- I want to say Merry
Christmas to all 19 of our other campuses on
four different continents. Would you just clap
and say Merry Christmas to all of them? (congregation clapping
and whistling) God bless you, guys. This is the 39th Saddleback
Community Christmas services of the last 39 years. I've done all 39 of 'em and this year, Saddleback
has grown so much, we're offering 105
Christmas services. (congregation cheering) Right. I'll be checking
into the hospital the
day after Christmas. (congregation laughing) Actually, I'm not gonna
try to do all of them live. Can't do 104, five services without using a
little bit of video. But if you're new to
Saddleback, inside your program there a thing called
message notes. It's kinda a little cheat
sheet if you'll pull it out. It's kind of a direction
of where we're gonna go in our service this year. I have studied the
Christmas story my entire life. I mean, for over 50
years, I've studied the Christmas story. But this year, when I
went to begin studying the text of the Bible
and the Christmas story, I saw something I've
never ever seen before. It was a new discovery to me. And what I saw was the emphasis on the word time. Using the different
translations of scripture, I saw that there are
16 different references to time and timing in
the Christmas story, that God had a
timetable for Christmas. Now, having the right time, having a sense of timing is important in so many
areas of your life. Most of the stress in your life comes from poor timing. Either you're in a
hurry or there's a delay and both of those things
can stress you out, being too fast or too slow. On the other hand, one of
the keys to success in life is wise timing and when
you do the right thing at the right time,
it just works. On the other hand, can
you say the right thing but say it in the wrong
time and it's a disaster? Yeah. Can you do the right thing
but do it at the wrong time and it's a disaster? Yes. Timing is everything. Timing is the difference between
a good joke and a bad joke. Comedians have great timing. Timing is the difference between when they play one baseball
player, a professional one, a pitcher, $80 million to throw a ball and they won't pay
another guy, an amateur, any money to throw the ball. It's the same two and
three-quarter inch ball, it's the same number of feet
from the pitcher to the batter. The difference is
the $80 million guy has a better sense of timing. They're paying him $80
million for timing. The difference
between a great leader and a poor leader is not
just knowing what to do but knowing when to do it. The timing is everything. The difference between a speaker who holds your attention
and is interesting and a boring one, the
difference those two is (laughs) timing. (congregation laughing) Had you there for a minute. (congregation laughing) Now what is the birth of Jesus
tell us about God's timing in your life? Well, this is really important
so I want you to write down these five truths, great truths, about God's timing in your life. It's gonna lower your stress,
it's gonna raise your success if you'll understand how to
cooperate with God's timing. So let's look at this. Number one, what do we
learn from Jesus' birth about God's timing? That God has a
timetable, number one, God has a timetable for
everything that happens. God has a timetable for
everything that happens. This is taught all
through the Bible. In Ecclesiastes
3:1 it says this. There's an appointed
time for everything and there's a right time for
every activity under heaven. Says, there's a right
time for everything. There's an appointed time. Look up here on the screen. In another translation,
Today's English Version, Everything that
happens in this world happens at the time God chooses. God has a timetable
for everything and He even had a
timetable for Christmas. Look at the next verse,
Galatians chapter 4 in the Bible, verses
3 to 5 says this. When the right time came, God sent His Son to earth, born of a woman and
living under the law, so that His Son could
pay for our freedom from the law, set us free, and adopt us as His children into God's family. That's what God
sent Jesus to do, to show us what God's like, to save us from our sins, to adopt us into God's family. But notice the phrase,
when the time was right, God sent His Son. Christmas happened at
just the right time. What made it the right time? We don't know. Why 2000 years ago? We don't know. Why not 2000 years earlier? I mean, God had been
telling the world, I'm gonna send a Savior
for thousands of years, but He waited a long time
before He sent Jesus. Or why not 50 years from
this year to send the Savior? We don't know why it
was the right time but God says it was the
right time to send Jesus. Now that leads me to the
second truth, write this down. God does not tell us
the details in advance. He has a timetable for your life but He doesn't tell you
the details in advance. Ecclesiastes 3:11 says this. God has given us the desire to know the future. And He always does
everything just right and on time, but people can never
completely understand what God is doing. Everybody agree with that verse? Yeah, why, because God
is God and you're not. For me to try and understand
God's timetable is like an ant trying to
understand the internet. I don't have the brain capacity. If you could understand why
God does everything God does, you'd be God. Now He says that God
given us this desire to know the future. Have you noticed
all the crazy things people try to do to
figure out the future? Tarot cards, palm
reading, tea leaves, astrology, all kinds
of crazy things trying to figure out the future. But the Bible says, God doesn't let us
know the timetable. Why? Why didn't God just tell you everything that's gonna happen
in your life right up front? Well, I think there are
