Rick Warren - Employing Your Experiences—Part Two

Welcome to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope. If you're brand new,

We're so glad that you found us, and I know

you want to listen every day as we dive into

some of Pastor Rick's best series. This series is called

Shaped to Make a Difference, and today we bring it

to a close. But don't worry, there's another great series

coming right after this one. Rick has been talking about

the acrostic shape s for spiritual gifts, h your heart,

a your abilities, p your personality, and E your experiences.

This has been a great series to understand how God

wired you and why it's important that you know your shape.

But it's more important to use it to do the

things that God made you to do. So let's get

right to it with Pastor Rick and the final part

of a message called employing your experience.

The Bible tells us and first Essalonians five eleven incurry

one another and help one another. That means we're to encourage,

We're to build up, we're to motivate, where to inspire. Now,

how do you do that? Well, you can do it

three ways. You can help people give people hope, you

can help people overcome their fears, and you can help

people break down barriers. First, you need to give people hope.

And when you give people hope, when you show it

can be done, you show that you've been through it,

and they'll be able to get through it too. In

the same way that you just show it can be done.

When you give people hope, when you help them take

away their fears. It's kind of like riding a roller coaster.

If you go up to Six Flags or Magic Mountain,

you've never been on one of these big roller coaster rides,

and you're kind of thinking, is this a smart decision?

And the person in front of you turns around goes,

this is a great ride. I just have been on

it five times, and you're going, Okay, I'm gonna live. Okay,

I'm gonna live. They're doing it five times, it's got

to be okay. Having someone ally gone through it is

an inspiration, it's motivational. How many of you mothers, when

you were in your first pregnancy and then you gave

birth to your first child, felt scared to death, incompetent, unprepared, inadequate,

and I don't know what this baby is crying and

I can't make it stop. And how grateful you were

for somebody who comes along and says, look, babies cry,

it's okay, and it's okay to let them cry, and

you can't get them always to stop crying immediately, and

this is normal. And all of the fears that you

are having, they're normal. You know what's one of the

most common fears that people have and they don't want

to talk about it. I fear I'm losing my mind.

I think I'm going crazy. I think I'm going and saying,

let me tell you something. If you're thinking that, you're not.

The very fact that you're worried about it. Rational people worry.

Irrational don't. So the fact that you're worried about losing

your mind means you ain't doing it. So everybody, take

a deep breath right now. Okay, Okay, let that one out. Okay,

that's all some of you needed to hear. You're not

in crazy, You're not insane. The fact that you fear it.

People who are insane don't fear going insane. Let me

tell you that only sane people fear it. So the

fact that you fear that fear means you're okay. See you,

Golmes pastor Rixon, I'm sane. I have made my day.

It's a fear that And you know what, the more

you keep it to yourself, the more you get afraid.

You're not going insane. You're under stress, but you're not

going insane. Okay you're not. You're not. No, I'm having fun.

You help people break through barriers when you motivate them

with your own experience. When Roger Banister was the first

guy to break the four minute mile running, and up

to that time, everybody said, it's humanly impossible, no human

being can run that fast or ever will run. It's

an impossible barrier. It's like the soundbreaking the sound barrier

and things like that. And yet within about twelve months

after Roger Banister broke the four minute mile record, about

a dozen other guys had done it. All of a sudden,

it was like, Okay, it could be done, and then

everybody thought, well, it could be done. I just want

to be the next one to do it. It's like climbing

Mount Everest. You have had experiences in your life that

could be barrier busting, inspirational, motivating to other people if

you're willing to share it. This is when you speak

from personal experience. When you speak personal experience. It's always

more important than it is just teaching. The most powerful

way to say anything is the most personal way to

say it. That's why in advertisement it's like I tried tied,

you ought to try it too. Okay, that always has

more power. And so you have experiences in your life

that God wants to use not just to minister to

others when they're down, but also to motivate others to

get them up. Paul says this in First Corinthians. For

your sake, my friends, I have applied all of this

to Apollos and myself personal application, using the two of

us as examples, so that you may learn. Whenever I

teach a series on marriage or I always go back

and talk about all the marriage problems that Ky and

I have had. Why because it has the credibility of reality,

and people go, oh, okay, well they don't have a

perfect marriage. We don't either, but they've lasted thirty one years.

