Joyce Meyer - Get Off Your But - Part 2

TOPICS: Excuses

I was talking to you last night about the porcupines that each have 30,000 quills, and man, those dudes are sharp. And I read a story about in the winter when it's really, really cold, the only way they can survive is if they get together in a huddle. And that takes a decision. Because they know if they huddle together, they're gonna get stuck. But they'd rather take a chance on getting hurt than to freeze to death and die. And see, God didn't call you to isolation, he called you to be involved. Hmm... So many people now, fell into the habit of staying home and watching TV on Sunday.

Now, I know I'm stepping on some toes. But you need to be in the corporate worship. And you don't go to church just to see what you can get: you go to give. You go because the church is supposed to be a place that provides you a way to serve. If they're doing enough outreach, there's gonna be something you can be part of. There's gonna be a prison ministry. There's gonna be an outreach to the poor. There's gonna be something that you can get involved in. But if you can't find a place like that, find a shelter in the city, and go volunteer once a week. Do something! Just refuse to do nothing. Because the more of nothing that you do, the unhappier you get.

The one thing that we cannot do is nothing. And I don't wanna send you home mad at me. But what I'm telling you, what I said last night, and what I'm saying today, of course, I feel this way about everything I preach, but you know, it's important for you to hear this because really, I don't ever try to tell you anything that I don't think is good for you, because I really do care about you. Otherwise, I woulda just quit a long time ago and went to rockin' my grandkids and stayin' home. Somebody that's pushing 80 doesn't need to be doing this just for the fun of doing it. It takes everything I've got to do this. Amen? And I spend a lot of my time trying to take care of myself, so I've got enough strength to come and give God what strength, I told him a long time ago, "Whatever strength I've got, you're getting it. Whatever energy I've got, God, it's yours. You're getting it".

Retire? What in the world would I do if I did that? If I can still open my mouth and say one thing out of the word that's gonna help somebody, why would I wanna sit around and do nothing? Same thing goes for you. You're no different than me. You're not called to do this, but you're called to do something. Come on, I dare you to ask God to use you. I dare you to go home and start praying, "God, I'm available. I'm not able to do much that I know of, but I'm available". That's all God wants. He just wants you to be available. Say, "Use me. If you can do anything with me, use me". Trust me. It won't be long, God'll give you something to do. It might not even be what you wanna do, but he'll give you something to do. Amen?

But remember, you don't have to like everything, just to be obedient. The key is to be obedient. Amos 6:1 says, "Woe to you who are at ease in Zion". Who just lay around, and don't do nothing. Revelation 3:2 and 3, "Rouse yourself and keep awake, and strengthen and invigorate what remains and is on the point of dying: for I have not found a thing that you have done [any work of yours] meeting the requirements of my God or perfect in his sight. So call to mind the lesson you received and heard: continually lay them to heart and obey them and repent. And in case you will not rouse yourself", you know what that means? Stir yourself up. Paul told Timothy, "Stir up the gift that's in you".

Come on, I wish sometimes there was a whole bunch of people on one of my bad days that would come around and really stir me up. But they're not always there. I spend a lot of time by myself. I gotta keep myself encouraged like David, "Encourage yourself in the Lord". Hey, it's great when I have one of these conferences, and man, I'm seeing all these people, but those two years we were on lockdown all I did was preach to a TV screen. That's not much fun. You say something funny, and it don't laugh. Get no reaction at all. But you just keep on going. You just keep putting one foot in front of the other. If it feels good, your emotions, that's great. But if it don't, you just keep doing it. Just keep being faithful like Jesus was. "Because I'm gonna come like a thief in the night".

All over the Bible it says that when Jesus comes, it's gonna be at a time when we don't expect him. He's gonna show up. Guess what? It's gonna be too late then to go get ready. That's why all over the Bible it says, "Watch and pray. Stay alert. Be active". And the Bible tells us to keep being active, because I wanna say again, if you stay busy doing good things, you won't have time to do the wrong things. Amen? One of my favorite scriptures is in Matthew 11:12, it says, "The Kingdom of God has suffered violence from the days of John the Baptist until now". And we know that the Kingdom of God is under attack. One of the greatest moves that I've seen to get God out of everything is currently going on, right now. That's why we better be louder than the unbelievers. Amen? But listen to this, "The Kingdom of God has suffered violence from the days of John the Baptist until now, but the violent take it by force".

