Sing To The Promise | Joel Osteen

God bless you. It's a joy to come into your homes, and if you're ever in our area, please stop by. Be a part of one of our services. These are the finest people in all of Houston, Texas, right here at Lakewood. We'd love to have you come out. I like to start with something funny, and I heard about this positive farmer and negative farmer. When it would rain, the positive farmer would say, Lord, thank you for watering our crops. The negative farmer would say, yeah, but if it keeps this up, it's going to rot the roots. When the sun would come out, positive farmer, Lord, thank you for giving our plants valuable nutrients. Negative farmer, yeah, but if it keeps this up, it's going to scorch the crops. One day they were bird hunting together in a boat. Positive farmer just got a brand new bird dog. He is so proud of him. He shot a bird, fell in the water, said to his negative farmer, watch this. The dog jumped out of the boat, ran on top of the water, picked the bird up, ran back on top of the water, put it in the boat. Said, what do you think about that? Negative farmer said, should have known it. That dog can't even swim. 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 seeing to the promise. All of us have things we're believing for, dreams we want to accomplish, problems we're hoping will turn around. We know God put the promise in our heart, but we don't see how it can happen. Maybe the medical report's not good. Child is off course. We don't have the funds we need. It doesn't seem possible. This is the way the Israelites felt in Numbers 21. They were in the desert. It was hot. They were tired and thirsty, but all they could see was more sand, more rocks, more barrenness. And just when they thought they were done, they came to this place where there was an old well. I can imagine they were excited, thinking finally we're going to get some water. They rushed over to it, but the well was dry. They looked down it and could see hadn't been used in years, filled with dirt, rocks, all kinds of debris. It was another disappointment. But God told Moses to gather the people around and he was going to give them water. God gave them the promise. Water is coming in the desert. Things are about to turn around. I'm going to do something out of the ordinary. But the promise didn't automatically come to pass. It didn't happen just because God said it. There was something the Israelites had to do. The scripture says they begin to sing this song, spring up a well. Right in the middle of the desert when they were discouraged, when it looked impossible, instead of complaining, they started singing

spring up a well. They were making a declaration of faith. They were saying, Lord, thank you that the water is coming. Thank you that you're making streams in the desert. Thank you that you're supplying all of our needs. The verse goes on to say, they sang to the well. That's the key. You have to sing to the promise. It didn't look practical in the natural. The well was dried up. Every circumstance said, water is not going to come out of this empty well. Thoughts told them, you look foolish. You're wasting your time singing to a well. They could have talked themselves out of it. Said, Moses, we're not going to sing. We're hot. We're thirsty. We'll sing after we get some water. Instead, they kept singing this phrase over and over, spring up a well. Thanking God for the promise. All of a sudden, in the middle of the desert, water began to shoot up out of that dried up empty well. They saw the promise fulfilled. There are promises God has put in you. Every circumstance may say, it's not going to happen. You'll never get well. You'll never meet the right person. You'll never accomplish that dream. It's been a long time. You feel like you're in a drought. You have to do like them and sing to the promise. Your praise, your thanksgiving, those declaration of faith is what causes water to flow in the desert. Doesn't take any faith to sing. after the water shows up. It's easy to sing once the promise is fulfilled, but the singing, the praise, is what causes healing to spring up, abundance to spring up, breakthroughs to spring up. And sometimes we're waiting on God, but God is waiting on us. Why don't you start calling out those promises He's put in you? If you're dealing with an illness, instead of complaining, spring up, oh healing. Lord, thank you that you're restoring health back into me. Thank you that the number of my days you will fulfill. You don't have the funds you need, spring up abundance, spring up promotion, spring up opportunity. Father, thank you that I will lend and not borrow. Thank you that whatever I touch prospers and succeeds. You've been single a long time, believing for a spouse, spring up, oh good looking husband. Throw a couple adjectives in there. You're believing for children, spring up, oh baby, spring up offspring. Father, you said my

