"When You Need A Fresh Start" with Pastor Rick Warren

hi everybody before we look at god's word today i'd like to speak to all of our southern california saddleback campuses about the coven 19 pandemic going on here as you all know we'd hoped that in this new year it would be over well it's not over instead the affection rate in america is the worst it's ever been and california is leading the list of having the most infections and our five southern california counties are leading california with the worst rates of infection now of course the big question on everybody's mind is when are we going to get to be able to have worship services in person again and the answer still is as soon as it is safe i really miss you guys and it is so frustrating to me as i'm sure it is to you but let's just look at the facts not how we feel but the facts although some people still deny that this pandemic is serious they need to talk to the families of the 393 000 americans who've died so far that's almost 400 000 deaths and although we have the good news of vaccine arriving tens of thousands more will die before everybody can be vaccinated so let me put this in perspective in all of world war ii 405 000 americans died that's all in world war ii that means we're only 12 000 deaths away from having more americans die from covet 19 than died in all of world war ii and we will pass that sad marker sometime this next week now this pandemic may not make you sick but it's killing millions do you remember when we first passed the rate of a thousand deaths a day to covet i reminded you that 3 000 people died on 9 11 crisis and that this past year we were having a 9 11 every three days but then the rate jumped two thousand deaths a day and then to three thousand deaths a day in in november and now in january covet has been killing americans at a faster rate than any other time in 2020 in fact deaths are 217 percent higher than they were in the fall now i haven't seen today's report but a couple of days ago 4 322 americans died of covid on a single day 4 329. now i've said this before but i think it's worth repeating i'm not willing to gamble your health and the health of our members simply because i'm frustrated and impatient i love you and i love all of our members and i'm called by god to protect you and to protect them as a good shepherd i'm just not willing to be responsible for the death of a single one of our members i'd rather resign than be responsible for the death of a saddleback member so if anybody is upset or angry with me about my caution i just have a simple question for them are you willing to be responsible before god for the death of any brothers and sisters in our church family are you willing to be responsible for it i'm sure you're not now i'm going to write you more about this next week but let's just pray that we all just keep loving and keep being patient because god is in control god's not worried about his church you don't need to worry about it either now i'd also like to thank all of you for your wonderful letters and notes of support and encouragement because they mean the world to me this past year was incredibly difficult and you really are an amazing group of people i can't tell you enough how much i love you how much i pray for you and how much i thank god for you every day and to the thousands of you new saddleback people who have joined us this past year you know our attendance actually doubled in worship online those thousands of you who've joined us while we've been gathering online we welcome you and we thank god for you and we promise to love you in our family we're not a perfect church but i will tell you this i seriously doubt that you'll ever find a more loving church a more flexible church a church more willing to tackle big problems in faith or a more compassionate church thousands of you are serving uh the community during coven 19. now one of the emails that passed on me last week i had a line in it at the end that really caught my attention and it's what i want to talk about today it ended by saying pastor rick i i don't know how i would have made it through the chaos this last year without our weekend services online they have been a lifesaver in this storm an anchor of hope so thanks to all of our leaders and elders for protecting us and thinking of us first with all the craziness out there i'm grateful for solid bible teaching that calms my anxious heart and then she said this i'm glad we made it through 2020 together but i'm hoping to get a fresh start this new year you know i've thought about that last phrase over and over in my mind this week i i think it speaks for many of us i'm hoping to get a fresh start in this new year so today as i share part two of the series the awesome power of vision i want us to look at what god tells us to do whenever we need a fresh start now both the old testament and the new testament and the bible are filled with examples of god giving people fresh start because god is the god of second chances he's the god of new beginnings he's the god of starting over he's the god of beginning again he's the god who specializes in giving people fresh starts now when we look at this theme in scripture the theme of fresh darts i particularly like to use the message translation of the bible because when other translations use the phrase made new the message always translate that as fresh start it's the same thing so let me just show you a few examples um here's the first one zechariah 10 6 from the message god says i'll save the people of joseph i know their pain and i'll make them as good as new they'll get a fresh start as if nothing ever happened why because i am their god and i'll do what needs to be done for them what an incredible promise aren't you glad that god knows and cares about all the pain you go through he felt everything you went through this past year and aren't you glad that no matter what happens in your life he can make everything as good as new and aren't you glad that god says i'll do what needs to be done to give you a fresh start you almost can't count the number of times on the bible that