Friday night I got to see Joel Osteen live at Kemper Arena, and it was great. Joel and his family preached about Hope and living through the eyes of faith. I had been praying about how to be an encouragement to someone dear to me and I really connected with the Victoria's talk about "abounding love." Saturday I was able to share this with my loved one. I learned that Friday night while I was praying for wisdom on how to encourage my loved one's troubled relationship, God was already at work patching it up. What I shared was a confirmation of that for both of us. I knew what I heard during this "Night of Hope" was annointed and I even got the Holy Goosebumps to go with it. Praise God!
What was a shock was Sunday morning at my own bible-based church listening to one of the teaching pastors criticize (although he did not name names) Joel's message of Hope and Victorious Life In Christ. Aware of the criticisms of Joel's ministry, I prayed for discernment. Who is right?
As always, if there is a conflict in teaching we must revert to the source and so I picked up my bible and prayed for discernment. Lord, who is right? Whose teaching do I follow, Joel's or my teaching pastor?
I began to read Philipians 1 and was amazed to find the very scripture that Victoria had preached on that gave me guidance to encourage my loved one:
"And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight," and following that with a comma not a period was the answer to my prayer for discernment, "so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God."
Okay, so that quickly confirmed that I should trust the peace the Spirit was giving me about Friday night's teachings. Does this then mean I should dismiss my pastor's comments or even more drastically find a new bible based church? Probably not. My answer became clear as I continued to read Philipians 1:
"It is true that some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, but others out of goodwill. The latter do so in love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. The former preach Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing that they can stir up trouble for me while I am in chains. But what does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of this I rejoice."
This just reiterates the importance that each one of us remain in God's word. Why do you think the bible is the world's bestselling book of all times? So we can each have our own copy. We each need to be reading it so that we can become discerning and wise and be filled with the Hope that is God's word. And God's word walked among us when Christ was on earth and Christ walks among us now in God's word. We are not sponges meant to sit on pews and soak up preaching after preaching without considering it or evaluating it. We are to grow in the knowledge and depth of insight so that we will be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.
I believe that many of Joel's critics are missing the point-- Jesus is Good News! The slam on the doctrine of "positive Christianity" is an oxymoron. Christ is good news-- that is positive!! Christ came to bring Hope into the world, He embodies Hope, He came to set us free from our sin, to give us life in the Full. This is the message--- this is the good news.
But I am not upset with my pastor for criticizing Joel's message, as Paul says, "What does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of this I rejoice."
