Rick Warren - How to Discern the Best Time to Make a Major Change (12/26/2025)
Summary
Rick Warren shares how God’s sovereign timing led him to found Saddleback Church in the Saddleback Valley back in 1979-1980 through miraculous coincidences like crossed letters mentioning the same location. In this historic June 2021 message, he announces the start of the official search for his successor as lead pastor after 42 years, citing fulfillment of his 40-year commitment, post-COVID recovery, and his worsening neurological condition (spinal myoclonus) as signs of the right time. He reassures the congregation that he and Kay will stay involved in a less visible role, outlines the elder-led process, and teaches six biblical steps for discerning God’s timing in major life changes.
Discovering Saddleback: God’s Sovereign Timing in 1979
42 years ago this month, in June of 1979, I used the word «Saddleback» for the first time in my life. I never knew how precious that word would become to me. I was in summer school in Fort Worth, Texas, at Southwestern Seminary. Kaye was six and a half months pregnant with our first child, Amy, and I knew that God was calling me to start a new church, to plant a new church. I just didn’t know where. But through a process of elimination, I finally narrowed it down to four areas on the West Coast: Seattle, San Francisco, San Diego, and South Orange County.
Now during the month of June 1979—that’s 42 years ago this month—I began to study these four areas in depth. One of the things that I did was go over to a nearby university and go down into their dingy, dark, dusty basement of that library on that campus. They had all the current census statistics of the United States, and I will never forget the day in that dingy, dusty basement, with a single light bulb uncovered, hanging down on a wire. As I looked through the census statistics, I saw the word «Saddleback» for the very first time.
I remember as I studied the census statistics, I discovered that the Saddleback Valley, which at that time only had five new cities in it—we’ve doubled that since then—was the fastest-growing area in Orange County, California. And Orange County, according to U.S. census statistics at that time (it’s not true anymore), was the fastest-growing county in the United States. The fastest-growing area in the fastest-growing county in the United States—I figured they were going to need churches. That caught my attention.
I remember putting my finger down on the word «Saddleback Valley, ” and tears flooded my eyes. I had never seen this area; I didn’t know what it looked like. But I knew God was calling me to give the rest of my life in that location.
Mapping the Vision and Divine Confirmation
So I put up a giant map of the Saddleback Valley on the wall of our little tiny home, and I circled an area that seemed perfectly ideal for a church. It was where two major interstates came together, and it had great accessibility. There was nothing built on that land, and I thought that is the perfect place to put a church. I was later proven correct about accessibility when they built the Irvine Spectrum there. So Saddleback Church didn’t end up there, but the Irvine Spectrum did. But I thought a church should be built there.
At that time I learned while I was in Texas that the supervisor of Baptist churches—I was going to a Baptist school at the time—was a wonderful man named Herman Wooten, who has since gone on to heaven. I figured that he probably knew this area as well as anybody else, and so I wrote this guy I didn’t know a letter.
The letter said: „Dear Mr. Wooten, you don’t know me, but I’m a young seminary student; I was 25 years old. I’m a young seminary student in Texas getting ready to start a church somewhere, and I have been studying South Orange County. I’m considering moving to the Saddleback Valley to plant a new church. Now I’m not asking you for any money, I’m not asking you for any support, I’m not asking for your endorsement or approval; I just want to know what do you think about this area called the Saddleback Valley. Sincerely, Rick Warren.“
So I put that letter in the mailbox with great hope and prayer. Now what I was unaware of at the time—and I did not know this—but in God’s timing, this man somehow, Mr. Wooten, had heard that a young seminary student named Rick Warren was thinking about planting a new church somewhere on the West Coast, and he decided to write me the day before I wrote him that letter.
He wrote a letter to me, and it said this: „Dear Mr. Warren, I’ve heard from somebody that you may be interested in planting a new church in Southern California. Have you ever considered an area called the Saddleback Valley?“ It was crazy!
The next day, after I mailed my letter to him—the very next day—I went out to the mailbox. I’m not expecting any mail for me, and when I opened the mailbox, the very next day after I’d written him, there was a letter with my name on it from him. Our letters had crossed in the mail, and I broke into tears again. Something very special was about to happen in the timing of God! What are the odds of that happening?