seed would be mighty in the land. You said children are a gift from the Lord. So Father, thank you that my baby is on the way. That's what it means to sing to the promise. When we were trying to acquire this building, the former compact center, all the odds were against us. Well-known business leaders told us that we would never get it, that we were wasting our time. We didn't really have the connections, the experience, the funding. All we had was a promise that we knew God placed in our heart. Let me encourage you, you and God are a majority. If you'll stay in faith, sing to the promise, tell it to spring forth, all the forces of darkness cannot stop you. God has the final say. When he hears you thanking him before the answer comes, praising him while you're still in a drought, declaring his favor when the odds are against you, he'll make things happen that you could never make happen. He'll open doors that no man can shut. Victoria and I used to come up to the compact center before we owned it, late at night when nobody was around, and we would walk around the building. With every step, we would say, Father, thank you that you're fighting our battles. Thank you that you're bigger than this opposition. Thank you that your favor surrounds us like a shield. What were we doing? Singing to the promise, saying in effect, spring up, oh compact center, spring up, spring up, spring up, spring up, spring up, spring up destinies, spring up favor, spring up breakthroughs. God supernaturally opened the door and here we are today. But it's easy to complain about how it's not going to work out and talk about how impossible it is. That's going to cause you to get stuck where you are, live discouraged, settle for mediocrity. Why don't you start singing to the promise? There

are goals God has put in you, dreams, healing, promotion, restoration. They're lying dormant. You may not see how it can happen. You haven't had the breaks that you need. You could easily settle there and think that it wasn't meant to be. Those promises are still alive. You have to start calling them out. Healing, spring up in me. Talent, spring up in me. Good relationships, joy, peace, spring up all through the day. Lord, thank you that my healing is coming. Thank you that good breaks are on the way. Thank you that divine connections, the right people are in my future. You may be sick. You can sing your way to health. You're discouraged. You can sing your way to joy. You're stuck in your career. You can sing your way to the next level. Well, Joel, this sounds good, but you don't know my situation. I got passed over for the big promotion. The medical report says I'm not going to make it. I've had this addiction so long, I don't think I'll ever break it. That's exactly where the Israelites were, in the desert. They were tired, discouraged, but they dared to sing to an empty, dried up well. They dared to thank God for provision when it looked foolish. Every voice may tell you it's not going to happen, but you have to dig your heels in and say, spring up healing, spring up new levels, spring up promotion. Don't complain about the problem. Sing to the promise. Thank God that things are changing in your favor. Thank him that blessings are chasing you down. Thank him that your children will fulfill their destinies, that as for you and your house. You will serve the Lord. I talked to a young man. He came from a small town in Mississippi. He got a scholarship to play soccer at a major university.

He's very talented, very good athlete, but his dream was to play football. His junior year in college, he talked to the coaches. They let him switch from soccer to football. He was the kicker. He was thrilled to be on the football team, but the coaches didn't give him a chance because he didn't come from a football background, they never put him in the game. For two years, he sat the bench, never kicked one field goal. At the end of his last college season, there was a scout day when coaches from professional teams would come and look at the players and evaluate them. He was hoping somebody would be interested in him. He was a very skilled kicker, but since he had never played a game, nobody knew who he was. He waited and waited for a phone call, but it never came. It looked like his football days were over. Driving home from college, flipped on the radio and came across our Sirius XM station. He heard me talking about how a shift is coming, how you're just one phone call away from your destiny, how one touch of God's favor can catapult you to the next level. I talked about how it's gonna happen faster than you think. When he heard that, something came alive on the inside. He knew that was for him. He got his cell phone out and made a three minute video

telling everyone that he was going to be in the NFL that year. Most of his friends thought he had lost his mind. He had never kicked a field goal in college, had no track record. Now you're going to play professional football. That doesn't make sense. Now, instead of being discouraged, instead of complaining, he had this expectancy. He went around saying, Lord, thank you for opening up new doors. Thank you that your favor causes me to stand out. Thank you that you're bringing opportunity across my path. He was singing to the promise, saying in effect, spring up a well, looking for God's goodness. Four hours after he made the video, he received a phone call from Cincinnati, Ohio. He doesn't know when he won in Cincinnati, so he didn't answer it. They left a voice message. It said, this is the kicking coach for the Cincinnati Bengals football team. We'd like you to come to our rookie camp and try out for the team. He thought it was a prank call. Some friends playing a joke on him. He called the number back, found out it was the real thing. He tried out for the team and he made the team. Today, he's one of the few African-American kickers

