Rick Warren - You're Right Where You Need to Be - God Is Preparing You for More

Most of the stress in your life comes from poor timing.

Either you're in a hurry or there's a delay and

both of those things can stress you out, being too

fast or too slow. On the other hand, one of

the keys to success in life is wise timing. And

when you do the right thing at the right time,

it just works. On the other hand, can you say

the right thing but say it in the wrong time

and it's a disaster? Yeah. Can you do the right

thing but do it at the wrong time and it's

a disaster? Yes. Timing is everything. Timing is the difference

between a good joke and a bad joke. Comedians have

great timing. Timing is the difference between when they pay

one baseball player, a professional one, a pitcher, $ 80 million

to throw a ball and they won't pay another guy,

an amateur, any money to throw the ball. It's the

same two and three quarter inch ball. It's the same

number of feet from the pitcher to the batter. The

difference is the $ 80 million guy has a better sense

of timing. They're paying him $ 80 million for timing. The

difference between a great leader and a poor leader is

not just knowing what to do, but knowing when to

do it. The timing is everything. The difference between a

speaker who holds your attention and is interesting and a

boring one, the difference between those two is timing. Had

you there for a minute. God has a timetable for

everything that happens. This is taught all through the Bible.

In Ecclesiastes chapter three, verse one, it says this. There's

an appointed time for everything and there's a right time

for every activity under heaven. It says there's a right

time for everything. There's an appointed time. In another translation,

today's English version, everything that happens in this world happens

at the time God chooses. God has a timetable for everything.

And he even had a timetable for Christmas. Look at

the next verse, Galatians chapter four in the Bible, verses

three to five says this. When the right time came,

God sent his son to earth. born of a woman

and living under the law, so that his son could

pay for our freedom from the law, set us free,

and adopt us as his children into God's family. That's

what God sent Jesus to do. Show us what God's

like to save us from our sins, to adopt us

into God's family. But notice the phrase, when the time

was right, God sent his son. Christmas happened at just

the right time. What made it the right time? We

don't know. Why 2,000 years ago? We don't know. Why

not 2,000 years earlier? I mean, God had been telling

the world, I'm going to send a Savior for thousands

of years, but he waited a long time before he

sent Jesus. Or why not 50 years from this year

to send the Savior? We don't know why it was

the right time, but God says it was the right

time to send Jesus. jesus now that leads me to

the second truth write this down god does not tell

us the details in advance he has a timetable for

your life but he doesn't tell you the details in

advance ecclesiastes 3 verse 11 says this god has given

Ecclesiastes 3:11

us the desire to know the future and he always

does everything just right and on time But people can

never completely understand what God is doing. Everybody agree with

that verse? Yeah, why? Because God is God and you're not.

For me to try and understand God's timetable is like

an ant trying to understand the internet. I don't have

the brain capacity. If you could understand why God does

everything God does, you'd be God. Now, he says that

God has given us this desire to know the future.

Have you noticed all the crazy things people try to

do to figure out the future? Tarot cards, palm reading,

tea leaves, astrology, all kinds of crazy things trying to

figure out the future. But the Bible says God doesn't

let us know the timetable. Why? Why didn't God just

tell you everything that's going to happen in your life

right up front? Well, I think there are two or

three reasons. First, it would overwhelm you, probably scare you

to death. You couldn't handle the truth, to quote Jack Nicholson.

Second is you'd probably abuse it If you saw everything

that was going to happen in your life, go, I

don't like that part. I'm going to change that. Kind

of like back to the future. We're going to change

history before it even happens. But the real reason God

doesn't announce his timetable to you is he wants you

to trust him. He says, just live one day at

a time. Trust me. I'm a good God. I'm a

loving God. Everything I do in your life is for love,

but you just got to trust me. In Acts chapter

one in the Bible, the Bible says this, Jesus said

in verse seven, you don't get to know the time.

Timing is the Father's business. Now the subtext of that

is it's none of your business. So you're just not

ever gonna know stuff in advance. You don't know what's

gonna happen tomorrow in your life, much less the rest

of your life. God has a timetable for your life

but he doesn't give you the details in advance. Now

here's the third thing we learn from Christmas, is that

God is never in a hurry and he's never late.

God is never in a hurry and he's never late.

