Rick Warren - Ignoring the Naysayers - Part Two

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Where Rick Warren brings you uplifting messages from God's Word

every day to help you grow deeper in faith and

live a life with purpose. Today we're continuing in a

powerful series called Toolbox for Life. In this series, Rick

teaches us four essential skills that you need to succeed

wherever God has placed you, whether it's at home, at work,

at school, or in your community. These are tools that

every follower of Jesus absolutely needs. Okay, now here's Rick

with part two of a message called Ignoring the Naysayers.

One time.

Moses sent twelve spies in the spy out the Promised Land.

Two of them came back with a positive fortsay, and

we whipped these guys. God's prepared the place for us.

We're ready. And ten of them came back with the

negative report, said we can't do it. We're little weaklings.

Were like insects in their eyes, and that's typical. The

majority of people were against it, and they could have

stayed out of the Promised Land. In fact, they did

for another forty years because of a negative report. Because

the majority was wrong God had already brought him out

of Egypt. Don't you think he'd take him into Israel? Yes,

but the majority said we can't do it, and the

negativity spread around, and so we have first delay, and

second we have discouragement. Now why had everybody given up

in Israel? Because they were listening to the wrong voices?

Verse sixteen says, for forty days, twice a day, morning

and evening, this philistine giant is Goliath loudly berated the

Israelite army. So every day they're hearing for forty days,

morning and evening, You guys suck.

You guys are weak. You guys are losers.

You're never going to make You know what, If you

listen to that long enough, you're gonna believe it. So

here's my question, who are you listening to about your life?

Are you listening to people who say you'll never amount

to anything? You can't do it?

You know what?

You may be listening to yourself. You lie to yourself

all the time. Did you know that just because you

say something to yourself doesn't mean it's true. A lot

of times you say things are good when they're not.

Lots of times you say they're bad. When when they're not.

And so just because you tell yourself something doesn't mean

it's true. What voices are you listening to? You need

to be listening to God. If you listen to negative

statements long enough, you're gonna become negative. You get paralyzed.

And sometimes when you're in work, you're an officer in

a project, and everybody says, this problem cannot be solved.

What you need is.

A fresh set of eyes and a fresh set of

ears from the outside. And that's what happened when David,

the little shepherd boy shows up on the scene. He

hadn't been on the front line listening to this negativity

every day, morning and evening, day after day, week after week,

month after month. He wasn't infected with it. A new

guy comes in that we can do this. I'll take

this guy on. God's with me, God's with you. We

can win this. It takes an outsider. The Bible says

this in verse twenty three. As David talked with his

brothers on the front line, they were fighting.

He'd just gone to visit them.

He saw Goliath start shouting his usual threats to Israel's army,

and when the army heard Goliath. They all ran away

in terror. If you don't get anything else, get this today.

Don't hang around negative people. Your best friends should not

be naysayers. If they are, they're not your best friend

because they're holding you back through discouragement and delay. Now

there's a third naysayer David had to deal with, and

this actually was his own brother, his elder brother right down.

A third kind of people is his brother questioned his

motives and that was a hindrance. And they're gonna be

people who question your motives. When you share a big dream,

they just think you're on an ego trip. When you

share a big goal, they just think you know you

don't know what you're talking about. They don't know that

you're trusting God. This is the barrier of disapproval. There's

the barrier of delay, there's the barrier of discouragement, and

there's the barrier of disapproval. Now, this is the one

that hurts the most because we all want to be liked.

We want people to approve of us, particularly.

Our own family.

We want our own family to think we're cool. And

so when a relative, particularly a family member, thinks you're

not cool, that's hurtful. You're always gonna have naysayers, and

you may even have them in your closest relationships. Now

here's an example, where's brother questions David's motives. David sees

what's going on, and he sees this wath out there,

and everybody's afraid to take him on. And in verse

twenty eight, David asked, what's the reward for killing this guy?

For killing this philistine? What's the reward for killing this

philistine and ending this disgraceful abuse. Now, when David's older

brother heard this, he heard David ask this question, he

burned with anger at David.

Okay, this guy's jealous.

He didn't like his younger brother asking those questions about

taking on Goliath, and his david older brother says, why.

Are you even here anyway?

Why aren't you taking care of your scrawny little flock

of sheep, You cocky little brat. Then this sound like

sibling rivalry, you cocky little brat. I know how conceited

you are. Now let me ask you who's really the

conceited one here? It's the older brother. I know how

conceited you are. Now, what have I done? Said David?

Can I even ask a question.

Can't you hear the youngest person in the family saying that, now.

What have I done? Now? What have I done?

You know, all I did was ask a question, what's

the reward for killing this guy? David's older brother questions

David's motives. He treats him with disdain, He treats him

with disgust, with disregard, he belittles him. I hate to

tell you this, but sometimes there are family members in

your family who don't want you to succeed at your dream.

It upsets the apple cart, it changes the equation, It

shakes up the system.

Who's really conceded?

Here the brother And by the way, people often misinterpret

confidence in God as conceit. David has great confidence in God.

