Speaker 1: Hello, everybody, Welcome to Daily Hope with Pastor Rick Warren.
Speaker 1: So we're continuing with this series called Daring Faith The
Speaker 1: Key to Miracles, And in this series you're learning how
Speaker 1: to have a bold, unshakable faith that gives you courage
Speaker 1: to impact the world around you. And I know we
Speaker 1: all want that all right. Here comes Pastor Rick with
Speaker 1: part two of a message called Daring to Wait on God.
Speaker 2: I remember the thirteen year battle for land in this
Speaker 2: church and the church we started praying for land the
Speaker 2: first day we started the church, and we prayed. We
Speaker 2: looked at hundreds of pieces over the next thirteen years,
Speaker 2: and we had one failure after another, and one failure
Speaker 2: after another, and that piece fell through, and that deal
Speaker 2: fell through, and that deal fell through, and that deal
Speaker 2: fell through, and a lot of people got discouraged, and
Speaker 2: a lot of people thought, well, we're never gonna get land.
Speaker 2: But I never felt that way. Why Because I knew
Speaker 2: that the delay was not a denial. This piece of
Speaker 2: land here in Lake Forest was not even on the
Speaker 2: map when Saddleback Church started, because there was no such
Speaker 2: thing as the city of Santa Margarita, and there was
Speaker 2: no such thing as the city of Foothill Ranch, and
Speaker 2: nobody had even mapped or partitioned this piece off. There
Speaker 2: was no Portola Parkway. El Toro Road was a two
Speaker 2: lane road. There was no toll road. It was no
Speaker 2: man's land. Nobody even knew it. But God, before the
Speaker 2: foundation of the earth, had planned where Saddleback Church would
Speaker 2: have its first campus. He knew, and it was just
Speaker 2: a matter of time. And all of those things where
Speaker 2: we had the delays and the denials and the dead
Speaker 2: ends and all those things where we had one defeat
Speaker 2: after another, God was working on us. And I had
Speaker 2: said all along, God's much more interested in building disciples
Speaker 2: than he is in building buildings. So we went from
Speaker 2: one service to two, to three, to four, to five
Speaker 2: to six. And I kept going, God, anytime now, you know,
Speaker 2: just soon not have to do one hundred services a week.
Speaker 2: And God knew, and his timing is perfect. He's never early,
Speaker 2: he's never late. At the time I decided, my words
Speaker 2: will come true. You can trust what I say. It
Speaker 2: will be a fact. I mean take it a long
Speaker 2: time now. There are over seven thousand promises in the Bible.
Speaker 2: When you're in the waiting room, that's a good time
Speaker 2: to memorize scripture. If you're in a waiting room right now,
Speaker 2: you're waiting on what's next. Lord, You're waiting on a
Speaker 2: new job, you're waiting on a new an answer to prayer,
Speaker 2: you're waiting on a doctor's report. Now's the time to
Speaker 2: memorize scripture. That's what you remember. What do you do?
Speaker 2: That's what you remember in the waiting room. There are
Speaker 2: four things to do. Write these down. Four things to
Speaker 2: do in the waiting room, And just for fun, I
Speaker 2: put them in an acrosstich, just because I know you'd
Speaker 2: expect me to do that. So wai wait. Four things
Speaker 2: you need to do when you're in the waiting room
Speaker 2: of life. Who stands for this? Write down the lessons
Speaker 2: I'm learning. This is extremely important to the building of
Speaker 2: your faith. When you're in the waiting room, the first
Speaker 2: thing you do is write down the lessons that you
Speaker 2: are learning, because waiting is always the season to listen,
Speaker 2: and waiting is always the season to learn. And when
Speaker 2: you're listening and learning, then you need to write it down.
Speaker 2: God has some things he wants to teach you before
Speaker 2: he answers your prayer. God has some things he wants
Speaker 2: you to learn. Before that seed that you're planning and
Speaker 2: daring faith sprouts. He wants to teach you some things.
Speaker 2: God is more interested in your character than your comfort.
Speaker 2: But you will forget the lessons that you learn in
Speaker 2: the waiting rooms of life if you don't write them down.
