Rick Warren - When Your Setback Seems Irreversible - Part Three

This is Pastor Rick's Daily Hope, the audio broadcast Ministry

of Pastor Rick Warren. Today we continue with a series

called how God Turns Setbacks into Comebacks. We're so glad

that you've joined us today. Now, if you know someone

who needs some encouragement right now, be sure to invite

them with a text or a phone call to listen

along with you. But first studies have shown the more

grateful a person is, the happier they are. But it's

not always easy to be thankful. That's why Pastor Rick

developed the Power of Gratitude. It's a special interactive Bible

study to help you grow your gratitude. You can find

out more by going to Pastorick dot com while you

listen to today's message. If you want, you can just

text the word hope to eight hundred, six hundred five

thousand and four for more information. That's the word hope

to eight hundred six hundred five thousand and four. Right now,

here's Pastor Rick with the final part of a message

called when You're setback seems Irreversible.

Philippians Chapter one in the Bible Verse nineteen Paul talks

about the benefit of having people pray for you in

a small group. And he says this to the Philippian Christians.

Because you're praying for me and the spirit of Christ

is helping me. I know that this trouble will bring

my freedom circle that word freedom. What is Paul saying here,

He's saying that prayer is the pathback to your comeback.

Prayer is the pathback to your comeback. So you want

to join a small group where you've got people praying

for you when you're going through tough times. Now, you know,

here at Saddleback Church and our family, we pray specifically

for people in pain in all of our seven thousand

plus small groups hoops. Sometimes we like to do it

right here on the weekends and all of our campuses

together as a large group. And I'd like to do

that right now. So what I'd like everybody to do

is just bow your head in all of our campuses

if you buy it for a minute, and if you're

going through a time of grief, or you're going through

a big conflict, or you've had a big loss, are

you're feeling lonely, or you're dealing with chronic pain, whatever

stress you might be facing right now. A health setback,

a financial setback or any kind of setback. I want

to lead our entire saddle backed church family in all

of our four different continents to pray together for you

right now. And what I want to do as a

statement of your faith with our heads bowed, no matter

what campus you're at, if you are going through a

major problem right now and you need prayer from your

church family, I'm going to ask you to right now

to just quietly stand with your head bowed. You don't

have to say anything, just quietly stand with your head bowed

as our entire church family prays together for you. Now.

People are standing up in all of our campuses right now,

and if you're sitting next to someone who stood up

just now, you might want to just reach over and,

you know, pat them on the back, or grab their

hand and squeeze their hand, just to say we're with you.

We're a family, we're in this together, and we're supporting you.

Let's pray together as a church family for all of

our brothers and sisters who are standing right now. Heavenly Father,

we don't know all the needs that are being represented

by those standing, but you do, and just as you

care about them, we care about them our brothers and sisters.

So thank you for creating these who are standing right now.

Thank you for bringing them to be a part of

our church family. We ask for.

The things that the Job asked for, asking you to

give these people wisdom in their situations, give them strength

in their setbacks.

For those who are in pain right now, give them relief.

For those who are having a hard time sleeping because

they're worrying, help them to sleep better. Together, as a

church family, we pray that you would encourage the hearts

of our friends and our family members who are standing

right now, and we ask your blessing on them turn

their setbacks into comebacks in Jesus's name. Amen, you may

be seated if you're facing a setback. I will just

say it this way. If you're facing a setback, you

got to join with other people who are going to

support you. Now. Here's the fourth letter of our trust, acrossteache,

which is the S and that stands for surrender. Here's

the fourth step, I surrender my future to God. This

is exactly what Job did in his comeback. Anytime you

have a loss, anytime you have a failure or set back,

what paralyzes you after that is actually not grief. Grief's

a good thing. What paralyzes you is fear. It's fear

of the future. And sometimes when you've had a setback,

people will give you the wrong advice, and that makes

you even more fearful. Sometimes that wrong advice will come

from friends that you've trusted, or even family members who

love you can sometimes give you the wrong advice. In

Job's case, he got some bad advice from his wife,

and in Job chapter two, verse nine and ten, it

says this Job's wife said to Job, are you still

trying to maintain your integrity? Why don't you just curse

God and die? Just end it. Job replies to his wife,

you talk like a godless woman. Should we accept only

good things from the hand of God and never accept

anything bad? So in all of this Job said nothing wrong.

