Keep Digging

From JO’s sermon tonight:

I want to talk to you today about Keep Digging. We all have dreams God has put in our heart, promises we’re standing on, but along the way there will be detours, delays, people that do us wrong. We’re working hard, but we didn’t get the promotion, they manipulated things, the contract didn’t go through. It’s easy to get discouraged and give up on what we’re believing for. But sometimes you have to go through close doors before you get to open doors. You have to pass through injustice, things that are not fair. You didn’t get what you deserve, they left you out. That doesn’t mean God is not going to do what he said, it’s all a part of his plan.

People may do you wrong, keep doing the right thing. God sees you being the bigger person, he sees you forgiving when they don’t deserve it, he sees you trusting him when you could be bitter. You are passing the test. Or you worked hard, but the contract didn’t go through, the door closed. It had to close. God has something bigger. That would have limited your destiny. Wasn’t the enemy, it was the hand of God protecting you from getting satisfied with less. And if you’ll stay in faith and not get stuck in blame, what wasn’t fair, who hurt me: let it go. That didn’t stop your destiny. God is taking you to an abundant place, to something bigger than you’ve ever imagined. With the right people, people that love you, that celebrate you, people that are ordained for your purpose.

That’s why those others walked away. Wasn’t because something is wrong with you, it’s because God has someone better. He’s not going to let you miss your destiny. Now, quit trying to convince someone to stay that wants to leave, convince him that you’re good enough, attractive enough, they really should like you. They are not for you. The people God has lined up, you can’t get rid of them. They’ll treat you like a queen, like a king. But if you don’t understand that the people that walked away, the disappointments, the injustice that it had to happen, then you’ll live frustrated, bitter over who left, discouraged over what didn’t work out. No, God is ordering your steps. None of that has stopped what he has in store. It’s setting you up for the fullness of your destiny.

Genesis chapter 26, there was a famine in the land. Isaac was looking for food for his family and pasture for his flocks. He traveled to a city called Gerar. It was ruled by the Philistines. He was planning on going further, but God spoke to him and said, “Do not go down to Egypt, stay in this land and I will bless you. I will multiply your descendants as the stars in the heavens”. God gave him this incredible promise, but it didn’t come without opposition and frustration. It was tempting for Isaac to leave, get out of the famine, go down to Egypt for greener pastures, but Isaac obeyed. He did the right thing when it wasn’t easy. He set up camp there, and he went out and he planted his fields, digging row after row, acres and acres, sowing the seeds.

Philistines looked at him like he was not all there: no water, no way to grow things. Looked like he was wasting his time, but that same year he reaped a hundredfold return, supernatural provision. They couldn’t understand. How could he grow crops into the famine? Instead of being happy for him, they were jealous, they started talking and stirring up trouble, making his life miserable. The king finally told him, “You have to leave here, you become too powerful for us”. You can imagine how disappointed Isaac must have been. He’d seen all that favor, now he was forced out, had to pack up his whole camp, move his family, his livestock, leave behind all the fields he had poured so much time and energy into. Wasn’t fair, he hadn’t done anything wrong. It was because of small-minded jealous people.

But here’s the key: you can be in God’s will and have opposition. You can be obedient, like Isaac, you’re doing the right thing, you stayed in the land, you have that promise in your heart, but doors have closed, there’s jealousy, people have come against you. It’s easy to get discouraged, “Why didn’t this work out? They did me wrong”, but everything is serving God’s plan. You can’t see it right now, but it’s moving you closer to your Promised Land. Keep doing the right thing when the wrong thing happens, keep taking the high road, keep believing, keep praying, keep trusting. God is still ordering your steps.

Isaac had to move from that high place down to the valley of Gerard. I’m sure he looked up and thought, “Man, that’s where I used to be, that’s where I was so blessed, but look at me now stuck in this valley, in this low place”. But God is not just the God of the mountains, he’s the God of the valleys. The only way to go to a higher mountain is to come down and go through the valley. Don’t get discouraged by the valley, it’s a setup. The valley is leading you to something greater. God wouldn’t have moved you out of that place of blessing, he wouldn’t have let them force you out, unless he has bigger things in your future. None of us like to go through the valley, but keep the right perspective: it’s a sign that God is up to something.

