This is Pastor Rick's Daily Hope, the Bible teaching ministry of Pastor Rick Warren.
Today we continue in a series called Transformed. In these lessons, Rick
uncovers key principles found in God's Word that will completely transform our lives from the
inside out in every area including spiritual, physical, mental, emotional, relational,
financial, and vocational. Now, in just a few moments, we're
going to let you know how you can get your very own copy of Open
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to eight hundred six hundred five to find out more. Here's Pastor Rick Warren
with part two of a message called Facing Giants in Life and Work, Verses
eight to ten. It says this, each day Goliath would stand and shout
at the ranks of Israel's army. He would say, why do you come
out here and line up for battle? Choose one man to fight me,
and if he's able to kill me, we'll become your subjects. But if
I kill him, you'll become our subjects and serve us day after day.
Circle that day after day, Goliath taunted them, saying, this day I
defy the ranks of Israel. And when Saul, that's a king, and
Israelites heard this, everyone was deeply shaken and paralyzed with fear. Now,
notice the situation. They're all demoralized, they're gripped with anxiety, they're terrified,
they're traumatized. I feel hopeless. One translation says, they were so
frightened they couldn't do anything. Have you ever been in a situation where everybody
around you thought this is hopeless? Maybe you have been at work and then
you're off saying, hey, in this economy, nobody can grow anything.
We can't solve this problem. It's going down the tubes, and everybody around
you is saying it can't be done, it can't be done, it can't
be done. It's never gonna happen. It's never gonna happen. And they're
all discouraged, and they're all convincing each other because they're all filled with fear.
And they say there's nothing we can do about this problem. Let me
tell you something. Conventional wisdom is often wrong. It is often wrong.
Everybody there was wrong, it says there twice in that passage, Goliath challenged
the ranks of the Israeli army. Sometimes the solution has to come outside the
rank and file. What you need is a little kid from a village to
and go, we can do this. What you need is a fresh set
of eyes. Because the professionals were wrong. The crowd was wrong. Just
because everybody says it's so doesn't make it so. The crowd is often wrong.
Just because somebody says of the crowd says it's true, doesn't mean it's
true. And so somebody had to challenge the status quote. Now, why
had everybody given up? Why had they all gotten so discouraged from this one
giant? The answer is they were listening to the wrong voice. They were
listening to this guy every single day. Look at the next verse, verse
sixteen. For forty days, twice a day, morning and evening, the
Philistine giant loudly berated di Israeli or Israelite Army. Well, it's no wonder
they got discouraged. They're listening to this guy day after day after day after
day. Question, who are you listening to? Who are you listening to?
Who says it can't be done? Who is pooh poohing your dream,
putting down your dream, saying it won't ever happen, forget it? Who
is telling you that you're not the person to do it. You know,
if you listen to negative people long enough, you know what happens. You
get negative because it's highly contagious. Maybe one of the best things you should
do is stop listening to talk radio because it is negative, negative, negative,
negative, negative. And you know what, if you listen to negative,
you know what, You're gonna become a negative, bitter person. And
if you listen to people who are against, against, against, against,
every day of your likeness, what you end up being against everything. Negativity
is contagious, and so is fear, and so is discouragement. And if
you listen to somebody who said America is going to hell in a handbasket day
after day after day, pretty soon you start acting like it and you believe
in it now. Sometimes you just need a fresh voice. You need a
kid from the village with fresh eyes. Go this guy's nothing. We can
take him down. It's a slam dunk look. In the next verse,
verses twenty three and twenty four, as David talked with his brothers on the
front line, he saw Goliath start shouting his usual threats to Israel's army,
and when the army heard Goliath, they all ran away in terror. They
all ran away. Let me give you some advice. Don't hang out with
fearful people. Don't hang out with fearful people, because if you do,
you will become fearful. If you hang out with cowards, you become a
coward. You hang out with bitter people, you become bitter. You hang
out with angry people, you become angry. You hang out with negative people,
you become negative. It's highly contagious. The first barrier to your dream
is delay. Somebody's trying to hold you back. But the second barrier to
your dream, the second dream buster, is discouragement, because everybody around you
is telling you that life sucks and it can't be done and they're wrong.
They're wrong. Now there's a third dream buster, and I call it the
giant of disapproval. And David had to handle this one is he had to
be willing to face the disapproval of people around him in order to go after
his dream. And you will too. Now here's the problem. The reason
why most people don't ever go after their dream is they are afraid of disapproval.
