Choosing Which Doors You'll Walk Through with Rick Warren

hello Saddleback honestly hi to all of our campuses watching live the different locations those joining us online if you take out your message notes inside your program the series that we've been in now for several weeks choosing your future is actually just the appetizer for the real series that we're gonna start on Easter Sunday which will be our 2018 spiritual growth campaign and you know that we do these campaigns once a year to help give you a kind of a booster shot to get you growing for the year starting at Easter the series is going to be called the doors to your destiny the doors to your destiny and I spent most of the last year in my personal quiet time studying every time the word door is used in the Bible and in all the different translations it's used I don't know probably mmm 400 or so times and doors are metaphors they're metaphors for a lot of important things in your life and sometimes God opens doors in your life and some kinds God shuts doors in your life and we're gonna be looking at all that doors have a great spiritual significance now I want to begin by first pointing out that you have doors all the time in your life and you don't even realize how many doors you walk through or you use every single day if I were to ask you to make a list count up right now how many doors are in your home well you think front door or maybe back door and and and no that's a few other things no no you got a lot of doors in in your life so I want to have a little quiz here and I want you to raise your hand if you have these in your home do any of you have a sliding door in your home all right anybody have a pocket door you know a pocket door is okay so if you have a pocket door any of you have a front door if you don't how are you getting in all right anybody have a basement door and in figure this California we don't have basement doors anybody have a Dutch door you know I'm talking about the cut now are you Dutch all right Dutch doors all right anybody have a garage door yeah we've all got that one okay does anybody have a fire rated door if you don't know what it is you don't have one all right all right attic door anybody have an attic door okay bathroom door if you didn't raise your hands in I highly suggest you get one for sound and smell two reasons okay all right you need a bat trust me you need a bathroom door okay anybody have an automatic door in their home automatic loafers it closes all right all right shower door yeah good a closet door good all right bedroom door yeah you need a bedroom door definitely - all right so anybody have a revolving door not unless you live in a hotel well as you know the doorman gettig a glass door he may have a glass door got it all right jammed door or squeaky door does anybody have a trapdoor in their house I am NOT coming to your house god bless you all right magic door in behalf of magic door how about anybody have a secret door it's no longer a secret now as I said doors can have a great spiritual significance in your life a door can be an entrance or can be an exit it can be a bridge to something great or it can be a barrier a door can say welcome our door can say you're not welcome it can represent acceptance or it can represent rejection I can't get past that door it can be a gateway or a portal it can keep things separate doors keep critters out of your house keep the warm of the cool air in a door can protect you a door can provide access there's so many implications to how doors are used in your life but there are also many many implications how they are used spiritually in your life in the Bible a door can represent the the the entrance door of salvation or the the passage door of discipleship or the service door of ministry or the the outside door to your mission in life it could be the access door of prayer or the holy door of worship or the the door to fellowship in life there are a lot of implications for the doors in your life a good the Bible calls the Bible itself is called a door it is the mirrored door of gods where the Bible says the word is like a mirror and we when we read the book of God it's not just telling us about God it mirrors what we're really like now our theme verse for this series is the verse there on your outline Revelation chapter 3 verses 7 and 8 and this is going to take us through eight weeks of our spiritual growth campaign for this spring now the background of this verse is this in the last book of the Bible the book of Revelation by the way it's not revelations it's not plural it's the book of Revelation the revelation Jesus starts that book by giving messages to seven actual churches that were in existence at that time and one of them is to the church at Philadelphia 2,000 years before there was a Philadelphia America there was a Philadelphia in what is now modern-day Turkey Philadelphia in Greek means city of brotherly love Philly phileo is that brotherly love and Delphia city of brotherly love and Jesus has a message to the city the church in the city of Philadelphia and here's what he says look on your outline Jesus says I hold the key David in my hand so what's that well I'm gonna explain it in the series so I won't deal with it now but you need this key you you need this key in your life to unlock a lot of things open doors in your life I hold the key of David in my hand the doors that I unlock and open no one else can closed and any doors that I shut and lock no one will ever be able to open now I know Jesus says to this church I know everything you've done so look I'm placing before you an open door that no one can shut he says now I know you're not very strong he's very honest about this but you've kept my word and you've been faithful to me now this is what's called the door of opportunity and he's saying okay I know you don't have it all together you're not that strong spiritually but at least just stayed with me and you're here you're still showing up and you haven't denied me and so I'm going to open an incredible door of opportunity to you you're not as you're not perfect I know you're not really spiritually strong but I'm gonna give you the opportunity of your lifetime I'm opening up a door of opportunity to you he says I've got this key of David which by the way is a reference to Isaiah 22 22 now what he just says there this has happened many many times in my life where God has opened doors for me that I would have no way been able to open on my own and I find myself in situations sometimes just kind of pinching myself and amazing I'm here I'm doing this and I could have never opened this door on my own but God opened the door for me God has done this for our church Saddleback Church many many times over the last four decades where he's opened enormous doors around the world where we are the only church that's actually sent members to minister in every