Rick Warren - Why God Shaped You the Way He Did — Part Three

Hello everybody, this is Pastor Rick's Daily Hope. Thank you

so much for joining us today, and if you're brand new,

welcome to the Daily Hope family. We hope you'll enjoy

the teachings of Pastor Rick Warren right here. I'm so

excited for all of you to learn about your shape.

It might not be the shape you're thinking of right now.

Rick loves to use acrostics and this one is shape

your shape, your spiritual gifts, heart abilities, personality and experiences.

And one of the reasons I love this series and

have shared it with so many friends is because Rick

talks about the way God wired you and why you

need not just know your shape, but how to use

it to do the things that God designed you to do.

And now here's Pastor Rick with the final part of

a message called why God shaped you the way he did.

God says, I need you for my benefit, for the

pinions of other people. Look at what the Bible says

Isaiah forty three. Bring me all the people who are mine,

whom I made for my glory. Circle that whom I

made for my glory. Those I formed and created you

were made for God's glory.

That's why you're alive.

If you didn't bring glory to God, you wouldn't be alive,

you wouldn't be taking your next breath. God made you

to enjoy you, to love you, to watch you, to

bring glory, to bring pleasure to himself. Now, why am

I belaboring this point, Because there are a whole group

of people out there today who are basically saying, the

only people that matter in life are those who are

really smart, really beautiful, are really athletic, and those are

the people that matter, and the rest of you tough luck,

and only the superstars matter in life. And that's what

our society says. They're more important than you. They're wrong,

they're wrong, And they're even going to the point and say, well,

what about these older folks who are in the rest homes.

They're not making any contribution to society, they're not doing

any good, they're not making you got vision, Why don't

we just do euthanasia?

That means, knock them off, kill them, get.

Rid of them, because they've served that they're just taken

up money on the tax rolls and they're not making

any contribution. Have you ever thought that God wants them

alive because he just wants to love them and they're alive,

not to give anything back to society, but to teach

us to learn to love, to love unconditionally.

God says, I love.

Them, and I determined the day they will die before

they were even born. And I don't want you short

circuiting that time, and they'll die when I want to

bring them on to heaven. But I want them here,

and I have a purpose. And maybe that's purpose is

just for him to love them and for us to

learn to be unselfish and love people who can't help

us back. Or what about people that are laying in

a hospital and they're in a quote vegetative state, and

somebody says, oh, she's just a vegetable. Well, do you

think God loves that person any less? No, do you

think God has a plan for life? Yes, and said, well,

let's just pull the plug on that person. Well, who said,

Maybe God wants them alive just to love them and

maybe to teach you unselfishness.

All life is sacred, you see.

It is this mentality that some lives matter than more

that caused the Holocaust. That was the mentality of Hitler.

Some people are more important than others. So we'll just

wipe out the weak, the infirm, the agent or people

we disagree with. And today we even see it in

young couples who have a child and they're expecting and

they say, well, now, we hate to tell you this,

but they may have a birth defect, and the people

start saying, oh, well, maybe we should abort them. Well,

let me tell you something. If everybody who had a

defect was aborted, you would have been aborted. Because you

have defects. You want me to point them out to you.

Everybody is handicapped, friends, you just don't admit it. You

have some emotional handicaps, oh boy, do you have them?

And you have some fears you won't even talk to

your wife about scares you to death.

And you have some.

Emotional handicaps and some mental handicaps, and you known are

not as smart as everybody else, and you have some

physical handicaps. Have you learned that not everything in your

body works? That's why you're not in the Olympics? And

so yeah, not. We all have defects. We all have

have problems. So you know, so who makes the decision, Oh, well,

your defect isn't big enough to get rid of? Do

you think you know when a family has those who've

had special need children, an autistic child, a mentally undeveloped child,

a physically handicapped child.

Do they love that child less? No, they love that

child more more. They love that child more.

And the Bible says, God loves the weak, the infirm,

the special need person, and we need them in our

lives to learn unselfishness. We must always protect the sanctity

of life. Why because it reveals God's purpose and equips

me to serving wife as a test, and it shows

God's glory.

