Getting Where You Want to Be — Part 3

SPEAKER 01 : 0:02

Hey there, everybody, and welcome to Pastor Rick’s Daily Hope. And whether today is your first time tuning in or if you’re a regular listener, we’re really excited that you’re here. Well, today, Pastor Rick is continuing his series called Discover Your Destiny. So get ready to explore the practical steps to grow in all areas of your life. spirit, mind, body, relationships, and even your career. So stick with us as we uncover God’s incredible plan for your future. So let’s join Rick with the final part of a message called Getting to Where You Want to Be.

SPEAKER 02 : 0:40

Number seven is be patient and persistent. Be patient and persistent. And the reason why you have to be patient and persistent is because it isn’t gonna happen overnight. The bigger your goal, the longer it will take, the more significant your goal, the more time it will be involved and energy, it takes time and discipline. Listen, I have trained leaders Over 400,000 leaders in the last 30 years, I’ve trained in leadership training in 164 countries. So I know what I’m talking about here. And the number one problem with most people is they set their goals too low and try to accomplish them too quickly. We underestimate, oh, we overestimate what we can do in a year. We can underestimate what we can do in 10. I suggest you set big goals and then take a long time to reach them. That’s why we’re calling this the decade of destiny, not day of destiny. Because where you wanna be, you’re not gonna do it overnight. You didn’t get in the mess you’re in overnight. You’re not gonna get out of it overnight. Some of you, it’s gonna take a decade to get out of debt. You’re gonna have to peel that onion a little bit at a time. It never ceases to amaze me. I’ll be out on the patio and somebody will come up and start sharing about their marriage problem and they want me to solve it in five seconds or five minutes. And I say, now, how long have you had this problem? Nine years. And you want me to solve it in five seconds. It isn’t gonna happen. You’re gonna have to work step by step by step by step. And so you be patient and you be persistent. Nothing great is ever accomplished without patience, persistence, determination, endurance. I suggest that you set big goals and I’ve set enormous goals for my life and then I spend the rest of my life going after them. Eliezer did this. He was an example of great patience and persistence. Let me show you a couple examples. First, he’s patient in finding the right woman. He’s not impulsive. He’s not quick on the draw. The Bible says in verse 21 here on the screen, the servant quietly watched her, Rebecca. He wanted to be sure the Lord has made his trip successful. He’s not just jumping at the first chance. Oh, she’s good. Let’s go. No, he’s waiting. He’s patient. He’s persistent. And when he got invited to the home for dinner, he’s very, very focused on what he’s gonna do and he’s persistent. Look at this. It says when they get to Rebecca’s home, verse 33, then the supper was served. But Abraham’s servant said, I don’t wanna eat until I’ve told you why I’ve come. Now I would have eaten. Okay, it’s obvious, I would have eaten. Okay. Okay. But this guy is persistent and patient. I don’t wanna eat until I tell you why I’ve come. And so, all right, Laban, that’s Rebecca’s dad, said, tell us your mission. And here’s what the point is. For you to reach your goal, you’re gonna have to learn how to delay gratification. Most Americans have no concept of delaying gratification. It’s the reason why our entire nation is in debt, including the government. Because we don’t know how to delay gratification. Every time you buy something on credit, you are not delaying gratification. You’re buying something you can’t afford now with money you don’t have. Credit is the number one example of our inability to put off pleasure until we can afford it. What we say is I want it, I want it now and I want it right now even if I can’t afford it. And that’s why you’re in debt. Because you don’t delay gratification. You see the difference between successful people and unsuccessful people is successful people do the things that unsuccessful people are unwilling to do. And they don’t always feel like doing it. Successful people often do things they don’t feel like doing. Unsuccessful people always do what they feel. That’s what makes you unsuccessful. Just do whatever you feel and you’ll be unsuccessful in life. Successful people know how to delay gratification. They do the tough thing first before they have the fun. They do the thing that must be done. They do the right thing before they do the enjoyable thing. And Eliezer goes, yeah, I’m hungry, but let me first tell you my mission. And until you have that discipline to be patient and to be persistent, you’re never gonna reach your goals. Let me give you a verse that you oughta hold onto. Here’s your first promise. You can hold onto this one for your vision and your dream. God says it in Habakkuk chapter two. Habakkuk’s a little tiny book at the end of the New Testament. I like to throw these verses in, because when you get to heaven, I don’t want you to be embarrassed. When Habakkuk comes up to you and says, hey, how’d you like my book? And you go, oh, oh, Mr. Habakkuk, I didn’t even know you were in the Bible. So I’m going to give you this verse so when Habakkuk comes up to you in heaven, you go, oh man, I really love that third verse in chapter two. Woo, that one really helped me in Decade of Destiny. Okay, here it is. Habakkuk chapter two, God is speaking. These things I plan, plan for your life, won’t happen right away. Slowly, steadily, surely, the time approaches when the vision will be fulfilled. Now, if it seems slow, do not despair, for these things will surely come to pass. Just be patient, circle that, just be patient. They will not be overdue a single day. Now, God says it’s gonna happen, but it’s gonna take a while. One of the marks of maturity is learning the difference between