god gave his people israel a fresh start after they messed up let me show you another example hosea 14 5 in the message where god says i will make a fresh start with israel they will burst into bloom like a crocus in the spring after a season of cold and darkness he says they're going to blossom with new beauty like spring flowers that's what i'm praying for our church as we end in uh covenant 19. now you may be thinking well that's great for israel but what about me well psalm 145 14 says this in the message it says god gives a hand to those who are down on their luck and he gives a fresh start to those who are ready to quit have you felt like giving up have you felt like quitting you felt like throwing in the towel then you picked a good day to worship with saddleback because that's what we're going to talk about today it is always too soon to quit you know this coming monday we're going to observe martin luther king day and dr king is best remembered for his famous i have a dream speech but what made king so great was that he courage courageously went after that dream he didn't just dream it he started going after it so what dream has god given you when are you going to get started on it he said well one of these days one of these days is none of these days god's word gives us the simple steps for getting started on a uh on a fresh start so just for fun you know what i did i put these steps in a simple acrostic s-t-a-r-t you go oh come on rick yeah i did i put him in a caustic start so let's get started on your fresh start now here's the first step in a new year and a fresh start the first step is always this s stop making excuses for not starting stop making excuses for not starting have you ever been around somebody who makes excuses for everything you've probably noticed that people who are good at making excuses are rarely good at anything else the biggest barrier to my success and your success are my own excuses your own excuses you might write that down the biggest barriers to my success are my own excuses now let me show you what god says about four common excuses you've heard these you've probably given all four of them excuse number one for not starting i don't have what it takes i don't have what it takes to go after the dream you know in the bible moses and jeremiah and a lot of other people tried to use this excuse on god when he had an assignment for them but my favorite example of it of i i don't have what it takes is gideon god told a young man named gideon gideon i want to use you to liberate my people from the enemy that's oppressing them and judges chapter 6 verse 15 and 16 tells us how gideon responded it says this then gideon started making excuses [Laughter] god says i'm going to use you he said moi not me lord he said gideon started to make excuses he said but lord how can i save the nation of israel i belong to manasseh the smallest tribe and my family is the weakest and poorest family in that tribe and i'm the youngest and least important person in my family okay you're going god you got the wrong guy but the lord replied i will be with you now here's the answer to your insecurity when you say i i don't have what it takes you're not going to do this by yourself god says i'm going to be with you and if i'm with you that means you can rely on my power you can rely on my presence you can rely on my promises you can rely on my protection there's nothing to worry about one plus god is a majority let me give you a second common excuse that a lot of people use for not taking a fresh start and it's this i have failed in the past yeah well welcome to the human race everybody's failed you you are product listen to me you are a product of your past but you're not a prisoner of your past your product you're shaped by your path but you're not a prisoner of your past you have a choice you're not a victim unless you choose to be now i know without a doubt that in in your past other people have hurt you and other people have harmed you maybe even other people have scarred you but nobody can ruin your life except you your past is past it's over it's water under the bridge it doesn't have to control you anymore and by the way did you know that god is far more interested in your future than your past in isaiah 43 18 and 19 tev version says this the lord says this do not cling to the events of the past and he says do not dwell on what happened long ago he says watch for the new thing i'm going to do it's happening already just look and you can see it starting now you say well okay but what about all my failures in my past well god just says just admit your mistakes confess your sins and move on proverbs 28 13 says this a man who refuses to admit his mistakes can never be successful but if he confesses and forsakes them he gets another chance that's fresh start now here's the third common excuse for not starting right now on on your dream there are things i can't control well duh of course there are things you can't control in fact most of the things in life are beyond your control you can't control the weather you can't control the economy you can't control other people you can't control how long this pandemic will last and a million other factors and what's worse and i really hate to tell you this but you'll never be able to control them you have to live your life for god and do whatever he's called you to do in the middle of uncontrollable circumstances and problems so what do you do what do you do you control the controllables and trust god for the rest control the controllables and trust god for the rest i've told you that before so what can you control you can control your attitudes you can control your reactions you can control how much you choose to trust god that's your choice these are things that are your choice you know over the past year i've talked to a lot of people who've put everything on hold in their life during the pandemic they act like they're in limbo so they do nothing they're just waiting and they're the ones getting the most frustrated yes of course we can't do everything we'd like to do right now but that doesn't mean we can't