Join Pastor Rick as he explores the biblical teachings on planning and goal-setting, focusing on the importance of integrating God into every aspect of our lives. Through a detailed discussion, Pastor Rick explains the pitfalls of compartmentalizing faith and practical life decisions while shedding light on James 4’s guidance for the future. Listeners are encouraged to embrace scenario planning that incorporates flexibility and trust in God’s will, ensuring a life of integrity and holistic success.
Hey everyone, welcome to Pastor Rick’s Daily Hope. We’re so glad you’re here. Today, Rick continues in a series called Preparing for Your Future, where he shares how God’s destiny for your life is good and how you get to choose much of your destiny. And now here’s Rick with part one of a message called Don’t Waste Tomorrow.
SPEAKER 02 :
This week, as I went through eight different international airports, I was reminded of the power of one man. Because of one man, Osama bin Laden, I have to take my shoes off, my belt off, and all things like, every time I go into an airport. That is the power of one man, a single individual. And because of that one man, it affected our security, it affected our liberty, It affected the economy. It affected our destiny. So, don’t ever lie to yourself again and say, I’m just one person. What could I do? Here was a guy living in the desert on the backside of the world, and he affects you every time you wanna travel. One man. That is the power of an individual for either good or for evil. Now last week we looked at how God gives us a choice in our destiny. A lot of people think destiny is something that’s just pre-set, pre-planned, it’s kismet, it’s fate, it’s que sera sera, it can’t be changed, it’s inevitable. Friends, that’s not Christianity, that’s Buddhism. That’s Islam. Christianity says, no, I’m giving you a choice, says God. I’m gonna go back to the verse that we started this series with last week. It’s Deuteronomy chapter 30. Up here on the screen, look at this. God says, I’m gonna give you a choice for your destiny. Not only your destiny in eternity, but your destiny here on earth. He says this, I set before you today life and prosperity. or death and destruction, you get to choose. You can choose life and prosperity, or you can choose death and destruction. Now if you love the Lord your God, and you walk in his ways, and you keep his commands, then you will live and you will increase. That means you’re gonna progress, you’re gonna be successful, you’re going to prosper, you’re gonna increase. And the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you’re entering to possess. But here’s the choice. But if your heart turns away from me, you will not live long in the land you’re crossing the Jordan to enter and to possess. God says, I’ve set before you life or death, blessings or cursing. Now, choose life. He said, it’s your choice. I want you to choose life. Choose life so that you and your children may live. Your destiny is your choice. Your choices create your destiny. It’s not simply a kismet fate game. Inevitable. And God says not only will your choices affect you, it says it will affect your children. It influences the next generation. Your destiny is your choice. That’s why this fall, when we start our annual fall spiritual growth campaign, which we do every year, I’m calling this year’s campaign Decade of Destiny. And I’ve been working on it all year. Now to get ready for a decade of destiny, I’m doing a four-week series on preparing for your future. You know, this week while I was on one of these planes flying to Rwanda and back, I read a Rasmussen poll, which is like the Gallup poll, about what Americans feel about the future. And it said that today, 38% of Americans, only 38% believe that our best days are ahead of us. Only 38%. In fact, 16% said they’re not sure and a full 46% said they are certain that our best days are behind us. Well, it’s your choice. It’s your choice. Look at this verse on the screen. Jesus said, according to your faith, it will be done to you. Jesus said, you get to choose. You want your next 10 years to be better or you want them to be worse? Decade of destiny or decade of defeat. According to your faith, it will be done unto you. The person who says I can and the person who says I can’t are both right. The person who says I’m gonna succeed and the person who says I’m gonna fail are both right. The person who says it’s gonna be a better future and the person who says it’s gonna be a worse future are both right. According to your faith, it will be done unto you. So let me ask you the question. What are you expecting in your future? What are you expecting in the next 10 years? What are you expecting to happen? Do you expect to