Rick Warren - Setting Personal Goals by Faith Part Three

This is Pastor Rick's Daily Hope, the Bible teaching ministry

of Pastor Rick Warren. Today we continue in a series

called Transformed. In these lessons, Rick uncovers key principles found

in God's Word that will completely transform our lives from

the inside out in every area including spiritual, physical, mental, emotional, relational, financial,

and vocational. Now, before we get started, we want to

let you know that a very generous friend has given

one hundred thousand dollars matching grant to Daily Hope. That

means that all this month, every dollar you give to

help Daily Hope share the hope of Jesus around the

world will be matched up to one hundred thousand dollars.

You can find out more by going to Pastorick dot

com or by texting the word Daily to eight hundred,

six hundred five thousand and four. That's Pastor Rick d

or the word Daily to eight hundred six hundred five

thousand and four. Right now, here's Pastor Rick Warren with

the final part of a message called setting personal Goals

by Faith.

When you give your life to a good goal, it

builds a legacy on earth. The Bible says in Proverbs

eleven twenty seven. Let's read this verse aloud together. Okay,

read it with me. If your goals are good, you

will be respected. Circle that you will be respected. You

want to be respected, then you need to set some

goals that are good. The entire nation will celebrate Martin

Luther King Day. Why why do we take a holiday

for one guy? Because he was a man who set

good goals and he didn't live for himself. He didn't

live for greed, he didn't live for pleasure, he didn't

live for popularity. He lived to fight in justice and

to fight prejudice, and to fight racism, and to fight

for truth. He set good goals for his life, and

so he is honored with a holiday. One of the

greatest honors I've ever been given in my entire life

was the honor of preaching in Martin Luther King's home

church on the fortieth anniversary of his death. And so

on the fortieth anniversary of Martin Luther King's death, on

that day, they invited me to speak at Ebenezer Baptist

Church in Atlanta. I was the first white preacher to

preach in that church, and that was an honor to me.

Why because I respect people who use their lives to

make a difference. And if you were to come to

my study, you'd find a picture of Martin Luther King

on the wall with a typed letter, signed letter underneath it.

And you'd see another picture of Mother Teresa with a

handwritten note underneath it. And you'd see a note from

Billy Graham with a handwritten a note, and many others.

And some of these people on that wall are not Christians.

They're not Christians, But I honor them. Why because they

gave their lives for the good of others. They had

a goal greater than themselves. They didn't live a little

selfish clot of a life living for I want to

make a lot of money and retire. Oh yeah, you

think God puts you on earth to do that. Make

a lot of money and retire. That's the whole purpose life.

Wrong answer. God wants to teach you how to love.

If your goals are good, you'll be respected. But the

real reward in setting good goals is going to come

in eternity. Look at this next verse first Corinthians nine

twenty five. All athletes practice strict self control. You know,

they eat right and they sleep right, and they they

they you know, they work out, they exercise. They do

it to win a prize that will fade Nobody's going

to remember yesterday's game in two weeks, much less two years.

They do it to win a prize that will fade away.

But we do it for an eternal prize. So I run.

Paul says, straight to the goal, with purpose in every step.

He's purpose driven goal setter. You need to be that too. Now,

not every goal that you can set is a good goal.

Not every goal is a goal that God's going to bless.

So you want to set goals in these seven areas

over the next seven weeks. You want to set these

in your life. But you want to set the kind

of goal that God is going to bless. God's going

to give you the power to do. So, how do

I know the kind of goal that God will bless?

Let me just close by giving you three questions. When

you get ready to set a goal, you want to

ask these three questions. Number one, the first question is

will this goal honor God? That's the first question asked.

Will this goal honor God? And what kind of goal

will honor God? What kind of goal brings glory to God?

Any goal that causes you to trust him more, to

depend on him more, to love him more, to love

other people more, to serve God and serve others, to

be more unselfish. Those are going to be good goals,

the Bible says in first print in six point twenty

God paid a great price for you. Look at the cross.

So use your body to honor God. Are you using

your body to honor God? Are you using your body

for pleasure for selfish reasons? Use your body to honor God?

