Rick Warren - Exactly What the Bible Says To Do When Your Life Falls Apart

Setbacks are the stepping stones to my future. Setbacks are

not the barriers in the path to your future. They

are the path to your future. If you'll get this,

it'll change the way you look at all your problems.

And we looked at a dramatic example illustration of this

last time together, when we focused on the life of

Joseph in the Book of Genesis for thirteen years. Remember,

Joseph had one bad setback after another, seven different setbacks.

None of them were his fault, every one of them

call us by somebody else. They were painful, but at

the end of his life, Joseph could look back and say,

they meant it for bad, but God meant it all

for good.

Same is true for you.

There is a purpose behind the setbacks for your life.

And God will use literally everything in your life, even

the bad stuff that other people mean for bad in

your life. He'll use it for good if you'll trust

him completely. So why don't we have such a hard

time with setbacks? Well, the reason why we have a

hard time is because we panic when things don't happen

as fast as we wanted. It don't happen as simply

as we wanted. We worry and we get anxious, and

we doubt, and we think God doesn't know what he's doing,

and we don't trust God, and and and in a word,

we become afraid. Now, listen, fear is your greatest enemy

in life. Fear, worry, anxiety, this nervousness. And if you're

going to learn how to turn setbacks into comebacks and

let God use them in that way, you're gonna have

to learn to deal with fear.

So today I.

Want us to look at what do you do when

a setback fills you with fear. And if you're filled

with faith, then you're going to benefit from your setbacks.

But if you're filled with fear, you're going to be

broken by the setbacks happen in your life.

Now, think about this. Everybody has secret fears.

You may have the fear that nobody's ever going to

love you. You may have the fear that your life

doesn't matter, nobody's gonna notice you. Maybe you may have

the fear of dying alone. You may have the fear

of never finding true love. You may have the fear

that people would reject you if they really knew what

you were like. You know, as I thought about where

to take you in the Bible this week to show

you how to deal with the fears that arise when

your plans get messed up, when you have setbacks in

your life. The choice was obvious to me. We got

to look at the Christmas story because Jesus' birth messed

up everybody's plans, and it actually caused a lot of

fear for those involved at the personal level. You know,

it is significant that when you read the Christmas Story

that the phrase don't be afraid is repeated four times,

not once, but four times. In the Christmas story, the

angels have to say don't be afraid. They say it

to Mary, they say it to Joseph, they say it

to the shepherds, they say it to Zachariah.

And today you know, we know.

The good news of Jesus' birth, but to those who

heard it for the very first time, it scared them

to death. And the Bible tells us that the news

not only frightened those who heard it first, but it's

scared the entire city of Jerusalem.

That's what the Bible tells us.

In fact, every one of the main characters in the

Christmas story had to deal with their own set of

fears because of their.

Own plans had a setback.

Now, you know, as I reread that story this week,

what was interesting to me is that two thousand years later,

you know what, we're all still dealing with the exact

same fears that they had two thousand years ago.

Now.

I don't know what fears you may be personally dealing

with right now because of some setbacks in your life.

I don't know what's causing you to panic, cause you worry,

to keep you awake at night, to have anxiety or

even panic attacks. But I do know this, God doesn't

want you to be fearful. And so what I want

to do in this message is show you five common

fears that people faced at the very first Christmas. And

I want you to show I want you to see

God's antidote to those fears that you feel when you

have setbacks in your life. I think you're going to

identify with these. Okay, all right, So what were the

fears that people had to face at the very first Christmas.

Let's get right into this Number one. Let's talk about Mary.

First.

Mary faced the fear of inadequacy. Mary faced the fear

of inadequacy, and that happens when you have a step

back in your life.

Now, think about this. Mary is a young peasant girl.

She's probably maybe, I don't know, fifteen, sixteen years of age.

She's engaged to be married. This is a happy time, Perer.

She's happily planning her wedding day. This is a fun time.

She's got all the plans of assume to be bride

in her head, and she's got it all planned out.

She's got her whole life planned out. And then one

day an angel interrupts her plans. It's a setback and

he shows up. That would be enough to scare anybody.

If an angel showed up in my bedroom, it was

scare me. But the angel's message is even more shocking.

And the angel says, Mary, by the way, you're pregnant.

And Mary's going, how can this be? I've never had

sex with anybody. And then the angel drops the second

half of this bomb. He says, oh, by the way,

not only are you pregnant, but you're carrying the Son

of God. God is coming to earth and he's coming

as a baby, and you're going to be the mother

of the Son of God. Now that is a setback

to Mary's sweet and simple plans to just get married

and settle down?

Are you kidding me?

