Speaker 1: Welcome back to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope, And if you're
Speaker 1: brand new with us, we're so glad that you found us.
Speaker 1: You know, every day we dive into Pastor Rick Warren's teaching,
Speaker 1: and today we're beginning a new series called Shape to
Speaker 1: make a Difference. Rick likes to use acrostics, and this
Speaker 1: one is called Shape Shape your spiritual gifts, your heart,
Speaker 1: your abilities, personality, and experiences. Rick uses that to talk
Speaker 1: about the way that God has wired you. And while
Speaker 1: it's good to know your shape, it's more important to
Speaker 1: use it to do the things that God has made
Speaker 1: you to do. So let's jump right in. Here's Pastor
Speaker 1: Rick with part one of a message called why God
Speaker 1: shaped you the way He did.
Speaker 2: Everything in this world God made, and nothing's a copy.
Speaker 2: Every tree is different, every plant is different, every animal
Speaker 2: is different. Certainly every human being is different. There's no
Speaker 2: boy like you in the entire world. And you don't
Speaker 2: have to realize that God has done almost creative overkill
Speaker 2: in that he never makes copies of anything. Even twins
Speaker 2: aren't exactly alike. That God makes everything an original. Now
Speaker 2: did you know that, for instance, in one cubic foot
Speaker 2: of snow, there are eighteen million snowflakes, and in those
Speaker 2: eighteen million snowflakes, not one of them is like any
Speaker 2: of the other eighteen million. That's creative overkill, Okay, God,
Speaker 2: nobody will ever even know that except a scientist. Every
Speaker 2: snowflake is different. Now, God could have made us all alike.
Speaker 2: He could have just had a conveyor belt mass produced
Speaker 2: human beings. Put us all on a belt, and we
Speaker 2: all look the same, talk the same, speak the same
Speaker 2: have the same color, have the same hair. And but
Speaker 2: God didn't want to do that. Why Because an original
Speaker 2: is always worth more than a copy. And you are
Speaker 2: worth far more as an original than you are as
Speaker 2: a copy of somebody else. And God says you are valuable.
Speaker 2: God created you, Jesus died for you. God's spirit lives
Speaker 2: in you. That's how much you matter to God. Now,
Speaker 2: the Bible is very clear that God specifically shapes every
Speaker 2: human being to his customized standards. And there's nobody like
Speaker 2: you in the entire world. You are unique. You're not
Speaker 2: one in a million, you're one in six billion. And
Speaker 2: God does this, as I said, because he wants everything
Speaker 2: to be an original. And he did this from the
Speaker 2: very first with the very first man, Adam and his
Speaker 2: wife Eve. They're on your outline if you'll pull it out.
Speaker 2: We're starting a new series and we're talking the night
Speaker 2: about why God shaped you the way he did. And
Speaker 2: in Genesis too, it says this God shaped man from
Speaker 2: the soil of the ground, and he blew the breath
Speaker 2: of life into his nostrils, and man became a living being.
Speaker 2: And I want you to circle the word shaped, because
Speaker 2: this word is found all through the Bible. God says
Speaker 2: that he customed shaped you, and there's nobody else shaped
Speaker 2: exactly like you. In fact, let's read the next verse together.
Speaker 2: You made my whole being. You formed me in my
Speaker 2: mother's body. I praise you because you made me in
Speaker 2: an amazing and wonderful way. You saw my bones being
Speaker 2: formed as I took shape in my mother's body when
Speaker 2: I was put together. There, you saw my body as
Speaker 2: it was formed. All the day's planned for me were
Speaker 2: written in your book before I was one day old.
Speaker 2: Now there's some verbs there I've underlined, but I think
Speaker 2: you ought to circle them because I want you to
Speaker 2: see what God did for you before you were even born.
