To have the opportunity to share gods Amazing Grace with you today. As you listen to this message, i believe that you will experience freedom, joy, and great shalom peace. My friend, jesus loves you very much and he knows what you are going through right now. So get ready to hear a word that i believe will transform your life. God bless you. God wants you to reign cc by aberdeen captioning 18006886621 abercap. Com whenever you preach on the gospel of jesus christ, inevitably theres always this objection that comes up. Romans 6, verse 1 and 2, what shall we say then . Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound . God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein . Every time you preach on the gospel of grace, all right, the way that paul preached, this objection comes up. So what are you saying . Are you saying that we can sin so that grace may abound . Then might as well continue in sin that grace may abound. Now notice the objector, this caviler. He is not saying that grace will not abound. He agrees that grace will abound. Can you see it . He agrees that where there is sin, grace superabounds. So with that truth, okay, he comes up with his own carnal reasoning by saying, so what you are saying is that since its true that where there is sin that grace superabounds, then might as well we continue in sin that grace may abound. Now paul never said that, but paul must have preached very strongly that where sin abounds, grace superabounds in order for him to be misunderstood by this caviler. You know and today the thing is this, i remember reading many years ago, dr. Martyn lloydjones, that amazing theologian, all right, who preached at westminster in london. Hes now gone to be with the lord. He said this many years ago. He says that why is it that today we preachers, we dont have this same accusation leveled against us . If we are preaching the same gospel that paul preached, how come people are not accusing us of saying let us sin more that grace may abound, which paul never actually preached, all right . Then dr. Martyn says, because i submit to you, we are not preaching the same gospel paul preached. He says, if you preach the same gospel paul preached, you will be misunderstood. Amen . Are you with me . So i remember years ago i preached a gospel that is saved. No one accused me of this. But today, all right, every time i preach this, therell be someone who will come up with this same objection, im in good company. When paul preached this, this was about 2,000 years ago. When paul received this from god, he had this objection, people accused him of this. And then when Martin Luther came up with, the righteous shall live by faith and preach the gospel of grace, he also received that same objection. All right, today when i preach on this, inevitably theres someone who will come up with this, but everyone is agreed that grace abounds. They didnt say that shall we continue in sin although grace does not abound . Doesnt say that. They all agree that grace abounds. So where did paul get this revelation, this idea that where sin is, grace superabounds . You have to go backwards to the previous chapter. Look at the context, we were at, right, the bottom verse, verse 1 of romans 6, right . What shall we say then . Now lets look at the background, the previous chapter. Thats where it was taken from. Moreover the law entered, romans 5 20, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. Location, where . Where sin abounded, grace much more abounded. Now in the greek, there are two different greek words for abound that are used here, all right . Although our King James Bible used both as abound, let me show you the greek. But where sin abounded, that word there in the greek is pleonazo which is actually increased, become plentiful. Where sin increased, grace did much more abound is the greek word huperperisseuo which is superabounded. Actually the wordcan you see the word huper, huperperisseuo. Huper is a preposition. The word perisseuo in the greek, perisseuo, thats how they pronounce it. The word perisseuo is already overflow. When you put a huper, the preposition, the huper of the greek is the super of english. Natural, supernatural. Overflowing, super overflowing. In other words, huperperisseuo is superabounding. Where sin increased, grace superabounds. Its a different greek word, and i love the way this greek scholar Kenneth Wuest, he has a new testament, all right, which is not very easy to read because he literally translates them into english the way he reads the greek. But hes a greek scholar, Kenneth Wuest and he has a new testament, but i love this portion of scripture where he translate it like this. From Kenneth Wuests new testament, where sin existed in abundance, grace was in superabundance, and then some more added on top of that. Haha dont you love it . Already its superabounding and then some more added on top of that, okay . You have more than enough grace to be saved, to stay saved, to enjoy your saved state. Amen. Theres more than enough grace. I love sharing this illustration. You know when god wanted to give light and heat to the earth, god made the sun. The earth wasnt made for the sun, but the sun was made for the earth to give light and heat cause god loved man, okay . But you know when god made the sun, scientists tell us that a lot of the light and the heat from the sun does not reach the earth. The earth only uses a fraction of the light and heat from the sun, the rest is lost in space. In other words, god created an oversized reservoir of supply for a little, bitty earth. This is my god. God has an oversupply of grace for your need. And because paul preached so strongly like this, people say, oh, so youre saying that where sin increased, grace superabounds, you