Rick Warren - Using Your Abilities—Part Two

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 another great message from Pastor Rick. This is the final part called using

your abilities. So God says, I expect you to use your abilities first

to serve to honor me and second to serve others. Number three, to

make a living. God says, I gave you your abilities in order to

make a living. I don't want you to mouching off other people. I

want you to be self supporting. I don't want you to be a parasite.

I'm not going to be depending on other people. If you can work,

he says, you should work. Now. Some people can't because of

disabilities or problems or circumstances. But he said, if you can work,

you should, And he says, I want you to use your abilities to

make a living. Now, you need to realize that in the twenty first

century, people are going to live a whole lot longer than their parents did,

which means, in all likelihood, you're going to have probably at least

two careers in your lifetime. A lot of times people only had one career

because they died when they were in their forties or even in their thirties for

centuries, but now people are living longer and longer long and all likelihood is

you're going to probably have at least two different careers in your lifetime. And

so he says, I want you to make a living now. On verse

Deuteronomy eight, verse eighteen, he says this, remember the Lord your God,

for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth. Did

you know that producing wealth is an ability? Some of you are really good

at this. You have a natural ability. God has gifted you with a

great business sense, and you just are naturally good at making money. That

is your ability. Can you make money to the glory of God? Well,

of course you can. You can do anything to the glory of God.

You can make money to the glory of God. If you're honoring him,

you're grateful to him, you're tithing, you're living ethically, You're doing

it for his glory. God's given some of you amazing ministry or business skills

because he wants you to fund Kingdom projects that saddleback and around the world.

And that's why He has given you that ability. Number five. God says,

I gave you or number four, I give you abilities to be an

example to others, to be an example to others. God says, I

want you to be a witness, a testimony, an example to other people.

First, Timothy Ford, it says, put these abilities to work.

Throw yourself into your tasks so that everyone may notice your improvement and progress.

Did you know that God wants people to notice your good work? He said,

I want people to see how gifted, what abilities you have. I

want them to see your improvement. I want them to see your progress.

You're developing the skills, the abilities, the talents, that I gave you.

He says, that makes me look good as your father's, your heavenly

father. I want people to notice, and he said, I want people

to know that my children, people are in God's family, are the best

workers on the planet. They're reliable, they're hard working, they have integrity,

they're dependable, they're skilled. He said, I want you to be

an example number five. I want you to use your skills. God says,

to have money to share. To have money to share with people who

can't work or who are poor for one reason or another. Maybe they've had

a crisis or a tragedy Ephesians four to twenty eight. He says this.

The Bible says, begin using your hands for honest work, and then give

generously to others in need. He says, you know what, at some

point you have to decide enough is enough? Now? How much? How

do you know when enough's enough? Somebody asked, howard use that? He

said, when do you have enough? He said? How much do you

need? He said, just a little bit more? And that's called materialism.

Materialism is when you haven't learned to live within your income. You always

have to have a little bit more. It's interesting how you're now barely surviving

on an income you once dreamed of having, because your expenses always go up

with your income. And God says, at some point you got to say

I got enough, I'm happy, And then you start why you stop working?

Then no, you keep working, but you're now making it to give

it away, and you're making it to share with other people, share with

others. Look at this verse up on the screen. Give freely and spontaneously.

Don't have a stingy heart. The way you handle matters like this.

He's talking about the way you handle the money you make from your abilities,

the money that comes in because of your abilities. The way you handle matters

like this triggers God. Your God's blessing in everything you do, all your

work and ventures. Now leave that verse up there for a minute. How

many of you would like God's blessing in everything you do, in all your

work and all your ventures. How many of you like God's blessing that?

Well, of course we all would, It says there, there's a trigger

that triggers God's blessing. And what is it? It is generosity. Generosity

triggers God's blessing. Why Because God is generous? Everything you have in life

is a gift of God's generosity. You would have nothing without God's generosity.

And so God says, I want you to learn to be like me,

like father, like son, like father, like daughter. I want you

to my children, to have my quality. You're never going to be like

Jesus Christ unless you learn generosity and stop learning to be stingy. So God

says, I want you to learn to be generous. And so he says,

we'll just make a little thing here. When you're generous, it triggers

God's blessing in your life. I want to tell you I have learned from

personal experience that the more generous you are, the more God blesses your life.

