What to Do When It Feels Hopeless — Part Three

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. And now here's Rick with the final part of a

message called what to Do when it feels Hopeless. Now there are two more

more lessons we learn when you're feeling hopeless. Number six, reject false fixes

the solutions and accept God's grace. Reject false fixes and accept God's grace.

Now we've all seen people in big trouble who turn to God only as a

last resort. They try literally everything else to solve their problem before they're finally

in humility turn to God, and they will try some of the stupidest,

most worthless things instead of God. When they're in deep trouble, instead of

turning to God's grace, they turn to everything but God. Their marriage is

falling apart, their career is falling apart, their body may be falling apart,

their reputation is falling apart in shambles, and they're looking too everything else

reject false fixes. Last summer, I took my family on vacation to Canada.

We went to Banff. I'm kind of a rock and mineral kind of

guy. I love looking at God's creations and minerals. And I went into

one of these great beautiful rock stores up there, but there was one section

that had a whole bunch of quartz crystals in it for healing, and they

were named so like, you know, if you got a poor sex life,

you need this crystal. If you're bald going bald, you need this

crystal. If you got acid indigestion, you need that crystal. And you

know, if you're depressed. You need to put this crystal in your room.

Now. I like crystals, but they're not gonna keep my hair in

place. Jonah two verse eight. Here's the next thing. Jonah says,

those who look to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs. Joonah

knows it's his own fault, but he knows God is still the gracious God.

Even though it's his fault. He caused all this problem, Solf,

those who look to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be there. Now

today we don't car IDLs anymore. Little idols of stick of mind we buy

them. We all have idols. Ours just look prettier. Some people idolize

their car. Some people idolize their home. Some people idolize their front on.

Some people idolize the clothes they wear. We idolize fame today, we

idolize fortune and wealth. Today, we idolize pleasure. We idolize sex as

if it's the most important thing in life. We idolize popularity, we idolize

power, We idolize all things. We are just as idolatrous as previous generations.

All right, Just our idols look nicer What do you idolize? Anything

you think about more than God is your idol. Some people idolize their job.

That's what they're living for. The job is God. Some people idolize

the next date. That's all they're thinking about. What's going to be my

next date. Some people idolize marriage. Getting married is the ultimate pinnacle of

life. It's not. Anybody want to give a testimony on that one.

It's a good thing. I've been married almost forty five years, but it's

not God. What do you idolize? What do you idolize? Those who

look to worthless idols. You're looking for some other solution to your problem.

Instead of turning to the grace of God, you forfeit the grace of God.

You know, when I saw those crystals in that store and all the

things that were promising to cure I thought of this verse here on the screen

Romans one twenty five. Instead of believing the truth of God, many people

choose to believe lies. They choose to believe lies like this crystal is going

to make me feel better worshiping and serving created things rather than the creator and

stuff who made those crystals? God did? They can't talk, They can't

listen. They can't give you advice. They're idols. They can't solve your

problem. They people choose to believe lies. We believe lies all the time.

Our culture is filled with lies that we believe. If it feels right,

it must be right. That's a lie. It may feel right to

you. That doesn't make it right. If it feels right, it must

be that's a lie. It's just not true. I am the master of

my fate. That's a lie. You were not the master of your fate.

That's easily disprovable. It's easily proven wrong. You didn't choose most of

the major things that made you you. You didn't choose where you were born.

You didn't choose when you were born. You didn't choose who your parents

were. You didn't choose your race, you didn't choose your natural gifts and

aptudes. You're not the master of your fate. Most of the things that

made you you had no control over. It's a lie. It's trying to

say I'm God. God is not God. I'm God. He who dies

with the most toys wins, that's a lie. He who dies with the

most toys still dies. And we're not keeping count because you're not taking any

of it into the eternity. God helps those who who help themselves. That's

a lie. It's just not true. It's not in the Bible. God

helps those who trust Him, not who help themselves. If it's to be,

it's up to me. That's a lie. If it's to be,

it's up to God. You're not God. God is God. People choose

to believe lies, and they forfeit the grace of God. Look at this

verse on the screen Philippians three to three. We put no confidence in human

effort. Instead, we boast about what Christ has done already for us.