know, theyll sin more that grace will now this is stupid, all right . Paul never preached that. Joseph prince never preached that. What hes saying is that, you know, people try to put words in our mouth, try to put words in pauls mouth, into my mouth which we will never say. But the truth remains, where sin increased, grace superabounds and some more on top of that. The apostle paul says in romans 8 its almost like he came to the climax of all that hes been sharing about grace in romans 8. Then he shouted to the highest heavens and to the lowest hell. He says, who is he that can bring a charge against gods elect . It is god who justifies. Who is he that can condemn gods people . Christ who died for them who rose again for them, who makes intercession for them, will he condemn us . No way. Who will separate us from the love of christ . And then he goes on to mention a few. Who will separate us from the love of christ . Shall nakedness, shall peril, sword . All these are negatives in life. Then he saysthen he quotes psalms 44, for thy sake we are killed all the day long. Were like sheep for the slaughter. Then paul answers, no, we are not where they were in the psalmsin psalm 44. We are not there. No, in all these things, we are more than conquerors through him who loves us. Now many of us, we quote it out of context. We say, we are more than conquerors through christ. But actually it says like this, no, were not like sheep for the slaughter. We might appear weak. We might sound weak. We might look weak, but in all these things, in all these negatives, we are more in all these things. We are more than conquerors through him who loves us. Announcer stay tuned, Joseph Prince will be right back. When i first heard him on talking on the television. I literally almost screamed to my husband and i said, steve, youve gotta get here. Youve gotta hear what this man has to say. For 1500 years, god put israel under the law and the best of them failed, even david failed. See, the law condemns the best of us, grace saves the worst of us. And he came into our lives at a time when we were we were so wounded. I believed that god was punishing me through something that i hadnt done because i didnt understand gods grace. God has blessed them, not because they are good, but because he is good. He has made a way and provided for them, not because of their faithfulness, but because of his faithfulness. It wasnt hearing joseph one time and wow, ive got it. It was hearing him and hearing him and hearing him and letting it go from my head knowledge into my heart. Announcer god has created a way for you to experience victory and overcome any obstacle in your life. Find out how in this encouraging new resource from Joseph Prince. As a thank you for your gift today, Joseph Prince ministries would like to bless you with josephs new fourcd audio series, blessing, favo power for living as well as the provision promises hardback book. These practical and empowering resources will show you how you can live a victorious life free of fear, defeat, and condemnation and experience gods abundant blessings and provision in your life. God wants you to have a fresh revelation of his grace and favor so that you can experience his perfect love and reign in life. Separately for a gift of 90 or more today, you will receive the empowered living promise pack that includes the blessing, favor power for living fourcd audio series, the grace revolution fourdvd album as well as a special twocd bonus message entitled how to pray powerful prayers. In addition, you will also receive the provision promises hardback book which contains inspirational scriptures and readings that will help build your faith to receive from god every supply that you need. To order these resources and take a fresh step toward living an overcoming and empowered life, call us now toll free at 18887771986 or visit us at believe. Josephprince. Org. You can live a victorious life full of peace and abundance in everything you do. Call or visit us today. God wants jesus christ to come back to the center of his church, and he wants the gospel that jesus died to produce, amen, to give to the church, to come back to the centerpiece, to the forefront. Amen. And it seems like theres such a mixture all over the world where the gospel is being preached. We think the gospel is for billy grahams, you know, its for the evangelists out there. The gospel, church, is not just for the sinner. The gospel is for the believer. The gospel is your health. The gospel is your wealth. The gospel is your safety. The gospel is your preservation. The gospel is your familys protection. Its the success of your marriage. The gospel is the power of god unto your salvation. And the word salvation in the greek is all covering every area, allencompassing salvation. Save you not just from hell. It saves you from self. It saves you from disease and sickness. It saves you from addictions. It saves you fromsometimes, you know, self is one of the biggest problems that exists, church . And many of us, we areeven when we come to god, we are still very conscious of what is in our heart, and were not very conscious of what is in his heart. And we forget that when we come to god, conscience, listen, conscience and faith. Faith makes you conscious of god and his love for you, all right . But conscience makes you aware of yourself and the uncleanness and the sin that in u. So conscience makes cowards of us all. Amen . Conscience cause you to pull back from god. Now some people think conscience its good to have a conscience. You know, the way the world says it, a man must have a conscience. I understand what they are saying, what they are saying is a good conscience. But actually when god made adam and eve, they had no