Speaker 2: And you know what happens when you don't write them down,
Speaker 2: You forget him. And what happens when you forget him
Speaker 2: He has to take you through it again. That's no fun,
Speaker 2: that's unnecessary pain. Some of you have been through the
Speaker 2: same pain eight or nine times. Why don't you write
Speaker 2: down the lessons this time so you don't have to
Speaker 2: go through it for the ninety second time. You know,
Speaker 2: Moses led the children out of Egypt across the wilderness
Speaker 2: to the Promised Land. It should have only taken You
Speaker 2: can walk that distance easily in a few weeks, even
Speaker 2: with a large crowd. It took them forty years. What
Speaker 2: in the world were they doing for forty years? Walking
Speaker 2: around in a circle. God was giving them one test
Speaker 2: after another, saying, will you trust me? There are seven tests?
Speaker 2: And every time they'd fail a test, he'd say another
Speaker 2: lap around the wilderness. And in that wilderness they were
Speaker 2: not there by accident. Waiting in the wilderness has a purpose.
Speaker 2: Some of you are in the wilderness right now. I
Speaker 2: want you to write this down. The way to the
Speaker 2: Promised Land is through the wilderness. You can't get to
Speaker 2: the Promised Land without going through the desert. And you've
Speaker 2: got to go through that waiting period. You've got to
Speaker 2: go through that desert. You've got to go through that
Speaker 2: drive spell, you've got to go through that wilderness. Waiting
Speaker 2: in the wilderness for a purpose. The way to the
Speaker 2: Promised Land is in through the wilderness. And the lessons
Speaker 2: that you're learning in the wilderness, please write them down.
Speaker 2: The Bible tells this to Moses number thirty three, verse two.
Speaker 2: At the Lord's direction. Moses knows God commanded him to
Speaker 2: do this. Moses kept a written record of their progress.
Speaker 2: Are you keeping a written record of your progress in
Speaker 2: the Christian life? Are you writing anything down? Keep a
Speaker 2: journal while you're waiting, and here's what do you do?
Speaker 2: You say now, I'm not talking about a journal is
Speaker 2: different than a diary. A diary is about what you
Speaker 2: do today. I had a mocha frappuccino. Nobody cares a journal.
Speaker 2: You don't write down what you do. A journal is
Speaker 2: anytime you learn something, you write that down. You write
Speaker 2: down the lesson. A diary is for events. A journal
Speaker 2: is for lessons. I have always learned in the waiting
Speaker 2: periods of life that little lessons lead to big successes.
Speaker 2: Some of the tiniest lessons I've learned in dry periods,
Speaker 2: in depressing periods, in discouraging periods, are the keys to
Speaker 2: big successes in my life. Little lessons lead to big successes,
Speaker 2: so you write them down. Deuteronomy eleven, verse two says this,
Speaker 2: remember what you have learned about the Lord through your
Speaker 2: experiences with him. As I said, If you don't remember,
Speaker 2: God hasked to take you there again, and that's painful, now,
Speaker 2: Someone nineteen thirty three is good prayer to pray when
Speaker 2: you're in the wilderness. God, teach me the lessons for
Speaker 2: living so that I can stay the course so I
Speaker 2: don't wander around. Teach me the lessons for living so
Speaker 2: I can get through this with a minimum amount of time.
Speaker 2: I don't want to be here for forty years. I
Speaker 2: don't want to be going in circles. Teach me the
Speaker 2: lessons for life so I can stay the course. When
Speaker 2: you're in the waiting period, you're between jobs, you're between goals.
Speaker 2: You don't know what's next. You say, teach me, Lord,
Speaker 2: I want to learn the lessons. That's the w write
Speaker 2: down the lessons that I'm learning. The A in weight
Speaker 2: stands for this. This is really important. Act as though
Speaker 2: I already have it. Act as though I already have it.
Speaker 2: This is called faith. And when you have deposited a seed,
Speaker 2: a seed of finances, like many have done with daring, faith,
Speaker 2: a seed of talent and service, a seed of energy,
Speaker 2: a seed of reputation. When you've had a need and
Speaker 2: you planet a seed, what you do while you're waiting
Speaker 2: for that seed to grow is you act as though
Speaker 2: you already have it. This is faith. Now, we typically
Speaker 2: when we're in the waiting rooms and the wildernesses of life.
