Skip to content Succeeding in Your Mission — pt 1 (Gospel, Purpose, Ministry, Sharing, Community) Nov 5 · 20 min ...more
Succeeding in Your Mission — pt 1 (Gospel, Purpose, Ministry, Sharing, Community)
November 5, 2025 · 20 min
When you’re trying to reach your friends & family with the gospel, you need to follow Jesus’ example. Discover why it’s important to travel light but never travel alone.
Series The Jesus Model November 5, 2025 · 20 min · The Jesus Model
When you’re trying to reach your friends & family with the gospel, you need to follow Jesus’ example. Discover why it’s important to travel light but never travel alone. ...more Show the full description Show less When you’re trying to reach your friends & family with the gospel, you need to follow Jesus’ example. Discover why it’s important to travel light but never travel alone.
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Pastor Rick Warren shares the hope and encouragement you need to hear everyday. Listen in as he shares biblical truths to help you live the purpose driven life
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In this video 0:00 Understanding Your Life Mission4:23 Principles for Succeeding in Your Mission17:32 Special Resource: Christmas Scripture Cards
Understanding Your Life Mission 0:02 Hey, everyone. Welcome to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope, the Bible teaching ministry of Rick Warren. And today, we're continuing with this powerful series called the Jesus model.0:14 In this series, Rick will walk you step by step through the process of true biblical discipleship. Rick's giving you practical tools to grow spiritually, experience God's0:26 peace, live with greater purpose, and become more like Jesus in every area of your life. Let's get right into part 1 of a message called succeeding in your0:37 mission.0:38 God did not create you just to live for yourself. He wants you to care about the hurting people in your life. He wants you to make a difference with your life. He puts you on this planet to make0:50 a contribution. You were planned for God's pleasure, You were formed for God's family. You were created to be like Christ. You were shaped to serve God.1:02 And you were made for a mission. So like the Blues Brothers, we're on a mission for God. Now Jesus, before the cross, was talking to1:14 the father in prayer and he says this, in the same way that you gave me a mission in the world, I give them a mission in the world. 1 of the greatest tragedies in life is for you to go through your1:26 whole life and never fulfill your life mission. And you stand before God 1 day and he says, well did you fulfill a mission I put you on earth for? And you go, oh Lord, I didn't even know you had a mission for me. And1:37 he's gonna go, oh. Wrong answer. You don't wanna be embarrassed at that moment. Jesus said, as God gave me a mission in the world, I give you a mission in the world. And
1:49 after the resurrection, he gets more specific and he says this, here on the screen, Acts 1 8, you will be my witnesses. Not my attorneys, my witnesses. In Jerusalem, that's your own
2:01 hometown. In Judea, that's like Orange County. In Samaria, that's the cross culture in our own area, and to the ends of the earth. So it's personal, it's local, and it's global.
2:13 Now here at Saddleback Church, we take this very seriously. And that's why about 5 years ago, or 6 years ago, we launched a thing called the PEACE plan. To basically do what God has called us to
2:25 do in our personal lives, in our local situation, in national, and and and actually, globally. Because God has said go to all nations. And now in
2:37 the last 4 or 5 years, we've had over 8000 of members of Saddleback Church who've gone overseas, paid their own way to go to some country overseas and,
2:49 and go on mission for Jesus Christ. In fact, if you have gone overseas on a on a Global Peace Mission, I want you to just stand up so we can applaud you and and express our gratitude for you as representatives of our
3:01 church. Thank you. Now not only do we send out people globe globally, but we do it
3:12 locally and and even thousands of more have done it here locally in Southern California. What does it mean to be on mission with God and how do I succeed in the mission that God has given me? Well fortunately,
3:25 Jesus gave us a model. And in Luke chapter 10, he gives us an example where he sends out his peace teams. And in Luke's chapter 10, he sent out 31
3:36 teams of 2 people each, into different cities. It was local peace. It was all in walking distance, there in in the nation of Israel. And before he sent them
3:48 out, he gave them 9 instructions. Those instructions still work today. They're things that you need to do that I need to do in my personal life, whether I'm trying to
4:00 reach my family for the Lord or reach my best friends for the Lord or relatives, coworkers for the Lord, whether I'm doing something in local peace here in Orange County or LA or in Southern California
4:12 or whether I'm going on a global peace trip. And this weekend, I want us to look at Jesus' instructions to his team, these 9 principles for succeeding, at your life mission. They are
Principles for Succeeding in Your Mission
4:24 the basis for our peace teams. When we send out teams, this is what we want them to do, whether it's local or global. And as I said, these principles will work anywhere. They'll work in your office, they'll work at
4:34 school, they'll work in your personal life. How do you succeed in your mission? Let's get right into it. Number 1, the first principle that Jesus gave to his, peace
4:46 teams as he was sending them out in Luke chapter 10 is the principle of cooperation. And the principle of cooperation is this, get a partner. Get a partner.
