Pastor Rick's Daily Hope

Guest (Male): Hey everybody, welcome to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope. Today, Rick Warren brings his series called Time to Dream, trusting God to open doors to a close. And maybe you've been waiting for a breakthrough, an opportunity, or maybe some clarity about what's next. If so, you are in the right place. Rick will turn to the Bible and show us how God can open doors when we trust him with our future. Okay, now here's the final part of a message called The Struggle Behind Every Dream.

Pastor Rick Warren: The third phase in the struggle for God to get you ready. We're talking about getting ready for the big dream. You're not ready for the dream God has for your life. The phase three is the confession phase. Crisis, commitment, confession. I want you to write this down cuz this is the third thing that Jacob did. I admit that I am my own biggest problem. I admit that I am my biggest problem. When you finally go, God, I realize I'm the big problem here. It's not my brother, my sister, it's me, oh Lord, standing in the need of prayer.

It's not my husband, not my parents, not my kids, it's me, oh Lord, that that I I'm causing a lot of these problems by my reactions. Now, when you get to this third phase, the confession phase, where I admit that I'm the biggest problem in my life, I caused myself more problems than anybody else causes me. I do it through my own insecurities, my own fears, resentments, shame, guilt, whatever, worry, anxiety. When I admit that I am my own biggest problem, this is the breakthrough. And this is the breakthrough in your struggle. This is the breakthrough in your wrestling match.

There is no victory in your wrestling match until you admit it. Here's the verse 27 of Genesis 32. So, the man asked him, what asked Jacob, what is your name? Jacob says, my name is Jacob, he answered. Now, isn't that a strange request? I mean, they've been wrestling all night. They don't know each other's names. Obviously, God knows Jacob's name. Anytime God asks you a question, it's never for his benefit. He already knows the answer. All right? So, he obviously he knew Jacob's name. He knew Jacob. He knew every second of Jacob's life. He thought him up.

He'd seen every moment of his life, the good, the bad, and the ugly. So, this is a strange request because God obviously already knows Jacob's name. Why does he say, what is your name? Well, you need to understand that in ancient times, your name was was a description of your character. Today, we choose names cuz they sound nice. They might not have any meaning at all, but nobody was named without meaning in ancient times. Your name was your label. It was the label of your character. It was your brand. And it was a description. And and so, for instance, a Jabez, which means painful, was named Jabez because his his mom said he was painful in delivery.

Now, in Jacob, his name in Hebrew Jacob originally meant in Hebrew deceiver or manipulator. That doesn't mean that anymore, obviously, because this Jacob is a hero to all of us. But Jacob in Hebrew originally meant deceiver, trickster, manipulator, con man. And you know what? All of his life Jacob had lived up to his name. First, he deceived and conned and manipulated his dad. Then he deceived and manipulated and conned and cheated his brother. And then he used his father-in-law and manipulated him. Jacob had a track record of one heartache after another that he caused to anybody who came into his life.

And so, he was aptly named manipulator. Let me let me pause here for a second and ask you consider something. If you were named right now for your greatest character fault, what would your name be? If you were named for your greatest character fault, what would your name be? Would people call you, hey bitter? Hey selfish? Hey arrogant? Would some people say look at you go, hey gossip, how's it going? Hey lustful? How are you doing greedy? What's going on unreliable? If you were named for your greatest character weakness, what what would that be? When Jacob is asked, what's your name?

This is an act of confession. It's an act of self-revelation. Jacob is owning up to years of his conniving ways. He says, what's your name? He goes, my name's manipulator. My my name is deceiver. I I am a deceiver. I'm a manipulator. I I I'm I'm a con man. Uh he's be this is a this is a moment of confession and it's the third part of the struggle where I realize I'm my own biggest problem. Now, let me give you some insight here. I will never be able to reach all the great dreams that God has for my life until I admit my own weaknesses and sins to myself, to God, and others.

I can't possibly go after God's dream for my life if I'm still holding back and not being real, not being authentic. If I'm being a phony or a fake, you know, I tell you every week how much I love you. I've been pastor of this church for 40 years. You can fake love maybe for a year or two, but you can't fake it for 40. You either love people or you don't. And people figure that out pretty quickly. So, it's when when he says, here's what I am. He's just owning up to I'm my biggest problem.