In the valley of Gerar there were wells that Abraham had dug many years earlier, Isaac’s father. When the Philistines had stopped up those wells, filled them with rocks and dirt. Having water was extremely valuable out there in the desert, the only way to survive, so Isaac and his men went out and redug the wells that belonged to his father. When the local shepherds saw the water, how the well was flowing again, they realized what they had been missing, they said to Isaac, “What are you doing here? This is our water. This well belongs to us”. It had been there for years, clogged up, they did nothing with it. Isaac did all the work, he belonged to his family in the first place, but there was all this strife and contention. Isaac could have put up a big fight, engaged in conflict. Instead he took the high road. He said, “Fine, you can have the well”. He walked away.

There are times you need to dig your heels in and fight, stand your ground. But there are also times you have to be the bigger person, and let someone else be right, even though you know they’re wrong. You have to release it. Have the attitude, “God, they’re not taking it from me, I’m giving it to them”. Sow it as a seed. Otherwise you can become bitter, “That wasn’t fair. I’m going to pay them back”. Let it go. God sees when you’re taking advantage of, when people manipulate things, they’re dishonest, but you choose to move on, knowing that he’s your vindicator. You choose to let it go, knowing that he’ll make it up to you. God will vindicate you better than you can vindicate yourself. I believe in holding on to your dreams, but sometimes we’re holding on to the way we think it’s going to happen.

“That’s my well. I worked hard, I should get the credit, the promotion, the contract”. Maybe it’s not working out because God has something bigger. Maybe there’s strife and contention because God is stirring things up to keep you from settling for less. God will never let something be taken away, unless he has something greater coming. Will you walk away from it so you can see a bigger blessing? It’s not about them being wrong, “I can’t let them get away with this”. It’s about you being the bigger person, so God can promote you, so he can prepare a table in the presence of your enemies. If you’ll take that high road, and not let the injustice, the betrayal, the conflict cause you to live in strife and tension, there will come a time where all those who were against you will see you promoted, honored, living a blessed, victorious life.

God is preparing that table not for a private dinner, not just you and him, but in the presence of your enemies, for a public display. But we spend too much time trying to protect, to defend, “This is my right, you’re not going to get the best of me”, not realizing it’s a setup. God has something better. There’s contention and strife because it’s not supposed to be yours. You’re upset with people, they manipulated things, they weren’t fair, but God was the one closing the door. The longer I live, the more I’ve learned to trust his ways, to stay in peace, to let God fight my battles. If Isaac would have been stubborn, contentious, “This is my father’s well, you want to fight man, you got to fight”, he would have lived in constant strife, had to worry about the Philistines attacking him. There would have been so much stress and heartache.

Sometimes you have to suffer the wrong. Let them have the contract, the position, the fund. Quit trying to hold on to things where you don’t have the favor, the support that you used to. That’s a sign: seasons are changing. You’re not being weak by walking away, it takes a strong person to take the high road. You’re not losing letting them get the best of you. It’s not over. You can’t see it yet, but God has taking you somewhere greater. “Well, Joel, it’s not right. I redug those wells, I work for this contract, this position, this property, I deserve it”. But here’s the key: that well is not your source, God is your source. He has ways to promote you that you’ve never thought of.

The reason Isaac could walk away from the well is he knew he wasn’t a walking away from the source. If you think the blessing is on the location, then you’ll fight over things, you’ll go down to Egypt during the famine, cause man, there’s no water here. But when you know the source is not the well, not the job, not the economy, not who likes you, the source is the Most High God. He makes streams in the desert. He gave Isaac a hundredfold harvest in a famine. He took five loaves, two fish, and fed thousands. When you walk away from that well, strife and contention, you let someone else be right, even though you know they’re wrong, you’re not walking away from the blessing, you’re walking into a blessing. You’re going to see a new level of your destiny.

Verse 20 says, “Isaac named that well, argument, because the people quarreled with him”. He took the high road and left that place and went to the other side of the valley, far away so he wouldn’t have to deal with those people. He found another well that belonged to his father, clogged up, not used in years, nobody within miles. He redug that well, spent weeks, he and his men working hard. They finally got it unclogged, got the well flowing again. Right on queue here came some more Philistines, here came some more shepherds, “What are you doing here? These are our wells, they belong to us”. I’m sure Isaac thought, “Come on, not again. Are you kidding me”? He could have argued, put his foot down and said, “Not this time”. Something inside of him, that still small voice said, “Let it go”. He told his men, “Let him have it”. Another disappointment. He named that well “Opposition”.

