Speaker 1: Hello everybody, and welcome to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope. This
Speaker 1: is the Bible teaching ministry of Rick Warren. Now today
Speaker 1: we're continuing into the new year, and we're digging deeper
Speaker 1: into one of life's biggest questions, does my life really matter?
Speaker 1: In today's message, Rick's going to continue his powerful series
Speaker 1: Live Your Calling? What on Earth Am I here for?
Speaker 1: In it, you'll discover how living out God's purpose for
Speaker 1: your life brings real meaning, direction, and joy no matter
Speaker 1: where you're starting from. Okay, now here's the final part
Speaker 1: of a message titled you are called to become Number seven.
Speaker 2: If you're gonna make it to the finish line and
Speaker 2: be the woman God wants you to be, be the
Speaker 2: man God wants you to be. I must take every
Speaker 2: step with purpose, take every step with purpose. Tell you
Speaker 2: I didn't do this for a lot of years in
Speaker 2: my life, but I don't want to waste any step anymore.
Speaker 2: I don't want to waste any energy anymore. I don't
Speaker 2: want to waste any word anymore. I don't want to
Speaker 2: waste any breath, any step because I don't know how
Speaker 2: many steps I have left, and you don't either. You
Speaker 2: don't know if you're going to live a week, a month,
Speaker 2: a year, or what you don't know. So whatever steps
Speaker 2: you're going to take, you better do them on purpose.
Speaker 2: And you need to be more disciplined, and you need
Speaker 2: to be more self controlled, and you need to take
Speaker 2: every step and every moment in your life with purpose. Now,
Speaker 2: if you're gonna become the person God wants you to be,
Speaker 2: that's the third calling in life. I'll be honest with you,
Speaker 2: there are some things you're gonna have to deny yourself.
Speaker 2: You're not gonna get to do everything that everybody else does.
Speaker 2: Because if you want to be God's woman, God's man,
Speaker 2: you want to be what you're created to be. You
Speaker 2: just can't go out and do everything what everybody else does.
Speaker 2: As I said, you can't follow their plan, and you're
Speaker 2: planning God's plan all at the same time. Anybody who
Speaker 2: trains for the Olympics gives up an enormous amount of
Speaker 2: things to be a winner. They eat a certain way,
Speaker 2: they go to bed at a certain time, they don't
Speaker 2: do certain things, and you're gonna have to deny yourself.
Speaker 2: You just can't tack on God's purpose to what you
Speaker 2: want to do with your life. It's planned A or
Speaker 2: plan B. And so you have to say, I'm gonna
Speaker 2: have to be disciplined. I'm gonna have to take every
Speaker 2: step on purpose. Like Saint Paul, you have to be
Speaker 2: purpose driven. Look at this next verse one Corinthians nine.
Speaker 2: All athletes practice strict self control. In other words, to
Speaker 2: be a win you get in the super Bowl, you
Speaker 2: gotta discipline yourself. They do it. They do all this
Speaker 2: self discipline, self control. They do it to win a prize.
Speaker 2: It'll fade away, But we do it for an eternal
Speaker 2: prize in heaven. So I run straight to the goal
Speaker 2: with purpose in every step. I'm not like a boxer
Speaker 2: who misses his punches. Paul says, I'm way beyond the
Speaker 2: years of shadow boxing. If I'm going to take a punch,
Speaker 2: I'm gonna make sure it lands. I'm not just out
Speaker 2: there beating the air. I'm not just shadow boxing. I'm
Speaker 2: not wasting my time. I'm not wasting my life. If
Speaker 2: I'm going to land a punch, I'm gonna make sure
Speaker 2: it has contact. And if I'm going to take a step,
Speaker 2: I'm gonna make sure it has a step of purpose
Speaker 2: in my life. That's how you get to the finish line. Hebrews,
Speaker 2: the Book of Hebrews gives us more advice. Back to
Speaker 2: chapter twelve Hebrews twelve, Verse thirteen, twelve and thirteen says
Speaker 2: this because God knows you're gonna get tired in the
Speaker 2: marathon of life. He says, lift up your tired hands
Speaker 2: then and strengthen. You're trembling these in other words, when
Speaker 2: you feel like I can't go on, I'm out of energy,
Speaker 2: I'm out of gas, he says, you just ask God
Speaker 2: for more strength. Keep walking. When you're going through hell,
Speaker 2: what do you do? You keep going. You don't want
Speaker 2: to stay in hell. When you're going through hell, you
Speaker 2: keep walking. When you're walking through hell, you keep walking.