God doesn't love him any less.

Maybe you've never considered that God loves that child, that

special need old child, just because he wants to.

Show his love for them. They are not contributing.

Quote the way the superstar is the magna cum laude star.

You are valuable no matter who are what you are,

and so is every child, and so is every elderly person. Now,

the Bible tells us that God is responsible.

Did you know this?

God accepts responsibility for all of our genetic defects. Did

you know that not the problems in our lives we

brought on ourselves by overeating, or smoke and or drinking

too much stuff I got, but all the genetic weaknesses

that you didn't have any choice in, You just inherited him.

Did you know that?

God says, I'm responsible. It's part of your shape. Look

at this verse up on the screen Exodus four. The

Lord said, who gave man his mouth? Who makes him

death or mute? Who gives him sight? Or makes him blind?

Is it not I the Lord? Does God love a

blind person and he less than a seeing person?

Of course not? And God says, you know what, I.

Accept responsibility for this because I've got a bigger perspective than.

Any little pea brain human.

I can see what you can't see, and I love them,

and I love them as much as the person who's

the All Star prom queen, you know, super Bowl champion.

That's good news.

God made you unique, and he made your original because

originals are more important than copies. Now, how should I

respond to my shape? Well, you can't build your shape,

develop your shape, use your shape until first you take

these three steps.

And let me just give them to you quickly. Number one.

The first step is acceptance, and acceptance means to believe

that God knows best. When he made me, he knew

what he was doing. I believe that God knows best.

You see, it all comes down to a matter of trust.

Do I believe God made a mistake when he made me?

Or do I trust.

Him in knowing that he has a plan for my life?

You see? Do I believe when?

Actually, when you say, God, I don't like me, there

are things I don't like. I wish I were different.

I wish I had different color hair, different color skin.

I wish I were taller, shorter, fatter, skinnier. I wish

I had more talent. I wish I could do that.

I wish I looked like him.

I wish I had her marts or intelligence. And no, no, you're.

Basically saying to God, God, you blew it. You goofed

up big when you made me. Everybody else is okay,

but you goofed up.

When you made me.

When you reject yourself, you are in essence rejecting God

because he's your creator. And when you don't accept yourself,

you know what it is. It's rebellion. It's rebellion against God.

It's saying, God, I know better than you, and you

should have made me different with a different set of

drinks and a different set of weaknesses, and God says, no,

I made you exactly to be you, because I want

you to be you with both your strengths and your weaknesses,

and both of them can give glory to me if

you just start doing what I made you to do

instead of trying to be like everybody else, to please

your parents, to please your girlfriend, to please your boyfriend,

or whatever. I made you to be you, and it

comes acceptance. See, actually, it's quite arrogant to reject yourself.

The Bible says this in Romans nine, My friend, I ask,

who do you think you are to question God? Does

the clay have the right to ask the potter why

he shaped it the way he did? Answers, of course not.

Whenever we doubt God's love, and whenever we doubt God's wisdom,

we always get into trouble. And the root behind all

of your problems is you don't trust God. You don't

believe God really loves you. You don't believe that he

really has your best interest at heart. You wish he

had made you something different, And as a result of that,

there's a spirit of bitterness in you that keeps you

frustrated and keeps you from being all the man God

meant for you to be or all the woman God

meant for you to be.

You were custom designed by God. Here's one more verse.

You guided my conception and formed me in the womb.

He let that conception happen because He wanted you and

He loves you so first his acceptance.

The second step is.

Salvation, and salvation means that I receive God's love. I

receive God's love. That's the second step to use in

your shape. The Bible says this, let your love God

shape my life with salvation.

Exactly as you promise.

Let your love God shape my life with salvation that

can shape over a whole lot of mistakes. Exactly fifteen

years ago today, I received this letter, Dear Rick.

Over the years, the.

Concept that you've taught me that has helped me the

most and helped those I've shared it with the most

is the concept of shape. I refer frequently to shape

when talking with discouraged men and women along skid road.

I point out that even the most desperate and tragic

situations can form the basis for the good that God

can bring out of our lives. God can always bring

good out of bad In the language of the street.