no and not yet. Little kids don’t know the difference. When you tell them not yet, they think that means no. A lot of adults think that’s with their prayers. God says not yet, and you think it’s a no. Now, why does it take so long to reach your dream? Why doesn’t it happen like that? Why does it take so long to fulfill a vision, to reach a goal? Why does sometimes it take so long for God to answer a prayer? I’ll tell you why. Because God is more interested in what you are than what you do. He’s much more interested in your character and growing that than he is in your career. Because you’re not taking your career to heaven. You’re not taking your car to heaven. You’re not taking your cash to heaven. You’re not taking your china to heaven. You’re not taking your clothes to heaven. You are taking your character. That’s what’s gonna last. That’s why the most important question in the next 10 years is not what do I wanna have and not even what do I wanna do, but the most important question is what do I wanna be? How do I wanna be different 10 years from today? Do I wanna be a man of God? Do I wanna be a woman of God or a spiritual infant? Do I wanna be a fully grown person? Mature in emotion and spirit, yes. And God says, what you do is gonna last a generation, but who you are is gonna last for eternity. So while you’re working on your goal, God wants to work on you. And that’s why it takes some time. While you set your goal, God says, yeah, go after your goal. I want you to reach this goal. You ought to have a goal. You ought to have a dream. You ought to have a vision. Go after it. Go after it with all your gusto. But while you’re going to go after the goal, I’m going to do some reconstructive surgery on you. And I’m going to change some things that you don’t like about you. And I want to change in you. Now, step number eight, this is important. You must enlist a team for support. you must enlist a team for support. You’re never gonna reach your goal on your own. You’re never gonna fulfill your vision by yourself. Success is never, never, never a one-man show. You’ve gotta involve other people. It takes teamwork, it takes cooperation. Now, Eleazar does this. He enlists everybody he can to help fulfill his mission. He gets the parents involved. He gets the family involved. He gets the relatives involved for support. He does everything he can to get the cooperation of people around him. And all the many times I’ve been to Africa, I’ve heard this proverb over and over and over, and it’s very wise. If you wanna go fast, go by yourself. If you wanna go far, go with others. If you wanna go fast in life, go by yourself. But if you wanna go far, you better go together. You better have a team. You better have a small group around you that’s gonna take you together. Now you see, what really matters in life is not how fast you go. We are impressed with speed, like how quickly you got that done. It doesn’t matter how, it’s not important to have a speedy decision. It’s important to make the right decision because 10 years from today, nobody’s gonna care how fast you made the decision. They’re gonna wanna know, did you make the right decision? Not the speed of it. Nobody cares how long it took or how fast Michelangelo painted the Sistine Chapel. Nobody cares how fast Van Gogh painted his paintings. The speed is irrelevant. What matters is, is it a good piece of art? Does it last? Is it significant? So if you wanna go, you gotta go with other people. You’re never gonna achieve your decade of destiny goals on your own. Why? Well, a couple reasons. One is God wants you to learn the number one lesson in life. And the number one lesson in life is learning how to love. Not what you accomplish, but learning how to love. And not just love people like you. It’s easy to love people like you who are cool. Real love is learning to love the unlovely, the people who are unlovable, the people who are difficult to love. Don’t look at them right now. Don’t elbow them. Real love is learning to love the people who get on your nerve. I said don’t look at them, don’t, don’t. Okay? Learning to love the difficult to love. And let me just say this. If you’re not in a small group, it’s why we insist everybody in our church be in a small group. And we let our small groups study whatever they want to study during the year. But once a year, during our spiritual fall campaign, we want everybody to study the Decade of Destiny material. All of our small groups, thousands of them, from Santa Monica to Carlsbad, are going to be studying for the next six weeks in small groups. And the reason why you need a group is there are some things in your life that you will never be able to change on your own without the help of others. If you could change them, you would have changed them, but you can’t, so you won’t. You need other people in your life who will support you, who will love you, who will encourage you, who will challenge you, who will help you practically and emotionally in prayer and things like that. You have a group like that in your life? I wouldn’t make it without my small group. The one I’ve been in with now, I think I’ve been at, it’s been saying six years, I think it’s eight or nine years, the one I’ve been in right now. And there’s some things that just aren’t gonna change in your life without the help of other people. If you’re not in a small group, I pity you. That’s the laboratory for learning how to love. And without that weekly support, you’re never gonna reach your decade of destiny goals. You need other people. When I started Saddleback, I had giant goals for this church, but I built the team. And that team helped me. I could have never done this by myself. In fact, I didn’t. It was done by a huge team of people. Now notice what the Bible says here on the screen. One person standing alone is easily attacked and defeated and you give up on your dream. but two can stand back to back and conquer. And three people are even better for a triple braided cord is not easy. You get three or four