Maybe we can too. Perfection never helps anybody, friends, except

when it's Jesus. The rest of the time, it's normal

role models that make mistakes. The third way that God

wants you to use your experiences is to use them

to model for others, not just minister, and not just motivate,

but actually model for others. There's Philippians three seventeen. Dear brothers,

pattern your lives after mine, and learn from those who

follow our example. Now notice Paul says follow my example.

He says, I'm going to be a model. Now we

know Jesus is the only perfect model, but you can

learn from imperfect models too. In fact, I looked up

the word model in the dictionary this week. A model

is a smaller representation of the real thing. Model, car,

model plane, a smaller representation of the real thing. This week,

some company sent me a model of Ronald Reagan. It's

a Ronald Reagan talking doll. And they make these these

these uh presidential dolls that talk like, listen to this,

I am only one thing to say to the text increases,

go ahead, make my day. Now here's the funny thing.

They sent this to me because this week they're making

a Pastor Rick Dall. Now I'm going wait, I mean,

wait a minute, there's no I'm just wondering what it's

going to look like, because there's no way I'm giving

them my body measurements. I'm gonna recommend Fabio as my

body double. You know, I mean, imagine, what would a

pastor Rick Dall say? You are not an accident. It's

not about you. Hurt people, hurt people, get it, got

it good? All leaders are learners, you know. Anyway, I

will say this that if they do make a pastor

Rick Dahl, when Barbie sees it, it's curtains for Ken.

I'm sorry, it's over. It's just he's out at Poindexter

take a hid man. Okay, Now I do think that actually,

this Ronald Reagan Dahl, this prototype model is actually a

prototype of me because I noticed he has no socks on.

So anyway, a smaller representation of the real thing, that's

a model. Now, God wants you to be a model.

In fact, that's what the word Christian means, little christ

a smaller representation of the real thing. There's no way

you're Jesus. You're never going to be perfect. You are flawed, imperfect,

smaller model. But God says, I want you to be

a Christian, a Christian, a little christ. I want little

models of Jesus all over the world. Are we imperfect? Yes?

Do we blow it? Yes? Are we poor? Small, cheap,

imitations of the real thing. Yes, but he says, I

want you to be a model. I want you to

be a little Christ at work. I want you to

be a little Christ at school. I want you to

be a little Christ in your neighborhood, with your boyfriend,

with your girlfriend, with the guys, when you're going on

on a trip. Be a little Christ. I want you

to be a model. Now, Paul knew the apostle. Paul

knew that we all need models and that we follow

by example. If Philippians three, let me read it again,

dear brothers and sisters, pattern your lives after mine and

learn from those who follow our example. That sounds pretty arrogant,

pretty audacious when he says I want you to follow me,

Paul just understands human nature. It is human nature to imitate,

in fact, tactically. Everything you learned in the first five

years of life, you learned by imitation. It's how you learn.

There's nothing wrong with imitation. That's how you learn. You go, oh,

you say it like that, Oh you walk like that. Oh,

And you learn by imitation. Now, frankly, I don't mind

people imitating you or me for that matter. At least

we're making an effort. You're not perfect. I'm not perfect,

but at least you're trying. And I'd rather have you

have people following you as a model, then following some

Hollywood celebrity who's so obsessed with themselves that all they

can think about is their own ego, where there's saying

it's all about me. I don't want anybody following that person.

I don't mind them following you or anybody else for

that matter, who's at least making the effort. If you

can only follow a perfect model, you're never going to

follow anybody and you won't learn a lot. Paul says,

follow the pattern of my life, pattern your lives. Ever

used the pattern? If you've ever sown anything, or you've

done any woodwork, or even in our a lot of

times you use a pattern. There's nothing wrong with that.

