Be A Barrier Breaker | Joel Osteen

Well, 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 a part of one of our services. I promise you, we'll make you feel right at home. I like to start with something funny. And I heard about this kindergarten teacher. She was teaching her students about self-esteem. And she said to the class, anyone that felt dumb, she asked them to stand up. She didn't think anybody would stand. She'd make the point how no one is dumb. But about that time, little Johnny stood up. She thought, oh, no, now what am I going to do? She said, now, Johnny, do you really feel like you're dumb? He said, no, ma'am. I just hate to see you standing there all by yourself. 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 being a barrier breaker. So often, we let our environment, how we were raised, people's expectations of us set the limits for our life. We adapt to what's around us. If you take an oak tree seed and plant it in a two-foot pot, that oak tree will never become what it was created to be, not because there's something wrong with the seed, but because of the environment that it's in. It's easy to just fit in, go with the crowd, be like everyone else, but God didn't create you to be average. He created you to stand out, to go beyond the norm, to leave your mark on this generation. You have seeds of greatness on the inside. You're supposed to go further than the people that raised you. You're supposed to live better, be more successful, set a new standard. You may be in an environment where people have addictions, low self-esteem, depression, poverty. You can't stop that, but here's the key. Don't let that become normal in your thinking. If you accept that as who you are, it will keep you from your destiny. The scripture talks about how we are in the world, but we are not of the world. You may be in a limited environment, but you don't have to be of it. Don't let that environment get in you. If you see struggle, lack, poverty long enough, your mind can become conditioned to think, this is who I am. I'll always struggle. I'll never have enough. No, that's where you are. That's not who you are. And that may be what's been normal. The good news, you're a barrier breaker. You have the power, the favor, the talent, the ability to break out, to go further. God breathes his life into you. He calls you the head and

not the tail. Don't let your mind become conditioned for mediocrity. Don't let that change who you really are. Sometimes people will try to put us in a box, tell us things like, you can't start that business. You don't have the resources. You'll never afford a nice place to live, never get well, never meet the right person. Because their thinking is limited, they'll try to put their limitations on you. You have to put your foot down and say, I refuse to be mediocre because people around me are mediocre. I refuse to be addicted, depressed, have low expectations. I know I'm a barrier breaker. I'm going to set a new standard. It starts in our thinking. Nothing will change until you make up your mind you are not going to accept mediocrity. Why don't you take the limitations off yourself? You have so much potential. Break out of that box and try something new. The enemy would love to keep that potential from ever coming out. He'll use bad breaks, negative comments, painful circumstances to try to keep you from believing in yourself, believing that you can rise to the next level. Many people have let their mind become conditioned to think that they've reached their limits. They're just average. They'll never do anything great. What's happened? Instead of breaking out, they've adapted to their environment. I saw a study that was done with fleas. Researchers put all these fleas in a container and then put a lid on the top. The fleas immediately tried to fly out, but they hit the lid again and again. Before long, they realized they were stuck. At one point, the researchers removed the lid, but much to their surprise, the fleas didn't try to fly out anymore. They had hit that lid so many times, they had become conditioned to think that they couldn't get out. Even though the lid was off, they didn't even try. Sometimes like these fleas, because of the environment we're in, times we've tried and failed, what people have told us, we've become conditioned to think, we can't do anything great. We'll never accomplish the dream. We'll never get back in shape. No, it may not have happened in the past. You may have tried and hit that lid a few times, but can I tell you, the lid is coming off. It's time to try again. You were not created to live contained, to get stuck, recondition your mind. That's what happened to a friend of mine. He got off to a rough start in life. He grew up in the projects, very poor, with hardly any guidance. His father wasn't in his life. His mother had her own struggles. Because of this poor home situation, he was labeled by the state as a child at risk. That phrase, from the