country of the world 197 countries in 26 and members have gone over seas on a peace plan and all kinds of doors have been open because of the goodwill that we've shared that are available to Saddleback Church that have not been available to other churches God opened those doors but here's why we're going to this series I believe God wants to open some major doors in your life doors to your future doors that you've always dreamed of opening ideas dreams vision specifically in this series we're going to look ahead to the next three years I want to help you plan out the next three years of your life and I'm gonna actually help you write out a vision statement of what doors you want to see God open in the next three years in your life and since it's 2018 19 and 20 we're gonna call this the 20/20 vision so what's what is God gonna do in your life between now and the end of 2020 and I in this series I'm gonna help you write out a 20/20 vision of the doors that God has open in life and the doors that you want God to open in your life and in the series we're gonna look at how God opens doors why he opens them where he opens them what you need to do to get ready for the open doors while you're waiting on God to open the door in your life what do you do during that time we're gonna look at all of the implications about looking at the doors that God wants to open in your life so I told you I spent the last year studying this concept of doors all through scripture and I made a list of over 50 lessons that God wants us to understand about the implications about the doors we have in our lives now since last week's message was so long I'm not gonna give you all 50 this week I mean it's gonna be a seven last week's message had a lot of points this week's message will be pointless No won't it'll have seven so you can write these down what you need to know about doors in your life this is really just an introduction to where we're gonna go in our 2018 spiritual growth emphasis okay number one first thing you learn every door is a decision every door is actually a decision in the Bible doors are metaphors for the choices that we make every day that's why I was leading up to this with what I call choosing your future that your choice is not just circumstances determine your destiny more than anything else now every door you walk by you have a choice am I gonna walk through it or not and you learn pretty early in life that there are some doors you shouldn't walk through there are some doors you can't walk through there's some doors that you aren't worth working walking through but every time you see a door you've got a decision will I go through it or not okay number two my destiny will be shaped by which doors I walk past and which doors I walk through your destiny your future for your life will be determined by your choices your decision every door is a decision and it will be determined by which doors you walk through and which doors you walk past now the tough part is knowing the right door because every time you walk through the door there's a cost of time of money there's a cost in partnership let me make this real clear true confession time how many of you have ever walked through a door you thought was the right door and it was the wrong door can I see your hands yes the rest of you are liars and have you noticed that when you walk through the wrong door it's often not easy to get back on the path it's not like you can just turn I made the wrong decision and one step out and now you're back on the path again instantly there's some doors you walk through and it takes years to get back on track you know what I'm talking about it takes years so you don't want to make a bad use of time and money and effort energy and all those things you want to make the wise decisions upfront and what do you need to know to choose the right doors and not the wrong doors in front of you you have to have what the Bible calls is discernment and I'm going to teach you in this series one of the goals is to teach you how to have discernment the more discerning you are the more wise you'll be and the better decisions you're going to make in life the Bible says in Deuteronomy 30 verse 15 god says today I'm giving you a choice you can choose life and success or you can choose death and disaster and here's the problem sometimes you can't see what's behind the door remember Monty Hall door number one door number two door number three and you could say door number three and you either get a car or you get a candy bar and they're not the same and so you know I want to make sure that I choose the right doors so I'm not wasting time money energy and effort in the rest of my life how do you make those decisions discernment we will talk about that one of the ways the sermon is especially important is in your relationships some of you I love you but you were consistently making the wrong decisions about relationships and and I don't think less of you I love you but the fact of the matter is you've had a history of one bad relationship after another and when you talk to me about it say you know you know what's the problem here I said well first let's consider what's the common denominator and every one of these were chips you yeah you okay so obviously here's an issue it has something that's do inside of you now I love you unconditionally as your pastor but the truth is some of you have broken choosers broken choosers you're just not very good at choosing the right relationship let me be frank you suck at it okay and you consistently go to one bad relationship after another you need help that's why I'm here and that's why this church is here you need some good women and some good men in your life who could help you get that broken chooser restored and get some discernment in there and that's so so important that you learn because your destiny will be determined by your decisions and your decisions are determined by what doors you you go through okay number three add or maybe different things first it may be an opportunity from God those are the good doors you want to go through when God gives you an opportunity and I believe that in the next three years that God is going to give you many of you wide open doors like he just did to the church at Philadelphia he said I'm gonna give you a wide open door he's gonna open up doors that are gonna blow your mind and if you walk through them in the right way at the right time and do the right thing it's gonna be amazing in your life a good example of a door of opportunity from God is 1st Corinthians 16:9 Paul says a huge door of opportunity for good work has opened up here now I left the second half of that verse off because I'm going to teach on it later but here's what the second part at verse says it says a huge door of opportunity has opened up for me here and there is much opposition opportunity plus opposition equals