Learn How To Grow In Your Faith with Pastor Rick Warren

if you take out your message notes I want to welcome you to 40 days of Prayer our spiritual growth campaign for this year now we've done a spiritual growth campaign every year for decades it's an important part of your personal growth and the growth of Saddleback Church where we focus intensely on a theme we've done 40 days of purpose in 40 days of community 40 days of peace and 50 days in the word and transformation and on and on and on we've done one almost every year it's an important part of Saddleback that we focus intensely on spiritual growth why because most of the problems in your life come from spiritual immaturity when we're not spiritually mature we make dumb decisions we build our decisions based on how we feel which is a terrible basis for making decisions well I just feel like doing it well your feelings are wrong a lot of the time and you're manipulated by your moods mature people make decisions based on truth not based on feelings so many of the problems in our world today national debt and other things like that happened because of immaturity that people don't know how to do what's wise how to do what's mature and so the Bible tells us that growth is God's will for your life you know earlier we had these little girls out here with toshin and Kristy and their cute babies are cute kids are cute but a child that doesn't grow up that's not cute that's tragic it is possible to grow old and not ever grow up you know you know as well as I do I know a lot of old people who are spiritually and emotionally immature they never grew up they grew old without growing up God wants you to not stay as a baby in diapers he wants you to be spiritually strong he wants you to be a man he wants you to be a woman of God and that's what we look at every spiritual growth and pain growth is God's will visions chapter 4 there on your outline at the top verse 14 says this we're not meant to remain as children at the mercy of every wind of teaching other words you just fall for anything when you're immature instead we're meant to hold firmly to the truth in love and to grow up in every way into Christ we're not meant to remain as children but we're meant to grow up circle the word grow up we're to grow up in Christ and what is the perfect picture of maturity look at Jesus Jesus is the ultimate picture a spiritual emotional intellectual maturity and to have the thoughts of Christ and to know how to respond like he did be a whole lot better in your life now every campaign that we do is built on six pillars of spiritual growth and before we actually get into the subject of prayer which is an important thing for breakthroughs and miracles and all that God wants to do in your life comes through prayer we'll talk about that starting in the next session and this week I want us to look at why we do what we're gonna do the next 40 days so you understand the reason behind it and there are laws of spiritual growth that you cannot violate God is a God of order and he makes things based on principles he designed the universe built on principles of physics and the physical laws like a gravity and the second law of thermodynamics and a lot of other laws are what guide the universe and make the universe actually work and just as there are physical laws that got invented for the universe there are spiritual laws that God has invented for your life and if you want to grow you got to cooperate with them why don't you write these down number one first law spiritual growth we'll look at three and then we'll sing and look at the other three the first law is we grow when we feed on God's Word we grow when we feed on God's Word this book this Bible is your soul food now you know that you can't be physically helped if you eat junk food all the time you can't be spiritually healthy unless you feed on the truth feed on the word of God now how what kind of help would you have if every Sunday you ate this giant Sunday brunch buffet and just gorged yourself with all this food and the rest of the week you ate nothing well it would harm your health and it harms your health if all you get a spiritual truth is what you get on Sunday that's not enough you got to eat a little bit every day you've got to feed your soul not just once a week going to church you got to feed your soul a little bit every day are you gonna be a spiritual limp you're not gonna have the strength that you need in order to do what God wants to do in your life Matthew 4 verse 4 Jesus says this people need more than bread for their life they need peanut butter and jelly - no that's not what it says okay people need more than bread for their life they must feed on the Word of God and that's what God wants you to do to feed on it a little bit every day we want to help you develop that habit where there's 5 10 15 minutes a day in Acts chapter 20 the Bible says this verse 32 Paul says the word of grace that's the Bible the word of grace is able to build you up and give you all notice this all the blessings that God has for his people would you like to have all the blessings that God has for you yes and as your pastor is your friend is your spiritual coach I want you to have all the blessings the God has for you that's why we do these campaigns and how do you get all of the blessing that God has for you he says right there the word of grace will build you up when you get mature then God can give you all the blessings he has for you there's some gifts you can't give a baby because it'll destroy him there's some gifts you can't give a young child it will destroy them there are some gifts God wants to give you but he's waiting for you to grow up he says the word of grace the more you get into this book he says the word of we'll build you up build you up to maturity and then give you all the blessings that God has for his people now how do you do that how do you feed on the Word of God well let's go back to what we call the hand illustration of five ways and then the palm is the sixth way to get a grasp on the Word of God we teach this in class 201 but some of you took 201 in the 1800's so let's just review it again your hand represents six ways to get into God's Word here it that's your pinky finger read it that's your ring finger study it that's your middle finger meditate or memorize it and then meditate on it meditate means to seriously think about it and the palm is to apply now if all you do the only spiritual input you get is by hearing like you come to church on Sunday that's the only time you hear the word of God or maybe you listen to it on the radio then you only have a grip like this and the Satan can feel the word from you very easily he can steal your joy steal the promises all these things he could steal it from you because you don't have a grip on the word of God why we forget 95% of everything we hear within 72 hours that depresses me as a pastor by Wednesday you will forgotten everything I said unless you happen to write it down which is why we never teach without giving out notes because the shortest pencils longer than the