You can't deal God a bad hand.

Yesterday I saw the power of these truths impact a

man named Richard as a toddler, Richard was abandoned in

a hotel room by his prostitute mother. He had two

failed marriages and his children with whom he had no

relationship or little relationship, And now in his forties, Richard

was overcome by pain and frustration, and emotionally he was

still an abandoned little boy. When I explained to Richard

the details of his unique shape and the truth that

you teach that God never wastes a hurt, you could

see his despair begin to lift through weeping. There was

a new sense of joy and celebration. It was though

God was embracing and tenderly stroking someone who for many

years was convinced that he was utterly unlovable. You are

loved by God, and the Cross proves it. Jesus Christ

died for you, and he loves you, and he says

I have made you, and I saved you, and I

have a plan for you, and I have a home

in Heaven for you, and I want you to follow me.

The third thing we need to do.

Is refocus, and we need to refocus and develop what's

inside you rather than focusing on what's outside of you.

That's what we're going to do the next six weeks.

We're going to focus on developing the inside of you.

Nobody can disagree that in our society we are obsessed

with outward appearance. It's in every television, every magazine, every newspaper,

every movie, and people spend millions of dollars to work

on the outside, and they go to spa treatments and

they get all kinds of makeup, and they do all

kinds of clothes and everything buff up in order to

look good, and they don't spend any time on the

inside of them. It's all external and nothing internal. And

yet God says this and Onet Samuel sixteen, the Lord

does not look at the things that man looks at.

Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks

at the heart, looks at the heart. And that's what

we're going to do the next six weeks, focus on

developing the.

Inside of you.

Now, my goal for you in this series is to

help you become a confident person. I know a lot

of people, I don't know very many confident people. I

don't most people I know are honestly masking insecurity. I

don't know many people who are that confident. But when

you know your shape and you say this is what

God made me to be, I like me and God

likes me. If you don't like me, what's your problem.

I want to help you become a confident man and

a confident woman. And my goal is that at the

end of this series, you'll be able to say, like

Paul said the last verse in your outline, by the

grace of God, I am what I am. That was

later copied by Popeye, but it was Paul who first

said it, I am what I am.

And that's my goal for you. Let's bow our heads. Father.

I know that there are many people here who've never

really accepted themselves, and actually they're parts of their life,

the way they look, the way they act, their talents

or whatever, their background that they don't even like. They

have rejected themselves, and we've seen that that's really a

rejection of you. It's doubting that you know best, it's

doubting that you love us. It's wishing that we were

a copy of somebody else instead of an original helped

them to take the steps of healing tonight and helped

this series to be changing, life changing.

In their lives. Now you pray say this in your heart.

Dear God, I'm sorry, but I haven't accepted myself, and

I realized tonight that that means I haven't accepted you,

that I've rejected your creation.

And I ask you to forgive me.

I believe that you made me for a purpose. Thank

you for loving me and for creating me and making

me an original that is worthy and worthwhile and lovable.

I accept how you made me, and I receive your love.

If you've never accepted God's salvation, tonight, say Jesus Christ,

I'm accepting you into my life. I'm accepting your love.

I want to follow your purpose. I'm accepting your forgiveness,

and I want to learn to know.

And love you.

Help me to develop what's on the inside of me,

and help me in the weeks ahead to discover my

shape so that I can know your purpose for me,

so that I can serve you better, so that I

can pass the test of life, that I can show

your glory. I want my life to bring a smile

to your face. God, Thank you for loving me. I

want to learn to love you more. In your name,

I pray Amen.

I don't know about you, but I was sure inspired

today by Pastor Rick and that message. And I want

to say that Rick and I are so appreciative that

you took time out of your day to listen to

this show. We love you, guys, and we pray for

you every day. And if you just prayed that prayer

of salvation to accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and savior, congratulations.

We sure hope you'll let us know about it by

emailing Rick at Pastorick dot com. We want to pray

for you, and we want to send you some resources

to help you with your new relationship with God. And

now one of my favorite parts of Daily Hope Today,

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Today.

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