Speaker 2: The Bible says you made me. Circle that word made
Speaker 2: you formed me in my mother's body, circle formed. You
Speaker 2: saw my bones being formed. In other words, inside your
Speaker 2: mother's womb. As I took shape, you shaped me where
Speaker 2: I was put together. God put you together. Circle that
Speaker 2: all the days were planned for me. God planned you
Speaker 2: every day of your life. He planned in advance before
Speaker 2: I was one day old. Now notice this, It says
Speaker 2: God made me, God formed me, God saw me, God
Speaker 2: shaped me, God put me together, and God planned every
Speaker 2: day of my life before I was even born. Now, friends,
Speaker 2: that is why abortion is wrong, because abortion short circuits
Speaker 2: a human being that God had planned for creation. And
Speaker 2: the Bible says all these things. He says, I formed you,
Speaker 2: I thought you up before you were even created or conceived.
Speaker 2: Now you've heard me say this many times. There are
Speaker 2: accidental parents, but there are no accidental children. You are
Speaker 2: not an accident. There are illegitimate parents, but there are
Speaker 2: no illegitimate children. Your parents may not have planned you,
Speaker 2: but God did. And it doesn't really matter whether your
Speaker 2: parents were good or bad or indifferent, or maybe you
Speaker 2: never even knew them, or maybe you were orphaned, or
Speaker 2: maybe your father mother your father died before you were born,
Speaker 2: or you lost your mother somehow and you really got
Speaker 2: to know them. It doesn't matter. Yes, it matters, but
Speaker 2: it doesn't matter in the fact that God chose them
Speaker 2: to be your parents. Why because God knew they had
Speaker 2: exactly the right DNA to create you. And God was
Speaker 2: more interested in creating you than he was in their
Speaker 2: parenting skills. Does that make sense? God was more interested
Speaker 2: in making you, and they had just the right DNA
Speaker 2: that any other two people on the planet wouldn't have
Speaker 2: had to create the way He wanted to create you.
Speaker 2: And you are not an accident. Now these truths. Look
Speaker 2: at the next verse. It says, your hands formed and
Speaker 2: shaped me. Did you know that you were hand made
Speaker 2: by God? Hand crafted? You're not an assembly line. God
Speaker 2: was intricately, intimately involved in the specifics of creating you.
Speaker 2: That What does it mean, Well, it means you're not
Speaker 2: an accident. It means that God chose every detail of
Speaker 2: your life, even the stuff you don't like, the stuff
Speaker 2: you consider weaknesses, and He chose it for you. And
Speaker 2: after God broke made you, he broke the mold and
Speaker 2: nobody ever else would be like you. And when you
Speaker 2: get to Heaven, God doesn't want you to be anybody else,
Speaker 2: he will say, why weren't you more like you? He
Speaker 2: broke the mold. And when when God made Adam, he
Speaker 2: broke the mold. When God made Eve, he broke the both.
Speaker 2: Adam looked at Eve and said, Honey, you're the only
Speaker 2: woman in the world for me. Of course, he was
Speaker 2: the only guy telling the truth. What the truth is.
Speaker 2: Nobody else will ever be exactly like you. You could
Speaker 2: go at him, you could go on around the world
Speaker 2: tour just like I did, and search the entire world.
Speaker 2: And you're never going to find anybody with your thumb print,
Speaker 2: with your footprint, with your voice print, with your EyePrint.
Speaker 2: You're never going to find anybody with the exact combination
Speaker 2: of your personality, with the exact combination of your experiences
Speaker 2: and all the things that God has given to make
Speaker 2: you you. You're unique. Now, why did God go to
Speaker 2: all that trouble? Well, as I said, because he wanted
Speaker 2: you to be original. If he had wanted you to
Speaker 2: be somebody else, he would have not made you. He
Speaker 2: would have made somebody else, But he wanted you. Now,
Speaker 2: the problem is this twofold. First, most people don't like
Speaker 2: the way they are. I've found that Most people in
Speaker 2: the world really don't accept themselves, and they're always going
Speaker 2: I wish I was taller, I wish I was smaller,
Speaker 2: I wish I was thinner. I wish I had red hair,
Speaker 2: brown hair, black hair. I wish I had a different
Speaker 2: skin color. I don't like my nose, I don't like
Speaker 2: my teeth, I don't like I wish I had more talent.
