Choosing Your Future — Part 2

Hey everybody. You know, Pastor Rick Warren often says you were made by God and for God. And until you understand that, well, life will never make sense. Thank you for joining us today on Pastor Rick's Daily Hope and in our series called God's Vision for the Rest of youf Life. Today, Rick will continue in his effort to help you discover the unique purpose and vision that the Lord has for your life. Right now. Here's Pastor Rick with part two of a message called Choosing youg Future.

You can go out and have your kicks, God's not gonna stop you. But you will have the kickbacks. You can go out and do whatever you want to. But then there are consequences. You see, you are free. God has given you free choice to make any choice you want. But you are not free from the consequences of those choices. So I can go out and I can have sex with as many people as I want, but if I get somebody pregnant or I get an std, that's a consequence I'm not free from. You are free to choose anything you wanna do. You are not free from the consequences. And the moment you make that choice, you are no longer free. So you better make good choices. Cause you can't choose choice and not choose the consequence. He says he chose to be mistreated due to short term pain for the long term gain of doing the right thing. That's interesting. In verse 23, God chooses Moses. When he's a baby. He said, that's the guy I'm gonna use. In verse 24, Moses had to choose God. God has chosen you. Have you chosen him? In verse 24 we see Moses refusing. And in verse 25 we see Moses choosing. The negative is followed by a positive. Before you make some resolutions, you may have to do some dissolutions. Refusing then choosing. Now the Christian life is not simply a matter of refusing. Some people think the Christian life is just all a bunch of nos, bunch of don't do things. You know, I don't shrink, I don't smoke, drink, smoke, cuss, chew, run around with girls that do. You know, if the Christian life just a matter, was a matter of a bunch of things, you didn't do that than anybody who's dead would qualify as a Christian. Cause they don't do anything. No, no, Christianity is not something you say, I refuse this, but I choose this. And the negative is always followed by a positive. It's followed by a positive. And notice in that. Did you notice earlier where it says when he had grown up he refused and he chose. He did the refusing and choosing when he had grown up. It's a mark of maturity, it's a mark of responsibility. Question. Where do you need to start accepting responsibility for your life? Who are you blaming for your unhappiness? Well, if I just had a different wife, really well, if I just hadn't grown up in the family, really well, if I could just get married, if we could just have a baby, if I just had a job. Who are you blaming? What are you blaming for your unhappiness? You are as happy as you choose to be. Cause happiness is a choice and so is being close to God. You're as close to God as you choose to be. If you're not close to God, guess who moved? God didn't move. God wants to be close to you. If you're not close to God right now, it's because you have chosen to not be close to God. You gotta make the choice. The fact is, he says when he had grown up, he refused and he chose. When are you gonna grow up spiritually? You cannot live off of somebody else's spiritual commitment. My parents loved Jesus Christ. So I grew up in a home where I was taught to love Jesus as a young boy. But if I were still living my life based on my parents commitment, we would be in deep doo doo right now. Because that's not enough commitment to get a grown man through life. At some point my parents faith had to either become my faith or not. You cannot depend on anybody else for your spiritual commitment. I can't tell you how many guys men I've talked to you. We were playing golf or you're surfing or shooting some hoops. And I talk to them and they say, well, you know, my wife is a committed Christian. And I go, and so what you think that's gonna give you some ticket into heaven? Cause your wife's a committed Christian? Of course not. You need to up and make your own commitment. I was on a plane the other day and a guy told me, he said, you know, I was talking about becoming a Christian and following Jesus. He goes, well, my uncle is a missionary. I said, yeah, you think that's gonna get you into heaven? Cause you got an uncle who's a missionary. It's a personal decision. It's like marriage. I could say to some of these kids who are on stage, I know you're married. They say, well how do you know that? Well, your parents are married, your grandparents are married, your great grandparents are married. You got an older brother who's married. So you're married. No, no, no, marriage is a personal decision, and so is faith in Christ. You can't depend on anybody else. When Moses had grown up, he started accepting responsibility for his own spiritual growth. Have you done that? Have you done that? You see, you can't blame anybody else for the direction of your life. If it sucks, it's because you're letting it suck. Now let me be real clear. We are products of our past, but we are not prisoners of our past. Yes, your past has influenced you, but it doesn't control you. Other people can hurt you and they will. I'm sorry. I'm really sorry. Other people can hurt you, they can harm you, and other people can scar you. But nobody can ruin your life except you. They don't have the power to ruin it because you have the power of choice. They can harm you, they can hurt you, they can scar you, but they cannot ruin you unless you allow them to do it. You accept responsibility and say, I'm gonna choose short term pain for long term gain. Now let me just. I know we've got young students in our services today, so let me just tell you this. You're gonna have pain in life either now or later. And you can either do the easy thing now, Easy life now, hard life later. Hard life now, easy life later. In other words, if I do the hard thing right now, and I put in the effort and the discipline to. To learn, to grow, to become strong, to mature, and I do the hard things now, later in life, I get to benefit from all of that. I right now, am benefiting from decisions I made in my 20s. And I'm benefiting from those financial decisions that I made in my 20s. To not spend more than I made, to save, to tithe, to honor God. All of those I'm benefiting from that many years later. Cause I was disciplined by. I did the hard thing first. Now if you're a teenager and you do