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This episode is brought to you by Comcast since 2011. Comcast has connected more than four million students from low income families to the Internet. Now they're launching more than 1000 Wi-Fi connected lift zones in community centers nationwide to provide safe spaces to get online. Learn more at Comcast dotcom slash education. Hi, this is Joel and Victoria. Thanks for listening to our podcast and thanks for supporting the ministry. If you enjoy today's message, why don't you be a blessing and share it with a friend?

We appreciate you and pray for God's very best in your life.

Well, God bless you. It's always a joy to come into your homes, and if you're ever in our area, please stop by and be a part of one of our services. These are the finest people in all of Houston, Texas, right here at Lakewood. But thanks for tuning in and thank you again for coming out. I'd like to start with something funny. And I heard about these three sisters, ages ninety six, ninety four and ninety two.

They lived together. One day the ninety six year old draws a bath and puts one foot in and stops. She hollers downstairs, I can't remember if I was getting in or getting out. The 94 year old said, Just a second, I'll come up and help you. She gets halfway up the stairs and stops. She says, I can't remember if I was going up or coming down. The 92 year old shook her head and said, Boy, I hope I never get that forgetful.

She knocked on wood for good luck. Then she said, Hang on, I'll come help you both.

As soon as I see who's at the door, you 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'll boldly confess. My mind is alert. My heart is receptive. I will never be the same in Jesus name. God bless you.

I want to talk to you today about releasing the full you on the inside of each one of us is a blessed, prosperous, victorious person.

This person is free from addictions and bad habits, are confident and secure, talented and creative, disciplined and focused. But just because they're in you doesn't mean they're automatically going to come out. They have to be released.

The Apostle Paul gives us the secret in Romans 12 verse two, he said, be transformed by the renewing of your mind. That word transform in the original language is metamorphose. It's where we get our word metamorphosis. We know how a caterpillar metamorphosis into a butterfly.

This is saying if you'll get your thoughts going in the right direction and not dwell on negative condemning, not able to thoughts, but programed your mind with what God says about you, then a transformation will take place.

Think about the little caterpillar, the little worm. It starts off as one of the most unattractive insects. It's very plain. Nothing really special about it, but God predestined it to go through a transformation. At a certain point it forms a cocoon. This metamorphosis starts to take place. It's a process. Little by little, it changes. One day it begins to push out of the cocoon. A leg comes out, then a wing comes out. A little later, his head comes out.

Before long, it's totally free from the cocoon. It goes from being one of the most plain insects to being one of the most beautiful, colorful, graceful insects.

Instead of having to crawl on the ground, squirm around.

Now, it can fly wherever it wants to go. In the same way we all start off as worms, so to speak. Our thoughts without being retrained naturally gravitate toward the negative. We think, I can't take that promotion. I'm not qualified. I'll never rise much higher. Joel, I've come from the wrong family or I've made too many mistakes. God could never bless me. You know what? Those are wormy thoughts. But just because we start that way, does it mean that we're supposed to finish that way?

God has predestined us to go through a transformation from a worm that crawls and barely gets by to a beautiful butterfly that soars. But here's the key. It's not up to God. It's up to us. The only way to release your butterfly is to get your thinking in line with God's word. What will keep you in your cocoon? I'll never lose this weight. My business isn't going to get off the ground. I'm not a good parent. Those thoughts will keep the full you from coming out.

You have to realize there is a great parent already in you just waiting to be released.

And if you're going to see your metamorphosis take place, you got to be convinced in me right now is a great father, a great mother, and will renew my mind to get them out. You may be struggling with an addiction, but in you right now is a person that's totally free. You may be down in your finances. Business is slow, but in you right now is a person that lends. And not borrows the head and not the tail, and if you just keep renewing your mind, agreeing with what God says about you, it's just a matter of time before that person comes out.

When the thoughts tell you you're never going to change, it's never going to get any better. So just remind yourself I'm being transformed. My metamorphosis has already begun. That's how you released the full, you know, people, they have incredible talent. They have so much to offer. The problem is they've never gone through their transformation. They're allowing the same negative recording to play in their mind all day long. Your life is going to follow your thoughts.

If you think you've reached your limits, then you have if you don't think you can break that addiction, then you want you have to change your thinking. Some of you have been in your cocoon way too long. God is ready to take you to a new level. He's ready to release a new wave of his favor. And you got to rise up and say, that's it. I'm done thinking these warm, warm thoughts. It's my time to be transformed.

I know I am forgiven. I am redeemed and talented, creative discipline. I am well able to listen. That's not just being positive.

That's renewing your mind. When you do that, I can see part of your wind coming out. I can see that leg breaking through the cocoon. You keep that up and before long you'll release the full you you'll be transformed into a beautiful butterfly, soar into places that you've never dreamed of. This is what my father had to do, that he grew up in a very poor family. His parents were cotton farmers. They lost everything during the Great Depression.