I know this from experience. The more generous you are, the more

God blesses your life. And he says, I've given you this money,

this ability to honor me, to serve others, to make a living,

to be an example, to have money to pass on to others who don't

have any money. And then number six on the back of your line,

to build up the church. That's the sixth reason he gives your ability to

build up the church. That's what is the church. It's the family of

God. And Ephesians chapter four says this, Why is it that God gives

us these special abilities to do certain things? Best? It is that God's

people will be equipped to do better work for him, building up the church,

the body of Christ, to a position of strength and maturity. Did

you know that God expects you to use your abilities to help your church family.

I don't know if you're doing that or not, but God expects you.

It's one of the six reasons He gave you abilities to help your church

family in some way. Now, I know some of you thinking, Rick,

I don't know. I don't know I could help. The abilities that

I use at my work I don't think are needed or necessary at Saddleback Church.

Well you're wrong. You're wrong. There is no ability that you have

that could not be used in this church. Well, I'm a good negotiator.

We need negotiators. I'm a deal closer. We need deal closers.

I'm an accountant. We need accountants. I know how to weave baskets.

We need a basket. You know, there is no talent that you've got

that could not be used in this church. In fact, God places specifically

in each church the talent that he knows that church is going to need.

And have you ever thought about why am I here? Out of all of

the billions of people that God could have put in saddle Back Church? He

put you here? Why? Because you have something to offer that this church

family, your church family needs and nobody else can offer it like you can.

And He knows the exactly who's here, because He knows exactly what He

wants to do through this particular church. And I'll tell you my personal frustration

as your pastor is I look at all the talent that is rotting, that's

wasted that I know every week sitting out here in all of our services is

enormous amounts of talent and abilities. And I don't know about it, and

the other pastors don't know about it, and the other church leaders don't know

about it. And unless you come forward and volunteer in some way, we

don't ever know. And what happens. You get cheated, The church gets

cheated, the world gets cheated. First, you get cheated of rewards that

God wants to give you. The church gets cheated of the talent, and

the world gets cheated of the way the church can impact the world. How

could your abilities make a difference in this place. Now, of these six

ways, six things that God gives you your abilities to do to honor Him,

to serve others, to make a living, to be an example,

to have some money, to give to people who don't have any money,

and to help your church grow. What if you don't use your abilities these

six ways, well you lose. The world loses, the church loses,

but you lose. You not only lose reward in heaven. You can lose

your talent. You see, there's a universal law of life that says,

if you don't use it, you lose it. Jesus said it like this

in Matthew twenty five. Take the talent from him who didn't use it,

and give it to the one who has ten talents. Did you know that

God has the right to take back anything that I don't use properly. If

I don't use what He's given me in the right way, for the right

reason, he can take it back. Jesus said, to whom much is

given, much is required. Now this universal law is this, if I

don't use them my talents, then I lose them. True in every area

of life. If you don't use your muscle and exercise you lose your muscle.

If you don't lose your talent and practice and keep it up, you

lose your talent. If you don't use your mind and keep it go and

keep it active, your mind goes dull and you lose mental capacity. If

you don't lose it, use it. And guys, women, whoever you

are, who are employers, if you don't use the talent of the people

at work, you lose those people because they're not going to hang out with

a place that doesn't use their talent. Now, all of us have unused

abilities. You do, I do, everybody does. So let's look real

quickly at using your abilities. Three things. How do you use your abilities

the way God wants you to use them? Well, you estimate, You

dedicate, and you cultivate. First, you estimate them, estimate them Romans

twelve three. Try to have a sane estimate of your capabilities by the light

of the faith God has given you. That means, do an assessment of

your life. What am I good at? We've talked about this every week.

Do an audit of your abilities. Make a list. If there's one

thing I could say to young people today, if you want to prepare for

the future. Here it is know your strengths, you know your weaknesses.

You need to know your strengths. If you're going to be effective in the

twenty first century, you got to know your strengths, use them, estimate

your capabilities by the light of faith God has given you and by the way

parents you need to This is one of the key goals of parenting. Help

your kids understand their shape, what they're good at. See, there is

a myth that you're aware of all your abilities. You're not. You are

only aware of some of your abilities. You have far more abilities than you

think you have. You don't even know them. Many talents. If you're

a good manager. The trade of a good manager is the ability to recognize

a ability. That's what makes a good manager, the ability to recognize the

ability. And if you're a parent, look for the abilities and your kids

and point it out. You know what you're good at. Number two,

dedicate Dedicate them back to God. Commit them to God for the use he

intended. Romans twelve to one says, offer yourselves as a living sacrifice to

God, dedicated to his service and pleasing to him. You say, God,

you gave me these abilities. Now I'm going to give them back to

you, and I want to use them for the six reasons you gave them

to me. Tewond Tim of the two twenty one. If you stay away

from sin, Christ himself can use you for his highest purposes. See God

given abilities can be used for the wrong purpose. A God given ability can

be used for the wrong reason. You could be a brilliant organizer and you

could either organize a rescue or organize a robbery. You know, all these

brilliant, brilliant criminals, they're using God given abilities. God gave him that