Here he had this promise from God, “If you’ll stay in this land, I’ll bless you, I’ll multiply your descendants”. I can hear him saying, “God, where are you? I did what you asked, but I was kicked out by the Philistine king. Had to walk away from that great harvest. These shepherds took the well I work for, now the second well is gone”. It was a test. Well number one didn’t work out, well number two didn’t work out. Isaac could have put his shovel up, and “We’re done, let’s go down to Egypt, it’s never going to happen here”. Right when he was about to give up, God whispered, “Isaac, dig one more well. Try it one more time”. He had to make this decision, was he too discouraged too tired or was he going to keep digging?

You may be where Isaac was. You’ve been through disappointments, people came against you, there was strife and division, but you took the high road, you knew what God promised you. But every time you dig something up, the wells keep getting taken away. You’re tempted to settle where you are, think it’s not meant to be. God is saying to you what he said to Isaac, “Dig one more well”. Your story doesn’t end in defeat, in injustice, in being overlooked. Those clogged wells, the bad breaks are setting you up for well number three.

Isaac picked up his shovel, traveled to a different part of the valley, and he redug one more well that belonged to his father. The water came gushing out stronger than ever. This time nobody bothered him, no shepherd showed up, no conflict, no strife. The scripture (Genesis 26:22) says, “He named this place Rehoboth, for he said, ‘God has brought me to a wide, open space'”. Rehoboth means abundance, overflow, more than enough. But notice the progression: before he could get to Rehoboth, the well of favor, he had to go through the well of argument, deal with strife and conflict. He had to go through well number two, the well of opposition, people coming against him, things that weren’t fair. He had to deal with the disappointment of that king that forced him out of his harvest. Could have put his shovel up, settled for mediocrity, but he kept on digging.

Maybe like Isaac, you did your best. The dream hasn’t worked out, a relationship failed, you got passed over for the promotion. Now you put your shovel down, you think it’s not meant to be. God is not finished with you. You had to go through well number one, the doors had to close, the people had to walk away. You had to go through well number two, the injustice had to happen, the project had to be delayed. The good news is: well number three is coming. God has a Rehoboth for you, he has beauty for the ashes, he’s going to pay you back double for the unfair things. You haven’t seen, heard or imagined what God has in store. Now, you have to do your part: get your shovel out and keep digging, keep believing, keep expecting, keep forgiving, keep taking steps of faith. You are closer than you think. You’re on the verge of well number three, Rehoboth, a wide open space, a place of abundance, fulfillment, divine connections, a victorious place.

Isaac had all this contention and strife, people coming against him. I’m sure he thought, “That’s the way his life was always going to be”, seemed like a pattern of bad breaks and disappointments. One step forward, two steps backwards. But when he got to well number three, to Rehoboth, the scripture says the people left him alone, nobody bothered him anymore. He lived in peace and enjoyed his family, his flocks and herds multiplied, he saw that promise come to pass. You may have had a lot of strife and conflict, you always take the high road and try to be the bigger person, you’re coming into a time where people are not going to bother you anymore. The scripture says it this way: the enemies you see today, you will see no more.

At well number one you had to walk away, at well number two you had to let people have what should have been yours. But well number three, God is going to take care of your enemies, he’s going to push back back forces that have hindered you. Well number three is when God promotes you in the presence of your enemies. God told the Israelites, “I’m giving you rest from your enemies”. Yes, there are times we have to be the bigger person, endure injustice, but there is a time where you will come to Rehoboth, where God says “No more fighting, no more struggle, no more dealing with those jerks… I mean those enemies. You’re going to have rest, peace, joy, fulfillment”. Rehoboth means wide, open, spacious, abundance.

As Isaac looked out and saw the vast land, and all the blessings and favor, I’m sure he thought, “God, thank you for not letting me stay at well number one. Thank you for closing that door at well number two. Thank you for having that king get jealous and push me out”. He realized: the injustice, the strife, the jealousy was a setup. He wasn’t supposed to stay there. Had he been stubborn, tried to force it, he would have lived in conflict, frustrated and never seen the abundance that God had in store.

I wonder if you’re disappointed over things that you’re going to look back and say, “God, thank you that those people didn’t accept me. Thank you that you didn’t let me be comfortable at that job. Thank you that those people took the position that I deserve”. When you come into your Rehoboth, you won’t think about the injustice, the betrayal, the delay. You’ll be so overwhelmed, all you can say is “Look what the Lord has done”.