two or three reasons. First, it would overwhelm you,
probably scare you to death. You couldn't handle the truth, to quote Jack Nicholson. (congregation laughing) (laughs) Second is you'd
probably abuse it. If you saw everything that
was gonna happen in your life, go, I don't like that part. I'm gonna change that. Kinda like Back to the Future. We're gonna change history
before it even happens. But the real reason
God doesn't announce His timetable to you is He wants you to trust Him. He says, Just live
one day at a time. Trust Me, I'm a good God. I'm a loving God. Everything I do in
your life is for love, but you just gotta trust Me. In Acts chapter 1, in the Bible, the Bible says this, Jesus said in verse 7, You don't get to know the time. Timing is the Father's business. Now the subtext of that is
it's none of your business. So you're just not ever
gonna know stuff in advance. You don't know what's gonna
happen tomorrow in your life much less the rest of your life. God has a timetable
for your life but He doesn't give you
the details in advance. Now here's the third thing
we learn from Christmas is that God is never in a hurry and He's never late. God is never in a hurry and He's never late. He's always on time. His timing is perfect. Now, the reason for this is because God is on a different
wavelength than we are. God has a different view of time because God is timeless. Now this is kinda
hard to understand. God is not bound by time. He's not limited by time. God can be in the
past and the present and the future all
at the same time. Your view of time,
my view of time happens because we happen to
live on a planet called Earth that circles 24 hours,
every 24 hours it rotates and every 365 days, it
goes around the sun. So you have marked your
life in 24 hour days and 365 day years. If you lived on Mars or Pluto, your concept of time would
be very very different. And God doesn't live on a planet so God is timeless. Einstein wrote a lot about this, the space-time continuum and how it's very different than what we typically
think about time. God is never in a hurry
and He's never late. Now let me show you God's
understanding of time. Look up here on the screen. 2 Peter, the Bible says,
chapter 3, verse 8. Never forget this: With the Lord, a day is
like a thousand years, and a thousand years
are like a day. Does that sound like
the way you treat time? That's the way it feels
when I'm waiting for a meal. (congregation laughing) Okay, that feels like a
thousand years sometimes. But no no, we don't
think in those terms. God's timelessness
that I'm talking about has big implications
for your life. So let's just go back. When God created you, He
puts a dream in your heart. Most people start
off with a dream, what do they want to
do with their life. They have a vision, a
big vision, a big goal. They have some kind of dream or plan or project
that they want to do with their life, their vision. What's the vision
God has given you? Now I've talked to tens
of thousands of people over the years and
I've discovered that while everybody
tends to start off early in life with a vision, here's what I'd like
to do with my life. Here's what I dream of doing. Then as life goes on, more and more people
give up on the dream before it's accomplished. They give up on the vision. They give up on the goal because it doesn't
happen fast enough. Some of you have had
your dream battered. Some of you have had
your dream bruised. Some of you have had
your dream broken. And some of you, out
of discouragement
and disappointment, have buried your dream. You've given up on it. God doesn't want you to do that. If God gave you that
dream for your life, it's gonna happen. It just has to happen in
His timetable, not in yours. Let me show you one of the
great promises of the Bible. It's this next verse. Habakkuk 2:3, God says this about your dream,
about your vision, the one that He gives you. The vision will happen at the right time
that I have appointed. It moves steadily toward the goal. It will not be proven false. If it seems slow or delayed, just wait for it. It will certainly happen. It will not be late. Some of you need to write
that Bible verse down on a little three by five card and put it in your visor, on your bathroom mirror,
on your windshield or in your refrigerator door so you see it everyday, to not give up on the dream
that God has given you. Because He said it'll happen. Now, if it's your dream, you just made it up, well then God's not
obligated to do that. But if it's a dream that
God has put in your heart. You go, I know God
made me to do this, I know I'm wired to do this. He says, you just need
to wait patiently. It will happen. It will not be late. One of the hardest truths
that we all have to learn, I've had to learn
it a thousand times. We have to actually relearn it over and over and over is this. God's timing is perfect. My timing is imperfect. I always want stuff now. When I started this church 39 years ago, I
was 25 years old. When I started this church, I was in a hurry. I was just in a hurry
to get everything, and God says, no, it's
not all gonna happen. Slowly, steadily, the
vision will be fulfilled. And one of the things
you have to learn is that God is never
early in your life. God is never late in your life. God is always on time. It's a big lesson. And here's the fourth thing
that we learn, write this down. Is that God's timing,
while He has a timing and it will happen
at the right time, God's timing is not
always convenient. God's plan for your life and
God's timing for your life, it's a good plan. It's for your benefit. It's a loving plan but it doesn't
mean it's painless and it doesn't mean that
it'll always be easy. No, God's plan is not
always convenient. God's timing for your
life is always your best but it's not the easiest. For instance, Jesus' birth. Jesus' birth was not