They were good people, but they had very little vision. When my father gave his life to Christ is seventeen years of age, he felt something stirring on the inside. A still small voice started telling him, John, you were made for more break out of the mold, rise out of this set a new standard for your family. What was that? The butterfly trying to come out. His parents, every voice said, John, you better not leave the farm, you better play it safe and stay here and pick cotton with us the rest of your life.

No offense to them, but those were wormy thoughts. People will try to keep you in your cocoon. People will tell you what you can't do, what you can't become. My father had to reprogram his thinking from a barely get by mentality poverty mindset to I am the head and not the tail. I will lend and not borrow the favor of God surrounds me. Where I am is not where I'm staying. He broke out of that cocoon. He released a butterfly on the inside.

Some people like that worm. They're still kind of squirming around. But God has destined you to soar. There is a butterfly in you. There is victory, freedom, excellence. It's all on the inside. But you got to do your part and go through the transformation. And a lot of us, like my father, we were programed by the people that raised us or about what somebody has spoken over us. Maybe they were good people. But now that programing is limiting us.

As long as you think that you've gone as far as you can, then you'll stay in your cocoon. If you think I can't break this addiction, I've had it too long.

I'll never get well. And I'm not that good of a parent that's going to keep your butterfly from being released. The transformation takes place when you renew your mind program. You're thinking with what God says about you. God says the path of the righteous gets brighter and brighter all through the day. I'm rising higher. I haven't seen my best days. Something good is going to happen to me. As you meditate on that day in and day out, you're breaking out of that cocoon.

A wing is starting to come out and people may have spoken negative things over you. But the good news is people don't determine your destiny. You are not who people say you are.

You are who God says you are. I know this gentleman named Robert. He grew up with a stepfather that was always putting him down. I was told again and again how he was slow, couldn't do anything right. Why can't you be more like your brother? He was young. He didn't know any better. He let those negative thoughts program his thinking.

He was very insecure, intimidated, no dream for his life. When he graduated from high school, he got a job as a janitor at a small office complex.

One day his mother remarried. This new stepfather was just the opposite. He was constantly telling Robert what he could become, how talented he was, and how there was a bright future in front of him speaking faith into him reprograming his thinking. He asked Robert what he wanted to do with his life, what his dream was. Robert said, I just want to work as a janitor. I just want to stay at this small office complex. He had had years of work me thought put into him.

They don't go away overnight. The stepfather said, Listen, Robert, you have so much more in you. I'll make a deal with you. If you go to college, I'll pay for every book, every course, every meal, every degree.

When Robert heard that something came alive on the inside, nobody had ever invested in him. Nobody had ever called out his seeds of greatness. He went to college and in four years he got his bachelor's degree with honors. He decided to go on and get his masters. He went after that and got a doctorate. He wasn't finished. He went to seminary and got another degree. After four degrees, his step father said, I'm done, Robert. You're on your own today.

Robert is doing great things, living a life of victory, helping others.

But it would have never happened if he had not renewed his mind. He had to get rid of the wrong programing that had been put into him when he started dwelling on the right thoughts.

Thoughts of faith, victory. Faber can do thoughts. That's when the transformation took place. He released his butterfly, so to speak. And maybe some of you have had negative things spoken over you. Like Robert, people have told you what you can't do, what you're not going to become. No, let me tell you who you really are. God says you are blessed.

You are talented, you are valuable, you are competent. You have been hand picked by the creator of the universe. Now quit dwelling on what people say you are and program your mind with who God says you are on the. Inside of you right now is a victorious, successful, not average, not mediocre world changer. History maker just waiting to break out.

I'm asking you to release the full year you are destined to leave your mark on our generation. There is no limit to what God can do in you and through you when you reprogram your thinking and start believing that you're blessed, valuable, one of a kind more than a conqueror. When you renew your mind, transformations take place.

When I first started ministering back in nineteen ninety nine, I was so nervous I didn't think I could do this. Every voice told me, Joel, you better not get up there in front of people. You're going to make a fool of yourself. You're not going to know what to say. Nobody's going to listen to you have learned the enemy doesn't fight you for where you are. He fights you for where you'll go.

He would love he would love to keep you in your cocoon thinking these were my thoughts.

He doesn't want you to break out Saun live in overcoming life. He wants you to struggle and be insecure, be burdened by addictions and bad habits. It all starts in our mind. If he can control your thoughts, he can control your whole life. I had to do what I'm asking you to do all through the day. I can do all things through Christ. I am strong in the Lord if God be for me who dare be against me.