time he was a little boy, had played over and over in his mind. It had become ingrained in his thinking. There's no future for me. I'm a child at risk. He continued to go downhill, getting into trouble, doing what the rest of the crowd was doing. Everyone around him was defeated, depressed, addicted. He fit right in. He adapted to his environment. Your life is going to follow your thoughts. He believed he was at risk. He became at risk. If you believe you've reached your limits, then you have. If you believe you'll never get well, then you won't. Because your mind has become conditioned with limitations, it will keep you from your highest potential. You have to get rid of these thoughts that are holding you back. You may not see how you can do it in your own ability, but you're not on your own. You have the most powerful force in the universe breathing in your direction. God created you to rise higher, to break barriers of the past, to overcome bad habits, to be free from generational curses. People may have labeled you at risk, average, less than, but God labels you well-able, equipped, anointed, creative, a masterpiece. The good news is people don't determine your destiny, God does. What they said about you, the environment you're in now, how you were raised, cannot keep you from your purpose. God has already taken into account every detail of your life, every bad break, every negative comment, how you were raised, what somebody did. He's factored that all into his plan. If you will stay in faith, instead of holding you back, it will propel you forward. Instead of defeating you, it'll make you stronger. God knows how to take what was meant for your harm and use it to your advantage. One day, this young man got in trouble in school, and he was sent to the school counselor. She tried to reason with him, but he wouldn't listen. She wouldn't give up. She kept on trying and trying. Finally, he said to her, why are you even bothering with me? I'll never do anything great. I've been told my whole life I'm a child at risk. She looked him in the eyes and said, listen to me. You are not a child at risk. You are a child at possibility. When he heard that, something ignited on the inside. Sat up in his chair, said to her, what do you mean at possibility? She said, you are full of potential. You are smart. You are talented. There's so much you can become. His whole life he had heard just the opposite. His mind had become conditioned to think you'll never get out of the projects. You'll never be successful. That day, a stronghold was broken in his thinking. He reconditioned his mind. Today, this young man owns his own business, very successful.

Plus, he goes around to schools and speaks to other students who are considered to be at risk. He tells them what the counselor told him. You're not at risk. You're at possibility. My friend, Dale Toro, make kneels right here on the front row. But like with him, people around you may accept mediocrity. They may be fine with being average and having little goals and working at an okay job, but don't let that spirit rub off on you. That is not who you are. You're the exception. You're a barrier breaker. You are not limited by your education. By how you were raised, by that environment, God has destined you to rise higher. He's destined you to go to the next level. This is what happened with my father. He was raised very poor on a cotton farm during the Great Depression. At Christmas time, his family was the one that received the Christmas basket that went to the poorest family in the school. He could never drink a full glass of milk. They couldn't afford it, only a fourth of a glass, plus they'd pour water in it to make it last longer. But at 17 years of age, my dad gave his life to Christ, the first one in the family. He told me, Joel, I made a decision that day that my children would never be raised in the poverty and lack that I was raised in. He changed his mind. Everyone around him, they were good people, but they were limited. Their mind had become conditioned to accept not having enough, struggle, lack. The problem is if you accept it, you won't do anything about it. It's easy to get comfortable with mediocrity and just adapt to our environment. As a teenager, my father felt something stirring on the inside. It was those seeds of greatness. Every circumstance said he was stuck. He'd have to stay on the farm, pick cotton the rest of his life. But instead of adapting to that environment, his attitude was, this is not my destiny. I am better than this.

I refuse to live mediocre, wearing hand-me-downs, receiving the Christmas basket. I know I have seeds of greatness. I have potential. I have creativity. The most high God breathed life into me. As a teenager, he left the farm. He had to hitchhike, but he went out and started ministering in the jails, in the senior citizens' homes, making a difference wherever he went. He went on to break the curse of poverty in our family, and he took us to a new level. He was a barrier breaker. He knew he was made for more. Instead of just fitting in, be like everyone else, why don't you start seeing yourself as a barrier breaker, as the exception? You're supposed to stand out. You're supposed to rise higher. Maybe everyone in your family is depressed, except you. You broke out. You're happy. You're full of joy. Everyone is addicted, except you. You're free. You're clean. You're helping others. Everyone is struggling, can't make ends meet, can't get ahead, except you. You're blessed. Good breaks are chasing you down. Opportunities are looking for you. Your gifts and talents are coming out in greater ways. Why is that? You're the exception.

Not arrogantly, like you're better than someone else, but a quiet confidence, knowing that you were made for more. See, if my father would have accepted that as his lot in life, I wouldn't be standing here today. Are you accepting things that are less than God's best? Have you adapted to a limited environment? You have big dreams in your heart. You know there's a new business in you, a management position, a book, a better house, but you're doing as good as your friends. You've gone as far as your family. No, don't settle there. Break out of that mold. Nothing will be more sad than to come to the end of life and realize what we could have become. You've got to just live with an out-possibility mindset instead of this at-risk mentality. A couple of years before my dad went to be with the Lord, we drove back to Paris, Texas, where he was raised. Daddy wanted to reminisce and show me where he had grown up. We went out onto the land where his farm used to be. The house was no longer there, but we found the well, and he showed me where he used to pick cotton, where he went to school. Before we left town, we drove around to see if we could find any of his friends. We pulled up to this very run-down house. Really, it was nothing more than a shack. It didn't even look livable. There was this older gentleman on the front porch, not wearing a shirt, just kind of killing time. My father went up and said, I'm John Osteen, are you so-and-so? It was his friend. They hadn't seen each other in over 60 years.

