This is Pastor Rick's Daily Hope, the audio broadcast ministry of Pastor Rick Warren.
Today we continue with our series called Doing Business with God. In this
series, Rick helps you understand why you work, what you should be working
for, and how God can use you in your workplace. Right now,
here's Pastor Rick with the final part of a message called making wise Decisions at
Work Number four. The fourth thing that Solomon tells us to do in the
Book of Proverbs is set a goal. Set a goal. When you're going
to make a decision, you need to set a faith goal that I'm going
to do such and such by such and such a date. Now, what
terms a dream into a goal? You set a date. When you put
a date on a dream, it becomes a goal. And a goal is
simply a statement of faith. A goal says I believe that God wants me
to do this by this time, and it's a statement of faith, and
it focused your attention, it sets your priorities. If you don't have a
goal, you're not the leader. Prior to seventeen twenty four says this.
An intelligent person aims at wise action, but a fool starts off in many
directions. A fool starts off at me, says you got to know your
goal. And so the fourth thing you do is you say, what is
my goal in making this decision? And you have a deadline. When I
moved here to the Saddleback Valley in January, I said we're going to start
services in twelve weeks, whether we're ready or not. That was my faith
goal. And why did I say we're going to start services in twelve weeks.
Well, I didn't want us to just stay as a small group.
I wanted to force us to Having a goal causes you to do more quicker.
But also twelve weeks was Easter, and I thought, if anybody comes
to church, what's the one Sunday they come to church. They may not
come back week number two, but at least I'll have some people to go
visit. So I set off and then and we set a goal of one
hundred and fifty people at our first service. And there were about fifteen of
us in a little Bible study at that time. And we hand addressed and
handstamped fifteen thousand letters the fifteen of us, and mailed them out ten days
before Easter. And we thought, if a half our percent response show up,
that's seventy five people. And if you got two people in family,
that's one hundred and fifty. So we said, our first goal is one
hundred and fifty people, and I'll never forget. On Easter Sunday at Laguna
Hill High School, two hundred and five people walked up that ramp for the
first service, a saddle back church, and Kay looked at me and I
said, this is going to work. And they breathed the big sigh of
relief. And I remember we had decided that a week earlier we were going
to try a trial run service. I said, I'm going to take the
fifteen of us down to Laguna Hill High School and we're going to I'm going
to preach to you, and We're going to practice the music and everything.
So next week when people show up and it makes it look like we know
what we're doing, so we at least have had one week practice. Some
people that letter that we sent out got it a week early, misread it,
got a week early, came a week early. We had sixty people
at the trial run. Five of them gave their lives to Christ that day.
I want to say, no, no, you can't get saved.
Till next week. Please come back later. This is just practice. You
cannot go to heaven right now. You got to wait one more week.
You know. The Bible says this in Proverbs for twenty five and twenty seven.
Look straight ahead. Let is talk about goal setting. Look straight ahead,
fix your eyes on what lies before you. Have you set a goal,
mark out a straight path for your feet. Then stick to the path
and stay safe. Don't get sidetracked. Now, when I started this church,
I didn't know how to do this. I didn't have any you know,
I wasn't a management expert. So I found a guy who lived up
in Anaheim, who had been a Pentagon planner for the US Pentagon, And
I said, would you help me? Here's my goal to start by Easter.
Will you help me lay out everything I need to do in the next
twelve weeks to get the church started. And he said sure. So he
sat on and he said, what do you need to do? And I
just told him he'd write it on a card. I tell him something we
need to write on a car. We think you something, Oh, oh,
we need to write that on a card. Then he got a big
piece of butcher papers about eight feet long, and we tape those down there
in order. We got to do that before we do that. We got
to do that before we do that. It's called a gant chart. And
we laid it all out and we had a goal, and I knew where
I was going, and we set a goal. This is the principle of
selection, and we said we got to do this by this date and this
by this date. Here's the question you ask on a major decision, what's
my goal and milestones? What's my goal and my milestones? That's the little
mini steps on the way to your big goal. All right, the Bible,
get the facts, ask for advice, then set a goal. Now,
the fifth thing that Solomon tells us to do in the Book of Proverbs,
if you've got a major decision to make, is this very important.
