Rick Warren - Who Is God Calling You To Be Right Now

Now imagine if you had been given the opportunity to

sail over to America on the Mayflower. I'm sure you

would be excited about that, going to a new country,

starting in a new land, building a new home, but

you would have no idea of the long-term impact of

that small journey. Nobody on the Mayflower could have imagined

that what they were starting was the greatest and most

powerful nation in the history of the planet Earth. Nobody

would have known that. You see, we never get to

see in advance the impact of our destinies. God doesn't

show us what our lives are going to do in

the future for future generations. But we do know some things.

For instance, we know that your destiny is determined by

God and that destiny is set when he decided both

when and where you would be born and where you

would live. The Bible says in Acts 17, 26, God

determines the time set for each of us and the

exact places where we should live. So when God decided

when you would be born and where you would be born,

that determined a lot of your destiny. For instance, it

is not your destiny to invent the telephone. It's already

been invented. It is not your destiny to fight the

Peloponnesian Wars. They've already been fought. It's not your destiny

to go to the moon. That's already been done. So

when God chose when and where you would be born,

that had a lot to do with what your destiny

would involve. We do know that our destinies are entwined

with each other, that you weren't made simply to live

for yourself. You weren't made simply to live on your

own for your own goals. Romans 14, seven says this,

for none of us lives to himself alone and none

of us dies to himself alone. In other words, your

destiny is connected to my destiny and my destiny is

connected to your destiny because we know each other. We're

in the same church family. We do know another thing

about your destiny that you will miss it if you

choose to go with God's plan, go with your plan

instead of God's plan for your life. You will miss

your destiny if you choose to follow what you want

to do with your life rather than what God designed

you to do, what God has called you to do.

The Bible says in Hebrews 12, 15, look after each

other so that none of you will miss out on

the special favor of God. Now as your pastor and

as somebody who loves you deeply, part of my job

is to make sure you don't miss out. Part of

my job as a spiritual leader is to make sure

you don't miss out on the destiny that you were

created for. And part of your destiny in life is

to play a role in God's larger plan in history.

We're all just cogs in a wheel. And there were

people before us, so there would be people after us.

And we are on the scene for 60, 70, 80,

maybe 100 years at the most. And then somebody else

takes the baton and moves on. What is that overarching

goal of history that God has a part for you

to play in? Well, the answer is real simple. The

Bible tells us that all of history is moving toward

a climax. And that climax is this. God is preparing

a family that's going to live with him forever in eternity.

It's the entire reason the universe exists. If God hadn't

wanted a family, he wouldn't have set up the universe,

set up the galaxy, set up the human race, given

us a choice to choose whether we're going to be

in the family or not, whether we're going to love

him or not, whether we're going to trust and obey

him or not. None of that would have happened. But

everything the Bible says that's happening in life and in

history is because God is creating a family to live

with him forever, a forever family of his children. And

the Bible says that part of our goal is to

make that message known to everybody so that those who

are going to choose to be a part of that

family forever can choose to be a part of it.

Look at this verse, Matthew 24, 14. The good news

about God's kingdom, that's his family that's going to be forever,

is will be preached throughout the whole world so that

all nations will hear it. And then the end will come.

So when's history going to end? It's going to end

when everybody that's going to be a part of God's

family has gotten in. And only God knows that amount.

But he says this good news is going to be

shared everywhere around the world, to every corner of the world,

to every crevice of the world, to every people group,

to every tribe, nation, language. And when all of the

people that God knows already in advance who are going

to decide for him have decided, history is going to

end and we move into the next phase, which is eternity. Now,

the Bible tells us in the book of Revelation, which

is the last book in the Bible, chapter 5, That

one day around the throne in heaven, there will be

people gathered for God's family from every nation, every people,

every language, and every tribe. That there's going to be

somebody represented from every nation, every language, every tribe, every

people group in the world that's going to be gathered

in God's family in eternity. Here's the problem. There are

still 3,400 tribes that don't have any Christians in them.

that don't have any church in them. They are all

small tribes or people groups, anywhere from 5,000 people to

at the most 100,000 people. This is the final frontier.

