How to Get Ready to Be Used By God — Part 2

Hey everyone. You know, Pastor Rick Warren often says that 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. And now, as we bring this series to an end, let's join Pastor Rick for the final part of a message called how to Get Ready to Be Used by God.

So distractions will keep you from being used by God. You have to simplify your life. Here's another one. This one's a little bit more painful. Debt, debt D E B T. I know so many people who were so in debt, they couldn't follow God's will if they wanted to because they're so over committed. They bought things they didn't need with money they didn't have to impress people they didn't even like. And as a result, they spend all their time hustling to pay the payments on all these things. Life is not about the acquisition of things. And I would say to you, you ought to set up a plan to get out of debt or at least reduce it as much as possible. Because when you're all in debt, you can't. You have to spend all your time working to pay off the debt. Now you didn't get in debt overnight, you're going to not get out of it overnight. You might set up a 10 year plan, say, you know, let's knock this thing off. I'm not talking about your mortgage in Orange County. Mortgages are an appreciating item in a very big way. But I'm talking about all that consumer debt that just takes up your time paying, paying it off. Life is not about things. And if God were to say, I want you to do this, you'd say, well, I can't do that, God, I've got to pay off all this debt first. And I would say, the better you can get that paid down, the more God can use you. Now we've got some action steps that can help you. We have books and all kinds of things that can help you get a grip on your finances. So you're saying, I'm going to get my health in, I'm gonna get my finances in balance, I'm gonna get my heart in balance. These are things that God says you need to do so I can make you more and more usable. Notice this verse Matthew 6:24. Jesus said this. No one can serve two masters. You cannot serve both God and money. You can't be always focusing on debt and focusing on serving God. Here's another verse on Proverbs 21 up here on the screen says this. The wise man saves for the future, but the foolish man spends whatever he gets. Are you saving anything? Are you putting any money away and saving? If you're not, you are overspending. You need to learn to live on less so you can put some money away. If it's all going right out the door, you are well overextended. God says the wise person is is putting some money away and saving it. Last week we talked about how everybody ought to start a peace savings account. So you start putting a little bit of money away every week so you could do your mission for God. I would encourage you to simplify your life so you're more available for God to use. Pastor Gerald's gonna talk about the next one.

This past week, I read what was called the world's shortest fairy tale. And it went like this. Once upon a time, a handsome young prince asked a beautiful young princess to marry him. She said no, he lived happily ever after. Now why do we like fairy tales? We like fairy tales because of the ending. They lived happily ever after. Well, if you want to live happily ever after, if you want the rest of your life here on Earth to be the best life on earth that you can have, step four is critical. Let's look at it together. Step four is to fortify my faith. I need to fortify my faith. Look at this verse up on the screen. Build yourselves up. And in your most holy faith. I want you to notice the first two words in that verse. Build and yourselves build means it takes work. Fortifying your faith is not going to come easily. You have to work at it. And then yourselves means nobody else is going to do it for you. If you're going to fortify your faith, it's up to you. You have to be the one to decide to do it and commit to do it.

Now.

Now look at the first verse on your outline. First Peter, chapter four, verse two. Strengthen yourselves so that you will live here on earth doing what God wants, not evil things people want. It is easy. It is so easy to get caught up in doing what everybody else wants you to do in life. And in the process, you miss out on what God wants you to do in life. Now, I'll make this guarantee. God's plan for your life is the best plan you'll ever find. In fact, what God wants for your life is better than you even want for your life. So it's clearly better than what anybody else could want for you. And so if you want to live on earth doing what God wants, you need to fortify your faith now for God to use you, for you to get in on his plan. You've got to grow up. You've just got to get stronger. Look at the next verse on your outline. First Timothy, chapter four. Spend your time and energy in the exercise of keeping spiritually fit. Now, there is a word in that verse that, if I'm completely honest, I hate. It's the word exercise. And when Pastor Rick was doing point two, I was sitting back there doing confession and commitment that I'm going to start doing exercise. Let me ask how many of you kind of wake up in the morning thinking, whoo, I get to exercise today. You are sick. Sick people. Actually, exercise is great. And we need both physical exercise and spiritual exercise. And I do know this about exercise. I want the most benefit I can get out of every minute I exercise, whether it's physical or spiritual. Let me give you just four habits that will fortify your faith. The first one is study the Bible. Study the Bible. Now there's another word that most of us love. You've come to church and you've been told to exercise and study.

Whoa.