That's the grace of God. That's how you're going to get out of your

hopelessness, not by pulling yourself up by your own bootstraps. We depend on

the grace of God. Jonah didn't try to save himself when he's at the

bottom of the ocean in this big fish. He's not going now. Can

I remember my lifeguard Red Cross training. I'll hold my deep, I'll swim

to the top, and then I'll tread water until a Mediterranean cruise ship comes

by and picks me up. He's not trying to save himself. Stop trying

to save yourself and forfeit the grace of God. Jonah says this, Jonah

two to six, You, oh Lord, saved me, and you brought

my life back up from the pit. That's some euphanism for death. You

brought my life back up. I was dying. He may have died.

I was dying. Now here's the seventh thing you do when life seems hopeless.

Number seven. Do what Jonah did. Express gratitude to God in advance.

Express gratitude to God in advance before you're out of the situation, while

you're in the belly of the while you're at rock bottom, while things are

swirling around. Now, I need to explain the difference between gratitude before and

gratitude after. If I wait until after God solves my problem to thank him,

that's gratitude. That's thankfulness, Thank you God for solving my problem.

That's gratitude. If I thank God in advance before the problem has been solved,

that's faith. Does that makes sense? I am in faith saying thank

you God in advance for solving this problem, for answering this prayer. If

I wait till after God has solved the problem, this is gratitude, thanksgiving

that's a good thing. But if I thank God in advance, now I

have expressed faith. Thank you God for solving this problem. While I'm depressed.

I don't feel like the problem solved. But I'm thanking you in advance.

That's faith, and God always always responds to faith. How do I

show gratitude to God in advance? Well noticed three ways. Jonah did three

things, and these are the three things you need to do when you are

feeling hopeless showing gratitude to God in advance. Verse nine, Jonah says,

I will sing a song of thanksgiving, and I will sacrifice to you,

and I will do what I have promised you to do, because why because

salvation comes from the Lord. Now, notice he says, I will,

I will, I will. This is in advance. He's promising. He's

valing I will do this, I will do this, I will do this.

He's doing it in advance. He's not waiting until the problem's solved to

be grateful. Now write these down. Here are the three ways you express

gratitude to God in advance. Number one through singing. Through singing, I

will sing a song of thanksgiving. Some of you don't don't think singing is

important. It is I don't have time to go in. It's good for

your health. It's a depression reliever, study psychological studies. It's good for

your health. Now I see you out this, I mean you think you're

too cool, saying, oh, I'm just cool. Everybody else singing,

but I'm too manly to sing. I'm too cool. Or some of you

just think you don't know my voice, Rick, I can't sing. The

Bible doesn't say you have to have a good voice. It says make a

joyful noise. Even pigs can do that when they eat. You know,

that's a joyful noise. Okay. And in a crowd this size, you

could be a prison singer. You're always behind a few bars and never have

the right key, but it's still a joyful noise. Okay. But you

need to learn to sing to God. And you sing to God in advance,

and you say, I will remain confident of this, I will see

the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. I will remain

the Lord is my light in salvation. Whom will I fear? Whom will

I be afraid? You need to sing that, You need to sing every

song every week. It's thanking God in advance. It's good for your health.

Number two. Second way, he says through giving back to God.

Through giving back to God, he says, I will sacrifice to you.

I'm not only going to sing to you. I'm going to sacrifice to you.

Do you give any of the income that God has given to you back

to Him in recognition that it all came from Him in the first place.

That's a sacrifice. I'm going to give an offering. I'm going to sacrifice

giving back to God. Number three through recommitting to my mission. Through recommitting

to my mission, he says, I will do God what I've promised you

to do. Well you and you said go, and I said no,

I'm taking that back. I am recommitting to my mission. I will do

what you promised me to do. You See, Jonah messed up royally,

and we've all done that too. We're all Jonas, we're all Jonahs.

We've all messed up royally. But that does not stop God's life mission for

you. God still had a life mission for Jonah, even though he had

rejected done everything he could do to exactly go the opposite direction. Look at

this one verse Romans Chapter eleven, verse twenty nine. For God's gifts,

his gifts to you, the gifts He's given to you. You're gifted,

You're talented in certain areas. God's gift in his call. God has a

calling on your life. He has a life mission for you. God's gifts

and his call are irrevocable, lookable. It's still in force in your life.

I don't care what you've done. I don't care how old you are.

