Rick Warren - Facing Giants in Life and Work Part Two

This is Pastor Rick's Daily Hope, the Bible teaching ministry of Pastor Rick Warren.

Today we continue in a series called Transformed. In these lessons, Rick

uncovers key principles found in God's Word that will completely transform our lives from the

inside out in every area including spiritual, physical, mental, emotional, relational,

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to eight hundred six hundred five to find out more. Here's Pastor Rick Warren

with part two of a message called Facing Giants in Life and Work, Verses

eight to ten. It says this, each day Goliath would stand and shout

at the ranks of Israel's army. He would say, why do you come

out here and line up for battle? Choose one man to fight me,

and if he's able to kill me, we'll become your subjects. But if

I kill him, you'll become our subjects and serve us day after day.

Circle that day after day, Goliath taunted them, saying, this day I

defy the ranks of Israel. And when Saul, that's a king, and

Israelites heard this, everyone was deeply shaken and paralyzed with fear. Now,

notice the situation. They're all demoralized, they're gripped with anxiety, they're terrified,

they're traumatized. I feel hopeless. One translation says, they were so

frightened they couldn't do anything. Have you ever been in a situation where everybody

around you thought this is hopeless? Maybe you have been at work and then

you're off saying, hey, in this economy, nobody can grow anything.

We can't solve this problem. It's going down the tubes, and everybody around

you is saying it can't be done, it can't be done, it can't

be done. It's never gonna happen. It's never gonna happen. And they're

all discouraged, and they're all convincing each other because they're all filled with fear.

And they say there's nothing we can do about this problem. Let me

tell you something. Conventional wisdom is often wrong. It is often wrong.

Everybody there was wrong, it says there twice in that passage, Goliath challenged

the ranks of the Israeli army. Sometimes the solution has to come outside the

rank and file. What you need is a little kid from a village to

and go, we can do this. What you need is a fresh set

of eyes. Because the professionals were wrong. The crowd was wrong. Just

because everybody says it's so doesn't make it so. The crowd is often wrong.

Just because somebody says of the crowd says it's true, doesn't mean it's

true. And so somebody had to challenge the status quote. Now, why

had everybody given up? Why had they all gotten so discouraged from this one

giant? The answer is they were listening to the wrong voice. They were

listening to this guy every single day. Look at the next verse, verse

sixteen. For forty days, twice a day, morning and evening, the

Philistine giant loudly berated di Israeli or Israelite Army. Well, it's no wonder

they got discouraged. They're listening to this guy day after day after day after

day. Question, who are you listening to? Who are you listening to?

Who says it can't be done? Who is pooh poohing your dream,

putting down your dream, saying it won't ever happen, forget it? Who

is telling you that you're not the person to do it. You know,

if you listen to negative people long enough, you know what happens. You

get negative because it's highly contagious. Maybe one of the best things you should

do is stop listening to talk radio because it is negative, negative, negative,

negative, negative. And you know what, if you listen to negative,

you know what, You're gonna become a negative, bitter person. And

if you listen to people who are against, against, against, against,

every day of your likeness, what you end up being against everything. Negativity

is contagious, and so is fear, and so is discouragement. And if

you listen to somebody who said America is going to hell in a handbasket day

after day after day, pretty soon you start acting like it and you believe

in it now. Sometimes you just need a fresh voice. You need a

kid from the village with fresh eyes. Go this guy's nothing. We can

take him down. It's a slam dunk look. In the next verse,

verses twenty three and twenty four, as David talked with his brothers on the

front line, he saw Goliath start shouting his usual threats to Israel's army,

and when the army heard Goliath, they all ran away in terror. They

all ran away. Let me give you some advice. Don't hang out with

fearful people. Don't hang out with fearful people, because if you do,

you will become fearful. If you hang out with cowards, you become a

coward. You hang out with bitter people, you become bitter. You hang

out with angry people, you become angry. You hang out with negative people,

you become negative. It's highly contagious. The first barrier to your dream

is delay. Somebody's trying to hold you back. But the second barrier to

your dream, the second dream buster, is discouragement, because everybody around you

is telling you that life sucks and it can't be done and they're wrong.

They're wrong. Now there's a third dream buster, and I call it the

giant of disapproval. And David had to handle this one is he had to

be willing to face the disapproval of people around him in order to go after

his dream. And you will too. Now here's the problem. The reason

why most people don't ever go after their dream is they are afraid of disapproval.