4:58 God never intends for you to do your life mission by yourself. In fact, you can't fulfill it by yourself because it's all about relationships, learning to love God and learning to love your neighbor as yourself.
5:10 God says, I want you to do this in tandem with other people. In Luke 10 verse 1 it says, the Lord appointed 72 others, that's beside the 12 disciples, and sent them
5:22 out 2 by 2 ahead of him to every town and place he was about to go. He said, just go grab a friend, get a coworker. God never meant for you to fulfill
5:34 your life mission by yourself. Why? 2 reasons. 1, you're much more effective when you go with another person. You're much more effective when you team up. The bible says this, 2 are better than 1
5:46 because they get more done by working together. You can encourage each other, you can pray for each other when one's tired, discouraged, the other 1 lifts the other person up. There's so many benefits to
5:58 working together. And that's why when we send peace teams out, we never send out individuals. Never. We only send them out in groups. Why? It's biblical. Jesus said, we're to cooperate with each
6:09 other. Not only that, you'd be more confident. You're more assured. You're you're more bold when somebody is there with you and so you have somebody else to to back you up and support you and to share ideas with and be
6:21 creative and to tell your story to. Now I don't know if you've ever thought about having a partner for your life mission but you need 1. And it it could be your spouse,
6:34 it could be a friend, it could be somebody in your, in your small group. But you need to have a partner. Here's a little secret. It can be anybody.
6:46 Sometimes God sovereignly puts the most unusual partners together. I'll never forget, when I was 20 years old, I went and
6:58 attended a major Christian event in Seoul, Korea. And there were 1000000 Christians at this event. It was a huge, huge event. And, I remember they asked for volunteers
7:10 would anybody like to go share their faith in the city of Seoul? And I thought, why not? I don't know a single Korean word. Why not? And so I volunteered. And they said, well now
7:21 it's biblical to pair you up with people. And so they gave me a partner. Now I was a 6 foot 2, long hair, I mean really long hair, skinny
7:33 American, and my partner was a 4 foot 2 Filipino Catholic nun in full black garb.
7:45 It it's like, you know, the the hippie and the saint kind of a thing, you know? And so she doesn't speak a word of English, I don't speak any Tagalog, and
7:57 neither of us speak Korean. This is gonna be an interesting witnessing assignment. So they gave us this little book called the 4 spiritual laws. You've heard of this booklet.
8:09 And it was in dual language. On 1 side, it was in Korean and on 1 side, it was in English. So you could read the English side and show where the Korean was. So we're going out. We're
8:21 downtown Seoul, Korea, this huge city. And this nun and I walk into this business and into this, department store And I'm looking around
8:32 for somebody to just talk to and I found a young girl in her twenties who happened to be quite good looking, so I always noticed them when I was single. And, I got and she was in the jewelry department. I walked
8:44 over to her, now I don't know any Korean at all. And I I I I hold up this little track and it says, do you know the 4 spiritual laws? And it's got it in Korean. So I I run my finger along the
8:56 line of the Korean hoping that that's what that said and I look at her and I go, she goes. Okay. So she doesn't know the 4 spiritual laws. So I open it up and I say, look,
9:08 I'll read this side, you read this side. So I read this and read that and I get to the bottom page and I wait a little bit and I look up and I go, she goes. So I turn the page. Okay.
