Rick Warren - God's Promises About Your Future

Pull out your message notes. Today, we're gonna be in

part four of our series on God's amazing promises. As

I told you, one guy's counted over 7,000 promises of

God to you in the Bible. And we're gonna look

at all 7,000 of them today. So sit back. Actually,

we've looked in the first three weeks, we looked at

God's promises about giving, and then some of you, many

of you became new tithers at that. Then we looked

at God's promises of heaven, and then we looked at

God's promises of his spirit, the Holy Spirit last week.

Today I want us to look at God's promises about

your future. Now you ought to be interested in this

for three reasons. First, the rest of your life is

in your future. None of your life is left in

the past or even today. All your life is in

the future. And the two things I can say about

that are, number one, you don't know what it's gonna be,

and two, you can't control it. So I should definitely

be interested in what God has to say about my future,

because I don't know, none of us know what's gonna

happen tomorrow, much less next year, and we certainly can't

control it. One of the ways we try to control

the future is worry, but worry is worthless. It doesn't work. Now,

before we look at six promises of God, and I've

asked Buddy to help me with one of these promises.

Before we look at the six promises about your future,

I wanna give you four facts about your future. I

know this is review, you already know this, but it

gives us a foundation for what we're gonna look at today.

Number one, four facts the Bible says about your future.

Number one, God knows everything that will happen. God knows

everything that's gonna happen in your life already. He knows

the beginning and the end. This is called the omniscience

of God. It means God knows everything. There is nothing

that God doesn't know. Now in a practical sense, what

that means is this. God is never surprised. God never goes, wow,

I didn't see that coming. Hoo wee, you could have

blown me over with a feather on that one. Wow, really?

Are you kidding me? God never says those kind of things.

God knows everything you're ever gonna say in life. God

knows every thought you're ever gonna think in life. God

knows everything you're gonna do in life already now. There

is nothing that you do that he doesn't already know,

that he already knows. He already knows the end of

your life. Why? Well, it's a little hard to get,

but follow me on it. God is not limited by time.

God is timeless. You see, Your concept and my concept

of time happens because we're on a planet that turns

around every 24 hours and goes around the sun every

365 days. If you were on a different planet, you

would have a different concept of time. And if you

weren't on a planet at all, you'd have a totally

different concept of time because you could be timeless. This

is what Einstein talked about in the space-time continuum. God

is timeless. God can be in the past. and in

the present and in the future all at once because

God isn't linear. It's all the same to him. He's

in the past and the present and the future at

the same time. I know that's kinda hard to grasp,

but it's kinda like this. If I were to take

you to the Rose Parade up in Pasadena, California on

New Year's Day, and if you were standing there on

the ground watching the parade, all you could see is

what's right in front of you. You can't see the

parade that's already passed and you can't see the parade

that's coming in the future. All you can see is

what's in front of you. And that's the way we

pretty much live our lives. On the other hand, if

I were to take you up in a plane or

a helicopter or a blimp and we got up real

high with a different perspective, you would be able to

see the beginning and the end of the parade all

at the same time. You wouldn't have a problem. You

could see the beginning of the parade and the end

at the same time. It's a matter of perspective. God

is so high, he can see everything in history. He

can see the beginning and the middle and the end

all at the same time. It doesn't bother him, because

he has a different perspective. Now, because God knows everything

will happen, and it's not limited by time, we know

these verses. Hebrews 11, 13. Nothing in all creation is

hidden from God's sight, he can see it all. Everything

is uncovered and laid bare before his eyes. So there

are no secrets with God. I wonder what secret you

foolishly think you're hiding from God. You don't have any

secrets from God. God knows every good, every bad, every

ugly part of your life, still loves you, loves you unconditionally,

but you don't have any secrets from God. He knows

every thought you're going to have. You haven't even had

those thoughts yet, but he knows what you're gonna think.

because he knows everything that will happen. Psalm 139 verse

Psalms 139:16

16 says this, the days allotted to me, in other words,

my life, my lifespan, the days allotted to me had

all been recorded in your book before, circle before, any

of them ever began. God already knows what's gonna happen

on every day of your life before you even took

your first breath. When you were in your mother's womb,

God says, I already knew every detail of every second

of every moment of your life. By the way, this

is why abortion is wrong. Because abortion short circuits God's plan.

God's plan for your life doesn't start the moment you

take your first breath. Your life began when God thought

you up. And when he thought you up before you

ever took your first breath, every day of your life

was planned before you were born. And so if you

don't end up not being born, then God's plan just

got aborted. That's why it's wrong. Now here's the second

thing that we know. Second fact about the future. God's

plan for my future is good. God's plan for my

future is good. It's not a bad plan. In fact,

God has no bad plans for people. God is a

good God. And because God is a good God, all

of his plans are good. He doesn't have any bad

plans for you. All of his plans for you are good.

One of the most famous verses in the Bible, we've

read it hundreds of times here at Saddleback, is Jeremiah

29 11. Let's read it aloud together, okay? Read it

with me. I know the plans I have for you,

declares the Lord. Plans to prosper you and not harm you,

Plans to give you hope and a future. Now I

want you to circle some words in this verse. Circle

the word know. God says, I know. I already know

everything about you. And then he says, I know the plans.

Circle the word plans. God has long range plans for

your life. He has a purpose for your life. He

has a plan for your life. I know the plans

and then circle the word future. God says, I know

the plans I have for your future. Now what does

this promise tells us? That's a promise of God right there.

Plans to prosper you, plans not harm you, to give

you a hope and a future. What this tells us

is that God has thought more about your future than

you have. You may have not even given much thought

to your future. Some people have no plans for their future.

They're just letting life happen to them. They don't have

any plans, they don't have any goals. It's just like, well,

I kind of like to do this, but they're just

kind of, skating through life, kinda coasting through life. God

has thought far more about your life than you ever have.

He's thought about every detail, every thought, every part of it,

and he has a plan for your life, and his

plan is good for you. His plan to prosper you,

plan to give you hope, a future. You say, well,

can I miss God's plan? Well, of course you can.

In fact, most people do. They miss God's plan because

they choose their own plan. You have to choose God's

plan for your life. It's not automatic. You see, one

of the greatest gifts, but it's also a hindrance to us,

is the freedom to choose. God didn't wanna create a

bunch of puppets. He could have made us where we

don't have any choice. You couldn't choose to do bad.

