The Courage to Get Well | Joel Osteen

God bless you. It's great to be with you today, and I hope you stay connected with us during the week through our daily podcast, our YouTube channel, social media, and you can come visit us in person. We'd love to have you be a part of one of our services. I'd like to start with something funny, and I heard about these two men named Archie and Jack. They had debated their whole life as to whether Jesus was white or whether he was black. Archie was certain he was white, Jack was just as certain he was black. As fate would have it, they died on the same day and rushed to the pearly gates. They said, "St. Peter, please tell us." We've been arguing our whole life. Is Jesus white, or is he black? About that time Jesus stepped up and said, "Wain us, deus." (audience cheering) All right, guys, 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 wanna talk to you today about the courage to get well. We all have areas where we're not being our best. Something is limiting us. Lack of confidence, unforgiveness and addiction. We don't like it. We know it's holding us back, but often we learn to live with it. Human nature leans toward what's comfortable. It's not change we resist, it's what's required of change. It's easier to stay the same. If we accept it and let it become a part of us, we won't have to stretch and put forth more effort. It becomes normal to us. We can get comfortable with self-pity, comfortable with bitterness, comfortable with a bad attitude. We have an excuse. I can't forgive Joel. They hurt me too badly. I know I'm hot-tempered, but that's how I was raised. I'll never be successful with the mistakes I've made. I'm carrying this guilt and shame. As long as you normalize it, that lesser version of you will stay. You'll adapt to your conditions and learn to function in the dysfunction. That's not who God made you to be. There is a better version of you. A healthy you, a free you,

a blessed, confident, successful you. But here's the key. The new you won't show up as long as you're allowing the old you to stay. If you're accepting the mediocrity, the self-pity, the dysfunction, that's going to keep you from your destiny. Getting well takes courage. Being free will cost you something. If it was easy, everyone would do it. It's going to cost you excuses. No more finding reasons to justify. It will cost you some comfort. You have to be disciplined and be willing to do the hard thing so you can see change. It may cost you some friends and getting out of limiting environments. If you're dealing with an addiction, you can't hang around other people who are addicted. If you do that long enough, the addiction becomes normal. That's just who we are. Everybody's this way. No, that's because you're in the wrong environment. If you're always around people who are jealous, bitter, can't pay their bills, that's going to become normal to you, where you lower your expectations and convince yourself that's who you are. Well, you're better than that. You are made in the image of Almighty God.

He created you to rule and to reign. There's a new you on the inside ready to rise up, break free and reach new levels. Now do your part and have the courage to leave what's comfortable. The courage to get away from people who are enabling dysfunction and limiting your growth. The courage to have a new mindset, not live with insecurity, not enough, can't do it, get rid of the old so the new you can show up. John chapter five, there was a man that had been crippled for 38 years and every morning, his family would carry him to the pool of Bethesda. It was known to have healing waters. Once a year when the angel stirred the water, the first person in would be healed. The scripture says a great multitude of sick people came each day. The blind, the lame, the paralyzed. Everywhere this man looked, he saw people just like him with great problems, struggling, some were groaning, some couldn't talk, some were very old and about to pass. I could hear the conversations, people talking about all that was wrong, hoping they can just make it through another day. Was an atmosphere of defeat and disappointment. What a limited, dysfunctional way to live. But to this man, it was normal. That was his world. It's what he did every day.

Your environment has a way of normalizing your condition. If you're around people that complain all the time, complaining is gonna feel normal. If everyone around you is negative, negative is gonna feel normal. If everyone's unfaithful in relationships, being unfaithful is gonna feel normal to you. The challenge is, when something becomes normal, we stop seeing it as a limitation, something we need to overcome, and we take it on as a part of who we are. Your environment is conditioning you. How you erase, the people you work around, your community, they may be good people, but perhaps they have issues. They're sitting by the pool, so to speak, disappointed, talking about what didn't work out. Don't let their example become who you are. They may be stuck. They gave up on their dream. They won't forgive, but you're the exception. You're the one God raised up to break out of the limited environment. Recognize, that's not normal. That's not who you were created to be. This man had been going to the pool for 38 years. He had his routine down. Every morning, his family would get him dressed, bring him breakfast. Then they would carry him to the pool and set him in the same place.