Speaker 2: You know what we do. We don't do that. What
Speaker 2: we do is we wonder, and we worry and we whine.
Speaker 2: That's what we do in the waiting room's life. First
Speaker 2: we wonder, why Lord, Why we wonder? And then we worry,
Speaker 2: how Lord, how how are you going to do this?
Speaker 2: And then we whine, when, Lord, when are you going
Speaker 2: to answer my prayer? So instead of wondering and worrying
Speaker 2: and whining. You need to learn to act as if
Speaker 2: you've already got it. You act in faith. Here's how
Speaker 2: Jesus puts it. Mark, Chapter eleven, verse twenty four. Jesus said,
Speaker 2: I tell you, whenever whatever you ask for in prayer,
Speaker 2: believe that you have received it and it will be yours. Now,
Speaker 2: I want you to pay attention to this verse. Believe
Speaker 2: that you have received it and it will be yours.
Speaker 2: Do you notice a change in tents there? Believe that
Speaker 2: you have received it. That's past tense, past tense. Believe
Speaker 2: that you have received it, And then he says, and
Speaker 2: it will be yours. That's future tense. What in the
Speaker 2: world is Jesus saying, believe that I've already got it
Speaker 2: in order to get it. That's exactly what he's saying.
Speaker 2: So hang on here, Rick telling me, I got to
Speaker 2: believe something is so even though it isn't so, in
Speaker 2: order that it becomes so. Yep, that's called faith. When
Speaker 2: you thank God after you get the answer to your prayer,
Speaker 2: that's called gratitude. When you thank God before you get
Speaker 2: the answer to your prayer, that's called faith. When you
Speaker 2: act as though you've already got it, then you'll get it.
Speaker 2: That's faith. Believe that you have received it past tense,
Speaker 2: and it will be yours. President. Let's go back to
Speaker 2: the pregnant woman. Every pregnant woman does us what I've
Speaker 2: just talked about. She carries inside her body the promise
Speaker 2: of a baby, and she's getting bigger and bigger and bigger.
Speaker 2: And even though she can't see that baby, she's never
Speaker 2: seen that baby, she knows it's there. She's confident that
Speaker 2: it's there, and she can feel that baby there. So
Speaker 2: even though she's never seen the baby, she starts preparing
Speaker 2: in advance for the baby's arrival in faith. And first
Speaker 2: she starts eating differently, she starts taking better care of
Speaker 2: her body, she starts sleeping differently. She starts going out
Speaker 2: and buying maternity clothes because she knows she's going to
Speaker 2: get bigger. She starts stalking a nursery they have showers,
Speaker 2: She gets clothes, she gets diapers, she gets all the paraphernalia,
Speaker 2: the changing tables and the rocking cribs and all the
Speaker 2: kinds of stuff. And she's doing that in faith. They
Speaker 2: don't call it expecting for nothing. She's expecting a baby.
Speaker 2: She hadn't seen that baby, but she's acting as though
Speaker 2: it's already here. She doesn't want to wait and for
Speaker 2: the baby to be born. And they go, hmm, I
Speaker 2: probably ought to have some clothes for this little tyke.
Speaker 2: I probably ought to have some diapers, maybe some bottles,
Speaker 2: maybe even a place for the baby to sleep. No,
Speaker 2: those things are already done in advance. She's preparing in
Speaker 2: faith because she's expecting and she knows that that baby
Speaker 2: is coming. It's just a matter of time. And I
Speaker 2: once asked Kay when she was pregnant in one of
Speaker 2: our kids, what it felt like. In the last trimessage,
Speaker 2: she said, it's like you're at the top of space
Speaker 2: mountain and the only way out is down. You know
Speaker 2: you're going to go through that. There's no way out.
Speaker 2: It's not like I think I'll go back to the
Speaker 2: ticket and ask for a refund. Now you're going through
Speaker 2: the ride. And so, she hasn't seen that baby, but
Speaker 2: she's expecting it. She's believing it in faith, and she
Speaker 2: will wait as long as it takes until the child
Speaker 2: is delivered. She acts as though she's already got it.
