Rick Warren - You Are Called to Become—Part Three

Hello everybody, and welcome to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope. This

is the Bible teaching ministry of Rick Warren. Now today

we're continuing into the new year, and we're digging deeper

into one of life's biggest questions, does my life really matter?

In today's message, Rick's going to continue his powerful series

Live Your Calling? What on Earth Am I here for?

In it, you'll discover how living out God's purpose for

your life brings real meaning, direction, and joy no matter

where you're starting from. Okay, now here's the final part

of a message titled you are called to become Number seven.

If you're gonna make it to the finish line and

be the woman God wants you to be, be the

man God wants you to be. I must take every

step with purpose, take every step with purpose. Tell you

I didn't do this for a lot of years in

my life, but I don't want to waste any step anymore.

I don't want to waste any energy anymore. I don't

want to waste any word anymore. I don't want to

waste any breath, any step because I don't know how

many steps I have left, and you don't either. You

don't know if you're going to live a week, a month,

a year, or what you don't know. So whatever steps

you're going to take, you better do them on purpose.

And you need to be more disciplined, and you need

to be more self controlled, and you need to take

every step and every moment in your life with purpose. Now,

if you're gonna become the person God wants you to be,

that's the third calling in life. I'll be honest with you,

there are some things you're gonna have to deny yourself.

You're not gonna get to do everything that everybody else does.

Because if you want to be God's woman, God's man,

you want to be what you're created to be. You

just can't go out and do everything what everybody else does.

As I said, you can't follow their plan, and you're

planning God's plan all at the same time. Anybody who

trains for the Olympics gives up an enormous amount of

things to be a winner. They eat a certain way,

they go to bed at a certain time, they don't

do certain things, and you're gonna have to deny yourself.

You just can't tack on God's purpose to what you

want to do with your life. It's planned A or

plan B. And so you have to say, I'm gonna

have to be disciplined. I'm gonna have to take every

step on purpose. Like Saint Paul, you have to be

purpose driven. Look at this next verse one Corinthians nine.

All athletes practice strict self control. In other words, to

be a win you get in the super Bowl, you

gotta discipline yourself. They do it. They do all this

self discipline, self control. They do it to win a prize.

It'll fade away, But we do it for an eternal

prize in heaven. So I run straight to the goal

with purpose in every step. I'm not like a boxer

who misses his punches. Paul says, I'm way beyond the

years of shadow boxing. If I'm going to take a punch,

I'm gonna make sure it lands. I'm not just out

there beating the air. I'm not just shadow boxing. I'm

not wasting my time. I'm not wasting my life. If

I'm going to land a punch, I'm gonna make sure

it has contact. And if I'm going to take a step,

I'm gonna make sure it has a step of purpose

in my life. That's how you get to the finish line. Hebrews,

the Book of Hebrews gives us more advice. Back to

chapter twelve Hebrews twelve, Verse thirteen, twelve and thirteen says

this because God knows you're gonna get tired in the

marathon of life. He says, lift up your tired hands

then and strengthen. You're trembling these in other words, when

you feel like I can't go on, I'm out of energy,

I'm out of gas, he says, you just ask God

for more strength. Keep walking. When you're going through hell,

what do you do? You keep going. You don't want

to stay in hell. When you're going through hell, you

keep walking. When you're walking through hell, you keep walking.

And he says, keep walking on straight paths. Circle straight paths.

We'll come back to that, so that your lame foot

circle that lame foot will come back to that may

not be disabled, but instead be healed. And he says,

when you're running the race of life and you're becoming

what God wants you to be, he says, you need

to keep walking on the straight path. Don't be tempted

to by crooked ways when things aren't working out, don't

be tempted by crooked ways. Don't be tempted by shortcuts.

Shortcuts are going to get you into deep weeds. Stay

on the straight and narrow path and head for the goal.

And he says, then your lame foot will not be disabled,

but instead it'll be healed. What's you talking about there?

In the race of life, we all run with a limp.

Every one of us have limps. I just said it early.

You have some emotional limps. Your emotion don't always work right.

You have somer relational limps. You have some weaknesses in

your relationships. You have some physical limps. Your body doesn't

always work right. You have some spiritual limps. You're not

as strong spiritually as you could be. You have some

financial limps. You don't have the money that you could have.