be any different? Do you expect to be any better? Or do you just think this is gonna be a low, long slide and you’re gonna be worse off in 10 years? Now during Decade of Destiny, we’re pulling out all the stops. And the goal is to help you in your personal life. Decade of Destiny is to help you get recharged, renewed, refreshed, rejuvenated, retooled, and get your life reorganized and simplified for maximum effectiveness. We’re gonna look at every key area of your life. We’re gonna look at your health. We’re gonna look at your time. We’re going to look at your money. We’re going to look at what God says about your relationships, about your legacy, about your words, about your problems. Now today, we’re gonna continue in preparing for your future. Many people don’t know that Jesus had brothers and sisters. Oh yeah, he did. The Bible talks about it. In fact, there’s times when he talks to his brothers and sisters and talks to his mother. Now, Jesus, they were actually half brothers because Jesus’ father was not Joseph. Jesus’ father was God. Mary was a virgin when she bore Jesus. But the Bible tells us very clearly that after Jesus was born, Mary and Joseph had other kids. It even talks about them in scripture. Now, one of Jesus’ half brothers was a guy named James. James did not believe that his brother was the son of God until after the resurrection. And then he goes, he really was. I mean, when you see a guy who’s been raised from the dead after three days, he became a believer. And he wrote a book in the Bible called the book of James. In James chapter four, he teaches us about preparing for the future. Look at your outlines. James chapter four, verse 13. Listen here, you who say today or tomorrow, we will go to a certain city and we’re gonna stay there a year and we will do business there and we’ll make a profit. Now, how do you know what’s gonna happen tomorrow? For your life is like a morning fog. It’s here a little while and then it’s gone. What you ought to say is if it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that. Otherwise, you’d just be boasting and bragging. All such boasting is evil. Anyone who knows to do the right thing but doesn’t do it is sin. Now this text is a very powerful scripture and it gives us the three mistakes people make about their future. That’s what I want us to look at quickly today. How do we prepare for a decade of destiny? Well James says there are three things you wanna avoid when you start planning your life, when you start planning your future. And he begins with a typical conversation between a couple businessmen. Notice there in verse 13 he says this. You who say today or tomorrow, we will go to a certain city and we will stay there a year and we will do business there and we will make a profit. Now, what’s wrong with that? Well, at first glance, there doesn’t seem to be anything wrong with that. I mean, people make plans like this all the time. I mean, actually, at least this guy’s got a plan. We talked last week that the Bible says you should plan. It’s foolish not to plan. The Bible says you should plan. This guy’s an entrepreneur like many of you. And I mean, he’s probably read Think and Grow Rich and The Miracle of Thinking Big and all kinds of other business books and Winning by Jack Welch and stuff like that. And he’s got a plan and it’s a detailed plan. Notice he plans where? I mean when, today or tomorrow. He plans where, we’re gonna go to this specific city. He plans how long, we’re gonna stay there a year. He plans what, we’re gonna have a business there. And he plans why, we’re gonna make a profit. Now there’s actually nothing wrong with any of this. In fact, it’s all taught in the book of Proverbs. The Bible says that you should have a strategy for your life and for your business. This guy plans his purpose and his place and his progress and his profits. And the Bible says making a profit is smart. Making an honest profit is smart. God says that’s a good thing to do. So he’s got all the bases covered. So what’s wrong? Here’s the first common mistake that people make. Setting goals without God. Setting goals without God. There’s not a single mention of God in his business plan. There’s not a single mention of God in his planning. Now he knows what he wants, he knows how to get there, but he forgets to check it out with God first. Now again, don’t misunderstand me. The Bible encourages planning. Jesus said in Luke 14, no king goes to battle without planning. Jesus said, no man builds a tower without figuring out how much it’s gonna cost, otherwise he may not be able to finish it. And Proverbs, as I said, teaches it’s foolish not to plan. So there’s nothing wrong with what this guy did. It’s what he forgot to do that’s wrong. And what did