February 27, 2025 • 22 mins
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hey, everyone, it's so great to have you with us
today on Pastor Rick's Daily Hope. We are going to
continue our very encouraging series today called Life's Healing Choices.
And in these lessons, Rick Warren will guide us through
a deep biblical exploration of how to overcome the hurts,
hang ups, and habits that really hold us back. So
(00:25):
get ready for some practical insights and powerful truths that
can lead to lasting change and freedom in your life.
And now here's Rick with the opening segment of his
message called the Sharing Choice.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Because we live on a broken planet, and we've talked
about this many times, it's broken by sin. Pain is
a part of life. There is no such thing as
a pain free life. Pain is inevitable and pain is universal.
And when again, to follow Jesus, that doesn't take away
(01:02):
all your pain. Jesus does not eliminate all your pain
in life. He transforms it. He gives meaning to it,
he gives purpose to it. You see the significance of it.
But as long as you live here on this planet,
you will experience pain. That's what makes the hope of
heaven such a wonderful hope, because in heaven there is
(01:25):
no sorrow, no more suffering, no more sickness, no more sadness,
no more tears, no more tangles, no more problems of
any kind.
Speaker 3 (01:35):
And that's Heaven.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
But we're still on earth, so you will experience pain
here on earth.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
Now.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
The Bible teaches us three great truths about pain in
your life.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
The Bible says that.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
You're going to have pain all your life, but it
says three things about it that regardless of the reason
for your pain, and regardless of the cause of your pain.
By the way, stop trying to figure out all the causes.
It really doesn't matter whether you cause the pain, or
somebody else caused the pain, or Satan caused the pain,
or the environment caused the pain. All you're going to
(02:08):
do is place blame on a lot of that, regardless
of the cause you may have brought it on yourself.
God says three things about your pain. Number one, he says,
if you'll give it to me, I will use it
for your benefit, I will use it for my purposes,
and I.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
Will use it to help other people.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
God says that when we give our pain to him,
he says, I will use it for your benefit, I
will use it for my purposes, and I will use
it to help other people. Now you've heard me say
many times. God never wastes a hurt, never waste a hurt.
Speaker 3 (02:47):
Now we do.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
We waste hurts all the time. Things hurt us and
we don't learn from him. So we have to go
get hurt again and again and again and again. But
if we will give God the pieces of our lives,
his purpose can trend form our problems and he can
bring good out of bad.
Speaker 3 (03:05):
God specializes in it.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
If you take the pieces of the pain of your
life and you give him the God, God will piece
it all back together. He will give you peace of mind,
and he will make you an agent of peace in
the lives of other people.
Speaker 3 (03:23):
Now we've been looking at these.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
Beatitudes eight beatitudes over the last eight weeks. I want
to go back to the one where Jesus says, blessed
are the peace makers. God wants to make you a
peace maker, not just a keeper, but a peace maker.
That you make peace, you bring peace to other people's lives.
But you can't do that until there's peace in your life.
The peace of God is in you, and that's what
(03:47):
recovery from the habits and hurts and hang ups. Is
all about finding the peace of God in your heart. Now,
once you begin to experience recovery, restoration, revival, renewal, once
you begin to experience spiritual growth, and you begin to
experience the peace of God in your life, God says,
I want you to pass it on to other people.
(04:08):
In fact, that is the proof of recovery. How do
you know when you're recovered from a hurt or a
hang up or a habit. How do you know when
you're really over that big pain in your life, that betrayal,
that rejection, that abuse. How do you know when you're
(04:31):
over that hurt from your childhood, that hurt from your marriage?
How do you know when you're past it and you're recovered.
Speaker 3 (04:40):
It's real simple.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
You begin to help other people in that exact area.
Speaker 3 (04:47):
You don't waste the hurt.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
Now, If you're not helping anybody else with the hurt
you've been through, you're not recovered yet. You're still You've
still got some traveling down that road to do. The
proof of recovery is you start to help others now.
The Bible says this in tewod Corinthians five. God was
(05:10):
in Christ offering peace and forgiveness to the people of
this world. That's where we find our own recovery, peace
with God, peace with others, forgiveness being forgiven by God,
learning to let go of the people who've hurt us.
God was in Christ offering peace and forgiveness to the
people of this world, and He has given.
Speaker 3 (05:27):
Us the work of sharing his.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
Message about peace. How do you know you're recovered You
start sharing the areas you've been heard in with others
for their healing and their benefit. I want you to
circle the word sharing in that verse, because we call
this step the sharing choice, and the sharing choice is this.
