John Osteen's In Times of Distress (1997)

throughout his life one thing that made most to Jesus was people he sacrificed everything to lead them to his father and to love him no matter what Jesus loved everyone that was what made him so different and so necessary to our lives I'm John Osteen pastor of Lakewood Church in Houston Texas through many years of ministry we've discovered that there's no greater joy than loving and caring for God's people that means you no matter your denomination race or walk of life your dreams and desires are important to God and that makes them important to us we've dedicated our lives to bring in the compassion of Jesus to everyone by building faith in God through the teaching and preaching of his word Lakewood helps those who have been overcome to be overcomers we're interested in God's fair best for you so please just as you all join the people of Lakewood for the next hour as we open God's Word together at joy of the Lord is your strength and I'll tell you if you go to church and you look like you've been to a funeral I'll tell you want to find another Church we've got resurrection life could a heavenly man amen we are happy in the Lord and we are strong in the Lord the power of his might you know when you come to church or to learn something you learn how to how to find the victory in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and to live in the strength and the joy of the Lord and that's what we're all about out here at Lakewood Church and we are glad you have tuned in today I never once said Amen hey did you ever think the Bible was kind of hard to understand I did I still do some time I read revelation I don't understand it and I asked John about it and he didn't understand it so I guess we just don't care do we just when we get to heaven we may I see just about it but we won't even care when we get to heaven okay let me let me read this to you in Proverbs a what it says do you think we ought to start over okay here here God's Word is good maybe my words aren't that important but listen to what God says God's God says my words are plain and clear to anyone with half a mind if it's only open now do you have an excuse anymore for reading of not reading the Bible you don't because if you'll go to Jesus and say father I don't understand your work but look here's my mind it's not half open it's fully open wholly open and I want you to help me to understand it and he will help you to understand his words and it might save your life someday and all the people said amen amen oh thank you Jesus you know you know Dodie we're so glad are we that these people are watching on television and you see these thousands of people here we used to have just a handful of people and and then we got onto the idea of the Word of God teaching that everyone has a ministry every believer has Authority and power in the name of Jesus and I'm genuine revolutionize our church you just would have to begin to pray for the sick cast out devils get people saved and suddenly your relatives and friends started coming in here and now thousands and thousands of people here give the Lord a hand clapping a shout all right everybody say it this is my Bible I am what it says I am well what it says I have I can do what who says I can do today I will be taught the Word of God I've only confess mind is alert the heart is receptive I will never be the same I'm about to receive the incorruptible indestructible everliving seed of the word of God I will never be the same never never never I'll never be the same in Jesus name Amen you may be seated in television artists we're reading from Psalm number one right in the center of your Bible almost in the city of your Bible hear me when I call o God of my righteousness you have enlarged me when I was in distress and I want to talk about how God can enlarge our vision our ministry our strength and our dreams in times of distress now I don't I know you don't like to talk about the times of distress but you and I both know that there are times in life when we go through distress could I have an Amen a dark time a midnight hour or times when we struggle but David said here o God you have enlarged me in my distress the devil may send trouble into your life and you may have problems galore but God will not waste those problems and that distress he will use it to enlarge you to strengthen you and to make you greater in his kingdom than ever before could I have an amen oh I can I can remember times in my life especially one time when I was in such distress ever since I've been saved in 1939 57 years ago who I've served him and he's ever done me anything but good and I've had a burning desire to give all that I had but Jesus I wanted to be the best preacher I wanted to give everything I had and to bring the loss to him and then tragedy struck my home and it looks like all my ministry was over it was a dark time of distress I was left alone and I walked the floor and I said Oh God and I wept and I said Oh God do I have to give up my ministry do I have to give up do I have to throw in the towel oh god it's just such a time of distress but in that time of distress whoa I tell you God enlarged me I climbed the hill of God I got above the fog and smog of this world I broke two denominational chains off of me I'll include my denominational years I took off my denominational glasses and I got in touch with God and he enlarged me and praise God he gave me dhoti and he gave me all these children and he gave me Lakewood Church and he's given me the world I'll tell you God will enlarge you in the time of distress oh my god thank God oh we went we went through times of distress when Dodie was given a death sentence in 1981 the doctor said she'll not live but a few weeks not a lot not but a few weeks thank God has been over 15 years and she's still alive oh thank God for that aren't you proud that Dodie is alive and well and up there we never get tired give her a hand leg never get tired god it was a time of distress and I think about how duty have Dhoni was enlarged at that time oh I tell you when you're in distress you pray more when you're about to lose your children you pray more when you're about to lose your family you pray more when you're in distress financially you pray more and then you reach out and your large your capacity so don't complain because you have dark times in life remember God will enlarge you you'll have greater faith greater vision greater strength and greater ministry after the time of trial and tribulation did I have it again you have enlarged me David went to a lot of dark times you know was over there in cig lang when David had brought those men together 600 men discouraged and just in depth and discontinued and he had molded them into a mighty army and they loved David but David was not fighting with those men and they left their families