do something it doesn't mean we just coast passively and waste these days during the pandemic you know while our church has been unable to meet for worship we've actually been more active and more effective and more successful in our other four purposes of our church our church has five purposes if worship is curtailed right now we can do the other four and we have been we're not just sitting around for instance in just one of our purposes ministry and feeding people over thirteen thousand of you have been volunteering feeding over a half a million people and yes we couldn't have for instance sixty thousand people at our normal christmas services so you know what we did instead we didn't do nothing instead we turned over a thousand volunteers into staffers of our light of the world through uh christmas drive through and we impacted double the number of people over 130 000 people came to christmas at saddleback this year in a pandemic limitations are just opportunities for creativity you know what happened it ended up being that 2020 was our church's greatest year for starting small groups for launching ministries in the community for reaching more non-believers than we've ever reached before last year and for developing disciples why because the church is far more than just a worship service it's family and it goes all day every day of the week and even our worship service attendance doubled online proverbs 24 verse 10 says this don't give up and act helpless in times of trouble don't give up and act helpless in time you need to write that one down on a card and put it on your refrigerator now during these times have you stopped trying have you stopped trying you know during trying times you got to keep trying yes there's a lot of trouble in the world right now but you're not helpless you know what i've noticed i've noticed that the people during the pandemic who are complaining the most are the ones not serving others they're just complaining because their wants aren't being met here's a fourth common excuse for not starting now not doing something now even though you can't do everything i don't know what the future holds well of course you don't again you're right but you're never going to know what the future holds and ecclesiastes 11 4 says this new living translation if you wait for perfect conditions you'll never get anything done so so the first thing you do if you want a fresh start in a new year you stop making excuses for not starting now the next word is t take stock of what i have take stock of what i have that's the second step in being uh uh moving ahead and getting a fresh start take stock and what what i mean is you list and you evaluate what you've got to work with do a personal inventory say how do i do that well let me give you three questions okay you might write these down three questions to ask yourself in making a fresh start this year in taking stock by doing a personal inventory okay here's the three questions write these down number one what are my assets what are my assets now you look at your own god-given shape we talk about that in class 301 your spiritual gifts your heart your abilities your personality your experiences you look at your physical assets your educational assets your financial assets and of course remember your spiritual assets as a child of god colossians 2 10 says this in the living bible you have everything when you have christ that's a lot of assets you have everything when you have christ and you're filled with god through your union with christ he's the highest ruler with authority over every other power now that's an asset it means you don't have to know the key men if you know the man who holds the keys okay because he has authority over everything else say ask what are my assets number two ask what have i learned go back over what have you learned from this last year sit down and write down some lessons that you extracted about life about yourself about family about god whatever about your career what write down the lessons that you extracted that's a thing to get you in the fresh start galatians 3 4 says this you have experienced many things were those were all those experiences wasted i hope not don't waste your experiences don't you want to especially pay attention to your painful experiences because god never wants you to waste a hurt it's going to don't waste the pain don't waste the hurt quit having a pity party poor me life is unfair things aren't going the way i want them to go and instead learn from your pain write down the lessons also learn from your mistakes stop rehearsing them stop regretting them start learning from them why because innovation is always built on failure it's how we learn it's how we learn what doesn't work so whenever you have a mistake or you have a failure don't call it a failure call it an education some of us are highly educated okay now you also can review what you learned through bible teaching like what i'm doing right now second timothy 3 14 says this you should continue following the teachings you learned you know they're true because you trust those who taught you so what are my assets what have i learned here's a third question asking in uh taking stock who could help me who else could could help me in my fresh start proverbs 15 22 get all the advice you can and you'll succeed without it you're gonna fail one of the most common reasons people fail to reach their dream is ego arrogance pride hubris they're too proud to ask for advice they think i can figure this out by myself i got a dream i'll figure it out myself the bible says pride leads to destruction it also says that god gives grace to the humble why because the humble are teachable you're never going to get anywhere you're never going to have a fresh start if you act like you've already arrived so i want to encourage you you might just near recruit a personal brain trust of advisors to help you with your dream okay stop making excuses take stock of your life number three the a in start is act in faith i've told you before that god is not moved by our complaints but he is moved by our faith and in matthew 9 