Recognizing What Battles to Fight... =)

Just downloaded this sermon from the Joel Osteen website the other day on "Recognizing What Battles to Fight". Loved it!

Earlier in the cab, I played it out on speaker mode and I saw the taxi driver chuckling away to the sermon. I hope it brightened his day like it brightened mine, and that it changed his mindset like it changed mine.

I found it humorous, relevant and very encouraging so I'm transcribing it to put it up here on my blog. =D

Here is part 1 of 2 of what I have transcribed. Enjoy!!


Part 1: Joel Osteen - Recognizing What Battles To Fight

I like to start off each of my sermons with a joke.

I heard about this blonde lady - now you know I am married to a beautiful, smart, and intelligent blonde so this is just a joke. Now this blonde was at Target when she saw this Thermos up on the shelf. She asked the clerk what was it. He said, “It is a Thermos. Have you not used it before?” “What does it do?” “Well, it keeps things hot and it keeps things cold.” The next day she showed up at work with it and her boss said, “I’ve never seen you using a Thermos. What do you have in there?” She replied, “2 popsicles and some coffee.”

Let’s declare this with all our heart -

“This is my bible I am what it says I am, I have what it says I have, I can do what it says I can do. Today I will be taught the Word of God. I boldly confess my mind is alert, my heart is receptive, I will never be the same. In Jesus’s name.”

I want to talk to you today about recognizing what battles to fight. One thing I’ve learned is not every battle is worth fighting. Many of the challenges that we encounter along the way are simply distractions trying to lure us away from our destiny.

When we have opportunities to get upset- maybe somebody is talking about us, a competitor at work is spreading rumours, or our spouse says something they shouldn’t have- you have to ask yourself, “If I engage in this battle and spend my time and energy trying to straighten somebody out, defending myself, arguing with the family member, trying to prove that I am right- even if I win this battle, what is the prize going to be? What is this fight going to accomplish?”

For instance, that person that person that cuts me off in traffic. If I get upset and cut him back off and let that ruin the rest of my morning, how is that going to benefit me? I don’t even know the person, five minutes later he won’t even be in my life. What’s the point? There are no spoils. That is a battle not worth fighting.

The reason why many people are missing out on God’s best is their distracted fighting battles that don’t really matter- trying to prove themselves to people, to win over all their critics, playing up to someone and trying to get their approval- those are all distractions. We need to choose our battles wisely. We’re not supposed to be in a fight mode all of the time.

I know people who every other minute are upset with their spouse, aggravated with a neighbour, going to straighten somebody out at the office -”Well, they’re talking about me. I’m going to show them how wrong they are!” The next 6 mths that consumes them, their time and their energy. They don’t realise that is not a battle worth fighting. There are no spoils. Even if they do win, it’s not going to put them further down the road.

If we make the mistake of engaging in every battle that comes along, and we’re constantly defending ourselves, proving out point, straightening everybody out, then they’re not going to have the battles they need to fight the battles that do matter.

We’re supposed to be warrior but a warrior doesn’t just fight any battle, he only fights battles where there are spoils. A battle that is btw him and his God-given destiny.

I think about David as a shepherd boy, his father asked him to take his brothers lunch as they were out on the battle field. They had a more prestigious position. David was stuck just taking care of his father’s sheep.

When he got out there he heard Goliath taunting the people, making fun of them. He asked the men standing around, “What is the prize for the man who defeats this giant?” They said, “The reward that he will get is one of the King’s daughter in marriage and he will not have to pay anymore taxes.”

Of course that got David’s attention. He recognized that that was a battle worth fighting- there were spoils, there were rewards there.

When David’s older brother, Eliab, heard David talking about fighting the Giant, he tried to embarrass him. In front of all those men he said, “David what are you even doing out here? And what have you done with the few sheep that our father has left you with?” He tried to make him feel small He was saying David you are just a shepherd boy. You’re not even someone important.

Now I love the way David responded. Scripture says that David turned and walked away from Eliab.

One reason David was a champion was he knew which battles to fight.

David had feelings like you and I. I am sure he wanted to say, “Oh Eliab… you think you’re something great. You’re nothing at all.”

He could have easily gotten into strife, started arguing, trying to prove to Eliab that he was important. But if he would have engaged in that battle, if he had taken that bait, he would have been distracted, wasted his time and energy, and who knows if he would have ever defeated Goliath? Who knows if he would have gotten to that battle that really mattered?

You have to ask yourself - are the battles I am engaged in worth fighting? Are there any rewards? Are they furthering me toward my God-given destiny or I am just fighting to pay somebody back that offended me? Am I just fighting to prove to somebody that I am important?

Now those are distractions. I dare say most of the frustrations that come our way are not worth fighting for. If it’s not btw you and your God-given destiny you should just ignore it.

Somebody doesn’t want to be your friend? Somebody doesn’t want to accept you? That’s not going to keep you from your destiny. Somebody was rude to you at the office? Somebody cut you off during traffic? That’s not worth starting WWIII over. Don’t engage in that battle. In the big picture, they won’t even matter. Don’t engage in the “pity battles”, the non-essential ones or we might miss the Goliaths that God has placed in our paths to push us to our God-given destiny.

The battles that do matter will come. We need to save our strength and energy for what’s really important. In this day and age, we are too easily offended. We are too touchy.

I had a lady tell me last week, “Joel, the reason why I quit coming to church, the reason why I haven’t been here in 2 months is because everyone was talking about me… Everybody was against me.”

I didn’t say it but I thought, “Ma’am everybody doesn’t know you. If you sit on that side of the building, the people sitting over there probably have never even seen you.”

What happened? She got engaged in a battle that wasn’t even worth fighting.

One person offended her- somebody said something she didn’t like. But instead of letting it go and thinking - This battles doesn’t have any spoils. This battle even if I win, doesn’t give me a prize; She fell into that trap- “Well, I’m not going to church. Just show them. See how they take that.”

Funny thing is services seem as just as good as even, matter of fact little bit better than ever.

That’s what happens when we get involved in a battle that’s not important. Things get blown out of proportion. Things get magnified - “Everybody is against me. Everybody’s talking about me.”

Well, I say this respectfully- “Everybody don’t know you. Everybody’s not really interested.”

She got distracted trying to prove her point and it ended up hurting nobody else but herself.

I remember years ago when I was at a mall with my friend and we were headed toward our car. It was some 50 or 60 feet in front of us out the doors, when all of a sudden he started saying, “Let’s not go this way. Let’s go this way.”

“Why? Our cars are here.”

“No. I’m not walking by that store. They did me wrong.”

He said it so dramatic an d so serious, I thought for sure they must have accused him of something terrible or stolen a lot of money from him.

So I asked what happened and he said, “They wouldn’t take back a pair of shoes.”

That had been 20 years earlier. No doubt the original people were dead and gone. Here he still was trying to fight a battle that had no spoils. The people he is trying to prove a point to are probably in Heaven. If not, they’re in Florida, sitting on the beach and enjoying their lives. He’s wasting his time and energy paying somebody back when they’re not even there to be paid back.

I wanted to say, “Man, just let it go. I’ll buy you some new shoes.”

(Paused @ 10:03 mins - to be continued...)