That story I just told you—that I would write somebody I didn’t know in California and he would, the day before, write a letter to someone he didn’t know in Texas and our letters would cross in the mail? And both of them would mention the name „Saddleback Valley“? That, my friends, is an example of God’s sovereign timing.
Since then, I have become a connoisseur of God’s timing. I can’t think of any other way to put it; I am so sensitive to it. Not just what we do, but that we do it at the right time. The right timing is as important as the right way and the right action.
A Historic Announcement: Starting the Succession Process
So today, I’ve got a special, even historic message to share with you. Because I want everyone at our campuses—including Saddleback Hong Kong, Saddleback Berlin, Saddleback Buenos Aires, Saddleback South Manila, and Santa Rosa—to hear the exact same message word for word, I’m going to ask you to watch the video message that I’ve done. I want all of our campuses to do the exact same thing, without any differences. This message is on how do you discern the best time. It’s about God’s timing and how to make the best change at the right time in your life.
So I want you to watch this, and I’ll be back at the close of the message to wrap it up. Everyone, take out your message notes and watch this.
Hello, everybody, and welcome to June! Can you believe how fast this year, 2021, is going along? Have I told you lately that I love you? I really do love you. Last week, I had a wonderful week down at the San Diego campus. We had a great time. Hi, San Diego! This week I’m at Lake Forest, but I’m actually taping this at the farm, even though I’ll be at Lake Forest, because I want every campus to hear the exact same message this weekend because of what I’m about to say.
Timing Affects Everything
Now, timing affects everything we do in life. It can mean the difference between success and failure, and we can only serve God with the time that He gives us in the times He puts us in. In Ecclesiastes chapter 3, if you’ll take out your message notes, you’ll notice the verse at the top. Ecclesiastes 3:1 says this: „There is an appointed time for everything, and there is a right time for every activity under heaven.“
Now you might want to circle the words „everything“ and „every.“ There’s a right appointed time for everything; there is a right time for every activity, and that includes every activity in your life. We’re not supposed to just do the right thing—the things that God wants us to do; we are to do it at the right time. Timing is everything in life.
One of my life verses is Acts 13:36; it’s guided me for 51 years of ministry and nearly 42 years as the lead pastor of our Saddleback Church family. Acts 13:36 says this: „It’s talking about King David in the Bible. David served God’s purpose in his own generation; then he died.“
You might think that’s a funny life verse: „David served God’s purpose in his generation; then he died.“ But to me, that statement is the definition of a successful life—serving God’s purpose in your generation. That would be a wonderful verse to have on your tombstone. I would like people to be able to say that about me when I die: that I served God’s purpose in my generation; then I died. And that you served your purpose in your generation; then you died.
Multi-Generational Church and Succession Announcement
Now, that’s always been my goal—to serve God’s purpose in my generation. But, you know what? Because people are living longer now, God has given me the privilege of serving not just one generation—my generation, boomers—but multiple generations. By the way, how long is a generation? Well, in the past 100 years since 1920, there have been six generations in the United States and around the world. We call them, in the U.S., the GI Generation, the Silent Generation, the Baby Boomer Generation, Gen X, the Millennials, and now the youngest are the Gen Z Generation.
Now we have members from all six generations in our church family. We’re not just multi-ethnic; we’re not just multicultural—we’re a multi-generational church. Now, if you registered with our church family and you read your email today, you know that this next week we are going to begin the official search for my successor. That’s a big deal— the official search for my successor. This isn’t the end; it’s not even the beginning of the end; it’s the beginning of the beginning. But we’re going to start looking for the next generation pastor who will replace me and lead our family into the future.
For 42 years, Kaye and I have known that this time, this day, would eventually arrive. We’ve been waiting on God’s perfect timing to begin the process of finding our next lead pastor and letting me make a smooth transition into a less visible role as founding pastor. Now, this is such a significant decision because I’m the only lead pastor our church family has ever had.
So I think it’s important enough to lay aside our series on Nehemiah that we’ve been in for weeks now and just put it aside on building a better future, and instead, I want to share some of the details of the process in going after our search for the next lead pastor, answer some of the questions I’m sure you’re going to have, and ask you to start praying for the whole process as we begin to find our next lead pastor.