You couldn't choose to do other things. But he made

us in his image, which means he gave us free will,

and every day you make choices. The problem is we

often make bad choices. And God doesn't force you to

do his plan and purpose. He created you. What God

wanted is he didn't want puppets. He wanted children who

choose to love him. And you can't say it's real

love unless you have the choice to not love. So

God says, hey, you can choose to love me or

you can choose to not love me. You can choose

my plan for your life or you can choose your

own plan for your life. You can choose to obey

me and trust me or you can choose to not

obey me and trust me. He wants you to make

the choice. Unfortunately, most people in the world make the

wrong choice. And they choose, they say, you know what?

I'm gonna do what I wanna do. And that causes

all problems. And so they, most people die without ever

knowing the purpose of their life and without ever fulfilling

the plan that God created it for because they didn't

choose it. They miss it. You say, well, how in

the world would anybody miss God's plan, God's purpose for that?

One way, one word, pride. Pride keeps people, keeps you

from fulfilling the purpose that God made you for. Because

pride shows up like this. I know God has a

plan for my life, but I think I know better

than God, and I think I know what will make

me happy more than God, so I'm gonna disobey what

he says to do, and I'm gonna do what I

wanna do. That's called pride. It's pretty arrogant to think

I know better than God does. I know God says

this about sex, but I'm gonna do it my way.

And I know God says this about money, but I'm

gonna do it my way. And I know God says

this about my future and my goals. And I know

God says to forgive people instead of be resentful and retaliate,

but I'm gonna do it my way. That's called arrogance.

It's called ego, it's called pride. There's only one thing

that causes you to miss the purpose you were created for,

your own ego. Your own pride. You think you know

better than God. And this causes so much problem. And

instead of the plans to prosper and the plans to

have hope and plans that are good plans for the future,

you know, you end up with a mess in your life. Now,

let me just encourage you. You can't miss God's purpose

for your life if you really want it. If you say, God,

I'm willing to do whatever you say to do. I'm

willing to trust you. I don't understand it all, and

some of the stuff you tell me to do may

not make sense, it may be politically incorrect, it may

be unpopular, it may be counterculture, but I'm still gonna

do it, because I want your plan instead of mine.

If you do that, you can't miss God's purpose for

your life. Now, to fulfill my created purpose, here's the

third thing, I must choose to trust and obey God.

God knows everything that's gonna happen in my life, and

he has a good plan for my life, But I

have to choose that plan. I have to choose to

trust God and I have to choose to obey God.

And every single day of my life, God's given me

a free choice. And every day, every moment, I'm gonna

go with God's plan or I'm gonna go with my plan.

I'm gonna choose what God tells me to do or

I'm gonna do what I wanna do. I'm gonna do

what the Bible says or I'm gonna do what I

think is the right thing to do or is the

most convenient thing. Every day, we're making this choice. Here's

what the Bible says. God says this in Deuteronomy 30,

Deuteronomy 30:19

verse 19. God says, today, I'm giving you the choice.

And this is, it's your choice. He's not gonna force you.

God's a gentleman. I'm gonna give you the choice between

life and death. You wanna really live or you wanna

have a dead-end life? It's up to you. I'm giving

you the choice between real living or a dying life,

between blessings or curses. You wanna bless life? Well, do

what I tell you to do. You want a cursed

life that's cursed with all kinds of problems? Well, just

do your thing. I'm giving you this choice. And then

he says, I call on heaven and earth to witness.

He goes, I want all creation to witness the decision

you make, the choice you make. I'm giving you the

choice on what you're gonna do with your life. You're

gonna go my way or the highway? You're gonna go

God's plan or you're gonna go your own plan? And

he said, I want everybody in creation to witness this.

The choices you're gonna make. And then you can hear

the love in his heart when he says, so, come on,

choose life. I mean, why would anybody choose a dead end?

Why would anybody choose destruction, death, and to be separated

from the God who made you and loves you and

created you? Why would anybody do that? He says, choose life.

Then you and your children will live. He's saying that

the choices you make in your life actually affect the

next generation too. And the blessing that I put on

your life can actually be blessing your next generation in

your life, if you choose life. But it's up to you.

I'm not gonna force you to do the right thing,

because I want you to love me out of free will. Now,

here's the fourth fact, and then we can start looking

at the promises. God will be with me every step

of the way. In my future, I don't know what

it's gonna be like, and I know I can't control it,

but I do know this. God will be with me

every step of the way. How do I know that?

Because in the Bible, one of the most repeated promises

of God is this. You're not gonna be alone. I

will never leave you. I will never forsake you. I

will never abandon you. I'm gonna be with you. My

presence will be with you. He says it hundreds of times.

I'm going to be with you because God made you

to be connected to him. Now you may not always

feel God's presence, but God is not a feeling. So

something doesn't have to be felt for it to be real.

Right now, through this airspace, there are radio waves going

through it, there are TV waves going through it, there

are internet waves going, they're going through my body and

yours right now. I don't feel them, but they're real.

And if I have a receiver and I can tune in,

I can see the color picture that's going through me

right now. You don't have to feel something for it

to be real. There are a lot of things that

are real that you can't see. You can't see protons

and electrons. You can't see atoms, but they're real. Everything's

made up of atoms. And so I may not feel God,

I may not sense God, but he is always with me.

Now that's an encouragement because although I don't know what

the future holds, I do know I'm not gonna face

it alone. And God says this in Hebrews chapter 13,

Hebrews 13 · chapter mention

verse five and six. Keep your lives free from the

love of money. In other words, don't be greedy. And

be content with what you have. Because God has said,

never will I leave you and never will I forsake you. Now,

I looked up this Greek word in the Bible, never,

and it means never. Never. It means no way, Jose, never, never, never, never, never, never,

not in a thousand years, there's no way, you're never

gonna be without me, I will. Other people may abandon you,

God says I won't. Other people may betray you, I won't.

Other people may discriminate against you, I won't. Other people

may walk out of your life, God says I'm not. Never, never, never, never,

never will I leave you. Now why does he tie

that to don't worry about money and be content? Well,

he says, if I'm here, what are you worried about?