God's will when God has a door and he opens it for you it's the right door it doesn't mean it's gonna be a problem-free door oh no no you're gonna have to grow in character you may walk through the right door and you hit a buzzsaw and you go wait a minute I thought that this was the door God wanted me to go through he did but their promise it's not a problem free life God's will God's will means I'll help you solve those problems so he says there's an opportunity but there's also opposition there's always opposition with every opportunity you will never have an opportunity from God that is not opposed by evil and so you should expect opposition even when you know I'm doing the right thing but there's an opportunity from God the right door doesn't mean no problems it means that you just got us giving you this opportunity now it could be an opportunity from God or be a door may be a distraction from others and we all know what this one is it looks like a good opportunity but actually ends up being a distraction keeps you from doing what God wants you to do and when you walk through that door it ends up being a dead end or it ends up getting you off track and that's why you need discernment because not every door is an opportunity from God some of them are distractions from other people God has a wonderful plan for your life but so does everybody else and they're gonna offer you all kinds of opportunities that sound good on how you could use your time your money your energy and they're not good they're just distractions okay so when I see an open door that doesn't mean it's automatically God's will it doesn't mean that it's what I'm called to do with my life it doesn't mean that's my purpose so that's my dream it's just an open door and you have to be able to discern is it from God or is it a distraction from other people a good example of this is the story of of Nehemiah in the Old Testament in the Bible now the Jews were taken captive you remember this when we studied the Book of Daniel and they were moved to Babylon and then the Persians overcame the Babylonians and in this situation Nehemiah rises up to the top and leadership he's like the chief servant for king artaxerxes the king of Persia and Nehemiah is sad because his hometown Jerusalem he's not living in Jerusalem or he's living over in Persia which is modern-day Iran and he's he's seeing his country devastated decimated and destroyed and all the walls around his hometown Jerusalem have all been torn down which means that the people there are vulnerable to thieves and bandits and terrorists and there's no protection this makes Nehemiah sad so he decides to start praying about it and he starts praying for God to open the door for him to do something about this situation he sees that is not good and there's a lot in our society you could be praying about that God would open a door for you to do something about it and so he starts praying he says God I want you to build I want to be able to build a wall around Jerusalem rebuild the wall so that the people my hometown my my friends my families are protected and he's thinking through a plan he fast for it he prays about it and he just waits one day King Artaxerxes comes in and neo mises chief servant he goes Nehemiah looking kind of down in the mouth today a little little gloomy you know are you depressed what's what's going on and Nehemiah goes I'm sad because what he's sad about because because my home town lies in ruins and you know the people there are unprotected and they're being tortured and they're being threatened and they're you know people are taking advantage of them it's a devastated city and and and King Artaxerxes could have just blown it off and done nothing but he says what would you like for me to do for you boom big open door a pagan king who's the leader of the biggest Empire at the time all of a sudden says to the servants what would you like for me to do for you this is an enormous open door and Nehemiah has been prepared for it and he says well here's what I'd like you to do I'd like you to let me to go back there let me rebuild the city I want to do this this and this the King goes well how long do you think it's gonna take he tells him what is well how much money's gonna take he tells him nehemiah has thought it all out now this is a very important point you need to understand sometimes you're waiting on God for him to open the door in your life a job door a relationship door something like that what do you do while you're waiting on God you plan so that when the door opens you know exactly what to say if tomorrow somebody walked up to you out of the blue and said you know God's leading me to help you out but what do you want to do with your life and how could I help you out with it would you be able to give them a plan would you have a written out vision here's what I'd like to do in my life for the next three years or five or ten if you while you're waiting you don't just sit around doing nothing you do the planning waiting on God for the timing to open he'll he'll pick the right time that's what happened in Nehemiah he went when the king says what would you like for me to do he knew what he knew what to do and he tells him all the stuff and so the king goes great fine good let's go you have my permission and here's what you can take with you in terms of resources would you be willing would you be ready to do that see a lot of people think well - faith means it's gotta and open the door just sit around and kind of wait watch TV and eat bonbons no no no that's called laziness while you're waiting God is working and while God is working to get all the things in place for what you want you need to be planning I'm going to help you in this series write out a plan for your next three years so something opens up for you you already are ready to do it now the king lets a nehemiah go back to his home in israel and back to his hometown of jerusalem and he starts rebuilding the wall but not everybody wanted the wall to be rebuilt there were enemies these people who were the thieves and the bandits and the other nations the terrorists they didn't want that but while we built and so they do everything they can to discourage this guy named Nehemiah from completing this big building project and they start off by just attacking him criticizing him and then they move from criticism to ridicule they start to make fun of him that doesn't slow him down then they try to put some barriers in the way at one point they threatened him they intimidate him one time they say we're gonna kill you and none of this works he just God's open the door he just keeps on keeping on he's totally focused he's Purpose Driven and so finally they decide okay we're gonna just if we can't get him to stop we'll just delay it and there are people in your life who they can't get you to stop doing God's will they just get you to