Speaker 1: This is Pastor Rick's Daily Hope, the audio broadcast ministry
Speaker 1: of Pastor Rick Warren. Today we continue with a series
Speaker 1: called how God Turns Setbacks into Comebacks. We're so glad
Speaker 1: that you've joined us today. Now, if you know someone
Speaker 1: who needs some encouragement right now, be sure to invite
Speaker 1: them with a text or a phone call to listen
Speaker 1: along with you. But first studies have shown the more
Speaker 1: grateful a person is, the happier they are. But it's
Speaker 1: not always easy to be thankful. That's why Pastor Rick
Speaker 1: developed the Power of Gratitude. It's a special interactive Bible
Speaker 1: study to help you grow your gratitude. You can find
Speaker 1: out more by going to Pastorick dot com while you
Speaker 1: listen to today's message. If you want, you can just
Speaker 1: text the word hope to eight hundred six hundred five
Speaker 1: thousand and four for more information. That's the word hope
Speaker 1: to eight hundred six hundred five thousand and four. Right now,
Speaker 1: here's Pastor Rick with part two of a message called
Speaker 1: when your Setback Seems Irreversible.
Speaker 2: Now, job Wood.
Speaker 3: He says this, when everything bad happened to him, I
Speaker 3: came naked from my mother's womb and I shall have
Speaker 3: nothing when I die. Now, let me just pause there.
Speaker 3: You know, I have three kids. I was there when
Speaker 3: they were all, you know, born, and they did come
Speaker 3: in with nothing. They none of them brought toys, none
Speaker 3: of them brought a portfolio, none of them had a briefcase.
Speaker 3: And so I know nobody comes into this world with something.
Speaker 3: You come in naked. And also I would say that
Speaker 3: I have done hundreds, maybe thousands of funerals and I've
Speaker 3: never seen a U hall parked on a gravesite. So
Speaker 3: in this passage, you come with nothing, you leave with nothing.
Speaker 3: That's true, he says, the Lord gave me everything I have,
Speaker 3: and it's his right to take anything away.
Speaker 2: Blessed be the name of the Lord.
Speaker 3: And it says in all of this, I want you
Speaker 3: to underline this Job did not sin by blaming God.
Speaker 3: You know, if you were to study the book of Job,
Speaker 3: you'd find that the main question of the book is
Speaker 3: will you love God and will you trust God no
Speaker 3: matter what happens? Why do you worship God? Why do
Speaker 3: you love God only when things go good? Or will
Speaker 3: you love God and serve God no matter what happens?
Speaker 3: For INDs, this is the ultimate test of your faith.
Speaker 3: Will you worship God even though everything's going wrong in
Speaker 3: your life? You see, you are not promised a perfect life.
Speaker 3: This is not heaven, this is earth, and so your
Speaker 3: faith will be tested and untested faith there is really
Speaker 3: no faith at all. And a lot of times things
Speaker 3: happen in your life. In fact, most of the times
Speaker 3: we don't have an explanation, and you're never going to
Speaker 3: get it an explanation.
Speaker 2: When bad things happen.
Speaker 3: There may be times you just have to say, I
Speaker 3: don't know, I don't get the big picture, but I
Speaker 3: trust that God is good. Life is not always good,
Speaker 3: but God is always good. And when I'm in the
Speaker 3: presence of God in eternity one day in heaven, then
Speaker 3: I'm going to fully understand it. Right now, my brain
Speaker 3: isn't big enough to comprehend it. How do you trust
Speaker 3: God when your heart is breaking? How do you put
Speaker 3: your eyes on God when they're filled with tears? Well,
Speaker 3: the antidote to bitterness is not to just say I
Speaker 3: don't want to be bitter. The antidote to bitterness is
Speaker 3: actually praise. It's worship. What is worship? It means focusing
Speaker 3: on God. Now, if you are sitting here today listening
Speaker 3: to me talk to you, and maybe you've never even
Speaker 3: been in church before. Maybe this is the first time
Speaker 3: you hear there's some things you need to know that
Speaker 3: he as Christians, no matter what happens in life, are
Speaker 3: thankful for Job talks about these things in his book.