he forget to do? He planned without praying. He planned without praying. He was setting goals without God. And the problem here is not what he did. The problem is his attitude. It’s an attitude of self-sufficiency. I will, I will, we will, we will, we will. If I were to say to those of you who are business people, business women, business men, do you believe in God? You say, of course I believe in God. And I say, do you believe in Jesus? Well, of course, Rick, you know I believe in Jesus. Does he have any say in your business plan? Well, I like to keep my faith and my business separate. Fatal mistake. Because then God’s not gonna bless your business. God only blesses what he’s engaged in. And you cannot compartmentalize Jesus If Jesus is not Lord of all, he’s not Lord at all in your life. You can’t say he’s number one, but I’m, oh, by the way, I’ve got this little slice of the pie over here that’s mine. And when you start compartmentalizing your life, you actually lack integrity. Integrity means it’s all blended together, it’s integral, it’s integrated, it’s a unit of one. And when you say, this is my business life, and this is my family life, And this is my social life. And this is my church life. And this is my sex life. And this is my financial life. And you compartmentalize a pie, you lack integrity. Integrity means it’s all the same. It all fits together. As I said, if Jesus isn’t Lord of all, he’s not Lord at all. You can’t say, well, you know, this is my sacred life and this is my secular life. There’s no such thing. God owns it all. And yet we try to do this. A lot of times we come to church on Sunday and sing Onward Christian Soldiers, then go AWOL on Monday. Do you know what an atheist is? An atheist is someone who acts as if God doesn’t exist. And a lot of Christians are practical atheists. When it comes to their business, when it comes to their finances, when it comes to their dating, when it comes to their sex life, they act as if God doesn’t exist. They’re practical atheists. You need to set goals. The Bible says to set goals, but you need to include God in your goal setting. In fact, here’s what it says in verse 15. Instead, you ought to say, if it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that. Now notice the difference. In the first verse, he says, we will, we will, we will, we will. And this one says, if it’s the Lord’s will, we will. And what he’s saying here is you gotta be flexible. You gotta be, circle the word if in that verse, if. You gotta be flexible. The basic attitude, if you’re a believer, if you’re a follower of Christ, the right kind of, is there a kind of spiritual planning? Yes, it’s called scenario planning. That’s the kind of planning God wants you to do. You might write that down, scenario planning that says, if this happens, we’ll do this, and if this happens, we’ll do this, and if this happens, we’ll do this, and if this happens, we’ll do, it’s planning, but it’s flexible planning. It says, now, if this happens, we’re gonna do this, and if this happens, we’ll do this. That’s the kind of planning that has both planning and faith and trust in God at the same time. Scenario planning is godly planning. I don’t know if you’ve noticed this, but your plans go awry. They don’t always happen the way, have you noticed this? Even the best laid plans get messed up. I mean, we all know Murphy’s Law. If something can go wrong, it will. Murphy was an optimist. Not if, it will, count on it. When things do go wrong, they will go wrong because we live in a broken planet and everything goes wrong all the time. And I want you to write on your outline the word life. Okay, just write it down, life, L-I-F-E. Now, I want you to circle the two letters in the middle of life. It’s if, that’s the big if of life. and it’s right in the middle of your life. Not in the beginning, not in the end, the big if is in the middle. What if? And he says, if it is the Lord’s will, we’ll do this or that. During Decade of Destiny, I’m gonna teach you how to do life planning. We’re gonna have some life planning tools, things like that. The starting point of life planning is always surrender. Lord, whatever you want, whatever your will is, I surrender to you. I want your will over my will. Now, write down on your outline this, planning without prayer is presumption. Planning without prayer is presumption. God says, I want to be included in your planning. And at the beginning of planning, we say, what do you want us to do, Lord? And at the end of your planning, you say, if it’s the Lord’s will. He says, you should say, if it’s God’s will, I’ll do this. Now, you say, well, Rick, couldn’t that become a cliche? Yes. It could become a cliche if it’s God’s will, Lord willing. But it doesn’t have to