I choose to yield myself to God to be used
(05:55):
to bring the good news to others, both by my exams,
temple and buy my words.
Speaker 3 (06:03):
So Rick, I couldn't do that. I got a lot
more to go. Yeah, you do, But you don't have
to be perfect for God to use you.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
If God only used perfect people in the world, nothing
would ever get done because there are no perfect people.
God only uses broken people because that's all he's got
to work with. God only uses broken people. He always
(06:33):
uses broken people and to help somebody else. You don't
have to have it all together. You never will. Here
on this side of eternity, all you have to do
is be one step ahead of the person you're helping. Actually,
it's better for you to be just a step ahead
rather than ten steps ahead or a mile or ten
miles ahead of the person you're trying to help. If
(06:54):
you give off the idea that you've got it all
figured out, you've got it all together, you've attained perfection,
all you are is one big discouragement to everybody else.
You see, one of the myths is that you help
people through your strengths.
Speaker 3 (07:09):
You don't.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
You help people through your weaknesses. It is through your
weaknesses that you best help other people. For instance, if
I stood up here and told you all the good
things I'm good at, you go well, Lottie, do good
for you, Ricky, you know, try la la la la, fantastic.
That's great, you're good. I'm not so what Let's go home.
(07:31):
And when somebody has a strength in an area and
you don't have that strength and you've never had it,
it's kind of discouraging. And they say, well, look, i'm
real neat, you're messy. Well what does that do? Just
makes you feel bad? I'm organized, you're disorganized. I'm always
on time. Why can't you be like me and all
(07:53):
of the you don't learn.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
From the strengths of other people.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
On the other hand, when I stand up here and
I say, like I did last week, when I shared
how in nineteen eighty one, the second year of this church,
I spent the entire year under a cloud of depression.
I was depressed, as I told you last week, for
an entire year. And that's not a strength, that's a weakness.
(08:17):
And yet when I shared that some of you.
Speaker 3 (08:19):
Are going whoa.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
You know, if Rick could make it through a year
of depression, maybe I could too. Maybe I could get
through the thing I'm going through. Maybe if I hang on.
Speaker 3 (08:35):
Look what happened to him. He's stunning now wow.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
And it is our weaknesses that helps other people, not
our strengths. And so we call this the sharing choice.
I choose to yield myself to God to be used
to bring God's good news to others, both.
Speaker 3 (08:59):
By my example and my words.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
Now a great example of this is the example of
Paul the Apostle. Paul in the Bible and On Your
Outline tewod Corinthians, chapter one, Paul says that he was
at a time in his life where he was so
discouraged he was ready to kick the bucket. He said,
I despaired of life itself. I was ready to give
up on life. I was ready to just crawl into
(09:23):
a corner and die. That's how down Paul says he was.
And he's probably the greatest Christian ever lived except for Jesus.
And he says this, I pray that God, our Father,
and the Lord Jesus Christ, will be kind to you
and will bless you with peace, peace of heart, peace
of mind. The Father's a merciful God who always gives
(09:46):
us comfort. In other words, when we're down, when we're
going through the tough time. He comforts us when we're
in trouble, so that we can share the same comfort
with others in trouble. There's the key, that's the sharing step.
He comfort it's us when we're in trouble, so that
we can share the same comfort with others in trouble.
We always we share in the terrible sufferings of Christ,
(10:07):
but also in the wonderful comfort that He gives. I
want you to write this down on your outline. Just
find a spot. My greatest ministry write this down. My
greatest ministry will flow out of my pain. My greatest
ministry in your life will flow out of your pain,
(10:31):
not out of your strengths, not out of your talents,
not out of all these but out of the painful
experiences of your life. Who can be more sympathetic to
somebody than somebody who's already been through what that person's
going through right now? Who can better help the parents
of a special needs child than parents who raise the
(10:53):
special needs child. Who can better help somebody going through
a bankruptcy than somebody who's been there, done that? Who
can better help somebody experiencing the heartbreak.
Speaker 3 (11:05):
Of rejection or divorce?
Speaker 2 (11:08):
Then somebody says, I remember what that felt like, how
terrible that felt. Who can better help somebody who's been
abused or molested or raped? Then somebody who has been
through abuse, molestation, or rape. Don't waste your pain. If
(11:32):
you hold it in, and you hide it, and you
hold it back.
Speaker 3 (11:35):
It doesn't do any good.
Speaker 2 (11:37):
But if you're honest to God, and if you're honest
to yourself, and if you're honest with other people, God
can use the very thing you hate the most in
your life. You're most disappointed by and you reject the
most in your life, and you wish it never happened.