conscience. They were innocent. They had no conscience. Are you listening, church . And then god told them, you can eat from every tree. You can freely eat. But from one tree called the tree of knowledge of good and evil, dont eat. Why . Ill cut it short, because when you eat from that tree, your conscience will come alive and you wont need me anymore. I want you to come to me and ask me is this all right, father . I want you to have a father son relationship. I dont want you to be independent of me and trust your own conscience, to trust your own knowledge of good and evil. So the tree is called the knowledge of good and evil. So when man ate of it, the bible says their eyes were opened. Now god didnt want their eyes opened by the tree of conscience or the tree of the law. God wanted their eyes to be opened by the tree of life. Dont forget, but the bible does say when they partook, their eyes were opened. But is it good or was god trying to stop their eyes from being opened . Is god trying to withhold something from them . No. God wants their eyes open, but god wanted their eyes to be open to the tree of life. Thats christ. Thats jesus christ. Can i have a good amen . Because when your eyes are open to christ, it is being opened to how much you are loved by him, how much he cares for you. But when you open your eyes to the wrong tree, conscience, that means from now on, all right, your conscience tells you what is right and what is wrong, not god. Your conscience allows many things that god will not allow, amen, because god loves man. Are you listening, people . So conscience is not a safe guide unless you are born again, then your conscience becomes good. Amen, cleansed, purged by the blood of jesus, then it becomes good. Are you listening to me, church . So the moment adam and eve had a conscience, god came into the garden and now this time they werethey had slavish fear. They were hiding from god. Theres an expectation of trouble, expectation of judgment, the expectation of punishment. They were afraid of god in a wrong sense. Before that they walked with god, but now theyre afraid of god. So likewise, all man, they tried to hide themself. Adam and eve hid themselves behind fig leaves. Man hide themself by the pursuit of wealth, by the pursuit of pleasure, by the pursuit of fame, all right . All these things that will end up with dust in their mouth. At the end of the day, all right, you come to 80 years old, 85, 90 years old, you realize that youve been pursuing sand castles by the beach. Thats all they are. And then you realize that the things that really matter in life and while you are so busy pursuing, you miss the real wealth of your children growing up, spending time with them. You always thought theyll be there at that age. No, they grow up so fast. Dont miss living. Dont just exist. All right, dead fish float. Living fish swim and they swim against the current. Dont let people, all right, dictate to you what you ought to be. Amen. Live life being dictated by the holy spirit. You know, its going back to the law of knowledge of good and evil saying, i dont need god. I can decide what is good. I have the knowledge of good, and i have the knowledge of evil. Well, the knowledge of good will kill you as fast as the knowledge of evil because the moment adam and eve partook of that tree, they died, spiritually. Are you with me . So what happened is this, church, always remember faith makes you conscience of gods love, all right . Conscience makes you conscious of self and your sins. So look at this. You become dead to the law through the body of christ, that you may be married to another, just like ruth, to him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to god. Okay, now notice you are dead to the law. So when you say you are dead to the law, some people will say, yeah, yeah, yeah, i agree we are dead to the law. We are dead to the law for righteousness. We are dead to the law for justification. But this is not talking about justification or condemnation. Its not an issue of where he talk about earlier chapters in romans about justification versus condemnation. The issue here is about bearing fruit to god. Its about how you bear fruit. Can you bear fruit under law . No, its when youre dead to the law. And church, youre not trying to be dead. You are dead. Jesus has died, as sure as jesus died, you are dead to the law. And what does that mean . You have a new husband. This husband you are married to is one who was raised from the dead. Wow. You are married to the one who is raised from the dead. For what purpose . What is this union about . That you will bring fruit to god. Dont let anyone twist this verse into justification versus condemnation. Its not. Its talking about bearing fruit. Our daily life. Out it its only when youe dead to the law, you are married to jesus. Im conscious the law. T i have a confession to make. Im very embarrassed to ll yalthis. Can i . I have never memized the ten commdments iw eald and ive never memorized the tecommandments, never. Im so embarrassed to tl yothat. Never. But im telling you something, i love my wife. I love my family. I ve to be home. Love to beith my wife anmy family. But that doesnt make me perfect, of cour i agree with you, but thats what grace has done. Amen. Amen. As i know right now, let me just tell you this, in my entire life, i have never slept with another woman. Physically. Never. See some people think that oh, hes preaching grace because hes got some history or whatever. Not this one, okay . And i dont throw rocks at people who have a history either. God doesnt remember their sins. Who are you to remember it . Theres only one person who remembers, the accuser of the brethren, okay . I have never physically slept with another woman. You