Speaker 3: Here's some facts of life that I know are true
Speaker 3: no matter what happens to me. Number one, God will
Speaker 3: never stop loving me. That's a big deal. Number two,
Speaker 3: God has a plan for my life and your life.
Speaker 3: Number three, God cares about every detail of my life
Speaker 3: and your life. Number four God is in control of
Speaker 3: things even when I don't understand it. And number five
Speaker 3: God will protect me. Those are things that I can
Speaker 3: build my life on when I don't understand why things
Speaker 3: are happening in my life. God is here, God is near,
Speaker 3: God cares. God is powerful. God can change it. God
Speaker 3: has a plan, purpose, and He's going to use it
Speaker 3: all for good. You know, earlier I mentioned that guy
Speaker 3: named Hebakak, and I said that in the first those
Speaker 3: three chapters of that book, they're all about the question
Speaker 3: why why God? Well, look at this first one your
Speaker 3: outl and Habacco three seventeen and eighteen Here's what Tobacca
Speaker 3: did when he had a setback that looked like was irreversible.
Speaker 2: He says this, even though the fig leaves.
Speaker 3: Have no fruit, and even though no grapes grow on
Speaker 3: the vine, and even though the olive crop fails and
Speaker 3: the fields produce no grain, and even though the sheep
Speaker 3: all die and the cattle stalls are empty. What he's
Speaker 3: saying there, even though everything in my life is a disaster,
Speaker 3: he says this, I'll still be joyful and glad because
Speaker 3: the Lord God is my savior. What are you bitter
Speaker 3: about today? What is some bitterness that you've allowed to
Speaker 3: take root in your life? Said it earlier, Bitterness is
Speaker 3: a poison. Bitterness destroys. It will eat you alive. It's
Speaker 3: like a cancer that will take over your life. When
Speaker 3: you are bitter, it always hurt you more than it
Speaker 3: does the person you're bitter It problem with bitterness is
Speaker 3: it doesn't hurt anybody else. It only hurts you. You
Speaker 3: can be bitter and the person you're bitter at they
Speaker 3: don't even know it. They can be out having a party,
Speaker 3: eat the steak, celebrating, and it's destroying you. Now, if
Speaker 3: you're going to break through, the setback. To come back,
Speaker 3: you've got to tell God exactly how you feel. But
Speaker 3: then you've got to resist bitterness. And you need to
Speaker 3: realize two things. First, in an imperfect world, everything has
Speaker 3: been broken by sin, and there's always going to be
Speaker 3: plenty of disappointments to become bitter about. So don't be
Speaker 3: surprised at that, Jesus said, in the world, you will
Speaker 3: have tribulation and trials. But second, you need to remember
Speaker 3: that both bitterness. Listen, both bitterness and happiness are choices,
Speaker 3: and every moment of your life, you're always choosing one
Speaker 3: or the other. And if you choose to be bitter
Speaker 3: at the same moment, you're choosing to not be happy
Speaker 3: because you can't have both the same time in your
Speaker 3: heart and your mind. So my question is your pastor
Speaker 3: someone who loves you, is this which one do you want?
Speaker 3: Happiness or bitterness? Job said, the Lord gave me everything
Speaker 3: I've ever had, and if he allows it to be
Speaker 3: taken away, I'm still going to trust him because I
Speaker 3: wouldn't even exist if it wasn't for God. I refuse
Speaker 3: to be bitter because of the setback. Now here's the
Speaker 3: third step in trusting God. It's t ru This is
Speaker 3: the you uh in trust when you want to have
Speaker 3: a comeback from a setback that seems irreversible. The tea
Speaker 3: in trust tell God how I feel, the r refuse
Speaker 3: to be bitter, and the you in trust. Cross stick
Speaker 3: stands for unite with other people who will help me
Speaker 3: focus on God. Unite with people who will help me
Speaker 3: focus on God. Now I want you to get this
Speaker 3: is very important. For any comeback, You're going to need
Speaker 3: other people with faith to back you up. You're gonna
Speaker 3: need other people in your life who can actually believe
Speaker 3: God for you when your faith is shaky. This is
Speaker 3: why you must be in a small group of believers
Speaker 3: for regular fellowship. It's why I talk about the importance
Speaker 3: of a small group practically every other week. That's why
Speaker 3: this church is built on small groups. We have over
Speaker 3: seven thousand of these small groups. They will be your
Speaker 3: safety net when you're setback happens in your life and
Speaker 3: you cannot isolate yourself. Now, God never intends for you
Speaker 3: to go through life on your own. He never intends
Speaker 3: for you to go through grief or sorrow or tragedy
Speaker 3: or loss or difficulty or set back by yourself. He
Speaker 3: made us for each other. He wired human beings to
Speaker 3: need each other. We're better together, we're better in community.