He's always on time, his timing is perfect. God has

a timetable for your life, but he doesn't give you

the details in advance. Now here's the third thing we

learn from Christmas, is that God is never in a

hurry and he's never late. God is never in a

hurry and he's never late. He's always on time, his

timing is perfect. Now the reason for this is because

God is on a different wavelength than we are. God

has a different view of time because God is timeless.

Now this is kind of hard to understand. God is

not bound by time, he's not limited by time. God

can be in the past and the present and the

future all at the same time. Your view of time,

my view of time, happens because we happen to live

on a planet called Earth that circles 24 hours, every

24 hours it rotates, and every 365 days it goes

around the sun, so you have marked your life in

24 hour days and 365 day years. If you lived

on Mars or Pluto, your concept of time would be very,

very different. And God doesn't live on a planet, so

God is timeless. Einstein wrote a lot about this, the

space-time continuum, and how it's very different than what we

typically think about time. God is never in a hurry,

and he's never late. Now let me show you God's

understanding of time. 2 Peter, the Bible says, chapter three,

verse eight. Never forget this. With the Lord, a day

is like 1,000 years, and 1,000 years are like a day.

Does that sound like the way you treat time? That's

the way it feels when I'm waiting for a meal. Okay,

it feels like a thousand years sometimes. But no, no,

we don't think in those terms. God's timelessness that I'm

talking about has big implications for your life. So let's

just go back. When God created you, he puts a

dream in your heart. Most people start off with a dream,

what do they want to do with their life? They

have a vision, a big vision, a big goal. They

have some kind of dream or plan or project that

they want to do with their life, their vision. What's

the vision God has given you? Now, I've talked to

tens of thousands of people over the years, and I've

discovered that while everybody tends to start off early in

life with a vision, here's what I'd like to do

with my life. Here's what I dream of doing, that

as life goes on, More and more people give up

on the dream before it's accomplished. They give up on

the vision. They give up on the goal because it

doesn't happen fast enough. Some of you have had your

dream battered. Some of you have had your dream bruised.

Some of you have had your dream broken. And some

of you, out of discouragement and disappointment, have buried your dream.

You've given up on it. God doesn't want you to

do that. If God gave you that dream for your life,

it's gonna happen. It just has to happen in his timetable,

not in yours. Let me show you one of the

great promises of the Bible. It's this next verse, Habakkuk

chapter two, verse three. God says this about your dream,

about your vision, the one that he gives you. The

vision will happen at the right time that I have appointed.

It moves steadily toward the goal. It will not be

proven false. If it seems slow or delayed, just wait

for it. It will certainly happen. It will not be late.

Some of you need to write that Bible verse down

on a little three by five card and put it

in your visor, on your bathroom mirror, on your windshield

or in your refrigerator door so you see it every day.

to not give up on the dream that God has

given you. Because he said, it'll happen. Now, if it's

your dream, you just made it up. Well, God's not

obligated to do that. But if it's a dream that

God has put in your heart, you go, I know

God made me to do this. I know I'm wired

to do this. He says, you just need to wait patiently.

It will happen. It will not be late. One of

the hardest truths that we all have to learn, I've

had to learn it a thousand times. We have to

actually relearn it over and over and over is this.

God's timing is perfect. My timing is imperfect. I always

want stuff now. When I started this church 39 years ago,

I was 25 years old. When I started this church,

I was in a hurry. I was just in a

hurry to get everything. And God says, no, it's not

all gonna happen. Slowly, steadily, the vision will be fulfilled.

And one of the things you have to learn is

that God is never early in your life. God is

never late in your life. God is always on time.

It's a big lesson. Here's the fourth thing that we learn.

Write this down. Is that God's timing, while he has

a timing and it will happen at the right time,

God's timing is not always convenient. God's plan for your

life and God's timing for your life, it's good plan,

It's for your benefit, it's a loving plan, but it

doesn't mean it's painless, and it doesn't mean that it'll

always be easy. No, God's plan is not always convenient.

God's timing for your life is always your best, but

it's not the easiest. For instance, Jesus' birth. Jesus' birth

was not convenient for Mary and Joseph. I mean, think

about this. Here's a young couple. Jesus is going to

be born. Mary has not had sex with Joseph. Who's

going to believe that story? Would you believe it if

your teenage daughter came and said, hi mom, I'm pregnant,

I've never had sex, and the baby is God? Oh yeah.