know, its dangerous whenever a preacher points to himself because, you know, it is not something that we like to talk about. You know, nothing is self. All the beauty is in christ. All the beauty is in christ. But once in a while you need to know like paul says, be followers of me as i am of christ. Once in a while he will say, look, this is the result of being free from the law. Doesnt produce licentiousness, it produce true holiness. The grace of god will teach you. The son can teach better than the servant, okay . Amen. And there are people who are pushing aside jesus and trying to bring the law again. They will say things like jesus said unless your righteousness exceed the righteousness of the scribes and pharisees, you cannot enter the kingdom of heaven. Thats right. That means what . We must do more . Thats what they think. No, jesus is talking about, you know what . No matter how hard you try, your righteousness must exceed the righteousness of the scribes. They tithe on everything. They pray all day long, whatever, you know . You gotta exceed them. No one can so jesus said, you know what . The righteousness im talking about is a gift. Its a gift. Announcer god has created a way for you to experience victory and overcome any obstacle in your life. Find out how in this encouraging new resource from Joseph Prince. As a thank you for your gift today, Joseph Prince ministries would like to bless you with josephs new fourcd audio series, blessing, favor power for living as well as the provision promises hardback book. These practical and empowering resources will show you how you can live a victorious life free of fear, defeat, and condemnation and experience gods abundant blessings and provision in your life. God wants you to have a fresh revelation of his grace and favor so that you can experience his perfect love and reign in life. Separately for a gift of 90 or more today, you will receive the empowered living promise pack that includes the blessing, favor power for living fourcd audio series, the grace revolution fourdvd album as well as a special twocd bonus message entitled how to pray powerful prayers. In addition, you will also receive the provision promises hardback book which contains inspirational scriptures and readings that will help build your faith to receive from god every supply that you need. To order these resources and take a fresh step toward living an overcoming and empowered life, call us now toll free at 18887771986 or visit us at believe. Josephprince. Org. You can live a victorious life full of peace and abundance in everything you do. Call or visit us today. Beloved friends, thank you so much for tuning into todays very special broadcast. I believe that youve been blessed by todays word and receive a fresh revelation of gods love for you. I just want to encourage you right now to request the resources we are making available to you today. As you continue to listen and receive messages that are full of the person of jesus, all fears, guilt, and addictions will fade away in the light of his perfect love for you. Thank you once again for tuning in. Do know that im praying for you and i look forward to more opportunities to encourage you with gods word on a regular basis. Probably about 4 years ago, i was just flipping through the channels and just came across a guy in a Leather Jacket preaching some truth and stopped and watched for a while and it literally blew my mind. cause he preaches the truth. He tells us about grace and he just makes you know that jesus is here for you and his grace is all you need. He just keeps you constantly wanting to grow more, and hunger for more, and go for more, but yet its so simple and so amazing it blows my mind daily. My husband was an alcoholic for 18 years, got sober about 7 years ago and because of the grace message, no more condemnation, has really set him free. This is really good news. This is the good news that ive been waiting for all my life to hear. Announcer as a thank you for your gift today, Joseph Prince ministries would like to bless you with josephs new fourcd audio series, blessing, favor power for living as well as the provision promises hardback book. These practical and empowering resources will show you how you can live a victorious life free or fear, defeat, and condemnation and experience gods abundant blessings and provision in your life. To order these resources and take a fresh step towards living an overcoming and empowered life, call us now toll free at 18887771986 or visit us at believe. Josephprince. Org. You can live a victorious life full of peace and abundance in everything you do. Call or visit us today. Announcer if youve been blessed by todays message, we would like to give you an opportunity to partner with us to impact the world with the gospel of grace. Under grace god says, i will be merciful to your unrighteousness and your sins i will remember no more. Theres been a change, theres been a change, church, and its all because of jesus. Announcer dear friends, together we can impact the world for jesus. Partner with us and be part of this exciting grace revolution. Call us toll free at 18887771986 or visit us at josephprince. Org partner today. Joseph prince ministries is a section 501 c 3 nonprofit organization, and your gift is taxdeductible for the amount that exceeds any fair market value of the materials you receive from us. Joseph prince ministries believes that your tithes belong to your local church. Your donations to the ministry are received as offerings to support the preaching of the gospel of grace. Announcer the following program is paid for by the friends and partners of joyce meyer ministries. [music] joyce if we can help one person in the name of jesus, that frown can go to a smile and knowing