Background: The 40-Year Commitment
You know, a national survey revealed that in American churches, the typical pastor in the typical church stays for 3.6 years before moving to a different church. That means if Saddleback was a typical church (of course, we’re not), we would have already changed pastors 11 times in 42 years. So this is a new experience for all of us, including me.
For those of you who are new to the Saddleback family, let me give you the background. Back in 1980, at the very first service of our church, I was 26 years old, and I publicly announced at that first service that, God willing, I would give the next 40 years of my life to growing the people of the Saddleback Church family. Now, you know I’ve repeated that goal hundreds of times. Now that number, 40 years, wasn’t some promise that God gave me. It wasn’t a word from God; it was simply my commitment. It was my promise to God and to you, God’s people. It was my way of saying you don’t need to worry about me leaving when times get tough for you. I’m here for the duration; I’m going to give my life to this church; I’m going to stick with you. And I kept that promise.
This year, on the 40th anniversary in 2020, you know I fulfilled that promise of committing 40 years of my life. But you know what? As we started getting closer to that 40-year mark, in January of 2020, Kaye and I decided we need to do a prayer retreat together to ask what is God’s will for our lives in the next stage. Well, we went out and we prayed, and we both felt that God wanted us to stay on in leadership past the 40-year commitment. We didn’t feel like there was any hurry, that we needed to instantly jump out because I had said, „I’m committing 40 years.“ Again, God hadn’t told me to do that; I made that promise to you. But we weren’t in a big building program; it was a good time to change. But you know what? Neither of us had any comfort in leaving.
We had no idea what the future would hold, but we decided we’re going to stay on until God gives us His timing. And then we didn’t understand it, but then three weeks later, after our 40th anniversary, the COVID pandemic would shut everything down for a year and a half. Now, looking back in hindsight, I can see the wisdom of why God did not want me to step down three weeks before the pandemic happened. It would have been practically impossible for a new pastor to hold our church family together without being able to hold public worship services for over a year.
But as we began to see the light at the end of the tunnel of the COVID pandemic, we started feeling that God was saying now is the time to at least start the process, start looking for your successor, for your replacement.
Reassurances for the Church Family
Now, before I answer some of the questions that I know you’re probably thinking about, let me say three things.
First, as I said, this is not the end of my ministry and Kaye’s ministry in our Saddleback family. It’s not even the beginning of the end. As I said, it’s the beginning of the beginning of the process.
Second, we don’t know all the details that we need to know yet. You don’t have to see the top of the stairs to take the first step. This is new to all of us. We’re just going to take one step at a time in the timing of God. The answers to some of your questions right now, I’m sure if you were to ask me, would be, „We don’t know yet; we honestly don’t know yet.“
As I said, you don’t have to see the ultimate step to take the first step; you just take the first step in faith, and any step is a step. Now, most of you know that I’m a visionary, but I’ve always had what I call Polaroid vision. Many of you are too young to remember the old Polaroid cameras that people used before we had digital cameras. The Polaroid camera would actually print a small photo directly from your camera. You’d take the picture, and the photo would come out undeveloped. As you held it and looked at it, it would slowly get clearer and clearer; at first, the picture was fuzzy, and you couldn’t see anything on it. But as you waited and the chemicals did their process, it turned into an actual picture. The longer you looked at it, the clearer it got.
That’s what I mean when I say having Polaroid vision. I have never seen the future clearly; I don’t think anybody does! But as I look at something, it gets clearer and clearer over time, and that’s the way I feel about even this process of finding who’s going to be our next generation lead pastor.
Now the third thing I want you to know is how much I love you. How much I love you! How much I appreciate you! How much I feel so privileged to be your pastor. I don’t have any intention of dying soon, but if I did, you know what? I would die a fulfilled man, completely fulfilled by what God has done already in my life and in your lives. God has already blessed me more than I could ever possibly imagine. I don’t deserve any of it, and so this next transition in my life is something I’m anticipating with zero regrets, zero fear, zero worries. I just have followed the Lord’s will. Again, serving as your pastor has been the greatest privilege in the world, and regardless of whatever new roles God has for me, I’m never going to stop loving you; I’m never going to stop praying for you; I’m never going to stop serving you!