in the NFL. How could someone that's never kicked a field goal in college, doesn't have the qualifications, the experience, the resume, make it to the highest level, the NFL? That's God bringing water out of an empty well. That's God making streams in the desert. That's what happens when you sing to the promise. Not complain about the drought, complain about who treated you wrong, live discouraged because the well was dried up and empty. That doesn't do anything productive. You have to do like him. When the odds are against you, when it looks impossible, when you've had bad breaks, dare to say, spring up a well. Lord, thank you that you're opening up new doors. Thank you that you're freeing me from this addiction. Thank you that you're bringing divine connections across my path. You have to do this by faith. See, when the Israelites sang, spring up a well, they couldn't see water, they couldn't taste water, they couldn't feel water, they couldn't smell water. There was no reason, logically speaking, for them to believe that water was around. If you just go by what you see and feel and think, you'll talk yourself out of it. That's why the scripture says, walk by faith and not by sight. If the Israelites would have looked at it in the natural,

instead of singing, spring up a well, they would have sang, this old well is empty, this old well is dried up, would have been a country Western song. But in difficult times, you're gonna be saying something. You're either going to be singing about the problem or singing to the promise. Either talking about how big your challenge is or talking about how big your God is. Either saying, I'll never get out of this drought or this drought is only temporary. I know water. is on the way. Spring up, oh well. Spring up victory. Spring up abundance. Spring up healing. Spring up favor. The scripture says it's not going to happen by our might, by our power, but by the Spirit of the Most High God. God is not limited by the natural. He's limited by what we believe. When you start singing to the promise, believing that He can make streams in the desert, thanking Him for what He's put in your heart, God will show out in your life in ways greater than you've ever imagined. But too often we think, I'll wait till I see the water, till I see the promise, then I'll sing, then I'll have a good attitude, Joel. That's backwards. You have to sing first. Isaiah put it this way, sing, oh barren woman. You who never bore a child, break forth into song. He didn't say sing because God gave you the baby. Sing because you saw the promise turned around. This text was written to women who were barren. Back in the Bible days, if a lady didn't give her husband a child, she was looked down on. They lived with a sense of shame. That's why you read about people like Hannah. She was so distressed that she couldn't have a baby, she went to the altar again and again, wept and wept, so much so that Eli the prophet thought she was drunk. But Isaiah wasn't writing to people that had their children. He was writing to people who were barren, people who were waiting for the promise, believing for their

healing, hoping to meet the right person, praying that the business would turn around. What are you supposed to do when you're barren? Beg God to help you? Complain about how long it's taking? Live discouraged because life hasn't dealt you a fair hand? No, Isaiah said sing when you're barren. Break forth into song. Here's the principle. Praise is the birth position. Thanking God is what causes promises to come to pass. Complaining will keep your baby in the womb. Focusing on negative circumstances will keep you barren. But when you switch over into praise, you say, Lord, thank you for your goodness and favor in my life. Lord, I know you haven't brought me this far to leave me, so thank you for new levels. Thank you for breakthroughs. Thank you that I will become everything you've created me to be. That's not just being grateful. That's getting in to the birth position. You continue to do that, living a life of praise, then you will give birth to everything God's placed in your heart. But when we're barren, it's easy to live discouraged. It's easy to go around feeling sorry for ourselves, but when you start thanking God that things are changing in your favor, I can imagine God saying to the angels, what's that sound I'm hearing? Most people would be negative, worried, complaining, but listen to what they're saying. They're thanking me that the answer's on the way. They're singing about the victory before they see the victory. Angels go to work, restore their health, open up new doors, bring that dream to pass. The psalmist said God inhabits the praises of his people. If you want God to show up, don't complain. Don't talk about the problem. Sing to the promise. Thank him that it's on the way. That's what a young lady I know did. For years, she and her husband had been trying to have a baby. She went through all the fertility treatments. They spent a lot of money with no success. They were finally told that they weren't able to have children, but she didn't get discouraged. She didn't start complaining. Every day, she would say, Lord, thank you that my baby is on the way. She did this year after year. The promise God put in you is like a seed. It has to be watered. The way you water that seed is through your praise, by thanking God that it's coming, by living with expectancy. The reason some people stay barren, they don't see the promise