You're gonna be a violent Christian. But those, that's two different Greek words, and it means the violent, the Kingdom of God has suffered violence. It's suffered gross attack. But the violent, and it says, "The energetic," take it by force, the energetic. Let's don't be... Lazy, laid back, do nothing, murmur and complain, gripe about everything. "God's never doing enough. Here's my list of what you've gotta do for me today, God, if I'm gonna even stay in the kingdom, otherwise I'm giving up". Oh, man. You know, I get these, I've got real thin skin on my forearms, and I get these bruises and I'm even getting scars on my arms from having 'em. And I prayed before the conference that I wouldn't get any bruises before the conference. My arms were nice and clean and, you know, the Bible says, "If you abide in me and my word abides and you, you can ask what you will, and I'll do it".

So, coming here, to the conference, I got this one. Don't even know how I got it. I went in the bathroom, when I came out, there it was. And so, I said to the Lord, "Okay, I abide in you, your word abides in me. I asked you for something, I didn't get it. What's with that"? He didn't tell me. Well, I know if there's a fault, it's on my side. It's not on his side. And so, I'm not giving up. I'm not gonna quit praying. I'm not gonna quit believing the word because one little thing didn't work for me the way I think it should be workin'. You hear me? If you don't wanna get confused, stop trying to figure things out. I'm not confused over this because I didn't try to figure it out. It's like, "I don't care".

You see, I have made my mind up where I stand, even if it looks like it don't work. I don't care if I'm crazy. Even if I turned out in the end to be wrong, at least I'm having a good time. Do you hear me? Make your mind up that you're not always gonna be putting God to the test. "Well, I prayed for a baby, and I never had one". "Well, I prayed to get married and I never got married". "Well, I prayed my husband would change and he didn't change. And so, now, I'm mad at God". Dear God, don't be mad at the one person that can help you. Did you hear me? I'm not mad at God because I was sexually abused by my father. It's not his fault. My father was the one that had the problem. And I prayed for God to get me out of that situation. I mean, I prayed stuff I shouldn't have prayed. I prayed my dad would die. I prayed all kinds of stuff. But God did not get me out of the situation, but he got me through it. Come on.

And you know, they say, "What don't kill you will make you stronger". And sometimes, we do have to go through things that we don't understand just because we're getting experience, that God wants to be able to use us in somebody else's life later on down the road. Man, everybody's got excuses. And they say, "Excuses are reasons stuffed with a lie". God called Moses and Moses said, "Oh, you got the wrong man. I'm not eloquent of speech". They say he stuttered. "You got the wrong guy". It's funny, you know, when the time wasn't right, Moses jumped out ahead of God and killed this Egyptian. And God had to send him to the back side of nowhere for 40 years to learn a few lessons. And then, when God was ready for him to go, he didn't wanna go.

Gideon had excuses, he said, "Oh, pardon me, Lord, you've got the wrong guy. My clan is the weakest in Manasseh and I'm the least in my family". But, you know, really, when God calls us to do something and we say we can't do it, we're really, really what we're saying is, "God can't do it". 'Cause I wanna tell ya, I don't care what kinda weakness you've got, God strength is stronger than your weakness and that's where his strength operates. "My strength is made perfect and shows itself in your weaknesses".

Three people had excuses in Luke chapter 14. "A man was giving a great supper and he invited many people: and at the hour for the supper he sent his servants out to say to those who invited, 'come on in, now everything's ready'. But they all alike began to make excuses. First one said, 'i bought a piece of land, and I need to go take care of it: please excuse me'. Another said, 'I bought five yoke of oxen, and I'm gonna go examine them and I beg you to excuse me'. And another said, 'I married a wife, and I'm unable to come'". I might believe that one before the other two, I don't know. Jeremiah, he said, "I'm too young". God said, "Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you and I approved of you", and let me tell you, when God says, "I knew you," he knows stuff you don't even know. "And I approved of you as my chosen instrument, and before you were born I separated you and set you apart, and appointed you as a prophet to the nations".

