Rick Warren - Making Wise Decisions At Work — Part Two

This is Pastor Rick's Daily Hope, the audio broadcast ministry of Pastor Rick Warren.

Today we continue with our series called Doing Business with God. In this

series, Rick helps you understand why you work, what you should be working

for, and how God can use you in your workplace. Right now,

here's Pastor Rick with the final part of a message called making wise Decisions at

Work Number four. The fourth thing that Solomon tells us to do in the

Book of Proverbs is set a goal. Set a goal. When you're going

to make a decision, you need to set a faith goal that I'm going

to do such and such by such and such a date. Now, what

terms a dream into a goal? You set a date. When you put

a date on a dream, it becomes a goal. And a goal is

simply a statement of faith. A goal says I believe that God wants me

to do this by this time, and it's a statement of faith, and

it focused your attention, it sets your priorities. If you don't have a

goal, you're not the leader. Prior to seventeen twenty four says this.

An intelligent person aims at wise action, but a fool starts off in many

directions. A fool starts off at me, says you got to know your

goal. And so the fourth thing you do is you say, what is

my goal in making this decision? And you have a deadline. When I

moved here to the Saddleback Valley in January, I said we're going to start

services in twelve weeks, whether we're ready or not. That was my faith

goal. And why did I say we're going to start services in twelve weeks.

Well, I didn't want us to just stay as a small group.

I wanted to force us to Having a goal causes you to do more quicker.

But also twelve weeks was Easter, and I thought, if anybody comes

to church, what's the one Sunday they come to church. They may not

come back week number two, but at least I'll have some people to go

visit. So I set off and then and we set a goal of one

hundred and fifty people at our first service. And there were about fifteen of

us in a little Bible study at that time. And we hand addressed and

handstamped fifteen thousand letters the fifteen of us, and mailed them out ten days

before Easter. And we thought, if a half our percent response show up,

that's seventy five people. And if you got two people in family,

that's one hundred and fifty. So we said, our first goal is one

hundred and fifty people, and I'll never forget. On Easter Sunday at Laguna

Hill High School, two hundred and five people walked up that ramp for the

first service, a saddle back church, and Kay looked at me and I

said, this is going to work. And they breathed the big sigh of

relief. And I remember we had decided that a week earlier we were going

to try a trial run service. I said, I'm going to take the

fifteen of us down to Laguna Hill High School and we're going to I'm going

to preach to you, and We're going to practice the music and everything.

So next week when people show up and it makes it look like we know

what we're doing, so we at least have had one week practice. Some

people that letter that we sent out got it a week early, misread it,

got a week early, came a week early. We had sixty people

at the trial run. Five of them gave their lives to Christ that day.

I want to say, no, no, you can't get saved.

Till next week. Please come back later. This is just practice. You

cannot go to heaven right now. You got to wait one more week.

You know. The Bible says this in Proverbs for twenty five and twenty seven.

Look straight ahead. Let is talk about goal setting. Look straight ahead,

fix your eyes on what lies before you. Have you set a goal,

mark out a straight path for your feet. Then stick to the path

and stay safe. Don't get sidetracked. Now, when I started this church,

I didn't know how to do this. I didn't have any you know,

I wasn't a management expert. So I found a guy who lived up

in Anaheim, who had been a Pentagon planner for the US Pentagon, And

I said, would you help me? Here's my goal to start by Easter.

Will you help me lay out everything I need to do in the next

twelve weeks to get the church started. And he said sure. So he

sat on and he said, what do you need to do? And I

just told him he'd write it on a card. I tell him something we

need to write on a car. We think you something, Oh, oh,

we need to write that on a card. Then he got a big

piece of butcher papers about eight feet long, and we tape those down there

in order. We got to do that before we do that. We got

to do that before we do that. It's called a gant chart. And

we laid it all out and we had a goal, and I knew where

I was going, and we set a goal. This is the principle of

selection, and we said we got to do this by this date and this

by this date. Here's the question you ask on a major decision, what's

my goal and milestones? What's my goal and my milestones? That's the little

mini steps on the way to your big goal. All right, the Bible,

get the facts, ask for advice, then set a goal. Now,

the fifth thing that Solomon tells us to do in the Book of Proverbs,

if you've got a major decision to make, is this very important.