Count the cost. That's the fifth thing you got to do in a major
decision. Count the cost. This is the principle of evaluation. You figure
out in advance what the decision will cost. And you're going to need a
budget. And because every decision has a price, take and you have to
ask yourself what's it going to cost? In four areas, you might write
these things down, what's it going to cost in time, So just time
you write that down time. Question mark what's it going to cost in money?
Question mark time money. The third one is what's it going to cost
an energy? And the fourth one is what's it going to cost my family,
my relationships. You need to know what that cost is, and you've
got to count the cost Proverbs twenty twenty five. Solomon gives this wise advice.
It is foolish and rash to make a promise to the Lord before counting
the cost. Circle that counting the cost. He says, it's a trap.
It's a trap to decide without deliberating. It's a trap to promise without
pondering. It's a trap to make a decision without having counted the cost.
That's why when people come to saddle Back and I say, are you ready
to make that decision about giving your Christ? And they say no, I'm
not, I said, well, that's okay, And I always tell him
this, take the time to make the right decision. I'm never in a
hurry to push somebody to receive Christ. I say, take the time to
make the right decision, because I truly believe that they're intellectually honest, and
they take the time this genuine really consider the facts. It's the most logical,
rational, makes sense, beneficial decision you can make to get in harmony
with the creator who made me. I mean, I don't understand the logic
of being out of whack with my creator who made me. But I say,
take the time to make the right decision. So you got to deliberate
before deciding. You got to ponder before promising. And what I'm telling you
is, as your pastor, I'm giving you permission to tell people I'll get
back to you. It's okay to say I'll get back to you on a
decision. When a salesman or anybody else makes makes an ask of you.
If I make an ask of you, it's okay for you to say,
I'll get back to you, to ponder it, to decide on it,
to count the cost. Don't be pressured, because there is a law of
life that Proverbs and Ecclesiastes teach, and it's this, It's always easier to
get in than to get out. You know what I'm talking about. It's
always easier to get in than it is to get out. It's always is
it easier to get in debt than out of debt. Oh baby, oh
baby, Yeah. Is it easier to get into a relationship than out of
a relationship? Oh yeah. Is it easier to fill your schedule then fulfill
your schedule? Yeah, It's always easier to get in than to get out.
And so Jesus even said count the cost. He tells two stories.
Look at this verse in Luke, Jesus said, if you want to build
a tower, it's here on the screen. If you want to build a
tower, you must first sit down and figure out how much it will cost.
If you don't, you might not be able to finish it, and
people would ridicule you. And if a king is considering going to war,
he must first sit down and plan. He must count his ten thousand soldiers
and decide if they can defeat a king who is twenty thousand. Jesus even
himself is saying you need to count the cost. In following me, is
the cause worth the cost? So here's the question you want to ask when
you're making a major decision. After you've counted the cost, is it worth
it? That's the question. Is it worth it? Before I started saddleback
church, I had to count the cost of what it would be to me
in terms of time, money, energy, my family and everything else.
Anybody want to guess the first year budget of Saddleback Church, the entire budget.
This included all staff salaries. The entire budget of our church sixty thousand
dollars. That was the first year's budget. I knew that there would be
sacrifices to be made in the startup, but I had to ask is it
worth it? Oh? Yeah, Oh yeah, it's worth it knowing that
people are going to be in heaven for you eternity. Thousands and thousands.
Now people are going to be in heaven for eternity. Is it worth it?
Yes? So you count the costs and you ask is it worth it?
Number six? The sixth thing that Solomon says to say you need to
do is plan for problems. Plan for problems. Now you may not want
problems, but they sure want you. Okay, So you got to plan
for problems in any major decision. Everybody knows Murphy's law. If something can
go wrong, it will I saw a bumper stick the other day that said
Murphy was an optimist. I think that's true. If you can go wrong,
it will go wrong. Now, you can't ignore problems, as I
said, because they're not going to ignore you. You're going to face them.
So you've got to prepare. Now, how do you do that with
faith? Here's the key. Hope for the best while preparing for the worst.
That's what the Bible teaches. I hope for the best, but I
prepare for the worst. Because all sunshine and no rain makes the desert.