And my identity is has been tied to to my weakness. So, what are we talking about here? For you to fulfill the dream that God asked for your life, you can have to stop making excuses for yourself and your weaknesses. You can have to stop blaming others for your weaknesses. You can have to stop rationalizing your weaknesses. Remember, rationalize is to tell rational lies. I'm telling myself with my mind what I know in my heart is untrue. You got to come clean about your faults, about your weaknesses. The Bible says God resists the proud, but he gives grace to the humble.

For you to reach your dream, you are going to need God's grace. God's dream for your life is so big, so great, so good, so blessed, so powerful. You can't do it on your own. You're going to need the grace of God. How do you get the grace of God? God gives grace to the humble. Now, that's this is scary. I mean, if I were to ask you to finish this sentence, I am a blank. And you were to fill in a character quality that might not be a good one. That's kind of scary. But I will tell you this.

It's a little secret. God's not going to be shocked. And if you were to say, God, I'm a gossip, he's not going to go, oh really? I didn't know that. Or God, I'm arrogant. Or God, I'm stubborn. Or God, I have an anger problem. Or God, I have a pornography and lust problem. Or God God's not going to go, wow, I never saw that one coming. He's seen it all. He's not going to be shocked. He already knew Jacob's name. He just wanted Jacob to admit, to confess. Now, we come to the fourth phase in the struggle.

This is really a good part because we've gone through the crisis and then we've made the commitment. You've stuck with it say, I'm not letting go until you bless me. I am not going to stop praying. I'm not going to stop believing. I'm not going to stop trusting. And then God says, so what's your name? This is the confession. God, I am the biggest problem and and I get in my own way with my own ego, with my own anger, with my own fear, with my own jealousy, with my own competitive spirit, whatever it is.

Then you come to the fourth phase. Crisis, commitment, confession. Now, we come to conversion. The fourth phase in the struggle for God to get you ready for the big dream that he has for your life is the conversion phase. I want you to write this down. In this phase, God gives me a new identity and dream. God gives me a new identity and dream. Look at God's loving and gracious response to Jacob's confession. When Jacob goes, I admit it God, no, I'm a manipulator. I I manipulate people. I I get my own way by doing stuff behind.

I'm a I'm a politician. I do office politics. I'm a manipulator just to get my way. Here's how God responds to Jacob's authentic gut-level honesty. Genesis 32 verses 28 to 30. Then the man, we know who the man is now, it's God, the man said, your name will no longer be Jacob. Okay? He's given him a new identity. Instead, you will be called Israel. Israel, the whole nation's going to be named after this guy. Then God blessed him. God blessed him after his confession. He said, that's not you. That's the old you. You're not that person anymore.

You're not going to be manipulator and I'm not going to let anybody call you manipulator anymore. Instead, your name's going to be called Israel. God blessed him there. So, Jacob called the place Peniel because he said, it is because I saw God face to face. Now, the transformation starts happening in Jacob's life. Remember, God's more interested in what you become than what you accomplish in here on Earth cuz you're going to take your character to heaven. Notice here's the transformation. Number one, he gets a brand new identity. He says, your new name will be Israel.

Israel. Israel. You know what that means? Prince with God or prince of God. What he changes his name from manipulator to prince of God. What's going on here? God saw Jacob's potential. And God looks at a scared young guy who thought he had to fight for everything in life to get his cuz he wasn't the firstborn child. And so, he's got to fight for it and he's got to push people away from the table so he can get his part of the of the meal. God looks at Jacob and he doesn't see all of his sin.

He sees all of his potential. He says, Jacob, beneath all of your emotional hang-ups, I see a prince. I see a prince of a man. I see a prince with God. So, first he gets a new identity. Second, he gets blessed. Notice and God blessed him. Circle that word. God blessed him. You get a new identity, you get blessed. And third, he is given a reminder of this experience so he never forgets who's in charge. What's the reminder? He's given a limp. A limp. Remember, God pulled his thigh out of his hip socket, dislocated his hip.

