God’s Purposes for My Pain Rick Warren

Hello Gateway church! Have I told you lately that I love you? I really do. And I love your dear Pastor! Robert is one of the most gifted Bible teachers on the planet and I always learn something every time I listen to him! So you are fortunate to be a part of Gateway!’

You may not know, that before Kay and I moved to California to start Saddleback Church in 1980, we lived in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex for three years while I was attending seminary and our first child was born in Dallas!

So when your dear pastor invited me last Fall to be a part of this conference, I was elated and jumped at the chance to be with you. But the last three months have been the most difficult and physically painful time of my life with two surgeries, and also to separate hospitalizations. I spent much of the holiday season in bed. I feel like I’m finally recovering somewhat, but my doctors told me I could not travel because my immune system has been weakened and right now I’m susceptible to pretty much anything.

But I really wanted to be with you so I asked Robert if I could tape a message just for you here from my farm and he graciously said yes.

Now since I have been personally dealing with severe pain recently I’d like to talk to you tonight about God’s 5 purposes for pain in your life, and also five choices that you can make that will help you benefit from whatever pain you experience in life.

Here’s the point: No matter what kind of pain you are going thru right now, You’ll be FAR better prepared to handle it and cope with it, IF you focus on the 5 potential benefits that I want to share with you tonight.

ROM. 8:28 is one of the most famous promises of God in the Bible:

Romans 8:28 (NIV)

We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

Pain can be managed BY purpose & ON purpose & FOR a purpose!

If you’ve read x, you know that the Bible tells us that God has five purposes for your life. These five purposes are repeated and reinforced hundreds of times the Scripture.

God’s

1st purpose for your life is to know & love him Planned.(worship)

2nd purpose for your life is to learn to love others. Formed.(Fellowship)

3rd purpose: To grow up spiritually like Christ. Created.(Discipleship) 4th purpose: To use your talents to serve others. ped.(your ministry)

5th purpose for your life. To share your life message with others.

“You are Made for a Mission! “You will be my witness” What many people DON’T UNDERSTAND is this:

God uses PAIN to help us fulfill all 5 of our life purposes!

Sadly. most people waste their suffering. They dont PROFIT from their PROBLEMS

LEARN from their LOSSES HARVEST their HURTS

IMPROVE from their INJURIES ADVANCE from their ADVERSITY GAIN from their PAIN!

This is why St Paul asked the question in Galatians 3:4

Galatians 3:4 (CEV)

Have you gone through all of this for nothing? Is it all really for nothing?

You WILL have pain in life. The issue is: WILL you waste it?

Have you wasted the pain in your life up to this point? Well. it’ s not too late to start benefitting! So let’s look at ..

5 WAYS TO BENEFIT FROM ANY KIND OF PAIN

These are 5 choices or actions you can take.

1. Use my pain to draw closer to God in worship.

When anything painful happens, you have a choice:

Run to God / from God (2nd never made sense to me)

ILL: I’ve spent more time w/ God in the years since my son died than in all the previous years. It kept me going through painful days.

SO How do you draw closer to God in pain?

Tell him exactly how you feel! Cry out! Argue! Worship in ALL the PHASES of grief

You Express Shock… Unload your Sorrow... Struggle w emotions. Surrender yourself... You ask God to use the pain for good

2 Corinthians 1:8 (TLB)

We were really crushed and overwhelmed …

2 Corinthians 1:9 (TLB)

and saw how powerless we were to help ourselves; but that was good, for then we put everything into the hands of God, who alone could save us …

2 Corinthians 1:10 (TLB)

And he did help us

ILL: Our Family did Surrender to God Retreat together

ILL: I could give you thousands of Saddleback stories of people who came to know Jesus out of pain or their lives were transformed by the process of worshipping when in pain.

Many of you could say “Pain turned me to Christ”

2 Corinthians 7:9 (TLB)

I am glad … not because it hurt you but because the pain turned you to God.

2. Use my pain to draw closer to others in fellowship.

If you allow it, pain will deepen & mature your love.

Suffering sensitize youI’ve seen pain turn self-centered people into sympathetic people

Nearly 1/3rd marriage split with the death of a child; But Kay & I - grown closer. ME: I’m more in love with my wife...met 50 yrs ago

Asked K WHY do you think we made it when we are SO different?

We intentionally worked at strengthening...

We gave each other grace

Pain takes a small group to the deepest level of Fellowship Fellowship of Sharing… Studying... Serving... Suffering together

Galatians 6:2 (NCV)

By helping each other with your troubles, you truly obey the law of Christ.

The deepest love shows up when people are in pain.

3. Use my pain to grow more like Jesus in discipleship.

It’s an opportunity to grow in character-.

The Fruit… is Jesus. How? By being put in the opposite situation But again a choice: bitter/better stepping stone Not auto

Proverbs 20:30 (GNB)

Sometimes it takes a painful experience to make us change our ways.