His older brother does not. And when David goes, I'll

take this guy on, David's all, the brother looks, you're nuts,

You're just conceited, You're egotist, You're you're a conceited little brat.

And people who don't hear God judge people who hear

God as cocky and conceited, and they go, what do

you think you are?

Well, that's not it.

I remember years ago when we bought the first piece

of property for Saddleback Church. It was this property like

Forest Campus. We know are going to have sixteen campuses,

and this is one hundred and twenty acres and it's

very expensive piece of property.

And I remember.

Rumors got out all over South Orange County that this

little church, because we only had about a thousand people

at that time, was going to go try to buy

one hundred and twenty acres. And so I would go

around in South County while we were trying to get

this property, and I would hear people in the barbershop

and in the grocery store going, who do those people

think they are? That saddle Backed church. They're going out

there buying something. They're buying more land than Saddleback College.

They're buying more land than Saddleback Hospital. Who does that

church think they're they're gonna go buy? I don't know

any church in California that is one hundred and twenty

eight youre campus.

Who do they think they are?

And the noise got so loud I actually had to

address it, and one Sunday I got up and I said,

you know, I know, you guys are hearing these rumors

to the community, and they're asking the question, who do

those people at saddleback.

Think they are?

I said, they're asking the wrong question. The question is

not who do we think we are? The question is

who do we think God is? All Right, you let

the size of your God determine the size of your goal.

If you only attempt in life what you can do

in your own power, you're gonna have a puny little

life because you can't accomplish much just by yourself. But

if you let the size of your God determine the

size of your goal, then you're going to have a

big God.

You're going to have a big goal.

And you you only know a goal is from God

when you can't do it in your own power. If

your goal in life is something you're going to achieve

on your own, it's not a goal from God. Because

God will give you a goal that will so stretch

you and grow you and deepen you and pull you

and challenge your faith. It'll be so big you're bound

to fail unless God bails you out. That's the kind

of goals that God gives. And so you know, the

people on the.

Outside, they all those people are cocky.

Listen, when God gives you a dream and it's really

from God that others have attempted and maybe failed, that

you will be misjudged, you will be misunderstood, you will

be maligned, you will be called cocky or arrogant, or

out of touch with re reality or whatever.

But they haven't heard what God told you to do

with your life. Now, by the.

Way, when David asked this question, what's the reward for

killing Goliath? He did actually find out the answer, and

there were three rewards for anybody who would kill this giant.

Number one, you would be given massive amounts of wealth

and you would instantly become one of the wealthiest people

in the nation of Israel. Second, you were given the

king's daughter, Saul's daughter to Mary. And Third, this is

the best of all, you were exempt from taxes the

rest of your life.

Are you kidding me?

I would have gone after Goliath for that one, no

taxes the rest of my life. Those were the three

rewards for anybody who took on Goliath. But there was

this brother who said, you're doing this out of ego.

Now there was a fourth naysayer, And I want you

to write this down because all four of these you

have to deal with discouragement and disapproval and the fourth

one is the experts.

So write this down.

The experts doubted his ability, and in your life there

will be experts who doubt your ability. And David had

never served in a war. He had no military training.

He wasn't an army ranger, he wasn't a Navy seal,

he wasn't adulta force, he wasn't special ops. He had

no training at all as a professional warrior. The only

thing he had is he had a little slingshot, and

he knew how to use it real well. He once

killed a bear and once killed a lion. These are

in the days when there's a lot more animals, obviously

in Israel, to protect the sheep. So he had killed

things with his slingshot. But he had no professional training.

And all the authorities and all the experts and all

of the professionals said, this kid can't do it.

He's a pipsqueak, he's an amateur. He can't do it.

And so when Kings all here's about David volunteering, this

little shepherd boy, volunteering to take on a giant that

everybody else has been afraid to take on. Saul calls

him to his office and David says this verse thirty

two in the Bible, David says to Saul, don't worry

about a thing.

David told the.

King, I'll fight this philistine. Don't be ridiculous. Saul replied,

there's no way that you, a shepherd boy, can go

against this philistine, this giant. You're only a boy, and

he's been a professional warrior all his life. Circle that

word professional. He's saying, leave this matter to the experts. David,

you are inexperienced. You should leave it to the pros.

And I'm going to tell you this that in your

life there will be people who will say that to you.

You're not a pro at this.

Why are you even trying to start this business, Why

are you're even doing this hobby? Why are you trying

to build this ministry? You're not a pro at this.

Leave this to the experts. You're an amateur. I want

to tell you, just like I said that the majority

is often wrong. The experts are often wrong, not always right.

I have here this is a copy of a very

famous letter now in the publishing world. It was written

to me by a publisher in the middle of two

thousand and two, when I was writing the book Purpose

Driven Life.

And I had sent.