Count the cost. That's the fifth thing you got to do in a major

decision. Count the cost. This is the principle of evaluation. You figure

out in advance what the decision will cost. And you're going to need a

budget. And because every decision has a price, take and you have to

ask yourself what's it going to cost? In four areas, you might write

these things down, what's it going to cost in time, So just time

you write that down time. Question mark what's it going to cost in money?

Question mark time money. The third one is what's it going to cost

an energy? And the fourth one is what's it going to cost my family,

my relationships. You need to know what that cost is, and you've

got to count the cost Proverbs twenty twenty five. Solomon gives this wise advice.

It is foolish and rash to make a promise to the Lord before counting

the cost. Circle that counting the cost. He says, it's a trap.

It's a trap to decide without deliberating. It's a trap to promise without

pondering. It's a trap to make a decision without having counted the cost.

That's why when people come to saddle Back and I say, are you ready

to make that decision about giving your Christ? And they say no, I'm

not, I said, well, that's okay, And I always tell him

this, take the time to make the right decision. I'm never in a

hurry to push somebody to receive Christ. I say, take the time to

make the right decision, because I truly believe that they're intellectually honest, and

they take the time this genuine really consider the facts. It's the most logical,

rational, makes sense, beneficial decision you can make to get in harmony

with the creator who made me. I mean, I don't understand the logic

of being out of whack with my creator who made me. But I say,

take the time to make the right decision. So you got to deliberate

before deciding. You got to ponder before promising. And what I'm telling you

is, as your pastor, I'm giving you permission to tell people I'll get

back to you. It's okay to say I'll get back to you on a

decision. When a salesman or anybody else makes makes an ask of you.

If I make an ask of you, it's okay for you to say,

I'll get back to you, to ponder it, to decide on it,

to count the cost. Don't be pressured, because there is a law of

life that Proverbs and Ecclesiastes teach, and it's this, It's always easier to

get in than to get out. You know what I'm talking about. It's

always easier to get in than it is to get out. It's always is

it easier to get in debt than out of debt. Oh baby, oh

baby, Yeah. Is it easier to get into a relationship than out of

a relationship? Oh yeah. Is it easier to fill your schedule then fulfill

your schedule? Yeah, It's always easier to get in than to get out.

And so Jesus even said count the cost. He tells two stories.

Look at this verse in Luke, Jesus said, if you want to build

a tower, it's here on the screen. If you want to build a

tower, you must first sit down and figure out how much it will cost.

If you don't, you might not be able to finish it, and

people would ridicule you. And if a king is considering going to war,

he must first sit down and plan. He must count his ten thousand soldiers

and decide if they can defeat a king who is twenty thousand. Jesus even

himself is saying you need to count the cost. In following me, is

the cause worth the cost? So here's the question you want to ask when

you're making a major decision. After you've counted the cost, is it worth

it? That's the question. Is it worth it? Before I started saddleback

church, I had to count the cost of what it would be to me

in terms of time, money, energy, my family and everything else.

Anybody want to guess the first year budget of Saddleback Church, the entire budget.

This included all staff salaries. The entire budget of our church sixty thousand

dollars. That was the first year's budget. I knew that there would be

sacrifices to be made in the startup, but I had to ask is it

worth it? Oh? Yeah, Oh yeah, it's worth it knowing that

people are going to be in heaven for you eternity. Thousands and thousands.

Now people are going to be in heaven for eternity. Is it worth it?

Yes? So you count the costs and you ask is it worth it?

Number six? The sixth thing that Solomon says to say you need to

do is plan for problems. Plan for problems. Now you may not want

problems, but they sure want you. Okay, So you got to plan

for problems in any major decision. Everybody knows Murphy's law. If something can

go wrong, it will I saw a bumper stick the other day that said

Murphy was an optimist. I think that's true. If you can go wrong,

it will go wrong. Now, you can't ignore problems, as I

said, because they're not going to ignore you. You're going to face them.