Speaker 3: And the first thing God said to man when he
Speaker 3: created man is it's not good for men to be alone.
Speaker 3: Here's the problem when you have a setback, or I
Speaker 3: have a setback, when we're going through pain or suffering
Speaker 3: or sorrow or sadness or loss, the problem is our
Speaker 3: natural reaction to pain is to withdraw from others, to
Speaker 3: pull back. And we want to build a wall around ourselves.
Speaker 3: We want to build a shell, We want to put
Speaker 3: up barriers. We want to keep people in the distance.
Speaker 3: We don't want anybody close to us when we're in deep,
Speaker 3: deep pain.
Speaker 2: And God says, no, no, no, no no. That's the
Speaker 2: exact opposite of what you need to do.
Speaker 1: You're listening to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope. Rick will be
Speaker 1: back in just a moment with the rest of today's lesson.
Speaker 1: You can sign up for Pastor Rick's free email devotional
Speaker 1: at pastorick dot com. That's pastorick dot com.
Speaker 4: Did you know experts have discovered that gratitude is the
Speaker 4: healthiest human emotion. It makes you more resistant to stress
Speaker 4: and increases your overall happiness and satisfaction. In fact, study
Speaker 4: show the more grateful a person is, the happier they are.
Speaker 4: That's the power of gratitude. The Bible tells us to rejoice, always,
Speaker 4: pray continually, and give thanks in all circumstances, so it's
Speaker 4: clear that God wants us to develop an attitude of gratitude.
Speaker 4: But we all know it's not always easy to feel grateful.
Speaker 4: That's why Pastoric developed a Bible study called the Power
Speaker 4: of Gratitude. This innovative study is filled with scripture, teaching, exercises, quotes, prayers,
Speaker 4: and journal pages. As you go through the study, you'll
Speaker 4: discover the many and often unique things you have to
Speaker 4: be grateful for every day. You'll develop the lifelong habit
Speaker 4: of expressing gratitude to God, a habit that leads to
Speaker 4: true happiness and satisfaction. Will send you Pastor Rick's Power
Speaker 4: of Gratitude Bible study to say thanks when you give
Speaker 4: a gift, to help daily hope, take God's word to
Speaker 4: people around the world. Go to Pastorick dot com right
Speaker 4: now to get your copy, or you can call it
Speaker 4: eight hundred at six hundred five zero zero four. That's
Speaker 4: Pastorick dot com or call eight hundred six hundred at
Speaker 4: five zero zero four. Thank you so much for your support,
Speaker 4: and don't forget to let us know which radio station
Speaker 4: you heard us on.
Speaker 1: Now let's get back to today's lesson. Here on Pastor
Speaker 1: Rick's Daily Hope.
Speaker 3: When we're going through pain or suffering, or sorrow or
Speaker 3: sadness or loss, the problem is our natural reaction to
Speaker 3: pain is to withdraw from others, to pull back, and
Speaker 3: we want to build a wall around ourselves. We want
Speaker 3: to build a shell, we want to put up barriers.
Speaker 3: We want to keep people in the distance. We don't
Speaker 3: want anybody close to us when we're in deep, deep pain.
Speaker 3: And God says, no, no, no, no, that's the exact
Speaker 3: opposite of what you need to do. One of Job's
Speaker 3: friends gave this wise advice in job. Notice this that
Speaker 3: on your outline. His name was Elihu, and in Job
Speaker 3: thirty six he says to Job, Job, don't let your
Speaker 3: anger and the pain that you've endured make you sneer it. God,
Speaker 3: reputation and riches can't protect you from distress, nor can
Speaker 3: you find safety in the dark world below. He's talking
Speaker 3: about the occult. Don't turn to evil as a way
Speaker 3: of escape. But God's power is unlimited. Others have praised
Speaker 3: God for what he has done, So join with them.