But an angel appears to Joseph and goes,

she's telling the real story. And then in the middle

of all of this, the Caesar of Rome, Caesar Augustus,

decides to throw a census. And he says, everybody has

to go back to the town that they were born

in to be registered for this census of the Roman Empire.

Now let's put this in perspective. He's not saying you're

gonna get counted wherever you are. If tomorrow the government

made a rule that in America, everybody's gonna be in

the census, you're gonna be counted, but you have to

tomorrow go back to the town you were born in.

It would be chaos in America. Everybody trying to go

back to the town that they were born in. Every plane, train,

automobile would be booked. Every highway would be filled because

everybody's trying to go back at the same time for

a census. And so the day before Mary delivers, she's

nine months pregnant. Joseph goes, honey, I gotta put you

on a donkey and we gotta take a trip to Bethlehem. Okay,

that's not convenient. Those of you ladies who've had babies

could probably give us a testimony what it might feel

like if you are, the day before you're gonna deliver,

gonna take a long journey on the back of a donkey.

That wouldn't be convenient. And then when she gets to Bethlehem,

she's never had a baby before, she has to deliver

her own baby by herself without her mom, without her aunt,

without a midwife, in a barn with a bunch of animals.

This is God's plan and God's timing because the Bible

says Jesus would be born in Bethlehem. It was not convenient.

But it was a bigger plan than Joseph and Mary

had ever planned for their life and their baby. And

it was a better plan. It's not convenient. A lot

of stuff God does in your life, but it is

bigger and it is better. Everything God has done in

my life has been bigger and better than I ever imagined.

And I would just trust him in it. So God's

timing is not always convenient. The Bible tells us in

Luke chapter two that at that time, Caesar Augustus ordered

all the people under Roman rule to return to their

hometown to register in a census. So Joseph took Mary

with him to Bethlehem, and by this time, she's very pregnant,

and in Bethlehem, the time came for her to have

her baby. None of that was convenient. Now there's a

fifth truth that we learn. We learn that God has

a timetable for your life. That he doesn't tell you

the details in advance. That he's always on time. He's

never late, but he's never in a hurry. That it's

not always convenient. And then here's the fifth thing. At

the right time, God can do anything instantly. At the

right time, God can do anything instantly. God can do

more in one millisecond than I can do in five, 10,

20 years or my entire life of the wrong timing.

At the right time, God can do it instantly. So

he doesn't worry about time because he doesn't need time

to accomplish what he wants to do. In Isaiah 60

Isaiah 60:22

verse 22, God says this,' I am the Lord.' So

when the right time comes, I will make it all

happen how? Quickly. Circle that, quickly. When I'm God, so

when it's the right time, I'll make it all happen quickly.

Now this is hard for us to accept. The most

difficult place for you to be in life is in

God's waiting room. In God's waiting room. Some of you

are in God's waiting room right now. What is God's

waiting room? When you're in a hurry for something to

happen and God isn't. That's God's waiting room. Some of

you are in a hurry to graduate. Some of you

are in a hurry to get married. Some of you

are in a hurry to start a family. Some of

you are in a hurry to launch a new business,

to close a big deal. Some of you are in

a hurry for a big goal, a big dream, a

big accomplishment. Some of you are in a hurry for

all kinds of different things, and God isn't. And you're

seeing the time getting shorter and shorter. You go, God,

there ain't a whole lot of time left. This is

either going to happen or it's going to not. God

doesn't need a lot of time because he can do

everything instantly. God can do more in a second than

you can do in a year. You say, well, if

God can do everything quickly, then why do I have

delays in life? Well, God allows delays in your life

for two reasons. Number one, to test your faith, will

you trust him? And second, to build your character. To

test your faith and to build your character. You see,

while you're working on your project, your goal, your dream,

your vision, God's working on you. And God's much more

interested in you than in what you're trying to accomplish.

Because you're not taking your accomplishments to heaven, but you

are taking your character. And sometimes God says, yeah, I

intend to give you what I've promised you. I intend

to answer that prayer. I intend to fulfill the vision.