There are going to be storms that come in life. Jesus said, when
you have tribulation. He didn't say if you have. He said when you
have tribulation, when you have troubles, it's inevitable. And so just a
matter of time, problems are going to find you. So you hope for
the best, but you plan for the worst. And when I say plan
for the worst, I mean plan for problems. Let me tell you what
that doesn't mean. It doesn't mean you solve them in advance. Listen closely.
You cannot solve tomorrow's problems today. You have to solve them when you
face them, but you can prepare for them. You can't solve them today,
but you can prepare for them today. When you get there, God
will give you the energy to solve it. But you're going to face them.
Never confuse decision making when problem solving. Never confuse the decision making phase
with the problem solving phase in life. If you have to solve all the
problems for you ever make a decision, you're never going to make a decision
because some problems you can't solve till you get there. Nineteen sixty three,
John F. Kennedy stood up at Rice University and announced to the entire world,
We're going to the Moon by the end of this decade. When he
said that it was physically, technologically, and scientifically impossible, we couldn't do
it. We didn't have the technology. There's more technology in your cell phone
today than there was at NASA when they sent the guide to the Moon,
more computing power in your cell phone here if you got smart for it than
all of NASA had at that day. And you realize what they used to
get a guy out of the moon, and back then we didn't even have
that in nineteen sixty three. Leaders, make the decision, then solve the
problem. Don't confuse decision making phase with the problems. You make the decision
because it's the right thing to do, not because you can solve all the
problems. And then when you solve. When you get to the problems,
you solve them in the problem solving phase. So when I say plan for
problems before you make the decision, I'm not saying you got to solve them.
You're not going to. I mean when you made the decision to become
a parent, those of you who are parents, had you solved all the
problems with your kids first, no, of course not. You didn't even
know what the problems were, you wouldn't have had kids. God is so
gracious that he unrolls the scroll a little bit at a time, because if
he showed you the end, it's scared you spitless. And so God says,
make the decision and then solve the problem. But you plan for the
problems in preparation. Proverbs twenty three, verse three. Twenty two Verse three
says this, a sensible man watches for problems ahead and prepares circle that prepares
to meet them. In other words, you're looking ahead, I can see
that storm cloud coming. The simpleton never looks and suffers the consequences. So,
in the sixth step of biblical decision making, you ask two questions,
what could go wrong and what will happen if it does? What could go
wrong, and what will happen if it does. I'll never forget. In
two thousand and on the last day of nineteen ninety nine, when we decided
to have a millennial celebration party at Saddleback many of you remember that we close
this back parking lot and we set up a giant stage about the size of
woodstock and and we planned a great evening that was going to start at like
seven o'clock and go to after midnight with fireworks to bring in the new millennium.
It was the coldest night in thirty years at Saddleback Valley. It froze,
it rained, sleep came down. We had a backup plan that people
who were too cold could come in here, and we actually had a secondary
place where people could come inside. Most of the people actually braved the weather
and sat out there. We're going to have fun if it kills us.
And we were under our rain tents as it's pouring down rain and fortunately nobody
got electrocuted. And that night I baptized about fifty people in a big hot
swimming pool out there. I was so glad. You get in that hot
pool at midnight, had to be in cold for five hours. But we
had a backup plan, and people who couldn't handle e cold could come in
here and they could watch it on the screens and stuff like that. So
you plan for the worst. What could get wrong? What will happen if
it does? Number seven, The seventh step in biblical decision making is face
my fears. I must face my fears, and this is the principle of
confrontation. I've got to confront my own inner fears if I'm going to make
a major decision. Because the root of all indecision, the root of all
indecision, the root of all indecision is fear. Fear, fear, false
evidence appearing real. And we all have all different kinds of fears. I'm
afraid that I will make mistakes and embarrass myself. You will, but it
won't kill you. It won't kill you. I'm afraid that I won't be
able to finish what I'm started. I'm afraid I'm not good enough. All
of these fears start pouring in you. Will you face your fears now?
Since we hate to face our fears, what we do is we make up
all excuses. God came to Moses, said Moses, I got a big
plan for your life, and Moses said, I can't speak well. Lord.