Speaker 2: And he says, keep walking on straight paths. Circle straight paths.
Speaker 2: We'll come back to that, so that your lame foot
Speaker 2: circle that lame foot will come back to that may
Speaker 2: not be disabled, but instead be healed. And he says,
Speaker 2: when you're running the race of life and you're becoming
Speaker 2: what God wants you to be, he says, you need
Speaker 2: to keep walking on the straight path. Don't be tempted
Speaker 2: to by crooked ways when things aren't working out, don't
Speaker 2: be tempted by crooked ways. Don't be tempted by shortcuts.
Speaker 2: Shortcuts are going to get you into deep weeds. Stay
Speaker 2: on the straight and narrow path and head for the goal.
Speaker 2: And he says, then your lame foot will not be disabled,
Speaker 2: but instead it'll be healed. What's you talking about there?
Speaker 2: In the race of life, we all run with a limp.
Speaker 2: Every one of us have limps. I just said it early.
Speaker 2: You have some emotional limps. Your emotion don't always work right.
Speaker 2: You have somer relational limps. You have some weaknesses in
Speaker 2: your relationships. You have some physical limps. Your body doesn't
Speaker 2: always work right. You have some spiritual limps. You're not
Speaker 2: as strong spiritually as you could be. You have some
Speaker 2: financial limps. You don't have the money that you could have.
Speaker 2: You have all kinds of limps. Everybody walks through life
Speaker 2: with a limp. Now, if I have a natural limp,
Speaker 2: I'd better stay on the straight path, because if I
Speaker 2: get on a crooked path with a natural limp, I'm
Speaker 2: more likely to stumble. And if I get on a
Speaker 2: rocky path with a natural limp, I'm more likely to fall.
Speaker 2: If I get on a crooked path and a mountain path.
Speaker 2: Then I'm let to stumble because I have a natural limp,
Speaker 2: a bent to fall. The only way I'm going to
Speaker 2: stumble less is if I stay on God's straight path.
Speaker 2: Then I'm not going to stumble as much. We all
Speaker 2: run life with a limp. Michelle was born one of
Speaker 2: three because of some doctors, the things they did wrong.
Speaker 2: Two of the babies didn't get the oxygen they needed
Speaker 2: when they were just being born, and they were born
Speaker 2: with cerebral palsy. And Michelle has walked with a limp
Speaker 2: her entire life, very pronounced, but over time she said,
Speaker 2: I'm going to walk the straight path and I'm going
Speaker 2: to learn to overcome and do the best I can
Speaker 2: with what I've got. I want you to watch this
Speaker 2: video on Michelle's life.
Speaker 3: My name is Michelle, and I want to tell you
Speaker 3: a little bit about my story. When I'm an identical
Speaker 3: set of triplets and we were born three much premature,
Speaker 3: which caused brain damage, which caused a disability called serbopolity,
Speaker 3: and it affected me and my sister Megan, me minorly
Speaker 3: just having a limp. They didn't wasn't sure if I
Speaker 3: was gonna walk. Growing up, I started off with a walker,
Speaker 3: which allowed me to get around and keep up with everybody.
Speaker 3: I was really determined to not be left behind, and
Speaker 3: I just went everywhere with that thing. So after moving
Speaker 3: around with my walker for a while, I decided to
Speaker 3: take that leap of faith and step away from the walker.
Speaker 3: And one day, when my dad was walking home from work,
Speaker 3: I just saw him and I let go of my
Speaker 3: walker and I walked into his arms for the first time.
