Rick Warren - Choosing Your Future IV

Pastor Rick Warren often says, you were made by God and for God,

and until you understand that, life will never make sense. Welcome to Pastor

Rick's Daily Hope Today. In our series called God's Vision for the Rest of

your Life, Rick continues in his effort to help you discover the unique purpose

and vision that the Lord has for your life. Now, in just a

few moments, we're going to let you know how you can get your very

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out more. Right now, here's Pastor Rick Warren with the final part of

a message called Choosing your Future. Now, there's a fourth life shaping choice

that Moses made. It's a fourth resolution, and it is this number four.

I choose to live by faith rather than by fear. I choose to

live by faith, not by fear. If you will make this resolution and

you'll keep it, it will change your life dramatically for the rest of your

life. You stop living in fear and you start living in faith Verse twenty

seven. By faith. Moses left Egypt, in other words, with all

of the slaves, not fearing the king's anger. That's favors anger circle faith

a circle, not fearing. You're gonna live by one or the other.

You're gonna live by faith in life. You're gonna live by fear in life.

By faith. Moses left Egypt not fearing the king's anger. He pursed

because he saw him who is invisible as Christ. Now Moses goes to the

most powerful man in the world, and he says, you know these slaves

that are building all your pyramids, I'm taking them and we're all leaving.

We're packing up and we're leaving, and you're not going to have slave labor

anymore, letting my people go. Now, Moses had every reason to be

afraid because he's going up against the most powerful man on the planet. At

this point. Pharaoh's Egyptian empire is the most powerful empire on the planet at

this point. Pharaoh in those days was considered a god. And whatever Pharaoh

said you had to do. If Pharaoh said cut your right arm off,

you had to cut your right arm off. If Pharaoh said, murder your

wife, you had to murder your wife. If Pharaoh said you got to

drown your children, you had to drown your children. What he said was

the law. And Moses comes and says, We're not going to do that

anymore. I'm going to choose to live by faith, not by fear.

We're leaving, We're out of here, goodbye. And Pharaoh goes you and

who else? And Moses say, I'm not afraid of you, because I

report to a higher authority. And the closer you get to God, the

less fear you're going to have in your life. The more further you get

away from God, the more you're going to be filled with fear. The

closer you get to God, the more you're going to be filled with faith.

I cannot overemphasize the importance of faith for the rest of your life.

The Bible says, whatever is not of faith is sin. How many times

did you send this week? A lot? So did I? Because anything

I did that wasn't done in faith, that I did in doubt, and

I doubted about doing it. It was it was a sin. The Bible

says, without faith, it is impossible to please God. How many times

did you please God this week? See? God doesn't listen to your complaints,

He listens to your faith. You want something to change in your life,

Stop complaining, start believing. God is not moved by complaints. God

has moved by faith according to your faith. The Bible says, it would

be done unto you. You get to choose what I do in your life.

And during the next six weeks, We're going to build your faith on

God's purpose and plant for your life. It's so important that you live by

faith. Now here's the key. What matters is not the size of your

faith listen, but the size of the God. You put it in.

A little faith and a big God gets big results. The key is who

you put your faith in. That makes the difference. See, everybody's got

faith. Everybody has faith. Even an atheist has faith. You can't live

in a world without faith. You use faith every day. It's just what

you put in. You had faith when you came in and sat down in

that chair that it would hold you up. For some of you, that

took great faith. When you get in your car and you drive home,

you're going to go through an intersection and there'll be red lights stopping the other

cars. You have faith that they're going to abide by their law. You're

not going up very genuinely going are you gonna go through or not? No?

No, you have faith that they're going to keep the law. Everybody

has faith, it's just what you put it in. The key is to

put it in Jesus Christ. There are people who are lived their lives by

fear, and they're all afraid of the fear of rejection. I was thinking

this week about Bethany Hamilton, that young surfer girl. Remember that fourteen year

old who lost her arm. She's surfing in a y a couple of years

ago. Fourteen years old shark came up, bitter left arm off and they

sold. She'll never compete again. In fact, she'll never get in the

water again because this She'll be afraid. She'll be scared to death. Bethany

faced her fears. She got back in the water and became a champion surfer.

Some of you, I don't know what this refers to you. You

need to get back in the water. You've been scared to death. You

got bit, you got burned, you got hurt, maybe by a relationship.

You need to get back in the water. You need to live by

faith, not by fear. You need to go I am not gonna let

fear dominate my life. I am not gonna let fear dominate my life.