They are afraid of rejection. In this case, David's own brother questioned
his motives. David's own brother questioned his motives and disapproved of David even going
after the giant. We want everybody to like us, I mean, we
really do want we want everybody to approve of everything we do. But if
you go after God's dream for your life, I'm guaranteeing you this, there
will be naysayers, there will be critics, there will be miss understanding,
there will be attacks, there will be people who are judging you for what
you do because they don't get it. And that is the disapproval giant.
In this case, David's own brother questions David's motivation, and he treats his
younger brother with disdain and disgust, and he demeans him, and he disregards
them, and he belittles him. In verse twenty eight and twenty nine,
notice this conversation between the older brother and the younger brother and David's there on
the front line, and he asks the soldiers, what's the reward for killing
this philistine and ending this disgraceful abuse? What's the reward? Now? When
David's older brother heard David and even ask this question, he burned with anger
at David and he said, now, listen to this conversation and see if
you can identify with it. David's older brother says, why are you here
anyway? Why aren't you taking care of your scrawny little flock of sheep,
You cocky little brat. I know how conceited you are. And David,
the younger brother, goes, now, what have I done? Can I
even ask a question? Do any of you vaguely relate to this conversation?
Yeah, it's called sibling rivalry, and it's happened in every single family because
the older brother and the younger brother, the people closest to you can't see
what you see. They can't imagine you accomplishing something that they've never imagined themselves.
They think they know who you are, but they don't know you like
God knows you, and so they come out with this demeaning, demoralizing disapproval.
You hear the family dynamics going on here. The sad truth is this,
sometimes it is your own family that doesn't want you to accomplish God's dream.
It may be envy, it may be jealousy. It maybe they think
they know you better than you do and they know your weaknesses, but they
don't know God's strength. It may be that they would be embarrassed. It
may be that they would resent you being successful and it would make them look
bad. I don't know really what it is, but sibling rivalry often leads
to resentment. Did you know that even Jesus had to deal with this?
You know, Jesus was born of a virgin marrying Joseph had that sex because
God was the father of Jesus. But the Bible tells us very clearly that
after Jesus was born, later on, Joseph and Mary had many kids.
In fact, we were given their names in the Bible. In fact,
Mary and the kids followed Jesus around during his b the street. Now,
what is interesting is that none of jesus half brothers our sisters accepted him as
Lord and savior until after the resurrection, and then they all became believers.
Because when your brothers died on the cross, and then three days later he's
walking around talking to you. That would make me a believer. But I
have to, you know, show a little grace to these guys, because
I wouldn't want to believe in my brother either. You know, if my
brother said, by the way, I'm God? Yeah, you and who
else? Okay? How would you like to have Jesus as your old brother?
Mister perfect? I mean, there's noise going on and the mother mom
walks in and Marry goes, what's going on in here? Kids? Well
Jesus did Now you guys know he didn't do it. Mom. He like
Jesus never lies. But ma, how would you like to have a brother
who was always right? That would be hard growing up in that family?
Okay? And so I can see every reason why they would not accept him
as the messiah until after his death and resurrection. But even Jesus had to
deal with this sibling rivalry because a brother or a sister will always say,
who do you think you are? When you have a dream. I'll never
forget. When this church, many years ago bought this piece of land one
hundred and twenty acres and saddle back was a much smaller church, at the
time, and the word got out of the community that this little church was
going to go buy one hundred and twenty acres in Orange County and said,
yeah, who else? And the word got out around this community those people
over there at saddle Back Church, who do they think they are? And
I remember having to address it in a service and I had to stand up
and say, folks, you've heard this room going around people saying who do
those people think they are? What kind of they think they're special or something?
And I had to say, that's not the question. That's the wrong
question. The question is not who do we think we are? The question
is who do we think God is. You let the size of your God
determine the size of your goal. And if you have a big God,
you better have some big goals because God doesn't give you pitily dreams. If
a dream is from God, how do you know if your dreams from God,
it's so big you're bound to fail unless God bails you out. The
dream will be so big you are guaranteed failure unless you totally depend on God
to see it happen. It's just outrageously enormous. It's a big dream from
a big God the wrong question the right questions. Who do we think God
is? Let the size of your God determine the size of your goal.
Now, listen, when God gives you a dream, and it's a dream
that other people are afraid to attempt, or afraid to accomplish, or afraid
to even step out and try. If you take that dream and you go
for it, you will be misjudged. You will be maligned, you will
be misinterpreted, and you will be misunderstood. That is the giant of disapproval.
And you have to decide what matters more to you, the approval of
other people or the approval of God. I decided a long time ago that
the approval of God is more important to me than the approval of other people.
