Rick Warren - Daring To Wait On God—Part Two

Hello, everybody, Welcome to Daily Hope with Pastor Rick Warren.

So we're continuing with this series called Daring Faith The

Key to Miracles, And in this series you're learning how

to have a bold, unshakable faith that gives you courage

to impact the world around you. And I know we

all want that all right. Here comes Pastor Rick with

part two of a message called Daring to Wait on God.

I remember the thirteen year battle for land in this

church and the church we started praying for land the

first day we started the church, and we prayed. We

looked at hundreds of pieces over the next thirteen years,

and we had one failure after another, and one failure

after another, and that piece fell through, and that deal

fell through, and that deal fell through, and that deal

fell through, and a lot of people got discouraged, and

a lot of people thought, well, we're never gonna get land.

But I never felt that way. Why Because I knew

that the delay was not a denial. This piece of

land here in Lake Forest was not even on the

map when Saddleback Church started, because there was no such

thing as the city of Santa Margarita, and there was

no such thing as the city of Foothill Ranch, and

nobody had even mapped or partitioned this piece off. There

was no Portola Parkway. El Toro Road was a two

lane road. There was no toll road. It was no

man's land. Nobody even knew it. But God, before the

foundation of the earth, had planned where Saddleback Church would

have its first campus. He knew, and it was just

a matter of time. And all of those things where

we had the delays and the denials and the dead

ends and all those things where we had one defeat

after another, God was working on us. And I had

said all along, God's much more interested in building disciples

than he is in building buildings. So we went from

one service to two, to three, to four, to five

to six. And I kept going, God, anytime now, you know,

just soon not have to do one hundred services a week.

And God knew, and his timing is perfect. He's never early,

he's never late. At the time I decided, my words

will come true. You can trust what I say. It

will be a fact. I mean take it a long

time now. There are over seven thousand promises in the Bible.

When you're in the waiting room, that's a good time

to memorize scripture. If you're in a waiting room right now,

you're waiting on what's next. Lord, You're waiting on a

new job, you're waiting on a new an answer to prayer,

you're waiting on a doctor's report. Now's the time to

memorize scripture. That's what you remember. What do you do?

That's what you remember in the waiting room. There are

four things to do. Write these down. Four things to

do in the waiting room, And just for fun, I

put them in an acrosstich, just because I know you'd

expect me to do that. So wai wait. Four things

you need to do when you're in the waiting room

of life. Who stands for this? Write down the lessons

I'm learning. This is extremely important to the building of

your faith. When you're in the waiting room, the first

thing you do is write down the lessons that you

are learning, because waiting is always the season to listen,

and waiting is always the season to learn. And when

you're listening and learning, then you need to write it down.

God has some things he wants to teach you before

he answers your prayer. God has some things he wants

you to learn. Before that seed that you're planning and

daring faith sprouts. He wants to teach you some things.

God is more interested in your character than your comfort.

But you will forget the lessons that you learn in

the waiting rooms of life if you don't write them down.

And you know what happens when you don't write them down,

You forget him. And what happens when you forget him

He has to take you through it again. That's no fun,

that's unnecessary pain. Some of you have been through the

same pain eight or nine times. Why don't you write

down the lessons this time so you don't have to

go through it for the ninety second time. You know,

Moses led the children out of Egypt across the wilderness

to the Promised Land. It should have only taken You

can walk that distance easily in a few weeks, even

with a large crowd. It took them forty years. What

in the world were they doing for forty years? Walking

around in a circle. God was giving them one test

after another, saying, will you trust me? There are seven tests?

And every time they'd fail a test, he'd say another

lap around the wilderness. And in that wilderness they were

not there by accident. Waiting in the wilderness has a purpose.

Some of you are in the wilderness right now. I

want you to write this down. The way to the

Promised Land is through the wilderness. You can't get to

the Promised Land without going through the desert. And you've

got to go through that waiting period. You've got to

go through that desert. You've got to go through that

drive spell, you've got to go through that wilderness. Waiting

in the wilderness for a purpose. The way to the

Promised Land is in through the wilderness. And the lessons

that you're learning in the wilderness, please write them down.

The Bible tells this to Moses number thirty three, verse two.

At the Lord's direction. Moses knows God commanded him to

do this. Moses kept a written record of their progress.

Are you keeping a written record of your progress in

the Christian life? Are you writing anything down? Keep a

journal while you're waiting, and here's what do you do?

You say now, I'm not talking about a journal is

different than a diary. A diary is about what you

do today. I had a mocha frappuccino. Nobody cares a journal.

You don't write down what you do. A journal is

anytime you learn something, you write that down. You write

down the lesson. A diary is for events. A journal

is for lessons. I have always learned in the waiting

periods of life that little lessons lead to big successes.