Even 2,000 years after Jesus Christ came to earth and

gave us the good news and died on the cross

for us, there are still 3,400 small tribes and many

of them are out in the middle of nowhere. And

so the clock is ticking. And in Matthew 16, verse 15,

Matthew 16:15

Jesus said this, I want you to go to all

the world and tell the good news to everyone everywhere. Now,

who's supposed to do that? Those of us who know.

Once you know the good news, you're supposed to share

it with your family, with your friends, with everybody around you,

and make sure that it gets to everybody, every corner,

every crevice, so that there'll be people from every tribe,

every nation, every language sharing In heaven, in eternity, there's

a church in every one of those 3,400 tribes who

don't have one yet. So they can hear the good

news that they're not an accident, that they're made to

last forever, that Jesus died for them, that there's a

purpose to their life, that life has meaning and significance,

that their past can be forgiven, they can have a

purpose for living, they can have a home in heaven,

all of the good news. And that is our goal.

The Bible says that every person has a calling. Every

person has a destiny. Every person has a life mission.

Every person has a vocation. They're all different. We all

have a different vocation. We all have a different task

in life. We all have a different purpose. We all

have a different ministry. We all have a different calling

in life. But everybody is called. So fortunately, God made

us all different, gives us different vocation, different callings. God

designed me. He designed you for a unique calling. You

were custom shaped for a life mission. You were custom

shaped for a legacy, for a destiny. If you don't

do what God made you to do with your life,

it won't get done. Because somebody else isn't going to

pick it up. You were uniquely wired. You were uniquely shaped.

That's why Paul says this there on your outline in

Ephesians chapter four, I beg you, Paul says, I beg

you to lead a life worthy of your calling for

you have been called by God. How do I do that?

How do I follow my calling? And I'm going to

give you two examples of two very courageous people. One

guy was named Caleb and the other guy was named Timothy.

They lived over a thousand years apart from each other.

But they both were called by God to do different things,

but it took courage for them to do what God

called them to do. Different generations, different time zones, even

different locations. But they were different people. But they had

the same call of God in that God called each

of them. In the Bible, when you talk about generations,

a generation is 40 years. So like 40 years in

the wilderness, that's a generation in Bible times. Those of

you who are over 40 are part of the Caleb generation.

Those of you who are under 40 are part of

the Timothy generation. God uses both. God needs both and

wants to use both and wants to use you in

a great way. So I want to tell you two

stories this week. In the story of Caleb and the

story of Timothy and show you six things you need

to do in order to fulfill the life mission that

you were wired for. The calling that you were created for.

The purpose that you were designed for. Now the first

is the story of Caleb. Moses leads the Jewish people

out of 400 years of slavery in Egypt. And they

cross this giant desert called the Sinai. And they come

up to the area that God's going to give them,

the nation of Israel, and it's called the Promised Land.

And Moses says, okay, you guys, let's send in some

spies to see what the land is like so we'll

know what kind of battles we're going to have to

fight and what it's worth. So they send in 12 spies.

Moses sends 12 spies in to spy out the land

of Israel, the Promised Land. And when the 12 spies

come back, there's a minority report and a majority report.

The majority report says, there's no way we can take

this nation. It's filled with people who could whip our fannies.

We're never going to be able to handle this, and

we should just go back to Egypt. There was a

minority report by two guys who said, we can do this,

we can do this. And their names were Caleb and Joshua.

By the way, because they were the only two who

had faith to believe they could go into the promised land,

God let an entire generation wander for the next 40

years until that entire generation died off. And the only

two people who were the original group who got to

go into the promised land, who left Egypt, were Caleb

and Joshua. And the only reason they got to go

in is because they had enough faith to believe. But

they came back with a positive report. What do we

learn from the life of Caleb about your life today? Calling,

three things, write these down. Number one, the first thing

we learn is if I'm going to follow my calling,

number one, I must believe I can do it even

if I'm scared. That's the first step of fulfilling your

life mission in life. I must believe I can do

it even if I'm scared to death. This is the

faith factor. In Numbers chapter 13, we have the story.

Numbers 13 · chapter mention

It says, the spies who'd gone in to see the

promised land came back and they gave this account to Moses.