Don't you think I'm gonna take care of your needs

if I'm with you? One of the things I learned

growing up is always go to lunch with Dad, because

he always picked up the tab. I never had to

pay if Dad was with me. So I wanted to

make sure I always had lunch with Dad, or dinner

with Dad. And your Heavenly Father says, hey, if I'm

with you, what are you worried about? You're worried about bills,

don't you think I'm gonna help you through this? Don't worry.

And he says, I'll never leave you. I'll never forsake you.

So we can say with confidence. A lot of people

are scared about the future. He says, we can say

with confidence. Christians can be the most confident people when

it comes to the future. Why? Because the Lord is

my helper. I will not be afraid. Because what can

people do to me? One plus God equals a majority.

And if God likes me and I like me, you

don't like me, what's your problem? God. God says, I'll

be with you and I love you. So no matter

what happens in your future, you're not gonna go through

it alone. Now this comforting truth that I just shared

with you is called the faithfulness of God. That God

is not only a good God, he is a faithful God.

That means he keeps his word and he always does

what's good in your life. And it's part of his character.

He keeps every promise. Now I want you to write

this down. Just find a spot where you can write

this down in your outline. If you're struggling with anxiety

or worry in your life, write this down. Every fear

is a misunderstanding of who God is and what he's promised.

Every fear is a misunderstanding of who God is and

what he's promised. If you knew what God is really

like and you knew what he's really promised, you wouldn't

be afraid. You wouldn't be anxious about the future. You

wouldn't be worried or nervous about what's gonna happen tomorrow,

because if you really knew who God is and what

he's promised to do in your life, you wouldn't be afraid.

Pastor Buddy's gonna come and give you the first promise

about your future.

Now because God's word is everlasting, then we know that

we can trust his promises. Rick said we're gonna look

at his promises about your future, so here's the first

one you can write down. God promises to guide me

when I'm confused. God promises to guide me when I'm confused.

One thing that you can predict about your future is

that you're gonna have a lot of decisions to make.

You're gonna have a lot of choices, and some of

those choices are difficult, some of them are even confusing.

Do I take this job? Do I move to this city?

Should I buy this house? Should I marry this girl?

There are some big, life-changing decisions, and a lot of times,

we can be confused about them. We get confused because

they're scary decisions. And they're scary decisions because we're afraid, well,

what happens if I make the wrong choice? And we

just sort of get stuck in our confusion. And we think, well,

who can I talk to? Is there anybody that can

help me think this through? And I guess on one hand,

you could think, well, I can talk to my friends,

but one of the problems there is they probably think

just like you do.

That's why they're your friends. They're probably as confused as

you are.

You can look at the media, talk to them, but,

you know, good luck there. Their opinions change with the wind.

There's only one authority. one authority who is always right

and completely reliable, and that is your Creator. If you

want to know the purpose of something, you have to

ask the inventor. And God knows the purpose that He

created you for. Here's what the Bible says in Proverbs

Proverbs 3 · chapter mention

chapter 3.

Look at this verse.

It says, trust in yourself with all your heart.

I'm sorry, I read that wrong. I'm sorry.

It says, trust in the Lord with all your heart.

Let me ask you a question.

Who do you really trust deep down in your heart?

He says, trust in the Lord with all your heart.

Never rely on what you think you know. Remember the

Lord in everything you do and He will show you

The right way. If you trust him with all your heart,

he'll show you the right way. Why trust God? Well,

think about it. He created you.

He loves you.

He knows everything about you. He gave his son to

die for you. If God did all of those things

and cares that much about you, why in the world

do you think he would tell you to do something wrong?

Why would he send you in a direction that was

not the best for you? God wants the best for you.

He is completely reliable and trustworthy. And he has a

perspective about your life and your future that you desperately

need to have. It's like if you're driving on a

mountain road, a windy mountain road, and you're trying to

get to the top, and you're in a hurry, you

want to get there, and then you get stuck behind

some old guy in a camper.

Right?

And he's cruising along about 10 miles an hour. He's

in no hurry to get anywhere. And he's just looking

out the window and talking to his wife.

Hey, look over there, Mabel. There's a stump.

You know, he's just not in any kind of hurry.

And you're going, I got to get around this guy.

But it's curvy road and I have no idea what's coming.

And you think, man, wouldn't it be great if I

had that helicopter that Rick was talking about on the parade?

Somebody up high who could see the whole road. and

who could radio down to me and say, hey, you

know what, it's safe, you can pass the guy, because

I can see what's coming. That's a perspective that we

need to have. And the only way to get God's

perspective is in His Word, is in the Bible. The

will of God is in the Word of God. If

you wanna know God's will, you have to know God's Word. Now,

let's look at the second promise, and Rick is gonna

come and explain it to us, but write this down.

God promises to help me when I am tempted. Not

only when I'm confused, but he promises to help me

when I am tempted.

This is the second great promise about your future. God

promises to help me when I'm tempted. Now, another thing

that's not gonna change in your future is you're gonna

have the same old temptations. Hate to tell you that.

Hopefully you'll get better at resisting them but you're gonna

have the same temptations the rest of your life. The

weaknesses that you have today, you'll probably have to struggle

with them the rest of your life. As I said,

you'll get better, but if you, for instance, have a

predisposition to be controlling, and in every situation you tend

to try to control everything, the rest of your life

you're gonna be tempted to try to control things. As

I said, hopefully you'll get better and not give into

it so much, but you're gonna be tempted to do

that the rest of your life. If you're tempted to

be depressed, you're probably gonna have to deal with the

temptation to be depressed the rest of your life. If

you are tempted to be arrogant or not listen, or

if you're tempted to, anything in life where you say,

I'm anxious, I tend to be anxious. Well, if you

tend to be anxious, The rest of your life, you're

probably gonna be tempted to worry a lot in your life. Hopefully,

you'll get better at it as you grow in Christ,

but you will be tempted. Or if you have an

anger problem, you say, I tend to blow up, I

tend to lose my temper easily. You're gonna follow in

that temptation the rest of your life. But God promises

to help you. This is a good thing. So let

me give you the bad news, the good news, and

the great news about temptation. The bad news is, you're

never gonna outgrow temptation. Some people think, well, maybe I'll

get to the point in my spiritual life, I'm just

not tempted anymore. Fat chance. It's gonna happen the rest

of your life. In fact, I know this, I've been

walking with the Lord, I've been a friend of Jesus

for over 50 years. You know what I've discovered? The

more mature I get, the more Satan tempts me. Because

Satan doesn't bother with you if you're not doing anything,

but if you can make a difference with your life,

he's gonna really go after you. And so actually some

of the temptations in your life, the more mature you get,

the more you'll be tempted. You just have better resources,

you know how to deal with it. Doesn't mean the

temptation to go away, just means you don't give into

them anymore. And so they will actually increase. See, some people,

some of you are carrying false shame. Because you think,

I should be at the stage, this doesn't tempt me anymore.