Speaker 3: Once I kept progressing and making these little steps of
Speaker 3: big faith to me, I thought that anything was possible.
Speaker 3: I started getting involved with every sport in soccer and baseball,
Speaker 3: and I decided that I wanted to take a karate
Speaker 3: because I thought it would be fun, and I broke
Speaker 3: my first board, and I never thought that I would
Speaker 3: have been able to do that. I just loved sports
Speaker 3: and how made me feel, and how free I could
Speaker 3: just be, even though I would fall down or the
Speaker 3: reality of my CP would set in every day, and
Speaker 3: there'd be times where I'd be walking to class feeling confident,
Speaker 3: then all of a sudden I would fall and drop
Speaker 3: all my books and then slowly get up, but then
Speaker 3: look up and realize that there's a crowd of kids
Speaker 3: just staring at me. The embarrassment that comes along with
Speaker 3: the shame and realizing that you're different and just sets
Speaker 3: in as I try to get up and as all
Speaker 3: my friends are realizing that I'm different. And I think
Speaker 3: for me, the big step was just the courage to
Speaker 3: get up or keep moving on. When I fell. There
Speaker 3: comes a time in your life where you have to
Speaker 3: make a decision. Are you gonna stay stuck in the
Speaker 3: place that you're in or are you going to shut
Speaker 3: out all those voices and all those things that push
Speaker 3: you down. But the key to those challenges is the
Speaker 3: courage to get back up and take that next step.
Speaker 3: And then I decided that I would go running with
Speaker 3: me and my friends Hillary and Natalie, And they just said,
Speaker 3: come on out with us, and I said, I've never
Speaker 3: ran before, but bear with me. In my mind, I
Speaker 3: just said, this is horrible. I hate, like it's so
Speaker 3: painful to run and why does anybody do this? And
Speaker 3: as they coached me, I started to realize that as
Speaker 3: a lot of imagery in my life of getting up
Speaker 3: and moving forward, running was the next thing. As I
Speaker 3: started making these steps of progression to make it farther
Speaker 3: and farther each night and running next to my friends
Speaker 3: just with the biggest smile on my face, saying I'm
Speaker 3: doing it.
Speaker 2: Is this right?
Speaker 3: And now my friends are saying, we're gonna push you
Speaker 3: another step into a five K, and I look at
Speaker 3: them as I look at their fitness plan for me,
Speaker 3: and I say, you're crazy. And then I remember all
Speaker 3: those times I got up said I'm gonna get up,
Speaker 3: I'm gonna run. The thing I realize now is that
Speaker 3: there's always gonna be challenges in my life. Whether that
Speaker 3: means I have a disability or not. I'm always gonna
Speaker 3: struggle and get stuck. But I realized that the most
Speaker 3: important thing is to have the courage and the faith
Speaker 3: to get back up. Whether that means I'm doing that
Speaker 3: alone or with people, it needs to be done because
Speaker 3: I'm living my life, not anybody else. And so in
Speaker 3: that process of growing and becoming what Christ has called
Speaker 3: me to be, he needs me to get back up,
Speaker 3: and he needs me to walk alongside of him. But
Speaker 3: I'm running alongside of him now.
Speaker 2: Now, Michelle, yesterday a major barrier was broken, a goal
Speaker 2: that you had that tell us about what happened just then.
Speaker 3: Well, yesterday as I spoke a little bit about it
Speaker 3: in my video. I'd been running for the last couple
Speaker 3: of months, and every time I go out for an
Speaker 3: hour or so and run half a lap or so.
Speaker 3: And just yesterday my friend was pushing me a little
Speaker 3: bit more and I she said, let's go a little further,
Speaker 3: let's go a little farther. And I told her last time,
Speaker 3: last time, or yesterday, I said, I haven't been running
Speaker 3: last week, so bear with me and go easy. And
Speaker 3: she didn't really take that into account. But so as
Speaker 3: I was running a little bit farther one of the
Speaker 3: last times, it was like my third lap, I she said, okay,
Speaker 3: just go a little farther. Something just clicked in my
Speaker 3: head and I said, okay, I'm almost there, just a
Speaker 3: couple more feet. I just say, okay, God, you gotta
Speaker 3: give me the courage, you gotta give me the strength,
Speaker 3: because I don't know if I could do this. And
Speaker 3: as I look up, I see the line where it
Speaker 3: means that I finished. And yesterday it was the first
Speaker 3: time I finished my first lot.