convenient for Mary and Joseph. I mean, think about this. Here's a young couple. Jesus is going to have, is gonna be born. Mary is not had sex with Joseph. Who's gonna believe that story? Would you believe that if your
teenage daughter comes home, Hi Mom, I'm pregnant. I've never had sex
and the baby is God. (congregation laughing) Oh yeah. (humming "Twilight
Zone Theme Song") (congregation laughing) But an angel appears to Joseph, goes, She's telling
the real story. And then in the
middle of all of this, the Caesar of Rome,
Caesar Augustus, decides to throw a census. And he says, Everybody
has to go back to the town that they were born in to be registered for this
census of the Roman Empire. Now let's put this
in perspective. He's not saying you're gonna
get counted wherever you are. If tomorrow the
government made a rule that in America, everybody's
gonna be in the census. You're gonna be counted but you have to tomorrow
go back to the town you were born in, it would be chaos in America. Everybody trying to
go back to the town that they were born in. Every plane, train,
automobile would be booked. Every highway would be filled 'cause everybody's trying
to go back at the same time for a census. And so the day
before Mary delivers, she's nine months pregnant, Joseph goes, Honey, I
gotta put you on a donkey and we gotta take a
trip to Bethlehem. Okay, that's not convenient. Those of you ladies
who've had babies could probably give
us a testimony what
it might feel like if you are, the day before
you're gonna deliver, gonna take a long journey
on the back of a donkey. That wouldn't be convenient. And then when she
gets to Bethlehem, she's never had a baby before, she has to deliver her own baby by herself without her
mom, without her aunt, without a midwife, in a barn
with a bunch of animals. This is God's plan
and God's timing because the Bible says Jesus
would be born in Bethlehem. It was not convenient. But it was a bigger plan
than Joseph and Mary had ever planned for
their life and their baby and it was a better plan. It's not convenient. A lot of stuff God
does in your life, but it is bigger
and it is better. Everything God has
done in my life has been bigger and better
than I ever imagined when I would just
trust Him in it. So God's timing is
not always convenient. The Bible tells us
in Luke chapter 2 that at that time Caesar
Augustus ordered all people under Roman rule to
return to their hometown to register in a census. So Joseph took Mary
with him to Bethlehem and by this time,
she's very pregnant and in Bethlehem the time came for her to have her baby. None of that was convenient. Now there's a fifth
truth that we learn. We learn that God has a
timetable for your life, that He doesn't tell you
the details in advance, that He's always on time. He's never late but
He's never in a hurry. That it's not always convenient. And then here's the fifth thing. At the right time, God can do anything instantly. At the right time, God
can do anything instantly. God can do more
in one millisecond than I can do in five, 10,
20 years of my entire life of the wrong timing. At the right time, God
can do it instantly so He doesn't worry about time
'cause He doesn't need time to accomplish what
He wants to do. In Isaiah 60:22, God says this. I am the Lord, so when the right time comes, I will make it all happen, how? Quickly. Circle that, quickly. When, I'm God, so when
it's the right time, I'll make it all happen quickly. Now this is hard
for us to accept. The most difficult
place for you to be in life is in
God's waiting room. In God's waiting room. Some of you are in God's
waiting room right now. What is God's waiting room? When you're in a hurry
for something to happen and God isn't. That's God's waiting room. Some of you are in
a hurry to graduate. Some of you are in a
hurry to get married. Some of you are in a
hurry to start a family. Some of you are in a hurry
to launch a new business, to close a big deal. Some of you are in a
hurry for a big goal, a big dream, a big
accomplishment. Some of you are in a hurry for
all kinds of different things and God isn't. And you're seeing the time
getting shorter and shorter, you go, God, there ain't
a whole lot of time left. This is either gonna
happen or it's gonna not. God doesn't need a lot of time 'cause He can do
everything instantly. Quickly. It's not like, well,
I need two years to get this project done. He can do it, God can
do more in a second than you can do in a year. You say, well if God can
do everything quickly, then why do I have
delays in life? Well, God allows delays in
your life for two reasons. Number one, to test your faith. Will you trust Him? And second, to build
your character. To test your faith and
to build your character. You see, while you're
working on your project, your goal, your
dream, your vision, God's working on you and God's much more
interested in you than in what you're
trying to accomplish 'cause you're not taking your
accomplishments to heaven but you are taking
your character. And sometimes God says,
yeah, I intend to give you what I've promised you. I intend to answer that prayer. I intend to fulfill the vision, but you're not ready yet. You need to grow up. You need to man up
and be a godly man. You need to be the
woman, the strong woman that God intends for you to be. I want you to grow
and when you're ready, then it's gonna happen. A lot of times we think
we're waiting on God for something to happen,
like a prayer to be answered. God says, you're
not waiting on me. I'm waiting on you. I'm trying to prepare you. I'm testing your faith. Will you trust Me? But I'm also trying
to grow you up because the blessing
I want to give you is so much bigger than