nothing about christ to knowing about him, being hungry to being fed. If we just do something it always, always makes a difference. [music] male really theres almost not words to express what our partners mean to us, and theyre literally the lifeline of sharing christ and loving people. I mean, thats what they are. [music] male i mean, thats why i get up every day. You know, its to use humanitarian efforts to eventually be able to present the gospel message to people so that they can one day be with us in heaven. [music] joyce you know, were doing the part that gods given us to do, and i pray that we get to continue doing that. And we certainly really appreciate all of our partners and the people who help us do these things, and, you know, you as a partner, youre helping make all these things possible. We couldnt be here today if it werent for you. And so thank you, thank you, thank you. [music] joyce which of the four songs describes your attitude . Make the world go away, raindrops keep fallin on my head, ill do it my way, or sing unto the lord a new song, oh, what a beautiful morning . Very many places in the bible it says, sing unto the lord a new song, and i kinda think that it means more about lets just get a new song in our life. Lets quit singin the same ol, sad song all the time. What about me . What about me . What about me . Woe is me. Woe is me. Woe is me. Raindrops keeps fallin on my head. Ill do it my way, amen . I met a lady in utah sometime in the last year, and i was in a starbucks. And she recognized me and started tellin me her woe is me story right away, not that i mind that, but you could kinda tell at the time she had ten words out of her mouth that it was just like the song shed been singin all of her life. And she said, ill tell ya, joyce, life has thrown me under the bus. And i said, you know what . It did the same thing to me, and i just decided to drive the stupid bus. [audience cheering] joyce amen . So what are you gonna do, just spend your whole life tellin everybody how life threw you under the bus . I mean, would you rather have that pity than to have power. If youll throw away the pity, then god can give you power, and it all starts with determining i am going to have a nosehigh attitude in my life no matter what. I am tired of letting the devil keep me down. [audience cheering] joyce and, see, im not saying that you dont have a right to have a bad attitude. Probably many of you door a reason, not a right. You have a reason to have a bad attitude but no right to because god is willing to set us free. Now five keys to help us maintain a right attitude, key number one, maintain the right attitude when the going gets rough. Everybody can have a good attitude when things are goin their way. As soon as you notice your attitude diving, make an adjustment. I love 1 peter 5 8, be well balanced, for your adversary, the devil, roams about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Those verses say somewhere in 8 or 9, resist the devil at his onset. I love that. The minute that your attitude starts to sink, thats when you need to make an attitude adjustment, the minutenope. Try for a while just stickin your nose up in the air and just saying, im gonna keep a nosehigh attitude today. Im not gonna let whats goin on in my life drag me down. Id like to suggest that we all stop justifying bad attitudes, come home from work at night with a bad attitude and take it out on your family. Well, i had a bad day at work. Well, whoo hoo, maybe your wife had a bad day at home, amen . Audience amen. Joyce well, i dont feel good. Well, we all dont feel good some days. That doesnt give us a license to be mean to people, amen . How many of you realize that we justify a lot of our bad attitudes . And, you know what ive found out for me . As long as im making an excuse for something i can never get over it. I cannot get beyond it as long as im making an excuse for it because an excuse means that im saying that i know its wrong, but im excusing myself and giving myself a reason to keep doing it. And so i cant do that in my mind, amen . Audience amen. Joyce isnt this good . I love this. [audience applauding] joyce do you know that maintaining a right attitude is easier than regaining a right attitude . Maintaining a right attitude is easier than regaining a right attitude. You know how ive learned this principle . I learned that its easier for me to keep my peace than it is to be upset for 3 days and then try to get my peace back. Its much easier when you first sense your attitude sinking to say, nope, nope, been there, done that. Im not goin around the mountain again. See, rightif you catch it right then youre able to make a decision pretty easy because you havent allowed all your emotions to get involved in the thing yet, but if you wait until youre into a fullfledged, 3day fitcome on, you all understand fit in houston . I dont have to explain what that is, right . [yelling and whining] i mean, when i get one of those things goin, then, you know the pride kicks in. Youre not apologizin to anybody. You know, at least if were gonna pray, lets pray prayers that god can answer. Lets just stop prayin that we wont ever have problems, that we dont have problems. Make the problem go away. Make the world go away. Thats not a prayer that god can answer. The whole reason why we have faith is because were gonna have problems. Thats the whole reason for it. God is saying, my peoplei will give my people something to live by that will lift them out from among the dead even while theyre in the body. In other words, you may have some of the same things going on, but you can respond to it totally different, and you will come out victorious on the other side. Let me share something with you that ive justthis