Some of the tiniest lessons I've learned in dry periods,

in depressing periods, in discouraging periods, are the keys to

big successes in my life. Little lessons lead to big successes,

so you write them down. Deuteronomy eleven, verse two says this,

remember what you have learned about the Lord through your

experiences with him. As I said, If you don't remember,

God hasked to take you there again, and that's painful, now,

Someone nineteen thirty three is good prayer to pray when

you're in the wilderness. God, teach me the lessons for

living so that I can stay the course so I

don't wander around. Teach me the lessons for living so

I can get through this with a minimum amount of time.

I don't want to be here for forty years. I

don't want to be going in circles. Teach me the

lessons for life so I can stay the course. When

you're in the waiting period, you're between jobs, you're between goals.

You don't know what's next. You say, teach me, Lord,

I want to learn the lessons. That's the w write

down the lessons that I'm learning. The A in weight

stands for this. This is really important. Act as though

I already have it. Act as though I already have it.

This is called faith. And when you have deposited a seed,

a seed of finances, like many have done with daring, faith,

a seed of talent and service, a seed of energy,

a seed of reputation. When you've had a need and

you planet a seed, what you do while you're waiting

for that seed to grow is you act as though

you already have it. This is faith. Now, we typically

when we're in the waiting rooms and the wildernesses of life.

You know what we do. We don't do that. What

we do is we wonder, and we worry and we whine.

That's what we do in the waiting room's life. First

we wonder, why Lord, Why we wonder? And then we worry,

how Lord, how how are you going to do this?

And then we whine, when, Lord, when are you going

to answer my prayer? So instead of wondering and worrying

and whining. You need to learn to act as if

you've already got it. You act in faith. Here's how

Jesus puts it. Mark, Chapter eleven, verse twenty four. Jesus said,

I tell you, whenever whatever you ask for in prayer,

believe that you have received it and it will be yours. Now,

I want you to pay attention to this verse. Believe

that you have received it and it will be yours.

Do you notice a change in tents there? Believe that

you have received it. That's past tense, past tense. Believe

that you have received it, And then he says, and

it will be yours. That's future tense. What in the

world is Jesus saying, believe that I've already got it

in order to get it. That's exactly what he's saying.

So hang on here, Rick telling me, I got to

believe something is so even though it isn't so, in

order that it becomes so. Yep, that's called faith. When

you thank God after you get the answer to your prayer,

that's called gratitude. When you thank God before you get

the answer to your prayer, that's called faith. When you

act as though you've already got it, then you'll get it.

That's faith. Believe that you have received it past tense,

and it will be yours. President. Let's go back to

the pregnant woman. Every pregnant woman does us what I've

just talked about. She carries inside her body the promise

of a baby, and she's getting bigger and bigger and bigger.

And even though she can't see that baby, she's never

seen that baby, she knows it's there. She's confident that

it's there, and she can feel that baby there. So

even though she's never seen the baby, she starts preparing

in advance for the baby's arrival in faith. And first

she starts eating differently, she starts taking better care of

her body, she starts sleeping differently. She starts going out

and buying maternity clothes because she knows she's going to

get bigger. She starts stalking a nursery they have showers,

She gets clothes, she gets diapers, she gets all the paraphernalia,

the changing tables and the rocking cribs and all the

kinds of stuff. And she's doing that in faith. They

don't call it expecting for nothing. She's expecting a baby.

She hadn't seen that baby, but she's acting as though

it's already here. She doesn't want to wait and for

the baby to be born. And they go, hmm, I

probably ought to have some clothes for this little tyke.

I probably ought to have some diapers, maybe some bottles,

maybe even a place for the baby to sleep. No,

those things are already done in advance. She's preparing in

faith because she's expecting and she knows that that baby

is coming. It's just a matter of time. And I

once asked Kay when she was pregnant in one of

our kids, what it felt like. In the last trimessage,

she said, it's like you're at the top of space

mountain and the only way out is down. You know

you're going to go through that. There's no way out.

It's not like I think I'll go back to the

ticket and ask for a refund. Now you're going through

the ride. And so, she hasn't seen that baby, but

she's expecting it. She's believing it in faith, and she

will wait as long as it takes until the child

is delivered. She acts as though she's already got it.

She starts preparing for that baby. Now, let's just take

this in a real practical way. Let's say some of

you are out of work right now, or you're you're

looking for a job and you're you're waiting for a job,

and you're maybe you're waiting on God to get a job,

and you've been praying God, I need a really good job. Okay, question,

if you had a job, how would you act? Start

acting in that way right now? First place, if you

had a job, would you lay around all day in

your pajamas and not take a shower. No, if you

actually had a job, you would set an alarm and

you would get up and you'd get ready, and you'd

put on work clothes and you then that's what you

need to be doing right now. You need to start

acting like you've got the job. You don't wait till

you get the job to act like God job. There's

no faith in that. You act in advance. You believe

a thing is so even though it isn't so, that

it becomes so, and you do it. Now, set the

alarm and you get the clothes and whatever you need

to do. Well, I want you to write this down.

Waiting is not passivity. Waiting is not passivity. You do

all you can to get ready. There is a difference

between passively waiting in fear and apathy and expectantly waiting

in faith, where you take action, you get prepared, and

you act as though you already have it. God does this.