Speaker 2: Why couldn't I be like her? Why couldn't I be
Speaker 2: like him? And they don't really accept themselves, And they're
Speaker 2: always comparing and competing rather than accepting what God made
Speaker 2: them to be. And when you do that, it causes
Speaker 2: all kinds of problems in your life. Most people do
Speaker 2: not accept themselves, and as a result of that, they
Speaker 2: live frustrated lives. And the second thing to do is
Speaker 2: they try to be like somebody else. I said, well,
Speaker 2: I gotta wear shoes like her, and I gotta dress
Speaker 2: like him, and I gotta make as much money as
Speaker 2: he did, and I gotta do what she did, and
Speaker 2: I got to please my parents and all these different things.
Speaker 2: And most people start off as originals and end up
Speaker 2: as carbon copies. Now, let me just be real honest
Speaker 2: with you. If you're not gonna be you. We don't
Speaker 2: need you here on earth because there's somebody else already
Speaker 2: taking that spot. If you're here, it means God says
Speaker 2: you have something to contribute that Rick Warren can't, or
Speaker 2: you can't, or anybody else can't contribute. Only you can
Speaker 2: be you. Only you can be you, And God says
Speaker 2: I made you, I shaped you, I designed you. Now,
Speaker 2: about twenty years ago, I came up with a little
Speaker 2: acrosstick called shape shape to talk about the five things
Speaker 2: that make you you. But your shape has so much
Speaker 2: by the way, when I say shape in orangetin, I
Speaker 2: have to remind this is not a fitness or weight
Speaker 2: loss program. Okay, oh they're talking about shape. It's saddle back.
Speaker 1: No.
Speaker 2: My shape is the way God wired you for your life.
Speaker 2: And every area of your life is influenced by the
Speaker 2: way you're shaped. You don't even realize it, but all
Speaker 2: of the things that God put in you to make
Speaker 2: you you influences every single area of your life. I
Speaker 2: just jotted down a few areas. For instance, the way
Speaker 2: you are shaped determines what classes you should focus on
Speaker 2: in school and which ones you should avoid. Some of you,
Speaker 2: it would have been a big help to know your
Speaker 2: shape before you went to college, because we wasted a
Speaker 2: lot of time in college and classes that didn't really matter.
Speaker 2: If I want to give a testimony on that, Yeah, okay,
Speaker 2: all right. Your shape determines what kind of friends you
Speaker 2: should have. We're going to talk about some of these
Speaker 2: in this series in the next few weeks. Your shape
Speaker 2: determines the type of person you should marry, and the
Speaker 2: more you understand about you, the more likely you're going
Speaker 2: to choose the right person for marriage. Your shape determines
Speaker 2: the temptations you're most likely gonna be tempted by and
Speaker 2: that you need to be prepared for. There's some things
Speaker 2: that tempt me that won't tempt you. There's some things
Speaker 2: that tempt you that won't tempt me. What Because the
Speaker 2: way we're shaped, your shape determines why certain things frust
Speaker 2: you straight you more than they do your wife or
Speaker 2: your husband, because you're shaped differently. Your shape determines the
Speaker 2: best career that's fit for you, your best career fit. Your
Speaker 2: shape determines the best work environment for you, the best
Speaker 2: ministry for you. Your shape determines where you are bound to
Speaker 2: fail in life and where you are bound to succeed
Speaker 2: in life, and in the week's say, we're going to
Speaker 2: look at many of these. Now I'm telling you that
Speaker 2: the series we're starting may be the most important series
Speaker 2: I've done since we did Forty Days of Purpose, because
Speaker 2: you have to know your shape in order for you
Speaker 2: to be all God wants you to be. When you
Speaker 2: know what God made you to do, it reduces your stress,
Speaker 2: It increases your satisfaction, It raises your self esteem, it
Speaker 2: increases the odds of your success. And when you are
Speaker 2: working in the area of your shape, then you're going
Speaker 2: to go, Wow, that's me. It's what I was made
Speaker 2: to do. It's fulfilling, and it's fruitful. In other words,
Speaker 2: you succeed at it and you're satisfied by it. Now,
Speaker 2: I'll be real honest with you in the next six weeks.