Speaker 2: I have fantastic all right, So so what's your long
Speaker 2: range goal?
Speaker 3: Well, my long range goals. I was discussing with my
Speaker 3: parents would be to take Rick's job eventually, not a chance.
Speaker 3: We can talk about it later.
Speaker 2: We can talk about it later, we can negotiate that.
Speaker 2: All right, all right, would you like to have Michelle
Speaker 2: as a pastor here? Uh? Yeah, you're good. All right.
Speaker 2: Uh so what's your short term goal? Let's start with
Speaker 2: that one then.
Speaker 3: Oh well, physically it would be to do the five
Speaker 3: k as I mentioned in the video, and then eventually
Speaker 3: down the road. Down the road would be to do
Speaker 3: a triathlon and one up my mom.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 3: But occasionally I want to follow this calling that God
Speaker 3: has put on my heart to just sit and be
Speaker 3: with people and tell them that when they have these
Speaker 3: hang ups and when they have these limbs, and when
Speaker 3: life throws them hardships, I want to tell them that
Speaker 3: it's gonna be okay, and that we are going to finish,
Speaker 3: and God is gonna come down and be here and
Speaker 3: we're gonna finish the race together.
Speaker 2: Fantastic. Hey, thank you, Thanks, you love you. You know.
Speaker 2: One of the things that's part of that story is
Speaker 2: that Michelle decided to start running because your small group
Speaker 2: of friends pushed her. Is anybody pushing you, is anybody
Speaker 2: saying you can do this. I know you can do this.
Speaker 2: We'll be with you. God's with you. We're with you.
Speaker 2: Let's do this thing together. And are you doing that
Speaker 2: for anybody? Who are you pushing? Who are you in
Speaker 2: life staying? I'm with you, I'll help you. God is
Speaker 2: with you. He'll help you. You can do this together.
Speaker 2: We're gonna run this next lap of the race together.
Speaker 2: You gotta have those people in your life, friend, or
Speaker 2: you're not going to be the woman God made you
Speaker 2: to be. You're not going to be the man God
Speaker 2: made you to be. You got to have those friends.
Speaker 2: Now there's one last step, and this is my favorite
Speaker 2: one of all. It touches me deeply. The eighth thing
Speaker 2: that the Bible teaches us about the race of life
Speaker 2: is this, I need to realize that what I don't finish,
Speaker 2: God will. What I don't finish, what I don't get
Speaker 2: finished in my life, God will. I was created to
Speaker 2: become like Christ. But if I don't get there and
Speaker 2: there's still some remaining parts left, God is going to
Speaker 2: complete the character development in my life one day, and
Speaker 2: He's going to finish it and bring me to perfection,
Speaker 2: bring me to completion in heaven. Philippians Chapter one says this,
Speaker 2: this is a great promise. I am sure that God,
Speaker 2: who began the good work within you, will continue his work.
Speaker 2: It's his work. He will continue his work in you
Speaker 2: until it is finally finished. Circle that finally finished. On
Speaker 2: that day when Christ Jesus comes back again, friends, what
Speaker 2: a day that is going to be. What a day
Speaker 2: when you either go into heaven or he comes here
Speaker 2: either one. What a day that's going to be. Because
Speaker 2: on that day when you see Jesus Christ, you don't
Speaker 2: see him right now face to face. He's invisible to you.