The publisher the first draft of the book, and this

publisher expert wrote back a three page letter on why

this book would never, never, never sell a copy. For

those who don't know, it became the best selling book

in the world for four years. It became the best

selling book in world history. Sixty two million Americans read

The Purpose Driven Life. It's translated in one hundred and

thirty seven languages. It's the most translated book in the

world except for the Bible. But the expert said, nobody's going.

To read this book.

And then he gives me five reasons why purpose Driven

Life would never never sell.

And then this is the clincher. He says.

His recommendation on page three is that I hire a

freelance writer, a professional to rewrite the book. Well, I

politely wrote back and said, thank you, I'll take it

to another publisher. I believe this book could make history. Now,

some people would say that's cocky. No no, no, God

had told me to write the book. I'm not a

professional writer. I'm a pastor. I've never taken a class

on writing. I want to remind you that the arc

Noah and the arc that saved. The world was built

by amateurs. Professionals built the Titanic. I am an amateur.

I'm an amateur pastor.

You know what. I love the word amateur.

I'm proud of why because amateur means it comes from

the Greek the Latin word amour or amore.

You know love.

An amateur does it for the love a professionals paid

to do it. I'm not paid to be pastor of

this church. I do it for free. I don't take

a salary. You know that I'm an amateur pastor. I

do it for free. I do it out of love,

not out of money. But the professionals are, the experts

are often wrong, by the way I would. Before I

go on, I want to mention how did David learn

about Goliath? Since he was just a shepherd boy working

back in the fields. His dad had held him back

because he was willing to serve in small always. And

God said, you've been faithful there, and I'm going to

let you have a bigger opportunity.

Let me show your verse. Look up here on the screen. First.

Samuel seventeen says this, David's father said to David, take

this bread to your brothers on the front line and

take this cheese to their commander. That's how he ended

up going up to the battle scene seeing Goliath, goes, oh,

I'll take that guy on. He wouldn't have seen him

if he hadn't been able to had been saying his

dad said, take this bread and take this cheese.

Now, here's the moral of the story.

Before you get to David and to fighting Goliath, you

may have to serve some cheese and crackers.

Are you willing to do that or that beneath you?

God looks for people who are willing to do the

little things before he gives them the big things. God

looks for people who are willing to do the insignificant

ministry before he gives them the heroic ministry.

Are you willing to.

Serve cheese and crackers? Or you just want to go

take on goal? David proved faithful even in the little

things of life. Are you faithful? Have you been proven

faithful in the little things of life? Do you do

the little things that nobody else sees that shows your

faithfulness to God? And God says, I'm going to let

you take on Goliath. So he did that. I will

tell you this, I've learned this from personal experience. Small

kindnesses often open the door to bigger and better opportunities.

Sometimes you just be kind to somebody out of just

being kind, and it opens the door to bigger, wider

It puts you in the right place at the right time,

And that's what happened with Goliath and David. Now, how

do you handle the naysayers in your life? There are

four things you need to do. This is a skill

you have to learn if you're ever going to be

a leader. So let me give these to you. Write

these down four things that David did, the skills of

leadership on how to handle the naysayers in your life,

whether it's a parent or a brother, or the crowd

or the experts, whether it's delay or doubt, or discouragement

or disappointment or disapproval, whatever. Here's the first thing the

naysayers in your life. Number one, remember they are not God.

They may be good people, they may love you, they

may be great people, but they're not God, and so

don't treat their opinion like it's God's opinion. Remember they

are not God. The people who are negative in your life.

Proverbs twenty nine, Verse twenty.

Five says this.

The fear of human opinion disables, but trusting in God

protects you from that. I love that the message. Some

of you are disabled and don't know it. You have

a disability. You know what your disability is. You are

addicted to the approval of others, and that's your disability.

The fear of human opinion disables, but trusting in God

protects you from that. When you trust in God, you

don't worry about the opinion of other people. Today's English

version says it's dangerous to be concerned with what other

people think of you. What other people think of you

is none of your business. What other people think of

you as none of your business. You shouldn't care about

what other people. You should only care about what God

thinks of you. And if you care about what other

people think of you, you'll get paralyzed. You'll won't attempt things.

Some of you have been locked in a prison of

self made fear, and my job as your pastors to

open that door, help you break the chain, help you

get out and become who God wanted you be. To

go after that dream, you'll get sidetracked from God's purpose

for your life.

If you're living for somebody else's purpose.

Such a great message from Pastor Rick today, and I

hope you were just as encouraged as I was. You know,

the truth is desire and determination alone aren't enough to

succeed in life. So many people already work so hard,

but real success isn't just about working harder. It's about

working smarter. It's about working God's way. Did you know

that the Bible is packed with practical instruction to help

you do just that. Yeah, that's why Pastor Rick Warren

created the Toolbox for Life Bible Study. Through this powerful study,

you'll discover and develop for essential, real life success building

skills straight from God's word. These are skills that will

equip you to make a difference as you lead with

confidence and clarity in your home, at work, at school,

and in your commune unity. The Toolbox for Life Bible

Study has four video sessions taught by Rick and includes

a companion workbook. It's perfect for personal growth or small

group study, so be sure to request your copy of

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