ability to think through things and how to solve things. They're just using them

for selfish purposes, and so sharpening your skill is an important thing. Don't

use them for selfish reasons, but unselfish reasons. You want a good example,

this is a guy in a Bible called Samson, the guy with the

long hair, probably the most talented guy in the Bible. Wasted his life,

wasted his abilities, blew it really because of sex. The third thing

is cultivate them. Cultivate your abilities. That means practice, improve, sharpen,

develop, cultivate any ability God's given you can be increased with use and

practice, and the Bible, says an Ecclesiastes ten ten. If the axe

is dull and its edge is unsharpened, more strength is needed. But skill

will bring what success. You want to be successful? It takes skill.

How do he get skilled? Practice says you need to sharpen your acts.

You've got a dull ax. Takes more energy, He says, work smarter,

not harder. Sharpen your acts, and then you can be more successful

in life. Sharpening your abilities, your aptitudes, your skills is a spiritual

responsibility. Now let me just cut to the bottom line on this. God

has made an enormous investment in you. First he created you, Second he

shaped you, and he puts spiritual gifts and ability and personality. All these

things he put it in you. Then he sent Jesus to die for you.

God has made an incredible investment in your life, and he expects a

return on his investment. He expects a return on his investment, and he's

going to ask you one day, what did you do with what you were

giving. Did you use your abilities to honor me, to serve others,

to make a living, to be an example. Did you use them to

help other people? Did you use them to help the church. Did you

use it to make some money to give away? What did you do with

what you were given? God expects a return on his investment. One day,

Jesus is going to call you home. Either you're going to die,

or he's going to come back, one way or the other. First,

in Luke twelve, Jesus said this, when the Master comes back, that's

God and he finds his servant doing his work. In other words, what

you were gifted and shaped and able to do, that servant will be blessed.

I want you to have that blessing when that time comes in your life.

I don't want God to find you lounging around wasting your talent. I

want him finding you using your abilities in the six ways that God intended.

That's pow our heads. I want you to thank God right now, thank

God for the abilities he's given you. Say, God, I don't even

know all abilities I've got, but I thank you for them. Help me

to discover them today. I dedicate them back to you. I want to

use what you've given me for your purposes, and I want to cultivate them.

I want to get better at what I'm doing, and I want to

honor you by being the best I can be. I want to use my

abilities to honor you, to serve others, to make a living, to

be an example. I want to use my abilities to have money to share

with those who are poor, and to help my church grow and reach out.

And I pray this in your name. Amen. What a great and

timely message today. Let's end our show with a closing thought from pastor Rick.

When you give your time and your energy, and your talent and finances

to God, even when you don't have a lot of these things, God

takes notice and it is pleasing to him. That's because you're showing him that

you can be trusted with the things he gives you, and that you're developing

one of his most important characteristics, generosity. God is infinitely generous, and

he's pleased when you're generous too. When God gives you something like a talent

or an ability or money that is to be considered a trust. It means

that God trusts you to use it for good and for God. When we

use what God has given us to help others, we show our faith in

God. The Bible says, now it is required that those who've been given

a trust must prove faithful. That's First Corinthians, Chapter four, verse two.

The size of what you have to give is important. What God is

watching is what you do with what He's given to you. He doesn't give

you time or talent or money for your own benefit. He gives them to

us for the benefit of others. Now, of course, it's easy to

be generous when you have a lot to give, but faithful people are generous

even when their resources are in short supply. Because being generous, even when

you don't think you can be generous, is a step of faith. Giving

even when I don't have it causes me to trust God helps me to become

more faithful, and that pleases God when he sees that you're going to trust

him even when you don't understand how it will all work out. Now,

here's the thing to remember. When I do all that God tells me to

do, he does what I can't do. If you don't use the gifts

that God has given you to help others, then we're all missing out,

and that includes you, because you were shaped to serve others. Now,

choice, we can live our lives for ourselves, or we can live our

lives for something bigger than ourselves. Generosity is one of the ways that God

pulls us out of our selfishness and into His bigger plan for our lives.

I guarantee you, because God guarantees it that if you step forward in faith,

in faithful generosity, God will do amazing things in and through your life.

I've watched Him do it in my life for over forty years. I'm

Rick, be sure to join us next time as we look to God's word

for our daily hope. This program is sponsored by Pastor Rick's Daily Hope and

your generous financial support.