You have all kinds of limps. Everybody walks through life

with a limp. Now, if I have a natural limp,

I'd better stay on the straight path, because if I

get on a crooked path with a natural limp, I'm

more likely to stumble. And if I get on a

rocky path with a natural limp, I'm more likely to fall.

If I get on a crooked path and a mountain path.

Then I'm let to stumble because I have a natural limp,

a bent to fall. The only way I'm going to

stumble less is if I stay on God's straight path.

Then I'm not going to stumble as much. We all

run life with a limp. Michelle was born one of

three because of some doctors, the things they did wrong.

Two of the babies didn't get the oxygen they needed

when they were just being born, and they were born

with cerebral palsy. And Michelle has walked with a limp

her entire life, very pronounced, but over time she said,

I'm going to walk the straight path and I'm going

to learn to overcome and do the best I can

with what I've got. I want you to watch this

video on Michelle's life.

My name is Michelle, and I want to tell you

a little bit about my story. When I'm an identical

set of triplets and we were born three much premature,

which caused brain damage, which caused a disability called serbopolity,

and it affected me and my sister Megan, me minorly

just having a limp. They didn't wasn't sure if I

was gonna walk. Growing up, I started off with a walker,

which allowed me to get around and keep up with everybody.

I was really determined to not be left behind, and

I just went everywhere with that thing. So after moving

around with my walker for a while, I decided to

take that leap of faith and step away from the walker.

And one day, when my dad was walking home from work,

I just saw him and I let go of my

walker and I walked into his arms for the first time.

Once I kept progressing and making these little steps of

big faith to me, I thought that anything was possible.

I started getting involved with every sport in soccer and baseball,

and I decided that I wanted to take a karate

because I thought it would be fun, and I broke

my first board, and I never thought that I would

have been able to do that. I just loved sports

and how made me feel, and how free I could

just be, even though I would fall down or the

reality of my CP would set in every day, and

there'd be times where I'd be walking to class feeling confident,

then all of a sudden I would fall and drop

all my books and then slowly get up, but then

look up and realize that there's a crowd of kids

just staring at me. The embarrassment that comes along with

the shame and realizing that you're different and just sets

in as I try to get up and as all

my friends are realizing that I'm different. And I think

for me, the big step was just the courage to

get up or keep moving on. When I fell. There

comes a time in your life where you have to

make a decision. Are you gonna stay stuck in the

place that you're in or are you going to shut

out all those voices and all those things that push

you down. But the key to those challenges is the

courage to get back up and take that next step.

And then I decided that I would go running with

me and my friends Hillary and Natalie, And they just said,

come on out with us, and I said, I've never

ran before, but bear with me. In my mind, I

just said, this is horrible. I hate, like it's so

painful to run and why does anybody do this? And

as they coached me, I started to realize that as

a lot of imagery in my life of getting up

and moving forward, running was the next thing. As I

started making these steps of progression to make it farther

and farther each night and running next to my friends

just with the biggest smile on my face, saying I'm

doing it.

Is this right?

And now my friends are saying, we're gonna push you

another step into a five K, and I look at

them as I look at their fitness plan for me,

and I say, you're crazy. And then I remember all

those times I got up said I'm gonna get up,

I'm gonna run. The thing I realize now is that

there's always gonna be challenges in my life. Whether that

means I have a disability or not. I'm always gonna

struggle and get stuck. But I realized that the most

important thing is to have the courage and the faith

to get back up. Whether that means I'm doing that

alone or with people, it needs to be done because

I'm living my life, not anybody else. And so in

that process of growing and becoming what Christ has called

me to be, he needs me to get back up,

and he needs me to walk alongside of him. But

I'm running alongside of him now.

Now, Michelle, yesterday a major barrier was broken, a goal

that you had that tell us about what happened just then.

Well, yesterday as I spoke a little bit about it

in my video. I'd been running for the last couple

of months, and every time I go out for an

hour or so and run half a lap or so.

