God looks on the inside. He is more pleased with somebody with a right heart that may fail every once in a while, than with somebody that has a wrong heart and performs perfectly all the time. The Scripture says in 2 Chronicles 16:9, “The eyes of the Lord are searching the earth to show Himself strong in those whose hearts are turned perfect toward Him.” God is not looking for people who have perfect performance, who have perfect behavior, who never make a mistake. He’s looking for people who have a perfect heart toward Him. That means you may make mistakes, but you have a desire to please Him. Deep down, you want to honor Him with your life. It’s your heart that matters.

When you have extra mile obedience, you set miracles into motion.
God begins to pour out blessings, open up doors, bring super natural provision, healing, things that you couldn’t make happen that will thrust you into new levels of your destiny.
God bless you.
It’s great to be with you today, and If you’re ever in our area, please stop by and be a part of one of our services, we would love to have you.
Now, I hope you’ll stay connected with us during the week.
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But I like to start with something funny. And I heard about this pastor.
He’d been out bare hunting all day long, searched and searched through the woods and could find any sign of a bear.
Finally, in frustration, he threw his gun on the ground and went to the stream to cool off.
In fact, that time, he saw this huge grizzly bear, about a hundred yards away running toward him full speed ahead.
He fell on his knees and said, god, please convert this bear to a Christian.
Miraculously, the bear froze in his tracks, put both paws up in the hair, and said, Lord, thank you for this food I’m about to eat.
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 confessed, My mind is alert. My heart is receptive.
I will never be the same in Jesus name. God bless you.
I wanna talk to you today about extra mile blessings.
There are times god asks us to do things that are hard, things that don’t make sense.
to give something to others when we need it more than them, to take a step of faith when we don’t have the experience, or to forgive someone that doesn’t deserve it.
Everything in our logic says, this is not right. That’s too much. It’s not fair.
God is asking you to go the extra mile. Anytime you obey, there’s a blessing that follows.
If you’re going to see extra mile blessings, you have to have extra mile obedience.
When you do the hard thing that god’s asking you to do, it’s not because god’s trying to make your life miserable.
It’s because he has something awesome coming your way.
You can’t reach the fullness of your destiny without extra mile obedience.
There are good breaks, increase, healing that are only connected to doing the right thing when it’s hard.
And it’s good to obey in the small things. That’s important. Be kind to a neighbor, give to charity.
A coworker is rude, and you let it go. That’s not real difficult.
But when you’re about to go to a new level, when you’re about to see something unusual out of the ordinary, don’t be surprised if god asks you to do a hard thing, to go the extra mile.
Well, god, I’ll keep giving my offerings each week, but not that money I’ve saved up for my dreams.
I’ll forgive that relative that offended me yesterday, but not that one that hurt me 5 years ago.
I’ll go to work on time, do my best, but I can’t apply for that management position.
You know, I’m not qualified. There are extra mile blessings waiting for you, something out of the ordinary.
The question is, will you have extra mile obedience?
Is god asking you to do something that seems too hard, uncomfortable, to break away from a friend that’s causing you to compromise?
to be more disciplined in what you’re watching, to go back to school and sharpen your skills.
Everything in your reasoning will tell you, you don’t have time. It’s not gonna matter. Don’t rock the boat.
Yes. It may be difficult, but if you could see the blessing that’s attached to the obedience, If you could see the joy, the fulfillment, the provision that you would dig down deep and do it.
1st King 17, there was a widow that lived in the city of 0 Fab.
Her husband had died, and now she was living there alone with her one son.
There was a drought in the land, dried up all the crops. She couldn’t find any groceries.
All she had left was a little flour and a little oil. just enough for one meal.
She was out picking up sticks to build a fire. She was going to cook her last meal.
few days earlier, the prophet Elijah was at the Jordan River where he had been living.
Every morning, the Ravens these birds would come to him, and that’s how he survived.
Well, the ravens quit coming.
God said to him in verse 8, go to the city of 0 5, there is a widow that will feed you there.
It’s interesting that god sent him to a widow that didn’t have any food.
When god does things that don’t make sense, that means he’s up to something out of the ordinary.
something supernatural is about to happen. Elijah came walking into town, saw the widow gathering up the wood.
