Daily Hope - Rick Warren

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hey there, and welcome back to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope. Today,
Rick continues in his series called Connecting with God the
Lord's Prayer. In this series, Rick shows us what it
means to be truly spiritually connected to God and to
each other through the power of God's love and God's worry.

(00:22):
Now today, let's join Pastor Rick as he shares the
final part of a message called the Prayer of Dependence.

Speaker 2 (00:30):
Now, every time God gives a negative don't do this,
he always follows it with a positive. Do this instead.
Don't do this, do do this. And when he says
worry about nothing, the next thing he says is this,
pray about everything. He says, here's the alternative. I don't

(00:50):
want you worrying. I want you praying. Worry about nothing,
pray about everything everything. Yep, every single thing. God says,
here's what you can do in life. You got two choices.
You can worry or you can pray. And every day
you're doing one of the others. And every time you worry,
you're not praying, and every time you pray, you're not worrying.

(01:14):
So you got two choices. You can either pray or panic,
or you can worry. Or you can worship, and you're
always going to be doing one or the other in life,
talking to God about it or talking to yourself. Now,
worry has never solved the problem. It's never solved a
single problem. It's doing without doing it. It's like sitting in
a rock and chair, a lot of motion but no
forward action. Worry has never solved any any problem. It

(01:39):
is the most useless emotion. But prayer can change things.
If you prayed as much as you worry, if you
prayed about all the things you worry about, you'd have
a lot less to worry about. Those are your alternatives,
he says, worry about nothing. Instead, pray about everything everything. Yeah, literally,

(02:03):
there's nothing you can't pray about. Look at this verse
Romans eight thirty two. Since God did not spare even
his own son for us. In other words, he sent
Jesus to die for us. Since God did not spare
even his own son to die for us, but he
gave him up for all of us. Won't he also

(02:23):
surely give us everything else? God solved your biggest problem
when he sent Jesus to die for you. Your biggest
problem was getting you into heaven, paying for all your sins,
righting all your wrongs, earning your forgiveness, and when Jesus
died for you. If God loved you enough to send
Jesus die for you, don't you think he loves you
enough to take care of all these other problems? Every

(02:45):
other problem in your life is small potatoes after salvation.
Once he's come and saved you, everything else is insignificant
by comparison. So he's saying, don't worry, pray about everything.
And and God cared enough to die for you, then He's
going to care enough to take care of all your needs.
Pray about everything. Third thing he says in this verse

(03:07):
is he says thank God in all things. In all things,
he says, give things. Now circle the word in because
remember we talked about this two weeks ago. It doesn't
say for all things, give thanks. It says, in all things,
give thanks. You don't have to be thankful for bad
things in your life. You should never be thankful for evil.

(03:32):
You don't have to be thankful for cancer or a
car accident, or rape, or a war or abuse, or
any of those other bad things in life that would
be sick. God doesn't say be thankful for everything. There's
a lot of things that we hate in life, we
dislike in life, but God says, in everything, give thanks
Why because I know God's going to take care of me.

(03:54):
I know He's going to meet my needs. I know
he's gonna help me. I know that if I don't worry,
but I trust him. I see him as my source,
and I trust him one day at a time, He's
going to take me through this. So I thank God
in all things. And then there's the fourth thing that
you do, and what I'm giving you is the strategy
for stress reduction. Think about the right thing, worry about nothing,

(04:19):
pray about everything. Thank God in all things, think about
the right thing. Whatever you put your mind on is
what's going to get you. You fill your mind with worries,
you're going to be down, depressed, discourage, defeated. You feel
your mind with the right things, you're going to be
lifted up, hopeful and encouraged and positive. Think about the

(04:39):
right things. Now, Notice, he tells us, it gives us
a list of things to think about. He says, fix
your thoughts on what's true, honorable, right, what's pure and
lovely and admirable, what's excellent, what's worthy of praise. Where
do you find things that are pure and lovely to
think about? At the movies? I don't think so. No,

(05:04):
that's not pure and lovely at the movies on television, No,
I don't think so. Where you're gonna find pure and
lovely and honorable thoughts right here in the Truth of God.
The more you fill your mind with this book, the
more you're gonna be at peace. You need to read it,
study it, memorize it, buy the Bible on CD, listen