longest memory if you hear the word of God and then you read it a little bit every day you've got a better grip Satan can't pull it away from you as quickly if you hear it and you read it and you study it okay and and we have ways to teach you how to say the Bible you got a bigger grip when you memorize it now you got a really good grip and when you actually think about it that's called meditation you seriously think about what does this mean to my life now you got a grip and when you apply it that's the palm nobody is taking this out of my hand they're not gonna get it out of my hand because I've got a solid grip on the word of God for the next 40 days we're going to teach you or reteach you how to hear read study memorized meditate and apply the word of God specifically in the area of Prayer and these are some some habits so we're going to teach you how to do this so you get a good grip so you you're not a immature baby and you forget all that stuff but you know what God wants you to do so that's the first principle here's the action step we're gonna do for 40 days a daily time with God for 40 days and I'm gonna ask you for the next 40 days to spend five minutes 10 minutes 15 whatever half-an-hour whatever you got a little bit every day where you gonna feed on the word of God and that's gonna make you healthier okay number 2 second law spiritual growth we grow when we learn in different ways we learn when we grow in different ways and let me explain this God made us all different we're all unique there's nobody in the world like you never will be never can be even even identical twins are different in thousands of different ways you have a unique voice print a unique I print a unique thumbprint finger prints hand print and the unique footprint you have a unique heartbeat and you have a unique learning style you learn differently then the person sitting next to you learns differently learns and so if you're going to grow you've got to learn other learning styles and you have to know what your learning style is notice in Luke chapter 3 verse 18 it says about John the Baptist in many different ways John preached the good news to the people how did he preach in different ways why did John use different teaching styles because we all learn in different ways which by the way is one of the reasons I don't do all the teaching here I think it's important for you to hear the word of God from other people besides me I don't want you to have your entire spiritual diet coming through one personality pastor tom has a different personality pastor buddy has a different personality when they teach they use different styles and and then I bring in the best teachers I can from across America and around the world because I want you to hear God's Word more than from just me I want you to hear it in different styles and it doesn't bother me to go oh I like I like buddy's teaching the best or I like Tom's teaching the best or I like that guy we had or that woman we had or whatever that's good we all have different styles of learning so we need different styles of teachers now let me explain this in a little more detail because we're gonna use all these learning styles the next 40 days that's what makes a campaign different than just like a sermon series some of you are auditory learners you learn by listening you learn you hear it you get it I got it okay all you had to do is tell me I got it you learned through the ear if you're an auditory learner you love church why because that's the primary way we use in most churches what we're doing right now sit still while the teacher instills and everything you're hearing right now is going through the ear gate and if you learn that way well that's good problem is we forget what we learn unless we write it down and the other problem is a lot of people aren't auditory learners there's some people say I don't like to listen but I like to read or watch and so I'm a visual learner show it to me don't tell me show it to me and I see it then I can do it I can watch a video I can read a book and I learned through the not the irrigate but the I get you're a visual learner some of you are actually oral learners and you learn by talking you learn through the mouth and if you're an aural learner you love small groups why because that's where you get to talk and so that's where you learn your cut you can't talk in a crowd this big so you may not be learning as much whereas when you get in a small group and if your oral learner when you talk your mind starts engaging in fact all of us know people who their mind doesn't really engage until first their mouth starts engaging now don't look at them you know who they are and it's no different as some people learn through the ear some people learn through the eye and some people learn through the mouth and actually you don't really think about us stuff until you start talking about it and when you talk about it you go hmm that's what I believe and maybe you've never even thought about it but as you say the words your mind is is actually activating and so it's important for you to talk about what you believe because that actually helps you form what you believe that makes sense now there are some people who say I don't like to listen I don't like to read and I don't like to talk they're called men okay now that's a generalization generalizations are often generally wrong but it is true a lot of guys there and aesthetic learners in other words they learn hands-on they learn actually by doing it nobody learns to play football reading a manual nobody learns to play golf listening to a lecture people go I said let's just go play catch let's go you know shoot some hoops let's let's go after the driving range and and knock some balls around and you actually learn by doing and those are cadet aesthetic learners who learned by with your hands it's hands-on learning and and the average guy say you know something's wrong with the car let me just get into the hood here I'll try to figure out don't give me a manual off I'll just figure out how to put this carburetor back together and or let me figure out how to plug in the stereo and how to wire it all right and I can figure out how to download that app and how to install that program and I'll just figure it out by doing it that's it there's not right or wrong and so what we're going to do during the next 40 days is we're gonna teach you on one truth prayer but we're gonna teach it through the ear you're gonna hear sermons on it every week seven messages you're gonna learn it through the eye you're gonna watch seven videos about it you're going to learn it through the math you're going to discuss it in the small group you're gonna read a daily devotional you're gonna do some projects with your small group and we're it's like taking a nail and instead of just hitting it one time you hit it four times if all if all you do is come the next four week of 40 days and listen to the sermons you're not gonna get anything out of this because the sermons the messages I'll teach the next seven messages are 10% of the campaign we got