Speaker 3 (11:51):
God said, Yep, it happened. That ain't gonna change.
Speaker 2 (11:55):
But I can use it for your benefit, and I
can use it for my purposes, and I can use
it to help other people. If you're be willing to
share your brokenness, That's what we're going to look at
this weekend. How God wants to use what you've been through.
How God wants to take your brokenness and bless other
(12:17):
people with it. Now you may be thinking, well, I
can't think of anything in my life that I could
share that would actually be a benefit to other people.
Speaker 3 (12:25):
Oh, You've got a lot to share.
Speaker 2 (12:27):
So let me suggest you four things today that God
wants you to learn to share from your life that
can help other people, and it's not your strengths.
Speaker 3 (12:37):
Let's look at these.
Speaker 2 (12:38):
Number one, the Bible teaches that we need to learn
how to share with other people. How pain got my attention?
How pain got my attention? Proverbs twenty, verse thirty, and
the Good News translation says, sometimes it takes a painful
situation to make us change our way. Does anybody agree
(13:01):
with that verse? Would anybody be able to give a
story about that verse. Yeah, we do not change when
we see the light. We change when we feel the heat.
We change when the pain exceeds our fear of change.
Why is it that we wait until things get so
bad before we finally change. I don't know, but it
(13:22):
is pain that motivates us. Over the last thirty years,
I couldn't tell you how many men have come to
me and said, Rick, can you help me understand my wife?
Speaker 3 (13:38):
And I said, well, what's the guy?
Speaker 2 (13:43):
He laughed, He was one of them who asked first. Now,
I'll say, well, so where are you in your marriage
situation right now?
Speaker 3 (13:51):
Well, she's walked out on me.
Speaker 2 (13:53):
I'm going why didn't you come to me six months ago?
Why didn't you come to me a year ago? Why
didn't you come to me.
Speaker 3 (13:59):
Two years ago? Why did you wait until she said
fed up?
Speaker 2 (14:03):
It's over, it's done, my mind's settled, I'm out of here.
I've given you one last year. Why did you wait
until that point to say I need to understand my wife?
Why did we wait until he gets so bad? You see,
sometimes we have to hit bottom, We have to be
laid out flat on our back before we look up
(14:25):
to God, that's a stupid thing to do. God says,
learn from pain quickly.
Speaker 3 (14:33):
Now.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
God uses pain for a lot of different reasons in
our lives. He uses pain to inspect us, to correct this,
to direct this to perfect us. God uses pain to
inspect us to see what's inside of us and show us, Oh,
look that's what's in me that needs changing. God uses
pain to correct and say, no, don't do that, do
it this way. God uses pain to direct to say,
(14:54):
this is the path to go on. God uses the
pain to perfect us to build character in our lives.
But the number one way God uses pain in your
life is to get your attention. Pain is God's megaphone.
Pain is God saying, hello, are you listening? Do you
think I made you to just live a little self
(15:15):
centered claud of a life and to ignore me forever?
Speaker 3 (15:18):
Hello?
Speaker 2 (15:19):
Is anybody there? God whispers to us in our pleasure.
He shouts to us on our pain. Pain is a
warning light. Pain is the bells going off. Pain is
the wake up call. It's God's way of saying something is.
Speaker 3 (15:32):
Out of whack.
Speaker 2 (15:33):
Danger, Will Robinson, this is not the way I want
you to go.
Speaker 3 (15:39):
Pain is a wake up call.
Speaker 2 (15:42):
The story of the prodigal son who had, you know,
everything that he wanted. He took his half of the
inheritance and he goes off and he spends it on
you know, sunset strip in Jerusalem, with wine, women and songs,
particularly the women, and he ends up running out of everything,
and he ends up living in a pig pin, eating
the same food that the pigs would eat.
Speaker 3 (16:04):
Now that's not exactly where.
Speaker 2 (16:05):
You're supposed to be if you're Jewish, because a ham
and pork is not a thing you're supposed to be around.
And he his bottom, and it says, then he came
to his senses.
Speaker 3 (16:17):
Why do we have to wait.
Speaker 2 (16:18):
Till it goes completely belly up before we come to
our senses? Why can't we be smart enough to obey
God when it.
Speaker 3 (16:26):
Hasn't gotten not bad yet?
Speaker 2 (16:29):
Why do we have to wait until all of a
sudden we need a crisis, We need an intervention in
our lives. You see, we rarely change until we get desperate,
and we postpone difficult decisions. We delay doing things we
need to do. We delay counseling until it's too late.