(05:26):
to it. Any way you can get it into your life.
You fill your mind, You flood your mind because in
your mind you've got this scale and on one side
is all the bad things that the world is telling you,
and on the other side is all the good things
that the Word is telling you. And you're going to
base your life on the world or the word. The
world or the Word. And if you listen and all,

(05:48):
if you spend more time reading the paper than God's word,
guess what you're gonna do. You're gonna be more negative
because it's filled with bad news. You read the bad
news or the good news. God says, fill your mind
with the Word of God. You've got to get into
the word the Bible says this up here on the
screen Isaiah twenty six. He God will keep in perfect

(06:13):
peace all those who trust in Him whose thoughts turn
often to the Lord? Do your thoughts turn often to
the Lord? Or do you only think about him on Sundays?
Where do your thoughts turn most often? To sex? To

(06:35):
people magazine, to making money, to impressing other people? What
do you think about the most? God says, if you
want to have peace in the middle of tough times,
you got to think about the word. Now. There's a
third key to depending on God. I see him as

(06:55):
my source. It all comes from him. It's all a gift.
I trust him one day at a time. I worry
about nothing. I pray about everything. I thank Him in
all things that I keep me around On the right thing.
And the third thing, this is very important, I share
whatever He supplies. Trusting God. Depending on God means sharing

(07:17):
whatever he supplies, sharing whatever he supplies. When God gives
you something, I'm telling you, he always wants you to
share it with everybody else. Everything God gives to you,
he wants you to share it. Notice it doesn't say
give me this day my daily bread. It said give

(07:41):
us this day, our daily bread. Where to share it?
We are to share it? Why does God want you
to share it? He wants you to learn to be
like him. God shares everything he's got with you. God
is generous. God so loved the world that he gave.
You can give without loving, but you cannot love without giving.

(08:05):
And God says, I want you to become like me.
I want you to be loving, and I want you
to learn how to share. Now, how do you spell love?
You spell love? G I V E. Love is all
about giving. Lust is all about getting. Love is all

(08:28):
about giving. When you say to somebody in a Baleninine's car,
I need you, I want you, I've got to have you. Sorry,
that's not love. That's lust. Love is what can I
do for you? How can I meet your needs? What
can I give to you? Lust is all about I
need you, I want you, I gotta have you. I
can't exist without you. That's about me. Love is unselfish.

(08:53):
It's about you. You see. Most love songs aren't really
love songs at all. They're lust songs. I once did
a study on v H one and on the Rolling
Stone magazine the top five hundred love songs, and I
went through the list and about half of them aren't
even love songs. They're less songs. You gotta give it

(09:18):
to me, Give it to me now. I want it.
I gotta have it, and if you don't give it,
I'm gonna take it. Rock on. You see, I'm really

(09:40):
just a frustrated rock star. I know that's not a
love song. Hey tell you that, But you know we're
gonna party all night and you're gonna give it, give it,
give it, give it, give it to me. That is
a lust song. Has nothing to do with the other person,
has all to do about meeting your needs. Now, God says,

(10:04):
I want you to learn to love, and love is
all about sharing. Give us today our daily bread. Now,
God wants you to learn to trust him, and one
of the ways you learn to trust him is by sharing.
You See, God is testing you every day of your life.
God puts you on this planet and the entire time

(10:27):
you're on this planet, God is testing you to see
your reaction, and he's testing you in many different ways.
But one of the things he's testing you for is
how much will you trust God? How much will you
depend on God? And the number one way God trust
tests your faith you know what it is money finances.

(10:51):
It's the number one way God tests. Are you going
to worry? Are you gonna trust me? Are you going
to worry about your finances? Or are you gonna trust me?
Are you gonna be stingy? Are you gonna share? Are
you gonna hold on and hoard because you're afraid you're
not gonna get anymore? Are you gonna be open and
generous with people around you who are in need? God

(11:15):
is testing you. He wants you to learn to be
like him. Now. The problem is the more money you've got.
I hate to tell you this, but it's true, the
less you depend on God. You see, you don't depend
on God when you can just go charge it. You
don't ever pray about it, You just go buy it.
You got a big bank account. The more money you've got,

