Rick Warren - What to Do When You Get a Second Chance — Part Two

Today I have a question for you. Have you ever felt like you were

the wrong person for the job, Like, what did you get yourself into

You didn't have the right experience or the right skill set? Well, I

know I have and you probably have too. This is Pastor Rick's Daily Hope,

the audio broadcast ministry of Pastor Rick Warren. Okay, today we're going

to continue with the series The Manifestation of Your Life Mission. Rick is showing

us that no matter how big the thing is that God is calling us to

do, we don't have to run away from it. We can actually run

toward it. This is such a good message, and I hope you'll invite

a friend to listen along with you as we discover how to embrace God's calling

on our lives and how we can live according to the purpose and plan that

He has for us. All right, let's hear what Rick has to say

as we go into part two of a message called what to Do When You

Get a Second Chance. Circumstances may change me, but they never changed my

mission. I may go through all kinds of breaking situations where I am broken

financially, or I'm broken spiritually, or I'm broken emotionally, or my relationships

are a mess and they're all broken, or my body is broken by a

disease. I can have all kinds of circumstances, and yes they will change

me, but they never change my life mission. Everything you've gone through in

life has changed you. None of it has changed the mission that God made

you for. Before you were born, he decided that you would do.

Nothing has changed that. I said in our last session, there is no

Plan B for your life. I don't care what's happened to you. There's

no Plan B for your life. You're still on Plan A. In fact,

before you were born, when God decided what he wanted you to do

with your life, whether you did it or not is your choice, and

that's a big mistake to not do what you're created to do. But before

you were in board, he decided that He already knew all the stupid things

you do, all the dumb decisions you'd make, all the scinnons you'd commit,

all of the problems you'd face, all of the losses you'd have.

He factored it all in. He factored it all in. Your life.

Mission has not changed from the moment you were conceived in your mother's womb,

and so Jonah's going, Okay, I'm going to get on track, and

I'm going to make my mission my top priority. God has no plan be

remember this verse. I showed it to you last week. The Bible says

in Romans eleven twenty nine. God's gifts. God gives you gifts and his

call. God has called you to do something things with your life. God's

gifts and his call are irrev vocable. No sin you commit can change God's

call or God's gifts in your life. You still have the same gifts and

you still have the same call in your life. Let me show it to

you in the same verse in other translations in the Living Bible, God's gifts

and his call can never be withdrawn. He will never go back on his

promises. That's why when God had a call for Moses, yeah, Moses

went out and murdered guy, it did not change his call. Here's another

verse in Roman's eleven twenty nine and God's Word translations. God never changes his

mind when he gives someone gifts or when he calls some one. So it

is in still full force. So I live with profound gratitude, and I

know I've been given a second chance, and I get on gear, and

I start using my life for what I was supposed to use it for in

the first place. That's second thing. Here's the third thing you do that

Jonah did. Don't delay obey today. Okay, don't delay obey today.

When God gives you a second chance, this is no time for procrastination.

Well, I think I will do what God made me to do, but

I'm gonna have a little bit more fun with my life first. I think

I'm gonna do what God wants me to do. But I've got to make

a bunch of money first, or I've got to get married first, or

I got to get through school first. Or This is not a time to

procrastinate on your life mission. When you're giving a second chance, you go

at it immediately. You don't delay, You obey today. It's time to

get going. In verse three Jonah, Chapter three, here's the third thing

Jonah did this time. Now he gets the second message, go and do

what I told you to do in the first place, Jonah, immediately,

immediately, don't delay. Headed to Nineveh. It's a big city. In

obedience to the word of the Lord. I bet you he ran. I

think when that great fish spit him up on the beach. He probably hit

the ground running, and he's probably Usain Bolt. You know, he's running

all the way to Nineveh, which is five hundred and fifty miles from the

coastline of Israel. It's in inner where Iraq is today. It's up where

near where Mosel is in Iraq, and he probably land. Would you if

God had given you a second chance, like Joan, don't you think you'd

probably say, I'm gonna get with whatever God told me to do in the

first place. I spend enough time going the wrong direction with my life.

Now I'm going to make up for some time. I'm going to go fast

in the right direction. I want you to write this down in your outline.

Delayed obedience is disobedience. Delayed obedience is just being as any parent knows

this. If a dad tells his son son, I want you to go

take the garbage out right now, and he says, well, I will,

Dad, if I get to it next week. I want you to

go clean up your stuff in the garage. I will in a couple of

days. I need you to come help. Mom says to one of the

kids, I need you to come help wash the dishes, well, I

will in two days. Delayed obedience is disobedience. But God tells you to

do something, expects you to do it now, not later, not to

give him some excuse so you don't delay. You obey today. What has

God told you to do? And you're still dragging your feet? I mean,

you know you're supposed to be doing it, but you're still dragging your

feet. For instance, we know that God wants every one of us to

give some part of our life in sacrificial service where we're not paid to do

it. We're just helping other people out of the goodness of our heart.