you can handle right now. You're not ready for it. You can't handle it yet. In Isaiah 49:8, God says this. At the right time,
there's that phrase again. That phrase is
used about 96 times in the Bible, at the right time. At the right time, I will, not might, I will answer your prayers. Another thing you
have to learn in life is that a delay is not a denial. There's a big difference
between no and not yet. Now, immature children
don't know the difference. You tell a kid, Not yet, they start crying and
having a hissy fit because they think it means no. They don't understand a
delay is not a denial. And God is saying, I intend to
do these things in your life that I've given you the
vision, the dream to do but you're just not ready yet and at the right time, I will answer your prayer. God's often waiting on us. Now why is this important? Because when you're
in God's waiting room, you fall temptation to all
kinds of negative emotions. When you're in a hurry for something to happen
and it isn't happening yet, I want to get married. I want a husband. Somebody as sexy
like Rick Warren. (congregation laughing) Don't pray that. That would be a bad prayer. I'm in a hurry. God, I'm in a hurry. And God says, Kinda
cool your jets a minute. At the right time,
the right place, My timing is perfect. But when there's a
delay in your life, it can create all kinds
of negative emotions. You start worrying, you
start stressing out, you get anxious,
you get irritable, you get spiritual ADD You can get envious. You can get jealous. You go, Hey, he got a promotion and I didn't get the promotion. She's having a baby. I'm not having a baby. She got engaged. I didn't get engaged. He's starting a new
business, it's taking off. What about mine? And all these kind
of negative emotions can come into your life and then you get frustrated
and then you start having a pity party. So what does God want you to do when you're in the
waiting room of life and you, 'cause you're gonna
go through it many many times. God is not a vending machine where you put in the prayer and then you pull the thing
and you instantly get it. There's always a delay. The delays are by design. The delays are by design to teach you to trust Him and
to grow up in your character. So what does God want me to do while I'm waiting
on God's timetable for what I want to
see happen in my life? You do four things. You do four things and I want to spend
the rest of our time just looking at that. God gives us in the
Bible four phrases. These are Old English phrases from the King James
Version of the Bible and they are these. He says, fear not, fret not, forget not and faint not. Fear not, fret not,
forget not and faint not. Let me explain these to you because this is what
God wants you to do when things don't happen as fast or as slow as you
want them to happen. Number one, write this down. Fear not. When things don't happen
in your timetable, fear not means trust God. Fear not, to fear not
means to trust God. The opposite of fear is faith. When you fill your
life with faith, then you don't have the fear. Fear goes out the back door. And so when you, the
more you trust God, then less you're
gonna be afraid. The less you trust God, the
more you're going to be afraid. In Mark 5:36, Jesus says, Don't be afraid. Just trust Me. Now this is such a big
message in the Bible that it's there 365 times. The phrase, fear not, is in the Bible 365 times. God says, Fear not,
fear not, fear, don't be afraid, don't
be afraid, don't be
afraid 365 times. That's one for every
day of the year. He's saying, I want
you to get the message. I never want you to be afraid. You just need to
trust My timing. Trusting God is the
number one stress reliever in your life, and the more you trust God, the more your stress
is gonna go down. The less you trust God,
the more your stress is gonna go up. And so what you want to do
is pray a prayer like this, Psalm 31:14-15. I trust You, Lord. I trust in You, Lord. You are my God and my times are in Your hands. Have you ever prayed
a prayer like that? You might want to
memorize that verse and pray it every morning. And you get up and go, I trust You, Lord. You're my God. My times are in Your hands. What does that mean? God, I got more to do today
than I've got time to get done. I have so many appointments there's no way I'll
get it all done. Help me sort it all out. Do what matters most and
not worry about the rest. My times are in Your hand. I surrender my schedule,
I surrender my calendar, I surrender my agenda, my
times are in Your hand. And that means I'm
not gonna fear. I'm gonna trust You. Another, by the way, stress
reliever is when you ask God for something in prayer and the Bible says you can ask
God for anything in prayer, but when you do, don't
set the time limit on it. When you do, don't
determine the deadline. Don't dictate the timing. Leave the timing up to God. That'll lower your stress. Look at the next
verse, Psalm 69:13. I pray to You, Lord, so when the time is right, please answer me and help me with
Your wonderful love. What a great prayer. Say, God, I'm praying to Ya and here's what I need, and
you mention what you need. You need a new job
or you need a raise, or whatever you need. I pray to You, Lord, and when the time is
right, please answer me. What you're saying is,
I trust that You know better timing than me. I'm telling You what I need but I'm not dictating
the timing on it. That's trust. That's fearing not,
but trusting God. Now the second thing you
want to do is fret not and fret not, if you want
to write this down means to be patient. To be patient and humble. To fret not means to
be patient and humble. The word fret is an Old English
word that just means worry. And when you fret, you
get all stressed out, you get anxious,
you get irritable, you get worried,
you fret, you fuss, you get all, you're