And it's not my job. It's none of my business what you think
of me. It is my business what God thinks of me. You're listening
to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope Rip will be back in just a moment with the
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Now there's one other dreambuster. Oh, by the way, David did find
out what the reward would be. Did you know what the reward would be
for killing alive? It was three things. Number one, the king would
give you great wealth, or two, you got to marry the king's daughter.
And number three, this was the best of all. You were exempt
from taxes the rest of your life. Hello. Shoot, I would have
gone after you know, Goliath for that one. No taxes for the rest
of my life. Yeah, yeah, well that was the reward. But
then there's the fourth dream buster that David had to face, even before he
faced Caliath, and it is the giant of doubt. First there is delay,
Then there's discouragement, then there's disapproval, and then there's doubt. Am
I capable for this? Am I up to the task for this? Can
I actually do what God is asking me to do? And then there are
people all around you who tell you you can't. And in David's case,
the expert doubted his ability. Now, there was nobody who was a greater
expert on war than King Saul. But Gasaul had been in battle his entire
life. And when Saul King Saul, here's that this little kid is willing
to take on the giant who's paralyzed the nation. He invites David to come
see him at the palace. So David goes to say, King Sau,
seek King Saul, and here's the conversation, verse thirty two and thirty three.
David says to the king, don't worry about a thing. King.
David told the King, I'll fight this philistine. And by the way,
let me just stop right here. Confidence is God is often misinterpreted as cockiness
by other people. A lot of people might think a person is cocky when
they're just a person of faith. It's not that they think that they can
do it. It's that they know God can do it. That's confidence in
God, not cockiness. David says, don't worry about a thing, King,
I'll fight this philistine. Don't be ridiculous. Saul replied, there's no
way you can go against this philistine. You're only a boy, and he's
been a professional warrior all his life. Now that expert is saying you can't
do it, and there's enough to make you start doubting yourself. I will
say it about experts that I said about conventional wisdom. The experts are often
wrong. They're often wrong. I remember when I'm a Californian, but I
went to seminary in Texas. And when I went to seminary in Texas,
while I was there, God gave me a dream of moving to southern California,
to a city I'd never been in, and to start at church with
no money, no members, no building, and no support. And I'd
never been a senior pastor. And so I called up an expert on starting
churches in Texas. His name was Jeane, and I called him up and
I said, Hey, I'm thinking about graduating, going to southern California's starting
at church with no money, no members, no building, no support,
and I've never been a senior pastor. What do you think? And this,
Jane said, experts said, that's the dumbest idea I've ever heard.
He said, Rick, if you do that, you will never be heard
from again. Hmm. Twenty years later he called me back. He said
that was the dumbest advice I ever gave in my life. I was dead
wrong, dead dead wrong on that. Okay, Now, I remember when
I wrote Purpose Driven Life, I got a letter from the editor. I
framed it and said, this book will never work. Nobody's going to read
forty chapters. The experts are often very wrong, very very wrong. So
there's this doubt that comes. Now, how do you defeat these giants that
are keeping you from being the man God wants you to be. How do
you defeat these fears that are keeping you from being the woman God wants you
to be, to be a person of great faith with a great dream and
a great life work. How do you overcome those giants? You do the
very things that David did. Quickly, let me just give him to you.
The four things that David did to defeat these giants before he gets to
Goliath. Number one, I remember how God has helped me in the past.
That's the first thing you do to face the giants and to fulfill your
dream. Remember how God has helped me in the past. This is a
confidence builder. When I recall, when I recollect, when I remember ways
that God has helped me in the past, it gives me confidence for the
future. I say, remember those times I thought I'm going to make it,
but I did. And I remember that time I thought it was the
end, but it wasn't. And remember I thought it was at the bottom
and I was never going to climb out, but I did. And remember
when I thought it was all alone, but I wasn't. And you remember
how God has helped you in little times, and realize He's going to help
me in big times in the future. Because God never changes. God doesn't
love you one day and not another day. And if He helped you in
the past in little ways, he will willingly help you in the future in
big ways. You remember how God has helped you in the past. This
is what David did. Verse thirty six. David says when everybody tells him
it can't be done, he says, you know, in protecting my sheep
as a shepherd, I've killed both a lion and a bear. And the
Lord who delivered me from the teeth of that lion and the claws of that
bear will surely now deliver me from this philistine too. That's confidence. I
remember how God's helped me in the past. Number two, I use the
tools that God has given me. Now, I use the tools that God
has given me. Now. I don't wait for something I don't have.
I don't have enough money, I don't have enough education, I don't have
enough connections, I don't have enough opportunities. I don't have this or I
don't have that. No, you use the tools you've got right now.
This is Pastor Rick's Daily Hope. We're so thankful that you've chosen to spend
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