They are afraid of rejection. In this case, David's own brother questioned

his motives. David's own brother questioned his motives and disapproved of David even going

after the giant. We want everybody to like us, I mean, we

really do want we want everybody to approve of everything we do. But if

you go after God's dream for your life, I'm guaranteeing you this, there

will be naysayers, there will be critics, there will be miss understanding,

there will be attacks, there will be people who are judging you for what

you do because they don't get it. And that is the disapproval giant.

In this case, David's own brother questions David's motivation, and he treats his

younger brother with disdain and disgust, and he demeans him, and he disregards

them, and he belittles him. In verse twenty eight and twenty nine,

notice this conversation between the older brother and the younger brother and David's there on

the front line, and he asks the soldiers, what's the reward for killing

this philistine and ending this disgraceful abuse? What's the reward? Now? When

David's older brother heard David and even ask this question, he burned with anger

at David and he said, now, listen to this conversation and see if

you can identify with it. David's older brother says, why are you here

anyway? Why aren't you taking care of your scrawny little flock of sheep,

You cocky little brat. I know how conceited you are. And David,

the younger brother, goes, now, what have I done? Can I

even ask a question? Do any of you vaguely relate to this conversation?

Yeah, it's called sibling rivalry, and it's happened in every single family because

the older brother and the younger brother, the people closest to you can't see

what you see. They can't imagine you accomplishing something that they've never imagined themselves.

They think they know who you are, but they don't know you like

God knows you, and so they come out with this demeaning, demoralizing disapproval.

You hear the family dynamics going on here. The sad truth is this,

sometimes it is your own family that doesn't want you to accomplish God's dream.

It may be envy, it may be jealousy. It maybe they think

they know you better than you do and they know your weaknesses, but they

don't know God's strength. It may be that they would be embarrassed. It

may be that they would resent you being successful and it would make them look

bad. I don't know really what it is, but sibling rivalry often leads

to resentment. Did you know that even Jesus had to deal with this?

You know, Jesus was born of a virgin marrying Joseph had that sex because

God was the father of Jesus. But the Bible tells us very clearly that

after Jesus was born, later on, Joseph and Mary had many kids.

In fact, we were given their names in the Bible. In fact,

Mary and the kids followed Jesus around during his b the street. Now,

what is interesting is that none of jesus half brothers our sisters accepted him as

Lord and savior until after the resurrection, and then they all became believers.

Because when your brothers died on the cross, and then three days later he's

walking around talking to you. That would make me a believer. But I

have to, you know, show a little grace to these guys, because

I wouldn't want to believe in my brother either. You know, if my

brother said, by the way, I'm God? Yeah, you and who

else? Okay? How would you like to have Jesus as your old brother?

Mister perfect? I mean, there's noise going on and the mother mom

walks in and Marry goes, what's going on in here? Kids? Well

Jesus did Now you guys know he didn't do it. Mom. He like

Jesus never lies. But ma, how would you like to have a brother

who was always right? That would be hard growing up in that family?

Okay? And so I can see every reason why they would not accept him

as the messiah until after his death and resurrection. But even Jesus had to

deal with this sibling rivalry because a brother or a sister will always say,

who do you think you are? When you have a dream. I'll never

forget. When this church, many years ago bought this piece of land one

hundred and twenty acres and saddle back was a much smaller church, at the

time, and the word got out of the community that this little church was

going to go buy one hundred and twenty acres in Orange County and said,

yeah, who else? And the word got out around this community those people

over there at saddle Back Church, who do they think they are? And

I remember having to address it in a service and I had to stand up

and say, folks, you've heard this room going around people saying who do

those people think they are? What kind of they think they're special or something?

And I had to say, that's not the question. That's the wrong

question. The question is not who do we think we are? The question

is who do we think God is. You let the size of your God

determine the size of your goal. And if you have a big God,

you better have some big goals because God doesn't give you pitily dreams. If

a dream is from God, how do you know if your dreams from God,

it's so big you're bound to fail unless God bails you out. The

dream will be so big you are guaranteed failure unless you totally depend on God

to see it happen. It's just outrageously enormous. It's a big dream from

a big God the wrong question the right questions. Who do we think God

is? Let the size of your God determine the size of your goal.

Now, listen, when God gives you a dream, and it's a dream

that other people are afraid to attempt, or afraid to accomplish, or afraid

to even step out and try. If you take that dream and you go

for it, you will be misjudged. You will be maligned, you will

be misinterpreted, and you will be misunderstood. That is the giant of disapproval.

And you have to decide what matters more to you, the approval of

other people or the approval of God. I decided a long time ago that

the approval of God is more important to me than the approval of other people.