We saw this here at Lakewood trying to build a new sanctuary. Twice the property was sold out from under us. Well number one, the owner didn’t keep his word. He told me we could sign the contract later, but sold it to someone else. Well number two, same thing, the people sold it to others when they had agreed to sell it to us. I was tempted to be discouraged, wasn’t fair, but we made this decision, “God, we’re going to trust you. We’re not going to live bitter, we’re not going to quit dreaming. We know this setback is a sign that you have something greater coming”. 6 months later we came into well number three, the Compaq Center. You are sitting in Rehoboth, a wide and open space. God doing more than we could ever ever imagine. Now I thank God that man didn’t keep his word. I thank God that company found another buyer. I didn’t like it at the time, but I can see now, it was all a part of God’s plan to take us to the fullness of our destiny.

Maybe today you’ve been through things you don’t understand. You honor God, you do your best, but things haven’t worked out, doors have closed, you were passed over for that promotion. It’s tempting to settle there. But if Isaac was here, he would tell you, “Get your shovel out. Dig one more well. You’ve seen opposition, you’ve seen conflict, but well number three is Rehoboth, the blessing, the favor, the victory. Houses you didn’t build, a Compaq Center already built. Vineyards you didn’t plant. Divine connections, people that are better than you’ve imagined”. Rehoboth is rest from your enemies. God shutting down the opposition where you can live in peace, and enjoy the blessing on your life.

Verse 22 says, “The Philistines did not contend for well number three”. They fought for well number one, they weren’t going to let Isaac have it. They fought for well number two, there was resistance and opposition. I’m sure thoughts told Isaac, “You’re always going to struggle, you’ll always have trouble, conflict, injustice”. Don’t believe those lies, that’s well number one, people trying to stop you. Well number two, opposition holding your back. But well number three, they will not contend. You will not have strife, division, conflict. The scripture (Malachi 3″11) says, “God will rebuke the devourer for you”. You won’t have to do it. When you come to Rehoboth, God will push back what’s trying to stop you. There will be a supernatural ease, a grace to enjoy the blessing on your life.

1950s my father was pastoring a successful church, and it was growing. They just built a new sanctuary. Life was good, when my sister Lisa was born with something like cerebral palsy. My father was taught back then that God didn’t do miracles, just to accept it, it was a bad break. He went to a hotel for several days to be alone, and he read his Bible like he was reading it for the first time. He saw how Jesus went around healing people, and how he could do the impossible. He came back and shared this message of faith and victory with his church. He thought they’d all be excited, but it didn’t fit in their tradition. Some of the people turned against my father, started stirring up trouble and getting others to oppose him.

There was so much strife in division, my father knew he needed to leave. He could have stayed there and fought with them, tried to prove he was right, but he took the high road. He was disappointed, my mother had lifelong friends that never spoke to her again. He could live bitter, settled there, instead he got his shovel out and started digging. Mother’s day 1959, he and my mother started Lakewood in an abandoned feed store with 90 people. The critic said, “It would never last”, but 65 years later today we’re still going strong.

But my father didn’t like getting pushed out, that injustice wasn’t fair, but when you look back, you can see it was all the hand of God. He wasn’t supposed to stay at well number one, he had worked for it, he deserved it, but God used strife and conflict to move him out. Those 90 people grew to thousands and thousands, but he would have never seen Rehoboth, the wide and spacious place without going through the opposition, things that were not fair.

There will be these times in life that you don’t understand it, don’t make sense. You’ll be tempted to fight, to prove, to hold on. But sometimes God closes doors. He doesn’t let well number one work out or or well number two on purpose, because he has bigger things in store. Like my father, you may have to walk away from something that’s not fair. You dug that well, it belonged to you, but they stirred up trouble. That’s a test: God is taking you to Rehoboth, to something bigger, more fulfilling. Don’t settle there, get your shovel out and keep digging.

God has not brought you this far to leave you. He’s seen the disappointments, the injustice, the lonely nights. That’s not how your story ends. Rehoboth is coming, a wide open space. Now, keep moving forward in faith, not frustrated, not bitter. Stay on that high road, knowing that God is in control, that it’s all serving his plan. If you’ll do this, I believe and declare: you’re going to come in to your Rehoboth. God is about to pay you back for the injustice, the bad breaks. You’re going to have rest from your enemies, vindication, promotion, honor, the fullness of your destiny.

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Turn Off The Flow

From JO’s sermon tonight:

I want to talk to you today about Turn Off The Flow. We live in a day where there’s all kinds of gossip, slander, people spreading rumors. They can post it on social media, and don’t even have to put their name on it, hide behind being anonymous. They’re busy bodies, they have an opinion about everything, they go around saying things that are half true, out of context, disparaging others. But you and I should live by a higher standard. Proverbs 10:18-19 says, “To slander is to be a fool. Don’t talk too much, it causes you to sin. Be sensible and turn off the flow”.