But you're not ready yet. You need to grow up.

You need to man up and be a godly man.

You need to be the woman, the strong woman that

God intends for you to be. I want you to grow,

and when you're ready, then it's going to happen. A

lot of times we think we're waiting on God for

something to happen, like a prayer to be answered. God says,

you're not waiting on me. I'm waiting on you. I'm

trying to prepare you. I'm testing your faith. Will you

trust me? But I'm also trying to grow you up

because the blessing I want to give you is so

much bigger than you can handle right now. You're not

ready for it. You can't handle it yet. In Isaiah

Isaiah 49:8

49 verse 8, God says this, at the right time,

there's that phrase again. That phrase is used about 96

times in the Bible, at the right time. At the

right time, I will, not might, I will answer your prayers.

Another thing you have to learn in life is that

a delay is not a denial. There's a big difference

between no and not yet. Now, immature children don't know

the difference. You tell a kid, not yet, they start

crying and having a hissy fit because they think it

means no. They don't understand a delay is not a denial.

God is saying, I intend to do these things in

your life that I've given you the vision, the dream

to do, but you're just not ready yet, and at

the right time, I will answer your prayer. God's often

waiting on us. Now why is this important? Because when

you're in God's waiting room, you fall temptation to all

kinds of negative emotions. When you're in a hurry for

something to happen, and it isn't happening yet, I want

to get married. I want a husband. Somebody who's sexy

like Rick Warren. Don't pray that. That would be a

bad prayer. I'm in a hurry. God, I'm in a hurry.

And God says, kind of cool your jets a minute

at the right time, the right place. My timing is perfect.

But when there's a delay in your life, it can

create all kinds of negative emotions. You start worrying. You

start stressing out. You get anxious. You get irritable. You

get spiritual ADD. You can get envious. You can get jealous.

You go, hey, he got a promotion. I didn't get

the promotion. She's having a baby. I'm not having a baby.

She got engaged. I didn't get engaged. He's starting a

new business. It's taken off what about mine and and

all these kind of negative emotions can come into your

life and then you get frustrated and then you start

having a pity party so what does God want you

to do when you're in the waiting room of life

Because you're going to go through it many, many times.

God is not a vending machine where you put in

the prayer and then you pull the thing and you

instantly get it. There's always a delay. The delays are

by design. The delays are by design to teach you

to trust him and to grow up in your character.

So what does God want me to do while I'm

waiting on God's timetable for what I want to see

happen in my life? You do four things. You do

four things. And I want to spend the rest of

our time just looking at that. God gives us in

the Bible four phrases. These are old English phrases from

the King James Version of the Bible, and they are these.

He says, fear not, fret not, forget not, and faint not.

Fear not, fret not, forget not, and faint not. Let

me explain these to you, because this is what God

wants you to do when things don't happen as fast.

or as slow as you want them to happen. Number one,

write this down. Fear not, when things don't happen on

your timetable, fear not means trust God. Fear not to

fear not means to trust God. The opposite of fear

is faith. When you fill your life with faith, then

you don't have the fear. Fear goes out the back door.

And so the more you trust God, the less you're

going to be afraid. The less you trust God, the

more you're going to be afraid. In Mark 5, verse 36,

Mark 5:36

Jesus says, don't be afraid, just trust me. Now this

is such a big message in the Bible that it's

there 365 times. The phrase, fear not, is in the

Bible 365 times. God says, fear not, fear not, fear,

don't be afraid, don't be afraid, don't be afraid. 365 times,

that's one for every day of the year. He's saying,

I want you to get the message. I never want

you to be afraid. You just need to trust my timing.

Trusting God is the number one stress reliever in your life.

And the more you trust God, the more your stress

is gonna go down. The less you stress God, the

more your stress is going to go up. And so

what you want to do is pray a prayer like this,

Psalm 31, verses 14 and 15. I trust you, Lord.

Psalms 31:14

I trust in you, Lord. You are my God, and

my times are in your hands. Have you ever prayed

a prayer like that? You might want to memorize that

verse and pray it every morning. And you get up

and go, I trust you, Lord. You're my God. My

times are in your hands. What does that mean? God,

I got more to do today than I got time

to get done. I have so many appointments. There's no

way I'll get it all done. Help me sort it

all out. Do what matters most and not worry about

the rest. My times are in your hand. I surrender

my schedule. I surrender my calendar. I surrender my agenda.