Answering Common Questions
Now let me answer some of the questions that you’re probably wondering about. I’ve collected these on cards, so let me just read these questions to you.
Number one: Do you already have someone in mind to succeed you? No, no we don’t. We are starting with no preconceptions. We’re going to look at the biblical qualifications for a pastor. We’re going to look both inside our church—in our staff—and outside our church for a leader who’s already doing some purpose-driven ministry. But no, we don’t have anybody in mind.
Okay, number two: What’s the number one qualification that you’re looking for in a pastor? Well, it’s real easy! Somebody who will love you as much as I’ve loved you and somebody who’s willing to sacrifice their life for your benefit as a good shepherd. You know, you can be smart; you can be talented; you can be educated; you can have all kinds of skills. The Bible says, „If I have not love, I am nothing.“ I will not allow anyone to become the pastor of this church who doesn’t love you at least as much as I do.
Number three: How long is this process of transition going to take? We don’t know. I’ll talk about this a little bit more when I give you the steps for making a decision. But we don’t know; we have no timetable set for this. I’m just saying we’re starting the process.
Okay, number four: Who will lead the process? The answer is our elders. Our elders are responsible for the direction of our church, and they will select a task force of members from different ages, ethnic backgrounds, and gender backgrounds to help and give feedback. But the elders will lead this search.
Okay, number five: Who will make the final decision? The final choice will be made by our elders, as I said, who, according to Scripture, hold responsibility for the direction of our church.
All right, number six: Will you and Kaye be leaving our church family? No! Let me say it again: No! God willing, we plan to live the rest of our lives serving in this church. I imagine Kaye and I as a little old lady and little old guy sitting on the front row cheering on whoever’s the pastor at that time, going, „You go, pastor!“ I will take a less visible role as a founding pastor, but we’re not leaving the church.
Number seven: What are you going to do when you’re not the lead pastor anymore? Well, friends, there are plenty of things to do! One thing I want to do is spend more time encouraging the leaders at each of our campuses. If I can travel around, if I’m not doing all the preaching, I can be at different campuses all the time.
This leads me to the next question: Will you be doing any teaching anymore? Well, yeah, occasionally, but I am looking forward to preaching less and having to do fewer services. It takes an enormous toll to do three, four, five, or six services, especially when you’ve had special events like Easter and Christmas with ten, twelve, or more services!
Why Start the Search Now?
All right, what’s the next question here? Why start the search now? Well, there are actually three reasons we’re starting the search now. First, as I explained earlier, about my public announcement at the very first service of Saddleback Church—I was barely 26 years old, and I announced that I would give the next 40 years of my life to serving this church. I did that for stability, but I also did that figuring that by the time I’d given 40 years, we would need a younger leader by that time, with more energy and new vision, fresh ideas to take our church into the next generation.
As I said, it wasn’t a promise God gave me; it was a promise I gave to God and to you people. I wasn’t saying I’m leaving now! On January 25, 2020, as I said, I fulfilled that 40-year commitment. We’re now in our 42nd year.
Well, what happened? Well, I told you three weeks after our 40th anniversary the COVID pandemic hit, and I knew it would be the wrong time to bring in a new pastor. I knew that I was probably the only one who could lead our church family through these uncharted waters of the pandemic.
That’s the first reason. But the second reason is this: We’re now coming out of COVID. We may be able to let go of masks in a week or two; who knows? And we’re going to have a new worship center finished before fall. We are poised for another level of development and growth at Saddleback Church, which I’m so excited about! So this is a good time. We’re not going to be in the middle of a crisis.
But there’s a third reason, and that’s my health, which I would like to ask you to pray about. I just want to be vulnerable with you about this.
Sharing About Health Challenges
Most of you know that I was born with a physical condition that’s been a thorn in my flesh for 50 years of ministry. It’s a neurological condition called a rare version of spinal myoclonus. I went to 17 doctors before they figured it out, and 30 years ago when I went to the Mayo Clinic, they said, „We may have to name a syndrome after you because we only know about 17 or 18 people in the world who have this.“
But what it is, is that adrenaline, when it hits my brain, is like poison, and it makes me shake like Parkinson’s, and I have spasms, tremors, and shaking. When that hits, now adrenaline, if you’re a speaker, is a speaker’s best friend. If you don’t have adrenaline, you’re dull; you’re boring. So what you need to do, when you preach three, four, six, or more services, is that every time it hits me, first, I lose my vision. My vision goes very blurry; it’s like looking through cheesecloth. I can barely see you. Many times when I’m teaching, I can’t even see my notes; the vision just goes so bad; it’s very painful and creates bad headaches.