nine of the things we're doing and most of them happen in the small group and that's where you're gonna learn all these other different styles rather than just through the ear so we learn in different ways now notice even God understands this he made you and so in job 33:14 he says God speaks in different ways and we don't always recognize his voice and so God speaks in different ways because people learn in different ways and we don't always recognize what's going on you know growing up in a pastor's home my dad was a pastor and he's a pretty good teacher but I would watch to say how come people could be in my dad's church for 20 years and they're still cranky self-centered grip' gossips mean to people and you don't feel like the gospel or the good news actually penetrating their heart it's not changing them and I think how in the world can they sit and hear the truth week after week after week and it doesn't even change them it's still self-centered well there's a couple possibilities for it one is they're not taking notes and so everything they're learning they're forgetting all but 5% by Wednesday you could have come to Saddleback for the last 38 years heard everything I've taught and you'd only remember 5% unless you wrote it down so they they're not writing it down so they're learning it and the other is maybe it's not their learning style if their primary style is not through the ear but through the eye or the mouth or the hands sermons aren't enough to get them to maturity they need more than that so in a campaign we're going to use all four of these learning styles and rather than just hitting it one time with a message we're going to hit it hearing it and reading it and studying it and memorizing it and meditating on it and doing it and then a group and the I gate and the ear gate in the mouth is this make sense that's where we're going it's more than a simple sermon series much more complex that's why it takes the better part of a year to produce our spiritual growth campaigns all right here's the third law a spiritual growth we grow when we develop spiritual habits we grow when we develop spiritual habits I cannot overestimate leave you the importance of you building good habits in your life if you build good habits in your life you're gonna have good character if you have good character you're gonna have a great destiny your habits determine what you are and what you are determines where you go in life your character is the sum total of your habits now you can't say for instance I have I'm a kind person I have the character quality of kindness unless you're always kind unless it's habitual to you you're it's your habit to be kind if you're only cat kind 25 percent of the time you're not a kind person if you say well I I have integrity I'm honest if you're only honest 25 percent of the time you don't have integrity integrity means you you are habitually honest you are habitually doing the right thing if I were to say to my wife honey I'll be faithful to you 28 days of the month partial faithfulness is unfaithfulness partial obedience is disobedience I can't say I'm a faithful husband if I'm faithful most of the time no no it has to become a habit in your life now there are lots of habits you need to grow in your spiritual life there dozens of them we talked about some of the basic ones in class 201 if you haven't taken that class you should take it but in this next 40 days we're gonna focus on four specific habits and we'll talk about that in just a minute but first I want you to notice in scripture how do you develop habits well you develop them by repetition and by practice John chapter 13 verse 17 jesus says this now that you know these things you will be blessed if you what circle circle that practice them if you do them you practice them you don't get God's blessing for knowing the right thing to do you get God's blessing for doing the right thing for practicing the right thing and for making it a habit in your life and the way you build any habit in your life is two ways through repetition and through practice you often wonder why why is our spiritual growth campaign 40 days or 50 days sometimes we'll do 40 days of prayer 40 days of purpose 40 days of community 40 days of peace 40 days of love we've done 50 days of faith we've done 50 days of transformation and we usually do 40 or 50 days why I'll tell you why study after study shows it takes six weeks for you to develop a new habit six weeks you have to do something every day this is whether it's exercise diet or a spiritual habit or anything else you got to do it every day for six weeks before it actually becomes a habit in your life it takes about three weeks to become comfortable with something it takes another three weeks for it actually to get ingrained in your life now forensics you know you I don't have to tell you this you know that to read the Bible a little bit every day and pray is a good idea that it would actually make you stronger spiritually but you don't have a daily time with God and the reason why is you've never gone six weeks without missing it's not a habit in your life here's what most you do you read the Bible and you pray for a day or two and then you miss a day and then you read your Bible for a day and you miss two days then you read your Bible for three days in a row and prayer and then then you miss a week and then maybe you missed a month well you're not developing the habit because you got to do it every day for six weeks doing it that way it's like rolling up a ball of string and dropping it rolling up a ball of string and dropping it rolling up a ball string and drop it it you keep on doing everything you're doing every time you miss it so what we want to do is try to develop some some habits in your life the you'll use the rest of your life that will help you grow and be strong we want to develop in the next 40 days and if you'll do it every day for 40 days it'll become part of your lifestyle some of you had habits in the past you've dropped them off this is a time to go back to what God wants to do he says now that you know these things you'll be blessed if you practice them what happens when you practice good habits spiritual habits you grow look at the next verse Hebrews 5 chapter 5 verse 14 solid food is for mature people now you know what I'm talking about here babies eat Gerber pablum they baby food when you're mature you get to eat a steak a baby can eat a steak it's not mature enough to eat a steak he says solid food is for mature people whose minds notice this have been trained by practice that's called habit no minds have been trained by practice to know the difference between good and evil one of the reasons you have a lot of problems in your life is you often make bad decisions because you don't know which thing to do - I do this - this is this right or is that right is this wrong is that wrong this good is that evil and you don't know how do you how do you make wise decisions you become spiritually mature then you know the difference don't do that you know Treasury agents in America when the United