What's on Your Thrown?

Pastor Joel Osteen @ Lakewood Church

We all have setbacks and if we're not careful we'll let that setback consume us constantly taking God off the thrown and putting our problems on the thrown.

The more you dwell on your problem, the more it will discourage you.

When David faced Goliath he never talked about how big he was. 

Then said David to the Philistine, Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied.  This day will the Lord deliver thee into mine hand; and I will smite thee, and take thine head from thee; and I will give the carcases of the host of the Philistines this day unto the fowls of the air, and to the wild beasts of the earth; that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel.

1 Samuel 17:45‭-‬46 KJV

I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.  My help cometh from the Lord , which made heaven and earth.

Psalms 121:1‭-‬2 KJV

We can't just wish something away. If you allow something to become big in your mind you're giving it permission to happen.

For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of is come unto me.

Job 3:25 KJV

It's easy to focus on what didn't work out. 

The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former, saith the Lord of hosts: and in this place will I give peace, saith the Lord of hosts.

Haggai 2:9 KJV

SOVEREIGN 

People can't stop God's plan for your life. 

Joaeph, sold into slavery by his jealous brothers, rose to become vizier, the second most powerful man in Egyptnext to Pharaoh, where his presence and office caused Israel to leave Canaan and settle in Egypt. Joseph went through 13 years of injustice before he received vindication.

And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations:   And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father.

Revelation 2:26‭-‬27 KJV

Don't let worry take God off of the thrown.

Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.  Trust ye in the Lord for ever: for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength:

Isaiah 26:3‭-‬4 KJV

When you go through disappointment you'll be tempted to put those disappointments on the thrown.

You don't have to make everything happen in your own strength...and you can't. Don't think that you have to do a lot of things perfectly to be successful.

We love people so much that sometimes we climb on the thrown but we can't control people.

O our God, wilt thou not judge them? for we have no might against this great company that cometh against us; neither know we what to do: but our eyes are upon thee.

2 Chronicles 20:12 KJV

Worry is like buffering...our mind is going around in circles because we've lost connection

Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.

Psalms 46:10 KJV

But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.

Psalms 22:3 KJV

Climb and Maintain

Tyler Perry @ Lakewood Church

Anecdote: Tyler Perry was in an airplane when they hit turbulence. He was worried and told the pilot that he needed to land the plane when air traffic control came over the radio and instructed him to climb a certain amount of feet and maintain.

And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am.  And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.  And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him.  Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off.  And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you.  And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife; and they went both of them together.  And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?  And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together.  And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood.  And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son.  And the angel of the Lord called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I.  And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me.  And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son.  And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah–jireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the Lord it shall be seen.

Genesis 22:1‭-‬14 KJV

Isaac is led up to a high place by a loced one and he notices that something is missing.

God has already created the pieces that will assemble to create your life...we can't control it and He has already taken care of it. 

Climb (Pray...go yonder) and Maintain (Worship)

"And it came to pass" not to stay.

Abraham told his servants that they'd both be back...that's faith