Presenting word of God

If you are into channel surfing during commercial breaks, you wouldn't have missed the smiling Joel Osteen on the spiritual channel. That was the way, Me and Feroz, came across his presentation. We were impressed with his presentation skills in presenting the word of God and wondered if other preachers could have such a positive disposition in presenting the word of God as we get to see in him or Sri Sri Sri Ravi Shankar.

Have you ever heard these words on the need for good presentation from a preacher - "Even many good, godly people have gotten into a bad habit of slumping and looking down. You need to put your shoulders back, hold your head up high, and communicate strength, determination, and confidence. After all, We know we're representing Almighty God. Let's learn to walk tall.". These are words from Joel's book "Become a Better You"

Listening to these ideas about God from Joel's presentation, Feroz said rather than people exchanging emails about the importance of praying, doing good works and fear of the day of judegement, which every adult has been told about all his life since childhood, it would be good to exchange such motivational ideas about God and how he wants us to succeed.

Joel says he sees himself more as a coach, as a motivator to help people experience the life God has for us. Some of his words
- If Jesus were here today, he wouldn't be riding around on a donkey. He'd be taking a plane, he'd be using the media.
- I think God's justice is making wrongs right.
- God didn't make a mistake when He made you. You need to see yourself as God sees you.
- It doesn't please God for us to drag through life like miserable failures. The Creator wants you to succeed; He created you to live abundantly.
- You may make some mistakes-but that doesn't make you a sinner. You've got the very nature of God on the inside of you.
- Prospering just doesn't have to do with money
- Only God can look at somebody's heart
- God wants you to be a winner, not a whiner.
- A good thing to remember is somebody's got it a lot worse than we do
- When you focus on being a blessing, God makes sure that you are always blessed in abundance.

Inspirational Mesasge in your inbox every day
http://joelosteen.lakewood.cc/site/PageServer?pagename=JOM_devotional_archive_listing_todays_word&s_month=4/30/08

Creative Force of Life - No matter where you are in life right now, God has much more in store for you. God wants you to take you to new levels in every area of your life. He wants you to give more wisdom so you can make more decisions. He wants to give you a stronger anointing so you can have a greater influence. He wants to bless you financially so you have be a blessing to others. Don't get stuck in the same old rut - there is so much more to life! God has new frontiers for you to explore and higher mountains to climb! I can tell you with great confidence that your best days are right out in front of you! Doesn't this sounds so much like the Creative force of life when Steven Covey talks about it.

Habit 1 It is time to be aggressive and energetic when it comes to letting go of the past and pressing forward to the abundant life God has in store for you. It is time to rise up and boldly go after your victory! It is time to develop a warrior mentality and proactively pursue the happiness, health and peace that God has promised in His Word. Doesn't Steve Covey talks about experiencing the creative force of our life by making the right choices

Habit 2 If there is an area of life where you are struggling–your marriage, your health, your finances–wherever you may be having difficulty, we encourage you to see yourself succeeding. Once you begin to look at life through your eyes of faith, your actual physical existence will come in line with what you see. If you are going to reap good things, you have to sow good seeds first. Imagine if a farmer decided one year that he really did not feel like planting. We know he must get his seed in the ground if he ever wants to see a harvest. Doesn't Steve Covey talks about this in Habit 2
........and so on

Steven Covey's Seven Habits are principles that are embeded in the word of God. It is Steven Covey's presentation skills that has made them so popular.

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/05_21/b3934014_mz001.htm
In his interview with Businessweek, Joel says his a message is that of encouragement. "I always try to put a seed of hope into people's hearts. I'm not there to teach them doctrine necessarily, but to let them know that God is a good God, and is on their side and has a plan for their lives. Hopefully, that will restore their faith, or draw them into faith."

Q: Some of your critics say that your so-called prosperity Gospel isn't in keeping with the traditional Christian message, which has often been suspicious of material wealth. How do you respond?
A: I believe that God's dream is that we be successful in our careers, and that we be able to send our kids to college. I don't mean that everyone is going to be rich, and I preach a lot on blooming where you're planted. But I don't have the mindset that money is a bad thing. My views may go against some of the older, traditional teachings. But I think we should have a mindset that God wants us to prosper in our relationships, our health, and our finances. God's desire is that we excel.



http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0506/20/lkl.01.html
Some of his responses on Larry King are interesting coming from a Pastor of world repute

KING: But it doesn't quote a lot of biblical passages until the back of the book, right?
OSTEEN: It doesn't do a whole lot of it. My message, I wanted to reach the mainstream. We've reached the church audience. So I just try to, what I do is just try to teach practical principles. I may not bring the scripture in until the end of my sermon and i might feel bad about that. Here's the thought. I talked yesterday about living to give. That's what a life should be about. I brought in at the end about some of the scriptures that talk about that. Put same principal in the book

KING: So then a Jew is not going to heaven?
OSTEEN: No. Here's my thing, Larry, is I can't judge somebody's heart. You know? Only god can look at somebody's heart, and so -- I don't know. To me, it's not my business to say, you know, this one is or this one isn't. I just say, here's what the bible teaches and I'm going to put my faith in Christ. And I just I think it's wrong when you go around saying, you're saying you're not going, you're not going, you're not going, because it's not exactly my way. I'm just...

KING: But you believe your way.
OSTEEN: I believe my way. I believe my way with all my heart.

KING: But for someone who doesn't share it is wrong, isn't he?
OSTEEN: Well, yes. Well, I don't know if I look at it like that. I would present my way, but I'm just going to let god be the judge of that. I don't know. I don't know.

KING: So you make no judgment on anyone?
OSTEEN: No.

KING: What about atheists?
OSTEEN: You know what, I'm going to let god be the judge of who goes to heaven and hell. I just -- again, I present the truth, and I say it every week. You know, I believe it's a relationship with Jesus. But you know what? I'm not going to go around telling everybody else if they don't want to believe that that's going to be their choice. God's got to look at your own heart. God's got to look at your heart, and only god knows that.