delay it and so they come in I said why don't you come discuss it with us now they weren't planning on changing they just want it's a delay tactic discussion is often a delay tactic and the minds gone why would I come discuss some with you when I already know what is God's will I don't need to discuss it with you because I'm not gonna change my mind and here's what he says Nehemiah 6 verse 3 so I sent messengers to them that's the critics with this reply I'm doing an important work right now why should the work stop while I come down to see you some of you need to say that to some people you need to say why should I stop doing what I'm doing I know this is what God wants me to do why should I come discuss it isn't gonna change anything I'm gonna keep doing it you see this is an open door of distraction come discuss it with us and you can miss the real doors that God has in your life by walking through doors that other people opened up that you went through that one instead of this one and you missed it okay so it may be an opportunity maybe distraction number three a door can be a trap from Satan it can be can be a trap from Satan and there are ladies and gentlemen trap doors in this world and many of us have fallen into them Matthew 16 verse 23 Jesus says get away from me Satan you're a dangerous trap to me you're looking at things merely from a human viewpoint not from gods anytime I look at my future from a human viewpoint instead of gods that's a trap anytime I look at my problems from a human viewpoint instead of God that's a trap so you've got to know is it an opportunity from God is a distraction from others it is a trap from Satan and here's the fourth thing you need to know that I've learned from the word if an open door is truly from God here's one of the ways you know one of the ways it will not contradict what God has already said in his word if a door is truly from God an open door surely from God it will not contradict what God has already said in his word there's a lot of things God says in his word he says don't do this don't do this don't do this do this do this God will never tell you something different and if a door tells you something different it's not a door from God let me give you an example let's say you're in a marriage right now that's going nowhere and you're really pretty dissatisfied with it and it's gotten worse and worse and the more it's gotten worse you're not growing together you're actually growing apart and and you're distracted and you're disappointed by your marriage and so now you're looking for a door out truth is you're looking for a door out but you don't really see anyone and and and so you're working every day and you're in a one day at work they put a new employee right next to you and you're a guy let's say and you're dissatisfied with your wife at home and your marriage and and all sudden they put next to you a gorgeous woman who is nice to you and she doesn't complain she compliments you and and and and when she says can I get you this and then home your wife's and get it yourself and you and then you fall in this trap of foolishly comparing tangerines and submarines they're not the same they sound alike but they are not the same okay you know when you're at your work you're you look your best smell your best taste your best you know you it's a phony picture of you it's not you sitting on the couch eating bonbons as I said so and so then you start being a track to this person and the reason I'm telling is because I've heard it over and over and over in 40 years of talking to guys and they'll say you know Rick it's like God just opened the door to this woman say she's everything I've ever wanted and my wife is everything I don't want and and and I know God wants me to be happy well he does but he know what'll make you happy and he knows what will not make you happy and I said well it must be God's will so I'm gonna I'm having this affair and I'm gonna do I'm so happy and it's on I'm gonna divorce my wife and and and and marry this other woman must be an open door absolutely not why well in the first place proverbs says whoever commits adultery is a fool second the Bible says in Proverbs whoever commits adultery destroys his own soul the Bible says that it causes all kinds of pain not just in your life but in future generations I have Ken per person be forgiving of course they can but you know what it doesn't remove the scars and I've never met anybody who was in an affair who said it was painless it is never painless there's always enormous pain that comes along with an affair always emotional spiritual physical and in other ways and so an open door from God will not contradict what he's already said if God says don't do this God's not going to open the door for you to do it that door is trap it's not an opportunity it is a trap and so you don't start looking for you know ways to to defend yourself now we see well then what do I do I'm in a marriage that I I don't you know I don't feel good about the grass is green is not greener on the other side of the fence no matter how much you think it is the grass is not greener on this side of the fence the grass is greener where you water it and if you spent as much time cultivating your marriage as you do complaining about it it would be different grow up accept responsibility you say well I can't change him I can't change her you're right but you can't change you you can't change anybody else you can't but here's what happens in a ratio when you change yourself it forces the other person to change because they can't relate to you in the same way and the old patterns don't work anymore because you're acting in a different way now you're kind you don't retaliate you don't blow up you're being nice you're acting loving so what I don't feel very loving it's easier to act your way into a feeling than to feel your way into an action if you wait for the feelings to come you're never gonna feel loving but if you start acting by choice choosing to act in loving ways toward your spouse you know what the feelings will come back feelings always follow actions not reverse if you start acting loving you'll start feeling loving and it'll come back to you so you actuate into a feeling and he said well I'm waiting on him or her to make the first vote no this is what it calls this is what it means to be a leader leaders make the first move guys you want your wife to treat you like a king treat her like a queen ladies you want your husband to treat wait a minute for you clap this is a double-barrel point if you want your man your husband to treat you like a queen treat him like a king now you all can clap okay okay but don't go around saying well God opened the door for me to have this affair that was not from God all right because he will never contradict this word in Matthew 24:35 Jesus that says heaven and earth will pass away but my word