It's kind of like being back in school and you get liver and broccoli on the same plate. You know, study and exercise. But we really do need to study and we need to study personally because we can't depend on somebody else's study to fortify our faith. We have to do it on our own. Look at this next verse. Second Timothy, chapter three, verses 16 and 17. All scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong and our lives. It straightens us out and teaches us to do what's right. It is God's way of preparing us in every way, fully equipped for every good thing God wants us to do. God's word is the get ready manual for life. If you want to get ready, you've got to study God's word. Number two. The second suggestion is read Christian books. Read some Christian books. If you don't know where to start, I would suggest the new york times best selling author rick warren's book called purpose driven life. That's called purpose driven keeping my job. Seriously great Christian book. And there are lots of Christian books so that you can Read them during the week and you can fortify your faith. Look at Proverbs, chapter 19, verse 8. Do yourself a favor and learn all you can. Well, you learn a lot more when you read number three. The suggestion Write out your testimony. Write out your testimony first Peter, chapter 3, verse 15 says, always be ready to answer everyone who asks you to explain about the hope that you have. And if you're going to give them an answer, you need to be able to give them your testimony. Just like nobody else can study for you, nobody else can tell your story, only you can tell it. That's because you're the expert at it. You know, there are four parts to any testimony, just four simple parts. You talk about. Here's what my life was like before I came to Christ. Here's how I realized I needed Christ into my life. I here's how I committed my life to Christ. And then the last and the most important part, where you spend the most time is, what's my life like now? What's my life like after having made a commitment to Christ? One more suggestion. Be faithful. Support your small group. I need to support my small group first. Thessalonians, chapter 5, verse 11 says, encourage one another and build each other up. I don't know of much that will fortify your faith like regular contact with your small group. My wife Tammy and I cherish our small group. Every week we look forward to our small group getting together and then the things that we do together outside of our small group. I want to encourage you to start engaging your small group to do a local peace project. You don't have to necessarily start out overseas, just do something locally, at least begin talking about it together. Weeks ago, when we did our 25th anniversary celebration and that tremendous time together, the LA Times covered the event along with a lot of other media. And in their coverage they printed a picture, a great picture of a woman being baptized. And I want you to hear Cindy's story about her small group and in fact how all of Saddleback Church just wrapped her family, her four kids on up in love. Would you welcome Cindy?