He said, excuse me, ma’am, I’m traveling through the city. Would you please bring me a cup of water?
That was no problem. She was kind. She was giving. She stopped what she was doing.
Despite her own challenges, she went to get the water. most of us are like her.
If it’s not too much, we’re going to do it.
If it’s a small thing, no problem, But here’s the test.
As she was going to get the water, Elijah said, ma’am, I’m hungry too.
Please bring me a loaf of bread as well. The water was easy. The bread was hard.
She said, sir, I swear by the lord your god, I don’t have any bread in my house.
I only have enough flour to make me and my son some food.
We’re going to eat it, then we’re going to die. You would think Elijah would say, I’m so sorry.
I’m gonna help you find food.
Instead, just after she poured out her heart, after she had swore that she didn’t have any extra food, Elijah said, I understand you don’t have enough for all of us, but make me a loaf of bread first.
Give me what I need.
If you’ll do this, the lord god of Israel says there will always be plenty of flour and plenty of oil left in your containers.
Elijah was saying, if you will have extra mile obedience, If you’ll do something that doesn’t make sense, that doesn’t seem logical, nothing in your reasoning says to make him a meal when you need a meal, But if you’ll do it, you’ll see an extra mile blessing.
You’ll see supernatural provision, supernatural increase.
What god asks you to do is not always going to make sense.
It’s not always going to be logical. This is what faith is all about. Give away what you need.
Make him a meal first. This widow didn’t understand it. Thoughts told her you’re making a mistake.
This couldn’t be god. You and your son should be eating this last meal, but this woman dared to obey.
She took that step of faith and made him a meal first.
Verse 16 says, she and her son continued to eat from the flower and from the oil.
For no matter how much they used, there was always plenty of oil left in the containers.
When you have extra mile obedience, you set miracles into motion.
God begins to pour out blessings, open up doors, bring supernatural provision, healing, things that you couldn’t make happen that will thrust you into new levels of your destiny.
Are you missing the great things god wants to do? because you’re not willing to do the hard things.
Don’t talk yourself out of it. The more difficult it is, the greater the blessing.
God could have had elijah show up and tell the woman god wants you to know he sees that you’re struggling.
He’s going to supply all of your needs.
He could have done it without her feeding Elijah, but most of the time an act of obedience is required.
If you’ll do the hard thing, when it doesn’t seem logical, you don’t feel like it.
Everything in your intellect is telling you this doesn’t make sense.
If you’ll have this extra mile obedience, you’ll see god show out in your life.
He wouldn’t ask you to do something hard unless he has something amazing coming.
Is he asking you to forgive someone that hurt you? You’ve been holding on for years.
They don’t deserve it. They were wrong. You’re not excusing their behavior. You’re letting go with the poison.
If you could see what god has in store on the other side of that forgiveness, you wouldn’t think twice.
There are extra mile blessings new relationships, new opportunities, greater joy.
Think about Joseph, betrayed by his brothers, He went through 13 years of injustice, rejection, in prison, all because of his brother’s jealousy, One day, they showed up at the palace.
Now he was in charge, vindicated, promoted.
His brothers were standing before him trying to buy food in a famine.
This was Joseph’s big chance to pay them back, to get even.
But Joseph could hear that still small voice saying, forgive. Be good to them. Let it go.
It’s one thing to forgive when someone is rude to you at the office.
That doesn’t take a lot of effort, but these brothers sold Joseph into slavery. They took his freedom.
He lost years of his life, being away from his family, not following his dream because of what they did to him.
In a sense, he had a right to be angry, to get revenge But Joseph understood this principle.
He had extra mile obedience. He forgave people that didn’t deserve it.
He forgave the people that tried to ruin his life.
And because he showed god that he could trust him, to do the hard thing, to forgive when it wasn’t fair, to be good to people that weren’t good to him, god poured out extra mile blessings.
He put Joseph in charge of the whole nation.
When you have extramile obedience, you do what god’s asking you to do when it’s hard, It’s not fair, doesn’t make sense.
There’s no limit to how high god will take you.
Is god asking you to break away from people that are pulling you down.
You know, there are negative influence causing you to compromise. Joel, they’ve been my friend for years.