Now notice Job's response to the problem, the setback in

his life that seems irreversible, his total surrender. He says,

I don't like it, I don't understand it, but God,

I surrender my future to you after this major loss.

In fact, he says in Job thirteen fifteen, one of

the most famous verses in the Bible, where he says,

even if God takes my life, I will still trust

him though he slay me, I will trust him. That

is surrender. That's surrender no matter what happens in my life.

I may not understand it, but I belong to God

and I know those things that are true that God

made me, He loves me, He has his best interest,

my best interest in his heart. I know that God

is in control. I know that this life is not

all there is. I know there's more to life than

just here. And now I know that one day I'm

going to eternally be with God in heaven. These are

things that give me hope and comfort when I've lost everything.

I know God is a good God, and I don't

understand it, and it doesn't look good and it's not good,

and I'm in a lot of pain. But even if

God allows my life to be taken, I'm still going

to trust him because I know the kind of God

he is, and I know what He's got planned for

me in heaven. Friends, that is the ultimate expression of

a mature faith. How mature is your faith? It is

like a fair weather faith that you only trust God

when things are going good, Or is it a wimpy

faith like a washed out baby diaper faith. Or do

you have the mature faith of a man of God

or a woman of God that can handle setbacks? Or

do you just flip out and flake out when things

go wrong?

Do you?

By the way, how do you know when you've got

a weak faith? Do you know what the sign of

a weak faith is? One word worry? Worry is the

warning light that your faith is weak. Matthew six thirty

two in the CEV translation says this, people who don't

know God are always worrying when you have a setbacks

in your life. Listen, you're either gonna worry or you're

gonna worship. Worry or worship. And the more you focus

your life on God, the less worry you're gonna worry

during the during the setback. Now, I want you to

see the fifth and final step, and uh, you've got

to do this if you've had a setback that seems irreversible. Okay,

here's the last way that you show your trust in

God that you're relying on him. The last ty in

trust is this, Well, let's first review him. Tell God

exactly how you feel. That's tea. Are refuse to be bitter,

You unite with people who help me focus on God

as surrender every detail of my future to God and

Tea is trust Jesus for every detail of my comeback.

Trust Jesus for every detail of my comeback. You have

to trust Jesus with every detail of your life for

him to turn that setback into comeback.

You're listening to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope rip will be

back in just a moment. With the rest of today's lesson.

You can sign up for Pastor Rick's free email devotional

at pastorick dot com. That's pastorick dot com.

Did you know experts have discovered that gratitude is the

healthiest human emotion. It makes you more resistant to stress

and increases your overall happiness and satisfaction. In fact, study

show the more grateful a person is, the happier they are.

That's the power of gratitude. The Bible tells us to rejoice, always,

pray continually, and give thanks in all circumstances. So it's

clear that God wants us to develop an attitude of gratitude.

But we all know it's not always easy to feel grateful.

That's why Pastoric developed a Bible study called the Power

of gratitude. This innovative study is filled with scripture, teaching exercises, quotes, prayers,

and journal pages. As you go through the study, you'll

discover the many and often unique things you have to

be grateful for every day. You'll develop the lifelong habit

of expressing gratitude to God, a habit that leads to

true happiness and satisfaction. Will send you Pastor Rick's Power

of Gratitude Bible Study to say thanks when you give

a gift to help Daily Hope take God's word to

people around the world. Go to Pastorick dot com right

now to get your copy, or you can call eight

hundred six hundred five zero zero four that's Pastorick dot com.

Or call eight hundred six hundred at five zero zero four.

Thank you so much for your support, and don't forget

to let us know which radio station you heard us on.

Now let's get back to today's lesson. Here on Pastor

Rick's Daily Hope.

Listen, you're either gonna worry or you're gonna worship. Worry

or worship, And the more you focus your life on God,

the less worry you're gonna worry. During the During the setback,

now I want you to see the fifth and final step.