We ignore the problem until it reached chrisis stage, and
(16:52):
we just keep proprastinating, procrastinating. A couple months ago, some
of you remember that I wrote about the story of
Elijah in one of the News and Views, and in
that I talked about the story of Elijah, who was
one of God's favorite guys in the Bible. And God
let him take a little vacation at a little bubbling
brook called Cherith. And he said, Elijah, I want you
(17:13):
to go to this place. I want you to stay there.
And Elijah got quite comfortable. It was like a little resort.
Speaker 3 (17:18):
Spa for him.
Speaker 2 (17:19):
It said, the bird supernaturally brought food and you know,
and and he didn't have to go hunt for it.
And it said the water was clear and fresh, and
there were trees to sleep under, and he was having
a good old time. And then one of my favorite
verses in the Bible, it says, and then the brook
dried up.
Speaker 3 (17:42):
Have you ever had the brook dry up in your life?
Speaker 2 (17:45):
Yes, when you lose a job, when something you were
depending on all of a sudden isn't there anymore, and
you were depending on that friend for support, or you
were depending on that family member who died, or you
were depending on that job, or you had some kind
of structure underneath you that you were counting on, that
deal or whatever something that you were really depending on
(18:10):
for your sustenance, and and all of a sudden it
just dries up, and that friend's not there anymore, and
they moved away or they died or something, and the
brook will often dry.
Speaker 3 (18:20):
Up in your life. Now.
Speaker 2 (18:22):
When Elijah was in this situation and the brook dries up,
he gets mad at God.
Speaker 3 (18:28):
And he says, God, don't you love me? Here?
Speaker 2 (18:31):
You were providing food for me and water and refreshment
and trees, and I was relaxing and I have a
great old time and all of stuff. The Brook's not
working anymore. Don't you love me? And God says, of course,
I love you, Josh, Elijah, I love you. I just
don't want you to brook anymore.
Speaker 3 (18:52):
Hmm.
Speaker 2 (18:53):
I don't want you at the brook anymore. And as
long as it was going, you weren't gonna go anywhere.
I didn't create you to simply sit by Brooke the
rest of your life. There are things to do, there
are places to go, people to see, jobs to accomplish,
missions to fulfill, goals to reach. And I don't want
you staying at the brook. Your entire life, and you
aren't gonna move until I finally dried it up.
Speaker 3 (19:17):
Sometimes God dries.
Speaker 2 (19:18):
The brook up in your life because he doesn't want
you doing what he wanted you doing.
Speaker 3 (19:24):
A year ago.
Speaker 2 (19:26):
He God let Elijah to the brook, and just as
soon Elijah would have stayed there, he got comfortable, and
God said, well, that's not what I wanted to do forever,
so he dries the brook up. Sometimes God has to
use pain to get our attention. Now, the point is,
when you talk about your pain with other people, you're
(19:47):
gonna have a willing ear, particularly if you're talking about
pain they're going through at that moment. But for God
to use the pain that's happened in your life for
the good of other people and for his purposes and
for your b if you have to be authentic, you
have to be honest. You can't sugarcoat it, you can't
fake it, you can't pretend about it. You gotta be
(20:08):
real and honest about the hurts in your life.
Speaker 1 (20:19):
Hey, let's talk about something that we all deal with. Hurts,
hang ups, and habits, and whether it's caused by others, ourselves,
or circumstances, these challenges affect every single one of us,
and the real question is how do we move forward?
And that's where the Life's Healing Choices video based Bible
(20:39):
study from Pastor Rick Warren comes in. This is a
powerful study. It offers a path of freedom from those hurts,
hang ups, and habits through eight healing choices that can
lead to true happiness and life transformation. It's rooted in
the beatitudes of Jesus and Rick guides you through eight
engage video sessions filled with practical and encouraging Bible teaching.
(21:05):
You're also going to hear real life stories from people
whose lives have been transformed by following these eight choices. Now,
this video and workbook Bible Study shows you how to
make each choice, guiding you on God's pathway to wholeness,
spiritual growth, happiness and healing. Now today, when you give
a gift to support Daily Hope's mission of sharing the
(21:27):
good news of Jesus worldwide, you can simply request this
life changing Bible Study. It comes with a workbook and
access to the teaching videos. It's available through streaming or DVD,
and it's our way of saying thank you so much
for partnering with us in this Ministry. We'll send you
a copy today. Just go to Pastorick dot com or
(21:49):
text the word hope to eight hundred six hundred five
thousand and four. That's Pastorick dot com. Or text the
word hope to eight hundred six hundred five thousand and four.