Speaker 2: This week, in the next week, some of you, as
Speaker 2: we go through this series are going to realize I'm
Speaker 2: in the wrong job, and I'm going to be honest.
Speaker 2: As your passions say, then you need to change it.
Speaker 2: I don't care how much money you're making. Life is
Speaker 2: too short to waste it on a job you're not
Speaker 2: shaped for. So there may be changes that have to
Speaker 2: take place in your life. Now tonight, as we start
Speaker 2: this series, we're gonna just ask three questions, what is
Speaker 2: my shape? Many of you already know this, or what
Speaker 2: is shape? Then we're gonna look at why does it matter?
Speaker 2: And then we're going to look at what should I
Speaker 2: what should I do about it? My first steps? Now,
Speaker 2: I came up with this acrostic about as I said
Speaker 2: about twenty years ago. But I thought, as we do
Speaker 2: this first point, that we'd have Eric Reeve's pastor, Eric
Speaker 2: come and talk to us about shape. Would you give
Speaker 2: him a warm welcome?
Speaker 3: All right? So what does this word shape mean? It's
Speaker 3: really your design. You were designed by God to make
Speaker 3: a difference for God, and the Bible teaches us in
Speaker 3: Ephesians two ten that when God looks at you and I,
Speaker 3: he says we are masterpieces. Now there's probably days in
Speaker 3: your life like mine, you don't feel like a masterpiece.
Speaker 3: But God says we are masterpieces, and we were made
Speaker 3: to make a difference for him, a kingdom difference. So
Speaker 3: how do you figure out the difference you were designed
Speaker 3: to make? You start with your design, and that's what
Speaker 3: we're going to do and over these next few weeks.
Speaker 3: As we look at the word shape shape, the S
Speaker 3: in shape stands for spiritual gifts. Now, the Bible teaches
Speaker 3: us that many things happen to us when we accept
Speaker 3: Jesus Christ as our Lord and savior. And one of
Speaker 3: the things that happens is we receive spiritual gifts. But
Speaker 3: like any gift, you have to take the time to
Speaker 3: unwrap it. And when you unwrap it, then you can
Speaker 3: put it to use. And so as we journey through
Speaker 3: these weeks together, we're going to help you unwrap your
Speaker 3: spiritual gifts. There's over twenty listed in the New Testament,
Speaker 3: and each and every one of us is gifted by
Speaker 3: God for his glory, not for ourselves, but for his glory.
Speaker 3: And we want to help you understand what are you
Speaker 3: gifted to do? The H in shape stands for heart.
Speaker 3: You might want to write the word next to that passion.
Speaker 3: What are you excited about? As Rick likes to say,
Speaker 3: what's the quiver in your liver? What is the thing
Speaker 3: that gets you up in the morning, What turns your crank?
Speaker 3: There are certain things you are so passionate about, and
Speaker 3: there's certain things you're not. Reminds me of a time,
Speaker 3: about thirteen years ago, my wife and I, who are
Speaker 3: just members of the church at that time, decided that
Speaker 3: I was going to serve one weekend in the nursery.
Speaker 3: We didn't have children at that time, so I'm thinking, okay,
Speaker 3: I can go do something in the nursery. And so
Speaker 3: I show up and the lady as I'm getting taught
Speaker 3: what to do that day, she says, Eric, your job
Speaker 3: is to be the transporter. It's like, okay, she says,
Speaker 3: when the babies come in, I'm going to hand the
Speaker 3: baby to you, and You're going to take the baby
Speaker 3: over to these wonderful people over here that are going
Speaker 3: to pray for the baby and care for the baby
Speaker 3: and feed the baby and change the baby, all those things.