people that you’re supporting their goals, their dreams, their decade of destiny, and they’re supporting your goals, your dreams, your decade of destiny, you’re gonna make it. You’re gonna make it. You gotta have people supporting you. You need a small group for Decade of Destiny. Jesus said this, Matthew 18, 20, where two or three come together in my name, there I will be with them. That’s a promise of God. You don’t have to have a group of 10 people. You don’t have to have a group of eight people. Just get two or three, four people and say, let’s just sit down and we’ll talk about this in a small group. Small is actually better. Now, the ninth step is the most important of all because it’s the most difficult one. Step nine in reaching your vision, your goal, your dream in life is you must pay the price. You must pay the price. Because there’s always a price tag for fulfilling a dream. Always a price tag, a cost for reaching every goal. Now let me give you some advice. I Twittered this, tweeted I guess, this week. Never, never desire the success of another person without first finding out what they gave up for it. Never desire the success of another without first finding out what they gave up for it. Because I guarantee you, they did. Sometimes that giving up is worth it and sometimes it is very much not worth it. They may have given up their health. They may have given up their family. They may have given up on God. They may have given up their integrity. So you need to find out what they gave up. Some things are worth giving up for a greater cause, but there’s always a price tag to everything in life. In fact, there’s only one thing free in life, only one thing, and that is God’s forgiveness of your sins. because Jesus Christ already paid for it. The only thing free in life is salvation. And all you have to do is accept that gift by faith. You can’t work for it, earn it, deserve it. You just say, God, thank you for sending your son to die for me on the cross to pay for all my sins. It’s already been paid for. It’s a free gift. It cost Jesus his life. That’s free. But everything else, there’s a cost. There’s a price tag. Now, Eleazar had to pay a price to get this Rebecca to go back with him. In verse 53, notice it says, Then he gave Rebecca gold and silver jewelry and clothes. He knows the way to a woman’s heart. He also gave expensive gifts to her brother and mother. Smart guy. Hey mom, here’s some gifts for you. And brother, here’s some gifts for you. Goals, great goals require great sacrifice. A great sacrifice of time, of money, of energy, of reputation. You see, a lot of people only wanna be successful if it’s convenient. They only wanna reach their dream goal if they can do it in their spare time. But if you are serious about making the next 10 years of your life the best decade of your life so far, You’re gonna have to pay the price. And that means asking three questions. Write these down. Okay, number one, what will it cost? What will it cost me to reach this dream? In terms of energy, work, time, money, whatever. What will it cost? What discipline? Number two, what am I willing to give? You need to think of that question. And number three, you need to ask the question, this is the most important one of all, is it worth it? Is it worth it? Is the cause worth the cost? You see friends, I’ve noticed now, dealing with a lot of people in life, most people are giving first class allegiance to second class causes. And those causes will inevitably betray them and they will be bitter for it. And they get the gold watch and they go, that’s it? You need to give first class allegiance to first class causes. The greatest use of your life is to invest it in that which will outlast it. And we’re gonna be talking about that in the weeks ahead. Let me pray a prayer of blessing for you. Would you bow your heads? Father, I wanna thank you for these people who are here today. And I pray a blessing upon these people that the next 10 years will be the best 10 years of their life. But Lord, really, you’ve left it up to us. It’s our choice. You’ve told us what to do. And we can either drift or we can have direction. And I pray that each of us will pay the cost the time that it takes to do this six-week preparation that will make the next years ahead of us so much better than all of the past. Now you pray in your heart. Say, dear God, help me to figure out where I am right now and what I wanna change. Help me to clarify what I wanna be and what I wanna do and what I wanna have. in the next 10 years. Help me to take the time to figure out why I want it. Thank you for all the promises you’ve given in your word. I’m asking you for help. Help me to identify the barriers of why I don’t have it already. God, I need your help in creating a step by step plan so that I don’t waste the next 10 years. And when I go through difficulty, help me to be patient and persistent and to trust you. Right now I commit to being in a small group so that I can have a team for support in Decade of Destiny. I’m scared, but I’m gonna do this, Lord. And I’m willing to pay the price in time. I’m willing to delay gratification. so that the rest of my life may be the best of my life. If you’ve never invited Jesus Christ into your life, why don’t you say, Lord, I want in on that deal of the free forgiveness. I need your salvation. I could never earn it. But I ask you to forgive me and I ask you to accept me into your family and I wanna learn to follow you, Jesus. I pray this in your name, amen. Hi, everybody. This is Rick, and I hope you enjoyed today’s broadcast. You know, if you just prayed that prayer for the very first time or you just recommitted your life to Jesus again today, would you let me know about it? There’s something real about sharing your commitment. So write me, Rick, at PastorRick.com and say, Rick, I prayed that prayer of commitment. I gave my life to Christ. And I’ll send you some material that will help you on your journey with Jesus, and I’ll also pray for you. God bless you.