How much higher could we go if we would simply turn off the flow, not have an opinion about everything, not repeat things that are going to make someone look bad, not be nosy and try to find the latest scoop, so we can pass it along? “Well, Joel, everyone’s doing it”. Yes, but you’re not everyone. You’re a cut above. God created you to be like an eagle, to rise above all the negative chatter, the backbiting, the gossip, and to use your words to bless people not to curse people. If you can’t say anything good, don’t say it. To slander, to spread rumors, to make people look bad, the scripture says is to be a fool. The reason it’s foolish is because what you sow, you’re going to reap. If you use hurtful words, disparaging remarks, talking bad behind their back, it’s going to happen to you. You can save yourself a lot of heartache, a lot of trouble if you’ll just turn off the flow.

You’re called to be an eagle, now don’t go around like a crow. A crow is always making noise in everybody else’s business, trying to stir up trouble, but one of the seven things the scripture says that God hates is some someone that sows discord, someone that’s always stirring things up, bringing division, saying things they know are going to cause strife, jealousy, damage a reputation. Hate is a strong word. Could have said that God dislikes it, God encourages us not to do it, but God doesn’t take this lightly. You can’t slander people and be blessed. You can’t discredit someone and see God’s favor. “Well, Joel, what I’m saying is all true, I’m not making it up”, but do you need to repeat it? Is it necessary? Is it benefiting anything or is it just putting them in a bad light?

I read this quote, “Have you heard a word against your neighbor? Then let it die within you”. This is saying: have you heard some gossip? Have you read something juicy on the internet? Has a friend given you inside information about someone that failed, that cheated, that got into trouble? Here’s what you do: don’t run to the phone and call three friends, don’t get on the internet and expose them, don’t email all your cousins. Let it die within you. Keep it to yourself. This is going to show what kind of person you are. Are you a big person, an eagle, you’re honorable, you stay on the high path, you cover for people, you show mercy? Or are you a small person, a crow, noisy, a busy body. Small people stir up trouble, small people spread bad news, small people feed off of others mistakes and failures. That’s not you. You’re not a crow, be the eagle God created you to be.

When you let it die within, you’re not just doing them a favor, you’re doing yourself a favor. God will not promote gossips, faultfinders, busy bodies. I’ve heard it said that every person carries a bucket of gasoline, and a bucket of water. When you hear gossip, rumors, juicy information, you can either pour gasoline on it, add fuel to the fire, make it bigger, cause it to spread or you can pour water on it, and help put out the fire. Too many people use their gasoline. They’re justifying it, “Joel, it’s true, everything I’m just stating the facts, what they did with was wrong”. They may be guilty, but the scripture (1 Peter 4:8) says, “Love covers a person’s faults”.

Love doesn’t expose them, love doesn’t go call five friends, love doesn’t put it on Facebook. The mercy you show others is the mercy that’s going to be shown to you. If you’re harsh, judgmental, you expose people’s failures, magnify their mistakes, that same judgment is going to come back to you. You may know things that are true about people, that could make them look bad, that’s a test. Can God trust you to not damage their reputation, to let it die within you? Or are you going to open that faucet and go around spreading everything you know. That’s going to limit how high you will go.

Paul said in Ephesians 4:29, “Let no unwholesome talk come out of your mouth, only that which is beneficial to others”. You have to ask yourself: is what I’m going to say going to benefit others? Is it going to build them up, make them look better? Or is it going to tear them down, give them less credibility, poison their reputation? In the book of Genesis Noah was on the ark for 190 days with his family and all the animals. You can imagine how he must have felt being cramped up not only with the animals, but with his his family for 6 months. Nowhere to go, always with each other. Someone pointed out: the first thing Noah did when he got off the ark was get drunk. I’m not saying that was right, but he had had enough.

Some of you have a hard time at the family reunion for one day, imagine 6 months. Noah went to his tent, he had too much to drink. He was lying on the floor, passed out, not wearing any clothes. His young youngest son Ham came in and saw him there on the ground totally naked. Instead of covering for his father, trying to protect his reputation, he poured gasoline on the fire. He went out and started talking, spreading all the juicy news, told his brothers, “You won’t believe what I saw. Dad’s making a fool of himself. He’s drunk, he’s naked, he’s on the floor”, on and on. He went out telling everything he could find, everyone he could find, stirring up trouble.