is just a new thing im sayin. I like this. I just got this yesterday as a matter of fact. I like this. Sunday always comes after friday if you dont give up on saturday. Now look at it like this. Jesus died on friday, he was resurrected from the dead on sunday. Nothin is said about saturday, but i think that was where the decision was really made. I dont know what he went through on saturday, but i think it was even harder than friday. But he made the right decision, and sure enough, sunday morning came. He is risen. [audience applauding] joyce and i wanna tell ya, you can have a problem over here on monday, and gods got your deliverance planned on friday, but if you give up tuesday, wednesday, or thursday, then youre never even gonna get to friday. So lets just go in for the long haul and stop givin up in the middle, amen . Audience amen. Joyce misery is an option. Say that. Misery is an option. Audience misery is an option. Joyce so heres the prayer we need to pray. Paul prayed this for the church. He prayed that they would be patient and endure trouble with a good attitude. Oh, youre excited about that, too. [audience laughing] joyce i hope the sunday crowd perks up a little. What do you think . Should we do selfishness in the 8 30 service or patience . What do you think people could take the most . What do you think, paul . You wanna vote . Selfishness early or patience . Selfishness early . Okay, alright. So, alright, so now you got the plan, and if youre selfish dont stay home cause god will get you somewhere else if you dont come and get it from me. [audience laughing] joyce oh, were gonna have fun. Youre gonna love it. John maxwell said, circumstances dont make you what you are. They reveal what you are. Oh, that is so yummy. Okay, now heres a good one. Key number two, realize the rough weather wont last forever. You know, storms always pass, and spring always comes after winter. Its happened for thousands and thousands and thousands and thousands of years. Spring always comes after winter, so if youre in the winter of your life right now, spring will come, amen . [audience applauding] joyce this too will pass. Robert schuller said, the good news is that the bad news can be turned into good news when you change your attitude. The good news is that the bad news can be turned into good news when you just change your attitude. Come on, does anybody in this building need an attitude adjustment, anybody . Okay, alright, well, and if you didnt today you will tomorrow. Now let me tell you a couple things that you might not know. You know, one of the things that helps me when im goin through a problem is to think about things that i have gone through in the past, and when i was in the midst of those things i thought for sure i wouldnt make it, and yet here i am. [audience applauding] joyce i wonder how many people here tonight have been tellin god today, im not gonna make it. If something doesnt happen today or in a week or whatever the guidelines are we give god. But the truth is, is you will make it. You will last. You will come through. It will be over. I said it will be over. This too will pass. When i got pregnant the first time, i was not married to my husband, dave, my wonderful husband, dave, of 47 years. I was married to a young man thati thought nobody would ever want me because id been abused, so i just married the first guy that showed any interest in me, and he had more problems than me, if that was possible. You know, thats usually what hurting, brokenhearted, miserable people do. They marry other people just like em, and then they spend their lives givin each othe trouble and have some kids and give them trouble, and then they grow up and give each other trouble. And thank god for jesus, amen . Audience amen. Joyce and toward the end of the 5year nightmarei couldnt call it a marriage because it really wasnt onei got pregnant, and he left me and lived with another woman about two blocks from where we were living and told everybody the baby wasnt his. And it was justman, it was a nightmare for me. I couldnt go back home to my parents because i knew what id be facing with my dad, and so when i came out of the hospital with my baby who, by the way, i named david, not having any idea that i would meet dave [audience applauding] joyce see, gods got a plan and workin a miracle right in the middle of your biggest mess. Did you hear me . [audience applauding] joyce we need to give god more credit [audience cheering] joyce come on, he knows whats goin on gods got your back, amen . Now get this. When i came out of the hospital with the babywhich i had to go through a clinic, so, i mean, it was just a nightmare. I mean, i didnt even know what was happening to me when i went into labor and when my water broke. Yeah, i didnt, you knowi was just like dumb. And when i came out of the hospital, my husband had come to get me. The baby looked so much like him it was very hard to deny that it wasnt his, and at that pointnow look at mei was homeless, had nowhere to go. I had been livin with my hairdresser and her mother. They said i could stay with them till the baby was born, so now i had the baby. Where am i gonna go . So he called an ex sisterinlaw who was married to his brother but now divorced, and she was a christian woman, so he thought maybe she would help us. And so he asked if we could come stay with her for a while, and she took us in. So can you imagine me being homeless . So here i am now preaching to 2 3 of the world in 70someodd languages, and im standing here telling you for your benefit that i at one time was homeless. [audience applauding] joyce come on now. [audience cheering] joyce see, we look at the people that we think have got it made, and we dont realize that somewhere along the line