I shouldn't have this thought. I shouldn't have this feeling

this way. Well, that's just not true because you're not

responsible for every thought that comes into your mind. You're

responsible for what you do with it. When Satan gives

you an idea and puts it in your mind, we

call that temptation. When God gives you an idea and

he suggests that in your mind, we call that an inspiration. Temptation, inspiration.

And then you have your own thoughts. Have you ever

been praying and like you're trying to be serious about

praying at something and you're praying and all of a

sudden the most awful, ugly thought comes into your mind

while you're praying? And you go, where did that one

come from? Anybody ever had that happen? Oh, come on.

Anybody ever had that happen? The rest of you are liars. Okay,

because it happens to everybody. You're trying to pray and

all of a sudden something just comes out of here. Well,

you're not responsible for that. That was from Satan. It

was just an idea. Martin Luther said, you can't keep

the birds from flying over your head, but you can

keep them from building a nest in your hair. And

I should not feel guilty about a thought that I

didn't have. Satan just threw that in there real quick.

I know where that one came from. Get out of here.

And I just toss it. and you don't, you get intimidated.

The bad news is you're gonna be tempted the rest

of your life. The good news is it's not a

sin to be tempted. It's sin to give in to temptation,

but it's not a sin to be tempted. The Bible

says Jesus was tempted in every point as we were,

but he never sinned. Temptation is just a choice, that's

all it is. So don't get intimidated about like, how

am I being tempted by this? Well, because you're human,

that's why. It's just a choice. And every time you

choose to do the right thing, you grow. Every time

you choose to do the wrong thing, you stumble, you fail,

and you go back. But temptation is just an opportunity

to grow. So don't be intimidated by it and don't

be ashamed of it. I meet Christians all the time who,

you know, they get a thought from the devil or

they have an attraction or they have an arousal and

they go, oh, I shouldn't be doing that. I shouldn't

have that. You're not, would you write this down? Write

this down. Attraction is not a sin, action is. Write

this down. Attraction is not a sin, action is. You

are not responsible for your attractions, you are responsible for

your actions. If we're walking down a buffet, you know,

I might see a certain kind of potato salad that's

very attractive to me. and I'm salivating and everything. Where

did that come from? It's just inside me. You're walking,

I hate potato salad. And you just walk to the

next one. We all have different attractions. An attraction or

an arousal is not necessarily lust. It just means you're human. Ladies,

if today you walk out of church You're walking to

the parking lot and you just see some gorgeous, sexy

hunk of a man. Kind of looks like me, you know?

And you're going, man, I find that guy attractive. Attractive,

but I'm married. I shouldn't be having that. It's just

an attraction. It's not an action. It's not a lust.

Lust is when you start going, man, I'd like to,

what would it be like to be married to him?

And what would it be like to go to bed

with him? And then you fantasizing on it. Let me

say it another way. You might write this down. I

can't control what gets my attention. I can control what

keeps my attention. Hear the difference? I can't control what

gets my attention. If I'm at a beach and a

beautiful woman walks by, it's probably gonna get my attention.

I'm just not gonna do anything about it. I'm gonna

turn my mind and think about something else. I'm not

gonna fantasize, I'm not gonna linger. Wow, that girl's beautiful. God,

you did a good one on her. Good God, man. Wow,

good going, God. She looks nice, okay? But that's not lust.

Lust is when you start to say, I want that

instead of who I have. Does that make sense? A

lot of people feel ashamed when they get attracted or

get aroused. You can't control your arousals. That's just, that's

part of humanity. It's what you do with it. Like

I said, I can't control what gets my attention. I

can control what keeps my attention. And so I'm just

gonna change my mind, something else. Now this could be heterosexual,

it could be homosexual. You might have a same-sex attraction.

And you go, I'm not supposed to have this, I'm

a Christian. Well, it's not the attraction, it's the action.

It's not a sin for what attracts you. Some people

are attracted to barbecued ribs. That's no sin. Eating five

pounds of them is a sin. Okay, but am I

clear on this? Okay, so what I'm trying to relieve

is a little bit of false shame that you shouldn't

be ashamed that things are getting your attention. I mean,

it could be a material thing. You walk past a

store window and go, man, that's a pretty shopping bag

or that's a pretty suit or dress or something. That's

not materialism. It's just it caught your attention. It just

caught your attention. It's what you do with it. Now,

I said the bad news is you're never gonna outgrow temptations.

The good news is it's not a sin to be tempted.

It's a sin to give in. So you shouldn't feel, well,

I shouldn't feel this way. But the best news is this.

God has promised to provide a way out of temptation.

The Bible says this in 1 Corinthians 10, verse 13.

1 Corinthians 10:13

Remember that the temptations that come into your life are

no different from what others experience. Now, I know Satan

tells you, Nobody else feels this like you do. Nobody's

tempted this way and he wants to isolate you. The

Bible says no, we all have the exact same temptations.

Now if they're common to humans, then there are common

solutions to them. And here's the thing, if we all

share the same temptations, then if we talk about it

with each other, they lose their power over us. When

you have a temptation and you keep it a secret,

then it's gonna get worse, for instance, If all of

a sudden you're being tempted at work by a coworker

to like have an affair, if you keep that a secret,

it's just gonna get worse. It would be better for

you to tell, if you're a woman, another woman, or

if you're a man, another man, or even tell your spouse,

I'm being tempted right now. If there were more confession

of temptation, there'd be less need to confess sin. Because

we'd stop it early. Yet, a lot of times, we

don't want to admit we're being tempted. That's setting us

up for the failure. It would be better to say,

you know what? I'm being tempted right now. And tell

your friend or your spouse or whoever, tell them, and

then all of a sudden, it lowers the tension. If

you can't talk about it, it's already out of control

in your life. If you can't talk about it, it's

already scaring you. And so it's not a sin to

be tempted. It's a sin to give in. But God

says this, remember the temptation that comes into your life.