in a bundle of nerves. It is, fretting is the
opposite of patience. Fretting is impatient. When you fret,
you are impatient. And we worry all the time and we worry because things
are either happening too fast and that'll cause
some people worry. I can't handle this change. It's too fast. Or we worry because
things are going too slow. Come on, God, speed it up. Can't we get to
where I want to get? I'm asking Ya, I'm praying, I'm asking for all this. I don't know if you
ever realize this but waiting patiently on God is actually a
statement of faith. You're complimenting God. When you wait patiently, you're going, God, I trust You. I have faith in You. I'm waiting on You
and I'm humble. I'm dependent upon You. See, we don't
usually mind waiting if we can gripe about it. But God says, No,
I don't want you to not only don't
fear, don't fret. Don't gripe, don't
get irritable. The Bible says it
like this in Psalm 37. Wait and trust the Lord. Don't fret. Don't fret when others prosper or when their dishonest
plans succeed. And don't get angry or upset. It only leads to trouble. When you get fretting,
it's gonna lead to a lot of other negative
emotions in your life. Now I want you to circle,
if you're taking notes, circle the word others. It says, Don't fret
when others prosper. What does that mean? It means you're looking
at somebody else and that's causing you to worry. One of the big reasons
you get stressed out is 'cause you're constantly
comparing yourself to other people. She just got a new job. I didn't. He's got a better
lawn than we do. They got a new car. Every time you compare
yourself to others, you're being foolish because you're one of a kind. You're not them. They're not you. God has a plan for your life
and your plan for your life is different than their plan and if you're trying
to be their plan, you're gonna miss the
plan for your life. And so when you compare, those people are getting
ahead, they're getting, that guy got the
promotion, I didn't. And you start fretting. You start worrying. Now here's the problem. You know what the
problem with worry is? It's totally worthless. Any second you spend
in your life worrying you've just wasted that second because worry can't do anything. Worry is worthless. Worry can't change the past. Not gonna change the past. Worry can't control the future. Not gonna control the future. All worry does is make
the day miserable. It is stewing without doing. It's like sitting
in a rocking chair. You're going back and
forth, back and forth. You're not making any progress,
wasting a lot of energy. Any second you're worrying,
you're wasting energy. God says, Don't fret. Don't worry. Instead, just be
patient and be humble. Look at this next verse. Philippians 4:6. Don't fret or worry, God says. Instead of worrying, pray. Now that is a good alternative 'cause prayer can change things. Worry will never change anything but prayer can change things. Don't fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let your petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers. I love that. Shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. This last year was an
incredibly frustrating year to me personally. As most of you know, I had
a lot of health problems. I have a very rare disease that I've had for
many many years, least 25 years. Been to Mayo Clinic
and John Hopkins and UCLA doctors have
all worked on me. And this year with the
medicine I've been taking for 25 years stopped working and I was ill much of this year. That meant that a lot of
the things that I planned to get done on my agenda,
on my list of stuff to accomplish in this year, it didn't happen. Now, I could have gotten
all frustrated by that. I could have been fearful and
I could have been fretful. But I wasn't. I wasn't stressed
out at all about it. Why, because I'm one of those at the right time kind of
followers of Jesus Christ. My times are in His hands. I'm not worried about it. And if all the stuff I
planned to get done this year didn't get done but
I'm trusting God, He could get it all done
in January the next year in an instant. He can do more on His time
than I can do in my timetable. So I didn't stress out about it. I didn't worry about it. I didn't fret about it. I just go, My times
are in His hand. God knew before I was born
that this particular year I was gonna have a tough year with some chronic illness stuff. And so it didn't stress me out because my times
are in His hands. You see, patience is
actually related to humility. Look up here on the screen. The Bible says this. 1 Peter 5:6, Humble yourselves under
God's mighty hand, so that He can lift you up at just the right time. God looks out on earth,
looking for people who trust Him, who
will depend on Him. That's called humility. God, I'm depending on You
instead of depending on myself. And He goes, There's
a woman who's humble. I'm gonna raise her up. I'm gonna lift her up. I'm gonna give her a new status. I'm gonna give her
a better position, more prestige, more power. I'm gonna give her
more influence. Because she humbles herself,
I'm gonna lift her up. Let me show you this verse
in another translation. Look up here on the screen. In The Message paraphrase, So be content with who you are, and don't put on airs. Don't act like you're
somebody you're not. Just be authentic,
be the real deal. God's strong hand is on you. And He'll promote you when? When? - [Congregation]
At the right time. - [Rick] When? - [Congregation]
At the right time. - At the right time. He will promote. You know what, that'll
do a whole lot more than hiring a PR company. You don't need to go
hire an image consultant, start marketing yourself and trying to get yourself,
climb the ladder of success, because if you could
climb the ladder, it may be leaning
against the wrong wall. But if you are content, say God, I'm just gonna