You may have missed God's mission for your entire life. It's still in

force. Would you write this down? God has no Plan B for my

life. God has no Plan B for my life. But Rick, you

don't know what's happened. You don't know my failure. God has no Plan

B. But God, you don't know about the affair I had. God

has no Plan B, but you don't know about my divorce. God has

no Plan B. But you don't know about my bankruptcy. God has no

Plan B, but you don't know about my embarrassing failure where I fell flat

on my face. God has no Plan B for your life. God's mission

in your life is still in force. You say, but I've you only

got three years left. Then you better use those three years. I didn't

pull back the mission because Jonah went the exact opposite way for most of his

life. No, God says, it's still in force the gifts that God

has given you. He hasn't pulled back. Even with all your mistakes and

the calling God has on your life, He's never pulled back. It is

irrevocable. I've only got a little time left. It doesn't matter, doesn't

matter. I don't care how old you are, and I don't care what

you've done. God's gift and call in your life is irrevocable. You better

get at it whatever's left in your life. Now. When did Jonah decide

to do these three expressions of gratitude after he's out on dry land? No,

while he's still in the situation, while he's still feeling hopeless. Not

after his ordeal is over. This is how he gets out of the ordeal.

And when he does these three things, I will, I will,

and I will when he does these three things. Here's the last verse in

the chapter, verse ten. So the Lord ordered a great fish, the

great fish, to vomit Jonah onto a beach. Can you imagine if you

were sun tanning on that beach? What a freaky thing that would be.

Here comes a big fish spits out a man. He comes out the stomach

acids, and the fishes probably bleached him albino. He's got fish vomiting,

seaweed mangled in his long hair, and he probably hit the ground running to

Nineveh. I don't think he took his time cozily johnn Lee walking along,

skipping the feels and picking daisies. No, he hits the ground running because

God loves to give a second chance. And a third, and a fourth,

and tenth and a twentieth. We're gonna look at that next week.

God loves to give a second chance. Jonah Chapter one, we see Jonah

running from God. Jonah chapter two, we see running Jonah running to God

and his grace. Jonah chapter three. We're gonna see Jonah running with God.

And that's where it gets exciting. Where are you? That's power heads

Father. There are people here listening right now who are feeling hopeless. There

are some people here in over their head and they know it. And I'm

in deep weeds deep welcome, Holy, I'm in deep, I'm in over

my head and some feel they've hit bottom. Help them to look up.

There's some here who feel out of control, feel powerless to change anything,

And there are others who feel rejected. Then there's some who just feel lonely.

I feel alone. There are others that are feeling regret and remorse,

maybe guilt. And some are feeling crushed by fear and anxiety and worry,

choked. And I'm sure a lot of people feel trapped, trapped in a

job, trapped in a relationship that can't get on with, can't get out

of, trapped in a habit, trapped in a memory. Help them to

do what Jonah did to take these seven steps. Help them to pray with

passion, not fake, phony, perfunctory, memorized prayers. Help them to

pray with passion. Help them to pray persistently, and help them to pray

your word back to you, the complaints, the truths, the promises.

Now you pray, say in your heart, God, I'm feeling a little,

a little helpless or hopeless. I'm feeling a little helpless or hopeless.

I'm looking to you. I want to turn my thoughts to you and focus

on your goodness, not my problems. You love me, Say that in

your heart you love me, You really love me. You will never stop

loving me. You have always loved me. Help me to never forget that

or doubt that, even when I feel swallowed up by my circumstances. Father,

I want to reject all the phony and fake and human fixes to my

problems, and I want to depend on your grace instead, and so in

faith in the middle of my storm, regardless of how I'm feeling right now,

I'm going to thank you in advance for rescuing me. And I want

to express my trust and my gratitude to you by singing, by giving an

offering, by recommitting to whatever mission you made me for. Thank you that

you are the God of second chances. Thank you that you have no Plan

B for my life, and thank you that you will use it all for

my good. Jesus Christ, I want you to be the manager of my

life. Come in and do some house cleaning in my heart, change my

values and my priorities. I want to become a person of love, loving

you and loving others, and I ask you to change me and save me.

In your name. I pray 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 will help you on your journey

with Jesus. And I'll also pray for you. God bless you. 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 wondering,

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,

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