When people say, „Do you love to preach?“ I’ve said this for years: „No, I don’t.“ I don’t love to preach. And why do you do it? Because I love what the effects are. I don’t love to preach; I love the people I preach to. When guys tell me, „I love to preach, ” I go, „That didn’t impress me. You may just be a ham; you just may like the rush of adrenaline; you may like the attention of other people.“ I don’t care if you love to preach; I care about whether you love the people you preach to.
But what this means is when adrenaline hits my system, then I have to go and I have to lay down to get my vision back and to stop from shaking. On a typical week, I will get about three nights of sleep; four nights I will be up all night because of this. It’s taken a toll on my health as it’s gotten worse.
I’d like to explain this to you and ask for your prayers. During COVID, my physical condition has gotten worse, and I’m finding it more and more difficult to do multiple services. I did them for years. In fact, when we first started the church, I said, „Lord, I could preach one service, but I could never do two; it’s just too much.“ I would go home and literally sleep all day the next day to get over the shaking. Then I said, „When we went to two services, I said, 'But I could never do three! '“ And then we went to three services; I could do three, but never four. Then I could do four but never five. Then I could do five but never six. And then we went almost a decade with six services.
It took an enormous toll on my body and on my brain. It has worsened in the last year as my disease has progressed. So I’m telling you that I need your prayers, family. I’ve prayed for you for 42 years. I need you to pray for me, because I’m not going to be able to keep doing multiple services. And so that’s a physical cause too—that’s a third issue.
By the way, that’s a cue; it’s just a circumstance; it’s not the whole reason we need next-generation leadership and so many other things. But I know that this is the time.
Six Steps for Discerning God’s Timing
Now I want to answer, with the rest of this message, how did Kaye and I come to this decision, discerning when is the right time to start the search? The reason I want to explain how we came to this vision is that I’ve always tried to use everything I’ve gone through in my life—even things like losing a son to suicide. I’ve always tried to use everything I’ve gone through to help you.
So I want to share with you the steps that Kaye and I have used for discerning the best time to make a major decision.
Now look here on your outline. Ecclesiastes 8:5 says this: „A wise person does the right thing at the right time.“ That is a mark of wisdom.
So do the right thing at the right time, but then you know this from experience: knowing when is the right time is not always easy, right? Why is it not always easy? Look at the next verse, Ecclesiastes 8:6 and 7. „There’s a right time and a right way to do everything, but we know so little.“ What do we know? So little.
The next verse: „None of us knows what’s going to happen, and there’s no one here to tell us.“ I know you can try horoscope reading, palm reading; none of that’s going to work. No one here to tell us. God just doesn’t spell it out clearly in the sky, and that’s why it’s hard to know what’s the best time to make a major decision or a significant change. God expects us to take certain steps of faith, and I’m going to explain those steps to you now.
Now, for the rest of your life, just like I’m having to figure out the right timing for a major decision in my life, you’re going to have to figure out the right timing for some major decisions and changes in your life: changes in schooling, changes in whether to get married or not, changes in whether to have kids and become a parent, changes in your job, where you live, changes in your ministry, changes.
Many of you are coming up to changes in retirement and what you’re going to do after retirement. Those decisions—every one of those decisions—include a timing factor. So today I want to briefly end this message by sharing with you some of the steps you’re going to need to take—six steps of faith—in discerning the best time to make a major change. This is what I did, and this is what I encourage you to do. I encourage you to write down these six biblical steps.
Step 1: Enlist the Prayers of Others
Okay, here’s number one: When you’re trying to determine when’s the best time to make a major change, first, enlist the prayers of other people. Enlist the prayers of other people. Everything starts with prayer. You’re never going to know the right time for anything unless you talk to God about it first.
