out there. You said, "Well, brother C, I, I'm so, I've lived such a life, surely God would not call me." Well, now, think of Acts chapter 9. The worst enemy the church had was Saul of Tarsus. He breathed out threatenings, he killed the Christians, he dragged them to jail, both men and women. He had no mercy. He hated the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm sure the last person in the world they ever expected to hear the voice of God was Saul of Tarsus. He was the great enemy of the Lord Jesus Christ. And you know, he has many enemies today. Many of you, not many of you, but some of you viewing, you know that there are people who curse the name of God, they curse the name of Jesus, they hate the sight of the church, and all of that. But you know, God loves you anyway. Can I have a better amen? You know what Jesus did to the great enemy of the church? He appeared to him, and a light fell from heaven, and he fell down to the ground, and Jesus said, "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?" He said, "Who are you, Lord?" He said, "I'm Jesus. I'm Jesus." And he said, "Rise, stand upon your feet." And he went out there to Ananias, and God said to Ananias, "Go lay your hands on him, that he'll be filled with the Holy Ghost, because he is a chosen vessel unto me to bear my name." You know, that's why we get on television. That's why we spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to tell people around the world the good news that God is not mad at you. God wants you. God loves you. God needs you. He has a plan for your life. And I don't care what you've done against Him, He's just holding out His hand, saying, "I'm calling you anyway. You're going to be a chosen vessel unto me." Could I have an amen?
I'm thinking about that man, the demoniac, over there in the graveyard, crying like a wild animal, cutting himself with stones. Nobody could tame him. He'd tear his clothes off and run down through the, uh, through the city naked. Chaining me, break the chains. He was a wild man, foaming at the mouth, and like a wild animal. Surely God doesn't care anything about him. Does God care about the demon-possessed and the devil-oppressed? Does He care about those driven by voices, "Kill, kill, kill"? Those people who are driven by demons to commit incest in their families and all these horrible crimes today? Does God care? Yes, He cares. Jesus crossed that sea and went to that man, and had 6,000 demons in him, and the 6,000 demons went out, and the man was delivered and saved, and Jesus made him a preacher. Hallelujah. Come on, clap for joy. Amen. You're blessed to be called. You're blessed to be saved.
And secondly, it says Abram was rich, very rich in cattle, silver, and gold. God wants you to claim your financial blessings. Amen. Now, I know when I preach this on television, somebody said, "Brother O, are you one of those prosperity preachers?" A prosperity preacher? What if I came through the television and I said, "Welcome. I am a preacher of poverty. I'm going to tell you how blessed it is to have nothing to eat, nothing to wear, nothing to drive, nothing to live in, nothing." No. I unashamedly say that God wants you to be blessed with Abraham, who had, who was very rich in cattle, silver, and gold. God wants you to get out of the, uh, out of the poverty spirit, out of the poverty spirit. And, uh, and He wants you to get into the prosperity attitude. My kids make fun of me, but listen, I've been poor, and I've been rich. Rich is better. Amen. I've had nothing, and I've had something, and something is better. And you know what we teach our church here and try to teach the television audience? We try to get them to get out of debt, to, to not go into debt, to pay cash for everything, and get in, get in good shape, and show God they could handle their money, tithe their income, and give to God, God's work around the world. And I'm telling you, most of our people here are out of debt. Could I have an amen? Amen. Thank God. We believe, believe that our God will supply all of our needs. And I hear somebody say, "Well, you know, that just me and my wife, and us two children, us four, and no more. And you know, we have enough to get along with, and we have enough to get along on. And so that's, I'm not going to bother God. He's too busy. I'm not going to bother about anything else. Our little me and my four, we're, we're all right." How selfish can you be? Is that all you're interested in? The you and you are four and no more? Is that all you're interested in? What about the world? What about the world who's never heard of Jesus? Oh, what about the heathen who do not even know He's come? The first thing we ought to think bigger than our own families. We are commanded to take the gospel to the world. And I declare, we're going to do it. We are blessed financially. We are blessed fin— Well, you said, "Sure doesn't look like it." Don't go by what you look like. Go by what God says. Amen. Say, "I'm, I'm well off. I'm well off." God takes pleasure. God takes pleasure. Shout it out. God takes pleasure. God takes pleasure in the prosperity, the prosperity of His saints. Of His saints. He takes pleasure. He takes pleasure. He takes pleasure. He takes pleasure in my prosperity. Prosperity. Shake yourself. God wants you to have everything you need. Oh, you blaming God? Blaming God? Don't blame God. God is a good God. You know, the devil makes you poor, and then blames it on God. He makes you poor, then says, "God wants you poor." God took your job. God took your finances. God took your raise. No, God didn't take. God didn't take it. God's no thief. The Bible says the devil comes to steal and to kill and to destroy. But Jesus said, "I am come that you might have abundant life." Abundant life is not poverty. Abundant life is not dragging an old car, trying to pull it yourself. Uh, abundant life is not walking around in rags. Abundant life is not having bills piled on top of you till we can't even see the top of your head. Abundant life is not all the poverty and your children doing without, and your wife doing without. Abundant life is abundance. Come on, clap for joy. You know, I was, I was poor as all get out. I used to say, "Poor as old Job's turkey." And until I found out this, I've told it again and again. I, I somehow thought God wanted me to just barely get along and just have a little bit, you know, because it might make me unspiritual if I got any money. But one day I discovered that God took pleasure in the prosperity of His saints. And I'm telling you, I, I'm enjoyed. I'll take prosperity over poverty any day. And we won't encourage you. God is a good God, and He's a blessing God, and He wants to give and not take away from you. Could I have? Claim your blessings. Push in there. Drive the devil away. Take hold of your money and claim it and command it to come. Yes, you're blessed to be called. You're blessed in your finances.