We're volunteering to serve. It's called your ministry. And God says I want

everybody and you know that. But you're not volunteering anywhere. You're not You're

all. Your time is based on you, is built on you. There's

there's no place where you're doing something totally unselfish for other people. You know

that God says, I want you to be like me. I want you

to learn to be a servant. I want you to learn to serve.

You know, God says, give the first part of your income back to

me as a sign of your thanks. You don't do it. I know,

and I'm just not doing it. Some of you know, God says,

when you like Jesus, when he's thirty years old, as an adult,

he's baptized, we're not talking about his dedication as a baby. When

Jesus is thirty years old, he goes out and public as an adult,

makes his public profession of faith. Have you done that? Have you done

that as an adult? You know, Jesus said to do it, He

commanded it be baptized like he did. He wouldn't have done it unless he

wanted you to do it. He modeled it as a thirty year old.

Some of you haven't done that yet. What is it that you're putting off

that God tells you to do? You're still dragging your feet. You know,

if you're a businessman, you really need to read the Book of Proverbs

and study it because it has all of the principles for successful business in spades.

It's an unbelievable book. You could build your business multinational corporation on the

principles in God's word in the Book of Proverbs. One of the principles in

the Book of Proverbs says, when you know something's not right. Like in

your business, you fix it immediately. And he says, if you've gotten

into a bad financial commitment, get out of it quickly. You don't procrastinate.

He says, do it now. Let me just show it to you

here on the screen. The Bible says, in Proverbs six three and four,

get out of it as quickly as you possibly can. Swallow your pride,

go and humbly beg to cancel the deal. Don't put it off,

do it now, and don't rest until you do. That's pretty clear.

He saying, you don't procrastinate. If you made a bad financial decision,

get out of it immediately. God's not saying think about it and do it

maybe in a couple of years. He says, get out of it right

now. And he says, if you're wise, you do it. If

you don't do it, it's foolish. But a lot of times God gives

us commands and we go, well, I'll think about that for a while.

No, we need to don't delay obey today. Now here's the fourth

thing that Jonah does. This one takes a little time to explain, but

it's real important. When God gives me another chance, I'm going to live

with profound gratitude. I'm going to make my mission my number one priority.

I'm going to not delay. I'm going to obey today. Number four,

Accept my responsibility to warn others. Accept my responsibility to warn others. Now,

let me explain this. This is not your whole life mission, but

it is part of it. It was certainly part of Jonah's life mission.

And if you are a follower of Christ, there are going to be some

times in your life when you were called on to warn some people out of

love. Jonah, chapter three, verse three. This time Jonah immediately headed

to Nineva in obedience to the word of the Lord. And then in Jonah

the rest of it says, now the city of Nineva Jonah three, three

and four. Now the city of Nineva was so big that it took three

days to walk around it. But after walking a day, Jonah warned the

people circle that word warned again. We're going to come back to that,

Jonah warned the people Ninevah. I've told you this four was the most powerful

and the biggest city in the world at this time. Assyria is the predominant

empire in the known world, and the capital of Assyria is Nineva. It's

a huge city with big boulevards and temples and waters and parks and pools and

all kinds of wide boulevards, and it was a huge, huge city.

It's the biggest city in the world. And as a result, it's very

prideful. And he says, when Jonah gets there, it takes about three

days to walk around it. That's because there were other cities around nineveh kind

of like La is not just one city. It's a metropolitan area of a

lot of other cities, and all of those cities together would take you a

long time to walk around. And he says, I want you to go

and warn them, And it says after a day of walking, Jonah warned

people. Now what is a warning? Because if this is part of your

life mission, then you need to know how to do a warning. A

warning is cautionary advice about a danger, a trap, or a problem.

That's a warning when I give cautionary advice about a danger or a trap,

or a warning or a problem. Now, God built into your body warning

systems, and there are certain things that when your body is not healthy,

you get a fever, your blood pressure goes up. There are all kinds

of signs the doctors take. There are warning signs in your body that things

are out of whack, but we often don't even pay attention to our own

bodies. We don't listen to what God tells us. We don't listen to

what our bodies tell us. We push ourselves too far, too hard,

we don't get enough sleep, and on and on and on. So God

has to bring people in our lives to warn us because we're not smart enough

many times to listen to God's warning or even to listen to the warnings of

our own body, our own conscience. So God has to bring people in

our lives to warn us. You know, as I've traveled all around the

world, I have a hobby. One of my hobbies is collecting stupid warning

signs. I thought this might be an appropriate time to show you some of

my collection, Okay, from around the world, So let me just show

you a few of these. Here's one. There's a warning sign, keep

your hands out of the machinery. Look at that. That looks that's almost

comical, like your fingers are getting smashed. I didn't, I wasn't afraid

of that. I just laughed at it. When I saw it because it

looked like you're getting all smashed up. Here's another one. If the door

does not open, do not enter. That's very good warning. Okay,

that's profound. Here's another one. Caution, be aware that the balcony is

not on the ground floor. Yeah, so if you lean over, you

might fall further than you thought because the balcony is not on the ground floor.