God came to Gideon and said, Gideon, I got a big plan
for your life. Gideon said, I'm too young. Lord, I'm the
youngest kid in the family, in the poorest family, in the smallest tribe
of Israel. You picked the wrong guy. God came to Abraham, said
I got a great plan for your life. Abraham said, I'm too old.
One was too young, one was too old. We all make excuses,
but you got to remember this verse on the screen Ecclesiastes eleven to four.
Oh, it's not on the screen, you know it. If you
wait for perfect conditions, you'll never get anything done. We looked at it
last week. If you wait for perfect conditions, you'll never get anything done.
Now. One of the great fears that everybody has that tends to keep
us not making decisions is the fear of disapproval Proverbs twenty nine to twenty five.
On your outline, fear of man is a dangerous trap. But to
trust in God means safely. In other words, the moment I start worrying
about what other people think, it's over for me. The party's over.
I'm dead in the water. It's done because disapproval, that fear is actually
worse than disapproval. The fear of disapproval is always worse than disapproval. So
here's what you need to ask, what am I afraid of? When you
have a major decision and you're pausing and you're hesitant, you need to identify
the fear, face it and confront it. You need to face your fear
head on. The Only way to defeat a fear is to face it and
move against it in faith. That's the antecdote fear. A lot of times
we think, well, if I just ignore it, it'll go away.
It won't go away. That fear won't go away if you ignore it.
A lot of times we think we can talk ourselves out of a fear.
I'm not fearful, I'm not fearful. That doesn't work, Okay, you
can't. You know, fear has always got more excuses. How do I
get rid of a fear? Fly? One way to get rid of a
fear, face it and move against it, physically, move against you,
do the thing you fear the most, and all of a sudden boom,
the Boogeyman wasn't as big as you thought it was you open that closet door
and the boogeyman wasn't even there? What am I afraid of? Now?
The only antidote fear is faith, and that brings us to the last step.
Step eight is this step out in faith. Step out in faith.
This is the principle of initiation. Initiation. At some point, you got
to pull the trigger. You got to stop aiming, you pull the trigger.
Step out in faith. Romans eight thirty one says, if God is
for us, who can be against us? You got to trust God and
start moving. You got to do the thing you fear the most. So
you say, well, what do you do if you don't have faith?
When I don't have faith, I act like I do and I do it
any Let me say that again. When you don't have the faith to do
something, you act like you've got the faith and you do it anyway,
and guess what the faith will show up. Courage, you know this is
not the absence of fear. Courage is moving ahead in spite of your fear.
You're not courageous unless you're afraid. At the same time, if you're
not afraid, you're not courageous. If you're not afraid, you don't need
courage. Courage comes because you're scared to death, but you happen to believe
this is what God wants me to do, So I'm going to do it
even though I'm scared to death. Probabs three five and six says this,
Trust the Lord. Trust the Lord with all your heart. Trust the Lord
with all your heart, and don't depend on your own understanding. Remember the
Lord in all you do and will give you success. Circle that. Trust
the Lord with all your heart. Don't depend on your own understanding, your
own fears, your own weaknesses, your own perspective. Remember the Lord in
all you do, and he will give you success. You see, God
supports those who move in faith. I have seen that thousands of times in
my life. Thousands of times in my life. God supports those who move
in faith. So here's the question you want to ask, where do I
need to trust God? You haven't really believed God until you've attempted something you
can't do in your own power. Sometimes you feel so weak. You're physically
weak, you're emotionally weak, you're mentally weak. You are drained. Friends,
I can't tell you how many sermons I've preached in that condition. Physically,
emotionally, mentally drained everything coming at me from this way and that way.
I can't tell you how many sermons I've preached like that. God supports
those who move in faith. Where do I need to trust God? Now?
I don't know what decision you need to make this weekend, but I
want to dare you to do something significant with your life. Why is this
important? Why did I spend a whole week in teaching you about how to
make whyse decisions? Because your decisions determine your destiny. Your choices determine your
character. They determine your eternity. Your decisions determine your destiny. We become
whatever we are committed to. That's power. Heads. Where do you need
to trust God? If you've never opened your life to Jesus Christ, that's
the starting point. You need to say, Jesus Christ, I need to
make a first time commitment to you. I've never stepped across the line,
and I don't understand it all, and I haven't figured out all the problems.