So you've got to prepare. Now, how do you do that with

faith? Here's the key. Hope for the best while preparing for the worst.

That's what the Bible teaches. I hope for the best, but I

prepare for the worst. Because all sunshine and no rain makes the desert.

There are going to be storms that come in life. Jesus said, when

you have tribulation. He didn't say if you have. He said when you

have tribulation, when you have troubles, it's inevitable. And so just a

matter of time, problems are going to find you. So you hope for

the best, but you plan for the worst. And when I say plan

for the worst, I mean plan for problems. Let me tell you what

that doesn't mean. It doesn't mean you solve them in advance. Listen closely.

You cannot solve tomorrow's problems today. You have to solve them when you

face them, but you can prepare for them. You can't solve them today,

but you can prepare for them today. When you get there, God

will give you the energy to solve it. But you're going to face them.

Never confuse decision making when problem solving. Never confuse the decision making phase

with the problem solving phase in life. If you have to solve all the

problems for you ever make a decision, you're never going to make a decision

because some problems you can't solve till you get there. Nineteen sixty three,

John F. Kennedy stood up at Rice University and announced to the entire world,

We're going to the Moon by the end of this decade. When he

said that it was physically, technologically, and scientifically impossible, we couldn't do

it. We didn't have the technology. There's more technology in your cell phone

today than there was at NASA when they sent the guide to the Moon,

more computing power in your cell phone here if you got smart for it than

all of NASA had at that day. And you realize what they used to

get a guy out of the moon, and back then we didn't even have

that in nineteen sixty three. Leaders, make the decision, then solve the

problem. Don't confuse decision making phase with the problems. You make the decision

because it's the right thing to do, not because you can solve all the

problems. And then when you solve. When you get to the problems,

you solve them in the problem solving phase. So when I say plan for

problems before you make the decision, I'm not saying you got to solve them.

You're not going to. I mean when you made the decision to become

a parent, those of you who are parents, had you solved all the

problems with your kids first, no, of course not. You didn't even

know what the problems were, you wouldn't have had kids. God is so

gracious that he unrolls the scroll a little bit at a time, because if

he showed you the end, it's scared you spitless. And so God says,

make the decision and then solve the problem. But you plan for the

problems in preparation. Proverbs twenty three, verse three. Twenty two Verse three

says this, a sensible man watches for problems ahead and prepares circle that prepares

to meet them. In other words, you're looking ahead, I can see

that storm cloud coming. The simpleton never looks and suffers the consequences. So,

in the sixth step of biblical decision making, you ask two questions,

what could go wrong and what will happen if it does? What could go

wrong, and what will happen if it does. I'll never forget. In

two thousand and on the last day of nineteen ninety nine, when we decided

to have a millennial celebration party at Saddleback many of you remember that we close

this back parking lot and we set up a giant stage about the size of

woodstock and and we planned a great evening that was going to start at like

seven o'clock and go to after midnight with fireworks to bring in the new millennium.

It was the coldest night in thirty years at Saddleback Valley. It froze,

it rained, sleep came down. We had a backup plan that people

who were too cold could come in here, and we actually had a secondary

place where people could come inside. Most of the people actually braved the weather

and sat out there. We're going to have fun if it kills us.

And we were under our rain tents as it's pouring down rain and fortunately nobody

got electrocuted. And that night I baptized about fifty people in a big hot

swimming pool out there. I was so glad. You get in that hot

pool at midnight, had to be in cold for five hours. But we

had a backup plan, and people who couldn't handle e cold could come in

here and they could watch it on the screens and stuff like that. So

you plan for the worst. What could get wrong? What will happen if

it does? Number seven, The seventh step in biblical decision making is face

my fears. I must face my fears, and this is the principle of

confrontation. I've got to confront my own inner fears if I'm going to make

a major decision. Because the root of all indecision, the root of all

indecision, the root of all indecision is fear. Fear, fear, false

evidence appearing real. And we all have all different kinds of fears. I'm

afraid that I will make mistakes and embarrass myself. You will, but it

won't kill you. It won't kill you. I'm afraid that I won't be

able to finish what I'm started. I'm afraid I'm not good enough. All

of these fears start pouring in you. Will you face your fears now?