My parents gave me a strong foundation and took me to church my whole life. For the first several years that I attended Saddleback, I wasn't what you'd call a willing participant. It was not the kind of church I was used to. It was too large, too modern, and I refused to fill in the outlines. My husband went faithfully. My husband would faithfully take notes as I was past the time writing my grocery list and just doodling all over the page. Even though I knew the messages were useful, I had too much pride to admit that to my husband or myself. Over the years, my husband asked if I would join a small group or take a 101 class. I was resistant because I was afraid that everyone would know more than me. Although I grew up loving and praying to God, I really didn't have a close relationship with Him. I also didn't know that the bottom was about to fall out of my life. A year ago, my husband decided to end our marriage of 15 years. As you can imagine, I was devastated. After I got over the shock, I began to question myself, my life and my relationship with God. I was angry, scared, sad and confused. This wasn't the plan for my life. I thought God had deserted me. My eldest daughter, Alexa, had attended Breakout for several years and was in her second year of her junior high Bible study. She had two amazing leaders who constantly strengthened her faith and taught her how to rely on God. Alexa has the spiritual strength of a giant and she told me that God had not deserted me, that he was with me every second. Alexa told me I needed the support of a small group to get through this. I shared what I had been going through, my pending divorce, my fears for my children, and these ladies embraced me. Weekly, I would receive phone calls, emails and cards of prayer. Just when I felt like life was too overwhelming, one of these blessings would arrive as a Christmas surprise. The beautiful women in my small group presented my children and I with money and gift cards so that our children would be assured a wonderful Christmas. These ladies only knew me a few short months, but they treated me like family. Thursday mornings are the highlight of my week. These wonderful Christian ladies can never know how their words of faith have lifted me up and encouraged me. In the fall, my wonderful neighbors asked me to join a 40 day community group which eventually turned into a weekly Bible study. I began to see that I was not alone in my grief, but a community of believers were there for my family and I. I also joined a divorce care class with two of my friends, both in different stages of divorce. I learned that even though the Lord did not want divorce from my family, he still loved me and wanted to bless me. The divorce class assisted me in turning everything over to God, my children, my husband and my future. It's easy to say you have faith when everything in life is great. But the test is to trust in the Lord when you're at your lowest. I knew the Lord had a purpose for me and I had to walk by faith, not Sight. Over the several weeks of class, I began to learn how to deal with my loneliness, anger, fear and pain. I realized the Lord was making me stronger every day and I even began helping others in the group. In hearing other people's stories, I realized how much I had grown and how much I could offer in the way of support and encouragement. I felt maybe the Lord had a purpose for me. I have seen the Lord's blessings in every area of my life. Countless people touch my children's lives daily. These amazing relationships have made the difference in our lives. Wonderful Christian neighbors help me do repairs around my home. They move heavy boxes for me, entertain my children, and twice I've even removed a dead mouse from my yard because I wouldn't go outside. My children's Bible study leaders have been amazing. Each week they call to see how my children are doing. They send emails and offer assistance in any way. One night after breakout, my eldest son Nick, who's 10, brought a prayer rock home. He said he searched the entire basket to find the perfect rock. He handed it to me and it said, with God all things are possible. He hugged me and told me that everything would be okay and that's because of God. I decided as a family, we needed to find time for God. We now do daily devotionals in the car on the way to school and right before going to bed. We each take turns doing family prayer requests. There were days when nothing would seem to go right and I would pray to the Lord to say that I was doing the right thing for my children. One morning I woke up to my 2 year old Maya sitting on the sofa where I do my quiet time. She was reading her Bible to her two brothers and telling them the story of Noah. She had the whole story right. I saw the Lord's presence that morning and I knew my children were having a relationship with the Lord. My son Ryan learned in breakout to write prayer requests on note cards and memory verses and put them on the mirror in his room to memorize them. As a family, we began to write our favorite scriptures on note cards and tape them to outside of our glass shower door. Each time we shower we are learning a new verse and we share it with one another. I'm proud to say I've learned 15 so far, though I have taken more than 15 showers. She wanted me to tell you that as a teenager she was a little freaked out about that. I can see the Lord strengthening us individually and as a family. Several weeks ago, Pastor Rick said the two scariest words you can say to the Lord are use me. I laughed out loud and thought, how bad could it be? Now I know. I prayed for the Lord to use me in some way so I could show others that there was a purpose for them in their life. Since praying that, I've been had four opportunities to witness to someone. On each occasion, I was able to say my testimony to offer faith and support. A year ago, God to me was just a religion and someone I gave time to one hour each Sunday. Now I can't wait to attend my Bible studies, have quiet time with God, read my Bible, listen to worship music and read Christian books. I eagerly took the 101 and 201 classes and as you saw, I was baptized at Angel Stadium and I kind of embarrassed they took my picture because I was pushing everybody out of the way to get first in line. As I jumped out of the water, I thanked God for giving me a purpose. The first scripture I ever learned came from my daughter Alexa. Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord. Plans to prosper you and not harm you. Plans to give you hope in a future. This verse is a testimony to my life. Through a tragedy or crisis, the Lord can make amazing changes in someone's life. I've learned how to have a relationship with him, to be more like him, and to rely on him for everything. I may not know what the future holds for me and my children, but I do know I will never be alone on the journey. Thank you, Pastor Rick. Thank you Saddleback Church, and most importantly, thank you, God, for loving me and my family.

Cindy's story is a story that could be told over and over and over and over. And in this church, God uses ordinary people, normal people, in spite of our faults, our habits, our hurts, our hangups, the crises that come into our lives. If God only used perfect people, nothing would get done. Because there are no perfect people. And I'm sure, as Cindy said a year ago, she would never imagine that God would be using her in such a way.

And.