And it's not my job. It's none of my business what you think

of me. It is my business what God thinks of me. You're listening

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Now there's one other dreambuster. Oh, by the way, David did find

out what the reward would be. Did you know what the reward would be

for killing alive? It was three things. Number one, the king would

give you great wealth, or two, you got to marry the king's daughter.

And number three, this was the best of all. You were exempt

from taxes the rest of your life. Hello. Shoot, I would have

gone after you know, Goliath for that one. No taxes for the rest

of my life. Yeah, yeah, well that was the reward. But

then there's the fourth dream buster that David had to face, even before he

faced Caliath, and it is the giant of doubt. First there is delay,

Then there's discouragement, then there's disapproval, and then there's doubt. Am

I capable for this? Am I up to the task for this? Can

I actually do what God is asking me to do? And then there are

people all around you who tell you you can't. And in David's case,

the expert doubted his ability. Now, there was nobody who was a greater

expert on war than King Saul. But Gasaul had been in battle his entire

life. And when Saul King Saul, here's that this little kid is willing

to take on the giant who's paralyzed the nation. He invites David to come

see him at the palace. So David goes to say, King Sau,

seek King Saul, and here's the conversation, verse thirty two and thirty three.

David says to the king, don't worry about a thing. King.

David told the King, I'll fight this philistine. And by the way,

let me just stop right here. Confidence is God is often misinterpreted as cockiness

by other people. A lot of people might think a person is cocky when

they're just a person of faith. It's not that they think that they can

do it. It's that they know God can do it. That's confidence in

God, not cockiness. David says, don't worry about a thing, King,

I'll fight this philistine. Don't be ridiculous. Saul replied, there's no

way you can go against this philistine. You're only a boy, and he's

been a professional warrior all his life. Now that expert is saying you can't

do it, and there's enough to make you start doubting yourself. I will

say it about experts that I said about conventional wisdom. The experts are often

wrong. They're often wrong. I remember when I'm a Californian, but I

went to seminary in Texas. And when I went to seminary in Texas,

while I was there, God gave me a dream of moving to southern California,

to a city I'd never been in, and to start at church with

no money, no members, no building, and no support. And I'd

never been a senior pastor. And so I called up an expert on starting

churches in Texas. His name was Jeane, and I called him up and

I said, Hey, I'm thinking about graduating, going to southern California's starting

at church with no money, no members, no building, no support,

and I've never been a senior pastor. What do you think? And this,

Jane said, experts said, that's the dumbest idea I've ever heard.

He said, Rick, if you do that, you will never be heard

from again. Hmm. Twenty years later he called me back. He said

that was the dumbest advice I ever gave in my life. I was dead

wrong, dead dead wrong on that. Okay, Now, I remember when

I wrote Purpose Driven Life, I got a letter from the editor. I

framed it and said, this book will never work. Nobody's going to read

forty chapters. The experts are often very wrong, very very wrong. So

there's this doubt that comes. Now, how do you defeat these giants that

are keeping you from being the man God wants you to be. How do

you defeat these fears that are keeping you from being the woman God wants you

to be, to be a person of great faith with a great dream and

a great life work. How do you overcome those giants? You do the

very things that David did. Quickly, let me just give him to you.

The four things that David did to defeat these giants before he gets to

Goliath. Number one, I remember how God has helped me in the past.

That's the first thing you do to face the giants and to fulfill your

dream. Remember how God has helped me in the past. This is a

confidence builder. When I recall, when I recollect, when I remember ways

that God has helped me in the past, it gives me confidence for the

future. I say, remember those times I thought I'm going to make it,

but I did. And I remember that time I thought it was the

end, but it wasn't. And remember I thought it was at the bottom

and I was never going to climb out, but I did. And remember

when I thought it was all alone, but I wasn't. And you remember

how God has helped you in little times, and realize He's going to help

me in big times in the future. Because God never changes. God doesn't

love you one day and not another day. And if He helped you in

the past in little ways, he will willingly help you in the future in

big ways. You remember how God has helped you in the past. This

is what David did. Verse thirty six. David says when everybody tells him

it can't be done, he says, you know, in protecting my sheep

as a shepherd, I've killed both a lion and a bear. And the

Lord who delivered me from the teeth of that lion and the claws of that

bear will surely now deliver me from this philistine too. That's confidence. I

remember how God's helped me in the past. Number two, I use the

tools that God has given me. Now, I use the tools that God

has given me. Now. I don't wait for something I don't have.

I don't have enough money, I don't have enough education, I don't have

enough connections, I don't have enough opportunities. I don't have this or I

don't have that. No, you use the tools you've got right now.

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