Speaker 2: She starts preparing for that baby. Now, let's just take
Speaker 2: this in a real practical way. Let's say some of
Speaker 2: you are out of work right now, or you're you're
Speaker 2: looking for a job and you're you're waiting for a job,
Speaker 2: and you're maybe you're waiting on God to get a job,
Speaker 2: and you've been praying God, I need a really good job. Okay, question,
Speaker 2: if you had a job, how would you act? Start
Speaker 2: acting in that way right now? First place, if you
Speaker 2: had a job, would you lay around all day in
Speaker 2: your pajamas and not take a shower. No, if you
Speaker 2: actually had a job, you would set an alarm and
Speaker 2: you would get up and you'd get ready, and you'd
Speaker 2: put on work clothes and you then that's what you
Speaker 2: need to be doing right now. You need to start
Speaker 2: acting like you've got the job. You don't wait till
Speaker 2: you get the job to act like God job. There's
Speaker 2: no faith in that. You act in advance. You believe
Speaker 2: a thing is so even though it isn't so, that
Speaker 2: it becomes so, and you do it. Now, set the
Speaker 2: alarm and you get the clothes and whatever you need
Speaker 2: to do. Well, I want you to write this down.
Speaker 2: Waiting is not passivity. Waiting is not passivity. You do
Speaker 2: all you can to get ready. There is a difference
Speaker 2: between passively waiting in fear and apathy and expectantly waiting
Speaker 2: in faith, where you take action, you get prepared, and
Speaker 2: you act as though you already have it. God does this.
Speaker 2: You know that. God goes to Abraham twenty five years
Speaker 2: before he has a son and changes his name. He says,
Speaker 2: your name's Abram, and I'm going to change it to Abraham.
Speaker 2: And Abraham says, what's that mean? Abraham means father of
Speaker 2: many nations. So for twenty five years Abraham Abram changes
Speaker 2: his name and he's called Abraham. How do you like this?
Speaker 2: He walks into a bar. What's your name, father of
Speaker 2: any nations? Oh? Great? How many kids? You got none?
Speaker 2: One hundred hmm? Interesting? How'd you like to live with that?
Speaker 2: Look at this verse in the screen. The Bible says
Speaker 2: in Romans four seventeen, God calls things that are not
Speaker 2: as though they were, and that's called faith. Everything God
Speaker 2: created he spoke into existence. He calls things that are
Speaker 2: not as though they were, and he says, Abraham, you're
Speaker 2: the father of a great nation. He hadn't had any
Speaker 2: kids yet he's speaking it into existence. He says that
Speaker 2: to Gideon, you're a mighty man of valor. That was
Speaker 2: the last thing Gideon was. He was a weakling and
Speaker 2: a coward. He says to Peter, you are a rock.
Speaker 2: Peter was mister impulsive, mister foot in mouth, he was
Speaker 2: anything but a rock. God speaks it into existence, and
Speaker 2: he says, you do it the same way. He says,
Speaker 2: like I've made you a father of many nations. All right,
Speaker 2: act as all have got it. The eye and wait
Speaker 2: is the third key you do while you're waiting on God.
Speaker 2: It sys imitate the habits that grow strong faith. I
Speaker 2: need to imitate the habits, particularly of people of strong faith.
Speaker 2: You can imitate people of strong faith and look at
Speaker 2: the habits that they do. Find their skills, find their patterns,
Speaker 2: find their habits and follow that. Imitate that to grow
Speaker 2: strong in your faith. In other words, use the time
Speaker 2: while you're waiting to develop personal maturity. Let me show
Speaker 2: you some verses one Peter, one, six and seven. We
Speaker 2: do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate
Speaker 2: those who through faith, daring, faith and patience. That's waiting
Speaker 2: through faith and waiting through faith and patience, who through
Speaker 2: faith and patience inherit what has been promised. He says,
Speaker 2: that's the kind of people you ought to be imitating
Speaker 2: when you're in the waiting room. We don't want you
Speaker 2: to be lazy. Don't sit around passively doing nothing, he says.
