Rick Warren - Making Wise Decisions At Work — Part One

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 part one of a message called making Wise Decisions at Work.

I invited each of you to send me questions during this series that we

would try to answer, and the most common questions that came up from you

were these, Number one, how do I know when to quit my job

and find one that fits my shape? And number two second most common,

I want to start my own business. I've always wanted to do that.

How do I decide if I should? And the third most common, I'm

married with kids? How do I know when to take a career risk when

they go to college? Some of you are struggling with very difficult decisions,

and I could see that in the questions that you turned in. You're unsure

where to turn, and some of you are stuck in perfectionism, which creates

procrastination. The Book of James tells us a double minded man a person who

can't make up. His mind is unstable in all his ways. Fortunately,

the wealthiest businessman who ever lived on the planet also wrote two books of the

Bible, and he spread his wisdom about wealth and about work. They are

called the Book of Ecclesiastes and the Book of Proverbs. Now we're going to

look this weekend at all of a bunch of proverbs of Solomon's wisdom, particularly

in the area of making wise decisions. Now to deal with it in relationship

to work. But any kind of major decision, you have these eight steps

work, these eight principles from Proverbs. Let's get right into it. What

are the eight principles from Proverbs? On If I have a major decision to

make and I don't know which way to turn, I can't figure out what

to do? What am I supposed to do? Number One, the first

thing you do is this check the Bible. Check the Bible. This is

the principle of revelation, and that is before you do anything else, before

you get anybody else's perspective on what you're going to do. You need to

go to the Word, and you need to get God's perspective. Now,

this book the Bible is literally filled with God's advice on work and on business.

The Old Testament is the book of illustration, and the New Testament is

the book of instruction. The Old Testament just illustrates everything that the New Testament

teaches. So if you want to know the prince of success and the principles

of work, and the principles of finance, you go to the Bible.

And in the Old Testament you find all of these stories, like the story

of Joseph, and the story of Daniel, and the story of David,

and Abraham and Moses and all these other guys, and you can find principles

illustrated in their lives. And then you go to the New Testament, particularly

the Gospels and of course the Letters of Paul, but also in the Old

Testament, the Book of Proverbs is a book of instruction that tells you examples

and I mean proverbs of what God wants us to do with our lives.

The point I want to make on this first point here is the Bible teaches

very clearly, when in doubt read the Owner's Manual, that God gave us

this manual for life, and the Bible says, your words are spirit and

they are life. Now, notice what the Bible says Proverbs chapter two,

it is the Lord who gives wisdom. From him comes knowledge and understanding.

He provides help and protection for those who are righteous and honest. Then notice

five benefits of checking the Bible in Matt circling wisdom, knowledge, understanding,

help and protection. If I've got a major decision to make, those are

five things I want. I want wisdom, I want knowledge, I want

understanding, I want help, and i want protection. I want you to

write this down on your outlining. Stop listening for a voice and start looking

for a verse. That's what you need to do when you don't know what

to do with your work or anything else. Stop listening for a voice and

start looking for a verse. It's all there. God has already said it

all. And a lot of guys are sitting out there trying to decide,

men and women trying to decide what am I supposed to do with my work,

and they're waiting for God to write it in the sky. I'm not

going to write it in the sky. He's already written it in a book.

And so don't go outside and sit and say, God, what do

you want me to do? What do you want me to do? What

do you want me to go? Read the word of God. God isn't

going to write it in the sky. And this is truth, and it

is eternal truth, which means it's always right. Now, let me ask

you that's true, confession. How many of you have ever made a decision

based on an impression that seemed right but it ended up being a disaster.

Yeah, I would guess all of us would say that's true. The Bible

says, there's a way that seems right on demand, but the ends thereof

are the ways of death. The Bible says in Proverbs twenty eight, there

on your outline, verse twenty six, a man is foolish, foolish to

trust himself. But those who use God's wisdom, that's the Bible. Those

who use God's wisdom are safe. In other words, I don't rely on

an impression, because an impression most of the time is just an impression.