Speaker 3: If you're taking notes, I want you to circle the
Speaker 3: phrase join with them, he says.
Speaker 2: Other people have praised God.
Speaker 3: Join with them. He said, that's how you're gonna make
Speaker 3: it to the next step. You got to unite with
Speaker 3: others who are gonna support you, encourage you, pray for you,
Speaker 3: be with you, will help you out. Now where do
Speaker 3: you find those kind of friends who will lift you
Speaker 3: up when you're down, Well, A couple places.
Speaker 2: First at weekend worship. It's where you are right now.
Speaker 3: That's why, by the way, for those of you who
Speaker 3: are watching online, I want to actually encourage you to
Speaker 3: come to a church service because there are about a
Speaker 3: dozen more benefits that you receive by actually going to
Speaker 3: a church service and participating with other people instead of
Speaker 3: just watching remotely. You don't get all those benefits just
Speaker 3: by watching remotely, he says. Join with others in worship.
Speaker 3: And then the second place that you find these kind
Speaker 3: of encouraging people is in a small group Bible study
Speaker 3: that meets on a weekly basis at a home or
Speaker 3: an office or dorm. Room, and you need a small
Speaker 3: group for your setbacks. I could give you dozens of
Speaker 3: examples from my own personal life about how my small
Speaker 3: group has helped me through setbacks. Now, Job's friend noticed
Speaker 3: in that he points out a couple of very important
Speaker 3: truths in what he says. First, he points out that
Speaker 3: pain is a great equalizer. In other words, disaster is
Speaker 3: impartial and suffering is random. It hits everybody. When you're
Speaker 3: in pain, your possessions in your position and your power
Speaker 3: are worthless. It doesn't matter how much money you've got.
Speaker 3: If you're going through a marriage crisis that's tearing your
Speaker 3: heart up, it still hurts. Reputation in riches, he says,
Speaker 3: can't protect you from stressful setbacks.
Speaker 2: It'll help.
Speaker 3: But then Job's friend gives two pieces a very wise advice,
Speaker 3: and this is what you need to do when you
Speaker 3: have a setback that seems you know, irreplaceable or you know, irretrievable,
Speaker 3: you can't come back from it. First, he says this,
Speaker 3: here's his first advice. Never use evil to escape pain.
Speaker 3: You know you don't. Don't try to avoid it with
Speaker 3: you know, doing or getting drunk or doing something foolish
Speaker 3: like having an affair. You know, a lot of people
Speaker 3: become self destructive when they're in pain. They know it's wrong,
Speaker 3: but still do it anyway, trying to relieve or escape
Speaker 3: their pain. The Bible says, you know what, You're only
Speaker 3: gonna make it worse, make the problem worse. So he said,
Speaker 3: don't run from it doing something stupid. Second, Job's friend says,
Speaker 3: a better alternative is to increase the amount of time
Speaker 3: you spend hanging out with God's people. He says, join
Speaker 3: with them. Get with God's people who praise God, who
Speaker 3: are focusing on God. That's what worship is. And he says,
Speaker 3: join with them. When you are needing a comeback, don't
Speaker 3: try to do it on your own. Get with people
Speaker 3: who are God's people who can build you up and
Speaker 3: encourage you to help you. Focus on God when your
Speaker 3: heart's breaking, when you're confused, when you're down, when you
Speaker 3: feel like you're about to lose it all or you
Speaker 3: have lost it all, don't turn from God. Turn to God.
Speaker 3: If you turn away from God, what's the alternative? Bitterness, despair, hopelessness.
Speaker 3: First Chronicle sixteen eleven says, go to the Lord for
Speaker 3: help and worship him. That means focus. Worship means focus
Speaker 3: on God's goodness. Life is not always good, I said that,
Speaker 3: but God is always good. Now, what should you ask
Speaker 3: for when you're talking to God about a comeback when
Speaker 3: you've had a big setback seems irreversible?