Noah’s other two sons sham and Japheth did just the opposite: they got a robe and went to the tent. They held up that robe and walked in backwards, so they wouldn’t see their father. They didn’t want to look at him in that state. Even though he was drunk, naked, passed out. He had done wrong, made mistakes, these two sons wouldn’t dishonor their father. They they walked backwards and placed the robe over him to cover him. One son exposed his father, went out and told everyone. These two sons covered their father, they had their bucket of water, they were putting out the fire. They heard something juicy, they saw their father had failed, but they chose to let it die within them. Which son are you?

One lesson that I love here is to stick up for your family, the people that you live with, the people God’s connected you to. They’re going to make mistakes, they’re going to say things they shouldn’t, do things that can bring embarrassment. It’s tempting to be like Ham, “Look what they’ve done, they’re a fool”, disparage them, give them what they deserve. No, that’s your family, that’s your blood, that’s who God ordained you to be related to. You need to defend your family, protect their reputation. There may be things said behind closed doors, but outside you need to be their biggest cheerleader. Don’t call your friends and tell all the negative things about your son, your daughter. Don’t tell your classmate how bad your brother is, how he can’t get it together. No matter how much they don’t deserve it, you need to honor your family in front of other people. You may have a private challenge, but don’t let it go public, stick up for your family, defend those that God has given you.

Proverbs 17:17 says, “A friend is loyal, but a brother is born for times of adversity”. In tough times your son needs you, your mother, your father, your sister, they need you. Not your judgment, not the harsh, critical, “You should have known better. You deserve to be exposed. You embarrass yourself”. No, get the robe and cover them. They don’t need more guilt, more condemnation. They already know what they did wrong. They got enough people talking, fault finders, gossipers. They need someone that will show mercy, someone that will love them back into wholes. God is counting on you to be that bigger person, to cover a mistake, to not hold what happened in the past against them. It’s easy to look down on people who are close to us because we know their faults, we’ve seen their shortcomings. This is when mercy has to step in.

If you’re family can’t count on you, who can they count on? If you don’t take up for your father, your son, your sibling, who’s going to do it? There are plenty of people outside trying to disparage, discredit, expose. Your family needs you. Be a healer, be a restorer, be a lifter. When Noah woke up and found out what happened, he said to Ham, the son that exposed him, “Your children and grandchildren will always struggle. There will be a curse on your descendants, because you dishonored me. You damaged my reputation. You didn’t defend me, you exposed me”. Noah said to shim and Japheth, the two sons that covered him, “You and your descendants will always be blessed. You will prosper, you will rule over cities, your land will increase. You will always have God’s favor because you showed me honor”.

The principle is whenever we’re gossiping, exposing, making people look bad, we’re on Ham’s side, we step out from under the blessing. “Well, Joel, I just talk a lot, it’s not hurting anything”. No, that’s limiting your future. There’s a hindrance, a barrier that will keep you from excelling. Get out from under Ham’s side, and come over to the blessed side. When you show honor, even when honor is not due, like these brothers you choose to cover a fault, you stick up for your family, you defend that coworker, you let that gossip die within you, you pour water instead of gasoline, God says to you what he said to the two brothers: you’re going to be blessed, you will be honored, you will see favor and increase.

But a lot of the negative, juicy things we hear about friends and co-workers, there may be a small truth to it, but it’s slanted to make the person look bad. It’s taken out of context. The negative is magnified, that’s how rumors get started. Now, there are three different versions: by the time it gets to us it’s a fraction of the truth. Don’t believe everything you hear. Don’t go around repeating things you’re not sure are accurate. A lot of people are busy bodies, they live disturb things up, they nosy, always trying to find the latest scoop, “Did you hear about so and so”? You don’t need people in your life like that. Spirits are transferable: if you hang around a gossip, you’re going to become a gossip. If you hang around people that find fault, complain about the boss, disparage their spouse, that’s going to get off on you. If they talk bad about people in front of you, they’ll talk bad about you in front of others.

David said it this way Psalm 101:5, “I will not tolerate people that slander their neighbor”. He was saying, “I’m not going to associate with gossipers, backbiters, people that spread rumors”. Your destiny is too important, your time is too valuable to spend it with crows, with bitty busy bodies, people that have an opinion about everything, always trying to stir something up. You need to be around other eagles. Eagles are too busy pursuing their own dreams to worry about what everyone else is doing. If you’re around nosy, busy bodies, that’s going to distract you from your assignment. It will keep you from the greatness God put in you. You shouldn’t sit at lunch every day, eat lunch with people that bad mouth company, and find fault with everyone. That’s a sign they are jealous, they’re insecure, they’re small-minded. If you don’t make a change, that poison will get off on you. You have to put up some boundaries.