SPEAKER 01 : 21:52

Wow, some powerful words from Pastor Rick today. And now this is really one of my favorite parts of the broadcast. This is letters from our listeners. And now here’s Rick.

SPEAKER 02 : 22:03

I love getting letters from you. Let me share a little bit longer one. It’s from Sarah and her four-year-old son. She said, Pastor Rick, my husband and I are involved in a church plant in Salem, Massachusetts. And I make an effort every day to listen to other pastors preach via podcast. Well, I began listening to your Daily Hope podcast and I stumbled across Christians in the Workplace and that small group study that you did. That has been a great study and quite relevant to us. Thank you for making your materials available beyond Saddleback Church. Pastor Rick, as a result of my regular listening to your podcast, my son now frequently asks to listen to the sermons. He’s four and a half years old. And one morning on our way to church, he asked me to put on a sermon. Ha ha! I love this kid. He said, I had a Pastor Craig podcast in the queue, but began to listen. But my son kept asking him to listen to a sermon by you. And I kept telling him this was a sermon. Then he said, no, I want to listen to Pastor Rick Warren. That’s funny. Well, when your four-year-old son Sam asked to listen to Rick Warren, you listened to Rick Warren. So I asked Sam, why I like to listen to you. He said, I like what Pastor Rick says. And he said, he says, if you don’t swing from one bar to another, you’re just going to hang there. Well, I was shocked that he had picked up that truth. That was just one of the recent Daily Hope messages where you talked about faith. And you were referring to where trapeze artists have to let go of one bar before they reach on to the second. And all of that just to say, thank you for the work you do, for the messages you teach. And it goes noticed even by the youngest of human beings, my four-year-old son, best, Sarah. Well, what can I say, Sarah? This is just such a great story. thank you. And thank your four-year-old son, Sam, for listening. And thank you for your ministry in Salem, Massachusetts. May God bless your church. And may all of you join me next time as we continue to look at God’s word for our daily hope.

SPEAKER 01 : 24:07

Hey, if you’d like to let Rick know how this broadcast has blessed you, he would love it. Please feel free to send him an email at rick at pastorrick.com. That’s rick at pastorrick.com. Be sure to join us next time as we look into God’s word for our daily hope. This program is sponsored by Pastor Rick’s Daily Hope and your generous financial support.