Rick Warren -The Courage to Keep Going Part Three

Hello, and thanks for joining us here on Pastor Rick's

Daily Hope, the audio broadcast ministry of Pastor Rick Warren.

Today we continue a teaching series called Uncommon Courage. In

these lessons, Rick is going to share biblical inspiration that

will help you get the courage you need to follow

God's calling for your life. In just a few moments,

we're going to tell you how to get a hardcover

copy of Pastor Rick's wonderful book The Purpose of Christmas,

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to eight hundred six hundred five thousand and four. That's

Pastorick dot com, or the word Daily to eight hundred

six hundred five thousand and four. Right now, here's Pastor

Rick with the final part of a message called the

Courage to Keep Going.

You know, there's a praise that has helped me a

lot as I deal with senseless tragedies. And I see

him all the time as your pastor, because I'm hearing

what's going on in your life and in your life

and your life, and I see it all the time.

And one of the things I've just come to say

in my mind is I say this. It's all a

part of the plan. It's all a part of the plan.

That's a good thing to remember. It's all a part

of the plan. It's not all good, and God doesn't

cause it. God doesn't cause sin. If I went out

here and got drunk and got in an accident and

hurt somebody, that would not be God's will. It would

not be God causing it. But you know what, God says,

I'm even bigger than your sin. I'm bigger than your mistakes.

I'm greater than your faux pause and false and stupid decisions.

And you know what, I'll even fit that into the

plan for good. You may be thinking, where was God

when my loved one died the same place he was

when his son died on the cross for you, when

his son was dying for your sins so you could

go to heaven. He was grieving, he was weeping. He

was sorrowing over the brokenness of this planet because of sin.

And now nothing works right. But you weren't made to

live forever on this planet. No, No, you were made

for something far more. This is just the stopover place.

You weren't made to live on Earth forever. You ought

to thank God. You're not going to live on earth

forever with all the sorrow and suffering and sickness and

illness and sin and abuse and perversion and war and

crime and hatred and all of the evil that's in

this world. You ought to thank God. You're not going

to live forever on this planet. You were made for

so much more. But you need a savior. As I've

said many many times, if you didn't need a savior,

God wouldn't have sent Jesus Christmas, for unto you is

born this day a savior who is Christ the Lord.

If you could get into Heaven without Jesus Christ dying

for your sins, believe me, Jesus wouldn't have wasted his blood,

and God wouldn't have wasted his son. There's no other way.

You need a savior. I don't know what you're going through,

but you need to do these steps. You need to

just be gut level honest with God and tell them

exactly how you feel He can handle it. You need

to involve other people in your life, God, godly good people,

get a small group, get some support system, and let

other people help you. Humble yourself and receive help stop

asking why file it in the doesn't make sense file,

and start trusting God in all the things you don't understand.

Number five. Refuse to become bitter. Refuse to become bitter.

When Job lost everything in his life in one single

twenty four hour period and then got a terrible illness

at the same time, Here's what he said. I came

naked from my mother's womb, and I shall have nothing

when I die. The Lord gave me everything that I had,

and they were his to take away. Blessed be the

name of the Lord. You give and take away, you

give and take away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.

God says, Job did not sin by blaming God. Job said,

you know what, I didn't bring anything into this world

a one stinking thing. I'm not taking anything out of

it into the next life, not one stinking thing. Whatever

I have right now, God gave me. It's his to give,

it's his to take away. It's his to allow somebody

else to take away. If somebody else does it, Blessed

be the name of the Lord. I'm not going to

be bitter. Grief is good, Bitterness is bad. Pain will

not kill you. Bitterness will sorrow and grief will not

harm you. Resentment will destroy you. Resentment prolongs the pain.

It doesn't relieve it, it reinforces it. It makes it worse.

Grief is a good thing. Now, now, men, let me

talk to you for a minute, because guys, we don't

handle grief very well because men, by nature don't like

sad feelings, and so when we feel any little bit

of sadness, we start pushing it down. And that's like

I said, shaken up the coke bottle. It doesn't work,

but we want to push you. You need to realize

grief is God's gift to you. Grief is the tool

that helps you through the transitions of life. It's how

you move from one loss to the next chapter, to

the next stage, to the next element in your life.