A man came up to me one time and said, “Joel, did you hear about so and so”? And I could tell, the way he was saying it, it wasn’t going to be good. I just smiled and said, “No, I didn’t hear anything. And if it’s not good, I don’t really want to hear it”. Your ears are not garbage hands. Don’t let people fill you with a bunch of rumors, gossip, who failed, who’s in trouble. Proverbs 11:13 says, “A gossip goes around spreading rumors, but an honorable person tries to quiet them”. When you’re honorable, you pour water on the fire, you take up for people, you defend your family. The enemy would love to draw us into gossip, spreading rumors, being a busy body. That’s a sure way to miss your destiny.

In these days there’s more noise than ever. People saying things that aren’t true, trying to discredit, make you look bad. It’s tempting to think, “Hey, two can play at this game. Let me tell you what I think about you”. If we’re not careful, we’ll get drawn into battles we’re not supposed to fight. We’ll end up critical, disparaging others, saying things that aren’t true about them. Let God fight your battles. You don’t have to defend yourself, you have a defender. Your reputation is in God’s hands, and he has never lost a battle. Ignore the negative chatter, don’t try to come back the lies, the rumors. You’ll never stop all that. That’s a distraction to get you to spend your time and energy, trying to prove to people who you are, how you’re not what they said, “Those are lies, those are rumors”. Can I tell you? They are misunderstanding you on purpose. They’re never going to be for you. The good news is: you don’t need them to fulfill your destiny.

But one test that we all have to pass is to not be critical toward people who are critical of us, to not disparage those that are trying to make us look bad. See, an eagle never fights with a crow. When a crow is pestering him, all the eagle does is go up higher. A crow can’t fly at the altitude, an eagle can fly out. Quit fighting and go up higher, ignore it. It can’t stop your destiny. If you’re going to reach your furthest potential, you have to be comfortable being misunderstood.

Jesus did no wrong: he raised people from the dead, healed the sick, he fed the multitude, yet people slandered him, mischaracterized him, spread rumors, all on purpose. They knew he was doing good, but they were jealous, small-minded, insecure. They couldn’t handle who he was. And some people can’t handle your success. They’re going to lie, slander, disparaged. Don’t sink down to their level. It may not feel good, but they can’t stop your purpose. You stay honorable, stay faithful, stay trustworthy, and God will take care of all the negative chatter. He may not stop it, but he won’t let it stop you. You’ll continue to rise higher.

A few years after I started pastoring, there was a couple that attended Lakewood that owned a transportation company. They had such big hearts, and they wanted to help people in need, so every Sunday they would drive their big stretch limousines to the homeless shelters, and bring people to church, drive them to the open door mission, to the battered women’s home. They treated these people like royalty, some had never been in a limousine, but they brought them to church, and we gave them seats down front, and told them who they are: children of Almighty God. Well, these limousines were so big, they didn’t have anywhere to park them. Of course they wouldn’t fit in a normal spot, I told that couple to park them right in front of the old church, on the main driveway. Some Sundays there would be a half a dozen of these long stretched limousines in front of the building.

One day I received a letter, it said, “Joel, we came in from out of town to visit Lakewood, we loved it, we love what you’re doing, but we just don’t think it’s right that your family would come to church in all those big limousines”. Sometimes we’re critical of things we don’t understand, we’re making judgments without knowing the facts. We form these negative opinions, we say things, but it’s not what it looks like. We don’t know the full story, we just see the limos, we don’t know the motives, we don’t know the reasons. We assume things that may not be true.

With all the ways to communicate these days, with all the chatter and social media, “This coworker said this, and my friend said that, my neighbor told me this”, maybe we’re judging things prematurely, maybe we’re finding fault without knowing the details. Even if it is true, where is the mercy? Where is the grace to give people room to make mistakes, to not be perfect? Maybe God is dealing with them, maybe they’re going to make better decisions. Instead of judging them, talking behind their backs, why don’t you take that same time and pray for them? Be a part of the solution, and not the problem.