will never pass away if it was true a thousand years ago be true now and a true and a thousand years from today and if it was wrong a thousand years ago it's still wrong today and it'll be wrong a thousand years from today number five the fifth thing I've learned about the doors this is an important one sometimes God shuts a door for my protection and you think it's a bad thing that you lost your job or something went sideways but God shuts the door sometimes for your protection in Genesis 7 16 it says five words then God shut the door you know what that Psalm out Noah in the ark once there on the ark and Noah's done everything God told him doing he's got the animals and his family it says God shut the door and when God shuts the door nobody's gonna open it and when God opens the door for you nobody can shut it including your ex or your critics or your parents if God opens the door for you nobody shot it if he shuts it don't even try to open it why did God shut the door for Noah to protect them from all the rain and the storm and sometimes that happens in your life it doesn't feel good but it's for your protection you might have gotten fired but you don't know why you got fired and in that name makes sense but God had a bigger plan there's a guy in our church who's been a member since the first service in 1980 I'm not gonna give his name but he there were three companies here in South Orange County big companies that were all competing for the same market and this guy friend of mine was the vice president one of the companies and that company the president one day came to the vice president and his friend of mine and he said I want to start doing this and he asked him do something unethical and my friend member of Saddleback said I can't do that I'm a follower of Jesus Christ it's unethical it's wrong and I'm sorry I I just can't do that and he got fired you go whoa a door is shut you lose your source of income that's a shut door didn't look very good at the time but God was protecting this guy because about six months later he gets hired as the president of the competition and then the two other companies because he's a man of integrity his business just keeps growing and growing and growing and growing in God's hands of blessing his honor because God had opened that door after shutting the other door and the other two businesses because they were unethical kept going lower and lower until finally they bought him he bought them all out and he became the president of all three companies now do you think do you think he knew that when he got fired of course not but God knows how to shut doors to protect you and God knows how to open doors to to bless you I was picking on those of you who are married so let me just say to those of you who are single adults some of you have fallen in love with somebody and you love them deeply but they're not good for you and they hurt you and they're inconsistent and one day there but you know hugger slug it's kind of like I can't figure this person out and you and and and then they've started to walk out of your life sometimes God removes a harmful person from your life for your protection do not run after them don't do it when you do that that's called codependency oh please come back please come back please come back I I you know I know you don't treat me well but but just please come you do not need them God has shut the door do not run after them some of you needed to hear that today they've walked out you need to let them walk out because God has a bigger plan a better idea and a greater door for your life he often shuts the door for your protection number six now this is a real important one tuna will come back to it over and over in this series but God will open doors for me if I open doors for others this is a really important lesson you have to learn God will open doors for me if I open doors for others this is the golden rule you know do unto others as you would have them do unto you God wants you to learn to be a giver he wants you to learn to be generous the Bible says in proverbs 11:25 anyone who generously blesses others will be generously blessed and when you refresh others you will be refreshed yourself did you know that there are more command and more promises in the Bible about generosity than any other subject now in that time I just given money I'm not talking about tithing I'm talking about just being generous all the time with people generous with your money but generous with your time generous with your praise generous with your energy brett generous with your home this is called hospitality you're gonna hear me say this word over and over till you're tired of it because it's one of the key values of being a follower of Jesus Christ Christians are to be known for their hospitality what does that mean it means you open your doors to other people it means you're generous with other people now why does God make generosity such a big deal I mean like I said there's more promises that God will bless you if you bless others than any other subject in the Bible why because God is a generous God God is a giver God so loved the world that He gave it's an evidence of love everything we have in life is due to God's generosity the air you're breathing right now the nose you're breathing it with the lung that's going into the beautiful clouds outside the the trees the stars everything you have you didn't deserve it's a gift of God's generosity now you're made in God's image and so God wants you to learn to grow up and be like him God wants you to be a generous man God wants you to be a generous woman he wants generosity be he wants people looking up she's generous he's generous they're hospitable they know how to make people feel welcome they open their doors and their promises after promise after promise God says if you open doors for other people that God will open doors for you because God is looking for people to bless in job 3132 job says I have never turned away anyone but I have opened my doors to everyone now I want to remind you that both before and after Jobe went through all his tough times he was the wealthiest man in the world I don't think it was an accident that he was the wealthiest man in the world because God looked down at him Jobe could say I've never turned away anyone but I've opened my doors to everyone he had an open-door policy of blessing other people helping other people opening doors for other people and God says that's the kind of guy I can use that I can bless my life has been so blessed because people opened doors for me when I was young particularly people opened doors for me I told you about one of them last week when we talked about Billy Graham and his team and how Billy Graham opened doors for me as a young man I could have never never ever opened on my own it was pure grace he had the ability to open a door to give a platform and and and