Daily Hope - Rick Warren

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hi there, Welcome to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope, the Bible
teaching ministry of Pastor Rick Warren. We are so glad
you're here with us today. Rick is kicking off an
exciting new series called Transform Together. We'll dive into God's
Word and discover powerful principles that can change our lives

(00:22):
from the inside out spiritually, physically, mentally, emotionally, relationally, financially,
and vocationally. That's a lot of leaves and you'll experience
how God's truth brings real transformation to every part of
your life. Well, let's get over to Pastor Rick for
part one of a message called How God Changes Us.

Speaker 2 (00:46):
God loves you just the way you are. He loves
you unconditionally, but he loves you too much to let
you stay that way. We're gonna look at seven key
areas of your life life where you need to be healthy,
where you need to be balanced, Where you need to simplify, focus,

(01:07):
double down, and make sure you're getting maximum impact out
of all seven areas of your life. We're going to
look at spiritual health. We're going to look at physical health.
We're going to look at your emotional health. We're going
to look at your mental health. We're going to look
at your relational health. We're going to look at your
financial health, and we're going to look at your vocational

(01:29):
health or your job. Now, God's goal is to transform
you in all of these areas, making you more like Jesus.
How does God change this? Am? I just like walking
down the street one day and all of a sudden, zap,
I'm just transformed, and all of a sudden, I'm filled
with love and I love everybody. Now, it doesn't work

(01:51):
that way. It doesn't work that way at all. Second Corinthians,
chapter three. As God's Spirit works within us, we are
b being transformed a circle the word being. That's a
continuous process. It is incremental. That is not instance. It
is a process. It's ongoing. As God's Spirit works within us,

(02:11):
we are being transformed. It's not a one time event
to become more like Christ. This change from one degree
of glory to another, one level of maturity to the next,
comes from the Lord. I love this verse in the
message pay phrase, it says our lives become gradually brighter

(02:32):
and brighter. That's what I want to happen in your
life this next year. I want your life to be
gradually brighter and brighter. I don't want you to be
a dimwit. I want you to get brighter and brighter
every day of your life. Now, the classic chapter on
how God transforms us, on how God changes, how God

(02:53):
grows us, is Ephesians chapter four. And in this classic
chapter on growth and transformation, God gives us the six
elements that He uses to transform us and to make
us into the people He wants us. To make you
the woman God wants you to be, to make you
the man God wants you to be. So let's look

(03:13):
at these six elements. You might write these down. Number one,
transformation requires This is going to surprise you. Coaching. Coaching, Yeah,
transformation requires coaching. We always grow faster with a tutor.
We grow faster with a trainer. We grow faster with
a coach. We grow faster with a spiritual partner, a

(03:36):
mentor somebody who's motivating this to go on. Even superstars
need coaches. These athletes, wholl get paid hundreds of millions
of dollars over a period of years, they all still
have coaches. Vocalists have vocal coaches, Athletes have athletic coaches.
The top CEOs in the nation all have personal life coaches.

(03:57):
You need a coach in your life. If you're serious
about being better at the end of next year, let
us a coach do. A coach maximizes your strengths and
minimizes your weaknesses. Now, when you look at the Bible,
you find out all of the great leaders in the Bible,
they all had coaches. For instance, Joshua was coached by Moses,

(04:21):
Elisha was coached by Elijah, Solomon was coached by David,
and David was actually coached by Samuel. The Twelve Disciples
obviously were coached by Jesus. Paul coached Timothy. Timothy coached others, John,
the guy who wrote the Book of John. He coached

(04:43):
a guy named Polycarp. That's a wild name, Polycarp. Polycarp
coached a guy named Irenaeus who would refuse to deny Christ.
All of those guys were martyred. But in two Timothy,
Chapter two, verse two, the Bible says this. Paul's talking
to Timothy, the guy he coached. He says, Timothy, I
now want you to take the things that I've taught

(05:06):
you and pass them on to other faithful men who
will be able to pass them on to others. Now,
Notice in that verse there are four generations. Timothy says,
Paul says, I coached you. Now I want you to
coach somebody else who will be able to coach somebody else.
We pass it on from generation to generation. You right

(05:27):
here and everybody who's listening right now, you are benefiting
from the eleven life coaches I've had in my life.
Over my lifetime, I've had eleven different men who were mentors,
models and coaches for me. And the result of saddlebacked
church and the benefit of all the things that I
get to teach you. Many of those things are things