Write this down. Feelings aren't facts. Feelings aren't facts. You may feel

it, but it doesn't necessarily mean it's true. You might think this is

a great time to start a business, or I have a great idea for

a business and you have a feeling about it. But feelings aren't facts.

They're just feelings, and feelings often lie, and if you get an impression,

the odds are your fifty percent wrong. You need something far more reliable

than feelings to base your life, your work, your career, your family,

and everything else on. So the first question you want to ask is

this, What does God say when I'm going to make a decision an irriny

area of my life, A decision with my family, a decision with my

kids, a decision with my work, a decision with my education, with

my money, with anything. I want to ask first what does God say?

And before you anything else, you get God's perspective. I don't know

that I've ever told you this, but before I started Saddleback Church, I

read through the Bible thirteen times. I wanted to fill my mind so much

with what God's words said. I just spent time reading it over and over

from cover. I read it thirteen times before I started this church because I

want to know what does God say about leadership? What does God say about

growing something? What does God say about building something new? About starting something

from scratch? What does God say? And I filled my mind with the

word of God. Check the Bible. That's the principle of revelation. Okay,

number two, get the facts. That's step number two. Get the

facts. And I'm talking about the facts on your particular situation. I mean,

because you're not going to find the word donald's in the Bible, and

so God's not going to tell you to start a McDonald's or a subway or

something like that. How do I know what I'm supposed to do? This

is the principle of information. And what you do here is you find out

everything you can before you make the decision. This is called doing your due

diligence. You study, you examine, you ask questions, you research,

You get a realistic view of the situation before you make the decision to jump

in on any decision. Let's say you're trying to think about should I start

a new business? You need to study the situation first. I mean,

so many people get a great idea, say, you know, I'm a

good cook. I think I'll start a restaurant that's based on a feeling,

okay, and a lot of people start businesses or get into jobs without checking

first what's the job market like there? What's the current market is it needed?

Without studying the customers? Do we need enough restaurant, you know,

some whatever things like that. The Bible says in Proverbs thirteen sixteen, every

prudent man acts out of knowledge, acts out of knowledge. Just go back

that illustration of a of a restaurant. You know, over where I live,

there's a there's a building that in the time that I've lived there,

there have been six different restaurants in that building that have all failed. Now

let's say you get an idea, I've got a great recipe for pizza.

Well you may have, but I wouldn't suggest you do it in that building

because obviously that's a bad location for a restaurant. And without and it's sure

hubris, it's pride. Well, I can do what other people haven't done.

Well, really, don't you think the first one, two, three,

four, five, and six restaurants who were there first? I thought

this one will work. They didn't study the market, they didn't study the

customer, they didn't study this situation. They didn't get the facts. Proverbs

thirteen sixteen. Every prudent man acts out of knowledge. Look at the next

verse, Proverbs eighteen thirteen. How stupid to decide before knowing the facts.

How stupid you know a lot of new businesses. The reason they fail is

because of uninformed optimism. US Labor Department statistics say, of all new businesses,

eighty percent of them fail within the first year, eighty percent of those

twenty percent that goes on, eighty percent of those will fail by year five,

and of those that go on, eighty percent of those will fail by

year ten. Now there's only one style of business that actually has a eighty

to ninety percent success rate. That's the business system franchise, which is those

Blimpe's and Starbucks and McDonald's and Windys. And when you buy one of those

businesses, you're not you don't buy Hamburger at Wendy's. You're buying a system

that's almost goofproof. What does that say. It's saying that those people have

done their research and they know what makes a business fail and what makes a

business success. But a lot of people don't do that. They have uninformed

optimists. I got a great idea, Therefore I'm going to go start a

business. No, you shouldn't do that. By the way, a lot

of people go into marriage that way too. But we love each other.

What are you going to live on? We'll live on love that lasts about

four days. Okay, you got to get the facts. Before I started

Saddleback Church, I spent six months getting the facts. The first thing I

did I read seventy two books on church growth. I read everything in print

on church growth before I'd ever even moved to Orange County. And then I

went and spent six months studying demographics and census statistics and discovered that during between

nineteen seventy and nineteen eighty, that the Saddleback Valley was the fastest growing area

in Orange County, and that Orange County between nineteen seventy nineteen eighty was the

fastest growing county in America. I thought, Hm, they probably gonna need

some new churches. A lot of people are moving in there. I didn't

just go out and say, well, I like this city, so I'm

going to go there. I did a place where I knew there was going

to be a need, and I spent hours and hours studying census statistics and

did demographic studies. Proverbs fourteen sixteen says this, sensible people are careful to

stay out of trouble, but stupid people are careless and act too quickly.