And you've got to do this if you've had a

setback that seems irreversible. Okay, here's the last way that

you show your trust in God that you're relying on him.

The last t is trust is this, Well, let's first

review him. Tell God exactly how you feel. That's Tea R.

Refuse to be bitter. You unite with people who helped me,

focus on God as surrender every detail of my future

to God. And Tea is, trust Jesus for every detail

of my comeback. Trust Jesus for every detail of my comeback.

You have to trust Jesus with every detail of your

life for him to turn that setback into comeback. Now,

you know some of you are around when this happened,

but many of you were not. Many many years ago

here in the saddle Back Valley, we had a devastating

wildfire that spread all across the saddle Back Valley and

many of our members had homes that burned down. And

what was puzzling is that most of those homes that

burned down actually had fire resistant roofs, so they thought

that they were safe from the fiery embers. You know,

when there's a fire going on, embers float through the

sky and the winds take them, and when those embers

land on the roofs, they set the roof on fire,

and then the house burns down. In this area, many

of the roofs were fire resistant and fire retardant roofs,

but it still burned down. Why. Well, what happened is

that many of those hot embers landed in the roof gutters,

and the roof gutters were filled with dry leaves that

had not been cleaned out and had piled up and

piled up and piled up for months and months and months,

and those leaves ignited instantly, and the fire got so

hot in those roof gutters that it melted those gutters

on those houses, and that fell down and burned the

entire house down. Now, really, that's a parable of life.

And as your pastor who loves you and does want

to see your life go up and smoke, let me

ask you a straightforward question. What's in the gutter of

your life that's waiting for just one little spark to

burn you down? What's in the gutter of your life

that's waiting for just one little spark that will burn

you down. On the outside, you may be look looking

like you got it all together, like your front yard.

It's perfectly manicured. You got great curb appeal in your life.

Outwardly you look great, you look successful. But in the

gutter of your life, there's some stuff that's been piling up.

And it may be bitterness, and it may be worry,

and it may be loneliness or confusion or tension or

guilt or fear. But it's just waiting for one of

those little embers to ignite, and it could burn you down. Friends,

you need to give what's in that gutter, in the

gutter of your life, to Jesus Christ right now, and

you need to ask him to clean it out so

when the fires and the storms come along, you're not vulnerable.

I want you to look at what Jesus promises in

John sixteen thirty three. He says, by trusting me, you

will be unshakable and assured, deeply at peace in this world.

You will continue to experience difficulties, but take heart, because

I have conquered the world. That's the promise of Jesus Christ,

and that is the path back to your comeback. Now,

this is what job did when he lost everything. He

lost his family, he lost his health, he lost all

his wealth, he lost his prestige, he lost his power,

his influence. But he trusted God, and God engineered the

greatest comeback imaginable. Look at the last verse on your outline.

It's Job, Chapter forty two, verse ten. The story ends

like this. After Job prayed for his friends. Why was

doing that? Because he knew God was going to take

care of him, So he's prayed for his friends. After

Job prayed for his friends, the Lord gave him success again.

That's the comeback. In fact, the Lord restored to Job

twice as much double of everything that he had been

blessed with before. That's a comeback. God doubles what he

had lost in the setback in the comeback because God

is a faithful God, and Job betrusted God's goodness. Would

you like to have double for your trouble? That's what

happened to Job. He got double for his trouble. Well,

there's only one person gonna do that, Jesus Christ. So

I want to lead you in a comeback prayer. Would

you bow your heads as we close together, and all

of our campuses and those of you watching out line.

Just bow your head and first tell God exactly how

you feel about what's going on in your life. Tell

him God, I'm sad, or I'm lonely, or I'm mad,

or I'm frustrated, or I'm doubting. Tell God, I'm angry,

I'm starting to get resentful. Tell God whatever you're feeling

right now. Just do that. Be honest to God about

the setback, the problems that you're facing. And with your

head still a bout, I want you to now tell

God that you're going to refuse to be bitter, that

you're going to be better, not bitter, and that you're

going to trust God for the things that you don't

understand that have happened in your life. Say God, I

know that was not good, but you're good and I'm

going to trust your goodness even in the bad that's happened.