You might circle that first Crimsians ten thirty one. When

you eat, or drink, or do anything, always do it

to honor God. Everything can be done to honor God.

You can take out the garbage to honor God. You

can wash dishes to honor God. You can clean out

your car to honor God. Or your closet. You can

study it for a test to honor God. How by

doing it with the right motive, out of gratitude and

for the right motivation. I want my life to bring

honor to God. So I'm going to be the best

I can be for God's sake? Will this goal honor God?

Now?

The Bible says this, We make it our goal to

please him second Corinthians five nine. Second question, is this

goal motivated by love? That's the second thing you want

to ask. When you set a goal for your finances,

for your health, for your relationships, will this goal? Is

this goal motivated by love? God is not going to

bless a goal motivated by greed. I don't want to

make a whole lot of money. God is not going

to bless a goal motivated by competition. I want to

be better than that company. God is not going to

bless a goal motivated by envy. God is not going

to bless a goal motivated by greed or grief, or

guilt or grudges. He's not going to be honor a

goal that's built on worry or fear or anxiety. God

is not going to bless a goal that's motivated by materialism,

or by ego, or by pride. But when you set

a goal out of love, God, I want to do

this because I love you and I want to love

other people. God's going to honor that because it's all

about love. Life is all about learning how to love.

First Grintin sixteen fourteen. Everything you do must be done

with love. Everything first corinthing is fourteen to one. Love

must be your highest goal. That should be the number

one goal in your life. I want to learn to

really love. I want to learn to love unlovely people.

And I want to learn to love the loveless and

the unloved. And I want to learn to love people

who are hard to love. That's being like God. Why

is it important for you to have goals that are

based on love? Because if you set loveless goals, you're

going to treat people's projects. You're going to run all

over them to get to your goal. You're going to

run over your marriage, You're going to run over your friends,

You're going to run over the other people climbing up

the ladder success. And God says, no, no, you got

it all wrong. It's not about accomplishments. It's about relationships.

It's about learning how to love. Third thing, Third question?

Will this goal require depending on God? Will this goal

require depending on God? Remember I said earlier Hebrews eleven six.

Without faith, it's impossible to please God. If you don't

have a goal that requires faith, then it's not a

pleasing to God goal. Roman's fourteen twenty three. Everything that

doesn't come from faith is sin. If you have a

goal that's so small it doesn't require any faith to

do it. It's a sin. Whatever is not a faith,

the Bible says, is sin. Now look at this verse

Proverbs sixteen, verse nine. Why don't we read this one

aloud to you? Do with me? Proverb sixteen nine. We

plan the way we want to live, but only God

makes us able to live it. I love that in

the message paraphrase, that's what we're gonna do during fifty

days of transformation. You get the plan the way you

want to live.

Thank you so much for listening to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope.

We've got some incredible news to share with you. A

very generous friend has given a one hundred thousand dollars

matching grant to this ministry all this month. Every dollar

you give to help Daily Hope share the certain Hope

of Jesus around the world will be matched up to

one hundred thousand dollars, So fi five dollars becomes fifty dollars,

fifty becomes one hundred, and five hundred becomes a thousand.

Whatever you give will be doubled by the matching grant

up to one hundred thousand dollars. But only till midnight

December thirty first, so please contact us today. Go to

Pastorick dot com or just call eight hundred six hundred

five thousand and four.

If you want to make your time in prayer the

best it can be, then you're going to want to

get a copy of the brand new twenty twenty one

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Once again, here's Rick.

We get the plan the way we want to live,

but it says only God gives us the power, gives

us the energy, gives us the ability to actually do it,

to make the transformation. Why because God provides the three

things you must have to reach your goal. Write these down.

Three things you must have to meet your goal. Three

things you must have to change your life. Number one,

I need God's Spirit to empower me. This is not

something based on willpower. It's based on God power. It's

not based on trying, It's based on trusting. I need

God's Spirit to empower me. Zachariah for six says you

will succeed. You will not succeed. It says you will

not succeed by your own strength or your own power,

but by my spirit, says the Lord. I need God's

spirit to empower me to make changes I can't to

make on my own. Number two, I need God's word

to guide me. I need God's spirit to empower me.