You have a destiny. Do you hear me? You have a destiny. See, we don't understand the value of the small things that we can do. And that's what I wanna get across to you before I leave. I'm a big fan of random acts of kindness. I really like that. Like I told you my husband gave the woman that was cleaning in the hotel a $100 bill. She cried and cried. You know why she cried? Because nobody's ever done anything like that for her. Sinners don't do that kinda stuff. Ah, maybe once in a while you'll find a generous sinner, but not too often. And these are the kinds of things that you can be doing, everybody, you say, "I don't have a hundred dollars" well, do you have five? Do you have two? Do you have 50 cents? The power is in the act of generosity. It's not in the amount. Do you hear me, today? The power is in the act of generosity, not the amount.

Stop telling God what you don't have, because his word, to you, today, is what do you have? What do you have? "I can bake a cake". Good, well, bake one and take it to somebody that's sick. What can you do? "Well, I can clean house". Well, go clean some single mother's house that's got seven kids and never gets to go anywhere or do anything. Offer to babysit for her one night and give her the money to go have dinner. These are some of the most powerful things that you can do. And also, keep your mouth shut about it. And don't sit around and privately think how good you are.

The Bible says, "Don't let your left hand know what your right hand's doing". I am not gonna go home and wallow all day tomorrow in how wonderful this was and what a good job I did. I'm gonna get up and act like I do every other day. I'm gonna get up and get my time with God and study and pray and hang out with him. I don't intend to do much work. Tomorrow, I may sit on my butt. And I'm gonna rest, too, on Monday, and I'll probably watch a lot of movies and I may eat a little ice cream. I'm gonna enjoy myself 'cause I've worked hard. But come, Tuesday morning, I'll be doing the same thing I always do. And I'll be doing it every day of my life 'cause I've made my mind up.

Come on, can I move anybody just a little bit in this place, today? I said, I made my mind up! I have made my mind up what I'm doing with my life. And I'm not gonna waste it on social media, gossiping about people that I don't even know. Come on, get on your feet. I am going to serve God with every ounce of energy that I have. Will anybody join me? Man, I hope you mean it. And I pray, God, right now, in the name of Jesus, that he will bug you until you just take action. God, please don't let 'em leave this place and forget what was said. Show people the little acts of kindness that they can do, that can change a life, that can save the world. Show them, Lord.

Joyce Meyer: Well, I'd like you to stop and think for a moment, what are the "Buts" in your life? And what I mean by that is, what are the excuses that you use for not, maybe, following the desire God's putting in you to do something for other people? What is God putting on your heart to do? You're about to meet a man who finally ran out of excuses and discovered the key to unlocking his God-given purpose in life. Watch this and then I'll be right back.

Ginger Stache: He has a passion for automobile racing. The adrenaline, the strategy, and the teamwork. But Randy Johnson never dreamed that God would take that passion and use it to help people during their most difficult time. He was too busy focusing on the reasons he thought he couldn't.

Randy Johnson: Thankfully, my wife, terry, got me back in church and I rededicated my life to the Lord and spent probably, six years, or so, occupying a church pew. I had a passion. I had a desire to do something more than just attend. I was offered all kinds of opportunities to serve. There was just always something in my flesh that said, "You can't. I want to, but I'm not talented enough. I want to, but I don't have the gifts that are necessary". You know, there was all those "Buts" in my life that kept convincing me I couldn't. So, finally, one Sunday night, literally, out of sheer frustration, I went to the altar, and I just simply said, "Lord, here I am. If you can use me, use me". And I think the moment that I made that statement, he's like, "Okay, now, we can get somewhere".

Ginger Stache: Three weeks later, in may of 1999, a category five tornado tore through Oklahoma city, and Moore, Oklahoma.

Randy Johnson: And I saw that footage and almost immediately I felt something inside of me say, "Randy, you can help those people". I kept saying, "But they're halfway across the country. Anything I could do would be so minimal, it wouldn't matter".

Ginger Stache: Finally, Randy decided to take a step of faith and fill up one of his trailers with donated supplies. One trailer soon became three.