He would talk to the same people, friends he had known for decades that were crippled and blind in great need. Every evening, his family'd come pick him up, take him home, help him to bed. He never saw people who were pursuing dreams, building their businesses, passionate about their family, thanking God for another day. He saw just the opposite. His normal was dysfunction and defeat. One afternoon, Jesus came walking by. He saw the man and went over to him. He said, "Sir, do you want to get well?" That seemed like such an odd question. Of course he wanted to get well. That's why everyone came to the pool each day. But Jesus was asking something much deeper. He knew the man had been there for 38 years. He was saying, "In effect, "are you willing to leave what you've become accustomed to? "Are you willing to give up that old routine "that you've done for 38 years "and take on new responsibility? "Are you willing to get rid of the excuses?" Because if he got healed, it wasn't just about his legs, his whole life would change. Nobody would have to carry him to the pool. He could walk where he went.

Nobody would bring him food each day and cater to him. He would have to work. Jesus was saying, "I want to change things for you. "I want to make it much better, "but it's going to cost you something. "It's going to take courage to get well. "You can't go back to the pool what you've been used to. "You can't hang around those same friends each day. "They're dysfunctional. "That's not you anymore. "Getting well means you have to make changes. "But some people choose to stay at the pool "because it's comfortable. "The insecurity, they're not good enough, the guilt. "They know it's limiting them, but it's familiar. "It's what they're used to. "Change requires effort. "It's not just God snapping his fingers, healing, and freeing. "There are things that we have to be willing to do. "Some people stay at the pool of compromised bad habits. "I know these friends are not good for me, Joe, "but I don't want to have to find new friends. "I like them. "Do you want to get well? "Getting well will disrupt old patterns. "Getting well means you can't rely on excuses. "I'm this way because of what they did to me, "because of what I didn't get. "Excuses will keep you at the pool.

"Quit blaming people, blaming your boss, "blaming your government. "Nothing that's happened to you has stopped your purpose. "It may not have been fair, but God saw it. "He knows how to make it up to you, "how to give you beauty for those ashes, "but you can't stay at the pool nursing your wounds. "Think it about who did you wrong, reliving the hurt. "You can't change any of that. "That's in the past. "The question is, do you want to get well? "Do you want to see God pay you back? "Then you can't stay at the pool of self-pity. "Letting the chip on your shoulder, "the bitterness, the unforgiveness become normal to you. "You may have a good reason, a good excuse. "Look what happened when you get well. "The excuses go away. "No more people to blame, "no more reason to shrink back and live intimidated, "no more reason to be sour. Jesus asked the man a very simple question, "Do you want to get well?" Yes or no? Seemed like an easy answer. This is a no-brainer. Yes, I want to get well. I don't want to go back to that pool another day. But after 38 years, strongholds can form in our mind. We resist change because things have become so normal and so routine. Instead of answering with faith and confidence, "Yes, I want to get well," the man said, "Sir, I don't have anybody to help me." Every time the angel comes, somebody gets in before me. Excuses will keep you from getting well. Telling God what you don't have, what you can't do, that's going to keep you at the pool. God isn't asking you to heal yourself. He's asking, are you willing to deal with the changes when he takes you to a higher level? Will you not go back

to that pool and stay in dysfunction? Will you quit making excuses to not pursue your destiny? This man was known as the crippled man by the pool. We don't have his name in the Scripture. His whole identity was on what he had been through. If Jesus healed him, he'd have to be willing to change his identity. He'd no longer be the crippled man, no longer have people feeling sorry for him, catered into him, having all that attention because what he'd been through. Some people become known by the hurts, the loss, the bad things that have happened to them. It becomes their identity. It's a victim mindset. Man, I went through a bad breakup job. My company let me go. It wasn't fair. I lost a loved one. If you're going to get well, you have to get rid of that old identity. That's what happened to you. It's not who you are. You are still a child of the Most High God, valuable, a masterpiece. We're in a crown of favor. Don't let what you've been through distort who God says you are. The enemy would love for you to live as a victim. Always had that on the forefront of your mind where you're bitter and you have a chip on your shoulder, not expecting anything good. No, God is asking you today, do you want to get well? It's going to cost you something. No more finding reasons to stay at the pool and why you can't be successful. It'll cost you the wrong identity. You have to give up the defeated you, the hurt you, the not good enough you. It'll cost you being comfortable staying in your routine where it's safe. The same friends, the same environment, this limiting you. You can't stay at the pool and reach your destiny. The pool was a place of healing. It's not your permanent home. One reason Jesus asked the crippled man, do you want to get well? He wanted to know if I heal you, are you going to stay at this pool? Are you going to keep the same mindset? Are you going to go out and fulfill your purpose and step into the greatness that I put in you? See, the Israelites had been in slavery for 400 years, mistreated and taken advantage of it. They were at the pool, so to speak. All they had known was struggle and hardship. Well, God sent Moses to deliver them and after 10 generations, they were finally free, a dream come true. They left Egypt headed through the desert toward the Promised Land. They got next door to it, the land flowing with milk and honey. But the spies came back, told Moses that people were too big. They could never defeat them. Well, God had already promised in the victory, but when they heard the negative report and how big the people were, they were so afraid. They said, "Moses, let's go back to Egypt. Let's go back to being slaves,