in zyg leg and and the enemy came in while they were out fighting it burns it leg and took the wives and the children away and the Bible says that the people were much discouraged and angry and David and they were almost ready to stone David because their children were gone the wives were gone and the city was burned and the Bible says they were almost ready to stone David and do it David was so greatly discouraged no captain there to encourage him nobody no friend there to encourage him and the Bible says that David encouraged himself in the Lord here's God not the God of Abraham not the god of Isaac not the God of Jacob but in the Lord his God I'll tell you when you are in distress you better be able to say my god he encouraged himself in the Lord is God it was one of the darkest hours and nobody was there to encourage him and many we have many single parents here men and women we are many single people here you have many people out there I'll tell you sometime you can't find anybody to encourage you and if you can't find anybody else look in the mirror and say to the van a woman in the mirror you're just gonna have to encourage yourself family amen amen amen I've hit some low spots in my in my day you know when you live long enough you have a few little spots in life but I'll tell you I've learned to look in the mirror or just imagine I'm looking in the mirror and saying John Osteen I want you to know it's you're tall and you're handsome I call the things that be not as though they were oh I'll tell you that I say John Osteen you're more than a conqueror greater is He that's in you than he that's in the world the devil is under your feet you're going to come out of it you're going to be victorious go on and we rejoice in the Lord and when you struggle with problems like David oh I tell you the tower is dark and you have to pray and you have to encourage yourself or don't plan like a little crybaby no no no go on and fight light through great it is to dream the dream when you stand and used by the story stream but a greater thing is the fight live through and say at the end the dream is true and David David pot on his way out of that and it was his darkest hour and did you know he had waited for his throne he had been anointed to be king over Israel and yet yet you know the throne was occupied by Saul and he couldn't get on the throne and and he fought for years to get on the throne because God had anointed him and you know in that dark hour when he wanted to give up me buddy turned against him did you know he was only 72 hours from sitting on the throne and in your darkest hour you may be closer to the greatest victory that you've ever had in all of your life David said you have enlarged me David came out of all of this trouble with a larger heart with a greater strength with a greater devotion than ever before in my distress you have enlarged me in our distress we reach out to God we find a place where we can pray and God begins to move upon us to enlarge our vision and our strength and when it's all over we're different than when we came in you have enlarged me in the day about trumpet and Isaiah you don't need to turn to it Isaiah said in the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord in the hour of death there's no greater distress I guess in the natural for all of us than to stand at the graveside of a wife or a husband or a child or a grandparent or some loved one and know that they have gone from this life it's only natural to grieve in the hour that King Uzziah died it was the hour of death now it may be that you have experienced death to your dreams dread death to your health death to your marriage it may seem like everything about your dreams and all of you in the situation in your financial world and everything about you it's just dead dead dead but I got news for you God raises the dead God raises the dead can resurrect your dreams many preachers watching me you just about lost your dream you just about been given it you've given up because people have discouraged you and I'm speaking my revelation now you're about ready to throw in the towel and you say it's all dead I want you to know the god you serve is able to resurrect your ministry he is able to resurrect your church he is able to give you victory and I want a congregation here to give you a hand clap of victory right now amen in the year that King Uzziah died how that touched Isaiah's heart he was close to the key but you see a darkness was there when the King died everybody's Momo morning when the King died it's a dark hour it's an hour of distress the King's dead send it throughout all the kingdom the king is dead the king is dead our beloved King is dead but notice notice how something good can come out of the hour of distress in the year the king whose iodide Isaiah said saw the Lord I saw the Lord and in his train till the tip oh my I wonder if he'd ever seen the Lord if it hadn't have been the arm Dale had you in the hour when everything seems like it's dead and gone I'll tell you you can pray and you can seek out seek God until in the hour of death you can see the Lord God can come to you in a supernatural way he said I saw him in his train filled the temple and I heard those Seraphim saying holy holy holy is the Lord and then you know Isaiah said who is me for I meant lean on him and when he lives and and all of that and the angel fluid touched his lips and said your lips are clean and then he heard a voice saying whom shall we say in and who shall go for us who is us Father Son and Holy Ghost the elohim of generous has worn into the trout toward unity of god who will go for us and isaiah said here am I send me oh my I don't know maybe he wasn't willing before maybe he had not yet committed himself but he was enlarged in the hour of death until when he heard God speak he said here am I send me that's what matters r is for all of us here am I send me lot of people say here am i send him here am i send her you have enlarged me man that is born a woman is a few days and full of trouble but man this born again comes out of all the trouble amen and it is the struggle that enlarges us his strengthens us a little boy watching a butterfly tried to come out of that cocoon struggling just the head sticking out and his mother said that butterfly is coming out of that cocoon and will be able to fly and his struggle in his struggle and that little more was his mother watch how did the little boss and mother let's help it let's help it and she knew what would happen but she got a little pin light and he took the little pin Ivan cut the cocoon and opened it and made it easy for the butterfly everybody wants it easy the Lord said well will you do what I tell you to do well if it's easy if it's easy Lord I'll do it should we cut that little butterfly out of that cocoon and you know what happened the little