I need God's word to guide me. This book here,

the Bible, is the owner's manual for life. The more

you get this book into your mind, your heart, and

your life. The more you read it, study it, memorize it,

meditate on it, the more successful, the more fulfilled, the

more strong you're going to be in life. When Joshua

was given the great dream of taking over the Promised Land,

and it was a goal that was going to take

him the rest of his life, God had these words

to say to Joshua Chapter one, verse eight. Keep this

book that's the Bible. Keep this book of the Law

on your lips. In other words, talk about it all

the time. Recite it by day and night. That means

memorize it so you can quote it. Recite it by

day and night that you may carefully follow all that

is written in it. That's the premise. Now here's the promise.

Then you will successfully attain your goal. You might underline

that last phrase if you ever intend to be in

business for yourself, you ought to memorize that verse factive

be a good verse for everybody to memorize. Keep this

Book of the Law in your heart, read it, memorize it,

live it, practice it. Study it. That you're careful to

follow it and obey, then you will be successful. You

will attain your goal. That is one of the greatest

promises of success in the Bible. And that promise doesn't

come from some self help guru. That promise comes from God.

You will successfully attain your goal. How if you become

a man of the word, you become a woman of

the word. All you need to know about life is

in this book right here. I need God's spirit to

empower me, and I need God's word to guide me.

And finally, the third thing I need is I need

God's people to support me. You will not be able

to reach your goals on your own. I haven't been

able to reach my goals on my own. It takes

a team to fulfill a dream. You need other people

in your life. This is why we insist that everybody

in our church family be in a small group. You're

never going to feel like a part of our church

till you're in a small group. A crowd can't support you,

but a small group can three, four, five, six other people.

They can know when you're sick, they can know when

you're having a tough time, when you've had a bad day.

A crowd can't support you, but a community, a small

group can. Ecclesiastes four to twelve says this, By yourself,

you're unprotected. It means it's like an a football game.

You're unprotected. You're out there running down the field by yourself.

You don't have anybody to block and tackle for you.

There's nobody out there to protect you. If you're not

in a small group, you don't have any blocking tacklers.

You don't have anybody who's gonna speak up for you,

stand up for you. By yourself, you're unprotected. But with

a friend, you can face the worst. Boy did I

learn that this last year? And a group of three?

A group of three is even better because a rope

raided with three strands is not easily snapped. What do

you call three people meeting together? A small group? That's

what it is. Jesus said, where two or three are

gathered in my name, I'll be in the midst of them. Hey, guys,

this is going to be fun. But it's going to

be more than fun. It's going to change your life.

If you will do it. If you will hear and

read and watch and talk and do, you will grow.

If all you do is come to church and here,

you're not going to be transformed. I guarantee you you're

gonna be no different in seven weeks. But if you

will hear it and read it and watch it and

discuss it and do it, you will not be the

same person in fifty days. You will be a better person.

Let's power heads, Father. We already know that you're going

to do some amazing things in our midst when we

begin this fifty days of transformation. I know that lives

are going to be changed. We know that families are

going to be strengthened, marriages will be saved, friendships will

be made. You know that some people are going to

get engaged. We know that miracles are going to happen.

It would be a waste of time first to not

expect you to do a great thing. So I already

thank you for what's already happening in the hearts of

peace people and help them to realize they're already a success.

Most of all, I thank you for the Cross, because

we thank you and we do everything we do for

jesus sake. Now you pray, Why don't you pray this? God,

I give you permission to permanently transform my life and

to make the rest of my life the best of

my life. I pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.

This is Pastor Rick's daily Hope. In just a moment,

Rick is going to tell you about a recent one

hundred thousand dollars matching grant from a very generous listener.

But first he's going to share with us how God

has been using your financial gifts to help us share

Christ with people around the world.

Here's Rick, Hi, friends, what did it surprise you to

know that there are entire groups of people who have

never heard of out Jesus still in our world today.