He invited us inside, and the place was very dilapidated. There were buckets on the ground to catch the water dripping from the ceiling, broken windows boarded up. We went and found several other of his friends. It was the same situation, extreme poverty, defeat, mediocrity. They were good people. It hit me how they had not made anything out of their lives. They had made the mistake of adapting to their environment. They accepted the limitations they were born into. One man told how he had worked a little here and there, had odd jobs, worked down at the boat docks, barely making it. Another had been laid off 28 years earlier, not able to find any more work, lived off of handouts, no goals, no dreams, no resources. Now they were at the end of their lives. They had not tapped into their potential. That day made such an impression upon me. I thought about how my father was raised in the same environment. He came out of the same mold, same depression, same poverty, same school, but daddy went on to touch the world, pastored great churches. He made a difference with his life. I saw firsthand what would have happened if my father had accepted the life of defeat he was born into. If he had not put his foot down and said, I may have been born into mediocrity, but I'm not settling here. If he had not reconditioned his mind,

he would have been sitting right there with the rest of those men. Friends, don't go through life and miss your destiny. You weren't created to get stuck, to settle, stay at the same place year after year. You were created to excel. There is potential in you right now, just waiting to come out. You have gifts that will cause new doors to open, talent that will bring new opportunities. Get rid of low expectations. Quit making excuses to settle where you are. You may be in some kind of limited environment, dysfunction, addictions, depression. The good news, you don't have to stay there. That is not your destiny. Somebody may have labeled you at risk, but the creator of the universe labels you at possibility. You've gone as far as your family, as your friends, that's good, but don't settle there. You're the exception. You're supposed to go further. Dare to take some steps of faith. Life is flying by. You don't have 10 years to wait around. The odds may be against you, but the most high God is for you. His favor on your life will cause you to go where you could not go on your own. If you're going to be a barrier breaker,

you have to get rid of excuses. I read about an eight year old boy that was born in Kansas in the early 1900s. During the winter, he and his brother would go to school early to light the fire in the classroom so that it'd be warm when the rest of the students arrived. But one morning, someone accidentally put gasoline in the kerosene container that he used to start the fire. When he lit the match, there was a huge explosion. His brother was instantly killed. The teacher came running and found this little boy unconscious with the lower half of his body burned beyond recognition. She pulled him out of the fire thinking that he was dead. Somehow he had survived. He lost most of the skin and muscles on his legs. His mother was told if he did make it, he would be crippled, never able to walk again. But this little boy was a fighter. Against all odds, he survived. He made up his mind. He was not only going to walk again, but he told everyone one day he would run again. His favorite scripture was found in Isaiah 40. They that wait upon the Lord will renew their strength. They will run and not be weary. They will walk and not faint. As an eight-year-old boy, he had a spirit of faith. He believed he could defy the odds. Months later, he was sent home from the hospital

with no feeling or movement in his legs. Every day his mother would take him outside in the wheelchair so he could get some sunshine. One afternoon when she wasn't watching, he grabbed onto the picket fence and pulled himself up. State by state, he began to drag himself along. He did this day after day, teaching himself how to walk again. They didn't have physical therapy for him to go to. He was his own physical therapist. Two years after the accident, he stood up for the first time. Wasn't long after that, he was not only walking, he began to run. He became extremely fast. In college, on the track team, he won so many medals, he became known as the Kansas City Flyer. 1934, Glenn Cunningham, the young man that was told he'd never walk again, broke the world record in the mile run. If you're going to be a barrier breaker, you have to get rid of the excuses. Quit thinking about what you didn't get, what you can't do, how the odds are against you. You and God are a majority. You have what you need. You're a barrier breaker. You can defy the odds. You can beat the cancer. You can break the addiction. You can start the new business. You can go further than the experts have told you. Like Glenn, you have to recondition your mind. Instead of dwelling on all the negative things people have said about you, dwell on what God says about you.