She's gonna what's this all about? Her mind must have

been filled with panic. She would have been overwhelmed with fears.

What does all this mean? How much supposed to react

to this?

Why was I chosen me? Why now?

How am I going to explain this to everybody? Wouldn't

you feel a little inadequate? Wouldn't you be a little fearful?

Of course you would. In Luke, chapter one, verse twenty

nine to thirty four, it says this Confused and disturbed,

Mary tried to think what the angel could mean. So

the Angel said, do not be afraid. This is the

first of the four fear nots. Do not be afraid, Mary,

for God has decided to bless and to use you.

And you're going to have a son, and you will

name him Jesus, and he will be the Son of

God and his kingdom will never end. And then Mary asked,

but how can this be? Well, you'd ask the same thing,

so would I. Now Mary would have to deal with

the skepticism of a family and friends, and know she's

gonna be an undwed mother. She's got to make a

long trip on a donkey the day before she delivers,

got to move to go to Bethlehem. She's gonna have

to deliver her first child by herself in a barn

with no doctor, no mother, or no midwife. That's scary.

And then she's got to raise the son of God. Really,

the fear of inadequacy is one that we can all

relate to. Am I good enough? Am I up for

the task? Can I handle this? Mary has a legitimate fear.

Now there's a second fear in the story. Now that's

Joseph's fear. Joseph struggled with a different fear. Joseph faced

the fear of disapproval. Now imagine his position. Your fiance

comes to you and says, honey, I'm pregnant. Now you

know that you've never had relations with her, and she

claims God made me pregnant.

It's his child.

How are you gonna explain that to everybody in town.

Imagine the ridicule, the shame, the gossip, the criticism heaped

on him. You know, Joseph, they say he's crazy to

believe that story. She's taken him for a ride. And

the Bible tells us that Joseph's first reaction was to

break off the engagement privately. Matthew Chapter one, verse eighteen

to twenty. He says, now this is how Jesus Christ

was born. His mother Mary was engaged to be married

to Joseph, but while she was still a virgin, she

became pregnant by the Holy Spirit. Joseph, her fiancee, being

a good and righteous man, decided to break off the

engagement quietly so it wouldn't disgrace Mary publicly. I mean,

he's still protecting his fiance But after he can consider

doing this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him,

so he's getting scared. Appeared to him in a dream

and said, Joseph, don't be afraid to take Mary home

as your wife, because the child in her is from

God's Holy Spirit. And just like with Mary, God has

to tell you fear not. This is the second of

for fear not. He said, don't be afraid.

Now, let me ask you.

Who's disapproval are you afraid of? Let me ask you

another way, whose approval are you living?

For?

You know, the Bible tells us that the fear of man,

or the fear of disapproval, is a trap it will

limit you and you will miss God's will. You'll miss

God's plan for your life. If you're worried about what

other people think, then you're not gonna hear what God.

Has for you.

Joseph could have missed the greatest blessing in his life.

Now next, the third fear we find with the shepherds.

Now the shepherds face the fear of unexpected change. And

we all have this one when we have setbacks in

our life. Unexpected change. Yeah, set back too, and what

was it? Their plans got changed? Now, let me give

you the picture. This is at night time in there.

The shepherds are out enjoying a quiet night the field. Okay,

they're out laying on the grass tending their flock of sheep,

and they're bedded down for the night. The sheep are

betted down, it's quiet. They're looking up at the stars,

probably telling a few jokes, eating, you know, maybe made

some popcorns, some snores or something. But suddenly the skylights

up and like an explosion of brightness in the sky

and they go, oh, UFOs, you know what is this

And a huge choir of extraterrestrial beings starts singing loudly.

Would that scare you? Yeah, yeah, you know, certainly that's

a scary site.

What is going on?

And their plans for quiet evening are interrupted, And the

fact is they will never be the same.

Again.

Luke chapter two, verses eight to ten, says that night

the shepherds were in the field outside the village guarding

their flocks of sheep, and suddenly an angel of the

Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord's

glory flashed surround them. It's like this flash of brightness,

and they were terribly frightened. Everybody's scared at Christmas. So

the angels had to say to them, here's the third time.

Do not be afraid. Let me ask you. Do you

like being caught off guard?

No? Do you like unexpected changes in your life? No?

It shoots adrenaline straight into your system and you get

that natural fight or flight reaction when all of a sudden,

somebody throws you a curveball and out of left field,

everything's changed and you go, what where'd that come from?

And you've got a setback in your life.

Now, Listen, sometimes a setback is just God showing up

in your life. You don't realize it. But it's God

showing up in your life, and that could be very unsettling.

