If This Wasn’t Recorded Nobody Would Believe It…

Hi, my name is Joel Osteen and I'm a professional life coach.

The only thing that's holding some people back is who they're spending time with. Life is too short to spend it with negative, can't do it, jealous, critical, small -minded people.

You need some eagles in your life. People that soar, people that are doing great things, people that have a great attitude.

I meant to say pastor. I'm a pastor. I'm the pastor of Lakewood Church, one of the largest churches in the

United States. What's the secret to our success, you ask? What's your secret? Mellow jazz?

Bongo drums? Well, the secret to my success is that I stay in my lane. Well, you know,

I think I have an important voice, but I'm very, I think I've been good. I think part of my, if you want to call it success, is

I've stayed in my lane and my lane is lifting people's spirits and there are issues that good

Bible -believing people see on both sides of the fence. Which to be honest, is actually just being a life coach and motivational speaker, not a pastor.

That's right. All I really want to do is lift your spirits, not teach you the truth.

That's why I basically never talk about sin, even though it's one of the most important concepts in the

Bible for pastors to teach people about. I believe there's enough pushing people down already.

So when people leave one of our services or read one of my books, I want them to leave saying, you know what? I can be better. I can rise higher.

People don't need to be told they're sinners because they already know they're sinners. There's a guy down my way, down in Houston, smiling

Joel. Smiling Joel says, sinners don't need to be told they're sinners. They know they're sinners.

No, they don't. They don't. They don't. They look at the guy on the news who hacked somebody up and they say, that's a sinner, not me.

They don't sin. They make mistakes. I mean, are people even really that bad? Don't most people have good hearts?

Don't most people just make bad decisions from time to time? Sinner is kind of a strong word.

In dealing with people for several years, thousands of people, one thing I can tell you is 99 .9

% of people are not bad people. They may make poor choices, but deep down, they've got a good heart.

I'll also never tell or warn you about the eternal punishment that you're probably headed towards because, again,

I'd rather lift your spirits than tell you the truth. You know, you've been criticized for church light, for a cotton candy message.

Do you feel like you're cheating people by not telling them about the hell part?

No, I really don't because it's a different approach. I work hard to lift everyone's spirits.

Whether or not you believe in Jesus, I'll have everyone who goes to Lakewood repeat these positive declarations after me, without adding in any qualification that these things are only true for people who believe in Jesus and are saved from their sin.

From now on, I'd rather us all say it together. So are you ready? Here we go. I am blessed, prosperous, redeemed, forgiven, talented, creative, secure, disciplined, focused, prepared.

I'll even have everyone on Oprah's show repeat these positive declarations too, even though there's absolutely no evidence that Oprah and her audience are really

Christians. Another reason you should trust me is because Oprah is one of my fans. She loves that I focus on worldly prosperity more than the gospel of sin and salvation.

Some of the criticisms that you're preaching prosperity, I was reading some of the critics and I was thinking, well, why would you, why would anybody criticize you for preaching prosperity?

Because what kind of God wants you to be poor and miserable? That's the way I feel as well.

At Lakewood, you'll hear me teach that God approves and accepts you right where you are and that you just need to accept yourself.

God accepts and approves you right where you are. Faults and all, mistakes, shortcomings, not when you overcome, but right now.

He knows you're on a journey. He's changing you little by little. He accepts you.

Now you have to accept yourself. He approves you. You have to approve yourself. Because again, you're not really a sinner.

You're just someone who makes mistakes, who has some faults, who makes some bad decisions once in a while.

But too often when we make mistakes, we go around down on ourselves. Why do I do this?

I don't know. Maybe I don't even think you need to believe in Jesus to be saved. I once said that in an interview with Larry King.

If you believe, you have to believe in Christ. I believe. They're wrong, aren't they? Well, I don't know if I believe they're wrong.

I believe here's what the Bible teaches and from the Christian faith, this is what I believe. But I just think that only

God can judge a person's heart. I've spent a lot of time in India with my father and, you know, I don't know all about the religion, but I know they love

God and I don't know, I'd have to, you know, I've seen their sincerity, so I don't know. I just,

I know for me and what the Bible teaches, I want to have a relationship with Jesus. I apologize for saying that after the interview, but my apology isn't on my website anymore and you can only find it from people who have copied and saved it themselves.

But my apology doesn't really matter because in another interview, I said that Mormons are saved because they believe in the same

Jesus as Christians, even though that's obviously not true. Well, you know, what

I see about Governor Romney is that he says, I believe Jesus Christ is the son of God.

He's raised from the dead and, you know, he's my savior. I see him as being a believer in Christ like me. And that's enough for you.

Yeah, that's enough for me. So, uh, God's first born spirit child on Kolob is

Jesus, who is Jehovah. One of his other early sons is called

Lucifer. So Jesus and Lucifer are spirit brothers, as we are with Jesus and Lucifer.

All of us are spirit brothers or serious sisters. I've never apologized for saying that.

I also teach something called the law of attraction. Even though it's a completely non -Christian concept found nowhere in the

Bible, when you speak positive words and have a positive attitude, those aren't just general good things to do.

You're actually prophesying victory. You're speaking things into existence just like God does.

I want to talk to you today about how your words become your reality.

You are where you are today in part because of what you've been saying about yourself.

Words are like seeds. When you speak something out, you give life to what you're saying.