You know you ought to talk to God about it first. But on major decisions and important decisions, you also ought to enlist the prayers of other people, too. Paul talks about this in Romans 15:30, where he says, „Brothers and sisters, I beg you to help me.“ And then he says, „I beg you to help me in my work.“ And then he says, „By praying to God for me.“
One of the reasons I’m telling you about the beginning of our search for our next lead pastor is because I now want all of you to begin praying about this. I don’t want to be the only one praying about it. I don’t want the elders and staff to be the only ones praying. We need God’s wisdom, and God clearly tells us in this book—in the book of James—if you need wisdom, just ask God. So I’m asking all of you to make this search for our next pastor a matter of prayer.
Okay, I’m asking you to start praying: God, give us the leader you have for us; give us the shepherd you have for us.
Step 2: Seek Counsel from Wise Friends
Second, here’s the second thing you do: Seek the counsel of wise friends—not the counsel of everybody; just seek the counsel of wise friends. You don’t determine and depend on your own perspective alone. When you have a major decision and you’re trying to figure out the best timing for that major change, you need the perspective of other people because none of us sees everything clearly. Proverbs 11:14 says, „Where there is no wise guidance, people fall; but in the multitude of counselors, there is safety.“
Circle that: „the multitude of counselors.“ If you want to be safe instead of sorry, seek the advice of the wisest people you know and get all the advice you can. In fact, asking for advice is a sign that you’re wise. Did you know that? In Proverbs 12:15, it says this: „Fools think they need no advice, but the wise person listens to the advice of others.“
If you’re trying to figure out what is the best time for this decision you’re thinking about, enlist the prayers of other people and seek the counsel of wise people, wise friends.
Step 3: Be Quiet and Listen to God
Number three: Be quiet and listen to God in His word. That’s the third key to figuring out the right timing on anything. Be quiet and listen to God’s word. You know, so many people tell me, „Rick, I never hear God speak to me; God has never spoken to me. In fact, I think He’s silent when it comes to me.“
Well, why is that? Why is it that you never hear God speak to you? Well, let me give you two possible reasons. These are just two.
First, you’re not spending enough time being quiet. If you’re always looking at your phone or always listening to your earbuds or looking at some other screen or always listening to the media, you can’t hear God’s voice because God doesn’t shout, and everybody else in the world is shouting.
Remember this story in 1 Kings 19:11–13. God told Elijah, „Go stand in the presence of the Lord outside your cave on the mountain.“ So Elijah goes outside, and he’s going to get a multimedia presentation from God. It says first a violent storm came up that blasted the mountains, and rocks are falling, and there’s all kinds of stuff happening, but the Lord was not in that windstorm.
Next, a powerful earthquake shook everything, but it says the Lord was not in the earthquake. Next, there was a scorching fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. But then came a soft whisper; it was the voice of God. You know what? You can’t hear a whisper if your life is filled with noise and other sound.
So you gotta be quiet. That may be one reason you’re not spending any quiet time alone with God.
And the second thing: You’re not spending enough time reading God’s word, the Bible. I want you to write this down: God’s will is found in God’s word. God’s will is found in God’s word. Okay? Stop looking for a vision and start looking for a verse. Stop looking for God to write it in the sky when He’s already written it in the Bible.
Now along with looking at God’s word and being quiet, there are a couple of other areas that you can look to to learn the right timing for any major decision in life. One thing you can look at is your own life up to this point and compare it to what the Bible says. That’s a way to figure out what’s next in your life. Look at the past. You’re not a prisoner of your past, but you are shaped by your past. It’s a good time to look at where does it want to point you toward the future—compare it to what the Bible says. Psalm 119:59 says this: „I pondered the direction of my life.“ That means where have I been and where am I headed? „And I turned to follow your instructions.“ Where are God’s instructions? In this book.
He says I looked at where my life had been and where it’s headed, and I compared it to God’s Word. „I follow your instructions.“ You know, on the TV show, the Netflix show, Longmire, somebody asks Sheriff Longmire, „Why are you being quiet?“ And I love the reply: Longmire says, „I’m thinking. Sometimes I do that before I speak.“
That’s good advice: You ought to do that, too! Be quiet and hear the still small voice of God—the quiet whisper—so then you can look at God’s Word and you can look at your past, and you can look at where you’re going. You could also look at what’s going on around you and you can learn lessons there.