There is no growth without change. There is no change

without loss, and there is no loss without pain and grief.

You're going to have pain in your life for the

rest of your life. You got to learn how to grieve. Good.

Jesus said, blessed that means happy. Blessed are those who mourn,

for they shall be comforted. It's a good thing. God grieves.

In fact, the shortest verse in the Bible is just

two words, and John eleven Jesus wept. Jesus knows how

to grieve, and grief is a good thing. And there's

a proper time for everything in life. Yes, he says,

there's a time and purpose for everything. A time to

be happy, a time to be sad, a time to celebrate,

a time to mourn, a time to have a party,

a time to grieve. There are seasons of grief in life.

That's a good thing. But you cannot let a season

of grief become a lifestyle of grief, because that'll destroy you.

There's a time and purpose for everything. In other words,

there's a difference between mourning and moaning. There's a difference

between weeping and wallowing. And at some point you gotta

let it go. I want you to write this down.

Losses deepen me, but don't define me. Losses deepen me,

but they don't define me. You are not your divorce.

You are not the bankruptcy. You are not the failure

of that business. You are not the disability. You are

not the difficulty. Losses deepen me, but they do not

define me. They are part of my maturity, they are

not part of my identity. That's not me. It's just

something that happened to me, and that's over and I'm

now going on to the next thing, the part of maturity,

but not part of my identity. Another thing you need

to realize is that when you go through a problem,

a major problem, God gives you grace in that moment,

and he doesn't give it to anybody else around you.

Only the person going through it gets the grace. And

God gives you just enough grace for today and tomorrow.

He'll give you just enough grace to handle the stress

of tomorrow, and he'll give you enough grace the next day. Now,

if you start worrying about something that's going to happen

in ten days, that's stupid because God's not going to

give you grace today for something that doesn't happen for

ten days, so you're borrowing trouble. It's why it's dumb

to worry, because when you worry, you're borrowing trouble when

you don't have the grace for it. Yet when you

get there in ten days, God will give you the

strength to handle it in ten days, but you don't

have the strength to handle it now. And that's why

it's destroying you because you're caring weight that God wasn't

going to give you. You're second guessing, you're presupposing, you're worrying,

you're being anxious, you're being fearful, and God is not

going to give you grace for that event today. You

just got to live it one day at a time.

The Bible doesn't say give us this day, our monthly bred.

God says, I'm going to give you one day at

a time, enough strength for today. Now here's the problem.

When you're in a situation. God gives you grace in

that moment, but he's not giving it to the people

around you who are watching. So sometimes people are going

to give you the wrong advice, including friends, including family,

because they don't have the same grace you've been given.

Job Chapter two, verse nine and ten. Job's wife said

to Job, are you still trying to maintain your integrity?

Curse God and die? Oh thank you, honey, that was

very helpful. I really a man. That's what you call

a supportive woman. Thank you, honey. Curse God and die.

I haven't thought of that one. That's a good That's

Job's wife said to him, Are you still trying to

maintain your integrity, curse God and die. But Job said,

you're talking like a godless woman. Should we accept only

good things from the hand of God and never anything bad?

In all of this, Job said, nothing wrong. He refused

to become bitter. He refused to become resentful. As I said,

it doesn't relieve the pain, it just reinforces it. Hebrews

twelve says, watch out that no bitterness takes root among you,

because it causes deep trouble, hurting many in their spiritual lives.

It's been said many times in this life, pain is inevitable,

but misery is optional.

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You're listening to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope once again. Here's

Pastor Rick Warren.

It's been said many times in this life. Pain is inevitable,

but misery is optional. It's your choice. Now, there's one

other thing that job did number six. Face the future

with courage. Face the future with courage. That's what this

message is about, the courage to keep going uncommon courage.

You know, there was another guy in the Bible who

lost the baby. His name was King, David. King. David's

wife had a little baby boy, and David loved that baby.

And it got very very sick, and it was dying.

And David went in and he laid himself down in

his home on the ground, and he prayed night and day,

night and day, night and day. He wouldn't eat, he

was fasting. He wouldn't sleep, he wouldn't take a shower,

a bath, he wouldn't do any business. He just prayed.