Okay, that's kind of obvious. This is funny. I think I

took this in Australia. It was a trampoline place. Oh no, it's

in England because it's pounds. And then it says warning barbed wire in use.

I mean, who's gonna go on a trampoline that if you jump too

high you run into the barbed wire. Somebody who hates kids, I guess.

All right here I love this one. Big scary laser. Do not

look into beam with remaining eye. Okay, all right, somebody had a

sense of humor. All right, big scary laser. This is in Houston.

No drowning. This is on a sea wall. I'm going, yeah,

okay, I'll make sure that because you told me I won't do it

now. All right, No drowning, I mean make sure. Warning these

peanuts may contain peanuts or peanut byproduct, so eat at your own risk.

Enjoy. I mean really I like this one. No tresspassing violators will be

shot. Survivors will be shot again. All right, Okay, so we're

not always really smart when we get these warning signs. Here's another one.

Oh this, you've seen this on the road to Phoenix State Prison. Next

exit. Do not pick up hitchhikers. I passed out one hundred times when

I used to go to case parents in Phoenix, and so I shot that

picture one day. State prison, next exit. Don't pick up pitchhikers.

All right. Here's another one. This is in Australia. These toilets.

If the towel dispenser is empty, please use your clothes. What what really?

I just got and I said, thank you the management. Yeah,

well thank me, Right, I'm going to go out with well my clothes.

Oh this was a really good one. You may be at risk for

throat cancer if and it has three things. Number two is have a throat

or mouth. Okay, so if you don't have a throat or mouth,

don't worry about this. You will not have throat cancer if you don't have

a throat or a mouth. All right now, Oh, please be safe,

do not stand sid climb or lean on the fences. If you fall,

animals could eat you and that might make them sick. Thank you.

Right, yeah, I got this one. In England, Touching wires causes

instant death. Two hundred dollars fine. As if death is not enough,

I want to scare you with the two hundred dollars fine. Okay, Newcastlen

Oh, this is good. The dog danger. The dog has a gun

and refuses to take his medication. And then this was one of my favorite.

Unattended children will be given an energy drink and taught to swear. So

we have all these warning signs in the world because we're not really good at

paying attention to warnings. And yet God wants us to humbly accept warnings from

other people and humbly and lovingly offer them to people in love. So this

is what the fourth thing that Jonah has to do. After walking a day

into the city of Ninevah, Jonah warned the people. Now, this mission

of warning warning people is a ministry of every follower of Jesus Christ. And

you've probably never been taught this. Okay, warning shows that you love God.

When you warn other people, it also shows that you love other people.

If you knew that a bridge was out and I'm speeding down the country

road at fifty miles an hour and you don't tell me that the bridge is

out, is that loving? No? No, it's actually hateful. It

means you don't love me. If you truly love me, you're going to

tell me, Hey, Rick, the bridge is out at the end of

this road. If I walk up to the cliff and I'm about to fall

off and you go, Rick, you might want to step back a little

bit. The ground is unstable there. That's an act of love. Warning

is an act of love, not an act of arrogance, not an act

of hypocrisy, not an act of superiority, not act of self righteous.

Warning is an act of love. And God doesn't tell Jonah. He doesn't

say, I want you to go move into the city of Nineveh and be

a good example. We'd all like that one. I want you to move

to this wicked city and just be a good example. You don't say anything,

just be a good example. He doesn't tell him that part of Jonah's

life mission is you're gonna go to the city, and you're gonna warn him.

You're gonna warn them. It's part of your Christian responsibility. I actually

looked this up and the New Testament has over one hundred examples and verses on

the ministry or the responsibility of you and me warning other people that we love.

Has anybody ever told you that that that's part of your job of following

Christ is to warn other people, just like Jonah was told by God to

warn Paul in Acts, chapter twenty, verse thirty one says this, for

three years, I never stopped warning each of you night and day. Notice

with tears. Now, why would he warn you with tears? Because he

cares about him. You warn because you care. You warned because you love.

You warn people because you care about them. Now and Jonah chapter three,

verse four, second half, it says this, So Jonah warned the

people. Here's the warning. In forty days, nineve will be destroyed.