29 it says according to your faith it will be done to you so you say okay rick um how how do i know if i'm acting in faith you know you're acting in faith when you attempt to do something that you know you couldn't do in your own power you know you're acting in faith when you're attempting to do something that scares you it will scare you it will force you to rely on god now maybe you've never realized that goal setting is actually an act of faith when you set a goal it's saying god with your help i'm expecting to accomplish this specific task by this specific date and that kind of goal is a statement of faith and god honors faith most people never set goals for their life less than one percent of people set goals for their life why because of the fear of failure and a lack of faith that's the reason most people never set any goals for their life now you may ask okay how can i set goals when i don't know how long this pandemic is going to last it's a legitimate question how can i set goals for this new year when i don't know how long the pandemic's going to last well you can do two things first you can do what's called scenario goal setting scenario goal setting and scenario planning means that you set up multiple goals and plans depending on what scenario happens and it's like okay i will do this and i will by this date if this happens but on the other hand i will do that by that date if that happens that's called scenario planning you can do that you can have different scenarios if this happens i'll do this and if that happens i'll do that that's scenario goal setting proverbs 16 9 says this we should make our plans counting on god to direct us that's in the living bible so that's one of the ways you can do it not knowing when the pandemic's going to end second you can focus listen on character goals rather than activity goals yeah you can focus on activity goals if you know the future you don't but you can focus on character goals anytime in other words you you can set goals on what you want to be what you want to be goals instead of what you want to do goals you can ask yourself right now what kind of person do i want to be by the end of this year how do you want to be different how do you want to be more like christ what weakness is it that you want to work on in your life you've got complete control over that doesn't matter how long the pandemic lasts what kind of character do you want to have what are your character goals and by the way god is more interested in what you become than what you do god is far more interested in your character than in your conduct why because you're not taking your career to heaven but you are taking your character hebrews 11 6 says this without faith it is impossible to please god that's why the third step in a fresh start is you have to act in faith my question to you is this what faith goals for this next year will you set this next week that's your homework what faith goals will i set for this next year this next week now we go to the fourth biblical step to a fresh start that's the r in start and it's this refocus my mind if i want a fresh start in life i have to do the first three things and then i have to refocus my mind if you want to change your life you got to change the way you think first changing your thoughts is the key to a fresh start in any area in a hobby in a career in a relationship in a marriage in parenting changing your thoughts is the key to a fresh start in any area let me show you some verses ephesians 4 23 and the amplified says this be constantly renewed in the spirit of your mind that's changing your mind change the way you think be constantly renewed in the spirit of your mind having a fresh mental attitude and a fresh spiritual attitude so what is a renewed mind a renewed mind means you have fresh thoughts and you have fresh attitudes frankly some of your attitudes suck so do mine some of your thoughts are wrong so do mine so how do i refocus my mind well sorry but that's an entire seminar but let me give you a couple tips write these down listen more to god's word than the world that's one of the ways you renew your mind listen more to god's word than the world psalm 1 1-3 says this happy are those who are always meditating on god's word they're like trees along the river that do not dry up they succeed in everything they do would you like that to be true your life this next year meditate on god's word every day think about god's word and then here's a second tip think about what i think about you say what do you mean by that think about what i think about i'm saying when you think about what you think about you don't automatically thought accept every thought you have you challenge them when you have a thought you challenge it you think about what you're thinking about and go do i want to think about this you say do i want this thought you say when you have a thought you ask yourself first is this really true i can't tell you how much that question will change your life when you get a thought you need to ask yourself is this really true well i am so this and that you're playing old tapes if you'll just ask the question is this really true it'll change your life is this helpful that's another question to ask is this helpful is it true is it helpful do i want this thought in other words how does it make me feel and do i want to feel that way all your feelings are caused by thoughts and if you don't like the way you feel change the way you think and if you don't like the thing you're thinking well then just replace it with a different thought let me tell you a little secret about your mind you don't have to believe every thought you have that's a choice because not every thought you have is true proverbs 4 23 says this be careful how you think because your life is shaped by your thoughts and finally we come to the last step the t in start trust write this down trust that god knows what he's doing that's the fifth step to a fresh start in life and a fresh start in a new year trust that god knows what he's doing you don't know what he's doing but you can trust that god knows what he's doing he's