And just yesterday my friend was pushing me a little

bit more and I she said, let's go a little further,

let's go a little farther. And I told her last time,

last time, or yesterday, I said, I haven't been running

last week, so bear with me and go easy. And

she didn't really take that into account. But so as

I was running a little bit farther one of the

last times, it was like my third lap, I she said, okay,

just go a little farther. Something just clicked in my

head and I said, okay, I'm almost there, just a

couple more feet. I just say, okay, God, you gotta

give me the courage, you gotta give me the strength,

because I don't know if I could do this. And

as I look up, I see the line where it

means that I finished. And yesterday it was the first

time I finished my first lot.

I have fantastic all right, So so what's your long

range goal?

Well, my long range goals. I was discussing with my

parents would be to take Rick's job eventually, not a chance.

We can talk about it later.

We can talk about it later, we can negotiate that.

All right, all right, would you like to have Michelle

as a pastor here? Uh? Yeah, you're good. All right.

Uh so what's your short term goal? Let's start with

that one then.

Oh well, physically it would be to do the five

k as I mentioned in the video, and then eventually

down the road. Down the road would be to do

a triathlon and one up my mom.

Yeah. Yeah.

But occasionally I want to follow this calling that God

has put on my heart to just sit and be

with people and tell them that when they have these

hang ups and when they have these limbs, and when

life throws them hardships, I want to tell them that

it's gonna be okay, and that we are going to finish,

and God is gonna come down and be here and

we're gonna finish the race together.

Fantastic. Hey, thank you, Thanks, you love you. You know.

One of the things that's part of that story is

that Michelle decided to start running because your small group

of friends pushed her. Is anybody pushing you, is anybody

saying you can do this. I know you can do this.

We'll be with you. God's with you. We're with you.

Let's do this thing together. And are you doing that

for anybody? Who are you pushing? Who are you in

life staying? I'm with you, I'll help you. God is

with you. He'll help you. You can do this together.

We're gonna run this next lap of the race together.

You gotta have those people in your life, friend, or

you're not going to be the woman God made you

to be. You're not going to be the man God

made you to be. You got to have those friends.

Now there's one last step, and this is my favorite

one of all. It touches me deeply. The eighth thing

that the Bible teaches us about the race of life

is this, I need to realize that what I don't finish,

God will. What I don't finish, what I don't get

finished in my life, God will. I was created to

become like Christ. But if I don't get there and

there's still some remaining parts left, God is going to

complete the character development in my life one day, and

He's going to finish it and bring me to perfection,

bring me to completion in heaven. Philippians Chapter one says this,

this is a great promise. I am sure that God,

who began the good work within you, will continue his work.

It's his work. He will continue his work in you

until it is finally finished. Circle that finally finished. On

that day when Christ Jesus comes back again, friends, what

a day that is going to be. What a day

when you either go into heaven or he comes here

either one. What a day that's going to be. Because

on that day when you see Jesus Christ, you don't

see him right now face to face. He's invisible to you.

But when you see him face to face, every mirror

neuron in your body, in your brain is going to

start going overload mirror neuron and you are going to

be transformed to become like him. Your weaknesses gone, all

your limps gone, all your fears and faults gone, all

your failures and frailties gone, all of your insecurities gone,

all of your blemishes and flaws gone, and you will

be transformed into perfection one day, and those mirror neurons

are going to be on overload and you will reflect

the glory of the Lord. That is such good news. I'm

not who I ought to be. You're not who you

ought to be. We're not a fraction of what we

could be. But God says, that's okay. I'm taking my time.

I'm cheering you at every stage. You just take every

step with purpose, because one day I'm going to finish

what you didn't finish, and you're going to be changed

boom instantly into my likeness. If you have put yourself

in my hands, what a day that will be the

last first on your outline. It's actually first John, not John,

first John three to two, and it says this, It's

an amazing promise. Dear friends, dear dear friends. We are

already God's children, and we can't even imagine what we

will be like when Christ returns. But we do know

that when he comes, we will be like him, for

we shall see Him as he really is. And what

I don't finish in my lifetime, God is gonna finish.

I am so so glad for that. In this race

of life. You may have struggled in the race of life,

Welcome to the human race. We've all been there. We've

all struggled in this race. You may have stumbled. We've

all been there. In this race you may have been sidelined.

We've all been there. But your race is not over.