States government wants to teach Treasury agents how to identify counterfeit bills they don't give them counterfeits to study in fact they never will ever show an agent a counterfeit bill they give them the real deal a real $100 bill real $50 bill and they say study this look at it memorize it meditate on it think about it immerse your life and know it backwards and forwards memorize what it looks like and when you know the real deal when they see a current assets counterfeit say I don't know pain I could tell in a second it's counterfeit why because I know the real deal well what about that well that's counterfeit - how do you know cuz I know the real deal the problem why a lot of Christians get by lined and sideline because they know no the real deal so well maybe that's okay I'll just go do that maybe that's okay to believe that that's okay because they don't know the real deal and so they people selling counterfeit ideas and counterfeit thoughts all the time and they don't know the difference why they're not mature how do you get mature habits solid food for the mature whose minds have been trained by practice you do it over and over repetition and practice nobody gets to the Olympics on I just hope to get there someday you have to set up habits and be disciplined and doing it you know friends over my life I've met a lot of very successful people and I've met a lot of very unsuccessful people and I'll tell you this the difference between successful people and unsuccessful people simply this successful people put the time and energy into developing habits and disciplines that unsuccessful people are unwilling to develop these people are not willing to pay the price successful people are just normal people who decide to develop good habits that take them for the rest of their you determine your habits and your habits determine you and these people over here I don't know if I want to do that and the same is true in his spiritual life you know yesterday I read about Tom Brady most successful NFL quarterback in history he's also the oldest player right now he's and he's the oldest player in the NFL and he's the best town in the world does Tom Brady state the best in the entire NFL he has team members on his team that weren't born when he started playing football how did he get to be so good and it had a list of all of Tom Brady's habits that he does every single day with extreme discipline that other people are not willing to do everything the first thing gets up in the morning he drinks 20 ounces of water right off the bat and there's a whole list of all the things he does to stay in peak mental physical in an emotional shape he's willing to pay the price he's developed the habits and they have paid off for him and other people aren't willing to develop those habits so he's still around being the best even though he's the oldest at all that's going on the Bible says this in first Corinthians 9 verse 25 all athletes train hard and practice to get better now they do it to win a prize that won't last but we practice to win a prize that will last forever in eternity the habits you build in your spiritual life are gonna have payoff for ever and ever and ever and ever in eternity now there are a lot of habits we could teach you but during 40 days of prayer we're gonna focus on these four that are there on your outline first the habit of weekly large group worship that's what we're doing right now then the habit of small group fellowship then the habit of a daily time alone with God where you pray a little bit and you look talk to God and you read the Bible to let him talk to you now notice it's large group small group and personal it's three different kinds of habits and then the habit of memorizing God's word these four will change your life more than almost any other thing in your life now these first two large group worship and small group fellowship where did we get that idea from the Bible it's the way all the churches in the Bible organized let me show you look up here on the screen this is the first church it was in Jerusalem and these are the first Christians and here's how they organize themselves every day the believers had the habit notice there's that word and a lot of meeting together not just on Sundays but they met different groups met during the week every day the believers had to have at a meeting together in the temple courts that's what we're doing here large group worship and also in their homes that small group fellowship there are things we can do here we can't do in a small group but there's things we can do in a small group we can do here we can't pray for your needs you can't say I've had a tough week you can't say I need help for this you can't ask a question there are a lot of things you can do a small group you cannot do in a large group so you need them both they ate together and they celebrated with happy and thankful heart so they're partying they having a good party they praise God and the whole community is system talking about the church timeless community around the church the whole community's liked what they saw in these people and as a result the Lord added to their groups daily as their neighbors were being saved if there was any one verse in the Bible I would want to be true about Saddleback Church it's that verse I would like people go look at those people over there they seem to be a little less stressed than we are they seem to have a little bit more purpose in their life where they've got the exact same problems that all of us do but they seem to handle them a little bit better they've got some maturity in them they're not blown around they're not emotionally and manipulated by moods they're not driven by their feelings and they seem to be more stable more less stressed even though they've got the same problem and they go I want to go check that out and the church grows and your neighbors come to the Lord and they accept Christ because they see the difference in your life that's my prayer for our church too that we would do that so to be a strong believer you need both rec weekend worship and during the week small group you need both they have both are important for spiritual muscle then the other two habits are a daily time alone with God where you read the Bible a little bit and you pray and and a habit of memorizing God's Word now I'm gonna ask you a question I'm gonna ask you to raise your hand if you're if you say yes to this how many of you at the end of your life would like people to be able to say about you she lived or he lived a successful life yeah okay hopefully that's all of us because I don't want you to be a failure I certainly want you to be a success as your coach as your pastor spiritual coach I want you to succeed it's my job to help you succeed in every area of your life and your finances in your your relationships your marriage your career your help there to be successful in every area alright in the Bible there's only one place in the Bible where God promises and guarantees success would you be interested in that verse yeah okay let me put it on the screen