But I'm going to step out in faith and I'm going to open my
life to you. You need to just tell him, say yes, Jesus,
that's me today, I'm stepping across the line. I don't understand it
all, but I'm stepping across the line. I am stepping out in faith.
I want you in my life, and I want my life to be
living your purpose for me. Thank you for dying on the cross for me.
If you've never been baptized, that's the next step you need to do.
You need to publicly come out as a Christian, say I'm not ashamed
to be a follower of Jesus. Maybe you were baptized like a lot of
us were as babies. I'm talking about as a Jesus was thirty years old
when he was baptized. He was dedicated in the temples of baby, but
he was baptized as an adult because it was his faith now, not his
parents. Maybe you need to say, Jesus Christ, I don't know what
you want me to do with my life, but I'm saying yes in advance.
If you're not in a small group, that would be a next step,
a baby step. I'm going to get in a small group. I
don't know. I don't really know, but I do know this. There's
a next step for you. God didn't bring you here tonight or today just
to say this and have you not do anything about it. Pray this prayer
in your heart. Dear God. I want to follow these steps for the
rest of my life. And when I have a major decision to make.
First, I want to check the Bible and know your revelation. Then I
want to do the best I can to get the facts and get the information.
And then Father, I I want to ask for advice and get the
consultation. Help me to be humble and look to people who've already been where
I am headed. I want to set a goal. I want to count
the cost. Help me to plan for the problems, what could go wrong,
and plan for that. Most of all, Lord, I need you
to help me face my fears, confrontation, to move against the thing that
I fear the most. Tonight, today, this week, this month,
I want to step out in faith and trust you. I want to be
a man or a woman of courage to do the thing that I fear the
most. I pray you'll give me the power to do it in Jesus' name.
Amen. Hi, everybody, this is Rick and I hope you enjoyed
today's broadcast. You know, if you just prayed that prayer for the very
first time, or you just recommitted your life to Jesus again today, would
you let me know about it. There's something real about sharing your commitment.
So write me Rick at pastor Rick dot com and say, Rick, I
prayed that prayer of commitment, I gave my life to Christ. And I'll
send you some material that will help you on your journey with Jesus. And
I'll also pray for you. God bless you. That was Pastor Rick Warren
with his current series Doing Business with God. Right now, here's Pastor Rick
with a letter from one of our listeners friends. Today, I want to
tell you about a guy named Chris. I found out that he shares daily
Hope with his family and his friends and his coworkers as often as he can,
and then he has seen a ripple effect as they all shared daily Hope
with other people. Let me read you a portion of what he wrote to
me, Pastor Rick, I first encountered daily Hope when a coworker forwarded the
daily devotional to me years ago. My friend was sending the devotionals each morning
to an email list of about fifteen or twenty people. By the way,
that's a good idea. For you to do too. And when my friend
retired from our company, he passed along the email group list and I continued
the tradition of sending the devotionals each morning. That email group grew to about
thirty five or forty people. Now. I recently retired, so I passed
the email group to another coworker in order that they can continue the ministry.
Each morning, I wake up, Pastor Rick, and I come to my
quiet place just to listen and to journal your messages for the day. Now,
depending on what the message is all about, I often forwarded to many
individuals for them to enjoy or to ply it in their own personal life and
faith journey. Entire family now listens to you and Daily Hope ministry, and
it spreads all over through them as they forward it to people in their circles
of influence. I can't thank you enough, Rick, for all that you've
done in my life and to strengthen and grow my faith in Christ. Daily
Hope without a doubt has changed the way that I approach every new day.
You know, Chris, all I say is wow. I love how you
are exponentially sharing Daily Hope with your coworkers and with your family. You know
you're actually an evangelist. You are partnering in God's eyes with me to help
spread the good news of the Gospel. And the good news is too good
to keep to ourselves. We have to share it now. Anybody can do
this. Anybody can do this, and it's an easy way to give other
people hope through deepening their faith. So if you don't know what to say,
just forward on some of the things you've heard me say and God will
use you to make a difference in people's lives. To share this broadcast,
go to pastorick dot com. That's pastorick dot com. 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