Randy Johnson: We took all three trailers to Oklahoma city, worked with a church there, unloaded 'em. We got a letter back from the pastor later that told us that the product we brought helped more than 500 families there. So, I came home understanding a key thing. God's not interested in me trying to tell him what I think I'm capable of. He's just interested in our availability.

Ginger Stache: That was the birth of God's pit crew, a disaster relief organization that is first boots on the ground in the wake of devastating disasters.

Randy Johnson: We respond to those disasters in three ways: we send in semi-loads of water, food, including our blessing buckets, which is a huge part of what God's pit crew does. And that's a five-gallon bucket that is filled with a variety of personal hygiene supplies, food, water, first aid. And they're designed to help an individual who's been displaced from their home have those essentials. Anything we can do to help restore some semblance of hope to these families.

Ginger Stache: They also help homeowners clean up after the disaster and rebuild the homes of those who have no other means of rebuilding on their own.

Randy Johnson: And now, 22 years later, here we are, you know, having responded to 158 major disasters in 28 states and 15 countries. Well, I had no clue what God had in store for us.

Ginger Stache: God took what Randy offered and grew it exponentially. When hand of hope, the outreach arm of Joyce Meyer Ministries came alongside God's pit crew, together we were able to have an even greater impact.

Randy Johnson: What a difference we have been able to make above and beyond anything we had been able to do previously because of that partnership. God's got a plan and a purpose for every single individual on this planet, and it's not to be a benchwarmer. I think it's his plan for us all to be in the game, to be out making a difference. So, in a race, you know, the pit crew jumps over the wall, there's tire changers and gas people and all these different individuals who help that driver get back on track as fast as he can. And so, very similarly, we, as God's pit crew, we rush in after a major disaster and we try to help people get their lives back on track as quick as we can. So, God's obviously used the things that I was passionate about. So, I'd ask you: what are the passions in your life? What are you doing now that you could see yourself being used in some way as ministry? Right now, someone is praying for God to send help, to help them meet their need, whatever that need is. And you just might be the person that God would use to answer that prayer.

Joyce Meyer: Well, isn't it inspiring to see what God can do if we just make ourselves available to him as Randy did? It's also encouraging when Randy did that, God connected him with hand of hope so that, together, we could do even more. You know, since 2017, hand of hope has partnered with God's pit crew. And since that time, we have responded to 21 disasters together, including hurricane Ida in Louisiana and hurricane Ian in Florida. Do you feel that tug on your heart that you should be helping others? It's time to stop making excuses and start taking action. And we're offering you a resource today, that's going to help you do that. I've written a book called, "Do It Afraid". And many times the reason why we don't take action and do things is some kind of fear looms up. We're afraid that we don't have the gifting, we don't have the talent, we don't have the time, we've got too many kids. But if you have a strong enough desire to help, I've discovered that you can find a way to do it. When I started the ministry, 45 years ago, I had three teenagers and a baby. And I'm telling you, from experience, you can do it if you want to. So, we're offering this book to you today, for your gift to the ministry of any amount. We just believe that you'll do your very best. If fear is holding you back, this book is going to set you free. Thank you for being with us today. God bless you and have a great rest of the day.

Erin Cluley: We encourage and strengthen each other because we're pushing each other towards Jesus, and we're building each other up.

Jai Williams: I thought I was fine. I was fine as long as he was away. You know, I was fine as long as I didn't have to face it.

Joyce Meyer: See, just because somebody else mistreats me, that doesn't alleviate my responsibility to do what's right.

Ginger Stache: Seriously, thank you for sharing that because I think every one of us feels that way.

Erin Cluley: Yeah.

Ginger Stache: Joyce Meyer's Talk It Out podcast, subscribe today.

Joyce Meyer: In our world today, there's an epidemic of anxiety. There's so much coming against us. And for many, it's causing not just worry, but an overwhelming and frightening state of panic. There are keys to dealing with this, and I wanna help you use God's word to fight and win the battle for inner peace. My book, "The Answer to Anxiety", will help you through the process of eliminating tormenting thoughts and replacing them with the peace that passes all understanding.