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
(22:11):
support
Hey, everyone, it's so great to have you with us
today on Pastor Rick's Daily Hope. We are going to
continue our very encouraging series today called Life's Healing Choices.
And in these lessons, Rick Warren will guide us through
a deep biblical exploration of how to overcome the hurts,
hang ups, and habits that really hold us back. So
(00:25):
get ready for some practical insights and powerful truths that
can lead to lasting change and freedom in your life.
And now here's Rick with the opening segment of his
message called the Sharing Choice.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Because we live on a broken planet, and we've talked
about this many times, it's broken by sin. Pain is
a part of life. There is no such thing as
a pain free life. Pain is inevitable and pain is universal.
And when again, to follow Jesus, that doesn't take away
(01:02):
all your pain. Jesus does not eliminate all your pain
in life. He transforms it. He gives meaning to it,
he gives purpose to it. You see the significance of it.
But as long as you live here on this planet,
you will experience pain. That's what makes the hope of
heaven such a wonderful hope, because in heaven there is
(01:25):
no sorrow, no more suffering, no more sickness, no more sadness,
no more tears, no more tangles, no more problems of
any kind.
Speaker 3 (01:35):
And that's Heaven.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
But we're still on earth, so you will experience pain
here on earth.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
Now.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
The Bible teaches us three great truths about pain in
your life.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
The Bible says that.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
You're going to have pain all your life, but it
says three things about it that regardless of the reason
for your pain, and regardless of the cause of your pain.
By the way, stop trying to figure out all the causes.
It really doesn't matter whether you cause the pain, or
somebody else caused the pain, or Satan caused the pain,
or the environment caused the pain. All you're going to
(02:08):
do is place blame on a lot of that, regardless
of the cause you may have brought it on yourself.
God says three things about your pain. Number one, he says,
if you'll give it to me, I will use it
for your benefit, I will use it for my purposes,
and I.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
Will use it to help other people.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
God says that when we give our pain to him,
he says, I will use it for your benefit, I
will use it for my purposes, and I will use
it to help other people. Now you've heard me say
many times. God never wastes a hurt, never waste a hurt.
Speaker 3 (02:47):
Now we do.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
We waste hurts all the time. Things hurt us and
we don't learn from him. So we have to go
get hurt again and again and again and again. But
if we will give God the pieces of our lives,
his purpose can trend form our problems and he can
bring good out of bad.
Speaker 3 (03:05):
God specializes in it.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
If you take the pieces of the pain of your
life and you give him the God, God will piece
it all back together. He will give you peace of mind,
and he will make you an agent of peace in
the lives of other people.
Speaker 3 (03:23):
Now we've been looking at these.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
Beatitudes eight beatitudes over the last eight weeks. I want
to go back to the one where Jesus says, blessed
are the peace makers. God wants to make you a
peace maker, not just a keeper, but a peace maker.
That you make peace, you bring peace to other people's lives.
But you can't do that until there's peace in your life.
The peace of God is in you, and that's what
(03:47):
recovery from the habits and hurts and hang ups. Is
all about finding the peace of God in your heart. Now,
once you begin to experience recovery, restoration, revival, renewal, once
you begin to experience spiritual growth, and you begin to
experience the peace of God in your life, God says,
I want you to pass it on to other people.
(04:08):
In fact, that is the proof of recovery. How do
you know when you're recovered from a hurt or a
hang up or a habit. How do you know when
you're really over that big pain in your life, that betrayal,
that rejection, that abuse. How do you know when you're
(04:31):
over that hurt from your childhood, that hurt from your marriage?
How do you know when you're past it and you're recovered.
Speaker 3 (04:40):
It's real simple.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
You begin to help other people in that exact area.
Speaker 3 (04:47):
You don't waste the hurt.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
Now, If you're not helping anybody else with the hurt
you've been through, you're not recovered yet. You're still You've
still got some traveling down that road to do. The
proof of recovery is you start to help others now.
The Bible says this in tewod Corinthians five. God was
(05:10):
in Christ offering peace and forgiveness to the people of
this world. That's where we find our own recovery, peace
with God, peace with others, forgiveness being forgiven by God,
learning to let go of the people who've hurt us.
God was in Christ offering peace and forgiveness to the
people of this world, and He has given.
Speaker 3 (05:27):
Us the work of sharing his.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
Message about peace. How do you know you're recovered You
start sharing the areas you've been heard in with others
for their healing and their benefit. I want you to
circle the word sharing in that verse, because we call
this step the sharing choice, and the sharing choice is this.