Oh that's a great positive message. In forty days, the world the Jenavi

will be destroyed. Is this going to be a welcome message? No?

Is this gonna make Jonah popular? No? Is this how you attract social

media friends? No? Now I want you to notice Jonah gets this all

wrong. Jonah shows no compassion at all. He doesn't have any care for

the people of Ninevah. In fact, he doesn't want to be there.

We already know that he hates these people. He's racially prejudiced against them.

They are the enemy. He's politically on the opposite side of them. And

he's being told to go to his political opponents and tell them and warn them

about God, and he doesn't want to warn them. And when he goes

to the city of Ninevah, he announces that he does the minimum possible.

I mean he announces it in a matter of fact tone. He's as brief

as possible. In fact, a sermon is only seven words. Some of

you would like a seven words sermon, but he only has seven words.

In forty days, Nineveh will be destroyed. That's it. There's no compassion,

there's no love. It's just that's about the minim minimum you can do.

And yet God still used it. He had the wrong motivation. He

had no love Jonah. This is very, very different from the most prophets,

because most prophets when they warned people, they give these passionate speeches and

they're long and they're impassioned, and they're warning and they're pleading, and Jodah

just walks in and say, He goes, you guys are gonna die bye.

That's all he says. He doesn't care two bits about this nation.

Are these people? You guys are gonna die bye? While I go to

the sky. You're gonna fry, you know? And this is very,

very different. Now what is Jonah doing me? Well, it's as if

he's saying to God. There, God, I did it. Okay,

are you happy now? Okay? I didn't want to do this. I

didn't want to go to these people. I don't like these people. But

I told him what you said. He said the minimum, He said it

with no love. He goes, there, are you happy? Now?

He gets it all wrong, and yet still God used him. Now,

why was Jonah so short and so passionless and so unloving in sharing his warning?

Because he knew something that you need to know. I want you to

write this down. When God gives a warning, write this down. When

God gives a warning, it's a good sign. When God gives a warning,

it's not a negative sign. It's a good sign because it means he

wants to give you another chance. If God doesn't want to give you another

chance, he doesn't give you a warning. If God gives you a warning,

it means he's going to cut you some slack and give you another chance.

It's a good sign. People think warnings are negative. They're actually an

example or an illustration or an expression of love, because you're going I'm warning

you, and so you won't go through all this pain, you won't go

through all these problems. Now, I'm not going to ask for confession or

to raise your hand, but I wonder how many of you have been driving

down the street of the freeway one day and you saw a red light in

the back of your window, okay, and you pull over and the officer

comes up and says, man, I see your driver's license. And you're

nervous, and then you fumble around and trying to give an explanation why you're

going ninety miles an hour or whatever. And you get this explanation, and

then you hear the sweetest words when the officer said, well, today,

I'm just going to give you a warning. When somebody says I'm going to

just give you, are you happy or sad? You're happy? Why?

Because you're not going to be judged. You're not going to jail, you're

not paying the fine, you don't get the ticket. The warning is actually

good news. I'm just gonna let you off with a warning. And when

God says to Janah, I want you to go in and warn them that

I'm about to destroy the city, he said, I really don't want to

destroy the city. If he wanted to, he wouldn't warn him. Does

this make sense. It's a good positive thing because when I'm happy when I

get a warning, it means I'm not going to pay the fine, I'm

not gonna serve the time, I'm not gonna whatever, because it's just a

warning. Thank you for listening to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope. You know,

I know that you would love to live a life of significance. But have

you ever wondered if you could make a contribution so unique that no one else

in all the world could do what you've accomplished. Well, you need to

stop one because God created you to make a difference in the world. He

created you to fulfill a mission that only you can accomplish. I know you

may be thinking that God couldn't use you like that, but you know what

he can and not only can he, but he will. It really doesn't

matter what you've done or what you've failed to do. It doesn't matter how

young or how old you are. It is never too early or too late

to start on the mission that God has planned for you. And that's why

I'm so excited to let you know about a brand new Bible study from Pastor

Rick called Rising to God's Call, a Journey through Jonah. In this study,

Rick is going to show you how God had an incredible mission for Jonah

and it went well beyond being swallowed by a big fish. Jonah's story is

really about second chances and redemption and the rescue of an entire nation. And

more importantly, it's the story of God, the one who shows grace to

everyone he created. You know, the story of Jonah is really like a

blueprint from God. It shows all of us how He can use you to

do significant things no matter where you are in life right now. And just

like Jonah, you're going to find that pursuing God's mission for your life is

the greatest adventure that you will ever go on. And we're going to send

you Pastor Rick's brand new Bible study, Rising to God's call a journey through

Jonah to say thank you for your gift to Daily Hope because it helps us

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