We always hang out I know it’s not easy, but where could you go?
What could you become if you did the hard thing?
God wouldn’t be asking you if he didn’t have extra mile blessings in store.
Is god asking you to keep a good attitude in a negative situation You’re working hard, but not seeing growth, praying for your child.
They’re not changing. You lost a client. Business has slowed.
You attempted to be critical, complain, live sour, do the hard thing. Keep being your best. Keep thanking god.
Keep being good to people. Keep declaring the victory.
When you do the hard thing, you set miracles into motion. angels go to work.
Good breaks come looking for you. In the early 19 seventies, Lakewood started to grow.
We had less than 200 people for 13 years. Now my father’s dreams were starting to come to pass.
We were in the original building, the little feed store. We needed a larger auditorium.
One Sunday, my father announced to the congregation that we were going to build a new sanctuary that held a thousand people.
He asked everyone if they would pray about what they could give toward it.
In a few weeks, he was going to take up a special offering. The whole church was excited.
People gave generously. We had enough to get started. There was a small Spanish church down the road.
They had been building a new church for months. It was going very slowly.
1 afternoon, my father stopped by to see how they were doing it.
He’d never met them, didn’t know anyone.
He just wanted to be friendly in let them know that we were praying for them.
They told how they started their building, but it costs more than they thought.
They hid some setbacks and ran out of funds.
Now it was just sitting there half finished, had part of the roof, part of the walls, nothing inside.
The next day, my father heard a still small voice saying, I want you to give that money.
You took up for your new building, to that Spanish church so they can finish their building.
His first thought was get behind me Satan. That could not be god. That’s money for our sanctuary.
He began to reason it out, but he couldn’t get away from it.
Down deep, he knew he was supposed to give that money. Like Elijah and the widow, it was a test.
Will you make me a meal first? Will you do the hard thing?
something that you don’t understand and give away what you need.
After debating it a few days, he finally decided to do it. The Spanish pastor was so thrilled.
He couldn’t believe it. They were able to finish their building.
What’s interesting is the funds for Lakewood’s building started coming in from all over.
A lady flew into town that had never met my father, never been to Lakewood, She had read some of his books, but she handed my father a check for more than what we gave the Spanish terms.
One lady out of the blue Like this widow woman, there was supernatural provision.
The money came in for the foundation, the steel, the walls, the seats, the sound system.
The whole building was built debt free.
We never lacked for resources, not just that building, but my father built another sanctuary and another and another paid cash for everyone.
Never borrowed. The provision kept coming. It all started when he did a hard thing.
He gave away what he needed.
When you have extra mile obedience, You’re going to see these extra mile blessings.
This really boils down to a question of trust.
God was saying to the widow, if you take care of the profit, if you make the last meal, do you trust me that I’ll take care of you?
to my father, if you give the funds to that Spanish church, do you trust me that I’ll give you the funds for your church?
If you forgive that person that hurts you, do you trust me that I’ll make it up to you?
On the way to your destiny, God is going to ask you to do things that require great trust.
You can’t have extra mile obedience if you’re not convinced that god is going to take care of you, that he has the favor, the blessings, the funds, the people, the confidence to get you to your purpose.
The last Sunday that we were in our former location, right before we came to the Compact Center, I was driving home after the services that afternoon.
was very emotional pulling out of the parking lot for the last time.
I spent my whole life at that location.
As I was leaving there, There was a rainbow in the sky.
It looked like it stretched from the old location to this place.
It was like god was saying, I’m doing a new thing. I felt very grateful.
And about that time, I passed the Spanish church that my father and the first congregation helped build some 30 years earlier.
On their small marquee out front, it said, thank you Lakewood for giving us our building.
Now I wonder if I would be standing here if my father had not had extra mile obedience.
Had he not done the right thing when it was hard?
Had he not proven to god that he could trust him?
I don’t know if I would be seeing the blessing and favor on my life.
Where will your children be 30 years from now if you will have extra mile obedience?
What kind of favor good breaks, abundance will they see because you did the right thing when it was hard.
You could have played it safe. not taking any risk, held onto the hurts.
But like this widow, you said, god, I trust you.