9:20 I do the second page, law number 2, God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life. Okay. I finish that page, I nod, she nods. So I flip the page again, this little track. Now I haven't said a word to her because I
9:32 don't know any Korean. My wonderful accomplice, none, is praying for me at this moment. Standing right there looking up, okay? I I get to the next page and there's these 2
9:44 little pictures on which 1 represents a life without Christ and what 1 represents a life with Jesus. And there's a line in the English that which 1 represents your life? So I look over here on this page, I thought that's
9:55 gotta be the same line. So I run my finger along it and she points to the non Christian. And so then I I run I see on the next line is which 1 would you like to represent your life? And I I
10:07 run my finger along the Korean and she points to the 1 that has Jesus. This is working. Okay. This is really working. Okay. So I turn the page and it says,
10:19 you can pray this prayer. So I point over to the Korean side, I point and I go like this. So I bow my head and I read the prayer and I read this she reads that prayer and I look up in a minute. I
10:31 finished the prayer and I look up and tears are coming down her eyes. And I go, yep, she got it. Okay. Now, I led that girl to Christ. She's gonna be in heaven and I never said a word to her.
10:43 And who was my partner on that mission? A Filipino nun. Anybody can be your partner. And you if you are willing to be used by
10:55 God, God will use you to change people's life. You just have to be willing. Now that's the first principle, cooperation. Get a partner. You might
11:07 write down a name of somebody who might you might think could this person be a partner with me in my mission in life and you could write a name down. Now number 2, the second principle is the principle of expectation
11:20 and that is when you go on your mission for God, you depend on God. You don't depend on your talent, you don't depend on your own creativity. You don't depend on money. You don't depend
11:31 on on connections. You depend on God. Now it's interesting that the very first thing Jesus says to his peace teams that he's sending out, he says in verse 4,
11:43 don't take a purse. What does he mean by that? He actually says it 3 times in 3 different passage of scripture where he says don't take along any gold or silver or copper in Matthew
11:54 10 and take no money in your pockets in Mark 6. What's he talking about? Well first, let me tell you what he's not saying. He's not saying leave your credit card at home. That's not what he's saying when you
12:06 go on a on a peace trip or a peace mission or a peace peace project. But Jesus is giving a warning about money for 2 reasons. First, depending on money
12:18 makes me less dependent upon God. Depending on money keeps me from depending on God. The Bible tells us that the poor the
12:30 poor are rich in faith. And the fact is as I've traveled around the world, I found that the poor have a lot more faith than the rich people do. Why? Because as a rich person, you don't depend on God very much. When you
12:42 need something, you don't pray about it, you just go out and buy it. You don't have to depend on God. Because you can put it on your credit card. But when you're poor and you have nothing, you
12:54 have to depend on God. And that's why the poor are rich in faith. They have more faith than the rich do. And God says here, he says I want you to depend on on me. I want you to trust me to
13:05 provide on your journey. He's not saying don't take any money. He's just saying don't think that this is gonna bail you out of all your issues. But there's a deeper issue here and that is this, money
13:18 often harms ministry. I need to explain this to you because as we send out people all over Southern California to serve those who are suffering and as we send people all around the world to serve
13:29 those who are suffering, when you see somebody who's hurting, you see somebody who's suffering, you see the poor, you naturally, you you you wanna give to them, you wanna be generous. And that's a good thing. But the
13:41 truth is, and every parent knows this, if you've got a kid, there's a right way and a wrong way to give money. You know what I'm talking about? You can give money to someone in a way that'll ruin them
13:53 or you can give away somebody money in a way that will empower them. You can give money in a way that will make them dependent upon you with strings attached or you can give it in a way that actually
14:05 treats them with dignity. And this is very important for you to understand because Americans violate this principle all around the world meaning to do well
14:17 thinking that they're helping people when they give but that's not it. You cannot give people out of poverty. In in the last 50 years,
14:28 Americans have put billions and billions and trillions of dollars into Africa. Trillions of dollars in in foreign aid. And Africa the standard of living in Africa is actually worse than it was
14:40 50 years ago. It's worse. Because you cannot subsidize people out of poverty. Can't even do it in America. There's only 1 way out of poverty, j o b s,
14:52 job creation. You gotta help people create wealth, not wealth redistribution but wealth creation. And that's where some of you entrepreneurs and business leaders need to come into
15:04 play in using your gifts on mission for God, in learning how to create job creation. When you give money to somebody in the wrong way, in the wrong time, it can create
15:15 jealousy in a village. It can split a church. It can create dependency. It can rob dignity of people. It makes them dependent.