Circle the phrase act too quickly. This is one of the biggest mistakes we

make in decision making. It's important to make the right decision, not a

fast decision. A lot of times we're enamored with making a decision fast.

We got to make it fast. We got to make it fast. We've

got to make it fast. Let me tell you something. Pressure is never

from God. I'll say it again. Pressure. If you feel pressured to

make a decision, it's never from God. Zero, absolutely none from God.

Why Because Jesus said, my yoke is easy and my burden is light.

Come to me if you're tired and heavylight, and I will give you

rest. God doesn't put more on you, more pressure on you. If

you feel pressure, that's from you. It's from other people. It's from

the devil, it's from culture, it could be from a lot of things.

But it isn't from God. Anytime you feel pressured to make a decision,

you should absolutely stop at that moment and say, wait a minute,

why am I feeling pressure right now? And you need to ask yourself have

I got all the facts? It's like these telemarketers that call you up and

they say we want to sell you one thousand acres of prime property in Arizona

for a ranch. You don't even have to see it, just send us

the money and then you know. And they're going to pressure you to make

a decision, or do pressure you to go on a cruise. No,

no, any pressure like that is not of God. Sensible people are careful

to stay out of trouble. Stupid people are careless and act too quickly.

So the second question you want to ask, and you got to make a

major decision, is this, what do I need to know? First?

What has God said? Then? Second what do I need to know?

And how do I find it? What do I need to know and how

do I find it? And then whatever it takes you go do that.

Maybe you need to take a seminar, go to a seminar, maybe you

need to take a class, maybe you need to read a book. But

you figure out what do I need to know and how do I find it?

And this is exactly what I did before starting Saddled by well, I

knew nothing about starting a church. I'd never started church. So I read

everything I could, I studied all I could, I researched all I could,

And I didn't just check the Bible. I got the facts about this

area and about what it takes to grow at church. The third thing you

do in the Bible, says and Solomon's eight Steps of Wisdom is ask for

advice. Ask for advice. This is the third thing you need to do

if you've got a major decision. See, we would rather pretend like we

know it all and make a mistake, then admit we don't know it all

and get the advice to actually work. You need to talk to people about

your decision now, not just anybody. Don't just talk to your best friends,

say what do you think? Oh? I think that's a great job.

Now you need to talk to people who've made a similar decision. Let

me say it again, talk to people who've made the decision you're about to

make. I'm going to move somewhere. I'm going to leave this job and

do this. I'm gonna go into con Well, you better talk to somebody

who's in the consulting business that you're in before you do that. It's foolish

to not do that. You talk to people who are going to who are

already doing what you've been doing. And number two, you talk to people

personal friends who know your shape. So I need you to just level with

me. Tell me, am I really shaped to do this or not?

Is this me? Or is it not me? Proverbs twenty verse eighteen.

Let's read this aloud together. Plans succeed through good counsel. Don't go to

war without the advice of others. Now, getting advice can prevent disaster.

It can save you time, it can maximize energy. You know, people

say, well, it's wise to learn from experience. That's true. It's

wise to learn from experience. Some things you're only going to learn by your

own experience. But it's wiser to learn from the experiences of others. Life

is it's too short for you to make all the mistakes yourself. I don't

have time to learn everything from experience, so I want to learn from your

experience so I don't have to go through all the pain you went through to

learn that. It's wiser to learn from the experiences of others. Life is

too short to learn everything by trial and error. I remember one time,

a number of years ago, Kay was out speaking somewhere and it was her

birthday was coming up. When she got back and I said, what would

you like? She said, I'd like a German chocolate cake for my birthday.

