You have Comeback Power - Joel Osteen (Transcript) Pt 1

I like to start with something funny - I heard about this pastor, he decided to skip church one Sunday and go play golf. He told his assistant he wasn't feeling well and he drove to another city's gold course there so no one would recognise him. He teed off at the first hole. All of a sudden a huge gust of wind caught his ball, carried it an extra hundred yard and blew it right into the hole for a 421 yard hole-in-one. The angel looked at God and asked, "What didcha do that for?" God smiled and said, "Who's he gonna tell?"

Alright. Hold up your bible. Say it like you mean it -

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

God bless you.

I want to talk to you today about how you have Comeback power. We all face situations that seem like they could bury us - the loss of a loved one, bad news concering our health, a divorce- those negative thoughts bombard our minds telling us, "It's over, you've seen ur best days, that set back is going to taint your future, that lay-off is going to ruin your career. That illness is always going to limit you." It's easy to feel like we've been buried, but what's interesting is the only difference between being buried and being planted is the expectancy of what's going to happen next.

When you put a seed in the ground you don't say, "I'm burying this seed," you say, "I am planting this seed," because you know it's coming back.

Not long ago, one of our rabbits died. I didn't say I am planting this rabbit, I buried the rabbit. I knew it wasn't coming back. If it did, I sure don't wanna be around.

We all face difficulties but you have the seed of almighty God on the inside. He breathed His life into you. When you go through disappointments, you're in tough times... you might feel like you'd been buried, but the fact is, you've simply been planted. That means you're coming back. And you're not just going to come back, you're gonna come back better, increased, stronger. What was meant for your harm, God will use to your advantage. You go in as a seed, but because of the life of God, you come out blossoming, producing even more fruit.

Jesus talked about this in John 12:24. He said, "Unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and is planted, it will not produce fruit.." You can have a seed lying on the shelf for a lifetime, it will never become what it was created to be until you put it in the ground. It's potential will never be fully realised until it's planted. As long as it's up on the shelf where it's comfortable, where it doesn't have to stretch, doesn't have to deal with any adversities... that potentiial will remain locked up dormantly inside. Only after it's been planted, and it goes through the process of germination- the outer shield breaks off, the new growth springs forth- that's when it will blossom and produce more fruit.

I'm sure if you were to ask the seed, it will say, " I don't wanna be planted. It's lonely in the dark by myself. It's dark. It's uncomfortable." It feels like it's been buried- can't see any light, people walking on top of it... the truth is it's not buried, it's only planted. When it's in the ground, in that dark time, something supernatural starts to happen. Although the dark is hundred times of powerful, possibly a thousand of times heavier, it cannot hold the seed in. I can imagine the dark, when it feels something stirring, it says to the little seed, "What do you think you're doing? You can't get out. I am much more powerful than you." The seed says, "No, no, no. I know a secret - I'm not buried, I'm planted. I may be down right now but it's temporary. I'm coming back. I've got the life of God in me." The dirt says, "What are you talking about? You're nothing compared to me. You don't have a chance." Something in that seed rises up even stronger and says, "No, you cannot keep me down. I've got comeback power in my DNA. I will rise again."

Sure enough one day, that little seed breaks the surface of the earth. It smiles and says, "I toldcha I was coming out." It's no longer buried, no longer hidden and alone. No longer has people walking on top of it. It's got a new beginning. It's potential is being realised. As time goes by, instead of being a little seed buried in the ground, ot grows into a beautiful plant, producing all kinds of bright, beautiful flowers. What happened? It went through the process of being planted.