It's the quickest way to reduce mistakes, save time, learn

better more example. In fact, you want to succeed in life,

let me tell you the fastest way to succeed. Here's

how you do it. Find somebody who's already where you

want to be and follow after their model. That's the

fastest way to succeed in life. Get a model, rather

than trying to figure it out all on your own.

You know, you don't have time to make all the

mistakes yourself. Take a model and follow it. That's the

secret of franchising. Take a successful model and reduplicate it,

and you got Subways all around the world, Starbucks all

around the world. The fastest way to succeed is find

a model and then go after it. I'll tell you,

whenever I see somebody succeeding in ministry doing something the fact,

I go, amen, brother, Now teach me how to do

it too. I'm not proud. You can learn from anybody

if you're willing to learn. In fact, if you can't

learn from other people, you can't learn from role models,

you've got an ego problem. You got an arrogance issue.

That's why the Bible says God resists the proud and

gives grace to the humble, because it's humble people who

are teachable. They're going, I'd rather be right than pretend

I'm right, So teach me how to do it. And

you learn by modeling. You know, see, successful people always

leave clues, and if you look and you watch their lives,

you'll see the clues. Then made them successful. Now, why

was Jesus the greatest teacher ever in history? Because he

modeled his message. He didn't just say it, he lived

it out. He incarnated the truth, incarnational teaching. The word

became flesh, and Jesus' life was his message. He said,

this is how you do it, and then he did it.

He didn't say do what I say, not what I do,

which a lot of people do. He said, this is

what you see is what you get. He modeled the

message and he lived it. And in John thirteen he

says this, I have given you a model to follow,

so that as I have done for you, you should

also do. God says. Jesus says, I want you to

follow my model, and then I want you to be

a model. I expect you to be a model. I

want you to be a model for other people. And

as a Christ follower, God expects you to do the same.

The next verse, Titus says, always set a good example.

That's a model for others. Here's the problem. The problem

is that growing up you didn't get to choose your

mind model. Your models as a kid were simply the

adults who were closest to you, and that meant They

could have been good, bad, or terrible. And if you

were fortunate enough to have good models in your life,

you grew up pretty healthy. On the other hand, if

you had some bad models in your life, you grew

up with some wounds and some hurts and maybe some

little quirks that need to be worked out. Now, nobody's

totally perfect, so we all have imperfections that we picked

up from our models. But here's the good news. You

get to choose your model. You don't have to stay

with the ones you had as a kid. You can

get a new model. You can choose a new model.

You can go out and read books and listen to

tapes and read biographies and get into contact with people.

And you see somebody in the church, go ooh, I

like the way they're doing that. I want to be

a father like that person. I want to be a

husband like that person, not like my dad. Or I

want to be a mom like that woman, or I

want to be a business person like that person. That's

perfectly fine. You need to have models in your life

and you need to be a model, and if you're not,

you're wasting your experiences and you're just letting them be

pain in your life rather than good. The good news,

as I said, is you can change your model and repattern.

So let me ask a couple questions, who do you

respect enough to pattern your life after? Who do you

respect enough to pattern your life after? We said, well,

I can't think of anybody. Then you're not looking because

there are thousands of people around. They don't have to

be the pattern for every area of your life to go.

I'm going to pattern that area of my life after

that person, and I'm going to pattern in that area

of my life after that other person because nobody. That's

why we need each other. It's value small groups for

one thing. And as I said, you can learn from

anybody if you just know the right questions. Look for

somebody who's going through stages or has already gone through

stages you're going through. Now here's a more important question.

Who do you need to be a model to? Who?

In what areas could you be a model for somebody else?