trust You with this. I'm not gonna fear and
I'm not gonna fret, but I'm gonna be patient
and I'm gonna be humble, God says, That's
the kind of person I like to give a promotion to. I could give you a
hundred illustrations from my own personal
life about that verse. That you don't have to
know the key men in life if you know the Man
who holds the keys. And I know God and He can do anything
He wants to do and He can open
doors or close doors. I could give you so many
illustrations of that. I don't have time to do it. So the Bible says fear not
and the Bible says fret not, just relax and trust God and be patient. But the third thing God
says is this, write it down. Forget not. What does that mean? He says, There's some things
I don't want you to forget that while you're waiting, while you're in
God's waiting room, you're waiting on Me to do the fulfillment of this dream, I want you to focus
on what I've told you in My Word. I don't want you to forget
what I've already told you. So write this down. Forget not means
study God's promises. Study God's promises. This book, the Bible, is God's Word to you. Did you know that in this book, there are over 6000
promises of God to you? Can you name one of 'em? Can you name a single
promise of God to you? If you can't even name it, how in the world
can you claim it? How can you take
advantage of it? It's kinda like this. If I've got an insurance policy and I don't know what it covers and I'm in an accident,
I am gonna be fearful and I am gonna fretful
and I am gonna stress out 'cause I'm gonna go, Oh man,
I gotta pay for all this. But if on the other hand, I know what the insurance
company has promised to cover, I get in an accident, I go, I'm not worried about that. Insurance company's covered it. This is the policy on your life and if you don't ever read it, you don't know what God's
promised to do in your life. No wonder you're stressed out. No wonder you're worried 'cause you don't know
what God has offered to do if you'll trust Him. So, the third thing you gotta do is forget not and that means
you need to go study this book. There's over 6000
promises, as I said. Let me show you a couple verses. The Book of James, chapter
1 in the Bible says this. Verse 25. If you keep looking closely into God's perfect
Word, that's the Bible, that sets people free. Jesus said the truth
will set you free. And you keep studying it
and you don't forget it and you put it into
daily practice, you will be blessed by God
in some of what you do. Oh that's not what it says. It says, if you do those things, you'll be blessed
by God in what? - [Congregation] All. - All you do. You might circle that word. I just had to check
that out for myself. The Bible is written in the New
Testament, written in Greek. I've had six years of Greek. I went back and
looked up that word. You know the word in
Greek, all, it means all. (congregation laughing) He says, I'll bless you in
every single area of your life. What does He say? If you look at
closely at My Word, that means you read a little
bit of this book everyday. That's looking closely. And then He says, and
then you study it. That means you write
some stuff down. The difference between
reading and studying is you use pencil. You go, oh that's a good verse. I need to write that down. Now you've gone from
reading to studying. And then He says, and
then you remember it. That means you memorize it. Have you ever memorized a
single verse of the Bible? Because if you haven't, God can't call them to memory when you're stressed out. Those promises you
don't even remember. You go, I know it's
somewhere in there, there's a promise about this. But if you've memorized it,
God can bring it to mind. Go, oh man, my stress
just went down. And there's a thousand
other uses too. And then He says, and then
you put it into action. You will be blessed
by God in all you do. So, friends, this next
year, you got a choice. You want to be stressed,
you want to be blessed. It's your choice. God says, You get to choose. You want to be stressed,
you be blessed? What's the key to being blessed? You read, you
study, you remember and you do what this says. And He says the more you do it, the more you're gonna be
blessed in all you do. This Christmas as your pastor, as your spiritual coach, I want
to give you a Christmas gift that'll last you the
rest of your life. This is the best possible
gift you can get. As a promise that everything
else you do in life, you will succeed at doing. You say, you gotta
be kidding me. No, and not only that,
you'll be happy too. You say, what's that promise? Well, look at the next verse. You want to be happy, you
want to be successful? Here's what the Bible
says, Psalm 1:1-3. Happy are those who find joy in obeying the Word of God,
the Word of the Lord and they study it day and night. In other words, they follow it. They are trees that grow
strong beside a stream and they bear fruit
at the right time. What's that mean? You're gonna be productive. Your life will be productive. You will bear fruit in your
life at the right time. Your life will be productive. Your life will be meaningful. Your life will be significant if you're obeying
the Word of God. He says, you'll be like a tree by the river. You're not drying up. In other words, you
don't flake out. You don't blow away. It says, they will succeed in everything they do. Now friends, either
that verse is true or God is a flat-out liar. You gotta just decide, am I gonna believe what God says or am I just gonna doubt it? And if you don't
believe that verse, you have to take an X-ACTO knife and cut it out of your
Bible and throw it away. He says, you will succeed
in everything you do if you'll do it My way. Let me recommend to you that you trust not your feelings but you trust what God says because eternity is a