butterfly just fell over never could get up and a little boy cried says what's happened to my butterfly and the mother said see son you wanted to make it easy you didn't realize that God ordained that through the struggle to get out of the cocoon that butterfly developed the strength in its wings to fly and now that you made it easy you have denied it the ability to fly I don't know about you but I want to fly for Jesus sure we have to struggle and we had to pull and we have to rebuke and where to stand against the vicissitudes of life and we have to struggle and struggle what is a struggle that makes our wings Oh we are met up with wings like eagles don't ever gripe and complain and whine like a little baby because you're in trouble and sarra turn around and look to God he will enlarge you he's trying to develop your wings the devil mitad for bad but God will strengthen your wings over there in Acts chapter 28 you do not have to turn to it that's the story of the storm what Paul was going to own his way to Rome he told him not to leave the port but they listened to the somebody else beside to him he was a prisoner in Chains yet he was in touch with God he said only we're in danger but they went in a way make a long story short they got out there and for two weeks or so they were in this storm tossed to and fro in the sea there and saw no Sun no moon 4-minute A's and then the Bible says the Bible says all hope that anybody would be saved was gone G oh if he spells what said I'm out Oh Oh God that's the Bible if there's ever a time of distress I said but all I tell you Paul got in Lars in the time of distress the Bible teaches us then he went out in that ship in Chains and he sought God and he prayed to God and he stretched out his soul to God that's what happens when we're in distress when we're in the storms of life as what happens we reach out with greater fervor never before and Paul prayed and he came out and stood there in the midst of that storm and said be of good cheer for there stood by me this night the angel of God whom I serve in whose I am and he said that we shall all be saved the ship shall be lost but we shall all be safe and they were all safe but God enlarged him I think about his Lakai the Bible says that God's in Isaiah 2 Hezekiah and he said since you're set set your house in order because you're going to die and not live and that's not the best news in the world and Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and wept he was a good king he wept with all of his heart he turned his face to the wall that means he turned away from why he turned away from children he turned away from counselors he turned away from friends now he's pushed in his distress to where it's between him and God alone so he turned to his face to the law and wept and pled his case to God and God changed his mind before Isaiah got out of that palace he said Isaiah turn again and go back to Hezekiah and tell him I met in fifteen years to his life but what will happen if he had not turned his face to the wall what if it just crumpled and said well I got to die that's all there is to it I'll tell you we all have refused to die kick squirm crawl cry kick the devil out this lil anybody could die let's live for Jesus and you know what if he hadn't have turned his face to the wall what if inda turned his back on everything else and begin to see God see in your distress you really really rethink your priorities in life you might decide to go to church you might just try to decide to tithe your income you might decide to get linked up with world evangelism you might decide to stop living in sin you might decide to just give your life to Jesus and let him break the power of the devil over you in all of that distress and bring victory into your life but the point of the message is that all of us have times of distress when we don't know which way to turn or what to do but in that distress we are pushed into the arms of God we touch the supernatural as never before and we are enlarged we were enlarged we've gone through many struggles in this church we've never had a church split or anything like that but I'm going to struggle in building and and challenging people to do things and we struggled together and I have preachers riding all the time so we you know would you send it five hundred thousand dollars to pay for my building all right back and I said no I'm not gonna send you five hundred thousand dollar bill you build it you and your people struggle just like we did we struggled and struggled and struggled and we go strong and we've got a strong church today because we didn't find an easy way out we paid the price through the years and we're thrown in come on let's praise the Lord so you will have distress but you will come out of your distress enlarged enlarged it fade enlarged and vision enlarged in every area of life and you will see the dead part resurrected and you'll put hope back into a hopeless situation halendar you don't we have a good God isn't Jesus wonderful Helen when I preach a pastoral message like this to the congregation here it's for you also because when I was called to be a pastor I was set in the body not in a denomination not in just a local church but in the body as a pastor so I function as your past or not your only pastor you have your own pastor out there but I have a pastoral ministry to feed you and to challenge you and to bless you and to strengthen you and that's what I've tried to do today and I would encourage you don't give up rise up rebuke the devil give your life to Jesus and you'll come out of your distress enlarged you know the greatest distress in the world instant know that you're really not right with God you don't have peace in your heart you don't know I have the assurance that you know if you had a heart attack I had a wreck and died instantly that you'd go to heaven you're not sure that's the greatest distress that can ever be in person's life so today we want to help you with that there's any question at all we want you to make this decision today why don't you just pray this prayer say God I know up sinner do you know I'm a sinner lord I I know without Jesus I'm lost but I don't want to go to hell with the devil I want to go to heaven so today I turned my back of the way I've been I turn my life over to you Lord Jesus Jesus come into my heart I accept you right now as my Lord and my Savior thank you Jesus my lord I am your child if I drop dead right now wouldn't go to the hell I'd go to heaven but thank God I got peace in my heart because my sins are forgiven and I'm going to serve you all the days of my life and I won't act like it didn't happen

Channel: Keith Alan

Views: 84,624

Rating: 4.7986112 out of 5

Keywords: Sermons, John Osteen (Deceased Person), John, Osteen

Id: 7oFU4BZXdG0

Length: 28min 52sec (1732 seconds)

Published: Fri May 02 2014