You know that. God goes to Abraham twenty five years

before he has a son and changes his name. He says,

your name's Abram, and I'm going to change it to Abraham.

And Abraham says, what's that mean? Abraham means father of

many nations. So for twenty five years Abraham Abram changes

his name and he's called Abraham. How do you like this?

He walks into a bar. What's your name, father of

any nations? Oh? Great? How many kids? You got none?

One hundred hmm? Interesting? How'd you like to live with that?

Look at this verse in the screen. The Bible says

in Romans four seventeen, God calls things that are not

as though they were, and that's called faith. Everything God

created he spoke into existence. He calls things that are

not as though they were, and he says, Abraham, you're

the father of a great nation. He hadn't had any

kids yet he's speaking it into existence. He says that

to Gideon, you're a mighty man of valor. That was

the last thing Gideon was. He was a weakling and

a coward. He says to Peter, you are a rock.

Peter was mister impulsive, mister foot in mouth, he was

anything but a rock. God speaks it into existence, and

he says, you do it the same way. He says,

like I've made you a father of many nations. All right,

act as all have got it. The eye and wait

is the third key you do while you're waiting on God.

It sys imitate the habits that grow strong faith. I

need to imitate the habits, particularly of people of strong faith.

You can imitate people of strong faith and look at

the habits that they do. Find their skills, find their patterns,

find their habits and follow that. Imitate that to grow

strong in your faith. In other words, use the time

while you're waiting to develop personal maturity. Let me show

you some verses one Peter, one, six and seven. We

do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate

those who through faith, daring, faith and patience. That's waiting

through faith and waiting through faith and patience, who through

faith and patience inherit what has been promised. He says,

that's the kind of people you ought to be imitating

when you're in the waiting room. We don't want you

to be lazy. Don't sit around passively doing nothing, he says.

Imitate those who do faith and patients inher have inherited

what God has promised. Paul says it like this I

Philippians four nine. Keep on putting into practice all that

you learn from me and heard from me and saw

me doing. That's called imitation. So when you're going through

a period of waiting, you should look around and find

a stronger Christian, a godly woman or a godly man,

and see what they're doing and imitate their faith. The

Bible talks about this multiple times, talks about in Hebrews thirteen,

verse seven, and other places. Imitate their faith. We all

learn best by models. That's why you know, during daring faith,

I've been giving you testimonies. Why because we grow in

faith by reading the faith of others. You don't grow

in faith by not hearing about other people's faith, but

you do grow on faith when you read about other

people's faith. Because the Bible says imitate the faith of

those who've grown strong in the faith. Keep on putting

into practice. Now, I want you to write this down.

It's very important. Don't get anything else. Get this one.

When you're in the waiting room of life. Don't put

my life on hold. Please write that down. Don't put

my life on hold while I'm waiting for my big

break in Hollywood, while I'm waiting for my ship to

come in, while I'm waiting for an answer to prayer,

while I'm waiting for the girl or the man of

my dreams to show up. Don't put your life on hold.

Waiting is not in activity. It is not idleness. It

is not laziness, It is not passivity, it is not apathy.

Waiting is the time to develop habits and skills that

you're going to use later on. Say it again, Waiting

is the time you develop the habits and the skills

that you're going to use later on.

What a great message today from Pastor Rick. There's something

I always can use in my own life after listening

to this show, All right, would you like to step

out of a life of ordinary existence and into a

life of extraordinary faith? Then please order the Daring Faith

DVD n Study Kit by Pastor Rick Warren. Here's Rick

to tell you more.

How'd you like to have a bold, unshakable faith that

gives you the courage to make the changes you've always

wanted to see in your life, your work, your family,

and in the world. That's not a dream. That's exactly

what God wants to do in your life. He wants

you to learn to live by daring faith. The Bible says,

according to your faith, it will be done under your

Now to help you develop that kind of faith, I

put together a Daring Faith Study Kit and it includes

a DVD and it includes a workbook. Now, there's six

sessions in the Daring Faith Study Kit, and it'll teach

you these six things. How to build a life of faith,

how to expect the best from God, how to stretch

your imagination in order to see what God wants to

do in your life, to expand your vision, how to

have the courage to take the initiative with your faith,

how to face your fears with bold faith, and how

to believe and what to do while you're waiting on God.

You cannot afford to miss this series. It was one

of the most important series I've ever done at Saddleback Church,

and the Bible tells us in Ephesians three twelve, because

of our faith in Him, we dare to have boldness

and courage and confidence in coming to God with freedom

and without fear. I want you to have that boldness,

that courage, and that confidence when you come to God prayer.

I want you to come to Him without fear and

come to Him in freedom. God will use this Daring

Faith Study Kit just like he used it in the

lives of tens of thousands of other people. He'll use

it in your life if you'll trust Him in all things.

So get this kit today.

You know, today when you give a gift to help

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