long time to be wrong. It's like you're wrong
for the rest of eternity. Oh. Fear not, fret not, forget not. And then God says,
There's one other thing I want you to do when My timetable is
different than your timetable, when you're in the
waiting room of life, when things are delayed
or things are too fast or too slow and you're not and you're stressed out by it. He says, Fear not. And He says, Forget not. And He says, Fret not. And then He says, Faint not. Now that's an Old
English phrase. Comes out of the King James
Version of the Bible, faint not. It means don't quit. It means don't give up. It means keep on keepin' on. Be determined, be diligent. Have endurance. And He says, just 'cause things don't happen right away, keep on keeping on. Keep on keeping on. Look at this verse,
Galatians 6:9. We must never get tired
of doing what is right and doing what is good, for at the right time. There's that phrase
again, God's timing. At the right time,
that's God's time, we will reap a
harvest of blessing if we don't give up or quit. Question. In this Christmas, what do
you feel like giving up on? I mean, if you're
really gut level honest, if you let us crawl
inside your mind, what do you feel
like giving up on? Some of you feel like giving up on your marriage,
if the truth told. It's dead and going nowhere. I can't get on with it,
I can't get out of it. You feel like giving
up on your marriage. Some of you feel like
giving up on your career. I have tried and
tried and tried. It just isn't happening. Some of you feel like
giving up on your dream. Some of you feel like
giving up on your kids or a friend or a goal. Some of you feel like
giving up on yourself. You've thought about
taking your life. And I want you to know
that a thousand years before you were born, God
knew that you would be sitting in Saddleback Church
on Christmas Eve or Christmas week this year, so God could have
me say this to you as your spiritual coach. Don't. Don't. Don't don't don't
don't don't you dare. The light is at the
end of the tunnel. You may be just
around the corner. Don't don't give up. Now is the time, He says. We must never get tired, for at the right time we will
reap a harvest of blessing if we don't give up. Don't give up. Look up. Look up. Look up to God. Now you're gonna need
a spiritual family, that's called the church, to help you through the
tough times of your life. There's gonna be a lot
of times in your life you feel like giving up. I'm so glad I didn't
give up on God but I'm also glad that
God didn't give up on me so many times in my life. You need a family. Now I want to close
by talking to you about two times in your life where God says it's always the right
time to do this. We can't say this
about a lot of stuff but there are two things in life that God says is always the right time
to do these two things. And the first one is it is always the right time to come back home to God. It's always the right time
to come back home to God. Look at what the Bible says, Acts 3:19. Now, now is the time to change your ways and come back to God so He can wipe away your sins and pour out showers of blessing to refresh you. You need a little
refreshment in your life? You feeling a little dried up? You feeling like there's no, no fresh refreshment in my life. I need some renewal,
I need some revival, I need some
refreshment in my life. Come back to God. Come back to, you say, Rick, you don't know what I've done. I don't need to know. I don't have to know. I don't care to know. Why, because it doesn't
matter who you are or what you've done or who you've done it with
or how long you've done it, God says, I still want
you to come back to Me. You say, well, isn't
God gonna like scold me? I've been away from God for
months or years or decades. Look at the next verse. The Bible says this. And here's what God will
do if you come back to Him. God says, With deep love I will take you back. With deep love I will take you back. No matter what's happened, with deep love I
will take you back. We started this service
talking about love came down. God is love. With deep love I
will take you back. You see, God isn't mad at you. God is mad about you. No one will ever love you more than the Creator who made you. God the Father created you. Jesus the Son died for you. God's Spirit wants
to live in you. No one will ever love you more. With deep love I
will take you back. But you know what? As pastor and has
talked, as I said, to thousands of people, I know that some people
just can't feel God's love. And I've thought about it a lot. Why is it that they
can't feel God's love? 'Cause I feel God's
love all the time. Why can't they feel God's love? And I've discovered it's
because they're listening to different voices. Now, if you listen to what
other people say about you, you're gonna get down. If you listen to what
you tell yourself, you're gonna get down. I want to give you permission to stop believing
everything you tell yourself 'cause it's not true. You lie to yourself more
than you lie to anybody else. I'll say it again. You lie to yourself more
than you lie to anybody else. You tell yourself things are
better than they really are when they're not and sometimes you tell yourself they're worse off. They're not as bad
as you say they are. You're not a really of
that a judge of you. Feelings lie. You may have just
eaten a bad burrito. (congregation laughing) Now you may be in
God's waiting room and you're still waiting
for something to happen that just hasn't happened and you've dreamed of it
but it hasn't happened yet. But I told there are two things it's always the right time for. Number one, it's
always the right time to come home to God no matter how far
you've drifted away. The second thing it's
always the right time for is to accept the saving
grace of Jesus Christ, which is why He