fulfilled, is they've stopped watering their seed. They were excited at first. They believed they were going to reach their dreams, break the addiction, meet the right person. But over time, when they didn't see it happening, they got discouraged. But if you plant an apple seed and don't water it, it's not going to grow. There's nothing wrong with the seed. The seed is still full of life, full of potential. It just needs to be watered. In the same way, the seed God put in You may not have come to pass yet, but the good news is it's still alive You may have to water it for another month a year or 20 years But if you'll keep watering that seed thanking God for the promise at the appointed time it will come to pass And that's what this couple did for many years Recently, they stopped me in the lobby and told how after nine years they were able to get pregnant They have a two-year-old son and now their second child is on the way This is after all the medical reports said they couldn't have any children Their doctor was puzzled. He said I've never seen anything like this Something happened and your womb just opened up Everything started working She's in her 40s. He said you're like a 20 year old. You can probably have five more children She said no, thanks, I don't want to be that blessed No more singing to that promise. But what am I saying? God can bring water out of an empty well He can make streams in the desert learn to sing to the promise Thank him that it's on the way under your breath make declarations of faith Healing spring up baby spring up promotion spring up if you'll live with this Expectancy always water in your praise. God will make things happen that looked impossible second Kings chapter 3 The people of Judah had been traveling through the desert for seven days on their way to battle an enemy army When they too ran out of water They didn't realize the streams along the way were dried up now. They didn't have water for themselves or their animals They camped in a valley where it never rains

It was hot They were thirsty the worst place to run out of water Looked like they would be an easy target for the enemy that was approaching They sent word to the Prophet Elisha Asking them what they should do He told them to dig ditches in the valley to prepare for the water that was coming I'm sure they said Elisha. You must not realize we're in a valley where it never rains They haven't had water here for years We're not going to waste our time digging ditches if we see some clouds starting to form if we hear a little thunder Maybe then we'll dig a few ditches He said no doesn't work that way if you want water you have to dig the ditches first He went on to say You will see neither wind nor rain, but this valley will be filled with water He was saying it's not going to happen a natural ordinary way. It's going to happen supernaturally They dug the ditches the next morning. It didn't rain There wasn't a storm but out of nowhere water began flooding into that valley They went on to defeat the enemy army Every time you thank God that the promise is coming. You're digging a ditch The medical report may say you'll never get well, but you go around saying father Thank you with long life. You satisfy me. Thank you that I will live and not die thoughts will tell you Why are you digging that ditch? Don't you know, there are no clouds in the sky. It doesn't rain in this valley Don't worry, it's not going to happen a natural way It's going to be supernatural out of nowhere your health shows up You meet the right person your business takes off suddenly you're out of debt When you sing to the promise you're digging ditches You're making preparations for God to do what you cannot do He said he would give you water without rain That means God can promote you like that football kicker, even though you don't have the qualifications

You don't have the experience God can heal you like my mother without the treatment even though medically speaking it said it was over God can promote you beyond your salary Beyond your education. He's not limited to your job to your income. He owns it all When you say father, thank you that my children make good decisions Thank you that they will fulfill their destinies There may be no sign of it at the time if somebody heard you they could say what are you talking about? Your children don't make good decisions. They're off course. They're always in trouble That's what they said to the people back then. Why are you digging a ditch here? It never rains in this valley Don't be moved by what you see be moved by what you see No, we know because we're praisers, because we sing to the promise, because our declaration is spring up salvation in our children, it's just a matter of time before the water shows up. We know the breakthrough is on the way. God is saying, if you'll do your part and dig the ditches, I'll do my part and bring the water. I'll show you favor. I'll open new doors. I'll help you break that addiction. You may feel like you're in one of those valleys where it never gets water. You've been in a drought. You hadn't had good breaks. You could easily settle there. This is not the time to get discouraged. This is the time to start declaring spring up oh well, spring up promotion, spring up healing, spring up favor. Don't complain about the problem.

Sing to the promise. Thank God that things are changing in your favor. Thank him that your best days are still out in front of you. If you'll do this, I believe and declare the drought is coming to an end. Dreams are about to spring up. Healing is about to spring up. New opportunities, new relationships in Jesus name. If you receive it, can you say amen today? I'd like to give 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. If you prayed that simple prayer, we believe you got born again. Get in a good Bible-based church. Keep God first place. Victoria and I will be right back to speak a blessing over you.