being oppressed, being told what to do." That's how powerful wrong mindsets are. Who would want to go back to be in a slave? They could have said, "Let's just go live somewhere else where there's no opposition." But slavery had become normal to them, being talked down to, forced to work long hours. That was their routine. As long as they were slaves, they weren't responsible for where they lived and what they did, it was up to someone else. God delivered them, but they weren't willing to pay the cost. They wanted to keep their old identity, their same excuses, same neighbors, same environment. They got stuck. Don't be like them. It takes courage to get well. You have to be willing to be uncomfortable for a season, to stretch and face opposition without being weak and turning back. It may mean you I have to change the language. Perhaps it's wrong mindsets, self-pity. Look what I've been through. A chip on your shoulder, life is too short to live that way. Do you want to get well? Don't answer like the cripple man. Come up with it, excuse it, Joe, you don't know what's happened to me. The right answer is yes, I want to get well, and I'm willing to change. I'm willing to get out of my routine. I'm willing to take on a new identity. I read about a man that had been in prison for 31 years. He served this time and was finally released. Some volunteers took him to a shelter to stay and gave him clothing and food. They had a program to help him find a job and get back into society. But a week later, the men were sleeping on the sidewalk in front of the prison. The guards came out and said, "What are you doing here?" "Man, you're free. Go enjoy your life." He wouldn't leave. A couple weeks later, he went to a grocery store and stole some items. He waited outside for the police to come. When they arrested him, he told the officer, "I want to go back to prison. I don't know how to be free."

We can get so accustomed to something, even if it's not good for us, that we don't want to change. It's easy for us as an outsider to see it, "Man, don't go back to prison." But sometimes you can't see it yourself. You have to get honest and ask God to help you to see any areas where you're self-sabotaging, where you're letting the old you stay simply because it's familiar. You can change. God will help you break out of those strongholds. He'll help you break free from negative patterns. That may be the way it's been, but this is a new day. Freedom is coming. Healy is coming. Victory is coming. But it's easy to want to stay at the pool because it lowers expectations. As long as the man was at the pool, nobody expected him to walk or to go work or to travel or to help someone else. He's limited. He's at a disadvantage and people would come by, "I'm sorry you're going through this. Can I get you some water? Do you need some food?" They'd cater to it, but if he gets healed, the questions would change to what dreams are you pursuing? What are you going to do with the gifts God has given you? Who are you going to be a blessing to today? There's a responsibility with being made well. No more excuses to be complacent. Feel sorry for yourself. Nurse the wounds. Now I know things happen in life that can kind of knock the wind out of us. Not sickness, a loss, a bad break. It's easy to lower our expectations and push down the promises, "Man, it's too late for

me, Joel. I'm not worthy. I've been through too much. No, don't spend your life at the pool. You may go there for 38 days to find some healing or even 38 weeks, but don't you dare stay there for 38 years. God is a God of justice. He knows what's happened to you. He saw the disappointment, the loss, the mistakes. The pool was a part of your story, but it's not the end of your story. Jesus didn't get upset with the crippled man. He didn't berate him. "Man, why are you making all these excuses?" He simply looked at the man and said, "Rise up. Take up your mat and walk." Well, this man had never walked. He could have thought, "What are you talking about? Can't you see that I'm crippled?" Just a few minutes earlier, he was making excuses. Something shifted in his mind. A stronghold was broken. He thought, "This pool is not my destiny. I'm made for more than this." He started to get up. The scripture says, "Immediately the man was healed." He rolled up his mat and began walking. What's interesting is Jesus told him to rise up and walk before he was healed. Why is that? Healing requires obedience. Freedom requires action.