You see, you need to be a model, and you

need to have models. Titus tells us this, Our people

should also learn how to set an example. That's modeling

by doing good things when urgent needs arise. That's like

Katrina so that they can live productive lives. Last way

that God wants you to use your experiences is by

mentoring others. Now, Mentoring is far more intentional than simply

ministering somebody when they're hurting, or motivating them when they're down,

or modeling and giving them an example. Mentoring is when

you actually say, I'm going to take an interest in

this particular person's life and I'm going to help them

all along. First John, Chapter one, John says this, we

saw it, we heard it, and now we're telling you

so you can experience it along with us. He says,

you know, I passed it on to you, and then

you could pass it on to others. Now, what is

a mentor. A mentor is simply an experienced, trusted counselor

or guide. They have experience, they're trusted, and they're like

a counselor guide. The actual word mentor comes from Homer's

poem The Odyssey King of dyss When he goes off

to fight the Trojan War, he leaves his kingdom in

the hands of a trusted counselor named mentor, and mentor

actually teaches and raises up King Odyssa's son and that's

where we get the word mentor. Now mentor is like

a personal coach, a personal coach. Everybody needs a personal

coach and needs to be a personal coach. As I said,

it's very intentional and personal coaches bring out the best

in you and they see in you things that you

don't see in yourself. And a mentor helps you with

three areas. Write these down, role, goal, and sol. A

mentor helps you with your role, what do I do

in life? Your goal? What am I accomplishing in life?

And your soul? What am I becoming in life? And

they help you and make you become what you can become. Now,

the fact is all education used to be done my mentors.

There were no schools in the Middle Ages. You would

be apprentice to a master craftsman and they would train

disciple mentor you and they would teach you one on one,

and that's how you'd learned to be a shoemaker or

some other of the mini crafts. Today, mentors are used

more than ever before. They use mentors in the military,

they use mentors in management, they use mentors in sales,

they use mentors in schools, in politics. No pro athlete

would think of trying to be a pro without a coach.

Tiger Woods would not think of playing golf without a mentor.

Michael Jordan would not think of playing basketball without a mentor.

Pavaroti would not think of singing without having a vocal coach.

Even presidents have their mentors. They're elected by the population,

but they still have a mentor. Why no matter how

successful you are or how successful you think you are,

you always need a mentor. You'll need one the rest

of your life. It's how you get to the top.

In fact, you're not going to get to the top

without a mentor. You've got to have people who are

speaking into your life. And now with phone, telephone and email,

they don't even have to live in the same area anymore.

In my lifetime, I've probably had about fifteen different mentors.

I have four right now now. None of them live

in California. They all live on the East Coast, and

one lives in England. And I talk to them all

the time. I email them, talked to Colson just yes

not yesterday, the day before yesterday. And I just run

ideas by them and problems. And now here's the thing

about mentors. They can't be somebody in the organization you're in.

They can't be either your boss or your employee because

they have to have no They can't gain or lose

anything by what they tell you. Does that makes sense?

In other words, they're going to just tell you the

truth because it doesn't help or he'll harm them one

way or another. So you need to have a mentor

who doesn't have a political motivation in telling you what

they tell you. So there need to be somebody on

the outside. You will always need a mentor in your life,

at least one. The Bible says in Proverbs twenty five,

verse twelve, a warning given by an experienced person to

someone willing to listen is more valuable than gold rings

or jewelry. He's saying, it's priceless. You're always going to

need a mentor. Now, those of you who are over forty,

I'm not going to ask you to raise your hands.

But the next verses for you Job thirty two. Age

should speak and experience should teach wisdom. Are you doing

that or are you wasting your experiences? Are you teaching anybody?

Are you sharing what you've learned? Both do this and

by the way, avoid this. Been there and been there,

do this, and don't do that. Are you sharing any

of your experiences? Are they just the only benefit in

your life is pain? No, you need to be sharing them.

Age should speak and experience should teach wisdom. Now, if

you're under forty, the next verses for you job in

chapter eight ask the former generation pay attention to the

experiences of our ancestors. Walk out here onto the path.

You after the service, somebody looks older, you can say, hey,

ancestor no, just time. You know, you save yourself a

whole lot of pain. You can either learn everything from

experience or you can learn them from the experiences of others,

which is smart. I don't have enough time to learn

everything by personal experience, and on top of that, it's

a lot more painful to learn it that way. It's

wise to learn from experience. It's wiser to learn from

the experiences of others. So we need to go out

and we need to mentor, and we need to be

mentored and avoid a lot of pain. What do you

look for in a mentor? You look for experience, You

look for perspective, and you look for somebody who can trust.