Just do that now. Now, tell God that you're going

to get serious, and I mean really serious about the

you in trust, uniting with people who will help you

focus on God. You need more worship in your life.

You need more fellowship in your life. You need a

small group in your life. You need to be more

faithful in your attendance at worship, because that's where you're

going to get the wisdom and the strength and the

encouragement that you need. Say God, I haven't been faithful

to you in worship. I haven't been faithful in fellowship,

but I want to be. I want to unite with others.

If you're not a member of Saddleback Church, we invite

you to join us. Sign up for the next class

one oh one, which is discovering my place in the

Body of Christ, in the Family of God, discovering my role.

We welcome you to join the membership of this church. Now.

The as in trust is surrender. Say in your prayer,

Dear God, I surrender my future to you. I surrender

my future to you. I don't know what it is,

but I surrender. I'm not going to worry about it.

And finally, the last key is trust. Say Jesus, I'm

going to trust you with every detail of my comeback.

I trust Jesus for my comeback. I trust Jesus for

my future. I trust Jesus to get me out of

this mess. I'm giving every area of my life to you. Father.

You hear these prayers and I ask you to bless them.

And give them a sense that you have heard the

prayers as they began the next step to their comeback

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.

You're listening to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope. We are so

happy that you've chosen to study along with us today.

If you'd like to receive hope and encouragement every day

delivered right to your inbox, then sign up for Rick's

free daily devotional by going to Pastorick dot com. Right now,

Rick will be back to close out our time today.

But first, did you know that experts have discovered that

gratitude is the healthiest human emotion It makes you more

resistant to stress and increases your overall happiness and satisfaction.

In fact, studies show the more grateful a person is,

the happier they are. That's the power of gratitude. The

Bible tells us to rejoice, always, pray continually, and give

things in all circumstances. So it's clear that God wants

us to develop an attitude of gratitude. But we all

know it's not always easy to feel grateful. That's why

Pastor Rick developed a Bible study called The Power of Gratitude.

This innovative study is filled with scripture, teaching, exercises, quotes, prayers,

and journal pages. As you go through the study, you'll

discover the many and often unique things you have to

be grateful for every day. You'll develop the lifelong habit

of expressing gratitude to God, a habit that leads to

true happiness and satisfaction. Will send you Pastor Rick's Power

of Gratitude Bible Study to say thanks when you give

a gift, to help daily hope, take God's word to

people around the world. Go to Pastorick dot com right

now to get your copy, or you can just call

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

dot com or call eight hundred six hundred five thousand

and four. Thanks so much for your support, and don't

forget to let us know which radio station.

You hurt us on.

Here's Pastor Rick with the closing thought.

Jesus told his disciples that they should live their lives

according to five specific purposes. He said, You've got to

love God with all your heart. That's worship, and love

your neighbors yourself. That's ministry. That's called the Great Commandment.

And then Jesus said, go make disciples. That's evangelism. Baptize

them into the Family of God. That's fellowship, a sign

of fellowship. And then he said, teach them obay everything

I've taught you. That's discipleship. And we call that the

Great Commission. We believe it daily hope that a great

commitment to the Great Commandment and the Great Commission will

produce a great Christian, a great church, a great company,

a great community. You know, I started daily Hope so

I could spread the good news about Jesus, not just

across America, but all around the world. And we want

people to know that God's word is filled with hope

and truth and the power that we need to follow

Him every day is available to every single one. You

know as well as I do, that the Word of

God changes lives. It's a live it's active, and it

bringes new life and new love into all of our lives.

So wherever you listen to this, whether you listen on

the website, whether you listen on a radio station, or

whether you listen to a podcast, you're a part of

the Daily Hope family and I need your help. We

could not do this without your support. Now, you know,

I don't take any funds from this broadcast. We don't

have any giant million dollar donor who's giving big gifts

to this. It comes from daily donations from listeners like you.

We're one hundred percent listener funded. Would you continue to

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from you. I absolutely love reading the stories that are

sent to me. So write me, pray for me, and

support this ministry, and God will bless it, and God

will bless you, and we'll get to heaven, and we'll

thank God for all the people going to be in heaven.

Because you cared.

Be sure to join us 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.