I am gonna be filled with faith, and I'm gonna put that faith not

in just myself. I'm gonna put that faith in God. If you put

your faith in somebody else, you are gonna severely be disappointed, whether it's

a boyfriend or the president of the United States, because everybody is gonna let

you down eventually. The Bible says this in Galatians too. No one can

please God by simply obeying the law. Why, because we're not perfect,

we break the laws. So we put our faith in Jesus Christ, and

God accepted us because of our faith. Have you done that? Have you

put your faith in Jesus Christ. If you haven't, you need to do

that. That's the first thing you need to do. By the way,

it says Jesus Christ, have you a listen. Sometimes in the Bible it

says Jesus Christ, and sometimes it says Christ Jesus. Which is it.

Jesus is his name, Christ is his title. Christ means Messiah, it

means savior, it means the anointed one. Jesus is his name. Christ

is his title. So you can say Jesus Christ, or you could say

Christ Jesus. It's like saying Jesus is Lord or saying Lord Jesus. Does

that make sense? Some of you didn't know that. That's the only thing

you're going to get out of today's sermon. Okay, Christ is his title,

Jesus is his name. All right, I'm being a Christian for forty

years. I never knew that. All right, Well, now you know

you're listening to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope. Rick will be back in just a

moment with the rest of today's lesson. If you've missed any part of today's

teaching, you can listen online anytime at pastorick dot com. That's pastorick dot

com. Do you want to live the full and abundant life God desires for

you? That only happens when you seek God and spend time in his work.

That's why Pastor Rick put together a three hundred and sixty five day devotional

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and doubled today. That's Pastorick dot com or eight hundred six hundred five zero

zero four. You're listening to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope once again. Here's Pastor

Rick Warren. So how do you keep these life shaping resolutions? Two ways?

Write them down. Here's how you keep them. Number one, get

support. You need to get support from a small group. You weren't made

to go through life on your own. You need to be part of a

small group that supports you in your goals, in your resolutions. In life.

It's like climbing Mount Everest. You can't climb Mount Everest on your own.

You won't make it. You have to have a team to climb Mount

Everest. You can't keep these kind of major resolutions. You won't keep them

on your own if you don't have some people in your life to give you

support and give you energy to keep you going. You got to keep on

having support. I remember one time there was a guy, you know.

I talk about small groups all the time because they're more important than what we're

doing right now. We have on the weekends maybe twenty thousand people at Saddleback

Church, about thirty two thousand are in small groups. Every week during the

week. That's more important. Why because that's the real church. Because you

can't share your prayer request here in a crowd. When you get sick and

in the hospital, A crowd can't visit you when you need prayer. A

crowd can't help you when you're out of work, when you need a babysitter,

when you're sick, when you need a meal brought to your house,

A crowd can't do that. I'll never forget. A number of years ago,

there's a guy who came to saddle Back for many, many years,

set up in the bleachers, came every week, but never met anybody,

never got into small group, got very very sick, was in the hospital

for nearly a month. During that month, I was on a world tour.

I was gone almost a whole month. When I got back, I

was one of the f you guys who actually knew the guy. I'll go

visit him. So I go to the hospital see him. He was so

mad, he said, I've been in here a month. Nobody from the

church visited me. It was his fault. He had nobody blamed bout himself.

He hadn't made any relationships, he hadn't joined a small group. He

hadn't made any connections. Now, as your pastor who loves you, let

me just tell you this. I hate to tell you this, but it's

true. You're probably going to have a crisis that's called life. You're probably

going to have some kind of crisis, financial crisis, relationship crisis, physical

illness crisis. I don't know, but the likelihood of you going through the

next urn of sixty five days while crisis is pretty rare. I highly recommend

you put the support system in place before the crisis happens. That you build

the safety net now that you established the relationships, that you be there for

people in their crisis, so they will be there for you in yours.

You need to get in the group now, not when the problem comes.

Now, not before you hear that your best friend or your loved one of

your spouse has gotten cancer. You need it now. Get in the group.

Now. Here's what the Bible says to Hebrews chapter ten. Let us

be concerned for one another and help one another. We want to help one

another, show love. We want to help one another do good. That's

what groups do. Let us not give it, give up the habit of

meeting together circle. The word habit small group is a habit. Let us

not give up the habit of meeting together some are doing. Instead, let

us encourage each other. You know what, We started the Daniel Plan for

people who wanted us to get in shape, and about twelve thousand people in

our church ligned up, and last year our church lost two hundred and sixty

nine thousand pounds on the Daniel Plan, a lot of people getting healthier and

healthier. One of the things we discovered is that people who did the Daniel

plant in a small group lost twice as much weight as those who did it

on their own. Scientifically statistically proven people in a group lost twice as much

weight got healthier doing it with others than doing it by themselves. Let's have

a little true confession. I had some major back problems all fall. I

was in pain most of all, and finally in November, I had some

couple of procedures back procedures of surgery, and I think it's going to be

okay. But all during that time because of the procedures, because of back

pain, three things. Number one, I couldn't exercise like I've been doing.

And number two, during the holidays you started bringing me all kinds of

really great food. It was delicious, but it was not good for me.