They're no different than the ones others experience. We all

have the same ones, so let's talk about them. And

God is faithful. And because God is faithful, he promises

two things. First, he will keep the temptation from becoming

so strong that you can't stand up against it. That's

his first promise. Second, and when you're tempted, he'll show

you a way out so that you'll not give into it.

Now it's comforting to know that God understands our struggles.

And he knows exactly what you're going through, when you're

going through it. He's pulling for you. Jesus experienced the

same temptation. He's prepared an escape route. He says, I'll

strengthen you and I'll prepare an escape route. That's the

promise of God. Now, sometimes people come to me and say, hey, Rick,

you know, I just fell, I stumbled here. I couldn't

help myself. The temptation was just too strong and I

could not resist it. And when they tell me that,

I know they're not telling the truth and they're not

being honest with themselves. Why? Because God says, I will

never allow more on you than I put in you

to bear it up. And God also says, with every temptation,

I will make a way of escape that you can

get out of there. It wasn't that the temptation was

too strong for you. You didn't want to resist it.

You wanted to give in. You're not being honest to yourself.

You wanted to give in at that moment because if

you had wanted to not give in, God said, I'll

give you the strength and I'll give you a way out.

So it's just not true to say the temptation was

too strong. You wanted to give in to that. Second

Thessalonians chapter three, verse three says this. The Lord is faithful.

There's that phrase again. He keeps his promises. And he

will give you strength and will protect you from the

evil one. I've noticed that a lot of believers are

not only just afraid of temptation, they're actually afraid of

the devil. What in the world are you afraid of

the devil for? Greater is he that is in you

than he that is in the world is what the

Bible says. For the devil to get, if you're a

Christian believer and you have Jesus in your heart, you

have the Holy Spirit, you have God's love around you,

for Satan to get at you, he's gotta go through

the Trinity. That isn't gonna happen. You got triple protection

around your life. The only thing Satan can do to

a Christian is make suggestions. That's all he can do.

And if you buy that suggestion and you believe that fear,

you just lost. If you buy that idea, you believe

that fear, you just lost. But he can't do anything

other than give suggestions. And for Satan to get at

a believer, he has to go through the Father, the Son,

and the Holy Spirit. The Bible says you're in Christ.

The Bible says Christ is in you. The Bible says

you're hid with Christ and God. The Bible says you're

sealed with the Holy Spirit. That's triple protection. There's no

way he can get at you. If you're trusting in

God at that moment, you're a believer. It's only if

you believe his suggestion and you open the doorway. So

he says, don't worry about it. I'll give you strength

and I'll protect you from the evil one. Let's go

to the third promise. The third promise about your future

is another good one. And it's this, God promises to

support me in trouble. God promises to support me in trouble.

He's gonna guide me when I'm confused, he's gonna help

me when I'm tempted, and he's gonna support me when

I'm in trouble. Now what's the difference between temptation and trouble? Oh,

big difference. Temptation is inside me, trouble is outside me.

Temptation is internal, trouble is external. Temptation has to do

with my character. Trouble has to do with my circumstances.

And in life, for the rest of your life, because

we live on a broken planet, you're gonna have temptations

and trouble. Internal temptations, external trouble. And Jesus said this.

He said, in the world you will have trouble. Now

there's all kinds of trouble. There's relational trouble, financial trouble,

physical trouble in your body. There's mental trouble. There's all

kinds of different trials and troubles and tribulations in life.

Some people expect life to be heaven on earth. This

is not heaven. They expect everything to be perfect. Well,

now that I'm a Christian, shouldn't everything be perfect in

my life? Of course not. It is in heaven where

there is no sorrow, no suffering, no sickness, no sadness,

no trials, no tears, No tangles. There's nothing wrong in heaven.

It's all great there. But this is earth. That's why

we pray thy will be done on earth as it

is in heaven because it's done perfectly. On earth, God's

will is seldom done. Sometimes you hear a big disaster

or you hear a big terrorist attack and people say

it must have been God's will. That wasn't God's will.

God is not the author of evil. If I go

out and I get drunk and I get in an accident,

kill myself, that wasn't God's will, that was my will

be done. So don't blame God for evil, the Bible

says God cannot do evil. God's will is not always

done on earth, that's why we're to pray thy will

be done on earth. But when that happens, that people

expect it to be heaven. Have you noticed that everything

on this planet is broken? The weather's broken, the economy's broken,

your body is broken. It doesn't always work right. Relationships

are broken. You can find brokenness everywhere. Why? Because of sin.

Because we make bad choices. Now, the Bible says God

will promise to support me in trouble. In a church

family our size, today, in our 20 or so locations,

there's about 30,000 people in our church family going to church, worship,

at Saddleback Church. In a crowd that big, the law

of average is that some of us this next year

are gonna lose loved ones. And some of us this

next year are gonna get cancer. And some of us

this next year are gonna get laid off or fired

or go bankrupt. And some of us this next year

maybe face a divorce. You know, bad things happen in

this world. But God says, I will support you in trouble.

One of the greatest promises in the Bible is the

next one on your outline, Isaiah chapter 43, verse two

Isaiah 43 · chapter mention

and three. And here's what God promises about your future.

When you go through deep waters, notice he doesn't say if,

it's a matter of when. Okay, you're gonna go through

deep waters at times in your life. When you go

through deep waters and great trouble, I will be with you.

I'm gonna support you. And when you go through rivers

of difficulty, you will not drown. And when you walk

through fires of oppression, you know, when the heat's on,

you will not be burned up for I am the

Lord your God. Now look at that verse and what

it doesn't say when you go through deep waters and

rivers of difficulty, you won't get wet. Doesn't say that.

It says you won't drown. You're gonna go through some

problems that have pain. You're gonna get wet. You're not

going to drown. And it says when you go through

the fire, when the heat's on in your life, it

doesn't say it won't get hot. It doesn't say it

won't get uncomfortable. It says you're not gonna burn up.

I'm gonna make sure you make it through. The next verse,

Philippians 4.13, I have strength for all things, the good

and the bad, everything that's gonna hit me in the

future which I don't know about. I have strength for

all things, this is confidence. I have all strength for

all things in Christ, not in myself, who empowers me.