I will run and not be weary. Or instead of you can't break that addiction, I can do all things through Christ. Whom the sun sets free is free indeed. Instead of, oh man, you've reached your limits. This is not for you today. No, the path of the righteous gets brighter and brighter. God's plans for me are for good and not evil to give me a future and a hope. Nothing will happen until you change your mind. Glenn could have laid there thinking, wow, too bad for me. I lost my legs. I'll never do anything great. We wouldn't be talking about him. Are there strongholds keeping you back? Have you adapted to an environment letting what people have said, what's around you set limits for your life? God is saying, this is a new day. You're a barrier breaker. I'm going to take you further than you've imagined. I'm going to help you set a new standard. I'm going to help you defy the odds. Now do your part. Let this seed take root in your spirit. Don't talk yourself out of it. Get in agreement with God. For years, experts said no one would ever be able to run a mile under four minutes. They studied the human body and thought it would collapse under that much pressure. Scientists said it was not only dangerous to try, but it was literally impossible. A man named Roger Bannister didn't believe the negative reports. He didn't let his mind become conditioned to think that it couldn't be done. In May of 1956, he made history by running a mile under four minutes. What's interesting is 46 days

later, someone else broke the four minute mile. Within 10 years, 336 people had run the mile under four minutes Hadn't happened for years. Now it was happening all the time. Why was that? The barrier was broken in their mind. For years, they believed what the experts said. They were convinced in their own thinking that it couldn't happen. Once that barrier was removed, they were able to do things that seemed impossible. Has your mind become conditioned to think you can't accomplish your dreams, you can't get well, you'll never break that addiction? If you'll do like Roger and recondition your mind, start thinking better, believing that you're a can-do person, knowing that you have seeds of greatness, you too will break barriers that you thought were impossible. Here's the beauty. When you break a barrier, you make it easier on those that come after you. You're paving the way for your children, for your relatives. That's what it means to set a new standard. That's what my dad did. When he broke that curse of poverty, he took our family to a new level. Because he broke that barrier, I was able to start much further along. When my dad went to be with the Lord, he left us with that 8,000-seat auditorium. I could have settled there and thought, this is okay. I'm doing as good as my parents, but I did what I'm asking you to do. I stirred up my gifts and said, God, I know I'm not supposed to stay at the same level as my parents. I took a step of faith. God opened the door to this place,

the former compact center. It's several times larger than our former facility. That's the way it's supposed to be. God is a progressive God. He wants every generation to increase. There was a young man in the scripture named Hezekiah. He was raised in a very dysfunctional home. His father was Ahaz, king of Judah. He set up idols for the people to worship. He was a very hard king and cruel to the people. Because he didn't honor God, the nation went downhill, became very poor. Five different armies came against Judah. They lost every battle. The place was decimated. You would think Ahaz would learn his lesson, turn to God, ask for his help, but it was just the opposite. He closed the doors of the temple. He began to sell off the sacred treasures. Hezekiah was raised in this environment of compromise, defeat, mediocrity. He could have turned out like his dad. He could have adapted to that environment, but Hezekiah understood this principle. When he became king, the first thing he did before repairing the roads, before getting the economy going, Hezekiah reopened the temple. He turned the nation back toward God. His father chose to compromise, chose to push people down, but Hezekiah's attitude was, I may have been born into mediocrity, but I'm not settling here. I'm going to put an end to this generational curse, and I'm going to start a generational blessing. Hezekiah was a barrier breaker. You may be in some kind of limited environment. If Hezekiah were here today, he would tell you, you don't have to stay there.

How you start is not important. How you finish is what matters. Do yourself and your family a favor, break out of that mold. Don't pass negative things down to the next generation. You can be the difference maker. You can be the one that sets your family on a course to honoring God, a course of blessing, favor, and victory. I'm asking you to recondition your mind. Get rid of strongholds that are keeping you back. You're not at risk, you're at possibility. Stir up your seeds of greatness. Be a barrier breaker. If you'll do this, I believe and declare, God is going to breathe on your life in a new way. You're going to go beyond barriers of the past, overcome obstacles, accomplish dreams. You're going to become everything God created you to be in Jesus' name. And if you receive it, can you say amen today? We never like to close our broadcast without giving you an opportunity to make Jesus the Lord of your life. Would you pray with me? Just say, Lord Jesus, I repent of my sins. Come into my heart. I make you my Lord and Savior. Friends, if you prayed that simple prayer, we believe you got born again. Get in a good Bible-based church. Keep God first place. He's going to take you places that you've never dreamed. Amen. Amen. Amen.

Amen. Amen. Amen.