Speaker 2: Imitate those who do faith and patients inher have inherited
Speaker 2: what God has promised. Paul says it like this I
Speaker 2: Philippians four nine. Keep on putting into practice all that
Speaker 2: you learn from me and heard from me and saw
Speaker 2: me doing. That's called imitation. So when you're going through
Speaker 2: a period of waiting, you should look around and find
Speaker 2: a stronger Christian, a godly woman or a godly man,
Speaker 2: and see what they're doing and imitate their faith. The
Speaker 2: Bible talks about this multiple times, talks about in Hebrews thirteen,
Speaker 2: verse seven, and other places. Imitate their faith. We all
Speaker 2: learn best by models. That's why you know, during daring faith,
Speaker 2: I've been giving you testimonies. Why because we grow in
Speaker 2: faith by reading the faith of others. You don't grow
Speaker 2: in faith by not hearing about other people's faith, but
Speaker 2: you do grow on faith when you read about other
Speaker 2: people's faith. Because the Bible says imitate the faith of
Speaker 2: those who've grown strong in the faith. Keep on putting
Speaker 2: into practice. Now, I want you to write this down.
Speaker 2: It's very important. Don't get anything else. Get this one.
Speaker 2: When you're in the waiting room of life. Don't put
Speaker 2: my life on hold. Please write that down. Don't put
Speaker 2: my life on hold while I'm waiting for my big
Speaker 2: break in Hollywood, while I'm waiting for my ship to
Speaker 2: come in, while I'm waiting for an answer to prayer,
Speaker 2: while I'm waiting for the girl or the man of
Speaker 2: my dreams to show up. Don't put your life on hold.
Speaker 2: Waiting is not in activity. It is not idleness. It
Speaker 2: is not laziness, It is not passivity, it is not apathy.
Speaker 2: Waiting is the time to develop habits and skills that
Speaker 2: you're going to use later on. Say it again, Waiting
Speaker 2: is the time you develop the habits and the skills
Speaker 2: that you're going to use later on.
Speaker 1: What a great message today from Pastor Rick. There's something
Speaker 1: I always can use in my own life after listening
Speaker 1: to this show, All right, would you like to step
Speaker 1: out of a life of ordinary existence and into a
Speaker 1: life of extraordinary faith? Then please order the Daring Faith
Speaker 1: DVD n Study Kit by Pastor Rick Warren. Here's Rick
Speaker 1: to tell you more.
Speaker 2: How'd you like to have a bold, unshakable faith that
Speaker 2: gives you the courage to make the changes you've always
Speaker 2: wanted to see in your life, your work, your family,
Speaker 2: and in the world. That's not a dream. That's exactly
Speaker 2: what God wants to do in your life. He wants
Speaker 2: you to learn to live by daring faith. The Bible says,
Speaker 2: according to your faith, it will be done under your
Speaker 2: Now to help you develop that kind of faith, I
Speaker 2: put together a Daring Faith Study Kit and it includes
Speaker 2: a DVD and it includes a workbook. Now, there's six
Speaker 2: sessions in the Daring Faith Study Kit, and it'll teach
Speaker 2: you these six things. How to build a life of faith,
Speaker 2: how to expect the best from God, how to stretch
Speaker 2: your imagination in order to see what God wants to
Speaker 2: do in your life, to expand your vision, how to
Speaker 2: have the courage to take the initiative with your faith,
Speaker 2: how to face your fears with bold faith, and how
Speaker 2: to believe and what to do while you're waiting on God.
Speaker 2: You cannot afford to miss this series. It was one
Speaker 2: of the most important series I've ever done at Saddleback Church,
Speaker 2: and the Bible tells us in Ephesians three twelve, because
Speaker 2: of our faith in Him, we dare to have boldness
Speaker 2: and courage and confidence in coming to God with freedom
Speaker 2: and without fear. I want you to have that boldness,
Speaker 2: that courage, and that confidence when you come to God prayer.
Speaker 2: I want you to come to Him without fear and
Speaker 2: come to Him in freedom. God will use this Daring
Speaker 2: Faith Study Kit just like he used it in the
Speaker 2: lives of tens of thousands of other people. He'll use
Speaker 2: it in your life if you'll trust Him in all things.
Speaker 2: So get this kit today.
Speaker 1: You know, today when you give a gift to help
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Speaker 1: we will send you a copy of the Daring Faith
Speaker 1: Study Kit, and it has six video sessions and a workbook.
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Speaker 1: next time when we look into God's Word for our
Speaker 1: daily hope. This program is sponsored by Pastor Rick's Daily
Speaker 1: Hope and your generous financial support.