We went into the land to which you sent us

and it does indeed flow with milk and honey. In

other words, it's a very bountiful, it's a very fruitful,

wonderful place. In fact, here's the fruit and they brought

back some grapes and stuff. But, and here's the big but,

but the people who live there in the promised land

are powerful and the cities are fortified. And they're very large.

And we even saw the descendants of Anak there. And

the Amalekites lived there and the Hittites and the Jebusites

and the Amorites and the Canaanites. And these guys started

having a panic attack. Now they said, we went into

this country that God's supposed to give us, and it's

a great country, but it's full of big cities, and

they're walled cities, and there are giants there. There were

people from the descendants of Anak. The Anak people were very,

very tall, and in the eyes of the Hebrews... They

looked like giants. And he said, it's giant cities with

giant problems with giant people, and we look like grasshoppers.

So they're scared to death. Only one guy has the

courage to speak up, and his name is Caleb. And

he says, I believe I can do it even if

I'm scared to death. Look at the next verse, verse 30,

Numbers 13. Then Caleb silenced the people before God, before Moses,

and said, we should go up and take possession of

the land for we can certainly do it. Now I

want you to circle two phrases. We should and we can.

Circle that. We should and we can. Those are the

two essential attitudes for you fulfilling your calling in life.

You gotta say, I should do it and I can

do it. That's the starting point. I should do it

and I can do it. Once I know what God

wants me to do with my life, I should say,

I should do it and I can do it. That's

exactly what Caleb said. Now, why was Caleb so confident?

Because he trusted God. Look at the next verse. Caleb said,

the Lord will lead us into that land and he

will give us that fertile land. Don't turn against the Lord.

Don't be afraid of the people in that land. We

will chew them up and spit them out. They have

no protection, but the Lord, the Lord is with us.

So the first thing we find is that if I'm

gonna be what God wants me to be, I've got

to say, okay, God, I don't know what to do,

but I'm gonna trust you, and I believe that you

can do it through me. I'm gonna believe that I

can do it even if I'm scared. Here's the second

thing you gotta do if you're gonna fulfill the calling

God has on your life. I must be willing to reject,

willing to reject negative advice. I must be willing to

reject negative advice if I'm going to follow my calling

in life. There will be people who are negative against it,

and you can expect that. In fact, to fulfill your

calling in life, you're probably going to have to ignore

popular opinion. That's why so few people actually fulfill the

calling that God has for their life. You gotta be

willing to go against proper opinion. Look what happened. Numbers 14,

verses two. All the Israelites grumbled and they said, if

only we had died in Egypt or in the desert,

why is the Lord taking us to a new country

only to die in battle? Let's go back to Egypt

where we all lived all our lives. You understand what

they're saying? They said, we prefer safety in slavery. And

I'll go back to being enslaved by my addiction, by

my relationships, by my past, by my guilt? What slavery

are you willing to go back to rather than go

forward and take a risk? Caleb had uncommon courage. He said, okay,

I'm going to believe I can do it, even if

I'm scared, and I'm going to be willing to reject

negative advice. In fact, it wasn't just negative advice. Look

at the next verse, Numbers 14.10 says this, The whole

community began to talk about stoning Joshua and Caleb. They're

going to kill the two guys. And this is like

not this kind of stoned. It's real stones. Okay, okay.

The whole community began talking about stoning Joshua and Caleb.

But the glorious presence of the Lord appeared and to

all of Israel from the tabernacle. You know, I love

the fact that God's presence saved Caleb and Joshua. And

that'll happen in your life too. Pioneers always get the

arrow in the back. You've got to be willing to

reject negative advice if you're going to go after God's

calling on your life. Third thing, I must believe it's

never too late. If I'm going to follow my calling

in life, what God wants me to do with the

The 12 spies went into the land. They said, it's

too hard. It's a great place, but we can't take on.

So God says, because of your unbelief, you can all

wander around the desert for another 40 years. And he

let that entire generation die because that generation wouldn't believe.

But Caleb believed and Joshua believed and they got to live.

And now they come back 40 years later. Caleb's now

85 years old on the second chance. And notice here,

Joshua chapter 14. They come up to the promised land.