I choose to yield myself to God to be used
(05:55):
to bring the good news to others, both by my exams,
temple and buy my words.
Speaker 3 (06:03):
So Rick, I couldn't do that. I got a lot
more to go. Yeah, you do, But you don't have
to be perfect for God to use you.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
If God only used perfect people in the world, nothing
would ever get done because there are no perfect people.
God only uses broken people because that's all he's got
to work with. God only uses broken people. He always
(06:33):
uses broken people and to help somebody else. You don't
have to have it all together. You never will. Here
on this side of eternity, all you have to do
is be one step ahead of the person you're helping. Actually,
it's better for you to be just a step ahead
rather than ten steps ahead or a mile or ten
miles ahead of the person you're trying to help. If
(06:54):
you give off the idea that you've got it all
figured out, you've got it all together, you've attained perfection,
all you are is one big discouragement to everybody else.
You see, one of the myths is that you help
people through your strengths.
Speaker 3 (07:09):
You don't.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
You help people through your weaknesses. It is through your
weaknesses that you best help other people. For instance, if
I stood up here and told you all the good
things I'm good at, you go well, Lottie, do good
for you, Ricky, you know, try la la la la, fantastic.
That's great, you're good. I'm not so what Let's go home.
(07:31):
And when somebody has a strength in an area and
you don't have that strength and you've never had it,
it's kind of discouraging. And they say, well, look, i'm
real neat, you're messy. Well what does that do? Just
makes you feel bad? I'm organized, you're disorganized. I'm always
on time. Why can't you be like me and all
(07:53):
of the you don't learn.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
From the strengths of other people.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
On the other hand, when I stand up here and
I say, like I did last week, when I shared
how in nineteen eighty one, the second year of this church,
I spent the entire year under a cloud of depression.
I was depressed, as I told you last week, for
an entire year. And that's not a strength, that's a weakness.
(08:17):
And yet when I shared that some of you.
Speaker 3 (08:19):
Are going whoa.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
You know, if Rick could make it through a year
of depression, maybe I could too. Maybe I could get
through the thing I'm going through. Maybe if I hang on.
Speaker 3 (08:35):
Look what happened to him. He's stunning now wow.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
And it is our weaknesses that helps other people, not
our strengths. And so we call this the sharing choice.
I choose to yield myself to God to be used
to bring God's good news to others, both.
Speaker 3 (08:59):
By my example and my words.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
Now a great example of this is the example of
Paul the Apostle. Paul in the Bible and On Your
Outline tewod Corinthians, chapter one, Paul says that he was
at a time in his life where he was so
discouraged he was ready to kick the bucket. He said,
I despaired of life itself. I was ready to give
up on life. I was ready to just crawl into
(09:23):
a corner and die. That's how down Paul says he was.
And he's probably the greatest Christian ever lived except for Jesus.
And he says this, I pray that God, our Father,
and the Lord Jesus Christ, will be kind to you
and will bless you with peace, peace of heart, peace
of mind. The Father's a merciful God who always gives
(09:46):
us comfort. In other words, when we're down, when we're
going through the tough time. He comforts us when we're
in trouble, so that we can share the same comfort
with others in trouble. There's the key, that's the sharing step.
He comfort it's us when we're in trouble, so that
we can share the same comfort with others in trouble.
We always we share in the terrible sufferings of Christ,
(10:07):
but also in the wonderful comfort that He gives. I
want you to write this down on your outline. Just
find a spot. My greatest ministry write this down. My
greatest ministry will flow out of my pain. My greatest
ministry in your life will flow out of your pain,
(10:31):
not out of your strengths, not out of your talents,
not out of all these but out of the painful
experiences of your life. Who can be more sympathetic to
somebody than somebody who's already been through what that person's
going through right now? Who can better help the parents
of a special needs child than parents who raise the
(10:53):
special needs child. Who can better help somebody going through
a bankruptcy than somebody who's been there, done that? Who
can better help somebody experiencing the heartbreak.
Speaker 3 (11:05):
Of rejection or divorce?
Speaker 2 (11:08):
Then somebody says, I remember what that felt like, how
terrible that felt. Who can better help somebody who's been
abused or molested or raped? Then somebody who has been
through abuse, molestation, or rape. Don't waste your pain. If
(11:32):
you hold it in, and you hide it, and you
hold it back.
Speaker 3 (11:35):
It doesn't do any good.
Speaker 2 (11:37):
But if you're honest to God, and if you're honest
to yourself, and if you're honest with other people, God
can use the very thing you hate the most in
your life. You're most disappointed by and you reject the
most in your life, and you wish it never happened.