And you probably feel the same way. God could never use me. You're dead wrong. You are dead wrong. God wants to use you, but you have to get usable. You have to be willing to say, God, is there anything between me and you? Purify my heart, God. Do I need to get better shape so I have more energy to serve you? Do I need to simplify my life so I have more time to serve you? Do I need to fortify my faith so I have more strength spiritually to serve you? And then finally here's the fifth Step five is to apply what I already know. I purify, sanctify, simplify, fortify and apply what I already know to do. The Bible says this. Titus 3. Our people must learn to apply themselves to doing good deeds and helping others who have urgent needs so they won't be living idle, unproductive lives. God says, I want you to live a life of significance, a purpose driven life, a life of meaning. And how do you do that? By applying yourself to do good deeds and helping others who have urgent needs. He takes small steps. Look at the next verse, Isaiah 1. Learn to do good work for justice. Help the down and out, stand up for the homeless. Go to bat for the defenseless. God's vision for your life is both global and local. You need bifocal vision. And when we talk about God's vision for your life in the peace plan, it's not just something way over there in another country, it's something right here. It's not about location, it's about dedication. Look at this verse up here on the screen. The Bible says this Christ carried our sins in his body where? On the cross. So we would stop living for sin and start living for what's right. The Bible says Jesus Christ died on the cross so that everything we've ever done wrong can be forgiven and forgotten, wiped out. So we could start a brand new life and we could start living for the right things. All because of the cross. Now listen. Fulfilling your mission in life. God's vision, God's purposes for you is not about crossing the sea. It's about seeing the cross and realizing what he did for you. Here's God's promise. Look at the next verse. Stay true to what is right and God will bless you and use you to help others. That is a promise. God is looking for people to use. And God wants to use you in ways you have never, ever imagined. He wants to use you. That's why he made you. That's why you're alive. That's why your heart's beating. But you have to be usable. And you have to say, okay God, here I am through these steps. Now I wonder which of these five steps do you need to work on? You might put a check by it. Do you need to purify your heart? Need to get alone with God this week and say, God, what's between me and you? What's the barrier between. Why do you feel so distant? And you ask God to reveal to you any sins in your life and you confess them to God. You don't have to come to me. You don't have to go to a priest. You just go directly to God. Confess to God, it says, and he'll purify us. Maybe you need to sanctify your body. Maybe you're so tired you don't have any energy and you need to say, I need to work on getting my life in shape. I need to simplify my life. And there are some things I need to let go of and cut back on so that I have time for the things that are going to matter in light of eternity. I work on these distractions and debts that are holding me down. And then I need to fortify my faith like Pastor Gerald talked about, through reading and studying the Bible and Christian books and getting involved in your small group. All of these things that you can do, writing down your testimony. The key is to apply what you already know. Will you let God use you? Will you? Let's bow our heads. Number four, you can be used by God. You've got to get to know God through his son, Jesus Christ. If you've never opened your life to him, say this in your heart. Say, lord, I don't understand it all. But as much as I know how I open my life to you, Jesus Christ, I want to know you and I want to know your purposes for my life. I want to be used by you. So today I step across the line. I put my faith in you, Lord. I look out on these faces and I see what you want to do through this church, through ordinary people that you've brought here to use in an extraordinary way. And we know, just like Joshua told the people to get ready before they went into the promised land. You're telling us to get our hearts and our lives and our bodies and our schedules and everything ready so you can use us in wonderful and amazing ways. Help us to apply what we already know to do in Jesus name. Amen.

Hey, if you just prayed that prayer along with Rick to accept Jesus in your life, wow, Rick would love to hear about it. Please email rickastorrick.com and let him know about it. He'd love to send you free tools that will help you on your spiritual journey. And now, here's Rick with an important message.

Hi, everybody. You may not realize this, but today is National Giving Tuesday. You may have never even heard of this day or holiday, but it is the most important day of the year for people and ministries like Daily Hope who try to reach people all around the world and do good for people on this day. Your gift will matter more than any other day of the year. So if you've never been a regular giver of Daily Hope, would you consider giving something even just today? Here's the reason why. We have a generous supporter of Daily Hope who has said that they will match your Giving Tuesday gift today. There's a little urgency to this because if you give it tomorrow, it's not gonna be on the matching. But today is Giving Tuesday, National Giving Tuesday. Now, as I've said many, many times, I only want you to give if you feel led to give by God. If God tells you to give, give. If you don't, don't worry about it. And never give out of pressure. But giving out of pressure and giving out of urgency are two different things. And your gift will mean more today if you're able to do that. So can you take five minutes and go online and make a gift knowing that on this particular day, everything you give will be doubled. It will be met by a matching gift. Thanks so much. Thanks so much for your prayers. Thanks so much for listening. Thanks so much for your financial support. Thanks. Thanks so much for the letters that you write to me. I love reading these letters. I love hearing from you. And as I've said many, many times, you are the reason we do this.

Ministry Time is of the essence because, well, we'll lose any part of the Giving Tuesday grant that isn't matched by midnight tonight. So please act now by going to pastorrick.com that's pastorrick.com or you can just text the word hope to 70309. That's the word. Hope to 70309. 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.