Genesis 32:31 says this. The sun rose as Jacob left Peniel. And he was limping because of his hip. Now, Jacob will never walk the same again. Now, let me stop here say, because he will never walk the same again, he can't run anymore. Jacob has spent his entire life running. He ran from his his family relationships. He ran from the people he swindled. He ran from his brother. He ran from his father-in-law. God says, we can put up into that. I'm just going to touch your hip and you'll never run again. In the struggle, God dislocates his hip.

He he leaves him actually with a weakness. Now, what is the significance of this? Well, as I said, number one, it stopped his lifelong pattern of running away. Every time he'd gotten into trouble, he'd always run. He was irresponsible. God says, we're going to take care of that problem. Listen. You never solve a problem by running from it. You might want to write that down. You never solve a problem by running from it. So, God's going to say, you're not going to run anymore, Jacob. You're a prince of God. Second, here's another issue. It's a daily reminder to depend on God.

Jacob's going to walk with a limp the rest of his life. It's interesting that it says God touched his thigh. Your thigh muscle is the most powerful muscle in your body. You don't have a bigger muscle than your thigh muscle. God touched Jacob at the point of his greatest strength. And he said, you're going to be weak here, but in my weakness, you will be strong. And Jacob, you're no longer going to stand on your own power. You're going to stand on God 's power. That's part of the dream. So, out of this, Jacob emerges both stronger and weaker.

Okay? Stronger in God's strength, weaker in his own strength, but with a new identity. Now, I want you to listen closely. I want you to have God's dream for your life. But even more important than me wanting to have God 's dream for your life, I I want you to understand that God does his deepest work in your life in changing your identity, in changing how you see yourself. Because this is one of the biggest problems we all have. We see ourselves as we've been told to see ourselves and those people lied. They weren't always accurate.

They weren't impartial. They weren't unconditional love. They saw themselves as they saw you. God does his deepest work in changing our identity, how we see ourselves. That's a lifelong process. And for lasting change, you're going to have to change how see you see you, your perception of yourself. For you, why am I sharing this with you instead of talking about the steps to discovering the dream? Because the way you see yourself affects everything else in your life, including the dream that you have for you. Some of you can't dream God's great dream because you think, well, that's not me.

That's not me. And that's the problem. You you act in according to what you think about yourself. And it's wrong. I want you to see how God sees you. You see yourself, well, I'm a Jacob. I am a manipulator. I see I see my sins. I see my faults. God says, no, no, you're you're you're going to be Israel. You got a new identity. You're a prince with God. You're a princess with God. Only Jesus Christ can make that kind of radical change in a person. Regardless of who you are, regardless of what you've done, Jesus Christ wants to give you a new identity.

In fact, he promises it. Second Corinthians 5:17 says this. If anyone belongs to Christ, they are a new creation. They are a new identity. They are a new person. They are a new being. Not not a turnover of leaf. It's a whole new life. If anyone belongs to Christ, they are a new creation. The old things have have gone. The old names, the old labels, well, you're uncoordinated. Well, you'll never amount to anything. Well, you're a failure. The old things are gone. Everything is made new. This is the starting point for God's dream for your life.

So, let me close with four questions. All right? Let's let's just review these four phases of the struggle behind the dream that God wants to give you. Number one. In what areas of your life are you struggling with God? May maybe you didn't realize it's actually struggle with God, but you've actually been wrestling with God. What areas of your life you struggle with God? So, I don't get that. I I'm not sure what you're talking about. Well, let me be more specific. What do you know is the right thing to do, but you keep ignoring God and not doing it?

You know it's the right thing to spend time with God every day in prayer, read the word of God, spend some quiet time with God. Are you doing it? You you know it's God says, give me 10% of your income back. Are you doing it? You know God says, I want you to forgive the people who've hurt you. Are you doing that? You keep disobeying. You keep fighting with God over so, God, I don't want to let him off the hook. My ex hurt me. And and I want to hold on to the resentment. And you love your resentment.