he did and all my other mentors did the same Peter Drucker opened doors for me he gave me platforms one time he he and Peter Drucker invited all of the the most famous students heeds he had taught over the years Jack Wilson and Bill Gates and all these CEOs from major companies GE he invited them all on his 90th birthday to come to Claremont School and he said Rick I want you to teach them what businesses can learn from the church that was a platform I would have never ever had on my own he opened that up for me he had me do that and and so he opened doors for me now if you've been here at Saddleback I've opened a lot of doors for you I've helped you to know God in a more intimate way I've taught you the Word of God I've taught you how to see yourself differently how to see life differently how to see God your past your present future I have opened a lot of doors for you God wants you to open doors for other people so I don't know how to do that well that's one of the things we're gonna do in this series I'm gonna teach you how to open doors for others why because the more you do that the more God will open doors for you and as your pastor I want you to be blessed I don't want you to miss any in this series we're gonna start on Easter Sunday we're starting with Jesus text I am the door and and we're gonna I'm going to teach you part of it will be how to open doors for other people because when God sees that he goes that's the kind of girl I can bless that's the kind of guy I can bless he's gonna do that I'm gonna help you do that okay number seven let me give you one more sometimes god cracks open a door to give me a glimpse of my future long before I'm ready to walk through it why does he do that write this down to inspire me to grow you're not quite ready for what God wants to do but he wants to show you where he's going to take you so you can get inspired and then you get committed that's going oh I need to get ready like Nehemiah because I can see where he's going to take me and I want to do what he must be doing I want to be ready and so it inspires me to grow God has a destiny for your life by the way no one can destroy your destiny except you God won't the devil can't other people can't just no matter what people do to you they cannot destroy your destiny the only person has tried is you because you make the wrong choices God gives you he's out of force his will on you he's not gonna force you to enjoy what he's planned for your life you could choose to ruin your life you can choose to waste your life or you choose the right doors to go through so nobody else can destroy your destiny you're the only one who can mess that up and God says come back to me and we'll get started on it again but sometimes God cracks open the door and you get a little vision go whoa that's what God might want to do with me and you have a dream and you have a vision and we're going to talk about vision a lot in this series and and he wants you to grow when God gives you a little glimpse of it God's vision he never gives it to you all at once God isn't gonna give you a map that shows you from the beginning the end of your life why well number one it's scare you to death because you go holy moly that's what God wants to do with me and it would intimidate you and he doesn't want you being afraid second he wants to keep you close and dependent upon him so he gives you it one part at a time and he has a scroll and you unroll this roll sprawling you you do what that says a and then you unroll it a bit more and you do B and then roll a little bit more you see you don't see the whole thing at once it'd be overwhelming so he wants to keep you close and dependent upon him so he's going to show you the vision a little bit at a time and the other thing is he wants to keep you growing he knows where he's going to take you but you're not ready for it some of you have no idea the success and the blessing in ways that God wants to prosper your life but you're not mature enough to handle it yet and and right now you're a little too selfish God wants you to learn to be about other people and once you start opening the doors for other people God goes let's flip the switch now we're gonna pour out the blessing because I know they're not going to just think they're a rich fat cat and you know live for themselves they've proven that they can handle the blessing that I want to want to pour out on their life now here's what the Bible says about this a back at chapter 2 verse 3 we'll come back to this verse in the series - God says the things that I'm planning for you won't happen right away but slowly steadily surely the time approaches when the vision will be fulfilled we're gonna talk about the 20/20 vision for you for the next three years if it seems slow do not despair for these things will not will surely come to pass just be patient they will not be overdue a single day during this campaign Dorst your destiny I'm gonna help you as I said clarify and actually write down a vision statement it's not gonna all come to pass in eight weeks it's just getting it down on paper it's just knowing where you're going and in God's timetable he will bring it to pass so here's the problem lot of times God opens the door a little bit you get a little vision go oh that's my dream for my life I would love to do that this is what God made me to do this is what I really want to do and then we immediately without waiting on God run out and try to accomplish the vision in our own way and our own time and we fall flat on our face and then we come crawling back to God and go oh god I'm so sorry I really let you down and God says now you didn't let me down because you weren't holding me up you can tweet that and then you go god I'm so sorry did I just miss the vision and you think maybe you it wasn't really a vision from God that dream that you have for your life and God goes no no no I gave you that vision I gave you that dream it's from me you just didn't wait for part 2 in part 3 a vision always has three parts first God says here's what I'm gonna do in your life and you usually get a little glimpse of that and it's something that you'd really love to do and you think that would really be cool and that would be me and you get a vision but then you don't wait for the second part which is how and the way God intends to fulfill the vision in your life is often the exact opposite of the way you think you should do it and that's why you fall flat on your face and you come back God said you didn't wait for part two how I'm going to do this and then you got away for the third part which is the timing when and God's timing is perfect and when you're waiting it's not like God isn't working when you're waiting you're supposed to be preparing and when you're waiting God is getting things lined up in the way that he wants to and God can do more in five minutes on his timing than you