it's Joshua chapter 1 verse 8 and here here's what God says is the key to prosperity and success in life always remember what is written in this book it's talking about the Bible so you need to remember it read it and think about it now that's the hand we got to remember it we got to read it and we got to reflect on it hear it study it memorize it Rita he says if you remember what's written you memorize some verses in the Bible and you read it and you reflect on it you think about it every day and then you be sure to obey it that's the apply be sure to obey everything it's written that if you do this you will be prosperous and successful in your life okay you think God's lying think God's just teasing you you ain't gods just making this up no God says you want to be prosperous you wanna be successful well you're not doing what will be the key to it this is the owners manual for life and if you do this you'll make a whole lot fewer mistakes if you read it and study it and memorize it and you get in it he says I will promise you you will succeed in your life you want to succeed in your business you need to read it reflect on it remember you need to do all these habits that we're just talking about now to help you with these four habits we're not just gonna leave your honor on your own for the next four weeks we've been working all year on this guidebook and it's called the 40 days of prayer guidebook it's a beautiful guidebook it's full color and it's about 260 pages of stuff that's going to help you the next 40 days build these four habits into your life and if you do that it'll change your life for the rest of your life and it's got a journal in it it's got studies in it it's got all of the small group stuff in it it's got promises in it and we've worked really hard at this anybody who's in a small group is going to get one of these free you're gonna get one now you can't get it any other way all is by being in a group because this doesn't work unless you're in community with other people so this tool will help you build those four habits over the next 40 days all right the last three will go through these real quick number four the fourth law of spiritual growth is that we grow when we help each other grow we grow when we help each other grow you cannot grow to spiritual maturity by yourself it ain't gonna happen no way Jose not a sip nothing zero it isn't not going to happen you cannot grow to be the person God wants you to be by yourself you need me and I need you and we need each other God wired us in such a way that nobody grows to maturity by themselves you go by yourself you're gonna be a lonely stunted spiritually person that we wimpy and weak and not mature the more you involve other people who are strong in the Lord in your life we grow together it's relational spiritual growth is relational we're better together Romans chapter 1 verse 12 Paul says I want us to help each other with the faith that we have your faith will help me and my faith will help you you have to have other people in your life God wired us this way how many times I've talked to you about the verses called the fifty-six one and others in the Bible fifty-six commands you cannot obey unless you're in a small group love one another care for one another help one another encourage one another pray for one another you can't do it in the crowd like this serve one another share with one another build each other up be there for each other own around fifty six times God says the only way you grow is in community the only way you grow is in relationships the Bible says the hand can't say the foot I don't need you and the ear can't say the I I can't need you in the body price one part is I don't need you a hand severed from the body of Christ is worthless can't do anything and I sever i severed from the body of Christ can't see an ear severed from the body of Christ can't hear you have to be connected in order to grow you have to be connected in the body of Christ in order to grow now this is the exact opposite of every other faith every other faith says the holiest most righteous most pure person is the person who isolates themselves from dirty rotten humanity goes up and lives in a cave high up on the mountain is some kind of guru and stays away from all the people who are evil wicked mean bad nasty and then they're really holy jesus says no no no no no I made you to be with people and Jesus is not hiding in some cave he's out in the marketplace all the time he's going to parties he's going to weddings he's a wedding crasher okay you see most of what you see Jesus doing he's hanging out with people parties in fact the religious people so hated the fact that Jesus hung out with people having a good time they called and they said he's a glutton and a wine-bibber he said he's a drunk and he's an overeater he drinks too much and he eats too much that's what they said about Jesus he was a party animal why because why is being in a small group and being with other people important to your spiritual growth because the number one thing God wants you to learn in all of life the most important thing God want you to learn is I love how to love God and now to love other people and you can learn to love other people you can't learn love in a cave the very reason you don't want to be in a small group as a very reason you need to be in a small group so you know I might there might be some people who disagree with me there might be some people who kind of irritable yeah it's you you're irritable and you need people in your life is sometimes think differently than you that challenge your self-centeredness that teach you to be giving to think of other people the most selfish person on earth is a baby III me me it's all about me and everybody exists for the baby's needs it is only when that baby grows up to maturity that it can actually think about other people and some people never grow up they're stuck and it's all about me my schedule not your schedule my knees not your needs my problems not your problems my priority is not your priorities it's all about me so we need each other we grow when we when we reach each other and we're together in groups the only growing community here's what the Bible says Hebrews 10 verse 24 to 26 let us be concerned for one another to help one another to show love and to do good basically to one another let us not give up the habit there's that word again this is the habit of fellowship the habit of meeting together by the way that verse is talking about small groups because in the Bible days there were no church buildings there were no church buildings in Christianity for the first 300 years 100 percent of church was at homes in small groups so he's saying let's not give up the habit of meeting together in these homes as some are doing instead let us encourage one another all the more so here's the action step write it down you want to grow join a small group join us punk you want to grow he said well I'm not willing to pay the price then you're then you're willing to beat and mature now how many of you are in a group right now see