Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Hi, this is Joel and Victoria. Thanks for listening to our podcast and thanks for supporting the ministry. If you enjoyed today's message, why don't you be a blessing and share it with a friend? We appreciate you and pray for God's very best in your life.
God bless you. It's a joy to come into your homes. And if you're ever in our area, please stop by and be part of one of our services. I promise you, we will make you feel right at home. I like to start with something funny. And I heard about this professor. He was going to prove to his students that there is no God. He said, God, if you're real, knock me off this platform.
I'm giving you 15 minutes to do it. With every minute that went by, he taunted God. God, I'm still waiting. I'm still here. The last minute, 300-pound football player walking down the hallway overheard what he was saying. He took off running toward him full blast, put his shoulder down, sent him flying off the platform.
The professor got up in a daze and said, what in the world did you do that for? Football player replied, God said he was busy, so he sent me. Amen. Say it like you mean it. This is my Bible. I am what it says I am. I have what it says I have. I can do what it says I can do. Today, I will be taught the word of God. I boldly confess my mind is alert. My heart is receptive.
I will never be the same in Jesus name. God bless you. I want to talk to you today about your destiny is calling. In the scripture, God called Abraham a father of many nations. At that time, he didn't have any children. He and his wife, Sarah, were too old to have kids. It looked like God made a mistake. Abraham could have thought, God, what do you mean? I'm not a father of many nations.
I'm childless. My wife is barren. Here's the principle. God calls you what you are before you become it. People call you what you are after it happens. God calls you what you are before it happens. When God rejected Saul as the king of Israel, he told Samuel, I have found a man after my own heart. David will be the next king. What's interesting is David wasn't a man. He was a teenager.
He was out taking care of his father's sheep. He was a boy, yet God called him what he would become. In the same way, God calls you blessed, successful, strong, healthy, talented. That may not all be true right now. You could say like Abraham, God, what do you mean? I'm not blessed. I'm struggling in my finances. I'm not healthy. I'm dealing with this illness. Don't worry, it's on the way.
God calls things that are not as if they already were. There are promises that God has spoken over you, dreams and goals he's placed in your heart. You didn't come up with them on your own. Those aren't just your ideas. God put them there. And the scripture talks about the secret petitions of your heart. That means the things you're dreaming about.
You haven't told anyone, seems too big, too far out. That's your destiny calling. That's God telling you what you can become. You may not see how it can happen. Every circumstance may say you don't have the talent. You don't come from the right family. You tried last time. It didn't work out. Don't talk yourself out of it. God has spoken it. He controls the universe.
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Chapter 2: What does Joel Osteen mean by 'your destiny is calling'?
When you're struggling with an addiction, everybody in your family has had it. If you'll listen, you'll hear your destiny saying you are free. This addiction is temporary. The buck stops with you. God doesn't call you what you are. He calls you what you can become. This is what happened with my father. He was raised on a cotton farm. His family lost everything during the Great Depression.
They were very poor, barely had enough food to survive. He went to school with holes in his pants, holes in his shoes. Eventually, he had to drop out of high school to help his parents on the farm. Didn't look like he had much of a future, limited education, poverty, defeated mindset. But at the age of 17, daddy gave his life to Christ, the first one in his family.
All of a sudden, he had a desire to become a minister. He knew that's what he was going to do with his life. Notice the principle. God called him a pastor before he ever had a church, before he had any credentials, before he had ever been to seminary. He could hear his destiny calling. He could have talked himself out of it, thought me be a pastor, that's never gonna work out.
Instead, he let the seed take root. He believed what God had spoken over him. He started telling people, I'm a pastor, I'm a minister. They looked at him like he wasn't all there. Even his family told him, John, you're not a minister. You better stay here on the farm with us. All you know how to do is pick cotton. But people can't see what God sees in you. God sees your potential.
Chapter 3: How does God call you what you are before you become it?
He knows what you're capable of. He's the one that breathed life into you. Don't let people talk you out of it. Don't let family members convince you you don't have what it takes. They're calling you what you are. God is calling you what you can become. They can't hear what you hear. Don't expect people to cheer you on. Don't count on your friends to keep you encouraged. They may not be for you.
They may think you're far out and try to talk you out of it. Don't worry. You don't have to have other people. When you hear your destiny calling, that's between you and God. And some things you have to go alone. You have to say, God, they may not be for me, but I know you are for me. You put this promise in my heart.
I'm not going to be moved by who's not cheering me on, not going to give up because nobody's encouraging me. I know you being for me is more than enough to get me to where I'm supposed to be. Friends, you and God are a majority. That promise is not dependent on your family, your friends, your neighbors, your coworkers, your boss, the critics, the naysayers. It's dependent on you.