can do in 50 years on yours he could flip things around in amazing ways I've seen it over and over again so when he cracks that door it's just helping you see where he wants to take you now what are you gonna need to develop your vision for the next stage of your life well you're gonna need three things write these down this is what you're gonna need since we're gonna call it your 20/20 vision over the next three years here are three things you need to learn number one you need to learn discernment that's an important concept in the Bible discernment is knowing which door to walk through and which door to not walk through which one to walk past and to avoid the waste of time and money and energy and my prayer for you as your pastor is the same prayer that Paul prayed in Philippians 1 this is my prayer for you that your love will keep growing more and more God wants you to grow more and more in love because God is love notice with knowledge and greater discernment circle that phrase greater discernment God says I want you to grow in love I want you to be more loving 3 years from today but I want you to be loving with knowledge and I want you to be loving with discernment so that you notice the rest of the verse so that you will be able to make the right choices notice what helps you make the right choices love knowledge and discernment how do you get a sermon we'll talk about that number two second thing you're gonna need to learn for God to open the doors in your life is you're gonna have to learn courage you're gonna have to learn courage to walk through the right doors because you may know the right thing to do but you still are scared to death to do it you may know the right thing to do but you don't have the faith to actually take the step it's not enough to just know it you've got to have the courage to do it now what is courage courage is not the absence of fear courage is doing the right thing even when you're fearful hurry if you're not afraid you have no courage courage is when you do the right thing even when you're scared to do it it takes courage to go ask forgiveness from somebody it takes courage to offer forgiveness to somebody to reconcile with somebody that takes courage and you're scared to death but you do it anyway and this is something you have to learn in first Chronicles twenty eight twenty day vyd zids of Solomon Solomon has been given the assignment of building the temple which is an enormous building project he's feeling a little overwhelmed David says be strong be courageous and get to work don't be frightened by the size of the task for the Lord God is with you and he will not fail or forsake you he will see to it that everything is finished correctly if God's in it he doesn't sponsor flops and you're good so just have the courage to walk through the right door personally every mage decision I've made in my life both in my personal life and as the pastor of this church every major decision I was scared to death to do I just did it anyway because I am never gonna let fear dominate my life I am NOT gonna let fear run my life so I constantly move against my fears I do the things that I fear the most fear does not respond to logic fear does not respond to complaining fear response to action you got a step into the pool jump in you got a step into the Jordan River or the Red Sea you take the first step full of fear full of fear and when you do the right thing and you're full of fear at that moment you are a courageous woman you are courageously what is it you're afraid to do now I'm gonna come back this I'm gonna teach it to you again because it's so important you'll hear it again in this series most people miss God's will for their life out of fear because what they say is I've got this option out here door number one or door number two or door number three or just door number one that's the only one and I go and you're going I just don't feel peace about it and because I don't feel peace about it then I'm gonna do nothing and most people do nothing because they never feel peace about going through that door let me explain something to you you're not gonna feel the peace on this side of the door you're not supposed to feel the peace on this side of the door you only get the peace of passes understanding after you go through it in obedience while you're scared to death and once you get through it then God gives you the peace but if you're waiting in advance for God to give you peace before you buy a house to start a job or do anything in life you're gonna go through life doing not very much you're not supposed to feel the peace on this side of the door in fact if God asks you to do something it's gonna be big so it's probably going to scare you this is the test will you trust me in faith will you be courageous will you walk through the door even though you're not at peace and when you walk through that door and you do and you've come through on the other side then the peace comes don't expect the peace to come before you obey it doesn't happen that way God only gives you the peace after you obey does that make sense okay and so you've been looking for something for a sign on whether I should do this this or this that God's gonna give me peace it's not gonna happen if it's a big deal in your life the peace comes afterwards that's courage I could teach you how to be a courageous person okay number three third thing you're gonna have to learn and we already referred to this we'll come back to it again you're gonna have to learn how to open doors for other people and you can get good at this you can become a pro at opening doors you said I don't even have many doors over for me hey start opening doors being nice to people being kind to people being hospitable to people showing hospitality to people opening your home for a dinner to somebody just something that's an act of love and watch what God does first Peter four nine open your home to each other to others and show hospitality without grumbling about it each of you should use whatever gifts you have received from God to serve others so I want open doors for you I want God to open doors for you so I'm gonna help you open doors for others during this campaign and we've got a whole bunch of new tools that we developed someone we've never ever done before in a campaign in the past every time we've done 40 days purpose 42 days community daring faith all of 30 or so different spiritual growth campaigns in the small group I make a serious videotapes you watch those videos you study them you answer the questions you'd have a discussion time and you grow through discussion and study this campaign is going to be very different because our groups aren't going to do any study like that instead I'm going to give you some activities that I call Oh or activities and there'll be fun stuff stuff to do inviting people for dinner we're gonna do a thing called