I am ready for anything and equal to anything through

him who infuses inner strength in me. That's a confident

way to look at the future. I can do anything.

I can handle whatever God allows in my life with

the strength of Christ. Now I know you're saying, Rick,

I don't feel very strong right now. In fact, I'm

feeling pretty weak right now. Write this down, very important,

write this down. The strength I need will come when

I need it. The strength I need will come when

I need it. God doesn't give me strength today for

a problem I'm gonna have next week. The Bible doesn't

say we're to pray, give us this day our weekly

bread or our monthly bread. It says, God, give me

my daily bread. I need just enough strength for today.

God's not gonna give you strength for tomorrow until it's tomorrow.

And God knows what you can handle. And he says,

I will support you in trouble and the strength I

need will come when I need it. God promises to

repay those who hurt me Oh baby, oh baby. Let's

just camp here for a moment, okay? God promises to

repay those who hurt me. And he doesn't want you

repaying him. He doesn't want you seeking retaliation. He says,

let me handle this. Have you noticed that the world

seems to be getting meaner? More hateful, more rude, more uncivil,

more unfair. You ever listen to the news or watch

the news and you go, man, that's just not fair.

You know, like on the other side of the world

right now, there are people living in total poverty simply

because they were born into that. And we get to

benefit from all the blessings here. Is that fair? Of

course it's not fair. And we say, well, it just

isn't fair. Well, you know what? The truth is life

is not fair. God never said that life is fair.

In fact, it's unfair because of the sin in the world.

Jesus came to make things right. And one day they

will be made right. But life is not fair right now.

Sometimes bad people win. Sometimes good people suffer. Sometimes the

innocent get hurt. Sometimes well-meaning people get abused. and are

betrayed and are cheated on and have their heart broken

and on and on and on. If you have been

discriminated against because of your race or culture or language

or gender, if you've been abused, if you have been harassed,

if you have been mistreated, As your pastor, as your shepherd,

that breaks my heart. I grieve for that and I'm sorry.

I really am, I'm sorry for your hurt. That's not fair,

it's just not fair. And we should do whatever we

can to correct injustice. But there's something even more important

than the way I feel about it. It's the way

God feels about it. It's the way God feels about it.

You need to know that God has seen every hurt

in your life and he grieves over it too. I

can't tell you how many times I've been asked by somebody,

where was God when your son died? And I say

he was the same place he was when his son died. Grieving.

Grieving over man's inhumanity to humanity. God looks down and

sees so much of what's happening in the world today

and it hurts and it grieves. And the Bible says

God grieves over and over and over. God has seen

every hurt in your life, every mean word, every mean action,

every injustice, abuse, prejudice, bias, or anything like that. You say, well,

why didn't he stop it then? Well, God could stop

all the evil in the world just like that, take

away our freedom to do it. But if he's gonna

be fair, he's not only gonna have to take away

other people's freedom, he's gonna have to take away yours too,

if we're gonna be just and fair. And the fact is,

you've hurt people. You haven't always done the right thing

to people. I've hurt people. Yes, God could get rid

of all the evil in the world instantly, just take

away our freedom to choose to not follow him. Take

away our freedom to say, I'm gonna do what I

think's best. That would instantly get rid of all the

evil in the world. So we can't blame God for

that because he's given us the freedom to make that choice.

God's never stopped me from hurting people, stopped you from

hurting people. But I do know this, God is keeping

a record. The Bible says very clearly that God is

keeping a record of all the ways you've been hurt

in life. Did you know that in Psalms, Psalm 56

verse eight, it says, God stores up your tears in

a bottle. You don't even know all the tears you've shared,

God does. says he's kept an accounting of how many

tears you've shed in your life. That's how much your good,

good father cares about you. And that kind of God

says this, Romans 12, 19. Here's the next promise. Never

avenge yourselves. In other words, don't retaliate. Don't try to

get revenge against the person who's hurt you. Never avenge yourselves.

Leave that to God, for he has said that he

will repay those who deserve it. Wow, now follow me

on this. God is a God of love. And because

God is love, that's why we all have love in

our lives. If God, if our creator wasn't loving, there

would be no love in the universe. God is the

source of all love. Because God is loving, as a

loving God, he is also a God of justice. God

is a just God, God is a fair God, he

is a righteous God, why? Because to allow evil to

hurt his children and not seek justice would be unloving.

Justice is sometimes the loving thing to do. And protection,

sometimes if somebody tried to hurt my wife or my

kids or my grandkids and I did nothing about it

and I didn't care about it, that's called being unloving.

Sometimes love fights. Sometimes love defends. Sometimes love fights for

the protection of other people. The Bible says, greater love

hath no man than this, that a man lay down

his life for his friends. The greatest compliment Jesus ever gave,

he gave to a Roman soldier. He said, I've never

seen great faith like in this.

Why?

The guy was given his life for a cause greater

than himself and for the protection of other people. So

God says this, Never avenge yourself, leave that to me,

for I've said that I will repay those who deserve this.

God says, the people who've hurt you in your life,

he says, trust me, I'll handle this. And I've got

more weapons than you do. And I can administer justice.

better than you can. And God says, I don't want

you wasting one second of your life on resentment and

retaliation and revenge and trying to get even because that's

just gonna fill you with the poison of bitterness. And

I don't want you to waste your precious life being bitter.

Some of you are still allowing people who hurt you

10 years ago to hurt you today because you're holding

on to the memory of it. That's dumb. That's just stupid.

They can't hurt you anymore. Your past is past. They

can't hurt you anymore. The only way they can hurt

you is you're holding on to the hurt. You won't

let it go. God says, I want you to let

it go. Not because they deserve it, because they don't.

You don't deserve forgiveness either. I don't. You let it

go because you go, I wanna get on with my life.

Some of you today need to go, I'm gonna trust

this promise that God's gonna settle the score. I'm gonna

stop trying to get even. And I think I've been

thinking that I was getting even by holding onto the

hurt because they haven't gotten judged for it. And so

I feel like I gotta hold onto it so I

can remember that somebody remembers how much they hurt me.