(05:48):
that they simply taught me. If they hoden taught me that,
you wouldn't be blessed. Now, who are you going to
pass it on to? Everybody needs a Pall, and everybody
needs a Timothy. Everybody needs somebody that they're learning from,
and everybody needs somebody they're passing it on to. Now,
the Bible sells us in Ephesians that God has given

(06:09):
five kinds of coaches to the church. These coaches are
group coaches. And notice what the Bible says Ephesians four
eleven to thirteen. Christ gifted some of us to be apostles.
In other word for that today is missionary prophets, evangelists, pastors,
and teachers. These are five different kinds of coaches in

(06:30):
the church, so that His people would learn to serve
and his body would grow strong. This will continue until
we're united in our faith and understanding of the Son
of God. Then we will be mature just as Christ is,
and we will be completely like him. Now I want

(06:51):
you to circle some things this verse. Circle would learn,
circle would grow strong, and circle the phrase will be mature. Sure,
those are the three reasons God gives apostles, province of angels, pastors,
and teachers to the church. These are spiritual coaches, and
they coach on a group level. But God says, I
want you to have a coach on a personal level.

(07:13):
And if you're serious about your life, you need to
get a coach, our niece, you need to get a
training partner. And by the way, how do you find
somebody who's going to be a spiritual coach to you?
Do they have to be perfect? No, then nobody applies.
If you have to be perfect, they only have to
be one step ahead of you. Find one per se, Hey,
let's kind of coach each other. That's okay to do too.

(07:36):
You can kind of coach each other. I'll help you
and you help me. I'll spur you on, you'll spur
me on. But it always starts with Transformation requires somebody
speaking into your life. You need that in your life.
Number two, Transformation requires learning the truth, and we find
that in the next couple verses. Now, Jesus had said

(07:57):
back in John chapter seventeen that truth was in important
for change. In fact, in John seventeen we have Jesus
praying the prayer he's praying the night before he goes
to the cross. This is his final prayer before he
dies on the cross and then will be resurrected. And
in John seventeen seventeen, he says to the Father. He
prays to God, the Father, use the truth to make

(08:21):
them complete. Your word is truth, make them complete. There's
a theological term for this, it's called sanctification. Sanctification means
just to be made complete. It means to grow up.
It means to mature, It means to be transformed. It
means to become the way God wants you to be.
God says, the way you are sanctified is through the truth.

(08:44):
Jesus said, when you know the truth, the truth will
set you free. And he says, use the truth to
make them complete in your word. Now, what does this say.
If you really want to change any area you want
to change, you need to know and apply the truth
in that area. If you want to change your finances,
you got to know what God has said about finances
and apply that truth to your life. If you want

(09:06):
to change your marriage, you got to know what God
has said about marriage and apply that truth to your life.
If you want to change your sex life, you got
to know what God has said about sex, or money,
or time or anything else. You got to know and
apply the truth. Truth is what changes us. Here's the goal.
Look at this Ephesians, chapter four, verse fourteen fifteen. The

(09:29):
next couple of verses, he says, then we will no
longer be like children, forever changing our minds about what
we believe because somebody has told us something different or
made a lie sound like the truth. And let me
stop right there. God says that one of the marks
of spiritual immaturity is that other people can dissuade you

(09:49):
from the truth. He says, I don't want you to
be a baby believer. I don't want you to be
spiritually mature. And he says, do you know a spiritually
mature believer is they're always changing their minds about what
they believe. Well, I believe this, and I believe this,
and I believe this, and I believe this, and they
let anybody kind of tell them something different, make a

(10:09):
lie sound like the truth, and they accept it because
they don't.

Speaker 1 (10:12):
Know the truth.

Speaker 2 (10:14):
When you don't know the truth, you know, that's that
old cliche. If you don't stand for something, you'll fall
for anything that's true. And he says, instead, this is
the mark of maturity. Instead, we will hold to the truth.
In other words, we're grabbing on will hold to the
truth and love becoming more and more like Christ. Now

(10:36):
that's the third times he's mentioned it in this passage,
becoming more and more like Christ, who is the head
of his body the Church. Now why does God say
you got to know the truth if your life's going
to be transformed. I'll tell you why. Because every self
defeating behavior in your life, every single self defeating behavior

(10:56):
in your life, is based on a lie you're believing.
And if you want to change your life, you've got
to identify the lie and go, you know, that's just
not true, and then you change it and behind every
self of eating behavior. It may be a lie about myself,
It may be a lie about God. It may be

(11:17):
a lie about other people. It may be a lie
about success or life or fame. And maybe a lie
about love or marriage or sex or money. But every
time I believe a lie about something, and the world
is full of lies, it tells you all these lies.
Every time I believe what the world says instead of
what the word says, then I get caught in harmful behavior.