Like, I—one of the things I looked at—was, „Are we coming out of COVID?“ Proverbs 24:32 says this: „I applied my heart to what I observed, and I learned a lesson from what I saw.“ Do you ever do that? Do you just observe what’s going on around you and learn a lesson from it?
Step 4: Consider What You Do Best
Okay, that leads us to the next step in considering any major change in your life. Here’s the fourth thing: Consider what I do best. That’s a big factor in where you need to go for the future. Consider what I do best. Honestly, consider your talents, your gifts, your abilities, your personality, your experiences—all these things that God has put in you. You ask yourself the question, „When have I been the most fruitful? When have I seen the best results in my life? What does God seem to bless in my life? And what do I enjoy most?“ That’s a good key to what you’re gifted at.
At Saddleback Church, we call these things your SHAPE: spiritual gifts, heart, abilities, personality, experiences—your SHAPE. We have a class about how to discover your SHAPE. It’s called Class 301: Discovering My Personal SHAPE for Ministry, and it helps you identify your God-given SHAPE. The Bible says it like this in 1 Peter 4:10: „God has given each of you”—that means includes you—“some special abilities; be sure to use them to help each other, passing on to others God’s many kinds of blessing.“
Now, notice in that verse it says that your talents were not given to you for your benefit! No, no! God gave them to you for the benefit of others, just as God gave other people talents for your benefit. So, this is the fourth thing you do: consider what am I good at, and that will have an influence on your future and the timing of what you’re supposed to do next.
Step 5: Take Time — Don’t Hurry
Number five: This is a very important step of faith: Take the time to make the right decision. Take the time to make the right decision. And what I’m saying here is: Don’t get in a hurry; don’t get impatient; don’t get frustrated. Like, „I got to make this decision right now; I got to do it.“ Trust God’s timing. God is never in a hurry!
Okay? Now I want you to remember this: A good decision is always better than a fast one. A good decision is always better than a fast one. We live in a culture today that honors and actually adores fast decision-making. „Man, he’s a fast decision maker! He makes decisions so quick!“ Probably a lot of them are wrong.
When you’re in a hurry, when you have a major decision and you’re looking for what’s the best time to make this change, don’t rush it. If it’s God’s will, it’ll be God’s will tomorrow; it doesn’t have to be made today. Proverbs 20:25 says this: „It is a mistake to make an impulsive vow without thinking; you will regret it later.“
You know, I once preached an entire sermon on that verse, and I called it, „It’s easier to get in than it is to get out.“ All right? It’s easier to get in debt than it is to get out of debt; it’s easier to fill your schedule than to fulfill your schedule. It’s easier to get into trouble than it is to get out of trouble.
When you make a foolish or impulsive vow and you make it fast, it’s often going to be wrong. So take it slow; don’t get in a hurry! What I’m recommending is that you move at the pace that God sets. Move at the pace that God sets.
This is how we have succeeded as a Saddleback Church family. One of the great success stories in the history of churches! How do we do that? Well, sometimes we move fast; sometimes we move slow; sometimes we wait, and sometimes we don’t move at all. Why? We let God set the timing.
We’re fast, fluid, and flexible when we need to move fast. We’re also fluid and flexible when we need to move slow. When we need to not move, we just stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. There’s a time for everything. The Bible says in Romans 3:28, you know, I love this in The Message paraphrase: „Our lives get in step with God.“ That’s what we’re talking about—getting my life in step with God—by letting Him set the pace.
Your lives get in step with God and all others by letting Him set the pace—not by proudly or anxiously trying to run the parade.
Now the Bible says God is perfect; that means God never makes a mistake. And since God is perfect, that means His timing is always perfect. Will you trust Him to set the pace? Galatians 5:25 says, „Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.“
I think of that verse where Jesus, in Matthew 11, says, „If you’re tired and you’re weary and you’re burned out and you just don’t know where to go, He says, 'Put my yoke upon you.'“ It’s like a cattle yoke, where you put two cattle together to pull. What’s the purpose of a yoke? It’s to lighten the load. When a cow is pulling a cart by itself, it’s carrying the whole burden. But when you yoke that cattle with another cow, then they’re sharing the burden.
Jesus says, „Take my yoke on you, and I’ll help carry your burden.“ Are you letting Jesus do that in your life? Are you letting Him help carry your burden?