Joshua 14 · chapter mention

40 years later, Caleb says, I'm now 85 years old.

But I'm still as strong today as the day Moses

sent me out. And I'm just as ready to fight

as I was then. So give me the mountain region.

That's the most difficult area. Give me the mountain region

that the Lord promised me that day long ago. I

love that. Give me the mountain region. And he says,

you know the giants live there and the cities are

large with great walls. You know what I love about Caleb?

He's saying, give me the toughest spot. Give me the

biggest assignment. Give me the hardest city. Give me the

place with the biggest giants. Give me the mountain region.

I don't want some easy place. I know I'm 85

years old, but I still got it in me. And

I believe it's never too late. Some of you think

it's time to hang it up, and I'm telling you,

get it down, dust it off. The best is yet

to come. You're part of the Caleb generation. Okay? You're

part of the Caleb generation. You think God's going to

let you live 30 years just to play golf? Are

you kidding me? You know, there's a word that's not

in the Bible. It's called retirement. Now, you may stop working,

but you still keep serving the Lord. Right? Maybe in

earlier years you were paid to good, now you're good

for nothing. And the fact is, you have more wisdom,

you have more experience, and God does not want to

waste that. And Caleb, at 85 years old, was beginning

the greatest life mission of his life. The third thing

is I want to follow my calling. I got to

believe it's not too late. I can get started even

if I'm right on the edge or in retirement. Now,

the next three steps, I want to go from the

opposite generation, from Timothy. Timothy was a very young man,

the opposite of Caleb. He was a very young man.

He was just getting started. He had traveled with Paul,

and then Paul says, I'm going to send you to

a new city called Ephesus, and I'm going to have

you help start a church there. and help grow it.

And you're going to help lead it. And Timothy, don't

be scared. Timothy had a problem with panic attacks. Timothy

had a problem with fear. And God had to say

to him, God has not given us a spirit of fear,

but power, love, and a sound mind. And so what

do we learn from the life of Timothy? The younger generation,

what do we learn from him? Well, write these down.

If I'm going to fulfill my calling, I must develop

the gifts God gave me. I've got to develop the

gifts that God gave me. Let me read you a

couple of verses. First Timothy chapter four, verses 12 and 14, 15.

Do not let anyone look down on you because you

are young. Now this is talking to you who are

under 40 here. Don't let anybody look down on you

because you're young. But be an example for the believers

in your speech, in your conduct, in your love, your

faith and purity. And do not neglect. Do not neglect.

That means develop the spiritual gift that is in you.

Practice these things. What does practice mean? You do it

over and over so you can get good at something.

Practice these things. Devote yourself to them. Develop your talents.

Devote yourself to them in order that your progress may

be seen by all. 2 Timothy chapter 1. Paul says

2 Timothy 1 · chapter mention

this to Timothy, fan into flame the gift of God

which is in you. Fan into flame, in other words,

develop it, make the most of it. Through the laying

on of hands, God did not give us a spirit

of timidity, but a spirit of power and love and

a self-discipline. Now let me talk to those of you

who are under 40. As a young adult, your number

one responsibility before God is to develop your talent. That's

the number one thing God wants you to do. to

cultivate your talent that he's going to use in the

rest of your life. Develop the gift God has given me.

The second thing you're supposed to do is the next thing.

Write this down. Refuse to be distracted. Refuse to be

distracted by other things. If God has put a call

on your life, if God wants to use your life

for his purpose and his glory, don't you dare get

distracted by things that are second in importance. God tells

Timothy in 1 Timothy chapter four, keep a close watch

on yourself and on your teaching. Stay true to what

is right and God will save you and those who

hear you. Easiest thing to do as young adults, get sidetracked.

Get sidetracked by building your business, building your family, building

your career, building your savings. And there's more things to

distract you than anything before. You can waste your life

watching Gangnam Style YouTube videos. And all a bunch of

other things. But you've got to refuse to be distracted.

1 Timothy 6. Timothy, guard what God has entrusted to you.

That's your calling. Avoid godless, foolish discussions with those who

oppose you. with their so-called knowledge. Some people have wandered

off from the faith by following such foolishness. Don't get

involved in these online discussions that just waste your time

and energy and distract you. I've got a plan for

your life. I've got a purpose for your life, Timothy.