Testimony?

Once saved, God’s #1 Purpose is to make you like Jesus Corollary: IF God’s going to make me like Jesus -EVERYTHING

Hebrews 5:8 (NLT)

So even though Jesus was God’s Son, he learned obedience from the things he suffered.

Hebrews 5:9 (CEV)

Suffering made Jesus perfect, and now he can save forever all who obey him.

(complete)

There are some things we ONLY learn through pain!

Paul complimented the way the Cor. had growth thru pain:

2 Corinthians 7:11 (MSG)

Now, isn’t it wonderful all the ways in which this distress has goaded you closer to God? You’re more alive, more concerned, more sensitive, more reverent, more human, more passionate, more responsible. Looked at from any angle, you’ve come out of this with purity of heart.

Note: 7 qualities Want these in your life– ask God to use your pain! FACT: PAIN TRANSFORMS US. Never leaves us...

ILL: The #1 quality of Winners= Resilience (bounce back) HOW do you become a resilient person?

Paul shows us how. Let me read you his testimony from

2 Corinthians 11:23 (NLT)

I’ve been put in jail more often, been whipped times without number, and faced death again and again.

2 Corinthians 11:24 (NLT)

Five different times I was whipped with thirty-nine lashes.

2 Corinthians 11:25 (NLT)

Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked. Once I spent a whole night and a day adrift at sea.

2 Corinthians 11:26 (NLT)

… I have faced danger from flooded rivers, from robbers, and from angry mobs. I have faced danger in the cities, in deserts, on stormy seas, and from people who claim to be Christians but are not.

2 Corinthians 11:27 (NLT)

I’ve lived with weariness and pain and sleepless nights. I’ve often been hungry and thirsty and have gone without food. I’ve often shivered with cold, without enough clothing to keep me warm.

2 Corinthians 11:28 (NLT)

And besides all this, I’ve had the daily burden of [all the churches I’ve started].

Then he adds in 2 COR. 1:8-10

2 Corinthians 4:8 (NLT)

We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed and broken. We are perplexed, but we don’t give up and quit.

2 Corinthians 4:9 (NLT)

We are hunted down, but God never abandons us. We get knocked down, but we get up again and keep going.

2 Corinthians 4:10 (NLT)

Through suffering, these bodies of ours constantly share in the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be seen in our bodies.

What was the secret of Paul’s resilience? An Eternal Perspective & Purpose! You can handle unbelievable pain IF you see a purpose in it

2 Corinthians 4:16 (GNB)

For this reason we never become discouraged. Even though our physical being is gradually decaying, yet our spiritual being is renewed day after day.

2 Corinthians 4:17 (GNB)

And this … temporary trouble we suffer will bring us a tremendous and eternal glory, much greater than the trouble.

2 Corinthians 4:18 (GNB)

For we fix our attention, not on things that are seen, but on things that are unseen. What can be seen lasts only for a time, but what cannot be seen lasts forever.

4. Use my pain to be more sensitive in serving others.

Pain sensitizes you to the pain in others

Rather than focusing on MY pain, I redirect my focus

Jesus wants to redeem your suffering. He wants to use it to help others in pain. This is called Redemptive Suffering

2 Corinthians 1:4 (NLT)

God comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. Then, when others are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us.

2 Corinthians 1:5 (NLT)

You can be sure that the more we suffer for Christ, the more God will shower us with his comfort through Christ.

2 Corinthians 1:6 (NLT)

So when we are weighed down with troubles, it is for your benefit and salvation! For when God comforts us, it is so that we, in turn, can be an encouragement to you. Then you can patiently endure the same things we suffer.

o Veteran’s Day -Who is better qualified to help a struggling Veteran?

5. Use my pain to witness to the world.

We think the world’s impressed how we enjoy prosperity/ But actually they are impress with - handle adversity

We think our successes give credibility Actually... our suffering

We think fame earns respectActually faithfulness in tough times Paul was a pro at using his pain as a witness

Philippians 1:12 (NLT)

I want you to know, dear brothers and sisters, that everything that has happened to me here has helped to spread the Good News.

He says: I use pain to model my MESSAGE:

2 Corinthians 6:4 (TLB)

In everything we do we try to show that we are true [servants] of God. We patiently endure suffering and hardship and trouble of every kind.

Your deepest life message will come out of your deepest pain THIS IS REAL, AUTHENTIC WITNESSING

Don’t waste your pain! Don’t waste that hurt!

There are people all around you who need to hear your story!

The greatest witness of God’s love was NOT Jesus’ perfect life

... o his sermons...or miracles... It was HIS SUFFERING! Bottom line; You can waste your pain OR utilize it for good.

Which will you choose to do?

Now before I pray for you I want to give you homework assignment

Homework: Find a quiet place where you can think and make a list of the

most painful moments in your life. Then, write down, for future generations, the lessons you learned and how you grew. Never waste your pain!