Oct 20, 2015
NEW YORK — Lakewood Church Pastor and New
York Times best-selling author Joel Osteen and
his family told thousands of New Yorkers who
attended his Night of Hope event at the
Barclay's Center in Brooklyn on Friday that they
are "pregnant with possibility" and shouldn't
abandon their dreams.
Osteen, along with his wife, Victoria, and mother,
Dolores, shared testimonies about how they
endured harsh trials — yet emerged from their
ordeals feeling blessed — as the crowd eagerly
listened.
Dolores testified of her battle with cancer in
1981 when she was given just two weeks to live.
Despite the initial diagnosis, she continued to
believe that God would heal her, and instead of
being bitter, she chose to use her remaining time
to forgive those who hurt her and to ask
forgiveness of those whom she hurt.
She also wrote letters to her children, and to a
pastor to whom she felt she spoke harshly,
asking for their forgiveness for how she may
have treated them.
k t I s
"When I mailed those off to the children and the
pastor, I felt clean inside. Did you know when
you forgive you feel clean inside?" said Dolores,
who beat her prognosis and attributed her long
life to God and to never giving up hope in Him.
"Whatever you need in your life, God will do it for
you. He doesn't love me any more than he loves
you. He loves everybody the same. So keep on
believing in faith until the answer comes," she
concluded.
Joel Osteen then shared that his father and
former senior pastor of Lakewood Church, John
Osteen, was 77 years old and on dialysis when he
encouraged his son, who had been working at
the church doing video editing and other behind-
the-scenes jobs, to preach. Joel had initially turned his father down, telling
him, "I'm not a minister," but confessed to
feeling something strong come over him after
declining the offer.
"I felt something so strongly on the inside that
said, 'Joel, you need to do it,'" said Osteen. "So I
went and picked up the phone and said, 'Daddy, I
changed my mind. I'll do it for you.'"
Osteen explained that although he felt called, he
was not confident in his abilities and said the
week leading up to his first sermon was "the
most miserable week of my life."
His father was checked into the hospital the
Friday before Osteen was scheduled to preach
and watched the service on television. That
Sunday ended up being the last of his father's
life. After John Osteen died his son felt lost.
"That next Friday he had a heart attack and he
went to be with the Lord," said Osteen. "I was
kind of in a fog the first day or two. But after I
got past that fog, I felt that same desire to step
up and pastor the church. Everything in mind in
the natural sense said, 'Are you crazy?' But I
took that step of faith, never dreaming that it
could grow."
"What I thought could be my darkest hour
actually launched me into my brightest hour,"
added Osteen.
"Sometimes when we go through a loss or
difficulty we think it will never be like it used to,
but losing a loved one, a job or relationship —
none of that is a surprise to God. Your life is not
over because you go through some kind of loss.
You keep moving forward. You're going to come
into that next chapter, and I believe if you stay in
faith it will be a chapter of greater victory."
Osteen followed his testimony by calling to the
stage his wife, Victoria, and children, Alexandra
and Jonathan, who had been leading worship
throughout the afternoon.
He said his wife always believed he would pastor
his father's church.
"Sometimes you can see things in other people
that they can't see in themselves," said Osteen
as he burst into tears while standing with his
family. "I'm really happy, but I don't know why I
cry all the time."
After a brief World Vision presentation, Osteen's
family left the stage and the pastor began to
preach his sermon, titled "Pregnant With
Possibility."
Osteen said Christians have a calling or purpose
that might live inside them that they cannot
physically see or predict. In the same way, a
woman who has just found out she is pregnant
cannot see or hold her child.
"Just because you don't see anything happening
doesn't mean it's not going to come to pass.
The seed that God put in you has already taken
root. Conception has occurred. Just like the
woman, you may not see any sign of it for a
while. But don't get discouraged, your time is
coming," he said.
Osteen explained that these possibilities could be
dreams of new businesses or a healing, and that
believers will experience great difficulty before
some of these things come to pass, just like the
increasing pain for a woman who is about to give
birth.
"I am looking at people who are pregnant with
possibility. Quit telling yourself you can't get
ahead. You are pregnant with your destiny,
abundance and talent. You are about to give
birth to what God put in you," he said.
Osteen also stressed the importance of
Christians not judging themselves based on their
current circumstances. Like Sarah in Genesis
who delivered a child at over 80 years old,
miracles can still come for believers when it
seems impossible.
"Don't let what you see around you talk you out
of your dreams," he said.
Osteen also talked about his father who had
grown up poor on a cotton farm. When Joel was
younger, his father had shared with him that he
had a vision that one day he'd pastor a large
church.
He described his father's vision as "conception,"
and said those looking at him in the natural
would see the feat as impossible, but the elder
Osteen never gave up and went on to pastor a
6,000-member church.
"He didn't let people talk him out of it. He didn't
let his environment hold him back. He kept
praying, believing and taking steps of faith. He
gave birth to what God put on the inside," said
Osteen. "When you give birth you'll go farther
than you ever have."
Osteen said that once believers understand that
possibilities are alive in them, they won't need to
rely on other people. He explained that, too
often, people look for deliverance from the
outside even though God has put it on the inside.
They need to believe in what God has promised.
He also encouraged the crowd to keep pushing
through adversity when they make the decision
to believe.
"Pain is a sign that you're about to give birth," he
said. "It's a sign that you're getting closer. In
these tough times this is when people abort their
dreams."
"It's all a part of the process. Keep believing,
keep trying, and at the right time, you're going to
give birth. What you couldn't make happen on
your own is going to be the hand of God."
Posted via Blogaway