I've got a calling on your life. Develop the gift

that God gave you and refuse to be distracted. Stay single-focused.

And this is what God is saying here. Develop your gift.

Refuse to be distracted. And number three, number six is

Give God my very best. That's the third thing I do.

I give God my very best. If I want to

fulfill the purpose that God has given me, if I

want to follow my calling, I believe I can do

it even if I'm scared. I'd be willing to reject

negative advice. I believe it's never too late. I develop

the gift God's given me. I refuse to be distracted

and I give God my very best. First Timothy six

says this. Run your best in the race of life

and win eternal life for yourself for it was to

this life that God called you. Circle the word called.

You are called by God and you are to run

your best in the race of life so you win

the race. It was to this life that God has

called you. Now these are two very, very different men

and they're a thousand years apart and one of them's

old and one of them's young. And everybody here today,

you're either part of the Caleb generation or you're part

of the Timothy generation. But the principles are the same

to fulfill your calling in life. What was the impact

of these two men? Very different men. What was the

impact on them? Philippians 2.20, Paul says about Timothy, I

have no one else like Timothy. Anybody ever else said

that about you? Can you imagine a greater epitaph? Say,

there was nobody in the world like that person. They

were so focused. They were so God's person. That was

God's man. That was God's woman. They were so focused.

There was nobody else like them. They were so committed

to the call of God on their life. Nobody could

distract them. Nobody could discourage them. They gave God their best.

They developed their gifts. And they said, I don't care.

I'm going to make it work. I have nobody like Timothy.

What does God say about Caleb? The next verse, God said,

because my servant Caleb has a different spirit. In other words,

there's nobody like him either. He's different from everybody else.

He's following my calling and he follows me wholeheartedly. I

will give him the land he went to and his

generations following will inherit it. That's a legacy. Let me

talk to both generations at once right now. You may

be in the Timothy generation, or you may be in

the Caleb generation, but God still has a call on

your life. And God says, I want to be able

to say this about you. There was nobody else like them.

And they followed me so wholeheartedly. I blessed their family

for multiple generations after that. Wouldn't you like to have

your kids, your grandkids, your great-grandkids, and your great-great-great-grandkids being

blessed because of your commitment to Christ? I'm the fourth

generation in a long line of dedicated Christians. I am

reaping the spiritual benefit of my father and my mother

and my grandfathers and grandmothers and great-grandfathers. And I'm still

reaping the benefits of prayers that they prayed. Say, man,

I wish I had that heritage. You be that heritage.

You start it. So that four generations from today, somebody's

saying about you, they started a thing, and I am

being so blessed today because of my great-grandmother. That's you.

Or my great-grandfather. That's you. They followed their calling. They

were a Caleb. They were a Timothy. They had impact

and legacy in the world. This is my life verse,

Acts 13, 36. David served... God's purpose in his generation

and then he died. Now friends, that is the finest

definition of a successful life you'll ever find anywhere. I

want it put on my tombstone when I die. That

I served God's purpose in my generation, then I died.

I wanted people to be able to say that about

you when you die. That you served God's purpose in

your generation and then you died. You served God's purpose,

that which never changes, but you did it in your generation,

that which is constantly changing. You did that which is eternal,

but you did it in a relevant way. You did

the timeless in a timely way. You served God's purpose.

You fulfilled your calling in your generation, whether it's the

Timothy generation or it's the Caleb generation. Then you died.

Who wants to be around here anyway after God's through

with us? We're going to heaven where we're meant to

be forever and ever and ever. But if you're alive

and you're still breathing, God did not put you here

on earth to watch TV and to blow your life

and just do nothing. If you're alive, he wants you

to serve his purpose in your generation. You say, Rick,

I don't have what it takes. Yes, you do. Yes,

you do. Whether you're Caleb... And you're old or you're

Timothy and you're young. You have what it takes because

Christ is in you. The last verse says this, faithful

is he who calls you and he is also will

bring it to pass. God does not call the equipped.

God equips the called. He calls you, then he gives

you the ability to do it.