I'm talking about the small tribes of less than a

one hundred thousand people in many, many distant places who

have never heard the name of Jesus Christ. That means

there's not a single Christian among them. There is no church,

they have no Bible, there is no believer. Can you

imagine that? Would you help me reach these unreached, unengaged people.

You know, one of the reasons I started Daily Hope

was to find partners who would help us take the

hope of the good news of the Gospel to the

whole world, to the final frontier, these unreached, unengaged tribes.

Jesus wants us to witness to all nations and to

all people. He never made a person he did in love.

He never made a person he didn't want saved. And

Jesus died so that all may be saved. But people

can't follow Jesus if they've never heard about him, and

they've never heard of God's grace, how can they receive it?

So I'm asking you to help me in this finish

the task project. Thank you for your support. You know,

Daily Hope is now reaching over thirty four million people

each month through Daily Hope audio teachings and our email devotionals.

But we're only able to do this because you have

your partnership with Daily Hope. We're working together to help

us fulfill the great commission. Imagine when you get to heaven,

somebody comes up to you and says, I just want

to thank you. I'm here because you cared enough for

someone like me. You prayed and you gave, and you shared,

and you sacrificed, and I'm in heaven because of you.

Will that be worth it? Even as we rejoice in

the success, we need to remember that there's still billions

of people who need to know Jesus and we got

to keep going. So I'm asking you prayerfully to consider

giving the biggest gift you've ever given, or that you

can give, before the end of this year. As I said,

there's still about three thousand unreached people groups that have

either few or no believers in them. We've been able

to reach about six hundred of those tribes, making sure

there's a Christian living among them who speaks their language

and can help them understand the Bible. But that's just

the first step. The truth is an unreached people group

isn't considered reached until it has a healthy church, a

body of Christ that's able to plant new churches within

that group. So to help that happen, we're working on

translating spiritual growth tools into about two hundred new languages

for people who have virtually no Christian resources available. Think

of all the Christian books you could buy at Christmas

this year, Think of all the books you could pass

on at birthdays. These are so available in English, but

we need to translate them in all the other languages.

These translations are strategic that we've selected once to share

the gospel and to help disciple new believers where it

is most needed right now.

Now.

These resources are also going to help young pastors grow

and train others to build the church in their nations

and in their groups. Now, we made a lot of

good progress, but we got a lot of work ahead

of us in this task. And it is a monumental vision.

I can't do this by myself. I need your help.

It's a timely vision, it's a global vision. But every

vision Listen requires provision. Honestly, we wouldn't be able to

do any of this vision without you, And that's why

I cannot fully express how much I appreciate your financial

support of daily hope. You know I don't take a

salary in this This is all a ministry of love

and all of these funds are going to help reach

more people. Now, let me give you some exciting news.

A generous friend of Daily Hope has offered a one

hundred thousand dollars matching grant so that any gift you

give by December thirty first this year will be doubled

up to one hundred thousand dollars. That means every dollar

you give to Daily Hope between now and the end

of the year will be doubled. Would you please prayerfully

consider how you can give today, how you can reach

more people for Jesus in the coming year. And please,

while you're at it, pray that I will faithfully teach

God's word in a way that will penetrate hearts. Pray

for our Daily Hope team as they coordinate our outreach,

and most of all, pray for the people we're trying

to reach, that their hearts will be prepared to hear

the message of the good News of Christ, and that

they will come to know the grace of God and

grow and mature in their Christian faith. You have a

part of the most important task in history. Now, my

prayer for you is that God's going to bless you

throughout this coming year. And that He will bless you

so much that you can be a blessing to others

blessed to be a blessing. And my prayers that He

will draw you closer and closer to Him. God bless you.

Remember, as Rick just shared, whatever you give today will

be doubled by the matching grant up to one hundred

thousand dollars, but only till midnight December thirty first. Anything

not matched will be lost, So please contact us today

call eight hundred six hundred five thousand and four or

go to Pastorick dot com. That's eight hundred six hundred

five thousand four or pastorick dot com. There are only

three days left to have your gift matched up to

one hundred thousand dollars, so don't wait. Be sure to

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

word for our daily hope. This program is sponsored by

Pastor Rick's Daily Hope and your generous financial support