the easy thing first, you're gonna do the hard thing later. And life will be hard the rest of your life. You can goof off in school and you cannot learn and you cannot grow, and you cannot accept responsibility and not grow up. And then the rest of your life, it will be hard. So it's either gonna be pain now or later. I suggest you get the pain out of the. There are a couple promises from God about pain. They're on your outline. First thing God says is, even the pain you go through, number one, it's gonna help you grow. Romans 5. We can have joy even in our troubles, because we know that These troubles produce patience, and patience produces character, and character produces hope. So I even know when I'm going through the short term pain, it's producing character in my life. And the second thing I know God promises is he's gonna reward me for the pain I go through in heaven. Next verse. Yet these present troubles that we're going through are quite small and they won't last very long. I mean, even if they lasted my entire Life, that's only 90 years compared to trillions of years in heaven. Yet they produce problems, are productive. They produce for us an immeasurably great glory that will circle this, last forever. We're gonna have eternity to celebrate short term pain for long term gain. Cause God's more interested in your character than your comfort. Why am I going through all these problems? God's more interested in your character than your comfort. And there's long term gain for the short term pain. The verse after that one we just read is verse 18. Look up here on the screen, Paul says, so we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. What is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. The problems that I'm looking at right now in my life, I can see my problems. Financial problems, relational problems, physical problems, emotional problems, mental problems. I can see those problems, but they're not gonna last. What's gonna last is the character I develop from going through them. What's gonna last is my trust in God that I'm going through. What's gonna last is the reward I get for putting my faith in Christ. When I'm going through the problems. So what do I do? The first thing I do is I say, I am gonna refuse to define, let myself be defined by other people. And second, I'm gonna choose short term gain for long term gain, short term pain for long term gain. That's what Moses did. Third thing Moses did third life, shaping resolution. I choose God's values, not the world's. I choose God's values for my life, not the world's values. This is what Moses did and this is why God used him. Hebrews 11:26. The next verse, Moses regarded. Now that word regarded means to evaluate. It means to consider. It means to weigh in the balance. He's making a value judgment. He's clarifying what matters most. Moses regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ. In other words, I'm gonna be treated like a slave. He regarded being disgraced for the sake of Christ as of greater value. That's a value judgment than the treasure of Egypt. He would have inherited all the treasure of Egypt as Pharaoh's grandson. Because he was why, Looking ahead to his reward. Long term gain. I'm not gonna have short term gain. I'm gonna have long term gain. Okay. He's making evaluate. He clarifies. What matters most. Let me ask you this question. What matters most in your life? What are the top 3, 4, 5 values in your life? Can you name them? Just like that. Bam, bam, bam, bam, bam. What are the most important values in your life? If you asked me, I would tell you real simply. Integrity, humility, generosity. Because I decided over 30 years ago that's what I wanted to build my life on. Integrity, humility, generosity. I'm not there, but that's what I wanna build my life on. Integrity, humility, generosity. Cause they're the antidotes of the three traps of leadership. Can you just name the three most important values in your life right now? If you can't, you certainly can't live by them. You're not living your values if you can't even name em. So you need to go home. And before you go, one more day into this year, you need to sit down and say, what's most important to me? What are the top values in my life? And you need to write them down. Until you clarify them, you can't live by em. Moses chose God's values over the world's values. Now, why is this so important? I'll tell you why. Here's a little secret. If you don't decide what's important in your life, other people are gonna decide it for you. And they're gonna push you into their mold, and you're gonna live their values, not yours. You gotta decide what's important to me and then live by those values, not live by other people's values. Now, Moses said, I'm not gonna live by the world's values. What are the world's values? Well, they're the same ones that the world has valued throughout history. Every single advertisement is built on one of the three values of the world. Passion, possession, position or sex, salary and status. Or lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, pride of life. They haven't changed in thousands and thousands of years. We see them in these three verses. In verse 24, we see the world values, popularity, power and prestige. In verse 25, we see the world. Values, pleasures, the pleasure of sin. Verse 26, values, possessions, the treasures of Egypt. Moses walks away from the very thing we spend our entire lives trying to get. We want the world's treasure. We Want the world's pleasure. And we want the world's measure of success. Moses walked away from it all. What will you say? I want to look good, I wanna feel good and I wanna have the goods. I wanna be famous, I wanna be rich and I wanna have fun. That's the world's value system. Pleasure, passion, position, popularity, possessions. It's ironic by Moses standards. He had it made in the Pharaoh's house. He would have all of these things. There would be nobody else wealthier in the world, nobody else more important. And he walks away from what we call the American dream. He walks away from what most people spend their entire lives trying to get. Why? Cause he knew it wouldn't last. The Bible says this on the screen. First John, chapter two. The world and everything that is in it that people desire is passing away. But those who do the will of God, live forever. That's long term gain. So the wise way to live is to live not by the world's value system, but by God's value system. What does God value? Well, these verses of Moses tell us the three things God values. You might write