Doesn’t make sense, but I’m gonna do it even though I don’t understand it. You had extra mile obedience.
Get ready. You’re gonna see extra mile blessings.
Blessings that not only catapult you ahead, but your children and grandchildren will be better off.
They’ll walk in favor and blessings because of you.
Anytime god asks you to do something hard, that’s a sign that something big is in your future.
The widow went from getting by each day, having just enough to survive to having abundance, provision that never ran out.
My father went from believing for one sanctuary, hoping to have the funds to pay for that thousand seat auditorium, to having the funds over the years to build multiple auditoriums, much bigger than he ever imagined.
Don’t put off the hard thing.
God wouldn’t be asking you to do it if he didn’t have something much better in your future.
But sometimes we let fear hold us back. What if I do it, Joel, and it doesn’t work out?
What if I make the profit, the meal, and I starve?
What if I give these funds and I can’t build my sanctuary?
David said, I was young, and now I’m old, and I’ve never once seen the righteous forsaken.
God is not going to let you down.
Don’t let fear and doubt keep you from seeing the greatness of our god.
He’s gonna ask you to do things that don’t make sense.
It’s because faith has to do with your heart, not necessarily your mind.
That’s why the scripture says, lean not to your own understanding.
If you can figure it out, make it work on paper, you’ve got it calculated, how it can happen, then you don’t need faith.
But when you’re like this widow, you calculate, I have enough flour for one meal.
I’ve made bread my whole life. I’m concluded. We’re limited. that’s when faith has to kick in.
God, if you want me to make the profit a meal first, you want me to do something I don’t understand.
I trust you. doesn’t make sense to me, but I realize I’m natural and you’re supernatural.
You control the universe. You spoke worlds into existence. You stopped the son for Joshua.
You gave Sarah a baby at ninety years old. You parted the seat for Moses.
You opened prison doors for Paul. You brought water out of a rock for the Israelites.
I recognize your jehovah Jairah, my healer, my deliverer, my promise keeper, my waymaker, my miracle worker.
Jesus was on the shore of Galilee about to teach the people so many were gathered that he didn’t have room.
He saw a boat over on the side. The owner, a man named Peter, was cleaning his nets.
Jesus had never met Peter, but he asked to borrow the boat.
He pushed out from the shore and started teaching. The scripture says Peter had fished all night and caught nothing.
He was a little frustrated, tired, ready to get home as soon as this man gets out of his boat.
When Jesus finished, he asked Peter to do something that didn’t seem logical.
He said Peter, launch out into the deep and you will catch a great haul of fish.
I can imagine Peter thinking, excuse me, I’m a professional fisherman, You’re a teacher.
I didn’t tell you how to teach. I’ve been doing this for years. I know when to fish.
This is not the right time. everything in his logic said, don’t do it.
It’s gonna be a waste of time. He could have said, sir, I appreciate your suggestions. Thanks for your advice.
But that doesn’t make sense. He could have walked away, and we would have never heard of Peter.
But I love the fact that even though Peter didn’t understand it, even though it went against his logic, he said, Jesus We’ve fished all night and caught nothing.
Nevertheless, at your word, we will go back out.
He threw out his net and caught so many fish that is net begin to break.
When you have extra mild obedience, god will give you net breaking blessings.
blessings that you can’t explain, increase it doesn’t make sense. You weren’t the most qualified.
You didn’t have the seniority. but the promotion came to you. The healing came to you.
The right people came to you.
It’s significant that there were no fish there a few hours before but god knows how to bring the fish to your nets.
What you tried before may not have worked, but when you hear god say do it again, Don’t reason it out.
Don’t talk yourself out of it. Go back out.
God is putting the fish, the provision, the healing, the good breaks, right where you need it.
Wasn’t there last time, but it’s going to be there next time.
Couple of years after Victoria and I were married, we sold our townhome It was a beautiful place, backed up to the woods.
We made a good profit, and we’re looking for a house. One day, Victoria called me at work.
said, Joel, I found our new house. Come see it. It was this old rundown house. It had been abandoned.
Doors were missing. had holes in the roof. There were buckets inside to catch the water.
Had major foundation problems, the floor was all crooked.