(11:36):
the less you depend on God. You depend on your
bank account, you depend on your checkbook, you depend on
your investments. It's why the Bible says it is more
difficult for a rich man to get into heaven than
for a camel to go through an eye of a needle.
Why does he say that because money is bad? No,

(11:57):
not at all. Some of the greatest saints in his way,
true were quite wealthy. Why is it because the more
money you have, the less you tend to depend on God.
You tend to depend on your bank account. That's why
the Bible says that the poor God has chosen to
be rich in faith. Why because you don't know God's

(12:18):
all you need to God's all. You got. The greatest
people of faith that I've met in life, none of
them live in America. None of them. Because when you
don't have anything, you're dirt poor. You don't have a house,
you don't have clothes, you don't have food. You're dependent
on God for your daily bread. Were not at that

(12:41):
level of dependence. And yet God says, I want you
to trust me, and I'm testing you to see how
much you'll depend on me. And I'm testing to see
whether you will share what I supply to you. Three
things you need to remember. Number one, what God gives
to me, he wants to give through me. Very important principle.

(13:05):
I had learned this many years ago, and it changed
my life. Whatever God gives to me, he wants to
give through me. God is looking for people that he
can bless the world with, and he looks around and said,
will you be a cup or will you be a straw.
If you're a cup, you just give us this day
or daya bread and you fill up my cup and

(13:26):
that's it, and I'm going to keep it all. But
if you'll say, God, I'll be a straw and you
can channel through me to other people blessing, physical materials,
special blessing. God says, that's the kind of person I
want to bless. My life is an example of that
truth that the more you give in your life, whatever
you give in your life, the more God blesses you

(13:49):
and blesses you. Because the more you care about other people,
the more God cares. He says, whatever I give to you,
I want to give through you. Now let me give
you an example of this. Look up here on the screen.
Very important verse tewod Corinthians, chapter nine. God who supplies
seed for the sower. That means the farmer who's out
sowing seed. God who supplies seed for the farmer, and

(14:14):
bread to eat. Notice that God says, I don't want
to just give you daily bread. I want to give
you daily seed. I'm gonna give you enough that you
can eat it bread to eat. But I'm also gonna
give you more than enough so that you can plant
some of it. I'm gonna give you more than enough
so you have bread to eat yourself. But you also
can use some of it to give away, and you

(14:34):
can use some of it to invest, and you can
use some of it as seed. I'm not just gonna
give you bread. I'm gonna give you seed. God who
supplies seed for the sower and bread to eat, will
also supply you with all the seed you need, and
he will make it grow. This is an amazing promise.

(14:55):
And he will make it grow, and he will produce
a rich harvest from your What generosity this whole promise
is built on. Are you willing to share what he
supplies with you? Are you willing to pass on the
blessing others that God blesses you with. He'll make it
grow and produce a rich harvest from your generosity. He

(15:18):
will always make you rich enough to be generous at
all times. He said, Wait a minute, I'm not rich
enough to be generous. Oh, yes you are. No matter
how much you've got, you can be generous. There's the
story of a Bible A woman in the Bible who
only had two pennies, and yet she gave him away.

(15:39):
You can always give something. It's a myth that you, oh,
I don't have enough to give. You can always give something.
And God is testing you. He says, a rich harvest,
for in generaloisity. He will make you rich enough to
be generous at all times, so that many will give
thanks for your gifts. The people you help, the poor,

(16:00):
your neighbors, your friends, whoever. And he says, this service
you perform, in other words, being generous with what God
has given you. This service you perform will not only
meet the needs of God's people, but will also produce
an outpouring of gratitude to God. And he says this
when you're going through a tough time and you say, God,

(16:21):
I don't have much, but whatever I got, I'm willing
to share it. I've only got a little food here,
but I'm willing to invite somebody over for dinner. I'm
willing to share whatever I've got. God says, I'll do
three things. One you grow spiritually, Two other people's needs
get met, and three God gets thanks. He gets praised.