them down. Number one, God's purpose is more valuable than popularity. God's purpose. Doing God's purpose for your life is far more important for your life than being popular. Now, as Pharaoh's grandson, Moses is heir to the throne. He's a celebrity, He's a young playboy, he's the IT guy and he's famous. He's Pharaoh's grandson. Now let me tell you, as somebody who has had an experience with just a little bit of fame, fame doesn't last. And fame is worthless. Never invest one second of your life trying to be famous. Cause it doesn't last. Does anybody remember who was on the COVID of People magazine two weeks ago? No. Because that's how quick. One minute you're the hero and the next minute you're the zero. Do you remember when you were in high school how important it was for you to be popular? Do any of those people actually even care about you today? Doubtful. In fact, when you were on campus, you were trying to be the big man on campus or the beauty queen or whoever. You wanted to just be with the in crowd and you wanted to be popular. You could graduate from that high school, go back two years later, walk on the same campus. And people go, and who are you? That's how long it lasted. And you're trying to win the favor of people who don't even care about you. So never waste your time on popularity, on trying to Be famous. Because God's purpose. Doing God's purpose for your life is far more important than being popular. Number two, people are more valuable than pleasure. That's the second thing. Moses decides that freeing those slaves was far more important than living a life of luxury in Pharaoh's palace. Verse 25. And he trades a royal lifestyle in order to help the neediest of the needy slaves. This is why we're doing the peace plan to help people around the world who. Who are in poverty, who have disease, who have illiteracy, who are under oppression, who have AIDS orphans. You can't get more vulnerable than that. And the first 10 years of the peace plan, we said we're gonna go to every nation. And we did that. And now the second 10, over 17,000 of you went out and it was at personal expense to go help somebody else. And you valued. You valued people more than pleasure. The money you spent to go on a peace plan, you could have bought a widescreen TV with that, but you didn't. God took note of that. You valued people over pleasure and the things you could have done with that money just for pleasure. You help people. And now in this next 10 years, we're going to the remaining. It's now down to about 3,000 tribes who have no Christian, no church, and no Bible. And they're all small tribes around the world. And we're gonna go, and we're gonna take the peace plan to them, and many of you will go, and you're gonna sacrifice pleasure in order to go. Because these tribes, when you get there, I hate to tell you this, there's no Ritz Carlton there or Montage. They're not even a Holiday Inn where these tribes are. And people don't know. Why would you sacrifice money you could spend on your personal pleasure to go help somebody in some tribe in some distant country? Because people matter more than pleasure. And God's purpose is more valuable than popularity. Number three, peace of mind is more valuable than possessions. You could have a house stuffed full of possessions. And if there's antagonism and anger and disappointment and discouragement in the house, peace of mind is far more valuable than possessions. And where do you get peace of mind? From doing the will of God. You know, advertisements lie. Advertisements tell you that you can buy peace of mind. You can't. You can't. You know why people buy things? Cause it gives temporary happiness when you buy a new car or you buy an iPad or you get a new video game or something like that. You love that, and you feel happy for A while. But after a while it wears off. Why? Because people change and things don't. And so we get bored with things that don't change. That's why you have to redecorate. Cause that piece of art you just thought was so cool and so beautiful and brought you so much pleasure. And five years later you go, eh, can we do something else with this? Why? Because possessions don't give ultimate pleasure. And they certainly can't give you peace of mind. You can't buy it. Peace of mind comes from doing the will of God. Now again, Moses gave up what everybody else spends their life trying to get. Success, fame, power, money, in order to do God's will. Because people are more valuable than pleasure. And peace of mind's more valuable than possessions. And God's purpose is more valuable than popularity. And I'm gonna do short term pain for long term gain. Why? The Bible says there he was looking ahead to his reward. I want you to write this down. Vision sets values. Vision sets values. What you're looking at will determine what you value. And if you keep your eyes on Jesus, that's what you're going to value. If you keep your eyes in the catalog, that's what you're going to value.

Wow. Such an encouraging message from Rick. And you know what? I've got some great news for you today. Pastor Rick has pulled together 365 of his most popular devotionals and put them all together in a brand new book called Daily Hope devotional. 365 Days of Purpose, Peace and Promise. I know Pastor Rick has always said it's so important to start your day focused on God in this book. It's going to help you do just that. Every devotional has a Bible verse that leads you into God's Word. It has a teaching that explains God's message and shows you how to apply God's Word in your life so you can live the life that God created you to live. Now these devotionals provide a framework to start your day with God's Word. They will help you deepen your faith and grow closer to the Lord. And by beginning each day focused on God's promises, you'll be equipped to face any challenge with strength and peace. This devotional book is also a wonderful way to share God's love with others. So be sure and request your copy when you partner with Daily Hope to take the Word of God to a hurting world. To get this great resource, it's really easy. You just go to pastorrick.com to get your copy. That's pastorrick.com or just text the word hope to 70309 again the word hope to 70309 and thanks so much for your support. Your gift to Daily Hope means so much to us because it helps us share the hope of Jesus Christ to people all around the world. Be sure to join us next time as we look into God's Word for our Daily Hope. This program is sponsored by Pastor Rick's Daily Hope and your generous financial support.