Nothing about the house was good, but it was on a nice piece of property close into the city.
Victoria was so excited. She said, Joel, we can fix this up and do this and do that.
We will love living here. I thought she had lost her mind It didn’t make sense.
We just came out of this beautiful townhome.
This place was a teardown, but when I would get quiet, I would hear that still small voice saying she’s right.
This is your property. I felt peace about it. We bought it and fixed it up.
A year later, a builder knocked on our door and asked if we would sell the property.
I said, no, thanks. It’s not for sale.
He said, how about if I give you this amount, I said, like I said, we’d love to sell it.
We sold him half of the property. He built 2 houses, one for us and one for him.
A year later, we had a brand new beautiful home, something more than we ever imagined.
When you have extra mile obedience you’re gonna see these extra mile blessings.
Don’t talk yourself out of what you know God is asking you to do.
It’s not always gonna make sense.
make the profit a meal first, give the funds to the Spanish church, go back after we fished all night, buy this old rundown house, trust that god knows what’s best for you.
He’ll never ask you to do a hard thing unless he has something amazing coming.
Sometimes we miss god’s best. We miss the extra mile blessing because we don’t wanna take a risk.
We don’t wanna forgive. We don’t wanna give what we need.
That’s what’s going to take you to the fullness of your destiny.
That’s where you’ll see the greatness of our god.
My friends, Craig and Samantha, had their 3rd child a while back.
And for a couple of years, everything was great. but they began to notice little Connor wasn’t developing like normal.
He was diagnosed with autism, their people of faith, They know that god’s in control, but it was still difficult.
They could have sat around to feed it and bitter. God, why did this happen?
But in the midst of their pain, Craig heard god say to him, I’m gonna use your son, Connor, to help people all over the world.
Craig said, god, my son can’t even talk. He can’t even ask for a drink of water.
How’s he gonna help people? Wasn’t long after that that Samantha walked in his room one night about to put him to bed.
Connor had his Bible in his hand. He held it up and said, this is my Bible.
I am what it says. I am.
He quoted the whole saying, he had been watching our videos Those were the first words that he ever spoke.
They were so thrilled. Craig was the head of our children’s ministry at the time, He realized we didn’t have any programs for children with special needs.
Parents couldn’t attend church with these children that are not able to sit through a service.
He felt god telling him to start a ministry for special needs children.
He could have thought god is hard enough to raise our own son. Our hands are full.
That doesn’t make sense to take on more challenges. God was asking him to do a hard thing.
to birth a ministry out of his pain.
Craig and Samantha started the champions club for children with autism and special needs.
the 1st month, 300 new families joined the church.
Today, there are over 100 champions clubs in churches around the world. Craig had extra mile obedience.
What happened? He has seen extra mile blessings.
just like god said, Connor’s influence is impacting people all over the world.
Is god asking you to do a hard thing? something that doesn’t make sense, doesn’t seem fair.
If you’ll take that step, you’ll see god show out in your life.
It’s easy to make excuses, reason it out. It’s not logical. What if I fail?
They don’t deserve it. I’m not qualified.
if you could see what’s on the other side of that obedience, the joy, the favor, the victory, then you wouldn’t put it all.
There are extra mile blessings waiting for you, blessings that will thrust you ahead.
The way you release them is by having extra mile obedience.
If you’ll do this, I believe and declare, like the widow you’re going to see supernatural provision.
Like Peter, net breaking blessings, like my father, increase that affects your children.
Like Craig and Samantha, out of your pain, you will see your purpose. New doors opening.
Dreams come in the past. favor that catapults you into your destiny in Jesus name.
And if you receive it, can you say amen?
I’d like to give you an opportunity to make Jesus the lord of your life.
Would you pray with me? Just say lord Jesus, I repent of my sins.
Come into my heart. I make him my lord and savior.
If you prayed that simple prayer, we believe you got born again.
We’d love to send you some free information on your new walk with the lord just text the number on the screen.
You can go to the website and take our new beginnings course.
I hope you’ll get into a good Bible based church. and keep god 1st place.
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You help keep the ministry
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You’ll see his favor in new ways in your life.
I know our best days are still up in front of us.
We love you, and we’ll see you next time.