It can be scary because the status quo is upset,

and all of a sudden you're out there just looking

up on a starry night and ready to go to sleep,

and God shows up. God doesn't want to scare you.

This is the third time the Angels have to say,

don't be afraid. Now there's a fourth character who panicked

when there was a setback when Jesus was born, and

it was the man appointed by the Roman Emperor to

be the ruler over Israel while they're under the occupation

of the Roman Empire. Now, this guy, his name was Herod.

He was given the title King of the Jews by

the Roman Emperor. But the Jews considered this guy to

be an impostor and a tool of the enemy, and

they despised Herod. So the phrase Herod King of the Jews.

They hated that, and they hate him. Plus, King Herod

was incredibly insecure. In fact, this guy was so paranoid

of being overthrown. Listen to this King Herod was so paranoid.

He may have had a mental illness. He had his

brother in law murdered, that he is afraid he might overthrown.

He had his mother, his own mother murdered, he had

his wife murdered, and even had his two sons murdered.

He was scared that somebody was going to take over,

kick him out, and take over control. Now, when Herod

hears that the promised Messiah, the true quote King of

the Jews, had been born, what's his reaction. He panics,

He's afraid. He is so petrified that he would re

replace that he goes out and he orders all the

children under two years of age in the city of

Bethlehem to be killed, just to make sure that Jesus

doesn't live. Now, King Herod faces a fourth kind of

fear that we often have once we have a setback

in our life. Financial setback, helped set up set back,

marriage setback, parent setback. King Herod faced the fear of

losing control. Oh boy, this is a common fear. You've

had this one many times, the fear of losing control.

Matthew chapter two, verse one to three says this Jesus

was born in Bethlehem during the time that Herod was

the King of the Jews, and then some wise men

came from the east to Jerusalem, and they started asking

where's the child born to be King of the Jews?

Now that scares Herod. We saw a star in the east.

We've come to worship him. When King Herod heard this news,

he was deeply frightened, and he was disturbed and noticed,

so was everyone else in Jerusalem. You know, it's interesting

that at Christmas time we sing that song silent night,

all is calm, all is bright, but when reality not

everybody was calm when Jesus was born. Now, let me

get real personal and ask you, what are you afraid

of losing control of? Let me put it in another way.

What's out of control in your life and it's scaring

you to death? What's out of control in your life

and you're still trying to pathetically control it?

You know?

He said, well, how do you know when I'm afraid

of something's out of control my life?

Simple?

There's a warning light. When you're trying to control the uncontrollable,

there's a warning light. The warning light is called worry.

Worry is the warning light that you're trying to control

the uncontrollable. Every time you start worrying, you're trying to

control the uncontrollable. We'll come back to this. But finally,

there's one other guy in the Christmas story who has

a setback and his life gets turned around.

His name is Zachariah. He was an old priest.

Now, Zachariah's wife was named Elizabeth, and Elizabeth was actually

Mary's cousin during Mary's pregnancy. When she heard that she

was pregnant, Mary went to stay with this couple with

Zachariah and Elizabeth an older, older couple. Now, Elizabeth and

Zachariah had prayed for many, many years to have a baby,

but it had not happened, and they had had one

set back after another trying to get pregnant, but they couldn't.

Now they're very old and they're childless, and they've given

up all hope. But one day God shows up and

says to zachariah's finally gonna happen.

Guess what, You're going to be a daddy.

But Zachariah didn't believe it, and he's afraid to get

his hopes up. He's been disappointed so many times, so

he doubts God. And this is another common fear that

happens when you've had one set back after another in

your life, you start becoming afraid in this area, Zachariah

faced the fear of being disappointed. You've had this one too.

You have had the fear of being disappointed. I've been

disappointed so many times. I'm afraid to get my hopes

up Luke Chapter one, verses eleven to thirteen. It says,

while they were serving in the temple, an angel appeared

to Zachariah, and when he saw the angel, he was

confused and overwhelmed. That's frightened, overwhelmed with fear. But the

angel said to him, do not be afraid. There's the

fourth don't be afraid, says Zachari. Don't be afraid. Your

prayer has been heard. While it's about time I'd finally

given up. Now, notice again God has to say fear not.

Are you getting the point that God doesn't want people

to be afraid? That God doesn't want you to be afraid.

No matter what set back you're going through, God does

not want you to be afraid. God brought you here

so he could say this to you. No matter what

you're going through, don't be afraid, God said Zachari, You're

finally gonna get your child By the way, Zachariah's long

awaited son, he became somebody famous. He was called John

the Baptist, Jesus' cousin. Of these five fears, which of

these have you struggled with because of setbacks in your life?