So I thought, I'm going to make her a German chocolate cake,

and I, you know, I didn't really realize that there were cake mixes

for German chocolate cake. So I made it like from scratch, scratch,

like no no mix, And it took me three and a half hours to

make this cake. I called Marilyn, my neighbor, twice, for advice.

Am I doing this right? And Marilyn said, yeah, you here's

what you know. No, you don't put the eggs in at that point

in here. And it would have been a disaster if I had tried to

do it without advice. But because I called my neighbor Marylyn, who I'm

sure had made many German Jacka cakes, she knew what to do. She

told me and it came out and I was a big hero and I got

a cookie. So you want to say, not just how do I what

do I need to know and how to find it? You ask for advice.

Proverbs fifteen, verse twenty two says this without advice, plans go wrong,

but with many advisors they succeed. I did this when I started this

church. You know. One of the things I did before I even came

here, I personally wrote to every pastor who was already in the Saddleback Valley,

and I asked them a series of questions, and I even gave him

a self addressed reply card and had had them so they wouldn't have to spend

a lot of time as already stamped and posted. And I asked every pastor

who was already here before me about the area, what was what's your advice?

What do you think about the community? And I was just listening to

them. Why I'm getting advice from people who'd already done what I was about

to do. Most people wouldn't do that. Most church planners wouldn't do that.

They'd just go into an area and just start. They'd go, oh,

that's a nice place. They didn't. I asked every pastor I got

advice. And then when I got here in January one, nineteen eighty,

for twelve weeks, all I did was walk door to door and talk to

people, and I took a survey, you know this famous survey and now

thousands and thousands of other churches have done it. And I'd walk up and

i'd knock on a door and they'd open the door, and I said,

Hi, my name is Rick Warren. I'm not here to sell you anything.

I'm not here to invite you to anything. I'm not here to convert

you. I'm just taking an opinion poll. There's no right or wrong answers,

and it'll just take about ninety seconds. Can I ask you a couple

questions? When I said that introduction, I didn't I have a single person

who say no in twelve weeks. In twelve weeks and I had a little

clipboard there and I said, first, are you an active member of a

local church? And if they said yes, I said, God bless you,

keep going. And I went to the next home. Because frankly,

I wasn't interested in opinions of Christians. I said, I don't know.

The goal isn't to get other people from other churches to come here. We

want to go after people. We're going to build a church for the unchurched,

people who've never been in church, people who hate church. And so

when i'd find somebody say no, I don't like church, I don't go

to church, I say, fantastic, that's just great. You're just the

kind of person I want to talk to you. Let me ask you three

more questions, what advice would you give to me? Is the pastor of

a new church, he wants to benefit the community. How could I help

you? And I would say, why do you think most people don't go

to church? Now I could have said why don't you go to church?

But that's an offensive question. I say, none of your business. But

I said why do you think most people don't go to church? Nine times

out of ten they give you their reason. And I wrote it down.

And I say, if you were looking for church, what kind of things

would you look for? And I wrote it down. I discovered not one

person said I'm looking for a pipe organ, now one or choir robes.

Nobody mentioned that one. And then say so what advice? And then how

can I help you? And I just listen and I took notes and I

did that for twelve weeks. What am I doing? I'm doing a market

survey. That's what I was doing. I was getting the facts and I

was asking for advice. The Bible says in Proverbs twenty four to six,

the more advice you get, the more likely you are to win. And

that means even if you have to pay for it. You want to get

the advice of other people. But as I said, one of the reason

why I want to like to ask their advice is we don't want to admit

we don't know it. I have discovered. I've been around some really successful

people, and I've discovered a couple of things. One the the most remarkable

people I've met in my life don't think they're remarkable. It's people who are

small thinkers that are hung up on themselves and think they're so great. Humility

and wisdom go together, and when you get humility and wisdom, you get

success. It's pride and Arroganceys, I think I know it all, and

you barge ahead without asking for advice and getting the facts and checking the Bible.

So here's what you want to ask rite this question now? Who could

advise me? Who could advise me? Who has already gone where I want

to go? In terms of health, in terms of children, in terms

of business, in terms whatever you're dealing with. Who could advise me on

this? Who's already been there? Thank you so much for listening to Pastor

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