If you continue to say it, eventually that can become a reality. Whether you realize it or not, you are prophesying your future.

This is great when we're saying things like I'm blessed, I'm strong, I will accomplish my dreams,

I'm coming out of debt. That's not just being positive. You are prophesying victory, prophesying success, prophesying new levels.

Your life will move in the direction of your words. Of course,

I believe the Bible is clear that homosexuality is a sin, but I'll never teach you that, and I'll only reluctantly agree that the

Bible is clear about homosexuality when I'm forced to in interviews. When you say homosexuality is a sin, and there's a bunch of people who clearly are gay who are in your church, you're calling them sinners.

I mean, that's the opposite of uplifting, I would think. It does, but one, I don't necessarily focus on that.

I only talk about that in the interviews. So, I mean, our message, I mean, you know, if you listen to my message, they're about lifting people up.

And so it's not, I mean, I really talk about the homosexuality when we get on the interviews. I've also written lots of books that teach you how to live a great life, even if you don't believe in Jesus.

Now, your fan base is not just Christian, right? I understand you have Muslims, even atheists.

How do you explain that? You know, why would an atheist be a fan of you? Well, I think what they like, Larry, is when, you know, the principles that we teach are from the scripture, but they can help anybody, you know, to reach dreams or to forgive or to have healthy, you know, good self -image.

So, you know, I know I'm not a traditional pastor in terms of I'm just going down teaching scripture by scripture, because, you know, a lot of my, you know, what

I would teach would just be more how to live a great life. I wrote, Your Best Life Now, for people who want their best life to be now, not in heaven.

In his book, Your Best Life Now, and by the way, I want to hasten to say, he's absolutely right.

If you believe in what he says in that book, this will be your best life.

It'll be a whole lot better than the next one. He is absolutely right.

But if you want your best life now, go for his theology. If you want your best life forever, avoid it.

I wrote, The Power of I Am, two words that will change your life today, because even though you're a sinner who's under the wrath of God, I think it's more important for you to trick yourself into thinking you're actually amazing and perfectly fine just the way you are.

I wrote, Become a Better You, Seven Keys to Improving Your Life Every Day. And of course, none of the seven keys include recognizing your sinfulness before God or repenting and believing in Jesus.

Actually quite the contrary. I want you to love, accept, and embrace yourself for who you are.

At Lakewood, you'll hear me teach that Jesus died on the cross so that we could be free from things like bad habits and addictions.

He has paid the price so that we may be totally free. That means free from bad habits and addictions, free from fear and worry, free from discouragement and depression, free from poverty and lack, free from low self -esteem.

You need to start seeing yourself the right way. You are not a sick person trying to get well.

You are a well person fighting off sickness. This would have been a perfect time to say that Jesus frees us from sin.

But of course, I didn't say that. You'll also hear my wife Victoria preach, because it should be clear by now that we don't really take seriously what the

Bible really teaches. 1 Timothy 2, verse 12, I do not prevent a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man.

Rather, she is to remain quiet. So because the

Bible says so. Like me, you'll hear her teach stuff like God's got us all on the road to victory.

We're all on a different path because no two paths are alike. But God's got us all on the road to victory.

If you want to learn more about what you'll hear me teach at Lakewood, just visit my YouTube channel. Notice that none of my sermons are about sin or salvation, and that they're all just fluffy messages that make you feel good about yourself.

How high could you rise if you weren't being shaded by compromise, by mediocrity?

I know you love your friends, but your destiny is too great. Your assignment too important to hang around people that are not adding to your life.

You need people that bring out the best in you. People that inspire you to do better, that challenge you to live a life of excellence and integrity.

At the end of every sermon, I'll invite you to pray the sinner's prayer. To say that you repent of your sins and want to make

Jesus your Lord and Savior. Then, I'll tell you that if you pray that simple prayer, you are born again and saved.

Would you pray with me? Just say, Lord Jesus, I repent of my sins.

Come into my heart, I'll make you my Lord and Savior. If you prayed that simple prayer, we believe you got born again.

Because it's just that easy to be saved. Just pray a simple prayer. The gospel that we hear in our culture today sounds a little something like this.

It's real easy. First, believe. Believe God loves you and made you for a purpose.

Believe God has chosen you to have a relationship with Jesus who died on the cross for you. Believe that no matter what you've done,

God wants to forgive you. Second, receive. Receive Jesus into your life as Lord and Savior.

Receive his forgiveness for your sins. So I invite you to bow your head and quietly whisper the prayer that will change your eternity.

What's that prayer? Jesus, I believe in you and I receive you. If you sincerely meant that prayer,

Jesus, I believe in you and I receive you. If you sincerely meant that prayer, congratulations, welcome to the family of God.

That's the gospel presentation in the purpose -driven life or the excuse for a gospel presentation in the purpose -driven life.

No repentance, no gospel, no sin, no wrath of God, no nothing.

Just believe God loves you. He made you for a purpose. Jesus died for you.

That's it. Really? Just like that? No, not just like that. You are a wretched, miserable, sinful creature who deserves to die and go to hell.

And unless you repent of your sin, unless you are aware of the fact that you deserve to die and be crushed under the weight of the holiness and majesty of God, you don't get it.

So, come to Lakewood. You'll be deceived into thinking you're already a good person, that God already accepts you for who you are, and that all you need to do to be saved is repeat a few words after me.

But, who really cares about salvation anyways? Let's just focus on living great lives right now.