Speaker 2: But when you see him face to face, every mirror
Speaker 2: neuron in your body, in your brain is going to
Speaker 2: start going overload mirror neuron and you are going to
Speaker 2: be transformed to become like him. Your weaknesses gone, all
Speaker 2: your limps gone, all your fears and faults gone, all
Speaker 2: your failures and frailties gone, all of your insecurities gone,
Speaker 2: all of your blemishes and flaws gone, and you will
Speaker 2: be transformed into perfection one day, and those mirror neurons
Speaker 2: are going to be on overload and you will reflect
Speaker 2: the glory of the Lord. That is such good news. I'm
Speaker 2: not who I ought to be. You're not who you
Speaker 2: ought to be. We're not a fraction of what we
Speaker 2: could be. But God says, that's okay. I'm taking my time.
Speaker 2: I'm cheering you at every stage. You just take every
Speaker 2: step with purpose, because one day I'm going to finish
Speaker 2: what you didn't finish, and you're going to be changed
Speaker 2: boom instantly into my likeness. If you have put yourself
Speaker 2: in my hands, what a day that will be the
Speaker 2: last first on your outline. It's actually first John, not John,
Speaker 2: first John three to two, and it says this, It's
Speaker 2: an amazing promise. Dear friends, dear dear friends. We are
Speaker 2: already God's children, and we can't even imagine what we
Speaker 2: will be like when Christ returns. But we do know
Speaker 2: that when he comes, we will be like him, for
Speaker 2: we shall see Him as he really is. And what
Speaker 2: I don't finish in my lifetime, God is gonna finish.
Speaker 2: I am so so glad for that. In this race
Speaker 2: of life. You may have struggled in the race of life,
Speaker 2: Welcome to the human race. We've all been there. We've
Speaker 2: all struggled in this race. You may have stumbled. We've
Speaker 2: all been there. In this race you may have been sidelined.
Speaker 2: We've all been there. But your race is not over.
Speaker 2: It's not your heart's still beaten. See, your race isn't over,
Speaker 2: and it's never too late to get back up and
Speaker 2: get in the race again. And in this family, you
Speaker 2: are loved. You are beloved, You belong and you can
Speaker 2: become what God meant for you to become. Let He
Speaker 2: always intended. And if you get in a small group
Speaker 2: that learns to be safe and learns to be supportive,
Speaker 2: they will help you back up. Every time you stumble
Speaker 2: and fall on your face. That's okay, it's part of
Speaker 2: the race. And as your pastor, I am committed to
Speaker 2: helping you cross the finish line. It's never too late,
Speaker 2: You're never too old. It's time to get back up
Speaker 2: and get in the race. That's bower Heads Now. Each
Speaker 2: week I give you one or two baby steps as
Speaker 2: a suggestion. And I don't know what baby step you're
Speaker 2: going to take out of this message, but I want
Speaker 2: to begin with a prayer, and I want you to
Speaker 2: follow me in this prayer, say, Dear God, just say
Speaker 2: that in your mind. Dear God, for the first time today,
Speaker 2: I have realized that you are cheering me at every
Speaker 2: stage in the race, and when I stumble, you don't
Speaker 2: condemn me. You cheer me more that you believe in me.
Speaker 2: I want to take every step with purpose. I don't
Speaker 2: want to waste one day of the rest of my life.
Speaker 2: I've done too much of that. I want to accept
Speaker 2: the third purpose of my life, my calling to become
Speaker 2: like Jesus, and I'm willing to take these steps. I
Speaker 2: want to lay off, strip off the stuff that doesn't
Speaker 2: matter in my life, the stuff that slows me down,
Speaker 2: holds me back, especially the sins that trip me up.
Speaker 2: I want to simplify my life and focus on the
Speaker 2: particular race that you have given to me. I'm so
Speaker 2: grateful that you're patient with me. Help me to not
Speaker 2: get in a hurry. I want to be an oak tree,
Speaker 2: not a mushroom, and so I want to spend time
Speaker 2: with you so I can become like you. I want
Speaker 2: to find a special place to spend a few minutes
Speaker 2: every day focusing on Jesus so that I can be
Speaker 2: a mirror that reflects your love to others. And Lord,
Speaker 2: when it gets hard and I'm winded and i feel
Speaker 2: like giving up, help me to remember the reward. Help
Speaker 2: me to remember, Jesus, all that you went through and
Speaker 2: you never gave up. Thank you make me strong, give
Speaker 2: me the support, keep me from falling as you've promised.