15:27 It makes them think oh the great Americans have come to be our savior. And and all of these things can actually harm. And that's why the Bible the very first thing
15:39 Jesus says when he starts to send out his peace to you, he says don't take money. Don't throw money at the problem. He said, you're you're you need to understand this that you're gonna, it can be as simple as giving
15:51 street kids candy. I have seen this all around the world. That well meaning people take candy and then they give it to orphans or give it to street kids, and then get back on the bus thinking
16:03 they've done a good thing because that kid's smiling, and as soon as they get on the bus, that kid is beat up by the bullies and the candy is taken away from them. When you give candy to a kid in a
16:15 country, it's you can guarantee it's gonna be stolen from him immediately. And the kid, you're guaranteeing the kid's gonna get a black eye, get beaten up. And what you think you're actually doing is good, you're
16:26 actually harming the child. There's a way that giving hurts. Or when a peace team or any team would go into a a village or something and at the end they wanna they see a poor pastor and they wanna take up
16:38 an offering to help that pastor. And maybe they've taken up an offering as 253 hundred dollars and they're really excited to give that. They don't realize that in that economy that's equal to a
16:50 year's wage. Like in Rwanda where an income is 68 cents a day, giving somebody 300 bucks, it'd be like giving you 80 grand. It it it throws everything out of whack and
17:02 everything out of proportion. And and that's why the bible tells us, you know, it says don't take a purse. Don't take along gold or silver or copper. Don't take any money in your pockets. Why we
17:14 tell our peace teams, when you go overseas, don't take a bunch of American stuff. And don't go giving out money to people, and don't come back and do a bunch of fundraisers because that's the old way of doing missions
17:24 and it doesn't work. He says depend on God and he says don't take a purse.
Special Resource: Christmas Scripture Cards
17:38 Hey, everyone. Thank you so much for listening to pastor Rick's Daily Hope. I've got something really special to share with you today, especially if you love Christmas and God's word.
17:50 We've got a brand new set of 52 beautifully designed scripture cards, each featuring a Bible verse centered on the Christmas story and the promise of hope found in the birth of Jesus,
18:02 the true meaning of the season. And these cards aren't just pretty, although trust me, they're stunning. These are powerful tools to help you memorize God's word and keep it close so
18:14 that you've got it right when you need it. And while these cards are perfect for your personal study, they're also wonderfully versatile, and they can help keep Jesus at the center of your holiday. You could use
18:26 them as meaningful gift tags on your Christmas presents. Place 1 at each setting on your holiday table or share them individually with friends as a thoughtful gesture. So whether you're starting
18:38 a new tradition or looking for a unique way to share the gospel with friends and family, well, these cards are a perfect fit. And trust me, you're gonna love them. Today, when you give a gift to help
18:50 Daily Hope take the certain hope of Jesus to people worldwide, be sure to request this very special collection of Christmas scripture cards. That's our way of saying thanks. Go to
19:02 pastor rick dot com to get your copy of this great resource. That's pastor rick dot com. Or you could just text the word hope to 7 0 3 0 9. That's the word hope
19:14 to 7 0 3 0 9. 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
19:26 financial support.
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