Speaker 2: Like job?
Speaker 3: Well, you ask God to do a couple things, and
Speaker 3: they're right here in this passage. You ask him for
Speaker 3: wisdom so you're gonna have a clearer perspective, and you
Speaker 3: ask God for strength because you're going to need both
Speaker 3: God's wisdom and God's strength for your comeback. You can't
Speaker 3: do it on your own. Job twelve, Verse thirteen says
Speaker 3: this true wisdom and real power belong to God. From
Speaker 3: him we learn how to live and also what to
Speaker 3: live for. You want to know how to live, you
Speaker 3: want to know what to live for. You're gonna need
Speaker 3: God's wisdom. Where do you get that from God? The
Speaker 3: second thing you ask God for is not just wisdom,
Speaker 3: but you ask him for strength. Verse Chronicles sixteen eleven
Speaker 3: There on your outline says this, go to the Lord
Speaker 3: for help and worship him. Do you know that worshiping
Speaker 3: God actually relaxes you? Studies have shown it actually slows
Speaker 3: your heart? Beat down lowers your blood pressure. People who
Speaker 3: go to church studies have shown this every week, Live longer.
Speaker 3: Psalm sixty nine, verse thirty two says this, those who
Speaker 3: worship God will be encouraged. Worship makes you wiser, Worship
Speaker 3: gives you strength. Worship relaxes you from stress. Worship encourages
Speaker 3: you because you remember that God is bigger than the
Speaker 3: problem and the set back you're facing. And no TV
Speaker 3: program can offer that. So to come back from a setback,
Speaker 3: especially one that needs to.
Speaker 2: Do, you need to do what David did.
Speaker 3: He went to church, He went to worship, and Psalm
Speaker 3: sixty three, David says this, here I am in the
Speaker 3: place of worship, eyes open, drinking in your strength and glory.
Speaker 3: That's what you do in worship. You put your eyes
Speaker 3: on God. Your problem gets smaller, God gets bigger, and
Speaker 3: you gain strength. You know, same thing happened over in
Speaker 3: Philippians Chapter one. In the Bible, Verse nineteen, Paul talks
Speaker 3: about the benefit of having people pray for you in
Speaker 3: a small group, and he says this to the Philippian Christians.
Speaker 3: Because you're praying for me and the Spirit of Christ
Speaker 3: is helping me. I know that this trouble will bring
Speaker 3: my freedom circle that word freedom. What is Paul saying here,
Speaker 3: He's saying that prayer is the path back to your comeback.
Speaker 3: Prayer is the path back to your comeback. So you
Speaker 3: want to join a small group where you've got people
Speaker 3: praying for you when you're going through tough times. Now,
Speaker 3: you know, here at Saddleback Church and our family, we
Speaker 3: pray specifically for people in pain in all of our
Speaker 3: seven thousand plus small groups. Sometimes we like to do
Speaker 3: it right here on the weekends in all of our
Speaker 3: campuses together as a large group.
Speaker 2: And I'd like to do that right now.
Speaker 3: So what I'd like everybody to do is just bow
Speaker 3: your head in all of our campuses if you valuer
Speaker 3: it for a minute. And if you're going through a
Speaker 3: time of grief, or you're going through a big conflict,
Speaker 3: or you've had a big loss, are you're feeling lonely,
Speaker 3: or you're dealing with chronic pain, whatever stress you might
Speaker 3: be facing right now, a health setback, a financial setback,
Speaker 3: or any kind of setback. I want to lead our
Speaker 3: entire Saddleback Church family in all of our four different
Speaker 3: continent to pray together for you right now and what
Speaker 3: I want to do as a statement of your.
Speaker 2: Faith with our heads bowed.
Speaker 3: No matter what campus you're at, if you are going
Speaker 3: through a major problem right now and you need prayer
Speaker 3: from your church family, I'm going to ask you to
Speaker 3: right now to just quietly stand with your head bowed.
Speaker 3: You don't have to say anything, just quietly stand with
Speaker 3: your head bowed as our entire church family prays together
Speaker 3: for you.
Speaker 2: Now.