a good god you see when god is working in your life and when he's preparing you for a fresh start you often can't see it or if you can see it and you can see what he's doing you still may not understand what why he's doing it you can see what he's doing in your life but you can't see why he's doing it but god's plan and god's intention for your life are always good you can trust him trust that god knows what he's doing even when you don't understand why things are happening the way they are i want to close with a principle and a promise here's the background of the principle one day god told the prophet named jeremiah you thought jeremiah was a bullfrog but actually he was a prophet one day god told a prophet named jeremiah to go to a potter's house and watch that potter making clay pots on on a pottery table you know one of those turntables and god says i want you to go to this potter's house and watch what's going on and i will give you a message there so jeremiah did that and he goes and finds the potter's house and sure enough the guy's sitting at his potter's wheel and it's turning and he's taking a lump of clay and he's molding it fixing it and then he noticed something and this is in jeremiah 18 4. jeremiah 18 4 says this when the clay pot that the potter was forming on the wheel didn't turn out the way he intended he simply started over using the same clay to make a new pot jeremiah notices three things sometimes things don't turn out the way you intended that's true number two when that happens the potter just starts all over again number three but he uses the same clay he doesn't throw it out he just takes the same clay that he tried to make something that didn't work out the way he intended he takes that same clay and reshapes it and after jeremiah saw this object lesson god explained it in jeremiah 18 verse 5 and 6. then god said to jeremiah jeremiah can not i do the same with you as the potter does just as the potter works the clay in his hand so you are in my hand and i am working on you that's both the principle and the promise now i don't know but this last year or even before that you may have really made a mess of your life and it may have been marred was marred by the decisions of others and the actions of others or it had mar been marred by your own decisions and actions and it your your pot who you are is scarred from poor decisions that you made and things that were done to you and as a result your life has not intent turned out as you intended but you're not the potter god's the potter you're the clay and just like the potter god doesn't throw out original clay that's been misshapen by circumstances scarred misshapen didn't turn out the way intended god doesn't waste all of the pain that you've been through no and he doesn't throw out the unique personality and the essence of you that he gave you the clay the stuff that made you that he made you with no instead he takes every part of you all of you that includes the good and the bad and the ugly all that in the clay and everything you've experienced up in life up to this point you know what does he puts it in his gentle but strong hands and once you're in his hands god starts over fresh start on shaping your life and it begins to work on you lovingly but firmly like a potter and he begins to reshape you applying pressure at just the right places to mold you and remake you into a beautiful priceless piece of art and that brings glory to him and that brings glory to you that's what happens when we surrender ourselves completely to god's loving hands and we trust that god is the master potter who creates masterpieces this is what it means to get a fresh start jesus called it being born again second corinthians 5 17 says this when anyone becomes united to christ he becomes a new person inside that's fresh start he becomes a new person inside he's not the same anymore his old life the old life is gone and a fresh new life has begun i said it at the start and i'll say it at the end god specializes in new beginnings and fresh starts and you can have one today if you begin taking these steps how do you get started well you start with the prayer that king david prayed psalm 51 verse 10 and the message says this god make a fresh start in me shape a genesis week from the chaos in my life i love that god make a fresh start in me will you pray that today shape a genesis week from the chaos in my life you know earlier i said it's always too soon to quit but i also want to say it's never too late to start over it's never too late if your heart's still pumping it's never too late start over now if you would like that it would be my privilege to introduce you to jesus christ and lead you in a simple prayer for salvation and a fresh start would you bow your heads with me right now would you just pray with me why don't you just say these words in your heart you know you can just say as i say the word you say god me too just say something like this dear god dear god i want a fresh start dear god i need a fresh start and today i've realized that only you can make that happen i want to stop making excuses i wanna i wanna act in faith so i ask you jesus christ to put your spirit inside my life and fill me with your love just say that to god put your spirit inside my life jesus and fill me with your life i ask you to forgive everything i've ever done clean the slate with your mercy and grace and i ask you to make me a new person the person i was always intended to become god i recognize that you're the potter and i'm the clay and i'm asking you today to begin reshaping my life thank you for loving me and when tough times come and i feel under pressure help me to trust you knowing that you're a good and wise god and i humbly ask you to accept me into your family because jesus died for me thank you amen

Channel: Pastor Rick

Views: 113,299

Rating: 4.8139534 out of 5

Keywords: Pastor Rick Warren, Pastor Rick's Daily Hope, Pastor Rick, Rick Warren sermon, Rick Warren, Saddleback Church, Saddleback, christianity, church, church sermon

Id: uLfaE97JFmU

Length: 39min 3sec (2343 seconds)

Published: Tue Jan 19 2021