I did that month after month. Little by little, I started breaking out of my cocoon. A wing started to come out first couple of years. I was so insecure. If I heard one negative comment, I would get discouraged. I would try to change, make sure everybody liked me. But as I continued to renew my mind, I realized I didn't need people's approval.

I have almighty God's approval. What was happening? More of my wing was coming out, a little bit of my leg pushed through that cocoon. The truth is today I'm not totally transformed yet, but at least I'm not still in that cocoon.

At least I'm not still crawling around thinking those were my thoughts when I compare myself now to when I started 14 years ago.

In one sense, I'm not the same person. I'm not nervous, I'm not insecure. I'm confident in who God made me to be. Somebody like me doesn't bother me the least bit. I'm happy. I'm blessed. That's what it means to be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Now, maybe you're not totally out yet either, but don't get discouraged.

God is still working on you every day.

You think the right thoughts. You are breaking out of that cocoon a little bit more at the right time. You're going to take off and God is going to take you places that you could never go on your own man in the scripture by the name of Gideon. God wanted him to lead the people of Israel against an opposing army. But Gideon had all these wormy thoughts. He was stuck in his cocoon. One day, the angel of the Lord appeared into him, said, Hello, Gideon.

You might imagine a fearless courage.

I can imagine Gideon looking around thinking, who is he talking about? I am not a mighty man of fearless courage.

Gideon was afraid, intimidated, insecure, just the opposite. But notice God didn't call him what he was. God called him what he could become. God sees your potential. God knows what you're capable of. You may feel weak, but God calls you strong. You may be intimidated today, but God calls you confident. You may feel less than God calls you.

Well, Abel, if the Angel of the Lord were to appear to you today, he would say the same thing he said to Gideon. Hello, Mary, you mighty woman of fearless courage. Hello, Frank. You mighty man of fearless courage. Hello, people of Lakewood.

You mighty people of fearless courage. Why don't you get an agreement with God, start believing what he says about you? Gideon answered the angel back in verse 15. He said, How am I supposed to save Israel? I come from the poorest family in all of NASA and I am the least one in my father's house. Noticed those wormy thoughts. A lot of times, like Gideon, we do the same thing. I can't do anything great. I'm not that talented.

And if I was a different nationality, if I had a better personality, or if I hadn't made so many mistakes, get rid of the excuses. You are equipped, you are empowered. You already have everything you need to fulfill your destiny. It's in you right now. Now you got to do your part to bring it out. I read about an older gentleman. He lived in a small hut on an island out in the South Pacific. He was a well known sculptor.

He'd spent his whole life working with wood and carving different items, very talented. One day he was walking by this beautiful plantation. The wealthiest man on the island lived there. He saw these big tree trunks that had been cut down and were piled up in a big stack. He asked the owner what they were going to do with them.

The owner said, oh, they're trash, they're useless. We're just going to haul them away. He said, Do you mind if I could have one of those? The owner looked at him kind of strange and said, You want an old dead piece of useless would go ahead and take it. He hold it away on his wagon, got it to his hut and stood it up on the inside.

And he begin to walk around it very slowly, carefully analyzing it, thinking about it. It's as if he was trying to release something that was trapped on the inside. A couple of hours later, he started carving away Wiedlin with precision day after day. Two weeks after that, he had carved the most beautiful eagle you could ever imagine. It was majestic looking, had its wings out his back, soaring through the air. He put it on the front porch of his little hut.

One day it just so happened that plantation owner was walking by, saw the eagle, was so impressed. He walked up to it and began to marvel at the detail and how magnificent it was. He said to the man, Where in the world did you get this?

I'd like to buy this from the sculptor kind of laughed and said, No, sir, it's not for sale. He was insistent. He said, name your price. I'll pay you whatever you want. The sculptor finally said, All right, how about five hundred dollars? And the man paid him.

And as they were walking away with it, the sculptor said, Sir, I don't know if you realize this, but you just bought back the piece of useless wood that you gave me several weeks ago. The next day, the sculptor walked by the plantation. There was a sign out front. It said tree trunks for sale. Five hundred dollars each. He learned his lesson. But here's my point. The sculptor saw something in that discarded piece of wood that other people could not see.

The plantation owner saw it as Trius useless as of no value. But the sculptor was able to look beyond the outside, beyond the floors, and he saw its potential. He knew what it could become.

It's the same way with our God. Your creator can see things in you that other people cannot see. Sometimes people will try to push you down, make you feel insignificant. Sometimes our own thoughts will come to convince us that we don't measure up. But God looks beyond the surface, beyond the mistakes we've made, beyond what somebody said about you and God sees your incredible value.

You may think you are Mr.. I have blown it. I've failed. I'm all washed up. No, God still sees the eagle in you. God doesn't just see what you are. He sees what you can become. Now you got to do your part. Get rid of those condemning thoughts. Get rid of what somebody has spoken over you and start renewing your mind down deep. Start believing that you are redeemed, restored, talented, valuable. Even if you have made mistakes, believe that you can still release the fool you.