Now, if you yoke up with Jesus, it also means that when you’re yoked, you can’t move faster than He does, and you can’t move slower than He does. He sets the pace.
So we’re talking about timing. What is God’s time? God’s timing is perfect in your life. You can do the right thing too soon. You can do the right thing too late, and it doesn’t work.
So how do I keep in step with the Holy Spirit? I want you to write this down: by surrendering my timetable. By surrendering my timetable. Here’s something I want; here’s something I think God wants me to do, but I’m just going to surrender the timetable of when it happens. „When, Lord, when?“ I’m going to surrender that timetable to God.
That means, „God, I’m going to go at Your pace—not faster, not slower—at the pace that You set.“ In Psalm 31, it says this, verse 14 and 15: „I’m trusting in You alone, Lord, and my times are in Your hands.“ That’s what it means to surrender your schedule, to surrender your timetable, to surrender the timing.
Step 6: Surrender and Trust God’s Timing
Now some of you are probably thinking, „You know, this has got to be a pretty difficult decision for Rick to step out of the role of being the senior pastor or lead pastor, which he’s done now for 42 years.“ And I want to read my lips: It’s not at all a difficult decision for me. You know why? Because I’ve offered my resignation to God every single weekend for 42 years. It’s part of my pre-service prayer!
What do you mean by that? Every weekend before I preach, as I’m driving to the campus or driving out here to the farm or driving wherever I’m getting ready to speak, I have my pre-service prayers—a quite a long prayer that I pray every single week. And part of that long prayer has this line in it: „God, today, I offer You my resignation as the pastor of Saddleback Church. I know You used me to start this church, but it’s not my church; it’s Your church. I offer it up to You with open hands, and I offer You my resignation.“
I will literally, physically take my hands off the wheel of the car at that point, symbolizing, „You’re in control, not me.“ And I say, „God, You used me to start this church, and You used me to grow it, but if there’s somebody out there who can do a better job than I’m doing right now, I willingly open my hands, and I willingly offer my resignation to You.“
And then this is the hardest part of the prayer: I say, „I’m willing to do something harder.“ That’s the real test! You see, there are a lot of things I could do that would be a whole lot easier than leading a church that meets on four continents and has incredible complexity in it with thousands and thousands of people in different campuses.
A lot of things I could do would be easier. But I said, „God, I’m willing to step down and let somebody who can do a better job take over, and I’m willing to do something more difficult.“ You know, because I have said that every weekend for 42 years with an open hand, starting this process of finding my successor, my successor, there’s no tension in it for me.
There’s no tension in it at all because I’ve been making this commitment to Christ every weekend for 42 years. Proverbs 16:1 says this: „We can make our plans, but the final outcome is in God’s hands.“ That means you’re just going to have to take a step of faith and trust God. „We will make our plans, but the final outcome is in God’s hands.“ Life is always a test of how much you really trust God.
Some of you, as you’re getting ready to face retirement, God is going to say, „Do you really trust Me? What is needed is to humbly trust God.“ That’s what you need to do—humbly trust God for His timing. 1 Peter 5:6 says this: „Humble yourself under God’s mighty hand.“ You can’t be stressed out and humble at the same time. Humble yourself before God’s mighty hand so that when the right time comes—that’s what we’re talking about this weekend—God will lift you up.
So, be humble or you’ll stumble. Now I’ve explained to you the next phase that we’re starting on. We’re starting a search, and I’ve shared the steps that we’ve used to get this far. You can use these steps yourself in discerning the best time to make a major change or major decision in your life.
Closing Prayer for the Church
But what I’d like to do right now, as we end this service, is ask all of us at every campus to pray for our church family. Okay? So I’m going to end this message here, and I’m going to ask each of our campus pastors at each of our campuses—I will lead it at Lake Forest—to lead the entire campus in a prayer for our church family.
And I’m going to turn it over now to the campus pastors and let them conclude the service. God bless you, everybody! I love you! Be praying for me, because I’m praying for you! I want to ask Tom to come and lead us in prayer here at the Lake Forest campus, and if you come and do that, I’d appreciate you doing it. I’d love to! Let’s pray together, everybody. And Lord, I just feel privileged to lead our family together in what’s on our hearts.