That's faulty logic. Justice delayed is not justice denied. The

Bible says there will be a day of reckoning. There

will be a day of accounting. There will be a

day of judgment. And God is very aware of what

people have done to you and he's gonna settle the

score one day. Do you trust him? If you do,

you'll let it go. Why? Because it's hurting you. It's

eating you alive. And today, to be the rest of

your life, for the first day of the rest of

your life, you need to just go, I'm not gonna

hold on to that hurt anymore, I'm letting it go.

And every time it comes up, I've let it go.

I forgive him, I let it go. God will settle

the score. Let me give you a fifth promise. Number five.

God promises to reward my service and generosity. God promises

to reward my service and generosity. Now part of God's

plan and purpose for your life is he wants you

to become like Jesus Christ. Jesus is the model of

perfect humanity. God wants us to grow up like Christ.

He wants us to think like Christ, to feel like Christ,

to love like Christ, to serve like Christ, to be

giving like Christ. Well, if God wants me to become

like Jesus, what is Jesus like? Well, in a word,

in one word, it's this word, unselfish. The whole goal

of life is learning how to become more and more Unselfish,

because to be unselfish is love. And God wants you

to be like him, God is love. So when you're born,

you are born as a baby, totally selfish. As a baby,

you're not thinking about anybody else. It's me, me, me, I, I, I,

I want it and I want it. Now, you can't,

nothing is more selfish than a brand new baby. Okay,

we coo and we oo and thank God they're cute,

but they're little selfish boogers, okay? All right? And as

only as they start growing up, they start learning how

to share, and they have to be taught how to share.

Because it's selfishness, it is my nature to only think

of me and not think about you. You don't think

about me. You don't get up in the morning and go, oh,

I wonder if Rick's okay today. Oh, you're getting up

and thinking, is that a pimple? You know? So God

wants us to become like Jesus. What is Jesus like? Well,

look up here on the screen. Mark 10, 45. I

did not come to earth, this is Jesus talking, I

didn't come to be served. I didn't come to live

for myself. I came to serve and to give. I

came to serve and to give my life for many.

There are two verbs in that, to serve and to give. Friends,

those two verbs describe the Christian life, serving and giving.

Those two words describe what it means to follow Christ,

to serve and to give. If you don't like serving

and you don't like giving, don't call yourself a Christian.

Because that's what it's all about. It's learning to be unselfish.

It's learning real love. And how do you spell love? G-I-V-E.

You can't, you can give without loving. You cannot love

without giving. You cannot love without serving. Love means I

make your problem my problem. Love means I serve your needs,

not my needs. Love can always wait to give. Lust

can never wait to get. Love is all about giving

and serving, giving and serving. That's real love. Lust is

all about getting and being served. And so we misunderstand

what love is all about. Now in heaven, we're all

gonna serve God joyfully. We're gonna enjoy it and do it.

And God puts you on earth first so you can

practice learning how to give and practice how to serve here,

so when you get to heaven, you're not a doofus.

You know how to give and you know how to serve. Now,

that's how we learn real love. But the truth is,

most people in the world today are living completely self-centered lives.

They're not thinking about how can I give to God

and to others. They're not thinking about how can I

serve God and others. God has wired the universe in

such a way that your life will never make sense

until you give it away. You're made by God and

you're made for God. And until you figure that out,

your life isn't gonna make sense. And God wired the

universe that we're rewarded when we do what he does.

God is a giving and serving God. He's loving and

serving and generous to a fault. Everything you have is

from the generosity of God. you learn to give your

life away and you learn to give your time away

and you learn to give your money away and you

learn to be a giver, not a taker in life,

that's when you begin to fully live. And life takes

on new meaning and new joy and new excitement. But

most of us, we make excuses that reveal our self-centered,

I don't have time to serve God. I don't have

time to serve others. My life's too busy with my stuff.

You wanna reconsider that? Do you think God created you

and put you on Earth just to live for yourself?

Let me say that again. Do you think God created

you and put you on Earth just to live for you? No.

If you're living for yourself, you don't have a big

enough God. Your God's too small. That's not reason enough

to get out of bed just for you. It's a

very puny, puny goal. God says, I wanna reward your

service and generosity because he wants us to become like them,

he rewards it in a great way. You know what

I love the most about this church? I travel all

around the world and I visit other churches. But there's

no church like Saddleback in two ways. Your spirit of

service and your spirit of generosity. I don't know a

more generous church and I don't know a more serving

church on the planet Over 20,000 people volunteer their time

every week at Saddleback Church at one of our campuses

to help over 500 ministries to the community. And in generosity,

no church has ever been as generous. We've given hundreds

of millions of dollars to help the poor and the

weak and the sick and the aged and the mentally

ill and the depressed and the addicts all around the world. No,

I can't name any church that's given more money to

the peace plan. Certainly, no people have spent more money themselves.

With 26,000 of our members having volunteered to go overseas

to 197 countries and serve people who needed help. That's

unheard of. Nobody even comes close to that. I wanna

just brag on you for a minute, okay? It's okay

for me to brag on you guys. And if you

are serving in a ministry, you're a small group leader,

or you're a children's worker, student worker, college, or weekend ministries,

or traffic, or help at the office, or volunteer work,

or peace plan, all of the 500 different ministries we

do in the community, I want you to stand up

right now and stay standing so we can applaud you, okay?

If you're involved in ministry right now, would you just

stand up? Whatever you do. Stay standing, okay? Stay standing

for a minute. Let me brag on you for a minute, okay?

Let me show you two verses about you. Look at

this verse. This verse is for you guys standing. God

is not unfair. He will not forget how hard you

have worked for him and how you have shown your

love for him by helping his people as you continue

to do. God is gonna reward you. I'm proud of you,

I'm grateful for you, but that's nothing compared to the

reward you're gonna get in heaven, and that reward in

heaven is gonna be based on what you did here

on earth. One day, we're all gonna stand before God,

God's gonna say, what did you do with what you

were given? Well, I made a lot of money, retired,

and died. Wrong answer. No, you're here for more than that.

Are you giving back in any way, in a volunteer way,

that you can't get repaid for? These people are doing that.

God says you're gonna reward it. And by the way,

same's true with your giving. Look at this verse, generosity.

Jesus said, use your worldly resources, that's money, to benefit others.

In other words, we don't spend all our money on us.