Let me tell you, God can still get you to where he wants you to be. I think about Jacob. He didn't have a lot of character. He was dishonest. He cheated people. He even tricked his own brother out of his birthright. He had a lot of flaws. He would be somebody we would compare to that discarded piece of wood. Surely God wouldn't have anything to do. With him, surely God would find somebody more perfect, no, God doesn't judge the way we judge, God doesn't look on the outside, God looks at the heart.

Even when we make mistakes, God doesn't write us off. He doesn't say you had your shot, you're done. No, God always gives us another chance. Why? Because God can see the ego in the wood. He can see the butterfly in the world. He can even see a champion in a failure. But it's up to us. The only way that transformation will take place is you have to believe that you're forgiven, believe that there's mercy for every mistake.

Believe that you are who God says you are. One time in the Old Testament, an army invaded Jerusalem, kidnaped some of the people and killed their king. For the first time, the people of Israel were without a leader. They were discouraged, didn't know what to do. As they sat there thinking that it was over, the prophet Michael rose up and said, Hey, why are you crying? Why are you discouraged? Is there not a king in you?

I believe God is saying the same thing to each one of us. There's a king in you. You may have made mistakes, but the king is still in you. You may have gone through disappointments. People may have treated you unfairly. You miss good opportunities, but let these words sink deep down into your spirit. The king is still in you. The Queen is still in you. You need to put your shoulders back, hold your head up high, carry yourself with confidence.

You have royal blood flow into your veins. You are wearing a crown a favor. I'm not looking at ordinary people. I'm looking at royalty. I can see kings. I can see queens. I can see your crown of favor. I can see your robe of honor. I'm looking at children of the most high God. Now you got to start calling out that king, calling out that queen. You've got to release what God put on the inside.

Well, you say, Joel, this is not for me today. I've made lots of mistakes. I've lived a rough life. No, that didn't change what God put in you. You couldn't be any worse than Jacob. He failed again and again. But God's mercy is from everlasting to everlasting.

It never runs out. God will never give up on you. And God kept working on Jacob, making him and molding him. One day God said, Jacob, amore, change your name. His name, literally deceiver. God said, I don't want you to be called that anymore. You've gone from a worm to a butterfly, from a discarded piece of wood to a beautiful eagle. Your new name is going to be Israel. Israel means prints with God.

He went from being called a cheater to being called a king. Now, when somebody said hello, Israel, they were saying Hello King. They were calling out his seeds of greatness. They were prophesying, reminded him who he really was. No doubt he started thinking, I'm not a cheater, I'm not a deceiver, I'm not a trickster. I'm a prince. I'm a king. I've been chosen by God. I've got a destiny to fulfill.

I've got an assignment to accomplish. He renewed his mind and that's when the transformation took place. Some of you the only thing that's holding you back is your thoughts toward yourself.

You're focused on your mistakes, how you blew it, how you didn't measure up. You've got to reprogram your thinking. Get rid of those wormy thoughts all through the day. I'm redeemed, restored. I am royalty. I am more than a conquer. I believe today is going to be the start of some transformations. Some metamorphosis are about to take place. You need to get ready. Talent is going to come out of you that you didn't know you had.

Strongholds of inferiority are being broken. You're going to feel a new boldness, a new confidence to step into the fullness of your destiny. Some of you have one wing out and that's good. But God doesn't want you to stay in your cocoon. He didn't create you to squirm. He created you to soar. It's time to get the other wing out. If you will start renewing your mind. Programing it with what God says about you, then you're going to release the full year.

I'm calling out the confident you. I'm calling out the successful you, the blessed you, the talented you, that disciplined you, the excellent you. I believe and declare the king in you is coming out. The eagle in you is coming out. The butterfly in you is coming out. You're not going to stay where you are. You're being transformed. You're going to soar and go places that you could have. Ever gotten to on your own in Jesus name, I declare it if you receive it, can you say it in?

We never like to close our broadcast without giving you an opportunity to make Jesus the Lord of your life, would you pray with me? Just say, Lord Jesus, I'll repent of my sins, come into my heart. I'll make you my lord and savior friends. If you prayed that simple prayer, we believe you got born again. Get in a good Bible based church. Keep God first place. He's going to take you places that you've never dreamed of.

Thank you for listening to the Toulouse Dime podcast. Help us continue to share the message of hope with those all over the world. Visit Jostein Dotcom Slash. Give Hope to give a gift today. Thanks so much for listening to today's message. I hope you'll subscribe so you can receive the latest podcast to keep you inspired all through the week. We're praying for you. I know God's best is still ahead. We'll see you next time.