Joel Osteen - Hearing The Heavenly Cheers

The great cloud of witnesses that we're surrounded by are the Heroes of Faith mentioned in chapter 11. This paints the picture of a big stadium up in heaven with a race taking place. The people in the grandstands are the saints of old. These Heroes of Faith are looking down, cheering us on. You're not running your race alone, all of heaven is pulling for you.

Your loved ones in heaven are not just floating around, they don't know anything. No, they're cheering for you, they believe in you. They had their time, now this is your time.

By faith I could hear the heavenly cheers. I could hear David say say, "Joel, the giant may look big. I've been there, but I can tell you: our God is bigger. I defeated it, you can defeat it too".

I could hear Gideon saying, "You feel unqualified, intimidated, you don't think you can pastor the church. I've been there. I was hiding when God called me a mighty hero. I was afraid, but God called me to lead the people. Joel, you have what it takes, you a mighty hero".

I could hear my father saying, "Joel, that building was destined to be ours, fight for it, believe for it, you've been raised up for this time". When you know heaven is cheering for you, you'll feel supernatural strength, you'll have the faith to do what God's called you to do.

By faith you need to hear the heavenly cheers. The people that mean the most to you, the ones that invested in you, that raised you, made sacrifices for you, they're not only proud of you, but they're pulling for you.

All of heaven is cheering for you. I can see Joseph step out of the grand stands, he said, "I had a lot of detours, delays, people betrayed me, my family threw me into a pit, but can I tell you? God is faithful. It was all a part of his plan to get me in position as the prime minister of Egypt".