Speaker 2: Help me to find a team to run with me.
Speaker 2: At this next stage of my life. I want to
Speaker 2: get in a small group. I want to build a
Speaker 2: safe place for others. I want to spur others on,
Speaker 2: and I want them to spur me on. Most of all,
Speaker 2: You're Jesus. I thank you that what I don't finish,
Speaker 2: you will that one day all of those things that
Speaker 2: I dislike about myself are going to be removed from
Speaker 2: my life. And when I look at you and those
Speaker 2: mirror neurons start flashing, I will become like you. Thank you,
Speaker 2: Thank you that I don't have to stay the same.
Speaker 2: Thank you that you give me the power to change.
Speaker 2: Jesus Christ, I give you as much as I know
Speaker 2: how every part of my life. If you've never done
Speaker 2: this before, say Jesus Christ, come into my life and
Speaker 2: make yourself real to me. If you said that, say
Speaker 2: Jesus Christ. Today, I rededicate my life to you, and
Speaker 2: I thank you that you will finish whatever I don't
Speaker 2: complete in your name, I pray Amen. You know, if
Speaker 2: you just prayed that prayer for the very first time,
Speaker 2: or you just recommitted your life to Jesus again today,
Speaker 2: would you let me know about it. There's something real
Speaker 2: about sharing your commitment. So write me Rick at Pastorrick
Speaker 2: dot com and say, Rick, I prayed that prayer of commitment.
Speaker 2: I gave my life to Christ. And I'll send you
Speaker 2: some material that will help you on your journey with Jesus.
Speaker 2: And I'll also pray for you. God bless you.
Speaker 1: What a fantastic message from Pastor Rick. You know, Daily
Speaker 1: Hope is changing lives every day. Here's Pastor Rick with
Speaker 1: a letter from one of our listeners.
Speaker 2: Hi, everybody today, I want to share a letter from Edam,
Speaker 2: a listener from Canada who talks about the impact Daily
Speaker 2: Hope has had in his life. I love these stories,
Speaker 2: he writes. The Daily Hope Ministry has helped me greatly
Speaker 2: in shifting the lens through which I see life. I
Speaker 2: know now that I was created for God to fulfill
Speaker 2: his purpose. I understand that every trial or every situation
Speaker 2: I face in life is a test of my character
Speaker 2: and is preparing me for Heaven. I started listening to
Speaker 2: Daily Hope at a time when I was confused about
Speaker 2: my existence. This was when times were bad and I
Speaker 2: didn't have a job. I always thought a profession to
Speaker 2: find who I was. But Daily Hope shifted my perspective
Speaker 2: on life and my purpose, and I soon started to
Speaker 2: experience peace in my heart when I least expected it.
Speaker 2: Even though I landed a great job, I understand that
Speaker 2: it doesn't define who I am or my purpose. I
Speaker 2: was created God and for God, and I want to
Speaker 2: surrender fully to his will. So I want to say
Speaker 2: thanks to you and to the entire Daily Hope team
Speaker 2: for the impact that you've had on my life. What
Speaker 2: an incredible testimony of how God's working through Daily Hope
Speaker 2: to bring about strong sense of purpose in people's lives.
Speaker 2: So thank you everybody for your ongoing support and your
Speaker 2: faithful prayers. More lives like Ittoms will be changed in
Speaker 2: Jesus' name because of you.
Speaker 1: Hey, if you'd like to let Rick know how this
Speaker 1: broadcast has blessed you, he would love it. Please feel
Speaker 1: free to send him an email at Rick at pastorick
Speaker 1: dot com. That's Rick at pastorick dot com. Be sure
Speaker 1: to join us next time as we look into God's
Speaker 1: Word for our daily hope. This program is sponsored by
Speaker 1: Pastor Rick's Daily Hope and your generous financial support.