You got to let it go. Why won't you trust God with that problem? See, this is what it means to to ask, what's the what's my struggle with God? You've been wrestling with that problem and you're looking at it and go, it's a no-win situation. Well, what does that mean? Stop being afraid of letting God control it. Stop being afraid of letting God be in charge of the problem that's no win cuz there's no nothing is a no win for God. Okay, here's a second question. Commitment. What areas of your life have you felt like giving up?

Right now, it just may seem easier to walk away from it all. Well, it might seem easier, but you better ask God first. And if you do walk away from it, you will be missing the greatest best blessing of your life. Jacob wrestled till dawn. And he says, I'm not letting go till you bless me. You may be ready to walk out in your marriage. Don't do it. Don't do it. Give it to God. Seek help and and let God do a blessing out of it. You may be be willing to give up on your job.

You may be willing to give up on yourself. You've thought about suicide. Don't do it. Give everything that's hurt you to God and seek his help. Let me ask you the third third question. The confession question. What do you need to admit about yourself? What's the common denominator in all your problems? You. What do you need to admit about yourself? When are you going to face the truth about you? When are you going to have the courage to to share that with others? God says, what's your name? Who are you? You know, you don't need to tell everybody, but you need to tell somebody.

The Bible says that revealing your feelings is the beginning of healing. Confess your faults one to another and you will be healed. So, just be honest, be authentic, be real. We're in a church where everybody knows nobody has it together. We're all in the same boat. We're all sinners. How about number four question? Will you let Christ give you a new identity? I don't care what other people have said about you. I don't care what your parents labeled you or your peers labeled you at school or your partners at work labeled you or your partners in partner in marriage or the professionals around you.

It doesn't really matter. God knows that underneath every Jacob is a prince or a princess. That's you. Here's our memory verse for the week. Second Corinthians 5:17. If anyone belongs to Christ, they are a new creation. All right? Now, remember when we memorize, we say the verse before and after. Say the the address. Second Corinthians 5:17. So, let 's read this aloud together. Okay? Second Corinthians 5:17. If anyone belongs to Christ, they are a new creation. And where is that? Second Corinthians 5:17. By the way, what is Second Corinthians 5:17? If anyone belongs to Christ, they are a new creation.

And where is that? Second Corinthians 5:17. Here's what I want you to do. Write that down on a card. Memorize it this week. This is your new identity. You're not what the world says you are. You're not even who you think you are. You're who God says you are. You're a prince of God. You're a princess of God. If anyone belongs to Christ, they are a new creation. Let that sink into your soul this week. Let me pray for you. Let's bow our heads. If you've never opened your life to Christ, say, Jesus Christ, come into my life right now.

I want to know you. I want to trust you. I need a new identity. Say, Jesus Christ, I need a fresh start. I need all my sins forgiven. I need a purpose for living. I need a home in heaven. I want to follow you. I I I pray that this message about Jacob will hit home with us as we get ready to begin to plan and prepare for your dream for our lives in the next decade ahead. I pray that we would be willing to go through the struggle behind the dream, that we would see that the crisis in our lives, the struggle and the wrestling matches and the conflicts we're having with others, it really a conflict with you.

And we want to come back to you. We want to stop fighting with you, but we do want to say we're not going to let go until you bless us. Help us to be honest and open to admit who we really are to you. You're not shocked. You're not stunned. You're not uh you don't shame us. You're not mad at us. You're mad about us. And then, Lord, let us hear you give us a new identity, prince of God, princess of God. That we're not who we used to be, but we're new people in Christ.

And we have confidence. We have assurance because you have changed our identity. I pray a blessing on all of our people in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen. God bless you everybody.

Guest (Male): Hey, thanks for listening to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope. Here's Rick with an important message.

Pastor Rick Warren: You know, I just want to take a quick second to say thank you everybody. Thank you for listening, for sharing this broadcast, and for your faithful prayers, and especially your financial support. God is using you in a mighty way to get the message of hope out to a world that's desperately in need of Jesus Christ. Thanks for listening today everybody and please be sure to join me next time as we look into God's word for our daily hope.

Guest (Male): This program is sponsored by Pastor Rick's Daily Hope and your generous financial support.