their soul had to enter into the iron that held them in chains, and it made em what they are. Twentysix years ago i went to the doctor, got a routine mammogram, and got a phone call within 2 days saying i had breast cancer, and it was a very fastgrowing type of cancer, and they recommended radical mastectomy right away. Man, what do you do . Im a faith preacher. Sure wasnt expectin that. Well, we prayed and counseled with christian doctors, and they basically just saidyou know, cause it wouldve been easier for me just to have said, well, im just gonna believe god. And they said, basically youll be playin russian roulette with your life if thats what you do. So long story short, i had the surgery. There was a blessing in it because none of the cancer had gotten into my lymph nodes, and so i never had to take any of the radical treatments that sometimes people have to take. But now listen. I had that kind of a surgery, and i missed 2 weeks in the pulpit. I had no idea what we were gonna do financially because back then the ministry being able to function was dependent on me doing all the time what i was doing, and soi mean, we didnt have any money saved. That was our whole income, so what are we gonna do . What are we gonna do . Sittin in the recliner one night tryin to heal, doorbell rings. I hear some talk. This guy comes in, didnt know him. He tells us hes pastor so and so from such and such a church, and his church had just not been doin well. And finally the board had decided that they were just gonna shut it down, but they had sold their property. And if youre a ministry you cant sell property and just keep the money. You have to give it to other ministries, so he had picked a handful of ministries. And so he said, i have a 10,000dollar check for you. God told me to come and give you 10,000. [audience applauding] joyce whoops, but god. There he was again, amen. Now here i amheres the part you gotta get. Okay, im back here in this pit. Ive had this surgery. Im a faith preacher. Im tryin to figure out how to explain this to people. Now here i am 25 years later now waitand 25 years in a row, including 2 months ago, i got a clean mammogram. [audience cheering] joyce no cancer now about 5 years ago or 6 years ago i was havin serious back problems, and in the process of that they did an mri on my spine. They came back and said, weve got some real concerns. We see here that you had cancer, and youre got some lesions on your spine that look really bad. Oh, boycause, you know, most people know if youve had cancer it can come back, and so youre always believin that it wont. So had to go get a bone scan. Well, you know, youre waitin all this time. Youre waitin to get the bone scan. Youre waitin to get the report. Youre waitin, waitin, waitin, and youre tryin to keep a good attitude and keep your nose up high and not feel sorry for yourself and not get negative and not lose your faith and all those things. So finally i got the bone scan back, and they said, well, this is interesting. It looks like that you had some cancer that metastasized to your spine, but it has healed itself. [audience cheering] joyce and heres my testimony. Im still here, amen . [audience cheering] joyce now 10 years ago we had the most godawful media attack, and, see, the problem is, is the media can say whatever they want, whether its true or not, and if people dont decide to believe the best and they decide to believe it, you have no recourse. Soi mean, im not gonna go into all the details, but it was just terrible, things taken out of context. I mean, you know, there were facts, but they were so stretched and taken out of context and made to look like something they really werent. And i remember walkin into starbucks to get my coffee in the morning, and theres the newspaper layin right there. And i tell you they had the ugliest preacher face on the front of that that you could possibly have of me preaching, and they caught me right in one of these like [audience laughing] joyce it was just terrible, absolutely terrible. So heres the thing i was thinkin the other day just in preparin for this message. I thought now that whole thing was designed by the devil to destroy my reputation, but you know what . Im 10 years later, and i still think its intact and were doin pretty good, amen . [audience applauding] joyce so im telling you this too will pass. Whatevers goin on in your life, it is not going to last forever, amen . Audience amen. Joyce i gotta finish. Key number three, if at all possible dont make major decisions in the storm. Key number four, stay in touch with the control tower. I was in an airplane one night. Oh, my, gosh, and i didnt know what was goin on, but it was just me and my daughter. Dave couldnt go for some reason, and we could tell that the airplane was diving. Nobody was comin back to tell us anything, nothin comin over the loudspeaker system. Whats goin on . Whats goin on . Whats goin on . So i sent my daughter up to ask one of the pilots whats goin on, and when she went up there, he basically said, get back to you seat get back to your seat they had oxygen masks on. We didnt have any. Im like, oh, were in trouble. Get back to your seats well, he saidlater he said, listen, im sorry i couldnt talk to you, but he said, i had to stay in touch with the control tower. Oh, theres a message here. See, sometimes when we got a real big problem we need to just shut a bunch of this other stuff out, including all the negative people, and say, im sorry, man, i cant go to the party tonight. I gotta stay home and stay in touch with the control tower. Come on now. [audience applauding] joyce and number five, try to keep things in perspective. When somebody does something wrong, try to remember all the things theyve done right. Dear