yeah most of you okay Saddleback is the only church in America that has more people in small groups that actually come on the weekend this week in an our church family and all of our campuses we'll have about 30,000 people hi everybody those days are watching right now hi all the other campuses about 30,000 people in church this morning but during the week we have about 4 thousand people meeting in over 7500 small groups those small groups go from Santa Monica all the way to San Diego every city in southern california has Saddleback small groups in it if you're not in one now's the time to get in one and the easiest way to do is just start one how many people you have to have a small group to be a group three to Jesus said wherever two or three are gathered in my name I'm in the midst of them small is actually better three is better than five five is better than eight eighth better than ten you get more than ten people two small groups somebody stops talking and tends to be dominated by the most boisterous and outgoing person and so you know it's a start a small group you just say get a couple friends say hey you want to study this material on prayer for the next 40 days I'm not asking to do it the rest of your life I'm just saying for 40 days you say kick in can you want to study this with us and get a couple friends shadow how many friends I will buy you two friends okay I so badly want you to be in this I'll buy you some friends for the next six weeks some of you around fifteen years ago when we did 40 days of purpose and I really wanted everybody to get the material like I want this year and so I said I we need every single person in our church to be in a small group and to do that we're gonna need to start about foot have about 3000 groups total at that time we only had 800 small groups in our church so I said I need 3,000 of you to volunteer to be a host for six weeks anybody can do this a teenager can do this a senior citizen a little old lady's in her 90s can do this you don't have to teach anything you're not to lead anything you just host H OS t and I said H stands for you have to like people if you don't like people you're grumpy we don't want you okay you got to really be nice to people have to like people o open up your home or your apartment or an office or go to the Starbucks and pull out your laptop or park open up your home serve something to drink coffee tea water tea turn on the DVD player if you can do that you can be a host and I said I need 3000 of you to sign up and be a host and that weekend 3,200 people signed up to be a host so I said okay look this is the only way you're gonna get this materials get in a small group I can train you how to be a host in about 25 minutes that's real simple it's enough it's rock not rocket science you can do it the dark so everybody show up tomorrow night at here at the Lake Forest campus and I'll teach in about 25 minutes then we'll just have some fun the next night 3200 people showed up right here in this auditorium and I said okay now it probably a good idea you don't even have to be a Christian to be a host you just have to be nice to people but some of you maybe you would like to step across the line now you're ready say I just haven't done it I haven't made my commitment to Christ anybody here and need to get safe 17 people raised their hand and so cool I said we're all family here let's just pray the prayer together so we all prayed the prayer aloud together those 17 people gave their lives Christ and I said you know some of you may be a probably good idea to be baptized you don't have to be baptized to be a host but it probably a good idea anybody want to be baptized I baptized 400 people 400 people and and so we started 3,000 new small groups in one week and it was life-changing life-changing this year we only need to start about 500 because most of you are already in groups but we need to start about 500 new groups and if you'll do that I want you to come and meet with me and the host either next Friday Saturday Sunday we're having a thing called empower it's about less about an hour thing and I will teach you in about 20 minutes how to be a host and you we always say the host grows the most and at that meeting you can pick up all of the packet we'll have a big sack or box of all those resources that your group will use among those things will be the 40 days of prayer guide which has all of the stuff we're going to use for the next 40 days and if you have three people in your group you get through if you have five you get five you got eight people you get eight of these then you'll get the DVD 40 days of prayer lessons which I taped this summer all out of a bunch of different California beaches and and that'll be the steady will be watching and if you're a host only the host gets this if you sign up to be a host I'm gonna give you this free book which we just created called experiencing God's power through prayer it's hardback book it's beautiful inside full-color and it's got all kinds of information and help and studies and journal and I'm gonna give this free only host get this who are actually signing up to be a host but all that will be at one of these meetings I hope you can come this week all right all right number five number five well I'd do this one real quick the fifth law spiritual growth is this we grow when we expect to grow we grow when we expect to growth I call this the the faith factor jesus said in Matthew 9 verse 27 according to your faith it will be done to you do you realize that God blesses your life according to your faith if you whatever you believe in for he says that's what I'm gonna bless do you realize that God says you get to choose how much I bless your life you get to choose how much I use your life you get to choose how much your life succeeds according to your faith it will be done unto you so the question I ask if you haven't even thought about it till now is what are you going to expect to happen in your life the next 40 days if you expect nothing to happen guess what nothing will happen according to your faith will be done to you I highly recommend you go home this afternoon and you set a goal a prayer request something to say this is what I want to see God do in my life in the next 40 days I want to be stronger in this area I want to see moving in this area I don't see a breakthrough here because if you study scripture you learn this God does not move and bless you for your complaining God is not moved by your moaning by your gripe or you're complaining but God will move heaven and earth when he sees you trust him God every time God moves out of heaven and moves on earth and does a miracle in somebody's life it's cuz somebody believed so if you want God to do something in your life god I I want to grow the next 40 days I believe I am going to grow in the next 40 days what are you expecting to happen you need to think about this get a goal don't waste the next 40 days get a goal and say God I'm expecting you to do this I'm expecting it worked in my life I'm expecting a miracle expecting a breakthrough I'm