Speaker 3: I'm thinking, I can do this. So first baby comes
Speaker 3: to the door, having like one of those half doors.
Speaker 3: The mom hands the baby over. I'm so excited because
Speaker 3: it's a boy and he's not crying. So I'm thinking, okay,
Speaker 3: So I grab the baby from this lady and as
Speaker 3: I turn, I'm looking at him out like this, and
Speaker 3: his head starts to go into his shoulders and.
Speaker 4: He's looking at me like, dude, you don't have a clue,
Speaker 4: and I really didn't because I had never held a
Speaker 4: baby before. And so as I turned and went to
Speaker 4: hand him to this wonderful lady that was ready to accept.
Speaker 3: This baby, he started to drip and I'm thinking, oh, no,
Speaker 3: pampers did not come through. I'm getting rid of this baby.
Speaker 3: So I hand the baby over to the lady, thinking
Speaker 3: it's time to get the next baby. I turn around
Speaker 3: and I'm meeted with the lady. Eric, maybe you should
Speaker 3: just greet the people at the door. Okay, now I'm
Speaker 3: a greeter, but you know what, friends, As I think
Speaker 3: about that moment, there were people in that room that
Speaker 3: loved being with the babies. They're probably steal over in
Speaker 3: the nursery today, Amen, because they have a passion to
Speaker 3: work with little children babies. Where did they get that
Speaker 3: passion from God? So my question to you is what
Speaker 3: are you passionate about? And we want to help you
Speaker 3: unlock that passion for God's glory as we travel through
Speaker 3: this series so spiritual gifts. The AH is for heart,
Speaker 3: the A is for abilities. What natural abilities has God
Speaker 3: given you? You have certain abilities five six, seven hundred
Speaker 3: of them, and we want to help you kind of
Speaker 3: raise the ones up to the top so you can
Speaker 3: claim them and use them for God's glory in significant
Speaker 3: ways as we help you define your specific purpose in life.
Speaker 2: Now.
Speaker 3: The P in the word shape stands for personality. This
Speaker 3: is where we look to answer the question how has
Speaker 3: God wired me? We all navigate life differently. Some of
Speaker 3: us in this room are very competitive, and some of
Speaker 3: us are very cooperative. Some of us are extroverts and
Speaker 3: some of us are introverts. Some of us are self expressive,
Speaker 3: while others of us would be self controlled. Some of
Speaker 3: us in the room just love variety, while others in
Speaker 3: this room would just love to be around routine. And
Speaker 3: then God takes a man and a woman in a
Speaker 3: marriage and sticks routine and variety together. It's like his
Speaker 3: little joke or something. I'm just kidding. It only happens
Speaker 3: in my marriage. I know that. So, but how has
Speaker 3: God wired you? Don't try to be an extrovert. If
Speaker 3: God made you an introvert, just be the best introvert
Speaker 3: you can for the glory of God.
Speaker 2: The E in the word shape.
Speaker 3: Stands for experiences. Experiences. We have all kinds of experiences
Speaker 3: in our lives, and you know what, it doesn't matter
Speaker 3: if you were raised in the Beaver Cleaver household or
Speaker 3: the monsters. God can use it all he can, and
Speaker 3: he wants to the positive and the painful. You know,
Speaker 3: for years I didn't want to let anybody know about
Speaker 3: certain experiences in my life because I thought no way
Speaker 3: could God use this. But I finally came to the
Speaker 3: moment of letting people know and letting God just take
Speaker 3: this pain from my past because I was raised by
Speaker 3: a very abusive alcoholic father and for years I just
Speaker 3: hid from it. But when I let it go God,
Speaker 3: I had brought a flood of people into my life,
Speaker 3: and you know what, they wanted to talk because they
Speaker 3: too were abused by alcoholic parents. And as we sat
Speaker 3: at Starbucks and looked eye to eye, we knew that
Speaker 3: we'd been through something and we could pray for one another.
Speaker 3: What's the experience in your past that maybe you just
Speaker 3: keep wanting to hold back? But God is going to
Speaker 3: challenge you in this series to let it come out.