My father went to college back in the 1930s, it was a new student that showed up that year, dressed in the nicest suit they had ever seen. It was a zoot suit. The pants came up real high, he had a vest, a beautiful tie, everyone commented on how good he looked. He was the talk of the school. Well, he wore that same suit the next day, and the next, and the next. After a couple of weeks, people noticed that suit was all he wore. A month later they started talking, “Here he comes with the same suit. Let’s see today, yes, he’s got it on”. Once again, he was the talk of the campus, but this time everyone was making fun. They would snicker when he walked by, laugh and make more jokes.

3 months later, my father noticed he was packing up his suitcase, and he asked where he was going. He said, “John, I’m going back home. My family is very poor, they saved up all they could to send me to school, we only had enough money to buy this one suit. It’s all I had to wear. I was already self-conscious about it, but now everyone makes fun, they ridicule me, I can’t deal with it anymore”. Dropped out and went home. Of course when my father and the other students found out about it, they felt about that big. If they had known the facts, they would have been forgiving, understanding, even helped him to buy some more clothes.

How many times are we judging people without knowing the motives, without knowing the challenges, how they were raised, what they’re dealing with? If we walked in their shoes, most of the time we’d be more understanding, more compassionate. It’s easy to be critical, find fault, stir up the negative. That’s being a crow. You’re an eagle. Let’s be people who are full of mercy, people like sham and Japheth, even when they are wrong, we cover them the fault.

Paul said in 1 Thessalonians 4:11, “Make it your ambition to live a quiet life and to mind your own business”. What can distract us quicker than anything? It’s minding everyone else’s business. If he wears the same suit, that’s his choice. If they have limousines at the front of the church, I don’t know all the details, that’s not my business. I have enough drama in my own life, I don’t need your drama. I’m not going to judge you, be critical, tell you how to do everything.

“Well, if I was them, I wouldn’t do that. If I was her, I wouldn’t have married that guy. If I was him, I wouldn’t have chosen that career”. Here’s the whole key: you’re not them. You haven’t walked in their shoes, you haven’t experienced their pain, you haven’t fought their battles, you don’t have their background. It’s tempting to be critical, judgmental, but maybe there’s something you don’t understand, maybe those limousines are not what you think, maybe we’re in the same suit he’s got a good reason. Don’t be a hindrance, start cutting them down, be a help, use your words to bless, to encourage, to speak life, to speak victory.

I met a man after the service one time, and he was so bent out of shape. He said, “Joel, my pastor back home, he just announced that he’s going to take six weeks off this summer. That is not right, I don’t understand why he would would do that”. I thought to myself, “I know exactly why, to get away from people like you”. Let people run their own life. If we’re nosy, busy bodies, we’ll end up critical, finding fault, saying things that put people down. No, run your race, focus on what God put in your heart. What other people do or don’t do, that’s none of our business, that’s between them and God.

In the scripture, Moses sister Miriam didn’t like who Moses was going to marry. She was Ethiopian from a different nationality than Moses. Miriam started talking behind Moses’ back, she said to her brother Aaron, “Why is he marrying this girl? She’s not the right one, that’s a big mistake”, stirring up trouble, sowing discord. The scripture says, “God heard Miriam being disrespectful”. She wasn’t even talking to God, she was talking to her brother, but God heard it. Verse 9 says, “The anger of the Lord burned against them”. It’s interesting when Jonah refused to go to Nineveh, did exactly opposite of what God told him to do, doesn’t say God was angry. When David had Uriah killed to cover his affair, doesn’t say that God was angry. But when Miriam talked bad about Moses, when she was critical and judgmental, it says God burned with anger.

God doesn’t take it lightly when we speak against people. Was none of Miriam’s business who Moses chose to marry, but maybe Miriam was a busy body, she had an opinion and she expressed it. When she did, the scripture says, “Immediately she was struck with leprosy”. Her skin was full of disease. She stepped out of the blessing in the Ham’s side, that opened the door to trouble. By the mercy of God she was later healed, but this shows us how God sees slander, spreading rumors, being a busy body. Don’t let that be you. Be an eagle, stay on that high path, put away your gasoline, keep your bucket of water to put out the fires.

Be trustworthy, be honorable and quiet the gossip. You heard something juicy? Let it die within you. You have a destiny to fulfill, there’s a calling on your life. Don’t get distracted by what others are doing, run your race, focus on your assignment. God is counting on you to be the bigger person, to stick up for your family, to defend your friends, to cover some faults. If you’ll do this, I believe and declare: what God promised Shem and Japheth, “You and your descendants will always be blessed”, you will prosper, you will be in leadership, your land will increase, you will become all God created you to be.

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