expecting an answer you need to start this campaign with the spirit of faith I am going to grow a lot in the next 40 days okay number six the last one last law of growth is we grow when we commit to growth when we choose to grow when we intend it to grow growth is a choice spiritual growth is not automatic as I said you can grow older without growing up growth is not automatic it is a choice you must choose to grow you must choose to do the habits you must choose to make the effort and you make a choice now let me ask a very personal question a year from today how different do you intend to be you tend to be stronger are still stuck on the same problems you are right now you want to be more mature or you must still be the way you are right now it's your choice it's your choice there we're from today some of you are gonna be much better people much stronger people much more mature people and others there'll be the exact same still stuck in the mud still walking around in diapers why because they never actually intended to grow they weren't willing to pay the price price the bottom line to just be blind is you're as close to God as you choose to be a choice if you feel far from God God didn't move you're as close to God well if my husband if my wife is my parents as my if my sister if my girlfriend stop blaming anybody else you're as close to God as you want to be it is a choice and growth is a choice and some people frankly are not willing to make the effort and take the discipline and build the habits in order to grow so I go back to the question which is the the title of this message do you really want to grow is so how badly do you want to grow and if so what are you willing to do to grow are you willing to do these habits for the next 40 days No then you're not really willing to grow you don't really want to grow what you want is convenience see here's what God says he puts it pretty bluntly in Jeremiah 29 verse 13 God says you'll find me when you get serious about finding me and you want it more than anything else when he said god I have to grow I'm tired of being a spiritual baby I don't like being manipulated by my moods by the opinions of others I like being a people pleaser I don't like the fears and anxieties and worries I don't like the depression I don't like the problem I have with anger and sex and I don't like all these god I want to grow up I want to be a woman of God I want to be a man of God I want to man up and be strong and steady and stable well that's choice and so what's the action step write this down covenant with others you covenant with others and a covenant it we grow faster when we make a decision with other people and we do it in community inside your program I'm gonna ask you to take this out there say 40 days of Prayer covenant everybody take it out we do a covenant every time we do a spiritual growth campaign and a covenant is it's easier to change when other people are changing with you it's easier to go on a diet when other people doing a diet with it's either exercise when you got a partner it's easier to grow when you make a covenant with other people to grow now this is a covenant that I'm an encouraging sign you say well don't know if I want to make a covenant god why you make covenants everybody else you can't do anything in life without making commitments you can't buy a car without signing a covenant and I'll pay it off in 36 months you can't rent a house or buy a house without making a covenant I will make these payments every week you can't get a job without making a covenant I covenant to be there and show up and actually get the work done you can't get married without making a covenant till death do us part you can't do anything in life without commitment the epitome of immaturity is the guy who won't commit to anything the fear of commitment is the ultimate example of immaturity and the only way you grow is my major amendments and growing into it you say well I don't think I know what to do of course you don't know what to do but you make the commitment and you grow into it some of you when you got married you said let's have kids you made a commitment to be a parent did you know how to be a parent no not a single person knows how to be a parent before they're a parent you just make the commitment and then you grow into it I'm asking you to make a commitment to the most important thing in your life spiritual growth all right and here there's like three things here so 40 days of prayer covenant a transforming journey to learn how to connect with God how to experience his power and how to receive his blessing on my life so you say yes I want to grow spiritually so I commit to based on these laws of growth one I will watch and discuss pastor Rick's seven video sessions with my small group during 40 days of prayer if you're in a small group you can just go ahead and check that if you're not in a small group check the one underneath it I'll help start a new small group for 40 days this is easy peasy we'll help you we'll walk through it hold your hand we'll help you get a group just let us know you want to be in a group then number two I'll make it a priority to attend all seven weekends so I won't miss any of Pastor Rick's messages in this campaign this is large group worship small group fellowship number three I'll make time every day to read the 40 short daily devotionals which we've written and please send them to me each day and we'll send them either believe their email to you or we'll text up to you so you can give me your email or text and for 40 days we'll send you one short thing each day so you spend a little bit of time with God alright then your name and your address and then I will pray for a friend and invite him or her to church during 40 days purpose if you have a friend who's going through any kind of problem this is a perfect series to bring them if you have a friend who hates Church says I don't even believe in God you get them to this this series is going to blow their mind this is a seeker-sensitive series and somebody who's never gone to church I guarantee you they're gonna get something out of it if you bring them during this this time you know write their friend's name down there we'll pray for them your group hosts can pick up all your group starter kit which would be all this material at the empower rallies and then Friday Saturday Sunday depending on which campus that you go to that is a personal covenant you know forty years ago when I was 25 years old I made a covenant with you forty years ago when I started Saddleback I made a covenant to this church and I stood up on the first son they said I commit the next forty years of my life to be the pastor of this church and I'm gonna give my life for this church so I'm gonna covenant with you and I'm not gonna leave and I will love you and I will pray for you and I'll teach you and I made a covenant I said I will I will pass through this church to 2020 that start in 1980s 40 years and I will and will have 20,000 members by 2020 as vision as a goal now God didn't tell me stay 40 years it was just I just made