Speaker 2: For his glory.
Speaker 3: For his glory, because friends, the bottom line is this,
Speaker 3: you were made by God to make a difference for God.
Speaker 3: So as we start this series, jump in with both
Speaker 3: feet and do whatever it takes. And my challenge to
Speaker 3: you is give yourselves permission to see yourselves as the
Speaker 3: masterpiece you were created to be great. Ready.
Speaker 2: So these five things that Eric just talked about, spiritual gifts,
Speaker 2: heart abilities, personality experiences. These are the five things that
Speaker 2: make you you. And in that combination of spiritual gifts
Speaker 2: that you have heart passion interests. Why do you think
Speaker 2: you have those interests? God gave them to you. You're
Speaker 2: interested in golf or sports, or hunting, or sewing, or
Speaker 2: art or music or a million other things. Where do
Speaker 2: you think you got that interest? You got it from God.
Speaker 2: God wired it into your system because he wanted us
Speaker 2: all to do different things. If we all like to
Speaker 2: do the same thing, there'd be a lot left undone
Speaker 2: in the world. So God gives you these five things.
Speaker 2: You're unique and you're special and nobody's going to be
Speaker 2: like you. And if you don't be you, there's going
Speaker 2: to be a whole missing in history.
Speaker 1: What a great and timely message today. Let's end our
Speaker 1: show with a closing thought from pastor Rick.
Speaker 2: When you give your time and your energy and your
Speaker 2: talent and finances to God, even when you don't have
Speaker 2: a lot of these things. God takes notice, and it
Speaker 2: is pleasing to him. That's because you're showing him that
Speaker 2: you can be trusted with the things he gives you,
Speaker 2: and that you're developing one of his most important characteristics, generosity.
Speaker 2: God is infinitely generous, and he's pleased when you're generous too.
Speaker 2: When God gives you something like a talent or an
Speaker 2: ability or money that is to be considered a trust.
Speaker 2: It means that God trusts you to use it for
Speaker 2: good and for God. When we use what God has
Speaker 2: given us to help others, we show our faith in God.
Speaker 2: The Bible says, now it is required that those who've
Speaker 2: been given a trust must prove faithful. That's First Corinthians,
Speaker 2: chapter four, verse two. The size of what you have
Speaker 2: to give isn't important. What God is watching is what
Speaker 2: you do with what He's given to you. He doesn't
Speaker 2: give you time or talent or money for your own benefit.
Speaker 2: He gives them to us for the benefit of others. Now,
Speaker 2: of course, it's easy to be generous when you have
Speaker 2: a lot to give, but faithful people are generous even
Speaker 2: when their resources are in short supply. Because being generous
Speaker 2: even when you don't think you can be generous is
Speaker 2: a step of faith giving even when I don't have.
Speaker 2: It causes me to trust God helps me to become
Speaker 2: more faithful, and that pleases God when he sees that
Speaker 2: you're going to trust Him even when you don't understand
Speaker 2: how it will all work out. Now, here's the thing
Speaker 2: to remember. When I do all that God tells me
Speaker 2: to do, he does what I can't do. If you
Speaker 2: don't use the gifts that God has given you to
Speaker 2: help others, then we're all missing out, and that includes
Speaker 2: you because you were shaped to serve others. Now we
Speaker 2: have a choice. We can live our lives for ourselves
Speaker 2: where we can live our lives for something bigger than ourselves.
Speaker 2: Generosity is one of the ways that God pulls us
Speaker 2: out of our selfishness and into His bigger plan for
Speaker 2: our lives. I guarantee you, because God guarantees it that
Speaker 2: if you step forward in faith, in faithful generosity, God
Speaker 2: will do amazing things in and through your life. I've
Speaker 2: watched Him do it in my life for over forty years.
Speaker 2: I'm rick be sure to join us next time as
Speaker 2: we look to God's word for our daily hope.
Speaker 1: This program is sponsored by Pastor Rick's daily hope and
Speaker 1: your generous financial support