be. It’s just a good reminder. People used to write at the end of letters, when they were writing letters, they would use the letters DV and then they’d sign their name. Do you know what DV is? It’s short for the Latin word Deo Valente. Now Deo Valente is not a fashion designer. Deo Valente means Lord willing. If it’s the Lord’s will, God will. If it’s the Lord’s will, my Muslim friends say inshallah. Inshallah, inshallah means if it’s the Lord’s will, if it’s God’s will, we’ll do this. Now Proverbs 16 says this. We may make our plans, but God will have the last word. Now you may think everything you do is right, But the Lord judges your motive. He knows, he’s looking at your heart. So he says, ask the Lord to bless your plans and you will be successful in carrying them out. You wanna be successful in life? Ask the Lord to bless your plans, you’ll be successful in carrying them out. Everything the Lord has made has its what? Destiny, circle that word, destiny. That’s why we’re doing decade of destiny. Everything the Lord has made has its destiny. Proverbs 16, nine says, we can make our plans, but the Lord determines our steps. Now there’s three possible attitudes toward God’s will. When you say God willing in my life, if it’s God’s will, you can refer to it, you can defer to it, or you can prefer it. Refer, defer, prefer. To refer to God’s will, say, you know, Lord willing, it’s just a throwaway line. You don’t really mean it. It’s just kind of lip service. Lord willing, I’ll do this. You’re not really thinking about it. That’s referring to it. Deferring means I accept it, I acknowledge it, I surrender to God’s will. That’s better, that’s what you want to do, defer. The other, though, is the best, and that’s to prefer it. Say, God, I don’t really want my plan, because my plan sucks. My plan’s a dead end. My plan gets me in trouble. God, I want your plan for my life. I don’t just defer to your will, I prefer your will. I want my life to be what you created it to be. I wanna defer, no, I wanna prefer. This is what I want most in life. David says this in Psalm 37, on the screen he says, take delight in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart. You want the desires of your heart? It’s real simple, prefer the will of God. Take delight in the Lord. God, more than anything else, more than money, more than fame, more than satisfaction, more than comfort, more than security, I want you. Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.
SPEAKER 01 :
Thanks so much for listening to Pastor Rick’s Daily Hope. You know, your prayers and financial support have a huge impact on millions of people here and around the world. So we really appreciate that. Thank you. And now Rick’s going to share a letter from one of our listeners who says Daily Hope is making a real difference in their life.
SPEAKER 02 :
Friends, you are so essential to this ministry of Daily Hope. Your prayers, your support help us reach more and more people around the world. I was really blessed today when I read this note from Edward, and he talks about how he’s learning from Daily Hope while he’s working with inner city kids right here in America. He wrote this. Dear Pastor Rick, I’m a middle school teacher, and it’s a real challenge every morning waking up and coming to my school to teach. I teach at a school where 100% of our students need financial help just to eat lunch. In other words, it’s in a very poor section of a city. He says, I listen to your Daily Hope message during my break, and I usually give my students bits and pieces of it. Today, I told them to think about what they can do for others if they truly want to be happy. Pastor Rick, thank you for making your Daily Hope messages free. I’m able to keep listening to them until I really understand what you’re teaching. Well, Edward, you are making a real difference. I am so proud of you for working with those inner city students. You’re giving them a message of hope and healing and help. And you’re helping them to understand how that by giving their lives away to help other people, they bring new meaning and significance to their own lives. And I am praying, Edward, that today you’ll be encouraged, not just today, but every day as you go to school, knowing that what you do is making a difference in students’ lives for eternity. God bless you.
SPEAKER 01 :
Thanks so much, Rick. And if you’d like to let Rick know how much this broadcast has meant to you, how it’s blessed you, please send him an email at rick at pastorrick.com. That’s rick at pastorrick.com. Rick looks so forward to reading those emails. Be sure to join us next time as we look into God’s word for our daily hope. This program is sponsored by Pastor Rick’s Daily Hope and your generous financial support.