Do you want to get well? The real question is, are you willing to do what God is asking you to do? Will you rise up and take up your mat? That may mean forgiving that person that did you wrong, distancing yourself from people that are pulling you down or taking on a new identity, changing the way you're seeing yourself. Not a victim, not a failure, not an addict, but a free, blessed, healthy, victorious person. Getting well starts with you. You do your part and God will do his part. This is what my father did. He was raised very poor in a limited environment. His parents lost everything during the Great Depression, dropped out of high school to help on the farm. That's all he had known. That was normal to him. But as 17 years old, he was walking home from a nightclub at two o'clock in the morning. He knew nothing about God. He wasn't raised in church, didn't have any kind of faith background, but he looked up at the stars. And for some reason, he'd begin to think about God and what he would do with his life. The scripture says, "God chose us before we could choose him." This was God saying in effect, John, do you want to get well? Do you want to fulfill your purpose?

Do you want to go places that you've never dreamed? My father didn't know what was happening, but that next morning he called a friend and said he wanted to go to church with him. That day he gave his life to Christ, the first one in his family. He felt this calling to become a minister, but he didn't have any training or experience. And he told his parents that he was going to leave home and go out and become a minister. They said, "John, you don't know how to minister. "All you know how to do is work on the farm with us. "You're going to get out there and fail." They meant well, but they were saying, "You better stay at the pool. "We're crippled. "We're poor. "We're at a disadvantage." Daddy had a good excuse to stay there. Poor was normal to him. A limited mindset, low expectations. Don't think you can do anything significant. That's all he has seen. He was comfortable, but he wasn't satisfied. He knew there was more in him. To get well, he would have to break out of old patterns. He'd have to change friends, change his environment, take risk, stretch. Takes courage to get well.

It's going to cost you to reach your destiny. Playing it safe, living by the pool with low expectations, making excuses, that's the easy thing to do. But God didn't call you, equip you, empower you, anoint you, favor you so you can take the easy way out. You weren't created to live at the pool. Rise up, take up your mat and walk. Rise up out of dysfunction. Rise up out of poverty and life. Rise up out of addictions and compromise. Rise up out of self-pity and bitterness. If you'll make that first move, you'll feel God strengthen your legs, healing your body, freeing you from addictions, launching you into your purpose. The healing is into obedience. Be willing to change. When my father was 75 years old, he asked if Victorian I would drive him back to Paris, Texas. That's where he was born and he just wanted to reminisce and see some of the old sights. We got there and found the old well from the farm where he was raised on it. We went into town and saw some people that knew one of his classmates. They told us how to get to his house. We drove there. It was this little shack with broken out windows, roof caving in.

The yard was totally uncapped. Didn't look livable. We knocked on the door and this man answered and he came out of the house and no shirt on, hadn't shaved, hadn't combed his hair. Looked very uncapped. My father told him who he was and they couldn't believe they were seeing each other after 60 years. He invited us into his house and never forget there were buckets on the floor catching water dripping from the roof. Very dilapidated. My father asked what he'd done with his life and he told how he had a job down at the boat docks for a while pumping gas but he was laid off 40 years ago and hadn't been able to find work and how life had been very, very hard. That day made such an impression on me. Here two men were raised in the same environment, same school, same poverty, same hardship but my father went on to do great things. Pastor churches raised his family, impact the world. This man never got out of the poverty and dysfunction he was raised in. The difference was he stayed by the pool. He let the dysfunction become normal. He took on that identity, we're poor. Not after par, have a good reason to be this way. It takes courage to get well. It's gonna cost you something.

I wouldn't be here today if my father wasn't willing to pay the price. Some people are stuck not because God won't free them but because they're comfortable in dysfunction. That was the difference between that man and my father. My father was at the pool but he knew that pool wasn't his home. He had this fire, this passion to stretch, to believe, knowing that God was breathing on his life. You've accepted it, lowered expectations, now you're at the pool, comfortable with an addiction, comfortable with unforgiveness, comfortable with lack and not enough, God doesn't want you to stay at the pool. He knew exactly where you would be. Jesus went to the pool and found this man. It's not an accident that you're hearing this today. God is saying to you, do you want to get well? Not do you want some relief? Do you want help functioning in the problem? God didn't come to help you live better by the pool. He came to get you out of that pool. Jesus said to the man, "Rise up, take up your mat and walk." You would think you'd tell him, "Just rise up and walk." No, he said, "Pick up your mat because you're not going to be coming back here. This is a new day, a breakthrough day, a destiny day, no more excuses, no more letting comfort keep us from our calling. If you'll pick up your mat and move forward, I believe and declare supernatural strength is coming, healing, freedom, breakthroughs, the fullness of your destiny in Jesus' name." And if you receive it, can you say amen? 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 and we'd love to send you some free information on your new walk with the Lord. You can text the number on the screen or go to the website, but I hope you'll get into a good Bible-based church and keep God first place. [BLANK_AUDIO]