And then you'll notice that Abram had to re-, had to, had to rescue his family. You are blessed in your family. Now, it may not look like you're blessed in your family, but God said, "I bless you and your seed, your family." You know, you know the story how they came down there and captured Abram's family and, and the Bible says Abram heard it that the enemy had taken his family and his wealth and his goods, and he armed himself, and he pursued, and he got them all back. The Bible said he recovered all. He recovered all. Now, you know the devil is making it all out of salt on husbands and wives and children, and he's, uh, taking them on the right hand and on the left. And we're going to have to, when we hear about it, we're going to have to arm ourselves in the, in the armor of God, and we're going to have to not stand there and cry and have a pity party, but pursue until we recover all. I can't think of anything in the world more terrible than to think about Lisa dying and going to hell, or April dying to go to hell, or Kevin, or, or Gary, or Joel, Victoria, any of our children. Just think about, think about parents that will not do anything about the relationship to God and their family grows up and dies and goes to hell. Listen, friends, when you die and go to hell, if you die and go to hell, your family is going to say, "Daddy, why didn't you tell me? Mother, why didn't you tell me? Why didn't you tell me I was lost? I was on my way to hell. Why didn't you do something about it?" You say, "Brother O, that's why I use your preaching." I know it is. I know it is. But I want to stand on your way into an eternity without Christ and hold up my hands and be a fool and a fanatic and say, "Turn ye, turn ye, why will you die? Come to God." Don't let your little children die and go to hell. Don't let your family die and go to hell. Pursue and reach out and bring them back to God. Come on, rejoice. I said, rejoice. I said, rejoice. Because once you leave this life, it's forever. Somebody said, "Well, I'll come back again. I'll come back again. I'll come back again." That's a lie of the devil. You're not coming back again at all. This life only. When life will soon be passed, only what's done for Christ will last. So God said, "I bless you. I bless you in that I called you. I bless you in your finances. I bless you in your family." You said, "When it doesn't look like it." Well, you got to claim your blessings. You got to fight for your promised land. You got to rise up and chase the devil off, because the devil will contest everything God gives you. So I challenge this congregation. I challenge you to rise up and claim what's yours. Claim what's yours. Don't let the devil sit on what belongs to you. He's sitting on your money. He's sitting on your blessings. He's sitting on your family. He's stealing your family. Don't let him do it. The Bible says, "The first sign in my name you shall cast out devils. Resist the devil, and he'll flee from you." Praise God.
You know, we have thousands of people in this church, and they listen to this kind of preaching all the time, and you know they're out of debt, their families are saved, they're going to heaven, they're telling others, and we have a good time out here. You got to come out and say sometime. We have 8,800 seats. Got enough room for you. But you know, whether we ever see you or not, I talk to people all over that watch. Whether we ever see you or not, I want to teach you and be a pastor to you. And today, I just challenged you: Don't die in mediocrity. Dare to believe in excellence for God. God is a blessing God, and He's blessed you. Rise up today and claim your blessing. I want to tell you, you're going to be changed forever, because the blessings of God will make you rich and not poor. Will make you blessed and not cursed. And I believe you're going to push in today and get what belongs to you. Join us next week for another exciting John Osteen television program.