The fear of feeling inadequate. I can't do it, so

i won't even try. The fear of disapproval or the

fear of rejection, so I'm just gonna be a people pleaser.

The fear of unexpected change like the shepherds, so I want.

Everything to say the same.

The fear of losing control like Herod, so I don't

want anybody messing with my plans. Or the fear of

being disappointed. I've been let down so many times. I

just don't even dare to believe, or trust or have hope.

And listen as your pastor, who love you and who

prays for you, I want you to know that for

God to turn your setback into the comeback that he

wants it to be. For God to turn your setback

into that comeback, you're going to have to exchange your

fear for faith. You got to turn your fear of

the circumstance to faith in God. How in the world

do you do that? How do you replace fear with faith?

The answer is do the same four things that the

people did at First Christmas in this passage that we've

just looked at.

So let's just go through it real quick. Here's what you.

Do if you want to reduce the fears, the anxieties,

the panic in your life. Number one, First, surrender my

life completely to God every day. It starts with surrender.

I surrender my life completely to God every day. Surrender

is the first antidote to fear and anxiety and panic.

You let it go, you give it up, You give

yourself completely to God. But you do it not just once,

You do it every day. This is how Mary overcame

her fear of inadequacy. The Bible tells us that Mary

prayed a prayer of surrender, and she put everything that

she didn't understand into the hands of God and just

trusted him completely. Luke, Chapter one, verse thirty eight. It

says this, Mary responded, when she heard all this fantastic story, Well,

I'm the Lord's servant and I am willing to accept

whatever God wants for my life. Have you said that

that is a statement of surrender? I am willing to

accept whatever God wants for my life. I want to

challenge you to whisper that right now. I am willing

to accept whatever God wants my life. I am willing

to accept whatever God wants for my life. That's the

prayer of surrender. God will never ask you to do

something without giving you the ability to handle it and

call the equipped.

He equips the call.

And he if you say I am willing to do

whatever he asked me to do, He's going to give

you the ability. Your confidence is not going to be

in yourself. Your confidence is going to be in Him.

And I started saddleback church with no money, no members,

no building, no support. I'd never been a senior pastor.

But he did have confidence in God. And I remember

telling it to Cave. So what do you think, she said, Well,

I believe in God and I believe in you, so

let's go for it.

He said.

It scares me to death, but I believe in God

and I believe in you, so let's go for it.

Joe eleven, verses thirteen to eighteen says this surrender. It says,

surrender your heart to God, turn to Him in prayer,

and give up your sins. Then you won't be ashamed,

and you'll be confident and fearless. Here's how you get

confidence and fearlessness. Surrender yourself to God and your troubles

will go away like water beneath a bridge, and your

dark night will be brighter than noon. And then you'll

rest safe and secure, filled with hope and emptied of worry.

That sound pretty good to you. Sounds good to me,

Fill with hope and emptied of worry. How do you

do that?

Starts with surrender? And so well? How often do I

take this step?

Just every day if you're if you're fighting anxiety, you're

fighting worry, in security, fear because of the setback you've

had in your life. Before you get up in the morning,

you need to say, Father, I surrender this day to you.

I surrender my past, my president, and my future. That's

the starting point. Second thing you do to move past

your setback listen, is to stop listening to the voices

of fear. Stop listening to the voices of fear around you. Now,

all around you are our naysayers and all kinds of

fearful people, and the media in particular is filled with

naysayers and fearful people. By the way, sometimes those fearful

voices are inside you. Sometimes you need to stop listening

to you, and you need to replace the.

Fear with faith.

As I said earlier, Romans fourteen twenty three says this,

whatsoever is not a faith is sin. You see, fear

is the opposite of faith, And anytime you walk in fear,

you're not walking in faith.

Now, I don't know if you know.

This, but fear is a communicable disease. It's highly contagious.

If you hang around fearful people, guess what, you're going

to become fearful. So let me give you a couple

practical suggestions to lower the fear.

In your life.

Number One, turn off talk radio and negative TV news shows.

Study show that the more you listen to those kind

of shows, the more angry and more fearful you become.

Let's just turn it off. You don't need it.

Number Two, start hanging out with people of faith instead

of people of fear instead. It's one of the reasons

you need the church family. You need to get into

small group. Now, let me give you a third practical

antidote to the worry and fears that come with setbacks. Okay,

this is definitely from God. Number three, Fill my mind

with music that praises God.

He said, what yep, if.

You're having problems with panic, with anxiety, with fear, fill

my mind with music that praises God. Did you know

the Bible teaches over and over again that praise is

the antidote to panic, that worship is the cure for worry.

You know, we do this instinctively whenever there's a crisis

like a hurricane. Okay, people instinctively cry out to God.