We give some of it away to help other people

and support the Lord's work. Make friends for eternity. When

we help spread the peace plan around the world, we're

making friends for eternity. In this way, your generosity stores

up a reward for you in heaven. You're gonna be rewarded.

No service, no reward in heaven. No service, no reward.

No generosity, no stored up in heaven. I'm not spending

it all here, I'm sending it on ahead. Thank you,

you guys can be seated. Thank you. Only one life

will soon be passed and only what's done for Christ

will last. I don't make any apology in saying that

maybe the most significant thing you do is serve God

at Saddleback Church and give and serve and be generous

and do all that, why? Because it's gonna outlast everything

else we're gonna do. It's gonna far outlast, what you

do here is gonna far outlast your career and a

lot of your hobbies and everything else. Can you imagine

getting to heaven? 50 years from today, somebody comes up

to you and says, I wanna thank you and you say,

thank me for what? I said, I don't even know you,

you don't know me. But you were one of the

pioneers of Saddleback Church back there in the early 21st century.

And you prayed, and you saved, and you gave, and

you served, and you sacrificed, and you helped build buildings

at that church, and you helped send people on peace plan,

and you volunteered, and you were generous, and you built

that church, and 40 years after you died, that church

reached me for Jesus Christ. I'm in heaven because of you, thanks.

You think that'll be worth it? Do you know anything

more important to do with your life? No. Then help

people come to know Christ, discover the purpose for life,

grow in their maturity, find their ministry and serve in

their mission in the world. Now here is the last

and the most important promise of all, number six. God

promises for my future to keep me saved until heaven.

He's gonna keep me saved until I get to heaven.

I don't have to keep myself saved, thank God.

Because if it were up to me to keep myself saved,

I'm in deep, deep weeds.

There's no way I could save myself. God says, it's

not up to you. Once you put your hand in

the hand of the man who stilled the waters You

may wanna let go, but he's not gonna let go.

And once you are saved, it is his job to

keep you saved no matter what happens in your future.

Three verses, three promises, and we'll close. John 10, 28.

Jesus said, I give them eternal life and they shall

never perish. It's a gift, he doesn't take it back.

They will never perish and no one can snatch them

out of my hand. When you put your hand in

God's hand, there are times you're gonna wanna let go.

One time I took my kids to the Grand Canyon

and my two boys were young and they were squirrely

and wiggly and I held onto their hands and we

walked up to the edge of the Grand Canyon and

they wanted to let go. There was no way I

was letting go of their hands. Not a chance because

as their father, I love them too much. And there

have been times in my life when I have put

my end, I put my end in God's hand a

long time ago. There's been times in my life when

I've gone, God, it's not convenient right now to be

a Christian, to be a follower of Jesus, to be

a disciple. And it would be more convenient. It's politically incorrect.

What I'm gonna have to do here will be unpopular.

I'd like to go to this party or whatever. And

I'd like to kind of let go for a little bit.

And God says, well, you might wanna let go of me,

but I'm not letting go of you. You are in

my hand and no man can snatch you out. I

had a person say to me one time, well, you

can't be snatched out of God's hand, but you can

jump out. And I said, how big do you think

God's hand is? You think it's so small you can

get to the edge of it? His hands is bigger

than the universe. You'll never get to the edge of

God's love. You'll never get to the end of God's love.

You'll never get to the end of him keeping you

safe and saved. Once you are born again, you can't

be unborn. Once your name is written in the eternal

book of life, it's written in indelible ink in the

blood of Christ, it can't be erased. Once I am saved,

I am always saved. That's good news. I don't know

what my future holds. I don't know how many years

I've got left. And I might lose everything. I might

lose my health. I might lose my wife. I might

lose my family. I might lose my mind. But I

am never losing my salvation. That's the good news. And

that means I can do all things through Christ who

strengthens me and I don't know what's coming and I

don't know how the world's gonna turn out, but that's

not my job. And the fact is, no matter what happens,

there's one thing I can count on. He'll always be

with me. He's never gonna stop loving me and he's

gonna keep me saved until I'm safely home in heaven.

That's good news. You say, what if I mess up

and I really sin and I deny Christ? Lots of

people have done that. Next verse, promise. 2 Timothy 2.13.

If we are faithless, he, God, will remain faithful for

he cannot disown himself. Thank you, God. I can be unfaithful,

but he's never gonna be unfaithful to me. That's how

much he loves me. Last verse, Philippians 1.6. Being confident

of this, that he who began a good work in

you will carry it on to completion until the day

of Christ Jesus. What God started in your life, he

is going to finish. God never leaves anything half finished.

As Ethel Waters said, God doesn't sponsor flops. So you

can be confident of this, that God who started something

in you is gonna finish it in you and you're

gonna make it to the finish line. So let's thank him,

let's bow our heads. And in this prayer, say, God,

I know you know all of my future. You already

know how it's gonna end. Tell that to God. God,

you already know how my life is gonna end. And God,

you know all the problems I'm gonna have. And you

know all the mistakes I'm gonna make. And you still

love me. And you have a good plan for my life.

And I'm saying today, I want the rest of my

life to be on your plan, not mine. I want

to live the rest of my life for you, not

for myself. For you, not for me. And so I

wanna thank you for these promises that you will never

leave me alone, you'll never abandon me. I'll never go

through anything in my future without you. And then say

this to God, God, thank you for your promise to

guide me when I'm confused. And thank you for your

promise to help me when I'm tempted. You know where

I'm tempted and you want me to win. You're on

my side. Thank you that you've promised to support me

when I'm troubled. When I don't know which way to turn,

you're gonna help me out, give me support. And Lord,

I even thank you that you've promised to repay those

who've hurt me. And so today, I'm gonna let it go.

I'm not gonna waste any more of my time and

life or energy on bitterness and resentment, on retaliation and revenge,

on holding on to the hurt. I'm letting it go.

I'm putting it all in your hands. I'm saying, I'm

trusting you for justice. Lord, thank you that you've promised

to reward my service to you and my generosity to

you and others. Every year for the rest of my life,

I wanna serve more and I wanna give more. I

wanna learn to be more generous every year and I

wanna be more of a servant every year. I don't

wanna be stuck at this same level of maturity. I

wanna grow every year in the rest of my life.

And most of all, I thank you that you've promised

to keep me saved until I get to heaven.