Speaker 3: People are standing up in all of our campuses right now,
Speaker 3: and if you're sitting next to someone who stood up
Speaker 3: just now, you might want to just reach over and
Speaker 3: pat them on the back or grab their hand and
Speaker 3: squeeze their hand, just to say.
Speaker 2: We're with you.
Speaker 3: We're a family, we're in this together, and we're supporting you.
Speaker 3: Let's pray together as a church family for all of
Speaker 3: our brothers and sisters who are standing right now.
Speaker 1: You're listening to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope. We are so
Speaker 1: happy that you've chosen to study along with us today.
Speaker 1: If you'd like to receive hope and encouragement every day
Speaker 1: delivered right to your inbox, then sign up for ricks
Speaker 1: free daily devotional by going to Pastorick dot com. Right now,
Speaker 1: Rick will be back to close out our time today.
Speaker 1: But first, experts have discovered that an attitude of gratitude
Speaker 1: bolsters your health and happiness. So how do you practice
Speaker 1: daily gratitude even when life is tough. Here's Rick to
Speaker 1: tell you about a Bible study he's developed to help
Speaker 1: you practice daily gratitude.
Speaker 3: One of the things that God wants us to do,
Speaker 3: and he says it over and over scripture, is to
Speaker 3: practice gratitude. Did you know that gratitude is good for us?
Speaker 3: The Bible tells us in First Essalon Ins five eighteen,
Speaker 3: give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's.
Speaker 2: Will for you. In Christ Jesus.
Speaker 3: You want to know God's will is for you right now,
Speaker 3: Either that you learn gratitude in all circumstances, there's always
Speaker 3: something you can be thankful for. In fact, I've discovered,
Speaker 3: and I've read many reports that experts have told us
Speaker 3: that gratitude is the healthiest human emotion. Did you know
Speaker 3: that gratitude makes you more resistant distress? Did you know
Speaker 3: that gratitude makes you less susceptible to illness? Did you
Speaker 3: know that gratitude increases your overall happiness and satisfaction? That
Speaker 3: gratitude gives your life more meaning and significance. I don't
Speaker 3: know if you've ever noticed that the more grateful a
Speaker 3: person is, the happier they are. That's the power of gratitude.
Speaker 3: So I want you to live with the attitude of gratitude,
Speaker 3: the attitude of thankfulness. Now I've put together a brand
Speaker 3: new Bible study called the Power of Gratitude, and in
Speaker 3: it you'll find scriptures and teaching and exercises that'll help
Speaker 3: you develop the habit cultivate the habit of gratitude. You'll
Speaker 3: discover how to state in God's will, how to defeat discouragement,
Speaker 3: how to conquer complaining, how to reduce stress, and how
Speaker 3: to experience God's blessing through gratitude. Friends, I want to
Speaker 3: help you develop a deep and a profound attitude of gratitude.
Speaker 3: The world is craving people like this, and you will
Speaker 3: be able to experience all that God has for you.
Speaker 3: So today, when you partner with me by giving a gift,
Speaker 3: a financial gift to daily hope, to help us take
Speaker 3: the certain hope of Jesus to people all around the world,
Speaker 3: I'm going to have my team send you the Power
Speaker 3: of Gratitude. Bible study. I just want to say thanks
Speaker 3: to you. I want to be grateful for you. You
Speaker 3: know your support is essential for us taking the Daily
Speaker 3: Hope message of Jesus all around the world. So do
Speaker 3: that today. Send us a gift and let me send
Speaker 3: you a gift, and you'll be grateful and so will we.
Speaker 2: God bless you.
Speaker 1: Go to Pastorick dot com right now to get your copy,
Speaker 1: or you can just call eight hundred six hundred five
Speaker 1: thousand and four. That's Pastorick dot com. Or call eight
Speaker 1: hundred six hundred five thousand and four. Thanks so much
Speaker 1: for your support, and don't forget to let us know
Speaker 1: which radio station you hurt us on. Be sure to
Speaker 1: join us next time as we look into God's word
Speaker 1: for our daily hope. This program is sponsored by Pastor
Speaker 1: Rick's Daily Hope and your generous financial support.