Okay. And Third, my small group, which was my support group

I've been in for years. Many of them travel on the Peace Plan,

and we weren't getting to meet every week during the fall. Those three combinations

were lethal for me, and I fell off the wagon. And during the

fall, I gained about ten pounds because I didn't have my support group there.

So what do you do? You just get back on the wagon and

I get my support group back, and I say, Okay, we're gonna

We're gonna get this thing, you know, going again. I mean,

it's like having a quiet time. You say, well, I try to

have a quiet time, but I couldn't be consistent in it. Because I

can't be consistent, I'm just not gonna have a quiet time every day.

That's like saying, you know what, I missed the last four meals.

If I can't be consistent in eating, I'm just gonna give up. I'm

not gonna eat anymore. You know, I didn't get a bath for two

days. If I can't, because it's I'm gonna stop. I'm gonna give

up bathing Okay, no more showers. If I can't be good, no,

no, you just get back on the wagon. Some of you need

to get back on the wagon in the Daniel plan and you know it.

Some of you need to get back on the wagon in a daily quiet time.

Some of you need to get back on the wagon in a small group.

You need to be a part of that. Get support from a small

group. Number two. The other thing you need to do to keep these

life shaping resolutions, ask and expect God to help. Ask and expect,

expect is the prayer of faith. Expect God to help. Isaiah fifty says

this, because the sovereign Lord helps me, I'm expecting him. I will

not be this made. Therefore I have set my face like a stone.

That's commitment, determined, that's resolution, determined to do his will. And

I know I will triumph. That's faith. I'm gonna make it now.

In that verse, it says two things. Focus on good God, have

faith in God. That's how you keep a resolution. You focus on God

and you have faith in God. The Bible says about Moses, he persevered

because he saw him who is invisible. You can only accomplish impossible if you

see the invisible. He's living in life of eternity. That's the only thing

that's going to keep you on track. And my job as your pastor is

to keep you on track, to keep you focused. So you're ready to

do this? Are you ready to make these four life shaping resolutions that will

change your life? Let's bow our heads for prayer. As we begin this

together, I urge you to make these four life shaping resolutions and then ask

God's spirit to empower you to keep them and they will set you on a

successful course. I want you to succeed in life, and in the next

six weeks we're going to look at God's plan for your life in detail.

But nothing happens until you make some choices. Are you ready? As I

pray this prayer, you follow me in and say me to God? Me

too, Dear God. As I begin this year, I don't want to

drift through it. I want to move with direction and purpose. So today,

like Moses, I want to commit these four life shaping resolutions. First,

with your help, I resolve to not let other people define me anymore,

say me to Lord. Second, I resolve to choose short term pain

in order to have long term gain. Third, I resolve for the rest

of my life to live by your values, not the world's values, which

aren't going to last. And finally, I resolve to live the rest of

my life is best I know how faith, and not by fear. I

don't want to live by fear. I don't want to fear driven life anymore.

No, Father, I realize that only by your grace and power can

I keep these commitments. So Jesus Christ, I put my total faith in

you starting today, Jesus, I ask you to save me, empower me,

and help me guide me. And I pray this in faith in Jesus's

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 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'll help you on your journey with Jesus. And I'll also

pray for you God bless you. This is Pastor Rick's Daily Hope. Rick

will be right back to close out our time today, but first, if

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thousand dollars, but only till midnight tomorrow. That's eight hundred six hundred five

thousand and four or Pastorrick dot com. Here's Pastor Rick with a letter from

one of our listeners. I want to take a minute and tell you how

important your support is to Daily Hope. Your generosity. When you give to

Daily Hope, you're helping us take the message of Jesus Christ literally all around

the world in the many places where there aren't missionaries or churches. These are

called unreached tribes. Now, I'm sure you're familiar with the refugee crisis around

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in the Middle East and in North Africa because of civil wars and violence.

One of those places is South Sudan, where over two hundred thousand people are

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Now let me just read you one testimony that we've received. Here's a note

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Sudan. I lost all five of my children and my beloved husband. This

is in the civil war that was going on there, as well as our

family possessions during the recent fighting in the capital of Juba. She said,

I had planned to commit suicide. There's somebody who needs hope. When I

listened to Rick Warren's broadcast, the one called when you feel Like giving Up,

I got inspired and I dropped the idea of taking my life that very

night. And I'll continue to pray God to bless this great preacher, and

thank you for giving me hope. Joyce, We're happy to do that,

and I want to say it's because of the listeners who are giving faithfully every

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just give what you can give, God takes it and he multiplies it and

we reach out to people that none of us could reach on our own.

Here's what I want you to do. I want you to pray for Joyce

and today I want you to pray for all of the people who are in

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taking the good news of Jesus Christ and hope to people who need it

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you. My friends. Be sure to join us again next time as we

look into God's Word for our daily hope. This program is sponsored by Pastor

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