Speaker 3 (11:51):
God said, Yep, it happened. That ain't gonna change.
Speaker 2 (11:55):
But I can use it for your benefit, and I
can use it for my purposes, and I can use
it to help other people. If you're be willing to
share your brokenness, That's what we're going to look at
this weekend. How God wants to use what you've been through.
How God wants to take your brokenness and bless other
(12:17):
people with it. Now you may be thinking, well, I
can't think of anything in my life that I could
share that would actually be a benefit to other people.
Speaker 3 (12:25):
Oh, You've got a lot to share.
Speaker 2 (12:27):
So let me suggest you four things today that God
wants you to learn to share from your life that
can help other people, and it's not your strengths.
Speaker 3 (12:37):
Let's look at these.
Speaker 2 (12:38):
Number one, the Bible teaches that we need to learn
how to share with other people. How pain got my attention?
How pain got my attention? Proverbs twenty, verse thirty, and
the Good News translation says, sometimes it takes a painful
situation to make us change our way. Does anybody agree
(13:01):
with that verse? Would anybody be able to give a
story about that verse. Yeah, we do not change when
we see the light. We change when we feel the heat.
We change when the pain exceeds our fear of change.
Why is it that we wait until things get so
bad before we finally change. I don't know, but it
(13:22):
is pain that motivates us. Over the last thirty years,
I couldn't tell you how many men have come to
me and said, Rick, can you help me understand my wife?
Speaker 3 (13:38):
And I said, well, what's the guy?
Speaker 2 (13:43):
He laughed, He was one of them who asked first. Now,
I'll say, well, so where are you in your marriage
situation right now?
Speaker 3 (13:51):
Well, she's walked out on me.
Speaker 2 (13:53):
I'm going why didn't you come to me six months ago?
Why didn't you come to me a year ago? Why
didn't you come to me.
Speaker 3 (13:59):
Two years ago? Why did you wait until she said
fed up?
Speaker 2 (14:03):
It's over, it's done, my mind's settled, I'm out of here.
I've given you one last year. Why did you wait
until that point to say I need to understand my wife?
Why did we wait until he gets so bad? You see,
sometimes we have to hit bottom, We have to be
laid out flat on our back before we look up
(14:25):
to God, that's a stupid thing to do. God says,
learn from pain quickly.
Speaker 3 (14:33):
Now.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
God uses pain for a lot of different reasons in
our lives. He uses pain to inspect us, to correct this,
to direct this to perfect us. God uses pain to
inspect us to see what's inside of us and show us, Oh,
look that's what's in me that needs changing. God uses
pain to correct and say, no, don't do that, do
it this way. God uses pain to direct to say,
(14:54):
this is the path to go on. God uses the
pain to perfect us to build character in our lives.
But the number one way God uses pain in your
life is to get your attention. Pain is God's megaphone.
Pain is God saying, hello, are you listening? Do you
think I made you to just live a little self
(15:15):
centered claud of a life and to ignore me forever?
Speaker 3 (15:18):
Hello?
Speaker 2 (15:19):
Is anybody there? God whispers to us in our pleasure.
He shouts to us on our pain. Pain is a
warning light. Pain is the bells going off. Pain is
the wake up call. It's God's way of saying something is.
Speaker 3 (15:32):
Out of whack.
Speaker 2 (15:33):
Danger, Will Robinson, this is not the way I want
you to go.
Speaker 3 (15:39):
Pain is a wake up call.
Speaker 2 (15:42):
The story of the prodigal son who had, you know,
everything that he wanted. He took his half of the
inheritance and he goes off and he spends it on
you know, sunset strip in Jerusalem, with wine, women and songs,
particularly the women, and he ends up running out of everything,
and he ends up living in a pig pin, eating
the same food that the pigs would eat.
Speaker 3 (16:04):
Now that's not exactly where.
Speaker 2 (16:05):
You're supposed to be if you're Jewish, because a ham
and pork is not a thing you're supposed to be around.
And he his bottom, and it says, then he came
to his senses.
Speaker 3 (16:17):
Why do we have to wait.
Speaker 2 (16:18):
Till it goes completely belly up before we come to
our senses? Why can't we be smart enough to obey
God when it.
Speaker 3 (16:26):
Hasn't gotten not bad yet?
Speaker 2 (16:29):
Why do we have to wait until all of a
sudden we need a crisis, We need an intervention in
our lives. You see, we rarely change until we get desperate,
and we postpone difficult decisions. We delay doing things we
need to do. We delay counseling until it's too late.