Since we hate to face our fears, what we do is we make up

all excuses. God came to Moses, said Moses, I got a big

plan for your life, and Moses said, I can't speak well. Lord.

God came to Gideon and said, Gideon, I got a big plan

for your life. Gideon said, I'm too young. Lord, I'm the

youngest kid in the family, in the poorest family, in the smallest tribe

of Israel. You picked the wrong guy. God came to Abraham, said

I got a great plan for your life. Abraham said, I'm too old.

One was too young, one was too old. We all make excuses,

but you got to remember this verse on the screen Ecclesiastes eleven to four.

Oh, it's not on the screen, you know it. If you

wait for perfect conditions, you'll never get anything done. We looked at it

last week. If you wait for perfect conditions, you'll never get anything done.

Now. One of the great fears that everybody has that tends to keep

us not making decisions is the fear of disapproval Proverbs twenty nine to twenty five.

On your outline, fear of man is a dangerous trap. But to

trust in God means safely. In other words, the moment I start worrying

about what other people think, it's over for me. The party's over.

I'm dead in the water. It's done because disapproval, that fear is actually

worse than disapproval. The fear of disapproval is always worse than disapproval. So

here's what you need to ask, what am I afraid of? When you

have a major decision and you're pausing and you're hesitant, you need to identify

the fear, face it and confront it. You need to face your fear

head on. The Only way to defeat a fear is to face it and

move against it in faith. That's the antecdote fear. A lot of times

we think, well, if I just ignore it, it'll go away.

It won't go away. That fear won't go away if you ignore it.

A lot of times we think we can talk ourselves out of a fear.

I'm not fearful, I'm not fearful. That doesn't work, Okay, you

can't. You know, fear has always got more excuses. How do I

get rid of a fear? Fly? One way to get rid of a

fear, face it and move against it, physically, move against you,

do the thing you fear the most, and all of a sudden boom,

the Boogeyman wasn't as big as you thought it was you open that closet door

and the boogeyman wasn't even there? What am I afraid of? Now?

The only antidote fear is faith, and that brings us to the last step.

Step eight is this step out in faith. Step out in faith.

This is the principle of initiation. Initiation. At some point, you got

to pull the trigger. You got to stop aiming, you pull the trigger.

Step out in faith. Romans eight thirty one says, if God is

for us, who can be against us? You got to trust God and

start moving. You got to do the thing you fear the most. So

you say, well, what do you do if you don't have faith?

When I don't have faith, I act like I do and I do it

any Let me say that again. When you don't have the faith to do

something, you act like you've got the faith and you do it anyway,

and guess what the faith will show up. Courage, you know this is

not the absence of fear. Courage is moving ahead in spite of your fear.

You're not courageous unless you're afraid. At the same time, if you're

not afraid, you're not courageous. If you're not afraid, you don't need

courage. Courage comes because you're scared to death, but you happen to believe

this is what God wants me to do, So I'm going to do it

even though I'm scared to death. Probabs three five and six says this,

Trust the Lord. Trust the Lord with all your heart. Trust the Lord

with all your heart, and don't depend on your own understanding. Remember the

Lord in all you do and will give you success. Circle that. Trust

the Lord with all your heart. Don't depend on your own understanding, your

own fears, your own weaknesses, your own perspective. Remember the Lord in

all you do, and he will give you success. You see, God

supports those who move in faith. I have seen that thousands of times in

my life. Thousands of times in my life. God supports those who move

in faith. So here's the question you want to ask, where do I

need to trust God? You haven't really believed God until you've attempted something you

can't do in your own power. Sometimes you feel so weak. You're physically

weak, you're emotionally weak, you're mentally weak. You are drained. Friends,

I can't tell you how many sermons I've preached in that condition. Physically,

emotionally, mentally drained everything coming at me from this way and that way.

I can't tell you how many sermons I've preached like that. God supports

those who move in faith. Where do I need to trust God? Now?