(11:42):
I may believe a lie about my past that just
isn't true. I may be believe a lie about my
worth that isn't true. I may believe a lie about
my present or my future that just isn't true. That's
why the truth sets you free. Now. Jesus said I
am the truth. Jesus say I teach the truth. He

(12:03):
didn't say a point to the truth. He didn't say
I'm one of the ways of the church. He said,
I am the truth. Truth is not simply a principle.
It is a person. And the more you get to
know Jesus, the more that becomes the standard of Well,
that's not true, because Jesus wouldn't do that. I am
the truth. Now, because Jesus is the truth, you can

(12:25):
trust what he says. Look at the next verse, Ephesians
four twenty one. Since you have heard all about him Jesus,
you have learned the truth that is in Jesus, and
that truth is his word. Now there are four ways
that the word of God will help you. And notice

(12:47):
here on the screen, here's what the Bible says. All
scripture is inspired by God, and it's useful to teach us.
Notice the four things the Bible is good for. If
you don't know what's the purpose of the Bible, it's
all contain in this verse all scriptures inspired by God
and is useful to teach us four things what is true, okay,

(13:09):
and to make us realize what's wrong in our lives.
It straightens us out and it teaches us to do
what is right. Now. Look at that. It is God's
way of preparing us in every way, fully equipped for
every good thing God wants us to do. Transformation comes
through truth. So we're going to be in this book

(13:31):
a lot. We're going to be in it a lot
because the more you get in this, the more it's
going to change your thinking about life, about love, about people,
about your past or present, your future, your values, your legacy.
All these things change when you understand the truth. Now,
he says, it teaches us the truth, that shows us
the path to walk on. It shows us where we

(13:53):
gets off the path, It shows us how to get
back on the path, and it shows us how to
stay on the path. Those are the fourth things that
the Bible does. Now, if I want my life transform,
first thing I need is I need a spiritual coach.
I need somebody speaking into my life who's encouraging me.
God says. God puts people in our lives so we

(14:14):
can help each other out. And then I need to
learn the truth, all right. Number three, Transformation requires new thinking.
If you want to change your job you don't like
your career, you got to first change the way you
think about your job and career. If you want to
change your finances, you got to first change the way

(14:34):
you think about your money, debt, the way you think
about bills, the way you think about saving, spending, all
these different things. If you want to change relationships, you
got to change the way you think about the relationship.
It all starts in the mind. You've heard me say
this many times. The way you think determines the way
you feel, and the way you feel determines the way

(14:55):
you act. If you want to change the way you act,
you don't start with that. You got to If you
want to change the way you act, you gotta change
the way you feel. And if you want to change
the way you feel, you gotta change the way you're thinking.
Because it's a thought that's creating every feeling. Every thought
is created by a feeling. So I've got to change
if i want my life to be transformed, I've got

(15:17):
to think in some new ways. The battle is won
or lost in the mind and what you think you are. Now,
let me be very blunt about this, let me be
just I'm sorry, I'm gonna be very blond about this.
If you really want to be different this next year,
if you want this to be the best year of

(15:37):
your life, the rest of your life, the best of
your life, if you want to be transformed, you said,
I don't want to go through another ear like this
last year. I want it to be different, I want
it to be better. Then you're gonna have to stop
conforming and start transforming. You're gonna have to stop being
conformed to what the world says and being transformed by

(16:00):
what God says. That's a change in your mind Romans
twelve to two. Look here, do not conform to the
values and opinions of this world. Instead, let God transform
you by teaching you the right and true way to think.
I know people who are Christians who spend more time

(16:20):
listening to talk radio than they do read in the Bible. Hello,
whatever you listen to talk to read the most. That's
what you're gonna be transformed by. I know people spend
more time reading magazines than that you read in the Bible.
Spend more time reading the paper than reading the Bible. Well,
guess what. You're conforming, not transforming. You're being conformed, not

(16:45):
being transformed. God says. If you want to be changed,
you gotta let God teach you the right way to think.
Let me show you what God says about in the world.
The Bible says in one grindin three nineteen, the wisdom
of this world is foolishness to God. I love this.
In the message. What the world calls smart, God calls stupid.