a red dork project and we're gonna do a week of hot topics live topic seminars where you invite your friends to pick a seminar they'd like to go to not at the church but in your home and a bunch of other different things totally different because this is not something you learn by listening this is something you learn by doing being hospitable being loving opening doors for other people so I'm gonna help you to learn discernment I'm gonna help you learn courage and I'm gonna help you learn how to open doors for other people now we're gonna start this on Easter Sunday seven times in the Bible Jesus uses the phrase I am and he defines himself he says I am the way the truth and the life he says I am the resurrection and life he says I am The Good Shepherd on Easter week I will do two messages on Thursday and Friday Good Friday services I'm gonna we're gonna look at Jesus said I am the bread of life what does that mean well what are you hungry for you ever been hungry for something you go grazing any refrigerator and nothing satisfies yeah what people are looking for in life is God and they don't know it he's the bread of life and they're hungry but they're looking at they're trying all trying this try that and then on Saturday and Sunday for Easter services I'm gonna do Jesus said I am the door well the door to what the door to purpose in life the door to meaning the door to forgiveness the door to heaven the door to your past forgiven and a home in heaven the door to happiness the door to wholeness the door to health the door to peace of mind the door to joy all these things and on Easter Sunday at Lake Forest and at every other thing we are building a giant door the double door and at the top it's gonna say jesus said I am the door and on the doors it's going to say door to happiness and health and hope peace and purpose and power and love door to real life and at the end of service last year for Easter 72,000 people came to Saddleback for Easter service and all of our service 72,000 and so during the end at the end of the service I'm gonna walk down off the stage and I'm going to personally open those giant doors and say now this this this can't save you but if you're saying Jesus is my door I'm gonna invite you to get up and walk through this door and I'm gonna stand here and shake your hand as you do that will be a moment now will be a moment and to get ready for that a couple things one if you're inviting a friend with you in there you're sitting next to them at that point in the service you can say and I'll say this to them on that day you couldn't say them if you want to go forward I'll be glad to go with you walk with them and walk with them you know they don't have to do it on their own I mean that's what friends do we love people they say you want to go forward I'd be glad to walk with you and you walk through that second I'm gonna need some of you to volunteer to be a counselor to pray with somebody who's a brand new believer and we're gonna give them a pack of material and if you'll help me with that I'm gonna ask you to take out a card a minute and write the word counselor on it and drop it in the basket and I'll invite you to a one-hour training with you and me to have you help me on the week that the new believers come to Christ at Easter that makes sense we're gonna put a door at every campus gonna be a wonderful wonderful time and it'll be a visual example that I am saying I have accepted Jesus Christ as the door to real life inside your program there is a little handout would you pull that out it says Easter prayer covenant we've done this every year now for a couple years where I promise to pray for your friend that you're going to invite to Easter if you give me their name in advance now I'm not talking about inviting family members who already know the Lord or inviting neighbors who are already Christians I'm saying if you're going to invite somebody at Easter they're more likely to come to church than any other time at Easter if you're gonna invite a friend that you care about you want in heaven they don't know the Lord let yet you write their name down there and I will pray for them by name last year I prayed for over 3,000 people by name aloud this is my commitment to use your pastor it says God wants everybody to know the good news and if you will think of somebody you could invite that who done the Lord write their name down there and if you'll invite them I'll pray for them that's our covenant together all right let's bow our heads for prayer with their heads bowed I want you to say God who do you want me to invite at Easter just think about that right now who do you want me to invite at Easter who doesn't know you maybe a neighbor maybe a co-worker at work somebody went school with friend relatives doesn't know the Lord say Lord who do you want me to bring this is one way of opening a door you open a door to salvation when you invite somebody this is God's gonna be looking at this are you gonna open the door for somebody else in just a minute after I finished praying you write their name down on that card and drop it in the basket I'll pray for them and you lord I am very excited about this new series I know that you have opened so many doors for me for our church I want to see you open doors in amazing ways in the lives of our people our family our brothers and sisters in this family of God teach us how to open doors for others teach us diligence teach us discernment and most of all teach us courage to do the right thing even when we're scared to death to do it help us to put into practice all that you teach us from your word help us to know who you want us to invite at Easter and to make that effort to open the door for somebody else I pray your blessing on everybody who's listening right now at every campus online that you would bless their bodies their minds their hearts and their relationships in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit amen thanks for checking out this message on YouTube my name is J and I'm Saddleback's online campus pastor and I would love to invite you to join our online community here are three ways you can take a next step first learn more about belonging to our church family by completing class 101 online second don't do life alone anymore by getting into an online-only small group that meets on platforms like Skype or near more about hosting a group with your friends in your home third join our global Facebook community to connect with others with the online community and be more engaged in the day-to-day to take any of those make steps visit Saddleback comm / online or email online at salabat com hope to hear from you soon [Music]

Channel: Saddleback Church

Views: 255,384

Rating: 4.8178196 out of 5

Keywords: saddleback church, rick warren, choosing your future

Id: 5ern-ZrfbTQ

Length: 64min 41sec (3881 seconds)

Published: Mon Mar 19 2018