My times are in your hand. And that means I'm

not going to fear. I'm going to trust you. Another,

by the way, stress reliever is when you ask God

for something in prayer. And the Bible says you can

ask God for anything in prayer. But when you do,

don't set the time limit on it. When you do,

don't determine the deadline. Don't dictate the timing. Leave the

timing up to God. That'll lower your stress. Look at

the next verse, Psalm 69, verse 13. I pray to you, Lord,

Psalms 69:13

so when the time is right, please answer me and

help me with your wonderful love. What a great prayer. Say, God,

I'm praying to you, and here's what I need, and

you mentioned what you need. You need a new job.

or you need a raise, or whatever you need, I

pray to you, Lord, and when the time is right,

please answer me. And what you're saying is, I trust

that you know better timing than me. I'm telling you

what I need, but I'm not dictating the timing on it.

That's trust. That's fearing not, but trusting God. Now, the

second thing you want to do is fret not. And

fret not, if you want to write this down, means

to be patient. To be patient and humble. To fret

not means to be patient and humble. The word fret

is an old English word that just means worry. And

when you fret, you get all stressed out. You get anxious.

You get irritable. You get worried. You fret. You fuss.

You get all, you know, you're in a bundle of nerves.

Fretting is the opposite of patience. Fretting is impatient. When

you fret, you are impatient. And we worry all the time,

and we worry because things are either happening too fast,

and that'll cause some people to worry, I can't handle

this change, it's too fast, or we worry because things

are going too slow. Come on, God, speed it up.

Can't we get to where I want to get? I'm

asking you, I'm praying, I'm asking for all this. I

don't know if you ever realized this, but waiting patiently

on God is actually a statement of faith. You're complimenting God.

When you wait patiently, you're going, God, I trust you.

I have faith in you. I'm waiting on you, and

I'm humble. I'm dependent upon you. See, we don't usually

mind waiting if we can gripe about it. But God says, no,

I don't want you to not only, don't fear, don't fret.

Don't gripe, don't get irritable. The Bible says it like

this in Psalm 37. Wait patiently. and trust the Lord.

Don't fret. Don't fret when others prosper or when their

dishonest plans succeed. And don't get angry or upset. It

only leads to trouble. When you get fretting, it's gonna

lead to a lot of other negative emotions in your life.

Now I want you to circle, if you're taking notes,

circle the word others. It says don't fret when others prosper.

What does that mean? It means you're looking at somebody

else and that's causing you to worry. One of the

big reasons you get stressed out is because you're constantly

comparing yourself to other people. She just got a new job.

I didn't. He's got a better lawn than we do.

They got a new car. Every time you compare yourself

to others, you're being foolish because you're one of a kind.

You're not them, they're not you. God has a plan

for your life and your plan for your life is

different than their plan. And if you're trying to be

their plan, you're gonna miss the plan for your life.

And so when you compare, those people are getting ahead,

they're getting, that guy got the promotion, I didn't. And

you start fretting. You start worrying. Here's the problem. You

know what the problem with worry is? It's totally worthless.

Any second you spend in your life worrying, you've just

wasted that second. Because worry can't do anything. Worry is worthless.

Worry can't change the past. Not gonna change the past.

Worry can't control the future. Not gonna control the future.

All worry does is make today miserable. It is stewing

without doing. It's like sitting in a rocket chair. You're

going back and forth, back and forth. You're not making

any progress. Wasting a lot of energy. Any second you're worrying,

you're wasting energy. God says, don't fret. Don't worry. Instead,

just be patient and be humble. Look at this next verse.

Philippians 4, 6. Don't fret or worry, God says. Instead

of worrying, pray. Now, that is a good alternative because

prayer can change things. Worry will never change anything, but

prayer can change things. Don't fret or worry, instead of worrying, pray.

Let your petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers.

I love that, shape your worries into prayers. Letting God

know your concerns. My times are in his hands. I'm

not worried about it. And if all the stuff I

plan to get done this year didn't get done, but

I'm trusting God, he could get it all done in

January of the next year in an instant. He can

do more on his time than I can do on

my timetable.