If you're a believer, you definitely need a believer as

a mentor. Now it may surprise you, but you can

mentor at any age. A ten year old can mentor

an eight year old. In fact, a ten year old

can mentor a twelve year old if he or she

knows more about a subject than somebody else does. It

doesn't have to do with age. If somebody knows more

than you in a particular area, some of you, for instance,

could be mentored on computer by somebody much younger than you.

Everybody want to agree with that, Yeah, you know, because

that generation knows more about it than we do. Okay,

so you can mentor at any age. You could mentor

somebody at your own age. I started mentoring my first

two people that I mentored, I was twenty years old.

I was in college. One was a twenty year old guy,

and that there was a nineteen year old guy. They

were peers, but I knew more about them and know

more about the spiritual life than they did, and I

began to mentor them. Those of you who are young,

you need to be mentors too. You need to be

mentoring other people. The Bible says in one Timothy four,

this is a good verse for young adults. Don't let

anyone treat you as unimportant because you're young. Paul's talking

to Timothy, who was a young man. Instead, be an

example to the believers with your words and your actions

and your love and your faith and your pure life.

What if we today said we're going to combine our

experiences and use them for good and for God. Imagine?

Imagine the impact. Would that have any kind of impact

on the County of Orange in southern California? Oh yeah,

if everybody had saddleback said Okay, God, we're going to

use the experiences we've got to mentor and model and

motivate and minister to the people around us. We're not

going to just waste these experiences. We're going to use

them for good and for God. You know, I spray

the same prayer every single morning when I get up,

and there's a prayer I pray when I wake up,

and there's a prayer when I get out of bed.

I prayed it this morning. When I wake up, before

I even get out of bed, my eyes open up

and I say the words of a song, and I

say it every morning. I've trained my mind to say this,

and when I wake up, the first thing I think

every morning. Is this, It's the words to a song. Lord.

I offer my life to you everything I've been through,

that's experiences, Use it for your glory. Lord, I offer

my days to you. Lift up my praise to you

as a living sacrifice. Lord, I offer you my life,

and then I get out of bed. Lord, I offer

my life to you everything I've been through. Have you

done that? The good, the bad, and the ugly. You

say we've had marriage problems, Well, who hasn't. If you

haven't had marriage problems and you're married to the word

for you, liar, you married a sinner. I've said this

many times. You married a center and he married she

married a bigger one. And two sinners don't make a

perfect relationship. There's no perfect marriage. We need marriage mentors. Man.

I wish i'd been a young couple or an older

middle aged couple who came around K and me when

we were young and having so many problems in our marriage,

who could have just helped us. We need marriage mentors

in this world to stop the divorce rate. We need

marketplace mentors who say, you know what, I'm going to

take this young girl, this young guy under my wing,

and I'm going to show him the ropes of this

business marketplace mentors. We need maturity member mentors who say,

I'll take this new believer and help them grow, and

I'll just take them under my wing for six months.

I've only been a Christian for a year, but I'm

at least further along than they are, and I'll help them.

We need mission mentors who help people who are scared

to death to go on a piece trip, work through

their fears, and talk to them about it. In every

area of life, God is saying to you today, don't

waste your experiences. They are as important a part of

your shape as your gifts and your heart and your

ability and your personality. Let's bow our heads. Would you

pray this prayer now? Lord, I offer my life to you,

everything I've been through, Use it for your glory. Lord.

I offer my days to you. I lift up my

praise to you as a living sacrifice. Lord, I offer

you my life, Jesus, I give you my all in

your name. I pray 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 Pastorick

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.

Such inspiring words from Pastor Rick today. Now, I want

to say that Rick and I so appreciate that you

took the time out of your day to listen to

this show. And now one of my favorite parts of

Daily Hope Today, we're going to end with the letter

from one of our listeners.

Today, I want to share a letter from John, who

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