came at Christmas and died on the cross and rose again on Easter. It's always the
right time to accept the saving grace of Jesus. Once you understand it, it will
be foolish to procrastinate the very thing you need
to live for eternity and to be reconnected
to the God who made you. So you do it like right now. I mean, right now. Look at the last two
verses, what the Bible says about receiving the
grace of Jesus Christ. 1 Timothy 2:6. And the Bible says this. God, Jesus, gave Himself to pay for the sins of everyone. That means me, that means you. We're included in every. Did you realize, do you know that all the things
you've ever done wrong have already been paid for? Even the sins you haven't
even committed yet, like the ones next year and then in the next 10
years and in 20 years. Every one of your sins
have already been paid for. Maybe you don't know that. That's what Jesus
Christ came to do. Jesus Himself gave Himself to
pay for the sins of everyone. He is the proof that God wants all of us to be saved. All of us. I don't care if you're
Buddhist or Baptist or Hindu or Methodist or Muslim or Mormon
or Catholic or Jews or atheist or agnostic
or no religion at all. I don't care any of that. The Bible says He
wants, God wants all of us to be saved. Doesn't matter what
your religious or ethnic or financial background is. He says He wants all
of us to be saved. And that proof came at the right time. At the right time. That's what Christmas
is all about. Last verse, 2
Corinthians chapter 6. God says this to you. This hour is the right time. This hour is the right time to receive My grace. This is the day of salvation. The day of salvation is now. Today I'm ready to save you. I mean, like, like right now. I have had the
privilege of helping tens of thousands of people step across that spiritual line. It would be my honor
and my humble privilege to help you do that right now. So let's bow our heads. I'm gonna pray for you as a pastor and then I'm gonna invite you to pray with me to God
a prayer of salvation. Father, this issue of time and timing and
delays and rushing really creates
stress and anxiety in our lives especially when
we forget how much You love us. And it creates enormous pressure when we forget how that You
know what's best for us. You know us better than
we even know ourselves 'cause You made us. And we forget about how
You've taken care of us in the past, even when
we totally ignored You. You're a good God. Father, today there are
a lot of people here that I care about who are waiting for something
to happen in their lives and it hasn't happened yet. And I pray that today that each of us will
come back to You, will receive Your grace, will begin to trust You for the timing, the right
timing in our lives. I want all of these people,
everybody in our church family and all of our guests
that we're so happy to have here tonight. I want every one of these people to be blessed, not stressed in the new year. Now you pray. You say, What do I say? Doesn't matter what you say. What matters is not the words but an attitude of humility. Just tell God you need Him. Be humble. Say, I really don't
know what to pray. Okay, I'll pray a prayer and as I pray this
prayer, you can say, Me too, God. What Rick's saying, that's me. That represents my heart, okay? Just say something like this. God, I admit that I
often get stressed by the timing of
things in my life. I don't like to be rushed and I don't like delays. And there's some
things in my life that just move way too slow. And there's some other
things in my life that move way too fast. And God, I need Your help to stop fearing and fretting and forgetting and
feeling like giving up. Would You please forgive me for all the times I've
impatiently rushed ahead 'cause I was in a hurry
and I made a dumb decision? And would You forgive me for all the times that I've
tried to control the situation and have even tried to
control other people? I'm sorry. I want to learn to relax. God, I want to learn to relax
and trust Your perfect timing. Help me to remember
that You're never late, that I don't have
to run ahead of You, and that You're always on time. That Your timing is perfect. That You can do more
at the right time than I could ever
do on my own effort in an entire lifetime. Jesus, Jesus, thank You
for coming to save me at the right time. Thanks for Christmas. I want to come back home to God and I want to receive
Your saving grace. So please, please save me. I don't even understand it all but I'm asking You to save me. Save me from myself. There are things
about me I don't like but I just can't change. Save me from my sins. Save me from my mistakes. God, save me from my stress. Save me from my sadness, my loneliness, and
all the other things, the worries and the shame
or guilt and anxieties. I need salvation in
every area of my life. Thank You that You
want to save me. I want to learn to
trust You everyday and trust Your timing. And I want to live in Your love and peace for the
rest of my life. I humbly ask this in Your name, Jesus, amen. - Thanks for checking out
this message on YouTube. My name is Jay and I'm
Saddleback's online pastor. I want to invite you
to take your next step by checking out our
online community or help get you connected to
a local Saddleback campus. Three things we have
to offer you right now. First, learn more about
belonging to our church family by taking Class 101. Second, don't live life
alone and get into community with others by joining
an online small group or a local home
group in your area. Third, join our Facebook group to be more engaged with
our online community throughout the week. Take your next step and
learn where a local campus is near you by visiting
saddleback.com/online or email online@saddleback.com. Hope to hear from you soon.