When you're tempted to get discouraged, to settle for mediocrity, you have to dig your heels in and say, I don't think so. I am in it to win it. Keep pressing forward. Keep honoring God. Your destiny is calling. Luke chapter one, an angel appeared to Zachariah and told him that he was going to have a son that they were to name John. Zachariah's wife, Elizabeth, had been barren for many years.
They had been praying, believing to have a child. While Zachariah was excited about the news, he started reasoning it out. It didn't seem possible. Like Abraham and Sarah, they too were way too old. Zechariah said to the angel, how can I be sure this is going to happen? I'm an old man and my wife is well along in years.
He was saying, in effect, I can hear my destiny calling, but I don't see how it can happen. We're too old. God was telling him what he could become, but because he had been childless for so many years, he couldn't conceive it.
When you've been a certain way for a long time, you prayed and believed and it hasn't happened, it's easy to settle for who you are instead of believing for who you can become. Too often we get comfortable with mediocrity. I talked to a gentleman recently. He struggled with an addiction since high school. He's in his forties. He said, Joel, I've done everything I can.
I've gone through treatment, rehab, counseling, nothing has worked. I guess this is my lot in life. He was saying, this is who I am. Yes, that may be who you are, but you don't have to stay that way. God is telling you what you can become. Freedom is in your future. Wholeness is in your future. Breakthroughs are headed your way. Maybe you've been single a long time.
You don't think you'll ever meet the right person. That is not the end. That's a season. God has already lined up a divine connection for you. Somebody better than you can imagine. Perhaps you feel stuck in your career. You can't seem to get a good break. That's not permanent. It's only temporary. There is promotion in your future. There are new levels up ahead. Now don't do like Zachariah.
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Chapter 4: What role does faith play in achieving our goals?
You don't have time to waste with people that are causing you to compromise, draining your energy, getting you off course negative, critical, bitter, jealous people. Your destiny is calling. You have an assignment to fulfill. Well, Joel, what if I hurt their feelings? What if you miss your destiny? What if you don't become all you were created to be? Who's naming your baby?
It's interesting how back then the mother couldn't name the child. So they had to look to Zachariah, the father, and ask him, what's the baby's name? The principle is let your heavenly father name your future. That's why we say every service, I am who God says I am. We're saying in effect, I am not who people say I am. I am not who my circumstances say I am. I am not who my past says I am.
I am not who my mistakes say I am. I am who the most high God, the creator of the universe, the one who spoke worlds into existence. I am who he says I am. People may tell you you're addicted. You'll never get on the right course. The good news is they can't name your future. God says you are free. You are clean. You are whole. You may not be there yet, but God's telling you what you can become.
Your past may tell you you're washed up. You made too many mistakes. You're a failure. But your heavenly father says you are forgiven. You are redeemed. You are restored. My mercy is bigger than any mistake. The critics, the naysayers, the haters may tell you, you're not valuable. You're not attractive. You don't have anything to offer. Don't believe those lies.
They don't have the authority to name your future. Your heavenly father says you are one of a kind. He names you a masterpiece, a prized possession. He said, you've been fearfully and wonderfully made. He's crowned you with favor. You have royal blood flowing through your veins. He's created you to reign in life as a king. Make sure your heavenly father is naming your future.
When God gave Abraham the promise that his wife Sarah was going to have a baby, she was 70 years old. Didn't seem possible. In fact, when Abraham told Sarah, the scripture says she laughed. She thought, yeah, right, Abraham, me have a baby at my age. She had been barren for so many years. They had prayed and believed. Everybody else was having babies, but Sarah couldn't have one.
Now, when she heard this promise, that after all these years, when it defied the laws of nature that she was going to have a baby, that was so far out that it was funny to her. And sometimes God will put a promise in our heart that's difficult to believe. Instead of latching onto it, too often we do like Sarah and think, that's never gonna happen for me.
Joel, I'll never get out of debt, be able to pay my house off. I'll never have the funds to build that orphanage I'm dreaming about. I'll never be free from this depression. I've had it my whole life. This is the way Sarah felt. And God did something interesting. He changed her name from Sarai to Sarah. Sarah means princes. If anybody didn't feel like a princess, it would have been Sarah.
I can imagine she felt inadequate, unattractive, left out. Life hadn't treated her fairly. God knew he had to change her mindset. Her destiny was calling, but she had been through so much, she couldn't hear it any longer. Now, every time someone said, good morning, Sarah, they were saying, good morning, princess. How are you, Sarah? How are you, princess?
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