(16:41):
God says, when you do that, I Am going to
open the door of blessing. In your life like you
cannot believe. And that leads me to the second truth,
very important truth. When I meet others needs, God takes
care of mine. When I meet others' needs, God takes
care of mine. This is a test. When I meet others' needs,

(17:09):
when I focus, even though I don't have much at all,
I've just got a little. When I work on helping others.
God says, that's kind of person I'm gonna bless, and
he takes care of my needs. And let me show
you an amazing verse. It's there on your outline, and
I want you to notice what it says. And I'm
gonna have you a number the five benefits. First, he says,

(17:31):
share your bread with the hungry. Okay, I can do that,
I got it. Then he says, open your homes to
the homeless poor, got it, Give clothes to those who
have nothing to wear. Got it. And do not refuse

(17:51):
to help your own relatives. Oh, come on, I was
with you, Lord till you got to that one. Do
not refuse to have you mean, I gotta help old
uncle so and so, our aunt so and so. Yep,
God says, this is a test. Doesn't matter whether they
deserve it or not. This is a test. Now, he says,

(18:15):
when I meet others' needs, he'll take care of mine.
And God makes five amazing promises. I want you to
number them. There on your outline. Put a number. Number one,
he says. Then number one, my favor will shine on
you like the morning sun. That's good, I get God's
favor in my life. Number two he says, your wounds
will be quickly healed. WHOA, my financial wounds, yeah, my

(18:38):
emotional wounds, yeah, my relation of wounds. Yeah. He says,
your wounds will be healed quickly because you help somebody else.
Then number three, he says, I will always be with
you to save you. That's a good thing. Number four right,
number four, My presence will protect you on every side.
WHOA and number one, And when you pray, I will

(19:02):
answer you. Oh. The best time to learn to be generous.
The best time to start tithing is in the middle
of a drought, of a difficult time. There's a third principle.
You write this one down. Whatever I give to God,

(19:23):
he multiplies. Whatever I give to God, he multiplies. If
I give God my talent, he'll multiply my talent. If
I give God my energy, He'll multiply my energy. If
I give God my time and I start my day

(19:44):
with a daily quiet time with him, he will multiply
my time. If I give God my money, he will
multiply my money. If I give God my relationships, he
will multiply my relationships. Whatever I give to God, He's
going to multiply and give it back. This is the
story example in the Bible of the feeding of five

(20:06):
thousand people. There's a miracle in the Bible, and Jesus
did it to teach this truth. Five thousand people had
followed Jesus out in the middle of the desert, and
he teaches them for all day. And at the end
of the day, they're hungry and there's no McDonald's anywhere,
and the disciples, the twelve guys, come to Jesus say, Jesus,
send them all away. They're all hungry. And Jesus looks
at these twelve guys says, you guys feed him. I'm

(20:28):
sure they swallowed hard on that one. What's he doing,
He's testing their faith? Will you depend on me, you
guys feed it? It's likely if he says the Saddleback Church,
there's millions of people in southern californiaho are spiritually hungry.
I want your church to feed him. God, we can
do that. We're just one church. You have it with me.

(20:48):
I can do it. And they go out and they
find in this entire crowd of five thousand people, one
little boy brought a sack lunch. He's got his little
lunch pale, and inside his line failed are five little
loaves of bread, little tiny rolls, and to fish, to
dried fish. He's the only got it who's got a lunch.

(21:09):
And the little boy brings his lunch to Jesus, said, Lord,
you have this. Whatever I give to God, he multiplies.
And Jesus took that bread and those loaves, and it
says he prayed and he broke it, and he blessed it,
and he multiplied it. And as he began to tear
it apart and break it apart, it began to feed everybody.

(21:31):
And it fed all five thousand people, with five thousand
witnesses to this miracle. And then it says when they
picked up all of the leftovers at the end, there
were twelve basketfuls of leftovers of fish and loaves that
weren't eaten. He always gives you more than you could handle.

(21:51):
He took it, he broke it, he blessed it, and
he used it. That's what God does in your life.
The hard part is the breaking part, when God takes
you and then he breaks you, and then he blesses you,
and then he uses you. It's whatever I give to God,
he multiplies. Look at this verse on the screen we
talked about give us this day our daily bread. The

(22:13):
Bible says, then cast your bread upon the waters, and
after many days, you'll get it back. What into the
world does that mean? Cast your bread on the west.
It sounds like I'm kind of a soggy loaf of
bread if I throw it on the water. It's just
an old expression, you know. It's like when we have
the expression you're pulling my leg. It doesn't mean you're
pulling my leg. I mean you're you know, you're kidding me.