God saved that baby. Save that baby. Save that baby. God,

please save that baby. I don't know what your purpose

and plan is. I don't know what the future is.

All I know is my desire, and I want you

to save that baby. It's okay to pray your desires

when you don't know what God's got in store. And

he prayed, and he prayed and prayed, but the baby died.

And when David, the king's advisors came to tell him,

King David, your son has passed away. They were worried

because they thought he's so distraught. Well, the baby's alive.

He might just lose it when the baby dies. And

they were all worried. They said, your son has died.

You know what David did. He got up, he dusted

himself off, He went home, he took a shower, he shaved,

he put on clean clothes, he ate for the first

time in days, and he went back to work. And

the advisors were amazed. They said, we don't get it.

You were so distraught. Now you're just going on, getting

on with your life. David said something very profound. He

said this, my child will never return to me, but

one day I will return to my child in heaven.

He will not come back to me, but I will

go to him one day. That chapter's closed. It's over.

And I did the best I could. I did what

I thought I could. I was acting on the best

I can. But it's over. That chapter's close. I'm going

on and I'm going to face the future with courage.

Job Elevin says, this put your heart right. Job reach

out to God, put away evil and wrong from your home.

Then face the world again, firm and courageous. Underline that

face the world again, firm and courageous. You need courage

to face the future. Then all your troubles will fade

from your memory like floods that are past and remembered

no more. Your life will be brighter than the sunshine

at noon, and life's darkest hours will shine like the dawn,

and you will live pure and full of hope. And

many of you, if not most of you, have had

a major loss in life, you know what I'm talking about.

Or you've had a disappointment and you thought, I'm putting

it all on this business, I'm putting it all on

this marriage. I'm putting it all on this dream. I'm

rolling the dice, I'm going for it, and it just

collapsed and it's not coming back. And that chapter on

your life, in your life story, in your life book,

that chapter in your life has closed, but it's not

the final chapter. You're still alive. That means the final

chapter of your life has not been written yet. Yes,

that one was there. You could remember it. You can

thank God for it, or you can grieve over it.

But you say that chapter's over. I'm going to get

on with my life. I'm going to face the future

with courage. What will happen if you do these six

things that Job did? What will happen if you tell

God exactly how you feel, You enlist other people to

support you, You stop asking why you trust God for

the stuff that doesn't make sense, and you file it

in the doesn't make sense file, and you say, God,

no matter what happens, I'm going to trust you implicitly

and completely, and I'm not going to become bitter. I'm

going to be better and I'm going to face the

future courageously. What will happen if you do that? Look

at that passage again, Job eleven. I want you to

undercircle the phrase life will be brighter. I want you

to circle that phrase life will be brighter. You see,

we don't realize that the darkest time in our lives

is often the tunnel to the brightest time in our life.

It's the tunnel. You're going through the tunnel, but you're

going to come out on the other end life will

be brighter. I can't imagine that you need to trust

God life will be bright. You need to trust God.

But you do need a savior. You need Jesus. Just

follow me in this prayer in your mind. Dear God,

you know the pain and the loss and the disappointments

I've been through, and You've heard all my doubts and

all my questions and all my ranting and raving. And

I am so grateful that you love me so much

that you can handle all of my doubts and my

complaints and my anger and my fears and my negative motions.

But God, I want to be better, not bitter. So

I want to do the things that job did help

me to accept help from others. And starting today, I'm

going to make a file and I'm going to file

all my unanswered questions and that doesn't make sense. File

And instead, I'm going to trust you completely, realizing that

one day I will see it all with complete clarity.

And I'm going to trust you. And God, even if

I do, I'm gonna trust you. I know that you

are a good God. I know that you love me,

that you are all powerful, and I thank you that

you notice every detail of my life. I thank you

that you are in control, that you have a plan

for my life, that you will protect me and your

plan is good. Jesus. I need you to save me

from my pain. I need you to save me from

my self doubts. I need to save need you to

save me from my past, Save me from my sins,

save me from my anger, save me from my fear,

Save me from myself. I want to put my life

and my trust completely in your hands. Face the future

with courage. Pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Hi everybody,

this is Rick and I hope you enjoyed today's broadcast.

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 pastor Rick 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.

This is Pastor Rick's Daily Hope. We're so thankful that

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