(17:09):
That's pretty blunt. What the world calls smart, God calls stupid.
There are a lot of educated dunces in God's opinion,
because there's spouting off things that aren't really the truth.
They're all messed up. So knowing this, here's what Ephesian says.
We're getting all these from Ephesians, for verses seventeen to nineteen,

(17:31):
says this, So if you want to be transformed, don't
keep living as the ungodly do. He's talking about unbelievers,
people who don't know Jesus, for they are hopelessly confused
in their thinking. I've just turned on the TV and
here and realized that there are a lot of people

(17:53):
who are hopelessly confused in their thinking. They call right
wrong in the dark, light and light, dark and sweet,
bitter and bitter, sweet, and no, on and on. He says,
they're hopelessly confused in their thinking. Their closed minds are
full of darkness. God's talking about people in the world.
They're far away from the life God gives because they

(18:15):
have shut their minds and hardened their hearts against him.
They don't care anymore about right and wrong, and they've
indulged themselves in all kinds of immorality and evil thinking,
and the constant desire for more. That was written two
thousand years ago, you could have written it yesterday. Look

(18:39):
at that. They don't care about right and wrong anymore,
and they've indulged themselves in all kinds of immorality, evil thinking,
and the constant desire for more. What am I saying?
If you really want your life to be transformed to
be what God meant it to be, then you got
to get the true view of you. And the true
view is often the exact opposite of mentional wisdom says

(19:02):
stop conforming, start transforming. Ephesians four, verse twenty three says this,
there must be a spiritual renewal of your thoughts and attitudes.
The Bible says, let the spirit change your way of thinking.
So what's the goal the fruit of the spirit. There

(19:24):
are nine qualities, love, joy, peace, gentleness, goodness, faith, kindness, meekness,
self control. God wants to build these in your life.
But you know what we do. Rather than changing the
way we think, we try to just change the way
we act. Trying to change the way you act without
letting God change the way you think is like going

(19:44):
out and taking a well, let's say, if I've got
an apple tree in my backyard right now, it's all bare,
there aren't any leaves on or anything. How about if
I went out today or tomorrow and I start tying
apples to the branches, and then I say and I
call Ka out and say, hey, honey, look at this.
Look at all the apples on our tree. And then
I go to the orange tree next to it, and

(20:05):
I tie a bunch of oranges on it. That's what
a lot of people try to do with their Christian life.
They to try to tie on some visible things. Fruit
is an inside job. It starts in the inside. It
happens in the mind. And you cannot transform your life
on your own power.

Speaker 1 (20:31):
Such great words of wisdom from Pastor Rick today, and
I hope you were blessed like I was. And now
here's Rick to tell you about a resource that he
created to help you in your walk with Jesus.

Speaker 2 (20:42):
Imagine the difference the world would be if lives were
really transformed by the grace of God. Now, it's always
been my goal here at Daily Hope, not just to
show you what God says to do and how to
do it, but to supply you with practical tools for
doing it on daily basis. So I've created a special

(21:03):
Transformed Bible Study Kit. Now in this kit, there are
a number of resources that I want you to have. First,
seven lessons on DVD that help you go deeper and
explore what the Bible has to say about each of
these seven key areas of your life. And then there's
a two hundred and twenty five page leather bound workbook
filled with tools for personal evaluation, goal setting, daily devotions,

(21:29):
versus to memorize, a place to take notes and journal
information about additional resources. This study kit can be used
not just in your personal life, but as a small
group study guide with your friends. I want to send
the Transformation Bible Study Kit to you as my gift

(21:50):
to tell you how much I love you and to
say thanks for your financial support of Daily Hope.

Speaker 1 (21:56):
Now, in this seventh session video and workbook study, what's
going to guide you through all the key areas of
life spiritual, physical, mental, emotional, relational, financial, and vocational, equipping
you with practical steps to experience real lasting change. With
weekly lessons, daily devotions, and exercises that will help you

(22:21):
dive deeper into God's word. This study is perfect for
personal growth or sharing with your small group. Request the
Transformed Study Kit today. When you give a gift to
Daily Hope and join us in bringing the hope of
Jesus to people around the world, Your transformation starts here.
Just go to pastorick dot com to get your copy

(22:43):
of this great resource. That's Pastororick dot com. Or you
can just text the word hope to seven oh three
oh nine. Again, that's the word hope to seven oh
three oh nine, and thank you so much for your support.
Your gift to Daily Hope helps us share the hope
of Christ with people everywhere. We hope you'll join us

(23:04):
next time as we continue to look into God's word
for our daily hope. This program is sponsored by Pastorick's
Daily Hope and your generous financial support.