(22:34):
You're putting me on And cast your bread upon the
waters and then you'll get it back. It's just this
old principle that says, whatever you give to God, He's
going to multiply and give back to you. Let me
give you another example of it. Look at this verse.
It's possible to give freely and become more wealthy. It's
possible to be generous and become more wealthy, but those

(22:55):
who are stingy will lose everything. Now, the First Church
in Jerusalem was very famous for this. They were world
famous for their generosity, world famous for their compassion, helping
each other out. I want you to be that way.
I want this church to be world famous for its compassion,

(23:15):
for its generosity, for its trusting God. Now, friends, I
don't know where you're hurting today. Okay, you may be
hurting financially already, some of you are. I know some
of you are hurting from a something way long in
the past, or emotional hurt or physical hurt. You're going
through a tough time right now. Regardless of what you're

(23:37):
going through, I want to invite you to become a
part of a movement, a movement that says we're gonna
trust God even in tough times. But I'm gonna call
it the STS Club. I'm gonna see God as my source.
I'm gonna trust God for today, and I'm gonna share
what He supplies STS. How do you do that? Two things?

(24:01):
You first, accept Jesus Christ into your life. Last verse
on the screen. Jesus said, the true bread of God
is the one who comes down from heaven, and he
gives life to the world. Sir, they said, give us
this bread every day of our lives. Jesus said, I

(24:24):
am the bread of life. No one who comes to
me will ever be hungry again, and those who believe
in Me will never thirst. No matter how much you
eat in a few hours, you get hungry again. No
matter how much you drink in a few hours, you

(24:45):
get thirsty again. Spiritually, there's a hunger in your heart
that only God can feel. No woman will ever feel
that hunger in your heart. No man will ever fill
that hunger in your heart. There is that man does
not exist. It is a hole in your heart, and

(25:07):
it's a hunger for God. And you don't know it.
But it's God you're looking for and you need him.
And when you let Him fill that hunger, uh, you
never thirst again. You never hunger again. Now, I challenge
you to open your heart to Christ and then say,
we're gonna see God as our source, not Washington, not

(25:27):
Wall Street, not my job, not anybody else. And I'm
gonna trust God on a daily basis, not for monthly
bread for daily bread, and I'm gonna share whatever he
gives me, even if it's a little, I'm gonna share it,
and I'm gonna watch God multiply it. Let's bow our heads,

(25:48):
Jesus Christ, I need you to fill the hunger in
my heart, the longing, the emptiness. I know something's missing.
I just didn't know what it was. The bread of
life to fill up my heart so I'll never be
hungry again. Lord, I need a spiritual bailout. And Jesus, today,

(26:16):
I want to take the STS challenge and this next
year I'm going to see you Lord as my source,
and I'm going to trust you for today. And I
ask you to help me to worry about nothing and
pray about everything, and help me to thank you in
all things and to keep my mind on the right things.

(26:41):
And then I want to share whatever you give me.
That what you give to me, you want to give
through me. I want to focus on meeting others' needs
so you can take care of mine. Help me to
learn that whatever I give to you, You're going to multiply.
And I pray this in your name. Amen.

Speaker 1 (27:08):
Hey, have you ever wondered how to cope with stress,
rebound from failure, defeat depression, or have peace of mind.

Speaker 2 (27:16):
Then I want to tell you about the book.

Speaker 1 (27:18):
God's Answers to Life's Difficult Questions by Pastor Rick Warren.
In it, Rick takes you to the Bible for answers
to twelve of life's toughest challenges. Drawing from the examples
of Biblical characters that face the very same issues, he
offers concise, practical, and eye opening insights that you can

(27:39):
apply right away. You'll discover simple ways to incorporate God's
truth into your personal life, your family, and your job,
allowing you to move past hardships and experience a life
filled with purpose and significance. Be sure to request your
copy of the book God's Answers to Life's Difficult Questions today.

(28:01):
When you give a gift to help take the life
transforming Word of God to the world through Daily Hope,
that's our way of saying thank you for your support
of this ministry. Just go to pastorick dot com to
get your copy of this great resource. That's pastorick dot com.
Or you can just text the word hope to seven

(28:21):
oh three oh nine. Again, that's the word hope to
seven oh three oh nine. 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 support.