It's not your heart's still beaten. See, your race isn't over,

and it's never too late to get back up and

get in the race again. And in this family, you

are loved. You are beloved, You belong and you can

become what God meant for you to become. Let He

always intended. And if you get in a small group

that learns to be safe and learns to be supportive,

they will help you back up. Every time you stumble

and fall on your face. That's okay, it's part of

the race. And as your pastor, I am committed to

helping you cross the finish line. It's never too late,

You're never too old. It's time to get back up

and get in the race. That's bower Heads Now. Each

week I give you one or two baby steps as

a suggestion. And I don't know what baby step you're

going to take out of this message, but I want

to begin with a prayer, and I want you to

follow me in this prayer, say, Dear God, just say

that in your mind. Dear God, for the first time today,

I have realized that you are cheering me at every

stage in the race, and when I stumble, you don't

condemn me. You cheer me more that you believe in me.

I want to take every step with purpose. I don't

want to waste one day of the rest of my life.

I've done too much of that. I want to accept

the third purpose of my life, my calling to become

like Jesus, and I'm willing to take these steps. I

want to lay off, strip off the stuff that doesn't

matter in my life, the stuff that slows me down,

holds me back, especially the sins that trip me up.

I want to simplify my life and focus on the

particular race that you have given to me. I'm so

grateful that you're patient with me. Help me to not

get in a hurry. I want to be an oak tree,

not a mushroom, and so I want to spend time

with you so I can become like you. I want

to find a special place to spend a few minutes

every day focusing on Jesus so that I can be

a mirror that reflects your love to others. And Lord,

when it gets hard and I'm winded and i feel

like giving up, help me to remember the reward. Help

me to remember, Jesus, all that you went through and

you never gave up. Thank you make me strong, give

me the support, keep me from falling as you've promised.

Help me to find a team to run with me.

At this next stage of my life. I want to

get in a small group. I want to build a

safe place for others. I want to spur others on,

and I want them to spur me on. Most of all,

You're Jesus. I thank you that what I don't finish,

you will that one day all of those things that

I dislike about myself are going to be removed from

my life. And when I look at you and those

mirror neurons start flashing, I will become like you. Thank you,

Thank you that I don't have to stay the same.

Thank you that you give me the power to change.

Jesus Christ, I give you as much as I know

how every part of my life. If you've never done

this before, say Jesus Christ, come into my life and

make yourself real to me. If you said that, say

Jesus Christ. Today, I rededicate my life to you, and

I thank you that you will finish whatever I don't

complete in your name, I pray Amen. You know, if

you just prayed that prayer for the very first time,

or you just recommitted your life to Jesus again today,

would you let me know about it. There's something real

about sharing your commitment. So write me Rick at Pastorrick

dot com and say, Rick, I prayed that prayer of commitment.

I gave my life to Christ. And I'll send you

some material that will help you on your journey with Jesus.

And I'll also pray for you. God bless you.

What a fantastic message from Pastor Rick. You know, Daily

Hope is changing lives every day. Here's Pastor Rick with

a letter from one of our listeners.

Hi, everybody today, I want to share a letter from Edam,

a listener from Canada who talks about the impact Daily

Hope has had in his life. I love these stories,

he writes. The Daily Hope Ministry has helped me greatly

in shifting the lens through which I see life. I

know now that I was created for God to fulfill

his purpose. I understand that every trial or every situation

I face in life is a test of my character

and is preparing me for Heaven. I started listening to

Daily Hope at a time when I was confused about

my existence. This was when times were bad and I

didn't have a job. I always thought a profession to

find who I was. But Daily Hope shifted my perspective

on life and my purpose, and I soon started to

experience peace in my heart when I least expected it.

Even though I landed a great job, I understand that

it doesn't define who I am or my purpose. I

was created God and for God, and I want to

surrender fully to his will. So I want to say

thanks to you and to the entire Daily Hope team

for the impact that you've had on my life. What

an incredible testimony of how God's working through Daily Hope

to bring about strong sense of purpose in people's lives.

So thank you everybody for your ongoing support and your

faithful prayers. More lives like Ittoms will be changed in

Jesus' name because of you.

Hey, if you'd like to let Rick know how this

broadcast has blessed you, he would love it. Please feel

free to send him an email at Rick at pastorick

dot com. That's Rick at pastorick dot com. Be sure

to join us next time as we look into God's

Word for our daily hope. This program is sponsored by

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