up a number just to say I'm gonna be there and we called it the 2020 goal and you know when you're 25 65 years old sounds like you're gonna be in a wheelchair you know okay today it sounds like middle aged okay and honestly I didn't even think about that covenant with the church until about five a couple years ago when we had the 35th anniversary of our church at Anaheim Stadium and I started thinking theme the clock is ticking I've only got five years left tick tick tick tick tick tick tick about a year and a half ago Kay and I went off on a couple day prayer retreat and we said God you know you didn't tell us do this but do you want us to stay or do you want us to go and do you want us to stay longer than 40 years or do you want us to to go and do something else and honestly the truthfulness is we didn't hear anything from God so he said okay we'll wait a year and a half and we'll do it again you need to know that every single Sunday on Saturday night - when I'm driving to the service I pray a prayer and it's the same prayer and part of that prayer is this and I said I've said it every week for almost 38 years god I offer you my resignation because I belong to you this is not my church it's your church you use me to start it you love these people you love me use me started but God if there's somebody who can do a better job and take this church to the next level I willingly gladly will step down and let someone else take the leadership of this church because I belong to you and then and this is the most hardest part of the prayer I'm willing to do something more difficult because there's a lot of things that would be easier than pastoring a church that has a hundred thousand names on the roll a whole lot easier things but God I'm willing to do something harder and difficult and I pray that and when you hold what God puts in your hands with an open hand there's no stress to that because you're not trying to grab on to anything well this summer while we were doing the rest of this material Kay and I went and took another two-day break and and kind of decided what what what are we gonna do we're gonna retire at 4 to 20 20 after 40 years here or do we stay and we made a list of about in about 25 you know 25 reasons why I should stay and the only reason we came up that I would leave would be if my health was not good enough that I could be the leader this church needs I will never harm this church I'd rather stick a knife in my heart than hurt you at this church I've given almost 40 years to this church and and so we prayed about it and if it's okay with you I'd like to sign a new covenant and stay here a little bit longer if that's okay if that's okay I don't think yeah okay okay okay given that I just want you to know if I'm staying I'm coming after you you have no idea what you just gave me permission to do because I am NOT gonna let you waste your life I love you too much I will not let you waste your life and if I'm staying and you're stand we're going to a whole nother level all right we're gonna take it up and I may get in your face and you may not like some of the things I say but it's because I love you and I do not want you to waste your life I want the rest of your life whether you got five or 50 years left to be the best of your life and as your pastors your coach somebody who loves you I'm going to force you to grow and the starting point is 40 days of prayer when you study any revival renewal movement in history it always starts with prayer folks our nation needs a revival it's in deep deep weeds right now and we need revival in our hearts we need renewal refreshment a fresh sense of joy a fresh sense of God's presence a fresh sense of what he wants to do in our lives and I believe it comes through prayer and that's why we spent the better part of year preparing all of these tools you have to get in a small group you have to get in one for six weeks just do it for six weeks start one because it's not the sermons it's what we've all been preparing for and we're gonna go to a whole new level now why am i staying one reason I am committed to your personal growth you know I serve this church for free I've served it free now for now 38 years and I don't take a salary so you can't fire me because I'm a volunteer I'm a volunteer pastor I'm an amateur I'm a professionals or pated I'm an amateur pastor and I love that because amateur comes from the word amore which means I do it out of love I don't do it for money I do it out of love for God and do it out of love for you and my goal is the last verse on your outline our greatest wish and prayer is that you will become mature Christiane's so the bottom line really is what are you gonna do for the next six weeks seven weeks do nothing miss out and watch everybody else grow and benefit and get the blessing or are you willing to step up the plate and to develop some new habits which will determine the rest of your life and even the rewards and eternal destiny I want you to finish filling this out drop it in the basket but let me lead you in prayer let's bow our heads father I look out on these people and I love them they are good people these are good good people and we've been through a lot ups and downs highs and lows crushing grief and soaring joy lots of different experiences in life I do believe that our best days are ahead of us and I do Lord re-up I commit to moving myself first and everybody else to deeper levels of maturity and growth we don't want to waste our lives we don't want to miss out on what you've got in store for us we want all of the blessings and if we will just do what you say you do you say our lives will be successful when I pray a blessing on every person here that as we go into the next 40 days we will go into it with anticipation and expectation it'd be a waste of time for us to do this and not do it in faith so thank you in advance thank you in advance for what you're going to do in my life and in the lives of everybody here who chooses we know that growth is a choice and we pray that as we build these habits in our lives we will become true men of God and women of God in a world that is filled with unstable flaky uncommitted people I pray this blessing in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit amen god bless you thanks for checking out this week's message on youtube we would love to get you connected with our online community there's three easy ways to get you involved first learn about belonging to our church family by taking class 101 online second you can join an online small group or a local home group in your area and third check out our Facebook group to engage with our online community throughout the week to take these next steps visit Saddleback comm slash online or shoot me an email at online at Saddleback comm I hope to hear from you soon you

Channel: Saddleback Church

Views: 135,543

Rating: 4.7782855 out of 5

Keywords: Rick Warren, Saddleback Church, Prayer, 40 Days of Prayer, Learn to Pray, God, Jesus, Transformation, Faith

Id: kfOB3S6H0qo

Length: 63min 36sec (3816 seconds)

Published: Tue Sep 26 2017