I don't know what decision you need to make this weekend, but I

want to dare you to do something significant with your life. Why is this

important? Why did I spend a whole week in teaching you about how to

make whyse decisions? Because your decisions determine your destiny. Your choices determine your

character. They determine your eternity. Your decisions determine your destiny. We become

whatever we are committed to. That's power. Heads. Where do you need

to trust God? If you've never opened your life to Jesus Christ, that's

the starting point. You need to say, Jesus Christ, I need to

make a first time commitment to you. I've never stepped across the line,

and I don't understand it all, and I haven't figured out all the problems.

But I'm going to step out in faith and I'm going to open my

life to you. You need to just tell him, say yes, Jesus,

that's me today, I'm stepping across the line. I don't understand it

all, but I'm stepping across the line. I am stepping out in faith.

I want you in my life, and I want my life to be

living your purpose for me. Thank you for dying on the cross for me.

If you've never been baptized, that's the next step you need to do.

You need to publicly come out as a Christian, say I'm not ashamed

to be a follower of Jesus. Maybe you were baptized like a lot of

us were as babies. I'm talking about as a Jesus was thirty years old

when he was baptized. He was dedicated in the temples of baby, but

he was baptized as an adult because it was his faith now, not his

parents. Maybe you need to say, Jesus Christ, I don't know what

you want me to do with my life, but I'm saying yes in advance.

If you're not in a small group, that would be a next step,

a baby step. I'm going to get in a small group. I

don't know. I don't really know, but I do know this. There's

a next step for you. God didn't bring you here tonight or today just

to say this and have you not do anything about it. Pray this prayer

in your heart. Dear God. I want to follow these steps for the

rest of my life. And when I have a major decision to make.

First, I want to check the Bible and know your revelation. Then I

want to do the best I can to get the facts and get the information.

And then Father, I I want to ask for advice and get the

consultation. Help me to be humble and look to people who've already been where

I am headed. I want to set a goal. I want to count

the cost. Help me to plan for the problems, what could go wrong,

and plan for that. Most of all, Lord, I need you

to help me face my fears, confrontation, to move against the thing that

I fear the most. Tonight, today, this week, this month,

I want to step out in faith and trust you. I want to be

a man or a woman of courage to do the thing that I fear the

most. I pray you'll give me the power to do it in Jesus' 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 pastor Rick 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. That was Pastor Rick Warren

with his current series Doing Business with God. Right now, here's Pastor Rick

with a letter from one of our listeners friends. Today, I want to

tell you about a guy named Chris. I found out that he shares daily

Hope with his family and his friends and his coworkers as often as he can,

and then he has seen a ripple effect as they all shared daily Hope

with other people. Let me read you a portion of what he wrote to

me, Pastor Rick, I first encountered daily Hope when a coworker forwarded the

daily devotional to me years ago. My friend was sending the devotionals each morning

to an email list of about fifteen or twenty people. By the way,

that's a good idea. For you to do too. And when my friend

retired from our company, he passed along the email group list and I continued

the tradition of sending the devotionals each morning. That email group grew to about

thirty five or forty people. Now. I recently retired, so I passed

the email group to another coworker in order that they can continue the ministry.

Each morning, I wake up, Pastor Rick, and I come to my

quiet place just to listen and to journal your messages for the day. Now,

depending on what the message is all about, I often forwarded to many

individuals for them to enjoy or to ply it in their own personal life and

faith journey. Entire family now listens to you and Daily Hope ministry, and

it spreads all over through them as they forward it to people in their circles

of influence. I can't thank you enough, Rick, for all that you've

done in my life and to strengthen and grow my faith in Christ. Daily

Hope without a doubt has changed the way that I approach every new day.

You know, Chris, all I say is wow. I love how you

are exponentially sharing Daily Hope with your coworkers and with your family. You know

you're actually an evangelist. You are partnering in God's eyes with me to help

spread the good news of the Gospel. And the good news is too good

to keep to ourselves. We have to share it now. Anybody can do

this. Anybody can do this, and it's an easy way to give other

people hope through deepening their faith. So if you don't know what to say,

just forward on some of the things you've heard me say and God will

use you to make a difference in people's lives. To share this broadcast,

go to pastorick dot com. That's pastorick dot com. Be sure to join

us next time as we look into God's word for our daily hope. This

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