People cry Oh God, why because you lose your fear

when God is near.

You know.

I had a neighbor once to tell me, said, you know, Rick,

when I was going through the darkest days of fear,

I bought a ten CD set of praise music and

I just.

Listened to it over and over and over. He said.

It gave me both comfort and courage. You might need

to do something like that. Fill your mind with the

music of praise. You know, when Matthew, our youngest son,

died a few years ago, Kay and I we didn't

turn on the TV for well over a month. Instead,

we filled our home with praise music. Do you know

what Mary did when she felt fearful and aquid. She

wrote a song of praise and she sang it. In fact,

Mary's song is in Luke chapter one. You might read it.

It's verse forty six to fifty six. It's a long song,

but part of it says this. Then Mary sang, with

all my heart, I praised the Lord. She's scared to death,

but she says, with all my heart, I praise the Lord.

I rejoice in God, my Savior, for he notices and

cares for me, simple servant girl. He's blessed me. And

he's the mighty one who's holy. He's all powerful, he

can do anything. He meets all our needs. He keeps

all his promises. She's just filling her mind with who

God is and what he can do. You know, we're

talking about the Christmas story. It's no accident that Christmas

is the most music centered holiday because at the very

first Christmas, everybody sang. Elizabeth sang, the angels sang, the

shepherds sang, Zachariah sang. If you're having a problem with

anxiety and fear, you need to fill your life with music.

You need to sing the songs at worship of worship

on the weekends at church. Now, let me give you

a fourth way to defeat the fears to come with setbacks.

Base my hope on the promises of God. Base my

hope not on what I think I can do, but

what on God has promised to do. Now, this is

what gives Mary and Joseph such confidence. In Luke, Chapter one,

verse forty five, Mary says to Elizabeth, you're blessed because

you believe that the Lord would do what he said.

Do you believe the Lord will do what he said?

And so I'm fifty six, verse three and four. David

says this. You know, when I'm afraid, I put my

trust in God. And when I trust in God, I'm

not afraid I praise him for what he's promised. I

praise him or what he's promised. There is the fourth

antidote to when you're overwhelmed with anxiety, when you're filled

with fear, when you.

Are pummeled by panic.

Now, friends, I don't know what's set back you're facing

right now. I don't know what fear is holding you back.

I don't know what anxiety is keeping you up or

gnawing at your heart. But I do know this that

if you'll take these four simple steps, you will move

toward your comeback, and you'll move out of your setback,

and your setback will be the stepping stone to your future.

Let's review, surrender my life completely to God every day.

Stop listening to the voices of fear. Fill my mind

with music that praises God, and base my hope on

his promises. Let's bow our heads Father. This stuff is

so practical, it's simple. Anybody could understand it. And yet

only if we do it will it make a difference.

To hear a message will not change our lives, but

to practice it, to do it, to put it into

application in our lives, will make permanent changes. And Lord,

I pray for everyone listening to this message right now.

There are people who are filled with fear. They're panicked

about things in their lives. They've been trying to control

the uncontrollable. They've been worried about what other people think.

They've had set back that have changed the agenda, and

all of a sudden, their plans have been thrown out

the door, and they don't know which way to turn.

And just like Herod and just like Zachariah and the

shepherds and Joseph and Mary what they thought was going

to happen, and where they thought they were headed, it

didn't happen. And they're going in a different direction right now.

And there have been setbacks. And Lord, we know that

the natural thing is to be afraid and be fearful

and to be scared. But you've told this these simple steps,

so may we take them today. Why don't you pray

this prayer in your heart? Say God, I surrender my

life completely to you. Say that, God, I surrender my

life completely, including the things that are scaring me to death,

including the things that have me worried and anxious, including

the things that are causing me panic or anxiety.

I give this to you. I surrender it to you.

And then say, Lord, I want to fill my life

with faith, not fear. So I want to stop listening

to the voices of fear, even my own voices. I

want to listen only to your voice. I want to

listen to your word, to your promises. And I want

to fill my life with the music of praise and

replace panic with praise, and replace worry with worship. And

when I start to worry, help me to turn my

thoughts to you. The solution instead of the problem. And

I ask you, Lord to help me to move into

the days ahead trusting in your promises, putting my hope

not in myself or even in my plans, or putting

my hope in you. If you've never invited Jesus Christ

to your life, say Jesus Christ, come into my life

right now and become the manager. I want to follow

you as best I know how from this day forward. Father,

I asked that you give everyone in our church family

a sense of peace this next week. Bless them in

every area with peace and with power and with your

presence in the name of the Father and the Son

and the Holy Spirit.

Amen.