We ignore the problem until it reached chrisis stage, and
(16:52):
we just keep proprastinating, procrastinating. A couple months ago, some
of you remember that I wrote about the story of
Elijah in one of the News and Views, and in
that I talked about the story of Elijah, who was
one of God's favorite guys in the Bible. And God
let him take a little vacation at a little bubbling
brook called Cherith. And he said, Elijah, I want you
(17:13):
to go to this place. I want you to stay there.
And Elijah got quite comfortable. It was like a little resort.
Speaker 3 (17:18):
Spa for him.
Speaker 2 (17:19):
It said, the bird supernaturally brought food and you know,
and and he didn't have to go hunt for it.
And it said the water was clear and fresh, and
there were trees to sleep under, and he was having
a good old time. And then one of my favorite
verses in the Bible, it says, and then the brook
dried up.
Speaker 3 (17:42):
Have you ever had the brook dry up in your life?
Speaker 2 (17:45):
Yes, when you lose a job, when something you were
depending on all of a sudden isn't there anymore, and
you were depending on that friend for support, or you
were depending on that family member who died, or you
were depending on that job, or you had some kind
of structure underneath you that you were counting on, that
deal or whatever something that you were really depending on
(18:10):
for your sustenance, and and all of a sudden it
just dries up, and that friend's not there anymore, and
they moved away or they died or something, and the
brook will often dry.
Speaker 3 (18:20):
Up in your life. Now.
Speaker 2 (18:22):
When Elijah was in this situation and the brook dries up,
he gets mad at God.
Speaker 3 (18:28):
And he says, God, don't you love me? Here?
Speaker 2 (18:31):
You were providing food for me and water and refreshment
and trees, and I was relaxing and I have a
great old time and all of stuff. The Brook's not
working anymore. Don't you love me? And God says, of course,
I love you, Josh, Elijah, I love you. I just
don't want you to brook anymore.
Speaker 3 (18:52):
Hmm.
Speaker 2 (18:53):
I don't want you at the brook anymore. And as
long as it was going, you weren't gonna go anywhere.
I didn't create you to simply sit by Brooke the
rest of your life. There are things to do, there
are places to go, people to see, jobs to accomplish,
missions to fulfill, goals to reach. And I don't want
you staying at the brook. Your entire life, and you
aren't gonna move until I finally dried it up.
Speaker 3 (19:17):
Sometimes God dries.
Speaker 2 (19:18):
The brook up in your life because he doesn't want
you doing what he wanted you doing.
Speaker 3 (19:24):
A year ago.
Speaker 2 (19:26):
He God let Elijah to the brook, and just as
soon Elijah would have stayed there, he got comfortable, and
God said, well, that's not what I wanted to do forever,
so he dries the brook up. Sometimes God has to
use pain to get our attention. Now, the point is,
when you talk about your pain with other people, you're
(19:47):
gonna have a willing ear, particularly if you're talking about
pain they're going through at that moment. But for God
to use the pain that's happened in your life for
the good of other people and for his purposes and
for your b if you have to be authentic, you
have to be honest. You can't sugarcoat it, you can't
fake it, you can't pretend about it. You gotta be
(20:08):
real and honest about the hurts in your life.
Speaker 1 (20:19):
Hey, let's talk about something that we all deal with. Hurts,
hang ups, and habits, and whether it's caused by others, ourselves,
or circumstances, these challenges affect every single one of us,
and the real question is how do we move forward?
And that's where the Life's Healing Choices video based Bible
(20:39):
study from Pastor Rick Warren comes in. This is a
powerful study. It offers a path of freedom from those hurts,
hang ups, and habits through eight healing choices that can
lead to true happiness and life transformation. It's rooted in
the beatitudes of Jesus and Rick guides you through eight
engage video sessions filled with practical and encouraging Bible teaching.
(21:05):
You're also going to hear real life stories from people
whose lives have been transformed by following these eight choices. Now,
this video and workbook Bible Study shows you how to
make each choice, guiding you on God's pathway to wholeness,
spiritual growth, happiness and healing. Now today, when you give
a gift to support Daily Hope's mission of sharing the
(21:27):
good news of Jesus worldwide, you can simply request this
life changing Bible Study. It comes with a workbook and
access to the teaching videos. It's available through streaming or DVD,
and it's our way of saying thank you so much
for partnering with us in this Ministry. We'll send you
a copy today. Just go to Pastorick dot com or
(21:49):
text the word hope to eight hundred six hundred five
thousand and four. That's Pastorick dot com. Or text the
word hope to eight hundred six hundred five thousand and four.
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
(22:11):
support
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