mom and dad, since i left for college ive been remiss in writing, and im sorry about that. Forgive my thoughtlessness. Ill bring you up to date now before you read on, but, please, sit down. Mom and dad, are you sitting down . Dont read any further unless youre sitting down. Im already nervous. How bout you . Im gettin along pretty well now. The Skull Fracture and concussion that i got when i jumped out of my dormitory window when it caught on fire shortly after my arrival here has pretty well healed. I only get those sick headaches now once a day. Fortunately, the fire in my dorm and the jump was witnessed by an attendant at the gas station, and he ran over, took me to the hospital, and continued to visit me there. When i got out of the hospital, i had nowhere to live because of the burnedout conditions of my room, but he was kind enough to invite me to share his basement bedroom flat with him. It was sorta small but cute. Hes a very fine boy, and weve fallen deeply in love and are planning to get married. We havent set the exact date yet, but it will be before my pregnancy begins to show. [audience laughing] joyce yes, mom and dad, im pregnant. I know how much youre lookin forward to bein grandparents, and i know you will welcome the baby and give it the same tenderloving care and devotion that you gave me when i was a child. The reason for the delay in our marriage is that my boyfriend has a Minor Infection that i carelessly caught from him. I know, however, that you will welcome him into our family with open arms. He is kind and, although not well educated, he is ambitious. Although he is of a different race and a different religion than ours, i know that your oftenexpressed tolerance will not permit you to be bothered by any of that. In conclusion, now that ive brought you up to date i wanna tell you that there was no dormitory fire. I did not have a concussion or a Skull Fracture. I was not in the hospital. I am not pregnant. I am not infected, and there is no boyfriend. However, i am failing history and science. [audience laughing] joyce and i just wanted you to see it in perspective. Come on, give god a praise. [audience applauding] joyce well, you know, the best way to maintain a good attitude in all situations is to realize ahead of time that everything in life is not always gonna go the way that we would like it to, and just make a decision that through christ we can be happy and satisfied and have a good attitude no matter what kind of a situation were in. Thats what jesus did, and thats what he encourages us to do. The apostle paul never prayed for people that all their problems would go away. He prayed that they would always maintain a good temper no matter what kind of situation that they were in, and, you know, this all happens from the way we think about things. If i get up in the morning and im just determined everythings gonna go my way and its gonna be that way or its gonna be no way, then im probably gonna be in for a pretty bad day, but if i wake up in the morning and i do some thinking ahead of time, some praying, god, these are the things id like to have happen. I pray for them to happen, but i also know that through you i can do whatever i need to do, and i want to glorify you and represent you well today. Were offering you our action plan on developing power thoughts. You know, there are ways that we can think that will add power to our life, and there are ways that we can think that will take power away from our lives. So were offering you 12 teachings on cd and dvd. Now, you know, 12 teachings probably sounds like a lot, but you know what . If youre really serious about this thing, about learning how to think right, then this is a really good resource for you. It also has a study guide and scripture cards for you. I think that in order to really be strong in god, i believe wholeheartedly that we have to study, study, study the word, and all the things that we offer you are to enable you to do that and to assist you in doing that. So please get these resources. Listen, listen, look, and learn, and lets all agree that were gonna get out in the world and represent christ the way he deserves to be represented. God bless you. Announcer start enjoying your life when you receive developing power thoughts, two dvds, four cds, a booklet, and cards with each power thought displayed to provide you with the action plan you need to change your thought life. Its available for your gift of. Call us toll free. Or visit us at joycemeyer. Org. Ginger this christmas we want to give you an opportunity to show the love of christ to someone who may feel completely forgotten. Its through our hand of hope christmas catalogue. When you give or make a donation in honor of someone you love, youll be sending a tangible gift of hope to someone in need. And as our way of saying thank you, wed like to send you the secret power of speaking gods word gift edition and joyces teaching series, filled with hope. Announcer thank you, friends and partners. Together were sharing the love of christ around the world. To find out more, please contact us, or visit us online at joycemeyer. Org. Join us in partnership as we share the love of christ around the globe. Cc by aberdeen captioning 18006886621 www. Abercap. Com announcer the preceding was paid for by the friends and partners of joyce meyer ministries. Welcome to gospel truth celebrating the good news of jesus christ, the coming of the savior of the world, emmanuel, god with us, and now, heres gospel truth bible teacher andrew wommack. Welcome to our tuesdays broadcast of the gospel truth. Today im continuing a series talking about how you can take the limits off of god. I tell you this has transformed my life. Its transformed my ministry. Its not only blessed me