10 Best Vacuum For Long Shaggy Carpet

Best Vacuum For Long Shaggy Carpet in 2023

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

A Fruit Cocktail, Vacuum Cleaners and Joel Osteen

Joel Osteen is known for his voice of hope as well as for raising the eyebrows of various critics, but, in midst of it all, is there a middle perspective on him? Here is a fresh perspective on "America's Pastor".

I am talking about none other than Joel Osteen, the pastor of America's largest church.

The charismatic, smiling pastor is indisputably one of the most influential pastors in America, and he is not going away anytime soon. (Did you happen to hear that he is coming out with a new reality tv show?)

He is the topic of discussion and debate among many. Many support, and many oppose, but is there a middle ground, a middle view?

The Fruit Cocktail (A Closer Look At Lakewood)
When your ministry gets the support and help of pastors like Billy Graham, Max Lucado (who endorses your very first book), Samuel Rodriguez, Brian Houston, Ed Young Jr. and Judah Smith, there has to be something, or someone they see at work in your ministry.

Did you now that Joel Osteen has created a network/partnership with various churches that is proactive in reaching new people and getting them plugged into local churches?

Did you know that Sunday at 11 o'clock is said to be the most segregated hour in America, but for some reason, Lakewood -the church Joel Osteen pastors- is recognized as a church that is not composed of any one class, culture or race?

Did you know that there was a group of young adults from Lakewood that went to Kenya this summer to spread the good news of Christ and 2,000 people came to Christ?

There are also stories of people who have overcome drug addictions after visiting Lakewood. (I actually have a friend who was addicted to drugs, and he cites Joel Osteen's ministry as playing a big role in being delivered from that addiction.) There are stories of broken marriages being restored. There are stories of supernatural providence.

Can we really give a young man who dropped out of college the credit for all of this? There has to be something more.

Furthermore, the church has fellowship (Acts 2:42), communion (Lk. 22:19-20), worship (Jn. 4:23), teaching (2 Ti. 2:15) and evangelism (Mt. 28: 18-20). It also is a house of prayer for all nations (Is. 56:7).

There's a fruit cocktail at Lakewood, and based upon the fruit, I think it comes from heaven's diner. Others have seen it, and I see it too.

Caution Tape
The times that I've tuned into Pastor Osteen's messages or read some of his books, I've heard him convey messages about fathers prioritizing their families, our identity in Christ, forgiveness, generosity, and humility, among other good things, yet there are three things we should be cautious with Joel Osteen.

(This is the part where the caution tape begins to unwind, and we discuss some of the things that concern many about Pastor Osteen.)

First. God, as Osteen points out, wants to be involved in every aspect of our lives. He wants to be our provider, our healer, and our deliverer. We can trust him in our finances, our health, our trials and in our relationships. This seems like a good thing, no?

However, though this is good, Osteen's broadcasted sermons, to a certain extent, create a spotlight on the blessing rather than the blesser. Because some things are left out of his sermons, our happiness, as a result, seems to depend on the blessing. Do we really need our dreams' fulfillment , a job promotion or a new car to make us happy? They are good things, but what about that simple and important message of the gospel? There is joy in being a friend of Christ. Having a relationship with Christ is the greatest and most satisfying treasure.

Second. Although I think passionately believe he should (1 Pet. 3:15), Joel Osteen has continuously shown himself not to be one to respond to difficult questions about faith. (My advice: Don't rely on his responses for these sort of questions.)

Third. There is one thing absent from Osteen's televised sermons. Round Grace. He speaks about grace, but it is a bit of incomplete picture of grace.

Why do I say that?

The beautiful, golden texture of grace cannot be realized until the hard, ugly texture of sin is revealed. It is at the point where our sin is exposed that God's grace is exposed. How often do his televised sermons take us to that crossroad where we find Christ's round, substantial grace?

Fortunately, Lakewood church has a team of associate pastors and leaders, such as Dr. Paul Osteen, Nick Nilson, Marcos Witt, Israel Houghton, and Danilo Montero, that continuously add to the gospel message proclaimed and sang at Lakewood, creating a message of round grace and centrality in Christ.

Vacuum Cleaners (What should we do?)
I will repeat what I said earlier. There are good things in Pastor Osteen's sermons, but, as any other pastor, the words of Pastor Joel are fallible.

So, my advice? Use a vacuum cleaner.

Huh?

Instead of letting your heart be a basket that takes in everything Pastor Joel says, be like a vaccum cleaner that takes in only certain things. Absorb what is good and leave out what is not good. Listen to Joel Osteen, but don't only listen to Joel Osteen. Listen to a diverse set of pastoral voices.

Listening to different voices as well as reading God's word will equip you from getting glued to anything that is erroneous of Joel Osteen, or any other one pastor for that matter. Here are some suggestions of other voices: Andy Stanley, Dante Gebel, Tim Keller, Greg Laurie, Adrian Rogers, Louie Giglio, Jentzen Frankin, Charles Stanley and Francis Chan. (Warning: Even these great men of God will have errors. The only thing (notice I didn't say pastor) that is infallible is the word of God. So, above listening to other pastors, know and read God's word.)

One more thing. I'm not here to make a rule like "thou shalt listen to Joel Osteen only one hour a week", but I will give you a set of questions that will serve as a litmus test to see if you're listening too much to him.

Do you catch yourself saying, "as Joel Osteen says..." more than you find yourself saying, "as the word of God says..."?

Is what Joel Osteen says to you like "law" for you? Is everything he says like the indisputable truth for you?

I pray the best for Pastor Osteen, but if something would happen to him (scandal, disappearance, death), how severely would it impact you and your relationship with Christ? Are you detached enough from the minister, and attached enough to Christ?

Your responses to these questions are good indicators.

There's a fruit cocktail at Lakewood. One that bring joy to my heart, but there are also several things that worry me. There are things we have to look out for.

We have to be like prudent vacuum cleaners...